Monday, December 29, 2008

Short post



I hope everyone had a joyous Christmas with loads of merry making and pressie giving.

We had some snow during the first week of December. Our front gate looks more inviting snow covered,so I had to start off my post with it. We didn't have a White Christmas, however.

This is our tabletop tree. Our livingroom is a bit too small for our big tree, so we'll store it while we live here. No problem....we have several small table size trees to scatter around the house, just to be festive.


I have a confession to make....I didn't get back to sewing up my UFO's, so I still have 3 to go before New Years Day. I was able to work on some blocks, but there's so much more to do. Maybe that's my problem, I am looking at the whole instead of one task at a time. It just feels like a mountain of work I can't deal with right now. I will continue to plug away at it slowly, just not before New Years is over with, sorry Finn.


Have a very Happy New Year everyone!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

It's Freezing!

A butterfly block from my row quilt.
Paper pieced Kimono block I am working on now for the row quilt.

It is freezing outside! Our driveway is a sheet of ice. The garbage had to go to the curb, so out I went to brave the cold. I hung on to everything in my path- the house, the truck, the gate-just praying the whole time I wouldn't fall on my bum. Chucked the bag by the side of the road and made my way back following the same path. Finally, the back door. AH, I made it without falling. I act older than I am, just in my nature, I'm a very cautious person. The garbage man, however, didn't make it. :o( Through the window, I watched him pull up, jump out of the truck, looking confident, threw me a wave, then he disappeared under the hedgerow. Poor man....he got up and gave me a half smile, tossed the bag in the back of his truck and hobbled back.
I keep saying I'm not ready for the winter months. Like it or not, ready or not, they are here!

A week ago, I went to the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate. It was a good distraction. So many wonderfully talented people out there. I just love to see what the artists are up to in their work. Everywhere I looked were signs saying that photography is prohibited. Yet, all around me were people holding cell phone cameras and pocket cameras. It put me off. Being a little rude, I got in a few of their shots on purpose. I'm bad.
Why can't people respect the artist?
The vendor halls were so crowded, I felt like a lost sheep trying to get out of the herd. Finally, I came upon the Bernina stall. Drooling with anticipation, I asked the salesperson about the 440QE machine. This machine is so awesome, it's been on the market for 4 or 5 years. Unlike computer stores. You would never go up to an HP or Dell dealer and say to your hubby, "honey, I want this, I wont leave this hall until I have it". I look at computers and say, "I guess if we NEED it, we'll HAVE to get it, but there are strings, we can't get the extras (and under my breath, it will be out of date in a couple years, money not well spent)" . There's just no love in buying a computer or anything else as far as that goes..........uuuhhh except fabric! hahaha

Back to the Bernina stall, the salesperson showed me all the cool stuff on the machine, quizzed me about my Bernina, it's a 160 Virtuosa almost 11 years old now, and really didn't have to pitch me much of a sale. Once I actually tried out the BSR, I knew I had to have it. I've been reading about it for 4 years! AND the machine came with some free extras, like the really wide acrylic table, the walking foot, and a free gift! Now we're talkin' !
In just 3 LONG days, it came to my door. Yeah, it was an expense or should I say an investment, but at least it lasts a lot longer than that stupid HP! I could possibly sew on this machine until I'm in my 80's, if I live that long!
I sewed and sewed yesterday and didn't even realize how late it was when I finally took a break.
My older Bernina was the same way, I could sew for hours without a care in the world.
Now if I can get my mind straight on what to work on and stick to it. I am going back and forth between finishing the 30's row quilt I've had in my UFO pile for uummmm......6 years, and working on the art work for my new series of postcards. I want to make them using the phrases and silly sayings I talked about in my last post. By the way, thank you to those of you who have given me some interesting and surprizing suggestions.
Now I'm off. It's actually sunny outside and the ice is starting to melt. Happy sewing to you all. ;o)




Catherine's Wheel

 I posted December 17, 2020 about making an ornament which is called prairie wheel (USA) or Catherine's Wheel (UK).  The latter being of...