Paint it Black

So I picked out this lovely charcoal color to paint the trim on our house.  The painters were only supposed to use it on the trim and the fascia boards.

Today I walked out into the backyard and found them painting all the posts on the back patio, which we had wanted to keep white.  I shrugged and said 'oh well' cause I figured it would be too hard to paint them back white again.  White over charcoal might never cover.  Then I forgot all about it.

My husband came home from work and had a fit!  He pointed out that charcoal black support posts all along the back of the house would be invisible at night - people would be walking into them.  Whoops!  I didn't even think of that.  So much for not repainting them white.

Tomorrow I have to tell the painters they need to repaint all the support posts.  Sigh.

I wish the house would somehow juat take care of itself  (like my parents' house always seemed to do when I was a kid and unaware of the all the issues).

On a brighter note, I managed to get some sewing done today.  I pieced two blocks for my mini-group's holiday tablecloth.  I made two fabric postcards that just need a little quilting and embellishment.  Tomorrow I pick up a quilt from the LAQ, and tomorrow night I get to see a production of Candide at the Kentwood Theater.  Saturday I will play D&D again.  Maybe I will sew some more on Sunday.

Tuesday, my mini-group is holding a sew-in.  If I can get the binding on my cat quilt by then, I'll be satisfied.  There just never seems to be enough time to sew - or maybe it's that my sewing time doesn't always correspond to my inspired time?

Working... a little bit

I got the 'bug' to work on a quilt Friday, so I scrambled thru stash and picked fabrics for my winter seasonal wallhanging.  I fused them on Friday, (played D&D on Saturday), edge-stitched the motifs on Sunday, and then I embellished the blocks, sashed and put borders on the quilt Monday.  Today is Wednesday and I managed to get the back and batting cut out, and the quilt basted.  Now all that's left is quilting and binding.  It went together so fast!  I love these little projects.

There was a lot of handwork on this one compared to the others - embroidering the snowman's face and the ice skates, sewing on buttons and beads, but I'm happy with how it came out.

Generally life is good, my son has a job again (yay!) and he's busy with schoolwork as well.  I hope he's happy, he seems to be.  My DH and I are both relatively healthy and doing well.  Really can't ask for more than that I guess, especially these days...  the Dow is up, my depression is not so bad... what's not to smile about!  Also, autumn is here.  The weather will be cooling off soon (I hope).

I love autumn, with the cooling temperatures, the potential of rain, some wonderful cloudy days and the promise of winter!  I call it quilting weather!  I love to sit at my machine on a rainy day and just sew contentedly.  I look forward to curling up under a nice warm quilt and hand-sewing a binding on a frigid winter night. 

I saw a great sign the other day and I just have to share it (please no one take offense, I just thought it was hilarious, but true):

Anyway - have a lovely day and thanks for stopping by.

Should I?

It's just a couple of weeks until the deadline to enter a quilt into the Road to California show.  I just can't decide if I should or not.  I was thinking of seeing if my folk art cats quilt would be accepted by the jurors:

I've really only finished a couple of quilts this year and this is the one I'm proudest of.  It will be quilted by submission date for the show.  I just can't decide whether to enter or not.  The competition at this show is very stiff.  What should I do?

postcards from the edge

I belong to two groups that exchange fabric postcards.  I had a chance to finish making 9 postcards in the past two days.  I mailed all 9 this morning to recipients as far away as Germany, the UK, and Hawaii.  I hope they all arrive safely.  I love making them.  They are lots of fun to create and to receive.  The categories of these 9 were: butterflies, the color purple and the letter B.... sounds a little like Sesame Street there, but it really isn't.

I have received some wonderful cards in these swaps, and I would post some pictures of some of them, but I can't post the ones I've sent.  Perhaps tomorrow I will take some pics of some of the ones I've received and post them here.

Why can't I post pics of the ones I've made, you ask?  Because I killed another computer this morning.  The pics of my latest postcards were on that computer.  I am now on my third computer in a month.  I seem to have the touch of death where hard drives are concerned.  This one I'm using is my husband's old back-up laptop.  I don't think he'll be happy if I kill this one too.

My main computer isn't back from Alienware yet.  I'm still waiting on its return. I called customer service today and all they could confirm was that they received my computer for repair.  No word yet on when it would be done and shipped back.  Sigh.

Anyway - fabric post cards are lots of fun.  There are a lot of tutorials out there on the web about how to make them.  There are groups that swap cards.  If you're interested, check out postcardpizzazz and postcardmailart on yahoo groups. 

Henrietta Whiskers Finished

I had a chance to finish up my version of Henrietta Whiskers by Bunny Hill Designs.  If you haven't heard, it is a free BOM over at www.bunnyhilldesigns.com.  It will be free til the end of September.  After that, it will only be available to purchase starting in January.  If you like it - go download it NOW... Here it is:

It still needs a little embellishment - some buttons and such, but those will have to wait til the quilting is done.  I am so happy to have done this one.  I just LOVE squirrels.  Fun to do month by month as the patterns have come out. 

Do I have my quilting mojo back?  Not sure.  I had enough to do this, but I have no enthusiasm for sitting down with anything else tomorrow.  We'll see.  This was progress enough for now. 

I am sad today for my dear friend who had to fly suddenly to be with her sister who has terminal cancer.  I wish I could do something to help ease this time for her.  I feel sad and helpless.

Progress

I SEWED TODAY!!!  Probably doesn't sound like much but considering how long it's been since I even looked at my machine or touched fabric, that was a major accomplishment.  I finished the last block in the Henrietta Whiskers quilt, put on two of three borders, and made 9 fabric postcards.

I don't know if I'm really back in the sewing groove again, but it's a step in the right direction.  Hooray for progress. 

Gaming Geeks and Fantasy Freaks

So in addition to being a quilter, I'm also a gaming geek - I love Dungeons and Dragons and all kinds of other roleplaying games.  I love playing boardgames and card games and mah jong too.  My husband and I used to go to gaming cons three or four times a year.  We kind of stopped going a few years ago for a variety of reasons, none of which are very important any more. 

Today, we went to Strategicon at a hotel near LAX.  It was fun seeing old friends and acquaintances again.  We cruised through the dealer's room, shopped at the flea market, and learned how to play a new game called Dominion. 

It was a really nice half a day at the con, and I had fun.  Maybe we'll go to the next con in February too.  A pleasant break from sitting around the house not sewing.

Why am I not sewing?  I don't know... just feeling restless and uninspired, which is a shame because this was a stay-at-home-retreat weekend for an online group I belong to.  I SHOULD be working.  I just can't bring myself to make quilts just for the sake of doing something.  Lately I've been thinking long and hard about just what I want to accomplish when I make quilts.  I've kind of decided I don't want to just sew and sew and sew just to be doing it.  Production sewing isn't my idea of fun.  I want to create art, not blankets.

Which is not to say that some beautiful and artistic quilts don't come out of  'production sewing'.  I love seeing other people's beautiful quilts that are sewn just to try new techniques or patterns, or just to be sewing something.  I just am not inspired to sew that way any more myself.  I used to enjoy sewing just to try a new pattern or use fabric that I like.  My inspiration for doing that seems to be fading.  I'm not sure I can even explain it properly and I don't mean to insult anyone who quilts just to make them.  I think it's wonderful, especially all the quilts made for charity this way.  I'm just not inspired to do this right now.

Maybe this mood will pass and I will go back to making quilts just for the fun of sewing them together.  I don't know.  I only know that right now my quilting muse is leading me down a different path.  Sadly that path is leading me to making far fewer quilts.  Which makes me depressed somewhat. 

Perhaps I need a little break - like a vacation away from home.  Maybe if I went somewhere new and interesting when I returned home, I would be inspired to sew again.  I think I'll suggest it to my husband.  I need to do SOMETHING - I have a quilting retreat coming up in November, and I've got to be ready to take one or more projects with me to sew while I'm there. 

I do have three quilts at the LAQ, which I should have back by then and I can put bindings on them.  Other than that, no plans yet.... big sigh. 

Tomorrow I will play a game with my husband and friend and that will have to suffice as my 'get-away' for the holiday weekend.  Monday, I have to play Tom Sawyer and whitewash a fence.

I want to learn how to hand-paint fabric.
I want to learn how to hand-dye fabric.
I want to learn how to manipulate and alter fabrics by burning, waxing, and embellishing them.

I WANT to get back to sewing too... just don't know when...  I once made a quilt with a banner across the top of it that reads 'DO WHAT YOU LOVE - WITH ALL YOUR HEART'.  I need especially to learn how to take my own advice.