big fish story

Monster white sturgeon weighing 1,100 pounds caught in Canada
When I saw this I just couldn't resist watching it.  Knowing how exciting it feels to catch a "big" walleye measuring all of 20-some inches long, I can not even imagine what this one would feel like!  I thought these guys were pretty low key about it, maybe just too stunned, but I for sure would be doing the happy dance!

getting all fixed up

Do you sometimes just feel like you are treading water and not getting anywhere?  It's been like that for a bit for me, but some of those reasons for treading water are progressing--

#1.  2 new patterns all printed up and ready for release.  I was really stuck on a good name for the first one, I was running all sorts of rhymes through my head without anything having the quality to stick in my mind.  Then last week I was spending some quality time with my little Ian, cutest baby ever, and it popped into my head--Wild Child!  So maybe he is my muse?

Wild Child

 And Pie In The Sky is all set and ready to go.  Big thanks to Dan for helping me with the pattern covers, once again.  I described some of what goes into pulling together the pieces for my pattern covers previously, and I don't think it gets any easier!  This time it was about 90 out and humid enough to work up a sweat in no time, good thing the lens wasn't turned on me!

Pie In The Sky

#2.  Major problems with our washing machine caused a role reversal for us--we took our dirty clothes to our daughter's house to wash!  After some delay in getting the proper computer part ordered, it was installed.  And thoroughly tested with the backlog of dirty laundry we had accumulated.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, one of my favorite things is clean sheets!  And if I could, I would have a "clean sheet lady" that would put fresh sheets on my bed every day!

#3.  A car without A/C is like a bed without clean sheets--useable but not as enjoyable!  So when my A/C went out again, choices had to be made about another repair on my trusty vehicle.  Thank God I have a husband who understands the value in having a cool, calm, collected wife!

#4.  Lots of neck and shoulder pain are not unusual to me, given the fact that I am often in a position that requires me to tip my head forward to see my sewing and quilting, on top of the fact that when I am tense or stressed it goes straight to my neck.  But things had gotten to a state of continual discomfort, so I actually went to the Dr.!!!  Not a habit of mine!  Anyway, I have done some PT and returned to my favorite massage therapist, Janet Richards.  She has magic fingers.  All in all, the neck and shoulders are actually sometimes pain-free now!  Halleluja!

So now I am feeling like things are on track and getting all fixed up again--until the next time!

Nearly finished

I am nearing the finish line!  I finished the quilting on this new design for my pattern Pie In The Sky.  It uses all of the fabrics for the Quilt MN 2012 fabric line from Windham.  Well, everything except the 2 panel prints.  All of the strips are varying widths and randomly placed, so when it comes time to join the blocks together there is only two spots that need close attention for matching--right where the point of the "V" of the light fabric, and then the center of the "pie".  We have prepared 28 kits for this quilt at Bear Patch and you can reserve one now.  

I'm not quite done with the binding yet, and then will finish up the pattern.  Have you used these little binding clips?

They are a great little product from Clover (also available at Bear Patch) and clip so nicely over the folded edge to hold it in place until I stitch the binding down.  I am noticing in this picture that I have a little more work to do to remove all of my chalk markings that I needed for the quilting.  See the little white line on the woodcut circles?  I wanted to do a spiral around the pies, starting in the center and gradually working my way outward.  

                                   

Well, achieving equal spacing and a smooth progression was not so easy to do by freehand, so I resorted to 1" marks and a little guidance with the chalk pencil to keep me on track.  I didn't need to draw the entire stitching line, just a few segments here and there.  Bob helped me last night as I went over all the blocks with an eraser to remove what hadn't already brushed off, but when I saw this picture it is clear that I need to do it again by the light of the day.  It's one of those little details that isn't visible until I look closely, and then it seems glaringly obvious.  Since I know this will be displayed and closely viewed by a lot of quilters, I feel an obligation to make it look as good as possible.  So back to the eraser!

Here's a little challenge for you--
When I was visiting my parents earlier in July, my sister and I dragged out our grandma's old jewelry boxes.  We had fun looking at the matching sets of costume jewelry that Grandma had worn.  Necklaces, bracelets, brooches and earrings in assorted colors and styles were exactly what the well-dressed lady needed in the 50's and 60's.  I have used a couple of those pins on jackets for just a little touch of bling or whimsy.  They make me feel good just to wear them.

Also found this little gadget in a box, which now is obsolete.  Can you identify what this was used for? My grandpa was Robert Herbert, thus the RH.  You can tell this was well-used by the worn paint.

Well, just in case you didn't grow up using a rotary dial phone, this was used to help dial the numbers.  Especially useful for a fine lady with manicured nails!  I suppose now you could use it like a stylus for your iPad, sort of like a time warp!  Those rotary dial phones are few and far between now, as are any phones that have a cord connecting the receiver to the base.  And what about party lines??  Do you think they still exist?  We always had a party line and had to put up with the inconvenience of wanting to make a call but picking up the receiver to hear the neighbor gabbing.  A long way from the phones of today and the need to have constant connection.  Since Bob and I eliminated our home phone service and now only use cell phones, I do pay attention to keeping it nearby, turned on and charged up, but I am not one to make it a huge priority.  If I don't answer, there's always the option to leave a message, which never existed in those "good old days".  It's an interesting progression to the present day need to stay always connected.  Sometimes it's good to just disconnect, so that is what I am going to do right now!  Good by and disconnect!

A bit absent from my keyboard lately, in the midst of other good things happening.  Little trips here and there, a wedding party, visits from special people, quality time with my Ian, and a little work thrown in for good measure!  I had fallen far behind on my quilting commitments, but now aiming to correct that problem.  Here's one for Debbie for the store, forgetting the name right now but I will update when I find it in my memory bank. 

Fabric is for Quilt MN 2012.

Made good use of the stripe with words and the big flying geese blocks got a little special attention.

Also finished up Irene's Gee's Bend quilt and it was a challenge to me to follow in the style of their quilts.  So I forced myself to put away my rulers and used some guidance from my book about these quilts.  I'm glad that Irene liked the finished quilt when I delivered it yesterday.

I have also made good progress on a couple of new patterns that I am writing, I will share pictures when they are decent!

One of those things keeping me from my fabric was pure fun up on Lake Winnibigoshish.  Here are a couple good catches--

Dan's was just within the legal zone so it was a keeper!

Bob's was in the illegal zone so went back in the water. :(

A storm that skirted around the lake we were on so our fishing was uninterrupted.  Good thing since we needed to catch enough to feed 30+ hungry folks.