Where have I gone

I wished I had some great adventures or travels around the world to explain my absence, but in truth I just have been so busy I have not had time to blog. I have felt like the candle being burned on both ends, with a few other wicks burning too. I have managed to make it through a daughters graduation, my husbands graduation, I am so very proud of him exactly 20 years after his highschool graduation he gets his Associates in Computer Science with an emphasis on setting up networks. It has not been an easy road to his graduation, but one that has fulfilled his dream of college.

now school is out for everyone but me. Now the fun of full-time summer job for the son and softball, swimming, vacation Bible School, and summer dance for the little one. We have found if there are a few structered activities during the summer we do not here "I'm bored." During all of this business I have found some time to do a little sewing. I try to spend about 20 minutes a day sewing something and I always have a project next to my chair requiring hand work of some sorts.

I was going to post this last night but wanted to add some quilty pictures, but could not find any one to hold the quilts. So I'll just have to wrangle some help and post later.

Quilty dreams to all who visit
~Tamara~

Shop hop

I have managed to successfully stimulate the economy on the days I had free to go shop hopping. I was able to find the perfect fabric to make plant stakes for my Farmer’s Market block. I even found a great fabric for corner squares on the outside border. There are only three more months left to go and then this quilt will be ready to quilt.

Then I ran across the cutest kitty fabric and wouldn't you know it I was shown a great pattern and Sam feel in love with it. I decided with all of my quilt tops that need quilting that a few stencils may help me get them finished. I even picked up one for Kitty Cucumber.















My charm addiction seems to be getting worse but there are just way to many gorgous new lines to leave them on the shelfs.

The great thing is I brought everything home and it is now neatly organized.

Over the next week I'll share pictures of my other three neatly organized tots that have all of my great finds from various Nebraska quilt stores.

Time in a bottle

Before and After
Boy I sure wished I could have extra time. This last five weeks I have found myself coming and going. I have been so busy that this is how my sewing room became to look like.

Before and After










I spent hours yesterday just cleaning and organizing everything into neat storage areas. Then I went shop hopping with a friend today and of course now I have even more that needs organized and neatly put away. Once I got it straightened up I was able to finish the round-robin blocks and some other blocks do for my guild that we have been making for months now. I had volunteered to sew this batch together.

With working 3 part-time, to part-part-time jobs and full-time school I have managed to get so far behind. I just finished my class on Monday and have decided to take a full month off from school to allow myself a chance to catch up and have time to do some very much needed sewing (stress therapy).

This break from school will allow me to concentate on my family, and allow my husband the extra time while finishing his last semester of school. After his graduation in May we will have another change in life, him back to work for the first time since his back injury, making him disabled. So life agian is going to take another turn and we are worried what it might be but for now we concentrate on the immediate and know that it will work out.

I secretly hope that he finds a job and then I can take over being the parent at home.

Anyway I'll post soon some of my great shop hop purchases. And maybe with any luck I'll be able to spend more time blogging.

Thanks for stopping and have Quilty Dreams
~Tamara~

Class with Mark

First let me say that even though I had to get up by 6 in the morning (yeah I know it's not that early, I just don't do mornings) it was well worth it. To meet Mark Lipinksi in all his true colors just made my year. Mark has such a wonderful way of making everybody feel like somebody. So saturday morning I'm sitting in the class were we will be making a Katmandu bag using why of course Katmandu fabric. Of course I have nothing to show for the whole time I was there because embellishment takes time and we had more fun learning than actually working. Well there were a few ladies who got somewhere, but these bags will take a while to complete. This first picture is of Mark talking. As you can tell we were all paying attention. This next picture is of course me with Mark and his funny idea of hiding behind our pattern for the bag. I have several pictures of the class but they really are of a boring nature. And yes I have pictures of the embelleshed items, and the bag, but feel those really are not me to share because they belong to Mark. But I will post pictures of my Katmandu bag as it transforms throughout I hope the next few months and not years.

I still am feeling quite star struck, just like my little girl did when she got to see Jackson off of Hanna Montana last weekend. Her jaw dropped and she just starred with stars in her eyes.

Happy Easter

And the tomb was found empty for He was no longer there. Hallelujah
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" John 20:1-2 NIV

Life update

Were does one even begin to start. Hum I just finished a class on Monday, then started the next class on Tuesday. It has been tough trying to juggle everything at the same time keeping up with my studies so my GPA does not suffer. And as my blog is evidence of I am human and cannot do everything. Other than sewing at work the only personal sewing I have done lately is the March block for Farmer's Market. I have managed though to pick up all the kits for "Let there be Chocolate." This was done as a block of the month at the shop, but I had decided to pass, but with working there I just could not pass it up any longer.

On the family front my son is starting to settle into life being back at home Finally. I have also taken on hopefully a life changing adventure that hopefully will secure my families finances for the long haul instead of just living pay check to pay check. The great thing about this new adventure is I get to help other families find their way out of debt and provide stability for their futures too. This adventure though requires taking and Passing the states life insurance test. So yep I am burning the candel at more than two ends. But I do know that the rewards later will be well worth the lack of sleep. My main concern is making sure that my families needs are still being meet no matter how busy I am.

What can get all five cats in one place at the same time with out a fight? The tuna juice that was drained when I made Tuna casserole the other night. Clockwise from the top right the cats are Reese, Smokie, Sadie, Nelly, and Butterscotch. Butterscotch turns 16 this year, talk about an old cat.

You Make My Day Award!

I received this award yesterday from Rhonda. Thanks Rhonda for Making my Day by giving me this award.

The rules for the "You Make My Day" award, are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know through an email or posting to their blog so they can pass it on. You may get the award more than once, so if you do, consider yourself very loved! So pass it on!!! In no particular order is my list of ten Who Make my Day!!!

Bren

Mary Anne
Kim

Quilting Mama

May Britt

Darlene

Wendy

Jodi

Anne Ida
Hanne

Winners and everything else

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winners. School has taken a toll on me this last week. But then Senior classes are to be tough. Yes I'm finally on my last year, Yeah!!!!!

Ok. I had rounded up the drawing committee, put the names in for the cats (Spread out on table). Ok the picture the names are under him, but he was faster then my camera or finger could take the picture.

The Frida won a special surprise, and from reading May Britt’s blog lately she could use a little pampering.

Then Smokie picked from the humans papers and the winner is Rhonda. I know it was not extremely scientific, but hey what ever works right. Luckily I got the paper away before he ate it and then I'd not know who won.

So if the lucky winners will email me their address I will try to get things mailed off soon.

Yesterday after I got my assignment turned in a finished a quilt top that was started in September 2004 from the Thimbleberries club. I had decided I best get this all put together before I accidently use the fabric on some other project.



Then today I decided to take my whole lunch hour and go to the quilt store. The top left coffee fabric I think will be a throw pillow, the upper right is for a late valentine swap with my local quilt guilds and the center fabric is for this pattern.

It is so nice to hear from everyone! Comments always welcome!

A week in review

I am finally starting to feel better. So have really been taking it easy the last week. Luckily for me there was another snow storm so got to spend extra time at home to rest.

Did have some time to do some sewing. I created and made the block for the round robin I was to work on this month. I saw a woven heart at Kim's she sent me a link to a different block. I altered the block from the woven nine patch to have 25 little woven pieces. The 4th of July has several different special meanings to me. But the one that is the most important is my freedom. With wars upon wars fought to continue to have this freedom it takes a heart of a nation. Thus I always feel that hearts belong with the 4th.


Farmer's Market for February was donuts. I still am debating if I want to add some beads to make sprinkles or just leave it.

I will be drawing for my 100th post giveaway on Valentines Day and have decided to extend the entry time until Thursday noon. Too let you in on a bit of the surprise there is a least one pattern and fabric involved. And for the cat who is the lucky winner kitty heaven.

Health and G!veway

Thanks for the get well comments. Unfortunatly, I had to go to the doctor today and I have Bronchitis. No wonder why it felt like an Elephant was sitting on my chest.

Like I mentioned in my previous post I am giving away something special for those of you who read my blog. Not only one giveway but two. One for the humans and one for the cats. It seems that a majority of quilters own cats. So I wanted to give something special to my blogger friends cats. If you want a special kitty treat just leave me a comment about your feline friend along with their name or names. All cat names will be placed into drawing.

For example I have 5 cats I could enter once then name all the cats.

For the human giveway I something special too, just behind in getting it made because of my health. Sorry no pictures at this moment, so it's a surprise. So tell me about your best surprise when you leave your comments. All surprise comments will be put into the drawing.

As of this moment I will leave the comments open till next Monday February 11 and will hopefully draw on Valentines day for both drawings.

Second day at quilt store

A quick recap from Thursday I only was at the quilt store for 2 1/2 hours. So today I was to run the shop all by myself for 4 hours. Talk about scary. Luckily, the other gal (Sue) who has had to cut back on hours showed me how to open up and various other things before she left, she got back in the nick of time to help me with probably the most unusual day I'll ever have.

I am sure the nicer weather brought out everybody, or my morning would have been extremely boring. Which would have made my second day easier, but not as much fun.

Skipping forward an hour or so. Sue decided that I had things under control so she left, because she and I were splitting the day. I am still waiting on costumers, when the boss (Cheryl) calls Sue at home needing fabric cut. Back to work Sue comes.

So far I have not messed anything up yet. Ok Sue leaves but will be back in a little over an hour and 20 minutes I'll be fine. No problem. I had another customer, still doing great; folding fabric that I had cut and realized I messed up. I had forgotten to charge two panels on the last ticket. I'm going to surely get fired now. Sue shows up I tell her my fear. Luckily, we knew the gal, and her phone number was on the check. But I still thought Cheryl was going to fire me on the spot when she found out. Sue simply said it will be fine just wait till shop hop then you'll be forgetting more than that.

So my four hours at work was luckily not all by myself because there were way to many unusual things that I would have bothered Sue at home so it worked out she was there in person to explain how do handle it. The costumers were extremely understand, one of them used to be the shop owner. Talk about weird her and I swapped sides of the counter. It was really a good day except I thought Cheryl should fire me.

Now hours later I've talked with Cheryl; I still have my job YEAH!!!! But was warned (jokingly) if it happens 20 times or more in a row there may be problems. It is great working with these gals; it is even better that they were friends before I started working there. But still you hate to let friends down especially when you are trying to help them out. I was informed though that I have about 2 months till shop hop starts to learn the ropes, so I am ready for all the fun.

Quick note: As of this post I have official hit my 100th post. Stop by tomorrow evening to see what I have cooked up for this special occasion. Thanks for stopping.

Update 2/3/08: Spent today sick so things are on stand still. Until I feel better.

Is it Spring yet?

I don't know about the rest of everyone but I am ready for warmer weather. So when I saw this Bunny Hill Designs pattern by Anne Sutton at the LQS I stopped at on my lunch break. It just spoke warmer days and sunshine. I just loved the different bunnies and that chocolate bunny looks scrumptious. Tomorrow I'll have several hours at work to maybe come up with the perfect fabrics to make a couple of these pillows. I know first I should check the stash, but it doesn't hurt to look.

First day at quilt store.

I went to my new job today. Oh what fun. I just loved being in the shop and starting to learn the basics. I even saw a great new pattern for my bags/purses. But want to see how things go before I spend my earnings on something that won't sell.

That job is great. Now for the not so nice parts of the day. I am trying hard to not use curse words but my day had tons of bad parts. I pull into the town I work in 18 miles from home and hear from the engine compartment KNOCK, KNOCK. I speed up the noise gets louder I slow down the noise gets quiter. NOT good at all. I ask my new boss if I can make a personal phone call with in minutes of getting to work. Of course my husband is in class and I had to leave a voice message, oops forgot to see if it is ok to take personal phone calls on the job. Great I'm going to get fired before I ever start. Skipping ahead. Hubby shows up at 12:30 listens to the car, does something and then comes back into the store and says he's going to try to drive it home. My boss asks if this is a good idea,then she says I can leave so I can follow him home. So it was 30 minutes early I left work. As it turns out the car made it five blocks, we parked it. Went home and got the truck to tow it the 18 miles home, in attempts to save what is left of the motor.

Some where in all this confusion I did manage to learn how to run the cash register, the credit card machine and minor other things in the 2 1/2 hours I was at work. Then was asked if I could work Saturday by myself for 5 hours. Yeah I did not get fired, but I still haven't cut any fabric, or learned whats what really. Cheryl is so easy going that is the main reason I decided to help her out when she gets into tight jams. I help her and get to play with all the new fabrics and see the patterns. So I am not sure who is getting the better deal. I get paid to enjoy my passion.

Now the car is sitting in the shop and hubby is really wishing our weather would warm up so that he can see what is wrong with it. I just hope and pray it is an easy fix and that maybe by April/May I can drive my car again. I just cannot at this moment really afford to replace the whole engine, and maybe it just needs some internal parts replaced. But the sounds it was making led me to believe it is done for.

If this was not bad enough, today was parent-teacher day. Of course the 3rd grader is not doing to bad, still needs to work on learning her spelling words. But the teen son is not doing good at all. I had one teacher tell me that she was really upset with him because he lied to her today. Of course we were not shocked at all. So we came up with a game plan to get his grades up. On to the next teacher; where I had to tell her that my son lied to her on Tuesday and that he was there early, and then about the other lie he told her. Boy this kid is just not learning. The sad thing was having to A.) be told he was lying, B.) tell someone he was lying C.) then try to figure out how to get his grades above failing. Then we had to come home and talk with him and see what we can agree to not agree on. We have been working on the lying issues for years and it seems we are fighting a losing battle. And since he found out that his bio-dad wants to never-ever see him again it has been almost unbearable to live with him, deal with homework, and such.

So needless to say this has been a day of ups, downs and all arounds. I have run the emotional guantlet and now I have to try to concentrate on homework. I usually try to keep my blog upbeat, sorry if I bummed everyone out.

What I've been up too

I have taken everybody's advice and have made two charm bags, not for myself but to sale. I do have one already listed on Ebay. I am so scared that it will not sale. I hope to have the second bag finished yet tonight to get it posted quickly.

I finally got the new ironing board cover made. I am so happy to have a new cover that is not scorched, ripped and burnt. I will miss my kitties but do like the flowers on the new cover.


Now for the really big news. I just was hired at the local quilt store called the Picket Fence to work part-part-time. The owner is very understanding that my first job has set days I work and that I am only available to work the other days at the store. She just needs some one to help out because one workers husband is seriously sick, and shop hop starts soon. So she figures if I am trained to help out at least there is someone to call.

Update: If my bags sell then my next bags will be more of a springtime nature, followed of course by RED White and Bold which of course is Sandy Gervais fabric lines. I just love having a bag/purse for the different holidays/seasons. These bags easily hold the current book I am reading along with the rest of my essentials. At this moment though it is looking like my current adventure has hit a dead end. Who knows though I did land a job in a quilt store, maybe she will let me sell the bags there.

Lakeside

Oh I am in pattern Heaven and fabric Heaven. I just picked up my first qurater of Lynette Jensens Lakeside. I hope to get to cut the fabric yet tonight. I just love the pattern and the fabric is just cool great. The biggest problem I had was which way Lakeside or Lodge if that wasn't enough then the big quilt, little small quilts, or both. Wow, such choices and I had to decided, this decision has taken me over a month to figure out. Well I decided to do the big quilt, this way I will have another full size quilt

Sent a quilt out

Well I have broken down and sent another quilt out to be quilted. This quilt is a Thimbelberries pattern created by Lynette Jensen called "Campfire." I decided to also use flannel on the back too. I'm not scarred of quilting flannel, but this throw is just a little more than I want to tackle right now. So I just decided to let someone else have the pleasure of quilting it; and this way it will get quilted and I can finally use it, instead of just hanging on a wall. You can see a glimpse of the quilt behind the cats in this post. Or from this site.

Death in the family

Today was a very sad day. I had to remove Yellow Head from the pond. I'm not exactly sure of the COD (Cause of Death). I do how ever have two strong suspicions. First off we got to -12 degrees last night and there was 4 inches of ice on top of the pond. And somehow the water pump spit gallons of water out onto the ground leaving only about 3 inches of water at the bottom of the pond. There was a very big gap of air between the layer of ice and water which is really good.

So some how Yellow Head was up on a plant shelf out of water. If he was not already a fishcicle than the fact that the floating de-icer short circuited and barbecued him finished the job off. There was so much smoke billowing out of the pond and the smell of burning plastic oh my. But the de-icer got hung up on the plant shelf in the air part between the ice and water or it could have been worse like boiling water worse.

OK. the true horrors of the matter are in the bottom of the pond should have been 7 fish and so far I have only found Yellow Head. So I am literally breaking the ice off the top of the pond with my garden hoe so I can check on the other fish. Because truth be told if they were pondbefore the day got above zero. I think at this point there are six still alive so I lugged 8 gallons of water to tied everything over for a few hours.

Now the fun begins the de-icer manged to melt a hole in the pond liner so I could not completely fill it with water until that is patched and we are going to have another cold night. Luckily honey is home now and can deal with everything patching the liner, trying somehow removing the now permanently melted de-icer from its new home attached to the liner, and buying a new de-icer. I am just glad that my Koi did not die with Yellow Head. Yes, I saw their tails moving when I poked at them with the hoe.

Done and Started

I just got the last stitch put into my 4th of July small wall hanging. I cannot believe it has taken me this long to finish something so small. It is only 18"x 20" but years have passed since I created the design and pieced the top. This heart flag came about because I wanted something patriotic to hang on the wall. Now this year it will hang with pride being completely finished.

Now the new project is a BOM from a LQS and we call it Saturday Sampler. We pay for the first block and we have a month to get it done. Then we take the finished block back on the second saturday the next month and show that the block is done and we get the new block FREE. Now if we cannot go ourselves or our block did not get done we have to pay $ for the months block. This years colorways were flannel or black Amish. I had taken a couple years off to catch up on my saturday samplers. But decided this was the year to go back so guess which color way I choose.

With the temps at 19 degrees farenheit and the winds blowing 90 miles per hour (honestly, ok maybe 15 MPH) and right through the house the cats sure had the right idea. Loung right by the heat vent. Talk about lazy and loving it. The lowest perch is right above the vent. Of course there's not enough room here so the 3rd Maine coon found a sunnier spot. As you can tell I got quite the look when I disturbed Sadie for a picture. Its like "how dare you wake me, I was sleeping."

Post 92

I just did a recap of my posts and this one makes #92. Another thing I have been reviewing is whether I will be continuing on with blogging. If I do continuing blogging, I have come up with an ingenious idea for my 100 posting. But at this moment am unsure what I am doing. It seems that life has zapped me of thoughts and fun and thus I wonder if I have words to continue writing about boring me.

Questions and Decisions to be made and answered.

On another Note I found a neat stitchery I think on it was through Bren's site. The first block is called Quilter's Blessings designed by Bea. I decided to do mine on tan muslin using pink, yellow, purple and blue floss to do the embroidery work.


Here is a picture of the quilt I am starting at the LQS. We were going to get our first pattern on Friday but the fabric has not shown up yet. Not like I have anything else to do, that I will just be sitting here twiddling my thumbs from boredom.

I finished a quilt

I took May Britt’s challenge and here is the finished small wall hanging or pillow star quilt. This is probably the third quilted item I made and there is a second one somewhere. I made the first one for my grandma and never got around to finishing the match for myself. When my grandma passed away I gave the pillow to one of my aunts who spent a lot of time taking care of my grandma and really understood what the pillow meant to my grandma.

I decided to keep the quilting simple and just decided to stitch in the ditch around the stars. Until this challenge I had never tried to machine stitch in the ditch. I do not saw I have mastered it, nor will it be my favorite stitch, but it was interesting trying it.

I finished the first two blocks that Pat has given us for the Good Book Cafe.

Recent Project

Back in December Pat posted the quilt layout for Farmers Market. I decided to go ahead and put the whole top together that way when the blocks come out I just have to applique them onto thier respective locations. Hopefully this works out alright seeing as I don't know what is coming up and unsure if the background colors work.

What I've been up too

Not as much as I wanted. I did get my block created for the Round Robin. I think the new block fits the required autumn subject that Kathleen had picked for her quilt.


Yesterday I did manage to get the next block (strawberry's) done for Farmer's Market. I still do not know if I should have used the yellow butterfly fabric, but just thought it would fit nicely. I did also start to play with the setting that Pat gave us in December. I still am undecided on a few color choices so may wait to see what the other blocks will be before I sew everything together. I have been working to at getting everything organized so that I can take breaks from school work to do some sewing. Because I can not study all the time without some sort of escape/vacation from brain drain.

The year to finish up

Between Kim and May Britt it seems that this is the year to finish up all WIP (works in Progress) or WISP (works in SLOW progress). Which ever name you choose it still is getting the quilts done. I have started a list in my side bar of quilts I'd like to finish this year and there will be a list of completed WIP's. The fabric stash badge is from Hanne such great creative way to show our support for stash busting in '08.

Now for the before pictures for the January challenge at May Britt's. The first picture has a scrappy star pillow top that needs quilted and finished (I think I started it in 2001); along with the small 4th of July wall hanging I designed in 2002. The next picture was a kit for Tenderberry Stitches called "Christmas at Our House." The books publishing date is 2002 so it was either that year or 2003 that I started this quilt. Somewhere I have tea towels that I was making to go along with the quilt. I figure these three small projects are a great start for January. Everything is ready to quilt and finish.

I enjoy making the tops or blocks but the machine quilting takes a toll on my arm because of the bulging disc in my neck so I have tons of quilts in this stage. But if I slowly make progress it will not be so overwhelming the number of tops on the bookshelf that need quilted.
I hope this year is the year for finishing lots of quilts and getting all my quilting organized.

Happy New Year

I have been so busy taking care of things that I have had little time to even read my emails. So here is what I have been up to this holiday season. Christmas day was spent at home with the four of us. Sam loved her quilt but I was so stunned when she asked if it "was a store bought quilt" I guess she forgot about helping me with the block setting we did a year ago. Maybe I should work faster at finishing quilts.

I managed to get tickets to Mannheim Steamrollers Christmas concert in Omaha for the 26th. While we were there the record company and other ranking member's presented the group with their platinum records. Mannheim's new album went platinum within 9 days of release, so it was a memorable moment for hubby and I. Then on Friday the 28th I got the letter stating the judge granted me full legal and physical custody of my Son. So one more hurdle jumped over. So that brings me to the weekend. Hum grocery shopping on Saturday boy that teenager eats a lot ;-)

Sunday Sam had a gymnastics clinic. Then my husband surprised me and had the Son babysit so we could go out for our 12 year anniversary. It still seems unbelievable that it was 12 years ago yet some how it seems like forever. It was a really nice time to talk and make future plans for the family.

Yesterday what a busy day laying down what is expected like rules and responsibilities for the teenager, on top of that I cleaned 2 bathroom cupboards. Of course we decided that it was time to take down all the holiday decorations. The kids were rewarded with all nighters, son was allowed according to our rules to spend the night with a friend. Sam had been signed up for a sleepover at the gymnastics complex. What a extremely quit way to bring in the New year.

I did manage to sneak in some sewing. The snowman pillow I started in November and finished right before Christmas and had started the Santa pillow in hopes to have it done before Christmas. Both pillow patterns are from Bloomin Minds. I realized on Sunday when I was leaving for our anniversary dinner that my holiday bag needed replaced. So started a new charm bag and finished it today. I decided to use the last charm pack I had from the Victorian Decadent quilt. I revamped the design from the holiday bag to be a bit smaller with the pocket on front sewn down the middle so a cell phone would fit in either side snugly.