A Finish!

It's been awhile since I've actually finished anything! Today I got the final outer border sewn on my Purple Mountains Majesty.

This is basically Carrie Nelson's design, Oso, from her book, "Another Bite of Schnibbles." My borders are different. I just had all sorts of problems with these simple borders because I didn't double check my numbers. Oh well...I got through it. It will be very fun to quilt all those open areas...someday! It's a huge quilt, 85" x 102".

Pay No Attention to What's Behind the Quilt

Still no time to sew...

Working on getting the current house ready to shoot a video for the internet. Good thing no one can look underneath the quilt...

A quick peek shows the stash of what I'm reducing. Yep...even more fabrics to sell. It feels wonderful to find new homes for all these great fabrics that I know will only collect dust in my new home. I even threw out three UFOs...I didn't even list them on my blog so there was no heart ache..just relief to have them off the counter. 

Still Working Here

Still sorting my stash for the big sale tomorrow.

Hoping to get this pile ready by the morning. I still have lots I would like to send to a new home but it's getting a little overwhelming! It feels great though because these are mostly fabrics I've had for over 10 years....really! I hope someone else will get them put into beautiful quilts.

I haven't had time to work at the new house but progress has been made without me.

The great room fireplace got the wood trim.

The dining room side of the fireplace got the slate tile added...some of the tiles have fossil ferns...so fun!

The wood flooring is going in now...I think it looks even better than I imagined. See those lights underneath the stairs? That's the stairway to heaven...the sewing studio is in the daylight basement.

I'm Working Here

Still not much sewing. But I have spent some time in the sewing room sorting...and marking...it's time to find a new home for many of my things. My Breakfast Club ladies are planning a communal quilting garage sale this week...I sure hope I don't buy anything...cuz I gotta move this stuff!

I really purged my book and pattern collection. I'm just getting started on sorting the fabric. My tastes have changed so much in just the last five years! I rarely work with anything but batiks. I have a few UFOs that I would like to finish that are not batiks so I am hanging on to a good deal of printed cottons...but I'm not going to hang onto them another 10 years!

Dog Days

Doggy Update

Here's Jenny...she looks pretty happy...might be her medication. She hurt her hip somehow while I was gone all day at my Breakfast Club quilt gathering. I think she was a victim of slippery ice.  Breakup has started and all of our lovely snow has an icy cover as it melts.

And here's the devil dog...Tonka. Those glowing eyes are a little too appropriate. This week he has thrown-up a lot of disgusting things...on the carpet....despite the majority of my house being mostly tiled flooring! He has also developed a nasty habit of grabbing food from the kitchen counter-top when I am not in the room. Any suggestions on how to stop this behavior would be appreciated. Right now the best I can do is to retrain myself!

Copyright

I'm jumping into the discussion about copyrights in the quilting world. I don't want rules and regulations shutting down this beautiful treasure that's been a major part of the history of women. I just read a blog that was well researched and includes a video that is very thought provoking and well worth the time to watch. If you haven't read it yet...please do. I'll say it again...please take the time to watch the video.

Here's the link to Leah Day's blog

My thanks to Judy Laquidara for posting this on her blog

Because we are so fortunate to live in a digital age these issues are hot right now. I think it is very important for all quilters to think about these issues and decided where they stand. I don't want lawyers deciding how it should work...I want us...the quilters who use this mostly as a hobby to decide. If you frighten hobby quilters and restrict their creativity it will hurt the quilting industry for everyone...even those who work hard to make an income from it. What I love about quilting is the sharing...can you imagine a quilting world where you can't share a technique on your blog because it is copyrighted?  I'm totally blown away to learn there are fabrics with "For Personal Use Only," printed on the salvages. Really? The fabric I just bought at retail prices I can never turn around and sell cut up in a quilt? Are the labels on our quilts going to require lists of every designer's fabric we used? It's getting crazy!

Quilting Treat

Yesterday was my monthly quilt gathering, Breakfast Club. What a treat to be with women and not at the house building site with men! I was definitely in my comfort zone for a change. 

The best part of Breakfast Club is show and tell.

First up was the project from last month, Oso, from Carrie Nelson's book, "Another Bite of Schnibbles." This is Erin's version done in Thimbleberry fabrics. 

Here's a peek at Erin with this adorable Birdhouse quilt...all the houses have dimensional embellishments. 

And here's another project from Erin. This is such a cute Christmas runner. Erin quilted a holly leaf with berries in the center of every square...her first venture into freehanding a design. I'm so sorry my photo is out of focus! 

Kathy paid us a visit and delighted us with this runner she just made up! This will hang as a valance in her kitchen window. It is stunning.

Here was the big bang finish...a king-sized batik beauty made by Kathy. The pattern is Shadow Box by Mountain Peek Creations. She had the perfect backing...why didn't the photographer get a shot of a corner turned up to show? 

I plucked away on the border for my Oso quilt top only to realize my calculations were off...seems to be a pattern lately in my border making...grrrr. Thankfully, I had brought another project that required lots of mindless sewing just in case...multitasking is not my strong suit lately.