Puppy Days

Zimmer does her part to help me out with the puppy. Here you see her about to be pounced on by Kitty. This has become a daily occurrence, and Zimmer has become remarkably tolerant of minding her own business only to be attacked anytime she walks by Kitty.


But never fear, Zimmer puts in her two cents worth. I've only heard one yelp, that was when Kitty's teeth got stuck in Zimmer's collar for a second. The girls wrestle and play-bite each other for about 10-15 minutes at a time.


After a good play session, it's nap time. I'm grudgingly sharing one of my favorite quilts with them. Well, actually, it's more a case of "let sleeping dogs lie".

American Idol Finale

Wow, what a show last night. I thought it was the best finale of all. I really loved the few comedy bits in there, like Cook doing the "Risky Business" parody for the Guitar Hero commercial (Archuleta did the same thing later in the show). Loved the "Pips" - Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm a moderator on DJSlim's IdolBlogLive website (http://slimtainment.com/idolblog/), and I gave the official announcement in the shoutbox last night. It was kind of exhilarating knowing that so many on the west coast and across the world who were logged into the site were awaiting the official news from me!! It was a fun night to watch and to chat with others. The best part was that I didn't care who won, both Davids were excellent in their own ways.

Machine quilting class

Saturday I attended a class on Machine Quilting with the Bernina BSR foot. I went with Sherry, Gloria, and Teresa from my quilt guild. Wish I had taken a camera to show what the classroom looked like. There were about 20 women and two teachers in a large classroom. 4 people sat at each table which was large enough for your machine and all the other stuff like fabrics, battings and threads. The BSR is a stitch regulator that helps to keep the stitch length consistent while machine quilting. If you've ever machine quilted, you know how difficult it is to regulate the length of the stitch with the speed of the machine while still keeping track of your sewing design. I must say, I'm loving my new Bernina 440 for this very reason. So we started off very simply with the basic meander and then a wide meander.


Next I did a looping meander and some meandering peacock leaves.


Here is a meandering leaf, peacock feathers (my favorite), and hosta leaves on the right.


We did some other stitches similar to these, all free-motion designs, just to get comfortable with moving the fabric and following a mental design. That was the morning class. We had a quick lunch and then went on with the afternoon class. Here we learned quite a bit about different threads and how to use them successfully. Some of this info I already knew, but working with metallics and then using thicker threads for bobbin work were new to me. Here I experimented with metallic thread. I outlined the flowers and then just kind of free-motioned around them to emphasize their shape. This was pretty easy since it's almost like scribbling or doodling with an outline to go by. The metallic thread is a copper color. I probably should have used a contrasting color for it to show up better.


Here is the back side of the flowers. I used a variegated red in the bobbin. I love this side much more than the front! I'm a bit irritated that the teacher didn't have us put a real backing on the sample (this is just the batting layer), because I could have used this for something.


All in all, it was a good class just because I now feel empowered to create even more with my machine. It missed being a great class because it needed a bit more organization and focus - the teacher had us bring fabrics that were never used and the project that was mentioned, she didn't give a pattern for. Also, something should be done about the student who monopolizes class time with conversations about their/someone else's health, where they live/vacationed, other classes they've taken, "organizations" they belong to, and other mindless chatter. That is so annoying, especially when the teacher herself gets sucked into it.

Kitty Settles In

Isn't she the cutest thing you ever saw? Her fur, or hair, that is, is just as soft as silk.


Zimmer has adjusted better than we ever imagined. The only times she has gotten crotchety with Kitty has been when she was resting and Kitty pounced on her. I do believe I might get crotchety then too.


Zimmer shows Kitty the ropes.....

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day! I am a new mother - we welcomed Kitty to the family last night. Yes, that's her name - Kitty. Silly name I know, but we are goofy people and it fits. She's just adorable and already is doing her business outside like a smart dog. I'll post pictures of her later. She's so soft - she feels exactly like one of those ultra-soft Gund stuffed animals.

Puppy @ 7 weeks

Isn't she darling?! We are picking her up next Saturday afternoon. Still no name....... some in consideration are Dude, Cat (or Khat), Sunny, hmmm, I forgot what else.

Mark Lipinski Stops By

My most excellent quilting buddy stopped over yesterday. Mark Lipinski has probably the most effervescent personality you could ever encounter. The fact that he quilts is just a plus! He is a nationally known quilt teacher/personality, a quilt and fabric designer, and he IS Quilters Home Magazine. I've known Mark for several years - before the magazine ever came about, and I can honestly say that he hasn't changed a bit. It totally cracks me up that at quilt shows around the country, people line up for his autograph or to take his picture. Little do they know that Mark is just as down home as the rest of us. Why, you could stop over to his house anytime, and he's quite likely to answer the door in grungy sweats! A really normal guy, in other words. Well, about as normal as the reaction you get from mixing mentos and Coke! That's my little intro to Mark. Like I said, one of my favorite guys. He brought the box of his new fabric line called Califon. I really like this line. The black and whites are wonderful, and the butter yellows and blue are going to be popular. So, we spread out the fabrics over the kitchen table and discuss patterns. Mark is a dynamo, but even he runs out of hours in the day. He needs several quilts made up to accompany the new fabric line's debut at Spring Quilt Market in a few weeks. He hands over the patterns, and I'll whip a couple out this weekend. He knows he can count on me.


Meanwhile, Mae comes home from school and is SO excited that Mark is here. She LOOOOVES Mark. He is one of the few people who doesn't treat her like she's disabled in any way. He totally rags on her and she laughs so much that later she'll tell me that her stomach still hurts from laughing. The two of them have a total back and forth convo on almost everything under the sun while I play with the new fabric. Mark keeps trying to convince her to marry him so that she can clean his house every day. Haha, she keeps turning down the offer - imagine that. Mae tells Mark about Camp Marcella, the camp for the blind in NJ, that she'll be attending this summer. He teases her about smores, campfires and boys..... and whoa! Boys?! Mark launches into his best "Daddy" mode.


Look how stern Mark can get!! I think that if any guy ever gives Mae a problem, Mark will be next in line to beat the guy up behind her dad and two brothers.

One Block Wonder Update

Still working on it. I did change just a very few around one more time.... must... resist... look away...... walk away...... So I finally went through the whole process of re-pinning the whole shebangaroo into vertical rows. Then each vertical row comes off in one piece and is taken to the sewing machine. Carefully, each piece is unpinned and sewn - one at a time. If I mess up the order now, it won't form its beautiful hexagon shape when the complete rows are joined. Then I pin the row back up in its place on the design wall. It's almost halfway done.
You know, this project uses a ton of pins. I'm not sure the book even mentions that. Surely it must. I have pins coming out the wazoo, so quantity wasn't a problem, and as I went along, I threw out any that seemed dull or bent. Multi-tasking, you know!