Wow-za! again

This time, the wow-za is for the heat that has hit central Ohio!
High nineties, steam-sauna humidity...
and that's without the heat index!
Certainly makes you want to stay inside and stitch when you can!
But the heat sure zaps my energy -
so I'm working s-l-o-w-ly on my Lucy blocks.

I also worked on an applique project for a class at the LQS.
The (almost) finished quilt- "Our Flower Garden" turned out great I think, 
and is at a show this weekend!
You can see it in the picture from the show that's this weekend:

It's the French General faded red/pink a little left of center.

Oh, yeah, also, check out the faded cheddar bow-tie just to the left of that!

Love them both!!  OK, I really love ALL THE STUFF there!

I suppose I should get back to stitching (: & sweating, but that's a given:)Happy Stitching!

blessings

I love working playing at the LQS a couple of days a week.
It is a great reproduction and wool only shop
and the owners are WONDERFUL folks. 

I feel very blessed to be able to work at Good Wives Co. 

and contribute to the quilt-y-ness

in my small part of the world. 

I get to help choose fabrics,

see new products & patterns,

and

smile everyday
not only during work,

but on the drive there and back!

I have been busy this year
 at home, too, working playing 
with the long-arm quilting machine - "Big DD". 

 I just did a quick count of quilts (pictured on this blog),

and I have gotten to meander and quilt across
 +/- sixty-five.

65!!! 

Wow, I wouldn't have guessed! 

I didn't count as I stitched,

so this number is a nice surprise to me :).

  I just knew I was having fun quilting along!

 

I also am blessed with great friends...
in life and here in the world of blogville...

blog-friends I have never met, but hope that someday we might meet.

(That would be some road/boat/air-trip, wouldn't it?!)
I thank each of you for your friendships and interest.

 

Thank you to all the pattern, fabric, and notion designers/makers, too.

Your creativity helps me keep my stash growing!

SO,
A big Thank You
to everyone for a great 2012!!

My wishes to all
for great health,
greater peace and happiness,
and the greatest abundances in your lives
for this year of 2013!!!

And, finally, a few quilt photos -

the last commissioned one for 2012...

Judy's beautiful toile'-centered quilt
(that she is planning on finishing with a
scalloped border):

and a close-up of the Sashiko quilting:

 Lastly, a quilt-y finish for me:

50" x 50" farm animals for Logan

that I gifted to the latest great-nephew on Sweetie's side
(no pattern, just modified a friends' quilt finish).

Happy Stitching in 2013! 

our local Quilt Spree/Shop Hop is here!

First,

most of you regular readers know that

I get to work

in a lovely, local quilt shop...

Second, most of you probably know

that the LQS where I get to work

 is a reproduction shop -

my favorite type of shop!

Third, some of you may know

that I get to make samples and

help in the "think tank" area of the shop.

Fourth, something that you may not know,

that it's really hard to be

working on a project or three

and not be able to share

for months!!!

BUT, now it's time...

the Quilt Spree is here-

finally, I can share!!

Presenting...

THE GOOD WIVES GONE WILD:

I got to be in on

the design, construction, quilting, tying and binding 

of this Quilt Spree project

from the time those Brightly Colored Strips

arrived in the shop...

So Brightly Colored were those strips

that we all wondered WHAT we could do with them,

besides take them swimming in our coffee...

But we finally came up with the

Quilt Spree Version -

hence the name "Good Wives Gone Wild".

AND THEN,

to calm us down just a little :)

we came up with the Good Wives reproduction version-

"ESPRESSO YOURSELF":

Don't you just love them both???

Back to work  play!

I'm more than a little sad

I couldn't write about it right away.
I had to let it "sew" around in my brain just a little.

We in central Ohio had some bad news last week...
Not bad news as in storm and destruction, but
bad news in that...
one of our local quilt shops is going out of business...

See, I could hardly even write it...

The local quilt shop that I work for is closing.
There, I typed it out in cold, hard font.

When October closes it's door, the LQS shop doors will also close.

So sad,
not just for the owners,

but for the employees.

And for the thousands of customers. 

Customers that have become friends.

Friends like family.

There is no blame to the owners,  

as they tried their hardest. 

I think it's the economy -

the continual rising prices

of cotton

and fabric

and labor

and fuel for manufacture and
for transportation. 

Then, the rising cost of rent, utilities, taxes. 

Recently, fabric came in

that was priced at over $12.00 per yard. 

Really - over $12.00 a yard.

We stash builders may be sitting on

the proverbial gold mine. 

Which is also a minus. 

Who will buy $12.00-a-yard fabric

when you have a ba-zillion yards

of the stuff in your home already?

We are very lucky

in that we have many other quilt shops here in central Ohio.

But each had their own niche. 

And now one of those niches will be missing.

It's just a sad day.
What will I do, not having my couple of times a week fix?

We may have to have a "Friends of A.I.S." support group.

I don't think that I'm the only one having a hard time dealing.

one weekend in August...

So, the weekend was great here in central Ohio-
still blazing hot and humid, but that's Ohio for you in August!
Anyway, Friday evening,
Sweetie and I met up with some friends
at the "World's Biggest Little Fair"

And check out who else was there!:

The Budweiser team was hitched and parading around the fair grounds.

Cool, huh?

Then, Saturday, a friend and I headed

on a driving trek up toward northern Ohio

and visited the Outdoor Quilt Festival in Wellington, Ohio

here are a few pics:

The wagon ride was an extra if you wanted to go out

to see the elk and hear the history of the farm.

In the pic above, this is the original barn with horse stalls.  Some of the inside stalls even had quilts hanging in them.  Aren't the quilts all great?  I liked them all, but the one on the far left above the door, that one inspired me,

 so here's a close-up:

The inspiration was to keep using my one and a half inch square scraps as leaders/enders!

Maybe someday I'll have enough little squares sewn together to make one of these puppies!

These old quilts were hanging inside a barn, maybe a feed room,

but were also a couple of my favorites:

Here's a close-up of the one on the left:

pieced using shirtings and then hand embroidery stitching in red:

Very, very inspiring, isn't it? 

It was a great morning.

Then we headed to a couple of quilt shops

that we had not been to before -

that was just a little dangerous!

Sunday afternoon,

I got to work at the local quilt shop.

The "Wool Crazy" group met. 

We are all still stitching away on our projects;

 I shared some green "army blanket" holly leaves with the group.

We are coming along, slowly, but surely.

Then, to finish the evening, Sweetie and I went to a movie with friends.

Whew!!!

Back to work tomorrow at the LQS!

Isn't life great???

I'm COOKIN': more meanderings in thread and food

Apron OFF:

Still working towards finishing up all of the quilty commissions here at home and then working at the LQS on black Friday.  (She, Mary, offers 40% off from 8-10, 30% off from 10-11, and 20% off from 11-12, so, basically, it's a "feeding" frenzy---"feeding" in a quilty way, but in the spirit of the season - turkey, etc.!).  And since I am not a black Friday shopper, it's fun to work the other end of the craziness!  Last year, at the end of my shift,  I had rotary-cutting elbow, I'm sure!!!

Anyway, I have a goal of finishing up all the waiting-list quilts to be quilted and have them at the shop for customer pickup at the latest by next Thursday the 3rd of December.  Then I take a week off from commission quilting to get my own seasonal stuff done and no promises are given for anything dropped off after the the first weekend of December!  After that weekend, my answer to new commission quilting requests is: "possible, no promises to be finished before Christmas".  Unless you are a really, really good friend or family member, AND there are dark chocolate bribes!!! 

So, busy around here I think... anyway, it seems to me that I have been productive.  I have meandered with loops, loops and stars, windy circles, puzzle pieces, in and out floral, feathers, OSU sayings and logos, and more that I can't remember.  They are all starting to "meander" together in my mind!!!!  Here are a few quilty pics:

Pink/green/purple:  Penny's first ever quilt! And it's a king!

This lovely purple is again by Billie.

I told you she is prolific!

Imagine this in blues also.  I accidently deleated the blue pic, sorry, Billie!

This brown/blue/cream is by Susan.  I haven't met her, only spoken on the phone, but I think I really like her.  And I know I really love her quilt and color choices.  Now THAT is a whole lotta' half-square triangles!!!

This lovely red/cream/blue is by Joell.  Another fav.  Don't you love the piano key border?

Apron ON:

Today, the day before Thanksgiving, I started early and made mashed potatoes to make my "mashed-potato dinner rolls" which are now mixed,  kneaded and rising in front of the wood stove.  I have pre-cleaned veggies, brined poultry, cut up and seasoned bread for making dressing, and baked a pumpkin pie cake.   I have to wait until the last few possible hours to bake this scrumptious pie/cake so I don't try to sneak a piece.  Like you can sneak a piece from a 9x13 pan...you can tell right away that I have had a piece, or three!  I even have it covered and hidden in my fridge! (It is my new weakness.) (oh, and I may have to re-copy my recipe card - this looks really bad - sorry!)

Apron OFF:

While the rolls are rising, I can quilt another top that I loaded last night!

Apron ON:
For the curious:  mashed-potato dinner rolls is an old, old family recipe that uses actual mashed potatoes in the dough mixture.  So, in our families, no one will take the last couple of servings of mashed potatoes whenever they are served.  This to insure the making of potato rolls!  More often than not, it works!  I am not particularly a bread fan, but these are really good! 
I roll out the dough and cut them into round circles, then slather them with melted butter and fold over so they come out kind of half moon shaped.  They rise for the second time, then bake.  That way, the buttery, pre-folding/baking step allows them to open perfectly for making turkey sandwiches!   I mixed up a triple batch - that makes about 100 dinner rolls. 

In the last third, I added a great organic whole grain cereal mix:  cracked wheat, steel cut oats, barley grits, buckwheat grits, wheat bran, corn grits and millet.  It is good cooked up as a hot cereal, it's great in mashed-potato rolls!
 That triple batch should be enough for my family dinner and a couple of orders, but not many left-overs though.  I may mix up some more on Saturday for Sunday's dinner.  We'll see.

And, as you can see from this picture:
The dough has risen, so time to get back to work and make up some rolls!  (7-grain on left, regular on right)

Back to work!  Did you just hear that whip crack?  I am such a slave driver!!! 
Apron ON:

You can tell from this pic that it might be time to wash the apron!!!  

Happy Wednesday!!!