My advice - don't have a mouth full of food while viewing these pages.
Written at:
7:56:23 PM
In the past two days, over 225 people have viewed this page, mostly from the QuiltArt mailing list because I emailed them about the new quilt photos posted on 1/24. Interestingly enough (ok, perhaps only interesting to me) only 5 people commented on what they found here. One posted an email to QuiltArt and the other four wrote comments via the comment link at the post. OK, yes, that was only interesting to me.
End of a long strange week at work. I think each of us at work this week had a "weird customer" story to tell and some were off the charts. I'm looking forward to having two days off this weekend for sure. And I'm going to bed very shortly, since I haven't slept well the last couple nights for various reasons.
Meanwhile, the quilt section below is sitting there on a board. I think I'll pick it up into stacks and then do the bottom matching quarter. Then I'd like to do the same for the left hand half of the quilt. It's hard when you can't really layout a whole quilt's pieces at once. At least by taking photos I get a sense of the color/values that are going on and can fix any problems. Usually I have a pretty good idea in my head what the whole is going to look like as a finished top. This is a very handy skill to have!
Oh, on the way home tonight, I drove around until I found Crossgates Commons and then found Panera Bread - a restaurant. Even though it's a chain I found the food to be quite good and the menu varied. All this, plus a bakery and coffee. It was a little loud, but I attribute that to the Friday night crowd. I even got a table by the fireplace. What did I have? The "pick two" special where you pick two of three things: bowl of soup, half a sandwich, salad. I had broccolli cheddar soup and a lovely greek salad. Came with a big hunk of "baguette." I went for a large coffee on the way out and it was pretty good too.
Maybe I shouldn't have been working while so tired, but it seemed to work out ok.
Here are some partial photos of one quarter top's worth of squares, laid out on general principal. Left and Right and Whole And then a computerized mock up to give you an idea of two quarters making up the right half of the planned top
[updated 1/24 5:57 PM -- Just a quick note to say what you see here is just for color layout sake - the pieces are actually all squares which will be 1.5 inches finished size.]
Not my best day for customer service, methinks, although I did get a thumbs up from a very professional woman this evening who was thinking of switching from a PC to a mac. Yes, I did let a small girl (with a screaming toddler brother) try unsuccessfully to log in after she or someone else logged out of a machine. No password, no entry!
Why this low point? Probably a decided lack of sleep. Not because of quilt-related work last night, although I did make some progress on the new quilt. Nope. I ended up on the couch. Not a bad place to sleep in warmer weather, it is cold without enough covers, the cushions want to come out on their own and everything slants towards the floor. Add to this dynamic situation 3 or 4 cats who size up the situation as "hey look! Mom's on the couch - let's go snuggle with her."
My eyelids are definitely droopy. Note to self - time to get serious about a futon for the livingroom!
I did manage to come up with a construction plan for the new quilt over dinner tonight, so I think I'm ready to begin as soon as I shovel off the sewing machine table.
Here's a sample of my 49 fabrics. Not all batiks. Not all mushy. Vaguely gradated. Let's see what happens next!
Written at:
10:22:40 PM
Monday Monday!
Worked last night a little too late on cutting strips into squares. The biggest problem there is that it's just darn cold after a certain point so the transition to sleep is not easy. Oh well. I'm about half done with the squares of print fabric. Not quite sure how they'll be used, but so far they look like they'll work fine together.
Short day at work today, so I went to Home Depot and looked around for a bit. Replaced the glass in the ever so weird kitchen table light fixture and priced ceiling fixes. at 3-5 dollars a square foot, tiles look like a good idea until you come come and stare up at the ceiling and do a little mental math. Hmmmmmm
Had a lovely afternoon with Mrs. Burns and her father, attending a production of Quilters at the Ghent Playhouse. I see looking at this description that the play opened on Broadway in 1985 and received six Tony nominations. The Ghent production was probably a little smaller, but enthusiastically done by the cast of women, backed up by a small ensemble.
After, as we were leaving, two of the actresses walked by me. I thanked the first for a quite enjoyable time. The second one thanked ME for smiling widely the whole time - apparently she was quite encouraged. Hey, what's not to like when you roll a whole group of songs, a bunch of women and a good heap of quilting lore into a couple of hours?
Then I treated myself to a dinner at a local "Super Buffet" which is mostly Chinese food with a lot of seafood (which I don't eat) and a goodly array of nice simple desserts - mostly good fresh fruit (strawberries melons, bananas, cookies and the like. Since Gail had returned some quilting books I'd loaned her, I reacquinted myself with a Ruth McDowell book over dinner and hot tea. Got to feel virtuous too since my dinner was mostly veggies and fruits. OK, a few wings, a dumpling, some hot and sour soup and a couple of macaroons too.
Written at:
8:36:44 PM
Here's a stray thought - there are dreadlocks and then there is just plain ol' messy, matted hair. And let me tell you... if it's not dreadlocks - it's UGLY.
