What a Week

We started our week with a birthday party last Sunday. My daughter turned 40. I am really not sure how that happened and I don't know where the time has gone, but she really is 40 years old. Rather nice young woman too. She is a practicing Dental Hygienist and a Mom to a wonderful little girl that will also be having a birthday soon.

Monday night was the Devine Guild Meeting. Our meeting did involve food, so I took a tomato pie. Not a crumb remained when it was time to go home. The food was fantastic as usual. Our program for the evening involved 3 demos. Kim and Geri did a great one on their applique techniques. Those 2 are doing some beautiful applique. Roada of course inspected it all.

Mary showed us how to piece and chop up a 9 patch and Lynn demonstrated how to inset circles. Good demos. Good meeting.

As usual Roada was welcomed by all who attended. She seems to draw a lot of attention.

Two clients picked up their projects this week and were pleased with the results. Somehow, I stayed busy and actually completed a top for another client. This is a Auburn quilt for the sister of a friend. He is a staunch Alabama fan, so, paying for this Auburn quilt will really hurt his feelings.

Mr. OLT also had a birthday this week. It was either Wed, Thurs, or Fri. we are not really sure which day. I think I know, but he says that he has legally changed the date so that it won't interfere with the President's celebration.

Friday was nail day and Roada went with me. You can read more about that later on her blog. I have not had time to load those pictures yet.

Saturday was spent trying to re-adjust the tension on Olivia. After months of perfect stitches, she stumped her toe and now her stitches look like __________  terrible. I also spent Sunday (today) doing the same thing. I put a practice piece on the frame and worked with her all day. One minute everything was wonderful the next minute it wasn't. I have an email into Pat and Richard for a 'house call'. They want me to bring Olivia to them and I just don't have time to do that with Summer Fun Quilt Camp coming up. Hopefully we can work out a time that Richard can come to Columbia. Anyone else need some service on their Gammill machine?? Maybe he could make a day of service calls around Columbia.

We are down to 10 days until Summer Fun 2. I really need to get started on everything that needs to be done for that. I will have to spend some time out in the shop taking inventory and making sure everything is in working order. There are somethings that I won't need to take this time since we will all be sewing in a new location (at least I think that we will). However, there are somethings that will have to be added for the same reason. I am really looking forward to the chance for all of us to be together in one room. It will be loads of fun. I will be at Gravatt on Wednesday to make sure that this is going to work and I'll post to the blog and facebook regarding the outcome.

OK, that's enough for now. Signing off and going nite nite.

Check this out

This is currently on the frame. This is for some lucky graduating senior at Epworth Childrens Home. This is being given by Devine Quilt Guild and I am lucky enough to quilt it.

Check out the new quilts that have been posted on the 'Customer Qults' page. I do have some new ones.

Lunch tomorrow with friends and then an audit team for Devine Quilters. More later.



I Regret To Inform You

How sad. I regret to inform you that you will not be allowed to buy a ticket in hopes of winning this quilt.

It has been brought to our attention that raffles are not legal in South Carolina, so, Devine Quilters will not be using this quilt as a fund raiser.

Many hours were spent on this quilt. No, it is not finished. Many people spent much time on this quilt. No, it is not finished. Now we are going to auction it off, as is, to a lucky guild member in September.

I feel priviledged to have worked on this project in hopes of raising money and awareness for our guild. Sadly, that will not happen. I really should be angry about the whole mess---but, I am not, I am just sad about the whole situation.

There comes a time when some of the antiquated laws of the state that I love need to be changed. Our legislature had that opportunity just recently. Not much time was spent on this opportunity and the legislation was not passed. Hopefully this wrong can be righted during the next legislative session.

One can only hope that a small group of quilters can some day raise some money for educational purposes by selling tickets so that one lucky person can win something so beautiful as a hand made quilt.

Off of my soap box now and back to my applique project,

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY !!!!!!!

What a Great weekend I have had.
This quilt is a disappearing nine patch that I had on the frame and quilted this weekend in a continuous curve pattern.
This quilt is one that I volunteered to quilt for one of the guilds that I am a member of. I also did it in continuous curve, then bound it, and now it is ready for 'The Love Goddess'.
This is one of my 4 helpers in the studio. He tips the scales at 100 lbs and acts as though he owns the place. This is ROCKY. The quilt top that you can see hanging on the frame is one for Devine Quilters to give to a special organization. Beth Karr did the center of the quilt. Mary Cross colaborated on the borders and backing, and now I will do the quilting and bind it. I am waiting for a special pantograph to come in next week to use on this top, but the back is ready to load, the top is ready to load, and the binding is made. All I have to do is cut the batting and load it on the frame. It will be ready in time for our meeting next Monday night.
Mr. "OLT" hung more of my thread racks today. I did warn him that I would be needing even more of them hung in a few weeks. Thread is one thing that I will be looking for when I go to Knoxville for the AQS show in July.
I also finished a block for the 12 days of Christmas block of the month. Two turtle doves. I am almost half finished with the French Hen block, but I have to stop for the weekend.
I have had loads of fun in the studio over this long weekend. It is so good to have a husband that really doesn't mind me spending every minute in the studio over the weekends. We did go to my brother's house on Saturday for a pool party and to 'surprise' Pitty Pat with a birthday supper. We had a great time. It is so seldom that all of us can get together. Of course, not everyone was there. The ones that were not, were really missed.
I am glad that I have a short work week, as I can't wait to get back into the studio. The time is getting close for letters to go out to friends attending 'Summer Fun' quilt camp, so I also need to be thinking about some special activities for them.
Have a great week.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had a great time yesterday. Members of Devine Quilters gathered at Greenhill Baptist Church to work on our opportunity quilt for 2010. We worked all morning, ate lunch, and worked a few hours longer. So much was accomplished. One of the many things that I noticed was how well the group worked together. A few problems came up and they were solved quickly. We managed to complete one type of block completely. A second block was constructed and made ready for more applique. One or two more work days will have the top completed.

It was a great day.

Thanks to everyone who helped out.

This has been another wonderful weekend.

Progress is being made

This is the last step to the Devine Medallion. According to my notes, I started this project on Good Friday, April 10. 2009.

Now, once I finish these last few pieces, it will look like this. I am really excited to complete my assigned portion of this project.Gerri Smith has done some beautiful embroidery on this piece that really helps to tie everything together. Linda has planned a "sew-in" on Nov.21 to put the blocks together. We are shooting for the Spring QSC meeting at the Newberry Opra House for this quilt to be seen for the first time.

Back to work. Have a good week.

PS--6:17 PM Eastern time this date: IT IS COMPLETED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It won't be long now and I can show you the completed top!!!!

I am Woman !!!

The challenge this year for the Quilters of South Carolina is called Give Me Your Heart. This challenge is to bring awareness to Women's heart health. Heart Disease is number one when it comes to killing women. This is my entry:
























I found most of the image on the internet and then added some lines and images of my own. I am really pleased with the piece and my husband has named it "I AM WOMAN". Sounds like a song don't cha think?
I also finished quilting a piece for Tori this weekend. I don't have the binding seewn down yet, but a few hours in front of the TV and that will be done.























All this means, that I have finished my 2 challenge pieces--One for the Devine Guild (Sunflowers) and the One for QSC--still needs label and sleeve (no problem). I have also quilted
my second quilt on the longarm (still not named). Now, next weekend I can get back to the applique on the Devine Guild quilt. I need to add a few pieces of applique before I can pass it back to Linda. She is ready to begin the piecing of the center section of the quilt.

Just Stitchin' Fall Quilt Camp is just a few weeks away so that is also coming up on my to do list.

I have tried posting this 3 times and each time blogger posts it differently. Hope it looks OK this time.

Have a great week.

Weekend Report-May 2009

Thursday night was a beautiful evening on the lake for the Knight Bee. We met at Judy Twitty's house and everyone brought something to eat. What a 'spread' we had. Everything was delicious. I find these gatherings so refreshing. A good time was had by all.

This is where I am at this point with the piece for the Devine Library exhibit. I have not worked on it since January. I did get 4 more rows done today. Now I have to construct units before I can do anymore rows. I think that I only have 6 more rows to construct and then it will be a completed top.

I spent Friday just doing 'stuff'. Got my nails done, ate lunch with Pat, registered both of us for the show in Knoxville. That pretty much took all day once I added in a 3 hour nap.

Saturday I worked on the Devine Medallion. I am not quite half finished with that. I think that it is looking good at this point. Still alot of work to do on that.

The garden has started producing. I am cutting cukes and squash. The Basil has been cut 4 times in the past 2 weeks. Huge bunches have been given away and I am using it as fast as I can. The Dill is trying to bloom and I keep pinching it back. I have some huge tomatoes, but nothing turning red yet.

These are some of the tomatos. They are the ones that Austin and Alexis planted. Austin's is on the right and Alexis planted hers in the pot.

This is my container garden on a grand scale. These are the water troughs, one that i got for Christmas and then the large one we bought early spring. The small one contains: Dill, Basil. Rosemary, Tyme, Curley Parsley, and a Grape tomato plant.

In the Large one is: 4 cucumber plants, one yellow tomato plant, one yellow squash, one zuccini plant, a Japanese Eggplant, a bell pepper plant, and one potato. These things are going crazy in these planters.

That's my report for this weekend. I better go feed the husband. Have a good week.

Memorial Day Weekend

This is the weekend to start painting the house. Dusty and Dick are working on that today. Yesterday Tori also helped out a lot, but she is home today--sore muscles!!!! We are changing the light color to something beige without the yellow that was previously in the light color.

The shutters and trim color is being changed from a green to a black. I love the black and I am really liking the beige color. We tried the color combination on the back with the screen porch and it weathers in really well.

With the painting going on, we had to take the grids out of the windows of the studio. In order to do that I had to remove the stack of fabric that had grown to 2 feet deep and as wide as the double windows. While doing that I was trying to get the fat quarters into the bins below the windows (you can't see them because of the sewing table in front of them). I finally decided to start strip cutting anything that was not neatly folded or banded. In other words, any fat quarter that had been cut into was to be 'stripped' for scrap quilts. I also started a pile for a friend that does a lot of scrap quilts for 'love quilts'. I will take her a big bag on Thursday night. So, Heads up Liz---!!!!

I have also been working on the Devine applique. However, I don't think that I should show more pictures of this until I have permission from the Guild. The center medallion is what I am doing and it is beginning to look very nice. I will devote all day tomorrow to working on it. That way I should have something good to show the Guild next Monday night. If I am REALLY lucky, I might have it completed.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Please take the time to say Thank you to the Veterans who have made it possible for all of us to have the freedoms that we now have. Don't take freedom for granted or you might just loose it.

Still Here

No, I'm not dead yet. Have had a scare with Heart Cath, but, things seem to be stable for now. I will probably have to have additional stents placed in the next few months. Will 'cross that bridge when I get there'.

Now, back to the important stuff.

I managed to finish another block for my Garden quilt. This is what I have so far:











I finished piecing the one block wonder quilt. It has been placed in the UFO box for now.

I have done all the prep work for the Devine Raffle Quilt and have started the applique on it this weekend.I really hope that I can do it justice. Elizabeth has worked so hard designing it. If this











turns out like I think that it will, this will be one awesome quilt.





Dick and I have also----------now about Dick--------He took Rocky for his "nip tuck" several weeks ago, and it is a wonder that he is still alive. Rocky does not know the meaning of a leash and he took off running when Dick opened the door. Rocky ran and Dick hit his head on a deck post. It is a miracle that he is still alive to tell the story. This photo is what he looked like 3 weeks later, so you can imagine what he looked like before. Long story short--Dick is fine and Rocky is a little more subdued. Both are doing fine.

































Now back to Dick and I. We have been getting my unusual garden spot ready. This involves 2 large water troughs and lots of dirt. Will get more on that later. This has gone on long enough.

Blogger is not showing this posting in the preview the way I want it to look. So, hope you can read it.
Hope you have a good week.

To Red or Not to Red?

Do I use the red or not?

With the Red.

Without the red.

This is 1/2 of the top. Tell me whatcha think. I've got thick skin. I can take it. Make suggestions. This is show and tell for the Quilt Doctor.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long Weekend

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do hope that everyone is safe and well. I have had some time off and have really been stressing over a piece for an exhibit for August of 2009.

Rocky, has been in trouble this weekend. He decided that Dick's shoes were a tasty treat. Needless to say, Mr. Greer, is not very happy with young dog. How could anyone be upset with this 70lbs of licking love?



Jake just spends his days napping. He really tries to ignore Rocky, but, when that is not possible he barks at Rocky and snaps at his head. Rocky yelps and runs, but, no one is hurt and Jake gets his point across.



What has Joyce been doing this weekend you may be asking? Actually if this is your thinking, then you should really get a life. Maybe I should too. I have been playing with something for our library exhibit for Devine Quilters. I have actually been working on this for 3 days at the machine. Two to three days with EQ and some type of design. One of the main ideas is for our pieces to have lots of color in them. I don't think that this qualifies.




Other things required are: nine patch block, a star, using a snowball block, churndash blocks. You don't have to use all of them, but at least 3 of them. You can distort the blocks in any way. I don't really know where this piece or this post is going, but I will keep working on it. The red-orange piece of fabric on the left, may work its way into this piece, I just don't know. I am really in a quandry over this piece. This is 1/2 of the piece as I have it now. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Each block section in this piece finished 2 inches. The size of the piece is also set to be 36x48, so that all of the pieces will be a uniform size.

I really hope to work on my Baby Jane tomorrow. It just depends on whether or not this library piece turns loose of my brain.

Baby Jane Block and Devine Quilters

This is my block for the first part of this week. It is B-4 Chris's Soccer Field. The block has been paper pieced, didn't take long, and was fun to do. Can't wait to see what block is next. So far, I have been able to keep up.

Of course, my other projects aren't going as well. I really wasted last weekend. I spent 2 days playing games on the computer--what a waste!! I just could not seem to get out of the chair and do something else. As soon as I post this, I am pulling out another block that I am working on so that it can possibly be finished in time for our guild meeting Monday night.

That's another thing---Monday night's Devine Guild meeting is a fun fund raiser. We will be selling our talents---If you bake-then you either bake something and bring it, or, print off a gift certificate for that item for a later order. If you garden--share plants, seeds, pots, soil. If you have something special that you might be working on, or something that you started and know that you will not finish---Sell it!!!!!!!!!!! We will be using the silent auction format. I need to find my contribution, but,I think that it will be fun, and we will find something to do while we bid.

That's all for now