OH, NO !

Just when I start thinking how smart I am ~

You know the call, the one where Jessica (name changed to protect the guilty), the call where she asks "can you hear me okay?"  Well, I got the call yesterday and decided to smartly say "Yes" just to hear what she had to say.  You see, Jessica has been trying to get us to renew the extended warranty on a vehicle we no longer own.  After I told Jessica that I was hearing her just fine, she responded by saying that this was our final call to renew our extended warranty.  She then asked me to answer some questions to be sure the vehicle continued to qualify for the EW.  Her first question to qualify was, "does your vehicle have less than 150,000 miles on it?" 

I tried to answer the question as honestly as I could, not knowing who bought that vehicle or how they used it or how many miles it might now have, but since it has been several years with a new owner, I assumed they drove it a lot and the vehicle probably had more than 150,000 miles, so my response to Jessica was "NO."  Well, hallelujah.  She hung up on me.  I'm thinking how smart I am.  Perhaps that took care of one more nuisance phone call! 

Yea! Right! Who am I kidding?

But wait......this morning I'm reading about the telephone scam where they want you to say "YES" so they can record your voice and use it later to prove that you did okay a credit card transaction.  Oh, my! What have I gotten myself into.



I'll turn all this over to the HuMAN, stop answering the phone and go back to  quilting.  Problem solved.  How smart is that? 

"On The Plus Side" page 124 in Modern Blocks book compiled by Susanne Woods

Strings and Scraps ~

In all the years, I've never made a string quilt - until now !

You see, I've been energized to make do with what's on the fabric shelf or in the scrap bin so have spent the better part of 2017 making scrap quilts.  Oh, what fun getting all those strings and scraps stitched into this quilt top. 

Using paper as my block guide, I sewed strip after strip until I had an 8 1/2" square.  It took a few days to get these 48 blocks made for my 48" x 64" lap quilt.

 

And then I added another day of sewing to piece the back of this one.  I'm  rapidly using fabric to get my fabric shelves ready for the new that will certainly be purchased at QuiltCon 2017, Savannah. 

String quilt.....you are the best! 

It was a wonderful day ~

Yes, wonderful ...... spending the day in Shreveport with the quilters in the Red River Quilt Guild.   My early afternoon and night programs to them was all about improvisational quilt making .... where I get my inspiration, where I buy fabric, what fabric I put into those improv quilts, and then a trunk show and talk about each quilt in the trunk that I trucked over with me for the programs. 

I talked about my grandmother's influence on how I make quilts.


I talked about how, for years, I hid my quilts away, hiding myself from the inevitable not so enduring comments my quilts evoke in some critics of the not so ordinary.


I talked about my love for the utility style quilts  that can be made with wool and linen, rayon and silk mixed right in there with that quilters' cotton.


 I talked about how I don't use the color wheel as a color guide and how I had to shed all those preconceived ideas and learned knowledge about how a quilt should be constructed and how it should look. 

 A little sampler with pieced scraps, curves and triangles in colors that get me smiling.

So, there you have it - how I spent my day all rolled up in quilts.  It was a great day for me and oh, so fun to share my love of improv style quilts.  Thank you Red River Quilters for having me.

My vintage trailer.....A quilted collage

So much quilting love going on!  Lots of finishes......one posting.  My vintage trailer - a Laura Heine collage quilt pattern. 

 

 

 

 Sunflower awning to give welcome shade to the trailer door. 

It's so cute.....looking like a little blue ladybug travel trailer.  So laden with flowers, there's no way it can be moved from this wonderful garden site. 


Front door and window - very inviting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

House Bound and Loving It~

It's sleeting out so I'll be keeping myself off the streets today - and loving it.  Doesn't it feel good to know that you aren't expected at any particular place and aren't expecting anyone to pop in.  The feeling is good when I can sit in my sewing room.....sort and plan, without interruption, a course of action.   

 

 

 

 

There's plenty of room.

  Come sit with me

 as I plan my course of action.

  Truly, I don't mind

 a little interruption

 

from time-to-time.

 

I'm not alone anymore !