It's Friday! Yipee!

I am so excited for the weekend to come. I get to go to a soccer game tomorrow and see my kid play goalie. I get to play tennis on Sunday. My mother-in-law is in town for the weekend. I get to go shopping with her tomorrow. She is staying with one of my brothers-in-law because our spare bed has been moved to the new house. It is going to be a nice weekend, even if it is cold... Oh, and we are having a cookout with my husband's brothers and their wives tomorrow. I am making potato salad. I think I make a great potato salad.

If you want to see a wonderful quilt, visit Debra's blog. I love this quilt.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning. I arrived in the area about 30 minutes early. You can never tell how long it will take you to get somewhere in Atlanta traffic. I decided I needed a Starbucks hot chocolate. I couldn't find a Starbucks. So they aren't on every corner. I didn't need to spend that $3 anyway...

Traffic has picked up at the old house. Hopefully it will sell soon. Two other houses in our neighborhood are under contract, both listed by our realtor. Keep us in your prayers.

People are Bugging Me These Days

I think I am becoming more intolerant with every day. I realize being hormonal is making me worse, but I am not sure that is the whole reason. I think I am over stupid people. I have had to stop reading two quilting forums that I used to read because I cannot stand to read what these people write. Even in the quilting only sections, people write the craziest things. I am glad Debra created the Quilt Studio on Delphi forums. I am learning a lot from these women.

I need to do my March journal quilt. It will be late. I am working hard on my first Art Image Challenge quilt, which I am determined to keep small. I am also determined to use some metallic thread on it, which I have never done before. Keep your fingers crossed.

On a totally different subject, I have joined a neighborhood tennis team. I am having a blast, although every once in a while I want a beer with the rest of the girls. That won't be happening for a number of months. My tennis is getting better. Maybe I will win a match in the next 6 weeks. Who cares. It will be fun anyway.

Snowflakes

My son and I made snowflakes yesterday. I made them out of fabric and he used the paper from the fusible web to make his. It was great fun until I realized that we had run out of trash bags and had no where to put the "droppings." Well, many of them vacuumed up and the rest we put in a grocery bag. Then we went and bought trash bags. The snowflakes are not perfect, but they are a lot of fun.

This is my first Art Image Challenge, and I am a little intimidated. I think I am probably one of the youngest and least experienced quilter in the group. That said, this group of women seems nice and supportive. Anyway, I have a lot of work to do before Tuesday...

On my agenda for tomorrow is to get my printer/scanner/photocard reader/etc. back on a computer. I miss being able to download pictures from my camera at the click on a mouse. Hopefully I can get some pictures of the snowflakes....

Fusing

I just realized that I haven't posted in a long time. My life has totally turned upside down in the last couple of weeks. But I have a handle on things now. So back to my regularly scheduled life...

I started working on the Art Image Challenge for March. I decided not to go with the discharge dying and go with fusing instead. I have this insane need for snowflakes to have strict six fold symmetry. I think it is the engineer in me. I took classes in both undergraduate and graduate school about x-ray diffraction. X-ray diffraction is a technique used to study crystals. Many solids are made up of crystals, including metals and ceramics. X-rays are beamed at a surface, and the angle and intesity at which they bounce off gives a lot of information about a material. You can also difffract electrons. Anyway, symmetry is very important in using diffraction to study a material. Symmetry also plays a huge role in material properties. So the fact that snowflakes have six fold symmetry may seem like a trivial thing, but to me it is not.

I could not get the precision I wanted with the discharge dying. Perhaps if I took a lot of time and perfected the technique, I could get the precision I want. So I decided to just make snowflakes and Wonder-Under them. (I did a lot of reading on Melody Johnsons's Fibermania about fusing.) I am not a fuser, so this is also new to me. And I need something to keep me occupied over the next couple of days while my oldest is on his first overnight field trip.

I have learned about a new store called Fiber on a Whim that I am wanting to visit. I am planning a trip to see the quilt show in Roswell at Bulloch Hall this week. I have never been to that one, but a friend asked me to go with her.

Ok, some little hands are wanting to help me type now, so I will stop.

A Couple of Days Off

After finishing my February journal quilt, I decided to take a couple of days off before starting my Artimage Challenge design in earnest. I actually have the design in my head. I just have to translate it to fabric. Probably should put it on a large piece of newsprint paper just to make sure I like it before starting with fabric.

I have mentioned in the past that I am fascinated with knitting. My reward for getting down to my healthy weight is to take a knitting class. Well, I have 8 more pounds to go. However, when I stopped in Michael's to get some supplies for my February JQ, I saw these crazy knitting looms.
My son's teacher has been busily making hats and scarves on one and the hats and scarves are adorable. Since they were on sale, I picked up a set. I made a cute little hat for my son. He loves it. It is totally mindless, although I am thinking of adding some design elements now. I just need to get more yarn.

I would post a picture of the hat, but we sold our big computer desk. So now I am at the kitchen desk and my printer/card reader/everything else machine does not fit. Later, I will put it on another machine that will share it with me. I just haven't gotten around to it.

So, did it satisfy my need for knitting? Not really, but I am having a blast with it. There are so many fun yard choices out there. It was easy, mindless, and my kids liked helping me. I went back today and got another set for my niece, and my friend who came with me got a set for her daughter. I think I will start another hat...

February Journal Quilt Reveal

Continuing the water theme, here is my February Journal Challenge Quilt. The picture in the quilt is from our visit to the new Georgia Aquarium last month. It was taken in the coral reef exhibit, which brought back great memories of snorkeling off St. John two years ago. I printed the picture directly onto the fabric using the Printed Treasures fabric sheets. I am going to get some Bubble Jet Set to try next time. Although it does not show up in this picture, it is quilted with a varigated rayon thread that mas the colors of the coral reef--greens, pinks, yellow, blues...
This is the back. I stamped fish onto it using acrylic paint. I have used rubber stamps before, but never in a quilt, so that was new to me. My kids had fun helping me with this part.

So why make this quilt? Our trip to the aquarium was right before we bought the new house. Lots of changes have come to our lives since that trip. So this quilt represents the end of our old life. Next month's will find a way to represent the change to our new life. Maybe a waterfall...

February Journal Quilt

I have decided to use a picture from our aquarium trip for my February piece. It seems like that was the last normal weekend we have had. We bought the new house the next week and I feel like I am living in two places and not having everything I need at either. What a pain. My sewing room is at the new house because I just couldn't keep it in show condition at this house. So now I have to find time to go over there to finish the rest of this month's piece. It will get done, just not as easy at it would if my machine was not 7 miles away from me. Not to mention my fabric. However, the picture has been transferred to the fabric. Michaels is between the two houses so I can pick up the supplies to stamp on the rest of the piece on the way over there. Just need to get everyone dressed and ready to move. Oh, and get them to not want me to buy them a bunch of stuff in Michaels.

Here is the picture I am using....
Next month's piece is going to have to be about change...

Children's Books

Jen had this on her blog...

1. Name your 3 favorite children's series.
2. Name your 3 favorite non-series children's books.
3. Name 3 favorite children's books characters.

Favorite children's series...
1. Harry Potter because I think it got so many people reading. It also got my dad and son closer when they were standing in the Denver airport and my dad said, "Look at all these muggles." My son decided then and there that my dad was the coolest grandparent ever. And he tells people that all the time.
2. The Little House books, well the original ones. I haven't read the Caroline series, etc that they have come out with that are prequels to the Laura series.
3. Trixie Belden series. I know, not very high brow, but a lot of fun to read. I read them all a bunch of times. My sister has all our copies, and I read them every time I go to her house. (Not all of them, but some each time.)

Honorable mentions:
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Babar byJean De Brunhoff
Berenstain Bears by Stan and Jan Berenstain
The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
The Keeping Days by Norma Johston
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh



Favorite Non-series Children's Books
1. The Just So Stories by Rudyard Kippling
2. Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
3. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Honorable mentions:
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst
Jacob have I Loved by Katherine Patterson
Bears in the Night by Stan and Jan Berenstain
The Wonderous Star by Joanne Marxhausen
Anything by Eric Carle or Bill Martin, Jr.
The Little Prince (so much better in French) by St. Exupery


Favorite Children's Book Characters
1. Madeline because she is a redhead and "To the lion in the zoo, Madeline just said 'Poo Poo.'"
2. Laura Ingalls because she was middle child, too
3. Harriet the Spy because she had gumption

Today and Tomorrow

We rented a truck today and moved a bunch of stuff over to the new house. Dave and I didn't discuss everything we moved and we ended up moving some stuff that I planned to get rid of. Oh well, I just recycled it over there instead of over here. It was all my old notes from college and grad school. I kept the notes from the calls in which I met Dave. But other than that, I got rid of everything. So now I have a bunch of empty three ring binders. I will have to fill them with my quilting stuff...

My entire sewing room was moved. Tomorrow I will spend the day unpacking it and sorting it out. And deciding how to light the new room. Dave has promised to help me get better lighting in there.

I will take pictures if I remember to bring the camera.

Before Pictures

I thought I would show you some of the before pictures. My husband said to be sure to say we really love the layout of the house and there are some great points to it before I show you all the things we are changing to make it our home. He thinks you all will just think we were insane for buying it if I don't point out some good points...

I really love this kitchen. It has a ton of counter space and, although you cannot see it in this picture, a great eating area that has windows on three sides and looks out over the wooded backyard. This kitchen was a big selling point with me. Oh, and the cabinets go to the ceiling so I don't have that dust catching area above them.

I also love this office area/laundry room/mud room off the kitchen. This built in desk will be great for a computer that I can check my email on during the day.
Now, here is a close up of the wallpaper in the kitchen. First let me say, I am sure it is beautiful wallpaper. I am sure there are many people out there who love it, or the wallpaper company wouldn't have made it. It just is not my style.
Here is the dining room chandeliere. This fixture will be replaced as soon as the painting is done. No need to have a new one in there while we are painting.
This picture actually does not do it justice. You cannot see all the spikey branches. Also, it has been painted gold. Gold is not its original color. I am not a gold fixture person, so there are a lot of fixtures in the house that need to be changed including all the door knobs, cabinet pulls, faucets, and shower heads.

Here is a close up of the wallpaper in the dining room.
These peacocks have a lot of detail on them that you cannot see in this small picture. I cannot imagine having turkey in a room with these on the wall. However, I am beginning to see how they could be used in a quilt... Too bad there is no peacock fabric on the drapes...

One last room--the powder room. This paper is what is on the walls:
And here is the ceiling...
I just don't know about having people on the wall in the powder room. It seems like it would ruin any sense of privacy.

So, as you can see, we have a lot of work to do. However, I am so excited about this house. We have met some neighbors and they are great. It is going to be a great move for us.

A Weekend at the New House

This is part of the cover from the latest Mechanical Engineering magazine, which is produced by the American Society for Mechanical Engineers. My husband gets this magazine. I had two thoughts when I saw it... First, wow, there are a lot more women engineers these days if they can put a knitting analogy on the cover of ASME's magazine. Second, I thought, knitting is really becoming mainstream again and perhaps quilting is going by the wayside...

We spent most of the weekend at the new house taking down wallpaper. Dave would take it down and I followed behind with the spackle. I am pretty good at spackling as I spent a few summers repairing houses in Appalachia with my church group. I am going to go back over there this afternoon and work some more. The wallpaper is not coming down very easily as it was put up on unprimed drywall.

I did sneak away for an hour to go to the Super Bowl sale at my local quilt store. The store changed owners on February 1st. I am reserving judgement on if that was a good or bad thing. I liked the old owner. I have met the new owner and she seems very sweet. She was nice to my kids, who tend to go shopping with me. (They were with me earlier in the week, not for the sale.) While I certainly think quilt store owners have the right not to love my kids, it makes my life easier if they do. I don't like to take them into stores where they are not welcome. It is not that I won't shop there, I just don't do it with the kids. But, back to the new owner, the employees like her. They say she is not making major changes. I wonder if she'll show up at Wool Club on Wednesday. Here is what I bought...



And a fun thing... My oldest is trying out for the talent show at school. I loved being on stage when I was young. I hope he loves it, too. He is doing a skit with half the boys in his class. The music teacher, who also the dad of one of the boys, is helping them with it. What a fun thing for him and for me.

Oh, I forgot to read The Artist's Way this week. Too much other excitement going on. I will complete the book this week. Next I want to read something about color and quilting.

New Home

I have to say I am very excited about our new home. We are allowed in Thursday at 5, so we will be eating dinner there that night. And then Friday night we promised the kids we could camp out there. We will not be moving in for a while. Every wall needs at least paint. Most walls are wallpapered, so they need to have wallpaper stripped before painting. We figure the work will be easier without our furniture in place. The carpet also needs to be replaced. While I am sure it is beautifully decorated, it is just not my style.

On top of all the decorating issues, the basement has high levels of radon gas. We are having a mitigation system installed next week, which will solve the problem. The homeowner was apalled that they did not know about the radon gas while they were raising their kids there. And the realtor just about had a cow because she used to own the house across the street, which also has a radon issue. Anyway, the mitigation system continuously monitors the radon level in the basement and sends it to the rado monitoring company. Their work is guaranteed for the life of the house, so if it is ever out of whack, they will come fix it. It also has a display on it so we can always know the radon gas level.

Our current house is on the market, but not under contract, yet. I am sure it will sell soon. It is in good shape, although the kitchen could be updated. We may do a little work on the kitchen to help the marketability. (Is that a word?) I am not all that worried about it. Well, maybe a little.

The new house is bigger and in a different school district. Both of those were factors in deciding to buy that house. We bought our current house when we were in our 20's and only had 1 child. Now we are in our mid-thirties and have three kids. Our needs and, quite frankly our income are different now. I love the floor plan, as it emphesizes the family room and really has a very small formal living room. Actually, I think the living room is probably bigger than I imagined because the sellers had a baby grand piano in there. My small cabinet upright piano will take up a lot less room. The living room also has a fake fireplace, and I am not sure what that is about. We'll see what I do with that. Back to the family room, it is large, has a fireplace, and windows that look out over the wooded backyard. It also has French doors onto the large deck. Since we have kids, we spend a lot of time in the family room.

Our current house was built in 1975, which means it has a lacking master bath. The new house has an incredible master bath, if you look beyond the purple plaid wallpaper and purple carpet. I plan to tile the bathroom floor. I know everyone says they never use their jetted tub. However, I am a bath person, and I am sure I will use it. (I'll get back to you in a couple of months...) The master bedroom has a fireplace, which I think is romantic. But, I am not sure how much we will use it. I have this idea in mind to have a fake bearskin run in front of the fireplace. My husband just rolls his eyes. Maybe I do have a little bit of romance in me...

The house has 4 1/2 baths, which is two more than we have now. I have told the kids it is time they learned to clean bathrooms. The seller offered me the name of her cleaning lady, but I think I will still be cleaning myself...

The seller had a room in the basement where she made and furnished doll houses. It has great light and she was delighted that I would be moving my quilting stuff in there.

I am hoping to entertain a little more in the new house. It has a great set up for that. Of course, it will be a while before we are ready for that. I am hoping to do a big party at Christmas.

After Thursday, I will have pictures to show you. Keep your fingers crossed that someone will buy our house soon.

Chapter 10 Check In

I found all the stuff about avoiding creating very interesting. I do tend to start the laundry, oh and do the dishes, and take out the trash... Well, you get it. I am not a workaholic because I don't have a job. I do have my kids, but they nap and go to school, so I do have some time. I probably cook dinner to avoid working on things sometimes.

Nothing I do would win a competition. However, I have seen a number of my high school friends/aquaintainces making careers out of being creative. One friend is a set designer for off-Broadway productions. Another person I knew in high school is an Oscar nominated actor. One of my best friends has 3 piano CD's out for which she not only played the music, she composed it all. So, I do see myself as being behind them. However, I also don't see myself as being the next Jinny Beyer, either, so I am pretty sure my quilting goals do not equal their goals for their art.

I do know that my t-shirt quilt has gotten many compliments and I will be receiving some more t-shirt quilt business. The person for whom I made it says everyone comments on how unique it is.

Artist's Date this week... I went to the quilt store and got fabric for my first Art Image challenge. I also shopped on-line for fun fabric paiints and some anti-chlor. That was all done in one afternoon, so I kind of see it as an Artisit's Date.

We closed on the new house today. It still does not feel real as we don't take possession until Thursday. The closing went very smoothly, for which I am grateful. Now to start taking down wallpaper...

Discharge Dying

I decided yesterday to try discharge dying. I don't know why I suddenly wanted to try it, but I did. I was thinking of using it in the first Art Image Challenge of the year. I had a Clorox Bleach Pen that I was going to use to do the bathroom floor, but then I didn't need it. So I pulled out a bunch of different fabrics. I did a wet and a dry sample of each. Then, while they were bleaching, I thought I would do some research. It turns out, I needed something called anti-chlor to make the bleaching process stop and keep my fabric from getting brittle. So I ordered it from Dharma Trading Company. (While on the website, I ordered some DynaFlow paints, too, like Jenny used in her first journal piece...) I rinsed them in water after I was done bleaching, and then threw them in the dryer.

I am not displeased with the results. My technique needs a little refining. Having the fabric wet kept the bleach from bleeding a lot. I think I will try using contact paper as a mask and spraying the bleach, too. But, I definately see how this could work into my first Art Image piece.

I look at the painting and see millions of individual snow crystals, all with hexagonal symmetry. I think that is what I am gong to explore for my piece. I have been researching snow crystals, and it is fascinating.

January Journal Quilt

Here is my finished January Journal Quilt. It actually is rectangular. It just didn't photograph that way. I'll try to take a better picture later and change it out.

It is all hand appliqued, which would explain why I was still working on it at midnight last night. The fish are all buttons. One of my kids helped put them on. I am on there rock climbing, relaxing on the beach (listening to Clay Aiken, according to Beth), and riding in a hot air balloon. The whole time I was working on this piece, Tim McGraw's song, "Live Like You Were Dying" was running through my head. I have no desire to sky dive, but I have hiked in the Rockies, and would love to again.

After visiting the Georgia Aquarium this morning, I have changed my overall journal quilts theme. Now it is water, so this one still fits in the theme.

You All and Your Magazines

I have been on a magazine buying freeze. But then I saw Quilting Arts at the grocery one day and had to have it. And then I read on someone's blog about Cloth Paper Scissors, and someone else mentioned Sumerset Studio. So I thought I would look when I was in JoAnn's today getting fish buttons. The two magazines had to come home with me along with Inspirations.

There was a huge back-up on the highway due to a broken-down tractor trailer, so I went the back way home. The back way goes right by the quilt store. One of my favorite quilters is teaching a class next month on fabric postcards. Now, I know I do not need to take a class on fabric postcards. But I love this teacher's style of just about everything she does. So I am going to take Melinda's class just because I want to be inspired. I stopped to register for the class and there was a new Designers' Quarters right by the register. It came home with me, too.

So now I think I am set with magazines for a while. Good thing these only come out quarterly...

January Journal Quilt Again and Chapter 8

Here is the background for my journal piece. I just laid it on top of the scanner and scanned. It looks a little different in real life, but not much. The colors are a little light in real life. Next I will add the trees. I am not sure how that will go. I will probably do it while watching tv. I am happy that I am on-track to finish it by my reveal date, next Saturday.

The funny thing about this week is that Chapter 8 of The Artist's Way is about time and I took it to heart. I think the central message was , "Stop fretting, stop planning, start doing." So that is what I did with this piece. I just went downstairs and started cutting and sewing. And I am very pleased with the results.

I love the idea of "Fill in the Form." Now, being an engineer, I first thought about it in terms of concrete. In order to build a structure, you have to start by building the foundation. Many buildings have a concrete foundation built by filling in molds called forms. Then I realized that Ms. Cameron wouldn't be thinking that way, but the analogy still worked. I like the idea of taking life one step at a time. Of course, I am not that type of person. In high school, I had my entire life planned out. Guess what? It didn't work out. I fell in love and had kids, neither of which were in my plan. I am not unhappy that I did either, though. This week I worked on just taking the next step. It will be a hard lesson to learn, but a very good one.

More on my Journal Quilt

I have the ocean appliqued down now. I used hand applique because I have a mental block against machine applique. Not that I am some sort of purist who thinks applique should only be done by hand. I have a personal block against it. I have actually tried machine applique a few times. I should take a class or buy a book. If anyone has any machine applique book suggestions, I would love to hear them.

I actually had a fun time doing the ocean. Next comes the mountain. I plan to do that during the Redskins' game this afternoon. I have not yet figured out how to do the trees, but I guess I had better hurry since it is due next Saturday. I am thinking of doing the Julies like paper dolls. I was thinking of using Timtex to make little people and then fusing fabric on them to dress them. I am going to try to find some fish buttons this week and perhaps some bird buttons, too. I have never added buttons, or beads or any sort of embellishment like that to a quilt, and I think it is high time I started.

Becky in Suriname completed her January Journal Quilt, and it is wonderful. I love the thread painting and want to try that myself someday.

Journal Quilt for January

Here is a sketch of my January Journal Quilt. There will be four little Julies on this quilt. One will be scuba diving, one will be snorkeling, one will be rock/mountain climbing, and the final one will be in a hot air balloon. Ok, French Impressionist I am not, but I get the idea from this picture. I think a lot of my journal pieces are going to have the ocean on them. I think I am just a beach bum at heart.

A new meme

Jen of Bayou Quilts tagged me to do this...

Four jobs you've had: concessions at the Columbia Cinemas, a salesperson in a vintage clothes shop, graduate student, engineer
Four movies you could watch over and over: Remember the Titans, Steel Magnolias, Varsity Blues, Field of Dreams
Four places you've lived: College Park, MD, Columbia, MD, Blacksburg, VA, Atlanta, GA
Four TV shows you love to watch: West Wing, Boston Legal, Two and a Half Men, Gilmore Girls
Four Places You've Been on Vacation: London, The Soviet Union (back when it was The Soviet Union,) Isle of Palms, SC, Disney World
Four Websites You Visit Every Day: About.com quilting forum, a number of blogs
Four Of Your Favorite Foods: French fries with ketchup, chicken salad, pizza from Ledos, shrimp
Four Places You'd Rather Be: The Beach, London, St. John, USVI, Disney World
Four Albums you can't live without: REM Eponymous, Jill Palmer's Wings to Fly, Jimmy Buffet's Songs You Know by Heart, and my new favorite is the soundtrack from Jersey Boys
Four People you'll pass this on to: Anyone else want to play? We did something like this when we started The Artist's Way and it helped to get to know each other.