All posts for the month November, 2011

A different Black Friday

For the past several years, Black Friday has signaled the end of my holiday shopping. It’s something that I do with my daughter to wrap up the commercial side of things so we can enjoy the holiday season as a family without the frantic financial scrambling.

This year, my new job required that I work on Friday after Thanksgiving, so I wasn’t able to spend the time with my girl and I missed it, especially wrapping up the day with either a massage or a mani/pedi. I did manage to wrap up the holiday shopping though thanks to the online deals.

I do have a few more things to get but I’m waiting for the school fund raiser on December 10, 2011 in order to do that.

Found another Stitch along / reason to post a blog…

So I was looking at Measi’s Musings and saw her list of SAL’s for next year…and found another SAL that I would be willing to join.

The Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long is an easy one to join. I collect my ORT’s every year and at the end of the year I turn them into an ornament. Up to December I keep them all in an old bath salts jar so it should be easy enough to turn it into a monthly blog post.

I did think briefly about the Oldest UFO SAL but that doesn’t quite work with my plans for the WIPocalypse and just for the record my oldest UFO is 30 years old also.

My First Quilt Retreat…

I haven’t quilted in quite some time. And Pamela of FrenchKnots posted about a retreat she was doing. I had just been hired for my new job and it would be after a few paychecks so I felt I could afford the really reasonable rate. Then I noticed it was Friday and Saturday. Well, duh, new job!! No way I could take off. So I emailed Pam to see if I could get a reduced rate since I would be missing half of the retreat. I ended up using the amount of the discount to sign up for the hand applique class. Let’s face it, a class always teaches something if you’re willing to learn. So from there it was anticipation…

Have I mentioned how much I love my job? This week I wrapped up a bunch of my projects early and during lunch, when asked about weekend plans I mentioned I was going to my first quilt retreat and was hoping to leave a little early so I could drive down to it. My boss told me to cut out right after lunch. I said I would after I wrapped up a few things. So an hour later she pings me and asks why I’m still at my desk. I said I was tracking down an answer for a question she had, she told me it would wait until Monday and leave. I love my boss!!

The map on the iPhone got me straight to the retreat and there were treats left over from lunch. I really tried to be good and heaped my plate with bell pepper, celery and a flavorful mild salsa. Then I took one of the smallest treats with chocolate on them and my diet went out the window for the weekend.

I had several items I brought to work on but what jumped out of the bag first was my Christmas quilt from way back when. It took me a little while to figure out where I was on it and to realize that I only had the black bobbin in my machine and hadn’t brought any spares. That’s when I met Emily of Crazy Old Ladies Quilts who offered me one of hers.

I got myself sorted out and then we made a run for Just Sew in Alpine. I picked up some nice Christmas prints since I think I’m missing parts of at least one block for my Christmas quilt. We got back just in time for dinner and the Applique Class…

The main thing I learned in class is that I’ve forgotten a lot and I love white charcoal pencils now. The teacher also gave me instructions on how to make a sandpaper board which looks easy enough and I have all the supplies in the garage (yes, I have masonite in my garage on a regular basis).

I’ll finish up the rest of the retreat and post pictures later…Now, back to work on my ponies.

3 Comments

by shondratasha on November 21, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in quilting, working

Posted by shondratasha on November 21, 2011

https://shondratasha.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/my-first-quilt-retreat/

And the WIPocalypse is coming…

So Annette pointed out Measi’s Musings about the WIPocalypse and frankly it sounds like a good idea. I’m not as ambitious as Measi so what I’m looking at is a 12 project rotation with pieces from my WIP Killers list and a few canvas pieces thrown in as well. I figure that one month of work on a lot on my older WIPS will do them good. The question now is do I work on each piece for a full month or do I work on my normal 10 hour rotation with a 5 hour stint on a focus piece in between?

If I don’t finish the Carousel horses then all four of them will be in the WIPocalypse rotation. Then comes the pieces which are closest to being finished – an original canvas design dubbed IVY and Fire Dancer. And as a counterpoint to the TW’s I have I’ll throw in Mirabilia’s Autumn Queen. I’m also throwing in Dragon Dream’s Fairy Tale Sampler. I’ve finished this one once but I wanted to have one for each son and this is the 2nd.

Then I’ve put in a weaving piece and two more canvas pieces as well as one more small stitching piece. This is all subject to change within the next two months though.

3 Comments

by shondratasha on November 9, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in hobbies, Stitching, WIPocalypse

Posted by shondratasha on November 9, 2011

https://shondratasha.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/and-the-wipocalypse-is-coming/

Winter Horse at the start of November

So here we are at the start of November, I’m proud of how well I’ve done concentrating on the Carousel Horses but I’m definitely ready for a different stitching project. Winter is getting close to being finished but I’m so tired of stitching on it right now. Maybe I’ll toss in a Christmas ornament. However, I’ve done so well. I can make it for 2 more months. After all, it’s only 7 more weeks.

Just So you Know