How ironic that I check my old blog tonight and see that it's been exactly 8 years today since I made my last post. 


8 years ago I was going thru health, personal, and work problems.  I basically worked and slept.  Quit sewing.  Packed all my quilting stuff up and moved it to the shop outside.  I felt so bad all the time and couldn't focus on anything and was just overwhelmed with the shear volume of STUFF I had.  Fabric, books, UFOs, just too much stuff I could barely breath to think about it.  So I just stopped doing anything.   For 8 years. 


Yep, I've just recently started sewing again.  Over the years I did think occasionally that I'd take quilting back up and I'd dig a UFO out of the shed or buy fabric for a quilt.  But I never got very far with any project.  A few blocks here and there.  A quilt cut out but never sewn.  Just couldn't get motivated.  Even after I retired on disability 6-1/2 years ago.  I just slept and read and played stupid computer games.


So now I'm sewing again and taking it slowly trying to not get overwhelmed.  I participated in a mystery quilt with a FB group a few months ago and really enjoyed that.  Not my favorite quilt I've ever done but not bad.  Just have to get the borders on.  LOL!  I always did stall when it came to borders.  :-)  I have a few small projects I've completed.  And I mean really completed.  Quilting and all!  Of course they were both very small.  A Memorial Day wall hanging.  A small miniature sailboat quilt (Quiltmaker's July mini block).  I'm currently working on a scrappy bricks quilt because my box of 2-1/2" bricks was overflowing.  And Bonnie Hunter's new Tumbler leaders/enders challenge.  That cleared out a lot of 3-1/2" strips and squares.  I plod along slowly working when I feel good and sitting with my feet propped up and reading or working on handwork when I hurt too bad to sit at the sewing machine.


I've started to make hexies and LOVE IT  I never "got" EPP before but it's really relaxing and fun!  And I'm actually HAND QUILTING again.  Yes it takes longer but I really, really, REALLY suck at machine quilting and you know what?  I no longer have to work.  Which means I have plenty of time to hand quilt.  And I don't have to turn out 20 quilts a year.  I can just plod along and have fun as I go.  And I AM having fun.  I told David a few weeks ago, it's GOOD to feel excited about something again.  It's been so long since I felt anything but apathy.  Just plodded along days passing without doing much of anything at all.  But now I get up and sew for a while each morning while it's still cool in the office where my machine is set up now.  Once noon hits, it gets too hot in there so I sit in my recliner and play on the computer or do handwork.  Or I sit at the kitchen table and sort totes .  I bring a tote at a time inside and dig thru to see what I have.  Stacks and stacks of tops.  Lots of fabric.  2, 3, 10 yards cuts!  Fat quarters out the wazoo.   And 2 large totes FULL of scraps!   I've wrapped all my yardage on magazine boards so they fit neatly in my stash cabinets.  Wrapped 1/2 to 1 yd cuts on boards cut in quarters as they fit nicely on the shelves in front of the yardage.  And invested serious bucks on plastic shoeboxes for the small cuts of fabric (fat eight thru 1/2 yard cuts).  Anything about 6"X12" up to a fat eighth goes in a sweater-sized box for making scrappy samplers type quilts or just to try out block patterns with.  Anything smaller gets cut into strips, squares and bricks.  I'm just doing a little each day and trying not to let it overwhelm me.  So far, so good.


Once I relearn how to do pictures on here I'll have photo documentation of my new journey.  Until then I hope to posted progress a few times a week.  I find that as I work on stuff I want to blog about it like I used to.  I guess quilting and blogging will be forever linked in my brain. 


And now it's midnight and no longer officially 8 years since my last blog post so I need to get to bed.


Happy stitching. 
nancyquilts

I believe I promised pictures

When I went to my brothers wedding a few weeks ago I had plans to shop hop my way across Texas and Louisiana on the way. I had my list of shops with maps on how to get to them and had figured where I could fit in 2 or 3 of them along the way depending on how my time was going finishing up with the shop in Vicksburg where we were planning to go after I met up with Susan. WELL best plans and all I ended up leaving almost 3 hours later than I'd planned which barely left me time to get to Vicksburg in time to pick up Susan where she was being dropped off by her son. By the time we met up and got her stuff transferred to my car and drove to the quilt shop it was about 5 minutes until time for them to close so we didn't even bother going in. I worked in retail long enough to know you're not always the most welcome customer of the day when you come in right at closing time! And even if that hadn't been the case we would have felt rushed and wouldn't have been able to enjoy our shopping.

Oh well. There's worse things to miss out on so we pulled our bottom lips back in and went on with the rest of our plans for the evening. We met up with our older brother, had a lovely supper at a local seafood place, and stopped by the dollar store for some playing cards to while away the evening with.

Next morning we got up, went out for breakfast, and then back to the room to play cards until it was time to get ready for the wedding. We were sitting there having just dealt the second hand when Susan said, "You know the quilt shop probably opens by 10 and we don't have to leave for the wedding until around 12:30. if we'd thought about it ahead of time we could have run back into Vicksburg (about 20 miles away) for breakfast this morning and been at the quilt shop when they opened." At which time we both looked at the clock (which said 9:30), looked at each other, laid our cards down and told our older brother he could either stay or come with us but we were going shopping! LOL!

I'll leave it up to Susan to tell you about her purchases but these are mine.
First up is this grouping. As is my normal habit if I shop with no particular project in mind I like to wander around a store until a particular fabric grabs my eye and then pull co-ordinates to go with it. On that day the caladium fabric is the one that caught my eye and hooked me in. Not knowing what I was doing with it I did my standard 3 yards of the focal fabric and 1 to 2 yards of each of the go withs. 2 of them are 1-1/2 yd cuts and the others are a little over 1 and almost 2 as that was what was left on each of those cuts. I've since found a pattern I think will be nice made from them. Just have to finish up a few other things first before I can start cutting.

These items also followed me home. The fabric on the top captured my fancy. I don't know why but I just had to have it. I love the colors which might show up better if you pull the picture up bigger. Don't know what I'll use it in but one day I'll find the perfect use for it. I bought all the had which was around 2 yds.

The purple and lime green print on the bottom was - once again - bought just because it's purple and lime green. I'm not sure why I've been drawn to that color combo lately but since this is the second purple/lime piece I've bought in the last few month I have a feeling I'll be collecting those colors for awhile and have already started looking for a pattern to use them in.

And the cat pattern of course had to come home with me to join all the other cat patterns I have waiting their turn to be made. Surprisingly I could not find a single cat fabric in the whole store except for a few of the 30s prints. Can you imagine that? A quilt shop without cat fabric!

So that was it for the shopping trip. And I haven't sewn a stitch since I returned although I did just set my machine up on the kitchen table so I can sew tonight. I have a top about half assembled from the cat fabric I bought on my shopping trip I talked about a few months ago. Hopefully I'll have that top to show tomorrow. I'm hoping that will jump start me back into a quilty mood as I've sure not had any motivation at all lately.

And if you've stuck with me thru this long post I'll also share a picture I took a few days ago. This is a vacant lot just down the road from me. We see deer here all the time but usually just 2 or maybe 3 at a time.

I knew the day was bound to come. I've been blocked from blogging from work. Not only can I not post I can't get to any of your blogs. When I try I get a notice that "interpersonal relationship and personal sites are blocked". :-( :-( :-( So I guess you'll be seeing even less of me than before because I did most of my reading/commenting at odd spare moments at work. I did discover that I can still read thru bloglines BUT the pictures don't come up so what use it it if I can't SEE what you're talking about! Oh well, I've been expecting it as "personal sites" were blocked a long time ago as was yahoo mail, gmail, etc.

This was a 'Harry Potter" week. :-) First David and I saw the 5th movie on Wednesday. It was good. Not as comprehensive as the book but then I didn't expect they could do justice to the longest book in a little over 2 hours! I do enjoy the movies but the books are sooooooo much better. Then Saturday morning I was at our local Walmart shortly after they opened at 7am to get my copy of the last book. I got home around 8, started a load of laundry, sat down to read and didn't get up (except to swap clothes from the washer to the dryer and use the bathroom) until around 5 pm when I finished the book! And then just because I didn't feel like doing anything on Sunday - I read it again! This after spending the last few weeks re-reading the other 6 books so I'm pretty much Harry Pottered out. LOL! I enjoyed the last book very much. It was all I had hoped it would be but that's ALL you'll get out of me cause there are some unfortunate souls who haven't had the chance to read it yet. :-)

There has been absolutely NO sewing going on here in a very long time. My sewing room is a mess and the table is piled high with fabric I've been gathering up from around the house. Guess I should find some time to put it away and maybe I'd be able to set my sewing machine up again. Not that I really have much time but I'd sure like to go back to at least sewing a few seams a day if nothing else. I spend about 2 hours a day (including travel to and changing in and out of my swimsuit) at the gym. Sure does cut into my "ME" time but right now that's just the way it has to be. And I've gotten so addicted to it I really do miss it on weekends when I don't go! I'm not sure if I've lost any more weight as I only weigh at the beginning of each month. But I FEEL better. A LOT better! And I have more energy and stamina so even if the pounds aren't dropping I know I'm getting healthier and the pounds will follow in their own sweet time. Now add no blogging except at home and that will cut into my sewing time even more. So don't expenct much in the way of quilty content for quite a while. If I have anything to share it just might have to be the small section of a block I manage to get done that day instead of the whole block. LOL!

I did get a picture of the fabric I bought when Susan and I had retail therapy in Vicksburg a few weeks ago but I left my camera cord at work so can't download them here to share. In fact when I tried to post those from work Friday is when I found I couldn't blog from there any longer. Gotta remember to get that cord today so maybe pictures to share tonight.

Better get to work. I'm trying to go in at 7 so I can get off by 3:30 or 4. That will at least get me to the gym an hour earlier so maybe that will give me a bit of sewing time in the evening if I can get home by 6 instead of the almost 7 it has been lately.

Meet Timmy (Tammy?)

This is Timmy(Tammy?) Isn't he(she?) cute? David says NO MORE INSIDE CATS! Timmy (and Nancy) have other thoughts on the subject. :-) We'll see who wins.

Absolutely NO quilty content so skip if that's what you're looking for. :-)

Thought I'd better check in again. I know I promised pictures of the booty from when Susan and I had retail therapy in Vicksburg but you're assuming that after 9 days I've unpacked the car. Which I haven't! I do have to unpack it tonight so I can take it to the shop tomorrow so maybe pictures in a day or so.

But I do have pictures to share. I believe I promised pics of new kitties. :-) First let's set the stage.
This is Bo. He lives next door. Isn't he pretty?


These are 2 of the latest litter of kittens to appear. Bo tried to deny responsibility but since all our toms are black or gray we're not buying that. Think we should sue for child support? LOL! Unfortunately as beautiful as they are they are totally wild as they were pretty good sized before we got the first glimpse of them. There were 5 in this litter. Which brings us up to 14 kittens!!!!! And of the whole bunch only ONE is tame. A little yellow/white lad(we think) that David has named Timothy or Timmy for short. If he does in fact turn out to be a girl then that'll just get changed to Tammy.

I went shopping yesterday for a birthday gift for a co-worker who turns 50 next week. (BIG EVIL GRIN!) Really it's not TOOOOO bad. Especially since I turn 50 in January and he has assured me he WILL remember any and all tackiness heaped upon him at his party. LOL! Can't show a picture of what I bought just in case he reads my blog. (I don't think so but as he's been shown stuff on it before I can't say for sure he doesn't read it.) But I can show off MY new desk toy. A new stress reliever to join my slinky. (I mean WHO can be stressed when playing with a slinky?)


Isn't it pretty? But not as pretty as what's inside. :-)



I'm really surprised I was able to get as good a picture as I did with just holding the camera lens up to the eyepiece. I guess I lied as this kinda DOES have quilty content. As the sales clerk was ringing up my purchases she commented that these fascinated her because she was a quilter and thought these would make wonderful quilt designs! I laughed and told her I was a quilter too and had always been fascinated by kaleidoscopes. I just love the color and texture. And if you don't like one pattern then just a quick turn and you have a whole new look. I'll admit I didn't get too much done yesterday afternoon as I spent too much time playing with my new toy. :-)

Tomrrow I'm going to take a day off to run errands in the AM and then in the afternoon my hubby and I have a date to go see the new Harry Potter movie. :-) We haven't had date day in a LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG time so it's way past due. We do try to eat out somewhere nice every few weeks but it's not the same thing as holding hands in a dark movie theatre. LOL! Which unfortunately will probably be filled with screaming kids who've been dropped off by their parents at the "movie day care". But I'm not going to let that spoil my time. And I will break my diet for popcorn cause what's a movie at the theatre without popcorn. LOL!

Guess I'd better get back to work and get something done today since I'm taking tomorrow off. That is IF I can leave my new toy alone. LOL!

I'm still here!

Thought I'd better make a short post to let ya'll know I'm still alive and well. Just not doing any sewing right now. I have been shopping a few times and as soon as I get some pictures taken I'll share my booty along with the stories that go with them.

Got my brother married off. On 07-07-07. Sure hope that "lucky" day is indeed lucky for him. I have my doubts bout this wedding as the bride is much younger (20+ years) than the groom but that's their business and he'll never hear of my doubts from my lips. As long as he's happy - which he does appear to be - then I'm happy. Heck he's just a big kid who never grew up himself so maybe it is a perfect match. I hope so. I am dissappointed in his 2 daughters who couldn't be bothered to show up for the wedding. I guess I didn't really expect them to but they should have shucked their disapproval long enough to do the right thing and at least make a short appearance. But I have to agree with Susan who said, "I sure hope their daddy remembers this next time either of them want him to fix their car!" He's not one to really hold a grudge but it's gonna take him a long time to get over their slight and I'm just sorry he had his day spoiled in that way.

I continue to go to the gym. I've been doing PT 3 times a week and "graduated" yesterday from that. i/e: I've used all the visits that insurance approved. :-) So today I join the gym so I can continue. I was talking with Bruce, the owner of the gym, yesterday who was telling me so many people finish their PT and then don't continue on with their exercise. I'm thinking what a waste of the money spent on the PT if you don't plan to follow thru! I assured him he would see me there 3 to 5 times every week. And that in fact I was there because I went to my doctor and asked what form of exercise I could do to help me in my weight loss efforts but that wouldn't hurt my bad joints. She immediately suggested water exercise and then we decided what I needed was guidance in setting up a plan that would work for me and that I'd stick with. So she set up the PT so I would have supervised exercise for a few weeks that I could in turn continue on my own. Bruce has advised me to continue with the water exercises for another month to 6 weeks at which time he thinks I should do pool exercise 3 times a week and work out in the gym 2 days. At that time he'll have someone work with me to show me the ins and outs of the machines and explain how each work and what muscle groups they benefit so I can get the best workout to help me become more fit. All this for $35 a month!

Better get busy as my co-worker is on vacation this week so I'm trying to do what has to be done of my job and hers and falling behind on all if it!

Taking a short break

This is just a short note to let you know I'm taking a little break from blogging. I've been trying to do other things at home besides sitting on the computer so I've not even taken it out of it's case but a time or 2 in the last week. I do skim thru my bloglines during breaks at work so I can keep up with you all but have had very little time to leave comments.

I've been going to the gym 3 times a week doing water aerobics and have lost another 3 lbs in the past 2 weeks. A definate improvement over the 10 lbs lost in the first 3 months of my diet! This more than anything else has made me see I have to be more active and spend less times on the more sedentary tasks I normally spend my free time on.

I've been doing a little sewing so when I come back in a week or so I should have things to share. Oh and we have more new kittens! But the pictures are at home so you'll have to wait for those too.

My younger brother is getting married on July 7th so I'll be making a trip back home next week and I'm sure Susan and I will find a little time to get in some quilty trouble. :-)

Have a lovely couple weeks and I'll probably be back in mid July after I get back from the wedding.