The JOY of NEW BLADES!!!

After a busy Saturday in the shop, It's finallly quiet.  I'm taking this afternoon to play around

with un-traditional caesar's crown blocks.  

I've been cutting for the last 15 minutes, or should I say hacking around the templates.

We burn through a lot of blades.  We don''t really notice them dulling down.

Epiphany!!  Why don't I put in a fresh blade?  JOY !!!_ CARTWHEELS!!!_ECSTACY!!!

Go forth an do something wonderful for yourself......don't let dullness sneak up on you!

Put in a wonderfully sharp new blade and esperience the wonderment for yourself.

A fun new way to mess with your grand babies little minds!!!

I've found a GREAT new use for our frixon pens!  Today. I sent them a letter

In invisible ink...with this poem attached

In REAL ink:

I'm sending a message 

In Magical ink !

Right now you can't see it,

So let's give it a think!

If you were an Eskimo,

And your home was of ice...

Then you could read it,

Maybe once, maybe twice!

There's a picture to color,

But I know you can't tell,

Too bad...so sad...

It's really quite swell!

There's a clue in this letter,

This letter you hold,

You can't read it in summer,

You'll have to wait till it's cold!

Grandma loves you!

I tried writing on paper, ironing it to

Make it disappear and then putting

It in the freezer.  Works great.

The ink comes right back.

Linda

,

Talked to Pat Wys again today!

Last night, I realized that I had made a horrible scheduling mistake.  I had forgotten to put our

up-coming Gail Garber workshop on the calendar, and inadvertantly scheduled Pat to come the

next day.

BIG SNAFU!!   That would make it impossible for many of our customers to be here for Pat's

book signing event and WE would be totally pooped!

She graciously agreed to move the Book Signing to Saturday June 20th.  This also enables

her to accept an invitation  for a book signing at  Stitch N' Quilt in Mableton, Ga. on July l8th.

(She's wonderful!!)

By the way...I seem to have developed a talent for losing things within a very small area.  I mean

things that are never seen again, even though I KNOW  they can't be anywhere else.  My daughter

has suggested that if she ever has a DEAD BODY to dispose of, she's bringing it to me. (She's

not homicidal, just a big fan of murder mysteries.)  However, you never know.....with my recent

track record........

Hug Doodles,

Linda

Talked to Pat Wys Today!

Today, Pat Wys called the shop to confirm that she will be here on Saturday, July 18th.

We are having a BOOK SIGNING PARTY, to celebrate the publication of Pat's 3rd book, 

"Handmade Christmas Cheer".

This is a party....there is no fee to join us.  Everyone LOVES Pat!  She is a ton of fun.  If you

haven't had the opportunity to meet her, just ask anyone who's ever taken one of her classes!

We will have copies of her new book available for purchase,  if you don't have it already.

She will be bringing the actual projects that are featured in the new book, so you also don't

want to miss the opportunity to see them up close and personal!

She called our shop "One of Georgia's best kept secrects" when she was here last year.

We were tickled to bits that she also called us "An inspiration shop!"

We are sooo looking forward to seeing her again, and we are hoping for a lot of people to come

and help us make her feel  truly welcome.

Hug Doodles,

Linda

This is Teresa!

Well here goes (for the second time!)  I was going to town and hit something that erased all of my blog!  I'll try not to do that again!  I miss seeing everyone and talking with you all. Linda tells me she gets asked almost daily how I'm doing. That is hard for her to answer so she asked me to start blogging for that and other reasons.   I am CANCER FREE for now!  I am still getting a treatment every other week.  My doctor hasn't said how much longer that will go on.  I am lucky in that the drug they are giving me isn't really a chemo drug although it is classified with them.  So no bad side effects for me.  I guess making me tired is the worst of it. I go this week to see the plastic surgeon and se what he wants to do.  I would love to be fixed!  I hope there is something he can do so I can eat again.  Do you realize that it has been almost 2 years since I have bitten, chewed, and tasted real food?  Well enough of that!  I have been quilting and sewing just like before.  That is what has kept me sane.  Thank God for that.  Well, that's all for tonight.  Take care everyone.  I love you all. 

My 2nd Blog!

It occured to me that the title of my 1st blog was a little bit bragadocious! (I'm so impressed with

me.)  Most folks who know me well know that I'm something of a LUDITE.  Not a big fan of

technology.   I often feel that I've somehow been born in the wrong century.

Before we had so many ways to "be in touch without ever being face to face" life seemed more

peaceful and personal.  I remember growing up in a small community where everyone knew

everyone else.  Very few cars meant that people walked to get where they wanted to go (they'd

laugh their socks off to see us PAYING to go to the gym to exercise.!)  With no air conditioning,

people sat on the porch to cool off...so they talked to the folks walking by.  

Telephones had party-lines, so if you were nosy, you could listen in and REALLY get to know the

neighbors!

Now, even my children are so busy that they'd rather have a e-mail that they can see whenever it's

convenient, than a phone call that might interrupt what they are doing.

With all that being said, I had made my major life goal to get to my grave without learning to use

a computer.  I  HAVE FAILED!!!!    It finally became apparant that the shop had to be able to join

the modern world.  (I'd like to point out , however, that pencils still work when computers go down!)

Therefore, I only  reluctantly joined the modern world in August 2014.  

So....I've been computing  all of 8 months....and suddenly I think total strangers might want to

know what I'm doing and thinking about.   See the evil lure of technology?

HUG-DOODLES

Linda

My very first blog ----I'm so impressed with ME!

Everyone who knows me well, knows that most of my days away from the shop are spent

working on something FOR the shop.

This past Sunday, I gave myself a "play-day".  Ever since Teresa and I envisioned the HST 

stencil, we've looked for ways to simplify traditional blocks using squares and HST's.

Here, I'm playing with the Stars and Cubes Block.  First published in the early 20th century in

The Household Management Journal of Batavia, IL.

This block requires 32 HST units.  (Exactly what our l", l-l/2", 2", and 2-1/2" stencils yield.)

I chose the 2" finished HST stencil, crisp whit and Cotton & Steel's pink Mochi fabric.

First, I used graph paper to make sure my idea would work.

Then I cut one white and one pink 12-1/2" square,  and marked the white one with the entire

stencil. 

After that, I cut (8) pink 2-1/2" squares, (12)  white 2-1/2" squares and (4) 6-1/2"  squares.

I first sewed all  19 of the flying goose units.  After  setting the seams, I sprayed with Flatter

as I pressed the blocks.  (It lives up to it's name and helps to relax the fabric and make the

seam lie flatter.)

Then I made 6 pairs of pink squares.

I laid out the pieces as they will be sewn and made the 8-1/2"  units when sewn together.

Then it's just a matter of joining the units to complete the  block.

 Since, I've cut lots of HOUSE Templates for the Good Neighbors quilt....I ran through parts and

pieces of houses as leaders and enders.

After sewing this block with squares and HST's, I would write future directions using (4) 2-1/2 x

4-1/2" rectangles and (1) 4-1/2"  square to eliminate extra seams.

Here's my finished block.

I also included a shot of my design wall, sewing station and ironing boar snuggled right beside 

the machine to save time.

This is my block.  Sewn, marked for quilting, pin basted and ready to quilt with the wqlking foot.

YEAH.  It's finished and hanging in the shop above our HST display.

WOO-HOO....Linda