Something About Nothing

And to all a good night. . .

There are so many awful things in this world to worry about:  Famine Slavery Wars Poverty Unjust Governments Tornados Earthquakes Tsunami's There is so much that needs to be fixed but yet right now I am selfishly grieving the loss of my laptop. This isn't a photo of my computer but it resembles the carnage that occurred when the laptop slipped from my hands yesterday.  I have been in a funk ever since and am doing my best to put the whole situation into perspective. There could be worse things going on in my life. I have a desktop I can use (if I can get my teenagers off of it). It is only a machine afterall. A machine that has a lot of my life on it. Thankfully that memory is all intact, it's only the viewing of the memory that is difficult.  I can connect the laptop to a moniter and use it as a desktop but it is still a loss I am working through.  I'm not ready to replace my beautiful red laptop yet but I will work through this and move on.

This year's Quilter's Holladay guild challenge was "One Star, few star, red star, blue star" or in other words, "Make a star quilt."  We had 10 beautiful entries.  Part of the fun of a challenge is not knowing who made which quilt, but when you've been in the guild for a little while you learn about a person's favorite color choices and the techniques that they like to use most and so you can make a pretty good guess at who the creator is.   I did pretty good at guessing this year but there was one which surprised us all.  More about that later.   Let's start with the first place winner . . . drum roll please. . . . Kaye Kaye likes bright colors and is so technically spot on with all of her projects.  These were little pieces and they were pieced perfectly. The second place winner was. . . .Nan Nan is one of the few who hand quilts still.  She has a great sense of color and beautiful stitches.  Ugh, my brain has gone blank as to who made this l

I've been busy trying to get Christmas presents made, which means I have a number of things made that cannot be posted here.  However among the Christmas deadline I also have other sewing deadlines I can share.  One is this Scrappy Zigzag quilt top I am hoping to teach at a retreat in the spring:  I will be adding one more black border before I quilt it.  I love the bright colors against the black background and for a real change of pace, I think it will be staying at my house.

We've had some big wind storms here in Utah last week. There were several trees that went down because of the wind being so strong.  One in particular caused our local power to go out at 4:30 a.m.  My girls were very disappointed that there was still power at the school.  After I sent them off to school I sat in the dark with a candle and suddenly noticed the beautiful patterns that were being cast by the candle.  I had to take photos.  Just a typical jelly jar with a grape motif.  But the designs were delightful The power was out all day and once the sun was up I crawled back into bed with a good book and snuggled down.  I was suppose to be cleaning and sewing but as I had been sick with a stomach bug the day before I thought it was a great excuse to spend some down time with the cats.  They didn't mind a bit. This is one of the many trees that came down in my neighborhood. This beautiful blue spruce which came up by the roots, was in my backyard neighbors yard.  The amazing

I know it's almost Christmas and I really shouldn't be buying things for myself but. . . I guess I will just be on Santa's naughty list.  After the Zentangle class my friend, Dawn, wanted to learn Zentangle using a book and there weren't any Zentangle books in the library.  We were shocked. We decided we should order some from the local bookstore: The Kings English.    She got this one on the basics and I bought this newer one. The books came in yesterday and Dawn picked them up for us.  I excitedly gave a quick look through and I am very happy about what is inside. I've been sick all week and unable to work on anything which has really put me behind on my projects.  Why are there so many deadlines in December?  (Sing that to "Why are their so many songs about rainbows " - it works nicely, not as pleasant but you know. . .)  So I guess I will have to put this new selfish purchase aside and get back to the grindstone.  I promise myself I will read and play

My quilt Tree Perspective  has been published in  One Line at a Time, Encore by Charlotte Warr Andersen . The quilt is part of the background for the Gallery title page as well as on it's own page. And if that isn't exciting enough for me, my quilt,  Flower Wreath  is also in the gallery section. The book shows you some easy ways to create great quilting patterns using the walking foot on your Home Domestic Machine. The book is published by C&T Publishing and is hopefully in your local quilt store very soon.

This was a relaxing way to spend a Sunday evening.  I didn't realize how out of balance this butterfly was until I was completely finished.  But somehow I like it anyway. I taught my youngest daughter, Annie, age 14, how to Zentangle and as usual she just took off with the concept.  Here is what she did while I made my butterfly:

This week I learned how to Zentangle  while attending the Utah  Surface Design Group. Here is the drawing I made at the meeting Just a sharpie pen and lots of fun lines. It's very relaxing. I loved the designs so much I just had to draw more the next morning: A very strange creature indeed but I like her. I love this bird I drew.  I wasn't brave enough to watercolor the bird on paper so I played with  the coloring in photoshop: Not bad but I would like more color.  I'm still not sure if I have the nerve to color the real drawing. Have you ever zentangled?

MMMM Oatmeal. I LOVE OATMEAL! Especially this oatmeal served at The Grove in San Francisco. Steel cut oats cooked overnight and served with fresh fruit, nuts and brown sugar.  My mouth waters thinking about it.  I've been craving this oatmeal for months.  I decided I wanted to make it here at home so I've been looking at mini crock pots to make it in.  Turns out my oldest daughter had a mini-crockpot she never uses so I borrowed it.  I found a recipe online that I thought said I could use regular oatmeal since I didn't have any steel cut oats or groats in the house.  I threw the oats, water, sugar, sliced up a nice apple and threw some crasins in the slow cooker wrote a sweet note for the family and went to bed. This is what greeted the family in the morning. I think I made pectin. :S And I want to throw up every time I look at this picture. So it's a big time failure. Do I cry and complain all day because I failed? I could. I could take it personally and say that I am

I'm a little slow posting but I am happy to announce the winner of the International Quilt Festival:  Quilt Scene magazine is: Sylvia  said... Carpooling with friends! Congratulations Sylvia!  I will contact you about getting your prize!

I've been watching and spying on Amy's Creative Side  blog for some time now.  Every year I watch as hundreds of people post a quilt entries into her Blogger's Quilt Festival and I always think "I should do that!" and then I doubt myself, "but what would I post, what would I enter?"  Time passes and I miss it entirely.  This year I decided I should post before it's too late (nothing like waiting until the last minute as it ends today!). Here is a photo of  "Sistah's Quilt"   before the binding went on because I was a dork and never took a picture of the quilt once it was completely finished.   Over the years I have made quilts for my children, husband and some friends but had neglected to make one for my sister.  I love my sister dearly and really felt terrible when I realized this great mistake.  I've made other things for her, just not a real quilt!  How could I let this happen?!?  I decided it was a mistake I must correct.  Last

I have been bursting for months to share a secret with you all. . . I have finally been published. I am doing the happy dance today! And because Interweave was nice enough to send me an extra copy of the magazine I am going to make someone else do the happy dance by giving it to one of my readers.  Please leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite way to go green and you will be entered to win a copy of Quilt Scene.   The drawing will close at midnight (mst) on Friday, November 4, 2011,.

Please click here because  I wanted to share this post with you from designer Bari J.   She gives a great message about being more than "just a mom," or "just a wife."

Here are the lovely ladies in their tie-dyed t-shirts.

My daughter's volleyball team came by this evening to dye some shirts for their Breast Cancer Awareness Game.   They were excited to get started and almost put bare hands in the soda ash. We were able to quickly save them with some vinyl gloves. Everyone seemed to have a great time. It's amazing how calm it all seems in these pictures. Some went fancy with lots of rubber bands while others went more "plain." A big thumbs up for a job well done. I can't wait to see how they all turn out!