Klutz Glove needed

I had an accident with the rotary cutter this afternoon.

As I was cutting a HST, my right index finger was just a little too close to the ruler's edge and I cleanly sliced off the tip of my finger.

Gasping, crying, bandages, tylenol, ointment cream and typos is how I'd describe the rest of my day.

By far, this is my worse cut. It still badly stings 9 hours and 4 tylenols later. I've been able to keep it from bleeding all over the place, but I'm so drained from the constant ache!

Hopefully tomorrow will be better... and maybe I can finish cutting my HSTs - one piece is still in mid-slice! :P

Leah

I can close my closet doors!

Whee! I got found my sewing machine. ;) Ok, so it wasn't missing... but certainly unusable among the mess!

Those big stacks of fabric from my last post? All into the closet now. Best of all, I can close my closet doors! ;)

I'm sure I've posted my sewing set up a few times, well, I turned one table 90 degrees and basically made a "triangle" arrangement, like it was recommended in Lois Hallock's Create Your Perfect Quilting Space.

And look! Floor! It's not even hidden with bins. :D Obviously I still have a bit of a mess to deal with, but trust me, it's a thousand times better!! You can come over now. ;)

One highly amusing point about my sewing room; I've managed to lose at least 2 needles, drop countless of pins and safety pins. I'm in that room almost all day, half of the times on my hands and knees and never get jabbed or find my missing needles. My husband stops by (meaning, he actually felt brave enough to step in the room) and in just 5 minutes he finds a pin that I never knew was there. :P

Time to clean the rest of the apartment! My parents come in 15 hours... and I have to sleep during some of them! :P

Leah

Wanna help me clean?

So, can you see my sewing machine? No? Me either...

This is all the fabric I picked up from the FLOOR. Never mind the fabric in the closet or bins!

Yup, I'm cleaning in anticipation of my parents arrival tomorrow. Tomorrow!! :D Eeps. I'm can feel myself getting excited. :)

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Just for kicks, here's something I posted on a forum about busting the stash/not buying so much. I really do feel like I have ENOUGH fabric! I mean, that picture alone is about 175 yards.

One of the things that really helped me feel "full" on fabric is to organize it. Sort it by color, type, theme... whatever YOU like for your fabric. "Re-handling" all your fabric again can really drive home how much you have.

For me, it was when I moved. Oh man, 3, 4, 5, 6, boxes of fabric (keep in mind each box held about 150-250 yards). And it just kinda blew me away with how many yards I have (yes, over a thousand, probably not 2000).

I think it's important to realize that we also need to USE our fabric! There was an estate sale in another state for a quilter - she had 15,000 yards. No kidding!!! They sold it off at $1/yard. While many of us would love to have been at that sale... it's kinda sad. That all that money and time she put into buying all that fabric did nothing for her or her family. It ended up being "pawned off" to strangers. It wasn't lovingly passed onto friends and family members who would treasure and appreciate her efforts. I don't want that to happen to my fabric. I want it to get used.

Another idea is to take 50 yards of fabric - be it 50 one-yard pieces or 10 five-yard pieces. Fold them up all the same way and stack them on top of each other. Wow. It's not looking like very much, is it? Yet 50 yards can make quite a few quilts!

From 50 yards you should get...
12 baby quilts
9 lap quilts
6 twin quilts
3 double/queen quilts
2 king quilts.

(And my figures are being generous... I bet you could take the scraps afterwards and whip up another quilt or two. Yes, I'm counting backings too).

I have been cleaning my apartment - and my quilting room - in anticipation of my parents coming over tomorrow. My room has been messy for a long time - I found stuff from last October! But as I've been cleaning, I've been folding and stacking up fabric. I have about 25 yards of hand dyed fabrics that are neatly stacked. Using that as my "guideline", I'm guessing I picked up 175 yards off of the floor. Yeah! That's either fabric I've bought in the past year, or likely used in quilt. A few pieces were being "auditioned" for possible quilts and I didn't put them back afterwards.

I've already started about 15 quilts this year, and I've completed 7. It's not like I buy fabric just to have more of it, but I'm actually using it up... but I'm not using it up as fast as I buy it!! All in all, I'd wildly guess that I've *used* 100 yards. That's not really a big dent in whole pile of fabric, especially because I'm still buying!

So, I have enough fabric. Time to start using it up. I have some family members who still don't have quilts. And by using it up, I remove the "guilt" over future purchases. And I get to feel good about myself using fabric and giving quilts.

Plus, when I die, I don't want somebody being overwhelmed with my stash! I want them to go through a stack or two and say "ohh! Look at that green piece, she used it in both of my boys quilts." "Mine too! And I think I spotted a bit of that blue in the couch quilt she made. She was very talented with the machine. I'm gonna miss her."

And not... "oh crud... what in the world are we gonna do with all that fabric?! Does the Goodwill take it?"

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Still, if you wanna come over and help me clean... you might get rewarded with some fabric. ;) (No, don't come over, I haven't had a shower in a few days, and I figured I'm gonna sweat some more, so I'll shower tonight!)

Leah

Boys quilt done

First off, my rash is pretty much gone. I spent a good 3 weeks itching myself like crazy, then it started to ease off. I never did find a doctor, but I am completely following the pityriasis rosea rash "time line" and symptoms. If you look closely, you still can see discolored skin spots (like it was sunburned) and in the places that I itched really hard still have a roughness to the skin. But all the pain and discomfort is gone! :)

I finished 2 customer quilts, put the last stitch in on Sunday. Got them washed and was very happy to see that the fabric pens I bought didn't fade at all.

I love the blue in the firetruck quilt, it looks like water or a blue flame. Quilted with loops and stars.

This was my first time sewing on a separate label BEFORE the quilting. I feel better about it too, it's not going to be easy for somebody to just run a seam ripper around the label's edge; they would have to undo some quilting too.

The dinosaur quilt made in checkerboard style. Quilted with a meander.

Both quilts are 36" square, great nap quilts and I hope the boys who will be receiving them love their quilts. :)

Leah

August is Over!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gah. August was such a slump month for me. Between the heat, school starting again and the hit on our wallets, I wasn't very good at putting my best foot forward.

But it's finally September, and while the bumps in the road were real, I know part of my slump was just because it was August. My bad month, if you will. 4th year in a row. :P

My sewing machine is cleaned up again with same day service - no issues were found, and I didn't think there would be any, it was just making a bad sound. The tension was still beautiful, the needle wasn't hitting anything, I hadn't gone over a pin recently. Must have picked up my bad mood about August. ;)

The good news for September is that my parents are coming over for the first time!! Yes, I've been married for over 3 years and there hasn't been time before for them to come over. But lately they've been MAKING the time for little trips and I'm next! I'm looking forward to showing my mom the sewing room... but it needs a serious overhauling in the 12 days I have left to prepare! eek. :D

Pictures in the next post - camera's still working, just haven't been taking the time to grab it lately. :)

Leah

What you do NOT want to hear...

From your sewing-machine-clueless husband, "Leah, I think somethings wrong with your machine."

*insert cuss word of your choice*

Oh boy. I don't know which puts more fear in me, hearing that your car's check engine light is on or hearing that your sewing machine of your dreams is making a funny rattling sound. Heh, probably the car, cuz it's more expensive.

And yes, I did everything I know of - cleaned the lint (maybe I should try vacuuming), oiling it with sewing machine oil, changing the needle, wiping everything spotless. And hubby said that it sounds better... but still "off". So I asked him if I should take it in. He said yes, without hesitations. Yikes, that's a bad sign!

But me without my sewing machine? That's like... not breathing! Lucky me, I'm going to Tucson on Tuesday and I'll drop off my machine at the Bernina Sewing Center. Ugh. My baby! How long will I have to be without my machine?

I hate August. Seems like the most expensive month every single year we've been married. Car troubles, now my sewing machine.

Oh, by the way, we also bought a laptop too. :P

Leah

Done with Harry Potter

I finished the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in about 30 hours. But that'd explain why I disappeared a bit. ;) Good book, a part of me wishes there was a little more romance.

Now for a rash update. Peni suggested that I might have Pityriasis Rosea. Huh? Yeah, a google search turned up some interesting results. But really mattered to me was that I was strongly matching it's given symptoms.

I like to call it The Pity Rash. ;) Picture of my tummy is pretty much at one of it's worse and most itchy points. Thankfully it's a thousand times better and I no longer wake up in the middle of the night scrubbing my skin to death.

Basically this rash is random. It's thought to be a relapse of HHV-7 (Human Herpes Virus 7, common in kids), but there's no proof. Anyhow, it's a little tricky to diagnose at first, but the fact that it takes 2-4 weeks for the rash to develop is one of the clues that it's pityriasis rosea. Then it hangs around from 6-14 weeks. Yeah! I didn't want to hear that. :P

It's not contagious at all. It tends to target younger adults. Only about 3% of the people who get PR relapse and get it again and again and again and again... ouch. It's miserable enough for one time! Heat and active movement can cause the rash to itch more. Why, oh why did I have to get this in the summer when I happen to live in the desert?! :)

There are shots and medicines available to help with the itching, but there's nothing to do about the rash itself, you need to wait it out. Thankfully I seem to be almost done with the spreading of the rash. A few fresh spots on my thighs, but that's pretty much it. The rest of my skin looks splotchy, and only itches when I'm super hot. And even if it's not itching, scratching my skin feels real good. :) And yes, I've scratched so much that my skin has been peeling like a sunburn... except very few people sunburn in the areas I'm peeling in! :P

Hopefully by my birthday in November everything will be cleared up and gone!

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In other news, I got mail goodies from Dannielle's drawing.

There's a quilting book (with some extras like how to make several bags, etc), a Christian Woman's book, colorful crochet dishcloth, purple dangling earrings (sure pretty!), hand made card, her little "business" Bunny card (great bookmarker too) and a little circle of soap. At first I thought the soap was a candle, but nope. It smells fantastic too. :) Thank you Dannielle!!

There was a quilt guild meeting last Wednesday and the speaker was Amy Bright. She really likes using circles in her quilts.

She also enjoys leather work and makes her own thimbles. A piece of colorful leather with a bit of white bandage to prevent the needle from going into your skin. Very comfortable and soft. When you wear out one side, just flip it over and use the other. :)

Last of all, I'm working on the mystery for Cathy~O. It's all sewn into a top now, just need to put on the borders and it'll be officially tested. :)

What I love is how beautifully the seams have been behaving. They nestle and match wonderfully. I can't wait to show you the design - but it'll be until September before I can show off the whole thing. :)

School's starting this Monday! Guess that means I can't be so lazy anymore or expect my husband to cook as much as he has been. :P

Leah

I was wrong!

I was actually wrong about the mystery pattern! And I'm perfectly happy with the actual version. :)

Don't the center blocks look like sunsets or something? It's a piece my mom dyed, you can see it in this post, at the top of the very first picture. It can be surprising how much red didn't stick to the final piece. I think I'll use the rest of it for a border.

I have to say, sewing with Kona Black and P&B Dyer's Fabric has been an absolute dream. Not a single pin needed. Essential thread literally slides like butter through these top-notch fabrics. I don't have to worry about distorting the blocks when I iron either. It's good quality fabric. You'd think the way I'm swooning over it I would be advertising for it! :P

And yes, it's actually crossed my mind to get rid of my stash and have only hand dyed fabrics. Hopefully it was only a fleeting thought. ;)

Leah

Mystery coming up!

I was going to say tomorrow... but actually, it's later today, like in 4 hours, Ann's Summer 2007 mystery is going to start. Yes, I'm insane. I didn't even start to cut the fabric until 6pm tonight. :P Who sews with 4 hours (or less!) of sleep?!

Ann's given us the pre-cutting clues so far, and I love to guess what it's going to turn out to be!

Here's my best guess. But is it wrong to do this? Does it spoil the mystery? Does it hurt the author if I guess the pattern based on the clues given so far? All I'm basing it on is 3 or 4 very simple blocks and the measurements she gave. I didn't get a sneak peek or anything. On the other hand... I feel rather gleeful when I have correctly guessed the mystery pattern. :)

I'm using black for the background and scrappy bits of my hand dyed fabrics for a crib sized quilt of 36x48. I kinda hope it turns out as I guessed, it'll be a pretty quilt. :)

Speaking of hand dyed fabric... all the times I've seen dyed fabrics for sale in person, it's at least $16/yard, up to $30/yard. Yeah! Would you actually pay for that? I think my husband was seeing dollar signs for a minute when I mentioned the prices. :)

The thing is, when you add all the costs of dyeing the fabric - fabric, dyes, chip in a little for the reusable containers and water... it's still less than $4/yard. Time isn't an issue for me, I have plenty of time. That $4 is competitive with WalMart's prices!

So... if I were to sell my dyed fabrics for $12/yard (believe me, it's nice quilt-shop quality fabric), would you honestly be interested in buying it, or would you still think "I could just dye it myself." Heh, I know I wouldn't be buying it at $12 a yard. :)

At least I'm honest. ;)

Leah

Call me Dumb...

But I think I finally figured out what has been causing my rash, nearly 2 weeks later. My new bedsheets.

I bought the sheets on our anniversary trip, tossed them into the washer and put them on the bed Sunday night. Monday afternoon I'm noticing the dots. A week later Sunday I'm washing the sheets all over again, just in case. Along with all the other bedding. The rash still persists.

Last night I woke up after 2 hours of sleep and could not stop itching. Oh. So. Painful. So more than an hour later I get up and take some medicine and then I went back to bed. The pain persists. Finally wildly wondering... what if I took the sheet off? So I popped off my end of the sheets and pushed it all towards my husband (yeah, I'm a loving wife like that, I didn't want to wake him up at 5am) and in 10 minutes I was feeling soooooo much better. I doubt the medicine could have kicked in that fast.

Geesh, you'd think I would have figured it out faster! The picture is of my right side - a side I like to sleep a lot on. In fact that rash is dominantly on parts of the body that touch the sheets the most. My front and sides are badly rashed, my back not so much.

The sheet is a fitted queen size bedsheet from IKEA, brand new, 100% cotton. Washed with the laundry detergent that I've been using for the last 3 years and vinegar in the rinse cycle. I wouldn't recommend buying it. :P

Hopefully it'll abate soon! :)

Leah

Itch, itch, itch

Things have been a little itchy around here. This is one of the milder shots of my mysterious rash.

Currently it's not so bumpy on my chest anymore (red as ever though), but it's traveling to my back and hips. Looks like it'll be on my legs in the next day or so.

I'm hoping it'll be completely gone in 2 weeks. It's already a week old. No fever, no hanging in bed sleeping all the time, no funny appetite. No clue what it is. I'm actually starting to feel better - the last 2 days were like "oh man... what's invading my body?!" Now I'm feeling more cheerful and not so worried. It'll go away, and it'll itch the entire time. :P

On the bright side, all the spots make my husband look more at me, and I just pretend that he's checking ME out, instead of the rash. ;)

Leah

Nap quilt - firetruck version

This is a 36"x36" quilt top for a customer - for the repeat customer. :)

I'm just waiting for a stamp of approval before moving onto the quilting part. I really like how it's simple (2 strips sewn together, cross cut into 9.5" squares), but gives nice eye candy. :)

The other news is that I have some sort of rash all over me - no clue. It's been here for three days and it just keeps growing and it finally started to itch tonight. Aside from that, I feel perfectly fine. Not sick, not extra tired, not grumpy. Maybe I'm just allergic to myself. ;)

Leah

Post card and autumn block

Fun in the mail today! Kate had a contest a few weeks ago and I was one of the winners!

She sent this unique post card (all fabric!) all the way from England. Thank you Kate! :)

And just before our little trip, I had to put this block together because it was due while I was gone.

It's supposed to be a wreath of leaves, and oh man, I sure hope I got the placement correct! I tripled checked the instructions. It's 1 of 24 blocks that will go into a quilt that will be for a hospital auction, as I understand it.

And yes, we're back from our little trip. Ok, we were back Thursday, but somebody was a little lazy. ;) Had a great time, had the AC on full blast the entire time too. :D

We got gifts for my siblings and Dad - birthdays and father's day. Yes, I'm half way late. :P

I went to Savers (clothing thrift shop) and found a pair of jeans that actually fit AND were long enough. Whoo! The price tag was like $6... but when they rang it up, it was actually $1.07! Wow, I was stunned and just about doing flips all the way back to the car. :D Of course... can't wear them until October or November, we're sweltering here!

We went to IKEA - hubby does NOT like that place! :) But we got new sheets cuz our old ones had a hole (on my side, of course), and a new frying pan.

We also did a quick stop at JoAnn's and got ONE thing. 4 yards of black fabric for Judy's July HAD project. I want to use some hand dyed fabric for that quilt. :)

I'm also working on 2 small nap quilts for a repeat customer! Whoo! I did this quilt for her earlier this year. What I love about her is that she just tells me what kind of theme she wants and what colors the person likes. She gives me complete pattern and quilting freedom. The customer every quilter wants. ;)

Leah

Getaway!

Looks like I still can use a title. I do know there's a setting somewhere to turn it on and off. :)

Anyhow, my husband and I are going on a little trip! Just 3 hours north, but we'll spend 2 nights there, do some shopping and enjoying each other. Why? Cuz this Wednesday is our third anniversary! :)

Here's a picture of us from almost 4 years ago, it's one of my favorites.

And yes, I traded those glasses for contacts, it was so annoying when my glasses would start to slide down my nose when I was at the sewing machine. And I didn't want glasses for my wedding. :)

Take it easy everybody!

Leah

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Today is my baby sister's 21st birthday. I know she's happy about being 21, finally can buy alcohol! ;)

This is a snapshot I grabbed of her when I was visiting in May. She had just came back from getting her hair cut - a layered style. She tried to coax me into trying layers, but no thanks! :)

I have been reading "Hungry Planet: What the world eats". It's a very fascinating read, but I can only read a handful of pages at a time before my brain wants to explode. Here's a photolog teaser of the stuff that's in the book. Maybe your library will have it too. :)

Leah