April Tornadoes 2011

I live in Cartersville, GA one of the areas hit by tornadoes on April 27th. We were very lucky because our neighborhood did not have any damage, but it appears that a tornado touched down about a mile down the road from us. I think that same tornado is the one that took out an entire neighborhood, including the home of a sister of a someone I know. All that was left of her home was the closet she was hiding in.

One of my coworkers lost his house near Ringgold, GA to a tornado earlier that evening. His house was lifted up and dropped back down several feet. Thankfully, he and his family were not home at the time, they were driving back home and saw the tornado leaving their neighborhood.

Another friend who lives in Cedartown spent the evening in her bathtub with the storms causing destruction all around her. After the storms they found that her street was not damaged a quarter mile in either direction had power lines down, trees sheered off and some houses destroyed.

Ringgold, GA was hit very hard, and several of my coworkers live there. My favorite quilt shop was in Ringgold. Sew Bee It was completely destroyed.

Ray Steele helps clean up Sew Bee It, a quilt shop located off of Alabama Highway, Thursday, April 28, 2011, in Ringgold, Ga. While the building was destroyed, two glass vases sat on a shelf unharmed.

These are just the people I know who were affected by the storms. There are thousands more over many states, especially Tuscaloosa, AL. Many organizations are taking donations of supplies, or volunteers to help the victims star the clean up. If you are local please consider volunteering with these organizations. Items that are needed are personal hygiene items, clothes, and food. Relief workers and families trying to clean up their homes also need sunscreen, hats and visors.

In Cartersville check out the Cartersville Cares Facebook Page.
I have also found several pages devoted to lost and found animals in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.
Help the Animal Victims of the Tornado Devastated South

If you are not local please consider donating to the American Red Cross.

I know quilters are very generous people. We just need to know how best to help.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I wish the Luck of the Irish to each and every one!

Last time I posted was awhile ago. I did finish the baby quilt on time. I am not completely pleased with my quilting. I tried to stitch in the ditch on a lot of the quilt and I had a hard time sewing a straight line!

The pattern came from a Fons and Porter magazine but was done in black and white.


My husband got me some really cute fabric for Valentine's Day including a pack of novelty fabric that had a cute panel for the back.


I didn't end up getting to go to the baby shower because I had to fly to Oklahoma for my Grandfather's funeral. My aunt, who is also a quilter, asked me to help drape a quilt made by my great great grandmother over my grandfather's casket as a pall. The quilt is beautiful and in great condition even though it was close to 100 years old. My aunt would only allow her husband and I to touch the quilt because she knew that we understood how delicate the quilt was. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the quilt.

Finally quilting again...

I am working on a baby quilt that has to be done in 3 weeks. I just started although I've know about it for a few months I haven't been in able to work on it. I ended up with my schedule opening up yesterday so it was the perfect time to work on it.

Yesterday morning I started writing out my cutting list, pulling the rest of my fabric and making sure I had enough. Most of it is fairly scrappy but I do need enough white and a couple black fabrics to complete the whole thing. Cutting isn't my favorite part of quilting (is it anyones?) so I just decided to put on some quilting podcasts, relax and take it slow.

When I started cutting I started out being very relaxed and careful and actually having fun. I was being very organized about my cutting labeling each pile of pieces as I cut. I had a layer cake of bright prints that worked really well for the pattern. Cutting those brights went really quick and I loved looking at all those cute patterns.

Then I got to my yardage of white fabric. I started cutting at first it was fine but I started worrying that I wasn't going to have enough. After awhile I realized that I was now tense. I was cutting faster like I would be less likely to run out of fabric if I got done sooner. Of course then I made mistakes, using up my fabric even faster. I was no longer having any fun. It was amazing how that one stray thought could totally derail the mood I was in.

I decided this was no good. I am quilting because I love it right? Not loving it right now, so it is time to stop. I took a break, pulled my shoulders out of my ears, played with the dogs for a few minutes and once I wasn't stressed out I went back to the cutting table. I double checked my list and started again relaxed. It worked much better and I didn't run out of white fabric. I still have some left.

So does anyone else have this problem, or am I the only one who is this big a stress puppy?

I'm back

I thought I'd stop in and say Hi since it has been forever and a day since I posted anything at all. My strategy for making myself post more last year did not work at all. In fact most of the items on my list for 2010 are still unfinished. My year just got bad. I ended up having some health issues that kept me from quilting or doing stuff with the dogs or having much fun at all. I'm really hoping for no more of that stuff for this year. Hear that universe? No more!

I did get some upgrades to my quilt studio this winter. Yes, I'm calling it a quilt studio because I have a nice quilting cabinet now. I have all the room I need to quilt, and the machine can be flush with the cabinet top. That should help my neck and arms, before I was using a small computer desk and found myself reaching up to the sewing machine and then hunching over. Now I just have to get the room organized the way I want. I've moved the furniture around about 5 times and still haven't found something I like.

My quilt room is a bonus room over the garage, so it is a long narrow room with vaulted ceilings that start about 4 feet from the floor on 2 of the walls. I have my office and a bed in there too, so I'm struggling with trying to make all that into usable functional space. The vaulted ceilings tend to cut down on usable space because you can't put anything tall next to those walls, and if you need to stand you need to be about 1 to 2 feet away from the wall. OK, I can be 1 foot or less away from the wall, but that is just because I'm short. My husband has to be closer to 2 feet away from the wall to stand comfortably. Speaking as one who has bounced her head off the ceiling several times, it is probably best to plan on staying at least 18" away from those walls.

Hopefully once I get everything organized and put away I'll post a picture of the room. That may end up being next January at the rate I'm posting, but I'll try to post before then.

Hope everyone is having a great start to their year.