They say inspiration can be found anywhere

I know I should take my camera more often. Maybe I just need a smaller one that will fit in my pocket. I tell myself I would have more blog posts if I took more pictures. Maybe I just need a smaller camera. I'm sure I need another gadget around. Truth is, I really like my camera. It takes great pictures, but it is an SLR and therefore does not fit in my pocket.

This year I would like to expand my inspiration journal. I keep several notebooks around and colored pencils to jot things down as ideas come to me. These fleeting ideas are my ghosts and if I don't get them down on paper, they may disappear entirely, or they may haunt me for days on end. I don't always have those books with me though to record all of my ghosts, hence the camera discussion. I have a camera phone that takes pretty good pictures, but right now I cannot get them from my phone to my computer to show you. Seems I have to add texting to do that.

I went to Houston to visit Honey as he worked the International Motorcycle Show. The show is always great. I get to sit on all the new models and check out all the new gear. There has been a trend for custom paint and accessories in the past few years. I was drawn to one bike in particular this year. I just loved the color combination. It wasn't very long before I started to see a quilt reflecting back from the gas tank of that bike. My ghosts had followed me to Houston! Of course, I did not have my camera or one of my notebooks. What's a girl to do? I pulled out my cell phone and snapped a few shots.

So now I have these great motivational pictures and no way to share them. One of my sister's insists I am a die hard quilter if I am able to see quilts in the gas tanks of motorcycles. This is the same sister who had a dream I bought a hot pink chopper with a front end so extended it needed separate controls to turn. I think I need to borrow her dream fairies!

I hope you see quilts in all of the everyday things around you.

Is it Spring yet?

I think January is one of the hardest months her in Erie, Pa. We have more grey days than sunny days and it seems as though every day in January is grey. Honey laughs at me because I always talk about moving to a warmer climate this time of year, not that I think it will ever happen. I did find this great fabric by Blank quilting. It reminds me of the Arizona desert. Much as I love Arizona, it's too far away from my family to be a realistic place to move. I can have a little piece of the desert though. I think this will be a wall hanging for the hallway.

I've also been seeing green. No not green with envy (well maybe a little). Most of Honey's family lives in Florida as well as my youngest sister. There are certain shades of green that transport me to sunny FLA in January and February. The green of the palm trees and that funny stiff grass they have. Honey and I typically head south in March for a short visit. Daytona Bike Week is the motorcycling official start of spring. Honey is usually working the show and I come along for a break in the weather and to visit with friends and family. I have known some motorcyclists to ride down from Ohio only to find snow on the ground when they try to ride home. Much as I might like to get my bike out early this year, I don't think I'm quite up to riding in the snow, even with my new Gerbings electric jacket liner. It plugs into the side of the bike and will keep me toasty warm on those cool night rides home. No, that's not a picture of honey and I but my new jacket liner looks just like hers does. It even has plugs for glove liners on the sleeves. I've had die hard riders tell me the heated clothing is cheating, but I'm all for extending my riding season and I am a freeze baby at heart.

As a quilter, I feel very lucky to be able to look through my fabrics or go to the quilt store and be transported to a different place or a different time of year. I love the large floral prints this time of year. I can create my own garden. The best part of a quilted garden is that all of the flowers look perfect and they don't require any watering. It may be a rose garden, or it may be Iris', but it will certainly be spring in my sewing room.

I think it's time to turn up the thermostat and start working on that garden, or the desert quilt.

Stay warm and let the fabrics take the grey out of your sewing room.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. I've been thinking about 2008 recently. I'm sure most people review this time of year. The television stations all do anyway. 2008 certainly was a full year. My first published quilt, my first quilt market, a new Gammill long arm. At times it was very crazy. Looking back makes me wonder what changes the new year will bring.

I'm am very excited to start teaching in a few weeks. Nothing like starting off the new year with changes right from the get go. I'm teaching my Red Lotus Wedding quilt at Millcreek Vacuum and Sewing here in Erie on the 24th of January.

I've been working hard on the long arm as well. I have a couple quilts my mother gave me to quilt. She bought them at garage sales many years ago and never had time to finish putting them together. and then there is the pile of tops that I have been "saving" for a couple years. Don't we all have those piles, the unfinished or UFO, the "just needs a border", the finished top and the "just needs a binding" piles? Hopefully I'll be able to get through some of those this year.

What else is new? I'm working out a few new designs. I've made a few (4) of the Mini Bow Tucks bags from Quilts Illustrated. Here is the one I made for my mother for Christmas. She is a knitter and likes to make socks. I thought it was just the right size for socks and yarn. I also made one for my sister and put the Warm Company Insul-brite in as part of the batting. My thought was she could use it as a lunch bag. It's also just the right size to out a water bottle or thermos in. I have yet to make one for myself, but I'm think about making the regular size Bow Tucks. I have the fabric and everything in the biggest pile of all, Projects yet to be started.

So many ideas, never enough time. This is Jan 1. Maybe this year I can finish them. (Ha Ha Ha).

Have a great year!

Is it Christmas already?

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is almost here. The calendar keeps surprising me. I was in Houston again last weekend to visit with Phyllis. Honey was in Houston for the motorcycle show so it seemed like a good time for a few days off. We had a lake effect blizzard in Erie as I was leaving. They got about 8" while I was gone. I think I left just in time. It was raining when I came home. Most of the snow had turned to slush.

The show in Houston seemed small this year. BMW was not there. Yamaha brought the big trucks in for their display, but did not put up their usual booth. Honey is working with Victory this year. To give you a little back ground, once upon a time I had a t-shirt business. I had a booth at these shows to sell the shirts. I have quite a few friends that still work the "Winter Tour". I'll have to wait until they come to Cleveland to see them though. They were not in Houston. I did get a chance to check out all the new bikes though. Yamaha has a 950 cruiser that looks interesting. I like the Victory Vegas in the red. Kawasaki has a new concourse also that looks pretty cool. There are times I wish my bike had saddle bags to carry things around. I have a bag I can strap to the rear seat that works pretty well. Here are our bikes on the Blue Ridge Parkway 2 years ago. We're thinking about taking a trip down towards Chattanooga and back through Nashville this summer. Let me know if there are any must see quilting places along the way!

I've been working on Christmas recently so I can't show you too much yet. I did get a few purse frames while at Market. I've been trying to design something to go along with them. Not anything too fancy, although some of the frames are pretty dressy. I'd like them to be used. If I make them too fancy they will sit is a drawer.

I also made a table runner for my cousin. A thank you for helping me out at Market. It's the first time I have worked with silk, certainly not the last though. I was thrilled with how it turned out. I embroidered snowflakes on white silk dipioni. I then made 4 patch blocks to make the center of the runner with pale blue and silver grey and placed the snowflake blocks around the outside. I had thought about beading it, but was afraid she wouldn't be able to put anything on top of it then. I used a lightweight knit interfacing on the back of the silk and stabilized it with an iron on stabilizer fort he embroidery. My designs were not very high stitch counts or very dense. I was concerned about it puckering with a more dense design. The pictures did not come out very well. Sorry. The silk just reflected back and you can't see the embroidery. I've had the same trouble photographing white. Maybe someday I'll get the hang of that.

Dilly Dallying in Houston

Hey all!


I was Houston for Quilt Market last weekend. What an amazing place to be! I left Erie, Pa Wednesday, just as the temperature was dropping. It was in the 40's when I left. The drive to Houston took 2 days. It's about 1500 miles. It's a fairly easy trip, as long as you don't mind driving. I stayed on the highways all the way. There are plenty of gas stops and rest areas along the way.

We went in Friday to set up the booth. I love that anticipation right before the show. The booths were so amazing! Attendance was down this year, but we still had a good show. Here are new designs I was showing. Pleated Paradise has pleated sashing. I've got some great new ideas for Pittsburgh in the spring.

























Now that I am home again, I can spend some time with my new longarm, well, new to me anyway. It came about a week before I left. I have it set up in the basement and did not have time to even thread it. I spent last night trying to figure it out. I put some muslin on it to play with and got it threaded. I had the hardest time with the needle, mostly because I was trying to put it in backwards. I think I've got it now. I wanted to get it going because I know my sisters will want to give it a go on Sunday.

I'm having the Great Cookie Bakeoff on Sunday. Every year we get together to make Christmas cookies. This year we decided to make them Halloween cookies instead. The whole family is coming over. I think I'll have about 16-20 people here. We're having Butternut Squash Soup, Pumpkin Bread, Macaroni and Cheese, Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Potato Pie, Mummy Meatloaf and Shrunken Apple Heads. Did you catch the theme? We're making Halloween cutout cookies and spooky spiders that look like chocolate haystacks with eyes.


I may need another vacation after all this...

Happy Halloween everyone!