Where does time go?


Finally, another finished quilt. This one took much longer to finish than I originally thought it would. A lot of starts and stops. I also have a pulled muscle on my side that hurts when I move the machine.



A fun feather on the outside border.

A curl design on the inside border.

A leaf design on the setting triangles.

Line dancing on these pieced blocks.

Diana Phillips' flower power design on the alternate blocks.

A flower design and bubbles on the other alternate blocks.

It's hard to believe it's already almost the middle of March. Where on earth does the time go so fast? I work everyday but seem to be only spinning my wheels.... not getting anywhere. The only thing I can figure is that the quilts I've been doing are large and I do a lot of quilting on them with many starts and stops.

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I tried adding a counter to my blogs this morning. I've tried several times to put one on them and always get frustrated when I can't make it work. Well I managed to put something.... not what I thought it was.... but still there is something on both blogs. These will stay as they are until I get another couple of hours to learn more about how to make changes. No telling when that will be.

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This moring I was watching the early news about how some people (GM, Citibank, etc) say they no longer need government money. Huh? Does this mean they could have done without it in the first place? Or possibly they don't want to be transparent? Seems to me that not too long ago these people were so absolutely sure that if they didn't receive government money our whole financial system would collapse..... so what's different today than only a few weeks ago? It makes me wonder WHO is being dupped in this whole financial situation? But.... that's just my own opinion.

Today's finished quilt. The pictures got loaded into blogger backwards but I'm not going to take the time for reloading..... which might give the same results. This is the quilt that took me about a week to finish.

So here are some photos from the back.

And now from the front. It's a sampler quilt.

Two blocks were horses.

Sampler quilts get sampler type of quilting. No two blocks are the same.

A look at the borders and sashing.

I will try putting the webshots software back onto my computer this weekend. It will give me the opportunity to make some changes to the way I post pictures there. If I get that done then I can put more photos of this quilt into my webshots albums.

The reason I missed making a post yesterday was because just when I was ready to start posting my brother brought me this.... a flat screen 19 inch monitor. Aren't brothers great! It took him a little while to change the card inside my computer to run it. By the time he had finished I was already working on another quilt and didn't want to stop.

So now I'm left with these two monitors. These will sit here until junk day in August before I can get rid of them. We're not allowed to set things out early and I don't have a garage or shed to put them in until then. Is it any wonder that junk piles up in my house?

I thought I would show you this picture. The Happy Heart Group's quilts were accepted into the Nashville Show again this year. This one is mine from the challenge.

I'll be on the bus for the Wednesday trip to Nashville. I'm soooo anxious to see if we win this year. It would be fantastic if we could win a blue ribbon!

Well I could sit here and keep type-talking but there is another week long quilt on the machine telling me it's time to get to work.

Later.....

Today's finished quilt. A charm square exchange quilt.



A formal feather was stitched on the outside border. A curl design on the inside border.


Another view of the borders.

A leafy design was put on the sashing.

Another view of the sashing and the line dancing done on the pieced center.

Well, I hope I finally have my computer fixed. It did a hard crash right after my last post over the weekend. I had posted that last weekend was a holiday weekend. When I realized that was wrong I went to open the post to edit it...... nothing..... completely blank computer. No little icons to click on.... no color to the screen.... all gone.

On Monday a computer guy came to work on it. He had to take it to the shop. He had to do a hard crash on it and wipe everything clean to start all over. It seems I have three hard drives. (plenty of memory) But the computer was running off the smallest drive only..... and not working with the other two.

So now I have a completly empty computer ready for me to reinstall all my software. But Hey! I do have my photo editing software installed. The one I wanted so very much to have so I can do portrait quilts. The computer guy put that one on for me. If only..... I had the time to sit and learn how to use it. Not right now though. Tooooo many tops waiting in line for the quilting machine.

I never could get my disk drive to work so I couldn't make back up copies with it. I lost all computer copies of everything.... including photos. I will have to redo all my business forms but I was going to redesign them all anyway. Just not right now. I had a lot of things in ms word. So much that I can't even remember what for sure.

The computer certainly does run much faster, quieter, and smoother than before. It could be that way because there's nothing on it anymore. I had about 5 years worth of photos and other things on it which are now gone. Photos take up lots of space on a computer.

I have a cheat sheet for how to do backups onto disk so that's going to be a regular routine for me. The computer guy said the reason I couldn't use the cd's to make backups was because the software to run it was installed onto a hard drive that my computer wasn't working with. I probably couldn't have used it if I had known how.

Well I would love to sit here and tell you more about what's different with my computer but I have a ton of things to get done today. Oh, by the way, I got all the paperwork from the other day sorted and filed into a small file box. Most of it was shredded because I didn't need it anymore.

Photo class

Yesterday I took a class on taking digital images of quilts and putting them onto a disk. This is the classroom setting.


I came away from the class feeling flustered and discouraged. I was whining and complaining all afternoon. I felt as if I would never enter a contest again. The technology I have to learn seemed just too intimidating. Let me explain, I have difficulty comprehending written instruction sheets and booklets. I guess I'm more of a 'show me' type person.

I have a new digital camera but don't know how to use it correctly. I have photo managing software galore on my computer but can't figure out how to use any of it. I have a new cd burner that I manage to make work sometime then can't remember how I did it.

When it comes to making a choice of reading an instruction booklet or creating a quilt. Guess what I choose? Creating with fabric and my machine win every time. When I buy a quilt book, I rarely read the instructions. I look at the pictures and figure it out that way. The only reason I put instruction pages in my quilt kits is for the pictures and sometimes yardage requirements.

I have everything I need for taking digital pictures....just not the knowledge to use it. So...last night I decided to stop all my whining and complaining. I'm setting my mind to just try. If I don't at least try, I will never learn. You might say I'm stepping around the latest boulders in my path.

I have a customer who knows a lot about cameras and software. He has volunteered to help me learn what I can't comprehend on my own. As soon as I get the organizing work finished I'm going to sit down to learn what I can. Then call him for some more help.

As the saying goes....nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I didn't get much quilt work done yesterday. It was a rainy, cloudy, dark day. My overhead lights wouldn't come on so the studio was very dark all day. I have trouble with the lights every time it rains. The electrician can't be here until next week to replace the lights and check out the wiring.

I started the piecing on a custom t-shirt quilt.


I got tired of working in the dark so I tried to figure out what is wrong with my computer. This takes up hours of time! I still haven't figured out why it tells me I'm out of memory when I try to update the adobe reader and real time player. I ran virus scans, I deleted unused things, I deleted a ton of photos, I searched for overly large files.....I still can't figure it out.

Every once in a while I get this 'ding, ding' sound for no apparent reason. It's the sound I usually get when I turn on the printer or turn it off. I won't be able to take the computer to the puter doc for a few more days. In the meantime I use it the best I can...slow and all. I suspect a part of the computer problem may be the same problem I'm having with the overhead lights. I'll ask the electrician to check the outlet my computer is plugged into to see if it is bad.

Well, I can't quilt right now because of the lights so I think I will start cleaning in a part of the house where I do have lights. At least I can get something done.

Reorganize or improve - thoughts

This is today's finished quilt. I had to fight it every step of the way because I could barely get my hopping foot to go in certain areas. It wasn't what I wanted to quilt on it, just the only thing I could quilt. It had very thick places that wouldn't have worked in a design.



I've been thinking of ways I can improve my blog. I did learn to add a list to the side bar and how to add a link; but, I want to learn more. I really like the way Bonnie Hunter (the other) has two blogs. One for everyday journaling and one for quilt patterns. I'm thinking I could do two also. Now is just not the time for sitting, reading, and learning about blogging.

I've also been thinking of ways to improve my quilting business. Some would think reorganize, I think improve. Although I believe the two words are interchangeable.

During the Christmas rush is really not the time for making changes or reorganizing. It's the time for concentrating on getting as many quilts finished as possible before Santa makes his famous sleigh ride. There is quite enough stress finishing the Christmas quilts; it doesn't make sense to add more stress by trying to reorganize right in the middle of a rush season.

The Christmas rush is the time to see what isn't working. If something bothers you during this time - say for example - you don't like the position of your intake table - or you don't like how your threads are organized - make a note to change it in January.

January is actually the time for reorganizing or improving. January is the time when all kinds of organizing things go on sale. So, during the rush I make notes. Lots of notes about what isn't working as well as I want and possible solutions to improve it. I have a note pad next to my quilting machine. As I think of some problem I make a note. The notes are not organized in any form just yet, I can do that later. For now I only make notes..... time to go to work.

Testing pictures

Ok, now this worked. It still comes up as jibberish but at least it is there. Would anyone care to let me know if you see the pictures?

Still not working right

I've upgraded everything I can possibly find on my computer and on blogger. I did the browser update thing this morning. I'm told I have the latest update already. Does anyone have any other suggestions for things I might try in order to get this fixed?

The buttons for adding pictures and other features like adding links are still gone. I can't even see a 'help' button or clickable word anymore. I guess I won't be able to post pictures for awhile. Am I the only one on blogger having problems?? Is there a limited amount we can post to blogger before we are cut off like this? Is there another place other than dashboard for upgrading to a newer version? I'll try any suggestions.

Does anyone other than me see the little tools on my side bar? What do they mean?

If I don't find a solution for the problems, I'm going to send my computer to the puter doctor the end of this month. (Again!!) Maybe the doctor can diagnose what the problem is and fix it for me. The computer doctor bills are starting to really eat up my budget. I'm not sure this journal thing is going to be worth keeping up.

Ok, I'm ending this post so I can go search some more places for answers and read a few blogs before starting my work day.

UPDATE: Right now I am trying an experiment. I am on my lap top computer creating this message. On here I see all the buttons that are "supposed" to be here. So the problem must be with my regulare computer. Now I can see that the problem is with the regular computer so it will be going to the puter doctor. I don't have any pictures on the lap top. I can't test out that for now. I think I will try another experiment with the regular computer to see if reinstalling my browser software helps.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I downloaded foxfire web browser to my computer. Now all the buttons I lost before are back. I'm not sure it is all the buttons I should have but at least these are back.

Snoopy Happy Dance!!

I will start with today’s finished quilt. Ok, this is really wierd!!! No buttons anywhere on blogger; can't add photos, can't highlight things...can't see a help button either. The quilt gremlins are playing with my computer...oh my goodness...I've got to get help from either AT&T or Blogger somehow. Well atleast I'm able to cut and paste from word to the blog. I'll do this then make some phone calls later today. Anyone else having trouble??

Yesterday seems to have been a great day in spite of all the frustrations. Please everyone take a look at my side bar at the bottom. Ain’t it purrrrdey?? It shows I’m part of the MQ Resource blog ring. Thank you to Suzanne for helping me. I looked in my email earlier and there are blog ring messages. Oh how exciting! I do think I will have to get an updated browser. Bellsouth has changed to AT&T so maybe they have a new version and I’m just not aware of it. For now I will mostly be a reader with an occasional message. When I get my browser updated I can be more of a participant.

I also joined the MQ Resource forum. I’m pretty sure I won’t be posting there very often. Forums are extremely scary things for me. I’ve only joined one other forum. It was the HGTV one. I made only one post and was so embarrassed by it afterwards that I vowed I would never join another one. For now; I will be a MQR forum read only member while I get used to how it works.

Now for the other good news:

Several of you may recall how much I’ve wanted to move from this area of Louisville? I finally gave up hope of moving. My house just won’t sell because people are moving away from this area instead of into it. There is also a lot of work to be done on this house before it would even begin to sell for a fair price. Without selling this house I can’t move. I had resigned myself to the fact that moving is not an option. I must make do with this place. I’ve been here for 25+ years so it’s not like I am new here.

My neighborhood has gone downhill for a number of years. As each government housing complex around the county got torn down, this area became the new projects; the new larger low income housing area. The displaced low income families had to go somewhere so they became renters in this area. Renters rarely care about a neighborhood because they don’t own part of it. Renters will stay for a year then move on. Only 7 houses out of 45 on this one block are lived in by owners. The rest are low income rentals or empty and boarded up.

Several months ago, I had heard some rumors of a revitalization program getting starting in this area which would put me in the perfect spot for either a low interest loan or grant to fix up my house. There is also the possibility of the city buying my house from me for the new bridge project if I am in that path. I had finally given up on those possibilities too and resigned myself to living just as I am. I had told myself to just stop stressing about moving and get on with the business of life.

Several of my customers read this blog as well as several of my internet quilting friends. The people who live here will know what I mean when I say the Old Phillip Morris Plant on Broadway. For those who don’t know about Louisville, it’s a cigarette factory that closed up several years ago and moved to another state. The building has been sitting empty for a good number of years. It’s located only a couple of blocks from my house. The old factory and grounds cover about a 4 square block area.

Last evening I happened to turn on the evening news. I rarely get the chance to watch the news because I work right through it. I see enough bad news by just sitting on my porch; I don’t need more from the tv. Anyway, after getting frustrated with my computer a second time for the day; I decided to go turn on the tv for a few minutes to calm down. The first thing I see is a ground breaking ceremony with the mayor and west end officials. Actually it was an ‘old factory being torn down to make room for something new’ ceremony. So it’s true!! The revitalization project rumors were true! The project will cover this whole area! And I’m living right near the center of it all! Yes, I’m that excited!

I had heard the helicopters flying around earlier but I just thought it was the normal looking for suspects stuff; didn’t think anymore about it. They were actually taking pictures of the ceremony from the news helicopter instead of looking for criminals. So now it will just be a matter of wait until the whole revitalization thing gets started. There is hope after all!

Well now….good new announced, it’s time for me to go reading some blogs and emails before work.

Side bar elements??

Ok, I'm really confused! I signed up to joined the MQresource machine quilter blog ring. I have to put a link on my side bar before my membership can be approved. SO HOW THE HECK IS THIS DONE????

I've read and read all over blogger today but can't see where I can put anything on the side bar. I tried this before when I wanted to add a counter to the side bar. I searched and read for over a week. Never figured it out then either!

I guess I won't be able to join the blog ring after all. Ok, now I'm really sad. I wanted someone to start a machine quilter blog ring for a long time, now that there is one, I can't join because I'm not computer smart enough to put something on my blog. You see why I didn't want to try starting one myself?

I'm going to take out my frustrations by cutting the heck out of some fabrics!!