Heartland Gathering Picture - Procrastinating as Usual

Sorry it took me so long to get these pictures posted!  Here is a picture of the quilt Diane and I designed to be used for the Quilt the Quilt 2 Exhibit.  This quilt is the cover quilt for our pattern and shows our suggested quilting design included in the pattern (except for the curly-q McTavishing… that isn’t included in the suggested quilting design - didn’t want to freak out any new quilters).  This quilt is also my entry in the QTQ2 exhibit.  We have a few more of the blue fabric kits that are pre-cut and well labeled.  They will be offered for sale with the pattern on our website as soon as I get my fanny into gear and get some M&D website work done.  The image is a thumbnail, so click on it to see a larger image.

Here is a picture of my entry in the original QTQ exhibit.  The actual quilt is a pretty green, but my photo isn’t a good one.  This is also a thumbnail image.

MQResource Artist Postcard Swap

Oh, boy… I am so lucky!  I have received the coolest postcards in an Artist Postcard Swap on www.mqresource.com!  Our theme was “New Beginnings” and we had eight people in our group.  The mailing deadline was 9/30/07 and mine went out late on 10/1/07 (I know… big surprise <grin>).  I’ve received 4 and know my own is coming in the mail, so 3 more are due to come any day.  Yippee!

Here are pictures of the postcards I have received so far - THANK YOU TO ALL MY SWAP BUDDIES!

      

I can’t tell you how liberating it has been to participate in this swap.  If you ever get a chance to do something like this, then DO IT!  I had to work through the creative process including loosing confidence in my piece and forcing myself to finish anyway.  Now I’m glad I did.

I suffer from a sometimes debilitating case of perfectionism and have a hard time finishing a project if I don’t feel it is “perfect”.  With this project I was able to show myself that the process was the important part, not the final result.  Now I am happy with my own piece, but it was an acceptance of myself that made that possible… not perfection.  I’ll hold off posting a picture of my own postcard until I know my swap buddies have received theirs.  I don’t want to spoil the surprise!

I am SO busted!

Just to prove how small a world it is, you just have to hear this!

 When I posted about my “work avoidance” techniques I thought briefly that it may not be such a good idea.  I didn’t want everyone to know how long it was taking me to get this quilt done, but thought, “Hey.  I’m sure I’m not the only quilter who has ever stalled out and needed to talk herself back onto the machine.”

 Well, I finished this beautiful quilt yesterday morning and sent an e-mail to my customer, Tracy R., letting her know it was finished.  I thought about including the picture I posted on the blog, but thought she should see more work completed.  So, here are the pictures I sent to tease her a little…  I also begged her forgivness for the delay in completing her quilt!

OK.  Here is the small world stuff…  When Tracy arrived she had a longarm friend of mine, Lavonne P., with her.  Turns out Lavonne was reading Christine Olson’s blog and saw my name in her Blogroll.  She popped over to “Life’s Quilty Pleasures” and what did she see, but her friend Tracy’s quilt block.  She sent the link to Tracy and said, “I know your quilt will be ready soon and here is why!”

OMG was my face was red?!?  Good thing I sent her a different picture than what she saw on the blog.  She would have thought I hadn’t made any progress. <grin> Tracy was such a great sport about everything and we had a good laugh about it all.  I just love my customers!! (And my longarm friends who tell my “secrets”!  - Love ya’ Vonnie!)

So, cyberfriends, the moral of this story is be careful what you post because someone may actually read it! LOL!  Alright, alright…  the REAL moral of the story is to keep quilting and don’t stall out, for goodness sake

Clean Studio and Back to Work

I got back onto the longarm today.  I’m ashamed to say that this is the first I’ve quilted in three weeks (before vacation.) I’m behind with my quilting but now I’m back into the groove.  Why is it that I convince myself I can’t quilt worth a flip when I’m away from the machine for more than a couple of days?  I’m posting a couple of close-up pictures of the quilt for a sneak peek.  My goal is to get it done by the end of the week.  Wish me luck!

   

In the name of work avoidance, I’ve gotten alot done… just not what I was supposed to do.  As a result, I’ve rearranged my studio, moved my machine, installed some new shelves, organized my batting closet, created a quilt display wall, vacuumed the floor, etc.  I really do love my power tools and I must say that my little “padded room” is much more enjoyable now. 

            

The room looks sparse in the pictures, but it doesn’t feel that way in real life.  I also noticed in the pictures that my calendar still says 8/6.

This weekend I’m going to install two 4′ x 8′ white melamine panels on the quilt display wall.  This will give me a gigantic white board to use for ideas, designs, and to record fits of inspiration.  I expect Alexandra will have to claim the lower portion for herself <grin>. 

I’m also going to take my closet doors off the 16′ closet opening and hang a sheer curtain over it.  This will let the light from the closet shine into the studio and I’ll be able to step around the machine or anything in my way without having to move the doors.  The closet is about 24′ long and I’ve got 8 rolls of batting on the wall.  I’ll have to post pictures again after all the work is done.

  

I’m looking forward to working on my customer quilt again tomorrow morning.  Gosh it feels good to be quilting again!

Website Updates and Pattern Writing

I spent some time yesterday working on the Miki & Diane  website.  I was getting ready to post an ad on my new favorite longarm list - www.mqresource.com - when I realized I never added one of our new pieced patterns to our online catalog.  Duh! 

 The pattern is called Gotcha’ Covered and it is a fun quilt that pieces really fast.  Diane and I designed it for Suzanne Earley to use as the cover quilt for her newest book, More Meandering Magic.  You can see the book at www.saltcreekquiltco.com.  Her techniques are really great and very well explained.  Great for longarmers or domestic machine quilters. (Shameless plug for my friend, Suzanne!)

I also worked some more on one of our upcoming patterns.  Sometimes I feel like it won’t ever get done.  But then, one day, a finished pattern results.  It is one of the coolest feelings ever!  Diane and I have a couple of Trunk Shows scheduled for October, so we want to make sure we have these two patterns ready to go.  More to come…

What will they think of next?

I spent some time today helping a friend with her new Intelliquilter.  I am in such LUST for one of these now!  In the past I thought… I would never want to quilt any way except freehand, but… Wow!  Now I can imagine myself designing a pattern and quilting it with computerized precision.

 Just keep telling myself… get out of debt, don’t go into it deeper.  So, for all you computerized longarm system owners - Enjoy it for me, OK?

We had a nice and quiet evening having my in-laws over for dinner and a visit.  I’m a lucky woman and really do love my in-laws.  Dinner was great and sitting and chatting on the back deck was icing on the cake.

Have a great weekend! Miki