Hello All!

Hey everyone, welcome to our blog.  I have to admit, I am not an avid blogger (as you can tell since this is my first entry) but I’ll do my best to post when I have something noteworthy to say.  I don’t keep a diary and never journaled so this doesn’t come naturally for me.

 The retreat was a blast and it is great to get together with friends to sew.  Don’t be afraid to plan your own getaway; it really refreshes the mind and soul.  I wonder who that goofy birthday princess is?  It’s a good thing that what happens at Rosie’s stays at Rosie’s….for my sake.

 My daughter called and I think she is close to deciding where and when her wedding will take place.  She is thinking June 2008 in Prairie du Chien where we have our summer home.  If she doesn’t decide soon, it will be more like June 2009.  We’ll be checking out venues this weekend.

 I’m going to close and get at least one hour of sewing in before bed.  I hope you have had at least an hour to create today.

Go Cardinals!

Quilt Retreat at Rosie’s Bungalow

Who is this disguised quilter, aka “The Birthday Princess”?  I  promised I wouldn’t tell, but let’s just say it’s not Miki… Any guesses?

Diane and I celebrated our first annual Birthday Bash Retreat this past weekend.  Many of our friends have August birthdays (including me) and those who don’t were given honorary Birthday Bash birthdays.  The Birthday Princess actually had a birthday during the retreat, so it was even more fun.

We gathered at Rosie’s Bungalow, which is the retreat center owned by The Cottage Rose.  We had alot of fun working on projects, shopping at the quilt shop, (Thanks for the thimbles and the Rosie’s Discount, Deb!) and watching the weekend nightlife in downtown Marion, IA from the windows.  The food was wonderful and we were introduced to a new yummy drink, Pineapple Martini’s.  That is all I can say, though, because what happens at Rosie’s, stays at Rosie’s!

Back to the real world today… work on a customer quilt, bathe Alexandra, and enjoying some quality family time.  I feel recharged and ready to tackle the week!  ‘Til tomorrow, faithful visitors!

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…

Q: What’s Worse than Shopping for Jeans or a New Bathingsuit?

A: Shopping for new bras with a 4-year-old.

About this picture: We were on our summer vacation.  She put on my swimsuit and said I had to wear hers! It wouldn’t fit my big toe! LOL.

 Alexandra needed some physical play and it was just too hot out today so we went to the local mall to play in the children’s area. 

 She had to take a potty break so we went through Dillard’s and I saw an amazing sale on bras.  We took a look after taking care of her nature call. 

Can I just say that stores should have their air conditioning on high during the hot Iowa summer?  The dressing room was stuffy.  I was trying to hurry so Alex could get back to playing.  Also, the dressing room was in demand by other hot women with children. 

As I was trying on the third bra, I couldn’t get it pulled around to the front because I was working up a sweat.  Alex was dancing around the room and I was sure I was going to hit her with an elbow as I was wrestling with the bra - aka sticky rubber band.  I thought I was doing OK with keeping my cool and not telling her to STOP jumping up and down with a lacy number on her head when she did it… she jumped in front of me, gave me an angelic grin, and poked me in the belly button.  Hard.  I had managed to get stuck half in/half out of bra 5 when she did this.  I didn’t know if I should laugh or yell, so I did a little of both. 

She knew she was being a stinker so she didn’t take it badly.  I guess I got what I deserved for taking time away from her play to shop. 

I promise to get back to quilting so I can post about something more interesting.  Thanks for listening to me ramble.

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

Swimming Lessons

Alexandra is my 4-year-old daughter and she started taking swimming lessons this summer.  She started Level 2 this week and told me that it is a little tricky. 

Isn’t that how it is whenever we have something new to learn.  The urge to expand our knowledge can be strong until we realize it isn’t going to be easy.  Keeping your eye on the goal is the secret to getting through the tough stuff.   Whether it is swimming, quilting, or learning how to run a pattern design company the secret remains the same.

I’m off to work on a customer quilt and tidy up my longarm studio.  More later.