Even more 'Oh Bother'

So my aunt died surrounded by her family and the end of an era has arrived.

I went to Florida to attend her memorial service and her son (my cousin) gave a warm and wonderful account of his memories of his mother, good times mostly and a few more difficult times.  I was so glad that he was able to remember her with love and affection.  She was a remarkable woman who led an amazing life and filled every moment with adventure and travel - and love.

Which all means that my intentions for the blog have gone haywire in the last few weeks.  I have been trying hard to catch up with the quilting side of things since I got back from the trip.  I am getting there but the custom quilting has suffered a little.  I am hoping to load the most pressing custom by Wednesday and get it started.

And then I head out to the Lancaster show on Monday next week.  Since I am now an official retailer of 'Swarovski" crystals, I need to sort out packaging and display before I leave.  I am also working on the NFL quilt kits - I was doing so well tonight but math finally drove me into the house - why, oh why, do I insist on designing on point quilts with set in triangles that need so many calculations?  Just because........

I also got engaged!  To be married!  Oh boy...

At fifty six years old, after being a widow for almost five years, it is a special thing to find someone that you want to spend the rest of your life with, loving and living.  We have been dating for just over two years and it will take us a while to work out how to combine two households.  The wedding is planned for June next year.  It means so much to me and will change my life in so many ways.  But in the meantime, I just have to catch up with all the quilting that needs to be done.

Please, therefore, forgive me if the blog is delayed a little as I deal with Lancaster and the return trip.  I am looking forward to getting home and telling you all about my trip and how things go - here's hoping that the weather is kind to me.

The mystery quilt will finally arrive - really - but it looks like being a Spring/Summer project.

The plan for two quilts in each AQS show hit a small roadblock when only one quilt was accepted into Paducah - but hey! it's still a quilt in Paducah, and it is the quilt that got a third place ribbon in Charleston.  Yeah!!!  It's called 'Barion Cut Sapphires' and has thousands of crystals that are difficult to see in the photo.

Life has been a roller coaster and is so going to be very exciting going forward.  Which is usually how life is.....

Oh bother!......

I knew I was meant to post the Mystery Quilt on Friday but family life and other stuff got in the way.  I truly meant to do it and came in the house, sat in front of the computer and Skyped a friend and got distracted.  Then when I realized that I had done that and needed to sort it out, life kind of got in the way.  So I know I need to get to it and I will, but bear with me please....

My lovely aunt, who has been a mother to me for a very long time, has been put in Hospice today.  My hope for her now is that it does not last long - when the time comes to go, go quickly and without pain and confusion - my hopeful and final wish.  It will be a difficult time.

So, please forgive me if the blog suffers a little - I will try to get to the Mystery Quilt next week because I am still very excited about it - it will be fun!!

And life should be fun, exciting and about friends, family and living life.  Think on it, have a plan, execute that plan and live life to the full.  Hard to do but work at it.....

Schedule has been written.....

now whether I can keep to it is the burning question. 

I have always preferred to work to a planned schedule and unfortunately that had gone by the board the last few months.  There was just too much to do and too much pressure.  Anyway, I have been working on straightening it all out and I think I have settled on a plan.

Now I have set times for studio work, pattern designing and classes, show quilting, website maintenance, kennel procedures and supervision, running, finishing the house renovations and (yeah!) blogging.  And I have built in some down time as well to watch 'Downton Abbey' and catch up on some reading.

I have also decided to get the mystery quilt started, even if I am the only one making it!  I seem to remember that it was called 'The Road to Morocco Via Wales'.  Thinking about it, it seems a very long title, so I am just going to call it 'The Moroccan Trip' and I will design a new one to be 'The Trip to Wales' later.

Sadly, my little troop is diminished.  J.P. and J.P (my Joan) had to go as there was not enough work for all of us - I cannot remember there ever being a lead up to Christmas that was so quiet in the quilting world.  I really hope that things pick up soon and that they can come back - I miss them so much. 

The plan now for this coming 2014 is to vend at five AQS shows and to get two quilts juried into all seven shows.  So far so good - I have been accepted to vend at all five shows and I have two quilts in AQS Phoenix, two in AQS Lancaster and I am waiting to hear from AQS Paducah.  I also have two entered into the Charleston Show.  This year the idea is just to get out there at these national shows - now next year I want to place!!

And there is more, but enough for today.  The first installment of 'The Moroccan Trip' will be this coming Friday - I am excited.

It has been a very long time.....

I suppose life took over in a good way and then maybe in a bad way, but it has been a long time and I have missed sharing my quilting life with all of you out there.

I have lots of plans and lots to do and I will share it all with you on a regular basis.  A number of things have changed and I will talk through those as well as the things that I hope will change and shape my future.

This is a short post to let you know that I am still here - so watch this space....

Apologies....

I have not lived up to the blogging expectations.  Since getting home from Des Moines life has been a tad hectic...

The challenge of producing two quilts for each AQS show has been a rough road along with the need to quilt custom quilts for customers. I am about on track but have a month to produce a stunner for Paducah.

 

These are the quilts entered into Lancaster!

 



 So please be kind if the Mystery Quilt is late and if I am not as regular as I should be with the blog - life is taking over - in a good way. 

 

 

 

Things I have learned this week.....

since I have been back from Des Moines many things have been achieved. 

I unpacked and did laundry - so I have clothes to wear.

I dealt with all the paperwork that had built up and paid all the bills - I am a little tight in the bank.

I rested up for a couple of days, ran errands and caught up with everything that needs to be done - my to do list is two miles long.

I ran a 5k race and didn't come last!

I went out for a training run this morning with Caper and met up with a black lab that escaped its collar and charged us - Caper did her best to protect me but I fell over the ensuing set to and landed on my knees, hand and face.  So I look like Booboo the clown.  I have a very grazed and red nose, top lip, hand and knees and they should all look spectacular tomorrow.  Not much sympathy (more hilarity) today, but wait until you see it tomorrow.....

I have done some work on the mystery quilt and I have also been working on the challenging prospect of putting two quilts into every AQS show this coming year.  The entries for Phoenix have been sent and I should hear back by December 6th if they have been accepted.  Lancaster entries are due by November 6th so some serious work needs to be done to get something ready by then - not sure what yet but I am excited.

Enough for tonight - if I can get caught up on custom quilting I hope to begin the mystery quilt next week.  It is a fabulous quilt and will look spectacular when it is finished so I hope you will play along with me.  Time for bed....

Back from Des Moines......

and very glad to be home.  It was a wonderful show and there are many new members of the PQ3000 family and it is going to be FUN!!!

The advantages of 17 plus hours each way (wow, 35 hours of my life!) is that my scrappy notebook that I scribble in when I am driving (trust me, a lot of the time I can't read what is there as I have to write with my eyes on the road) is full of silly thoughts.  This trip I worked out a very pumped up playlist for my 5K runs - maybe not music that most 56 year old ladies listen too, but full of energy.  I love it - 41 minutes of pure beat. 

So here is the challenge for 2014 - remember the 'at least one a month 5K' year with 12 T-shirts in the quilt? - well next year is the 'at least one a month 10K' year for the quilt.  I am going to DO IT!!

So I am listening to my new playlist while I am writing this and I am excited.  There are no more shows until February so I can concentrate on the mystery quilt and developing patterns for PQ3000 quilts and getting videos out there.  (And getting fitter).

On the trip I saw a lot of strange things being transported on very long trucks.  I spent a couple of hours wondering what they were.  They were very long, white and kind of fish wing shapes - then I got into farmland and worked it out - each one was a blade from a wind turbine.  I love those things - there is one in Wales that you can stand right next to, and it makes a wonderful, peaceful, swooshing sound. 

I was lucky on the trip up - the weather was wonderful.  There were also some lovely people at the Des Moines show who helped me to unload and laid the flooring in the booth.  And then they sent a volunteer to give me a bathroom break mid morning and mid afternoon.  I wish I could say I saw anything of the town, but I can't - just the show and the hotel.  The trip back was more eventful as I caught the remnants of the bad weather in Louisville KY late on Sunday night, so I got off the road and stayed safe. 

Some years ago, my late husband, John, had made a trip to Hiawatha, Iowa and traveled much of the same route that I took to Des Moines.  So there were many points of the trip that gave me memories - he would call me at regular points of the trip and tell me where he was - my favorite was when he called to say that he wanted to get off the road at 'Stinking Creek Road' to see it the creek really did stink!  As I drove past that exit I really missed him and his sense of humor!  And I also wanted to check it out...

And there were times on the trip when I missed him so much I didn't think I could carry on, but I did - and that is all that you can do after losing someone you love - just carry on, because the alternative is not pretty and, I'm sure, not what your loved one would want for you.  So, for tonight I will finish there.  Moving on there is the mystery quilt and lots of fun thing with the PQ3000 and quilt patterns, classes and books.  But for now there are memories and many happy years....