Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Back to normal?

So, am I Back to normal? Well, I'm home now and busy as ever, so yes, I guess I'm back to normal for me! I sure am paying the price for being gone so long! And I didn't get my taxes done before I left :( So...I'm stuck at the computer. But I had to take a break to finish my Quilt 24 Challenge's first quilt. It was due by April 1. We had a meeting that day, so we REALLY had to have it done! Okay, not really--we are really challenging ourselves, so if we don't get things done, it's our own loss. But it's nice to have deadlines. So, while adjusting to being back in my own time zone, I sewed in the wee hours of the mornings to finish about 4 hours before our meeting!

This is my first quilt--(which was to be a twin quilt, according to our challenge rules) and you'll recognize it as Judy L's "Gratitude" pattern! I figured I might as well kill 2 birds with one stone, although I didn't follow her one hour a day. It was more like ...sew like a banshee during a retreat on the blocks and sew like mad during the middle of the night! But hey, it worked and it's done. I can't tell if my eyes are blurry (it's 1 AM here), or it was a blurry picture..the blocks look a bit blurry to me. At our meeting, it was really great to see everyone's quilts--they were all so different but beautiful! I think we all are enjoying the challenge it gives us to be very creative with our fabric. I can't wait until next month.

Our next quilt is to be a medallion quilt and I designed my own, so am now working about 1/2 hour a day on those. I'd MUCH rather work on those than my books/taxes so I have to limit myself until I get them done.

Thank you all so much for bearing with me while I posted mostly non-quilt related posts about my trips. Not only am I sharing my adventures with you, I'm really recording them for me. I hope that if they bored you, you went on. I do enjoy looking at other's pictures of where they live, they visit, their kids along with the quilts.

By the way, did you see the new "The Quilt Show" with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson? Ricky said that quilters do have other lives! :) How many of you signed up for the series? I read somewhere (I forget now where) that they pay for cable and weren't going to pay for more shows. Well, my feeling is that all the good quilt shows are gone (from my area at least) and for the price of less than 2 yards of fabric, I can watch quilt shows for year, at my convenience. And they are close to an hour long! There are a few ads, but very short ones...not annoying long ones that last longer than the show segments! So....what are your thoughts? If you are against it, why? If you did subscribe, did you like the first shows? Just curious....

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Gratitudes:

1. Taxes--hate to do them, but love the freedoms we have because of them

2. Fun challenges to keep us inspired

3. Pansies

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a lovely quilt. Congratulations on the finish, and I enjoyed your holiday posts.

Anonymous said...

Youe quilt is beautiful! I'm doing Judy's current project - I had not done either of the first two. I agree with you about The Quilt Show. It's a small price to pay for an on-line magazine/show. I don't expect to like all of the episodes = I did like every Simply Quilts episode - but I'm grateful to be able to see whatever is going on in quilting.

Tracey in CT said...

The quilt is lovely.

I did subscribe to The Quilt Show. Initially I balked at the idea of paying for it, but the more I thought about it, the sillier my hesitation seemed. I finally decided that it was less than the price of a magazine subscription, and I certainly would spend more time looking at the shows and the website than I ever spend looking at a new magazine, so I went for it. I haven't watched the first episode yet, but soon! :-)

SuBee said...

I totally agree about The Quilt Show, right down to the brief (but a little annoying) commercials. The only quilt show left in my area is Quilt in a Day, and it's mostly reruns when I can ever find it - and I have satellite TV so should be able to find any if they're around!
Welcome back to the world...

Kairle Oaks said...

Welcome home from all of your wonderful adventures!

Your quilt looks wonderful. I really like your idea (from your previous post) of making a quilt using the colors of Aruba!

Paula, the quilter said...

I have a charter membership to "The Quilt Show" and watched the 1st show the other night. Maybe it's my monitor, but I found the lighting to be a bit dark. I need to watch it here at work to see if it's my monitor. Maybe it's my eyes.

Granny said...

Love your quilt! Thanks for doing it.

I also signed up for The Quilt Show. Heck, I don't even know why I did it .. I'll do anything! :)

I liked the first show - would like to hear more from Ricky. I haven't watched the second show yet.

I like being able to chat on the web page too -- like I need another venue to chat! :)

sewprimitive karen said...

Your quilt is gorgeous!