Pages

Monday, March 26, 2012

Monday Again

  Well, I do hope you all had a lovely weekend, and that your spring is coming along a little slower than mine is. It is funny how stuff moves at such a snails pace for a while during the winter months, although it has not for me this winter. Then wham here comes spring, or in Texas we might say there went spring. I posted a twitter this AM about the beautiful morning and the weather a friend of mine commented back that it had snowed at her house today.
  I made the decision today to do laundry, and not worry about working in the sewing room. I get in there and two hours later I realize I never went and took that last load out and now I am in the middle of what I am doing so I will do it later. Well, not going to do that today, so I am allowing myself to do the fun stuff I do. I am checking out Pinterest and Made by You Monday. Those are for fun and for inspiration. I have to say though that Made By You Monday, was not as fun as I usually find it to be. I want to enjoy this time, but I also worry about being another day not working. The truth is I have too many projects in process right now and I need to just fall back and do the quilts and when it is done enjoy myself later.
Well, it is time to move on and get the next loads changed out. I hope you are having a very quilty spring.
Tennye

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Funny Stuff and Oh My Goodness

  Hello, how is your day going? I have just spent over an hour searching blogs, websites and Pinterest for bags. I want a new purse and do not want to buy one. Part of that is I don't have the money, and part of it is , I am just picky and find it very difficult to find one I love. I had one that I did love, but I just got tired of the same color all the time, and it was fabric and starting to get pretty dirty. I bought a new leather one, and I love the color of it, and I hate the shape of it. I can get all my stuff in, but with turning it just right, and then trying to get it out is hard. Well, I want to recreate that purse that I loved, but after I cleaned it up, I donated it. That means I can't use it to figure out a pattern for a new one. So.... I searched and have been searching for a few days or weeks for the shape I want. I did not find it!!! I am sad, but I will just start drawing and cutting out paper until I like the shape, and then it will be on to the fabric for it. I want to make 2 or 3 so I can change it out in different seasons and situations. I will post pictures when I get it done. I am still thinking if I want to quilt it or not, it may depend on the fabric, so some may be quilted and others not.
  Well, I may or may not have mentioned my older daughter that lives with me has diabetes. Now that is a tough thing to deal with no mater your age, but she is turning 29 this month and has known she has this  disease for about 2 1/2 years now. She has done very well, with it and gone from 4 shots a day to just 1 pill a day. I would not have known what an improvement that was if I had not seen the progress, but trust me that is great. She has lost 50 lbs. and needs to lose about 20 or 30 more to be what insurance charts call normal. All this said to tell you she got a new job, so she is without insurance for 3 months during that normal probationary period we all have had to do with a new job. Her med.s are kind of expensive and she decided to make it a little more cost effective she would try cutting her medication in half. This has produced some , how can I say it without sounding callous, odd experiences for us. Now all of this might not be a big a problem if she were exercising like she should, however the drive is long and by time she gets home she is too tired to go to the gym. Then she is still too tired to get up early and try and fit the gym in before work, so she is experiencing blood sugar issues. Her sister woke me up at 2 am the other morning very upset that someone had just left out the front door of the house. She was carrying a bottle of Tequila as a weapon,( it was all she could find that might cause injury) and headed out the front door to find out what was going on. I of course followed her out the front door. She told me to wait at the door while she checked the drive way, at which time I noticed a car coming down the street that looked like her sisters. Sure enough that is exactly who it was. We waited for her to get out of the car before going back into the house, and being the mom I said " can you please explain this?" She took it the wrong way, but answered " I thought I slept through my alarm and I was gong to work. I finally saw the clock said it was 1:57 so I went around the block and came home." She was crying while she told up this. She was laughing too, and that gave us permission to laugh as well. We were all kind of hysterical I think. Now it has taken me a long time to write this and you a while to read it, but it took less than 5 min.s to happen altogether. I held her a min. and we all went back to bed, not that we slept very quickly after we got that adrenalin rush. The next day we all talked about it and laughed, while knowing her blood sugar was as mess and that was part of the reason this happened. I do admit it is not as funny in the retelling as it was when it happened.
  On other things, I am finally getting used to sleeping alone , hubby is about to get used to sleeping in the day time as well. Weekends are still a problem, but we are getting there. Of course about the time it all starts to jell we are going to see the baby and then hubs will be going on from there to see his dad and sister and her family. I leave the day before my birthday in April, and the the next Sun. Charlie will join me there. Our friends that live in TN are planning to come see us too. I am looking forward to the visit with the baby and his family. hahaha I can't wait to see my daughter too as I am sure you all know. Charlie will be flying out from Chattanooga on to Pittsburgh PA to see his dad. He tries to go there at least every other year if not every year, depending on what we can afford. It sure is hard having our children in opposite directions, I have not seen my oldest daughter and her family in over 3 years. Those grandchildren are teenagers so not growing soo fast they might forget who I am between visits. We try to stay in touch with them other ways. On thinking about it I wonder why we don't video chat with them or Skype like we did when they were living in Germany? It is not funny haha, but funny ,I wonder why, but it is funny how we did a video chat or emailed or talked on the phone once a month when they lived that far away. When they were in Virginia I went to see them every year or two. Now they live in TX and I have not seen them other than the few hours they spent with us when they moved there. It makes me feel awful, yet I can only go so often , it just cost too much to travel any more than I am now.
  This has turned out to be a very different blog than I had thought it would, that happens some times. I get to writing and the thoughts flow and sometimes change. I need to be working so I am off for the day, and I hope that until I get back to you, that all of you will have a very quilty week.
Tennye

Monday, March 19, 2012

QUILTS STOLEN


It is something every traveling quilt teacher fears, her quilts will be stolen or lost.  Unfortunately, it has happened to me. I’m heartbroken. . . please share the images and story below.  I hope they will be found.
On March 16, 2012, sometime between midnight and 6am at the Courtyard New Braunfels River Village, my rental car’s driver window was broken and my teaching suitecase was stolen. The hotel is located at 750 IH 35 North in New Braunfels, Texas. The police were called, they stated the break-in looked like the work of a professional.
It was a “smash and grab”. The vandals did not know what they were taking and it will have no value to them.  It means the world to me. . .
Inside the suitcase were the quilts  from my popular Patchwork Illusions class. I also lost all my teaching supplies and step-by-step demos for the class.
If you live in New Braunfels or anywhere in Texas, please check local yard sales, flea markets and pawn shops for the quilts.  Everyone, please   forward this blog posting to every quilter and quilt shop you know and ask them to forward it to everyone they know.
If you find one of my quilts or quilt  blocks, please contact me at karen@karencombs.com
Thank you for all your help,
Karen

Friday, March 9, 2012

A Finish Today

  Well, actually I didn't finish this today, I did last Sat. I have just been out of sorts most of the week. I love the napkins and rings I finished that go with the wine bag.  I hope she loves them as much as I do.
  Well, I mentioned the apron I was making for her from her grandmothers pattern. I checked out her lists on the different places she is registered at, and she has a lot of red for her kitchen. I love this  piece of fabric with some cute little hearts on it and it is very red, to match her kitchen stuff.
As I said last week, I did not include my daughters face when I took the photo, because she and I agreed this is not a very flattering picture. It is an apron, and not a fashion statement, so I am not worried about it, I hope the bride feels the same way. If I make it again I will make some changes. I think the bodice should be longer(wider), and the front needs to be a little more gathered . I think that would make it more flattering to the wearer.

  Not sure what the weather is like where you are, but we are having some much needed rain this week, and the forecast is to have more for the next few days, and then some sun and next week more rain. The only problem with the rain today is the cold front we had come in yesterday. The high for today is to be 48 degrees F , and tomorrow the high is supposed to be 58. Now we have been in the high 70's and low 80's recently, so today it is cold. Funny story to go with that, we had the a/c on yesterday so hubby could sleep when it was so warm . After he went to work last night I turned the a/c off and set the thermostat for the night. I don't do a quick off a/c and on heat, as we were told that is hard on the units. Well, after I turned it off I went to get the towels out of the dryer and fold them, planning to turn the heater on after I did that. You guessed it, I forgot to turn the heater on. We like to sleep cold so we slept very well, but it was hard to get out of bed in the cold house this am. Hubby came in a little after 7am and I woke up to this cold house. I of course realized what I had done and got up right away and turned the heat on. Why my daughters didn't do that when they got up, I will never know, but they didn't and now the house just won't seem to get warm. Oh, well good for quilting right??? hahaha
So until next time yall have  a very quilty day.
Tennye
 

Saturday, March 3, 2012

5000 Views Giveaway

  Well, I have not done a giveaway in a while and thought it was time for me to do one. So I will be working on something lovely that you will want to sign up for. I will put up pictures soon of what you can win. This time I may even have more than one prize, like a grand prize and then another prize after that. I just decided for sure to do this, so I have not come up with what any of it will be yet. The reason for the giveaway is I am at about 4400 views to my blog and I will only host this giveaway after the 5000th view. That kind of makes it hard to say what day you need to comment on, so you will need to check back once in a while.
  Today I need to make the napkins for the shower gift and make some pictures of them with the gift all put together. I had my daughter put on the apron yesterday and took a picture of it. I had to promise not to include her face, and I can see why. The apron really makes her look like she has not lost 40 lbs. recently. It is an apron not a fashion statement, so I am not worried about that. I did as she asked though and only took the photo from the neck down.  I will post it later when I do the other parts of the gift. Guess I need to go and get some work done though so yall have a very quilty day.
Tennye

Friday, March 2, 2012

Another Day, Not Another Dollar

  Hello, I have not been busy at all, I have been reading books and in general just killing time. I hate it that I have been showing signs of depression, not the can't get out of bed and don't get dressed kind. Just the kind that leaves me not able to make myself go to the sewing room and be productive. Now I know full well the reason for this, I am still fighting it never the less. I spent an hour yesterday going through my fabric looking for something to make napkins out of for the wedding gift I started last week. I used the left over fabric from the Wine tote to make napkin rings, and wanted to include some napkins with them. Well, I had fabric, just nothing that would blend of match any of the 3 fabrics I used. So this morning hubby and I went out to eat for breakfast and we were in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby. I asked him if he had time to go with me, to find some fabric for the napkins. He did and I got enough of a lighter brown than the background of the main fabric. It is a lovely brown with a orange tint to it, so it will not match, but blend very well.
  Well, while I was looking through my fabrics I found the original pattern I made from the brides, grandmother's worn out apron. Now This girl is one I kept from the time she was about 6 months old until she was in about the 3rd grade. I made the apron for her grandmother when the bride was only a year or so old. I found some cute red fabric with hearts on it that I bought to make myself a blouse out of 4 or 5 years ago. Since the brides kitchen colors are red and brown, I thought she might like a red apron from her grandmothers pattern for her own kitchen. I will post some pictures when I get a chance to after I get them finished. I have to get busy though since the shower is Sun. afternoon. So I guess I need to quit putting it off and get some work done. Thank you for stopping by and reading, I hope you will have a very quilty day and I will talk to you soon.
Tennye