Busy, Busy

The pic I have posted is of my sisters new puppy. He is super cute, so I thought I would share with the world.

Life is super crazy at work right now, so I haven't had much time to do anything. I've been bringing work home with me every night, so I don't have to be there until the wee hours. Because we have such a large workload there won't be any vacations during the holidays. My last day off for awhile will be the day after Thanksgiving. I haven't decided if I'm going to go shopping or just sleep. I figure I'll check out the ads on Turkey day and determine whether or not I want to get up and go. Kohl's is opening at 4am. That is just crazy. I'm sure people will be waiting for the doors to open.

I got my quilt back from the long arm, but I haven't had a chance to put the binding on. Hopefully that is something I will get done this weekend. Once its complete I'll post a picture.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!!

Homeward Bound

Training has ended and now for the return trip to Michigan. I'm currently sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for a shuttle to the airport. My mind is numb from all the information that was given over the past two days. Now we have to go home and implement all these things. Its gonna be a big job. It looks like quilting will be on the back burner until after the holidays. Right now vacations are even cancelled for staff. We have a deadline of 12/30/08 to implement everything that we learned here. Its gonna be tough, but we will make it.

More soon...

Sunny Texas?

I'm in Dallas for training for a couple days. The weatherman says that the sun is shining here, but I haven't seen it because I've been locked up in training sessions. We just finished for the night. I am ready to hit the sheets. Needless to say, I will not be able to visit any quilt shops in the local area. I was hoping that some were close by, but I didn't find any and our training schedule doesn't allow for it.

I'm returning home late Wednesday night, so on Thursday I will be heading to my quilter to pick-up the quilt she finished for me. I'm super excited because I want to get it done. I'm also looking forward to seeing what she did. I'm sure it looks great and I will post a picture as soon as I get the binding on.

When I left MI we had snow on the ground. Last night it was still snowing, so I'm not sure if it continued into today or not. Hopefully we won't have any weather delays getting into Detroit. I'm ready to get home and sleep in my own bed, even if it is filled with bed hogging dogs.

I gave my mom the table runner I completed for her before leaving for Texas. She was very happy with it. It makes me feel good that she likes it even though the quilting wasn't perfect on it. Practice makes perfect and I need alot of practice. I may need to do about 50 more table runners before I get the machine quilting thing down. I've been reading several posts from my Yahoo groups about people taking machine quilting classes. I'm thinking about finding one local and trying it out. I think it would help me immensely.

Off to bed, we start at 7:30 CST tomorrow morning. Yoohoo!!

Cold and Rainy

Well, the weather has turned to ugliness. It has been raining for two days and by tomorrow it is suppose to be snowing. Great opening day for deer season. The husband isn't even excited about going hunting in the morning.

Here is the table runner I made for my sister. Orginally I was going to keep it for myself, but I thought it would be nice to give her for the holidays. It turned out really nice. I quilted it by stitching in the ditch. I used a basting spray for the first time. That stuff works great. It would have been easier to do if I would have had an extra set of hands to lay everything out, but I managed. I had to pull it apart a couple of times to get it right. I really hope she likes it. This picture doesn't show all the detail of the fabric, but it is super cool, if you like S'more snowmen (which I love).

I got the quilt top to the quilter a couple of days ago. I told her to do whatever design she wanted on it. I'm sure it will turn out great. Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have it back and the binding put on.

I'm heading off to Dallas on Monday for training. We received the draft agenda today. We are going to have a couple of very long days. They are trying to cram a bunch of information into a day and a half of training. We'll see how it goes. I'm off to search for a quilt shop near the hotel. Maybe I'll find some neat treasures while I'm there.

Table Runner Done!!

I finally got the table runner finished for my mom. I quilted it myself, which I’m not a huge fan of. I can’t ever seem to get them tight enough before quilting, so they don’t get the nice look to them. Oh well. It’s done and I’m sure she will like it. I started another table runner out of the S’mores fabric and I think I’m going to send it to my sister. I was going to keep it for myself, but it will make a nice gift for her, since she won’t be here for the holidays. I’ve almost got the top all pieced, so maybe I’ll be able to finish it this weekend.

It looks like I’m headed to Dallas for a few days next week. The federal agency that I work for didn’t fair too well on an audit, so they decided to send us to Dallas for training. Hopefully, it will be good training. We went to a week of training earlier this year in Salt Lake City and they really didn’t give us a whole lot that we needed. We’ve been begging for training, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. Enough of that. I’ve never been to Dallas, so I’m hoping to see some things while I’m there. I’ve only got two nights, but I’m sure a group of us will get out and see some sights.

My sister in law and her family left today to head back to Virginia. It was a nice visit, but short. It was great to see everyone. Hopefully we will be able to make a trip out there sometime soon. It’s hard to go anywhere because of the animals. Maybe the parents in law will be able to watch the animals. They help us out quite often, which is wonderful.

Enough rambling for now.

Quilty Day

I have the day off today, so I've spent a good part of the day working on finishing up some quilt projects. I pieced the border on my butterfly quilt and put the back together. Gonna call the quilt lady today to see if she can get me in soon. I also quilted the tablerunner for my mom. I started to do some free motion stuff last night and realized I wasn't ready for that. I did stitch in the ditch on it and will had quilt the x-mas trees on it. The binding is all pieced and ironed. This afternoon I'm going to get that done. Hopefully tonight I will get a picture up of it. I'm super excited to get it done.

My husband's sisters family came over this morning to feed the horses and cows. I didn't even know they had gone out back, but everything went well. The kids were super excited to tell me about feeding them. They still aren't ready to meet the dogs, but I can understand that. The dogs like to bark at strangers and they are bigger than both of the kids. Maybe next year they will be ready for that. Its nice that my niece isn't afraid of the horses anymore. Two years ago she screamed when she saw the horses; last year she would give me the grass to feed them; so this year she is actually feeding them. I'm very proud of her and glad that she is growning out of being scared of animals. She is only three, so in another year she should be good to go.

More to follow...

Party!

Last night my girlfriend and I hosted a Pure Romance Party. A good time was had by all that attended even though the weather wasn’t the nicest. I’m moving a little slow this morning, but it’s not from drinking. I stayed up too late, I guess. It sucks getting older. Staying up after midnight used to be so easy and now it just takes a toll on my body. Ugh.

Today it is spitting snow outside. The Indian summer has definitely left Michigan. The horses are very wooly, which is good. This past week they were very hot, but now they need all that hair just to stay warm. We aren’t supposed to get out of the 30’s today.

My husband’s sister and family are in town for a few days. I’m looking forward to seeing them as they live in VA. Grandma made quilts for the kids, so I want to see how they reacted to getting them. The quilts my MIL made are beautiful. She did a great job. She used the Yellow Brick Road and Log Cabin patterns to make the quilts. She is new to quilting and seems to really enjoy it. She has already purchased another pattern and the fabric for it.

Luckily I have the next couple of days off, so I'm hoping to get some sewing done. I really want to finish the table runner for my mom. I have several other projects that I want to start, but I have to get this one done first.

Last Nice Day

Today is suppose to be our last really nice day. My husband was out cutting hay today. It won't dry enough to bale, but we can rake it up and give it directly to the cows. This stretch of nice weather makes it really difficult to get ready for the cold. It does seem unbelievable to have 70 degree weather for 3 days in November.

I purchased a new quilting book today. Its called Jelly Roll Quilts. The local quilt shop had a top displayed made from this book. I really like the design, but of course, they didn't have any copies of the book. I found it today at the local Barnes & Noble. I love the patterns in the book. I'm super excited about starting one.

Tonight is Survivor night. It seems that they had a good twist tonight. They acted like they were going to merge the tribes and then didn't. All were disappointed. I am a Survivor fan and I blame my previous co-workers. They got me started watching the show and now I watch every stinking season.

I wasn't able to work the horses tonight because I had to go to Sam's and buy food for the girl party this weekend. It was sad because it was the last nice day, but the horses can work in the cold. Its more about comfort for me. Horses don't mind the cold, but I do.

That's all for tonight. Have a good night.

Another Beautiful Day

It was gorgeous today. Another day in the 70's. They are calling for snow this weekend, so I enjoyed this weather today. The husband fixed the haybine and cut some hay for the cows. It would be nice to get some more hay off the field before winter. I think we may end up being a little short on what we need to get through. I got my youngest horse out tonight to do some work, but we were foiled in our attempt due to the husband trying to catch a bull. We have one left that needs to have the nasty deed done to him. He is very smart and doesn't want to be caught. He jumped the fence into another pasture twice tonight. It was funny to watch, but I'm glad he didn't get out. We'd probably still be chasing him.

One of the ladies I work with drove to Chicago yesterday to go to Grant Park and see Barak Obama speak. She said that it was amazing and is something she will never forget. She equated it to knowing where you were when Kennedy was assassinated or the 9/11 bombings. We will all remember those events.

My girlfriend and I are getting ready to host a girls only party this weekend. I'm looking forward to it. It should be lots of fun.

That's all for now.

I Voted, Did You?

Well, today was the big day. I got to my polling place and it was very busy for a little po-dunk precinct. I didn't have to wait too long, but there were no voting booths available so I sat in a chair and marked my circles. Yeah, its finally over.

Worked the my gelding and my Appy mare today. It was another beautiful day in Michigan. The temps were in the mid-70's and the bugs were out. The horses both had good workouts and got a little sweaty. Makes my day when I can get my butt out there and exercise them.

I didn't get any sewing done today, but I did visit the local quilt shop and spent some money. I ended up buying some charm squares to make a table runner for myself. It is super cute S'mores winter fabric. I love it. I actually have a couple jelly rolls of it as well. The table runner is pretty easy to make, so hopefully I will have it done before hosting Christmas dinner.

Almost Time to Vote

Tomorrow is the big day. We finally get to go vote. I am so ready for Election Day to get here. I can't wait for all the commercials to end.

On another note, I working on a winter table runner for my mom. I made her a pumpkin table runner several years ago, so she asked for a winter one. She didn't want it to be specifically for Christmas, so I found some cute "wintery" fabrics. Its all pieced, I just need to quilt it and bind it.

It was 70 degrees today, so I actually got out to the barn and worked one of the horses. It was nice because I got the round pen all cleaned out of weeds and actually used it. I had my gelding sweating from the little workout. He has had most of the year off, so of course I get the energy to start working him when the weather gets cold.

I will post some pics of other quilts that I have finished recently. I've been able to get a bunch of UFO's finished, which is wonderful.

That's all for now.