Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Sunburst + T-shirt Quilt

2012-01-26T12:40:00.000-05:00

January 26 2012,

This quilt below is call "Sunburst". It is the same concept as "Starburst" but has more orange fabrics in it. It measures 86" x 59" and contains 840 quarter square triangles that measure 2.5" each.

I sent this quilt out to be quilted by a local long arm quilter name Concessa. The quilting turned out beautiful.

Below is the back of the quilt. I used leftover fabric pieces from many projects and made it into a collage. Hubby prefers the back instead of the front, go figure.

Wait there's more!

Below is a queen size t-shirt quilt that a friend commissioned me to make for her father. Her mother had passed away, and over the years, her mother had collected a bunch of astronomy t-shirts during her travels.

Below is the result. The quilting was sent out to another local quilter, Martha, who did a spectacular job. The result was stunning, and the lady's father who received this as a Christmas gift this past Christmas was in tears.

Happy Quilting,
Quilt & Bitch

Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T16:01:00.002-05:00

January 23 2012,

Happy New Year! May the new year bring plenty of joy, wealth and good health.

Here are a few rituals and traditions that we follow just before the new year and for the new year day. Note that there are many other beliefs and traditions, and the ones below are just the ones we follow.

Before the new year, the house must be clean and in order.
Cut your nails and hair before the new year.
One must not cut hair or nails on the new year day.
Have a new year's eve feast, that consist of noodles, shrimp and fish.
On new year's day, nothing can be cleaned, swept or washed.
Wear red on new year's day.

According to our neighbor, people who are born in the year of the dragon, because it is the year of the dragon, should wear a red belt all year around. I googled and found one site which said that wearing some kind of red thread is fine too, like on the ankle or wrist bracelet. Time for me to go to the craft store and buy red embroidery thread and brush up on the techniques on how to do a friendship bracelet. Hubby says he won't wear it, I guess I just have to do it for the two of us.

Happy New Year,
Quilt & Bitch

Sitting Pretty Again

2012-01-16T08:30:00.000-05:00

January 16 2012,

Last winter, instead of throwing out the Amaryllis bulbs, I decided to keep them and try to replant them for this winter. It was a success. Out of four bulbs, two are producing spectacular flowers. The other two may just be late bloomers. Below are the stages of the Amaryllis.

Pretty aren't they?

Quilt & Bitch

Cleaning Bonanza

2012-01-13T08:49:00.000-05:00

January 13 2011,

Chinese New Year is fast approaching. This year, the new year falls on January 23rd 2012, and is the year of the Dragon.

Some of you know that before the new year approaches, the house must be clean. For the next 10 days, the house will be in a shamble. Dusting, washing, vacuuming, sweeping, wiping, will all occur. I will go through a lot of Q-tips and toothpicks (in order to get into the nook and cranny of things). In our domain, this type of deep cleaning only happens once a year.

Surprisingly, we have gotten one of our neighbors, who is of Italian descent, to clean house, and to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This reminds me of the phrase, "Keeping up with the Joneses".

We've also notice that we are trying to "one-up" each other. Well, it is not exactly "one-upping" each other, but we seem to set the standard, and people in the cul-de-sac, seem to follow.

One example were the Christmas lights this past Christmas. As soon as we put up ours, our Italian neighbor's kids said, "Our house now looks boring. Let's put up some icicles on the roof". The next week, icicles popped up on their roof.

It's all in good fun and a friendly competition.

Happy Cleaning!

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: In Unison

2012-01-11T18:19:00.000-05:00

January 11 2012,

A new year, a new quilt. Regular readers are probably not surprise by this orange and blue color combination. The quilt is call "In Unison". It is hand appliqued and hand quilted. This project took me 5 months to complete. Most of the time, it was sitting in a bag waiting for me to pick it up and work on it. It wasn't hard or required any brain cells. I had no motivation to finish it. Finally last week I picked it up and vowed to finish it.

Quilt & Bitch

Christmas Lights

2012-01-08T06:17:00.001-05:00

January 8 2012,

Happy New Year!

I just had the time to take pictures of Christmas lights that we put up. Below is the fountain area in the summer. And below that are pictures of what the fountain currently looks like.

The icicles portrays water flowing down the fountain, and the itsy bitsy colorful lights are fishes swimming in the fountain. Some of the colored lights blinks.

We picked up four more of the same icicle lights that went on sale on December 26. Next year, we'll have more! The more the better right?

Quilt & Bitch

Painting Party

2011-12-28T07:33:00.003-05:00

December 28 2011,

We've been busy painting last week and this week. When there is a little bit of down time, we tackle a few walls each time. Last week was a section of the foyer and hallway.

The time consuming part is not the painting but the prepping of the walls. We have bad plaster on some walls, and when this happens, when we try priming the walls, the paint peels after it dries.

To make matters worse, the paint that we bad bought, was streaking badly.

We went back to the store and discussed the issue with the store owner, and he suggested buying Benjamin Moore Aura paints. Our original paint was $25.00 a gallon, and this special one was $60.00 a gallon. Before we jumped to the conclusion that it was the paint, we bought new roller frame, new rollers, and the streaks were still there.

With the Benjamin Moore Aura paint, we redid the wall, and there were no streaks at all. What a big difference. This paint is expensive, but it has primer built into it, and the paint is easier to work with.

Streaking on wall

Below is a small wall that we painted. I wanted this 3 feet by 3.5 feet wall be colorful, because our other walls are all off white. This orange color is call "citrus blast" (color # 2018-30). We bought a pint of paint with this color. It cost us $6.50 for the paint, it was worth it. It is on the bright side, so a small wall was appropriate.

Splash of color (citrus blast #2018-30)

We had gone to a friend's house over Christmas and saw these triangle on their handy man's workspace. We inquire what these things were, and he explained that they were call "Painter's Pyramid" and that it will make painting quicker.

Painter's Pyramid

You put doors, cabinet, small furniture on these pyramid, and then you can paint things in half the time, because you can get it off the ground or saw horses without having to wait for it to dry. It is a brilliant idea!

Hubby and I decided to set it up for our pine doors and did a trial run in flipping the doors before we painted to see if it was even feasible. As we flipped the door, we noticed little dimples on our doors. Darn. These pyramid left little dimple marks where it had been resting. Hubby concluded that the pine doors were too soft for these pyramid to rest on. So now, we are back to waiting an hour after each side of the door is painted and then flipping it over. Brilliant idea, but just not for us.

Painter's Pyramid resting on solid pine doors

This whole thing has certainly been an adventure. We're still painting doors. We can only do two at a time because we only have two sets of saw horses. The house had all brass hardware, and we are getting rid of the brass hardware (hinges, door knobs) and changing them all to satin nickle. Slowly but surely, we'll get there. After all the doors are done, I think we'll be tackling the trims.

Happy Painting,
Quilt & Bitch

Getting Older

2011-12-23T07:37:00.000-05:00

December 23 2011,

Getting older is tough. I had a birthday last month and ~~I think~~ the mid life crisis is hitting me very hard. Last weekend, we went to our niece's Bat Mitsvah , and the feeling older symptom crept up again. I remember when she was just a baby crawling on the floor. Now she is all grown up.

Have you seen how these 13 year old dress lately for a party? Very short skirts with high heels. Isn't a Bat Mitzvah suppose to be a religious occasion? Cover those legs young girls!

For me, getting older includes getting bigger. At this time of the year, where food is at an abundance, I have to be careful about eating, and eating properly. The temptations are all there in front of me, so I have to be more careful with stuffing my face.

In my younger years, people have always envied me and my ability to eat anything and be able to digest it without gaining any weight, due to my high metabolism. It is not the case now. People often ask, "Where do you put all that you're eating?"

I went to the doctor's yesterday for a yearly physical exam. I gained two pounds over the year. Not too bad, but two pounds a year is still a lot.

I'm not feeling sorry for myself, but trying to become more aware of these changes as I am slowly getting older.

Merry Christmas to all, and have a safe and festive season.

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Red Sox (Epic Disaster) Quilt

2011-12-14T07:37:00.000-05:00

December 14 2011,

I had hopes and dreams that the Boston Red Sox would get to the play offs this year and win the World Series. Unfortunately they choked badly. I even postponed the finishing of the quilt as not to jinx them.Was I wrong.

As September came and went, the Red Sox lost, and October was a depressing time for the city of Boston. I had no other choice other than to finish the quilt and aptly named it "Epic Disaster".

You may remember the Bruins quilt that I made in celebration of the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup, this is the same concept but without the winning part.

Front of Quilt

Detail of Quilt

Back of Quilt


Detail of Back of Quilt

There is always next year right?

Quilt & Bitch

Out With The Old...

2011-12-03T12:52:00.001-05:00

December 3 2011,

... and in with the new.

I am on a small cleaning spree. I gave away my cooking books, 17 of them, the old digital hand me down camera, and reupholstered two bar stools all through Freecycle. I feel so much lighter, and the house feels lighter too.

Hubby says giving away the cooking books is sacrilegious. Who needs cooking books when you can get recipes online? I have a collection of recipes that I have compiled, and they are safely on the computer. All I kept were two cooking books, The Joy of Cooking and The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Truth be told, I have not used a single recipe out of these two books. I guess, when it's my turn to do Thanksgiving, I might just have to crack one of these open. I have my fingers crossed that Thanksgiving does not ever end up at our house

So for the two bar stools that we got, we reupholstered them. All you need is a staple gun and staples. We used 1/2" staples because the 1/4" did not go through to the wood. We used vinyl for the fabric. We wrapped the vinyl fabric on top of the original one and stapled away.


Old Fabric

New Fabric

Back of stool

New to us bar stools

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Star Burst

2011-11-30T19:09:00.001-05:00

November 30 2011,

My latest quilt creation is call "Star Burst" which measures approximately 92 x 60. This is a wall hanging that will eventually be hung in a hallway. Currently it hangs on the living room wall. This quilt consists of ~~400+~~ 602, 3 1/2 inch ~~half~~ quarter square triangles. It is machine pieced and machine quilted in the ditch.

The creation of this quilt was quite interesting. Originally this was suppose to be a table runner, but I realized that I had more pieces then necessary, thus the transition from a table runner to a wall hanging. Without any idea of how many pieces I had made, I started to lay it out on the floor without a design in mind. As I lay the pieces down, it slowly came together. Amazingly I was left with only two orphan squares! One of the orphan square was used as a piece on the back of the quilt, and the other one will be incorporated into the next quilt.

The light green background fabric, the one with the bubbles on them, have been sitting on the shelf for about a year. I finally took the courage to use it. The orange, dark purple. light purple, and light blue fabrics were on sale, the darker green fabrics were remnants from the "Through the Woods " and "Into The Forest" quilts, and the blue one from the "Circles in Heaven" quilt.

My next quilt will be similar to this, but instead of the green bubble background fabric, it will be a softer blue.

You may notice that my pictures will become progressively better. Instead of using a 10 year old digital hand me down camera, we purchased a point and shoot Nikon camera for my birthday (which was on Thanksgiving this year). You'll probably will start noticing more pictures being posted and better quality.

Stay tuned,
Quilt & Bitch

The Joy of Living in New England (Part II)

2011-11-30T07:43:00.001-05:00

November 30 2011,

The leaves are finally raked, blown, bagged and dumped, but hubby says that we might have to do one more round, but fortunately we don't have to bag it because we'll just put it in our compost pile in the back yard.

The weather has been unseasonably warm, the second warmest November in history in the Massachusetts area. Doing the leaves has been more tolerable because of the weather. This year was not as bad as last year, mostly because we have finally gotten the routine down. Blow, rake, bag, dump. How hard can that be?

The total tally for this season is 74 of those 30 gallons yard bags and 12 trips to the dump in a one month period.

The spring bulbs are mostly planted, have about 85 bulbs left to plant, that will be a small project for this week. We did 100 hyacinth bulbs and 340 tulip bulbs. 85 of them were planted for our next door neighbor so that the tulips will be continuous from our neighbor's yard to our yard. Can't wait till it pops up. I am crossing my fingers that the squirrels and chipmunks don't get to them.

Quilt & Bitch

One of My Favorite Food

2011-11-06T12:38:00.003-05:00

November 6 2011

In New York, good friends of ours often take us to an Italian Restaurant where I would order the squid ink pasta with seafood over marinara sauce. I have this dish twice a year.

Luckily we have a pasta shop that hubby was driving by on the way to see a client in Somerville, MA. The store is call Dave's Pasta Shop. They make the best fresh pasta, and their sauces are wonderful. They are a bit pricey, but freshness does have a price to it.

I called ahead to see what were their specials of the day, and to my surprise, they had the squid ink pasta. So I had hubby pick up 1/2 pound of squid ink linguini and a pint of marinara sauce. Note that hubby does not eat tomatoes because he is allergic to it, thus, more food for me. So here goes my rendition of the restaurant dish.

7 pieces of Tiger Shrimp (7 because it was $22 per pound and that would be perfect for two meals)

1 pound of mussels

1/2 pound of squid ink pasta

Onions and Garlic


The end result

Drool,
Quilt & Bitch

The Joy of Living in New England

2011-11-04T07:45:00.002-04:00

November 4 2011,

Last week on Saturday and Sunday we had our first snow storm, a nor-easter. Right before the storm I did a little bit of fall clean-up that most New-Englanders are accustom to. Fall clean-up consists of fighting with the rake, blower and the 30 gallon leaf bags. The other option is to pay a landscaping company $350 - $500 every time they do a clean-up, or buying a $500 mulcher that will make the leaves and branches much smaller. It may be worth it, but it's another machine that we have to store in the garage.

Because we have a family sedan and not a guzzling SUV, which everybody in this town seem to have, we have to take more trips to the dump to drop off our bags of leaves. Our car can only take 6 bags each trip. One in the front seat, 3 in the back seat, and 2 in the trunk.

Sidebar: Our town does not have curb side trash or recycling pick-up. So if you don't want to pay a trash company to pick up your trash every week for approximately $50 per month - you have to haul your crap out to the dump. The dump is approximately 2.6 miles each way, and takes approximately 23 minutes to go there, dump the stuff, and back.

So far we have accumlated twenty-one 30 gallon bags in one week. Still, the leaves keep on falling, there seem to be no end to it. No one in the neighborhood is raking and bagging, I guess they will be hiring somebody to do it. The ultimate question is, how much is your time worth?

If you're not busy, come on over and you can help me rake and bag.

Happy Fall,
Quilt & Bitch

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

2011-10-31T12:05:00.001-04:00

October 31 2011,

Amy's Creative Side once again is hosting the Bloggers' Quilt Festival.

The quilt is called, "Circles in Heaven". The design is from a book call "Chinese Lattice Designs with over 1200 illustrations" by Daniel Sheets Dye page 461, the symbol "...is an allover of the interlocked circle of heaven, where the hollow square simulates the square of earth." I chose to make 8 of these because in Chinese, the number 8 signifies prosperity and wealth.

This quilt is hand appliqued and hand quilted and the fabrics consists of two Batik fabrics.

Enjoy and thanks for visiting.

Quilt & Bitch

The Ugly Side of Pool

2011-10-04T13:37:00.000-04:00

October 4 2011,

Someone I know who runs a pool tournament (the tour director) in the area got bashed up this weekend. A player was bitching to the Tour Director that the handicap system was screwd up. The player then punched the Tour Director 3 times in the face injuring his jaw and banged up his face. He went to the owner of the pool hall, and she did not do anything about it.

Luckily the pool hall has a footage on the whole action.

The Tour Director has gone to the police already and filed a complaint and a report.

Now, does pool have to get that violent?

Quilt & Bitch

T.V. Junkie

2011-09-20T07:48:00.000-04:00

September 20 2011,

I must confess, I am a television junkie. Most of the time, I don't watch anything specific, I enjoy having the noise in the background.

In our house, we had three T.V.'s. One in the living room, one in the basement / game room, and one in the office / study.

This past weekend, we redecorated the office. After figuring out how to read the compass, we realized that I was sitting facing Southwest in the office which is a no-no according to my Kua number. What that means was we had to turn my sitting position 30 - 40 degrees to the left to face South.

Here comes the dilemma. The only spot in the room that the television could be located was in the South corner of the room. So there goes the T.V.

The T.V. is not a flat screen so it juts out 23 inches from the corner, and since I am now sitting in that corner, the T.V. could not be there, and there was no other spot to put a monster in the room. We could have fished out $400+ for a flat screen television and a fancy wall mount, but it would still be awkward.

Being a T.V. junkie, what was I to do? Get rid of the cable box and television and sign up for Hulu. So far, Hulu has been great, I get to try it for one month for free and then it is $7.99 per month. Now I can watch all those Law + Order SVU that I missed on T.V.

The graphical user interface (GUI) is easy to navigate. So far I have no complaints because of the low cost per month, hopefully they don't pull a Netflix.

Now my desk is setup with three monitors, one dedicated to Hulu, and the other two for regular work. Now I have to figure out what to do about watching baseball games online. Next year, I may just have to fish out an extra $10.00 per year for MLB.TV.

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Through the Woods and Into the Forest + Circles in Heaven

2011-09-15T19:18:00.000-04:00

September 15 2011,

Remember this quilt? It was posted on May 21, 2011 called "Through the Woods". It's other half called, "Into the Forest" is finally done. Originally, this quilt was not suppose to be two separate quilts, but one piece. I had folded the foreground fabric (the brown one) incorrectly resulting in two separate pieces instead of one piece. Remember the "Circling" quilt, this was technically suppose to look like that. Lesson learnt.

Remember the blue and orange fabric that I bought in June? Below is the outcome. The quilt is called, "Circles in Heaven". The design is from a book call "Chinese Lattice Designs with over 1200 illustrations" by Daniel Sheets Dye page 461, the symbol "...is an allover of the interlocked circle of heaven, where the hollow square simulates the square of earth." I chose to make 8 of these because in Chinese, the number 8 signifies prosperity and wealth.

All hand appliqued and hand quilted.

Below is a quilt that was created earlier this year. A friend had bought the orange fabric for me, and the fabric resulted in the creation of "Orbit". Originally it was not suppose to look like this. But since I designed the template incorrectly, se la vie. The two hollow large circles in the middle were not suppose to be hollow but instead interlocking circles. Oh well, another lesson learnt. This is also hand appliqued and hand quilted.

Quilt & Bitch

Pennies

2011-09-10T06:40:00.000-04:00

September 10 2011,

Hubby and I were at a store where we bumped into a friend. He paid for his items and were given his change which included three pennies. We proceeded to exit the store where he picked through his change and threw out the three pennies he was given.

My jaw dropped. I had the urge to save the three pennies that were thrown, but I couldn't. I couldn't say anything and I couldn't do anything.

To me, pennies are still as precious as a nickel or a dime, and a lot of pennies can still buy you something. I collect all our loose change in a piggy bank, and every few years, I empty them at a coin star and redeem it for a amazon.com gift certificate.

What do you do with your pennies? How do you feel about people throwing out pennies?

Quilt & Bitch

Hand Made versus Machine Made

2011-09-06T11:47:00.001-04:00

September 6 2011,

I recently had two quilts appraised, the Boston Bruins quilt and the quilt called "Circling".

The Bruins' quilt was all done by machine and the Circling quilt was mostly done by hand. The Bruins' quilt appraised for more than the Circling quilt mainly because of the size.

What I concluded from the result was that whether a quilt was pieced by hand and quilted by hand did not have any factor in the appraised value. Even though hand pieced / appliqued and hand quilted quilts takes a tremendously amount of time because your fingers can only stand only so much stabbing from the needle, it adds nothing to the value.

The Bruins quilt can be created in two weeks, versus the Circling quilt, ranges from 2 - 6 months.

Now, if your only goal was to make and sell quilts, machine made quilts are the way to go. But if you quilt for the joy of quilting, go ahead and go through the torture of stabbing your fingers. The other thing you get from hand piecing / appliquing / quilting is bragging rights.

These days when you go to a quilt show, almost 90% of the quilts that are shown are done by machine. Beautiful as they may be, hand done quilts have a more personal touch to them.

Quilt & Bitch

Come on Irene!

2011-08-28T11:41:00.000-04:00

August 28 2011,

Cheesy title, but it works.

We are experiencing the hurricane right now. In our area, there has been minor flooding, small tree limbs and small branches coming down.

Our sump pump is working, the patio table and umbrella are in the shed, my little frog statue is in the garage.

The only thing that has happened so far was a bird flew into our window which startled me, luckily it did survive the crash and flew away.

I am looking outside the window and watching the really tall trees on my neighbor's yard swaying back and forth. I think if it falls, it'll just miss our house. Fingers and toes crossed.

Interestingly there are a lot of birds hanging around our yard, they must be waiting out the storm too.

Quilt & Bitch

How Do You Read a Compass?

2011-08-24T08:54:00.000-04:00

August 24 2011,

Yesterday we decided to move our furniture around in our living room after almost a year of moving in. The push for the musical chair was an introduction of our new television. I finally caved in and decided that it was time for a new flat screen television. Our old one was 17 years old, and we could no longer read the text on the screen because it was so blurry.

The compass comes into play because we had to figure out the best direction according to the ba gua diagram. We are only allowed to face certain directions and avoid others. For us, the best directions are East, Southeast, North and South. For more information on what your kua number and the best direction is, check it out here. Between hubby and I, we have the same kua number, so we did not have to worry about mixing different directions. For those of you who have significant others, and the kua numbers do not match, the kua number you should base the direction on is the person who makes more money.

So we took the compass out, and had to look up how to use one. I guess hubby never went to boy scouts to learn this life saving technique. Because the compass was really old, we weren't sure if it was telling us the true direction. So we went to a site that integrated google maps with a compass and figured out the old thing was not whacked.

Then we figured each direction meant in degrees. Each direction has a compass reading. For example, Southeast is between 112.5 degrees - 157.5 degrees.

As a result of this, we now have the television the opposite side of the fireplace at a corner, and the couch is at an angle with the back towards the fireplace and directly opposite the television.

It looks awkward, and when people look and flinch, we'll just blame it on the feng shui.

Quilt & Bitch

It's a Cultural Thing

2011-08-12T08:47:00.000-04:00

August 12 2011,

Shoes in the house has been a debate in our house. I grew up having to take off our shoes when we come into the house. Hubby on the other hand always wore shoes in the house while growing up.

Taking off one's shoes before coming into the house keeps the house cleaner, minimizes the scratches on the hardwood floors and allows the hardwood floors to look shiny longer.

When I go into someone's house, even in the winter, I take off my shoes / boots before entering as a sign of respect.

We had my in-laws for a couple of days, and they wore their shoes around the house the whole time. What can I say, they were use to wearing shoes in the house. They would have been more than happy to take them off, but since hubby wears his shoes around the house, I really can't have them take their's off.

You know how long it takes to clean floors? First you have to sweep up all the dirt, and then you have to mop it. No, I don't have one of those steam mops, I use a bucket of water and get on my hands and knees and mop.

How do you feel about taking off your shoes at someone else's home? Do you wear your shoes in your own home?

Quilt & Bitch

"The Birdcage is Still There!"

2011-07-30T13:59:00.000-04:00

July 30 2011,

Yesterday afternoon we were visited by two sisters and the daughter of one of the sister's, who had grew up in our house many moons ago. They were driving around and stopped on the side of the house as we were pulling into the garage. They stopped us and asked us if we lived in that house, and we said yes.

We proceeded to invite them in. They told us that both of them frequently have dreams about sneaking around the house at night trying to look in the house to see what has changed. Hopefully now that they have seen the house, they will not have the nightmares.

As we toured the outside, the younger sister said, "The birdcage I made is still there!". I had wanted to take it down, but hubby said just leave it, so it sits on a branch of our magnolia tree untouched.

Next we visited our next door neighbor (the one with the yellow house) and all of us chatted for an hour or so.

I feel it is nice for past owners, especially children who had lived in a house to come back and see the transformation that has occurred after the house was sold. They kept on saying, "our house", and kept on apologises realizing that it was no longer their house. But to them, it will always be their house.

Quilt & Bitch

Stain Gone

2011-07-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

July 25 2011,

In my previous post I had brought hubby's pants to the dry cleaner. I went back today to pick it up.

I had expected the multiple stains to still be there, but it wasn't. The unpleasant lady who had taken the pants in a week ago was tending the cleaners. There was no way she did not remember me as being the bitchy lady.

I walked in and said hello and handed her the slip of paper. I paid for the pants and she gave me back the pants.

She was definitely more pleasant this time around. When the transaction was over, she said, "Have a nice day." I said, "Thank you, you too."

Quilt & Bitch

"That's Not Just One Stain..."

2011-07-15T07:13:00.000-04:00

July 14 2011,

Yesterday I went to the dry cleaner's to drop of hubby's pair of pants that somebody had spilled red wine on. I pointed out the stain to the lady behind the counter so that she was aware that it needed special treatment. She barked back and said, "That's not just one stain". She then gave me the evil eye.

Excuse me!

Okay, so the story was, somebody spilled red wine, and the wine splattered on his pants. The stain caused MULTIPLE splatters on the pants.

As I walked out the door, I turned to her and said, "You know 'mam, you should be a little more pleasant".

I wouldn't be surprise if the pants "accidentally" disappeared or comes back with destructed". They must have a clause somewhere stating that they are not responsible for the clothing if they accidentally ruin it even more.

We shall see.

Quilt & Bitch

"It's not hard if you're playing in the paint... It's an easy save for me..."

2011-07-11T18:25:00.000-04:00

July 11 2011,

"It's not hard if you're playing in the paint ... It's an easy save for me, but if you're wandering out and aggressive like he does, that's going to happen. He might make some saves that I won't, but in a case like that, we want to take advantage of a bounce like that and make sure we're in a good position to bury those." - Robert Luongo (Canadian Canuck goalie) speaks about Tim Thomas (Boston Bruin's goalie).

In a tribute to the Boston Bruins for winning the 2012 Stanley Cup, I made a quilt. This quilt was based from a quilt I saw in a book call "City Quilts" by Cherri House. In the book, the quilt was called "City Shops".

How about those Boston Bruins?

Quilt & Bitch

Domesticated

2011-07-09T11:10:00.000-04:00

July 9 2011,

After weeks of landscaping, cutting branches, cutting two infected hemlocks, hauling countless bags of dirt, buying plants, we finally can start enjoying one part of the yard. Below are the results.

The stone structure was built by a dentist who lived in the house two or three owners previous to us. It was a four layer fountain, but the pipe was cut by one of the previous owners, so we decided to grow plants in them instead. The yellow house on the left is our 88 year old neighbor who is fantastic. We planted impatiens for him, and decided to continue the flow into our yard. To the right of the impatiens are six drawf boxwoods. Hubby loves the smell of boxwoods. They look tiny right now, but it will grow to two feet or so. I won't let it grow too big that it covers the lower fountain area.

Celosias

Next year, the above area will be convered to a perennial plant call creeping phlox. Eventually it will look like a waterfall.

More Celosia

Oriental Lilies still in the pots

The Oriental Lilies, unlike it's counterpart, Asiatic Lilies, gives a wonderful fragrant when it is blooming. We plan to buy more bulbs in the fall, creating an Oriental Lily section.

Behind the Oriental Lilies is an outside fire place stone structure that the dentist built. As the story goes, the dentist used it only once while he lived in the house. When he used the fire place, a neighbor a block away, called the fire department saying that there was smoke and a fire in the neighborhood. So the fire fighters came, and that was the last time he used it. I doubt anyone else has used the fire place. We're too scared to start a fire in there too, maybe one day when we're more adventurous.

Currently, I am trying to figure out bulbs to plant in the fall for spring blooming. On my list so far are tulips and Hyacinth. The next garden update will most likely be in the spring when things are blooming.

Quilt & Bitch

Inflation?

2011-07-08T10:58:00.000-04:00

July 8 2011,

There has been no post lately because I have been busy creating quilts. One is almost finished, and will be showecased sometime next week, and the other two are being prepared for quilting.

In addition, hubby and I have been landscaping one area of the yard. I'll post up pictures soon when it is a sunnier day.

I received this news clipping from my mother-in-law.

Note that this advertisement is from the Yankee magazine dated June 1960. I looked to see if this nursery was still around, and it is.

The prices now are as follows:
100 for $43.00 versus $8.95 in 1960
200 for $85.00
500 for $200.00
1000 for $385.00 versus $69.50 in 1960

Interesting isn't it?

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Circling Around

2011-06-13T09:53:00.000-04:00

June 13 2011,

Here is my latest wall hanging quilt called "Circling". Hand appliqued and hand quilted. It measures approximately 40" x 40".

You can't really see the quilting lines on it, but it's there.

As for my two quilts from the Quilters' Connection show, it did not sell.

Quilt & Bitch

Accidents Seem to Follow Me Around...

2011-06-10T11:39:00.000-04:00

June 10 2011,

As I was driving this morning, all of a sudden a car in front of me accelerated and went kaboom. Immediately, I parked my car and got out with my phone and called 911. There were three other cars pulled over, but no one came out of the cars (which was weird).

I screamed and asked the person if she was all right, she said something which I couldn't hear. Again I screamed and got a response.I got on my hands and knees and peered into the passenger window and saw her standing. I kept telling her not to move, but she kept banging on the window with her feet trying to get out.

I did not know how sturdy the car was because it was on a hill (it drops 10 - 12 feet).

The question is, I wonder if the homeowner knows that his / her fence is damaged.

Quilt & Bitch

Crash Boom Bang + Sneak Peek

2011-06-04T14:29:00.000-04:00

June 4 2011,

Yesterday was exciting. We got into a small car accident with a big moving truck near Harvard University (you can see the moving truck through the reflection of the truck). We should have avoided that area to begin with, because of the kids moving out of the dorms.

The moving truck clipped the car and caused damage to the left side of the car. No one was hurt.

Below are two fabrics that I recently purchased that will become a wall hanging. Stay tuned. Hopefully in six months or so, I will be able to present the latest quilt. It's going to be beautiful!

Quilt & Bitch

Self Check-Out + Scrabble New Words

2011-06-04T14:25:00.000-04:00

May 12 2011,

I was at CVS this morning to shop for some stuff. When I was ready to check out, there were only 4 self check-out terminals and no registers with a cashier behind it. I was appalled. This couldn't be.

In the center of the self check-out terminals was a CVS store employee waiting to assist whoever needed help doing the self check-out.

I asked her if these were the only cash registers and she responded yes.

I am not afraid of technology, I embrace them. But getting rid of ringers / cashiers or moving to a self check-out schema just doesn't sit well with me.

I proceeded to check out and charged my $2.00 purchase with a credit card out of spite. Yes, it costs them more money to process a credit card then with a cash transaction.

In other news, scrabble today announced an additional 3000 new words added to the official scrabble dictionary.

I love scrabble or any type of word games. I have memorized all the 2 letter words possible and weird / not everyday words that people always seem to raise their eye brows at. My opponents usually don't believe that the word actually exists, but of course when looking it up in the scrabble dictionary, it's always there.

Some new words include the following: Grrl, wagyu, blingy, webzine, inbox, qin, wiki, and even myspace and facebook. I'm on a hunt now to actually see the official 3000 new words that have been added, but can't seem to locate it anywhere on the web.

If you know a place where the new words are published, please share.

Quilt & Bitch

2011 Quilters' Connection Quilt Show

2011-06-03T14:36:00.001-04:00

June 3 2011,

This weekend, the Quilters' Connection is having their 34th Annual Quilt Show. The show runs today, June 3, 2011 to Sunday June 5, 2011 at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA.

There are approximately 173 quilts on display.

Below are a few of my favorite quilts.

"Arc-hipelago" by Nancy W.

Detail of "Arc-hipelago"

"Justin and Eliza's Wedding Stars" by Judy B.

Detail of "Justin and Eliza's Wedding Stars"

"Puzzling Keys" by RoseMary K.

A detail of "Puzzling Keys"

"Life is a Circus with Elsa" by Suzanne O.

Detail of "Life is a Circus with Elsa"

"Labor of Love" by Pam A.

Detail of "Labor of Love"

"Joe Cunningham Quilt Kit: A Love Poem", by Mike M.

"Witness" by Mary G.

Detail of "Witness"

"Winter Novas" by Diane F.

"Rejoice and be Glad" by Calie K.

"Ode to Frank" by Pam A.

"Beacon Hill, Boston, MA" by Deborah R.

"Turban Squash" by Anne T. K.

"Fireworks" by Lynne D.

"Autumn III" by Muriel F.

"A Dream Come True" by Donna Jean D.

"Upper Zapfino" by Bea G.

"Lower Zapfino" by Bea G.

"Red as the Centre" by Gerri B.

"Gash" by Deborah R.

Detail of "Gash"

"Northern Lights" by Laima W.

"Shell Dance" by Dawn L.

Detail of "Shell Dance"

"Losers" by Nancy C.

Detail of "Losers"

"My Enchanted Garden" by Rosemary B.

Detail of "My Enchanted Garden"

My two quilts, "Honeycomb" and "Circles" are on display. Unfortunately, the Honeycomb quilt is located in a space that is at a corner that people would miss. Hopefully these two quilts will be sold by the end of the show.

If you are in the Watertown, MA area, make sure you stop by, because the show is absolutely beautiful.

"We're not in Kansas anymore"

2011-06-01T18:36:00.000-04:00

June 1 2011,

Currently, we have a tornado watch over in central Massachusetts. There has been a few tornado touch down - we're all panicking.

I wonder if something like comes near our town - if it would be safe to be underneath the pool table.

Quilt & Bitch

Memorial Weekend Adventure :: Chihuly

2011-05-31T16:37:00.000-04:00

May 31 2011,

This weekend, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the Chihuly exhibition called, "Through the Looking Glass". It was absolutely spectacular.

As a bonus, the visit to the MFA was free, so the lines into the museum was long, and the line into the special exhibition was also long. But it was worth the wait.

A three story glass sculpture

One thing I noticed was that visitors don't take in and observe the exhibition, but instead, spend much of their time looking through their camera lenses. People should learn to take in what they see right in front of them and experience the moment.

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Through the Woods...

2011-05-21T15:11:00.000-04:00

May 21 2011,

A quilt that has just been finished called "Through the Woods..." This is one of two quilts. The other one has not been quilted yet. Wait another 6 months, maybe it'll be done then.

Hand appliqued and hand quilted.

Quilt & Bitch

Scrabble New 3000+ Words

2011-05-16T21:55:00.001-04:00

May 162011,

Thanks to p00lriah, I have the list of new words. They are available here.

Here are some of my favorite words from the new list, items in red are my thoughts / reactions to them.

SOZ - short for sorry

I wonder how one would use it in a sentence. How would you use the word "soz" in a sentence?

GRRL - as in RIOT GRRL, a young woman who plays or enjoys an aggressively feminist style of punk rock music.
MILF - a sexually attractive middle-aged woman

I think this is an abbreviation for something else that is totally not appropriate for me to spell it out. But here's a link to Wikipedia for the full definition for those of you who are interested.

SLEB - (slang) a celebrity
VLOG = a blog using the medium of video

I wonder if the word "blog" is in the scrabble dictionary

BIACH - (slang) a bitch

Maybe I should rename this blog as "Quilt and Biach", what 'cha think?

DOOCE - to dismiss (an employee) for unguarded remarks published on the Internet

For those of you who do Face Book or My Space - be careful or you might get dooce by your employer if you say the wrong thing.

KOGAL - (Japanese) a teenage girl or woman noted for her busy social life and her purchase of expensive designer clothes and accessories

I wonder if the definition means a Japanese teenage girl or woman or does the definition mean that the origination of the word is Japanese. Can I call somebody who is not Japanese a kogal?

Source: Sutton, David. "New Collins Scrabble(r) Words Initiation Kit, January 2012." WESPA. WESPA Dictionary Committee. 2012 Edition <http://www.wespa.org/csw12initiationkit.pdf>.

I have no idea if I cited the above correctly, but it's cited.

According to the news, the reasoning for these new words / slang is so it attracts the younger generation to play Scrabble. I think that's just a bunch of bull-cack (cack is also a new word in the dictionary which means faeces, rubbish).

What do you think?

Quilt & Biach

Blogger's Quilt Festival, Spring 2011

2011-05-13T13:00:00.001-04:00

May 13 2011,

Amy's Creative Side is hosting another Bloggers' Quilt Festival (thank you Amy).

Below is a quilt that can double as a table runner or a wall hanging.

This quilt is called "Circles". It will be on display on June 3 - 5, 2011 at the annual Quilters' Connection quilt show. If you're in town, swing by because there will be many spectacular quilts displayed.

This is an original design and is hand appliqued and hand quilted. It combines the traditional technique of quilting with a retro design.

Quilt & Bitch

Time Capsule III (A La Jakarta)

2011-05-10T10:13:00.000-04:00

May 10 2011,

I took another trip to my local fabric shop (my fabric closet) and pulled out a bunch of traditional style Indonesian batiks. I had a bunch of half square triangles from a project a few years ago, and turned them into quarter square triangle.

Here is another table runner with an Indonesian flare.

That makes a total of three table runner with the quarter square triangle method and one table runner with just square. You would think I would be tired of making table runners, but hey, it gets my stack of fabrics lowered, and it's a pretty quick project to do.

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Hip to be Square

2011-05-06T17:37:00.000-04:00

May 6 2011,

Yet another table runner with the same Japanese fabric as "Time Capsule II". This table runner consists of two fabrics, the blue flowery fabric and the ombre fabric which gradates from white all the way to green.

Now that brings the total to four table runners as of now. I still have one more to go, stay tuned.

Quilt & Bitch

Thought for Food

2011-05-04T10:02:00.000-04:00

May 4 2011,

I was just watching the Rachael Ray show this morning and noticed that audiences were cheering when she poured Marsala wine into a pan. Why don't we get cheers when we pour Marsala wine into a pan?

I don't get it, do you?

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Time Capsule II (a la Japanese)

2011-05-02T14:12:00.001-04:00

May 2 2011,

So I went shopping in my fabric closet and pulled out a bunch of Japanese fabrics that I had lying around. The outcome is a table runner named Time Capsule II with a Japanese flare.

This pattern is similar to my previous table runner, Time Capsule I.

More table runners coming soon, stay tuned for Time Capsul III.

Quilt & Bitch

"If you're going to San Francisco..."

2011-04-30T12:37:00.000-04:00

April 30 2011,

"...be sure to wear some flowers in our hair."

I just got back from four day whirlwind to San Francisco courtesy of our client. It was 70% work and 30% fun.

Golden Gate Bridge from the Cab

A drink at the "Top of the Mark"

View from the "Top of the Mark"

It was chilly, but it was still beautiful. It was a great change of pace.

Quilt & Bitch

Eat, Pray, Love

2011-04-20T16:00:00.000-04:00

April 20 2011,

I love this movie, it makes me happy. It has all the elements of happiness. My favorite part is the last third of movie, where it takes place in Bali. Ketut is my favorite character. I am glad that the characters in the movie did not try to speak Indonesian, they would probably have butchered it. The one time Julia Roberts spoke in Indonesian was to say "Thank you", which is "Terima Kasih".

Bali is beautiful, peaceful, harmonious. The people there are very friendly and spirtual. 98% of the population in Bali are Hindu, which is opposite from Indonesia, where 98% of the population are Muslims. One day, we'll retire there.

Below are images of Bali when hubby and I visited there.

Sunset at Tanah Lot

Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave)

A Balinese dancer

A view of Bali from the mountain

Quilt & Bitch

Shelf Life

2011-04-16T20:46:00.000-04:00

April 16 2011,

This topic came up because in Boston, during a food inspection at the local Boston schools, the inspector found food that were past it expiration date.

I am a stickler for expiration date. Something that is past it's expiration date will usually end up in the thrash, including potato chips, jams, salad dressing etc.

Let's examine my in-laws a little bit closely. They have a big pantry full of cans, flour, sugar, salad dressing, etc, the usual stuff you find in a pantry. When looking through the pantry, I often find items as early as the 1980's. I am not kidding and am not exaggerating. So whenever I go into their pantry, I look for the expiration to make sure it is at least within the decade.

I love it when people bring over food that they have that is sitting around their house, and they have no intention of eating it and coincidentally is past the expiration date. "Here are some expired goodies." Gee thanks. I know they have good intentions, and might have overlook the expiration date. But since I am a stickler to these dates (plus a few months), it usually ends up in the trash.

I know it's wasteful, but it's better then running and sitting in the toilet for hours on end.

Here is a link to look up shelf life and storage information on products, www.shelflifeadivce.com.

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Scraps, scraps, scraps (II)

2011-04-08T10:14:00.000-04:00

April 8 2011,

Again, I have been busy using my stash of leftover fabrics. Here is a table runner using the quarter square triangle method. This is a fun and quick way to use up fabrics that you have. You only need 5 inch square fabric to make a 3 inch (finished) square block.

I have named it Time Capsule 1. Coming up soon will be another quilt named Time Capsule 2.

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Scraps, scraps, scraps

2011-04-05T15:04:00.000-04:00

April 5 2010,

I have been busy quilting, specifically using leftover pieces of fabrics from other projects. Each piece of fabric is 2.5 inches (before sewn together).

The result are two 36" quilts going to my quilt guild which will be given away to kids, and also I was able to detash 4 yards of fabric that has been sitting around collecting dust. For the binding, I was able to use leftover bindings from previous projects.

What this means now is, I have space for new fabrics.

Quilt & Bitch

Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild Quilt Show

2011-03-20T12:21:00.000-04:00

March 20 2011,

Yesterday I went to the Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild Quilt Show. There were so many spectacular quilts on display. As always, these pictures do not give justice to the quilts.

Below is "The Supper Quilt", that was on special exhibition by Dr. Locke, a dentist. What's special about this quilt is that it contains so many little pieces of fabric pieced together to make this spectacular quilt. You can see the full image of the quilt at Dr. Locke's website. I forgot to take a whole picture of the quilt.

"Aurora Borealis", created by JaryJo McLaughlin

Detail of "Aurora Borealis"

The below, "Nina's Quilt" consisted of 300 baskets which were appliqued (by hand) on to the background fabric. What patience!

"Nina's Quilt", created by Nancy Pond

Detail of "Nina's Quilt"

"Java Diamonds", created by Deb Woodhams

Detail of "Java Diamonds"

"Sit Awhile" created by Venera Emmi

Detail of "Sit Awhile"

"Falling Leaves" created by Diana Short

I love applique flowers, the attention to detail, the choices of colors and fabrics, creates a quilt that is so delicate and beautiful.

"Flowers in Bloom" created by Lenore Chused

Detail of "Flowers in Bloom"

"Prairie Flower" created by Sue Goldstein

Detail of "Prairie Flower"

This quilt below is magnificant. This pattern was from a book called Edyta Sitar. Isn't it beautiful? The flowers are all appliqued by hand onto the fabric. This quilt measure 56" by 71". I love the colors that this quilter has chosen.

"Hop To It" created by Laura Steverman

Detail of "Hop To It"

Below is another one of my favorites, again, flowers that are hand appliqued onto the fabric creates stunning quilts.

"Aunt Millie's Garden" created by Maureen Braconi

Detail of "Aunt Millie's Garden"

"Layered Circles" created by Janet Elia

Detail of "Layered Circles"

"Nelson Ray on a Garden Day" created by Victoria Pariyar

Detail of "Nelson Ray on a Garden Day"

This is one below created by MaryJo McLaughlin is another stunning piece. This is done with paper pieceing from a pattern call "Lady Liberty". For those of you who are not familiar with the pattern, it is call "Lady Liberty" because of the resemblance of the spikes on the Statue of Liberty's crown. I took a class a while ago, and I did not manage to even make one block. It is hard and requires a lot of skill which I do not have.

"I Like It Hot, Hot, Hot!" created by MaryJo McLaughlin

Detail of "I Like It Hot, Hot, Hot!"

The quilt below was adapted from a pattern by Gwen Marson. I love the colors the quilter has chosen for this quilt.

"Red Loopy Baskets" by Constance WItham

Detail of "Red Loopy Baskets"

"Chicks of the Sea" created by Deb Woodhams

Detail of "Chicks of the Sea"

"Quiltastic" created by Evelyn McStowe

"Desert Sunset" created by AnneMarie Freitas

Detail of "Desert Sunset"

"Batik Stars in the Garden" created by Janet Elia

Detail of "Batik Stars in the Garden"

"Spinsanity" created by Jill Whiffen

Detail of "Spinsanity"

I love the quilt below. I love the color choices that the quilter has chosen. It is so cute.

"Crab Walk" created by Emily Ellen

Detail of "Crab Walk"

"I Wanna Be A Grandma" created by Diane Piechoswki

Detail of "I Wanna Be A Grandma"

Oh what fun the quilt show was. Now for those of you who quilt, hopefully these quilts have inspired you to create something.

Quilt & Bitch

Ooosp.

2011-03-14T10:29:00.000-04:00

March 14, 2011

A friend this morning wanted me to help her buy Jimmy Buffet tickets. So at 9:58 I was ready to buy the tickets. At 10:01, I went through the process of buying 4 tickets and checked out.

At 10:03, I realized I had bought the wrong tickets, I had bought tickets for Def Leppard. Can you believe it! Same venue, different date, different artist.

Luckily I was able to call and cancel the tickets with no problems.

Crazy, crazy, I would have been out $500 or so bucks if I had not caught it!

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Finished Blooming Rag Quilt

2011-03-13T12:01:00.000-04:00

March 13, 2011

Things have settled down with the flooding. Everything is dry, but it is still a mess down there.

Now that things have settled down, I have had a chance to finish the blooming rag quilt.

Below is the piece.

Not much difference then the tutorial, I added the dark blue binding to represent that the world is surrounded by water. Pretty deep eh?

Quilt & Bitch

Flooded

2011-03-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

March 7, 2011

Crap. Crap. Crap.

Our basement got flooded. We did not notice it till 1:00 this afternoon. There was approximately 3 - 4 inches of water by the time we noticed it. Yes, we do have a sump pump, but we did not plug it in because it was at an awkward area, the contractor did not think about this issue when he designed the "cover" for it.

Hubby's pissed and thinks we need to replace the 15 x 20 rug under the pool table and the padding.

So for the past 4 hours, I've been wet vac-ing the carpet, putting fans around the area.

Luckily a friend called at 10:00 tonight and needed computer help. She asked how we were doing. I told her about our situation and she gave us a number of a guy who cleans basement after it floods. This guy is guaranteeing that there will not be any mold after he is done. We shall see.

Ironically, earlier in the day, hubby had said something along the lines that we weren't having as much rain as he had expected. A few hours later... ka bam.

C'est la vie,
Quilt & Bitch

Vegetable Lo Mien

2011-03-06T15:02:00.000-05:00

March 6 2011,

A few nights ago, we had vegetarian lo-mien.

Here are the ingredients that I used. Note that, if you don't like a particular vegetable, substitute it with another vegetable that you enjoy. I usually use bean sprouts in this dish, but I did not have any on hand.

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 small onion sliced and chopped
a lot of mushrooms, sliced
peppers, sliced (green, yellow, red, orange or all four colors)
one package of lo mien
oyster sauce
soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat wok up with one tablespoon of vegetable oil. After it is heated, add the onions and stir fry it for 2 minutes.

2. Add the mushrooms and cook it until it is done, approximately 7 minutes.

This is how the mushrooms should look like when it is done.

3. Add the green peppers or other vegetables of your choice.

4. Add the pre cook lo mien, and mix it well.

5. When the lo mien half cooked, put in 1 tablespoon of soya sauce and 5 tablespoons of oyster sauce. If you like it more saucy, put in 1/4 cup of water. Continue cooking until the lo mien is mixed in well with the rest of the vegetables. If you feel it is still bland, put in a couple more tablespoons of oyster sauce and mix it it well.

Vegetable Lo Mien

Lo Mien

Happy Cooking and Eating,
Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Fabric Trivets + Coasters

2011-03-05T12:05:00.000-05:00

March 5 2011,

The last two days, I have been busy making trivets and coasters.

Two cotton clothes lines, a ton of fabric scraps, glue, sewing machine created 7 trivets (approximately 9" in diamter) and 5 coasters (approximately 5" in dimater).

Cotton clothes line

Fabric scraps cut into 3/4 inch wide.

One of the 7 trivets

One of the 5 coasters

Another example of the trivet

A close up of a trivet

And another close up of the trivet

I guess I had too much time on my hands.

Quilt & Bitch

Blooming Rag Quilt Tutorial

2011-03-02T13:40:00.021-05:00

March 3 2011,

For this year's upcoming quilt show, the group challenged the quilter's to make something that speaks to "Where in the World...". These quilts will be silent auctioned and the proceeds will benefit several non-profit organizations. So here is my unfinished quilt named "Where ever..." with a tutorial.

I learned this technique from a quilter friend of mine, Susan (thank you Susan for spending the time with me to explain the steps). I do not know the formal name of this method, so I called it "Blooming Rag Quilt".

Please read through all the instructions first and understand the steps before attempting to do this. If you plan on doing a larger quilt, I would advise doing a small sample before attempting a large one. Pease feel free to ask questions through email or in the comments section if you have questions.

Materials List

- Four different fabrics, washed and pressed. The yardage depends on how big you want the quilt be. Mine was 16 1/2 by 10 1/2 unfinished (meaning the binding has not been attached.

- Fabric marker or a marking tool that will wash out of the fabric

- Pins

- Sharp scissors

- Sewing Machine Needle

- Thread

- Ruler

- Sewing Machine

Step 1:

Cut all four fabrics to the same size. The sizes should be in whole numbers and end in 1/2. For example, if you want to make a quilt that is 10 inches wide by 20 inches long, cut the fabric to 10 1/2 inches wide by 20 1/2 inches long.

Step 2:

Place the first three fabrics on top of each other, all right sides facing you. Because I did mine in Batik fabrics, there is no real right or wrong side

Step 3

With a marking tool, either pencil or pen, mark your first line a quarter inch (1/4 inch) from the end. The next line will be 1 inch from the previous mark (1/4 inch mark). Continue on till you get to the end of the column.

Rotate the quilt 90 degrees, and mark it the same way as above, marking the first line a quarter inch (1/4 inch) from the end and the next line will be 1 inch from the previous mark (1/4 inch).

The 1/4 inch gap is space for the binding step in Step 11.

Now you should have a one inch grid.

Step 4
Carefully pin the three layers together. The reason for pinning is so that when you sew the three layers together, the layers will not shift.

Step 5
Starting from the middle of the piece, you will sew all the three layers.

Step 6
Take the first row of grid, and find the center / middle of the grid and fold it in half. Pin the layers together to prevent shifting during cutting in Step 7. A trick to finding where the middle of the grid is, is to fold it in half, and pin through all the layers on the stitch line. Then look on the other side of the quilt and to see if it close to the stitching line. If it is, you are good to go, if not, readjust according.

Step 7
Using a sharp scissors cut a "V" shape starting from the middle of the grid to almost the corner. I leave an 1/8 inch gap between the cut and the stitching line. Do this through out the one inch grid.

You may want to cut 3 pieces of 1 inch piece of paper or scrap fabric and stack in on top of each other to do a test run before you cut through your piece.

The end result should be an "X" on each of the 1 inch grid.

Repeat Step 6 & 7 for all the rows on the grid.

Step 8

Take the background fabric and place it on the bottom of your quilted piece. For the background fabric, the wrong side will be facing you. The background fabric is the back of your quilted piece.

Step 9

Pin the four layers together so that it does not shift when you sew the four layers together.

Step 10

Sew the four layers together following the original grid stitches. You can use a different color thread for this step, but in this piece, I used the same color thread.

Step 11

With your scissors, make sure all the flaps are open and not stuck together. You may not have cut through all the layers in Step 6, so snip them gently.

Step 12

Using a steel brush (a toothbrush may work), brush the flaps open in all four directions. Choose one direction first and go through each row and brush it in that direction. Then choose another direction, and brush the flaps open on that row.

Note that if you are using regular fabric (not Batik) fabric, your piece might be more frayed. If you like the fray look, keep brushing it gently in all directions.

The following is the end result.

Step 11

Bind your quilt like you normally would. Here is a great resource on how to prepare a binding and attaching a binding

Remember the 1/4 inch mark I had you mark on Step 3, this is the extra spacing needed for the quilt binding.

I will post the end result when I have finished the binding on this piece.

Analyzing this quilt, the colors I chose for this piece ties to the challenge "Where in the world...". Thus, blue for the sky, orange for the sun, green for the grass, and brown for the soil, leading to the title, "Where ever..."

Happy Quilting,

Quilt & Bitch

Sitting Pretty

2011-02-26T08:16:00.004-05:00

February 26, 2011

A few post ago, I decided to try out photography.

Here are some of the better results from the photo sessions with my flowers.

The first three are amaryllis. I took these right before they were about to bloom. I took a few pictures after they bloomed, but they turned out horribly.

The next four are orchids that a friend gave us for Christmas. Since I don't know how to care for orchids, they have long died and perished.

Pretty aren't they?

Of course, I did a little bit of tweaking to them, but that's between you and me.

Quilt & Bitch

Miso Hungry...

2011-02-24T10:32:00.003-05:00

February 24 2011,

For the pass week, I have been experimenting with using Miso as the main ingredient for cooking.

I have made the following:
miso soup
miso glazed salmon
miso braised pork

The miso soup was very easy to make, it goes well with the miso glazed salmon.

The miso glazed salmon was good too. I made a few changes to the recipe. I only poured in half off the miso mixture during the first five minutes of broiling. After the first five minutes, I then poured the rest of the mixture in. Believe it or not, 10 minutes of broiling was enough cooking for the salmon. A few reviewers on the website said that it was on the salty side, so if this is your first run at it, use 1 Tablespoon of soy sauce. Trust me, this recipe is a keeper.

The miso braised pork is also a keeper. I did not have a Dutch oven, and I was too lazy to take out the slow cooker. So I just made it in a standard pot, one of those pots that you use for boiling pasta. I cooked it on very low for 5 hours on the stove. This recipe calls for 5 pounds of pork butt or shoulder roast, and I used 5 pounds of pork southern style ribs, and it was yummy. The next time I make this, I will be storing the broth and the meat in two different containers, so that the broth / juice does not seep into the meat while it is in the fridge. And when you heat up the leftovers, combine the meat and the broth / juice and you'll still get a soupy result. This recipe is also good if you want to feed a lot of people with minimal work.

Enjoy,
Quilt & Bitch

Easy To Clean Seal of Approval

2011-02-19T15:46:00.003-05:00

February 19 2011,

I have been thinking... I know, I know, thinking can be dangerous.

Every year, two weeks before for Chinese New Year, I have a ritual of cleaning the dwelling inside and out. Everything needs to be dusted, cleaned, all dead leaves on the plants trimmed, shine the leaves on the plants, clean all appliances, clean all cabinets and clean all floors. Anything that can be cleaned will be cleaned.

In the process of cleaning in nooks and crannies with toothpicks or Q-tips, why don't people who design things, such as a spatula, a pot, an appliance think of making these everyday things easier to clean?

Take a look at your pan, see how many screws and nooks there are and how hard it is to get into those places to get the grease off of it.

If designers could make something and get seal of approval of how easy it is to clean the item, I would buy it. It would mean less time, less energy, less cleaning products and probably less water to clean this item.

Would you buy something that had a "Easy to Clean" Seal of approval?

Quilt & Bitch

This Blog Is Temporarily Closed...

2011-02-06T14:25:00.003-05:00

February 6 2010,

This blog is temporarily closed due to a snow storm. Okay, I'm kidding. OMG, I'm sick of the snow. We have snow banks as high as I am, and the snow all around the house is at least to my hips. We have snow dams on the roof, and occasionally, it leaks inside the house. Luckily it is not a big leak.

Hubby is on the roof shoveling the snow off the roof. Unfortunately, we have no way of getting the snow blower on the roof. Imagine if that was possible!

To make matters worse, the driveways is a skating rink. Why pay to go to a skating rink when you have one right at your house.

Ice melts and deicers are hard to come by, they seem to fly off the store shelves as soon as it comes into the store. According to the store, all the stores are out of it because there is a shortage of these luxury goods in the northeast. Luckily they are not jacking up the prices.

Roofs around our area are collapsing, and just today, a roof of a building in Harvard collapsed.

I wish I was in....

... Bali.

Quilt & Bitch

Happy New Year!

2011-02-03T06:50:00.001-05:00

February 3 2010,

Happy Chinese New Year! May the new year bring happiness, prosperity, good health, lower gas prices, and less snow storms.

Quilt & Bitch

Another Light Bulb Moment

2011-01-17T07:49:00.002-05:00

January 17 2011,

This conversation was overheard recently.

15 year old boy: Dad, I want to buy the "Decoded"book by Jay-Z

Dad: Buy the electronic version of it so that I can read it on my iPad

15 year old boy: No, I don't want to buy the electronic version, I want to go to B&N and buy it.

Hubby: Why don't you borrow it from the library?

15 year old boy: The library? Yeah from B&N.

Hubby: No, borrow it from the library.

15 year old boy: Ugh? (5 seconds of silence) Oh, the library. No, I want to keep the book.

It is sad that kids these days don't know what the library is. Going to the topic of books, we use the library a lot. Every three weeks, we would borrow 3 books for hubby to read. We don't have a collection of books except those from the college years. Why buy when you can borrow. You don't have to store or move the books, and yes, they can get heavy. So the next time you want to buy a book, think twice and borrow from your local library. Saves you some ca-ching to go eat something yummy.

Quilt & Bitch

More Light Box Examples

2011-01-07T09:33:00.004-05:00

January 7 2011,

For those of you who find the CPVC pipes too daunting, there are other light boxes you can do from cardboard boxes or poster boards.

You can find additional instructions here:
Storbist: How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Shoot
Homemade Light Box for Product Photography from Studiolighting.net

Let me know if you do try one of these and the results of it.

Be creative everyday,
Quilt & Bitch

My New Project - Light Box

2011-01-04T15:05:00.023-05:00

January 4 2011,

Since our friend from New York came to take pictures of my quilts, I have a new found interest in photography. I decided to build a light box. I found a few instructions, but hubby found one on AZbilliards.com that a reader built to take pictures of his cues. The instructions can be found here. You can customize it to any size you want, because the CPVC pipe comes in 10 feet and you can cut it up which ever size you need it to be.

We modified the light box from the original instruction by building out the bottom so that it gives it more support, and if I wanted to turn it 90 degrees, to give it height, it would still be sturdy. So below is the light box finished. I still need to figure out what to do with the background. The biggest construction paper I found at the local craftstore was 18 x 24 for 59 cents. I have to search other places for bigger paper and to figure out how to mount it onto the construction so that it gives a seamless background. Yes, I can buy photography background roll, but I am not willing to spend that much money yet.

I went cheap with the lights, I only bought 2 work lights. I think I have to buy more because of the size of the light box. They don't clamp well onto the pipes, so I think I have to get table lights instead.

On New Year's day I spent the day taking pictures of stuff. Below are some of the results from the light box plus a lot of manipulating of the pictures in a photo program.

I received these three tiny vases with bulbs in them for Christmas. They will eventually bloom to become crocus (hopefully).

With a hand me down digital camera that is at least 8 years old, the Nikon Coolpix 995, the lightbox, couple of willing and patient participants to pose for the pictures, and digital software, I might just have a future in photography. Hopefully my pictures will come out better.

Quilt & Bitch

New Year + New Quilts + New Bitchings

2011-01-04T12:09:00.013-05:00

January 4 2011,

Happy New Year to all!

Below are some quilts that were finished last year, but never got posted. A friend of ours from New York came up to visit for the sole purpose of taking pictures of the quilts. So here are some of the results.

(Above: Trinity)

(Above: Honeycomb)

(Above: Detail of Honeycomb quilt)

(Above: Circles)

As you can see, I did not do much quilting at all. Hopefully this year, I will be able to produce more.

Next topic: new bitchings. Recently a friend of ours decided to start waking up early. She said in her past life, she used to wake up early, and would like to start doing so. Guess what? She volunteered me and wants me to call her every morning at 7:30 AM to wake her up. Oh, come on, what are alarms for? For a week now, I have been calling her every morning at 7:30 to wake her up. I wonder how long this will continue for. You know how much responsibility that is to remember to call someone every morning?

Quilt & Bitch

In Concert

2010-12-07T19:13:00.002-05:00

December 7 2010,

I am sitting here watching "Great Performances" on PBS, featuring "Andrewa Bocelli & David Foster: My Christmas". Oh the music is so beautiful. Currently there are only two artists that I would pay to watch in concert, and they are Andrea Bocelli and Michael Buble. Fortunately they recent performed in Boston, but I didn't think I could drag my hubby to watch it with me. Next time... next time.

A long time ago, I went to a Bon Jovi concert, and it was so boring that I nearly fell asleep.

In my lifetime I have been to 3 concerts total, Color Me Badd, Richard Marx, and Bon Jovi.

My taste of music range from R&B to Hindi music.Weird, but I believe that music it doesn't matter what language it is in, as long as the beat works, it's all good.

So if you have a chance to watch it on T.V., please do, it is a wonderful performance.

Quilt & Bitch

All That Glitters...

2010-11-29T18:23:00.007-05:00

November 29 2010,

... are Christmas decorations. We finally have space to put up a few Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree.

The Christmas tree is an artificial one with ornaments from the 80's. Christmas lights are the non energy saver ones, and they smell like plastic. Note, if you do put up the old fashion lights, make sure you wash your hands well afterwards, because I read somewhere that they have a high amount of lead.

We don't have an Angel or a star for the top of the tree yet, so hubby placed the orange fabric scraps on the top.

Above are Christmas ornaments that were bought at Home Goods. I couldn't resist these three. They look so beautiful. I just have to somehow manage the glitter that gets on everything.

How's your Christmas decorations coming along?

Quilt & Bitch

All Eared Out

2010-11-29T07:36:00.002-05:00

November 29 2010,

I'm tired of listening. As bad as that sounds, I no longer have patience to listen to people who talk. Between my mother-in-law, our friend who lost her husband, and another girlfriend I've had it. As hubby puts it, "I no longer have empathy". Don't get me wrong, I am a patient person and am more of a listener than a talker.

That's the problem with women. Women need to talk. Women can talk for hours, and not speaking seems not be an option.

I'm all eared out.

Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Circles

2010-11-22T08:17:00.004-05:00

November 22 2010,

Here is a long awaited quilt that I have just finished. It was created as a table runner for the dining table, but it can be hanged on the wall too.

I am not too thrilled about it, because of the colors. The original plan was to reverse the colors, where the background color was suppose to be purple and the foreground the pattern fabric. When I started cutting the fabric, only then did I realize I had made a mistake. Oh well.

This quilt will be displayed in a quilt show in June and I will most likely be selling it.

(Above: Circles, machine appliqued, hand quilted)

(Above: Detail of "Circles")

Off to make table mats for my sister-in-law for Christmas.

Quilt & Bitch

A House Warming Present

2010-11-10T08:27:00.006-05:00

November 10 2010,

Seen these before? OMGWTF has kindly sent a beautifully hand made key chain as a house warming present. Isn't it cool? If you want one, you can get one here. And as some of you know, orange and blue is my favorite color combination.

Thanks OMG, your humble fan.

And not to forget, thanks p00lriah, for the gift card to Target. I still haven't figured out what to get with the gift card that would be suiting to you.

Quilt & Bitch

Friendship and Pool :: Evolution of a Pool Player

2010-11-10T07:00:00.008-05:00

November 10 2010,

This entry is inspired by p00lriah's entry call "aspirations".

I started playing pool in Feburary of 2007. Before then, I have only been to a pool hall maybe twice. Hubby on the other hand grew up playing pool, so he wasn't starting from scratch like I was.

Hubby and I were mulling around not having much to do, and he had gotten a pool stick for Christmas, so I suggested that we go to a pool hall and play a little bit.

I looked around for places to play and came up with a list. We also found a local pool hall that offered free pool on Fridays and Saturdays for two hours. We started slowly, because I had no idea how what I was supposed to do with a stick. We took a table at the corner of the room so that there were less distraction and that I would not stick out like a sore thumb.

Once I got the hang of things, we started playing 8 ball. Hubby would of course break and I devised a plan to get ball in hand at the beginning of my turn. Believe it or not, this was helpful not only making shots, but in strategizing on cue ball position. The other thing I am allowed to do when playing with hubby is if I shoot a ball and another ball goes in, it is still my turn. These handicap made the game less stressful and less frustrating. It's good to have fun and not be discouraged.

In the summer of 2008, we decided to join the local pool league. Oh my, what a disaster it was for me. I had just started learning how to break and I knew what the rules were, but I kept on losing games and it was really discouraging. In the middle of the league, I dropped out. But I did not stop going, because I would hit some balls and practice while hubby continued with the league.

This is where we met Phil, the guy who passed away three weeks ago. The very first time we lay eyes on Phil, I was sitting watching a match with Hubby on the next table. Phil comes storming by pissed as hell. I whispered over to hubby and said, "Be careful of that guy, he has a temper." Oh boy, was I wrong. Turns out that he was a great guy.

Hubby had the most points in the "B" league and came home with a trophy that now sits proudly in the corner.

In between 2007 and 2008, hubby bought a bunch of cues. We started with McDermott cues. Hubby got me a McDermott cue which had geckos on it. I instantly fell in love with it because it was balanced right. Everything about it was right.

After hubby bought a bunch of cues and researching on custom cues, he decided to order a Webb cue sometime in the summer of 2008.

Hubby decided to join the fall season league. The original operator of the league resigned and another person took it over. Hubby was put into the "A" section, after a few weeks of league playing, he was downgraded to the "B"s. Hubby was pissed. Pissed because the new person running the league did not talk to him first, and if he was placed in the "B" again, it shows that his game was not improving and there was no point in being in the league. He dropped the league and just played during the weekends.

In March 2009, we went to the Super Billiards Expo in Valley Forge, PA. We met a bunch of memorable people, including OMGWTF, the TAR crew, and people from Jimbo's Army. Here's a recap of the event. I remembered meeting OMGWTF for the first time and gave her a hug. Later on her blog I read that she does not like strangers giving her hugs. Oosps. Oh well, live with it OMG.

In July 2009. Our new cue was ready. It took hubby's cue a little bit longer because Webb wanted me to get a cue at the same time that hubby did, so hubby's cue was postponed at least six months. :) Lucky me.

The story with my Webb cue was, Webb wanted Christmas presents for his family. So as barter, I was to make him 5 quilts in exchange for a cue. I had 4 months to make the quilts for him. It was all wrapped with fabric bags and little notes were written on behalf of him. All he had to do was give them to his family.

I think it was around this time when hubby found that another pool hall offered free pool on Mondays and Wednesdays if you buy a minimum of $10 of food. Phil at this time was frustrated with the league too and decided to drop the league. That was the start of Phil and hubby going to this other pool hall either on Mondays or Wednesdays or both days. I would occasionally join them, but most of the time, they were together from 5:30 till midnight.

Fast forward to August 2009. We started looking for a house. Our criteria for the house was that it could fit a pool table. After searching for a few months in the 2 mile radius from the apartment where we were at with no success, we expanded it to a 4 mile radius. Finally on February we found a place that would fit the pool table perfectly with some work.

In September 2010, we were ready for a pool table. We were debating between the Gold Crown V and the Diamond. Phil and his wife made the decision for us, because they loved the Diamond much more than the Gold Crown. So we ordered the Diamond with a firm deadline installation to the local installer of October 15, 2010. The table was delivered and installed on October 14, 2010.

Phil came over as often as he could, and hubby and Phil would play for hours. I would interject here and there with a few games. It's too bad Phil only enjoyed the table for a few weeks. It was his dream to have a pool table where he did not have to pay to play. But our house was always opened to him and his wife.

Since Phil's passing, playing pool has been tough. I hardly play on our table. We still go to our local pool hall to see pool buddies, it gets us out, and forces me to play for two hours.

Thus, a new chapter begins and may hubby and I write a new chapter in our evolution or pool playing.

Getting back to p00lriah's entry called "aspirations", yes, we all have aspirations to become better players, but it is the journey that is important. Pool playing is a hobby that is social, even though sometimes there is not much talking but playing, it is the time that is spent with the other person and the bond it forms.

By the way, with hubby, I no longer take ball in hand for every turn and I break even if he wins. He is also required to bank or kick the eight ball, and when I call a ball into a pocket, and another ball goes in, it's still my turn. :) Lucky me.

Quilt & Bitch

What's Up With these Kids?

2010-11-01T16:47:00.005-04:00

November 1 2010,

Halloween was interesting in this town. I was half asleep on the couch by 7:30 pm.

About 20 kids came by between the ages of 5 to 15. Each kid took one candy, one freaking candy. The younger kids of course came with their parents in tow, and even the parents said "Just one".

Even the teenagers just took one piece of candy. We had to encourage them to take more. When we pushed it on them, they said they'll just take one more, totalling two candies.

Now we're left with one big unopened bag that will be returned, and an opened one that still has 85% of the candy left! Candy anyone?

Quilt & Bitch

Halloween

2010-10-31T16:49:00.002-04:00

October 31 2010,

As Halloween approaches, the two bags of candies are on standby, our last minute pumpkin is out in front uncarved, and I'm having an early Cosmopolitan drink. If I get too drunk, I guess hubby will hand out the candies.

Spent the day blowing and raking the leaves of our yard. We had thought that we could just pile it up in our compost area (yes we do compost), but turns out that there are just too many leaves. So I guess we have to either rent a freakin' truck and take everything to the town dump or have a lawn care company take the leaves away. That's one of the disadvantages of living in a place where the leaves fall like there is no tomorrow.

So yesterday, the widow, hubby and I went to the funeral home to prepare for the wake. Damn, funerals are freakin' expensive. She is having the body cremated. Overall, the funeral costs $4,400. If there was a casket, add another $2,000 - $3,000. So what is one to do if one did not prepare or have the financial means to do a funeral? According to hubby, just bury him underneath the shed (I don't think the town will approve of that).

So after a week of tears and trying to be strong for the widow, things are a little bit easier. Not much, but just a little. Life goes on no matter what happens.

Quilt & Bitch

Quilt Show

2010-10-26T11:42:00.008-04:00

October 26 2010,

Two weekends ago I went to the Wayside Quilters Guild quilt show. Below are a few of my favorite quilts that were displayed.

(Above: At the Old Jersey Shore, by Marilyn Novak, Sudbury, MA)

(Above: A detail image of a starfish)

(Above: A detail image of jellyfishes [yummy] )

(Above: Scrappy Sisters, by Melinda Conor)

(Above: A detailed image of Scrappy Sisters)

(Above: Pink & Blue, created by Suzanne Boers)

(Above: Flowering Vines, by Jane Harris and quilted by Liz Thomas. From The pattern by Piece O'Cake Designs, Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins)

(Above: A detailed image of Flowering Vines)

(Above: ...And A Kookaburra in a Gum Tree, by Marianne Hatton)

(Above: A detailed image of the quilt)

(Above: Chiaroscuro, by Benje Freedman)

(Above: Maple Infusion, by Valerie Daniels)

(Above: A detailed image of Maple Infusion)

Aren't they all just spectacular? My camera skills do not give justice to these quilts, they are even better in person. Even if you are not into quilts, if you do stumble upon a quilt show in your passing, stop by and enjoy the show. Admire the detail, the colors, the techniques.

Quilt & Bitch

In Memory

2010-10-24T10:11:00.003-04:00

October 24 2010,

Last night was a tough night. Our good friend past away suddenly in a car accident. He was like an uncle to me, I called him uncle Phil.

He loved playing pool. Hubby and Phil would spent hours on end playing pool together. I never worried about hubby when he came home late, because he was with Phil.

"Death leaves a hearthache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal."

Phil, even though we've only known each other for a short time, thank you for being a part of our lives. Thank you for caring, thank you for guiding me through pool, thank you for making us laugh, thank you for sharing your life with us. We will make sure Kaz is fine and will support her through this hard time. Be safe wherever you are, and look over Kaz.

Love always,
Jim & G

How's this for a House Warming Present?

2010-10-20T15:18:00.008-04:00

October 20 2010,

So I have been surfing around all day looking for ideas for Christmas presents to buy or to make. I stumbled upon these funny items and thought I'll share it with you all.

(Above: "Flamingo-Away")

(Above: The "Mini Flamingo-Be-Gone")

(Above: "Mini Gnome-Be-Gone Gnomebearers")

Aren't they a riot?

Quilt & Bitch

Welcoming Our Latest Member of the Family

2010-10-18T09:54:00.006-04:00

October 18 2010,

We would like to welcome our latest member of the family, the Diamond Pro-Am in a rosewood stain which got installed last Thursday.

The installer said that this pool table is the first one in the country to be installed in any residential or commercial space. Isn't that exciting?

(Above: the white cabinet on the top right is the water heater, and the white thing on the bottom left is the couch)

(Above: Ball Return)

(Above: Lights from Lowes, approximately $125.00)

(Above: Two sets of lights with 4 bulbs each)

Ok, since you got half a tour of the garden level of the house (basement), there's a fridge, sink, dishwasher on one side of the area, what do you think?

I think the Gold Crown 5 would have been a prettier and elegant piece of furniture than the Diamond Pro-Am, but because this came straight from the factory brand new, I think it is a better choice.

The cloth is the Simonis 860 HR in tournament blue.

Hubby planned the lighting really well. I really did not light the hanging pool lights that were being sold everywhere, including the diamond pool lights. We also did not have enough ceiling height to put those table hanging lights, and note the beam in the middle of the room. So hubby bought these two flush mount ceiling lights with 4 florescent bulbs on each light fixture. There are no shadows and it gives out plenty of light. In addition, hubby ordered louvers which were $25.00 and replaced the cover which came with the light fixture.

Well kids, drool over it.

Quilt & Bitch

MIA

2010-10-14T13:44:00.005-04:00

October 14 2010,

Yeah, I meant to write something last week, but it never happened. I meant to write something yesterday, but it never happened.

So, what's new? The contractor is holding us hostage by demanding $13,000+ in payment for the extra work he did before he fixes all the stuff that he screwd up. Our side of the story was that the extra work was not first not done in writing, and he had done it as a favor. So everything is at a stand still and we will probably go to arbitration, because that was what the contract said. In addition, we will probably be filing a complaint with the state.

Home life as been a drag, hubby and I are fighting again, I think this house is cursed in the realm of relationship. With everything going on, it's just not fun to be fighting.

On another note, the pool table is hopefully arriving this afternoon. We decided to get the Diamond Pro-Am table. Will get pictures up of the pool room by this weekend. Stay tuned.

Quilt & Bitch

Update

2010-09-15T06:35:00.002-04:00

September 15, 2010

It's been two weeks at the new dwelling, things are feeling more like home. Boxes that will never be opened have been moved to the attic, the kitchen is fully functional, light bulbs that are dead have been replaced, the phone is finally working after 2 weeks, thanks Verizon.

The weird thing about moving to a new place are the new sights and sounds that one have to become familiar with. We have squirrels and chipmunks that we can see through our study / office. We hear things like bird chirping, squirrels running up and down the trees. I find myself looking out the window, seeing if somebody is out in the back yard. There are 5 kids in the cul-de-sac, ranging from 7 to 13 years old. The sounds when they are playing are joyful instead of the high pitch annoying whiney noise at the last place.

So what's up with the dwelling? The bathrooms need to be redone, because things were not done well. It looks like a novice had tiled the bathrooms. The contractor disappeared for two weeks with no update or communication. Finally on the 9th, the contractor's foreman showed up on the door step and asked us for a list of things that needed to be finished.

Hpefully things will get fixed and redone properly, until then, it's home sweet home.

Quilt & Bitch

Lift Off and The Curse

2010-09-01T10:14:00.004-04:00

September 1 2010,

We moved this past Saturday. Things that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

I won't start from the beginning, but I think the two week curse has been lifted. The curse started when a lady cut me off and nearly hit another car and my car. I pulled over to a side street to pick up hubby who was working down town.

I also had the opportunity to tell her that she needed to be more careful when she was driving. Her remark was "Does it make you happy?" She asked this question a few times, and I explained to her that I was only cautioning her of her lack of driving skill. And I also said that I was picking up my husband and that was why I was talking to her. From that point forward, everything went down hill. I sincerely believe she put a voodoo curse on me.

The following Tuesday, I called U-Haul to confirm my reservation for Saturday. I found out that they had cancelled the reservation and were able to get me another truck at another location. I said fine. The next day, I called again to confirm, and U-Haul had cancalled my reservation, again. At this point, with all the college kids moving back into town, there were no trucks available. I ended the phone call with "You guys suck!". One company wanted $400 for a 14 foot truck.

Luckily hubby's brother and hubby's dad had a pick up truck. Thus we were able to recruit them for the move.

By Friday, so much crap was happening, that I just had to laugh at everything that was happening.

At the end of the move, we left a beautiful cherry chest outside the apartment, and it was stolen. We left it outside because we could not fit in the truck at that moment. This neighborhood has always been safe and the people friendly and considerent. Bamn, the chest was gone.

It was a good thing that someone took the chest, because I feel that the voodoo curse was lifted.

So now, a house full of boxes and no where to put them, I have given up on unpacking and have decided to just go with the flow and get to it when I get to it.

Life is almost back to normal.

Quilt & Bitch

Junk, Junk and more Junk

2010-08-10T08:02:00.002-04:00

August 10 2010,

Over time, we accumulate a lot of stuff. We are just a two bedroom apartment, but between hubby and I, we have so much stuff.

I had gotten 30 boxes or so over the last few months, and I have filled almost all the boxes and and I think we are only half done with packing. The kitchen, linen closet, pantry, sewing fabric and stuff, shoes, knick knacks are all packed. Still need to tackle the clothes that are hanging, the office, pictures, plants, and computer equipment. It does not sound like much, but it is still a lot of stuff.

20 days left and counting till lift off.

Quilt & Bitch

Harlo... Harlo?

2010-08-06T07:26:00.002-04:00

August 6 2010,

Cell phones, convenient yet annoying. I rarely carry my cell phone around because it no longer holds a charge. The maximum life I get is 15 minutes of talk time. Half of the time it does not pick up signal from the tower and the other half, calls are dropped in the middle of a conversation. Not sure if it is the phone or just the carrier. I've tried getting new batteries for it, but it still does not hold a charge.

This annoys hubby because when he needs to find me, he can't get in touch with me. Usually if hubby doesn't need his cell phone, I'll swipe his.

According to the EPA website, "Cell phones are only used for an average of 18 months before being replaced..."1 We are definitely a wasteful society aren't we?

I know I've been talking about getting a new cell phone, but still have not made the move because there's just nothing out there that is appealing. Our carrier is AT&T, and yes, there is always the Blackberry and the iPhones, thanks but no thanks.

I have the original Samsung BlackJack phone which is probably four years old. I still love it because it is slim and does not have a touch screen.

Why can't these stupid cell phones last longer, and why do we run into problems when it gets "old"?

1 http://www.epa.gov/osw/education/pdfs/life-cell.pdf

Quilt & Bitch

WTF... is going on?

2010-08-05T08:49:00.002-04:00

August 5 2010,

Today we had the hardwood floor guys in to start redoing the floors. There are some things that need to be patched, resanded and refinished.

Problem #1: Tiles and building materials are scattered around the house, including toilets that are in the middle of the bedroom, 30 boxes of bathroom tiles, 5 boxes of laminate flooring. These things need to moved. So I started moving the boxes into the kitchen so that the floor guys can start doing what they need to do. The construction guys weren't around (no surprise) to help. They haven't showed up at the house for a couple of days.

Problem #2: It's hot. It's so humid and hot that I was sweating just standing there. Imagine moving 30 pound boxes from one room to another. Luckily the floor guys had six guys who were willing to help move the stuff to another room.

Problem #3: No A/C in the house yet. I didn't realize the A/C needed to be run in the house so that the polyurethane can dry quicker. I've put a call to the HVAC guy this morning, and as usual he does not answer, to try to hook up the A/C so that we don't have to wait for weeks for the floor to dry. If the HVAC guy can't do it, I guess we'll be buying or borrowing those A/C unit that you stick in the window.

Got damn it, we have 3.5 weeks to get everything done and moved in because our lease expires the end of this month. Plus, we have been busy at client site working our butts off. Describing the situation currently as stressful is an understatement.

Quilt & Bitch

Red Bumps...

2010-07-31T09:10:00.003-04:00

July 31, 2010

Thursday night, we decided to go to an asian food court where they have individual Thai, Korean, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Chinese Dim Sum stalls.

Hubby ordered the dry vermicelli noodle with beef on top, I ordered the big bowl of Special Pho, which has beef and other organs in it.

The next morning, I noticed I was hiving on my right leg. I ignored it, because I get hives once in a while after eating something. So for lunch yesterday, I ate the leftover and started hiving. So it's something in the Pho that made me hive. I've had this Pho before and never had a reaction.

This hiving thing is annoying because I don't know what specific ingredient is causing me to hive. I've gone to a allergist specialist and told him of the situation, and all they did was the regular allergy test. This regular allergy test includes, dust, trees, pollen etc.

I don't care about all that other stuff, what I cared about was what I was allergic to. That visit to the allergist specialist was a waste of money. The most constructive advice from the doctor was, "Try each ingredient and see if you hive".

The funny thing is I've gotten hives from my own cooking, but that has only happened a few times.

As of right now, the bumps are still there and I am no longer itching like a mofo. Last night, I took benadryll with a glass of cosmopolitan, and that helped.

Oh well, I will continue my life without knowing what I'm allergic to, and carry benadryll with me, and I will continue to enjoy all the wonderful food out there. Maybe it's better not to know.

Quilt & Bitch

The Dwelling...

2010-07-19T11:17:00.003-04:00

July 19, 2010

The dwelling is coming along. Rough inspections for plumbing, structure, electricity are all done. The basement poles are all gone, the tiles are down, the walls are being plastered.

Oh this is so exciting! The contractor says 2 weeks and we can start moving in. Ok let's see... that probably means sometime in beginning of August that we can start putting stuff in.

Our lease ends on August 31, so it gives us a month to move into the place. Plenty of time... plenty of time.

Hubby called the pool table guy and left a message. Hopefully the pool table guy will call soon. As long as the basement, office / porch, one bathroom and one bedroom is done, we should be good to go. I'll post up before and after pictures once the dwelling is done.

Stay tuned,
Quilt & Bitch

Evolution of a Quilter

2010-07-06T08:36:00.002-04:00

July 6, 2010

In 2005 I decided to take a quilting class at an adult community center. I took it, and six weeks later, my first quilt creation came to life. I still remember how eager I was to learn. I always finished my assignments. For the last day of class, I brought in my finished quilt. I was the ambitious student who wanted to make her teacher proud. Everybody else was still doing blocks or still hand quilting their quilt. But I was done. I was the only one who was done. Silly me. For the last day of class, I sat there and twiddled my thumbs.

After the class was over, I spent many hours at fabric shops browsing through fabrics and notions. I was still unsure whether I wanted to do this as a hobby or not. The fabrics I first bought were on a lower scale. They were $5.00 - $6.00 per yard, instead of $10.00 per yard for the higher end materials.

For two Christmases in a row, I made quilts. I made quilts for everybody I knew. Nieces, nephews, in-laws, friends, etc. I kept churning them out like there was no tomorrow.
That fall I joined a local quilting guild that my quilting teacher was a part of. Every time I had a quilt done, I would get ooh’s and ahh’s from the group. I know they were just being kind, encouraging a newbie.

Fast forward to the spring of 2007. I surfed around the internet looking at quilts and stumbled upon quilts that were made in Hawaii. After doing a few research, I bought the book by Vicky Fleming called, “Hawaiian Applique”. I made three quilts from her book and realized that this is what I wanted to pursue and become a “master”. Here, I graduated to better fabrics, better tools, better threads and a niche.

In 2008, I started creating my own designs. I still don’t know how to categorize the type of quilting I do. I guess it can be called geometric quilts. I love designing with circles.

In 2009, I taught my local quilting guild how to do a small scale Hawaiian quilt. They enjoyed it, and a few quilters have actually brought in their finished pieces, all quilted and ready to be hung and admired.

That same year, I joined a larger quilt group that has many renowned quilt artists. In 2010, through the quilt show this group puts on every year, I sold two of my original quilts, Meditation and Regal.

Looking back, each item or each step I took was a milestone. When I first joined the local quilting guild, I said that I wouldn’t join the bigger one, because I was not that good. Finally I joined.

Having quilts shown at a show and someone buying the quilt was a big ego booster. Somebody besides hubby, myself or my friends actually appreciates the quilts and would pay money for them. With each milestone, I build up more confidence and courage.

I am considered young in both the quilt groups. I am probably the youngest member in both groups. A lot of the elders say, that they no longer quilt my hand because it hurts. I can still see, and I still can use my hands. I will try to make as many quilts as I can while I am still young.

Quilt & Bitch

"I Ain't Your Babysitter"

2010-06-30T11:34:00.002-04:00

June 30, 2010

About a month and a half ago, one of our pool buddy came into the pool hall with his son. His son is 15 years old. The father proceeds to the other side of the hall to play with his buddy (more serious players), while his son comes over to where hubby and I are and joins us.

This happens every Friday. Technically, he is not suppose to be at the pool hall, because kids under 21 are not allowed in the pool hall after 5:00 on Friday and Saturday.

Here's the problem. He is 15 years old. He acts like a typical 15 year old kid. Doesn't pay attention to the game and is always distracted looking at other tables. Typically our "group" gets two tables with five players and we round robin. Occasionally we get six players, and things get tricky because it is hard to time the players to end at the same time.

If the boy was more serious in the game and wanted to learn, it's fine by me. Half of the time you have to tell him that it is his turn because he is busy watching a game at another table.

I wonder how much longer this will last before the other players on the table, including hubby will get fed up by having to baby sit this kid.

Is this fair?

Quilt & Bitch

Renovation

2010-06-29T07:45:00.001-04:00

June 29, 2010

Renovation can be stressful. According to a sales person at home depot, home renovations is high on the list of reasons why couples get divorced. I understand it now. Going through this renovation is stressful. Most of the time, hubby and I see eye to eye. We make decisions and purchases together. But somehow, we are fighting more. It’s weird. We’re not even living in the house yet, but we’re already fighting more than normal. I don’t even remember why we’re fighting, but it has to do with the house. There’s so much to do and so many decisions to make.

It’s a tough road, hopefully once the renovation is done, and everything will be better.

Quilt & Bitch

Consistently Late

2010-06-28T07:02:00.000-04:00

June 28, 2010

Why am I surrounded by people who are consistently late? Most of the time, hubby has no concept of what it means to be on time. A friend of mine is always late. I on the other hand, am usually on time or early.

Two weekends ago, my friend and I had a lunch date. She scheduled it for 11:15. At 11:15, I received a call saying she was running late, and that she was still at home. She showed up twenty minutes later.

I find that people who are consistently have no control over this. They procrastinate. I find it a selfish behavior and very disrespectful. Is my friend and hubby being disrespectful and selfish for always being late?

A very long time ago, at a far far away land, I took ballet lessons. One afternoon, my mother forgot to pick me up. I waited and waited for 2 hours and finally had the courage to borrow some change from the ballet school to make a phone call to the office. Finally, after three hours, after all the students and the staff were long gone, my mother picked me up. Instead of being sorry, I got an earful for not having called her earlier. Yes she was late, but what I learnt from this was, always have enough change with me to make a phone call or two or three.

Quilt & Bitch

One Woman's Trash Is Another Woman's Treasure

2010-06-21T12:49:00.004-04:00

June 21, 2010

Summer is here, yard sales are all over the place. This past Saturday, I went to a few yard sales.

Yard sales are great to find things that you need that you don't have. The keyword here is "need".

Here are some pointers on how to become a professional yard sale buyer.

Go to craigslist in your area and look for yard sales that are in your area. Note that yard sales are usually on Saturday. There are some yard sales on Sunday, but sometimes they are carry overs from Saturday. So if you have limited time, just scope out the ones on Saturday.
Write down the addresses and the times and also items that they are offering that might interest you.
Using a mapping tool, I use Map Point by Microsoft, figure out where each place is and route it accordingly. The first stop should be the yard sale that lists the most things you need. For example, if you are interested in yard tools, go to that one first so that you get first pick at the items for sale.
Bring singles and quarters. Yes, people should have change for you if you hand them a twenty dollar bill, but it makes their life easier if you give them singles and exact change.
Bargain, but be realistic about at your price. For example, if a vase is fifty cents, don't try to bargain for that item. Know how much the item costs if you buy it new. Then bargain your way down to a fair price for the two of you.
Bring a basket or a tote bag for your goodies. Laundry baskets are great. Bring bubble wrap if you plan to buy anything fragile.

Be careful and don't overbuy. Temptations are usually hard. Ask yourself before you buy, do you really need it? If you need it, what would you use it for and how often would you use it. Discipline yourself. Don't buy anything that you say, oh, maybe I can use that, most likely, you will not use it.

One more tip, don't go with a friend, because you will probably end up buying more than you were expecting and you can't return it later. Also, if both of you like something, then you have to compromise. Yes, it's selfish, but you're on a mission here, so don't let friends drag you down.

Quilt & Bitch

"What the hell is that lady doing?"

2010-06-21T12:34:00.005-04:00

June 21, 2010

The other day we were mowing the lawn with a manual push mower. Yes, yes, a lawn mower that does not require gasoline and does create noise pollution.

While mowing, the house across from us a few people working on their house. They noticed me pushing something. They stopped took out their lunch and started eating while watching me push this thing across the yard. I think they finally figured out what I was doing.

Ten minutes later, a van drove by and slowed down and the driver and his passenger stopped and looked at what hubby was doing. They also then realized that he was mowing the lawn with a push mower.

Now, why is it that people stop and take a second look at somebody who is mowing the lawn with a push mower? Occasionally I feel embarrass. But I continue to mow because it gives me a satisfaction that I am excercising and I am doing something good for the environment. Also, the neighbors should be glad that we are mowing, because at one point the grass was at least ten inches high.

Sooner or later, we will probably get a battery operated lawn mower. In the mean time, I don't mind spending an extra half an hour or so pushing the manual mower.

Quilt & Bitch

"It's Not My Fault"

2010-06-20T19:21:00.004-04:00

June 20 2010,

A client just called and said that his computer had a virus on it. He asked me what he could do about it. How do you tell a client that we can't tell you what to do, because that's our business? We fix things that you basically break. It's like asking a doctor how to assemble a part of a finger that you accidently cut with a rotary cutter. I know that's pretty extreme, but that's why there is the emergency room right?

So he called again, and started discussing how he would have gotten it on the computer. I said that somebody using his computer must have clicked on something by accident. He said that it must have been one of his kids, but when he watches them surf, they seem to be careful. He continues to ask how can one be a hundred percent immune from clicking on malwares, trojans and viruses.

I continued to explain to him that it is just surfing habits. Knowing what looks iffy, and what does not. I also said that I have not gotten a virus in years, of course he did not believe me. Well, believe it.

Quilt & Bitch

Quilter's Connection Quilt Show 2010

2010-06-06T17:57:00.007-04:00

June 6, 2010

This past weekend, the Quilter's Connection had their 33rd Annual Quilt Show. Below are many of my favorite quilts.

(Above: Summer :: Sherry Winkelman)

(Above :: Drought 2 :: Sharon Monahan)

(Above :: Mmm, Mmm Chocolate #3 :: Jory Agate)

(Above :: Cherry Tree :: Nancy Halpern)

(Above :: High on Hubble :: Janet Popp)

(Above :: Tidepool Treasures :: Betsy Abbott)

(Above :: Woodrow :: Sarah Aubry)

(Above :: Sunlight and Shadows :: Sharon Monahan)

(Above :: Power It Off :: Q&B, Yours truly)

I had two pieces in the show, "Regal" (the orange and blue quilt) and "Meditation" (the black and white quilt) and both were available for sale. Believe it or not, both were sold. One was bought by a friend, and the other a stranger. Regal was my first quilt that I designed. Luckily my friend bought it, and I will still be able to admire it frequently. Meditation was bought by a local lady, I hope she will enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed making it.

I feel happy, but at the same time sad for parting with my two favorite quilts. At the same time, it gives me more incentive to make more.

Quilt & Bitch

"The Water Should be at a Rolling Boil for at Least a Minute"

2010-05-02T08:41:00.004-04:00

May 2 2010,

Last night 30 cities / town, in the boston area, including Boston and the town we are in has a "boil water order". What this means is that before consuming water, including for cooking, we need to boil the water. A main pipe burst yesterday, click here to read more about it. The city of Boston is currently declared a state of emergency.

I heard that there is a mad rush to the store to buy bottled water. The lines were an hour long to buy water. No... I haven't resorted to the store yet to buy water. Luckily our new dwelling is not on the list, so I might resort to cooking meals there or resort to Trader Joe's microwaveable meals. There is no news yet how long this will continue for.

Coincidently, a town in Massachusetts call Concord banned the sale of bottled water because of environmental reasons. Unfortunately this town is not on the "boil water order" list. Click here to read more about it. Wouldn't it be hilarious if they had the "boil water order" and how fast they would to reverse the ban on sale of bottled water?

Quilt & Bitch

Let the Games Begin

2010-04-22T07:12:00.002-04:00

April 22, 2010

Woo hoo, we've finally hired a contractor for the dwelling. Two bathrooms will be redone, we will save the third bathroom till later. Part of the kitchen will be redone due to fung shui reasons, the basement will be torn out accomodating a wide open room for a pool table. The master bedroom will have a closet since we are using half a closet to expand the tiny shower out.

Things we've learnt from hiring a contractor.

Have a clear and concise wish list. Go through each room of the house and make a list of what you want done.
Make a before and after drawing / diagram either in visio or on paper with measurements of each room / bathroom which are going to have major renovations.
Be patient with contractors when they are trying to give you estimates. Some take as long as three weeks to come back with an estimate, some take as little as three days.
Have the contractor break down the cost for each room, some will give you a line item of each thing they are doing, and scrutinize that. One of the most expensive contractor wanted $1825 to install a closet light and closet shelving. What?!?!
Don't pick the cheapest contractor and don't pick the most expensive contractor.
Ask yourself whether you feel comfortable working with this contractor, see what vibes you receive from them. One HVAC person said three times to us that the house was way too big for the two of us, he was immediate off the list.
Try to make clear what your budget is but don't tell them exactly what your budget is.
When trying to trim cost, look again at your wish list and ask yourself whether you can do it yourself or do you really need a professional to do it for you.
Check with the town hall to see what you can do and what you can't do and what the regulations are for that city.
Be respectful to the city inspector, but don't act as if you are are a long time friend of theirs, they don't like that.
Research things that you do not know so that when you ask the contractor questions, you can see if they really know their stuff or not.

Quilt & Bitch

Hacked

2010-04-14T08:43:00.002-04:00

April 14, 2010

Somebody we know had their hotmail account hacked. After they hacked into the hotmail account, they got into his facebook account and changed everything, the password, the secret question, and postings were not allowed. The hackers also sent out a blast email asking people to send money saying that the guy was somewhere in Europe and had gotten robbed and needed money.

So this guy has tried contacting hotmail to get his contacts back, has contacted facebook to indicate that he was no longer in control of his facebook. Hotmail still has not responded to him yet, and facebook immediately took down his page, but the next day, another bogus page of this guy was created. No posts were allowed on his facebook wall.

For the past three days, he has been changing all his passwords to all online accounts that he can think of. He sure learnt his lesson quick. They key is, don't use easy to crack passwords. Use at least three of the four following criterias: Uppercase, lowercase, number and special characters, and the password should at least be 8 characters long.

On a lighter note, I received this in my email [items in bold are things that I can truly relate to]:

Some truisms

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

20. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

21. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

22. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

23. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

24. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

25. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent an A-hole from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

26. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

27. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

28. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

29. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

30. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

31. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

Quilt & Bitch

Who Ate My Lunch?

2010-04-02T20:25:00.002-04:00

April 2, 2010

Today hubby and I went to a client to do work. In the middle of the job, I went to get us lunch, a roast beef sandwich.

I split the sandwich in half, hubby having one half, and I having the other half. Half way through eating the sandwich, I put it down and went down the hall to finish something I was in the middle of.

When I came back, someone took my half eaten sandwich. Can you say yuck? It was a lady who worked in the same office and she grabbed the sandwich as she was leaving for the day. I pretended not to notice and proceeded to continue doing what I was doing.

Gross isn't it?

Quilt & Bitch

Local Quilt Show

2010-03-28T08:35:00.010-04:00

March 28, 2010

Yesterday I went to a local quilt show call held by a guild call Quinobequin Quilters. Below are a few of my favorites from the show. I wish they did not pin the information of the quilt on the actual quilt, I find that it takes away from the quilt.

(Above: Yoga Ladies, machine pieced, machine quilted by Beth Green)

(Above: Heatwave, hand pieced and quilted by Kathy Whelan)

(Above: A close up of Heatwave)

(Above: Liberated Leaves, machine pieced, machine quilted by Caroline Blair)

(Above: A close up of Liberated Leaves)

(Above: Around a Circle, machine pieced, machine quilted by Diana Galson-Kooy)

(Above: Radiance, machine pieced, machine quilted by Ginny Such )

Beautiful aren't they?

One of my pet peeves about quilting is when a quilter takes the time to hand piece a quilt top and then decides to machine quilt the quilt instead of hand quilting it. I believe this takes away from the meaning of the quilt. I am not knocking off machine quilting, I do machine quilting myself, but when many hours are put into a quilt top, why not carry the technique forward?

Quilt & Bitch

Quilt Show Coming Up

2010-03-24T06:44:00.004-04:00

March 24, 2010,

I am a member of the Quilters' Connection which is a fairly large local quilt group. They have a quilt show coming up on June 4 - 6, 2010. If you are in the Boston area, pencil in the dates and swing by to see many beautiful quilts done by many renowned quilters. Note, my quilt is beautiful, but I am not one of those famous quilters... yet. :)

I have submitted two quilts for showing, depending on space, one of mine will definitely be on display.

For those who would like to support the group, the group is also raffling a beautiful quilt call "Modern Linoleum" which measures 102" x 85". You can see the quilt on the Quilters' Connection website. Raffle tickets are $1. If you are interested, let me know.

Some of you may ask, why the shortage of posts? Well, I have placed quilting on the way side, hidden my sewing machine, stopped buying fabrics, stopped buying quilting or sewing gimmicks because hubby and I recently purchased a dwelling. This dwelling needs minor work, so we are in the process of looking for someone to do the job.

I have heard that construction is on the slow side, but we can't seem to find someone who will do the work. I think we have finally found someone that we would hire, we are just awaiting the estimate to come back.

We are currently still living in our apartment because moving in with construction in the background is going to be hellish and very disruptive. So we've made a decision to stay put where we are until almost everything is done.

The work includes gutting out three bathrooms, removing lally columns in the basement and putting up another support beam to make the basement an open room to fit a pool table.

Fun, fun, fun. Hopefully work will be starting in the next two weeks or so, can't wait to move in.

Quilt & Bitch

Oh Sh, Dumba

2010-03-16T17:24:00.005-04:00

March 16, 2010

This is a picture taken down the street from where we are.

The car was stuck since last night. The water since then has receeded. The water line was up to the wheels of this car.

On the side where I took the picture from, there were police baracades, and there were baracades on the other side too. Would you have driven through this?

Quilt & Bitch

Water, water everywhere

2010-03-15T11:50:00.003-04:00

March 15 2010,

So it's been raining / pouring for the last 3 days. Almost everyone who has a basement is flooded out. Our apartment is basement level, so our bathroom is unusable, bath tub is full of water, our second bedroom is half soaked, and the land lord have shut off the water for the last 24 hours to prevent more water from over flowing.

To make matters worse, last night, we bent a rim of our car. Luckily we had friends who had AAA, so we had them change it to the spare.

The drying out is going to be interesting, including smell and mold issues.

Quilt & Bitch