What a Compliment!

Sunny Day is now hanging at one of my co-worker's desks!

How cool is that ?!?!?!

She has my old work station

(where I was before the office expanded and I was moved to the new wing).

I had Catherine's Quilt on the wall back then.

And for a while, Rabbit Hole (aka Light Therapy)

kept me company during the work day.

I hung Impact Zone near my new desk earlier this year,

which meant that Dave and Friends was taken down.

My co-worker asked if she could hang Dave and Friends at her desk.

Of course!

Now she's re-arranging and asked if she could hang a different quilt.

She chose Sunny Day . . . 

* * *

I love how people smile when they walk by!

Quiltdivajulie

Woo Hoo!!!!!

Nearly three years ago (maybe a little longer)

Janet (one of my co-workers) met me

at the LQS so I could help her choose fabric.

(she has a great eye for color ~ I mostly offered moral support)

She had recently purchased a basic 1/4" foot sewing machine

(what a lunch hour adventure we enjoyed that day)

and wanted to make a quilt for her granddaughter.

Fast forward to this past Friday.

Janet brought her flimsy to work!

(I had no idea she had been working on it ~

she wanted to surprise me, and she did!)

She tried following the pattern, but got mixed up along the way.

Instead of giving up, 

she made it up as she went

and now she has a finished top!

As soon as she pieces her back,

she plans to have Chris quilt her creation.

Congratulations, Janet!

Welcome to the wonderful world of quilting!

* * * 

p.s.  She's already making plans 

to create a four-patch quilt

for her grandson!

Quiltdivajulie

More Glimmers of Progress

It may be hard to tell, but the frames are matte purple.

. . . and the temples featured these blue/purple stripes.

These will be everyday (not computer, not sun) glasses.

(My eyewear has always been metal rimmed and 'sensible'

so this is going to be an adventure for me.)

This may not look like much, 

but there are sixteen 18" x 24" sheets of paper painted (both sides)

for what will become journal #3 featuring my wedding dress.

(our ceremony colors were soft blue and mossy green)

Here's another angle for the pages above.

What doesn't show well in photos

is the soft pearlescent glimmer in the paints.

So subtle yet fully present.

There were also another sixteen pages painted over the weekend

( . . .  paint one side, let dry, flip and paint second side, let dry . . . )

The second group has various shades of rose, rose-gold, and rosy pink

and are for journal #2 whiich will feature

buttons, button cards, and delicately painted/stenciled fabrics

of my husband's grandmother (an artist before her time),

along with a few photos and stories of her life.

* * * 

We learned yesterday that the office where I work

had a "break in"  over the weekend.  

Late in the day, we discovered that company checks

had been taken.  

Lots of activity (well into the evening)

as we worked with the bank, 

the property manager, and the police

to get reports taken and other plans in place

to deal with the problems.

We already have new office locks and keys 

and there will be more changes in the days ahead.

* * * 

Tonight I hope to piece the scrappy back for yesterday's four-patch flimsy.

IF life cooperates!

Quiltdivajulie

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"Life is a zoo in a jungle."  (Peter DeVries)

Impact Zone - On the Wall

Impact Zone now hangs on the wall opposite my work station

(my plant and digital photo frame are in the foreground).

The landscape orientation and size fit the space 

just as I hoped/planned

Reaction to the new quilt has been very positive

with most people stopping to study the wonky strip piecing

and later noticing the secondary batik background stars

(not to mention tracing the quilting lines & discovering the leaves).

My favorite remark?

"none of the colors go together (thoughtful pause), but yet they do!"

Dave's Friends which had been hanging near my current desk

is now hanging at the desk where I spent my first 3 years with the firm ~

by special request of my co-worker.

She is delighted & so am I.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Life is like and ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter." (Sharon Salzberg)

Introducing ... Hugo!

Hugo the hippo has arrived at my office in Memphis 

after spending last week 

with Lynne and Millie in snowy New Hampshire.

Here Hugo introduces himself to Lucy.

Lucy lives at the desk of a co-worker

(cue I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas)

Quilt designed and pieced by Wanda Hanson/quilted by Chris Ballard

Next, Hugo stopped by to check out Tom the Tiger

(U of M mascot ~ yes, there are lots of fans in the office).

Hugo spent the rest of the afternoon overseeing my workstation.

The decorated ficus tree in the background?

That's our Tiger Tree ~ complete with blue LED light strings,

blue and silver tinsel, and lots of basketball lights.

Oh, and those little blocks?

Those are Haikubes . . .

Co-workers stop by and sort through the bowl of cubes 

(just behind Hugo)

to create two or more word phrases.

No following of any formal rules,

just creative inventions from the less serious side of our brains.

Hugo will be staying here in Memphis for a week

before he travels on to [destination yet to be determined].

Adventure photos will be shared!

Here is the very first blooming crocus I've seen this year.

Unbelievable that last week at this time the city was 

virtually shut down with snow and ice!

Quiltdivajulie 

At My Desk

I love my new digital photo frame!

It sits on my desk at work ~ on the ledge

just above the top left corner of my computer monitor

(I especially like this screen layout with a clock).

For convenience, I have folders on a memory card for

my favorite quilt photos (80 and counting), plus

 DH's wood art, nature, and scenic travel shots . . .

What a joyful venue for my photos!

Quiltdivajulie

Obsolescence Goes to Work

Lynne's quilt Obsolescence ("O" for short) went to work with me this past week ~ here it is, folded and in the back seat along with my selvage tote bag (a Patchery Menagerie original).

Just a little obsolete-themed humor to entertain during the commute.

Clocking in . . .

Honest - this is NOT the storage room at our office.  If our firm hadn't expanded, moved, and had new carpet installed last year, our storage room would have been close to this, though!  If you've never read about planned obsolescence, check out this link.

 O visits with one of the CPUs that IS in our storage room (in case someone's flat panel dies).

O visits Kym's desk (Kym is our office runner) ~ her work station is the only one that still has a CPU.

Yes, I work for attorneys ~ just had to share a legally obsolete cartoon!

O spent the rest of the day on top of my computer (not quite obsolete but old enough to have a disk drive ~ the only one in the office that still works).

Hope you enjoyed O's day at the office!

Quiltdivajulie

P.S.  You really need to check out these recycled computer items ~ amazing!  Be sure to click and scroll through the various groupings she lists on the right . . . 

Quick Update

The project I've been given at work is giving me multiple bad hair days ... I've made a dent in the long list of elements involved, but there are LOTS more to handle. And, all the while, the attorneys continue their regular work.

So, I'm still here . . . just not stitching very much in the evenings.

p.s. There will be a giveaway for post 600 which is coming up shortly ~ stay tuned!

Quiltdivajulie

Selvages Are So Cool

This is my new back-and-forth-to-work bag . . . Lynne made it and I LOVE IT !!!!!

This is the other side of the bag. After I asked her about making one for me, we started playing with color ideas when serendipity happened. Within hours of each other, in two widely-separated states, we each hit on the idea of using black and white selvages!

One e-mail led to another before I sent off a package of black and white selvages from my stash along with yardage for the handles, small pieces of a can't-seem-to-ever-use-it-up wonky pink/purple stripe, and other purplish bits and pieces.

Lynne pulled this fabulous lining fabric from her stash and you can see the wonky stripe in the bottom (the case holds my computer glasses). The interior pocket is made from two black and white orphan blocks that Wanda shared with me several months ago.

Confession: Back during my early college years, I wore my hair much like the hip chicks on this fabric . . . During the early part of my senior year, I'd made an appointment late on a Friday to get my long hair cut short not knowing that DH was planning to propose that evening (he liked my long blond hair).
Love the variety of textures in this closeup . . .

It is SO great how Lynne positioned the reproduction print selvage that mentions the kitchen sink alongside the brand new Kaufman selvage with retro egg beaters . . .

And, so that Millie and Angel don't have hissy fits, there ARE kitty selvages included!

Look at the small zippered bag Lynne included!

This collaborative effort has been SO much fun!

THANKS, Lynne ~ GREAT work!!

Quiltdivajulie

Friday Randomness

I ordered this quilt rack quite a while ago and we've finally hung it on the wall in the family/living room. (For those who worry about it being too close to sunlight from the window, we chose to install replacement windows with UV protective glass.)

I'm delighted to report that Miss Angel is returning to her feisty self (this is her "I want my supper" look). She had a nasty abscess that was causing all kinds of havoc. She's half way through her 14 days of antibiotics, still not happy about being confined to the sunroom for the duration, but purring much more.

Eventide has finally been hung up in DH's home office (he's a telecommuter located in what used to be our oldest son's bedroom). Sure wish I had a window like his at my desk!

Speaking of my desk, here's my latest small quilt: Teapot & Rosewater Jug (one of her series by this name) by Dijanne Cevall of Australia. Here's what she recently posted: there is quite some process involved in making them- papers have to be painted then printed, then transferred to lutradur, background fabric needs to be dyed, then the whole is stitched and then satin stitched bound. [Note ~ the boys in the photo are now almost 31 and 28!]

And these are my three Iraqi Bundles of Love boxes. They've been shipped (no thanks to the USPS clerk who decided he had to leave for lunch in the middle of my transaction) and are on their way across the ocean.

Update on pattern giveaway - the patterns went in the mail today. Again, many thanks for the kind words and good thoughts!

Re MIL's diagnosis after the MRI ~ there is a reason she's been in such pain. She has the expected pinched nerve (stenosis) in the lumbar section of her spine but she also has two (2) sacral insufficiency fractures (translation - due to osteoporosis, the thinned bones in the back of her pelvis have developed fractures.) Treatment? Pain pills, patience, continued use of her walker/cane as needed, and time. She goes back in a month for x-rays to check on the healing. Words to the wise: Drink your milk and/or take your calcium or other bone density medication NOW before your bones thin any further.

Looking forward to the weekend ~ time will tell what it brings!

Quiltdivajulie
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"This time, like all times, is a very good one; if we but know what to do with it." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Comfort and Chaos

Not long ago, I was fortunate/lucky/blessed to purchase a piece of Jude's beautiful work ~ Whispers of Sadness. It is now hanging at my desk so that I can enjoy it during the work week (and share it with others who stop by my work station). You can read more of Jude's thoughts on her piece here and here.

Also along this bulletin board area, I have a small quilt made by the Mistress of Leehaven, a postcard quilt that Michele B. of With Heart and Hands made for AAQI, and an AAQI Priority Quilt made by Karen Musgrave (her blog is here).

These quilts comfort me. They help me stay connected to the deeper parts of myself when I'm surrounded by piles of printouts, projects demanding attention, and filing that needs to be done.

Today is one of those days when I feel a great need for comfort ~ I have so many topics swirling in my head and not enough time to work on any of them for more than a few minutes before having to leap to the next. I so want to pick one and work until I'm exhausted by it before shifting to another. . .

I want to be at home with time to "clean up" my music and get it properly synched on my Nano, to finish the major cleaning I started last night in my studio (including recovering my ironing table and sorting out patterns I'll never use), to piece the back for my finally finished scrappy baskets top, to do the laundry and get it put away, to sit and stare out the windows, to finish even a few of the dozens of unfinished tasks . . . I need to lose myself in my sewing for hours. I need to write until my hand cramps and refuses to move another inch. I need to work until I wear myself out.

These things tug at me all day while I'm supposed to be focused on early 1900's legal descriptions for a series of warranty deeds, learning how and setting up archive folders for my boss's 1000's of old e-mails that are clogging the firm's server, and loading three notebooks full of contacts into his Outlook program while smiling at each person who passes my desk.

And so, I pause and the quilts remind me that there is so much more to life than what I see stacked on this desk.

Breathing in . . . breathing out . . .

Quiltdivajulie

Welcome to My Work Station

Approaching from the North Wing...

Looking left to my work area

I bought the pattern nearly 5 years ago at the Stitcher's Garden in Franklin, TN. [Kitty Klatch by Janet Jones Worley, it is still available online]

View as you come in through our private/locked "back door" from the lobby

After moving into my new work station in the expansion area, the wall beside me was entirely too bare, so I had the perfect reason to dig out this pattern and get busy. And now, complete with lots of quilting by Chris, Dave and Friends has taken its place of honor in the south wing (as we have named our part of the office).


It will be "interesting" to see what kind of comments are made(or not made) in the coming days!


Quiltdivajulie

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"Look, I really don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive, you got to flap your arms and legs, you got to jump around a lot, you got to make a lot of noise, because life is the very opposite of death. And therefore, as I see it, if you're quiet, you're not living. You've got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively.”
(Mel Brooks)