Spring!

Easter Eggs by Joan Coats

From snow and cold to wind, sun, and springtime so fast my head is spinning!  Happy Spring to everyone, hope your Easter weekend is wonderful.  We are loving NO snow, getting around easily, spring coats....whoever thought it would feel so good to put on a light pretty spring jacket?  I thought I was doomed to live in my puffer parka forever.  Argh......!

I haven't been quilting, as "other things" took over my life recently.  Some eye problems which are doing better now, lunches with friends, getting new smart phones and learning how to use them while trying to activate them, not a recommended procedure.  However, I now know my little sweet phone so well, and am glad I finally took the plunge and feel like an adult with my slim cool phone tucked in my purse.  It is truly amazing what it can do.

Then......we got rid of our phone land line!  It was scary, but it is very freeing not to have that phone ringing all day, early in the a.m., during meals, during evenings, during showers, drove me crazy.  It is blissfully quiet now, and if you must contact me, please use my usual email:  dianequilter@sbcglobal.net 

I did have to figure out and hook up our new high-speed internet, but that went well too.  I also had to face the spaghetti of cables and wires and confusion behind our tv when the DVR from our cable company just decided to quit working right and wouldn't record.  

Detective work on my part indicated our DVD player sitting beneath the cable DVR was not working, but it was all looped together in a maze of scary cordage.  I mapped out all the connections, drew a picture, pulled cables out of the DVD player, re-hooked pertinent cables to the DVR and tv using common sense, and voila, it worked perfectly!  Whew......needed some coffee and chocolate after that day.

It has been stressful but I feel the demands of modern day technology either require someone in your life who does it for you, professionals coming in and doing it and making you feel like the old folks on the sofa, or learning how to do it yourself.  I chose the latter and am happy everything is perking along fine.

Oliver helped us do the taxes one weekend, sat on the calculator, rummaged and messed up the stacks of papers, and finally left to take a power nap upstairs in peace and quiet while we added, listed stuff, and double checked.  He is so handsome and gets sweeter every day.  He goes in for his yearly vaccination this week so we're not looking forward to that.  

And......we celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary, photo below.  I lost all our wedding photos in a house catastrophe over 20 years ago, but last year we got my mother-in-law's photo of us with her other two children, framed and on her dresser her entire life.   I dug it out of the cupboard recently as it was so faded I didn't want any more light on it, opened the frame to take a photo with my new phone (fantastic camera and I can edit right on the camera.....who knew???), and there, stuck behind the photo she displayed, was one of my husband Alan and me, faded but not too bad.  

It was 1969 and Edwardian style was in.  I had very short dyed dark brown hair after a swimming pool in college turned my light hair a pea soup green.  The large cabbage ribbon thing on my head covered most of it!  The sleeves and bodice were sheer, and there was a lovely lace applique down the entire center to the hem, with tiny buttons.  How young we were, hard to believe we didn't even know it. 

I just finished making this plate of deviled eggs for our grazing day of eating, as we are going out for Easter dinner tomorrow.  The card is from a friend who sends me pretty postcards every now and then in the mail, brightening my day each time.  This one was left on the counter and I discovered the rabbit's eye was missing after Oliver checked it out.  I found it down in the grassy stuff on the card, which fortunately was not eaten.  

Hope all of you are enjoying spring, getting out to spend time at quilt events, and doing some quilting.  I hope to get back to my quilting soon and will post some updates on my adventure into working with feed dogs.

Keep quilting!  It is the most relaxing meditative thing I have ever done....happy spring,

Diane

Happy 2014!

 

Oliver and I survived the holidays, napped through New Year's, and are now huddled finding warmth in the Polar Vortex that has overtaken the country.  Yesterday it was -14 when I took this photo of Oliver in his favorite cardboard box by the front door where he watches and stalks birds and squirrels at the bird seed I put out. 

 

Today it is supposed to hit zero degrees, and I might venture out for coffee, cat food, and bird seed!

 

Happy New Year to all of you, and best wishes for great quilting this year.  I hope to get back to giving you some ideas and tips soon. 

 

I am now working on my brand new laptop (a total impulse purchase for me, not at all typical) and have been rocketed into the new age of all things geeky.  Fixing DH's computer, system restores, installing all sorts of things that took forever to get back to normal, including a new WiFi router that gave me fits but is humming away now and not crashing and blinking and melting down - all this has been my daily routine for the past two weeks!  My new friends are the guys who help me out in the tech department.  The end may be in sight I think.  A few loose ends to tie, and I shall be freed from tech stuff.

 

It didn't take me long to get used to Windows 8 and I must say I am enjoying the treasure hunt to find where files are now stored, how to do the things I used to do without thinking, but it is all getting very easy and it is fun, not stressful.  I still need to get my photo program downloaded and then my old laptop will be cut free, to relax and enjoy its much-deserved retirement. 

 

And I have Apps.  I love my weather App.  The background photos look like my view out the window.  It can "find my location" and tells me everything and more about my weather. 

 

I've liked seeing all the holiday quilting projects and photos on Facebook, and pet photos too.  I know quilters are busy as always being creative.

 

We had our little Charlie Brown faux Christmas tree again, decorated with birds, nests, and real nests blown down in the yard that I have saved over the years.  I added clear lights and my collection of crystal ornaments, and it was beautiful.

 

 

 

Oliver took several days to "notice" that the new thing blocking his view out the window had BIRDS perched in it.  Every night at 9:30  he sat on the old Singer treadle next to it and gazed at it for a long time before gently reaching out and swiping one bird or nest off and onto the floor.  In the a.m. when I was having coffee he did the same thing.  The victims were then placed in the greenery on the mantel, out of his reach.  It was a game with us, and he ignored the crystal ornaments and never toppled the tree.  He is four years old and has developed civilized sensibilities. 

 

Below, a hazy photo of him gazing at his tree.

 

 

I hope your year is filled with lights and crystal and wonder, and quilting always.  Stay warm......

Diane

 

Ah, Paducah!

Oliver has been helping me draw, draw, draw.  He is very well behaved, sits on the drawings, helpfully holding them in place in case a strong wind might blow through.  Then he naps or chases something around the floor while he waits for me to be done so he can sneak up and attack me, then run off in a frenzy of delight.

I have been working on a new digitized collection of my quilting designs for the embroidery sewing machines, and it is coming along nicely.  I based the designs on some of my recent quilts, but the drawings are all new.  Watch for a September release from OESD if all goes according to schedule.  I don't have a title yet, but I'll let you know more details as this project unfolds.

And, speaking of schedules, mine includes shipping off these designs, then quickly switching gears and packing for my trip to Paducah next week.  Spring has arrived about 2-3 weeks early here in Wisconsin, so it won't be the dramatic change from winter to spring when I drive down to KY, but it will be wonderful to be back at the show this year and see so many quilts, friends, vendors, BBQ, dogwoods in bloom, friends and quilts at the museum. 

I see there are many familiar names with quilts in the show, and many who have taken classes with me.  It will be terrific to see your work hanging in this prestigious show......congratulations to all!

Please say hello if you see me, remind me how I know you, as it is a sea of people and it's hard to place people out of context. 

While I was working in my sewing room, Oliver discovered the bird lamp.  This is a lamp I've had for probably 40 years, has a wrought iron base with a vine and birds and lemons and leaves all over it.  Every now and then I put it in the pile of stuff to give away, and then I look at its fun whimsical design and decide to keep it just a bit longer. 

No other cat has ever paid the slightest attention to it.

Oliver sat under its warm light and tilted his head and stared at the little birds looking back at him.  He ended up with one paw on the head of a bird, just touching it gently, trying to figure out why the outside birds were sitting in Mom's quilting room.  He chirped and squeaked, tilted his head to the left and to the right, and finally settled down and slept under the gaze of the happy little birds.  I kept drawing.  Nothing like a deadline.  No chirping for me.

After I return from the AQS Show in Paducah I shall return to some quilting blog posts, ideas, tips, designs.  It's time to venture outdoors and enjoy the springtime.  Take a bit of time to look around and be inspired, translate that into your quilting ideas.

See you in Paducah!

Keep quilting-- your work gets better every day.

Diane