Making the Rounds

I have been very busy playing with the EQ6 program. It is very similar to the Dear Jane software so it has been not too much of a learning curve. I have yet to design a quilt though.

I was asked a question by Su Bee what makes the EQ6 better than EQ5 and I don't really know the answer because I never had the EQ5 program. One thing I was told was that the EQ6 has rotary cutting instructions, which EQ5 doesn't have, but I can't even say if that is a fact. I am happy I bought the program and I hope to fiddle around with it for awhile before I try anything serious -- like quilting is serious.

I also have spent a few minutes this week finding out what I need - getting the idea first from Joyce and then it seems to be spreading around the blogs. I didn't go too far along because apparently the #1 thing I need is a Sperm Donor ( which I am certainly not interested in!!)

1. Pam needs a sperm donor
2. Pam needs no net to net a man ( so why do I need a sperm donor)
3. Pam needs our help ( I guess!)

I think the problem is with this is that my needs are apparently related to what Pamela Anderson needs - and that is not good.

Then - over at Calico Cat I got directed to The Fat Quarter shop and because of Darlene at Quilting Daze and the charm square 4 patch tutorial I needed to order a bunch of charm packages. So these were on sale.



I also bought a couple of other packages. Some wool charm squares because I just loved the wool applique that Wendy does, and I really want to try doing some wool applique. For some reason, and I'm sure I never even looked at the wool charm squares on the website - but they were on my order and they were on sale for $6.00 for 6 - so I guess it was meant to be.

Belem has a great link to a pin cushion tutorial ( and I can use my newly purchase wool when it arrives).

So all in all it has been very eventful these past few day. And I finished one more DJ block and I have only 4 blocks more to go on the Hugs and Kisses quilt, so I will work on that today.

Electric Quilt 6

I am so excited! I just can't hide it!

I got the EQ6 program today. I still haven't loaded it on the the computer, but I will soon. I have never had a computer quilt design program so this will be pretty new stuff for me. Although I do use the Dear Jane program so I think there is a fair amount of similarities in how the programs work - as EQ makes the Dear Jane software. Now I can design all kinds of quilts - hundreds of beautiful quilts - and then I can just save the files and say -- "One day, when I have time I'm going to make that quilt" Actually I think it will be great for making small baby quilts and such - so I really am looking forward to spending hours away on the computer planning quilting projects.

I have been busy, working all week and then Jim got back from Portland on Friday. He was quite sore with his shoulder in Portland, he stumbled on the sidewalk one day and jarred his shoulder a bit. He is better this weekend.

Eric is busy designing me a web page with a little grid to put up my Dear Jane blocks. He has done a great job and once it is already to be viewed by the world I will put a link up for it. I started scanning the blocks instead of taking pictures of them and they look much better. I also found some fabric that is almost exactly like the WoW for the "Hugs and Kisses" quilt, it is the same white and the same leaf print but just a tiny bit small - but close enough that it is not really noticeable. So I will finish the last eight blocks in the new fabric and mix them in with the rest and it will be fine. So all in all -- a good few days. Now I must try to load this program and see how it goes.

Happy Valentines Day

I have been away working the past few day and so much seems to happen when I can't check in the blogs I love to read. I will try to catch up. When I work the 12 hour shifts I leave home at 6 AM and do not get back home until 8 - 8:30 in the evening. So it can be quite tiring and then I have to get up and do it again the next day -- and so on.

Today - Valentines Day - I am working a night shift, Jim has gone to Portland for the week for meetings, so it will not be much of a celebration here this year. I will live vicariously through all my friends and blogging buddies.

Before he left Jim brought me a lovely bunch of lilies for Valentines Day since he would not be here. Very sweet. Valentines is one day that we always do something special.



The Valentines Day that is most memorable for me is 1998. The year the Winter Olympics were held in Japan. I worked a 12 hour day shift - so it was 8 pm or so when I got home. Jim had spent the entire day preparing a wonderful meal. He had gone to a meat market downtown to get a special cut of beef tenderloin. He bought food from all over I think. He had the table all set up with a lovely table setting, flowers, wine. He had a menu printed out and set on the plates. And the food he made was wonderful -- the tenderloin was just so good that night, I still remember it. He had potaoes he had mashed with roasted garlic and made green aioli to whip into them and then toasted them in the oven. He spent the entire day preparing and cooking. The most memorable thing about that night was - he had brought Eric's little TV set up from his room and set it on the table so we could watch the finals of the Canadian Womens Curling team. As we were enjoying our dinner the Sandra Schmirler team won the gold medal at the Olympics. It was an amazing game to watch. I think you can't top that!



I saved the menu. He has done a few other "menu meals" since but I think this was the best. We have don't go out to eat all that often any more, we are finding that we make much better food than we get served in a lot of restuarants - and the wine is cheaper!

Happy Valentines Day - and I will try to catch up with all my blogging when my night if over and I have my week off.

My work yesterday

I was pretty productive at my day long retreat yesterday. I finished 17 blocks. It went together very quickly. Big problem -- I do not have enough of the white on white background fabric. I thought I did......I guess I should have measured and calculated, but that is just too much like work. I think I can get more, I am going to be short only a small amount - maybe 3 blocks. I could calculate the amount I am going to be short - but that sounds too much like work!! But I will figure it out and hopefully my LQS has some in stock. I think it is a pretty common WOW pattern. I passed out little scraps at my retreat and I do have a bunch of quilters looking through their stash for me.

I think that the blocks are too big for a baby quilt. I think I would have done it in 2 inch square instead of 2 1/2, which is what was in the pattern. It is going to finish up at 55" by 55" (provided I find more WOW fabric!) But it is going to be a pretty quilt so maybe if I can find more fabric I will buy enough to make one in 2 inch squares as well -- since I still have a small mountain of 30's fabrics.

Using the stash

I found this really simple pattern on the internet the other day while browsing for baby quilt patterns. I decided to start another quilt! Like I need to do that. But I am going to use my stash of 30's fabrics that are left from the Dresdan Plate quilt. I thought this was such a cute little quilt. I started cutting up the blocks and I will work on it this weekend at my all day "Quilt by the Bay" retreat tomorrow.


I have finished my siggy blocks and will mail them off today. I am so excited to see the blocks that I get back. I have never done a block exchange before so I am hoping that the blocks I made will be okay for everbody in the exchange. Jim has a physio appt. today so I will drive him in to physio and mail them off - I have no idea how long it will take for them to get to Australia. We shall see.....

Six weird things about me

I have been tagged by Susan to tell six weird things about me -- I've been thinking about it all night, although thankfully it hasn't kept me lying awake! I'm not sure if I can come up with six things - or maybe once I start I can come up with hundreds of weird things.

1. When we go travelling I like to buy little items (above picture) but when I bring them home I never even take them out of the bags. I have no idea why. I still have a lovely little pewter box with a starfish that I bought in Nova Scotia in 1999 still in the box in the bag in my sewing room. Istill have pens I bought at Harrods in London in 1992 in the Harrods bag in my dresser! The stuff I buy for the kids as gifts I give to them right away but the rest I just store away. This picture is stuff I bought for myself on our trip to Arizona last April. I hauled it out of the closet to take a picture and them put it back in the closet. Now that's weird.

2. I love to eat oranges more than any other food, if I had to chose between an orange and any other food I would chose the orange.

3. I have never worn makeup. I tried to use it a couple of times but I could never get the hang of it and so I just never did it. I still have the only blush someone gave me back in about 1980. I also don't use face cream or hand cream although I do like it and also like to collect nice smelling hand cream and keep it in bathroom, but I take that out of the bag.

4. I had laser eye surgery in 1997 and still quite often, I forget that I don't have glasses on and go to rub my eye under my glasses.

5. I am left handed and I have a terrible time remembering which is left and right and give very bad directions because of it. Never ask me which way to turn to go somewhere. One day I felt so bad because I told this carload of girls to take the left lane to go over the Lions Gate Bridge and as I saw them drive off to North Vancouver in the left lane I realized that it was the RIGHT lane they should be in! I still worry they never found their way back.

6. I am not completely tone deaf but pretty close to it. I can't tell the difference between any notes. I know when the American Idol singers are really bad but I have no idea when they are out of tune, off pitch etc. Most songs I don't recognize until they have at least sung the title of the song. Drives my pretty musical family crazy. Middle son Eric is my partner in this. But I know the TV trivia - so I make up for it when Jim doesn't know what actor/actress he is watching and I know who they are, the last movies/shows they have been in, who they are married to, who their children are and where they are from.

Well that wasn't too bad. Now I should tag someone. There is a new blogger out there -- Wendy, I will tag her, and I will tag TJ if she has time before heading off to Grandma duty, and Bettsy.

Fabric purchase - no fabric diet here

Aftertaking Jim to the doctor on Monday I went off to the bird store to see if I could buy a new ladder for the birds - their ladder is comng apart at the rungs. Unfortunately the bird store is not open on Monday - so there is a Quilt shop very close by - so off I went to the quilt shop.

I didn't buy much but I spent a lot of money. The package of brights is a kit for a simple star/heart baby quilt. I don't have a lot of bright fabric, I discovered when making the quilt for Jonah so I thought the baby quilt kit would be better than buying a bunch of fat quarters to make the quilt. It is a very simple quilt - just an appliqued star in the centre of a 6 inch block. The quilt shop was selling the pattern separately for $10?? so I did not buy the pattern - I thought that was a bit much! I have some of my own brights to add and the black and white fabric is for the borders. I just made my own star template and will make the quilt that way I would like it. I have a couple of baby quilts to make, one I am working on now.

I needed some cream coloured fabric so I bought about 4 meters of three different creams. And the little pack of Moda, those are just so cute. I have another package of Moda fabric like this - but darker colours - that was a door prize at a retreat. Great to match up with a solid colour and make a quick half square triangle lap quilt.

The circle cutting tool is from Fabricland - on sale half price. I thought it was a nifty gadget - now I am not so sure. I was testing it out last night and with the rotary cutter that is suggested 28mm it is very difficult to cut the small circles. And the really tiny rotary cutter will not work at all. So the jury is still out on that tool. It is funny some of the tools I have tucked away in my drawers that I bought and have never even taken out of the package. I have an instruction book and templates for the Double Wedding Ring quilt that I bought in about 1996 or 1998 that I still haven't taken the shrink wrap off!

I have chosen my fabrics for the siggy swap. That took awhile because I wanted to use my stash but I wanted something that was sort of Canadian - The fabrics that I had in my stash that have moose and bears on them were too light and I only had fat quarters - so it will be leaves instead.

Last night I discovered a blogger trick. There is a website that updates blogger issues and there was a note on it about the "Remember Me" function and how it does not work in IE6 (which is what I have) If you go into "Tools" and click on "Internet Options" and then under "Privacy" you then click on "Sites" if you type in -- google.com -- then the blogger and Picasa both will remember you. And it works! At least so far, no more having to retype my password every single time.