Where Has the Week Gone...Well, At Least We Have Another OPAM Finish

On the positive side, I fniished the Beach Tote, which will likely be a Christmas gift for someone. It's pretty large.

Two large inside pockets and a cell phone pocket

Some freemotion, a lot of double needle work, some machine embroidery and a bit of couching. I'm happy with it and ready to move on to the next project.

The week started off badly. Storm Sunday, way down county, managed to knock out our electricity for 18 hours. Can you say 'cranky'? 98 degrees outside, no A/C, no lights, no ice, no fans, no sewing. And this was made even worse by the fact that every neighborhood that surrounded ours had electricity. Apparently, our wacked out electric company has us attached to lines that initiate 20 miles away, so when they have severe weather, it could be breezeless, sunnny and dry, but our power will go out because some tree fell on a power line 40 minutes southwest of us. Go figure.

We also had no power at our office, but they weren't as lucky as we were, and full power wasn't restored until Wednesday night. One or two outlets in our house worked, so they ran extension cords to get the servers up so we could telecommute from home (there was no a/c or running water at the office).

Saturday we opened a home for wayward dogs whose owners go to the beach for a week, and the hubs' brother brought his pup by. It's been interesting. The first 10 minutes he managed to send a Tiffany lamp in the family room crashing to the floor where the stained glass shade not only broke in a couple places, but one of the CFL bulbs also smashed. I debated whether or not  I needed to call in a Hazmat team, and just cleaned it up (cutting myself in the process--I'll probably be admitted to the hospital in few weeks suffering from acute mercury poisoning.

Twenty minutes later I'm cleaning up poop in the living room, and he's shredding every dog toy in the house. No sooner than I pick up a bag full of foam and fur than I turn around and it's trailed throughout another room. He goes home Saturday.

Paco hates him, very insecure, so they tussle a lot. I spend a lot of time yelling and smacking snouts ('ba-ad boy...we do not bite Paco/Buster on the nose, SHAME ON YOU!!!!!')

If that hasn't been enough, the hubs calls the daughter and asks her to bring over the grandpup tomorrow to see how the FOUR dogs get along. Maybe he should just take an ad out on Craig's List. Whatever....I'm going to neighbhood ladies happy night, so he can live with his own mistakes. Good luck, honey! (The grandpup hates every other dog in this neighborhood, I don't think he's going to treat Buster any differently because he's a distant cousin.)

The weather here has been so hot and humid that I did an impulse thing Tuesday, while enjoying an afternoon off of work. I had 12" cut off my hair. Yes, I bought miracle product, no, I don't think it's going to look like it does now after I wash it tomorrow morning. Yes, I do like it..it looks a thousand percent better than it did. I also almost went for a pedicure, but I figured I'd already spent enough for the day at the hair salon. Maybe one day next week.

Speaking of next week....I just got a call that I've made it into one of the classes I waitlisted myself for, so that means I'm taking classes M-W-Th-F-S next week. Can you say 'crazy woman'?

I spent a small fortune at the quilt shop on Saturday picking up fabrics for two of the classes, and now I've got to go out for more. At least I'm knocking out a lot of Christmas gifts this way.

Please bear with me next week. I'm hoping to finish up a couple things before the week ends, so I'll definitely be back to post tomorrow or Saturday.

Enjoy your weekend, do something you love, and stay cool!!!  Oh, and be good. And if you can't be good.....call me! :)

Another OPAM Finish...So Much To Do

Other than needing  a hanging sleeve (I've already got a cute little hanger) and a label. 'By the Sea' has been complete for just about a week now. Ladies and gents, we have an OPAM finish for July, and we are on a fast track to excel at finishes this month.

If you can enlarge this, check out the 'beach'.

Now we're on to the next class, which was a Beachy tote bag. Today I finished my homework for Tuesday's class and this will likely be finished by Tuesday night. Here's the work in progress for this:

It's chock full of couching, machine embroidery, quilting.

What do you suppose these 20-strip pieces are going to turn into? (there's 3 of them).

Yep, it's Bargello. This is the top half of a table runner. I've stitched together the left side. Still need to stitch the right side strips, then make another one, flip it and attach them., bind, sandwich and quilt. Next class on this is Friday, I just need to have the top finished. (I have a feeling it's going to be a week of late nights, coming up).

I spent all day Saturday in a class and learned how to freeform piece. Here's a sample of a few components of what will become an arty quilt. (Though I'll most likely not use these practice pieces in it)

I'm halfway through my 8 signed up for classes. There are 3 more I'm waitlisted on, so we'll see if I get into any of those.

Of course, I decided I needed batiks for this little art project, so here's yesterday's shopping after class:

 

And who can resist a good online sale?

My latest buy from Fabric.com, I present you a real throwback to the 70s, it's called Hot Flash from Westminster Fabrics, and it was on this super 4th of July sale for $3.98 a yard. Woven, heavy, colorful. Can you say 'what a deal!' boys and girls?

Right now there's plenty of fabric to make a large quilt, I purchased 4 yds. for backing to piece together with that large strip on the left (on top of the backing),

It's been really hot here, as my blog tunes can confirm. Yes, we had an earthquake in Maryland, and no, I didn't feel it. I (along with my daughter 20 miles north) managed to sleep through it (and all the neighborhood chatter that took to the streets as I can only imagine they all fled their homes fearing imminent structure collapse). This is what happens when you stay up until 3 a.m. embellishing tote bag panels--you miss particpating in history.

Should there be an earthquake tonight, I'll be ready. I'm heading to bed after completing a quarter of the homework for Friday night's Bargello class. While it pains me to leave it on the design board (and the other half of the strip sets neatly stacked in order and pinned on the cutting table), I'm hitting the sack with the new issue of Quilters Home.

Ya'll have a super week. Stay cool if you're hot, stay warm if you're reading in AU. Create and be happy!

Where in the World (Is Carmen Santiago)

Well, I've been at the beach (in a manner of speaking).

Right now I'm at work, so I've only got a minute, but I wanted to let you know why I've been too busy to blog for the past week. Suz Zwizzle has been keeping me very busy shopping and prepping for some upcoming classes (4 in a week), and trying to finish the homework and projects lest they enter the UFO Zone.

I'm almost done with the landscape quilt I've given you a little peek at above. It's 12" x 48" so there's a lot more to see, and you will, once it's finished, which should be tonight...actually, it has to be tonight as I start a new class with a new project tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, I've got to run and get back to doing what I get paid for. But here's a gander at some more of my first attempt at art and embellishment.

Have a great day, and I hope at least some of you get to spend it in creative endeavor. TTFN!

Happy Independence Day!

This became

this, became

this.

And that is what I've been up to for the past couple of days. On a mission to complete a 4th of July quilt before the 4th was over. Success!