Monday, April 6, 2015

Design Walls, Germs and A Year of Lovely Finishes

Well, hey! It's good to see everyone again!

I did some re-arranging, twiddling and tweaking and got my blog a new look! What do you think? I love it, which probably doesn't need to be said. I wanted something lighter and whimsical, cause I'm that kind of gal! I went to Shabby Blogs on the recommendation from another blog that I found through Google. They have all elements for designing your blog and it's FREE! I highly recommend them! I used the background from them. Then I was able to use the Advanced Template in Blogger to get the rest like I wanted. I had been trying and trying to change link colors, tab colors, font headings, etc. It would never take. Five stars from me for Shabby Blogs.

It's been a week since anyone has seen or heard from me. I'm still fighting the virus. Plus the newly diagnosed sinus infection. My doctor said it will take 3-8 weeks to get over all this. The biggest, and weirdest for me is I can hardly hear anything!

It began the afternoon when the phone rang while I was hanging out in our family room. I actually could hear the phone in the kitchen on my right, it was weak, but I could hear it. What I couldn't figure out is why the phone on the table to my left wasn't ringing. It was! I couldn't hear it.

Being a great fan of Nancy Drew, I began to put things together. I had thought our water pressure had gone down lately. Nope. I couldn't hear the water running as well as before. There was the morning where my alarm almost didn't wake me. I couldn't figure out how I had managed to turn down the volume for the alarm. I didn't. I could just barely hear it!

If you've ever wondered what a Prius sounds like but didn't want to go on a test drive to find out, I can tell you now. When I drive my car,  I can't hear my engine running. I can't hear any ambient sound. Is this the Sounds of Silence that Simon and Garfunkle sang about.

Last night, my hubby and I rented Interstellar to watch on our TV. We usually have the volume around 20-24. Last night my hubby maxed out the sound at 35. I still couldn't hear everything. If someone was talking low, I had to put my hand to my ear to hear better. I never did hear any soundtrack.

It's a little odd being in a very quiet world. I talk so soft that people can't hear me. I think I'm talking normally because that's the way it sounds to me. I went to the bank today. The bank was so silent. It's like the dead stillness when you're in fog or when the snow is falling. I got in line and saw a nearby teller talking to a customer; I could hear nothing. I realized I had to keep my eye on both tellers to know when I would be next.

I'm thrilled I can still hear my music. If I play it at 11. (A joke for all of you who ever watched Spinal Tap.)

*insert some clever segue to quilting here*

I really haven't quilted much in over two weeks. But here goes...

A Lovely Year of Finishes and
2015 Year of Finishes 2nd Quarter

February's intended finish was to put the borders on Bricks and Stepping Stones and have it sandwiched ready to quilt. I got one border put on. My grandpa always told me, You never want to rush up on something!

My quilts tend to always be quite long. My son's 6'3", My husband and I are 5'11" and 5'10". A lap quilt to me is one that will cover you from shoulders to toes. I certainly don't disappoint on this one!

This is a free Bonnie Hunter pattern called Bricks and Stepping Stones. The Bricks are 3.5"x 6.5" rectangles. My Aunt Marie had a box of cut "Bricks" and it was so much fun to use them!

My only design wall I have at this time is my garage wall. I could have got a stepping stool and hung this baby up the correct way, but I thought I would just do it this way and change it in the photo editor. As it is, I liked it this way in the photo. Mind you, I had to stretch up on tippy-toe and stretch my arms all the way up to get this pinned this high.



I was very excited making this quilt right up until I sewed the body together. Then I just hated it. But by the magic of quilty-ness, I put on the one border and I love it. I had told my husband he could have it before I put on the one border. He had picked out the border materials and backing. With one border, I'm thinking I want it for my little self. 

My hubby is quite creative at thinking of names for my quilts. Hence, one quilt is named Jacques Cousteau's Undersea Adventure and another is The 70's Are Calling, They Want Their Fabric Back! You can see the quilts and their stories in the tab at the top, Quilt Provenances.

So now that I was playing footloose with who was going to own the quilt, he came up with a name for this one: Give and Take! It's a winner.

My goal for March is to put on the other border, sandwich and quilt half of it. Pretty ambitious for someone who is 7 days into April and hasn't done anything yet! I just want this done so much! I love it. It's classy scrappy. My hubby's going to love it!

My cat, Kaiju, and dog, Miko had to get in the picture too. They thought they were auditioning for quilt model pet. I haven't broke the news to them yet. Shhhh...it's a see-crud. (referenced to Trixie Belden's younger brother).

Right now, Miko has not seen a bath or a pair of clippers in a few months. When she gets to this stage we just pass her off as a mini-sheep dog. I just clipped the hair around her eyes, otherwise they would be covered too. Then it's unmistakeable. In her other life, she is an adorable Maltipoo. 


I'll be hooking up with some mighty fine quilters in displaying our lovely projects. See the sidebar on the right for a day by day guide to where I will be hooking up!

It's so good to be back with you lovely people.

I'm still trying to fix the comment problem. Right now, it's supposed to allow you to choose commenting as a Blogger or with a Google+ account. Let me know, please, if you were able to reply as a Blogger. The next step, if this doesn't work, is pretty drastic. I will take it if I must!

As always, you can email me at q_nonnie@yahoo.com with comments if the options aren't available below.
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