Monday, November 30, 2009

Another One Bites the Dust.....

And this time it is me.

I was laid off this morning after working at my office as a CAD designer in a civil engineering firm for 23 years.  I had no clue or warning (other than the obvious economy woes).  I had been out of town since last Wednesday for Thanksgiving.  What a welcome back to work.......




So if I don't post for a few days/weeks, I hope you understand.  I need to regroup, have a little pity party and figure out what to do after I pick myself up with my bootstraps (engineering is out of the question).

On the plus side, I can get all the Christmas decorations up in a reasonable amount of time.  And all the quilting time I just gained!!

And I wasn't the only one.....I was among 4 more.  The office is down to 13 out of 27 since last October.

I'll be okay....... but your prayers sure could help.


Blessings, Cathi

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Wool Batch 2, 3 and 4.....

I spent Sunday afternoon and Monday evening dying three more color batches.  I'm so in love with this! And I am getting much faster at it.  The first batch took just about all day Saturday but I was in a learning curve. 




This is called Sky Blue in the recipe book but I think I am changing the name to Confederate Blue .... a nice Southern name.  LOL



This was supposed to be a little more on the brown side but it looks a little green in person.




This is supposed to be green.  Good thing 'cause it came out green! A celery green but a green nonetheless.


There are a zillion more colors I want to try.  They won't all be this muted......I'll have to throw some brights in there, too.  I have a feeling that the experimenting will be half the fun!

If I don't "talk" to you all again in the next few days, have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Even with all the doom and gloom in the world, there is still a lot to be thankful for.

Blessings, Cathi

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Off onto my new adventure.....wool-dying!.....

I have been toying with the idea for a year now about starting to dye wool.  I've read, researched, planned, collected supplies and yesterday I finally took the plunge.  

Here is my first batch...and you get to see it first!



Aren't they gorgeous!!!???  Six different wools, same recipe.




If you live in the Carolinas and like to hook or make penny rugs or want to use it for applique, you know how hard it is to find it without ordering it on-line.  And just like cotton fabric, it's much more fun to shop when you can touch it first!

Now I know why wool-dyers have a lot of "Out of Stock" listed on their websites.  These 6 fat quarters took quite a while to do.  Over an hour per pot and each pot only does 1/2 yard at a time!  Plus trying to cook dinner and sew in-between!

Don't know where this will lead but it sure has been fun so far!

Blessings, Cathi

Thursday, November 19, 2009

My little woolie pincushion from Lynda.....

Several years ago, the Wild One bought some patterns for me from Lynda Hall of Primitive Pieces by Lynda as a Christmas gift. Every quarter, Lynda has a drawing from all the names of people that had bought patterns from her during that quarter...........and the Wild One won!  My gift was a hand-made pincushion by Lynda! 




What made it so special is that Lynda is allergic to wool so she had to take extra care.  I really appreciate her doing that just for little old me.



Lynda also has a blog now.  If you have never visited her blog or website, you need to go.  Besides quilting and designing prim patterns, she has a wonderful prim house. There are pictures on just about every page of her website and bunches if you click on the "Telegraph Office" tab.





Lynda has also organized a "block party" for the last two years to raise money to fight Ovarian/Breast Cancer.  I participated this past year.  We had enough blocks to make 4 quilts that were auctioned off.  Here is just one of them.  To see them all, go to the "Box Lunch Social" page of her website.




Hopefully, she will have another Block Party in 2010.

Blessings, Cathi

Monday, November 16, 2009

Remember Valentine?.....

Valentine is an amaryllis that I started last year at this time but he didn't show his beautiful face until........almost Valentine's Day.

Back in the summer, I transplanted him to the garden and forgot about him.

About 2 weeks ago, I found this.....



He's come back for a visit!  Even though we have had some cold nights and one good frost, he is still chugging along.  What a trooper!

Blessings, Cathi

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Talk about out of my BOX.....

So I've been MIA for a week.  What are the odds of getting the flu even though you have had a flu shot?  Something like 50%?  I don't know but I did get it anyway.  I want my money back!



One of my latest projects that "jumped" in line is this quilt that is SSSOOO out of my box.  The Married One volunteered me to make it.  The baby is due November 22 so I HAD to finish it.  I wouldn't let myself work on anything else quilty or crafty until it was done.  What a struggle!  Why is it so hard to make myself sit down and work on something I really don't like?  I guess we have all been there.



Regardless of how I feel about it, the mother-to-be absolutely loved it.  I have washed it once so it should be good to go for the new baby.  It really went together quite easily. 




Last week before I got sick, I had two big things to do.  First was finish the above quilt by Saturday because Saturday was The Married One's big 30th birthday party.  The mom-to-be was at the party and I wanted to get it to her (and out of my house).  Son-in-law was handling the party himself.  I felt kind of sorry for him.  He was so out of his element!  So along with finishing the quilt, I did all the decorations for the party and all the desserts and a couple of side dishes.

Here is a picture of The Married One 30 years ago last week.  What a sweet, little girl she was (is)!





Now that I am amongst the living again, I plan on catching up with blogging and quilting.  I have so much to finish and share!


Blessings, Cathi

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Old Parsonage hits 100.....

100 followers, that is!  And Leann has decided to have a giveaway to celebrate.  Jump on over to her blog to see what you could win.  She has a wonderful blog that is just as charming as her personality. I should know, I've met her before!




Blessings, Cathi

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Fun new Christmas Blog Hop.....

I came across another fun Christmas Blog Hop on Wendy's blog this morning and thought I would share.   It's the Cross-Country Christmas Quilt Designer Blog Hop.  Quite a mouthful but it sure looks like it will be fun!



It's a group of 12 designers from Minnesota and beyond that will post one FREE pattern everyday for 12 days starting November 9th!  Gudrun from GE Designs is the hostess with the mostest.  Hop on over to her blog to see who the other designers are.




Don't forget to keep visiting the GumTree Designers.  They are on week # 5 of their free Christmas pattern giveaways.  AND this Friday is the next First Friday Freebie from Kaaren at the Painted Quilter!  What wonderful Bloggers there are out there!

Blessings, Cathi