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We had three lovely ladies at class yesterday. And I left my camera at home...Duh. Anyway, we are getting together again, hopefully in Feb, to finish their project. Pineapples can take a long time; everyone got two out of the three blocks finished.

Today, I am working on client scripts and kids homework. DH is off to a commercial shoot. And I decided to indulge the boys and I to pancakes for breakfast. If you have time and the buttermilk, make 'em from scratch. The recipe in your old Betty Crocker cookbook works well. If you don't have time, the BEST mix (uses a bit of oil, water, and an egg) is the one from Maple Grove Farms of Vermont. You'll find it next to all of the Aunt Jemima mixes, except it'll probably be the most expensive one on the shelf. But for the few times I indulge, it's absolutely worth having it around.

This week is going to be another hairy one at the office, but my goal is to have a Toaster Cover completed by next Saturday.

It has been a wicked week. Way too much going on at work. Husband gone on a two day shoot with all but me and one other employee to run the show. So the kids are getting hot dogs again tonight.

My oldest, Max, has a favorite "poison meat stick". His is Nathans. I find it a bit too slender and spicy for my liking. I like the dogs you get at the ballpark. Nothing quite tastes like them. I have tried various means and brands to get that ballpark dog, but have been unsuccessful.

I really hate resorting to a delightful meal like hotdogs, but it is a necessity this week. The gourmet has left the building.

I am teaching a class ("Pineapple Table Runner") at the Museum tomorrow. Six are signed up. I have the chocolate and the door-prizes, so we're set. Hopefully, they'll let me take pics.

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Okay...I love creating art and interesting, soulful pieces...
But if you want mindless instant gratification...Nothing beats the embroidery module on my sewing machine. Pull a design, burn it to a CD, suck it into the sewing machine, hoop your fabric, press a button and sip coffee. It tells you when you need to change thread colors. I love the pretty thread colors. Sulky is so pretty. I know everyone is using Isacord these days (I have some of that too), but I really love Sulky.

The above pic is the start to a center to a toaster cover/tea cozy class sample. My goal is to see how many interesting toaster covers/tea cozys I can make without going plum crazy. I decided to start with something rather traditional and move on to something dangerous

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Here is the finished design. I really am a sewing machine junkie. These new machines are just way too much fun. I figure it this way...I don't buy tons of clothes, go to bars (much), or spend lots of $ getting stuff done to my hair or nails. This is my guilty pleasure...Sewing machines, fabric and thread.

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Decided to venture out to the PA Farm Show in Harrisburg. I haven't been there since I was in 7th grade and decided that the children deserved the same experience. The place grew since I was there last...a huge maze of connected buildings with three arenas inside. We viewed all of the farm equipment and then moved on to the animals. Above is a sassy looking chicken. Below is a shot of four cows...one with no head.
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And this...is what you had to walk through in places. By this time, we were ready to leave.
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And since this is a quilt blog, I offer my quilt for the guild's charity project this year.
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I decided to try out the quilting designs on my sewing machine's embroidery module. It turned out relatively okay, but re-hooping every 8 inches or so was annoying.
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I finished up the directions for the Pineapple Table Runner this week and plan to get to some new stuff next week. Hmmm... Maybe actually create some art! Now there's an idea!

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I couldn't decide if this image looked like a scene from Sanford & Son or the Beverly Hillbillies. This truck is enroute to Ephrata Recycling. DH finally decided to clean out stuff and take it to the dump. Items include his beloved gas grill that finally bit it this past summer, old patio set, rusted Radio Flyer wagon, various computer guts, and my file cabinet that collapsed on itself about a month ago.

It is truly a very cleansing act. The garage is already looking better.

Next cleanout is a piece I lovingly call Caesura.
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It lacks...well, everything. It has been hanging here on the Block Butler for a year. I started hand quilting it, but stopped. I am going to try some paint or something. I just don't know. There is something I like about it, but the size is all wrong. It just needs some sort of resolution. Possibly as a new cat blanket.

And last but not least....
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This is a quilt I made for the sole purpose of having something to handquilt when I do demo days at the Textile Museum. I love the colors, but I made a bad choice in batting. It is difficult to hand quilt between the tight weave of the batik and this batting from hell. Actually after doing a 3 hour quilting shift, my hand just aches. So last night when I should have been sleeping, I was secretly plotting to disect the quilt. This kills me, but is necessary. I will take out all of the handquilting I've done so far, spray it down to tighten up the weave and get some of the water-soluable marks off, get a new batting (I'm thinking about using one of the new Heritage Collection from Mountain Mist, either Touch of Wool or Touch of Cashmere), hand baste it (which I despise...I love my safety pins), and start again. It must be done...it is messing with my chi.

Reading everyone else's resolutions for the year, leaves me compelled to leave my own right here on this here blog.

My resolution for this year is to try to be more disciplined.

The first area of my new found discipline will be to lose weight. (I think everyone has this one on their list.) After going through a host of eating issues in my early 20's and being fashionably emaciated for years, slowly but surely the weight has crept on. I cannot blame it any longer on having a baby, as Max is now 15. (It was always a great excuse, too.) I will try to accomplish this by limiting my intake. This, I am finding, is a challenge. I love to cook and I love to eat more. In the past few years, though, I have noticed that I'm sluggish and lacking energy. I have to believe that the extra love handles, thigh handles, butt...well you get the idea...is much to blame for my current condition.

The second area I want to work on is discipline at work. I work with my husband, and even though we had 2 other employees besides him and me, I have been getting sucked more and more into the business, in addition to dealing with the house, kids, homework, oh, and my businesses of teaching, appraising, and creating. This past year I have been going out on more sales calls and producing, in addition to the accounting and tax stuff. So we hired a new guy to help. He started yesterday. So now we have 3 employees and hopefully can get them to the level where they can handle things so that I can concentrate more on my businesses. Hey we might even get a vacation that doesn't have to involve just a Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday.

The third (if you've made it this far, you should be sainted) area of discipline will be my quilt businesses. I'm heading back to Paducah this spring for more classes in preparation to hopefully sit for my AQS Certification exam some year. I've been studying a lot on my own and taking every opportunity to do appraisals. I have an exciting opportunity coming up on April 1, where I'll be assisting Trish Herr and Dawn Heefner with a Quilt Conservation day at the Textile Museum. I am really looking forward to it...a fabulous opportunity to observe two of the best textile historians in the biz.

I also want to develop some works to enter into shows. I didn't enter anything last year and it really bothered me.

My plan to accomplish #2 & 3 (because they are closely related) is to start by devoting half days to the TV biz and the Quilt biz. Hopefully, this will at least get the ball rolling and get me in the groove of cleanly switching gears.

So, that's it, I've said it...now to see if I can do it!