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NOVEMBER
2004
Wednesday AM
November 10, 2004
I'm BAACK!!!!!
I had an exciting, rewarding, and thought-provoking trip to the 2004 Fall
Quilt Market and Festival. ;-)
I came home to 2 (count them... TWO) computers with rodent issues (mouse
problems) and 2 (count them...TWO) furnaces with *I don't want to
heat* issues. Bless Jeffrey's heart! He got both of the furnaces running at
dinner time AND we purchased a NEW trackball for the desktop computer then,
also. I'll wait and deal with the laptop later. Now...not only is it warm
enough in the house for my hands to work (it was below 60 in here
yesterday!) but I have a lovely and faaast new pointing device. (I use my
computers for graphics a LOT and tend to be hard on the little rodents!
LOLOL
On a humorous note (but not meant to offend deer or their families) I coined
a new term on the drive back... *deer smear* ...describing the large dark
marks left on the highway after... but you get the idea. Even JC (the van)
snickered....
I have a LOT of exciting designing/playing to do today... I LOVE creative
orgies like these! *VBG*
Have a safe and happy Wednesday!
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Wednesday PM
November 10, 2004
I've spent today enjoying the heat (with the furnaces running! LOL),
enjoying my new computer mouse, and working on a variety of fun (but secret)
projects...
I have a deadline this weekend/early next week and after all of that is
complete, I'll start planning out my *To Do* List from now until the January
TNNA Show in Long Beach.
I will be designing a *Limited Edition* Shady Lady in honor of the TNNA
Pearl Jubilee and the campaign with *Win Against Breast Cancer*. She will be
available ONLY from January 2005 until October 2006. I have sketches I did
last year, but I'm not happy with them, so I'll probably start from scratch.
I also need to start stitching the 4 Seasons design that I'll be introducing
at Nashville in February.
Have a safe and happy Thursday!
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Friday AM November 12, 2004
Great Moments in Indecision! LOL
Last night, I started considering the planned BIG Studio move... and second
guessing myself. I am worried that there isn't room in the apartment to set
up my U-shaped desk.
Now I am thinking that the Quilt Studio should go into the apartment, the
Paint Studio into the current Quilt Studio, and Command Central, with the
computer, copier, and printers stay where it is. We would have room to move
in the file cabinets from the hall.
Jeffrey (who's office AND Costume Shop have NO windows at all) thinks that I
ought to take advantage of the windows and skylights in the apartment. (For
a variety of reasons, the rest of the first floor is very dark.) I think
that room allotment needs to be made on the basis of square footage and what
will fit where... Hmmm... Points to ponder! *VBG*
Have a safe and happy Friday!
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Monday PM November 15, 2004
Whew! I had a deadline moved forward several weeks...I ended up having to
come home from Houston on a more urgent schedule than originally planned and
then had to buckle down to designing IMMEDIATELY in order to get
everything designed and created etc. I finished up this morning at 5AM... so
Jeffrey could be at the Post Office when it opened this morning to send the
package Overnight Mail! WHEW!!!!!!!!!
Now I am cleaning up the Quilt Studio so I can get to work on the next quilt
project, making a sample of the FREE quilt design I'll be posting here in a
few days. It is designed to use ANY of the 15 Alphabets in the 5 Applique
Alphabet books. I'm looking forward to it... I think it will make a nice
break from the catalog work I'm currently doing as well as the NEW limited
Edition Shady Lady I'm working on for the January TNNA release.
I am also nagging poor Jeffrey about the BIG Studio move in the works. I
need him to take apart the apartment kitchen, if he can get his friend Brian
to help. Unfortunately, it needs to happen this weekend if we are going to
stick to my *Hoped For* schedule.
;-) He is looking a bit *deer in the headlights*, bless his heart!
Have a safe and happy Tuesday!
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Tuesday PM November 16, 2004
I just finished cutting out the pieced portions of the quilt project I'm
working on. It is BRIGHT colors with black sashing and applique. It should
be QUITE eyecatching! I'm REALLY psyched. I'll try to get to the applique
part tomorrow. I already have the full alphabet and the name letters printed
out on freezer paper. Using the CD version of my applique alphabet book, I
was able to do it while I was in my booth at Quilt Festival! I LOVE modern
technology! *VBG* I will, however, need to avoid temptation long enough to
get some constructive work done on the catalog I'm editing.
;-)
I've been nagging poor Jeffrey about the apartment kitchen. His play starts
its run tomorrow. They were going to have 2 complete run-throughs tonight,
so he'll be getting home late. He IS starting to look a bit haunted...or do
I mean HUNTED? LOL The reality is that it will all happen when it happens...
sigh...
Have a safe and happy Wednesday!
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Wednesday PM November 17, 2004
I'm still getting geared up to tackle my *To Do* list. I think my biggest
problem is being able to settle down to the *gotta get done* stuff after I
meet a big deadline. Without the adrenalin rush, I seem to be less
focused...sigh...
I have, however, been reviewing all that needs to happen between now and the
middle of January and the list is pretty daunting! All of this, mind you, is
without factoring in the Holidays! YIKES!!!
I really need to get out the calendar, coordinate the lists and buckle down.
;-)
Have a safe and happy Thursday!
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Friday AM November 19, 2004
Hmmmmm.... somehow September, October, and November have slipped away with
out me noticing... Thanksgiving is next Thursday....YIKES!!!!!!!!!
Our Holiday Cactus is blooming. It isn't being shown to best advantage,
since it is just sitting on the tiny drinking glass shelf in the bathroom,
but the rest of our house is sooo dark, I don't want to move it and have it
drop its lovely blooms or something. I guess I'll just have to visit it a
lot over the next few days!
;-)
I got the first round of letters cut out for my alphabet quilt last night.
Boy, does printing on freezer paper REALLY simplify things! *VBG* Consider
me a convert!
Have a safe and happy rest of Friday!
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Saturday PM November 20, 2004
I don't usually post on the weekend, but I'm sooooo excited. We are finally
getting going on the Studio situation. Jeffrey moved all of the tools and
paint cans out of the apartment kitchen today. Tomorrow AM we are borrowing
the VERY nice young neighbor who lives a couple of houses down the block AND
his pick'em up truck to move out the stove and fridge and take them to
Goodwill. I think that Jeffrey has come around to my way of thinking with
the Quilt Studio in the apartment...although it was touch and go for a while
this AM.
;-)
If all goes well, this move might happen in the next week. My Mom's
wedgewood china is going to be temporarily stored in the upstairs laundry
room where it will be safe and out of the way.
I am REALLY starting to get excited...can you tell?!?!?!
Oh, and we are going to have the TurDucken we have been hoarding in the
freezer for Thankgiving dinner! YIPPEEE!!!!!!
Have a safe and happy Sunday!!!
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Tuesday Afternoon November 30, 2004
Where to
begin? First off, the news is GREAT!!!!
The big
Studio move has pretty much happened... thanks to Jeffrey's friend Brian,
who moved LOTS of BIG HEAVY furniture in return for Thanksgiving Dinner! *VBG*
I am surrounded by boxes in the Main Studio/Command Central, but I can live
with that. I'm tacking a box or two a day... organizing and tossing! ;-)
I up and working on the Quilt Studio and for the first time since we bought
this house, we have a view to the back yard...and courtesy of big widows and
skylights...lots of sun! The Paint Studio is in process but is in working
condition. Jeffrey is prepping the walls in the living Room for painting...
a project I had given up on... Raspberry Rush, here we COME!
All in all, the house is starting to look livable!
The icing on the cake? ...the first distributor order for the Applique
Alphabet books on CD! I have great hopes that the CDs will prove popular...
in the PDF format on CD, it is possible to print directly to freezer paper
for the Alphabets for the 6" block size... I printed ALL of the letters
needed for a personalized Alphabet Baby Quilt while standing in my booth at
Quilt Festival... then all I needed to do was iron the freezer paper on the
fabric and cut it out! What a time saver! LOLOL
Have a safe and happy Wednesday!
DECEMBER
2004
Tuesday
PM December 7, 2004
Things have been VERY busy here. ;-)
I am pretty much moved into the Painting Studio and the Quilt Studio.
Command Central still has LOTS of boxes but I can ignore them until I have
time to deal with them (probably NOT until after Nashville in
February...sigh...)
The LR is a BEAUTIFUL Raspberry Rush...bordering on Fuchsia! It looks
GORGEOUS! We spent tonight hanging pictures. We have a wall of our Family
Portraits which looks like a funky interpretation of a British Library. *VBG*
I have set a goal of NOT going to bed until we have the junk cleared off of
the top of the TV!
I am working on a cool project for a publisher with a *we need it last week*
deadline. Meanwhile my 21" monitor died of old age. I'll be moving my 17" in
and making my 19" the primary one (I have a dual monitor system) Later on
I'm hoping to replace the 21".
Have a safe and happy Wednesday!
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Wednesday AM December 15, 2004
Jeffrey and I had a great time in the NC mountains this weekend. I taught a
Canvas Painting class on Saturday and he helped our friend Peg in her NW
shop in Banner Elk, NC.
I am buckling back down to work in the mad rush going into the TNNA Show in
January and the Nashville Show in February. Christmas always seems to get
lost in the process.
;-(
I hope to be working on my Chatelaine Clasp designs over the weekend. I am
looking forward to it VERY much! I think I have cleverly managed to justify
a full set for me in each of the designs! LOL I have about 6 tools on my
Chatelaine: a needle threader, thread cutter, seam ripper which gets traded
with a mirror to check my lipstick at the trade shows, a magnifier, a needle
case, and a tape measure. The Chatelaine Clasps take it from being a
GORGEOUS piece of jewelry into also being a REALLY practical set of tools!
Command Central in a train wreck...piled high with boxes. It is starting to
GET ON MY NERVES! I think that I can rearrange some book inventory
storage today and get rid of some boxes, but what I really need is an
inventive floorplan. We had a LOT more squeezed into the room when it served
as both Command Central and Paint Studio simply because the 2 large pieces
of painting furniture stuck out into the room. Right now we have stuff along
the outer perimeter and boxes piled in the middle...NOT efficient at all!
Considering I have an MFA in Scene Design, I should be able to solve this
design dilemma, I just need to focus on it!
On the upside, I have completed the line drawing for the new Limited Edition
Pearl Jubilee Shady Lady, but I'm still deciding on her colors. She is
really looking COOL!
Have a safe and happy Wednesday!
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