So today is earth day! if you'll allow me a couple minutes, i'd appreciate it.

couple years ago, i made a commit to become aware of my carbon foot print. I didn't make a big deal about it, just started to try to introduce some more 'green' habits in my every day life. I'm not a tree hugger, but i do want my grandkids to enjoy the planet as i know it one day.....fresh air, food, trees, animals....

here are some simple things you can do to make every day Earth day:

-recycle. i was surprised to see that 80% or more of my everyday trash is recyclable.I put out recycling more than i do trash now. it;s like a game- how much trash a day i can keep out of the landfill.

-buy rechargeable batteries. it's a bit of a cost at first, but they have more than paid for themselves. I'm still using the same 8 AAs i bought 4 years ago...

-turn the faucet off while brushing your teeth, washing hair, etc. if your not using the water- turn it off! studies show that it could save up to 3000+ gallons a year per family!!

-stop using plastic grocery bags. i haven't carried one home in a LONG time. I have several now use them regulatory. They hold more ,so you won't need that many. They are even washable...PS if you DO use the plastic ones, recycle them!! I even have a folded up one i carry in my purse. Some shops even offer a discount with purchase if you use your own bag (maybe that's just quilt shops, tho *grin*).

-use bio-friendly cleaners. Most cleaning solutions are very toxic and get washed down the drain to end up back in the ground water. I use vinegar, peroxide, and natural plant based cleaners. I was surprised how well they clean! imagine- those chemicals are in your kitchen! NEXT TO YOUR FOOD!! *yuck*

-unplug those pesky appliances with that 'vampire' light that shows they are plugged in. That is electricity you are paying for, plus a resource that is not being used productively.

Now i know not everyone can do everything, but if EVERYONE changed one or two habits, we just might make a difference....If faced with the choice of a 'normal' way versus a 'green' way- even tho the green choice might be a bit more expensive or time consuming- it'll be worth it in the long haul, for everyone!

I know it's a clique, but i do like the quote: "we did not inherit the earth from our parents, we are borrowing it from our children"

so, do you do anything earthy? share it in the comments!!!
 

i read about this idea somewhere, and i was looking at it on my phone and now i can't remember where i found it. i've googled it and can't find anything on the web about it *shrug* hell, probably don't remember it right anyway....
i want to make a Stone Pot quilt.

it's a friendship type quilt where i kindly ask you to mail me one or more 5" cut squares (charm squares). Send me an email (half_square at hotmail dot com) with "STONE POT QUILT" as the subject and i'll send you my addie. One square shouldn't take more than one stamp.  ANY fabric...that's what this is about- i will use every square! no matter what the color/design/print. I do ask that they are 100% quilting cotton tho.  THANKS!!
 

 
 Hey yall!! happy spring, although the temperatures don't exactly reflect that....

So i have GREAT news!! i have been rehabilitated and released back into the wild!

I'M QUILTING AGAIN and i'm quickly getting caught up, and need more tops! (feed me, Seymour!)

I'll be at Tiny Stitches this Saturday (march 22nd) around 1:30, so if you have some flimsies laying around- bring them!! just call or email letting me know you plan on coming so i'll know!

i'm so glad to be over and past this!! Onward to 'normal'

 

i feel bad- i really do. i've severly neglected my blog. it's a quilty blog, and well, i haven't had anything quilty to share.

Davis was home for R&R in December, then i had surgery to fix my collarbone from the wreck....it's been a rough last couple months on me. 

with all the down time, i have been working on the Stitch Along, and i'm proud to admit it's close to being done!! i swear it wasn't suppose to stretch out this long, but life threw me a couple curve balls lately.

so here's the latest installment.

happy stitching!

don't forget to add photos of your blocks to the Flickr group. i like to see what and how yall are doing these :)

(step 13 of 16, with no. 17 completing the flismy)

 

Almost 15 years ago, after my move to Atlanta, i realized i was lonely. After some deep thought i decided a dog was exactly what i wanted/needed. off to the Atlanta Animal Shelter i went. it was overwhelming!! hundreds of dogs and the noise, so i just started walking up and down all the aisles. The dog in run 156 caught my eye. Just sitting there quietly taking it all in. His paperwork said that he had been found tied to a dumpster in Douglasville. his eyes had a depth that only an old, wise understanding soul could have. that was my pick- i wanted him. After all the paperwork was completed, the gentlemen happened to notice something. "he's been here 2 months, if he wasn't rescued today he'd been euthanized tomorrow" lucky dog.....and the name stuck.

and so a friendship began- i'd never had a dog before and he patiently suffered thru the learning curve and all my mistakes. We both had lots of lessons to learn from each other.

Lucky Dog April 1999- December 2013

All good stories have an end, and yesterday we said goodbye to Lucky. I will always remember how he'd tuck his butt and spin when we played and his deep hatred of yellow jackets and wasps. He'd kill them and eat them like it was his personal mission. But most off all, i will remember that HE rescued ME.


Bye Bubba Dog, you were the best! Love you, and most of all, thank you!


 

Do you have any turkeys going cheap??

No, all our turkeys go 'gobble gobble'


tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the states and boy is it cold *brrr* it even snowed last night *wth?*



i picked a winner in the Name Game Giveaway: Axel, but that was an anonymous commenter, so my next favorite name was ZENA! so Marls, email (half_square (at) hotmail (dot) com ) your addie to me and i'll get your book in the mail after the holiday!!

had a bone doctor appointment couple weeks ago and he told me that i could return to 'normal' activities. "If it hurts, stop doing it" (well *duh*)
you don't have to tell me twice!!


armed with a new bolt of batting i quilted five of my own quilts and i feel that getting back to client quilts is coming very soon!!


*muhaha*

this is my pansy quilt made from blocks won way back in August 2011 from the block lotto..... crap, that long ago *slacker*

well this top is probably older than that... it's made from a LQS's BOM's blocks in my fabrics from when we first moved to cobb county...2007/2008  *wow*

i wanted to see what a monochromatic quilt would look like and i wanted to challenge myself- so i choose brown.  *shrug* not all ideas are legendary

i call it chocolate covered strawberries. Why? cause i backed it with this cute strawberry fabric.

i like that polka dot fabric in the 9patch...it reminds me of the dress Julia Roberts wore in 'Pretty Woman' at the polo match.

then there's this little guy...it's probably older than both the previous tops. it's another one of those i-wonder-what-if quilts. didn't exactly come out like i thought, so i tried a new idea for quilting that i have seen- dense straight lines.

now this one came out fine! it's a flimsy inspired by a book that i helped quilt some samples for, but wasn't needed in the book itself.

mmmm, pebbles...

the other one is a gift that can't be shared just yet... *shhhh*

so 5 tops made the permanent move from flimsy on a hanger to a quilt folded on the shelf!!

now you'll have to excuse me, i have a crapload of binding to do.
 

WRECK = INSURANCE PAYMENT = NEW VEHICLE

i have a new ride!!

she needs a name!!

it's a nissan Xterra Pro4x, and i love LOVE the name of the color- Night Armor  *squee*

since i have no inspiration for a name it occurred to me today that i could have a little contest to pick her name...

GIVEAWAY ALERT!! (not the suv, sorry)

leave a comment with your suggested name for my new wheels. i'll pick the winner (i hate that stupid RNG) let's see, we'll need a deadline..... November 21st....i have a book (released this year) that i bought two of and it's all yours!

**** make sure i have way to contact you if i like your suggestion and you win.... ie leave your email addie if you are a no reply commenter  (you can spell it out to avoid spammers: you (at) server name (dot) com/net/etc ) ONLY NAMES IN THE COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG POST WILL BE CONSIDERED if you subscribe to my blog thru email- you have to leave your name suggestion ON THE BLOG, not as a reply to the email ****

put your thinking caps on- good luck!
 

here's the latest and greatest installment in my Scrap Bash Stitch-A-Long.

happy stitching!

don't forget to add photos of your blocks to the Flickr group. i like to see what and how yall are doing these :)

(part 12 of 16)

i had to get copies of my ER Xrays for the bone doctor.

cool, huh?


and how about that sexy double scoliosis?? huh huh...

 

i mentioned that we went to italy. Three days after i got home i had my wreck, so sharing the pictures kindda got pushed to the back burner. it seems like years ago, not 3 months ago... *wow*

today i took the time to finish uploading all the pictures to my Facebook albums and can share them. you DO NOT have to have a Facebook account to look at the pictures, but i think you might need one to leave comments...

we went for two weeks: 4 days in Florence, 3 in Venice, and a week in Roma!!

FLORENCE
VENICE
ROME
VATICAN CITY
COLESSEM

We walked pretty much everywhere. Davis was in charge of hotels and he did TERRIFIC!! The rooms were a bit pricey, but we weren't having to pay for taxis to get us to with walking distance of all the touristy areas. So it averaged out, taxis are not cheap. We only took taxis to and from the train stations.

Not speaking much Italian wasn't a problem. Much easier to communicate in Italy than Paris, i'll tell you that!! We did get a local SIMS card with a prepay plan for my Iphone and that was a BIG help. i did down load tour maps for each city and a translation app just in case before leaving the states.
the food was AWESOME, the people were friendly and if i ever have to live outside the US, i'd choose Italy (or Australia, but i haven't been there yet...*bucket list*)

OH- if you plan on going into any churches in Italy, they have a strict dress code! Shoulders covered and nothing shorter than your knees- men AND women. We also were told that too much cleavage showing would get you asked to leave. Altho on one tour, we were with a lady in a see-thru blouse (and i mean see-thru!) and no one said anything to her, so *shrug* take your chances.

more advice- you WILL need a good map. not the cheap freebie they give you at the hotel check in. A map is almost necessary in Venice. it was so easy to get turned around in all those little alley ways *ack* i found that holding a map and just repeating "Dove?" (dough-veah), 'where' in Italian, someone would take pity on you and help. Just remember to return the favor when you see someone holding a map with a "where the hell are we look" on their face *grin* Most tourist attractions are well marked with signage, but Davis and I tended to try to find the path least traveled... that's how we found all those GREAT restaurants. We had a rule- We could never walk back the same way we came. (except when we walked by a closed quilt shop in Pisa. we went back that way hoping it would be open- it was)

we were there in August and August and half of September is an Italian Holiday, so my advice: have the hotel conceigre call that quilt shop that is a two mile walk away from all the hotel BEFORE you walk all the way there to find out it's closed for the holiday... and let's not forget the 2-3 hour lunch breaks, but the food makes for it...did i mention how good the food was? *grin* also, most of the laundry mats were closed  for holiday and we kindda counted on that. *stank*

 but speaking of...check it out:
here's that quilt shop... (it's name 'Ago Mago' translates to 'Needle Magician' Is that NOT the greatest quilt shop name ever!!! *DIBS*)

see that white and red sign next to the door?

here's a close- up

does that quilt on the bottom look familiar??

*snap*

i'm international, baby!! *giggle*



well, i've typed enuf!

Arrivederci!!

 

 i want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone!! the outpouring of love and concern after my accident have been amazing!! it's truly touching and humbling.

i'm doing well. i found a local doctor (no more 50mile trips to the hospital) who referred me to all the necessary doctors to continue on my road to a full recovery. i also have a nice new combo of drugs, and frankly, with their help-  i'm feeling real gooouudddd.*lalalah*

the worse for me is just sitting around.....i'm not a sit-around girl.i like to keep my hands busy.  i did dig out an old UFO applique block and was pleased to discover that i can hand applique with minimal effort and use of the bum arm... so now i'm just deciding on what i want to work on applique wise. i did have thoughts of a 'show' quilt idea that would require some applique, so i might start designing that. lord knows, i have all the time i need....

 i promise to not over do it and take the time to heal.... but i'm bored and my vitamin Q level is getting dangerously low *grin*

 

here's the latest and greatest installment in my Scrap Bash Stitch-A-Long....if i can't sew, no reason yall can't :)

happy stitching!

don't forget to add photos of your blocks to the Flickr group. i like to see what and how yall are doing these :)

(part 11 of 16)

 

 originally this blog post was gonna be all about Davis and mine's trip to Italy (maybe later) but now it seems like years ago...i had the rest of the year planned out- get back, hit the ground running and get back to 'seriously' quilting for my customers. i mean this year has been CRA-CRA for me and trying to quilt- the move, surgery, trip to italy, and now this...

god laughed and threw me a curve ball.    *strike three*

couple thursday mornings ago, i was on the interstate heading towards Marietta to deliver some quilts to a client when i was ran off the road. i will preface by saying- I'M OKAY or will be with time....

shaken, not stirred

once the truck and i exited the interstate, we flipped/rolled three times coming to rest on the side of the interstate. yes, my friends, i added to traffic that morning *sorry* the truck is totaled and off to the ER i went.  (Barney was not with me, thank god, which is rare. i always take him to Marietta with me.)

long story short- my left collarbone is severely broken (no quilting AT ALL for me) with a good majority of bruised ribs and a blood vessel in my neck shows some trauma. so the last two weeks have had me on the couch cleaning off the DVR (mostly Big Bang Theory) in a gentle medicated stupor. *wheeee*

thank you for all the "Where are you?" emails..it's nice to know that i couldn't disappear without someone noticing :)

i have a problem, not a personal problem, but a problem...see my client quilt cabinet is almost empty. (especially since i finished three that were hanging there)

i got to thinking and i realized that this Novemeber will be my TENTH year long arming professionally!

TEN!!

*holy crap *  that's double digits!!! has it been that long?

so, i was thinking that is a milestone worth celebrating! and what better way than to have some fun sales!! A Mother Hubbard Sale (cause my cabinet is getting bare *hehe*)

so here's the details:

Starting September 1st, the first 20 quilts that i get in my hands that will have an E2E design will get 20% off (minimum quilting charge $60 after discount)

Also, i am going to re-host my quilting raffle!! Starting November 1st, 2013 every quilt you bring me will earn you one ticket into the raffle. If you refer someone to me (your name on the back of my business card presented AT the time They drop off their quilt) your name goes in as well as your friend's! On the last day of every month i will draw one name from that month to receive a $25 credit towards their quilting (one winner each month) At the end of the year, Novemeber 1st, 2014, i will draw THREE winners- one person will win a $200 gift certificate and two will win $100 each...

with that being said- time to finish up some UFOs,  piece some backers, and buy batting!!


this just got real :)