Larry's Birthday Dinner

We had a fabulous time for Larry's birthday!! Becca hosted a birthday dinner for Larry at Grille 54 and the food was out of this world!!

So was the birthday cake!!

Captain Candy, Eric, Becca, myself and Larry all had a blast!! (Altho everyone gets a little tired of my picture taking. :-)

Great Food, Great Friends, Great Time!! Thanks again Becca, for making Larry's birthday so special!!

A Birthday Present for Larry

Happy Birthday to Larry!! Here he is arriving home after picking up his birthday present.

A brand new Dodge Challenger 6.1 Hemi 6 speed manual transmission and 2 miles on it when he took delivery. This car rocks!!

It has been his dream car ever since he first heard they were developing it.

Now he is a proud owner!! Happy Birthday Larry!! XXOO :-**

Visits and Birthdays

Two birthdays have happened: Dad turned 80 and Ma turned 79. We treated them each to their favorite birthday meals ... Pork chops for Dad and Burritos for Ma. :-) Fun times were had by all. Dad was grateful that Larry cooked the pork chops (so was I). I did the burritos, but missed Kevin's assistance w/the tortillas.

Speaking of Kevin; he brought his youngest to Florida to visit Grandma Pat & Grandpa Don. He also came to visit us. We were proud to be voted "Coolest house ever" by Ryan.

Ricky Tims Super Seminar

Last weekend was the Ricky Tims Super Seminar with Libby Lehman and Alex Anderson.

This seminar was held in Ocala, FL which is only a two hour drive from where I live. I was SO EXCITED to be able to attend this advent!! As my friend Sandi says: BOUNCE BOUNCE!! Here is Alex Anderson signing autographs.

It started on a Thursday afternoon and went through Saturday evening. It was an absolutely phenomenal learning adventure with a free concert thrown in. No sewing ... Only lectures from three of the top Quilters in the business right now. I learned so much, so quickly, that my brain is oozing!

Here is Libby Lehman with me

I had a favorite quilt (or more than one!!) from each teacher, but hands down, my top favorite was by Libby Lehman called "Circle the Date"

Here is Alex Anderson with me

Ricky and Libby graciously signing autographs and posing for photos. The lines were long for all three.

This was the view on a break. Every seat was filled and extra seats had to be added.

Alex's husband, "Captain" John, hard at work promoting The Quilt Show; an online Quilting Community and Show (of which he is a producer and the Captain at the Helm!)

Justin, John, Libby and Alex

Question and Answer time; John, Justin & Alex (3 of the 4 producers of ARJJ Productions) Ricky's picture was had to get, since he is in perpetual motion and they are all blurry!

My bouncing friend from The Quilt Show, Sandi, talking with Ricky and Libby.

A Studio Is Born!!

Inspiration must have struck while I was asleep, as I woke up with a wild hair itching to rearrange my room.

Stuck?? STUCK??

New Home for my 6600. Much more logical place!!

Now I can actually get to my design wall and see what I am doing.

My adjustable table had to be re-situated. Easier access for cutting without being in the entrance to the room. And while the 11000 doesn't have a view, most of the time you walk away from it as it is stitching.

Shelves & Frame. For storage purposes, the iron and the frame are pushed all the way back. But with minor adjustments, a top can be quilted on the frame here in this area. And, since I have to pay close attention to what I am doing, the view isn't as important for this machine.

Lee Ann suggested this arrangement, but for some reason I had it in my head that the frame was 14 feet long. I am glad that this works!

My new view as I sit at my 6600. Most of my piecing is done on this machine. I love having this inspiring view. (Hmmmm, about that art quilt ...)


!!Voila!! A Studio is born!! (Now, where are my Bayer Back & Body pills??)

Tragedy Struck

A couple days ago, I came into my (sewing) room to find that tragedy had struck: Several of my shelves had fallen. I guess the weight of my quilting books was too much for the L-shaped brackets that were supporting them. So, off came everything to be sorted and rearranged. The shelves were redone w/different (straight) supporting brackets. Nothing like being forced into redoing and organizing. :-)

Then I cataloged each and every book, and arranged them alphabetically by author (by title within each author as well) and re-shelved them with a better redistribution of weight per shelf. (Can you see my Todd Library experience here?)



Material came next. This was more difficult as there isn't a hard & fast rule. Some are by color, some by design, some by type, some by size.





What a mess. Under all this is an ironing board and my adjustable table w/my Janome 11000.



My 1600 & frame is more of a material stand.



I also cataloged (yes, I truly have a program for this!!) all my patterns & kits to store them on the shelves. I may be ADD, but that doesn't prevent me from being anal about my sewing!!



This is my cubbie with my Janome 6600. I don't like facing the wall as it is uninspiring. The next day, after all the sorting was completed, I loaded some design programs and spent quality time on the phone upgrading my digitizing program. This saved a lot of money and I went to bed pretty pleased with myself!! (And, I might add, made my husband very pleased as well!!)
I had every intention of waking up yesterday and teaching myself the new program ...

As Promised

As promised, here is the completed look. Larry did pretty well with getting everything back in its place. Except for the sound. (A little minor thing!!) So, we had to call in an expert who fixed it right up.

Isn't it pretty?