Almost there

I swore I wasn't going to leave the house today until I finished stitching the piece I am working on.  I did go downstairs to the mailbox, but that was IT. And I am almost done, but still at it. This quilt has given me grief the whole time I've been working on it.


RANT #1

1) part of it is fused and the edges keep coming up.

2) the quilt is dark and the batting is white. There is white fuzz all over the front of the quilt, even on the parts I have not yet stitched.

3) I am using 3 different colors of thread, which means I am changing thread every 30 seconds (or so it seems).

4) There is no quilt store nearby, so I had to replenish my thread at Jo-Ann's. It is crappy thread, despite having a brand name. It breaks and leaves a lot of fuzz.  

I am so exhausted from quilting and ranting that I will save rants #2 and #3 for another post.  Going to sleep it off.

 

busy, busy, busy

I have been quilting a pice in spurts, all month. Still not there.  The problem is that I have to change threads very often, which slows up the process.  In addition, the batting is shedding all over the quilt, which is a dark color. This has never happened to me before and it is not a happy situation.  Mopping up as best I can.  I swore I would finish this week, but I am not so sure.

Art Palm Beach was this weekend and my cousin Mimi and I had passes for the preview evening.  Not sure which was more interesting: the art or the other patrons. There was some really strange stuff and a lot of bad art, along with the good pieces. 

When I go to an exhibit I always play a game with myself: which one would I take if I could get it for free? Most of the time,the answer is "none."  I took pictures of some I liked when we arrived, but after that - meh. Here are a few I liked or thought were interesting.

Liked the use of color in this one.

There were four of these - each in a different palette. This was my favorite.

Loved the figures and the faces here. I think the was the "grab and run" candidate.

Not sure why I took a photo of this one, in retrospect.

These were just two of the giant heads in an installation that is probably meant for outdoors. Really fun!

There is always some art or fine craft exhibit going on in this area.

I am a member of the Palm Beach County MQG and the meeting was on Saturday, so I went. Caught up with my friend Debbie Krajkowski who moved here from New Jersey and is now doing long-arm quilting, and saw my friend Judy, although not really time to chat.  I am going to QuiltCon in Savannah at the end of February and I expect to see a lot of people I know.  I have not been to Savannah, so looking forward to spending some tourist time, too.

Two years ago I did the kitchen here; this year, the bathrooms. I hope to get these done before I leave - and I'm getting the apartment painted, as well.  Finally picked a paint color.

This place hasn't been painted since the '80's. The walls are peach and I am going to do gray.  I have worried that it might be too dark.  I've got splotches painted all over the walls.

Tonight, it occurred to me to take the photo in black and white so I could compare the values of the old paint and the future paint. Surprise!  The gray is actually lighter than the peach.  You really can't go by color--something I emphasize with my students all the time.  At any rate, I feel much better about the gray now. No worries about it being too dark!

With that, I am off to bed.  My sleep pattern has been very strange: ready for bed by 9 and up before sunrise.  I don't care for that, but can't seem to break the cycle for more than one night.  Cheers!