It seems we are having a technical problem with our website! I have notified our service provider and hopefully we will be up and running shortly....very bad timing! (When is it ever good timing!)
Just a reminder - Sandy's Pineapple Class is on Friday, there are a few spots left and if you love scrappy quilts this is going to be an amazing class. Not to mention you can swap fabrics with your fellow students....It's from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 P.M. and I'm cooking up a great lunch so if you were hesitating now is the time to sign up! (For those of you who would put it off to take next time - it will probably not be offered again until Fall or Winter - so that might give you a little nudge!)
There is Show & Share but I will post that later on today - need to go finish making lunch.....
Happy Quilting!
Jo-Ann
Monday, January 11, 2010
More Sharing.......
It seems to me that I have been cooking more than quilting the last couple of days! But sometimes that's the way it works at the store, and book work - well suffice it to say that my desk is back in disarray.....I will NOT share the photo (until I clean it up again.....!) You think you have it under control and then the avalanche hits again!
Yesterday we attempted to have our last Crystal Reflections (Block of the Month) class but that was not to be as the blocks did not arrive but everyone worked on something.
Darlene stopped by and showed us her absolutely amazing Storm At Sea quilt which is humungous! She's just picking off a few threads......
Laurissa shared her latest Applique design - hmmmm! Could be an upcoming class! If only she would write up the patterns!
Today was no exception! Our "private" Sit & Sew had their Sunday sewing day and there was more Show & Share...... First Gail's gorgeous batik quilt made with Bali Pops!
Christina also had a beautiful quilt to share with us..........
Then we just started playing around, we all caught Carol using Gail's sewing machine because usually she just comes for the company and lunch.......however, today she bought one of our Easy Stripe Table Runner quilts and finished the table runner! Way to go Carol!!!!!
Then I had to take a picture of Gail getting ready to take a picture of me....just horsing around!
In the meantime Cathie was busy with her Califon - Marc Lipinsky's line for Northcott - I love this fabric and you just can't get it anymore.....too bad! The quilt is going to be really cool - can't wait to see it when it's done.....
Meanwhile out in the store......one of our customers brought in two quilts I just had to share with you. The first one is a copy of my "Out of The House" quilt with the cat border! It's awesome - she used the border from the Moonbeams fabric and it came out beautiful....... When I made the design for the "Out of The House" fabric this was exactly what I had in mind - that you could take any border fabric and make up the same quilt......
She also brought in a stunning braid quilt! I took the picture sideways but any way you look at this it is stunning.......
I just love the progression from light to dark - it almost looks like there is a light shining on the centre of the quilt......
Keep those gorgeous quilts coming! We love Show & Share! After that I had to get back to the kitchen where there was a tornado or something (that's usually how it looks after I prepare a meal) and get it cleaned up so I could start cooking again for tomorrow......
I actually did get to spend a little time playing with Sonia (my Janome) and got all the sashing pieces sewn and some actually sewn onto the blocks of the Marti Michell American Beauty quilt....(while I was cooking lunch for tomorrow!)
Now it's late and I need to get my "beauty" sleep, so,
Happy quilting!
Jo-Ann
Friday, January 8, 2010
Show and share.....
I realize that I have been remiss in blogging the last few days so I will bring you up to date. Suffice it to say that Tuesday was a WRITE OFF! Got nothing done - the car was in being fixed and I was sitting around waiting for a ride to the store (it's a long walk in the cold)! I must say, it was a pleasant surprise to find out that the battery was under warranty along with a few other things and all I ended up paying for was the oil change....thank you Dean Myers!
I'm not sure if I mentioned that I started reading My Sister's Keeper on Monday, well, I got totally engrossed and didn't get to sleep until 7:00 A.M. on Wednesday morning....that happens once in a while, I'm not quite tired enough, I try to sleep, toss and turn, start reading again and Voila! So most of Wednesday turned out to be a WRITE OFF too! I finally got into the store around 2:00 P.M. and got a few things done....but not a heck of alot! I did manage to get the sashing pieces for the Marti Michell cut....
Thursday was our first official Thursday Sit & Sew! We only had two participants but they were definitely getting things done.....Linda was working on the Marti Michell Mystery Quilt she started last April and it is just stunning! She chose the Provence Fabrics we have in the store and we were all drooling......
I decided to go home at a decent hour last night and so I had time to wash and curl??!! my hair. Now this is something I never (I mean NEVER!) do. When I called Kathy in the store this morning, I said " Do you know why it's snowing (it was for awhile)??? Because I slept with curlers!" I let her take a rare photo and promised I would post it - so here I am........
We were busy all day with class sign ups and customers coming in and we had a few Show and Shares.....First Andy came in with quilt #4 - a baby quilt for her grandchild....... I believe the pattern is from the book "Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts!" (which I need to put on the next order! it's a fabulous book!)
If you recall, I mentioned earlier in the week how we, as quilters, usually make the same New Year's Resolution!!! Personally, I love January, because it seems we all need to get something to "finish" off projects we have made.......today was no exception, one of our customers' came in today ready to pick borders for two stunning quilts......
The first one is from a Block of The Month she did at Jillybean's called Classic Santas......I think it's gorgeous and guess what?!! You may just see it offered up at Cock A Doodle in the very near future!
Tonight the plan is to cook and quilt......I need to make a meat sauce for Spaghetti for tomorrow's final Block of the Month class for the Crystal Reflections/Country Magic quilts which Laurissa taught for the past 12 months and I also need to cook for Sunday's "Private" Sit & Sew and then of course there's our Monday Sit & Sew ...... can I get it all done???!!! We'll soon see.........
I guess I'd better get started!
Happy Quilting Everyone!
Jo-Ann
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Stop the presses.......
It was a very productive day today! The car wouldn't start so Barb picked me up and off we went to the store with a quick pit stop at Camisso's to pick up fresh bread for lunch.
I headed for the office right away and got the Newsletter sent off to my amazing printer (Superior Printing - if you need fast and fabulous, he's your guy). I then sent it off to our web guy (who hopefully has posted it by now) and we were off to the races.
I also managed to get the car in for service finally and should have it back tomorrow some time so I had to rely on Barb and Rich as taxi service for the day. In anticipation, Rich and I picked up stamps and headed back to the store......
The printed Newsletter arrived at 6:00 P.M. and Barb and I set up the TV and our work station - ordered Swiss Chalet as a treat, and then stuffed, sealed and stamped envelopes.....In record time (by 11:00 P.M.) we were done.
By 11:30 P.M., we were off to the races.......in a blinding snow storm (okay, so it was just snowing).....
Rich and I hopped in the truck and headed for Gateway Postal Depot............................
Where Rich stuffed three mailboxes..........................
While it snowed all over us.......................
Well at least he was smiling and really stuffing those mailboxes........
They should be arriving at your mailboxes by Wednesday. I can't believe that the boxes say pick-up at 17:00 hr - that is so lame, it is right outside of the sorting depot for heaven sakes! Oh well, we'll see! I still think it's faster this way......
Needless to say I got NO quilting done today, but, I did order a whole bunch of new patterns from P3 Designs which hopefully will arrive before the Open House which is on January 14th, 15th and 16th!
Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some quilting done too! (It was one of my resolutions - to quilt at least an hour every day!) We'll see how long I can keep that up......
Time to get to bed - I started reading My Sister's Keeper so I'm itching to get back to it.....Good Night everyone!
Happy Quilting!
Jo-Ann
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sharing......
Like all quilters, I too resolve to finish UFO's every January! So, I'm not sure if you remember this little project I was working on not so long ago, I came across it again today lying in the bottom of a project bag in my office......well I finished all the blanket stitch tonight while watching Heartland. Since the back is a muslim-like fabric, I wrote a short history on the back and layered it up for quilting......
I realized there wasn't a lot of quilting needed so I quilted it and got the binding on. I will put a small sleeve on it and get the binding done while I'm watching TV tomorrow night. We're going to order a few kits in for those of you who think it's cute (I still like it quite a bit!) however, I will forewarn you that the kit is pretty precise on the fabric cuts.....although in the end there was enough to do the binding from what was provided, I was a little skeptical so I picked something from my stash! Look for the kits in a couple of weeks!
That's one down (one more than last year I think! - I honestly don't remember completing ANY UFO's this past year!)
I then proceeded to make the pieced borders for the "Ditch Flowers" and managed to get one border on before I ran out of steam......
The jury is still out on the Tri Recs Tool by EZ Quilting which I ran all over "hell's half acre" to find when I bought the pattern and found out I needed this tool! In fact I think Marti Michell's Sashing Tool will work just as well if not better but I will have to experiment first - will let you all know after I get the sashings done for the Block of The Month. It actually may be my original piecing of the background was a little off - I mean seriously, this is 7 years in the making! Seams change - ha, ha! At any rate, I do hope to have it completed this week some time ( The Ditch Flowers - hmmm, and maybe Marti's American Beauty too!)....
All in all I think it was a pretty productive day!
Happy Quilting!
Jo-Ann
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Happy New Year Everyone!
Happy New Year everyone! We would like to wish all of you a Happy, Healthy and productive New Year!
It has become the tradition at Cock-A-Doodle that on New Year's Eve I prepare a holiday meal and a few of us get together to Sit & Sew. The preparations usually start days before and there was no exception this year. I did the food shopping earlier in the week and had plans to make one of my famous desserts but alas it was not to be.
There was a newsletter to get out and I got busy Wednesday in an attempt to get it done. So busy that I missed the deadline to get the cake done in time. No worries, I knew where I could get something delicious! So I continued working away until around 2:00 A.M. when I decided I'd better get home and get some sleep.....
Off went the lights, bags in hand, pack up the car, alarm on, lock the door and......you guessed it! The car wouldn't start! Back into the store and now what???? If I called OnStar again they would come and boost me and I'd have to let it run for an hour. By the time they got there it would be 3:00 A.M. - so I called my son and said I was sleeping on the couch at the store!!!!
Hah! I was so angry (at myself for not dealing with the battery problem) that I just couldn't get to sleep so at 4:00 A.M. I called a cab and went home to bed.....not so fast....I was still wired up so I got into bed and started reading.
Did I tell you I was reading The Lost Symbol - well around 5:00 A.M. I hit this really crucial part and I couldn't put the book down - you know how that is? right??? Didn't fall asleep until 7:00 A.M..
It's now New Year's Eve and I don't wake up until 1:00 P.M. - I still have shopping to do and cooking to do and I have no car! Rich comes to my rescue (as usual) and takes me shopping and boosts the car (too late to get a battery today!) and drops me at the store.....
I want to make dinner rolls - oh please! So out comes the breadmaker and I read the recipe and dinner's gonna be late! (Cuz I want to make dinner rolls!!!)
Seriously, I couldn't find any at the store or I would have bought some! Dinner was supposed to be at 7:00 P.M., lucky if we eat by 9:00 P.M.!
So - we serve appetizers to keep everyone from murdering the chef! Great idea - I mean some people don't eat until midnite on New Year's Eve! Then I have a major meltdown because I forgot to read the recipe for the Gorgonzola Sauce which takes an hour and I started it late......okay! This will happen!
....and finally dinner is served (I had to put the beef back in the oven - it was still mooing!).......
The Menu was -
Filet of Beef with Gorgonzola Sauce
Roasted Garlic Potatoes
Asparagus Spears
Roasted Tomatoes
Sauteed Mushrooms
Red Wine (Thanks Gillian! I needed that!)
Lynne contributed Brownies (homemade) and Shortbread
Flo brought Mincemeat Pies
I bought a Chocolate Mousse Cake
and Laurissa made Lemon Squares (to die for!)
....and I got NO sewing done! By the time we finished dinner it was after 10:00 P.M. and I needed to get that kitchen cleaned up so no one else would have to clean my mess......However, we all had a great time - Laurissa was working on this gorgeous applique - she didn't even bring her machine!...and also on her Baltimore Album!
Last one to leave was Elaine - she was working on a Bread Basket - oops! no it's a purse/bag from clothesline (looks like a class to me! - maybe in the Spring!) I didn't get a picture but check out her blog (link on the side bar) - she's got great pics!
Then Laurissa and I shut down the lights and guess what! The car started! (Phew!!!)
Yesterday was another "lazy" day for me! I literally slept the day away (after I finished reading The Lost Symbol - great book!!! I really enjoyed it - really makes you think!). I then worked on another project - NO IT IS NOT A NEW PROJECT!!
It's a wallhanging I started about 7 years ago and it's been on my UFO list for awhile (7 years - duh!)! It's actually on of the UFO's I can get done quickly and it involved alot of hand work so since I was watching TV - I pulled it out and got some of the blanket stitching done last night....Today was Healing Heroes Day at the store and the ladies were busy quilting tops they had finished - it was great to see them at work! I headed for the back room and finished the NEWSLETTER - if all goes well you should have it in your mailboxes and e-mails by Wednesday.
The Open House is the 15th, 16th and 17th so mark your calendars. There are some really fabulous classes coming up - alot of new technique classes and a number of Blocks Of The Month - one of them is pictured below!
Patchwork Sampler by Lori Smith
Laurissa is teaching this fabulous pattern in 12 parts! I'm tempted to do it myself - I just love this pattern BUT I'm thinking I have enough to do right now!Tonight I came home and planted myself in front of the TV and completed the blanket stitching on my wallhanging and cut all the triangles, etc. for the pieced border......may even get it finished tomorrow night!
I've made a few resolutions which I won't share right now because I have blabbed on way too much tonite......tomorrow is another day!
Happy New Year again and Happy Quilting!
Jo-Ann
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