The Bank and cool costumes

Mike had to go to the bank today. I wish he had taken a picture of the sign posted on the door! It said:



"Please remember to remove your mask before entering the bank! Have a happy Halloween!"



At first I forgot it was Halloween, when he told me about this, and thought "Ha, how odd they would ask you to take your mask off." Then I realized.



Also, one of our friends works at the Post Office. She came in to the shop today. She was dressed as a UPS delivery person. Again, I thought "Hmm...did Trudy quit? Why is she working for UPS now?" Then I realized.



We are going to a Halloween party tonight, which is doubling as nephew Jases' birthday party. Happy 18th Jase! Mike's brother Scott will be dressed as Tony Stark. Apparently he made his own core reactor. It should be cool.

Happy Halloween

Alexandria Computers, POS Maid - BUYERS BEWARE

So, after several days of email correspondence with Alexandria Computers (which claims they are located in IN, but I swear they can't be because all the emails we've been getting have been at like 2 AM so they must be in another country, right?) Anyway, after several days of corresponding, the following has been stated to us by the company:

1) Apparently in the end user agreement, which you have to agree to in order to even use the software, they state that ANY changes made to the computer be it software or hardware, will change the MAC address and you will need to buy a new license.

Do you know how easy it is to change a MAC address? Apparently it's pretty easy. Also, if you can't install any new hardware to the computer (or software, because it might change the MAC address too), then that means if your computer dies or the harddrive goes out or you need to add new memory or whatever, you have to pay an additional $45 each time you change it to get the software working again.

2) They state that the only way you can get a refund is if you haven't activated the software yet, and it is still in Demo mode.

But, the demo is free. So a refund of free is? Anyone? FREE!!!

3) There is a 90 day money back guarantee, but by agreeing to the end user agreement, which you have to agree to in order to even use the software, you waive your right to ask for a refund.

Umm....yeah, pretty sure that is FRAUD! You can't say that you have a 90 day money back guarantee, and then make people waive their rights to a refund, because that means that there ISN'T a 90 day money back guarantee.

So, yeah, BUYERS BEWARE!! This company is just trying to screw you out of your money. We fell for it, and we don't want the same thing to happen to you! From now on we are sticking with Quick Books, a company and brand that we KNOW we can trust, instead of some random guy named Filip something or other who runs some unknown company that sells software that sounds too good to be true. Lesson learned: if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. AS IS THE CASE HERE.

Bear with me

I just need to vent for a minute.

I purchased for $45 the license to what appeared to be the perfect POS system for my new business. POS maid by Alexandria Computers. We demo-ed it, and it seemed to be perfect, so we bought the license key code whatever thingy. Now, it is $45 per code, and the code only works on 1 computer. This is kind of odd, but we figured what the heck, we wouldn't be transferring it any time soon, right?

Well, the computer it is installed on doesn't have a wireless card. It is old. It has a modem. Remember those things? Barely? Yeah, me too. Well, we've been using our XBOX 360 internet cable to hook the computer up to the internet at the shop. Problem: the computer is in the floral, and I need it back by me. Problem: The router is in the floral. Solution: buy a wireless G card and install it into the PC. Problem solved, right?

WRONG!

Yeah, it fixed the internet problem, but now my POS system says it isn't a "real version" and the "demo version" that it is will only last for 30 days before locking me out. WHAT THE HECK?!

So, I'm freaking out because I don't know what I'm going to do. Mike emails the tech support people saying "We just installed a new wireless card, now it wants us to re-register. That can't be right, can it?"

Well, just checked my email (3 AM, please note) and we just got an email from them saying:

"We're sorry, but the only way to fix the problem is A: uninstall the hardware change you made and it will go back to working. or B: pay us $45 to get a new license keycode thingy.

WHAT THE HECK?!

I don't know a whole lot about licensing and computers and stuff like that, but to me that sounds just a little sketchy. Anyone else? I mean, what if I were upgrading my memory or my RAM or my harddrive, and not all at the same time? If changing a hardware piece in my computer meant I had to pay an additional $45 for a new license each time, I would have to spend a CRAP LOAD of money.

THAT JUST ISN'T RIGHT, IS IT? I mean, I'm not totally way off on this one, am I?

Honestly, at this point I am about ready to pay the however many mega-bucks it will cost to get Quickbooks! At least I know they are reliable and I can put it on more than one computer or change my WIRELESS CARD and not have to re-purchase it again!

OOOH! I AM SO MAD!!!

Any suggestions on what I should do? Do you think I can even get my original $45 back? Probably not, huh? CRAP! *sigh* I was tired about 20 minutes ago, but now I am too angry to sleep. Bets on how much sleep I get tonight because of this drama?

What a DAY!

WHAT A DAY! Apparently this little one had had it! No, I don't normally let him run around pants-less. He pulled them off all by himself. He is getting so big! Then, after his pants were off, he fell asleep in his playpen while I was quilting. I had to stop and take a picture, because it was too cute!

I finished this quilt yesterday. I finished this one on Saturday, and then spent the weekend binding it. It was a custom quilt for a client who's son is going on a mission. I took lots of pictures, so please follow the link and look at them. The quilt turned out really cool, and it wasn't hard to do. It was only 2 pieces of fabric with some batting, quilted together. I've done several quilts out of just plain fabric before, but nothing like this. It was a fun challenge, and I think it's a great gift for a missionary whether going out or coming home.

I haven't gotten a whole lot of work done on my grandma's quilt this week yet. I made the mistake of letting my husband buy Fable 2 for XBOX 360, and then got sucked into it. I even started a character! Oh I am so addicted! The funny thing is, this isn't even my game genre. The only RPG I have ever really liked were the super paper mario ones! Usually, if I do play a video game, I play Hexic or Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise or the original Viva Pinata (they are both quite addicting as well!) I have been known to enjoy a rousing game of Halo 3 online, but it's been quite a while since we've played that.

I really am hoping to buckle down tomorrow and get 20 more blocks done on grandma's quilt. Since it's the World Series again (blech!) there won't be any Bones on Fox (BOO to no Bones for going on 3 weeks!) and there isn't anything else good on TV on Wednesday's, so I won't be distracted too much.

Oh, and congrats to Jon and Janene, our friends, who just found out they're expecting! YAY! for them!! :)

What I've been busy with

Why do I feel like it has been crazy busy around here lately? Hmm...probably because it has. This feels like it will be a kind of long post, so sorry, but please keep reading because there is a really cute quilt at the bottom!

First, I had to finish the quilt for my client whose son is going on a mission. I will post pictures probably tomorrow. The quilt turned out so dang cute! Anyway, I had to quilt it on Friday. I got almost all the way done, just needed to turn it for the side borders, when I realized it was 3 PM.

Cousin Nicole's reception/dinner was at 6 PM up in Sundance, which meant that when my parents got here at 5 to babysit we had to hurry and leave them instructions and then be on our way.

So why was that such a big deal at 3? Well, because my house was a GINORMOUS mess! And we still had to iron our clothes, etc. I figured it would probably only take about an hour to turn the quilt and then quilt the borders, but Mike didn't want to push it, especially since it is a 30 minute drive to our house due to crappy construction from Payson clear up to Provo. So I took the quilt off, folded it up in my bag, and we headed home.

We went to the reception, which we thought we would be way super early, but ended up going well past the reception location and had to turn around, so we were right on time. Dinner was lovely, and Nicole and Adam looked wonderful and wonderfully happy. Congratulations, you two! Everything was so beautiful! We left around 7:30 and got home shortly after 8 PM. My parents left, and munchkin was still awake. Ugh! We wrestled him to bed about 9, only to have him wake up and want to cuddle with me on the couch while watching Baby Einstein's Baby Neptune at 12:30. I fell asleep. When I woke up, I made him go to bed. He didn't want to, but I made him.

Saturday I hurried and trimmed the quilt down, made the binding from the leftover backing fabric, and went back to the shop to finish quilting the borders for the mission quilt. Oh it is so cute I can't wait to show you!! We went home, and I attached the binding. Mike was scuba diving in Sand Hollow for Scuba Ted's annual pumpkin carving contest. He didn't get back until around 7 PM, and he had left well before 7 that morning! So Marshy and Ihad a lot of fun playing. I turned on one of my favorite cd's and played it through the tv. He loved dancing to the music (Edward and Bella cd....it's the greatest!) I'm sure the downstairs neighbors enjoyed the thumping and jumping from him, but that's their problem!

At 5 he went down for a nap, and I got him up at 7:30 so we could go to Mike's parents' house to watch UFC. It was okay. The title fight ended kinda crappy. I was disappointed. I almost could've stayed home and not fought munchkin, but left him sleeping. Oh well.

Today I finished binding the quilt. We woke up super late, so we kind of missed church. Mike and Marshy were so tired! Although, it really was my fault, because I was the one who should've gotten everyone up, but I too wanted to sleep longer. My bad! Anyway, we had a fun family day, and played video games, watched movies, and played with Marshy's toys. It was fun.

I also realized that there are now officially less than 60 days until Christmas! OMG! I am totally screwed! I bought the cutest quilt kit from Gracie Lou's back when they opened, and thought about giving it to my Grandma M. for Christmas. It's her birthday and Christmas, so we wanted to do a big GINORMOUS personal gift for her this year instead of the usual flowers, to mix things up a bit.

This is what the quilt will look like, only in way better colors, and even more GINORMOUS:

The pattern is called Jacks be Quick. I found the picture and the pattern for sale here at this site. The kit I bought came with everything I need, pattern included, except the almost 8 yards of backing fabric. HOLY COW! 8 YARDS!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I'm going to die! I'm also unsure of whether the binding fabric was included. Hmm, guess I should look into that, huh? haha

Anyway, I started working on the blocks yesterday while Marshy was taking his nap. I figured that there wer 80 blocks, and 20 blocks to a color set, so if I got 20 blocks done a day, then that would only be 4 days! Then I could piece the blocks 1 day, and sew the 2 borders on another day, and it would be ready to quilt....as soon as I buy the 8 YARDS of backing fabric! Wahoo!

Then I had another crazy idea. Yeah, you know me. Full of craziness! Well, I suggested, and Mike liked the idea so I'm holding him to it so I can buy fabric!...that we make a quilt for my Grandma H. for Christmas too. And possibly make something fun for my parents and my brother. Our reasoning: it's easier to make something than shop for people. Especially my brother. We gave him a gift card to Hollister for his birthday, because we didn't know what he wanted. Sorry, bro! Also, it is a little more personal to make something from the heart than to just go out and buy a gift card (like to Sears...haha. Right Angel?) or some other kind of dumb gift that the person may/may not like.

The quilt I think I'll make for Grandma H. is called Rainbow Rhythm, and can be found in McCall's AMerica Makes FAST Quilts September 2008 issue. I just bought it. It's great. And it uses mostly fat quarters! YAY!

Anyway, I sure could use some suggestions for my family's gifts. My bro is 21 and really likes WOW (world of warcraft....blech!) My parents are big into gardening, and remodeling, and stuff like that. My mom teaches 6th grade, and my dad does something involving HVAC and solar power....not quite sure exactly there. Can you see why they're hard to shop for?

Well, thanks for reading my super-long post. I'll try to avoid them in the future. Or at least for the rest of the week!

YAY! Completed Projects

Marshy's backpack is finally finished! HOORAY! He didn't like it much at first, but now I can't get him to leave it alone.

These pictures are from his first wearing of the backpack. Sorry they're blurry. He kept running away and trying to rip it off his back!
He tried to dive into his ball pit (behind him) to get away from me. I was only trying to take a couple pictures and then I was gonna take it off!

Once I pointed out that there were elephants (I think it's really a wooly mammoth) on the backpack, he was totally into the bag.

This is the front of the bag. It has a pocket and a zippered pocket on the outside, and a 2-sectioned pocket on the inside.

This is the back of the bag. When I make my next one, I think I'll make the straps a little longer, and only 1 inch wide instead of 1 1/2 so that I can use the nicer plastic strap adjusters instead of the metal D-rings. It didn't turn out too bad though, using the D-rings.

This is the inside of the bag. It's kind of dark. Sorry. One of my kitchen lights is out, and I don't have the extend-a-suction cup thingy to change it. It's on my vaulted ceiling that is like 12 feet at least!

I also finished two Halloween quilts for clients. They turned out really cute.

NSFW

Okay, don't be intimidated by the title of this post. I swear, it's nothing truly bad.... just don't turn the speakers up loud when you watch this video if you're at work!



This happened the other day at the shop. We were eating lunch. Marshy decided that he wanted to start talking normal. I only caught the tail end of the performance. He probably screamed the word for a few minutes before we caught on to what he was saying. Then, like the good parents we are, we got the camcorder out and taped it. THEN we decided it was so funny we would see if he would keep saying it. Yeah, we're great parents, I know! :)

Please note: he really is saying FORK. I know it sounds like F*** you, but it is FORK TWO. He is only 2 after all, and still learning to talk! Also, he has gotten a lot better at actually saying FORK. Again, we're not bad parents for laughing. It really was funny. Especially after nephew Jase said "Is he saying what I think he's saying?"

Backpack Backpack

"Backpack, backpack" That is a song that gets sung daily in our house. And now that it is 2 AM and I am blogging about my backpack project, I have it stuck in my head. CRAP! At least it isn't the "Say Click! Take a pic!" or "I'm the map" or "Rescue pack, coming to the rescue!" songs....and now they are going through my head too. Can you tell we watch a lot of Dora and Diego? Yeah? And Wonder Pets, too, in case you were wondering.

Anyway, I just had to blog about this because I am so pleased with my progress! Tonight I sewed on all of the straps to the back of the backpack, and I sewed the sides to the front and back! YAY! Now all that is left to do is the bottom, which I can't remember how to do. I'm sure I'll figure it out. It makes it a little more difficult for me, though, since the back of the bag has Peltex in it, as does the bottom, and the whole thing is covered in fusible vinyl! Let me tell you, turning that sucker right side out was no easy thing, but I did do it!

I am so proud of myself for actually doing this, because it was just a thought. I didn't actually think I could do it. And now to find out that I can and have makes me that much more confident in designing and creating. Not that I didn't think I was good at designing... I have loads of original quilt designs floating around my house. Drawn on the back of bank receipts, the checkbook, and random junk mail envelopes. Neatly written up on the computer. Sketched out in great detail on notebook or graph paper. Yeah, they are everywhere. I think once I even used a napkin from Wendy's! Anyway, I'm glad to know that I can think of an idea and implement it in an area other than quilting.

Speaking of quilting: I am taking a day off tomorrow. Not from work, but just from going to the shop. I have a client who wants to make a quilt for her son who is going on a mission. She is not a quilter, so she brought me 2 pieces of fabric. She told me what she wants quilted, and I have to say I am really excited about this project. She wants his name, his mission, several phrases written around the edges, the Book of Mormon and Bible, the Mt. Timpanogas temple, and possibly the CTR shield and/or hands clasped in prayer. At the bottom I'm going to do a house with stick people and a stick dog to represent the family, with maybe their names underneath (depends on the amount of room I have). She wants "love, Mom" written at the bottom too.

I am really excited to do this project, not just because it is a cool concept, but because I've never done anything like this before. I think I'm most worried about the temple. I have a glow-in-the-dark pencil I'll be drawing everything on in, but that doesn't mean I can't be nervous. The temple is definitely going to be the most detail oriented piece on there. I'm not too worried about the words because I've done them before on a quilt for Marshall. (Marshall is my son's real name....even though I call him Marsh or Marshy. But I'm sure you've probably figured that out already!).

So yeah, I'll be working from home tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to sew the bottom in to the backpack, and then draw out the patterns on the quilt. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get to go in to the shop and put the quilt on. I'm not going to aim that high though. Working from home also means cleaning a whole bunch, and running in to Marshy's room every few minutes to say "Yes honey, that's a ball. And it goes in the tube. Good job! Oh, you want me to kiss your cars? Okay. Oh, all of them? No, not right now sweetie. Just one. Oh, and Phant? Okay, I'll kiss your elephant, too."

Sewing

Have you ever felt so busy or stressed that even things you usually do to unwind stress you out? Yeah? That's how I've been feeling lately. Especially today. Maybe it's just because things that should be simple and fast are turning out to be taking forever. Or maybe I'm just making too big a deal out of it.

I had to bring work home with me today. It wasn't a big deal....just seaming the backing on a quilt. Once I got down to it, it only took me a few minutes to seam and press it. I think part of the problem is my sewing environment. I don't have a ton of room.

This picture is from when we first moved in. As you can see, the counter at the end by the dishwasher is not much larger than a laundry basket. That is where my sewing machine lives.

Why? you ask. Well, because I don't have an actual kitchen table yet. Right now we are using a card table. Mike's parents gave us a table, but since we don't have a truck we haven't been able to haul it up here yet. Oh I can't wait until I have a table to sew on... er.... set and eat dinner at.

Right now the card table is covered with my cutting mat, a scrap bag, and various random bits of fabric. There are also about 10 projects sitting on the table and 3 of the chairs waiting to be started, finished, or both! So, this means we eat dinner on the couch in front of the coffee table, about 6 feet away. Which is fine with us. But occasionally we would like to be able to use the table. ha ha! I rhymed!

Anyway, I think that because I'm sewing on the counter my enjoyment for sewing is decreased. I have been working on this cute little backpack/diaper bag for Marshy, in the cutest fabrics (they are dinosaurs!) but I have to force myself to sew it. It's not that I'm not excited to see the end product. I am super excited. This is something I designed, I figured out how to do (with Lola's help on the whole zippered pocket thing. That was really hard for me for some reason. Thanks Lola!) and I am determined to finish it....someday. Hopefully soon.

Tonight I forced myself to get something done on it. I had most of the pieces cut out and made, and ready to be put together. I didn't have the center piece for the main zipper though. Oh that was a hard bugger! I finally got it figured out, and put together. Then I went to sew the center to the front, and I found out that my center piece was too long. Oh well, I can fix that. All I had to do was cut it off even at the bottom, and it only ended up being about 2 inches too long anyway. Then I went to sew the back to the center, and realized I still needed to hook the strap adjuster to the bottom straps, and baste the straps onto the back of the bag, and the hook strap to the top of the bag and.....well, I lost all motivation.

I love sewing! Why am I feeling so unmotivated?! Is it like when you get into a scrapbooking groove and then get burned out? But how can this be? I haven't sewn at home for at least a week!! *sigh* I really hope I get my sewing groove back. My machine has even been nice to me! I think she knows she needs to make up for all the crap my Gammill is giving me at work.

Oh! And I haven't named either of my three machines yet. Any suggestions? These are the ones I have:

Singer HD110- She is PERFECT! I love her. She is my favorite. She does everything I could ever ask for...except a buttonhole stitch, but I forgive her for that.Janome Harmony 2049 - she is EVIL. Her tension doesn't work, ever, and she is more of a pain than anything.
Gammill Classic Plus - I swear she is the devil incarnate right now! No matter what I do, I can't get her to totally cooperate with me. I guess she is almost 10....which in machine years makes it what? a teenager? Great! Maybe she's just going through her rebellious teen years, and she'll settle down soon.
Anyway, so there are my three machines. They all need names. Please help me! I am so bad at naming inanimate objects. My old car was Vader, because the license plate was VDR. My car that I currently drive is Baby, because I'm always saying "You can do it Baby! You can make it up that hill! Keep going!" But, if I were to call it something else it would be Mraz....like Jason Mraz, because the license plate is MRZ. Yeah, I know, I'm so creative! HELP ME!! Okay, done begging for help now. I guess I'd better get back to work on my projects. Ugh!

Isn't he adorable?!

He woke up from his afternoon nap SO grumpy, so Mike fixed him up with a comfy seat on the couch watching the Simpsons. He has a new "lovey": an elephant (or Fant as he calls it!). It is so soft. We bought it at the World Market in Park City. We love that store! We always stop in Park City after going to the zoo, which we did today.

It was lots of fun at the zoo. It wasn't too cold, but not too warm, so a lot of the animals were fairly active. The lynx's were even laying out in the sun! They are NEVER outside of their little den area. It was cool. We also got to see the baby Colobus monkey steal food from his mom, and his mom slap him upside his head. Of course, some of the monkeys were in their cages....having too much fun, if you know what I mean? We quickly walked past those.

We bought a couple of cute zoo shirts for Marshy in the gift shop. They have announced that they are going to work on a new African exhibit and a new Arctic exhibit, so we would like to support the zoo as much as possible. We wish we lived in SL County, because if we did we would TOTALLY vote for the "Renew the Zoo" proposition. They need it so much!

Also, I finished cousin Nicole's quilt yesterday. It turned out so cute! I'm hoping to figure out tomorrow what is wrong with the machine so I can get back on track. I have so much to do still! Here's to hoping I can get everything done.

Oh, and if you do live in SL County, please consider voting for the ZOO! :)

Have you ever....

Have you ever thought something was fixed only to find out that the problem was much BIGGER than you thought it was?

Have you ever had your DH say he was done fixing the broken thing, only to have him attempt to fix it again anyway?

Have you ever called your service technician and not had him return your call until 5 days later?

Have you ever felt like the information your service technician was giving you was really not correct anyway and a total waste of your time for even calling him?

Have you ever been so frustrated with something you wanted to drop kick it across a parking lot, but restrained yourself because it was upwards of $10,000?

You have?! ME TOO! We should be friends! And even if you haven't, we can still be friends too.

Fruits of my Labor

Oh I have been so busy! I love being busy, but sometimes it gets a little stressful. Like, when your machine breaks down halfway through a quilt..... And then you have to beg your DH to come over and fix it! Yeah, so fun. At least the quilt turned out cute.

The back looks awesome! I love the gradient backing fabric she used. Go check it out here.

I also finished this one: She just wanted me to do the quilting in the background. It is such a cute quilt!

I still have about 7 or 8 quilts to finish. It's not all that stressful, except for the one for the wedding. Cousin Nicole is getting married next Friday. She brought me a quilt that she would like quilted by then. Actually, I'm hoping to have it done tomorrow. I am about 1/3 done with it. I started it today. I'm sure I would've gotten a lot farther except I kept getting distracted.

I just bought a new POS system. Now I don't have to photocopy EVERYTHING, and I'll actually have an actual accounting program, instead of envelopes full of receipts! yeah, you think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Now that I'm a "legit" business (not that I wasn't before, I was working for another company, but now I'm my own entity) I have been super busy getting everything organized. Mike just fixed my computer...no, not my laptop. My old desktop (that was supposed to be our jukebox in the near future) so that we can install the POS system. Stupid thing about it though was we paid for the downloadable copy with our paypal, but because it's coming out of the bank account instead of off of a credit card, it will take 4 days for the charge to clear. What the heck?! STUPID!

I'm hoping to really buckle down and get some work done tomorrow. Where did that phrase come: "Buckle down"? It doesn't make sense. How does one buckle down? Hmmm....curiouser and curiouser. Anyway, here's to getting lots of work done tomorrow! *clink* haha

SCARY!

I have been registering my business online. Talk about scary! I had to call my dad, who has a corporation and has done this thing many times before, about 50 times! Poor guy! I think he was getting tired of all of my questions. Seriously, I should have just had him fill the form out! haha. It's a hard form. They ask all these wierd questions, and the help button isn't really any help. Most of the time it just restates the question. Yeah, like that's helpful. I think the hardest part was deciding what category my business fit under! Anyway, it's all done now. Now I can get my bank account and city business license. YAY!

Oh, and while I'm sitting here registering my business, Marshy is watching Wonder Pets. Every time he sees the duck he calls out "cu-cuck" I think he's trying to say Quack Quack. I guess that qua sound is hard for him to say. Which is weird, because his r's are almost perfect.

Anyway, I'm glad to finally have everything filed. I've always wanted my own business, so I guess I've achieved that goal! Well, busy busy day today. Guess I'd better get down to work!

Busy, Busy, and Busier

Oh my goodness! It keeps getting busier and busier at the shop!! I got a quilt yesterday from a lady who wanted to give the quilt to the birth mother of a baby involved in an adoption she knew about. She needed the quilt by Wednesday, so she brought it in yesterday for me to hurry and do. I finished it this morning. It turned out so cute!

Then, I got 3 more quilts today!! One lady doesn't quilt, but she wants a quilt made for her son who is going on a mission. I am basically going to do the whole thing for her. It's going to be really cute! She just wants to pieces of fabric quilted together with sayings and pictures quilted into it. I'm pretty excited to do this quilt, because I haven't done anything like this before.

Right now I'm working on a really cute quilt. It is mostly pinwheels, and then there is a large border around it. She wanted clouds and wind quilted into the border, and spirals on the pinwheel blocks. I got it almost halfway completed this afternoon. I can't wait to see it finished! It is going to be so cute!!

Okay I gave in...

....And I decided to go ahead and hurry and post my pictures RIGHT NOW! :)

So this is the quilt I did for Shasta. It is really cute. Go here to check out close ups, and to see how awesome the back looks. She wanted minky on the back, and it looks so cool with the quilting.

These are some pictures I took the other day of Marshy. I couldn't help it. It was just too cute. Mike and I were in the living room, and we could hear Marshy playing in his room. I sneaked down the hall with the camera and managed to get this one (below) before he looked up.
He was looking for his cars, which he had shoved underneath the garage. Then he saw me, and got all shy (below). I guess he figures if he can't see me, then I'm not there!
Then he decided to ignore me and get back to his playing. He is so dang cute!

Busy Busy

Oh boy have I been busy lately! It's been crazy!! A few months ago Mike made me a deal that if I got 15 brand new clients during the month of October, he'd either a) pay for a class for me, b) pay several of my machine payments, c) invest in a major thread and batting purchase for me, or d) just give me the money (and I would of course buy a new laptop! haha). Well, he didn't think I'd be able to do it! I'm still a little skeptical myself, but somehow I have already managed to get 6 of the 15!! The funny thing is that the whole reason Mike was doing this was so that I'd have to go out and network and pass out my business cards and everything. But, I have been so busy with quilts this month that I haven't done anything. These 6 people have just randomly come to me. It's kind of nice. I am glad I'm staying busy, because I wasn't really sure what I would do when I ran out of quilts!!

Also, I've been dabbling in making bags and patterns. I've been using my tote bag to carry my work stuff in. Lately it has been doubling as a diaper bag. I'm so tired of having to cram all of Marshy's stuff in there! So I decided that maybe he would like to have a little backpack. I have been working on designing and making the backpack. It's the perfect little 2 year old size. I can use it for a diaper bag, but Marshy can use it when he gets out of diapers as a bag for his toys and coloring books and stuff.

I've also been having to spend a TON of time just sitting here with the laptop on my lap careully holding the plug in place so as to charge the battery completely. UGH! Stupid laptop.

SO! If you are wondering why I haven't posted for a while, that is why. I do have pictures of quilts to upload, but as it happens, I'm sitting with the laptop on my lap carefully holding the plug in place so as to charge the battery completely! I'm hoping to be able to upload pictures later this week.

After Death Sauce story

We bought this sauce about a year ago at the World Market in Park City. It is awesome!

There are a few funny stories about this sauce. The first time we opened it, Mike and his brother Scott both decided to taste it to see how hot it was. I was the smart one and only tried a little, but they both took the bottle and dumped some onto their fingers. Oh were they hurtin' for certain! haha

Second funny story:

One night all of the adults in the family went to dinner at a local Mexican place, and then to a movie afterwards. Colton and his friend Austin were babysitting Marshy, and Scott's two kids. He decided to make Ramen noodles for everyone for dinner, and because his weren't flavorful enough, he dumped a whole bunch of the After Death sauce on his. He then texted Mike to find out how much he really should have put on! Mike and I started laughing at him, but apparently not nearlly has hard as the kids they were tending were laughing. Then he got some grape juice to try to quelch the burning, but that didn't help at all!

Everytime we get out the hot sauce, or someone new tries it, we remember the Ramen noodles story. It always makes us laugh.

Today at the shop, nephew Jake tried it for the first time. Oh it was funny!! I think he might have taken too much. The look on his face was classic! I totally wish we would've had a camera to take pictures!

New Words and Phrases

It's funny, but I swear as soon as Marshy turned 2 he started talking coherently. He has lately started saying a whole bunch of words that he never even tried to say before, like:

"Chair"
"I Need!"
"Coloring" Yes, the l and the r are both present when he says this one.
"Train"
"Wa-der" he tries to say "water" but it comes out with a d sound instead of a t sound.
"Juice" It used to sound like he was saying Jew
"Fish"
"Doggie"
"Bear" he used to not say bear...he would try, but it would come out as "more" I kind of miss that cute mistake

Unfortunately, some words are still hard to understand if you don't know what he's talking about. Like:
"Dinkdie" is blankie
"Ca" is duck
"On" is off
"Baa" is bath
"Ar" is ear
"Tee" is teeth

It's so fun hearing the new words he comes up with and figures out. I love the cute mispronunciations he has. Sometimes it's frustrating if you can't understand what he wants, especially for him, but I know I will miss them when he starts saying the words right.

I Did IT!

I designed and made a purse today. I know! I'm so proud of myself! I needed a new purse, badly, and I didn't want to buy one, so I made it....out of 3 fat quarters.
I really liked the patterns in the fabrics, and the colors. I wanted to do a stripe on the outside out of the bag with the lining fabric, but I totally forgot before I started to sew it together.

I also did this quilt for Shasta at Gracie Lou's today. Go here for a close up of the blocks and the borders quilting. I did flowers in the blocks and the borders. It turned out really cute.
I also got all of my awesome marketing products. I ordered them last week, and supposedly it was going to take 2 weeks to get them, but they came today. Super fast shipping, apparently! Anyway, I went to put my cute car door magnets on my car, after paying for a car wash, and they didn't stick. Hmmm....wonder why? Couldn't possibly be because Saturn doors aren't metal!!! They're fiberglass. Yeah, totally forgot about that when I ordered them. I guess I should've ordered the window cling, after all. Maybe next time. I was so looking forward to being a driving advertisement, though. I'll figure something out. Maybe Mike will give in and let me stick them on is car! haha, like that will ever happen!

What I Did This Weekend

I finished this quilt for one of my clients.

I watched/listened to bits and pieces of General Conference.

I helped Mike make Broccoli Cheese soup. Mmmm...yummy!

I went to Nicole's bridal shower.

Watched a couple of lame movies, and a good one: Cashback, good. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells, AWESOME. Pledge This!, AWFUL. Outsourced, okay.

We went to Park City and bought a sushi cookbook and sushi mat.

We went to visit my parents on Sunday. Marshy got to play with all of their toys and didn't really want to leave, except he was sooo tired.

Today we went to Marshy's 2 year well child. He weighs 34 lbs, and is 37 1/2 inches tall. HOLY CRAP! He is HUGE! He also got his shots. Because he didn't get a flu shot last year, we have to go back next month for his second dose. Hopefully they have enough nurses on hand! It took 3, plus me, to hold him down for his shots. He is such a strong kid! He's been having a pretty crappy day, poor kid. Right now we are home, and he is taking a much needed nap.

I have been working on two more quilts for Gracie Lou's. I accidentally totally screwed up my intermittent tension, though, so I gave up and went home to figure out how to fix it.

Which Twilight character are you?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!
You are observant, diplomatic and often aim to please. You are unaware of your
attractiveness and despite being uncomfortable with any form of attention, people enjoy your company. You can be impatient, stubborn and headstrong, but you are true to your word and mature for your age, often taking care of your family and enjoying a good book over chatting with girlfriends on the phone.

So, thanks to Amber I found out about this quiz. YAY! I'm a Bella!

A Day in the Car

I feel like I have spent most of this day in my car! I hate driving! It always makes me so tired! I honestly don't know how Mike can do it all the time.

First, I had to go to the bank. If I want to go through the drive-thru (which I do, because I hate having to get out and go inside Macey's or Wal-Mart just to make a deposit) then I have to drive clear up to Orem. So, we drove up to Orem. Then we drove back down to Salem to work. Well, by the time we got down there it was almost time for lunch. I missed breakfast so I was starving! I dropped Marshy off and then ran down to Payson to get lunch at Subway.

Then I started working on this quilt (below).

I got it put onto the quilt table and had it almost finished when I realized I didn't have enough thread! UGH! I was going to go up to Salt Lake tomorrow, and we were going to stop at my supplier to get some thread. But the quilt needs to be bound by tomorrow night, so I had to go up tonight. So, at 3 PM Marshy and I hopped in the car and started driving up to Salt Lake. He fell asleep right before we got to the 9000 South exit. We were stuck in awful traffic (they're doing construction all over 9000 South) so I had time to snap this photo with my camera phone:
I think it's so cute! He had such a grumpy look on his face! What cutie! I love him!

Anyway, we finally got to the quilt store. I ran in really quick, grabbed the thread I needed and then we started back home. I got back to Salem at about 5 PM, hurried and finished the quilt, and then at 6 PM headed home. Of course, I got stuck in the awful traffic due to all of the construction! First they have all of the lane shifts in between Benjamin and Spanish Fork, and then they have all the shoulder work going on in Springville. I hate having to slow down to 55, then speed up to 65, then slow down to 55 then speed back up. Besides, they don't even monitor the construction zones, so people go speeding by doing 75, or ride your bumper because you are going the posted speed limit and then flip you off as they speed past you.

Fortunately I don't have to drive when we go places this weekend. It will be a nice break after today.

Work

I finished the third Halloween quilt one of my clients brought in. Isn't it cute? You can see other pictures here.

Also, I put on part of the quilt for a bridal shower that I'm going to. It's really cute. Hopefully I can get it finished tomorrow, so there will be pictures coming soon!

I also ordered brand new business cards! I'm so excited! And, I ordered a whole bunch of marketing materials that match. I love things that match! And I love new marketing materials! I can't wait until they get here....in 14 days. UGH! I hate waiting!

Tonight I get to unpick a quilt, seam the backing for another quilt, and make a list of threads to purchase when I go up to my supplier on Saturday. Oh, and hopefully I'll get all of my applications installed on the computer so that I can get my patterns all typed up and my brochures and the rest of my marketing stuff finished and uploaded.

Memory

So, as I sit here at my computer reading some blogs and watching Family Guy, I realize what episode this really is. It's the episode that has the Griffin's at Meg's play, and it's so awful that Brian punches Stewie, and then says "Oh, crying baby, I'll take him out!"

While this may not seem funny to you, it is so funny to me. Why, you ask? Well, because one time we were at my parents house, and we'd been there for almost the whole day. Colton had been texting Mike, because he wanted to come over and play some games with Mike online. He was giving Mike ideas to get us to leave, and the one that had us rolling with laughter was:

"Punch her in the face, and then say "Oh! Crying Joanna! I'll take her ou!" and then leave!" Mike and I were rolling the whole drive home. It wasn't until a few weeks later when we saw the episode of Family Guy that I connected the two. I'm sure I should have figured it out, because Colton ALWAYS quoted Family Guy to us in texts. But, now, everytime I see this episode I always remember that day at my parents.

It's been a while....

It's been a while since my last post, but don't worry! I'm still alive! Things have just been really hectic around here. First of all, I have been up to my eyeballs in quilts! Not that that is a bad thing. It is actually a really good thing. I like being busy. However, I don't like being busy and then having machine issues.

My machine has been causing all sorts of issues for me. Lately thread has been knotting up on the backside of my test fabrics. UGH! I called my technician today, and found out it was either the intermittent tension, the bobbin tension, the hopping foot height, the needle bar height, or the check spring. Yeah, real easy to narrow down, huh? AND! If it isn't one of those, then it could just be that the sewing hook assembly needs to be replaced, and that's only $150. But, that is worse case scenario. I'm really hoping it doesn't come down to that. I have figured out that the machine only causes the issue when it is in regulated mode (sniff sniff! That is my favorite mode to sew in). It doesn't have any problems when it is set to a constant motor speed. Fortunately, until August, I have been quiting in motor speed mode for the past 2 years, so I'm used to that mode.

Anyway, I have completed three of the eight quilts I need to finish this week. First, there is the cute circle quilt (more pictures and close ups here).

Then there was the cute witches shoes (more pictures and close ups here).
The last quilt I've finished was this cute panel quilt (more pictures and close ups here).
Also, we've had some fun at the shop with our new "pet". The other day, the dance studio next door asked Angel to come kill a huge spider for them. Turns out it was a Black Widow. Yeah! And it is massive!

There was also a smaller black widow that they caught. I understand there was a third one, but they think it ran outside. Apparently they had to dismantel an entire shelving unit to get the spiders.
The big one freaked out for a really long time. Especially after Mike accidentally knocked the vase onto the floor and it shattered! The little spider got squished, but the big one got recaptured. She has calmed down a lot now, and just kind of chills in the vase, until you move it or tap it or bug her.

Also, Marshy is now officially TWO YEARS OLD! Yay! He is such a big boy. On Tuesday he got one of the floral mache pots and put it on his head. One of the cousins back in the day started the trend. I believe it was on a St. Patrick's Day, and instead of saying leprechaun they said Apricorn. So now whenever someone wears a mache pot on their head we all say "Look! It's an Apricorn!"

He was being tired and shy in these pictures. It seriously took like 5 minutes for us to get Marshy to look at the camera.
( I don't like this picture because it makes my face look fat. Stupid camera!) But isn't he so cute and tired?? I love it!

Well, that's all I have for right now. I'm hoping that I can finish three more quilts by the end of the week. So, if I don't post for a while, it's because I'm busy quilting. But I will try to post my progress throughout the rest of the week.