Joey's thought of the day

"When you pay peanuts you get monkeys."

Joey constantly comes up with one-liners that crack me up!


At right is Joey modeling a wig, at Patty's 'Incite Studio'.

New toy

I found this cute little cutting board recently and couldn't resist as it was on sale for half price. I noticed it because a lady was demonstrating how easy it is to use, and you know how much I hate to cut little pieces for quilting - especially triangles. This little cutting board rotates, so you don't have to keep repositioning the fabric - and it is very firm, not wobbly as you might expect. I really like using it. It's made by Fiskars.

My Little Hunter

Who'd a thunk it . . .

Words to live by ...

Always clean your glasses (eye or other) before using hand cream.

Let this be a lesson to me - red trees, green trees

I'm still working on my quilt. Couldn't do anything about it during December. Two machines - both broken. Both Husqvarna Viking Designer series. You would think I'd have learned after getting one 'lemon', but nooo, I had to buy a new, very expensive one before I got the message. I got the newer machine back from repair shop just before we left for our cruise. I'm still waiting for the other - 2 months now.

Oh yea - I was talking about my quilt. Well, my original plan was to make it all in black, white and red, because I had some cool black and white star pattern fabric that I thought would make a great night sky! I 'chickened out, when it came to the trees, and made them green. It didn't work. I don't like them. I'm doing them over - and I hate making the trees because of so many triangles! I did come up with a plan for the finishing, though - and it's going to be very cute.

What's the lesson? Stay with Plan A, and do your homework! If I had read Consumer Reports before buying a sewing machine, I'd have bought a Bernina.

The 'Saga'
I purchased my first 'Designer' at the Int. Quilt Show, about 8 years ago. It never ran right and I thought I had a lemon. I did love working on it, and all the wonderful things it did, when it worked, but . . . I spent a fortune on maintenance because it kept 'not working'. I had bought it from a dealer, not a factory store.

Some time later, I got acquainted with a lovely woman who manages a Viking Gallery Store. She sent my machine to the factory and it was fixed, 'til now when it has a computer problem and won't sew at all. They tell me the cost to fix it is more than the trade-in value.

Back to my Saga, having an un-reliable machine when I needed to fill orders wasn't good, so - what did I do? I bought another HV Designer machine, this time an SE. and Guess What? It had problems, too. Sooo, in less than a year I upgraded to the new Diamond, for full trade in value. This brings me to the present, more or less.

When my machine broke a few weeks back, and I had just a few days to finish my orders before our trip, my 'company' just said "bring it in and we'll fix it when we can". No loaner, no offer, no nuttin'. The only option I had was to show up at the store with my sewing projects and hope they let me sew, which they did - but I had to drive back and forth to Bloomingdale 4 or 5 times, burning up the profits in gas. That's not to say that I'm not grateful that they let me sew. I had to get my orders out. I would like to say that the manager and staff at the sewing center are wonderful! They are not the problem.

Snow - January 2010

Isn't the snow beautiful? This is our little deck, off the kitchen. This is a true measure of how much snow we have had in the last two days, and it's still snowing. The fence about 10' behind the deck is on the lot line. The yards behind us are HUGE (for Elmhurst). I'm guessing they are over 300' deep. I like having all the grass and trees without having to tend to them. We do actually have a tree in our yard. Ants scale it to get in to the upstairs bathroom!