Whew, It's Been A While.

Wow - more than a year.  

I am still crafting - lots of chemo caps knitted this year, but I'm also still learning to quilt.  This,

is one of a set of table runners after I made a huge mistake on what was going to be a quilt.  Whoops.  That's twice I've done that.  I'd show you the other set, but blogger isn't letting me upload any older pictures.  I can show you this,

which is from a kit and is one of my new favorites.

This quilt,

is my first attempt with a striped fabric, and is going to be shipped off to it's recipient today, who hopefully doesn't suffer from dizziness or vertigo.  What I learned from THIS project is that stripes aren't always printed straight, and if they are, I certainly don't always cut or sew straight.  Ahem...

I am back to working from home.  I had been the marketing director for a local air conditioning company, but it was a family business, and what I discovered during the slow months is that it was a nightmare.  The owner can't let anyone else make any decisions.  Left on my own, I was able to not only replace the revenue when they lost their biggest source of customers, but deliver a 20% increase in revenue over the prior year, even with only being allowed any sort of budget for 7 months of the year.  Employees from other companies were wanting to join us because, as our vendor rep put it, I was making HVAC advertising exciting.  So, the owner took my budget away and decided he would make all the decisions.  So I gave my notice.  Luckily it coincided with my NDA with the fiber optic company finally expiring, so I was able to take a few months off, then return to telecom marketing.  I love working from home.  The other day I had a flock of wild turkeys outside my office:

The best part about the new job....I am in direct competition with my old company and my bullying, malicious boss.  I would love to be a nice enough person to not be excited by the idea of crushing them, but I'm not.  That wretched woman was mean and vicious, and instead of reprimanding her, they've promoted her.  But, her lies to the company about her own incompetence have made them a very poor company with ongoing problems that never get fixed, so they are failing without my really doing anything.  Stupid leaders will do that for you.

 

Slide show time!  This

 

was an experiment using machine embroidered blocks and trying to get comfortable with RANDOMNESS.  Also, it turned out to be a real test for my tolerance for fabrics not printed straight, as you  can see the plaid strips weren't printed straight.  That drove me crazy.

I made this pattern in blue, and loved it so much I immediately made a second quilt,

which Charlie adores.

 

This was really a challenge as the blocks are very stretchy as the edges are all on the bias, which makes them stretchy.

Let's just say that it can't go to a home where anyone knows anything at all about quilting.

This one was for Andy's mother,

 who loves it.  

 

This is a test run of a pattern BEFORE trying an entire quilt.

See how much I'm finally learning?

 

This is a pattern that should never, ever, ever be attempted:

That thing only lays flat through strategic ironing, folding, pinning, and much cursing.  After that sort of abuse, I needed an easy project,

in colors I adore.  

This was made for an auction for an animal shelter,

but sadly, only raised about what it cost me to make, so I'm not doing that again.  

These are my second round with this particular pattern.  Again, I'd like to make a quilt with larger triangles, but I have learned to try things out in smaller form first to get the hang of difficult things, after a few projects that narrowly survived being fed to the food processor.

There have been more Spicy Spiral runners, including this one,

where I either inadvertently switched the strips or where the variegation in the fabric created a more uneven center.  I still love the colors, and gave it to a very dear friend for her 80th birthday.

I made this for my parents,

this for a friend going through some health issues,

and restocked my supply of chemo caps. 

This is my year to make Christmas gifts, so there have been a LOT of table runners,

lots of kitty assistance,

this very happy yellow quilt went to another dear friend for her 80-something birthday,

while this one waits in the gift closet.

I'd love to have a quilt for each of our friends, but since we have a LOT, it's going to take a while.  Special birthdays, celebrations, and people going through a tough time are getting first priority, but I'll get to everyone eventually.

Finally, my first test run of this pattern.  It wasn't made in winter fabrics, but I think it looks like a winter decoration, so we're keeping this one.  

Now to start wrapping all of these........................