Interlocking Squares

I was just reading a cute story on someone else’s blog about a typo that occurred when her husband sent a text message because of auto-complete. This happens to me frequently. Tonight however, I have had all I can take. I was trying to type fabrics and ended up with familybs. Once your done, you can’t take it back. Holy cow! I cringe everytime I think about it. I left a second apology post but crud, the damage is done. So if I’ve been to your blog and left the most ridiculous post, I’m sorry. I’m really not an insensitive oaf. And thank you google for helping me turn this stupid feature off.

I’ve been crazy about these fabrics since they came out. Yummy! The Quilted Castle had free shipping a couple of weekends ago. How could I have said no? Just to good to pass up.

I was really good at the quilt show. In the fabric department, I only bought 6 fat quarters and they are all for my giveaway. I’m not adding to my stashbusting log as they won’t be staying.

I did have the opportunity to meet Jen from Reanna Lilly Designs and her mom. Super nice and fun to chat with. I purchased her Seamingly Accurate seam guide. I put the guide on my sewing machine bed tonight and managed to sew a few seams. I’m really pleased. It’s nice to line up your fabric beyond the throat place. As you can see in the picture, everything lined up nicely.

I found the Popsicle Sticks quilt pattern by Atkinson Designs so it came home with me. Sorry about the quality of that picture. I also picked up a few spools and prewound bobbins of Masterpiece Thread. I love the quality of Superior Threads.

The white fabric arrived and I managed to get all of the corner pieces for each block cut. As you can see, I still have a couple of pieces but I’m almost done cutting. I managed to get a few seams sewn tonight. I am absolutely loving this quilt.

I have a giveaway for some Halloween fat quarters going on to celebrate my 100th post. If you are interested, check out my post at http://www.interlockingsquares.com/?p=979 and leave a comment.

Today is my 100th post. Let’s celebrate. While at the quilt show, I picked up these cute Halloween fat quarters. I love Halloween fat quarters so I hope you do too. Just leave me a comment and I will select a winner on Monday, July 5.

This has been a fun weekend. Friday, I attended the class on drawing feathers taught by Anita Shackelford. It was very interesting to see learn how she uses math and a feather plume template to draw feathers to fit a specific area. I decided to purchase her book Infinite Feathers Quilting Designs. She has several good examples in the book. Then I spent the afternoon with my youngest daughter. We went out to eat and did some shopping. Always fun.

Yesterday evening, Mr. Nice Guy and I saw a 13 minute clip on the making of the Knight and Day movie. I like Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The movie looked fun. Mr. Nice Guy asked if I wanted to go see the movie. It was about 7 p.m. So, what the heck, we went to the late show. I know the reviews on this movie are kind of so-so. But we liked it. You should check it out anyway. There is plenty of adventure and there is a fun chemistry between Cruise and Diaz. Tom Cruise plays a great quirky weird guy.

This morning, I left bright and early for the quilt show. I took a class by Toby Lischko on fast applique circles. It was totally cool! I’ve only used my machine once to try the decorative stitches which was in a class on how to use your sewing machine. It was a good experience to work on a project where I had to use the stitches. I am looking forward to finishing this project.

Used this Week: 3.375 yards
Used year to Date: 29.375 yards
Added this Week: 1.25 yards
Added Year to Date: 45.625 yards
Net Used for 2010: -16.25 yards

I didn’t get any projects finished. But I had a giveaway and gave a few charm packs away. Then I purchased 5 fat quarters for a quilt class today with Toby Lischko. I won some fabric from http://villagecomforts.com/ and purchased a few extras of fat quarters of Holiday Flourish 2 last year. So this weekend while in Wichita at the quilt show, my daughter and I stopped at Sunflower Quilts in Derby to find some additional fat quarters to match. There just happened to be a bus tour at the shop. One of the ladies in the tour just happened to be shopping in the same aisle so she helped us pick out some fat quarters. She was nice and had a good eye for color. Those are the fat quarters at the bottom of the photo. I can’t wait to see how this project turns out.

My husband and I are low maintenance customers. If we don’t like something, we don’t get mad. We usually just don’t go back. life is short and real life teaches you what really is a battle. Don’t misunderstand, I can do battle when needed. But I choose my battles carefully. I also work with the public. I happen to work for a business that sets a high bar on customer service. I like treating people well and taking care of them. It gives me joy. I also know what it means to make a mistake. You might as well belly up to the bar and take it like a man because it won’t go away. I have found that the person who makes the mistake is usually the one that feels the worse.

My fabric finally arrived yesterday 11 days after I ordered it from a quilt shop one hour away. I have been anxiously waiting on this fabric because I needed it for a current project.

The part that bothers me is the customer service. I called twice last week to check because it should been a one day deliver, two days at most. Frankly, I don’t have much faith in the Post Office. They have lost a few things over the years. I was assured by the quilt shop that it was mailed last Tuesday. This Tuesday (one week after the mailing date), I took a late lunch to run home and check the mail. Nothing. I call again and really got a defensive answer that the gal mailing it forgot and she put it in the mail yesterday (June 21).

I didn’t get mad. I told them my concern was that it was lost in the mail and it looked like I should have by Wednesday. They agreed. Well, Wednesday and Thursday brought nothing. Finally in Friday’s mail, the package arrives and it is postmarked Wednesday June 23. Seriously? Why lie to me? I guess I don’t really understand why a business would treat the customer that way. It’s just a little disappointing. I was telling Mr. Nice Guy about it and he said that’s what I get for being Mrs. Nice Guy. I started to write a letter but if you lie to your customers, your probably not going to care. I’m not going to say I’ll never shop there again but they will be at the bottom of the list.

I just needed to vent. Thanks for listening.

Made quite a bit of progress getting the pieces cut for my Tweet Tweet quilt. This is crazy but I always try to square up my charm squares. Most of the time they aren’t quite 5″ square. So I trim them up. I know that sounds silly but I like to make an attempt at my seams matching up. Doesn’t always work but at least it helps. This is the Twist and Shout pattern by Paula Stoddard. Each block is missing a white piece with birds. I still have a few of the side pieces to cut. I ordered some yardage of this from a quilt shop an hour away from here so I could get it quickly. Unfortunately, my package is lost somewhere in the mail. I’m a little frustrated with the post office right now. Oh well, the best laid plans….

Used this Week: 3.75 yards
Used year to Date: 26 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 44.375 yards
Net Used for 2010: -18.375 yards

This was a good week. I finished the binding on the Make Life Quilt. I managed to cut several pieces for the Tweet Tweet quilt and I started marking my Trick or Treat Street quilt for machine quilting. Keeping my fingers crossed that this week will be just as productive.