I'm having a very hard time this year finding my groove.  I feel disjointed and untethered, unable to focus and planless.



This is a highly unusual mode of being for me. In fact, one might even say, it's an extraordinary mode of being for me. Ordinarily, I'm super organized, efficient, and NEVER without a plan (or twelve).



It's been a tumultuous 2011 so far: illness, a shocking death in our family, drama (and I abhor drama!), constant tension and constant change.  I feel like I can't put a foot down for fear the ground will shift under my feet.




Oh, and did I mention, we're renovating in the midst of all of this? *laughs*




All of that to say that yet again, I have nothing to show you.


Excpt of course, for this lovely gift package I won from 3 Creative Studios - whose contents were made by combined talents of Terri Stegmiller and Vicki Welsh. Thank you ladies!

And as for the rest of you ladies (and gents) - I am hoping - more than you could know (!) that I will be back to some semblance of routine very soon, and that I will have something (anything!) to show you. 

Soon. 

A (very) random selection of quilts I came across on Flickr this morning.



From the subtle to the bright and saturated!


1. Simple Insanity, 2. Lattice Baby Quilt, 3. Hankie Quilt, 4. Art Quilt Modern Wall Hanging

I've been planning to buy one of these for quite awhile.  I did a lot of research, and decided that for my purposes, the Janome FM725 was the right one for me.  At a $300 price point, I decided to get one for myself for Christmas - and so, just before Christmas, having safely purchased all my Christmas presents for everyone else, I started looking for a Christams present for me. 



My regular dealer told me that Janome had discontinued the model, and though he assured me that they would continue to support it if I found one in the city; I didn't feel 100% comfortable about it




My second choice, the Babylock Embellisher, was more than twice the price at $699 and since I was also shopping for a new laptop, I decided the needle felter would have to wait until March or April (personal quirk, I never, I mean never pay for anything on credit. Cash only for everything except my house!)


That said, on Monday morning, I got a bee in my bonnet that I should start looking for one.  I went online to Kiiji and Craigslist and found one for $375.  I was fully prepared to buy it, and then thought I would just check in with the local Babylock distributors to compare prices. 


The second one I called said that they were on sale for the month of January at $399.  I said, "But that means it ends today!"  "Yes," the dealer replied. "Tomorrow it goes back up to $699".

No pressure though!

However, with no extra shipping costs, a guarantee and service included (which I wouldn't get with  my online international sale), it was a no brainer.  I went off to the bank, withdrew the cash, and $455 later, I had a brand spanking new embellisher!

I experimented with her a bit tonight as above - and am excited by the results! Explanation and process at Coneflowers In Leslieville as usual.



Isn't she pretty?

Her name is Niffer Fliffer Floffer. "Niffer" short for Jennifer, and Fliffer Floffer because that's what BSP kept calling needle felters when I was first researching them.  :)

This is my second piece in the Art Quilt Blog's journal quilt challenge (theme "highly prized") and the 4th of my journal quilts for the 3 Creative Studio's journal quilt challenge.

I was at my local tonight (50% off - God bless January sales!) and picked up some lovelies.

These are Alexander Henry's Island Girls, - as the sharper eyed among you may remember, I collect vintage pin up girls (I have probably 50 more than are pictured here); so these lovelies were completely irresistable to me. I also love the Tiki island-like Aloha girls although they're a bit more risque - so I could think of even fewer appliations than these.  I want to get the Heavy Equipment boys version too.

And then, as I was wandering through the store, I came across a lovely print.  Although I'm not (as you know) much of a print girl, something about this fabric really struck me, and I was pretty sure I had coordinates in my stash - and indeed I did:


And then, while I was there, I wondered if they had a fabric that I fell in love with a few months ago:



Also by Alexander Henry, this one's called Calabash.  At the time, I didn't know what I would do with it, but at 50% off, why not?  :)

On an unrelated note - I noticed the last couple of weeks my followers list has gone through a lot of changes - up a couple, down a couple every couple of days.  Please bear with me as I work through this new approach to my quilting, and new way of blogging.  But if you feel you're looking for something else - thanks for reading along with me thus far, and much luck and happiness in your future quilting adventures.

To those of you who are new - thanks for joining me!  Looking forward to getting to know you.  :)