Leaving for Ohio today ;)

I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve! Tomorrow is my class with Karen McTavish and I get to leave straight from work today. All that stands between me and freedom is: The June newsletter, Sunday's bulletin, the program for Sunday's Community Sing, & filling out my timecard! You can bet I have those four things on a post-it note and I'm checking them off as I polish them off!!! Problem is: I've had too much caffeine and add that to all this excitement -- man, I'm like a ticking time bomb!! Jittery, forgetful, and just YOWSA!!! I'm hoping I don't seem too "groupy-ish" if I ask to have my picture taken with Ms. Mctavish - I'll post it here if I'm successful in getting one without seeming like a total geek :)

I've been very unmotivated and blah for the last week or two (yep, mom, I'm forgetting to take my meds!) and I'm hoping this will envigorate me some. There's also classes next week with my local quilt guild. They are bringing in Gwen Marston to teach two classes. So hopefully these, these will kickstart me.

So, back to the real job I go, to get myself off to the fun job's classes ;)

My poor little kitty!

Poor little Scarlett had to be shaved at the groomer's over the weekend. She's one who was dumped on us, under that big invisible "Dump Cats HERE" sign on our porch. All our cats are outdoor kitties, and it seems that Scarlett's long hair got super-matted over the winter. She pulled one big mat out and that left a bare skin patch the size of my open hand, awwww, poor thing! Saturday I held her and tried to use our clippers and did make a little progress, but called a groomer for an appointment.

When the groomer called back, she said she normally doesn't do cats, but if I'd come and hold Scarlett (and get scratched as much as the groomer, LOL) she'd give it a try. Bless the kitty's little heart, she actually purred through the whole thing! What a sweet little baby!! BUT, now she looks like this:

more kittens!

Well, the little calico cat in the neighborhood had her batch of kitttens last night - 4, all black - when I left. It looked like she might have one more, her tummy wasn't gone yet. She did a great job and is quite the mom even though she's practically a kid herself still! All three of my kids had to go over to the neighbor's for a peek before bed (they get it from their mom, LOL).

Got some quilting done too. The pretty stained glass - looking quilt, I'm putting spirals on it with the EZ boards. It's going really well, even offsetting each row so the spirals will nest right. I'll tackle the same customer's Block of the Month sampler next. It will also be pretty easy -- probably a Baptist Fan with EZ boards and something in the border. Got a call from the LQS asking me to think about a low rate for those who just want it meandered and done - really don't care about how it looks (*sigh* how sad, but that's another post!) She had a customer who was ready to mail one out of town because she had a 20% off coupon from that quilter. So I worked up the estimate and gave her 20% off and she decided to leave it for me instead - yippee! Told her I can't get to it until June though. I have 4 more to finish in May before I go to Ohio at the end of the month, plus any charity ones I can squeeze in. Luckily I think I'm down to a box of baby quilts (about 17 I think), 3 Quilts of Valor, and 2 quilts for the Foster Home. Not too bad, and certainly should be able to finish them all by July. I need to sit down then and figure out what I can reasonably do in charity work each month. It's just so hard to turn it away though . . . . . and unfortunatly, plenty of charities know how hard it is for me to say "no", LOL!

all for now, time to get back to the "real" job ;)

Great stuff to report! I get to take a class with Karen McTavish at the end of the month - WOW! She's a longarm quilting rock star and I am unbelievably excited about this opportunity. The class is about 4 hours away, in Zanesville OH. The drive home will be crazy, my head will be swimming with so much stuff that I learned - and no one in the car with me to talk to . . . . . . ;)

I had a really neat custom quilt at the first of the month. It was for a local school's auction and this was made by the second graders. The lady called at the last minute and I was able to take the quilt in on Friday night and return it to her finished Saturday afternoon. I loved the center medallian and had a real blast detailing it. I haven't heard how it did at the auction, but I'll call her and find out.