It's time for the requisite New Year's post. I'm not fully motivated to do this, but it has to be done. Plus it's a big one because it's the end of a decade! (That's not a happy exclamation point.) I'm getting old, and time is passing faster and faster. For those of you who have been reading since the beginning (like when this was still on MySpace), I am terrified of getting old and realizing I let life pass me by. I try to use the New Year as a way to keep myself on task. So what did I say last year?

1. Finish renovating the kitchen, don't rush it and make it crappy. Do something that I am proud of.

check.



2. Make more quilts and start my Etsy shop. Also make patterns to sell in shop.

mostly check. I had to quit that stuff when school got busy.



3. Keep up with cycling. Don't get lazy!

nope. I got lazy.



4. Switch over my blog to a nicer site, add crafting to my blog.

check.



5. I'll be in school, so I guess I should put something about doing well.

i did ok. but i worked too hard for those lousy Bs.



6. Do something good. Part of why I was always so frustrated with my life in NY is that I wasn’t doing anything to help people, better society, etc... I want to find something that channels my talents and/or interests to help people.

nope. still looking for something to do. school is so busy that i have time for nothing else.



So I got a 4/6, which is a 67%. Not so hot.

I'm even jealous of myself

I like to catch up on all the blogs I read before I write my blog, in case there is something I need to share with you. First today, I want you to take the Color Quiz. Just do it. It takes 3 minutes. Then read your results. Now read mine. Mine are pretty accurate, but maybe they are vague enough to be accurate for everyone. Here are my results

Craves change and new things, always looking for new adventures and activities. Becomes restless and frustrated when she has to wait to long for things to develop. her impatience leads to irritability and a desire to move on to the next project. True.

Has high standards and wants to make friends with those who have equally high standards; however, she has been unsuccessful in building these types of relationships. she is feeling under appreciated and her self-esteem is damaged because of it. she is uncomfortable with the situation and wishes to escape, but refuses to make compromises or lower her standards. Eh. Puts off resolving her problems because she afraid of the conflicts it may cause. In order to feel secure, she needs to feel appreciated by others so they will do what she asks of them and respect her opinions. True-ish.

Current events leave her feeling forced into compromise in order to avoid being cut off from affection or future cooperation. Eh.

Emotionally distant even from those closest to her. So I've heard.

Willing to become emotionally involved because she feels isolated and alone. she tries to avoid conflict and disagreements, but her arrogance leads her to quickly take offense. I don't think it's arrogance. Maybe over-sensitivity...

Although she is able to find contentment through sexual activity, she feels hopeless to change her problems and difficulties and continues to make the best of what she has. True.

Desired Objective:

Highly optimistic and outgoing personality. Loves to learn new and exciting things, and craves new interests. Looking for a well-rounded life full of success and new experiences. Does not allow herself to be overcome with negative thoughts or self-doubt. Takes life head on, with enthusiasm. Vague enough for anyone.

Actual Problem

Enjoys making new plans and goals, but needs to be respected and admired for the things she accomplishes. Praise me, all of you.

Actual Problem #2

Feeling tension and stress brought on by situations which are out of her control, leaves her feeling helpless, anxious, and inadequate. she escapes the situation by throwing herself into new activities and insisting she get her own way. True. Appears to be in control of herself, which she isn't, leading to outbursts of anger. False. I don't outburst with anger. And I'm totally in control....

Next up is a great step-by-step for block printing your own design on bedding. I have always wanted to try something like this, but I've got too much going on as it is. Maybe you don't want to do it yourself? Then buy it from this shop. This was my fist favorite shop on Etsy, and I still love it to death!

That's all the inspiration I got from my blogs today...Well, there was one other thing, but I'm trying to behave, so I better keep it to myself.

Anyway, I picked up some lovely Amy Butler fabrics while in Birmingham. Mainly blues and greens. Jealous? I bet you are. They are so nice that I'm even jealous of myself. I haven't gotten around to using them yet. I have this problem that if I like a fabric too much, then I don't want to use it. I'm afraid I'll ruin it. I have, however, almost finished a new quilt. It is tentatively named Mixed Berry Patchwork Quilt.

The fabrics for the custom Fold Quilt for Robert are on their way. More Amy Butler. I ordered a few extra patterns in case the ones I picked didn't look right together. The perils of ordering on the internet.

Someone convo'd me on Etsy asking if I planned to sell patterns for the Fold Quilt. I am going to try to take some good pics of the process so that I can eventually put together a pattern.

Millions of grueling hours

After hundreds, no, thousands, no, millions of grueling hours in front of the computer, the shop is open. Fat Beagle is in business! I am enclosing some pictures to entice you to visit. Above is the first quilt I ever made, the Bird Applique Quilt. Below is a detail of the fold quilt.

The latest quilt, which you have not yet seen is the Wave Quilt:

And the last teaser is a set of coasters.

So I kicked my cat in the face

So I've been Photoshopping like it's going out of style. And it is. It is going out of style. In my opinion, anyway. I love photoshop, but I have about 60 pictures to do, and it is getting so old. I have about 20 left, and if you could see the finished pictures, in order, I think you would see a decline in quality and effort. Whatevs. They will never be perfect, so I should just stop worrying about it. I won't finish this weekend as I had hoped, but I will be close. I still have to take a few more pics tomorrow and touch them up, but I think that I will be able to start listing some products tomorrow. Hopefully "real work" won't get in the way. I mean, seriously, real work is lame. Actually it's not lame, but it gets on my nerves when it interrupts my schedule.

Real work is the restoration of a Rosenwald School in the community of Shiloh. Rosenwald schools are named after Julius Rosenwald, the CEO of Sears-Roebuck from back in the day. He took an interest in helping blacks help themselves. He helped fund over 5,000 schools in the southeast. Ours was one of the first, built in the '20's, and we are working on the restoration. We did the design of the landscape and are working on the specs for an accurate restoration. This week we have a presentation to try to help us get grants to pay for the work. The owner of the school and the president of the Shiloh Community Restoration Foundation is Liz Sims. She was a student at the school in the '50's, and is now working to restore it. Our school and 3 others were featured in Southern Living magazine this month, which was pretty exciting. The story is a little old because it features the Auburn Design-Build students who worked on an addition last semester. They are all gone now except one, who is now our construction supervisor. So here is a picture of the site now (click to enlarge):

The building in the foreground is the school, and up the hill is the church. We are working on the landscaping for both. And here are renderings (keep clicking to enlarge):

View as you pull into the driveway.

View of the front elevation.

View of the new plaza.

View of the backyard.

Other than real work and fake work, I have not had much of a life. But do I ever, really? Ha! I'm an old lady trapped in a middle-aged lady's body.

Earlier today Griswald was being particularly annoying, and I chased him into the sunroom, and he jumped up onto the window sill. Not feeling satisfied by simply chasing him, I kicked in his direction to show just how mad I was. At the same time I kicked, he jumped down from the window. Right into my foot. So I kicked my cat in the face. My foot HURTS! It is bruised and sore. I was afraid I broke his neck. But I didn't . He is just as annoying as usual. Cats have 9 lives, and he has now used 3 of his.

I am unfit to create

What can I say? I haven't been feeling very bloggy lately. It comes in waves, I guess. I made my big Fat Beagle debut, and I haven't been back. Well better late than never.

I've been busy trying to wrap things up to get the shop opened. I thought it would happen last week, but now I'm hoping for Monday. I still need to take nice photos of the quilts. I finished the new quilt, tentatively called the Wave Quilt. I need to come up with better names for these things. You'd think that by my naming system that I am unfit to create. I also made some new pot holders today. Pics to come....

My ex-boss in NY has requested a custom Fold Quilt, and I am excited to get started on that. I am working on choosing the patterns/colors for it, and after I get all my stuff up on Etsy, I will start it. I am excited to see it in a different color scheme, and I am excited to have my first custom order! Now that I've ironed out all the design issues with it, I hope to finish it in a timely manner. I've estimated that it should take about 13 hours if all goes well. All never goes well, so it will probably take more like 20 or 50 or a million.

It's, like, so 2005

Just making my internet rounds, catching up on all the blogs I read, and one blog referenced another, and somehow I got to this article about awesome cat houses/beds/toys. Yeah, I'm digging on this one. It's, like, so 2005.

My wild beast, Griswald, would LOVE some of those things. He is infatuated with cardboard. He throws himself on it, smells it, rolls around on it, chews on it, rubs his face on it. Whatever floats your boat, Griswald..

Crawling back to the green machine

So here it is, my first real post on the new blog...I have brought a few recent posts over from the old blog for a little back story for my new readers, wherever you are. I decided to make my old blog private. It is full of over 2 years of my whining, and I am excited to put that behind me. Part of me wants you to read it all; know the whole story, but part of me wants to keep it private. Now that I am about to open my Etsy shop, I will hopefully attract new traffic to the blog, and I want the new people to see the better side of me.

Ha, I'm sure the bitter, cynical side of me will shine through sooner than later.

I started a new quilt a couple of days ago, but I have not photographed it yet. I finished the top, and I must say that the colors are a little brighter than I'm used to, but I'm okay with how it is going so far. I'm still working on the patchy blue quilt. I've been quilting by hand, which takes forever, but I really like doing it. I quilt for a couple of hours in front of my stories every night. It is similar to knitting for me. Relaxing, slow, and perfect for watching crime dramas.

I had planned on opening the shop this week, but I'm not positive I'm ready. I have a few more things to finish up before they are ready to list, but I'm close! I am excited, nervous and overwhelmed with it all! I still have to figure out how tax crap works, but after that, the business side is done. For now.

Saturday I went to Atlanta. It was a beautiful day with low humidity and not too hot. I went to the fabric store for some things. I picked up my machine from the repair center. I got a Singer Curvy in October '08 when I first started making quilts. I started having trouble with the bottom tension, and I spent more time messing with it than I did actually sewing. So after I moved back to Birmingham, I started using my mom's avocado green machine from the '70's. That thing is a tank. I use and abuse, and it performs like a champ. I finally took the new machine to the warranty center, and they, at first, insisted that nothing was wrong with it. They said the problem is my thread, the problem is my fabric, the problem is my stitch length, the problem is that I'm stupid. Finally I convinced them to just service the machine, and 2 weeks later, they say that the problem was lint under the bobbin case and that I had dropped some pins in there and that some of the parts had to be buffed because of the damage done by the pins. So maybe I am stupid....I brought the repaired machine home, I packed up the green machine, got set up, and started to sew. But wait, now there is a problem with the top tension! I messed with the machine for an hour and gave up, crawling back to the green machine.

Fact: Everything old is better than everything new.