Back-to-school Bliss

Ah, yes! The wonderful sounds of silence! That beautiful time when all the children go back to school.
Adrian, 17, was not happy to return to school, even though its his senior year. Natalie, 12, was excited but nervous to start junior high.
We always take our traditional picture of their first day clothes laid out.


Then, of course, the first day of school pictures.


We're hoping for a great year, with limited trauma!

Contractor woes

So, we have been finishing our basement as a new home for my long-arm machine. (Yes, it has been a 3-year project, and yes, it was supposed to be "temporary" having my machine in the upstairs family room.) We're finally ready for sheet-rock bids, and working with contractors is always a fun prospect!
The guy this morning seemed to need to point everything out that we did wrong, and had to say everything at least 3 times... Low bid? I really hope not!
On the upside, its actually looking like it will be done relatively soon! Yeah! 3-year projects are WAY too long, let me tell you.

13! (Again)

Most people know that I fell last winter and broke my front tooth out. Well, now it looks like the other front tooth will have to come out, too. It doesn't have enough bone behind it, and so the gum has receded, also. I look so adorable with my fake tooth out! Sort of like a pirate or something.
So now I get to return to my childhood, or rather teenage-hood, and get braces on again. This will supposedly bring the bone and gum down farther so that they can do the implants without me looking like Bucktooth Betty. I always loved being 13! I can hardly wait to go through it again!
Ah, my dental woes continue! Maybe I'll have my own "Julia Roberts" smile soon? One could only hope.

Fame! (I wanna live forever!)

So, my friend Valerie called me (she's my "fame-pointer-outer".) I was mentioned in Annie Smith's podcast! (program 128) She was doing a podcast on Utah quilters, and re-interviewed Jenny Wilding Cardon. (I quilted her quilts for her Little Box of Baby Quilts.) She talked about me at length and about my upcoming book! Jenny's great, and has always been so kind to me when she's been interviewed, etc.
Valerie also had a great interview she had done with Annie at Threads of Time, where I work. She has quite a few patterns out, now, and also told Annie about my book coming out!
"Fame is a fickle thing, Harry."
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Editing fun!

A lot of people ask me what's happening with my book. Well... nothing! Or, maybe a lot, I don't really know! The publisher (Martingale) has it at the moment. I've gone through 2 rounds of editing, which is quite interesting. After I sent the manuscript in, they sent back the first edited version, which didn't even resemble the original manuscript. I didn't know whether to be grateful, or offended! I decided to be grateful for great editors that know how to make the instructions understandable. 

The next round had the illustrations and pictures all in place. It was a bit more exciting, because it is what the book will look like. The illustrators are terrific! Only... they had one whole quilt's worth of illustrations backwards, so that it didn't work in the end. I guess that's why they have editing! 

I sent it (corrected) to the technical editor, and now its back in "publishing unknown land" again.

What a learning process!

First-time blogger

It looks like I'm learning to blog!