Modern Woes!!!

I wonder if they said the same thing about electricity and telephone when they became part of the mainstream of life?

In my case it has been mostly the Internet! I think we may finally have it all ironed out. Lucky for me I got the attention of the right person and have had a focused team attempting to get it all ironed out, at least from the pole to the house and the signal in the house!!! I am hoping I never have to revisit this again!!!

On the plus side the new computer is a nice addition, the old one still needs to be fixed, but I will have to wait on that.. Until I have 2 days to take it apart and then put it all back together!!!

Life aside from the ‘modern woes’ continues. Goldie is doing very well and I think she will get a clean bill of health either at the end of July or in the first week or two of August after her last sample is tested. In the meantime she will be under going a ‘Girlectomy’ 7/31. She will be rendered unable to reproduce after!

As I have been saying (over and over again)… I have been working hard behind the scenes at IHAN and changes will become apparent soon. So many little things to get lined up and the difficulties with the Internet did not make it any easier. But check back soon… lots of surprises, games and giveaways coming!!!

We’re going to have some fun and games in the meantime. Are you on Facebook or Instagram? Find and like “I Have a Notion” for future… games.

For now its a guessing game what do you think is coming? Leave a comment with your guess below. Three winners from the comments on this blog post. Winners announced on Monday evening.

Stop Right NOW!!

I can hear Meatloaf in the background shouting that line from 'Paradise by the Dashboard Lights’. A totally different meaning as to why though.

We have been under some heat stress in Kentucky!!! Along with a huge chunk of the USA! STOP!! was what the outside part of the indoor/outdoor thermometer decided to say… the inside part was content though. I bought it when we moved to Chicago for $10 bucks in 2007. It has since lived in South Africa, Virginia and Kentucky!Pretty well traveled thermometer. I will miss it!

On the other hand it has been upgraded! To a weather station. Now I will know so much more about what is going on… than just the temperature. Of course it was monumental getting it up. On a very bright hot morning…

Since it has been up highest temp it has recorded was 102, with a heat index of111. We’ve had exactly 1 thunderstorm since we put it up…. so the rainfall has not been significant really about 1/2 the amount showing, because I had to spend a day calibrating the little dump bucked…. a pain for sure. 

Another places I would like to shout STOP is with the Internet!!! Between the website  melt down again…. with a bandwidth cap reached. Nothing to do about that but wait. The Clearance Sale had something to do with it,I think. There are still have some things that need to go, so if you are looking for thread, machine embroidery designs or stabilizer… there is still plenty!!! EVERYTHING is at least 50% off!

This is not a heat map, but a map of an Internet outage. I am working on a solution and it is taking way more time than I anticipated! So far 3 dedicated months of all my creative and otherwise unallocated time. Who knew that road block after road block would pop up. Most of them seem to have been technology related. Internet Service issues… outages, followed by Provider Equipment failures and then yep my computer failed. Nothing serious, just a power button that refuses to work. So days of a project that were not saved to the NAS (network area storage) device are stuck in that computer!!! So I have to back track… for the 3rd time!

I am not complaining… just disappointed that I do not get as much of anything done as I have on my imaginary timeline. I was hoping to be moving forward long before now!

Of course bringing a new computer up to speed takes a serious chunk of time too. I will try to not be so quiet and share more…. but I was really hoping to fill up all this quiet blank space with excitement and FUN!!!

Please Stay tuned. There really is LOTS more coming! And do check out the store, Ihaveanotion.com the Clearance continues!

Beth

Out of Control

Out of My control!

As things go… this is the worst… and not something I was aware of. But is seems IHaveaNotion.com has a bandwidth cap and the Blowout Sale has exceeded the allotment!

Good news is your are visiting the shop.

Bad news is …. no one can visit the shop.

But you can call me or email. Its the long way around… but doable for the short term.

quiltnotions@gmail.com or call 270-9004564 (no texting on this number)

WHAT To Do?

I’m working on it so please be patient… Please Please Please be patient.

More Later! Beth

The Clearance Continues…

Call it a Blowout, Inventory Reduction, Crazy whatever, but there is

still lots of stock to clear out. Too MUCH!

Are you looking for something?

Everything in the store at www.ihaveanotion.com is 50% off.

That includes:

Floriani Threads and Stabilizers!!!!

Lots of Notions!

And Machine Embroidery software.

EVERY SINGLE THING in the STORE!!!

Haven’t checked it out?

What are you waiting for?

Order before noon EST and it will go out the same day…. most days!

Lina has taken advantage of the thread discounts not once but twice and sent some additional pictures of what she uses it for! These are called “Butterfly Bowls”

Aren’t they just beautiful!

It seems blogger is making some changes… comments are not being emailed, (a Google bug or related to the GDPR thing don’t know), Open ID is going away, as well as some other things changing). Some days I hate change!!!

So go shopping!!! and I’ll tell you,

More Later- Beth

Distractions

Do you find yourself starting a project and then you find yourself… doing something related or along the way… and that leads to another and another, and another… and pretty soon several hours have passed and you have not yet finished the first task?

I have finally finished or disentangled myself from several large projects and obligations. Yesterday and today were almost totally ready for my own stuff. But as I mentioned above… not so fast.

Today I had planned to put up a blog post, but you know what today is? May 25th, the deadline for the GDPR to take effect. While I know what it was and that for anyone reading from the EU would need to be notified about any data collection done on the blog and the store and what you do with it. Truth is I don’t collect anything. I can hardly keep track of me and my stuff I don’t need the added responsibility of someone elses stuff too.

This all started after reading a post written by Darlene of QuiltShopGal about the GDPR and Privacy and why we should care. That sent me on the chase down rabbit holes to define and create the I Have A Notions GDPR and Privacy Policy update. The short version is posted at the top of all the blog pages and there is a slightly longer version on the Dedicated Policy page, and there is an even longer all inclusive one at the store, which will also have some new verbiage soon (the other end of the rabbit hole).

We should all be concerned with where our information is and how it is being used by sites we visit, especially with the inability to control cookies, all the website data breaches/thefts and the demise of “Net Neutrality” (if you feel inclined let your legislators know that we want Net Neutrality back, but that is another rabbit hole.

So… while I had visions of getting things accomplished today… it took just about all day to get here!

What did you do today? Do you care about Privacy Policies, GDPR or Net Neutrality?

Sound off in the comments.

More Later- Beth

PuPdate!

I had to wait… to post…and then other posts got in the way …. can you say Clearance! Yes it is still going on. I still have too many items, so go and check them out! www.ihaveanotion.com 

Goldie and Linzi… in January 2018 (4 months old)

Goldie is 9 months old now and almost that size. Her early difficulties… kind of held her back a little. Since we started down this path to getting her colon cleared she has gained lots of weight and grown to almost the correct size. I took another sample up to the specialists… for testing in late April. For some reason it took more than a week to get the results…. (their tests result timeline is all over the map). I was hoping to say that we got the all clear and on to a normal dog life for her.

Goldie in March 2018

Nope, she is still positive for Cryptosporidium. Doc doesn’t like it, but doesn’t see any reason to do more invasive tests. I’m happy, my wallet is happy and I’m sure Goldie would be happy too, if she knew what we were discussing.

Goldie napping… May 2018

Vet has suggested that we continue with the antibiotic powder for 4-5 months and then retest. Not a difficult issue, except that she has to be dosed with a meal every 8 hours! So no late nights or sleeping in… for at least one of us! This schedule also means no opportunities for both of us (humans) to be away together yet. We got as far as making plans and kennel reservations, and then the idea of counting on others to medicate her on time, scared us ….into…. one of us staying home.

Goldie and Linzi playing…. as you can see Goldie has done some growing… almost as tall as Linzi… and can easily out run her, but that might be more youth than growth!

So there we go… hopefully by her 1st birthday(September) … she will be clear and ready to take up the ‘dog life’… 

More later-     Beth

‘Floriani Product’ …. in the wild!

Look at this.

The maker calls it a Butterfly Bowl. I couldn’t imagine what it looked like from the name… but she also sent a picture. Just beautiful!

Lina took advantage of the ‘Clearance Sale’ and snapped up a bunch of the Floriani Variegated thread and sent the picture with permission to share.

The butterfly (Luna Moth) is Machine Embroidered, using the same thread top and bobbin so the back side is just as pretty as the top.

Still lots of Floriani in the shop…. and the price can’t be beat! HALF off!

Shop www.ihavanotion.com

More Later!!!  Beth

Its NOT over yet!

Nope…. there are still plenty of items on Clearance at I Have a Notion!
Have I mentioned thread? Floriani Thread in particular. If you machine embroider, this is a deal. $2.99 per  mini cone.  1100 yards shiny polyester thread. At this price you can certainly fill in some of those missing colors or enhance your color library.

I don’t think there is a better price for this thread anywhere else!
You don’t embroider? Do you know someone that does? Send them a link! and thanks for passing it on.

On another note… I have another house guest. This one is of a different variety though.

Just about every where I have lived… I have had a resident pair of doves. When we moved into this house, we had a pair that had a nest on a drain spout under the eaves. A hawk got the female… and that was that. While we have had as many as 14 doves around the feeder at one time, none had taken up a nest where I could see them. This year is different. This fellow (males sit the nest during the day, females at night) is about 3 feet away from the front door. In about 2 weeks there should be some hungry little mouths… up there.


More to come later! Including and Pupdate on Goldie- Beth

and it Continues!!!

EVERYTHING in the store 50% off!!!

Featuring FLORIANI Thread

(Great for machine embroidery, longarm quilting or thread painting/sketching).

Beautiful sheen, 100's of colors

Don't wait some colors are getting low! and a few are gone!

I am a recent finder of the Floriani thread, and I have been playing with it on the longarm. I think it is a finer thread than Glide, which is a 40 weight thread, so it does not show quite as much, something I like. And by not showing quite as much the sheen is a little less as well, again something I like.

One of the other things of note is that Glide likes to untwist while traveling from the spool/cone to the needle, on my longarm, as I hear, also on many other longarms as well. The Floriani does not seem to do that!

SHOP

More Later!! Beth

Blowout

Yep, it is.

Everything in the I Have a Notion store (www.ihaveanotion.com) is on sale.

What does that mean? It means

Every item in the store is 1/2 off! If you find a product that is not marked down… (exception is the $4.00 books), let me know… I will mark it down another 25%

CHECK it out, there just might be something you need or want or….

Scissors, Embroidery Software, Thread, Notions

EVERYTHING absolutely EVERYTHING!

Beth

Keeping UP!

As usual… I have been busy and behind as far as keeping things caught up or current. Part of my problem is that I don’t think much of what I do is interesting… or even worth mentioning until after the fact!!! Sometimes well after the fact! Does that happen to you too?

Sometimes I see my obligations as just that -a job to accomplish… and don’t stop long enough to see that there is value in just doing the job. For instance. One of the guilds in town will be hosting a Quilt Auction as a fund raiser that will feature both a Silent Auction and a Live Auction as well as a rummage table we are calling the ‘Quilters Attic’. While my hand was resting in February I built a web page for the guild… nothing spectacular in terms of design, as it was to show some of the quilts to be auctioned. If you are interested in visiting that page…. go here: Nine Patchers Quilt Auction and of course if you are nearby… please come.

Next up was taking pictures of those quilts. It was the photographing, that I think I missed a great opportunity to talk about.

Over the years there has been lots of information shared about how to photograph quilts… so I took much of what I remember reading… about the subject… using a tripod, appropriate lighting, level camera and quilt display and distance as well as focal length. I am a nature photographer… and generally don’t have the patience for lighting a subject with artificial light.

                  

The shooting quilts went really well, even though all of them were photographed indoors! and without a neutral wall behind them at one location and pretty closed to the ceiling… several had to be pinned to a sheet. Our weather in Kentucky hasn’t cooperated with warm enough days…. to shoot outside, and not bright enough to use south facing windows for a nice natural light indoors… So I had to also play with fluorescent and fill flash. Overall I think the quilts look good.

Next I was asked to photograph a knife. That proved to be a different lighting difficulty. For this I actually wanted the dull dark grey skies!!! Metal reflects light and creates bright reflections that look like imperfections in the metal work. We decided that a new lens would help with that problem… so another small obstacle … to over come. Well after a couple of weeks of experimentation… I think I finally nailed it.

Have I been doing anything remotely related to fiber recently…NO!!!

I’ll have to explain more later… What about you…. are you keeping up?

Beth

Some Cheese Please! and Flamingos!!!

Some days I feel like all I do is “whine” about time and where has it gone? And this week doesn’t feel any different!

There must me something I no longer do … as well as I used to, or is it that things take longer now than they did before? Or have I just gotten lazy? But I sure wish I could figure it out!

So Kelly sent me these on Sunday…. a little late to posting… but they make me smile. I wish I had a neighbor like this!!!

Until… later… and More!

Beth (and Kelly)   

Whats UP?

Hi…. and what exactly is up at I Have a Notion?

Our rainfall and snowfall amounts are up in Kentucky. Almost 3 times more snow than was predicted… and if we get too much more rain… we will float away.

Also up are the wild Hyacinths. These pop up every year in the lawn, and they are naturalizing. The first year here we only had 2 or 3 plants and now we have 20! I love them. We also have lots of wild violets… under the maple and just to prove its spring… even if the temperatures don’t say so, the dandelions are blooming too.

This little one is up to 1 month old! I spent a day last week with her. It shot the whole day… by the time I drove up, we had lunch, a quick spin around IKEA, and the drive home… But well worth it!

And another day I drove up to Louisville to drop something off for Goldie. To be tested. I took Goldie with me… for some more experience riding in the car and to get a weight. That is also up! Can you believe that in the 4 weeks since diagnosis… she gained 15 pounds!!! The C-diff is done! and we are working on the Crypto. Hopefully one more sample…. and we will be in the clear.

And just like the rest of America… some of this! and it is taking more than one day!

What has kept you busy? Sewing or Taxes or….?

National Quilting Day

Today is Worldwide Quilting Day!

I hope you have set aside some time today to do something Quilty to Celebrate!

When I lived in Nebraska, we always had a Soup and Sew Day sponsored by the guild. To build and cement our Quilting Life and Friendships. It was always a big deal since the National Quilt Museum is in Lincoln Nebraska!

I celebrated a few days early, and unfortunately, no pictures!!!

I did a presentation on thread for the Kentuckiana Longarm Guild I belong to. Based on that presentation, I was asked if I would come and share it with a Guild in Indiana.

Our date was set, and I ventured up to Indiana on Thursday afternoon to share my quilts and some thread information in the evening with the Washington County Quilt Guild. I had such a great time sharing some of what I have been working on the last few years!!!

So while I may not make it into the Creative Spaces today… I did spend some Quality Time this week with Quilts and Quilters!!!

So how are You celebrating “National Quilting Day”?

Pupdate- Goldie

So what is new in Goldie's world.

Quick snap… of Goldie 7 months!!!

LOTS!!!

We think she is on the mend!

After the last test for Giardia came back positive I whisked her off to a visit with specialist. Required a drive up to Louisville with Goldie. Due to miscommunication, it required a second trip the next day to deliver a sample.

Took about a week to get the full panel of results back.

But we got an answer.

Her lower GI track was compromised. She had Cryptosporidium and Clostridium Difficile (C-diff). Poor girl. Both were causing her problems.

So a bag of Hydrolyzed dog food (to also rule out a food allergy) another script of Panacur and a script of an antibiotic, (fortunately sprinkled over food but needed to be dosed every 8 hours). We saw some immediate improvements.

Good NEWS!

She has been gaining weight and growing, now that she can absorb some nutrients. We send in another sample… and hopefully we will be done…. but will have to keep her on a tight lead until we can use some bleach in the yard. C-diff stays in the environment for a very long time.

Where did she pick it up? I suspect at the vets office when we went in for her regular course of vaccinations or for the Giardia. She had not left the house or yard since we brought her home. I feel strongly about taking puppies out before they are fully vaccinated and it was just too darn cold to go outside. Too easy to pick something up…. and she did!!!

More Later! Beth

On Duty!

A little side business this past week.

On Wednesday…. I had a FB Chat message…almost didn’t read it…. but really glad I did.

My sister… lives far away in Nebraska and was just up the road in Indiana last week for the birth of a grandchild. I drove up the following day to visit with sister, niece and great niece for a few hours. All was well. Sister flew back home, niece and baby went home.

Wednesday morning Chat Message from sister- C is back in the hospital, a lot of pain. She can’t be alone with the baby in the room. Can I go?

It is 5:30 am… and I haven’t had coffee. Message back coffee and a shower and I’ll be on my way. Dressed and packed some clothes for a few days… collected electronic backup/charging stuff and was in the hospital by 9:30 am.

So what did I mostly do?

This:

Such hard work for me!!! however by doing this… mom got to rest, really rest and recover and go home yesterday from the hospital yesterday. The Grampa flew in from Missouri…. as I was leaving. But I think I will plan a little trip up… in a couple of weeks just to check in!

Needless to say….not too much else got done!!! Another left turn, but a fairly pleasant one, since everything turned out well in the end.

Do you have detours that while not in the plan are so rewarding and well worth the change of direction?

Stay tuned! More Later! Beth

Whew! and

putting it all away…. may take days.

  

The Quilters Day Out was only 6 hours from open to close and I was busy pretty much the whole time. Not even time to take a picture!!!

They INVENTORY did not decrease as I would have liked.

Everything from setup to take down took a bit longer to get done, because well this part of Kentucky has been nothing but gray skies and COLD or RAIN for the past 6 weeks or so. Lots and lots of rain… so much so that the landscape has taken on a dramatically watery vista.

Today we have the beautiful glow from actual sunshine and a cloudless sky. Temperatures have warmed up so much that the hyacinth is up, both the hybrid and the wild variety that is growing in the lawn, the maple (silver) has bloomed and my lilac is leafing, as is the hydrangea. I also see the day lilies showing some green sprouts too. Of course it is pretty early for this, so hopefully they won’t be stunted by a surprise snow in March.

I will be spending the next few days unpacking the boxes of stock and marking it down so I can modernize the store. Are there items that you are interested in or think would be a good fit for I HAVE A NOTION? Please help me out with how I can better meet your needs, since it will benefit both of us!!!

Look for the Markdowns in the Inventory Reduction Category coming soon.

Seriously it must go.

If you see something you really really want email me with an offer… of course the more you want…

So Seriously, Lets TALK!!!

More Later, Beth

Are you in the area?

This Saturday (one day only) is the Louisville area Quilters Day Out and Gathering of the Guilds. Click the link for more information.

Under the Gathering of the Guilds part, local Quilt Guilds come to recruit/entice new membership and share some of the interests and projects that their membership does, including demonstrations.

The Quilters Day Out part of course is the venders mall, which is where I Have a Notion will be.

So if you are attending… Please stop and say hi!

More Later…(after I have put things away and taken a long nap!!!)  Beth

A Bit About Fusible Products

Before I hurt my hand I was working on this bright little quilt.

Each of the little stacks of hearts illustrate a brand/type of fusible and how well they stack up, stick and feel. This is designed for touching, to feel the layers and the suppleness or the stiffness of the layers of each of the stacks of fused hearts.

(I think the pictures will enlarge if you click on them)

Another thing that nice to know is how the edges hold up after fusing and stitching. Some fusible products are much better at holding the fabric edges down than others. Here I used an open narrow zigzag stitch to finish the edges of each heart.

Over the years I have used many different fusible products... about 200 yards so far. I like having a selection on hand to use, depending on the project. Sometimes I need to have some real stick and others need a light stick just to keep in place until I stitch it down. Sometimes you do not want to trace a thousand leaves... and would be happy if you could just print out a paper backed fusible with all your leaves traced and ready to be fused to the fabric.

Some fusible products stick… so well that the glue becomes part of both fabrics and taking them apart…. will never happen, while some others depending of the fabric treatments, you may be able to peel a fused piece off and reposition. Still others allow you to create your design pieces and they will have a ‘temporary’ sticky feature that allows you to play with placement before making it permanent with heat. Another downside to some fusible products is that the glue may maybe so heat sensitive that too much ruins the stick or there is so much glue that the layers of fabrics become stiff that they are nearly impossible to stitch through by machine or they will transfer the glue to the needle causing additional problems.

The hearts hanging on the side are to show how a fusible product looks on the back of the fabric, minus a backing so you can see how each the fusible feels and looks after fusing to the first fabric.

After sharing this with a guild I have been asked to expand this into a talk on various fusible products and characteristics.

Do you use fusible products in your creative process? Which one is you favorite? Do have one that has disappointed you?

More Later- Beth

Surviving an Injury!

So how did I get past the tendonitis without losing my mind?

I did a jigsaw puzzle. I have started this a number of times…. but never got past getting some of the outside edges done before putting it back in the box. I generally keep a puzzle around for when I have to sit on my hands… and do nothing. The last time was when we were selling the house in Virginia.

This time I had enough time to complete this puzzle and I will be passing it on later in the year. I rarely ever do a puzzle less than a 1000 pieces, and this one was doubly difficult because the pieces were irregular, very irregular! And did not fit together as well as I would have liked.

After almost 10 days of rest I think I can go about my daily activities without restriction. But I will monitor for pain or swelling and find a new activity if I feel…. any discomfort.

Until Later! Beth