March has been on heck of a month!  Every member of our family was sick for at least a week, including me.  We had our last big snowfall of the season on March 2nd.  I managed to get the shop up and running that day as well.  Managed to  attend two quilt shows in the area.  Helped to run the Cubscout Pinewood Derby Races.  Hosted 2 dinner parties and finished piecing the top for Dandelion Wine. 

Last week I even snuck in my annual physical.  I started this routine ( including my annual mammogram) when I turned 40, in hopes of catching any mid life issues early on.  Until this year, I went to the doctor with no issues to complain of.  This year I went with a list!  After a thorough examination and bloodwork – all the tests came back perfect – the diagnosis “you are just getting older.”  I turn 45  tomorrow.  I guess this is my midpoint year – is it downhill from here?  I hope not!  I am still waiting for the onset of menopause, but I can feel my body is starting to act a bit different.  As long as I am medically fit, I guess it’s a matter of mind over body!  I have to work on that!

I hope April is kinder to our family.  The kids have spring break the middle of the month and I am tired of being cold.  I am ready for spring!  The squirrels ate my tulips that started coming up, but the deer have left the daffodils alone.  Maybe I’ll go buy some pansies for color.  Do groundhogs eat pansies in pots?  I guess I’ll find out!

Helle-May

The last time I lived in New Jersey, the thought of attending a quilt show in Manhattan would have been very foreign.  Having discovered quilting in the midwest, the heart of the traditional American quilting world, I am still amazed at how much quilting is going on the NY metropolitan area.  As quilting began its resurgence in the 80’s, I’m sure it was here when I last lived here, but somehow I was oblivious to it, even though I thought I was aware of any sort of fabric store within a 100 mile radius. 

Anyway, on Saturday a couple of friends and I drove into NYC to attend the Empire Quilters’ “Urban Inspirations 2009 Quilt Show.”  It was held at the Fashion Institute of Technology in midtown Manhattan.  (I volunteered to drive because for some strange reason I am one of the few people who actually like to drive in NYC.  It’s my one risky behavior, I tell everyone!)

I have to say it was the most colorful quilt show I have ever attended.  It was great!  Much to my friend Linda’s chagrin, there wasn’t a traditional quilt to be found.  On the other hand, the quilts weren’t at the other extreme of avant garde art quilts either.  They were mostly in the middle – transitional, I’d say (right up my alley!) with a healthy helping of color.  The lighting was also very nice which accented the quilts beautifully.  There were probably 250 – 300 medium to small size quilts. 

As part of the $10 admission, there was an hour long  presentation by Paula Nadelstern on her quilting journey and her beautiful kaleidescope quilts.  If the quilts weren’t enough, that was definitely worth the price of admission.  Of course there were vendors – with quite a large array of imported fabric from all over the world -just what I’d expect from a NY quilt show.  If my weekends weren’t already full with family activities, I’d definitely consider joining the guild which meets once a month on a Saturday afternoon. 

Here are a couple of picture I took at the show to give you a glimpse.  Check out their website: www.Empirequilters.net

Happy Quilting!

Helle-May

It’s been a busy week!  Last weekend my son’s cubscout pack had their annual Pinewood Derby Race.  His den leader was in charge of the event, so needless to say my husband and I were involved in helping to run it Friday night and all day Saturday.  It’s a lot of fun for the kids and parents.  Even my 6 year old made a car.  This pack has what I think is a pretty elaborate set-up with metal tracks hooked up to a computer to capture the time and speed of the races to the third decimal place!  It’s like watchingthe Olympics!  The times and speeds for each race were even projected on a screen as the cars finished.  Pretty cool stuff!  Stephen did not win a trophy, but he was quite proud of his car – which he made by all himself.  Unfortunately, I can’t say that all of the cars were made entirely by the scout, as they should be.

Hubby left for Chicago the next day for a 3 day business trip and as usual, that’s when children get sick!  Stephen came down with a stomach bug on Monday and didn’t go back to school until Friday.  This was a lot longer than usual for him when gets a stomach bug.  So watch out – there’s something funny going around out there.  I was told that there were quite a few kids out last week

On a quilting note…  somehow I did manage to get the quilt top finished.  I am very pleased with “Dandelion Wine” – but you will have to wait just a little longer to see the final result!  Cross my fingers that everyone stays healthy this week and I can finalize the quilting design, get it basted and start quilting! 

When he was feeling a little better, Stephen also worked on his quilt.  This is his first piece made on the machine.  Not bad for a beginner!  I gave him free reign over my stash – obviously he is influenced by Mom’s color preferences!   He still wants to put a border on it and then I will show him how to quilt it.

Don’t let the stomach bug bite!

Helle-May

Evidently I am still experiencing blog issues.  A friend of mine asked me why I hadn’t posted any of her comments. “What comments?” I replied.   Based on every option I have looked at in my control panel, comments should be getting through.  So, dear reader, if you have posted a comment, I apologize for not having seen nor posted it.  Please try again!  I would hate to know that I’ve missed any well meaning comments!

I had tried turning off the spam protection, but that certainly is not advisable again, after all the obscene links and comments I received! 

Hopefully I hear from someone  so that I know this is working.

Thanks!

Helle-May

P.S.  Please don’t forget to check out the website – I have added a few new pages, not to mention the store is now open.  Please tell a friend!

Sorry for the ominous last post.  Having been a customer service manager for many years, I have very little patience for customer service reps conveying conflicting information.  I shopped around a bit and decided that despite the challenges I was having with my hosting site’s contract department, they provide a good package for a do- it- yourselfer at a reasonable price.  So for now, I’ve decided to stay the course with them.

Having said all that – I finally finished the store portion of my website!!!  YEAH!!!!  Please go www.HelleMayDesigns.com and take a look around.  Selection is limited right now  – but it will grow!   I made a test purchase myself today, and everything seemed to work fine.  I’m sure I’ll keep refining as I go along.  As my friend said, if I wait until it’s perfect, I’ll never get started! 

If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear. 

Helle-May

P.S.  For the beginning of March – it certainly looks a lot more like January!  We have at 5 inches on the ground!  It’s the snowstorm I’ve been waiting for all winter to really go sledding with the boys!

So that I don’t lose anyone who is actually following my journey, I have created a new blog.  Please visit me at www.hellemaydesigns.blogspot.com until I can figure this all out!!!

Helle-May

Just when I think I have everything under control….

The Good News:  I approved the proofs of the Christmas Candy pattern, so the printer should be working on those as I write.  I am so glad that pattern is finally off my desk.  It came out well and I learned a lot from it.  Forthcoming patterns will be done a lot differently and hopefully take  a lot less time!

The Not so good news:  I wanted to finally get the shop up and running before the end of this month, but I’ve been struggling with my website host’s customer service department since Novemeber regarding the “e-commerce” side of the site.  I signed up for (or at least I thought I did) for their basic package, but somehow something got messed up and they linked a professional (i.e. more expensive) package to my site. Everytime I talk to someone I get a different answer.  The latest answer I got was that they can’t unlink it without canceling my whole website.  I’m tired of arguing, so… I’m looking elsewhere.  Of course, I worry about making it all a smooth transition and not losing what I want to keep – my domain names, the blog content…  I’m sure if I were a bit more of a computer geek, I wouldn’t be so anxious – but quite honestly it’s all Greek to me!  These computer guys through around internet terms and acronyms like it’s somehting I should have learned in 2nd grade.

I’m done with arguing and I want to get this done, so hopefully within the week, I’ll have this issue resolved.  There may be as much as 24-48 hours of downtime during the transition – so don’t get worried.  If all goes well, www.HelleMayDesigns.com should still exist when the dust settles.  As for the blog – I’m not sure exactly where that will reside.

Wish me luck! Any suggestions would be most appreciated!!!  The one web hosting site I like so far is called InMotion Hosting.  If you have any comments, let me know.

Helle-May

P.S.  I just had a thought – I’m going to check out putting a blog on Blogspot at least for the transition.  I’ll keep you posted.

The printer has all my files for the Christmas Candy pattern!  Yeah!  I should have a proof back early next week.  I will get the “store” set up and finally have something to offer for sale.  OK – so I’m a month late, but better late than never as they say! 

I just had to share my latest quilt project!  My younger son attends a Lutheran church based full day Kindergarten.  Each week they focus on a different letter of the alphabet.  Last week was “Q” week, so naturally I had asked if I could do a quilt project with the kids.  It went so well and the kids enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share.  For all those quilter moms and and teachers out there it was super easy and very popular! 

The art teacher gave me sheets of 12″ x 18″ paper that was slightly heavier than cardstock – more like the oaktag of my school days.  Using my rulers and my son’s help, we drew a 4 x 4 grid on each with 3″ squares.  Using my rotary cutter, I trimmed  the paper into 12″ blocks.  Then I took all of my fabric scraps (especially the ones from the boys’ and other juvenile quilts I had made) and cut 3″ squares of fabric.  I sprayed the fabric with sizing first to give it a little extra body.  I must have cut 400 squares!  I sorted them by color family and brought it all to school.  Each child picked their own squares to put on their block.  Applying glue to the paper with a glue stick seemed to work really well.  I was worried that regular white glue would get too gloppy with the fabric. 

When we were done, we had 18 unique 12″ blocks, which the teacher and I then arranged into a quilt on the wall.  We used colored tape in between the blocks and one of those pre-cut wavy bulletin-board borders around the outside edge.  It looks great!  The kids were so proud of their individual and group quilt!  The next day the teacher told me I had turned them all into mini quilt monsters as they cut up pieces of paper and wallpaper samples during their free time to make more quilts  (even the boys!)!  I couldn’t be more proud!

The pictures are a little skewed because the quilt is in a hallway and I couldn’t get it all in standing in front of it!

Remember my husband’s friend who found me on the internet after 15 years? Well I found out how and I think it’s a pretty cool story.

She was looking for a contemporary quilt design for her mother to make her a quilt.  Surfing the web, she came across this website  www.galenfrysinger.com  .  It’s one man’s personal website about his travels (he’s been to 172 countries- even Estonia!) and interests.  Turns out he has an interest in quilts due to his grandmother and wife who are quilters.  He attended the 2007 Quilts, Inc. show in Chicago and took a bunch of pictures of the quilts on display, including the one I had exhibited “Treasure Chest.”  He had my name on it, but spelled it “Helle-Mae”.  My friend saw it and thought there was a chance it could be me with a misspelling, so she googled the correct spelling and Voila!  came up with my website.  I just think that’s pretty cool!  Check out the website – this man has beautiful pictures of people from all around the world.

Good news!  I finally finished the pattern instructions for the Christmas Candy TableRunner and Wallhanging on Friday.  Just need to put the cover together and it’s off to the printer!  The delay was in being able to produce the diagrams I wanted to include and figuring out a way to incorporate it with what I had already written for the bedsize quilt.  Long story short – for some unknown reason, the drawing tools that I had mastered in Word, no longer operate the same way since I upgraded my Microsoft Office package to include Publisher.  Very frustrating, Mr. Gates !!!! 

So, not wanting to spend more money on software (my friend wants me to get Adobe Illustrator), I went back to the TurboCad program I bought last spring (very inexpensive – but could not make heads or tails of) and figured out how to use it!  So here I am the frustrated engineer – elated that I can draw with CAD!!!  I keep teasing my husband that he can hire me now!  Let’s just say that it’s great to know that when you dust the cobwebs off – there still is a functioning brain in there!!!

I’ve said this before, but I hope now between Publisher and the TurboCAD I can put on paper what is in my head and that pattern writing should take a lot less time!  I missed my end of January deadline – but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  I just hope no one turn off the light to save energy!

Helle-May