Ami's AfterChat NewsletterDatePlease Note: This newsletter was originally sent on Date, 1999. It may not have improved with age. Information may be outdated and irrelevant, not to mention useless. It is here only for your enjoyment.
WELCOME
REMEMBER
June 24, 1999 We do the Ask The Expert thing and you are kind enough to let me pretend to be the expert.
DESIGN WALL A few years ago I moved my studio out of my office and into the living room. I know this sounds strange, but since we always hang out in the Family Room, the living room served as a rather wide hallway to get from the TV to the rest of the house. I needed more room. Actually I was fine, it was my STASH that needed more room. (Incidentally, I just learned from one of my loyal readers that a shopping spree in a fabric store is referred to as S.E.X. This stands for Stash Enhancement eXperience. I was so thrilled to learn this that I shared it with a nice looking woman at Yoder's Department Store down in Shipshewanna (Amish Country) yesterday who was petting fabric over on the Debbie Mumm table. As soon as she asked me to repeat what I had just said I knew I was in trouble. I really have to stop talking to strangers.) At any rate, when we started the addition on the house, I had the carpenter build my fabric closet and install cheap kitchen cabinets on either side. The best place for these was on the wall with the fire place on it. (UGLY fire place. Never liked it. Liked it even less after I figured out that room would make a great sewing studio.) Steve said this was OK with him as long as the cabinets were removable if we ever sold the house. (Of course they are! Pass me the sledge hammer.) I just got around to screwing the Celetex (4 x 8 foot Styrofoam insulation boards available at large hardware stores and lumber yards) to the doors of the closet. It was easy. I measured the doors, marked the dimensions using my Omnigrid ruler and a pen on the Celetex, and then cut it to size with a steak knife. Piece of cake. Then, I covered them with a thin layer of batting, and the most wonderful off-white flannel. I mail-ordered it from one of my favorite shops in Indiana Amish country, which I happened to visit again yesterday but was able to curb my nasty habit of engaging total strangers in conversation, just because they look like quilters. Back to the Design Wall. The batting and flannel were secured with my handy-dandy tape gun. I picked out a couple of those nasty sharp black long screws the framers left all over the driveway and in flower beds, used Steve's drill to screw the Celetex to the cupboard door, and I was in business. You can go to my web page and see pictures if you like. (If it doesn't have it's own button, look at CONSTRICTION PROJECT.) http://quilt.com/amisimms/ You can mail order the Fantastic Flannel from the very friendly people at Gohn Brothers too, if you like. It's really called cotton flannel bed sheeting and measures 52 inches wide. It's only $3.98 per yard. Wash the flannel first. To get a circular filled with all sorts of interesting Amish things (like quilting fabric, bandannas, Amish trousers, bloomers, lap robes for your buggy, and the flannel) send $.50 to the address below. It's wonderful reading even if you don't order anything.
Gohn Brothers
PANAMA TRIP
STAR WARS And, although I am an astute viewer (I noticed the kid wearing the braces) I could not for the life of me remember the name of the long-haired Jedi knight. Why did they have to name him after Chinese food? What was it anyway: Gung Pow? Moo Goo Guy Pan? Moo Shui Something? Help me out here.
SPEAKING OF HELP? And, I received this message that might interest somebody out there... A colleague of mine is seeking a quilter to complete a quilt made by her mother who is now deceased. Her mother made a quilt top and Kathleen is looking for someone to complete the quilt with a preference hand stitching rather than machine stitching. Terms are to be discussed with Kathleen at kathleen.moore@oakland.k12.mi.us
THE WORLD'S BIGGEST YARD SALE
Just to experience it from both ends: buyer AND seller, I decided to
list a couple of things myself, having recently cleaned out the basement. I
put on a quilt top I'm just never going to get around to quilting, two very
small hand quilted UFOs, and a copy of my new book autographed to the wrong
person. I also listed some of my mother's hand painted/hand dyed quilting
fabric. I apologize for the short notice as the auctions end June 24, 1999 at
17:52:22 and June 25, 1999. That's this Thursday and Friday. You can see
what I've got by going to ebay (http://www.ebay.com) and then clicking SEARCH
(way up at the top). Then, on the search page, scroll down a bit and complete
the SELLER SEARCH with my screen name. (amisimms@aol.com) http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&user id=amisimms@aol.com&include=0&since=-1&sort=2&rows=25 which must be the longest URL in history. For heaven's sake don't try to manually type it, just highlight and copy. We're also working on a link from my web page...
MILLENNIUM QUILTS?
SPEAKING OF BUGS Yes, I loved Charlotte's Web as a kid, but unless Some Pig is clearly written in the web, that spider's out-a-here! They just plain give me the creeps. We seem to have attracted a new, rare breed of very intelligent jumping spiders. They seem to know that my foot in the air above them means the end is near and they jump out of the way. I thought this was quite amusing, in a sort of diabolical way, until the little varmint jumped at the foot that was still on the ground. Then I jumped. Then he jumped some more. Before I eventually got him we were doing a very lively version of the stomp polka. Steve isn't afraid of spiders and it is his duty to kill them for me. I had this written into our marriage vows. I only do it myself when he's not home. Steve isn't a Bug Squishier, he's a Bug Sprayer. He laughs when I have to use 4 paper towels to scoop them up. (I don't want to feel them either, especially the crunchy ones.) He uses bug spray. To date we don't know if the bug spray kills them, or they just drown in it. He squirts them at point blank range, following them down the wall with the spray as their limp wet bodies plummet to the floor, and only releases the nozzle after the offending insect has gone under for the third time. I don't ask him to kill anything until it is at least 6 feet from any one of my quilts. I'm afraid saturating them with whatever poisons are in the can may add a secondary pattern, or possibly expose the wall behind them.
FUNNY WEB PAGE:
UNTIL NEXT TIME
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