What a Life!

Why is this press release on my blog? To prove that I come from good stock. Arden and Barbara are my parents…

Barbara and Arden Hagele, ImPRESSive Printing and Copy Center, Tampa, Florida, received the Superior Performance in Print Shop Management award for 2006 from CPrint®, Certified Printers International, at the organization’s biannual board meeting in Jacksonville, Florida. CPrint® presents this, its highest award, to printing companies who maintain high standards of operational performance as measured by financial strength, profitability, and growth.

According to Tom Crouser, CPrint® President, ImPRESSive Printing and Copy Center’s performance ranks it in the top five percent of all printing companies in North America. CPrint® sets the bar high for its performance awards and ImPRESSive Printing and Copy Center has exceeded those goals.

Arden Hagele said that the award was owed to a team effort,“I attribute this achievement to the teamwork of our employees, the confidence and loyalty of our customers, the encouragement of members of the CPrint® Alliance, the training by the CPrint® staff, and the blessing of our Creator and Sustainer.”

ImPRESSive Printing and Copy Center is an example of how a family-based business can prosper amidst ever increasing competition by focusing on principles and practices geared to exceptional customer service, by truly transcending what customers want and going to the heart of what customers need. Barbara and Arden Hagele say that becoming part of CPrint® helped them build a solid foundation for their business.

CPrint® is an organization of independently owned family-based businesses that strive for professionalism and performance among small businesses that commonly lack highly developed systems and leadership. Companies from throughout North America participate in the program. The CPrint® designation is available only to printers who demonstrate exceptional quality and service by maintaining standards in operations, training, equipment and software as well as worker benefits and working conditions. This program requires annual onsite recertification as well as participation in continuing educational programs. ImPRESSive Printing and Copy Center is the only company in the Tampa area currently to qualify for the program.

ImPRESSive Printing and Copy Center is located at 1827 E. Fowler Avenue in Tampa, Florida. For more information about the company, call 813-558-8999 or visit the company’s website at www.impressive-printing.com.

To all the women who have children…who are expecting children…who want to have children…who wanted to have children…Happy Mother’s Day!

You’re in my heart…

Remember my pledge to complete one UFO (unfinished object) per week? I’m thinking I need to revise it to “work on” one UFO every week.

This week? I finished machine quilting the second twin quit for the boys’ bunk beds [whenever we get them].

Ah, yes! No more safety pins that might rust in my quilts. It took me two days to get it done. I had the sewing machine set up on the kitchen table so I could see the boys playing in the living room [and yell at them, of course…and my mom wonders why I’m selling my sewing machines!] On day two, the theory was that I would send Ben outside to play and put Joey down for a nap and then try to sew, but it was just a plan – nothing more.

The next step is to do the binding. I have to cut off the extra fabric I used for the backing as well as the batting. I’m thinking these quilts aren’t exactly square so it ought to be interesting. Then there’s the binding itself. I cut the binding for one quilt correctly, but I started to cut it for the second quilt incorrectly and I’m not sure if I have enough fabric left to do it correctly. If I don’t, I will have plently of extra fabric from the backing that I can use for the binding. I just need to cut the strips, figure out if I have enough, sew them together, sew one side of the binding to the quilt, and the quilts will then have seen the last of my sewing machine.

You think my machine will sell once I get that done? The serger sold right away. The sewing machine is probably overpriced, but I’m not in a hurry (and I have projects to finish) so I’m not ready to come down on it yet. Nothing like putting up your machine for sale to motivate you to finish projects you’ve been working on for almost a year and a half…

As for all the handsewing and thread burying and all that…I’m thinking I’ll wait until the time of year when one would welcome the idea of having a quilt on your lap while you work…which would not be summertime. There are some big blocks on this quilt – like six by thirteen – and I was even going to get stencils and hand-quilt designs on those blocks. We’ll see how far I actually get on stuff like that.

For now, I’ve done machine quilting between all the blocks. Not within any of the blocks. Just between them. I could go back if I wanted to. Or I could just leave it. The safety pins are out – without leaving rust – and that’s what matters. Someday when I don’t have children I’ll enjoy working on projects like this. Oh wait! These quilts are for my children. I have no choice but to finish them.

Ah, the life of a mother!

Last night Steve mowed the yard, and when he was finished, Ben wanted him to play with the ball and bat a little. Steve will toss the ball in the air and hit it and then Ben will laugh and run get the ball. Sometimes Ben will throw the ball into one of our pine trees (the branches go way down to the ground) just to see Daddy fish it out with the bat. Oh my!

Anyway, yesterday evening while they were doing this, Steve asked Ben if he was a baseball player.

“No,” said Ben.

“Are you a football player?”

“No.”

“Are you a basketball player?”

“No.”

“Are you a piano player like Mommy?”

“No.”

“Then what are you?”

“I’m a sandbox player.”

You got that right, Ben!

I got my yarn for knitting St. Brigid – Cascade 220 color 9332 (sapphire) – on April 20th and cast on that weekend. I also got yarn to make a sweater for Steve – charcoal grey Cascade 220.

Here is St. Brigid in all its glory (three repeats finished in this picture, four repeats finished as of last weekend):

Isn’t it pretty?

And here is the sweater I’m making for my dear husband whom I love very, very much:

Does that look boring to you? It’s boring to me. Plain old stockinette stitch. Elizabeth Zimmerman hated purling – I hate stockinette. I’m doing it flat so at least I have one row of knitting interspersed with one row of purling. Still…

Steve said he likes the Galway Guy sweater that I made him. And he does wear it as you can see here (Christmas 2006).

But he told me that what he really would like is a plain sweater with no fancy stitches. That’s why I say I’m doing it only for love. As of this weekend, I was halfway up the armholes (I hadn’t reached the armholes yet in that picture).

Before I started these projects, I would have told you that St. Brigid is the kind of knitting I love to do and the Charcoal Slogalong is the type of knitting I loathe. But I must confess, they go rather well together. The cable pattern in St. Brigid is so complex that even after doing it twenty times, I still do not have it memorized and am depending quite heavily on the charts. Since both sweaters are taking approximately the same amount of yarn (I ordered nine skeins for each…we’ll see), I’m working on them skein for skein. I’ll do half a skein or so of one, then play “catch up” with the other. And I must confess, they’re like yin and yang – they balance each other pefectly.

Remember these socks that I said I was going to make from the holiday gift issue of Interweave Knits (2006)?

Here they are in all their glory:

Last night I started knitting Monkey socks by Cookie A. She has her own website with a number of designs…yes, a number of designs I want to make. I think she should have a book published – maybe she has one in the works that we don’t know about, I don’t know. I just think her patterns are amazing and that some publisher should make good on that. Just saying is all…

So there are my three current projects – two sweaters and one pair of socks. I’m still trying to get some UFO’s done. Last week I managed to buy buttons for the little blue sweater for Jackson, but I haven’t put them on yet. Maybe this week…

Janome 204D Serger

Quality brand serger. Recently serviced – excellent condition. Hardly used. Manuals and original box included. Paid $349 new – asking $200 OBO. SOLD

Viking Husqvarna 230 Sewing Machine

Great basic machine – straight, zigzag, buttonhole and stretch stitches. Recently serviced – excellent working condition. About ten years old. Paid $600 new – asking $200 OBO.

Viking Husqvarna Walking Foot

Great for machine quilting or sewing through thick layers. $89.95 new – asking $49 OBO