Annie's Quilt Orts

Design Wall Monday--Jan 30, 2012

2012-01-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

On my design table today are two works in progress. The first is the pick for the UFO Challenge, a small quilt that needed handquilting. Have I mentioned I am not really good at that? Probably why I waited until this past weekend to get started.

I came to two conclusions as I quilted: I need to learn how to use a hoop and that people who quilt on car trips must be experts.

The bating fibers were choking me so I attached the binding after getting home yesterday. Four whole blocks and the two half blocks are finished. I have until midnight on the 31st to finish the rest...

All the blocks for Bricks and Stepping Stones got finished on Friday night so it will be time to play layout and switcheroo after the handquilting job is done.

Today is my mother in law's 93rd birthday so we are taking her to a nice dinner out. Here she is in front of the quilt I made for her 90th birthday. Frances is still living independently (in a senior apartment complex) and very active. See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

On the road again

2012-01-29T20:32:00.000-08:00

I go months without getting out of town and then it happens in threes--this time with my honey. Grant's employer has an annual awards dinner, held in a different place every year. We got a late start on the 120 miles drive south to beautiful Dana Point on Saturday, arriving just before sunset at the fabulously ritzy Laguna Cliffs Resort.

A beautifully restored Woodie is featured beneath the porte cochere at the lobby entrance.

Surfboard appropriate background for the description.

We quickly checked into our room and then went for a sunset stroll. Lots of folks were out on the grounds of a large public park just beyond the resort property.

The architecture reminded me of the famous Coronado hotel in San Diego (featured in the great old movie "Some Like It Hot"). Our shadows are real but this perfect lawn is a darn good fake--AstroTurf in dry SoCalif is a great water saver.

Lots of pines cover the walk to the edge of the coastal bluffs...

...Where a view of the Dana Point Harbor entrance was nicely framed by Eucalyptus trees.

The famed Laguna Cliffs ring this natural cove for miles. Surfers in the water were catching more rays than waves on this calm sea. We left this serene scene for our room and dressing up for a lovely dinner and just-a-tad-too-long-but-bearable awards ceremony.

View from our balcony the next morning as we said goodbye to Dana Point and got on the road after too short of a stay--I would love to have lounged by the pool and taken another walk down to the harbor, or even scheduled a spa treatment. I told Grant that we really should aim for at least a minimum of 24 hours away from home the next time we have a chance to go somewhere--especially when someone else is picking up the hotel room/parking/breakfast! On the car ride I finally started hand quilting on my UFO Challenge pick of the month, but more about in that next post.

Road to CA show

2012-01-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

A few days late but here is some eye candy from the show. Funny, it seems I come home with photos of the kind of quilts I don't make! All photographs were taken at the Road to California show.

Large and very exuberant quilt. I liked the perspective.

This quilt artist sure can do realistic!

Sorry for the blur!

Ditto on the blur. This quilt had wonderful colors and even more wonderful fabrics used for the animals when you got close up.

Check out the chicken wire and hoof quilting on the right side of the piggies.

I wonder if the stars in the Chief's sash drew this quilter to the photo originally?

Amazing 3D effects--not sure how they were achieved exactly.

So much to explore and digest in studying this wall hanging.

Wish there had been a description of the techniques used.

Julie, me, and Libby (Libby says photographs steal her soul so I got special permission, lol!). Dawn had already headed back to her afternoon class session.

I made and gave these little threadkeepers to Julie and Libby from a free pdf pattern from Primitive Gatherings (Lisa Bonegan--which I don't find on her site so don't know where I got it!). The buttons are vintage and the cheater fabric made them interesting. I kept one for myself :)

Julie made me this wonderful tote bag (she remembered I love green and that was the color of the lining) and the mini "Spring" quilt she recently posted on her blog, as well as the HST zip bag filled with lotion and chocolate--two staples quilters always need. I was so surprised and thankful for her generosity. A Beam and Read light and some half yard cuts came home with me from the vendors along with a few other treasures I can't share just yet. Really good show and so great to meet such wonderful ladies!

Tuesday's Orts--Jan 24, 2012

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's Orts--bits of thoughts and scraps of events from my week that land here.

Friday's excursion to L.A. was made so pleasant by getting chauffeured by my dad and spending the ride solving the world's problems in the backseat with Cousin Florence.
I could eat tacos every day. And I did about four days last week: Fish tacos at Spencer Mackenzie, beef ones from Taco Bell, short rib tacos at Parkway Grill, chicken tacos on date night, and breakfast tacos tonight. Oops, I guess that's five times.
Traffic Rant: Extreme speeders in heavy traffic. These maniacs seem to travel together in pods. They come out of nowhere, zoom across and through multiple lanes of traffic without giving anyone a second to get out of their way, and then vanish into the future. Good riddance!
Saturday night turned out to be date night. Dinner and a movie? Okay, I can get out of my pajamas for that! Sherlock Holmes was very entertaining and the popcorn good and buttery.
My Road to California Quilt Show meetup with fellow bloggers Julie and Libby was great fun. They introduced me to Dawn, of Collector with a Needle. Lots of laughter and getting to know each other stories. Loved it!
Best line of the day was by Libby: "Block of the Months are my Kryptonite. I just can't take them."
How to tell when you're nearing a quilt convention:

No need for the GPS guide any more!

Design Wall Monday--Jan 23, 2012

2012-01-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

On my design table today are leftovers and some new menu choices.

These half-square triangles were leftover from a Pineapple Blossom quilt I made my mother in law for her 90th birthday three years ago. Last summer I made table runner with a bunch of the HSTs but still had a few left. I came up with this fun zig zag layout and put them in a baggie. Recently I pulled them out again and trimmed up to 3.5". I'll put them in pairs and use them for leader-enders.

Two selections from a successful hunt for yellows for the Pink Lemonade, found in the Primitive Gatherings booth at the Road to California show. I'm leaning towards the upper yellow but like both. See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Getting Out, Making Music

2012-01-21T11:48:00.000-08:00

Cousin Florence is visiting my folks from Ohio and I was invited to go along on a museum trip to L.A., for which I gladly took a day off work. But first, we lunched at an upscale Pasadena restaurant called the Parkway Grill. It's a warm and inviting restaurant with original art on the walls and delicious gourmet food.

Florence learned the towering arrangement in this enormous vase is made of fresh flowers which are changed frequently. There are eight one gallon vessels in the vase to hold the flowers. After stuffing ourselves thoroughly over a leisurely hour and a half lunch, we headed to the nearby Norton Simon museum. Anyone who has watched the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day has seen this modern building as it is on Colorado Blvd.

A vast collection of my favorite Impressionist art occupies many rooms in one wing. These are sculptures by Edgar Degas. One of my favorites is The Little Dancer, the larger piece in the rear of this photo.

Her cream silk ribbon looks new but her linen skirt was probably not this color originally. Degas is best known for his oil paintings but also made hundreds of bronze sculptures in his later years.

I came around the corner a minute after my mother and liked this composition.

Matisse often used printed fabric as backgrounds throughout his career, and on his models, in this case black lace. This is a larger painting of about four feet wide.

Diego Rivera painted these exuberant modern portraits and is known for his murals and as the husband of artist Frida Kahlo. This painting was donated to the museum by actor Cary Grant.

The thing I love most about going to art museums is the opportunity to get up close and study how much paint and what kind of decisions the artist made during his composition. Here you see he started with an orange sort of crab leg shape but painted over part of it later with the brown.

Picasso was very fond of color but what I really like in this painting is the use of browns, grays, and neutrals. It also looks like a blue bordered linen towel was part of this still life.

This modern art painting drew me, for some reason :)

I encourage everyone to visit galleries and museums locally or in nearby cities. Often the entrance fee is low--or free, with a suggested donation only. There's nothing like seeing art in person.

A Steinway Baby Grand piano was set up in this gallery and speakers were being placed by AV staff. Wonder who played this after we left?

I created some music of my own Friday night by completing the corner blocks for Pink Lemonade. This modified mock up is pretty cute too, without the yellow alternate blocks. Though I searched my local fabric store again, neither of the two yellows I found worked. I'm hoping to find a good one at the Road to California show tomorrow, where a meet up with Libby and Julie is planned. Very excited!

Forgot a few orts

2012-01-18T23:45:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have trouble when I actually sit down to compose my Tuesday's Orts post. I think I'll remember things to include but then they fly out of my head when faced with a blank page. Surely I'm not the only one this happens to!

On the Monday "holiday", I had to go in to the office because a new system needed to be installed--only because the installer was subsequently going out of town for 10 days. So guess who volunteered to be there for what turned out to be 2.5 hours...
Afterwards I did a couple errands and then stopped by my Mom & Dad's because I was hungry and Mom always feeds me. She tried to give me hummus, which I hate, or microwaved bacon. Sheesh! We went out instead to CPK and split our usual pizza and salad.
It was noted by the boss's wife that some newly printed checks (order form NOT filled out by her but by bank staff) state that we are a "Pofessional" Corporation.
Remember that nice new used car Grant bought on New Year's Eve? Well, we sold my aging one over the weekend in less than a half hour of parking it on a main drag. Amazing at what speed a low priced vehicle brings attention.
Planning a getaway. Wish me luck, since it involves Grant getting on a plane, something he is terribly UN-fond of.
The 18th anniversary of the awful Northridge (Los Angeles) earthquake was yesterday. My sister Kathy and her two kids were out from Missouri visiting when it occurred. Nice timing, right? Though we had no damage to speak of in our area, the power was out most of the day. So we took the all the cousins to the park to play.

L to R: our brother Kevin's boys Jeff (4, who hated having his picture taken), and Matt (7, imitating his brother), my Erica (3 3/4, not looking at the camera), Kathy's Caitlin (4, boy those Midwestern kids are pale), my Elaine (6, with her cute holey smile), Kathy's Jake (5 1/2, getting ready to REALLY make a funny face), and my Nick (8, who found that superhero guy in the sand and was stoked). Hard to believe it was so long ago!

Tuesday's Orts--Jan 17, 2012

2012-01-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's Orts--bits of thoughts and scraps of events from my week that land here.

What sounded like the bark of a very large dog in a vehicle outside our office the other day turned out to be a Basset Hound named Stella Louise.
DD Erica's best friend moved to AZ and they are sharing her little 2 bedroom guest house. Between that, new semester of college, dating, and working, we haven't heard from her much.
DD Elaine is helping organize a bridal shower for her future sister in law, her husband's brother's fiance. She's the middleman between the out-of-state Maid of Honor, the bride to be, and the MIL, at whose home the event will take place--a complicated sort of land!
Things I Don't Understand: Why are large plastic storage bin measurements given in GALLONS? Who ever keeps liquids in them? And who can picture what 109 gallons looks like in 3D?
On Wednesday a highway maintenance crew was digging a ditch along the frontage road that lines my neighborhood. The next morning as I was leaving for work I nearly came to a screeching halt to grab my camera:

This white heron hangs around on our end of town from time to time but I had never seen it this close. The funny thing was that he/she was in the exact same spot the following morning. There must have been some good bugs dug up by the trencher!

Design Wall Monday--Jan 16, 2012

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

On my design surface this Martin Luther King, Jr Day are the same two projects from last week, both of which are coming along well. Bricks and Stepping Stones parts are all complete and a few of the blocks assembled. I enjoyed all the piecing and pressing as I worked in batches.

112 bricks with attached 4-patch stones were sewn. This is a Bonnie Hunter (Quiltsville.com) free pattern.

So far, I'm liking the colors very much. The dark brown fabric second from the top left reads too dark and messes up the contrast with the black and white so I'm not going to use it. I only made the one tester brick so am not short of blocks by losing it. Spoke to the intended recipient today, my younger brother Ted, and told him I was working on his quilt. So now that news is out and I'm definitely committed!

The Pink Lemonade quiltalong finish has been posted and while I have picked out the fabric for the four corner blocks (not shown), I am not feeling the love for this yellow calico with these CW prints and will have to look for something else at my local stores. Poor me! See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Workroom

2012-01-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

Friday night, even though I was tired from a long work week, some fabric therapy was needed. After sitting in front of a computer all day, it felt better to stand at my cutting table and play with scraps for Pink Lemonade.

Parts were cut for the half blocks as a lovely cap to the evening. Saturday I was in my workroom doing about four different projects at once--washing fabric, cutting, and stitching. I used the black and white four patches for Bricks and Stepping Stones as my leader-ender while putting together the half blocks. I discovered a mistake in my notes for the half blocks and had to cut another 2 3/8" square of each print, but since it is my habit to complete one "kit" of pieces before chain piecing the others, it was easily fixed. I veered from Lori's instructions by making HSTs from whole squares, cutting them in half for the quarter square triangles, to improve my accuracy with these small pieces.

Only a couple of switches to get to this pleasing layout. All that is left is the corner blocks and setting squares. Still contemplating if the yellow I bought is a bit too "calico" for these CW reproduction prints.

Workroom time was interrupted by a lovely visit with my hairstylist offspring, the newlywed Mrs. G, followed by a trip to the local mall, where the only success found was this photo of the sun setting behind our Channel Islands into the Pacific. It seems winter has skipped SoCalif this year as the warm days have continued and it has been unusually clear and cloudless. Hopefully late January and February's usual storms will come through. Today, though, it's back to the workroom for some more therapy.

NQR

2012-01-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

NQR--nothing quilt related. There has been no sewing or quilting related activities so far this long and home-very-late-every-night workweek, other than a stop at Michael's for some rotary blades, needles and a little Kate Spain. I get her newsletter so I knew her paper goods were being sold at Michael's. I could have come home with armloads of these inexpensive goodies, but held myself to just a couple--for now.

Magnetic notepad and the adorable mini clipboard were each $1.50.

This reminded me that I had won a mini charm pack from Kate last year of Central Park that I've been hoarding. I think it needs to come out and play very soon. Meanwhile, I have quite a list of to do's this weekend, which for us here in the US is a three day weekend--Martin Luther King, Jr day is on Monday. Sure would like to knock some things off that list so I must remember my word for 2012: Focus. I notice I'm muttering it under my breath to myself at times of easy distraction!

Tuesday's Orts--Jan 10, 2012

2012-01-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's Orts--bits of thoughts and scraps of events from my week that land here.

Despite my perceived restraint at buying Christmas stuff this year, it seems my boxes are more full than ever and some things simply won't fit back in their respective spots. I swear I only bought a tablecloth and some snowman mugs. Oh, and some new tree lights. And garland lights. Oh yes, and more wrapping paper. But no new ornaments, I swear!
Things I Don't Understand: Open-toe boots. Just plain seem pointless to me in so many ways. Why warm your heels and ankles if you leave a big hole at your toes?
We've been having very odd weather here in So Calif--record breaking heat yet high surf. These don't coincide usually but the surfers are loving it.
I stopped at my favorite fish taco place the other day for lunch. A lady pulled up in a cute red Mini Cooper wagon. I really wanted to take a photo of her cargo--a full grown St. Bernard. I would have, too, if she hadn't been standing right by me.
Son Nick was taken to a Lakers game on Friday night as a Christmas gift from his girlfriend, Alison. They were easy to spot in the crowd due to Nick's bright gold shirt, but they didn't make it onto the Kiss Cam, darn it. Just a few rows in front of them were Jack Nicholson and also Charlize Theron.
While Grant was golfing with his buddies on Saturday I worked on cleaning up the post-holiday clutter that gathered in our bedroom. Mini supervised, of course. I emptied a workbag of fabric and when I returned from putting it away I found this:

Naturally I had to run downstairs for my camera. She stayed in the workbag until I threw a empty shoe box on the bed. You know what comes next, right?

Of course she had to try it out. Later I went out to do errands/shopping and found a small storage tower for our tiny master bath shower/toilet room. Mini helped by holding down the directions as I assembled it. I couldn't actually READ the directions then, but she helped just the same. Once complete, the testing phase immediately began.

Yup, perfectly cat sized!

Design Wall Monday--Jan 9, 2012

2012-01-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

On my design surfaces today--two new projects. Over the weekend I finished up two donation quilts and met my goal of mailing them off to Quilts for Kids on Saturday. Glad to have those off my list and on the way to someone's sick kid. So then I was free to jump into Bricks and Stepping Stones, a Bonnie Hunter pattern that I am making for my brother and showed the fabrics for last DWM.

I got about 1/4 the number of bricks completed and pieces and parts cut or sewn for many more. The very dark brown brick on the top of the stack may simply be too dark but I'm leaving it for now. It was so nice to sit and piece again!

Then I had to jump in on Lori of Humble Quilts' quiltalong--especially since she liked the name I suggested for her project--so here are my blocks for Pink Lemonade. These little shoofly blocks were fun to make--mine are green, brown, and navy. The above link is to Part 1 and she posted Part 2 today. See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Focusing

2012-01-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Man, that is a hard task when there are new projects calling my name! But I have had a Quilts for Kids kit for a shamefully long time and my sewing room workweek's goal was to get it in the mail TODAY. And so I shall, along with a from-stash fraternal twin quilt.

The kit quilt. I added precut 2" scrap bin black/white print corners to the airplane print blocks for a change-up to the basic squares.

Some simple diagonal grid quilting in a variegated blue thread finished it off. Originally I was going to bring the back over to the front and make a self binding but my quilting plan didn't really allow for that as I went off the edges of the quilt but not the edges of the larger backing. Savvy? That left loose ends that would have unraveled the quilting since I neatly clipped off the tails as I went.

This black and white checkerboard from the leftovers pile worked a charm for binding.

Skulls, flames, and stripes make this from-stash quilt pretty lively.

I even pieced the batting from leftovers so incurred no extra costs to fashion this donation quilt. I hope someone's kid likes it as much as I do!

The railroad tracks quilting gave this a nice texture and I would definitely use it again. It was really fun to stitch. The quilting design was from Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project blog (Day 354). She is currently doing a beginners free motion quiltalong and has some great tutorials. Okay, off to the post office I go. Focus, focus!

One Word+ Wednesday

2012-01-04T09:15:00.001-08:00

Railroad Tracks

Tuesday's Orts

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's Orts--thoughts and bits of my week that end up here.

Last week when my sister Kathy was here she brought her laundry over from her hotel and we hung out for a few hours (Mom was here for part of that), then went to a quilt shop and finally out to dinner with her daughter and boyfriend. Sure wish Kathy lived less than 1900 miles away so we could do this more often. Like once a week. And there would be quilting circle time too.
On Thursday I took an out of town trip with my friend Pat. We met at the office and then headed toward the 101 freeway. There was a heron/crane resting on top of the light standard as we went up the onramp leaving town. That was a new sight!
Our destination was Pismo Beach, a lovely drive through the rolling hills of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties to the sea. I dressed for cold weather and regretted it, especially the long-sleeved turtleneck, as it was an unusual 75 degrees there.
Things I Don't Understand: Strollers for Dogs. Especially bigger dogs, like the Standard Poodle I saw being pushed around a crowded retail store. (Of course, I don't understand having to take your dog everywhere with you either.)
In a first for my friend Pat, I took her into Quiltin' Cousins, a tiny little quilt shop in a converted bungalow. She was shocked that I didn't buy anything (see above entry about quilt shop foray the day before).
My camera did not make it out of my purse a single time on our excursion. The sidewalks were crowded with tourists and after a few turns about town past all the touristy shops, including hitting the same main intersection about four times, we headed home. Said Pat, "That was a long drive for lunch."
Our rain totals have reached less than 4 inches so far since the rainy season began (October), so the hills are all brown, brown, brown all over southern/central California.

This sepia tone about approximates the current scenery!

Design Wall Monday--Jan 2, 2012

2012-01-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

On my Design surface today is a new project that has been awaiting its turn in the queue since the summer. I love the smell of a new quilt waiting to be born....

Bricks and Stepping Stones is a Bonnie Hunter design (quiltville.com). Hers is totally scrappy and mine is controlled scrappy. This is a quilt for my last remaining sibling still quiltless. He likes coffee so I chose a few themed fabrics and lots of my favorite small geometrics and some textured solids. I decided to make it easier on myself by using only one black and one white. It is hard to find a good, dark black, isn't it? See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Year Out, Year In

2012-01-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

Last SoCalif sunset of 2011...

My husband spent the waning daylight hours of 2011 buying a slightly used Acura TL. Doesn't it look pretty in the sunset.

Soon I'll get a new-to-me Acura when he passes on his old car to me, and we'll sell my 1992 vintage Acura. My mechanic brother will no longer have to say his oft-repeated phrase "that car needs to go!"

I spent a good part of 12/31 washing and ironing fabrics for a new project and finishing up one of the Quilts for Kids quilts, but didn't get a good photo--I'll post one later. I crawled in bed early to read, fell asleep and slept right through the midnight hour until fireworks woke me up along with Grant coming in to say Happy New Year. No kiss, as I received a nice cold sore for Christmas, lucky me!

This morning found me checking Patchwork Times for the announcement of the UFO Challenge 2012 draw for January, which turned out to be #5. There is still time to join up, too. On my list #5 is the Doll Quiltalong project that I called Patriotic Fields.

My plan is to hand quilt this small project (approx. 20 x 25). Originally I thought I'd use Baptist fans, but there are so many seams and my experience is so slight that I'm rethinking that in favor of some outlining.

I've already thread basted it and have a nice red picked out for the binding. Good thing January has 31 days as I'm sure it will take more hours than someone who's accomplished at hand quilting to get it finished!

If its a good one

2011-12-31T12:51:00.000-08:00

I texted for permission from my co-worker Yadi to put a picture of her online and she said "Only if its a good one". I told her it was of her getting her quilt, so of course it was a good one.

Prolonging the surprise...

Smiling at the colors.

Action shot.

Happily wrapped in her quilt. Her smiles and excitement were the best kind of thank you. I love giving quilts as gifts!

While she was sleeping

2011-12-29T06:30:00.000-08:00

While the Quilt Inspector was doing this:

I worked on the December UFO pick, which for me was the Greenpiece BOM.

I was turning these pretty parts...

...into these lovely stars. Two more blocks added to the pile and so many more to go. Otherwise the last few days have been filled with family get togethers and some post-Christmas shopping. The last of the family leaves town today so I'll be spending more time completing my year end sewing goals of more UFO work and getting the Quilts for Kids quilts finished and mailed--I got one of those basted with the help of my sister (who complained a lot about the non-curved basting pins--you know you did, Kathy!).

It has been so nice not to have to go into the office though there has been some transcription work happening. I even had to go down to the hospital to get a TB test. Even though I work offsite (in my own home!) I am required to get a yearly test and my supervisor called to tell me she couldn't find the paperwork for 2011 and I was going to be put on suspension if it wasn't done by January 1. Neither of us could remember if I had done it so under the needle went I!

Tuesday's Orts--Dec 27, 2011

2011-12-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's Orts--the bits and scraps of thoughts and events that land here.

Best mail time of the year is almost over. I loved the day that eight Christmas cards came in.
Last minute shopping found me at the mall on Christmas Eve morning with all of the men and a surprising number of families.
Christmas Eve is Soup Night here. I made our favorite Hamburger Soup and there were desserts and beverages. By the time the evening was through there were 18 folks hanging out here. I loved that!
Things I don't understand: Music speakers in public bathrooms.
My sister, her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend did start out from Missouri on the 23rd intending to drive straight through to CA, but were stopped cold with thousands of others in Tucumcari, New Mexico, literally, when Highway 40 was shut down due to snow and ice. They eventually got a hotel and slept for a few hours. My niece woke suddenly and flung open the door, asking someone in the hallway if the 40 had been opened, to which the reply was Yes, how did you know? Said Caitlin, "I heard cheering".
Christmas morning brought our usual family traditions of listening to Christmas music, eating cinnamon rolls, bacon and eggs for breakfast, and opening gifts one by one. There was the usual refrain from Nick that he didn't get as many presents as the girls. Once again, the most popular stocking gift was the $50 gasoline card.
The girls exchanged the same gift:

They both liked it a lot!

Design Wall Monday--Dec 26, 2011

2011-12-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

Last Design Wall of the year--I've missed a few but have really enjoyed seeing what everyone is working on and getting visitors' comments when they have popped over here. Thanks, Judy, for continuing to inspire me to have something to show!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday with plenty of laughter and joy. We did!

My design wall is unchanged from last week, still the December UFO pick, but I did do some sewing and quilting this week for gifts:

These Snap Happy bags are so easy and fun to stitch up, and with the metal measuring tape insert, nice and secure. I enjoyed playing with the quilting on each one. These were made from decorator fabric discontinued samples from JoAnn's that were $2 each--all 100% silks--for the outer fabric, and the contrast bands/linings were all from stash. I cut one out for myself but didn't get to it yet. See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Season's Greetings

2011-12-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

From our family to yours, wishing you the joys of the season and all that is merry and bright!

*Photography credit: Driver Photo

UFO Challenge 2012

2011-12-21T08:16:00.001-08:00

My participation in Judy's Patchwork Times UFO Challenge 2011 was enjoyable but spotty. Of the 12 quilts on my list, there were four complete finishes (see the page for updates). I did work on all of the quilts except for two that were not touched at all in the middle of "Wedding Central" time. All of these quilts were for ME, and I worked on gift quilts and projects every month as well, so I didn't disappoint anyone but myself by not finishing them :) It is my dream, however, to have a stack of finished quilts of my very own, so in joining the 2012 UFO Challenge, there will be some repeats.

1. Judy's Mystery Quilt--The center of the top is complete. Needs borders, backing assembled (already purchased), quilting and binding.
2. Caramel Blues--The center of the top is complete. Needs borders, backing assembled, quilting and binding.
3. Cheddar and Cinnamon--The top is completed. Needs backing, quilting and binding.
4. Any Witch Way--Two small quilts. One top is complete. Letters for names are pieced for the second, which needs to be completed, then both quilted and bound.
5. Patriotic Fields Doll Quilt--Sandwich completed. Awaiting hand-quilting and binding.
6. Yuletide Blessings--Sandwich completed. Needs quilting and binding.
7. 9 patch Quiltbuddies--Cut setting squares, assemble top, add borders.
8. Greenpiece BOM--Some blocks completed. Make remaining pieced blocks and all wool blocks, assemble tree medallion.
9. Table runners--Two table runners. Baby Boxes needs borders, backing, quilting and binding. Party Time needs the applique stitched down, backing, quilting and binding.
10. Jewel Box--Make 32 additional jewel box blocks to make a throw sized top. Assemble top.
11. Quiltbuddies Christmas block swap: Cut sashing and cornerstones, assemble top.
12. Double pink and brown/tan 9 patch blocks--Make X's and O's small quilt.

Looking forward to having more finishes in 2012! Thank you Judy for having the Challenge again.

Tuesday's Orts--Dec 20, 2011

2011-12-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's Orts--bits of thoughts and events that land here most weeks.

Sugar Season is playing havoc with my No Flour, No Sugar eating plan. Especially since I work in a doctor's office and people bring in lots of goodies.
When I delivered the wedding quilt, DD Elaine turned it over to see what the label said...and was disappointed that there was no label. Oh, dear. Gotta remedy that!
Coming back from a walk the other evening, I came up behind my neighbor walking from the mailbox. She turned and showed me that a letter addressed to someone in Mammoth Lakes had come to her mailbox. The post office was way off on this one!
Things I Don't Understand: Sagging skinny jeans on young men. Okay, so you expect your calves to hold up your pants?
We went to a Japanese Teppan restaurant for our office Holiday gathering. Dr. P had never been to a Teppan place before. This is logical because he is a vegetarian, and watching meat being sliced and grilled in front of him isn't exactly something he finds enjoyable. But the rest of us liked it plenty.
Mini the cat supervised me closely, as usual, as I was trying to find a good place to photograph the Yellow Flowers for Yadi quilt in the backyard, frontyard, and sideyard.

She did require a break to sharpen her claws, however.

Design Wall Monday--Dec 19, 2011

2011-12-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

As I completely finished my Flowers for Nana Girl quilt yesterday, I am so ready to get back to piecing. On my Design Wall today is the UFO pick for December, which by coincidence was a Christmas gift from my dear hubby. This 2010 block of the month from Moda called Greenpiece just wowed me with its multitude of pieced stars and pretty wool applique blocks. However, four blocks per month proved too much for me and I only got three months' worth of the pieced blocks completed. I stowed each month's delivery in a drawer thereafter, sadly.

All the fabrics are yummy reproductions in warm and deep shades.

There is a medallion with a tree in the center with wool leaves, which I plan to customize. I only got as far as cutting the backgrounds for the wool blocks and prepping some shapes with freezer paper templates. I'd like to get all the pieced blocks done by the end of the year, though I will not even meet my UFO goal doing that! I have the week off work following Christmas and I hope to spend lots of time at my sewing machine. See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Promise Kept--a finish

2011-12-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

Smaller quilts make for faster finishes, that is true, but much time is still devoted to the quilting process. I am pleased to report that the quilting was completed in a couple of lengthy sessions and one short one. Putting on the binding was fairly quick since I do it all by machine using my walking foot. My version of "Flowers for Nana Girl" (from Scrap Basket Sensations) is called Yellow Flowers for Yadi.

Yadi is my co-worker who is a nursing student and working two jobs part-time while she studies. She has been our back office assistant for a number of years and we share a room at work. She loves yellow and her second favorite color is pink. The one pink block is the "heart" of the quilt.

Hard to tell, probably, but the outside block sashing is a white fabric with a tiny pink dot.

The back is all flannel to keep the student warm and cozy while she reviews for those difficult tests!

This photo shows the all over texture pretty well. Bren and Joy asked how I kept my spacing so even and consistent. Well, a close inspection would reveal that it isn't at all perfect, with some squashed and shortened loops and some too widely spaced apart. Mostly I worked within the "lines" of the blocks. On my domestic sewing machine, with its very small throat space, it was necessary to corral the loops to about 4-5 inches wide to avoid having to shift the quilt too much and risk crooked loops. Also I don't sew very fast so I feel I have more control. There was some ripping out and a couple of times the needle got broken, but overall it went fairly smoothly. I used a white quilting weight thread, which meant filling the bobbin frequently, however. So happy to have made my promise to myself come true and I look forward to giving it to Yadi tomorrow at work. Pics to follow!

Promises

2011-12-17T19:53:00.000-08:00

As I promised myself, work on the Flowers for Nana Girl quilt is moving right along. At this point the quilting is about half done and just after posting this I'll get back to it.

My co-worker, for whom is quilt is destined, is a big fan of "I Love Lucy". I thought quilting in big L's would be a fun way to incorporate her favorite lady. That's as much planning I put into this task!

It is simple to do and gives some lovely crosshatching texture to the quilt, the way I've nestled the loops together--which just sort of happened--and I really like it. OK, I'm going back in!

Flowers for Nana Girl update

2011-12-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

A late night session resulted in both borders getting attached to my version of Flowers for Nana Girl, from Scrap Basket Sensations. The instructions called for a mitered border but with this busy of a print I didn't think it warranted the extra time and fabric.

This quilt has a deadline of this weekend. The pin basting will ensue tomorrow night and quilting and binding will be completed by Sunday night. There! I've said it and now just need to not make a liar out of myself. In other updates, the Christmas tree is finally fully decorated, I ordered the photo prints for our Christmas cards, and one more gift has been purchased. It's a good thing we had a family portrait taken at the wedding, since Erica is in Arizona at school and not available until late next week! I missed my tree decorating buddy--she usually helps me every year with the lights at least. Tonight my mom and I are going to enjoy some holiday cheer at a local movie theater showing of "It's a Wonderful Life", one of our favorites. Time to enjoy the season!

One Word Wednesday

2011-12-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

Home.

Tuesday's Orts--Dec 13, 2011

2011-12-13T09:04:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's Orts--the bits and scraps of thoughts and events that land here once a week.

On our downtown errand on Saturday we witnessed the Grinch with his sleigh and Cindy Lou Who in some live-action play in a pocket park. We only caught glimpses as we drove by but it looked entertaining.
Looking forward to the shortest day of the year so we can start back to more evening light. This pitch dark at 5:30 thing gets old fast. And our parking lot's motion detector lights at work are very temperamental. Sometimes it requires jumping up and down on a certain spot!
My sister Kathy and her daughter and boyfriend are driving out from Missouri for Christmas. They are leaving the 23rd and driving straight through, 30+ hours. I said that the 2 AM to 6 AM shift would be brutal, but she said "Not for me--'cause I'm not doing it!" Smart woman.
Things I don't understand: Sheer bodices on wedding gowns. Ick.
Christmas cards flood the stores this time of year but we are not getting very many in the mail. Not that I've sent any out yet this year either...it's still early, right?
The quilt inspector did a brief QC review of the wedding quilt.

I know it appears that she was on her way to the water dish, but I prefer to think my work didn't need close inspection.

Design Wall Monday--Dec 12, 2011

2011-12-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

On my design floor today is the wedding quilt. Yes, it has been featured about a dozen times but here it is--hooray--for the last time!

I like to stitch my binding on first, then trim away the extra batting and backing.

This quilt is large--super queen size--it barely fits in the room, which is why the edges look wavy--they aren't! I machine stitched the binding down; the clips were to mark where I missed catching the edge and had to go back and put in a few hand stitches on the back.

The sharp angles are complemented by rounded and organic shapes for the quilting. The ginkgo, being one of the oldest species of tree on the planet, are a repeating theme in the fabrics and quilting to represent my wishes for a long and happy married life for Elaine and Chris.

I decided against quilting in the outer border. Somehow it felt more in keeping with the modern design.

Two different flannels for the backing and Dream Green polyester batting help make this one heavy quilt. I'll be pleased to see it on their bed and not my design floor any more! See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Saturday's doings

2011-12-10T16:25:00.001-08:00

We had plans to go out to breakfast this morning and get our Christmas tree, but it started getting late and we were hungry so we ate at home and put off the tree errand until midday. Last night I finished the mini quilt but the light was poor and I could not get a good photo.

Here it is on the wooden stand displayed with my favorite rustic decorations. I'm pleased with the simple framing and fabric choices and will love having this in my mini quilt collection. Then it was back to work on the wedding quilt. A quilting plan for these 3 x 8 edge sections came to me as I was drifting off to sleep the other night.

I'm calling this a "stacked stone" sort of design. Nice organic curves to balance the many right angles of the blocks.

Free motion quilting first in a serpentine and then circle around and serpentine back up to complete the ovals. I eyeballed it all the way, no marking, no worrying about whether each "stone" was exactly the same width, just having the same number of stones in each section, which in this case was five. Very quick, finished all the sections in less than an hour and then spent some time tying off and burying threads. I use an Easy Threader needle for this task--the kind with a split end that you pop over your your threads instead of having to trim the ends of the thread even and then through an eye. Much faster! I'm determined to get this quilt finished this weekend. Yes, I know I said that last weekend too but really feel it is doable this time!

About noon we went and got our fresh tree--bought the very first one we looked at at Lowe's (we are not picky except we like Noble Fir trees 6-7' tall), had lunch, came home and I finished the household decorating. The tree is next, which means moving furniture and bringing down more boxes but is the tail end of the decorating. Looking forward to having that fresh tree smell in the house for the next week or two!

Favorite Things Friday

2011-12-09T09:42:00.001-08:00

I'm linking up with Shay's Quilting in My Pyjamas blog this week for the Favorite Things Friday party. Besides just liking Fridays in general, my favorite thing today is Christmas decorations, the handmade/homemade sort. I've made dozens of Christmas ornaments and decorations over the years and have given dozens as gifts--there have been felt mittens, painted mini plaques, embroidered and beaded felt decorations, rice paper decoupaged reindeer, quilted and bejeweled banners/Christmas card holders, stuffed toy candy canes, and painted wooden trays, among the many! Here's a start to my latest, set to adorn a mini quilt wooden stand:

This beautiful 6" paper-pieced tree block was made by a fellow online quilt group member for a swap we had four years ago. Shame that it has been sitting in a tub so long! I framed it out and will do a simple stitch and turn, a bit of quilting, and add a sleeve for the rod on my hanger. Voila', decor 2011!

One Word Wednesday

2011-12-07T09:15:00.001-08:00

Vintage.

Tuesday's Orts--Dec 6, 2011

2011-12-06T20:32:00.001-08:00

And this week's orts are once again a motley crew...

Do you ever get creeped out by people who seem to shadow you in a store? Whatever aisle you peruse, there they are.
Weekends just never seem to be long enough. I think they should all be three days long.
I had to laugh at the reaction to my "art" post last Wednesday. Boy, no one seemed to like that little wooden statue at all. But she and "her little dog too" made me smile.
At Bunco when we stopped for a player to choose a gift or steal from someone, everybody had a different nonchalant method for not drawing the potential thief's attention. "Don't look her in the eyes", was my next door neighbor's advice.
Our building at work is made of concrete block, has tons of single pane windows, and a huge skylight in a large hallway the length of the building. It took four hours yesterday for the temperature to rise from 62 to 70 degrees. Thank goodness for ceiling fans to push all that warm air down to human level in the exam rooms.
The Traffic Rant feature is on hiatus, however, it is being replaced by another feature on bewilderment called...
Things I Don't Understand: This week's entry is Memory foam bathmats. Just how long does anyone spend on a bathmat that it requires memory?
On our excursion to the art museum in Santa Paula we also visited the Oil Museum which had a number of exhibits, including one of people's collectibles. Naturally I was drawn to the fabric.

Isn't this a fun way to display aprons?

The exhibitor's first line was priceless, I thought!

Design Wall Monday--Dec 5, 2011

2011-12-05T06:30:00.000-08:00

I received a call Sunday night from a concerned blog reader (Hi Dad!), because my last post was more than several days ago, wondering if anything had happened to me, and the outcome of the Bunco night gift exchange. The Snap Happy bag was "stolen" once and then the thief held onto her prize for the rest of the night, about which I was most pleased. We partied late and I didn't leave until 10:30 pm. Good thing I only had to walk next door to get home.

Friday night after work I stopped to buy Christmas lights--then spent a good hour or two finally putting all of the fall decor and my Grandma's dishes we used at Thanksgiving back into their boxes. I was closely supervised by Mini the cat, as usual. She wanted to be on the table, then the mantle, then on the highest spot on top of Grant's amplifiers where she could survey my every move. Apparently I passed quota as she eventually wandered off.

Saturday morning I did some paying transcribing work, then spent a couple hours working on the wedding quilt, stitching in the ditch alongside the larger squares. This was not in my original plan but it seemed the quilt wanted a bit more structure. I went to my hair appointment with DD Elaine and when I got home it was time to do some more holiday decorating.

Someone immediately did some quality testing of the Christmas throw on the back of the couch. I never got back to the wedding quilt until Sunday, but after several more hours during two sessions the grid stitching on this super Queen sized quilt was DONE.

Amazing how long it takes to quilt straight lines in two directions that are not supposed to be seen! The light at the end of the tunnel is getting a bit bigger. There is a bit more free motion quilting needed, a decision about whether to quilt in the border, and then the binding to attach. A finish this week appears to be in the cards! See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Giftmaking

2011-12-01T07:35:00.001-08:00

Tonight is our annual Christmas exchange with our Bunco players group. I purchased a gift card for a planned holder made from my favorite pattern, the Snap Happy bag. A few months ago in the clearance aisle at JoAnn's Fabrics I found discontinued special order fabric samples, and quickly snapped up all the 100% silk ones at $2 each. The samples are about 17" square so nearly a fat quarter size. Using the largest size measurements from the pattern (~6" x 7") I could cut two bags from each sample, if desired.

Pearl colored silk combined with a stash fat quarter of a Japanese woven in a dragon print.

Some simple meandering with a variegated Sulky thread.

This time I matched the fabric triangle pull tabs to the lining, then cut more steel measuring tape to insert into the casing and sewed up the sides. Voila, a classy gift bag I hope one of the Bunco gals will love. We have lots of fun "stealing" already opened gifts throughout the night's games. Lots of laughter and food and drink on the agenda for tonight, as always!

One Word Wednesday

2011-11-30T08:57:00.001-08:00

Art.

Design Wall Monday--Nov 28, 2011

2011-11-28T06:30:00.000-08:00

There's nothing on my design surface today--because I've finally started on the quilting I'd been ~~avoiding~~ contemplating. After finishing all the larger squares of the wedding quilt Saturday with the ginkgo leaf motif, I started quilting on the smaller white ones.

This motif is a made up compilation of a Dard Hunter Rose and a sort of spiral. I practiced on paper and then with a bamboo cuticle stick on the actual quilt square before beginning free motion quilting. I found it easiest to start with the outside circle and then spiral inward in a sort of triangle fashion. Some extra love is sprinkled into the quilt with the center hearts.

Initially I tried out a rust/cream variegated thread in the white squares but decided what I really wanted to stand out was the texture and not the thread. Naturally, I ran out of white machine quilting thread before completing all the flowers. There is plenty of thread tying and clipping to keep busy with, though, until I get to the fabric store for more thread. See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Quilting leaves on a windy day

2011-11-26T11:59:00.001-08:00

This morning I finished free motion quilting all of the larger squares on the wedding quilt. Well, except for one that needed ripping out due to a big tuck on the back.

Each ginkgo leaf is different, just like the ones blowing off the tree in my neighbor's yard.

I used a variegated 40 wt thread that shows up nicely against most of the blocks.

There are 42 of these 8" squares and I have the leaves going every which way across the top. Next, I plan on quilting the smaller white squares with another organic type shape, a loose interpretation of a flower. ITIS is the name of my quilting game--I'll Try It & See. Practicing only goes so far!

After the feast

2011-11-25T17:46:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone celebrating Thanksgiving had a lovely day. We fed 20 for dinner, which included Grant, me, son Nick, two of my brothers and their wives, 5 nephews, 3 nieces, two grandmas, one grandpa, and a family friend. It was the kind of bedlam I love about being part of a big family--lots of talk and laughter, eating and sharing. I even got to play a board game from my childhood with two of my nephews and son Nick. Today we had some helpers over to eat up some of the leftovers and this time the girls got to play the game. Here's my niece making her mad face for when someone sent her game piece back home.

What a scowl! Her older sister doesn't seem too afraid. After they left I went to the shopping mall--but not to score any Black Friday deals--it was to pick up an order I placed a few weeks ago.

I took advantage of a coupon deal at Michael's and got this cross-stitch from years ago framed. Last year I had posted intentions to make this into a pillow, but I think it will last longer as artwork. It is approximately 9 x 14 and looks so much better hung on my wall than on a clothes hanger in my closet. Soon another round of leftovers will get served --this time to the newlyweds. I hope to settle into some quilting thereafter. I'm thankful for this four day weekend, and for family and friends, at home and in blogland.

One Word Wednesday

2011-11-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

Ginkgo.

Tuesday's Orts--11/22/11

2011-11-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's orts--the bits of thoughts and happenings of my week that land here.

My sewing machine also had a birthday last week. DH Grant bought it for my 40th birthday so it is a decade old--a Husqvarna "Lily". It is a really good machine which has never needed any repairs, thank goodness, and has only had an occasional spa day.
Thanksgiving dinner shopping was pretty painless as I went to Trader Joe's and Target late on Saturday night. But when I got home with three cartons of turkey gravy I got to thinking--is six cups of gravy enough for 21 people?
I shop late at night mostly due to C.O.W. (crabby old woman) tendencies towards misbehaving/whining kids/crying babies. I did act in a big buttinski way towards two kids about 5 and 7 who had gotten bored and were on the floor wrestling and hitting each other while their parents were down a nearby aisle looking at Christmas lights. I didn't really mean to be so intrusive but found myself saying, after they ignored a pointed stare, "You guys better stop that RIGHT NOW". The dad popped his head out from the aisle and told them to get up. I quickly wheeled my cart away muttering something about "someone was going to get hurt". Moo!
Son Nick slept badly the other night when he was away at a hotel. His girlfriend told him he said, in his sleep, "Oh, CRAP". Nick told me it must have been during an elaborate dream he had about going bowling with Steven Seagal and losing badly.
Traffic rant: There is no excuse for parking in a Handicapped Only spot without a placard or license plate giving permission to do so. Especially if there are 15 other open spots within feet of your tricked out, lowered import car with loud booming music pouring out the open windows, you young idiot.
Grant is left-handed, which means he folds clothes ~~backwards~~ opposite from how I do. He also puts soda cans in the fridge dispenser ~~backward~~ opposite from me. Also the butter knife is faced ~~backwards~~ opposite on top of the butter dish.
I was reading through some saved gmail chats between DD Elaine and me over the past months while all the wedding planning was going on. I miss those chats! We had some pretty hilarious exchanges.

Two years ago this week I brought home a souvenir from the Sydney, Australia airport, on my way home from Queensland, where I watched my Aussie friend Susie marry her mate Jon at their beautiful home in Port Douglas. This cute little sheila cheers me on as I sew...Oi! Oi! Oi!

Design Wall Monday--Nov 21, 2011

2011-11-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

On my design surface is another new project, which jumped to the front of the line while I was ~~avoiding~~ contemplating quilting on the wedding quilt. This is a comfort quilt destined for Quilts for Kids. I showed the skull, flame and stripe fabrics last week and my plan for a strippie quilt. Finally some sewing happened over the weekend.

I had just enough of the skull fabric to cut three 6.5" strips, but had to piece the flame fabric for enough width for two of the strips. Luckily it is a busy fabric so difficult to see the seams. I cut all the pieces and stitched the top together in just a couple of hours. It will finish in the 40 x 45" range.

Even got a backing made...

..and the binding cut and sewn. All of the fabrics came from stash and scraps and I am very happy to move them on. This orange piece was in a bag of "scraps by the pound" I bought at my LQS a year or two ago. It was fun to get a wide variety with fabrics I would not normally choose. Just now I am short on reds so it's time to get another bag.

I like to chain sew my binding, just flipping the right side up on the loose end of the strip and adding the next strip. Eyeballing that seam does not work for me so a mechanical pencil and small 1" x 6" ruler are always within reach for marking. Not shown here are the cut borders and finished backing and binding all ready for the Flowers for Nana Girl quilt. I will have three more quilts to sandwich once I get all of my basting pins out of the wedding quilt! I got brave and started the quilting on it Sunday night but didn't get far enough to share pics yet. See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

NQR

2011-11-18T21:08:00.001-08:00

That's what I've got to show in the sewing/quilting vein--Nothing Quilt Related. Every day I planned to sew and every day I didn't! Here's a recap of my busy week:
Monday: My birthday. I had a lot of transcription work in the morning, then had to run to the bank for DD Erica, then to the store to get ingredients to make a cheesecake, then back home to meet DD Elaine to sort through all the unsold garage sale items and the leftover wedding decor. After that I ran to meet my mom at her recently departed dear friend's house to look at some clothing and sewing items I might want. Following that Grant and I went out to dinner for my birthday, then stopped at the mall to get my present--a pair of UGGS for my perpetually cold feet. When I came home I was so tired I laid down on the bed for a minute to pet the cat before making a cheesecake I planned to take to work, but fell asleep for like two and a half hours before getting up to get ready for bed. No sewing.
Tuesday: Back to work after my "day off". Busy busy day, stopped to buy backing fabric for Nana Girl quilt. Washed and ironed fabric. No sewing.
Wednesday: Another busy busy work day. Got home at an okay time, ate dinner, washed a crapload of dishes and cleaned the kitchen, sorted through all the garage sale items and listed them for the donation truck arriving the next day, while the cream cheese softened for my recipe. Got a phone call from my last brother with LATE birthday wishes, and started making the cheesecake at 10:30 pm. Finally went to bed around midnight once the cheesecake cooled enough to put in the fridge. No sewing.
Thursday: Plenty of work at both jobs, even ran during my lunch half-hour to pick up a tape from my former Job #3 boss who I occasionally still type for. Grant went to dinner with a friend so I, after leaving work after 7 pm, went clothes shopping. Got home after 8:30, ate leftovers at 9:00, admired my newly empty family room, pottered about, looked at a few blogs, and climbed into bed at 10:30 to read. No sewing.
Today, Friday: Woke up at 3:30 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. Got up around 4, sat at my sewing machine for awhile working on quilt backing MATH and a mending project for Elaine. Tried to sleep on the couch from about 5 to 7, mostly fitfully. Got up, wrestled with the new format for echocardiograms at Job #1, busy busy day at Job #2, left there at 5:30 pm, watched a movie with Grant, ate dinner, and here I am blogging with you folks. Still no sewing, too tired tonight. But I do have pictures to share.

I snuck away for a quick lunch today at a nearby seafood restaurant and ate my favorite giant fish taco outside, enjoying the brief sunshine and a peekaboo view of the ocean before a storm blew in. Sorry, I didn't pull out my camera until my taco was half eaten so no pic of that.

The restaurant is boat shaped and quite popular with locals and tourists alike. It was a Japanese restaurant for years but I never went to it then. This is in the older part of town once filled with homes built in the late 1800's to mid teens; the area is now a mixture of historic homes, hotels and motels, apartments, rentals and businesses of all types, hugging the bluff above the sea. The taller building behind it is craftsman style condos that went up just a couple of years ago.

Right next door is this beautiful Victorian cottage that has been restored to picture perfect. A crew is working on the house next to it--you can see the Tyvek house wrap toward the back of the house. Can't wait to see how that one turns out.

Tomorrow I'm determined to put stitches in something, anything!

One Word Wednesday

2011-11-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Stadium-seating?

Design Wall Monday--Nov 14, 2011

2011-11-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

On my design surface is my version of Flowers for Nana Girl, from Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Sensations.

The sashing and rows came together pretty easily, which is always nice.

I hope to get both borders as easily--this is just a mock up.

Had a lovely weekend capped by going out to brunch Sunday to celebrate a birthday--mine! Yep, today's the day I turn 50. Hard to believe five decades are now behind me. From left to right that's my son-in-law Chris, daughter Elaine, me, son Nick, my mom and dad, my mother-in-law Frances, and my hubby Grant. Nick's girlfriend Alison took the photo.

Beyond the gate we were posed against was the Pacific and a beautiful view looking out to the Channel Islands, a national park.

This mural in the lobby of the Embassy Suites hotel where we went for brunch depicts what it might have looked like a few hundred years ago when the Spanish were settling in the area. Not much different, really! See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Triple Eleven

2011-11-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

Once in a century date--though each day in a century is completely unique anyway, right? Grant and I marked the special date by signing and initialing and dating a hundred mortgage refinance documents. Since we met it has been nothing but legal documents, as I so often tease him.

Bad news: Job #1 has been so slow I have had far too many mornings with barely any medical transcription work. Good news: I had a bunch of time to sew before going to Job #2 and completed all the sashing for the Flowers for Nana Girl quilt.

I laid it out and started constructing the rows, even got two of the rows stitched together by late last night. Three more block rows to assemble; then I need to stitch all rows for the center before moving on to the borders. My goal is to have this quilt finished by the end of the month. I have batting but will have to purchase flannel backing. Don't know why I didn't get that last weekend when I was at JoAnn's. Duh.

A shamefully overdue Quilts for Kids project is still awaiting basting, quilting, and binding. I want to send another quilt in with it but have a question. Are skulls and flames too aggressive for a donation quilt for sick kids? I've read that teenaged boys are a neglected segment and feel this combo of fabrics from my stash might appeal. It will be an abbreviated strippie quilt with just these three fabrics. Opinions, please!

One Word Wednesday

2011-11-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

Bird!

Tuesday's Orts

2011-11-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

Late edition of the scraps and bits (orts) of thoughts and happenings of my week...

Forgot to share last week how my mani-pedi date with DD Erica went. I am pathetic at keeping nail polish pristine. The girl had to re-do my right thumbnail THREE times before I even left the salon! And of course I dinged them all up when I got home and started doing things. At least my toes still looked good after a day!
Note to self: Do not start a best-seller, page-turner of a book at 10:30 pm on a weeknight if you want to get more than a few hours of sleep. Sarah's Key was the book, and when I finally made myself put it down after 200 pages, I was afraid to look at the clock!
Sunday I planned to pin baste the wedding quilt and knew I would need many many basting pins. I even took pins out of a project I'm planning to hand quilt, thread basting it instead, but still I ran out of pins 2/3 of the way through.
So I took a trip to JoAnn's Fabric store to buy more pins. The store was very very busy, and extremely COLD from air conditioning. Someone needed to tell them it wasn't summer anymore--but a glance outside at the RAIN should have been the first clue.
Traffic rant: People who fail to grasp the concept of the four way stop in a very busy shopping mall. Yes, it's your turn. Now you missed it. Go. Go. GO! Oh, geez.
The new Mrs. G texted me from Maui that she didn't wanna come home. I texted back that I wouldn't want to either.
The "fall back" time change offers me a brief stab at "early to bed, early to rise"...not my forte, believe me.
A seldom seen natural event appeared as I got to JoAnn's.

However, I don't think the pot of gold is inside Sam's Club.

Design Wall Monday--Nov 7, 2011

2011-11-07T08:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a couple weeks since I last had something on my design surface to post. Happy to be back! I've been working on my version of Flowers for Nana Girl from Scrap Basket Sensations by Kim Brackett as a leader-ender project. This is a quilt for another co-worker who is studying to become a nurse while working two part time jobs. Yellow is her favorite color. All the blocks are complete and I'm working on the sashing.

The pink block is the "heart" of the quilt. I used this same idea in the other Scrap Basket quilt I made for my Uncle Tommy, Kitchen Sink, seen here.

The sashing forms leaves, and kind of a friendship star where the leaves meet. I like that a lot.

A narrow border of solid yellow will go on and then a border of this green calico, which once graced the walls of my girls' bedroom as fabric wallpaper applied with starch. Guess I better make sure it gets washed! The green for the leaves and the calico have been leftovers in my stash a long time. I'm happy to move them into a quilt that will be loved! See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Working on it

2011-11-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

The wedding quilt, that is. I had figured up all the MATH a couple of weeks ago for the pieced backing and early last night got half the backing sewn together before making a big mistake: I sat down on the couch in front of the TV. Then I was cold so I put a quilt over me, which led to vegging out in front of my favorite game show, Wipeout. Two hours later, it was getting late and no more sewing had been done. But I was back to it today.

MATH and cutting instructions for the two different flannels going on the back of the quilt. Elaine and Chris are crazy for their Boston Terrier, Scully, so I thought the paw prints were appropriate.

I purchased this batting at my local quilt store, primarily because it is lighter weight than cotton and can be quilted up to 12" apart. It is my intention to use only the organic shape of a ginkgo leaf and not have to do any straight line quilting. Anyone have experience with this brand? It is a favorite of the quilt shop owner.

I picked up a few sample ginkgo leaves from my front yard, blown in from the neighbor's tree across the street. I like the "split" ones the best but the fan shape is also pleasing. I may just be able to free motion them all instead of my original plan of drawing them on freezer paper. Or I may start with a few freezer paper ones just to get into a rhythm. My quilting method is generally ITIS (I'll Try It & See). My seam ripper will probably see some action either way!

Secret Sewing Reveal

2011-11-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

One of the secret sewing projects for the wedding was some gift bags for the bridesmaids. I had purchased a Snap Happy pattern, which uses metal measuring tape for a flexible secure closure, and Elaine really liked the idea. She chose the fabrics to go along with her colors for the wedding of gray, yellow and cream.

The prairie point "handles", cover, and lining were specifically chosen for the five bridesmaids.

I used a different quilting pattern on each. You should have seen Grant's face when he walked in as I was cutting up the steel measuring tape! I bought an inexpensive $5 one.

Elaine chose the largest size bag from the pattern (about 5 x 7") to make it the most useful for the future.

She presented the bridesmaids' gifts in their bags at the rehearsal dinner.

Each girl received a handmade sterling silver wire necklace of their first initial. Here is her beautiful best friend Caitie modeling hers (a co-worker of Elaine's made the necklaces). Each also received a wooden hanger for their bridesmaid's dress that Elaine stenciled with their names. The girls loved the bags, necklaces and hangers.

Here's a pic of the new deck all set up for the rehearsal dinner, which was decorated by the groom's mom Sandy and family, with an Italian theme. We had 30 people on that deck with no crowding--except around the heater on the bench because it was a little cool that night and most of the girls were wearing dresses :)

I just stitched up a bag for Elaine that I will give her when they get back from their honeymoon. The pattern calls for fusible fleece for the batting--otherwise about a fat quarter's worth of fabric is all that is required for both bag and lining (the lining folds over the top to form the casing for the tape). It only took me about an hour to make the bag, including cutting out all the pieces. Now I want one!

One Word Wednesday

2011-11-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

Desserts.

Tuesday's Orts

2011-11-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

Tuesday's Orts, scraps and bits of thoughts and events from my week...

This is the first year since I've been married that I've not had Halloween decorations put up. Luckily Nick's girlfriend carved him a jack-o-lantern so we had something to alert trick or treaters that we were open for business.
The rehearsal dinner on the deck was a fabulous affair. There was plenty of room for 30 people to mill about, eat, drink and visit, although the spacing was a little crowded around the heater on the bench as it was a bit cool and the ladies were mostly wearing dresses.
Sunday morning when we drove to the wedding venue for the set up, we were delayed because the floor of the barn was being mopped by a worker. He claimed he had been told the wrong time because he thought the time change was this weekend. However, he had his excuse backward because it would be an hour EARLIER instead of later!
Traffic Rant: Zoomers on the freeway onramp or offramp. You know, those dolts who are behind you as you enter/exit the freeway but have to gun it and zoom around you before the merging portion of the lane marker appears.
I think I've finally caught up on my sleep from last week. But another nap sounds good!
The newly wed Mrs. G is a hairstylist and her co-workers came in on their day off to style the wedding party. Bridesmaid and co-stylist Nicole was tag teamed by her assistant while doing Elaine's hair:

While bridesmaid Shasta's "Flock of Seagulls" start turned into...

...this gorgeous updo. Many thanks to the gals who volunteered their makeup and hair talents to the bridal party and Moms of the bridal couple!

Wedding Bliss

2011-10-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

The much anticipated day was filled with love, laughter, friends and family, as our darling daughter Elaine married Gary and Sandy's darling son Christopher. The setting was Camarillo Ranch and its beautiful Victorian home and grounds. We were blessed with a perfect warm and lovely fall day.

We of the wedding party waited in front of the house while the guests were seated.

Elaine and Chris loved this enormous ficus tree (Moreton Bay Fig).

The reception was held in the old barn.

While the wedding took place in front of this beautiful gazebo.

My handsome husband Grant and our son Nick.

All dressed up and feeling very happy.

Our darling girl with Chris's mom, Sandy.

Final touches in the bride's room before the wedding.

With her bridesmaids. Our other darling girl Erica is in the center.

First dance as husband and wife.

Sweet newlyweds!

Fall details

2011-10-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

DH Grant had this week off work and I took Thursday and today to take care of the last details for the big weekend. Yesterday we drove out to the wedding venue to make the final payments and also for Grant to see the site--when he had visited it with me months ago, there was another wedding taking place and we were unable to get into the buildings or walk around the grounds. This time I played bride while he walked me down the path--without mishap--and we looked around the reception building, picturing where everything has been mapped out to go. Then we drove up to visit the caterer at her restaurant and I gave her the tablerunner I made for her as a thank you for working with the budget. She was so surprised I would be making her a gift and really liked it.

Here's a photo of it again. I guessed correctly that she favors pink and blue.

It was a perfect warm fall day in Southern California. On the way home we passed this pumpkin patch going up a big hill. It opens annually just beside the 101 Freeway, the farmland lined with palm trees. Can't you just guess where all the kids want to look for their pumpkins?

One Word Wednesday

2011-10-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

Perfect.

Tuesday's Orts--Oct 25, 2011

2011-10-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

Orts on Tuesdays are the thoughts and bits of my week that hit this spot...

After spending so much time at my sewing machine this past week but not having any piecing or quilting to show for it, I'm feeling a bit "off".
Bride to Be Elaine is very organized and has lists for everything. She and her fiance Chris have been very thoughtful in making their day special and unique for family and friends.
My one work friend invited to the wedding has been more stressed out over her outfit than I have, and has done way more shopping. I think she's finally set!
Don't you hate shopping for intimates? It's demoralizing enough just trying on regular clothes, let alone bodyshapers and bras. It seems someone should have improved lighting in dressing rooms after all these decades.
Traffic rant: Extreme slowpokes. Now, I'm known as the slowpoke in our family because I don't like to exceed the speed limit on the freeway. But I also don't impede traffic by going 15 miles an hour below the limit as every car has to change lanes to pass. These dimwits come in all age brackets so don't think I'm picking on the elderly.
I got a flu shot at my #2 employer's free clinic at the hospital on Friday. My method of coming late in the day worked out perfectly, since I time it after 4 PM to let all the folks getting off at 3 PM finish up. I had a close parking spot and walked in and out in less than 10 minutes, no waiting.
Future SIL Chris came by on Saturday with a load of wedding items and we discussed some more details. Grant said he wasn't going to ask him if he was nervous, which is the common query, and Chris said he only felt that way when he pictured everyone looking at him at once. He said he was going to get a veil to pull over his face. Then he asked if he was going to be wearing a corsage (instead of saying boutonniere) and I teased that it sounded like he wanted to be the bride!
You know there's a party coming up soon when your living room looks like this:

And there's more to come!

MOB

2011-10-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

That's me, the Mother of the Bride. I think the last minute for picking something to wear has passed, so my decision isn't last minute. How's that for rationalization?

A bit blurry, but here are the dress and jacket I ~~made~~ am making--obviously the hem is not finished!

I'll be wearing my hair down so here's a pic to show the collar. While I love the color and fabric, and the outfit is very "me", what I don't like is that this beautiful silk brocade wrinkles like mad. Disappointing, but this outfit will have to be seen at another event where photos immortalizing me in wrinkled clothing are not going to be taken.

Here is the alternate dress. The smoky blue and satin/chiffon textures I really like. I bought myself some cleavage fillets but you can see the dress is really low cut.

A piece of black lace improves my comfort in this.

I will close the wrap front with a few hand stitches (it is only pinned here).

...And craft myself a modesty accessory from the lace. The armholes also need attention as the dress is a bit too tight there. With these alterations I think it will be a good choice for this MOB. I'd be happy to hear any feedback.

Back Home

2011-10-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

My mom returned on Thursday from her trip to London and Paris with my brother's family. She was just in time to see the backyard transformed. I stopped by Friday night to get updated photos.

All the boards were attached using a hidden fastener system so there are no nails or screws in the top of the beautiful redwood. This deck is BIG, 18 x 30 feet. There will be a built in bench across the far end, and some steps leading off the sides to walkways close to the house.

Bear watched all the progress as intently as he always does, with a smile on his face.

There were presents from overseas for me to open! Some Fauchon tea from my sister in law Laura, and the Earl Grey from Harrod's from my mom. Thanks, Mom and Laura! I plan to savor both. I hope to have some photos from London and Paris to share in a few days, but it may be ATW (after the wedding).

Friday evening and a number of hours today have been spent on the wedding outfit. More on that tomorrow...

One Word Wednesday

2011-10-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

Alternate.

Tuesday's Orts

2011-10-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

The scraps and bits called orts that float around my head and land here...

Computer woes at work continue to plague us. Last week I had seriously told my boss, Dr. P, that I needed to see the psychologist who works with our office. He said, concerned, "Oh, really? Do you want me to make the call?" I told Dr. P, "Yes, because I am having homicidal thoughts--against you!" I've been telling him for a year that the server would fail and it finally did. But it has a new name: Lazarus.
I met our computer tech at the office on Saturday for reinstall of the repaired network server and of course it would not boot up except at his shop. After an hour involving a Google search, troubleshoot of a bad USB port and database restoration from a backup, we had success and I was finally able to leave and get to the really important event on Saturday, covering all those gray hairs work has given me!
Clarification of my garage sale story is apparently needed. We did indeed ONLY earn the four quarters after 2.5 hours!!!
Traffic rant: Turn signals, people, PLEASE. Even if you are only in a parking lot. Really. I am not a mind reader.
The lack of Bare Bear in Paris photos is because my Dad informed me that all of those sent from my brother included Bear posed next to nude statues at the museums and Dad did not want to encourage inappropriate behavior being shown on the Internet.
Bride to be Elaine brought her dog Scully when we worked on wedding stuff. He never seems to sit down at our house but runs around looking for toys and playmates. Elaine wanted to go over some lists and came over to sit by me. Her butt had hardly hit the floor before Scully ran over with this:

He didn't really get why she wasn't ready to play!

Design Wall Monday--Oct 17, 2011

2011-10-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

Another repeat--all that is happening here is wedding wedding wedding! For my kind blog readers who were concerned about the outfit I'm making for the wedding, I present the following:

Hong Kong finishes on the seams of the jacket.

A hem, a button, and the jacket will be finished. It looks better on me than the hanger, I promise! The matching dress has yet to be made but will be much simpler than this 15 piece jacket. A "backup" dress I ordered from Macy's should be arriving today as well.

I was missing the quilting portion of my sewing time so after the all the concentration on the jacket work I cut and sewed the binding for the wedding quilt and got some of the border strips together. Ahh, that's better! See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Preparing for dinner

2011-10-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

My mom and dad have been planning a backyard patio remodel for some time. The old painted cement patio has always been too small for our large family gatherings. Offering their backyard for the wedding rehearsal dinner location pushed the project to the forefront and progress showed up in a big way this past week. My dad ordered redwood and my brother Tyler and his two older sons delivered it all the way from Murrieta (Riverside County), hauled it into the backyard and stained many many boards. Dad has been finishing up on his own since they left. I stopped by yesterday for some "before" pics, as the contractor's crew will arrive Monday to start building.

Beautiful long boards still wet with stain.

The deck stretches out quite a ways from the house.

Stepping out to the backyard will be easy once the deck is in place just below the threshold of the sliding glass door. I'm glad the contractor will be the one to figure out attaching the long ledger board to the house, moving vents and wrapping the deck around the chimney!

Some backyard flora. This is a Meyer lemon tree--the blossoms are heavenly scented.

Love this chartreuse and yellow orchid.

This funny niche between the garage and house has had many lives. An orchid garden seems to suit it wonderfully. The bird feeder sees lots of hummingbird action--Mom says it is guarded by a particularly aggressive hummer.

Some plantings in the bride's colors will greet guests in less than two weeks. I've been sewing on my wedding outfit and expect a "backup" dress I ordered to arrive tomorrow. Finding shoes is on the agenda as well. Tomorrow we'll tour the wedding site for the last time and nail down the final numbers. The last minute has just about arrived, I think!

Lucky 13th

2011-10-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for sharing the great names you know. I always find names so interesting!

Grant drew the winner's name for the giveaway and she is Kate. Congratulations Kate! Kate blogs from Oklahoma and takes lots of great photos.

I had previously decided to pick a 13th name for a second winner and that turned out to be Joyful Quilter. Congratulations, Joy! Joy is mom to 3 1/2 cats "because Fred is too big to count as one cat". Emails will go out to both winners immediately. I hope you enjoy the Word Play Quilts book and playing with letters. Here's a phrase you might want to add to a sewing themed quilt: May your bobbin always be full!

One Word Wednesday

2011-10-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Cutting.

Tuesday's Orts

2011-10-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Orts are leftover bits, scraps--in this case, thoughts that land here on Tuesdays..

We held a garage sale on Sunday to help raise some extra money for the wedding. While the start was encouraging--a lady was on the driveway before we even got our stuff all dragged out, our total earned after 2.5 hours was ONE DOLLAR. In quarters. Future son-in-law Chris said he either wanted to make a lot of money or only the four quarters, because the story is funny that way. He got his wish.
My favorite radio station plays "Peace, Love and Sunday Morning" music, many of which are late 60's, early 70's hippie-type tunes. DD Elaine was not impressed and commented that the music made her want to shoot herself. I, on the other hand, knew every song.
Elaine and I went inside after about an hour and a half and did wedding stuff, leaving the boys to mind the (non) sales. Those of you who have gone through this wedding planning thing know how hard it can be to assign table seating. Elaine was using a great website called Wedding Wire that allows you to move everyone around a virtual table and assign table numbers, etc. Pretty cool.
Traffic rant: Late mergers--you know, those folks who pay no attention to the eighteen signs indicating the lane ahead is closed and therefore flip their signal and demand to be let in the open lane at the last second.
Last week I was having some discomfort in my leg and went to the doctor. Dr. D said he was surprised I remembered him because he hadn't seen me in 15 years. I replied that was not true; it was actually only 7 years. He asked how I've been and I told him, "Healthy!". He did make me promise to come back for a physical and I was a good girl and made an appointment for after the wedding.
Dr. D sent me to the hospital for an ultrasound of my leg, just to confirm his feeling that it was nothing to be worried about. Since I work for the Physiology department of that hospital, it was probable that I would be transcribing my own study, but that isn't how it turned out. I wondered if it would be a HIPAA privacy violation if I looked up my own report, so I didn't.
Dr. D called me to say the study was negative and just to take some Advil for the slight inflammation of my superficial veins. I never expected to have problems with my veins after losing weight.
Since I have no completed projects to show, I present some old magic:

That's me levitating with my brother Kevin's quilt from a few years ago. I grew two extra arms just for this feat!

My 100 Followers giveaway is open until tomorrow night. You can enter HERE. I've been enjoying everyone's unusual name stories!

Design Wall Monday--Oct 10, 2011

2011-10-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

My design surface has not changed from last week--still the wedding quilt. I got the borders cut and then found, after winding a bobbin that used up the end of a spool, that I was completely out of ecru thread. So, instead of sewing, I worked on my MATH for the backing fabric I needed to purchase and also doodled some quilting plans.

My thought is still to cut out some ginkgo leaves in different leaf shapes and iron them onto the top in the larger squares, then free motion around them. If that works out, I may do the same in the smaller squares. However, the priority is to work on my outfit for the wedding, which is now less than three weeks away!

Lots and lots of pieces to cut...I started with the interfacing for the jacket. It wasn't until I had those pieces laid out that I realized I didn't have enough for the dress too, so it's back to JoAnn's for me! Yesterday I was #89 at the cutting table when they were calling #77. Everyone was buying fabric for Halloween costumes, it seemed. On the agenda tonight, more cutting! See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. If you want to enter my 100 Followers giveaway, which is open until Wednesday night, click here.

London Bear

2011-10-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

Bear, the intrepid traveler, was spotted in London. He has been accompanying my mom, who is on vacation with my brother Ted and his family. Apparently, without the calming influence of his master, my dad, Bear's been living it up.

My brother wrote that Bear almost got them kicked out of the St. Pancras Hotel because he was sliding down the banister without any choners on! (shorts)

The whole group is now in Paris for about a week. I can't wait to see what Bear gets up to there.

Followup and Followers

2011-10-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

The giveaway is now closed to comments. Thanks for playing my game! Winner to be announced Thursday 10/13.

I got a chance to take The Wedding Quilt to DD Elaine's a couple of nights ago. It is already plenty big for their queen bed and the addition of the narrow 3" border called for by the pattern is all that is necessary to finish off the top (Natural Beauty, Quilts and More, Winter 2010). I spent a lovely hour in the fabric store picking out a solid border fabric (actually, I spied the color almost immediately but wandered about looking at everything else for another hour). This is a Kona color called "Earth". It plays well with the rust fabric that will be the binding as well as the other neutrals in the top. Luckily, despite my MATH error, I bought twice as much as I thought I needed and just eked out the number of strips required. Note to self: TWO sides + a TOP and BOTTOM= 4 borders.

In other news, a very lovely number has come up on my sidebar--there are 100 Followers of my little blog. Briefly I had 101 Followers a couple of different days; not sure what caused them to go away, but do hope they come back. To celebrate the triple digit experience, a thank-you-for-following giveaway is in order, don't you think? Since I am a obviously a WORD girl, the prize will be a copy of Word Play Quilts, the free-pieced lettering guide I've been using for my Any Witch Way quilts, so some lucky person can play with words too.

By coincidence the author, Tonya Ricucci, is appearing on The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson this week. She has a photo of Alex Anderson standing in front of the "Cake Quilt", for which I made the SOAR block. Pretty cool! Subscribers to The Quilt Show can view episode #907, otherwise you can sign up to view it for free through October 9th HERE.

For the giveaway, I'd love to hear about more unusual but real names you may have among your family or friends and neighbors. Leave one comment to enter and make sure your email is either in your profile or the comment so I have a way to contact you. Following is not a requirement to enter. I'll be ordering the book through Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville website and she does ship internationally. Comments will close Wednesday night by 11 pm and a winner will be selected Thursday, lucky October 13th, in the morning.

One Word Wednesday

2011-10-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Recycling.

Design Wall Monday--Oct 3, 2011

2011-10-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

On my design floor today is the completed center to the wedding quilt (Natural Beauty, Quilts & More mag, Winter 2010). I sewed the last couple of block rows and then stitched all remaining rows into sections, and at 11:30 PM last night, put the final section seam together.

The center is approximately 84 x 98" and the pattern calls for a 3.5" border. I'm going to take it over to Elaine's house and try it out on their bed before I make border width decisions. There does seem to be a bedclothes hogging issue at their house...

The border will be a solid fabric, probably one of the darker tans or browns in the top. Quilting ideas have been flitting through my head too, one of which is to draw different sized ginkgo leaves on freezer paper and iron them to the top to then free motion around. Since the fabrics have some kind of organic theme, I want to keep that same feeling in the quilting, to balance against all the straight lines in the piecing.

A few more Flowers for Nana Girl, my leader-ender project, were completed and placed on the stack. See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

UFO Challenge update

2011-10-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

Another miss for September--although I did get the free-pieced names finished for the second of my Any Witch Way quilts, which was one of the goals. Since I altered my plan for both tops because I also wanted to add free-pieced names, plus I made the piano key border for the second, there is more left to do. I plan to continue working this weekend and get to at least a completed top stage with the free-pieced names added.

The UFO number picked for October is #11, which coincidentally was the UFO I swapped out for September, and is a block swap project that has been waiting a long time in the queue.

Scrappy 9 patches are going to be laid out in a zig zag fashion. I copied this layout from a quilt Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville called her Zig-Zag 9 Patch (made in 2005), although hers was made from 2" leader-ender squares and my blocks are from 2.5" squares. Bonnie has excellent references on her site for figuring setting squares and triangles and I will make good use of those. I'll have to count up the blocks already made as the bed-sized layout I drew up requires a few more 9 patches. The setting fabric is the warm buff yardage in the left side of the photo.

This is a very very busy month for me but I do plan to work on this UFO as much as I can, in between finishing the wedding quilt, my outfit for the wedding, more sewing for the wedding, and THE WEDDING, now only 29 days away! DD Elaine is off to her Bachelorette weekend with her sister and friends in Palm Springs, and her fiance Chris is in Las Vegas with his group of pals. I went with Elaine to her final fitting on Thursday and her wedding gown is just perfect on her. Plus, Elizabeth, the seamstress, charged her $100 less than first quoted! Elizabeth is just a doll and so fun to talk to. She's doing two of the bridesmaids' dresses as well, and asked for pictures of the wedding. So sweet.

Name game

2011-09-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

The name game, or rather free-pieced letter game, continued several nights this week. I lined them up to see what they would look like once surrounded by background.

The capital R in Rafilda bothered me--seeming too clunky.

So I did a little surgery and added a narrow background strip for refinement of the letter. As with any new technique, it takes a bit of time to get your mind wrapped around it, but by the third name I was comfortable "thinking in strips" as I added them and branched out by exploring fonts. It is the deadline for the UFO challenge and obviously I will not get a quilt finished today, but I am four steps closer! What do you think?

One Word Wednesday

2011-09-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Autumn.

Tuesday's Orts--Sept 27, 2011

2011-09-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

Another bunch of Orts, in this case flotsam and jetsam of my week that land here each week.

When you've had a blister on your toe for 10 days, can you pop it? I'm afraid to!
Computer problems at work have resulted in far too many stressful hours for months now. Our database crashed totally on Thursday and luckily our tech guy was able to get it back after about 3 hours of work on Friday. A new server has been ordered but until it gets here it is "fingers crossed" every day. Not fun.
No matter which practice management program Dr. P and I look at and how many different ways they work the numbers, it all adds up to about $6000 a year for a medical office billing and scheduling program. And of course that does not include the price of new computers/routers, installation of same, or any future software upgrades. Sheesh.
Traffic rant: Drivers who realize they need to turn, but just maddeningly drift from the far right lane across two lanes to the left turn lane in half a block, without signaling and in no apparent hurry, making the rest of us have to hit our brakes. Why can't they just go up to the next block and turn?
In the interest of moving more (i.e., getting up from sitting), this weekend I made about 30 trips in and out of the garage to the box of fall decor items instead of bringing the box in the house. Wish I'd worn a pedometer to keep track of my mileage.
Our volunteer corn plant has grown a lot.

I wouldn't describe it as lush, and I don't believe it will produce fruit, but it is pretty with its tassels. Another is about to burst forth. Grant thinks we should cut it down but I'm not ready to--I like it!

Design Wall Monday--Sept 26, 2011

2011-09-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

On my Design Surface today is more of the same--still working on my September UFO, Any Witch Way (Quiltmaker, Sept/Oct 2009). I'm now constructing all the witches' names.

Kachan is spelled out, joining Jerryl. Playing with letters is fun but requires concentration to make sure the background and letter fabrics are going in their correct spots. I've made a start on the next witch's name, which will be Rafilda, and have branched out a bit from the block style. More on that later! See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Do you do this?

2011-09-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

I went shopping for pants to wear to work and came home with a jacket. It's a new color for me, green (ha ha). The fit was good and the fabric a nice brushed twill, with lots of the dressmaker details I like.

However, I pictured unwinding my long hair from the epaulet buttons multiple times per wearing.

They weren't even sewn into a seam so I knew my seam ripper would quickly be in use once I got the jacket home.

A few stitches tacking the facing to the seam allowance to secure it...

...and the jacket is ready to launder and wear. Removing that detail was quick and easy. I often deconstruct new clothing--and sometimes old--with my seam ripper, especially flaps on pockets and labels in itchy spots.

I still need pants, though!

Word Play

2011-09-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

Strips cut and Word Play Quilts book at the ready, I started playing with letters this morning. The E was first, followed by J, L, the Rs, and finally Y. My letters got bigger--the Y is outsized because I mistakenly used a wider strip than called for.

Not bad for a first attempt, but the letters seemed too blocky and crude for these elegant witches.

Lowercase letters are easier to make, too.

This combo fits the space well but I may mix upper and lower case for fun. That decision doesn't have to be made until all the names are ready to be assembled. Then I'll add spacers and finally trim to a consistent height. So far I have not had to discard any whole letters, but some pieces definitely hit the trash bin. I barely had enough leftover fabric to make all these letters, so I better be more careful as I go--there isn't much left of any of these fabrics!

Witching Hours

2011-09-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Borders have been completed for the second of the two Any Witch Way (Quiltmaker Sept/Oct 2009) quilts. Construction of the piano key border in strip sets took some time and by complete serendipity--not planning--fit perfectly. I've mentioned before how I am not a MATH girl...

I had cut 1.5" strips per the pattern but did not like the diagonal setting it called for, so did a brick border on the first quilt and changed to the piano key for this one. I really like it.

Also, miraculously, the sections I made turned this corner in color order.

I'm now ready to start making letters. I decided to make the names color-match the witches' hats, with the background the same black Dimples fabric for all. Tonya's basic instructions feature approximately 3.5" tall letters and that will work well for this size project. The first name I am going to make is JERRYL. I chose that one because of the simpler letters to construct, like J, E, and L. Wish me luck!

Two more blocks from the leader-ender project are on the pile--now more than halfway to the 20 blocks needed (Flowers for Nana Girl, from Scrap Basket Sensations).

This print is so cute--the little bees and flowers are sweet. No sewing for me tonight though, it's time to play Bunco with the gals!

One Word Wednesday

2011-09-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

Playtime!

Tuesday's Orts--Sept 20, 2011

2011-09-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

Another edition of orts--the bits of thought and folly that pass through my week and land here.

Taking a break from secret wedding sewing on Saturday found me on my hands and knees, weeding the front flower bed. After an hour of attack, I called in reinforcements from Grant. We made big progress over the next hour but I told him I was picturing General Crabgrass mustering his troops that night for an assault, so Grant got out the big guns: weedkiller spray. Take that, General!
I wish every weekend was a three-day weekend.
My boss, Dr. P, after being shown an article I printed out, said that we may need to add another phrase to our guidelines for patients: Don't make the newspaper.
I showed Elaine an old photo of me at about age 21-22, in which I was wearing running-style short shorts and a skinny tank top. She said, "Well, look at you, Sporty Spice". I don't think she meant it as a compliment.
Traffic rant: TURN SIGNALS, PEOPLE! They are there for a reason, truly, Mr. Not-Less-Than-Five-Lane-Changes-in-2-Miles.
Cleaning my sewing area took a couple of hours on Sunday. There were two problems to deal with: what to do with all those scraps, and getting distracted by a quilting book. I had to slam the book shut after 10 minutes to make myself get focused. Finally I am able to use the tabletop of the Hoosier cabinet for cutting again. It's been awhile.
I've been clearing too-big clothing out of my closet. It seems I favor a certain color...can you guess?

All the hanging items.

And the folded ones. Not all of these are too big, they are just in the green family. Luckily I also like red, purple, brown, orange and tan so my closet isn't bare.

Design Wall Monday--Sept 19, 2011

2011-09-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

On my Design Desk today is my September UFO. I've switched out these witches for this month's selection. Yes, it is already way late in the month but this is as far as I have gotten:

I found the project box, picked out fabric for the background and letters, and read Word Play Quilts to prepare for making names for my witches. This book is terrific, and I'm not saying that just because I made a word for the quilt that ended up on the cover! Which, by the way, was the first and last free-pieced word I have ever made (my word is SOAR). Tonya breaks down the letter-making process to easy steps using strips of different widths. She has two main guidelines: If it is too long, cut it off. If it is too short, add to it. You can see tutorials on her UnRuly Quilter blog. Now I just have to choose the names from my long list of favorites gathered over the past year! See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Playing Hooky

2011-09-17T11:38:00.000-07:00

It seems I played hooky this week from blogland but it wasn't intentional. There was nothing fabric-related happening or worth showing until Thursday night, when bride-to-be Elaine came over for some crafting--and secret wedding projects can't be shown, natch. Design decisions were made, cutting and organizing accomplished, and some painting done. She worked me until after 10 pm.

I had already decided to play hooky from work on Friday and that freed up my morning to attend Elaine's dress alteration appointment. I was very impressed with the owner, Elizabeth, who was so comfortable with all the ins and outs of bridal dresses, bustling the back, layers, netting, lace etc, whereas I would be lost in that department. She spent an entire hour working with Elaine in the dress and making it just perfect for her special day. I showed Elizabeth the veil I made and was happy to accept her compliments on my sewing.

After picking up some interfacing for the secret wedding project, I went home to work on my half-finished skirt, on which I'd already edge-finished all the seams. All it needed were the waistband and hem.

I always secure my overlapped elastic with the above stitching design to enforce that it lies flat. After closing the waistband opening, I also stitch in the ditch on at least the side seams to keep it from twisting.

Here's the great clearance-rack linen jacket that inspired me to pull out the rayon fabric from my stash for the skirt. You can see the flounces that run down the front of the skirt--the pics with flash showed the colors better but the flounces disappeared. I can't wait to wear the outfit to work.

Grant had a birthday yesterday and we celebrated at a very nice dinner restaurant, Prime, which is one of his accounts. He enjoyed a Patron margarita with a Grand Marnier shot. Happy Birthday, darling!

To start his four courses he chose this blackened chile relleno with sauce. I had crab-stuffed mushrooms, Chris had shrimp wontons, and Nick had spicy shrimp. We received excellent service and attention all through the rest of our delicious dinner courses and listened to some live music. They even sang a personal Happy Birthday to Grant, making him turn red! It was a lovely meal.

Future son-in-law Chris provided some after dinner exercises in balance. We missed Erica but she will be home soon enough--the big day grows ever closer! Now I'm off to more secret wedding project work...

One Word Wednesday

2011-09-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Kowabunga!

Tuesday's Orts--Sept 13, 2011

2011-09-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ort: a scrap, a bit; in this case, gathered random bits of thoughts and observations on my week.

I got a call early Friday that our outbuilding had been broken into at work overnight. The doorframe was splintered on the latch side and both were lying on the floor. I instructed the staff not to touch anything and to call the police. I will say that nothing perks up a tired receptionist like a cute cop.
It appeared the thief only took food from the refrigerator, which is kind of sad. He rummaged through the break room area and overturned the bathroom trash--I think to take the liner of the can for the sandwiches he carried off, because that was missing. Ew.
Saturday I went to the garden center. This is a old-fashioned hardware, home and garden center and walking around, it was hard to imagine there was something they didn't carry. I heard popping sounds as I was looking around and as I got to the checkout, one worker was handing out bubble wrap to several cashiers, who immediately began popping with glee. My cashier did manage to restrain herself until after she rang up my items.
Traffic rant: Of the pedestrian type this time. While I was walking across the parking lot of a local restaurant for lunch, a worker was pushing a wheeled garbage can. He saw me and sped up so he could enter the door before me. And then didn't hold the door open even though I was a foot behind him. Huh?
Occasionally I read the Want Ads in our local paper. Under "Special Notices" yesterday was an intriguing one: "Wanted: Middle-aged woman to go sailing on my 30 foot yatch". You know, I might have taken him up on that if he had a YACHT and not a YATCH.
It is less than six weeks to the wedding of DD Elaine and Chris. This is a bigger deal than our own wedding--which was planned in less than two months and very simple. The logistics are getting a bit nerve-wracking for the big day but the RSVPs are coming in and the excitement is building.
This time two years ago I was getting ready for another wedding, that of my Aussie girlfriend Susie and her mate, Jon. I was furiously working on this quilt:

And when I actually got to Port Douglas, got to go on their amazing boat.

Now THAT'S a yacht! 58 feet of luxury. That cruise on the Coral Sea was a 10, all day, and I presented the couple with the quilt I had made:

It was a long-time dream come true to travel to Australia, and I will treasure my memories of my amazing time there forever.

Design Wall Monday--Sept 12, 2011

2011-09-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

On my Design Surface today is a partly finished object of another kind--actual clothing!

I'm making the skirt that is orange in the illustration. The pattern claims it is a 2-hour skirt. I say, yeah--not so much. I'm not sure what step they start on but obviously they skip fabric prep, finding the pattern pieces in the tissue packet, then laying out and cutting the pieces for the skirt--all before sewing even begins.

This rayon challis has been in my stash for a very very long time. It doesn't look like much here, but the 8 gore skirt is cute on, and comes to just below the knee. It will be great for work. I have some adjustments to make to the hip area and then can finish all the seams, turn down the top for the waistband and add the elastic and finally hem the skirt. That will take more than 2 hours too! Anyway, I've sewn enough that I knew that was a false estimate :)

The top to a Quilts for Kids kit was also completed over the weekend. I added the corner triangles for some additional interest. See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Remembering 9/11

2011-09-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

As I stitched airplane fabric into a charity quilt, I could not help but recall the events of that awful day 10 years ago involving hijacked jetliners. It was not our habit to watch television in the mornings so it was a neighbor who called to tell us what was happening. We watched as the north tower burned and newscasters relayed what little information was available. The kids left for school and Grant for work. I happened to be off work that day on vacation and spent it watching in horror and disbelief, as did the rest of the country and world, as the second tower was hit and then both fell, the Pentagon was struck and burning, and the obliterated wreckage of Flight 93 was shown, followed by the sickening images of extremists in Iraq celebrating. The safety of our country as we knew it changed forever that day. But not the American spirit. People lined up to give blood, money, comfort, any aid they could. Rescue crews from all over the nation immediately headed to help. The stories of those lost began to be told, the heroes honored, and survivors cherished. America received the support from its many friends around the world, and was grateful. Many non-Americans were killed in these attacks, but we felt they were "us" and not "them" and treated them as our own. September 11, 2001 will forever be remembered and marked as a dark day for all nations. People everywhere should fight extremists of every kind, foreign or domestic, for they are the true evil in the world. We are one race, the human race, and live only on one world, Earth. Let us never forget that.

X, Y & Z

2011-09-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

So many days I head to work expecting I am going to do "X", and then when I get there Y & Z have happened and X goes out the window. That's true about quilting too. Last night I intended to get the UFO box of witches out of the Hoosier cabinet, but when I was moving stuff around in my sewing area to get to it (a la archaeological dig), I unburied a plastic baggie from Quilts For Kids. I knew a kit I'd ordered had come in a while back, but felt really terrible to see that June 17th was on the packing slip, far beyond the 4-6 week return request. So a couple of hours of Y & Z later, I had this:

As usual, the kit contained 6.5" print squares, 3.5" strips to construct 4-patches with, plus border fabrics. I decided to add some scraps of my own to change up the basic kit.

I dug around in my 2.5" scrap bin for black prints and cut squares. Since the airplane print is directional with a lot of repeats, I thought the addition of the corner triangles would add a nice framing effect. Want to help bring cheer to cancer patients? Order a kit from Quilts for Kids! They come with precut pieces for the top along with backing and a label. Just add batting and binding. They are small with easy patterns. I enjoyed putting together one last year and ordered another free kit. Now to get it finished and sent off!

Tuesday's Orts--Sept 6, 2011

2011-09-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

And the Orts go on...

I forgot a traffic rant last week! But I can report that drivers everywhere continued to misbehave. Yesterday not less than four cars pulled out from side streets and a driveway on a one mile stretch as I drove on a two lane road. All of them slowed--but didn't stop--at stop signs as they glanced my direction and then pulled out in front of me anyway. Sigh.
There are 116 days left in the year. Of course, the kids that just started school are really only counting to the winter school break.
My youngest brother and his family drove out from Arizona for the holiday weekend to escape the heat. Brother Ted forgot to bring a jacket--and our low on Friday night when they arrived was to be 57 degrees, about half of what the daytime high was at their home. He had to borrow a jacket from my dad. It was foggy and cool in the mornings, as usual, with sun in the afternoon. They all enjoyed the break from heat and actually having to wear long sleeves for warmth instead of for sun protection.
Family in town always means lots of get togethers and of course lots of eating. I was pretty good sticking to my eating plan but when Grant made oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert, I couldn't resist a cookie. Or two.
Someday I will add exercise to this diet.
There have been lots of programs on TV about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York. It never stops giving me sickening chills when they show the planes hitting the towers, and again when the towers begin to fall.
I drove out to a nearby new home project, of which the sales offices were touted to be "green", since they are retrofitted shipping containers. The containers are not impressive from the outside but the view is one of my favorites. (click to biggify)

The foothills lead up to the Topatopa Mountains that range East to West with a peak up to 6700 feet. I think the views of the mountains change as much as the sea and I never tire of seeing them every morning as I head to the highway onramp to go to work.

Labor Day Littles

2011-09-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

Today has been a day of little things. I slept in a little, read a little, did paying work for a little, blogsurfed a little, ate a little, did a little housework, and now I might take a little errand run to JoAnn's. All in all, a very satisfying Labor Day so far! Later a little sewing is planned. I got a lot of work done on the wedding quilt yesterday, stitching up many pieces into their rows, while completing blocks on the leader-ender front.

The palest yellow block may not make it into the final quilt--the fabric is very very thin. It seemed the leader-enders were taking too much time in my piecing work until I got into a rhythm. I also improved my construction by penciling a diagonal line for the stitch-and-flip corners rather than finger pressing the squares in half and using the fold line as my guide. Sometimes it is simply better to mark things!

A little decision making took place as well. The UFO Challenge project for this month is #11, which on my list is a 9-patch quilt. But I decided the witches deserve to finally be finished this year so will swap out #5 on my list. I have two of these witch quilts, with the colors swapped of the hair and hatband in each.

One is going to get a simple final border of black and and the eyelashes sewn on for its finish. The other is going to have free-pieced letter names a la Tonya's book Word Play Quilts. I have been gathering names for months--being a transcriptionist for the hospital has the benefit of running across all sorts of unusual names. On my list are: Zenaida, Jerryl, Sherith, Ferol, Avrum, Taylan, Ralie, Prina, Trinara, Jonick, Kachan, Pagel, Lera, Jestina, Borgny, Una, and Zivana. I have to choose four from this list. Anyone want to help me narrow it down?

Crossing off

2011-09-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

I do love to make lists, and even better to cross items off lists. The Sweet Escape tablerunner I've been trying to finish for a month and a half finally did make it off the to-do list.

After stitching the last of the binding down today, I had some concerns about the unquilted print portions since they seemed too puffy, so I added more stitches.

Pretty uncontrolled serpentine quilting there--but it did solve my worry. The tablerunner then got its first wash and dry.

I love the almost argyle look to the tablerunner (Sweet Escape, by Heather Mulder Peterson, On the Run pattern booklet).

And the great texture from the all of the quilting.

There was no bleeding from the charm squares and they didn't shrink more than expected, thankfully.

The plain white backing shows the quilting well. I hope the recipient likes it too--this is a gift for the caterer for Elaine's wedding. Elaine sent out all the invitations this week and RSVPs are already showing up in their mailbox. She likes to cross items off lists too :)

Bear goes back in time

2011-09-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

Bear* took a trip...

...all the way back to the Jurassic era, and there he found some dinosaur tracks. You can tell he was pretty impressed with the size of those footprints. Bear found them on Navajo land near Cameron, Arizona. Bear got admitted for free, but his driver and two other companions were charged $15 apiece to look for dinosaur tracks on the Navajo land. That was pretty impressive too!

*Bear is my dad's small blue companion who is ever ready for an outing and is always smiling.

Tuesday's Orts--Aug 30, 2011

2011-08-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Orts in brief yet again. Some week it may even be a singular ort!

Son Nick invited a few friends over on Saturday night to watch UFC fighting on TV. Knowing how I hate boxing, he was happy to call out to me whenever there was a lot of blood or guys getting knocked out. Ugh.
At his request I made Hamburger Soup, one of our favorites, running out to the store to get supplies but forgetting one main ingredient, canned tomatoes. To the rescue was a HUGE heirloom tomato from a friend. I think the fresh tomato was a terrific substitute.
Computer problems magically healed themselves at work, come Monday morning, but continued to plague me last night. The Internet went down on my home computer. I shut everything down after several attempts at fixing and trudged off to the bedroom to watch Design Star in a sulk.
My new favorite TV show is Roseanne's Nuts, starring Roseanne Barr, about her macadamia nut farm on Hawaii and her current life. She's still very funny in the self-deprecating way she always was. The show is a bit silly and occasionally strange, which is probably why I like it. One of my favorite lines from her original standup routine was, "I have anorexia dyslexia. I never think I'm fat enough."
At work on Friday a new patient walked in 2.5 hours late for her initial consultation (which is 80 minutes long) and gave multiple excuses as to why she missed her appointment, all of which she claimed were not her fault. She did not once apologize for being late and still wanted to be seen that afternoon. Amazing gall, don't you think?
The volunteer corn plant in the front yard is getting a tassel! And the poinsettia bush in the back yard is turning into an over six foot tree:

In a couple more months it will be ready for the holidays.

Design Wall Monday--Aug 29, 2011

2011-08-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

On my design floor today is the Wedding Quilt--DD Elaine's nuptials are only two months away! I laid out the pieces for the remaining four rows of the quilt and got three of the already stitched rows sewn together.

The quilt will be queen sized. The pattern (Natural Beauty from Winter 2010 Quilts and More mag) calls for a 3.5 inch border. I may make it a bit wider but haven't decided yet. See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Both of our August birthday offspring (above) have now had their birthdays. Nick had his yesterday and was surprised by his girlfriend Alison with a skydiving adventure. We thought we had him going a little on a red herring story but he confessed afterwards that the skydiving trip was what he suspected the surprise would be all along. Happy 26th, son!

What a bust

2011-08-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

And not just in the sewing department! Another difficult week at work was capped off today by the Internet going down for the second time this week--and I could not get it back--it is still busted until the I.T. guy comes on Monday. All this stress totally zapped me several nights this week. I tellya, this management gig is wearing me out--especially since I didn't choose the job, it fell to me suddenly when the last manager was fired. Can't say that I'm enjoying it much right now but I am grateful to have a job when so many are out of work, and I like the people I work with, which means a lot.

Anyway....what little fabric interaction I had this week was confined to cutting.

Pieces for the Flowers for Nana Girl quilt, my new leader-ender project. There's 190 2.5" squares and 160 4.5 x 2.5" rectangles in that little box. Doesn't look like much, does it? I did throw one pink flower in there to make up for a rather dull yellow I couldn't live with in this grouping.

I'm still trying to bust a UFO too. My record for finishing UFOs has been poor these few months. This is the backing for the August pick, which on my list is the Strawberry Fields doll quiltalong project. I called mine Patriotic Fields. This is the backing laid out on my cutting mat before being sewn tonight.

And here is the sandwich all together. Originally I thought I would hand quilt this with fans but have decided against it given my lack of skills and the many many seams to stitch over. A new quilting plan is necessary given the deadline approaching in days! I'll probably machine quilt it in some simple way.

We have a volunteer stalk of corn in the front yard. I'm pretty sure any harvest will be a bust since it is a lone stalk and not likely to get pollinated. It's up to about 4-5 feet tall now though and has been amusing to watch! Once it is cut and dried I'll have a homegrown fall decoration :). Here's to some sewing this weekend--the wedding quilt needs major busting!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

Seriously.

Tuesday's Orts--Aug 23, 2011

2011-08-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Another rushed edition of the Orts--I've had three phone calls from work saying the computers are acting up and are now DOWN!

Biggest laugh at the wedding shower was during the "how well do you know Elaine" quiz game. The question was "What is Elaine's biggest pet peeve about Chris?" One of her friends, I think it was Stacy, said, "What ISN'T Elaine's biggest pet peeve about Chris?"

Stacy won the quiz game. (The answer to the question is that Chris turns all the damn lights on in the house and then comes and sits down on the couch.)

Her sister Chelsea didn't win anything but had fun with the ring box game.

I like to read the real estate section of the newspaper on the weekend. There was a very expensive house listed that was advertised as "Newly constructed--in 2008". Um, isn't EVERY house newly constructed? Next we'll read, "Victorian mansion, newly constructed in 1885."
Traffic rant: As soon as the Fair was over and traffic around our office was expected to return to normal, the City began digging up the dang street again, closing off a main intersection and lanes DAILY. Sigh.
My camera is frequently used and it does not have rechargeable batteries so I was going through them pretty quickly until I bought these:

I put these Energizer Advanced Lithium batteries in before our trip to Cincinnati in April and they just ran out of juice last week--so four months of use. I think that is remarkable.

And finally, the happy recipient of the Scrappy Trails/Hot Tamale quilt:

It was so good to see Anna's big smile after all she's gone through the last couple of months with a cancer scare. Her thyroid surgery was successful and her scar is healing very well. Our co-worker tried to convince her that the quilt is ugly and she didn't really want it, but Anna held firm that she loves it!