Happy Halloween!

We're expecting the usual hordes of trick-or-treaters tonight, and thus far have only had to replace one bag of candy :)

This adorable witch I bought last year at the Senior Craft Shoppe. Claudette's painting and special additions were too charming to resist!  She needs a name, though...

One Word Wednesday

Helping. 

Farm Friends

The baby quilt was cut, sewn, backing made all in a day.  Speedy, for me!  Here it is getting ready for pinning.  This is a gift for my son in law's brother and wife, who passed their due date yesterday. I'm predicting 2:00 a.m. Tuesday. 

I think this is my favorite square :). So it is all ready to be quilted, but I set it aside to prepare a quilt backing for another quilt that I'm sending to Mary of Quilt Hollow to do the quilting. Very excited to work with her on turning my Picnic top into a real quilt!

Shh, Baby Quilt in Progress

Cutting and sewing and ironing...great way to spend a Saturday!

Fall sights

In honor of Fall, I guess, the vignette on the iron gate near my workplace has changed to squash. I was tardy in getting a pic of the previous month, ears of corn :)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Do you see what I see?

UPDATE:  It is the white egret on the rocks.  It seemed to me that the surfline was an odd place for this bird to be hanging out.  Just out of my picture frame was a lady walking on the rocks, mere feet from the bird.  I alerted her to its presence and since she was a lot closer, I bet her iphone photos were better than mine :).  

Tuesday's Orts

Another edition of Tuesday's Orts--bits and scraps of thoughts and events that land here semi-regularly.   Today it is orts pic by pic.

The mug mats finally got to their intended recipient, my friend's daughter Rachel, whose sorority has a kite as one of its symbols. I made these mostly with fabrics she sent, but branched out with some stash fabric to change up the kite design, backings and binding.  I forgot to take a photo of the four mats before sending them off to Texas, so Rachel snapped this one with her phone for me.  She said she loved them and sent me a very sweet thank you note.

Jase and Uncle Si from Duck Dynasty stopped by our Halloween Bunco the other week.  Glad they could fit a little fun into their busy filming schedule. Uncle Si did bring his own iced tea to drink.  

This lovely old plane landed and taxied right up to the restaurant when we were having breakfast on the patio of the Waypoint Cafe at the Camarillo Airport.  Very cool local place to eat and watch planes of old and new vintage come and go.  And the food's terrific too.

My cobweb master crafter being home from Arizona, she got straight to work on the front porch decor when I left out the new package of webbing.  Don't you think the dead plants in the pots add to the neglected and scary look?

It's a little crowded in the living room so Erica had to improvise her seating when she wanted to try to play a piano tune she learned years ago.  I'm sure her legs would have eventually gone numb if she'd practiced long enough :)

One more ort, though no pic.  A couple of months ago at my physical my doctor told me my thyroid hormone level was low, but he wanted to retest in a month to double check.  Well, two months went by before I got to the lab again on a Friday.  On the following Monday the doc called me to say the level was far below normal and asked if I had been tired.  "Very!" was my reply.  I was glad to know that besides my age and starting a new job that flip-flopped my hours, there was a reason I was so utterly exhausted every evening, achy, dry skinned, and gaining weight.  The doc started me on thyroid replacement, saying it would make me feel better.  I'll have to take this for the rest of my life.  I'm still waiting for that burst of energy but gradually am feeling less exhausted.  Maybe in another couple of weeks of taking the medication I'll even be able to sew at night again!

Wedding Quilt Finale

The wedding quilt has left the building!  The new Mr & Mrs picked it up yesterday.  But first, a few more photos of the work in progress. 

My sister Kathy donated a beautiful hand-painted batik from her stash for the backing.  I bought the tan batik to frame it and make it wide enough for the 60 x 72" quilt.  The pinning went quickly with help from Kathy and my daughter Erica.  Much more fun than doing it all by myself--although it is hard to pin when you're laughing so much! 

 A simple "puzzle piece" stipple gave lots of texture. I used a russet tan thread, about 3-1/2 spools for the quilting and binding.

The binding fabric was another pretty batik piece Kathy donated to the cause from her stash :)  For a photo shoot, I tagged along on Kathy's beach walk with her dog, Sophie.  After a couple of laughable attempts at Kathy holding the quilt up in the wind, which I promised wouldn't go on the blog,  I decided to break the law by climbing up on the vacant lifeguard tower.  Well, I made Kathy do it, anyway.

 Still windy, but a bit better for photography!

 Little bit easier posing using the railings :)

The Ventura Pier served as a backdrop for this au naturel pic.  Then we turned over the quilt for another shot of the backing...

And Sophie climbed on for a glamor shot.  The quilt then got its first bath and was labeled and wrapped for the newlyweds' return from their Maui honeymoon. I renamed it Maui Weave since the quilt turned out to have such a tropical flavor/sand and sea feel, and gave credit to my sister for helping me get the quilt finished--I couldn't have gotten it done in time without her.  This pattern is Willow Weave, from Aunt Reen's Jelly Roll Sew Along of a few months ago.  

My nephew Matt and his lovely wife Carlie.  Thankfully, they loved the colors of all the batiks and the beautiful backing.  I hope it sees many years of use as they continue their happily wedded life. And I have a satisfied sigh of relief that they liked and appreciated my gift.  I enjoyed making it for them.

Design Wall Monday--October 14, 2013

On my design surface today are two piles of new fabrics for new projects--both will become baby quilts. 

I met daughter Elaine at Superbuzzy yesterday so we could pick out fabric for my future grandson's baby quilt.  She and her husband like modern colors and designs so we started off with the burnt orange color print with the squares (S'mores line) and had a great time pulling bolts to go with it.  The little raccoons kill me!  Elaine had some months ago pinned a quilt on Pinterest as inspiration, which was essentially a classic goose chase pattern.  We worked out what size we'd like for the geese and ended up buying quarter yard cuts of these prints.  Since a couple of these are directional, we'll be able to cut either crosswise or lengthwise and get what we need.  I'm going to make up a sample of the size geese we think we want, just to make sure before I cut into this lovely and not inexpensive fabric!

But before my grandson arrives, Elaine and Chris are getting a nephew via his brother and wife, who are due at the end of the month.  I picked out a simple pattern to go with some fat quarters I scored at Tuesday Morning at least a year ago (maybe two!). 

I thought the farm theme was cute and fun for a baby boy.  

Look at the piggy--irresistible, no? I'll fussy cut as many of the animals as I can for the 5" squares the pattern requires. I have three colorways of the animal print and several coordinates that came in the fat quarter pack--those on the right are pulled from stash.  The cream will be the sashing.  I'll get my sister started on ironing these up for me   See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Dad! 

October Happenings

Although I haven't been posting, life has been busy around here these first two weeks of October!  First weekend in October there was a family wedding.  Set in beautiful Chase Palm Park on the beach in Santa Barbara, it featured my eldest nephew Matt and his lovely bride Carlie.  The weather cooperated by ceasing the hot and wild winds that had been happening for days. It was a warm and very beautiful evening!

Carlie's brother walked her down the aisle.  Isn't her lace dress gorgeous?

The short ceremony ended with a lovely kiss.  I sent this shot to my nephew the next day :)

Carlie thanking her new husband before their first dance, as his proud mom looks on.  Carlie's dress was just as pretty from the back, laced up with ribbons. 

 

 The party started soon after.  Son Nick and daughter Erica enjoyed themselves. 

 

Daughter Elaine--with our "half-baked" grandson providing a perch--practicing on Baby Chloe.The little furry dress cracked me up. 

Happy day for the groom's father, my brother Kevin.

My dad also had a good time--seen here with another of his grandsons, Christian, age 17.  We were lucky to have nearly the whole family there, missing only my sister's daughter Caitlin, who was unable to come from Missouri due to her work schedule.

Lights and candles were lit at sunset, adding to the mood.

 Last rides on the carousel--Elaine and husband Chris took a spin.

The carousel was so pretty at night!   It was a lovely venue and a fun party to start off Matt and Carlie's wedded life. This being a public park, there were other visitors to the area who stopped by and peeked in but there were no party crashers, luckily :)

One Word Wednesday

Surfer's Point

Sunset.

Tuesday's Orts

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

• Life has been very busy since my one-and-only sister moved back to town--in a good way.  I told Kathy one day when she called and wasn't sure she was going to come over that she had to; she moved away 30 years ago and now that she's in town, I want to see her EVERY day. 
• On Saturday we went to Kathy's storage unit to paw through her batik fabrics--of which she had many--and were successful in finding a backing for the wedding quilt!  She also brought back to my house a box of UFOs she had packaged up.  It will be sew nice to work through our piles of projects together.
• Unfortunately the backing piece was not wide enough and just a smidgen short.  That meant a trip to the local fabric store.  I took the quilt top and got several people's compliments.  One lady petted the folded top on the cutting table, which made me smile.
• The new fabric will frame the center section.  That meant a bunch of MATH had to be done.  And double-checked.  And re-calculated. Sigh.
• Have I mentioned there is a new Quilt Quality Control Agent in the household?

DD Erica sent this photo of her cat Lucy to me, along with a text message, "Hi.  I'm just helping."  It appears the quilt top passed inspection!