Desert Delivery

My quick trip to the Arizona desert was good!  DD Erica drove and even provided "Mom-friendly" music, as she put it, via her i-Pod.  We approached downtown Phoenix just as a terrific storm blew in. 

Erica thought at first that it might be a haboob, or massive dust storm, but with the wind came rain, thunder and lightning.  "Welcome to sunny Phoenix!", said Erica.

It was fast moving and lent a beautiful tinge to the sunset as we headed out to dinner at a favorite local Italian restaurant called Andreoli's, where we celebrated her best friend and roommate Christy's birthday.

I met Lucy, Erica's very friendly 8 month old kitten.  This is one of her favorite perches, among many, including the top of the refrigerator, and Erica's shoulder.   

Lucy found the plastic bag holding my handwork very interesting as well.

My brother Ted and sister in law Laura are in the middle of having a house remodeled and led me on a tour.  This is the great room, which is open to the kitchen.  French doors on the left and right walls will open to the front courtyard and the back patio, respectively.  The wood beams were stained very dark and give a Spanish feel to the two rooms.  Travertine floors keep it light and bright and I just love all the arches.  They added a partial second story with a balcony off their master suite with amazing views of the surrounding desert valley and mountains of Scottsdale.

The house's original living room got a beautiful coved ceiling and is such an inviting room with all of its windows and light.  It may become the formal dining room but that has yet to be decided.   While I was in town the outside of the house was painted, hence the plastic covering the many windows and doors.  Ted was impressed with how cool the house felt with the new double glazed windows and insulated walls.  Though it was about 95 degrees outside, the house was comfortable without any air conditioning.  They should be able to move in by July, and Ted said, "But no one will want to visit then because of the heat!" 

Palo verde tree and blooming ocotillo outside the restaurant we lunched at yesterday, where Laura was kind enough to invite me to join her and her friends Barb and Ellen.  They have regular crafting days together and will soon get to enjoy the views from the Lady Cave studio upstairs at the new house.

My brother Ted posing with his flannel-backed quilt in 99 degree weather. The coffee beans quilted into it were roasting!

And an Indian blanket style pose.  He loved the quilt and I'm glad I delivered it in person.  

Lucy liked it too! 

After the Egg Hunt, Let The Binding Begin

Living on a cul de sac for the past 20 years means we know our neighbors and have watched them all play on the street constantly.  For the past several years our neighborhood organizer extraordinaire has set up an egg hunt, hiding eggs on every yard and of course making some firm rules.  The kids love it.  Here they are all lined up at the end of the cul de sac, ready for the word GO.

The bigger kids ran immediately for farther houses but the little ones stayed close to mom or dad.

The dad in this case grew up on the block and is now bringing his girls to Grandma's for the Egg Hunt.  Aren't they sweet in their little dresses and Mary Janes?   It was fun to watch the kids as they raced and searched the block.  After going inside and having breakfast I got back to my sewing machine, ready for piecing.

It seems I'd nearly forgotten my word for the year, which is FOCUS. Being easily distractible is a hazard of the modern age, I fear. However, last night I did strap myself into my sewing chair and knock out that last corner of the quilting on my brother's quilt in less than an hour. Today the binding was cut, assembled and pressed. 

I must make a clarification on my last post--this is a coffee themed quilt, but some of the quilted coffee beans look more like potatoes, hence my brother's comment that he likes potatoes.  Sorry for the bit of confusion!   The binding will get attached after I return from vacation--I'm flying off Wednesday to meet up with my sister in St. Louis for our road trip to Cincinnati and the International Quilt Festival.  Mom will meet us there and we'll stay with our cousin Florence again.  So excited!

Nearly There!

I've been working on the Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt for my brother Ted, with quilting, quilting, quilting sessions all week.  This is the last corner to complete and will probably take another hour plus.  I'm on my fifth or sixth bobbin at this point--good thing I bought a spool with 875 yards on it!  The binding is not yet made but will be scrappy, cut from leftover teal fabric.  I'm looking forward to finishing this quilt and getting back to some piecing. 
 

Ted emailed me after my last post to say he likes potatoes, and informing me that I would be required to deliver the quilt in person.  Well, okay then.  Plans are being made for a road trip to AZ soon!

Coffee Flavored

Today was the day for getting started quilting my brother Ted's quilt, a Bricks and Stepping Stones (Bonnie Hunter/Quiltville) free pattern.  Many of the fabrics have a coffee theme because my brother loves coffee, so I chose an appropriate free motion quilting design from Leah Day's From Daisy to Paisley book:

Leah's samples are stitched at 1/4" scale, but I blew that up to about 2" x 4".

I practiced first on some paper and then a scrap sandwich.

From the back, here are the first few coffee beans on the actual quilt.  Making the ovals is the hardest part.  Some of these look more like baked potatoes, but that's okay, 'cause I know my brother likes those too :). 

I used a variegated thread in coffee-with-cream colors.  One quarter is completely done and I'm feeling very positive about how this is quilting design is going so far.  This needs to get shipped to Ted before the temperatures in Arizona reach triple digits.  I better hurry!

Design Wall Monday--Feb 13, 2012

There is nothing on my design wall today because over the weekend I completed two tops, hooray!  There was a lot of getting up and down, sewing short seams, getting up and down, ironing, measuring, pin marking, and sewing long seams.  Okay, obviously I was adding borders:

Three borders to my UFO pick for this month, Judy's Mystery Quilt.  It's big--finishes at 72 x 96.  I had to have Grant assist me again from the stair landing.

Extra care was necessary to make the directional print go the same way all the way around.  I love the way this looks.  Those are 2", 1" and 3" finished borders.  I spent a great deal of Saturday working on this job in between chores and announcing the winner of my blogaversary.

Bricks and Stepping Stones got more attention Sunday.  For the inner border, I was testing either the white or the black and called son Nick over for his opinion.  He looked carefully and then said, "You can never go wrong with black."  He was right--it was the best choice. 

This dark teal print helps bring focus to the brighter teal blues within the center.  I'm really pleased that these choices worked out.  I also got through all the pinwheel blocks being used as my leader-enders. See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday--Feb 6, 2012

On my design floor today is a nice amount of progress on the Bricks & Stepping Stones flimsy. 

The center is complete and I'll be moving on to borders, which are already cut, yay!  The green row markers were a new to me Post It product I picked up in the office supplies section at Big Lots recently.

These sticky notes are completely sticky, not just on one edge. They stayed on through all the piecing, flipping, ironing, and row assembly without my having to restick them on or use a pin.  Gotta like that.

My progress on the top was impeded a bit by prepping all these HSTs--over 100--to use as leader-enders.  I trimmed them to 4" and eventually they will all be pinwheels like the few on the left.  Most will have the same color on each blade.  I also spent time finishing the little red and white zig zag quilt for my blogaversary giveaway.  See my last post to enter.  More design walls are on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Updates--UFO #1, B&SS

It has been too windy again for outside shots so I enlisted DH Grant to stand on the stairs and hold up a finished top for a picture.  This is #1 on my UFO Challenge 2012 list, the pick for February. 

This is Judy's Mystery Quilt pattern from summer 2010 (click name for her free pattern). It was on my UFO list last year but only made it from blocks to flimsy stage.  I have two borders to cut and add and already purchased backing fabric in 2010.  Grant asked, as usual, "Who is this for?" and was pleased that I said "Us!" as he told me he likes the colors a lot.  I do too.  After that I vacuumed the carpet and started laying out the Bricks & Stepping Stones blocks for my brother's quilt.

The quilt inspector waited until three rows were laid out before she plopped herself down.

I literally had to push Mini off the blocks in order to take more pics and play Switcheroo.

A few blocks changed position after this photo but I had to stop somewhere.  They are now stacked up and ready to stitch into rows.  I've been trimming more leftover HSTs to use as leader-enders so will get a lot of those done as I sew these 56 blocks together, which I am off to do forthwith!

Design Wall Monday--Jan 30, 2012

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.

Design Wall Monday--Jan 16, 2012

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.   

Design Wall Monday--Jan 9, 2012

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. 

Design Wall Monday--Jan 2, 2012

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.