Witching Hours

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

Playtime!

Tuesday's Orts--Sept 20, 2011

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

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

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

Kowabunga!

Tuesday's Orts--Sept 13, 2011

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.