Sew Faster!

My second quilt for the Katie Pasquini Masopust online class is due tomorrow.  I just started cutting and sewing yesterday.  The days have gotten away from me, and sewing time has been minimal.

Well, maybe that's not quite true.  I mentioned the denim throw for my son.  Here is a picture:

 Last week's baby quilt has been delivered and well received.

I made a lycra superhero costume for a friend.  He's supposed to pick it up today.  I'm not sure if there will be pictures.  The costume is lumpy and shapeless hanging on a hanger, so there's no point in taking a photo of it.

We needed to start irrigating the walnuts because of the heat.  My son, the primary irrigator, is away this week, fishing in Alaska.  I stepped in on Friday, to fill the void.  I sent my husband a selfie (he's also in Alaska) so that he could see my renewed appreciation for those who irrigate.  It was only 103 at the time.

 I'd sent him a selfie earlier in the day - he's requested them - what a change 10 hours and 34 degrees can make!  Ghastly.  I'm not exaggerating when I say I don't take the heat well.

Well, enough of that.  I hate the selfies, but wanted to let you know that when I say, "It's so hot," I mean, "It is SOOOOO Hot!!"  :)

The fishermen were supposed to be home last night, but American Airlines cancelled their flight.  Instead, they spent the night in Seattle, and will be home some time after 5pm this afternoon.  I'm calling that a gift of time, and hopefully I will use it wisely.  If all goes well, I will finish Lesson #2, and be able to post it by the time it is due.  When she says "Monday," I hear "Monday at Midnight."  I'm going to need every minute.

Stay cool!!

Ta Da

I finished another baby quilt this morning.

 My color inspiration came from the butterfly fabric on the back.  I bought it at the quilt show, and set it aside for a baby born last week.  The quilt is much PINKER than I expected.  But it's done, so I'm happy.

 Does anyone else piece batting scraps together?  When I do, I can get 4 baby quilts from one queen-sized batt.

 I don't do this for show quilts or wall quilts, just baby quilts that are going to be washed and used again and again and again.

I've set this week aside for a personal quilt retreat.  Goals are good, though I didn't do much on my big list today.  Instead, I spent hours sewing together squares of denim.  My son asked me to do this months ago, and after sewing 4 or 5 seams, I lost interest. I decided that I really do need the floor space, so the denim is now in one piece and headed back to his house in the morning.

Tomorrow, I've got one more guilt project to work on before I can focus on the quilts I wanted to work on this week.  I may not be working on them yet, but I'm getting ready.

 With a sort of cleaned off quilting surface, and a definitely cleaned off ironing board, I'm ready to hit it again in the morning.

Goals are good!

Finding My Groove

Lesson #2 with Katie Pasquini Masopust arrived in my inbox early Tuesday morning.  Oh dear.  I thought that I'd have a few minutes (hours) of down time between assignments, but that wasn't the case.  I read the assignment, and my mind started spinning.  What to do?  How to attack this?  It took 3-4 times of reading through the assignment to realize that there is a quilt I've wanted to make that will fit the bill perfectly.  I went through my stash, and pulled fabric.

 I was missing a few hues that I really wanted to include, so a shopping spree was in order.  I started by ordering 12 yards of batiks from Hancocks of Paducah, since they on sale for $6.99/yard.  Such a deal, such a deal.

But none of the batiks fill the gap in my color runs, so then I went to Thimble Towne.  There I found some barely violet blues and a pinky color (it's not as coral as it looks in the image) and purples that fill the bill.  I will probably begin cutting and sewing on Saturday, at least that's the goal, for now.

I've also pieced an entire baby quilt in the past two days, and worked more on my applique from the 2014 David Taylor class.  Yes, I seem to be getting my groove back, and it's bringing a smile to my face.  woohoo!  Happy Quilting!

A New Finish

I finished the first assignment for my online class.  It's not what I'd envisioned, not even close, but I ran out of time.  Yesterday I put together the brown background and cut strips of the colors.  Today, I fiddled with the colors and ended up with an approximately 17" quilt called "Wheel of Color."

The next assignment should be in my inbox in the morning.  whew!

Gaining Momentum

I am glad to report that since I last posted, some stitching has been done.  Another baby quilt has been finished, and delivered, to wit:

Wow!  The baby makes the quilt look big!  Most of the baby quilts that I make are 40" x 48", which seems to serve them well.  There are quite a number of babies on the horizon, so I need to kick the baby quilt making up a notch.

I also made another fishie postcard, this one for my daughter's birthday, which is today.  It was accompanied by the most chocolate of chocolate cakes (chocolate cake mix, chocolate pudding mix, mini chocolate chips, sour cream) all delivered to her doorstep yesterday.

 A friend's birthday was also this past week, so I kicked out a card for her as well.  Notice the fabric choices, as compared to those in the baby quilt pictured above.  I didn't have to think too much when making this one.

I don't know if you know anyone caught up in the Pokemon Go game, but I've been hearing all about it.  When we arrived in San Carlos, we parked immediately in front of an image.  I saw my first players, and had to take a picture.  If you see people standing around staring intently at their phones, and stopping every couple of feet, they are probably playing the game.

 The next morning, I discovered that my SIL has the game, and my granddaughter is an avid fan.  When she showed me the creature jumping up and down on the table between her parents at Peet's Coffee - can you see the little blue thing on her screen? - I suddenly understood the attraction of the game.  It's quite clever, really.

 Unfortunately for me, the out of town trip means that I've done nothing about finishing my assignment for my online quilt class.  It is due tomorrow.  I've got fabric chosen, but I seriously doubt that I can cut AND sew it all before tomorrow.  oh well.  I'd best stop talking about it, and see if I can actually DO something about it.

I'll leave you with this "selfie" from most of the Itty Bitties...Happy Quilting!

What Happened To July?!

When last I posted, I thought I would be quilting some time soon.  But I didn't.  Instead, I moped around wallowing in the heat, half-heartedly trying to find my quilt mojo.  I couldn't find it anywhere!

Then, last week, we went to Cayucos and Morro Bay, just for the day.  Oh my!  I found inspiration everywhere.  Along with the inspiration was frustration: I forgot my camera at home!  Despite being the new owner of my first iPhone, I found it to be a poor substitute for my beloved Canon.

 When my husband gave me the iPhone, he said that I could use it to send selfies to him every day.  I think I've only missed one day so far.  This was Wednesday's.  ;)

 There were rafts/romps of otters in Morro Bay, and I couldn't stop complaining about forgetting my camera.  This is about the best picture I could get, even with the "zoom" on the iPhone.  I doubt I will forget my REAL camera again any time in the near future.  This was my first time EVER to see otters in the wild, so I don't expect to repeat the experience any time soon.

There were also some seals right up near shore, so I took advantage of them to practice with the iPhone.  I may have a "smart" phone now, but I basically use it to make phone calls and text.  I realize I am in the minority, but I'm still skeptical of the big whoop-de-do.  So far?  I'm not a fan.

As I said, I thought I would do some quilting this month, but it's been a long time coming.  Finally, finally, I quilted one of those baby quilts that I basted back in November.  It didn't take me long to remember why it's important to clear off your quilting surface when machine quilting.  You might end up with something like this.

 But I did get it finished last night.  Hubby asked who it's for.  hmmm, well, it's for a baby.  The list of babies that I owe quilts to is long, so I'll have to choose wisely for its assignment.  The primary goal was just to get it finished.  I'm so glad I can call it Done!

 Next up?  I signed up for a 16 week online course with Katie Pasquini Masopust.  The first assignment is due early next week.  This is about as far as I've gotten.  oh dear.  I'm still not as motivated as I hoped I would be.  I specifically signed up for this to get my motivation back.

Stay tuned.  Fingers crossed that I will have something to show to the teacher by Monday.  Goals are good!

so hot

It. Is. So. Hot.
Okay, so it's really not THAT hot today, expecting a high of a mere 100 degrees.  But it's been hot for days, and my energy has been sucked right out of me.  Yes, folks, surprise, surprise.  Triple digits makes me whine and complain and brings out the worst in me.  Then again, I barely have the will to do anything, so it's probably not really my worst, because that would take some effort.

You get the picture.  It's hot, and I am not a fan.

Last week I delivered Miss Penny back to her parents, and returned to a good 20 degrees more than where I left her.  It was disheartening, to say the least.  But, despite my grumbling and muttering, I'm actually getting a thing or two done.  They are little things, which probably don't add up to much, but baby steps are better than no steps, especially when I feel like I've been idle for an entire month!

I made a postcard, and put it in today's mail.  Oh, look.  Blogger and its tricks.  lovely.

 I found an estate sale listed, so I stopped by.  There was a rack of scarves for 50 cents each, so I chose this one,

 and this one.

 It's a running joke in my family, that Mother taught us to have expensive taste.  I looked for content tags (they'd been removed), but didn't see the signature lines until I'd washed them and hung them on the line.

 Not bad for a buck, eh?

Now I have a question.  They smell a bit fusty.  Does anyone have a sure-fire method of removing odor from delicate fabrics?  They're washed and airing on the line, but they might need something else.  And no, Febreze will not work.  I have chemical/odor sensitivity that induces asthma attacks, so I need something as odorless and odor-neutralizing as possible.

Thank you so much!!