Hey, Baby...

Welcome Home!!

Long time no see...actually, I did see you in July, in Long Beach. Tell me, where did you go? Who did you see? Did you have a good time?

If only quilts could talk...

What a Weekend!

ohmygoodness, what a weekend!

I left you in a hurry, on my way to Colorado. I had a hot date with Sharon and the Rocky Mtn Quilt Festival. I can't believe how much we fit into the 66 hours that I was there, but we did. It was absolutely amazing. A blog can't convey how much fun we had, but I can give it my best shot.

I arrived in Colorado Springs, shortly before noon on Friday. After a quick lunch, we visited Ruth's Stitchery, one of Sharon's favorite quilt stores. I loved the way some of the fabric was displayed. For some reason a show I'd heard my kids discussing (was it really called Pimp My Crib?) came to mind. If I were going to fix up my crib, this would be a great start! :)

Ruth's was followed by High Country Quilts, another great place for inspiration. I was starting to wilt (after all, I'd left the house at 3:30am), so we drove to her home. Talk about inspiration, how do you like the view off of her balcony? This is Pike's Peak.

Her husband Jeff cooked dinner for us. (And breakfast on Saturday, and dinner on Sunday!) Here they are just before we ate.

I didn't realize the picture had turned out so dark. Here's a better picture of the meal. Isn't it pretty? The pot roast was mouth-wateringly amazing!

On Saturday morning we were up bright and early, headed to the

We were among 2000+ people there on Saturday for the debut of the 2009 Hoffman Challenge Collection. Several of my friends were represented, and I thought you might like to view their pieces.

"Annunciation"
Karen Taber
Woodlake, CA

"Woodland Spring"
Lisa Ellis
Fairfax, VA

"Aethelinda"

Kristin Eilers
Lemoore, CA

"He Leads Me Beside Still Waters"
Sharon L. Schlotzhauer
Colorado Springs, CO

and my little lion

"Tradition Visits Heidelberg Castle"
Suzanne Kistler
Visalia, CA

While there, we were not only getting a chance to view some awesome quilts, we had the opportunity to meet some exciting people as well. I think I surprised the group who sat next to us at the lunch table when I asked if I could take their picture. I recognized Christine Brown, (the Executive Editor of American Quilter magazine), but didn't realize that she was accompanied by Sherri Bain Driver (the Editor of McCalls Quilting magazine) and Gail Valentine (the author of Mirror Manipulations). wow.

Christine Brown, Sherri Bain Driver, Gail Valentine

The day kept getting better, and ended with dinner with Kelly Gallagher-Abbott. Her son Ryan was dog-sitting Lucy, and she was definitely the center of attention. She's a King Charles Spaniel, and I hear that you do have to pay for all that cuteness. ;)

There is much more to tell, but Pete is waiting patiently for me to finish.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of my purchases.........



And a bird'seye view of a California dairy.


It's good to be home!!!

WOOHOO!!!

whoop whoop whoop.

Sorry about that. I had a bit of an excitement interlude. My effort-intensive Hoffman Challenge quilt was selected to travel. yay!! I was truly worried this year. I wasn't sure the quilt had what it takes, but it had just enough. yay!!

I've scanned the list and see names of several friends: Kristin Eilers, Lisa Ellis, Sharon Schlotzhauer, Karen Taber. Yay for all of us! And you want to know the really cool thing? Kristin's, Sharon's, Karen's and my quilt are ALL in Quilt Collection A. They'll be traveling together. The only "bummer" (if it can be said there is any bummer associated with being included) is that Best of the Valley is scheduled to display Quilt Collection B. Oh well, we can't have it all, can we?

For a complete list of the traveling items, click here.

I guess my most exciting news regarding the Hoffman is that I'm headed to Loveland, CO in August, to the debut showing/unveiling of the 2009 traveling collection. I've got my reservations, both for my flight and hotel, and now I know I'll get some pictures of my finished quilt. yay!!

If anyone would like me to take a picture of their quilt, just let me know. Lisa? Will you be in CO? Or would you like me to snap some images for you?

woohoo!!

This is some exciting news on an otherwise ordinary day. yay!

Now I think I need to go do a little happy dance. I'll be back later. ;)

Lady in Waiting

The phone rang last night, it was the carpenter. He says he's coming this morning, "late morning." Something about "picking up the doors." (Perhaps they're at the glass place, getting glass?) I've moved EVERYTHING out of the room. I'm ready. Come any time. I'm waiting...

I did a LOT of quilting on my Hoffman yesterday. Here's the last corner, along with the amount of thread I have left to quilt it with. It doesn't look like I'm going to make it. (All of the squares that you see in the quilting are done with green.)

These are my options to finish the quilting. Can you see the color difference between the Gutermann and the other two? I bought the Mettler, hoping it will work, a friend dropped by the Talon this morning. Thank you, Ann!

I'm not sure which thread I will use, but I am sure that I'm going to finish this project, one way or another.

And that's the update. I'm going back to waiting...

Hoffman Update

I am closing in on the last two corners of my Hoffman Challenge. If I put my mind to it (and work my fingers to the bone), I might be able to finish the cross-hatch this evening. I've been working on it for the past 3 hours, and the fingers are aching. I have a volleyball game in an hour - pray that I don't break or sprain any fingers. I had a sudden panic surge as the possibility crossed my mind in the middle of a daydream.

Here is one corner that needs finishing:

Here is the second:

And here is how much quilting thread I have left. I've actually quilted a few inches with two other colored threads, but if I put more than 2 or 3 inches in one area, it looks distinctly different. If I limit the amount of contrasting thread in one area, it looks like shadowing. Tricky, tricky. Will there be enough thread to finish the task? I have no idea. It is going to be EXTREMELY close.


Here is the overall view of the quilting. Both right-side corners need to be finished. I'm trusting that the quilting will suck up the distortion that is currently in place.

Once the cross-hatch is complete, I will finish detailing the lion's head. This will be done in green, and I have no lack of green thread. I should have quilted the entire project in green! :)

And there you go. Barring some sort of horrendous hand/wrist/finger accident in the next few days, I should finish the quilting this week. Goals are good, and I'm determined to meet this June/July goal. It's been MUCH too long since I've finished a competition quilt, and I crave the satisfaction of accomplishing a goal.

In other news, there is no other news. The carpenter continues to leave me hanging. I wonder if he believed me when I told him I'm off to Alaska on Wednesday? Won't he be surprised if he actually gets my storage finished later this week?! I won't be here for him to deliver it. If he doesn't show up tomorrow, he'll be stuck on the other side of the waiting game. What's good for the goose should be good for the gander...

My Step Update

I thought it might be about time to give you a look-see at my Hoffman Challenge.

I'm not going to show you the front, I'm showing you the back. That way you can see my actual quilting progress.


I'm moving forward, really I am. It's just very slow going. I figured a shot from the back gives you a better idea of how far I've come and how much further I've left to go. The top photo shows how close to the edge the quilting will eventually be (on the right and bottom). I have far to go on the left and top. And I've got plenty of gaps that need to be filled in as well.

This second view might give you a better idea of my progress. You can always click on a picture, to enlarge it.

So there you go. My June Step has evolved into my July Step. I may not have completed my June Step, but I definitely spent more than a few hours working on it. Oh, and if you can't tell, I should probably point out that this piece is hand-quilted.

My biggest issue is that I'm running out of quilting thread. I bought some honey-colored Gutermann quilting thread #1225 several years ago. It's perfect for this project, but I didn't have a full spool. I getting close to the end, and the new Gutermann #1225 is a greenish brown, not honey-colored. If anyone has a spool of the old #1225, I'll buy it from you. Anyone? Help! :)

I'm continuing my quilting, praying for either a loaves & fishes experience or that the eventual switch to a different thread won't be too terribly noticeable. After all, I'm already quilting the quilt with both green and this honey-brown, since I knew I didn't have an abundance of brown.

I'll keep you posted.

A Half Century

I don't know about you, but to me, 50 years is a LONG time. Yesterday I celebrated 50 years of breathing. wow. Like I said, it's a LONG time.

Friends and family saw to it that the day was recognized. My goodness, the celebration began last Thursday and continues through today. A few people asked about gifts, and wow! Generosity abounds!!!

Of particular note are the elephant watering can and the accessory organizer in the back. I love the elephant - if elephants never forget, does that mean I will remember to water my plants? I certainly hope so!!

I studied the accessory organizer and thought, "Pete must have talked to the quilters. He knows I'm trying to get my act together and he's gotten this to hold all of my buttons and beads." Wrong. He got it for me to organize his extra sprinkler heads and drip irrigation parts. hmmm. See the hose monitor on the left? Apparently that's for me too. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with it. ;)

Up front are two beautiful quilted cards, one is hand-painted, the other (with the birthday cake) is appliqued and beaded. I should probably take individual photos and share them later this week.

Thank you to everyone who made the day special. I really appreciated it!!

On a different note, we've moved into June. Did you finish your May Step? I didn't finish mine, but I did move forward. Any progress is good progress, right?

For June, I'm taking the easy way out and announcing the finishing of my Hoffman Challenge as my step. I've set a secondary goal of hand-quilting for at least half of the days this month. I didn't do any yesterday, so that means that today is a must-quilt day. But before I do that, I'm still working to empty the sewing room.

So much to do, so little time!

Finally, yesterday I shipped two quilts off to Ohio, for the Sacred Threads exhibit later this month. If you are anywhere near Reynoldsburg, I encourage you to stop by and see the exhibit. It should be quite powerful and uplifting.

That's it from around here. I'll try to be better about posting this month, at least in regards to quilting activities. (Hopefully there will be more quilting going on than organizing. The organizing is getting OLD.)

More Messes, Looking for Order

First I'll show you something productive. It's my Hoffman Challenge. The applique is ready to be sewn to the background. I think I'll keep it this size. Hopefully quilting will enhance the design. I keep waffling about the lion - he needs some enhancement, but I'm afraid I'll ruin him.

Once I finished the color run shown in yesterday's post, I decided that I needed to set a goal. The goal was to dismantle the changing table that had been acting as shelving in the sewing room. I've achieved that objective, and then some.

I started moving things out of the closet too. That's when I lost control.

First, these are some of the bins that I found in my closet. Today I'll put them in the Sewing Annex. I left them out, so you could distinguish these from the bins already in there. (Too bad I didn't buy stock in Rubbermaid years ago!)

The front 3 bins, and the top one in the back pile contain more of a stash I inherited from a friend. I think I will be taking these to guild, to raise some money for the Scholarship fund. The bottom bin in the back contains "kiddie prints." hmmm. I forgot this bin existed. Apparently I'd expanded to a second bin, which is already in the Sewing Annex.

The middle stack contains (top to bottom): 1)sports prints (primarily football & soccer) 2) green fabrics pulled for some forgotten project, 3) cow & farm animal prints, and 4) chunks of every turquoise/ocean-feeling print I owned, cut for a project that I never even started.

When I open the door to the sewing room, this is what I see today. egad. The boxes are all empty, saved for shipping. The white bag on the left is full of flannel. I ran out of bins.

When I take the picture from the reverse angle, you can see that the changing table has been dismantled, and I can now access the closet. whoopie.

In the closet, the shelves are pretty full. I need to cull through and be sure that I NEED to keep everything in here. I can already see things that can be sent away, but not many. The beautiful board is part of my quilting frame. It's so big, I have no place to set it up. Hanging on the rod are (mostly) finished tops and quilts basted for quilting.

When I found this box, I had no idea what was in it. It is more of my friend's stash. I have absolutely no use for this. It's gotta go.

Oh look! Wasted space! I don't know what I'll put up there instead, but I can definitely make better use of that!

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me today. I hope to post pictures of PROGRESS tomorrow.

***Now don't you feel GOOD about where you sew? This has GOT to be encouraging even to the most cluttered quilter. I've got you beat. This poor little room is barely 11' square. Amazing.

Inside Outside Upside Down

Does anyone remember that Berenstein Bear book? Inside Outside Upside Down was the title. It perfectly describes what my sewing space feels like right now. But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's back up a bit.

I've mentioned that I've got a carpenter making some custom storage for me, because I'm convinced that ORGANIZATION needs to be a priority. I can't be organized in the midst of chaos, no matter how valiantly I try. It's impossible.

So with that in mind, what did I do yesterday? Why, I sewed more scraps together.

Actually, I had 5 journals set aside, with the batting cut to make journal covers. They've been in the pile since long before the quilt show. Scraps "to be filed" were in another pile. It was time to combine the two messes and make lemonade. Or journal covers. I finished these yesterday.


I've been moving bins to Adam's room (the true Spare Bedroom), and this is what I've got so far.
The bin on the nightstand holds fruit & veggie fabric. The bin on the top stack is filled with solids. The next bin is primarily filled with leftover blocks. Next in the stack is a bin that I call "jungle/Africa prints." What it really holds are things that look like grassland or savannah. Next is a bin of novelty and children's prints. The bottom container is full of tropical prints. The cardboard box in front holds extra copies of books and American Quilter magazines that I contributed to.

On the other side of the bed we've got...hmmm. Two pieces of foam sheathing that I use for blocking quilts and photography. On top of the dresser are containers of beads and buttons, my hand quilting thread, a box of applique thread, some business paperwork, and some tubs filled with photographs. The two tallest stacks contain scraps (sorted by color) and small UFO projects.

In front of the dresser we've got a magazine rack with more business paperwork, an empty (!!) quilt rack, more bins holding bigger UFOs (behind the sheathing), and bags holding more photo albums to cover and empty shadow boxes for future "art" quilts. You can't see under the bed, where I've begun to put my friend's stash.

With all of this in here, you would think that I've made progress in the sewing room, right? Wrong. Here is the area that I've cleared. It's a 2 foot space where the quilt rack stood. It had been piled with quilts on top, and stacked with bins underneath. Wow! So much room.

Until you look to the side of it. That's the same closet. sigh. You can just see the edge of my sewing table, with the basket set on the corner. That basket is filled with strips cut for baby quilts. I ran out of Rubbermaid boxes and I refuse to buy more.

Here is the sewing table from the other direction. yeah. It's bad. The quilts that were on the quilt rack are now stacked on the ironing board. Oh wait. There is carpet showing beneath the ironing board. The big bins used to be stacked under there...

Here's the part that's got me most frustrated, yet it is miles better than it was on Monday. Oh look! Is that a Hoffman background piece thrown on top? I think it is. And there's May's Step, abandoned on the director's chair. At least I've progressed to quilting with red thread.

The exciting thing about this photo is the storage unit in the background, filled with fabric. My carpenter is making TWO of these for me. I'll be moving this one to another room, and removing the fabric. I am HOPING that two of these units will be enough to hold my stash. It probably won't be. I still have two cabinets full of fabric in my bedroom. They will probably stay there for the foreseeable future.

But, goals are good, and I keep setting them. Posting this online will probably set tongues a'waggin', but maybe, just maybe, I'll survive this organizational process. And if I do, well, I'll be a poster child for "incorrigible mess-making packrat turned neat nik." yeah. It sounds good, but does anyone believe it? We'll find out in the next couple of months.

Hoffman 2009

I've been hemming and hawing about whether or not to participate in this year's Hoffman Challenge. I've decided to "just do it."

My sewing room is topsy turvy, so I can't work in there. I don't know when my cabinets will be ready, but I'm starting to move stuff out - I want to paint, doncha know? - and, well, I just can't work there.

So, I set up a new work station. Yeah, I'm sure Pete loves it. ;)

This way I can prepare my applique AND watch American Idol, all at once. I've been in here since Monday. I should be done by tomorrow.

The background of the piece is pieced. It's in the sewing room. I'm now working on the applique. I'm kind of annoyed, because I thought I was using pre-shrunk freezer paper. But I wasn't. So, of course, the applique is smaller than expected. The 125% enlargement than I'd done on the copy machine seems to be back to the original size. I don't know if I'll redo the applique. I'm more inclined to rip off the outside row of the background, to make it proportional. We'll see, once the applique is finished.

Here's what I've got so far.

And now, I'm going to go do some yard work. Enjoy your day!!

Ingredients

I received a question via yesterday's post. PB wanted to know what kind of thread I used for my April Step. I suppose a picture is worth 1000 words, so here are most of the threads I used.

I quilted the clothes with the solid color Mettler. I used the various King Tut threads and the cone of Valdani for the grasses and background. I once again bought a spool of Superior Rainbow polyester thread, and once again I hate it. You'd think I would learn my lesson. Maybe this time. Sure, it works well for most people, but I don't want to invest in yet another spool (of Bottom Line) to make the $7.99 spool of Rainbow work.

King Tut continues to be my absolute favorite. It works well for me and I never have trouble balancing the tension.

I've been going through my stash over and over again, looking for something that might blend with the 2009 Hoffman Challenge fabric. sigh. gag me with a spoon. The green Ricky Tims hand-dye works well, as does the dark brown stripe. The beige collection also works. The other three on the left have the right colors, but they don't excite me in the least when paired with the Challenge fabric.

After 5 straight years of participation, I'd really like to continue my streak. This year's selection might just be the one to knock me out of the competition. If I can't do anything with it, I'm not going to get anything done.

That's all for today, folks. Thanks for stopping by.