A Little Bit of Progress

I've gotten back to hand quilting.  Yesterday, I was excited to quilt my way to the second corner of my current project.  woohoo!!  Perhaps I will be able to finish the rest this year.  I am SO excited to make visible progress!

Huh.  I thought I'd taken a picture last night, but I guess not.  Hopefully I will remember for my next post.

This year, our county fair had a drive-through fair.  My son took his family, and reported that it was "okay, but really short."  He prefers the in-person fair, where they can spend hours and exhaust children, rather than have them stuck backwards in a car seat, trying to point out the "sights."

They had a quilt competition, with 14 entries.  I entered two in the Professional Quilters category.  I had the only quilts in that category, so was awarded 1st place and BOS, Professional on one, and 2nd on the other.  I have not received any ribbons, though they said they would mail them.

"Sunset Stroll," 1st place and BOS, Professional - Tulare County Fair 2020

"Two Beauties," 2nd place, Professional - Tulare County Fair 2020

I really wish I had more to share, but I've been spending a great deal of time babysitting.  Our oldest local granddaughter turned 3 today, so I thought it was worthy of note.

She received a brand new bicycle, and tools.  Apparently the bike wasn't up to snuff.  She spent the evening working on it, before it was ready to ride.  Happy Birthday, little girl!!

It's Been a While

 huh.  In the past month since I've posted, apparently Blogger completely revamped itself.  I hope I know what I'm doing.  It's so strange to look at.  I feel a bit lost.

Let's see, what has happened in the last month?  We went to Cambria again, and delighted in the cooler weather.  I wish I could go back today, since it's predicted to hit 105.  It's just a prelude to a week of 109.  ugh.

When at home, I watch my grandson every Wednesday.  He's a very busy boy, and playing in the dirt is one of his favorite things.

This past week, I've also been watching my granddaughter.  Her birthday is next week.  She's a real sweetie.

My husband has been tending his vegetable garden.  We've been delighting in the abundance of fresh bell peppers and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, cantaloupe, and eggplant.

I found a great recipe for Mediterranean stuffed peppers, which I've been making fairly regularly.

I've continued to work on my handquilting project.  Well, I was, until August hit.  I need to get back to it.  I haven't done much sewing at all this month.

Yesterday, I made a birthday card, but I'm thinking I should wait until after the birthday before sharing it here.

And I guess that's it for the update. 

I hope that you all are staying safe and finding time to create.  Creativity is good for the soul.

Until next time...

P.S.  In looking at the preview, I see that only portions of my photos show up.  I hope that you can see the full shot if you click on them.  Obviously this upgrade is going to take some getting used to.

October!

So, let's see.  When last I left you, I was leaving Ohio and headed to Missouri.  I rented a car and drove from Cleveland south, then across Indiana, Illinois, and into St. Louis.  I spent a night in Illinois, as I was exhausted from looking at all that corn.

SO. MUCH. CORN.

I was happy when I finally knew I was near my destination:

 Was I there to see the arch?  Oh, no, not at all.  I was there to see my granddaughter again!

Her face was a bit rashy when I first arrived, but by the time I left?  It had cleared up.  I think she was rubbing her face on a spit up cloth, looking for her next meal.  ;)

My primary task was to babysit, while my son took my DIL out for a birthday dinner.  The little miss was a perfect angel.

I took some family portrait photos for them.  Aren't they a beautiful family?

The next day, we took the wee one to her first estate sale.  She slept through the whole thing!!

 So, hmmm.  That catches us up to mid-September.  Has there been quilting since them?  Yes, some, but not a lot.

I am currently trying to finish a quilt to enter in the AQS Daytona show.  The deadline is in 2 weeks.  I think.  I'm not sure.  I've been busy quilting.  I am hopeful that I will finish the quilt, but I am concerned that it may shrink so much with the quilting that it will be too small to qualify.  oh well.

I do have a personal quilt plus a group quilt entered into PIQF.  Hopefully I'll get to Santa Clara in a few weeks to see them hang.  Goals, and all that.

Right!  And I guess that's going to do it for now.  Happy Quilting!!

zoom, zoom!

After a whirlwind weekend trip to meet our newest granddaughter, we are back in the valley.  zoom, zoom!

 Such a precious bundle!  We were more than content to just watch her sleep.  :)

 We weren't there for long, but we were there long enough to catch some local color.  hahaha!  The street signs have accents!

Other than meeting our granddaughter, not much has happened since my last post.  I finished the first collage,

 and started a second.  I have plenty of the same scraps still in the pile, so I'm going to try and do something a bit different with this one.  We'll see what happens.  Notice the little stars?  I found those at the bottom of the box.  I'm not sure what I fussy-cut them for, but they're perfect.

And I guess that's all I have for now.  I've begun the hand-quilting on another project, as well as set a goal to finish machine quilting one that is half done.  Perhaps I'll have one of them done in time to enter the next AQS quilt show.  Goals are good!

Making Art

After the week in Laguna Beach, my creative juices were overflowing.  But when I got back over the mountain?  It was 107.  Not a lot of incentive there to get excited about anything.  I plowed through the things that had been set aside for a week, and by Tuesday, I was ready to finish quilting my quilt.  Here it is, finished and faced.  It still needs a label and a sleeve:

 "Shalom," by Suzanne Kistler  August 2019

Here is a close-up, where you can see the hand quilting.  It is also hand appliqued.  I'm very happy with the results, and plan to enter it in PIQF.  It remains to be seen whether or not it will be accepted.

 One of the things that I was really drawn to in Laguna Beach was the collage art.  I came home and bought 2 small stretched canvases and acrylic medium.  I prepped the canvas, and set them aside.  A few days later, inspiration struck.  I had planned to use paper, but I have all of these fabric shred scraps.  I wonder if...?

 Well, look at that!  They do work well.  This was after two layers.  Today, I added a third.  I don't think it needs much more than that.  I just need to decide what to add to the foreground.  I imagine a starfish draped over the edge.  If nothing else, it is different from the sailboat that I'm sure everyone expects me to add.  :)

Several states away, my son and daughter-in-law gave birth to our 3rd granddaughter/4th grandchild on Monday, August 19.  Here she is, quite a beautiful little thing.  She weighed in at 6lb 6oz.  Tiny compared to my kids, but right on target for the grands.

I believe she is less than 24 hours old in this picture.  Such a beauty!!

And that's all I've got for you today.  I'm thinking of jumping into a MAJOR hand quilting project, so I doubt I'll have many more finishes before the end of the year.  Then again, you never know when I'll feel the need to make another baby quilt.  We have another grandchild due in November.  Stay tuned for that.  :)

Happy, happy, joy, joy!!

Happy New Year!!

Welcome, 2019!  What a year this promises to be!  We ended 2018 on a high note, with the surprise arrival of our little grandson.

 His appearance pushed all else into the background, but we did have fun with family in town from out of state.  One activity was to make gingerbread houses.

 None of us had done this before.  I had no idea the gingerbread needed to be made well in advance.  We had cracked walls and sagging rooflines because the construction materials were too moist.  Today, 10 days later, the walls are solid and secure.  Next year, I will bake them well ahead of time.

Our granddaughter loved the excitement of gifts everywhere.  So much fun to have a toddler in the house at Christmas!

 There's the Mama to be in the background, silently laboring away.  She looks great for day 2 of labor!  (She thought it was Braxton Hicks.  oops.)

 All too soon the week ended and everyone headed to their own home.

This morning, husband is off at work.  After all it IS Tuesday.  I've looked at my final finished quilts numbers from last year.  I did a poor job of keeping track on paper.  According to my records, I completed 13 quilts, SUCH an improvement over the 4 from 2017.  I also made 3 postcards, 9 quilted cards, and completed 5 little seascapes.  My numbers are different on the blog, where I was better at updating than on paper.  Either way, my goal to get back to quilting seems to have been a success.

I've begun my UFO list for 2019.  So far I have 34 items on it, compared to 2018's list of 42.  Then again, I've just remembered a couple of other items that should be on this year's list.  I'd better add them now, before I forget.

Here's wishing you a blessed New Year, filled with hope, health, and happiness.  Welcome, 2019!

And Another One

A few weeks back, I spent a day at Calico Mermaid, at their in-store retreat.  10 hours of sewing, and two delicious meals later, I came home with a finished applique and the blocks for another baby quilt.  Over the next week, I put the blocks into a top, and then quilted it.  Yesterday I finished, even the binding!  wow!  I hope to get it into the mail next week.

 I showed you some UFO blocks in my last post.  I waffled back and forth about borders, then decided to make a bold choice.  oh my!  This diagonal stripe was tricky, as I needed to cut it both length- and width-wise to get the effect I wanted.

 It completely changes the feel of the quilt, but I don't mind.  I kind of like it.  It's still a "winter" quilt, but it's not as "cold" as it felt before adding the drama.

Fall has come in earnest, to our little pocket of California.  The gingkos began dropping their leaves last week.  In anticipation of the rain on the horizon, I took Babykins over to the park for an impromptu photo shoot.

 Little Helper tried to put the lens cap back in place as I tried to get a picture.  When I set her down, off she ran, squealing all the way.  Too much fun.

 The next day the rain poured down, bringing with it more gingko leaves.  This is our front yard.  The beauty is fleeting, but it sure brightens a rainy day!!

Tomorrow is December, beginning the big tick tock until Christmas.  Time to get busy in the workshop and see if I can get a thing or two under the tree before the 25th.
Happy December and Happy Quilting, one and all!

whew!

Last week was a whirlwind of setting up and taking down.  Our house at the walnut orchard was transformed into a wedding venue.  It was fabulous.  Just look at it!  (This picture was taken the night before, during the rehearsal dinner.)

 Four of the seven women in the wedding party are expecting.  wow!

 The pictures were taken before the ceremony.  Here they are setting up for the professional.

 Don't they look wonderful?

I took 100+ photos, and the photographer took another 200.  I think the bride and groom were smiling in every one!

 Above are all of our sons, together in one frame.  That doesn't happen very often.  And below are our two granddaughters, together as flower girls.  That doesn't happen often either!

It was a lovely evening, filled with love and friendship and excellent food.  The tents went up on Friday, and came down on Sunday, all done by family and friends.  Very good friends.  I hope that I speak truth when I say a good time was had by all.  I know I had a wonderful day.  It is good to see one's child so very very happy.  :)

And sometime during the week, I was able to send off a birthday card.  whew!

I plan to sew tomorrow.  We'll see what happens.  Goals are good!

I'm Working on Something...

I've pulled the fabrics.  Today is set aside for cutting and sewing.

 A few days ago, our little granddaughter had her first birthday.  Time has wings!!

 In honor of her party, our other granddaughter was in town.  See what I mean about time flying?  How did she get to be so big?!!

And that's all I've got for now.  Hope you're also working on something wonderful.  :)

Busy With Babies

 This is why I have not been sewing.  Little Miss Granddaughter comes to visit several times a week, and we play until we are exhausted.  When she leaves (and while she's here) I've still got Pidge and Pudge, playing (often underfoot), until they are exhausted.

In my last post, I showed you the fabric I purchased at the quilt show.  What was I thinking?  I would have held back, if I'd considered the soaking and prewashing.  I've been soaking/prewashing and pressing for the past week, and I doubt I'm even halfway through the pile.  I need to get a better system, or add a few more buckets to soak in!

Block of the Month has been going well.  I thought I'd posted pictures, but apparently I've been remiss.  My apologies!  Here are the last few months' worth:

 The Pixie Sticks blocks above were turned in for April.  They weren't as popular as some of the previous blocks.  Sometimes new techniques/ideas can be scary.

 I decided to follow the modern block with something very old and traditional.  What could be more traditional than a string quilt?  I asked everyone to make two blocks, one with the blueberry center and one with the raspberry center.  I was quite surprised when we ended up with a blue quilt and a pink quilt, but apparently I was vague about the freedom to use any scraps one had on hand.

 For the June block, whose pattern I just passed out, I wanted something cute, simple, and beachy/summery, so I drafted a "Summer Houses" block.

 Once the roof is made, the building is a piece of cake.  SO simple!  I hope that it is enjoyable to all.

The green house above is the "Mud Hut."  The values are too close, and the door/window/wall all mush together like mud.  I've been trying to guide the participants to separating lights and darks, but it's always a challenge.  One or two mud huts in the group are fine, but if there are too many?  The pattern just disappears into the swamp.

I'm soon headed to retreat, so I am hopeful that I will have quilting photos for you in the not-too-distant future.  Until then?  The baby and puppies are keeping me busy!