Sleeves and Labels

 I finished "Charlie:  In Color and Black & White."  It was a lot of fun to write the narrative about our cat, who owns the neighborhood.  Every day he makes the rounds, from neighbor to neighbor, allowing/demanding attention from anyone caught outside.  This quilt was based on a photo taken when he was a teenager.  He went through a stage of feline angst.  or something. He's a great cat.

I've made and attached the sleeves to "Charlie" and to "Harvest Barns" (last post), so all they need are labels.  Today I will be setting up the embroidery machine to stitch them out.  Goals are good.

My #2 son turns 31 on Saturday.  I finished up this card and will be sending it on its way today.  Again, goals are good.

 Monday afternoons and Tuesday days are spent watching my #2 granddaughter.   Such a cutie pie!!  She's 5 months old, today.  Time has wings!!

This weekend, I have plans to attend a quilt retreat in the mountains.  This weekend, the weather has plans to dump lots of rain and "up to 3' of snow in the Sierras.'  oh my.  I don't do snow.  I don't have the proper attire.  I am considering staying home, turning up the heat, and sewing here.

Either way, I hope to have something to show from the weekend by early next week. 
Goals are good!!
Happy Quilting!!

Where Does the Time Go?

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted.  I've been sewing up a storm, and haven't had time to blog.  Well, that, and the entry deadline for Best of the Valley Quilt Show was yesterday.  Not only was I trying to finish my own entry, I'm in charge of logging in all of the entries for the show, as they arrive.  So, yeah.  I'm claiming busy life right now.

I've been working on the Charlie quilt, and he's coming right along.

 I even got so far as to be quilting Charlie's whiskers.  He really was a mess, before I buried the threads!

He is not due until March 1, so I put him aside, in the hopes of finishing another quilt for the show.  The quilt I had in mind was Harvest Barns, a quilt top that I thought I'd finished in November.  Unfortunately, when I basted it for quilting, I discovered that it was a full 1/2" wider at the top than at the bottom.  Since it's not a very big quilt, the mismeasurement was blatantly obvious.  Last weekend I spent 5 hours picking it apart, replacing pieces, and stitching it back together again.  It didn't take much longer than that to quilt it.

I quilted it a lot.  I quilted so much, and in so many different directions, that by the time I was done, it didn't know which way to lay.  And so, it lay in waves, instead of flat.  ugh.  I plunged it in a bath and soaked it, then pinned it flat before adding the binding.  While it was drying, I looked for the perfect brown with which to bind it.

 When it dried, I stitched the binding on, using the nifty leather thimble that a friend made for me.  Thank you, Ann!!

 When it was finished, I took pictures to enter the quilt show.  This is a close up of the quilting:

And here is the whole quilt.  I am quite pleased with the way it turned out.  It was totally worth the effort to take apart one of the borders, replace pieces, and sew it back together again.

 

Tomorrow we select the quilts to display in the Featured Artist's booth at the show.  On Monday, we jury the quilts.  The closer we get to April, the closer we get to crunch time.  I can't promise to post much, but when I finish Charlie, I'll try to make a point to check in.

Happy quilting!!

Two Tops

I snuck into the Studio this weekend, and dug into my UFO piles.  The first thing I did was to pull out all of the boyish 8" blocks and slap them on the design wall.

 After a few adjustments, I stitched it together and put it aside.  I will baste it on another day.

 I then pulled my Charlie applique blocks out of a box they'd been in for TEN years.  Charlie now has his own quilt top.  I hope to quilt it this week.  Goals are good.

 I'm continuing to spruce up the house.  This wreath is my latest attempt to make it look happy.

 And I'm still hunting for estate sales, where I can find treasures.  I found this shell in Kingsburg on Friday.  It is approximately 9" long - the biggest murex (if that's indeed what it is) that I've ever seen.

And that's all I've got for you today.  Just wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you.  Happy Stitching!

Busy, Busy

I wish that I could report that I've been sewing up a storm.  That has not been the case, but I have been sewing a bit.  A wee little bit.

Several years ago, when I first downloaded some embroidery patterns - gosh, that's got to have been at least a decade ago!!! - I thought I would stitch out every one.  hahahaha!!  yep.  Then I discovered that it was about an hour/design, and that was just for the easy ones.  I stitched out a trio of neon tetras, and set them aside, thinking that I would use them in a quilt, some day.

There is a SAQA call for entry coming up, for a Spotlight Auction Quilt.  These are to be 6" x 8", and will be matted behind a mat with 4x6" opening.  The fishies are just the right size.  And so, I started quilting.

 Once they were quilted and faced, they called out for embellishment.

At the same time, a long involved chat began on the SAQA yahoo list.  It began with a lot of negative comments about people who enter quilt shows and "We Are Artists, not quilters" statements and just a lot of really super strong opinions that left me with a sour taste for the lot of them.

One of the first things I liked about SAQA was its presence at quilt shows.  They introduced a whole new world to me, when I saw their exhibit at the first IQF show in Long Beach years ago.  They opened my mind to possibilities that I never dreamed of.

And now, some of the loudest, most frequent voices, are not only unsupportive of quilt shows, they are openly hostile.

A request that the conversation draw to a close drew even more commentary.   Exhausting, that's what it is.

And so, I tuned them out, and listened to the Three Little Fishies, who told me they wanted their world embellished to the edges, not just in a 4x6" window.

Aren't they cute?  I think they're cute.  I may or may not hang them from a piece of driftwood.  That might be a bit much.

The other quiltie thing I did was to entertain my quiltie friend Sharon and her husband, as they toured Central California after Road to CA, on their way back to Colorado.  We met on the way home from Paducah in 2006, and have been friends ever since.  This was her first time to see my house, so I was quite pleased to show her my newly painted abode, rather than the tired 80's wallpaper that was here for decades.

That's all I've got for now, but I do have plans and I do have goals.  There are still almost three weeks before the entry deadline for Best of the Valley Quilt Show.  I am hoping to finish at least one more quilt before then, so that I have something more than my itty bitty fishies to enter.

Goals are good, but sewing them out and finishing them is even better!
Hope to check in again soon, with some positive progress.  Happy Quilting!!

Lots of Studio Time

Sorry my resolution to "post more!" kind of bit the dust so quickly.  I meant to write, really I did, but I was too busy sewing to tell you about it!

I finished my granddaughter's quilt, finally.  It was only 3.5 months late, so I guess that's not too awful.

 She seems to like it.  This was the first time she saw it.  Her hand is a bit of a blur, as she was trying to grab at it.

 Have you tried those red clips for binding?  I LOVE them.  I kept poking holes in my finger tip, and when I dug around in my bag of tricks, I discovered this unused tin of Poke a Dots.  I love them, too!  The rest of the binding went on without any more holes in my finger.

This year I am in charge of our guild's Block of the Month.  For January, I passed out patterns for a "Garden" Rail Fence block.  The response was quite invigorating, making me excited about the months to come.

 For February, we're making the Perkiomen Valley Block, being distributed by the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild.  They are collecting blocks for the fire/mudslide victims.  Our guild members have been asked to make one block for the victims for each block they make for the drawing.  It's a very speedy 12.5" block, and will make some wonderful comforters for hurting people.  I told my guild to "make it with HAPPY fabric."  I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Our primary philanthropic project is Komforters for Kids.  We supply police/sheriff's patrol cars (and other groups) with comforters for children in distress.  I usually make a number of tops or finish the quilts each year, but in 2017?  I did nothing.  In an effort to seek redemption, I made five tops this weekend, which I will turn in next month.

 This morning as I drove by the Farmer's Market, I saw the truck for the scissors sharpening man parked on the premises.  I went home and got three pairs of scissors which have been out of commission for a LONG time.  For $8/pair, I have what seem like new scissors.  Totally worth it, to have them working again.  yay!!  Can't wait to put them into action.

And that's what I've been up to this week.  I was so busy sewing, I missed our Blog Anniversary yesterday.  On January 12, this blog turned TEN.  wow.  I should go back and see what I was doing ten years ago.  I am certain that my life is very different today.

And I guess that's going to wrap it up for now.  I have three projects lined up for finishing, but I have no idea which one I will tackle first.  The goal is to tackle something.  And we all know that goals are good!

Happy Quilting!!

A New Year and a First Finish

Happy New Year!!  Happy Happy New Year!!  I was so ready to be done with 2017.  So much happened last year, it was enough to exhaust a person.  But here we are, safely into 2018, with a newly updated house and a blank calendar.  What could be better?  I can't think of a thing.

I tried to have a final finish for 2017, but I got as far as stitching on the facing before I had to put it aside.  My son and daughter-in-law came down with the flu, so I babysat for the bulk of New Year's Eve (6am-7pm).  We are all blessed that she is such a GOOD baby.  Even when she's a bit snuffly, she has a hard time complaining.  She gave me her snuffles, so we snuffled together.  kachoo!

Such a cutie pie!  She's always smiling!

We had our son and DIL from MO out for a week.  I spent time in the Studio with both DIL's.  The one from MO, put together an apron panel.

 She finished it just before they headed out to meet up with friends.

 My local DIL received a pattern for placemats.  After "shopping" in my stash, she set right to work.  She has never quilted before, but she's got two placemats ready for binding.  She'll be quilting on her own before we know it!

Just being in the Studio was enough to get me going.  Yesterday, I finished a birthday card, that should have been finished in October.  It went into the mail today.  The binding looks terrible in the photo.  It's not quite so awful in person.

 It took three days, but the facing eventually got stitched in place.

 And, ta da!!  Today I had my first quilt finish of 2018.  It feels fantastic!!

I am very excited about 2018.  I may have already said that.  My hope is that I will replicate what I did back in 2009, setting monthly quilting goals.  I hope to finish at least one UFO each month.  Goals are good, right?  Right!!

Who knows?  I was able to finish the first one on January 2nd.  I doubt I'll be finishing a quilt every 2 days, but hey, you never know.  The next one is pressed and waiting to be basted.

With the Best of the Valley entry deadline coming up on February 14, I don't want to be left behind.  I always feel like it's up to me to set a good example.  And with that, goals are good!

Happy Quilting!!

Like New

Sorry to be such a horrid blogger.  So much to do, so little time to blog.  But I have news!  My walls are done!  The wallpaper is gone, the walls are textured, and now they are painted.  Most of the walls are painted with semi-gloss Great White Way (Lowe's), but each of the rooms has at least one accent wall.

The dining room has two walls of PPG's "Cloudberry."

 As you can see, we've moved right back in and made ourselves at home.  I think we ate one meal in here, before pulling out the computer and Christmas cards and everything else.

 One wall in the master bedroom is "Magical," I think it's a Sherwin-Williams color, from Lowe's.  It is a red-violet, that sings to me.  Sorry the room is so rumpled.  When it is nice and neat, my camera is nowhere to be found.

Here is a better picture, but I'd just stripped the bed after spilling windex in the middle of it.  (I had cleaned everything, in preparation for a glam shot.)  *sigh*

I chose "Rain Dance," another Lowe's (maybe Valspar?) color, for two walls of the master bathroom.

 As you can see, I still need to put the towel bar back on the wall.  I really miss that towel bar!

 The kitchen was tricky. In 2008, I painted an accent wall in the cooking area.  I used an Easy Living paint from Orchard Supply, called Cottage Garden.  Between then and now, OSH broke up with Sears, and my paint rotted.  Trying to match it was difficult.  I went first to PPG (self-proclaimed to be The Best), and then to OSH, when I saw that the PPG color was much too dark.

At this point, I have to mention that I painted the dining room and bedroom.  I hired a professional to finish the kitchen and bathroom.  I would have been happier with the results, had I painted it all myself, but I must admit it was a relief to have the last two rooms done in two days.  (Each wall required a coat of primer, two coats of paint.)  Unfortunately, the painter was horrendously sloppy, as witnessed by this corner.  You can see the 2008 paint on the left, and the new paint on the right.  I cringe, every time I see this.

 My son suggested trying the Lowe's paint match experts.  I had no hope, but I stopped by.  The woman in the paint department was FANTASTIC.  "Easy Living?  Isn't that Martha Stewart?  Cottage Green?  here you go!"  Not only was she able to match it perfectly, but she sold me a $2.48 sample, instead of an $18 quart like the other stores!!

Look at that match!!

I quickly went back for a quart, and proceeded to repaint the new green area.  Such a difference in color!!

 Did I mention that I added wainscoting?  Chairs kept hitting the wall and knocking off texture.  It is so easy!  It cost about $30, when all was said and done.  (The middle and bottom slats are to help the Liquid Nails hold.  I didn't understand the instructions, and didn't apply it liberally enough.)

 Looks like it's always been there!

So, yes, I've been busy.  busy, busy, busy.  But not with fabric.  Instead, I've given this tired 80's house a desperately needed facelift.

We didn't bring the tree in until 12/17, though we had it in the backyard for two weeks.  First, I had to finish the painting.  Having the 10' ladder in the house made decorating the tree easier than usual.

I'm calling it "done" though I still have a tub of ornaments that I've yet to dig into.

 And on that note, the important things are done.

Wishing you and yours a most Blessed Christmas, and the Happiest of New Years.  I know that I, for one, am truly anticipating 2018.  Resolution #1:  Quilt!!

Goals are good.
Merry Christmas!

Life

Well.  Long time no posting, eh?  I have missed you.  I have missed quilting.  I have missed my sewing machine.

I have been playing sherpa.

One month ago, my DIL was admitted to the hospital with severe upper abdominal cramping.  Later that day, they removed her gallbladder, and did a hernia repair (necessitated by the gallbladder surgery).  She was prohibited from lifting anything over 10 lbs for a month.  Little Addison weighed 12 lbs at the time.  (Today, she weighed in at 13 lbs 12 oz.)  I put on my cape and played SuperGrammy for the month.  wow.  What a month!!

 We took a few baths, and we picked out a Christmas tree.

 We taught Mama how to English Paper Piece, and she made a couple of ornaments.  (I made one too, as I demo'd technique.)

 We did have a bit of a mis-step, but it was easily corrected.

 Addy's tree was decorated, and the stars hung with care.

 Back home, the gingkoes glowed yellow with the changing seasons.

The Christmas lights went up, and we added deer!

We've never had anything so grand.  I wonder if they will last the season, or if they will be stolen.  They were there again this morning when we woke up, so that was exciting.

Today was our guild meeting and annual Christmas party.  I began my term as Block of the Month chairman.  I introduced the first block, which was a Rail Fence.  I wrote the pattern and sewed it up this morning, then raced by FedEx Office on my way to the meeting.  I am excited because I made 40 copies and sold every one of them.  I am hopeful that next month's return will be stellar.  For each block turned in, you get a chance to win them all.  My directions make two blocks, so we have the potential of receiving 80 blocks back.  That would make a quilt 64" x 80", which would be quite a nice size.

As long as you keep the segments oriented correctly, this goes together very quickly.  (4-1.5" strips, stitched together then cut into 4.5" segments, can be sewn together to yield 2-8.5" blocks.  easy peasy)

And that's what I've been up to this past month.  I love my family, but I'm looking forward to a bit of Happy Quilting!!!

P.S.  The texture is on the walls, and I've painted the dining room and half of the bedroom.  If I can get some good pictures, I'll share them next time.  Goals are good!!