More Road Show and WIPS

More from the Road to California Quilt Show:

Saturday-

My class on Saturday was 'Garden of Eden' with Laura Wasilowski. Her style is similar to Melody's in that it uses fused hand-dyes, but the result is a little different. She is funny too like Melody - I wish I could have gone to the "Chicago School of Fusing' Luncheon...the ladies that went said it was very very funny!

I also attended a lecture by Gabrielle Swain on Creativity...I enjoyed listening to her very much! One of my girlfriends took Gabrielle's Leaf class and was quite inspired...I loved seeing the drawings of her design unfolding. Gabrielle was also one of the judges for the Quilt show.

Later Saturday night I attended Alex Anderson's trunk show...she is a hoot and a half to listen to. She's the kind of person I really wish I lived next door to - seems down to earth, sweet and really intelligent.

Sunday-

This is as far as I got on my Beaded Kaleidoscope in Nancy Eha's class. I was one of the faster beaders! I kept getting done with the rounds before she called time, so she would come by and show me how to do the next round...One thing almost tragic happened...in the process of setting up my bag the night before, somehow the prepared square to stitch on got misplaced...I was almost in a panic when the lady next to me said "I made two... one a little smaller than she asked for, but I brought it with me anyway and you can have it if you want" - Was I ever relieved!!!! A true 'Quilting Angel'. I gave her a nice fat quarter in exchange!

This is what the project sample looks like:

And here is Princess Suze wearing her 'tiara' in class...


Tuesday night:
Here is the progress on the beading. I have a minor problem - some of the embellishment beads are missing from the kit...so I may have to improvise if I cannot get them sent to me. Shoulda checked the kit more carefully before I left the classroom!




In other news:
This is picture of some of the 'Ugly Fabric Challenge' quilts for the Arizona Retreat I am going to next week. Mine is the smallish placemat sized quilt on the end...it was made ENTIRELY of the 1/2 yard of challenge fabric - including the back. Its name is 'Arizona Fever' for a couple of reasons...first, I had a pretty high fever when I put it together...and...I am in a fever to go to the retreat! All the quilts shown in the picture have the challenge fabric in them! They are hanging in Sally's Fabrics, an LQS in Phoenix, Arizona...the patrons are voting on their favorites...if you are in the area, stop by and have a look!

Look at what we had to start from! The ladies at Sally's picked the fabric for this year. Next year we are going to do a challenge, but not an 'Ugly Fabric' challenge!



Oh...and if you check out Melody's post for Tuesday Jan 23 - there is a picture of my class doing the Bodacious Bloomers...I am kinda hidden behind the lady in the pinky-salmon sweater who has her back to the camera - but that is ME there in the green sweater, auditioning fabric!

Report from the Road - The Road To California, That Is!

Wednesday -
Went to help hang quilts at the Road to California Quilt Show. The preshow for the class participants usually starts at 7pm...At 4 there still were hundreds of quilts left to hang.
I was assigned to the $100,000 Quilt Challenge area - yes, I DID get to see (and touch) those magnificent quilts - up close and personal! Some incredible work...The crazy quilts are my personal favorites, but all of them are terrific. I can only dream of being that good!

It's usually sweaty business hanging quilts but this year since its been soooo cold here, we barely got warm. It took a couple of hours to hang the $100,000 Quilt Challenge display then they asked if we could hang some quilts out in this Quonset Hut tent that they put out at the south of the convention center - since it has been REALLY cold for So Cal and there is still a chance of rain, they moved all the eating areas inside which meant the second half of the Vendor Fair and some of the quilt collections had to move to the tent. Wednesday the heat was not on in the tent. We boogied into the tent, slapped the quilts onto poles, hung those puppies and boogied right back out o'there! Of course, we had a secondary reason for boogieing back out (besides frostbite!) - while they were taping the poles (that stabilizes them and keeps the patrons from fondling the quilts) one of the ladies helping leaned a weeee bit too hard on a pole...the Domino Effect worked quite nicely. We then had another 100 quilts to rehang - every available warm volunteer body was pressed into service to get the displays back up on the walls. This was a mere 10 minutes before the show was due to open...the natives were getting a little restless but we finally got the show open - just a little late!

The About.Com Quilting Forum has at least 3 members with quilts in the show. On Wednesday night we knew one of them had won one of the BIG prizes - the Judge's Special Merit Award -
November Fields by Gail: **

Here is that lovely ribbon! **

Here are the other forum member's quilts:
Kaleidoscope Twist by Birgit: **

Trinity by Birgit: **

And
Grace by Teri: - This was not a particularly good picture so I said I would go back and get a better one... **


Thursday -

I went back to take another picture of Teri's quilt and lo and behold...see the difference!!! There is a Blue First Place Ribbon on it now! **

This was the result of the first class that I took - Melody Johnson's Bodacious Bloomers class. I loved this class. She is a fun teacher! I used my new cordless iron and that was SOOO great to have no cord in the way. This entire piece is done by fusing - what looks like seams is fused too. Melody was so cute about that - she put two pieces of fabric on the ironing surface and told us to watch very, very carefully - she kind of tapped the iron onto the fabric then back off and said "That's a seam!" Mine is already fused to the Hobbs Heirloom batting - just needs a bit of quilting and the backing...and then its done!:


This is the beaded cell phone caddy from the second class that I took - its really magnificent in person! The ribbon gleams. I have to finish the fringe and the neck chain. I wore my 'tiara' and IT WORKS!!!! The teacher even joked about 'One not caring what one looks like as long as it works'....


Friday -
Today I took a class from Karen McTavish. She is a hoot! I had to go to the Vendor Fair and buy some Bottom Line thread so I can try out her technique. I actually drew a fairly close to McTavishing drawing (she recommends practicing on paper first). The class was a demo of her technique - they brought in a APQS Liberty Longarm and had a videographer focused on her quilting so we could all see on the overhead projection. I was surprised at how often she backtracks - way more than I thought...

More later...I have classes tomorrow and Sunday - right now I am taking a little time off to catch some more z's!

**pictures taken at Road to California Quilt Show

And a Tiara for Me TOO!

Got home today to find a box on the lawn with my very own 'tiara' ... I am planning on wearing it at the beading class instead of hauling the Ott light into the classroom - not as heavy, and best of all - NO EXTENSION CORD!!!! Teehee! I have to remember to wear it like Dorothy does, under the hair...

How NOT to Quilt a Quilt...

Or the saga of the 'Train-wreck Quilt'...

Started out with a 'good idea' or at least I THOUGHT it was a 'good idea'...

The Apple Quilt - the mystery quilt from last year's Arizona Quilting Retreat - was unfinished. They are doing a 'reveal' of the quilts from last year at this year's retreat in a couple of weeks. So..I thought I would 'finish it up' so I could show a finished quilt at the retreat since I was one of only a couple of us that actually finished sewing the top during last year's retreat. ..They already all saw it as a top!

When I came home from the retreat, my DM thought it looked kinda like a tablecloth..which I agreed with, once she said it. So I thought I would use a really thin batting so it 'could' be used as a tablecloth, should I so desire to do so sometime in the future. Also, a thin batting would make a nice couch quilt since we usually don't get really cold here (Unfortunately, the present weather system belies that though...it was 27 Saturday morning when I got up and with wind chill since its breezy, that translated to 20 degrees!!! This is So Cal, fergoodnessske!)

I settled on using the heavyweight flannel that WalMart sells for diapers. It has a nice hand, washes well, is definately thinner than Warm and White and is fair-to-middlin' cheap to boot. Hunted some down (first Wally World did not have any).

Washed, dried, cut the chunk in half and stitched it back together to make a piece large enough for the batting. Pieced the backing for the quilt out of the leftover apple fabric. And here is where I started to go wrong. I decided to 'birth' the quilt-mostly because I could not find any red fabric that matched the red in the quilt to bind it with and the other fabrics were just not right or I didn't have enough of them.

Sigh...'birthing' a quilt this big is disastrous! This is THE biggest quilt I have tackled so far. I did a couple of rows of top stitching after turning the quilt. That part went ok. Starting the interior quilting was nothing but an exercise in frustration. The backing and the flannel stayed in place since they were mostly un-pieced...but the top...it stretched, it buckled, it twisted...it went every which way but the right way. Next mistake was thinking it would 'quilt out' ...HAH...that made things worse. (and never make decisions like this when you are tired and its late and its dark out...) By light of morning I got out the seam ripper and tried to repair the damage.

Thinking that a little steam and some spray sizing would help, I hoisted the thing onto the ironing board and pinned it every couple of inches after steaming it within an inch of its very existence...by the time I was done with the pins (almost every pin I own, mind you)...it looked - well - ok, not splendid but ok. This thing has a mind of its own though. Started stitching..still buckling - even with the walking foot...so...I did the only thing you can do at this point and tried to get the buckles at the intersections...and went back over them the other direction to firmly plaster them into place. Not the prettiest solution...but..it is DONE...

I washed and dried it..and though its a 'train-wreak'...if I didn't tell you..you might not notice. I will see if anyone ever does! I love how a quilt gets to looking 'quilty' after its first washing!

And its pretty cozy after all...I have it on my lap to clip the miscellaneous thread ends...

I realize now that what I SHOULD have done is stitch the top to the flannel starting in the middle like you are supposed to, then done the birthing and left the back loose or maybe a few extra stitching lines...

Live, learn and do better on the next one...

Here are the Quilt Inspectors giving the quilt a good going over. The tan one is Dustie (she's shy...I could not get her to face the camera), the grey one is Misty and the tiger colored one is Tiger!

----------On another subject--------------
The wind is blowing quite heavily here (30mph) - and its chilly still. I put the trash can out for trash pickup this morning...got back home and no trash can...either someone stole it or more likely it was last seen rolling away for parts unknown. We will have to call the trash company in the morning for a new one...they have numbers on them and someday it will turn up - the last time it took a couple of weeks for them to find the absconded-with trash can, but find it they did.

A-Maze-ing Revealed

This is my first reveal for the 12x12x4 Challenge:

I added 'The A-Maze-ing Miss Bee' to the quilt to make it into a kind of 'interactive' quilt. The bee can be stuck to the quilt anywhere as she is made of felt which sticks to the flannel. Because the sticking is not foolproof (!), I made sure she would not get lost by using the perl cotton to attach her to the back of the quilt thru the flower.

Materials are cotton flannel for the background - the back is covered in the same flannel, black bias tape for the maze walls, felt and fleece for the bee and flower with perl cotton embroidery.

The back also has the information about the quilt printed on muslin and fused.

Making Lemonade

Last year I started knitting this scarf on my Knifty Knitter...was going along just fine - more than halfway to where I wanted...then it wasn't winter anymore so I stopped working on it. Needed the Knifty Knitter loom for something else and thought.."well, just slip it off and when you are done with the other project, slip it back on and finish"..

You know that old saying about best laid plans? Well, one of my darling kitty-cats found the project and was dragging it around the house with much glee - DH rescued the poor thing from the taloned monster. But..the damage was done! I could NOT figure out how to get it back onto the Knifty Knitter loom the right direction and several rows had been pulled out..It languished in another stack until this morning when I had a flash of inspiration about what to DO WITH IT!

A few tassels, a couple of buttons and some beads, and voila! I have a scarf-collar! Beauty of using the button fastener is I can make a new one anytime I want to match any outfit I want to pair this with!

My First Quilt

I posted most of this over on the About Quilting forum but then decided it really belongs here - so here it is, in an expanded version:

I started quilting very late in 2002 - the first weekend in either November or December, I believe it was. My first quilt was done using Jodi Barrows' Square in a Square ruler. My girlfriends and I had gone to a craft show where it was being demoed...

The class was called 'Perfect Points' and my friend Julia (who is also my office partner) wanted to go see that demo. She had been trying to get me to learn to quilt..but I had been really resistant up to that point.."Why would anyone cut up perfectly good fabric into little pieces, just to sew it back together again" was my whine every time she mentioned quilting. The lady doing the demo had the RIGHT answer - "Why, it's to make it more beautiful!"...and shockingly, that made absolute sense to me...She showed how to sew strips to the sides of a square, lay down the ruler in the right places, and whack off anything that stuck out...seemed easy enough to me.. I muttered under my breath "I think I could do that", my 3 girlfriends HEARD me and as one, turned towards me with looks on their faces like I had grown another head!

They all bought the book and the ruler at the show - me, I was a little more reserved and said I would like to try it first before buying (it still being a shock to my system that I even was considering quilting,after all)...so my girlfriend who has a very nice big quilt studio invited us over to learn to use the ruler.

I am anal enough that I wanted to make something I could use, if I was going to invest the time to do it..so I decided to make a lap quilt. I used the pattern that came with the ruler as my starting point - it was blue squares with red points and red squares with blue points...but that seemed odd to me, so I decided I wanted solid colored stars.

I had in my possessions, thanks to the generosity of my parents, a brand new sewing machine, a rotary cutter, a huge mat and the proper ruler... amazingly - I originally planned on using them for garment sewing...but just had not gotten to that, what with the kids having to be toted here and there and working full time and cats and dogs...yanno...all that stuff...

So..off to my girlfriend's house I go, new sewing machine in hand, and three 2-yard pieces of fabric from WalMart - I certainly wasn't going to spend a lot of money on fabric if I didn't know if I even LIKED quilting - that I had DH pick out. He picked a raspberry, a dark blue and a golden tan with little gold stars on it - went together very nicely!

My friends showed me how to use the rotary cutter (mine was still in its package!) and how to line up fabric and how to chain piece and how to figure out where my 1/4 mark was on the machine. I busily sewed and sewed and pressed and whacked off the pieces that stuck out - we were there for 4-5 hours...and had almost all of the blocks made by the time we left...just had a couple more to do...

Went home, started putting rows together and had the top finished by the next evening. Decided to use fleece for the back and had it quilted by the next weekend...AND...there has been no stopping me since...

We shall however, never discuss quilt number 2, which remains tucked away in my quilting room...and which if I need a dose of humility, I drag out to see if I can fix..I haven't gotten rid of it because my sister says she LIKES it...so someday, if I ever figure out what to do with it, it may find its way to her house.

My cats love to sleep on my lap under my Stars quilt. It's seen a lot of use since it was created and still looks great - even if it is just $2 a yard fabric from WalMart!

"Health and Wealth"

Last year I heard a bunch of whining about not putting the tangerine and the penny in the stockings from my dearest daughter...I wrote about it last January here.

This year, a week or so before the big event, DD calls up to confirm she is going to be attending and casually mentions to me "Don't forget the Health and Wealth"...me being a bit dense at that point, did not catch the meaning...She explained..."You know...the shiny coin and the orange fruit" - enlightenment dawned.

So...I put the tangerine in the toe and added not just the shiny penny, but a nickle, a dime, and a quarter too...and some mini Reese's peanut butter cups for good measure.

She was happy with her "Health and Wealth".

I did forget the new toothbrush and pack of gum though...so I am not quite on the Good Santa Mom list...Next year I need to review my posts BEFORE Christmas so I get it right...or maybe I should just leave myself a note in the stockings when I pack them up this weekend!

Works in Progress

I finished off my maze quiltlet for the 12x12x4 challenge. I am not posting any more pictures of it here until later in the month for the reveal..so stay tuned! But I did make this beaded hanger for displaying my littler quilts...its a 12" dowel with quilt tacks in the ends to fasten the picture wire around, a length of picture hanger wire strung with wooden beads and 4 cafe curtain clips...



The vest looks like a 'real' vest now:




I bought two kinds of buttons - the kind you can cover with fabric and some really cute flower buttons. In the interest of getting this done, I think I will start with the flower buttons....but...here is my current dilemma: this is just a wee bit snuggish if I actually lop one side over and would make regular button holes. So I am thinking about other possibilities. Sophie is drawing me a picture of a kind she saw at a Sewing Expo...I could use embroidery thread and make loops in the seam allowance..I could make tabs (kinda clunky though)... or some sort of heavy cording with an orientalish frog on the opposite side...or?? Open for suggestions...

I bought and washed the fabric for the mystery table runner that we are doing at the retreat. Have to make a pile of HSTs...I picked Valentine's fabric because I don't have any quilted items for putting out for that holiday.

I also got some very thin fleece for the batting for the Apple Quilt (which was last year's retreat mystery quilt. I got that pieced together and layed out...There is a picture of the Apple Quilt over here. I need to piece together the backing fabric (which is the center part of that I cut the borders off of) and get it pinned. This one is going to be a 'tablecloth'...I am birthing it since I have failed in my efforts to find a suitable red to bind it with anyways...then since the batting is fleece, I will do just minimal quilting - wrangling that thing thru my home machine may be dang near impossible. I do think this may be the biggest quilt I have attempted to quilt.

It may not be possible to keep this momentum going now that I am back to work, but I am going to try! Road to California is in a couple of weeks and Retreat is a couple of weeks after that...so I am definitely going to be BUSY!

And Now...for the First Meme of 2007:

The A-B-Cs of My Quilting Style
Debra tagged all of us!

A- Artist? Melody Johnson (and I get to take a class from her in a couple weeks, yippie!)
B- Best Blogging Buddies? Gee..ya'll are my buds!
C- Crazy or Sane Quilting? Crazy is fascinating!
D- Dyeing or Stamping? I've done more dyeing than stamping, though one of my WISPs needs stamping.
E- Essential Item? for quilting would have to be materials to quilt.
F- Favorite Fabrics? Batiks and Brights.
G- Great Quilt Design? Wholecloth.
H- Hand or Machine Quilt? Depends on the project. I like both.
I- Indispensable Notion? yup...it's the Gingher's.
J- Janome or Bernina? Don't rightly know...my machines are all Singers.
K- Kits or Original Designs? Not sure if I would ever DO a kit, though some of them look nice. I like my own designs better.
L- Life in the Studio is? Where I would rather be.
M- Most Projects Made in One Year? Do quilty gifts count? If so, this year - 37 quilty gifts, 6 journal pages, three ugly fabric challenges and a mystery quilt...I am sure there is stuff I forgot too...
N- Number of Gadgets? not a clue...too many to count.
O- OH, I wish I hadn’t. . . . .? no idea...
P- Pet Peeves about Quilting? Having to work gets in the way of quilting time.
Q- Quilt Show? Road to California!
R- Reason to Rip Out? Depends on ultimate purpose of item..and if its bad enough to warrant ripping...some stuff just doesn't go together right without at least one rip out!
S- Sewing or Knitting? I wouldn't mind doing more knitting...I just haven't quite got the hang of it. Crochet, I get...so I do that more...but sewing is better than either of those.
T- Tag, You're It! Consider yourself tagged.
U- UFOs? Only one that will probably NEVER get done...have at least 12 WISPs at last count...hoping to get two of them squared away in the next day or so.
V- Vexing Quilt Pattern? Haven't met one yet.
W- Wishlist Item? Longarm machine or treadle.
X- Xtra Fabric you will never use? You never know about spare pieces of fabric...could be just the thing you need...
Y- Your Biggest Goof? Moi? Goof? Shirley, you are kidding...
Z- Zip! And it’s finished? The piecing for my Penrose Posey went pretty quick-like...it however languishes on the WISP stack... and gets petted every once in a while.

SRE Vest Progress

Spent most of the day working on the silk ribbon embroidery (SRE) vest that I started in September. The embroidery is DONE! I hopefully will get it put together either tonight or tomorrow.

Here is the design on the back:


And here are the front pieces:



I am thinking of getting some of those buttons you cover with your own fabric and making buttons with a flower on them for the vest - otherwise I am thinking I need some pretty metal buttons...don't know if I will get to Joann's tomorrow or not - I hear they are having a great sale on batting and quilting notions on New Year's Day...

The ABCs of ME ME-ME

Sophie tagged me. Last meme of 2006!

A- Available or single? Not for a loooooong time.
B- Best Friend? Julia. She’s responsible for infecting me with quilt-pox. She’s also my sometime office partner (we share an official office but both of us have been co-located in client sites for years.)
C- Cake or Pie? Usually like pie better – though our secret family birthday cake is pretty tasty! Key Lime is definitely in my top ten. Apricot, apple and boysenberry make the list too.
D- Drink of Choice? Tea – specifically Stash Chai Spice with cream and Splenda…yum…
E- Essential Item? Computer of some sort…artistic materials…
F- Favorite Color? Green.
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Can’t eat either variety – they are made with corn syrup to which I am dreadfully allergic. Worms seem like more fun though! Especially in a ‘Dirt’ cake for a little boy…
H- Hometown? Not comfortable saying but its somewhere in So Cal.
I- Indulgence? Dark Chocolate...Belgian…
J- January or February? January…it’s a month of new hope.
K- Kids and names? Have two – one of each kind – eh, make that three (I recently acquired a DDIL). Sorry for not posting the names…but that’s not something I am comfortable with either. Both kids have two middle names. DD’s name has a cool translation and it fits her.
L- Life is incomplete without? My DH.
M- Marriage Date? August 27, 1978
N- Number of Siblings? One sister.
O- Oranges or apples? Apples. The greener/fresher the better. Love to pick them and eat them right off the tree.
P- Phobias/Fears? Spiders. Used to have problem with heights but that’s mostly gone. And I can whack spiders with the best of them!
Q- Favorite Quote? “The best revenge is living well” – DH. Or “There are no coincidences” – James Redfield
R- Reason to Smile? Today – it’s a beautiful day.
S- Season? Fall…love the colors and the tang of coolness in the air. We actually DO have some trees in So Cal that turn magnificent colors! Someday I want to do a Color Tour of the East Coast during Fall…
T- Tag three people! If you haven’t done this…yer it!
U- Unknown Fact About Me? If I said, it wouldn’t be unknown anymore!
V- Vegetable you hate? Not really fond of Brussels sprouts though I have been known to choke them down. With. Lots. Of. Butter. And some nutmeg.
W- Worst habit? Procrastination! Second would be getting diverted…like on this meme!
X- X-Rays you’ve had? A bunch…probably too many
Y- Your favorite food? Dark chocolate…and fresh raspberries
Z- Zodiac? Leo/Virgo…and the best of both, I might add.

My Little Black Sheep

One of the gifts I received was this cutie patootie little black sheep. His tail pulls out and is a tape measure. My friend who bought him said he came in a box of 12 white sheep and 1 black sheep...everyone wants the black sheep though so the store owner has tons of the white ones and the black ones go as soon as she opens the box.

Maybe she should invest in a box of black dye!

It's A-Maze-ing - Progress

My theme for the Quilt Studio 12x12x4 Challenge is 'Circles'. My first exploration this year is a circular maze. I've always thought a maze would be a neat quilting design.

The design I chose is a floor pattern in the nave of the cathedral in Chartres, France. This cathedral was built in 1235 AD. The pattern is known as 'Chemin de Jerusalem' (Road to Jerusalem). Here's a picture of the floor:



In the process of investigating circular mazes, I learned the secrets of how to draw a particular type called a Cretan maze. Fascinating stuff! I decided the full Chartres maze would be too intricate for my little 12 inch piece so I used a modified version that has 5 rings instead of 11. Here is the pattern:


I used a piece of mottled green flannel to represent the green turf that a lot of mazes in Europe are constructed with. I used my old Staedtler Mars SuperBow compass from my early college days to draw the rings onto the flannel and then used pre-fused bias tape and ironed on the maze walls.

I need to stitch down the bias tape and put the on the backing and satin stitch bind...and I have a little surprise that I haven't finished yet - hopefully it looks as cute as I think it will.

Merry Christmas to All!

Now that the annual Christmas Festivities are over I can reveal the Christmas presents that I made this year.
I made pillowcase sets for all the guys. A couple said I even got the colors right for their sheet sets (pretty good for stabbing in the dark!) The second one from the left on the top row is upside down - the cuff is actually the yellow and blue print. The one on the bottom right has monkeys in the print, which went over really well.

For the younger ladies, I made raggy schlep bags out of blue jeans. A couple of the gals used them right away to haul all their gifts home in! The squares on these were 7 inches which makes a sizable bag. I think they liked them. I folded the top points over to make a casing and included a piece of clothesline that if they want can be used for a drawstring to close the bag.
I washed each one of these separately in a pillowcase then shook them outside to get the strings off..the birds will have a lovely time using these thread scraps in their nests!

This is the one for my new DDIL...she is expecting a girl that they have named Lily, so I made her schlep bag into a diaper bag out of Disney character fabric - Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore.
There were supposed to be 4 pieces of fabric in the bundle, but when I went to start the cutting...danged if there were only three and no time go back to Joann's to complain. So I made the best of what I had and used up almost all of the 3 FQ's - only a couple of tiny scraps left.
Notice I did not cut off the top triangles and put the handles on the points. This makes the bag a bit deeper.

This is the one for my DM. She wanted one that she can carry a notebook in for her piano lessons, so I made hers with the extended points too. I put the handles on differently too.

This is the one for my DS. I love the way this one turned out! (It's more stunning in real life than the picture) I think I will go back to the store and get more of the fabrics to make me a matching one! I put dragonfly appliques on hers.


On the receiving end:
A Dyson Animal Ball (they wrapped it in a 'crazy quilt' of wrapping paper - my Dad said it was actually rather difficult to do on purpose but it looked so CUTE!), a mini Exercycle that I am putting under my desk so I can exercise while reading blogs, Electric Quilt 6, two sweaters, two long sleeved cotton shirts, two pairs of incredibly soft sleep sox, a package of cafe curtain clips for hanging my mini-quilts, a Grammie's Brag Book for pictures of Lily when she arrives, a six-piece Poinsettia bowl that will be great for next year's relish tray at the Christmas party, homemade cookies, some good old fashioned cash and gift cards for movies and good eating!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and have a marvelous New Year!

Closer to the Finish Line

Boy...this re-arranging the living room sure has taken up a goodly chunk of the week. Today I rented one of those Rug Doctor machines and had at the living room and hallway. I am glad I did not put up the tree yet!
Finished a couple more presents - have two more cut out and one more to cut...I am pretty sure I will get done!
Tomorrow I have to return the Rug Doctor and hit Costco for the party food - hopefully early in the day before all the crowds. Then move the furniture back into the living room, decorate, wrap and bake a batch or two of cookies and that will be that!

This Is The Table That Suze Built

Table is DONE and behind the sofa! Color at least matches the color of the trim on the sofa, so that worked out. I was going to put another coat on this morning...but just got too anxious to have the project done with so I skipped it - the can recommended two coats so that's where I stopped!


Here's the view from the front...you can't see the table, only whats on it! I have nominal Christmas decorations up - the Christmas Carol Bear sitting on the speaker is a Vermont Teddy Bear that I got from a Christmas drawing from a local radio show I listen to.
In the foreground is the coffee table - I restored its finish and replaced a couple of the leg brackets on it that were making the table wobbly. Now its solid! That's my hand paper pieced and hand quilted Hunter's Star table runner on top.

This is the mantel to our curved fireplace with our Nativity. It stays out all year - DH likes looking at it. In the left corner is the Angel with harp music box...its electronic and I think the battery is running down, she's sounding a wee bit tired (like me!) Next to her is the Swedish Angel Bells. Next is a stained glass Angel that a friend from work made for me one year for our Christmas exchange. Gracing the two sides of the Nativity are 'Hope' Beanie Bears. On the other side of the Nativity is a little Angel holding a dove - DM thinks she looks like I did as a child. Then a Threadbear Bear which a friend gave me as a thank you for dog sitting, a 'Darling' Beanie Dog that has the same birthday as me and which DH got for me for my birthday several years ago. There are a couple more Beanie Bears in the back, including a 'Princess Diana' Beanie Bear.

I used to put out my collection of Christmas music boxes on the mantel but since the youngest cat likes to jump, I have been reluctant to trust all of them up there!

One of these days I need to make a mantel cloth...it will be a tricky one since the mantel is curved around a 90 degree angle.

Notes from the Workshop

Did not find a skinny table for behind the sofa...so I am making one myself. Bought a chunk of lumber, 4 screw on legs, 4 brackets for holding the legs on, 1 can of stain, a brush, a sanding block and some mineral spirits for cleanup.

Here's what my workshop, aka my kitchen, looks like. These are the legs suspended upside down from twine anchored from one cabinet to another. The color on these is not too bad.



Here is the table top (its 1"x8"x7') resting on my TV tray saw horses. I am not liking the color on this too much...will have to see what it looks like after another coat but I think its going to be too light so I may have to make another trip to the hardware store to get a darker color. The kitchen cabinets behind are the right color (those are the ones I restored a couple of weeks ago) . I might just make a skinny table runner and call it a day though.


Here is a picture of the Batik Birds hanging over the sofa (the one that will get the skinny table put behind it) and yes, the borders are a bit 'friendly', actually a lot 'friendly'! (they definitely wave)...This was my very first hand quilted piece and I did not know very much then! I used some icky poly batting and did not measure the borders too well. I should just cut them off and rebind the piece, but that's a job for another day! The quilting's not too bad, especially in the center - I ripped it out several times before I was happy with it! The center is a hand painted batik piece that my Auntie brought back from Bali a long time ago...it was sitting in my craft stash, waiting...

Most of it was quilted in the Barnes and Noble Bookstore while I was waiting for DH to pick me up - I went into work in a carpool at the time and we only had one car that worked. I would sit in one of their comfy chairs and stitch away...I think I sold a couple of hand quilting books for them - people would come up and ask about what I was doing.

But, even with its foibles, I still like it!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Did something today that I have not done in YEARS! I re-arranged the living room...it was definitely time. I am tired but happy that its looking pretty nice. I need to go get a very skinny table for behind one of the sofas and some table lamps to finish it off so I think I will head over to the local Target early in the morning...need to go to Home Depot for some other repair items anyway and its just next door.

I even got more sewing done, hung up one of my wall quilts (the picture is the center of the quilt..I need to get a full picture of it - it has a flying geese border) and decided to do the 12x12x4 Challenge since I designed 4 pieces already...I am WOMAN...hear me ROAR!

Getting 'Mall'ed

Had this coupon for 20 bucks off...tried to redeem it online but website said one of my items would not ship until January 7th! Kinda late for Christmas...so I had to visit the mall to pick up the items. I headed out after lunch...BIG mistake...should have been there when the doors opened at 11...The mall was crowded - it took about 15 minutes just to get OFF the freeway at it's exit...then finding a parking spot was no easy task. What I like about this particular mall is there is metered parking close to the stores (its an outdoor mall) and since I knew what I wanted and where to go, if there was a spot open, that would have been ideal...but..no such luck. Found a spot a the top of the new parking structure down the road a bit...It was pretty chilly here today (it was colder here than in New York City!) Made my way over to the store, dodging guys pushing hand cream and shoppers with strollers and large packages...once inside the store, a saleslady came up and got me the items...a definite advantage of knowing what you want! I was outta there in less time than it took to get off the freeway - and there were several large SUV's that were fighting over my space. I took a back route home.

I am OFFICIALLY DONE with shopping for this year. I do have to get food at the end of the week for the party, and I have a few maintenance chores I need to do that will necessitate heading into the hardware store, but for gifting...I AM DONE with the shopping!

Still have to finish making the rest of the gifts that I am making, then pop them into the waiting bags that have already been purchased!

Recycling with California Liquid Sunshine

Yesterday...decided to get the recycling out of the garage - DS used to do it but since he's married, he doesn't do that for us anymore. It needed to be done badly - the bags were in the way of getting to the Christmas decorations! Took two loads in my small car. The first load was easy. Got almost 15 dollars. Second load had more cans and when I got there it started misting-was hoping to get done before the skies let loose - they were looking rather ominous...but no such luck! The recycle guy made me an emergency raincoat by cutting holes in a big plastic bag, but by the time I was done dumping the stuff out of the car, I still looked like a drowned rat - water was dripping from my now soaking locks of hair. Recycling here is a two step process -you fill up the cans and the guy gives you a slip for what it's worth - then you have to go into the grocery store to turn in the slip to get the cash. The second load I got almost 20 bucks...and the rain stopped as soon as I got in the store. I went home and took a nice hot shower!

Time Keeps On Slip'in, Slip'in, Into The Future

Whew...its been a busy couple of weeks!

Weekend before last, on Saturday, I taught my DS how to make the secret family birthday cake for his birthday - I bought him all the tools and supplies and made a copy of the all important recipe. He thought it was humorous to have to SWEAR, with his right hand in the air, that he would NOT REVEAL the recipe except to direct family members or his children (once they are past the age of 16) who must agree to the same terms! Hey...I had to do it, my Mamma had to do it, Granny had to do it...its really very fun to have a secret family birthday cake!

I also taught him how to make turkey soup - he had frozen a turkey carcass after T-Day and wanted to learn how to make that too. His bride was not feeling well, so she did not participate much that day.

The next day was his birthday party. He wanted to borrow our barbecue, which I had to dig out of the garage (I looked like a very dirty urchin after I retrieved it out of its hiding place - its very dusty in our garage!) and then my DD picked it up and hauled over to his place in her truck. We finished making the cake (the frosting, yummm!) and added the veggies to the soup. He barbecued a bunch of meats and we had a wonderful time - watched Pirates of the Caribbean and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

So..I was exhausted after that.. and just wanted to go to sleep!

During the last week, I purchased some supplies for making Christmas gifts.

Last weekend, I started in on making gifts...I cannot reveal most of them here, since persons to receive them are known to frequent this blog (Hi!)...will post pix after Christmas...

My best quilting buddy (and sometime office partner - we share an 'official' office but have both been working at different client sites for several years) had a 'project day' at her house for our sewing/quilting/crafting group - we are all computer professionals, by the by! One of these days we are actually going to form a guild! We brought our machines and set up in her living room...One lady was working on trimming quilt blocks, another was making machine embroidered Christmas Ornaments (She made me the lovely white dove in the picture above), another lady was making a machine embroidered Bear (she collects bears...and is thinking of making one for each of her 6 grandkids!), my GF was knitting and fixing a broken beaded bracelet and me...I had an assembly line going making my items! Its really fun getting together and seeing how all our projects are going. Here is a picture of the pincushions I made for my sewing buddies:

I got back home and put my sewing room back together (it's amazing how much I dragged over to my friend's!) In the process, I decided I HAD to sort most of my stash...it does look better now and its way easier to see what I have! It neatly folded and filed horizontally in the two totes...One tote has all the larger than 1/4 yd pieces, the other has the fq's and smaller pieces and a couple of gallon baggies of scraps. Before I folded them, I was having trouble getting the totes closed...now its really easy! (now I should organize by color...but that's for another day!).

Sunday I set up my assembly line again. It's amazing the difference in how your back feels when you are cutting at a table that the right height - I HAD good intentions of getting all the pieces cut before I headed over to my GF's on Saturday...but you know that old saying about the best of intentions! Was cranking right along...SMOKEN'...when I discovered a loose thread somewhere where a loose thread was NOT supposed to be...ARRRRGH - I had sewed one piece with raw edges where a folded edge was supposed to be....sigh...the only recourse was to ENTIRELY FROG STITCH the item...then, making another item that had to be washed, I dropped it in the dirt outside the back door while shaking it out and had to wash it all over again!

Yesterday...I decided to try a different route home and missed a turn in the dark...ended up kinda lost...because the name of the street I was on changed names and I did not realize it, so I missed that street too when I turned around. Luckily in So Cal...freeways are all over the place and once I found a street that I knew was junction with the freeway, I was back in business. But for a while..I was a wee bit panicked!

Came home today and made a batch of coconut fudge for the nibble table at work tomorrow.

Luckily for me...vacation starts in 3 days...I have off until after New Year's - Hurrah!

Bathtime, Hummingbird Style

Living in a dry area, the tree leaves get covered with a layer of brownish dust that I periodically like to wash off - makes the trees look much better. So this morning I was out watering the trees and spraying off the dusty leaves when all of a sudden I noticed a pair of hummingbirds were frolicking in the spray...they would dart into the water, then dart over to a dry branch and shake the water drops off, then fly back into the spray...this lasted for at least 10 minutes..I was 'buzzed' a couple of times - hummingbirds are really loud when they get close! They also were making the cutest little chirps. These two were brownish with a small ruby spot on the throat. From what I can tell from pictures, they most closely matched the Plain-Capped Starthroat Hummingbird pictures - but that species is not known to come this far west - so they were probably some other species. Alas, a larger bird decided that those trees are HIS and ran them off - but what a treat while it lasted!

No Cooking, No Dishes...No Leftovers

Because I have been sick (still am by the by), instead of going to the family get-together at my sister's place like we normally do, we went out for dinner at a local casino's buffet - they put on a terrific spread. No cooking, no dishes...but no leftovers either -which is either good if you tend to pig out on leftovers the next day or bad if you really wanted another taste! I tried not to breathe on anyone and luckily we had a table away from groups.
They had some interesting additions to the traditional menu - pumpkin soup which was very delicious, pumpkin napoleons - also quite tasty, salmon encrusted with ground up pumpkin seeds, and prime rib. But some stuff we have at the family get-together, I really missed - the angel eggs, the mincemeat cookies, the corn pudding...and most of all, the family.