and the answer is: Mulberry Trees!

We have identification of the mystery trees thanks to the guys on the Forestry forum...they are mulberry trees! Will have to see if we want to keep all of them as they can be invasive and the female trees which have the berries are kinda messy..BUT the fruit IS tasty! I remember a friend having a mulberry tree when I was growing up and we would come home with purple fingers and lips and drips all over our playclothes when the fruit was ripe.

I wonder if I should raise a couple of silkworms!

Autumn in Turtle Valley

Here's the progress so far..if you click on the picture it will open up bigger. I still need to stem stitch all the green leaves, add a bit more embroidery and some beads (clear ones in the river for bubbles)..not sure what else..maybe a bird in the sky...one of my GF's thinks I should accentuate the turtles in the green batik, but I am not sure what would look right...then I need to figure out how to quilt this!

Volunteer 'Trees' Are Blooming

There are little flowering buds on several of the volunteer 'trees'...I still do not know what these are...I was able to pull up one of the little ones without much effort... I am thinking I will have to take a branch to a nursery and see if they can tell me...Even if it is a weed, it's a nice looking weed..and unless it's poisonous, I think we might just let them grow...

Coastal Shop Hop

Yesterday, a group of us went on a 'creative crafting' shop hop - usually we just go to quilt shops on the big So Cal Quilter's Run..but this one had a bit of a different flair..there were a couple of quilt shops, a couple of bead shops, a couple of gifty type stores, a couple of yarn shops and one that had scrapbooking supplies too..

Most of the day we were hugging the coastline and it was quite overcast as it usually is at the coast in the spring...it was nice hopping weather! Not too cold, not too hot..and not too bright...

Starry Night Hollow...a very interesting Quilt Shop..in a house! The gardens around the house were so pretty, I asked if I could snap some shots...

Notice the gate in the picture..it has a quilt attached to the gate!

The poppies are starting to really bloom out around the freeways - these two shots were taken thru the car window as we were going down a freeway ramp (which is why they are a bit blurry):

I think there is some blue lupine mixed in there too...

At one of the shops...I found wool roving in a vast array of colors..the lady asked me what I was going to make with the wool and I said I wanted to try making some felted animals - she said 'I have just the book for you!' and indeed, it had to come home with me:

if you follow the link to Amazon, you can see more of the pictures inside the book..the animals are sooooo cute!

First Picnic of the Season

DH and I ate our dinner out in the back yard today..kind of a picnic of sorts! We had little hot dogs with mustard, diet soda and steamed broccoli... The back yard is very green and trees are starting to leaf out.. the lemon tree is full of blossoms (and lemons!):

We are trying to figure out what this tree/plant is..its a 'volunteer' along with about 20 more of them in the back yard..they lost their leaves during the winter and are the first of the trees(?) to leaf out..right now they are about 15 feet high...so I don't think they are weeds (I hope not anyway)! Our best guess is some sort of oak..but if anyone knows for sure, please let me know...

They are directly under where the birds sit in the trees...

Neighbor's horse is enjoying the fresh air and has munched all of the grass he can reach from his stall...

The moonrise over the trees:

Arizona Retreat 2009 - Part 2

We had a grand time at there retreat..I worked on my string blocks for the Hearts Garden Quilt (its been in a few posts!)

Here are some sample blocks..

I THINK I am done with all of the blocks I need for the back and hopefully I can start working on putting the quilt together now..I need to design a quilting pattern and start tracing it, get some sashing strips cut (need to figure out if I have enough of the green fabric for the sashing left over), and lay out the back so I know which block goes where..

I also worked on the batik landscape that I made in a class at Road To California in 2008...I wanted to add a tree to the landscape..and that involved cutting the landscape..I have been putting off doing this for MONTHS! But..one of the ladies at the retreat encouraged me to 'just do it'...and so I did...another of the ladies gave me a wonderful strip of fabric for the border, and another let me dig thru her bag of scraps, looking for fall colored batiks to make leaves for the tree...I appliqued most of the leaves on the trip home. I have been working on embroidering on the seams as well...

Some of the fun stuff we did:

• learned how to make cathedral windows blocks
• one of the ladies taught a class on how to maintain your Featherweight sewing machine - she brought one that she auctioned off and another of the retreaters went home with a real treasure!
• Patrick Lose, a fabric and pattern designer that lives in Arizona, came to be our guest speaker...you can read about his take on the retreat on his blog...
• we had 'Secret Sisters' again this year...that was a blast again.. My SS gave me lots of wonderful goodies - including an organizer basket that I have wanted for a long time and lots of material and my very favorite tea (Stash Chai Spice)...I gave my SS (not the same person) batiks, a pink pincushion, a glass nail file, dark chocolates and a laser leveler (she said when she got home that she had to carefully explain to her DH that No, the leveler was NOT going to live in the garage, but in the 'forbidden room'!) In case you are wondering what possible use it could have for quilting, its used to square up large quilts...
• Went shopping several times at the 3 Dudes Quilt Shop across the street

Here is what my workstation looked like..before the madness and flurry of activity started! It looked considerably less neat as time wore on!

Arizona Retreat 2009 - Part 1

Well..I am FINALLY getting around to starting to post about the retreat..it was a couple of weeks ago now!

I went with another lady that lives a couple of hours north of me..its much easier packing when you don't have to worry about overweight bags, seperating out the liquids and just how much you can haul around! I took way too much, as usual, but I did find a use for most of it! Fortunately I took a couple of extra tote bags..judging from prior years experiences..I knew I would need them..and indeed, they came back stuffed to the brim!!

On the way over, we did not stop much..but did see some cool cactuses and wildflowers in bloom..I posted on the forum as we were driving that we had seen them and Sophie asked if I was going to blog about them, so..when the driver needed a break, we stopped at a rest stop and I went running around, looking very 'tourist-y', snapping pictures of cactuses, wildflowers and trees! We got a few more shots on the way home...

And, Old Glory, flying beautiful in the breeze!

Beaded Kaleidescope

Back in 2007, I took a class at Road to California from Nancy Eha on making beaded Kaleidoscopes...I finished the beading of the kaleidoscope in late January, but did not get around to designing and working on the quilt until late last year...

The frame for the outer ring is made of Timtex..but that was not strong enough to support the extra beading that I did in the outer ring, so I cut a very sturdy cardboard ring and that is sandwiched inside - that made it sufficiently stiff! I was going to picot bead around all of the edges but after I saw the effect of the outer ring, decided that would be going overboard.

This is a picture before the wires were sewn down and the outer ring beading was done:

And...here it is - Done! I just need to figure out how to hang it...any suggestions on how to hang it, especially if I entered it into a show, would be welcome!

What to Do With Class Sample Pieces - Make a Tote!

The third day of Road classes was free motion quilting - and we made a cute little zipper pouch out of one of the pieces..but that left TWO more quilt sandwiches that were still just sample pieces...One of the ladies at work suggested I make them into a tote..so that's what I did!

(sorry about the picture being a bit washed out..but otherwise you would not see the quilting...)

I used some of my precious stash of Laurel Birch animal fabric..because the black background matched the black sampler pieces (matching black is more difficult than you would think!) AND it had red in the design - the hardest part was cutting into the Laurel Birch fabric and wondering if I would like the end result!...It's made so that it's completely reversible and I thought I was going to like the black on black side better, but when I turned it inside out to show DH that it was reversible, I was charmed by the red on black..especially with the white bobbin work!

I am going to try to find some Laurel Birch buttons for the strap area..I think that would look cute!

Sweet Magnolias Update

Here is the progress on my version of the Sweet Magnolias from the class at Road to California...all of the applique is done, the embroidery is done (the eye was made by making a teeny tiny black yo-yo and adding a wee white highlight - something I learned how to do from Sharon Shamber's applique lessons), the borders have been found and added , its pin basted and ready for quilting. So far, I have not decided on whether I should do the quilting by hand or by machine...but hopefully I will get to it soon. Just in case I want to do it by hand, I used muslin for the backing, though I do have enough of the outer border fabric to fit..but hand quilting thru batik is a little harder than thru muslin! I have just enough of the inner border fabric left to do the binding.

My friends and I went on a road trip last Saturday to find the border fabrics. First we went to Oceanside to a museum that was having a quilt show - that was interesting..there were some really well done pieces there. Then we headed to our favorite Mexican food place. Its been in San Diego for many years and has pretty much perfected 'fast' food! When we got there, the line was out the door, but we were up to the register in just a few minutes and had our food by about 10 minutes later..pretty darn quick for the number of patrons...and yummy! Then we headed to Rosie's Calico Cupboard...one of the largest quilt shops..and with the best prices! We spent a couple of hours in there - I was looking for just the right fabrics for the borders for Sweet Magnolias - I finally found the right ones after going thru bolt after bolt of batik fabric! It was even sweeter with the '10% off batik fabric' coupon I had in hand! We headed over to Amidon Quilt shop - I did not get too much there and then back home.

I was initially concerned that the pattern called for pink in the magnolia blossoms, but found there actually IS a pink magnolia! Curiously, called a 'Susan Magnolia'!! I have never seen one up close..the only magnolias that I have seen that I could identify as a magnolia are the white ones.

Road to California - Day 4

On the fourth day, I took a 'Fabric-scapes' class from Martha Nordstrand , from whom I had taken a class using her applique technique 3 years ago at Road..I still have that piece (several lovely California poppies) up on my design wall..waiting for the perfect place to put it...

Her technique is to cut templates from full sheets of label paper that get adhered to the right side of the fabric, then you turn the piece over, coat the edges with glue and use tiny screwdrivers to turn over the edge..she does absolutely lovely pieces and in fact, won the first place ribbon in the large applique quilt category at Road this year - here is her quilt...

Being currently fascinated with landscapes and landscape quilts, I wanted to see how she approached them. First we picked a picture to use - and reduced it to just the major elements...then auditioned fabrics and cut chunks of those fabrics, glued the edges and built up the picture against a piece of stiff clear plastic..for tricky details, we used the label paper, but mostly you just cut a piece that roughly matched the shape from the picture and worked from there...

I picked a Tuscan landscape to work with..I changed my mind about the back fabric and the sky a couple of times...until I got this - its just in the 'glue basted' stage..have not done any of the appliqueing yet...

After dinner (we opted for really fast for this last night and ate at In-N-Out - a local burger joint that makes delicious cheeseburgers), I took a class on Cathedral Stars by Shelley Swanland. I was seriously hoping to finish this quilt during the three hour class, but realize I was seriously deluded and out of my quiting mind! I got done with the top by the end of the class...but I was not happy with how the sashing came out..had to take it home and have several conversations with Jack (the Ripper) but finally, it came together ok - not perfect, but acceptable...I quilted it Sunday and thought about adding one of the piped bindings like I had seen in the Roundabout..rummaged around in my Granny's stash..found a package of unopened piping and started sewing it on...well..much to my dismay, the fabric had dry-rotted! There was black fabric dust EVERYWHERE..on the floor, on my clothes, under my fingernails, all over my machine....after that debacle I decided that the quilt was just going to get an ordinary binding!

I got the binding sewn on the front and took the quilt with me to the Dr's office to do the hand stitching on the bask while I waited..no sooner had I taken the needle out to do the very first stitch than the nurse called me back! That happened a couple more times - I had to have my mammies grammied and it happened in their waiting room too, and at the pharmacy!..I guess taking handwork is a way to ward off having to wait for long..and if you do really have to wait, you have something to do...

The flowers are formed during the quilting and then afterwards I added the beads and some embroidery thread stamens..overall, its pretty darned cute! And I love the colors of the kit I got!

Road To California - Day 3

The third day was spent learning more machine quilting with Lois Smith. We experimented with free form designs, spent lots of time learning to control the speed of quilting and generally just having fun quilting. At the end of the class, we created a small triangle zipper bag out of one of the samples.

After dinner at El Pollo Loco (I had my favorite - three chicken wings!), we went to whats called 'Roundabout'..this is a facinating event...a bunch of the teachers and vendors put on 10 minute demos and every 10 minutes a bell rings, and you run to another demo..this goes on for a couple of hours..you are given a packet of info at the start of the show and list of the demos so you can decide which ones to attend..We saw soooo much..and had lots of fun..One of the demos, I was very facinated with - Silk ribbon embroidery by machine...Susan Schrempf was demo-ing her beautiful method..and I just HAD to buy the book, and the tools!

We also saw demos for

- the StarBuilder that is a set of rubbing pads for the Shiva Paintstiks - makes gorgeous star designs.

-how to make dogtooth borders

-how to make some really interesting quilts with nickle pieces and fusible grid

-some beautiful ribbon postcards

-how to do 'applique on the edge' - an interesting applique technique using bobbin work to outline the pieces

-the Great Glue Stick Caper - applique using glue sticks and small screwdrivers (more about this technique in Day 4 as the teacher is the same as my full day class) - but my friend had never seen the demo...

-how to do a piped binding

-printed kaleidescope cards using a pretty cool piece of software that makes the kaliedescopes for you that you can then print out on photo fabric sheets

and

-using the multi-angle Wedge ruler...

Road to California - Day 2

The second day I spent learning machine quilting. The class was taught by Lois Smith - here is a bit about Lois on the Backroads to Road to California blog. We warmed up a bit with a small practice piece then started making a set of three panels on white sateen using the purple air erase markers to define where to sew..after we finished the three pieces, we put them together using a 'quilt as you go technique'...the class sample had a border, but I decided just to make mine have a facing and use it as a table runner.


Here is the class sample:



























And here are the three panels that I got finished...I have since put the facing on it so its not a UFO anymore!And the purple marker is almost gone...you can still see faint lines...


























After dinner at Olive Garden (I went wild and ordered a delicious steak..half of which I took home to DH!), one of my friends and I went to a needlefelting class and made this cute strawberry pincushion. This class was taught by 'Bird Brain Designs' - a bunch of delightfully funny ladies - and was one of the most fun classes I have attended! I really enjoyed needlefelting..so much so, that I now have the foam block, three single needles, a 4 needle tool, lots of wool roving and a cute tote bag from the Bird Brain ladies! I just need to make a cotton cover for the foam block to keep the roving from getting stuck in the foam..and I am all set to experiment with making balls, and critters and whatnot out of wool...I might have to buy me a sheep if I really get into this!

Road to California - Day 1

The first class I attended at Road to California this year was on Needleturn Applique...Teacher was Cathy Van Bruggen and the pattern she was teaching from is called 'Sweet Magnolias' - a design with a mockingbird and several magnolia blossoms. I think I finally 'get' needleturn! It was a good class..I got finished with constructing my birdie except for the embroidery for his eye, beak and maybe some feathers, and the branch he will sit on.


This is the class sample that the teacher did:


















Here is what I got done:

The bird is all from one fabric - we cut out template pieces from freezer paper, then I picked out the areas on the fabric that were the right value for each piece..my poor piece of fabric now looks like swiss cheese! But since its all one fabric, the color goes together marvelously..greys are usually hard to match. The bird is built on a piece of interfacing as a unit - this is a great technique - once you get all your units ready, you can line them up with the pattern (or adjust if you want or need to) and no problems with a piece being just a smidge too short to match up.

After the class, my friends and I went out to eat at Red Lobster..I had stuffed mushrooms and asparagus..yummy! (and only ONE cheese biscuit! I had never tasted one...it was very good!)

Then we attended the preview show for class participants. It was marvelous seeing the spectacular quilts - check out the winners! One pretty cool thing that they did this year was have a wonderful harpist playing during the show...

Before the Stroke of Midnight...

This was the third quilt for the Finish 3 Quilts by 12/31/2008 Challenge - I made it with 22 minutes to spare!

In March of 2007, we started a HUGE project at work..with brutal hours..I worked sometimes 70-80 hours per week, week after week..my laptop was my constant companion! (I even had to bring it to the Arizona Retreat last year! I was running the daily jobs at our Christmas party last year and during our milestone celebration dinners)...I would roll out of bed, head for our project trailer, work til no one else was still there except my boss, head for home and sometimes even get back on the computer after I got home...It got so bad that I was even DREAMING about the work we were doing and the people on the project...could not even escape the project in my slumber!

One night...I remembered what my Mamma had told me when I was a small girl and having bad dreams...If you are dreaming about something you don't want to dream about, wake yourself up, turn over in bed and think about something pleasant...so..I did..and there was a cow! In a field! With the sun shining and a fluffy white cloud and trees and butterflies and flowers!

This quilt was started shortly after we implemented the project (on time and under budget!) in May 2008....and finished just before the stroke of midnight 12/31/20008!

It's quilted on wool batting which is why its so poofy! It's 22x26 inches - hand pieced, hand appliqued, hand quilted - even the binding was put on by hand!...I named it 'She's Out Standing In Her Field'...

100 Things Meme

Here's another meme that's making the rounds:

1. Started your own blog - well, yeah!
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland - and Disneyworld..want to go to EuroDisney and Disney Japan...
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo - I have an 'unreliable voice' - not something I would get to do - unless you count singing in the shower
11. Bungee jumped - not interested in bungee jumping..though DD said it was a blast
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child - had two..quite enough!
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - I may have..not sure though - I know we visited the island that the statue is on...I seem to remember lots of stairs...
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked - not interested in doing this either!
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - mental health days are very important!
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb - did hold a couple of geese (they are not really cuddly though)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon - used to run track in HS...
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run - don't remember hitting one...and not likely to at this age!
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - but..always could use more!
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing - but not with ropes
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke - at home.. not in public!
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted - well..it was a 'scherenschnitte' portrait - and I had a caricature done once
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling - if you count snorkeling in a swimming pool...I did have the snorkel, face mask and flippers on!
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie - was an extra in 'Seabiscuit'
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen - did help prepare food baskets for Christmas
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies - was 'Cookie Mom' one year too
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving - not dreadfully interested in this either! Ballooning would be ok though...
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check - not something I would deliberately set out to do!
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt - a few!
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - and ONCE was quite enough, thankyouverymuch!
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book - did help edit several though
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car - and had to teach DH how to drive it as he'd never driven a stick shift..
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible - have read most of it...in bits and pieces..should read from cover to cover sometime...
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - went squirrel hunting with Daddy...(yummy) and have caught and cleaned fish
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury - yeah..and got named 'Foreman' because I was wearing a suit...Note to self...do not wear suit to courthouse if picked on jury again
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone - or is that be owned by a cell phone?? DH and I even call each other when we are in opposite ends of the house..better than yelling...
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day - many times!

The Annual Christmas Sirens...

..or 'I want to scream!'

Every year right before Christmas, they have a parade of sorts in our tract - I think its for Toys for Tots - where they have a fire engine and a cop car (at least I THINK that's what it is..they never have come down my street - its a teeny tiny street) BUT I hear the wailing of those sirens and the loudspeaker and the air horns blasting away as they wend their way thru the streets.. not quite sure WHAT the purpose is..except to annoy all the poor dogs in the tract...and it goes on for over an hour!!!

I am feeling a bit Scroogey I guess...but this seems to be a bit of a waste...and it's sooooo irritating...I'd rather they played carols...

Oh thank goodness...they've finally stopped...

Orchid Convergence

At the last Arizona quilting retreat, one of the activities was learning how to make a convergence quilt from Ricky Tims technique. Not knowing if I would like this technique - you never know till you are done with the piece if the fabrics you have picked 'work' for a convergence - I used some sample pieces that I had gotten in a Rosie's Quilt Cupboard run a few months earlier. The orchid fabric came in two sizes and I thought that might make the convergence look more coordinated...picked out a green and a black from the pile of sample fabric and made the convergence top at retreat. Its been sitting in a zip bag as a PIGZ (Project in a Gallon Zippy) with its backing and batting since I got home..kind of buried in the stuff on top of my cutting table..I was looking for a cable template that I wanted to use on the Butterfly Heart...and found the bag..but no cable template (I ended up free handing the cables..) Thursday afternoon, I was in the mood for a little machine quilting, and this was calling to me...so I added the borders, fused the scraps of the orchid material and trimmed out what orchids I could, arranged them on the borders, fused them in place and quilted the center of the quilt! The next day I added the viney leaf quilting to the border, and the binding..Went together very quickly! And..I like it!



















Here is a detail of the larger orchid in the corner: