AZ Retreat 2012

I am back from the AZ Retreat...

On the way over, we stopped at KFC..I had wings and coleslaw..but they stuck a biscuit in the box..being wheat-free, I wouldn't eat the biscuit..and my traveling partner was way too full, so she suggested I feed the birds! A flock of mostly red-wing blackbirds eagerly devoured my biscuit...I didn't get a picture of the whole flock (every time I put the camera up, the birds took to the air..silly birds!) but here is one saucy fellow and a few of the bolder birds:

Here is a shot of the room before anyone started setting up.

Usually, when the two of us get to Retreat, only a couple of folks are there already..but this year, at least 1/3 of the Retreaters came the night before!! We were greeted in the hotel lobby by the whole group!

Here is a shot of the room after a few people had arrived...

I did a 'motorectomy' on Alis and turned her into a hand crank machine...I have a bit more to do - rewire the lamp to the plug receptacle and find a place to mount the plug or just connect the lamp to the cord or I could just remove the lamp (the hood is missing..and it may be too bright with a bare bulb)...and figure out how to move the hinges a couple of centimeters to the left so I can leave the hand crank attached - the hand crank is just a WEE bit too wide the way Alis is mounted into the case - I think I can do that without too much trouble - if not..I just have to leave the bolt tightener in the compartment under Alis..Oh..and I need to figure out how the heck the control box is mounted so I can remove it..I may need some 'manly muscles' to get it loose...

And I worked on stitching down the sashing on Heart's Garden...it's almost done!

 It was a fun Retreat!

Happy Village

I finished off the Happy Village today at retreat:



...And guess who showed up!

Little Roadie Goes To Retreat

Found in the Road to California program: "We know that Roadies are at Road to California in January, but where do they go the other 11 months of the year? Personalize your own Little Roadie doll...and take her on your journeys."

Meet Little Roadie...

Here she is at the Arizona Valley of the Sun Retreat

Here she is in front of the ironing station and the anniversary blocks

Here she is with Ray and Jeff at the Three Dudes Quilt Shop

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Retreat I Go!

Its been a busy month..and I am SOOOOO ready for my week in Arizona!


A dove in the Arizona desert

Stuff for Show and Tell:
A Hug from Chris..quilt was made from bright wedges that I got last retreat from Chris's stash..(Chris was one of the Arizona Retreat's Hostesses..she passed away from pancreatic cancer just before last year's retreat...)

Will also be showing Heart's Garden and the table runner I made using Aurora.

Stuff I am going to work on:
Finishing the stitching except for the label ** on Heart's Garden..it has the borders on it and I need to hand stitch the joining strips down..it needs the binding cut and applied..and hand stitched as well..that will be my major project.

I am also taking Alis (the 99..I keep thinking maybe I should rename her to Agent 99, yanno like Barbara Feldon from Get Smart)...and am going to do her 'motorectomy'...and turn her into a hand-crank machine. Hopefully that won't take a bunch of time..

I also have both of my projects from the classes at Road to finish off..almost done with the Happy Village - just a wee bit more FMQ and it will be done..

And I have a couple of other projects I can work on..a pillowcase kit..a table topper using the wedge ruler from Phillips Fiber Art that I got for Christmas...my wee Hexie basket:



And..the OctiHoops..practice, practice!!

______________________________
**  I still don't have a printer to print the label with..the Epson I was using broke..they didn't have the replacement one I wanted at Fry's when we went shopping, so I have to wait for it to come in...

A Raptor in My Tree

Found this gorgeous hawk sitting in my eucalyptus tree this afternoon:


On the sewing front, I am almost done with one of the side borders for the Heart's Garden quilt.

Made the cruise ship for the Happy Village..its pinned but not quilted..and I added legs/feet to the Garden Bird..but haven't worked on its applique..both of these may be going to Retreat as projects to work on there.

A Flash of Inspiration...

I was sewing on that Viking yesterday at my class..using a Mettler spool which is long and narrow...and was mounted on a horizontal spool pin..

This morning I  was looking at my Singer 9020 which has a horizontal spool pin, only the end cap has gotten looser and looser over the years (don't remember it ever working really well)..when I had a flash of inspiration on how to fix it..

See that center ring with a rubber band shoved into the grove?...it works!! And it was cheap...the rubber band came off of a Fat Quarter roll...

Almost done with quilting the Happy Village..except for the upper right corner where I am adding a cruise ship in the ocean..the cruise ship is just a prototype at this point..I will probably change the color to white and FMQ the portholes...and the black bands on the smokestacks...The rest of the quilting is done though..and I have to figure out how to finish it..I really like the buttery gold background color..may make a flange of that and mount the whole thing on a piece of black felt (the quilting on the back looks odd..its done in three different colors of bobbin and the FMQ on the bougainvilleas and the palm fronds looks odd on the back..) as suggested by the teacher..

 

May have to wait til the next day I am working from home to finish it though.. 

It does make me happy to look at it!

Road to CA - Day 3

Today was Happy Village day....oh my...the villages that were constructed...

We snipped our fabric into little squares and stepped pieces and stuck all the little pieces onto the batting and glued the shapes down with dots of Roxanne's GlueBasteIt and then had a blast adding doors and windows and roofs and steps and trees...After those were stuck on firmly, we auditioned pieces of tulle..I ended up liking a golden tulle best..though the white shimmer stuff looked pretty dang good as well..

I got most of my village buildings quilted..at least there are no pins left..but a couple of areas need to be outlined. Oh..and I need to outline all of the doors and windows and steps and add some thread painting to the trees..There were only a few that got as far as using the machines. DH says he thinks the sky needs a bird or the ocean needs a sailboat..have to think on that!

I liked the Viking machine that I used..it has needle down..and the presser foot lifts just slightly when you stop stitching, allowing you to pivot without actually lifting the foot..the auto thread cutter is pretty neat as well..they want 2K though for the classroom machines..or 3.5K for a new one in the box..eiii..

Here is today's haul:

A yard of DecorBond interfacing, a bag of SewBatik's light batik scraps, the cutest froggie fabric....
I got the pin from the Skizzix booth..almost talked myself into getting one of the small cutters..but decided to sleep on it...got the bird journal from a crafting group for signing up for their newsletter..
I also got a cd by Bron Journey, the harpist that plays during the show..and I bought Karen Eckmeier's Happy Village book, which she autographed.

Road to CA - Day 2

Day 2 of the applique class and I have pinned all of the elements except for the eye of the bird, the branches are stitched, one leaf is stitched and the belly of the bird and half of his tail are stitched:


We learned the whipped stem stitch including making it variable weights, a brick stitch and the turkey stitch..which I need to practice.

My purchases yesterday and today at the vendor mall:

I actually got a couple more fat quarters - you can see where I used them on the bird applique as they are the branches and the multicolored leaves. I got three spools of Kimono silk thread - its half again as thin as the YLI silk that I have been using..a threader for my serger (which I need to resurrect..its been sitting for a number of years...), some shimmery tulle for tomorrow's class (I have black and green and plain white to audition..but I think I am going to like the shimmery stuff...)..and a small bottle of the colorless textile extender that seals chalk or pencil to fabric which is also one of the techniques from this class..


This is the teacher's piece in the Instructor's Show..gorgeous pheasants and chalk enhanced machine stitching..( I think if you click on the picture, it will get bigger so you can see the details)


Its been really nice weather so far..but tomorrow is supposed to rain! It will be fun getting my roller cart of stuff into the convention center..I better bring a towel! I already have the huge golf umbrella out..

Road To CA - Day 1

Road to CA 2012 has officially started!

Attended the first day of my two day applique class by Sandra Leichner...she is also one of the judges for the show this year (this is the fourth judge that I have taken classes from!) Anyway..she's an interesting teacher and I really like needle-turn applique much better than the prep'ed edges like starch.She has oodles of tips and tricks..I really like her quilts. Her quilt 'Tea with Miss D' won one of the big awards at Houston..

We are doing her pattern 'Garden Bird' - here is my project after one day - we traced the pattern onto a vinyl overlay and learned how Sandra does inside corners and the points on leaves ..my branches are mostly done..and the leaves are just laid on the background fabric for now..hopefully will get to the bird tomorrow:

(Ekk..you can see I didn't pin them down yet as the placement is all off when you compare it to the next photo....)

And hopefully mine ends up looking at least SOMEWHAT like this when I am done!

Really funny. story...we were stitching away on our branches after getting some instruction on how to do the deep inside V's or tree crotches..one of the gals at my table is a speed demon with applique and got done before the rest of us. Sandra came by and was checking her stitching...Called everyone over to see her nicely done tree crotch, embarrassing the gal...everyone gave her a round of applause..to which she said "Oh great...Y'all stand around admiring my crotch and now y'all have given me the clap'...

Getting Ready for Road

Ekk!...I found three more UFOs while packing up the supplies for Road next week:

- tiny pre-cut Winding Ways kit from John Flynn
- t-shirt with fabric panel..this is truely old..my kids were really small when I bought the panel..but I still like it! I think it may go with the fabric for the shorts..hopefully a new outfit!
- another set of fabric set aside for a quilted sweatshirt..I may put these back into stash...cuz if I make the Laurel Burch one, I probably wouldn't need another quilted sweatshirt..

I am using the village of Oia on Santorini as inspiration for my Happy Village...if you know me, you know of my fascination with the island of Santorini (or Thera) and the possibility of it being the source of the Atlantis legend. Someday I hope to actually go to Greece...

I love the stacked house architecture..and the blue domed churches.

Serendipity

The other day, I was looking for a brown knit glove that I could turn into a chipmunk (an idea from Pinterest)...I collect chipmunks and squirrels..have since I was a child..and this cutie is just too fun not to do!

I have a bag of singleton gloves that my Mom gave me..Once upon a time, a properly dressed lady would wear gloves whenever she went out and every once in a while, a glove got lost..so over time my Mom built up a small stash of these really soft doeskin gloves - they were way too expensive to just toss, even just a singleton! She gave them to me so I could make dolly shoes.. The bag has other types of gloves as well..a tricot one and some winter gloves..even a leather mitten from when I was small..

I was sitting here thinking about what I could use to substitute for the band-aid I was using to keep my middle finger from getting turned into hamburger..when serendipity struck - I could use one of those doeskin gloves!..I cut the thumb off one (my Mom's hands are tiny.....mine are not!) and so far, I am loving my new thimble..it's lightweight, it doesn't make my finger sweat..it's almost like it is not there, but it keeps the straw needles from poking holes in my middle finger!!

I normally HATE wearing a thimble..most of them are too noticeable..hot and unbending, heavy...or they let the needle still poke me - I have one leather thimble that has a piece of metal at the tip that is supposed to let you push a needle thru a stiff patch..but the straw needle eyes just get caught in the edge and worse, they go thru and poke my finger.. for hand quilting, I have a paddle thimble but its not very useful for piecing or applique.

and oh yeah..I did find a brown knit glove in the bag to make Mr Chips! He is going to go to Retreat with me.

Heart's Garden Progress

It occurred to me that I haven't taken a picture of the Heart's Garden quilt in a long time..

This is the front minus the borders. It is a Quilt As You Go quilt so all of this is finished. The two longest seams gave me the most trouble in getting this together..the quilt is so heavy that it was hard to get it pinned correctly..I did the lower long seam 4 times before it was correct..but it looks good now! The borders are being worked on currently... and I have a poem from my Mom that will go on the label and some pictures of my Sis and I wearing clothes made of the fabrics that these scraps came from that will also go on the label.

Here is the back, again, minus the borders, which will be the light blue. I am planning on putting the label in the bottom blue diamond. I thought by making the quilt two sided that I would use up a lot of the fabric.I think the scraps must be multiplying the the container as this quilt has used up the merest smidgen of the available fabrics..Some are mostly gone..like the green for the front sashing and most of the dark blue for the back sashing..but there is still TONS of fabric left! LOL..

Here are the top and the bottom borders, pinned. The bottom border is almost all the way appliqued.

Here's the pieces left for the side borders..I think I need to make a few more! I ended up using double of the leaves since they look cute in pairs..

The UFO Tub...

...contains the following projects:

three 2010 New Year's Day Mystery quilts from the About.com forum (it should have been just one, but DH didn't like all the scrapy-ness going on and convinced me to split it into three smaller chunks - they will be cute baby quilts)
Cape Blanco Lighthouse - class project from Road to CA
Columbia Gorge - another class project from Road to CA
Hummingbird - yet another class project from Road to CA
Sunflowers and Tea (this one is hanging up on my closet door..but its still unfinished) - another class project from Road to CA
Laurel Burch blocks from Chris's stash that are going to be put onto a sweatshirt
material for a pair of shorts for me
material for a purse with several patterns
Giant Dahlia wall hanging
Alex Anderson Sawtooth Star kit
Beyond the Reef kit (small wall hanging)
Spinning Stars
Mini Sunflower Whole Cloth (pillow size)
Paper pieced star
Cheater panel pillow top for practicing hand quilting
Two potholder panels (they were pocket panels but I decided I didn't want the pockets on an apron that I made)
HSTs from making my sister's quilt which should get made into a baby quilt
Quilter's Run blocks from 2009
New York Beauty Cat pillow
Materials for DH's Movie quilt
Gingerbread girl apron
Valentine pillow kit

currently being worked on quilts that are not in the tub:
Heart's Garden
Wee Hexie Basket
Prairie Flower 

not in the tub but needs to be finished:
Beaded Kaleidoscope - need to figure out a hanger for it

Oh My Stars!!!  This tub is too full..LOL
Will have to do a recap at the end of the year to see what made it out of the tub.

Christmas Gifts 2011

Here is the annual roundup of gifts I made for Christmas 2011:

 I made a bunch of shopping bags for my DD and DXDIL: (they fold up into the little pouch)

And some taggie blocks for my new grand nieces:  (made on the treadle) Quilt Inspector Dustie on duty!

And an Angry Bird for my DD's friend: (who evidently loves the game)

I made some tissue packs, swiffer covers and crisscross coasters as well (but alas, no pictures)

Heart's Garden Update

I have finished prepping all of the small hearts and cutting out all of the leaves for the borders of my Heart's Garden quilt. Now..on to building the borders and appliqueing them.

 

Goals for 2012

These are some things I want to reach for this year:

Publish more posts on what I am doing.
Not a daily post, but a few more than I have averaged in the last few years.
2010 was a bad year health-wise...in 2011, I focused mostly on recovering, but I am getting stronger and stronger.

Lose around 5 more pounds.
It gets harder to lose the closer you are to target..
I am up-ing my exercise level.. Have added wind sprints to my daily 30 minute walk.
I would like to actually be able to do a 5K run some day.
Using the treadle counts as mild exercise!

Finish my Hearts Garden quilt.
Borders, binding and label..just need to do them.

Get my tub of UFOs whittled down.
I am shocked at how many projects are in PIGZ status...(Project In Gallon Zippy)
I have to get at least a FEW of them done!! (in another post, I will try to list them out)

Learn to do lace embroidery on my treadle.
Step one..master the Octi-Hoops I got for Christmas.

Happy New Year!

The neighborhood was a-hopping and a-popping last night..we could hear parties on our street and a couple of the neighboring streets (we live in a area of 1/2 acre properties..those were SOME parties!!!). At about 5 minutes to midnight, we got our coats on and stood out in the front yard..we could HEAR the countdown from a couple of the parties..at least 3 or 4 nearby neighbors shot off aerial fireworks..lovely..

There has been a lot of talk about having black eye peas on New Year's Day..said to bring luck and good fortune if eaten on the first day of the new year. So...I checked my cupboard and low and behold, I actually have a small bag of dried peas. I decided to make a pot of them..when I told my DH what I was making for lunch..the conversation went something like this:

DH: "EWWW..I HATE black eye peas...make 'em for you, but don't give any to me!"
Me: "You haven't had black eye peas the way I am going to make them..so how would you know if you like them or not?" (of course..I hadn't had them the way I was going to fix them either, but that was besides the point!)

DH: "Ok, I'll taste them..but just give me one bite.."
(this conversation is sounding suspiciously like talking to my DGD..she says she hates everything new..but it takes a bit more cajoling to get her to try something new.)

An hour elapsed ..

I boiled the peas...after they boiled for around 20 minutes or so, I added lentils, chopped celery, a minced shallot, 4 small tomatoes, a veggie bullion cube, fresh pepper, a pinch or two of rosemary and about a 1/2 teaspoon of cumin and let that simmer for 30 minutes or so..then added about 6 pieces of crisp bacon, crumbled...gave DH his spoonful of peas...

...and can you guess what happened then?

He liked them..and asked for a second helping!

Reminds me of the episode with the spinach back when we were first married (I went to wash my hands, came back and he had eaten not only his bite of spinach but half of my serving as well!)

Occupying My Sewing Room

Well...I, err, didn't  get much SEWING done in my occupation of my sewing room..but I did create a glorious mess by pulling ALL of my stash out of the closet..it was several feet deep on my cutting table and my ironing board..Its gone down a bit since I folded a tray of fat quarters..but still have oodles to decide what to do with...I am in need of a different way to storing my PIGZ (Projects In Gallon Zippys)..At least 15 of them...sigh..

I did get the fabric squares for the taggie blocks picked out..and I cut several taggies..then went looking for more ribbons and that's kinda what started the avalanche...that and looking for some yardage to make some other gifts (can't say WHAT I am making as the recipient MIGHT  read this blog!)

Shall be occupying my sewing room again next weekend..Hafta get the gifts done...which means the mess has to go back into the closet..so I can use the cutting table and the ironing board!

Occupy Your Sewing Room

 

Heh..now this is an Occupy Movement I can relate to..the other ones, not so much.. Our list of demands is short: Leave me alone. I'm sewing!

Head over to Barbara's blog (by clicking on the picture) for the details on her giveaway...

I will be making some taggie blocks for my nieces' babies (two beautiful baby girls! they were born in September - 5 days apart). I am planning on using the treadle.

And maybe some other stuff...we'll see...

Folded and Spindled

Today I joined in the fun with Planet Patchwork's Wonderful One Day Mystery - Merry Mayhem Presents Case #13: Fold and Spindle

I used some fabric that I had pulled for a table runner back in 2003..and had never gotten around to making the table runner (it was in PIGZ status ALL that time!)...and I sewed on Aurora..

After part 3

After part 4

After part 5

After part 6

TA DAH! Done...first project finished using Aurora! I really liked using the treadle for this project. I didn't annoy her too much (trying to sew backwards..she breaks the thread when you do that!) I got a lot of exercising done!

Did this with a small group of ladies on the Forum. It was fun seeing them come together!

Opps...I did it again!

well..I was looking at Craigslist..and saw a picture of this cute little lonely sewing machine and I just HAD to go look at her...and she followed me home...

Meet Borealis...Aurora's Little Sister...


She is 3/4 the size of Aurora...a Singer 99...She has a few flaws...the slide plate is missing, the hood to the light is missing, the key to the case is missing (but you can open it with a small screwdriver), the knee lever is missing.. and the case needs a good restore...Oh...and no accessories..

I intend on getting rid of the motor and turning her into a hand crank...hopefully I can separate out the light fixture from the motor..

But..overall, she needs less restoring than Aurora did..I think she has been locked up in her case for almost ever! She needs to come out and play!

Haven't checked her serial number to find out when she was made..Will get to play with her more on Thursday afternoon or Friday..

Driving Miss Aurora...

I got out some pre-cut patches of fabric today and sat down at Aurora...

On the seam on the third patch, I managed to get a piece of thread caught around the oscillating hook...eppp..Aurora came to a dead stop...OH NO...now what?  I ended up taking the needle plate and the slide off to see better - could see both ends of the thread but tugging on either end got nowhere...dribbled a little Liquid Wrench on the thread and that worked its magic and I was able to get the needle to move just a wee bit..allowing the thread to be pulled out..WHEW!!! Back to sewing!

Here are the first 4-patch blocks I made..

The fabric for the 4 patches being exhausted (I got 7 of those 4 patch blocks out of the stack of squares), I used some other pre-cut patches that I bought at a thrift store..fabric quality is not really high (I suspect most of these patches were 'salvaged' materials like old shirts or skirts)..and started making HSTs...

Don't quite know what I am making yet, though..

I am getting the hang of starting the treadle going forward (sometimes without using the hand wheel!), but small patches are a bit of a bother, since you have to stop so soon after you 'get going'.  I am loving it though...very cool to be using my feet to generate the power...

A perfect Labor Day activity...