Trip to England

Life had an exciting twist happen over Thanksgiving, I went to England! DH had a business trip, so I tagged along and when we realized it was for the Monday after Thanksgiving, we extended it to leave the day before. It was a long flight, but I brought along the black fun fur scarf to knit, my i-Pod (with book on it), and then we upgraded to World Travelor plus to give us a bit more leg room, and a lot more quiet (so I did manage to nap on the way over). Good thing, otherwise it would have been a very long day. We got there around noon, got a mini-tour on the way to the hotel (B&B), then went on a tour bus until we got to Westminster Abbey. We gave that an extensive look through. I had no idea so many people were buried there! With huge monuments for a lot of them. The more recent kings and queens are at Windsor (which we saw on our last day), but the early Norman kings are at Westminster Abbey. After spending a few hours there, we headed back to our hotel, stopping at a likely looking pub for dinner. I had boar sausages, DH had venison.
On Friday we got Oyster cards at the tube station, made using the tube and buses very easy, just plonk the card on the reader. Then we headed to the Tower of London, saw the Crown jewels, the old crowns with no jewels, graffiti scratched into tower walls by prisoners, an armery, and more. Again, spent several hours, then grabbed a bite to eat and went to the British Museum. Used Rick Steves' guide to hit the highlights. I have been an Egyptian history buff since the seventh grade, so seeing the Egyptian artifacts that the British "stole" was exciting! The first thing you see when you go into the Egyptian hall is the Rosetta stone, awesome! And bigger than I realized. Not something you pick up and carry around. We got back to the room around 7 and realized we would not make the pub crawl that night (scheduled to start at 7), so we went to another place close by and had a nice dinner with the hard cider featured there. Potent.
Saturday we headed to Leicester (pronounced LES-ter) Square to get tickets to Spamalot. Long line, but we got them. TKTS booth has half and 25% off tickets to many of the current plays, Spamalot was 25% off, but still worth the wait in line. After that we did a bit of shopping on Oxford Street, going to Liberty first. Wow, lovely, and expensive, stuff. They had a fabric and yarn floor that I spent some time on. Did not buy anything, not for lack of trying. The yarn I wanted got sold out the day before L. That evening we went to Spamalot and had a great time, funny, at least if you are a Monty Python fan, which I am.
Sunday was check out day from our London B&B, but they kept our bags for us so we didn’t have to haul them all over. We went to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill museum, across from the Parliament building, then to the National Gallery for the quick tour. Also had a bite to eat there. Then back to the B&B to collect our bags and head off to Waterloo station to take the train south to Havant (close to Portsmouth).
Monday was freezing, literally. DH was working, so I decided to just stay warm and rest. We went out that evening with the folks he had been visiting which was fun.
Tuesday was back on the train to get back to Heathrow, only this time we didn’t have to get off and take the bus detour, and it was during the day so we got to see the countryside. We checked into the hotel by Heathrow then took a taxi to Windsor Castle. Not enough time to do it justice, the guards were hurrying us along to get to the end before it closed. We did see a lot though, even if we didn’t listen to all of the commentary of the self-guided tour. We wandered around the town for a bit, then took a taxi back to the hotel. The next day was back home, another long flight, and during the day the whole way, so no sleeping. It did make getting back to our own bed a lovely thing.
Can’t wait to get back and see more of the country.

Productive week

My goal to finish three quilts last week didn't quite happen, but they are all quilted, one is finished (New Jersey mystery quilt), and the tree landscape is done except for hand stitching down the binding. Yes, they aren't all that big, but done is good. Hopefully Starlight Serenade will get along on its binding tonight. Pictures soon.
Then I finished the 6' plus scarf for my DD (Christmas gift), freeing up those needles for another scarf for me. Meanwhile I started using the black Fun Fur along with Caron's Simply Soft in black for another scarf for me. This one is just knit (garter stitch), nothing fancy. The yarn would hide anything anyway. Using circular size 11 needles, so it should go pretty fast.
Last night I googled knitting needle holders because I want to make one. They don't look that hard, but seeing them helped me with some design issues.

Nancy Lee Chong Hawaiian applique class

I had a great day today, day off work and got to listen and learn from Nancy Chong. I just wish the class was longer, we didn’t get as much hands-on time as I would have liked. The class covered prepping a Hawaiian quilt (I just did a pillow size), needleturn appliqué (which we didn’t get enough of) and then for those who stayed late, designing a border for a Hawaiian quilt, specifically a wall size, but really would also work for a bed size too.

Her needle turn technique is a bit different than I have been doing, and there seems to be less stress on my hand, a good thing. We practiced on a “blob” that has all of the basic shapes you need to master to do any appliqué shape, straight, hills, valleys (including the very deep and shallow ones you get a lot in Hawaiian appliqué), concave and convex curves). I got her DVD so I can refresh my memory of her techniques after Thanksgiving.

When I got home I finished basting the hibiscus pillow appliqué, but what I really want to do is a wallhanging (her Woodland Lei pattern, see http://www.prqc.com). That was too involved to prep during class, so I didn’t even try to do it. But I did fold the fabric, so I can lay it out now at home before I forget. Once I get it basted I think I will do the pillow first, then do the wallhanging. The pillow is really going to part of a six block quilt, at least that is the current plan. Been planning to do it for a while, just haven’t gotten around to it .

After I got home, I quilted the New Jersey mystery quilt, and am currently quilting my Starlight Serenade, a small wall quilt I hand pieced while on business trips to Colorado Springs about 10+ years ago. Finally got a border on them (after deciding that the applique border was NOT going to happen), and now it is basted and I am quilting it (Yeah!, another UFO biting the dust).

SBS Bow I-9, and more quarter square blocks

I seem to be innundated with quarter square triangle (QST) blocks this week. The mystery quilt was all QSTs, and this week's BOW was Yankee Puzzle, made up of 4 QSTs. Yankee Puzzle was a piece of cake after making over 90 QSTs for the mystery Quilt. And seven of ten rows of the mystery quilt are stitched together. Taking a short break.
Next Tuesday and Wednesday I will be going to the SCVQA meeting and class. Nancy Chong is the guest teacher/lecturer, and I have been a fan of her Hawaiian quilt patterns for a while. Since I am still quilting my Silversword, I hadn't started another one, although I have fabric for a few wall hangings. I went out today to get thread, and ended up getting backing for the current (almost pieced) mystery quilt, and fabric for the next mystery quilt. Need to wash fabric now, including some I had gotten for Hawaiian quilts, but never washed.
I made Vegetable Chicken soup with Orzo for dinner, along with rolls. In a splash of olive oil I sauteed chopped onions. minced garlic, chopped carrots, a green pepper, stalk of celery, and two small diced eggplants (all except onion from the farm share). I added a box of low sodium chicken broth and a couple handfulls of orzo (after it started to boil), cooked nine minutes, then added diced, cooked chicken and heated through. Yummy.

Farm share chili

Last night I made chili using mostly Farm share food. I had roasted some poblano or anaheim chilis earlier and had them sitting in the refrigerator. Since today is vegie pick up day, yesterday was clean out the frig day .

I adapted a recipe that we got in the CSA newsletter. Chopped one large red onion, and minced several cloves of garlic, sauteed in a bit of olive oil. When partially cooked, added a bit more than half a pound of lean ground turkey and browned it. Chopped up all of the tomatoes I had (without peeling them) and added to pot. Chopped the chilis I had and added to pot. Ground some cumin and added to pot. Rinsed a can of kidney beans and added to pot. Let simmer.
Meanwhile, I made corn bread and grated some cheese to put on top of the chili. Everyone enjoyed it, although it didn't have that "chili" taste since I didn't add any red chili powder. You could, but I forgot. I also forgot to add chopped cilantro at the end, ah well.

PIQF and Knitting

I've been busy, but not blogging. First off, the Pacific International Quilt Festival, aka PIQF, I went for four days and took four classes. Consequently I did not spend a lot of time on the show floor. I did see some fabulous quilts, and spent a bit of money (mostly thread) and used the thread in several classes. I took two from Marjan Klupfel, did some thread painting in one (the tree is free hand), and used Angelina in another (the wings), and some of the precious SkyDyes I have been hoarding for a few years. I want to to get the dragonfly quilt done and put it in the bathroom. I picked the fabrics to go with the tile. Now that I have finished a couple of weekends of quilting away from home, my sewing room is a disaster. Things got pulled out and then more stuff and more stuff. I need to spend some time putting away.

But, meanwhile, I have been knitting. It is easier to sit in my Laziboy and knit than clean up the sewing room. I knit a scarf for one daughter and am working on another one for the other daughter. I have been knitting on my shawl, and I made a mini sock in preparation for making socks with Opal yarn designed with Harry Potter characters in mind. Now I am obsessed with making socks. Of course, I have only made the mini one so far, and a few rows of a dark gray practice pair of socks, but I have been cruising the internet looking at sock yarn. It is fabulous. But I need to finish the projects I have started before starting any more. I don't want to end up with as many knitting UFOs as I have quilt UFOs.

Speaking of quilt UFOs, I have another one. I went to a mystery quilt get together on Sunday, and came home with a partially completed set of blocks, lots of quarter square triangles. I think it will be a nice patriotic lap quilt when done.

A friend lent me her swifter and ball winder, so I have been winding yarn tonight, including the last of the shawl yarn, and some Commotion by Classic Elite Yarn I have had for a few years. It was also for a shawl, and is very close in color to the other one I am making. So, do I need two very similar to each other? Probably not, so what can I do with this yarn instead? No idea, it is a boucle yarn, not really a sweater or clothing yarn. So, don't know. I will wind it, and let it rest a bit.

Retreating

Going on a quilt retreat is a great way to immerse yourself in quilting, having fun with fellow quilters, relaxing, and did I mention having fun? I got away this last weekend and made a fairly simple top for my niece. Now I need to find/make/buy a backing. I brought fabric yardage in a bag and came home with a top. Fabulous, mostly because of fabulous fabric . This is just a quarter of it, because it is 99" square, and I can't take a picture of the whole thing.

Now to get ready for Pacific International Quilt Festival, my annual quilting overdose. Not as big as Houston, but plenty big enough. I will be taking FOUR classes, I must be crazy.