Son's visit is over and I can knit again

My dear Marine son has gone back to NC before deploying. As he was pulling out of the driveway I found shoes, shirt, and jeans that he had left behind and went running to see if he wanted them. He said he’d get them when he came back home again, which won’t be for over a year at this point. After he left I found more stuff. He was the kid who did homework and left it home. He is still leaving things home, guess the Marines haven’t figured out how to get him to check for non-essential things before he leaves a spot. I am sure his rifle will not get left behind though.
I took over the bedroom when he left, more or less, we shuffled things around, so I could have a sewing room, so he stayed in the living room during this visit. I had been spending time in there knitting and watching DVDs, which didn’t happen a lot while he was home. Last night I got to do that again and finished up another dishcloth. That gives me two new ones, enough for the time being. I wasn’t going to start anything new and decided to inventory my yarn stash. Well, while inventorying, I uncovered some pretty yarn I got way back when I first thought knitting could be fun, a blue jeans variegated Cozi yarn (by Caron) and some eyelash yarn that went with it, to be knit together into a scarf. So much for good intentions. I pulled out some size 11 circulars, cast on 20 stitches and started knitting. Not for long because I needed to get up in the morning. The last scarf I knit was also with an eyelash yarn, but the other yarn was a fingering weight. Cozi is bulky, and is knitting up much denser. I only have 150 yards, so this isn’t going to be that long…

Bags, shopping and hand

Sometime late last year a friend of mine was making shopping bags for Christmas gifts. These used a plastic shopping bag (we used Target) as the pattern. I got a pattern from her, but never actually saw one made and never made one either. However, the thought has stayed with me. I use re-usable bags myself, and would like to encourage others to use them as well. Making some for gifts sounds like an excellent idea, but didn't quite get around to it for this year. But, as I was going into our garage for something I happened across a bag of fabric that I was going to get rid of, and it had some large pieces. I thought I could repurpose the fabric into shopping bags and brought it inside. Of course, by now, I had lost the pattern, so I went searching online and found http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=177482.0 this wonderful example of making a shopping bag. I made three, one with a pocket to fold the bag into, and two without. One went to my DD, and I hope she uses it for shopping.

Now that that little project is done for the time being, I decided to try and finish the handbag I started early this year. I have been wanting a new bag, and even have been looking at them in stores, but couldn't find any I really liked. So instead of shopping, I should have been sewing! This is the Diva Essential Designer Bag, almost done. I modified one outer pocket and added a key holder (swivel ring) inside. You won't see the zipper ends soon, they will be covered and the covering will either velcro or snap together, still debating. I have some magnet snaps that I could use, or the instructions call for hook and loop tape. I have a lot of this fabric left, so might make a wallet to match, someday .

PS: Finished the bag with snaps, picture not available.

Knitting Frenzy

I must admit I never thought I would be knitting quite as much as I have been lately. For years I said I didn't like to knit, but then sometime in the last year or so, it has been growing on me. Having a comfortable chair where I can do handwork helps, enormously. The knit gifts are done, not many this year, but that is OK! My black fun fur scarf is done, and I love it. And I have been knitting madly away at a shawl. I started one (a green Homespun), which might get frogged, and then decided that I wasn't that crazy about the way it was turning out, and started another one out of a purple-y Homespun (Barrington). I am two plus skeins into knitting this one, and am ready for it to be done (it will be three skeins long), but it is cozy sitting with it over my lap, knitting and watching TV. Maybe I will get it done before Christmas, then the question is, who gets it? Me or someone dear to me. I have several Cobalt blue skeins to make one for me, maybe a little different, cause while fast, it is getting a bit boring (basic stockinette stitch with a three stitch/three row garter stitch border, done on #15 needles). Once this is done I want to try stockings! Then get back to another shawl, and who knows, maybe even a sweater!

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.

63 blocks done for Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

It has been a while since I posted, but I have made some progress on my blocks .

I also have been on vacation. DH and I went to Ashland, Oregon and took in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We saw "Othello", "The Comedy of Errors", "Our Town", "The Further Adventures of Hedda GAbler", "Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner", and "The View from the Bridge". All were up to the excellent OSF standards. Also went to the Oregon Stage Works, where we sat in back of the actor who played Othello, and very well I might add. This was the first time I had the opportunity to see Othello, and was duly impressed. Dan Donohue played Iago, excellently. My DD and I are both fans .

We hurried home so that we could see our DD playing Isabella in a new work, "The Dentist". She was the woman every man wanted, or almost. This was a staged reading, different, they acted, but the scene was described and they had the scripts to read, although often it was just a glance to refresh their memory.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler BOW and more

I was working on Robbing Peter to Pay Paul when the BOW came out, so I finished it before doing Trip Around the World. Trip was paper pieced, so pretty easy. I appliqued the curves on Robbing Peter ... then machine pieced the four squares together. Swamp Patch was rotary cut, machine pieced, and Bow Tie was templates, machine pieced. Quite a variety of techniques in these four!


DH and I braved the heat yesterday and went to the Mountain View Art and Wine. I picked up a Christmas present and a glass figurine of a Dragonfly on reeds. Lots of dragonflies in my new bathroom, which still needs a vanity and the edge tile and a shower door. Sigh, one of these days. Hopefully the vanity will be done this week. We went hoping to find Kyle Designs there, no joy. But I did find her website and ordered some bamboo design faceplates with white background and antique silver overlay (instead of the black and gold shown).


Still striving to eat more veggies. The CSA family share is huge! I need to figure out something to do with all of the apples we have been getting lately. I did a spinach and basil cottage cheese sort of pesto last night, mixed with whole wheat penne pasta and cooked broccoli from a Moosewood cookbook. It turned out excellent. Tonight will be eggplant somehow, debating between Ratatoullie (sp?) and eggplant parmesan. The Ratatoullie might win, no baking involved!

My son came home for a week so he could go to Brett's memorial. Didn't actually see him much, but he mostly slept here. We did get family portraits taken before he left. It had been about 16 years since our last family photo shoot, so about time. Maybe one of them can be used here so people can see what I look like. We had a large BBQ on Labor Day, mostly friends of Tom and Brett. We got to visit with Brett's family and get to know them a bit, that was nice. Lots of Brett stories were told that day.

Brett Lazzeri

Brett was my son's friend first, then my daughter's, along with a lot of other people's. Everybody loved Brett, and he was out there enjoying life and helping others along the way. Tragically, Brett was caught between a van and a car, when the van was hit by a pickup truck and died as he was helping a friend fix a flat tire. He was only 21. Today (Saturday) was his memorial, and the church was packed with people that called him their friend. He will be missed by many, including me, and my family.

SBS Progress

After finishing the last August "BOW" I found out about the SBS Offline Quilters yahoo group. They have challenges too! I had already done B-2 Gulf Star, but I did B-9 Irish Chain, E-6 Jack in the Pulpit, G-1 Love in a Mist, and M-4 Jack in the Box for their August Challenge. I have one more to go from their list. I also did K-1 Road to Oklahoma just because. So up to 52 blocks done!

On the bathroom front, we are waiting for the last part of the vanity, the counter top and the shower door. Some day I will have a lovely new bathroom, but not quite yet.

In between watching the Olympics, I went to see Bottle Shock, the story of Napa wineries going up against French wines and beating them in the 1970s (1976?). Anyway, it makes me want to take a trip to Napa again, haven't been in a while. I don't think I have ever been to Chateau Montelena or Stag's Leap, although I have had their wine. They won the white and red contests, respectively.

Today was a fun day, went to the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco to see the Chihuly exhibit, quite grand. Not so sure I liked his glass forests, but liked the underwater feeling from one of the rooms, where the glass ceiling was full of his team's work. After that we drove to Half Moon Bay (actually Princeton by the Sea) and had dinner. a lovely dinner. Very nice day with DH.

August SBS blocks plus one

There were two blocks for August instead of a block per week, both to do with Friendship. I decided to to Grace's Friendship (G-6) block first, expecting it to take longer than the other one (K-2 Friendship Quilt). It did. I used the back basting method which works great when you have lots of tiny things to line up. After basting I marked just into the seam line so I could see where I needed to turn. I might take off the light green tree top and make it lighter, but right now it is done. I don't have a lighter green in my pile of fabrics that I am using, so will need to audition some from my stash before moving forward with that plan. Meanwhile I will make a few more blocks from the BOW list that were done before I started. Up to 46 blocks done now!

Picked up the farm share today, a family share. I think I will have to try and get a small share next season, lots of food. I gave some of the lettuce to the guy who is working on my bathroom. We had taco salad for dinner, which used up the last of last week's lettuce, plus a bit from today. We got Arugula, Broccolini, Cilantro, Green beans, Kale (Red Russian), Lettuce, Peppers (sweet), Potatoes, Radishes, Spinach, Tomatoes, Strawberries, and Golden raspberries. I am still trying to find Arugula and Kale recipes that we like, although DD says I made something with Kale before that she loved. Need to figure out what that was!

Staying up way too late watching Olympics!

Bathroom remodel

The walls are painted and the tile now has grout! We have to wait for the quarter rounds, but so far looking pretty good. We picked up medicine cabinets today. We wanted tall ones, and had to look far and wide to find some taller than 26", but DH found some today. Then there is the vanity. Another setback, looks like one of the boxes got dropped on its head. Don't know who did it, but it looks broke. New one will take two weeks to get.

On the sewing front, still working on Graces Friendship block, one more figure and one more tree to go.

Life is moving right along

First, the bathroom. Major progress has been made, along with a slight (?) problem. We are working on the tile now, which is looking pretty good. But when we got the tile last November DH inventoried against the labeled box contents instead of the order form, and we got the wrong edge pieces, framing tiles instead of quarter rounds. This tile (wall) took over a month to get. We brought it back to the place we got it and they are going to call on Monday to find out how quickly we can get it replaced. Our vanity has arrived, we just need to pick it up. We found a hand shower that we like to go along with the "normal" shower. And I picked out paint yesterday.

I've mentioned before getting a farm share when my friend was out of town (we got her's), well we got off the waiting list and onto the normal list (YEAH!) This is an organic farm, and things are just fresher than you get in the grocery store. Just wish I could get the extra fruit option, oh well.

I have one more block done in Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, E-9 Queen Charlotte's Crown, and working on Grace's Friendship Block.

DD is driving better, still no freeways, and parking is a bit uncertain too when there are other cars to avoid.

DH and I went to see Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare Santa Cruz and DD and I went to see Pajama Game, so a theatre focused week.

SBS BOW F-6 done

Two more blocks are done, including this week's BOW. There are actually two Album block variations in this quilt, the red one is one of them. The other, Mr Lincoln's Platform, was done after I pulled out some hair and came up with a slight cutting out variation. As usual, I cut my templates after drafting it in EQ6. Instead of marking the corners, marking the cutting lines and then cutting, I put some double sided tape on the back of the template, laid my 3.5" ruler's quarter inch line on the seam line and cut. Much easier! I used the same technique with the Album block and it went together very nicely and quickly. Yeah for double sided tape, a much used tool in my sewing bag of tricks. I put a scrap of fabric on the tape so I could store it. There are quite a few blocks that use the same templates.

On the bathroom front, we got our first inspection sign-offs today, a major step forward. Unfortunately, they want larger pipes for the drainage from the shower, a major step back. Not sure how this will be resolved.

On the teaching my daughter to drive, she drove herself to the transit center this morning. We did not go on the freeway, and went early in the morning when there was little traffic, and she did fine. We'll continue this, using the same route, for another week. Then we can go on some more used roads, and finally, work up to rush hour traffic on the freeway (not for a while though). I am not looking forward to the increased gas and insurance costs, but will relish not having to get her at all hours.

Three more SBS blocks

Sunday I went to my small quilt group's get-together and finished three more SBS blocks, Rosebud, Milky Way and Grape Basket. Unfortunately no sewing since then.

The master bath still has no inspections signed off, going on two weeks now. Hopefully the vanity will come in next week, which will be just in time.

Catching Up - SBS, HC Garden and fun

I've managed to finish three more SBS blocks, Mrs. Cleveland's Choice, Orange Peel and Crossed Canoes. Hopefully I can get two more done this weekend, then I will have 40, one quarter of the way there!







Then of course there is High Country Garden, it is Done! Well, almost, it needs a label. I am actually pretty horrible about putting labels on quilts. I do sign them though, with Pigma pen. This quilt has a dark backing though, making signing well nigh impossible. So it needs a label.

While making the SBS blocks I seem to be finishing UFOs. The Cube Lattice isn't really a UFO, more of a scrap buster, but the border fabric is now pressed and ready for cutting. Sunday's task. Then I just pulled out another UFO from ancient days (1993 to be more precise). I got its border cut today, and the backing (same fabric).

Along with quilting I have been taking my DD out to learn to drive. She is getting better, but we only have about 4 hours behind the wheel, at least recently.

The bathroom is coming along, tile should go up this week. I've been using EQ to generate the tile layouts. Works pretty well.

Then we had some fun and went to see Carrie Fisher in her one woman show, Wishful Drinking. A hoot. Then we went to Foothill Musical Theatre and saw "Pajama Game". I've never seen it before, but recognized several of the songs. Loved it.

Remodeling Bathroom

After living in this house 16 years, we are finally remodeling the master bathroom. It hasn't been high on the priority list, but it has been on the list. We did the kid's bathroom first, which was also the bathroom used by guests. The half bath was a dark hole (IMHO) off the laundry room, not where I wanted to send guests, or even use myself. When we remodeled the kitchen, we also did the half bath and the laundry room. Now it is our turn. Unfortunately, it is rather inconvenient while it is going on. So far demolition has occurred, and the shower (no tub) has been roughed in, along with a little corner seat, and the morter/cement that defines the slope to the drain. This morning we bought stuff, actually, we've been buying stuff all week. We signed a contract with the remodelers on Monday, and they started on Thursday. We have had the tile for the bathroom for a while (late last year), just nobody to do the job. I had picked out cabinets then as well, but didn't order them until Tuesday. That will be our long pole, I believe. Today and yesterday were bathroom lights, toilet, shower sprays, faucets, towel rods, etc. I think most of the design decisions are now done. Hopefully the cabinet comes in a little early, but I am not counting on it. I am just glad we have another bathroom to use while this is going on!

SBS Update

I haven't updated this for a bit, and have two more SBS blocks done, last week's BOW was Chicago Pavements (E-3) and this week's is Dutchman's Puzzle (I-3). I tried a different way to do Flying Geese, which is a good way, but for which I need to improve my execution, especially pressing. Maybe I should do the block again and use a darker blue the next time. We'll see.

HIgh Country Garden Quilted

I just finished quilting my High Country Garden. Now need to do some Cinderella’ing and get my cutting table cleared off. It is just amazing how quickly a clear surface accumulates “stuff”. That will be Monday’s task. The binding fabric is in the storage container. While I am cutting I should cut the borders for the Cube Lattice. After the binding and borders are on (or at least cut), I’ll see if I have enough leftovers to piece a back for the Cube Lattice. (Both of these quilts were made with mostly the same fabrics.)
One of the things on the cutting table is my light box. I got it down to trace some appliqué blocks for Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler. I’ve been listening to The Master Quilter as I stitch and just came to the part where Agnes lists the blocks she made (at least some of them) for Sylvia and Andrew’s quilt. Since I want to make it wider (to fit my bed) I pulled out my copy of the book and added the blocks not already in the quilt into my EQ project. Several of them are appliqué. Most of them I don’t have already drawn. So, I’ve been creating a Bridal Wreath block from a quilting stencil of the same name. I haven’t done much appliqué drawing, so this has been a learning experience. One of the blocks was a Whig Rose. This is one that will be tricky to make in a 6” block, at least the versions I typically think of as a Whig Rose. Maybe Agnes had a simpler version in mind? One of the additional blocks was Castle Wall, one of my favorite blocks, it will definitely get added. :)

Quilting High Country Garden

I started quilting the High Country Garden quilt today. I got the quilt stabilized (stitch in the ditch between blocks), and the black outlined as well, then began quilting in the block. I got one block done before I had to go to work. But at least I have an idea on how to quilt it now. Except the border, still need to decide on that. It is a busy floral, so it won't show, but I need something!

SBS BOW A-4 posies round the square

I think that Posies Round the Square was my hardest block so far. You wouldn't think it to look at it, but curves are not my favorite thing to do, and this applique was tiny. And it has been too long since I did any applique too. I traced around the patterns Jennifer provided, and added the applique as back-basting. I machine pieced the basic block and hand appliqued the posies.

I finished the other two blocks late last week, but didn't post them then. These were both paper pieced, so not too bad.

Shop Hop by the Bay 2008

Spent Friday and Saturday going to 15 stores and the quilt museum, which included 2 stores not in the Shop Hop. I got several things, including:
Time Out Quilts – Atkinson Designs, where I hope to make String of Lights, using the almost white batik from Always Quilting and batiks from stash and Lily pads using Blank fabric from Gold Country Retreat
Teapots 2 to appliqué – Kay McKenzie (signed) at Round Robin Quilts - using Blue and white fat quarters from Always Quilting, & blue & white border fabric, background unknown, perhaps light gold or very light blue pseudo solid It’s Hip to be Square (HST and squares) – Debbie Caffrey (Back Porch Fabrics) - making Beary Patches (Bear’s Paw variation) using Periwinkle, purple, blue and off-white fat quarters from Back Porch, along with setting fabrics and a few more fat quarters from Fabrics n Fun (now Sewing Machine Center)
Quilts for Rosie – Carolyn Cullinan McCormick - using red, blue, and gold 30s fabrics and white (got 25 fat quarters from Golden State)Put Rosie Panel on the back, and Rosies in the cornerstones. Drafted the blocks into EQ today to make it easier to print the paper piecing foundations.
Now I have the makings for a charm bracelet, just need to get out the jewelry pliers. Each store and the museum gave out charms, and the last shop you went to gave you the chain bracelet. It was a lot of fun driving around with my friends, and we were all exhausted when the end of Saturday came.

SBS BOW C-1 Contrary Husband done

While I am debating on what border to put onto the Cube Lattice, I got back to making the SBS BOW in a timely manner, and even got a prior BOW done as well. Contrary Husband is like a pinwheel, while B-6 Crow's Feet is similar to Bear's Paw. Maybe I'll get a few more old one's done this week, or not. It is a busy week coming up. And Friday and Saturday will be Shop Hop by the Bay days.

Got home late today, not for lack of trying, but lack of commen sense on my DD's part. She called DH for a ride home, then told him she was about 10 miles from where she was. I was meeting DH, then we would pick her up. We ended going around in a big circle (I was originally about 2miles from where she was, looped around about 6 to DH, then down about 5, over about 3, then back up to her before coming home. Yikes. Not happy with her.

I only pieced C-1 tonight, did B-6 last night along with cutting out C-1.

Enough Paris Cats projects!

I really liked the Paris Cats fabric when I got it, and I got some more, and I got some more. One large Yellow Brick Road quilt, a baby Yellow Brick Road (made from leftover blocks and bits), two pillowcases and a baby LoneStar sewing machine cover later, I am tired of working with this fabric. Back in April I finished the quilts, and pieced the baby Lonestar to have as a sample. I didn't really have enough to do borders, and didn't have a recipient. I started using it to cover my sewing machine so it wouldn't get dusty and finally decided that was its intended lot in the world. So I took more leftovers and pieced a back, stitched them together, turned them so right sides were out and stitched around the edge and in the ditch of the star. Now the edges won't fray and I have a snazzy sewing machine cover.