Shop Hopping

Last week we shop hopped; an annual event we always look forward to. I volunteered at my home shop early on the first day then went to the three close shops in the time left that day. The next morning we put some munchies and drinks in the car and headed north. We kept getting lost, even though we've done this several times. We only drove about a hundred miles out of our way….. Fortunately the scenery and weather was beautiful and we had plenty of time so we kept in good humor about it, telling ourselves it was one of those senior things. We made it to five shops and then to the same motel we stay in every year and found a new restaurant for dinner.

This clematis was blooming at the motel; the blossoms were as big as a dinner plate. The picture on the right is the restaurant we ate at. The fireplace is made of huge granite boulders. I have no idea how they were moved there. Paul Bunyan maybe.
The next morning we went to my favorite shop (unfortunately the farthest from home), a tiny place with a wonderful assortment of reproduction fabrics and then to another one that has the best collection of batiks. We headed south toward home, stopping at the remaining four shops. On our way we stopped at a scenic view turnout:

A quite beautiful 1000 foot canyon, but what caught my eye were the locks all along the fence. The picture only shows one section but they are all along it. I believe they are called "love locks" and originated in France. It will be interesting to see how many more there will be next year. We made it home safely without getting lost again. I probably bought more fabric than I should have, but isn't that what shop hops are for?

Nice Surprises

I can't believe it -- I've gone two days without sewing a single stitch! Saturday I caught up with Splendid Sampler and 365 Challenge.

I'm really disappointed to see we're back to making little dark blocks again in 365 challenge. I thought we were done with those and was looking forward to making the 6" blocks in lighter colors. Getting weary of those dark colors. Besides I was using scraps and I've about exhausted the dark reds and blues .

Sunday we met my Daughter at the orchid show. I had some jade plants and other succulents for her so I was happy it was a cloudy day and the plants would be fine in the car while we were at the show. We enjoyed the show immensely and spent more than we should have. I bought 6 small plants; two that will hang on the bathroom wall, and several for the shelves alongside the kitchen window. After the show we went out to the parking lot so I could give her the jade plants and she takes a huge crate out of her car and says "Happy Birthday!" I about fell over; eight big, beautiful orchids plants in that basket. I'm blessed to have her as one of my own.

They are in the sewing room until I can find a safe place for them. I have a spot in the backyard in mind for an orchid bench that will work good until the fall and cooler weather when I will have to find a cat-proof place in the house.

Speaking of cats, here is Kipling laying in his favorite sunny spot in the morning:

Gotta warm up that tummy!

Summer too Soon

90 degrees today! What happened to Spring?? I'm not ready for hot weather yet. To be honest, I'm never ready for it. It can stay Spring and Fall forever and make me really happy.

This week I've been making the corner blocks for the center medallion of the 365 Challenge.

To be perfectly honest, I cheated on this Corner 3 below and didn't do the mitered corner. Half square triangles give the same result, are faster, and use less fabric.

When I opened the bedroom window yesterday I was greeted with the most marvelous fragrance. so
with the help of a walking stick (my back is still not back to normal and I'm hobbling like the old lady that I am) I ventured out t the backyard. I want to bottle the combined fragrance.

Orange Blossom

Pink Jasmine

Lilac

Apothecary Rose

Pittosporum Tobira

I

Ups and Downs

The camping weekend was fun. I finished the top I started last year. Now to get it quilted. We couldn't have asked for better weather. We filled up the hummingbird feeder and within a couple hours one bossy little male Allen's hummingbird claimed it as his own and was chasing away any other males that came close. Came home Easter evening in time to put together a stripped-down holiday meal of ham and scalloped potatoes. Gotta keep some of the traditions….

Monday -- back to reality and worse. I woke up and went to get out of bed and my back went out. Fortunately the walker was parked in the bedroom as I couldn't even get to the bathroom without it. I have a hitch hiker;  if it has wheels Simba will ride:

Tuesday -- Happy birthday :-(  DH brought me flowers and a gluten free pizza for dinner as I couldn't go out. Oh well -- I've had many birthdays so I really don't need any more. Pain pills and muscle relaxants helping with the pain. I even got caught up on the Circa 2016 and 365 Challenge.

Splendid Sampler #13

Now it's Friday and I can finally get around on my own again. I'm so glad to be working on something different for the 365 challenge. I'm doing flying geese all around the enter medallion rather than half sawtooth as shown. It just looked too uneven to me.

Hoping for an even better tomorrow.

Quilts and Camping

We will be camping for Easter. Not what I usually do for holidays but DH said he will hide Easter eggs for me if it will make me feel better. Since we got rid of our big old trailer and the site isn't ready for a new one yet we will be using the old tent trailer. DH is range master for the archery club so he will be busy all day and I will be sewing all day. I take one of my old hand crank machines with me and keep busy as long as there is daylight, and sometimes by Coleman lamp after dark. I usually get at least one full size quilt top done a year while camping.

This is the machine I take most often. It's a Jones CB, made in England probably in the early 30s. It is a dream to sew with; smooth running, perfect stitch, and always dependable. It will still be working when all of our computerized plastic marvels will be long gone. Don't tell my lovely Bernina I said that…







Some camping quilts from previous years:

 Double Irish Chain made for my oldest Daughter.  She doesn't get the cat. I cut out all the little pieces and sewed them all together before I realized it could be strip pieced. Oh well -- maybe next time.

Log Cabin. The only hard part about camp quilting is not having electricity for an iron. I have, in the past, used a flat iron heated on the propane stove but anymore I just finger press and wait until I get home to use the iron.

Postage Stamp was made with 2 shoe boxes full of 1/12 inch squares cut from scraps. It went together faster than I thought it would.

When the top is all together I bring it home and quilt it on my Bernina. I've quilted several full size quilts on a treadle before but I don't think I want to try it with a hand crank!

All Caught Up

I'm slipping on my writing here, but it has been a busy week. I'm all caught up on my various sew-a-longs, done some cleanup in the backyard, and repotted our Jade plants on the front porch.  The poor plants had gotten so big they were tipping over. Parsley and dill have been planted in the herb tubs in the driveway. I have to grow them in the front yard as the back is too shady for the veggies and herbs. Perfect for ferns and violets, though. St. Patricks day I got up early and put the corned beef in the crockpot and we took a trip up to the hills to do some maintenance on our campsite.I hadn't been up there for quite a while and the first thing I saw was our wisteria blooming. It smells so good!

We pulled some weeds, filled the bird feeders, and moved a big pile of bricks, starting to get ready to level the ground so we can get a new(er) trailer. Our last one was old and very leaky and falling apart so we got rid of it and are looking for another one. We came home and cooked the potatoes and cabbage for colcannon, made a caramelized banana clafouti and feasted.

I really like the Splendid Sampler so far, but I'm not so thrilled with the 365 Challenge right now. I'm getting tired of my colors and I'm not going to do any more 3" mitered corners. I don't like them. It's my quilt so I can substitute if I want to. Blah blah rant over. Circa 2016 is only once a week and doesn't take any time at all so no problem there.

Closed

Open

I found a nifty pattern to hold sewing items for traveling so I decided to give it a try yesterday. It went together easily. I used some fabric my sister gifted me. It only uses 3 fat quarters and some batting scraps. It holds the little Olfa cutting mat, my 2 ½ x 6 ½ ruler (I can't live without that!) rotary cutter, scissors, pens, seam ripper, and any other little thing I can think to put in there. Pins and needles can be put in the inner side of the flap. Now I can't wait to travel to give it a try.
The website where the pattern can be found is: down at the very bottom of the picture below.
http://www.p3designs.com/shop/Crafty-Things/p/P3116-Travel-Case-x11427038.htm

Retreat Report

Retreat was wonderful. It was at Mercy Center, a convent (or maybe an ex-convent, not sure) and had nice immaculate private rooms (bathroom down the hall) and the food was good; excellent salmon  Friday night and yesterdays stew and biscuits looked and smelled delicious even thought I couldn't eat it due to my gluten allergy.  No worries -- I aways bring alternative food for situations like this. Friday I put together charity quilt top, my "guilt quilt" -- once I had that done I could feel free to work on whatever I wanted.

My 18th charity quilt; I hope some little girl enjoys it.














I sat with three of my sewing buddies. Kind of bittersweet since it will probably be the last time we will all be together as two of them are moving. We had a great time and even sneaked off for a couple hours to the nearest quilt shop.

Our big well-lit room with view of rain and wild turkeys. Two of my friends busy at work; I think the other one was taking a nap. Two of us are night owls and probably wore her out. I think it was about 2 am when I got to bed.


After completing the charity quilt I played with my Frivols and finally got up nerve to start putting together the Gypsy Wife quilt. It sure requires a lot of space to lay out everything and total concentration to get all the strips in the right places but I think I can do it.

Getting Sidetracked

Retreat time is fast approaching; a week earlier than I had thought. So that means lots to do to get ready in less time. I don't even know which projects to take yet. Yesterday would have been a good time to start getting things together and that is what I meant to do when I got up in the morning, but I came across a pattern for a cathedral window pincushion.  I remember way back in the 60s my mother attempted to make a cathedral window quilt but gave up as it being "too fussy and a big waste of fabric".  It was her last attempt at quilting but she went on to do some beautiful crewel work. For some reason, probably procrastination, I dug out fabric from my scrap bin (no worries here about wasting fabric -- I have lots) and set about making the pincushion.

O.K. I made the pincushion; I don't know why. I seldom use a pincushion as I have cats and cats and pins can be a fatal combination so I hardly ever use them and when I do they are taken out of a lidded tin and  put back immediately. And having been in a number of pincushion exchanges I have a whole flock of stuffed chickens which seem to be the only kind I ever receive. It was only a little after noon so I still had a lot of time to get retreat stuff together. Did I? Of course not. I made more pincushions. What did I do this morning when I got up? Made more. They're addictive. The pattern should have come with a warning label.

I think I now have as many of these as I do of chickens. Maybe tomorrow I'll think about the retreat.

Moving Forward

My Civil War Class was this week and lots of fun as usual. Four of us have been taking the yearly Civil War classes for six years now. It's not that we are so interested in making the quilts anymore as it is our monthly get together. The modern version of a quilting bee.

Today one of the gals and I braved the wind and rain and went to a semi-local quilt show. It was a non-judged show.  The quilts were nice, as were the clothes. The guild also had a cloth doll making group and it was fun seeing the variations of Raggedy Ann and Andy. There was an abundance of nice raffle baskets so we're waiting and hoping for phone calls to tell us we won something.

Yesterday I got caught up again on 365 Challenge and Circa 2016:

And also Splendid Sampler:

Oops! Looking at the picture I see that the center section is off. It's going to stay the way it is. If I ever have a day with absolutely nothing else to do and the house is immaculate I will fix it.

Violets are blooming! Spring is coming!

Getting Ahead of Myself

I started the day as usual by making the 365 Challenge block. Tomorrow is my Civil War class and I ascertained that 67 half square triangles would be needed. Making that many would take the whole class time so I made them today. That way I could get on to the business of making the blocks during class time. I'm one of the few using my own fabric so I'm able to do this. I'm using stash this year for everything I can.
This appeared on my Facebook page yesterday:

I can sure relate to the last one!

I went out to the backyard but DH promptly chased me back in the house. Very wise of him as I'm still barely moving. With a disintegrated disc, RA, and sciatica it doesn't take much to put me flat on my back again. It's just that there is so much to do and I'd really like to see it done. It will have to be bit by bit.

I'm not sure if the cat is interested in making art quilts or if she s telling me not to spend so much time on the computer.

Lazy Day

A very lazy day. Yesterday I only did the daily 365 Challenge block as far as sewing goes, but the day was so beautiful and warm and it called me outside. My garden has turned into a jungle in the years since my back injury so there is work to be done. Oxalis has taken over so I set about pulling some up. Then I pulled up some more, And more. And so it went for several hours until I had filled several crates. When I was thoroughly stiff and breathless I figured it was time to take a break and fix dinner.  Homemade gluten free gnocchi alfredo.

Today I'm so stiff and sore I can hardly move. Took a muscle relaxant and tylenol but that only made me sleepy, so I slept away the afternoon instead of doing anything productive. The garden is going to take a lot more work; Once the oxalis was out of the way I found jasmine vines twining their way all over the yard, even climbing six feet up the fig tree that is a good thirty feet away from the original jasmine trellis. Violets are blooming and starting to grow leaves. Ferns have spread and need thinning.  I will be spending many more hours out there making it right again, but fewer hours at a time than yesterday.

Center for 365 Challenge

   Splendid Sampler Block #5 -- only 95 to go!

Officially Caught Up

Having spent yesterday going up to the hills with DH and then doing the shopping that should have been done a week ago (ran out of chocolate!), I had some catching up to do. My first-thing-in-the-morning waking up thing to do is turn on my phone and see what the 365 Challenge block is for the day. Oh my goodness did that wake me up fast! All the blocks so far have been 3 inchers so that is what I was expecting. Upon further investigating I (fortunately) discovered that we are now doing the center block, which is 18 ½ inches.

Feb 28

This is the center; so tomorrow we add a couple borders to make it 18 ½ inches. Computers sure do odd things to colors; what looks to be yellow is actually cream and gold and those purpley triangles are really mostly blue.













This is the one for the previous day:

Feb 27

T

Then I proceeded on to the Circa 2016 blocks. They are easy and so relaxing to do.

These are bright and scrappy. I'm doing Westering Women, 365 Challenge, and Splendid Sampler in 1800s reproduction fabrics but Circa 2016 is being done in more contemporary colors, totally scrappy with no regard to matching colors. I'm using up a lot of old charms and scraps from Gypsy Wife. It's a carefree quilt..

Caught Up (for now)

Today was a catch-up day. I did the past three 365 Challenge blocks, this weeks Splendid Sampler block (not another appliqué!), and the Westering Women block for the month. And another day the seam ripper sat unused; after sixty years of sewing maybe I'm beginning to finally get the idea.

Westering Women - "Indian"

Splendid Sampler - "Happy Happy"

365 Challenge

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Gypsy Wife Hates Me

Strippin'

Today was spent on cutting and labeling 60 different strips for the Gypsy Wife quilt. Maybe. The materials list on the back of the book said 2 inch strips. Inside the book said 1 ½ inch strips. I've also found a few other discrepancies in measurements. I'm thinking something was lost in the translation from metric to decimal. There are a few 1 inch strips and a few 2 inch strips but the greater majority , about 55, are supposed to be either 2 inch or 1 12 inch I hope I picked the right size. If I chose wrong there are enough that I can tie them together and hang myself.

The final two

Lazy Sunday

I was wakened early today by the sound of silence. That probably needs a bit of explanation. We have doves. Normally they start making dove noises as soon as it's light. Most make typical dove cooing, but one of ours sounds just like a barking dog and another sounds like a child laughing. At first I couldn't figure out what was wrong or why I was awake so early (for me), then it dawned on me that we were getting the silent treatment. They were out of food. I dragged myself out of my warm bed and went out and fed them. Feeding birds is my husbands job but I didn't feel like waking him up .

Splendid Sampler 

By then the chilly air had me wide awake and going back to sleep was not an option so I headed into the sewing room. Sunday is a Splendid Sampler day so I turned on the computer and downloaded the pattern for today. More hearts. Then I did yesterday and todays 365 challenge blocks.  All before noon. I hardly knew what do to for the rest of the day but I managed to somehow fill the hours, even letting DH make a quite good dinner of beer can chicken, greens,  kasha, and fresh pineapple. Ice cream for dessert, of course.

Youngest Daughter is recovering from her surgery and is home from work until the stitches  are out. To keep herself amused she is planning a hobbit village for the hillside outside her home.

365 Challenge

Tequila Sunrise

Today The guild had a Jelly Roll Race class so I went, even thoughI've made a couple of them already.  I used to be in a group that exchanged batik strips so I figured this would be a good use for some of it. I picked out reds, hot pinks, oranges, and yellows. I took a Featherweight as I didn't feel up to lifting the Bernina in and out of the car. A half empty spool of orange variegated thread. I'm into using up stash this year. I was into using up stash last year too but it didn't made a difference. I think someone is sneaking into my house when I'm sleeping and leaving fabric because I look at some of it and honestly can't remember buying it or what I used it for.

So put on your sunglasses, here it is. Some strips were cut on an angle and some had squares in between. The squares were kind of an afterthought just to see what it would look like. The class suggested the name Tequila Sunrise.

If you can't make it good make it bright!

The Featherweight held up well although the motor did feel awfully warm by the time I was done. The cut finger didn't hold up quite so well; lifting the iron put pressure right on the cut and it started bleeding again. I guess I can't iron for a few days. Too bad…. :-)

Catchup Day

After being gone for a couple of days I had catching up to do -- three 365 Challenge blocks, one Splendid Sampler, and only one Broken Dishes block for Circa 2016, although I suspect more of these will be needed.

While we were at the hospital waiting for my daughter to be out of surgery we went down to the cafeteria for lunch. Across the room from where we were seated there was what appeared to be a large mosaic covering the wall and after lunch I went over to take a closer look. It reminded me of a watercolor-type quilt.

Imagine my surprise when I got close up:

It was made up of photos of employees of the hospital foundation. Amazing! I admire the talent it took to accomplish it.

My words of wisdom for today are if your rotary cutter falls don't try to catch it.

I just hope it will be functional without too much pain for my jelly roll class tomorrow.