Confessions of a Serial Quilter

I'm Back

2012-01-25T21:58:00.000-08:00

Well, now I have my repaired computer back, so no more excuses for not posting. I will get back into the swing of things, I hope, soon.

Tomorrow, I play Mah Jongg, and get back to quilting in the evening. In the meantime, I've made a LOT of hexagons... I'm almost to 400 now! My problem is that I'm running low on cat fabrics I haven't used yet. I picked up some new ones at Road to California, but only 7 or 8, so still need a lot. I will have to start scourimg the internet for cat fabrics I don't have already.

I really would like to feel inspired to just sit at my sewing machine and sew something, but the mojo hasn't been there. I DO have to make my spring seasonal quilt, part of the series that my mini group is making. I will be selecting fabrics for that in the next week or two I hope... perhaps I will feel the urge to actually work on the quilt itself once I have my colors selected.

I started dieting with my husband on Monday - we are trying to do this together, so we are cooperating on keeping bad stuff out of the house at the same time. Perhaps this will help us both stay on target. It wasn't exactly a New Year's resolution or anything, just a desire on both our parts.

Good News! My son and his long time girlfriend have set a date for their wedding - they are getting married on June 2nd. My husband and I leave on our cruise to Alaska on the 3rd of June. It will be a busy month! I'm so looking forward to BOTH events.

Luke and Jennifer have been engaged for about 5 years, so this is something we have been waiting for for a long time. She has finished college (BA), and he is still finishing his up. I hope they make it, they are a very cute couple, and obviously deeply in love. Bless them both and their union.

Long time, no post

2012-01-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's been a while since I last posted. I have an excuse. My computer has been down again (I'm making this post from my netbook - a less-than-ideal platform).

Some of you might remember when my computer was down for a couple of months August-October last year. What happened then was that one or both of my hard drives failed at that time. I had to send them out for data recovery first (to Best Buy), then I sent the entire computer to Alienware to have the hard drives replaced. That's what I thought they did.

Well, earlier this week, the computer died again. I took it in to a local computer repair place. When they opened it up, the hard drives in the computer are dated 2008 and still have Best Buy's repair stickers on them from when they extracted my data.

When I called Alienware, they first tried to tell me there was nothing they could do - my computer fell out of warranty as of December of last year. When I explained in detail especially about the stickers showing they never replaced my hard drives last year, they finally admitted they were at fault and promised to send me new hard drives. I am waiting for them now.

I will probably need to buy a new operating system since these new drives will probably come clean (no windows or anything on them). Still, I hope to have my computer back soon.

Until then, I will not be cruising the internet much, or visiting blogs. I think I might put this time into doing some more sewing and quilting. Lately I've been making hexagons but not much more. See you all soon, I hope.

Welcome 2012

2012-01-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

Another new year is upon us. Another chance to make resolutions, another chance to screw up... and most importantly, another chance to get things right! I intend to do very little of the first, none of the second and hopefully a lot of the third.

I've decided not to make a lot of resolutions. I tend to make unrealistic ones that I either couldn't possibly keep, or have no intentions of really doing. So with that in mind, my only resolutions for 2012 are that I RESOLVE:
1. To let go of guilt over regrets for things not done or things not done to my perfectionist sense of righness.
2. To be more forgiving of slights, and remember that they are usually not intended but accidental.
3. To be more loving to my DH, who deserves better from me than I usually give.
4. To be forgiving of my own mistakes.

I hope I can keep these few resolutions. I'd like to make more: you know... the typical ones to lose weight, keep my house neater, that sort of thing... but why be so unrealistic? It's like reading science fiction - when you get to the end, all you can say is 'well, that's never gonna happen.' lol... and I love science fiction, but you know it's true. And resolutions tend to end the same way - you start out with all the good intentions in the world and end up failing. I refuse to set myself up for failure this year. It's just another source of the guilt I have resolved to let go of...

I won't allow myself to screw up this year - not big time anyway... and I just won't sweat the small stuff. No big mistakes. If I DO make any, I will forgive myself - that's one of my few resolutions, so there it is.

I look ahead to the new year with hope and gratitude for what I DO have, and without rancor over what I don't. 2012 is a new chance for everything to go well. And while nothing is ever perfect, there is no reason why the year cannot be a good one overall. It is MY year... and by that I mean it is the Year of the Dragon and since I turn 60 this year, that means I was born in the Year of the Dragon in 1952. My year should be a positive one for me, at least I hope so.

Here is some information about the Dragon in Chinese mythology and Zodiac:

The key to the Dragon personality is that Dragons are the free spirits of the Zodiac. Conformation is a Dragon's curse. Rules and regulations are made for other people. Restrictions blow out the creative spark that is ready to flame into life. Dragons must be free and uninhibited. The Dragon is a beautiful creature, colorful and flamboyant. An extroverted bundle of energy, gifted and utterly irrepressible, everything Dragons do is on a grand scale - big ideas, ornate gestures, extreme ambitions. However, this behavior is natural and isn't meant for show. Because they are confident, fearless in the face of challenge, they are almost inevitably successful. Dragons usually make it to the top. However, Dragon people be aware of their natures. Too much enthusiasm can leave them tired and unfulfilled. Even though they are willing to aid when necessary, their pride can often impede them from accepting the same kind of help from others. Dragons' generous personalities give them the ability to attract friends, but they can be rather solitary people at heart. A Dragon's self-sufficiency can mean that he or she has no need for close bonds with other people.

Dragons are:

Innovative - On occasion, I can be
Enterprising - Usually too timid to be
Flexible - I like to think I am
Self-assured - Oh, I really wish I were moreso.
Brave - Not me!
Passionate - Definitely
Conceited - Maybe a little
Tactless - Never on purpose, though I do tend to open my mouth before thinking sometimes
Scrutinizing - Yeah, I try not to be, but I am
Unanticipated - Sometimes I can be a little spontaneous
Quick-tempered - Sometimes, I can be, though not so much as when I was younger...

You can learn more about your Chinese Zodiac sign at Chinese Zodiac. Just enter your birthday and it will tell you YOUR sign and you can look up all about it at the links below.

Anyway - hope YOUR 2012 is a wonderful year and brings you all the quilty and non-quilty goodness you deserve! Thanks for dropping by and most importantly ----

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Let There Be Tree...

2011-12-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

And lo, the wife said 'Let there be tree' and there was tree. Courtesy of DH, who set it up day before yesterday. We decorated it today. This year's theme is Star Wars, so all our Star Wars ornaments are on the tree, plus lights and some garland...

Of course if you look very carefully, the tree is not alone... Here's another view showing my fabric approval department encamped under the tree:

This is Pan (short for Pandora)... she has always loved fabric and has to approve all fabrics brought into the house. She adopted our purple velvet tree skirt the very first year we got it - about 1995 or so... and still loves it to this day. She obviously approves of the fact that we set up the tree this year.

Thank you to all who encouraged me to do this... it is so nice to see it twinkling over by the stairs while we sit here and sip tea and watch 'Philadelphia Story' tonight. Gotta love these old movies on TCM.

Only thing missing is some hand sewing to make it complete... I think I'll get off the computer now and work on some more hexies while I watch!

Hexagon Quilt Tutorial

2011-12-13T17:02:00.000-08:00

First of all, I'd like to say that I didn't invent this technique - I was taught it by a friend in a group I belong to. It is by no means original to me, and I'm sure there are other tutorials out there that describe this technique. I have not read, nor in any way copied from anyone else's work in the following tutorial. That said, here we go...

First you need templates. Mine are 5 1/8" for the large hexagon and 3 1/2" for the smaller one. You can draft these yourself if you want, but I can send you a .pdf file with the exact size templates. Just email me at jafoquilt@gmail.com. The templates will look like this

Paper templates

My husband was kind enough to cut me some templates from thick plastic, but even thin plastic templates or just the paper templates would work

My templates

Use the large template (5 1/8") to cut your backing fabric (remember, this will also be your binding fabric so it will show on the top as well).
Use the small template to cut your focus fabric. This can be anything. I'm doing mine with fussy cut cats, but I've seen this done with Christmas fabrics (how timely), fall fabrics, florals and it is simply elegant done in Asian prints - pick your favorite or just whatever you have scraps of lying around - Scrappy works too!
You will also need to use the small template to cut a hexagon of batting.


Components of one hexagon block

Next you need to layer your components. Start with the 5 1/8" hexagon, laying it right-side down. Center the 3 1/2" hexagon of batting on the wrong side of the large backing hexagon.


Large hex and batting hex layered

Next, layer the 3 1/2" focus fabric on top of the batting.

At this point, I like to pin the three layers together by using a single pin in the center of the hexagons. This keeps the small hexagons centered on the large one while you fold the binding edges over. I start with a single fold bringing the edge of the large hexagon just to the edge of the small hexagon...


first fold

... followed by a second fold that comes up and over the small hexagon, overlapping it by about 3/8 of an inch or so - and a pin to secure the fold.

second fold

Then I just go around the hexagon in a circle, pinning each side.


three sides pinned

Eventually, all six sides will be pinned.


All sides pinned, ready for hand stitching.

Once all six sides are pinned, I sew the binding with a blind stitch, just like I'd stitch any other binding.

Once the binding is sewn down all the way around, you can quilt as desired. I know since it is, until now, all hand sewn, maybe it should be hand-quilted too. But I'm a machine quilter. I've tried hand-quilting and it's just not for me. I have seen them done both ways and they look great no matter how you do them. Whether by hand or machine, I would quilt about 1/4" inside the binding edge as show below:

Once they are quilted, you can whipstitch them together to make anything you'd like - They make great placemats, tablerunners, tabletoppers, lap quilts. I'm working my way up to a king sized bed quilt. Not sure if I'll ever get there... I may end up with a lapquilt myself.

30 hexes put together

What I really love about these is that they make a great take-along project - you can work on them anywhere. They are small, easy to transport, and all you need to bring along is needle and thread, especially if you pin some in advance to bring along on a trip or anywhere you'd have to wait like the doctor's office. Once they are done... they are quilted and bound! When you have connected them, the quilt is done! No sending out to a longarmer... no binding to do... it's DONE! And they are fun to make!

Please don't hesitate to email me for the .pdf of the templates - jafoquilt@gmail.com (I would just put a link here to download the .pdf, but I can't figure out how to do that).

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial. If there are any mistakes, please let me know so I can fix it asap. Thanks, and thanks for dropping by.

Merry merry holiday season to you all.

To Tree or Not to Tree...

2011-12-11T23:48:00.000-08:00

That is the question... I can't decide whether or not to put up our holiday tree this year. My son moved out of the house... It's just me and Joe now... He put up the outside lights, but I just can't make up my mind if it's worth all the effort for just the two of us...

We bought this year's Star Trek and Star Wars ornaments from Hallmark - we have every year's ornaments except to the very first Star Trek one. We have so many of them now that we alternate years between the franchises. One year we do Star Wars, the next year we do Star Trek and then back again.

But this year it just seems so pointless to put up all the decorations without family to share them with. The two of us can just put the presents on the top of the piano without a tree. Somehow that seems kind of dull, but where to get the energy to set up the tree?

I think I need to consider this further.

On the quilting front, I made a bunch of new fabric postcards and mailed them out last week before the holidays. And I have gotten back to work on my hexagon quilt.

I make two hexagons of fabric - one 5" across, one 3.5" across, and a 3.5" hexagon cut from batting... layer them large hexagon wrong side up, center the batting on top of that, and then put the 3.5" piece of fabric on top of the batting right side up. Then I double fold the large hexagon over the small one and hand sew the edge like binding. This makes a small hexagon shaped layered quilt block. (Want to see pictures of this process? please drop me a comment if you'd like me to make a tutorial with pictures showing how to make these)

When I have enough of them, I will slip stitch them all together to make a quilt - so far I have about 300 of them.... haven't decided how many I want to do to make a finished quilt.

I figure it will take about 1225 of them to make a king sized quilt that will fit my bed... Do I actually want to make that many of these little gems? I'm not sure... I am fussy cutting them all out of cat fabrics and I was hoping to make each one unique. I AM sure I don't have 1225 different cat fabrics in my stash. Now my stash of cat fabrics that I collect is pretty vast, but it's not that big. I may have to reconsider my methodology or numbers. Maybe a lap quilt would be better, LOL.

WAYWO Sunday

2011-12-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted here... a little depression mostly has kept me away from doing much work. I did take some pictures this week of quilts I have worked on recently. I started this bento box quilt about 3 years ago, and finished sewing the interior of the quilt at the last retreat I went on. It still needs borders... I think...

I also finished up the sashing on my horse quilt. It is a Buggy Barn design, and the horses need buttons for eyes yet, but I have to finish up the border on this one too - but I ran out of grass fabric, I'll have to find something else for the border...

I also finished up Paris Cats - The applique is on, and the quilt is ready for quilting... I even made a back for it - just have to get in there and quilt it!

And another Buggy Barn design... this one based on their 'Crazy Rays' but done in RW&B. I was hoping to donate it to quilts of valor, but I need to find someone who will quilt it for them, as I've kinda lost interest in finishing it. We'll see... If I can't find someone, maybe I'll find the enthusiasm to do it myself sometime in the future.

And lastly, this weekend, I made 8 fabric postcards. I made my first postcard snowglobes this weekend - It took a little work to make the snowglobe part - some vinyl, careful stitching and some seed beads for the 'snow'. They actually came out kinda cute. And I got so excited over the success with the snowglobes that I forgot to put fabric on the backs of 5 of the postcards before I did the edge-stitching on them. Whoops! So I added backs and just did a straight stitch about 1/8" in from the edge to hold the backs in place... Hope they hold up.

At least I did something creative this weekend... otherwise it would have been a total waste - I spent most of the weekend watching movies on TCM and AMC... They were showing old westerns, romantic comedies and musicals... I couldn't resist. I really need to turn off the TV and do more creative things with fiber... Maybe I have too many passions... sigh

What to do with all those flying geese?

2011-11-20T15:43:00.000-08:00

Having given a tutorial for how to make no-waste flying geese, I've been asked what I do with all the geese I make this way.

Well, lately I've been making geese for quilt me and some friends are making as a block exchange project. My two blocks in the exchange are both comprised of flying geese. The first one is just rows of little 1x2 inch geese. I had to make 6 of the blocks, with 18 geese in each block, that means I had to make 108 geese to make this one block six times:

The second set of geese were a little larger to make a flying dutchman block, one of my favorite blocks of all time:

I think maybe I should have had the green and purple be a little further apart in value, because they both look almost black in the photo, but really, the purple geese form a pinwheel int he center and the other geese are dark green. As with the other one, I had to make 6 blocks, so a lot of geese between the two.

Anyway - that's what I've done with the most recent sets of geese that I've made, all using the no-waste method I wrote a tutorial for in my last post.

You can see the whole quilt 'Ryokan' at http://thimblecreek.com/details.php?prodId=2000&category=240&secondary=114&keywords= - it is a charming quilt. It's also in issues 85 and 86 of Quiltmania Magazine, which is where I first found it.

I do want to clarify something - I want to make it clear that I didn't invent that method, I was merely passing it along to anyone who hadn't seen it before, or trying to make it easy to do for someone who might have been confused by a previous tutorial. I'm not sure any one person can claim the method as their own invention. It is simply 'out there' in the world of quilting and I am just one more person making sure the word gets spread.

Perfect Flying Geese - A Tutorial

2011-11-16T22:00:00.000-08:00

I had to make a bunch of flying geese for a new quilt project, so I thought I would share with you my method for making perfect flying geese with no waste. It's very easy and only requires a little bit of math. Since we're all quilters, we're all math literate, right? Well, I barely am, and I can still do these, so it's pretty easy.

First, you need to determine the finished size of your geese. Flying geese always finish at width = height x 2. So if your geese finish up at 2" high, they will be 4" wide. That part is pretty simple. To make perfect flying geese, here's where the math comes in.

Step one: Cutting your fabric.

You need one square of your geese fabric that is Width +1 1/4". So keeping with our example above of 2x4" geese, you will need one square of 4 + 1 1/4" = 5 1/4" square.

You need four squares of your sky fabric that are Height + 7/8". Again keeping with our example of 2x4" geese, you will need four squares of 2 + 7/8" = 2 7/8" square.

Your components will look like this. (By the way, that's the hardest part, the math, and it's all done...)

Step two: Draw a single diagonal line on the back of each of the small 'sky' squares:

Step three: Position two of the smaller squares on opposite corners of the large square. You can pin these to make them more secure before stitching.

Step four: Stitch a scant 1/4" seam on either side of the lines you drew on the small squares:

Step five: Cut on the drawn diagonal line (between the two lines of stitching, then press out:

This will result in two units that should look like this:

Step six: Position another small 'sky' square on each of these units as shown below:

Step seven: Stitch a scant 1/4" seam on each side of the drawn lines on the small squares on each unit.

Step eight: Cut these units apart on the drawn lines.

Press out and trim off the 'dog ears'. This will result in four perfect flying geese units with no waste!

I've tried to make this tutorial as clear and concise as I can. Please let me know if there's anything you don't understand so I can try to make it more clear. Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed this.

Block 2 of There and Back Again

2011-11-16T09:13:00.000-08:00

Block two of There and Back Again, The Hobbit-based BOM at Fandom in Stitches is out, and I made mine - mostly at the retreat - but I put the sections together at home.

The sections aren't lined up exactly straight, but I didn't feel like unstitching them, so they will have to be a bit wonky.

I think it's really neat that they lined up the colors in the order of the dwarves' arrival at Bilbo's house - that's such a nice touch of detail from the book. Of course I don't recall which dwarves are which, and I'm not gonna dig out my copy to label them or anything, but it's still cool.

It's a very fun BOM, and I love paper-piecing. Usually I'm more precise about it, but i just don't have the energy to rip right now.

Done is better than perfect.

Retreat at the beach

2011-11-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

Went to Saylor's Sandcastle this weekend for a retreat. The Sandcastle is actually a huge beachhouse between Ventura and Santa Barbara in Southern California. The house is right on the seawall just above the ocean. Sometimes at low tide there is a narrow beach below the house, but most of the time, the ocean comes right up to the sea wall. It's a wonderful place to come and sew for four days. The sea air and the sound of the surf are all conducive to a lovely relaxing time.

I took several UFOs and one new project to work on at the retreat. I completed 9 things while I was there. I worked like a machine, I must say, but I enjoyed every moment of it. Here are a few pictures of the retreat and the locale. This is the back of the house... or the front - depending on how you look at it. This is the side that faces the sea... All those wonderful windows, the better to watch the ocean and islands (more of the same on the top floor too):

Here is the view looking up the beach from the seawall:

Our workroom... there were two main sewing rooms, one upstairs and one downstairs... This is the downstairs room where I was sewing. There were 24 of us total, sewing in 2 main rooms plus a couple of side rooms as well. It was a quilting madhouse... but in a fun way:

Here are a couple of visitors who came to watch what we were doing, We had several of their kin who stopped by on the seawall from time to time. Really, I think they were just looking for handouts:

And one of our lovely sunsets on the beach:

It was a wonderful weekend, but despite the fact I could live in that house quite happily (couldn't afford it probably, but if I could, I'd love it)... I AM happy to be home, with husband, cats and dog. They are apparently all glad to see me too.

Pics of retreat finishes forthcoming as soon as I take some... right now, all my newly finished things are still packed away. I am quick to pack up to leave... unpacking takes me some time... No pressure to finish anytime soon... just whenever I get tired of the chaos of bags and boxes underfoot. I'm so glad my husband is easygoing about such things.... bless him and his tolerant nature.

Going on retreat

2011-11-09T22:59:00.000-08:00

I'm leaving for a 4 day quilting retreat tomorrow morning. Me and friend Marlyn are driving up together to Carpinteria where we will visit a new-old quilt shop (new shop replacing old shop in same location). Then we will meet friends for lunch before coming back down south to a lovely beach house right on the sea wall between Carpinteria and Ventura.

When we arrive, we will set up our machines and put the pedal to the metal and sew sew sew. I can't wait! 24 of us are going to be there, all sewing (and eating and drinking... there's a little bit of everything going on at our retreats).

I would say I'm going to miss my husband, kitties and dog, but I know I will be too busy to miss them terribly. I have a feeling they will miss me more than I will miss them. As always though, however much fun I have at retreat, going home is always a delight too.

If the internet isn't working there, I'll be offline for 4 days - see you when I get home! Have a great weekend!

UFO Update

2011-11-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

I have to thank each and every one of you who posted here, on Stashbusters, or by email in response to my request for advice. I have considered every possibility that was suggested and made a decision.

I am going to finish the quilt as is - octagonal in shape, without adding additional borders. I did add a little applique in the setting triangles though because I thought they needed something. So, here it is in its final form:

I think it needed those corner appliques especially if it will get used as a table topper of some kind. Here is a closeup of the applique motif:

It may look a little odd but the colors match perfectly and the motif made me think of Paris, and the quilt is called 'Paris Cats'. (There are cats in the blocks, just hard to see in the small photos). Someday I will probably give this away as a wedding or housewarming gift. I hope someone likes it.

To change the subject completely, the power supply on my computer died and I'm waiting for a new one in the mail (should be here Monday). So I'm typing all this on a little netbook that I use normally just for travel. If there are any typos it's because the keyboard on the netbook is really hard to use, so please excuse any errors.

Thanks for stopping by... Comments are always welcome...

UFO quandary

2011-11-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

One of my recently found UFOs is this mystery quilt I made a few years ago. I'm not sure why I stalled out on completion, but now I have no idea how I want to finish it.

I strayed 'off-pattern' originally by choosing to put the blocks on point and now I just don't know how to finish it... as is to be used as a table topper? Makes little sense to me - I don't have a round table, and it's a bit big for a card table. Not to mention, I'm not thrilled with the setting triangles I made to begin with. I could add big triangles to the corners and make it square, but tbh, i'm not thrilled with the idea of making another square quilt. They just aren't very useful - even as a lap quilt. I'll never hang it in my house... I'm not a big fan of pink. I have lots of fabrics that match the interior of the quilt, but all of them seem like they would be too much of one thing if I just added huge triangles of them onto the corners... I'm at a loss...

I think I will take the quilt and all the fabrics I have left to my quilt class tomorrow and ask there for ideas... but any ideas here would be welcome too...

Lost and Found

2011-10-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd lost a bunch of UFOs... not too many - just a few missing here and there... my blue raspberry parfait quilt, my french kitties quilt, my animal skin bento box, a few more. So, my husband and I went through parts of the garage. We found a lot of stuff we didn't need in the process... recycled some old boxes, took a truckload of stuff to Goodwill, AND found two bins of 'projects' - my UFOs!!!

So I started going through them today. I opened and emptied one bin. Most of what I found are projects I inherited from other quilters... projects I have no interest in completing! Luckily, there is this wonderful woman named Gladys in Iowa who takes these PIGS (Projects in Grocery Sacks) and turns them into finished quilts for charity. Here is one of two piles of these unwanted projects:

I will send these to Gladys tomorrow - they are all boxed up and addressed, ready to ship! Yay... what a relief!

That leaves the stuff that I might someday want to finish... still far too many projects to contemplate... but I have to add them to my UFO list. This bin has been sorted and it's all 'keepers':

This is the bin I haven't started on yet, but looks like (from the surface), mostly 'keepers':

What WAS I thinking starting new projects with all these old ones left to complete? GAH!!!!

But at least I found them... I will have things to take on retreat with me on Nov 10th-13th. I will have to pick and choose from among these projects for things to work on at the retreat. I have gone from 'OMG, I will have to fill four days with sewing projects and I have nothing to work on' to 'OMG, I have all these projects to work on... what WILL I actually take with me???' ... From famine to feast!

It feels so good to actually find what I was looking for though... there was a time before we organized things that I would never have found them, and they would have never been all together... Bless 'OrganizeThis' and all professional organizers... you are all amazing people and make miracles for the chronically disorganized - like me!

What haven't I done...

2011-10-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

Everything! Anything! I've been so lazy this last week, I've done almost no sewing (I did make and send 2 fabric postcards), and little else besides. I straightened up my studio a little, and cleaned my dining room, but haven't tackled any of the big projects yet.

I have been lazy lazy lazy...

Darnit, it's fall, I should be energized and ready to DO something. And I do feel that way - I love the cooler weather and the overcast skies (which should be gone in 2 days since we are expecting santa ana winds on Weds). Tomorrow, I have breakfast out with the girls, and I'm getting a pedicure (my first!)... Hopefully after that I will feel like doing something...

For now, it's almost 5pm and I'm still in my jammies... tomorrow is another day!

On a side note: I took second place in The Quilting Gallery's weekly contest. This one was for paper pieced quilts. I will post what I won here when I find out what it is.

Homeliest Fabric...

2011-10-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

I was watching Project Runway last night. I couldn't help burst out laughing when Tim Gunn told Joshua "I think it's one of the homeliest fabrics I've ever seen. It makes me want to weep." First of all, I'm not a big fan of Joshua - he's my least favorite of the four who are left - as a person... as a designer, well, we'll see at the final runway show. He has produced a lot of stuff I've liked, but none of it overshadows in any way what a jerk he is as a human being.

And as we quilters know, if the fabric is still ugly, you haven't cut it up into small enough pieces yet! Any fabric works if you cut it up small enough. I guess that doesn't hold true in couture like it does in quilting, but oh well.

Anyway, just wanted to vent a little bit and have another laugh at Joshua's expense...

Have a great weekend! I'm off to sew a little, clean a little, and then go play D&D the rest of the weekend.

Zipper Border

2011-10-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

So, I got a picture of my friend Mary's border for the quilt I designed. It reminds me of a zipper, and there are no seams to match up which makes it really easy peasy to piece.

Her quilt is done all in xmas fabrics so it's very different from my floral quilt I posted yesterday... but I love her border, and this is the one we will use when we publish the pattern, though we will probably offer the 6" unpieced border as an option. Not everyone likes to piece borders - some folks want somewhere where they can really let quilting, like feathers or cables, shine.

I think the quilt looks good both ways, but I especially love Mary's 'zipper' border. Hope we can get it published.

2011-10-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

Went to breakfast with girlfriends... got my nails done today... worked on fabric postcards for an exchange on the yahoo group postcardpizzazz... prepped for class tomorrow - mostly gathering things I need to take with me... changed ink cartridges in my printer (they seem to run out so fast - maybe I make too many color copies?)... generally had a quiet day, with a little productivity. At least I feel like the day wasn't wasted.

Tomorrow I have class. Maybe I will get the binding on my Jellicle Moon quilt done - we'll see, I still have 2 sides to go. I wish I could work on it at home, but there's just too much cat hair around here. I love going to class, everyone is so talented and productive and our show and tell is always a lot of fun to watch.

The teacher of the class and I have collaborated on a wonderful quilt pattern (I designed the center, she designed the border). We are planning to submit it to a magazine in the hopes it will be accepted for publication. That would be so awesome. If not a magazine, maybe we can self-publish it as a pattern for sale. Who knows? This is the quilt with my boring border on it - Mary designed a wonderful pieced border that perfectly complements the quilt. Together I think they are a wonderful marketable design. I will try to get a picture of her quilt with the pieced border tomorrow.

I wish the colors on this were closer to the original, but the idea is there, the 'black' inner border is actually a beautiful rich green.

More to share tomorrow I hope.

I did it!

2011-10-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with the same resolve as last night - not to waste my days away and be left with nothing but regret. I had breakfast and started sewing. I made this block from Fandom in Stitches' new BOM, There and Back Again:

It is of course Gandalf the Grey.. can't wait to see what the next block is going to be.

Mostly, I'm just happy I saw through with my resolve to work today. Lately it's been hard for me to do that. Now, I think I'll go take a shower and have my nails done.

Tonight I have to run a D&D game so no more sewing for me today I think... Tomorrow is another day.

Fantasy Freaks

2011-10-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

OK, I admit it, I make no excuses for my passions. In addition to quilting, I just love fantasy and science fiction. I have been a Tolkien fanatic since 1964 when I started the first of many read-throughs of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I just found a new Block of the Month based on the Hobbit at a wonderful blog called Fandom in Stitches. It is paper-pieced, and I love paper piecing. I think I will actually do this one - it looks relatively simple, at least so far. I intend to start tomorrow - we'll see how the day goes.

On a sad note, my aunt-in-law passed away this last weekend of cancer, and my dear friend's sister died of cancer this morning. This has had me kind of down in the dumps all day as I contemplate how short life really is. All the time I've wasted in my life seems so lost now and I regret so many hours spent watching mindless tv, or just not being productive. These useless days and hours seem so trivial now and I look back with joy only on the hours I've spent doing something of more import. Time to get off the couch and LIVE!

I guess that's part of why I'm so determined to work on that block tomorrow - so I don't waste my day away.

May your days be joyful, whatever it is that makes them so for you. I'm off to DO something now...

The naming of blogs...

2011-10-12T23:15:00.000-07:00

The naming of blogs is a serious matter... it isn't just one of your everyday games.... OK, sorry for stealing from T. S. Elliot. Dawn over at her blog asked why/how people named their blogs. So here's my answer: I love puns. It's that simple... I loved the play on words. No big deep secret here.

But if you're here, feel free to look around. Here's a little eye candy for you to enjoy while you're here:

I call this one 'All Colours are of God'. It is based on Jacqueline de Jongg's 'Circle of Life' quilt, except mine has been miniaturized to 18.5x18.5 inches and I replaced the central lonestar with a spiral lonestar. This quilt has won several awards, and has been displayed at Road to California and Houston, among other places:

This quilt was released this year at Bunny Hill Designs as a free block of the month. It might still be available free, but not for long. It is called 'Henrietta Whiskers'. I just love squirrels, so I HAD to make this quilt.

My mini-group, The Stitchin' Sisters, are making seasonal quilts this year. We have already made summer and fall. This is my latest one, Winter Wonderland. I am actually still quilting it, just the borders left to go.

Thanks for stopping by! Comments are welcome! :)

Enthusiasm again...

2011-10-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

I have been enthused to work again. I started quilting my winter wall hanging on Monday, finishing all the ditch quilting early in the day. Today, Tuesday, I freemotion stitched around all the applique motifs. Now I just need to quilt the borders. I think I will use some swirls and stars for the borders... I don't have any matching thread, so I ordered some more aurifil online, including a light blue I can use for the border quilting. Now, just have to wait for the package to arrive.

Having done that, I've run out of projects I want to work on... I have lots of UFOs I COULD be working on, but my enthusiasm is for something new. There is a new project on the cover of the current issue of Quiltmania magazine. I am doing this project with 5 friends - we are makiing exchange blocks to make this very pretty quilt called Ryokan:

Each of us is doing two blocks, making 6 copies of each of them. I'd like to start on this project, but my blocks are #9 and 12 - which won't be out in the magazine until probably February or March (it is being printed in segments spanning three issues). So I'm kinda stuck in waiting mode.

Still, I have all this pent-up enthusiasm for working now, so tomorrow after class, I will make SOMEthing... anything... just to work. Hopefully that will spur me to work on some of my UFOs as well.

It is supposed to get into the 90s for the next two days - definitely days to stay indoors as much as possible to enjoy the AC. Maybe I can use this enforced 'inside time' to at least pick my fabrics for my Ryokan blocks. Or maybe I will work on picking some projects to work on at my guild's quilting retreat in November. I am trying to find as many hand projects as I can, so I can go to the retreat without my sewing machine. I hope to have two quilts to bind to bring along - but maybe I should prepare some other hand projects as well... That will give me something to do for the next two days! I have a plan!

I have also started to make to do lists. For the past two days, I have taken care of a lot of little projects, errands and such that I have been putting off for a long time - I wrote to my sister, renewed my prescriptions, did some promised computer work. It feels good to cross things off a list... a sense of accomplishment; endorphins released. I need to keep these lists going on a daily basis... oh wait, I might actually have to clean the house if I start keeping up on projects lol. Well, it's still a good idea.

How to Tame Your Bindings.

2011-10-06T23:49:00.000-07:00

It rained yesterday and a very little bit today. I love rain, I call it quilting weather. I love to sit in my studio and work and watch the rain coming down in the backyard and listen to it hitting the roof. Yesterday I went to quilting class, stopped by the J-store on the way home to buy some fabric to make the binding for 'Under the Jellicle Moon'. I found JUST what I was looking for - a white background with kitty paw prints in a neutral palette. I made the binding while it continued to rain heavily all day.

I inserted an empty spool of aurifil through the hole in an old cd and wound the binding around the spool. Then I set the spool, cd and binding onto the upright spool holder on my machine. This makes a great way to hold the binding while I sew it onto the quilt. Here's a few of pictures of what this looks like.

Here are the components - an empty spool from Aurifil Thread, an old cd, and the binding:

Here's the aurifil spool inserted through the hole in the cd:

Then I wind the binding around the spool. This picture shows everything assembled and ready to use:

And here it is, set onto the spool holder on my machine, all ready to start sewing:

I use this method to 'tame' the binding - I can't stand working with a tangled jumble of binding. This method makes it all hands free while I sew. The binding just unwinds like thread off a spool while I sew.

When you're done, the left over binding just slides right off the spool, and you can store these prewound binding scraps for use in scrappy bindings later on.

I had my friends over for Mah Jongg today, so while I sat out a couple of games, I sewed on the most of the binding, finishing it up after they left. Tonight, I did the hand sewing on one side. Three sides to go.

I am hoping to have it all done by October 29th. We are having a 'reveal party' for those who were involved in the block of the month series that resulted in this quilt. I shouldn't have any problem finishing up by then. However, until I hear back from Road to California on whether or not the quilt has been accepted, I can only work on it in cat-free environments. This means working on the hand sewing at home is just out. I will work on it during class time. If the quilt IS accepted, I want to have to do as little de-furring as possible.

Anyway - hope the little tutorial on how to tame binding helps someone. Have a great weekend everyone.

Under the Jellicle Moon

2011-10-02T00:13:00.000-07:00

I finally named my cat quilt and the quilting on it is done - by a very wonderful quilter named Georganna Hawley. She custom quilted the entire thing with different motifs for every kitty. I had to photograph it today without eyes because I needed to submit it to Road to California by the 1st to be juried in. The kitties will have eyes very soon.

It still needs to be trimmed and bound too, but this is essentially it. Making this quilt has been an exquisite journey for the past year. I've loved every minute of it!

Here's a detail shot of one of the kitties showing off some of the great quilting:

Wish me luck with the jury process for Road...

Paint it Black

2011-09-30T01:22:00.000-07:00

So I picked out this lovely charcoal color to paint the trim on our house. The painters were only supposed to use it on the trim and the fascia boards.

Today I walked out into the backyard and found them painting all the posts on the back patio, which we had wanted to keep white. I shrugged and said 'oh well' cause I figured it would be too hard to paint them back white again. White over charcoal might never cover. Then I forgot all about it.

My husband came home from work and had a fit! He pointed out that charcoal black support posts all along the back of the house would be invisible at night - people would be walking into them. Whoops! I didn't even think of that. So much for not repainting them white.

Tomorrow I have to tell the painters they need to repaint all the support posts. Sigh.

I wish the house would somehow juat take care of itself (like my parents' house always seemed to do when I was a kid and unaware of the all the issues).

On a brighter note, I managed to get some sewing done today. I pieced two blocks for my mini-group's holiday tablecloth. I made two fabric postcards that just need a little quilting and embellishment. Tomorrow I pick up a quilt from the LAQ, and tomorrow night I get to see a production of Candide at the Kentwood Theater. Saturday I will play D&D again. Maybe I will sew some more on Sunday.

Tuesday, my mini-group is holding a sew-in. If I can get the binding on my cat quilt by then, I'll be satisfied. There just never seems to be enough time to sew - or maybe it's that my sewing time doesn't always correspond to my inspired time?

Working... a little bit

2011-09-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

I got the 'bug' to work on a quilt Friday, so I scrambled thru stash and picked fabrics for my winter seasonal wallhanging. I fused them on Friday, (played D&D on Saturday), edge-stitched the motifs on Sunday, and then I embellished the blocks, sashed and put borders on the quilt Monday. Today is Wednesday and I managed to get the back and batting cut out, and the quilt basted. Now all that's left is quilting and binding. It went together so fast! I love these little projects.

There was a lot of handwork on this one compared to the others - embroidering the snowman's face and the ice skates, sewing on buttons and beads, but I'm happy with how it came out.

Generally life is good, my son has a job again (yay!) and he's busy with schoolwork as well. I hope he's happy, he seems to be. My DH and I are both relatively healthy and doing well. Really can't ask for more than that I guess, especially these days... the Dow is up, my depression is not so bad... what's not to smile about! Also, autumn is here. The weather will be cooling off soon (I hope).

I love autumn, with the cooling temperatures, the potential of rain, some wonderful cloudy days and the promise of winter! I call it quilting weather! I love to sit at my machine on a rainy day and just sew contentedly. I look forward to curling up under a nice warm quilt and hand-sewing a binding on a frigid winter night.

I saw a great sign the other day and I just have to share it (please no one take offense, I just thought it was hilarious, but true):

Anyway - have a lovely day and thanks for stopping by.

Should I?

2011-09-20T23:39:00.000-07:00

It's just a couple of weeks until the deadline to enter a quilt into the Road to California show. I just can't decide if I should or not. I was thinking of seeing if my folk art cats quilt would be accepted by the jurors:

I've really only finished a couple of quilts this year and this is the one I'm proudest of. It will be quilted by submission date for the show. I just can't decide whether to enter or not. The competition at this show is very stiff. What should I do?

postcards from the edge

2011-09-20T00:17:00.000-07:00

I belong to two groups that exchange fabric postcards. I had a chance to finish making 9 postcards in the past two days. I mailed all 9 this morning to recipients as far away as Germany, the UK, and Hawaii. I hope they all arrive safely. I love making them. They are lots of fun to create and to receive. The categories of these 9 were: butterflies, the color purple and the letter B.... sounds a little like Sesame Street there, but it really isn't.

I have received some wonderful cards in these swaps, and I would post some pictures of some of them, but I can't post the ones I've sent. Perhaps tomorrow I will take some pics of some of the ones I've received and post them here.

Why can't I post pics of the ones I've made, you ask? Because I killed another computer this morning. The pics of my latest postcards were on that computer. I am now on my third computer in a month. I seem to have the touch of death where hard drives are concerned. This one I'm using is my husband's old back-up laptop. I don't think he'll be happy if I kill this one too.

My main computer isn't back from Alienware yet. I'm still waiting on its return. I called customer service today and all they could confirm was that they received my computer for repair. No word yet on when it would be done and shipped back. Sigh.

Anyway - fabric post cards are lots of fun. There are a lot of tutorials out there on the web about how to make them. There are groups that swap cards. If you're interested, check out postcardpizzazz and postcardmailart on yahoo groups.

Henrietta Whiskers Finished

2011-09-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to finish up my version of Henrietta Whiskers by Bunny Hill Designs. If you haven't heard, it is a free BOM over at www.bunnyhilldesigns.com. It will be free til the end of September. After that, it will only be available to purchase starting in January. If you like it - go download it NOW... Here it is:

It still needs a little embellishment - some buttons and such, but those will have to wait til the quilting is done. I am so happy to have done this one. I just LOVE squirrels. Fun to do month by month as the patterns have come out.

Do I have my quilting mojo back? Not sure. I had enough to do this, but I have no enthusiasm for sitting down with anything else tomorrow. We'll see. This was progress enough for now.

I am sad today for my dear friend who had to fly suddenly to be with her sister who has terminal cancer. I wish I could do something to help ease this time for her. I feel sad and helpless.

Progress

2011-09-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

I SEWED TODAY!!! Probably doesn't sound like much but considering how long it's been since I even looked at my machine or touched fabric, that was a major accomplishment. I finished the last block in the Henrietta Whiskers quilt, put on two of three borders, and made 9 fabric postcards.

I don't know if I'm really back in the sewing groove again, but it's a step in the right direction. Hooray for progress.

Gaming Geeks and Fantasy Freaks

2011-09-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

So in addition to being a quilter, I'm also a gaming geek - I love Dungeons and Dragons and all kinds of other roleplaying games. I love playing boardgames and card games and mah jong too. My husband and I used to go to gaming cons three or four times a year. We kind of stopped going a few years ago for a variety of reasons, none of which are very important any more.

Today, we went to Strategicon at a hotel near LAX. It was fun seeing old friends and acquaintances again. We cruised through the dealer's room, shopped at the flea market, and learned how to play a new game called Dominion.

It was a really nice half a day at the con, and I had fun. Maybe we'll go to the next con in February too. A pleasant break from sitting around the house not sewing.

Why am I not sewing? I don't know... just feeling restless and uninspired, which is a shame because this was a stay-at-home-retreat weekend for an online group I belong to. I SHOULD be working. I just can't bring myself to make quilts just for the sake of doing something. Lately I've been thinking long and hard about just what I want to accomplish when I make quilts. I've kind of decided I don't want to just sew and sew and sew just to be doing it. Production sewing isn't my idea of fun. I want to create art, not blankets.

Which is not to say that some beautiful and artistic quilts don't come out of 'production sewing'. I love seeing other people's beautiful quilts that are sewn just to try new techniques or patterns, or just to be sewing something. I just am not inspired to sew that way any more myself. I used to enjoy sewing just to try a new pattern or use fabric that I like. My inspiration for doing that seems to be fading. I'm not sure I can even explain it properly and I don't mean to insult anyone who quilts just to make them. I think it's wonderful, especially all the quilts made for charity this way. I'm just not inspired to do this right now.

Maybe this mood will pass and I will go back to making quilts just for the fun of sewing them together. I don't know. I only know that right now my quilting muse is leading me down a different path. Sadly that path is leading me to making far fewer quilts. Which makes me depressed somewhat.

Perhaps I need a little break - like a vacation away from home. Maybe if I went somewhere new and interesting when I returned home, I would be inspired to sew again. I think I'll suggest it to my husband. I need to do SOMETHING - I have a quilting retreat coming up in November, and I've got to be ready to take one or more projects with me to sew while I'm there.

I do have three quilts at the LAQ, which I should have back by then and I can put bindings on them. Other than that, no plans yet.... big sigh.

Tomorrow I will play a game with my husband and friend and that will have to suffice as my 'get-away' for the holiday weekend. Monday, I have to play Tom Sawyer and whitewash a fence.

I want to learn how to hand-paint fabric.
I want to learn how to hand-dye fabric.
I want to learn how to manipulate and alter fabrics by burning, waxing, and embellishing them.

I WANT to get back to sewing too... just don't know when... I once made a quilt with a banner across the top of it that reads 'DO WHAT YOU LOVE - WITH ALL YOUR HEART'. I need especially to learn how to take my own advice.

Finishing Touches

2011-08-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

I have finally been really working and finishing up some things. I put borders on my Pumpkin Hill quilt - it is now ready for quilting:

I got bindings on my two plaid quilts. Here's quilt one, I called it Mad for Plaid. It's a double friendship star quilt with piano key borders.

I got these plaids in an exchange and used up every single bit of them in the blocks, border and back:

And finally, my Plaid Madness quilt. These blocks were from a block exchange held during one my guild retreats. I added the large bear plus a few other blocks to fill out the space.

Finishing things makes me feel good, like I'm finally accomplishing something. Things have been really depressing lately, so this was a bit of what I needed. Why am I depressed? - the sun has been shining, we are all healthy here, little things are going well, the big things seem to be taking care of themselves... no reason for it. Time to shed it all and get out of my funk. Finishing those bindings was a first step in the right direction...

Belated Birthday

2011-08-22T00:27:00.000-07:00

My birthday came and went... it was nice. I got some very nice gifts... a beautiful gold necklace from my husband - I LOVE it... a few gift certificates... a candle... some lovely cards. It was so nice that people thought of me for my birthday. Joe took me out to see the play Bus Stop at the Kentwood with dear friend, Millie.

The rest of the week and a half since then has been kinda not very productive. I've done a little sewing - put a binding on one of my two plaid quilts, worked on borders for Pumpkin Hill, but all in all, it's been very little. I did mail a few fabric postcards out for exchanges.

I think I'm a little depressed. My friend Debbie was gone for half last week visiting her sister, who has breast cancer. It might be her last visit with her. I feel so bad for her, I can't imagine what she is going through, but it has to be hard. My heart simply aches for her. I wish there was something I could do, but there simply isn't. Another friend hurt her knee and the doctor thinks something is torn. She might need surgery - she goes in for an MRI on Weds. Compared to all this drama, my little infection is nothing, clearing up nicely with the antibiotics. Still, I am sad...

I wish this was where I could start a sentence with "But, on an upnote..." but, I have nothing... it's just not a good time I guess. All this angst is playing heck with my creativity and productivity. I guess it comes down to just having to push through and persevere. Somewhere, on the other side, there's a light. So say the existentialists.

I just have to look for the light... without going into the light... it's not time for that yet ;)

Maybe the light is a little pampering. I think maybe I'll get acrylic nails this week. But then I think about the expense of keeping them up... I'll have to think about it some more. Gah, I'm babbling.. Good night.

Mercury Strikes Again

2011-08-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

Mercury is in retrograde again. "Mercury the wise communicator—and universal trickster—turns retrograde... sending communications, travel, appointments, mail and the www into a general snarlup!" It's supposed to last from August 3rd to the 26th. I can attest to the fact. My computer died on the 8th. Of course I hadn't backed anything up for ages. The computer itself (ie the motherboard) is fine - it's the hd that died. I've sent it out for data recovery. The manufacturer is going to replace the hd (it's still under warranty thank goodness). Unfortunately, all this work will take time. Until then, all I've got is my old laptop which runs at a snail's pace, and this little notebook I'm typing on now. It has a keyboard barely bigger than the one on my phone. Doesn't have a slot for my camera's memory card, and even if it did I don't have any photo software on it to crop pictures for example. So I probably won't be posting here much for a few weeks at least. Damn Mercury anyway... :P

The Happiest Place on Earth

2011-08-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, we went to Disneyland again on Friday. Haven't been for almost 15 years. Got to see the updated Haunted House, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours, plus our first visit to California Adventures. We had a ball, although I have to say that it was a LOT of walking, and for the first time I can recall, we didn't stay from opening to closing... :( ... we are not in such good shape as we once were. I developed blisters on one foot and with my plantar fasciitis the day was torture on my feet. All that limping caused my calves to cramp up as well. We arrived at DLand at 8am and stayed til almost 8pm. I'm sure all that walking was good for us, but right now, two days later, it's still tortuous just to move around. I have to say, it was fun walking around the place again, and walking is not something I usually call fun these days. We went on Splash Mountain early in the day while the lines were short and walked around soaked for a couple of hours - We ended up in the front two seats! Joe's phone got so wet, it stopped working for a while and his belt was ruined by the chlorine. We rode Big Thunder, Indiana Jones, Little Mermaid, and Small World, saw Captain EO again, it was all great fun. They have this new show called the Jedi Training Academy which was fun to watch. I wish they'd had that when my son was little - I think he would have enjoyed it a lot. The parade was fun to watch as well, and it was our last activity at the park. Thanks to a friend who works at the park, we got to sit in the reserved section for the parade, so the view was great! We also got in for free, which made the day even better!

So much for our anniversary! Actually Friday was the day before our anniversary. On Saturday we went out to dinner and then saw Cowboys and Aliens. It was entertaining, fun to watch... nothing deep or anything, but I'm glad we saw it. Why is it all these alien beings never wear clothes?

Anyway. Today we played a little D&D, and I did a little sewing - putting borders on Pumpkin Hill and Folk Art Cats... at least I try whenever Pan, the sewing room cat, allows me to work at my machine. No new pictures today.... I will try to get something up when I have something new to show, and a place to take photos of it.

I do have to remember to mail out birthday postcards this week, as well as working on my dragon postcard... lots of scales and glitter to paste... wheeeee... I love working with glitter!

BOM Madness

2011-08-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

I finally got the final block in my folk art cats block of the month. I didn't want to do a red kitty in a santa suit, so I just did my own chocolate kitty. (Nothing else in the quilt was really indicative of a calendar, so why put a christmas kitty in the 12th spot?). Anyway - I haven't put the borders on it yet, but I'm working on them, as my own cat, Pan, allows... she won't let me get near the machine without trying to 'participate'. Makes it impossible to sew sometimes, especially when I'm already wrestling with a full sized quilt...

I also finished my Pumpkin Hill quilt (except for borders, again, same problem - trying to sew around a cat). Here's the quilt so far, all constructed including the applique panel on top, which was the final block:

I had a lot of fun with this one, even though the style is SO outside my comfort zone. I'm usually all about the piecing, but as I've said before... this is the year of applique and I'm doing so many different things than I usually do.

Lots of things are happening that are positive right now... I am looking forward to a trip to Disneyland for my anniversary this week. I get to see a play for my birthday the following week. That of course includes a dinner out as well. Things have generally been going well lately. I haven't broken a fingernail in 3 weeks (that's a record for me). These new gel nailpolishes make a HUGE difference. I bought myself a lovely birthday present (a new Mah Jongg set - not new, but new for me). I have had lots of energy lately. My family (even the furry ones) are all healthy (knock wood). Just little things but they all add up.

Mercury is in retrograde until early September, and that is a time when things are supposed to go wrong, esp. with travel and communications. I hope since it is happening during my own sign, that everything remains on a positive upswing.

Make it work

2011-07-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the premiere of season 9 of Project Runway, the only reality show I ever watch. YAY!

Anyway - I have finished all the blocks of Pumpkin Hill. I still have to do the appliqued panel that goes across the top. Haven't decided on a background fabric for it yet, but that can happen tomorrow. Here's the three rows... They are sewn into rows, but the rows aren't put together yet.

I'm not sure how the rows are going to go together... the top row is one length, the middle row is a little longer, and the bottom row is longer yet... I may have to add a coping strip to the top row... we'll see how much easing will do for me first. One way or another I will make it work...

UPDATE: Woot! I got all the rows together without coping strips... a little easing here and there was necessary, but the whole thing went together really easily... Can't wait to get the top strip done - just a little more applique and I can put on the borders and call this top done - just will need backing and quilting!

Anyway - PR is starting... got to run!

Sewing Mania

2011-07-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

I still seem to be in overdrive here. I finished another bunny hill block today. This is how the quilt looked at 10 this morning...

I didn't like the green in that last block, so I switched it out for a different fabric, a more 'olivey' green plaid, before I did the applique. Here is what that last block looks like now:

I get to do all the edge stitching now before I can call this one done, but the edge stitching goes really fast and it's fun to do.

I had a wonderful meeting with my mini-group last night. I made chili and the girls brought over salad, cornbread muffins, cheese and dessert. The conversation was fun and we laughed a lot, made plans for another sew-in on my birthday next month. What a great birthday present - I get to sew all day and my husband will take me out somewhere fun in the evening (at least I hope he will).

I finished my fall wall hanging too - it's now quilted, bound and labeled. The appearance of it hasn't really changed from the last picture I posted, so I'm not re-posting the pic, but I'm glad it's done with.

I traced all the applique shapes for the first block of McKenna Ryan's Forest Hollow pattern. Every feather on the owl's wings is a separate applique. THIS is going to be challenging. They way I feel right now, I can tackle anything... hope the feeling lasts. ROAR!!!

Restless

2011-07-26T01:55:00.000-07:00

I'm not bipolar, really I'm not... but I feel like I'm in a manic phase anyway. I can't seem to sit still, I have to be doing something every moment. I started on Bunny Hill block 5 and it's almost done... that was supposed to be my September block! (August was the one I just finished with the two red birds on it - see last post on 7/24/11).

My minigroup meets at my house tomorrow night and I promised them chili. I cooked the meat tonight so all I have to do in the morning is add the rest of the ingredients and start up the crockpot.

I have been chatting on Facebook, monitoring posts in all my groups, watching TV and cutting out appliques... I can't seem to stop DOING THINGS... What's wrong with me???

Not tired enough to go to sleep either... sigh. I will work on block 5 of that BOM, and get it to the stage where all I need to do is the edge stitching... then tomorrow I will finish it up.

I also have to make some phone calls tomorrow... The toughest call will be that I have to deliver the sad news that I can't attend my friend's daughter's wedding. We just had to pay a huge tax bill and can't afford the travel expenses any more. Very sad because this was going to be our anniversary trip as well. Now we have to stay at home and do something locally. I'm devastated that we can't go because I haven't seen my friend in about 3 years and this was going to be a reunion for us.

Well... I'm off to work on my block again.. I will add a picture as soon as the appliques are attached. I love fusible applique - it's so fast and easy. I am SO not a hand applique person (I HAVE tried it and it's not for me).

Ok - I finished the fusing - here it is, sans edge stitching and embroidery, which I will do tomorrow:

I may be a little manic, but at least I'm happy... THAT doesn't happen very often ;)

Retreat Weekend at Home

2011-07-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

Well, it wasn't exactly a complete retreat at home for me, but I did get some work done. I cut and pieced a background for a new Bunny Hill block on Friday - it took me 3 hours, but I got it done. I actually cut out and fused the appliques Sunday night while watching an old Harry Potter movie on TV.

Amazing how different a little applique can make a plain pieced block (see my last post to see the block without the applique).

I ran a Dungeons and Dragons game on Saturday - the end of the big fight at the end of a very long campaign. They killed the last of the evil dragon's minions and slew the dragon. There was one player character death and one npc death. They didn't do too badly at all, but it was a very tough fight for them. Still in all it was a fun campaign and I enjoyed running it. I hope they enjoyed playing it - it took about two years for them to get to the end of it. Now it's someone else's turn to run for a while.

I did get to see Harry Potter on Friday night, and Cars2 on Saturday night. Is it just me getting older and more crochety, or are parents just too lenient with their kids in the movies. There was a time, parents would just take screaming kids out of the theatre. Last night, they just let them scream and talk all through the movie... They didn't even try to shoosh them. Kinda ruined the movie - and yeah, I know it's a kids movie, so we expected some of that, but we DID go to a late night showing, hoping most of the kids would have seen it during the daytime or early evening.

Today I went to the fairgrounds, but instead of working, I just dropped off a couple of quilts for the fair and then went out to lunch with my husband. We found a really nice little place in old town Ventura called Nature's Grill. Very good food for reasonable prices. Then I came home, played on the computer and finally got restless and appliqued the block above. I still have to do the edge stitching, but the pieces are on and fused....

Tomorrow I'm having my nails done again. Gonna try to see if this new gel polish will make my nails strong enough to grow some. My nails are incredibly brittle and break easily... I'd like to grow them without getting acrylics. I had them done two weeks ago and haven't broken a nail in two weeks. I'm hoping I can go another two weeks without a break.

Oh, and I just have to share this - it's my cat Pan, being cute. She looks like she's praying - but really she's just sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping, it's getting late here... g'night!

Complications

2011-07-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

OMG, Bunny Hill Designs makes the most complicated pieced backgrounds for their applique blocks. I am doing their pattern 'Pumpkin Hill' as a sort of 'self-imposed-BOM'. I just got to block 4 and it's huge and with a zillion pieces. It took me almost 3 hours to make a background for applique:

Now, granted, their finished blocks, with the applique on them are very interesting, and probably far prettier than just slapping applique pieces onto a slab of a single fabric, but 3 hours to make one block? I'm exhausted! lol

I am supposed to be on a stay-at-home retreat this weekend, but with the completion of piecing this background, I have nothing else left to work on. Which is fine. I have a little clean up still left to do - putting away all the fabrics I pulled for this block.

Tonight I'm gonna see the new Harry Potter movie, tomorrow is for D&D and maybe seeing Cars2. Sunday, I'm volunteering at the county fair. My retreat weekend is being cut short by life. That seems to happen a lot to me lately. C'est la vie!

Caffeine High

2011-07-16T18:14:00.001-07:00

My husband brought me a mocha this morning and I've been on a caffeine high all day. I made an entire quilt today - it's not basted yet, but I finished the top in one day, all from stash.

If any of my minigroup sees this post, they'll be disgusted with me - We were all supposed to work on these quilts at the same time... over the course of the summer. I just 'got the bug' I guess. I still have to baste and quilt it, so I guess I'm not really done with it, but getting close.

Now it's time to reorganize and clean my sewing room again... I've made a mess of things with all the fabrics I pulled for this one, plus other quilts I've been working on. Something for my 'to do' list for this week! I have to get it done during the week because I've promised part of next weekend I'd work as a volunteer at the county fairgrounds. I think I'm only working on Sunday but it's sure to be stressful, not to mention painful.

I'm a little sad, I won't be entering anything of my own in this year's fair... the few things I've finished aren't really fair-worthy... maybe I'll enter my little lonestar wall-hanging. We'll see...

WAYWO for July

2011-07-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

I've been so tired lately. I think depression is creeping in on me again. I've even had to force myself to do fun activities. Not sure why this is happening... there's been no change in my meds or anything. Maybe it's the impending anniversary and birthday? You know, those things we used to look forward to and are now just indicators of another start to the yearly 365-day trip around the sun. Time to get back in gear and enjoy the journey.

In the meantime, even though I haven't been feeling exactly my best, I have been working. I've been doing my blocks of the month, which isn't exactly taking anything off the UFO list, but it does cycle to the next month at least without getting behind. I've heard it said that accomplishing tasks produces endorphins which increase pleasure. If that's the case, my endorphins aren't working hard enough, or maybe it's just that I'm not?

Here is my latest folk art cat quilt, with the handwork done (I did the handwork on the entire quilt this month!, not just on the current block. hooray for me!) He even has eyes now!

I did the latest Henrietta Whiskers block (with handwork done as well):

I also finished block 3 of Pumpkin Hill, which I started by doing two blocks in June even though it's supposed to be a block of the month. I figure since I'm doing this one on my own, not through a website or store or anything, I can do as many or few as I want each month. I've since decided to stick to one per month. Here's this month:

Until this year, I'd only done one BOM - it was online, I loved doing it, but I never put the blocks together into a quilt - another UFO I forgot about and need to add to the list. This year I WILL put them all together and finish what I've started. I have already cut the piano key border for the kitty quilt, with plans to sew the keys together as soon as the quilt is finished. I have no excuses for not finishing except August, with birthday and anniversary is usually a busy month for me. I will try not to make excuses for this labor of love.

Here's the rest of the folk art cats so far - with handwork done (including those pesky eye buttons):

So all in all, I have been productive. I should feel good about that. Time to get back to work and get those positive endorphins flowing. Yeah!

WAYWO?

Ceilings Done and I'm Still Working

2011-07-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

My ceilings are done... the guys are just cleaning up now. In the meantime, I've actually been working. I made two postcards for an exchange that's due to be mailed by July 15th. They are done and ready to go into the mail tomorrow. I finished making the pieced background for an appliqued block I'm making. So I have gotten work done, tho nothing is finished, it's all progress. Here are my latest two folk art kitty blocks that I finished. They still need a little handwork (mouse tail and feet, whiskers, buttons for eyes and such), but the machine work is done:

There's proof I've been working. I can't wait til August - we get our 12th and final block for the folk art cat quilt. Then I can finish putting it together. Yay! I wonder how many people are doing this BOM, and how many will finish...

Well, I've got to take a walk-through and pay my contractor... Then it's time for dinner and another contractor coming for an estimate on more work to do ... it just never ends. While I love being a homeowner, there are times when I wish I lived in a condo and could depend on someone else to take care of exterior paint, raingutters, gardening, and all that outside stuff. In the meantime, it is what it is... sometimes I hate that phrase but it says so much...

Minor Remodeling but Still Sewing

2011-07-05T23:14:00.000-07:00

We are having our acoustical ceiling stripped in the bedrooms, hall and closets. It took them all day to prep, strip and resurface the ceilings. They are coming back to prime and paint them tomorrow. In the meantime, my house is in utter turmoil. There is plastic sheeting hanging everywhere, we have no beds, one of my cats had to be crated all day, poor baby, while the other two stayed in the living room/kitchen/family room areas just totally freaked out of their minds. They aren't fond of strangers and upheaval. My dog had to stay outside in 95 degree heat, poor old girl.

Still, while they were spraying and scraping my ceilings, I managed to trace the pattern for an appliqued block I'm making, edge stitch another appliqued block and make the back for another quilt. Yay! I'm being productive! It feels so good. Two items get, if not removed from the UFO list, at least moved down to a different stage of completion.

I'm really enjoying having a UFO list. While there is this sense of being overwhelmed, I can at least see what needs to be done, and work on each thing in a semblance of some kind of order instead of drifting aimlessly from project to project.

Tomorrow, the work will resume - they will paint and then it will be done, life will get back to normal on Thursday.

On Friday, my mini-group will be holding a sew-in. I can get more work done! I have so much handwork to do, I may just work on that and leave my sewing machine at home.. we'll see. I love sew-ins... a chance to do what I love among the companionship of friends. Sometimes it gets very lonely sewing at home alone most of the time.

My Fairy Quilt Godmother

2011-07-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

My Fairy Quilt Godmother is done at last. Her name is Thimbletine. She has purple skin because she is MY Fairy Godmother and that's just the way she rolls. Her hair and skin are sparkly with fairy dust and she looks kindly on all I do, even my mistakes. I'm going to hang her in my quilting room when I get her quilted. Here she is:


Thimbletine

You can get your very own Fairy Quilt Godmother at Paper Panache.

UFO Sightings

2011-07-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

I was going to wait until fall to quantify all my UFOs. Why? Because so many of them are in bins in the garage. And it's awfully hot out there - too hot to work in the garage. But, as was pointed out to me, why wait? Just list the ones I can get to in the house or remember offhand. What a great idea! So I did... There were 27 of them that I could lay my hands on or recall from memory. I know there are people out there with a hundred or more, so I don't feel so bad.

I'm making a commitment to finish at least half of these this year. I hope I can keep that commitment. I'd like to commit to finishing half before I start anything new, but I doubt that will happen so by the end of the year is it. Here's my list:

MY UFO LIST:

1. BOM – Folk Art Cats block 11

2. BOM - Henrietta Whiskers block 7

3. BOM – Pumpkin Hill block 2

4. BOM – Forest Hollow block 1 (cut tree – see block 8, first)

1. Night Garden – back made, ready for quilting

2. Flower Garden – has back, back needs piecing

3. Tiger, tiger – needs quilting finished

4. Kokeshi doll quilt – needs quilting finished

1. C&C Oriental SS – needs back

2. Houses – needs back

3. African stars – needs back

4. Flower Garden batik – needs back

5. Batik blocks – needs back

6. Parrot nebula – needs back

7. Portrait of Dad – needs back

1. Plaid stars – at the LAQ, will need binding

2. Plaid exchange – at the LAQ, will need binding

1. Log cabin - outer border?

2. Black & gold crazy cats – needs outer border

1. Fairy godmother – needs piecing

2. Patriotic postcards – need stitching and backs

3. Native Americans – need piecing? Or just backs

4. Kimono & cherry blossoms quilt – need to find it L - in garage somewhere

5. Max lent memorial quilts – in garage, need to find pattern

6. Iris wholecloth – needs sleeve

7. Fall wallhanging – pick fabrics

There are a couple of things not on this list that probably should be:
I committed to help make a couple of charity quilts with my mini-group this year
I committed to making a set of batik blocks depicting a beach theme for an exchange in November
I committed to making a 12" white on white pieced block for a tablecloth
None of these commitments have been started yet... sigh

Having this list done really has helped me realize just how much I have in some mid-stage of completion. I know from experience that having a list and getting to cross things off it is an amazing feeling. Really makes me feel like I've accomplished something. I'm looking forward to that!

Anyway, I am having fun at least. I've been working on my Fairy Quilt Godmother* block while I've been locked up in the house the past 2 days. The heat outside has been in or near triple digits so I've been sequestered inside with the AC on at full blast. If our power died, I don't know what I'd do...

*Fairy Quilt Godmother - a 'mystery' block from Paper Panache. Go look at the 'Parade of Fairy Godmothers'. These blocks are so interesting because they are all unique and so much fun! Better yet, design your own and make your own Fairy Godmother - it's FREE!

The Year of Applique

2011-06-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

I've done a lot of pieced quilts, even done several this year, but it has been turning into the year of applique for me. I'm working on so many appliqued BOMs. I've got Folk Art Cats, Pumpkin Hill, Henrietta Whiskers, four seasonal quilts with my minigroup, Kokeshi Dolls and now Forest Hollow. I've been doing way more applique than I've ever done before.

One awesome side effect of all this applique work is that I've become much more comfortable actually doing applique. All my applique is fused - I'm not a hand-applique person - but I've gotten quite adept at edge stitching. Now when I say adept I don't mean I'm an expert or perfect at it - I've just gotten used to it and do it a lot faster than I used to. Practice may not make perfect in this case, but it does produce a familiarity that makes the whole process seem less threatening. I used to be kind of intimidated by applique. I've learned to actually enjoy it!

I'll post some pictures of the WIP soon - gotta actually get them up on the design wall and take some pictures of the latest work.

Blindsided

2011-06-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Today I got a letter from the IRS saying I owe them over $8000 including interest for 2009. After carefully researching my return, going over it with a fine-toothed comb, I contacted TurboTax. I went over it all with a TurboTax representative. Somehow the program invented withholding on form 1099B, which I never got, nor filled out information for in TurboTax... it just magically appeared there. Needless to say, I got a huge refund in 2009 which I wasn't entitled to, and now I have to pay it back. Bleah... at least the TurboTax rep agreed that Intuit should pay the interest since it was a calculation error in the program. I still owe $7830. I could cry....

Needless to say, I think I'm going to skip the Long Beach Intl. Quilt Show this year... save my money and stay home. I can't afford the parking, I can't afford to be tempted to buy anything, and I am too depressed to think about doing something fun. I need to stay home and sew ... get myself out of this overwhelming funk.

Maybe if I finish (or at least work on) a quilt or two it will help raise my spirits. Something about working with fabric seems to produce endorphins for me, much like runners get from running...

I do wish quilting were as aerobic and healthy as running or exercising. I DO keep my ironing board and sewing machine in separate rooms so I have to get up and walk to press, same with my cutting table. Which isn't to say I won't have them placed closer together when I get my studio done, but for now I get some exercise going from one to another.

overall mood today: bleah ... sums it up perfectly.

Another win at Quilting Gallery

2011-06-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

I won a prize at Quilting Gallery's Miniatures Quilt Contest. I'd really like to thank EVERYONE who voted for my quilt! I got a $20 gift certificate and ordered a set of ruler extensions at http://www.guidelines4quilting.com/ . I will try them out and let you know how they work. They are supposed to make it math-free to cut squares for HST and QST. We'll see. I can always remember the +3/8 for HST, but I never seem to be able to remember what to add for QST. (is it 7/8 or 1 1/8?... anyway if the extensions work as claimed, I won't have to remember anymore).

The quilt I won for is the one I use as my avatar, which was one of my most favorite quilts to make. It was hard work doing it in miniature, but I loved the outcome. Knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn't attempt anything like this again in the future, but who knows?

I am almost done with my quilt run (3 more shops to go this coming weekend). I'm glad the So. Calif. run gives you two weekends to complete the run in... I was dead tired on Sunday and hadn't even finished. I'm sure there were people who finished the whole thing in two or three days. I don't think I have that much energy, and I like to actually spend a little time in some of the shops yanno?

I bought way too much on the run, but way less than I used to buy, thanks to Stashbusters. I (mostly) only bought essentials: fabric for backs, backgrounds and bindings (for existing WIPs only), plus cat fabrics (which will never be on my no-buy list... gotta have cat fabrics!). It took me until today to unpack what I bought last weekend, but now that's done and I'm ready to start fresh on Thursday to finish the run.

Now it's time to get down to work and piece those backs, and put away the rest til I'm ready to use them. Backs made, I'll be able to start quilting. If only I could get to work on my longarm, I'd be a happy camper. Anyone else out there intimidated by their own sewing machine and afraid to use it? I keep telling my husband to learn how to use it - after all, that's his new car sitting in our family room (snicker).

Another Quilt Run

2011-06-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

Do you take a FART* now and then? or do you avoid it like the plague?
(* FART = Fabric Acquisition Road Trip, or Quilt Run)

Me? I love quilt runs. I get a kick out of going from shop to shop and seeing what's new. Each shop puts their best foot forward and it's like visiting little mini quilt shows. And sometimes you can win nice prizes. Last year on the So. California Quilt Run, I won a $500 gift certificate that I could use at any of the shops that were on the run. What a fun surprise at the end of the run! This year, from one of the shops, I won a little bag of neutral fabrics that will make great backgrounds for small applique projects. I don't expect to win any of the big prizes at the end again - lightning rarely strikes twice yanno, but I hope one of my friends wins something this time.

I started the run on Thursday with my friend, Marlyn. We spent all of Thursday, Friday and Saturday going from shop to shop. Oh my - she's got 22 years on me and has more energy than I do! I hope I have half her energy and get-up-and-go-go when I get to 80! We drove, and shopped, and spent too much money on fabric and food, stayed in a Motel 6 for one night (not as bad as I expected, but it was cheap). Next weekend we will finish the last 6 shops we have left. We have had SO much fun!

I bought a back for a quilt I've been putting off finishing for months. Now I can quilt it and call it done. Here's the quilt.

The back is a green and purple plaid. It's a little too purple and not enough violet to go with the quilt, but I'm gonna make it work. I didn't have the quilt with me when I bought it, so I had to guess if it would go. But it was discounted, so I took the risk. I'm not thrilled with it, but I'll live with it.

I also bought Bunny Hill's pattern 'Pumpkin Hill' because it has squirrels on it. I just love the little rascals and I'm doing BH's free BOM 'Henrietta Whiskers' online. I saw this one and fell in love with it. Just what I need - another project! sheesh, what was I thinking? But sometimes it is our UFOs, PIGS, WIPs and WHIMMs that push us into setting goals! This one is a WHIMM, and I will have to turn it into a WIP soon!

(UFO = UnFinished Object, PIGS= Project In Grocery Sack, WIP = Work In Progress, WHIMM - Work Hidden In My Mind)

Hope you all have enough of these goal-setting gems to keep you sewing along. (I have enough to last a couple of lifetimes already, and enough fabric to make them all probably too. I know my husband thinks I have enough fabric, and he's probably right. But I think fabric contains pheremones that call to quilters 'buy me, buy me, take ME home with you'. lol.)

Have a great quilty day!

June Gloom

2011-06-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

That's what we are beset with here in the LA area - June gloom! I don't mind it so much - the marine layer keeps the temperature down, but it is kinda gray and depressing out. Good weather to stay home and quilt!

I put borders on my Flower Garden quilt. What a difference the borders make! Sometimes borders are just there to make the quilt bigger, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but I really think the borders should enhance the quilt. I'm a big fan of pieced borders because of this concept. But this time, I put in a narrow border (2 1/2") as an "eye-stopper" and then added a floral that brought out the blues, greens and peaches in the quilt. I had to put a thin piece of color between the two borders, so I added a narrow (1/4") fillet of peach. Here's the original quilt with only the eye-stopper:

and here it is with the final borders added:

I think it came out ok... Now... to quilt it!

OMG I am overwhelmed with quilt tops that need to be quilted... I really have to get started using my longarm. I have received several great ideas from the ladies on Stashbusters on getting going with my machine ... and I've joined some longarm support groups. Maybe by the time summer is over I will actually start using it. I'm still a little... no. Who am I kidding... I'm a LOT scared of the thing.

What I really want is someone to come over and teach me how to use this thing... stay with me during some of the learning curve. I'm willing to pay someone to come work with me, but there's no such service out there... the teachers all want me to come to them. It's not the same. I need to learn how to use MY machine, yanno?

Anyway - enough whining - there are more quilts to be made and more stash to be busted....

WAYWO May

2011-05-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

So my lonestar is done but I haven't been idle. I put borders on my scrappy plaid quilt. I'm so happy. You know how usually when you mitre borders, one corner always ends up wonky and 'not right'? For a change, all four corners mitred perfectly! Here it is:

I'm satisfied with the quilt and the borders though I think I made the first white border a little too wide... not gonna change it now, but it should have been 1 1/2 inches instead of 2 I think.

I worked on two BOMs this month. The first is an online BOM called Henrietta Whiskers. Here are the first 5 blocks:

I just love squirrels, so I HAD to do this one. The sixth block background is in the picture, but we haven't gotten directions for the applique part yet. All parts of the BOM are still available at Henrietta Whiskers BOM . I'm not crazy about the muted Moda colors - not my personal aesthetic, but I decided to use them anyway. It will make a cute fall wallhanging.

I worked on my second BOM - Folk Art Cats - from a LQS. The kitties are adorable. We've done 9 of the 12 blocks so far:

I love kitties even more than I love squirrels, so this one is truly a labor of love for me. The cats are so weird and wonky, but still adorable. I especially like the pirate kitty with the eyepatch.

June will be filled with 3 weekends of quilt runs so who knows if I will have any time to sew at all... I hope I do. I will have two new BOM blocks to do in June, so I will have to make time for those at least. Sewing time is like a little bubble of sanity for me... and trust me, sanity is in very short supply these days...

Lone Star Done

2011-05-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

Finished my lone star quilt and I can't say I'm disappointed in it, though the quilting could have been better. I kinda rushed through the quilting part of it. Here's the finished quilt:

I added some panel sections I had in my stash, just appliqued them on. Other than the panels, it came out very much like the initial design I did on EQ7:

Saw a demo of paper piecing today and it was painful - everything was pretty old school - no add-a-quarter rulers, no butterfly principle, lots of wasted fabric. It was a great demo for beginners and a good way for them to learn the basics, but for me it was hard to watch and say nothing. I spent the time biting my knuckles to keep my mouth shut. But I managed it. No one likes some know-it-all to speak out and interrupt the teacher with 'a better way' to do something. Teachers spend a lot of time and effort preparing their lessons. So I kept quiet, but it was hard to do. There are different ways of doing everything and the teacher's way just wasn't my way. Nothing wrong with that. Learning to accept other ways of doing things is one of the toughest lessons I've ever had to learn and today was a small victory for me in that regard.

A friend came by today to look for a piece of fabric to border her quilt with. We auditioned about 5 or 6 different purples til we found the perfect one. This is proof positive to me that I have too much stash. When your friends come to your house instead of the LQS to shop for fabric - you have too much of the darn stuff... Time to trim my stash I think. But the question is - HOW? Have a fabric yard(age) sale? Donate what I don't love anymore? That of course means going THROUGH the stash and reacquainting myself with it all. That in itself could be dangerous and would it really be worth my time? Maybe I could make it a girlfriend's project.... enlist friends to help me sort it all? We could make it a party day with the fabric! OK... it's my stash... a party week. Still could be fun. I'll have to think on it...

How Do You Store Your Stash?

2011-05-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

I've heard so many different things about storing stash and I'm really curious about how others store theirs. Mine are mostly on shelves in my studio, with fat quarters in drawers designed just to hold them. The shelves cover an entire wall of the studio, and the fabrics are mostly sorted by color, with a few shelves just for panels, backs, batiks, & Asians, regardless of color:

I store my fat quarters in a cabinet I had made to hold them. (I really need to take a photo of them in the drawers). They are all sorted by color except for the batiks and Asians.

I sort my strips by width (regardless of color) in plastic storage drawers on wheels so I can move them around my studio as needed. I would stack them two-high, but I live in earthquake country and I'm a little afraid to go too high with them:

I also store and keep selvages which I use in a variety of projects. I wrap these into balls, like you'd do with yarn, regardless of color. I'm beginning to regret that a little bit because sometimes I like to plan my layouts with them, but I hate the mess they make when they are just jumbled in a drawer.

I still have some fabrics in bins in the garage, and these are where I am in a quandary. My precious cat fabrics plus some specialty things I don't use often (like flannels), and simply overflow from the shelves are all stored in the bins. I've heard that heat and cold DO affect fabric, as well as changes in dampness in the air (even though they are in plastic bins, they are not airtight). I'm also concerned about insects. I've heard other folks say they store their fabric in places where heat and cold are an issue as well and they aren't concerned at all, and I just am not sure whether to be worried or not.

What do you do to store your fabric and what environmental issues concern you about fabric and thread storage?

Home from Retreat

2011-05-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

The retreat was wonderful - 5 1/2 days of dedicated sewing with a few other activities like swimming, shopping, and antiquing mixed in. I really felt inspired to sew my little heart out and finished two tops, made 6 fabric postcards, finished quilting one top and did all the ditch quilting on a another. For me, that's a lot in 5 days. It was loads of fun, lots of fun girlfriend stuff. I'm glad to be home, but I sure need a week away now and then.

Here's what I got done: a double friendship star quilt made with plaids from an old exchange a long time ago, and the solids and backgrounds all came from stash.

I also made a quilt I call 'Flower Garden', a design I put together for my guild, made from floral strips we exchanged. The border looks almost black in the photo - it's actually a dark forest green.

I finished the quilting on my 'Summer Sunshine' wallhanging. I might add a little more quilting in the blocks, but the borders are done and the sleeve and label affixed with the binding completed. I can always add the additional quilting in the blocks later.

I also made postcards and I've already mailed them off to their recipients:

All in all it was a productive and thoroughly enjoyable week. I feel invigorated and inspired to continue quilting and sewing at home. Maybe that's what retreats are all about - getting away and rediscovering the spark of creativity that brought us to quilting in the first place.

Wishing all of you to stay connected to your spark and enjoy your creative spirit.

More Lonestar designs

2011-04-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some other lonestar color or design configurations I'm considering...

I like the gold/orange ones... they remind me of little suns burning bright, but I really like the animal skin star too.... oh I just don't know which one to pick...

I leave for my retreat in four days... One of those days is reserved for playing D&D, one is for mah jong, which leaves me really just one day to pack and plan everything left to do... oh my, time is flying all of a sudden! I think one of the hardest things to do before a retreat is make sure nothing gets forgotten. I must make a checklist so I'm sure to bring everything I need... It would be horrid to get to the retreat and be missing important notions or machine parts. I once went to a quilting class and found I'd left my foot pedal home! Can't have a repeat of that fiasco!

Lonestar Color Play

2011-04-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

So I'm back to quilting again... no more maudlin meanderings for the time being. I've been experimenting with color and placement with lonestars and came up with this:

I thought it was interesting because even though it's constructed like any other lonestar, it looks very different - has something of the look of a faux feathered star. Please, if you read this, let me know what you think. I'd really appreciate any comments before I start cutting and sewing.

I've also been working on a squirrel quilt, featuring the most adorable squirrels and crows, both of which I love because my neighborhood is full of them. The quilt is a BOM from Bunny Hill Designs, and not in my usual colors - all browns and reds and lilacs. I usually work in brighter colors, but I decided to step outside my comfort zone for this one and use their colorations. I will post some pictures soon - but I'd actually have to take some first.

Well, I've been having some problems with a fuzzy spot in the middle of my vision lately, so I'm off to the opthamologist... gotta run.

Quiet days...

2011-04-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

Not sure why I'm so busy but feel like I'm not DOING anything productive. Maybe it's just depression... maybe it's because Mercury is in retrograde... who knows... I've done so many things but I have nothing physical to show for all the hustle and bustle. I've got four background blocks made for my next quilt project - I have to do the applique on the blocks, and since it's a BOM, I'm stuck at four til the May block comes out. It's a very cute quilt with squirrels on it... I just love squirrels, they're so cute. But lately I feel like I've been living the squirrels' motto - Live fast, die young, leave a flat patch of fur on the highway... I've been rushing around from activity to activity, not watching where I'm going, lol... or really paying attention to where I've been...

My friend Ellen sent me a picture of the two of us when we were in college... Makes me feel very happy to look at it - such a good time in my life, when there was no depression and I felt hopeful and alive and the world was a vibrant and glowing place. Where did that young lady go? I'm not sure if any of her is still here with me now... that makes me a little sad. How do I reconnect with who I was?... with me... I do feel a sense of disconnect with the world - that's part of the toll of depression... ah well... I guess it's a little late to be who I was, or who I could have been. I am who I am now.

Now this is getting maudlin... sorry but it's late at night and I guess I'm feeling a little melodramatic... better to express it here than keep it bottled up inside...

On another random note, I am getting ready for another retreat. This one is in Ramona for 4 days of sewing and comaraderie. There are 8 of us going (possibly 7, as one person has a family emergency that may prevent her from joining us). Anyway, I'm looking forward to going and having some fun away from home...

Changing gears again... I really thought that with my son gone from the house that my husband and I would have more time to spend with each other, but it seems like we are both so busy with work and hobbies and other activities that we rarely have time for each other... I need to do something about that... and soon! Maybe I'll ambush him on Friday night after work... He can stand one night away from his radio... (or not - if any of you reading this know any ham radio operators, you know what I mean)...

Signing off for the night... omg... I can't believe I wrote this stuff on my blog, but wth not... it's mine after all... Next time I'll try to keep it more quilty...

Old Friends

2011-04-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

I had this long post written about depression and losing touch with old friends. I think I'll just say - it's so wonderful to rediscover friendships from the past. I love you Ellen and Julie - thanks for being in my life then and now. Hooray for Facebook!

On a more quilty note, I am finally working on my Native Americans quilt again... here are the blocks - I am sashing them in preparation to putting them all together into one quilt (there's one more that I apparently don't have a picture of yet. But six total... considering putting in an eagle as well to make 7, but not sure how big I want this quilt to be... we'll see)...

Time for change

2011-04-14T07:36:00.001-07:00

Even though I don't do Spring Cleaning at home, I thought it was time for a change here, so my blog has a whole new look. Hope you like it. It's much more 'quilty' than the old look, and maybe easier on the eyes as well. Happy Spring! Happy Quilting!

I'm off for my Thursday mah jongg game... (yes I do do other things besides quilting).

Done with the design...

2011-04-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the design and pattern for a quilt for my guild. The quilt looks like this:

I can't claim the design is all that original - it's 'just another chain quilt'. I got the idea from 'Sandi's Mindless Sewing Challenge' on Stashbusters, but hers was made with 9 patches and squares. I saw it in American Patchwork and Quilting done with 2 1/2" strips, but I didn't like their method of construction, so I did a little re-designing and came up with a different size and construction that I liked better. (Credit where credit is due, not claiming it's FULLY original). I will give out my version of the pattern to my fellow guild members for free, so I'm not making any money off it either. I hope they like it.

I think it will look lovely done with floral fabrics - what a delightful way to welcome spring. Totally appropriate since our strip exchange this season was for floral fabrics. I can't wait to see what people do with it. I'm sure they will think of original ways to put this together, so each quilt will be unique.

On a sour note, someone posted a not very nice comment to one of my blog posts... I edited the post because obviously it was misunderstood. Still, unpleasant to read that someone thought I was being nasty and mean, when that wasn't what I meant. Still, I can see how that could have been read into what I wrote, so I changed the posting. Can't please everyone, I guess. Probably will offend someone else now, but we'll see.

On an up-note, I finished half of my folk art cat quilt yesterday... I had to sash and connect the blocks in order to do the applique that extends out into the sashing.

I love making this quilt - you can see the entire quilt at folk art cats - SO adorable... I hope mine comes out half as cute. I just love kitties!

Empty Nest

2011-04-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

I am now officially among the ranks of the empty nesters... My 25 year old son moved out of the house yesterday and into his own place. It's only a rented room in west LA, but he's moved and I'm elated and sad at the same time. He's still in the air on tottery wings and I'm breathless to see if he'll fly. I'm thrilled the nest is empty - my husband and I have this huge house to ourselves... OMG, my husband and I have this huge house to ourselves... what the hell are we going to do with it all?

That's not hard to answer - I'm getting a new sewing room! (hence the elation). I can envision it now - all cleaned out, my sewing table, ironing board and design wall all in one room.. maybe even a cutting table if I can eke out a little more space. New paint on the walls. Maybe a small quilt or two hanging where there's room.

And yet the house seemed so empty this morning... and I felt... strangely out of sorts and at odds with the world. Who am I now and what is my place in the world? It's time to re-define myself and come to terms with a new me.

I went to the mall with a friend today. First time I've stepped inside a shopping mall in years. I tend to avoid them. I get all the shopping therapy I need in quilt shops. Nothing much has changed over time. More kiosks maybe. Despite my lack of recent mall experience, I felt jaded and uninterested in most of the shops. I did buy a case for my not-so-new cell phone.

THEN, we went to a couple of quilt shops (I was very good and only bought 1/4 yd each of 6 different solids that I absolutely needed to finish a quilt I'm working on, and some more aurifil for piecing), and lunch.

Haven't finished any quilts lately but I did send a couple of fabric postcards that I finished up. Here's a picture of one of them (they're both essentially the same)... puffy paint and crystals on inkjet printed fabric. The theme was 'bright and funky'. Hope the recipients like them:

Spring

2011-03-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

Here it is spring, and I have absolutely no desire to clean my house. I see that as a good thing. Spring cleaning was never really a tradition at our house when I was a kid. We lived in California when I was growing up (still do), and so the house was kept clean and open year round. No need to open everything up and air it out, clean it out after a long winter, I guess. While I suppose it could use a good cleaning, I just don't have the desire to do it myself. It is what it is.

I do have the desire to organize things more, however. So today I started working on that a little. Putting projects together that were scattered about with bits here and bits there. Perhaps I'll finish that up tomorrow.

I'm a little sad that I didn't win the contest at Quilting Gallery Blog last week. Don't want anyone to misunderstand, but I really thought I might have a chance with this one. Oh well, that's life and the nature of such things. I'll get over it.

I entered again this week's contest, we'll see how we do. Update - Didn't win this second contest either but I'm not disappointed - my entry wasn't very good and I didn't think I had a chance. I did get some votes tho - that's something - more than I was even expecting, which is cool.

Excited to get my new Mah Jong card today, I can't wait to start playing with it on April 1st. Which is a good thing because I left my old one at the game today and won't get it back until next Monday. Sadly, I will have to play with no card on Thursday as we don't officially start with the new cards until Friday. My timing sucks, lol.

Well... back to quilting my summer quilt... At least it should be done in time to hang for summer.

New Projects, Old Issues

2011-03-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Why, oh why, am I starting new projects with so many UFOs hanging over my head? Yet here I am - with new beginnings. First, I agreed to be part of an exchange of blocks last September. I finally got the blocks back from the other gals, and put mine together.

The quilt was designed by Susan Claire (www.susanclaire.com). Eight friends and I decided to do ours as an exchange, dividing the quilt into 9 sections. I chose to put mine on a very dark grey background. The others opted for a very light grey. I like the way it looks on the dark better - but that's just me. I sashed and assembled the blocks and put borders on this week (took 3 days!). But now I have yet again another flimsy that needs to be quilted.

My mini-group decided to make a series of seasonal quilts from a book by Vicki Schweitzer. We decided to start with summer so we'd have plenty of time to finish the quilt and enjoy it for the season we made it for. (If we'd started with spring it would have been at least half over before we got to hang the quilts). The top went much faster than I expected it to - I guess I'm getting better at machine applique (I don't do hand applique at all... tried it - not my cup of tea). I modified the pattern a little, but this is it - again, not quilted yet...

I really need to get through my pile of tops and start actually QUILTING. Meanwhile my longarm sits gathering dust in the family room. I'm surprised my husband hasn't blown a gasket by now - though he does hint from time to time about how much I spent on it and that I'm not using it. Nudge nudge nudge.... *cries*... I wish I could get over being intimidated by it all.

Winning

2011-03-11T22:27:00.000-08:00

I hate to steal Charlie Sheen's favorite phrase, but lately that's what I've been doing.

I entered a contest at Quiltmaker Magazine to win one of their '100 blocks from today's top designers'. I just got an email saying I won one of the blocks. I also entered to win a piece of hand painted fabric from Mickey Lawler (at www.skydyes.com). I won that too!... I feel like it's time to go buy a lottery ticket! hmmmm...

Anyway - it feels good to win something.

Looking forward to going to a quilting retreat in May... Should be fun! I organize this retreat once a year in Ramona - we all go stay in a resort and sew and play for 4-5 days. I get to make up goodie bags for everyone, and find quilting games to play, make up a simple project for people who want to make something little as a memento of the retreat... it's all good fun. And this year I don't have to cook - other people have volunteered to do the cooking! (another win for me?)

I made three postcards for exchanges at postcardpizzazz yahoo group. And I finished them early, so they will be off in tomorrow's mail! Usually I'm late finishing things. Maybe this new timeliness is the best win of all - now to just keep it up!

My postcards: The first is a picture of a sailing vessel my husband snapped in Tortola on our recent Caribbean vacation. The second is for a black & white with one other color exchange. The artwork isn't original, but coloring it and making it into a fabric postcard was hard work nonetheless.

Machine Quilter's Getaway with Jill Schumaker

2011-02-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

The past four days I have been at a machine quilter's getaway in Trinidad, CA with Jill Schumaker, an amazing quilting teacher. Me and four friends all drove up here together in one big truck... It's been an exciting and fun weekend jaunt. We all learned some new techniques and methods of quilting our quilts. I got to make a trapunto whole cloth wall hanging... very small, but it was a first for me, and I loved the process.

My friends all practiced free motion quilting, some for the first time. I also finished my quilting my challenge quilt for the guild and worked on my tiger quilt, even got to work on my kitty BOM blocks.

The weather in Trinidad has been wild - rain, snow flurries, hail, and ice. Today though was sunny and frigid... I hear the weather in other parts of California has been no less weird. Supposedly it snowed in San Francisco for the first time in 35 years this weekend. Snow levels in Simi were supposed to be down to 1000 ft yesterday and possibly today. Just weirdness everywhere...

Tomorrow, we head home. Hopefully the weather will be cooperative and pleasant for our drive home and things will perhaps warm up a bit as we move south. We left on Tuesday.. will be returning home on Monday - a long, interesting, fun, informative and tiring week. I've had a ball, and look forward to getting home.

WAYWO

2011-02-18T22:00:00.000-08:00

I've been asked frequently what I'm working on, so here it is in a nutshell. Mostly I'm trying to get ready for a trip to the Machine Quilter's Getaway next week. In the meantime, however, today I spent all day working on my quilt for the Simi Guild biennial challenge. This challenge was to pick two crayons, add a third color and make a quilt using only these three colors. My colors were indigo and periwinkle. I chose orange as my third color and found a beautiful variegated orange batik for the background color.

Tomorrow is for D&D, Sunday and Monday are for packing for the trip, and we leave in the wee hours Tuesday morning.

Back to the old grind...

2011-02-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

Well, first of all, I was asked to post a picture of the earrings I bought on the cruise... here they are... aren't they gorgeous???

The large, triangular stones are Tanzanite, the medium sized rectangular stones are opal, and the small stones are diamonds.

I'm back to my old routine - classes, mah jong, guild, quilting, and all the little things that have to be done around the house that I've been letting go. I think I want to go back to the Caribbean.

I guess I should post a picture of the necklace I won too - maybe I'll get my husband to take a picture of that and post it here as soon as he does.

He took some amazing photos while we were in the Everglades, too. The cloud formations were amazing and the sky reflected on the waters was a thrilling sight. He caught birds in flight, alligators swimming, turtles climbing on trees... it's all very pretty - here are a few of them....

Note the baby gator with the two turtles on the log. Aren't they all so cute?

Joe caught this egret in flight, just as it took off...

I love this picture with the clouds reflected in the river.

day 10, Sunday, 2/6/11: Miami

2011-02-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

Ship arrived in Miami at 5:30 am, right on time. Capt. Knorring did a great job. We disembarked about 9am, shuffling off as a large group to our tour buses. Our luggage conveniently stashed on our bus, we left for a trip through Miami to the Everglades.

We arrived at 'Everglades Safari' and took an airboat tour of the Everglades. Learned it was a huge river, not a swamp, and saw lots of interesting birds, alligators, turtles and fish. One of the guides put on a little 'alligator show' at the end, feeding a group of six 'gators in a large cage and talked about their biology and psychology a little while he fed them. Then he brought out 'Snappy', the cutest little baby alligator. We didn't pay for pics with him, but he was SO adorable...

Then it was off to the airport to wait and wait and wait for our 7:30pm plane. The flight was uneventful, we read and slept and read a little more and touched down in LA about 11pm. Took a very brief cab ride to our car at Janet's house. It was far too late for them, so we snuck in and got our keys and left a little note of thanks behind. Hopefully get to actually see Janet on Saturday when we go to the theatre with her mom.

Finally, we reached home around 1am or so... started the first load of laundry and fell gratefully into deep and comfortable sleep in our own bed. That felt so great, even though it was almost 4am for us when we finally got to sleep. Slept til 6am - that's 9am Miami time, so it still felt like enough even though it was only 5 hours sleep. After all the sleeping on the plane, I guess it was enough.

I still feel like I'm on a moving boat... everything feels like it's rocking and rolling... And now it's back to the same old routine. Mah Jong at 10am today, gaming at 6pm. Somewhere in there, I've got to make it to the market for a little shopping - no one is just gonna magically bring food out of the ship's kitchens for me anymore *sigh*. It was a wonderful vacation, but it's good to be home.

Day 9, Sat 2/5/11: at sea

2011-02-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day of our cruise. More classes today – morning and afternoon for me, morning only for Joe. I left the first class early to play bingo and see if I won the cruise – I didn’t win at either, but it was fun. A quick lunch and I ran off to my afternoon class, where we made little journal books using one of our photos from the cruise. That was a lot of fun. Not that the morning class wasn’t fun – it was – just we didn’t get to finish our postcards :(.

Anyway, tonight there is a farewell party for the quilt and photography cruisers, so we’ll go there after dinner. Our bags are 95% packed already – just waiting for last minute additions. We get to disembark early because we are going on a city and everglades tour when we reach Miami. That should be fun and it would have been such a shame to fly all the way to Florida and see nothing of Miami while we were here.

Tomorrow we sleep in our own beds again – that will be a welcome change, even though I’ll miss all the glorious service while on the cruise. It really has been heavenly.

Day 8, Fri 2/4/11: at sea

2011-02-05T05:37:00.001-08:00

Today was busy with classes morning and afternoon for me, just in the morning for Joe. I managed to sneak in some bingo late morning and early afternoon as well. We had a nice, late Italian dinner at Impressions, then off to bed…

Day 7, Thurs 2/3/11: Basseterre, St. Kitts

2011-02-04T05:30:00.000-08:00

We woke, had an early breakfast, knowing we would need an early lunch to make our railway excursion around the island at 12:45. After lunch, we left the ship a little early, did some shopping and I got my hair braided – we barely made the bus to the train.

The St. Kitts Scenic Railway is an old narrow gauge rail line that was once used for the sugar plantations on the island. Now it is strictly used for tourism. But that makes total sense since the island as a whole decided a few years back to end the sugar trade on the island and survive totally on tourism. The sugar plantations are going to seed and weed, while other crops are grown in some areas for local use – the land is very fertile.

The train made a complete circuit of the island and we saw so much greenery, I simply can’t even describe it – ‘green’ just doesn’t cover enough… every shade and nuance of verdant growth was evident on the island. I was simply astounded by it all, coming from what is essentially a desert, it’s hard to imagine anything that alive that just simply grows on its own.

On the ride, we learned a lot about the island – how it is actually named St. Christopher’s and appears that way on some older maps, but it is known as St. Kitts almost universally now. Basseterre means ‘low land’, which the city really is, some of it being lower than sea level. The island is covered with small villages, each of which has its own uniqueness.

An American doctor (Dr. Ross, I believe) opened a veterinary college on the island about 20 years ago, and more recently, a nursing college. Both are very successful, though most of the students at the veterinary college are Americans.

Some of the old churches on the island were beautiful, and the old fort we got to see in passing was very cool. I could barely see it, being on the wrong side of the bus when we passed it. I’d love to see the fort if I ever get to come back here again.

Another place I’d love to come back and see is the Caribe Batik factory. I really would have loved to tour the factory and visit their gift shop as well. Maybe another visit… or another lifetime.

I DID get to go shopping when we got back to the drop-off point. I picked up gifts for my Stitchin’ Sisters and for Luke and Jennifer as well. Joe took pictures of me with a bunch of little monkeys… they were all over me… hope they didn’t have fleas, lol.

Dinner was excellent on board, as it usually has been… their curried chicken and mango chutney were amazingly good. I’m sorry I got so full on the salmon mousse – I couldn’t even finish my chicken.

After dinner we watched Salt on the ship’s closed circuit TV. I’m really sorry I missed this one in the theatre. After dinner will be time for bed. Tomorrow we go back to having classes again. I have no idea which classes are which, but I’ll find out when I get there…

Posted Friday morning 2/4… just because I’m that slow.

Day 6, Weds. 2/2/11: Bridgetown, Barbados

2011-02-03T04:11:00.000-08:00

After a quick breakfast and an internet café break, we headed out for a boat ride and shipwreck snorkel off Brown’s Beach in Barbados. The Harbormaster, basically a party boat, took us to the beach where we swam in the clearest, most turquoise ocean water I’ve ever seen. After lounging on outrageously expensive beach chairs for a while, we went out to snorkel the two shipwrecks right off the shore at Brown’s Beach.

The fish were incredibly ‘tame’, not afraid of the swimmers at all, in fact one came and nibbled on the end of my finger for a second. He swam off when he realized I wasn’t edible. We saw garfish and needlefish and a whole bunch of tropical fish I don’t have names for – beautiful striped fish, black fish with white tails, a beautiful blue-edged fish who glowed in the sunlight, tiny bright yellow fish that darted in and out of one wreck… it was all incredibly beautiful. Put all the other snorkeling I’ve done til now to shame. I probably won’t waste my time and money snorkeling off the coast of Mexico ever again…

We didn’t get back to the ship til 3:30, both incredibly hungry, so we had a little snack and went to play Bingo again (didn’t win, oh well). Dinner will be late tonight and there’s supposed to be a comedy juggler performing tonight. Perhaps we’ll try to catch his act. I really do miss the Flying Karamazov Brothers…

Joe had a headache, fell asleep early... as did I. We missed the show, but slept well.

Posted 2/3/11 because, again, minutes are halved in the early morning internet cafe on board.

Day 5, Tuesday 2/1/11: St. John’s, Antigua

2011-02-02T04:17:00.000-08:00

We slept a little better last night. These beds are like rocks, but our cabin stewards, Benito and Everton brought us a second set of comforters so we could sleep on top of one and under the other. It helped a little.

The ship docked in Antigua about 8:30 and we disembarked a little while later. Warm, humid and windy, we braved the elements such as they were and decided to take a walk around town. I wanted my free charm bracelet from one of the shops in town and to take a look at the pretty jewelry.

I was entranced by a few rings, but the prices put me off a bit – way to pricey for me. Then I spotted a pair of earrings with tanzanite, opal and diamonds. The price was over $1100, but I bargained her down to $765. Despite Joe’s disapproving looks, I bought the earrings! OMG… they are worth more than all my other jewelry put together. I love them. So of course now we have to eat out at one of the nicer restaurants tonight so I can show them off…

We made reservations for Le Bistro, the French restaurant on board… with just enough time to have a quick shower between bingo and dinner. It must be ok, Joe has stopped with the disapproving looks finally… I think he’s gotten used to the idea that I just spent almost half a mortgage payment on a single piece of jewelry, lol… men just don’t get it. Personally I think he should be thrilled that I’m not addicted to purses and shoes, too.

While we were in town we visited the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda. Very interesting collection of artifacts and information on the formation of the islands, sources of population and the blending of cultures. This museum was much better curated than the museum in Road Town, Tortola. I thought it was kind of interesting that they gave the history of their building as well. At one time it was the local courthouse. After sustaining earthquake damage, it was taken out of service and empty for some time. The local historical society took over and turned it into a museum… no mention was made of any retrofitting or repairs… we were very happy there were no earthquakes while we were there.

After lunch we decided to download photos and charge up electronics… boring but necessary. Joe finished his book, so I’d better finish reading mine so he can read it next. Done and done…

Dinner at le Bistro was very very good, we even tried the salmon mousse, which, for those who know us well, was a huge leap of faith. We even got to sample some appetizers that they are ‘previewing’ before adding them to the menu. The duck mousse was incredible. I had escargot and rack of lamb… so tender and delicious… I couldn’t eat like that every day, but what a sweet way to punctuate our vacation – with an exceptional meal.

Time for bed…. Joe is at the cinema on board to watch Quantum of Solace, and I have the room to myself for a bit. I’m gonna read myself to sleep. Tomorrow we get to Bridgetown, Barbados where Joe and I are scheduled to take a boat ride and go snorkeling. Big day, need rest…

Posted 2/2/11 because I was just too tired to head to the cafe last night, and there's free minutes if you use the internet in the morning anyway. Off to Barbados now....

Day 4 Monday 1/31/11: Tortola

2011-01-31T16:04:00.000-08:00

Again the day was warm, even warmer than yesterday and a bit more humid. We had no excursion planned, so we just walked around Road Town, the capital of Tortola. We shopped a little, Joe bought a new hat, I bought a piratey-looking bag that says ‘Time flies when you’re having rum’…. All very cutesy but I wanted a momento of our stop in Tortola.

We also visited their Folk Museum, which is was a very small museum of the history of the island and it’s peoples. Basically it was an anthropology museum and had a lot of interesting information about the indigenous peoples of the area and the African and English influences as well. There were a few artifacts on display, both pre- and post-historical.

One of the things I noticed about everything in Road Town – it was NOT for the mobility-hampered! Every little shop had 2 or 3 steps up to get inside. The Folk Museum had two sets of VERY steep steps leading up it… I let Joe help me get up them, they were that steep. Still, it was worth the effort.

It was nice that there were lovely little tree-shaded plazas with benches scattered here and there about the town so we could stop and rest from time to time.

The people were warm and friendly. When we asked directions of a lovely young woman with her son tagging along behind, she directed us straight to our destination. It was a good thing we asked too, because Joe thought it was in the other direction. Men!

We returned to the ship just in time for a nice lunch, then a swim in the ship’s pool. Finally, we returned to the room for showers, relaxation and naps. Joe then took a long walk around the ship while I read on the balcony, enjoying the warm afternoon sun and warmth. Maybe a little too much sun today – I’m pretty pink all over… me who usually tans instead of burns. Anyway, I didn’t want to change out of my pj’s, which I put on after my shower, so we went to the buffet (that IS what NCL’s freestyle cruising is supposed to be all about – you don’t have to dress for dinner if you don’t want to).

Now, I’m off to the internet café to check email and post this summation of our day in Tortola, to let Benito and Everton make up our room for the night. Oh, I could definitely live the rest of my life with this kind of service…

Day3, Sunday 1/30/11: Samana

2011-01-31T04:47:00.000-08:00

Warm and balmy weather prevailed in the Dominican Republic today, though the morning looked cloudy and even a bit rainy in the distance. It soon cleared leaving beautiful blue skies. We took the tender boat to Cayo Lavantado beach, where we swam, snorkeled, and relaxed in the sun for a couple of hours. I got to see a puffer fish and a needle fish, lots of starfish, sea urchins, and a few jellyfish too.

The beach sands were gleaming white and the water around the beach was a brilliant pale turquoise and so very very clear. It’s no wonder the Caribbean is such a draw for people – the colors alone are awe-inspiring. Everything from the waters to the greens of the vegetation – all of it was brilliant and just seemed jewel-like in the sun. The next time someone calls something 'Caribbean Blue' I won't scoff and say 'the ocean isn't that color'. I could live in a place like this!

I bought a few trinkets on the way back to the ship. Joe took a nap while I read and relaxed. We enjoyed a nice lobster dinner with a couple from Minnesota and another from Alaska. After dinner there was comedy from what I have to guess is second-stringers from Second City Comedy. Some of it was funny, some of it just missed the mark, if you know what I mean. Still, it was an enjoyable hour.

Dark Knight is on the NCL tv tonight… I’ll let Joe sleep while I watch and read… then time for bed for me too – tomorrow we’ll be in Tortola… nothing special planned, just gonna go into town and walk around for a while, take it easy and slow. Posted Monday morning, when internet rates are halved for the morning.

Oh… I forgot to mention – I went to play Bingo today. I didn’t win at Bingo, but they did have a drawing for a diamond and sapphire necklace… I WON the raffle! The diamond you practically need a magnifying glass to see but the sapphire is quite a bit larger. It’s a very dark blue and I’m sure it’s all just shy of costume jewelry (or they wouldn’t be giving it away). Still, it was very cool to win and I can’t wait to have a chance to wear it.

Day2, Saturday 1/29: at sea.

2011-01-29T18:12:00.001-08:00

We both felt 100% more human on Saturday morning. We got up, had a nice breakfast in the restaurant and ran off to our respective classes. I learned a lot about EQ7 today, and Joe said he learned at least 4 things he didn’t even know his camera could do, so we both learned a lot. The first class was about using photographs in EQ7… very interesting and there’s SO much to do with photos…

One thing I noticed is how very very blue the Caribbean is. It is a beautiful clear blue without that greenish cast I’m used to seeing in the Pacific. Amazingly blue and the bits of sky we can see between clouds is a pale echo of the sea.

After lunch, I had another class and Joe went off to walk around the deck, get some eye candy with all the pretty ladies around the pool, and take a nap. My second class was a more basic EQ7 class, and though I’ve played with the program a bit, I still learned several things that I didn’t know before.

It’s Saturday night and we’ve decided to skip the shows, casino, shops and other entertainments. We’re sitting in our stateroom listening to the ocean. Our balcony door is open – it’s actually warmer outside than inside at 9pm… We’re watching a little tv, but we’ll settle in for some personal time to ourselves…

Day 1, Friday 1/28: Miami.

2011-01-29T18:10:00.000-08:00

The flight was relatively uneventful – we arrived about 5am in Miami – right on time. However, we had a really long wait to get to the ship. They weren’t supposed to let people on til about noon, so we decided to wait in the airport, have a leisurely breakfast and settle in and relax, read, nap. Unfortunately, once we picked up our luggage, we were outside the area where the coffee shop was at the airport and we couldn’t get through clearance again…. Nothing in the outside area except a Starbucks. So that’s where we had breakfast – muffins and coffee. By 8:30ish we were DONE with waiting around the airport. We trekked our way to the taxi stand and found a cab to take us to the port. We got a very limited view of Miami on the way to our ship, which turned out to be a very short drive – only about 15 or 20 minutes.

Needless to say, it we were early… the previous cruise’s passengers were still disembarking. Now this is Miami, even though it IS winter, and we were expecting warm weather like what we left behind in California. It was cold, cloudy and windy down at the port and we were very uncomfortable with a 2 hour wait in store. I asked if we could just come inside and wait inside the terminal and a very nice security lady checked our passports and e-docs and let us wait inside. Shortly thereafter, others started filtering in, so we weren’t the only ones who were hours early.

After about an hour wait indoors out of the cold and wind, the slow process of being moved from one room to another began and we were seated in a large room where we waited for the last few passengers to disembark and the last of the crew to join the ship. It looked like they had a whole new cadre of employees joining the cruise, too.

Finally they let us start to board… hooray! It was still cold and windy, and Joe and I were already beat… It was noonish on Friday and both of us had been mostly awake since Thursday morning. We were in need of food, sleep and showers, and not necessarily in that order. Even though they let us on board, the staterooms weren’t ready yet and our luggage was still in being loaded. We wandered a bit, found something to eat. It’s a cruise – there’s ALWAYS food, everywhere. Finally we curled up in the library… I found a sofa to doze on, Joe found a comfy chair. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally the announcement came – the staterooms were ready for us.

We went to our room and relaxed for a bit. Our quilt & photography group had a get-together at 5pm, so we were afraid to actually go to sleep for fear of sleeping right through it, so we unpacked our bags. We made a brief appearance at the get-together, had a little liquor (bad idea on such little sleep), and made our excuses and slipped off to have dinner and get some sleep. We saw the line at the restaurant and had dinner at the buffet. After a quick dinner we crawled back to our room and fell asleep, too pooped to even shower and change…

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2011-01-26T23:11:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I leave for LAX and a flight to Miami, where we join our shipmates for an 8 day cruise through the Caribbean. We will have stops in Samana, Antigua, Barbados, Tortola and St. Kitts. When we're not stopped in our various ports of call, we'll be taking classes - Joe will be learning photography techniques and I will be learning EQ7. Mostly the EQ7 classes will be on using photographs in quilts, but hopefully I'll learn more about using the program itself during the course of things.

I'm SO looking forward to the cruise. The Xanax has helped me remain calm in these days before the cruise and I've been sleeping through the night... mostly. Tonight is the last night before we fly, so we'll see how things go. The packing is mostly done except for last minute things, so tomorrow I will play mah jong in the morning and leave the final preparations to my DH to handle.

E-docs are printed, boarding passes are printed... there's just so much to think about before a trip! I can't imagine how these ladies handle things when they have to transport their sewing machines by plane as well... Even with just a featherweight, it must be a nightmare to fly to a quilting cruise. Just bringing a pair of computers and all the camera equipment is a bit of a nightmare...

Speaking of nightmares... it's almost time for bed and sleep. Hopefully I will return home more tanned, with a stronger grasp of EQ7 and some lovely trip photos to remember this vacation.

It will be nice having a room to ourselves as well - usually we have to share our room with a dog, two cats and the door has to remain open all the time so the critters can get in and out at their leisure - they are very demanding when things (like closed doors) don't go their way. Makes having private time very unlikely at home... We will have a lovely stateroom to ourselves for 8 days and nights! hooray!

Well, off to bed with me... tomorrow this time of night I'll be winging my way to Miami... peace out.