A New Visitor

  My son, Matt saw that I was having fun "blogging" and asked if he could too.  I helped him set up his page and then he was off and running.  He has more bells and whistles on his page than I knew you could add!  A few days ago,  he convinced me to add one of his "whistles" to my blog.  I honestly didn't think anything of it....until now.  I just noticed that I've had a visitor from Los Gatos, CA.  I used to live there, (many, many years ago). So, I'm wondering....do I know you?  If so, please leave me a comment!  Anyway, -  either way, thanks for visiting!

Sweet Sunshine

You wouldn't know that it's winter just by looking outside - or even by taking a long leisurely walk in the sunshine.  It's January 31st and it's been in the 70's for a week now, and they are saying that it will get into the 80's over the next few days!!

Sunshine -aka: "Sunny"

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining.  The warmth of the sunshine is wonderful.  I enjoy not having to wear my fuzzy socks to bed.  And Sunshine (Sara's bunny) loves to play in the garden.  She knows to stay under cover.  she must have heard us talking about the Golden Eagle.  Which has been back hunting Coots. - Sara saw it last week being harassed by a couple of Red Tail Hawks after it caught another Coot.  It finally dropped the Coot and flew away.  I wouldn't think that a few hawks would bother a massive eagle. Perhaps it had already eaten and it wasn't really hungry.

 Quilting class was yesterday.  We made a miniature quilt. -  Little x's for Valentine's Day. It measures 12"x12".

I have a Honey Bun (an assortment of 42" x 1 and 1/2" strips of a collection of fabric) of Mary Engelbreit's Attitude Girls, so I used a few strips from that.  I'm going to add the red ric-rac around the outside edge after I quilt it.

Almost everyone brought in their House quilts to show. (I was one who didn't) They are all so cute!  I think I'm the slowest sewer in the class.  I really wonder if I even belong in that class!  There are so many very gifted quilters!  I just sit and sew and listen.  I know I'm going to learn a lot on Mondays!  Julie and Jill are wonderful teachers - both very creative and always sharing their tricks and tips.  It's fun to be in a class where I feel challenged - and no, I don't mean mentally challenged ;)  They keep a pretty fast pace.  We will be doing a new quilt each month, so there's no slacking off!  That's good for me - it will keep me focused and off the couch! - And I will get to use some of that fabric that keeps piling up!

I should have the House quilt done tomorrow.   I just have to sew together the pinwheels, some four-patch blocks, make three heart blocks, and sew the rows together.  I'm adding one more 4" row below the last row of houses.  I found some blue plaid homespun for half price at Bits and Pieces Quilt Shop last Friday.  I will use that for the border and binding.

Then it's time to check off a few items from my UFO list.  The wall hanging is only a few hours away from being finished.  The appliqué scrap quilt just needs to be quilted.  That will be two items - one for January and one for February.

 This is the reason I didn't finish my quilt last weekend.  Fred and I tiled the fireplace in our bedroom.  We chose a natural slate mosaic for the face of the fireplace surround.  The hearth is 6" natural slate.  It is edged with a ceramic rounded trim tile that is painted to match the slate.  It was pretty easy and I'm really happy with the (nearly) finished product!  We need to grout and seal the tiles.  The sealer will actually darken the tiles and show their true colors - which are pretty gray right now.  So, there's a household project UFO almost ready to be checked off!

This is the "before" shot

Next, we will paint our bedroom and put a closet organizer in the walk-in closet.  We've been in this house 8 years at the end of this month - I want to finish our bedroom!! - We're only a few weeks away!

Another productive month - even with almost a week of down time.  It's very satisfying to be able to look back at what I've accomplished each week.  Now, I need to make some time to clean the house...........

More Fabric Fun

The quilt for the Quilts of Valor is finished!  (except binding).  I was so worried that I wouldn't get it quilted.  I hate how life gets in the way of the best laid plans!

I'm (somewhat) happy with the way that it turned out.  I quilted (freehand) random swirls all over.  To represent the wind.  It was the first time I quilted that pattern, and there were areas that were less than perfect - definitely room for improvement!  It does look very nice and it came out very cuddly - I was striving for a loose pattern that would result in a soft quilt.

Later in the evening, Diane brought over her Surfboard/Beach quilt for me to put on the longarm.  I ended up quilting allover feathers in a free flowing design. (freehand - I prefer to quilt on the front end of the machine) When I was drawing it on my dry erase board, we agreed that it looked like kelp. Perfect! (I don't know what that says about my feathers!)  What a fun pattern to quilt.  I finished it around 12:30 am.  Poor Diane nearly fell asleep in my big comfy chair.  I was having so much fun, I lost track of time!   (One UFO done for Diane!)  I have a week to catch up!


Sorry about the poor photo quality - the flash kept washing out the colors and without the flash the colors are all muddy.  Taking photos in the wee hours of the morning is not a good idea.

The House Quilt is coming along.  I'm playing around with a layout.  I still have to appliqué the letters for the Home Sweet Home panel.  There are 3 more paper-pieced hearts left to make and 4 more houses.  I'm planning on adding some blocks in the borders too.  I should have it done by the end of this coming weekend....maybe.


I delivered the Quits of Valor quilt to Fat Quarters this afternoon.  There on the sign by the front door: 30's Reproduction Fabric 25% off!!  Woohoo!  I had a list of fabric that I needed for my tablecloth quilt -all 30's Reproduction -  getting it on sale makes it that much more fun to shop! 8 - 1/2 yard cuts for $20 and some change! What a deal!  That's pretty much all I need, I have backing fabric and I found a white floral in my stash to go along with it all.

Vintage Tablecloth and 30's Reproduction Fabrics

UFO Fabric

I'm thrilled to have finally come up with a project to use this floral.  I bought this 4 years ago on a quilt run.  I loved it then - thought I would make a table runner.  That idea seemed great at the time, but I never got around to it, probably because I didn't have a pattern that I loved as much as the fabric.  I do believe this qualifies for a UFO.  That will be a two for one!
Notice how I always manage to buy some more fabric.  It's like paint (I'm a painter too - did that all the time before I discovered quilting).  Without  the right paint colors, you just can't paint what's going on in your head.  I can't make a quilt if I don't have all of the right colors!  Thankfully, I have a husband who understands my creative bent.  I think I amuse him at times, and other times, he just shakes his head :)

A Little Bit of This and That....

Here's what I've come up with so far.

My "peepers" are healing beautifully and I've been able to get in some sewing time during the last three days.  Icing every hour for the past five days really messed up my plans to get some things done over the weekend.    I have one UFO that has to be done by the end of the month, a quilt to get back to Michelle at Fat Quarters, and my class project is halfway there and needs to be done in two weeks! (or it may end up in the UFO pile!)  I have to take it easy and no bending or lifting for 8 days!  I can't stand it!  That left the longarm out, but sitting at the sewing machine was doable :)  I came up with a plan for my little houses.  I want it to be a wall hanging for the family room.

Think "Wheel of Fortune" A phrase that has something to do with houses.

I've also been busy designing a quilt made with fabric from a vintage tablecloth.  Diane and I found it at The Urban Barn in Escondido.  We both loved it and instead of fighting for it we decided to split it - literally.  It has 75 little 6" squares with bunches of strawberries and blossoms.  I searched the Internet for ideas (love the images other quilters share!) I get so inspired by the creative works by other quilters.

How, you may be asking, do you divide 75 by two?  Quilter's math prevails in this situation!  The first one finished wins the extra square!!
The race is on Diane ;)

Anyway, I found this great blog: Oh, Fransson.com.  She has a really cute tablecloth quilt that inspired me enough to dig into my Mary Engelbreit scraps to make mine! Her quilt is called Ric Rac Quilt.   Check out her blog - she has lots of great tutorials too!

So, I figure, while I'm working on the other two quilts that are halfway there....I might as well jump right in and start another one!  Its a necessity really - kind of like a mind clearing exercise.  Too many ideas crammed in my head and something is gonna give.  Either give birth to a new project that has been simmering for months,  or suffer a creative meltdown!

I have been able to do one creative thing every day.  When I was in bed icing for a few days, I drew and calculated and figured and doodled.  The result was two quilt designs and one quilting pattern for the Quilt of Valor Quilt - which must be completed tomorrow!  I'm good enough to handle a few hours on the longarm.

The Answer is:  Home Sweet Home

  

Fred says it looks like Nome Sweet Nome.  There is freezer paper on the backs of the letters and they've curled a bit, distorting the letters.  This will go in a row between my houses.  I still have to remove the paper and stitch everything in place.



I've gotten a request to make a T-Shirt Quilt.  Working on a design for that too.  Mostly brainstorming at this stage.  That might take the front of the line shortly - business first, as they say :)  Thankfully, my business is always fun!

Little Houses

I went to my Monday quilting class and made lots of little houses.  These little guys are fun!  I'm just not sure about how I want to put them together.  I'm really struggling with making a quilt that 9 other people are making. Somehow, I have to be different!   I've been reworking it and I'm going to put my own spin on it.........you will have to wait for the reveal in a few weeks :)

I'm quilting this for Michelle, the owner of Fat Quarter's Quilt Shop.  This is a quilt that will be donated to the Quilts of Valor.  Very cool to see all of the names and states on each of the blocks. The hands of women from all over the United States made these little stars.

 

I love what Pastor Jason shared tonight.  (we are studying the book of Revelation) He has so many great insights - I struggle to keep up with his train of thoughts!  This is one thing that he said that I got down..
"God is doing something in you right now that He can't do any other way.  It won't last forever because this life is not all that there is".  Something to think about....

Playing Catchup

Well, I didn't get done what I had planned, but I did get a lot done.  Where are the slip covers?  All of the pieces are right where I left them, in a pile under the longarm.  Sigh.......I would so love to have a newly covered couch.

I took on a "small "quilting job for a former member of my Home Arts group. The challenge was figuring out a way to quilt it on the long arm without distorting it, since it had already been finished using the quick turn method. (putting top, bottom, and batting together, sewing around the edges and then turning right side out. ) It was then stitched around all of the edges.  The entire middle of the quilt was not quilted and it hadn't been "tied" -which is usually how  "quick turn" quilts are finished.  

Lots of research and doodling on my dry erase board.  More research and then it came to me!  If I avoided an all-over pattern going from side to side, I wouldn't shift the layers.  I found a cute little bird pattern in one of my books and used that for the center of the larger blocks.  I did a freehand scroll on all of the borders and in the sashing - making sure I alternated the direction of my quilting in each strip so as to even out the tension on the fabric.  Amazingly, it worked.  No puckers, no tucks, no pleats!  And a cute little quilt stabilized and ready for Grandma :)

A Bee Hive

We discovered that a whole lot of bees were going in and out of the in-ground water meter box.  Matt taped off the openings and we left it alone for a few weeks.  Monday, Matt heard no more humming of bees, so he opened the box.  This is what he found attached to the underside of the lid of the box.  The bees were all dead in a pile at the bottom of the box.  I know....we're suppose to be doing what we can to save the bees.  I called a bee keeping group and they weren't interested in moving the hive. I then did some research  and read that regular honey bees rarely build a hive underground.  Usually, the Africanized honey bees will build a hive anywhere - including in water meter boxes.  Enough said - we got rid of them before the hive got huge!  Another Wild Kingdom moment on the ranch!

Back to my projects......I did jump back onto one of my UFOs (unfinished objects).

Diane gave me this kit last  Christmas! I pieced the pack and borders - I even quilted the background and cut out all of the little appliqué pieces.  I just  never got around to putting on the basket and all of the flowers and leaves.  I had everything cut out and waiting for almost a year!  There can be a problem with having a box for everything - out of sight - out of mind.  I got distracted, moved onto something new and there it sat.  I love this little quilt!  I have stitched a blanket stitch around several of the pieces.  It's on my design wall and there it will stay until it's finished.  (hopefully next week).  Ok....it's out there and now I'm committed :)

I had a strip of the Minky left over from Amy's scarf and some white Minky left over from a pillow case, so I made myself a little scarf!  It's been cold here the last few days.  Once the sun goes down it drops into the low 40's -30's.  I wore it to church tonight and I was snuggly warm!

Bob was happy to be my model!

Tomorrow I go in to have some surgery on the outside corners of my eyes.  Some corrective work to fix two small indentations that developed after my eyelid surgery.  My surgeon told me to go out and buy a sleep mask to protect the sutures when I'm sleeping.  

Why buy something you can make?!  I found a great little pattern online and I used some more Minky scraps and some leftover elastic. Not the most glamourous - but it works!  Both of the kids want me to make them one !

Bo, my cottage kitty, taking a little catnap.

Adventures in Decorating

Fourteen years ago this was a stylish and comfortable denim sectional.  And then came Matt, Sam (our German Shepherd), Sara,  Bob (our Shepherd Chow Retriever), Molly (our Shepherd, Rottweiler), and Bo (our Chocolate Lab.), Daisy and Sunshine (Sara's bunnies) and countless movies nights and days dedicated to sports and snacks.  It has pretty much been the center of most of our indoor activities.  I fought the dogs for years.  Actually, Sam wasn't on the couch much - it never had a good view of the door.  Eventually, I gave up - they would sneak onto the couch as soon as we went to bed or went out the door for the day.  So, through all of the wear and tear, I washed those seat covers dozens of times -  going through gallons of Spray and Wash!


A few months ago, it finally gave way.  The cushions split, just like a well worn pair of jeans do.  First one, then the next within a few weeks of each other.  The pressure was on.  I knew that a new sectional was not in the budget.  We dreamed of beautiful leather sofas.  And then the thoughts of teenagers, nachos, and soda would quickly bring me back to reality.   I knew it was my job to restore our living room to a comfortable haven.  I began digging through all of my upholstery fabric that I have been "collecting" for this very occasion.  I have always wanted a sofa that had the look of patchwork quilt.  Different fabrics on different parts - a shabby chic look - country style.  French Country style.  A few yards of this and a few yards of that -  all sewn together in a washable slip cover.    (I have no idea why this is in blue font)

These are the fabric for the cushions.  I put them each on the longarm and quilted them to add some durability and softness.  Plus, I got a lot of practice on a few patterns I had wanted to try out before putting them on a quilt!  The red toile is a linen by Waverly that I bought when it was on sale at Home Fabrics for $2 per yard.  The red and cream checks is a cotton by Waverly.  The red is a brushed denim which turned out to be my favorite after quilting.

I've gotten all of the pieces cut out and the red piping sewn on the top and bottom of one of the cushions.  Sewing those huge quilted pieces is quite the work-out!  It's  a wrestling match trying to keep them straight going thought the machine! So far, I've come out on top!   Tomorrow I will sew in the zippers and put it all together - the cushion covers, anyway.  The slip cover for the body of the sofa will have to wait until this weekend.

My surprise finally arrived - I sent theses two scarves to Amy in Colorado.  I thought she could use a couple of Minky hugs :)
There's nothing like some Minky therapy to smooth the wrinkles out of your day!    One with daisies (Amy likes daisies)




and one that has more of a sophisticated look with an embossed paisley pattern.  Minky makes awesome pillowcases!  I made one for Sara.  Then one for myself - which Fred kept trying to take for himself, so I made one for him.  Then Matt kept trying to run off with our pillows, so I made him one!

 

This is the quilt that we started in my Monday quilting class.  I had to send a screen shot from my phone because the file wouldn't open on my desk top computer (???)  I'm using scraps, but of course, I had to pick up a few fat quarters to go with what I had .  I didn't have the right blue, and I was short on browns and tans.  And a new red thrown in just made it all come together :)  I guess that defeats the purpose of a scrap quilt, doesn't it?  Oh well...I'll just have to live with a few more scraps - to make another scrap quilt!  This is exactly why you can't make just one quilt - you never use all of the fabric and the scraps just keep multiplying!  And no, I'm not a fabric hoarder - I have been known to share my scraps on occasion, and I throw away anything smaller than 1.5 " ;)

I found an awesome website that has more patterns than I could make in my lifetime - all made from scraps!  Quiltville.com  Check it out - there's lots of inspiration to be found there!

A Quilted Christmas

Heres the latest photo of the Hartmans:

 me and Sara are in the back and Matt and Fred in front.

 I made a few quilts as gifts this Christmas.  I had always wanted to make a "Tumbling Blocks" quilt, so I found a book online:  ABC 3-D  by Marci Baker. I used it as a guide to put together this table runner.  Marci Baker does an amazing job explaining how easy it is to put together something that appears so complicated!  This is definitely my new favorite quilt pattern!  I used the beautiful Japanese taupes and bought enough to make one for myself!  This one went to Fred's dad, Dennis.

Here's a close-up of the quilting.  That was a lot of fun - I got to practice using my ruler on the long arm.  It was much easier than I had anticipated! This table runner measures 16"x48".

 Working with the Japanese taupes, I realized that Siamese cats would look amazing in those same fabrics.  So, I found a few different quilt block patterns online and put them together to make this little kitty quilt. I had to modify the cat pattern to make it a Siamese cat .  It measures 26"x26".  This one was for Carole and her Siamese kitty "Muffin". I chose to make four Siamese cats because over the years, Carole has had four Siamese cats - Jataka, Sobeit, Tree(sp?) and Muffin being the fourth.

The most challenging quilt project of the year was repairing and finishing a vintage quilt that was started in the 1950s by Fred's grandmother, Alberta Haseman.  Fred's mom, Vernice, asked me if I could finish it last Christmas.  For 6 months I stared at it and waited for some divine inspiration!  In October, I found the fabrics I wanted to use for the borders and backing.  I then spent several more weeks looking at it and agonizing over how to repair the batting and backing.  It appeared as though they had both shifted while Alberta was handquilting the blocks.  The blocks happen to be made up of fabric from  house dresses she had worn back in the '50s.  Vernice said that the one striped block (lower right corner) was the fabric used in a pair of her (Vernice's) pants that she wore as a child. I knew that I didn't want to disturb the hand quilting that Alberta had patiently applied to all of those blocks.  But, I decided that I would carefully pull out the outermost three inches of stitching around three sides so that I could splice in a piece of flannel (which is what she used for the batting) onto the original flannel.  I used some of her scraps to repair the backing so that it covered all of the batting.  I then re-stitched her quilting.




To finish the quilt, I decided to bring out three of the most prominent colors in the quilt by adding three borders.   I then determined that the backing was too thin to endure any kind of use - it was very fine and sheer.  So, I backed the whole quilt with the same grey-blue Kona cotton that I used in the middle border. I quilted the whole quilt by stitching in the ditch (leaving all of the hand quilting in place).  I stitched a leaf design (that I took from one of the fabrics) in the middle border.  I stitched a ruffled flower in the outer border - a design inspired by one of the flowers in the fabrics used throughout the quilt center.   I think it turned out beautiful!  It looks like a modern quilt - Alberta was ahead of her time!

The bottom picture is what it looked like when I started.  60 years later it has finally become a quilt that can be treasured!  I gave it to Vernice for Christmas.

I have been keeping up with my goals for the new year. Although,  I missed a blog post - I think I made up for that today!  I have been doing something creative everyday.  I quilted a large  panel of upholstery fabric with an all-over  meander pattern (on the longarm).  I will be using it to make the new slip covers for my sectional couch.

I also made a few surprise gifts for a special friend.  Can't tell you what just yet - they've been mailed and when they arrive, I will post photos.

Tomorrow I start my new quilting class at Fat Quarters Quilt Shop!  I'll show you what we will be working on in tomorrow's post!

Good Night!

Sandy

Breathtaking Beauty

Today we were privileged to watch a Golden Eagle in our backyard.  As Fred stood on the patio, he watched an eagle swoop down overhead and dive into a flock of Coots at the edge of the pond.  Fred called me outside and moments later, with it's meal clutched tightly in it's talons, the eagle flew to the top of the bank.  For several minutes it feasted without ever detecting that we were all gathered at the edge of the patio taking dozens of photographs.  Notice the other ducks - a few Coots and a flock of Widgeons floated nearby.  If I was a duck I would have been hiding in the cattails!

Another Wild Kingdom moment on the ranch!

And then as quickly as it came, it was gone.  Wow!

Happy New Year!

Today was a beautiful start to a new year - it was a warm and sunny day here in Southern California. 85 degrees warm! The pool even heated up to 68 degrees. So much for a polar bear plunge!

The day was filled with church in the morning, football all afternoon with a long leisurely nap thrown in for good measure!

I usually don't make New Year's Resolutions, but today I feel the need to regroup and set new goals.

Along with other more personal items, these are the goals I have in my "artful" life:

*Make a Blog entry at least 3 days a week.

*Do something artistic everyday.

*Practice on the longarm at least every other day.

*Sew slip covers for the sectional couch, and sleeper sofa.

*Sew a cover for the pool table and air hockey table.

*Complete one UFO a month

*Finish painting the "cottage" - the window sills and the decorative painting on the walls.

That should keep me busy for the rest of the year!