On a rollFrom early April!

 This post has been lost in my drafts! Wrote it about a month ago...

I did get to my whole cloth quilt yesterday.  Sat and ripped out the corner flowers and the rabbits.  Decided that it had enough busyness and only needed the straight lines finished. So I think I am on the downhill slope for that one.  About 15 years on my ufo list!

Am planning to stop by Quilters Quarters after the guild meeting this morning to pick up my buck a block and the Birthday Bloom block. When I have finished those I will dig in my ufo bin for the next project to finish.  I am thinking that I will do the one I started in a class with Marian Nathan Robertson (not sure of name) where I hand dyed the fabric.  It is pretty retro - grey, pink and charcoal!

While runching through my ufos I found this finished top and back! I hand pieced it in a class at College of Marin about 13 years ago! The Big Guy and I looked at it on the bed and decided to make it a summer weight quilt and also to hand quilt it as it is hand pieced. Maybe I'll use that new technique with perle cotton.  So it looks like I won't be at a loss for quilting to do for the rest of this year. 

 

Laurel Birch flannel for the back

 I also want to work with my Flynn Frame to improve my machine quilting.  Am planning to use the 12" orphan blocks from Birthday Blooms and make them into wall hangings or pillows and  practice machine quilting on them.

Hand drafted and pieced sampler blocks

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I can't believe it is April already and I've only posted once this year! I have been quilting, though! Finished the quilt for my cousin's grandson and it has been deployed, with them, to Italy. My first international quilt and it is an original design by me!

 

The quilt for Roller Derby daughter is at a new long-arm quilter.  We are trying Ladybug Quilts service. They are the local Manteca quilt shop and I spoke with the owner and long-armer at the Manteca  Quilt Guild show in March. They are reasonable but, as usual, slow. The Big Guy keeps asking when it will be done.

 

One of the ladies at church has invited me to join the Tuleberg Quilt Guild which is the Stockton guild.  Tomorrow will be the second meeting. It is a large, cheerful group.

Another of my lady friends from church is in the hospital.  She has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. If you are so inclined pray for Annette - thanks.

The large ones are my fabric, small are Fassett fabric

This year I decided that, in addition to the block a month at Quilters Quarters, I would also do buck a block. The point is to keep me quilting and it has.  In addition to doing the monthly block, which I do twice - the first time with my own scraps to work out the block because they are hard - and the second time with the fabric provided. That quilt, called Birthday Blooms, is also going to one of my cousin's grandchildren. The buck a block is with Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I have to say that I am disappointed with the
quality of the fabric. But the colors are nice.  So with that one I make the block with 2 1/2" Thangles and the fabric provided, then I make it again with some of my own fabric and larger Thangles.  So, by the end of the year, I will have two quilts to put together.

All of these are birthday blooms for the quilt

The upper right and the lower left are practice blocks, the others are for the quilt. Almost done, I think there are two to go.

Yesterday I finally got back to the quilt for our friend Hugh's granddaughter - Kestrel's Cousins.  Worked diligently on the quilting and finished that! Picked the fabric from my bottomless stash - The Big Guy always helps with that and is rarely wrong - and cut out half of the binding.

Still needs the binding

I've also been working on my whole cloth quilt. Dreamt about the other night and am going to rip out the last part that I did and redesign it. Again!

Removing this

Want it to look more like this

I also made a quilt top for a color class that only one person signed up for - it will be scheduled for later in the year and maybe we will get enough people.

Can you find the mistake?

 Hopefully this post will not be the last for four months again! I do enjoy writing and must push myself to continue doing it.

Happy New Year!

I just spent about twenty minutes blogging only to have it all blow away! The program came up with a message which said "you have unsaved changes", wouldn't let me save, and all my lovely words disappeared!

The feedback feature doesn't solve any problems for the writer so I feel that it is useless.  Researched other blog sites but decided this was as good as any, so am not changing.

Well, I was complaining anyway and who wants to hear that?

I've had the flu and now have a cold so the new year has not started off auspiciously for me. It can only get better!

I did have a very nice Christmas. Almost everything I got was on my wish list. What wasn't I liked very much anyway.

A couple of years ago I got a Cat Borde (sp?) knitting book but never got the 48" needles I needed for the project I wanted to make - a dog bed for our beloved canine companion, Roxy.  Not that she will sleep in it! She prefers being under the covers of our bed, between us with (long) legs stretched out. But I digress. So for Christmas I received not one, not two, but three different sizes of 48" knitting needles!

I am now working diligently on finishing my cable sampler muffler (on regular, boring, aluminum needles) so I can start on the dog bed!

My daughter, artquiltmaker.com has a gluten free slow cooker cookbook that I looked at and really liked.
I received Stephanie O'Dea's follow-up of that cookbook, "More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow" for Christmas, too.  I absolutely love it. I have made twelve of the recipes so far and only one wasn't good. I admit that I didn't follow the recipe on the one that turned out badly. The dog liked it so it wasn't a total loss!

I also received a "Nigella Express" cookbook which is great to read but I never seem to have the ingredients on hand to  make the recipes.  I admit I am not a meal planner prior to going grocery shopping. Perhaps I could try that for the new year so I can get maximum use of my new cookbooks. I now have three gluten free cookbooks so am all set for healthy eating in the new year.

I still have two Christmas presents unfinished! A table topper for my mom and a quilt for Roller Derby Daughter.

Mom's Table Topper

The top is almost pieced and today I researched batt.  She would like to have wool as she lives in a cold and snowy climate.  When she visited during the summer she slept under my quilt with wool batt and really liked it. After some online research I think I am going to use "Quilters Dream" wool batt. Although my favorite quilt shop, Quilters Quarters, carries wool batt and I like to support them.  So we will see.

Scrappy Quilt for Roller Derby Daughter with Orphan Blocks

I realized this morning that I have been quilting up a storm since the spring when I joined the 'Block of the Month Club' at Quilters Quarters in Stockton (their site is under construction so no link).

We (cousin Donna and I) started the quilt pictured above by purchasing fabric at Beverlys in Carmichael on December 1st. I spent about three days on the design, discarding the first because each square had 66 pieces and there were 20 squares! We were looking for quick and easy and that was definitely neither!

This design has three sizes of patches, 20", 10" and 10x5 1/2" and is queen size. I had about a quarter of it sewn together by Sunday night but had made an appointment with a new quilter for Wednesday morning (yes, tomorrow!) so told the Big Guy he was on his own and sewed non-stop pretty much all day. Started at nine in the morning, stopped for lunch, stopped about four to help cut wood (as that is how we heat our house and there is another story there, check facebook), then again at six because the Big Guy offered to take me to dinner at Black Bear. Continued sewing until eleven when I had the top and back finished and ironed!  So, will take it to the quilter and hopefully get it back ASAP. Then Donna and I will sew on the binding.

Artquiltmaker said that I sew well under pressure and she is right!

Here are the rest of this years quilts, only one still not finished.  Well, actually the new one isn't finished but it will be before the end of the year

Solid challenge "Grafix"

Colby's quilt "For the Love of Dogs"

Spotlight pattern, shop sample top

Kestrel's quilt "Kestrel Cousins" Unfinished

Storybook quilt top, shop sample

San Joaquin County Fair "A Bountiful Harvest Challenge. "Picnic Guests"

Wow, six finished and one being quilted. I think that might be an all-time record for me!

On Life and Blogging absence

I became so frustrated with typing on my computer and concurrently blowing away that which I had just typed that I stopped blogging.  Yesterday, at a lovely family Thanksgiving dinner, there was so much talk of blogging that I became inspired to blog once again. So, I'm back.

I may or may not have mentioned on previous blog entries that housekeeping is not one of my strong suits. I did, however, within the past week, evict all spiders and their cozy homes from the house. Yesterday I was sitting in my comfy chair and noticed that there were three (count them - THREE) layers of thick spider webs going from window to bookcase! I felt totally invalidated in the spider web eradication department.  At the same time, the Big Guy and I had been discussing Christmas decorations. I flashed on a fantastic idea for decorations! Now don't laugh until you see pictures because I really am going to do this...

Since the spiders have failed to desist in their web building I am going to have them join in the festivities by sprinkling their webs with either red or green glitter! A Paper Addict suggested that using red would also have the house decorated for Valentines day and the Fourth of July!

After a brief search, I could only find silver glitter. It works great! My spiders have stars in their eyes :-)

Martha Stewart eat your heart out!

Starfall off the fridge cliff

Waiting for Abe Lincoln to step out into the starry night and speak!

Stars over the barn

Spidey checking out the new decor

A beautiful Sunday morning. Only need to quilt and bind my 'solids' quilt for the Quilters Quarters contest.  Will deliver it late tomorrow.  I found the directions after I had the back made and it pinned and ready to quilt. It is 6 inches too small, width-wise!  Played around a little with possibly adding another border. It didn't look good and I didn't have enough fabric. So will just turn it in as it is and see what happens.



My next project is finishing The Big Guy's santa jacket for his stint as the Lathrop santa this December. It is mostly done. He has a few ideas about it which I will try to happily accommodate. Pictures to follow!

It is Tuesday already! Was able to finish the solids quilt which I am calling 'Geometrics'.  I took it to  Quilters Quarters yesterday, then went to the fairgrounds and picked up the 'Bountiful Harvest' quilt. We decided to hang it in the kitchen since it has a food theme.

This is the border preview picture. I forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt.

 

 

 

 

July report (I KNOW, it is September)

The silly sense of humor is family-wide! Papa showed the grandson how to make paper hats. They were so funny I had to send a picture to roller derby daughter. She sent the one on the right back to us!

Hats seemed to be July's theme!  Our (adopted) Austria granddaughters needed hats for camping in the hot weather so we took them shopping.  The big guy really got into shopping, much to the delight of our Austrians!

After shopping we took our Austrians to the local Tower mart where an alien space ship crash landed. They were quite amused.  Together with the Bass Pro Shop, the Tower mart is the only point of interest in our area.

Our Austrian granddaughters at The Bass Pro Shop

We also took the young women to the Manteca 4th of July parade and to breakfast at The Mangy Moose.  Later when we were all talking about the visit they said eating at The Mangy Moose was their favorite outing!  It is our favorite local outing, too.

Later in the month The Big Guy, the Grandson and I drove down to SoCal to visit Super G.

Super G and the grandson  playing Jenga

The puppies getting treats after their outing with the best neighbor in the world. The park where mom lives is full of lovely people. She is very happy there.

And finally, The July block of the month.

A Busy Week

The past week was busier than any I can remember in a long time!   Starting out fairly early, 8 a.m., I went for a check-up blood test at a lab. Didn't get out of there until 9 a.m.! Everyone else in town decided to go early on Monday for blood work too, I guess.

After that I went to AAA for maps as my big bag of maps of everywhere I have ever gone was also a victim of the Christmas burgler. Unfortunately I didn't realize that until I was lost in Sacramento the previous Saturday.

It was already 9:45 when I got on the highway  to drive to The Grandson's. The weatherman threatened rain and the report I had early from artquiltmaker  was of rain on the peninsula.  Sure enough, as I crested the first pass, rain started and traffic stopped.  Being pretty much intolerant of stop and go traffic I got off the highway and got onto surface streets, made great time, got lost, and got back on the highway. Right behind the truck I had been behind when I left the road in the first place!

So I stayed in the slow traffic to the second pass where the rain was so hard I couldn't see five feet in front of me! Good thing everyone was driving 15 mph! At the junction wher I decide which bridge to take I actually picked the nrthern  one and everyone else took the southern one! Yea for me.  But by then, 11 a.m., I was frazzeled. My Starbucks radar kicked in and I stopped for a cuppa. Caffeine was probably not a good idea but the comfy chair, pleasant music and happy baristas calmed me down.  After a few minutes of Starbucks therapy I hit the road again  and made it to TGS in a half an hour.

By the time I got there driving was the last thing I wanted to do. The rain was very light so we decided to walk down to the shopping center to have lunch. On the walk home, before we were even off the shopping center area, I took a header, landing on my knees and right elbow! Perhaps this was a day when I should have stayed in bed!

TGS got me up, we got home, he got to use his scouting Red Cross skills and with an ice pack and a sit down, I survived!

Tuesday was election day and I had signed up to work in our precinct. Together with the three others from our precinct and four from another precinct, we arrived at the fire station around the corner at 6 a.m. and converted the firemen's den into a polling place.

Voting was mostly slow with pockets of frenetic activity.  My co-workers were a lot of fun. Except for the long hours (I got home about 10:30 p.m.) I enjoyed participating in the electoral process.

Wednesday morning we got up early to drive to Roseville so we could pick up Roller Derby Daughter.  She was going to visit us for two days.

We did really well finding her in an unfamiliar place - yea maps! Got home about four and sat around playing cribbage and catching up.  We remembered that Wednesday was Farmer's Market day in town so hopped in the truck and proceeded to  buy goodies, geegaws and comestibles.  Great fun!

Back at home we BBQd, cooked fresh beets, and pigged out on cherries. Then more cribbage until oh dark thirty at night.  I fell asleep as I hit the pillow - no communing with the goddess Insomnia that night!

In spite of planning an early day, we didn't get out of the house for breakfast at The Mangy Moose. After the usual excellent meal, we headed off to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf.  We ate, walked around, went in attractions and shops, ate again, and walked around some more.  Did alll the fun touristy stuff.

Around five we headed for the beach, having alerted artquiltmaker that we were going to descend, en masse, on her. RD had never met her nephew, TGS, and really wanted to.

After that we took the southern route to the east bay airport area where RD was spending the night in a hotel so she would make her 7a.m. flight.  And got lost. Again. No map. Drove around for 45 minutes trying to find the place. Finally did, despite the bad directions from the desk clerk and the wrong address on the reservation (H loop instead of H place).

We got back home around 1130 p.m too wired to sleep.  So I beat the Big Guy three games to none in cribbage!

We vegged Friday.

Saturday we were signed up in a booth at the senior center parking lot sale.  TBG was selling his concoction of 'Uncle Buck's Wood Butter' and I was face painting.  He did well, coming home with a profit. I had four customers which left me in the hole after the cost of the paints. But it was fun to be outside and talk to so many people.

We are vegging again today. Except my studio exploded! So I put away all the stuff which had accumulated and fell when I walked near it, last week while I was running around having so much fun.

Computer whining

Here is my spiffy new computer.

I have found the best way to use my new computer is to sit next to my grandson, who seems to know exactly how to fix what I mess up and to have my email up so artquiltmaker can rescue me too.

I've had a computer since they were first readily available. My first one was an Radio Shack with two disk drives.  I planned to become a programmer and was signed up at the local JC (that's Junior College for you youngsters) to learn Cobol.  Due to an emergency I missed the third class and was totally lost after that.  I dropped out shortly after.

  

I eventually began using computers at work and became quite comfortable with them.  Two years ago I retired and had just my ten year old laptop to use.  I no longer used business applications, had Word 2003 on it and generally that was all I needed.

I used a little HP notebook for email and pictures and the old laptop for word processing and watching DVDs.

Well, a ten year old laptop is an antique in all respects except the fifty year requirement for antiques.  So, of course, it died.  The power cable plug broke.  Then on Christmas day 2011 my HP notebook was stolen.  My own fault as I had forgotten to take it out of my truck while visiting relatives in Sacto.

So there I was lost in the information age with no computer.  I scraped together the dough to have the plug fixed on the laptop. When I got it back the plug was great but the hard drive only ran about thirty seconds before turning off the laptop.  The technician said he just fixed the plug and didn't even turn the thing on.

Here is the computer illiterate who owns it!

So I was reduced to one hour a day at the library.  On the days it was open, if I got there before school let out and there was a computer available. Ugh.

 

I stewed about that for almost a month.  One day I figured what the heck the thing doesn't work so slamming it around a little won't change anything.   So I bounced it on the floor three times, took it out of it's case and set it up. Miracle of miracles, IT WORKED!

The other problem we had was that or internet provider went belly-up with less than a weeks notice right around the time all this bad computer karma started.  So just before I received this cool little computer we signed up with another internet provider.

My old laptop decided it wouldn't go on the internet anymore. Something about a proxy server. But little Acer goes on just fine. It just won't read any documents done on the old LT.  

So, I can load one more copy of the Word 2003 I bought with the old LT.  Except that program is one disks and the little guy hasn't got a disk drive.  I see two choices: purchase a new and current word processing program or a portable disk drive.  I think a new program is the best bet, any advice?

Toby the Tram Engine

Somehow I just blew away two paragraphs and a photo.  I have a great new computer that I love. I, however, have not quite gotten the hang of all the bells and whistles, yet. Hence, I tend to lose work.  Must remember to save more often!

Original Toby - about 12 years old

Back to the subject I intended to blog about.  The Big Guy loves a project.  Last week, A Paper Addict phoned and asked him to build a "Toby" toy box like  the one he had built years ago for our grandson.

In Progress

He made the box then bought some foam for the seat.  I had a piece of red leather in my stash that works perfectly for the seat top.  He also purchased wheels so it can be pulled around.  

Toby's Face

I used a clay made by Crayola that air dries for the face and, of course, gave him googly eyes.

We have worked on it a week or so.

Waiting for his number to be painted on

Toby is the number seven engine.  It is taking some experimenting to get the paint on because the The Big Guy rubbed the wood down with his concoction of wood butter before I had a chance to paint it.  The paint won't stick to the wood butter. I also don't have the right color of yellow for his number.

But Toby is coming along.  And he has been fun to make.  Orders happily taken.

Easy Acccess to Blog and Quilting thoughts

Artquiltmaker fiddled around with my new computer this afternoon and now I can get to my blog without needing to remember how!  That has been a little problem for me as my computer literacy has stayed in 1992 and computers have progressed to 2012.  Amazing.

But on to more interesting stuff.

I mentioned in my last blog that I would tell you how it came about that I was hired to make a store sample quilt top for Quilters Quarters.  About three months ago there was an article in the paper about the shop.  Debbie, the owner, mentioned she was having trouble finding part-time help.  I went over a few days later with a resume on disk to apply but she had already hired a couple of people. While I was there I signed up for the Saturday Sampler class.

The Big Guy came with me for the first class as did Roxy Dog.  They explored the little mall where the quilt shop is while I went to the hour-long class.  They ate cookies from the Dutch bakery, found a Japanese shop with gluten free soy sauce, and rifled through all the sale fabric in front of Quilter's Quarters.  

The quilt we are doing is called "Birthday Blossoms" Each square is the flower of the month. April's flower is the sweet pea.  If we made two blocks we got entered in a drawing for a fat quarter.

 Kestrel Cousins

 I was so inspired by spending time with other quilters and lots of fabric that I did the first block, a second in different colors and a third at half size.  I did all the day after the class! 

 Pillowcase

The next week I made a pillowcase for the small block but it didn't look good on it so off it came.  

 Colby's Doggy Love quilt

 Then I finished the baby quilt "Doggy Love" I had been working on forever for Colby Butler, grandson of some dear friends. And also finished the quilt top for Colby's big sister, Kestral, whose infancy I somehow missed! Big brother got his quilt (an I Spy) almost the second he was born.

Official Class Block

At the May Saturday Sampler class I proudly did show and tell of all my stuff and Debbie pointed at me and said "You, stay after class!".  Which, of course being well indoctrinated by 13 years of catholic school,  I did. Whereupon she hired me to make the shop sample.

My Variation Block

So that is that story.

My half-size variation

Oh, yeah - the $60 worth of fabric I bought...story for another day, I think.