Southern California

My sister and brother in law and my DD#2 all live in Southern California. I went west for a visit. I have been back a week and I am barely getting myself functional again.  Maybe the reason I stay home a lot. :)

My DD took me to Griffin Observatory (That might not be the exact name ). We went up a twisty road to the top of a mountain. Scared me. You gotta remember that I am a flat lander. I live in Illinois, and we don't have hills let alone mountains.

Inside the observatory there was a really cool instillation of 'space' jewelry. In one long hall there were so many pieces of jewelry that were stars, moons, and sun shapes. It was so cool, but too dark to get a good picture.

There were also many different views of L.A.  all around the observatory. Complete with smog layer.

And of course a selfie of my DD and I up on top of the mountain.

Outside of the observatory the different orbits of the planets were identified by a small plaque and a circle etched into the concrete. I had to take the picture of the one for Pluto. Is Pluto a planet again? I think it is.  In any case Pluto was identified by Clyde Tombaugh, a distant cousin of mine. We never met but Pluto became my favorite planet (after earth of course) when I learned about Clyde.

I have more of my trip to show and tell. And I never got my Aurifil blocks posted so that is coming up as well.

Happy Stitching.

Pat Sloan is always tempting me

A few years ago I found Pat Sloan's quilt forum. Even though I wasn't sure how  it  all worked, I jumped in. There are so many wonderful quilters on that forum and we talk about most everything. When I went to Market I was lucky enough to meet Pat (and Gregg) and get to chat with them a bit. Last fall Pat  came to the guild I belong to and I took both of her workshops. (Great time BTW) She has so much energy and is always coming up with projects and sew- alongs for us to do. There are also  free patterns  available.  This year she designed a Mystery block of the month, that she calls Globetrotting.
How could I not join in?
The first block: Washington D.C.

Second block: Venice

Followed by:  Chicago

Last year we started working on a pattern as a block of the month project. It is from the book "New Ideas for Applique. I need just a bit more fabric to do the borders. The applique for the borders is traced and ready to fuse to fabric.

Pat is also hosting the free Aurifil Block of the month this year. Come back and I will show you those blocks.

Happy stitching
Beth

Tula is a top

Last year Tula Pink's "City Sampler's 100 Modern Quilt  Blocks" book came into the shop. I resisted. I have so many books and so many projects waiting to be made that I just could not get started on anything else. Some time went by and I saw a sew along was starting using the book. I held firm, for about a day. I thought I would get a pile of solids and sew along. I bought solids and the book. Then I pulled out my Kaffe stash and I liked it all together.
Three blocks a week were posted and I started out a few weeks behind. I made a plan to do 6 blocks a week  until I got caught up. I did the current weeks blocks and then the first weeks blocks. Eventually I caught up and stayed caught up. Once the blocks were done I had to find sashing and borders. I didn't want to use white. I looked and looked and nothing spoke to me. I finally decided that I was just going to pick something that worked, even if I had to do white.  (There is nothing wrong with white, it is just always my go to and I am trying to breakout and be more daring. Sometimes I like it sometimes I am not sure.) The fabric I picked is a white background with black and gray tiny circles on it.

I put the top together and I like it.  I hope I do not dither as much about a backing.

I am also at the end of the Beginners BOM that I have been running at the shop. You remember this picture. We had to delay the start of the program because there were so few sign ups. :( I made the first row and more people signed up when they saw the colors. They have been a fun group to work with. I will never have an award winning quilt, but it is really so much fun to share what I do know.  I must say that the applique was not well received by all. I did have several design ideas to replace the applique for those that chose not to try it. . It is fused and either hand stitched or machine stitched.

I over heard one of them tell  the boss that she would never try a pattern that had HSTs in it and then she said " And now I know how to do them. I can do all those patterns  now". I was stupid happy.

I did finish the dresses for Haiti. When my friend posted a picture with her daughter and one of the little girls I was happy to see one of the dresses being worn.

Sorry about the pictures, there isn't really good light anywhere in the apartment. Maybe when it warns up I can get the hubby to go outside and hold quilts for me.

Happy Stitching everyone.

April catch up

I feel like I spend most of my time playing catch up. And I never seem to actually catch up. Do you? As usual with the beginning of a new year, I made plans to work on that UFO list that never ends. Following the tips from Pat Sloan I actually donated fabric, broke up fabric I put together to make specific quilts, and (gasp) tossed a couple of tops that I just did not want to spend anymore time on. I also attempted to be more realistic with my planning. Projects never go as fast as I think they will. (shocking right?) Of course getting a pile of quilts back from the shop (unquilted) did not help.

Last year I taught a class on string quilts. I showed them the basics and my sample was just the strings put together (cause I was making lots of samples). I got my strings back and I bought some border fabrics to get it finished. I finally pulled it out of the closet and got the top finished. I thought I liked the colors I picked for the borders, but I am not really sure. BUT it stays and I will it finished.
Here is the strings quilt top:

My youngest daughter, saw a quilt she loved in the book "City Quilts". I picked out the fabric a while ago and put them neatly in a bin. :)  Once they were suitable aged I pulled them out to start that quilt.
the first little pieces ready to start putting together looked like this

Some of the little pieces became bigger units

and then even bigger units. I had the last 12 rows together and was clipping threads when I clipped a hole in the sashing. So I had to unpick and unpick some more. I cut out the hole and pieced it back together.

The quilt still needs a small gray border but I need to get more gray from the shop.

Poor quilts look so lumpy on the bed, guess I shouldn't pile them on top of each other to get pictures.

I feel like I am getting some things done, but the pace is way slower than I would like.
Happy stitching.

Works in Progress

You might remember seeing some of the Bunny Hill blocks that I did a while back. I printed the pattern off when it was offered as a free Block of the Month from Ann at Bunny Hill. While I was spending time on Pat Sloan's quilt forum, I learned that a bunch of us had this quilt on our want to do list.
We decided to do it as a sort of a block of the month project. We were going to do 2 blocks a month and get this cute quilt done. I kept up with my blocks.

Of course, as it often happens, once the blocks were done they just stayed in the project box waiting to be finished. On the day that I bought sashing and border fabrics I must have been very creative. I usually tend to be a bit 'safe' when choosing fabrics. Every now and then I really just go crazy.

I have the top together now. Here it is in all of it's wildness. I am not sure how I feel about it, but I do think it is anything but 'safe'. I even got some fabric today for the backing. So I have no excuse for not getting this done, done ,done.

I have also been working on a Block of the Month that I have been running at the shop. You saw the first couple of blocks. Here is a favorite block.

The hubby held it up for me once I got all the blocks together.

I now have two of the three borders on it. I am hoping to get the remaining border on tomorrow and layer it for quilting. I am following McKenna Ryan's instructions for quilting, which is quilting and securing the edges of the applique in one. After that I can finally put on all the really cute embellishments. I will show it once it is all done.

Happy stitching
Beth

One Crazy Pinterest Project

I have been having a lot of fun playing on Pinterest. Sooo many ideas and sooo little time. Of course I don't limit myself to just quilt related items. I have also been trying to get my sister to get set up and check out Pinterest. Near the end of November my sister and my older daughter were over visiting me and I pulled up Pinterest and handed the laptop to my sister. I heard "Oh that is cute" many times. One of the things she liked hit me as a good project for me to make for her. The project : a small battery operated clock with colorful mice surrounding it.  Of course the original link was gone so no instructions for knitting the mice. I went to Ravelry and looked for tiny mice and I found a pattern
The mice were actually supposed to be knit in the round, but I did not have size 1 double points so I decided to just use straight needles and sew up the mouse once I had it knitted. So I bought some DK weight yarn and got busy.

Once the body is knit, stuff with fiberfill. I found out the hard way that the mice look better a bit overstuffed.

Then of course each mouse needed two ears knit. Little, tiny ears.  And a tail that is just a crochet chain.

Embroider a little nose and a couple of eyes.

Add the tail and ears and one mouse done. Yeah!!!! Repeat....
The finished clock.

I will not even tell you what my sister said to me when she saw it on Christmas eve, but the word nuts figured in there. ;) In case you are worried, this was not her 'main' gift.

I will be have some quilty pics to show you very soon.
Happy stitching
Beth

2014, how did that happen?

I do realize that we are nearly half way through January already, but let me say Happy New Year anyway. On New Year's Eve day I got the cold/flu that I had been fighting. Like BAM. I am finally starting to feel better. Of course I had big plans to get back to UFO busting and really finish some of those quilts. Might have to rework that schedule a bit. LOL

Just a quick catch up. After having foot pain for weeks after the quilt show in September, I went to the foot Dr. and found I had a stress fracture. I was in a post op shoe for 5 weeks and that wasn't doing the job, so I got a lovely boot. I wore that for 3 weeks before I got my foot liberated. It seemed like forever.

During this same time, DH left for Portland, Or to help take care of his mother. He was there for 2 months.While he was there both of our girls flew to Portland to see Grandma too. He came home the first Saturday in December and his Mom passed away December the 10th. I know he was glad that he had spent so much time with her.

Last January I started knitting for my co workers for Christmas. I made cowls and scarves for them. It felt good to have that much done since I spent so much time off the fractured foot. Shopping just wasn't on the approved list of activities. (Of course DH was gone so I couldn't even enlist his help.)  These a few of the cowls that were gifted.

I am once again joining in on Pat Sloan's UFO busting challenge for the year, so hopefully I can get a bunch of those tops quilted and done. Then of course there are the other UFOs, like unfinished BOMs. Why am I such a sucker for a BOM? They always seem so innocent. Just one block or two a month. Easy right? Only if you don't end up doing a half dozen or so. I am still trying to resist some new ones that are starting up. 

Stay tuned and see how many I end up working on. And if I make progress finishing those pesky UFOs.   

Happy stitching.