Camping!

I am leaving for our yearly women's retreat today through Sunday then coming home and leaving for my yearly retreat with 2 friends.  We bring reading, sewing and writing and work alone in the mornings and then gather at 3 to talk, go to dinner and play games.  It is a great time of relaxation and reflection.  The Lord always speaks to my heart during this retreat.  I am taking Beauty and Check as the borders are 1.5 inches off.  Need to remove the checked borders and resew them-darn!  But after all that work-don't want it not to be square.   I am also taking Home Sweet Home to finish the pieced areas and to put the middle of the top together.  See you at the end of next week!

DONE! DONE! DONE! So DONE!

2 months= 1 time consuming quilt.   What I learned: paper piecing, I can do something very different from what I normally do and like the end result, I can draft a pattern (even if simple-borders) and it can work the way I planned it,  not sure I will ever have a place for this in my house-but I like it anyway, I can work on something for 2 months and actually finish it without it becoming a UFO.  I will take it to the place where I rent a longarm and quilt it edge to edge-I would rather have it custom quilted but that isn't in the budget-I need to have some practice before I try to quilt something like this.  They have a nice star pattern that would go with the theme and I will like it just fine! Thank-you Janice Ellertson for a great pattern and class!

Last night finished middle and two 1" borders added

Top done with all borders on-wall hanging size 46x46

I may embroider a verse on the 2 turquoise strips but not sure yet. I have a couple in mind that fit-we'll see.  I am going to go clean my studio-yay!!

Late Getting Started

Today is just beautiful here in So Cali.  About 72-74 with a nice breeze.  I have spent the morning watching a pair of red finches feed their peeping babies in the nest they make every year over our flloodlight above the garage door and repotting two ferns that I have had for over 10 years that had outgrown their pots-I split them about 5 years ago-now they are 3.  They grow really well on our patio because of the shade.

Then I had to admire our kitties who were waiting for a third breakfast.  The white calico, Bella, just had a tumor removed from her gumline and 8 teeth removed last month so she is wet food only-she is pretty happy about that.  The vet thinks the tumor will return as they could not get all of it and it is cancerous. $ 5,000.00 would pay for the radiation that "may" eradicate it.  We love our kitties, but, Bella has had 8 years of bliss out of her 9 yrs of life, as we rescued her and Bertha, who is 8, when Bertha was 8 weeks old. We are praying it doesn't come back, but if it does we will make her comfortable and keep on spoiling her until the end.

We lost a friend this week to lung cancer.  He was in our heart transplant support group and his new heart gave him 5 extra years of life.  He was pretty amazing-encouraging, loving, giving.  he did a lot with his five years.  Unfortunately, cancer is a side effect of organ transplant.  The drugs they have to take for life lowers the immune system and that is an environment that cancer thrives on.  We will miss Bob very much as he added so much to the group.

So, today I really am going to finish the middle.  I never get done what I think I am going to.  I did finish row 3 and 4 yesterday and it is all attached so, I think it would be reasonable to assume I can get row 5 done today and possibly cut out the borders.  If I don't get borders done today-there is tomorrow-either way I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel!

 

Better get in there and sew before it is time for my nap:)

21/2 rows complete-1/2 way done with Center Section

I was concerned that it was going to be difficult to put the blocks together but so far-not too bad. I like it so much better than the disjointed pieces on the design wall for the last 2 months-I am certainly NOT Wanda Hansen:)

I have changed my mind about the borders.  I am going to add checks along 2 sides but they will be rainbow and background black checks using materials in the circles.  The other 2 sides will be a very simple geometric pattern-think the squares and lines will calm the circles-I am totally out of any comfort zone I ever inhabited.  I am drafting a pattern for the first time-I have always followed the pattern to the T-but it is time to flap a wing or two.

I need to finish up the Beauty and Check because my mind wants to start this whimsical story quilt.  My husband is the "cow" with the Harley jacket and I am the sheep with the quilt-married 44 years in Sept-so want to make this for our anniversary.

Pieces for the middle part of the quilt are DONE! Yay, me! Now to piece the corners to the arcs. I need to move on pretty fast with this quilt or I will lose interest.  I have worked the borders out in my mind-now to work them out on graph paper. I am hoping that the borders will calm the busyness of the middle and I think it will.

Beauty and Check

 Went to the Sewing and crafts Show at Del Mar last week.  I always seem to find a new tool that makes life easier and this year was no exception.

 Last year I bought the Bloc Loc 1/2 square Triangle rulers which are fabulous.  The groove in them locks onto the seam and trimming is amazingly easy and accurate using the ruler and the swivel cutting board.

With the rulers I bought Sewing Emporium's swivel cutting board with self healer that is a nice little swivel cutting surface-I use it a lot when I am watching TV.  Makes cutting out pieces for "Dear Jane" much easier than on a stationary mat.

 So this year's purchase, Happy Feet, will be no less helpful I am sure.  It is supposed to make the arcs I have to sew, effortless-we'll see.  The demo was amazing and the foot was 26.00 so, not a big investment and if it works it will be well worth it.

Blanket Stitch Foot

I have 3 back to back doctor's appointments this morning as part of my regular annual check-up so I best get ready to go.  Have a blessed day.

Time just flies!

Sometimes I am pretty good at posting everyday or at least every other-sometimes, I'm not.  Been a little under the weather so have been reading and napping.  Yesterday, however, was the Dear Jane Clinic and I got 9, count them, 9 blocks done.  I am a quilting studette:)   There have been times I have only come out with 2 on a 10-3 day.

The 4 applique blocks will be sewn tonight-pieces are glued down

Tomorrow I finish the last 1/2 of the American beauty block and start sewing the pies to the arcs-yes! I will finish that quilt!

1/2 to go!

I am hoping to finish the last block today.  If I do I am also hoping to get the black corners and colored centers ironed onto the thin iron on interfacing and cut out so I can get the center of the quilt sewn together this next week-then I can think about the borders.  Well, I have already been thinking about them-now need to draft them!  I think I am going to like this but I really don't know yet-It is so different than what I have done in the past.  I also need to clean house a little this morning.  Worked yesterday so everything got bumped a day.

Today I am glad to be alive, glad to have a life that I am happy to wake up to every day.  Yesterday my neighbor's son shot himself in the head in front of his wonderful parents.  He has survived but will probably be brain damaged.  He is a troubled young man and my heart mourns with his mom and dad.  It is such a sad situation.  He wouldn't get help before-now, if he is cognizant enough, he will be forced to get it. If you are reading this and believe that prayer changes things-please pray for Neil.

Have a day full of blessings.

1 more! 1 to go!

This quilt is taking forever.  I am not happy with the black and white center of the block I did yesterday.  I am going to applique a circle over the existing center and cut out the first one from the back. However-I am going to start the big circle today.  Instead of sewing all the black background to stabilizer, I am going to iron on a lightweight interfacing-that should save me a good amount of time. I am struggling with this quilt-I want it to represent the best work I am capable of doing, however, the stabilizer the material is attached to makes working with the seams difficult-it is too heavy.  I can not change that at this point so I have to push on through.  A metaphor of life in some ways-I carry around the "old flesh or sin nature" which sometimes keeps me from being the best person I can be.  Today I give my hands, my imagination, my lips and mt heart to You, Lord. Bless my work, let it be the best I can possibly make it today-for Your glory, Jesus. Amen-plus I need to power through 2 kitchen drawers-saving the worst 2 for last-let's get to work:)

1 More!

Today was a very productive day. I didn't go swimming because it was raining so I started in my kitchen.  I moved everything off the countertop and cleaned it-in so doing I got rid of the eternal pile where the mail breeds.  Then I got rid of all the trash in the trash cans in the whole house, then started on the left and started going through cupboards and drawers, cleaning and purging. Got 3 cupboards and 2 drawers purged and cleaned-1/2 bag of stuff for the garage sale, 1/2 bag of trash and the under sink is done.  Felt so good!

Then Greg and I split a Wendy's salad. Washed 2 loads of laundry and put away and then headed to the studio. I finished another slice, chose fabric for the small pie and have it 1/3 done. Made a new recipe which was really quite good and then went to the Friendship Quilter's Board meeting. Watching a Midsomer's Murders episode as I post this then heading to bed!

2 More!

One more slice before deciding on colors for the two whole pies, one large and one small.  I want them to hold center stage.  because the four quadrants are just alike, that alone might draw the eye-I don't know.  I have a fabric that I haven't used yet that I want to introduce-we'll see how that works.  I am hoping to get this part done this week as I am dying to start on the flying geese.  I may not add the cats-it just might be too much:)  I keep rearranging them and I see one more change I want to make.  I particularly like the bottom right slice

Tea With Thee

I love doing Tea With Thee.  This was our 3rd annual and it ended up being a lot of fun and we raised over 3,000.00 for our local pregnancy center.  RPCC helps many scared young women during an unexpected pregnancy.  We started with 5 churches 3 years ago and because of several changes in personnel are down to 2-Calvary Chapel and Immaculate Heart of Mary.  So, our first order of business will be to enlist the help of 2 additional churches before we plan next year's event.  Just selling 40 more tickets will automatically raise the proceeds by 800 dollars without any extra cost as all ingredients are donated.  We had 104 ladies -oops- 103 ladies and 1 gentleman this year which was a nice turnout-but 144 will be better:).

 Our one gentleman tea goer. He is a Gideon who is still going strong at 80

 Ladies arriving and checking out the gift baskets

Beautiful tables with the gift that each lady received compliments of Lynette Bredow-a beautiful handcrafted pin

My aunt's tea set-thank-you Aunt Dot

Nikki Jo's table and her sweet MIL who made 90 of the crocheted tea pots that you see in the foreground

The Hoolihan's

Gayle Sojourner's lovely table

Cecelia Beyer and Debbie Branch decorated the stage-quilt on the right is our auction quilt

 Great hat, Barbara Mandela!

 Our Jessie who does an amazing job organizing the food service

Cecelia Beyer organized the "thrift shop fashion show"

Mary Snyder modeling her outfit that was under 20.00

Bev Hubbard and granddaughter, Sydney showing their thrift store finds

Martha Henry in her finery

 Two sweet young ladies model their finds

Director, Anita Krisik tells the audience about the focus of the pregnancy center

Janet Corson gave a devotional about God's grace

Bev and helpers picking tickets for gift baskets, quilt, and door prizes

We also had some amazing worship from my friend, Patsy Long and Nikki Jo Dick. 

Quilting group friends, Patsy Long, Carole Livzly, and Lorna Little

I have no idea why I don't have pictures except that the songs they sang were so beautiful I didn't remember to take a picture.  Also, we were beautifully served by the men of Calvary Chapel and I didn't get a picture of them in their black pants and white shirts.

We had a great time-however, I went home at 4 and went right to bed!  I am fighting bronchitis and am still in my PJ's today-and don't feel guilty at all:)