Another UFO

This week is the parade of  UFO's.  There will be lots of celebrating and fireworks when these are all completed.  Today's UFO is a Pat Speth design, Tilly's Treasure, made out of 5"squares, nickle quilts.

I named it Nickle Colored Sky from a phrase my cousin invented and I have always liked the sound of it-since it is a "nickle quilt" and has a lot of turquoise in it.  It was the first quilt that I just pulled fat quarters from my stash because I didn't have time to shop for fabric-my first real scrap quilt and I really need to finish all those little squares:) One and a half years in the making-it is time to finish it. 

Baby Boy Quilt

I have had the material for awhile-luckily, the baby boy won't be born until August.  This ia another UFO that I plan to tackle.  If you, like me , have a pile of UFO's, Join the Finish Along 2014 by clicking on the ble button on my home page. It has really helped me to get focused.

 I was hoping to deliver it to the grandfather when we go camping but I picked something up on my trip to Seattle and I have been really sick.  So, I will have to finish it (it is cut out) when I get home.

Working on Lizzy.  Today I got all the HST's in the pinwheel blocks sewn and most ironed

Peas and Peonies

I have to finish handstitching, basting, quilting and binding this little quilt yet.  Even little quilts seem to take awhile and I am getting a backup of little quilts.

The binding will be the same as the sashing

This will be one of my Finish Along entries for the 3rd quarter.  It is also going to my my handwork project on my next trip.

HSTeria Quilt Along

I take a monthly class called "Tiny Treasures".  June's block was:



My interpretation will use the Inktense pencil portrait of our Lizzy (looking straight down on her when she was about 6 mos old) as the middle and surround it with pinwheels made out of the fabrics I picked up on the quilt run yesterday.  I will then threadpaint Lizzy and quilt it.  The orange fabric is paw prints-it will be the back and binding as well as in some of the blocks.  This will be my last project for the HSTeria quilt along.  To see what others are doing click on the HSTeria button on the right.

Have an amazing weekend-we are participating in the Vintage Flea Mkt.  on Sunday in North Park-getting rid of more wonderful stuff-I hope.

Travel Thursday

My husband and I have traveled a lot and have picked up a few tricks along the way.  I thought, in honor of summer travel, that I would share a few of those tips.  I promise NOT to share anything we haven't tried.

Tip #1:  TRAVEL LIGHT, TRAVEL LIGHT, TRAVEL LIGHT!!!

Think about having to lug this pile wherever you go!  Who is watching it as the owner is running for a luggage mover?

 I have traveled in Europe several times-once for 3 weeks-and never took more than a carryon and a small travel bag.  That means my main suitcase goes in the overhead, wheels out and not sideways, and my carryon is no larger than a large purse and goes under the seat in front of me.

Before you say "no way" think about these reasons to travel light:

• The biggest issue, unless you are very rich and can hire a multitude of porters to haul your seven pairs of shoes around wherever you go, is physical strength.  My husband and I are fully mobile but are in our 60's and it is getting harder to haul heavy stuff.
• If you are traveling anywhere in Europe, you are going to have to haul your suitcase somewhere.  My friend Chris and I hauled carryons on wheels across 1-2 miles of cobblestone streets in York, Great Britain from the train station to the B&B and then on the return trip from the rental car company to the train.  Also, you may need to get on and off the tubes of Europe like my friends and I did when booking a less expensive accommodation outside of London in Wimbledon (50.00 per night for 4 of us in a B&B with comfortable beds and a simple breakfast).  Two of us traveled light-two of us struggled a bit:)
• You are traveling-you probably won't see those people again so having 3 outfits will serve you well.
• If you lose your luggage, you won't lose a lot:)

Some of you are thinking, "OK, I'm sold-but how on earth can I get everything I need in my bag"

CHECK BACK NEXT THURSDAY WHEN I DISCUSS, "HOW DO I CUT DOWN MY LIST OF THINGS TO BRING"

Harley Cow!

Delivered Harley Cow to the Crazy 9 Patch this afternoon-felt so good! The owner, Martha wanted it on the wall for the quilt run.  Can't wait to see it hung. 

Harley Cow!

A friend, Janet, had a bolt of the cow fabric I used on the back.  I bought just enough with nothing to spare.

I wish you could see the quilting-it was intense-every area had its own design.

Going to be off line for a week or two-I need a break from sewing for awhile-enjoy the sun!

Last Meeting for the Year

I had a great time at Friendship Quilter's last night.  We have lovely ladies in our guild and I so appreciate their talents.  At the beginning of our year, back in September, we had a UFO Challenge.  Each participant put in 10.00 and submitted a list of 4 UFO's they wanted to finish.  Mine were pretty large except the Falling Leaves table runner.  The rest were Purple Maze, Home Sweet Home and Tedi's Quilt.  All pretty big finishes.  Next year I will think a little smaller.

The committee made us these cute badges to wear with a button for each submission-next year I will sew my buttons around the top.

Purple Maze on the bed

Quilted on the longarm that I rent-purple on back and green on the front

I had 4 tickets out of a jar of 200 and I won 2 prizes: A purple plastic storage case and an Ikea light that is wonderful.

I am pretty excited about class signups.  I have gotten a lot of positive feedback for the speakers I lined up for next year (Helene Knott, Bonnie Hunter (Debra Broyles grabbed her for us the year before), Julia Zglinic, Jan Krentz, Paricia Pepe, Sally Collins and Lenore Crawford; and the classes are already filling up.

Bucket List check-off

I spent the day dying fabric at Mary Tabar's yesterday.  Had a fabulous time and I will do it again-maybe not 12 colors at once, but will definitely do it again.  I bought 4 yards of white on white at M&L's over a year ago to try dying it-it came out great!

Mary Tabar and her 4th of July Quilt-she was a inspirational teacher

Hard at work-there were 7 of us and we worked non stop-except lunch for 4-5 hours

Mary prepping for class

My jars and Viviana in the background

I rinsed all the dye out at home and put in separate buckets

A good days work-love them!

So- a 40.00 class plus 30.00 for 6.25 yards of fabric=6 yards of hand dyed fabric at 11.25 per yard-not bad:)

All ironed and in rainbow order: far left is first run, next is 15 later, below left is the M&L white on white fat eighths.  On right is direct application dying, the 2 pieces will be part of a 4th of July quilt for NEXT 4th of July (2015)-Can you tell it is a flag:)

A New Addition to the Family

My husband has my back.  He doesn't understand my love of sewing but he does appreciate a vintage machine.  He found this at a local garage sale today:

  

A 1915 Portable Singer with a shuttle bobbin.  I  had one of these a year ago and sold it at our local quilt show.  This one has a much nicer case although I need to find a key for it so I can put it on securely.  This one can join my 1947 featherweight, Regan, and my 1963 portable, Faithful, in my developing Singer family.  I named my featherweight Regan because that is my DIL's name and her maiden name was Singer and I love her:)

Garden news:  The tomato plants are thriving-that is news as I have tried toms in pots with little success.  Planting them around the compost pile seems to be working.

All of them have numerous blooms-hopefully they will develop into toms!

Have to get ready for a fabric dying class-have a great weekend!

HSTeria Friday

I got the Prairie Basket Tiny Treasure pieced yesterday-just need to add that last border.  This makes 4 Tiny Treasures that need to be quilted when done so I know what handwork I am taking to the Sierras on vacation in July.  I am going to hand quilt a couple of them.  I like that the addition of the batik and flange of stonewashed brought the 70's gray print into the 21st century:)  I will bind and quilt it with the turquoise. The middle is just laying on the print-the borders will not be that big.

There are wonderful examples of HST quilts if you click on the button in my sidebar.

Falling Leaves whack and stack-I don't remember the actual name as I gave the book away after doing this runner

I don't have a fall runner-so, this will do nicely:)

I am going to Paradise Sewing in Poway today for the Friday Sit and Sew and I am GOING to FINISH Harley Cow.  It is so close I am even going to take the backing, batting and pins in hopes of sandwiching it to quilt next week. YAY!

HSTeria Challenge

So this week's project is from the Tiny Treasures class (again).  It seems we work a lot with HST's.

This is the pattern by Kathleen Tracy-finishes 17x17

These are my fabrics-the baskets will be the bright batik

I took a blowup of the fabric pattern and hope to do something in the border with it.  My goal was to take the rather homely gray flowered fabric found at a yard sale and make something attractive out of it using fabrics from my stash and a couple newly bought (salmon and turquoise).  The fun part of this class is that I can experiment and do things that I never would do with a big quilt.  Click the HSTeria button on my sidebar to see what others are doing.

My Home Away From Home

Last week I went to Julian which is a little mountain town 20 miles away from my home.  I pray, read and sew for 3 days, meet with my 2 friends at 4pm when we visit and then go out to dinner and then visit a little more.  I get back to my motorhome about 8 and sew a little before settling in with a good book (which is "Paris" by Rutherford).

 The kitchen becomes my cutting and ironing station

 The dining room my sewing station

And the couch my design wall

This trip I finished a fall table runner and worked on Harley Cow! and a nickle quilt top.  Got a lot done-along with a study in 1st Peter that was so good for me at this particular time.  I should go up every couple of months:)  Hoping to make another pilgrimage  in October as it is too hot in the summer.

Here Kitty Kitty!

If you live near or plan to visit San Diego-you must visit the kitties at Safari Park located in San Pasqual valley between Escondido and Ramona.  We have year passes and go quite frequently as it is a short 20 minute drive.  A great place to walk!  The new Tiger exhibit opened on Memorial day:

And then there were the baby lions:

A great morning!