Show and Tell

Lots of fun quilty pictures ahead.

Here are several versions of the mystery quilt tackled

 in our December and January Breakfast Club meetings.

 

Two, smaller quilts were made in this instance...both with a Dr. Seuss theme.

And my version. My border triangles face differently. I accidentally did the first border wrong and decided I liked it better this way...sometimes those mistakes work out.

The mystery was by Debbie Caffrey, "Quilting Season." It took 18 fat quarters and yardage of a single background fabric.  I used Moda's fat quarter set, "Los Cabos Batiks." This is going to be a fun one to quilt.

This next photo does not do this quilt justice...all these blocks are beautiful embroidered Hummel images

Here's a close up of one of the blocks...so much detail! Impressive even if the embroidery is done my machine!!!

Our class project yesterday was this adorable apron...here is mine. I finished it in class...under four hours. That includes the time I spent shopping for the fabric because I didn't bring any to class.

It is called Criss Cross Pocket Apron by Vanilla House. You can add pocket sections to make the apron larger. It is really a fun and easy design....pretty unique construction techniques. It will be my new longarm apron. It's the only time I wear an apron. I made the medium sized, four pocket apron.

And here is my big project to show off...

This pattern is Beachside Bungalow from Kim Brackett's book, "Scrap-Basket Beauties." I used the bali pop, "Tidepool."

I adore this pattern...it has that double wedding ring feel in a much easier construction format.

The backside....I think I finally found my quilting mojo.

It took 20 hours to quilt this...with a few hours going to a ripping out session. It was worth it to get it right. I wanted a masculine feel to the quilting. I have a very girlie version of this pattern to quilt. I'll probably do a lot of feathers on that version and it will take half the time to quilt!

Happenings

Someone is ready for playtime. As soon as I post this we are heading out for a walk...an icy one.

We just got back from a long weekend in...Las Vegas!

 Here we are at Guy Fieri's restaurant, Vegas Kitchen and Bar with their signature Bloody Marys. A nice little salad in each one! My husband and I are on the right. Our friends are from Houston and we decided we might have to make this an annual event. A pretty easy place for us to meet up for a weekend.

We saw two shows, Penn and Teller's magic show and the stand up routines of Ray Romano and David Spade. Both shows were excellent...highly recommend. I finished my gambling $20 ahead.

My son, Zack, watched the puppy. When we got home last night he had this little machine waiting for me. The machine belonged to an airplane mechanic my son worked with who recently died. I'm so glad he checked with me before he took it to the dump. Needs a bit of TLC. No sign of the metal case. Since my friend. Christelle, has two of these "grasshoppers," I knew just what it was!

A lot going on this week. My car is finally fixed. I'm picking it up this afternoon and driving straight to the tire shop to purchase studded tires. We got even more ice while we were away in Vegas. 

I am so close to finishing this quilt. I had to rip out a little bit...which of course took several hours. I need a camera on the underside of my quilt so I can simultaneously look at my tension...I just get going and don't notice the little signs from the front side that mean bad stuff is happening underneath. I'm thrilled with the design I came up with and want it to be right!!!

And I really want to finish the mystery top from last month's Breakfast Club because this Thursday is the February meeting. I like having a deadline.

Warming Up

I've got my Fun Quilter, "Marta" warming up for about 20 minutes...enough time to write a post.

Wish me luck on my quilting...may the tension Goddess be watching over me!

I got the directions to the mystery quilt from Breakfast Club. 

Not a mystery to me anymore! Love how this one is coming together.

I am trying to get back on task with my Bucilla kit projects. Just finished all the little candies that decorate this house. I'm doing some quilting around all the windows and house features.

And I pulled out this stocking kit a few days ago that I was working on in Paris before our move home. I finished up the girl and now have to turn the boy and girl into puppets. Adorable.

I'm so excited to get quilting on "Marta."

Design Wall Thursday

Fine tuning a new design...I'm liking it.

Finally....I have figured out a quilting design for a top I've been wanting to quilt for several months. Now the tedious process of marking the design with a blue water soluble marker and chalk pencil. This photo shows what I marked on my plexiglass board.

Kinley is home! She is painfully thin...had almost stopped eating at the trainer's kennel so it was time to get her home and just continue her training with visits. She has been eating wonderfully since getting home. She got right back into her little routine.  

Picked up a rental car on Tuesday. My sweet car is going to be in the shop for at least two more weeks. We woke up to rain...grrrrrrr. That means all the roads will be nice and icy again. I stayed home. Plenty of quilting projects to keep me busy and I finally have Kinley to talk to all day. I stocked up on groceries a few days ago when I saw the forecast so I'm a happy to stay home. I put ice cleats on my boots to take Kinley for her walk this morning...she has built in four-wheel drive so no problem for her on the ice.

No Cabin Fever Yet

Being housebound is a good thing in many ways. I did some major "spring cleaning" on the main level of my house. Boring...but good exercise. I installed the wall-mounted frame for my husband's office television. He gets home tomorrow...he'll be a happy camper! I'm not a great winter driver but I can operate simple house tools fairly competently.

 Opened up a jigsaw puzzle my husband got me for Christmas. I love puzzles...but I really think they are a waste of time...unless you are housebound!

And as a treat for cleaning my my main level....I hung some quilts to replace the Christmas themed ones.

This is the first quilt we ever made in our Breakfast Club. It was also one of the first I quilted when I got my Nolting Fun Quilter. Nothing fancy...a simple freehand swirl. 

Then I quilted this about two years after I got my quilting machine. If you are a fan of Nancy Halvorsen this will be a very familiar pattern. I completely followed her pattern along with her fabrics. This is hanging in my tiny kitchen breakfast nook.

And right by my front door is a quilt I finish two years ago. I advanced to double batting which really makes the machine quilting pop. This pattern uses strips and layer cakes. 

I just can't seem to get in the machine quilting groove. Very frustrating but if the designs won't come to me...what can I do? Start another top. I'm going way out of my usual color scheme and making a patriotic quilt. I am hoping I can hang it up this fourth of July.

Too Much Drama

I was patting myself on the back for doing great on my winter driving...and it has been a difficult winter with little snow and lots of ice. But...I got taken down yesterday. I made a right turn onto my neighborhood street and continued to keep going right...slowly sliding off the road. No injuries...my car was even damage free. But I needed a tow truck to pull me out. There was also the problem that the road I slid off was a solid sheet of ice and no sign of a sanding/gravel truck coming to save the day.

Once the tow truck showed up the plan was to pull my car up on the road and while it was hooked to the tow truck...ease it down the road to my driveway which was only the length of a football field away...but all downhill on the wet sheet of ice.  The plan included having me in the car so I could try to steer it. (Yep...that part of the plan was pretty sketchy too) So...I got in the car and patiently sat while the tow truck pulled me up to the street.

Then the towing cable that was supporting my vehicle snapped. OOPS! Then my car went careening farther down the mountain side and stopped when it hit two trees. Luckily...again...I was not hurt at all but it was such a disappointing end.

Now there is damage to my car.

The sanding/gravel truck showed up 4 hours later...right after the towing company finally got my car out and loaded on a flatbed truck to take it to a body shop. At least all my neighbors got home safely from work. I did watch one on my neighbors slide down sideways in her car before the gravel truck showed up. She was very lucky...she stayed on the road and didn't hit anything.

 The roads continue to be horrible as we keep getting a light rain and then freezing temperatures. 

And of course...pilot hubby is on a trip. He'll be gone four more days. He laughed hysterically when I told him the story...I didn't know I was such a comedian. I guess you'd have to know I have a little history with wacky situations that sometimes involve operating a car.

Oh...and my handyman was at my house when I initially got stuck. He is working on building a shed for us. He left before the tow truck showed up and had a very exciting ride down the mountain...but he too managed not to hit anything or actually go off the road. Today he had chains on his vehicle to navigate our mountain.

Sounds like I should just spend a few days staying nice and warm inside my quilt studio. I am most upset that I missed the January Breakfast Club. We started a mystery quilt in December and along with the rest of the steps...today the final design was revealed. I called the quilt shop and the class leader is not a computer techie so she is mailing me the steps. Just not the same as getting to sew along with everyone.

And my mailbox is at the bottom of the mountain...I'm certainly not going to walk down the mountain road any time soon...though I could use the exercise!

The first place I am driving to when my car is fixed is the tire shop...I'm getting studded tires...and a set of chains.

Home Sweet Home

Made it home safely. We had to fly on a red-eye flight to get home...I hate red-eye flights. My husband takes them in stride since he is a Fed Ex pilot...just the usual routine for him I'm afraid. But we got a wonderful surprise on this one...the Northern Lights were out for our last hour of flight. I have never seen them from an airplane. It was wonderful. We landed at 5 a.m. and continued to watch them as we were driving home. 

In the mail was my freshly printed book from my 2015 blog entries. This is the first time I have done this. So excellent!!!

Now I have a wonderful journal to share forever.

I just had to put Kinley's picture on the back...she was definitely a major event in 2015.

Besides all the normal chores of getting back from vacation...I added the beards and star sequins on the three Santa ornaments I made on vacation.

And I did the beards for two Santas I finished before our vacation. Adding the beards is my least favorite part and for some reason I prefer to have "beard making sessions." 

On the way to the Kauai airport we had time to kill so I stopped in a second quilt shop, Vickie's Fabrics in Kapaa. Wonderful little shop that also has exclusive batiks printed for their shop. I got more turtle batik fabric but will have to look next year for their pineapple batik...they were out of it this year. It takes 10 months for their batik orders to be made and shipped so I hope I get some next year.

This fabulous quilt was in their front window. I've seen these Hawaiian batik layer cakes before but didn't know what to do with them...this is a great design. 

Yes...we always plan on making a trip to Hawaii an annual event...it just doesn't always happen.