Say goodbye to Sue and Sam!

We get on the plane for CA tomorrow morning, and it can not come soon enough for me!  I am needing a little warmth and sunshine!  We've had a little these last few days, but just a teaser.  And the snow has hardly melted at all.....we still have mounds and mounds of it everywhere!  We'll be wearing shorts and skirts with sandals tomorrow.....bright white legs and all!  lol

I finished the Sue and Sam quilt a couple days ago.....no panic, right!  I'm quite pleased with it, and am so glad I changed it up from the solid pink blocks.  What a difference.

I did about 8 different fill patterns in the blocks, and then an all-over circle/swirl design in the between areas.  Each of the Sues and Sams got flowers thrown on them to keep them from poofing to much.  I didn't want to take away from Grandma's lovely handwork, but they needed to be tacked down.

One of my (now) favorite fill designs is the Radio Static design from Leah Day.  If you haven't checked out her blog, do it!  She is a fabulous machine quilter, and she's doing a FMQ Project of 365 designs.  The designs are great, and she has a quick video for each on how to do them.  Wonderful!  She was also the clincher in me getting my new Juki machine.....and I love it!  It did not let me down on this quilt, which was a monster!

My other favorite fill pattern is the pebbles.....it took about an hour for each block I did in it, but I just love it!

And we're calling this guy 'Lefty' or 'Shoeless Joe'!  lol  I really needed every block I could get, as it was, there were only 18 of them that were usable, so the size of the quilt is a little odd.....but on-point is a bugger for making things come out a do-able size!

The back of the Sue and Sam quilt got a (fairly) quick pieced back to it.  I was able to use up a lot of the pinks in my stash, which my MIL will just love!  I can't wait to give it to her tomorrow!  I'm waiting to do the label when I get to CA, cuz John doesn't know his Grandma's ACTUAL name!  (Come to think of it, I don't know mine, either!......Nana!.....That's it!)  And because it's a surprise, I'm not calling to ask.

I'm sure hoping to be able to check my favorite blogs while I'm gone.  It's become a ritual for me, and I don't think I could go a whole week without seeing what everyone is doing.

I prepared a bunch of hand piecing (the grandma's flower garden) to take with me on the plane!  I took a lot, so just in case CA is boring, I'll keep busy!  lol

Silly me, I thought I was so clever!  I purchased a 'meant for air travel' scissors a few weeks ago.  They are completely made of plastic, with blunt tips (like a child's scissors), so I thought I would be good to go!  Well, last night I was putting all my stuff together for the trip, and I thought I'd try them out!  THEY DON'T EVEN CUT THREAD!  Sheesh!  They'll cut paper, if you hold them JUST RIGHT!  But thread, and fabric.....NO!

Make me crazy!  So I'm returning them today.  I do have a nail clipper without the spear/file attachment, so I think I'll be good with that.  I just needed something to cut thread, so the clipper will do.

I went to Sephora today, cuz they carry the Bare Minerals line.  Has anyone tried it?  I thought I'd give it a shot, cuz at work yesterday, a gentleman told me that I had a mark on my face, as though it could be wiped off.  NO.....that's my face!  I have marks, and blemishes, and redness, and little spidery veins showing, and the old-lady bumps (that was the mark he was talking about).....and so I'm trying the Bare Minerals to see if I can stop looking like the old hag from Maine!

Wish me luck!

regan  :o)

Hubby's Kites!

A few posts back, I mentioned that my hubby makes kites, and that I would post some pics very soon.  Well, between working weird hours, snow storms, rain, and totally gray days.....the pics just haven't had a chance until today!  So I made him get them all out, put them together, and stand out in the cold.   (Ok.....it's 33 degrees today....not THAT cold!)

These are the kites he has made himself......he has 100's of kites he's purchased, swapped, and/or bargained for.  Truly.....100's!  But these are the ones he has made, and we still have!  He's made a few others, but they were either commissioned, or he just made them for a friend, and they no longer live at our house!  I'm making him go through his computer right now trying to find pics of those.....we'll see if he finds them!

This is the first kite John ever made.  I just love it.  He doesn't name the kites, but for this purpose, we are calling it Moose in the Woods!  It is in a shape called Rokkaku (Row-ca-coo).....Japanese for '6-sided'.....but kiters refer to these as 'rocks'.

Kites are applique work on rip-stop nylon......it's very slick, so you have to use spray glue over the entire surface, sew all the edges with zigzag, then carefully cut away the different layers, unstick everything, then clean it all.  Then there's the process of attaching the rods and bridles, and getting it 'just right' so the dang thing will fly!  That's the trick.....you can make a kite in just about any shape or form, but can it fly?

Up next is a kite that John loves to fly when there are lots of kids around.....cuz they play "What do you see?"

 Is it a rabbit, or a duck?

This star looks like it should be on a quilt, doesn't it?

Here's another 'What is it' kite.   Woman, or saxaphone player?

This fishing Merlin was made for a friend who has a charter fishing boat, and he looks just like that (the beard does it!)  John actually made two of these, cuz he wasn't quite happy with the way the beard fabric came out on this one (he dyed it himself).  So now he has one, too!

John got this Salmon design off a box of Pacific Northwest Smoked Salmon.....I'm from the Seattle area, and we have always loved the Northwest Indian Art......I've been itchin' to make a quilt with some of this kind of design......add it to the list, right!

These are 4 of the 50 little kites (about 20" tall) that are all strung together to make a kite arch!  It is really quite nice to see it flying.....it arches about 30' up and about 100' across when flying.  And of course, it just had to have snowflakes on it!  This is the only kite project I've ever helped John with.....he sewed it all, but I helped cut away the snowflakes.  That was a lot of little tiny ins and outs!  Oy!

This is John's latest kite, and he just finished it yesterday!  He has been helping crew with this ballooning group, and he has got the whole crew into kite flying on their 'down' times.  It seems you can only fly balloons at dawn and dusk.......for wind reasons, I guess.....so when there is a festival, the whole day is pretty much sit around and wait!  So, the crew was really excited about getting to fly kites!  John made this for his friend who owns the company, so he could fly 'his own' kite!

John just found the pics on his computer of some more......here are the inflatable seahorses he made.  They hang off of the line of a larger kite (out of picture), so they are referred to as 'line laundry'.  Funny, huh?  These seahorses were made from a pattern designed by another kiter; when they are flying, they wiggle, and dance around.....very sweet!

This last kite was made for our cousin, Patti, who is HUGE Yankees fan.  She was thrilled with this kite, but is very nervous about flying it, cuz the first time she did, it got caught up in the lines of a really huge kite, and everything came crashing down, and she thought it was her fault, and was terribly upset.  Of course, when you're flying kites....that happens a lot!  So we never think anything of it.....you just got get them untangled, and move on.  So she is a little freaked about it.  I keep telling her she should take it with her when she goes to Spring Training (she goes every year....a nut!), and see if she can get the players to sign it!  Wouldn't that be cool!?!  Heck, it'd be her 'in' to getting to meet the players!  One day maybe!  We'll see!

So there it is.....my hubby's hobby!  We've actually spent more time, and vacations, involved in kites and kiting than we have with quilting.....and that's just not right!  lol  I guess my quilting cruise will make up for some of that, right?

Ok.....back to quilting the Sue and Sam.  I'm almost finished with the filler designs in the blocks, just 5 more of the 18 to go!  Woohoo!

Have a great day!

regan

Just 3 months later!

I'm always trying to remember when things happened, cuz my memory is so bad!  I can never pinpoint anything, not even close, to when it actually happened.  Sometimes I'm months off!  It's so frustrating!  And even more so, when a much-older person starts telling me a story, and they can say stuff like, "Back in May of '56, we blah blah blah."  How do they do that?

Anyway, my reference to just 3 months ago, is the pic I posted on here of my Christmas cactus in full bloom.  (Thank goodness I blogged about it, cuz honestly, I couldn't remember when it bloomed!  Sheesh!)  When I asked my hubby back then how many times it bloomed a year, he said 2.  I thought it was more, and at this rate, we're talking 4!  HA!  Here it is today, 3 months later, not in full bloom, but a good try!  Love it when plants give a good try!  It's so endearing!  Makes you want to give em a little pep talk!  Yeah plant....go go go!

I've been quilting my brains out.....the Sue and Sam top is finished, and the pieced back is finished (finally), and will sandwich it tomorrow, cuz I need to get this thing quilted ASAP!  We leave for CA in 15 days!  Yeah, I love deadlines!  They work for me!  It's the only way I ever FINISH one!  Otherwise, I just keep starting new ones!  I guess that's my thing.....I really like the process......think about it......look at a gazillion pics.....finally pick one.....dig through the fabrics and scraps......cut like a maniac......get the top pieced......put it away, and start a new one!  I probably have at least 2 dozen (or more) tops just waiting for the quilting and binding.

I think this is where I'm supposed to make the commitment to finish _____ (insert number here) UFO's this year.  But even with my new machine, and my fondness for FMQ, I really love the piecing part the best!

And I know a lot of people (most of my quilting friends) who send out there tops to be quilted, and they love that!  But I'm too much of a control freak to think to have anyone else work on one of my quilts!  It's just not me!  And it wouldn't feel like 'my' quilt if someone else quilted it!  Yeah, I have had help before on a quilt.   My dear friend in Massachusetts (she's 90 now!) helped me piece a drunkard's path.  We worked on blocks one afternoon while I was visiting with her.  She didn't have a project started, and she didn't want to waste any visiting time trying to think up something to do, so we worked on mine, and we had a wonderful visit.  I cherish that quilt (still a top! lol) because Rita had a hand in it!  My cousin saw it years ago, and said she'd love to have it, and I thought ok, but I've since worked up a plan for a different quilt for her, cuz there is just no way I'm giving up the one Rita helped me on!  That one is staying put!  But other than that, I just don't think I could have someone do the quilting of one of mine.

I guess I just need to get busy.....make a list.....and get some of these done!

Ok.....that's the plan.....and now that I've posted this.....I'm committed!  You're a witness!  lol

As soon as I get the Sue and Sam quilt done, I'm going to organize the UFO's, get a plan, and get started on them.  Oh, and the Sue and Sam quilt has turned into a monster!  It's the biggest quilt I've ever made!  I wasn't paying much attention to the size of it, cuz really, when I'm piecing on point, the math is too hard, so I just wait til the end and see what happens!  Well, oh boy!  The top is 80 x 100!  Holy crap!  Who knew it could get that big!?!  It didn't look that big on the design wall!  But it is.....and that's why the backing took so long to piece!  It had to be a monster, too!  Sheesh!

Ok.....so I'll post pics tomorrow of it pinned.  Can't wait to get started on the quilting!

Have a great day!

regan

Adding to the Stash!

I've nearly got the Sue and Sam quilt ready for sandwiching....just finishing up the pieced backing tonight.  Will sandwich it tomorrow at the town office (on those really big tables....sweet!), and then I'll get pics of it.

In the meantime, here is a pic of the latest fabric purchase.....and I don't feel guilty at all....cuz they were all $1.99 a yard!  YEAH!  We have this outlet shop, mostly for upholstery yardage, but they have a section of cottons, and it seems they LOVE to put stuff on major markdown, to move it out!  And I'm so obliging, that I feel I 'must' help them out!  I'm doing them a favor, right?  lol

It was kindof funny.....when I had all these flatfolds in my arms, heading for the cutting tables, my hubby was getting fabric cut too.  (He makes kites, and they have his ripstop at this place, as well.)  So the gal finished his stuff, and I said "I have these to cut, too!"  Well, each piece she took out, I'd say a yard, or two, and as she was unfolding to measure, there would be about 1/2 of a yard more than what I asked for.....so I said, "oh, I'll just take the whole piece."  Why leave a 1/2 yard behind, right?  Well......that happened for EVERY piece of fabric!  She never had to cut anything!  Of course, my husband is standing there......rolling his eyes......and we're all laughing at each 'I'll take it all' comment.....it was quite fun!

I have to admit.....my hubby is really quite a good sport about it all.  Of course, his ripstop stash is overflowing the room he uses for sewing.....so he can't really say anything!  One day, when it's sunny out, I'll take some pics of the kites he's made.....they are really quite beautiful!  And he does really nice work.

So, I'm getting more time for quilting now.  I've spent the last week typing two books for a local author, and I finished the drafts today.  He writes out his draft in longhand, and I transcribe it.....and his handwriting is almost illegible.  I've gotten used to it, but it still makes me really ponder what the heck he's written sometimes.  The worst part about it.....he likes to make up words!  Seriously!  And I've argued with him.....until I'm blue in the face.....but he insists that 'its his style' and he makes me leave it in, wrong or not!  He's self-published, so he doesn't have an editor.....which he really needs, but refuses.  What an ego!  The thing is.....when he's writing about his game warden days, and stories about the woods.....it's really quite good.....and interesting!  But he gets on these weird ideas, and sometimes sex scenes, and all I can do is scream, "Nooooooo," the whole time I'm typing them!  Thankfully, those scenes are extremely mild, and very quick.....but it's just not something I want to be discussing with this guy!  That's just creepy!

Gratefully, he works with my husband, so I can pretty much just send stuff with him when he goes to work, and I get revisions back.....and I hardly have to talk to this guy!  Good thing, cuz he makes me crazy!  He's just so weird sometimes......this is the guy who used to put a little bleach in his drinking water....cuz he wanted to kill the bacteria and keep himself clean inside!  Can you imagine!?!  And he smelled of beach.....a lot!  I used to refer to him as "Bleach Boy"!  HA!  Thankfully, his doctor made him stop that craziness!  But the thought of it just reminds me how weird he is!  Oh, and he's the biggest male chauvinist pig you've ever met!  He's been married 3 times, and thinks he's an expert on women, and thinks all women are lowly, scheming, conniving, evil-doers....  and his books reflect this attitude!  He's such a pig!

So why do I do this typing......cuz it's pretty good money, and I have lots of trips coming up!  Each time I finish a book, though, I always say....."This is the last one I'm doing for this guy!"   We'll see what happens.

Anyway, that was my week, and I had way too much birthday cake, so I'm up 2 pounds!  Dang!

I need to go sew, and stop eating!

Have a good day!

regan

Another chance to win one! Woohoo!

Anita at BedofRosesMQ, is having a giveaway of Bonnie Hunter's book Scraps and Shirttails II!  Thanks so much Anita!  We love giveaways! 

 

You can enter until Friday the 25th.....so there's still plenty of time!  Sweet!

Do ya feel lucky?......well, do ya?

regan

What was I thinking???

I've had the Sunbonnet Sue/Overall Sam quilt pin basted now for nearly two weeks.  Have I even touched it?.....No!  I was dreading it!  I had come up with an all over heart-on-a-vine type quilting design for it, but that was a far as I had gone.  Didn't even want to think about it!  And I put in the spare room, and closed the door!  Didn't even want to look at it!  Sheesh!  Something's wrong here!  But what!?!

Then I got on the blogs this morning and it hit me like a lightening bolt!

You know how sometimes you just have to hear someone else say it.....and then it all makes sense.  You can be thinking the thoughts, but they are all jumbled in your mind.....but the minute someone else says it......there!  That's it!  THANK YOU!

There I was on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville blog, and over the weekend she was making a baby quilt.  And (I think it was Saturday) she was having a devil of time making sense of the sashing.  She was feeling obligated to incorporate the minty green color scheme of the baby's room.  And it just wasn't happening for her.  The green didn't look right, and colors to complement it didn't work either.  No matter what combo she tried, it just wasn't good.  Kindof put her at a standstill.

And then she realized she needs put her own look to the quilt, so she could be happy with it.  And it turned out beautifully (of course it did!....her quilts always looking amazing!)

So I was really thinking about the Sue and Sam quilt after that, cuz I KNOW the reason I don't want to deal with it is because it is not ME at all!  Nothing about it is anything I would normally do.  I was totally trying to make a quilt my MIL would think was pretty.  And was second guessing myself the whole way, cuz let's face it......her comment on receiving it is going to be "Well, it's about time!".....so does it really matter what I think she might like!?!  NO!  I should be making something I want to work on.....with choices of fabrics that I would normally pick......so I can love every minute of doing it!  This was my lightning bolt moment!

Then, I was still browsing blogs, and came across a new one (to me) and whammo......another bolt!  Karen at Little Pieces of My Life had a Sue and Sam quilt right there for me to find.....and love everything about it!  Oh my goodness!  I'm so very happy right now!

I've just spent the entire afternoon unpinning and then seam ripping the entire top of the Sue and Sam quilt.  It is now back to single blocks, and I'm digging through the stash right now to put some fun colors and patterns with the blocks!  No more solid pink!  Whew!

The thought of all that pink, and all the perfect quilting it would need through the solid parts.....well, it was just a nightmare to me!

And Karen's setting will totally work with my blocks.....each of which is a different size, because of the aging and fraying.  I can add a bunch of rounds like a log cabin block, and still keep them on point with off-set rows.  I'm so looking forward to this now.  I will post a pic when I have some put together.

In the meantime, I've been working on my Roll-Roll Cotton Boll quilt from Bonnie.  I got a late start to the mystery, and only had the first two segments done before it was finished by Bonnie.  But it turned out for the best, cuz I needed to make changes to it, but there was no way to know what to change until it was over, and you could see how it all came together.

First off.....there is nothing king size in our house.....that is just way too big for us!  So I knew I was going to have to scale it down to a queen at the most......and this was where the tricky part was.  How do you know midway in a mystery what percentage of pieces you will need for a different size!?!  There's just no way to tell!  So, I was glad I was late.

As it worked out.....I totally skipped the string blocks and decided to sash the pieced blocks instead.  I also changed some color schemes a bit.....no red.  Instead, I did the 1/2 square triangles with neutral and brown.  And I put them on facing out......which gave the inside blocks a kindof spinning effect!  Love it!

In the pic, I was trying out the different combos for the sashing and cornerstones.  Have decided on the pink sash and brown stones, which is good, cuz I don't think I have enough of the browns for the sashings.

I will still use the border pieces that were cut on the first segment of the mystery!  Love the way they look!  I'll have a bunch left over, but maybe I will do something with them on the back.  Will post more pics when I get more of this done!

Hope you're having a great day!

regan

Best Hubby Ever!

Ok, so yesterday I posted how my hubby John made a fabulous computer set up for me at my treadmill!  And then took me to dinner at our favorite place.  What a great guy!

Well, we had a fabulous dinner, and the dessert was pretty good, but not the cake that I had had back in December.  I was really having a hankering for the Lemon and Berries Cake with Mascarpone filling that I had back then, but they didn't have it last night.  Oh well, maybe next time!  :o)

Anyway, I get home from work tonight.....and John has made me a cake!  And it's chocolate with chocolate frosting!  OH YEAH!  So I had cake first, and then dinner!  It's only right....right?

Oh, and did I mention....he also did the laundry and dishes while I was at work!  (Of course, the dishes is 'his' job usually, cuz about 15 years ago I said one day that doing the dishes makes my 'princess hands' rough, and he said, "I don't mind doing them.".....and I immediately said, "Great.....they're yours now!".....and I've only done dishes maybe 4 times a year since then!  But the laundry.....now we're talkin very cool!

Yep, it's official!  He is the best hubby ever!  Just me braggin a bit.....hope you don't mind!


Have a wonderful day!

regan