Summertime and still sweatshirt weather!

But of course, it's always sweatshirt weather here - sometimes you have to wear a raincoat over the sweatshirt, so guess I'll be satisfied with what we've got.

Water Aerobics started in our outside pool last Monday. It's a heated pool but weather has been in the 50s when we're in it! It's as close as I get to joining in any Polar Bear events!! Actually, the pool feels great and its fun to drive only 5 minutes to the pool. I drive 45 minutes to get to the Crescent City Pool the rest of the year. Eight am and I've already got a tan - after 4 days, I have suit-lines - even with the morning fog!! It amazes me.



June's flowers came - beautiful full dark red peonies. The bouquets have gotten bigger each month - this one was too big and top-heavy for our glass vase. I put the white flowers in a second vase/mason jar and while the peonies are starting to fade, the white flowers are still going strong.



Our local quilt shop expanded and put in a LongArm machine. You can take a LA lesson, get 'certified' and then be able to rent it and work on your own projects. I am now certified, as compared to certifiable!! I had another quilt UFO in mind for my work session, but switched it out to this flannel kids quilt. 'Brrr-winter' could take an all-over design and was a better '1st' project for me. I free motion quilted it - I'm am terrible at pantographs!!

Let me say - long arm quilters have nothing to worry about with me!! Wow - it's an eye opener to try it yourself! But, this UFO is now off my list and hopefully I'll get over there every month or two to work on another UFO. Lord knows I have enough UFOs to get thru!



Here's my Holiday Challenge again - as I told you, it won 3rd place Viewer's Choice in the Challenge category at the show!! Fun surprise!!



I finally turned the corner on my 'on again, off again' handquilting project - I'm out to the borders on my 'Birds of a Feather.' A BOM from 2006ish! I hate to quilt borders in a hoop - it's all set-up again and again with very little time quilting. So I framed it up and like working on it that way. I put it in the sewing room and as you can see - it barely fits. In fact, you have to squeeze thru to get into the room.



While we're in the sewing room - might as well have a tour!! A closet [stuffed full of quilting stuff] is on your left. The black board on the right is the computer armoir. The design wall is straight ahead, those jungle animals are half the blocks for a quilt for Mr D. It's called Jungle Boogie by Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat Patterns.

The original dimensions are huge. I reduced it to 75% and the giraffe is still 23" tall! And - in case you want to make this - the pattern is not reversed, since I'm using a wonder-under method, my quilt will be backwards. I hate when that happens!!

Moving on - the next blocks on the design wall are Pies and Tarts. My goal is to have all 64 pies made and appliqued to the backgrounds by the end of July when a good friend from ARK is coming to visit. She can consult like nobody's business! I'm counting on her to help me lay it out.

In the basket on the floor is a Grandmother's Flower Garden that has been languishing for years. A church group in Lincoln NE quilted it for me and offered to bind it - I foolishly said "No, thanks." Why, oh why, did I say that??? It's still not bound - but this year .... better be longer than 365 days based on my to-do list for 2011!! LOL! Hope springs eternal!!

Then the wonderful card catalog my daughter gave/lent me for Mother's Day!! On top are various baskets, one of which holds my Sue Spargo 'Journey Tree' project.

I'd love to say that's as messy as it gets - but sadly, no - I had to straighten it up to make room for the frame!! The best I can hope for is 'livable'!!

June has sprung

Last weekend was our Brookings Quilt Show as part of Azalea Festival. The weather was spotty - but that doesn't deter quilters - we're inside!

We had 162 quilts entered and all showed up. I was so glad I entered quilts that were finished - I remember those last hours of sewing against the clock many times other years and delivering quilts that were 'still smoking!'

But I was kept busy by going to work day on Monday before the show; accepting entries for 4 hours on Friday; helping to hang the show Friday night [my favorite part!]; working the show and photographing all the entries on Saturday; and wandering the show before helping with 'take down' Sunday. It seemed it went well - we'll get our report next Monday night.

We were able to sell cookies for the first time in many years - with the strict instructions that none were to be eaten inside the building. So we advertised "Go Bags of cookies" [for New Orleans fans!] And "Cookies to go".

We had everything! And could smell the baked goods right thru the zip-lock bags! I made batches of my rice krispie bars with M&Ms. But there were all the usual suspects plus a new favorite - Cranberry-White Chocolate-Oatmeal cookie. The recipe is on the Craisins Bag of Dried Cranberries! Trust me - awesome!!

One of the best perks of joining a new quilt guild is they haven't seen your quilts yet. Many don't have date restrictions on entries into shows, so you can bring out your old favorites [and see if they hold up to the new standards!] And I'm happy to report they did!



The oldest quilt I entered was the Blazing Star Whole Cloth quilt. I hand quilted this quilt in Lincoln in 1984. [isn't a yearly 'quilts finished' list handy!!!]
I ordered this pattern and was severely disappointed to receive one quarter of the star drawn out!! I, of course, picked fabrics that were too thick to see thru and had to gerry-rig a light box to trace it. Well, by the time I got to lining up the last quarter - it was 1/2" off. I stomped on it - not kidding - sprayed it with Shout and sent it thru the wash a few times. Determined, next I drew out the pattern on newsprint from a roll; [remember those - you got them from the newspaper office and they were Grrr-eat!!' This time I basted it to the fabric so it wouldn't shift; traced it and proceeded to quilt it with contrasting thread. I even made the hanging loops change color so as to match the side that was hanging out AND added an invisible pocket for a small dowel to help it hang perfectly straight!

I still love it. It was made during my 'blue and brown' period! Ha - I can hear friends laughing!! That period lasted about 30 years!! I still love blues and browns - but do work in different colors -on occasion- now!! LOL!



I entered "Lights Along the Coast" the silk-screened lighthouse panels set in a log cabin setting. My DH's admitted favorite quilt of mine! Although he still has "improvement suggestions"!!



I entered "Season's Greetings, Dearie" this year's Brookings Round Robin quilt. I'm pleased to say that 4 of the 5 quilts in our round were done by the show. And they looked mighty fine!! Many thanks to M in Lincoln for long-arming that quilt for me on my visit to Nebraska in April. It turned out so cute and provided me with a relaxing pre-show interval.



You remember "Be Mine", my Holiday Challenge - my foray into 'slow quilting' last winter. I love it - but it didn't do well in the Guild's Challenge Contest. I was surprised that it won a 3rd place Viewer's Choice at the show. Always fun to walk around the corner and find a ribbon on your quilt!

We're headed to Medford this weekend to send the new parents out for an evening while we babysit Mr D! Almost 2 months old now ... wish us luck!!

Back in the blog business!

I've been spotty in blogging lately - sorry about that. There was nothing major - just a little sleeplessness, spring allergies and laziness. I'm trying to talk myself out of that routine right now!!



We've had so much fun getting to know Mr D. We saw him 3 times before he turned 1 month old! Not bad for a baby that lives 3 hours away! Of course it does help that DH loves to play golf over there. He gained 2 lbs the first month - the doctor asked if he had any other hobbies other than nursing!! NOPE! But cute as a button and starting to do those involuntary smiles!! Fun to watch him grow.

We were up in Portland last weekend and were surprised to see a giant patio project finished before we even knew it had started!! What a nice job - and so much fun to play with the kids somewhere we can also sit while waiting for action to continue! No seats on the cul de sac out front!! They are going to get so much use out of that space - fun, fun, fun!

But of course, we had some rainy days there too - it IS Portland! But L had a 'rainy day activity' hidden away. A "Mousetrap game-like" marble track toy. Unfortunately, it took two adults to figure out how to put it together while a third adult entertained the munchkins out of sight!! LOL! But very entertaining after that.



Did I mention what I got for Mother's Day from L and DH??? Well, L had found a card catalog built like a barrister's bookcase. [It comes apart for easy moving or rearranging!] Lucky for me L didn't find a space for it in her house and it came to me!! DH was not excited - there was work to be done. We hired a cabinet-maker to make a top and toe-guard for it. Then there was a whole lot of elbow grease to clean it up. [No wonder I was having allergy attacks!] - years of spiderwebs, dust and mouse doo-doo! But I'm really happy with the way it turned out. And it holds a lot of little stuff for quilting, of course, you have to remember what drawer you put it in!!! On top is this month's flowers - Flora Pacific does such a good job with monthly bouquets! It was a great gift from DH.



While I was in the quilt cave - I took a full picture of the design wall [instead of just that tease in the other picture]. That's Pies & Tarts on it. My friend J, back in Nebraska got this pattern as an English paper piecing BOM. She's been working on it for a year and it's fabulous. When I saw it a year ago - I tried to join that BOM but no luck. I did get the templates and one of the fabric packs. But then left it to 'age' for a whole year. Does anyone else do that???

This year I had a workshop on 'paperless paper piecing' and figured this would be a good project for that method, especially since I hate English PP! And it's working out well. I'm aiming for 64 pies - that will be a nice 60 x 60ish quilt that will hang in my quilt display space just right. Let's not even mention my ambitious plan of sewing 3 pies and 3 tarts by machine each day and hand appliquing them onto the background each night in front of TV. We all know that's not going to work!! LOL!

The tarts are just 'patted' on since you don't sew them until the blocks are together. I studied pictures of this project on the web, since I had to make up my own fabric selection. I had to make sure that I didn't always line up the dark wedge with the center top. [gives it a little movement] And some blocks will have darker backgrounds with light wedges. Being me [LOL!] I cut wedges for 60+ blocks and an assortment of backgrounds before I really got into production - but it is addicting to see what the next block will look like!!



We have an unexpected sunny day today, in exchange for an unexpected grey day yesterday. We've been having wonderfully civil [8 - 10ish in the mornings] low tides this week. We were down on the beach yesterday and got to see a young teenage? deer frolic in the tidepools! It was running and splashing and you could see he was loving it!! I laughed and he stopped and looked at me like "What are you looking at??" And then splashed some more. FUN!

The Merry, Merry month of May

My goodness, April went fast! Of course, it was visit, visit, visit for 3 weeks - and do wash, unpack and pack again for the 4th week! Besides spending 10 days with my mom for her birthday, a visit with Miss P and Mr M [pictured here in a rare appearance without his sister!],



and we 'accepted delivery' of our new grandson,Mr D!! Two visits to meet and play with him! Here he is 2 weeks old.



I also had a 5-day retreat with the Bayshore Quilters from Newport. What fun that was!Good company and great sunsets!!


Picture 19 crazy quilters meeting in both sides of a duplex in Bandon. Lucky for me, Bandon is pretty much 1/2 way between Brookings and Newport. Although the Newport gals DID leave about 8 am to get there! 4 quilt shops on the way, don't cha know!! I left at 1 pm and we all got there about the same time - 4 pm on monday. Bags were hauled in, sewing machines were set up and let the party begin!!

The projects everyone was working on were awesome. For example, I'd never seen or heard of Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses. Oh dear, a new category of fabrics to look for!! It's fabulous! A woven log cabin, many sewing kits in an exchange, lots of eye candy - both worked on and brought in from shopping trips!

Tuesday, some of the gals took a crumb quilt class from Nancy Chong of the Pacific Rim Quilting Company. This was the 4th year they arranged a class by her. The renegades - including me - sat at home and worked on our own projects. It was a great sewing day 'while the kids were at school!'

Tuesday, I worked on 'Pies and Tarts' antique reproduction quilt. Instead of English paper piecing, I'm paper-less paper piecing by machine and got several pies and a few tarts pieced and ready for applique that day.

Wednesday was spent working on Sliced Bread - an asymetrical log cabin-ish pattern from Wilmington Fabrics. The link takes you to the index, patterns are in alphabetical order. This was a March Madness workshop we had in Brookings. It's pretty wild, so I'm looking for a 4th 'log' to mute it down a bit. Hmmm, navy? brick red? tone on tones? but 48 blocks later ... it was a very productive day.

Thursday I put my machine away and worked on the Sue Spargo wool applique project from Lincoln's class. And then when I ran out of thread colors I needed, I switched to quilting on "Birds of a Feather." Each year I drag it out of it's corner, I love it, everyone else oohs and ahhs over it and I'm dedicated to finishing it by ... until I get distracted by something else!! Poor UFO! But it's at the head of the list again. [or is it? a shoulder injury from carrying furniture sidelined me this week from any sewing!]

Friday was time to head back home again - with a short stop at Port Orford to pick up some of those missing colors of thread.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. Hope yours includes some leisure time, a favorite activity and a wee bit of dessert!!

I'm back and new Grandbaby is here!

I was in Nebraska for my mom's 93rd birthday - a whirlwind 10 days of appointments and her "to do" list for me. Here we are with mom on her birthday.



And talk about good luck - while I was in Lincoln, Sue Spargo was teaching a workshop, her Travel Journal class. What fun. J, G and I got in and had the most wonderful time working on our 'life journey' trees. Sue Spargo is a great teacher - most patient with clumsy fingers trying to learn the embroidery stitches.



Of course, I squeezed in some of my favorite quilt shops and quilting friends too. And I caved in and bought a BOM. J had been raving about the Farmer's Wife BOM Country Sampler was offering - paper pieced! I thought it sounded good, but ... then I saw the fabrics and all that willpower just went out the window! It's gorgeous and I can't wait to work on it. J and I did finish one block - and the rest are in a box I had to mail back ... I'm waiting for it's delivery on pins and needles, of course! LOL!

A good time was had by all - and although the time went entirely too fast ... it's good to be back home - even if it IS still raining here!!



I got into Portland on Tuesday - the first activity was to go to the zoo with Miss P and Mr M - and their parents. It was a quick trip because no one realized that the zoo gates closed at 4 pm. Hard to explain THAT to preschoolers looking forward to the trip!


The next day was recovery-day for Nana! Rainy in Portland too - so we played a new game - hide the pony and look for him with a flashlight! Great fun. We also ran around in circles, played 3 board games and played with play-dough. Nana was ready for a nap when they were!!

Thursday we headed for Medford for a dentist appointment and surprise - someone beat us there! Mr D - who wasn't expected until April 18 came early and we got to see him when he was just an hour old! It's hard to remember that they come that little!! Not much more than a peanut!! AND he was 7 lbs 6 ozs!! Just the right size.


Welcome to the family, little one!!

Brookings quilters ... don't look!!

My DH gave me the best Christmas present last year. He arranged with a local florist to deliver 'coastal' fresh flowers every month this whole year! We were gone in February, so we skipped that month. Flora Pacifica is awesome! Each bouquet is a mixture of flowers. And there's always buds hidden away that bloom last - this month it was the red & yellow Tulips. We got them last Wednesday - and I notice the leaves are starting to droop! Trust me - it was awesome earlier!! Thanks, Dear Heart! I'm feeling so spoiled!

Now for the secret part! I've finished my Guild Holiday Challenge early. Sorry, I can't keep it under wraps for another whole two months!! We're not supposed to show it about until after the 'vote' at the end of April. But I can't wait that long!! [grin] So here it is:

Be Mine
22" x 21"
made for Brookings Quilt Guild Holiday Challenge 2011




The challenge had a size limit; and had to be a holiday. I've been reading about 'slow quilting' on the web and it intrigued me. I picked out 18 shirtings in my collection that had red in them. [no - I don't think you want to know how big that shirting collection is!! There's alot more without red!!] Then I HAND appliqued the large heart - yep, me, by hand!!! I used the freezer paper method to get a good edge and I'm amazed at how well it came out - even the top of the heart!! [insert pat on my back]

Now, I purposefully set the 1/2 inch grid for the quilting off-kilter. I didn't want any lines following - or not following the seam lines and there's not much space between 1/2 inch! If I had a do-over, I'd have set it at a better angle - but "Oh, well!" I used DMC embroidery floss - pink, yellow, green and blue - and stitched a modified Sashiko stitch for weeks and weeks! But it was fun to hand stitch on a project for a change. While I worked on it, I wadded it up in my lap, I usually quilt in a hoop. But since the whole idea was large stitches, lap quilting worked well, but I really had a crooked project before washing and blocking it! Although it IS straighter than it looks in this photo, really!

When I got to the heart, instead of following the grid, I stair-stepped the stitches across, I wasn't sure what to use to fill in those spaces. More embroidery - Algerian Eyes?? A million French Knots?

So coming home from Portland last week I stopped in Newport and consulted with S. It was a good excuse to see her! She helped me decide buttons was the way to go. I came home and started looking for tiny 'findings' buttons that were country colors. But insead, my jar of small white buttons leaped into my hands and yelled, "ME! me! me!" LOL! So I used them instead and still haven't found the others! I used the space between the stair steps for the white buttons. S had said it reminded her of a box of Valentine's Day candy - so I mixed it up a bit so it looked like some were missing!! Yum!!

Until I put the buttons on, it looked very modern to me! I used old fabrics - shirtings; an old method - sashiko and it looked modern!! But the buttons brought it back around to my antique-ish style! I'm very pleased AND I get to show a red and white quilt this month! Those of you that can go to NYC - to see the Red and White exhibit - have fun for all of us!!

We've had rain, rain and more rain since getting back from our trip. Not to mention a tsunami!! Over 10 inches in March - and it ain't done yet!!! But today it was a brighter shade of grey ... and we're taking that as an improvement!! LOL!

We were on vacation ... can you guess where we've been?

Here's a hint!

!>


It's true, it's true - I got DH out of Oregon for 'basically the first time' since we moved here - almost 3 years ago!!

We had lovely weather along the coast in January - R was able to go golfing 10 times!! But we had the chance to go to Palm Springs and stay with Newport friends so we skedaddled out of here! The weather has turned B*A*D since we returned - causing R to start planning next year's trip - to stay LONGER!!

We drove South on I5 - delivering baby furniture to A&J2 and having lunch with R's golfing buddy in Ashland. Stayed in Redding with good friends B&D and then the long stretch to get to Palm Springs. We had our first In-N-Out Burger in Bakersfield. We got to Palm Springs to perfect weather - 70s, dry air and no wind!! Now that's what we're talking about!!

Sunday we took off to explore. We took the Aerial Tramway up the mountains 8500 feet above sealevel! - that's where you can sled in snow and find really big pine cones!! Then we went to my first 'new' 3D movie - The Hubble at IMAX. I was blown away! See it if you can!! Dinner was at an Italian restaurant. Our local Italian place closed when we moved to Brookings and we've been desperate for good Italian that we didn't have to cook ourselves!! That dinner was the first of lots of good Italian on this vacation!




I was great the first few days. We even went twice to Water Aerobics at the city pool. Pool's capacity was 680!! Yep, it was LARGE! Valentine's Day found us at Torme's Supper Club with a live band and dancing with my husband!! Very fun.




Then I got an 'allergic reaction of epic proportions' to something blooming in the desert! After a week in paradise (with a box of Puffs at my side) we headed to DISNEYLAND where I promptly picked up my "1st timer" button!!

>


L - a good friend from Newport went with us and she is the BEST Disneyland fan!! We had a blast with her as our guide. Loved California Adventure and "Soarin' Over California!" Second favorite was Mr PotatoHead's Arcade where I surprised my husband by having more-than-double his score!! Watch out! - I'm a mean, green, shooting machine!! The new California Adventure water-laser show "A World of Color" is simply unbelievable! When you're there - don't even think about leaving early!!

The next day R&I went to Disneyland by ourselves and we did well! Actually rode the Indiana Jones ride and Space Mountain before official opening! Magic Hour is!! Of course, we were pooped from the day before, didn't have L with us and it started raining at 2:15 ... but still, lots of fun! Scoped it out for our next visit with the grandkids!! Maybe to celebrate our 40th anniversary??? It's a thought!

Saturday it was still raining as we left LA. We made it to Santa Barbara where R attended half a year of kindergarten a l*o*n*g time ago! I toured my first mission and we stumbled across an awesome Italian restaurant downtown. They were cooking something garlic when we walked by - R immediately went in and made reservations for that night! The downtown is everything you'd want - great shopping, great food and many theaters. We saw a movie while hiding out from the rain before dinner.

Sunday saw us heading for Monterey. We had breakfast in Malibu and it was sunny and wonderful driving up Big Sur. We immediately drove the 17 mile loop around Pebble Beach. Stopped and bought sweatshirts and then had dinner at the slowest Big Bear Diner in the west!! It was comical - we advised new customers [under our breath] to order breakfast ... cuz they'd still be there!! Helpful in many ways, I'm sure!!




Monday morning we were at the Aquarium. I'm happy to say it was awesome, and also proved the little aquarium in Newport is very good too!! They had a seahorse display that was amazing. R fell in love with the Leafy Sea Dragon! Now that's a funky animal!!




On to San Francisco - and wow! We had clear weather and it was so much fun - my 1st time there and we triangulated that town!! The first thing we did after checking into our motel by Fisherman's Wharf was buy 'hop on and off sightseeing by bus' tickets good for two days! There were 4 tours and we took them all! Went around downtown several times; went out to Golden Gate Park where museums reside!; went to Saucilito over the Golden Gate Bridge and then took the night tour too!

And the food - let me tell you - it was not on our diets, but boy-oh-boy was it good!! The first night, Neptune's on Pier 39 - creamiest clam chowder we'd ever had and you know we have it every chance we get!! I'll dream of that chowder until we go back for more!

Lunch the next day was in Chinatown at R&G Lounge. R declared it was better than the food he had in Taiwan and Hong Kong! That night we went to Alioto's where I had some pasta that saved my life!! We'd just come off the night bus tour, where we were upstairs in the open air bus and we were frozen!!

The last day we bought day passes for the Muni-system. Cable cars all day long! What a blast!! The Powell and Mason line started a block from our hotel. We rode it downtown and then a different one back to the wharf. Then up to the top of Lombard street - the crooked street. We got off and walked down - trust me, it was better than walking up!! 31% grade!! Then we got on a bus to the Coit Tower. Toured the tower and then walked down Telegraph Hill hoping to see the wild parrots. [no luck] Caught our double decker tour bus and rode to North Bay - the Italian section.




We sat outside and had a wonderful late lunch in the sun. Back on the cable cars for more fun downtown! I shopped at Britex Fabrics!! They were even having a sale - I bought 1/2 yard of Japanese navy bunny-rabbit fabric!! And yes, I could have bought more, but I was able to stuff the half yard in my purse and not carry anything else cuz you need two hands to hang on the cable cars!

That night we ate at the Blue Mermaid down at the wharf. Award winning chowder ... need I say more? They drew us in and proved it! After our Italian lunch we weren't that hungry - but needed something! The crab sweet corn chowder was also yummy!!

We woke up Thursday morning to rain and forecast of really bad weather coming. So we high-tailed it home. Drove thru snow south of Crescent City - very unusual for the coast!! We had two days of cool but clear weather with whales entertaining us! And San Francisco had their first snow since 1980 the day after we left!! Someone posted ski run ratings of all the streets online - believe me - all would have been 'expert'! We were so glad we missed it!

Then the winter storm hit here - not cold enough for snow - but man 'o man - have we got wind and rain! Even so, it's good to be home - and out of the car!! I've been getting caught up on our TIVO and quilting on my "Holiday Challenge"! Yep, good to be home in any weather!