Catching up ... yay!

It didn't take me very long to get behind ... something happened last week, and the two quilts I was supposed to do did not get done!  So this week I jammed and got four quilts done ... hurray!  Feels really good to get them all done and check them off my quilt calendar ... now I'm back on track ... yay!!

One of the quilts I did earlier in the week was a queen size churn dash quilt.  I've watched my friend work on this for a while, and when she gave it to me to quilt I was really excited.  She wanted a really tight stipple on the quilt, and I was a littile concerned about that since the quilt was so big.  Usually I would do a medium size stipple ... she was right on!  I love the tight stipple and it looks great (if I do say so myself!).

I used an Omni thread in the top and bobbin ... the color is Goose ... I love the name!

Didn't she do a good job?  It's so striking in just the couple of colors.  It was really fun to quilt!

She's lucky because I almost kept it for my bed!  I liked it so much ... heh, heh. 

I wanted to show the back of the quilt so you can see how she pieced it ... she just used what she had.  A lot of people really want the back of their quilts to look nice, and to them that means a beautiful piece of fabric.  I happen to love the look of a pieced back ... the scrappier the better ... I've seen some backs that are geometrically beautiful, but I never can put that much planning into my backs.  I do prefer to use whatever I have and in addition to it looking really cool, I feel virtuous in using up all my leftovers!

I loved this center strip ... I'm not sure what it started out as, but I thought it looked really neat!

While I was out on the back patio this evening enjoying the end of the day and the quilt I just finished, I went inside to get something, and then when I came back outside, this hawk was sitting on the fence about 20 yards away from me ...

It's hard to see him as I didn't want to get any closer and scare him away.  He must have sat there looking around for about 15 minutes.

I was wondering if he was looking at Sophie and wondering if he had any chance of scooping her up!  See him way over there on the right?  I don't even think Sophie paid any attention to him or knew he was there.  More likely he was looking for the baby bunnies that have been out and about in the neighbor's yard the last week or so ... they are so cute!  I hope they watch out for the hawks!

Mystery Quilt

Last Friday night I taught a mystery quilt class.  This year the Country Loft did a Summer Nights class -- for the summer on most Friday nights, we had evening classes ... those Friday night classes are so fun because not only do you get to get together and sew, but dinner is provided ... yahoo!  I taught a Mystery Class last year and I taught someone else's pattern.  This year I wanted to do a mystery class, but teach my own pattern ... after a lot of hemming, hawing (procrastinating!!!!), and some help from a friend, I came up with this awesome quilt ...

Don't  you love it?!!  This is how it came to be ... months ago I was going to teach a beginning quilt class with the design of a sampler quilt.  I wanted a quilt with big blocks that would go together fairly quickly.  Large block quilts are great for beginners because the large pieces are more forgiving than smaller pieces.  I had a lot of the Hometown fabric that came out last year ... I started putting together blocks and had about three or four done.  I got stumped ... something wasn't right ... I loved the fabric, but it just wasn't meshing.  When I decided to do a mystery class I kicked a couple of ideas around and thought ... hey, I have these blocks that I haven't done anything with, how about these?  Well I needed some help ... so I took them to a good friend and she very quickly got me on the right track! 

The result I love ... it looks like there is a little frame around everything in the above picture because my son was holding the quilt and the sun is shining through the back of it.  What you see is just the seam allowances.  I barely got it finished just in time for the class (shh ... don't tell anyone!) ...what fun we had!  I think there were 7 ladies and they all made their quilts out of different fabrics.  It was so fun to see how different they all looked!  I was so busy sewing that I was struggling with what to make for dinner for everyone that night ... well one of my other good friends came through ...

What you can't see under all that aluminum foil is some of the best chicken enchiladas a white woman can make!  They were delicious and lucky for me, a whole large pan was left so I have been having leftovers all week ... yummy!  Her secret ingredient?????  Trader Joe's enchilada sauce ... it is seriously delicious!

Everyone was so excited when they left that evening to finish their quilt.  I was really excited for them ... one of the gals came into the Loft yesterday and had her top totally completed!

Look at Tamara's quilt!  I can't believe she got it done already ... she was so excited that she had most of it done when I saw her again on Saturday at the store.  She used some funky 50's type fabrics ... it's kind of hard to see it in the picture ... I love the contrast of some of her fabrics and she did a great job of putting several different styles of fabric together.  She is a pretty new quilter ... can you believe it?!  Now I have to get busy and plan the next Mystery Quilt class ... if I start on it now, I might have it done by next summer!!

A drawing

Hi again ... I know, two posts from me in one day ... don't fall over!  I wanted to send you over to the Country Loft's store blog ... it hasn't been very active lately, but we are getting our act in gear at the store, and have a new plan to update it a couple of times a week, so keep checking back.

In the meantime, hop on over and check it out ... there's a giveaway going on now ...

http://thecountryloft.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

Accomplishments

Today was a great day ... I don't know about you, but I have this really bad habit of rating my days by how much I got done on a particular day.  I guess this can be a good thing ... it's a motivator; but it can also be a bad thing ... if you just relax for a day, you feel like you're a slug!  Today I had a work meeting at 8 a.m., and I knew that if I didn't go to the gym before the meeting, I wouldn't get there.  So I made myself roll out of bed at 6:30, go to the gym, then to the meeting.  I didn't look the greatest, but my friends didn't care (I should mention that my workplace, the Country Loft, in La Mesa, California, has their work meetings at Panera ... not something I have to dress up for) ... then I ran a couple of errands, came home, finished quilting a huge quilt I had on my frame and helped my son fix dinner!  Now that's a great day ... a couple things I was reminded of today ... I work in a great place ... how many other people can say they love the work they do.  I have met so many people through our store ... and we all know that quilters are some of the nicest people in the world! 

Through our store, I gained the confidence to start teaching classes, and have made some of the nicest friends!  Then there is the whole longarm thing ... a business that I wouldn't be nearly as successful at except for the fact that when you work in an awesome quilt store, you have built in longarm customers!

Here's a quilt I did earlier in the week ... it's just a cute little table runner.  Very simple ...

I didn't want to do too tight of a design .. I thought with all the detail in the stars, it just needed a little something to compliment them.  One of the things I have discovered I don't like is when I have a small quilt like a table runner, if I do a small tight design, the table runner is stiff, and I don't like that look.

I used a cream Superior King Tut on top and Glide in the bobbin.

I haven't made a lot of time lately for my own quilt projects ... with all my graduations in the family and visiting and vacations, there just didn't seem to be a lot of time.  Well I've been working on a block of the month and I went to a friend's house on Monday to visit and sew and look what I got done ...

I'm working on my April block, and in that block you make one for April and one for June; the one on the right is the April block ... the limbs on the trees are supposed to reach over onto the May block.  I am so excited to actually have something accomplished that isn't longarm quilting!  If I hadn't gone to my friend's house to play, I never would have got these cut out and put together.  So, like I said earlier about measuring my day by what I accomplish ... sometimes when you think you haven't accomplished much (like my day on Monday when I played most of the day), it turns around into something good ... it's all perspective, right?!!

Summer quilting

I love summer ... I love the freedom from schedules, from school, from life.  I always think I am going to get so much done over the summer because we have no schedules to keep in my house.  What I forget is that all four people in my house are home over the summer ... my husband works for the school district and so he is out over summer.  What does this mean to me ... I have lots of people around wanting to do lots of things and that does not include listening to me say "I can't, I have to quilt!"  So please accept my apologies for being gone so long from posting.

I did a quilt last week for a lady ... it was an embroidered sampler quilt and I decided to resist the urge to do it simply, and challenge myself.

 The customer did not want quilting over the embroidery ... that is always a dilemma because any outlining you do around the block or the design is going to cause what is in the center to pop up.  So I just did a little squiggle around the outside of the embroidery block.

The small frame around the embroidered block got some horizontal squiggle lines, then the outside frame got some big loopy "l's".  The outside border just had a loopy swirl.

I think the quilting really made the blocks pop, and I hope my customer liked the effect.  Especially when I go outside of what I usually do, there is always the question of whether your customer will like what you did.  I've said this before ... when a customer says "whatever you want to do is fine," their idea of whatever and my idea of whatever could be two different things.  In the end I just remind myself that if they weren't confident in my abilities, they would never say whatever you want.  And if they're confident in my abilities, then I sure better be!  Ha, ha ....  Always reminding myself that I am doing this because I love it and it's enjoyable ... so lighten up woman!!!

Enjoy your lazy days of summer!!

What Do You Like to Read?

While I was gone on vacation I didn't do too much playing around on my computer.  I loved the freedom of not feeling connected ... just the forced taking a break from everything in life.  I am a lucky woman ... my husband loves to travel and it has always been a huge part of our lives.  I don't know how people decompress if you don't get away on vacation ... it is necessary to escape everything and recharge those batteries!























Here is a picture of a church on the island of Mykonos.  The colors of that city are pretty much white and blue.  It is stunning and fresh, and light ... and it made me want to lighten the look of my house.
This is the hotel that we stayed at in Mykonos.  It was run by a nice couple and they certainly made us feel extremely comfortable and welcome ... something I noticed about that island was how incredibly friendly everyone was.  So I read magazines, books and did a lot of crossword puzzles on my Nook while we were gone.  I didn't take any sewing (I usually do), but the crosswork puzzle thing was fun because I got the rest of my family involved in it ... my 22 year old son especially caught the bug and it was fun to pass time doing puzzles with him.


These are windmills on the beach in Mykonos.  Everyone gathers at sunset in front of the windmills to see the sun go down over the beautiful Meditteranean sea.  The sea is so salty ... when you jump in it is effortless to just bob in the water ... I didn't go in the sea (I'm not really a ocean person), but my family all did.  When we were having lunch after a dip in the sea, my daughter's eyebrows were full of salt ... I had to brush it out for her!  Amazing!




This is a part of Mykonos called Little Venice ... around the corner where you can't see is a very happening area that lines the water where there is bar and nightclub after nightclub.  There is no railing along the sea and when you're walking along and so close to the edge, it made me wonder how many people take a tumble into the water nightly after a night in the bars!

Just some beautiful pictures ... just seeing them makes me relax!  I hope this summer you take the time to find relaxation ... whether that's a vacation, reading a good book, or just escaping to a quiet spot somewhere in your mind.

Hello friends, I'm back!

Well finally home after an amazing trip ... that was probably one of the better ones we have taken.  I can tell you that if you ever get a chance you should definitely visit the Greek islands ... they are beautiful, the people are welcoming and lively, and you will most surely have a relaxing vacation.  We sure did.

I'll tell you about it as I go along over the next few weeks as things pop into my head ... I took about 40 pics or so ... my daughter took 500+!!  Ha, ha ... She has an awesome camera and loves to take pictures and that she did.  I just recently got an iPhone (I swore I never would!), so that was the only camera I used.  I have to say that I love that camera and I think it does at least as good a job as my Olympus.

My daughter's graduation was beautiful, exhausting and emotional!  My brother, sis in law and their two boys came from Chicago, and my dad and stepmother came from Florida.  I had set the week aside with nothing else to do except hang with the family, but the days went extremely fast and I was pooped!  A good kind of pooped though.  We did a lot of shopping with my dad and s-mom, and they spoiled us tremendously.  They haven't visited for a long time (we usually go visit them), so it was really exciting to have everyone here.  The only person that was missing from my family was my youngest brother and his family -- they live in Virginia, and I just haven't been able to get them out here ... at least not yet!

Here is my beautiful graduate ... my baby girl ... please allow me to brag a lot ... she graduated with honors

The boys brought her a lei for graduation and I thought that was really special because we had just been in Hawaii and everyone had leis for our son's grad.

The graduate with her oh so proud parents!

With Nana

With brother



me, stepmom, dad, son, hubby, grad, brother, mom; front row - twin nephews and sis in law

The graduate in her beautiful dress that was hiding under the gown!

Greetings

Just have a minute and thought I would check in and say "yassas" which in Greek means hello! We are on the island of Mykonos in the middle of our vacation. The scenery is spectacular, the people friendly and relaxed, and the food outstanding. I am thoroughly enjoying my family and not thinking of quilting or much else! Watching the Germany v. Italy semifinal in the Eurocup and rooting for Germany ... They're down 2 zip at the moment. Off to a different island tomorrow ... If you ever get the chance you should really see Greece!

Graduation

I now have a college graduate and a high school graduate ... wow!  My heart is just bursting with pride and I am trying to absorb this new spot in my life!  My family has been here for a week and I have had a great time visiting and running around like crazy.  We're off on a trip for two weeks, so I will not be posting.  I have quilt pictures to share of quilts I did in the last week before the grad, and of course more grad pictures!!!  Hope you all are enjoying your summer ... I'll be back soon, friends!

The Kings Won!

Huge hockey fans live in my house and they are so excited ... The LA Kings won the Stanley Cup last night ... First time ever! It is fun to see your husband, son and daughter so happy ... They're acting just like little kids! My husband has been a hockey fan for years and years ... odd to find in San Diego as most people don't follow hockey here, even though the Kings are so close to us ... LA is only about 2 1/2 hours north of SD.  He passed his love for hockey onto both our kids, and the three of them have been rooting for the Kings for years.  They've gone to see them at the Staple Center in Los Angeles many times, and even managed to drag me on oaccasion.  Here is my hubby and son celebrating the victory last night with their own makeshift "Stanley Cup."  Our daughter had gone to bed already, so she didn't get in on their celebration.

Yes, they know they're cheesy, but they didn't care!

Amidst all this excitement around the hockey playoffs (which is what our family's life has been revolving around intensely the last two weeks), I have managed to get more quilting done.  I am finally feeling like I'm getting caught up with my work, and I feel so much better ... I don't feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world anymore!  I hate being behind ... I always pride myself on getting things done in a timely fashion and I considerable myself reliable ... it is one of my worst fears to NOT be considered that and to cross over to the other side!!!

This is a quilt I did last week for a friend ... it's a beautiful log cabin that she started years ago.  I love log cabin quilts ... I love their simplicity and the subtle or not-so-subtle designs they can make.

Look at all those fabrics ... some of them might be awful on their own or in larger pieces, but when you throw them together into a scrappy quilt ...

... you get perfection!  Look at that awesome design ... I've never made a log cabin quite this striking.  I just love it!  Karen likes a simple design, so I thought it best to just stipple the quilt.  I used a 30 wt. cotton on top (I'm not sure what brand it was ... maybe Permacore), and Glide in the bobbin.  All free motion!

And there it is in it's full glory ... I love it!  It makes me want to go grab all my scraps and sew up a log cabin .. I think I will!!!  Have a great day!

A new day (June 6)

Today is a very special day ... It is my son's 22nd birthday! The best part of my life has been our kids ... I never wanted kids when I was younger. When I grew up and decided to get married to my darling husband, I was anxious to start a family. It has been the most wonderful and fulfilling and frustrating experience ... The best time of my life!

Okay here's the latest quilt I've been working on ...

This quilt is such a fun representation of my client ... she likes a little bit of everything!

I did a big loopy swirl ... I just wanted the quilting to blend into the background and anchor the quilt. I think the quilting really makes th piecing stand out.

I used a gold Isacord thread in the top and the bobbin. This thread is probably my favorite thread of everything I have tried. It has a nice weight to it, and is a poly ... similar to Glide, but the thread looks suberb in every single stitch ... top and back. Try this thread ... you'll love the way it looks and runs in your machine ... I believe it was originally made for the purposes of embroidery ... but it's strong and performs really well in my Innova.

Life is a ball!

Oh my gosh .... I am still looking for that blasted cord to my camera ... can you believe it?  I don't know what little gremlins walked off with the cord, but I have looked under cushions, behind furniture, in drawers, in pockets ... no cord to be found ... our little furry friend, Sophie, could have taken it somewhere, but she is not talking!
So much is happened in the past few days ... we now have our son and his girlfriend here!  Girlfriend is staying on vacation for a couple of weeks, then going home and returning next month with all her things. She will be attending medical school, and we have offered her a room in our house so she can work and save her money before starting school in the spring.  Darling son has been having a great time at home enjoying his new freedom as a college graduate.  Has been lining up job options, and doing a little relaxing before the real life as a worker bee begins!  I have been a busy little quilter ... I did three or four quilts last week (of which I think 2 or 3 are on my camera!). Here's the last quilt I did ... yesterday ... it's a stunner and may look a little familiar.  This quilt is for my friend, and it's about the third one of her's like this that she's done ... you may recognize the quilt pattern and fabric!

I had another couple pictures but I am having troubles getting them to load here, so we'll just have to be happy with these couple!  I needed a new cell phone because my daughter took mine, and gave me her old one (don't ask, a moment of parental weakness!) ... so I took son and girlfriend to the AT&T store with me the other day to help ... I wound up with an iPhone.  I don't need an iPhone, I really can't justify having that much of a phone, nor the expense of a separate data plan, but ... well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!  I'm still trying to figure it out and getting my pictures over from the camera to my blog is proving challenging ... not for most people probably, but for me ... ugh!  Anyway, I am happy to be back here with you all ... I've missed my blog friends ... keep your fingers crossed that I get this phone thing figured out ... there must be a faster way to load the photos than what  I'm doing ... still working that out!

AAAAcccccckkkkkk!!!!

Oh sheesh ... I cannot find the cord to my camera that downloads all my pictures to the computer ... I have plenty of quilting shots to show you ... then a friend said to me today "don't you have a disk you can just plug into your computer and download them that way?"  Hmm .... I bet I do, but right now I'm on my way to the airport to pick up my wonderful son and his girlfriend who is coming to stay with us for a couple of weeks before she travels home to Michigan.  I cannot wait to see my son ... I know it's only been a week and a half since I left him in Hawaii, but today he comes home for good ... words I have been waiting to utter for four years!  Can you tell he's a little special to me?????

So here are the graduation pictures ... finally!

In case you couldn't figure it out ... daughter, me!, son and hubby

Roommate, sweet girlfriend, sweet son!

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have this darn camera thing figured out!!!

Grateful Memorial Day

I'm back ... well I was actually back last week, but have been playing catch up for a week!  We had a wonderful time at the graduation, and I have some terrific pics to share, but they're on our other computer, and I'm too tired to grab them right now.  So I'll share them tomorrow.  We got to spend a wonderful few days with our son, his girlfriend, and my brother and his family ... what better way to celebrate than a vacation in Hawaii!  We enjoyed some beautiful weather, yummy food, a few mai tais, a day of sailing, and everyone but me went parasailing!

Back to home ... I was scheduled for surgery to remove a basal cell on my face after we came back.  That was not very pleasant ... the worst part was the six shots he gave me before he stitched me up ... I'm sure that hurt less than having the stitches without the shots, but sheesh ... I kept saying "ouch, ouch ..."  Eight stitches later and a huge black eye ...

Isn't that awesome?  It's still red and bruised, but the bruises are turning more green!  I can see people look at me and wonder what's going on ... I do look like I got in a bar fight!

Before I left for Hawaii I got a quilt finished, but I knew I was having problems with my machine because the thread broke several times towards the bottom.  I was just trying to get it done and didn't want to worry about fixing it until after we came back.  Well I took the quilt off the frame, and there were a couple of spots in the back that needed to be fixed .... the thread just didn't look right.  So I tried readjusting the heighth of the needle bar, because I thought that's what the problem was ... I couldn't get it right.  I realized there was no way it was going to get done before I left ... I hate having problems with my machine ... it makes me sad!  I also have this thing in me that requires that I try to find and fix my own problems ... I knew I could call my dealer and he would walk me through the problem, but I really wanted to see if I could fix it myself.  Well after stepping away from the machine and then returning, it gave me a chance to clear my head and remember ... the last time I had issues and had to readjust the heighth of the needle bar, I had looked at a video ... but following the video still did not work.  When I called my dealer, he told me instead of being able to see half of the eye of the needle when it's at the lowest position, I should only just be able to see the hole ... I readjusted it and I'm back in business!!  I was so proud of myself for remembering this and being able to fix is myself!

I love the colors in this quilt ...

I just did a little loopy swirl ... I used Glide in the top and bobbin, and it was a perfect match ... think the color was light rust, or something like that.  I was a little nervous using a dark thread in a quilt with so many light areas, but it really gave the quilt so much character!

It's such a happy quilt ... beautiful!!

In conclusion I want to say that on this memorial day we should be thankful to all who have served and do serve our country, and for all those who have sacrificed their lives either in combat or not ... that we can live free ... I am thankful on this day ... but let's not only celebrate and be grateful on this day, but every day!

Exciting days!

Well my daughter's prom was Sat. and she had a great time!  I'm so glad ... all that anticipation, preparation, etc. turned out so well!  She went with a group of friends and my husband and I played chauffer!  Isn't that funny ... we had three kids in our car, and the other car had the other five.  Then when we picked them up at midnight we had five kids ... four girls and one guy!  That poor guy ... he was such a great sport!  There is nothing funnier than listening to a gaggle of girls dish on everything that went on at prom ... what couple was fighting with each other, did you see so and so do blah, blah, blah ... I got my entertainment for the night for sure.

She's the one on the right!  Yes she is tall, about 5'10", but the lady of the night shoes add about 4 inches!  My only regret is that we did not get a picture of her just by herself showing off the dress.  By the time we arrived at the friend's to pick her up, they had already finished taking pictures ... I just grabbed a couple really quick.

I had a lovely mother's day, as I hope all you mothers, aunts, grandmas, and special women did.  My hubby and daughter surprised me with my favorite flowers ...

We are on our way to Hawaii tomorrow for our son's graduation ... so very exciting!  I'll probably be silent until next week.  We have a good friend housesitting with the animals, and I'm a little nervous!  She's never housesat for us before, and these dogs are my babies ... I'm sure they'll be fine and won't ever miss us!  Have a wonderful week and may you get lots of sewing done! 

Aloha!!!