Long Time Gone

I haven't blogged since February.  Wow, time flies.  I hardly know where to start.

 It's been a very long 6 months.  I mentioned in my last post that our son was ill and had surgery.  Well, his recovery took way longer than we thought.  He finally came out of it by May/June.  During that time, my husband was traveling a lot.  And when he was home, he was sick.  (one of the joys of flying these days)  I got something too, that took me too long to recover from.  Like I said, not a good 6 months.  And I was so busy and/or sick, I couldn't get any sewing in, or blogging or anything to blog about.  So, I was quite frustrated.

However, in May I took the trip of a quilter's lifetime!  I took a trip with my California friends and guess where we went?

Yup, we went to Missouri to visit Missouri Star Quilt Company, and about 6 or 7 other quilt shops, some in Missouri and a few in Kansas.  OMG, that was sooo fun!  Needless to say, I've shot my fabric budget for the year!

This was one of our 1st stops.  Harpers Fabric & Quilt Company, in Overland Park, Kansas.  This was a great shop and we all bought fabric here.  Actually we all bought at least something in every shop we visited!  I love the quilt on the bed.

I think our last stop on Thursday was Angela Walters' shop Quilting Is My Therapy in Liberty, Missouri.  If you've seen The Midnight Quilt Show, you've seen Angela.  We were hoping to get to meet Angela in person, but sadly, she was at Quilt Market at the time.   

This was our group at breakfast on Friday as we were about to go to Missouri Star.  I think you can tell how excited we were!

When you first walk into the main building of MSQC in Hamilton, MO, this is what you see.  A display of the latest weekly tutorial from Jenny, as well as any Daily Deals.

And this was the new display on Saturday.  We were hoping to meet Jenny while we were there, but again, she was at Quilt Market.  Bummer!

This was the stairs up to one of the shops in another of the MSQC buildings.  I thought it was real cute.

By the way, we found out that JC Penney grew up in Hamilton.  His childhood home was just down the street a little ways from MSQC's main building.

We stayed at a hotel in St.Joseph, MO.  We learned that it is the home of the Pony Express.  It ran from St. Joe all the way to Sacramento, Calif.  This is a mural across the street from the museum.  The museum was fun and also educational.  Just down the street from here was Jesse James' childhood home.  We didn't get to see that, as we had to head back to the airport.

If you ever get the chance to go to Missouri Star, I urge you to go!  It was so fun, everyone was so nice and Missouri is a beautiful state!

I know I mentioned in my last blog post that I was doing an on-line swap of wonky stars.  This is just about half of the stars I received.  Aren't these fun?  I haven't yet gotten a photo of all of them together.  I've got two quilts to finish and then I want to start working on this.

I mentioned on my last blog post another swap I was going to do this spring, the 6 inch Churn Dash block swap with Barb of Fun with Barb blog.  

Here are my 4 different fabric runs for the blocks made for the Modern group.  We had to use at least 2 different fabric pairings.  

After lots of cutting and sewing, here are all 54 of my Churn Dash blocks ready to swap!  

If you're interested in making some 6 inch Churn Blocks for yourself, here is the link to Barb's tutorial for them.  Actually, the tutorials for all the blocks for all the swaps are on this page.  The Churn Dash blocks are at the bottom of the page.

Here are all of the blocks I received in the swap, laid out in color order.  Aren't they wonderful?  Rainbow order always makes me happy!  A huge Thank You to my swap buddies!

I plan on being back soon, as I still have more to share with you.  Have a creative week!

9 Years!

This week is my blogiversary, and I've blabbing on here since 2008 - 9 years!  Hard to believe it's been so long.  I love blogging, even though I've been letting my blog languish for a while.  I love meeting so many people all over the world and all the friends I've made through blogging.  I also love visiting others' blogs to see what they're up to and for eye candy and inspiration.  And I especially love all of you that visit my blog and I love all your comments too.  Thank you!  It means a lot to me.

This was a gift from my Tacoma MQG secret pal, Melissa, back in November.  I'm beyond thrilled with this!  Melissa used the Geometric Sewing Machine pattern from Quiet Play with some yummy Essex linen in the Pouch with a View pattern by Three Owls Handmade.   Roxanne did the wonderful embroidery of my Instagram name.  A huge Thank You to both of them!

This is the flip side of the pouch, with some wonderful fabric in there, and Melissa's cute label.  (Sorry for the glare off the plastic see-thru window)  I'm already using this to take the Block of the Month blocks to the MQG meetings, and it works like a charm.  

I don't think I ever showed you the zip pouch I made for my secret pal.

I used my favorite Open Wide Pouch by Noodlehead for this.  I love how wide the pouch really does open, so you can find all your stuff.  I hope she's enjoying it!

And then I made some snack bags for my granddaughters for their lunch or dance snacks.  I learned about and acquired some PUL fabric while on retreat in California, (I got mine at Joann's) and I thought it was a neat idea.  I just kind of made up my own simple pattern for the bags.  

1 large and 1 small for each girl

The end of January, DH and I went to Las Vegas for his company's Professional Development event, so the wives get to play.  I had a lot of fun, although I didn't really do a lot.  And no, I never win any money.  I don't play the machines much, because I hate losing money.  I'd rather have it to spend on fabric!

I did enjoy seeing the Statue of Liberty at the Hershey's store at New York New York.  This is made completely out of red vines licorice!  And it's about 7 foot tall!

Sunday about 1 pm

We had a snow storm on Super Bowl Sunday.  We didn't think much of it when it started, but it turned into a major event!

The is out the kitchen window, at about 1 pm.  I love the little snow caps the hydrangea gets!

Here's the gargoyle Monday morning.  Hard to see, isn't he? *grin*

And here's my poor hydrangea on Monday morning.

This is out the quilt studio window Sunday night.  That's DH's car.  He had to leave at 4 am Monday morning for a business trip.  He made it!  He actually made it to the airport but then had to wait for the pilots to get there!  Now, he's enjoying the 80 degree weather in Texas.

And this is Monday morning.  Those tracks are from DH trying to get to his car.  We ended up getting about a foot or more of snow.  We've never seen so much snow in 10 years here!  As a matter of fact, that snow was so wet and heavy that our RV cover completely collapsed!  We don't have an RV, we just inherited the cover.  So now we'll have to find some other place to store the lawn mower, etc. - after we dig it out!

Since we don't own a snow shovel, and I don't have snow boots, I'm still house-bound.  Our neighborhood doesn't get plowed, and the street is very treacherous.  I don't need to go anywhere, fortunately, so I'm happy at home.  It's starting to rain today, but the snow isn't disappearing very fast.  I was hoping to get out tomorrow, but I'm not sure that's going to happen either.  It will be an adventure getting the garbage cans out today for pickup tomorrow!

Since I got sick in November, I'm having trouble getting back to normal or getting motivated to sew, other than the odd block here and there.  My quilt studio is pretty much a messy disaster.  So, while trying to put some of the piles of fabric away, and realizing that my shelves were too full to get said fabric in there, I decided that I'd go through my stash and get rid of some fabric that I'm not interested in any more.  So, this is half the fabric that I have in bookcases, all nicely folded and sorted.

And this is the other half.  I wrap my fabric around my 6" by 24" ruler, and it fits very nicely.  The bookcases are Billy from IKEA.  I've got regular quilting cottons, some flannels and some odds and ends in here.  This is not all of my fabric - just the stuff that is 1/2 yard or more.  The smaller cuts and scraps are in bins and some armoires  in the room.  I haven't touched that stuff yet, but I will get to it.  I have too much fabric.  I know!  What a shocking statement!  But I have so much that I can't find what I want or even get to it.  I have stuff stacked all over the room and it's driving me crazy.  So, that is my mission this year.  And it may take me all year to get it done!

 I've gotten rid of about 4 bags (or more?  I lost count) of fabric.  Most of it will be donated to the Comfort Quilts stash for the local guild.  Or some of it I might donate to the guild "store" at the quilt show or sell there myself.  When I'm done with the fabric, I need to go through my books and magazines!  It's been 10 years since we moved into this house, and it's time to pretend that we're moving again, and go through all of the closets, drawers etc. all over the house.  Fun times!  Not.  *grin*  Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it!

I've actually gotten some sewing done the last few days. (Yay for snow days!)  I'll be sure to share with you when there's something to show.

Happy quilting!

February Already?

Whoa!  What happened to January??  I can't believe it's been a whole month since I posted!   Oh, and by the way, my last post was my 300th post!

I went to the mini quilt retreat and had a good time.  I even got some things accomplished.  But I came down with a nasty cold with a vicious cough almost the next day.  And, just when I was getting over that, it turned into a sinus infection.  Ugh.  We were going to be leaving for Florida in a few days when the sinus thing happened, so I quickly took myself to Urgent Care and got some antibiotics and cough medicine.  I finally felt better, right before we got on the plane, and I'm sure all the other passengers were as happy as I was that I was no longer infectious or coughing my lungs out!

We had a great time in Florida and really enjoyed the sunshine.  It wasn't real warm, as FL was getting the side effect of cooler temps during the "winter event" happening in the Northeast U.S.  But it was gloriously sunny, and that was wonderful.  We were in Tampa while DH was having a Professional Development conference with the Co. he works for.  There were 5 other wives there, and we had a grand time seeing the sights.  We went to Clearwater and saw the white sand beaches there (that looked just like powdered sugar!), along with lots of pelicans, and I even got to see wild dolphins playing in the ocean!  Then we went to Tarpon Springs and shopped and ate wonderful Greek food.  (I especially recommend the flaming cheese! Fun to see and yummy!)  Oh yeah, and I finally got some Key Lime Pie.  I had never had the real deal before and it lived up to it's reputation.  Sadly, I never found a fabric shop, but that was OK.  I had fun seeing someplace new, and sunshine in the middle of winter was just what the doctor ordered!

But enough blabbing.  Let's get to the good quilty stuff!

At the mini quilt retreat last month, I managed to make some real progress on my Split Flowers friendship quilt that has been languishing in my project bins for too many years.  I had finally gotten the blocks put together into a top before the retreat and got all the leaves sewn on while I had friends to talk to there.  Now that I've seen the photo, I can see that I need to add just a couple more leaves.

And then it'll be time for the major decision of what to do for the border.  I'm torn between doing some more raw edge applique like the flowers and leaves, probably using a serpentine vine, or doing something pieced.  Any suggestions?  It may come down to what will be faster, as I'd like to have this finished in time for the quilt show in October.

Edited to add: this pattern is from the book Stitch and Split Applique and it's available on Amazon here. 

I didn't make great progress on the Split Decision quilt that I showed in my last post here.  But I got a few blocks made.

Here is an example of what a finished block will look like.  (one block is just folded in half and placed over the other)  I like this!

And that was the end of any sewing that happened in January.  But I have been sewing this past week.

I made some blocks for my guild's raffle quilt.  This year there's no set block size or color theme.  We're just going with the concept of friendship, stars and baskets.

This block finishes at 9 inches and is called "Measure For Measure".  I found the pattern in Judy Martin's book The Block Book.  There are templates you're supposed to use to make these patterns, but I tried to get cute and fake it.  It got ugly.  But I got it done!

This is my second block for the raffle quilt.  It will finish at 12 inches and is called "Crystal Star".  This pattern came from Judy Hopkins' book 501 Rotary Cut Quilt Blocks.  I love that book!  And this block was easy.  I think it took me longer to decide on the fabric than to construct the block!

That's all for now, folks, but I hope to be back soon.  I've got more quilt-y goings-on to blab about.

Have a creative week!

Vacation

We are home from a wonderful vacation at Skamania Lodge in the Columbia River Gorge. It was a working vacation for DH (meetings), and I don't think he got to enjoy a lot of the vacation part. But it was a beautiful place to work! The kitties are very happy to be home, since their "vacation" was at the kennel. They're very much Klingons (cling-ons) since they got home, and are very lovey.

Of course, I'm behind on answering my emails and blog reading. There was internet access at the lodge, but DH always had the laptop. So, bear with me while I try to catch up with everyone.

This was the sunrise we saw on our first morning there. It gives you an idea of how scenic this beautiful place is. I took a ton of pictures, but I won't bore you with most of them.

My friend K was there, as her DH was working there too. So, we got to spend some time together - the most time we've had together in years. It was so much fun. The first day we went to a fish hatchery on the river. We saw the Chinook salmon swimming up the fish ladder, which was really hard to photograph. We also saw the salmon spawning, but it was more like artifical insemination. I had never seen anything like this before, and it was neat to see.



We also went over the river to Hood River, Oregon and visited a good quilt shop called ETC (Every Thread Counts). I got some cute Halloween fabric and the new book by Jean Wells. Pictures later, because I forgot to take any yet!

The second day, a group of 6 of the wives of the men attending all the meetings took a field trip east along the river to the Maryhill Art Museum. We missed the Ansel Adams exhibit by two days, drat it. But we had a nice lunch there, with a peacock for company. Saw some good exhibits and learned some about Sam Hill, who built the building that eventually became the museum. He also built this replica of Stonehenge as a World War I monument.

On Thursday, there was a quilt show just up the road from the lodge. So, of course, I HAD to go. It was a nice quilt show, with some great quilts. I'll show just a few.

"Ben" by Kathie R. Kerler

This quilt was my favorite. It won 2nd place in the Innovative Quilt catagory. I love that blue!

"Discharge Dye or Discard" by Jeanine Moser

This quilt won 3rd place in the Innovative Quilt catagory. I was fascinated to see this, having read about this technique in Quilting Arts magazine in an article by Malka Dubrawsky a few months ago.

I have no information of this quilt. I didn't get a picture of the entire quilt, nor the title of the quilt nor the name of the maker. But I was fascinated by the fact that she put a photo transfer of a building in her landscape quilt. She did this in two of her landscape quilts. I think that's pretty clever!

(If anyone reading this has any information on this quilt, please email me. I'd like to give credit where credit is due.)

One of the vendors at the quilt show had this awesome laptop. She said she had a friend that painted it for her, and it's been at least 3 years since this was done. What a great idea. . . . . I hope someday not all computer stuff will be tan/grey/boring! I want a purple laptop!

I took my sewing machine and a couple of projects with me to Skamania, just in case. I never touched any of it. I guess that was good, because it meant I was busy and having fun, but I did miss sewing. I hope to get in the quilt studio very soon.

We stopped to see my sister on the way home and had a nice visit with her. We always like to talk "art" when we get together.

On the final leg of the trip home, my car decided that it was time to liven things up. The tightener on the serpentine belt decided to give up the ghost when we were in a traffic jam. DH got us off the interstate and onto a local highway, which put us close to the car dealership and their service department. So we got a tow and DS came to give us (and all our stuff) a ride home. It was all resolved rather quickly and relatively painlessly on Saturday, but it sure made Friday a long day. Thank goodness for AAA - they were really responsive and helpful. And the tow truck company was too. It made it so much easier. The poor kitties had to wait until Saturday to come home, but they survived. We're all back to what passes for normal around here now.