Fall is in the Air

Fall is definitely here bringing the shorter days, cooler nights and wrapping up the summer garden harvest. Our remodel has begun, note the lovely sanican in the background. And we can turn our attention back to winter things like sewing and blogging. I am anxious to attend the local QuiltFest in two weeks... I have managed to miss all the summer quilt shows in the area this year. I plan to pack up my sewing machine and a few small projects that I can do in the next 6 months while most of my sewing area is packed up... again. Maybe knowing that there are only 2 or 3 projects available will help me focus! Now, stop laughing!

Where to go next?

This is a fun map to note the places you've traveled in the USA. There are a few more states I've been in, but just travelling through so I did not mark them as visited! I was surprised.


create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

June

June is such a busy month, a lot of birthdays, father's day, school graduations, and what we all look forward to each year, the beginning of summer. This year has been slow to get summery! The weather is the intitial topic of any conversation, vying with gas prices for whose on top. With the encouragement of my neighbor, Carol, I have a raised vegetable garden this year. It's been fun to see it grow, although at times painfully slow growing. I've encountered a new garden pest that I never had before - the snail! And let me tell you they are NOT slow. In one evening they can wipe out an entire crop of lettuce. With all the rain we've been having the foliage is always damp and there are great places for the snail to play. Saturday I was on a mission and collected an entire gallon ziploc bag full of the little nibblers. I'm hoping that this mission will save my lettuce until I can at least enjoy one salad!
This is an experimental year for my garden, and it's certainly a labor of love.

Flower Power

Spring is certainly an inspiration for me as a quilter. I love the color of the flowers, the new growth and the sense of awakening after a long, dreary winter. Recently I took an online class from Quilt University. The class is called Flower Power and teaches a method of upside down applique. The subject of course is flowers. I am re-taking the class this June to finish what I started last year, before we picked up our house and moved. This is a picture of my "subject" and a shot of all the luscious fabrics I will be using. I found a great online source for hand dyed fabrics, Janet A. Smith. She was very helpful in my shopping and even corresponded with me to be sure I had the colors I was looking for. This is top level customer service in my book. I'll keep you posted on the progress - this year I need to finish this quilt!

Liz

Mothers Day

I am a mother of two beautiful young women of whom I am very proud. I am also blessed to have a mother and stepmother in my life, two very creative and artistic people who are an inspiration to me. My grandmother passed away just before Mother's Day at the age of 94. I will miss her! For me Mother's Day is a day to reflect on the women in your life, not just the mothers, but those who have loved, supported and encouraged you in your life.

Happy Mothers Day,
Liz

Whiling Away the Hours

While I'm on the subject of knitting, I recently came upon a box of daisy loom flowers I made in the early 1970's. I was so excited about turning these into a soft floral afghan, just like the picture on the pattern! I made dozens, and as my mother commented, counted them, stacked them and organized them in the same box over and over again. I even kept them in the same box - a Clairol, Kindness custom care hot rollers box! The note on top in my youthful handwriting says " Flowers for Quilt - 198 as counted on January 29, 1975.

The sad part is I can no longer find the pattern for the afghan. I went to Mom, she couldn't find it either! So, the light went on - search the internet! I can't imagine what we all did without the internet! Certainly many afghans were never finished, but rather tossed into the ebay's of the 70's!

But aren't these just luscious!

I found the crochet pattern online to stitch these petals together... now let's see if I can figure out how to crochet? Never fear quilters - quilting is certainly my first love!

Knit Wits

I think a lot of quilters have bounced around the idea of knitting, or at least have admired the lovely bins of colorful fibers at their local shops. My grandmother, Esther, taugh me to knit at a very young age, starting with knitted slippers. I was so overjoyed to be able to knit a real, useful piece of clothing. I wish I still had a picture of those slippers!

Last year, my daughter (who is an avid knitster!) Marin and I went to the local yarn shop. I always swear I'm just going to look! We admired so many different types of yarn. There were ladies sitting in the shop knitting socks. Of course I couldn't help but ask WHY? Why would anyone use such tiny needles to knit a pair of socks? They cost so much more than in the store. Of course all the ladies said once you wear a pair of hand knit socks, you'll understand! So.... being the crazy nut that I am (with virtually beginner skills) I bought a skein of yarn and size 5 double end sock needles.

It wasn't too bad actually, I figured most of it out, and the socks are relatively the same size! Not bad for the first time by a beginner! I ended up buying another skein for the other sock. And what's wrong with dixie cup orange socks? They go with so much in my closet! Believe it or not, this was FUN and I bought size 2 needles and finer sock yarn! Eeeggads!

Patience and Practice

Learning a new skill can sometimes be frustrating. I tried riding an ATV once, boldly taking a rougher terrain, just because I rode a motorcycle and thought they would be the same. NOPE! They were nothing like each other, except maybe the fact that they both had handlebars and a similar ignition. The motorcycle was 2 wheels to be ridden on a good road. The ATV was all-terrain, 4 wheel contraption that we were trying to ride on sand in a dessert wash. WHAT WAS I THINKING?? We were riding with a group of about 20 people and it was clear to me I was holding up the train. So I got off, dusted off my ego, and let the train go.

So you're thinking, what does this have to do with sewing? Well, just because you can operate a domestic sewing machine and have been doing so for the better part of your life, does not qualify you to be an instant success with a long arm quilting machine. Yes, they both have a needle, and are called a sewing machine, but they are entirely different beasts. This process takes practice. WAY more practice than sewing a straight seam on the DSM. There are probably people who are gifted in this skill and take right to it. I think for me it's going to require practice, practice and more practice. But part of that may be the perfectionist in me!

It's kind of amusing though, walk by my window and you'll see this crazy woman with a monstrous sewing machine, pushing and pulling over the quilt frame while Queen's "We are the Champions" is blaring on the speakers. Whatever it takes... practice, practice, practice...

New or Old

How many times have you seen a new project you wanted to start and for a brief moment all the UFO's (unfinished projects) in your closets and drawers were forgotten? All thoughts consumed by the sudden urge to choose new fabric, create a new project, get going! This has happened to me a lot recently. But then gradually reason starts to creep back in, maybe while I'm standing in the quilt shop looking at fabric! and suddenly the images of those projects come floating back. I haven't started many projects that I wasn't crazy about, so there is no logical reason to discard them for something new. I just needed to get myself recharged and start sewing! So this is what I did.

After the move, I had to "get back on the horse" and what better way than to dive into the old projects. I spent the better part of two weeks setting up my HQ16 quilting machine, running on some test pieces, correcting tension, dusting, and getting up the courage to use it on a "real" quilt. The funny thing is I made two tops just for that purpose that have been sitting there waiting for a year and a half!

I'm happy to say that I finally got the first one loaded and it's been started! I'm working on a pantograph on this quilt. It's like following the yellow brick road. I think it will look nice, but I'm not sure I'm cut out for this much of a controlled pattern. The quilt top is so busy it's hard to see the pattern while quilting - so the panto is the perfect method of getting it done. The quilt pattern is called Vanity Fair.

Happy Quilting!

Liz

It's been nine months since we picked up and moved our home to a new city. With this move I finally realized the dream to have my own sewing room. Imagine all my fabric, books, quilts, tools, machines and even my computer all in the same room! It's time for a fresh start and after months of "getting organized" I have finally jumped back into my projects.

I recently discovered so many quilters and knitters are blogging and it seems a great way to share your work and progress with family and friends, and meet a few new friends along the way.

This Storm At Sea quilt is one I made and donated for a raffle held by our local quilting guild. It is approximately 14 x 20" - a miniature that was paper pieced and machine quilted. It was one of eight quilts that adorned a six foot lighthouse that our guild built to participate in a local festival.

Enjoy,
Liz