Fall is here! Time to sew

With a change in weather comes a change in activities. I look forward each Fall to some time indoors with the sewing machines, fabric, and occasional craft project. I have a long list of things I'd like to finish, which I always feel pressure to complete before beginning something new. This year Lara is here and also eager to create. Soon I'm hoping to begin a craft day with my girls where we can share and try new ideas, or just hang out and sew together. My sewing room has yet to be "organized", but what the heck. Maybe it's time to dive in and just use it, organization can be done on the fly.
Last week I dug out my sewing machine, the serger and uncovered the quilting machine. Now we've used the serger and I've loaded a practice top on the quilting machine to test the tensions and threads, and practice a bit. Learning to quilt on a home longarm machine is not an easy task! It does require practice, and patience, and trying lots of different things to find the best method to proceed. I like it to opening tubes of acrylic paint and expecting to paint a masterpiece first try. Not going to happen! But I'm committed to learning this, a little bit at a time!

Fantasy Buildings

The house is done with it's remodeling and now it's time to finish the garden house! I've been exploring sites to get further ideas on how to create this fun building. I'd like to use recycled materials for as much as possible to give it a unique style. Here's a unique outhouse we found while out sailing. Some people are so clever! I guess I'll start my search with old windows and doors, but some nautical theme items would be good too.

Spring Again

It's spring again, about the same time I started this blog a year ago. What a year it has been. I took a long break shortly after our remodel began, just couldn't keep up with everything. We are in the home stretch now though. I'm looking forward to spring, the new gardens, the new baby cows and lambs that I see in the pastures, the sunshine, and the smell of the fresh mown lawn everywhere. I'm attaching a picture of the eggs I picked up at our local farm. I love the different colors!

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