Experimental Post

OK even though I'm a techie, I haven't yet tried posting to the blog from any of my mobile devices, so here's my first try.

I really have been quite busy, getting lots of UFOs to the quilters. Here are some of the things that have made it to the next step.

This Drunkards Path uses a 4" block. It was just an experiment. After learning a new way to piece curves with no pins, I whipped this out of the stack and it came together quickly.  Hooray for no pins when curve piecing! 

I can't believe how bad the border looks in this photo! Honestly, it looks much better Than this.

This was sitting in the pile, waiting for some fused appliqué. For five years. Enough already. I made a back & sent it to the quilters.

Just some fun. The rows were put together, so I added the rest of the sashings and called it done. This one is small enough for me to quilt on the Bernina.

So, then, looks like its pretty simple to post from the iPad. Good deal!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bunches of Bindings

Binding day. I got bindings put on these quilts (just the machine part). I have one more that needs it's binding attached, then let the handwork begin!

On another note, I found this critter in my garage when I put out the garbage:

Hard to tell from this angle, but I'm pretty sure it's one of those Cuban tree frogs - an invasive species that eats just about anything, including other Cuban tree frogs.  I have to catch him and freeze him. Ugh.

The hot Florida weather is breaking a bit - finally. Still 90, but the mornings are much cooler.  Walking is almost bearable again.

Onward! Thanks for stopping by.

A Few More Tops

I spent the weekend grabbing something out of the UFO stack and just barreling through till the top was finished.  Here are the 3 that are ready for quilting. The fourth one is my Scapolator (see some blocks here), and I'm down to the last border.  Progress!

This is the pattern "Red Onion" from Karla Alexander, Stack a New Deck. I thought it would be interesting to slice the targets in with the blocks. I'm pleased with the way it looks; very noisy, yet calming because it's so blue. I named it "Blue Eggs and Spam". It's about 64"x72"

This is about the 6th or 7th one of these I've made. It's a great donation quilt from a free pattern that was found on the Internet. It's big - 72"x 82",  so is perfect for a bed quilt.

This is from one of the older books for using fat quarters. The pattern is "Ashley". Easy peasy. About 50" x 66" - nice lap size.

Thanks for stopping by.

I could make excuses

...all the excuses in the world. Fact is, I've been having way too much fun which left me with no time to blog. So. No excuses. Just pictures.

And that's part of what I've been busy doing.  More later!

4 weeks already??

Yea, how does that happen? I write a blog post, then suddenly it's a month later.  I'll try writing BEFORE I take my morning walk now & see if that works any better.

The decluttering is going well.  Lots of things have been either given to others who wanted them or donated to women's shelters or Goodwill. I no longer needed 3 sets of Christmas dishes. When I used to have 32 for Christmas dinner, that was OK. Now I may have 7 for brunch - all those extra dishes can go. Lots of other items have also departed the house. It's like potato chips; hard to stop once you get started.

Weight? Ah, let's not talk about it except to say "not good". Definitely not where I want to be but never, never, never give up.

Sewing: here are a few things I've done in the last few weeks:

I also went here (which explains part of the weight issue):

 (Don't kiss blue people or you'll look like this:)

Time for a little pampering after all that!

I'm also on target for "finishes", even if they were small:

 Lots of my little Art Dots got finished, and they count. :) They are little works that will add a dot of color wherever it's needed. I'll list them on Etsy within the next few days.

And that's what I've been up to. Nothing terribly interesting, but it sure beats having to go to work every day!

Thanks for stopping by.

13 Weeks 2.0 (AKA "26 Weeks")

Soooo. My blog has been neglected this year. I want to change that. I've been thinking about doing a "26 week" thing and when I looked at the calendar this morning, I realized it's 26 weeks till I leave for my-next-great-adventure. How convenient!

In a nutshell, the original "13 weeks" was me deciding to lose 13 pounds, make 13 quilts, and try 13 new recipes - 1 of all of those, every week, for 13 weeks. It was pretty successful and I went on to lose a LOT more weight!  Now I'm ready to kick-start myself again, see if I can get the rest of this weight off, and get some more "finishes" on the list.

It helps to commit publicly, so my goal this time is: 1 pound a week (it's reasonable AND reachable), one "finish" every week (doesn't matter how big or small, as long as it's a finished project), one "declutter" every week (I am on a current roll of extreme decluttering), and writing at least one blog entry on my politics blog (so many things bugging me these days; writing helps. A lot.)  For the record, my extreme goal is 1.5 pounds per week, but I will be pleased with 1 pound. Keep the goals attainable. So off "we" go, counting down to the Great Road Trip 2014. I hope you'll come along for the ride.

I have not been idle, oh no sirree! I've taken up teaching again, so June found me frantically making samples to prepare for the 3rd quarter schedule. Here are some of the things going on:

 Classes have started already, and we're having a blast!

I've also finally delved back into my long-arm machine after a break of a couple of years. I miss the quilting part; I really enjoy it. So you see I should be able to get "finishes" done easily enough. Full disclosure: the last pic, above, is not yet finished - the binding needs to be sewn down. It's those kinds of things that have kept my UFO pile WAY too high.

On a closing note, I started a quilt today (another sample) that just might do me in. I made one block in about 5 hours. Yeow! Fortunately the quilt has only 9 blocks (24"), but still that is a lot of time! Stay tuned!

So let me get started with 26 Weeks and we'll all find out together how it goes. Thanks for stopping by!

Portland Quilt Market

It's been a busy two days. Thursday was Schoolhouse. 14 sessions over the course of the day. I saw great fabric, great quilts, heard great ideas, and got great advice. "Schooling" is indeed the right name for the day. It's surprising how exhausting that day was.

After an intense day of brain work, we found Thai Peacock for dinner and had a terrific meal. Again the prices were reasonable, even though again we included a few beers on our tab.

Today was the first actual market day, and also exhausting. I did not make it through the whole show, so will have plenty more first-go-round visits tomorrow before The Big Finish on Sunday. Dinner tonight was at a little bistro called Mothers. More good food, and a few very interesting adult beverages.

Our encounters with the locals have all been positive although it seems to be a lot like Florida in that there are a lot of locals but not too many natives. Downtown Portland is indeed its own type of place with many, many homeless that appear to be quite welcome to sleep on the sidewalks. They run the gamut from young and seemingly very healthy to old and infirm. It's a different homeless population than I have seen in other cities.

The public transportation here is quite good and there doesn't appear to be much need for a car, anyway. The cabs are mostly Priuses: very smart! Lots of bicycling. Even the metro that we ride to and from the Market venue each day has space to hang bikes. Cool, huh? I think I'll come back to Portland one day in the not too distant future and get an even bigger taste of my own version of Portlandia.

But for now, there are fabrics to ooh and aaaah over, new paterns to be discovered, and plenty of eye candy of the fabric persuasion to savor over the next two days. I'll keep you posted! And as soon as I can synch the photos, I'll post a few pics for you.

Thanks for stopping by.