Big storm tonight --

...just a slow quiet rain in my area, but plenty of action elsewhere in the valley.  Poor BoyDog became frantic, as usual.  I can't imagine what it must be like for him.  Tabitha Gabrielle nuzzled him which helped, as you can see. Then he bravely ran to the study and hid under my desk in the dark.  You can't see his ears because they're laid back flat against his neck.  Normally they're upright, wedge-shaped, and perky.  Typical Australian Heeler.  I'm holding his collar to keep him from climbing right straight up and over me -- his toenails get plenty sharp when he's in a panic.                                                 



In this picture you can see his ears a little better.  Tabitha's ears are laid back because she hates having her picture taken.  But not so much that she'll abandon BoyDog.   "Just dumb animals"?  No way!

No mojo today, and there's plenty to be done toward clear goals.  What did I do instead?  Made a change purse big enough to hold bills too, and a card case for my license, debit card, loyalty cards, etc.  A thick stack of cards, surely I don't need so many?  The project started when I finally admitted my billfold was flat worn out.  I didn't want to make or buy another one -- rather have a bunch of separate little pouches.  I already have one for my cell phone charger, a tissue pack, and a small cosmetic bag.  Plan to add a notebook cover with a closure and slot for my pen, and a checkbook cover, also with a closure.  I hardly ever write checks but like to keep my checkbook with me.  Pictures of the process and product tomorrow.  Right now Tabitha is in my room,  whining it's time for bed.  Mothering us all, bless her heart!  More later....

The UFO Challenge

You know how much I love quilting -- design them, piece them, design the quilting, choose fabrics, save scraps -- everything about quilting.  I just can't help myself.  Dear Son the Younger worried that I don't have much of a life.  Oh, but I do!  Finally I have the time, energy, and resources to do all the quilty things I want, anytime I want.  So I do, and I love it.  BUT --  I end up with way too many almost finished projects.  So, when this year's Stashbuster UFO challenge came around, I signed on.  Info here:  http://www.stashbuster.com/index.html   At present I have "only" 21 UnFinished Objects.  Finished quite a few early in the year -- the smaller, easier, closer-to-done ones. 

This "Black Arrow" tote needed only lining, zipper, and strap.  The arrows are applique and hand embrodery.  The circles on the other side are all hand embroidery. 

 

  

Another tote, for my friend Edna.  I was going to put it off but some painful family troubles made this finish extra important.  The dark green is an all-over gecko print.  Edna loves geckos.  Her initials, on the front, are hand embroidered.  The gecko applique on the back is partly free-motion machine embroidery and partly hand embroidery.  The prickly pear pads around the sides and bottom are free-motion machine embroidery, the prickles and buds are hand embroidery. 

  

 A cosmetic case and an I-Pod sleeve, both with music themes.  An eyeglass case from a scrap of embossed black velvet, lined with red velvet -- added a little bling to that one.  A tote from orphan blocks and the legs of too-short summer pants.  Some truly butt-ugly potholders -- I'm so hard on potholders it just doesn't pay to make them pretty.

And then this lovely thing:  quite some time ago a friend sent me three tops she couldn't bring herself to finish.  I put them away and forgot about them until I listed my UFO's for this challenge.  This one, Drunkard's Path, started out in the traditional layout.  Way too busy for my bedroom.  So I took it apart down to the individual "pie-slice" units, then reassembled it in the "Dove of Peace" layout, with all the doves facing an off-set center.  Called it "Homeward Bound"   I sketched a flying bird in each block and free-motion quilted the body and feathers.  I was so excited to see the doves taking shape I quilted all the blocks before I put the top together.  So... quilt as you go to the rescue.  Here's the best part:  Dear Son the Younger, for whom I've made several quilts, had said "No more textiles, Ma, I'm running out of room."   Understandable, yes?  But when he saw these pictures he said "I want that one Ma, send it as soon as you can!   Of course I said yes, and it will soon be winging along to Norway (sorry, can never resist a pun!) More later............

Where has the time gone?!?!?

I can't believe the year's more than half gone -- must have been having way too much fun!

Still quilting right along, but have taken time off teaching for more than a year now.  My heart just wasn't in it.  I've been procrastinating of course, and for some reason haven't quite felt welcomed in either venue -- can't really say why, so it must be something in me, eh?

Then a few weeks ago I walked into one of the stores to keep my friend Carole company and before we left I'd agreed to teach a four-patch class for brand new quilters. Stage fright out the wazoo!  I had a top nearly ready so finished it up and washed it, as always.  Disaster!!!

See all the wrinkles?  All-cotton fabrics, 100% polyester thread, low-loft poly batting.  Washed it in cold water, tumbled dry on the air only setting.  Normally quilts handled this way come out just fine.  I was stunned.  Then remembered a quilt I made for my great-grandson did the same thing.  I assume it's a flaw in the batting, but the wrapper is long gone so there's every chance I'll buy that brand again.  Best to find a reliable brand I love and stick with it.  Warm and Natural or Warm and White are my preferred cotton batting.  Hmmmm!

All is not lost, however:  since I'm starting over, I can make a real attention-getter.  Without those puffy little star points at the cornerstones.  So I scribbled a few ideas but nothing made as much sense as plain old framed 4-patch blocks and sashing -- cornerstones can wait.  Made a mess of my sewing room floor, auditioning fabrics.  Settled on a large scrap and three "what was I thinking?!?!?" fabrics. 

Here's the flimsie and a closeup of the fabrics. 

I have to go now, take Daughter Dear to the lab for fasting bloodwork. When I come back I'll tell you about joining the Stashbuster UFO challenge and show you some of my finishes.



Hello again, my darlings!

Career slacker, that's me!  But I nevertheless have made a bunch of quilts.  The Music Quilt for my son  in Norway was well-received, to say the least.  

I managed to teach a bit in 2009 but slacked off beginning summer of 2010 while I had cataract surgery and lens implants.  For the first time in my life I have 20/20 vision, woo-HOOO!  When the first cataract was removed I was stunned to realize how my color-sense had degraded -- like a brown haze on a dirty window.  Went around comparing the new eye with the cataract-in-waiting eye, squinting through first one eye, then the other.  Looked like an old fashioned railroad crossing with lights blinking back and forth!

The less-happy news is that I've developed something called Fuchs Dystrophy -- involving cells in the cornea that become congested with fluid.  Not anything like glaucoma, thank God.  Treatment can hold the line up to a point, but one day I'll be needing a corneal transplant.  So believe me I use my eye drops faithfully four times a day.  A 5% sodium chloride solution (table salt!!!), they burn like crazy, but if that's what it takes to make my eye last, I'm all over it!

MANY quilts gone by the boards since I last posted.  One I'm particularly proud of is my sister's 65th birthday quilt.  First, the back -- the quilting pleases me greatly.  Next the front, a simple framed four-patch with the "frames" organized similarly to a log cabin block.  Makes me think of attic windows -- a nice surprise!  Finally a closeup of the broderie perse appliques in the borders.  She loves it!

 
You've no doubt heard of the attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords a couple of weeks ago.  Shot at close range just above her left eye, a through-and-through.  I was so stunned all I wanted to do was sew -- my therapy of choice.  Found myself making "four into nine" patches, ending with enough to make a small quilt.  I call it the "Gabby Quilt"  -- entirely scrappy, entirely from stash, and a prayer in every stitch.

After only two weeks she was moved to a  premier rehabilitation in Houston so her astronaut husband could be near her and still fulfill his professional commitments.  Sounds like answered prayer to me.  Thank you God!

Summer of 2009 my beloved  Belgian Shepherd Malinois had to have a bony tumor removed from her upper jaw.  Doesn't sound like a big deal but it's a peculiar sort of cancer that invades the lungs if ignored.  No way could I ignore it.  The process was very hard on her, which wrung my heart, so of course I found great comfort in a quilt project that I could carry around.  Ended up making a scrap quilt entirely by hand, even the binding.  What a treat that was, so soothing, and I do believe the quilt itself is indestructible! First a closeup and then the whole quilt.  Framed four-patch blocks, hand pieced and hand quilted.

Well dears, it's late and I'm worn out from helping my daughter move house today.  Despite working on it for 20 months, they weren't able to get their mortgage modified. Got their foreclosure notice this week, found a place to rent, and moved in today!  I'm so happy they have a chance to start over, and save money while they're doing so -- rent: $800 a month; mortgage payment: $1800 a month.  Imagine suddenly being $100 a month to the good!  I couldn't be happier for them.  

More later.....