What I did during the furlough

Here is "in progress" project using new fabrics from Maui. I am using M'liss Rae Hawley Phenomenal Fat Quarter Quilts book. The orange parts are going to pieced circles. I am going to call it Kihei Sunset. The directions say to cut the quarter circles and piece them using curved seams onto each square. I am thinking of making full circles and then machine appliqueing them to the top where all the squares have been sewn together. I just need to borrow a machine that has a nice buttonhole applique stitch.

The R/W/B is on it's way to American Heroes project at Vashon. I saw that they now have a Facebook page, and they sent several quilts to a military hospital in Afghanistan. Previously, quilts were used at Madigan Army Hospital in Pierce County, where injured soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are being treated.

The T quilt for Russ just needs a small last border. I should get that done today. Frank and I are planning to work in the garden, but it is too cold and windy right now. We had an early spring, but now we are back in Winter. Lots of snow in the mountains yesterday, which is a good thing since we rely on the snowpack for our water and electricity in the summer.

Wish I was stitching and bitching with you all today. Lots of love!

Two completed UFOs plus one

Here are the first two completed UFOs from my list for this year (although I did pick up on the fact that my definition of completed varies slightly from the rest of the group in that I'm thinking of just getting the top finished while everyone else is thinking quilted and bound before it counts as done - since I'm greatly in the minority, we'll go with the majority view). I'm really pleased with how they turned out. You will all be pleased to know that the first two projects are already down in North Carolina for quilting.

The first image is project 11 and I'm still looking for a name. I'm planning to send it to a Marine on Okinawa. Al's now the only family member without a quilt from me. I'll send it along with the baby quilt I'm making for the baby that will be arriving shortly. I'll be using the dark blue for binding since I pieced the back with a variety of outdoors prints - I think it's almost as much fun as the front. Mom thinks Al's getting the best deal since he'll be able to use the side that suits his mood - this side when he's looking for zing, the other side, not so much. I'll have to post a picture of it when I get it really done (bindings and all).

The second image is project 16 - Wacky Patriot, and I really like how it came out. I'm going to call this block the DIY square since you pick your final size and fill it in however you want. You'll notice that I didn't stick with the "every center is a square" concept. I went with one dark blue for the sashing but used a variety of reds for the setting squares (yes, there are repeats!). I plan to bind this one in red. I didn't have nearly as much fun with this back.

This is the bonus quilt - one of the three that Clara is helping me move along. She added the borders. I have the back put together and the batting cut (yup, it's the left-overs from the other two) but wasn't able to get it pin-basted before Mom and Dad headed home. (Family events can really adversely affect project completion - especially when they occur in your own home!) I call this one "Bunting" and it'll go to QFV when it's done.

1 UFO now a completed top

Here is Jenny's windmill UFO to which I added sashing to calm it down. I was originally going to have sashing between each square, but Frank said he liked the columns/rows alone. I thought a good name might be "I spy a windmill" but I don't think there is an actual windmill fabric, and it might confuse someone. (The orange T's are on my design wall, so that's why the photo was t akenwhen it was laid on top of the bed).

The next photo is from Sunday, Feb 21. It is so beautiful with the cherry blossoms out, daffodils, azaleas, a few early rhododendrons. The tree pollen has been very high, so I am home this afternoon using a few hours of sick time, since I've been having trouble breathing. It isn't even March yet.

Third time's a charm

Just wanted to show off something finished and thought I'd post this series of three quilts that I started last November in an effort to make a signature quilt for a former boss who was retiring in December from the Tennessee Division. The first image which I call "Surfer Frog Enjoys his Day" was the first try. I rejected it because it was too white and seemed rather juvenile.


This second attempt (Up and Away) was better but I became concerned about whether there was really room for folks to sign it. The balloons on the border are the reason for the name. Martha used this one to send a friend to celebrate the arrival of his son.







Third time really was the charm for this effort. This is the quilt I sent to Bobby in mid-January. It's called "Transportation to the Fishing Hole" - hmm, can you tell what his hobby is? - and gave me a chance to use some sample fabrics I've been hauling around since I picked them up back in 1998 or so. Check the four large squares around the central block. It has signatures from both the Iowa and Tennessee Divisions. I think it came out great!

All three quilts are based on Karen Rinauld's Generous Giving book although the last quilt's is a hybrid of concepts.

Wearing my heart on a sleeve

Just wanted to share the silliness that I've been indulging in this week. I didn't think I'd make so many but there's 17 total - including the lavendar/silver one that I'd previously posted. Fortunately I think I've worked through the need to make any more of these just now! It's been fun playing with color combinations and backgrounds. I've put a ring on the back so they could be hung up if someone wanted to do so. Otherwise they're great for sticking pins in but aren't flat enough to be a coaster.

I have to say that I really enjoy using the Sulky 12 thread. The DMC 12 isn't bad but it's just enough thicker that I find it harder to pull through smoothly - of course that might just be because I have my thread way too long. The other thing about DMC 12 is that I haven't found it in variegated colors - does anyone know if it comes that way? Otherwise I'll just have to buy a few more Sulky 12s - darn, that means I might have to make another trip up to Crofton. Anyone want to go along? I'm willing to forego the snowstorm this time!

This is a picture from this morning of the snowpile. It doesn't look quite as impressive since they tried to shave off the front edges so that the garages for the end units were accessible. I'm not sure one could actually get much more than Clara's car in and then carefully. I've also added a photo of the icicles the neighbors behind me were growing; the icicles fell off yesterday noon with a spectacular clatter - I think they hit the heatpump housing on the way down.

Quiting in Maui

It has been 80 degrees, with beautiful sunny skies here in Maui. We have been watching all the weather reports on CNN (the TV does not have weather channel, since they don't need it here) of the 55 total inches of snow in DC. At least today, the TV is talking about the Olympics instead of all the snow and the broken snowplows.

I have been to all 4 fabric stores, but so far, bought a couple of sashiko things for Kim's mom (to take to Phoenix in March), and one cute Hula girl fabric. The first rental machine was AWFUL, so we took it back and got a machine that works much better. I haven't been sewing that much, so I am not making as much progress on this quilt as I had hoped. But, my tan is looking good. :-)

Stay warm!

Mazatlán project

Well, I just got off the phone with Continental. They had cancelled my flight to Houston tomorrow morning due to the weather and wouldn't have been able to get me to Mazatlán until next Tuesday (the 16th). Since I was due back the 20th, I just cancelled out of the trip. Now I'm a bit down in the mouth looking at all the snow that's coming down today, and knowing that I need to go out in it and brush down the heatpump (I need a cup of hot chocolate just to psych myself up for this little excursion).

This is a picture of the snow pile at the end of the cul-de-sac (the reason I don't think I can get my truck back into the garage right now) as of yesterday. I'm sure there will be substantially more snow by tomorrow the way it's coming down right now.


This is a preliminary picture of the project I planned to work on during my Mazatlán trip. It consists of 36 4" felt squares that will have 3" felt circles appliquéd on them. The squares will be whip-stitched together. I added four colors (black, cobalt, willow, and tangerine) to the summer color pack put together by "A Child's Hands" for 18 colors. It'll be 24" square. Just looking at the picture cheers me up.

To follow up on Kim's hearts, I'll have to post some of the extremely silly braided hearts that I've been making. It's like eating chocolate chips (since I'm not a popcorn fan), really hard to stop with just one! Looking at her hearts I may have to go back and add some beads and baubles to them.

Thinking of chocolate - I have to go make brownies now to ease my sorrows!