Making Progress

I created a list of projects to complete(PTC) by the end of 2014. I began with 7 at the beginning of October. 2 have been completed and 1 is in the process of sewing on the binding. Included on the list are Jamestown Landing and Smith Mountain Morning from the classes I took with Bonnie Hunter when she was in Maine in May. Almost half of Jamestown Landing is on the design wall. All units are sewn. It is just a matter of sewing them into rows, and then sewing the rows together. I have continued labeling the upper left corners of the blocks as a guide to which unit is sewn to what. Good thing, as I mixed up some sections, but the labels set me straight. You can see them as the little circles on some of the blocks.

I received a picture of the quilt I was hand quilting as we traveled across country in September. It is the perfect size for the back of their couch. 


This is the best photo I have of the quilting. Small fans with five lines each, approximately 1/2 inch apart. I really liked the pattern of quilting. Next, I will try it on the longarm, a step up from my meandering.
Til next time,
Mary

Finished!

Orca Bay is quilted and bound. Tomorrow will be two years since beginning the mystery with Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville.com. That means, I am free to participate in this years mystery Celtic Solstice beginning tomorrow.

Til next time,
Mary

Oklahoma Backroads

Oklahoma Backroads on the design wall. I began this quilt top in October 2011 on a trip with DH to Pennsylvania. Then worked on blocks during a trip to Georgia in March 2012. Then more blocks on the trip to Oregon in June 2012. Finally, all the blocks were completed Spring 2013 at home in Maine, but they sat in a box until our current trip back to Pennsylvania. 

I placed a sticker with column number/row letter in the upper left corner of each block(100 little stickers!) This kept the blocks in the correct order and orientation. I first used this method when making the Twisted Christmas Wreath and Stocking Sweet Stocking. I knew exactly which blocks went with each other and the direction they should be sewn.

I set up Charlotte on the ironing board with the extension table I made. Then I sewed and sewed and sewed. Finally, all the blocks are together. When I return home, I will add the inner and outer borders, and quilt it. I haven't decided whether to keep it or gift it. I have some time for that decision.

Til next time,

Mary 

Cassiopeia

I've finished the quilting on Jen's Cassiopeia quilt. I decided to do an all over meandering pattern. The binding  and label are attached, all that I need to do is sew the binding to the back. I really like this pattern with the colors and scrappy background.

Snow in Wyoming

Evanston, WY snowing!

Homeward Bound

We said our good-byes to Adam, Tessa, and her mom this morning. First north to Sacramento, then east on I-80 heading towards home. Elevation 5-6 thousand feet in the Sierra Nevadas.
















After a 5 minute walk this morning, Skipper settled down to sleep. He will be staying with us until Adam and Tessa are settled in her first assignment.

Fisherman's Wharf

We had a delicious lunch at Crabby Jim's on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey to celebrate Tessa's 25the birthday.
















Lots of  sailboats!

Quilted and gifted

I finally finished the quilting at 9 pm Pacific time Friday night. Too tired to stitch the binding on, I set the alarm for 6:30 am. By 7 am,  the quilt was trimmed and  I was stitching. It was a 3 hour drive to the party in Vacaville, just enough time to hand sew the binding and attach the label.






June is holding the quilt as I snapped a photo of Adam, Tess, Bob, and her. Unfortunately, any photos of the entire quilt will have to wait til I return home, as I didn't take any with my phone.

Pacific Grove

While Adam was in class, DH and I went to Pacific Grove south of Monterey. I remembered that there was a quilt shop there, Back Porch Fabrics. Pull out the phone, search google maps, and 0.8 mile away. To drive or walk? Walking it was, after so much sitting in the car, it was good to stretch out legs. The quilt shop was bright, cheerful, and very friendly. I found something special to take home for Wes.











Our return walk was along the bay. Nice breezes and sunshine.

Laundry

Some moms are good at cooking for their children. Some moms are good at soothing booboos. Then, there are some moms who are good at doing laundry. Guess which one I am?

California Bound

We left Tucson at 3:30 am with the temperature at 86 degrees. By 10:30am we crossed into California.

Now, we're in the Mojave Desert, 93 degrees and sunny. Little dots of vegetation growing on the hills.
I have finished 3/4 of the quilting on the gift for DH's uncle. I hope the sores on my fingertips heal!
Til next time,
Mary

Traveling through West Texas

This is what surrounds us as we drive on US 20 through west Texas on our way to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. The temperature is 91 and dry. I am continuing to hand quilt the lap quilt, but sore fingertips make it a slow process.
Til next time,
Mary

Lousiana

We were on the road to Louisiana at 6 am. Car time has been good for hand quilting and crocheting. I have been working on a lap quilt for DH's uncle, who will be 90 this month. It is a modified version of Darlene Zimmerman's Hummingbird pattern. A little more than 1/4 of it is done so far.


I am crocheting doilies to give as gifts to family that we are visiting.






2:30 pm eastern time... Louisiana!

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Sunday was a perfect warm, sunny day to visit the botanical gardens in Atlanta, GA. The special exhibit was mosaicculture: Fish, a dog, an ogre, earth goddess, and cobras.

Patio Time

The second half of the patio has been poured, and a small metal fire pit purchased. The right side of the steps will be completed next month, where I plan to have a small kitchen garden next spring. This is going to be such a nice place to relax on those crisp fall evenings.
Til next time,
Mary

Patio

The first half of the patio outside my quilting studio had been poured. This will be a lovely place to sit in the fall. There is an outlet next to the door so that I can sew outside on nice days.

Yummy Dinner

Nothing beats Chinese food after a long trip.

Traffic

We are on the road to return Mom and Liz to New Jersey. Boy, I don't miss the traffic.

Jamestown Landing- The Beginning

"Jamestown Landing" is a large bed quilt that requires 840 half square triangles(HST). Now, that's a lot of triangles! I began cutting them two weeks before the workshop. Wanting to be as scrappy as my supply would allow, I dug through every bin, box, bag, and drawer of fabric I own. Unfortunately, the variety of purples I desired were not in great supply. So, off to Pins & Needles to buy some more. These zip top bags nicely hold 100 HSTs. I was all set to sew, both at the workshop and when I would travel with DH on a work assignment to Ohio this week. 

At workshops, I rarely produce a finished product. My purpose is to learn new techniques, visit with old and new friends, and maybe, just maybe, complete one of each type of block. Well, two out of three isn't bad. Sewing together enough HSTs to make one star block, I managed to sew them together wrong! I figured out the problem, made a note, and un-sewed the block. At least I would have plenty to do in Ohio.

These are some of the 688 HSTs I sewed on Monday. It would have taken me a week to do at home, but in a hotel while hubby was working, I was in a zone. There are 60 different purple fabrics. Good variety. 

With dog ears trimmed and seams pressed open, I grouped according to purple fabric, and into snack bags the HSTs went. Pulling one of each different fabric. My fear is to get to the last block only to discover I am left with several of the same fabric. This way I can assure variety as I go. It is a slow process, but I have 31 broken dishes blocks completed, 179 more to go.
Til next time,
Mary

A Bonnie filled Weekend

 Anyone who knows me knows I am a fan of Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville. I love scrap quilts, especially ones made from my scrap bins. I ran into her at MQX last year in Rhode Island. Highlight of my trip! Well, she came to Maine for two workshops and a lecture. Yippee! I signed up for all three.

I drove to Bangor for Friday's "Jamestown Landing" workshop from her book String Fling,  the same book in which "Orca Bay" can be found. My quilt will be purples instead of blues, for a very special young lady. More later on my progress.



Towards the end of the class, Bonnie brought out her current hexie project to show us how she does it. Absolutely beautiful. I have made two hexie projects, but they were table topper size. I think I would be overwhelmed doing a bed sized quilt. I do know my limits :)
Saturday found Wes and I on our way to Waterville(45 min each way) for our state guild meeting and Bonnie's lecture. 
She brought two duffle bags full of quilts to share with us; each with a story to be told of how it came to be. I took notes on my smart phone so as not to forget the new things I learned. It was a perfect day topped off by lunch on the lawn under sunny skies and 65 degree weather.

I had one more workshop, "Smith Mountain Morning" from Scraps & Shirttails II", in Augusta(40 min each way) on Sunday. I love the blues, browns, and neutrals of this pattern. I hope to have it finished by September to give as a housewarming gift for a family member.

There were 40 quilters present and each one received the guidance necessary to successfully complete the blocks. It was inspiring to watch the skill with which Bonnie taught the workshop. 

This was a terrific weekend. Almost 6 hours of travel time when all was done, but so very much worth it. 

Til next time,
Mary

Progress

Kitty, my long arm, is all settled into her new home. Fitting better than I had planned with enough room for me to get around both ends and the back. An alcove instead of a closet was included on the far end to maximize my available floor space.
I have never been able to get the SLR to work on this machine. I took all the parts to Carol's to test them on her machine; they worked just fine. But when I installed them back on Kitty, nothing. I resigned to the fact that  I would have to quilt without an SLR. 

 After testing my stitches, I decided to give the SLR one more try. Maybe, just maybe, reassembling the frame and machine would set something right that had been out of sync. I held my breath as I flipped on the SLR and moved the carriage... it worked! I did a happy dance. After half an hour of adjusting the max/min speeds, I loaded "Granny's Hankie", a 2011 BOM from Denise Russart. Each day, I quilt for an hour, taking my time learning the rhythms of the SLR. 

I quilted this quilt before the basement renovation, then sewed the binding on last week. The pattern is Majestic Mountain and calls for a Jelly Roll, but I used strips from my 2-1/2" scrap strip bin. The quilting is a clam shell design using a template. This quilt will be going to survivors of Super Storm Sandy. 

Orca Bay is ready to be quilted. This photo shows it hanging sideways, as it is too long vertically. I found that if I worked on it just a few rows at a time, it didn't seem so overwhelming. Now, I need to make the backing.
My new quilting studio is so much fun. Thank you DH. You're the best! 
Til next time, 
Mary

The Basement Reveal

The builders, D&R, finished their work on my new basement quilting studio 2-1/2 weeks ago. This is the view as you enter. To the left, the longarm area and to the right is the TV viewing/ handwork/reading area. The bookcase benches are filled with quilting books for me to read/reference as I relax in my rocker.  DH's red chair is right there next to mine. My design wall is barely visible on the wall behind the chairs. 

Located where the hearth used to be is the new pressing station, a movable kitchen cart from Big Lots. It came with a stainless steel top, which we removed and replace with a 2'x 4' pressing board.  It's not as long as the one I made for the ironing board, but it provides storage and can be easily moved when needed.

Looking back from the TV area, you can see the cutting station to the right and the main sewing area to the left of the entry. The new ceiling is three inches higher than the old one and there are LED pot lights all through the studio providing much needed light. 

D&R re-installed the upper cabinets and built custom base ones(to match the uppers) with a beautiful  wood counter. They are 17" deep to accommodate my many plastic storage bins. The opening on the far left is due to the hot water baseboard. Not to be one to waste potential storage, I requested D&R to install a shelf above the baseboard. It is the perfect place for my portable vacuum. The pegboard is up on the wall, with some of my gadgets hanging there.

Now, for the view of the cutting area. My Accuquilt cabinet is tucked into the corner, ready to be used. A second pegboard hangs over it to hold my many rulers. Nana's table returns as the cutting table. I'd like to make a platform with wheels so it too would be movable. But for now, it stays in place with a rolling cart of drawers tucked underneath it. The new bathroom is behind the wall that holds my half finished "Orca Bay" quilt. The W/D is not hidden in a closet as that would have taken away more floor space. Besides, I am one of those rare individuals who doesn't mind doing laundry. 

This is the area which will, be the new home for "Kitty" my longarm. Although, not shown in this photo, she fits quite nicely in this space. Most of my yardage has been returned to the shelves on the bookcase. To the left foreground, is a metal rolling shelf that houses fat quarters, wool, batiks, etc. I found these stacking drawers(Wal-Mart) which fit perfectly on the shelves.

Finally, this is my bathroom! No more running up the stairs in a mad dash to beat Mother Nature. The ceiling is painted the same color as the walls. The pedestal sink adds a touch of elegance. Thanks Mike. The mirror is temporary as I haven't found the right one yet. But I am still looking.  

The floor in the studio is a solid vinyl 6"x 3' interlocking plank. It is waterproof and has a very realistic wood appearance. It took DH and I three days to install, but it definitely was worth it.

Til next time,

Mary