End of Mid-Winter Break

For some odd reason, the school systems out West deem it necessary to have a couple days off in the middle of February.  They chose a 3-day weekend and made it into a 4-day weekend, so they're really only getting one extra day off.  It gives me a chance to sleep in a bit, so I'm not complaining...

After getting each of the kids to do one chore (a miracle!) I got the last pieces cut and sewn to make the border for the Jewel Box quilt.  This finishes the diamonds around the edge but caps off the chains.  I really like the look of it!

This now makes 7 UFO quilt tops that are waiting to be quilted, including one customer quilt.  I also received a note from a friend who may have another one for me by Thursday.  I have to get busy!!

No progress on the knitting today, but there it is.  Maybe tomorrow, although it's a short day for school and I really need to get some work done on my customer's quilt.

Pirate Retreat!

I got so much done this weekend!  Lauri, Linda, Sharon, Jean and Debbie (a new member of our crew) got together and worked on projects from Saturday about noon through Monday.  I was really glad that I was still feeling well on the weekend--last Monday, I went to dinner with Godith at a restaurant that has a name that sounds like a fruit and an insect (not "Orange Ants", but you get the hint).  We didn't know it, but it had just re-opened after having been sanitized from a norovirus outbreak.  There was no sign on the door warning guests, in case they hadn't read the paper or were just passing through town.  The next day, Godith wrote me a note asking, "How are you doing?" and explained the details that she read in the paper.  Apparently, the next day, they closed again, indefinitely.  I just looked up the incubation period, which is 12-48 hours, so it appears I cleared the danger period.  Whew!

Linda & Sharon (with Miss O) arrived shortly after noon, just after Lauri (and Mr. L).  The kids ran upstairs and started playing happily.  Jean arrived a few minutes later in her full dance regalia after performances with two dance companies!

I set to work on my UFO list.  I made a lot of progress on several quilts.
First I added bindings on two quilts that were nearly finished.  Emma's Japanese one-block wonder was on the top of that list because she had been harassing me recently about taking so long on getting it done.  I couldn't find a green that matched, so I selected a yellow that matched the fabrics in the quilt.  I hope I can wrestle it away from her for the quilt show in April.

Next was the purple pinwheels quilt that I made from swapped fabrics from the guild and a variety of purples from my stash.  I didn't have any more purple, so I chose a piece of orange...and I ended up being about 2 feet short in the binding.  I had to find another fabric that was pretty close...it wasn't as bright, but it blends in pretty good.  No one will notice.  And if they do, they're looking too close!  This one will also be in the quilt show, then afterwards, it may have to find itself a new home. :)

Finished assembly of the blocks and borders added to the Civil War quilt.  This one is a twin size--about 80" x 106".

Blocks were sewn together and borders added to the pineapple quilt.  I love the look of this one, and I had wanted to make this quilt for a long time, but I really started to hate doing it after a while.  I had originally planned to make 25 blocks, but after 16 enormous blocks, I threw the rest of the photocopies of the patterns away.  With the borders, it's a good lap size, and is a bright, cheerful quilt that I will probably use in the living room for TV time.

I added a simple border to the Children's Hospital quilt.  Again, this is not a donation to the hospital, but for the parents to sleep under while staying with a child at Children's...for me & Kelly, specifically.

I made a bunch of Half Square Triangles for the border of the Jewel Box quilt.  This was still in progress when the Pirates left on Monday.  The 5" squares were pre-cut, saving me a lot of time.  The border will be white all around, but finish the diamonds around the edge.  I think I may have to scrounge up more white on white fabrics...not sure what I'm going to do for that, if I have some hidden in my sewing room or if I'll have to buy a couple yards.


That's 6 out of 12 quilts with progress to them!  Most of the rest of the unfinished projects just need quilting and binding.  Now if only I can make sure that my longarm keeps working.  The stitch regulator is still not working up to par.  I'll have to find out what to do about that.

I was hoping that I could get all of the UFOs done by October...but I may get more than 12 done by then.  The rules of the UFO challenge say that you can keep adding UFOs to the list, but they must have been started prior to January.  I can't start one now and add it to the list.

Still working on the Olympic knitting, but I spent the entire weekend doing the quilting thing, so I'm a few days behind.  I love watching the sports, but I'm really frustrated with the coverage of the Olympic games this year.  They have 4 minutes of coverage, then 3 minutes of commercials.  They really only cover the US athletes and don't show any of the medal ceremonies.  They have a Facebook page that is posting the results of some of the competitions before the West coast feed even starts.  It's really frustrating and disappointing.  I keep thinking that NBC really should buy up several channels and air almost constant coverage of the various sites--one channel for skiing, both hills and flat surfaces; one for slope style & snowboarding; one channel for ice skating; one for speed skating; one for hockey; and one for curling and other odd sports like curling.

But that would involve me becoming CEO of NBC...and that probably won't happen.

New Year's Hit List

As some of you know, I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions.  Most people resolve to do things like lose weight or eat better or clean more.  Boring stuff.  I decided instead to make a list of things I want to learn and do this year.  These include:

• Build a loom.  I have the pattern to make it, but need to cut out the pieces and put them together.  I have the rigid heddle already.
• Make a garment, "sheep to shawl".  This means spin the yarn, weave it into cloth, full the cloth, then make a garment.  Maybe a hood or sleeves.
• Learn brocade card weaving.  I was taught once, but I forgot how to do it.  The weaving I do now is called threaded-in weaving and has some limited patterns that can be done.  Brocaded patterns are done by picking the threads, more like tapestry weaving.  
• Learn to make cheese.  There's a guy down in the Portland area that makes cheese at home using ingredients from the local grocery store.  I want to learn to do that!
• Make a Tudor outfit--all the pieces from shift to kirtle to gown to waistcoat.  This goes along with the Scholar rank in the Costumer's Guild...which is rather defunct now, but I'm sure that I can get a few judges locally to review the work and give me an honest opinion.  I suggested that our local costumers kind of take over the guild, but we'll have to see how things pan out.  I finished the Junior, Senior and Journeyman ranks, so I now want to go for the highest rank--Scholar.  You can do as many as you want, focusing on different cultures and time periods.  I'm going to start with Tudor England (1500s) and at the same time, do some clothes for 1300s Viking/Greenland.
• Make rush lights from sheep fat and reeds, the "candles" of the peasants in the Tudor era.  They don't provide a lot of light, but it was cheap lighting using leftover fats and grasses you find growing everywhere.  
• Try to make a wattle fence...probably just a little one.  Maybe around the garden I want to start.
• Plant a very small garden with peas, leeks, lettuce and carrots.  Maybe potatoes? 
• Teach more classes in the SCA.  Part of the scholar level costumer's thing requires teaching or writing.  I have one class that I taught on Pattern Drafting, so I have to do at least one more--up to 4 total can be applied to any one Scholar rank challenge--to complete the requirements.

Meanwhile I have to come to terms with the fact that I have, in fact, too much fabric.  I need to do something with it all.  Maybe not all this year, but I need to make a significant dent.  There is a UFO challenge in our guild and I would like to try to make a dent in that, at least.  I figure one a month would be a good start.  So, 12 UFOs that I want to finish:

1.   
This is a Civil War scrappy quilt I started ages ago.  Maybe even before we moved--so we're talking 7 years now.  It got buried for a long time, but it was unearthed when I mucked out the closet.  Blocks were sewn into fours, but now I need to sew them into a big top, add borders, quilting and binding.

2. 
Scrap Bin Jacob's Ladder--or a simple variation.  Maybe Jacob's Step-Stool.  It needs a simple border, quilting and binding.  Actually, I just was reminded, it's called Jewel Box.  Sharon made one similar to this about 15 years ago.

3. 
Children's Hospital quilt.  Now, before you get the wrong idea, this is not to be given to Children's, but was made there while I sat with Ben in the hospital room.  Well, technically, it was started when we spent a couple weeks in the RV before we moved here.  That was when we first put our house on the market.  We got it all cleaned and ready for show and left the house for two weeks for the real estate people to go in and out whenever they wanted and not have us do any last-minute cleaning--the stash-and-dash treatment--before a prospective buyer walked through.  It was a great idea...the people who ended up buying it came through during that time frame and made an offer a few days after we got back.  The kids and I spent two weeks in an RV park nearby hubby's work place (more than an hour away from the house being sold) so we could drive around and get familiar with the community and have a "vacation" away from the house.  I brought the sewing machine and one project with me to work on and I assembled a number of blocks.  When Ben was in the hospital in 2012, I brought this with me to finish.  I got the top done, which is the same size as the bed in the hospital.  I think it needs a small border, quilting and binding.

4.  
Pineapples.  I started these blocks forever ago and finally got enough blocks together, I think, to finish it.  Or at least finish enough of it.  It's so pretty and I just want to get it done, but I don't want to make any more of these blocks.  It was a PITA sewing them (paper piecing) and then removing all the paper.  Bleh.  Let's get 'er done!  Needs assembly, borders, quilting and binding.

5.  
Four-patches for charity.  This is one of the quilts I made that will be going to the guild's collection for Seattle Children's.  I needs one or two more rows of 4-patches, quilting and binding.

6.  
Little Civil War thing.  I wanted to make this bigger, but I lost the pattern.  I could draft it again, but I remember that it was a troublesome pattern, so I might just add a couple borders--a strip of something and a block border--and call it done.

7. 
Stack and Slash stars.  I started this around the time we moved here, I hung it up on the wall when I was finished.  Miss Rosie came to visit us that weekend, and a few weeks later, she passed away.  I had a hard time taking it down for a long time.  It's been 7 years, so I think I need to finish this now.  Maybe I'll give it to Emma.  Just needs quilting & binding.

8.  
Scrappy 9-patch.  I meant to finish this for another quilt show but didn't get it any further along than where it is in this photo.  Might need a small border, then quilting and binding.

9.  
Modern Racing Stripes.  This was a quick thing I did with the 2 1/2" pre-cut strips.  Simple throw quilt.  Needs quilting and binding.

10.  
Emma's Japanese one-block wonder.  Just needs a binding.

11.

Quilt is done on this purple pinwheel quilt--made with purple squares coupled with charm squares swapped from the Busy Bees guild.  Just needs binding.

12.  
Red, White & Blue Number.  I think this is a block that we made from a retreat I went on a few years ago.  It needs a small border, I think, then quilting & binding.

I got a bunch of Friendship Quilt blocks done yesterday and today.  One of them was so great, I want to make a billion of these blocks!  OK, maybe not a billion...but lots.  It's simple strips of fabric and white squares.  Apparently, one 2 1/2" strip of 44" wide fabric will make this one block, so you can make two or three from one fat quarter.

That's about it for today...tomorrow, I might need to make some historic-reproduction beads for the event next weekend.  I need to build a display for the event and have some pieces on display with dates and locations.  I have to find my book that has all the examples.

Two More Sleeps Til Summer...

Nothing says "summer vacation is coming" like a deluge of rain.  Well, what did you expect?  It's Western Washington.  Summer doesn't technically start until July 4th.  Or 5th, since it often rains on the 4th.  Then it goes from 50 degrees and dreary to 75, virtually overnight.  Or literally overnight...

Since Emma got out of school, we've been hanging out a bit...mostly shopping.  Before graduation, we went to several different stores looking for dresses for the big event, but of course the first three stores were a bust.  I couldn't believe that at this time of year, the only dresses the stores had could have doubled for a swim suit cover-up.  They were either drab, too informal, or what I would classify as hippy-dippy-trippy.  Nothing young.  Nothing you could go to a fine restaurant in (which in Western Washington terms means any place that has cloth napkins).  Certainly nothing for a celebration like a graduation or a wedding.

It finally occurred to me that there was a Fashion Bug store nearby that might have some decent options, so we headed over...only to discover that it was closed.  Dang.  However, just across the parking lot was Ross, and I remembered that this is a great place to look for dresses!  They have weird stuff all year long!  We went in and found six or seven great candidates out of dozens of options in her size whose styles ranged from "garden party" to "street walker", which we narrowed down to three favorites--a black and white dress with black roses around the neckline, a black and white floral print garden party dress, and a frilly pink number.  In addition, she found a pair of white pants and four shirts to add to her wardrobe.  The total for this haul was just under $100.  Today we went out and got her a new pair of shoes (Converse...which does not really go with the dresses, but whatever...) and a sketchbook.  Yesterday she came with me to visit the Girl Scout store to get badges for the meeting yesterday afternoon, but only with the caveat that I take her out to lunch.  We stopped for sushi and she ate me under the table, polishing off 9 plates to my 6.  We're going to have to run a credit check on her prospective dates before they take her out.  She's not one of them salad-eatin' chicks.

These flowery bushes were in the parking lot.  I don't know what they are, but the bees liked them.

We picked up the cake for the party, which went over pretty well--it was half chocolate and half vanilla and more heavily decorated than I thought it would be.  Like the last one I got from this grocery chain, it was lopsided...like they baked it on a crooked shelf in the oven.  I also stopped by one of my favorite places--the dollar store!  I picked up badmitten racquets and birdies, along with buckets and beans and little baggies (the kind they put mints into for weddings) to make bean bags for games.  I tried to find bean bags and hackey sacks, but you wouldn't believe how hard it was to find them.  Must be passe.  What do I know about these things?  My plan mostly worked, except the little organza bags ripped at the seams after a few dozen tosses.  I'll have to make some more durable ones out of scrap fabric.

I got my phone gizmo set on Pandora and played some Justin Bieber and Kelly Clarkson while they played games, ate cake, and ran in circles.  They had a great time.  I presented their badges to them and asked what they wanted to do over the summer.  We decided on a hike, a beach visit, sewing day, horseback riding, a camp out, and a few other things.  I hope we can get to do all of these things this summer.  I think I'll just schedule things and hope people can make it.  More than that, I hope that at least one other adult can come with--I can't drive all 10 girls in my car.

I quilted up Sharon's scrappy blue Goose in the Pond quilt over the last couple of days.  I finished it tonight and laid it out for a photo.  Ben decided he needed to give it a test-lay, and gave it the "splat" of approval.  I have a new quilt ready to load up and get quilted from Judy (the owner of the blue and green one I did the other day) who gave me one at the meeting on Monday.  It's a row quilt, which can present challenges for quilting.  I will have to look at it more closely and let it "speak to me", but I think I might want to do something row by row rather than an overall pattern.

Two more early mornings before the school year is over.  Both days are short--a half-day tomorrow, and a two-hour day on Friday.  Then I have a LONG weekend before shop hop begins next Wednesday.  I don't really need fabric, so I may just get enough to finish the shop hop quilt.  Linda and I may be the only pirates heading out this year, so we discussed the possibility of going to all the shops on the hop.  Every. Single. Shop.  There's over 50 of them.  We're talking hard core hopping.  I still have to figure out when we'll do which parts, but I'm thinking maybe starting on Wednesday morning and doing the Northern leg and getting back home in time for karate.  We'll see...

What I really need to do is spend the summer quilting up all my UFOs.  I have drawers and buckets full of them.  Sounds like a challenge...11 weeks.  How many UFOs can I finish in 11 weeks?  Bwa-ha-ha!  I'll assemble the unfinished objects, make a list, take photos and post them here.  Tomorrow...