Feline Friday - 7/27/12

Well, you can guess this is not a recent photo cuz when was the last time I actually used my sewing machine?

I just bet, of all the dangers in your quilt studio, this was not on the top of your list:

Pepper wanted to help me sew but he just kept teasing me with that great striped tail of his and it just got closer and closer to the presser foot as he swished it back and forth. I finally had to boot his cute little toukus off the sewing table to finish making bookmarks that didn't have tails attached.

I'm on a blog break starting today but I'll be back in time for next week's Feline Friday - cya then!!

Don't forget to link in your favorite Feline! Usual rules apply (link to a specific post, not your blog in general) and you have until next Thursday to join in.

DONE!

OK, I have one more side to bind but it's DONE!!!!!

I know you've been looking at this since March 2011 and I know you've seen the 6-pointed stars and the tumbling blocks within the quilt design but I've also noticed that when viewed from this next angle that there is kind of a zig zaggy pattern visible along the center spine. Can you see it?

This next shot is very washed out (the color in the previous shot is more accurate) but shows the quilting detail on the back. The diamonds were stitched on the black sashing and the straight lines were over the colored diamonds. I love the various stars that are created by the diamonds or straight lines, as well as the diamonds and hexies.

Wednesday Wild Things

A little hard to see this guys long stinger but I took his picture and backed away quietly :)



One day I was sitting on the front porch and looked up to see what my cat was looking at. I find it fascinating how it kinda spirals around. I sprayed it earlier this week as it was a pretty busy nest .



After watching the poor little guy walk across the street in a torrential downpour and then struggle onto the sidewalk only to sit in an evergrowing puddle, I picked him up and put him on a windowsill. He was covered in mulch and dirt but he eventually dried out and flew away.

Quilt Tea Party

Some crazy night hours the last three days meant I crawled out of bed at the last possible moment this morning before work and it never dawned on me to take pictures for the blog...instead I'll "take" you to the tea party I attended last weekend.

Near my hometown is Silver Lake which is populated with summer (second) homes and a few year-round homes. One area around the lake is called The Silver Lake Institute and was started as a Methodist "cultural" center eons ago, similar to Chautauqua Institute. There are a lot of cottages in the area as well as Hoag Art Gallery and Epworth Hall. Epworth, built in 1892, is a 3 story building built into a hill. The main area is 2 stories and the upper floor has stadium style seating. In the recent past, there are summer church services and weekly concerts and presentations. This was the first time I had been upstairs in Epworth.

I went to the tea with Mom and 4 friends and we had a blast. We started at Hoag for a small quilt show and then moved to Epworth for the tea. Two local quilt stores had some wares for sale and the upper railings were layered with quilts, old and new.

Our table hostess Sharon (an adopted family member as my grandmother and a relative of hers came over as Aussie war brides) and my quilting friends Nadine and Noel.




Sarah, Michele and Mom

 Food was plentiful as was the hot and iced teas. The almond clotted cream on cranberry mini scones were probably my favorite. The cherry bing tea was to die for. It was a Celestial Tea and I plan to look for some in the grocery store.

A hostess was chosen from each table to bring the table settings. Center pieces of hydrangea blossoms and rolls of fabric strips were provided by the planning committee. Table numbers where inserted into spools of thread. Our table had glass plates shaped like apples but others had willow ware or even green depression glass. I wish I had thought to look at more table scapes.

Michele in front of an old Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt

These show you an overall shot from upstairs. You can see the stage to the right. Some of the 100 ladies at the tea had offered to tell 2 minute stories about their chosen quilts and they were seperated into categories of dreams, prayer, etc. The programs were made into fans and listed the speaker and name of their quilt.

I love the rafters - this is a summer only building as there is no insulation but also no AC on a warm summer day. I did find little bamboo fans at Pier 1 for my table mates, not knowing the programs would be fans as well.

I do believe this was a very successful sold out tea and at my table, we are waiting very impatiently, hoping there will be another next year!

PS - Don't forget to vote in the poll to your right!

Design Wall Monday - 7/23/12

YES - I do have the hexie quilt quilted, and
YES - I do have the binding almost half done, and
NO - I'm not gonna show it off until it's completely done!!!
I meant to take a vague pic of it this morning but having been up since 4am I plum forgot as I stumbled my way out the door to work.

Instead I have this photo of a rose star that I've fussy cut to take camping. I'll have the owls in the centers and then I have a dozen brown, green and blues for the other fussy cut bits. I have a great neutral batik for the setting parts. I was able to fussy cut 6 owls from the FQ so I'll get those all done up and then see how much bigger I want to make the quilt. I really don't want to tie myself to another large hexie quilt that will take a long time but those owls are just adorable :)

In other news, I joined a hexie block of the week program out of British Colombia, Canada and my first packet just arrived today. The program started in January so I already have 28 weeks worth of catching up to do but by year's end I will have 52 new hexie patterrns. Awesome! I'll share more when I have some blocks to post. I just need to settle on fabric...

Check out my poll on the upper right side bar - Should I host a monthly hexie linky party? Thru the course of blog hopping I've come across many blogs with hexie projects lately. I was thinking mid month we could have a linky party for everyone to share their project progress. Let me know what you think? Voting will remain open until August 6.

I'll be on a blog break next week - I hope you don't miss me too much. LOL. Never fear, The Feline Friday Linky party will be ready to auto-post.

Feline Friday Linky Party - 7/20/12

Momma almost forgot to get this post ready yesterday for her day off today. I guess that's like she kinda forgot my gotcha day until it was too late. I have several you know and it can be confusing for a human.

13 years ago I was dumped at the end of a gravel driveway just because the driveway was out in the country. The driveway owner's son's wife begged to take me home and named me Smokey. We also made a stop at the v.e.t. Yuck. The vet guessed I was just 8 months old given my size and thought I would get bigger as I got older. Fooled him as I haven't gained a pound since then. I might have lost a pound in the last year tho but that is just because I am aging gracefully.

2 years ago the driveway owner's son asked his sister if she would sit on me for 2 weeks while they went to a world called Disney. I was transported to the sister's house in a PTU on July 3, 2010. I wasn't happy about the trip cuz there was a much bigger brown kitty already in her house but he's a wimp and the sister let me sit on her lap anytime I wanted. I know my previous slaves must be back from Disney by now cuz they stop over once in a while so eventually I decided to call the sister 'Momma.' In turn, she changed my name to Midgie, short for Midget.

I think I'll stay...even tho she forgot...

Hexie updates

I've started quilting the hexie quilt!

 Can you see the diamonds in the black sashing? I've done the 6 spokes out from the center of the quilt. I have a decent amount of sashing left to go but it is really quick with a good audio book and some raspberry iced tea.

After the sashing is done I'll see how much more quilting I want to add since the quilt is already pretty heavy and I don't want it too stiff.

This is a hexie project that I started way back to replicate the bathroom floor at my office. I felt obligated to use much bolder colors. LOL.

And yes...I will be doing the borders...not in EPP but Seminole Piecing.

In preparation for taking some hexies camping I also threw this project into EQ7. (Why oh why can't EQ make designing hexies a little easier???) I used light colors to denote the pattern and as I stitch the pieces I'll change to the darker colors shown. I'm great at over packing "activities" so this is one of only 3 hexie projects I'll be taking with me. I would hate to run out of projects to work on while I relax in front of the campfire or hide from the rain.  :)

And here is the latest shot of the little project I started last week. Did I tell you that from top to bottom it will be just 14"? I hope to make two of these, one for each side table in my living room. I didn't uber-like them when I first won them at an auction and had planned to replace them one day. But fate stepped in cuz they are HEXIE shaped!!!

Wordless Wednesday Garden Visitors

You know you're from a small town when...

...the new fire truck is the biggest news around. LOL.

Castile Fire Department has historically (to the best of my knowledge anyway) purchased used fire trucks and some of them are now darn near as old as I am! But when you are only used a few times a year, it's ok.

This year, the department voted to get rid of 2 old trucks and purchase this one new pumper tanker. From this view it looks as long as the fire hall - it's not, quite. You can see all the guys drooling looking it over. We had guys from the county EMS and several local departments come to watch it be delivered and I hear it will be front page in the weekly paper this week.

As an EMT, I am technically an exterior firefighter but I know nothing about trucks or anything on them so I'll just show you the photos. My boss, a Perry Center fireman, asked to see a pic of the pumps and I hadn't even thought to get one. Check out how HUGE it is compared to my models. It feels bigger than the 2 trucks we got rid of.

And lucky me, I got the first truck related injury. I was trying to figure out how to open the roller door compartments (shown here to the left of Pete). Nick showed me the "latch" and as the door started to fly up, I tried to grab it. Instead, I got my fingers slammed between the door and the truck. Ouch didn't quite cover it. No swelling but my fingers/knuckles are pretty sore. See why I'm not an interior? I can't even operate the truck let alone run into burning buildings with all that gear on...

And the two bestest models? My nephews, Ryan and Tyler. Maybe you can tell from the angle of the photo how high they are. There are three steep steps and I had a bit of trouble getting up there in a jean skirt...can't wait to see the guys in their bunkers trying to climb up there.

Design Wall Monday - 7/16/12

Sew...what's a girl to do when her hexie quilt is no longer portable??**
She starts a new EPP project, obviously!!

Thursday night my project was no longer portable and I had an appointment Friday morning at the car dealership. A book just wasn't going to do it so I picked the easier of my next 2 projects and cut enough pieces to keep me busy for a while.

I'm not finding this project as soothing as the hexagons. It goes together much faster with bigger pieces but the different shapes need a little more cajoling to get everything basted nicely. I've started using tiny binder clips on the sides to hold it all in place since I don't like to baste thru the paper. It would take me longer to describe than it takes to get the shape basted so I won't bother but let me know if I should post about it later.

I'll prep more pieces for this easy 14" project tonight and then some pieces for the bigger project to take camping in 11 days! Not that I am countin...


**The top is completely whipstitched together, the papers are out of the outside borders and the basting has been snipped and the fabric ironed out flat for later cutting it straight and the backing is pieced. I'll be spray basting tonight!

Feline Friday Linky Party - 7/13/12

I am *not* an outside kitty. I used to be before Momma brought me home but I am quite happy to have a warm double sized bed mostly to myself, a full bowl of water (with ice on hot days!) and fresh kibbies twice a day.

I do, however, enjoy some porch time with Momma now and then and Sunday was the perfect lazy morning. Well, she was stitching those silly little pieces of fabric back together but I was being lazy!

Don't forget to join the Party! You can link up until midnight next Thursday but please link to a specific post about Felines...

Priceless

ONE last black hexie out of 790...

ONE last hexie paper out of 1,950...

ONE last basting stitch out of 11,700...

Waiting to fit the last wedge into the mothersip puzzle??

PRICELESS!!!

Wednesday Walk in the Garden

Since nothing new seems to be in bloom this week, I thought I would give you a hosta tour...

While my house is essentially a cross (it used to be a parsonage), there were lots of little crooks and crannies around the perimeter of the house and I am slowly working to fill those in with gardens so that the mowing is a little easier and the foundation is a lot prettier.

This hosta garden was planted 3 or 4 summers ago and has filled in nicely. Looks like I need to do some weed control along the little stone wall. Last summer I added the bee balm but I think it's coming out because it just looks too messy among the hosta blossoms. On the right side, behind the sedum, is one of my mini hostas, "Raspberry Sherbet." Next to it, but not in the pic is my "Green Eyes" which is struggling this year and I think it's because the chocolate mint went viral. I'm thinking of moving both mini hosta to the other garden I'll show just because they'll be more visible.

This garden is on the other side of the house and does get a bit more sun each day. This garden is only a year old and really hasn't filled in yet. Of course, that could also be because I am still adding and removing plants! There are only 4 hosta and 3 are pretty standard, altho one has a really nice dark purple flower.

This, however, is my "Sum & Substance" hosta which will be quite large some day. It's probably a little hard to see, but maybe you can gauge the leaf size to the lily flower in the background - they are quite large. Even more exciting to me is the 2 flower stems that are coming out because they also are quite large. I don't think it's blossomed before even tho I've had this plant 3 years now. Mom doesn't care for hosta blossoms but I like them, especially for cut flower displays.



This bud is bigger than my thumb and still growing.



MishMash

Today is a mishmash of the other things I worked on over the weekend...

These are the snappy pouches I am making for the bazaar this weekend. Once the fabric is all paired up and all the parts are trimmed to size they are super simple to put together. I need to borrow Dad's tin snips to trim the tape measure and then I can get them finished up Friday.

You might remember some time ago I started a leader/ender I'm calling 4+16 for lack of anything better. Blogger is telling me that I have no posts with that label but that's not true...and I don't have time to go find them...

While trimming fabrics for other projects I have been throwing 1.5" and 2.5" blue and white strips in a bin. As the leader/ender over the weekend I sewed some of the strips together (there is still a set under the needle), subcut them and pinned them. They now sit on top of my Bernina ready to be sewn leader/ender style another day.

My 4" basket blocks are also a leader/ender project using just about any fabric as long as it's a kinda small scale. I've also been trimming fabrics into 1.5" and 2.5" strips for this as I go along and I was able to put together one whole block over the weekend.

This block is for a BOM I am teaching. The gold stands out a little more than I like but it is what it is. I still need to write the directions and make 2 more blocks. Just something else to fit into my crazy schedule...

Design Wall Monday - 7/9/12

Why is it we I always set our my goals too high to possibly accomplish everything? I worked hard this weekend and worked on everything on my honey-do list - I just didn't finish a single thing. The only one I absolutely wanted to finish was the hexie top...and I got oh sew close!

I've listened to 4 or 5 audio books while working on the mothership since last week. The panic did set in yesterday when I realized I was on my last book and would need to order more from the library which is gonna take a few days to get here...

This is what's left of my design wall - much whiter than I am used to in the last few weeks! I pulled the pieces apart so you can see what I have left: finish transforming the half diamond into a full diamond, fill in the last 10 black hexies. These smaller pieces will then be attached to the mothership and then I can heave the biggest sigh of relief that I am sure all y'all will hear where ever you may be :)

As the pieces are assembled I can remove more and more hexie papers which are saved in this large Ball jar awaiting the next project. Since I am almost to the point of this quilt being a stay at home project for quilting and binding...I need to pick another hexie project to keep me out of trouble at lunch :) Decisions, Decisions.

Feline Friday - 7/6/12

Hi, My name is Pepper and even tho I am shy and like to sit under things (like Momma's chair), my sissies elected me to let you know that with a little kick in the toukus help from her friend Denise, Momma has finally set up a weekly linky party for Feline Friday!!!

The usual rules will apply - please ask you humans to only link to a particular blog post instead of the entire blog and as long as there are felines in the post...any topic goes!

Have at it my furrrrriends...can't wait to meet ya!

PS - Momma has tomorrow off so let's keep our toes crossed this thing actually works...