Cotton Pickin'

It's a Conspiracy

2009-10-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

The universe (or my internal editor, or fear of failure, or...) is throwing obstacles in the path of my novel-writing escapade. I have a quilt that I need to finish for a friend/customer. I've had this quilt (hereafter known as the purple beast) since June - it's a Christmas present. Other projects with more immediate deadlines kept cropping up, then school started, then I noticed a big mistake and had to rip out my quilting. I thought I had fixed the problem so that I could quilt like crazy this weekend and start my novel on November 1st with the other insane NaNoWriMo folks around the world. NOPE. The purple beast reared it's ugly head, and the only solution I could see was to rip out every stitch and start over. Ripping out quilting is a huge job. Which means the few hours of free time that I had intended to use for writing over the next month, are now usurped by the purple beast. But I refuse to give in without a fight, so I will give up some precious sleep, and write anyway. Take that Universe and purple beast - I'm not quitting!

How do you eat an elephant?

2009-10-29T15:08:00.001-07:00

One bite at a time.

NaNoWriMo is code for National Novel Writing Month. I "win" if I write 50,000 words that somehow resemble a coherent story.

Yes, I know this is just more evidence that I am certifiably crazy. But, I need to stop dreaming and start doing. I was about 8 years old when I first got the idea to write a book. Then, in 6th grade, in a class for advanced students doing independent projects, I wrote a story and bound it between cardboard covers. My bookshelves are full of writers-how-to titles. Now it's time to get back in touch with my younger self who was able to put pencil to paper and end up with a finished story. That is my goal in November.

Phase 1 complete

2009-10-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

I finished knitting the last of the mitered squares - Hallelujah! Phase 2 is the seaming. After I get the squares sewn in groups of three, I will lay them out to check on color placement and size (remember, the crazy plan is to have this fit my queen size bed). Then comes the border.

It's probably insane to think I could have this done by Christmas, but with cooler evening temperatures there is an incentive! And it was so fun to cast on a pair of socks after almost six months of stockinette stitch.

Here is Kendra, all ready for a sleepover at Grandma's. Everything is packed in her Disney princess backpack.
My latest quilt project was a log cabin charity quilt. I did some meandering leaves on the dark half of the log cabin, and a spiky ferny thing on the light side.Happy Stitching!

I quilted today!

2009-09-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

Yay for me! I had a doctor's appointment this morning, so I burned a whole sick day and enjoyed some quiet time in my sewing room. Judy has started another Quilt for an Hour project. I was able to finish the first two steps...instructions are only posted on weekdays so I will definitely us the weekend for catching up!Does it count as stash-busting if you use someone else's stash??? I raided my mom's fabric collection for green and browns. I'm thinking masculine colors for a potential Quilt of Valor donation. I'd better get busy at the longarm so all the QOVs I've done this summer can be put to good use!! FYI - visit qovf.org for details about a Vermont effort to collect 200+ quilts for service members.

Of course, since I did NOT buy season tickets this year, the Phoenix Mercury have advanced to the second round of the WNBA playoffs! I keep meaning to go to a game, but when it comes right down to it, I'm usually too tired, don't want to drive downtown and pay for parking, food, etc. I've been able to watch most of the games through a live feed on my computer. Some of the playoff games are on ESPN2, which makes for good knitting time.
I'm almost done with my mitered square blanket!I need to block the blue-yellow-green squares, then the blue-pink-purple will be my last color combination, for a total of 81 individual blocks. I've seamed about a third of them, so I need to finish that and then knit the border. Maybe it will be done by Christmas?!?

Of course, I need a few days for this...
I got an email coupon from Barnes&Noble, so I stopped by after my appointment today. I didn't realize it was new on the shelf today! This is #7 in the Outlander series, so you really need to start from the beginning to get the full effect of Claire traveling through time via stone circles and falling in love with Highlander Janie Fraser. I've heard rumors of a movie version, but this is definitely a case where no mere human actor will be able to live up to the millions of reader fantasies!

Labors

2009-09-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

Work is kicking my butt this year. My afternoon classes are remedial algebra...let's just say it's a tough crowd. I come home exhausted every day. I am going to try more structure than I usually impose in my classroom and hopefully the students will calm down and we can all have a little bit of fun. Enough of that! Here's some happy stuff -

I joined the I-Spy fabric swap hosted by Wendy and Meredith. I took 80 of the 200 squares and put them together as four-patches.Then I added some green sashing, next will be a blue border and then it will make some child very happy!

You'll have to click on this next photo to see my quilting. My guild's challenge this fall was "Anything Geometric" so I tried some new meandering patterns with right angles (in orange) and triangles (green).
Cool effects in my photo-editing program...
A park nearby has a small water play area. Kendra is getting brave - standing under the spouts all by herself!

Birthday Week

2009-08-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

The birthday celebrations are over and our princess is officially three years old. Here is the bunny picture...
Opening presents - Grandma Mary bought the "Calico Critters" townhouse with 5 rooms of furniture. The bathroom includes an 1/8th inch bar of soap to sit on a 1/4-inch soapdish. Thanks, Mom!
So, the photographer didn't plan the shot well...but here is the cake and candle portion of the day.
Hectic week with parties and trying to get ready for school. Bentley starts his third week of class, and my students arrive for Day One tomorrow. Kendra will be with new teachers and mostly the same kids in her daycare center. Of course, Murphy's Law struck, and she has been running a fever for the last 12 hours. I really don't want to call a sub for the first day of school, ugh!

Prep Work

2009-08-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

It's time to start on the vintage quilt. The scary one! Anytime I quilt for customers, I'm a bit nervous - what if they hate it? What if I screw up? Typical stage fright, usually solved by taking a deep breath and getting started. And, since I'm doing a new design, I decided to (gasp!) practice first!I gathered my tools...a stencil, two circle templates, and butcher paper. The smaller circle will be stitched as my reference, the larger circle and the inner section of the stencil are marked as guidelines for the edges of my feathers.
I started with the inside of the wreath.
Here you can see the whole thing. I drew about six wreaths on paper and then they started looking consistent. I switched to drawing the outer ring of feathers first, since it's easier and that got me into the flow. If you look closely, you'll see that there are twice as many feathers on the outside. Keeping track of how many loops I've done also helps keep me consistent.

Then I loaded some practice fabric on the machine, again tracing the two circles and the stencil guidelines. I only need the Gammill workstation to stitch the central, smaller circle.
And, viola! A nice looking feathered wreath.

Avoidance

2009-07-31T10:06:00.001-07:00

I waste too much time on the computer. It's one habit that I am trying to break! Of course when Kendra decides to have a tea party, the computer gets left in the dust :-)

I'm a bit intimidated by the next quilt I have to do...antique signature blocks and a request for feathers.
So, I am going to find some stencils today and tackle this one...on Monday, LOL. Hey, don't roll your eyes like that, my weekends are busy with family! Do you know how hard it is to get anything done with a three year old running around??? Luckily there are 10 days left before I have to go back to school, so the goal for next week is to JUST DO IT.

Of course, I haven't touched the seam ripper since I admitted my mistake on the other quilt. ugh. There are many hours of repair work waiting for me in the quilt room...see why I play on the computer so much?!?

Contest Link

2009-07-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

In the contemporary quilting world, two names lead the way - Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran. They have written a new book, and you can win a copy! Just click here.

Lessons Learned

2009-07-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

I pledged to knit nothing else until this blanket is done -And last night I got a lesson on crochet. It's much faster to use a single-crochet to seam the blocks together rather than mattress stitch, and I think the result is acceptable:
You can see a bit of the lighter color in the seam on the front, and I need to carefully make sure the stripes line up, but I am pleased with my first attempt. Only 18 squares left to knit and then on to seams and borders, woo-hoo!

Kendra has been working on faces...Mom and Dad are at the top,
Grandma below with her glasses on. I think the green blobs are earrings :-)

The lesson I learned today is to always measure the width of the quilt as it advances on the longarm. The corollary is that problems do not magically go away over night! I noticed some rippling in the edge of the quilt I'm working on (lovely feathers, if I do say so myself) but I just kept easing it in. Not a good strategy...when I got to the lower border I had way too much excess, so that's when I grabbed the tape measure. I had "eased" about two inches worth along the way. Now I have a date with Mr. Seam Ripper, oh joy. Lots of cliches come to mind - Haste makes waste, primarily!

Winter in July

2009-07-20T07:13:00.001-07:00

The Phoenix Zoo had a snow day this weekend. They trucked in mountains of snow and icy treats for all the animals. Ralph, a Galapogos tortoise really scrambled to get his snack of prickly pear!
Here is Kendra checking out the action at the kiddie play area.
I can't remember what species this is ,some kind of South American rodent I think:
Elephants-
And no visit is complete until we ride the carousel. We got there just as one group was starting their ride, so we were first in line, which assured Kendra of a seat on her favorite lion.
Stay cool!

Quilt Camp 2009

2009-07-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed a quick trip to Quilt Camp in the Pines this week. When I went for the first time in 2004, I won the roommate lottery and met Jeanne (on the right). She is so much fun...one of those people who you meet and feel like you've known forever. We only see each other once or twice a year and each time is a delight.
We took John Flynn's class, Glorified Nine Patch. My advice if you ever take a class with him - BUY THE KIT. He sells wonderful templates if you want to bring your own fabric, but in class it is much more fun to sew than to spend all day cutting out pieces.

Every year at camp, Jeanne plans an extra curricular craft. This year it was fat free treats:Some quilting magazines this summer have featured patterns for these "quick and easy" pincushions. Mine is on the right...lumpy and lopsided. In my own defense, I was using an unfamiliar sewing machine that didn't like the interfacing and ruffly edges. I figured for a first attempt, finished was better than perfect. Jeanne's cupcake on the left was her fourth try ;-)

The featured instructor was Esterita Austin. She gave a lecture on her quilting journey. (Esterita is the redhead on the left.) It was educational and entertaining. I learned a few tricks about color placement (highlight the contrast between light and dark to give dimension) and fell in love with her stone portal quilts.
Great mini-vacation away from the desert heat. Anyone want to join me next year??

Colors

2009-07-10T09:15:00.001-07:00

Quilts of Valor issued a new challenge - use the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern to make a quilt. I've seen this pattern before, but never tried it myself. This version uses 5" squares. My last QOV project decimated my meager stash of red, white and blue fabric so, oh darn, I will have to go shopping before I go any further with this!

Temptation from Wendy:
She organized an I-Spy swap. I have ideas for several I-spy theme quilts, so this will be a fun way to get lots of different prints. (Amy sent me such a big bag of goodies that I am sharing the love!)

Kendra has been busy for about three days now with a highlighter marker. She can even draw a recognizable face! Parents - remember the simple joys of empty boxes and colors :-)

Dog Days of Summer

2009-07-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

It officially HOT here in the Valley of the Sun...105 and above every day for the next two weeks at least. And we haven't even had a good thunderstorm yet! I've been puttering around, enjoying my summer vacation, probably like most of my students - not accomplishing much of anything!

Let me recap my holiday weekend, although the camera was not in use.
Friday - drove up to Prescott Valley to drop off a quilt and have a picnic. This was a test run of the kiddo on a road trip. She did great! (Many thanks to Disney and Dora, LOL) It was cloudy and cool during our lunch and then we hurried back to Phoenix for nap time.
Saturday, July 4 - went to a party at a friend's house. Her band, Mirror Image, played a couple sets of rock music and Kendra had a front row seat. She *loved* the drums. Groupies start young these days ;-) Home to bed for the little one. I could just see the top of the nearest fireworks show over the other houses in the neighborhood.
Sunday - ended up as a very busy day with church, lunch with one set of grandparents and dinner with the others!
Monday - one of Kendra's friends from daycare came over to play for a few hours in the morning. The parents stayed so there was lots of good conversation.
Tuesday - took Kendra to music class at Grandma's church! Quick visit and lunch with Grandma, then home since I had a doctor's appointment. Unfortunately, Kendra fell asleep in the car on the way home, which was a bummer because she woke up as soon as we got home and did not go back to sleep. On the plus side, she fell asleep early last night!

Today, we were back to our normal schedule of taking her to daycare so I could get some quilting done. There was a problem with the top that I wanted to put on the longarm, so that got put aside for Grandma to fix, and I put a binding on. It was the second quilt I did all by machine, which is so quick and easy, except for all the pins. Just follow the directions in the sidebar at Patchwork Times.

OK, I'll cave and add a photo...(or not, since it was the same one I put in my last post)
I am knitting some three-color squares for my blanket. I am determined to finish this ASAP! I put away all other knitting projects and did some calculations...only 19 more squares. It's conceivable to finish the squares before school starts, then I have to sew all 81 together and knit the borders. That phase of the project will definitely have to wait until the temperatures go down!!!

Ch-Ch-Changes

2009-06-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

I hereby resolve that I will not cast on another pair of socks until this blanket is finished! Here are some tricolor squares... I adapted the original two color pattern for three colors. This lets me use up some of my leftover colors without an obvious repeat. I have been avoiding the seaming process, but I need to get started. I'm sure by the time I've done 100 or more seams, it won't be as intimidating!!

There is a water play area near some restaurants over by Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had a fun evening watching Kendra play.

We packed away her crib, here she is in her Big Girl bed:

I think mattresses are bigger these days...the headboard sure seemed taller when I was a kid. I plan to fill the blank wall with some of the beautiful quilts that have been made for her. Daddy will need to use the power tools, I just need to attach the hanging sleeves.

Photos Today!

2009-06-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

I know I should finish something before I start a new project, but this just took a few minutes to cut out and arrange. 3 inch squares for my Halloween Sudoku. I double checked that each fabric was only used once in it's row, column and block of 9. The one thing I may change is to fussy cut one of the fabrics (fourth from the right on the bottom row) since my random cutting managed to avoid showing the monster design completely! Here is the custom longarm project from last week. The quilter used beautiful batiks.

Isn't this a pretty block? I did a simple radiant design coming off the corners of the center square.

See the rainbow fabric in the setting triangles? That's what was making me blind as I tried to quilt curly q's in it with varigated thread! Here's a view from the back:

I had a suspicious mole taken off my shoulder blade today. 3 stitches, and it kind of stings, so I am staying away from the sewing machine and trying to keep my arms down this afternoon. But I have to stay out of the swimming pool for the next 12 days until they take the stitches out. That seems like a long time, especially since the forecast is above 100 degrees for the next two weeks. I guess I'll stay inside and watch lots of movies in the cool air conditioning!

No Sewing Sunday

2009-06-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

But, I couldn't let the week pass by without another post! I did not take a picture of the quilt I mentioned last time...some days it's just too much trouble to get the camera and the quilt in the same room! I think finishing 3 quilts in 5 days was a bit too much, I mean really gals, I am on summer vacation here - the deadlines are killing me!! Just kidding, the only deadline I was under was self-imposed, thinking that if I got customer quilts out the door, then I'd have time for personal stuff. But, then I ran out of inspiration, so I took a day off and caught up on TV - season finales that I hadn't watched back in May.

I know that I should spice this post up with pictures of my adorable little girl, but for some reason Blogger doesn't like to import photos from my Firefox browser. It's almost my bedtime and I don't want to switch over to Windows Internet Explorer, wah wah wah. Anyway, cute kid story - lately when I ask her to pick up her toys she responds "No thank you." Ummm, honey, I appreciate the manners, but that is not an option in this situation! It's even sweeter with her toddler "sank you" pronunciation of "thank you." And I crack up when we are listening to her music in the car and she wants us to skip a song "I don't care for this one." Out of the mouths of babes. I hope I can remember these cute moments when she's full of teen angst and attitude!

Mish Mash

2009-06-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

I finished quilting my friend's first-ever quilt. (I showed you the sketch last time.) I was happy with the pinwheel feathers in the center.Today's project has me quilting curly q's on a black fabric with rainbow swirls. If I don't go blind, I will share a picture tomorrow!

Check out the One Million Giraffes website...here is my contribution. I have been a giraffe fanatic forever...I have at least 50 in my house! Too bad this kid only wants drawings, I could send him lots of pictures of figurines and stuffed toys.

Amy got me thinking about the 80s yesterday. Big shoulder pads, side ponytails, ripped sweatshirts, leg warmers, pegged pants, Polo shirts, Madras inter-changeable purses, Madonna, MTV, Mr. T, Ronald Reagan, Olympic boycotts...iconic decade for sure!

The process

2009-06-06T14:47:00.001-07:00

Fun at the zoo! There is a little water play area and Kendra was brave enough to go through the waterfall. She hates having water on her face, so Daddy showed her how to put her hands over her eyes and walk forward until she felt the water. Of course, the highlight of any visit is the carousel. Today she rode the "li-lon" and gave a big RAWR.The Quilt Show is having a contest in support of Drawing Day, and I decided to play along.

Here is the quilt that I will be working on next:
To preview some quilting designs, I used photo editing software to print a grayscale copy. I lowered the brightness and now I have a worksheet to sketch on. I may be doing alot of stopping and starting since it will be tricky to move between the same-colored areas. I tend to do all my stitch-in-the-ditch before I start the block designs, although I've talked to other longarmers who do it as they move between blocks. I'm afraid I'd miss a side of a square along the way. The next question, do I have thread to match those fabrics??

King Size

2009-06-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

Only a peek, since I don't have a large enough space that is not covered in cat hair to take a full size picture! I am so thrilled to finish my mom's Kaffe Fasset Nine Patch. Here is the flower design that I put in the alternate nine patch blocks: Since the cream-on-cream thread did not photograph well, I added some detail on the computer to show the spiky fern border:

And finally, all of the block designs as seen on the back:

My machine ran for about nine hours for this quilt, so I probably spent at least 25 hours when you factor in the time to pin, wind bobbins, advance the rollers, etc. I only have two other customer quilts lined up, but plenty of my own stuff to finish. I love summer vacation!

Ahh, vacation

2009-06-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

I spent most of Monday at my longarm. It was wonderful! Actually, it started out crummy because I was trying to use invisible thread and it just would not cooperate. So, there was a bit of ripping out and then I decided on the nice aqua/green Permacore that you see in the right hand block. I got into a rhythm with the curves and got that whole section done.

I am going to use a different color and design in the other nine-patch blocks. I think I can finish this one by Friday, yay!

One of Kendra's grandmas went to Disneyland last week and brought her a princess hat. It's a little big, but she loved it.

I am waiting for the repairman to show up and fix our sliding glass door, then it's off to have lunch with my mom. I packed three projects for some afternoon sewing. I wonder what will get done?!?

Current Events

2009-05-31T14:26:00.000-07:00

Quilter's ADD...I started a new project, even though I haven't finished the QOV Mystery or the May blocks for my block-of-the-month project! And I have quite a pileof UFO's tucked away that probably only need a border or something to finish. But, at least this is a stash project, so I do get credit for avoiding unnecessary spending. The pattern is Twisted Sister by Ami Simms. I am using black backgrounds and a variety of brown, gold and green batiks. Hopefully this is a masculine look, because it is destined for another returning soldier!

Friday the family went to the Desert Botanical Gardens to see the Chihuly exhibit "The Nature of Glass." This blue and purple collection was in perhaps the most gorgeous section...right under a palo verde tree that provided lots of shade!

Here are some pink "fiddleheads" with green swirllies (yep, technical term) among some prickly pear.

At the entrance, you are greeted by glass yucca formations and agave/century plants on the terraces. The whole place is beautiful.

Just for Amy

2009-05-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

Amy is a quilt-blogging friend (aka The Calico Cat) and she's on an I-Spy kick. I promised her a picture of the one I made for Baby K last fall...here is the back. In real life, it's a dark purple from the Moda Marbles line. I used a simple crosshatch and spirals in the border.

Here's the front side. I'd take a full size picture, but I haven't gotten around to binding it yet. Bad mommy!

May Update

2009-05-27T16:13:00.001-07:00

Finished half of a pair of Shur'tugal socks in STR Alley Oop (details on Ravelry).

Almost to the end of the mystery quilt!

Baby K continues to brighten every day with her smiles.

Daddy brought home a huge flower arrangement from his school's graduation, and K "planted" on in the yard.

And then she got in touch with her inner farmer...

Yay Photos!

2009-05-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

My life over the last week or so...
I love working on this quilt since the fabrics are right up my alley. Lots of blue and wonderful prints, some batik and lots of Kaffe Fasset! I got all the blocks outlined, then I am filling in some free-hand feathers, using a multi-color thread on top and a navy blue on the back. A tip for stitching feathers that I learned from DeLoa Jones: think of curving into the spine like the curve of a freeway on-ramp. You come in at a gentle angle, not straight across! Also, imagine how a question mark curves from top to bottom. Gidget has a new favorite spot to nap in the evenings. She isn't very social, but she comes halfway down the stairs to hang out.
Here is Kendra with some of our Topsy Turvy brand tomatoes. I added them to the sausage and rice we had for dinner last night.
And here she is before swim lessons. I wanted a nice pose with the pool in the background, but she didn't cooperate! This is our first year of formal lessons. It's a parent-tot class, so I am in the pool with her. We practice kicking and blowing bubbles. She does not want to put her face in yet, but she looks forward to the Hokey Pokey and playing with the toys in the shallow beach-entry area at the end of class each day.