RED ROCKing THREADS

Oh Those Kids!!

2009-04-04T07:51:00.009-06:00

A couple of days ago two of my grandchildren who live next door showed up with plates of goodies so I could sample and enjoy what they had baked after school. Its not unusual for them to share what they make and its always fun to see what they've been doing. I had no reason to think this time was any different than another! Of course they wanted me to eat a brownie and eat a piece of chicken pot pie right then and there so I could give them my opinion. Oh, I forgot to mention - it was April 1 and we all know what they could mean. One problem with getting older is the memory doesn't always remember even what day it is, so I proceeded with the yummy offerings. Below are pictures of these goodies. First they got me with the "sponge" brownie and then the tempting chicken pie. One bite into the brownie and I thought it was made with pound cake or sponge cake because it seemed rather dry. Boy was I right about the sponge cake. A few minutes later after feeling like the April Fool, I fell for the chicken pie - or what I really thought was chicken pie. Turned out to be a sweet pie made from something that was maybe pudding and peas and carrots cut in veggie shapes from Starbursts. Next year I've got to put April 1 on my calendar and refuse to be tricked again. These kids are so clever!!

2 More Little Projects And A Great Weekend!!

2009-03-30T20:01:00.011-06:00

Since there has been so much stress going on here I have been sewing up a storm to help relieve troubled thoughts. I didn't really want to sew on a quilt since I figured I would mess it up as I did on the projects below.

The first is a Spicy Spiral which I have made before, but this time I just wasn't concentrating and ended with 2 halves exactly the same. Fortunately I had enough fabric to make a correction and all is well. The picture is a little fuzzy, but perhaps you can see that the fabric is all fruits. Previously I made one with all vegetables. They should look good together (eventually)!

I really love the Moda Bake Shop blog with all their cutsy ideas of projects using their bakeshop products. Of course you can adapt any fabric to their patterns and I did so with this little bag from leftover strips of Kaffe Fassett. It was fun making it until it came towards the end. As with the Spiral, I managed to work my way through it. I figure the little granddaughters may like it. If you decide to make one, don't expect (or want) it to look exactly like mine. Yours will have a rounded flap.

We had a memorable event on Saturday when my granddaughter Jenna was baptized by her father. She is such a sweetheart and we are so proud of her. She is a loving child and keeps us laughing all the time. She showed me her new birthstone necklace her "other" Grandmother gave her. I asked her what the stone was and she said it was an Avril Lavigne! Oh these kids! It was an aquamarine. Like I said, she keeps us laughing! After the baptism we visited the St. George Temple grounds for pictures and then went to Jenna's favorite Restaurant "The Golden Trough" as Grandpa refers to it!!

A great ending to the weekend came when I attended a Court of Honor to witness my grandson Zachary receive merit badges as well as his First Class. On his way to Eagle! Way to go Zach!

A STAR IS BORN!

2009-03-27T18:42:00.008-06:00

We got some exciting news about a long time friend from our Ward in Connecticut. I have known him since he was 8 years old and have remained in touch with him and his parents since we left Connecticut. His name is Ryan Murphy and he was appointed last Friday as the new Associate Director of the Tabernacle Choir!!!! He has always been a wonderful musician - even at 8 years old when he couldn't even touch the pedals. I was in charge of a large children's choir for a conference when he was about 9 years old and he was the accompanist. The congregation was flabergasted that such a small child could play the way he did. Not only did he play, he actually changed the music to adapt to childrens' voices. He has worked so hard during these years on his education as well as having a darling family and serving in the Church in Boston. He will be completing his doctorate in May and will be moving his cute family to Utah to take on his new position. We are anxious to find out when he will make his "debut". We will all be there on the front row! For the past few summers he has come to St. George to be the musical director at Tuacahn Ampitheater and we have enjoyed his company - and free tickets!! We will miss seeing him in the summers in St. George. Congratulations Ryan - you are the best!!

A FUN CONCERT!

2009-03-25T15:51:00.004-06:00

Last night I attended the David Archuleta concert with my daughter and granddaughter Ashley (in the above picture). It was such a pleasure to see a young performer singing good clean music, keeping the standards he has been taught and also causing lots of girls to scream!! My ears were ringing for hours after - but it was fun and also fun to see kids having a good clean time. The only violation I saw was people using cameras when they were asked not to. No announcement was ever made about the use of cameras, but just rent-a-cops strong arming people with cameras and then only people on the ends of rows (which is where we sat) . How can anyone go to a concert and not take pictures?? That is unreasonable! I don't think the security people got their marching orders correct. Normally cameras are allowed but not video recording. It was rather entertaining watching security people trying to enforce the "rules". It was an impossible mission! Anyway, fun was had for all.

Latest Creation and Sunshine!

2009-03-24T07:07:00.009-06:00

I decided this week that I needed a break from quilting and took on a project that I said I would never do - an apron. When I visited the Quilt Cottage in Hurricane last week they had an apron on display and I couldn't resist buying the pattern. Several years ago I went on a Mary Engelbreit buying spree and have barely touched the stacks since. When I saw the apron I promptly thought of all that ME fabric taking up space and my mind went to work. This was a very easy pattern and used up some of the stash but not enough to make a dent. So, aprons are on my Christmas gift list and of course they will be made from ME fabric. I have some fabric that wouldn't work cut into strips so I'm going to adapt the pattern to a whole piece of fabric style. This pattern is a good stash buster since it is lined with with an equal amount of fabric.

I have one more quilt that needs binding for the quilt show, but first I have to beat it into submission to make it lay flat. That is on my to do list today. With last week being Spring Break and lots of kiddies in and out of the house, as well as a sick husband moaning and groaning, not much was done in the sewing room. Kids wanted to swim as the weather was so delightful. You can see the new church in the background and notice how close it is to our house. It is actually across the street from our backyard, but since our lot is enclosed by a wall, it isn't just a hop, skip and a jump to get there, but it is wonderful to have it nearby. It is a beautiful building - a little cramped for the 3 large Wards that meet there, but still nice and new and fresh.

YUMMY CUPCAKES!

2009-03-04T13:26:00.029-07:00

I recently had the chance to consume a "professionally" made cupcake at a restaurant and it was so good - and $$$ I might add. I decided I could do this myself. Many years ago when my children were young I got into cake decorating and turned out some really cute birthday cakes. I did the doll cakes, the race cars, etc. For many years until this past year I made and decorated award winning gingerbread houses. This provided a really nice Christmas gift fund for our family when the kids were little. We made a couple hundred each year and had them all finished and ready for sale by the first of December. I know that cupcakes are all the rage in different parts of the country and there are volumes on the internet with recipes, decorating styles, etc. The one site that I decided to use is http://52cupcakes.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html This site seemed to have recipes, ideas, etc. from several different sources including Martha Stewart, Billy Reece of Billy's Bakery plus several comments from users. So I decided to take the plunge and leave Duncan Hines behind in order to try out some of the suggestions. Actually, I didn't take the written word simply as suggestions, but rather as strict instructions. I followed everything to the letter. I did have to purchase a few items in order to get it all right. I had to have a couple of new tips, clear vanilla, cake flour, etc. The following picture shows the items I had to purchase to get this project underway.

Since I had purchased the "filling" tip, I wanted to make filled cupcakes. Below is the lemon filling from the Wilton website. It is really tart and sweet. http://www.wilton.com/cupcakes/ has mounds of filling recipes and decorating ideas. I studied this site a lot.

Here is the batter being prepared exactly as directed.

Hmmmm - what are all those lumps doing there? They are little bits of butter and are supposed to be there I read. When you look at the recipe you will see that the butter is added in a different order than the usual.

P.S. Just got a comment from 52 cupcakes.com that the butter is to be added when it is room temperature and then thoroughly blended in. No lumps allowed! However, I have made 2 batches of these with lumps and they came out good, but will be sure next time the lumps disappear!

All baked and filled! Waiting for them to cool so I can do the decorating with my new large star tip then topped with sprinkles and cake glitter. Not too pretty at this point.

Ta da!! They are beautiful and they taste even better! I guess using the real unsalted butter and whole milk (which I never buy) paid off.
I was asked to provide a table decoration for our church's women group at tonights fancy dinner. I decided to incorporate the cupcakes into the birthday theme and add a few balloons and confetti. Since it was a quasi birthday party, I made a little gift for everyone sitting at my table. Each person received a cute potholder! We were also asked to participate in an activity that resulted in a service of our choice to be auctioned to the highest bidder based on a point system. I was in a quandry as to what I could donate and at the same time be realistic about being able to complete it. I decided on providing a dozen gourmet (ha) cupcakes for the occasion of their choice. The goodies actually received a very high bid. I later found out that the person who did the final bid is a master cake decorator and since becoming confined to a wheelchair hasn't been able to bake and decorate any longer for her children. She thought the cupcakes were really cute and pretty. I'm glad she is getting them and hope she likes them.

A New Project

2009-03-02T15:09:00.017-07:00

I have been working on bindings 'til I can no longer stand it! I needed a break from the boring process and wanted to get a little more creative. I really like the Moda Bake Shop site http://www.modabakeshop.com/ and found a quick project I could make and at the same time use some of this embarrassing stash. I found the chenille hot pads tempting to try! I had made a small amount of chenille long ago but found the process of "slicing" laborious. When I saw this project on the site, I noticed a tool that I had not purchased - yet!! It is a chenille cutter and boy does it work. I took advantage of JoAnn's sale of 50% off Olfa products and got started right away. I had some fabric that I wasn't particularly fond of any longer, so decided to cut it up and start stitchin' and slicin'. This is the coolest way to do chenille! Wait for a sale however since the cost of the cutter and spare blade could feed a small village!

All sliced and ready to make more! This is fun!

Four completed and ready to be washed. Hmmmm, looks pretty boring so far.

Am wondering if this was worth the $$ and effort.

Washed, dried - its a miracle! They look so cool. Hard to believe they are all made with the same fabrics. Its a surprise to see them after the wash and dry process. Its just a matter of how they are stacked before sewing. I did all 4 bindings differently and decided the one on the left (below) worked the best.

Here is a closeup of the finished product.

By the way, below is the binding project that pushed me over the edge! Glad it is finished!

A RANDOM ACT OF SERVICE

2009-02-22T17:41:00.016-07:00

Our new chapel (across the street) is ready to be dedicated this Sunday and there has been lots of chores to be completed by then. One of the jobs is to get the kitchen stocked and organized. I never realized what that meant until this past week. Zillions of dishes, bowls, plates, etc. etc. (very heavy stoneware by the way) Of course all items needed to be washed, dried and stored away. This new chapel has a small kitchen so it was took a lot of creativeness to make it all fit. One of the chores was to unwrap all the silverware, wash and dry all the pieces. Ugh! I volunteered to take them all home and put them through the dishwasher. I didn't realize what a big job that was going to be. Nor did I realize that each piece was individually wrapped in plastic sleeves that were full of static! There were 25 doz. knives, 75 doz. forks, oodles of spoons and serving spoons. You do the math! Plus 48 sets of salt and pepper shakers to be washed! I started in by unwrapping 12 doz. knives and felt very overwhelmed. I decided to convince my little granddaughters that they could make a big contribution to our new building by helping with the silverware. They were anxious to come home from church that day and start in. They unwrapped all the rest of the utensils. I was so happy that they were so willing and excited to be helping. You can see from the following pictures what a big undertaking they took on. Of course a nice Sunday dinner and lots of ice cream sweetened the pot! Who says bribery doesn't work?? It took 3 days to put them all through the dishwasher but they are now safely deposited in the kitchen drawers waiting to be used. The irony of all this is that the 3 wards that will be sharing this small building will never be able to use the facility for ward dinners because it is too small and large events will have to be held at the larger facility down the hill - and - who uses real silverware anymore at large functions?? Plastic and paper is the way of the times. I told the girls that whenever we do use the silverware at the church they can think about the time they helped in this service project. I appreciate their enthusiasm, willingness and sweet attitude - and the Lord does too.

Jenna's sweet smile while helping.

This is only a fraction of what was unwrapped and washed!

Hannah was really happier than what she looks like in this picture. She is always willing to help with anything she is asked to do. She also knows how to be a leader and a supervisor. Hannah is going to be a great teacher someday. She has a knack for getting others to follow directions and listen to her.

NEW FAVORITE TOY AND FABRIC STORAGE!

2009-02-15T08:49:00.009-07:00

I purchased this new size ruler for 2 reasons: First it was one I didn't have and second I like the 8.5" width. I discovered that it is just the right width for cutting fabric to go through the printer. It also is much easier to cut wide borders with this wider ruler. I might mention that I already have a 24" one that is this width, but this one is cuter!

When I purchase fabric that is not going to be used right away and needs to find a home on one of the many shelves, I fold it as in the following photos. This new ruler does the job just right! I first fold the fabric in half lengthwise so it is now in 4 layers. Lay it down on the cutting table, put the 8.5" ruler on top and start folding.

Over and over!Over and over again and again...til finished. Pull out the ruler and now I have a nice neat bundle. I can count the folds and figure I have 1/4 yard for each fold. Of course that is approximate because 1/4 yard is 9" not 8.5", but is a really good estimation. Onto the shelf neat and tidy. I try to stack fabric by color or theme. This picture is not a good example of that, but just wanted to take a quick picture. This method has made my closet very manageable. Needs tweeking every now and then, but ordinarily is tidy.

SUNRISE/SUNSET/QUILT

2009-02-10T18:13:00.016-07:00

Not much news here except bindings bindings everywhere. I just wanted to post some pictures I took of the view from my sewing room early this morning about 7:15-7:30 a.m. It was breathtaking. It was also very cold! Brrrrrr!! Then this evening while posting this blog I noticed the sunset and how beautiful it was as well. I'm not a very good photographer so one of the pictures is pretty fuzzy, but you can get the idea. I sure hope a house is never built in the empty lot next to us! One advantage of this building slump I suppose.

Well, I suppose I should post a picture about something quilty. Here is the One For The Money I have just put together. It is waiting for the black borders and barberpole binding. It has been a lot of fun coupled with lots of head scratching!

ANOTHER MONSTER (MONSTROUS) QUILT!

2009-02-06T12:03:00.005-07:00

Here I am - stalling doing the binding on this quilt. It was quilted well over 3 years ago and I have been hesitant about doing scalloped binding. I thought I was stalling because I didn't know what color to use, but no - it was because of actually dealing with this huge quilt. I have done a little bit (a real little bit) of scalloped binding before but not of this magnitude. I asked several people what color I should use and most of the advice was to use the same white that is in the quilt. Ah, now I had a real excuse - I didn't have enough of that fabric! So the stalling continued until one day I was looking at "the" white fabric and suddenly realized that because of the way it was folded, I acutally had twice as much as originally thought. Dang!! Now what would be my excuse? None - so now I am getting into the acutal chore of doing it! I came across a website with excellent instructions - http://www.lindafranz.com/index.php?sectionId=38. No excuse now. I even stalled longer by writing Linda Franz with some questions. Now that they have been answered, I am ready to go! I want to enter it in our upcoming quilt show in April, so the heat is on. Wish me luck and patience - please!!

11 - COUNT 'EM - YES 11!!!

2009-02-05T11:47:00.027-07:00

I have had my nose glued to the sewing machine for the past several days applying bindings to 11 quilts! I must be crazy! Some of these have been quilted for 3 years, others more recently, but I decided I had to at least commit to getting the machine sewing part of the bindings completed so I can go on to the hand stitching. I don't really mind the hand part and actually prefer it to completing the binding by machine, no matter what the destination of the quilt will be. I had to replace a worn out binding once that had been completly applied by machine, and I'll tell you - it was torture to take out. A hand sewn one would have been so much easier!

HOW DO YOU WRESTLE A GIANT QUILT? PROBABLY THE SAME WAY YOU WRESTLE AN ALLIGATOR!

This quilt will be beautiful once the binding is finished and hopefully it will hang straight, however I have my doubts about that. As you can see, the setting triangles have a stripe and I wanted to make the front black binding appear as one of the stripes but I didn't want black on the back. I nearly go blind everytime I have to hand sew a black binding. I decided to make a double sided binding with the black on one side and the backing fabric on the back. The other problem that presented was that the stripe was much wider than a normal binding so I had to really tweek the measurements for the double binding. After several binding samples and trial runs, I finally got it to work.

The binding is ready to go - miles and miles of it!

Finally, it is all on - Whew!! Time for a nap! Now for the fun (grr) part - joining the ends of the binding. My favorite book on bindings, etc. is "Happy Endings" by Mimi Dietrich. When I took a binding class years ago in Connecticut, the woman who taught it had learned from Mimi. I think the book is in its 2nd or 3rd edition. Every time I do a binding I pull out a copy of that page of the book and refer to it. I learned long ago in the legal profession to not bother trying to memorize everything (laws) as things are always changing. I would always look things up so I knew I had the current information. Therefore, I haven't bothered to remember all the numbers involved with the binding. I made a copy of the page in the book, mounted it on cardboard and just keep it handy. Just avoids mistakes - of all the things I miss I miss my mind the most! Also here is a picture of some vinyl lettering on the wall in my sewing room to remind me of the fact that another birthday just passed and I am well into the Medicare system and I can't trust my memory all the time!
When I hand stitch my bindings, I like to lay the quilt on my large sewing machine table (love that Horn cabinet) and stitch away. No heavy quilts on my lap and I can just slide the quilt over the smooth surface and get done in record time. Makes it great for summer sewing too. I have a TV in my sewing room and when I am stitching I am facing it. I pre-load 10 needles with thread, get out all my must have binding notions and I'm ready to go. Now, I'm certainly not going to do binding on 11 quilts non-stop, but will get another project underway - wait! I have probably 11 more that needs quilting. Darn - I guess that next Kaffe Fasset project will have to be put on the back burner! Whoops - I just remembered too that I have 2 at the longarmer right now that will soon be ready for binding. Change that number to 13! Zowie, I've been busy! Oh dear, just remembered hanging sleeves for the large ones and hopefully labels for all! Getting tired!

I REALLY LOVE ST. GEORGE!

2009-01-26T19:08:00.008-07:00

Why do I say I really love St. George?? Because of the lack of snow! We returned today from the tundra a/k/a Salt Lake City. We encountered a snow storm that we weren't planning on. We sloshed and slid our way back down I-15 realizing that I can stand the summers if I don't have to deal with snow ever again. The purpose of the trip was to see our newest little grandson Beckett. Here he is getting spoiled by Grandpa. He is the cutest little redhead and is loved by all.

Saturday was also his big brother Finn's birthday #5. He is quite the big shot now. He showed us lots of his toys and books and told us all about his adventures at his new school Rowland Hall. His dad - our son David - teaches first grade there and Finn loves going to school with Dad each day and complains if he is picked up too early! I think Finn may grow up to be a meterologist as he can quote anything and everything about tornados in "America's Heartland"! He is quite the guy. Wish they lived closer.

Sunday morning was spent at the weekly broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I wish we could attend every week. If we could, I think I would just call that my church attendance for the week!

Sunday afternoon we traveled down to Highland to stay with some dear friends that we have known for years. We have been practically family for over 20 years and have adopted their kids as our grandkids. We lived near each other in Connecticut and were excited when they followed us out here a year after we moved. Just as we were arriving at their home, the snow started! Horrors!! Its been 10 years since we negotiated driving in snow! When we dug out this morning and began the trek back to St. George, we soon discovered our window washer fluid reservoir was empty and our wipers blades had given up the ghost - no doubt because of the sun in St. George! We stopped to get some new fluid to put in the tank, but the entire line was frozen and the fluid was not going to work. We had snow the entire way down until about 10 miles outside St. George. We decided to make a quick stop at Costco and lo and behold - the fluid started flowing. Ah yes, we love St. George!! I was glad I had some handwork to occupy the time while Paul had the job of getting us home safely. I was able to complete about 40 yo-yo's! I don't know why I need another project, but I am make these little yo-yo's for an elephant made with them. I think I am avoiding the 15+ quilts that need binding. At least it kept my mind occupied and kept my eyes off the road and the big trucks that I thought for sure would run us off the road!

A GREAT DAY IN HISTORY

2009-01-20T14:42:00.007-07:00

Today is a very memorable day for our country. A new President has been sworn in. We saw on TV our government running so smoothly - at least from our vantage point. So many countries change Presidents as often as they change socks and have demonstrations and riots in protest. We are so fortunate to have some brilliant men and women working on our behalf and our safety. Although the outgoing President has received much critisism, he still has many things he will be remembered for but it may take some time for the bitterness of some to go away. No matter what our political affiliation is we need to be supportive of this new President and give him a chance to deal with some real problems.

We were living in Washington D.C. when Jimmy Carter was inaugurated. Since it was such a frigid day and we had just moved to DC 3 weeks prior from California, we just couldn't take the cold! Washington was an exciting busy place to live as there was always something happening - good and evil! We enjoyed our time there and have many memories of learning about our country, visiting lots of museums, meeting interesting people from all over the world. Our childrens' school had many from other lands whose parents were living there while on assignments from their governments and each year had a fabulous International Festival.

Mmmmmm good!

2009-01-16T06:25:00.013-07:00

Each month our Enrichment cooking group meets to learn new skills and share ideas and of course lots of talking and laughing. Last night was our annual kick-off meeting when we have a potluck at Katie's house and ooh and ahh at each others creations. This time was no exception and lots of wonderful creations were presented along with recipes. I think the favorite was the Curried Chicken with brown rice made by Leslie. After dinner we were all given a list of suggested topics for the coming year and people signed up for what they wanted to do in their homes. I picked October where I will teach 2 methods of brining a turkey. Some of the topics are: Pillsbury Bake Off recipes; grilling; soups/chowders; making a mix from ground wheat (yuck); appetizers; summer drinks, etc. etc. It is a nice group of women with great talents. Our fearless leader is a Martha Stewart wannabe and she really inspires us to do our best.

Here is the wonderful spread of tasty dishes. My contribution of apple dumplings made with crescent rolls is on the left next to the Cool Whip can.

Above is my neighbor Loretta who by the way is a wonderful quilting friend

Dixie Larkin standing guard over the lemonade.

Cristy Christiansen with her usual smiling face and infectious laugh! You always know when she is in the room. Cristy and her family live part time in Colorado and part time in St. George. They have business ventures in both places. We really like it when she comes back to St. George and joins in the activities. This time they are actually here because of medical reasons.

THE MYSTERY IS UNVEILED!

2009-01-15T14:35:00.008-07:00

I finished this mystery quilt in record time. I wanted to get it machine quilted at one of our local quilt shops (Quilted Works) while I had a valid coupon for a nice discount. I was also fortunate to get it to them on a slow day and I had this quilt back within 48 hours. Now that's the kind of turn-around time I like (as long as it is a good job - and it was) Of course this quilt has not had the binding put on as yet and who knows when that will happen! At least there is another project nearly done! Its a good thing!!

YAY - A NEW QUILT STORE!!!!

2009-01-14T22:00:00.018-07:00

Today I visited my friends' new quilt store in Hurricane for the third time, but this was the official Grand Opening. It is called "The Quilt Cottage". What a comfy place to shop and visit. I don't think I've ever been in a quilt store when I didn't run into someone I know. This cute shop is busy getting their shelves filled with lots of the newest lines of fabric. They are only held back because the manufacturers have their own time schedule! The owners, Lynette, Wendy and Sariah have done an amazing job renovating with this 'ol house. They literally moved walls, built walls, painted, put in new flooring and the list goes on. The one great thing they have done is created a huge classroom/kitchen from the attached garage. I think the square footage of the classroom is as large as the entire house. They have decorated in such a fashion that you feel like you are at home. Congratulations to the 3 owners and we'll do all we can to help support you in this rotten economy. By the way, all of the owners have been closely associated with different aspects of real estate and we know which direction that has gone! They are a good example of "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". No pun intended Wendy! (her last name is Lemmon)

This is the book recently released by C&T Publishing written by Lynette's sister Helen. I shopped today for the rest of the fabric I need to start this project (like I need another project!) Below is one named "Twilight" made by Lynette. I wonder what books she has been reading??

Here is Sariah busy cutting fabric while on her lunch break from her "real job"! She is a real estate agent along with being a quilt shop co-owner.

I also found a great fabric to make my 3rd "One For The Money" quilt which only requires one - yes one fabric! This one will be a lap quilt and the other 2 are wallhangings which I will post in a couple of days. I'm using a pattern from http://www.grizzlygulchgallery.com/. I really like Ann's patterns. When I saw the fabric I knew it was "the one", but I didn't know how much to purchase. I got on the store's laptop, went to Ann's website and called her. She was very accommodating and I was able to make my purchase without the pattern in hand. Aren't quilters great??

HANNAH - BANANA!

2009-01-13T20:17:00.011-07:00

My cute 10 yr. old granddaughter Hannah said she wanted to make a quilt to enter in the upcoming quilt show. So I let her go shopping in my fabric closet and she picked out great combinations! She has done about 99% of the quilt by herself - even the rotary cutting. A couple of years ago I purchased a Klutz glove after someone in a class I was attending cut right through her hand. Needless to say, I've never used it but I did pull it out for Hannah's project. Her quilt top is complete and ready to be quilted. Unfortunately I have introduced her to "quilting by check" at an early age, but that's the way I do it! She is still tossing around some names for the quilt. I think she will be a winner at the quilt show in April don't you??? It is my thought that if the art of quilting is going to survive, "each one teach one" will need to be continued by us oldies but goodies! I was glad to hear that our local schools incorporate quilting in their home economics classes and that a couple of the schools have long arm machines!

OH MY ACHING FEET!!!

2009-01-13T15:03:00.011-07:00

Yesterday I spent many hours at the Innova Long Arm Training Center http://www.terylloy.com/ quilting away on this monster quilt. Since it was my first time at this adventure, I took a quilt that I figured I would never show to anyone! I made every "artistic" mistake possible. I sewed an entire row with no bobbin thread; went over designs twice many times (I call it thread art); ran out of bobbin thread six inches before the last row was finished, etc. etc. Since I was using a pantograph and couldn't see how it was doing on the other side of the machine, I was flying blind! I made loops when there should have been points, I overlapped the big loops, I accidently pushed the green button when draging the machine back across the quilt and guess what - it made a new quilting design! Glad there was a seam ripper handy. After it was all said and done, it doesn't look bad for a first time. When I got home after 6 fun filled hours, I went straight for the Advil, dinner and bed. It is hard work! I really can appreciate what the longarmers go through. I had won 8 hours of time on the machine as a door prize and guess what??? Teryl awarded me another 8 hours for giving her a referral! She knows that if I give it another try, I'll eventually catch on! I would like to be able to have my quilts done faster, but they will only be limited to non-heirlooms! Thanks Teryl and Jeryl for the encouragement and LOTS of help. I have been trying to use up stash and this quilt is from that category. In case you ever want to try your hand at using a long arm machine, Teryl rents out time on the machines - http://www.terylloy.com/

NEW YEAR'S EVE MYSTERY QUILT!

2009-01-06T13:50:00.012-07:00

Every New Year's Eve someone in cyberworld conducts a mystery project. I have only participated in one before and as a rule I don't like mystery quilts. Simply because I can't stand the mystery part! I don't want to waste fabric and end up with something I don't like. However, this year I broke down and decided to participate in one and consider it a stash buster project with fabric I have no plans for. A couple of weeks ago the hostess gave us the fabric requirements and some pre-sewing instructions - tons of HST's!! Unfortunately I didn't heed her advice and left them until I started - today! Notice I said today and not New Years Eve! That day was filled with last minute year end duties, lunch at Red Robin with grandchildren and early to bed after viewing the "Children's Fireworks" from my sewing room window. Our City does 2 sessions of fireworks - one early and one at midnight. In fact, I think the Children's Fireworks are actually for all the Senior Citizens that reside in our town!

I printed all 10 clues from the internet and have been busy today cutting out and making the HST's - tons! I am posting pictures of my favorite method of making many of these little stinkers! Well, I use this method if I am making 8 or more. I take the finished size, add 1", multiply that by 2 and add 1/4". I then cut a square of that number - actually 2 squares, both of which make up the HST. In the photo I show how I mark it, sew it, cut it, then press to the dark (as usual) and then trim up with my bias square ruler. I now have made about 150 of them today. Pretty speedy accurate method - most importantly they are accurate after trimmed. Its times like this I'm grateful for some great tool, mainly the Shape Cut, Bias Square and my revolving cutting mat and needless to say, a very sharp rotary cutter! I am also adding pictures of possible layouts of this mystery quilt. I don't know which one to pick and I don't know when it will be finished. I can assume it will be a long time, but I need to write myself a note as to which layout I decide on so I won't forget what this project was. The memory is going!!

Dixie Quilt Guild Meeting - January, 2009

2009-01-04T08:36:00.052-07:00

Yesterday's quilt guild meeting was especially good - lots of valuable information given and beautiful quilts for Show 'n Tell. The first part of the program was presented by Bob and Heather Purcell, the owners of Superior Threads which is located in our town. www.superiorthreads.com We are really fortunate to have them as members of our guild as we get good first hand information and sneak previews of great things coming! Superior Threads has decided to make a DVD containing an abundance of information as well as dispelling thread myths! Our guild was their audience for the taping. I have heard this presentation several times and each time hear something new. One thing that was new to me is that metallic needles and topstitch needles are exactly the same. What a revelation as now I won't have to be so fussy about which needle to use and when! Another thing I absorbed was the cost of a spool vs. a cone. A cone costs about 50% more than a spool but tons more thread. I always buy cones but never realized the savings. A cone seems to last forever! I also learned that nearly all sewing problems can be solved with either changing to a topstitch needle, adjusting the tension and picking the right threads. As Bob said - "The world sews, America quilts". Sewing machines are manufactured with the "world" in mind, therefore no doubt tensions will have to be adjusted for "quilting" with non-standard sized threads. Thanks to Bob and Heather for this great presentation and thanks especially for bringing us this wonderful Egyptian grown Extra Long Staple thread all the way from Japan. Love it!

I am a big believer in quality thread and Superior's entire line of threads takes all the guesswork out for me. I read a lot of internet posts and many people are always discussing the pros and cons of different threads. I just want to shout "choose Superior and just get on". Also many people are concerned with price and I too went through that phase, but after realizing how much work goes into my projects as well as the high price of fabric, why would I choose an inferior product. Yes, perhaps Superior is the "Rolls Royce" as Bob put it, but I want my quilts to be as good as they can be. So many of the top name quilters in the industry have lent their names to the different lines of Superior Threads. I remember being with Ricky Tims in Las Vegas about 4 years ago or so when he first laid eyes on the line of thread with his name on it "Razzle Dazzle". Heather came running in with it and said it was literally right off the boat from Japan! This thread is a favorite of mine when I want a flash of something on a wallhanging. The pictures below are of Linda, Donna and Ricky feasting at Mimi's. Next is my supply of Razzle Dazzle and to the right is Mother Superior, a/k/a Heather Purcell, co-owner of Superior Threads. Good food, good friends!

The next thing on the agenda at the meeting was Show 'n Tell. We didn't have many participants as we usually do, probably because of the holiday taking time away from our quilting or the members are keeping their creations under wrap until the quilt show in April. One quilt I especially liked was from Judy. In November we had our annual National Teacher Workshop and the teacher this year was Linda Ballard. Judy attended the Fractured Crystals class and apparently liked it so much she enlarged it to a bed size. It is beautiful.

The next quilt on the left is one I liked because of the whimsy trees. This was shown by a visitor from Las Vegas. Cute quilt!! The wallhanging on the right was done by one of our resident art quilters. She said she bought the kit at a quilt show but didn't realize until she got home and opened it up that it was the wrong dog! It is darn cute though! My granddaughter would absolutely love this as she is a pug lover and wanna be owner of one! I bought her a plush pug for Christmas. Close as she'll ever get to a real one.

One more picture below of a Show 'N Tell entry that I thought was very unique - a small wallhanging made to display quilt pins. Isn't this clever? Shown by Bev who received it as a gift from Margaret! (Margaret is the most prolific quilter in this Guild!)

2008-12-28T12:59:00.006-07:00

A couple of years ago I started making 4 of the quilts pictured. I just finished the 3rd one today and have a larger one to finish machine quilting. The quilt in the picture is one row less than the pattern picture shows. I wanted them to be more of a lap quilt than a twin size. They are not show quality, but are just nice cuddly quilts. I put the triangles shapes on squares using invisible machine applique with MonoPoly thread by Superior Threads. My daughter in Seattle is finally getting hers this year. The quilts are made from a free pattern by Moda named "Gatherings". The fabric as well is called "Gatherings" and is probably no longer available. You will notice that I have pretty much duplicated the quilts from the original pattern picture. I have a very hard time imagining a quilt done a way other than pictures from books and patterns. I am a good copier! Moda, like many fabric manufacturers, have many free patterns on their respective websites.

Top Chef

2008-12-28T07:52:00.005-07:00

This is our granddaughter Lexi preparing breakfast for us. She had to pick out an occasional bit of an egg shell from the bowl, but she did a good job.

Christmas in Mexico

2008-12-27T14:54:00.006-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the Seattle part of our family as they spent three weeks in the Yucatan Penninsula climbing ruins and being pretty much beach bums in luxury resorts. They have been sharing a blog throughout the trip.

Folded Star Trivet

2008-12-27T09:31:00.003-07:00

For a long time I have wanted to know how to make something using the folded star technique. I came across this website recently - http://lieslmade.wordpress.com/2006/11/18/folded-star-hotpad-tutorial/ - and made an attempt to make a trivet. The first one I made didn't come out quite right, but this one is pretty satisfactory. It is an interesting process and I think I will make some more - good way to use up small pieces of fabric. You can make them as large as you want if you just keep going round and round. They do get pretty heavy!

2008-12-24T22:35:00.004-07:00

Who would believe that this bowl of mashed carrots would make such tasty cookies!

1 c. Crisco or half Crisco/margarine (not butter)

3/4 c. sugar

Cream the above together til fluffy

Add: 1 c. mashed carrots (a small bag of baby carrots does the job)

1 egg (may need 2)

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 c. coconut

2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix well then drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Frost when cool with:

Juice of 1 orange

1 Tbsp. butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2008-12-24T22:00:00.007-07:00

When looking through my UFOs I came across a Christmas quilt I made nearly 2 years ago in a Strips That Sizzle class with Margaret Miller at our guild's retreat. I failed the class miserably so I renamed the quilt "Sizzle and Burn"! I had forgot about it until the other day and discovered that I only needed to put the binding on - and the binding was right there folded up inside. Well, there is always next year.

The next picture is of a reversible table runner I made last year from the Holly Jolly collection by Moda. I made several other items from this fabric - so bright and cheery including the Vintage Santa!

This is part of my Jim Shore Christmas collection. The quilt on the table was one from a Nancy Halvorsen book that I finished a couple of years ago and this year I decided to use it on the table rather than hanging it up.

Whoops!!

2008-12-23T21:53:00.004-07:00

Here is the result of using the wrong measuring spoon when making pumpkin bread! Triple the amount of salt and spices! Guess the home teaching families will get their treats late!

2008-12-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

2008-12-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

2008-12-23T19:18:00.003-07:00

This time of the year brings back many memories and refreshes my memory of our children when they were much younger. They may not appreciate the photos I have posted, but I love them! Susan and Leslie with Santa and Scott and David with Santa! Those were really fun times!

2008-12-23T15:50:00.002-07:00

Last week we attended the preview of the new Red Robin in St. George. We took 6 kids - they had a ball! Red Robin let us pick anything we wanted from the menu. Of course the kids ordered the tried and true chicken nuggets and fries!

2008-12-22T18:37:00.003-07:00

Here is the newest addition to our list of Grandchildren. Beck Sidlow born 12/21/08 in Salt Lake City. He is the baby son of David and Stacia! Can't wait to see him!!

2008-12-22T14:06:00.002-07:00

Last week there was a rare winter snow storm! For the first time in 10 years the schools were closed! Hope this doesn't happen again in our lifetime!