Family Time

Family time is the best of times!  And pictures of family time is the next best thing...when you remember to charge the battery in the camera, or remember to take the camera out.  

Bill and I had a couple of fun days with JD, Kelly, and Makenna in Las Vegas.  We stopped by for a long over due visit on our way to St. George, Utah for Bill's sister's memorial.

 Outdoor time with sun!  From bikes to mini motor cycles.

 Missing - Kelly, Scurvy, and Grandma.....  

Thanks JD, Kelly, Makenna, and Scurvy for a short but sweet time.

First Finish of 2013

After more than a week of working on this small wall hanging quilt it is finally finished!

 Now back to thinking about the fish....

I like it a lot better after Sarah's suggestion of making it a Flower Reef.  It does feel and look more balanced so will see where this takes me.

Happy sun coming through the window!!!!
 

Football Sunday

No, this isn't about football.  Hubby is entrenched in front of the TV as this weekend is the play-offs leading up to the Super Bowl. This would have been a good weekend to go fabric shopping as he never would have notice what or how much of what came through the door.  Since this didn't happen, it was a good weekend to look at the stash and begin a new project or two.

And that is what happened....honest!  I must confess that last week there was a day spent in Eugene with a stop at my most favorite quilt store - "Piece by Piece" and a whole new bundle of fabric and patterns did come home and through the door.   

So technically I am working from my stash....

Notice pattern on the left.  This was the very last one left in the store and it was hanging on the wall with the finished quilt...if you plead and beg and smile and say thank you then it gets to come home with you.  I love the sheep material and just had to use it.  

  The door and windows on this section is my addition.  If I had a field of sheep I would want to see them from every window and every house should have a red door. 

It is that time of year here when the sheep are lambing and the babies are so cute.  Denise will be getting four lambs this year and I missed the picture taking last year but this year I will be there with my camera.

Back to the pattern.  It never said to reverse the pattern if doing fusible applique so I am making two.  

.

 I really don't think it matters which way the house is facing as quilting is more of balancing color, print, and design.  

These two are relaxing to work on as someone else went to the trouble of making the pattern.  God bless the creative people in the world!

I've been playing with the Christmas fish and thought Garden Fish would be a great follow up.  The principle of design is the same, technique is the same so where am I going with this. I must confess I am totally stumped.  The idea is good, the fish will work but the audition of flowers just isn't working. 

 This blog is like my drafting table so bear with me.  Fish need a lot of work but what is interesting these flowers show up better here.  This is only for audition purposes... okay, so dark is better even if color is not quite right.

This should work but doesn't.  The flower material is the same as the fish fins so the color family is a carry through which should balance the fish but doesn't.   If I reverse the background color from lime green to a dark blue, change the fish from dark blue to lime green then would it work?  So for right now this might go somewhere or it might not.  It is for darn sure it will not be ready for the Douglas County April quilt show.

Time to go pick up a book and leave this project on simmer.

Happy 'almost end of football season'!







 

Fish 101

Five ladies, 4 sewers, 4 fish kits, and lots of creativity!

Today was a day of firsts for some of the neighborhood ladies.  Amid a lot of enthusiasm, chatting, cutting, and beginning sewing, the creativity flowed.  

Jan was given a new sewing machine for Christmas and today was its maiden trip, Denise has had her sewing machine for years but was seldom used, Linda brought her old faithful machine (we won't talk about her new one that was left home!), Deb has sewed her clothes years ago but was using a Bernina for the first time, and Mo came to watch and give a helping hand.

The project was fusible applique fish.  A simplified take off on quilter Sue Carlson whose work is awesome (google her name and see some of her art work.)

 Jan cutting out some of her fins, tail, etc.....  Deb is hot on sewing, and Mo is our wonderful helper.

Deb wondering (or is it worrying) about something! 

Four hours later and we have all of the fish designed....

 
Deb's fantasy fish.

 Denise's creativity.

 Linda's happy fish or is it happy Linda and her fish?

 Last but not least, Jan's great looking fish.  

Come back next month to see the finishing of these amazing fish!

Happy fish stories Ladies!

Waste not, Want not

The top is finished!  Now on to the back.

The final border.....

And the top is done!

Merry Christmas!
 

Out of Little Scrapes

And it keeps on growing...

Next addition...

Yesterday I visited with my friend Chris and we talked quilting for a few hours while her bread was raising.  She is a great quilter but was wondering if there were some 'basics' to quilting she had missed along the way.  She found "Quilter's Academy" at our downtown quilt store.  After thumbing through it I know there are a few basics I have missed along the way. The first book addresses the quarter inch seam...now how simple can that be to get right?  Let me tell you after years of quilting I still fight with it.

Then we went on to a discussion about the straight of grain and how when buying material it should be ripped, not cut.  So next time you ask for a yard (or whatever) of material ask them to rip it.  You would be amazed at how you can lose anywhere from 1 to 4 inches of fabric by cutting then trying to true up your piece afterward when you get it home.

 So out of curiosity I went out to my favorite bookstore - Amazon.com!  There are a number of books in the series and picking and choosing would be difficult.  There is so much that goes into the making of a quilt, especially if it is going to be quilt show perfect.  Knowing that Chris has Book 1, I think I will order the book on triangles and how to set them....

Happy quilting (continued).

And It Grows

And it keeps on growing!

It is amazing how white fabric becomes a unifier.  

The quilt grows but the bag of scraps still looks as full as it was before this project began!

Happy sewing?