There and Back!

No, we didn't go to see the Hobbit.  We went to Washington - the state - and bought a new house. But first here is my Drunkard's Path quilt start.  I'm going to make the Wedding Ring setting... I'll show one in a day or two.

I made the pattern the night before we left on our house seeking trip. I got the pattern from www.mccallsquilting.com and I made the pieces 142% larger on my printer. Then I applied the pattern to template plastic and cut them out so the curve would be for hand sewing - traced line on the curve is the sewing line and on the straight lines is 1/4" seam allowance for using the sewing machine -  like I did on hundreds of smaller blocks ages ago. I thought I'd sewn a few more red & purple ones...  I started out trying the circle technique, but I don't like what happens when I clip so close and while manipulating a glued bunch the fabric shreds and there's very little seam allowance... see below.

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Now for some pictures of my new house....

The front yard is huge, so it  will fit my magnolia (I started from a seed).

 It's the corner house  of a cul-de-sac. We're going to get the old guy a riding mower, cause that's a lot of lot to mow at his age. It's on a quiet street, and seems like a nice neighborhood. The house is 3 bedrooms (2 are really small) and 2 bathrooms. The kitchen is about 1/2 the size of my old one... Oh, well. Less to clean! Right?

On the way home I took this picture of Mt. Shasta... over 14,000 ft. Magical, I think.

 

So now the big work starts... finish packing, build a bunch of little plants for  Halloween (one of our last days here), coordinate everything and move. Wish me luck. I think we're going to need it.

 

Happy Monday,

Hugs,

Terri

A Family Visit

First an unusual occurrence  - I did not arrange these snippets   I think it looks like a sad Frenchman with a cigarette hanging from one corner of his mouth. I had to call my Hubby to see it.  Page down for the good stuff.

This is my Grandson the Tree. We are calling him the tree since he is only 18 and about 6'2" and still growing.  The shirt is about music, he said, but I know not of such things. Just that he is blood of my blood and a wonderful guy to behold. What a lovely legacy I have left.

Here is my Son - the Dad of the Tree - another wonder to behold. He is retired after 20+ years in the Air Force. Retiring as a First Shirt... a lovingly bestowed name for a Master Sgt. who has studied extra in order to help the guys  and girls in the lower ranks when they have troubles. He has lots of stories.

We took then to Fanny Anne's for lunch in downtown old town Sacramento. It's a fun place to visit and find souvenirs. I loved this little pink shirt, and my very excellent Grandson obliged me.(Not many 18 year olds would do that for their Grammies. He's a sweetheart.)

   You have to read this shirt. It says

 

Go Ahead

Push me around

But you ought

to know

I've got the Biggest,

Baddest, Meanest

Grandma

in town

    Sacramento, CA

 

 

 

Look at my hand and my Son's - I wear a large man's size in gloves... wonder what size for him? It's like holding a bear paw.  I remember when his whole hand fit in mine and I could cover over with my fingers to encase it. Ahhhh, the good ole days.

 

Here I am with the Tree. Yes, I am standing tall and not in a hole.

The handsome Menfolk.

There is a picture on her marvelous camera of the whole group including the photographer, Mother of the Tree, but my camera didn't get a picture of her. (She is the bestest woman for my Son. He's wonderful, in his own way, and she knows how to handle that all. Love her, too. Safe journey, Family. Wish you all the best.

Hugs,

Terri 

P.S. Grandpa loves those Big Foot shows where the witness tries to show how tall the furry person was .... here a comparison to the show. LOL  Hope to see you all again soon.

Aftermath of FMQ Try and the Giveaway Winner Announced

Here's how my FMQ try turned out:

And from the front

 

 

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In other news - the Magpies are back! They nearly died out here from West Nile Disease a few years back, so we are happy their numbers have increased to this bunch. They played nicely with the crows and took turns eating the old bread we threw out for them all. You don't see that very often in nature.

 They are quite camera shy. I tried to get more pictures this afternoon, and every time I raised the camera (even from inside the kitchen) they flew away. Given a few minutes, they were back, and again as the camera went up.... off they went.

 See the crow in the neighbor's yard. They feed them, too, and another neighbor next door to them.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Now down to work!  Here's the hat. (We do things low tech here.)

 

Filled with names.  All the comments and all the followers, too.

Here's the name picker....

Jean (from the follower list) is the winner!

 

Congrats to you. Thank you for being a follower. Your 14 fat quarters goes into the mail tomorrow, if I can determine a snail mail address for you by that time.

 

Thank you all for playing along. I had fun and learned a lot of new tips for FMQ. I hope you all had fun here, too.

 

Have a fun rest of your weekend.

Hugs,

Terri

FMQ Another Try!

Sorry but the giveaway here has closed. You can still try at Shay's blog.
Shay from Quilting in My Pyjamas  (in Australia) and I (in CA of the U.S.A.) are retrying Free Motion Quilting, together today, that far away. Have you tried FMQ yet?  I have an old 1960s home sewing machine that doesn't drop the feed dogs,  doesn't have needle up or down choices and probably a world of other apps that the newer machines have... but I love it. It works. It's one of the machines I learned to sew on, oh so long ago!

So I'm showing you my practice piece. I sandwiched a rainbow block from about 4 years ago. I thought, if it turned out well I'd make all the blocks for that quilt in this method called Quilt As You Go. (Melody Johnson has a tutorial for you.) It was quite new in the 80s, I think. It would be a great way to start out in Free Motion Quilting, too, because you only quilt one block, or a smaller portion of your quilt, at one time.

I pin basted from the center out, and tried to leave as much space for maneuvering as possible.

Here's the luscious orange I'm using for the back of this block. If I use the contrasting colors on the back of each block, I'll have another rainbow on the back, and not need a big piece of fabric.

(Who's old hand is that?) I pulled up the bottom thread. I figured I didn't want to start with small stitches. (I really don't like the look of that starting method.) If the FMQ turned out lovely I could always fasten the ends later. If it looked ugly - ripping would be easier.

Set the machine for 10 stitches to the inch.

At the last second, I remembered to put on the FMQ/darning foot, and raised the throat plate so the feed dogs wouldn't be engaged. That's how you do it with an old machine, I guess.

You know I was procrastinating when I got out the sewing machine owners manual to see if there was something I'd missed. (Went to the kitchen for water, bathroom and talked to the hubby for a few... anything, anything to put it off... are you like that?)

Finally I did start, in the center. At first I was really slow, and moving the piece instead of allowing a flow of movement... Then the thread broke, still wondering why. (Figured the fates thought I should get my post done.)  I don't like what resulted, but you know what? It was fun! I will try it again - and again. (That's how I got to be as good as I am at paper piecing, and so I'm determined to get good at FMQ.)

I can see that smaller stitches would be good, and more and more practice... maybe a plan of action ahead of time. (Here I thought just a meander would be the way to start.)

Do you have any advice for me?  a tip?  Leave another comment here for a chance at the giveaway in yesterday's post.  Shay and I will be grateful for any thoughts.

The giveaway is still in effect today. See the previous post to see requirements to win 14 fabulous batik fat quarters.

 

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^    * * *   ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

So here in the U.S.A. it is Independence Day! Hurray!

 

 Our neighborhood has a parade through the streets from the grammar school to a central circle where ice cream and popsicles are given out. It's such a sweet tradition started by our neighbor who ran a day care at the time. Here are some pictures.

 This one was a particularly good waver.

This is my hubby's favorite part - the dogs.  (I think he was one in a former life.)

So that's it for my portion of the QAL... Check out Shay's FMQ over at Quilting in My Pyjamas
She will be showing her FMQ results, and taking comments for a giveaway there, too.

(You have at least 4 ways to win... please take full advantage of us.)
Thanks for your tips and comments. The giveaway has now closed -

Happy 4th of July to everyone, and Happy Independence Day to us in the U.S.A.!

 

Hugs,
Terri

One Name on My List - Exciting News, and an H2H flimsy, I'm cheating

So last post I suggested a swap.... Valerie Reynolds commented that she'd like to participate.  Well, Val, I guess you and I will swap springy colors. I'll send you  3 - 10" squares, and  you do the same. We'll have a bit of stash exchange; something to take the edge off of winter, some happy snail mail. Thanks for joining in. I really appreciate it.

In other news, our company has moved on to Las Vegas, NV. We had a great time with them! (Bill's brother and his life partner)  Love you guys! We took them up to Lake Tahoe and had a bit of a snowball fight along the way. Snow at 6500 ft. - about 50 degrees.

 In the biggest news.... My Oldest Grandgirl is Engaged!  They haven't worked out a date yet, but they are thinking June - OMG!  How's a granny supposed to get a special quilt together that fast?  I made this sketch - I'm thinking low density colors except for the center. What do you think? It might be too incongruous for the center to be red and everything else low impact.  Any  ideas?  I want it to be special, but easy.  She's the first grand to marry.

And now some floral views

 

Seems awfully early for my pear to be blooming... daffodils in the background haven't a single bud, strange.

Somehow, I've got this out of sequence... Talking again about the Grandgirl's wedding quilt: I have some UFO's, but those are earmarked for Hands to Help Charity Challenge... (See the button in the side bar.)  I finished this flimsy last night. It was already cut and partly assembled. (It had to come off of the design wall for the grandson's quilt... the one currently on the top of the blog.)  I inserted some paper pieced lady bugs  and a saw tooth piece or two. (The pink behind is a piece of thank you fabric from Val. I need to get that washed up. It isn't part of this quilt.)

So to summarize:  Help! and sending you some Springtime, Val.

Hubby's birthday tomorrow... off to Red Robin for his free burger.
Happy Hump Day!
Hugs,
Terri

Folsom Quilt Show, Puddles and Found Rainbow Blocks

I went Saturday last to see the Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild Show... took some pictures of the entries that impressed me...Like these:

I'm always impressed by the applique. Sew pretty, sew difficult.

This picture and the one below are for Melanie, and those of you who embroider on your quilts. I liked the simplicity of the whole quilt.

Imagine making all those Yoyo pieces! Colors look like the 30s. Huge "quilt".

I liked this for a QoV. Sometimes it's the idea I like.

 

 This one (above and below) was really different. Even looking closely, I couldn't tell if the red doodles were quilting or just "written" on there.

 These two are on my quilt bucket list.

Isn't the border treatment interesting?

 

 

And a fish. I have a book with the directions, just never tried it yet.

(Too many quilts, not enough time.)

 

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 Here is Johnson Lake - puddles in our front yard. It didn't rain that much, but the ground was dry, and it takes a while for it to absorb. This was the first time (in 14 years that we have lived here) we had puddles this big on the lawn.

 

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 Look what I found while digging in my fabric boxes to find the 9.5" rotary cutter ruler. (Still haven't found it.)  Blocks made several years ago during the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I've got some other blocks started, too, so I think this one might work for an H2H quilt donation...
 It's coming soon. Sarah is getting ready.

 

That's all for now!

See you in the funny papers.

 

Hugs,

Terri