While on vacation....

So, we went to the southwest on vacation, and the grand Canyon is indeed a wonderful sight to behold.  I think the word "awesome" must have been uttered first by someone standing near it, as it is really the only word to describe it.  

However, there was inspiration in the more simple things along the way as well. 

 This bench is in "Standin' on the Corner Park" in Winslow, AZ.  I just loved the design the sun made below!

 The noise barrier fence along the freeway somewhere near Phoenix has these little squares all along the edge. 






It looks like a series of modern quilts!

The colors in Petrified Forest National Park are pretty cool!

From the colors in the petrified wood--

 -to the beauty of the "blue mesa"! (which looked more purple to me)












I had seen this picture before we visited the VLA in New Mexico, in fact it inspired me to turn this little mosaic into a galaxy.















I also did some knitting along the road- when my face wasn't pressed up against the window.
 I finished knitting this "wingspan" shawl, using a silk sock yarn. It's lightweight and very soft!
I made one of these before, using a  yarn with more gradual color changes, so each wedge was almost a different color.  I may add beads along the edge of this, or maybe just at the points. 





I take my water bottle with me everywhere and refill it.  There were many "Hydration stations" as we traveled- even in some of the airports!  I was also very gratified to see so many recycling bins available as we traveled.  Still, many people tossed recyclables into the trash.  And the amount of garbage I created due to the fact that most hotels only offer disposable dishes in their rooms and breakfast bars made me very sad.  Sad.
We have to find a way to change the mindsets of the people on this planet!  Those of us who give a damn must make our voices heard and demand sustainable options.  (That being said, I did not make an issue of it at the hotels.  The desk clerk and breakfast chef have no say in the matter, after all.  I'll have to write a letter to the corporate office to be heard.)

I am grateful for:
The beauty of our world.
My hubby, who puts up with traveling with me.
Time visiting friends along the way.
Getting over my airplane anxiety!
Coming home again. (there's no place like it)

A few days of Heaven!!!

 I spent last weekend at Camp Asbury, on beautiful Silver Lake- at the Guild's annual retreat. 

 My sewing space started out nice and neat- for the first few minutes!

The first project I worked on was a scrap quilt, which will be donated  later this year at a different retreat.    It was a leaders and enders project- I pieced the four patches and half square triangles over the last year- or two??? 

I made a LOT of them, and have a small bag of them left over.    It still needs borders.

Our friend Kathi retired, so Tracy had the great idea to have us all make Kathi a block for a quilt to celebrate. 
  This one was inspired by Amy Butler's "He said she said" pattern.



But someone had suggested we make curse words for her.  So I took leftover strip sets and made a word I hear her use fairly often.   It was fun, and she loved it.  (she only got one or two others.)

I finished a couple of small pieces to donate to the silent auction later this year.

 This was the teaching sample from a class I taught several years ago.

 I don't remember why I bought this kit, but I finally put it together. 

 Julie brought stuff for us to make these fun dolls!

Another leadersand enders project trying to use up some of the millions of scrap therapy squares I have cut.  Also needs borders.  I'm not sure what it's for yet. 

It was a great time, and I can't wait for next year!!!!

Have you heard about the decline in honeybees?  There are simple things we can all do to help bring them back!

I am grateful for:
Four days away from the world.
Sewing to my heart's content!
Laughing until tears run down your leg. 
My cough is much better.
Hubby understands why I need to get away.

Good timing?

So, winter arrived for real this week.  Above is what it looked like around the time I should have left for work.  The plows had not been by my house, so I stayed home.

This is what it looked like around the time I would have come home from work.











It took hubby over 2 hours to clear the driveway.  I think the snowblower is 24 inches high.

I think I made the right choice to stay home!










Crossing something off my UFO list, I finished this project last  weekend.  I started in in January of 2015, and forgot all about it until I couldn't find it to hang last month.    The pattern is called "Out on a Limb" - by Wendy Butler Berns.

I had to swap out on section, which is probably why it didn't get finished last year. 
The fabric in the center, with the trees, had the glitter on it already.  I added a layer of sparkle netting to the next section, then added crystals and glitter to the border, so the whole thing sparkles like fresh snow on a sunny day.

I also thread painted frost on the tree branches using a wonderful silk metallic thread by YLI.

 So, I got it done just in time for the arrival of winter, but just a bit late to hang in January- or VERY early?  It's all in the timing.

Here is a small ray of hope in the movement to restore the monarch butterfly's habitat.  Personally, I think not mowing and/ or spraying every inch of the side of the road would make a huge difference.  But the  roadside destruction committees continue to destroy anything in their "right of way"- you know that section of YOUR land that you have no say in how it is maintained???

I am grateful for:
Meditation giving me a little clarity- even if I cannot find a solution.
Getting to go to half of the Guild meeting.
The support of co-workers.
Spending some time with the extended family.
Having the sense to stay home when the storm hit Tuesday.


(Finally!- It has taken me three tries over four days to finish this post!)

Free to a good (or any) home!

I was going through pictures of older quilts the other day to find stuff to post on Facebook. 
**There's an ongoing challenge for people to post one quilt a day for 7 days and nominate another quilter to join.  It has filled my newsfeed with beauty the last week or two!  (a welcome break from politics!)

So, in the process, I came across these two pieces  that I hadn't seen in years.  Made me wonder what I did with them. So I started digging through the storage areas, and there they were- in the Bin of Unloved Quilts. 
I've mentioned my "gallery" before- where I hang seasonal quilts throughout the year.  These have never made it into the rotation.  Nor have I found anyone for whom I thought they would be a nice gift!  So I need to find them another home- in an effort to reduce the amount of crap my kids will look at after I have died and say, "Now, what are we supposed to do with THIS?" 

This one was a quickie entry for the "garden" challenge at the Guild many years ago.  I called in Octopus' Garden.  (Don't look, there's no Octopus)  I was just playing with the fabrics and learning some embellishment techniques. (beading through fusible is no fun) And new to machine quilting. 

This piece was made (begun) at an ArtCGirlz meeting.  Kathi either took the "instant art quilt" class by Ellen Lindner, or saw it discussed on another group.  So she shared it with us!  Basically you take one of those lovely hand-dyed fabrics, and tear it into smaller pieces, then lay them out anyway you like, until it speaks to you.  The fabric I started with was one I had painted, but it didn't come out as I had hoped.  So I cut it up.  It didn't really speak to me, but for some reason, the blue at the bottom looked like roots.  So I added the bits of blue here and there, then thread sketched over the whole thing.  My vision was a plant growing out of a stone wall.
First I didn't like it, then I did, but I just don't hang it up. So it lives in the bin.














Both would love to go somewhere they would be appreciated.  But how do I find them homes?  I don't have enough for an etsy shop.  They aren't the kind of thing a gallery would hang for sale.  I'm not even sure they'd sell at the guild boutique at our show.  So- pass the word to anyone you know who might know someone.  Just post a comment saying you'd like one, and they're yours- free!

It's not my imagination- there are toxic substances in fragrances.  And they aren't required to TELL us anything about them.  Seriously????

I am grateful for:
My tummy is better this week (for now)
Hearing Jonathan laugh out loud.
A shoulder to cry on.
Retreat is only 12 days away!
The other 3 kittens seem to be fine.

Busy and weird, but I got to sew

We're making all the plans and reservations for our vacation in March (meaning I have spent hours at the computer and hubby handed me his credit card).  One of my foster kittens became suddenly very sick again- after having seemingly recovered completely from the respiratory infection had had when I got them 2 weeks ago- and later died. My boss has made going to work a complete crap shoot because I never know if I'm getting Dr. Jekyll, or Mr. Hyde. 
So my stress/ anxiety level has been pretty high. (deep breaths...in...out... now, wine!)

But there was really good stuff, too.
I took Cait and the grandkids to the "Airigami Adventure" in Rochester last weekend.  It was a 5 story sculpture  consisting of over 40,000  balloons.












  It was really cool!  And Jonathan had so many things to look at! But he stopped to look at me once or twice. 

And I did get to sew.  I have been trying to get a kitty placemat made for quite a while now, so I have a neat place for the kitty dishes.  Finally, I had time to open my box of random strips and scraps.  I found some that went with the partial squares of this panel and just had fun. 

When I got it ready to quilt, I decided to try my hand at micro quilting.




 This little picture (left) is to show the scale- see the paper clip?

 It's kind of fun, but takes a lot longer than just stippling the whole thing would have!  Those ladies who do this on full size quilts have moved way up in my regard. 

Here it is with the dishes, and then Marigold came along for a snack!

I'm up to May on my Johanna Basford calendar.

If you want to color, but  maybe flowers and animals aren't quite your cup of tea, check out the swearybook!!  I think he's still offering it for free here!

Did you watch the Superbowl- or at least the commercials?  First, if you missed it, I was very pleasantly surprised by Lady Gaga's singing of the national anthem.  
Then, check this out- Levi's stadium is powered by solar energy!!! The fossil fuel stranglehold on the world is coming to an end (I hope!!).   It CAN be done.

I am grateful for:
My BFF, who knows me as I am and loves me anyway.
Plenty of Jonathan time last week.
The people at Perry Pet, who got my poor baby seen even though they were booked solid.
 The good days.
Warm feet, thanks to my rice bag.

The 2016 UFO list

 I took a few minutes to look through the UFO's to decide what I'd like to try and finish this year.  It's a rather ambitious list, now that I have them all lined up.  (Sadly, this isn't the whole list of what I would like to do this year, either!)

First up is this little piece, using the pattern from the Wendy Butler Berns class I took several years ago.  My original plan was to make four of these- one for each season.  The first one was spring.  I started this one last year when I realized how very few winter themed quilts I have to hang in my little "Gallery" for January. 










And with a Museum Quilt Guild quilt show coming up this year, I'd like to finish a few things to show.



I've been trying to decide how to quilt this One Block Wonder.  Originally I had thought to use the motif in the fabric (in the borders here) as a design, But then I think about how an intricate quilting design will be lost on this, and think I should keep it simple. 














This background, from the "Cheater Bargello" class I took a few years ago is still waiting for the pokeweed appliqués. 

















I made this one- again, several years ago- using some bonus HST units from a class I taught way back before I was blogging, using Karen Combs "Celtic Pieced Illusions" book.  I added the borders while preparing for a demo using the double diamond ruler.  I'm sure I just had no idea how to quilt it, so I didn't.

I pieced this using my favorite Scrap Therapy pattern, Charming Buds, at retreat a couple of years ago.   It would make a great gift, wouldn't it?
(I just looked for a link to the pattern, but it isn't on Joan's website. I wonder why?)











I almost forgot the Simple Symmetry blocks I have laid out from the class last October with Paula Nadelstern.

 

I have several donation quilts in varying stages of completion...



Another top I pieced on retreat a couple of years ago.  Just needs quilting, which seems to be the holdup pretty often.

















I use Bonnie Hunter's "leaders and enders" to make all those scrap therapy pieces into blocks while I work on other projects.  I had a pile of nine patches, so I made another pile of HSTs and laid them out in a sort of rainbow- probably inspired by the raffle quilt I did for the 2012 quilt show.











I had a bunch of the half square triangle units leftover, so when I saw this I laid mine out in the same design.  Sort of.

The original is more effective, and I wasn't happy  with the border when I got it done- I stuck those bits in there just to use them up.  But I wasn't unhappy enough to redo it. 
 Hopefully some child will be happy to have a blankie- it will be backed with a very soft flannel.

This is the inspiration photo, as my project is a bag full of four patch and HST blocks.  I think I'll bring this to retreat and assemble it. 

















This was supposed to be the guest room quilt, but it needs another border to make it queen sized.
















Looks like a LOT, doesn't it?  This doesn't include a small project for the silent auction, a growth chart panel for Jonathan, a couple of challenges and the top I brought home to finish for the guild's community service day.
But at least I have my goals laid out.  Having a plan is sometimes all it takes to get things moving.

 Here is an interesting article on how one day the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could be recycled into a new fuel.  Sounds like science fiction, but it is things like this that give me a hope for the future of our planet!

I am grateful for:
Cait giving me time to play with Jonathan.
I had some sewing time last weekend where I just played.
My iPad isn't dead after the update!
Only 28 days to retreat!
The kittens are getting better.