Exciting days!

It SNOWED last Sunday!! Folks... this is BIG. :D I'm a California raised gal who's never seen snow fall. Then I married at 21 and moved to Arizona. Southern Arizona to be exact. Who'd thunk that I'd actually see more snow in the desert? :P

I must have spent hours staring out the window. Snow makes me so excited!! And phooey to my husband, he's like "snow? Ok, time to play my game." I wanted to bonk him with some of my excitement... but he lovingly reminded me that he was born in Wisconsin and saw snow, and lots of it, every winter for 7 years until they moved to El Paso, Texas. :)

This time there was a GOOD amount of snow - about 3-4 inches. They closed all the schools in surrounding towns but ours. Figures! :P

This is my favorite picture, the pine branch covered with snow. I even made it my desktop photo. Now the snow is all gone. Waaaaah! I want snow. It makes me hyper. :D In fact the morning after the snow, I went on a baking and cleaning spree. My husband didn't mind! ;)

A few weeks ago I won the 4th quarter of the Stashbuster's UFO challenge. Thanks to Bonnie for pointing it out to me! I almost missed my prize. :P

A total of 33 very different FQs. I was feeling discouraged about trying to beat 100+ other people in getting UFOs done and had decided not to join the 2007 Challenge. Then I won! So I had the host hold back some FQs so I could join 2007. Nope, not hoping to win, I'm happy with my current loot. :)

About 5pm today, there was a knock on the door. UPS guy, saying I had a package from "Cupertino Supply" - I quickly figured out it was my parents - and in it was my mom's flour grinder!!

Yup, the grinder that I forgot at Christmas time. They had absolutely perfect timing in mailing it to me - tomorrow I'm going to Tucson and I'll be stopping by Sprouts, a store that carries whole grains and other bulk foods! Fresh bread and other goodies coming up! ;)

My poor husband though... it's been a miserable two weeks for him. He threw up like 6 times in a row on Sunday the 14th. Good thing Monday was a holiday, he had a whopper headache. Then he missed Wednesday at work, cuz he was still feeling miserable. He pulls through the rest of the week, then last Monday he had a pounding headache that started half-way through his workday. Tuesday was a good day, but Wednesday and Thursday have both brought on horrible tummy aches - mild case of food poisoning, I think. I really really hope that next week is much better for him! :P

Leah

Catching up

I'm still playing a bit of catch up on my quilty news!

As usual, I did the annual NYE's Mystery quilt. It's still a top though.

Here is 2006's New Year's Eve mystery fabric selections, all from my stash! :)

I had just enough fabric to make the queen size one. Using the pre-cutting clues, I made a guess at what the finished product would be. I was right about everything except for one little thing... my version's HSTs were "upside down".

Here's what the directions originally called for.

But I found it to be a little "choppy".

And here's what I was envisioning!

In the end, I decided to go with my version. I like it better, it looks like a diamond is framing the nature scene. I haven't finished yet, so no top to show. :P

The other thing I have been working on is a quilting tutorial for a forum. I'm one of the three moderators for the Quilter's Corner, and I want to get others hooked on quilting! :)

The first block I did was the 9-patch. Quilting 102 produced the Basket Weave pattern.

And Quilting 103 will be the Rail Fence - I haven't written up the directions yet.

Next block will be the Friendship Star - gotta show them how to do half-square triangles! :)

Leah

Antique Treasures

In June I blogged about asking Pops for 2 quilts that he had up in his linen closet. Well, when I was at his house, HE reminded me to take the quilts with me! Sure thing! :)

We think the two quilts were made by Pops' grandma, Minnie Old. They were found in Pops' parents house, after they died. Yup, that would make them my great-great-grandma's quilts! What a treasure. :)

They are in very beautiful condition for something that's 70+ years old. I have only found one split seam so far.

And I can't help but wonder... if perhaps these quilts were for Pops and his sister, Jere. The top Double Wedding Ring quilt has boyish colors, the hand quilting is more simple and the binding was machine sewn down. I was pretty surprised by that. Maybe Minnie was in a hurry. :)

The second quilt looks more feminine, the handquilting is more orderly (grid like) and the binding was done by hand. Also the split seam is on the boyish quilt. So I'm thinking it was Jere's quilt, since she was younger than Pops.

And even if they weren't made for her grandchildren, I'm still thrilled to have such a treasure in my possessions.

While Pops was reminding me to take the quilts with me, I decided to ask him if I could have the sewing machine in a cabinet. I remember it being in the room that my parents sleep in when I was younger. I didn't even know for sure if it had a machine in it or not. Pops seemed to be a little surprised by my request, but told me to go ahead. :)

And wow! There was a machine it in, with the plug cord, but no foot pedal. Very heavy, due to being solid metal.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was neither a treadle or pedal machine, but actually uses a knee control to operate. I had heard of them before... but never seen one! The cabinet's legs are also somewhat shaky, probably from living through dozens of California earthquakes. ;)

Pops said that the machine had come from Great-Grandma's house - my grandma's mom. When I got home, I started to do some research. It appears to be a 1951 Centennial Singer 15-91, made in Canada. The more I checked out the machine, the more I realized that it's in pretty good shape! Things are loose and dirty... but with some elbow grease, tightened nuts and bolts and a replaced belt... I'll have it returning to it's former glory. ;)

Some other goodies I got was an office chair - Pops finally retired and we help cleaned out his office and he was offering the chairs. I was happy to upgrade to the cushy chair, compare to the folding chair I was using for the past year! :D

My mom also very generously gave me her powered grain grinder... but in all the confusion, I accidently forgot it! :( I was so upset with myself, I really appreciated her giving me her grinder, as I enjoy making bread... and I had to go and forget it. Hopefully it's back at my parents house and they can just mail it to me. :)

Guess quilting is in my blood after all... and now I have proof. ;)

Leah

Christmas in Southern California

On the 24th of December, my family and Pops went to my uncle and aunt's house, near San Diego. The first thing that greeted us was this lovely waterfall!

You can see a small car in the middle of the "fountain". My dad said it was a fire hydrant, but I thought it was water main. Ahh, what do I know, he's the plumber after all. :) I did have to complain to my sister and husband... isn't the car supposed to be on the TOP of the water? ;) Nope, only in cartoons.

We celebrated Pops' 75th birthday that night - my aunt and uncle remodeled their kitchen and it's great! They have some really cool features, like a pot filler (water spout by the stove) and two dishwashers! I totally want two dishwashers. "The left one is the clean dishes today, please put your dirty ones on the right dishwasher." Yeah. :)


Here is Aunt S opening the quilt I made for their family. I was thrilled with their response and I hope it gets used a lot. :)


The completed quilt, I did loops and stars for the quilting. First time doing stars, but I love the results and probably will do it again some time soon! :)

While we were waiting for dinner, 6 of us and the dog headed to the beach to see the sun set.

I had the middle sister take a picture of us, Sarah had her hands full with the dog. The sad part is that my husband shaved off his beard on New Year's Day. Waaaaaaaaah! I thought he looked good with a beard. :)

I feel like I'm finally back into my usual routine, so I'll be posting more now! I have quite a few more things to share. :)

Leah

All is calm...

Whoo! I survived. I went to California with 4 quilts instead of 5 - one uncle and his family weren't able to make it, due to strep throat.

I gave my dad the Christmas Chaos quilt - he looks pretty happy, doesn't he? :)


For Pops, my grandfather, I made him "There's a Dog on my Quilt!" I was up until 5am Friday morning sewing the binding on - figuring I could do the handsewing part in the car.

My mom actually helped me sew the binding down - while I was sewing the binding on my husband's quilt! :P

The dog is based on Pops' airedale terrier dog that my parents bought him as a birthday/Christmas gift 4 years ago. She's still a pretty hyper thing for somebody who's 4 now. ;)

I made the tongue flappable, I think it's my favorite part of the whole quilt. :)

Pops has opened and is checking out the quilt. Each 9-patch uses a different fabric. I managed to make the entire quilt except for the light brown "fur" part all out of my stash.

My baby sister Sarah and Aunt S are checking out the quilt with Pops.

Sarah also gave me a belated birthday gift, a webcam! Now we'll be able to "see" each other online - we won't be talking, but signing! I'm thilled, I hate how rusty my signing has become. I just need to hook it up now. :P

Leah

Christmas Panic!

Well, blogger invited me to switch... and here I am! :D Yup, I was having trouble commenting on other blogs. Felt like I kinda lost my "voice" in blogland.

I'm also reaching "full blown Christmas panic" levels... We're leaving Friday for my uncle's house, so I don't have 10 days left, I have 7.5 right now! Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

One quilt is done ('cept for the label)... 4 more to go! :O


And I got Christmas blues into a top. The backing is sewn too... now need to pin!


Just to give you an idea how much I've been working/sewing/panicking... last night I was ironing the rows of the Christmas blues quilt and the power went out! Turns out we blew a fuse. :P I can't really blame my husband cuz he was doing what he does every night... so it's probably my fault, cuz I had the sewing machine, iron, computer and bright light on.

Speaking of lights... the desk lamp I have behind my sewing machine burned out it's light bulb. Of course I don't have any *40 watt* bulbs on hand. That left me sewing in a pretty dark spot or turning on my big bright room lamp. I'm too busy to go to the store and buy light bulbs! Maybe tomorrow. :)

Leah

It's all about the numbers

Number of...

-days I last posted: 14
-quilts I completed: 1... sorta. Do table runners count? ;)


-colds my husband has gotten: 1
-colds I have gotten: 0 Whoo! :D
-people I need to have Christmas gifts for: 22
-quilts being made for gifts: 5
-and of those 5 that are done: 0
-quilt tops done: 1... sorta. I need to put on one round of borders.

I hope my husband hasn't guessed, since I HAVE worked on the quilt when he was home. :)
-of minds I have lost: 1 out of 1... I want to quilt his quilt with extra high loft batting and polar fleece backing. All on my regular sewing machine. Hello? Hello? Why are you all running away? :P

So yes... little bit hetic this month. And I signed up for World of Warcraft so I can play with my husband. Somehow I've managed to play over 15 hours in a week and a half.

Oh shoot! I just realize that I don't have 19 days to complete the quilts, but only 17. We're likely leaving on the 23rd to meet up with my family. Eh, I can sew binding in the car! :D And do you think I could convince my husband to drive slower?

Is there any question at all why I'm going insane? :P

Leah

Holiday Haze

I feel like I'm in a Holiday haze these days. Mostly trying to get Christmas gifts done in time.

Below is a table runner that I need to sew down the binding. My first table runner! ;)

I also had a pretty successful trip to JoAnn's - got some yarn and knitting needles. I'm aiming for a blue scarf. Totally for me, it relaxes me to work with and doesn't risk me stabbing my husband with a needle. :P

I also got
- a 9.5" square ruler. I have a 12.5" one, but it's marked every 8th of an inch and it drives me nuts when I need a measurement smaller than 12.5". Now I'll be able to cut the 8" strips for Judy's November quilt easier. It'll also go good with Weed Whacker, Pineapple Blossom and Simple Cross
-new thread snippers. I've found myself wish I had 2 because I kept transporting my only one.
-bolt of Kona White fabric
-light blue background fabric for a swap I'm in (spring themed)
-and 10 yards 24 inches of white background fabric. That's right, more than 10 yards! The lady cutting it looked at the bolt twice, it's very odd to see more than 8 yards of fabric on JoAnn bolts. Best of all, I used my 50% off coupon, so it cost me a little over $16. :)

I have yams cooking in the oven right now, but we'll be having Thanksgiving at my in-law's. I'll be bringing my table runner and knitting to keep my hands busy.

Friday I'm hoping that there won't be any thing to tempt my husband to shop (like a laptop... still haven't gotten his computer fixed yet, but they will extend the warranty until it is). Maybe we'll have a Battlestar Galactica marathon. Definately gonna enjoy the 4-day weekend. :)

I'm also hoping to have Christmas Blues top completely pieced or Christmas Chaos quilted. Gotta keep pushing onwards! :)

Leah

Headless Chicken Coming Through!!

What a crazy week... but before you get the blow-by-blow details, I'm showing my lone block progress.

Some of you might remember that I had a hard time deciding what green to use. I ended up going with my original choice and I'm happy with it. I need to get the other 11 blocks put together. Then I need to come up with a lighter green... which I have NO idea what I'll use. Maybe I'll find something workable when I go to Phoenix this weekend. :)

A week ago Tuesday, my husband discovered that the "menu" button doesn't work anymore on the iPod. It's stuck on my playlist. And he hates my music. :P I suggested that he try updating the iPod again, and maybe that would straighten things out? Problem is that he can't find the uploading cord. We were gonna borrow one of his siblings, long enough to update...

But then his computer died. Completely dead. Won't power on one whit. His warranty expires on the 20th of this month to boot. It's a high end gaming computer... let's put it this way, it cost about 4 times as much as I paid for my sewing machine. :P We think it's the power source, and they are supposed to be sending us a new one, but if that doesn't fix the problem, then are we stuck with a dead computer because the warranty expired? Or will we be able to get them to continue to work with us because we reported the problem before the warranty expired? Oh, the suspense...

It all makes me exceedingly nervous for my poor 3+ years old computer. I'm perfectly happy with what it can do, I don't ask for more. I don't do gaming stuff, I'm a simple gal. :) But... don't die on me!

Top of it all... somebody's been trying to break into my bank account. I access it online occationally and somebody's been trying to use my user name and access it. Once they enter the password in wrong three times, it shuts down that user and makes you have to jump through hoops to reestablish a new password. Well, it happened twice in 4 days! The second time was on Saturday the 11th and I gave up - the bank was closed so I was stuck worrying about the account until Monday. I ended up getting a new user name... and thank God, our money wasn't touched... they must have known that my husband had a few extra bucks from his Christmas "bonus" money.

Toss in a few appointments, trying to get ready for the wedding this weekend, get the master shopping list for stocking up at Costco and Trader Joe's, get my car ready for the long drive... I'm sure you get the idea! :P I'm still sewing here and there, but I just feel so behind with my internet life! I have 279 bloglines to catch up on!

Cluck, cluck!

Leah

Hard to believe

...but this is what 300 2" squares look like. :)

And that's my progress so far on Judy's quilt. I still haven't exactly decided which green I want to use around the blocks. I had one green in mind, but when I was pulling it out, another green grabbed my eye. So naturally I haven't decided yet. :P

It's been a nice easy week for me - spent lots of time with my husband. Makes me feel like I'm falling in love with him all over again. :) Hey, he cooked dinner tonight, I'm gonna keep him. ;)

I found out that we're going to a wedding the weekend before Thanksgiving. At least I'll have a chance to do some shopping - I want to go to JoAnn's, Trader Joe's, Costco and a new place called Sprouts. The best part is the hotel we're staying at is just a few exits away from JoAnn's, the best I've ever seen. They actually had several rolls of Warm and Natural last year when it was on sale for $3.99/yard. Shocking! I've seen too many JoAnn's not keeping a good stock of supplies to correspond with their sales. :P

And it's my birthday next Sunday! I'm gonna be 24. We'll be celebrating at my in-law's - yummy dinner of tacos and apple cobbler. And I'm hoping for a few gift cards to JoAnn's (I think my mother-in-law was just in Tucson)... just in time for my little shopping trip! ;)

Leah

It's not Tuesday?

My brain is all fuddled up. I kept thinking today was Tuesday. So I sat down in front of the TV at 7pm to watch House... and Prison Break comes on! I started whining to my husband... and then he pointed out my error. :P

Another reason why I feel like it's Tuesday is because I'm thinking that Judy posted the instructions to November's "Quilt for an Hour" a day early, not TWO days early. So I'm guilty of an early start again. :)

I decided to start with the center of the blocks. I'm not sure if I put an hour into it or not, I worked on it 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there. Short attention span today, I guess. But I have all the strips and I'm sewing them together to make the center part. I sped up the production on 2 blocks so I'd have something to show (off). ;)

And yes, I'm cheating again, using up my (seemingly) endless supply of Leaders and Enders - or LeANDers... I can't remember who came up with that term, but I remember she named her quilt Abigail Leander, because it was made from Leaders and Enders. (Edit to add: I found her!)

Hopefully I'll have my head on straight tomorrow and not try to go to my quilt guild meeting a day early, or wonder why the Halloween candy isn't 50% off yet. :P

Leah

Christmas Blues

I'm finally putting my other Christmas blocks to use. This time I'm sashing it and using blue cornerstones. Hence the name "Christmas Blues". :)

I'll probably even quilt it with blue thread. I still have some leftover bobbins filled from quilting my aunt's quilt

Do you ever have days where you don't turn on your machine in a while? I haven't turned mine on in over a good week. I still do quilty stuff - like ironing, cutting, washing fabric and dreaming. ;) But haven't touched my machine. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. I have plenty of nice thread and needles on hand. I cleaned it out recently. It's not the machine. It's me.

Oh well, I'm going to HAVE to turn it on soon, cuz Wednesday is my guild meeting and I have my blotto block due. On the bright side, it's also the annual "Garage Sale" - quilters can bring their pieces of fabric and other quilty stuff and sell it. Whoever owned it gets to keep the profit. I don't think I'll try to sell anything, but probably will be buying! :P Hey, my birthday is coming up in two weeks, perfect excuse. ;)

Leah

Quickie

Quickie... post! ;)

I spent most of this weekend ironing open these HSTs. They are 2" unfinished.

I'm thinking about making Bonnie's Ocean Waves... yeah, not a fast and easy project there! :P She said she used over 2,000 HSTs... I'm 25% there, 526 half-square triangles. I keep count by pinning them into groups of 10. They are all "leftovers" from double sewing 2.5" squares onto my Star Struck and Snowball blocks. The good news is that I need to make a lot more Star Struck blocks, so I'm sure I'll accumulate more. :)

Must... get... my... brain... into... Christmas!! I found out the other day that I'll be going to San Diego for Christmas and we'll be celebrating my grandfather's 75th birthday, his retirement and Christmas. It'll be pretty special for him, since he'll have all three sons, their wives and kids and my husband. :P Yeah, I'm the only "grandkid" that's married. But gotta start getting some creative ideas for gifts! I'd love to give everybody a quilt, but I'm not superwoman. ;)

Leah

9-patch Snowball

At the beginning of this year I was in a 9-patch swap. The requirements were batiks or hand dyed fabrics, using Kona Black. I think I sent in 35 blocks.

There was also another swap going on at the same time, snowball blocks with hand dyed or batik centers. I wanted it to be the other way around, black in the middle and the corners to be batiks/hand dyed. So I bowed out of that swap.

Last week I started to work on my own snowball blocks, using the fabric my mom and I had dyed. I adore the combinations my mom came up with! I just can't get past the secondary colors, I guess tertiary colors are just beyond my grasp. But Mom is more than happy to play around... and I'm more than happy to use it up in a quilt! ;)

I'm 4 snowball blocks short. Phooey. And I might have to redo a few of the 9-patches, cuz a few look like they're 6.25 instead of 6.5" and I don't think I can stretch them out enough to make it work. Too bad we all can't have the perfect quarter-inch every time we sew... life would be so much easier! :P

Leah

Finished Love Quilt

Yay! I'm officially done with the love quilt I was quilting.

It's all safely off in the mail... hope to hear about her reaction soon!

A lone orphan block accidently got misplaced and didn't make it to the top. So I stitched it to the back.


And of course, no quilt is completed without a label. :)

I like using the sunflower block for my labels... I should make more. I guess after my sunflower themed wedding, I'm claiming that flower as mine. ;)

I also pieced the last green block I needed for my husband's quilt. I hope he has no clue at all! :D But poor guy... he hurt his back, on the side. Not sure what he did, but he's been limping around yesterday. Then he comes home today and his foot his hurting him - it looked a little swollen. So he's been limping and gimping around today. At least he doesn't turn into a big baby and expects to be waited on by hand and foot... erg, foot and back. ;)

Leah