The 100 yard pile

This post is just for Kim. :) She's been very eager to see all the fabric my mom and I dyed.

Actually, this isn't ALL the fabric, this is about 100 yards that we divided up. Because we had two different blues this time, we ended up with the largest pile of blue fabrics.

I already took a few pieces out, including all the 108" wide fabric for backings. The biggest quilt my mom has made was about 42" square. She's more than content with the 1-yard pieces.

Coming soon: I got half of my hair whacked off while at my parents. :)

Leah

Third time's a charm for Alcatraz!

This island has been on the "to-do" list for years. First attempt the gang of us was late and missed the boat. Second time my uncle and aunt tried to buy same-day tickets, but there was no room. Finally, my dad handed me a credit card and told me to buy tickets for everybody. We were bound and determined to make it work this time! :)

I gave my husband the camera once we got on the boat - he's good at taking scenic pictures.

The Alcatraz Island is pretty small - only 22 acres. A little over a mile away from the San Francisco shoreline. I love being on boats though! (Unlike my poor husband who couldn't wait to put his feet back on solid ground.)


A picture of the lighthouse, which I didn't personally see.

My sister Sarah and I decided to derive from the rest of the family. Sarah was experiencing a major headache, I wouldn't be able to understand the guide because of my deafness. So we trooped off on our own and did what we wished.

The nice thing is that in the main prison, they have these binders with the audio written out for deaf people. We both grabbed one, and walked around almost whacking people on headphones with the wide sides of the book. :P


Below is a picture of the library. I think it was one of the quietest rooms in the prison - guess too many of us have been shushed in libraries. ;)

I was highly disappointed that there were no books left! I'd love to see what they were allowed to read, and what condition the books were in, given how near they were to the bay and moisture.


The building that caught my interest the most was the Warden's Home.

I wonder why it's in shambles, it doesn't really look like it was in a fire. But definitely the stuff spooky stories are made out of. ;)


Sarah and I also hiked down to where the "gardens" were - but they sure weren't much to speak of. The best I could find was some pooped-on blackberries. No! I didn't try a bite. :)

The same birds gave Sarah and I trouble when we sat near the dock waiting for the others. One decided to poop just before flying over us, and we got splattered with white. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! To the bathroom to clean off, then hiding under some roofed benches.


There was a fantastic view of San Francisco near the gardens/Warden's Home.

I loved how cool it was too - I actually put on a sweater! It seems unbelievable now, as I sit in 80+ degrees at 10pm. I'm such a cold-loving girl. :)

Send some snow or something my way, will ya? :P

Leah

P.S. Yes, we're in the middle of the monsoon, but the rain is pretty warm. I'll stand outside late at night watching the rain in a tank top. Rain doesn't equal cool!

The non-quilty vacation part

I STILL haven't brought up my dyed fabrics into the apartment yet! It's a mess in here, I've been a slacker wife. :P So you get all the non-quilty stuff tonight.


Here's my parents house. I wish I could say that I was really thrilled to see it, but I was too busy cracking up about my dad following us home. Somehow he got behind us one street before the home street - I'm sure the Arizona license plate out of the sea of Californian ones was a big giveaway. ;)

But oh yes, it was nice coming "home" (even though I kinda feel like I brought Mr. Murphy with me). You can see my old bedroom - it's the on the right corner of the house, above the garage. I could catch a good breeze and see the sun set.

You also can see the corner of a work truck on the left. That? Is the A/C guy. It got to over 100 degrees, and something was wrong with BOTH A/C units! (Something about the freon valve not working?) Yes, we had to grin and bear the heat. Ceiling fans and open windows were our friends. Plus, I was pretty good about stocking and restocking the fridge up with water bottles.


But I'm skipping ahead of myself a bit. A new addition to my parents house was this spa.

The first time I took a dip, the water smelled so bad! Like wet stinky feet or mildewed laundry. :P Everybody was in bed by then, so the next day I asked my dad how to deal with it. Thankfully my second dip was much kinder on the nose! :)

A funny story about the spa: my dad was telling me about perks and options spas offer. Then he commented how the owner's manual said that it'd take about 30 minutes to fill the spa up with a hose. Not for him! He hooked up the firehose (very handy given the multiple fire threats they get every few years) and it was filled in three minutes flat. :D


As I was taking the picture of the spa, there were a handful of turkeys snacking around. They come by every day now that my parents don't have any dogs to scare them off.

I counted 11 of them flocking together, but the highest I've counted was 18 a few years ago. I know where one went...

Apparently a neighbor down the street killed one of the turkeys and gave a shot at roasting it. Told the mailman that it was the toughest meat he's ever had! They're not good Thanksgiving prospects. ;)


There was a lot of computer drama while I was there. I helped out as best as I could, although I couldn't really dig my fingers into the issue because I don't know how the dispatching program works. Never had a reason to learn, cuz I can't use the phone. :)


On the 4th of July we went to my aunt's house. I personally kept a low key profile and bugged out on the couch for a while - I thought I was getting sound overload and my ears were hurting. On the 5th they were hurting much more, and I knew I had another ear infection. :( My dad directed me to a place that I could go to, and turns out that I was feeling pain from both and inner and outer ear infection! Plus, my throat was red according to the doctor, and she kept trying to press my face to find any pain spots. I didn't feel anything except my ear. $163 in antibiotics and drops, I'm feeling back to normal.


I wasn't the only one getting friendly with doctors, my baby sister has been dealing with a non-stop killer headache/migraine for weeks. It's mind blowing pain day in and day out. I can't even begin to imagine how bad it is. She's had various check ups, CT scan, MRI and nobody's finding anything. She even landed in the ER - they gave her morphine and it didn't even touch the pain. I know she tried hard to join in the outgoings and events, but I didn't get to visit and chat with her as much as I usually do.


Some good news though, my only brother finally got his driver's license back. It was revoked last November, due to his seizures. He's got that largely under control, with a spell here and there when he sleeps. It does give him memory loss and migraines afterwards. But I know he's thrilled to be behind the steering wheel again and not having to put up with my mom's "painful driving abilities". :P Not that she's a bad driver or anything... she just follows the speed limit and doesn't zip through every open gap to get ahead, which is torture to a 19-year-old male driver. :D


Another non-medical mishap was my parents front loading washing machine was croaking. I did several loads while I was there, and it seemed like half of the time I'd open to a drum full of water. The dryer had already been replaced in the past year.

Nobody was home, except for my husband and I when the new washer came in. So I tested it out after it was hooked up. Just some towels. But I was hugely fascinated with the low water usage that I had to watch the entire cycle! You should have seen my husband's grin when he realized what I was doing. :)


But even a nice washer and dryer can't fix all the problems - like when the power goes out! I think 144 homes were affected.

My sister was doing a load and was ready to put it in the dryer when the power went out on the 4th of July. So she rigged up this clothes line for her jeans. My mom also needed to iron a pair of jeans, and the generator was at the shop. Dad was all prepared to go and fetch it, but he wisely drove around the neighborhoods a bit and found a PG&E guy. A fuse blew out and would be replaced in 20 minutes. Dad just drove back home and waited for the power to go back on, instead of the 30 minute drive to the shop.

(Oddly enough, just now we had a dump of rain and while I was standing outside and watching it, the power went out for a minute. Thank goodness for blogger's auto-draft save!!)

So with all these on-goings and mishaps... I didn't start dyeing fabric until 5 days before I had to leave! But that's another story. ;)

Leah

Home again!

I'm finally home again. It might have been an interesting 20 days, but I am really glad for all the time I spent with my family. :)

I brought home about 100 yards of dyed fabric - which most is still in my car. Also, my suitcases aren't unpacked either. :P

But it sure felt good to have a real home cooked meal tonight for the first time in a week - thanks to the effort of my husband. Gotta love that guy! :D

The details will have to wait until I have a bit more energy, as I got up at the crack of dawn to get the $1/yard WalMart sale, starting at 7am. Turns out it was clothing type of fabric, not quilting stuff, so I didn't get anything. And the fact that I actually went to the store and thought I needed more fabric when I just brought home a huge box of fabric... yeah, I'm still trying to recover and find some brain cells. :P

Leah

Found them!

Phew... I finally found them. :)

I was laying down, trying to ease the tension in my shoulders and my thoughts wandered to where the quilts might be. Then I realized it could be under the 25 yards of flimsy muslin I have. Oh yes indeed!! :)

I also "found" this quilt... eh, not that I realized it was lost. :P But the rows need to be sewn together... might as well add it to the pile?

I'm feeling so much better now... I think I'll sew! Never mind that I still haven't packed any clothing or personal items yet. But I've got the majority of my quilting stuff packed up! :D

Leah

When I should have been packing...

...I might have been sewing. :D

Yup, more progress on the Galaxy Stars quilt. I think I've got the hardest part behind me. It'll just be block sections to piece, and then to put together into a top.

I also need to seriously organize my room... I'm losing quilts! I've lost my snowball and 9-patch blocks. I hunted and hunted for it... but it just wasn't findable. At least it's all together, and not likely a block here, block there. :P On the other hand, I'll forgive myself, as I haven't done anything with it in 1.5 years.

While hunting around, I also realized that I managed to misplace my Snail's Trail quilt top. Ugh. Haven't seen it in about a year. And you'd think I'd be organized enough to hang it up so stuff like this doesn't happen!

Yeah, I'm a little mad at myself, but that's ok... I found a different quilt top to finish piecing at my parents house. Fancy that. :D

Leah

Beginnings of Galaxy Quilt

Got the 16-patches done! I can't promise that this is the correct shading... I might have gone a little crazy in Photoshop Elements. ;)

I haven't done too much more progress on the Galaxy quilt at this time. The heat got to me again. And it's pretty bad - I can drink a gallon of water throughout the day and only go to the bathroom once or twice. Normally, my bladder would have exploded several times over. :P

Got several errands accomplished today, including swinging by the hearing aid place. My left hearing aid was constantly creating a vacuum-like suction that was cutting off my ability to hear. I'd wiggle the hearing aid around and it'd return back to normal. I was thinking the tube was too narrow, but turns out there was a pinch in the tube! It was effectively cutting off about half of the tube's workability. No wonder. Glad to have that resolved, as I want to be able to hear when I visit my parents.

Yup, I'll be seeing them later this month! We're driving instead of flying, so I'm taking my sewing machine and a few projects with me. I already bought over 100 yards of fabric, and my mom has bought more dye than I have ever seen in my life! We're gonna have fun. :)

Off to drink some more water!

Leah

Yup, new project

I decided to go ahead and do galaxy stars, heat or no! :)

Here's a bunch of the strips that I'm about to subcut.

The directions said that I would need (85) 2" strips, I accidentally cut 90... and now I have more that 25 of them leftover! Yikes... that's pretty wonky math. So I double checked the background math, and it's pretty exact, go figure. The good news is that I have no doubt at all that I'll find a use for all those 2" strips. :)


Here's all the hand dyes cut up.

2" squares, 2"x3.5" and 2"x5" pieces. I accidentally cut too many 2" squares too... but again, I'll find a use for them. :) I'm doing the largest size listed (111x99), so that meant extra 2x3.5" pieces to cut.


Now I'm working on the black background fabric, but that doesn't photograph well. ;) What I'm really happy about is that the directions called for (14) 6.5" squares, but I actually got 18 squares out of the three strips I cut.

That adds up to 4 leftover squares, which is EXACTLY what I need to finish this snowball and 9-patch quilt that I frankly have no clue where it is right now. :P



In other exciting news, I got Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 installed! I bought it back in February with the Christmas gift card my brother gave me. Except I ran into a "minor" issue - I couldn't get my DVD Rom drive to open. :P (Don't blame my computer, it's an old geezer at 5 years old now).

So I would pathetically press on the button every few days, feel it whir and click, but nothing opened. Today I decided to give my drive a "lift" by slightly pressing the slot upwards, and it opened!! Finally. :D

And yes, today's pictures are edited (cropped and resize, I haven't figure how to manipulate color yet) and brought to you by Adobe Photoshop. ;)

Leah

A new project?

I' ve been thinking of starting a new quilting project. I won the Galaxy pattern from Suzanne (congrats on your new business venture!) and I had no doubt that I would want to do that pattern in black background and hand dyed fabrics. But do I really want to start another quilt, especially in this heat?!

I can see from the picture I need to take out a few pink/purples and replace them with a blue or two. Maybe swap out a yellow for another orange?

What's holding me back is the heat - I really don't want to turn on the iron! It even crossed my mind to see about setting the ironing board out the front door. Well, it's supposed to cool down some on Thursday, so that might be a good day to open up the windows and do some ironing. Yeah... I'll do that. :)

**********

We finally got my husband's computer finally fixed for real. We were under delusions that it was better, but then it started crashing every 10 minutes or so. Back to the shop! It took the guys a few days to figure it out, but they finally reset the bios on the motherboard and it's been crashed free since. But poor guy, he was fighting with it all week. If I just replace the word "computer" with "sewing machine", suddenly I can relate very well how he feels! ;) But he has a laptop, and I have a back up sewing machine, so it's not like we have to go hobby-less for a bit anymore.

Tomorrow is my quilt guild meeting. Good thing my husband is gonna wake up when I do, cuz I'm planning to steal his quilt for show and tell. :D

Leah

The secret revealed

I can spill the beans now! My husband's birthday quilt:

I made him a bright and cheerful summer quilt. Really thin polyester batting. He's been happily sleeping under it since! :)


A shot of the back:

I did big loopies in the blocks and stars and loops in the border. This was a surprisingly "cheap" project - the fabric for the quilt came from Walmart's $2 pile, the backing is a piece of hand dyed fabric that's muslin from JoAnn's. Add in the batting and the thread, I spent less than $30 out of my pocket for it, but MANY hours putting it together.

And no, I don't mind that I used "lesser" quality fabrics, as thin and lightweight was my intent for this quilt. He's married to me, I can always make him another quilt if he "loves" this one to death. ;)

***********
School's out and we've been settling into a routine. The alarm is set for 8:30, but we seem to get up on our own a little after 8. Then we go to the gym, eat breakfast and settle into the day as we wish. Usually we take turns with dinner or sometimes we both participate - I prepared the pork, he did the rice tonight.

On Tuesday my husband dropped his computer off to a shop - it's been shutting down, showing the blue screen of death and other funky stuff. Not good, especially since his computer is almost 3 times the cost of mine, but only 2.5 years old, whereas mine is 5 years old and I still haven't gotten the blue screen of death. :P (But I did back up all my goodies in the beginning of this month!)

So we're dealing with that, but very thankfully it looks like between the cleaning, diagnostic scan and the upgrades (more ram and a better video graphics card) it'll be $500. Much better than the $1000 he was guessing or the new $3000 computer he was eying as a replacement! ;)

Today I "went to town" - a.k.a. Tucson. Very short-timed decision, but we realized it'd be best/easiest if I just went today. First I went to the Sunflower Farmers Market and was pretty impressed. They have great sale prices (white peaches .97lb, onions .33lb, large artichokes .77each, brown coconut $1.29) and Wednesdays are their double ad days. It was hectic! :) Now I want a store like that to come to my town. Oddly enough, it'd probably be a better deal than having a Trader Joe's here.

Speaking of Trader Joe's...

I got some creamed honey. It's white-ish and almost fluffy looking. I've really been trying to branch out into eating more "naturally", as in no boxed or frozen meals. But fruit, veggies, whole wheat, and goodies like this honey. My goal isn't organic or vegetarian, but aiming for less processed foods in our lives.

Two perks is that I'm starting to lose weight again (I basically bounced up and down between 5 pounds since November) and my husband's actually working on eating healthier. As a kid he'd sit at the table all night long and still not eat his veggies. Totally a "potatoes and meat" kind of guy. Now he's really branching out and exploring in the food area. I won't push him (or else he'd be eating salad by now ;), but I'll keep encouraging him to make baby steps towards better health.

He's gonna be so hot and healthy on his 30th birthday next year! ;)

Leah

Oops! But don't blame me.

I've roughly added 45 more yards to my stash. But it's not my fault! ;)

The gal that I bought the 301 Singer Machine from used fabric to lovingly protect the machine as it traveled from Indiana to Arizona.

The nice part is there's several big pieces - up to 4 yards. They'll make great backings. Lots of kiddie prints too. I'm sure I'll find a way to use them sooner or later.

Good thing I'm not trying to reduce my stash by 100 yards of fabric for the year, this would have seriously set me back! :D

Leah

A new machine for me!

I bought a "new" machine! From a fellow quilter who gave me a great price on it. It's a Singer 301, made in the 1950s. I haven't looked for the exact date yet.

I've spent a few hours today getting to know my new toy. I cleaned it, oiled it, figured out how to wind the bobbin and thread the machine up. Sewed on some scraps to figure the tension, and it's good as gold now! :)


Here it is next to my Bernina. Slightly smaller, weighs less... but the Singer has all metal parts! Well, the pedal foot feels like it has some plastic on it. ;)

I'll probably continue to use my Bernina for the most part. I know that machine well, it's got lots of extras, and the knee lift. I'm so addicted to using the knee lift. I kept swinging my right leg for the imaginary knee lift on the Singer. :P

The Singer is a simple straight-stitch machine. It doesn't even have a free-arm for sleeves and stuff. Eh, not that I ever sew sleeves these days. ;) No zigzag, I haven't figured out how to use the reverse option yet. Nor did I experiment to figure out how to drop the feed dogs. I only have one foot (and one bobbin), so I'm limited to piecing for the most part, but that's exactly why I wanted another machine. So I won't go into panic mode whenever my Bernina lands itself into the shop, be for regular cleaning or something more serious. I will also use the Singer to take with me when I sew with other quilters. Hauling the Bernina for a few hours of sewing can be a real pain. Plus the computer chips in it make me nervous. With the Singer? I just better not drop it. ;)

From the back of the owner's manual:

For Your Protection
Singer sells its machines only through Singer Sewing Centers, identified by the Red "S" on the window, and never through department stores or other outlets.

Ha! They don't make Singers like they used to. ;)

Leah

Happy Dancing Time!

I just went online to check the status of one of my husband's student loans...

And it's almost paid off!!! *squeal!* I wrote the check for $1487.00 even though the balance said $1486.75. Just couldn't keep up with the interest. So do you think I should write a check for $.63 or $.64? Or $.65 just to be sure?! :P

Well, the next payment isn't "due" until July 8, 2013. Now you know where our stimulus check went. ;)

Leah

I'm working on a secret

My husband's birthday is this month, and I've been working on his gift. In fear of blabbing it on my blog, I've been staying away! I don't think my husband reads it though... but if he does, he'll probably have a good idea what it is! :P On the other hand, I was able to surprise him with his Christmas quilt even though I had been visibly working on and off for 10 months. So there's hope. ;)


First off, some recent goodies.

The Tried and True book came from Stephanie, who loves it enough to have three copies! She generously had them up for grabs and I tossed my name in. It's already sparked an idea or two. ;)

Galaxy came from Suzanne, who was hosting a giveaway on her blog. I didn't think I had a chance, but piped up and said I really liked Galaxy. Well! I won! :D Don't you think it'd look great with black background and hand dyes? :)

Last Friday I was at a "get together" with some fellow quilters and one of the ladies had some extra sets of Eleanor Burn's Quilt in a Day small geese ruler set. I was hemming and hawing at purchasing them (at a discount), until my friend pulled out some very beautiful (and tiny!) rows of geese. "Sold!" I told her. :)


But I'm not perfect. ;)

I had to go to WalMart for a few needed things... but I'm afraid 3 yards of this batik with gold crackles clearly fell under "wanted". But hey, I talked myself down from buying 4 yards to three. Progress? :D


While passing time at my in-law's house yesterday, I worked on the Trip Around the World binding.

I haven't worked on this in a few weeks, as I was distracted by my husband's birthday gift.


Here's the back, talk about bright! I did wavy furrows up and down the quilt, but I'm wondering if I should do them across too. What do you think?

The good news is that the whole quilt busts about 5.5 yards.


So more fabric still going "out" than in... but I've been planning my trip to my parents house, and a lot of you know that means we'll be dyeing more fabric!! Since we're planning to drive up this time, instead of fly, I intend to bring my sewing machine with me. We haven't done any real quilting since summer 2005. Seems like dyeing and other events take higher priority! ;)

Leah

Home Improvements

Today was spent trying to improve our lifestyle a bit. We have officially decided to stay in this apartment for another year (was considering a new teaching position), so I figured I had a right to make holes in the wall for signing a new year-long lease for the third time. ;)

Both my husband and I enjoy cooking. It can be frustrating in our small kitchen, but we're learning how to organize things in our favor. So today I put up our new spice rack.

Yes! We do use all those spices. :) It's our "active" spices. There's a handful more in the cupboard above the sink, but we haven't used them in a while and probably should throw them out.

We get our spices from three sources. One is our local grocery store, Fry's Food & Drug. The spices with an orange post-it taped on them are from Sprouts, a store in Tucson that offers spices in bulk. It's a great way to get exactly what you need, be 1 teaspoon or 1 cup of a spice. I found the perfect containers for them from Ikea. The spices that we use a lot are bought from Costco. Who can beat 100% pure vanilla for $5.99?! ;)

The rack was purchased at Lowes Home Improvement for $18. Best of all, there's room for some more spices. :D

There's no pictures... but we enjoyed a lovely meal of BBQ'ed shrimp and mushroom kabobs, some beef (can't remember the cut) and corn. It was my first time eating BBQ'ed corn and it tasted GREAT! We'll definitely be having more BBQ'ed corn on the cob in our future.

Next up... the table we bought from Ikea, and I still haven't put it together! It's becoming a mountain out of a molehill in my mind. At least I cleared out the area where we're gonna set up the table. That's a start, right? Right? :P

Leah