Misplaced UFO

On my walk today I saw this hilarious and poignant sign.  It reads:  "I could have sworn there was a plum tree here yesterday... PS: To whoever stole it - classy.  PPS: also, you suck."

I am feeling a little like that myself except I don't think anyone stole my UFO (I might wish for that but I don't think it happened) but I absolutely cannot find this month's UFO in my sewing room.  I don't have much time to sew before the end of April so I randomly chose another UFO that was not on the list.

I don't think Judy will mind since the point of the challenge is to FINISH UFOs.  I'll finish the original one when I find it.

Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.  

                                                                                    ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Projects in Grocery Sacks (PIGS)

Pig Pen

I was blog-cruising yesterday and I stumbled upon a cute button on Infinity Quilter's Blog.

I can't figure out how to imbed the button here so you'll have to look on the right side of my blog.  It's called "Year of Pigs."  I think it is the most clever button I've seen in  a while.

Of course, I had to check out the blog and see what the Pig thing was about.  She has a clever idea that I think might be useful without adding pressure to complete things.  It's more of a process to build awareness about what you have.  She plans to ask a few questions per month to guide you.  The first question was how do you store your UFOs and PIGS.

I have pigs Every Where.  I need to build a pen for them so I have all my pigs in a Pig Pen.  HM.... I'm thinking a large rubbermaid tub.  It should be clear so I can see them all.  Out of Sight Out of Mind definitely rules my life.

That may be my next organizational project: Dig up a clear tub and gather all my pigs into their new pigpen.

Design Wall Monday 4-11-11

 

I took a fun class from Laura Wasilowski called "Little Towns"  or something close to that.

Here is what I finished in the class and I want to complete it so I can hang it in my office.  I still have a bit of fusing to do.  Umm, that tree on the right looks a bit naked.  Then I plan to do a bunch of embroidery/quilting on it to really add some texture, detail, and interest.  I'm not a fuser but this project was really fun.

April's UFO Assignment

I'm a little late in getting to this but Judy pulled #4 for this month's UFO Challenge.  This is what I will be working on this month.  There is quite a bit still to do to make this into a finished quilt.  This photo is terrible, I guarantee a better one of the completed quilt.













I found this quote which made me wonder how mature I am.

Maturity is: The ability to stick with a job until it's finished; 

The ability to do a job without being supervised; 

The ability to carry money without spending it; and, 

The ability to bear an injustice without wanting to get even.

                                                      -Abigail Van Buren

San Francisco

I spent a wonderful weekend in San Francisco with a very dear friend of mine.  We met on the first day of high school when we were made Biology Lab partners.  It was a perfect match on many levels.  I have always thought that I got the better end of the deal but I try to keep that a secret from her.

In my moderately small town there was one middle school and one high school and then, there was my school - a private Catholic K-8 school.  There were 25 or 30 kids in my eighth grade class so I was entering High School knowing few people.  Julie was my gateway into another group of friends.  She introduced me to her friends and high school was no longer a big scary place.  It is because of her that I had a great time in high school.I have been grateful ever since.  So, when she called me a few months ago, desperate for a getaway I eagerly agreed.  She lives in Arizona now and I live in Southern California so we try to meet places several times a year since we both LOVE to travel.

Here are the highlights of our weekend:

Julie and I strolled past a store near Union Square that had ALL of its windows lined with antique, hand-crank sewing machines.  SERIOUSLY, there were over 100 beautiful machines of all make and models.

I went inside to get a closer look and a young clerk told us that the company,  All Saints, Co. Clothing Store,  employs someone whose sole responsibility is to travel around and find more machines for their stores.  He said there are stores with many more machines than this one.

Here is a view from the outside.  The bottom floor windows are lined with machines, the second floor is lined and there was a third floor that I couldn't capture.  The kicker is that there is a second side to the store because it goes all the way through the block to the next street!!  Those windows are also stuffed with machines.

I wonder if they need a second machine-finder.

We took a lovely walking tour of the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District near the Golden Gate Bridge.  Of course, I've seen the Palace in lots of movies set in San Fran (think Vertigo, various Monk episodes) but it is very impressive in person.

On Sunday we picked up Julie's daughter and headed out to the Alameda Antique Flea Market.  Elise lives near these beautiful Painted Lady houses.   SIGH, we don't have anything that cute across the street from where I live.


We saw lots and lots of FAB-U-LOUS things.  Thanks goodness I was restricted to carry-on luggage or I would have brought home SO MANY things.

I saw lots of quilts and a lot of toy sewing machines.  I especially liked this one with its hot red carrying case.

Look at this gorgeous pineapple-like quilt.  It is all silks but it was just falling apart.

There were lots of gems just out in the sun on hangers.  I wanted to rescue them all from sun damage but I resisted.


We ended the afternoon sipping the absolute best Bloody Mary's in the world at DeLucci's in Little Italy.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

"Your friend is the [wo]man who knows all about you, 

and still likes you."
                                               - Elbert Hubard  

 You all have a wonderful week

March UFO DONE !!!

Here are all the butterflies.

The sashing is a bright lime green and I think I've had the border print in my stash since the 80s. HMMM, they may have appeared on one of my sons in the guise of jams (remember those!) at one point. I wasn't really sure about the borderprint but once it was all quilted and bound, I think it works.

I had to include a photo of my helper.  She is almost as bad as a cat in that she wants to be in every quilt photo.  You know, she makes this quilt look small but it's 58" X 60".  She's kind of big, huh?

It's a gorgeous day here and I am trying to be outdoors as much as I can between appointments.

I'm off to San Francisco tomorrow and I am very excited.  My friend and I are hoping to take some walking tours of San Fran and go to the Alameda Swap Meet on Sunday.  I'm bringing an extra suitcase in case I get lucky with some good finds.

Have a great weekend,

Design wall Monday 3/28/11

Does it count as on my design wall if I crop the photo so closely that you can't actually see my design wall??

 

This is the last time you'll see the mynas until the little quilt is done.

I chose this bright batik for the last border that the challenge calls for. It's not cut yet, the center is just set on top for a trial run.  I decided to use  "Wait till you hear what Edna said!" as the words that need to be on the last border per the challenge instructions.  It's turning out cuter than I imagined. Let's hope I can get it done by the next guild meeting.  

I was at my friend Patti's house to quilt my March UFO (WHAT?? it's almost APRIL??) and she showed me her challenge quilt.  It was done and she even HAND-QUILTED IT!!  It must be hard to be such an overachiever, I imagine.  I have no concept of what means.

See the band-aid on her tail?

Izzy is such a BIG, STRONG dog that when she got excited and wagged her tail too hard in the house the other night, she somehow injured the tip of her tail.  It must not have hurt because, based on the blood splatter (thank you CSI and Dexter) she must have continued to wag it for a long time.  I spent an hour cleaning up what can only be described as a murder scene.  It keeps reopening.  The only thing that will stay on it is bandaids.  Does anyone have a suggestion for helping it heal and keep this from happening in the future?

You all have a great week and think about this:

The way you perceive a specific situation 

is determined by your frame of mind. 

If your mind and thoughts are positive, 

you will always be in a position to

seize the opportunities that are before you.

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"I Am"

DS#2 and I went to the movies yesterday.  I can't decide if he is an actual intellectual or just wants to be one.  He's very smart, very thoughtful, and fully committed to the environment.  So much so that he refused our offer of 1/2 a car.  He rides his bike or ride-shares when he needs to.  He buys his clothing at Good Will ("It's sustainable.") and I don't want to talk about his eating habits.

So, it was no surprise to me that he wanted to see a documentary instead of an action movie.  SIGH.  He chose to see "I AM" a documentary by directory Tom Shadyac who also directed "Ace Ventura," "Bruce Almighty," and "Liar Liar" among other films.  Tom had a bad biking accident with a long recovery that gave him lots of time to reflect on his life and the world.  In the film he interviews more than a few of the world's most interesting thinkers, scientists and peace-makers.  Warning: it is very touchy-feely.  Here's the film's webpage.

Here is what Ellen DeGeneres had to say about it.

I recommend it highly.  I want to rhapsodize more about it but I have erased each of my many thoughts because each one just sounded so hokey and I didn't want you to think I had "drunk the kool-ade." Just watch it and come to your own conclusions.

Thanks for reading.

Design Wall Monday 3/21/11

 

Well, this is where my butterfly quilt stands today.  My artist sister came over and approved of my sashing choice and helped choose a border - once again, she went with a perfect piece of fabric but one I would NEVER have considered.  You'll have to wait till next week because I am sure it will be all together by then.  Stop laughing, I can hear you and it hurts my feelings!  I will too get it done.  I will.

On the home front, DS #2 came home for a few days of his spring break.  It has been great to see him. He is my snuggly son, even at 23 years old.  He wanted to go sailing.  It's never hard to convince my DH to go sailing and since it all sounded like so much fun, DS#1 came down and brought a good friend.  So, while I was fusing away in a Laura Wasilowski class (that's another post for tomorrow!) the four of them were out sailing.

We all got home at about the same time and DS#2 was desperate to cook some Indian food so we went off in search of an Indian market.  We managed to find everything we needed and he made us Dal and something with spinach and a most amazing cheese.  YUMMM.  Luckily, DS#1's friend is Indian and he added some pertinent advice that made the whole meal even better and more authentic.  I have to thank his mother for being such a  good cook and teaching Harnik to cook.

I wish I'd had my camera ready when DS#1 came home.  He is Izzy's favorite person in the world.  We always make them have their reunions in the backyard because she gets CRAZY when he first arrives.  Yesterday was worse than usual for some reason.  She jumped all over him crying the whole time like a wounded animal.  Which, I suppose is an apt description because I think she was wounded that he has stayed away so long!  Enjoy this example of their close relationship.

 

She just can't get close enough to him!!  She put herself there -- he didn't force her to sit with him!

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

If you want to see more design walls, check out Patchwork Times.

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Memorial Quilts

Last year I was honored to be asked to create two quilts from the Hawaiian shirts of a friend's deceased husband.  My friend wanted me to make a quilt for her daughter and her sister-in-law so each would have something to remember him.

She brought over a large box that included 20 or so shirts as well as some Hawaiian yardage.

At first I thought I would just put together large chunks of shirt fabric but none of it played well together and my design sensibilities just wouldn't allow it.  A search of the internet gave me many ideas.  The quilt shown above is a pattern from Maple Island Quilts called BQ.  I am very happy with how the separation makes all the prints work together while also making it very interesting.  Gretchen was thrilled with it.  I like an interesting back so I used many of the larger shirt pieces on it as well as adding a bit from my stash.

 

The second quilt came about from some inspiration I gleaned while surfing the net.  I wanted something very graphic to showcase the shirt fabric.  I lucked out with the border fabric, I was able to fussy cut enough strips from some yardage she had in the box.  The center sashings comes from the same yardage as the outer borders.

I used the same soft yellow as background on both quilts.  It seemed to set off the shirts better.

I didn't realize that Izzy had inserted herself in the photo until just now!!  Camera hog!




Here is the back which I also tried to make interesting (in a wonky sort of way).

I hope everyone is having a good week.  Try to remember

"The pain passes, but the beauty remains". 

                 --Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)