Noah's Ark

 

I stitched up Lynette Anderson's Noah's Ark BOM. This one is for me; you need to give yourself a present every now and then. Tanya added a fabulous border so I 'borrowed' her idea. I set my sewing machine on a serpentine stitch that resembled waves then added the walking foot and presto! it's quilted. The backing is an old Jeffery Gutcheon white on tan fabric with stylized waves. One couldn't find a more perfect backing. It is bound and signed and up on my wall. Too cute!

The Hot Season

Photo is from iStockPhoto

We are having the hot here too. But unlike lands to the east, we don't have the humidity. Although we did have high humidity last Saturday and the ends of my hair curled like a telephone cord which made me do a simplified hair style for the wedding I attended. Of course, it didn't really matter since it started to rain shortly after the (outdoor) ceremony finished.

The hot is making me alter my sewing plans. I usually attend a small quilt group called The Finishing Club every other Friday and this coming Friday is one of our meeting days. I usually take handwork, which right now is knitting if you can believe it, but I am going to stay home and sew up those Warm Window blinds. It REALLY needs to get done. I have all the measurements and materials, but have been procrastinating. With the arrival of the hot, even with our A/C on, the kitchen, guestroom and hallway are roasting. Those are the places with the clerestory windows. I can't wait any longer.

Sidebar: when I stand at the kitchen sink, the clerestory windows are behind and above me. When the ceiling fan is on, which is all the time in the summer, without coverings over the windows the light streaming through the moving fan blades acts like a strobe light in the sink. Very disorienting.

I was asked by my quilt guild, which likes to be called a League BTW, to be their official photographer at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Show in August. When I asked "why me?" the reply was that they liked the photos on my blog. Go figure. I get in free, though.

Speaking of the quilt show in August, it is the only time this year that the 2009 Hoffman Challenge will be seen in one place. That is because the curator of the Challenge is a local girl.

So now I am thinking of buying a new camera. I gave my old SLR film camera to TheKid a couple of years ago. I have been using a Kodak Easyshare 6.1MegaPx that is starting to show it's age in the quality of the photo. After doing some research I have narrowed down the cameras to a Nikon DSLR D60 or a Canon Rebel EOS. I am leaning heavily to the Nikon. Anybody have a favorite? I have even figured out a way to pay for it within my budget! Cashback rewards from a credit card AND some found money in the Great Colorado Payback. Pretty cool, huh?

Cosmetic Bags

These have kept me busy for the last week. Easy to make and great stashbusters! I made 20 but put a zipper in wrong side out and so had to keep that one and I fell in love with this one. They are for a guild fundraiser in August and are very addicting to make. Used up scraps from the strip bins by string quilting onto scraps of batting. O and don't forget that large stash of plastic toothed zippers you have been hording for some unknown reason. Really, where did all those zippers come from? Do they breed in the dark?

I Won Fibery Goodness

I won a fiber giveaway from Kelli. Ah, the beauty of these! The FQ bundle is from City Quilter in NY and is mainly architectural with one FQ of apples thrown in. Love it. I am seeing a city skyline from this, maybe. And the hand painted yarn -- it is beautiful and will become a pair of socks. I have never worked with the other which is Make Make and is 90% wool, 10% mohair. Each ball is 25g and I haven't figured out what to makemake yet. Included in the box from Kelli were a jar each of homemade apple butter and spiced oranges and a precious angel bookmark.

Thanks, Kelli, for a very special giveaway.

For the Birds

It has been a spring for the birds. First it was woodpeckers. They decided that the north wall of the garage would make an admirable home and proceeded to drill multiple holes and one very large hole in the cedar siding. After pulling out insulation, a nest was built, eggs laid, the young reared and then they moved on, at least until this fall when they visit us again on their migratory path. But they will be outfoxed at least on that wall -- we are installing cement board siding on that side of the garage.

Next, a pair of turtle doves thought the newly planted window boxes looked inviting and kept trying to build a nest. Some judicially placed overturned beer mugs solved that problem.

More recently a pair of mallard ducks have been spotting in the back yard. Even with no source of food or water, she has been most insistent about nesting in the flower border. She built the nest and laid four eggs, but something got all the eggs. We have skunk, fox and coyote in the area and something got the eggs. Wish it would get some of these rabbits.

How Many Blocks?

The mini blogging break resulted in these piles of blocks. How many you ask? 400. That is four piles of 100 each. They will be sewn together like you see. But they need to go onto the design wall and get shuffled around. This is part of the barter quilt that keeps getting mentioned.

These blocks form the center of the quilt at 80"x80". The plan is to sew one quarter of the center section of the quilt top together at a time and then quilt it in the quilt as you go method. Once the center 80x80" section is quilted and sewn together then a series of borders (some pieced, some plain) will be added to bring it up to a larger size. The plan is for something approximately king sized.

The design wall got a new cover of batting so these blocks will stick nicely. Good thing, because I don't relish the idea of using 400 pins to stick the blocks up onto the wall. Ugh.

In case you are wondering about the quilting procedure there is an excellent tutorial at Rayela's Fiber Focus: How To Machine-Quilt A Large Bed Quilt On A Home Sewing Machine by Donna Hussain.

Making things

I'm going back to making things. I think I'll go bury my head in fabric like an ostrich does in sand. There are some deadline I need to meet. I'll be return soon.

About that email....

DON"T SIGN UP!!!!

I hit the wrong button and now everybody I know is getting spamed. *sigh*.

I am so sorry.

I am not a fan of social networking sites such as this. I got suckered. I have already gone into the site and canceled my account, but I fear it may be too little, too late.

Once again, I apologize for not paying attention.

Paula