Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Went to CA!

Drove to Eureka CA on Friday, arrived at 11am on Saturday.  My granddaughter, M, has decided to live in that area with her new friend, A.  They are camping hippie-like and asked if we could bring them winter supplies because it's getting cold there at night, so her mother and I packed up clothing, tarps and sleeping bags and headed south.  We didn't stay long.... just a few hours but M and A seemed happy to see us and get 'stuff'.
Walking in the Avenue of the Giants
Hwy 101 lined with eucalyptus trees
Elk along Hwy 101
After assuring ourselves that 'the kids' were okay, we went a bit further on Hwy 101 to see the new baby.  She's so cute... really tiny.... and so quiet for a new baby.  But she's a preemie born 3 weeks early so she has some catching up to do.  The parents decided to keep the name Momoko.  I love the name so I'm happy.

We stayed Saturday and Sunday night and were back home Monday night at 10:30pm... so it's about a 14.5 hour drive from the Bay area to Bainbridge Island.

I began making the Sylvia's Bridal Quilt last week before I left for CA.  I completed one block each day for a total of two.   Today I got back to sewing and made one more block and am finishing up the appliqué on a fourth block.
I'm using yellow background in various shades of yellow Moda fabric and different colors from my stash to make the blocks.



 I had a difficult time choosing the right colors to use for this block.  I think I finally found some blues that look okay together.  Anyway, I'll live with it for a while and maybe do it over if I can't stand it.
Not being an expert appliqué-er, this will be good practice for me, making this quilt.  

So, it was a busy week.... but I did get some quilting done! 

Monday, October 11, 2010

Momo has arrived!

My new grand daughter was born yesterday on 10/10/2010.  Her name is Momoko, which means 'peach child' in japanese.  She is very beautiful in the pictures I've received.  My son is so happy!


So, should I drive from WA to CA to see her?  Or should I leave the happy parents alone with their peachie baby for a few weeks?  If it snows in northern CA, it will be difficult to drive through so I'm thinking about that.  I do want to visit her within the next month, but how soon is the question?

Decisions, decisions....

Update:  the parents think that the name Momoko (moe-moe-koe) will be too difficult for people in the US to pronounce so they're researching different names.  Asako (Ah-suh-koe) likes Addison.

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Art and cats

Almost forgot that it was Jaik and Jules birthdays on October 7th.  They turned 4 years old and sre still annoying little kittens.  Five o'clock this morning I woke to loud chewing noises but I was too tired to get up (went to sleep at 2am) but this morning, I found toy mice chewed up alongside my bed.  Now why couldn't they have chewed those up in another room?  But they're cute... and they do sleep a lot so only annoying at times.  I guess I'll keep them.
Jules, who loves to chew on things.  Here, he's shredding his new toy that someone brought him

Jules, looking sweet

Jaik, sleeping comfortably

New package of TP.... an example of their chewing ability
So, happy birthday boys!  Hopefully in the next few years, they'll learn not to chew up everything in sight.

SAM (Seattle Art Museum) has a Picasso exhibit which began yesterday and my son invited me to go along with he and his son, Hugo, who is 9.  So we had to leave at 5pm to get on the 5:30 ferry arriving in Seattle at 6:05.  Our reservations at SAM were for 6:20 so we thought we had plenty of time to walk the 6 or 7 blocks to SAM from the ferry dock, but it took a bit longer and we arrived there at 6:27pm.  Great paintings and lots of drawings so it was really interesting.  I've read the 3 (or is it 4?) volume biography of Picasso's life and it was nice to see his masterpieces in person.... coming directly from a museum in France.  Keep it up, SAM.... great exhibit!

After the exhibit, we stopped at the museum's restaurant, Taste, for a glass of wine for us and clementine juice and pizza for Hugo.  Picasso viewing must have made him very hungry because he ate his little pepperoni pizza along with a bit of our frites and cheese plate.  He was very polite to everyone he met (and Hugo talks to everyone) and so was a great guy to have along.  We got on the 10:05pm ferry to go home so tired Hugo was in bed by 11pm.... full of lifesavers that he bought out of a vending machine on the ferry.

I did no quilting yesterday because the Picasso invitation came so suddenly.  I have no blocks to show you... but today I'll be home all day and will make up for it.  Well, my schedule is never set in stone so I guess I'll just have to cross my fingers that I'll get some quilting done today.  Can't make promises.  lol

Happy quilting!

Friday, October 08, 2010

Reading blogs, not blogging!

I've been doing too much running around and haven't found any time to sit down and post an entry.  Then there's the 'problem' of me spending my time reading too many of other people's blogs.  I can't help it; I find it supremely interesting to read blogs by people from other countries but also from the US.  I get caught up and forget to write anything myself.  haha  Because I don't think what I'm doing is very interesting, I suppose.

Anyway.... I found another blogger who is a member of the Dear Jane website where folks periodically post requests for assistance with quilts and 'Cindy' asked for members to send her the Hannah Lou's Hearts block (got the instructions from That Quilt blog) to put on the back of a quilt she's making for her mother.  She's making the quilt out of her recently-deceased brother's tshirts and thought the back of the quilt would look nice with pink heart blocks.  I think it will look fabulous, too, so I made one and will put it in the mail today.  Here's how I did it.

First, I traced the block pattern from the Dear Jane book onto freezer paper, cut out the hearts and used the fp pattern to audition the pink fabric I had in my stash (not much admittedly because I'm not a big fan of pink).  Then I chose the fabric that I thought looked best.

 #1

#2

#3

#4


#5













I chose #2.  The others were either too dull or the pattern was too large. 


This is the actual block from the original quilt made by Jane Stickle and it's nice, but I like the way it's been translated into 4 hearts in the pattern.

This the pattern I used to trace onto freezer paper.















Freezer paper ironed onto fabric, then the heart cut out with 1/4" seam and glued to the back

Back of the heart with 1/4" seam being folded to the back and lightly glued
Do the same treatment to all four hearts


Trace around the heart-shaped openings in the fp pattern onto the selected background, then lift fp off and apply hearts.  I basted the hearts into position so they wouldn't move during appliquéing.

Voilā .... hearts appliqued onto backing... washed, spritzed with a little sizing and ironed.


I removed the excess white fabric under the appliqued hearts leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.  Now to walk over to the post office and send it off.  I see blue skies outside but rain is forecast for the next 3 days so I'll have to choose the right time to go out.  haha

Have a good day, everyone.  Hope you all have something fun to work on.  I'll be working on my yellow quilt - Sylvia's Bridal.