It Snowed in Santa Fe without Me

I think we're going to need a snow shovel.

Yesterday, Mr. Stella Bella Quilts texted me this photo of the overnight snowfall in Santa Fe!  They received 6-8" of snow. WOW!

I was so envious because that looks like so much fun....
....for about a day.

Mr. SBQ and the cats were snug as Southwestern bugs in the house. I think Remy stayed curled up in bed all day and just ventured out to the kitchen for food.



Not only do I not have clothes for this kind of weather anymore, my friend Pat reminded me that I'm going to need some BOOTS!

On this side of the south, I finished "Second Hand Clothes."  This was a quick, easy, and big quilt to finish up.  I am enjoying all the floor space in my cleaned-out, minimal-furniture living room.  I did lay out all the blocks and rows so the colors and patterns were evenly distributed throughout the quilt.  There are some less-than-lovely fabrics in this kit in my opinion but I think it all plays well together.  I sewed up the solid red binding and will get the backed pieced this week.

On to the next UFO!

In Which I Remember How to Sew

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have a respite from painting-cleaning-packing-and-moving.  It seems like a zillion years since August when all the big changes started here at Stella Bella Quilts.

I did keep a few projects here in Georgia to work on while the house is for sale, and it was way far past the time to get back into the sewing groove.  Spending an evening cutting fabric has got to be one of the best ways to un-stress and focus on the present moment.  A nice cup of tea with honey adds a extra dose of calmness.

Because of the crazy-busy holiday season at Starbucks and knowing that I would have to pack up and stash away my sewing stuff every night,  I decided to start on a new project that didn't require a lot of complicated piecing.  This great kit from my Silver Thimble Quilt Club fit the bill perfectly.  The pattern is "Second Hand Clothes" by Red Crinoline Quilts. I think I got this kit last year or maybe the year before.

Best thing about this kit is there are 110 different fabrics already cut into 6 1/2" squares and strips and after a short evening of cutting the solids and strip pieces I was ready to go.

[To address the obvious: yes, I'm sure I had more than enough fabrics to make up this quilt out of my stash but sometimes a girl just needs a kit, ya know?  Cue: everyone reading this nodding in agreement.]

 This is my little temporary sewing set-up in my bedroom.  Because the house is "staged" for selling and the only TV is in the bedroom, I carry this table and chair into the bedroom for sewing then carry everything back out again at night or before I leave the house.

I also was deathly afraid of dropping the iron or anything on the new carpet in the living room so this keeps everything manageable.

[P.S. careful observers will notice I'm watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I love watching movies that I've already seen while sewing.]

It's really weird sewing with no cats around to "help" and "supervise."  I'm pretty sure that I'm doing it all wrong....

Here's some blocks.  Better email this over to the cats to make sure I've got it right.

Summer Stitch In 2012

As Pat said on her blog, Summer Stitch In is the funnest fun that ever was fun.  About 35 quilters from our Silver Thimble Quilt club come for 6 days from 9AM to 9PM for non-stop sewing and laughing and sharing (and a bit of eating) and more sewing.  Check out her blog for lots more photos and a funny story (or 20).  It's like a retreat except you can go home and sleep in your own bed.

Because of my jobs, I don't get to go for the full week but this year I went for Friday and Saturday.  Let me tell you, I needed some fun time.  And after 72 hours of quilting, caffeine, chocolate, snacks, more caffeine, and more chocolate, my friends get really loopy fun.

I just realized that I didn't take many photos.  Must have been sewing too much.

First up. I FINALLY finished the borders on my Civil War Block of the Week.

 I love this quilt.  I love this quilt, not only because it has some of my most favorite fabrics and I thoroughly enjoyed Barbara's wonderful stories every week, but because 2011 was a rough year for me and this quilt represents my perseverance through all that craziness and sadness of last year.

Pat showed me how to miter the borders since I chose not only a stripe but a stripe with a complicated pattern. Yea me.  She has a great, easy method though and if you have her book Spotlight on Neutrals, it's in there.  Love this fabric though; it's Barbara Brackman's Civil War Reunion line.

Here's another view.

  

I also started and finished this quick jelly roll quilt from the wonderful Jelly Roll Quilts book.  It's called Spiral Strips and the fabric line is an older Holly Taylor for Moda called "Natural Garden."

And here is Karin's mostest fabulous Eventide quilt out of French General fabrics.  She made this quilt just for me. 

Karin and Becky with Karin's Eventide quilt

 I wish. 

I love it!!!  

I also got everyone completely hooked on Starbucks new Refreshers energy drinks.  Have you tried them?  They are completely and utterly THE BEST THING ON THE PLANET and you need to buy lots and lots and lots.  And I can say this because I work there and I am hooked to :)  Oh yeah and we get stock options.  Hee hee!

Long Time, No Blog

Hello! Do I still have any readers out there? I hope so. It's been awhile, well most of April I guess.  April has been weird.  Just a weird bunch of stuff.   None of which has been particularly good blog post topics so I haven't blogged.  But now I'm back and April is nearly done and well, at the moment, the only thing that is weird is the weather.  It is super windy today and chilly--downright cold after we had summer in March and then spring and then summer again and now we have Chicago weather in Atlanta.  Climate change is unsettling.

Edgar Poe is enjoying the windy weather today (from inside of course). Watching, as I call it, "Poe TV" by sitting on the end of the bed looking out the bedroom window at the bird feeders, bird bath, trees, and shrubs in the side yard.  He likes to watch the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks and often chatters and meows at them.  Today, the leaves in the trees are all swishing around and the birds are trying to fly against the wind.  Amusing for Poe and for me watching him.

I've been working away on the Schnibbles for this month's Another Year of Schnibbles.  All the blocks are done and now I just have to sew them into rows.  Today is a state holiday (the completely archaic Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia) so I have some extra free time today to work on projects. 

At the Silver Thimbles Quilt Club on Saturday.  Pat had some new projects for us for the upcoming months.  One is a great quilt kit that will be available in June.  The other is a two-color mystery quilt.  After much digging and fiddling and hunting in my sewing disaster room, I picked these fabrics as my inspiration fabrics.  

Love. This. Combination. Love it.  A dark denim blue Moda print by Minick & Simpson from their Clermont Farm line and a medium, cool, gray with small geometric print by Paula Barnes (Bonnie Blue Quilts) for Marcus Brothers.  I am mixing in a few other dark denim/indigos and the gray is my constant throughout.  I love this color combination so much I hope it becomes a trend (you saw it here first....and send all the proceeds here first LOL).   I hacked right into these fabrics and got the first steps of the mystery done already.  How am I ever going to wait another month for step 2??!!??   

And for all the Remy fans out there, Remy is great.  Remy is a silly, happy, energetic cat who is curious about everything.  Remy is also getting so big.  Well actually he is growing loooooong--long legs, long body, long tail.

 Here's a photo of Gomez (left) and Remy (right) on a bookcase.  Gomez is not happy that Remy has learned how to jump up there in his (Gomez's) best "leave me alone" spot.

Comfort and Joy

Even though today was a dreary, gray, cold, drizzly, damp day in the ATL, quilters at the Silver Thimble Quilt Club were comfortable inside and sewing with joy.  We snacked on tons of goodies from today's "Bring a Thing in a Dish" (other people may know this as a potluck but this is what Pat called it).  Quilters sure can bring lots of food--we had lots of ham, bread, rolls, desserts, munchies but no fruit or veggies (cracked me up!).

There's always great show n tell at Thimbles.  Here's Karin with her X-Block quilt.  Love the fabrics.

And this is a STUNNING Baltimore album block by (a different) Pat, who took a class from the expert Baltimore album lady Elly Sienkiewicz. The birds are made of silk ribbons and are just wonderful.

Some quilters were working on Bonnie Hunter's current mystery quilt including me. I did all the easy steps. Here is my step 4 blocks.  I'm doing different colors--purple, green, black, and something else that I haven't decided yet.  We all discussed the best way to make 600 half-square triangles for step 5 (face it, there isn't a best way to make 600 HST...).  

 While on the topic of obscene numbers of blocks to make, our little swap group is making a quilt that takes 848 -1 1/2 inch squares.  There's another crazy number.  Kristie sewed 846 and realized she need to cut 2 more (this cracked me up too!)   


Lots of us were planning new projects for 2011 and making lists of UFOs to work on.  Karin was already moaning and complaining about doing applique in 2011 (she calls it heinous applique!). Melisa at Sweet Home is hosting Pat's new Block of the Month pattern called "Comfort & Joy".  Karin has signed up to make this quilt and she is going to LOVE LOVE LOVE doing applique in 2011. 

Comfort & Joy by Pat Wys, Silver Thimble Quilt Co.

Everyone is going to support her through it but we may end up as one friend said "jibbering in the corner" LOL!!!  If you want to join Karin's support group in on the fun, you can order this BOM via Melisa's website.  

I am so thankful to have such fun, wonderful, talented friends in my life.

This evening, I'm working on Le Petite project for this month in between catching up on blog posts.

November Thimbles Meeting

This month I decided to go to the Friday night Silver Thimbles club instead of my usual Saturday. S. needs to go to Marietta today and I said I would go with him provided that we go to Little Quilts (a fair deal I think) and we eat at one of my favorite BBQ places, Williamson Bros.  [With Atlanta traffic, even on the weekends, it's nice to have someone to sit in traffic with you.]    I am trying to be patient while S. stalls finishes grading papers.

Although I missed seeing some of the Saturday people (namely Karin, my-partner-in-crime for lots of quilty fun), I did get to see Karmen and Brenda and also Saturday regulars Kristie and Becky.

I did buy the kit for this month's project (although I didn't start it). This great quilt is from the fabulous book Scrap Basket Surprises and the fabric line is by Little Quilts called  "Whittier Hill"

We could choose different border fabric so I chose the darker purplish-brown paisley. Here's my fabrics.


Just to show you that it's nearly impossible to take photos around here without a cat or two wanting in on the action.... Here's Stella with Whittier Hill fabric.

Improve every photo by adding a little Stella

Although it was a small group, we had lots of show n' tell from Sarah (no blog).  Sarah is very productive and a fabulous quilter.   Here are four of her quilts (four!)


 


For the December meeting, we are to bring a "thing in a dish but don't stress yourself out" which roughly translates to:  a potluck dish.  [Our fearless leader Pat just finished writing her quilt book and mailing it out and then realizing the holidays are hererightnow. Go visit her blog and give her a little hello, happy to see you back from book-writing-craziness].

For January, we have the choice to do this quilt (or as always work on our own projects).  Although it is a very striking quilt, I think I'll pass and just enjoy the photo.  It's not like a have 900 gazillion projects to work on...

 Alright, time to light a fire under Mr. S. and tell him to hurry up.  There is fabric waiting you know!!

October Silver Thimbles Meeting

Thimbles was tons of fun yesterday and I got in some much needed time with my quilting buddies.

This isn't really us Silver Thimbles, it's from the Vanishing Georgia collection. It's close though....

Kristie brought in some new children's books (she is a elementary school media specialist and has a great personal library of books, cataloged of course).  One book she brought had my name all over it (I have added it to my ever-lengthening Amazon wish list).  It is called Sipping Spiders Through a Straw and  a collection of all your favorite sing-a-long songs rewritten with silly monster lyrics.  Here is Pat, Queen Silver Thimble, reading it to us.

 


Sheila does absolutely amazing quilting, embroidery work, sewing, and she now has her own long-arm machine and she does that amazingly too.  Babette, her poodle, is an official Thimblette.  Babette is a sweetie who is in her elder years and blind and has her own little Babette stroller so she can visit and sleep during the meetings. Babette also has a stylin' Halloween costume.



Karin brought her scrappy Scrappy-Nines all quilted 
 and with a brilliant backing too. 



I think everyone would fight over this quilt should she let it out of her sight.





Sarah (no blog) always has at least two projects for Show n Tell and usually more (maybe because she spends her free time sewing instead of blogging....hmmmm...I may be on to something here)
This vision in red and tan is the same pattern as Stella's quilt (in Stella colors). It's called "Honeyberries" and is from the 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts book.  This is one of those great quilt patterns that just looks spectacular in any color combination and in scrappy.


Another of Sarah's projects was this batik quilt made from the "Twister" ruler. Wow!  See the quilt behind Sarah; that's our project for next month from the book Scrap Basket Surprises. Kits are by Little Quilts in the new Little Quilts fabric line called "Whittier Crossing."  If you want to make one too, I am sure they could rustle up a kit for you.

It was great fun to see some of the Friday Thimbles group including Suzanne with this lovely quilt. Suzanne has a great eye for fabrics and decorating and is one of the nicest people ever.  

I worked on a Scnibble but didn't get much done.  For once, I was visiting more than sewing.  Sometimes that exactly what you need and exactly what makes Thimbles such a great club.

September Thimbles

Yesterday was Silver Thimble Quilt Club. It was packed full and several people were absent at a quilt retreat (Karin, Becky, Cindi, and Brenda). To paraphrase one of my favorite movie quotes "Pat, we're gonna need a bigger boat!" I did manage to snap some photos of show n tell this time. There was not much room for quilt showing this time. I think we need a stage area too.

Here is Jane with her "Minnesota Hot Dish" quilt. I love the colors. Some lucky person is getting this quilt as a present. Wish it was me!

This quilt was made by Awesome Beth (she is behind the quilt and that is Trisha on the right). Beth is a longarm quilter and does amazing quilting. She did an amazing job on my Mardi Gras quilt, I just need a couple of quilt holders so I can photograph it outside.

Here is Trisha's quilt (Beth is on the left) and a detail...
This quilt had gorgeous fabric and is perfectly pieced.

I spent time chatting with Kristie and working on a new Halloween project. Here's a little look-see.

Today is more sewing. I made another Groovy Girls Club project using both selvages and a zipper for the first time (this little cutie is a pattern called "Cash n' Carry".
As you can see I am really getting into the Halloween spirit. October, my favorite month, is nearly here! I just love the spiders instead of the usual dots on the selvage in the center.
And the other side
As with all Atkinson Designs, the instructions were fabulous and my first attempt at a zipper went OK. I vowed I wasn't going to start saving selvages because I don't need one more thing to hang on to. Although I do have some neat jars that are currently empty. Maybe I'll just save Halloween fabric selvages...

well, maybe French General too....

Thimbles, Loitering Quilts, and Little Quilts To Go

Yesterday was an overdose of fun at Silver Thimbles Quilt Club. If you could bottle up the energy, creativity, friendship, and fun in that room, we could power America for at least a week. The usual Saturday gang was there and also some Friday people who I don't get to see much of outside of blogland including Karmen. (PS: I forgot my camera so you'll have to visit Pat at silverthimbletalk.blogspot.com for photos)

I finally figured out who to give my Bonnie Hunter Double Delight quilt to so I brought that to work on. This is one of my Loitering Quilts. You know the kind. One of those projects you always carrying around and work on for awhile, then put aside, then pick up again, then wonder why you started it in the first place, then work on again, then get annoyed with because it's always in the way and taking up space on your work table...a loitering quilt. Now that this quilt has a purpose, maybe it will finally get done.

I was somewhat dismayed to find out the Squaring Up Elf had not visited the project bag and finished squaring up all these square in a squares.
She is so fired. These are all oversized, which is a good thing since apparently I sewed some of them on Planet Crooked. So I had lots of trimming to do. Trimming is good at Thimbles because you can chat and trim better than chat and measure.
These are the two types of blocks for the quilt
Did you notice that there are nine-patches in here? One of the reasons for this Loitering Quilt is there are 500 million 3 1/2" nine-patches in this quilt. I have just finished making 900 million for Pat's Scrappy Nines (although if you ask her, she says there's 168 or some such number). I have 70 (!!!!) more nine-patches to make for Double Delight. So I worked on that too. yea.....

The project for Thimbles this month is a quilt I have already made (see Karin's in progress here). Since I am on a one-job budget now, I am trying to resist buying stuff at Thimbles. It was really difficult this month because Mary Ellen of Little Quilts brought the whole dang store to Thimbles and showed us all the new kits, fabrics, rulers, projects, etc. (Little Quilts To Go!) I remarked to Karin that it was like none of us had ever seen fabric before! I bought a little bundle of shirtings on sale. Whew! It was close!! Mary Ellen showed me a great ruler for trimming square in a squares and I resisted for now. If I ever make another quilt with a zillion sq.in a sq., it will be nice to have but I really try not to buy lots of specialty rulers because inevitability a newer, better, easier one comes along in a few months.

I also received the directions from math genius Kristie for our next swap. Not only is she a wonderful person but she figures out all the fabric math figuring the rest of us avoid. This is the third swap for our little group and I haven't started the last two. Yet, it still seems like I am busting stash if not really. We are swapping 5" square for this quilt from the book Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth. Kristie figured out we needed to each give 28.8 5" squares to each person but she rounded to 30. Although I first (jokingly) insisted that I was going to do 28.8 squares, I then realized this caused more math ( 0.8 of 5" YIKES!) and capitulated.

So today is more sewing and making nine-patches.

An Adventure for Morph and A Quilty Weekend for Me

I thought I'd start off this weekend wrap-up post with a funny story from Friday. I had to take Morph to the vet to get some blood work checked. My cats all hate going to the vet. They hate being tricked into getting in the cat carrier and they hate riding in the car and protest all the way. By the time we get there, me and whichever cat is going along is pretty frazzled. Morph meows at the top of his lungs all the way there. On a scale of 1 to 10, Morph's going-to-the-vet meow is 11.

As I drive to the vet, I try to calm him down by talking softly, singing a shhhh it's OK song, listening to BBC podcasts and anything else I can think of. On Friday, there were lots of Gwinnett Co. police out, so as I was trying to calm Morph down and stay calm myself, I also wanted to make sure I wasn't speeding (aka trying to get to the vet quicker). About a mile from the vet's office, the blue lights came on behind me.

Oh good grief! This is not what I need right now with Morph meowing at volume 11 and me frazzled and British historian David Cannadine lecturing on my iPod. I pulled into a parking lot and told Morph "we just got pulled over by the cops, please be quiet so I don't have to explain why you are meowing so loud, please, pretty please." Morph said "Meow?"

The cop wanted to let me know that I had a tail light out and went back to his car with my license. Morph said "Meow?" I said "Hang on the cop is coming back." I got my license back and promised to get my tail light fixed and was let on our merry way. Morph continued meowing at volume 11 the last mile, into the vet's office, in the exam room, and in the back throughout his blood draw. I had the vet check Morph's teeth because and sure enough Morph needs to go back and get his teeth cleaned and perhaps one pulled. I better get that tail light fixed before we venture out again....
Morph needed a nap after his big day.
On to quilting--

It was Thimbles weekend and I had fun sewing with the gang on Saturday. I worked on another Schnibble and some more little nine-patches for Scrappy Nines. I sewed some more after I got home and then all day today. Here's a hodge-podge of things. Two more blocks done for the Moose on the Porch jelly roll quilt sampler.
Blocks 9 and 10.
Here is the latest block from the Quilt Room jelly roll BOM sampler
Block 5. I am really loving this quilt! And am anxiously awaiting a new book from those fab Lintott ladies. I hope Bad Melisa has my name on one :)

Speaking of Bad Melisa's, here is the Schnibble I worked on last weekend at Sweet Home. It's "Cindy Lou Who" made in the new Moda line "Park Avenue." Charm packs and pattern bought at Sweet Home.

I'm trying to decide whether to add an outer border or not. I'll let it age a week or so and decide then.

AWOL

Yes, I have been AWOL from blogland this week. It's been a busy week--not much sewing done, not much of anything done, just busy with work and life. Saturday was our Silver Thimble Quilt Club. I grabbed whatever project was in my bags and worked on it. I made the pieces for 130 3" nine-patches for the Double Delight quilt and that took most of the 5 hours. Check Pat's blog for some photos (I forgot my camera). I need to get caught up on everything and post some photos. Hope to do that soon.

Today was a day off for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. I have a million things to get done today. One project (ordeal???) was taking Gomez
to the vet for his annual check up and he is now rather annoyed with me. Here he is looking sweet. I think I will get snubbed for the rest of the day.

OK must get back to chores...

Glory Bound is Bound and Gifted

Here is Glory Bound completely done and ready to send on it's happy way as a Hanukkah gift. It's for a family that doesn't have a quilt in their house yet. Isn't it exciting! Hope they like it...
The backing and binding was from my stash and the kit was from Silver Thimble Quilt club.
Pattern is "Glory Bound" by Bonnie Blue Quilts.