quiltin fool

2011-02-15T11:59:00.000-08:00

Just to let you know that I'm still alive and kicking [well, walking anyway].

Twenty of us residents and 5 administration got to eat lunch with Huell Howser about 2 weeks ago and here's proof!

I'm also still quilting like a fiend - making a large quilt for our annual live auction at our Cinco de Mayo celebration and a smaller chili pepper quilt for our silent auction.

I had to have Chico euthanized this last November. His kidneys finally gave out with all his medications. He was 13 years old and I had been his Mom for 11 of those years. While I was sorry to see him go, he also had arthritis that made it difficult to put on his harness for walks and I felt guilty leaving him at home.

Little Bit and I will check out dogs later this summer [I have a friend who works at a vet's so will have and "in" with rescue dogs].

2010-09-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaack! I was in the Duarte 15th annual Route 66 parade on Saturday the 18th of September. Got to ride in a '58 Corvette with a nice man as my driver. You can't really tell it's me, but it is - hat and all.

The bus from Westminster Gardens was also there with a 3rd vehicle [an old truck - sorry, don't know the year or make or model] with one of our couples sitting in the back.

I went to Asilomar for the Empty Spools Seminar in June with Louise [she wasn't in my class] and Marie W. and Sandy [who were in the Dear Jane class with me]. Fun week with lots of food, walking and just plain fun! The teacher, Brenda Papadakis, was fun.

Yes, I've been quilting all this time. Among other things, I've completed a bed quilt for one of our residents, a lap size quilt for the home office [SCPH] annual golf tournament, and several tops for assisted living. Each incoming resident to assisted living gets a quilt when they have their "welcome" party.

2010-02-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try to behave this year and post at least weekly on the blog.

Our mini-group has decided to swap pairs of 5" blocks this year, with each month being a different color. With 11 ladies in the group - and 3 different pairs of fabrics from each one - that is going to be 396 pairs of fabrics at the end of the year [totaling 792 5" squares]

We started with orange fabrics - and here are a few of the sets. There wasn't a single one that was a duplicate - what fun!

Then I started playing with scrap fabric from my stash to see what pattern I think I want to work with for a year. My first one was Crossroads to Jericho - but using 4 different fabrics in each block meant that I was going to have to wait 4 whole months before I could make blocks from my swap fabrics.

The next trial was this Tripel Four Patch block. I will use 2 different patterns - one with just 3 fabrics and one with 4 fabrics.

I think I like the 4 fabric one best, at least in these colors.

For those of you who were following last years blog - our quilting group on the retirement grounds finished 31 quilts [well - I did 27 of them] and we gave them to the residents of our assisted living lodges at their Christmas party. They still comment on them [favorable] and there were extras to be given as new folks either moved in permanently or temporarily [for illness].

I am president of our resident's association this year and have been attending a variety of meetings outside the campus - along with Westminster Garden Board of Directors meetings. This, of course, meant that I had to find some "presidential" clothing [so far a suit jacket, light colored sweater, black pants that are actually dressy jeans, and black shoes that are NOT tennis shoes]. I've picked up a couple of tops to wear under the jacket, and will look for some scarfs [scarves?] to dress everything up.

9-Patch Blocks & Lap Quilts

2009-06-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been away so long. I've been busy [well, lazy, more likely].

Here are 3 more of the quitls that are being made for our Assisted Living folks. The quilt at the bottom [bright block with black and bright border] has been bordered and needs to be quilted - I'll get that one when it's finished.

The blocks below total 54. There are 5 of the blocks that you can't see well that are made with 2 prints - for a funny 9-patch quilt

The 2nd photo is blocks that are brights cut 3" with a white background - there are 21 of those,

and the 3rd photo has 28 6" blocks.

I am trying to keep up with CrazyMom at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/ She is working on 1 9-patch block per day. I tried that for a while, but then found that if I cut my blocks one day, I could get a weeks worth done at once. I'm also working on 3 different 9-patch quilts at once, 2 brights and one that will be just a little more subdued.

June 2nd was the 37th day of the challenge, but I think most of us are keeping up.

I drove to Morro Bay the first full weekend of June, both to see my son and dil, and to go to 11 quilt shops in the Central Coast California Shop Hop. I did well with purchases. I picked a quilt to work on [in some future year] and bought fabrics for that quilt - only slipped up once and picked up 1 yard each of a dog and a cat fabric [and a pattern to work on another year].

Weather was great for driving - it was overcast with sprinkles - and the drivers were acting nicely [you know, nobody had to be anywhere 10 seconds before anyone else].

I also gave a quilt to my grandson [in his 30's] with lots of motorcycle stuff on it. I had shown it at the retirement facility where I live, and several folks were either horrified or loved it [depended on whether they knew a bike rider or not].

The dogs stayed with the vet over the weekend and Chico came home healthy [he's on lots of med's for congestive heart failure] so will continue to leave him there when I travel. Little Bit will go to the kennel where they let him out to play in a grassy area every day.

I'm also knitting when I'm not sewing or quilting - still working on caps and scarves for the merchant seamen in New York [that is where several of our residents worked either before or after they were overseas].

Auction quilt done!

2009-04-08T14:00:00.001-07:00

Here are photos of a quilt that Gail M. made [well, she did all the hard work and made the top]. She offered it to me for the Cinco de Mayo auction/celebration. The border is a Frida Kahlo print [self portrait] that will be perfect for our auction.

The quilt came out to 70" x 70" and was more fun to work on than I imagined. I had a tough time starting it because I didn't want to ruin it, but once I got started, it was fun to get help with figuring out what should be quilted in the different areas.

I was going to make a twin size quilt top to put on e-bay, but this one turned out so busy that I made two lap quilts instead. The patriotic one above is one of two small quilts [one will go on e-bay and one will go to our assisted living group]

Here is another quilt - this one for e-bay.

The quilting group on the grounds has been busy helping me make tops for assisted living. We have 9 lap quilts finished and 3 more ready to put the binding down. Since my goal was 3 quilts a month, we are doing really well.

Two of the women have made tops and I will get those quilted soon.

I'm also making a motorcycle quilt for my grandson. The top is finished and I started putting the backing together [it will be "back art" with all the leftover parts of the front].

Lap Quilts

2009-03-12T10:01:00.001-07:00

Here are the 2 quilts I described on my last blog. I am making them for our Assisted Living Unit, and plan to have at least 25 made by October/November so they can choose which quilt they want.

This quilt is the Wickedly Easy Quilt. You can type that into your search engine and find the free pattern for this one

The"Wickedly" quilt was fun to play with. I found a batch of pink, green and purple [and threw in a yellow] and cut up fat quarters for that one.

All of the fabrics for the quilts in this blog were out of my stash [scary thought! - but at least I'm using it up].

The Magic Tile is made of cat fabrics - I even threw in a single dog fq to liven things up. It's one of my favorite quilts - It's not intricate to do, but takes time to cut and sew each step.

And here are the next 2 in the saga of lap quilts

This quilt was made from a whole batch of exchange 9-patches. I used the green 9 patches with the yellow print squares [those are the X blocks] on this one and really liked the way it looks.

And this quilt is made from Log Cabin blocks that were left over from a guild raffle quilt quite a number of years ago. As one of my friends said, it's nice to see them in the light of day instead of in one of my WIP bins [that's Works in Progress]

The dogs are still very happy here. My oldest, Chico, has been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and at this point is on meds. His liver has started to enlarge, which means the heart is affecting it. I don't think that's a good sign, but the vet doesn't think the end is imminent. Chico is having his teeth cleaned this week and the vet has given me the talk about not living thru the anesthetic. I think that's mandatory for his condition, but I'm hoping all goes well.

As Vice President of our Residents Association I have been busy finding programs for our Wednesday afternoons. I have a max of 2 per month and once I got over the fear of calling total strangers, I have been finding some fun ones.

Other than quilting like a fiend [I'm finishing a quilt for our Cinco de Mayo auction] I have stayed well this winter. No colds or flu.

I do want to say, though, that I HATE THE TIME CHANGE!!! Getting up early is not my cup of tea or anything else.

2009-02-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

OK, I've finally decided to get back to blogging.

first up is Rachel's quilt. I made what felt like hundreds of Hole in the Barn Door blocks from 3" to 16" in size. Rachel picked the fabrics - pink and turquoise. I picked up fabrics on one of the quilt shop hops and had her pick out what she wanted. The blocks finally went together into a long twin size quilt - longer than the 93" batting [I put extra blocks on the back]. Rachel loved it.

This next quilt is Laura's quilt [also a twin size - but not quite as long as Rachel's]. While Rachel was going thru the fabrics to see what she wanted, Laura said that she liked them all - so I used all but one [which I didn't like]. I found this pattern in one of the magazines [but it's already back in the pile, so I don't know which magazine it was]. Laura also loved her quilt. Of course, the girls liking the quilts made the work worthwhile.

One of the things I plan on doing this year is making a batch of lap quilts for our Assisted Living unit. The director said there are about 25 folks there at any time - so I am aiming for 25 - 30 quilts so there can be some choices.

I figured that if I finished 3 a month [of course, along with one I'm making for my 30 something grandson and another one for our Cinco de Mayo [Gail made the top for that one], I really do plan to finish the group of lap quilts for November.

So far I have finished 3 [that means quilted, bound and washed] - Magic Tile [mostly cat fabrics] , a Nine Patch and X block [green 9-patches with yellow blocks with green X], and a Wickedly Easy Quilt in pinks/lavender/green [you can Google that one]. I figure these are my January set. Photos later.

For February - I pinned another Nine Patch and X block [yellow 9-patches with green blocks with yellow X], I have a 9-patch and snowball [light green and off white - still quilting that one], and have another Wickedly Easy quilt ready to pin [as soon as I find the batting that I cut for it].

In November I was elected vice President of our Resident's Association at Westminster Gardens. That means PROGRAMS!!! The budget is small, and finding programs is something totally new for me. So, in addition to making way to many quilts this year [I have to empty my storage unit somehow], I'll be busy with phone calls and several meetings a month. And this is retirement?

4th of July

2008-07-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

We had a rousing 4th of July celebration at the Gardens yesterday. As the dogs and I were walking in the park at the northern end of the grounds I began to hear marching music. I thought one of the residents had their stereo on really high, but realized later that the music was coming from the southern edge of the grounds.

It was a full and planned celebration - flag raising, national anthem, pledge [which I led], God Bless America, 4th of July address by Harriet Johnson [the president of our resident's association and missionary for more than 40 years to Japan], America the Beautiful and a benediction. The couple [Dick and Barbara Hettish] who put on the ceremony also offered us a continental breakfast afterwords. [photo of the table with juice, coffee and sweet rolls]

Since I moved in the middle of July last year I didn't know what to expect for this ceremony. It was worth getting up early for [7 a.m.] and I will go again next year.

Now for quilting:

Here are photos of my mystery quilt [Orange Crush]. I found the outer border at theTreasure Hunt quilt shop in Carpenteria, CA. I put a tiny inner border of dark purple between the border and the quilt [I had to stop the quilt somehow]. I will bind in the dark purple also.

I finally bought some clotheline rope to tie the dogs to so they can play out in my "back yard" [well, it is a common area - but it is outside my back door]. I can put them out there late in the evening and let them roll in the grass for a while as I sit just inside the door and play on the computer. The first day I did this I went out with them so they knew it was ok [but they both just sat and looked at me like I was nuts]. The 2nd time, though, they had it figured out and went running out to play. I think this will work.

Central Coast Quilt Shop Tour

2008-06-14T09:48:00.001-07:00

I went on the Central Coast Quilt Shop Tour [one of the California shop hops] last weekend. I managed to go to 4 stores before I made it to Morro Bay and my son and dil's home for the weekend [actually to Motel 6, since they have a very tiny apartment]. The 3 of us went to the rest of the shops. For those of you who are interested, the web site is http://www.centralcoastquiltshops.com

My dil had asked if I would make a quilt for her 30+ year-old son who had been badly injured in a motorcycle accident. So we went shopping for [what else?] motorcycle fabric - with skulls, a bright swirly and lovely ladies sprawled on the motorcycles [maybe that one will be a pillowcase for him]. I'll find more down here to add to the collection and make him a quilt between a twin and a double. I think it will be fun.

The fabric above is the fabric I purchase for MY project. The dark colors are a variety of dark blues and with the tans and golds I think it will be every bit as stunning as the quilt in the magazine. It will have lots of 1-1/2" squares [strip pieced, of course], but I will put the fabric and pattern away until I have time to do this one [maybe I will start cutting some of the pieces as my cutting table clears so I don't have to do them all at once when I'm ready to make the quilt].

And, last but certainly not least] here is my mother's day present from my son and dil in Temecula. The chair couldn't have been more right for this table. It is comfortable and sitting down to have breakfast and read the paper is so much easier now that I don't have to balance the dog on my lap. Well, back to sewing.

Our quilt group in the retirement community is making quilts for 4th of July - and will hope to have them hung really soon. We have several tops ready for quilting, so I will get busy with them as soon as they are layered.

2008-06-05T10:26:00.001-07:00

This is this year's Thangles Block of the Month a group of us are doing at our local quilt shop. We did not want to use the same ugly fabrics [well, we really didn't like the early American fabrics they chose for last year and this year] so they are cutting special for us. I think this quilt is going to be fantastic.

Here is the Orange Crush quilt - when I laid it out on the bed for the photo I was instantly dizzy!! I don't like triangles at all, but I used the Fons and Porter triangle ruler and my blocks lay flat on the bed and floor. I'm going to put a 1/4" border of black [or maybe my very dark purple] between the quilt and the border. I'm going to look for a Halloween stripe [since this is purple, orange and lime green] for the final border and am going to do diagonal corners with it.

That is Little Bit standing on the quilt [he misses very few chances to get into the photo - or just to stand on the quilts]

I'm on my way to Morro Bay [250 miles north of Duarte] this weekend for the Central Coast Quilt Run [that is in California]. I have a son in Morro Bay so I will go to the shops between home and Santa Maria and he and my daughter in law will take me to the rest of them.

I found a quilt in the August 2007 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting that I am going to purchase fabrics for. It is Blue Moon of Kentucky and is med/dark blue and tans. If I go on the run with a plan, I don't come home with scads of yards that I don't have a plan for. I will, of course, find some cat fabric that is just to irresistable [sp?] to leave in the store. With gas prices, I expect this years trip is going to be expensive - but I received and deposited my "tax incentive?" so that will pay for gas/food/lodging.

Quilt

2008-05-04T09:56:00.001-07:00

I won this bar at our Cinco de Mayo auction yesterday [actually the third of May]. It fits perfectly into my kitchen as my "dining table". I even put a placemat and table setting on it to see how it looks [I did eat on it last night, but not quite so formally]. I think the stools either need to be cushioned or I may just look for a couple chairs to replace them with.

I donated a quilt for auction [check the March 13th post. It is the lavender and wild print quilt]. It brought $175. Not a spectacular amount, but the woman who purchase it was very excited. We talked for a few minutes afterwords and I think it has gone to a really good home.

One of the nursery wall hangings went for a much better sum, so I will make a twin and a crib sized quilt for the next auction. After all, there are lot of grandparents here who will buy for their grandkids.

The monies raised at the auction will go 3 places: our Living Tapestry [which is a fund to support folks who have outlived their retirement monies], chairs [or tables] for our dining room, and money to the City of Duarte for a Teen Liaison project. We don't have a final count yet, but I'm looking forward to finding out what was actually raised.

I finished the first step of the Orange Crush mystery [142 4 squares] and am working with the Fons and Porter triangle ruler for the half 4-patch blocks. I haven't even started step 3, but will need to pull out more light fabrics from my storage unit to start those. I am NOT a triangle person, so it will be a miracle if these blocks end up size-wise well enough to be put together.

Orange Crush fabrics & finishes

2008-03-30T11:51:00.001-07:00

Here is the fabric I've chosen for the Orange Crush mystery quilt to start on Tuesday, April 1st. All my friends are

going to Asilomar [a week-long quilting retreat in Northern California] so I have to amuse myself this week.

I found a really rich purple [to the left of the pinks] and more oranges, pinks and lime greens than I thought I had.

I don't know what to cut into 2" strips as the lights, but since I won't be starting the mystery until after lunch I'll check a couple of the posts and see what might look best. I'm also going to try out the Fons and Porter triangle ruler and see how that works [because you know she's going to have triangles in this quilt].

This quilt was made from several packets of Hawaiian flower fabrics that was given away at guild for charity quilts. I added the window panes to the 4-patches and made a 2-1/2 sashing between the blocks. I quilted around the flowers [took way to long to do], but it really looks great.

This quilt top was given to me, along with a pieced backing, by one of the women I quilt with in a Tuesday night class. After piecing it she was so sick of it she didn't want to see it again. I showed it to her after I quilted it, and she didn't think it was so bad after all.

This quilt was pieced by 4 of the quilters who meet here at Westminster Gardens. I was saved for the quilting. It is hanging in our dining room now, and will be replaced with a 4th of July quilt at some point.

Finished quilts

2008-03-13T11:16:00.001-07:00

I started and finished this quilt January/February. It is hanging in the dining room at Westminster Gardens [WG] near the coffee area. I think they plan to have it hanging for some time.

It has all different coffee cups with what looks like Starbucks coffee names under them. It was a fun and easy kit to work on.

This is one [below] of my UFO's from the mid '90's [last century!!!!]. I found it in the storage unit and quilted and bound it in February. The scary thing was that it had been pinned - but there was no rusting of the pins [thank heaven]. I'm going to donate it to our fund raiser at WG for our Cinco de Mayo festivities. I even tried some miniature feathers in the border [I had taken a class, but hadn't been brave enough to try them].

I haven't posted for awhile - at first I didn't have much, but then got whatever virus is going around and could barely walk the dogs for a couple weeks. I'm finally sewing again on my granddaughters quilt [blocks are still being cut and I'm looking for the pattern again - in a
magazine somewhere in my collection].

I'm also enjoying the spring here in Southern California - it's fantastic to hear the birds [and leaf blowers : ( ] and see the iris's[?] in bloom.

Now back to my row robin - this is my row [there are 5 blocks - 3 patience corner and 2 snowball and 9-patch]. We have 8 in our group [with one in Pittsburgh] so will have fairly large quilt tops when we get them back.

I have my friend Sandy's rows right now, but can't post anything on the blog until the end of the year. My friends read this and we can't see our rows until the unveiling in December. Most of the folks are easy about their blocks, but we have one who wants paper piecing with each row matching the row above or below [not my idea of fun]. We meet about every 6 or so weeks to exchange rows and do a show and tell of other things.

Open your windows and listen to the birds while you quilt [for those of you in sunny climes] or turn on the t.v. and listen to fun movies for those of you who are in colder areas.

I wish you happy sewing with no ripping.

Superbowl Mystery Quilt

2008-02-03T19:17:00.000-08:00

Quiltbug decided she was going to host[ess?] a mystery quilt today, Superbowl Sunday. Her website is http://www.quiltbug.com/catercorner.htm. Instructions were terriffic and I finally finished the blocks at 7 p.m., California time. I didn't start until after 10 this morning: needed breakfast and took the dogs for a walk between the rain storms.

The pattern used browns, blues and cats [which I have lots of], but I used reds, greens and dinosaurs [not quite sure how that happened]. EVERYTHING came from my stash or store.

There were cutting instructions prior to Sunday, but today we had to cut and make 80 [arghhh!] half square triangles, 20 each from 2 different sets of fabric. I made the first set and then went to lunch [had great porkchops and saurkraut and even better company] and then took the dogs for another walk, then did the 2nd set of half square triangles.

Here are the finished blocks laid out on the kitchen floor [best light in the house] with a closeup of border fabric. I managed to get lime green in one triangle set and it is also the outer border [the dinosaurs are the inner dark border]. The borders show better in the photo below this one.

As much as I love Superbowl commercials, there is WAAAAAY to much football in between, so will keep my eyes out for the hour special later this week that shows the best of the commercials.

I have also made and finished a quilt to hang in our dining room. For you quilters, it was shown in one of the Keepsake Quilting catalogs - coffee cups with bright colors around them. I can't put a photo here, yet, because it's going to be unveiled later this month in the dining room along with another quilt [hearts] that is still being made by other quilters in our group here at the gardens.

Hope your team won today! Stay warm and dry.

Quilts

2008-01-13T11:12:00.001-08:00

I was at my storage unit the other day, and thought I would let you see my stash. It's only in tubs [most of them are labeled] because I moved in July and my friends helped me get the fabric/WIP's/books sorted.

I have to say that the end of that sorting day must have been 'just enough' since every once in awhile I open a marked tub [maybe 'blue'] and find a Christmas print in it. I have to say I get a kick out of that, because the day was really hectic so I know they were not starting a tub just for some small pieces that were left.

This is a quilt top I made for my sone and daughter-in-law in Cayucos, CA. It is from the Stashbox quilt pattern and I have made 3 of these now. This one is queen/king size and needs to be layered and quilted [will try to get that done by June when I "do" the Central Coast Quilt Run on my way north to see them].

I need to get a minimum of 4 UFO's quilted this year so I don't end up as UFO queen on the Stashbuster list. I've finished one, so that helps for this quarter, and will try to time them so at least one a quarter is finished.

They are located at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stashbuster/ and the group is a fun way to get motivated to get through your stash.

Finished a UFO

2008-01-05T21:47:00.001-08:00

At our sewing on Friday night, I got a quilt from my mini-group on Friday night. They have been working on it for several months - it is for my new 'home'. I specified colors and they did the entire quilt without my seeing it along the way. It is a row quilt, with each row easily identifiable as done by one of my friends.

I put the quilt on the bed when I got home at midnight, and that's Little Bit giving it the "seat of approval". Chico added his approval a little later.

FIRST UFO FINISHED THIS YEAR. I finished a Christmas tree skirt that I had started sometime last year. It was done as string piecing on a muslin background, and I did fine, except I used the bias that should have been the ties as the binding sewn to the cut part that opens to the hole in the center.

Lots of rain last night [Saturday]. When the dogs and I went for our walk this morning there were branches down on the walkway. The boys let me attach their leashes to a water faucet while I cleared the walkway so we could get through. I just pulled everything over to a section in the parking lot for cleanup by maintenance tomorrow.

New Year - New UFO

2008-01-01T09:01:00.001-08:00

Well - it's 2008 [after reading all those science fiction books in the '50's and '60's I thought the world would be different by now, sigh]. I hope you all had a safe and/or fun New Year's Eve. I sewed with Sandy all day yesterday and her daughter, Deb, made us a special dinner [lamb chops - even better than the lamb at Westminster Gardens] and brought home a sinfully chocolate dessert.

Stashbusters had a challenge for New Years Eve and New Years Day to make a Sudoku quilt top. I actually [surprise to those who know me well] found 9 fat quarters in my house to make the quilt from.

I spent New Years Eve day at Sandy's sewing like a maniac. I finished the basic top [I still don't see any rhyme nor reason to Sudoku puzzles] and will add the red cat border today - after, of course, walking the dogs. I cut my squares 5-1/2" x 6-1/2" and the black sashing is 2-1/2". The border was cut 6-1/2" so will have a large lap robe [or sofa throw].

After the sinful chocolate dessert last night I couldn't get to sleep, so got up about 1:30 a.m. and pulled fabric for a mystery quilt that started even before I got up this morning.

Now, on to breakfast [yes, the boys have been fed] and our walk, and then to more sewing.

Happy New Year all of you, and not only do I hope no bad things happen, I hope for lots of good things for this year.

Stashbusting and finishing UFO's

2007-12-30T17:59:00.000-08:00

Can't get photos on tonight - but will post anyway.

I finally got hungry enough to buy the makings for spaghetti on Saturday, and had a feast Saturday and Sunday evening [and have enough in the freezer to last several weeks].

On to my New Years Resolution [other than gaining 10 pounds and reading trashy novels! although. . . ]. I'm going to copy another Stashbuster who is going to keep 3 bobbins wound at all times. I'll wind all my empty bobbins tonight [for my Husky machine] and tomorrow [for my Bernina] and that should last a few minutes.

I will join the Stashbuster "No-buy" Program for 2008. It actually started November 1st, but runs through October 31, 2008. The "buy-in" is 12 5" charm squares and a charm square for each yard purchased during the year. There are lots of "allowable" purchases, so I'll see if I can get through a few months without any purchases.

Stashuster is also having a NYE [New Years Eve] challenge making a Sudoku quilt. I've got my fq's cut up and labeled, and my sashing and cornerstones all cut up. I'll go to Sandy's on the 31st and 'sew my heart out'. You can see a photo of my fabric at http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/stashbuster/photos I'm #18 in the 4.0 NewYear Eve Sudoku project album. [Since I can' get photos here, you need to go there to find the colors.]

I'm also joining UFO challenge 2008. You have to finish 1 UFO per quarter [should be doable], and if you get to the top of the list [a random list of names] you have to finish one that week. I'll save my quillow for that week - it just needs to have the opening sewed closed. Their 'buy in' is 2 fat quarters and 50 cents. There is a quarterly drawing for those who have finished projects, and a quarterly penalty if you don't finish a UFO that quarter.

Chico and I have been to 6 weeks of dog training, and he's doing sooooo much better than his owner. He can sit for 1 minute without moving his butt - he can sit while I drop treats and keep his butt on the ground until I feed him a treat from my hand. The only problem with that one is when the treat drops on my shoe and falls right between his paws - than all bets are off. I'm really proud of him.

Christmas morning

2007-12-26T20:16:00.000-08:00

Well - I went prepared to spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning in Temecula - except I took extra batteries and left the camera at home!

Darn.

We had a great eve dinner [rib roast - I even got to bring some home for me!]

And had a great breakfast and fun morning opening presents.

I left early [about 11:00] to come home to take a nap, take the dogs for a walk and to have another large dinner at Sandy's [rib roast - different seasonings].

Great time at both!

And I'll get the camera there next time.

Hope the year stays healthy - and more money comes in than goes out.

Christmas at Westminster Gardens

2007-12-21T10:08:00.000-08:00

You're getting all the Holiday stuff in one fell swoop

A small group of us decorated Packard Hall [our meeting hall, and, until the 19th, our dining room]. My contribution was to climb the ladder [with 2 others] and hang decorations from the ceiling tiles.

I also helped Lily set up the above scene in the Hall [actually, she designed and I did what she said].

There was a fantastic Christmas dinner with an even more fantastic bell choir - along with a tree lighting. There are 2 large trees and one tiny one [all living on our grounds].

I even bought a sweater and white shirt to wear to the dinner [of course, you are missing the ribbon tassels I hung on my tennis shoes].

And! I want you to know I actually decorated [well, my version, anyway]. I hung our guild centerpiece on the front screen door. The woman who made it was told by her husband that she should absolutely NOT bring it home. Of course, that means I have to find a place to put it until next year.

I hung decorations and my Christmas cards on my StashBox quilt that is hanging in the kitchen. I also draped the string table runner [in Christmas fabrics, of course] over one side of it.

There was caroling last night, and our row of homes was visited by the group [not all were]. Chico and Little Bit actually behaved while the singing was going on [although Chico would give a small bark about every 2 minutes].

The boys are official - this is a notice to emergency personnel that 2 dogs live here! I actually have it haning in my kitchen window right now, since the wreath is hanging on the front door.

2007-10-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

No photos today, but a desperate plea for a home for a Jack Russell terrier.

The nurse at Westminster has a grandson who was bitten by his pet dog [he and the dog both had the same ball in their mouths and were tugging at it].

Dad wants to euthanize the dog, but he would probably be just fine with older kids.

"Jack" is a little older than 3 years and has papers and is a male.

I checked out rescue groups and it looks like they don't take the animals to foster, but just post photos and info on their web sites. The nurse currently has taken possession of the dog, but can't keep him.

If you know of anyone with older kids who wants a dog, let me know.

Thanks from both of us

Monday sewing

2007-09-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we went through the tubs and found fabric. We even had Sophia helping make choices [we figured out that if she sat on it, it must be good].

Here is one of the choices for fabric [without Sophia! - we got smart and put the fabrics up on the table].

and, here we are, hard at work.

The directions were incredibly easy! We each got a top done and picked out more fabric for our 2nd one. Both got the center of the 2nd top done, and Sandy finished hers after I left Monday night [mine's still in my carrier].

The top one is Sandy's, and the bottom one is mine

These are the centers of our 2nd toppers.
Mine is on the left and Sandy's is below.

We have grandiose [sp?] delusions of making one for each season [or even for each month???]

New Project?

2007-09-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

These blocks are for our guilds Block of the Month for the September exchange.

The directions were incredibly awful, but these come out to a 12-1/2" unfinished block [which is what the chairperson wants].

Hated the directions, but loved the block [and these are 'real' triangles, you know, the kind that draws a line diagonally and sews 1/4" from the line on each side to make 2 blocks].

Loved the block so much that I went out and bought some tan/yellow background and I already have a lot of autumn fabrics, so will make a quilt top.

It is so hot here that I am trying to convince the dogs that we really don't need to go any further than the grass right off the front porch. They weren't happy, but they came in really well.

Two of the ladies at lunch were saying that they don't like air conditioning [???] but use their fans when possible. That's not my choice, but I'm trying hard not to let it get to cold for Chico.

I went back to the storage unit to try to find more fabrics for Sandy's and my Halloween project for tomorrow. I have several bolts in the car and found a small tub full of lime green [possible to use for our stars]. I'm excited to see what we come up with tomorrow.

Hula Night

2007-09-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

The "Gardens" had a Luau on Wednesday night [that's typically Chef's Surprise in the dining room] and I invited Sandy and her daughter Debra to attend with me.

Food was great and the gals had a chance to see me in my new element. Next 'soiree' I plan to invite a whole tables worth of folks.

Am I glad that no photos were taken [by folks I know, that is] because I 'volunteered' with a group of other residents [who also don't know how to say no] to learn the hula [bend your knees and move your hips]. We were up on stage with the paid entertainment.

When I went to lunch the next day, I had several folks come by and comment on my 'dancing' ability. I figured I might as well make a fool of myself early in my residencey, figuring that I can't get any worse [please, no testimonials from my 'friends'].

About quilts - if you check out Mehitabel's Musings you can see the charity quilts with binding. I found bindings in our binding box that Marie carries around. Ethel [another Tuesday night regular] gave me a quilt top and back and binding she had finished from a JoAnn's block of the month from many years ago. We'll add that one to our collection and see if we can't get it quilted for the end of the year.

On Friday, Esther [one of our residents] had a tea which included me and 2 other ladies. She likes to get to know the new residents, and she loves to have small get-togethers [not formal - I wore a real blouse and felt quite comfortable with the group]. It's nice to meet that way, since I usually meet people on our walks [the dogs and mine, that is] and by the time I get home I can't remember names.

Sandy and I are going to make a small 'table topper' this Monday that is in the latest Fons and Porter magazine. She e-mailed me and asked me to bring over some Halloween fabric for the project. I found 2 tubs easily in the storage unit [frightening] and may take some of the larger pieces to cut into fat quarters and sell on e-bay [after all, if we're going to be long arm quilting, I'm going to need money for that project]. We'll have photos of those some time next week, I hope.

Long Arm Quilting

2007-08-26T11:25:00.001-07:00

Lisa, Carol, Sandy and I went to Fabric Patch to see if we remembered anything about the class we took just a short time ago.

Between the 4 of us we figured out how to get the bundle on the machine, but then ran into lots of problems with tension.

One of the women who know the machine was called and came in to fix all the problems. She loosened the tension [who knew that got changed] and showed us how to baste the top of the quilt to the canvas by machine instead of one stitch at a time by turning the wheel by hand.

I tried to show the quilting here. This was our first quilt and we used the pantograph [sp?] we used in class [didn't want to many variables on our first try alone].

We took turns with rows, and once all the problems were fixed we managed to get that done in no time [well, maybe a little longer than that].

This was the second [and last quilt] of the day. We managed to get it on, handle breaking threads, and get it quilted in a much faster time than the first one.

Both of these are charity quilts, and I'll try to get the bindings on them before our next meeting [Charlene, the head of the charity quilt project, wants 100 finished quilts or fleece tops by the December meeting - quite a number for our guild].

This is the close up of the quilting on this quilt [same pantograph].

I'm not sure I want to do my Montet's garden this way. i may go ahead and have it quilted by check rather than do it myself.

Sandy's already talking about taking her mystery quilt with her on our next appointment with the giant machine to get it done for one of her friends she works with.

It took us 4 hours and 45 minutes [we didn't have to count the down time] to get the 2 quilted. It really is faster than doing it on the Bernina [or Brother] since you don't have to throw it over your shoulder or stuff it thru the neck. Had everything gone well in the beginning, we probably would have had 3 done on Saturday.

House filled with furniture [and dogs]

2007-08-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

Finally, I can put photos on the blog.

I've put this Stashbox quilt in the kitchen for the time being [it does have food fabric in it, so I figure that was ok]. I still need to quilt the mystery quilt to hang here, but will try to put the sleeve on that one by machine - not by hand.

Here is my corner of the kitchen [dark photo] with the toaster oven [very handy for small things like pizza and salmon] and my canisters [is it fair to say I have sugar in one and dog treats in 2 of them right now?]

Now, to the bedroom. I've put the Singer cabinet in here as my t.v. stand [no machine inside, that left years ago]. The dogs are also checking out the new bed [can you see the ramp on the far side for them to climb up?]

My bathroom looks so great! It is a mint green with great accessories - along with my lime green towels and bath mat.

Such a great place to live. People are friendly [I have even met the parents of the other chihuahua that lives here] and very helpful. [When does the trash get picked up?] I'm anxious to see what happens when they start all their groups again in September [they close down for the summer vacations].

I still think this is the best move I've ever made.

2007-08-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

I can't load photos today - blogspot isn't giving me that option.

I've been here a month [as of the 17th] and am so glad to be here. When I can, you'll see photos of the inside of the house with all my new stuff.

Little Bit and Chico have settled in fantastically. We walk a lot [more than I want - so I went and got a pedometer to see how far we are walking during the day] and they sleep a lot. They're also getting used to having company.

Hey! the place is clean enough for drop-in's now. I even have a cleaning lady every 2 weeks [of course that means I pick up my projects the day before she shows up].

I even went to a concert here put on by one of the residents. It was fun and I even recognized some of the music [he's about 20 years older than me and I'm TURNING 65 IN SEPTEMBER].

This move was the best thing I've done in many years.

I'll try again with photos next time, just wanted to let you know I'm still alive and kicking.

2007-07-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday evening and moving day is on Tuesday morning [at the unbelievable hour of 8 a.m.!!]

I started a metal bookcase in the bedroom and am planning on putting small containers on the bottom shelf [works in progress - or just fun fabrics that I can look at as spots of color in the room as I go to sleep], then magazines in nice magazine holders on the next shelf up - and then my books on tape on the top of the shelf. It will be just above window height.

I was there 3 times today and the sun doesn't hit directly into the room either front or back - so I won't worry about items being sun-damaged over the years.

There will be photos and commentary after the Tuesday move [that night I'm going to Marie's sewing class so won't have anything until Wednesday]

Wednesday 7/11/07 Keys at last!

2007-07-09T10:45:00.002-07:00

I picked up my keys to the front door, my gate opener, and my panic pager today [along with my name tag to be worn on Wednesdays]. It was so quiet at the campus - nobody washing their car with the radio blaring - no kids selling drugs in front of the house [yes, that happened the other night at home].

I can hardly wait until Tuesday when I will be officially moved into the grounds.

This is the view out of my front door [through the kitchen window]. I'm not close enough to see the folks inside their unit across the way, but am close to the birdfeeders hanging in the trees - so lots of flutter and lots of natures music.

Back window views [facing south]. My entire back wall is window [from about 3 feet or so above the floor]. There is no walkway back here so no one should be walking by my bedroom at night.
There is an avocado tree just to the right of my back door, and I am allowed to pick the fruit from it [residents can do that, but not staff].

There is a group of residents who pick the variety of fruit trees and set the fruit aside somewhere for the use of the residents [I need to ask where that is].

Here is the kitchen that I have been waxing poetic about. A little less storage space than at home, but the corner cabinet has an odd door and a revolving rack for items there [both upper and lower corner cabinets.]

There's even a whatnot shelf built into the wall [with a glass door]. I need to find some stands to put my "catly" items on, so they can be layered on the larger shelves. Along with cats, I have a reindeer made and painted by a coworkers wife from DWP and an angel purchased from a craft fair somewhere.

There is a very tiny hallway outside the bathroom with a long hanging closet. I'll get some hanging sweater containers to put fabric in [fabric? me?]. There will also be another storage cabinet being built to replace the vanity [not nearly enough makeup to put in it's own unit] on the opposite wall of this sliding door cabinet.

And the bathroom. If I were really agile, I could sit on the toilet and wash my feet in the lavatory. There is also a shower to the right of the toilet.

Nothing in the bedroom yet, so no photos.

I will be moving fabric in for the next few days, and will be moving in officially on Tuesday, the 17th. Parking is not far away, and the dining room is a short walk [so between walking the dogs and going to eat, I should tighten up some of my muscles, right?]

I get 20 meals for the month. After looking at the menu, I may not be cooking this month any more at all. It's going to be tough to get to all 20, but I can't carry them over to the next month.

2007-07-09T10:45:00.001-07:00

Moving day!

No photos today, just an update.

I went to Westminster Gardens to sign a batch of papers.

The marketing director and I did a final walk-through the unit and checked everything out. Utilities are all on [oops! we didn't check the water] and the place looks great.

I get my key tomorrow [Wednesday] and will start moving odds & ends into the unit.

Photos tomorrow

2007-07-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

Kitten Pics

Blackie has a bed next to my recliner so she can sleep there when I'm home. Otherwise, I lock her in the bathroom with water and litterbox so she can be safe while I'm gone.

She's gotten really good at climbing! She had discovered the ramp for the dog to get up onto my bed, but this morning she leaped up to the side of the bed and pulled herself up. I don't think she can get down the same way [there's a loud "thump" when she lands], but it doesn't seem to bother her.

On Tuesday I sign my final papers to get into Westminster Gardens. I pick up the key on Wednesday and will start moving things in at that time. The movers come on the 17th to pick up the big furniture and I will be officially moving in on that date.

Scary and fun!!!

Mystery Weekend in Big Bear, Calif.

2007-06-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

This will be about Big Bear, but first you get kitten photos. She's almost 6 weeks old and she and Little Bit [youngest chihuahua] have developed a "tag" type game they play [until he scares her and she runs under my feet or the furniture].

Here is our room [Sandy and I bunked together]. Very spacious [although the refrigerator door didn't close] and clean. The T.V. worked well, also. We stayed at Northwoods Resort and Convention Center in Big Bear.

And here's the photo of my first block. So far there are 12 different food/bug fabrics plus the green "sashing" around the 4 center blocks. All the fabrics are supposed to be different, although not all of mine worked out that way.

And, of course, there's chocolate to get us through the hours of cutting, matching, sewing, and ironing. The main room was upstairs [2nd floor] at the convention center of the hotel, and the ironing room was a bedroom on the first floor of the "rooms" of the hotel. Quite a hike at 10 p.m. [although it did get the blood circulating].

And here's my quilt with the first border on it [not in the pattern, but needed]. I did get the top larger border on, but it didn't show here.

I finished the borders at "Sit & Sew" on Tuesday night at A Quilter's Dream, where we are not holding our quilting classes.

And here is the group that stayed late enough Sunday morning to get a group photo. We had show and tell and saw everything from quilt tops with all borders on to just a few blocks placed strategically on the chest.

There was way to much food [breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday were part of the package], but lots of fun. I did discover that Starbucks has a Double Chocolate Chip Frappucino [sp?] that should NOT be taken at 10 p.m. It was tough getting to sleep that night even though my body said "enough!'.

NEW WATER HEATER

2007-06-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a brand new water heater [what fun!]. It's been leaking for several days, but I thought it was the washing machine and turned off the water to the machine for a couple days to check. Water kept building up on the floor [sigh] so finally called a company that came out within an hour to do the work.

The wooden floor is a piece of plywood that the workers put down because the folks who put down the floor didn't bother to put Pergo UNDER the water heater, and the new one had to go back about 2 feet so it could be strapped to the wall.

Here is all the new piping that they installed because the old piping wouldn't allow the water heater to stand against the wall.

They did a great job - but it must have been gold plated somewhere for the price I was charged. I will say the guys that did the job were top notch, very professional, and very polite and neat.

I really hoped I could move in July without spending more money on the house.

My new home!

2007-06-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

I went for a visit to Westminster Gardens today, Wednesday, and got to see the new unit still under construction.

Maple cabinets in the kitchen!!!!! Stove, refrigerator, sink, and washer/dryer still to be installed [along with the floor in the entire unit].

This photo is the bedroom [mint green walls that don't really show up in the photo].

I can hardly wait to move in. There are no folks out working on their cars with music blasting, and no fireworks going off in the grounds.

It looks like move-in date will be July 17th [at least that's the plan at this time].

And I tried to take a better photo of my rescue kitten [but no luck]. She's still thriving and driving the dogs nuts. She's going to a babysitter this weekend while I go to Mystery Quilt Weekend up in Big Bear Lake. I am, though, going to have to find a home for her before I move.

2007-06-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

And here's why it's called dogs and QUILTS

I made this quilt for Laura Catherine [my youngest granddaughter]. She wanted PINK with no other colors. She hasn't seen it yet, and I hope to get it quilted and to her before anyone in the family sees the blog.

Sunday Evening

2007-06-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening and I managed to get one of my shelf units in my garage broken down and carted to the storage unit [photos coming]. I still have another unit to move [along with the fabric and quilts on it] and will try to do that on Wednesday.

Above is a sample of the tubs we packed up from the cleaning done before the first blog took place. I'm on the left and my friend Sandy is on the right. There were a whole group of ladies there, but no one wanted to be photographed [end of the day, and everyone was looking like they had worked in the garden all day.].

Tuesday I'm taking the kitten to the vet for worming ["she" is starting to look a lot like a "he", but I'll have the vet verify that]. I think she's going to a farm to be a "barn cat" - along with Angel, my elderly cat that also needs a home.

I've been trying to get her [I've named her Blackie] to start eating out of a dish. She's going to a babysitter this weekend since I'm going up to Big Bear Lake for a mystery quilt weekend and I can't take her with me.

Tuesday I'm also going to see if I can get to Westminster Gardens to check on the progress of my unit and try to set up a "move in" date. Frightening how everything is moving along at breakneck speed.

2007-06-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

Today you get to see why the blog is called dogs and quilts.

Here is Little Bit [above] - an almost 3 year old chihuahua. I found him at my local vet's. He was just a few weeks old and looked like a hairless rat. The vet was taking care of him for the local shelter [his sister died, but lilbit lives with me]. His best trick is rolling over to get his tummy rubbed and peeing [sigh]. He may be civilized some day, but I doubt it.

And here is Chico. He's between 8 and 9 years old and I found him at the Petsmart animal weekend. He has to be the most mellow chihuahua I've ever seen. Fireworks do bother him, but people don't seem to very much. He comes out to check the visitors, and then goes back to bed.

I'll post quilt photos later.

Today [Thursday] was quilting day at the Senior Center. I took in patterns for the director to look at to possibly post for our new series of classes - one is a string pieced table runner, another table runner is one of the Quilt in a Day books, and a friend also gave me a string pieced tree skirt [yes, Christmas is coming] pattern that I showed my single student [we're trying to get a few more so the class isn't cancelled].

If you're in Irwindale, CA on Thursday afternoons, please come to the center between 1 and 3 pm for some gab and quilting. It's not quite a stitch and bitch, but some days are merrier than others.

First post

2007-06-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

I'm in the midst of moving from my home of 24 years to a retirement community in Duarte, Calif. They have beautiful grounds and I will actually have almost as much room in my space [living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and small hall] that I have in my house.

You can see and read about the community at http://www.westgardens.org/

Just no garage to store stuff in [that's all going to 2 storage units at America Stores in between my house and Westminster Gardens].

I picked up a kitten that one of the neighbors accused another neighbors cat of producing [except that cat is a male]. I'm looking for a home for her at this point since I can't take her with me when I move sometime in July.

She is about 3 weeks old at this point and I am bottle feeding her and keeping her in a giant carrying cage. My oldest chihuahua has tried twice to kill her and I don't want that to happen.

I've been trying to get a lot of stuff labeled and packed for storage so that I can go to the units and find a specific thing. So far it's worked!

My house is selling to an agent who is going to take it "as is" and fix it up and resell. For me, that is the best possible thing that could have happened. I don't know if I trust any contractors to come in to do the work.