Pat was here, and as usual we were productive. She posted pictures on her blog, but there were still more to finish, which I've been working on.
This is a variation of the one on Pat's blog, a nine-patch pizzazz. We loaded one quilt following the other on the same backing, and while that took a little longer, it's nice to take it off the machine and have two of them done.
This string quilt was an experiment with using polar fleece to back it, and no batting. Given our particular style of loading quilts--perhaps the fact that I was in the army makes me want to be able to bounce a quarter off them--it was a challenge not to stretch the fleece. We will likely be using the remaining bargain fleeces as batting.
I've been scoring some good fabric buys at Savers. It's such a treat to find good, usable fabric at very reasonable prices. Each of these piles were less than $10. The toucan fabric is an Alexander Henry fabric called appropriately enough, down in Brazil, two cuts of 1.5 yds. each.
I also went to a quilt show and found a reasonable vendor. I was apparently on a frog theme, along with a tropical panel. It will make an easy and colorful centerpiece for a kid's quilt.
And now for a work in progress. I've been cleaning in my sewing room and started a "confetti" quilt. Doesn't really use much scrap fabric, and it's kind of a pain to put together. But I also used a coupon to get more white fabric from JoAnn's.
I'm still waiting for spring. The winds have been incessant, but I'll still take wind over gray, drizzly, wet days. Our tanagers have mostly left, but then a hungry straggler showed up and has been feeding regularly on the oranges but also on seed.
We got the wedding pictures disk--over 1,000 pictures! There are some wonderful photos! Way too many to post here. But here are a couple. Here's the myth buster to FLPs have FLKs--funny looking parents don't always have funny looking kids! Everyone had a wonderful time.
Thanks to all that donated tops! I was able to get another kitty quilt done. This one is 30s kitties, and I just don't tire of all the different kitty quilts. It's a good thing because I have one more to go. This one is from Ellen.
I got brave and did some feathers on the borders. I hope the kitties didn't create the feathery border mess from hunting! ;-)
We noticed yesterday on our walk to the post office that the tanagers seem to be all over town. And late yesterday we had a pair of scaled quail feeding. We've had them come through our yard, but never hang around and eat. I hope they start coming regularly.
I spent the rest of the gorgeous day trying to put some order in the sewing room by cleaning out my scrap drawers, which of course created much more of a mess than it fixed. Back to it today...
Spring has sure been slow in coming here. Nothing like this, although we had a late snow on Sunday, May 2nd that didn't stick. Our birds apparently weren't aware of the lateness and have arrived mostly on schedule.
We've been getting Western tanagers, hanging around more than in previous years. They've found our oranges, and have been steady customers. We have at least two really brightly colored males. It helps add color to our yard since flowers are having a difficult time adjusting to the yo-yo temperatures.
It's cool out there today, and there is rain in the forecast. We could use the moisture. I am quite ready for some warm sunny days though.
It's been a very busy couple of months. It started in March with the arrival of Cybelle. She's a wonderful guest and we have a good time together. Then in the beginning of April my dad arrived. Then there was the wedding, getting Cybelle and my dad off to visit other people, and it all ended yesterday with dropping my dad off for his trip back to Brazil. And so our house is quiet and back to normal.
I finished some quilts this past week, finally getting to the pile of donation quilts that Pat and I have gotten. This first one is a great oriental themed quilt which will, I'm sure, become a favorite of some teenager. Thanks Judy H!
This next one is one of our favorites, a kitty quilt. Pat had a wealth of these blocks, and then got even more from Sue, another about.com quilting forum member. I have a couple more kitty quilt tops to quilt yet.
I also signed up for a class, Impressionist Portrait, but of course with everything else going on, haven't done much of anything except get an 11X14 print to use. Yesterday I picked up a teflon mat and some tracing paper which I needed to begin working on this in earnest. We'll see what becomes of it.
When we lived in Tucumcari, it would sort of instantly go from winter to summer in a matter of days, windy days, and the temperatures would be too hot for me. I love it here where it cools down at night, and we seldom have to use the air conditioner. But yesterday it snowed! This is a late snow for sure, and of course none of it stuck, and it's good moisture, but I'm ready to enjoy some sunshine. We've had lots of windy days, and cooler temps after a brief hint of spring. I'm hoping the peach blossoms survived, and that we will have fruit.
The week in Colorado ended with some of this same weather. There was snow on the ground when we left a week ago, but was warm and sunny here when we arrived home.
Here is the finished KING quilt. It certainly was a monster to make. I'm not sure I loved working with homespuns, but I'm going to make a lap quilt with leftover fabric that they can use when napping.
This little rascal kept me busy at their house, enough so that I didn't gain any weight over the week there, despite eating like I was on vacation.
I was able to coax some scaled quail to come and eat outside the kid's house with crumbs I scattered. They are such cute birds, but disappear in the brush so easily. I was able to get a picture, though not very well focused, and through the window.
Our daughter's wedding was wonderful. She looked beautiful, as generally all brides do. It was a couple of late nights for us. We left Friday morning early on our drive up to Colorado. We had great weather and arrived in the early afternoon. The rehearsal dinner was that night. We rehearsed minus younger daughter who couldn't leave Albuquerque until after 1 p.m. She made it for the dinner, and there was really not too much to rehearse. My big part was to stand after the flower girls which signaled Dale to start walking Jackie down the aisle. I had to dig my nail into another finger to keep from bawling!
We are now spending a quiet week taking care of the house and puppy while the kids are on their honeymoon. More pictures after I get back home.
Our peach tree blossomed out and looks beautiful. This is an early morning shot with the sun coming through a bit of fog. I'm hoping the blossoms don't get a late frost, spoiling the possibility of fruit. The apricots blossomed much earlier and lost a lot of the blossoms, but had enough to put on a second flowering. We've never gotten usable apricots.
Of course my chronic procrastination led me to be working all this week on Jackie's quilt, a king quilt 120 inches square!
I picked up my knitting again, and finished these socks. I actually had very little left to do, just the toe decreases, but since my surgery I had been out of the mood to knit, read, or sew. Well, these socks are finished, and true to their label, they are super wash, and survived the washer (cold water) and dryer without shrinkage or felting. I have since started a new pair of socks with Kaffe Fassett's Regia yarn. The colors are beautiful, and the yarn comes with a 10 year guarantee!
On the quilting front, I have only seven blocks left to piece on Jackie's wedding quilt which is less than two weeks away! Didn't get out to the sewing room today, but I should be able to finish the piecing in a few more days, put a top together, and get it quilted in time for the wedding. I work best under pressure!? I am a master at procrastination. Of course I would feel like knitting when I should be sewing!
Pat was here, and as usual we were productive. She posted pictures on her blog, but there were still more to finish, which I've been working on.
