Owl panto

Pat finally caught up making all the baby quilts she owed, and I got them all quilted.  I used an owl panto from Judy Lyon on two of her quilts.  Judy has many complex pantos--the owl panto is medium as far as complexity.

Here is a closeup of the cute owls.

  We took off for a long weekend in Colorado.  Dale, Justin, and the grandboys went to a Sky Sox game.

We also rode the train through the Royal Gorge.  It was quite the scenic trip with an open air car.

The boys are growing up so quickly! 

Back to quiltin'...

 The moonrise was beautiful Monday night.  I knew I wouldn't be able to photograph the lunar eclipse, but at least I captured the moon rising.

I got started on my pile-o-tops I was given to quilt.  Judy A. gave me this jelly roll race along with the backing.  

Tove gave me this big top.  She pieced the backing and had binding cut for it as well.

I only had to do my favorite parts:  quilt and bind!  Thanks friends!

Happy Anniversary!

Thirty-nine years ago we got married, at the Fort Carson Hospital Chapel in Colorado Springs.  We were both in the service and I was stationed there. 

 These cacti blossomed for us today!  They are so beautiful, but also short-lived.  

Our friends have a beautiful, inspiring yard.  There is a lot I want to do in our yard when we get back home. 

 We really need some walls to create protected areas for plants.  The plants we moved to the east side of our house when we built the sun room are doing so much better, protected from the prevailing winds. 

House and pet sitting!

We had a great trip to Tucson to house sit and dog sit for our friends while they vacationed in Panama. 

We took the slightly longer route through the mountains and were rewarded with poppies blossoming. 

Before we left I did laundry as usual.  When I went to reach in my clothespin bag, I felt some weeds.  Since we had had some severe winds, I figured a tumbleweed had been blown in there.  Instead what I discovered was a well built bird nest.  Fortunately there were no eggs in it yet.  I'm sure it's likely a house finch nest.

 

Fourteen delivered!

I was able to finish a total of fourteen quilts to deliver to Dr. Kaufman!  She was most happy to get them and had a teenager in the hospital that she wanted to give a quilt to.

This is one I put together with my own leftovers.  It was just alright.

I used a hockey patterned flannel backing so it would be suitable for a boy.

This was the last of the blocks Sherry gave us. Pat put this one together.

I made this top with a jelly roll that Jonna gave us.  It was my entry in the Phoenix retreat lumberyard challenge.  It didn't win, but I'm sure will brighten a child's day.

I used a black backing and quilted it with gray thread in a spiderweb pantograph.  The border fabrics had spiderwebs in it.
 

 

Sunrise, moon set, and a quilt from leftovers

We're still getting beautiful sunrises. They throw a pink glow and light towards the setting moon, which is easier for me to photograph.  

Pat put together this top from pieces and parts leftovers donated to us.  I think it turned out great.

I had the perfect backing for it in my stash.  Love when that works out.

Reached goal

Today I finished two more quilts, and I now have a dozen quilts to deliver to Dr. Kaufman this week.  

Among the finishes this past week was this frog quilt, which I put together with paper pieced blocks from Judy H.  I think it came out really cute. 

 

The backing is solid red, though it doesn't look like it in these pictures, and I used a frog pantograph by Dave Hudson.

Pat put together this top with blocks from Sherry.  There must have been a lot of blocks in this swap because I still have one more top with these blocks to quilt.  

 Oops, when I joined the backing fabric, some of the fish are swimming upside down!

 

More finishes

I've been working on my pile-o-quilts that I have to quilt.  This lovely quilt from Tove was already finished!  

  Sherry gave Pat and I so many blocks from a long ago swap she did.  I put one together with appliqued blocks, and Pat has done a great job with these blocks.

I have two more tops made with these blocks to quilt that Pat put together.


This one, I put together with blocks from Yetta.  I quilted it using a truck pantograph and am hoping some young boy will like it.
 

This is another quilt made from the Jacob's ladder blocks that Kathi E. gave us last year.  I haven't even started quilting all the tops I got this year at the Phoenix retreat.

I used my new owls pantograph which I'll be using to quilt Pat's quilt, and wanted some practice.  I love Judy Lyon's designs and have my eye on her new Egyptian inspired pantographs.   

Sunrises, sunsets...

Yesterday morning the day dawned with clouds and the mountains were all cloaked in snow.  We got a nice third of an inch of much needed rain.  

I see a jellyfish in this cloud formation. 

The snow is still there this morning, but clouds in in the eastern horizon made it another winter morning spectacle.  

 

Pat and I sewed on Friday.  She is nearly done with the baby quilt for her niece she started at the retreat in Phoenix.  I love this quilt!

I finished quilting the two Hungry Caterpillar quilts Pat had put together.  I used Lotsa Ladybugs, pantograph which worked well.  I thought there was enough backing to do two more of the caterpillar quilts--but there wasn't, so I didn't have to feel guilty about not getting my two done from the fabrics Melody gave us! 

I'm starting to get a stack of quilts to deliver to Dr. Kaufman.

Sunsets have been pretty spectacular as well, with this one a couple of days ago.  I love our light shows, twice a day!  We're sewing again today, so I better get.

 

What I did in Phoenix...

I had a wonderful time in Phoenix at retreat again this year, although my knee was less than cooperative.  I usually don't get a whole lot of sewing done, preferring to socialize more than sew.  I also did some swimming and soaking in the hot tub.  

I did finish my sweatshirt jacket, and Dale was good enough to put it on after I got home so I could get pictures of it.  I put a band of black fabric across the bottom to give it some additional length.  

 

My first shopping spree was Savers which is conveniently located to the hotel.  I did find a great king size 100% cotton sheet, along with some black fabric that will make a good backing.  It was priced $1.99, and I also found five yards of black flannel which had no price tag, and the cashier rung it up for $1.99 as well.  Woo-hoo!  

My next shopping was at IKEA!  They had this canvas sturdy fabric with graphic apples--99 cents/yard.  I bought five yards.  I thought I'd make a picnic quilt, but then decided it would also be great to cover my ironing board as well.  I also couldn't resist this wonderful graphic batik with circles and koi...five and a half yards for $20!  Maybe I can talk daughter Jackie into it for the grandsons' bed quilts.  If not I like it well enough for a quilt for me!

Then I hit the jackpot.  Tove who is my birthday twin--same day and same year--took me shopping to SAS.  I did pretty well last year at the SAS store near Pat's place.  Tove took me to the store in Tempe, since she knew they had gotten a new shipment. 

 I now have a Kaffe Fassett stash along with some more batiks to add to my collection.  I enjoyed getting it all washed and ironing it all, fondling each piece as I went along!  I got it all for $3.99/yd.  A couple of the batiks are extra wide--backings!! 

 I'm getting my sewing room back in order so I can get back to quilting.  I came home with an abundance of tops for Dr. Kaufman thanks to all my generous friends at retreat.  They'll keep me out of trouble for a long while.  Dale replaced the original recessed fixture in my sewing room with this fixture.  Why I didn't think to have him do this a long time ago, I don't know, but we now have some great LED bulbs in it as well.  I like good lighting.