Family and Friends

A few pictures from Thanksgiving Day:

Lft to rt: Frank, Hollin (DS2) and me

Nathan (DS1) is taking the picture.

Frank Roberts family, 2007

And Mom in the kitchen, of course!

Small is Beautiful

I don't remember when I first saw this quilt store done to scale. But it is a charmer. I come back to the site again and again.

I think it should be listed among the seven wonders of the modern world. From the tiles in the floor to the patchwork quilts on the walls, everything in this store is made from polymer clay.

You can see more photos and read about the creation of this storefront at Sarajane's Polyclay Gallery. Sarajane gave permission to post this on my blog. We had a delightful exchange of e-mail about the Christmas version of this same shop, currently under construction.

I can't wait to see it. Visiting this miniature quilt shop is almost as good as browsing the LQS!

Nap Attack

Lila and I Sunday afternoon by the fire.

She's resting her chin on the arm of the rocker. I'm sure that's cozy. :D

There's Gotta Be a Better Way

I had a wonderful four-day holiday; two days with my sons over Thanksgiving and two days sewing the Double Nine together.

This one had outgrown the design wall long ago. It was really fun to lay it all out and see the colors play together.

I'm not the fastest sew-er in the west... but I'm not the slowest either. Sewing this top together took me *forever*. There's just no good way to 'web the top' when it's on point. I love the look of diagonal sets, but it's a pain in the neck keeping track of which row you're on and which way the set triangles go.

I'd been optimistic about getting all the short rows together Saturday and the long rows plus border on Sunday. Didn't happen. After hours of up and down to the floor and machine, I had to call it done late Sunday with just the top together. I still have to trim all the outside triangles and square it up. I do like it though. I think the outer blue triangles gives it sort of a lacy appearance.

So lemme ask you... when you find intersecting seams have flipped while sewing the long seams, do you go back and redo them? When I'm tired I usually say it's good enough. But later I always redo each one.

GF Time

Su declared November 17th a Sew-day. The minigroup members were invited, but we had three. It doesn't matter how many show up. We always have a good time; sewing, girl talk, food, fabric... what else could we want??

We love meeting at Su's house 'cause she has this great big sunlit room that can fit all the tables and gear. Love, love, love that LoneStar, doesn't the color of the wall just make it *pop*?

Here are the last three Paintbox blocks being laid out.

Lynn delcared she hadn't sewn since the last time we all had a sew day... *three* months ago! That's what happens when you retire. You get too busy to do the things you want. :D

And me making more sunshine and shadow string along blocks.

I think they're getting more interesting now that I'm not holding back so much. Been throwing in purple, hot green, orange... it's great fun.

Su pulled out a tub of UFO's and laid out project after project, showing us what she's worked on in the past and things she might not finish because she learned and then moved on.

This was the only one that was on the table long enough to get a pix. Fun stuff!

We potlucked homemade Minestrone soup, tuna salad on greens, marinated cucumber slices and pickled beets. I went home late in the afternoon; tired by happy.

It's a Sock!

I know one sock is only half way there, but I'm just so tickled. It's a new skill learned and I persevered. I frogged and reknit the heel three times and the toe twice. No wonder I feel like I've been at this one item so long! But it fits like a glove... no, a custom knit sock!

A big thank you goes to Kristin for her fabulous photo-illustrated tutorial. And to Jo at Celtic Memory Yarns for the inspiration. Her dreamy socks make this one look like a work-a-day garment. But we all have to start somewhere.

What's on Your Bed?

Okay, I'll play.

Here's the quilt. I only had to unearth it from under a down comforter and two sets of knit tops and flannel bottoms I wear for sleep. Remember Pajama bags? I always thought those were a waste of time. You end up pulling the Pj's out again each night so why put 'em in there??

Here it is outside in the daylight.

Orphan Block Quilts Now and Then

I love what some of the blog ladies are doing with their orphan blocks. Instead of thinking a pile of mismatched singles aren't meant to go together, they cast doubt aside and pull them into a top. Here are two of my favorites.

Jeanne over at Spiral did this one:

And Lucy at ~Quilting With the Past~ did this one:

I've looked at antique quilts made along the same lines, but I never understood them. Such a mishmash of blocks, sizes and colors, what was the maker thinking??

Here's one dated 1880:

But who's to say orphan block quilts are a new idea??

Sew Day With Su Bee

Saturday Su and I decided to 'play hookey' from guild and SEW! What better excuse?

She was hot on the trail of her Paintbox blocks...

... and after a few hours of sewing she had these. I posted 'em on the side of the refrigerator with bar magnets as each one was completed.

I finally tried my hand at string-along blocks. But I couldn't seem to get the hang of it. This is as far as I got. Are they *blah*? I like the blue in the middle, but I think my color choices are too careful. So I made more, thinking I was using an 'anything goes' frame of mind.

Huh... can't see much difference.

Guess I'll have to make more, try harder to be less controled, more avant garde. That could be a challenge. :D

More Three Inch Nines

I was happily sailing along, sewing my Ninepatch blocks into Dbl Nines when I realized I was running short. Back to the strip box and another 27 Nines later... How could I've miscalculated so badly??

This is what's on the design wall currently. I have more DNP blocks, but they'll have to wait for the final lay-out on the floor. All from stash except the final outside set blocks.

More later...