This Spring's Trip to the Redwoods

Frank went in search of wildflowers and wood nymphs in Montgomery State park recently. It was fun to see the oak tree on the ridge again; this time with a steer grazing nearby instead of a heifer.

These are dual-screen shots so click to enlarge.

These images have a painterly effect applied to them in PaintShopPro. If they look slightly out of focus, it's because they are. :cD

Weekend Sewing

Another donation quilt, another Ninepatch. I just never get tired of that pattern. :cD

Let's see if I can manage to machine quilt Bishops fans on this one without butchering it!

Minis

I wanted to send a friend of mine a picture of my Log Cabin miniature and when I went to my blog found it wasn't there! Haven't I posted my minis, where've I been?

So for those of you that have wanted to see my miniatures, here ya go ~

My first, machine pieced in strips, hand quilted. Seams are 1/4". Each Nine patch finishes at 3/4". Photo by DH.

This one was from a Sally Collins workshop early in the 1990s. It placed Third in the County Fair because the machine quilting is iffy. I didn't care, I still like it.

This one was made as part of a 'skills trade'. She got the mini and I got one of my nap sized quilts machine quilted. Made in the early 1990's from "Earthtones".

Pine Trees. Machine pieced, machine quilted. The HST units finish at 1/4". Photo by DH.

Log Cabin, or Straight Furrows; machine pieced, hand quilted. I'd made this one again in a minute, it was so fun and is so pleasing.

Broken Dishes, machine pieced from cut-away HSTs from another project that I just couldn't throw away, machine quilted.

I don't have a lot of luck handquilting my minis. I can't seem to get the stitches and the quilt designs to scale. But people always seemed impressed by the fact these are not paper pieced. I learned to make minis before paper piecing was really popular so... And I'm usually happy with the results. Though if I ever attempt the mini Feather Star - I don't know, it might be better to try pp'ing it.

Quilting in the Garden

This was yesterday. The temperature was just right. I heard the small woodland sounds of finches and chickadees among the branches. The gentle sound of the winds in the pines overhead kept me company. The quiet was complete, inside and out.

Doll Quilt Update

Thanks for all the comments on the doll quilt. I've had several really pleasant e-mail conversations with quilters about the pre-cut squares and the doll quilt. I'm reluctant to tell you that when I practiced free-motion Bishop's fan on it, the quilting is *so* bad I can't bring myself to donate it. I'm not just being my own worst critic either. It's *embarrassing*!

I had just asked Frank to put turtle wax on the bed of my machine to aid the free motion of the quilting. Yikes! It was so free that was a lot of the problem, it had a mind of it's own. Su swears she thinks waxing your machine is the hottest thing since paper napkins, but it must be for larger quilts with more drag.

So I haven't sewn since that day it seems. Too preoccupied with other things. We had a terrific Spring hike at the lake last Sunday and it was so great to see the water level up where it needs to be. This man-made rez is my community's water supply and we were already being asked to ration during the *winter* months. I wasn't looking forward to what summer rationing was going to be like.

Click to enlarge

But it was heaven to lay on the grass along the rim of the lake and watch the red tailed hawks circling overhead. The breeze was a touch cool, but there were fragrant heathers blooming near by and all in all it was a great reprieve from the daily-ness of life.

Frank creates desktop images for his dual screen monitor set up, that's why some of the pictures I post are panoramas.

Two Inch Precut Squares

I guess I have a reputation among my quilt guild friends for working with small pieces. So when they came across this box of 2" precut squares while cleaning out the guild storage unit it was decided they should be given to me. Well I couldn't say no could I?

I didn't count how many squares there are but I had a good old time sitting in the recliner by the fire for more hours than I care to mention enjoying and admiring many of the fabrics. There's a wide variety and it's amusing to see all the different styles and colors together in one place.

I didn't need this box of squares. I have my own! What was I thinking? But I started pulling out favorites and planning color schemes and the next thing I knew I'd made a doll quilt. The arrow in the picture above points to the pile of squares used.

But there are so *many* such doll quilts waiting to be made from these squares. This is insane, someone save me!

Beach Day

Frank and I spent last weekend with Nathan and his GF in Santa Rosa. We celebrated Nathan's birthday Saturday with dinner, cake and gifts. Then Sunday after church we all loaded into the Mazda and went to the coast.

It was a *perfect* day. In all the years I've gone to the Sonoma or Mendocino coast I have never seen a nicer, warmer, *windless* day. We were in heaven.

The only down side was the lack of wind made kite flying a challenge. Nathan's stunt kite takes more than the usual amount of wind to keep it going. But Hollin made a valiant try.

We picniced and sat in the sun... something it's rarely warm enough to do.

The water looked so nice and others were walking the shore line so I gave it a try. It was *cold*, numbing cold!

click to enlarge

FPC class

I was asked to teach a class in Fabric Postcards at my guild. There were six that day.

Rosy cutting up

It was just nice to get away from everything else and sew with some guild ladies for a few hours.

Connie in concentrated mode

We had fun and produced a few fabric postcards worthy of the name.

Rosy's Round Up

I've had an Ocean Wave quilt in my head off and on for awhile so I decided to test drive some of the colors. One or two ladies thought I was *insane* working at this scale, but it's a good way to try layouts without using a lot of fabric.

Here the pieces are placed on Steam a Seam fusible. I covered them with an applique pressing sheet to bond the fusible. They're half of a 1 and a half inch square. Which turned out to be too big for the postcard, so I cut them down even more.

But I thought the results was so cheerful. I can't wait to make the full size version!

For DH

After a couple of gentle nudges from Frank I completed the wallhanging we bought during last year's anniversary trip to Fort Bragg.

It was late for Valentine's Day and early for our 30th, but here's to you drhrt.

Winter Hike

Frank and I visited Nathan and his GF a few weekends ago. After a nice Sunday brunch we headed for the redwoods.

We used to hike here as a family when my sons were school age. I hadn't been back in probably 15 years. It was a walk down memory lane. The falls only have water in them during the winter months.

When we left his apartment it was 64 degrees. But it was probably in the low fifties under the canopy. We kept moving to keep warm.

The happy hikers.