Friday, July 28, 2006

No Pictures !!!

I was at the meeting last night and was going to take a picture of the block of the month, which turned out to be 4 different sets of 12 red work and my camera batteries were out of jucie. So no pictures. But I promice I will have pictures of the workshop tomorrow.....I am charging up more batteries as I write this posting.

I did not win anything at Quilto......I would be one spot away from winning and some one else's spot would be called and they'd win. Oh well......I really don't need more fat quarters.

Tonight I have to rewire the foot pedal to my Singer 301a. I have noticed that when I use my machine the foot pedal get hot. I went into the local repair shop and asked him what the problem could be and he told me it will burn a hole in the carpet if I don't replace the pedal. So $20.00 later I bought a new pedal and now have to take the other apart and wire up the new one.
I happen to own quite a few sewing machines......my Elna, fancy machine, does lots of stiches and I really love it but don't like to take it to workshops unless I'm going to need to use the stiches.....its heavy. I have two featherweights, one pre-war and one post-war. But the machine I love the most is my Singer 301a. Weights a couple of pounds more then the featherweights, but its more powerful and you can drop the feed dogs with a screw under the bed. I have a black 301a and I just love to sew on it. Pictures on Monday......I will even take one of my 301a.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

It's Been Hot !!!!

Yes....its been very hot here in certral California. Sunday was 115, and I attended an out side wedding at 5:30 in the afternoon. Needless to say it was the hottest wedding I've ever attended. We Californians are use to the weather being hot in July but this hot spell has been humid and we're not use to that kind of weather. It usually cools off at night but no at 11:00 p.m. the temp. would be 90. I hate to sleep with the air conditioner on. Today I walked outside and it finally felt cool....who would believe that the high 90's could feel cool.

Lots of livestock have died because of the heat. Our dairymen have lost many cows that could not take the hot weather because it did not cool off at night. Milk production has suffered also, the cows do not eat because of the heat and if they don't eat they don't produce as much milk.

Tonight is my Manteca quilt guild meeting. We are playing Quilto.....the quilters version of Bingo. Should be fun, it takes one fat quarter to buy a Quilto card. So there will be lots of fat quarters to win and the last game of the night will be black out to win what is left of the fat quarters. I will take my camera and take pictures to share and I'll try to get pictures of the block of the month. As people turn in their block the chairman of the block of the month usually pins them on the wall. Maybe I'll win...keep my fingers crossed.

On Saturday the guild is hosting a free sew or philanthropy sew. Bring your sewing machine down to the library and work on what ever you want. I'm going to work on philanthropy quilts. Our guild makes lots of quilts for children....lap sized quilts. I'm going to work on little quilts for premature babies. You talk a FQ of flannel fabric and sew it to another piece of flannel, make sure and leave an opening, turn the blanket and top stich so you sew up the opening. I've been buying flannel to make these little blankets with so now I will be able to get lots done. I again will take my camera and take pictues of all the ladies sewing.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Block of the Month For July.....Done


I finished stiching the block of the month for July. This block took more time to do because of the hand work.... then sewing one with my sewing machine. I used the back stich....just because its easy to do and I like the way it looks. I confess that I do like chickens and would be very happy to win these blocks. I think the person who does the block of the month took the images from a day of a week dish towel set.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

The Only Picture I Took of A Quilt



At the quilt show on Saturday I only took a picture of one quilt. This quilt was quite different from all the other quilts. Its was made by a quilter who's last name was Tree. You understand why......when you see the quilt.

My taste in quilts is changing, I don't like just any quilt, I'm leaning towards more modern designs. Quilts that are different, bright colors, a quilt you don't see every day. This quilt is large a queen or king with lots of trees.....all different, no boarders on the quilt. I'll bet it looks good on the quilters bed.


Monday, July 17, 2006

Happy Monday



Another Monday morning and here in California we are looking at a week of over 100 degree weather. The trip to Ironstone winery on Saturday was nice and the weather was cooler then expected. My friends and I all had a good time shoping the vendors, looking at quilts and enjoying the beautiful grounds at the winery. This picture shows the entrance to the quilt show and the table selling tickets to get in. The landscapeing around the winery is very beautiful. The picture on the right is taken from the room that has the quilts in it and is the highest point on the winery. We all had lots of fun at the quilt show....I didn't spend too much money at the vendors but had fun doing it. After we were done at the quilt show we drove back into Murphys and are lunch at a wonderful resturant downtown. A wonderful way to spend a Saturday.







Friday, July 14, 2006

Done


The ring bearer pillow is finally done. Finished the beading last night. Now I have to drop it off at T's house so she can finish it up. I really like the way it turned out......working with only white and silver wasn't so bad after all.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Quilt Show at Ironstone Winery

On Saturday two friends and I are going to Murphy's to Ironstone Vineyards to attend the Independence Hall Quilters, Mountain Heirloom Quilt Faire XXVIIII. Last year was the first year the quilter had their quilt show at the winery and we attended. The day was very warm as days in the California foothills in summer can be. What we love about this quilt show is the ladys of this guild go to garage sales and buy old plates and cups and stuff....then they bake goodies and arrange the goodies on the old plates and in cups and sell them. It's so cool...not only are you buying delicious goodies but you get a neat old plate too. Last year vendors (which is the first reason we go to quilt shows, to buy quilting stuff) were outside on cement that was in the sun all day and before noon it was way too hot to be out there.......I felt very sorry for those vendors. I hope they have come up with a better place to put them this year.

I'm taking my camera this year and will take lots of pictures. Since starting this blog I'm using my digital camera much more then I use too......which is a good thing. I will post the pictures on Monday so you can all enjoy this quilt show in the beautiful California foothills. The weather man is saying that the temp on Saturday will be 101 degrees.....I hope they are wrong!

Works in Progress


Been working on the ring bearer pillow for the wedding on the 23rd. I love to do silk ribbon embroidery, I love working with different colors for flowers and greens for leaves. However this bride did not want any color, just white and silver. The J is what the last name of the groom starts with so I used a J that we liked and used a copier to make it biger. I traced the J on tissue paper and then embroidered it on the satain with a gray floss. I think its turning out better then I figured it would.


Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Quilt Show Meeting

Last night my quilt guild in Manteca held the first quilt show meeting. Only 8 months till the quilt show. I do believe this is the earlest quilt show meeting since I've been a member. But it is good, we got lots done and input and our ideas is what the quilt show chair was looking for. By the way the quilt show chair for 2007 is one of our only male members!! His wife has been co-chair so he know's what its all about and the work involved. As is true with many quilt guilds the same people do the work and do the same jobs at the quilt show every year so putting it on is rather easy.

Coming into work this morning there was lots of smoke in the air from the fire in Del Puerto Canon. I hope they put it out soom as the smoke really messes up the valley air. I'm afriad that this year is going to be a bad year for fires since all the rain we received this spring made all the grass and brush grow.

On Tuesday night I drive into Manteca and attend a small stiching group that meets in the library. Sometimes we lug in our sewing machines and work on projects but mostly we do hand work. As the farmers market is going on on Tuesday night in the park behind the library and parking is hard to find I've been doing hand work. The block of the month for July is a red work block and I've been working on that. But tonight I will be working on the ring bearer pillow for my good friend T's daughter's wedding. I'll try and take a picture of it and post tomorrow.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Sick 4th of July

Guess who got sick on the 4th of July? Little old me! First dear daughter N got up that morning saying I'm sick.....then later when I attended a party went to the bathroom and threw up. Didn't feel like eating should have known I was sick! So I spent the rest of the 4th of July on the couch sick...missed fireworks and all the good food at the party. It was just a 24 hour bug and now am feeling back to normal.....what ever that is.

Here is the web site for the pattern and source for the flower petals used in the wallhanging I showed you in the post last week. The web site is www.bellanonnaquilt.com. The name of the designer is Bella Nonna Design Studio, 608 South Jefferson, Kennewick, WA 99336. The pattern is called Hydrangea Tapestry #130.