The Sistahs Meet in Sisters

Home again, home again and recovering from a week of fun with my "Sistahs" at Sisters, or more correctly, Black Butte Ranch. BBR is a planned resort community about 18 miles north of Sisters, Oregon. We rented a home with four bedrooms and three and a half baths for our group of seven quilters.

Our trip began as planned with Becky and I caravanning with Kathy and Kat, and we arrived at the house tireder than heck at 7:30 Monday night. We decided to pick up a rotisserie chicken and do rice and salad rather than go out and that was an excellent choice.
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Tuesday was designated a sewing day, so we got our mini-sweatshop set up at the kitchen table and away we went. Kat and Kathy (at right) were doing a blue and green batik project that they had swapped triangles for a few weeks prior to the trip. Becky (below, cooking) decided to put together three gazillion 3 inch nine patches from swaps with the 3 inch hourglasses she'd made. The 16 rows were 16 blocks each and several times she put it down and declared that she wasn't going to work on it anymore, but she always picked it up again. She also put together some Bento Box Blocks of the Month from SR Quilt Guild that I won and gave her when she left town the following month as well as a set of beautiful Jacob's Ladder blocks that she got in a swap.

I took a ton of UFO's, knowing I'd not finish them all, but prepared nonetheless. First, I finished putting together the Christmas Lucky Stars top I'm doing as a 50th birthday present for my longtime friend Maureen. She was 51 in May, but knows the quilt is coming. I found the perfect binding for it on sale at the Pincushion too. My second UFO was a mystery quilt I started at Linda Ballard's class in Williams in Feb., using fabrics I'd bought 20 or more years ago for son Daniel's Christmas quilt. That top is done except for borders! Finally, I finished (or so I thought) a top from a Debbie Caffrey mystery at the Pincushion with Kathy a year or so ago. Our resident quilt teacher and long-arm quilter extraordinaire Kat decided that I needed to do half blocks to finish part of the design into the border, so there you have it--not done. The two Christmas quilts are pictured at left.
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Wednesday we went into Sisters to shop at the Stitchin' Post (the sponsor of the show) before the busses and crowds hit. We all found lots of goodies and I was especially glad that I found a great kit for a quilt for a certain person who will be having a major birthday this year (not that she reads the blog, but she is rather special). I'd been back and forth endlessly trying to figure out something not too old-fashioned or cutsey for her. Mission accomplished, the Snowball quilt in Daiwabo Taupes fit the bill to a "T." The link is the acutal kit I got, and I plan to add a bit of Sashiko quilting in some of the squares.
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Also on Wednesday, Molly and Nancy arrived from Sacramento, just in time for Becky's fabulous pasta dinner. Fun, fun, fun.
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Molly and Nancy took a class on Thursday and Lori arrived later that day. The fun continued. Friday was our day to check out the stores in Bend, which were jam packed and somewhat disappointing compared to years past. We did manage to drop a dollar or two, though. Busloads of quilters put us off a really great shop that was crowded and hotter than you can believe. We vowed to stop by on our way out of town on Sunday. We went to the park Friday night, had dinner and listenend to Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston give their show and tell and talk about their recent collaborations. More great fun.
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Saturday was the show, pictured above. We got there early, but it was hot, hot, hot. For many of us, the show is an anti-climax after a week of sewing, giggling, belly-laughing, noshing, sipping and shopping, and that was the case again this year.
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Sunday came all too soon and we met up on the way home at Sew Much Fun in Bend and did some farewell shopping, then again in Mount Shasta for lunch. Kathy and Kat, Molly and Nancy opted to shop at Sew Unique again but Becky and I, facing 2 hours' drive once we left I-5, opted to head for the ranch directly. Even so, we arrived home at 8:30 to wine and dinner waiting. Do I have the best hubby, or what?
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We managed to pass an entire week in each other's company without a ripple on the water. What an amazingly agreeable group of gals--can't wait for next year!!!!

Out O' Here

In a few hours, my friend Becky from Lompoc and I will be departing for beautiful Williams, CA. What the heck is in Williams, you say?

Granzella's Inn, a mere stopover enroute to Black Butte Ranch, Oregon, where we will spend a blissful week sewing, chatting, shopping, eating and drinking with a group of the Fat Quarter girls, Kathy B., Kat, Molly, Nancy and Lori. Fun, fun, fun!

We will be detouring this afternoon to the Pincushion Boutique in Davis as Becky hasn't yet been there and would like to visit. Who am I to deny her? Plus, she's driving, so who am I to deny her?

Following a night at Granzella's, Kat and Kathy will meet up with us, most likely at the BCOD (butt crack of dawn, thanks Kate). We will stop in Mt. Shasta for lunch at the original Brown Bear Diner and a small bit of shopping at Sew Unique, a very fun shop.

While in Sisters/Bend, we will hit all of the local stores before attending the Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters next Saturday, then drive home on Sunday.

Internet is iffy, so see ya in a week!

Car shopping

It used to be such an adventure to get a new car. Now it seems like a chore, and with different ideas about what we wanted, it seemed more like pain than pleasure. It is hard to get really excited about spending more as much for a car as I did for the first house I owned.

After much back and forth, we drove to Petaluma today to test drive a Toyota Camry Hybrid. I'm all over the idea of hybrids, but Mike was so-so and he definitely hated the Toyota Prius, so that was a no-go from the get-go. He was worried, and rightly so, that the performance would be sluggish and our Toyota Tacoma already fills that need for us we didn't need more of that.

The model in stock was the most amazingly gross shade of green I've ever seen in my life, so that was out of the question. We liked the darker grey, but as the managers wife had been waiting over 2 months for one, we ordered the dark grey with the lighter grey/sliver as number two. It should be here in ........3 to 6 weeks.

With an estimated mileage of 38 city and 40 highway, I can hardly wait. I'll wave as I cruise by the gas stations. That would be a one fingered wave to all the gas hogging SUV drivers out there.

There's No Place Like Home

We are home from our drive-a-thon family visitation to Portland, Seattle, and a few points in between. My former Honda now belongs to son Scott and we are a 1 truck family for now.

Our trip involved meeting up with my mother-in-law Daisy and driving her--yes, Driving Miss Daisy--to visit some old friends and family members and visiting Scott and his girlfriend Erin and delivering my car to him.

Without dragging out the details, I got to meet Mike's Aunt and Uncle and cousins for the first time and a handful of Daisy's long-time friends.

The dogs were glad to see us, the weather is unseasonably hot for Santa Rosa and I'm dog tired. I'm sooooooo happy my yoga class is tomorrow because I need to de-stress from being around people all the time. Those who know me well know how much I need my downtime!

Looking forward to some home cooking tomorrow!!!

June 14th

Is my birthday.

I was born at 8:ish in the a.m. on Saturday, June 14th, 1952 by caesarian and approximately 2 months early. Despite a shaky start, I managed to grow up hearty and healthy and in this photo about to face arrest by the bang police. Every time my hubby sees a woman with the trendy haircut and bangs that are short on the sides, I have apoplexy over the bad haircuts visited upon us by Mom and "Auntie Jewell" the woman next door who fancied herself a hair stylist and general know-it-all.

That is beside the point, though, I'm pictured here on my 5th birthday.

June 14th is also Flag Day, the anniversary of the day in 1777 that the Continental Congress adopted the stars and stripes as the flag of the U.S. (Was this the one hand sewed by Betsy Ross? No small coincidence there!

Numerous other auspicious occasions have taken place on this date, all viewable at Wikipedia.

Some famous events include:
1789 Whiskey was distilled from corn by Rev. Elijah Craig of Bourbon County, KY
1846 Bear Flag Revolt--Anglo settlers in Sonoma, CA rebelled against Mexico and formed the California Republic
1938 The first Superman comic is published.
1942 Anne Frank begins to keep a diary.

Famous births:
1864 Alois Alzheimer born---guess what he discovered???
1961 Boy George, the Karma Chameleon

Famous deaths:
1801 Benedict Arnold
1926 Mary Cassatt

My birthday cake was completed yesterday and we already had some as we are leaving town tomorrow on a road trip with my mother-in-law Daisy and didn't want to waste a bit. German chocolate handmade by my sweetie. Yum!

The only bad thing about today is that I can't believe I'm 54 years old. How in the world did that happen?? As Mary Engelbreit says, "Time flies whether you're having fun or not," and thankfully, I'm having a blast each and every day.

Thats Our Boy!

My stepson Scott (I hesitate to use the prefix as "step" connotes so many negative things--none of which apply in our lives) has begun blogging. The young man is a born writer and has always had a killer sense of humor and an eye for the ridiculous in the everyday.

While many his age are busy in the titillating world of My Space.com (as he may well be in his spare time for all I know), Scott is tackling the Seattle Department of Transportation on behalf of the people. The unwitting political activist--we knew there had to be one among our four children, we just didn't know which one.

I became a member of Scott's fan club very early on in my relationship with his father. I was at my sweetie's house after work one day lifting weights and premenstrual and not a happy chick. Scott came in and started talking to (or at) me and practicing his golf swing on the astroturf by the weight machine. Unfortunately, water had spilled on the astroturf and each swing was pelting me with miniscule drops of water. He chattered on and on and I was soon ready to kill him, but at the same time I was mesmerized by his wit. How could I not fall in love with him, too?

Long story made short, go check out his blog, Pottis, Inc. and you will not be disappointed--the kid is hilarious!

Old Friends

In the midst of preparing for the quilt show, I also prepped a quilt for hand quilting.

This process involves laying out the three layers of the quilt and securing them together temporarily and then either pinning with safety pins or hand basting.

Since I'm hand quilting the project, I opted for basting the layers as the safety pins interfere with the hoop I use while quilting. These 1 3/4" long pins have been a part of my armamentarium (like that old Dental Hygienist lingo??) for quilting, aka a gadget. The difference between this and many of the other gadgets I've purchased over the years is that this one has been with me since I started quilting in a hoop in 1980 when I made a quilt for my second child . I use them once a year or less, but they are just the right thing for the job and so far, I've not seen much room for improvement.

Another "old friend"is my 14 inch wood hoop. As with the pins, I bought it in 1980 to make Daniel's baby quilt. Over the years, I have purchased several alternative hand quilting hoops, but I keep coming back to this one. The last time I heard Mary Chapin Carpenter sing "This Shirt" I thought about my quilting hoop and the quilts I've quilted in it and the life changes I've gone through during those times of my life. I store this hoop around the handle of my sewing basket so I can see it whenever I'm doing handwork and whether I need it or not.

Here is Miss Anabel Lee aka Gator inspecting the quilting hoop. Tonight, while we watch Deadwood on Netflix, she will be mad because the quilting is in the way of her bed-hogging. Such a witch.

To the left is the project that generated the trip down memory lane with Gator in the back and Ace in the front, inspecting. This quilt top was made in July 2004 at a workshop with Billie Lauder using the pattern "There's a Dog on My Quilt!" I modified Billie's generic mutt to be a Miniature Schnauzer like my mutts and even included 3-D eyebrows and tongue.

I'm hand quilting this for our friend Michelle who is expecting her first baby, a boy, in August. Michelle was my husband's step-daughter for much of her childhood and they had Schnauzers, Cindi and Julie, so I thought she'd like this quilt for her son. When she was a senior in high school, Michelle asked me to teach her to quilt as her senior project and she made several baby quilts for the ABC preemie quilt project, so the girl knows quilts. I'm happy as can be since I've not had a hand quilting project since Mr. B's quilt.

It's Showtime!

The Moonlight Quilters of Sonoma County are hosting their annual show, Wine Country Quilts, this weekend. Submissions are due tonight, and I can't believe that I got everything done and ready to deliver two days early. This was not the Herculean task it might seem since 4 of the 5 pictured at right were finished quilts, just needing hanging sleeves and labels for completion. The mini quilt with Christmas trees, "O Tannenbaum," was a project of the Snooze-You-Lose Mini Group as was the scarecrow quilt called "If I only had a brain."

The background quilt, you may recognize as The Acorn, made as a surprise for me by my daughter Kate and her advisor Mr. B. I'm entering it in her name so she and I can be in the Moonlighter's show together. The quilt on the upper right has been featured on this blog in the past and on the upper left is a quilt I made 5 years ago as a challenge for my trip to Sisters, Oregon.

This quilt is called Quilting IS Therapy. I purchased the center panel at BJ's in Bend, Oregon in July of 2000 while staying in Sunriver prior to the annual quilt show in Sisters. I originally purchased it as a joke to show my co-workers and hubby because at the time I was working as the office manager of a non-profit counseling agency where hubby was working as a marriage and family therapist. I knew they would get a kick out of it, and they did. Then, the 2001 Sisters attendees were issued a small amount of a fabric and issued the challenge to use it in a project. I decided to incorporate the panel and mini-blocks to comemorate some of the blocks I've made into quilts, though some of these blocks were just easy to piece in the 3 inch size needed for the project. I embellished the quilt with a vintage measuring tape and sewing themed buttons. As time went by, I added quilt show pins and other quilty things. One of my favorite things is the first block in from the left corner of the top row, a skeleton key and puffy heart because....."Quilting is the key to my heart."

Shake It Up!

Yesterday evening, at 6:07 p.m. we had a bit of an earthquake. Like 3.0 magnitude at 3.7 miles deep, epicentered approximately a half mile as the crow flies from our house.

We were sitting down doing some computer work when it hit and Greyhair said it felt like a large truck hit the house, an event not out of the realm of possibility as new homes are being built up the street that intersects our street right at our driveway and we are downhill from the construction. Yikes! Runaway skiploader!


Alas, it was our somewhat annual Memorial Day Weekend earthquake, the first annual (in family records) occurred on Memorial Day weekend in '03, the first year we were here.

That evening, about midnight, a group of the FQ girls were here celebrating my liberation into the great blue north of California (from the red, red Central Valley) and Greyhair bailed to Lake Tahoe to avoid being contaminated by quilters. =) We are pictured above, Randy, me, Vanessa, the late Sandy B., Kathy and Pam. I was in bed and that quake felt and sounded like a wrecking ball hit the wall just behind my headboard. We all got up and compared notes, I called the Greyman on his cell phone and we went back to bed. The casualties included a small crack in the billiard room wall and a knocked over bottle of olive oil in the kitchen. Nothing major.

After the to-do over the centennial of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, in which the flatland of Santa Rosa was severely damaged, hubby and I talked about getting an earthquake kit together and I guess this was just another reminder that that big one is out there and could happen anytime.

More Sew A Row

Another Sew-A-Row done, this one for Moonlight Quilters of Sonoma County. I'm not a hugely active member, but my pal Phyllis from SRQG is and I love the Sew-A-Row program she started for us like the Moonlighter's, so I decided to participate.

I'll be gone in mid-June when this one is due so I finished my row early and handed it in today. My row is the starry sky. At the end of the year, I'll have a chance with the other participants to win this one.

Day guild (SRQG) met today and our speaker Diane Leighton's topic was "Finding More Time To Quilt," always an important thing for quilters. She suggested listing all of those UFOs, WIPs and PIGS on a separate sheet of paper--little does she know that uber-smart Fat Quarter members Nancy, NP (link above) and Moira have gone high-tech and are doing it on Excel spreadsheets. She suggested rating each project with an A, B or C rating with the C's being those projects one would bring and offer up on the guild's silent auction table. An example might be class projects for techniques that we just don't like. You tried, it wasn't your thing and now it is "finished" if only for the knowledge that it isn't a technique you will ever waste time on again. For "A" projects a note of what needs to be done to finish it will help hasten its completion. Finally, she suggested a shopping list of items needed to finish those projects in process for taking to quilt shows. Now there is a novel idea--rather than recreational shopping, planned shopping. Wow. Food for thought......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!

Today, Saturday, May 13th, is my beloved's birthday. Without telling his age, let's just say he's over 50, but not on the dark side of it. =)

Himself is pictured here in his favorite outfit (more on that to follow) sometime during his first year. Isn't he sweet?

Here he is in some Easter finery, not of his liking. When I first told my daughter, big-mouth Kate, that I thought he was good-looking after seeing him working in his yard when I dropped her at his house to visit Sarah, she replied, "You should see him when he's dressed up for work." She was right, of course, he did clean up really well, but his favorite outfit other than his birthday suit is shorts and a T shirt, and who can blame him?

Here he is at 17, all dressed up for Prom, 70's style. Don't you love the ruffled shirt? Wasn't he adorable? What a hunk--wish I had been his date, but better late than never, I suppose.

He is pictured here in 1992 at his mother's 60th birthday party with his children, Scott and Sarah, then almost 12 and 13. Hopefully, they will not be mad at me for posting this picture, but pictures of him with both kids are somewhat rare as he was usually behind the camera.

He loves his furry babies, too. He is hanging out here with Julie, the Miniature Schnauzer he acquired when his Mom moved to Carmel. Julie lived to be 16 years old and was very smart and sweet according to family lore.
Fast forward a few years and here is the birthday boy in 2002 with Sarah and Scott, now 24 and 23. He is at Lake Tahoe in December, where we celebrated our nearly annual alternative Thanksmas/Christgiving get together.

Finally, here we are last December, near the eleventh anniversary of our first date.

My husband is the most honest and accountable person I know. He always calls it like he sees it, and while it may not always be easy to hear, it is a very good thing. I waited almost a lifetime for you.

So, for you, my favorite person in the world to hang out with and my best friend, I wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY and MANY, MANY MORE !!!

Another Good Read

Another page-turner done and I was sorry to see it end. The tome in question was Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. Set in the past and present, it follows the trail of a family and friends who hunt for Dracula who is presumed to be "alive" and practicing his vampirical skills.

Check out the review on Salon.com (link above), for more details. Though I'm a die-hard reader and have been called a book slut by my beloved--he's wrong, I won't read anything, anytime, anywhere.

The trip takes the reader through the Balkan states during the 1930's, 1950's and early 1970's as our protagonists are called to search for the elusive Vlad Tepes aka Dracula. Along the way, we are treated to a virtual European travelogue and a picture of life in academia before the internet, when research took place in old libraries and in person. Kostova gives vivid descriptions of the local peoples and landmarks throughout the story. It is almost like being there, and I love that in a book.

A troll through the book reviews at Barnes and Noble shows some mixed reviews, but I had none. There was a small part in the middle that dragged a bit, but nothing too serious, so get out that library card and get reading!

Quilters Sweat Shop

We had a fine quilty day today. Instead of having our usual mini-group meeting for the UFO (UnFinished Objects), we met at Teddy Bear Quilts to have a work party. Our mini-group and the guild are making a memorial quilt for our friend and member Norma Viglienzone, who lost her son in Iraq when his Humvee was hit by an IED on February first. Caesar was an only child, and Norma and Dennis are obviously grieving. As quilters, we had to do something , so of course we decided to make a quilt. Doh!

Aided by Norma's sister and group member Vandy, we obtained a number of pictures of him from the slideshow presented at his memorial service. Vandy printed them on fabric and SR Quilt Guild members donated tons of patriotic fabric. I designed the quilt to be able to deal with the different sizes of the photos and today we got together to make the blocks.

Here is a shot of a few of the workers, Jackie in front on the left, Lynn in the yellow shirt, Carolynn and Angie are behind Lynn. On the right, in back, is Linda and Pat has her back to the camera. The gorgeous quilt top in the back of the room is owner Jim's block of the month program for 2006, and the blocks are gorgeous.
Heres a shot of Barbara, Phyllis (in red) and Vandy. Pat is peeking out from behind.



Heres a picture of Linda, hanging out in the back room where we had to overflow and stash the ironing board.

Finally, here is a picture of the blocks we finished in the workshop today. Pretty good work, don't you think?

Amazing myself....

with my productivity.

I finished friendship blocks for two members of my quilt guild. To the right is Marilyn's block. Marilyn requested that we use any method to create a block that shows our personal muse--that force driving us to make the quilts we do. My muse invades my brain in the wee hours and busies me with ideas for new projects. The same force also nags me about UFOs, WIPs and PIGs (Unfinished Objects, Works in Progress and Projects in Grocery Sacks to the uninformed.) I used MS Publisher to create the dream bubble and included some of my favorite quilt blocks and notions and on the left is my logo, a little girl stitching with patches flying all around her head. I titled it "My Muse is Moonlight Madness," and lest you think this is an ode to midlife insomnia, I'll have you know that I've been visited by this selfsame muse for most of the 30 years I've been a quilter. The embroidered saying is intentionally quirky as I used the swirls in the background fabric to help form my letters. It ended up a bit more primitive than I'd hoped, but I didn't want to fire up the embroidery machine at that point.


To the left is a block for Pat M., who requested blocks representing Sonoma County. Pat and her husband plan to retire to Oregon at some point in the future and she wants a block that represents her home and friends here in Sonoma County. I chose the Fountaingrove Round Barn, a relic left from Thomas Lake Harris' utopian community founded in 1875. We live in one of the subdivisions that dot the hills above the Round Barn, a neighborhood known as Fountaingrove, so I chose the barn as my representation. Rather than try to embroider the name of the barn, I took a digital picture of the sign and printed it on a treated fabric sheet as I did the eyes, dream bubble and clock in the "Muse" block.

Finally, here is the row I submitted to Phyllis in January for the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild's 2006 Sew-A-Row program. It is a mini-row, measuring perhaps 18" long and features Civil War reproduction fabrics.
That's it for today.

Getting Caught Up

I've been hopelessly behind in working on a few sewing projects and was actually able to do some catch-up over the last few days.

At the right, are four of the Eensy Weensy blocks (4 1/2 inch finished) that I'm exchanging with my pal Nancy, Near Philadelphia. My blocks are coming from Judy Hopkins' book Around the Block Again. The top two blocks, Grandmother's Pride on the left and Glacier Bay on the right are catch-ups for January. On the bottom row, Jack's Delight is for April and Mosaic is for May. Nosy Gretl is pictured in front. Sensibly, we've cut back to one block per month. Now that I've adjusted to working small (as in--I'm paper piecing them) things are going much faster. Now I have only to do my blocks!

The other project is the Sew-A-Row for 2006 masterminded by Phyllis. I added the top row of circle of life blocks, the middle row of checkerboard was started by Vandy and the bottom row as pieced by Pam. I'm still trying to decide if I want to add some tiny white heart buttons to the centers of each "flower." Two more people will work on this project between now and the end of October and we'll draw names among the participants to see who gets to keep it. I'm actually done early with this one, which is a shock.

Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting is one of my favorite quilting magazines ever. I've been quilting since 1975 and began subscribing to Quilter's Newsletter Monthly shortly thereafter. While QNM is a great magazine as well, you just can't beat the projects in Love of Quilting. Not only that, F & P gives our guild a rebate on each subscription the guild sends in as a group! You can't beat that kind of marketing, can you?????

On the nature front, hubby spotted a coyote meandering up our street this morning and I got outside in time to catch a glimpse of him. During the three years we've been here, we have seen a fair number of wild turkeys and deer, but never a coyote before. We live in a suburban subdivision in the hills above Santa Rosa, but with 80 or more homes, it is hardly rural. I hope the little guy was able to move out to the hills behind us safely....