New Year, New Plans, and New Friends (Sutherlin, OR)

Are you ready to start the new year?  Did you celebrate big last night or did you do like Dan and I?.....we were asleep by midnight.  But, we were up early this morning to greet the new year.....okay, I was up early to watch the Rose Parade.  I haven't seen it in four years.  An excellent way to start the new year.  It has been my dream for years to see this parade in person and to be a volunteer helping with decorating one of the floats.  Wouldn't that be fun!

In the meantime, I'm ready to start this new year with some finished projects  I'm ready to start traveling again.....soon.....and I am most definitely ready to get started on new projects since I am finishing up some big ones.  

On The Cutting Board

....And that is why I have been absent lately from my blog.  I am spending as much time as I can on some UFOs that I am tired of having around.  I have also been spending time with the Craft group for the last two weeks.  It is nice to sit with others while they work on their projects.  I have to admit they have sparked my inspiration to get some projects done.

The first one done and long overdue - Violet's quilt!  Yes!  This deserve a celebration all by its self.  It took me four years to do all the hand-quilting in a hoop.  Granted, I went months without a single stitch added to it, but still, I should not have taken so long to finish her quilt.  I was really beginning to think I would not give it to my granddaughter until she graduated from high school or worse - her wedding day! 

I'm happy to say that she is young enough to enjoy the quilt for many years before she graduates from high school.  I have one more large quilt top to hand-quilt.  It is a Southwest design that I did for our old bed.  It is a king size and I do not look forward to basting that one!  I wonder how long it will take to finish this next one.  For now, I have decided to take a break from large hand-quilting projects.  I have put my quilt frame away.  I need a break from the quilting frame taking up so much room in our living area.  I want to concentrate on smaller projects for a little while.

I finished the embroidery on the Kitty's Welcome wall-hanging.  It is basted and ready for quilting.  I have two more welcome wall-hangings that I would like to do for my shop.  I have started working on their designs.

Jungle Stars

This is the first of two quilts made from this pattern using up some larger scraps.  There were a couple of times I had to go back through my stash to find another scrap of fabric to finish this one.  I ran out of the focus fabric for the last block, so I used the green polka-dots for the center square.

Of course, I must add some applique.  I think a lion and elephant will be right at home sitting at the bottom of this quilt.  I hope to finish another two tops before the end of this month.

Dan and I have been spending time at the community center getting to know people.  Everyone has been helpful and pleasant.  We have learned a lot about this area and about Roseburg.  Despite the cold foggy days, we have been out walking almost every day.  Even the cats are getting into a routine of spending most of their days lounging in the back, begging to go out in the early afternoons, eating, and back to bed before sunset.  Yep, that's a cat's life for you.

head-bump greetings from Hitch

Well, I'm off to see what kind of scrappy mess I can make this evening.....

Have a Happy New Year!  

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire. ~Irish Blessing

RED Cars, WHITE Clouds, & BLUE Sky (Blaine, WA)

How was everyone's 4th of July celebration?  Lots of eating, visiting, and viewing fireworks?

Not a rain cloud in the sky!

Us?  Well, the rain stopped and the sun came out!  Talk about good timing!  We went to Blaine to see the street festival and the classic car show.  We were not expecting it to be so busy!  Wow, where did all of the people come from?   The classic car show was spread out over quite a few blocks so it was easy to view most of the cars.

Classic Car Show

It wasn't so easy to view the vendors.  The area was so packed with people that we gave up on seeing what was good to eat or for sale.

I managed to get a couple of candid shots of people enjoying their day...

Cute!  Eagle kissing? the young lady...

A young patriot

Even the dogs were looking patriotic!

We were too tired to go watch fireworks and I really regret not going down to the bay.  Between the commercial fireworks and home-bought fireworks, it sounded like quite a joyful celebration...that went on until after midnight.  I finally fell asleep around 1 pm surrounded by two scared cats.  Poor guys did not know what to think of all that booming.  Not to worry - they are back to their old selves - begging to go outside, getting into things, and the list goes on....

Me?  I plan to go to bed early again tonight.   yawn!

On the Cutting Board

I finished the last of the sashing on Vi's quilt.  Oh, I can hear your thoughts...what?  She's still working on that quilt?  Yep, shameful.  I know!  I don't know why I am having such a hard time finishing this quilt.  Maybe, part of the reason is the large areas of sashing and borders.  Or maybe, it is all the other distractions that I keep creating for myself.  Oh well, there's no one reason, but I do plan to keep working on the quilt until it is done.

Now, I'm faced with how to mark the floral border.  I have always struggled with this part of quilting - how to transfer a pattern to a top for quilting.  Since I am quilting by hand in a hoop, I cannot use chalk.  I usually use fabric marking pens, but I need to mark as I quilt so there is no marking ahead of time.

I decided to use a simple design for the floral border since it is already very busy and my poor eyes will get quite a workout.  An easy basket weave came to mind and I drew it out on paper.  I thought of using painter's blue tape, but that means constantly measuring and re-adjusting the tape.  I saw this Mesh Transfer sheet by Clover and decided to give it a try.

To transfer the pattern from paper to the mesh sheet, I used a permanent marker.  I was hoping to use an easy-eraser marker, but the marks were smearing when I tried to mark the quilt.

I only marked a small area of this mesh with hopes of using it again for a different quilt.  Although, I might stick to simple designs and stitching in the ditch with echoing as a filler from now on!

Anyway, I positioned the mesh onto the border without removing the quilt from my hoop.  I was a little worried about the ink making it through the tiny mesh to the fabric and being able to see the markings as well.

After several tries with different fabric markers, I found this blue one worked the best because of its softer tip.  Since the markings are a little messy, I have been going over them again using just a ruler and the pen.  It is double the work, but at least I don't have to measure each time I need to mark a new section.

Anyone have any suggestions?  I would love to hear them because this has always been a dilemma for me!

Happy Quilting!