Friday, October 31, 2014

Just like Caro says

It is easy to facebook and not to blog - sadly this just takes longer.  But to catch you up:  We have been having much fun with our friends who moved to Colorado.  The four of us met up in Reno and headed over to Lake Tahoe.  We have had adventures everyday, lots of yummy meals and even had a small Birthday party for Nancy after dinner tonight.  We have done some exploring of the area and everyone's interests have been catered to ( sort of).  Quilt Tahoe is a very charming small store bt unfortunately I didnt think to take any photos.  I did find a couple of patterns and a small piece of fabric (for something - I dont know quite what).  A bit of retail therapy (buying) and lots of looking.  This is a really big ski town and this is just between seasons and activities so the shops are changing their merchandise.  Sadly the gondola was closed for maintenance.  Lots of great campgrounds during the season.  Tomorrow we fly home.  I am excited to get behind my sewing machine for a while.  Enjoy some of what we have seen.






Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Week-end in Anacortes

Turns out it was our last RVing week-end of the 2014 season.  I always hate it when this date comes - I so love going out in the rig - and I sleep so well in that little space.  On Friday morning, before all the regular activities began, we headed into town.  We started with a visit to the Soroptimist's Thrift Shop.  If you read this blog, you know I love to find fabric "cheap".  I managed to locate a number of pieces ranging from 1 yard to 4.5 yards - for a total of $14.

Also visited two "real" quilt stores and found a couple of little things.  With the current passion around the movie and stars of "Frozen", the one panel was perfect for a little 3 year old I see each week.  :-)
and found another piece for the under 2 y.o.
 and because it was pretty cute,  a new apron panel

A very fun week-end.  Even the weather cooperated.  On the trip home we visited Costco, as I heard they had a good sale going on a new coffeemaker.  Caro - it isn't George, but it is pretty terrific in my kitchen.
It brews single cups, as well as a pot-full.  So far, so good.  I love it!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

A grey and rainy Wednesday

Greetings as the wind blows outside and the rain comes down.  Quite the autumn day.

Other than my few volunteer gigs, I have done a couple of sew-ey things around here.  Caroline do you remember these jackets that we bought?  We each got a jacket from the church museum in Spakenburg.  Mine needed to have the neck facing replaced, as well as the ends of the sleeves were quite worn.  So I have done the neckline and one of the sleeves.  Luckily we were smart enough to buy another piece of the same fabric - which is old fabric from traditional costumes.  I'm happy to (almost) have this done.  Been in the UFO project box for QUITE some time.



Yesterday was Oma day (Grandmother day) for the 3+ y.o. and 20 mo. old.  It was a "dressing up" morning, [but it is hard to get your outfit on when you are so young]
Also, with the popularity of Frozen - Elsa and Anna costumes are so important
(Mama's scarf makes a wonderful cape)

Oh, you just have to laugh and enjoy it.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Volunteering

It really is fun to volunteer at the fabric store, Pacific Fabrics - although because you have on a nametag everyone who asks is SURE you know everything about the store - but we were sufficiently busy that I forgot to take photos.   Lots of Halloween costumes in the works, with, obviously, varying levels of skills of the maker.  But we found buttons, interfacing, patterns of all sorts, not to mention "how much should I buy?"  Always a tricky question without a pattern.

However, Nana had some fun without a pattern.  One of my favorites, Bonnie Hunter, has just released the fabric recommendations for her next Mystery Quilt, which will be released starting the end of November.  She was very clever and found Valspar paint color cards so that we could each check out what colors Bonnie was using - obviously we can choose to go any direction we want. On my first Mystery from Bonnie I chose a green that was entirely too anemic and I have always been sorry about that.  So this time I could see the color and intensity of the colors and make my decisions.  Woo Hoo.

So I found the yellow she recommended,
It's the bottom, lightest yellow to be used throughout the mystery.

I also found two different greens (I will need 1.5 yards)
The block on the right is the one I'm aiming for

If I'm following Bonnie's ideas, then I need to find some of each of these,
These are colors she was inspired by this past summer at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan.  It was great fun to go hunting for these colors.

Another little keep busy between customers activity was making these little pieces.  Rather like yo-yo's but made entirely by folding circles of fabric.  I think I will put buttons in the center and then????  I'm not sure, but imagine making more and then using them like hexagons in Grandmother's Flower Garden.  Fun, huh?

Friday, October 10, 2014

Autumn days

This has been a busy week, but really a very nice one.  Two days this week I was Nana with my little-est girls.  Such fun.  They love to read, which is wonderful - both for learning and it is so easy to entertain them.
[But boy does it take it out of you, sometimes.]

I have had a couple of evenings to sit behind my sewing machine and work on finishing up one (among the many) UFO's.  Hurrah.  I know that some people have a checklist on the side and mark things off when they are finished.  Sadly I would have more items and crossing off wouldn't happen quickly enough.  But, at any rate, as I'm sure she doesn't read here I can tell you that friend Fran, from my RV group will get this next week.

At first I wasn't sure about the red binding, but in the end I really liked it AND it was perfect with the back.  (just take my word for it, no photo)

I found this cute coffee mug pattern and decided that it would make a fun Mug Rug, so that was a very easy and quick finish.
I followed an idea from Bonnie Hunter and today was a field trip to Ikea.  I didn't buy much but did get a clip-on high intensity lamp.  Perfect so I can do "hand work" while watching TV - the lighting in the living room just isn't good enough for these old(er) eyes.

Tomorrow is an extra CTA volunteer day at Pacific Fabrics.  They specifically asked if we could staff our little table for extra help and questions each week-end leading up to Halloween.  So I have a couple of little hand projects to take along should no one come along needing our help.

Oh yes, and my other shopping loot was a milk froth-er (foamer).  We had so many cappuccino's while we were in Holland and they were so fabulous, that I really "needed" this.  Just a (another) small appliance for the kitchen.  :-)
That's it behind the cup.  And it requires skim milk, for the best frothing, which is quite guilt free.  Life is pretty swell!

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Birthday Week-end

A sweet friend was celebrating her 65th birthday, so what a great reason for a week-end away.  Ten of us rented a house for the week-end at Lake Cavanaugh (a new destination for me).  It was a modern, architect designed house, perched on a hillside.  [Unfortunately in the middle of the night it reminded me too much of Oso, but luckily there were no landslides.]  Friday the weather was nice, Saturday was grey and drizzly and today dawned foggy but with promises of loveliness.  That turned out to be true.


That Happy Birthday banner would be easy to duplicate.  Interesting in the fog, on Sunday,

An easy and uneventful drive home.  After some lunch a lovely walk seemed appropriate - so a jaunt to a nearby park to enjoy the sunshine.


Autumn is definitely upon us.

This is a 2 day babysitting week, with those funny little girls.  Here is one of the glamorous ladies I care for,
[Nana didn't get the books all picked up before this shot.]  It is fabulous that they enjoy books and reading so much.

Hope you are finding some sunshine in your days.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Now it really is autumn

October 1st.  You can see it and almost smell it in the air.  Fall is coming, quickly.  I did a quick walk around the neighborhood earlier in the week - and although sunny there was some crispness in the air.


The Clothing and Textile Advisors of Washington used to be part of the Extension Service.  Then due to funding cuts, we were set loose and formed our own state organization.  Our name might better be Master Sewist - as opposed to Sew-er which becomes sewer and you know how that goes.  But like the Master Gardener Program, we are the clothing and textile end of that, including the sewing of clothes, quilts, knitting, needlework - just about anything you can think of in the "needle arts" field.  At least that is what it is called at the state Fair.  

So with that long introduction, today was our annual statewide meeting of CTAW.  What a delightful day - we began with coffee and lots and lots of homemade treats,

We had the requisite business meeting, then our  speaker was the very interesting Jason Yenter.  He is  the President and one of the designers for In The Beginning fabrics.  He told us how designs are created or found and then the fascinating process of bringing that art to life on fabric.  Those of us in Seattle have been saddened with the closure of their quilt store, started by Jason's mother, Sharon, but their fabrics continue to be available.
Luckily, Jason brought some antique quilts from his and his mother's collection,



And then he brought quilts made with more contemporary fabrics,





We then had a delicious lunch, a "show and share" of things made by CTA members, and then a fun time of demonstrations of easy skills.  What a great day!  You ought to come and join us!