A More Modern Quilt

As I lean toward simpler, more modern quilt designs the Swirls quilting pattern seems to compliment them really well.

 It is my "go to" design for the moment for moderns, so I think I need to find some new alternatives!

 I wish I could do a better job of high-lighting the quilting on the full quilt but it is challenging!

The backing is pieced, two different brown prints. 

I am not sure how much quilting will be done this week, I am trying to get my garden into shape, now that the weather seems to be moderating it's time to rescue the garden from the havoc caused by extremes of weather the last few months. There are about 50 plants, shrubs and perennials in pots out back awaiting planting, so lots of work ahead there. This afternoon I trimmed a lot off the big Brazilian Pepper in the back and some off the climbing rose and the two large Hibiscus and The Boy helped to load it into the trash bin, he does love to help.  The mature plantings all seem to have gone wild between the heat and all the rain, the bedding plants on the other hand are almost non existent due to the same two weather issues that caused the abundant growth in the larger plants! Mums are on sale at Home Depot so I loaded up on them hoping they will make a nice color show in two weeks in time for the Champagne Brunch engagement party, barring more extremes of weather -over which we really have no control, I believe the Creator has His hands on that!

Friday Finishes

Anyone remember a blogger who each Friday had a link for crafters etc. to show off whatever they had accomplished? I think it was called "Finished For Friday" and it has not been active for a long time but I miss it and have been going it alone for a while now so I thought I would begin one on my own blog. It will be called "Friday Finishes" and this week I will be getting together a linky and a button-as soon as I figure out how to do that- I have a couple of blogger friends I can beg for help, Heather over at "Books And Quilts" will know, I can ask her!
So check in on Fridays and please add your blog and let us know whatever you have been working on, quilting, sewing, needlework,painting, canning you name it! I find it so satisfying to accomplish a task or just to talk about my progress, it spurs me on to further effort so I don't get bogged down.

This is my Friday Finish, one of the retreat tops. Well, it still needs binding and I have to dig out some fabric for that.

 In the pieced backing the quilting shows up in the blue, the thread is a cream. It's an easy freehand, my friend Loretta calls it Peacock Feathers but some call it Paisely. It can look quite different depending on the shape and size of the motif, longer like this or fatter more round when it looks like a shell. This one has a bit of a curl and seems more like paiseley to me, I just vary it according to my mood. I also like to use it very tiny for background fill, or much larger for a more open design. It is very nice, quick and easy quilting and generic, good for a man or a woman.

I already have another quilt loaded for tomorrow while DH works on the bathroom vanity install. I can't wait to get all my "stuff" back into drawers and out of the boxes in my walk-in closet, it gets old in a hurry, having to dig around everyday in boxes on the floor for all those personal necessities we women use! I am hoping that the granite top will be in the end of next week, fingers crossed! 

Renovation update

I was up early and at the gym well in time for the 7:30 a.m.Cardio Blitz class. I usually go to the 10:30 class and was surprised how great it felt to be done and home around 8:30 with the whole day ahead of me.
Today the glass shower went in and the stone guy came to measure for the vanity top. This is not a large bathroom, about 8ft x 9ft. so space is very precious and I'm hoping the light gray paint and glass shower will make it feel less claustrophobic. The glass is frameless so we have to leave the red tape on for 24 hours, then we can use the shower.

 The glass is not green, just appears that way! It's half inch thick, perhaps that's why? Our last home in Scottsdale had a glass shower but it was pink tile, eeuuww, and I know that glass was much thinner. It was also a nightmare to try and keep clean, but we had hard water and no water resistant coating on it though I did try that Rainx stuff for car windshields without much success.

This is much prettier and the price difference was negligible from 3/8 to 1/2 inch. We also have the Showerguard protective shield for water spotting etc. making maintenance minimal, and the cost was low for that add on, well worth the investment. We used Diamond Glass and Mirror here in Phoenix area, having had a long association with the company I trusted them implicitly. Their website has a link to American Shower Doors, with more information and pictures, lots of options.

Painting is about finished in there and the remainder of the vanity will be delivered tomorrow, so we are closing in on a finish!

Meantime I loaded one of the retreat quilts on the longarm and hope to have time after Bible study tomorrow to work on it while I await delivery from the freight company.

Still triple digit temperatures, summer has not heard that it is supposed to be done!

Finished For Friday September 19th.

This is the second top I began at retreat and it's now complete. 

When I went looking for backing for the top finished last Friday there was nothing in stash backings large enough so I pieced together these four fabrics for an eclectic backing. The yellow print was left over from the quilt so I was able to use that up- if I had my way there would be nothing but a few little scraps left from each quilt!

They were all good sized chunks so it wasn't too hard or much piecing required and that quilt should be my next personal LA project.  Opened up it is about 80" square, perfect for the 74" top.

The frogging of the vintage fan quilt is on the back burner!

The Chickens Have New Homes.

The random number generator chose numbers two and five, Sherry gets the purple and gold and Jody the teal, congratulations!  I will contact them today for mailing addresses.

Bye bye little chicks time for you to leave the nest!

The Wedding Gown Quilt Is Home

Linking up with Heather for Needlework Tuesday.

As promised Andrea sent me a couple of pics of her quilt on her bed. She said the lighting isn't great so details aren't as sharp.

 It gives me great pleasure to see the quilt being used and loved, probably the most rewarding part of quilt making

Finished For Friday 14th.Sept.

This is a quilt that started life at quilt retreat last week and I set it aside weary of all the little nine patches. I pulled it out today and worked at it for a couple of hours, then went to the gym and later finished it off at about 11:30 pm!

The plan was for it to be a QOV but now I am wondering if it's too feminine, that outer border especially is floral. There are supposed to be stars in alternate gold blocks but I decided to forgo those, I really don't want to fuss with applique but maybe the stars would make it more masculine?

What is the consensus of opinion? 

Wordless Wednesday, Coffee

http://wordlesswednesday.blogspot.com

Going Forward-And Backwards!

Progress forward on the bathroom though a day later than expected. The torrential rains yesterday left interstates, local streets and backyards flooded while one highway had vehicles floating down the road! Scary I am sure if you were in one of those vehicles. Our back yard and greenbelt were indeed flooded but we are on a slight slope from Carefree down to central Phoenix so the water eventually drains away no harm done.
Colleges were closed so I missed gym workout and our tiler decided not to run the gamut of flooded streets. More rain today but not heavy and I haven't checked the forecast for tomorrow.
In a nation as large as USA as in Australia one area can be flooded while another is in severe drought, it is the way the wind blows!

Shower almost done…………..

just one little corner of the floor to go.

 Base of vanity is in, enough for City Of Stone to come measure for the granite I chose………...

this one, a nice contrast to the dark wood vanity. All of that is going forward but…….on the quilting, well that's the going backwards part! I decided that I hated the quilting I have done so far on the vintage fan quilt so I took it off the longarm and plan to "frog" the whole thing!

It isn't so much the feather border but the quilting of the fans that I dislike 

so it will all come out! Sigh, sometimes it happens that way!

Oh and make sure that you leave me a message if you want to be in the draw for the pin cushion chickens.

The Chickens Have Flown The Coop!

We all got away from Big Bear Lake around 9:30 this morning and everyone has arrived home safely with their chickens! Only these two are left, I had made two extra "just in case".

So, I have decided to give them away to a regular reader- you don't need to jump through hoops just leave me a comment with a color preference if you have one before midnight Pacific Time Sunday September 14th. and I will conduct a random number generator on Monday 15th. I will mail anywhere so it's open season but make sure I can contact you through your blog or some other way and I will find out then where to send these little chicks.
I arrived home right on 6pm. and we went out to eat sushi, it had been a long day and a tiring but happy week! I met some lovely ladies, new quilty friends I hope to see at "Road To California" in January.
Meanwhile "back at the ranch" DH had been very busy and the rest of the bathroom is gutted, the entire vanity is gone along with the mirror and medicine cabinets.

Our tiler Mike has made good progress on the shower  and will be finished Monday except for grout and sealing the travertine tiles. I am pleased with the results so far and on Monday I can call the glass company for final measurements. 

It seems so open and larger now, and I can't wait for the finish.
Our vanity should be here Monday and then I can order the granite top.
Woohoo!

Rereat Day Three

Feeling very sleep deprived this morning it took me a long time to get ramped up for the day!

Yesterday I had begun work on the Crystal quilt and by this evening I managed to get all the blocks done and sewn into rows. There are three borders to be added to make it 72"x94".

 Elaine brought this lovely BOM for show and tell, she is a "beginner" she says!

Sheryl and Pat did two more demos,  the directions for these adorable little boxes are below, they are simple and fast and I will make some and post pics of the steps on the blog.

 Very cute pot holders take a few steps and appear to have a "Cathedral Window" sort of design- they are probably not more time consuming than the selvedge potholders so might make one just to try it out.

 They are much cuter in reality rather elegant, perhaps I can get a better pic in the morning before everyone leaves.

 Leslie finished this great QOV top today and I know the soldier who gets it will be cheered by the bright colors.

 Barbara's quilt to which will be added two borders, it's a very pretty quilt.

 The next two quilts Linda finished this week, and will quilt on her DSM

This one for a baby girl expected this week.

 An interesting circular quilt Sandy is quilting on her DSM.

A quilt Sandy made with blocks left from a Christmas quilt makes a handy table topper.

 A cute modern quilt Valerie completed at retreat.

 We have had a grand three days of good fun, food and fellowship with considerable quilting accomplished in the cool pines of Big Bear Lake. I wonder where the next retreat will be?

Big Bear Lake Retreat, Day 2

Day 1 we did not begin to sew until mid afternoon by the time we drove all the way up, checked in and unpacked all of our sewing supplies.

However, I did get the blue binding on the blue and white quilt, another one done!

Today I power walked 30 minutes before breakfast then got started on this starry quilt, but after a few hours and resewing after undoing a lot of strips, I became bored with the little nine patches, so I packed it away and took out another kit not nine patches.

These HST blocks completed I packed up for the night and I will tackle the other blocks tomorrow.

Thirteen of us …...

 and yes, those are garage doors you see because we are sewing in a garage!

 A fourth of the group decided it was too crowded so they moved their machines etc upstairs,

 by the kitchen! You know that retreats are all about the food,LOL

 Sherrill's Churn Dash

 Another Sheryl [far left] gave a little tut on this rug/candle mat.

 Susie's modified Churn Dash.

 Tut #2 by Meredith, far right, these are Swiffer dusters replacements made from scraps of recycled fleece, they are washable too- I think I might spray mine with Endust.

 Debbie's delightful modern quilt

 Barbara's blocks

 Retreat favors offered by Meredith, trash bags for our vehicles, they are clever, a large button sewn to the top edge keeps the bag from sliding out of the glove box. I will get a pic of one in place tomorrow.

 Elaine is making I Spy Jar quilts for her grandchildren

Meredith has competed blocks for a Wounded Warrior quilt, the first row is completed.