Catch-up!

Whew, well between all the sewing & lack of internet access I haven't blogged in over two weeks. Not for want of trying but our CO. internet access has been very spotty & then non existent. The last week I had to hike to the next neighbor & get onto their wireless internet. Tonight we are back in AZ so we have [fairly] reliable internet, hooray!
I have my niece's baby quilt almost ready to quilt, the applique was very time comsuming, just a few bits to add still & the facial details with hand embroidery.
My new computer bag is done- the Valori Wells fabric is gorgeous & her pattern worked great. Isn't it adorable? I quilted it in about 5 minutes on friend Gale's Prodigy before we came down from CO. I will be the most envied cruiser on our Alaskan adventure!
Walt's hard work on the CO. house has paid off & it is looking very nice. Almost done, he just needs to add one final coat of paint to the east & west sides of the house. The metal trim certainly gives it a lot more character in keeping with our mountain locale where the "rusted metal" is very widely used. The patina is very attractive but I struggle to understand the integrity of the product.
It's quite an interesting process-the metal arrives shiny & silvery & with a simple application of first plain white vinegar & then immediately after spraying with household bleach & instant aging of the metal! I was somewhat mystified about the whole idea-why does the metal not continue to rust & fall apart? The explanation I received is that the initial formation of rust virtually protects the metal from further deterioration! It is a technique that is in wide use in rural & urban SW. CO. so I have to accept that, but it still mystifies me- cars just continue to rust, right? So why not a house?
The usual 9 hour journey back to our AZ home today was eased by the addition of books on CD-I think that I need to invest in a Creative Zen or some similar product for all the books we listen to. Checking out & then returning the books on CD can be a challenge, I often need to remember to extend the borrowing period between our trips back & forth & my iPod would not be the best vehicle for online downloads, requiring download first to the laptop & then to the iPod- it is best suited to music alone. Fortunately DH & I have both become quite fond of murder mysteries , a similarity in taste that is unusual for us, normally we have very disparate entertainment preferences for example, movies!! he likes action & suspense - I do not!
In the quilting realm, my CC mysteries are both bound & ready for wounded warriors & I have an additional two QOV's to quilt.
The past couple of weeks have been very productive in my Home Of the Brave family searches- I have located another 6 families of fallen heroes, so I need to send out their Home Of the Brave quilts. This one pictured came to me already quilted so all I needed to do was to print up the certificates & make & attach the labels. It went out yesterday to the bereaved mom of Spc. Ronald Tucker with whom I had an emotional conversation this week, what a lovely lady. I connect instantly with these grieving families & I always feel an urgency to send out the quilts once I have identified them- I know how every small comfort helps to bring balm to a broken heart.

Stash Mystery Burger Queen

Today I finished up the 6" blocks for this mystery I had done the 9" & 12" yesterday. so I'm almost caught up, only need 22 x 3" blocks now. I'm doing the Calico Puzzle block, it's cute & very easy & I wanted something a little more interesting than a 9 patch but nothing that would drive me insane in something as small as a 3" block! The fabrics I chose are RW&B, it's turning out to be mostly red & blue, but I want to use it for a QOV so that will work fine because it's going to be rather masculine looking.
DH is working hard at painting the exterior of our CO. home-it will be all one color this time, no trim color because his plan is to add some trim with that corrugated metal & some stonework & a separate trim color would get too busy. We have had rain every day, usually later in the afternoon & today we only just got back from our walk with the dog before it began to rain again. So it stopped for a bit & just now we have had another storm roll through- this is by far the wettest summer since we have had the house in the mountains. Yesterday I took a short movie of the humming birds as they buzzed madly around one of the feeders. When it rains they go into a feeding frenzy, wish I knew why! I will try to figure out how to post a video but it might take me a while,LOL! I still struggle with the blog format so you know I'm not too slick with this stuff. I want to take a class at our local CC in the Fall if they have web design or some related topic. Maybe then I can manage both the HOB & Matthew's websites all by myself.

Mountain time

We returned to our mountain home on Monday after two weeks in the very hot & monsoonal[new word?] desert. I was a very productive quilter and managed to longarm 8 quilts before we left.In addition to Lucas ' quilt I did five QOV's, Leslie's very pretty Storm at Sea and a baby quilt. The latter is bound & only lacks a label to be ready for gifting, the SAS is back in Leslie's hands & today I prepared the bindings for two of the QOV's, the OC mystery quilts I made with Bonnie Hunter's group.[I seem to have difficulty setting the photos where I want them on the blog, perhaps I need a few more lessons from my friend Khris in Aus.] I spent a little time with my old New Home treadle machine & hooray got it stitching! I have no idea what I did differently this time but I re-threaded, reset the bobbin & eureka, perfect stitches! Now I have to actually use it to make something. The other QOV's [along with one more I hope to quilt on Gale's Prodigy this weekend] will return to the piecers in CA. for finishing, but here they are, quilted & trimmed. The RW & B quilts got a flag panto, though nothing shows up on these busy fabrics as on the SAS above where only the border quilting can be seen. I did a freehand peacock feather thing on the OC's & freehand Baby Butt feathers on the pink. All in all a rather productive couple of weeks. I am now beginning to plan the next baby quilt for my niece in Australia, who is expecting a baby girl late in the year.

It's that time again

July, I never thought that one month of the year could be approached with such dread as happens when you lose a child. Two years ago today we found out that our Matthew was gone from earthly life & I still struggle to grasp that fact-as a mother it doesn't fit into my mind. Knowing something in your head & embracing the reality are two different matters & I doubt that it will ever be different, something inside me just can't understand that Matthew is not still alive.
As I walked in the park with Button yesterday I placed a little sprig of rosemary, the herb of remembrance, & a red rose from our garden, by the memorial we have there. The date still hasn't been corrected so I need to follow up on that. DH & I have our wedding anniversary 16th. July, the day before Matt actually had died ,17th. though his body was not found until the following day. So our anniversary has been swallowed up in the whole agony of Matthew's loss & I don't know how to disentangle it.
I keep encountering more bereaved parents & we all have the same experience in grief, it never goes away it's never over when you lose a child.

Memory Quilt, Twin's Birthday

Here are pics. of Lucas' memory quilt that I made for his birthday. I got it finished, I was still sewing on the label when he came by yesterday. I am relieved to have it done, now I can focus on long-arming the stack of tops waiting in line. I have a Storm At Sea on now & I plan to do an ocean panto. Panto's are not my favorite way, I prefer freehand, but this is one I haven't used yet & it looks interesting, dolphins & whales etc. Then I have a stack of QOV's apart from several of my own that always go the end of the line.
As I was checking out some blogs I saw that Lyn at Bluebird Quilts is having a Christmas in July give away, so you may want to check it out !
One of the young women in the quilt class I have been teaching at our church seems to have caught the notorious "quilting Pox"! She is off & running, teaching herself new skills & now has begun a KS quilt . I am very impressed & pleased to have passed along the love of quilting to the next generation. Now she needs to accumulate a stash!

Productivity!

I got more done today than I thought-I pieced the pink 'cut-up' bargello very quickly & at first I thought I might not even bother to border it-the size is OK, but on second thoughts, it looks a bit unfinished so I guess I'll border with the pink spotted fabric. I then moved on to sash some RW&B blocks donated by Loretta for another QOV -there were 9 of them so I fished around in the QOV box till I located another couple of donated blocks & resewed & resized them to give me 12 blocks, I'm sashing with a blue & will border with red & it will be a nice QOV. I will get a photo added tomorrow. I have one more block that will make a nice label with space for writing.
My red batiks came today, those people at thousandbolts.com are the best! I am soaking it now to remove excess dye & will dry & iron so I can make the piping tomorrow & get going on construction of Lucas' quilt.
The guys had a great time on the ATV's all the way over Engineer's pass, & they brought pizza for us when they came in tonight.They covered over 70 miles so they were all weary. Button & I only covered a couple of miles this evening on our walk! It is just beautiful with all the wildflowers , such a feast for the eyes. One of the other locals warned me this evening that a mountain lion & cub were seen on the road nearby where we walk- we have to be vigilant, we are after all living smack in the middle of these wild animals' territory. I will be even more cautious about keeping Button very close by, definitely no more skunk chasing for her!
I took a moment to pull out my patriotic fabrics to choose some for the new SB mystery beginning 4th.July-it's appropriate that it should be RW&B. I'm re-thinking using my antique treadle-I sort of gave up when I was unable to figure out the thread path & New Home wouldn't respond to my enquiries about a manual. I need to contact the company again. it's a lovely old machine & it has all sorts of original attachments such as a ruffler with instructions for it's use. The cabinet needs some touch up some TLC-it got very scarred in shipment but the machine itself is in good shape if only I could get it threaded correctly!

Sunset and sew on!

Pun intended, LOL.
This was sunset yesterday as I walked, around 7 p.m. I think, that's MST.
Today I had a couple of hours to
sew & finished the borders on the second OC, but every time I lay out a quilt-on the bed or the floor- Button feels that she must lay claim to it! One border may look as if it "waves" it really doesn't but every time I went to take a photo Button had walked across the quilt & in the end I just gave up! The second OC is a little different to the first. I set the blocks on the straight & made narrow stop borders from orange & blue [because I ran short of those fabrics] then I used the leftover blocks in the corners as well as the sides. I only have 4 of the little blocks left, woohoo!
Late afternoon I went into Montrose with DH- he had to pick up parts to repair one of the quads after Madeleine's accident last week- while there I ran into the Pfaff store & picked up a 5 groove pintuck foot-their last one- so I wouldn't have to struggle with the zipper foot to make the rest of the binding for Lucas' quilt. For the moment unfortunately I've "gone about as fur as I can go" [as they sing in "Oklahoma!"] with this memory quilt because I need red batik for piping & applique so had to order from thousandbolts & it won't be here until Monday at the very earliest, probably Tuesday. We are two hours & $35 plus in gas from the nearest quilt shop so ordering online is really the only cost effective alternative.
On the way down the mountain we encountered a doe with a very new fawn, really tiny. She was nursing, amazing, the very first time I have ever seen a fawn nursing from the doe. She was so tiny she could barely reach to nurse from momma doe who was standing. I wanted a photo but DH backed up too close & they spooked. I am hoping I will get another photo op. but the chances are very slim.
We ate at "Siam" in Ridgway on the way home, it's really lovely food & Fridays there is entertainment so we like to dine al fresco & enjoy the music.
This weekend is a "quilting retreat" with my Stashbusters group, so I plan to work on the baby quilt for one of our church families in Phx. who recently adopted a baby girl. I have two pieced strips left from the pink bargello which I plan to somehow work into a baby size quilt.

Summer in Alpine Climes

Our second round of guests departed this morning, youngest DS & his GF plus G'son #1, Daniel whose family acquired a new puppy since he got here so he just had to go back to 115 degree Phoenix see her!
Here are JW & Madeleine at sunset at 9,000ft, & a few photos of the beautiful lupins & other wildflowers now gracing the roadsides & meadows in our alpine development. No more beautiful though than these two young people! Amanda had asked me about the "Choke Cherries" I mentioned on a visit to her blog so here is a photo of them-those white clusters of flowers will be dark red berries that the bears love. They make good jam but the pits are too large to make it worth the effort. We had quite an eventful visit with the young folk especially when Madeleine took a spill from the quad necessitating an ER visit. Damage is minor compared to the disaster it could have been, mostly scratches, minor shoulder separation, soreness & a couple of stitches in her arm.
The same day our little Aussie Terrier was again attacked by the same dog up the road, so another vet. visit, more antibiotic & pain shots & meds. & we're fortunate she likes the peanut butter that disguises the pills. My previous vigilance is now hyper vigilance where our little dog is concerned, this simply cannot happen again. On Saturday we visited the Cottonwood Cellars Vineyard in Olathe for a wine tasting, here we are with a few of the barrels. That was fun & we came home with about a case of assorted wines.
I have all borders on the OC quilt set on point & all but two sides of the final border on the second top. That's a job for this week & then it's on to the memory quilt for Lucas & Matt's birthday July 11. I am currently preparing the photos for printing onto the fabric, that is the slowest part of memory quilt construction.I have decided that this printer we have in CO. is not sophisticated enough to produce decent pics. for a quilt so we're off to Montrose first thing in the morning to buy a new one.

OC Times Two!

Today I pieced my OC blocks into two tops. I had only intended to make one but discovered that if I laid one set out on point & another on the straight I could make two- with a little "finessing" that is! I took 6 of the side setting triangle blocks & sewed them together to make three more album blocks then only needed one more each of the spinning stars & album blocks. If you look closely at the top that is set on point you can spot the three triangle units I had to join. Looking at the pieced tops this evening I think I will make 2" orange & teal borders & a 3 1/2" red or blue border for each top. That will make them a nice size for QOV'S. I'll use the leftover 3 1/2" blocks to insert into the borders to add a little more interest. I had wondered how other quilters were coming up with "twofers" from these mystery quilts & now I see how! I am delighted with the OC results & I don't even notice the "weird & ugly" scraps, in fact I have to search for them, LOL. I doubt I'll get the borders done until next Wednesday at the guild sew-day as our youngest DS & GF arrive Saturday for a week long visit.
The lupins are blooming , everyday when we walk we see more blue blossoms so I must remember to take the camera & capture the sight before it passes for the season. The choke cherry trees too are in bloom & it looks as if we could have a bumper crop, won't the bears be pleased!

Twin's quilts

Our family company from Boston came in last Sunday & nephew & wife are out on the quads riding up to Yankee Boy while we entertain their twins! In fact Uncle Walter[really Great Uncle Walter!] just took them down for a nap & I snapped a couple of pics. of Emily & Daniel snoozing with the quilts I made before they were born. They brought them along all the way from Boston & it's lovely to see the quilts well used, after all isn't that why we give quilts to those we love? When they wake up I will show them how I grind the wheat to make bread-we're having white pizza tonight so I need [no pun intended] to make the crust for said pizza. Then they can watch to see how we make ice cream-home made ginger ice cream tonight over fresh pineapple & mango, yummo!
We actually got a little snow again earlier this week, not enough to stick around the house but definitely making a difference on the surrounding peaks. Ridgway lake has been drained VERY low, lower than I ever saw it because such a large volume of snow melt is expected after a record year for snow here. So much for global warming, it's been the coolest, snowiest spring we can remember!
After step 4 of the OC mystery Bonnie shared a cream cheese pecan pie recipe as reward & it looked & sounded delish so I made one this week & it was a hit! Tomorrow we plan to drive to Telluride & take the kids on the Gondola to the top of the mountain, they will enjoy that & we'll take Button too, Telluride is a very dog-friendly town. Button is doing well after being bitten by a very large bossy dog a week ago which necessitated a trip to the ER.vet. Button is barely 14 lbs & she was attacked from the rear so fortunately the injuries are on her behind! Antibiotics have kept infection at bay & the wounds are healing up nicely.
I haven't done any more to the OC mystery quilt since Wednesday at Guild sew-day when I made a little progress on step 5. I checked out the pics on quiltvillechat from the mystery quilters who have assembled their tops already & I prefer the straight lay out [I think Lurline showed it] because it looks more interesting to me & I like the idea of an orange zig-zag around the border. I will make a decision after I see my own blocks completed & laid out probably not before guild sew-day next Wednesday.

Spring is finally here and more OC!

Spring comes later at 9,000ft. and this year especially with all the late snowfall. The bulbs I planted last fall around Matthew's memorial are coming up & the daffodils & crocus are blooming, along with some little hyacinth I planted inside the deer proof fence. It seems that the deer have no taste for daffodils so it's safe to plant them anywhere. The bluebonnets are still developing their leaves but I found one blooming on the path that leads behind the house & I noticed some beside the road at the lower elevations. In a few weeks they will cover the entire area & everywhere we go up here there will be a sea of blue flowers.I am still working on OC steps 4 & 5, & hope to have them done before Bonnie posts the final clue next week. We have company arriving Sunday, nephew & family from Boston with 3 yr.old twins, so I might not get much sewing time the next week or so & I just don't want this to become another UFO. Here is my step 4 block & one block from step 5, I see a lot of red & blue & of course orange, so I'm thinking it might make a nice Quilt Of valor for a wounded warrior, what do you think? We have a lot of blocks left over but Bonnie has a pieced border in the plan, no doubt where the extras will go. I am pleased that I chose brighter blue & red for the yardage, I think they really help to distract the eye from all the ugly & weird scraps I used in the little blocks.This quilt will be entirely from stash, I have a large piece in the blue family for the backing,but I haven't made a noticeable dent in my stash strips so I must continue to make scrap quilts along with the planned projects.