Stashmaster

Beauty in a box

I always LOVE getting a quilt back from the quilter.  Seeing that  transformation of my creation into a finished, quilted state is always a magical moment for me.  I got my blended quilt back yesterday and I'm just delighted with the results.

The pictures, of course, do not do it justice.  My quilter outlined each star and did a little loop-de-loop pattern inside each alternate block - most of which were a solid square, but some were 4-patches.   In the pieced border, she did a serpentine crosshatch through all the patches -  which were mostly small 3-1/2" squares, with some half-square triangles and some 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles in the mix.

The second photo shows the back - almost as pretty as the front with her pretty quilting design!  The quilt is really beautiful - I couldn't be happier!

Finally, a finish!

Hot Off the Press - I finished my Jelly Ohs quilt last night.  I love how faded and vintage this quilt turned out.   I had a couple of errors in judgement along the way.  For instance, my idea to use the apricot gingham for the sashing was a disaster, it was much too bright for this soft quilt.   Often the designer DOES know best and I stuck with her choice of the soft brown gingham.  I also made one block where the background fabric was too strong, so it will likely end up pieced into the back of the quilt.

I got word that my Blended Quilt is on its way back from the longarm quilter in Idaho.   I am so excited to see it.   I'll probably get it on Thursday and will share a picture then.

Next up, I need to decide on a pattern for a shop sample I'm making with the beautiful new Moda Portobello Market FQ bundle my quilt shop owner brought back from Market and gave to ME to use in a sample!   I promised to make a Miss Rosie's design and have tentatively decided to make Two Step, but I'd still like to see the new Carrie Nelson designs from Spring Market to see if there is a better choice (Carrie did tell me she designed one of her new patterns using Portobello Market, so using that pattern would be pretty perfect for my shop sample).  Stay tuned!

Jelly Ohs

This is my new project.  I'm making the Fig Tree pattern Jelly Ohs using their Dandelion Girl line of fabrics.  This is the first of 2 quilts I have planned using these fabrics.  They are very soft and vintage looking!  There are a lot of half-square triangles in this one, so it's taking a lot of time to piece these blocks.

Woo-hoo for a 3-day weekend to spend time with the family and sew!  And I don't have to work at the quilt store either.  Have a wonderful weekend everybody!

Thousands of Bolts

Have you discovered this fabulous online shop yet?   It's called Thousands of Bolts and they have an amazing inventory of fabric at blowout prices.  TONS of Moda fabrics - my favorite.  Fabrics are arranged on pages by color or theme, or you can click the search button and look for fabrics by manufacturer like Moda or Timeless Treasures, or search by the name of a specific fabric collection.

I bought these cool prints from Moda's Nell's Flower Shop line for a mere $4.15 a yard - is that incredible?  I have plenty for borders and backing and a background at a price that was too good to pass up.

You do have to buy a yard at a time, but at these prices, wow - build the stash a little!  Check them out, they might have the perfect back or borders for your quilt and you could save some money too!

Batter Up!

Finally, some quilty progress! I just finished piecing the top to a project I started last fall - the pattern is Opening Day by Carrie Nelson/Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, and it's made using Moda's Roman Holiday line of fabrics. I love the way this quilt top turned out. There were many pieces, but it came together perfectly, I had no problems at all with the construction, and I'm just thrilled with the results. A great pattern and a great group of fabrics.

Happy Mother's Day!

What better way to spend the eve of Mother's Day than in front of her new Hello Kitty machine, teaching my daughter how to sew! Here she is in deep concentration.

She picked out yellows and pinks from the Strawberry Lemonade collection and she's going to put together a simple 9-patch, but for now, I'm just having her get used to the feel of the machine and practice on the leftover pieces to practice sewing a straight line.

And here is the result - her first seam!

Here's hoping all the Moms and Grandmoms out there reading this find a special way to spend Mother's Day with your loved ones. Happy Mother's Day, one and all.

I-N-T-E-R-F-E-R-E

OK, for lack of anything quilty to blog about (I'm hoping my secret quilt project will be finished this weekend so I can post about it), allow me a Proud Mommy Brag.  My DS#2 won the 5th Grade Spelling Bee for his school this week.  "Interfere" was his word.  They had an all-school assembly, and he won spelling this word in front of the entire school.  Not only am I proud as can be about his spelling achievement, the most miraculous part for me is how far he has come from his painfully shy early school years when something like this would have sent him to the nurse's office with a headache and wanting to come home.   I am so proud of all of my kids for everything they do every day, but I am extra especially proud of my middle child this week.

Day 5 - Salinas and then home

Nicole and I spent our last morning together running some errands, having breakfast and stopping by 2 more fabric stores.  All good things must come to an end, right?  She drove me up to San Jose, where I'd planned to meet another imaginary friend, Rani, who I have "known" and been friends with for 12 years, but we've never met!   It was such a hoot to finally meet her, someone I feel so connected with.   She was even sweeter and cuter in person than I had imagined from the pictures I had seen.  After a much-too-short vist, Rani dropped me off at the airport and I had a very uneventful flight home.

I was happy to see the kids, very happy.  And I had missed 8-10 inches of late April snow while I was gone, so that was quite surprising and very good timing, it seems!

I finished the quilt I started at the retreat, the pictures here aren't great but this thing is MASSIVE, so it was hard to fit it all in!   It's made with just one Moda Layer Cake (I used Simplicity) along with some background and border fabrics.  It took me only 4 days of sewing (and a couple of those days I only managed an hour or two).  A very fast quilt indeed!  It finishes 85x85, although I trimmed the pinked edges off my squares, so mine is about 83x83.  Fun, huh?   How cute would this be with the Fresh Squeezed fabrics or Maypole?  The pattern is called Star Cakes and I got it here.

Day 4 - Monterey Area

On Monday morning, Nicole and I took a drive down to beautiful Pacific Grove.  Our most immediate destination was Back Porch Fabrics, but we saw some other beautiful things while we were there as well.   Here are the beautiful batiks I bought at Back Porch.  Orange again, what a surprise!  but their orange and pink selection just knocked me over.  There's a great quilt in the Batik Beauties book with a striped, mitered border, and I found the perfect stripe for mine.

-

-

-

After shopping, we blazed down Highway 1 to see as many things as we could in our last full day together and, indeed, we saw some very pretty sights.  This beautiful bed and breakfast is the Seven Gables Inn, with rooms starting at just $200 a night - not too bad for such a beautiful setting, wouldn't you agree?

-

-

-

Look at this beautiful carpet of purply goodness - it's called ice plant, and I've never seen anything quite like it.

-

-

-

-

We continued our drive down the coast, looking at all the beautiful homes and stopping once or twice to try and get a picture of the waves crashing to the shore.

-

-

-

-

-

We had the most delicious lunch at Roy's at the Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach.  I had the Bento Box and tried sashimi for the first time.  It was melt-in-your mouth delicious.

-

-

-

-

Nicole posed for a picture next to the beautiful tropical flowers in the hotel lobby.

But back in the car, we had more sightseeing to do.  We swung by the Mission Ranch for a view of the property.  Stopped briefly at the Carmel Mission, visited some friends of Nicole's at a cute little home decor shop, and then up to the Carmel Ranch where Nicole interviewed recently (beautiful place), then home to Ozzie.

-

-

-

-

Ozzie ran into the guest bedroom and nabbed a bottle of Benedryl from my tote bag.  We both chased him all around the yard to retrieve the bottle.  Ozzie clearly thought it was a fun game.  The bottle had some puncture wounds, but fortunately, Ozzie didn't get to the contents.

-

-

-

-

Then Ozzie hung out while we laid out the batiks from our earlier shopping trip.   I think he liked Nicole's pile the best.

-

-

-

-

-

-

Here is the hostess gift I left for Nicole - I asked Nicole Ellison to make an Annie (actually a Nettie) doll using a fabric that Nicole and I have a running joke about.  The doll was adorable and I hope Nicole enjoys having her as a memory of my visit.  I know Ozzie wanted so badly to get Nettie as I was trying to take her picture.  Keep her on a high shelf, Nicole!

Day 3 - Danville to Salinas

Sunday morning, we woke up and started packing up our work and sleeping areas.   We weren't obligated to leave until 3 p.m., but I was at a good stopping place with my quilt (half finished!!) and Nicole still wasn't feeling up to snuff, so we planned to leave a little earlier. Plus - we had shopping to do!

We planned a trip to Concord to visit Thimblecreek, so Nicole and I led Connie to the quilt store.  It's in an industrial park - you'd never guess something so fabulous was inside that building, but there it was!   They had so many beautiful fabrics and amazing kits.  I was very, very tempted to buy one of everything, but showed great restraint, I think.   I bought some of this chocolate brown fabric to make this quilt using Dandelion Girl fabrics that I already have with the brown for the alternate blocks and border flying geese.

One thing I couldn't leave without is this beautiful wool appliqued quilt block.  I am going to frame it for my sewing room.  I know I will take a razzing from my quilt buddies at home because I adamently insist that I don't like basket blocks.  But orange sunflowers, who could resist?  Even Nicole commented that I didn't like baskets when I excitedly showed the block to her.  Maybe a leopard *can* change her spots?

After leaving Concord, we drove down to Palo Alto for the big Shyne family Sunday dinner.  I must admit - shy me was seriously fretting meeting this big group of people, but they couldn't have been more warm and welcoming.  I finally got to meet Andrea (white blouse), who I felt like I already knew, and the charming Sara (far left), her hubby Ryan and their dear sweet puffball Remy, as well as many of their other relatives including their beautiful cousin Claudia pictured with us here.  What a fun family - can y'all adopt me?   I always wanted sisters - my parents selfishly never came through for me.

After a scrumptious dinner of chicken with goat cheese and bow-tie pasta salad from the Barefoot Contessa's recipe book, prepared for us by sisters Trish and Andrea, we visited a little while after dinner, then made the drive down to Salinas where Ozzie was clearly missing his Mommy, and Dennis had two perfect Cosmos waiting for us.  Nicole was still feeling punky, so I had to be a proper houseguest and drink her Cosmo, too.  Couldn't let it go to waste, could I?   Dennis and Nicole will probably never have me back, I hope I didn't launch into any really raunchy jokes or say anything else too inappropriate!