I am leaving for a quilting tour to New Zealand in just 14 days. Steadfast in my procrastination, I am not worried about luggage, what to wear or what sights to see. My mind is more jumbled with what to bring along to knit while there is downtime. I am torn between a pair of socks or simple gift bags for my daughter, Nikki, to sell at craft fairs next fall. The bags are more friendly to starting & stopping and less prone to mistakes made by a lack of attention to detail. Ravelry.com has been a wonderful source of ideas for bag patterns to consider making. What fun that site is! My goal with the bags is to use up most if not all of my scrap yarn so as not to leave that closet as a legacy to my children when I pass on....not that that is happening anytime soon but I have a LOT of extra yarn.

Now the fabric stash is just as bad, if not worse. I have made my last stash-building purchase for a while as I hit the 20% off sales post holidays. I got some great pieces but now must look for additional inspirations for how to use some of those awesome prints. Today I re-emphasized the fine art of finishing-no-matter-how-uninspired-I-am.....and got Angela's quilt quilted. Binding is halfway pinned and will be finished tomorrow. Then I can hunker down with the hand work of pulling threads and sewing binding over the next few evenings. It was my first successful pattern design on EQ6 of which I am very proud. I will be making a pillow case for her as well using the border fabric (pictures to follow) as the main fabric. It's wild and will inspire lively and colorful dreams.

ADHD Quilting or 8 year olds & their first machines

My husband Bob just shook and head and said I was nuts. Now this is a scenario that plays out quite regularly in our house. I come up with some goofy, yet creative idea, and he gives me that look. Despite the fact that I am putting this in print, I will categorically deny ever having agreed with him on any topic, especially this one. I am a quilter and a knitter. Dabbling in the fiber arts has brought me much peace over the years and I thought I should pass the craft on to my granddaughters, Angela, 10 and Suzie, 8. So this Christmas the only thing Suzie had on her Santa list was a sewing machine. A real sewing machine. So Santa being the stud that he is, brought Suzie a Brother machine (reasonably priced to sell at WalMart). Santa brought Angela a new bike but her sister's sewing machine was a lot more "shiny" than the bike because that's what she's gravitated to ever since that fateful day. Not to mention the 16" of snow on the ground for the past 10 days that just might deter a person from trying her first ride on a 'big girl' bike. So my husband the skeptic enabler, found another Brother machine at Overstock.com and it's on its way from the north pole, albeit a little late for the actual celebration day.

I have saved a lot of scraps from quilting these past 10 years and I handed over some, not all, to Suzie to just sew, sew sew. She made pockets for all her friends, chopstick holders for when carrying your own make all the difference in the meal, and has tried everyone of the 20 or so stitches that came with the machine. So of course, we now need to go to the fabric store and spend, spend, spend. Now this is where Grammy got smart. They have to buy their own fabric and they get money from me only when they really work for it (but Papa and I usually have to help out in some fashion). We did our pre-New Year's room cleaning! $25.00 for a spotless room, including drawers cleaned and straightened, outgrown clothes rooted out and old books and toys ready to donate. It's hard for me to put in print all the evidence discovered of our over-indulgance of these two girls but there was also a lot of plain old garbage which I had nothing to do with!! But when all was said and done, the rooms look fabulous and they earned their money for a trip to Joanne's and Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop.

We're focusing on one project at a time (I hear you all chuckling about how long that's gonna last) and so we selected a 2 yard theme fabric and 3 fat quarters for each of them. We then designed two lovely quilt tops on EQ6, each one very simple but pleasing to the eye. Today we cut Suzie's (Ang's machine is still en route). I did the cutting and of course I messed up a measurement so I had to show how to fix it when one chokes on the pressure of accurate cutting....but that's another time, another story. I got the 1/4" seam guide in place so our seams would be perfecto. That step bored her out of her mind but we survived. She spent about an hour sewing 3 rails to be cut to 16 for a rail fence. In-between every 20 stitches or so, she'd stop and dance in her chair, sing to her pins, croon "I Wanna Be a Rock Star" ala Hannah Montana, make Smiley Faces out of the pins in her purple tomato....Thank goodness I had bamboo knitting needles in my hands -- they kept my temper in check and since they aren't really pointy, I didn't have to fear physical damage to the singing sewer. Now I am into this adventure 100% because I do love and respect the fiber arts but since we're starting so young, I will either need to knit a lot faster and tighter or enjoy a martini or six while we're making this quilt. It's only 36" square....how drunk could I get?

October has always been one of my favorite months because it feels so much like a new beginning -- autumn leaves changing, crisp and envigorating weather, phenomenal Harvest & Hunter's Moons, the beginning of the holiday seasons, Bob's & my anniversary, our youngest granddaughter Suzie's birthday and a quilting retreat for my quilting friends at our house. This year is no exception however we had even more excitement than the norm. Angela, our oldest granddaughter had her 2nd brain surgery this month as well. I'm worn out! Not really. We are having the very best life ever. So let me take you on the tour of this month.

Our bi-annual quilting retreat was last weekend. We tend to have around 12 ladies in each April and October. Our group is primarily made up of ex-Safeco Insurance employees who got together to quilt and/or show and tell monthly at work. Since most of us have either gone our own way willingly or unwillingly (ya gotta love layoffs), this is our primary time together since we no longer have the work connection. Bob and I rearrange the first floor to have tables for 12 sewing machines, ironing boards, cutting stations, buffets for breakfast, snacks & lunch. With very little effort we can fit all of us comfortably. Then with rotary cutters cutting, blocks being sewn, seams being pressed, we're all elbows and knees working to get as much accomplished as is humanly possible in one day! This year attendance was down for the first time in the last 4 1/2 years. We had vacations to NY and Las Vegas, some health issues with quilters and parents of quilters, and some ballet performances that trumped Mom's taking the day out to quilt but those of us who came were very productive! Here are a couple pictures of our handiwork.

This Fuchsia & Lime quilt is one I designed as my mind wandered during a long day at work a few weeks back. I had bought much of the fabric at Fabric Depot in Portland, Or. The rest I found at Pacific Fabrics in Everett, WA. I love how it turned out. It's bright and beautiful and full of life, just like Angela who coincidentally will be the recipient of this quilt.

This photo is of a placemat that Jeanne made for the Christmas holidays. She took a class on using RickRack on her quilting. It turned out nicely, I think!

Here is a link to the one other attendee's work. http://lappteknik.blogspot.com/ Sue is phenomenal with color and design. I learn so much from this group of women. I'm especially intrigued for this quilt to be finished. I know I will be impressed, yet again, at her talents.

Nikki, pictured here spent time doing a little o' this and a little o' that. She did some sock knitting which will be showing up in a blog near you very soon! She's my daughter and I've very, very proud of her! And look at that, she can carve punkins, too!

Now onto the next big event this month. Angela, who has a disease called Moya Moya which is a vascular disease of the brain, had her second successful brain surgery. The first was in May of this year. She's now home and recovering nicely! She is half bald with a whinger of an incision and one eye swollen shut but she's on the road to wonderful improvements in her health. Now besides this being a huge success, we're having some fun along the way. King 5 TV does news spots on health issues with children who are being treated by Children's Hospital in Seattle. Our family was selected for one of their spots which will bring attention to this disease in terms of its symptoms, diagnosis, surgical options and impacts to our family. We've had one interview with just Bob and I. They've done the filming during the surgery and will be coming over to the house next week to interview Angela. Now this is where I really, really wish I'd paid attention to that diet I've been ignoring so I could have been 30 pounds slimmer for my TV debut but at this point, I think the only option for that to happen is a quick and sure amputation of my butt, legs, waist, tummy....oh crap. I need it all-over! But not to worry, in the infamous words of my boss who always has the right thing to say at the right time , "Just don't drool"....with that kind of support, who needs a perfect body? Signing off for now. It's been a wonderful month and we look forward to the continuous daily adventures that have become a part of our family.

Pasado's Quilt Raffle

It's been a while since life has been calm enough to sit, think and write. It's been a gorgeous weekend in Mill Creek -- definitely a touch of autumn in the air. I spent my time this weekend working on a quilt that will be raffled at work to benefit Seattle City Light's Combined Charities (newly fashioned United Way). Our benefit charity is Pasado's Safe Haven which is a refuge for abused and abandoned animals. During these very tough financial times it's hard to figure out just where to donate your money but we're seeing more and more animals that cannot be cared for by their 'family' and so we're donating proceeds from a Book Sale, the Quilt raffle and food drive. I got this finished completely this weekend so that gorgeous weather I told you about?? Well, I got an hour of errands out in it before the sun set today and it was blissful. Otherwise my time was spent in my haven of cloth, thread, yarn and sewing machine. I didn't even Jazzercise yesterday which was a big sacrifice but I knew I'd need every spare second I had to get the quilt done by tonight. I took the final hand stitch on the binding at 5:59pm. Not bad!

Every year I have two quilting retreats for old friends and new. We celebrate each April and October together making stuff, stuff and more stuff. We often get the chance to finish those UFO's before closing up shop for the summer or getting projects completed just in the nick of time for holiday giving. Our fall retreat will be smaller this year. Several folks are out of town enjoying vacations with their husbands (yay for them!!) but we are strong even in small numbers. This retreat I am working toward a goal of self-funding my next international vacation. Ideas are swirling through my head after coming up with my plan. I tried my sales pitch to a class audience I had while taking a Public Speaking course and I sold three quilts in the class alone. So now I'm off to see what the possibilities are. For this year, I'm going to use my proceeds to fund my wanton spending in January when I head off to New Zealand with my friend, Trudy. But next year.....hold me back.

I'm off to put the little girls to bed. They're both thriving in our wonderfully eclectic family. Suzie is turning 8 in October and Angela 10 in November. The time flies as we all know. Angela's final (hopefully) brain surgery is on October 21. These surgeries are preventing strokes, of which she's had 2 already. But she's improving daily and we are very, very thankful for being in an age where technology is advanced and we live so close to Children's Hospital that we can drive there in just 45 minutes. I have empathy for all those whose children are very ill and they cannot even have the refuge of going to their home at night because they've travelled halfway across the country to get here. I will go to bed tonight again, blessed beyond measure.

A Break From the Traditional

It's vacation time and I've taken a little break from sewing to do some knitting, only because it is a little more portable for me! The little girls, Auntie Nikki and I went to Kah-Nee-Ta resort for some sunning, swimming, and knitting. We swam, we knit but we got thunder and lightning every day most of the days we were there so the sun was a bit sparse. But we were good -- more time to knit. This was a very relaxing time. Kah-Nee-Ta is out in the high desert of Oregon, near Madras. The sage, junipers and pines smell lovely and remind me of many childhood vacations rock hunting with my parents & brother. While Nikki was busy recycling some Debbie Bliss yarn from a first-timer's hat to a lace scarf, I was busy making this darling little "jelly bean bags" from a pattern Halcyon yarn put out recently. They take one skein of cotton and 136 beads. It was my first time knitting with beads and although portions of the process were a pain (twisty yarn) the finished product is great. The girls love them (Angela selected blue, Suzie picked pink). Auntie picked hot pink with black beads which is in process right now.

Part of the wonderful vacation week was coming home to the APNQ quilt show held at the Washington State Convention Center this year. It was one of the best shows I've seen in quite some time. The level of talent, creativity and flawless execution on many of the quilts was humbling. Inspiring?? Yes, to a degree. There is such a gap between the skill portrayed in that room and mine, it's hard to imagine that I could ever deliver such a beautiful piece of work as many that hung in that room. But my optimistic nature says I can and will someday. But before that time comes, I have a few projects to complete.

So, to lay some groundwork for describing my next project series, you'll need to understand that the Mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickols, is a Mr. Green-Save the Planet-Hug a Tree environmentalist. This is super however he convinced our city council to assess a $.20/plastic bag tariff on every bag used in grocery and drug stores. Now, I'll spend a gazillion bucks on something I really like such as a gorgeous hand-dyed yarn or a luxurious silk fabric but I'll be damned if I'll take a $.20 charge on plastic bags. So, I've gotten busy making tote bags of a variety of sizes and fabrics. I'm experimenting on a design my grandmother had that allowed the empty bag to be rolled up and secured for easy storage and toting. I'm using some fabrics from my quilting stash -- you know those fabrics that I loved at one point but never got around to using before my tastes changed? I've gotten some a little big, some not sturdy enough but I'm still experimenting with the designs. Can you just imagine the number of bags you need to stock each car, each bike for store errands, that are enough to carry a full load of groceries and yet still appropriate for a handful of things? I'm not sure how many that will be but I continue to work to expand the collection.

Exciting news on the personal front. Angela, who has a disease called Moya Moya, has had one brain surgery to bypass troublesome arteries in her brain. That most scary event was in May of 2008. The MRA's that she had done the day before we left for vacation showed that the surgery was a huge success -- more blood vessels are branching off from the new artery and we're ready for surgery on the other side to accomplish the same end. Yay!!! We had a large number of people praying for her as we approached the surgery. We've been absolutely blessed to have had it all go so well. Thanks to all!

Where, oh where, has the creativity gone?

So, last week I finally reached the end of my rope. My sewing room, yes I am VERY lucky to have one, was a certifiable disaster! I have holiday placeholders ready to hand sew the bindings by Thanksgiving; a fall round robin pinned and ready to quilt by September; a batik kit by Judy Niemeyer partially sewn but lacking inspiration in my color choices; several stacks of purples & greens that I got on a field trip to Fabric Depot in Portland; some New Zealand fabrics sent by my daughter's in-laws; a purple/sage quilt top for my granddaughter, Suzie (above); and a challenge quilt top that my friend Cindy designed the pattern for (above in orange). While I'm sharing my quilting habits, I must also share another secret. I am an addicted knitter as well (socks below) so part of the room has been sectioned off for yarns of all colors & textures. Now let's get real. The room's not that large!!! But it has a door which has likely led to my inclination to spread out.

Last week I was trying to find something interesting that I could sub-contract to my little granddaughters, Suzie (7) and Angela (9), that could qualify for payment with "daily dollars". Daily dollars are real (fake) dollars that the girls get for doing chores, being helpers on one of my projects, or for being utterly fantastic during a day. My daily dollar challenge this past weekend was to clean up the sewing room. That meant unbagging long-held treasures that made it from the store, into the house but not to the shelf, folding up the mish-mash of fabrics that had to be spread out because they were the 'inspiration' for my next project, organizing the threads that had found alternate homes rather than in the drawer, picking up all the scrap that were scattered about. You know the look....I know you do!

Well, here I am on a 4th of July weekend ready to devote my day to sewing. But the room is too clean! I don't know where to start. I've got two tops ready to pin but I've found myself going into the room and just sitting there. I can't find my inspiration! So, I've been to Jazzercise already this morning, had two cups of coffee with one more in the wings and will post my photos to my blog. Then I am going to slip into that sterile room and gently pull out a few fabrics that I love and place them around the room to get me back in the mood! Then I am going to run to the fabric store to get the quilting threads for the two tops. I think I'll leave them in the bags for just a little while before placing them in their prescribed spot. Then, I think I can sew again!

The Devil's Workshop is Decorated in Orange

I can say that it's rare to find my hands idle. Or my brain for that matter. I am addicted to the creativity and sensory experience of quilting and knitting. The excitement that comes with that first glimmer of a new project has particular allure. Whether it is inspired by a new fabric, a new yarn, a new technique or the tactile need to stroke the fabric, I almost can't wait to start. However I know me. I'll jump in head first and worry about the details later which always ends up creating more stress than relieving it. So as I've gotten older, middleaged if I live to the ripe old age of 110, give or take a year, I've committed to staying true to what brings me pleasure.





You see, my quilting friends are to blame. They are incredibly talented. Cindy's the designer, Sue's the color guru, Melissa's schtick is creativity & fun, Trudy's meticulous in the planning, Jani's the productivity queen, Jeanne's going to eventually make me appreciate Country colors, Julie is the do-it-all-and-still-fit-in-quilting Mom and Diana excels in her soft and classic use of color. I just wish I could make anything as well as they can. I tried being the designer using classic angles and unclassic wedges. I was hopeless. It bored me to tears. I tried speed quilting. I learned to hate story problems all over again. "If a quilter chains 1000 pieces of a quilt, how many times will she have to reverse sew before imbibing in 3 stiff shots of Scotch???" But colors?? You betcha. Nary a one has the pizzazz of Sue's incredible use of color, value and patterns. However, I have settled on what I do well. I use orange. My use of orange started a few dozen round robins ago. I applied orange with confidence. However, when I saw my quilting buddys' (herein QB's) eyes fall out and bounce on the floor twice, I thought I may have overdone it. My use of orange may have been a bit bold...


However, over the years I have learned that it's important to use the gifts God gave me. Some days it seems the gift basket was overstuffed with tissue and had the appearance of abundance when in reality, there was a teeny little gift in the bottom of the basket totally overshadowed by fun & colorful tissue. But when I look really closely, I realize how much joy that little gift brings me. I have a passion for color, maybe not those country colors yet, but bright, bold, energizing colors. They bring me comfort, enliven my psyche, and keep me lapping up those 1/2 yard pieces of the newest and brightest colors in my locals shop. My use of orange has matured. I can now use snippets of orange instead of the bold splash of an orchard. But I think it will be a sad day if I lose my passion for the most wonderful color in the entire spectrum!