Show me the Quilt!

Sunday afternoon was going to be the day that I finally took steps toward finishing two quilts that have been sitting unfinished for....I hate to say it......YEARS. I need to join top, batting and back together with safety pins and then stitch them together. I even bought this book that I am very excited about.

As I was contemplating where I should do this pin basting, a voice from  the distance made me look up. It was my husband holding the newspaper and saying, "You didn't go to the Quilt Show yesterday." And I said, "What?! The quilt show is this weekend? How did I miss that? I can still go today, it's not over for five hours."
And just like that, I grabbed my purse and went to look at other peoples finished quilts instead of finishing my own. (But it was so fun.)

I've thought about joining the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association, but haven't yet. I'm sure I would finish more quilts if I did. I love the annual shows. This one was their 34th.

These two small quilts by Jeanne Holmes were a couple of my favorites:

I also liked this one called "Bunny Windows" by Cara Lamb. She added a note that in Japan, instead of a man in the moon, they say it is a rabbit.

Another reason I LOVE the quilt show is browsing the vender "shops". I took a few pictures at one of my favorites. Claudia Bibber's collection of antique and vintage sewing items. I can never get enough of vintage sewing.

 

 

Well, I didn't make any progress on my own projects, but I was definitely inspired.

Like a moth to a flame.

Today I finished up with one appointment to talk about a slipcover with a half hour gap before my next similar appointment. I thought about looking for a cup of coffee somewhere, but without even thinking I drove to the local fabric store that is in the same neighborhood, Harts Fabrics, in Santa Cruz, CA. They have so many great fabrics and tons of inspiration. It was way more refreshing than the coffee would have been.





Can you believe all these great buttons?









They should set up some comfy chairs in front of this button wall, so easily entertained people like me could just sit and stare at them. They could serve coffee. Ahhh that would be the best spot ever!

Along the way.

I recently spent 11 days at my daughter’s house, hoping to be there for the birth of their second baby. I got to spend a  lot of quality time with my 3 year old grandson while she finished up some work. (She is a talented wedding photographer and also designs albums digitally for other photographers.)



One day we went for a drive looking looking for snow. We met up with another family and went for a beautiful hike. We didn’t find snow, but ended up at a gorgeous waterfall and found acorns along the path. I got some great pictures that I will attempt to paint.



I have always been a fan of Salley Mavor who does magical things with wool felt and embroidery. I mentioned to one of the two little girls we were hiking with that the acorn tops can be hats for little dolls. So of course, when we got home, I was inspired to make some tiny dolls for them and use the "hats" we found. I love to spend my evenings with a pile of hand sewing in my lap.



I came home a week ago and we are still waiting for the baby. I am so looking forward to making the trip back to see the little sweetie when she decides to come out of hiding, and to give my grandson the acorn hat doll I am making for him.

Over the river and through the cacti.

One of the interior designers that I work for lives in Chular, 10 miles south of Salinas. It’s a beautiful drive to her house, so I enjoy making the trip once in a while. I always see scenes out her way that I think would be fun to paint, but usually forget to take my camera. Last time I didn’t forget and got some great photos. This little prickly pear patch is around the corner from her house.
I enjoyed working on this painting and am looking forward to carving out some more painting time.
The husband and I are in an informal book club with a few other couples and we just read Sweet Thursday, a follow up book to Cannery Row by Steinbeck. It was really fun to read the stories and colorful descriptions of the places so close to home. It feels more and more like I am driving through a painted landscape when I travel through the area.

I did it for the kitties.

I went to the biggest rummage sale of my life. Actually this was the third or forth time I've rummaged for the kitties...not rummaging, as in looking for kitties, but ....you know. Project Purr has tackled the feral cat problem in our county and there are a lot of dedicated people who volunteer to put on this huge sale twice a year.



Only the very patient would be able to find their size in this wearable mountain!



Hmm....this reminds me of a story from the Bible. (Numbers 13:23)



Some of the treasures I found. It's for the kitties, remember.




I also found some nice embroidered pieces for my crafting, and these great velvet flowers and leaves.




Christmas is just around the corner. Nothing like a vintage felt Santa to get me in the mood.

She took me out to the ball game!

On Tuesday my 19 year old daughter had an extra ticket to a Giants/ Padres game because the friend she was planning to take couldn't go. She called and said," I can't find anyone to use my extra ticket, do you want to go? I'll be home in twenty minutes and we need to leave when I get there." I hate to admit it but that was pretty spontaneous for me. She drove the hour and a half trip to get to AT&T park in San Francisco and it was nice for me to see that she is a careful and responsible driver, and that she is becoming an adult that I am very proud of.

She told me the tickets were up high, but had a good view of the park. She was right. When we sat down I said, "Wow, I can see everything from here!




Then this happened:





Isn't that just how life is. Seems like there is always some obstacle right in our way! A reminder for me that I always need to be ready to deal with whatever may present itself. In this case it was a big man with a matching big head, but usually for me it is some form of discouragement since I tend to be easily discouraged.

I just had to lean to the right a little, and it was fortunate that the seat on that side of me was empty. In other matters, overcoming the obstacles takes more effort. I just have to keep telling myself, "Katie, you can make this work, just focus on the main event, not the distractions! "

De-pleated.

Wow, time flies when you are immersed in pleating projects. I spent the last couple of weeks, before this week, making cushions, shams and a bed skirt with pleats. I have plenty of sewing jobs to do, which I am very thankful for, so I have been working hard while the work is available.

I thought I would share a method I used, out of desperation, while making 5 inch box pleats on a king sized bed skirt. That comes to about 48 pleats that I was trying to finish in a hurry.

I cut a piece of cardboard the width of my pleat (5 inches) and used that as a pressing guide, pressing the pleat right on the cardboard.



Then I cut another piece of cardboard twice the width of the fold under the pleat. Normally I would fold it to the middle of the top part, but I didn't have enough fabric to do that. This cardboard was used to form the underside of the pleats, keeping everything nice and straight while I pressed it.





Then I pinned the pleat in place. To keep from losing track of how many of the 48 pleats I had completed, I stuck a pin in my cutting table, off to the side, every time I finished a pleat.

After all that pleating, I made slipcovers for my daughter's chairs. We made the 300 mile trip to visit and deliver them last weekend and had a really nice visit. They took us on a couple of beachside outings, and of course we had fun playing with our 9 month old grandson. He is sooo cute.

I was so excited to put the covers on the chairs, that I failed to give them a good press first, but the beauty of slipcovers is that they don't have to look too perfect. Right?

It was a dark and stormy day....

Here is what I wrote around noon yesterday just before the lights went out:

We've had such a mild year so far that it's hard to believe that the storm we've been hearing about for days has actually arrived. I thought I should do a quick post in case the power goes out.



Big Monterey Cypress trees all over the neighborhood like these across the street, usually guarantee that we are among the first to lose power because of falling branches, but so far we are among the few who still have lights and can watch the weather reports on tv.




But while I was proofreading, all went quiet.

The lights came back on around 4 am. HELLO. While the power was still off, but the weather had calmed down, I took Max for a walk around the block and took a few pictures. These are all from a one block area.











The husband and I were sitting in the dark last night with our handy and oh-so-stylish head lamps on talking about all the things we could do if we had a lantern, so we took a trip to the outdoor store in an area of town that conveniently still had power. Silly us to think that there would be even one lantern left on the shelf. I was there looking at the lanterns a couple of months ago and, believe me, they had a lot of lanterns of every variety imaginable. Hopefully there are more on order and we will go buy one on a sunny day.

Evidence of a small world....

When I moved the rather large TV armoire out of my living room so I could rearrange and make room for the smaller, cuter one, I parked it temporarily on the front porch. When a woman I have known for a long time stopped by to pick up her slipcovered ottoman, she said "If you don't want that anymore, I think I know someone who might be able to use it." I was thrilled. I traded some sewing labor for it (used) about 12 years ago and since it doesn't even have a real back on it, I didn't want to sell it. Her friend turned out to be Susi who owns my favorite flower shop. She will be using it for storage at her shop and she gave me a beautiful "thank you" bouquet of flowers.

After I had my yard sale from a couple of posts back, I put some of the items that didn't sell on Craigs List, and Susi contacted me about my tables, not knowing it was me. We both laughed. She bought them to use in her shop.
So of course I had to take a field trip and take some pictures. She didn't have this table in the shop yet:



But this one fits right in.




Her tiny shop is filled with great stuff. It's one of the places I suggest to my family when they are looking for a gift for me.




Of course I had to buy something while I was there. I got this nice stand to put something on. (Christmas decorations maybe?) And some fireplace matches for my lovebird.




Oh yes, I also finally sold that checked slipper chair (not to Susi). After being in two shops and one yardsale it finally has a new home.

Tis the season......

...for sharing, lots of activity, sneaky surprises, opportunities for giving in our communities, and for me lots of sewing work!



Just wanted to check in real quick before I go off to deliver a sectional slipcover in the next county over (complete with new down cushions and completely filling up my station wagon). I'm "snowed in" with lots of pillows, cushions and slipcovers. I will try to keep in touch. I haven't had time to do much blog visiting and am sad to think about what I am missing.

All skate.....

I'm helping at a kid's carnival tonight and was not sure I wanted to wear a costume. A couple of years ago I got really carried away with the costume and ended up being one of the only adults to dress up. What was I thinking!? I'm an introvert by nature. So there I was in my hat with the flower coming out of the top, my flower pot shoes, my blooming apron, and rhinestone glasses among a room full of normally dressed adults. The kids were dressed up, of course, but I was feeling a little uncomfortable.

So....I really wasn't planning on it this year, but I found this really cute sweater. I will wear the sweater and I found a hat like the one the skating girl has on. It will be fun.



Sometimes a piece of velcro (the hook side) can be really useful in removing sweater pills. Just test it out on a hidden area first.



I forgot to button it for the picture. It has cute little red buttons.

Open Studios

I went with a girlfriend on Sunday to visit some artists' studios on our local Open Studios Tour. There are almost 300 artists participating, so we only made it to a fraction of them. I guess we should have worn our running shoes and avoided eye contact. As it went, we couldn't seem to stop ourselves from getting into conversations with the artists and watching demonstrations.

We were thrilled by Lisa Hochstein's work table and studio.



She paints and does fiber art.



Were amazed to watch steel being shaped by a HUGE, LOUD steel pounding machine in Kirk McNeill's studio.









And we enjoyed hearing how Betty O'Donnell dies her fabrics and makes her beautiful art quilts.





And a well used pincushion is always a thing of beauty in my eyes.



We had a great time. (We did make it to more than three studios. We saw beautiful pastels, watercolors, etc. and met a woman who makes awesome functional items, such as, purses, belts, rolls for brushes, and more. I encouraged her to sell on line, so that we can all have access to her great work.)