Featured Sea Side Stitcher: Joyce

Joyce is the quietest of the group, but when she speaks, it's worth hearing. She makes us laugh a lot, too. AND she makes the most awesome chocolate lava cake with Trader Joe's ice cream. I have to admit it...I like the lava part the best with the ice cream, and then I share my cake with Margaret! LOL! When I figure out how to load my short video of everyone in the kitchen licking the bowl and beaters, you'll see how much we all love that cake! One day she was the most fashionable with her shirt on inside out, so we all decided we would wear ours that way, too. I had my Charlevoix (MI) T- shirt on, and she kept trying to read it. She finally asked what XIOVELRAHC spelled - was it Russian? Didn't take her long to notice, eh?

Joyce brought several projects to work on, and here are the two that had the most time spent on them. The little dachshund is going to be one of many. And of course, every shop we went to had more of the PERFECT doggie fabric, so they were added to the formula as well. More backgrounds were found on the last shopping day, so a lot more progress was made on these puppies than you can actually see. And aren't these Easter Eggs just the best? She got the borders on, but I didn't get a picture of them, but I'm sure one of the other campers did.
Joyce was our one stitcher who definitely knew how to put the r-e-t-r-e-a-t back into retreat! Although she always had the coffee on a o'dark thirty in the morning, she took breaks often, and when she wasn't resting, she was talking to her sweet hubby on the phone.

Last year, Joyce brought her felting machine and we all fell in love with it. In the year since, she has gone back to doing most of her felting by hand, and has made some absolutely beautiful pieces. I want to be Joyce when I grow up! Here is an unfinished snowman she has started.

Here are her wet felted booties, the most beautiful needle felted wool scarf, and Pinelope (which I covet). You can't see Pinelope very well. This picture was taken just prior to her trying to get into my bag to go home with me. (You notice that I said trying...she was unsuccessful.)

Every time we leave on the final day, Joyce's car doesn't run well until it gets to San Jose. Joyce says it's because the car doesn't like the gas she buys there in Cambria. I say it's because it doesn't want to leave. That's why it hid the car keys, too, so Joyce couldn't leave when everyone else did. You'll notice that she has plenty of projects to keep her busy if she has to wait for AAA to bring her another key? (The keys were found about 5 minutes after we left hiding under a sack in the back seat area.)


And the sun set another night on the Sea Side Stitchers. Yet another stitcher profile tomorrow!

Featured Sea Side Stitcher: Margaret

Margaret is the newest of the Sea Side Stitchers. This year she flew from her home in Columbus, Indiana where she is a long arm quilter to visit her sister Helen first, before we made her crazy in Cambria.

Take a panel of fabric, slice it vertically, sew with a scant 1/8" seam (YES I SAID SCANT 1/8" seam!). Then slice it horizontally and do the same. Fractures!!! Proof positive that we drove her crazy!

Margaret (left) and Wendy (right)

She fit right in with the our silly group, and suggested we use the hot tub (we finally found the little key for the tub this year!) even though we had to go buy "spa wear" at a local thrift shop! We watched the whale "blows" from the tub most every day, and it was Margaret who spotted the first one! And I think she was the last to see them, too!

Now, when you learn something new, it always helps to have about four people hovering over your shoulder, right? Margaret was making her FIRST ever half square triangles! Can you believe that, after you've seen those scant 1/8" seams and the fractures?

Of course, her half square triangles were perfect with all the instructions we gave her. LOL!

No matter how hard I tried to get her to put the bears in trees, she stuck to her guns, and put the bears where they belonged. Of course, there were about 5 different variations before the final cut, but don't they look grand?

Way to go Margaret, and if you had the rest of the fabric, I'm sure this would have been already done. Now, to go look in my stash to see if I have some more for you to use.

Keep stitchin! Another featured quilter tomorrow!

Featured Sea Side Stitcher: Marj

Marj is a wonderful, bubbly quilter who joined us in Cambria for her second annual retreat with the Sea Side Stitchers. She makes me laugh, and she makes me cry. She is one of the best! She always has so many ideas and things to share... And precise, and patient and all those things that I am not! She also makes the best darned tuna noodle casserole and grilled asparagus and chocolate pudding in the world!

She likes to find these marvelous rocks on the beach and make cairns of beauty to behold. Oh yes, the Chocolate Lava Cake (provided by Joyce) also made it into the still life. LOL!

She worked and she worked all week long with Sherri and Margaret at her table...making block after block after block!

Marj actually started off with using many of the hundreds of selvedge edges to make bags for us all, and I don't know how many others. She sewed and sewed, and sewed, then sewed some more. Wendy suggested using the squares in the center of stars, and I think Marj is going to make a huge quilt with the hundreds of 5" blocks she created all from selvedge. I can hardly wait to see it when it's finished!

Also in this picture is the Jo Morton paper pieced spools she worked on. Isn't she diligent?

She finished the week with these beautiful little jewels. When she started, she was only going to make one, but she just couldn't stop. I think this truly qualifies her now for the Janiac club, don't you (those Aunt Jane quilts with the gajillion paper pieced parts)?

We had an afternoon tea with some friends in the neighborhood who stopped by. It seemed each year, our renown grows and our new friends abound. These are actually friends of Aunt Betty (in the plaid shirt) who belongs to one of the Sea Side Stitchers (Sherrie). Marj is explaining her technique and work on the design wall with them. They all brought things to share as well, and in another post, I'll share those here too.

Here's a close up of those tiny blocks!!!

This is her completed project from last year.

And the sun set on the Sea Side Stitchers no matter how late they tried to keep it from disappearing in the horizon. Sometimes they stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, but the sun did not! Imagine that!

Another featured quilter for tomorrow. I wonder who it will be? Keep stitching!

Back from Cambria

I had a most marvelous time with my girlfriends in Cambria California this past week, despite Delta Airlines best efforts to keep me from leaving Kansas City. Despite that, I DID arrive in San Jose in time to meet the girls Sunday, March 14, and we mosied our way south to Cambria. Of course there were a couple of quilt shops we had to "hop" as it was the last Sunday of their hop week!

This is going to be a short post since I've used most of the day to get through my emails, unpack and wash clothes, and get through all the pictures and videos I took! I think this is going to take several days to get through! AND you might notice on the right side bar there are two countdown links that will pop up when you click them. My next retreat is in September in Michigan with Gwen Marston, then there's 2011 Cambria.

We arrived later on Sunday, and unloaded three cars worth of projects and quilters. When I say SeaSide Stitchers, this is why. This is the view out the front windows of our house:

On Monday, we always have a tea party, presented by Marj and Wendy. It is simply fantastic!

We also had a late night lesson on making three dimensional cloth snowflakes. This is how you cut the fabric to start:

DON'T cut it like this:

SUCCESS!!!!!

Here are all are in this year's aprons. Do you recognize some of that fabric that I had on my cutting table now?

Marj, Joyce, Wendy, Sherri, Quiltgranny, Margaret

2011 Sea Side Stitchers

Stay tuned for more adventures tomorrow!

Crash boom bah!

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything for quite some time - even though I've promised I wouldn't do that anymore. Well, the good news is that I am back, and I am posting. The bad news is that my computer crashed as I was trying to do a back up. No, the back up wasn't successful, and lots was lost. Oh well, such is life in the digital age. I think I have most of my photos stored somewhere here and there - just not all of them on a backup hard drive. Part of the recovery process was getting a new computer AND a new wireless router that does automatic backups now.

So, I don't have any new pictures to share this time.

I'm leaving for Cambria CA on Sunday morning...very very early. And since we lose an hour from falling forward from Daylight savings time, it will be even earlier! I'll be gone a week, so you should be seeing some beautiful pictures from the left coast, along with pictures of my best girl friends and beautiful quilting projects. Be good!

Recently, I accepted a request from my guild to be the Boutique chair for our 2010 Lee's Summit Missouri quilt show in November of this year. Since I am a fairly new member, I didn't really know who the person was who called me, but I DID remember that it was an easy name. So, it was no surprise when I got an email the next day telling me about a meeting. You should remember, too, that I am new to the Missouri area. The following is the EXACT messaging that was exchanged:
Message number 1:

From Linda: There will be a meeting for those of you that are on the Quilt Show Committee at 10:15am in the kitchen at A Scarlet Thread, Thursday, January 14, 2010.
Message number 2:
From Quiltgranny:Where is that, please?
Message number 3:
From Linda: 3159 Jodeco Road, McDonough, GA - the same location that our Guild meets. The kitchen is the first door (double doors) on the left when you go in the front door or if you go in from the back, pass the desk, etc. the fabric room on the right, then it will be the next set of doors on the right.

Linda
Message number 4:
From Quiltgranny: Ummm, I don't mean to be an airhead, but do you mean for ME to have
this email? I live in Belton MO....I AM on the quilt show committee for the Lees Summit MO quilt guild, and we ARE supposed to be having a meeting soon about the show....but GA? I don't think so. Thanks for the invite though - if I'm ever in the area, you can count on me!

Thanks, Sharon

I got another nice email back from her explaining how she'd gotten some emails mixed up, but I am still laughing about this a month later! I have no idea when their show is, but if you are in that area, check it out and report back on how it is/was!

Our guild had one of their two annual "retreats" last week. This is where they have an instructor come for a day, and you can participate in that class or just come and sit n' sew. I have no desire at the moment to make a one block wonder quilt, but here are some beauties that were being done that day.

Klonda with her little jewels

Diane with elegant orientals

Beth with and the lucious forest

For my part, I continued working on my birthday quilt, and now I have all the components completed and ready for joining. It's doubtful this will be done before I leave for Cambria, and it just might get to go with me! We'll see.

It has been so darned cold here. Even though the sun is shining, the ice still clings to the trees. You can't quite see the sparkle in this picture, but just imagine driving the back roads out to the main highway and expecting to see Dr. Zhivago carrying Lara across the fields in a horse drawn sleigh. I fully expected to hear the tinkling of the icicles as they sparkled on each and every blade of grass and tree limb. But instead, I had to entertain myself with NPR. Maybe it will be Spring soon, eh? Stay warm, wherever you are!

Sesame Street

Today's post is a bit like the Sesame Street quiz that goes like this:

Which of these things is not like the other?

This picture is closer to the right way, even though it is still wrong. The points are supposed to alternate one top, one bottom. Because the size of the quilt is different than the math calls for, I was willing to have all four corner points going the same direction. I mean, the border fit, and the corner turned, right?

But here is the opposite corner, and one of the points is now going the wrong way. If I flip it over, it doesn't work with the rest of the border. I haven't even done the last edge because I know I will have a mirror opposite there.

Clyde slept on it, and just couldn't figure out how to make it work, either. I know I did the math several times, and I THOUGHT it would work, but it just won't. So what to do, what to do?
I think it's time to fold it up, put it on the shelf for the next go round later in the spring. When you aren't having fun anymore, it's time to move on. I have a couple of ideas working, but I want to make sure that when I cut the fabric it is going to work this time. So, now, it can "simmer" in the stewdio while I work on other things!

I must admit that on a day like today, it's a good one to just curl up with a book, and/or watch the Olympics. What you see on the ground is ice, and the icicles on the fence post are even longer now at 10 PM at night. When the wind blows, everything sort of crackles - the trees are bent way over, and the ground crunches as you walk across it. Will Spring ever come?

Changing Comments

Well, there are some bad people out there in the Blogosphere for sure! This blog has been hit numerous times with spammed comments that are all in Chinese characters, and the commenter has no known profile, but the comments are left with a name (not anonymous). I've reported it to the Google Blog people, and I've removed all but 15 of them (so they can review them). In the meantime, so we all don't get burned, please do this:

*Never click on comments that appear to be in foreign characters.

*Please bear with the new comment moderation before your comment shows on my blog. I do promise that I will review all comments and release them as soon as I can. This shouldn't be too painful.

In the meantime, your Quiltgranny wishes you many stitches and piecefulness!

Another Birthday Quilt!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Here's the "goils" at 2 PM on Birthday Stitch day
from left to right: Ibby, Carol, Vicky, Shirlee, Quiltgranny

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this quilt!

We got almost half of it done, and we also have those rows sewn together so I could easily move the gazillion pieces easily. I plan to enlarge it, but I haven't cut those pieces yet. This is entirely from my stash, and much of it is from my scrap bins. It's a pattern by Robert Callaham called Lover's Knots and it was in a Quilter's Newsletter magazine a long time ago. I don't have the date or the issue number. It's quite easy to do, just a lot of squares (over 1,000) and a lot of corner HSTs (over 400). It's a great "leader, ender" project ala Bonnie from Quiltville.

So tomorrow, after Hubby and go out to do some shopping, I plan on working in my stewdio to get it all ship shape again. Then it's back to these units, and working on Cambria surprises, and getting at least one project ready for Cambria. Well, maybe that will take more than just tomorrow, eh?

Another great thing about our Stitch Saturdays, is that we get to have show and tell - up close and personal. Here's another one of Shirlee's beauties! These are her batik butterflies that are all hand appliqued. It's more gorgeous than the pictures show, I can tell you that!

I hope you had a marvelous special day. Now, on let's get back to the quilting!

Almost there!

Just lots of little things to share today!

Saturday will be my official Amazing Quilt Babes Birthday Day, and I've been working all week long getting ready. My "real" birthday isn't until April, but really, THIS is the birthday that counts for me. My friends spending the day with me, sewing on my project, laughing and sharing - what is a better birthday gift than that? This is the fabric line-up. I can't share the pattern yet, since I want it to be a surprise for them when they arrive on Saturday. I'm sorry that the picture is a bit shaky, but that's what happens when Quiltgranny stands on a chair!

I pulled the colors from the large piece of fabric that is shown across the top of the picture. This end up being the border. I never really know if that's how it end up, even though that is the originating plan! Pictures of our progress will posted on Sunday.

I had a great time at the workshop this past Monday with Linda Everhart . I now understand how her process works and I can hardly wait to get back to it. It has to be set aside for this week, though. This is Linda and me with one of her feathered star patterns (she made it, not me!)

I've been working on Round 2 of RR Bloggers quiltlets. I think we are on round 8 or 9, I can't really remember. I can't show you the entire quiltlet, either, since it will be a surprise for the originator, but I did want to show you all the help I get when I embroider. This is Clyde in his most important stitching spot! I am making hundreds and hundreds of French knots!

And the last thing I have to share tonight is also another secret. The people at my guild and the Bee know what this is. YOU, however, on the other hand will have to wait until after March 21. That's when this will be revealed to my friends in Cambria! Until then, you'll just have to guess!