Camria quilts and things

So sorry to be late in posting the quilts that we worked on while in Cambria at our girlfriend retreat! Spring has sprung (mostly) and there is so much to get done for the garden. We're making some pretty ambitious rain barrels, an ambitious vegetable garden, and getting a new small shed painted and peg boarded for hanging tools.

So, in the meantime, enjoy the quilts!

Here is everyone in the aprons I made for each of us. The pattern is Church Lady Aprons, and they are reversible. One yard per side makes the apron in it's entirety!

Sherri

Joyce

Wendy

Marj

Quiltgranny

Almost Zen - Marj

Urban Chic - Wendy

Caboodles Calendars - Joyce

Rescued 9 Patch Pizzazz - Marj

Mail Order Stars - Sherri

French Roses - Quiltgranny Sharon

Unknown pattern - Wendy

Bird Brain applique wildflowers - Joyce

Reading Rings - Quiltgranny Sharon

Favorite Reading Ring - Quiltgranny Sharon

Back from Cambria, CA

I know, I know, I know! I've been back from Cambria for more than a few days now, and I haven't posted! Here I am now, with lots of show and tell, though. I had an absolutely marvelous trip with my girlfriends, and as always it was just way too short. Where does the week go, anyway?

I was a very tired girl when I arrived in San Jose where I was met my my BFF's at the airport. With the two hour time change, I had been up since 2 AM CA time, and arrived about noontime. We drive another 3.5 hours south to Cambria, picked up the house key and promptly unloaded all our gear. It was a dark and windy night when we arrived.....

Welcome to our home by the sea.

This is the level where we set up our sewing machines. Come in and sew a while - or a week!

Do you recognize that pile o'fabric that was on my cutting table last month? These are the surprises that I made for the girls. Anyone who was working in the kitchen had to wear their apron, but that didn't seem to be a problem at all! The aprons are reversible, personalized with their name on one side. You can double click the picture to see the beautiful embroidery (thanks Debra) on Wendy's pocket. SOMEONE even wanted to wear hers all the time.

Marge invited us to Tea by the Sea on Monday. Lovely cucumber sandwiches, scones, sugared orange rinds, and different tastes of tea were served on Wendy's bridal shower (from the 60's) tablecloth. (Marj is taking the picture.)

Yummies!

We had to go shopping of course, to our favorite little thrift shop in town. A salad spinner is a winner for Wendy (and our kitchen!) We also found great wool jackets for our projects, too.

We flew a kite off the deck of the house....

And we could have gotten in trouble for stealing plants by the roadside....

But, Marj did some guerrilla gardening for orange flowers from Millie's garden instead. Now of course, we didn't know Millie before Marj made us stop the car so she could go ask if she could dig up some flowers from Millie's garden! Millie was delightful, and even gave Marj a shovel so she could take those "dratted" flowers away that Millie thinks are weeds!

We (Sherri and Joyce) cut up all our wool finds for the wash when we got tired of sewing...

Or we (Marj) traced off patterns for applique and embroidery projects...
Or lapsed into a happy "zone" at our sewing machines for a while (Wendy) ...
Here's a little teaser for tomorrow's post with all the quilts we made while at our home by the sea. I was working on Measured Words before I left the Midwest. Well, by the time it got to California, it had become Reading Circles (or maybe Reading Rings) ! Inspiration abounds! More on that tomorrow, as well as many more quilt photos!

Off to camp!

My flight to San Jose CA leaves at 6 AM tomorrow, and it takes about an hour to get to the airport from our new house. I am going to be one tired, but happy, puppy when I arrive there! I get to spend an entire week with my girlfriends, sewing, laughing and just generally being friends! I've already sent a project box ahead, and now I've got the suitcase packed with my Words project. There's still room for a few clothes, too. Of course, Clyde knows something is up!

I think the house we rent is right there on the coast where the white houses end. Do you see it?

Have fun while I'm gone - will be back on the 30th!

Yard work and quilting

I've been getting ready for my girlfriend retreat in Cambria, CA. I've gotten a pedicure, had my hair cut (decided to leave the gray alone), and I've even shaved my legs! GASP! I'm leaving Sunday, returning the following Sunday, and we'll be sewing and laughing the entire time.

I've gotten started on my Words project at least 3 times (and more in my head), and so far I haven't liked a single experiment I've tried. And the pressure is mounting to land on something that I like so I can work on it in Cambria, and have it ready to be submitted by the middle of April. Well, I hadn't found anything that I like that is, until this morning.

I know we get inspiration from the strangest places, but I have to tell you that this is my strangest one of all. Here's my story of how I got from A to Z.

Chapter 1
My first inspiration for the wavy words was from my bathroom rug. I like the rug:

I don't like the wavy words:


Chapter 2:
I have a "Hubby-do" list (as I'm sure many of you do) for while I'm gone. This is our first spring at our new house, and what we've discovered is that we have the worst of the worst CLAY dirt here. So much clay, I think we could sell it off for the stuff they use to line ponds with! At any rate, it wasn't draining off the house correctly, and I couldn't plant my old fashioned flower garden out my stewdio window, nor could our new vegetable garden get dry in order to till. So, Hubby rented a "cutter", and started in making french drains away from the house. All in all there is about 400' of drainage between all the lines. Here's Hubby with the new toy - Watch out, though, he is cutting through everything that isn't moving!


Illustrations:





Chapter 3
Arches
As I was documenting the work for posterity, it came to me how lovely that arch is in cut through the dirt. The water that immediately started running in the grade just emphasized the curve of it, and my brain ran away with me back to the stewdio to try out something. Ah, success, I think!

And the eye candy working in my garden (a local college boy) isn't too bad either!

Saturday Stitch Day

Today was our Stitch day with the Amazing Quilt Babes. We all worked on bits and pieces of UFOs. I worked on bindings. Shirlee worked on her next applique project, and Vicky worked on the Bunny Hill BOM brought her Simple Gifts (the one with the flowers and insects), and her Bubbles and Pinwheels. Aren't they beautiful?

Carol brought her Roses and Chocolate for me to look at to figure out the construction. I love these colors!

And the last picture? Well, that's my first cut through for my Measured Words. I don't think it's going to be like that....


Make a Smilebox slideshow

She's Happy!

Dana stopped by after work to retrieve the memory quilt made from her mother's blouses, jackets, blouses and t-shirts tonight. I'm so happy that SHE'S happy! One last photo of it with her before it leaves my stewdio.

Saturday is a stitch day here at the house with the Amazing Quilt Babes (minus one). We will be doing our own thing with UFO's, and I plan on working on bindings. I also have a plan of attack for my next art piece Measured Words. I might even get around to starting some cutting for that. Stay tuned!

Bonsai Complete

Bonsai is now completed and has been shown to the client (who cried). If you'd like to see a close-up of the beading and quilting, you can double click on the pictures. It is constructed of batik, thai silk, vintage kimono and yukata fabrics, fabric mat (fabricated), hand beaded with pearl seed beads, swarovski crystals, and hand quilted. It is about 30" wide by about 42" tall (estimates). My personal "chop" is located on the lower left side in red/white silk.

Time for a change of pace

I've finished the beading on the Bonsai finally, but I won't post it until next week. It took me a while to decide that it was actually finished - no more beading, no more embellishments and what kind of edge finishing I would do for it. The client gets to see it Thursday, and I want her to get the full scope of it in person, rather than on the blog. I will show it at Guild tomorrow though.

Today, I spent quite a bit of time unpacking and organizing my stash, tools and supplies. At our other big house (2.5 times as large as this one), I had a lot more space, with cabinets build in for my stash. Now, I am not complaining - no siree! Hubby was so sweet and built some shelving for me, and is just about finished with it. Here's a few pictures of what it looks like.

The picture below will be my fabric work counter. This is where I will pull fabrics for a project, then put the tubs away. Of course, I still have more fabric to put away; I just tucked the extra stuff under the counter to make some room!

This is the "L" side of the area from the picture above. A lighting fixture will be added in this area, too.
This is my wet area to play. The sink and counter tops were recycled from the kitchen upstairs, because I wanted Corian counters with an embedded sink. So, now, I have a place to dye and paint and silkscreen without worrying about the mess inside the house. I plan on putting curtains in front of the open shelving later.

To the right of the "cubby" area of the first two pictures, is this unit. It goes all the way to the ceiling, and I will be able to store batting on the very top most shelf. I sort of rushed it by putting the tubs onto the shelves before he had the bracing on. I don't think he knew just how heavy fabric can be!
And of course, what would be a post without a picture of my helper? Here's Clyde making sure that the latest quilt I put on the guest bed for my BIL's visit is just right!