River City Quilt Show

Yesterday DH and I went to Sacramento to the River City Quilt Show. It is always a nice quilt show. There are great quilts and vendors. Because it is farther away from my immediate area, there are vendors that I do not usually see at the local quilt shows. There was a vendor there with some beautiful quilt related jewelry that was very nice. Also another vendor who sold wooden quilt hangers that were different than I had seen before.

The quilts were nicely displayed. The rows were far enough apart that you could actually step back and see the quilts. I really like that. At some quilt shows the rows of quilts are so close together that if you stop to look at a quilt, you are blocking the isle and no one else can get around you.

There were some beautiful applique quilts, and some wonderful One Block Wonder quilts. Kim has some pictures on her blog. Please check them out. I did not take my camera, again. When I take my camera, I am so engrossed in the quilts that I forget to take pictures! When I don't take my camera, I always find some quilts that I would love to photograph.

There was a row of leaf quilts. A group of ladies exchanged leaf blocks. Each quilt was very different in the design and the way the quilter used the blocks. Some quilts were medium sized wallhangings, and some were larger, almost bed size, quilts. One of the groups I exchange blocks with did a leaf exchange a while back. Mine are still blocks - they have not grown into a quilt yet. But after seeing these unique settings, I am inspired to get my blocks out and sew them together.

While in Sacramento, DH wanted to go to an eatery that he saw on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. It was close to the location of the quilt show, so we drove there from the show. We arrived just in time to place an order to go. They were closing shortly after we arrived. We were glad we were able to find the place and actually get a taste of some of their food.

The drive to Sacramento was very nice. The weather was beautiful. Not too much traffic. We took a different route home and saw some of the country we had not seen in many years. Everything was built up so much since the last time we had driven through that area.

I went to bed late this morning. I made the mistake of picking up one of the books I bought at the quilt show and started reading it. I have been looking for this book for a while. It is the first in a series. I was only going to read a few pages so that I could get a flavor of what the book was about. But, I was hooked after those few pages. I read until about 2:00 a.m. this morning. My eyes finally quite focusing, so I thought I should head to bed. Of course, I slept in late, and then I began a late start to the day that I had planned so fully. In case you are curious, my book is These is My Words, A Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner. Her next book is Sarah's Quilt, and the third book is The Star Garden. These are all novels of the life of Sarah Agnes Prine. The first book is written in a daily journal form. That style is not my favorite type of reading, but this book has me captivated. I cannot wait to see what happens to Sarah.

I also bought Rami Kim's book pictured above. Full of lots of ideas on how to manipulate fabric like origami paper folding. You will also see a picture of the license plate frame that I purchased yesterday that will go on my new Pilot.

Today I have been busy cleaning, baking banana bread, dishes and laundry. I wanted to get this post done before I go into my sewing room because I do not plan to come out until bedtime.

Hope you all had a good weekend. I snatched this little thought from SuBee: My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance!

Happy Quilting

A PIF Arrived

There is the most wonderful quilt in my sewing room. It is a gift from Julie that arrived in the mail. I have been waiting to post a picture of it until Marlene received her PIF. I did not want to spoil the surprise. Julie made us both beautiful nine patch quilts for our Pay It Forward gifts. Please go to Julie's blog for a much better picture of my quilt. It is so special. I love it!!! Julie did a great job piecing and quilting the quilts. Of course, mine is purple (surprised?). Julie showed a preview of my quilt back in her blog a few days ago. The back has a beautiful fall fabric (with purple of course). It is very appropriate for this time of year. I am trying to talk DH into hanging it in the dining area. I am hoping it will fit in that space. I have enjoyed my PIFs so much. Now I must get busy and get my PIF gifts completed and sent on their way to their new homes. I truly enjoy making gifts for others, but I sure enjoy receiving them, too!

It has been a very busy week. Work has been exceptionally difficult this week for some reason that I cannot explain. Wednesday I had to leave my school and go to the district for a training in a new student data system that is coming our way in January 2009. It will be great once we have it and can use it. We will be training way ahead of the time we actually can use the new system. I am a hands-on learner. The trainings are good, but when I cannot go back to my site and practice what I learned, I lose some of my new found knowledge. These trainings days will take me away from my school site, which I abhor. I do not like to be away from my site for any reason during working time. My co-worker will be away for trainings also. That leaves one person in the office when the other is training, which is difficult at best. There are not enough substitutes for all our school sites when we are gone. These days ahead will be stressful.

Tomorrow night is my October tote bag class. I am looking forward to it. Each bag I have made so far has been a gift and has been received by the giftees. Each person likes her tote bag, which makes me feel good. I may keep tomorrow night's tote bag since it is a bag I really can use. It is a casserole tote bag. It is huge compared to our other bags. It would make a great gift, also.

Dinner is on the table, so I will close for now. Remember: keep a smile on your face (even if it sometimes looks like a grimace)!

Happy Quilting

Super Class - One Block Wonders

Yesterday I went to our guild's monthly quilt class. Diane Steele (http://www.dianesteelequilts.blogspot.com/) taught a class on One Block Wonders. It was a great class. I did get 19 blocks sewn in class, and I have sewn a few more today. I was able to get 19 blocks from a strip, and I have four more strips. I took a 60 degree ruler (which was required for class) yesterday, but it was not the correct type. So, DH and I went shop hopping after breakfast. I found the correct ruler at Cotton Patch in Lafayette, CA, today. I bought the ruler and also the book. Yesterday I borrowed a ruler from my table partner. Today, I cut a strip into triangles, and have sewn about half the strip. I wanted to get enough on my design wall to make a good picture. It is really addictive sewing.

It is much like the stack and whack process. You cut up strips, then sub cut the strips into triangles, then sew them back together into kaleidoscope type blocks. You never quite know how the triangles will look when they are sewn together until they are finished. It is so much fun seeing the design that is made when they are put together. That is where the addiction comes in. You want to keep sewing so that you can see all the possibilities.

These hexagons are pinned in the center, not sewn. You place them on your design wall. When they are all finished, you will move them around until the design is pleasing to you, or until you are tired of playing with them. Then you unpin the hexagons, and sew them in a line/column. After each of the columns are sewn together from top to bottom in a line, then you sew the lines/columns together to make the quilt top. It is frustrating not sewing the center seam of each hexagon. I want to see the finished design, but that will be the last step in the process. These are kaleidoscope blocks. I just cannot get away from kaleidoscopes! I love the kaleidoscope blocks.

These blocks are pinned together in the center, and pinned up on my design wall. I was afraid they would fall to the floor so I pinned them in various places for the picture. If you make the picture bigger, you will wonder what those little white things are all over the blocks! They are my pins. I am hoping all these blocks will play well with each other when I get ready to sew them together.

This morning DH and I went to breakfast at our favorite Livermore eatery, the Railroad Cafe. It just happens to be located next door to the quilt store, In Between Stitches. Isn't that convenient? I looked there for my 60 degree ruler. The only one they had was combined with a 45 degree ruler, which was not what I wanted.

I also looked for some more fabric for my Hungry Caterpillar quilts. I thought I bought lots of fabric, enough for my baby (I mean children's) quilts. But I do not have enough for the backs without piecing some different fabrics together. This first quilt is too wide for one width of fabric, which is usually what I can do with my baby quilts. Of course, they did not have the fabrics that I wanted, but they did have some of the fabric line left. I bought another yard of one fabric. I will have to make do with what I have even if I must piece a back. I hope I can make the next two quilts small enough to use the width of the fabric that I originally purchased.

This weekend has been filled with fun quilty things. But it is after 8:00 p.m. and I am just getting my wash done. I must go and get things ready for the next work week, so I will leave you with this thought: do some sewing every day, even if it is only for 15 minutes. It will make you feel so much better!

Happy Quilting

The Pencil Worked

Brenda, you are a life saver! I clicked on the pencil and it allowed me to edit my blog! I am so excited! My computer literate son came by tonight and worked on my computer. I had signed up for two of the same program somehow and he fixed that for me. He also looked at my email and reinstalled it since he could not figure out what I had accidentally done to it. I was writing in my notebook, and it slipped off the table and hit my keyboard and my monitor went bonkers. After that, I could not get my emails to appear on the monitor to read them. I could click the reply button and see the email, then reply to it. I could delete it, but I could not pull up an email to read only! Honestly, there is so much about this computer that I do not know (and to tell you the truth, I do not really want to know). Thank you again, Brenda, for your advice. It solved at least one problem. Next I will tackle another problem. I have so many to choose from, I don't know which one is first! Hooray!!! Until next time.....Happy Computing! P.S. Maybe I can get my paragraph spacing back again! P.P.S. My highlights are back, too. Whatever my son did to my computer really helped my blog problems. Double Hooray!!!

Typo on last post

I just found a typo in my last post. I cannot edit anything once it is posted for some odd reason, so I am writing an apology to Didi McElroy. She was not the featured "quiter" at yesterday's show, but the featured "quilter". Didi is not a quiter, I am sure. She is a wonderful artist who happens to do beautiful applique and hand quilting. FYI: I cannot use Spell Check either, thus my typos. I cannot navigate away from this screen in any way except to add pictures. And, I can only add pictures at the top of each post, not anywhere else now days. I am not sure what I did to my blog set up, but that is how it is. So, I apologize in advance, and again to Didi, for any typos in my posts. I try to find them all before I post, but sometimes they get past me, like this last one! As I sit here with egg on my face, I will close with... Happy Typing

Another great weekend

This has been another great weekend. Yesterday my husband and I drove to Valley Springs (in my new Honda Pilot) to attend their 4th annual quilt show. This is a small town about 120 miles north of us in the foothills. They have approximately 70 members in their guild. The show was small, but a good sampling of quilts. Didi McElroy was the featured quilter. She does beautiful applique and hand quilting. One of the ladies there said she was having a sale at her quilt shop. She gave us directions to her shop. We drove there and found the address, a home in a housing neighborhood. She has a small shop in her garage. She also does machine quilting I assume since there was a huge long arm machine in there as well. She had some fabric, some notions, and some used books and patterns from a member who had passed away. I had taken classes from this lady who had passed away, but I did not realize she lived up that way. I found a book I did not have, so that was my big purchase besides a pin. Then we went back to town and had lunch at a little Mexican restaurant. It was very good with reasonable prices. If it wasn't so far away, we would go back there often.

This guild had a beautiful opportunity quilt. It was a pictoral quilt of the history of the area. It was very well done. I bought some tickets, of course. It would be wonderful if I would win that quilt. But then, it would be wonderful if I would win ANY quilt. Have any of you won an opportunity quilt, or a quilt from a guild or a quilt show? I know someone wins these quilts. Once in a while I will see one displayed at a quilt show. The info card on the quilt indicates it was won at last year's show, or some other previous event. I always buy tickets at shows and events because I know this money supports the guilds.

Today is my day to wash, clean and do other things. I am trying to finish the binding on the crumb quilt I have been working on for a couple of years. I want to finish it so that I can donate it to Community Quilts at our guild meeting on Tuesday night. It is one of the pictures I have with this post.

The other picture is very fuzzy, I apologize. I have discovered my wonderful digital camera does not take close up pictures. So, I guess I need to upgrade my camera if I want close ups. Wanda at Exuberant Color has a great camera for close ups. She has some beautiful pictures of purple flowers and butterflies on her blog right now. Anyway, the second picture is of two quilt pins that I purchased at the last two quilt shows we have attended. The red spool is from the quilt guild from yesterday's show, the Loose Threads Quilt Guild (I love that name). The tree is from the Sonora Quilt Guild. I try to get a guild pin at the shows when they are available. That is the main reason I wanted to go to the shop in the quilter's garage. She had them for sale there. I will add these to my collection.

Until next time.....Happy Quilting