Saturday, July 31, 2010

Blog Hop

I feel like I am running a week behind. 
Wait, I am a week behind. 
Story of my life. lol 

Last Friday and Saturday I decided to abandon the family and hit the road. 
I did the Northern Arizona Beat the Heat Shop Hop.
7 quilt shops.... 375 miles....2 days... no hubby...no daughter. 
Fun, Fun, Fun. 

I left the Canyon with "0" miles on the odometer.
First stop... Williams, Az. 
The closest store to me. 59.6 miles.
They had the grand prize on hand to see as well as their own prize. 
I bought a pattern for a pin cushion and got the first set
of 6 batik charm squares.
Each store was giving the charm squares and one store also
had a pattern for a quilt to make.

Next stop... Lunch. lol 

I then headed to Flagstaff and realized that it really was the 
middle of the monsoon. It was a pretty wicked storm. 
Finally arrived at Odegaards. I really like this store. 
106.6 miles and counting. 
Next stop is Sedona by way of the Oak Creek Canyon. 
More rain on the way down. Ugh.. 
Driving Oak Creek can be tricky any time. In rain it is not my favorite pastime.
I finally arrived at Sedona...143 miles so far.
The Quilters store is a very nice quilt store. 
They also have a Gallery attached that was not open... sigh.. 
I was able to pick up some fun stuff... and more batik squares. 
They have a pretty nice view also. 
Next stop was in Cottonwood. Quilters Quarters. 
Nice selection and nicer ladies. 
Time to pick up the pattern for the quilt. 
151.5 miles and counting. 
From there I headed to Prescott where I made 
a 5pm stop at A Quilters Dream. The lady was very glad
that I just wanted my passport stamped. :-) 
After that I headed to Hobby Lobby 
to pick up some Kona Solids. 

End of day one..... 
215.4 miles

More tomorrow....

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Monsoon

When we moved to Arizona we had to learn a whole new way of living. 
We had to learn how to make lists.  Lists for everything. 
We had to learn what a snow shovel was.
On and on.....

But the strangest part was learning about new weather patterns. 
Texas was easy. We had been there all or most of our lives. 
We understood ice, heat, and tornadoes. 
No Problem. 

Monsoon... what the heck is that?
We have sunny, dry, high mountain desert weather, right? 
Yeah, we do. But... come high summer, we get the Monsoon season. 
Truly, it is a real season. Monsoon. 
Strange. lol 

About the only time we ever have any humidity around here is when it is
about to rain (or after a snow). 
I like no humidity. Probably my favorite thing about being at the Grand Canyon. 
When the humidity rises, it causes high thunderstorms to build.
We get sudden, heavy down pours with a lot of lightening.
And forest fires... but that is another post. 

The rain can be quite heavy, but the best part is the drop in temperatures.
We can go from 95 (seldom does it get that hot here) to 65 in about 15 minutes. 
In fact, it did that last Friday.
Today it just dropped from 85 to 65. 
Challenging for my husband's job, but lovely.

So we have new weather patterns to add to the list of 
fun new experiences here.... 90 miles from nowhere. 

Missy

Monday, July 12, 2010

I love a potluck

I really do. 
I love knowing that I only have to prepare one little thing
and then I will get an entire meal all spread out and ready to eat. 

We have been having potlucks about once a week lately. 
Since most of our drivers are seasonal we have quite the party
going on in the summer.
This year we actually had to wait till June for it to be warm enough for the fun to start.

There is nothing quite like a burger or chicken enchilidas or some other lovely
item, just waiting to hit my plate. 
That is topped only by someone appearing around the corner with a tub of home made
ice cream. 
Strawberry was the flavor of choice tonight and it was lovely.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Two Quilts

Can I pat myself on my back?
Is it okay to do that?
I hope so. :-)

I have completed two quilts in the last 2 days.
And I promise this is the last you will see of either one of them. :-)
One was my first quilt and just needed the binding.
I have decided that I hate binding a quilt.
I really need to work on that... sigh.

The second quilt is the Christmas present that I have been working on.
It required a bit more work.
I had it pinned, but it needed to be quilted (very simply)
 and it needed a binding as well.

Since I live at the Grand Canyon I decided to go to the rim and take the photos there.
They are not the greatest pictures.
It was almost sunset and pictures are tough at that time of day. 
Especially if you are taking pictures of a lime green quilt. 

I am glad to have them done and out of the living room.

Friday, July 9, 2010

I am learning a lot

My second quilt is a yellow nine patch made with a Moda fabric.
I am not sure how it happened but my yellow quilt....
Turned out pink.
Mind blowing I tell you.
I wanted to work on making my squares match up where they are supposed to be. 
It helped. 
I needed to figure out if I could do any quilting myself. 
I wanted to know how to do the quilting with both my walking foot
and free motion quilting with my darning foot. 

The quilt has been a huge, and I mean HUGE, learning experience.
I learned that I needed to be able to see where I am going and I needed to
modify my darning foot.
I modified it by using the scroll saw to cut an opening in the front.
It worked like a charm.
I have learned that I like my walking foot. It is pretty cool. 

I learned how to stipple on my quilt with free motion quilting.
But, most of all I learned to use my seam ripper. 
A lot.
I also figured out how to order thread online when I ran out. 
It was too far to drive to get more.
I had to be very patient waiting for the order to arrive. 

I had a major OOPS on the quilt.
I scrunched up the back when I was quilting it and had to figure out a way to fix it.
I actually accomplished the repair and finished the quilt.

I took out all the stitches in the area and then ironed the material back toward the
seam on the pieced back.
I was able to scrunch the excess fabric under the seam
and whip stitch it in place.
I then re-quilted over the top of it and then added one
more seam just to make me happy.
I cannot ever give it as a gift, but it is repaired and you can barely see it.
I still need to work on some things like....
binding and thread tension...Ugh.

All things considered, I am pleased with the way it came out.
My daughter is too.
 This is why I make quilts.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

My Baby

My baby is 13.
I am not sure how that happened. 
I swear it was just yesterday that she was little bitty.
Now she is a teenager. 
Not a scary one, at least not yet. 

I had a flash back.... flash forward? this week. 
She started babysitting.
My baby...
Out of the blue, she is watching other peoples babies. 
I am not sure I am ready for this. 
She has been out of the house quite a bit this week and I see my future. 
I know in my head (technically) that she will grow up and move out. 
BUT I AM NOT READY.

She is my last.
My baby.
My sweetie. 
My lovely young lady.
I don't think I am prepared.