Wee, Wee all the way home

You know that feeling when you haven't been able to speak but your brain was bursting to say something.  That's how I feel now.  There is so much territory to cover, so many loose thoughts to corral.

While I was on holidays (vacation) I derived enormous pleasure from reading all your blogs.  Even though I was away from home I felt connected.  So thanks to all you bloggers who give me quilting satisfaction. As you can see, my "must read blogs" list has expanded  as I  discovered more and more fabulous quilters/artists/personalities. 

Of course I couldn't take all my quilting supplies with me.  I was reduced to just a few tools.  What I missed most was, surprisingly, my threads!

Don't you just love the colours!

Of course, I had to tidy them up for their photo op.

So then they had to come out for a play.  Some of them are practically empty, some unused, waiting for their moment in the sun.  A few have been chewed by the dog, but still they get pressed into service.
And there is no relationship between the colours of thread and the colours of my quilts.  For instance, I don't seem to do many blue quilts, but look at my stash!

Particularly when I applique, I enjoy having a lot of colours to choose from.  I mainly use one brand, probably because that is what I used when I started.  Everyone has their own favourite and I have come across "thread snobbery", but it  really is a case of using what works for you.  Recently I discovered that these threads are not  suitable for machine quilting, otherwise, I use them all the time.

Waiting for me when I arrived home was a wonderful gift from Em, the happiest blogger in the world.
Em's blog never fails to give me a boost.  And it's her birthday.  So please, when you've finished with me, pop on over to Em and wish her a happy birthday.  (I've just discovered she is having a temporary malblog issue).   From all the way over here to all the way over there, a big thank you for your cheery reminder of enjoying every day.  It is energising!

As for quilterie's law.  It still holds.  I took 3 projects with away me (small but intense) and don't have much to show for one month.  However, I did spend quality time with my family.  Good as quilts are, they don't match that.

Progress report

Well, I am still beavering away at my stars from the previous post as well as 120+ purple circles for the Beyond the Cherry Tree quilt block#16.  I have brought along another hand project.

If you're wondering about the background to this little project...it's snow!  The hexagons are 5/8th " so this is still quite small, but it should keep me occupied for the next 10 days or so when we travel to San Diego.  I think this is what is described as a portable project. I have included a photo of the car we are driving around in - probably best described as a truck

It is a Chevy Suburban.  One row bigger than a Toyota Landcruiser, it seats 7 and has a huge boot (trunk) space for luggage.  I am surprised at myself for being able to haul it around on the wrong side of the road, at speed, on unknown highways, in the dark,  during snowy conditions.  Can you tell?

That is all in my progress report.  The computer is starting to do fancy things to my paragraphs.  Before I can do any more sewing, I must just hunt down 2 lost socks...seems like that happens in every hemisphere.

Reverse Sewing

Hands up if you remember the IBM Golfball Selectric.  If you don't, it was the typewriter before word processing.  The best thing about it was that you could push a key and it would delete a whole slew of mistaken letters or phrases.  Revolutionary for its time.  Could someone please invent a similar machine for sewing?  It would be better than using the seam unpicker.  Here is the project in question

It is an old project started in a class with Karen Cunningham.  Click on the photo to get a better idea of the pattern.  I still like it a lot and fully intend to finish it.  Karen called her quilt "Buttercup" and surrounded this centre with an applique border.  She has just started her own blog and coincidentally there is a picture of the complete "Buttercup" beautifully made by Lyn Leighton.  Go over and look at Karen's blog.  I am sure there will be many more gorgeous projects to come.

My dilemma is that I never felt like making the applique border.  So instead I have decided to remove the  setting triangles and border and just add approximately 50 more blocks

Then all that will remain is to work out how to finish it off.  So that is my current project.

Yesterday I took some time off from my present day job of skiing down the slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  Instead, with my older son as navigator, I set off for the town of Golden and the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  I was disappointed to discover that I had just missed an exhibition featuring red and green applique quilts.  My luck turned good though when I hit the LQS to discover a 20% off fabric sale.  A quick stop at CK Media to check out their quilt gallery and then I persuaded agreeable son to travel into Denver with me for the SewExpo.

It was a great day.  We covered almost 400km in the snow.  I discovered a HUGE fascination for Batik amongst the locals, almost to the exclusion of other types of fabrics.  Is that the same all over the US with only little pockets of modern and outposts of reproduction fabric?

Well the slopes are calling.