Project Patience

The building project is in a deep freeze, but the audio installers came anyway and had a walk-through with me to make sure everything they put in is going in the right place. Everything takes so long that I can’t hardley imagine what it would be like to actually live in the house–right now it just seems like an ongoing project.

11 am in the morning, this is why there are five fireplaces in the house!

The idea of a long winded project inspired me to get out this quilt top. To say I’m taking my time with it is an understatement!

I’m embarrassed to say how long ago I started this quilt. It was before I had a stash, before I knew you should only buy your fabric from your local quilt shop, and it was also before I understood the world of longarm quilting like I do now. It was the first big quilt I ever pieced and it is intended for my son Andy, who is now 21 but I think he was maybe 8 years old when I started it. You do the math, I’m not going to!

I got the directions from a book called Quick & Easy Quiltmaking. One of the authors, Sara Nephew, developed a method of piecing the tumbling blocks pattern without any set in seams. She is the inventer of the clearview triangle and still one of my favorite quiltmakers. I think I did a good job with the light, medium and dark values, and I still like this quilt, even though it’s been so long since I put it together (and even though the borders look like they are going to be wavy.) I even started marking it for hand quilting at one time, but I don’t think that’s going to happen now.

 

Here’s a closer shot.There are no flowered fabrics in this quilt because that’s what Andy wanted, but there ARE leaves. I have to laugh a little at some of the cheap fabrics, but hey, they work, right? I guess I should find someone to quilt it for me. Otherwise Andy might never get this quilt.

Old Bags

It’s hard for me to resist quirky textiles from times gone by. The handmade-ness, the playfulness, and the colors of these pieces just make me happy, and then there is the fact that they are all bags. It’s too much!

Clothespin bag in the form of a plunging neckline baby dress. The legs and arm holes are sewn shut, so don’t worry, no baby could ever wear it!

kitty and puppy laundry bag

Dutch girls socks and hankies bag. There is a seam right down the center of the bag to divide it in two.

I have to wonder, did the sock and hankies go in dirty or clean? Or was the bag purely for show? Whichever, it’s just about as cute as it gets.

Guild Rat

I belong to two different quilt guilds in my area. They are different in format and have different members and I enjoy them both a ton. I had to miss the first one this month because I woke up with a migraine on that day, and that’s the only thing that can keep me from going is if I’m so ill I can’t move. Today was the other guild’s meeting. Every month in this guild someone gets up and tells about themselves using a gift basket they have put together with things that represent themselves. Last month Annette Rose, who works at Stylish Fabrics-Bernina in Logan, Utah put together the greatest basket full of fun things, which she graciously gave to me. Check out this pillow that Annette made, with the crocheted decoration on the pocket. Amazing!

The pockets hold reminders, of course, and the cutest notepad in the shape of a dress.

So this month it was my turn to assemble some stuff. This is what I put in the basket, and what it represents about me:

• The children’s book, Mama, Do You Love Me–I was born in Alaska and I love children’s books
• A magnet about sisters–I have 6 sisters and no brothers
• A green vintage wall pocket, so cute!–I’ve had a bit of an obsession with the color green on and off throughout my life. I must have been an annoying child when I insisted on using the green bath towell and the green dinner plate!
• Four fat quarters, two pink and two blue–I have two daughters and two sons
• A book, “What Dogs Teach Us” –I love dogs and currently have a golden retriever
• A cat book marker–I also have a cat
• A package of bookplates–I love to read and love books
• A little vintage framed embroidery piece–I love antiques, especially quilts and needlework
• Some perfume and lotion samples–I always wear perfume
• A CD, All the Roadrunning by Mark Knoepfler and Emmy Lou Harris–I love music and this is a current favorite
• A package of quilt tape for marking rulers–I love everything about quilting and am a notions junkie
• A home magazine–my life right now is building my home
• A car air freshener in the fragrance of “sun and sand”–I lived in Southern California for 20 years
• A small can of Almond Roca–I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Two small bottles of juice, Martinelli’s sparkling cider and cranberry–two of my favorite drinks
• A quilt book–I bought this book for myself and then a few months later I bought this book for myself again. I’m absent minded!
• A book on the history of the Utah Quilt Guild–I’m an area rep for this organization
• Two movie passes–I love to go to movies and love to watch my Netflix movies too
• An Apple sticker and the url of this blog–I’m crazy about my new Macbook and this here is my blog

Here are the nice ladies in the guild. I enjoy them so much!

Long Time Coming

 

I Saw Dust

The new house continues to take shape. The contractor, the electrician, the plumber and the hvac man have all had their crews hard at work on the innards of the house.

Plenty of natural light plus 15 ceiling lights in the quilt studio. I hope it’s enough!

These are the doors in the main floor family room that lead out onto the deck. Right now there is a plastic film on the glass obscuring a view of a whole bunch of snow.

This is the tub platform in the master bath.

Here we see the platform in the laundry room for the washer and dryer. Bending to do laundry with a bunch of titanium hardware in my back will be a thing of the past. The bending, not the hardware.

Next week the audio man comes to do the prewiring for internet, tv, sound system, telephone and camera. Oh, ya, surveillance cameras pointing to the front porch/driveway, with a display on the television. We’ll be so CIA.

After that I think the drywalling will start, and the changes will seem more dramatic.

It’s a good thing I had four kids to teach me some patience before I started this project, because that is the second main thing you need in regards to building a new house, patience. And you can guess what the first main thing you need is, and we’re just not going to talk about that!