Saturday, March 30, 2013

Undeniably Happy

13March30gardem We haven’t been to the “Big City” in weeks, so we made a trip in today. Didn’t have much on our To Do list, but we seemed to fill the entire, beautiful day. First off, visited Fabricland, whose sales included 50 percent off on rotary blades (and cutters and mats). I also picked up some 30 wt Guttermanns silk thread and some lovely half priced remnants.

Then down the street to the LQS where i did an uncharacteristic squeal, followed by a happy dance after finding this:

13March30crazy I have been looking for Buggy Barn’s Undeniably Crazy for months! I saw a Crazy Cats quilt at last year’s Quilt show in Lillooet and I’ve been looking for the book containing the pattern ever since. I have Crazy Fun – N – Games and Frightfully Crazy. But the one that I really wanted? Haven’t been able to find it at all. Not locally, not on my favourite internet sites. until now..

I’ve been busy the past few days finishing my Cups, Cups, Cups! Just finishing the binding on them now, not to mention the yardwork now that the temperature is so beautiful. As they say, “Make hay while the sun shines”, and boy, the sun has been shining! The weather has just been gorgeous.

13March30crazycats For any local or nearby quilters reading this, Heathers Quilt Shelf is having their fourth annual quilt show on Apr. 14 . I won`t be able to make it, but it sounds like a great time.

I don`t think Crazy Cats will be my next project, but it`s in line to be one. I can`t wait to make plans for it - I`ve loved it since I`ve seen it. One of these days, I`ll be showing you my beautiful Crazy Cats quilt!

Until next time,

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Balancing Act

13March27river There are times when balance is easy to achieve, and times when it isn’t. Right now, I’m not doing a very good job of balancing work and personal life. But I wonder if I ever have. When you’re young, you can work all the time and still manage to squeeze in personal time. When you get “older”, your personal life starts to make demands on you and you’re more inclined to agree that you should have some time that isn’t work related.

That is the message that I take from today’s Full Moon. In the wee hours of this morning, Pacific Daylight Time, the Sun and Moon had a faceoff across the heavens: the Moon at 6 Libra and the Sun at 6 Aries. The Sun was backed up by 13Mar27bluffs a stellium of other transiting planets, including Venus, Uranus and Mars in Aries. Venus and the Sun in Aries make beautiful noisy music together. Uranus adds an element of uncertainty and excitement, and sometimes genius. Add Mars and you’ve brought some volatility to the situation – any situation. Especially with transiting Pluto making an uncomfortable square to Mars. Pluto can indicate anger at a very deep level, but it can also signify business (money) or a great deal of willpower. Transiting Jupiter is also aspecting Mars in a positive way and may put a more idealistic spin on Pluto and Mars. Generally speaking, Pluto and Jupiter are “money” planets. Teamed up with Mars and Venus, they quite often bring finances to the forefront. In this case, it looks like a positive combination, a good time for getting some old debts cleaned up and wiped off the books.

I’ve been quilting my coffee cups during my “personal” time. I’m not going to show you another picture until they’re finished. I was hoping to have some Easter projects done by now – because now it’s too late to do what I intended to do with them… But, if I get them 13March27pinsfinished this weekend, I’m sure they will still be happily received.

When I quilt, I use these “cheater” needles to bury my threads. They are open at the top so instead of threading the needle, you line the threads up and pull them down into the eye. I’ve have these for a year or two. When they work, they’re great, but as often as they work, they don’t – the thread breaks as I’m pulling it into the eye. This week it dawned on me that if I “waxed” the thread before I tried to pull it into the eye, I might have better luck. So I needed some cream with a beeswax base. This one from Burts Bees was in the medicine cabinet and although it has a strong vanilla scent, I gave it a try. Makes your fingers a little more slippery when trying to hold the needle, but it prevents a lot of thread breakage, so I’d call it a 13March27cream success. And I don’t really smell the vanilla on the runner. Even if it’s there, there are worse things it could smell like!

Spring is definitely here. The snowdrops have been up for a month. The crocuses are showing as of today. The tulips will be here soon. The temperatures are still a bit cool to be spending time out doing yardwork (besides, I’d rather be quilting), but the snow has been gone for some time. There wasn’t much snow to begin with, and everything has already dried out. I think this is going to be another bad year for wildfires, but no sense worrying about it until it happens. Right now, I’m just thrilled that things are beginning to turn green and the air has that sweet smell of Spring.

Until next time,

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Saturday sewing

13March16stars Today I got to spend most of the day at my sewing machine! It seems like forever since I’ve had time just to sit and sew. I sewed together all 12 of the sawtooth stars I was working on. I’m going to start on a second dozen in a purple and blue range for two matching lap quilts. These stars were brown to gray, with blues and maroons on there for some variety.

I was thinking of doing Half Square Triangles for the corners, but I ran out of at least one of the fabrics that I used for the stars, so what I had in mind wouldn’t work. Besides, it’s easier to do it this way.

The local quilt guild had started holding night meetings again. They started doing that in 2009 and that’s when I joined them and began quilting. But early in 2010 they stopped. I couldn’t join in with any of their meetings or other activities, 12July12bernie because they were all happening during the day while I was at work, so I dropped out as a member. It isn’t a large guild to start with, and there are only three of us who come out on Thursday nights to sew, but that’s okay.

I brought my little Bernina 707 Minimatic with me last week. I really haven’t had much of a chance to wind her up since I got her back from the repair shop last summer, but she was just going a-tickety-boo the other night. Beautiful stitching. Unfortunately, I had my brain on backwards and everything I sewed had to be unstitched. One of those days when the little voice inside your head tells you to back away slowly from the sewing machine and go read a book or something similar that you can’t screw up.

But it’s all good now. We’re back on track.

Until the next time,

Friday, March 15, 2013

Friday Furball - Fashionista

13March15rusty

At least those practice totes bags I made last year have a purpose! Friday Feline at Sarah Did It .

Friday, March 1, 2013

Friday Furball – Two of Cups

13March1java

Two of Cups: Two of any suit indicates duality. Here it indicates two minds and hearts coming together and functioning as one. The card portrays a young man and a woman each bearing a cup, as if presenting it to one another. Above is the red lion of strength and courage. That’s my Rusty!