Happy Birthday to me....

Sunday was my birthday.  I'm not really into birthdays, but I did find the time to buy myself a little fabric.  I am very inspired by this quilt on http://www.thatgirlthatquilt.com/....  I think it was one of those group projects for a charity...so there is a lot of variety in the fabrics.  This necessitated a trip to the quilt shop for these beauties...

I went with some oranges that were almost red...and some that were almost a cheddar yellow.  The purples were just a mish mash...but I tried to find some magenta to make it sparkle...

Now....what to do with them?

Kaffe Winner....

The winner of the Kaffe fat quarters was Jan Hatchett of http://www.janhatchett.com/....

My son, Ryan, was the random number generator.... ;-)

Congrats!  I'll contact you to get your address...

Happy Quilting everyone...and thanks for reading!

Footbiking....

Have you ever seen a Footbike?  It is a cross between a scooter and a bike....very cool!  We all own one and love to take them out in the spring and fall....

They are great exercise....it takes a lot to push an adult around on one of these things!  And there is never any time to sit...darn it!  People always stare at us and point because I guess we look sort of funny...or way too cool...hard to determine.  LOL.  These pics were taken last May (currently all the flowers in the yard have been cut back for the winter--you wouldn't want a winter picture of a house in LV).  Footbiking is good for people who would like to run, but can't....possibly due to knee injuries, or just old age.  The Footbikes have brakes for the front and rear on the handles--and all the parts can be fixed/adjusted at your local bike shop.  ;-)  This will part of our Sunday...

I'll post the giveaway winner later tonight.  Get some quilting done!!!

Rebecca's name quilt....and 100th Post!

I have another finish from my stack of UFOs....Rebecca's name quilt. I lasted posted about this in August 2010 and just got around to finishing it last night.  It only took about 4 hours...including the binding.  Seriously, what was my problem?  Check it out!  It is for her office (cell) at her school....The letters were pieced with recycled men's shirts....single-fold biased binding and crosshatching!

I got something in the mail this week that I'm so excited about....a Kona Cottons color chart ;-D  Now I'll know what colors I have, and what I need to order (online, most likely).  It would have been less expensive at Pink Chalk, but they were out of stock when I ordered...

The Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild had it's first meeting Thursday night at Quiltique.  What a fun bunch of ladies!!  We will meet again in a month for a mug rug swap and mini-sew-in....Many claimed that they felt funny cutting and making "wonky" blocks (and everyone is afraid of wasting fabric) so I graciously offered to bring a layer cake and teach a little class on "wonky" blocks.  Remember this quilt....I'm going to quilt this prior to the next MQG meeting at the end of February!

The ladies will all cut and sew a few blocks, for practice, and then I'll get them back to make a quilt.  ;-D  And I have to grin again ;-D  How nice of them!!!  As time goes on, hopefully others will have ideas to share and we can all help make blocks for each other's quilts while learning new techniques at the same time.  Genius!

Tomorrow is my birthday so I treated myself to some fat quarters....I'll wash and iron them today for Sunday's post.  But in anticipation of my 100th post (which is today!!!), I was prepared for a little giveaway... 

A small little collection of Kaffe Fassett fat quarters--perfect to start a spring project!  Just leave me a comment and you are entered...Please don't post about this to other blog sites--I'd really like a reader who has read my blog more than today to win, if you know what I mean.  And how discouraging is it when there are 400 comments--a loyal reader might feel that there is no way to win!  :-D Anyhow, thanks to the dozen or so who actually do come back regularly.    I'll draw a winner Sunday evening (Jan 30th)...around 7pm in Las Vegas.  Happy Quilting!

Finished Zentangle Quilt....

So this is it....all done!

I love it....it turned out OK....for my classroom.  Now I'm working on a charity quilt...more pics tomorrow or Friday!!  We have our Modern Quilt Guild first meeting tomorrow at Quiltique....I can't wait!!!

Zentangle Quilt preview....

Zentangle--a meditative type of doodling, ususally done in black and white, using repetitive shapes inside of a constrained space....at least that is what I think it is!!  Check out the official Zentangle website for a better definition...Zentangles are usually done with pen and paper....but I figured that anything that could be done on paper could be done with fabric.  So here it is...my Zentangle wall quilt.  It still needs binding, and a hanging sleeve, and some other details, but this is what I have so far....

I'm writing a tutorial on it, though it isn't that difficult to figure out.  I also have a couple of other ideas for Zentangle quilts....I'll let you know when I have it done and there is a final picture.  ;-)  Off to do some binding and watch "Salt"....Happy Quilting!

A quilt finish and art quilt....

I did finish binding the "Not My Grandma's Quilt" and it will be mailed off to my sister tomorrow.  Yeah!

In addition, I wanted to show you the little wall art quilt that I bought from Etsy...moonspiritstudios!  Raw edge applique and some hand stitching/beading.  It is hanging in my cell (classroom) as we speak!

Anyhow, that is all for today.  Maybe I'll come up with something new tomorrow!!  Oh yeah, the mug rugs went over really well....the ladies were very appreciative ;-D  Inexpensive gift set....good idea for teacher gifts for the end of the year, or the holidays....

"Modern" Valentine Mug Rugs...

As I've told you before, we are getting a Modern Quilt Guild here in LV.  The first meeting is in a couple of weeks so I'm trying to incorporate some "modern" piecing into my quilts....These are little mug rugs that I'm going to give a couple of my fellow guards (teachers) on Tuesday.  I'm also giving them the mugs, the hot chocolate, and maybe a few Valentine colored Dove chocolates in the mugs.  A little "relaxation" gift set for a few teachers who go above and beyond and are feeling the stress at work (and don't have an outlet like quilting to calm them down!!)....

While I worked on binding those (using single-fold binding--a first for me), my friend Denise was piecing together a rag quilt for a friend's baby shower.  The theme was "monkeys"....

A very cute line of fabric, though I'm not sure of the name.  But it isn't overpoweringly "monkey/jungle"....too cute for a little boy, huh?  She will do the trimming and washing and have this ready for the shower in two weeks!!  Easy peasy....Happy Quilting!

Valentine Quilt...

I got my Valentine quilt back from the longarmer.  It looks great, and it bound, so another finish for me!!!

Update Feb 2015:  A "sort of" tutorial can be found here....

It is going to hang on the wall in my cell (oh, classroom) so the inmates (students) and I can enjoy looking at something more interesting than Pre-Algebra!!  It measures 48" x 48" and was made entirely from my Valentine scraps...including the backing!  Woohoo....



Yesterday morning I was working a couple of mug rugs for some colleagues at work...and today I'm going to wrap up my super secret project and tutorial.  It is so secret that I can't even hint about it.....More on that tomorrow....My friend Denise is coming over to finish a baby rag quilt...of course I'll take pics of it and post them here!  ;-)  Happy Quilting!!

Not my Grandma's Quilt...

God knows I don't mind blogging about quilts that aren't my own....this is one of them.  It is my sister's friend's deceased Grandma's quilt....Grandma died whilst piecing this from an obsolete (5 year old) Jo-Ann's block of the month club....My sister passed the unfinished top to me and I tidied it up, sent it to Merrie Berrie Quilting, and now I'm going to slap on a binding and add this to my list of completed projects ;-D

I think the Grandma, though I didn't know her, would be thankful that this UFO got completed...and that her family will cuddle under it and think of her.  Happy Quilting!

ps.  If I die in the midst of all my quilting chaos, I totally expect a bunch of you all to step up and finish all of my PIGS (projects in grocery sacks)....LOL!

Rainbow Trip Around The World quilt...

I've been so busy at work this past week that I have barely had any time to sew.  But I did manage to piece together this TATW that I cut out last October.  I'm planning on quilting it myself so maybe I'll get it basted this week and quilted next weekend.  Maybe....

I'm sort of addicted to longarmers.  When I had my own longarm, I didn't mind quilting.  But I don't really enjoy it yet with my Juki.  I think I just need more practice....or rather, I need more time to practice.  I haven't even had much Jamie and Claire time lately (Drums of Autumn book).  Work stinks!!!  But here is a picture of the top....

I'm considering trying to make something for the Modern Quilt Guild challenge.  The challenge is to make a monochomatic quilt.  And no, that doesn't mean yellow with a splash of white.  Darn.  You have to stick within your color range for your whole quilt.  I'm going to shop my stash and see what I might have.  But I'm not really into buying monochromatic fabric so I don't know what to do.  I don't really want to go buy more fabric....but I want to enter the challenge.  Hmmm.....Maybe I deviate off the challenge and do one of my own.  ;-D  I'd like to do a single color quilt, but I need the license to add white (or another neutral) in with it to satisfy my own personal tastes.  Why make a quilt that I don't think I'll like?  Well, duh, that is why they call it a challenge, huh?  LOL....

The Dam Tour...Hoover Dam!!

Even though I was born in LV in 1970, I've never toured the Hoover Dam.  I've driven over it going to AZ, and been in a boat on Lake Mead right next to it, but I've never done the Dam tour.  Students in the area all do the tour in elementary school, but the adults in my family have somehow seemed to miss it...

So we did the Dam tour on Wedsnesday (yes, I must say Dam at every opportunity available...it is an elementary school thing...LOL).  "The kids need to get on the Dam bus, stay in line on the Dam tour, and maybe they can buy a Dam souvenir at the end".....Get it???  ;-D

So here are some Dam pictures....Inside the dam, where they turn water power into electricity!!!

 This one is looking through a hole on the side of the dam, from the inside.  Rebecca says Chevy Chase looked out the same hole in a Vacation movie 20 years ago....very scary, for me...

 Stairs that go up and down in the dam....but no where to stop...no landings.  If the top guy falls backwards, everyone falls backward.  Obviously no OSHA laws back then....

 Ryan on the top, my Mom keeping a hold on him so he doesn't accidentally get swept over, me cowering near the street....LOL...

 A view down the "non-lake" side....totally alarming....

 The Colorado river after it passes through the Dam, on it's way to other states....

 The Lake Mead side of the Dam....see how low the water level it?  Please let it snow for 5 solid years in the Rocky Mountains to help build up the lake again!!!  Right now the lake is only 39% full...down from 100% 12 years ago!!  That "bathtub ring" around the lake is over 100 feet tall....it has dropped 120 feet in the last dozen years...

The bridge that had to be built after 9/11....since it was determined that Hoover Dam might be a good spot for some terrorist action.  And the traffic going over the Dam was getting a little backed up...with security check points, and tourists, etc. You can actually walk along the side of the bridge, all the way up there, if you'd like....when you drive over it, thought, you don't even know you are on the bridge (Thank God!)...the barriers on the side are so high that you can't see over, or out of your driving lane....

Anyhow, if you make it to Las Vegas, I definitely recommend the Dam tour...go early, though, as tourists start to arrive in the late morning....;-D