GREAT DAY

It's so nice to be down here in Pasadena!  We left winter at home and came to 65 degree weather.  It's wonderful.  The wind can be a little cold, but I am not complaining.  I can actually look up and see the sun.  I love it.

We made the rounds, checking out the Blacker House and the neighborhood.  Then we went into the Huntington when it opened.

We spent the afternoon, saw almost everything, had lunch next to the lake in Suzhou, China, the Garden of Flowering Fragrance (which features a 1.5-acre lake, a complex of pavilions, a teahouse and tea shop, stone bridges and waterfalls set against a wooded backdrop of mature oaks and pines).

We walked the perimeter, visiting most of the other gardens, seeing things we've never seen before.  Amazing.

He spent a lot of time checking out and documenting the Greene & Greene portion of the museum.  

Amazing G&G inlay.

While he was doing that I found the most amazing quilt - someone should make a book about this one.

Next to the lake, where we had lunch

I think my lips got sunburnt.

HELLO QUILTCON

We left early in the morning on Alaska Airlines for LAX.  Our plane was about 1-1/2 late taking off, but this was probably the only time I wasn't hysterically freaking out because we didn't have another flight to catch and we had plenty of time once we get there.  [Alaska Airlines gave us a $75 credit for a future flight, yea!]

We landed, got a rental car, had lunch and then headed to Pasadena.  Darrell dropped me at the Convention Center in Pasadena and he headed to the Gamble House (of course).

I had a great afternoon looking at the quilts and buying stuff.

Here are the highlights:

I didn't get a lot of pictures of quilts.  I didn't think about it until it was about time to go.  

 Goodbye Quiltcon, see you next year...I hope.

OOPSIE FIXED

After I got the Autumn 2017 quilt off the machine and was putting the binding on, I noticed that I had missed one of the leaf squares.  I set it aside until I could get it onto the machine, which was today.

Voila, it's done - I gave it to Darrell.

This is the first time I have reloaded a quilted quilt onto the machine.  It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it might be.

FLORAL TRAILS FINISHED

In record time, I've finished the quilting on Floral Trails.  It's 87" by 102".  I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and Signature thread, top and bottom.  I was not happy with that thread by the end.  After several hours of quilting it would start breaking and shredding.  I never did figure out why.  

I did a Baptist Fan over the body and Piano Keys on the border.  I used Lisa Calle's Pro Circle Rulers - and I love them.  They are easy to use and just feel good in your hands.  They made quilting this huge quilt fun and easy.  This was definitely one of the biggest quilts I've quilted.  I used 7-1/2 bobbins and racked up 6:06 hours on the machine.  I'm very happy with it.

VALENTINES FLOWERS 2018

Here is the finished portrait of the Valentine's flowers my sweetheart gave me:

On another note, Bentley was not happy about this being the Year of the Dog.

WHERE ARE MY PAINTS?

I found my acrylic paints, which I haven't used in at least a year, dusted off my brushes and knives, put in a new paper palette and got to work on arranging my Valentine's Day flowers into something interesting to paint.

I was horrified to find a couple of tubes were dried up and unusable, but luckily I had more than one tube of my favorites.

This leads me to believe I need to paint more often.

A pencil drawing to start.

I got most of it blocked out today, but I didn't want to post a picture of an incomplete painting.

More to come...

NEW HAND WORK PROJECT

I sent away for a Sue Spargo's kit.  I started working on it today.  It's so relaxing - even at work.

I'll fill you in on the details about it as we go.

 I left work early, came home and put a little time in quilting.

Here's one of the rulers I'm using on the Baptist Fan.

BAPTIST FAN FAN

I am a big fan of the Baptist Fan quilting pattern.  I love how it looks - it's simple and clean, yet not easy.  The curves really complement an all straight line quilt.

I'm using it on this quilt, which is all 1-1/2" squares.  It is looking so good!  And I'm enjoying doing the quilting and it's going well.  All good stuff.  I love the feel and ease of Lisa Calle's circle rulers.  They are making this go so smoothly.

 

ONTO THE MACHINE

I spent most of the afternoon loading "Floral Trails" onto the machine.  It's bigger than I remembered.  The back is 95" wide by 105" long.  The quilt top is 87" wide by 102" long.  What was I thinking!?

It took a while to get it pinned onto the rollers - I ran out of pins and had to use my numbered flat flower pins.  I need to order some more tonight.

Then I struggled and fought with it trying to get the borders straight.  The inside of the quilt is made up of gazillions of 1-1/2" squares, then there's a 6" border around it.  I know I measured and cut the borders to the right length, but I think the squares are kind of drawing together.  I needed to stretch the insides, but not the borders.  It was interesting.  I've got the top pinned and basted.  Let's hope it's not this difficult the whole way down.  (Right).

Looks pretty straight!

I got out my new Lisa Calle's Circle Rulers.  Boy, they sure feel nice to the touch, I don't know why, but I'm thinking they are made from high quality acrylic.

I'm going to do a Baptist Fan in the center and Piano Keys in the borders. 

Here's a rare sight - the dogs sharing a bed:

Jax and Jelly

MINNIE DONE

I got the binding made and sewn on this morning - it's all done, ready to be gifted. 

Making the binding

Sewing the binding onto the back first.

The quilting on the back

The label

The back

All finished, ready to go.

MINNIE IS QUILTED

It didn't take long to quilt this baby quilt - my A-1 says it was just 55 minutes of stitch time.  I got it done in a couple of hours using an arc ruler to arc around every seam.

I had a hard time deciding on thread color since this quilt is basically black and white.  I settled on a very light grey Aurifil thread on the top, and a little bit darker grey on the back.  There is grey in one of the prints. 

 I had the top thread break for no apparent reason a couple of times.  Don't know why! 

So this is LA018, about 30" by 37".  It will be gifted to Kimberly this weekend at her baby shower to welcome Scarlett.