LORETTO BLOCKS DONE

I got the last four rows of the Loretto blocks sewn on.  They are done and ready to be sewn together.  There are 30 12" blocks.

But first I need to get the Wildflower off the wall.

SIXTH ROW FOR LORETTO

 I've been working on the Loretto quilt.  I got the sixth row done today.

I think there's four more rows to go.

ANOTHER ROW

 After breakfast and before we went out to lunch, I got another row sewed onto the Loretto blocks.

Then we went to the International District of Seattle to have lunch.  We've been doing this for years.  Unfortunately our favorite restaurant, Shanghai Gardens wasn't open again.  So, we walked around and went into Ocean Star.  We've never tried it, and now I wish we hadn't.  The food was blah and greasy.    We'll never go there again.  I miss my favorite restaurant.  Maybe I can talk him into going there sometime this next week.

CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST

I made a Ham and Cheese Quiche for breakfast before we went for our walk.  It has brocolli, red pepper and a little onion in it, too.  I baked the hashbrown crust first, then we put all of the ingredients into it and popped it in the oven for 55 minutes and left for our morning walk in Lincoln Park.

We stopped at Starbucks and got coffee afterwards, and the quiche was hot and ready to eat when we got home.

Splendid.

LORETTO PROJECT

 I saw a picture of a quilt that I really liked and wanted to make.  Of course, it's block based.  I really need a stress-less project right now.  This one isn't totally mindless, but its a lot easier than what I have been doing.

I had to draft the pattern, make a cut list and figure out the colors. I'm using Moda Bella 'Spice', 'Prune', 'Boysenberry' and Kona 'Ochre' and 'Peapod'.   I made two test blocks and discovered a math error (oh my!).  Luckily I hadn't cut out all of the parts yet.

So, today I cut up the fabrics and put the first little parts together.  There will be 30 blocks. 

Here we go!  (it always takes longer than I think it will, too)

I thought a bit about the name.  I thought the colors reminded me of Sante Fe, New Mexico.  But, I didn't want to name it Sante Fe, that would be too limiting.  But, I thought, maybe a name that comes from that area, but doesn't sound like that area.  I looked at the map and the only thing I really like was Loretto, from the Loretto Chapel.  We visited there last time we were in Sante Fe.  Amazing place.  

So, Loretto it is.

THE OWL AND THE ICE STORM

 We had an ice storm this morning with freezing rain.  It covered everything in wet ice, making it very treacherous to walk on or drive on.  Almost everything was closed or closing.  The Metro buses weren't even running.

I was a little afraid to walk out to the studio, but I did.

I made the legs and feet for the Dastardly Owl and finished him.  He's too cool.  Now he just needs a name and a place to roost.

 

Here are some pictures taken in our backyard this morning.  Beautiful but dangerous.

Our Japanese Maple

So much for traction devices.

Sidewalk with wet ice.

A NEW SOURCE

 I needed some shirts for the upcoming workshop in January.  I thought about visiting the local Goodwill in Burien, but it's lacking in anything good.  I've never found what I was looking for in there.  So, I was thinking I'd go to the big Goodwill in Seattle.  This morning I looked up the hours for that store and discovered that there's a Goodwill Outlet in Sodo.  There you can buy stuff by the pound.  It's stuff that hasn't been sorted and is in big bins that you have to sort through. And they opened at 8am everyday!

So, this morning after our walk I headed down there.  I figured there'd be few people there that early, but I was wrong.  There were quite a few people, sorting, arguing and filling their shopping carts.

I should have brought gloves.  There was every kind of clothing you could imagine, and some you don't want to think about.  Luckily, I was wearing a good mask and the smells were not overwhelming.  I went through quite a few bins and was amazed at the great finds.  However, it is getting harder to find 100% cotton.  Almost everything has spandex in it also. I came away with about 35 lbs of mostly pants and a few shirts.  I took it all home and washed it right away - mostly go get out those horrible smelly VOCs from scented laundry detergents and dryer sheets.  Gag, I don't know why people think that's okay.  That's another of my pet peeves!

OWL EYES ETC

I sewed the button eyes onto the Owl body and auditioned some fabrics for around the eyes and the belly.

I ended up changing the belly fabric to a grey plaid that was a little darker.

I ordered 5 yards of Kona Blue Jay for the background of Wildflowers.  I also changed my mind about the size and am going to make it twin sized.  It will probably be a while before the fabric gets here though.

OWL BODY

 I bought the pdf for the Dastardly Owl pattern on Ann Wood's Handmade site.

I scrounged around for a few fabrics and made the body this morning.

Here's how I left him.  Those are pins where his eyes will go.

I rummaged through my Grandma Jennie's button collection and found two black buttons to use for the eyes.

I'll get to those tomorrow.

After lunch I made another page spread in my Junk Art Journal.

I'm having fun.

ART JOURNAL

Some friends mentioned an Art Journaling program of prompts and inspiration.  Since I don't feel like sewing I thought I'd check it out.  It's called Care December put on by Everything-Art.com 

So, today I made a 'junk journal'.  I found an old hard-bound book, cut the pages out and inserted some papers I had in my paper files that I haven't used in years.  I even sewed them into the cover.

That was day one.

 

SEVEN FLOWERS

 I had to rejoin Bryan House Quilts in order to get the instructions and foundation patterns for this last block.  It costs $24 a month and they'll charge me automatically every month.  I gotta remember to cancel that subscription!  Anyway, I now have the pattern and instructions for finishing the background.

ANOTHER WILDFLOWER

 Slowly these blocks are coming together.

MORE KONFETTI

 My second order of Wonderfil Konfetti thread sets arrived.  Well, dang, I ordered the same sets as before.  So, now I have two spools of those colors.  And, I got the color cards for Konfetti and Tutti, with all of the colors, numbers and names.

Anyway...

I made some pages in my record book so I can keep track of how much of these I use.  That took me most of the morning.

WILDFLOWER BOM

 I started in on another unfinished project.  This one is from about the same time as the Solstice quilt from yesterday.

It's not very far along.  I started making the triangles that go around each start to turn them into hexagons.

NEW CRAYONS

 I saw a demonstration on the Caran D'ache Neocolor crayons.  So I bought them both. 

There's Neocolor I, wax pastels, water-resistance.  And, Neocolor II watersoluble crayons.

So cool.

SOLSTICE SO FAR

 I finished sewing together the parts and pieces that I have of the Solstice Quilt.  I'm waiting on some more Kona Shitake to finish the background.

OLD PROJECT

 I pulled out an old project that I haven't worked on in quite a while.

I put the parts I had already done up on the wall and sorted through the instructions in order to bring myself up to speed.

I have all of the blocks done.  It just needs a background.

I choose a medium grey, Kona Shitake.  I don't have enough to do all of the background, but I cut up what I have.  I'll have to order more and hope it matches.

Here's where I ended the day.

MORE OF NOTHING

 Still not feeling it today.  So, it was back to working on my Sue Spargo needle book.  

I realized I needed scissors to cut thread when I was using this book, so I figured out a way to hold a little leather case for some very sharp little scissors on the inside cover.  I think it's one of the many scissors I inherited from Sue.

PROCRASTINATION

 There's a lot of should've's on my to-do list.  But, I don't feel like doing anything.  

So, I got out some mending and I came across the needle book I had made years ago and never finished.  So, I worked on it a bit today.  All it needed was these little needle labels appliqued on the pages.

I sewed in about four of them, and then realized I had put them in upside down on the wrong pages.  So, I unsewed them and re-sewed them.  Typical.

DEVOLVE OFF THE LONGARM

 I finally finished the last of the quilting on Devolve.  It's all straight-line horizontal quilting, randomly spaced about 1/4" or so apart.  Looks good.

YUMMY PIE

 I had a friend visit the studio this afternoon.  She brought some sweets.  This little pumpkin pie was so good.  It was a little bit molassesy.  Very tasty.  Thank you for being so thoughtful, NC!

We visited and chatted with the Brave Patch group.  It was nice.

BACKING FOR XXIII

 I finally finished the backing and label for XXIII.

I did some more quilting on Devolve, too.  

LOVE THE LEAVES

 I love walking in the fallen leaves.

WALK IN THE PARK

 

DEVOLVE LOADED

 I loaded up the next quilt, Devolve, onto Erik the Bold.  He's been feeling neglected.

I'm going to quilt horizontal lines all over, spaced haphazardly using a light teal colored thread, which should blend nicely.

At the end of the day I realized I needed a backing for XXIII and stuck some fabrics up on the wall.

Let's hope it ends up looking better than this!

TORRENT QUILTED

 I finally finished the quilting on the Torrent quilt.  There's been nothing but problems.  First off, the thread!  Does anyone else have trouble with Aurifil.  I seem to have thread breaks all the time, on both of my machines.  There was at least three thread breaks per row on this pantograph -  through the whole quilt - all the way to the end.  Then on the third row, while I wasn't watching, the hopping foot caught the batting on the edge and got all tangled up with it.  By the time I saw it and stopped it, it was too late.  The repairman came out about 12 days later and said it had bent the needle bar.  He replaced it and didn't charge me since it was still under warranty.  So, I started it up again.  I just wanted it finished and off the machine.  The thread breaks continued.  It was very slow going. 

But, it's done!

BACK MADE

 I found some interesting fabrics in my stash and spent the day whipping up the back for City Noise.  

I like it!

TOP FINISHED AND NAMED

I've been working on the Pieced Ribbons project since taking the workshop with Sarah Bond.  I put the last seam in it this afternoon.  The top is done and I finally named it - City Noise.

SKY VIEW OBSERVATORY

 After touring the Steam Plant we, Darrell, Quinten, Jeffery and I, went downtown Seattle.  First we had lunch at Shawn O'Donnells Irish Restuarnt at the base of the Smith Tower.  Afterwards we went to the Columbia Tower.  The boys wanted to go to the Sky View observatory on the 73rd story.  I didn't.

I stayed in the lobby and sketched the ticket kiosks instead.

GEORGETOWN STEAM PLANT

 Quinten and Jeffery came to spend the weekend.  We went to see the Open House at the Georgetown Steam Plant.  It was built in 1906, the first reinforced concrete building in the area.  It generated electricity by burning coal to create steam to turn the turbines.  It served the community until the 1970's when it was shut down.  It has remained idle ever since.  They are trying to decide what to do with the building going forward, and in the meantime, to reinforce the structure and make it safely live on.