Santa at Work

More scrapbooking. This was a fun evening when my brother and I were asked to be Santa and Mrs. Claus for my nephew's ward Christmas party.

Learning Digital Scrapbooking

My New Years Resolution for 2010 was to learn digital scrapbooking. Well the year is just about over and I'm finally getting some lessons. I'm joined Linda Sattgast's DigitalScrapbooking. I've only made a few designs so will show them here.

I'm so proud of myself doing this page. It is called out of bounds. Maggie's ears were the perfect selection for this. Liz Whitehorn took the picture of Maggie and caught her just as she landed with her ears flying.

This is a picture of Jerry and me at the New Orleans Zoo in October. The background of the elephant sprouting water behind us made an excellent background.

New Orleans

Jerry and me at the Zoo. There is a wonderful aquarium in New Orleans. We paid for the senior combination ticket which included the aquarium, IMAX theater, insectorium and the zoo. We did not know the zoo was 7 miles away and we had to take the city bus there. That was an education in itself but we got to see some residential areas on the American side. Canal street is the dividing line and when the Americans came to New Orleans (after the Indians, French, Spanish and Africans)there was conflict between them and the Creoles so the Americans built their homes, etc. on the opposite side of Canal Street and the French Quarter. The zoo was nice and peaceful.

In Jackson Square which is part of the French Quarter you can ride on a horse and buggy through the French Quarter. Here the horses or really they were mules were all lined up waiting for passengers.

This is a little history sign near Jackson Square.

There is a great National World War II museum in New Orleans. Why you ask was New Orleans chosen for this museum? There was a Mr. Higgins who lived in New Orleans and persuaded the government to use his landing craft which he designed and built in New Orleans. Dwight Eisenhower credited these boats with winning the war for the Allies.

While in New Orleans I spent one morning at the New Orleans School of Cooking. This was a delightful experience. Not only was the cooking demonstration good but we all got an excellent history of New Orleans beginning in the 1700's. We learned how to make a roux for Gumbo and Jambalaya, bread pudding with whiskey sauce, and pralines.
There is a lot of sausage used in these recipes which can make them very spicy. Gumbo and Jambalaya are the same except Jambalaya is made with rice in it. Onions, celery and green pepper are called holy trinity and garlic is the pope. New Orleans is mainly Catholic and the slaves had to become Catholic.

This is a picture of a live statue. He was very good at standing still and he really enjoyed himself scaring people when they looked at him. I got caught up in that several years ago when Jerry and I stopped in New Orleans on our way to New Hope, Georgia for a SSA convention.

We had a good time, the weather and the food were all exceptionally good. But I would not like to live there. I love Arizona.

Get Away Auction Item

I will be going to camp next week and will be taking an item to be auctioned off on Saturday night. I made a sewing bag that has sewing stuff embroidered on the front with a little butterfly in the center trying to land on a needle. The butterfly was put there to coordinate with the inside lining which has butterflies.
The bag has two zippers which open to reveal pleaces to put sewing notions. Also I put a plastic pocket on the inside with a zipper so more stuff can be stored and seen. The bag also has another area with a pocket where rulers or larger items can be stored. This bag would be great to organize and carry all the sewing stuff to class and could always be ready to go. Hope someone likes it well enough to bid high on it.

September Digitizing Lesson

I finished the September lesson for digitzing an applique. I had a problem with getting the satin stitches the same size. The center part of the wings are to be a little smaller than the outside edge. Also when putting in points on the 4D software program I was putting them to close together. Finally spread them out some and they embroider much better.

Block 10 of Civil War Bride

I have finally finished block 10 of the Civil War Bride. It took awhile since I was busy with other projects and taking care of the house, dogs, Julie, Jerry and me. The tops of the strawberries were a little tedious with the points. I wish now I had cut them to have 3 points instead of 4. It would have been much easier but they are done.

More on the Civil War Bride

Blocks eight and nine are done. They've been done for a few weeks but just now got around to posting them. The peacock took a little time with all those feathers. In fact the feathers were sewn together first and then attached to the bird and background fabric.
I wrote and article about this quilt for my quilt group, Cactus Patchers. Here is the link: Cactus Patchers.com.

August Digitizing

For August we were given a picture of a swan and had to digitize it and then embroider it out. I didn't do too badly. The only thing I can't figure out is the black outline around the swan. Even though it looked like the black was right on the outside of the swan, it stitched out a little from it. I tried changing the digitizing and it still did the same. I noticed others who turned in their design had the same problem. If I do this design again, I'll overlap the feathers a little more and see if that helps.

July's Digitizing

This month we had to take the sunset picture and digitize it. This was not the most fun project for me. I could work on it forever moving lines around but decided to stop here. I could have moved the lavender lines over more or made them lighter. Most of it is done with just simple straight lines and trying not to cross over them in the areas that are seen. My problem was clicking too many times making the palm fronds too thick. I elemenated alot of lines and thinned them out and it looks much better and not so congested.

Two More Civil War Block Done

I just finished blocks 6 and 7 of the Civil War Quilt. Just think 13 more blocks to go and the border. Block 6 is a lot of leaves. I had to go out and buy more civil war green fabric. I think it turned out pretty good. It took awhile to finish but I had other things going on also.

Finally for block 7, there aren't so many leaves, thankgoodness and I had a chance to do something different. These two little birds were a challenge though. The beaks were the real challenge. After several tries, I figured out how to do them. I sewed the dark fabric onto the yellow fabric using the pattern shape and then cut the seam allowances out and sewed the beak to the background fabric. On top of that I sewed the bird on. But before I could sew the bird on I had to make the wings separate and then sew them on the bird fabric. Then I could sew the whole bird on the background fabric and matching up where the beak is. That sounds complicated but it worked. Also, there is a head dress or feathers on each bird. I wish I had used a darker embroidery thread but it's OK.

Jerry's Dad Passes Away

Jerry's Dad is 95 years old. This is a picture of him 2 years ago when he came from Rockford, Illinois to visit Jerry at the shop. Jerry was so proud to show his business to his dad. Jerry started out in his dad's car alignment shop sweeping floors when he was a young kid . His dad retired in the 1950's and handed over the shop to Jerry and his brother, Carl. Then Jerry went on to bigger equipment and bigger vehicles.
Jerry's mom died about 5 years ago. Last Thursday Vern couldn't get out of bed and the paramedics were called. It was assumed he had been having small strokes. I spoke to him on Friday and he sounded chipper but his words were slurred. Finally he kept getting worse and passed away Sunday evening.

Another Block for the Civil War Quilt Done

I have finished another block. I like to do this while watching TV. It keeps me from picking at my fingers. But I also feel more productive like I'm getting something accomplished instead of just sitting while watching TV. The colors look happy. I like the pick flowers. There are a lot of geen leaves in this quilt.

A digitized dandelion made with fringe

This months digitizing lesson was making fringe for a dandelion flower. The leaves went very well for me even though there are a lot of points and narrow areas. But the fringe on the flower was a challenge. I had to stitch out the flowers multiple times. The density was a problem and then the bobbin thread which pulled the yellow thread was not even. I finally found a workable density although I think the fringe should be thicker. I ran my machine slowing so there were no hitches there and the underside looked a little better. Here are some pictures of the sew out:

This is the stitch out of the leaves.

Here is the stitch out of the first and second flower.

Here is cutting the bobbin thread on the back side so the yellow thread can be released to make the fringe.

On the front the yellow thread has to be pulled out to make the fringe.

And finally the end result, two fringed dandelion flowers. Not too bad I say so myself. Whew, it done.

A Visit with My Sister from Florida

Its been 5 years since I saw my sister but this week she was here in Arizona. We spent two days together. She and her husband, Jim, drove their RV from Mt. Dora (near Orlando) Florida clear across the United States. Their first stop was in Bisbee. This is where we grew up. I am 8 years older than her so she lived there longer than me since I left home and went to ASU and then to teach in California.

She loves Mexican food. There is no good Mexican food in Florida. So the first night we went out to eat. My brother lives here and Vicki was here last when my brother's wife died in 2005. Vicki and Jim brought their two little dogs Kathy and Allie. You should have seen them with my dogs. There was alot of barking but finally they all got use to each other and there was quiet. We spent alot of time reminiscing about growing up and things that happened in Bisbee. Boy does time pass by quickly. It seems just like yesterday when we all made a trip to Bisbee. My father was still alive and we went to visit the home we grew up in. The present owners let us inside the house and we had so much fun remembering the things we did in that house. We left the house laughing and giggling and got in our car and drove off. Then all of a sudden we remembered we left Dad out in the street by the house. He was waving his cane in the air. Boy, was that a fun day. Growing up in a small mining town in the 50's was really good.

An Auction with Sewing Machines

Cactus Patches, the quilt group I belong to, got an email that Sierra Auction had sewing machines to auction off on May 9th. Since I am not too happy with the tension for free motion quilting on my big expensive sewing machine :( I decided to see just what was being auctioned off. Another friend from Cactus Patchers went with. We were both two brave souls to try this. We went down to the auction place on Grand Ave. to preview the sewing machines. There were new and old machines there plus sewing cabinets and sewing frames. Ingrid, my friend, wanted the brand new Zuki which does free motion sewing and the type of machine that Sharon Schamber started out using to win on her beautiful quilts. But I wanted the same machine and there was only one. After much turmoil, I gave in and said she could bid on that machine and I would bid on the new Pfaff Grand Quilter which does the same thing for free motion. These machines only sew a straight stitch and free motion but go very fast.
Well the day of actual bidding came on Saturday. We listened to a caller before the sewing machines were being sold and I couldn't understand him at all. Thank goodness the caller we had could be understood and worked with everyone very well. We got help from Ray at 3 Dudes Quilting shop on how to bid. He said get the retail price, half it in half, subtract the tax and buyers fee and that should be the price to aim for and not get carried away in all the excitement. Wow the embroidery machines were going for $2400.00 to $2700. The 18" Pfaff Quilter went for $2700 and then a frame had to bought to use it. The machine I wanted came up for bid and before I knew it I had bought it. No going back after that. AND I got it at the price Ray said to aim for. Ingrid got her machine the same way. We were both very happy and relieved it was over.

Red Delicious Is Finished

Red Delicious is finally finished after a year and a half. It was started at the beginning of 2009 as a mystery block of the month. I made one month each month and this year put it together and just finished quilting it. What a relief to get done. It turned out not too badly. The quilting was a project all of its own. I'm not real pleased with the tension of the quilting but it will have to do. I did free motion quilting of feathers mainly in all the blocks but in the black sashing strips I did a little spiral that does not show up in the pictures. The fabric pieces of each block were fused and then stitched over the raw edges with a method Patsy Thomas uses and calls EKG quilting. It was a different approach to finishing off the edges.
So here are the pictures.