settled in

We are really settled in here at Nancy's house, we pretty much have everything at our fingertips or very nearly. The dining area is where our 3 machines are embedded and the large kitchen island is perfect for our cutting area. The living room with TV and comfy seating is right next to us, so we can keep up on what's happening in the world or in our favorite shows. Nancy has a fully loaded kitchen, fridge, pantry, freezer and wine cooler, so we are good to go! Last night we cooked up 2 big pans of roasted root vegies seasoned with olive oil and herbs, accompanied by a brown rice mixture. Yummo! And some summer peaches were brought out of the freezer and turned into a great peach crisp using a gluten-free yellow cake mix, butter and cinnamon. The perfect ending!

We gained one more in our numbers last night, my daughter, Brita, drove up from Minneapolis for an overnight. She is now 33 weeks pregnant--oh my!--and we think it's wonderful that she could join us. She curled up on the couch with some yarn and crochet hook to make a little baby blanket. We both talked awhile with Dan as he was sitting on the Pacific coastline watching the sunset. He was camping somewhere in the Big Sur area, I think. His biking is going well, he is in good physical condition and is learning the ways of the long distance road trip. He sounds very happy and the pictures on his website certainly look happy, too.

Some more reports on our sewing time--

I finished making and attaching the 4 border sections to my previously mentioned hap quilt. That feels like a major accomplishment for me, and I love the way it looks. I am toying with the idea of making it a little larger by adding a border all around, but I might just be happy calling it done.

I completed a little baby quilt, for a girl this time, from the Vintage Baby Quilt pattern by Yoyomama.

I used a pale yellow for the background and used a bunch of girlie colors. It is quilted as you top stitch the squares, raw edges exposed. Put on a nice striped binding, wash it up, and voila! (Pattern available at Bear Patch)

Here's a fun and easy project for you:

These are coasters and trivets are easy and quick and doable with random fabrics. The pattern is Amazingly Simple Coasters & Hot Pads by Tiger Lily Press (also available at Bear Patch). I can't find a website for Tiger Lily, but the designer's name is Nicole Chambers-Kaya. Her instructions use several layers of heavyweight fusible interfacing and batting to get a stiff material. I cheated a little and used just plain fusible Timtex instead, with nearly the same results and a lot less messing around! There are 3 sizes in the pattern, what you see above are the small and medium.

For the last feature this morning, I am sharing a group accomplishment. Leisl has taken on the completion of this quilt for a dear friend and she doesn't know about it. She is in a nursing home in Chicago recovering from heart surgery and I am pretty sure that she is not following the great literary work on this blog. In my quilt group, the Ham Lake Piecemakers, we celebrate decade birthdays (30-40-50-etc.) by asking everyone to make a block that the birthday girl can put together into a quilt. This was the one we worked on for Dianne, so each block has the maker's name on it. Dianne put them all together and put the floral vine border all around.

Then, since she wanted to hand quilt it, she marked a cross-hatch grid over the whole works. And then her life changed, she moved to her daughter's in Chicago area, and the quilting took a back seat to other things. Leisl managed to sneak this quilt away and was determined to get it done. Some of the pencil marks had gone astray, and we used Sew Clean by Bear Thread Designs to successfully remove some lines and then mark new lines. I mounted it on my quilt frame and basted it with the batting and backing. Leisl started the hand quilting, and then I took it to my mom and she got the quilting finished. I took it back to Leisl and she put on the binding. The areas that had been sprayed with the Sew Clean had yellowed, so it was soaked in Vintage Soak and turned out nice and white. Now it is just a matter of getting it back to Dianne, I wish I could see her face when she receives it! It has been fun to see it all come together, and even more fun to imagine Dianne's surprise.

Not sure what today's projects will be, but I will keep you posted!