It's my Birthday!, Visit with Colorado Family, Snake Skins, Machine Quilting

 I had a birthday - I'm still alive and kicking!

I made a quick trip to Denver area to visit my brother David, and his wife Mary.  What a delightful pair they are!  This is a quilt I made for them some time ago.  Mary wanted it in the photo!  8-)

 My brother, the engineer - note the pocket!  Me, having a good visit, looking like my mother.

Their backyard, all full of trees, soil, plants, berms, a hole that was going to be a lake, green things (usually green, if not too dry) and his Solar System that provides INCOME, not a bill!  Rocky Mountains in background, a stunning view.  This used to be out in the boonies, not now.

 That's Mary, retired art teacher.  I wish they lived closer to us. 

 Yes, that's Birthday me, Elaine Adair.

 Bull Snake skins - yikes, I kept watching for the LIVE snakes, maybe in the trees?

Back home again in Nebraska, and I can concentrate on machine quilting my long-delayed project, a Quiltville design called Tumalo Trails.  I renamed it "Cowboy Up" because it looks so "outdoors, friendly, western".  I saw this free MQ design on the Internet by Christina Cameli, called Bear Claws.  Works for me, on this very busy, big quilt.  Only two blocks a day is the goal  -- my shoulders and neck feel it!

 The back. 

Inspiration

This spring I visited my brother and sister-in-law in Denver.  Brother is retired Engineer, SIL Mary is a retired Art Teacher, and their home is always interesting, filled with unusual arty things, (including a beautiful canoe in their living room!).  As I looked around at all Mary's arty items, I noticed a stunningly beautiful cookie tin, and was thrilled to learn it was meant for ME, and filled with 500 Swedish cookies.  How did she know I'd love both the cookies and the tin itself?  I imagined a quilt made with the unusual colors, totally unlike anything I've made before.




Fast forward, delicious, paper-thin cookies are gone, and the lovely tin is on the top of my refrigerator, collecting some dust, but I DO admire it every day.  OK self, one of these days you'll get to that quilt.


In the meantime, spring came and went, summer came and is almost done for, so I started an easy  Linus quilt, using what I had in my stash, ala Quiltville.com.  I had no intention for it to turn out like it did!!! Apparently inspiration DID stay in my overcrowded brain.    Thank you Mary and Dave.  8-)

 

Playing, visiting, and futzing around

I'm still here - not sure what I've been doing with myself!  Certainly, not posting anything!

 

Below are two unusual purses/totes I bought locally.  I've seen similar at quilt shows but never expected to find them in our local gift shop!  I kept one for myself. 

This is Mary, one of my dear sisters-in-law, retired art teacher, at their home near Denver.  Mountains in the background have only small amounts of snow, not a good thing.

This is me, my engineer brother, and my boatmaking husband during a recent visit, when weather was warm! 

This is my current project, "Lady of Shallotte"  on my Design Floor for tooo long, because I haven't figured how to deal with the corners and the flying geese do not fit properly - lack of planning on my part!  But, I WILL figure something!  This is a large quilt, folded to fit the Design Floor.   I am planning on hand quilting this one.

My Quilt Guild friend Sharon and I will be working on quilt show ribbons again this year.  The theme is SUN, so we are each playing in prep for a July quilt show.  My first effort did not work well - waaaay too fiddly, too many wedges, too fussy, too large, etc.  The ruler worked perfectly but not suitable for this project.  I tried inserting little white "rays" of foldy things, more of "tooooo fussy"! 

Than I tried a  45 degree ruler and cut wedges, but moved the ruler down a bit, still using a 2.5 inch strip.  OK, size is better, just 8 wedges (hard to see), has possibilities.  Of course, using a variety of yellow/gold fabrics would have been better.  Still needs something on the back though, but it's a beginning.  Yes, I dislike the center but ...

Sometimes you just have to play to find answers!