Retirement Laziness

I have been retired for one month and feel like I've turned into Ms. Lazy Butt.  My inner clock must be "off", I am awake in the middle of the night, remain unfocused, undriven, lazy, impatient, etc.  This new chapter is going to take some getting used to.  If you have suggestions, I would welcome advice on how to "settle in." 

My Retirement Reception was absolutely wonderful, more than I could have imagined, with many well-wishes, expressions of love and respect, many gifts and cards - including a LOT of gift cards to my LQS, two beautiful cakes - one with a quilty design, and a lot of folks saying really lovely things about me.  I was hoping DH was listening closely!  LOL

Above is a Diana Phalen signed painting that used to hang in my office, and which was given to me for keeps.  I don't have the best place for it yet, but it certainly looks good with that quilt, doesn't it?   

Below is a corner of MY quilt that looks a lot like another one I did, called "RED," and a lot like one from a German lady that I've recently shown.  This one is  called "Jody Blue."  My quilting friend Jody visited me weeks ago, and behind her back she hid a giganto bag of blue scraps. She said she was totally TIRED of making blue quilts, and I was gifted what was left (which was considerable!).  So a gal just HAS to make a blue quilt, doesn't she?  There are bits of lavendar and red, from 4-patches I already had.  The border is chunks of parts.  The blocks are 6 inches, and this quilt measures about 67" x 74".  If you haven't seen "RED", they are almost twins. These blocks are Jewel Box, or Buckeye Beauty and are no more than 4 patches and HSTs.  This is an easy quilt, and setting possibilities are plentiful.  



The colors are more lively, in person.

 I made so many errors with this simple quilt, I KNOW I'm not concentrating.  Jeeesh!  Embarrassing!!! 

For the backing I opted to use what I already had from stash , and made a bunch of 10 1/2 inch squares.  This is a stack of about 100.  I will need 80 for the back of "Jody Blue."   I'll show that backing another day.

We have a warm day coming up so I'm hoping to baste it soon, outside in the garage.


100 ten and one half inch squares, more lively in person.



Below is a new book, recently out, by Judy Woodworth.  She is a member of our Guild and an amazing long-arm machine quilter.  Her long list of long-arm machine quilting awards is incredible.  Many of her quilts are made with her friend Mary Sue Suit, also a quilt book author and member of our Guild, and some of Judy's assistance is provided by her talented husband. Judy does complex and intricate machine quilting, and has the most amazing "spirit"!  She's a quiet little woman, with a gigantic talent.  This is her second book and this one is about designing your OWN patterns and motifs.  If you want to expand on your machine quilting (especially long-arm) this is an excellent resource.   (The lack of color on this photo is totally MY fault!)



RED, Owls, Friendship Stars

RED is done, washed, blocked, and folded and put away.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  For the last scrappy border, I quilted a separate design in each chunk - for interest and practice.  Some of the designs are not good for entire quilts but I still like to use them, here and there -- good practice for me.  Some worked well, some not so great - oh well.  It gives the viewer something to look closer at (whoops, dangling preposition ...)  The triangles were kept in one consistent configuration.

For the record, this pattern is called Jewel Box, Buckeye Beauty, Blue Ridge Beauty and a few more.  It is among the easiest designs, can be used in a great variety of ways, producing remarkabley different end product.  Even now, I'm thinking it would be wonderful in blue!  It's about 65" x 75".

For Lori, in South Dakota, who asked about what fabrics I used.  I can't say I used anything specific, but do notice most of the reds are small scale, and the lights are creams and whites, some with bits of color in them.  This truly was scrappy - I didn't buy anything for the top.  A couple of the reds do NOT "go" but again, they are what gives the quilt character.



 And, once again, here is one of the screech owls.  I happened to be under one of them when it "erped" up a pellet.  Yes, I was the lucky victim.  We were fearful that the neighborhood fireworks would scare them off, but nope, they are still here.  (It seems that Kodak does not "fix" owl red eye - must be something about their eyes different than human eyes.  LOL) 

Here are some friendship stars our local quilt group is making for a quilt for RSVP, Retired Senior Volunteer Program.  The small bit of fabric in upper right is our focus fabric.  It was GREAT for a focus fabric but no longer looks good as a border.  I think we are making 120, 6 inch blocks, all scrappy. 

RED - a work in process, and OWL update

Yesterday, I was able to get this quilt sandwiched, early in the morning, before the horrid heat.  Today is expected to be near 105 deagrees, so what am I doing, quilting!  LOL!

This design is so similar to one I frequently do,  but more carefree, lighthearted and "open".  It's kinda "posey-like".  Kinda like daisy, flowery, but still "cute."

Look at my backing!  Is this not over-the-top???  It was on sale, and the ONLY one that would "do", colorwise.  I am usually NOT a florally person.

 The quilting thread is a variegated redish/pinky and the thread on the back is a beigy white. Both are working well.

 
On another subject;  Happily, the OWLS  are still in the neighborhood.  Last night, as I was closing up the back door for the night, there were two "lumpy dark things" on the deck rail.  Yeppers, two of the little owls - they looked back at me with their lovely huge eyes, and their heads circling so humorously - I know it's silly, but I almost thought they wanted to "connect" with me!  LOL  I didn't want to scare them with my camera - sorry no photos.  They have also been spotted in another person's trees, nearby.  It's not hard to find them during the day if one just listens for other birds, (robins, jays,) who put up such a racket if the owls are roosting nearby.

Seeing RED!

My stash of RED scraps is getting out of control.  (Yeah, what's new about that!).  This Judy Martin quilt, Country Cousins, has been tugging at me for YEARS!  Then a few days ago, I received this Land's End catalog of all these red and purple and pink and orangey bathing suits.  I'm not purchasing bathing suits but this ad was the catalyst to start somthing RED. 

I kept it simple, decided against, Judy Martin's design, and started Buckeye Beauty or Jewel Box.  Bonnie Hunter also has a similar design.  What fun!  Making this one is fairly FAST!  Here are 56 blocks - for now, I'm aiming for 110.  The block is 6 in. finished.  I need a total of 240 4-Patches, and 240 HSTs.  I'm halfway there! 

Here are my strips of red and light, pressed and laid out on my cutting mat.  I still have issues with cutting accurately, with eyestrain and accuracy, so I purchased a June Tailor Shape Cut ruler.  It has slots at every 1 inch and half inch.  This works VERY well for me.  Each cut strip remains precisely the same size, and I'm not straining my eyes.  I've showed the ruler before - it's one of my favorite tools.  It's a bit flimsy, so  I store it on it's side between furniture cabinets, along with big square rulers.  This was under $30.00 at JoAnns and I used my 40% coupon.  I've VERY happy with this gadget.  An entire mat full of carefully laid out strips can be cut in just a minute or two.  Press down firmly on the ruler and nothing moves.  One must be careful to cut at the right slots - it's easy to get carried away and miss your mark!  I used my Olfa cutter - not all cutters work.

Here it is with the ruler laying on top of the strips, ready to cut!  You slip your cutter into the slots along the edge of the ruler. This would be PERFECT for a variety of blocks, especially when you have hundreds of cuts to make.  I haven't tried it on anything but strips yet.