Lovely Surprises, and a Disappearing Log Cabin

 From my daughter ...

 ...and a BIRTHDAY SURPRISE from a BUNCH of quilty friends ... (goodness, you'd think I could have arranged this collection of gifts in a more attractive setting).  There are even homemade food items in that amazing group of gifts which includes yards of fabric!  What a lovely and surprising day I had.  I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.  8-)))  

Playing with Disappearing Log Cabin blocks.  

My final choice - because I didn't want to make more blocks  and end up with yet another huge quilt!   OK, I bet some of you are thinking of trying this one.  I got my instructions from that clever gal Suze, at Revelation Quilts.

Kind friends, generous gifts

A blogging friend said she had too many fabrics and asked me if I would help her use them up.  Say what?  Oh yes, I agreed to give them a new home, and I promised to make them up into donated kids quilts and if there were too many pieces, would ask my quilty girlfriends to assist.  I figured I could handle about 7 lbs, the first estimate.  It's so much fun to wait for the mail, look at the box, and not open it right away, but what arrived on a Saturday was not 7 lbs., but a bigger box of 14 lbs.!  Yikes, hold me back, I cannot open it yet, I MUST clear a space, MUST finish this project, etc., and promised the sender I'd have a "reveal" with my friends.  So I just looked at the bulging box, being tempted, but I was strong and resisted.

So - here they are on Thursday evening where we gather for Show and Tell, local news, etc.  This was a small group.  And HERE is the box of goodies!  Are we having fun?  When the evening was over I only brought home half of the fabrics - oh good, these photo'ed gals are all great achievers and those little quilts will be made up and delivered.  Thank you Joan for the fabric - you can see they are all appreciated.  I'm working on my ideas as well - some are getting made into backs of QAYG quilt.  Thank you Alice, Carol, Sue and Jody!

Saturday morning, 9:00 am, one of these gals brought over a finished top, made from some of her pieces - now that's FAST!

Here are several quilts that were shown for the evening Show and Tell.

 Above, a scrappy quilt

 4 Patches and Pinwheels, from Bonnie Hunter's book.  I LOVE this one.

This is an OLD quilt, simple but the fabrics are much prettier than my photo.

More lessons to learn

 

Oh boy, new photo system, new to this computer, new to this brain!!!  Old camera (2006) not functioning as I remembered it used to, and I had been using an old 2003 Windows XP desktop in the past, but for now, it is not cooperating.  The little camera disc is also not reading to this newer laptop, not sure what to do about that, but I was happy to find out the camera cable will connect to this gadget - I DO  have a brand new rechargeable battery in the camera and that part is now making the camera work properly.  Duhhh, I didn't realize I was supposed to purchase new rechargeable batteries.  My camera is a Kodak -- rechargeable batteries were not easy to find.  However, my friend Fern directed me to www.batteriesplus.com, I called the Ft. Collins franchise, and they mailed me what I needed. 

Does anyone have suggestions as to why my camera disc won't read on this new laptop?  It used to a year ago, when last I tried it.  The laptop recognizes it is "there" but I get an "error".  Perhaps because the previous battery was dead it damaged something to the disc?

Now, I just need to figure how to wander thru this new interface.  It was not as difficult as I had imagined. 

 

 I was asked to make a small quilt for an auction.  I called it "Gifts" meaning we all have gifts to offer not just the kinds that we wrap up.  It's about 38" x 40", and would be artfully positioned in a small antique sled.  I quilted winding ribbons all over it first in one thread, then another. 

Time was short so I started with a lovely Moda Charm Pack - I have never done that before.  What a time saver! 

The feathers on the outside border were easy.  My friend Jody calls them "fat ladies on a barstool"!  LOL

The backing was PERFECT. 

Below is my Scrappy Spider Web I've been working on between machine problems.  Did ya ever have whole months when NOTHING was working properly?  Ok, got that fixed, and improved my stitching issues with Sewers Aid liquid lubricant.  What a great improvement THAT made! 

 

 

The first spider webs were in a creamy tan thread - didn't look quite right, so I changed to a white shiny poly that had some silvery look to it - much better. 

 

I deserve a GOLD STAR after struggling with a variety of geekie issues.  I stuck with it, didn't cry, didn't curse and swear, and didn't give up!  8-))))  I am woman, hear me roar!!!!! 8-)))

Booty, Loot, and Stuff, for ME!

Saturday was promising to be a good day. Weather lovely, no big jobs to do - everyone happy. I had cleared out my sewing room enough to open up the back of my sewing table, in preparation for machine quilting. Then, Fons and Porter/Love of Quilting was on the TV, not a re-run, and (ta-ta-ta!) I was in charge of both the remote control AND the Lazy Boy.

Around noonish I put gas in my car, and was pleased the price/gallon had dropped a few cents more. Nice day, feeling good, zipped through the Dairy Queen for a 'feel-good' ice cream cone. Happiness and life is often made up of small pleasurable bits, isn't it?

When I arrived home, this mail what was waiting for me ... The box is from Patti of Quilting is my Passion for being the 50th person to comment to her post of July 14. And look at all this good stuff! A darling little Mary Engelbright tin sewing box, LOTS of fabric and a whole package of beautiful fallish FQs, a table-runner pattern, a bag of really sinfully sexy chocolates - which is not shown because I asked DH to hide it and dole them out to me one at a time. I am weak, I admit. Oh Patti, this is just too wonderful - thank you so much.

But wait, there's more. I also received my DVD from the Pajama Quilter but have not been able to watch it, because I've been busy looking for that bag of sinfully sexy chocolates.

I'm making preparations to machine quilt my first Kaleidoscope - the one that is pretty wild. It's larger than the last one posted. Pushing, mashing, pulling a quilt through the harp in my machine, even though it's a generous 10 inches, is still tedious and not simple, so this time I decided to experiment. After sandwiching, spraying and pinning the quilt, I loaded water soluble thread on top and bobbin and ran huge basting stitches (dogs down) on the quilt, from side to side. Maybe this is pointless, but I WAS able to get the pins out and didn't have to worry about hitting them, and I feel the quilt is more stable with the basting. The spool of dissolving thread is only 300 yards, and was $6.95, and I had leftover thread.

One issue I am having is that my quilting thread is light in some areas, looking a lot like the basting thread, so I really have to concentrate - it's easy to lose my way with machine quilting this method, when my eyes are so close to the stitches. You can see the vertical stitches which are the soluble thread. It simply melts when doused with water. And, as I said, it's an experiment. Also, my machine quilting thread is different than the last very nice one and does not 'lay in the fabric' as nicely.

And lastly, one of the frequent visitors to our deck, looking lovely and fine, with stunning colored plumage.