Country Girl

I was so excited about getting my Harold and the Purple Crayon mini quilt finished in time to take it my guild meeting, and turn it in for the upcoming quilt show, I forgot to take a picture of it before I handed it over. I'll be sure to take a picture of it hanging in the show!

I've changed the name of the other little quilt I was working on for the show to Country Girl. Here she is:

You can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger.

I love this little quilt! I liked the Madrona Road fabric as soon as I saw it, and I surprised myself by buying a bundle of the entire collection, and in the pink/orange colorway! The fabrics begged me to put them in a sampler, but not just any sampler. I found the Perfect Points pattern on the Connecting Threads website.

From the beginning, this quilt has had me thinking of Flagstaff, AZ, my home town. Look at these design motifs:

We didn't have a truck, but my stepdad had a big, old, carryall. It's like an enclosed truck. It certainly drove like a truck; I had to use both hands to shift gears!

We didn't have a windmill, but we had a well for water. That's why I take quick showers, and turn off the water when soaping my hands or dishes, or brushing my teeth. We learned to conserve water, or we would run out!

We did have a donkey! My sister, Grace, begged to keep it, then she had the job of taking care of it. On mornings when she was late with its breakfast, that donkey made a lot of noise.

In the summer, fields around Flagstaff are filled with prairie sunflowers.

There's no better place to look at stars. At 7000 ft. altitude, you feel as if you could reach out and touch the sky. Did you know that Flagstaff is the first International Dark Sky City? Those nighttime views are protected!

Julie has been my friend since we were in high school together in Flagstaff. We encouraged each other in textile arts and other projects, love for the outdoors, and appreciation of all things quirky and/or beautiful. As high school friends do. Julie commented on a Flickr picture of this quilt, "That's an amazing amount of work!" I can't begin to add up all the hours that went into this quilt. Including the hours picking out stitches that didn't work, like the machine embroidered words I later covered with a Dresden/sunflower. 

Burying threads, so there is no backstitching on the quilt top.
This bandanna print is the back of the quilt. 

Every time I started or stopped a line of quilting stitches, I pulled the top and bobbin threads to the same side, knotted them, threaded them onto a needle and buried the knots in the quilt layers. That was a lot of loose threads to hide!

Even after I posted a picture on facebook, and called the quilt done, I went back and added a few more areas of free motion quilting. 

I added the vine stitching in some white areas to flatten them.

I loved working on this little quilt, and it's got me looking forward to visiting Flagstaff soon! I will enjoy seeing it hanging in the upcoming quilt show, and when it comes home, let's see if I hang it on the wall, or if I add some more quilting to the background! 

Although, I am already onto a new project...

Tie-dyed fabric, getting chopped!

Wearables

The quilting blog world has been in love with shot cottons, fabrics that are woven with one color in the warp and another in the weft. The colors shift with movement, and enhance each other in changing light.
When I saw this beautiful aqua/indigo shirt-weight fabric a year ago, I knew it would make a lovely, flowing blouse someday. I bought some yardage. Then I left it on the shelf.

I recently spent some time in northern Arizona. I was honored to participate in honoring my stepfather in his last days, and at a series of wonderful tributes to his life and work. My love for the southwest deepened, and my vision for this turquoise blouse developed.

I bought these silver buttons to embellish the blouse, and added a bit of hand-stitching.

I love wearing this blouse with the shell-and-turquoise earrings that are a gift from/tribute to my stepdad. 

It's been a long time since I've sewn clothes, yet here are some more items I've sewn!

I'm going on a cruise(!) in a couple weeks, to celebrate my mom's birthday with my mom, my sisters and some of their family members, and Bethany and Poppy. When I saw this navy knit with sailboats on the sale table at the fabric store, I just had to make myself a summer dress. Is it too cheesy for a cruise?

Bethany asked me ages ago to make this Wiksten top for her. This fabric is from Africa, via a friend who was cleaning out her craft closet. (If it fits you, Bethany, I'll make more. Kathryn, Do you want one, too?)

I used more African fabric to make this dress for Poppy. I don't know if it'll fit her, or if she'll like it, but I'm having fun making it!

Spring break is over, back to school tomorrow. 

Chair Lift

When we hiked on the San Francisco Peaks, we walked over to the Snowbowl, where we skied as kids. In fact, I won a trophy in the Levi Ski Rodeo when I was a 12-year-old, the only trophy I ever won, and probably the only sporting event I ever competed in!
(I took 3rd place... there were four skiers in my heat.)

Here's a picture of the current chair lift at the Snowbowl. It has a large, covered seat, a safety bar, and foot rests.

I have no idea who these people are. Nice smiles, though!

Here's a picture of one of the chairlift seats we rode on when I was a kid. It hangs as decoration above the sign for the Ski Lift Lodge at the base of the mountain, but it's the real thing. Not much to it, is there?

We asked ourselves, what kind of mother would let her children, ages 11, 10, 8, and 6, ride on a thing like that? We answered ourselves, a mother who trusts that her children are smart enough to know how to behave safely and respectfully on a chair lift!

Thanks, Mom!

Linda, Pamela, Laura, Grace, left to right.

Gotta wear real shoes

After I'd lived in California for several years, I was packing to visit Flagstaff, AZ, my hometown, and I realized I didn't have any appropriate shoes. I had sandals, canvas shoes, gym shoes, shoes with decorative cut-outs or woven leather, and dressy shoes, but no sturdy, waterproof, dirt-resistant shoes for wearing in snow or on dirt walkways.

I came ready with some dirt-worthy walking shoes this time, and I put them to good use. Of course we made the obligatory trip to Red Mountain, and we enjoyed sharing with newbies. What a magical place this eroded cinder cone is, with weird hoodoos and cinder  hills! Funny thing is, with just adults making the hike, it didn't take as long as usual!

We didn't do more than stroll along the rim of the Grand Canyon the day we went there, but we enjoyed the beautiful view as part of our lunch date with Mom. What a decadent day, driving to the Canyon to eat lunch (Navajo tacos - yum!) in the El Tovar Lodge: the original craftsman-style, Fred Harvey railroad stop right on the rim of the canyon.

Mmmm, a Navajo taco is Indian fry bread topped with chili and taco fixings.

Here's Ralph, taking pictures of us during our hike at the top of Oak Creek Canyon. I love the rocks!

Here's another hike, on the Sandy's Canyon Trail, where we saw pines and aspens, sandstone and basalt, wildflowers, and even a cute little horned toad!

We also hiked on the Kachina Trail, on the San Francisco Peaks. That's 11000' altitude.

There were also hikes taken around our cabin in the woods, but I opted for relaxation on the deck, instead!

Here's Pamela, who blew out her Italian hiking boots on our first day. She made the rest of our hikes wearing her Teva sandals. So much for real shoes!

Pamela tied the semi-detached soles to the tops of her boots to make the hike out of Red Mountain.

New Finish

Pretty new finish: this design is Garden Fence by Hyacinth Quilt Designs, and all the fabrics are by Amy Butler. I started with the paisley my sister Pamela chose for her contribution to Grace's birthday quilt, and added other fabrics in pink and green.

Free motion quilted; a free-form flower shape centered in each square, with big, wavy petals, and leaves to fill in empty corners. FMQ means I move the quilt under the needle of the sewing machine, and draw a picture with thread. Just think of the way names are added to Mickey Mouse hats at Disneyland. 

Here's the birthday girl, getting ready to blow out the candles on her Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake. After all, we all worked at Baskin-Robbins in High School, except Pamela!

We celebrated Pamela's birthday in Flagstaff, staying at this beautiful cabin with this glorious view of the San Francisco Peaks. This is the geography of our childhood!

Notice the beautiful pine forest, it smells wonderful! 

 Here's the birthday girl, isn't she cute?

She likes it!