Photo Op Day Trip

A photo op can appear when you least expect it, but sometimes you wake up and know that it is a great day to find some of those photo ops... intentionally.  A few years back, when we first moved here to South Texas, a couple friends took us on a mission tour.  There are a few missions along the Mission Trail in  San Antonio. We have been to a couple of the missions since then, but a couple weeks ago Ron and I decided we would try to recreate that day's adventure again.  Of course the Alamo is the start if you want to hit them all, but we started at Mission Concepcion.

 

The missions have lots of history and the architecture and structures are typically in varying stages of reconstruction.  There is always signs of refurbishing going on, but they have done a fabulous job of preserving these buildings and grounds.  Concepcion was not hard to find, but we kind of stumbled on it because we forgot to check out a map first.  Once you get to one of the missions, there is alot of information available to show you how to find the others.

 The second mission we visited was San Juan.  I was very disappointed that I had not brought my camera bag with me.  I hung the camera around my neck and left the bag in the car.  About half way around the perimeter I discovered that my camera battery was out.  I had a fresh battery in my bag, but I guess I learned that I should at least put my backup battery in a more accessible location... like my pocket. It was too far to go for my battery.  Ron got to take lots of great shots of the grist mill that was at the far end of this mission.  I will have to wait till next time.  Ron and I see things slightly different sometimes,  so when we are taking pictures, it is interesting to see the diverse perspectives.

 I really enjoy taking pictures at Mission Espada, specifically this church.  I often find doors to be very interesting.  Mission Espada even has a mission kitty.

 

I have quilted a few quilts lately, but somehow my camera wasn't handy, because it seems I am missing all those pictures.  This is the last one I quilted.  It was only a baby size quilt, but sometimes they are the most fun because I can finish them quickly.  This one has giraffes and lions and elephants.  I often like to piece the back... it adds character to the quilt, and usually it is because the backing was a little short.

This quilt is for a lady at church that really doesn't sew.  The quilt was pieced by a family member and it has been waiting for quite some time to be quilted.  When I received the top, there was no backing with it, which meant that it would be a whole lot easier for me to find something in my stash than it would be to try to explain what type and size the fabric needed to be for the back.  I found a piece that had many of the colors, but it was just shy of being large enough to work.  I matched it up with another fabric and I thought it made a perfect addition to the character of the back. 

I will have to get busy in the next couple of weeks so that I can finish a quilt or two before Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is pretty quiet here at home.  Up until a couple days ago, we were going to be heading to Arizona for a Thanksgiving dinner with family.  It was going to be a combined Thanksgiving/Christmas type of celebration.  On Sunday evening we received a call from son number two advising us that the whole family was not doing too good.  Everyone was at varying stages of a cold/flu type virus. They had hoped things would start to turn around, but he figured it was best to give us enough notice to change our plans, and he was definitely sounding pretty bad himself.  I went to the store on Monday to buy a turkey... I don't think I have ever waited to buy my turkey that close to the big day.  One benefit is that I didn't need to find room in the freezer.  I haven't cooked a Thanksgiving dinner in quite a while, so I was actually looking pretty forward to it... and this one was just the two of us.

I finished a quilt the other day, and before I could get a picture taken, Boston stepped in to give her approval.  She likes to be first on the scene.  Now this is not a quilt that I pieced, but one that I quilted for a friend.

I finished a second quilt this week.  It was a Christmas quilt that I had planned to finish last year, but I didn't get the piecing done until March.  It has been sitting in the closet since.  After this pictured quilt came off the frame, I determined it was time to put that Christmas quilt on the frame.  Every once in a while it is good to quilt one of your own quilts.  I am in the process of putting the binding on, so I'm waiting to take pictures of that completed quilt.

One of my recent projects is a pretty hot item around here.  Everyone is either making these scarves, or trying to find someone to make one for them.  I have lost count on the number I have made.  There is alot of variation in the net/mesh type yarn that is available out there, but I like the Starbella Flash that I have bought several colors of at Joann's.  There are just plain Starbella colors, but the Flash does just that... it makes the scarf FLASH.  Different brands of the yarn have more in one skein, so there are scarves of a wide range of lengths.  You can get more creative with the longer lengths.... but any length... they are just FUN to wear.  Age doesn't seem to be a factor.  I have seen ladies of all ages wearing them.

Houston is but a blur...

Last week at this time we were on a bus for our return trip from the Houston Quilt Festival.  Five of my quilting buddies and I boarded the bus shortly after 7am and it was close to 11pm before I arrived back home.  It was one very long day, but worth every minute.  Although we had until 6pm to get back to the bus... we were all so exhausted, I think we were sitting in the chairs by the door at least 1/2 hour before.

 We all brought back many treasures.  These bright yellow string backpacks helped us spot each other in the sea of people.  I had embroidered each of my friends names on their bags.  It is very important to have your hands free, and it helps to have a place to keep your purse safe from being left behind.  Now next time, I'm going to look for a pair of bionic legs.

I think the people who lived in our house before must have hung a few stockings above the fireplace... there were hooks left behind that haven't had anything hanging from them in a while. I  finished this kitty block back, maybe a year ago or so.  For a couple months the block was on my design wall.  I was going to make a whole quilt with various kitty blocks, but after I finished this one, I started the second one and I didn't like how it was turning out... so I set the project aside.  I thought I would get inspired to pick it back up and run with it at a later date.  Well, when I got it out again, I couldn't make a decision for the next block, so I hung it on the design wall.  A couple weeks ago I had an idea pop into my head.  Out in the shop I found a piece of foam board that I cut down to fit the block.  I used spray adhesive to adhere the block to the foam board, then I used a piece of ribbon that I attached with 2 pins. Couldn't get much simpler than that. I hung it on two of the mantel hooks.  So now my kitty cat block is suspended over the fireplace, and it looks like I planned it that way from the very start.

October is going to speed by

I didn't get any quilts completed in the month of September... but then I didn't post anything here either, so I have to stop and think whether I got anything done.  For one thing, I did go to Rockport for a quilt retreat.  I worked on a couple quilts, but the only items I completed had little to do with quilting.  The purse here was my first project completed while at the retreat.  I really like how it turned out.  I buy fabric in lots of places, but I found this combination at my local WalMart.  Hooray for the fabric department at WalMart.  They took it out of the old store, but I think there was enough feedback from the local customer base, that it must have had an impact, because when the new WalMart opened, they had a fabric department, and nicely stocked most of the time.
The only other items I completed at the retreat was 3 pillowcases.

  Now that I think about it, in September I did finish the quilt that my sister and I started in August when I was in North Carolina.  This looked like a pretty easy quilt to get done, but I couldn't get it to lay flat as I was trying to prepare it for quilting.  Ended up taking the middle seam out and reversing the ends before I could get it squared with minimal distortion.

I put a name for the quilt on the front, and I made another label for the back before I sent it to my sister.  She had kept the scraps from the jelly roll strips to piece together for the binding.  She says the finished quilt looks awesome.















It finally got cooled down a little so that we could consider installing the new storm door that we bought about 3 months ago.  It is the kind of job you really can't do in extreme heat, which a good part of our summer was.  Anyhow, I'm really really liking our new door.  I didn't remember to take a picture of the old storm door, that was really sadly looking like it needed to be replaced, but after we put in the new storm door, we just had to paint the inside door to go with the house trim.  The old door knocker had been painted over and was the same color as the door.  We have a new brass door knocker and the door looks so cool being red with that bright brass knocker.  Tomorrow we are going to buy a new brass door kicker plate.  Who would have thought one could get so excited over a new look for an old door?

Have a seat... and a tip to share

It has almost been a month since I picked up my new sewing machine... a Baby Lock Symphony.  I have been busy trying to find all the neat things this machine can do.  I first made a purse that turned out awesome... no picture at this time...  Camera battery is on the charger.  I have been doing some piecing and other quilting almost every day since I brought the machine home.  For right now I have this new toy set up on a table in the living room.  If I moved it into the sewing room, my husband would have to come looking for me too often.  Gotta have it out where I can play with it.  I will eventually move it to the sewing room, but for now I need to make a chair work for me in the living room.
My sewing room chair is really a good chair, but it doesn't do well on a carpet.  I decided to make a cushion set to make an ordinary chair actually be useful as a sewing chair. I used fabric I had in my stash, and I covered 20 buttons. I even had a pattern in my stash of patterns.  I thought the cushions dressed up the chair pretty nicely, and it really makes the chair quite comfortable.  I used alot of polyester fiberfill... no foam at all.

With my longarm and all the quilts that I do, I have lots of batting scraps.  If I have a small quilt and a batting scrap that is just a little short, I piece my batting.  Before I discovered I could do it on my sewing machine, I used to butt up the batting pieces and whip them together with a needle and thread.  
Even if you lengthen your zigzag stitch, a typical zigzag stitch just makes a bunched up line.  I discovered on my last sewing machine that I could piece my batting very successfully using a 3-step zigzag.  My new machine also has this really neat zigzag stitch.  Q-10 is the designation on my new machine for the proper zigzag. 

This stitch leaves the butted edges nice and flat.  I have separated the edges in the image to the right here to show how the batting is positioned.  Keeping the edges together as you guide the batting centered as it stitches.
It would have been easier to see if I had used a contrasting color thread in the image to the left, but this was a batting I was going to use.  You can see the joined seam of the batting if you know it is there, but once it is in the quilt, no one would know.  It doesn't get any easier than this.  If I had the time, I could piece alot more of my batting scraps and I could save alot more money.  I really like how this works on Warm 'n Natural, which is the first type of batting I tried this on, but I find it works just fine on other types of batting as well.

Last, but certainly not least....

My camera battery quit when I was in the middle of taking pictures of my Clothesline Quilt that I completed yesterday.
       Yeah... a quilt completed!!!
The backing on this quilt is really cool... a large 9-patch.  I had fun doing this quilt, but it was alot of work for a quilt that hasn't been designated for any particular purpose.  For now this quilt will join my finished quilt stack.

Ruffles Anyone?

I thought I'd get adventurous with my last project.  I have seen a number of ruffled bags and decided it might be fun to make one.  Somehow I didn't think ruffles would look too good on my arm. That is when I decided to send a message to a couple of my grand-daughters.  I got an immediate response from one.  I have already finished her bag and sent it on its way. 

I just got word that another grand-daughter wants one.  Looks like I will have to document the pattern I created so that I won't forget.  I was thinking I might just make the one, and really didn't make as many notes as I should have.  I've made a number of bags over time, and most I have not used a pattern... but usually they are for me, and I only need one, so no need to create a pattern.  One good thing on this one... I took alot of pictures... it's the measurements I will have to figure out.  I showed the ladies at my quilting group, and a couple of the ladies wanted to know where to get the pattern... Guess I will have to create a tutorial, because I didn't use a pattern.

Quilt show Friday

Friday was a fun day.  A few of my quilting buddies and I met at my house and we all got in my van and we went to New Braunfels to the semi-annual Quilt Show.  The show is big enough to fill a day, but small enough keep from being overwhelming.  My biggest purchase I will not pick up until September. I paid a deposit on a quilt kit that is themed on the Quilt Across Texas a statewide shop hop.  Now anyone that could get their card stamped at all of the 90 shops would accomplish quite a feat.  I would not even begin to think about trying it, but one of the shops involved is local for me and they have put together a quilt that looks awesome.  They cannot release the kit until September when the QAT ends.  I will be anxiously awaiting.

I have been to this show in New Braunfels before, and I have a favorite restaurant just down the street, so I lured my friends to lunch at the Huisache Grill and we all had a delicious lunch in an awesome atmosphere. This is probably one of my favorite restaurants and I know all the food is good, but I always order the same thing so I can have my "shrimp Louis" salad.  I have posted about the Huisache before.

The next show that I will be attending with my quilting friends is in Houston in November.  It is the BIG one.  I have limited stamina for being on my feet, so even though it is a mind-boggling experience... one day is just fine for me.  We are going on a bus that has been chartered by a local quilt shop.  There are seven in our group and this is the second time we will be doing this.  There are a couple different ladies going this time, so I had to get some more bags labeled with their names.  These backpacks help us to be hands-free as we walk the floor of the show, and the yellow color helps us to stand out in the crowd so we can spot each other at a distance.  There are literally thousands of people at this show, so anything to help find a comrade is helpful.  We did it last time and it worked nicely.