Dr. Quiltmom

Down Under

2009-11-07T22:29:00.000-08:00

I recently went on a trip. Two friends and I went to Sydney Australia. Yea, that's right, I left the hubby and kids behind. A friend got an invitation to teach at the Chiropractic Pediatric Diplomat Program in Sydney and invited me and another friend to go along. A 15 hour flight and 4 nights stay.

This is me at the beautiful and unique Sydney Opera Hall. Shaped like sails. Did you know that if you took apart the pieces of the building you could put them back together as a perfect sphere.
Looking left from here you see the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We went on a twilight bridge climb and saw the harbor at sunset. WOW that was fantastic.
This is not us but it could have been. There were only 4 of us. It was spectacular.

This is Darling Harbor where we took a Ferry to Manly Beach
We took a bus trip around Sydney and saw the sites. This is Bondi beach.
We spent some time in Paddy's market.
Shopping.
The Queen Victoria Building for more shopping. Great floor, hu?

We tried to get to a quilting shop but did not have the transportation. There was a Lindcraft in the shopping mall but nothing special in the way of Australian fabric.
It was a great and a super opportunity to see a part of the world I may never had the chance.

Green Fancy

2009-10-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

This week I got another finish. This one I call Lyndsy Green. I guess because I made it for my friend Lyndsy and her favorite color is green. Her birthday was last month and I had to give her a rain check.I started by calling this one and another one Flee Market Fancy because that is the name of the quilt the tutorial is from by Crazymomquilts. Little did I know the quilt was named for the fabric line it was made for. Well now I have to come up with my own quilt name.

It seems I always have a model or two when I try to photograph a quilt in the floor. After my heavy sigh I came to my senses and appreciate the charming little folk for their playfulness.
I did all this free motion quilting. It felt like it took forever. I went through about 2000 yards of thread. The quilt measures 86X68.A little free piecing for the back to add interest.

A little red thrown in for variety. This is probably the most photographed landmark in our area. It is referred to as the Red Church for obvious reasons. Learn more about it here.

Birthday Week

2009-10-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

Nicole celebrated her 12th birthday. She was born and raised in California and is Minnesota Twins fan through and through. Go Joe Mauer. What she wanted for her birthday was a Twins cap and a Mauer Jersey. Such a happy girl.Eric celebrated his 14th birthday. I don't know he got so old. He just wanted cash. So that's what he got. With all the money he bought himself an iTouch. Another good leverage tool. I made cupcakes for his soccer team but the powdered sugar frosting was lumpy and not very attractive. So while we were at the soccer tournament DH Jeff scraped the frosting off, bought some canned stuff, and made a soccer ball out of them. Isn't he clever?
Kevin is working on his tooth pick project for school. He learned that hot glue is really hot. I know he has craft sticks here, but he is building two towers so he can make a tooth pick bridge across them.And Me? quilting, quilting, quilting...

Not An Ordinary Day

2009-10-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend I participated in my first Triathlon. I know I have been kinda secretive about it but I did not want to commit myself publicly for the obvious reason. I have never done anythig like this before. I have never been an endurance athlete I have always been a very poor runner and never cared for it. I did not even own a bike. I did however swim competitively growing up. I have not swam laps in 30 years though.
I decided to do this in June when talking mater of factly about the physical condition of triathletes. After looking up what exactly a Triathlon consisted of I said to myself "I can do this". It was tongue and cheek for a while when I said I was triathlon training, my DH would give kind of a chuckle. But I did it and not only finished, I finished 21th out of 65 women competing in the short course, 4th in my age group.

I did well in the swimming leg. I am here somewhere but you will have to find me.Transition from the swim to the bike. It takes longer than you think to to put clothes on over a wet bathing suit.
After a run I crossed the finish line! Wooo Whooo. Here I am with a friend of mine who also competed in the race, his first too.

For the Grandparents

2009-09-30T23:34:00.000-07:00

Nicole dribbling for warm up.

Eric in his dance outfit that he did not go to.
Jeff and Alea watching soccer.

Kevin being cute as always.
This is where I had lunch the other day. I was reading my art quilt book about texture saw some here.
Went for a jog at the high school the other day. The trees caught my eye.

Neon Day

2009-09-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

Today is Neon Day at the high school. I tried to tell him he hurt my eyes but he did not seem to care about my eyes.Not much action on the sewing front. Life is way too busy to carve out a little time to sew. However, yesterday the best hour of the day was when I got to sit at soccer practice under a tree and read my new book.'

I only got to page 6 and I did not look ahead. I am savoring the pictures. That's funny because I will eat a cake as fast as I can.(?).

I need a bigger wall

2009-09-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

I need a bigger wall. Here are My Cactus Patch blocks. They are fun to make and I am not tired of making them yet.Went to a Soccer Tournament in Lodi this weekend and one of the games was canceled due to lightning. A woman in the next town was hit by lightning that morning. We were sorry for all the bellyaching about calling the game after 2.5 hour drive.

Eric had a school game this week. He is doing a flippy thing to throw the ball in. That is his signature move and the ball just flies.

Productive Weekend

2009-09-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

I got to spend a lovely long weekend at home sewing. I tried my hand at those daisies i took a picture of last week. Here is my problem: I used heat and bond to stick the fabric together and when I went to sew it down the needle got all gummy and the thread kept breaking. How should I handle this problem?

I got a little frustrated so I put it away and pulled out my Scraps and Shirttails book by Bonnie K. Hunter. I really like the Virginia Bound quilt but didn't want to start on another paper piecing project quite yet. I was looking for a project to use my shirt scraps. I pre cut these strips at 2 and 3.5 inches a while ago.
I decided to start on Cactus Patch. Instead of paper piecing strings I striped pieced a 6.5 inch blocks and made 2.5 inch HST for an 18 inch block.

Pointy, Pointy.

2009-09-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

Done Done! I have finished the Geese in the Forest. BOM from Twittletails. Here is the Flickr group for the Geese in the Forest. I stitched the last of the binding last night while the kids ran wild. Not really, they were getting ready for bed. I am really happy how it turned out. I think I am really really happy that I am done with it so I can start something new. Not to mention I signed it up to go in the local quilt show Sept 19-20. It is a really big show for our small community. I take the pictures for the CD for sale and last year I took 325 photos of quilts. Any one intrested in making a trip to Sonora Ca for the show email me and I can hook you up. If you want a CD let me know that too.

Here is a closeup of the quilting. Just kinda shadow, nothing special. I thought about doing more but done is done.
Here is the happy me.

Times A Changin'

2009-09-02T20:00:00.001-07:00

High School soccer started with a game against the other HS in town. Our team are the Popsicles (ooops)...I mean the Bears. Eric did very well. There are 24 kids for both Varsity and JV so they may have to cut the JV team. That would be sad. This being my first HS game in many many years I was surprised to learn that I needed to pay 5$ to get in to see my son play. I had to go back to my car and collect coins out of the ashtray. Fortunately I had enough, Ill have to keep a fortune in small bills in my glove compartment for future games.

Guess who made dinner tonight. You are looking at them. Nicole helped Jeff make corn and bean salad and Eric made Flat Chicken Cordon Bleu, Pilaf and Green beans. He has Home Ec. (oops) I mean Foods in school. Half of the class requirement is making dinner at home. Tonight included some much needed Father/Son bonding time over a broiler pan.
Went to the post office and saw these lovely flowers. So lovely in fact that I went to the fabric store and got matching fabric

School Starts!

2009-08-25T06:09:00.001-07:00

We have been so busy around here. School started last week and here is their 1st day of school picture.
2nd grade,4th grade, 6th grade and a freshman! who would have thought.

4 Kids on 5 soccer teams, that keeps us really busy too.

I got this baby together and pinned and 1/3 quilted. Its a good thing too because I entered it into the quilt show mid Sept. Along with this one and this one.

Not Pretty

2009-08-11T07:06:00.001-07:00

Not Pretty but certainly Yummy! This cake is the first thing I made from a new cook book that a friend gave me. Gluten Free baking classics by Annalise G. Roberts

This is a lemon Layer cake with butter cream frosting. I love to bake but the problem is that I won't let it go to waste and I eat it all. I will leave it out today while I am at work and maybe the kids will eat it. DH can look at it all day and not even be tempted. Hummm something I aspire to.

Here are those pointy Geese. I am liking them better and better. I think I am going for shock factor in the quilt show. The application deadline is the end of the month so I better get going.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

2009-08-08T20:30:00.001-07:00

This week we took a little trip to Santa Cruz. Fun was had by all. Just a little nippy on the beach.

The rides are always a good time.
These boys think they are cool. Well I guess they are.

Healthy Cupcakes?

2009-08-01T08:08:00.001-07:00

I made these grain free, sugar free coconut cupcakes. They are surprisingly delicious. I found the recipe here at a great blog.

Another Kid Filled Weekend

2009-07-28T06:17:00.001-07:00

First an apology to my 7yo Alea. I mistakenly said on the last post that she did not practice the piano. I was wrong. She does practice in a drive by style. She will walk by the piano and shoot out her rendition of "Old MacDonald has a Song" then be on her way. Last night the girls organized a piano recital. There were invitations and posters decorating the refrigerator and chairs put out for the audience. Even an intermission. My 11yo Nicole held a flashlight as a spotlight on the performance. One DD organized and one DD performed. I can see how this is going to play out.

We had a Sunday afternoon trip to Pine Crest Lake. There were a lot of people, but I knew there would be. We had to circle the parking areas 3 times to find a parking spot before we found a guy loading up to leave. I blocked traffic for a while but hey, where were they going to go anyway? DS and I swam a few laps to the buoys and back the water was great and refreshing!I thought this was a cool tree. Probably sick or something standing all by its self.

There was a Craft Faire in Twain Harte this weekend. We had to go and see what was there, and who was there. My kids can't believe how many people I know. But really, our community is quite small. We joke about not running out for a quick trip in your PJs because you will run into 3 or 4 people you know.
I saw Betsy and Doreen from our Guild selling raffle tickets for the opportunity quilt.
A quick game of miniature golf and we were on our way.
I have those Geese arranged in a way I like them. Now all I need is a chance to sew them together.

We're on fire. There is a fire burning in the Stanislaus National Forest about 15 miles from our community. Yesterday is was estimated 650 acres were burned and the fire is expected to last about a week. There is a lot of smoke in the air and lots of people with respiratory disorders. But, I did get a shot of the sun rising through the smoke. Very dramatic and very orange.

Big Enough?

2009-07-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

I have been diligently working on freezer paper piecing these blocks for the past few months and kinda on a power piecing binge for the last few weeks. This morning I put them on my design wall (nice to have one). I found that these blocks make me a little anxious. All those points! Here are 56 of the 80 blocks that I have done. I think I am done making blocks.I feel that I am cheating by quitting early but, I guess it's my quilt. My next step will be arranging the blocks in a an appealing manor. I hope I can continue this one through to the end. Calming suggestions appreciated.

New Favorite Place

2009-07-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went on an adventure. Being local to a wonderful mountain community that has a variety of wilderness activities I decided to take advantage. We embarked on a trip to a place that I have heard a lot about. A place called God's Bath on the Clavey River. I asked several people how to get there with those directions being pretty vague, when I googled God's Bath I got a horror story of a woman leading a home school group there. After overcoming that obstacle my friend gave us a website that had specific instructions.

We set off. After a 22 mile drive and about a half mile of rock hopping we arrived. We found a fabulous swimming hole.I hiked in and carried my camera only to arrive and find my battery was dead. There was a lady there that let me put my memory card in her camera and she took a few pictures. The rest of the kids were down the river swimming. Here Alea is looking up at a 40 foot cliff with someone waiting to jump off into this little pool.

We Have A Winner!

2009-07-18T06:40:00.001-07:00

We have a winner! The kids were so excited about pulling the winning ticket. If you remember they were selling raffle tickets for Double Delight to raise money for camp. Kevin got to pull and Nicole got to read the winners name. The Drum Roll please..... Ms. Terrie Miller is the winner! Congratulations Terrie. Yes, I was sure to put tickets in the drawing for everyone of my blog friends that bought them. Thank you all for supporting us.

On a different note our summer has been busy.

Kevin has been taking Guitar lessons. His teacher said he was an expert beginner. Alea has been taking piano lessons too. I cant get a picture of her practicing because she doesn't do it.
My bucket garden is coming along nicely. Will cucumbers ruin the roof?

I think I will have a tomato salad today.

Still making those Geese. 28 more to go.

Here are some on the blocks. If you turn your head sideways you can see them better. I tried to upload this picture twice, it wants to be sideways.

I have been sewing.

2009-07-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

I have been sewing. I have finished a few blocks for the Twittletails BOM, Geese in the Forest. These take about 20-25 minutes each. they are slow going but are worth it.

This one is block 6, the last one but I only have about half done. I was hoping to finish this one and get it into the local quilt show in September. We'll see.

I made Bonnie Hunter's Quiltmaker Mystery Blocks.

I had to join a different gym because my old one closed. It is a bit more expensive but I think it will be worth it. I am training for something special. I made a little purse to carry my Ipod.

4th of July

2009-07-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

We celebrated at my Mom's house in Fresno where it is legal to shoot off fire works.

I think we are raising a bunch of pyro maniacs.
Fun was had by all. No injuries to report.
Just a bunch of explaining why I was not going back to the fireworks stand to waste more money.
Oh yea, I got a pedicure.

Give Away

2009-07-01T07:18:00.001-07:00

Here is a wonderful Give Away from Quilt Qua. These fabrics will look great in Christmas Lights.

Quilt Raffle

2009-06-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

My children are trying to raise money to go to Hume Lake Christian Camp this summer. I have told them they have to raise half of the money. My Darling Daughter came up with the idea last year and expects that each year there will be a quilt raffle for their half. Well we will try it again. She asked me to post it on my blog to reach more people so here goes.

Win this home made and crafted quilt. Made this year as a mystery quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com. The quilt measures 76''X90''. It has large meander quilting with a flannel backing.

The donation price for tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. I know this is more than you normally spend for a raffle ticket but I only intend to sell 100 tickets so your chances of winning are good. If you would like tickets please email me and I will let you know what to do from there. Legally, no purchase is necessary to be entered.

Summer is a busy time.

2009-06-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

The fair is here in Tuolumne County. Kevin is the cow.

Whirling fun Nicole.

Swing ready.

The oldest is here somewhere running around with his friends. I thought I would not embarrass him by chasing them around with a camera.

Happy Birthday Kevin

2009-06-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

How many birthday cakes does one 9 year old need? The answer this year is 3. While on Vacation with the family he shared one with his 7yo cousin Lucas.

While visiting my Dad and Step mom he got another with a pizza party.

When we got home He got to choose his favorite dinner (spaghetti and meat balls) and Fun Fetti cake.

Oh wait! the answer is 4. He is having a birthday party with friends this weekend at the community pool. You all are invited.

On our vacation to Door County Wis. we visited family and here they are. We had a great time.

This is us.

Mystery.

2009-06-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

O.K. I give. I can't resist a Bonnie Hunter Mystery. I have to throw my hat in and do it too. Christmas Lights in Quiltmaker Magazine. Here are my fabric selections inspired by these photos from Jacquie at TallGrass Prairie Studio.
The girls had a friend over and had a tea party. I was very impressed with my 11yo's initiative. She found an espresso set to have tea in. She set the table, set fruit out and had "tea" which was water and flavored stevia. I love having a friend over that includes the younger ones in the games.