Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I Promised You a Nightmare!



So, I'm glad this happened to me and not one of my students. Luckily they all had fabulous taste and their sunflowers came out beautiful. Me, on the other hand, no so. First let me tell you that the sunflower is constructed upside down on paper, so you don't know what it will look like until it's done. OK, now I've given you the only excuse I can come up with. I'm posting a before (nightmare) and after (slightly less nightmarish) picture for your ?enjoyment? I replaced the center, added an additional ring in the center to tone down the bright blue, changed out one side of the stem, and replaced three petals. Tomorrow I'll post a few more pics from Saturday's class, along with my newest polka-dot sunflower.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

More Fabulous Shining Sunflowers





On Saturday I taught the Shining Sunflower quilt class at my local quilt shop. It was a great day. I think everyone really enjoyed the class and each and every student left with a completed sunflower. Now they just need to add borders and quilt as desired. I'm posting pics of some of the finished sunflowers for you to admire. Stay tuned for my next post. I'll be showing the most UGLY sunflower ever made. And yes, I confess, it was made by yours truly. But, I was able to perform a bit of surgery on it so I'll show you the UGLY before pic and they NOT QUITE AS UGLY pic. Until then, have a great night!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A Sneak Peak


How has your week been? The weather in Northern California has been fantastic; although rain is forecast for later this week, today's temp was 69 degrees with the same forecast for tomorrow. Yeah! So, I should be working on my UFO's. Really! But it's so much fun to start something new. So, I decided it would be okay to start something new as long as it was small. Here's a sneak peak on how it's coming. I was making good progress until I sewed my thumb - no really, I got my thumb under the foot and directly in the path of the needle, so that's it for me tonight. Take care and have a good evening.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Travel Advice Needed

Help! I'm planning a trip for the end of December through the beginning of January and need some suggestions. First. The trip will be international (outside the US). Second, we like warmer climates. Third, we like to get out, explore the country, drive, hike, bike, whatever it takes to experience the culture. I have spent time looking at places such as Thailand, Chile, Costa Rica and just can't decide on a destination. Can any of you offer any suggestions? My hubby and I are looking for something other than sitting by a pool. Please leave me your suggestions!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Two Milestones











This has been a significant week in the lives of my boys. On Friday, my youngest (in the beanie, looking ever so happy) moved out and into a house with his brother and two other roommates. Yesterday, my oldest (and new roommate to my youngest) turned 21. We celebrated at the Sierra Nevada Brewery where he ordered the "sampler," 2 oz shot glasses of 16 different Sierra Nevada beers. No, he didn't drink them all. Luckily he's a good college student and had classes today so he didn't over indulge. The house sounds strangely quiet as my hubby and I adjust to being empty-nesters. And how was your week?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

A Giveaway!


Kerri at Lovely Little Handmades is having a 100th post giveaway. Check out her post here and enter to win. Kerri also has a great Etsy shop where she sells fabulous fabrics, including some adorable Japanese prints. Good luck and be sure to check out her Etsy shop!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A Big Improvement


Do you have trouble with detailed work? I have monovision contacts (one eye is fit with a distance lens and the other eye is fit with a near lens, supposedly providing clear vision for both distance vision and near) but still have trouble with detailed machine quilting work. So, I was quite excited when I ran across the Gammill magnifier. It has an 181/2" flexible neck with a clamp and it was easy to attach to my domestic machine (a Juki). I just clamped it to the handle and adjusted the neck to get the magnifier in position. I thought it would take some time to adjust to and it did - about 2 seconds! I love it!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Babycakes!





Yumm. Tonight I took a class called "Crazy for Cupcakes," put on by a local bakery called Babycakes that specializes in cupcakes. There were a total of 7 students. We learned the recipes for, and then made, both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. Then, the owner brought out Italian butter cream frosting, chocolate butter cream frosting, and toppings and we frosted/topped our cupcakes. Each of us took home a dozen cupcakes; 6 of each type. Since I'm watching what I eat, I plan on taking my cupcakes in to work tomorrow to share with my coworkers. I've already signed up for the next class called "Top that Cupcake." In that class, I'll learn the recipes for the frosting and will learn to pipe the frosting onto more cupcakes. YUMM!