Manzanar Trip

Not much sewing done this last weekend as we traveled south to California to drop my daughter off for a three month internship at Manzanar National Park.  Located near Death Valley in a valley between the Inyo-White mountain range and the Sierra Nevada mountain range it sure is a very picturesque spot to spend some time.  Unfortunately it marks a dark time in American history during World War II when about 10,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to Manzanar from as far away as Bainbridge, WA to spend three years there before finally being allowed to leave. 

The building behind my daughter houses a very nice museum recounting the three years the interment camp was being used during the war.  During the war, this building was used by residents as a community center and held regular dances there according to the video we watched inside. 

In this picture you can see the barracks that stood row upon row.

 

 

This map shows the layout as it was during it's use.  Today only two barracks remain and they are actually resurrected buildings as the camp was torn down after it's closure and the wood was sold off by the government. 

What a dry and arid area to have been forced to live in.  It is also very windy at Manzanar as it is so closely nestled between the two mountain ranges that the wind is pretty steady through here.

This is a monument that is erected in a cemetery area of the site. 

In 1992, Congress established Manzanar National Historic Site and entrusted the Park Service to preserve the site and its stories.  It serves as a reminder to todays generations and to future generations of the fragility of American civil liberties.  For over 10,000 people were held here behind barbed wire and armed guards with no due process and they deserve for us to know of their stories and learn from the events of this time in American history. If you would like to learn more about the Manzanar site you can go HERE. 

During my daughter's internship though the Student Conservation Association she will be doing some repair work on site and pruning and grafting trees.  She will also be there during a college Archaeological dig and be present during the annual pilgrimage to Manzanar for internees and their families wishing to visit.

The trip down there was about 950 miles from our house and while you would think I had lots of time in the truck to do some hand sewing all I got done was this.  Well this and about 20 hexagons that I didn't take a picture of.

I had the center part done but added the white embroidery stitches between the border and the center.
Hopefully, I can get this up and hanging on the wall this month as it is from the Year of Bertie blocks from 2014 and is the February block.  Seeing as how the January block has been hanging in the kitchen all year long it would love to be replaced by this beauty soon.  Hopefully it won't be a year before the March block is done but I wouldn't doubt it.  Seriously, I think I should start on the June or July block and hope it is done by this June or July. We do have another long trip to go down and bring her back up so it just might work out that I can get another one done this year.

Don't you just love the Circus Circus carpet in the above picture. Can you believe I was against staying there because I wasn't sure I could stand to see it all the time but it quickly grew on me.

Despite the limited hand sewing on the way down to California and back through Reno I seemed to have developed some rather large muscles which I attribute to the muscles used doing the minute amount of sewing I did accomplish.  Good thing I didn't over indulge!!!

Keep Stitchin'

Another Flimsy completed

Sophia's quilt top is complete. I hope to be able to complete it with the quilting by the end of February.  Why does February have to be such a short month?  I think it turned out really adorable.

I had planned on adding the heart row to the top and bottom of the quilt but to fit an even number across I ended up making them almost 7 inches high and it was just too much to add to the overall size of the quilt.  I really like the color scheme, not quite the traditional colors you would think of but I just love the royal feel with the purple and blues. It is now 42 x 51 3/4 inches.  The blocks are a set of paper piece patterns by Kristy from Quiet Play. Her patterns can be found here.



I've been a busy little bee over here and made a few bee blocks this last month to prove it. Since they belong to a secret project I can only show you one but it certainly does make you smile right?

It is a free pattern that I found at Piece By Number and I think I'll have to add it to another upcoming project that I'm still working on the design of. 



I also got block Two done for my Sew Simplicity Block of the Month. I now have three of these BOM blocks done.

Keep Stitchin'

RSC block and GO HAWKS!!!

I have decided to add another monthly block to my to do list.  I really shouldn't as I find they do put a damper on me completing or even my ability to start new projects but I love seeing everyone's Rainbow Scrappy Challenge blocks come together each month and let's face it I am beginning to feel I will never be able to quilt up all my scraps and stash in my lifetime so it's a great way to put a dent in it even if it is a small dent.

January has us using those blue scraps so I set to work sorting them all out and in the end used a few scraps from my shelf as well to be able to cohesively pull this block off.  Since the majority of my scraps are from paper piecing they are generally too small and not enough of any one color left to just use my leftovers.  But over 80 percent of the block came from my scrap bin so not a bad start.

I am choosing to do the Circle of Friends block by Katie Wells found in the May 2014 issue of American Quilter.  I have been wanting to do a Storm at Sea quilt for a while and I really like the updated look of this block and all the little pieces allow for lots of scrap choices.

I am not sure how this will play out when each color block comes together but I am willing to find out.  I know I should have used a common white background for each block and just had the center use the color for the month but that is not the most effective way to use up that month's color scraps so I am going all in with the monthly color and just switching up color values, light, medium and dark.  My favorite part of the block is the circle it creates each time so it will be fun to see each of these in the different colors each month.

In December, my friend Karen from The Recipe Bunny blog who I  joined the PMQG with gave me this set of 8 napkins and the cute little box to keep them in for my birthday since I didn't make it to the November meeting which landed on my birthday.  Along with the napkins, she gave me this awesome ale, which is not only a local Portland ale, it is great!  Loved the oatmeal flavor which is very distinct in this brew.  Thanks so much Karen!! Your gift was very appreciated and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I enjoyed the beer a few week's ago in our new Seahawk glasses and as I have been sitting here blogging about it biting my nails and rooting our team on against the Packers today on our way to Super Bowl 49, I am estatic to find that against all odds we are on our way to the Super Bowl again!!!  At least the Seahawks are, I will be on my way back from California and will be needing to find a motel room to watch the game in!!! My husband thinks we should head to Reno instead to watch the game. We will definitely be somewhere south but we will be watching loud and proud!!! GO HAWKS!!!

January Happenings

January has found me busily sewing away every chance I can sneak in a few minutes.  My most recent finish...umm new start...is the first block for Janeen's  Ocean BOM 2015 over at Quilt Art Designs.  Janeen is a crazy talented pattern designer.  I simply am not capable of resisting her patterns.  I recently downloaded Quilt Assistant and gave designing a beehive block a try and trust me it was not only, not that easy, but a total flop. While it looked ok, it did not print out alright and I will have to go back to the drawing board with that one.  I think I can learn this but it is going to take some time.

Thankfully, Janeen has mastered this skill and I enjoy tackling her blocks and look forward to the next one each month.  They take a few days, a couple hours at a stretch each time, but the outcome is always worth it.  This month's turtle block had me searching my stash for a while and I think some of my fabric picks were winners...some not so much.

While I love his head and front legs and love the batik with the purple plus signs on the edge of his shell, I wish I  had chosen different fabrics for the rest of his shell. The back leg would have been better maybe matching his front legs but then again if the fabrics had been better on his shell maybe I would like it the darker value.  I think the med green with the lines on the shell just don't work.  Maybe if it had been everywhere on his back it wouldn't be too confusing but for me his shell is just too jumbled with the fabric choices I made.  It sure would be nice if there was a way to audition the fabrics before sewing it all together.  I lay them out on the table in the general order of their construction, but in the case of the print with the lines, you just can't see the way it will play out when you cut it up and jumble it back together.

Overall, I think he will grow on me and I will be very happy with him.  While in Hawaii honeymooning, my brother and his new wife, saw lots of turtles on the beaches.  I loved all his pictures and they were all on black beaches.  I think I would like his head and front flippers if they were crawling up on a black sandy beach so there would be the needed contrast between his head and beach.  I do love the little turtles crawling on the beach in front of him in my beach fabric though.
I have this fabric in black but it has purple turtles on it...umm not sure. 

Unfortunately, I have a few too many other January things to create so I will have to put remaking this block off for a while but wouldn't be surprised if I give it another go in the near future.

I put together this block in the Sew Simplicity Series of Jacquelynne Steve's BOM.  It is block three in her series and I still need to make block two.

Lastly, I have been working on Mary's quilt top for the round robin that Bea Lee from Beaquilter has put together for us.  I get to make 10 -- 6 1/2 inch blocks to add to her top this month and have three completed and know the plan for the other seven. I will share a sneak peek of it when I get it done.
I love Mary's Bug Hut theme and it is going to be a lot of fun to add to this month.

Hope you are having fun in all your endeavors too!!!

Planning Ahead

For December, I worked on Carol's block in our round robin group.  It was challenging finding time to work on it but I just sent it on it's way to the next stop on it's journey and I am anxiously awaiting the block I'll be working on this month.  I can't be a spoiler and show you what I added until the swap is over in April but I can share a snippet.  Below is a sampling of the pieces I put together into the 6 blocks I needed to add to the block in December.  Carol's instructions were to only use fabric we already had, so I pulled these from my stash and got to work.  I am enjoying the challenge of deciding what to add each month and can't wait to see Mary's top so I can start scheming again.

 

In the meantime, like most folks I am trying to put my 2015 goals together.  Last year, I wanted to attack my UFO's with a vengeance and conquer at least half of them by participating in the Lovely Year of Finishes and although that worked great for January by February I fell off the UFO wagon.

 

This year, the Portland Modern Quilt Guild is going to have a program that involves a little friendly competition involving finishing our UFO's so hopefully I will be inspired to tackle these hanging projects thru this program.

 

I always say I am going to cut back on BOMs so I can devote myself to other endeavors, this year I am saying it again and so far it seems like I have but I am going to do a couple.

 

1.  I can't resist the Ocean BOM from Quilt Art Design that is designed by Janeen  you can find out more by following the link.  I love her message in the bottle block and this month's turtle will be a great start to a fantastic year again with her patterns.

 

2.  I will be doing the 2015 Skill builder quilt Technicolor Galaxy by Alyssa Lichner from Pile 'O Fabric

3.  I am still working on the Sew Sweet Simplicity BOM by Jacquelynne Steve's The Art of Home

4.  I am still needing to design and make the quilt I have long put off due to the lack of a plan for it,
that I am making for a family member for her graduation gift and I actually think I may have a plan I can wrap my head and heart around so I will need to get started on that soon as it about a year and a half overdue. More on my plans later when I have time to start on it---by February 1st I hope.

5.  I need to finish two baby quilts---one for a girl and one for a boy.  Both are about 50% + done and need to be done my late February and/or March at the latest.

6.  I really want this to be the year I try some Linda Hibbert patterns from Silver Linings Originals.  She has some great patterns that I would love to buy and she finally has them available individually to but so I just need to find some time.  I absolutely love her woodland animals.

7.  I want to make some pillow cushion covers for my deck chairs by summer and some pillows for
our trailer by summer, also.

Plus I am looking for just the right project for my ever growing stash of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  My awesome daughter expanded by collection for Christmas by adding all these lovelies:

They look like this with all my other Kaffe fabrics I have been collecting.  Aren't they so pretty!!!

 

 

I am eyeing a couple tempting projects for them and hope to start one soon.  I adore her choices..the purples were very much what the stash needed...all her choices reflect my love of color and I can't wait to start playing with them.   I hope you are having fun planning out your new year and all the possibilities it will hold for you.

 

Hugs and best wishes for the New Year,

Frozen Friends Finished

I got the last of the Frozen character Pillow cushion covers done this week and am excited to see the grand kids reaction when they open their presents Christmas Day.  I had the Three Elsa's done by the end of my vacation week and the purple one went home with my daughter to be gifted to my grand-daughter's cousin Mia. 

 And here's a picture of all the Elsa's together. 

  

The Elsa's were a great opportunity to play with a little FMQ on their hair and I really liked how they turned out.  I evidently put Olaf together so quickly I didn't take pictures but Sven had a little trouble.  I know I have shown my errors before but there always seem to be interest in how I fix my errors so I thought I would show you what occurred with Sven and how I fixed it.  First, a couple of pictures of the back of the Elsa fronts.

 

 

Funny how when I have all the pieces laid out for Sven, I never even saw the mistake but when I had him all sewn together it was instantly apparent. 

He isn't suppose to have that extra spike out the side of his left antler.  At first, I thought hey Brayden's only 15 month's old he will never mind but this was quickly followed by the realization that he was a reindeer and not a moose so his antlers were not okay and needed to be fixed for Sven to be a happy reindeer and yes I needed to be happy, too.

First the block needed a little unassembling.

 

 

Then I made another copy of the section I would need to fix.  The one on the block had already had the paper removed where I ironed the block when I had sewn it together so I needed to get that part of the pattern back.  I just cut off the seam allowance part and decided to just pin it over the top of the pattern below so that it was aligned in the right place like so:

 

Then I could just add the missing blue fabric to number 6 where it had accidently been skipped over before and the sewed on that line.

Then it's just a matter of flipping the pattern out of the way and trimming and ironing the fabric but into place.

Now I will just flip it back over and trim it leaving the 1/4 inch seam allowance I need.

 

Now when I sew it back together, Sven will indeed be happy with his appearance.  I will be very happy with his improved appearance, too.

 

Much Better



I just straight lined around him and trimmed him down to size and after completing 4 of these quickly had the fifth and final pillow whipped up and completed.

Here is the four of them all together.  Didn't they just finish off beautifully???

 

 

I bought them all Frozen character fuzzy blankets from Walmart to go with them and I know they will enjoy snuggling up under them and watching TV with their new pillows.  Oh yeah, best part was I found these great pillow inserts at IKEA for $5.99.  They are down pillow inserts and the 20 inch insert fits beautifully in my 18 x18 cushion covers.

 

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Conquering FEAR one quilt at a time

I have a finish to share!!!  Last week I took a few days off to complete some Christmas presents for the g-kids...I'll share them soon... and got on a roll and even finished a project for me!!!  The Portland Modern Quilt Guild had all its members working on a medallion along and I pretty much kept up all year.  Then in October, after we had completed the top we were instructed to get the top quilted and bound and bring them to the Christmas party in December to show them all off.  Sounded easy but not so for me.

I was pretty sure the only way I was getting it done was to take it to a longarmer to complete.  I hate working on a quilt on the domestic and since it is my only option, having it professionally finished seemed the smartest choice.  Then for some reason I dragged my feet and started thinking it would feel great to finish this thing all by myself...what a sense of accomplishment that would be.  Then I did the only sensible thing and hung it on a hanger in the UFO closet with plenty of company and left it there.  The week before the Christmas party, I started thinking I should take some time during my vacation to work on it....dare I try to even finish it???

Crazy, but I quilted all 72 x72 inches of this monster in the final two days before the party.  Actually the day before and day OF the party.  I spent 10 hours on Wednesday and another 5 on Thursday, the day of the party, getting this project to completion and it felt really good and really exhausting!!!  Wow, did my shoulders and arms ever feel so tired after fighting that weight thru the machine for two days.

I started by doing something different basting it this time.  Usually I struggle with it on the floor and I saw this idea on Pinterest years ago and decided to finally give it a go.  After basting the back with spray adhesive to the batting I took the top and wrapped in around a clean 2x2 piece of wood.  I started by taping it to the length of the 2x2 with blue painters tape and just wound it around the wood until it was all on it.

Then, I was able to just pin baste it on the table, which was much better than the usual strain on the back and knees on the floor routine.  It was also great to only spray the adhesive on the 10 inches ahead of the section I had just finished and just roll out the quilt onto it each time.  This really revolutionized this part of the process for me...Yeah!! 

A few weeks before the Christmas party, Alyssa Lichner from Pile 'o Fabric presented her 2015 Skillbuilder BOM quilt, Technicolor Galaxy.  You can check it out by clicking on the link if you haven't seen it already, and I was thinking it really would be a fabulous quilt but I wasn't sure if I would want to change up the colors or how I would attack doing that plus did I have the time to commit to it???  Then on December 6th, just when I needed to hear this message the most, she posted talking about the Purpose of Skillbuilding you may want to check it out.  She reiterated that the learning is done thru doing , doing, doing.  Essentially the old practice makes perfect speech we all know so well. Problem is she was right about what stops us from delving forward into the doing, doing, doing, at least for me, and that is the fear.  She says fear will hault your learning and for me that certainly rings true.  I don't finish quilts because my FEAR holds me back.  I feel I have spent all these many hours creating a really beautiful and unique quilt top and I don't want to ruin it's perfection with my free motion quilting skills.  My fear paralyzes me from even attempting to do the next steps to finish the quilt.  I have spent a little time lately getting more comfortable with my walking foot but even then, I could do it more and do and do and do until I am more proficient and certainly not scared of doing it, but I rarely do.  How am I to acquire the necessary skills if I am too afraid of failure to try?

Therefore, two things went through my mind when I read and saw my fear head on in her post.  I was going to finish this quilt and I was going to finish my other UFO's in 2015!!!  Alyssa was so right in pointing out that to grow and succeed I needed to challenge myself to do it!!!  If I didn't try new things I would never realize my potential.  I needed to take her advice and approach this craft with NO FEAR!!!  So I used that as my mantra...no fear...no fear...no fear!!!  Although I felt completely vulnerable taking the quilt top little ol' me had fmq'd to the PMQG Christmas party and hanging it up for all to see, I did it and can you believe I didn't hear one person gasp or belittle my skills.  By the way, thank you for that...seriously :) to all the PMQG members!!! I can chuckle about it now but it is scary putting it out there for such a group to see.

Despite the fact that 75 to 80 percent of the medallions that were finished in time for the Christmas party were probably longarmed and the fact that I felt completely out of my element hanging up my very amateurish in not juvenile skilled fmq'd quilt at the meeting/party,  I am going to  stay strong and fearless and committed to learning this craft.  I kept telling myself, Angela Walters would be proud of me...be fearless... and you know what 15 hours later I had a completed top and it felt amazing!!!


Oh and guess what... that Alyssa Lichner--Pile O' Fabric--2015 Skillbuilder quilt, Technicolor Galaxy, well the PMQG took advantage of a group discount program Alyssa threw our way and a large group of us are all doing it next year together!!!  Talk about Kismet...only fitting I give it a go.
I hope I can stay fearless and motivated in 2015 because I need to grow and succeed in this manner if I am ever going to become the quilter I know I have living in me somewhere.  Just one more reason to say...
Keep Stitchin'