it's official...

I hate Thangles. I have yet to get an accurate hst with these stupid things. Fortunately I took a class from Sally Schneider and have a gizmo. I can still use the 2.5 inch strips to make 2 inch hst with the gizmo. There's more than one way to make hst!!

a scene challenge

So, the challenge for the Timeless Treasures guild that meets four times a year was to do a scene. To most people that means a landscape. I know there are lots of people that like them but I think most of them are sort of boring unless they're way over the top and super detailed. I'm not going to do an ordinary or over the top landscape. A scene can also be a still life or a portrait. I decided to do a still life.







I kinda like the way this one turned out. I really like the little spot of sparkle. It's a freebie fake diamond tennis bracelet and a small pin the pin part broke off of. I hand sewed it on with invisible thread. That was a pain.









Don't you just love the way the lampshade turned out? Does it look crooked to you?

new quilt start!

This is the first applique block I have finished from the "My Secret Garden" quilt. I got most of the pieced blocks done at the retreat last weekend. There are some blocks that are both pieced and appliqued and some that are only one or the other.

August wall hanging

Finally! I stopped working on this series last July when we moved. I finally got back to work on it and finished August.

No name comes to mind immediately for this one though. All the others seem to have a built in name but this one doesn't.

I'm open to suggestions.

Train! Train!

The train is the Cumbres-Toltec that runs from Antonito Colorado to Chama New Mexico. It's a coal fired, narrow gauge steam engine. Bill and me at Antonito before we got on the train. We took the trip that runs to Osier and back to Antonito. That's still a good day's ride. It took from 10am until 4:30pm.

There were several stunning views like this one.

Christin taking a picture of herself and grampa.

She's comin' round the bend!

We came out of a tunnel and BAM!! heart stopping canyon views!! 750 feet to the bottom!!

88 blocks!

I got 88 square in a square blocks done saturday. I used a new tool called a prep tool.

I used it to trim off the triangles so they matched up with the squares. I think the blocks still need squared up though.

This is my most favorite block. No two blocks are the same. These quilts really give me the opportunity to use up scraps and make all sorts of interesting fabric combinations.

progress!!

It feels so good to finally make real progress on things!! Even though the Carpenter's Wheel is in the list of things that are done the binding wasn't put on it yet and I got that done yesterday. I'm not in a huge hurry to get it done so I'll finish the binding next week when I go for the guild meeting. That way I don't have to drag the machine with me to sew for 3 or 4 hours.

I also got the top of the Midnight at the Oasis quilt done yesterday!! That's real progress! I got one corner on the wrong direction so I'll have to take that off and turn it around but that's a 15 minute fix. It's going to be a totally stunning quilt. I'm thinking because it's a very straight design that it needs feathers in the quilting. I should have taken a pic of it yesterday but I didn't think about it.

I think next up will be the butterfly kisses BOM in the original fabrics and two of the square in a square quilts. My husband's neice said she likes darker colors. The butterfly kisses original is darker colors. I didn't actually care much for the original fabrics but I loved the pattern so I went ahead and bought it. I had started a square in square for the great neice but she's just barely 3 so there wasn't a huge hurry and then she had a baby sister. If I'm going to make two of them I might as well go ahead and do them both at the same time so I've started cutting for the second one. When I get the blocks sewn I'll mix the blocks with the first set so they'll each get an even bigger variety of fabrics in their quilts. Mom and dad and 2 daughters will all have a quilt at the same time that way and I'll get rid of one I'm not all that crazy about. Works for me!!