A Nine Patch Mystery

I wish I'd taken more pictures of this little quilt before I donated it. I didn't like it very much at the time, but now that it's gone, I'm liking it much better!

I was inspired by a book I saw at Border's. A full-sized quilt that looked very much like this one was on the cover. I thought about the book for a couple of days, went back to purchase it, but it was gone. I didn't even get the author's name or the name of the book! So here is my attempt at reproducing her quilt from memory:

My apologies for not being able to give credit to the wonderful person who designed this quilt! I like the pattern; I think I just fell out of love with the quilt during the making because I'm not used to staring at these intense colors. My eyes needed a vacation before I could appreciate it again.

Does this quilt ring a bell with anyone? Remind you of any quilt books you have?

I'm in a crafting lull right now. I think it's Post-Wonderful Vacation Syndrome. You know how it is...you go on vacation and it's really really great, then you come home and have to do this re-entry into your life. There are bills to pay, messages to answer, groceries to shop for, pattern orders to fill--it takes me at least three weeks to get back into some sort of routine. Unfortunately, I feel like my brain is moving too fast to sit down and quietly sew pieces of fabric together, or work string into doilies, or knit yarn into socks.

Oh...and part of the life re-entry is to get sick, too. You have to have the re-entry flu--you know the one you actually contracted at the first airport before you even got on the departing plane--but refused to get sick on vacation? Yeah, that one. Fortunately, I'm over that one, but now I'm onto the second illness--the cold I got from being so busy and not sleeping and eating right when I got home because I was too busy catching up and suffering from the first flu. Yeah, that one.

I think, all in all, vacation recovery time for me is about three months. But since Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are in that three month period...I'd say...oh...I should be feeling caught up and healthy around February? Yeah, February. Looking forward to it.

It's been quite stormy lately here on Kauai. This past Saturday, my friends braved the weather and came to my house for a day of sewing. We chatted through the heavy rain, thunder and lightning--even through the power outage we had during the storm. But alas, by early afternoon, there was talk of closing our road due to flooding, so my friends high-tailed it out of Kapaa and headed for their homes on the south and west sides of the island. This news report shows what happened on our street that day.

Our north and east shores got 14 inches of rain in 12 hours that day. The amazing thing? When my friends got home, they reported that the sun was shining where they live, probably only 10 to 15 miles away! The skies cleared by Monday, and today, we are enjoying sunshine as usual.

Lightning Storm on its Way!

It's 9:52 on Thursday night and I'm just about to turn off my computer and enjoy our first lightning and thunderstorm of the season. See those little yellow and red dots between Kauai (second island on the left) and Oahu? On the radar loop, they're coming this way, bringing lots of light and noise.

Oh, how I LOVE thunder and lightning! So much drama...so much power! It's just thrilling to me. Of course, our electricity will go the first thing, so I better turn off my computer so I don't get any unwanted surges. Yay!

Nitey!

Slightly Better than No Post at All

Have you noticed that there is a dearth of bloggery in Blogdom lately? I think I'm noticing it because I'm missing some of you and your wonderful daily posts. Perhaps it's Facebook to blame...or Twitter...or just our busy lives catching up with us; I'm not sure.

But I can hardly complain, can I, as I myself have been responsible for a portion of the dearth! I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. So I thought I'd better post something...anything...so...

How about pictures of my pretty Rainbow Shower tree?

This was taken about a month ago. August and September are the months that these trees go off all over the island. They're gorgeous!

Look at all those blooms! And they aren't small blooms, either:

There is my hand on just one of the giant brachts. There are pink shower trees, yellow shower trees, and a mix of pink, peach and yellow like mine. I just love my tree. Now that it's fall, there are only a few blooms left.

One of the reasons I haven't been blogging much is this:

I'm learning to use my new machine. Here, I'm trying my first pantograph on a couple of baby donation quilts I made. All I have to do is follow that black line with the red laser light on the machine.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hee hee hoo hoo. Follow the line...whoo hoo! It SOUNDS easy, doesn't it? NOT!

Oh well, they didn't come out too badly when you don't look closely. These were my first two pantos--I've done six baby quilts now, and I think I'm getting better. I had to learn to slow down, believe it or not...I was trying to quilt too fast! The problem was that my old machine-on-a-stick went very fast and it trained me to go like a bat out of...well, you know...just to get my stitching even. My new Gammill has a stitch regulator, so I can go any speed I want and there will be even stitches. But my brain doesn't quite know that yet. The machine goes on and I feel like I'm a horse out of a starting gate. Zoom!

Well, if they ever give awards for speed quilting, bet on me. Accuracy? Not so much.

Not too bad, now that they're all bound and donated.

So that's what I've been working on lately. Pretty snore-y, huh?

My wonderful son had his birthday recently. Here is a really sweet picture of him and Mr. Bigglesworth, taken when he was home for the summer:

I can just tell by the way he treats his little cat brother that he's going to be a great father one day.

Feather Challenged

Remember these blocks? The ones you've been staring at on my neglected blog for over a month?
At long last, I bring you....closure. Or should I say "clothes"-ure?

The "Better than Laundry" quilt is done. Here it is on my bed:

I lost track of how many shirts, dresses and skirts I used to make this quilt. I even used a pair of men's pajamas! I had a ball.

While my son was home for summer, we watched the "Twin Peaks" series from Netflix. I think that's how this quilt ended up so "mountain-cabin-in-Snowhomish" looking. I certainly doesn't look like it belongs in Kauai, but that's okay. Change is fun.

The only fabric I purchased was for the black border. The rest of this quilt was made from my last-chance stash (destined for rag rugs) and old clothing.

I had fun with the quilting. Sunbursts, spirals, leaves, flames, feathers...yikes.

I'm okay with leaves and swirls, but feathers defeat me. This quilt is an oversized KING comforter (!), so I thought I would tackle feathers on the gigantic black border with black fine thread. I thought by the time I feathered FOUR large, wide borders, I'd be great at feathers!

Nope. I guess my next few quilts will have to stay plucked for now.

Can you see the feathers in the black border below? No? Good.

Okay...how about this...can you spot the fur in the next picture?

Mr. Bigglesworth inspects my latest. Oh...and as long as we're playing "I Spy"....did you spot my new quilt hanger?

It's quite big for a quilt hanger, yes?

Yep...I'm surprised, too. My husband bought me this for my 51st birthday. I told him that my friend Joe was selling his Gammill, and the next thing you know, the Gammill was parked in our living room. Well...not exactly "the next thing you know." It required six people and a twelve-foot trailer, plus lots of noises like, "oof" and "ow," not to mention some major bruises and back pain.

I'm floored. For as long as I can remember, I've dreamed about owning one of these machines. I can hardly believe it when I see it in my very own sewing room. Pinch me.

Better Than Laundry

I present here for your viewing pleasure....today's laundry.

There are several shirts and dresses in here, along with some pieces of fabric I dug out of my fabric recycle bin. My "fabric recycle bin" is where fabrics go that I haven't used in ten to twenty years--my fabric graveyard.

I had to soak a few of these pieces in Biz to get the yellow and mold spots out. I guess you could call some of these "zombie" fabrics since they arose from the dead...ha! (You can tell my son is home for the summer. I've watched more than a few zombie films since we put him in charge of the Netflix queue.)

Yep...just a big pile of laundry. But wait!

What is far, far better than folding laundry???

Making a quilt is far, far, far better than folding laundry!

This dress was always too short. Unflattering, too.

It looks so much better as a quilt, don't you think?

So far, I've incorporated six old shirts and two dresses, along with various fabric zombies to make it interesting. I'm having so much fun! This is, by far, my favorite kind of quilt.

Stay tuned. More blocks and sashing to follow....

Update: I'm still waiting for an appointment with a gastroenterologist, so I don't know anything much yet. (I stumped the G.P.) But my lab blood tests were incredibly excellent! So that's good news. Trouble is, we only have one gastroenterologist on the whole island, so I think there's a bit of a wait to see him. Meanwhile, I'm off grains, dairy, starchy vegetables, sugar, and chocolate. Yes, chocolate. If I eat chocolate, my eyes swell shut and I get big itchy lumps all over my head. It would be really quite funny if we weren't talking about CHOCOLATE...which happens to be my FAVORITE THING in the WHOLE WORLD. Sigh....

A Quickie Post

May was spectacularly busy for my family and I. I hope June eases up a bit! It's been Crazyville.

I haven't had much time for crafting, but I did want to pop in and say hello.

I finished a scarf:

This is the "Spring Ripple Scarf," and it's crocheted with Noro Sock Yarn. Sure is colorful, eh? Springy. I'm not exactly sure if I'll ever wear it...actually...with those colors, I think it would wear me. But working on it was fun and it looks pretty hanging in my closet.

We picked up Grayson and Angela from the airport on May 9th, and it sure has been great having them around. One of the first things Angela said to me (I think we were still at the airport!) was that she wanted to learn how to knit.

YESSSSSS!

That made me VERY happy, of course. So here she is with her first project, the "One Row Handspun Scarf." She's finished quite a bit more of it since this picture:

I think she likes knitting! Yay!

I had a day to do a little sewing:

I made four summer lightweight cotton elastic waist skirts. I absolutely lived in the two I made last summer, so I added to my summer collection. Easy as pie, washable, cool...they're great, even if they are a little dorky grandma farm-woman-looking. I love them.

These farm lady skirts will probably look great with my screaming Spring scarf, eh? And maybe some galoshes. Totally dig the crazy ol' lady look. People give you wide berth at the post office.

You haven't seen Mr. Bigglesworth lately, but he sends a big kitty hug:

He loves you all as much as I do.

I am really really really so very sorry that I have not answered hardly any email lately. Besides having visitors and deadlines, I'm having some health issues that I'm researching. No, I don't think it's serious, just sort of a puzzle. Giving up gluten, sugar and dairy seemed to solve many of my mysterious issues, but some remain. For instance, I suddenly seem to be allergic and/or intolerant to so many foods and substances! It's all so strange, because I've never been allergic to anything at all before now. So I've been reading every book and visiting every website I can in search of some answers. I'll hope I'll know more after my doctor visit next week. Wish me luck!