It's been a YEAR!

I can't believe that a whole year has passed without me posting. Don't know how I let that slip by. I have been busy with sewing, camping in the summer, a little bit of traveling and of course, still working. Just 7 more weeks of school this year and then next year will be my last! That will be 32 years in Selah plus 3 years in Oregon. It will be time. I will probably miss the kids but not the politics and new evaluation system that is being mandated...

Enough of that - now about sewing! I'm just going to toss some pictures in here with brief explanations...

Patriotic Pinwheels - small hanging. 

Cherry Jubilee, Two. I had enough fabric and love the red and black so I made a second one to keep. (see previous post about the first one...donated to an auction.)

Stainglass Window. Saw this design online someplace and drafted it out. Just used jewel-tone Kona solids. It is a lap-size quilt. Quilted it with just straight lines but they really weren't straight so I've been taking out the quilting and will redo it with my new toy (see below!)

Patriotic Twister - I was in a real red, white, blue mode for a while. Table topper or small hanging size.

I was in the process of making a bunch of these bags when I broke my last serger needle - and then the next day (Jan 28, 2014) I stubbed my toe on a table in my library and ended up breaking my humerous (not funny!) right at the top of the arm! That sure put me off sewing for 6 weeks or more. Arm is doing well though I'm still going to PT. Oh, of course, it was my right arm!

Have you noticed I'm not afraid of color? I found some of these log cabins tucked away so decided to finish it. Had to remake some of them as the design revealed itself. Had the top all pieced when I discovered some of the blocks were not going the correct direction so had to cixi them. This is currently on load to our local library along with my Row Robin. 

This is my most recent top - it's about 30x36 at this point. I'm calling it Jewel Blocks. The pattern, Exploding Blocks,  came from Missouri Star Quilt Co tutorial on YouTube. I just love Jenny Doan! I'm waiting for my circle templates to come as I'm planning on doing concentric circles in the center blocks and the 4 patch blocks.

Babylock Tiara

My BIG purchase was a new sit-down quilting machine - a Babylock Tiara. You might remember that I have a mid-arm frame and machine, but I took it down because it took up so much space in my small room and I find I am a 'move the fabric' quilter rather than a 'move the machine' quilter. I bought it at Sewing Expo in early March and it was delivered on April 5. I'm still learning to use it but it will be nice to have a larger space rather than my domestic sewing machine to quilt. One of the cool, new things is using rulers. These are not normal rulers but rather thick rulers (1/4 inch) that won't slide under the hopping foot. I have a couple of straight ones, one that does clam shells and am waiting for my set of circles. I was able to get TruStitch, which is a stitch regulator and very helpful.

At Sewing Expo.

All set up at home. Babylock has a promotion to get it with a Koala cabinet so I now have this beautiful piece of furniture in my sewing room. Had to do some severe cleaning and sorting and rearranging to make space for it!

Weird plant:

I put a chrysanthemum in a large barrel last year and it grew to an enormous size, but it bloomed on only half of the plant!

This picture helps to explain: The non flowering part never got complete darkness...it was lit up by the yard light. Interesting!

 New flooring

Last fall we decided that 26 years of unfinished floor in the living room was too long and took the plunge and put in new flooring. It is laminate in a cherry finish that we got at Costco. We don't have the landing and stairs done yet as my broken arm sort of got in the way. I should be able to finish it this summer. (Yes, DH could do it, but I found there were less problems when I did it...he does do the cutting of the boards, though!)

I guess that pretty much catches you up...though I just realized that there are some projects missing - probably because I haven't taken pictures of them.