It's a dog's life!

Harry

Halloween

Yes, I know it's November 6th, but better late than never...

We made a quick trip to the Pumpkin Patch for pumpkins.

Nathan thought he should get this ginormous thing to carve.

I did have him talked into this slightly more reasonably sized pumpkin, but it had some bug problems.

He finally settled on this larger-than-usual-for-him beauty.

And yes, he wanted to photograph all the goop inside his pumpkin.

That's me, the official Pumpkin Goop Cleaner Outer.

The finished pumpkins

I was fortunate that Nathan chose a simple costume this year. No pattern. No ridiculous fabric fluff. Very little sewing.
Mario only needed to have some big yellow buttons glued onto a pair of thrifted overalls and a cool hat made of fleece. I followed this tutorial, but increased the measurements to fit his head.

beebolt block

If you've read just about anyone's recap post from The Sewing Summit, you know that we each received a swag bag filled with some great stuff. Included in our swag bag was a small pack of fabric squares from beebolt.com. Each attendee was asked to use these little squares to make a quilt block. The blocks will be collected by Kate at beebolt and made into a quilt which will be auctioned off at The Sewing Summit 2012. The proceeds from the quilt auction will go to Project Linus.



I had to play around with the squares and look at quite a few block ideas before I made up my mind. I didn't want anything too complicated, so I decided on a Shoofly block. It was pretty easy to put together (except for the piece I put in backwards) and I'm happy with how it came out.

I can't wait to see the finished quilt at TSS next year!

From My Garden

Evidently my garden doesn't realize that November is quickly approaching.

Or that I stopped watering it a few weeks ago.

I went out yesterday to start clearing out the debris from the summer garden and this is what I found....

a dozen or so little eggplant

a few "Early Girl" tomatoes

tons of yellow blooms on the Grape Tomato plants

There are some benefits to living in this warm California climate.

Finished: The Nikki Tote

There were so many great bags being made by people attending The Sewing Summit, that I wanted to make one too. I needed a bag to function as both a tote and handbag. I decided on the Nikki Tote by Michelle of Paisley Pear Quilts.

The pattern is easy to follow, with simple instructions. The bag was more than big enough for all my regular handbag stuff plus a few extra travel necessities. I wish I had added a closure to the top though. (My bag fell over when I was getting out of a car and my phone fell out.) Overall, I'm very happy with how this came out.

The Sewing Summit - Recap

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend The Sewing Summit in Salt Lake City. It was an amazing, inspiring, fabulous, exhausting weekend. We packed a lot of activity into a very short time.

I started out the weekend with great intentions of documenting my experiences. I started during breakfast on Friday. I met Melissa and Ali for waffles and frites at Bruge's.

Bruge's Waffles & Frites
It's a tiny place, where we sat outside to eat, shivering just a little!

Vanilla liege waffle with creme fraiche and peaches.
(Just look at that scoop of cream!)

Frites!
And since they served fries too, we had to have some with aioli and andalouse sauce.
(BTW, I was on vacation, so all food was calorie free!)

Now comes the funny part......I was having such a wonderful time that I apparently forgot to take pictures!

I only took 3 photos with people in them. And one of those was taken in a dark restaurant and isn't really viewable.

(Sorry to catch you with your mouth open Dana!)
Dana and I have been online friends for over 4 years and I jumped at the chance to meet her in real life. She is just as amazing in real life!

The amazing organizers of The Sewing Summit - Erin and Amy!
I cannot say enough good things about these wonderful gals. They did an incredible job of organizing this event. I know we're all looking forward to doing it again next year!

And now we get to the architecutal part of the post. I did manage to take some nice photos of some well known buildings around Salt Lake City.

Cathedral of The Madeleine

Mormon Temple

Salt Lake City & County building

The view from our balcony at The Little America Hotel
If you travel to Salt Lake City, I highly recommend this hotel. The accommodations were luxurious and the staff was very helpful and friendly.

So, now I'm home and nearly finished unpacking. My husband and son kept the house in reasonable shape while I was away. I only have one load of laundry left to do. And so much inspiration in my head that I have to get to sewing. SOON!

A Girly Tote

For my niece........

She picked out the fabrics herself. A little Nicey Jane from Heather Bailey and a bright polka dot that I can't remember the name of. The tote is reversible with the inside having the dots on the top and the print on the bottom. I also made 2 fluffy flowers with a jewel button center. It turned out pretty well and I think my niece will get a lot of use out of it.

Home Improvement

We've been working on a few smallish projects here and there around our property. Evidently, we needed an outdoor kitchen too.

And not just any outdoor kitchen.....

...it has a Traeger Wood Pellet Grill, a fridge and a nice bar for visiting with the grill master.

It's the end of the BBQ buying season, so we got a great deal on this set up. Luckily, the weather here lets us grill/BBQ nearly year round.

My first attempt at Beer Can Chicken was interesting. Nathan was pretty freaked out when he saw these two hanging out on the grill!


The chickens came out beautifully. The meat was very moist and tasty.

Hubby did a smoked Brisket last weekend and it was SO good. We'll definitely be doing that again.

My first pillow

Several weeks ago, my Mom gave me a tee shirt that she purchased in Japan many years ago and asked if I could do anything with it.

I thought the graphic on it would be nice as the center of a pillow. This is what I came up with:

I added interfacing to the tee shirt to limit stretching, then fussy cut the part of the shirt that I wanted. I added quilter's linen in pink for the inner border. The outer border is called "Tweedy", but I can't remember who makes it. I forgot to take a photo of the back. The back is more Tweedy, with an edge of the pink quilter's linen along the overlapping closure.

My Mom loves the pillow and it goes very well with her black and white decor.

Harry's Camping Adventure

Last week, we took Harry on his first family camping trip.

He had a ball!

Camper Harry, staying warm in his camo/fleece jacket.

Boating Harry, relaxing on the boat and....

....feeling the wind in his fur.

Swimming in the cool lake water.

And enjoying some spicy chicken noodles. (Look at that tongue hanging out!)

Really enjoying those noodles.

He is one funny little dog!

Vintage Squares Quilt

I have no idea why this photo came out so wonky! I even took the photo twice, trying to get it straight. Oh well, the quilt is actually straight. I hope the doesn't mean that my back porch is crooked!


A few years ago (yes, years), I received a bunch of 6" squares cut from vintage sheets and fabrics. I came across them recently while trying to sort out my sewing room and decided to just put them all together to see how they looked. I'm very happy with the end result. It's a little like an I Spy quilt. I see something different every time I look at it. I'm keeping this one for myself and have even been sleeping with the ceiling fan on so that I can use my quilt!

This photo is a little better. That's me behind the quilt, showing it off during show and tell at our guild meeting.

Finished! Easy As Pie Quilt

I'm slowly working through my pile of UFO's, and actually making some progress.

At the beginning of July, I finished this quilt:

I used Crazy Mom Quilts' Easy As Pie quilt pattern. And actually, I think it was easier to make this quilt than to make a pie. (Except for the one fabric that was directional and kept ending up upside down!)

I used a thrifted Tommy Hilfiger sheet for the backing. The colors were perfect and I think the Hawaiian print makes it feel a little more casual.

The finished quilt measures approximately 58"x70".

I donated this quilt to the local hospice group that I volunteer for. They are raffling it off to raise funds for the volunteer department's crafting supplies. They often have school and church groups that volunteer their time to make greeting cards and door hangers for patients on hospice.

I have another quilt finished, but no photos yet. Soon, I hope.

Catching Up......again

July was a very busy month, filled with canning, vacation, a quilt show, a birthday party and some lovely afternoon naps.

Nathan and I headed to Oregon for a vacation visiting family. The weather was lovely and cool. The scenery, as always, was beautiful.



One of the highlights of the trip was going to the 36th Annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. There were over 1,300 quilts on display all over town. We didn't get around to all of them, but everything I saw was gorgeous. I took over 90 photos. I don't think blogger can handle all those, so I'll share a few of my favorites.











And finally, the birthday party.....5 boys, a backyard campout and lots of fun!

My little rock star!

Blowing out the candles on his camping cake.

Acting like a goofy nine year old.

Now we're in the final countdown of summer vacation. Only 3 weeks 'til school starts!

A slow start

Sheesh, it's Tuesday already. Where are the days going?

After my last post, I had high hopes of accomplishing quite a few things on my sewing to-do list.

I only managed to finish one thing. Well, I guess it's really 4 things.

I finished and delivered four aprons for hospice.

Finishing this picnic quilt will be my goal for this week. Again.
(basting, quilting and binding needed)

I was slightly more successful with my harvesting. We had marinated/grilled eggplant, squash and peppers for several meals.

I also discovered that I had LOTS of green beans hiding in my garden.

From this batch, I froze 4 quart size bags of garden fresh, super yummy green beans. (More of them would have made it to the freezer if I hadn't been snacking!)

I've also put up a couple pints of tomatoes and 5 pints of Bread & Butter Pickles.

A little slow on the sewing, but a great start on canning season.