Almost done

I am 91.5% done with the quilting on the family xmas quilt. I quilted about 5 hours yesterday. I am anxious to get this done and bound so I can move on to the next project.


We finally got some rain Sunday and Monday so now the canna are going gang busters! I have to get the grass mowed just to clean up the raggy parts and the weeds are going nuts too.

Still quilting thte xmas quilt

I only got in about 5 hours of quilting done this weekend. I wasn't home much.


Saturday I went to visit family and work at the art museum. He is a picture of El Anatusui standing beside the head of the art museum. I got to pour a glass of wine for El. After the lecture, El spent time visiting people and signing books and cards. I did get into see the exhibit before the lecture was over so I had the whole gallery to myself!


The pieces that were in the show left you wanting to see more. There were several pieces that were 24' wide and at least 12' tall - just huge! There was one that was all read with gold writing on the metal and then one that was black with gold writing. From a distance they looked like rich metallic fabric.

Sunday I made a cheescake and headed to my brother's house for father's day. I got a little quilting done before and after that event.

Xmas quilt, Peter Sagan, needles and canna

I spent two hours last evening quilting on the family Xmas quilt. I now have 35% of it quiltied. Here is a shot of the back.


Before I started quilting I had to watch Stage 6 of the Tour of Switerland. Guess who won the sprint finish? Your right, Peter Segan. This is his 12th stage win for 2012 and his fourth stage in the ToS that he has won. The man is on fire! More podium kisses!


Red Rock Threads was having a good deal on Schmitz sewing machine needles in bulk so I bought a box of topstitching needles I use for my machine quilting. There are 100 needles in the box. I wrote the date I received the box and let's see how long they last me.




I gave the cannas a big fat drink of water last evening and this morning I can see the first leaves starting to show.


This is going to be a busy weekend. Besides working on the Xmas quilt, I need to finish the book I am reading by Buddy Guy "When I left Home", and Saturday night I am bartending at the museum for the opening reception for the El Anatsui exhibit. I will be making a trip to Dover either tonight or on Saturday, and I really need to get some stuff done around the house which I seem to ignore because I would rather quilt!

Have a great weekend!

More progress on the Xmas family quilt

I quilted for about 2 3/4 hours last evening. Tuesday I quilted 2 hours and got about 1/12th or about 9% quilted. I am now up to about 22% of the quilt quilted. I wound a bunch of bobbins this morning so that does not slow me down tonight.


Here are those three canna sprouts as of this morning. This would be four days in the ground and now they are starting to show some real growth. I didn't have time to water this morning so I will give them a big fat drink after work tonight.


Here is the first picture again from Sunday evening for comparison.

Xmas quilt progress, canna, and Tour of Suisse

I quilted for two hours last evening and now have 1/12th of the quilt done. I like to have some sort of measurement to track my progress. I like to know how far I have come and how far I have to go.


I checked the canna this morning to see their progress. I gave them a big drink of water last night and I can see the difference this morning in the two sprouts to the left, but not much change to the sprout on the right. Yes, it has only been 3 days since I tossed them into the ground, but I still see changes every day. Here is this morning's picture


and yesterday's shot


I took a picture of my lists. I have them hanging on the door of my fabric storage room. I have a constant reminder of what needs to be done and I love it when I get to cross something off the list.


I have been watching the Tour of Suisse (Switzerland) and there has been some exciting racing going on! I posted last year about the accomplishments of Peter Sagan and I had a feeling that he was going to be the next big thing when it comes to sprinters and I was right! So far this year he has won 11 stages in 5 different races. He won 5 stages in the Tour of California alone! In yesterday's finish Peter just blew by the other riders! I think I will call him the rocket man because he rocketed by the other sprinters. Here is Peter getting kisses from the podium girls yesterday.


Peter is going to participate in his first Tour de France this year and his participation is going to add even more drama to the sprint finishes. I can now see Peter, Mark Cavandish (the max missle), Tom Boonen (Tornado Tom) and Thor Hushovd (god of thunder) wheel to wheel thundering down the road toward the finish line with sheer power! It is going to be exciting to see!

16th finish for 2012

Yeah, I got the I Spy quilt finished! It ended up 54 1/2" X 66". I used a light yellow Star thread for the top, Connecting Threads Essential in cream for the bobbin thread, and Warm & Natural for the batting.




Well, the next quilt is going to take a bit longer to quilt. It is 77 1/2" x 92" and will be this year's family Xmas quilt. I am guessing it will take about 20 hours to quilt this. I am going to try and keep track of my hours just so I know.


We did get a little rain last night, but I still went out this morning to give the canna a drink. I want these to grow fast! Here is what the one sprout I have been taking pictures of looks like this morning about 48 hours after it was planted.


What it looked like when I first planted it for comparison

I Spy quilt almost done

I worked on the I Spy quilt between volunteering at the art museum and working in the yard. First the quilt. I had a lot of trouble with my thread breaking and this really slowed me down. I finally figured out after I was almost done that I think my tension was too tight. Oh well, I got the quilting done and sewed on the binding. I have one side of the binding almost hand sewn on.


Saturday night was the wine auction. THe proceeds go to the educational programs at the museum. The museum will pay for gas for the bus and a substitute teacher to help schools bring their students to the museum. The CEO said they were the first art museum in the country to do this. The center pieces were dramatic! Here is one of them on one of the silent auction tables.


My job was to check people in as they arrive and help spot bids at the live auction. Here is what was left of somebody's dessert. There was a chocolate cup filled with whipped cream and different pureed fruit in the little paint wells. I don't know what else they had to eat, but there was lots of wine! Tickets were $250.00 if you were a member and the place was packed!


I tried to do some weeding early Sunday morning (about 6:15 am), but the ground is like concrete! We have not had much rain at all. I did get the maddox out and dug a trench for my canna. I watered the trench first and then threw the rizomes in, covered them with dirt, and watered them in again. I threw a little fertilizer in too since I am getting these in a couple of weeks late. I am going to have to figure out a plan of some sort to deal with the weeds in the other beds. I weed wacked the yard in the evening, but I was too hot to mow. The yard looked better just with the weed wacking so I wasn't that concerned with the mowing. Here is one of the canna that had already started growing in the bucket it had been stored in since November. My sister-in-law had come over and dug up these for me after I came home from the hospital, I couldn't dig them up after I had surgery.


I took a picture of this same sprout this morning before I went to work to see if it had grown yet. I guess I was expecting a lot, but then it finally had a drink of water after all these months!