Catching Up

My life has greatly changed since my last post.  In the last several months, both my husband and I have retired, sold our home in Honolulu, moved to Idaho and have spent the last several weeks getting settled in our new home, especially my sewing room!

A week ago, the local quilt guild (Boise Basin Quilters) held their annual quilt show.  I have joined the guild and will meet several of the ladies tomorrow at a new member coffee hour.  I've also signed up to take a long-arm quilting class that I'm really excited about.  Below are several of the quilt show entries that caught my eye. 

I am looking forward to getting back into quilting as I have really missed it.

Catching Up

It's been awhile since I've posted and my quilting has taken a back seat.  I did finish the Dresden Fan below.  It was the first paper piecing project I've done and I had a good time doing it.

My second paper piecing project is the pineapple.  I got it on the frame and nearly halfway quilted when my machine starting giving me fits with the top thread breaking every few inches.  I tried everything -- changed the needle, tried different threads,  futzed with the tension, cleaned, oiled the machine.  After several weeks, I gave up and took it in to the shop.  Seems I've been so hard on the machine, it just needed a tune up.  Works like a charm now!  Next time, I won't wait so long or get so frustrated.

Our eldest son, Bryan (the one on the left), has quit the only job he's ever had (since he was 14) and decided to return to school.  Yay!  However, he decided to go to the mainland and we have spent the last couple of months getting him ready to go, shipping his truck and his belongings.  He left last week and I am missing him something fierce!

The day he left, however, was a little unusual.  He went down to Waikiki where one of his best friends is a tattoo artist and he had to get one before he left.  BUT he talked me into going with him.  And I came home with a little one, too.  I think he expected me to wimp out.  Hah!  I'm a mom to two boys.  Can't be wimpy!

In the middle of getting Bryan ready to go, I lost my mom.  She had been in a care facility on the mainland for the past 5 years.  She had suffered a stroke and, thanks to my sister calling me in time, I was able to fly home to see her and tell her I loved her.  I would like to think she knew I was there as well as 3 of my 4 sisters.  She peacefully passed away the day after I returned to the islands.  The little honu in my tattoo is in memory of her.

Several months ago, I attended a monthly meeting of the Hawaii Quilt Guild and they had a tutorial on these little hexagons.  Instead of working on my Hawaiian Applique', I've taken a short detour and have been playing with these.  The finished "flowers" are only 4 inches across.  A quilt would take a kabillion of these hex's.  Dunno if I'll get that far, but it's something to do to keep my hands busy.

AND for the second time in probably 8 years, my one and only orchid plant blossomed!!!  I guess benign neglect really works.

There!  Now I think we're all caught up.

Yarn Winder

Found myself a new/old toy.  It's a little yarn winder.  My mother had one just like it and it found a home with one of my sisters.  I've been looking for years for another and found it on eBay the other day.

My mother was an expert knitter and this yarn winder brought back many warm memories when I was a child helping her wind yarn for her projects.  All of us always had sweaters, mittens, hats and, of course, lots of slippers.

Now I have to find a proper belt and clamp for it.  The rubber band has just a little too much stretch!

Today was a good day.  Isn't it cute?

Thief!

Look who's stealing the cat's food outta the garage!  He lands on the broom handle, then onto the table saw, then onto the basket of scrap wood, then to the bowl where he grabs a chunk and flies off to share with the wifey waiting patiently in the plumeria tree.

Meanwhile, the cat just watches knowing that there's more food in the house.  Lazy darn cat!

Happy Mother's Day!

I received this in the mail the day before yesterday from my stepmom, Marge, in Great Falls.  She found it in a silent auction at a quilt show in Great Falls, Montana, and thought of me.  Bless her heart!

Isn't it great?  Happy Mother's Day, Marge!  Love you, too.

Letty's Bag

I thought I'd try something different.  I attended Sandy's other class -- the Letty's Bag.

I ride the bus every day and regularly use an oversized bag for the necessities like a sweater when the bus is too cold, an umbrella in case it rains, a book or two, and the new iPad2 I'm having fun learning to use.  (The iPad really came in handy last night.  Our normal 40-minute commute was stretched to 3 hours due an accident causing multiple lane closures.  So my friend and I passed time by watching a movie that I had loaded on the iPad.)

Back to the bag....

Somewhere in a very safe place is a pretty black button that is supposed to be attached to that blue flap on the outer pocket.  I know I'll find it someday.

Attaching the grommets was interesting.  In a perfect world, they are supposed to fit together like a Tupperware lid.  The first five went together as designed.  However, the last three would not stay together no matter what we tried.  So I corrected that problem when I got home and SuperGlue'd them together.  Worked like a charm!

Quilting Frustration

I got my blue One Block Wonder on the frame a couple of weeks ago.  I managed to quilt a couple of rows and then things went to heck in a handbasket!  The top thread started shredding and breaking every 12 inches or so.

Since then, I have rethreaded that sewing machine until I can do it blindfolded.  I've cleaned and recleaned it, oiled it, taken it apart and put it back together.  I've tried a myriad of tension settings until I found one that worked.  I changed out the needle 4 times!  Thinking I got a bad spool of thread, I ordered a new one only to find out that the new spool shredded as badly as the original!  Every time I tried something and it didn't work, I'd have to walk away for awhile, do some more research, and then try something else.  This kind of frustration I do NOT handle well.

What was really confusing was that the sewing machine would work perfectly when I took it off the frame and tested it on a table (and I tried that several times).  It just didn't make sense!  And then last night, I thought of something else.  It dawned on me that after trying 4 Janome-brand needles without success, I wondered another brand would work.  Somewhere on the internet, I'd read that the Janome could also use Schmetz needles.  In my Bernina attachments, I found I had several packages of Schmetz QUILTING needles, size 100/14.

I put one on the Janome this morning and the darn thing worked! Yippee!  I finished quilting that miserable quilt this afternoon.  All this "trial and tribulation" was either a test or makes me think if OBW's are not for me!

But now I can look forward to taking the Japanese Jigzaw quilt class next weekend.  

I must be bored...

Trying to burn excess vacation time before the end of the year, I've spent the last week and a half at home.  I can't remember the last time I stayed home for such a long period.  Three- or four-day weekends are more my style.  Anything longer than that is usually used to get off this island for a time.

Now that the holidays are over, I've been doing everything possible in order to stay OUT of the refrigerator and not feed my face!  So far today, I've kept busy cleaning house and mucking out my sewing "cave."  I finished a new Tessellating Pinwheels that just needed binding.  That pink/blue One Block Wonder is now on the frame, but we're waiting for the batting to arrive.  It might be NEXT year before I get that one done.  I got out another, smaller One Block Wonder that I have to cut more hex's and it's waiting patiently on the table.

Then I got a wild hair and pulled out my cross-stitching stuff outta the garage and have spent the last hour or so trying to scan the pattern in to the computer.  (I like to mark up copies of the pattern and leave the original as-is.)  Only problem is that we upgraded my PC to Windows 7 not long ago and it doesn't want to see my scanner!  Just now got it to work while updating this blog.  (I love my Mac, I love my Mac).

One of my dining room chairs has come apart so, armed with Scott's staple gun, I reupholstered a new seat cover and put the chair back together.

Oh yeah, and I got back on the WeightWatchers website and started tracking again today after two weeks of playing hookie.  I guess sticking to my diet has to be my New Year's resolution (again), darn it!

And the day's not over yet!

I must be bored...

Trying to burn excess vacation time before the end of the year, I've spent the last week and a half at home.  I can't remember the last time I stayed home for such a long period.  Three- or four-day weekends are more my style.  Anything longer than that is usually used to get off this island for a time.

Now that the holidays are over, I've been doing everything possible in order to stay OUT of the refrigerator and not feed my face!  So far today, I've kept busy cleaning house and mucking out my sewing "cave."  I finished a new Tessellating Pinwheels that just needed binding.  That pink/blue One Block Wonder is now on the frame, but we're waiting for the batting to arrive.  It might be NEXT year before I get that one done.  I got out another, smaller One Block Wonder that I have to cut more hex's and it's waiting patiently on the table.

Then I got a wild hair and pulled out my cross-stitching stuff outta the garage and have spent the last hour or so trying to scan the pattern in to the computer.  (I like to mark up copies of the pattern and leave the original as-is.)  Only problem is that we upgraded my PC to Windows 7 not long ago and it doesn't want to see my scanner!  Just now got it to work while updating this blog.  (I love my Mac, I love my Mac).

One of my dining room chairs has come apart so, armed with Scott's staple gun, I reupholstered a new seat cover and put the chair back together.

Oh yeah, and I got back on the WeightWatchers website and started tracking again today after two weeks of playing hookie.  I guess sticking to my diet has to be my New Year's resolution (again), darn it!

And the day's not over yet!

1000 Cranes

Our son, Bryan, has a friend getting married today.  Several months ago, the groom asked him to build a cabinet as a gift for his bride.  This cabinet is to house the 1000 Cranes.  As I understand it, the bride folds 1000 origami cranes before her marriage to ensure long life, happiness, and good health.

Bryan figured he had enough time to do a good job on his first real wood-working project.  Mitch, the groom, was getting the glass panels cut and they were ready only 8 days ago!

With lots of help from his dad and brother and very little sleep, the job was completed late last night.

The bride got the following in a fortune cookie and wanted it included:

We wish them well!

1000 Cranes

Our son, Bryan, has a friend getting married today.  Several months ago, the groom asked him to build a cabinet as a gift for his bride.  This cabinet is to house the 1000 Cranes.  As I understand it, the bride folds 1000 origami cranes before her marriage to ensure long life, happiness, and good health.

Bryan figured he had enough time to do a good job on his first real wood-working project.  Mitch, the groom, was getting the glass panels cut and they were ready only 8 days ago!

With lots of help from his dad and brother and very little sleep, the job was completed late last night.

The bride got the following in a fortune cookie and wanted it included:

We wish them well!

Kamaka Ukulele

During one of their visits several years ago, I took my dad and stepmom, Marge, to tour the Kamake Ukulele factory.  I thought Dad, a violinmaker in his "spare" time, would enjoy it.  And we did.  However, that also jogged Marge's memory that she had a ukulele packed away somewhere.

After they got home, she searched and found it. It was a Kamaka dated December 1972!  But it was in sad, sad shape.  During the tour, we learned that they repair only Kamakas.  Marge and Dad sent it to me and I took it in.  That was the first week of June 2009.

Last week, I got a call saying it was ready for pickup.  When I went in today,  I overheard them saying today that there is now an 18-month backlog for repairs and only a Kamaka decendant does the repairs.  I think it is a great grandson who does all the repair work.

They did a wonderful job and it sounds great!  My boss plays a little bit so we enjoyed listening to it this afternoon.  I tried to take photos that highlighted the beautiful koa wood.

Isn't it pretty?

Kamaka Ukulele

During one of their visits several years ago, I took my dad and stepmom, Marge, to tour the Kamake Ukulele factory.  I thought Dad, a violinmaker in his "spare" time, would enjoy it.  And we did.  However, that also jogged Marge's memory that she had a ukulele packed away somewhere.

After they got home, she searched and found it. It was a Kamaka dated December 1972!  But it was in sad, sad shape.  During the tour, we learned that they repair only Kamakas.  Marge and Dad sent it to me and I took it in.  That was the first week of June 2009.

Last week, I got a call saying it was ready for pickup.  When I went in today,  I overheard them saying today that there is now an 18-month backlog for repairs and only a Kamaka decendant does the repairs.  I think it is a great grandson who does all the repair work.

They did a wonderful job and it sounds great!  My boss plays a little bit so we enjoyed listening to it this afternoon.  I tried to take photos that highlighted the beautiful koa wood.

Isn't it pretty?

Kinda Braggin'

My son, Devan, likes to play golf but seldom has enough time.  However, a couple of weeks ago, he went out to the Hawaii Kai Golf course.  On the 12th hole, he got a hole in one, his second.  His first, he got at age 16 while playing with a friend of his.  This time, however, it was witnessed by the player ahead of him and they reported it to the clubhouse.

As a result, he now has this lovely lapel pin that he proudly wears (and Mom gets to brag about).

Kinda Braggin'

My son, Devan, likes to play golf but seldom has enough time.  However, a couple of weeks ago, he went out to the Hawaii Kai Golf course.  On the 12th hole, he got a hole in one, his second.  His first, he got at age 16 while playing with a friend of his.  This time, however, it was witnessed by the player ahead of him and they reported it to the clubhouse.

As a result, he now has this lovely lapel pin that he proudly wears (and Mom gets to brag about).

Makoa

Makoa

March 09, 1998
to

April 09, 2010

Rest in Peace