A New Baby!

This in my new baby...Daisy Marie!  She is 10 weeks old, and allows me no time to get anything done!  I love her!  We have always had a Boston Terrier in our married lives.  Daisy is our third, if that tells you anything about how long we have been married!
  As my nest is empty, and hubby works a "real" job, I am at home alone for long periods of time.  My current companion Candy is 11 1/2 years old.  The sad reality is that she won't be with us for more than another year or two at the most, so when the chance came to get a new puppy, I jumped on it.  However, I had forgotten that a new puppy is very time consuming!  My quilting has taken a temporary backseat to keeping track of this bundle of cuteness!  I am hoping to finish some smaller projects for my customers during the next week or so.  Christmas is coming, so this better be a very temporary hiatus!

Coming Full Circle

 Grandkids will make you do strange things.  Let me just go on record that I DO NOT sew garments of any kind (or any size) as a rule.  Oh sure, when my daughter was a toddler I made a few cute little jumpers for her.  Of course, I chose patterns that had no zippers or buttons to mess with:)  However, I have never enjoyed sewing garments.  Perhaps my aversion to that type of sewing dates back to years in 4-H with a critical leader and even more critical judges.  Whatever the reason, I have avoided making clothes for most of my adult life.  BUT...now I have a granddaughter :)  She is turning two this week, and in a couple of years she will be ready to play with American Girl type dolls.  Those dolls are going to need lots of outfits!
  This past weekend, I took a class on how to make clothes for 18" dolls using the "flat construction" method.  Wow!  Easy, peasy, pie!  In a few short hours, I had a pair of panties, a pair of leggings, two tops, a pair of capris, and a skirt!  Better yet, I am pretty sure I can make more at home without help!
These are the first doll clothes I have made since I was 12 years old!
  The fun thing about all this is that the very first things I ever sewed were doll clothes.  I drew up my own patterns for very easy little tops and bottoms for a doll I had at the time, and used my mom's trusty old Necchi sewing machine to create them.  As a sophomore in high school looking for an "A" on a world history project, I proposed making Barbie doll outfits to represent clothing styles for women throughout history.  I make a pleated skirt outfit for Cleopatra, a velvet coat with a stand up collar for Queen Elizabeth, and a hoop skirt for the pre-Civil War southern United States.  I designed the outfits, and my mom helped me adapt existing patterns to create them.  My daughter played with those beautiful clothes, and, hopefully, someday my granddaughters will enjoy them as well. 
  P.S.--I got my "A."

Feeling a Little Wonky

  Last January, I did a workshop where I learned to make this beautiful quilt.  For more information, please see the following website:  http://elaineadairpieces.blogspot.com/
  It starts with a traditional log cabin block with 5 rounds of 1 1/2 inch pieces.  Just when you think you are finished...you CUT THEM UP!  To be honest, I loved the look of the standard log cabin blocks.  I had never made one before.  However, I paid for the class, and I was determined to make the finished project.  I am glad I did! The more blocks I got finished and the bigger the quilt grew on my design wall, the more I liked it.  (See pictures on my blog for a partially finished look).
  This quilt reminds me that sometimes life is not what you might expect, but it is still beautiful.  The straight, standard log cabin blocks are nice...if not a little boring.  BUT- take the plunge to cut them up and do something a little different and WOW!  Live life outside the box, and while you may end up a bit "wonky" you will NOT be bored!

"There is no Place like Nebraska"

Hubby and I standing in front of Haystack Rock at Canon Beach, OR.

  We just returned from a wonderful trip to the west coast!  We flew into Portland, where I had to check out the Fabric Depot--lots of stuff--and then via the north side of the Columbia River in Washington state, we went to Astoria, OR.  From there, we drove all the way south over several days to Eureka, CA and then back to Portland via Eugene.  Seven days of beautiful scenery, fun quilt shops, and even the 49th annual quilt show in Gold Beach, OR.
   The picture of the car cover is from that quilt show.  Those talented ladies made that beautiful cover and parked it out front of their quilt show right on Scenic Byway Highway 101.  Needless to say, even if I had not already known about the show thanks to the invaluable Quilters Companion book, that car cover would have drawn me in to their show!
  I always collect fabric when we go on a trip with the intention of making a quilt to commemorate the occasion.  So far, the only one I have ever finished is a fun lap quilt that I made out of Mary Engelbreit fabric that I collected on a trip to Branson several years ago.  Last summer, I bought way too much Minnesota Shop Hop fabric!  Luckily, my daughter in law has a lot of family, and a great liking for the state of Minnesota, so some day she will inherit that quilt!
  This time, I decided to collect nautical-themed fabric.  My mom doesn't buy a lot of that for her shop in central Nebraska...so, it seemed like a fun thing to get.  I bought light houses, water, blue skies, salmon, seashells, and several other fun prints.  When I got home, I designed a quilt to go with the fabrics, and then put everything into a clear project box.  The newest project joins a bookshelf full of other kits and projects that I will eventually get to...I hope!
  While I was on the road, I checked out a nice little shop in Port Orford, two shops in Astoria, a great shop in Canon Beach,  a delightful shop in Tillamook (where we also bought some really tasty cheese at their factory) and a couple of others that I forgot the name of the town.  The quilt show in Gold Beach was a very good show with a beautiful raffle quilt.  I bought a ticket...who knows :)  There was a sandy path directly from the Event Center where the show was being held to the beach--how can you argue with that! 
  All in all, we had a great time, but I was ready to come home.  Here in the middle of Nebraska, I don't worry too much about traffic.  I don't see signs telling me I am in a Tsunami Danger Zone (yes I know I am in a "Tornado Danger Zone") and I don't have to worry about falling off the side of a very steep cliff into the ocean!  I breathed a sigh of relief when our plane touched down in Omaha, and I was swiftly heading down good old I-80.  It is true what our motto says, "There is no place like Nebraska,"  Ah, home sweet home!