Back Pain, Quilting, and Spain!

First things, first, let's talk quilting...  I love machine quilting.  I prefer it to piecing most times.  Unfortunately, I have had a wake up call these last coupla months, and realized something has to give.  Over the last couple years I have managed to gain (back) about 20 pounds that I had worked so hard to lose three years ago.  Now, I know, for some people 20 pounds may not be much, but for me it is a lot, and most importantly, it has really affected my back.  I now have a hard time standing for more than a couple hours without  back pain.

Do you have back pain?  How do you deal with it?  Has back pain affected your quilting time?  I would love to hear from you.

I work full time outside the home, so there is only so much time leisure time in the day, right?  Add to that my kids, husband, and grandkids, and some serious exercise, and there isn't much time left for quilting and blogging.  So where am I going with this?  Well, nowhere, just my ramblings, but maybe a personal commitment that I MUST spend more time strengthening my core, and trying to lose those 20 pounds so I can lose the back pain.

I am so jealous of the many bloggers who can quilt full time, but that isn't the cards for me...yet.  It really isn't a big deal if I don't blog every day or every week, as this isn't a business, and I am guessing that I may only have five people who read my blog on a weekly basis.  I will have to spend less time online and more time exercising, or less time quilting and more time exercising.

Okay, enough with my ramblings. I was gone almost six weeks this summer!  Wow!  One of the exciting destinations was a trip to Spain and France!  Yep!  Here are a couple pictures to pique your interest, hopefully.  I find the textures of old Europe so fascinating, and of course, I find quilting ideas in the bricks, stones, architecture, too.  Here we are in Vilanova, in Catalonia, just 40 km south of Barcelona.  

 The marble, and other stone floors and walkways are so incredible.  When you compare their plazas to ours here in the United States, it is like and day.

Pictures from our hotel, El Ceferino.  Beautiful and reasonably priced, too.

 Look at the design in this little table top, diamonds, I am going to quilt that out soon.  Oh, and the drinks?  It's cava, THE drink of Catalonia.  It is everywhere.  It is similar to Champagne.  I drank quite a bit of cava with my tapas.

 Here I am (on the right) with my friend, Jan, from Denver on the left, and our new friend, Mama, from Senegal who sold me a beautiful bone bracelet.  She was really fun.  They weren't supposed to be vending to tourists, but we invited her to sit at our table, so it was okay.

Hopefully soon I will show you some quilting projects I am working on, and the commissioned quilt I just finished.  I have to wait until after the wedding to show you that one.

More Contemporary Fun!

 If I make two quilts from the same pattern back to back, is that just because I love the way they look, or is it bordering on obsession?  I think I may be obsessed.  While I am making the second one, I am imagining the third and fourth.  This could become a problem, considering I have deadlines approaching, and they don't include Urban Birthday patterns.

I was having fun with my camera yesterday.   I thought I would show off the gorgeous scenery I have all around me.  You can see the mountains above the fence line.  

This version of an Urban Birthday quilt is destined for our condo in Utah.  It has lots of blank walls that need some excitement! 

And here is that cute little wall hanging laying on the front lawn, with the beautiful oaks in the background.  The butterfly bushes haven't bloomed yet, but when they do, they really do attract monarch butterflies.  

Here is another view to the south.

A close up of the quilting...

Okay, just one more, I promise!

And then I couldn't resist this beautiful clematis climbing up to reach the arbor.  I just love my new camera!

And I have no idea what this is!  I have several of these growing on a tree in the front yard.  I planted the tree about six years ago, and can't remember the species.  This is the first time I have noticed it to bloom.

 

New, Contemporary, Fun

These are all exciting words in my vocabulary.  I thrive on change!  So Tuesday night I downloaded this NEW pattern, Urban Birthday, from Sew Kind of Wonderful,, and started this cute little prototype (ha!  read post below for more info).  I also used Jenny's wonderful idea of creating my own NEW wavy panto.  Thanks Jenny!

We have recently completely renovated our backyard and I love our NEW cedar fence.  It is perfect for hanging quilts, isn't it?  I tried out a NEW thread!  Lava by Superior.  Love it!  So many NEW things for me this week!

Eclectic Creativity or Just a Scattered Mind?

I guess I would consider my taste in most things rather eclectic.  Whether it is quilting, clothes, food, reading, and gosh, I don't know what else, I like a wide, really wide, variety of things.  Looking around my studio, I noticed that my taste in quilts is eclectic.  I just finished putting together a prototype (more on this 'prototype' later) of Jenny Pedigo's Urban Birthday, and am almost simultaneously putting the border on this Triple Irish Chain.  I am also one of those quilters who will have several quilts in various stages going at all times.  I am beginning to feel extremely frustrated.  We have been so busy lately that I have had very little time to quilt, much less piece.  So, I must be attempting to get it all done at one time, huh?

I also adapted Jenny's pattern so that it would look more like Nouveau Riche, by Toby Lischko (see the little sample in the upper left corner of the design wall).  I can't say that I like one more than the other.  

So regarding this 'prototype'...  it's really not a prototype.  It just sounds better than "I had something completely different in mind, but when I went to the fabric store to purchase the fabrics that I really wanted, they didn't have them, and I wasn't patient enough to wait until the weekend when I would have time to drive the hour drive to a different quilt shop, so I foolishly purchased something else."  I like this pattern, and I even like this little wall hanging...a lot.  I just didn't want these colors for the project that I needed to get done.  I do have someone in mind for this bright little hanging.  I think she will really like it.

Scrappy Triple Irish Chain

So, I have been really, really busy.  Not quilting.  I wish I had more hours in the day!  I have been spending lots of time outside... busy with all the blooming trees, and fast growing weeds and lawns.  Everything is so pretty and green here in California this time of year!  The weather is so beautiful, too.  Mid 70s.  Not too hot!  Love it.  

I also have my family close by, two daughters and four little grandchildren that keep me really busy.  Yesterday we saw Devin play t-ball.  Oh, my, if you have never seen a t-ball game, you have got to!  Little ones crying because they are afraid to run to first base, others crying because they are afraid to go after the ball!  hahaha!

I finally have something in the quilting area to show off!  I saw this quilt on Quiltville's site and fell in love with it.  I love scrap quilts and I love batiks, so the logical thing for me would be to use my batik scraps to make this one.  A Triple Irish Chain has been on my 'to-do' list for years. 

 I still haven't decided how I will create the border.  I am thinking of a thin white strip, then 2-1/2" squares of the batik scraps, then a wider white piece.

 I have often thought that I should make quilts for curtains.  I don't have much wall space to display quilts in my home, but I do have lots of windows.  Maybe one of these days?

This is a close up of the fabrics.  Don't you just love batiks.  

  Eventually I will need to find some backing fabric for this quilt.  Not sure if I will use batik or a mottled fabric.

I Am Grinning!

Oh my goodness!  I have been chosen for the Liebster Blog Award!  Just when I was thinking that no one read my blog, and I was becoming a real slacker with my posting (well, I haven’t actually been slacking, just way too busy)…I can’t believe it! 

Thank you to Janet at.What comes next?  Janet, I am humbly honored.  Janet is an extremely talented machine quilter, so this really means a lot to me.  Not only is Janet a fabulous machine quilter, but she does this on her domestic sewing machine.  Amazing!!  If you are unfamiliar with the Liebster Blog award, it is usually presented to smaller blogs as a form of recognition and support.  "Smaller blog" is defined as a blog with fewer than 200 followers.  Well, I guess I qualify for the fewer than 200 followers, and I really do appreciate the support, Janet. 

What is a Liebster?  


"Liebster" means "dearest" or "favorite" in German.   


As a recipient you are expected to:     
Thank the person that nominated you and link back to them.

·         Present the award to five other blogs

·         Let them know by commenting on their blog

·         Post the award on your blog

I would like to recognize the following blogs with the Liebster Award: 

Teresa at Quilting is My Bliss

Brigitte at Farbstoff

Esther at Threads on the Floor

Vivian at Whistle Stop Quilting

Leslie at Marveles Art Studios

Fresh!

 I just received this beautiful hydrangea with FRESH colors... I love the blue petals, with the green pot and how it looks so FRESH against the backdrop of my carpenter star.  I was so tired of the muted, drab colors that I used to decorate with, and I'm trying to brighten things up a bit...    I'm also playing around with my camera, trying to understand aperture and shutter speeds, ahhh...  I think I need to find a photography class nearby...

Yesterday we received a FRESH new blanket of 10" of snow.  We have been enthralled with the birds that you can see through my dining room window.  At one time, I counted over 40 birds feeding there - about 20 quail on the ground, with finches and other small birds in the trees.

Here is the FRESH new quilt that I am making, as seen from the entry to my studio.  I have been wanting to make a triple Irish chain for years.  Since I am on a stashbusting binge, this is a scrappy batik version that I spied on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site.  I just love her stuff, don't you? 

Invisible Thread...and How Did I Live Without It?

Wow!  When I was moaning about my decision to make placemats, and how much time it takes to finish the binding on them, several of my readers suggested that I machine stiitch the binding down with invisible thread.  Can't say enough good things about this stuff.  Of course, I wouldn't use it for a special quilt, but for placemats and quick little gifts, this stuff is awesome!  The only problem I had was that somehow my machine (a Janome 4623) overwound a bobbin, and it actually lifted the top of the bobbin off! 

And I just had to add this picture of the snowman my daughter and grandson made last week.  We finally got some snow.  I hope we get more!

No, It's Not Christmas.... and more Weekly Inspiration

We finally got some snow!  I would guess about 10 inches!  Yep!  Milwaukee had 80 degrees, and we got snow.  Gotta love it!  We sure needed it, too.  I love the weather here.  We get about 3-4 snow storms a year.  Just enough to play in it, and have some fun, but not the drudgery of every day cold and snow.  It usually lasts just 3-4 days because it is so sunny here. 

No, it is not Christmas, but it does seem a bit confusing doesn't it?  Christmas fabrics and snow?

I am really working hard to finish up some UFOs this year.  This table runner was made by my mom about 25 years ago.  It was never quilted.  She turned the top and back right sides together and stitched it up, and then turned it right side out.  I haven't had it out for many years because the colors had gone out of style.  Well, as you know, that bright green and red are so popular lately.  So I brought it out this year, but just felt that it needed some quilting.  I really love it now. 

And here is a picture of a couple birds getting some breakfast at my house this morning.  There were actually about 30 or so little ones, but when I walked over to the window, of course they were outta here!  We had a large covey of quail, too, but they didn't even wait until I got to the window.

This week I feel like highlighting two quilting bloggers who not only do some great quilting, but I can usually count on them to let me know that someone is reading my blog...lol!!  The quilts they work on are very similar to quilts that I see a lot of here, too, so I get great ideas from them!

Keeping it on the western side of the country this week...  Check out Teresa's blog at http://quiltingismybliss.blogspot.com/  and Karen's blog at **laugh yourself into stitches** 

Weekly Inspiration...Two Fabulous Quilters and the Quick Curve Ruler

This week I am highlighting two more fabulous quilters...

I am always impressed with Desley's quilting.  She is extremely talented.  Her quilting designs are just amazing.  If you don't already follow Desley's blog, you might want to pop over to see all the beautiful quilting she does...  http://www.addictedtoquilts.blogspot.com/

I recently received Jenny's Quick Curve Ruler and I have been playing around with some scrap fabrics...  I love this ruler.  The possibilities are endless!  The green, brown and blue one is from the pattern that comes with the ruler.  I was just playing around with the ruler and created the blue one..  I am not super crazy about the fabrics, but playing around with the ruler was fun.  Speaking of inspiration... Jenny Pedigo over at Sew Kind of Wonderful, and Jenny's Doodling Needle really inspires me!  If you are not already a follower, check out one of her blogs at:  http://sewkindofwonderful.blogspot.com/