Love ya bunches,

Nadine

Quilt shops are always on my exploration list and Papa Toad is pretty patient as long as it isn’t close to lunch time! I’ve visited 2 so far. The first was “Cotton and Chocolate” in Thousand Oaks, CA. They’d just moved 3 weeks ago into their new store (same strip mall, just down a few doors). They doubled their space and since it looked comfortably full, I imagine they were tripping over bolts in their previous location. Their space is light and bright and their staff helpful. Check them out if you’re passing through that area.

The second shop was here in Indio: “Monica’s Quilt and Bead Creartions”. What a delightful discovery that was! Again, light and bright with fabulous fabrics, lots and lots of samples all over the place and the walls themselves gave a wonderful mini quilt show! Next time I need to go back and really explore the bead section of the shop and maybe take a couple beading classes…..afterall, beads are so nice and small and packable! When you’re in a small RV you tend not to buy big purchases so usually I end up with some interesting threads and buttons. Adding beads to my stash would give it more variety, don’t you think?????

Now, to share with you how brain dead I can be:

In both shops I kept thinking, “I wish I could take some pictures to share on my blog. I wish I’d brought my camera!”  Duh! Not only did I not remember that my Blackberry phone was in my purse…camera ready…but I didn’t remember that my camera (along with all my other worldly goods on this trip) was in our little “home-away-from-home” parked not more than 100 yards away! Now, THAT’S brain dead!

Enough “work” for now….time for a walk and some intense stitching! (For my soul…always for my soul!)

Nadine

Da-da-Dun, Da-da-Dun, Da-da-Dun-Dun-Dun…..(did you recognize the start of The William Tell Overture? aka the start of The Lone Ranger theme?) Enter Stage Right:

Our little home away from home. She’s a 20′ White Floating Marshmallow, aka Pleasureway Type C Motorhome, complete with kitchen, bed, TV/DVD, micowave and yes…a potty! Yahoo! And yes, right now she’s loaded to the gills for a little getaway. Papa Toad picked her up from storage a couple days ago, plugged her in to start chilling her refrigerator and we began loading her with clothing, food…and oh yes, my toys! Come on inside and I’ll give you a quick tour. Remember, you have to think “small and compact”.

In the rear is our bed. Right now it’s in the sofa position but with a touch of a button it folds itself down into a bed that’s tempur-pedic and very comfy. Papa Toad is in charge of making it up and putting it away each day. The huge box on it? It’s a gift we’ll leave at our son and daughter-in-law’s (our first stop).

This is My “dresser drawer”:

Here is Papa Toad’s “drawer”:

Mine has a little more order, don’t you think?  And here’s a cubby we share for our Jeans & Sweats:

This is my upper pantry:Maybe we should buy some Rice-a-Roni stock! Normally we don’t eat a lot of prepared foods…but I’m “camping”, remember? (Stop laughing, I used to do “tent camping” so I do know how to miss the comforts of home).
There are 2 more lower food storage areas….gotta have good kneeling ability for these:Tonic? Did I see Tonic? And where’s the partner of it I might ask?????

My “kitchen” with the stove top under that black ceramic cover on the right, and my sink under the left Corian cover. Dishes are in the top cupboard. Cute little refrigerator is below the counter. There’s another lift up counter section next to the stove top.

Here’s our “closet” and another little food cubby above it:

Our “family room” cupboard complete with our “library and games” on the left and our electronics/first aid/binoculars/candy (Shhhhhh) on the right.

The Control Center … fortunately the Co-Pilot’s chair swivels around and becomes my stitching chair when we’re parked.

And the best part:

Gotta love it! I’ll try and keep you updated on our little journey. Afterall, you’ll want to see all the projects as they get finished! LOL!

Nadine

I’m almost ready. The most important things are packed. The toys are dressed in their Passionate Purple Best.Our RV is teeny tiny so now sewing machine can come along…only handwork. So, what have I chosen? Embroidery…

Crabapple Hill’s “Over the River”…

and their “Berry Picking Party”…

and some hand piecing from Mountain Patchwork…

and a scarf to knit…

and some dishcloths to crochet in case I get desperate…

Not encased in Purple are some books to read…

and I’ll take my Kindle ready with Francine Rivers “Redeeming Love”…

and some magazines…

(can you tell which stack is mine? and Papa Toad’s?)

and some design tools…like my drawing tablet, pencils, eraser, ruler and laptop…

and maybe I should prep a couple blocks of “Walk in the Mountains” to applique, just in case! And since that’s not ready yet, Papa Toad will just have to wait a bit longer.

I must be either “Ob-sessed” or “Po-sessed” when it comes to taking toys on a trip. I panic about running out of something to do when I don’t have The Ark nearby. And I must also have some issues with Grandiose Expectations! Ya think???? And no, we’re not going to be gone all that long!

Guess I really should start thinking about getting some clothes ready to pack….and oh yes, I guess we should put some food in the RV too…Such minor things!

The pretty gift bag in the picture? Remember the Rag Lap Quilt I made for my Mom’s 89th birthday? Well, her birthday will happen while we’re away so I’ve got it and a couple other things tucked in that bag that I’ll leave for her to open when the flower and balloon arrive.

I’ll try and post parts of our adventure while I’m gone. Let’s just see how much I can get done! Pressure’s on! Meanwhile, I better go pack so I can go do some “stitchin’ for my soul” tonight…

Nadine

Also on the wall is Block #1 for this pattern: Piece o’ Cake’s Walk in the Mountains. I bought it as a BOM in Philadelphia 1998. Block #1:and then started #2. Key word: “started”…..ah yes, it got buried with all the other hidden treasures until I rediscovered it when I started making my list of projects to finish! I’m almost done with Block #2 and have Block #3 prepped. I’ll keep you posted!

I also found these in one of the Project Boxes. Another Saturday Club from 2005. It was supposed to be done “strippy” style….I’m changing it. What do you think so far?

Another find….this goes back to 1997! (again!) Both the top 1/2 and lower 1/2 were all pieced and I was all excited until I realized that I needed to add the applique to Kansas Trouble’s “Threads of the Civil War”. I didn’t care for the woven scraps that came in the kit so I’ve changed the applique to wool. It’s already to stitch, embroider and then add the borders. Here’s the top 1/2:and the bottom 1/2:

On my smaller design wall I have the center that I made from all those red/white 1/2 square triangle blocks I made from those leftover triangles I had from the Scrappy Flag I finished a bit ago. Now I need to plan the rest of it! (I think I have too many design walls!)

What are y’all working on? I love seeing everyone’s UFOs that are getting finished right now….Isn’t it exciting?

Go Girls, Go!!

Nadine

When it came back I was really glad to find my little stashed baggy ready with the binding and label. I’d made the binding in 2005 when I’d done this Sew Many Quilts Saturday Club. (Yeah…I know, 5 years ago!!)So, I’m trekking along…and yes, feeling just a tad cocky and being ever so happy that I didn’t have to scrounge around finding fabric to match for a binding, or set up the embroidery module to make the label etc….

Then as I’m sewing on the binding, I turned the last corner…Oh no! This has never happened to me before! Panic! I wanted to throw up! How could my binding be short????? 44″ short to be exact! Fabric? It was 5 years old! Obviously my math skills were greatly deteriorated when I planned this one!

Then I remembered that fortunately I always buy extra….but would it still be alive and well and marinating in my collection?

Whew!There it was and I was saved! Now THAT ladies is why we have a “collection” and why we shouldn’t touch it too often. We may need it someday (5 years later!) and that’s why we should always keep adding to it!

Happy Shopping!

Nadine

So, when all of a sudden I’m having an “issue”, I panic. I changed my needle, I rethreaded the machine, I cleaned the bobbin area, I took out the bobbin and repositioned it. I called my friend Anne at Cottons ‘n Wool to see if she’d ever had a breakage issue. NaDa….but she told me to call Dr. Bob and let him know. Then it hit me…Duh!Can you see it? Need a closer shot?

Now do you see the issue? I’d moved my cone holder a few days ago and then I saw the culprit! So girlies, check that thread path! So obvious! Oh, the human-ness of it all!

Happy “stitchin’ for the soul!” And may the thread angels watch over your paths!

Nadine

I love kits. Everything’s all in those neat little plastic bags, packaged so neat and pretty. They’re pretty brainless to buy….all the fabric’s there and you don’t have any decisions to make. The one problem with them is that sometimes the methods used in the design are not always my favorites. This “Scrappy Flag” pattern by Glory Daze Patterns used my least favorite method of making 1/2 square triangles. (cut strips, then subcut into squares, then cut those diagonally into triangles). But, if you’re working with a “kit” I’ve found it best to use the methods in the pattern so that you don’t run out of fabric. I ended up having lots of fabric. That was a good thing because the original design called for 6 red stripes and 5 white stripes…..not enough in my book. I’m kind of a realistic freak sometimes. (When I taught Decorative Painting, I was the teacher who wanted to add a tiny, teeny ladybug to a leaf….and the light source had to make sense and be consistent!) So, my flag had to have a couple more stripes…13 colonies and all that symbolism. Here’s how it started out:Not bad, but it bothered me. And here it is with the additional stripes:(Uh, oh…camera angle again….) Pretty fun project…Yahoo 2010 Project #10!

And here’s the part I hate…..LEFTOVERS! I get a little OCS about them. So many times we end up with bits and pieces after we finish a project. I always try and use them up in the backings but sometimes………….So now I’m designing something with them so they don’t have to go back in that project box or into my Looney Bin collection……Y’all know what the Looney Bin collection is, right? No? I’ll have to share that one with you later! You’ll love me for it!

Till we chat again…..go stitch!

Nadine

The second class I took was EQ6 Applique Design by Patti Anderson. Another Wow! Now, I love applique but I’d always just taken pencil in hand and drawn on paper. Then I’d scan the design into a pattern to publish. Nothing wrong with that and I’ll probably continue to do some designs this way. But, oh my goodness, what I learned in this class was way too much fun! I’ve also played a little with some other graphic design programs but taking this class really made me see the power behind EQ6. It was a 3 Lesson/3 Week class and Patti also did a fantastic job in presenting the material.

Time to go back to school……Hmmmm, there are classes on Embellishment, Fabric Dying….and oh so many more! Go see how much you want to stretch your brain. See you in class!

Meanwhile, I’m going to do some “stitchin’ for my soul” and get ready for the big game today. Hope you have a great week!

Nadine

I pulled the “Scrappy Flag” box and…

“Oh, No!”  Do you see it? Another little kit had found it’s way into the box! I didn’t want to add “United We Stand” (Mary Herschleb Designs) to The List so I started and finished it. Paper piecing is not my favorite but it turned out pretty darn cute! 2010 Yahoo Project#9:Yep….it’s a little thing….13 x 13″. And from this photo I learned that I have to do a better job of making sure I’m “shooting” straight on. It’s really “square!”

Now I can get on with “Scrappy Flag” and an empty Project Box! I sure hope the other boxes only have 1 thing in each of them!

Nadine