New Camera

With my PowerShot dead, it was time to get a new camera. This is the Panasonic Lumix FZ28 with an 18x zoom. That's close enough to see eyelashes!

The San Juan Trip!

What began as a trip to locate a boat motor from Craigslist in Friday Harbor, turned into a 2nd honeymoon. We ferried to San Juan, arrived at 4pm, bought the motor, and had a very nice dinner. Then the 6:45 ferry was canceled, so we walked around town and took the 8pm ferry. The last time we had been there was with Frazier as a baby--so 14 years ago. I hardly recognized anything!

Another Seminary Class

 This is the another year of teaching juniors and I love it. I add in my teaching ACT testing deadlines, BYU admission deadlines and hints on applying to college. That was really helpful for me when I was that age. I really loved these young men and women and their 

Nathan, Ashley, Sarah, Amber, Kyle, Emily, Trevor, Tiffany, Maddy, and Scott

Cactus Rose

 I enjoyed taking a class from Judy Niemeyer at Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop in Arlington. She is moving toward teaching in Montana, as well as training her own fleet of teachers, that these trips are become more rare.

I already knew how to paper piece, but this advanced pattern pushes the linear to more circular designs. Also, Judy likes to machine applique. I do too, but she uses matching thread and a tiny zig-zag stitch. I prefer monofilament in smoke and clear. I used a lot of Roxanne's Glue Baste-It as well. 

I liked having everything temporarily basted when I took it to the machine. Then, after about 10 minutes, everything was stitched down.

Simply Delicious

 I began Simply Delicious with a quilt shop in Edmonds which is now defunct. That's how long it took me to finish. They would mail out a block once a month and I would watch them stack up while I tried to finish the first block. It was an apple. I remember appliqueing the first leaf on the background and being so proud, I held it up for Paul to admire. Uh-huh was about all I got. It wasn't that impressive. 

When I finished the apple block, I moved on to peaches. It seemed the next easiest. Diana asked if she could help, so I gave her the lemon and cherries. When six blocks were done, I switched to machine applique.

The currants were fussy, but sewing them on with monofilament. Prepping was still a bit of a pain due to the skinny stems.

On the pumpkin I used some Sulky Solvy which dissolves with water. I didn't like it much.

Piece o' Cake Designs was the first to start using pieced backs behind applique. It's so subtle but using low value background pieces gives depth and cohesiveness.