Inspiration from Hogwarts

To see what is on my design wall, go here.  I have not been in the studio since last Wednesday and will not get back in there until this Wednesday.  Why, you ask?  Well, I am currently in Orlando and am visiting with Harry Potter at Universal Studios Theme Park.    I am here for quilting  inspirational purposes, only.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  Oh, and I am also visiting with my sister and brother in law (more about them tomorrow).

And here is the happy couple (remember we are belatedly celebrating our anniversary) with their mugs of Butter Beer.  To us it tastes like a light, somewhat sweet root beer and then they put a marshmellowy foam on the top.  It was good but a little too sweet to ask for seconds.  I will, however, be drinking my diet root beer in my mug from now on.

We went Sunday and walked all around the park, checking out all the rides and points of interest and even picking up a couple of t-shirts.  Today we will be going back to go on some of the rides (none of the roller-coaster type ones) and eating at Mythos, a well ranked theme park restaurant. 

The part of the park I was most impressed with is Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. 

This was our first view and with all the people, it reminded me of when all the children and parents were there getting school supplies to go to Hogwarts School. 

 

 

 

 

And you can even buy your own magic wand but I’m guessing they don’t teach you how to use them as well as Harry and Hermione. 

And then on to Hogwarts.  We didn’t go on the ride, yet, but walked through and it is very impressive.  Loved the talking pictures and the little talk by Dumbledore. 

We did visit other parts of the park. Oh, did I say that my sister came with us?  Here we are with one of the participants in Jurassic Park.  I do plan to continue our tour tomorrow so please check back.  Meanwhile be sure to see what people who are at home and sewing are doing by going to Judy’s blog. 

Ongoing Progress

This is block 9 of the LCQAL at Moose Quilts. I liked that she gave us four different layouts to choose from, and each one was great.

And here are all nine blocks, together. I am beginning to get an idea of what I may want to do with them but of course I will have to wait for the next 3.

On Monday I got my Hearts Desire Block 1 all appliqued down. The color is really a little brighter but it was dark when I finally got a chance to take this picture.

And that is all I am going to be able to sew this week. Tomorrow is my long day in FL teaching Weight Watchers. Then on Friday DH wants to go look at a car he thinks I would like. This happened because I mentioned that people were driving with the tops down on their cars last Thursday. I have had a convertible for many years but my current car is a hardtop. DH LOVES to trade cars and this was all he needed to start internet shopping. Anyway, he has found two dealers within driving distance and I guess we will be checking them out on Friday.

And Saturday we are going to finally get to celebrate our anniversary that was postponed in January (see post). But Saturday we will be driving down to Orlando and visiting with both my sister and brother-in-law and Harry Potter. I am stoked!! We will be gone until Wednesday of next week but I will taking pictures and checking in along the way.

Design Wall 2/21/11

 

This is my Design Wall for today.  It is the small wall in my quilting room.  On the bottom is Block 2 of Henrietta Whiskers.  Above that are the hearts for Block 1 of Hearts Desire, the new BOM from Esther Aliu.  And above them are the background squares for Hearts Desire.

 

Isn’t this cute?  And so easy to do.  I even was able to machine embroider the sign.  Once again I still have hand embroidery to do but that will have to wait, I am still doing that on the Snowbound blocks.

 

Here is a close up of the hearts.  I do fusible applique so with them I have put fusible inner facing behind them.  There are more parts, some I have started and one I will be working on today.  I have only done one other Esther quilt (12 Days of Christmas) and she is really challenging.

Now, be sure to drop by Judy’s blog to see what all those other quilters are working on.

Red Snappers find a Home

I have found the perfect place to store and display my new Red Snappers.

First, I collect owls, primarily hollow glass owls. They are all over my house and have invaded the studio, too. I recently set up this display in the quilting room and when the Red Snappers came I was looking for the perfect place to store them, especially when I saw that they came in three different sizes. And then this perfect idea came to me.

This is one of two giant owls and the 4’ snappers stand up perfectly in him.

This is a 1’ cookie jar. This one came without a lid (I have three others with lids that hold parrot food) and is perfect for the 2’ snappers.

And this is a glass (I have 6 of these, most hold thread scraps). This little one is holding the 2” little snappers.

Isn’t this a really cool Red Snapper family? They make me smile every time I come into the room.

Happy Valentine’s Day

My design wall for 2/14/11. It contains the Diva, which is no closer to getting quilted, my block for the Layercake Quilt Along, and my Journal Quilt for February.

This is the latest LCAQ. It is basically a D9P with a twist: the original 9 patches are not all the same size or even square. Kind of different, huh?

And this is my February Journal quilt, in process. The little pictures of my quilts are not stitched down yet: I haven’t decided if I will just quilt them down or crazy quilt them.

But once I make that decision I will be adding this:

Then I will be trimming it to 8 1/2 x 11.” And I think the name of this quilt will be “I heart quilting.” The idea for this quilt came while I was driving 120 miles to attend a quilt show. I guess I do heart quilting, don’t I?

This quilt is done. This picture was taken while I was sewing the binding down Sunday. This is a large, heavy, flannel quilt: what a wrestling match. Now be sure to go over to Judy’s blog to see other people’s creations.

Almost Finished & Nature

The quilting is finished.

And I am pleased.  However, today was supposed to be the day I put the binding on so I could be really warm tonight.  BUT, in order to do that I would have to clean off the cutting table (two BOMs on there) to cut the binding strips and then clean off the sewing table (strip blocks on there) in order to sew them together and then on.  So I decided to spend the day doing laundry and reading instead.

I did take some time out to watch this.  Here you see our cat watching a bird at our smaller birdfeeder. 

 

However, the birds seem to be at the smaller tree to the right where the larger birdfeeder is.  Each time the cat changed trees, so did the birds.  It was really funny.

 

And this is our new birdfeeder.  I found it in a shop for only $27.  The top is fused glass and the birds really seem to love it.  The cats, not so much.  The seed is easy to get to and the birds can fly away quickly.  Nature is so much fun to watch.

Another Monday, Another Design Wall

And here is mine.  The Diva is a quilt top that has been completed for a couple of years.  I decided to put it on the wall so that I would see it and decide how to quilt it.  Next to her is Boot 2 from Molly’s Place.  Can’t see it clearly?  Well, here is a close-up:  .  Now isn’t that something?  I don’t know what got into me but the body of the boot is Kaffe fabric that I bought and although I loved it, it never played well with anything else in the stash.  But doesn’t it look great on a boot?  And, this boot is completely appliqued down and ready to go.  Next to it is Boot 1 and above it are the two Underground Railroad blocks for the LQS BOM.

My focus on Sunday was quilting the flannel log cabin.

I am using a panto from Urban Elementz and Valdani thread.

  On the back I am using prewound Bottom Line: doesn’t it look nice?  I have about four more rows to do but fatigue set in and I decided to take a football break. 

One of the reasons for the fatigue is the LINT.  After every pass I am having to clean out the bobbin and machine.  Look at all that lint!  I don’t get that much when I clean out the lint trap on my dryer. 

So now you need to check out Judy’s blog to see what other’s are up to.  Have a great week.

Fun Weekend, so far

Today I went to a quilt show in Robertsdale, AL.  It is held each year at the UMC and it is wonderful.  It is a combination new and old quilts.  I am always impressed with the workmanship I see.  Of course this picture is not of a quilt, it is what I bought at the quilt show.  I have wanted to make a black, white and yellow quilt and I couldn’t pass up the teal bundle.

And this week I got my Red Snappers.  I can’t tell you how excited I, and my arthritic hands were to get them.

Here is the backing laid out and I am putting the snap part on.  A plastic “dowel” has been inserted inside the leader and I am now snapping the “snap part” on.  They are really easy to put on and if it hadn’t been for my forgetting to put the backing behind the tension pole, it would have been a snap, pun intended.

All I had to do was align the backing on the leader and pop the snapper on.  And just think how easy it will be to take this off.  I am stoked. 

Tomorrow I will be starting to quilt this flannel quilt.  I really need it since it is going to be 28F tonight, way too cold for AL.

  See how ready I am.  Now all I have to do is decide which panto I am going to use. 

And when I get tired I will be trying to come up with something really cool to use my new 2 1/2” strips.  Isn’t quilting fun?