Gifts for Harmony House

Donna and I decided to brighten up the Christmas festivities at Harmony House, where my mother, Sylvia, and Donna's friend, Ruth, live. The group home houses eight elderly women, almost all of whom have varying degrees of dementia. If you have an elderly relative that lives in a full care facility, you will understand how challenging it can be to think of a meaningful gift for the residents. So, we thought bright and cheerful. We thought socks! What could be more fun than tie-dyeing a whole bunch of anklet socks! And that's just what we did! However . . .
We didn't stop there! We thought it would be great fun to make Christmas pillowcases too. On Christmas eve, we arrived right at dinner time with a gift bag for each resident. All the ladies were seated at the dining table and we think they really enjoyed their goody bags. Donna also had made quilted pocket tissue holders and we added some chocolate to the bags. While the ladies were eating, we sneaked into all their rooms and slipped on their holiday pillowcases! Not to forget the hard-working staff, we also made socks for them and fixed up a gift bag for each.

Should you ever need to find a good home for your elderly relative, I strongly recommend Harmony House or one of its two sister homes, all located within one block of each other in Rio Rancho, NM. Owned by Margaret Surrock, the homes offer round-the-clock care, in a loving environment that feels just like home. We couldn't have found a better place for our loved ones.

Convergence

For my nephew, Michael, for Christmas 2008. Michael is sixteen now and very involved in sports, particularly Lacrosse. Michael has already worked two summers for the Parks and Recreation department in his community through a special program in which youth work outdoors during the summer. I designed and stitched this quilt for him. I am so proud of him and all that he does.

Turquoise Trail

For my niece Mary for Christmas 2008. Mary is sixteen now, and will soon be off on a grand adventure to Europe sans parents. It's part of the People to People program. Mary will be traveling with other students from her community and will learn about and visit many European countries. I am so proud of her. The quilt is a twist on the more traditional Bargello quilt patterns. I began working on it with my friend, Pam Sisk. I thought it might be a good gift for Mary.

And, the Winner is. . .

Each year, we make and raffle a quilt to raise money to help purchase food for the educational raptors of Hawks Aloft. A group effort, the label above which was designed and stitched by Twila Bastian, using Bernina Embroidery Software, lists all the names of those who helped with this year's effort.
Here's the 2008 quilt in all its glory, with all the quilting completed!
And, the winner is Marilyn Cimalore of Albuquerque, NM! She purchased 6 tickets at Weem's Artfest in November. We are thrilled with the new home for our quilt. Marilyn is a nature-lover, and is the gift shop manager at the Rio Grande Nature Center. She has a high ceiling in her living room and plans to display her new treasure there! Congratulations!

Sensational Stars and Circular Borders

New as yet unnamed Star!

It has been a very busy fall with many quilting trips. The final trip was to Paducah, KY, where I was filming online classes for West Kentucky Community and Technical College. This time, I was filming two sessions, one "Sensational Stars", and the other "Designing Circular Borders". Last spring, I filmed my first session, "The Goose is Loose". You can access the classes by visiting http://www.wkctcnow.com

Once you click on the site below, click on Course Catalog and then Quilting. If you find a course you are interested in, click the Enroll button. You can enroll, pay, and complete the class all on line. Because WKTC is an accredited college, you will receive college credit for these classes.

For these two classes I decided to make double use of one quilt. The center star was shown in the first session and the borders in session number 2. I also designed 3 additional circular borders that also fit onto the center star. The quilt, shown above, is nameless as of today, but I hope inspiration strikes me soon, or you have a great idea for a name. I used two different hand-dyed fabric gradation pack from Starr Designs which I think really make this quilt sparkle. I used the 10 fat-quarter packs of Maui Magic and Cabana Cools.

If you have a suggestion for a name for the new design, please let me know.

Valley of the Mist Quilters

It was a small, but enthusiastic group that met on Sunday, Nov. 10 to explore the "Goose is Loose", designing and piecing free-form shapes. We met at the local Temecula Bernina dealership, where the shopowner stayed open for us. What we didn't know is that the local church was meeting in the next shop over. They liked to sing, and play the guitar, especially the base. It wasn't long before the whole class moved out to the front counter for our impromptu instruction. Here are just a few photos that I took that day.Rita Dominguez understood the design and stitching concepts quite well, but she really want to learn how to make three-dimensional flowers -- so that's what we did!
Rosie Caudillo, who had driven all the way from San Diego to take the class, brought show and tell to the workshop. She used teeeny little hexagons to create this free form tree in autumn colors.
Gloria Bachmann quickly caught on to the drawing part, and completed her design in record time. She also managed to finish the geese and begin assembling the parts of her design.
Abi Beaty's deisgn was based on a golf course, her husband's favorite sport. I wonder if this will be a gift for him.

A good time was had by all. And, there's just nothing like good, old-fashioned southern California hospitality.

Fallbrook CA Quilter's Guild

This trip to southern Califormia has been delighful. I just finished teaching for the Fallbrook Quilt Guild, where the class selected was Scrumptious Star Stitchery. The focus of this class is the paper foundation piecing techniques that I use to assemble almost all of my designs. The photo above shows program chairman, Elvia Dawson, advising novice quilter, Linda Bustard at the class.
Linda had never done paper foundation piecing before this class so she was excited to finish one section of her star.
Linda's friend and table-mate, Paula Walters, also a novice at foundation piecing, completed one section. Notice the adorable Halloween theme for this project.
Mikey Nail and Ursula Hohous both opted to use fabric kits provided by me for their projects.
Master quillter, Anita Bruce, whipped right through the project, completing half of her star. What an inspiring group they are! It was good fun.

The Sewing Chair

It all started innocently. Donna, my good friend and creative assistant, commented that my rolly chair didn't roll very well. She said she'd keep her eye out for one at a garage sale. When she arrived at my house today, our regular sewing day, she had words of wisdom, courtesy of Mary Moya. Seems Mary had asked if Donna had ever picked all the crud out of the rolling wheels of her sewing chair. And, then Donna spent much of Sunday afternoon picking at the wheels of her chair.

Today, we picked at the wheels of my chair.
It was ugly! Many tools and sore fingers later, we are proud to report:
The mad cleaning woman, equipped with a can of air and a can of WD40. Never again will this much garbage collect in the wheels of this chair. Next time you're in your sewing room and the wheels don't work so well, think of Mary's words of wisdom.

Show and Tell at Black Hills Quilting Safari

The stars of the Sensational Stars class had much to display at the Saturday evening 'show and tell'. Their instructor was quite proud.
Now, to be fair, students in the 'Goose is Loose' had a lot more designing to do and every quilt top was a unique piece of art.
These are but small samples of the projects they designed in class.
Imagine fellow teacher, Vi Colombe's surprise when each of the students in her lone star class made one extra diamond and then stitched them all together into this interested arrangement!