California Girl in Oz

Some of you have seen the antique quilt I'm copying. I was working on it in California just before we moved. The antique original is here now, and I'll pull it out and post a photo soon. This lovely old quilt is just too fragile to use, so I drafted it in EQ5 and am remaking it with modern fabrics in similar colors, and resizing it so it will fit on a queen or king bed...haven't decided which. Here's my first bit of sewing yesterday on the new Bernina. I have quite a few blocks made, and decided to put some of them together using the new machine. What a dream to sew on! My only problem is getting used to the Bernina quarter-inch foot. My old Elna quarter-inch foot had a little flange on the right side, so you could just rest your fabric edge against it to sew. It requires a little more concentration to guide the fabric using just the edge of the foot for guidance, but I'm getting there. Also decided to be brave and put the BSR foot on and have a little pl

Long time since I've posted, but it's just been busy as we continue to organize our new lives in a new country. Big news of the day is that I've got the new Bernina sewing machine all set up in the guestroom, in its new Horn sewing cabinet, with my new Horn cutting table right alongside...hooray! Can you see the EQ6 Upgrade box on the left in the pic below? Still in the box, but I'm hoping to get it loaded up before long. Also, the cutting table is in its folded up position, with my laptop and the attachment box for the new Bernina on it in this shot, but BOY is it huge when it's open! This is going to make my life SO much easier... And here's Patch, watching Wall TV, at last. The little hole in the wooden retaining wall used to be home to a blue tongue lizard, but lately it's been the hidey-hold of both a little bunny and a large skink (smooth-skinned, shiny lizard, for those who're wondering). Patch stares at this hole for hours, gets his head

The day we knew would come at last, has come at last! All kitties are home and safe, and we are SO happy to have them with us. Here's me, with Patch, who looked so miserable at the quarantine facility. Cloudy, his brother, is behind me, very blase, having a bath. Chloe, one of our most scaredy-cat ex-ferals, contemplates a break-out, but decides the chook pen and it's fenced yard may be an ok place to hang out until we complete the renovations and extensions to the new house. Cloudy is settling in very fast, and may be able to do some prowling around tomorrow, outside the cage. He's our most confident ex-feral. Spike is our oldest cat...a female who was mis-identified by the first vet who saw her after we adopted her, but we just couldn't rename her. She's VERY happy to be back with us. And here's DH, Ross, with Patch, Alfonse le Soot and Cloudy, getting comfortable with the new space. Didn't get photos of Frank, who was still so terrified he wouldn&#

Well, I've had the new sewing machine for a solid week, but haven't sewn a single stitch! Seems like sometimes life just intervenes and keeps us from our passion, doesn't it? I HAVE read the entire manual, and today I did set the machine up on my dining room table and prepared to wind my first bobbin. That's when I realized that I have not a single spool of thread here...they're all still in California. So, tomorrow I'll be off to the LQS to stock up on thread, and hopefully will make a first attempt with the new Bernina. I've ordered a sewing cabinet and cutting table that should be here in a week or so, and then I can get serious about setting up my sewing room. And, of course, Wednesday is pick-up day for the cats, at last...need to save lots of time for cuddling and cooing with them! I'll post a pic once they're settled in their chook house (chicken coop, for those in the U.S.)! This will be their home until we're sure they know that thi

Well, a big thanks to my friend, Margaret...she took me to Chatswood this morning and we bought my new sewing machine! It's absolutely wonderful: the Bernina Aurora 440QE with BSR. This baby is slick, slick, slick! Can't wait to open everything up and start playing. Tomorrow is visiting day at the quarantine facility, so no time to play till Wednesday, but look out after that...pictures at 11!

As promised, here are some more of my eBay purchases from a few years ago. This Improved Nine Patch is in lovely soft colors. I think it will look lovely hand-quilted, don't you? Here's the entire top. It's double-bed sized now. I'm thinking I might add a couple of borders to bring it up to at least queen-size, but I'm worried about finding something that will have the right look. Not to worry, by the time I've actually learned to hand-quilt who knows WHAT wonderful fabrics will be available! This old top looks nicer in person than in the photo. I like the simple geometric shapes and the old fabrics are lovely and crisp. And I've always been a sucker for Shoo-Fly, so how could I resist this old one? Again, it's wrinkled because I'm afraid to iron it until I'm ready to work on it. The fabric is in good shape but it is very old. So, do you think I have enough old quilt tops to keep me busy learning to hand-quilt...hah! Wretched Excess

Does anybody know why my photos aren't enlargeable when I post them? I'm saving them as ordinary jpeg files, but for some reason they don't get bigger when you click on them. They used to do it, not sure why they won't now. Also, a big THANK YOU to everybody who responded about the Lady of the Lake quilt...I'm definitely going to go for the king size. Appreciate the little nudge I needed to make this decision.

Well, after reading Rian's post about purse sizes, I had to post a pic of my new purse. I agree that it's good to pare down, and after I had major problems with my left shoulder that ultimately required a cortisone shot (UGH!) to fix, I decided to use a smaller, lighter purse. Yes, I occasionally don't have room for everything, but I just chuck whatever won't fit into the center console of the car, and away I go! I'm definitely a convert. This little number has room for cash, ID, a couple of credit cards and an ATM card, one lipstick, one chapstick, a comb and tiny mirror, keys, and an open slot for either the cell phone or my little digital camera. Neat, huh? And, as promised, here are a couple of the antique quilt tops I bought on eBay several years ago. This one was from the estate of Tony Duquette, who was a production designer for Broadway and the movies. I love to think this quilt might have been onstage or onscreen in some production or other! It

As promised, I've been ratting through boxes and tubs to find the blocks I wanted to show you. This is a Lady of the Lake quilt I designed in EQ5 to fit my California King bed. However, as you'll see, there are eight zillion little HSTs in each block, and as I go forward, I keep thinking maybe I should scale back and just make it to fit the Queen bed we have now in Australia. But if we get a King again, I'll want to have the quilt on THAT bed...decisions, decisions. Hope I have the intestinal fortitude to keep on keepin' on with it! I started this quilt a few years ago, when we lived in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. I'd been collecting those indigo blues and some Civil War blues and butternuts for a little while, and then one day found the great white windowpane plaid fabric, which I thought gave a nice crispness to the design. Discovered as I went along that with all those HSTs around the edge of each block, it helped to press the seams open, rather t

Hi, All, Hmmm, when I set myself up on Beta Blogger, apparently I didn't tick the box to allow my e-mail to show. Hopefully that's corrected now. Mysterious. I thought it would just transfer my settings as they were in regular Blogger. Could someone let me know if it's working correctly now? Thanks!

Well, Tanya rattled my cage (thanks, Tanya!) and got me off my duff long enough to post...sorry to be so quiet for so long. I'm settling in to Australia very well now and am beginning to feel human again. And best news of all...my DH arrived on Saturday, a full week ahead of schedule. Since I was posting, I decided to take the leap and move to Beta Blogger, too...seems to have worked. Now all I need is my sewing machine (Dec. 4th) and all will be well. There's so much to do to set my sewing room up, but I've been so lethargic I haven't done much yet. I think after the monumental push to get us this far, I've just needed some down time. Anyway, I've felt a little blue, but now I'm much better. Next post, I want to show you some other quilts that are in various stages of non-completion, and also a couple of antique quilt tops I got on eBay years ago that I plan to hand quilt at some stage (once I learn how to do it, that is...). Other bit of good news

Feeling human again...hooray! Visited the cats in quarantine yesterday...so, so sad! A picture is worth a thousand words...Here's Patch, looking completely miserable. And Spike and Cassie aren't much better... So, on to happier topics! Did I ever show you guys my first quilt? This was a log cabin quilt, obviously. I made all the blocks, not really tweaking to the fact that, no, really, each block is SUPPOSED to be EXACTLY the same size. After the fact I realized that these small variations were going to make for a wonky quilt, so the blocks sat for a couple of years. One day, I just said, "Blow it...I'm going to put them together." I did, and that was my first realization that sometimes a bit of variation can be quilted out...what a happy discovery! It was also my first time to try free-motion quilting, and it didn't go too, too badly. Now this quilt is on our bed in Australia. It was made for a king-size and our bed here is a queen, but don't tel

Second try at leaving SFO wasn't much better than the first. Got everyone boarded in time for the scheduled 11PM departure, taxied out for take-off, then sat, and sat and sat. Finally the dreaded voice of the pilot, "Uh, sorry folks, we can't seem to get the engines to start. We're returning to the terminal, and we'll keep you posted." This can't be happening, can it? Well, yes, it can! Back to the terminal, where they directed us to a new gate, new airplane, then told us we had to hurry and board because unless we were all on board and the doors to the aircraft closed by 1:35AM, the crew would be illegal, timewise, and we couldn't leave. Everyone scrambled, and with only about one minute to spare we got boarded and the doors closed. Third time's a charm, right? Uneventful flight, with most passengers just yucking it up because it was all so surreal. As we approached Sydney the pilot came on again. Westerly winds up to 35 knots, have to la

The best laid plans and all that...I'm still in California after all. Last night I boarded a packed-full United flight and we took off from SFO at 11:20 PM. Usually I have a glass of wine and then take an Ambien. I felt a bit hungry, so I decided to eat some dinner first. Thank heaven for that! About an hour and a bit out, I had finished eating and was about to take the pill and head to dreamland, when the voice of the pilot came floating through the dark...uh-oh! Seems we had a fuel line with a valve stuck closed. Have to jettison a whole lot of fuel and then return to SFO. Sigh. Another hour plus back, and we landed around 2AM. The powers that be rescheduled us for TONIGHT at 11PM, so I'll be having all this much fun again tonight. I felt really sorry for many of my fellow travelers for whom SF is not their home destination. I was able to catch a cab and get home to our condo, but there's a huge Oracle convention in SF this week and there are absolutely NO hot

This morning...7:45AM...all seven present and accounted for, and NONE of them happy. It was a bittersweet moment. We've been working toward this goal of getting the cats ready to fly, and tonight's the night. Poor Alfonse, the all black one, caught a claw in his eyelid this week, so he's traveling with antibiotic ointment for the quarantine people to put in. I can't visit them in Australia till next Tuesday (which is Monday California time). Hope they make the flight alright, and aren't too freaked out by all the strangers. I'm sure they all waved a fond farewell to Karen and crew at the Feline Bed and Breakfast. It really helped to have such friendly, caring people taking care of them all this time, I must say. And so, now all that remains is for me to pack up this 'puter and head for the airport. Bittersweet time, and I'll be SO glad to get there and start getting settled. Keep a good thought that my internet connection comes right up when I try it.

Wednesday is departure day for me and the cats and it seems like there are too many details to be taken care of before I go. DH will remain here, now, until mid-November, so I'll be on my own in Australia the first three weeks, except for twice weekly drives to visit the cats in quarantine west of Sydney on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This should give me a lot of practice in left-hand side of the road driving, since the quarantine facility is about an hour and a half from where we live, I think. Today I'm putting together a parcel to mail to Australia so I won't have to check any luggage: a couple of favorite kitchen knives that we've been using at the condo, a brand-new rotary cutter and some sewing notions, odds and ends that somehow didn't make it into the container. Trying to wrap up bills and banking and address changes has been sort of crazy. I think I've taken care of an address change only to discover that some part of some computer system still hasn'

Went to the PIQF in Santa Clara yesterday...what a wonderful place! So many gorgeous quilts. I took some photos and am posting a few I thought were especially interesting here. Sadly, there were so many people and it was so crowded at some places, I didn't get the names of all the quilters, but I'll post those I did get. Here was a lovely pink and yellow sampler that I really enjoyed. The quilting was nice, too. Wish I'd gotten the quilter's name on this one. And here's one especially for Tonya. Dance-Life Love Laugh Dream, by D. Wright of Eagle, ID. It is so full of life and color, and as an ex-dancer, it somehow spoke to me. I couldn't get a really good photo of the entire quilt on this next one, but the detail shot gives you an idea -- called The Purple Red and Orange One, by Carol Stapleton of San Mateo, CA. Interesting colors, lively feel, beautifully pieced and quilted. This one, Garden Kaleidoscope, by Vicky Crow of Strafford MO, was striking f

I always loved the look of Jane Stickle's Dear Jane Quilt, but was afraid to tackle it. Carol Miller at Quilt University teaches the Jane Was Nuts Class. Her idea was that the original Dear Jane blocks, finishing at 4.5", I think, meant working with lots of units that are VERY inconvenient sizes, lots of measuring and headaches. So she worked out some designs that finish at 4", and are based on simple squares and strips that are 1", 1.5", 2" and 2.5". You get the idea, anyway. These little 4" blocks are lots of fun to make...rather addictive. Once you've got a lot of fabric cut to the convenient sizes, you can play and play. Here are the 30 blocks I ended up with. You can see the detail a bit better on the photos of individual blocks, like Pinwheel Star: Stamp: Plaid: And here's the final layout I came up with to incorporate all my blocks. Since I made two of each of the designs, I will need to make another 14 or so Jane Was Nuts blocks

OK, I'm suffering severe withdrawal since I can't quilt yet. So I decided to go back through my old photos and post a few of my golden oldies, made around 2002, 2003. The first one is called Maine Chance, and I made it for my sister, Sheri, as a quilt to be raffled off as a benefit for the convalescent hospital where she works. I thought it was fun to make the lighthouse blocks in the corners, and the mariner's compass in the center. My other sister, Tracy, was redecorating her bedroom, using the colors lavender and butter yellow. So I designed this quilt (with help from Marcia Hohn's Quilter's Cache for the bow blocks) and called it the Lavender and Butter Quilt. It's queen size, but this photo shows it on my California king bed, so it looks a little too narrow. My 85-year-old Mom has bad knees, and finds that extra warmth feels good on them. Blue is her favorite color, so I made this little lap quilt for her. She received it when she was in the early stages of

Woo-hoo, what fun! Liza and I went shopping yesterday and look at my goodies...this black boucle coat with the frilly, loopy collar will be fun, I think. I don't have anything this frivolous in my wardrobe, so I'm feeling quite adventurous! Liza and I liked this green tencel blouse with the shirred sleeves so much, that we each bought one. Since she lives in the Sierra Foothills and I'm in the SF Bay Area or Australia, I doubt we'll wear it at the same functions... And isn't this wide-wale corduroy jacket with horn buttons cute? I think I'll take it to Australia with me...it just looks like country to me. Imagine it over a turtleneck, with jeans and boots. Anyway, we had an incredibly fun day of shopping. Also bought three fun pairs of socks, and a neat bracelet that has magnets in it, so you don't need a clasp...just wrap it around your wrist a few times. Forgot to take a pic of that...maybe tomorrow? Almost makes up for not having a sewing mach