California Girl in Oz

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

Well, I tried to post this morning, but Blogspot is playing silly buggers again, so it all went bye-bye. Suffice to say, I tried to post that I'm going shopping this morning with my friend, Liza...fun! Will report on the damage to my credit card tomorrow...