California Girl in Oz

It's been a fun trip so far, with several lovely days in Los Angeles, visiting family and friends. However, yesterday has to have been the trip from hell... Left the hotel for LAX at 7:30 AM, for a 9AM departure to Detroit via Chicago. Late departure of one hour...no biggie. In Chicago, we boarded a small jet for the flight to Detroit, but after sitting on board for half an hour or so the flight was cancelled due to a mechanical failure. Scramble to assemble coats, laptops, rollaboards, race out to the Concourse (C), get info on next flight to Detroit, race to Concourse B to line up for that plane. Clever DH called on his cellphone to secure seat assignments, so our seats are at least confirmed. Waiting, waiting, waiting to board, when I noticed my purse was missing! Panic and consternation, DH implores gate agent to check with maintenance on the scrubbed flight. She reports it may take awhile, and my best chance to recover purse is to remain in Chicago while she tries to tr

Yes, I've been sewing again, and making good progress on the antique quilt remake. But BOY am I tired of these 2.25" squares with triangles on each side that make up the square in a square for the large pink squares! I think I'm down to the last 100, and here are some pics of where things are. Here are the last cut pieces of these yucky corner units...I'll be so glad to see the end of them! And here are the various bits awaiting being put together. You may recall, this is just for the drop sections of the quilt. The main top section is already pieced and awaiting quilting, once I find just the "right" backing for this quilt. Maybe that will be a task for me while I'm in the U.S. Oh, WAIT! I just noticed those large triangles in the middle left of the above picture. Those ALSO need those corner units on two sides...GRRRRRRRR. That means another 40 or so of those units to be pieced. Sigh! Will this quilt ever be finished? Gives me new apprecia

Well, I guess it's back to biz as usual tomorrow...I finished a few more blocks for Clare's Leukaemia Project and am ready to mail them off. It was really fun working with the red and white, I must say. I discovered that I had left nearly all the white fabric in California, so my choices for white were a bit limited, but I had lots of reds. Do you like my wonky heart block on the lower left? I paper pieced it, just messing around to see what I could come up with. It could definitely be improved if I'd planned ahead a bit better, but I decided not to obsess too much. With family lunch in the middle of the day, I was lucky to finish these up. Company coming tomorrow, so I won't be back at the pink and blues until Tuesday. Were off to the States on Jan. 23, so I'd like to get as much done as possible before we leave. I know I'm going to be doing a lot of fabric shopping while I'm there...I'm planning to take an empty suitcase! Of course, none of yo

Well, I'm finally recovered from the yucky cold, and have spent a couple of days sewing and having fun. The antique quilt is proceeding apace...I've finished that large section that covers the top of the queen-size bed, and will now move on to the drop sections. But FIRST, I need a break from pink and blue! So, I decided to play today with red and white...and here are my first two blocks for Clare's Leukaemia Quilt Project. These are two blocks from Marcia Hohn's Quilter's Cache, Mosaic on the left and Indian Star on the right. What fun to just play around with my red stash for awhile! Tomorrow I'll probably get back to the work at hand, but just for today...I'm having a good time!

Sorry to say, I've been in bed the last two days with the dreaded lurgy...nasty head cold, slight fever, headache, chills, the whole magilla. Feeling a bit better today, but doubt I'll be back at full speed until tomorrow. So, I've been doing a little reading of everyone else's blogs today, but this post will be wimpy...just like the way I'm feeling today. Did want to report that the In-Laws' 60th Anniversary Party was a roaring success, in spite of the fact that FIL had this same cold. He held up amazingly well, considering how yucky this thing makes you feel. We're planning to have an outing later this week, when we're all recovered, to see The Queen. I LOVE Helen Mirren, don't you?

At last, I've actually gotten some sewing done! A quick trip to Sydney to pick up my new No. 57 Quarter-Inch Patchwork Foot (THANKS, Jane Ann!), and I'm in business. As I mentioned, I think, this remake of an antique quilt is going to be completed and quilted in sections. As you see, I've finished all the blocks for the top of the queen size bed and just need to finish sewing them all together. Two sections are sewn, so when I complete the third, I'll quilt the entire top. Then I'll add the drop to the sides and the end, and voila...it will be the first quilt I've completed in Australia! So now, I'm covered in threads again and loving it. I'm sure none of YOU ever get covered in threads, do you? Hah, liars! Hope I can keep my momentum on this quilt. I'm finding I'm getting tired of the soft colors already and thoughts of my Dear Jane and Lady of the Lake quilts keep intruding. I'm going to try to persevere, though. Meanwhile, I'