Hot Time in the City

Most of us bloggers tend to post less frequently in the summer because we are busy with so many other parts of our life. I am no exception. Six weeks have passed. Lots of cleaning, purging of old stuff, a bit of weight loss (yay), and planning for changes which will eventually show up on this blog.

My sewing projects continue to progress....

The red binding on "Allietare" - almost finished.

A couple of rows are assembled on "Colorado Sunshine".

"Marigold Field" is back from being longarmed and will soon be bound in orange.

I decided to remove blue triangles from "1860's Revival" and replace with large triangles spanning two blocks to cut down on thickness of seams converging. If that doesn't make sense, wait until the fall and I will post a picture.

Then I started a new project (gasp). Okay, it was simply an effort to use up some of the fabric scraps accumulating in a BIG box. And it was an easy, mindless activity. I have a nice pile of these string sections started. They will eventually build up into THIS quilt.

And life would not be complete without some FLYING. 

My husband and I flew in a historic Ford Tri-Motor. Very cool [and noisy]!

And we played around the air on cooler evenings, practicing takeoffs and landings as all pilots do.

Then I had a nasty bout of Lyme's from an infected tick bite. I have lived here nearly 20 years, working in my garden, hiking through the woods, trimming weeds around our country property and had never had anything like this happen. Luckily I saw a doctor right after the rash appeared. A few weeks of a heavy-duty antibiotic and I am as good as new. You can bet I spray on insect repellent every time I go outside. 

BEFORE

AFTER

And life goes on.....

Another One in Queue

Yes, I know it's been a few weeks since I last posted. After remodeling a bathroom and painting a kitchen, I was finally able to sew a bit.  Today Allietare became a flimsy and was dropped off at my local longarmer.  The picture is a bit blurry because I had a hard time holding still, as I was so excited to see it almost finished. Bonnie Hunter designs some really beautiful quilts.

Mother Earth's binding was finished last week and is ready for gifting.

Orange Crush blocks are done and ready to assemble.I even have the perfect border fabric. Just need to keep looking for the right backing.

Next I will have to decide whether to tackle assembly of 1860's Revival or Blueberry Hill. Maybe a bit of both.  Then I can finish up the blocks for Colorado Sunshine.  Too bad Colorado isn't experiencing much sunshine today. They got 22 inches of snow last night and today. IN APRIL!  Thank goodness I am on the east coast where it is sunny and in the 60-70s.

In between work and house projects, I am watching the weather to see when I can fly again. Tomorrow is the next sweet spot. I'm looking forward to slipping the bonds of earth.

Christmas Aftermath

Although we who live on the US east coast had a rainy Christmas rather than a white one, I enjoyed a quiet time at home opening gifts I truly wanted.  Among those received, check out the infamous Quilter pajamas:

and a t-shirt nod to my other favorite hobby:

Like many of you, we could not resist watching a 3D version of the latest Star Wars episode. Can you believe my teenager had never ever seen a Star Wars movie????  After Christmas, we began a Star Wars marathon, starting with Episode 1 (rather than film date order).

I also put in a few hours sewing on Allietare, the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt of 2015.  I am over halfway through both Clue 4 and Clue 5. HERE is the current linky page.

Naturally I indulged in a bit of guesswork on the block design.  Who knows?  Bonnie likes to keep us guessing!

Massey En Masse

As soon as I awoke on Friday, I looked up Bonnie's Clue 2 for Allietare mystery quilt. After a couple hours cutting fabrics for Allietare and continuing work on my Orange Blossom quilt (based on Bonnie's Orange Crush pattern), I was ready to sew.  I am happy to report that all 20 sets of "headless geese" are done along with the cutting of neutral, black and gray. All I need to do to finish up is to sew the neutral rectangles to those "headless geese".

It was great to work on both quilts at once, each acting as leader-ender projects for the other. I am trying to decide if I want to put the Orange Crush blocks on point as Bonnie designed or lay them out as a straight set.  The first makes a straight grid and the latter makes a diagonal grid (opposite what you would expect).  I prefer the the diagonal grid. The straight set requires more blocks while the diagonal set requires some half blocks to fill in the side triangles.  The limiting factor is the constant blue print used in center of the whirly block and there is only enough for 32.  So it will work out as a 8x8 square quilt. I can always add a print "bar" across the top and bottom to extend the quilt and echo the bar in the outside border. Or not. At least the name of this quilt made itself known - Orange Blossom - from the orangey "flower" blocks. Progress so far:  22 blossoms, 16 whirlys.

On Sunday, hubby and I flew to Massey Aerodrome for their annual Christmas party. The weather was great with low wind and a touch of haze. That means everyone in the area decided to fly in, too. There were over 200 airplanes on the field!  We were parked in rows near the hangers and on the crosswind runway and along the taxiway next to the active runway. There were RVs (the home-built aircraft, not campers), Sonex, a Kitfox, FIVE Cessna 170s including mine, 3 Cessna 195s, several 140s, several Bonanzas, several little bi-planes, three ultralights, a gyroplane, a V-tail Bonanza, an Eurcoupe, a Stationair, numerous Aeroncas, Cubs, Luscombe,s Citabrias, and a Stearman, Many of us stood atop the hill and watched as many as 12 airplanes in the pattern lined up to land. Then we walked the field to check out the various aircraft. They even had an antique car section next to the DC3.

The really interesting part of our trip was the clear deliminator line over the haze layer at 1200'. We flew above the haze and saw a sharp line between upper sky and the haze layer. Okay, I'm not describing it very well, but I had never seen anything quite like it. Very cool!

Later that day, my daughter dropped by for a visit (hmm, she should be studying for finals!) and free food.  It was nice to catch up with her. We see less and less of her as she stretches her wings, learning how to live independently of us.

Thankful for Allietare

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving!  Even though I was visiting family over the holiday week, I was anxiously awaiting Clue 1 of Bonnie Hunter's Allietare mystery quilt. And Bonnie came through once again with lots of pieces, starting off with hundreds to make in the first clue. I had planned to make only half of the parts then decide after the reveal if I wanted to complete the full size. But I started cutting and cutting, and pretty soon had all the parts ready to sew. I sewed half yesterday and will finish the rest this week. Allietare!

During our visit with family in the midwest (a mere 22-hour drive away), we went to a wine-tasting event. The new winery owner, an energetic local attorney named Mary, gave a personal tour of her tasting room and event center. She had lined the walls with wood slats reclaimed from lots of old barns in the area. Many of the furnishings were collected from old buildings and hotels around the state. The vintage they served had lots of promise. Once they are licensed to actually sell their wine, I will have to visit again and buy some.

The guys were more interested in the vintage Chevy truck. Go figure....

Orange flowers and Allietare

In the early morn while my mind was free-flowing and not quite awake, I had an epiphany about my Orange Crush quilt mentioned in my previous post.  Rather than all those green squares, let's make the orange into a flower rather than a plus sign. After finally waking up and starting my day, I sewed a few sample blocks.

BEFORE

AFTER

Definitely better!  I got excited again and made even more:

This weekend Bonnie Hunter announced the colors of her new mystery quilt Allietare.  I should have just enough of the colors in my stash to make a 1/2 size quilt. After the big reveal I can decide to go shopping or just finish up.  In the meantime, gotta finish some gifts in between working on Orange Crush!

On a higher note, 90 Bravo is out of the maintenance shop and flying again!!! My hubby and flew down the Chesapeake to have lunch at a local airport diner. It was a beautiful fall day, cool and bright with fall foliage. This is a picture I borrowed but cannot seem to find the photographer to give proper credit. This looks like one of the roads near my house.