So, yeah, I was going to try to post weekly, but THEN, I went to California to get the boys all set at their respective colleges, and THEN Sweetie and I both got really really really sick with a sinus infection that lasted three weeks and THEN I had a big backlog of stuff to do, including working  -by that I mean quilting on some awesome quilts made by my friends.

We had a great time in Santa Barbara,GO GAUCHOS!!

 met Kim down there and got the younger one all set for school.  We got him the coolest orange beach cruiser and checked out some great restaurants and stuff.  We took a side trip to Ventura and ventured into "Superbuzzy" headquarters!!  Kelly was soooo nice, and let us wander the warehouse of her online store that specializes in Japanese fabric and other Japan-abilia like HELLO KITTY. We shopped, shopped, left for lunch, came back and shopped more.  Sweetie was very patient.  We got some luscious loot.

I'll take him, please!

Part of my haul

Happy Mochi Yum Yum by Monica Solorio-Snow

Even the scraps are yummy

Mystery Bakery set!

Is it weird that I am a grown woman, with a law degree no less, and I still love Hello Kitty???  I think this guy would stick up for me:

Antonio Garay, NFL football player, Hello Kitty lover. Picture snagged from Yahoo!

L.A. was our last stop, where we met up with older son, had some delicious food and went to the mall for some apartment and college essentials.  His apartment is perfect for him, little kitchen, balcony, close to the bars (WHAT??) well, he is 21. . .

 Go Bruins!!

OK, so here is what has been on and off the machine since the last post:

Wedding quilt, half quilted

A beautiful log cabin quilt made by some of my quilting buddies in California, for one of their daughter's wedding.  I chose a grapevine and grapes panto for this queen size beauty.

Close up of quilting

"Modern Baby" by Gina:

With Minkee on the back!  SOOO cute!

Here is Kim's blue and orange quilt, very bright and happy.

And, Jeannie's SF Giants quilt, with fleece on the back:

and . . . 

Dr. Suess quilt by Gina

I also did an ABC's quilt for Gina, but forgot to snap a pic.

And, here is what I have been working on, on the design wall - a memory quilt made from calendar year tea towels, a commissioned quilt from my Aunt for her mother.  It will be two sided when done.  A great way to preserve the towels and see them all out at the same time.

OH, and we went to the New Mexico State Fair, yes to check out the fried foods, but also to check out my quilts that I entered.  I entered 6 items and won 4 ribbons - a first, a second and two thirds.  My table-runner and a wall-hanging did not place.  Here is Spiked Melon proudly wearing its third place ribbon:

 
Cooking has been kept to a minimum, given the sinus infections, but when we did feel better, we made cookies.  Princess cookies with our little princess.

Everyone say "sprinkles!"

Well that about does it to catch up.  Chat at ya soon, and until then, I will be going to a quilt show and vendor fair on Saturday, watching football on Sunday, and quilting every chance I get. Oh, and in case I don't get back here before then, Happy Birthday to me on the 13th.  Cheers.

Queso . . and Green Chile

Queso, it's been ages since I posted.  I am going to try something new.  Weekly posting with categories:  What's on the design wall?  What's on the Quilting Frame?  What's on the stove?  and whatever else I can think of.

Before I get to all that, I really need to be marketing my fledgling business and the website is ALMOST READY.  www.sunshinequilting.com is the site.  Check it regularly and one day it will magically appear.  Thanks to Lucy at Pearcenet designs.

SO, What's on the Quilting Frame?  The Nolting 24 pro in the Sunshine Quilting studio is getting a workout!
Here are the baby quilts I did this week:

First up is this adorable cars quilt made by my friend Jeannie.  I quilted each car differently.  The blue one has flames, the orange one has a surfboard on top, the yellow one a banana,the purple one has a star, and the red one (that has the country boy in it) has rope like a rodeo cowboy.

Next up is an airplane quilt (transportation theme here)

Loopy planes in the borders and empty spaces, filled in by loop de loops:

And Kim's playful kitties needed some string to tangle up in, so I quilted loops and tangles all over.

And here is what's on the design wall.  I had some leftovers from making a quilt (to be seen on this very blog after I quilt it), so I arranged the blocks thusly:

Then I pulled them down and came up with this pinwheel setting.  I like much better.

And, what's cooking?  As the title of this post implies, it is green chile season here in New Mexico.  If you don't know how this works, it is pretty cool.  Folks line up to buy a box or two or three of chile (15 lbs or so each), then take it outside the store and have it roasted on an open flame.  Then it is placed in bags and it "sweats" for a few hours so you can peel the skin off.  Wearing rubber gloves of course.  Then when you are   done, you put the roasted, peeled chile in zippered bags and freeze.  When needed, you take a bag out, defrost, add garlic, salt, and add to recipes, to eggs, to pizza, burgers, mashed potatoes, as desired.  Here is Sweetie laboring over the chile.

 And the finished product.   I know this looks like an episode of "Breaking Bad" (which is filmed here in the Albuquerque area) but it is really legit.  ALTHOUGH now that I say that, this stuff is treated like a valuable 'commodity' that people will ration, bargain for, trade and hoard.  It goes something like, oh crap, I only have three bags of chile left and it's only June -- the harvest is two months away.  Maybe I will call Dad and see if he has any left - I can trade him for some when we get our new supply."  SERIOUSLY.

SO my recipe of the week is anything and everything with green chile.

And, to wrap up this post, what have we been up to?  Getting 2 kids ready for college and one off to preschool.  Visiting Carlsbad Caverns, entering quilt shows.  Oh yeah, I won 2d place at one local fair, and then 1st place quilt and best of show in needle arts in another fair.  WHOO HOO!!

Tomorrow, I am taking my entries to the New Mexico State Fair.  Awesome!!  Wish me luck, see you next time.

Topsy, Turvy world

In just 12 days, Sweetie and I are moving this quilt wonderland to New Mexico. We are starting our business, Sunshine Quilting, custom long arm quilting and sewing machine repair, and looking forward to decorating and enjoying our new home. . . we will link to the business website when it is up and running .. .

I am already going crazy with furniture purchases, fabric purchases for all the home decorating I will be doing. I am having sooo much fun!!

Here is the kitchen fabric. Capri by Pati Fried. I got this and a bunch of the other coordinating fabric.

Get it from the super nice peeps at over the rainbow

For the master bedroom:

I hopped over to fabric worm, and got some delish yellow and gray fabrics designed by Joel Dewberry (aviary) and Jenean Morrison (silent cinema)and a little Tula Pink, too . the plan is to make coordinating stuff to go with the bedding we got at macy's:

I know what you are thinking: why didn't I just make a quilt? CUZ. I like this one. and it's already made, so we won't be shivering waiting for me to unpack the quilty stuff.

Alrighty then, gotta go pack. TTFN

Orange you glad I didn't say plate?

I have to have these plates from Crate and Barrel. That's all.

Fabulous Students in my Quilt Class at Thimble Creek

I am teaching another class at Thimble Creek, (see previous classes here) based on the pattern "Lady Liberty Goes to Hawaii" by Karen Stone, and my version that I call "Spiked Melon" and blogged about here. I would like to share the works in progress of my awesome students: This is Renee's version. She is going to do pinks, greens and blues, with hints of yellow. Awesome fabrics, lots of action with value. Another way to make this quilt is with a focus fabric. Above, Sue is focusing on the large cabbage rose print, and then giving variety in the way she complements the fabric in each square. Stunning, regal, french. LOVE IT Here is Maureen's quilt, which last week was getting to sweet and pink for her, so she spiced it up with some chocolate brown and some pretty, deep green. She is also going to add a spot of orange here and there. Very beautiful. Pati made hers in one of our prior classes and was so nice to bring it in and let us show it off. You must get close and check out her unique and beautiful quilting, and the detail in the curved border. Pati, you are phenomenal. HOT HOT HOT! This is Lindsay's wild and colorful version. I keep calling it "fruit punch". Believe it or not, Lindsay originally planned to use mostly solids, and mostly deep dark plums and magentas. The quilt had other ideas. Go, Quilt, Go! Next Monday is our final class, and I am sew looking forward to seeing these quilts progress.

Further Domination

OMG. We bought a long arm machine!!! Yes, yes, yes, I am about to enter the world of long arm quilting. I have been test driving and borrowing and renting, and I have decided to "just do it" So we drove up to the dealer's place in Anderson in the shadows of snow-capped Mt. Shasta - beautiful drive -- and did the deed. I got a Nolting 24" with a 12 foot frame. WOW. It's so exciting!! Taking delivery this summer. I cannot wait to start quilting like a madwoman. . .

next stop: total quilt domination

Sweetie has started a sewing machine repair and resale business to add to our efforts to dominate quilt making from all sides. Check it out: http://www.pedal2themetal.vpweb.com/

We have 4 machines for sale already. Refurbished, clean, running smooth. A Singer 185k, which is a 3/4 size Singer that sews like a Featherweight. Sweetie and his teacher estimate that the motor has less than 5 hours of sewing time on it!! It is soooo cool and retro, I want to keep it (see, bad picture of the cute machine above); a Kenmore 8, which is a clean, basic workhorse of a machine, very simple styling; a Brother VX 970, also super clean, rarely used by its prior owner; and a vintage Zig Zag Dressmaker that looks like a Rocket ship; like the kind of machine Jane Jetson would sew on.

Pictures to go up later . . . so, stay tuned!

Quiltilicious has gone Retail

My sweetie (aka Jcakes), Kim and I have gone retail - we have a spot to hawk our wares, at a store called Ambiance, in Martinez. 816 Main Street. Quilts, totes, bags, quilt kits and other handmade finery or foolery. We are marketing our stuff as CherryLime Quilts.

Here is one of the quilts for sale:

I forget the exact dimensions, but I think it's about 48x54. Good baby quilt. $175 and it could be yours!! More pictures to follow of other awesomeness.

Recent Randomness

Queso, I had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family, yadda yadda, super happy with my wonderful fella, (ridiculously happy, if you must know), went on a quilting retreat to Napa with the fabulous Sandy Klop as our fearless leader, worked on the Alice quilt, etcetera etcetera. Now you are up to date, and I can tell you that:

I am the proud owner of a Sizzix big shot pro die cutter! seriously!! At retreat, Sandy had her Accuquilt cutter there. OMG, so awesome to cut out quilts in lightning fast speed. But after doing some research, I decided the sizzix was a better fit for me. It is compatible with sizzix and accuquilt and other dies. The accuquilt won't take the sizzix :-( The pro is a beastly model that is super steady and easy to crank with a super big opening. I am looking forward to "cranking" out some good stuff soon, so stay tuned, dear reader.

Queso, wanna see what have I done lately? Well, at retreat, I took some leftover corners from the Peeps Quilt, and made them into pinwheels. . . then, I took the pinwheels and tossed them on a design wall and started randomly piecing them together with leftover background dots (love that Lakehouse fabric) and here is where I am headed -- I hope to have a small wallhanging that looks somewhat like flowers on stalks - I will applique in some stems and leaves. Picture on the left is near the start of the process and picture on the right is further along. I just love the idea of using those leftovers - Kim calls this one "stale Peeps" since it uses the leftovers from the Peeps quilt. I love it. The name that is. Not sure how this one will turn out.

these yummy bits are going to be sewn together to make a cushion, called a "honey bun pouf" - Amy Butler pattern. I found all of these fabrics in Napa at Quiltworks, and they were all ON SALE. HALF OFF. woot woot! I think they will go so well with my lime green shag rug from IKEA, don't you?


From the beach in San Diego the week after Christmas: We had such a great time! Took Pumpkin and the giant boys to Disneyland, then to San Diego to meet up with my Dad and Polly. We had a fabulous time!! Stayed at the Loew's resort in Coronado. I highly recommend it.

no, mine is not the hairy leg, thank you.

We even made playdough party cakes! My apologies to the staff who had to deal with the crumbs in the carpet of the hotel. Yikes.

Here we are getting ready to have dinner. Pumpkin is entertaining us with magic tricks. She is sitting on oldest boy Anthony's lap. Brian is to the right, and Anthony's girlfriend Jessica (Pumpkin's new bff) is on the left.

OMG, how cute did these purses turn out?!?!?! I know, right? Hella cute. These were made by me, using the amazing Monica's pattern, for my cousins Katie, Meghan, Madison and Shelby for Christmas. I am really pleased! oh, and there is my lime green shag IKEA rug.

The rug, again, as backdrop for the poncho I made for Pumpkin to wear at Disneyland. too flippin' cute. After this picture was taken, I added a wide border of the minnie mouse flannel to the edge. This pattern was from a book that I adore by Lotta Jansdotter.