Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Another California Adventure

Now for the 3 and a half week sewing retreat that any sewer would give up almost anything for. Carolyn and I went to California last September to cat and house sit while my dad drove to the east coast. This time he drove to Florida for a scale convention, then went all the way to Connecticut to see my sister with plenty of visits on his drive up. Did I tell you about my dads scale collection? More on that later. 

My car was so heavy because it was filled with so much sewing stuff I could feel the difference driving over the passes. A person doesn't want to get bored with only a project or two at hand. Yes, I was the one with too many projects.



California May 2014

I absolutely love this fabric, so I took it along with great ideas floating around in my head. The problem was I didn't like my first or second idea. I ended up sewing and cutting and sewing and cutting. I do love the end results.



Collage fabrics  California  May 2014

This was the first four days. I will take a better picture after I quilt it. Yes, I will be doing it myself as it is somewhat bigger than a baby size. I have no idea what size it is!



Sammy at 16 pounds May 2014

Before I get too far into this, meet Sammy. She is a two year old Turkish Van and weighs in at 16 pounds. She is one solid cat! Not a lap cat and just starting to figure out she almost likes to be pet. Don't try to pick her up as you may be missing a finger or two. I was in charge of getting her to the groomer for her annual shave job and let me tell you that was no easy task. It took me an hour to catch her and with Carolyn holding the carrier and me trying to shove her in all the while smashing her to the floor telling her to get in the box. I thought Carolyn was going to tell me she wanted to go home and charge me with cat abuse. It was not a fun morning but I picked her up two hours later, happy as she could be, styling her new do. The pounds of hair swept up at the groomers was enough to stuff a large pillow! Moving on...



Our sewing area. May 2014

Dads house May 2014

Notice our wonderful cutting area at the bar. This must have been in the beginning of our trip as the area is too clean and organized. Did I mention my Dad collects scales? There are a few around. That is his passion like sewing is mine. And you wondered where I got my hording tendencies!



Project bags May 2014

My sister came for a visit in the middle of our stay so I made her and my niece project bags. The birds are part of the Collage fabrics and the yellow one is an old Jane Sassman fabric. My niece crochets so maybe she will use it for her projects. They are about 15" square. 



Sammy  May 2014

Did I mention Dad's scale collection? Here are a few more! And Sammy, asleep again.


BIG yo-yo's California May 2014
Carolyn bought one of the big blue yo-yo makers and I had to try it out. The addiction started again! I had brought the fabrics I wanted to use in my project from home so I was ready for some night time hand sewing. You can only get 16 of these babies out of one yard of fabric. I used 9" squares so I wouldn't have to fuss with them too much. 

Started May 2014

I am sewing together 9 yo-yo's and it makes a 10" square. I will do 7 sections across and maybe 8 down. I need 504 and I am half way there! Making the yo-yo's that is. 

Sammy May 2014

One last picture of Miss Sammy taking her bath and drinking water before bed. I do miss her but she is glad to have her daddy home again.

We were barely able to get all our stuff in the car for the trip home. We did go on a couple of F.A.R.T.'s (fabric acquisition road trips). Maybe that's why...  It was a great time. Thanks Carolyn.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

I'm Back...

I returned yesterday after a two week cat sitting/sewing retreat at my Dad's house in California while he went to see his friend in Florida. Carolyn went with me so I wouldn't get lonely. There is just no easy way to say this... but we had a BLAST! Sammy, the cat was friendly after a few days and loved us by the end. The adventures of an indoor cat is a story in itself. Our adventures were even more fun. Sewing all day every day for two weeks, it's amazing what you can accomplish.


Night Project  September 2013

Lucky for me we don't have cable TV. I became addicted to the show ID on the Oxygen channel. True murder stories. They were kind of scary but interesting. Lots of hexies were made during those hours.



Dad's - September 2013

Just one of my piles of projects. I did a lot of binding at night in front of the TV. Cut and sew on the machine in the day time hours, hand sewing at night.


Carolyn"s quilt  - September 2013

This is Carolyn's Christmas quilt she worked on.



Carolyn's Christmas wall hanging.  September 2013


Carolyn had part of this done before we arrived. She did the blanket stitching, all the gingerbread men squares and the tree with ornaments. It still needs the borders added.


Mouse Blankets

Another of Carolyn's projects. Miniature wall hangings by Mouse Blankets. The buttons are included with the pattern. All you have to have is the fabrics. So cute.

Leftovers  September 2013

Here are the projects using the leftovers cut off the quilt that I made while in California. I will post the quilt later. Did you notice the hexies are made out of the same fabrics as these?


Project Bags  September 2013

Some of these bags were made but needed the binding. Two of them were made of new fabric obtained from nearby quilt stores! 


Busy Bee Quilt Shop

Speaking of quilt stores. When I travel I have to check out any close and not so close quilt stores. This is one of the two we went to. We could have gone to one a day for the entire 14 days if we wanted to hit them all.


Zipper Bags  September 2013

Carolyn made two cool bags on our trip. She requested matching zipper bags. Here are the two I made out of the scraps from each one. We were both pleased with the results.


Zipper bag back
The back is even cool!

Carolyn's bag  September 2013

This bag of Carolyn's has 3 zippers and at least a dozen pockets. I think it is called a Professional Bag.The pattern is not the easiest to understand so that is where the saying, "two heads are better then one" comes in. Carolyn has it down to a science now.


Sammy - September 2013

We could find Sammy sleeping on the guest bed during the day while we were there. She is about 13 pounds and her hair is usually longer but she was shaved some time back to help with the fur balls on her back. She is a Turkish Van so she's not a lap cat that loves to be groomed. Too bad, as her fur is beautiful. She does love the water though.


Sammy 

Her nightly routine in her own master bath sink.



Sammy - September 2013

This is Sammy's nightly routine to wash her face and get a cool drink of water. She loves the water on her head, face and legs! She doesn't seem to worry about the other end!


Sammy

This post is long enough! Thanks to Carolyn for making the trip with me. It was much more fun than being there with just Sammy. 

Happy Sewing!