Half Year Review - 2015

Well, howdy, Internet friends!  Seems that I sort of disappeared from blogging the last half of 2015.  So, it may take awhile to catch you all up; I’ll resist my initial inclination to do it all at once!

I started a new job last year, in May, which coincides with when my blogging dropped off the map.  I’d been at my previous employer for almost 10 years, so it’s been a bit of a transition.  I’m still in the same tech field, though it’s a much smaller department, and even get to travel and go to conferences.  I think I’m finally getting comfortable and I really like the people I work with.

I also started a small quilt group.  It wasn’t an intentional decision, just a group of my friends who I wanted to spend time with and, well, it just sort of blossomed.  This photo is from one of those sessions where they helped me with a collection of scraps; what happens at sew day, stays at sew day!

Interestingly enough, the majority of the group are teachers, whether by formal training or natural ability.  We call ourselves the Grateful Threads and we meet once a month, working on both personal and group projects.  There’s so much laughter, fun, and learning that goes on, I can’t believe how lucky I am to know each and every one of them.

I bought a Pfaff 7570 sewing machine this summer because not only do I love my Pfaff machines, this one is capable of embroidering and came with the original cable that will allow connection to an (older) computer and a TON of embroidery cards.  I’ve had some challenges getting it connected so I can make up the embroidered quilt labels as I intended, but that’s an ongoing process.  I’ll keep you posted!



Fast forward to the recent holiday season, and I had several customer quilts I had promised for Christmas.  I finished by the 12th of December, so I helped a friend with her first quilt, which was made up of a variety of 5” blocks sewn together and a dark blue minky back.  She wanted to give it as a gift for Christmas and it was so much fun watching her gain confidence in the process.  I didn’t get any photos of the quilt, but I’m sure she did so I’ll post them later.


I also made 4 hats on my bulky knitting machine, 3 of them using this EASY pattern:

http://knittsings.com/how-to-machine-knit-a-basic-easy-stocking-hat

For the 4th one I adapted a hand knitting pattern that allows for a ponytail at the top so that my long-haired niece could wear it:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/holey-hat-2


It was fussy to do because I don't have a garter bar for the bulky, much less know what I'm doing with adapting patterns or moving stitches around!  LOL!
I'm planning on getting my ribber set up in the next couple of weeks because I really want to start making a sweater that uses ribbing and I REALLY don't want to hand knit it.

I’m also looking forward to trying a  new pattern for a Quarter Crown hat pattern that not only is it a new technique to learn but I'd like to contribute some chemo hats to a gal who only takes hand knitted hats made in the round because a seam is too rough on the chemo head.

http://slisen.blogspot.com/2016/01/quarter-crown-for-hats.html

I’m definitely looking forward to this coming year.  There will be many challenges but I’m going to embrace them all the best I can.


Happy New Year!

Family Vacation

My brother and his family lives on the East coast, my mom and I both live on the West coast.  Subsequently, we don't get together very often, but this year we made a special effort t get together for a family vacation, during the kids' Spring Break.

It was fun to get together and see the changes in the kids.  After all, it's been at least 3 years since I've seen them and they now range in age from 10 to almost 13.  Family dynamics can always prove interesting, especially when everyone has strong personalities and stronger opinions, but we managed to compromise and everyone got to do something they enjoyed. :-)

First on the list was a visit to the Liberty Bell.  I've wanted to see it since I was in 6th grade, during the bicentennial, and it brought me to tears.

We were able to visit the Hershey

and Synder-of-Hanover factories, where industry of the nation was demonstrated, and where my engineer brother was able to better explain some of the technologies that impacts his daily life.

My mom has always wanted to visit Gettysburg, and we spent one afternoon at the museum, cylorama, and battlefield.

Since I'm the only quilter in the family, I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to visit any quilt shops; unthinkable for most quilters visiting Amish country!  So, when my sister-in-law suggested that I put together a list of places to visit so we could fit something in, I was delighted!

Fortunately, I'd met a quilter in the Denver airport, Carole, from Quilts By Carole. Since Carole is familiar with the area, she later texted me some suggestions for places to visit, and once again I wished I could have convinced my family to make this a quilting vacation!  I had a great time talking with her and and found out we had a lot in common. She offered me a bottle of water and shared that she is also an ABM Innova owner with her own quilting business, the same passion for technology and quilts, and even has the same cell phone! We simply didn't have more time to find out what else we had in common!


There were so many places I would have loved to go, but with only one day allotted for such activities, and lots of distance to cover, I was lucky that my mom agreed to one quilt shop stop, in addition to our Amish community stop. We went on an Amish buggy ride, visited an Amish dairy farm, and found Bird-In-Hand Bake Shop where we had the best caramel rolls I've had in the longest time; they reminded me of the ones my mom used to make when I was a kid.

We traveled about the Pennsylvania countryside and Mom got to see the farms and scenery along the back roads, always a favorite activity of hers. Eventually we found Burkholder's Fabrics in Denver, PA, which houses approximately 33,000 bolts of fabric....with only 40 minutes before closing time!

I met the owner who explained how the fabric was organized in each of the three rooms and started browsing.  Keeping in mind my objective to finish some works in progress, I purchased a fat quarter bundle in various shades of blue that was half off so I could increase the size of the blue rail fence quilt I'm making; if not the size, at least there will be greater variety!  I completed my transaction 1 minute before closing; it was probably a good thing I only had 40 minutes!

Getting together with family has definitely helped me get my mind off the stress of work, home chores, and unfinished quilts.  I'm eager to get back home, see my husband, "the quilt guardians" and to start quilting tomorrow, working on customer quilts, with periodic breaks moving loads of laundry from washer to dryer.

Have you ever traveled with a family of seven??