Thursday, April 30, 2020

April One Monthly Goal

I'm late!  But I want to post quickly, so it counts, right?? lol  
I am almost done with my Island Batik Borders challenge.  I need to add more backing since I loaded it wrong on the Handiquilter Amara long arm.  I haven't done many small quilts, and hope I don't do that again, but need to add more backing, and plan to finish that last bit of quilting on my regular machine.  
Here's a photo before quilting.

I'll add more about this when it's done and gets its own blog post, but the center is supposed to be Stained Glass look, that I designed a few years ago, using Island Batik basics.  I added the border, wanting it to look like lattice.  

I did finish the Island Batik March quilt, which used the Graphic Gems collection, and the Accuquilt GO! BOB Storm at Sea die, provided by Island Batik, and Accuquilt.  More on that, later, too.  I want to get some "fancy" photos.  


I did finish the 2 quilts for Island Batik's Fall 2020 market, but you can't see them, and shipped them off, and made over 30 masks so far. And this purse, which was a custom request by my son, to give to a friend of his who loves the Giants.  The pattern is from Pink Sand Beach designs. 




I also assembled all of the Sewing Sewcial Shop Hop blocks I've received so far.  I'm waiting on one more to arrive.  

Whew, just in time!  I'll do a more detailed post on the 2 Island Batik quilts soon!  

Thanks for visiting. 
Maryellen





Friday, April 17, 2020

Wheel of Fortune Trip Part 2

Bags out in the hall by 7 AM, breakfast buffet until 8, bus leaves at 8:30 for Sedona and The Grand Canyon.  That was the message from our guide, Brian, last night.  If you missed Part 1, it's here.  
So, Matt and I set our alarms, he showered and dressed, and went down to breakfast.  I followed a little later.  At first, because of Covid-19, we weren't sure we would have buffet, but the food was great, and we were in a private conference room.  A server was there to make sure we had hot stuff, and it was nice to see the group again.  We did more introductions and more questions about how I won the trip.  A couple from Australia, and Marilyn and Vic from Scotland, a few from Canada, and another couple from Long Island, as well as New Jersey, and Noele from Lake Placid, NY were some of the wonderful people on the trip.  This was Saturday, March 14.  We got on the bus, and got more information about the things we would see and do over the next few days.  A quick bathroom stop included a great photo opportunity with Saguaro Cactus.  





 I loved seeing the topography change.  It was also getting colder, the closer we got to Sedona.  





Noele, who has become a dear friend.  Of course, her mom's a quilter.  She gets me! lol

Our lunch stop was in the northern tier of the shops in Sedona, and it was fun to walk around for about 2 hours.  I liked looking at the art and styles of the buildings, as well as the view.  Matt found a sweet dog bone plaque with Hazel's name on it.  We do love Hazel! 




We drove through Sedona towards the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, again seeing more sights, stopping occasionally, and watching our huge tour bus being expertly driven by Tammy, around a series of switch back turns.  Up, and down, and "There's a bear" and we have time for a 15 minute stop for more photos.  The river along the road was roiling!  It was high, and very fast, and some of the houses on the other side of the river were cut off.  It started drizzling again. 








Between the snow melt further north, and the extreme rain the area had been having over the last few days, this wasn't a surprise, but I was glad we were safe, and that Tammy was excellent at handling the coach.  I took over 1000 photos, many from the bus windows.  With my vision issues, I wanted to be able to see everything again.  It was such an experience, and I wish we could have spent more time, but with the weather, and the possible issues at stops, we needed to keep to Brian's schedule.  But wow, what beauty.  




First time seeing elk.  

 My son, Matthew, at the Grand Canyon.

It was cloudy, and there were sections over the canyon we could see that were getting rain.  






 And then we found a rainbow over the canyon.  


After getting to our hotel, the  Maswik Lodge, at the South Rim, we discovered a lovely rustic room, with a porch, cabin like interior and comfortable beds.  We returned to Angel Lodge for dinner, and to hopefully capture some sunset views over the Canyon.  The photo below shows one effect.  That glowing spot just left of center?  That's a reflection of the sun on the rocks.  In person, it looked like someone put red foil glitter on the rock.  It was stunning, and I was hoping it would show better, but this is the best I could get, in the many photos I took.  Dinner at Angel Lodge was wonderful.  



We returned to Maswik Lodge for the night, and another early call for the bus.  Although I was hoping to get some good stargazing time, the cloud cover prevented it.  A minor disappointment to a beautiful day.  More next time.  Thanks for looking at my blog, and the photos.  

Maryellen



Monday, April 6, 2020

April One Monthly Goal

Hi!  Just a quick note to say I'm going to do the next installment of my trip, and to note the One Monthly Goal for April project.


I'm currently working on 2 secret projects that need to mailed by Friday.  And making masks, like most sewists. 

My first, and the second.  Both are made with Island Batik, using ties behind the head instead of elastic around the ears.  


My One Monthly Goal for April is the Island Batik Ambassador challenge, 
I'm kicking around some ideas, and hope to have something planned to make next week.  I don't even have a fabric collection picked yet, but the size is 36" square or larger.  
I also plan to finish the quilting on the Island Batik Challenge from March, and have some UFOs I want to finish, plus make a commission purse for my son's friend, and some pajamas.  I plan to be busy sewing, while the world is trying to stop the spread of Covid-19.  

Please stay safe and healthy!  Remember to follow the CDC guidelines.  Prayers for us all.