I heart San Francisco

I’ve been there and back. We had a blast! I lucked out and free Tuesday (the first Tuesday of the month) was my day to go to museums. I got to see the SFMOMA and the Museum of Craft and Folk Art. I missed the Arts and Crafts Movement: William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit at the DeYoung, but you can only do so much in a day.

(Here’s one of my favorite paintings from SFMOMA. Ellsworth Kelly LaCombe III)

We also rented a tandem bike and rode a little ways out on the Golden Gate Bridge, then back up to Baker Beach. I filled my pockets (and Barry’s) with sticks and stones as we tried to avert our eyes from all the naked sunbathers. Their part of the beach had the best rocks. And, why do they have to all be old men?! YIKES!

So, I wish I could post pictures, but we came home to a dying computer. Our monitor is almost totally grey, so there is no way I could tell which picture was good and worthy of posting, even if I tried. I’ll figure out Barry’s iBook one of these days, then there will be pictures galore!:)

I am here, really

Sorry I’ve been missing in action. Sorry especially to all of you blockswappers looking for ideas. Well, quilt top number one is done. (Has been for a week.)

It will be a full size quilt, 80″x87″ (Denyse Schmidt standard size). It has 25 blocks on it spaced out by 7 1/2 inch sashing. It is so hard to photograph quilts! I’ll definitely have to figure out something MUCH better when it’s time to auction these off, but I hope you kind of get the picture. Gina of Quilter’s Buzz has graciously offered to machine quilt these babies. (It’ll be there soon Gina, I swear. My mom is coming into town this Thursday and is insisting that I wait to send it until she gets to see it.)

Our weekend was blissful, though busy.

We did a lot of yard work.

The nice thing about buying a house with 20 years worth of existing landscaping is that you can rearrange it like furniture! We tore out some bushes, moved some daylillies, divided fountain grass, and Voila! Brand new yard! This iris was a transplant from back yard to front yard last year. They were GOGEOUS this year. No purchase necessary

And we had a friend’s dog for a few days.

They were in dog heaven. The mud, the big yard, the wrestling matches…they were worn out without so much as a growl. I’m glad it’s over, though. My house is too small for two big dogs and 3 kids.

So, now I am working out an arrangement for the last charity quilt. I want it to be totally different. I think I’ll use curry for the background and figure out some way to have all the blocks close together. As fun as this is, I’m ready to be done! I have a whole sketch book full of Gocco ideas, but I’m not letting myself do them until these quilts are off to Gina’s to be quilted!

Brenna’s Birthday Bear

Meet Buttercup.

On Brenna’s birthday we spent the day making this little bear. She’s made from a fluffy throw I found at Marshal’s. It is almost too soft to describe. Brenna thought this bear needed to be seen by the internet, so she took her little Buttercup on a photo shoot.

Now Brenna is not the only one in this house that loves to sit in the living room and read ALL DAY LONG

Making progress!

Spent most of the day yesterday piecing the first charity quilt. I’m on the home stretch and should finish it before today is over!

Are you making things with your blocks yet? I promised I’d post some layout ideas.

Here’s the first: Make three more blocks so that you have 12 and you can make a little quilt this size:

This is a top I pieced while I was making my 10 blocks. I just couldn’t stop! I was liking the messy log cabin thing with warm/dark colors on one side and cool/lights on the other, so I just kept going. This is just 12 10 inch blocks with a 3 inch pieced border. It’ll just hang out in the living room for Brenna to read under.

I’ve been thinking up bed sized ideas too. You could make a simple block stripe, put some solid on either side of it, and you’d have a really modern, simple quilt without making any more blocks.

I’ve got more ideas than I have time right now, but I will post some more next week. In the meantime, post your layout ideas and leave the link in the comments so that we all can see ’em.