On second thought ...

A hill is a hill, is a hill ...

After much thought about changing the name of my blog, 

I came to the conclusion that I still live on a hill, albeit a lot shorter hill.  

View from water level.

It just goes down from the back of the house instead of going up from the street.  

On a totally different subject, I have noticed, like many others, that comments aren't coming to my email.  I fixed it once, right after Blogger changed their privacy policies, but I don't remember what setting I went to.  Can someone help me?  Diann had the answer!  If you are having similar issues, follow her link.

Saying goodbye to an old friend

Thanks for the memories

We've made our last trip down that sometimes-treacherous driveway.

Maybe it's time to change the name of my blog ....

More Dartmoor Wonders

... and Other Stuff

I am convinced there is something on fire under Lake Dartmoor 

because on some mornings I am greeted by this view:

Dartmoor on fire

Other mornings that area sparkles like diamonds.  Just that one spot ...

Lately I seem to work in fits and spurts.  My great plan to make 2-3 yellow-gray blocks (I really need to come up with a name for this quilt) per day came to a grinding halt last week as I jumped into two bell choirs, started yoga, joined a new guild, and played with the bells at church on Sunday.

The Next 10

Meanwhile, the Next 10 sit there, beside my machine waiting for some free time in between trips to Brentwood for the final cleanout and CLOSING, interspersed with a crayon class at Devo and Sew, two handbell rehearsals, yoga, and a 6-month health check with my new PCP.

While I haven't been stitching, I did spend time cutting, not only the next Y/G blocks, but kits for the Quilt Camp class in October.

Bear Paw Shadow kits

I know, it's hard to see what's in the baggies.  This is the class project:

Shadow of the Bear Paw - Trudie Hughes, designer

Originally this was going to be the yellow and gray king-size quilt for our bed, but I needed to make it bigger and I don't really like the bear paw border so I headed in a new direction.  After seeing several quilts by Nancy/Grace and Peace, I was inspired to raid my collection of Asian fabrics to make this quilt in a softer palette.   My plan is to make only the center portion; you may be able to see my pencil lines on the picture where I plan to stop.

In the meantime, my Asian  bin has exploded in my cutting room.

Oh, and I managed to fit in a visit and lunch with The Joyful Quilter who happened to be at a knitting retreat just 30 minutes from my house on Saturday and Sunday.

Joy and me

I hope you are enjoying some of the milder autumn temperatures like we are in Middle/East Tennessee.  And I hope your skies are clear so that you can enjoy the huge Harvest Moon tonight.

Another Ten!

in the push to 110

I am upping my daily quota so that I can have all the blocks finished before the Smores' retreat in early November.  I need the design wall space at the retreat center to lay everything out.

So I whipped up 10 more in the last few days.  The darker grays photograph as black in my sewing room lighting.

31-40

Having the blocks cut in batches makes it easy to pick up a few here and there as time allows.  I've also been chain piecing units from several blocks at once which seems to be helping my productivity.  And I've come up with an easy way to trim the star points:

I don't normally like to do sew-and-flip corners but I couldn't really think of another reliable way to do these because my rectangles are 3" and the corners are 2.5".  Using the 1/4" edges on my square-up ruler lets me trim both corners at a time, which helps.

Now it's time to cut some more blocks!!

Cursing

and rejoicing!

I'm sure this has never happened to you.

Just a little short

The binding had been packed away with the quilt for over a year so I assumed

 (not my first mistake) that I had measured and planned appropriately.

Joy of joys!

Where did that toe come from?

I had JUST enough in my scrap strips to finish.😊😊!

While I was in the binding mode, I stitched bindings on two more quilts. ...
then I worked on Loosey Goosey in dark blues ...
and made two more (31 and 32) of my 110 blocks
(if you've seen one, you've seen them all).

Day 39

Block 30

It's amazing how much progress one can make with unobstructed time.  (That could also be read "when one ignores household tasks that need to be done.")

Yesterday morning my 100-block count was at 23.  I made 5 more Friday ...

24

25

26

27

28 - needs a good pressing

... and 2 more today.

29

30

On our trip to NC last weekend we stopped at three shops and then hit another two in the Lake Junaluska (Waynesville, NC) area.  I was able to pick up several more grey and yellow FQs to add to my variety.  I also chose to include some conversation fabrics that I thought would be fun to find and reminisce over when I'm old-er and gray-er.

Baby Blocks

Halloween

In future blocks watch for more Halloween and Star Wars.  I have cut 10 more blocks and have a good shot at catching up by the end of the week.  But I REALLY need to catch up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge first!

100 Blocks - 100 Days

Status Report

Wondering how I've been doing with my stated goal?

I made my first block, a variation of Nancy's Choice, on August 4.

Followed quickly by a second block, 

as I knew I would be out of pocket for quite a few days in August.

Well, 38 days later I have completed 23 blocks.

Not bad, considering I have been away from home about 20 days.
If I make 2 a day for a week, I'll be caught up!

When in Nome ...

... Support the local economy

While we never got close to Nome, Alaska on our recent cruise, we quilters made our best effort to support the local quilt shops in the towns we did visit!  Generally speaking, quilt/fabric shops in the cruise ports are geared toward tourist traffic with a lot of Alaska-themed offerings, whether it be batiks, panels, patterns, or kits, and many of the shops had the same things.

Bears, Caribou, and Moose batiks

Dall Sheep and more Bears

DH and I arrived in Fairbanks too late in the evening to shop (dinner at 10 p.m.)  Our next stop was Denali National Park; I passed on a shop that advertised "fleece" but I heard it had some fabric, too.  So on to Anchorage.

The Quilted Raven is a very nice shop in downtown Anchorage that is open on Sunday!  And they made special arrangements to open early so that we could stop in before our train left for Seward.  I was determined to get some of the dogsled batik that the shop had used in a row-type quilt.

Mushing - the official Alaska state sport

Too cute!  This shop had mostly batiks, both themed and plain.  They had a nice selection of patterns, panels, and FQ packs.  I also picked up a couple of their Row-by-Row license plates.

Once we boarded the ship, our first stop was Haines.  The closest shop was in Skagway, a 45-minute ferry ride so I missed that one -- not because I didn't have the time, but the ferry was already fully booked.

Our next stop was Juneau where Changing Tides Quilts was an easy walk from from the dock.  It didn't have a wide selection, but they had gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and added a gift to our purchases, in addition to a discount on fabric.

B/W prints to go with an Aboriginal panel

The last stop was in Ketchikan.  We were told the Whale's Tale was "at the end of the pier."  What they didn't say was "The END of the PIER" at Berth 1; we were at Berth 4, nose to stern with 3 other ships!  Undaunted, DH and I made our way uptown in a drizzle and it was well worth the effort.  This shop had a bigger selection of traditional quilting cottons so I picked up a few yellow and gray FQs to go in my king-size quilt.

If you are ever shopping in Alaska, tell the owners of these shops that they were approved by Libby in Tennessee.

Quick Update

Life's a Bear

Haven't had much time to post the last few days as I had a couple of health issues that required attention following the cruise and then I was off to Life's a Bear Retreat at Lake Junaluska, NC.  In fact, I have had very little time to catch up with my favorite blogs/bloggers or comment.

Lake Junaluska

Just a quick look at what I've been working on in this beautiful mountain lake setting.

Twisted Ribbons

The first day we learned how to make "Cut-no-kites" stars,

a quick and easy technique developed by our teacher Cindy Williams.

Yesterday we built the blocks for the ribbons.

I'm hoping to get a few more blocks done so that I can add another row

 before we head home this afternoon.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

August

Taking a break from the Alaska travelog to report on my RSC18 progress ... 

which wasn't a lot, as it turns out.

Only one quarter of my Loosey Goosey column ...

though all the geese have been made ...

and the Squared Away Sampler Block ...

all I have to show for the month.  

Since we were on the road for over two weeks of the month, I feel good that I did what I did.

Of course, the squirrels I chase here and there didn't help, either.

Linking up with Angela at soscrappy.