I have been sewing dresses, these two are very nice, but the model of the first one is way cuter than the second model.
Having a granddaughter who really wants dresses is amazing. Doesn’t get better than this.
Showing off the dress, I think she was giving a curtsy, Sophia the First was a favorite show for a while.
Shira also announced that she only wants fabric with flowers. Luckily I have some that fits the bill.
She is so photogenic it is scary. She told me she likes eating the rosemary right off the bush. Ok, I like to use it as seasoning.
The pattern was for a party dress, I removed some of the fullness from the skirt, she is going to wear this on a daily basis until I make her another dress.
The cumberbund detail adds some flair.
I also made myself a dress, with corduroy I bought at JoAnn.
It is lovely, tiny wale and very lightweight.
A dress with pockets! Always a good thing.
Now, onto sewing some skirts and tops.
I had heard of the method Headers and Enders, as a way of creating quick blocks as an afterthought. 
I can’t do straight forward scrappy, I need a plan. So here we go, take an orphan block and build a border out of these newly made blocks.
My decision is to have two sides cool colors, blue-greens. the other two sides warm – yellows and reds.
I went to LAMQG sew day and finished up this top. This is happy and bright, should keep any baby not only warm but stimulated.
The quilting itself is a very basic free motion quilting. I think it took me maybe an hour to quilt. I always find that it really is the quilting that brings it all together.
Plain backing. I did add my label. I made this after all.
Sun sparkling on the surface of these scrappy squares is lovely.
One of these days this hippo will be gifted to someone. Until then, he gets a place of honor on my quilts.
Thank you 
Here is what the facing looks like on the back of the quilt. Label is in place!
The finished quilt. I now really understand why most quilts have some kind of border. quilting up to the edge of the blocks did distort some of them. Luckily, this quilt is so busy, that once again, it goes completely un-noticed. This is also why I wanted to use the facing method to finish the quilt, I didn’t want even a quarter inch of border – in otherwords a binding, around these blocks.
The full back, I used up all of the bright print. This was a fabric I picked up at a sale to raise money for the LAMQG. A few things that are now my signiture on the back of quilts. They are almost always pieced, using leftovers from the front. If I have blocks that I didn’t use on the front, they find themselves decorating the back. In this case, the two blocks that really stood out as sore thumbs to me.
These blocks are appliqued on. If I have more leftovers, I will piece them into the backing.
Not only did these nice people pose for me, they tried to explain what their costumes are about. Can I just say I LOVE cosplay, it is such a creative way to express oneself. It doesn’t have any hoity toity affectation of the art world – it’s creative, it’s community, it’s fun!
I wasn’t going to ask everyone who they represent, I just watched, enjoyed and took pictures.
This character looked out of place, but what do I know? Most of the costumes were full of color.
One thing I love about Japanese anime, or even cosplay is the strange juxoposition of fierce and cutesy little girl ethos. I can’t explain it, I don’t want to explain it, I just want to watch and enjoy.
It would be a lot of fun to have a hand in making one of those costumes.
Now this guy is all fierce, his weapon alone is a thing of beauty. No, I’m not talking about the guy in the foreground. One of the cosplayers told me that sometimes these weapons come to life and become characters themselves. This is a world that is completely foriegn to me, but I was thrilled to get a glimpse into it.
Love the image here, cosplay in the forground and people on their social media in the background.
Becky couldn’t get enough of holding Cam.
Since it was right after Daylight savings ended, Westley was a little cocky.
Giving daddy a run for his money. At least Aunt Becky was thrilled to hold Cam for a long time.
Friends and customers came out.
I have given up on the perfect family portrait, this is a real family.
A taco truck, drinks and a photobooth. Both Becky and I got lashes put on, I think both of us tore them off that evening. I get all my makeup from Mandy, I always have some kind of makeup on. I simply don’t have the patience for lash extensions. It sure is fun for a day though.
Just as I was finishing this quilt I heard of friends who were about to have a baby girl. Well, Ramona Rose has been born!
This quilt deserved some hand embroidery on the back as well. Not all labels get that treatment. Rimona is the female version of the Hebrew word rimon, which is a pomegranate. And Rose is a rose, so both are on her label. Sometimes I add the birthday, this time I didn’t.
The best part! Her parents were thrilled! And looks like Rimona is loving it as well. I always wash and dry my quilts before giving them away. Especially to new babies, I want the parents to know that these quilts are to be used and that they have already been through the wash once, so they can go through it again and again.
She also happened to have some batting that she didn’t want and I was able to buy it at a very reasonable price.
It will be fun to compare our quilts when we are done, our colors and design sensibilities are very different.
Because I wanted to use my walking foot and do straight stitch quilting. The top is very busy, any fmq would be completely lost, not worth the time. Also I feel that the straight lines reinforce the blocks themselves which are very geometric.
I have been interested in a pressure cooker for years. Despite my friends’ story about how he cooked an oversize brisket that blew up the pot, dinged the ceiling and covered the kitchen in shredded meat.
I have been learning all the wonderful things I can use this for. I now regularly make stock in about 40 minutes. Sometimes with bones, sometimes just with vegetables. It is very simply to then add other items on the stove top for a hearty winter soup.
I don’t like chicken breasts, but people were singing the praises of making shredded chicken breast that could then be used in other recipes. So I went ahead and tried it. Adding seasonings after it is shredded sure helps.
Serving it on top of these oven roasted veggies made for a delicious meal.
The veggies are oven roasted. The chicken was cooked in the pot and then just popped into the oven to crisp up the skin. And then there is rice, I have no problem cooking rice on the stove, yet I have discovered that if the pot is out it is so simple to use the rice cooking setting – comes out perfect every time. Thanks to my friend Susan, I use that stock I now have on hand and the rice is healthier and much more delicious.
Like this one in Korea Town that only cooks duck.
With all the interesting side condiments.
Yummy! After all the meat is cooked, they fry rice and the leftover vegetables in the remaining fat. You know that these days nutrisionists are saying cut the carbs, but eating natural fats is good. It works for me, my blood test results are very healthy.
As you can see I’ve put the bright yellow fabrics to good use.
I have another block with these raccoons, I find it is important to repeat fabrics in quilt blocks. Repetition is a building block of pattern and cohesion.
A friend told me that she is the source of the onion fabric. At 
99 blocks on the design wall, I took my time to arrange and rearrange. There is no magic formula, but I like to disperse the dark blocks across the top. Sometimes a fabric will move from one block to its neighbor, sometimes neighboring blocks are very distinct. I purposefully am not using sashing between the blocks. I want the yellow to tell the story, I want the blocks to blend into a whole unit. There will be two blocks on the back, the 100th, and there was one block I just had to redo, it bugged me that much.
This is what I mean, some of the darker or more colorful blocks do jump out at the viewer. In general there is cohesion, yet enough contrast that your eyes keep moving and you want to keep studying the quilt. One person on Instagram said this reminds her of a Klimt painting – high praise indeed.
I am proud that my corners match beautifully, I like that in some cases lines matched across blocks, even if the fabric and designs couldn’t be more different.
Here is a case of fabric blending on two neighboring blocks.
Here is an example of how scrappy one can be while sticking to one basic color theme. Yellow, using grays, browns, blues and greens for punches of color.
Here the top is being shared at the guild. See how good it looks on it’s side. I have been concerned about one way fabric even in quilts. In this kind of quilt it really doesn’t matter. My friend said that unless the quilt is hanging on a wall, it really is a three dimensional object and can be viewed from all directions. She is so right!
At 
Made from some lovely Norwegian wool I bought in Victoria BC. It’s fun when my souvenir yarn gets used quickly.
This is a shawl that makes a very interesting use of short rows and a lace pattern within a basic garter stitch background.
But it is one where it’s hard to see the whole pattern because when I wear it, it is scrunched up on the body.
Which creates whole new designs and interest. Best thing, it keeps my neck and shoulders warm while looking fabulous.
Some detail shots so you can see the ingeniousness of the design. Some people have been working two tones in the background, or knitting the background solid and the lace insets with a variegated yarn.
I like having only one knitting project at a time. So as soon as the shawl was done I immediately cast on socks with yarn from my friend Vivian. 
First sock done, using my fall pumpkins as a nice backdrop.
Both socks done! The weather just got cool, so I will be wearing these right away.
A new exhibit at LACMA, 
A close up of a large breastplate made out of peacock feathers. As oobnoxiousas peacocks are, boy are the feathers amazing.
Here is a good one for Halloween!
I like deer and Elk, since my son’s nickname is Elk. Also, I would wear this pin.
A necklace cut from a china plate isn’t that unusual, but this artist had to work very carefully. The plate is complete except for the holes that were punched out.
I could never wear something this size, but the right woman could.
Lego as a building block for a neck piece.
Love these little shoes.
This is a ring, I can’t see it on anyone’s hand. Which means it isn’t a ring, it’s just a small sculpture.