Enjoying Mazatlan

Sunset from our balcony.

Delicious food, this one a plate of assorted Mexican treats.

Shrimp and  beef skewers.

Ribs to die for, with pork and  beans and cole slaw.

Shopping treasures.

 Huevos rancheros.

Mazatlan

 I am on holiday in Mazatlan, Mexico with my daughter-in-law, two granddaughters and one of their friends. Of course, the first thing  we did was eat and what better choice than tortilla soup.

 This is the beach right in front of the condo we have rented.

 You can find great deals on mani/pedicures here so why not give it a go?

Lunch yesterday was excellent but I forget what it was called. It was tortillas stuffed with eggs, bacon and smothered in that delicious sauce. Yum!

Borders

This morning I put the inner and outer borders on so this quilt is now officially at the flimsy stage. As soon as I get back from my holiday I'll sew together some gray for the backing and quilt it. I think the borders really finish it up nicely. I must say I'm very happy with this one.

Food and Fabric

Two friends came over yesterday and we spent some time organizing the words on this quilt.

Then we collaborated on cooking the evening meal. The chicken was amazing and the squash was filled with quinoa and raisin stuffing. Wow!

Fabrics, Fabrics

My friend needed curtain fabric so I agreed to go to a fabric store to help her choose some. Big mistake as I well knew.  They must have just re-stocked their $3.99 sale shelves because there were many interesting fabrics there yesterday. These ones came home with me. I particularly like the three batiks and of course I can never leave dots on the shelf. The white has small embossed roses so is more interesting than it looks in the photo. Now I have a LOT of new fabric to use but I'm going away for most of the winter.  Oh well, there will be lots of inspiration when I get back.

Almost There

I need to add a few more short words or phrases to fill in the spaces and I'll be  ready to assemble this one. I'm planning an inner border using all the colors of the letters and then a wide outer border of the background gray. I really, really hope there are no spelling mistakes!

Remnants and Words

 I have been writing fabric words for the last few days for a Meditation quilt. The phrases are from the works of Jon Kabat-Zinn, originator of the Mindfulness course that I took awhile back.

Brenda bought me this bag of remnants when we went to Faye's Henhouse fabric store in Mayville, ND. When I unwrapped them, I discovered that they were all third yard and quarter yard cuts from gorgeous fabrics.  Now, what to do with them...so much fun deciding.

More Words

I made another phrase this morning.  There are lots more to go if this is to  be a throw sized quilt.

A New Start

I have started a quilt using the words and phrases from the Mindfulness course I took this fall.  The bottom words show up much better in real life. If you notice any spelling mistakes please alert me. The sewing machine has no spell check!

Fabric Shopping

I finished this one on Friday. The only word I'm a less pleased with is NOW because the yellow is a bit too bright. I may make another one or take one of my Shiva paintsticks to that one and dull it down a bit. Or look on it as the most important word.

When I folded my fabrics last week I realized I was very short of red and had only one piece of purple. Yesterday in Fargo I went a little way toward curing that problem.  The green piece is obviously neither red nor purple but it was just too beautiful to resist. Some of the fabrics are from Mill End Textiles in Fargo and some are from Faye's Henhouse in Mayville, one of my favorite quilt store in the world.

Breathe in Brown

I finished the letters with the same fabric but with a brown background.  They show up better than the photo would indicate. It was already quite dark when I took the picture. I like the B better in this version but the A not as much.  The cross bar doesn't show up as well. Still the message is there. Tomorrow I'll quilt and back it and start on the words.

Done!

I finished this one this afternoon. It is just pinned up until I can get a curtain rod that is long enough. The wall is actually bright yellow so all the colours are a bit off.  I think I'll start another one with a dark brown background.

Keep Breathing

I am almost finished the words. I'm thinking the last one will be gentle, as in "Be gentle with yourself".
Of course, I could make lots more words and not hang them all at once. This could be an on going project.  I have pretty well decided that I will use buttons and make a loop on the top of each word with some round black elastic that I have. I'll use fusible fleece instead of batting in the words so they will be stiff enough to hang properly with only one loop.
I am really liking this project now and I may have to make at least one more, maybe in brighter colors.

Breathe Some More

The basic banner is finished. Now I want to make some words to hang from it. I did LOVE in different fabrics, mainly because I don't have enough background fabric to make them all the same as the banner. This one might be too different but I'll  make a few more words and see how they look. I'm thinking of doing some sort of hanging system so I can hang one word if I want to focus on that particular feeling, or many words if I wish.  I'm thinking of either buttons on the front or a strip of velcro on the back of the main banner. The velcro would give more freedom for the placement of the words. I could then make some of them horizontal if I want to use a long word or a phrase. I already have a long list of possible words so stay tuned.

Breathe

Sorry about the bad lighting. I have it pieced together and it's nearly six feet long. That should get the message across. I am debating the idea of making smaller words vertically to hang from the bottom. I'll make one or two to see how they look. I thought of dream, love, relax, calm, and other words like that.

Starting to BREATHE

Today I started the letters for the BREATHE  wall hanging that I have been planning for my Yoga space. These letters are about 12 inches high. My usual size is about 2 inches so it's a bit of a challenge to get the  proportions right. I'm not satisfied with the R. The slanted part is too cut off but I may be able to repair that without making a whole new letter.  Also I'm not sure about the blue bars on the B.                                                                         

Daisy Quilt

I got this one pieced together yesterday. I will need to find some backing before I can quilt it so it's on to the next project.

Elkhorn Resort Mini Vacation

I went to Elkhorn Resort at Riding Mountain National Park for a few days with my family. This is a picture of the part of the crew that went for a hike. We also had a spa/massage afternoon and did a lot of eating. We stayed in fully equipped cabins so were able to do our own cooking. It was a beautiful time.

On  the way home we made a slight detour to stop at the quilt store in Plumas. They have such interesting fabrics including a package of Beatles fat quarters and lots of Australian fabrics. I was hard put to get only two of those. I also couldn't resist the word fabric but have no idea how I'll ever use it. A close runner up was a piece of jelly bean fabric.

All Cut Up

The quilt is all assembled on the design wall except for the borders. I decided to go with the striped fabric since I had nothing that looked better in my stash and I'm trying to curb my fabric addiction right now. (Not very successfully, I might add.)
I'm thinking I might add several borders but I'm not sure what color the first border should be. I'll audition the daisy fabric first.
Meanwhile, the Miles Davis quilt is now off the frame waiting for binding. First I have to find the fabric I want to use in the mess that is my studio. Maybe it's time for an organizing session.

Daisies

I have the Miles Davis quilt on the frame and half quilted so I thought it was time to start a new top. This is just on the design wall so far, no sewing done. I'm thinking I want a more clear red and I'm not sure about the stripy squares in the sashing. I do love the daisy fabric and I wonder if the stripes kind of overpower it. I have some dot fabric that I will audition before making a decision.