What's Important?

Last week, residents of my community were expecting to be evacuated due to a wildfire burning nearby.  I had had a couple of hours prior to receiving the order to pack up my car.  My husband was "down below" at work and called to find out what I was doing to prepare and asked me to get a few of his things since he wouldn't be allowed home.  I got his stuff together (not enough clothes as it turned out) and I continued with getting my things as well as making sure that I would be able to get the cat into his carrier at the appropriate time which was actually more challenging than I expected.

In the end I had two laundry baskets of clothes, our fireproof lock box, a few choice electronics, the cat carrier and some supplies for him, some special cross stitch projects, and, of course, my quilts...there were a lot of them. Here's what the car looked like after only the laundry baskets and cat stuff was removed.

As you can see, my quilts are important to me. In previous evacuations, I've also packed sewing machines and thread collections, but this time it was just the quilts.

The evacuation held for four nights and we stayed with my cat-friendly sister-in-law and her family. It took Buster a couple of days to get comfortable, but once he did, he took advantage of the situation.

Group Quilt - Campers

Being creative with friends is one of the best things about being part of a friendship group.  The campers quilt shown above made from an Amy Bradley pattern was the result of a block exchange done by the Cut-Ups, my very talented group of friends and longarm quilter Christy Close. Every year my guild, the Pine Needles Quilt Guild of Wrightwood holds a "mini" quilt auction during the town's Mountaineer Days in early July and members make and donate small quilts to the guild for auction.  For the past few years, the Cut-Ups members have made an extra block for our annual group project to make producing the auction quilt an easier task.

At the time we made the blocks we had ten members and each made a trailer. The only requirement was to use blue for the sky and green for the ground. Since I was in charge of the project, I also made the two tent blocks so that we could use all the trailers in a regular grid and not compete with the trailers.  Each of the trailers reflects a little of the maker's own personality.  My personal version of the quilt (on the frame being quilted) is similar, but different as some of the makers made different fabric choices for each block and at least one made different trailers...the variety is part of what makes group projects special.

The auction quilt won the Viewers' Choice ribbon and took the highest bid among the approximately 40 quilts offered...that was pretty sweet!

Burying Threads

I'm getting close to finishing a quilt that I started in a design class I took with Jenny Bowker at Empty Spools in 2015. Today I am burying threads which is a somewhat tedious task, but because I don't like to shorten stitches at the end of a run or to build up a knot of thread by stitching several times in place, it's one that I live with.  Like binding, it can calm my mind.  However, also like binding, on a hot and sticky day under a cover with wool batting, it can also be just a little bit icky...

Had a frustrating day - I have a quilt on the frame that was almost half quilted as of this morning and I had hoped to finish it by this afternoon.  Did a lot...and then realized that the tension had gone wonky on the bottom after I had changed the bobbin but not until I had almost finished.  Urgh!  I then got to spend the afternoon unpicking almost everything I had stitched earlier in the day.  Decided to walk away for awhile and I will be getting my Project Runway All Stars fix this evening.

On the bright side, I've been working again on my Sea Swept blocks.  I love my fabrics and even the trimmings make me happy.