Friday Flowers 05-31-19

The peonies I bought at Trader Joe's were a lovely experience for me.  They started out very bright and faded a little each day until they were a soft ivory color when the last petals fell.  I counted the fallen petals on one flower and there were 71!  That is a lot to come from about a one inch bud.  The $7.99 was well spent.  

These two images were taken in the morning whereas the others were in the afternoon. 

They lasted just seven days.

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More Froggie surgery 05-30-19

Froggie needed major surgery again tonight.  He had about a 2" rip in his shoulder seam.  I pulled out all the polyfill and re-stuffed his arm.  I had to add some under-skin in order to have something to sew to.  His skin is getting way too thin in some places - sounds like me! 

Now to sew him up so KoKo can go to bed.  And I also.

If you think I am the only over indulgent fur parent, check this out:

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Still trying with the pictures 05-29-19

This is specifically for Elizabeth who asked how I set my Pfaff to sew a 1/4" seam. 

With a clear ruler under the presser foot  I measure 1/4"  from the edge of whatever presser foot I am using to where I want the needle to be. 

Then I move the needle position with the dial on the right to line the needle up with the 1/4" line on the ruler.  I usually make a mark on the dial to indicate that position in case I knock the dial off kilter.  I need a good light to the right of the needle to keep on the edge.  I have also used a piece of masking tape from the edge of the presser foot to keep the fabric in line before it reaches the needle.  Since I haven't been piecing for several years it will take some practice to keep things in alignment.  Practice makes things work better and maybe, eventually, perfect!. 

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Still sewing 05-27-19

And I am still struggling with pictures.  Talked to AOL help tonight and he gave me another, more complicated, way to send the pictures from my phone to my laptop.  So, I have these three images transferred for now.  

I think I messed up and turned the strip sets opposite directions, so the spacers line up more than they should.  The only way I will find out is to make another quilt the same, which I am not likely to do.  But if I do make another jelly roll race quilt I will be careful to always keep the top of each section matched with the top of the previous section.  Does that make sense?   I will try for a full picture tomorrow, but the top needs borders and I haven't chosen fabric for those. 

Here is the sewing helper again, with his BFF Froggie. 

And this is what he does when I ignore him for a half a second - he is fast.  And this position requires that I stop everything, remove him from the machine, and possibly throw Froggie for a while to wear him down a little bit.   He is SUCH a big help - NOT!

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A sewing project 05-25-19

I am practicing sewing again!  I know that I have lost some of my skills by not sewing much for several years.  Fusing, yes; Piecing, no.  I bought a jelly roll at the nice Nimble Thimble quilt shop in Gilroy, CA, and am making a  "jelly roll race" style quilt.  It isn't an actual race, but that seems to be the name for the style.  It is sewing the short ends of each strip to the next until all are in one giant long strip and then folding that in half, cutting and sewing those two strip sets together, and so on.  I have a bit of variation by adding a diagonal spacer between each strip.  

The strips in the box for me to pull them out at random.  This picture doesn't show the variety of colors, everything but black and white.  I pull at random, but if it is the same color as the last one I sewed, I pull again. 

Same deal with the spacers.  There are six different black and white prints. 

I am practicing ripping also, as I sewed a few the wrong direction.  Duh!  I am enjoying this project so much I keep thinking of variations I might try.  Maybe my creative mojo has found me again!  Hurrah!

Of course, I had valuable help. 

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Friday Food - Lunch at Solare near VAM 05-24-19

On Tuesday after seeing the current quilt exhibit at Visions Art Museum in San Diego, Carol and I went to Solare for a lovely, peaceful lunch.  There were no other diners at about 1:30pm, so we had the complete attention of our waiter.  The service was excellent!!

We did not eat dessert first, but I am still struggling with importing pictures into my blog and this is the order they came out.   

My choice for dessert was the raspberry tart and if I hadn't been in hog heaven I should have taken a picture of the inside.  It was a creamy filling, almost like zabaglione - delicious.  And their dessert presentations are always so artistic. 

For my actual lunch I had lamb lasagna, which I have never eaten before.  Very nice and enough for my dinner the next evening.  

Carol chose chocolate salame for her dessert.  I have had it before and it is exceptional with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

And for her lunch Carol ordered the Chicken Piccata.  She let me have a taste and it was lovely.  Lots of nicely cooked veggies. 

It rained while we were inside, but when we were finished the rain had stopped and the sun was trying hard to break through. 

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KoKo and flowers 05-22-19

KoKo's official 5th birthday photo   05-20-19

African Iris in the neighborhood - they are almost a weed around here. 

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