Raingutter Sailboat Regata

Today was a great day.  It started out early with a phone call from my daughter to come and watch her son and my grandson, Tucker participate in the Cub Scout Raingutter Sailboat Regata in the dairy section of our local grocery store. 

He was really wound up and could hardly sit still for all of his excitement.  Earlier in the week he was over to have Grandpa help him paint and prepare his beautiful entry in this amazing race.  He was sent home with orders to practice controlling his boat in the bathtub.   Tucker's dad had to work today, so Grandpa was substituting for coach and chauffeur for this really special event.  My daughter and I had to travel in a separate car, as we were told that this was a guy thing.  But, we were allowed to watch and cheer. 

Tucker loves to be with his Grandpa, who knows how to relate to this young boy like a best friend.  I really marvel watching that friendship. Last year my daughter asked him how old Grandpa was, and he said 6 (a year older than him). 

So here is the dairy section with the raingutters carefully filled and balanced to specifications by their scout leaders.  I thought it was so nice of the grocery store to allow this event to take place there, as the water would have frozen in five minutes outside in our very-cold January Wisconsin weather.  A sailboat just does not go far in ice.

Here is the handsome man, Tucker.  He is holding his beautiful pirate ship and anxious to race her. 

Tucker is in the first grade and already has made his first quilt two years ago.  He has another one in  process for our next quilt show that he is making with me also.  One of his finer qualities is that he really appreciates a good quilt.  I have been diligent to teach this quality to all four of my grandchildren.  You will be hearing more about the other three in future posts.

This is the first heat, and he wins!  Two more heats to go.  He wins one and loses one.  So stressful to the participants and parents.  You can see how they want to win so badly. 

And the second place winner is....(drum roll) Tucker!  As you can see by the look on his face, he is pretty happy about those ribbons.  I sure do love this kid. 

Homestead Quilt Retreat

I finally got out to Patsy McCluskey's Homestead Quilt retreat for the Piecemaker's Guild.  I have been wanting to get there for any reason for the past four years.  Believe me, it is worth the trip

This is a picture of the outside of the building you will be staying in if you book a weekend here.  Patsy has a knack for hospitality that is unbelieveable.  Her rooms for sleeping are so quaint.  The main social area is wonderful, inspiring, roomy and equiped for most any project.  There are gorgeous quilts everywhere, on the beds, the walls and lots of antiques and inspiration.  It is cozy and warm, just like Patsy.  My goal for 2010 is to attend one of her weekend get-aways.  See her website at Homestead Cabin Retreat and Patsy's Blog for the beautiful creations that happen there. Thank you Patsy for your hospitality.  Please go to her website and check it out.

Finished Froggy baby Quilt!

I finished this quilt all in a weekend.  I love this type of quilt.  It is meant to be loved, dragged around, thrown up on, and just plain abused.  I don't put huge amounts of time into these quilts, just love and inspiration.  It has fleece on the back and no batting and is a quilt-as-you-go technique.

Here is my froggy up close.  I appliqued him on with needle turn technique.  My husband, Gary did the details on him while I embroidered him.  The frog pattern I got out of a coloring book.  This picture shows up the colors better.  The fabric with the circles that look like olives or eyeballs was my inspiration.  I fell in love with it at first sight.  The eyeballs on the frog were taken from that fabric, fussy cut and then made into very small yo-yos and then turned over and appliqued onto the frog.  I hope the new baby will love it as much as I do.  He is to be born in February and is the first grandson of a dear friend.

Memorial Quilt

This is one of the quilts finished in 2009.  It is a memorial quilt made for the widow of a wonderful man who passed in the early part of 2009.  I had only met this couple once before making this quilt.  I was amazed at the ministry and therapy that took place one night as his widow tried in just three hours to relate to me a life fully and wonderfully lived.  I needed to know as much as possible to make this quilt for her.  Later this lovely lady took me into his closet and took out all of his favorite shirts and talked about all of the memories attached to them. 

He was a collector of Eagles.  He was active in the Christian Motorcycle Association.  He was the kind of guy who was always there to help when someone needed a helping hand.  He loved the western style of dress and built a covered wagon.  The clues went on and on. 

Honestly, I was expecting a lot of plaid shirts to work with.  I did not expect Navajo prints.  This was way out of my realm of design experience.  But a design did come to me to use the prints. The back is all of his flannels.  I wanted that soft to wrap around her for comfort.  It took about three months to finish and I still hear from her about how that quilt touched her and all who knew him.  

The Perfect Sewing/Quilting Stiletto

I have been on a quest to find a good stiletto to use for my quilting.  I have found them to be very useful in getting accurate piecing in my quilting and also to protect my fingers.  I have found the Clover stiletto to be very comfortable and a reasonable price.  I lost mine a month or two back and haven't been able to find one in my area to replace it.  So I have tried a few others that have been available and have not been satisfied with the feel in my hand or the cost.  I also tried a bamboo barbeque skewer which was nice but broke easily.

So I accompanied my husband to the hardware store last month and thought that there might be something there that would work and not be so expensive.  We stopped at Harbor Freight, which has nice prices.  This is what I found:

This is a two-piece O Ring/Hook Scribe Set.  It cost $3.99.  I have been using the straight end as a stiletto, and it worked incredibly well.  It has an etched orange handle that fits in the hand well and does not slide around.  I just love it.  I have seen brass stilettos like this for sale for $13 in sewing catalogs.  I have even used the curved ends for difficult to reach pieces of lint in my bobbin area.  I am sure that I will find many other uses for those hooke-shaped ends as time goes by.

This one is a Reamer Tool for a Circuit Board and cost $1.99.  I have not used this one yet, but I have had it out of the package and it feels wonderful in your hand as well.  This one is smooth and has a point on both ends.  You can hardly beat the cost.

I will bet that the makers of these tools never thought of this use.  Give them a try, and I think you will love them as much as I do.