Your Family in Pictures review

This is the first book I have received from Blogging for books to review. When I first got it, I flipped though and quickly looked at the pictures. To be honest...I was not impressed. I know she wants to be artful, but there were several pictures that were out of focus and the lighting put the subject in the dark.

I decided I would give the book a chance though and sat down to actually read it. I have not fully finished it yet, but from what I have read, I am enjoying it. The author gives good advice from lighting to capturing your subject by surprise. I just wish the pictures matched the advice. I am looking forward to going out and trying to take some pictures of my family.

I also have to give a little FTC disclaimer. I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

What I've been working on

Okay I know I already posted a pic of Stella before, But this is what I have been working on. I would work on it a bit then get frustrated and leave it for a week, then work on it some more and get frustrated again.
Today I decided I really need to work on Stella. About a week or so ago I took the front plate of and got that all cleaned up. I tried to put the new belt on but it was still a bit long. Today I had cut it down some more and put the belt back on. The White's hand wheel rolls backwards, so I tried getting it started and every few turns it would get stuck and want to turn forwards. I could feel myself getting frustrated, but then I realized it was getting stuck where the staple was. I took my pliers and squeezed as hard as I could and then it began to turn forward a little better. I also realized I had to make sure the treadle was turning a full turn and not trying to drop back down. I think I got the hand of that. Then I realized I needed to oil the whole machine. Once I got the oil all in the places it needed to be, she ran like butter.
Now the only thing I need to learn is how to thread the machine and wind the bobbin. I have the manual, but I am a very visual learner and the manual is not very clear, so I am hoping to figure that out soon, then I can get treadling. I can't wait.

Design Wall Monday: My Birthday

 This is the quilt I have been working on for some time. It is my own design and was done before I acquired EQ7. There was a bit of trial and error but I am finally almost done. There are a few more seams and then I will have to put the border on then it will be ready for quilting.

 On a side note. Tomorrow is my birthday. This was my present. I'm so excited to start using it. The only parts it was missing was the belt, bobbin case and the bobbins. There is a machine repair place near me that repairs all types of machines. I was able to get all the parts I needed (new). To get new bobbin cases for this machine seemed like it was going to be impossible, but they had bought out a place that had all kinds of antique new stock. YAY! Anyway, it is a White Rotary. Does anyone know how to thread the belt through? It looks pretty easy, but I want to be sure before I measure and cut.
This is the head of the machine. The front looks pretty good, but the back is a bit worn. The needle goes up and down pretty well when you turn the wheel. I can't wait to get going.

Design Wall Monday: Jan 27th: Orca quilt

 I am so excited. I got hired to make a quilt for a woman across the country from me. She and I are both very excited about this. She was able to purchase all of the material and send it to me. I designed the quilt and we worked out exactly what she wanted. Here is a picture of the quilt design.






She was able to get the big orca pictures from Amazon, but the listing said they were 100% cotton. They are not. They are a silky poly material. I still will be able to work with them, but its going to take a bit of care.









Here is a close up of the fabric we picked. I think it is going to be a gorgeous quilt and I can't wait to get started. I need to finish a few things on a quilt I am making for my dad and then will begin this one. Sooo Excited.

Design Wall Monday: Skill Builder

It has been quite a while since I have posted on my design wall. I have been working on a skill builder with pileoffabric. I have gotten pretty far behind, but I am determined to catch up. If you'd like to see more design walls head on over to patchwork times.

Design Wall Monday: So many projects and the garden

 I have so many projects going at once, I couldn't just pick one for my design wall Monday post. This one is my Linda Hibert Paper piecing quilt from last year. I really enjoy doing these and I'm trying to get this one done for the fair again this year. I'm not sure if I am going to finish or not. I also made a quilt for my husband who is retiring from the Military. I can't show that one yet, because he hasn't seen it yet.





This quilt is a colorful one my mom started and she gave it to me to finish. It seems like a pretty easy pattern. Lots of halfsquare triangles. It's just getting to it that is the problem. With my husband retiring we have been very busy getting everything ready for all of the company. We had a late winter here in Colorado. We had snow and cold nights well into May. We have finally gotten our garden planted. I am also working on two quilts from a mystery quilt I did a few years ago. Is it still a mystery if you know what it's going to look like?

The Known Mysteries.

Our Strawberries

So we finally got to work on our garden. I love the results of a garden. I love to can and I love all of the fresh food that comes from it. I hate weeding, but I know that will come and I am hoping I can keep up on it this year.   My sweet husband Mike got out on the first morning we weren't having crazy strong wind and got the garden tilled for me. It was much easier to plant everything with him doing that. This year we planted corn, beans, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and herbs. We don't have a very big garden, so we try to squeeze in as much as we can.

 I absolutely love basil. It is my favorite herb. The one problem I have though is picking it and keeping it from seeding. This year I plan to keep up on that too.

 My tomatoes look so sad. We bought them a few days before we could plant them. We had planned to plant them the same day we bought them, but the wind picked up and it was so strong we were picking up branches from the back yard, in the front yard. Once we got them planted and watered they looked much happier.

 I love these little signs. (I like the ceramic ones better, but we couldn't find the right ones.) Every year before this I have just used Popsicle sticks. They worked but the didn't look that nice. The bright pink string behind it is to tell me where the rows are until everything pops up.

 Someone wanted some attention while I was sitting on the ground taking pictures. Lucy is definitely a sweetheart.

 I had to get in some pictures of my chickens. This one is Chickadee. My daughter thinks it's funny our biggest chicken is named after such a small bird. I love watching the chickens. They can be so funny some times.

 Here is sunshine. She is our quick one. When ever it is time for them to go back in the run, to catch the rest of the chickens all you have to do is reach for them and they crouch down and you can scoop them up. Not so with Sunshine. She runs and you have to chase her around the yard. At least the yard is not that big.

 And Shimano. I think she is at the top of the pecking order, but in general they are all pretty good to each other.

 Henrietta is my other chicken, but a little camera shy. She was sitting on this egg when I tried to get a picture, but she moved. (Not her egg, by the way.)

 See these nice egg boxes? I don't think the chickens do. They never lay in there and every time I try to get them, they just move everything out of there and lay where they want.

 We planted a bunch of flowers in the front yard. This area hardly gets any sun and we have struggled to get anything to grow there. Hopefully these flowers will do well.

 We have also discovered the only thing we can plant in this area is petunias. Every thing else gets eaten by the wild rabbits we have in our neighborhood.

 So since we can't have pansies in the ground we put them up in a pot. Maybe this year I won't loose them all to the hungry little animals.

 Before we got the pansy pot, we got this fuchsia. It is big and beautiful, but when we hung it on our pole, the pole almost touched the ground. We ended up hanging it from our tree. I was concerned about it falling out if we had a wind storm, but the crazy winds we had after we hung it up proved that the thing is not going any where.

 Mike looks very happy that he is about to retire. Yes, he is old enough to retire.

He also decided to weed the jungle that is our back flower garden. The weeds really take control back there, but once he was done it looked fabulous.

Design Wall monady and the results of the quiltathon

Judy, over on Patchwork times, hosts a quiltathon every month or so. She chooses 4 days and you sew like mad. This week I finished these four paper piecings. I know it doesn't seem like I accomplished much, but these take forever. I am hoping to finish another one today.