Elk Meadow Off-Leash Dog Park

After closing on our new home was pushed back for the second time, I found myself with two days off. After all the trouble and stress associated with buying/selling homes (and by the way, why does it need to be sooo stressful?) I decided to take the boys for a nice off leash adventure.
They had been so good with everything going on and we were all due for some TLC.

Elk Meadows, close to Evergreen, is part of the Jefferson County Park system and what a gem it is. There is a fenced area for smaller or more timid dogs or those who are little escape artists and then there is a large unfenced area with several trails where dogs can be off leash.

Along the way there are several water bowls, but bring your own water. Moby lead the way. He knew exactly where he wanted to go ate each intersection and Satchmo and I just followed our little cub scout.

The terrain is rolling with beautiful views. We got to see a few golden Aspen trees which is always a sight for sore eyes. We explored the different trails for about an hour an I had two very happy canines.

Rainy Colorado

What an unusual treasure it is to listen to the sound of just rain, no hail, no thunderstorm. It seems that in Colorado thunderstorms generally accompany rain. Just rain is rare. Tonight is such a rare occasion. I find it to be lovely.

The windows are wide open to allow the breeze into the house and the sound of steady raindrops falling is lulling me into a state of content.

Good night!

New Quilt

While organizing my fabric scraps the other day I came across a bag full of pink and grey triangles. I sewed them together into HSTs and trimmed them to the largest size possible which is 3 ¾" square.

I don't have much time, so I'll be sewing 4 of the HSTs into one block. Well, actually, 3 HSTs + 1 solid 3 ¾" square.
Naming the quilt was fun and it's between these options: Dreiviertel Takt or Missing Link.
Since I love waltzes, I'll most likely go with the first. It also seems more positive.

Hopefully, I can post photos soon.

I did manage to sew all the blocks together already. Now, I just need to lay them out into some sort of pattern. I am not yet sure of the quilts size, so it will be a go-with-the-flow kind of quilt.

Baby Quilts

... and yet again, it has been way too long since my last post. Life is just flying by. Work is tremendously stressful and it seems to suck out way too much energy.
Enough whining!
I did manage to sew 2 baby quilts.

This is one of my "cheater" quilts. The center is a panel, making this a very quick and easy quilt. I was in a bit of a bind, so quick was key. I still love it's vibrant colors and think the animals are just super cute. This is for a baby girl to be, but I already heard that her big brother will like it, too.

Ellison Lane's Ribbon Star Quilt Block tutorial (http://ellisonlane.com/2014/04/ribbon-star-block-tutorial.html)was the inspiration for this baby quilt. I had just seen the blog post when my neighbor told me that her son and daughter-in-law are expecting their first baby. I immediately offered to make a quilt. I loved the quilt block and thought it'd be fun to super size it into a baby quilt. So, I did the math, my neighbor selected the fabrics and off to work I went.
The baby shower was yesterday and it seems that mom-to-be liked the quilt.

So, there you have it.

Pst, I am working on yet another small quilt. Lots of orange. To go on the wall of my sewing room.

What Colorado means to me

I did participate in a local quilt challenge in which we were given 4 pieces of solid fabric: yellow, red, blue and green. We had to incorporate these colors into the quilt which had to be at least 40" x 40".

Ever the procrastinator, I did not start working on the quilt until May 2nd. Even then I did not yet have a clear plan. I started with flying geese blocks to mimic mountains (14 for our 14ers) and trees which I offset and bordered them with Osnaburg fabric. Then I added more Osnaburg fabric on each side.
I decided to slice the fabric to add blue strips for the Colorado and Arkansas rivers. To reach the minimum size requirement I added borders on top and bottom. The upper right corner has a star to embody all the beautiful sunshine we are having more than 300 days each year. In the bottom left I added the Colorado state sign.
Then I quilted the top, bottom and side panels in straight lines ¼" apart which now looks like field furrows representing the agricultural areas to the east and west of the mountains.

... and this is how it looks:

I am happy how it turned out and almost equally happy, that it's done. Time to catch up on long overdue to-dos, such as dusting, vacuuming and mopping.

But before that I made a quick little dessert from Ina Garten, Raspberry Crumble Bars. However, I decided to use Apricot marmalade instead of Ina's Raspberry. I just was in the mood for sweet and bitter. It's all baked, but not yet tested.

Enjoy your day ... Andrea

Birthdays and newly found Wisdom

My wonderful friend from down under sent me a lovely message about my recent birthday:

"... we have to celebrate our birthdays even more as living longer is a

privilege in this world of so much violence and illness."

I find she is very much right.
As I get older (how did that happen???) I find that I do not take as much for granted. At the same time I find freedom in many things. 

Little Black Dress Quilt

I finally (almost) finished my first quilt using the Little Black Dress line from Basic Grey. I found the instructions amongst the many tutorials of the Missouri Star Quilt Company and whipped the top up very quickly. Then follows a rather long and unproductive period before I gathered up my courage to start the quilting process. I anchored all the blocks using stitch in the ditch followed by yet another unproductive period before attempting FMQ.
Through my quilt guild, FRMQG, I was able to attend a class held by Angela Walters and that gave me enough inspiration and confidence to finally finish my quilt.
Here are just a few photos:

 ... here you can see some of the FMQ designs I used. Please keep in mind that I am a complete beginner. I am not staking any claims on quality even though I am actually seeing slight improvement.

One of my quilting goals for this year is to just.do.it. when it comes to FMQ. So, I am trying to find designs that are not too intimidating. Another great source is the Free Motion Quilting Project by Leah Day. I also signed up for a FMQ class with Leah via Craftsy. She has great tips and tricks and knows her stuff.