There are those days when I think I live in paradise. We had an unusually warm day for January with sun and no wind. After living where it is snowing, blowing and cold at this time of the year I am enjoying the change. On the down side when we have a day like this I am unable to stay inside and get any work done.

When I think about how hard it was to move and start all over, I have to remind myself of how fortunate I am to be here and be able to enjoy myself in such beautiful surroundings. I am also very grateful for the time I have to be creative.

I also posted some of my quilt journal squares on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/34794446@N02/ I do not know how to set up a link so this is the address.

I had another productive day. I got a walk in with the dog, found more agates, heart rocks and made a small quilt. It is about 10 x 14. I made a transfer from a photo I took of an abandon truck in Colorado a couple of years ago. Then I pieced fabric around it. Improv time! I also practiced with my walking foot and did some stippling (in the black so it does not show up very well). It was really fun to use so many of my new skills. I think it turned out fairly well. I may do some embellishing on it but I am not sure yet. I think I will look at it for a bit. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

I made a project improv square. This is the first one and I may make another. I would love to know what you think. I am glad I finally cut into my fabric and made a square.

I am so excited about having my computer back, it died on Sunday. We had a corrupt file that disabled my computer and it felt like someone had cut off my leg. However without a computer to play on and take up my time I have had a couple of productive days. I went through some old Quilt Art Magazines and have found a few new things to try. I worked on lettering on Denim today and that was fun. I do not have anything ready to show off but It was good to try something new.

It has been a practice day. I decided I needed to learn how to stipple.
It is something that I have been afraid to attempt. Since I have an
old machine the feed does not drop but there is a small plate for darning
that I can put over the feed. It worked! It is going to take some practice but I
will just keep making hot pads (which I am in need of).
After making a couple of hot pads I also wanted to work a bit on making a journal. I made
a small one for my daughter and decided to try a larger one. It was fun. I need to
put the pages in and do a bit more work but this is the beginning. I hope all of
you are having a great weekend.

Rocks!!! I have become obsessed. We have had a couple of weeks of wonderful weather. So I take advantage of it and go walk on the beach. However when I go out on the beach I look for agates and heart shaped rocks. I need to stay home and get things done!

Time for play and practice. I was playing with the wonky log cabinish block idea. This one is not great but works out well for a hot pad. I also practiced more with my new best friend the walking foot. It has made things so much fun.

I am so very excited. After reading Victoria's blog, http://thesillyboodilly.blogspot.com/
about a walking foot I remembered when I bought a used sewing machine for my daughter in the box was an attachment that I had no idea what it was; so I went to look and when I pulled it out it looked like it might be what she was talking about. So I put it on the machine and ta da....... It worked and was a walking foot. so I made a hot pad to practice and it worked beautifully. I have never done any machine quilting before and now after this experience I am hooked. It is going to make my quilting so much more fun. THANK YOU VICTORIA!!!

OK, here they are. These are my fabrics for my project improv. Now that I see them photographed the red looks a bit orange but it really is red. I am not sure whether I will use all of them or not but here they are. The coming days will tell.

I am so excited I have committed to make a red and aqua quilt block for Project Improve. I will be making a improvised log cabinish block to be compiled with other blocks made by quilters from everywhere. I happened on a blog by Jacquie (http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/) about this project. The quilts will be assembled and donated to a charity. I thought this would be a great first on line project. I have been trying to add the button for this project to my blog but have not been successful. The sad thing is that if either of my kids were home from college I am sure they could do this but I am learning and struggling some of the time. So if any of you have any suggestions or helpful hints please send them along.

The picture that I added today is my red for the day. I thought for sure I had a photo with red and aqua but no such luck. I have a few red and aqua fabrics for this project and will keep you posted on my progress.

Wish me luck...........

We have had another incredible day, I am new to this part of the world and am beginning to understand why people love it here. I kept hearing all about these unusual winter days now I am getting to experience them for myself. They are amazing. 70 degrees and not a breath of wind. Butch and I had a great morning down on the beach.

I have spent the afternoon moving my blocks and moving them some more. I think the best option is going to be having some spaces between the blocks since they are so busy. If any of you have any thoughts on this I would welcome your input. I have also made some transfers of old stamps and I think I will add more of them to the squares. You can see a few of them on the squares already.

I spent the afternoon in my studio with my faithful companion. He had a nap in the sun while I worked. The quilt in progress is just laid out on my work board and I keep moving things around and changing the squares. I am not sure whether to put the squares in a pattern or if I should do something more random. It may be a bit busy but I guess time will tell. I am having a good time with it though.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Now it is time to get back to the blog and projects. I found a pattern in the Winter 2008 issue of Quilting Arts Stitch magazine. The pattern was for a Techno Travel Roll by Susan Wasinger. I thought it was really a great idea. Here is my version of the Travel Roll. Instead of just using fabric I quilted a square to use. It was very fun to make and now I have a great travel pack to take on road trips. Now all of my chargers, ear buds, i-pod and other items in one place and when I need them there they are.

We had a beautiful day today so it was time for a long walk on the beach with my sweetie and our dog. One of my favorite things is to walk on the beach and hunt for agates. We have had about 3 weeks of rain and wind so to have a beautiful day in January is something you don't want to miss. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Cupcakes........ Here is my quilt journal square. This was really fun. I used fused fabric for the cupcake paper and circles from a plastic shopping bag for the frosting. I really like using unexpected items in my journal squares.

Well, no quilting today. My son is getting ready to head back to school and I thought I should be a good Mom and get a package of food ready for him to take back. These are one of his favorite cookies so I have baked them and some oatmeal bread. It is always hard to send the kids back to school but I do want them to get an education and grow up but there is a part of me that would like them to be small again. Time flies by too quickly.

Do you ever save something and you are not sure why. Well here is something that falls into that category. We received several boxes of things from my mother in laws home and in one of those boxes was a notebook full of old travel brochures from the 1950's. I could not bring myself to get rid of them. While going through them I decided to make a western quilt, using transfers of portions of maps and illustrations from those brochures. So here is the beginning. It in the very early stages and I am not sure how it will come together at this point. I am having fun going back in time with them.

Here is my first posting of one of my quilt journal squares. I am fairly new to the process and learning so much as I go. Playing with fabric is something that pleases me in many ways. I love the colors and the way the fabric feels. Being able to just look at a pile of colors and pick out the ones I like makes me happy. I have chosen to use my photos as guidelines for my designs. For so many years I have taken photos of flowers because I find them so beautiful and now I am enjoying putting them together with fabric.

Here we go. I am new to this and I am going to just jump in.

The title of my blog is from a poem I used to read to my kids that I loved. No Difference by Shel Silverstein.