70/40 Birthday Party

The past week, my daughter Kim, son-in-law Roger, grandson Ryan and granddaughter Shelley, were here for the week. It was a really cold week in Florida but far warmer than they would have been at home in Georgia. My husband had Monday off for President's Day, but worked the rest of the week. My SIL worked from our house all week. The rest of us cooked, ate, sewed, read, played on the Wii and relaxed.

Friday evening we celebrated my husband Chris's and son Geoff's birthdays with a 70/40 party. Shelley and granddaughter Angelica helped us shop for the decorations at the party store. They, along with Ryan and GD Faith, did the decorating. It was a small party with family and a few friends. There was lots of laughter, so I think everyone had a great time. Certainly my husband and I did!

Kim and I did most of the cooking. We served appetizers of olives, Jarlsberg cheese dip, beet hummus, crackers and French rounds.

Our dinner menu was pistachio encrusted salmon, sautéed yellow squash, zucchini and onion, steamed asparagus, and ciabatta bread (made by our friends Dan and Susan). Everything was delicious! Shelley made Ghirardelli brownies and Angelica made gluten free brownies for dessert. We served them with Publix Organic Vanilla Ice Cream. Yummy!

We had to have a kids table and an adult table since we couldn't fit fifteen around our dining table.

The kids played tic-tac-toe on my iPad!

Peace!

Bernina Presser-foot 97D

Toward the end of 2014 Bernina came out with a new 1/4" foot for their models with 9mm feed. The 97/97D feet are made with a wider toe on the left side so it will better keep your fabric from shifting! The 97D is for the Bernina's with the built in dual feed. The right toe is just like the 37 and 57 feet. Since these feet were back ordered, I just recently got mine and I love it. The foot also comes with a guide that screws into the base of your machine. The right edge of your fabric is against it as seen in the a picture below. This gives you a perfect 1/4" seam! It's your choice whether you use the guide or not. I'm very happy with my new foot! Thank you Bernina Sewing Centre for ordering the 97D foot for me.

Peace!

Wordless Wednesday

Secret Garden Fabrics

Today's blog will be short. I promised to post the fabrics I purchased at Bernina Sewing Centre for the Secret Garden Trapunto Quilt. I'll be appliquing them all on a white background. I want to have it finished by Christmas 2015. Now to wash, starch and iron all twenty-one fabrics.

Peace!

Trapunto Appliquéd Quilt

Wednesday I found an awesome quilt through Pinterest. The Secret Garden Trapunto Quilt. Joanne L. on the the Craft Passion Blog designed and made this. She generously makes the pattern and directions available for free. Secret Garden is lots of flowers, ladybugs, butterflies, snails and some birds. When you turn down the top it says "Secret Garden", which has been appliquéd to the top back of the quilt. I'm really anxious to make this quilt. I just love doing applique because I find it so relaxing. 
The fabric line she used is no longer available. I'm heading to Bernina Sewing Centre this morning to look for fabric for The Secret Garden. I'll show you what I come up with in a later post.
She also has a Trapunto quilt pattern called Road Runner. That one has cars and road equipment. Such a great idea for a boy's room.
Have a great day. Peace!

Studio Day

Yesterday was spent with one of my quilting friends, Erica. We had a studio day at her house. We used to share a studio and we got so much accomplished. When we get together to work, each of us does our own thing. Erica was working on the borders of a quilt and I was starching, ironing and cutting out. While the starch was being absorbed by the fabric, I was binding another quilt.
One of the best parts of quilting or needlepointing together are the discussions we have. We have the most wonderful deep conversations about politics, race relations, religion, science, psychology, and sometimes even sewing. We don't always have the same view about things, but we agree to disagree. If one of us is wrong about something, we have no problem admitting our mistake and apologizing for it. We are also perfectly comfortable not talking at all. It is a wonderful thing to have a friendship that you can totally be yourself in.
I miss the shared studio where we could work together and converse five days a week!
Here's my stack of pinned fabrics ready to sew from yesterday's prep.

We had so much fun yesterday that we're going to have studio time again this afternoon...This time at my house.
Peace!