What a Day

I fell in love with a piece of art made from recycled materials in the Pueblo Chieftain this morning. A
Pueblo Community College student art show was to be on display on the Pueblo campus today. Due to other commitments I couldn't see it in person but I really like the photo. I might decide to do something similar to display on the wall of the garage/shop that faces my kitchen and dining room windows.

It was such a lovely tawney, blue sky day that I decided to drive to the High Country Quilts shop in Colorado Springs to see if I could get a free motion foot for my Bernette 75. (The Bernina shop recently merged with this quilt shop, which is my favorite in the Springs.) Learning to do free motion quilting was one of my goals for this year and it's already mid November and I haven't, but the July 12 x 12 piece is demanding free motion quilting to reach it's potential, so... It turned out that they didn't have one in stock but they are ordering one for me, so it will still be a while before I can post my July quilt.

While there I discovered something I wish I had found several months ago. I have been using hexagons in the 12 x 12s this year and just finished cutting out 81 small hexagons for the November 12 x 12. I had one plastic 5 inch hexagon template from which I have extrapolated various sizes of templates from thin template plastic, but these do not work with a rotary cutter. Fabric hexagons take a lot of time to cut with scissors and are not very uniform, which makes it difficult to fit them together well.
I bought a Mercury Hexagon Template which can be used to rotary cut hexagons, from strips of fabric, up to 8 1/2 inches. How much simpler and more precise than my old method! I knew there had to be a better way. Why couldn't I think of this? I am so pleased because I was just wishing I had an 8 inch template for a series of larger quilts that I am planning for next year.

This ruler can also be used for making diamonds, 60 degree triangles, and trapezoids (half- hexagons).

I also ordered a book on making locker hooked rugs from quilt remnants, a locker hook tool, rug canvas and string. These rugs and mats have the primitive farm house look I love and I'll tell you more about it when the book gets here and I can experiment with it. I'm so happy that these hooks are large enough that I can do this with my arthritic hands and it is something I can do while watching TV in the evenings with Joe. I've been wanting some new rugs, and have lots of scraps and remnants. It is dangerous to go to a quilt shop or show!

To top off the day, I got a cell phone call from daughter Kat, with the "1812 Overture" playing loudly in the background. This is one of my favorites, and she wanted to tell me that my 18 year old grandson, Ben, had burned a CD of several pieces of classical music and was playing it. It hasn't been long since he was teasing me about the "boring" classical music station that I listen to. He thought they sounded like the guy who does the Visine ad on TV. I told him that young people like noise and excitement while old people crave peace and serenity. Of course, now that I think about it, the "1812 Overture" isn't either peaceful or serene, is it? But it is not peaceful in a different manner than hard metal music (music?).

Driving home in the twilight over the foothills of the Pikes Peak Massif, I got a fantastic view of the Arkansas River Valley backed by the Wet Mountains with the Sangre de Christo range looming in the back on the skyline. It made me think of "the Wall Around the World" from the Darkover series by Marian Zimmer Bradley that I've read many times in the past 35 years.

Mr. C's Restaurant, in Penrose 6 miles down the road from us, where we had our wedding dinner 23 years ago, is closing tomorrow after 30 years in business. It's time for Frank to retire and do some traveling in Europe with his wife. Joe has worked on nearly every piece of equipment in the place for the last 20 years, so Joe and I had dinner there tonight to give Frank our best wishes. I asked the waitress if I could buy our cute cactus margarita glasses as a souvenir and when Frank heard about it he came out and gave them to us so we could remember him when we have a drink from time to time. We will sure miss Frank and his Matadors (a fried burrito type Mexican dish smothered in green chili).

It was a good day! And I even got a yard of bright colored frog fabric.