Older Quilts

As I've stayed at our son/DIL's condo in Tampa, I've had the pleasure of seeing in use several quilts I've made. Austin sits on his Dino-Monster quilt to play with toys.

I've been sleeping under this "Star Bright" quilt that I made as a wedding gift for Brent and Lyn in 2005.

The pattern came from a 2005 issue of McCall's magazine. I'm unable to get a good photo of the entire quilt because it measures a whopping 91" X 104". I used up a lot of neutral-colored fabric remnants when I made this quilt!

This was the first time I tackled free motion machine quilting on something so large. It won a second place ribbon at the 2005 Iowa State Fair. All those feather motifs were quilted using Golden Threads paper. (Here's a video on the Golden Threads website that demonstrates how to use the paper: http://www.goldenthreads.com/markingquiltingvideo/)

It's quilted with 50-weight Aurifil thread. The batting is Quilter's Dream Request.

"Star Bright" border cross-hatch quilting

Brent, who is now 31 years old, was 15 when I made the "Tumbling Blocks"quilt shown below. The picture doesn't show the 6"-wide scrappy black border around all four sides of this 81" X 88" quilt.

Brent wanted a black and gray quilt. Boy, do I remember how difficult it was to collect gray fabrics then! In 1993 and 1994. Choosing where to position fabrics was one of the best lessons I could have learned about value and contrast.

Several diamond-shaped pieces show a color change due to exposure to UV rays, and washing.

You can see the damage that years of UV rays and washing have done to one of the fabrics. Wherever it is in the quilt, it's turned to a brown-ish cast.

This is pieced entirely with diamond shapes, so all the sewing involved set-in-seams. Because I hadn't yet mastered free motion quilting, it's straight-line quilted with invisible thread. Brent designed the interlocking diamond border quilting which I recall was a pain to quilt because of all the stops and starts.

As I took pictures of the quilt from the bedroom, I heard the blasts of a cruise ship. Nice view, isn't it?

Walking to Get Austin

As I mentioned in my previous post, I walk each afternoon to pick up Austin from daycare. These are the sites on my stroll.

Walking from Harbour Island across the bridge toward the new Tampa Bay History Center, on my left is the Tampa skyline and the St. Pete Times Forum (wall of glass, center right) the venue for all types of athletic events and shows.

On my right is Channelside, where cruise ships embark and depart several times a week.

On the top deck of this cruise ship I could see a water slide, so there's no doubt it has a pool too. This ship is called "Carnival Inspiration." I've never been on a cruise, but I'm impressed by the size!

You can see I'm in the heart of Tampa. It was funny when a car pull over - a male driver - to ask me directions to the Aquarium. Gosh, I knew where it is! I could tell him where to turn, and even the name of the street!

The best part of the walk is getting to take this guy back home with me.

We spend the afternoon together, but Nana takes a back seat when mom and dad get home from work. Austin loves to give hugs. 

In Tampa

Dan returned home with Hogan the dog, and I stayed behind in Tampa to spend more time with family, particularly, grandson Austin. Driving from the beach, this is the Tampa skyline from the south, on the I-275 Franklin Bridge. 

I'm spending more than a week here, just a block from downtown Tampa.

More beautiful palm trees. 

During a 15-minute walk to the grocery store, here are a few of my views. Not bad at all!

I could almost believe I was again in Sydney, Australia if there were ferries - there are none.

I don't think Darling Harbour (Sydney) has manatees either.

Also, I saw only kayakers here; in Sydney it's mostly rowers.

Some tourists were preparing to see the area, practicing how to use a Segway.

This cute little man has been my daily job... well, half-day job.

 

Every day at noon I walk about a mile (1.6K) to Austin's daycare, pushing an empty stroller. You should hear some of the wisecracks from other pedestrians who've told me I am missing my baby! We come home so Austin can play, drink a bottle, take a nap, and spend time together until Austin's parents come home from work.

Just like it's tough being a quilter on vacation, it's rough duty being a Nana on vacation.

A Visit to Ybor City, Florida

One day while staying at our beach condo in Florida, we made a trip into Tampa and visited Ybor (pronounced EE-borh) City. It's an historic neighborhood on the northeast side of downtown Tampa founded in the 1880s by cigar manufacturers. For 50 years, immigrant labor supplied the manpower to hand-roll millions of cigars. Now it's an entertainment hotspot and tourist destination. 

A few shops still hand-roll and sell cigars from walk-in humidors like this one at Ybor Cigars Plus on East 7th Avenue.

Hand-rolling cigars at Ybor Cigars Plus

In the Ybor Cigars Plus shop, the "plus" is Cuban coffee. It's an espresso, served "con leche" (with milk) if you ask. I absolutely love it. 

So does Dan!

After our late morning coffee, we walked down the street to Gaspar's Grotto for lunch. Signage indicates that they serve "the best Cubans" (sandwich) in Ybor City. Well, several of the restaurants say that! We asked for a recommendation from Ybor Cigars Plus and were sent to Gaspar's Grotto. We were not disappointed.

Our while-you're-waiting appetizer was Cajun boiled peanuts. I'd never heard of them, let alone tried them! Typically, I don't go for spicy food, but these had just the right amount of zip. Messy eating, though.

My Cuban sandwich was "ahhh, wonderful." It's made with several types of meat, cheese, mustard and pickles. It probably sounds like a sub sandwich, but the difference is that the Cuban is made with Cuban bread and then "hot pressed" to make a crispy crust. Excellent, especially when eaten with sweet potato fries.

Dan's Cuban was served with fried plantains.

And I won't mention the one-of-a-kind Bar Cat draft beer we enjoyed with lunch. In total, all the foods that completely blew my no-carb diet to smithereens... but worth every morsel.

Where I've Been - Florida

For two weeks in February, Dan and I were beachside in Florida. We had gorgeous weather the entire time! Lots of sunshine, perfect temperatures, and not a drop of rain.

Our one-bedroom condo was on the second floor of this quadriplex called "The Nest."

Since our son, daugher-in-law, and 10 month-old grandson live in Tampa, about 45 minutes from here, they came out to the beach to visit us on weekends. It was the first time Austin saw sand and waves... and experienced bright sunshine!

Austin and "Bapa"

He was a little uncertain about the feeling of sand underfoot. He kept lifting his feet off the ground!

Austin and "Nana"

On their second visit, Austin wore his UNI (University of Northern Iowa) t-shirt that was given to him by our Cedar Falls, Iowa, friends. Go Panthers!

And the second time we took him to the beach, he felt the ocean water, and didn't like it very much - probably a bit cold.

Austin in my arms. Doesn't he make me look tan!?

We did quite a bit of walking... that's much nicer than walking in snow. It's probably no surprise that I really appreciate the palm trees. I thought this one was especially nice-looking. The white ibis in the foliage beneath the tree was scarfing up geckos for a mid-morning snack!

Several evenings found us walking across Gulf Boulevard for dinner. Motor traffic can get pretty heavy on the weekends and during spring break, presenting a challenging for pedestrians waiting at the cross-walks. This was something I'd never seen before, but what a great idea! We "waved ourselves" across more than one cross-walk.

Almost every evening, this was our balcony view across the Gulf of Mexico. 

Some quilters have a pretty rough life.

Lookin' a Little (Star) Fishy

Remember playing along with the TV show Concentration? (1958-1991, according to Wikipedia.) It was a game show where contestants matched pictures that eventually revealed a picture puzzle. This is my super easy version, with no puzzle behind the squares! Do you see how these "Swirling Star" blocks look like star fish? Okay, not quite exactly, but very similar.

Since my last post, these are the shapes I've been hand piecing. To make each one, I begin stitching at the outside of two pieces, moving toward the center. When I've stitched the two pieces together, I pick up another shape and stitch back toward the outside edge to complete joining three sections together. This makes one half of a block. I repeat the steps to make the other half of the block. Then I piece together the two halves starting at one outside edge, stitching across the center, and ending at the opposite outside edge. It takes me about 35 minutes to piece one star block.

I now have 36 of these.

I have been a little uncertain about what fabric - color and print - to use as "connectors" between each star. I cut out only a few connectors using a white, tone-on-tone print. Here they are, laid out for my first assessment of what this quilt top will look like. 

None of the connectors are yet pieced to the stars, so the lay-out isn't precise, but I think I like it. While arranging stars, I decided I need another blue print, and maybe another aqua. That means I won't be hand-connecting anything until I make all the stars I need, but at least I know where I'm headed.

... down a star-fishy path. Do you agree that I need to come up with a name that has "Starfish" in it?