It's all about Latte

Overall View

This past winter while in Yuma, my mission was to do a Latte Quilt. Really didn't get the quilt completed but did manage to get the 16 blocks plus the center medallion completed. Pictures of its beginnings were posted in a previous blog. What is the Latte Quilt...well it's an machine embroidery quilt designed by Kerrie Hays from Australia.. It was quite popular several years ago.  My first go at it was in 2005 or so.

First go around

When arriving home this past April, the next step was to prepare the borders, sashings then put it all together and move on to the fun (or so I thought) phase...the quilting. Not really having a set plan as to what or how much was going to be done, initially only the borders, sashing and larger open spaces were quilted. Unfortunately the quilt still wasn't moving me "it wasn't talking to me", in reality it was screaming for more of something, just wasn't too sure what or how much.  Quilters have this very strange affliction about looking at the backside of a quilt (wish they'd quit), they always turn it over, not sure where this comes from, unfortunately what it does do is make one to strive to make their work look as good on the back as it on the front.  

just a "little" more please

Darn, can't hide as many mistakes anymore!!! :-((

what it looks like from the back

Just a little background regarding the Latte Quilt.  I believe many of the core designs utilized are of Sue Box origin. The stitching in between the main designs is based on what your sewing machine has available in it's repertoire of stitches which is incorporated into the main design through the design software. Once the overall design is completed in the software, it's then divided into three sections making it small enough to fit into a large hoop to be stitched out.  

Before

After

The center embroidery portion of the medallion requires about 10 hoopings. Just to give you an idea as to time, each hooping takes approximately 60 minutes to stitch out, so each block that is stitched takes about 180 minutes providing all goes well.  Hence, it doesn't take long to chew up a lot of time. Something moi is very good at.  LOL

Parasol Block Before

Each block (16 in total), with the exception of the center medallion, is 14 inches square.  The embroidery portion of the center medallion  is 36 inches square, with the added triple stitched triangles, it works out to 46 inches square.  It has been very interesting over the years to see many variations of the latte quilt and how people put their own personal touch to this lovely quilt.   

Parasol Block Corner After

For myself, this is the third go at the quilt, the other two were given away for extra special gifts.  I had 'just' enough duchess bridal satin fabric left over from the last latte quilt (2007) to squeak this out with some modification along with another chunk of fabric that was sitting in my stash, just knew there was a reason it was waiting.  So the previous two quilts were made by quilting the blocks as you go and then stitching in the ditch on to the backing all of which is done on a domestic machine, which was not a simple task given the size and bulk the quilt is about 90+ inches square.  

The one thing missing from my earlier quilting accessories was a longarm quilt machine and a 10 foot frame.  So given this was the third time around, I thought I'd try and do something special with the quilting end of things.  Pretty much all of the quilting has been done free hand and rulers which for me is no simple task.  In saying that, my feathers are starting to come together and the comfort level has grown considerably.  

Border Corner Block

To work around the embroidery designs it pretty much demands that you do it freehand.  It totally taxed my brain to come up with creative ideas as to what to do, thank goodness for the internet to get ideas elementary enough for me to be able to do, it is not an easy task to fill blocks up with stitching and have it look like it means something afterwards. I  have the greatest admiration for those wonderful talented people who can fill a quilt with block after block of beautiful quilting. A skill that requires a lot of creativity not to mention dedication to practice, practice and more practice. 

 Now all that is left is the label and binding!! Woohoo!!  Until till next time....

Here's to Birds, Flowers and whatever else that comes to mind....

Afternoon Moon

I can't believe that I'm starting this entire blog over again.  Pretty much had the post wrapped up last night, and "thought" (obviously I shouldn't have thought, grrrr) today was just to be, a matter of  proofreading and some tweaking.  Well, tweaking it isn't, rewriting it is; oh well, isn't that what retirement is all about.  Can't get fired, not doing it for someone else, nor being paid...thank goodness!! With all this practice it should be twice as interesting!

Paul removing tiles

We are in the process of getting our deck re-tiled.  It won't be completed when we leave, but at least we will see it get started.  We've seen work that they have done at other places and it looks impressive, so we feel confident that they will do a respectable job.

Paul was busy last week removing the original porcelain tiles. Had we realized the original tiles were in such good shape, and came up so clean we would not have purchased nearly as many of the contrasting colored tiles for the old tile could have been used. There are approximately 300 of the old tiles and being that they are porcelain they last a lifetime. Maybe when we get back in the Fall we'll think about selling the old tiles.   The other project that we completed was insulating the aluminum roof in the new room we had built last year.  Never expected the room to be so cool in the winter even with a space heater running it was still cool. Certainly hope this resolves this issue.  Do hope it stays up through the summer heat.  Another bonus, quickly realized, it isn't as hot inside the room on warmer days.  Mind you I'm quite positive, during mid-summer it wouldn't make a difference, air conditioning would be the only solution.

Removing termite damage

The deck people arrived at long last. Yeah! When they removed the old cement board it was discovered there was old termite damage in one corner, so this meant running to the lumber store to purchase new plywood.  The good news - was realizing the original plywood is 3/4" thick not the 1/4" as previously thought. It was good to find out the problem was not too thin of ply wood, but the cement board used was of very poor quality i.e. thin, in addition to a very lousy job of tiling, not really sure if that is good news but its better than what we were thinking.


Our last week of clogging was fun filled with lots of eating.  Since being self anointed paparazzi, my thoughts were to take pictures of  all the food that was consumed.  There is always lots of pictures of dancing taken by other ladies.

Picture of the crazed ladies

One day that particularly stands out in my mind is the day we jumped into Westwinds swimming pool after class and lunch with our clothes on. Security had even been called to kick these crazed women out of the pool by a unknowing gentleman, and to think that he didn't even stick around so we could take his picture. hehehe  Little did he know that there was prior approval from Westwind management to do the dirty deed.  I'm sure this will be brought up at the Resort meeting if there is such a thing. Let me tell you the water felt amazing, which made it doubly hard to leave.  Initially when the idea was brought up, must admit that I wasn't entirely sure it was such a great idea, but now in hindsight so glad I did, was totally liberating!  WooHoo!!  A person needs moments like this just to keep life on the lighter side.

Sonya, Wilf and Paul

Two of Paul's sisters and one cousin with their husbands, made it down this way and dropped in for a visit.  It great to see them, they looked well and were definitely enjoying the nice temperatures that Yuma was offering.  On average Yuma has been 10 degree warmer this winter than the norm.  It has been like this since early February.  Did take pictures of everyone when visiting, unfortunately some pictures can't be found.  Not too sure what happened.


While thoroughly appreciating the warmer temperatures for our own
personal reasons, the desert flora is is thriving with the warmer temps.  All the cacti plants are blooming way ahead of schedule.  This year we got to see our one cactus plant in full bloom.

When out walking about there is an abundance of cacti blossoms, the most common colors are the various shades of yellow and pink.  Even though a number of the varieties have yellow blooms, the flowers themselves are different.  The bees and hummingbirds are extremely happy regardless of the color.

Neighbour's Yard

The other day I climbed (that sounds rather challenging, really it wasn't - it was more like lifting my leg) over the neighbour's fence and took pictures of one cactus, even the neighour hasn't seen it in bloom. They have lived there for a few years but always leave before it blooms.  I feel rather privileged to have seen it; not to mention take a picture of the elusive bloom.  It is quite large in comparison to the other cacti blossoms. So must share with her in the Fall. Another cactus in their yard has rather attractive wine color pinkish blooms which is particularly attractive.

Day 1

Day 3

The only cactus in our yard that is blooming, has bright yellow blooms very similar to the above yellow blooms but after a couple of days it changes to a more coral color that is most attractive.  Kind of strange, it looks as though it should be from two different cacti.  Our Oleander hedge is now coming full bloom.  Oleander bushes remind me of honeysuckle bushes, minus the fragrance.  I remember so very long ago when I was 12 years old living in North Bend, Ore, there were honeysuckle bushes in our backyard and their fragrance filled the yard.  It was amazing.

The hummingbirds certainly like them.  I never realized how noisy hummingbirds are until we moved here.  When ever going out the back door you can hear the little birds chattering and making lots of noise. If not trimmed the Oleander pretty much blooms year round, the blooms do appear to be more abundant at this time of year.

Mentioning hummingbirds for the fourth or fifth time, it's very interesting to watch how itchy and scratchy these little critters can be.  They are constantly preening, poking and scratching.

Their long beaks make it very difficult to get to those little itchy spots.  The other day I took a series of pictures showing the little birds in their finest moments.

We did not put feeders out this year, because towards the end of last year after noticing one hummer with a severely twisted beak and his little tongue just hanging off to the side I decided to do a little research on the Internet to find out if it was a birth defect that could have caused such a deformity.  Unfortunately it was a man made defect.

The problem appears to be hummingbirds contract a fungal infection from the feeders that are not cleaned regularly and starvation is the end result.  Unless a person is prepared to empty and clean the feeder a couple times a week this can very well happen.

In another day, we will be making the trek back to Canada.  So the past few days have been making decisions about what is going back and what is staying.  Inevitably we take back stuff and ask ourselves why we brought it back, then almost in the same breath we ask ourselves why we left behind other stuff.  It will be good to get home and see family and friends and get back into the routine of things.  I'm looking forward to quilting the project that I made this as well as doing some quilting for others.

so until next time...."What we 'think' determines what happens to us; so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds." Author Wayne Dryer

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Sneaking in just under the year!!!

I can't believe it's been just about an entire year since posting.  Shame on me, certainly didn't intend it to be this long between posts, I guess life just gets in the way. Then at some point, posting was done via Facebook, just because its quicker. But not all my friends are on FB.

Baby Quilt

Every now and again I'll try experimenting with some high-key photography, since the sun here provides the perfect back-light. It's an interest concept in photography.  Will apologize in advance some of the pictures used in this blog are repeated from FB.

It has been a very busy year since last posting.  When we got back from Yuma last Spring longarm quilting was top on my list for myself as well as others.  Even had a lady who lives in the South Pacific, Vanuatu, send me a baby quilt that she had hand-embroidered - it was so cute, not to mention well done.  I guess this calls for some clarification, she was visiting her daughter who lives in the Fort St John area and had brought the quilt top with her to be quilted.  Asked her why she brought the quilt top all that way, apparently nobody on the island does long arm quilting plus there isn't power as we know it, many of the people who live there still use treadle machines.  Pretty amazing.

Talavera With Border

If my memory serves me right, I was working on the Fiesta Talavera applique quilt and waiting to get home to do the border.  There were over 320 pieces to put down and stitch.  Good news - it did get completed, but not before my sciatic nerve decided to attack with a vengeance.

Wall Hanging for a client

 It took the majority of the summer into early fall before the sciatic nerve started to play nice.  Then there was another attack right after arriving in Yuma.

Before Paul or I knew it - it was time to return to south.  We left towards the end of October and we were about 2 days ahead of the storm that has never left the north county.  Must say it has been one of the nastier winters in and around the Edmonton area for that matter Alberta and eastward.  It came with a full compliment of snow/ice/snow/freezing temp/snow and more snow. So grateful we missed it. Did mention how much it snowed??

Sandie & Keith

My daughter and husband were down just before the end of the year, and spent a few days. Keith got to golf, so he was happy. Unfortunately their stay was not nearly long enough, they had to return to their jobs and the cold.  Did I mention snow? They were in LasVegas before coming and got married.  They have been together forever, at least 11 or 12 years and decided to tie the knot.  Do hope that they at a future time will put Yuma back on their vacation agenda again and stay longer.


At the moment of this writing, Yuma is very warm.  The warmer weather has arrived about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule.  Wondering just how warm it will get before we leave in another 6 weeks or so.  We had such a beautiful sunset last night.  It was pretty amazing.  All the neighbours were out with cameras in hand, snapping off pictures like crazy.

Eric Brice @ Tucson

This winter,clogging has been high on the list of activity - even made it to the Nationals in Orlando, Florida held last November, US Thanksgiving week; then in January of this year headed over to Tucson for a 2-day workshop. The beginning of February it was Mesa (Gold Canyon area) for a one-day workshop. It has been pretty busy.

Mills & Welsh @ Gold Canyon

There are several ladies from the Yuma Feet on Fire clogging group that went so it was fun attending these workshops.  All in all must say pretty good stuff.  There is one more workshop to attend on the 21st of February, which is not so far away.  Feel so fortunate to be healthy and able to participate.  Pictures are of the featured instructors at the Tucson and Gold Canyon workshops.

Paul and I joined a local golf group.  It's been great, gives Paul and I together time plus mingling with some the neighbours and getting to know others that live out in the Foothills.

Last Latte Quilt Made 2007

Center Medallion for new LQ

This winter one of my undertakings has been a embroidery quilt...what else is new.  I've made this quilt a couple of times already first one in 2005 and the other 2007; gave both quilts away to family.  It has to be one of the prettier embroidery quilt that I've done, I have such a soft spot for this quilt, it is so beautiful.  It's without a doubt a ton of work - takes a minimum of 150+ hours before it is all said and done, guess that is pretty much standard for these types of quilts, even the Talavera was minimum of that time, then another 3 weeks just to do the quilting. The fabric used in the Latte was bridal satin that was left over from the last Latte Quilt, the fabric had been special order and there was a minimum yardage that had to be order.

laying down 3rd row of stitching

Parasol Block

The 16 blocks and center medallion of the quilt are done. Woohoo!  Of the 16,  four corner blocks are the same - Parasol Block, then the remaining blocks are in pairs.

Whew, it is a good feeling to know that it has advanced this far.  The next step is the sashings and borders, unfortunately I may not have quite enough fabric, so an improvisation maybe required. At the end of the day I'll be the only one that knows.  LOL Once that task is completed the quilting will be started and this time; will be the first that a longarm quilting machine will be used.  Before the quilting was done on my domestic machine. Talk about a hassle. The completed size is somewhere around 90x90 inches.  So at the moment there are many ideas rolling through my mind.  Purposely, I have left more than the usual open space on this quilt just so I can fill it up with super special quilting!!

Started the project once the thread arrived in early December.  Was a bit disappointed with the color of the one thread - didn't look that dark online.  As time progressed and more blocks were completed it worked well. Here are a few pictures of the other blocks. If you look at the completed quilt it will give an idea as to what all the completed blocks look like.


Got a really cool attachment for my sewing machine, instead of sewing a design it paints the design.  Rather fun to do.  Have done one top it is has been washed few times, and the ink is staying well.  So guess that is my "que"  for the go ahead to do more, which in all honesty doesn't take much to prompt me to play!! LOL

Two of Paul's sister will be coming down to Yuma soon.  Sonya and Wilf  towards the end of the first week of March for a few day, then will head off to lovely Tucson to do some fun stuff.  I love Tucson, its a beautiful city, so metropolitan, great shopping not at all like Yuma.  Then Penny and Gary will be arriving in Yuma at the beginning of March and will staying for a few weeks. I do hope we all can get together at some point.

Who's the fairest of all? Not You!

Must post one more picture of a woodpecker that was pecking like crazy all yesterday morning on the chrome of our cargo trailer.  It actually made dents. At first it sounded like someone pounding nails into a board, the noise just went on and on. Guess I should have looked earlier.  It must of thought there was another bird on the other side...not too smart!!

Will close off now....so until next time.  Take care and be safe.