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Birthday Boy and Aliens!

We had a great day finishing up the seminar in Socorro, NM. Whoo-hoos to our new quilting friends. It was Justin's birthday and there was even cake in the lobby to share with everyone. Justin turned 48. Here's a photo of Justin - he's the one on the left.

Many of you know of Roswell, NM. It's famous for a UFO incident in 1947. However, Socorro, NM also has it's own UFO incident that received national media attention. Lonnie Zamora was a police officer who reported the incident. You can learn about it here.

Driving down the main drag in Socorro I saw several little green men. So I'm a believer. I stopped to have a chat and as you can see, I learned this one's name is Miguel. Miguel seemed unappreciated living at the pottery store, so I asked him to come to La Veta and live. So far he seems happy with that decision.

Miguel shared the stage of the seminar on the last afternoon. Here is a photo of a very rare sighting. Have you ever seen a little green man and a quilt in the same photo? I'm just sayin'...

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Socorro, NM - Seminar

We arrived in Socorro, NM and got all set up for my two-day seminar. The seminar is on the campus of New Mexico Tech.

The facility is great for a fairly small town. We did something different for hanging the quilts. Instead of using our standard pipe and drape system, we simply used the fly bars on the stage and attached all the quilts to them.

Socorro is not all that far from Roswell, NM, so I'm looking for little green men.... I'm just saying'...

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Deadwood is Finished!

Can I hear a Woot Woot! and Whoo-hoo!!?? There's nothing like celebrating the word FINISHED especially when it comes to a quilt. Deadwood is done!

Last night I laid it out on my sewing table - wet and stretched for blocking it square. I finished the piped binding earlier in the day and now all that is left is a sleeve and label.

Here are some photos of the finished quilt. If you missed the story on this quilt - here's a link to a previous blog about it.

Deadwood being blocked on my sewing table.

Fabric panels become the focus of the quilt.

Okay, I almost forgot to show you the back of the quilt! I've had this Alexander Henry fabric for a long time and I finally found a use for it. Hope it gets a chuckle or two.

And I couldn't end this post without showing you the two bucks hanging around town.

Oh wait - I just realized there are bucks on the back of the quilt too. I'm just sayin'...

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Streak of Lighting - Back on Track

I'm so glad I have help when I'm stitching away. Yesterday Raisin found her safe cave under my sewing table.

The Streak of Lightning quilt I'm working on is one of those that are outside my comfort zone. I rarely create projects that require perfect 1/4" seams. The other thing that makes this quilt challenging is that the nine-patch blocks are on point which puts them on the bias. The setting triangles are cut as quarter-square triangles so the vertical edges are straight of grain. Nonetheless, the vertical columns are stretchy. None of this is uncommon for quilting and I'm confident the quilt will be just fine.

Look how much the seams take out of the design layout. The left side is sewn together. The wall was covered top to bottom, but with the seams sewn, the quilt is already about 14 inches shorter.

Yesterday I had a major setback and I'm sorry I didn't take photos of what happened. These images give you the idea of what happened. The columns are piece as shown at left. There is a setting triangle on each side of the nine-patch block set on point. While I was piecing one of the columns, I accidentally inverted one unit (see red arrow) which led me to subsequently invert the next 8 or 9 before I realized what I had done. Because of the color layout, there was no simple fix. I had to unsew those units and get everything situated properly.

I don't like unsewing!

Today I have to pack. Tomorrow morning we drive to Socorro, NM to do a two-day seminar. The weather already feels like fall and the trees are hinting that they are resisting changing colors.

I'm thinking I might square and bind Deadwood today - but it's just a thought at this point.

History 2 is teaching me How the Earth Was Made: Tsunami Science. Mother Nature sure has her dark side.

Speaking of nature. My western slope peaches are mmmmm-good. Try this: slice fresh peaches into a bowl. Pour some milk over them. Add a splash of vanilla latte coffee creamer. OMG! I'm just sayin'...

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The Crappy Scraps Winner Is...

Dianne Gale, winner of my Crappy Scraps, followed the news up with this picture showing where on her design wall these bits and pieces will go.

It's always a very tough decision when everyone is clamoring for one bag of my Crappy Scraps! I read every comment and it's exciting to be reminded about the outpouring of charity that goes on throughout the quilting community. I'm also touched by the things you make for your children or grandchildren and of course I'm a sucker for what you do for your pets. I love the creative ideas about coasters, book covers, bags, etc and I know that all of you would be doing happy dances if I picked you. Thanks for playing - it means a lot! There were not enough scraps to divide among friends and far from enough to make any quilt of substance.

The winner of my scraps is Dianne Gale. Here is the winning comment:
Hi when I saw you in Rochester you suggested creating the quilt on your design board instead of mapping out what I want to do before hand. I am going to put your bits and pieces on my design board and see what the fabric tells me to do.

Dianne is referring to my recent Ricky Tims Super Quilt Seminar in Rochester, NY. If you read my recent blog you know how passionate I am about using a design wall. Dianne did her homework (I told everyone their homework was to make a design wall) and I know she will be able to create something fun by just letting the fabric offer the ideas. Dianne has promised to send a photo of her finished project. I want to see what the fabric say to Dianne and I'll be sure to share the results with you too. Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be more Crappy Scraps in my future.

Here's Diane's reply to my email telling her the scraps were coming her way:

Dear Ricky,
WOOT!!!!! Thank you soooooo much. I have to tell you that your seminar in Rochester was THE greatest learning experience of my quilting life. That and "The Quilt Show" have taught me so much. So much great information there as well. So far I have made a convergence quilt, and I have bound 2 quilts using your piped binding. That is my new binding method and I will never use anything else! Also my friend and I were inspired to dye fabric. All thanks to you.

I think I need to start another quilt. I like giving away scraps. I'm just sayin'...

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