Beating the heat...

My house this weekend maintained a constant 90 degree temperature until about 1:00am, when it would finally cool off to a breezy 80 or so. Anyway, since we returned from honeymoon, our long-haired cat Possum has been nothing but complaints. He meows constantly and at all hours, very very loudly. So we thought maybe he is extremely hot with all that fur: so we shaved him. Not a great look, but very functional, and he seems happier (though he still meows in the middle of the night).


Not the best shave job, but without sedatives, a cat is a difficult thing to buzz.
I did actually sew this weekend (gasps ripple through the crowd). Yes, amazing, but true. I worked on my Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt and am just trying to decide how many more borders to do. I'm intending to quilt it at my machine quilting class tomorrow night. I also continued working on my Bigfork Bay Cotton Company quilt with the bear and raccoon. I've gotten everything cut out: I just have to get it all placed.
I'll try to get some pics during class tomorrow, but until then, happy quilting!

Back...for a wee bit!

Hello dearest quilters!
I have returned, tanner, more relaxed and properly wedded and bedded :) I had an excellent time in Kauai. There is so much beauty on that island, we've decided that we'll be going back for an anniversary sometime in the near future. Also, incidentally, the island's museum was having a Hawaiian quilt exhibit (which they wouldn't let me photograph, even without flash :(...They also had a workshop, which I took, so I will be posting soon on my workshop class.
In the meantime however, some wedding stuff. Below is a picture of the ceremony taken by Erik's sister in law, Kelly. Now at least the many of you who asked, or were just curious, about what my dress looked like, can see. I'm looking forward to our photographer getting our proofs to us.

More pictures will follow, but we only got back from the honeymoon on Wednesday and I'm not very organized yet.
Karen and I taught the PTA kid's class the past two days (I like to hit the ground running when I get back into work :) and there is nothing like a bunch of 6-12 year olds who've never sewn to get you back into things in a hurry.
I'll post some honeymoon, and heaven forbid, perhaps even some quilting pics on Monday once I've had a chance to get my brain together. Of course then I'm off again for seven or eight days. Over a year ago my mom and I planned a trip to Churchill, Canada as a last hurrah together while I was still a bachelorette! Erik threw a wrench in those plans! But in any case, my mother and I are off to Canada on August 3rd to see polar bears and swim with belugas! Wahoooo! I'm very excited. Any vacation where you can't leave the lodge without a guard armed with a shotgun is my kind of vacation. And well deserved for my mom, who endured most of the wedding trauma, and made my special day perfect! So, I'll be posting until then, but there will be another brief outage.

Happy quilting everyone!
PS--Just for the record, I did try to post in Hawaii, but my old computer just couldn't handle the pictures.

A married woman!

Hi everyone!
Sorry, crazy weekend, no blogging, my bad. I'm off on honeymoon now and will try to blog, but I have to take my decrepit old computer, so we'll see if it will work...Look for some beautiful pics from Kuaui! Back in two weeks, will be back on a normal schedule as soon as possible.
Happy quilting (and honeymooning!)!
Lily

Steam a Seam!

Eh hem, as I was saying yesterday, first you trace on either side, it doesn't matter. I like to use pencil in case I make a mistake, but it does make a mess on your hand if you're tracing a lot.


The next step is to peel the backing off and iron it on to the BACKSIDE of your fabric. I repeat: the WRONG side of you fabric. It's very easy to just stick it on the front and iron away, but unless it's a batik, you'll be sad. Also, notice in the picture below that you can see the mesh, make sure when you peel the "back" off the traced piece that you leave the web on the back of the tracing.
Stick it down where you want it on the back of the fabric, lay an applique pressing sheet over it and iron for about 5 seconds all over. When it's properly ironed, it will have a more transparent look. Notice in the picture below, the one on the right is ironed, the one on the left is just laying there for contrast.
Then you simply cut along the lines carefully and you have a piece all ready to fuse! On Friday I will show you how to layer pieces, if I haven't been strapped up in a straight jacket because I'm so tired of wedding minutiae!
Happy quilting!