The boys are all settled in

Well, the alpacas seem to have adjusted without much ado to their new home in Big Timber. We have finally named all three. Iggy stuck for the gold one, Cuzco is the black one (pronounced kooz-ko), and Yoshi is the white one. Yoshi and Cuzco are pretty amiable, but Iggy is stand-offish. We think he misses the herd because he's ungelded, so not having the ladies around might be making him a little blue.

I'm now on a mission to find a spinning wheel for fairly cheap since I blew most of my budget on the 'pacas. Iggy's wool is such a beautiful color all on it's own that I don't even want to dye it. It's a honey golden color, but it has pink undertones. It's going to make beautiful yarn.

The car ride with the alpacas was very interesting. We drove up to great falls with a much smaller animal in mind because they don't weigh very much (around 100 lbs). So, I thought we could fit all three in the back of my station wagon, but when we got there and saw those gangly, five foot tall cuties, I suspected there would be no cramming three in my car. So that's why I had to make an unexpected second trip on Tuesday.
On Monday, we helped shear Yoshi and Iggy and then stuffed them in my car. Iggy went meekly and never moved the entire trip. Which was kind of a miracle because Yoshi made it constantly known how unhappy he was with the situation. He was so in Iggy's business it was amazing. Yoshi seemed to think that Iggy's window was better than his, so he would leeeean way over Iggy and snuffle Iggy, then he'd try to get up, bonk his head, make some noise and end up back in Iggy's business.
The best part of this whole ritual was that while they were in the back, you didn't want to turn around and look them in the face because they were a little edgy and we didn't want to scare them into spitting point-blank. So you'd face forward and forget that you had an alpaca right behind you. So Yoshi would silently lean forward until he was right by your ear and let out a loud "Chuf!" which was a spittly, indignant sound he made about every 15 minutes and often is a warning shot for spitting. So, either me or Erik was always jumping when the alpaca alarm would go off in our ears.
He never did spit on us, but man, by the time I got him home and let him out, he rocketed about 12 feet out of the back of my car, like his cute little butt was on fire. Poor Iggy had apparently been holding so still because he had to pee very badly. When he got out he started dribbling before he was out of the car and didn't stop for about 20 minutes.
It was also pretty amusing because we had to stop and gas up on our way home and people were just so confused about what we had in our car. I was joking with one woman and I said, "Funny lookin' dogs, huh?" and she stared at me and backed slowly away. Yeah, that does happen to me a lot, so I'm used to it. I also heard one guy berating his girlfriend for saying they weren't llamas; he was positive they were llamas and she was being an idiot. I did hold my tongue, but it was very hard. Anyway, the moral of the story is that if you ever want to have a good laugh, stop at a gas station with an alpaca in your trunk.
Day 2 I had to go by myself because Erik had to work. By the time I got to Great Falls, Cuzco was sheared and ready to go, so we stuffed him in my car, where he promptly tried to stuff himself back out the window of the car. But you have to just drive, if you stop every time they get freaked out, they just freak out again as you start up again, so I'm heading out of Great Falls with an alpaca doing circles in the back of my car, scuttering around on the plastic and making pathetic (but cute!) little wookie noises. Nothing like looking in the rearview, and getting an alpaca rear-view and wondering, without many options, what you'll do if the alpaca decides to let loose on your shoulder.
And lucky me! I got to find out what you do when an alpaca lets loose in your car. Now, let it be known, that if I could have gotten the alpaca back in my car by myself (it's not as easy as you might think to cram a five foot lanky, scared piece of livestock into your wagon), I would have taken the poor guy for a little walk when we gassed up because I suspected from his gassiness that he really needed to go. But alas, I couldn't get him back into the car, so I didn't dare take him out. So I pushed on for home. And we almost made it. Almost. About thirty miles from home, poor little Cuzco lifted his bum into the air and started the flow on five gallons of alpaca pee. Yes. In horror, I thought should I stop? To what purpose? I have nothing very absorbent in my car. Nonetheless I start to slow down. Bad, very bad idea. The change in speed caused him to freak out, so he starts scrabbling around while still urinating, falls in his own pee, and jumps up, spraying alpaca urine everywhere. I take a huge splash in the face and gasp in horror, which then promptly ended with a shot of eau de alpaca right in my mouth. Oh yeah. I got alpaca pee in my mouth. Awesome. Try to resist the urge to scream in horror after that happens, but I wisely kept my mouth shut and took more piddle in the face. It really made for a fun final 30 miles, but at least he held it that long. So, my car is very malodorous right now, but it will be getting a thorough scrub down and upholstery shampooing this weekend. Cuzco will also be getting hosed.
Anyway, once we got home, he was very well behaved and he walks on a lead just like a dog, so he might be the prize show and tell alpaca. I'm just going to make sure he hits the poop and pee pile before any more road trips.

So there's my tale of alpaca fun. I'm sure more stories will arise as I go. One of these days I'll get some actual quilting done.
Happy quilting!

Alpacas!!

I'm now the proud owner of three boy alpacas! They're not all named yet, so there will be updates and there are some good stories about carrying alpacas in your car, but for now, it is late, I'm very very pooped from two adventurous, alpaca filled days, so I'll share some cute photos and share stories on Friday. It's like a really cute cliffhanger!
The first alpaca we sheared, being stubborn and refusing to go near the car.

The second alpaca (Iggy, he's the only one we've named) being stuffed in the car.
Me and Unnamed Alpaca #1 in the car. Stories on the joy of riding in a car with him on Friday.
Iggy happily snuggled in our yard.
Day 2. Unnamed Alpaca #2. The lonely alpaca car ride at Eddie's Corner getting gas...Also a good story about riding in a car with #2.
All three boys happily reunited after harrowing car rides. Stories and names to follow.
Happy quilting!

Eeek!

Sorry dear quilters--Karen and I ripped the store to shreds this week in a frenzy of rearranging, I saw two fabric reps, and quilted two quilts this week. So though it wasn't boring, I don't really have anything too interesting either because I was too busy, BUT I am almost done with a little one of mine that I'm doing custom work on, SO look forward to pics of that (and maybe alpacas!) on Tuesday. Erik and I are going to test drive the little alpacas on Monday and if we love them (which I know I will :) we're bringing three home with us.
Happy quilting!

Tasty bits

Well, as promised, here are a few of the things I worked on at my lessons.
Jellyfishing (okay, I made that up, but in the book we used, they were called jellyfish feathers, so...): it's basically a freeform fill feather (ha! say that a few times fast).


No-backtracking feathers with two colors and only marking the spine...This is a ribbony feather variety.


Standard feather with feather-fur outers tried on for size.


Feathery border using a template to make the spine and free-forming the rest.

So much fun! We practiced fills, outlining, dealing with not-so-perfect borders...Anyway, I will post more pics when I actually get to work on one of my own quilts. :( My queue is getting down there, so soon. I'm also still waiting for toys and gadgets to arrive in the mail.
Happy quilting as always!

Quilting lessons

OOOoooooOOOO, I don't have my camera so I can't put up pictures of my accomplishments during my lessons, but I feel much improved and full of inspiration and new ideas, new tricks, and my credit card statement will be full of the costs of new gadgets!
Karen Parker was who taught me, she runs her own custom quilting service called Sew Specialties, and she is a blast to work with. I not only learned a ton, but I had a great time, and got to wear a cat while quilting! Karen really really knows her stuff, and she and I are both hoping to create some sort of long-arm support/education group for sharing ideas, etc...So, if you're interested, please email me at lilykw@gmail.com and I'll start the organizational process...She's also very open to giving more lessons, and she is a bottomless pit of information, so it was very worthwhile and affordable.
Tuesday I'll remember my camera and post pictures...I only got one quilt quilted (and that was primarily to practice my stitch-in-the-ditch skills--for those of you who don't long-arm, it's harder than you'd think) but then we practiced lots of fun fancy stuff on a sheet.
I've felt for a long time now that I wanted to venture into the custom world, but I needed a little push and a little help, and Karen was definitely that so this summer I'm going to be a custom quiltin' fool. I have tons of tops to work on (as you've seen) and I'm trying to push through my queue while I wait for my new toys, gadgets, accessories, marking tools, etc... to arrive.
My goal is to have at least one quilt in a show by this fall. Which may require piecing something new, and trying for that a-word (accuracy) instead of my favorite, the s word (speed). SO, I'll keep you posted on that and post pics on Tuesday!
And finally, before I bid you fare weekend, I want to send out a big public "Thank you!" to Karen for taking me under her creative wing. I'm eternally grateful!

Happy quilting!

Why finish the old when you can start something new?

Since I'll be a long-arm learning fool tomorrow, I thought I'd post today. I'm about to squib right out of my skin I'm so excited for my lessons this week, but all the getting ready to finish so many projects inspired me to start a bunch of new stuff this weekend :). Makes perfect sense, huh?

I've been in the mood to use up fat quarters, and one of my collections of fat quarters that I've hoarded over the years is an extensive pile of fruit and vegetables, my personal obsession amongst novelty fabrics. I only like realistic food though. So, I was in a cutting mood, so I cut all my fruits and veggies to make a quilt called "Gypsy Girl" from Anka's Treasures' Fat Quarter Five. It felt about as close to cooking as I ever get :)

Next I sorted and cut to make a quilt out of Strip Therapy 2: Bali Pop Obsession. I had to use Sherbet for something, so I picked my favorite pattern, "Vertigo" and got organized. No sewing, just more cutting and picking out pairs of strips. I am not going to allow myself to start sewing on any of these until I get at least two quilts quilted and bound (okay, maybe just quilted ;).

I cut out pattern pieces for my High Street Messenger Bag, by Amy Butler. And finally, I'm plotting to make the cover quilt from Charmed a book I just got in. I found a great line (who knows why I didn't order it) from Moda called Swanky, by Chez Moi, over in Livingston at Back Porch Quilts. Well, naturally, I picked up the charms and a little yardage, and had fabric remorse when I got home (this was last weekend). I stifled it. But then... Then this:
Now I know those of you who know me may be thinking, "Seriously?" but this cover quilt, when combined with the funky pinks, lime greens, yellows, and corals of Swanky, is going to be a fantastically Lily quilt. Throw on some machine applique instead of needle-turn, and you got yourself one wild charm quilt. So, I called Livingston this afternoon to clean them out of Swanky and asked Dear Husband to pick them up after work :). I don't know about the scalloped borders, but the rest I do know about and can hardly wait.
Then of course, I got an invoice today informing me that this book will be here, possibly even tomorrow: French Braid Obsession:
I mean, honestly, when do these book authors expect me to sleep? Someone needs to come up with a time-stasher. If we could all save up time, like when we drove somewhere, it would just pile up in a cupboard somewhere and when we got home we could pull out a big ol' chunk of time, wouldn't that be great?
Anyway, just thought I'd share my plight, and give you a little glimmer of the show and tell to come! Hopefully I'll have some fun quilting tips to share on Friday, wish me luck and hope that I don't scare my poor teacher to death when I show up with 15 quilts! That's right, I culled down my collection that I'm taking from 23 to 15. I just want to be prepared for anything :)
Happy quilting!

Wednesday...Friday...same thing, right?

Okay, I'm sorry, Wednesday's pictures didn't happen. I'm too disorganized to be a blogger, really. I get distracted and when I get going on something I'm a little too obsessive to remember that I'm supposed to blog. So here's the lonestar pic in case I forget in the next fifteen seconds (not unheard of):
This week, the obsession was getting backing and batting ready for quilting lessons next week. Wooohooo! Except that I couldn't decide which quilts I wanted to take, and it began expanding from four or five, into, ahem, twenty-three. Yeah. And I wish I could say that was all my tops. It isn't. Of the twenty-three, however, six aren't my tops. They're shop tops that were made either by someone at work, or as a group effort. So, anyway, having a backing and batting prepared is very motivational for me, I feel that now I might actually finish these quilts. I even cut binding for a few, which is no small miracle. Scarier still, I pieced some binding.
Anyway, we used up a TON of batting remnants by piecing them, which I thought would be terrible, but is fairly easy if you square the edges. I also found a stash of batting I had from my pre-quilt-shop days, so I got that all used up. I'm trying LOTS of different battings too, I have an alpaca & wool blend, I have straight wool, cotton, cotton/poly, Dream Green recycled batting, dream puff, bamboo.
I still have to decide which ones I'll take to my lessons, but I'm taking some tops that I don't think we'll get to quilting so I can brainstorm with my teacher, Karen Parker, in Billings. Anyway, I decided I needed some record of this miracle before I bag it up and pack it in my car so Karen, Big Timber Karen, who helped me power through piecing and cutting 23 backs and battings, took a couple pictures.
Mount Quilts-to-be.
Can you spot the non-quilt in picture two?
Anyway, it was very inspirational for me to get all those quilts ready to go. Now I'm burning to quilt, but other duties call, so I'll probably have to tough it out until Tuesday. I like this picture as three of my finished quilts are hanging in the background. My long-arm isn't going to know what hit it.
Happy quilting! No blogs on Tuesday, but when I get back later next week, I'll have lots of show and tell hopefully.

Lone star

Imagine that I did a lone star quilt out of Jelly Roll Quilts, and tomorrow I will show proof! My camera is quite dead, if I get a minute I might run home and get my charger, but otherwise, I will post pictures tomorrow. I used Moda's Neptune for it and counter to traditon used a dark background, but you will just have to wait and see! I learned several valuable lessons--most important of which is that even if you read the directions eight times, you can still cut wrong! And I did. The first go round I cut all my background pieces wrong. The second valuable lesson is that when working with small bias diamonds, close enough is not as close as one might hope. I wish that I had taken the time to "square up" the diamonds once they were pieced before putting them into the star.
The one lesson that I learned that proved beneficial, and I really knew from other quilts is that Best-Pressing the crap out of your fabric before you cut it on the bias makes a HUGE difference in accuracy. Cardboard doesn't stretch, and that's about how stiff I made my fabric. I actually used an entire 16 oz bottle of Carribean Beach on this quilt.
All in all though, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of this quilt, and the nice pattern for a jelly roll.
So, come back tomorrow for pictures.
Until then, happy quilting!