is your plane leaving without you…
so we’re sitting here at the las vegas airport, weather delay in minneapolis, so we don’t know when we will be taking off. there were tornados (plural?) in the minneapolis area today.
so we may have a little more las vegas time
–sue
There’s something very “rural” feeling about a county fair. Even living in suburbia as we do, our county fair is well away from the big cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Last week we visited neighboring Dakota County’s fair held in Farmington. Well, we had to go because I entered a few items and of course I wanted to see how I did! (Because somebody will ask: out of eight needlework items, seven ribbons; out of five photos, one ribbon. I was happy.)
If you were to ask my DH what his favorite part of the fair was, he would probably say the tractors. We didn’t count, but I bet there were 150 vintage tractors, all lined up, cute as can be. Here are some Allis-Chalmers tractors. (I know that, because it says right on the tractor!!!)
And a sampling of John Deeres:
Which brings us to this week’s puzzle, the Allis-Chalmers.
–Sue
Since this is our annual Girls’ Vegas Trip, I thought I would share a night scene. We usually stay at Bally’s but this year we are at Paris. We saw Blue Man Group last night — awesome!
– Sue
This was a good week for UFOs (I actually finished one!!!), but not so good for the design wall. The design wall looks exactly as it did one week ago! I had a quilt (Beach Blanket Bimbos) on the Gammill, but that is on its way to the State Fair. Pretty boring — I have nothing to show but a messy sewing room.
So, you’re probably thinking, boy-oh-boy, I bet Sue is hard at work this week!!! Oh, how wrong you would be. At 9:30 (or so) this morning, I’m getting into a big metal bird with two of my bestest friends (Carol and Pat) for our annual Vegas trip!!! There are four of us that go, but the 4th (Marcia) is already there awaiting our arrival.
Let the giggling begin! That pretty much summarizes our three days together. This is our 10th trip to Vegas in 11 years, always in August, and we always have a fabulous time (G-rated, of course)! Photos tomorrow…
Sue
Nothing purchased. I repeat, NOTHING PURCHASED! I think I should celebrate by making a little trip to the LQS!
Six yards went into the Fruit Ladies’ binding and backing. so finally, a week that I’m going towards my goal!
I could actually make my goal by year’s end if I didn’t buy any more fabric this year. Yeah, I thought that was pretty funny too!
And I’ve been trying to think of a name for the beach/picnic quilt I just finished with the Fruit Ladies on it. How about, Beach Blanket Bimbos?
–Sue
Okay, it’s the Fruit Ladies again, so if you don’t care for them — see you next time!
This was one of those quilts that just “eats” quilting. The fabrics are so busy, I could hardly see where I’ve been (so I turn off some lights and have a light off to create some shadows). I was doing a freehand floral/funky-feathery/curly/leafy design, and I couldn’t really tell how consistent I was, if I was keeping the motifs the same size, if I was leaving any big spaces, etc. That’s when I’m grateful for zippered leaders so I can just unzip it, take a look at the back, and zip it back on to fill in; in this case, I had a too-big space right in the middle of the quilt! Easy to fix.
It was fun to turn it over and see the quilting:
Nothing fancy, but it’s a favorite thing of mine to do — choose two or three or four motifs and just go.
Since this is Puzzle Wednesday, see if you can put the Fruit Ladies back together again!
–Sue
Check out Judy Laquidara’s blog for a look at how other quilters are doing on their stash busting for 2009.
Fabric In: I ordered four fun FQs from Vicki Welsh’s Etsy shop. They are sun prints, and I love them! 1 yard IN.
Fabric Out: Last weekend (Saturday night, to be exact) I had a little surprise give-away for the first three people to leave a comment (plus any comments held for moderation before the third published comment). I had one extra that was held for moderation, for a total of 4 surprise gifts. (They are packed up and going out in the mail tomorrow to Lynda, Robin, Karen & Julie.) 3 yards OUT.
It’s pretty sad when you have to give fabric away to reduce that net number! I will be making at least one new quilt back this week, so if I don’t buy anything I’l have a good reduction for next week!
–Sue
I used to save favorite blogs in my browser’s “Favorites”. When I first had my own site (before I started blogging), I started listing them on the right-hand side of my web page. Then I could just go to my own site and click on whomever I wanted to visit. I continued that method for quite a while.
Now I use Google Reader, as I was finding more and more blogs I wanted to follow, and I didn’t want to fill up so much of my web page with this list. Plus, it was a little bit cumbersome to keep editing my own list when I found someone new I wanted to follow.
I LOVE Google Reader. In case you don’t know how it works, it notifies me when there’s a new entry on one of the blogs I’m following. I don’t waste time checking each site each day when obviously not everyone posts every day, but there are others who sometimes post several times a day. Using a feed like Google Reader is so efficient. (There are also other services you can use — I just happen to be familiar with Reader.)
I realize a lot of blogs are on Blogger, and I believe you are able to select other blogs that you want to follow through Blogger. I’m not sure how that works, but I assume it works well. (And maybe you can only select blogs to follow that are on Blogger also?)
I confess to following 35 blogs, which sounds like a lot, but remember, not everybody posts every day! (And I know a number of people watch WAY more blogs than 35!)
So the Questions of the Day: How many blogs do you regularly follow, what method do you use to keep track of them, and how does that work out for you?
–Sue
For today’s photo tip, I thought I would do a little summary list of previous Photo Fridays that might be helpful:
If you’re ever looking for a previous Photo Friday tip, they are categorized under “Photo Fridays” on the right-hand side of this page. And, please, if you think of something you’d like to know more about, let me know. If I don’t know, I’ll research it and cover it. Then I learn something new too!
I realized this week that I’ve pretty much run out of photo tips! So, here’s my plan. Friday’s post will be pretty much another ”whatever” day, but when I come across a camera feature or a photography tip that I want to chat about, I will do it on a Friday.
My biggest tips — take LOTS of pictures, way more than you think you should take (I probably delete 90% of my bird pictures after I get them on the computer). If you don’t have a big enough memory card to do that, get a new big one. They are pretty cheap now.
Learn to pre-focus on the subject of your picture.
If you’re shooting through glass, get really close to the glass and pay attention to any glare; change the camera’s angle to the glass if that helps.
Try to only use your optical zoom. Your picture will suffer if you zoom past the camera’s optical zoom (and go into digital zoom). You can tell you are changing zoom modes because the zoom will stop between modes, and you have to zoom a second time. You can do it, but your picture will not be as high a quality.
And speaking of zoom, any time you’re zoomed in, you need to hold the camera STEADY. A tripod, of course, is best, but I don’t haul mine out as often as I should. If you can’t steady yourself (or your elbows) against something (a railing, the side of a building), at least tuck your elbows in close to your sides and hold as steady as you possibly can. This is true even with IS (Image Stabilization) built into your camera.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with your settings, and read your manual.
I didn’t talk about editing software because the options are so vast and varied. Whatever software came with your camera (or you purchased separately) can be a big asset to you. Learn to crop pictures, and play around with the features to see what else you have available.
Have fun!!!
–Sue
UFOs — Because this is UFO Thursday, I do want to do a quick post about How Are You Doing on Your UFOs??? I’m taking small steps that are adding up to some bigger steps, and I’m happy with that. As long as I don’t totally lose momentum and pack all my projects back into the closet again – then I might as well dig a hole in the back yard and throw them in! That’s been my strategy so far: keep two projects out where I can see them, and do something on both of them each week. Let me know how you’re doing and what is working for you.
Socks — Judy Laquidara is giving away a skein of sock yarn (I hope I’m not too late, as I meant to post a picture for my entry last night and then I forgot about it). So here is my picture of my socks knitted so far (with the exception of my apple-green-and-orange socks that are at a county fair).
Clockwise from the top: lime-green & raspberry socks, 3/4 done; caramel stripes, one sock almost done; lumberjack socks, done. I love my lumberjack socks, even though the first time I wore them, I fell and broke my wrist! I was wearing shoes at the time, and I want to make it clear that these socks were in no way responsible for my injury!
Sue
