Window Washing and other topics

Disclaimer:  Do not wash windows if recovering from an injury.  At least, get a clearance from your medical professional first.  Some of us learn this the hard way!!

Window Washing: This weekend, I did a few chores that you put off until you can’t stand it any more.  My  windows had been bugging me, they were really in need of a good wash.  I have lots of windows designed into my house so I could easily enjoy the view from every room.  Here are a few pictures from a post last year showing my windows:

Anyway, you can see I have lot windows to clean, so I broke it into 2 days.  Wondering what the “easy” way to clean lots of window is?  No, hiring a window washer doesn’t count.  LOL!  All you need is a bucket of warm water with dish soap, a garden hose with a spray nozzle, and a professional squeegee/cloth  combo head on a telescope handle.  The top looks like this:

The easy way to do the window involves just a few steps:

1. Spray off any surface dirt

2. Dip cloth end into soapy solution and scrub the window

3. Hose it back off and squeegee window dry.

I do all the exterior windows, then come inside and substitute some  window cleaning solution instead of a hose spray down for the inside windows.  This is a modification of how a professional window washer would approach the job, I think.  I usually wash my windows at least 4 times per year and more if they need it.   Has anyone found a better way to approach their windows- besides hiring someone to do it?  I figure I save myself $150+ to do the job myself, so that is more money to spend elsewhere!

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Today, I head down the hill for an appointment in Sacramento since washing windows caused me to have a set back in my yarn related injury.   I kid you not!

This gives me the perfect opportunity to take a side trip to a different bead store that carries every seed beed size and style that is made.  It is time to finally decide on a design for “Use the Muse 2″ and get started.  I have my focal point, I have my other beads, but what I am lacking is seed beads in just the RIGHT color.

Chef Joe: Joe and I had a nice weekend together- window washing set back notwithstanding.  He is in a cooking phase,  so I happily volunteered to be his guinea pig, especially since that meant I didn’t have to cook each night.  My favorite meal was “Caribbean Night” which had Jerk Chicken, mango salad, chickpeas in rice dish- with a shimp appetizer.  My man gets an A+ for effort, creativity, and being a terrific husband!  You just gotta love a man that cooks.

Enjoy your Monday!!  Carla

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th to you all!  Hope you all are having a fun day bar-b-que-ing!

On a non-holiday specific topic, I wanted to give a big shout out to Fulvia, who kindly helped me solve my sewing machine problem.

This hint is for all you Janome 6500 users who may be frustrated by a shifting bobbin case- which then stops the machine cold when the needle goes thru the plastic bobbin case.  Not good.

Fulvia sent me a link to Melody’s blog where she illustrated a fix.  In the spirit of helping someone else, I will show you how to fix the problem:

Here is a picture of the exposed Janome 6500 bobbin case, with the red dots all lined up nicely.   Notice the location of the screw- which adjusts the metal spring so that the bobbin case does not shift counter clockwise and jam your machine:

Don’t be afraid… just simply adust it into place by turning the screw.  Nothing will happen, trust me!  Just tighten it enough to acheive the goal of keeping the bobbin case from shifting pass the spring.   That is all you need to do.

Viola!  It solved my problem!  Thank you to Fulvia!!

Happy day to you all!

4th of July Weekend

Where has the time flown to?  It is already the 4th of July Weekend!  The best part is that Joe gets 3 days off and we can spend it together.  But let me catch you up first to all my doings.  I’ve been:

* Designing quilting lines for my next show quilt.

*Working on the current quilt

*Piecing my slash quilt

*Designing my entry for Use the Muse 2 contest

Of course, my Janome 6500 is still acting up for me.  The bobbin keeps shifting willy nilly, even after I purchased a new one.  So it is off to a Janome specialist to be diagnosed and fixed.  Also, I’ve been busy with all the mundane stuff in life :

* Scheduled an install of a new whole house fan for Wednesday

*Comb all 4 pets daily to remove foxtails and burrs

*Clean the house

*Organize parts of the house bit by bit (which is loosely related to Clean the house, above)

*lunch with friends

*babysit Jack

etc… you get the picture.

This weekend, we will barbeque, of course.  You can’t have the 4th without barbequing.  Mainly, we will work in the garden, rest up and read, perhaps take a hike or drive somewhere.  Something relaxing.  How about you??  What are your plans?

Hugs, Carla

Quilty WIP

Confession time!  Remember that fall I took when I was racing to the homespun yarn booth at the Troy, NY Farmer’s Market?   Oops! I re-injured my elbow and lower back.  This has put a bit of a damper on how many hours I can be creative and work in a given day.  Bummer!

Thus said, here is what I am working on, quilting wise.  First up is a new slash therapy quilt in a different color scheme.  Here is a part of my quilt-in-progress:

I also have made some progress on Nancy’s quilt.  Here is the first border:

In case you are curious, the lovely floral part of the border design is a stencil by Hari Walner.  I have added some freehand “a la Carla” to complete the space and give it some visual punch!

Tomorrow, I get to babysit Jack, I can’t wait to spend some quality time with him!  Here he was last weekend, tolerating his stroller:

Keep watching to see my progress!  It is ice to be quilting and piecing again!

Hugs, Carla

Color Scheme

I always love Vicki’s palette that she does every so often on her blog.  I read that she does this in Photoshop, so I thought I would try it out.  Vicki, these are for you:

and here is another:

These were fun to do.

Creativity….   I am quilting still.  Plus, I am midway through a piecing project for my Therapy Slash quilt using a different material as my inspiration.

I also received my “Use the Muse2″ packet in the mail.  It came with lots of beads, plus a very high quality “muse” focal point.  The contest asks that we not reveal the muse ahead of the date, so I will be good and comply.

Also, stay tuned…. I have another challenge presented by artbeads.com.

Hugs, Carla

Tropical Poppy Class Opening

Remember this quilt?

I am teaching this class tomorrow, on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at High Sierra Quilters, my local quilt store.  This class was full, but 2 people needed to drop out when I changed the date  (due to my extended trip).    That means I now have 2 openings if you want to join in the fun.  Just call the store and Doug or Chris will sign you up over the phone.

The name of the quilt class is “Carla’s Therapy Quilt.”   One day, many years ago, I decided to take the day off  from machine quilting and quickly throw together a quilt.  So I grabbed a large scale fabric and slashed away.  I pieced it back together with sashing, added a cool border, then put it away for about 4 years.  Last year I finally quilted and finished it off.

This quilt could be pieced in less than a day.  It was very therapuetic, hence the name of the class.

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I’m off to the studio to work on Nancy’s quilt now.   Hugs, Carla

Vacation Planning

Now that I am home again, it is time to schedule my vacation this year with Joe, my dear husband.

The other night, we started brainstorming ideas.  Perhaps a cruise or snorkeling in Belize?  Back to Hawaii?

Then we remembered our best vacation trip to date, when we bareboat rented the 44 foot catamaran in the BVI two years ago:

That was an incredible experience!  The snorkeling, the white sands and turquoise water!

So, why don’t we plan a bareboat cat trip back to the Caribbean??  It would be fun if my sister, Yvette, and her husband, Dave, also went along , too, however,  they cannot take off from work.  So than means Joe and I need to be prepared to charter on our own.

To prepare for this trip, we are taking three ASA courses this summer at our closet harbor- which is Lake Tahoe.  Luckily, we both have some experience, however, Joe has more sailboat helm experience than I do.  In college at UCBerkeley, he owned a racing Finn that he would take out on the bay.

I guess this means we have to stay in South Lake Tahoe a couple of nights for each class.  LOL!  Anyone have a recommendation for a nice place to stay?

So, we are both onboard for renting a cat in the Caribbean once again.  We love the Caribbean, and figure that late- October would be a good time to go, at the very end of the Hurricane season, but before all the crowds and “high season” rates.

Now you know my plans for vacation, I want to know what YOU haved planned?  Have you taken it already or will it be later this year or early next?

Hugs, Carla

While I Was Gone…

… my friend, Chris, entered my Garden quilt into a local show.  This time, I only entered one quilt, taking good care to have my collaborator’s name (Barb) on the label, too.

I started getting some emails from friends the day I was traveling through Lake Erie to share the results.  Thanks to Chris for taking this picture to send me:

The quilt entered won 2 first places, also a “Best Machine Quilting” ribbon and a “Best Pieced Quilt” award- 4 ribbons total.  My pal, Barb, will get a first place ribbon and the “Best Pieced” ribbon to add to her collection.

Remember this quilt- the antique valentine applique quilt?  It also won a first place in the Group Quilt category.  Kudos to my friend, Jayne.  Also to Rainey, who won a 2nd place with the bargello heart quilt that I did a while back.

On the quilty front, I just loaded a quilt for my friend, Nancy, who lives back in North Carolina.  I will get a good start on it tomorrow.  Hugs, Carla

Use the Muse Contest II

I wanted to share with you a new contest called “Use the Muse II“.  This sounds like a very interesting contest where you order the contest packet from the bead artist site and create something cool with the beads.  Apparently, the prizes are very desirable.

If this interests you, you must act fast!  The deadline for entering is June 27th, 2009!

Postscript: Ok, I couldn’t resist!  I entered by going to this page on Scarlett Lanson’s contest site and safely entering using a paypal link.  I will share what my kit looks like when it arrives.  Hugs, Carla

Chicken Collection and other art

The co-owner of the yacht and house shown in an earlier post also has a chicken collection- which people have given her over the years.  Besides having a chicken thing going on, we also share the same birthday, too.  I took some pictures of just a few:

I’ll switch gears to public art.  I found this fish hanging up on the north side of Bay Harbor in the shopping area:

and this butterfly bench that will be auctioned off for charity:

While shopping in Downtown

, I saw this cute coffee shop with colorful stoneware cemented into the wall:

and more :

Pretty cool, I think!

Back to quilting in the morning!