Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Kauai. ...

View from our room in Kauai... Cloudy morning, but it cleared up.




Went out looking for waterfalls.. Found the first one..




Took a wrong turn and ended up at Smith's family Gardens...




Took a river boat cruise 2 1/2 miles up river and ended up at a state park where we took a short hike up through a rain forest to a grotto.








Then we went next door to the Smith's tropical gardens... I don't know how many acres they have... But ALOT! I bought a bag of food and ALL the birds came out and were following me around. Peacocks were EVERYWHERE!












After the gardens... We got back on the road and found the waterfall we were originally looking for. It was a REALLY good wrong turn. :)




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Monday, June 24, 2013

Diamond-head...

Took a tour today...
Made it to the top of Diamond Head today... We did the hike..



Then we stopped at blow hole look out point.. Not a very good picture though.



Couple of beaches.. And so much more... Tomorrow we fly to Kailua.






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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Oahu......

We downloaded an app on my one that was a guided tour all around the whole island... It was the BEST! Told us every stop there was and we could stop or not..
Red pineapple at the Dole farms...


Turtles at Turtle Bay...


China Mans hat....


Checkout his weird Mc Donald's...


Laie look out point...Sea Arch


And sooo much more. Came back to the hotel...ate a little something, did a little shopping... Found the fabric mart... Loaded up on Thimble Berries fabrics... Bought a super cute pair of Uggs that I can wear every day, their loafers...downloaded all the pictures and I think I'm ready for bed now.
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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Big Island....





Some of the beaches we stopped at...

Saturday, June 15, 2013

New binding technique..

Found this and I am going to definitely try this..... On those baby blankets that I donate... This is perfect!



Here's how:

1. For this technique, you will need a main binding color and an accent color. Of course, you can use the same color for both -- but why bother with this technique, then?


2. Trim the excess batting back backing from your quilt. Then measure the perimeter and add 10" or so.

3. Cut as many strips of the main (outer) binding fabric as you need to total the perimeter of your quilt at 1 1/2" wide.

4. Cut the same number of flange (accent) strips at 1 3/4".



5. Sew the strips of each fabric together end to end. I always use a mitered join to minimize bulk.



6. Sew the main color and the accent color together lengthwise using a 1/4" seam. You now have two strips equal to the perimeter of your quilt.



7. Press toward the main (1 1/2" strip) fabric.

8. Then press lengthwise with wrong sides together and raw edges even. See how a narrow piping/flange appears when you meet the raw edges?



9. Leave a 10" tail and begin sewing the binding to the back side of your quilt , with the contrast color facing up, using a 1/4" seam.



10. In January I wrote a tutorial on mitering binding corners. It also shows how to join the two ends of the binding.

11. Once the binding is attached all the way around your quilt, lightly press the binding toward the cut edge. This will make wrapping the binding to the front side of the quilt easier.

12. Now wrap the binding to the front, and using thread that matches the flange (or use Superior Threads' Mono Poly) "stitch in the ditch" between the flange and the main binding fabric.



Miter the corners as you would any binding:







13. Join the two ends of the binding as shown in my January tutorial, with this exception. In order to make the flange meet evenly, place a pin through the seam line from the wrong side:



then through the seam line of the right side of the opposite end of the binding:



(This is a sample -- not the actual binding on the quilt!) Sew across the two ends of the binding at a 45 degree angle:



Be sure your stitching crosses the pin exactly where it went through the seams:



And you'll have a perfect join!




Doesn't this technique look great? And it's completely done by machine -- no tedious hand stitching the binding in place!






According to Susie, this technique is approved for use on Quilts of Valor (previously, they required bindings be hand-sewn in place).

This will certainly be my binding method of choice from now on! Thanks, Susie!

Addendum
Several readers have asked me to show what the reverse side of the quilt looks like when this binding method is used. Here is a photo from Quiltmaker's Quilty Pleasures blog showing the reverse of my Mandarin Express Scrap Squad quilt:



Can you see the single line of stitching just to the left of the binding at the right-hand side of the photo? That's the bobbin thread from stitching in the ditch of the Magic Binding flange.

Here's another view, also showing the lovely machine quilting by Ann Reinelt:




Nice huh??? Now go and bind something!!
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Happy Father's Day...

Happy Father's Day to all the daddy's out there...
Hoping you have the best weekend ever...


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Monday, June 10, 2013

Bye-bye Joy....

Today was one of our favorite teachers last day at Ridgemoor.. Joy Baker...No one wanted to do anything for her... She has been there 17 yrs, since the school opened.
So.... I took matters into my own hands...



Went way over, WAY OVER budget... But Joy Baker... You are sooo worth it!!
Hope you enjoy the next chapter of your life... And wishing you the best with our foot surgery tomorrow!
Donna
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