Margarita Napkins Off the Loom

The margarita napkins are off the loom.

I had very little waste at the end.

Although weaving at the last napkin was tough, I was able to finesse it finished.

Next up is zigzagging the edges, then a wash, then cutting apart, and finally hemming the ends.

I will have dinner napkins soon.

Restaurant Week - Tom Ham's Lighthouse

Tom Ham's Lighthouse had a great restaurant week lunch menu and even though it was a bit warm, outside dining was fabulous.

The scenery was awesome.

Down town view.

Coronado bridge.

Navy Station.

Great value for your money as the deal was 2 courses for $15.  Iris took great care of us.

We sampled three starters:

Calamari

Crudo

Lobster Bisque

For the main course we had:

Lobster rolls

Crab BLT

Debate Watching Party

I attended a debate watching dinner at Jon and Karen's where we had a "wall" of tostadas.

Yummy dinner and entertaining reality tv.

Also watched the sun set but alas I still have not seen evidence of the green flash.

Since it seems that the Chinese are at fault for everything, the next debate will feature Chinese food.

Tactics and Valentine's

I attended a tactics class and got to practice a lot of techniques to defend and disarm people.  It has been a long time since I got to do anything like it and there are updated rules to learn.

It was fun and informative.  Afterwards, we all had a late lunch at Valentine's where I ordered a California bowl.

It consisted of lettuce on the bottom with pollo asado, salsa, guacamole, cheese, very salty sour cream and crispy fries on top.  I also had a helping of horchata which was very good.

Baby Quilt Finally Finished

Back in April, I found out that my friend Serena had a baby girl.  I pulled out and quilted a baby quilt kit for her and it went out for quilting, and I was able to finished the hand sewn binding.

I talked about it here.

Then the quilt sat for a bit since I was intimidated by my embroidery machine.  After taking that great class, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

I embroidered without any problems, and then I framed the block and finally used steam a seam to iron on the block to the back and then stitched it in place by hand.

It is ready for transport.

Grace's Birthday Dinner

We celebrated Grace's birthday with dinner at Ristorante Kaz with Eileen and Yaling.  Grace's mom and brother also joined in the fun.

Dinner was great and it was good to catch up on what everyone was up to.  Eileen started us off with salads and appetizers.

We then moved to dinner where Yaling and I shared the Unagi pizza and Grace and her mom shared a shrimp pasta.  Austin had his own Uni pasta which smelled delicious.

Embroidery Class

I signed up for a two day class on the Babylock Destiny even though I don't have this machine.  I was hoping that a lot of it would be pertinent to my Ellisimo and I wasn't disappointed.  The class was held at Sewing Machines Plus in San Marcos, but they are opening a new store in Mission Bay in the spring.  I can't wait until I can just take classes in the evenings.

The teacher was Nicci Brazzell who has an embroidery business as well as making custom golf carts.  She was a great leader in taking the large class through multiple projects.

We each got kits and some of the Destiny owners brought their machines in to share.  I sat with Melinda and we had a great time.

First up was making quilt squares through embroidery and using the new software system.  My machine doesn't have the designer program and it is pretty powerful.  It was very easy to get quarter inch seams without measuring.

Next up was adding appliqué on a towel made up of some plastic material that you can chalk on and wipe off or wash.  Cute towel and used some powerful stuff on hooping and measuring.

Then a washcloth with a special technique called tack down so you can then see the embroidery on loops on the towel.

Lace was up next and we made some lace cut outs with wash away stabilizer.  This was the first part of the project as these cute flowers are to be attached to a bag.

The bag was measured by the machine and placement was set with embroidery.

I wasn't able to attach my flowers, but here is what is suppose to look like finished.

We made key fobs or label tags. It uses 2 sheets of marine grade plastic and it was a cool technique whereby you set the outline on the stabilizer, place the top piece with spray adhesive, embroider, place the bottom piece with spray adhesive, embroider the outline in satin stitch and then cut.  Nicci had snaps that we added on and I made a tag for Grace for her birthday.

We also did a coloring project, one by hand with colored pencils and one by using the machine with stitching.  Not my cup of tea so I let Melinda do those projects.  The last project was a birthday banner on burlap with appliqué.

Melinda did this project and I took notes to do it at home.  It seems that I don't have a large enough hoop so my machine won't accommodate the pattern.  I will have to wait until I get the software package I ordered which is backordered before I can edit into a size that I can use.

The store had some cool stuffed animals that you can embroider the tummy part and those sold like hotcakes to the ladies in the class.

I also saw this cool holloween quilt with appliqué that is awesome.

Mr. Cool's Home

Jeri prepped and mailed our finished items to the Steitz's and after receiving them, they modeled the items with the sheep.

I had posted about my woven scarf for John here.

Here are photos from John.

Carol with Cash, Bubba (son of Tulip), Captain Jack, and Nutmeg.

John with Mr. Cool and Captain Jack.

John with Mr. Cool.

I can't wait for the fleece to come back from the processor so I can start spinning and weaving for my poncho.

Colorado Field Trip

With little rest, I boarded a plane to Denver for some fieldwork.

We hit the road after landing and headed out to Grand Junction.  We stopped at a Qdoba for lunch (one of Julie's favorite places) where I tried a couple of tacos and some queso and chips.

The scenery was beautiful.

It was very late afternoon when we arrived and we went out for a few interviews which were successful.  On the way back to the hotel, we had dinner at Bin Foodbar 707 and it was a very hip place.  We ordered a salad to share and I ordered the fancy burger while Julie had a steak.  We obviously were not hip enough to fit in there.

The next day was not as successful but we did find a Hawaiian place for lunch.

I ordered a Kalua pork sandwich which came with egg drop soup and I had to sample the macaroni salad.  Julie decided to stay asian with the pho and spring rolls.

Before we left, I stopped to pick up a famous peach at a tent in a parking lot.

We headed back to Denver and stopped by Georgetown for a pit stop.  Very interesting little place with a cool shop.

After checking into the hotel, we walked to DiCiccio's for dinner.  Food was good, service was a bit slow, and they had a huge projection tv where they placed Andrea Bocelli in concert.

The decor of the restaurant we modeled after a theater with booths, a mezzanine level and a balcony level.

The next morning had a beautiful sunrise as we headed to the airport very early for flights home.