Outlander Clue 4 Finished

It has taken quite a few months for me to pick this mystery KAL up again.  I last posted about this project in May.

I finished the cabled section in the red color.

Now on to clue 5 which will entail first picking up 300+ stitches on the edge of the cable and starting the alternating color patterning again.

Clue 5 is the last one so I'm hoping it can be finished before the end of the year.

Next Quilt in the Queue

Since I finished a quilt top, it is time to pull another one out of the stash.  I bought this one on one of my visits to Val in Colorado.  I love the colors.

The main panel is this.

Coordinating colors.

And the border.

Fun!

City Sidewalks Quilt

Last year, Jeri and I attended the Del Mar quilt show.  I saw a sample of the city sidewalks quilt that caught my eye.  I purchased the pattern and then proceeded to search for fabric to make the quilt.  The maker of the pattern is no longer online.

It took me a while, but I plodded along making the squares.

The technique calls for the same pattern with different fabrics at each location.  It was a puzzle to keep the fabrics in the correct stacks without repeating.

After completing all the squares, you are then suppose to add some edges to some of the squares.  I could not figure out how to align the squares with the edges to make it work out without cutting perfectly good squares, so I decided to change the design a bit to keep everything intact.

After joining all the strips, I added a 2" border and it is now ready to be matched with a backing fabric and quilted.

Dishtowels Completed

The dish towels are completed and ready for use.  I started them here and ran into some tangle problems on the winding on.

Weaving was pretty easy as it is plain weave without a pattern.  I played around with the coloring and had blocks some being wider than others with the color moving throughout.

I got 6 towels altogether.  The waste on the end was a lot more than I anticipated.

The towels taken from the loom.

I zigzagged the ends and then the entire length went into the wash.  I then cut them into 6 pieces and then hemmed on the machine.  I'm getting much better at hemming and these hems are wider than the previous napkins.

Taste of the Himalayas

Yaling and I joined Josephine and Jean for dinner at Taste of the Himalayas on Midway.  It is a small place and was very crowded.  The food was tasty but the service was a bit slow.

We all started with the mango lassi.

A special naan that was sweet.

And a variety of dishes.

Mid price range and leftovers for tomorrow.

Ovation Serger Cover

I joined a group on Facebook to test out a pattern for a cover for my serger.  I was given the specs and pattern and got a late start as I needed to have quilted fabric.  I stash dove and found this purple flower and some matching fabric and proceeded to quilt up some fabric.

I joined up the side pieces with the width of the fabric and it was pretty easy to accomplish.  I ended up doing a little bit less in some places and a bit more in others.

I trimmed up the bottom so I could add a binding using a fancy stitch from my Janome machine.

The final cover from the front and the side.

I like it a lot and it is much better than the plastic cover that came with the machine.  That is my Janome in the background that I used to sew it up.

99 Ranch Market Grand Opening

I met with Jon and Karen and we hit the grand opening of the new 99 Ranch Market on Balboa next to Target.

The taiko drum demo started at 7:30 am and I could hear them from my house.  I arrived around 7:55 and waited in the parking lot for Jon and Karen and listened to the drumming as well as seeing the line extend beyond the sidewalk around the corner.

Once inside, there were the requisite congratulatory bouquets.

The store is huge and lots of people milling and shopping as the first 200 customers with purchase received a bag full of bits and bobs.  We missed out.  Also for threshold purchases, there were free items.  The lowest threshold was $35 for a bag of ramen.  Combined we only spent $19.

There is a cool station for hot pot.

Bbq meat.

A bakery and tons of frozen entrees.

I can see myself here on a regular basis once the frenzy dies down.

All American Debate Party

For the last debate, we got together to celebrate togetherness and our American values.  What better way to represent that than bacon burgers with kraft singles, tomatoes, and lettuce.  Paired with bbq and maple bacon chips, it was a winner which is more than I can say for the entertainment.

As the debate went on, there was a lot of commentary but the consensus was that no minds were changed.  We ended with dessert of pumpkin cake and some fruit.

Now we only have to wait for the results.  My ballot was mailed off since I will be out of town for election day again.

Another Bag for Val

When I visited Val in July, she gave me a set of fabrics to make another bionic gear bag for her as I was able to finally get one finished while I was there.

I'm sorry to say that the cool videos that I followed are no longer available, but I gleaned enough that I'm able to complete one of these bags without too much hassle.  I have to say that this last one (my fourth) was the best yet and the seams and bindings did not have any weird problems.

All that is left to do is attaching the tabs onto the body and it is done.  Val took it home to finish.  I also was able to do one of the dumpling dishes as directed by the pattern and I found it fiddly and difficult.  I like the little bags I talked about here much better.  I think I will try to figure out a way to attach the magnetic snaps on that bag to use with this bag.

Nebraska Field Trip

I took another trip to Nebraska and found that there are no direct flights anymore.  I routed through Phoenix on American this time as the contract has changed.

I like the Southwest snacks better and I was able to pull some out of my bag on this leg.  They are really "plane" cookies.

The trip was successful mostly and we were able to hook up most of the individuals we looked for.  There were a couple that were iffy.  As we were driving across the state, we saw cows as far as the eye can see.

Some chickens and other fowls.

And a few log cabins.

We made a pitstop in Hastings where they have a brick walk of phoenix with no explanations, but we found this great restaurant , Odyssey, n the middle of nowhere.

We started with a sample of the bruschetta - brie and bacon.  I thought I would lean toward the bacon, but liked the brie much better.

I ended up ordering the scallops with pork belly macaroni.  It was delicious.

We ate at Whiskey Creek again in North Platte and they have expanded the area with new restaurants and a remodeled hotel.  The last time we were here, the restaurant was packed.  This time, I think the Applebees was more crowded.  I was a little disappointed in the meal.

We started with a caesar salad which was beyond plain.  The croutons were giant fried cubes of some egg bread which tasted strange.  Julie and I ordered different cuts of steak which we shared and she had the broccoli and I had the smokey mac n cheese.

Her cut was more tender than mine and I had to send back the mac n cheese and replace it with broccoli.  The steak came with herb butter which they placed in a bowl instead of on the steak which was also a bit strange.  I think I will pass on this place next go around and try one of the other new places around.

The morning sunrise there before we left was beautiful.