New Dishwasher

Over a month ago I blogged about my dishwasher. I woke up one morning to this:

The heating unit had malfunctioned by overheating. Everything plastic melted all over my dishes and formed a blob in the bottom of the unit. We had purchased a top of the line GE dishwasher for $1,200, and have only been in our home 1 1/2 years. Because we were just past our one year warranty, I was feeling....well...let's just use the word "upset".

Good news!! The dishwasher itself only carried a one year warranty. But the stainless steel drum inside has a longer warranty. Because the dishwasher could not be fixed, GE agreed to send me a brand new dishwasher at no cost. They even payed for shipping and installation. Maybe this time splurging for top of the line really did pay off. I only talked to the GE Supervisor on the phone, but if she had been there in person I would have kissed her.

No more standing at the kitchen sink and doing lots and lots of these.

And these. What will I now do with my extra time? If I'm using Quilter's Math maybe I should go out and purchased more dishes with the money I saved. I mentioned to my husband that I think I should now have $1,200 from the money I did not spend on the new dishwasher. What do you think?

This is our new dishwasher before installation.

Doesn't it look happy with dishes inside? Like it is now fulfilling the purpose of it's creation?

Life is good.

Sewing Machine Cozy

"When I give to you what I make with my hands, I share my heart".
A little while ago Stephanie of Loft Creations posted this cute Sewing Machine Cozy on her blog. She found the free pattern at "Spool" http://www.spoolsewing.com/
Today Ricci and I got together to work on making these covers for our own machines. The original pattern is just made from fabric, with no lining. Stephanie suggested using pellon fusible fleece to give the cozy some heft. She commented that she found it rather bulky to sew with, especially at the bottom. Ricci came up with the bright idea of trimming the fleece away 1/4 inch from each pattern piece, so the seams didn't include the fleece. (that Ricci!) It worked great! These were so easy to make. We took the original pattern, and then measured the dimensions of our individual machines to make them custom fit. For example, the pattern suggests a 13 inch drop, but my machine sits down in the table, so I only needed a 9 1/2 inch drop.

Hopefully this will help keep the dust off my machine.

Ricci added panels to each side of hers.

She now is going to make a sewing cover for each season of the year. (that Ricci!)

The latest show and tell from Ricci. She used all Kaffe Fassett fabrics for this quilt too.


A GOOD TIP:
The other day my girlfriend Judi was working on this cute Halloween quilt. She used "Press and Seal" (similar to a plastic wrap you get at the grocery store) to draw the lines she wanted to embroider on. Because it's see through you can draw them exactly over the pattern. Once the embroidery is stitched, you pull away the plastic wrap and you're done!

Dixie Quilt Guild October Meeting

The Dixie Quilt Guild normally meets the first Saturday of every month. But next Saturday October 4th is the St. George Marathon, so we moved our meeting to yesterday. Why would a large guild move their meeting just for one city event? Because the marathon takes over every aspect of our community. We are a small town, with a rapidly growing population of about 140,000. The Marathon brings in around 7,000 runners from 49 states and 10 foreign countries, along with all of their families. We have traffic, lots of traffic. Entire sections of town are blocked off, and driving becomes a challenge. Those of us not involved like to stay at home. Besides that, we support several of our quilting ladies who also run the marathon.
Yesterday our turn out was small. The State Quilt Festival was going on in Ogden, and many from our group were up north for the event. We had a small show and tell, but saw some very impressive quilts.

We are having National Teacher Linda Ballard come to teach some classes in November to our guild. This is one of her quilts that will be taught called "Fractured Chrystal's". One of our ladies has already made the quilt and wanted to show us the design.

9 Patch Pizzaz. Quilts from a previous Zion Retreat.

Courthouse Steps.

This wonderful quilt was made by Ruth McIntire, one of our amazing applique artists.

Girlfriend Time

For my father in law's 89th birthday my husband wanted to take his dad golfing. It's been a while since Grandpa has golfed, but it used to be their favorite activity together. My husband felt his dad would enjoy driving around in the golf cart and being on the golf course, even if he couldn't play.
This left me with several hours of free time in Salt Lake. My girlfriends cleared their busy schedules and arranged a time for us to get together to quilt and have lunch at Ruth's house. The 4 of us get together often, and our friendship has carried each of us through over the years. These are truly my sisters.

Judi, Nedra, Beth and Ruth

These ladies are fabulous cooks. Judi made this to die for salad. When ever Judi cooks for us we are always so happy because she makes "pretty food".


Ruth's husband and boys just finished this amazing waterfall that goes up their mountain.

A few weeks ago the mountain behind Ruth's house in Draper, Utah caught fire. She was here in St. George when her husband called to say they had to be evacuated and fire trucks were in the driveway. Ruth jumped in her car and immediately started the 4 hour drive home, wondering what devastation she would be facing when she arrived. Twenty- five foot flames came right down to their property line, then abruptly stopped. Prayers had been answered and a miracle took place. No homes were damaged in the fire that consumed 600 acres. They have spent several weeks in a mess, and still have concerns about the possible damage that could occur from Spring run off. While I was there we could see helicopters overhead dropping seed on the charred ground.

You can still see the burn line at the the top of the their property.

Beth worked on the binding of this cute Halloween quilt. We all started this pattern over a year ago when we were in Park City together for a girl get away. Has anyone finished except Beth? Hmmm...no.

Look what a perfect selection she used for the back ground fabric.

Ruth has finished several Buggy Barn quilts.

Because Ruth was out of town when the fire occurred, several neighbors came and helped her husband remove precious items from their home. The first things they grabbed were pictures and quilts. Since then the quilts have been left hanging over her banisters, waiting to be rehung around the house.

This is my favorite of all of Ruth's quilts. Of course it's made out of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

Ruth loves working with wool, and has made several quilts where she has incorporated hand dyed wool into the project.

Another Buggy Barn design.

The 4 of us took a block of the month class at Quilts Etc. several years ago. The first block cost $5, and then if you completed 6 and brought them to the next class, the next block was free. We consider this our $5 quilt. (Of course, we don't count all the money put in scrap fabrics, machine quilting, and so on...) And of course the time spent together is priceless.