lutkaandco

Spring Break Hike

April 5, 2016 Leave a Comment

DH and I took the opportunity to join Dear Daughter on a Spring Break hiking trip. We started with the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens, then on to Inspiration Point. The views were spectacular! And on the advice of our Innkeeper, we climbed Grass Mountain. Well, I managed 1,950 feet climb before it got too steep and gravelly, and my mild high anxiety kicked in :). DH and DD sallied forth and made it to the top, another 150 feet climb or so. This time of year, the wild flowers were in full bloom and amazing! And we managed to fit in a hike up to the Gaviota Wind Caves, another hike with gorgeous views.

Filed Under: Family and Friends, Outings And Adventures

Zentangle Challenge #261 Stacked Bijou

April 3, 2016 2 Comments

Today has been one of those “anything but…” days. So, rather than do what I needed to do around the house, I checked in with the Diva to see what was going on. It’s been almost three years since I did a Zentangle challenge, so it was a nice change of pace. I even broke out my water colors to paint the different size tiles. Here is my Stacked Bijou:

A little hurried… Today was the last day for this challenge.

Filed Under: Zentangle Challenge

Tagging Along

April 2, 2016 Leave a Comment

DH had a business trip to the State Capital, so I tagged along. Some sightseeing, shopping, and eating out. Fun, but I prefer playing tourist with the company of others. Found some nice quilt shops along the way. Spent a night in Cambria on the way down home, and even had time to do pebble art – day dreaming of a seaside cottage one day… Came back in time for my Longarm rental day – finished the quilt I started at the retreat!

Filed Under: Outings And Adventures, Quilting

Quilt Retreat!

February 24, 2016 Leave a Comment

I just got back from a fun Quilt Retreat at Vina De Lestonnac. Round the clock sewing and chatting. Best part of all, all meals prepared and served – no cleaning up! And, I still marvel at how much a bunch of women can talk all day, and into the wee hours of the night 🙂

Filed Under: Quilting

Hemet Quilt Show

February 16, 2016 1 Comment

Some eye candy from the 2016 Hemet Quilt Show hosted by the Valley Quilter’s Guild:

Filed Under: Quilting

Happy Quilts!

February 15, 2016 3 Comments

As much as I admire art quilts, I have a preference for utilitarian quilts. Quilts that can be lovingly used, scrunched up, and washed over and over again. We hosted our daughters Collegiate Cycling team this weekend, and our quilts were put to good use. The guys and bikes slept in my Studio surrounded by quilts! I threw in a photo of dear daughter, courtesy of Cycling Illustrated.

Filed Under: Quilting

A Baby Quilt

February 5, 2016 4 Comments

Baby quilts are fun to make. Small, cute, and fast to complete. Kind of an instant gratification quilt. My friend Muriel has a new grandson, and when I came across this French bunnies fabric, I could not resist 🙂

Filed Under: Quilting

A Modern Quilt

February 4, 2016 2 Comments

My very first modern quilt. Dear Hubby hung curtain rods in my studio – perfect for displaying my latest creation. And my sweet quilting buddy, Hiro 🙂

Filed Under: Quilting

Pink Cactus!

February 1, 2016 6 Comments

Yay! I have finally finished my Pink Cactus painting!

Filed Under: Painting

Scamp!

January 13, 2016 Leave a Comment

Wow, what a great start to a new year! A coupe of months ago, I entered a drawing for a really neat quilt top, Scamp. Linda Miller has a website, Quilts And Quilt Tops, where she posts all the wonderful tops that she creates. Linda is not only a very productive and talented quilter, she is also very generous. When I entered the drawing, I selected “Scamp” as my choice, and as luck would have it, I won! And here is Scamp, a very scrappy hexie quilt top – love it!

You can visit Linda’s Site, admire all her beautiful quilt tops (they are available for purchase), and enter the next drawing. Thank you Linda!

Filed Under: Quilting

More Vintage Quilt Tops

November 7, 2015 Leave a Comment

I found this pretty quilt top on Etsy. It is a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt. The seller had it for many years, and decided to part with it. I like it so much, I think I’ll be keeping this one 🙂

A couple more quilts made of vintage quilt tops. I find tops that I really really like, and as I make them into quilts, sometimes they “speak” to me and tell me who they belong to… And now, they are happily in their new homes. Not the best photos – no quilt holders around, so I precariously stood on a bar stool and did my best:

And some random photos. Santa stockings for community service, me at Beethoven’s 9th (Disney Concert Hall), and me hiking in Wildwood Canyon:

Filed Under: Outings And Adventures, Quilting

A Quilt For Muriel

November 6, 2015 6 Comments

I’ve mentioned before that a group of us friends are meeting once a week for painting lessons with a very talented artist friend, Muriel Dolemieux. I just love her work! it is so colorful and happy! So, combining my current obsession of quilting, and painting, I thought it would be fun to make Muriel a quilt with her artwork. It also gave me a chance to try out Spoonflower. I think it came out beautifully: