Spring Training 2016

MisterStitches and I took our (seems to be) annual road trip to Scottsdale, Arizona for Giants spring training.  We had a great drive down, listening to Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith.  You may have seen the old Alfred Hitchcock movie by the same name.  The movie was based on this book.  

The next day I took a jeep trip to the Sonora desert, a little ways outside of Scottsdale.  That was fun!  Hot and dusty, as one would expect.  I learned a lot about cacti and desert animals and desert life.

And of course, we went to baseball games.  We were able to go onfield before one game and watch the Giants take batting practice.  It was really cool to be on the field, so close to the players.

Brandon Crawford (on the right) is one of my favorite players, in addition to being one of the cutest!  Joe Panik isn't too bad either!

MissesStitches and Hunter Strickland.

I got to have my photo taken with Hunter Strickland, one of the relief pitchers.

MissesStitches and Mac Williamson

After the next game we got to go on the field again, and I had my photo taken with Mac Williamson.    He also autographed my baseball hat.  Pretty nice guy.

With all this time in the car, I was able to get some hand-sewing done.  I hand-sewed the binding on my president's quilt, a good job done.

I can only show you a glimpse of this project, as it is for our guild challenge show in May, and I'll show you the whole thing then.  I was doing needle turn appliqué on this piece.

And here are a few Christmas ornaments that I made.  While at home, I did the pre-work of sewing two circles together.  Then in the car I sewed the openings shut, and folded up the sides to form these ornaments.

Giants Spring Training 2014

Once again, our family headed south to Arizona to go to Giants Spring Training.  It is located in Scottsdale, so we enjoyed the warmer weather and sunshine.  And once again, I had to get a lot of hand-sewing ready to keep me busy for the long car ride.

Here I have yarn for two different projects, English paper piecing hexagons and my sewing bag, a few quilts that just needed labels and/or bindings sewn down and/or hanging sleeves sewn on.  I even had a few embroidered Christmas ornaments that just needed a little work.  I was really prepared this time!

At one of the games we attended, we got to see a preview of Tim Hudson, a new pitcher for the Giants.  Fortunately, MisterStitches was able to get us seats in the shade.  These games can be really brutal if you have to sit in the sun.

I got some more hexagons basted, and ironed them in the hotel room.

I managed to get quite a bit of work done in the car.  I finished the bindings etc on the quilts I took, finished up the little bit to do on the ornaments, made a lot of progress on my hexagons, finished one baby afghan and started another.

The cacti were just beginning to bloom!

You Know You're A Quilter When . . .

. . . a trip is coming up, and you spend more time planning and preparing projects to take with you, than you do actually planning and packing your clothes.

Recently MisterStitches and I went on a road trip to Arizona for the Giants spring training.  That means two fairly full days of driving on very straight roads.  

Each way.  

Coming and going.  

That means lots of time for hand sewing.  And I really did spend more time and energy on my sewing projects than I did on my regular packing!

The first thing I got ready was an embroidery project.  This one is a secret for now, but I will say that it's for someone in my Stitches family.  I had to buy the object to be embroidered, interface it, then draw on the design with my iron-off pen before we started the trip.

Then I assembled my English paper piecing project.  Which includes the fabric, cardboard pieces, thread, and my needle threader.

Now both projects are stacked on the bed ready to go.

I also have a small quilted wall hanging that only needs its hanging sleeve attached.  I included matching thread and needle pack, plus the label that needs to be attached, too.

So the orange quilt gets added to the pile of sewing projects.  That's the good thing about driving in a car versus flying.  Space isn't an issue, so I can take along as much as I need to.

Now comes the big quilt.  This one is not a super large quilt, probably a large throw size.  As you can see, it needs the binding sewn down, and also the hanging sleeve sewn down.

And so the blue quilt goes on the pile.  Just about ready to go.

And in case I run out of projects (I'm worried that this might not take me as many hours as we will be spending in the car), I throw in the baby afghan I am currently crocheting.

Now I think my stack is complete!  I'll let you know how many projects I finished.

Giants Spring Training

MisterStitches and I just got home from Phoenix (Scottsdale). We went to attend some of the SF Giants spring training games. Here is a view of one of the games--gorgeous weather. The Giants won, too!

Got to see one of our favorites, Tim Lincecum, pitching. Hit pitches were looking good. I think his hair is even longer this year.

On the way home we got off the highway to get gas and happened upon the General George Patton Memorial Museum in Chiriaco, California.

This was way out in the middle of nowhere in the southern California desert. Quite an interesting museum. We didn't spend long, but viewed a lot of WWII displays inside, and then there were the tanks parked outside. (With, I might add, a sign warning of rattlesnakes. Yikes!)

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I got a lot of hand-sewing done on the drive down and back. Finished the top for a small wall hanging that will go in my guild's challenge this year. See earlier post about the challenge here.

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