What's on the wall?

The quilt show is over.  The next challenge quilts aren't due until January and February.  So I can try to clean up the studio a bit.  So, here's what's in the works these days.

 This is the picture from Kim Schaefer's book of the last (FINALLY!) calendar quilt.   I decided to get this done right away instead of putting it off for the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I don't think I have any big Holiday plans, but who knows?  Besides, I really want to be done with these!  I'm glad I've done them, and I really like them.  But the "have to" that came with them was terrible at times!

 Over time, I decided those applique squares weren't as charming as I had originally thought.  So mine won't have them.  And I decorate my Christmas tree in blue, so mine will be more like this.



The holes are where the little presents will go.  Mine are sparkly.  (a big surprise, I'm sure!)


















These scrappy blocks have been tacked up on the design wall- under various other projects at times- for months!  I finally got them assembled last week.   This will be a donation quilt.  I may add another row onto it, so I haven't added the border yet.

 This is the only thing I had for sale in the Boutique at the quilt show that didn't sell.  I took a good look at it and decided it was kind of uninteresting.  So I added some sparkles.  Can't go wrong if it sparkles. 

I bought a kit for this at the show.  I forget which vendor, but the pattern is by Bloomin' Minds.  Called a "Half to Have" pattern.  They have LOTS of cute designs.  I'm going to have to see if I can find a few more of them!
I changed a couple of the fabrics.  I thought the black and white stripes were better for the socks!  Oh, and I have red glitter for the slippers.  (can't go wrong if it's sparkly!)

I just finished "reading" (is it still reading if it's an audiobook???) this book.  Short and an easy read, but it left me with some strong feelings.  It's about a 50 something woman who wakes up one day and finds she is invisible. Turns out she's not alone, and that many of the women were invisible long before they couldn't see themselves in the mirror!  I think others will find themselves nodding their heads and sharing the feeling.
I think this book can remind us all to find ways to let our inner lights shine more brightly more often!








Along those lines, I will announce to any who have not heard that my small art group, the ArtCGirlz, are showing our work at a GOArt!satellite gallery in Batavia for November and December.  Unfortunately the gallery is open only weekdays, but if you get a chance, it's a pretty great show!

For a green tip this time, I was looking at wrapping paper at the store today.  Then I asked myself if I really need any.  Wrapping presents is a fun idea.  But there are more earth friendly ways.  One pet peeve of mine is people who only use those little gift bags once.  Why throw them out? I even save the tissue paper if it isn't torn!  Here's an article that asks you to make your wrappings and decorations out of your junk mail!

I am grateful for:
My ArtCGirlz
Sunshine when we can get it
No pressure sewing time
The joy of the extra ten minutes cuddling under the quilts on a cold morning.
No more campaign ads/ calls/ rhetoric- for a few months anyway.

Stitches in Time 2012

Well, we had our quilt show, and it was by all accounts a success.  But we are all glad we have two years before we do it again.  Here are a few of the pieces I especially loved.  You can see more by following the link on the Guild's blog post about the show.

The back of Marcia Muskopf's Xcentric quilt

The front of Marcia Muskopf's "Xcentric quilt

 These pictures are of a quilt made from the class we had with Anita Grossman Soloman last October.  When we hung it we weren't sure which was the front since both sides were so  beautiful!

Ann Michaud made this one. I forget the name.

My friend Lori Anderson won Best Landscape quilt for this one!

Machine quilting, small quilt

Two of the pieces I shared in my last post won awards at the show, which was nice. ( I reposted the pictures rather than make you go back to look)
 I always say I don't care about the awards.  But I admit it- I'm always happy to receive one!

Machine Quilting, small quilt

Kathi's Serena Jacket won best quilted fashion

 I was equally happy for my friend Kathi, who won five and my friend Elaine who won three.

Kathi's "Smog" won a judge's choice award

Best of all- Elaine won for a piece she had really struggled with.  How's that for a perfect reward for all her hard work and perseverance?!?

Elaine's quilt formerly known as the monster

A late season Calendula brightening the front porch steps

The day after the show was spent doing a lot of the things I had ignored all week, but yesterday was one of those rare autumn days you have to go outside since you don't want to waste it!

 I took George out with me while I picked up the chairs from the porch and covered my delicate plants.  She has only been out once before and didn't venture very far.  I think she's going to decide she really likes it outside, though.







My green tip this week is perfect for this time of year.  Make sure you aren't paying to heat the outdoors by sealing up those tiny cracks!  Take a close look at places where two different building materials meet, such as corners, around chimneys, where pipes or wires exit and along the foundation.

I am grateful for:

Improved kittens ( don't ask)

The camaraderie at the quilt show!

 Rare sunny October days.

The smell of fresh baked goodies.

I don't have to go back to the dentist now until February!

Counting down to the "Big Show"!

The Museum Quilt Guild, of which I am a member, holds a quilt show every other year. The Next one is ONLY FIVE WEEKS AWAY!  (Oh, sorry, I panicked there for a second)
I registered three pieces for the show which were not finished at the time. I never do that.  I work well with deadlines, but not under pressure.
The piece on the machine is the last of the three.  It's actually the first of three One Block Wonder quilts I pieced.    I struggled with this one, because I  just couldn't find a layout I liked for the blocks I made from this fabric.  The final solution was a layout from the second book, I think. Make two separate panels of the kaleidoscope blocks! 

Then I had to decide how to quilt it.  I turned to Leah for help, as I often do.  The pattern she calls "sunflower seemed to look like the flowers in the original print.  So that's what I have so far.  I hope to do some feathery things in the purple parts.  Stay tuned.







This piece is the last of three "Mosaics" made from a techniques Kathi shared with us at art group.  I have been playing with random piecing and more free form sort of settings and this is the result.  The quilting is meant to look like the sun shining on the lower parts of clouds.  It also looks like fire. Maybe that was done subconsciously as there were wildfires in the news that week.





Once I get finished with the deadlines, I'm going to do something just for fun!  I've been reading Robbie Joy Eklow's book.  She tells how to design an art quilt from free motion quilting designs. But I'm thinking this "zentangle" tile might make a really interesting quilt!

Thinking "Green" this week allows me to tell you I have made the digital switch.  When I renewed one of my magazine subscriptions, I chose the digital only version.  Saves me some money and reduces the burden on our resources on two ways:  No paper used to print the magazine, and no energy required to deliver the paper copy to me.  If I want  pattern or picture to use in the sewing room, I can print ONLY that page!

I am grateful for:
Some cool nights where I can sleep under lots of covers!
A new recipe soon to be a favorite.
Time spent with a friend.
A call from one son and a visit from the other!
I think that young cardinal found his way out of the garage!

Just plain miserable!

This summer has been brutal for a person (me) who is not a summer lover.  I like spring- once the mud is gone.  Once the temperature goes over 80, I am uncomfortable. Over 85, I'm miserable. I'm not sure the daytime high has been under 85 very often this summer.  It's a wonder I haven't been arrested.  That's how miserable I am.











Apparently this succulent plant has a different opinion.  It lives on the screen porch every summer, and has never blossomed before. Not the most impressive blossom, but interesting in its own way!

I did manage to spend enough time in the sewing room- on the second floor where it gets much too hot to work by 2 pm most days- this week to finish the portrait quilt I started last year in a class at the Museum Quilt Guild.  (still need to get the chalk washed off- sorry)

This is my husband and my older son.  Guy was about 10 months old here.  I was working full time and this picture was tacked up above my work station.  I can't recall what was happening when this was taken. Our house at the time had one big room- living and dining room.  The couch sort of divided the space. I was probably folding laundry at the table when the men peeked over the couch to say "Hi Mommy!"- the name I gave this piece.
Now I have to find a picture of Lucas to do....

My green tip this time is to remind you the local farmers have been working hard to get fresh produce grown for us in western NY.  There are farmer's markets everywhere, nearly every day of the week- and roadside stands.  Don't buy fruit that has to be transported across the country, using valuable resources and producing tons of greenhouse gases, when you can get it fresh off the tree! 

I am grateful for:
Sewing time
Great authors and the talented people who perform them on audiobooks
Sleeping with the windows open enjoying fresh cool air
Frozen desserts
My grill has a burner so I don't have to use the stove at all on hot days!

Works in Progress

How can it be November already?  I think I must be suffering from some kind of time warp.   The fact that we have been able to go outside in shirtsleeves this week isn't helping me keep track of the season, either!  (Not that I'm complaining)

So, aside from getting out to enjoy the weather, and buttoning up the gardens for the year- it broke my heart to put the pots away as some were still blossoming!-  I have been in the sewing room as much as I can the last couple of weeks.  I wish I had more to show for it!

 This is the big cutting table in the "studio".  I'm not sure how many projects are there in one form or another.  What you can't see is the piles of projects I have pushed off the table onto the futon.  There are two on the back of it that only need quilting.  The pretty green and red bit in the center is one my great grandmother made.  I'd love to replicate it some day!

 This is sideways.  It's a Christmas gift.  This is the latest I have ever started something to be given for Christmas.  I hate this kind of pressure. This one is going together quickly.  It's from the book "French Braid Transformation", by Jane Hardy Miller.  I was pretty upset when all the light blues landed in the same area- no matter which way I turn those strips- but now I kind of like it.  It looks like I did it that way on purpose!

This is a sneak peak for my Guild members.  We have been working on a new quilt to raffle next year during our quilt show.  I am the chair for the project this time.  I did not design this, just changed the way the colors were laid out and added the borders.  I got the pattern from McCall Quick Quilts.  One side of the pieced border is missing four colors (it was the only way to get it to come out right at the corners)  Can you find them? - sorry the picture is at an angle and makes it harder.
 We'll have this machine quilted.

 I've knitted a few more tiny snowmen to use as gifts this year. (If you get one, act surprised, ok?)  They stand about one and a half inches tall.  Each one takes about an hour.  The little scarves are actually the hard part. 

I'm working on a Kanzashi Christmas bouquet.  The extras will be used as ornaments and "bows" on presents.










My Green Tip this time is about all the leaves we have to clean up this time of year.  Raking is good exercise,  and leaf blowers use gas, creating CO2 and noise.  If you live where they collect leaves, just pile them up, don't bag them and clog up landfills.  If you live in the boonies, like me, use them to mulch around your shrubs and tender perennials, or just add them to your compost pile.   If you don't want to rake, chop them up with the lawnmower and leave them on the lawn as mulch and to enhance the soil.

I am grateful for:
A few extra days of nice weather allowing me to take walks outside!
Friends who are willing to spend time with me.
Having a little one to play in the leaves with last week.
A chance to have my say and doing it in a calm manner.
When things work the way they are supposed to- making life a little easier!

The joys of country living- and a sewing day!

Welcome to July! Not that the flip flops aren't cute, but I wonder why no one can think of interesting motifs for the summer months???



 I have been asked for updates on the critter story.  The raccoon has not been sighted since there was a very loud noise aimed in his direction last week around this time.  (actually I think it was a momma and babies).  I didn't do it, but it seems to have worked.  The red squirrel is going to meet a similar sound very soon.

The robins are trying to build a new nest for the second hatch of the season, and think my front porch is a prime location.  The ledges above the doors and windows are all of 2 1/2 inches wide and the darned birds keep hauling in dry grass mixed with mud and leaving a mess.  So I started by employing my dress form, who I call Ethyl, to stand guard.  That worked,but Ethyl is not made for rain.  Once she came inside the robins came back.  Plan B- used cd's and plan C wires sticking up to prevent them building were not effective at all. (In fact , the wire seems to have made nice "rebar" for the foundation of the nest).

So I pondered a way to make the ledge smaller and hit on a solution that is working so far.  Yup, Cheerios boxes cut to bow out and block the ledge. It's a lovely decoration as well, don't you think?
There are bunnies everywhere, but I haven't found any babies so far.  I hope we don't find them with the mower!!!
I hope no one gets the impression I don't like sharing my habitat with the wildlife!!   I love watching the bunnies frolic, having the occasional frog in my rain barrel (which is sunk into the ground), and especially things like the Yellow Warbler's nest we discovered last weekend!
The destructive ones just have to be shown their boundaries.  :-)

OOPS- forgot to rotate. 

Meanwhile, during the week of rain we had, I found time to sew!!!  I had an actual sewing day, where I wandered from one project to the next with merry abandon.
This is the project I worked on at the Guild UFO day- my first One Block Wonder.  I never got around to putting the top together once I got the block laid out.  This is a long skinny quilt that will either dress up my new office or warm my side only of the bed when it is needed.  The borders are a nice purple that I would not have chosen but for some friends who made me see how perfect it was!

Just some random bits made from scraps and strips.  Not sure what they'll be yet.

I learned to make "Kanzashi" flowers last week. The first one matched this bag I made last year, so I moved into the bag to show it off.

"Posey Tote" with Kanzashi flower

This is from a "Liberated Quiltmaking class I took with Janet Root a year ago April.  I made my blocks into a cover for the little shelves in the studio.  The Patchwork looked so nice there I have never had the incentive to quilt them, but decided it was time!  I'm playing with fillers and straight line quilting for now.

I just remembered a looming deadline, so I will have to put this aside and do that in my next sewing session.



I am grateful for:
How much Jake loved his quilt!
Lunch with some friends and a nice break in my road trip.
Magnum ice cream bars (double chocolate!)
Cool nights.
My deep blue funk has passed for the moment.

Too bad nobody will see it!

This carrot just cracked up!

I've always been easily amused.  For example....
  I pulled this carrot out of the bag and burst out laughing.  Not sure why.  I think I've watched too many episodes of the Muppet Show.  This carrot should be singing!


 I'm still working on last year's UFO's, which I think I mentioned before.  Last week I noticed there was no quilt on the table at one end of my living room.  I'm not sure there was one before the Holidays.  Now it looks so bare!  So I decided to finish this piece to use as a table topper.  I went to my favorite place for quilting inspiration, and got started.  I had a blast doing this one!

The picture here is the back.  My best friend Mary thinks she's odd because she's always flipping her work over to look at the back.  I think we all do it.  (Why else would Leah show us the back of all her samples??)
I chose grucky fabric for the back since I would be facing this quilt and the backing wouldn't be visible. I turned it over when I was done quilting for the day and realized it was pretty enough to hang on a wall just the way it was!

This is how the back looks now, with the facing in place.

And this is the front of the quilt. It's from a "Little Charmers" pattern, by Anka's Treasures.  The fabrics are by Amy Butler.  The charm pack was a gift from my friend Sharen a couple of years ago. (Thanks Sharen!)

The quilt is on the table, but I'm not sure I like it there after all.  :-)

 

 

 

Close up of the quilting- hardly visible on the front!

 

I am grateful for:
Relatively warm winter days.
A good grilled cheese sandwich
Being so anal, er- organized.
Good things to look forward to.
My hubby, cos he loves and puts up with me.

Just because!

I haven't had much time to sew this week. So I thought I'd stick a pretty picture at the top just to inspire. This was taken in October on the day we set up the quilt show.

Last weekend, we had an early Thanksgiving with my stepson and his family. We have missed out on holidays with them over the years because they have too many families to try and squeeze in. But we managed to find a day we could work with this year. It was a really GREAT day- and well worth all the work I had to do! (and all the sewing I couldn't do :-) I was a dunderhead, though, and didn't take any pictures to share. Must be old age!
Monday I had another Dr appt. Just a check up and another look at my hip ( bursitis) and wrist ( not sure yet- more testing to come) When I got back home, it was nice enough outside to get the lights on the tree out front. We won't light them until the first of December, but it's nice to get them up when it's 60 instead of 30!

Back inside I decided I didn't want to get involved in anything big in the sewing room, so I pulled an old project off the wall. I took a class with Betty Alderman a few years ago, because I wanted to make this project. ( I'd had the pattern for a while!) Betty used to have her own website, but it's not there anymore. I think you can still find small pictures of her patterns, though. This one is called "Butterfly Bright."




I stopped at the point where the pattern said outline all the applique shapes with buttonhole stitch or a zigzag, since that takes time and I wanted to get something else done. But for right now I am happy to have a project where I can focus on that needle and the shape in front of me and think of nothing for a while. That's the therapeutic part of sewing for me!






I have been pondering how to quilt the "Candy Kisses" quilt, and found this design in a book I was leafing through. A GREAT way to audition quilting designs is with a sheet of clear acetate or vinyl and dry erase markers. Just be very careful, since the ink doesn't erase from fabric!

I think it needs something else, so I doodled some fillers in the open spaces.

















I'm leaning toward this one (the lower one)
Kay thinks it needs swirly black quilting in the border, so we'll see what it looks like when I get to that. ( I never plan that far ahead)











I am grateful for:
Family gatherings!
Glazed ham, candied sweet potatoes and dutch apple pie!
The warm days we just had, and reading on the porch one more time.
A day to let myself not feel so good (and feeling better today!)
The new Harry Potter movie comes out tomorrow!