From the Magpie's Nest

Strips & Strings

2012-02-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

While I was finishing up Syncopation I learned of the date that our local humane society is holding their annual fundraising auction. I always want to contribute to the Humane Society's auction but have only done so a couple of times. As quickly as Syncopation went together I figured I could pull off another quilt of the same pattern in time for the humane society auction. The first thing I did was to pull out my stack of dog prints.

There were many that felt too juvenile for the quilt I wanted to produce, and there were a couple of prints I wanted to keep especially for myself. But! there were enough prints in the brown family to get started with.

I cut strips and started sewing. I had to bring in additional prints of course. Even so, I don't think I had quite as many in my palette as I did with Syncopation. That became more obvious when it came time to arrange the strips on the design wall.

It was hard to keep prints from running into each other or just showing up too close to each other for my taste.

Then yesterday, when I had all the strips on the wall to my satisfaction and started sewing the rows together, the bottom half of the wall shed all of its strips onto the floor.

Aaarrrrggghhh!! Fortunately, I had a photo of the arrangement I liked best. Thank goodness for digital cameras and laptop computers! I was able to bring up the photo and have the laptop on the floor next to the design wall to help me get the strips back in place. With pins this time.

Inbetween work on this new quilt I took some time to check out Brenda's String Thing Along. It dawned on me that I have been making string quilts without realizing it. This one and Syncopation could be considered to have been constructed with fat strings. ;- ) And then there was All to Pieces, (which is waiting to be tied or quilted). I have now joined up with the others to share my stringy projects on Brenda's blog. I have a couple of string-thing quilts on my To Do list. This will be a perfect opportunity to get at least one of them going. :- )

Swap Quilt Reveal

2012-02-13T09:22:00.001-08:00

Julie has received (and posted) the little quilt I made for her. I'll share it here for those of you who aren't regular visitors of Julie's (you're missing out on a good thing, let me tell you!).

We had been discussing, via email, one of her favorite books. She offered to buy and send a copy to me in exchange for a little art quilt. It didn't take me two seconds to make up my mind. ;- ) This was back in the fall. I pieced up a couple of three inch heart blocks right away, in colors I thought would please her. Then I got stuck. And then the holidays came and I was busy making a Halloween quilt... and I was starting to feel guilty that I hadn't lived up to my end of the bargain. Julie was very understanding of course.

After New Year's and some journaling an idea came to me to turn the heart blocks into flower blossoms. I had a blast creating a name for this new species of flower. Introducing Cardiaflorum sympaticae:

They are a rare species, found in secluded, sheltered corners of the world. They have their roots in the soil of blessings and secrets and gifts of the spirit.

I used seed beads to create flower "petals" and then did some outline stitching with embroidery thread to create veins in the leaves. The stems are braid secured with more seed beads.

The root system for the flowers was made with vintage rectangular sequins. I had to add a fairy to tend the flowers of course.

This was really fun to create, once I got started. It was one of those pieces that was hard to put down at the end of the day. Love that!

U-Turn

2012-02-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

I'd have been back sooner with a finished product but I ran into difficulties after the top was completed. My original idea, while I was piecing, was that I would tie this quilt. The overall design just seemed to call for it. But when the top was done I thought this might be a good time to try out the serpentine stitch on Ruby Blue.

It did not go well. First of all, I didn't get the backing fabric taut enough when I basted the layers together. I also had faulty batting. It was supposed to be Warm & Natural but we accidently brought home a Pellon product instead. It appears to have been their answer to Warm & Natural but it was alternately thick and thin, so thin you could see through it in places. Not a quality product.

And the stitch I was so looking forward to using turned out to be less satisfying than I had hoped. In fact, I couldn't get the results I wanted at all, in spite of everything I tried. I carefully unpicked the six seamlines I had quilted at that point. We returned the batting for a refund and bought the real deal this time. I got out my number 5 perle cotton, loaded two strands in an embroidery needle, and set to work again.

There were still issues with the backing but I think I fixed them adequately. Overall it looks pretty good. I'm sure after some time has passed I will feel better about the end product. I named it Syncopation. My hope now is that it will at least bring in an amount of money equivalent to the cost of the materials I used in making it.

Flimsy!

2012-02-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

I do believe this is the fastest quilt top I've ever constructed.

Over the weekend I cut 3.5" strips from various black and white, red and black, and white and black prints. Monday I sewed the strips together in pairs until I had about 25 "rows" started. From that point on I just cut a strip free from the machine, added another strip to it, cut another strip free and added a strip to it, etc. Before too long I had this:

Some strips were longer than others. I found the shortest ones and brought them up to the size I wanted for the width of the central panel of the quilt.

Then I started pairing up rows. By the end of the day I had the bulk of the quilt top done!

Yesterday I put a 1" frame around this center bit and began working on the borders. I'd used most of my pre-cut strips by this time so at this point I started auditioning and cutting prints as needed. I had to fold the quilt top in half and pin it to my design wall to work on one side at a time.

This morning I put the final pieces in place and...

TA DAA!
This is the best picture I can get of the whole thing without going outside.

My plan is to go get batting and backing today and have this quilted by the end of the week. For the quilting I think I'm finally going to use the stitch on Ruby Blue that was the driving factor in her purchase. I tell you what, she sure gobbles up the fabric when it come to long, straight seams! (In a good way.) No wonder she's such a big girl. ;- )

If you discount the time I spent cutting fabric, and if I hadn't had to stop sewing last night to accommodate family needs, this top would have been created in two days' time. Whew! I know others do that regularly but for me it's a first. :- )

Endings & Beginnings

2012-01-29T10:48:00.000-08:00

I sure seem to be slacking off in my blog posting and reading. Partly because I've had my nose to the needle, so to speak, but I think the time of year has something to do with it as well. We had that week of snow and cold. Since then it's been gray and rainy. Just the sort of weather that makes me want to stay snug and warm under my quilts. Friends of mine are participating in retreats and workshops. Just the sort of thing I would love to be doing also but because I can't I tend to become even more of a recluse than ever. Go figure.

I finished up the doll quilts on the day of my last post. The next day I sewed up four quick little pillows to go with the quilts.

I found out that the two older granddaughters are using the doll quilts I made for their mother when she was a little girl. Guess I need to make a couple more new ones!

I've been working on the surprise quilt...

It's just about ready to go in the mail. :- )

Yesterday I found out about a local artist/painter/teacher who has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She has inadequate insurance, as do most artists, so the art community is putting together a fundraising auction on her behalf. I've decided to make a version of Bonnie Hunter's "Simply Strippy" using black and red and white prints to contribute to the auction.

I've been cutting strips off of yardage in my stash randomly. I wish I could figure out how much more I need to cut without keeping a running total. I can't tell whether I've got enough to get started sewing or not! Probably I have a long way to go still. I'll start sewing these together today and cut more as needed I guess. If you don't hear from me again in a few days you'll know that I'm stuck at the sewing machine. ;- )

Quick Project

2012-01-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

For the last week or so I've been working daily on a project that involves a lot of hand work. I'm not ready to share it with you yet. Julie might be interested to see some of the elements I've been using though... ;- )

But then I realized that my twin granddaughters have a birthday coming up in less than two weeks. Eeek! Daughter and I conspired on a purchased gift but I wanted to contribute something more personal as well. Something from Grandma.

Em sent me a selection of girly prints a while back, and all along I've thought they would be fun to turn into a doll quilt. Or two doll quilts in this case! I added only one print, sewed up some Rail Fence blocks, and in no time had this (well, before borders):
I hope you can see it, the colors are very light. In fact, those prints were so unlike anything I buy for myself that I had a hard time coming up with a border fabric I liked. The one I ended up using was also a gift to me - about 15 years ago! It happens to have been purchased by the twins' great grandmother. I think that's pretty neat.

Here you may be able to see the prints Em sent me. There's Glinda the good witch from the Wizard of Oz and another sprinkled with crowns and wands, and the yellow is covered with purses and things. Very cute, just very pastel. I'm not a pastel kind of gal. ;- )

So with Ruby Blue's speed we were able to get this pair of quilt tops put together in an afternoon. The quilts will finish at about 22 inches square. I still have to find backing and get them stitched together but that shouldn't be a big deal. I don't plan to use batting, just the two layers so the quilts will be easy to use to swaddle a doll. I'm also planning to make pillows to go with the quilts. Hopefully you'll get to see those in a few days. :- )

A Little Excitement

2012-01-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

You may have heard or read about the massive snowstorm in the Pacific Northwest. We've had snow on the ground since Sunday up here (north of Seattle) so I wasn't really surprised to see it looked pretty much the same this morning.

I went out in the car Monday. At the time the major roads were wet but clear. I haven't been out since. The big trash trucks made it through the neighborhood yesterday. If it weren't for their tracks it would be harder to tell where the front yards end and the street begins!

The real excitement this morning, for me at least, took place in the studio. My canary Mr. Bingley lives in what is technically a cockatiel's cage.

Sometimes when I take out the dirty papers from the bottom of the cage I take out the tray they sit in as well. I've seen Mr. Bingley hop down to the floor of the cage on those occasions and peek out the opening. I've never been able to get a picture of it. I wish you could see it though, it's such a cute sight. Today while my back was turned he didn't just peek out, he squeezed through! I came back with a fresh layer of newspaper in the tray and there was no bird in the cage!

It took me a few moments to find him in the room, perched on a light cord that's stretched between two bookcases. The next thing I did was to close the door to the room so he couldn't escape into the rest of the house. Then I put the tray in the cage, opened the big front door (where a cockatiel owner would reach in to bring the bird out or put him away), and proceeded to refill his seed cup. While I was doing this Mr. Bingley was flitting around the room, checking things out. Reilly was in the room too, and by this time had noticed the bird. That worried me a bit. Just as I was beginning to think I would have to find a way to catch Mr. Bingley to return him to safety he flew across the room to his cage, perching on the wires in the big doorway. It didn't take much to coax him the rest of the way in.

Whew! That was fun. :- ) I've seen videos of other people's canaries allowed out of their cages and have been tempted to give Mr. Bingley the same opportunity. I want to make sure it's safe for him though, with the iron off and Reilly secured. Today I'm glad that his unscheduled adventure turned out well. Not sure how soon I'll be prepared to do it again!

Potholders

2012-01-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

So now that Christmas is over I can show you a few of the potholders I made as gifts for folks. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of all of them. In fact, a couple of the cutest ones were the ones I neglected to photograph!

I started with this six inch basket block, framed up to eight inches.

It looked a little blah. I pondered on it for a day or two and then decided to take off two of the white framing strips. I replaced them with more of the peppermint candy print. I like this much better. :- )

After than I pretty much stuck to my go-to block, Hole in the Barn Door. I love the way it acts as a frame for novelty prints.

This pair are for an ex-pat Texan (just in case you couldn't tell!).

I've been doing a bit of tidying up in the Magpie's Nest since finishing my journal quilt (see previous post). I suspect there will be some reorganization taking place as the year progresses but not a lot all at once. I did have an "ah ha!" moment though when I was trying to tally up my accomplishments from the last year. I've been marking them in my studio journal as I complete them but I wasn't keeping a running list anywhere. I know some folks do that on their blogs; that doesn't seem to be my style. Instead, I found this gorgeous little journal:

It's only about 4" x 6" and feels like something special in my hands. Being able to record another finish in this little book may actually act as a motivator to get more done!

First Finish of 2012

2012-01-11T08:04:00.000-08:00

Introducing Hilu-uli, what would have been my sixth journal quilt in the very first first Bead Journal Project (she's really not that off kilter; the picture was taken at an angle):

One of the things that had me stumped back when I began this quilt was that image of the woman with the fish on her head. I took time out from putting the sequins in the background to do some research into general symbolism. That led me to Hawaiian folklore. Turns out there's a story about a pair of twins, a boy, Hilu-ula, and a girl, Hilu-uli. They were humans but had the power to change themselves into other forms. When the girl grew up she did just that and went to live as a fish in the ocean. Everywhere she went the population of the hilu exploded such that the sea was red with them. Naturally the islanders caught and cooked them for food since they were so abundant. When her brother discovered what was going on he turned himself into a whirlwind and blew all the fish back into the sea. Since then the hilu-uli have had dark scales.

This fish is pink and navy blue rather than red and black but that's close enough for me! I outline stitched Hilu-uli's face and the fish with number 8 perle cotton and added a flat sequin for the fish eye. The sun in the upper left corner is beaded with stacks of seed beads and star sequins in varying heights.

Here's what the ocean floor looks like (at least most of it!). Getting that binding on was a bit tricky but working slowly and on Phoebe, my machine with the narrower feed dogs, it turned out okay. I actually sewed over a bead up in the sun area, not down here as I expected I might.

I've been storing these journal quilts in a 9 x 12 portfolio. This quilt has so much dimensionality that I don't think it will fit into a sleeve. And the portolio was already bulging to the point it just about wouldn't shut.

I took out the quilts, stacked them, and measured the stack. A little over two inches, allowing for the depth of the sequin stacks on this most recent quilt. Plus there are a couple of other journal-size quilts I've also been keeping in this portfolio.

I think it's time to look for a box to keep these in instead. And I think Ive found just the thing here!

Revisiting a UFO

2012-01-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

Apparently I wasn't ready to be done beading when I finished the final ATC for last year's BJP. Instead of starting a new project for January of this year I pulled out one of the unfinished journal quilts I was making during the first year of the BJP. That first year I finished nine out of 12 pieces. I had foundations pieced for all 12 though.

While DH was home from work during the holidays he and I took a little road trip up north to check out a bead shop I'd never been in before. A couple of doors down was a needlepoint, knitting, and stitchery shop. That's where I found the discounted ball of the rainbow yarn you'll see in the picture below. And that's what reminded me of this particular journal quilt!

The batik panel of the head with the fish was part of a set I acquired many, many years ago. It might have been 4.5" square to begin with. The whole quilt will finish at about 8.5 x 11 inches. I remember that I had a vague idea of how I wanted to embellish at least the bottom of the quilt. I must not have had the right materials at the time though because I never got started.

I bought the rainbow yarn thinking it would make great doll hair. Turns out it also makes delightful seaweed! I didn't even realized there were nubby bits in the yarn until I started cutting it up to couch onto this quilt.

Once I had that "plant" in place it seemed natural to work on the rest of the sea bed. More yarn was involved in that process. The photo below shows a prospective layout for more sea life on the ocean floor.

This is what it looked like a couple of days later:

I'm a little worried about getting binding sewn onto the edges of this quilt; those beads are pretty close to the edge and some are bulky. You may notice that I used a bit of gently twisted ribbon to soften the seam line between the pink batik print and the turquoise above it. It was a little tricky to do but I'm really happy with my school of zebra fish swimming by. ;- )

This piece has progressed even further since that last photo was taken. As I complete each section it becomes clear what to do in the next section. What a relief! I'd really like to keep working on this until it's done, not get interrupted by anything else, but I can only do so much each day. And I haven't cleaned up the studio enough to be able to work on another project while this one is in process. I consider myself fortunate to have such a terrible problem!

Tribute to Rosie Lee Tompkins

2012-01-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Yeehaw! I actually finished all 12 ATC's for the Bead Journal Project 2011 before the end of the year!

I knew what I wanted to do for my final ATC of the year. Earlier in the year I'd purchased a copy of Something Pertaining to God, the catalog that accompanied exhibitions of the work of Rosie Lee Tompkins. In reading through it and looking at the examples of Rosie's work I developed a feeling of kinship with Rosie Lee. I happened to notice that she passed away in December of 2006. That's when I decided that she would be the subject of my December ATC.

I started with a scrap of cotton but that didn't feel right. Going back through the catalog of her work I saw that a lot of what was not quilts was made out of velvets and other materials. So I went through my collection of not-cotton fabrics and found a man's tie that I thought would work well with the beads I'd chosen. Rosie's favorite colors were yellow, orange, and purple. In fact, she wouldn't let Eli Leon take her picture for the catalog but she did let him set up one of her favorite outfits on a chair as if she were wearing them and they happened to be in those colors.

Rosie's legal name was Effie Mae Howard. She put her name on a lot of her later work, along with birth dates and scriptural references. I copied the style she used when she put her name on her pieces, except for the star. That would simply have been another cross stitch. The red triangle beads represent her freestyle piecing.

I couldn't be happier with the way this turned out. And I'm over the moon that I finally succeeded in making 12 pieces for one Bead Journal Project. I was so excited that on New Year's Day I got out one of the journal quilts I'd started in the first year of the BJP and put some beads and yarn on it. There's still a ways to go before it will be anywhere near complete however. That's one reason I didn't complete the first year: my format was too big. That's okay though, it was a good learning experience. I think for this year I'm going to stay small but give myself a little more room by working on 3.5 inch squares. I already have an idea for what to do for January too! :- )

Closing Out the Year

2011-12-31T11:39:00.000-08:00

I'm delighted to report that I have completed eleven of the twelve ATC's I committed to for the Bead Journal Project in 2011. With a little luck I will get number twelve done this weekend. Wahoo!

My mother had two sisters, one older and one younger. My mother and her elder sister passed away within the last decade. My remaining maternal aunt passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in September of this year. I wanted to honor her in some way with my September ATC for the BJP. I came up with several possible designs. Finally I decided it had to be about the three of them rather than just the one sister.

I started by spelling out their names with letter beads. Then I remembered some shiny tulle I'd run through my felting machine. It's all shirred up in a lovely texture. I laid that over the beaded names and tacked it down with some pearly white seed beads (thanks Julie! they were part of that multicolor mix you sent me). It seemed appropriate to lay flowers on the graves, as it were, so I did. Before I secured the sheer around the perimeter of the ATC I stitched a silver dove sequin under it and added the holographic heart on top.

I used the colorful letters for Judy's name because not only was she the most recent to pass, she was far more relaxed in her approach to the use of color in her textile art.

In November I was busy finishing up quilts and quilt tops. Then at the end of the month I bought some Halloween prints on sale at my LQS and they inspired a whole new quilt! For November's ATC I pieced scraps from that project together and embellished them with a few charms that echo the imagery in the blocks in the quilt.

The bat is a button that was part of my gift package from my sister in law this Christmas - thanks Carol! I was wondering how I would fill that corner and it's perfect!

Even though I still have to make my ATC for December I've already made a separate page for my 2011 Bead Journal Projct on this blog. You can click on the tab at the top of this page or simply click here to see what I've made so far this year.

I will be participating in the 2012 Bead Journal Project and am looking forward to the creative stretch it will give me in the coming year. I'm starting the year with only this gentle stretch - no ambitious goals for me this time around! There are plenty of projects already in the Magpie's Nest that I'd like to tackle without adding any new ones. ;- )

Happy New Year to us all!

She's Baaaack!

2011-12-28T16:38:00.000-08:00

Not me, appropriate as that would be. No, I'm talking about Phoebe, my little Pfaff. Well, little compared to Ruby Blue, my newer sewing machine. This is Ruby Blue:

While she's great for assembling blocks into rows, and rows into tops, and she makes quilting a lot easier to accomplish...

I found her wider feed dogs problematic for the more intricate work I like to do.

So for Christmas my husband and my son conspired to make it possible for me to have both Phoebe and Ruby Blue. All we have to do now is make room in the studio for both machines.

I want to keep them both out and ready for action. I think it will be possible, and at the same time I may finally get that sitting room I talked about two years ago. Wish me luck!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

Just dropping in briefly to wish all my readers a happy Christmas Day. :- )

We're going to have the whole family together part of the day -

one of the best gifts ever!

We haven't been able to pull this off since our children became adults

and moved away from home.

I wish all my blogging friends a day full of joy and moments of peace

in which to reflect on the gifts our Father in Heaven

has bestowed on all of us.

Stars Over the Punkin Patch

2011-12-17T15:41:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of deliberation involved in the making of this quilt top. First of all, how many stars did I want to make?

I debated between 35 stars and 48 stars. I wanted the size 48 blocks would give me but frankly, after 35 I'd had enough. That's when I realized that if I cut the pumpkin print that helped start this whole project into wide borders I could easily achieve the size I wanted.

So I stopped at 35 nine inch blocks.

Finally I got them all on the wall...

and had to arrange and rearrange them until I achieved what I felt was the most balanced distribution. (This is not it by the way.)

I debated over whether to just slap the pumpkin print borders on or whether to insert a flat piping or tiny inner border... and in the end I got impatient and just put the pumpkins on.

I made a small error in that I only cut the strips 4.5" wide instead of five inches so they'll finish at four inches instead of the 4.5" I wanted. Oh well! It's done. I do feel like it could use something... a transition between the stars and the border or something. But I'm hoping that a black binding will give it the finishing touch and pull it all together. I'm going to put it away for the time being, maybe create a back, and see what it looks like when I have fresher eyes. For now I think it's time to turn my attention to getting caught up with my Bead Journal Project ATC's for the year. :- )

I'm Still Here

2011-12-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling better for a few days now but have been using that time to make a few Christmas gifts and get them ready for shipping. I would show you what I've made but I don't want to take a chance on spoiling what little surprise there will be. ;- ) And I know I forgot to take pictures of a couple of the items. My bad.

I do have something to share though. For a couple of years now I've been using a form I developed to keep track of the various projects I was either working on or wanted to work on. The day came, however, when I wanted something more visual to keep me motivated. I sketched out some ideas in my studio journal:

I went to our local Office Depot to see what they might have that I could use or adapt. I'd looked at project boards and flow charts online. There are white boards and such that could have worked were they not so expensive and so stinky. I was beginning to think I would have to shelve this project when I found packages of cork strips. I bought them in the hope that I'd be able to find something at home on which to mount them. Turns out I had the perfect thing!

This is a piece of bead board my husband had turned into an easel for displaying the fairy dolls I used to make and sell. I took off the easel part, removed the protruding screws, and stuck the cork strips down with the adhesive tape that came in the packages. It's about 12 inches by 15 inches.

I also found these at Office Depot:

How could I not buy them?!

So now I have this hanging on the wall over my desk in the studio:

Working from left to right, the first column is for projects I want to make or have committed to making but I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do yet. The second column is for projects I've begun, the third for Works in Progress (I'm well into them but they're not close to being done yet). The fourth column is currently labeled "Flimsy," meaning the top is complete and I have to make a back. The fifth column is for quilts that need binding. The last column on the right is where I'm pinning the projects that have made their way all across the board and are DONE! I'm using the two horizontal strips across the bottom to pin up ideas for future projects.

So far this system is working pretty well. I think I'm going to need to fine tune the "Flimsy" and "Binding" columns but I haven't quite figured out what I want to do yet. The DONE! column is filling up in a satisfying way. The child in me enjoys marching the squares across the board as the projects progress from one stage to the next. I can easily arrange and rearrange priorities too. I've pinned up my Ben&Jerry's bumper sticker right below the board to remind myself "If it's not fun why do it?"

Time For A Change

2011-12-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

We are experiencing a stagnant air alert here on the north left coast of the USA. Consequently I'm having more trouble than usual. Can't poke my head out the door without being affected. There's been no progress on the Halloween stars; I've neither made more nor put what I already have on the design wall to see what else I might want.

It felt like a major accomplishment yesterday to make two of these little six inch basket blocks:

The snowflake background and peppermint candies in the basket are as close as I've come to the Christmas spirit so far this season. At least in the quilt studio. Our fresh-cut tree is up and the lights are on, courtesy of my son. I've managed to put out the Christmas hand towels and potholders. My fear is that by the time we get everything ready for Christmas it will be New Year's! Hopefully it won't be long before the high pressure in our atmosphere lifts so the air can clear a bit. And maybe then I'll have some energy again...

More Stars

2011-12-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

I'm up to 35 of these liberated stars now. It's time to throw them on the wall and see whether I want to sash them or make more blocks or.... ?

The colors in this jack o'lantern block don't look quite right in spite of my tweaking. The yellow is an orange-y yellow and the black bats are flying around on a warm chocolate brown background. It's really quite striking in person.

One of the problems I'm having is getting enough contrast between my star points and the dark backgrounds. Part of it is the palette I've chosen to work in but I think another part is the way I've been feeling lately. The darker blocks reflect the dampening of my spirit by chemical poisoning.

I have concerns about some of the backgrounds being too busy.

I'm sure it will all shake out in the end, one way or another. It's the more muted blocks that let the brighter ones shine after all. Unexpected things happen when you work this way, and happy accidents occur as often as not. I'm thinking more and more that the pumpkin print yardage I bought (see previous post) will end up as borders. They will go a long way toward brightening up the blocks, that's for sure!

Small Business Saturday Inspiration

2011-11-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

I was pleased and excited to learn about "Small Business Saturday," the day after Black Friday designated to support our small independent businesses. So I broke one of my cardinal rules and went downtown on Saturday to shop. I knew I would be sick afterward but in this case I figured it would be worth it. The happy ending is that I wasn't as sick as I could have been - hurray! - and I came home with a pile of sale fabrics from my Local Quilt Shop. I confess that I only went into the quilt shop and the art supply store, though there are many, many shops downtown that I would dearly love to patronize. Our downtown is all independent businesses if I'm not mistaken.

Anyway... this is a partial pile of the yard goods I brought home.

There wasn't a lot more, another yard and a few fat quarters, but it was this part of the pile that got my juices flowing. My first thought was a few new potholders. I looked at the pumpkin print more and journaled a bit and decided to do this instead:

And then that led to these:

Yup, now that we're on our way to Christmas I'm finally making a new Halloween quilt!

Thankful

2011-11-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, these two pictures loaded fast! I'll have more of that please. :- )

I hope all my (American) cyber friends had a good Thanksgiving Day yesterday. Ours was quiet, just DH and I this year. As poorly as I was feeling it was just as well. Nevertheless, we were - and are - grateful for so much that we enjoy throughout the year. I was especially grateful to have the binding finished on Kaela's quilt...

and on my Pioneer Medallion quilt.

You can see Heather's lovely quilting really well on the back of the Medallion quilt. There was enough of that 110" wide backing fabric to cut binding strips too. When I sat down to put the binding on, however, I couldn't stomach that wine color near the reds I used in the quilt top. I had to go out and buy a nice solid navy blue and make a new binding. That works just fine, on both sides. It was very peaceful to sit and hand sew the binding down while I listened to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on audiobook. I slept really well under the quilt too. ;- )

Today I'm grateful to be feeling better than I did yesterday. I'm also excited by a bit of inspiration I had last night. Not sure I'll be able to show you much as I want the final product to be a surprise (it is that time of the year after all!) but maybe I'll be able to share sneak peeks. Rest assured, I will not be abandoning my blog as long as pictures continue to load so sweetly!

Hopeful News

2011-11-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

This post is not about a quilt or a beaded project. This has to do with that which brought me to blogging in the first place.

Readers who have paid attention are aware that my activities are severely restricted due to chemical sensitivities. I believe this problem was slowly growing over the whole of my life but was pushed over the edge by a specific event involving pesticides for home use. People in my position are practically forced to become social activists to some degree. I receive email notices every week having to do with various aspects of chemicals in our environment. I don't read a lot of them, it's too depressing. But there was one over the weekend that gives me a sense of satisfaction. Nothing may come of it but it reminds me that there are folks out there fighting the battle.

Big 6 Agrochemical Companies Indicted for Crimes Against Humanity

From 3-6th December 2011, the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) will convene in Bangalore, India, to hear cases brought against six multinational agrochemical companies who stand accused of violating human rights by promoting reliance on the sale and use of pesticides known to undermine internationally recognised rights to health, livelihood and life.

Known as the ‘Big 6’, the indicated agrochemical corporations are Monsanto, Dow, BASF, Bayer, Syngenta and DuPont. Collectively, these companies control 74% of the global pesticide market, making the pesticide/agricultural biotechnology industry one of the most consolidated sectors in the world.

The World Bank estimates that 355 000 people per year die of unintentional pesticide poisoning. “The aim of taking the Big 6 to the PPT is to give a voice to the otherwise voiceless victims of pesticides around the world who have suffered as a result of the relentless promotion of toxic poisons by these multinational companies.” Said Nick Mole, PAN UK Policy Officer.

During the course of the tribunal, Pesticide Action Network will invite witnesses including scientists, medical doctors, and lawyers, to prove the charges through expert testimony on pesticides, genetic engineering, intellectual property rights, and other subjects germane to the cases at hand. The PPT will also hear testimony from farmers, farm workers, beekeepers, mothers, young people, scientists and consumers from around the world. The defendants will be served and summoned to offer their perspectives and responses.

Also under indictment are the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organisation; these entities are charged with facilitating corporate concentration of power through their policies and programs. Additionally, the governments of Switzerland, Germany, and the United States – the home nations of six defendant companies – have been indicted for colluding with, and failing to regulate, corporate power.

The verdict from the hearing will be given on 6th December.

All to Pieces

2011-11-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

Well, my pictures loaded quickly enough. This window in which I compose my posts looks different though. Must be the next step in the changes Blogger is making. That probably accounts for the issues I've been having of late; I suspected as much. We'll see how things progress from here...

And speaking of progressing, I believe I left you with my 1.5" strip blocks looking like this:

You may remember that I decided to use my pieced strips around liberated log cabin blocks rather than stacking them on top of each other like Tonya and others have been doing.

There were several more pictures taken between the one above and the one below. What you see below is the end product. Well, the flimsy. It's been pin basted but I haven't quilted it yet. I've decided to call it "All to Pieces."

I sort of lost my steam after I quilted Kaela's quilt and then had all that trouble with the back. I also had a couple of unavoidable exposures. I feel mostly better today. It remains to be seen whether I can pick up where I left off. Turns out Kaela's birthday is not as early in December as I thought so there's less urgency to get her quilt bound and shipped. I may have to find some fun, colorful piecing to do. Or do a bit of beading. Or I may just crawl into another book...

And the Saga Continues...

2011-11-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

Actually, it feels like two sagas running simultaneously. One is the ongoing struggle to figure out why my pictures aren't loading quickly and easily to my blog, the other is the saga of Kaela's quilt. Let's start with Kaela's quilt.

A post or two ago I finally was able to show you a section of the back I'd created out of a buffalo check flannel with a border of red with white polka dots. I had to add a bit of red and white stripe to make the borders long enough. Well, they still weren't quite long enough, at least not in one corner.

Yes, that's my Warm & Natural batting showing beyond the backing. At this point I had begun to take out the quilting so I could add yet another piece of flannel to extend the back. You may or may not be able to discern the quilting lines. It may be better if you don't. ;- )

I took a strip of the backing that had been trimmed away elsewhere and added it back on. I'm hoping that new strip is long enough to be enclosed in the binding. I'm not sure that it is, and I'm afraid to look any closer to find out. I had my son Fray Check the raw end just in case.

So now Kaela's quilt will be even more unique. I sure hope this young lady likes funky!

As far as the photos loading is concerned, I had no trouble or delays at all when I posted pictures to a group blog the other day. They were pictures I'd taken in the last week or so too. The newer pictures I've tried to load here are the ones that time out and consequently don't load at all, no matter what approach I take. Older ones seem to load okay. I've still not had any response from either Blogger's Help Forum or Picasa's Help Forum. I just find this all kinds of frustrating.

I don't think I'm going to mess with Kaela's quilt at all today. I have another quilt basted and ready to quilt too, that I haven't shown you yet because of the photo issues. It's the lap quilt I made out of my pieced 1.5" strips. Right now I can't afford to spend any more time or emotional energy trying to load pictures so I think I'm going to get out my most colorful orphan blocks and see what happens when I throw them on the design wall. I need playtime!

Not Exactly A Quilt

2011-11-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

But in honor of National Corduroy Day (because 11-11-11 looks like the wales of corduroy) I offer up my corduroy needlebook:

This is the front cover:

Here's the back:

I had a stash of corduroy for many years, thinking I would eventually make at least a small corduroy quilt. I especially loved the printed corduroys. The time came when I needed room for other fabrics that had a greater chance of being used so I finally had to admit that the corduroy quilt was probably never going to get made. I gave most of my corduroys to a dear friend, holding back just enough for any additional crazy quilting I might want to do. I have more confidence in her plans to make a corduroy quilt than I ever had in my own. ;- ) If you want to see some wonderful corduroy quilts go check out the blogs listed on Nifty's blog.

I would also like to give a shout out to the men and women serving in the various branches of our military on this Veteran's Day. There's a lengthy history of military service on my side of the family so I have a special place in my heart for all those who have volunteered with honor over the years. Those who are gone have my respect and gratitude and those who are serving now are in my prayers.

The Saga of Kaela's Quilt

2011-11-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

I have had to edit this post because pictures I thought were loading did not appear after all. I feel fortunate to have these two to brighten up my post (assuming they show up). I have tried for two days to put up two additional pictures. Maybe they are unnecessary.

Remember this? The last time you saw it was on a twin bed as a flimsy. Here it is auditioning for the role of carpet on my kitchen floor.

This was the first time I laid out the flannel back, batting, and the top.

The flannel I thought I was going to use to back this quilt didn't look as good with the top as I thought it would. So I dug around in my stash and came up with a wonderful black and white buffalo check. There was enough yardage to provide length but I needed more width.

The picture that would go here is the one of the delightful red and white polka dot flannel I used to border the big check.

To my utter dismay I discovered that the polka dot borders on the backing were not quite long enough to accommodate the quilt top. It lacked about two inches in length on each side, no matter how hard I tried to make it fit. {big sigh}

At this point I picked it all up and went rummaging around for something to add to the polka dot borders. Everything I had was either the wrong red, too big a print... just wrong. Until I came across this red and white stripe.

I have no idea how much of the stripe will end up being visible once the quilt is bound but it will certainly make the quilt unique.

Back out in the kitchen I retaped the flannel to the floor, laid out the batting and the top again, and pinned the whole shebang. I wasn't sure how I was going to quilt it at that point so I just put my safety pins in on the horizontal sashes. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

After a cat nap later in the day I had an idea for a quilting pattern that I could probably do "by eye." Guess what? The pins in the horizontal sashing would totally be in the way. Of course. So I dragged out the card table and repinned the whole thing. {sigh} Do I dare tackle the quilting right away or would it be more prudent to wait for this ill wind to blow on through?

I have tried again to get someone's attention at Blogger to let them know I'm having issues here. They were away at a conference for blogging tech wizards when this started. Now they seem to be preoccupied with all the new features they're trying to create and put in place. Those of us who just want a simple, reliable, but still fun way to share our thoughts and photos with our friends seem to be distinctly in the minority. Color me disgruntled (to say the least).

In the Background

2011-11-08T08:35:00.000-08:00

During the silence on this blog I have at least been at work in the studio. I don't know whether I mentioned it or not but I have been sewing 1.5 inch strips and pieces into 12.5" strips. (I have a picture of my lovely flat box with the strips all neatly arranged inside but I'm being restricted to one photo per post apparently.) When I realized it would take 12 of those strips to make a twelve inch block my enthusiasm dropped significantly. Then one day it occurred to me that I had a stack of liberated log cabins in my drawer of orphan blocks and that maybe I could use them with these pieced strips. Or rather, use the pieced strips to build the log cabin blocks up to a bigger size. (Insert another picture here, of a liberated log cabin block with a single row of pieced logs sewn around it.)

Also during this time Laura was so kind as to send me a duplicate copy of Gwen Marston's book Liberated Strings that she discovered in her studio. There was a picture in there of an antique four block quilt that got me to thinking about making a four block liberated log cabin quilt top. I also had in mind the request for 40 x 45" quilts for the Alzheimer's Disease Co-operative Study. Suddenly I had a fully fleshed out project. :- )

Here's the one photo I was able to load, my four blocks at about fourteen inches:

As I'm writing this I have the top nearly done. I guess we'll have to wait for the next post for you to see it. Maybe after Election Day the Internet will be less busy? I may just have to develop the habit of shorter, more frequent posts. Or maybe things will settle down again once Blogger gets all the kinks worked out of all the new stuff they're trying to pull off. Seriously, when did the world get so hooked on new and improved? Can I blame Steve Jobs or will I be lynched for making such a blasphemous statement?

WooHoo! Pictures!

2011-11-02T10:26:00.000-07:00

Is it a fluke or a fix?

I tried to load pictures from Flickr. The prompt said my pictures had loaded but nothing showed up, twice. Then I made my picture files smaller. For whatever reason that seemed to do the trick although it still took forever for the photos to load.

Here's the finished version of the quilt that went to New York for the BASICS program.

I don't know whether you'll be able to see it bigger or not. I did very simple quilting so there's not much to see in that department anyway.

And here's the ATC I made up for October.

I haven't figured out what to call it yet. I just got a kick out of the juxtaposition of the whimsical skull and crossbones print and the elegant Art Nouveau lady and the spider. The beads are all pewter except for three glass trumpet flowers that are a faint pink with yellow stop beads. I had difficulties machine stitching around the edge this time. Between the fat presser foot I have to use for the blanket stitch and where I put those leaf beads there just wasn't enough room!

So now that I've finally been able to show you these two projects I wonder if I'll be able to show you what I've been working on since then?

Thoughts on Blogging

2011-10-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I got one picture up. This is a tin I bought recently. I tried to load a picture of the Churn Dash quilt I sent to BASICS in New York and it dragged on forever. I also tried to load a picture of my latest ATC for the Bead Journal Project, with the same results. Makes me wonder if there's actually a problem within my Picasa program or between my camera and the software. Ick. I don't have the knowledge to fix that kind of thing.

I am not a tech person. Blogging is my replacement for the social interaction I used to get from my quilt guild. It's how I do Show and Tell these days. Believe me, I'd rather do it in person but I'm grateful that this platform is available. I just need someone else to fix the glitches!

Serious or in-depth troubleshooting is beyond my skills and patience. In order for me to participate in the online world things need to be simple and straightforward, the more obvious the better. That's why I chose Blogger. For the most part it's been a good match. I've been able to keep up with the changes or choose to update things about my blog. However, I do not appreciate having "new and improved" shoved down my throat by Blogger or any other manufacturer/provider. New and Improved! always meant the product had been altered for the worse in my experience.

I don't blog to make money for myself or anyone else. I don't even do it to promote myself or my artistic efforts in any way. In the beginning I visited a lot of blogs on a regular basis. Now I find myself spending the most time with a handful who have become like close personal friends. I'm an introvert; chat rooms and social networking sites aren't usually my cup of tea. And if I'm spending all my time on the computer I'm not sewing! It's been tricky for me to find a balance between the two. I like to see what others are doing and making, what's popular and all that, but I am also easily overwhelmed. My muse will run and hide if she gets the impression we aren't doing what we "ought" to be doing (ie: what everyone else seems to be doing).

The other side of that coin is the support and encouragement I receive from my blogging friends. Simple comments at least let me know someone else is out there, sharing in what I've posted. I feel much less alone in the world when someone leaves a comment on my blog. (And for someone as isolated as I am that means a lot.) When those comments are thoughtful and sincere it means that much more. It occurs to me that a thoughtful comment could be the equivalent of a hand written letter in days of old (eek!).

The time I spend reading or surfing other blogs fluctuates widely and without a discernible pattern (so far). I tend to spend the most time online when I'm stuck or between projects here in my own studio. That doesn't mean that I no longer enjoy or support those blogs I do visit and enjoy. When my own blog is quiet, not receiving comments, I try very hard to remind myself that my cyber friends and acquaintances are busy doing other things themselves. I try not to take it personally. It's not easy, and it doesn't always work, but I try. The sheer numbers of quilters and artists out there make it impossible to visit everyone and participate in everything, much as I might like to.

Oh, and this business of having - or collecting - followers? I choose not to participate in popularity contests. Nor do I like having information filling my dashboard or inbox willy-nilly. When I have the time and inclination to go see what other bloggers have done or said I will go visit them in person, so to speak. Does that make me a control freak? Oh well, so be it.

No Customer Service

2011-10-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a week now and I still have not been able to resolve my picture posting issue. I've tried everything I can think of, including leaving messages on Blogger's Help Forum. That's one "service" I find absolutely useless. It's like throwing your concern into the ether and hoping someone will happen along to grab it up and address it. Is there not one employee assigned to monitor the new postings there? If not, there should be. I miss old fashioned customer service. A lot of online retailers will answer questions over the phone; I appreciate that a lot. I guess maybe because Blogger is a free product I shouldn't expect excellent customer support.

Since my last post with pictures I have finished the Churn Dash quilt that's headed to the BASICS Housing program in New York. It turned out really well. Too bad you can't see it. (Hmm. Guess I could upload pictures to Flickr. I've just fallen out of the habit of using Flickr since I've been blogging.)

I've also finished an ATC for October. It's really cool. Maybe you'll get to see it someday. Right now my nose is so out of joint I just need to get off the computer and stitch out my frustrations...

No Pictures

2011-10-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

And what's a quilty post without pictures?

I don't know what the problem is. I've tried only loading one photo at a time and the process still is so slow the photo won't load. Is the internet that busy?

My pictures are not large files.

Very frustrating. Plus I see that, whether we like it or not, everyone on Blogger will be transferred to the new interface eventually. Guess us old folks just have to move forward with everyone else. There may be more of us in number but the young people rule cyberspace.

Makes one think twice about continuing to blog at all...

Another Dashing Quilt

2011-10-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

After I delivered my Medallion quilt to Heather for quilting I remembered another Churn Dash project I had started back in the day. It must have been the mid to late 1990's. I was playing with plaids and homespuns, and I think this was one of the first times I tried a diagonal set.

It was put away because once I had the setting triangles in place I didn't know what else to do. It was also a strange size, slightly under 33" x 42." I really liked it but it was too big to be a wall hanging (given the wall space we had at the time) and it felt too grown up for a baby quilt. Now, with more experience under my belt, it seemed natural to just put a couple of borders on it to bring it up to a workable size. In this case that was 36" x 48."

I thought of this UFO because I had some blocks and pieces leftover from my Medallion quilt and I was pretty sure they were basically all the same color scheme. I also dug into my orphan blocks to see what else I might have that would work. I found a few blocks that I think must have been leftover from when I originally put the diagonal set together. The first thing I did was to frame them up so they would finish at 12 inches. Then the 10" and 12" blocks went on the design wall with the UFO.

Not bad!

Next I took my leftover flying geese units and used them to make more blocks. I was able to make a couple of Dutchman's Puzzle blocks and a couple that are variations on that block (the geese are pointing in a different direction). I used some of the geese to frame up 5" Churn Dash blocks I had on hand so that they became 10" blocks. And I cut a few new patches to fill in the blank spots. Then I had to resort to using the bed to lay out the blocks because it had all outgrown my design wall.

Oh yes, I made a star block with a Churn Dash center too. You'll see it in the picture below. That block didn't make it into the final version though because of its' dark background. I ended up making a lighter star block for that spot.

Fortunately I still had enough of the brown that I'd used in the diagonal set to sash the border blocks. Unfortunately, when I had the borders all sewn up they were one and a quarter inches longer than the center panel of the quilt. Arrgh! And I thought my math was so accurate!

Finding a solution for that little problem required some sleep. The next day I took out four sashing strips and replaced them with slightly wider strips.

That seemed to do the trick. All it needed then was 3" at either end to get the length I wanted. This quilt will finish at 60" x 80." I don't have a picture of the finished flimsy - sorry. I'd found the perfect backing fabric in my stash and was getting ready to baste the layers together when I thought about it and by that time it was too dark to get a decent picture. And now it's all rolled up, pinned and waiting for me to figure out how I'm going to quilt it. It won't be anything fancy, believe me. My goal is to get this done and on its' way to New York ASAP. I kind of have a hankering to do some more piecing before I start the quilting process though... ;- )

And Done!

2011-10-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

It feel so good to be productive again. Even the itch of the hives has been damped down to a tolerable level. Whew!

If you take a quick look at the previous post you'll see that I had just put the flying geese border on my Pioneer Medallion flimsy. My plan was to then border the whole thing with another set of ten inch Churn Dash blocks, all in blue, and end by putting flying geese along the top and bottom edges to add length. Once I had the blue Churn Dash blocks on I put the flimsy on the bed to see how it looked.

The bedroom furniture we use belonged to my husband's grandparents. I believe it to be from the 1930's. When I put the flimsy on the bed I realized that I didn't really need the extra geese at either end of the quilt. Because there's a foot board and we are short people I don't need the extra length. (In the picture above the blue Dashes you see at the bottom are hanging over the footboard.)

Here's a shot of one side of the bed (the side where the window is, thus making it possible to get a decent picture!). The top fits the bed beautifully, just as it is. :- )

That's also a west window so it will be helpful to be able to turn the quilt a quarter turn every so often to avoid fading (in case you missed it, the quilt is a square). Yippee! All done! I've called my machine quilter and will be handing this off to her later in the week. She recently quilted the I Spy Disappearing 9 Patch I made too.

Just a simple meander but she donated her services and it's all the quilt needed.

The stars are the backing. I hadn't a clue what I would use for the binding. When I saw that Heather had used a green thread for the quilting I went to my green stash and found an old print that was perfect. There was just enough of it too!

Now all I have to do is get it turned in so one of the kids in our local Foster Care program can put it to good use!

The flying geese that I didn't use on my Medallion quilt are going into a quilt destined for the BASICS program in NYC via Victoria at Bumble Beans. Stay tuned!

Basics Promesa:

BASICS/Promesa, is a community based organization in the South Bronx, New York City, founded by Latino Leaders. Our goal is to assist disadvantaged families and individuals, as well as to enhance their ability to thrive in the community. The organization offers housing services, primary care, substance abuse, mental health and harm reduction services — everything an individual needs in order to recover and actively participate in the betterment of our community.

Pioneer Medallion Progress

2011-10-09T09:56:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that I'm finally feeling more like myself again. It seems like it has been a long time coming. I'm covered in hives but at least my brain is functioning.

While I've been gone this valance curtain arrived from the Victorian Trading Company. (Not spontaneously you understand. I ordered it. I'd never seen their catalog before but somehow I ended up on their mailing list. In this case I don't mind one bit!) It dressed up my naked design wall while I searched for the appropriate rod to use to hang it over my kitchen window.

I actually kind of miss it in my studio!

When I started feeling better I think the cobweb valance inspired me to choose these batiks for another friendship block for a local guild member.

Purple and green in these vibrant tones can speak of Halloween. In softer tones they can be very spring-like.

I've always found friendship blocks to be a good way to get back into my quiltmaking activities. I was grateful to have a couple to make. This is Rocky Mountain Puzzle, a block I've long admired but had never taken the time to try out.

It wasn't hard exactly, just a little on the fussy side if you know what I mean. There's a partial seam to deal with but it wasn't that bad.

At this point I still wasn't ready to do anything terribly creative or original but I wanted to do some more sewing. I pulled out my Pioneer Medallion project, which I don't think I've touched since last year some time. (Yes, you can see my last post about it here.) I made up the final Spinner block I needed for it and then started sewing the blocks and borders together.

If you look closely you can see the brown paper tags I used to keep things straight. You should also be able to double click on the photos to see them larger.

The last couple of days have been spent arranging the flying geese units and sewing them onto the medallion.

I only had one section of border come out too short because somehow I accidently left out a goose. Not too bad considering all the opportunities for screw-ups there were! The next - and final - step is to arrange my ten inch blue Churn Dash blocks around the perimeter. I have four more Spinners that will go in the corners. I don't want to jinx it but there's a very good chance that this quilt could be finished and on my bed before the end of this year!

Using Up Leftovers

2011-09-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

Kind of ironic that after I posted the link to the NY Times photo essay about folks living with MCS I had a really bad week physically. There was just one toxic exposure after another, and unavoidable for the most part. It gets discouraging. I appreciate the support I've received from my blogging friends.

You may remember that I recently purchased a new sewing machine. It would have been too much to expect that Phoebe's bobbins would fit Ruby Blue (even though they are both from the Pfaff family). One thing I managed to do in the last week was to start sewing together 1.5" strips using the thread on the old bobbins for those short seams.

It was restful to sit and sew mindlessly while I chain pieced the strips in pairs.

And then the whole lot went to the ironing board.

I've been cutting my strips to 12.5" in length. I'm not sure I'm going to sew them into 12" blocks though. It didn't occur to me at first that it would take 12 strips to make a 12" block (duh!). When that finally dawned on me it didn't sound like so much fun. Since then I've had an idea to use columns of three or four as vertical sashing in a strippy set quilt.

Since these were pieced I found another stash of 1.5" strips I'd forgotten about. I still don't have much of a brain for creative problem solving so I'll probably keep emptying bobbins and add these growing piles to my Parts Department for future use. I'm going to have to find an appropriate container to keep them in though, so they can be put out of the way when my brain finally kicks back into gear. ;- )

NY Times Photo Essay

2011-09-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is a beautiful photo essay about what it can be like to live with chemical sensitivities. I encourage you to take a few minutes from your busy day to see how some of us spend our days.

Canaries by Thilde Jensen

I can't imagine having to live outside year round. I'm too sensitive to wood smoke and it would be hard to find a place completely free of drifting particulates.

I can't even wear the masks you see in some of the photos because my body reacts to the materials they are made from. When I go out I wear a mask like you see in pictures 9 and 14, with two carbon filters inside it. Rarely does it completely protect me from the effects of the fumes and vapors in our environment.

I'm grateful that I don't have to go the extremes that some folks do in order to sustain life. I'm grateful that I'm not sensitive to electromagnetic fields in addition to everything else. I'm grateful that my husband understands and supports me both emotionally and financially. I'm grateful that he has a reasonably secure job. We have health insurance but it doesn't cover any of the medicines I take or the specialists I visit on occasion. Compared to many I'm very fortunate indeed so I try not to complain.

If you haven't already clicked on the link above I hope you will do so now. And feel free to spread the word. For that matter, refuse to buy artificially scented products. At least that would be a step in the right direction.

Eventful Week

2011-09-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

One of my brothers, who I rarely hear from, called early in the week to inform me that our father had fallen down a flight of stairs and broken his arm. This was not just a simple stumble and fall either. He was moving a table, by himself, up or down those stairs. Apparently he damaged the shoulder socket and had to have surgery to repair it. Turns out he also has hairline fractures in his pelvis. The most recent report is that he's well but he's going to be laid up for several weeks. I pity his caretakers. He has never been a patient person and needs to be engaged in some activity most of the time. Meanwhile his wife (not my mother; she passed away several years ago) is having to be moved into a care facility. Fortunately her daughters are nearby and can help a lot with those arrangements.

The next call I had was from my sister, informing me that our one remaining maternal aunt had been hospitalized with bacterial meningitis. Less than 24 hours later she had passed away. This is a real blow to my sister who lives close to this aunt and was more like a daughter to her than a niece. Well, it's just plain hard anyway because she was the liveliest of the three sisters and the last one surviving. She would have liked this pillowcase I put together yesterday:

I made this pair as well, out of yardage I purchased some time ago.

They will complement the flannel Lincoln Logs friendship quilt that will soon be on my bed for the winter months. They may even work with the Pioneer Medallion quilt I've been working on ever so slowly. In fact, I wonder if I have enough scraps from the pillowcases to make the last Spinner block I need?

Making Fabric, Making Blocks

2011-09-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

Victoria over at Bumble Beans invited the 15 Minute players to make a block for a Quilt of Valor that incorporated some scraps of camouflage uniforms she had left over from a commission quilt. This is what I did with the scraps:

I haven't been surfing other blogs much lately but I did see what Julie and Tonya are up to. They inspired me to go through my bin of strips and strings to pull out anything about 1.5" wide. (Most of what you see to the right of the bin below is narrower than 1.5")

That created the pile you see below. It looked much taller before I moved it to get a better picture!

I have 1.5" strips neatly cut and hanging from a skirt hanger in the closet too. And then there's the wicker basket under the sewing table with all the chunks and bits... I won't be sorting through it, I don't think, but I will raid it for 1.5" squares because I know there are some in there. Sewing these strips and squares together will probably be my Between Seams project for the time being.

I set aside the second Priority Quilt last week so I could work on the made-fabric block for Operation Uniform. While I was working on that block I made another small heart block from red scraps and it seems to be just what the Priority Quilt needed!

It's the one at the bottom of this composition. I think the six inch heart block I started with was just too big for what I had in mind for this quilt. Once I get the strips cleared out of the way I have a feeling I'll be able to move this forward now. We shall see!

Friendship Blocks

2011-09-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to put together a another Priority Quilt but so far it hasn't gelled. I'm letting it sit while I make blocks for friends and for my Parts Department.

One of our guild members' mother is recuperating from a fall (or surgery - I don't remember which at the moment) and Diana wants to make a comfort quilt for her. Her mom loves cats so she asked for cat blocks or blocks featuring cat prints. This block is a variation on Pussy in the Corner. I guess this one would be Mousey in the Corner. ;- ) [double click to biggify]

The second block is for a member who asked for flower blocks. I looked and looked at block patterns for this one but finally settled on an old favorite, a variation of a log cabin block:

I sewed half square triangles together between the seams of the other blocks. The left column in the photo below are the blocks that resulted from this effort. The right column of blocks were created a while back.

The little paper ribbon with the school picture on it was recently unearthed from a box in the garage. It's my oldest son when he was in preschool or kindergarten. I had the cutest kids (if I do say so myself)!

Collaborative Effort

2011-09-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

Remember this?
The Sunbonnet Sue block was hand appliqued by a friend of mine in the last years of her life. I have about four of these blocks. Long-time readers may recall that I added the top and bottom borders with the intention of turning this into a Priority Quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. I finally made good on my promise. :- )

For the longest time I couldn't figure out how to quilt the piece. Quilting is not my strong suit. All along I had a voice whispering in the back of my head that I should just echo quilt it. In an ideal world I would have hand quilted it. I feel the block deserves that but it's just not my thing (nor is applique for that matter). Yesterday I gave in to the voice but used an iridescent thread to bring this traditional block into the 21st century. After that it was playtime, adding the rick rack and flowers.

I had to give the chicks a mother hen to watch over them too. I did not embellish Sue's hat or dress, preferring to let Arlyne's work stand on its' own. I've titled this "Ripples of Friendship." The registration form has been submitted; I expect to get it shipped in time for it to go to Houston if that's what the powers that be decide to do. In the meantime, there are some pretty spectacular quilts up for auction right now. The auction ends in a few days, you should go check them out now!

Finished is Better than Perfect

2011-09-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

Way back in July I put together a Halloween quilt top. You can see it here. I finally got it out last week and basted it. This week I quilted it. Today I laundered it and sent it on its' way to Margaret's Hope Chest.

Designing the top and making the parts fit together was fun. Turning it into a completed quilt has been less than fun. "Finished is better than perfect" became my mantra as I worked on it this week.

Almost from the day I finished the flimsy I planned to quilt this using a spiderweb design. Originally I thought I would put the center of the web sort of in the middle of the quilt, off to the right side. After I'd basted it, however, it occurred to me that I had a giant spider and the beginnings of a web already in the quilt. Why not use that as my starting point?

It all began well enough. Once I had the upper third of the top quilted I found myself getting confused about where I was and which way I needed to go. I took the quilt out from under the machine, laid it out on the kitchen floor, and used my ruler and chalk to draw the lower part of the web in place.

I really thought I'd have this quilted in no time. In spite of my chalk lines I got lost. Plus I'm still learning the idiosyncracies of my new machine. I managed to screw up the tension somehow and my stitches weren't looking the way they ought to have done. Some lines of stitching had to be taken out and done over.

Eventually I got everything working smoothly again and filled in all the gaps in my web. It's not wonderful but it will hold together. The web is actually more visible on the back of the quilt but I can't get a decent picture of it.

The quilt trimmed up nicely (it was more of a trapezoid than a rectangle when I basted the layers together) and I had just enough of the black I'd used in the quilt as filler strips to make the binding.

Once it came out of the dryer I liked it much better. In fact, I was a little sorry to see it go. Guess I'll just have to make a similar one for our own use!

All Caught Up!

2011-08-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

I am officially up to date on my bead journal projects for this year. Hurray!

There never really was one idea or thought that stood out for the month of April so I just used the idea of Spring as a starting point and this was the result:

May was actually the last ATC I made during this marathon. I had pulled some word charms and already had a couple of pieces of fabric cut for potential foundations but none of that ended up in the final product. I put on the audio book version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (courtesy of my friend C~) and this is what I ended up with:

I've decided to call it "Let the Magic Happen"

Finally, my BJP for August:

This is the one that started the recent beadwork marathon. It was my response to a challenge my little art group set for ourselves back in June. We called it "The Bob Project." The idea was to use our husbands as inspiration and make anything we wanted, any size, any medium. I knew I was behind on my ATC's for the bead journal project and thought this might be a really good way to get back into it. Obviously it worked!

My husband enjoys the macabre just as much as I do, his favorite color is black (if you can call that a color!), he loves the overcast skies we have around here so often and he loves the mountains and trees as well. Normally I use a cotton fabric for my foundations but this one is wool felt because he loves wearing wool sweaters. I think the buttons up each side might represent the suspenders he has taken to wearing lately. They just seemed to need be there.

I''m loving the way these little works of art look on their easels. One day soon I plan to create a separate page on this blog for this year's BJP and you'll be able to see them altogether. But I also have to turn my attention back to a couple of quilting projects to meet deadlines so don't hold your breath!

Two More ATC's for the BJP

2011-08-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

I don't think I ever shared my finished bead journal project for February. This one documents the hours I spend reading and journaling, my little dog never very far away.

My original idea for this year's Bead journal Project was to make a series of card cases, which turned out to be the same size as ATC's. The first hurdle is always coming up with a design to execute. That wasn't nearly as big a challenge as finishing the cases turned out to be. I was less than satisfied with the results of my January BJP so I tried something a little different this time around.

I like the feather stitching up the two sides better than the blind ladder stitching I did on the first one.

I brought Mr. Bingley home in March so he became the inspiration for that month's BJP. (I still can't get a good picture of him!)

By this time I realized that the finishing process was keeping me from even starting new BJP's. I decided to bow to reason and finish them the same way I do postcards or the ornaments I made for last year's BJP. But with this one I had the opportunity to try another approach because the fabric foundation was still double the length it needed to be. I trimmed it down but left enough to wrap around the piece of Peltex I use to stiffen my fabric cards. It was tricky to keep everything in place while I topstitched it all together.

It also looked kind of naked when I was done. That's partly due to the lack of beading or stitching but in this case I wanted the foundation fabric to really be part of the final design. It's a music print. This whole card is meant to represent Mr. Bingley in his cage, singing to "his buddy" in the mirror. I used a few green beads to create a shamrock in honor of the month of March.

After I sat with this a few days it occurred to me that I might be able to use the blanket stitch on my sewing machine around the perimeter of the card to suggest the bars of Mr. Bingley's cage.

I set the stitch for as wide as it would go and used a contrasting thread. It turned out pretty well, all things considered. The card still looks a little naked when you see it with the others I've made but that frame of stitching really helps. I like it better now.

You can see my Bead Journal Project for January here. These two are for February and March respectively. I've also shown you June and July. I've been working on April during the unplanned blogging break I just took. I have an idea for May but haven't been able to find the right focal element. I may have to resort to Plan B for that one. I have a strong feeling I'm going to have to do something, anything, soon because I don't think I'll be able to move on to another type of project until I finally get myself all caught up on this one!

Catching Up on the Bead Journal Project

2011-08-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

I've been busy stitching this week. I cut a 2.5" x 3.5" piece out of one of the scraps Quiltdivajulie sent me and sewed an eye bead to it.

One thing led to another... black bugle beads, orange bugle beads, sequins and seed beads... and this is what I ended up with:

I'm pretty happy with it. Here's a close-up:

I got the black sequins and beads a little close to the top and bottom edges; that made it a bit of a challenge when I was blanket stitching the perimeter. ;- )

I made another ATC this week too. This one came out of what happened to the house around the corner.

The oval charms are embossed with the words love, laugh, and inspire (left to right). Hopefully this will help me remember to do what I love, laugh while I'm doing it, and be inspiring. Someone has to take over where my neighbor left off!

Lining the Nest

2011-08-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I named my blog From the Magpie's Nest is because I tend to collect things before I really know what I'm going to do with them. Most often it's stuff I'll eventually use in my artwork. A lot of times it's sparkly; I'm given to understand magpies like to collect shiny stuff. Just for the record, it's my husband who's the pack rat. ;- )

If you've been reading this blog for very long you know I also have a thing for birds in general. So you can imagine how delighted I was to find my recent order from Delta Patchwork wrapped in this tissue paper:

I was thinking of the text quilt I want to make when I ordered these prints.

I'm still not sure what form that quilt is going to take.

The original reason for placing the order was to get yardage of the colorful dotty print below. Quiltdivajulie was so kind as to send me scraps of that print when they didn't make it into her Gotta Love It! quilt.

Apparently sitting in the very room where your stash is kept, right out in plain sight, is no guarantee that you won't accidently order a fabric you already own. I checked to make sure I had used up the spotted yellow print so I knew I wanted more of that. But I didn't realize I still had an untouched piece of the white with black circles on my shelves. Oh well. Now I have almost a full yard of it. Considering that I keep buying black and white prints it's a pretty sure bet I'll be making at least one more quilt using them someday!

Art Therapy

2011-07-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

Last week when I wasn't feeling well I occupied myself by sewing red scraps together until I had pieces big enough to cut patches. From this "made fabric" (Victoria and the gang over at 15 Minutes) or reconstructed fabric (Mary Lou Weidman) I cut some 3.5" x 6.5" rectangles.

Then I cut two 3.5" squares and four 2" squares of yellow and turned two of those rectangles into a 6" heart block using the technique I shared with you in this post.

That was one of the blocks that were sitting on my design wall when I returned from the fateful trip wherein I discovered that the cute little house had been repainted (see previous post). I was thinking about the Bead Journal Project and how I could journal about what had happened to the house, in beads, on an ATC. Rummaging through my stash I found a large scrap of a print I felt captured the spirit that house once had. It was too big and too busy for a tiny ATC though. That's when the heart block caught my eye.

After pulling and auditioning several more fabrics I came up with this palette.

My intention is to make a Priority Quilt for AAQI, honoring the spirit of the home's previous owner. I haven't quite settled on the rest of the design or process yet. I spent yesterday catching up a bit on older bead journal projects. That will be a post for another day. ;- )

Bead Journal Project

2011-07-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

I have fallen way behind with my ATC's for this year's BJP. However, I am not bowing out by any means. I have every intention of continuing, catching up, and completing the year's worth of projects. Mostly I'm telling you this because I've had an experience this morning that I need to respond to and beading may be the best way.

There's a tiny older house in the neighborhood that I've passed at least once every week since we moved here in 2002. I think it was shortly after we moved to this part of town that it received a paint job I thought was absolutely adorable and completely fitting to the house. In broad strokes it was pink and purple, but believe me when I tell you it was done in the most tasteful and charming way possible. It was a happy little house, with flowers around it that echoed the colors in the paint job. A storybook cottage if ever there was one, inhabited by a grandmotherly looking woman who obviously had a lighthearted spirit about her.

Over the last several months there have been changes that have led me to the conclusion that the home's owner had to move out, possibly passed away, and the home has changed hands. I don't know whether it has been sold or just passed down in the family. I had hopes that it would be maintained as it was but it appears that is not to be the case. Today when I drove by I was shocked to see this:

It now looks like every other house on the street, only with a fresher coat of paint. BO-O-RING! The happy little cottage used to catch your eye as you drove by. Now it blends in and you don't notice it. I had to look for it in order to take these pictures. (I regret that I never took pictures of it in its' glory days.) Even the flowers look like they've been changed out. All the delightful accent pieces have been painted white to match the trim.

I realize that Realtors encourage folks to paint their homes in socially acceptable neutral schemes to get the sale they want. I realize that crisp and clean is au courrant. I also realize that I live in the Pacific Northwest, not Florida, and color sensibilities are different here. People up here seem to be afraid of color. They want to blend into their surroundings. They wear the same colors you find in the scenery around here, and they paint their homes in ways that also blend in. I don't belong here.

This is more my style!

So I'm thinking that at least one of my ATC's for the Bead Journal Project this year needs to address this issue. I need to find my most exuberant colorful self and let her have her way with my fabric and beads...

Poor Reilly

2011-07-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

Something spooked Reilly early this morning. I think there might have been a crash or some other accident at the intersection near our house. Reilly probably heard it and didn't know what it was whereas it just woke me up and I didn't realize it had because it was about the time I normally get up anyway. He skulked out of the bedroom and wasn't all that anxious to go outside when I finally got out of bed. In spite of the rain he stayed outside much longer than is normal for him.

It's been a couple of hours now; he still hasn't come back to this end of the house. This is the same dog who is cowed by a housefly. I seem to attract psycho dogs.

I finished sewing up the Disappearing 9 Patch quilt top:

The star print to the right in the close-up below will be the backing for this quilt. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to use for binding at this point. Maybe a scrappy binding since there's so much going on in the quilt anyway. May as well add to the madness!

My friend Heather is going to quilt this for me. It will be donated to our local Foster Care program.

Yesterday I played in my scraps a bit. I sewed some of my smallest red bits together until I had enough to cut patches for a 12" Hole in the Barn Door block. Then I made this:

Not sure what will become of it but it was fun to do. Kept me out of trouble nearly all day too. ;- )

As it turns out, there was an accident about four in the morning at the intersection near our house. A teenage driver no doubt took the curve too fast and rolled her car into the neighbor's wooden fence. She was okay but her two passengers were taken to the hospital. While I slept through it all Reilly must have heard the whole thing and didn't have a clue what was going on.

Disappearing 9 Patch

2011-07-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

The Disappearing 9 Patch pattern came to my attention again last week. I forget exactly what the first event was, but the second was a visit to Sharon over at Indigo Threads. She mentioned a D9P she has in process; between the two references I found myself inspired to make another one myself. I think this will be the third quilt I've made using this pattern. The first one was a preemie quilt, the next a baby quilt, and this one is intended as a sort of I Spy quilt for a child.

The first thing I did was to go through some old charm squares I had in my stash and pull out child-appropriate pieces. Then I started fussy cutting more images. I also cut up some smaller scale prints for the mid-point patches in the 9 Patch blocks.

Slapping them up on my flannel design wall was a useful way to see what I had... until there got to be too many!

By my reckoning I needed 14 nine patch blocks (using 5" patches) to get a quilt close to 40" x 60" finished. My goal for each block was to have a big image in each of the four corners and small to medium prints in the other patches. Everything - or nearly everything - is a novelty print.

When it came time to arrange the quarter-blocks into a quilt top I realized how busy this quilt was going to be. I also realized that I would not be able to keep all the prints going right side up!

This arrangement sat on the wall overnight.

What I didn't realize was that I had made an error in the layout.

The next day I took all the blocks off the wall and had a second go.

I was determined not to make any additional 9 Patch blocks for this quilt; I had to use what I'd already made. With the blocks now in a consistent arrangement it wasn't until the very last row that I had to begin turning some upside down. If you look closely (double click on the pictures and it should be easier) you will see that I had to turn two hearts and a chicken on their heads. There are a couple of blocks in the collection that are not directional but they look best where they are, not in the bottom row. Believe me, I tried!

I started sewing these blocks together yesterday. If I'd been feeling better I could have had the whole thing done in a day. There's no real rush though, so I'll be happy to get it sewn together today or tomorrow. And then I think there's going to be a Halloween version of this pattern going up on the wall. ;- )

Flying Geese Tutorial

2011-07-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share with you how I'm making my Flying Geese between the seams of other projects. It involves a quick trick I don't think is well known amongst the quilting community.

I'm beginning with 3.5" x 6.5" rectangles and 3.5" squares, one rectangle and two squares for each goose. (You can use whatever sizes you want of course!) Next to my sewing machine I have a small cutting mat, and I keep a rotary cutter and 6" ruler there too.

The rectangle will be the goose and the squares will be the background. At least, that's the way I interpret these units! Begin by laying one square, right side down, on top of the right end of your rectangle. At this point I think most folks would have you draw a line diagonally through the square, from corner to corner, and then you would sew on the line and remove the excess. I can't be bothered to draw any lines. I just lay the ruler on top of my fabrics with the one quarter inch markings falling on that invisible diagonal line corner to corner.

Here's a close up of what I mean:

Now I'm going to cut away the excess fabric. This will leave me with a perfect 1/4" seam allowance built in.

I put what's left of the rectangle and the square under my presser foot and sew the seam. You should note that I have a 1/4" presser foot on my machine. I'm not sure this technique would work for those who do not have an easy and reliable way of creating a quarter inch seam. I haven't done it with any other foot!

I also run the cut-away triangles through the machine and I have this:

Next comes what I find to be the trickiest part of the process: getting the second half of the unit made correctly! Lay out your second square on top of the rectangle, right sides together again but at the other end.

In order to have the background print end up where I want it, I have to turn the whole shebang and work from what would be the top or the point of the flying geese unit. Also, because I'm right handed, it's easier to cut that way.

Lay your ruler on top of the fabrics again, with the quarter inch marks along that invisible diagonal line from corner to corner of the background print. Cut away the excess, creating your built in seam allowance. You will be cutting off the merest tip of your previous seam; don't worry about it.

You see, instead of drawing a ling and then sewing and cutting you just create the line with your ruler and make the cut first, then sew! When you're all done you should have one Flying Geese unit and two leftover half square triangle units. I leave my triangles as is and sew them into Pinwheel or Broken Dishes blocks but they can be trimmed down to a consistent size and used in any number of ways.

I hope this has been clear and will be helpful. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I'll offer whatever help I can.

Between Projects

2011-07-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

What a morning. The dog next door has been howling since six, with maybe an hour of silence between nine and ten. It's eleven now and he's back at it again. He howled yesterday and the day before too. I finally called the authorities yesterday when it looked like no-one had been home all day. Someone showed up, mowed the lawn, and apparently they're gone again. Poor lonely dog.

I have been on hiatus from sewing for several days. I'm not ready to tackle the quilting of either of the flimsies I've recently made and I haven't quite decided what I'm goint to make next. I don't think I ever showed you these random blocks I've made out of scraps though.

Most are six inch blocks. I'm making the flying geese units as a Between Seams* project, using a 3.5" x 6.5" rectangle and two 3.5" squares to create them. The Broken Dishes blocks (immediately under the row of hearts) are made from the offcut triangles of the flying geese units. Occasionally I will make a Pinwheel block instead of Broken Dishes out of those triangles as they use exactly the same pieces.

This is the latest batch of these random blocks. I'm running out of the rectangles and will have to spend some time cutting up scraps soon!

*Between Seams is the same thing as Bonnie Hunter's leaders & enders. Just something to sew between the seams of other projects to keep the chain piecing going. In this case I expect to have a very scrappy Flying Geese quilt of my very own someday. :- )

Halloween Flimsy

2011-07-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone in the USA had a great Fourth of July. I didn't intend to, but I spent the weekend working on a puzzle. Guess that's what constitutes a holiday for me. :- ) At least the fumes from the various holiday celebrations didn't completely do me in. That's a step in the right direction!

So when last we met I had a dilemma to solve with my Halloween quilt top. In spite of my careful math (no comments from the Peanut Gallery please!) my rows did not come out the same width. The first thing I tried only made matters worse.

I found I was unwilling to be so liberated as to whack off the sides of the blocks that were extending beyond my size limit. In the end I had to sit down, take two seams out part way and a third seam all the way, trim down one of my compensating strips, and re-sew all the seams. After that was done a bit of trimming took care of any remaining discrepancies. The top is not perfectly square but I can live with that. Quilting may actually help in this case.

There were several cute Halloween prints leftover so I used them to create a back. I had one piece almost a yard long, a couple of fat quarters, and some strips leftover from the front and previous Halloween quilts I've made. After some strategic cutting and sewing I had this:

Just big enough to accommodate the front. Here's a detail shot of the central section:

I haven't looked yet to see whether I have batting in-house big enough for this. Guess I've missed any July 4th sales I could have used to buy new batting. Oh well. Right now I'm more in the mood to continue piecing or even do some hand sewing. When it finally gets too hot around here to have the iron on I may switch to machine quilting and put my new wide-mouth Pfaff through its paces. Or maybe I'll do another puzzle. ;- )

The Last Two Rows

2011-07-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

The first three rows I constructed for this child's quilt looked like this on my design wall:

I decided to move things around a bit and see how I liked it.

I think that's an improvement! Two more rows to go...

I made a Cotton Reels block - not a hard block but I'd never made one before oddly enough. There were some more little four patch units availalbe so I used them and a few compensating strips to bring that row up to size, width-wise.

I wanted the final row to mimic what is now the top row so I looked for some panels and prints I could fussy cut.

I think those green bats between the trick or treaters glow in the dark. ;- ) There was just one problem.

When I went to sew the rows together (with 1" sashing strips) I discovered that the bottom two rows were wider than the rest of the quilt. {sigh} I'll show you how I resolved that in the next post. (The sharp-eyed among you may notice that I tried to even things out with a strip of black on the row above. It didn't work.)

What If...?

2011-06-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

With the first two rows of my Halloween quilt complete this is what I had on the design wall:

The best question I've found to ask myself when designing a quilt this way is "What if...?"

What if I arranged the bigger blocks this way instead?

That spreads the green out a bit across the surface of the quilt top. So if I leave it like that how will I fill out that upper row? I need some more big blocks...

I found several little 4-patch units in my bag of Halloween bits and blocks. Those often go in the corners of more complex blocks... Let's see, what if I do this?

Well, I'm not crazy about the lack of contrast between the candy corn rectangles and the central 4-patch unit but it'll do.

I had some charm squares from a swap in my bag too. I turned a couple of those into square-in-a-square blocks and then made a couple more out of prints from my stash. A giant spider web (that glows in the dark!) and the row was complete.

That was quite fun! At the end of that day my desgin wall looked like this:

Two more rows to go. :- )

And Thus It Begins

2011-06-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

I figured the tall blocks would be the best place to start with this Halloween quilt. They were from a block lottery, supposed to finish at 9" x 15," but of course these were the rejects from previous projects because they weren't regulation size.

The cat on a pumpkin block has a similar look but was shorter and wider than the other rectangular blocks. It was so cute I wanted to include it somehow.

By taking off the side strips and adding to the top and bottom it fit right in.

Setting the blocks side by side gave me almost exactly the width I was shooting for too!

Next I looked for ways to make a row out of the fussy cut panels. A lot of my Halloween prints are larger scale or are made up of scenes. It didn't take too long to find a couple that would also work as fussy cut panels, with narrow compensating strips in between to get the width I wanted.

So at the end of Day 1 I had this on my design wall:

The Tea Leaf was one of the orphan blocks and will finish at 12." The Churn Dash was 10.5" so I just added a couple of strips to bring it up to 12," and I made the Double X block specifically to balance out the Tea Leaf. Day 2 was a little more labor intensive ~ stay tuned!

Not Macabre

2011-06-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

I've sort of been trolling for the next quilt project to focus my attention on. Apparently I'm not quite ready to commit to other ideas I've had, although one of them could be handled as a Between Seams project (basically leaders and enders). Then yesterday I found myself reorganizing and cleaning up my bookmarked online sites. In the process I learned that Margaret's Hope Chest needs child's quilts for fall give aways and the IBOL Guy is collecting packages again to distribute in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I haven't pulled anything for a Bundle of Love yet but I did pull a bunch of my cuter Halloween prints for a child's quilt.

This is the hole they left on my stash shelves. You may notice, if you look carefully, that there are still prints in Halloween colors and lots of skeleton prints I left behind. The skeletons and the pirate prints tend to run together...

The hole doesn't look that big in the picture but what you didn't see was how crowded that shelf was before I started pulling things off!

The next thing I did was to paw through my orphan blocks to see what might fit into this quilt. I found a 12" block, one that will finish at 11," some rectangular blocks from a swap that measure around 9 x 15" and some fussy cut panels.

And then I found this block all by its lonesome. It would finish at 10.5" the way it is now.

I'm currently thinking of building a horizontal strippy quilt. A couple of the pieces I pulled from the stash are wide stripe prints that I could use as sashing between rows of blocks. We're shooting for a 40" x 60" quilt. Unfortunately, the stripe prints are not quite that wide so I'll have to figure something out when I get to that point. This whole plan may fall apart or morph into something else long before then anyway! I'm just pleased I've finally found something that has me intrigued enough to begin playing. ;- )

Rules vs. Choices

2011-06-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will be shocked to see a new post so soon after the last one. When I saw this post over on Julie's blog I had to get in on the discussion. What follows is my two cents worth on the topic of The Rules in Quilt Making.

I have been wielding a needle of one type or another for at least 45 years. I learned to embroider first, as a pre-teen, and the cult of Perfectionism was deeply ingrained by the experiences of my youth.

When I came to quilt making I had two toddlers and another baby on the way. I learned “the rules” from books and magazines and tried diligently to obey them. Of course I started out with less than ideal tools and materials. I quickly discovered that until I could have a rotary cutter and mat there would be few quilts made ‘by the book.’ It took too long to make templates and scissor cut everything.

Twin size quilt for my first granddaughter, which was started when her mother was a little girl.

Even as my tools and skills improved I had no real desire to duplicate the quilts I saw in books or magazines. Nor was I interested in complex or intricate blocks. Then along came Gwen and her first book on liberated quilt making. Freedom! Enlightenment! And encouragement of a kind rarely found in the other books of the era.

Wool & flannel, 17.5" x 13.5"

For me, quilt making is the art form that I’m the most comfortable with, the easiest in which to express my creative urges. It’s not about making the most quilts or the “best” quilts or exhibiting my work or selling my work (although I would not be opposed to generating a little income!). I want my quilts to be authentic expressions of ME and MY life, not whatever the current trend in the quilt world happens to be at the moment. I also want them to hold up over time, so there are elements of the construction process that I’m picky about.

I guess I have high standards when it comes to the construction process. I like consistent seams that are straight if they’re meant to be straight and wavy if they’re meant to be wavy. I press my seams because I like the way they look and behave when that’s done. I like having a design wall as much for the ease and comfort it provides my body as for the perspective it affords. I happen to prefer a rotary cutter to scissors because I like the feeling of being in control that I get with the cutter. My scissors tend to go where I don’t want them to! Of course, sometimes the cutter does too. ;- ) I rip fabric whenever I can. Have you tried that? It’s a rush for those of us who tend to get caught up in Perfectionism.

Quilted with beads & sequins, 17.5" x 16.5"

The beauty of quilt making is that there’s room for everyone. Look at all the choices we have before us: fabric types, print types, the vast range of colors available, the multitude of processes we can bring to the work, and ultimately how we choose to apply those processes in the work we do. I no longer believe in a right way or a wrong way to do things. (However, in some specific cases there are dangerous ways to do things and it would be wrong to encourage someone to ignore those rules.) I believe in learning as much as you can about what’s available, trying out the things that appeal, and then choosing what will work best for the project you currently have in mind.

Rules or not, the question we need to ask ourselves is the one posed by Ben & Jerry:

Messy Desk Monday

2011-06-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

Changes are taking place here in the Magpie's Nest. I finally have the opportunity to set up a more permanent work station for hand work. Yippee! It's not going to happen all at once, no little organizational fairies are coming over to make the job go more quickly (darn it!) but it's going to happen. Pretty much all that means is that I'll be exchanging one mess for another here on the desk, one corner of which you can see below.

Did you notice the really tall fellow sticking up out of my bookmark cup? He just came to live with me this weekend. He was created by one of my sons.

This son has been making replica wands from the Harry Potter movies, turning them on our little wood lathe. This happens to be an original design created just for me. *VeryBigGrin*

He used wood burning to create the patterning just below the head and then various paints or stains for the rest of the coloration.

The skull was sculpted free hand out of polymer clay. I think he did a darn good job! Now I just have to learn how to use the thing... hehehe. ;- )

Another Page

2011-06-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here's one of the spreads in the journal I'm making.

I wanted to narrow this page down just a bit before I started working on it but in the process I ended up tearing into the page. To make that repair I folded another used Color Catcher over the edge of the page, covering the tear, and zig-zagged all over it. Before I did the stitching I had already decided to fold the corner of the Color Catcher over to I could pin the button in place. The stitching was done with a varigated thread.

Some of the zig-zagging was done from the back, to secure my dyed ribbon in place:

The raven is the center of another of the truffle papers my son found on clearance for me.

With very little in the book so far it already seems bulky. This is a side view with the art boards I will be using for the covers just laid in place.

I found the perfect place to keep the journal and all its potential parts and pieces:

A lunch box my Darling Daughter gave me at Christmas time!

Meanwhile, I've been dealing with vertigo and migraines this week. Hoping for improvement over the next couple of days.

Surprise!

2011-06-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

I found an unexpected envelope in the mailbox the other day.

The thoughtful and generous QuiltDivaJulie sent me scraps from her "Waiting for the Mail" flimsy.The envelope was hard and rigid so I didn't expect it to be fabric!

Turns out she had vacuumed packed the scraps. That did a really good job of keeping them neat and tidy.

I couldn't...

for any thing better!

Now I have ideas for a word/text quilt of my own percolating in the brainpan. I already have a title for it too. That's rare for me. Yesterday I dropped a chunk of change over at eQuilter.com to further add to this particular section of my stash. Before I go any further I need to pull the text prints I already own out of their color stacks just to make sure I don't go overboard!

In the meantime, I did manage to make that constructed stripe block bigger. I had enough to make a second, half-size, block as well.

And some more blocks out of scraps:

I'm a little embarrassed that after all this time I'm only just now figuring out that the Snowball block and the Shoo Fly block use exactly the same patches in the same number, just a different configuration. Sheesh!

Stitching

2011-06-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have been sewing in my journal, both by hand and by machine. Since I have to avoid glues if I want to remain viable there will be a lot of stitching in this journal!

I discovered the work of Scott Smith in an autumn issue of Art Doll Quarterly. Amazing stuff. Of course his Halloween characters are what I like the best so I bought a set of his postcards. They're not something I want to part with but I wanted to do more than leave them in the envelope they came in. This journal seems like the perfect place for at least a couple of them. :- )

So here I have hand stitched one in place. The postcards are pretty stout so I used the sewing machine with an unthreaded needle to poke holes in both the card and the journal page. That made the hand work much easier to accomplish.

There was a narrow strip of the watercolor paper leftover when I created the pages for this journal. I folded on half of that narrow strip into thirds to create the mini pages in the photos below.

The spider image is actually a mini cupcake or truffle wrapper. I flattened it out and stitched it in place using the sewing machine.

Scott included one of his business cards with the postcards so I punched holes in it and tied it to the opposite page. Not sure what will go inbetween the business card and the spider. Oh, maybe that's the place for a web!

I've had to clear away the journal making supplies so I could do some piecing. I think I need to put the journal on the back burner for a bit, let things stew a while and see what new ideas bubble up. So I've been into my precut patches to sew up Shoo Fly and Hole in the Barn Door and Broken Dishes and Flying Geese. What you see below is about one day's worth.

At the end of my day yesterday this is what I had on the design wall:

That strippy bit off to the side is the first "block" for a new quilt idea I'm playing with. Hopefully there will be more of that soon!

More of My Journal

2011-06-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

In one of the signatures of the journal I'm making I've included this greeting card. I gather it was intended to be a birthday card of sorts. The message inside simply says "Wicked Cool." Works for me! The yellow in the card nicely echoes the yellow on my journal pages. That was a happy bit of serendipity.

What I needed however, was a way to cover up the business graphics on the back of the card. Some of it was trimmed away when I shortened the card to make it fit but I really didn't want all that other stuff showing.

My solution was to take a used Color Catcher sheet - conveniently dyed to a shade of blue that works with the blue-gray on my journal pages - and make a sort of pocket or built-in sachet out of it.

First I stamped the words onto the Color Catcher, then trapped some dried rosemary from my own garden between the folded sheet. It's all stitched down to the greeting card, and the rick rack was added last to sort of dress it up.

I've got a couple more pages I can show you after I get them photographed. I don't consider them done exactly but at least they have been embellished a bit. It may be years before this particular journal is completely filled up. ;- )

First Steps in Making a Journal

2011-06-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

I signed up for Carole Brungar's journal making class after I saw the journal QuiltDivaJulie made during her time in the class. While I was waiting for the right watercolor paper to arrive I brewed up some teas and tried them out on sample paper to see what colors I would get from them.

This happens to be the blueberry tea. I also brewed rose hip, peach, and China mountain green. Oddly enough, the China green tea produced a very yellow hue. I had a blast brushing and spattering it onto the paper.

It's more yellow in person than in the photo. Below is the other side of the paper dyed almost exclusively with the blueberry tea. It's sort of a brown-gray in person, partly because I used a layer of the rose hip tea in some areas.

I also soaked this bit of ribbon in the blueberry tea. It was stark white before its bath.

I've torn the big sheet of watercolor paper into strips for pages and have begun to embellish the pages. Turns out that making a journal is not like making a quilt, at least for me. I tend to start a quilt and keep working on it until I reach a solid stopping point. With this journal I've been doing a little bit at a time and then I have to leave it until the next day or so. Granted, I only have a vague idea of what I want to accomplish with it and the whole thing is a new experience for me. All the bits and pieces under consideration are taking up valuable real estate in the studio however. I've got to figure out a way to get more done or get more sewing in or something. There's altogether too much chocolate being consumed out of frustration!

Picking Up Where We Left Off

2011-06-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

Between family visiting and getting lost in a couple of good books it's been a whole week since my last post. Sorry about that! Hope no one has been holding their breath (but I rather doubt it!).

So when my plan for Patience Corner blocks was foiled by my own mistake I had these piles of rectangles to work with.

I decided to try the obvious first.

And I actually quite liked it. Especially since I know so little about the recipient of this quilt. She's going to turn 12, she likes animals and nature and music and the color red. That's all I know besides what part of the country she lives in. So a simple quilt is probably the safest.

Of course I could only lay out half of the quilt top at a time on my design wall. And the trick was to distribute the various red prints as randomly but evenly as possible.

I pin little pieces of paper with the row number to the left-most block in each row when I'm assembling a top like this and then stick to adding new blocks to the right side until I reach the end of the row. I also like to work on at least four rows at a time so I can chain piece. In the picture above I have four rows pretty well along and had started the fifth. The "blocks" in this quilt are set 10 x 10. Since the blocks will finish at 6 x 8 inches that gives me a quilt top that measures 60 x 80 inches. At least that part worked out well!

Here you can see the music print that turned out to be sashing and a few of the red prints.

Oh, and I ran out of the original music print before I had quite enough blocks. Fortunately I had something very similar in my stash and was able to incorporate it throughout the quilt top. You may be able to find it in the picture below.

I have to say that I wasn't really thrilled with this while it was on the design wall. It did give me a chance to get to know my new sewing machine a bit but it just isn't the kind of quilt I generally like to make. Once I threw the flimsy onto a twin bed, however, I like it much better.

I'm not going to quilt it right away since it's not to be gifted until December but I can see that this will make up into a wonderfully cheerful, cozy quilt. And I'm confident the new machine will do a good job with the quilting. In the meantime, I have a journal project that is taking over the studio. I'll show you that the next time!

Crisis vs Opportunity

2011-05-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

In contrast to the challenges facing so many Americans these days this is trivial. But it's still frustrating!

I signed up to make a birthday quilt for a young lady in the Wrapped in Hope program through Margaret's Hope Chest. I've had this project in the back of my mind for a while. I recently decided to make Patience Corner blocks using red prints and a white with black music note print. I thought this would be a good project to use to begin to get familiar with my new sewing machine.

She sews faster than Phoebe, that's for sure. In no time at all I had 4.5" strips sewn to 2.5" strips. I cut them into sub-units and added 2.5" strips to one other side.

This is what the finished block should look like:

This is what I ended up with:

I didn't understand what I'd done wrong for what felt like a long time. Eventually it dawned on me that I'd cut the sub-units too long. Great. That might also explain why I ran out of the music print before I expected to. And now I get to decide whether to make these rectangles work somehow or trim them down to the squares they're supposed to be.

Sigh.

Unexpected Purchase

2011-05-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

You know how when you go shopping with a friend (or a daughter!) they can talk you into buying something you know you want but wouldn't buy without their encouragement? I blame C~ for what happened to me this week. ;- )

First of all, here's some of the random piecing I'd been doing.

This is Phoebe, the machine they were sewn on.

Turns out I've had Phoebe for 9.5 years. Time flies when you're having fun and getting good results. But this week C~ asked me whether I was aware of the special deal being offered by our local Pfaff dealer. I'd received the flyer but hadn't paid much attention to it because I didn't think I was in the market for a new machine. She filled me in on the details, and the next time I went out on a routine errand I stopped in at the store. The air quality was too poor for me to stay long but I got enough to whet my appetite. Because they know me there and know of my situation the store manager allowed me to take the floor model home overnight for a test drive.

This is the Pfaff Expression 2.0. You may be able to see at a glance that it has a longer arm and much wider throat. There are 3.5 extra inches between the needle and the column. That doesn't sound like much but when you're trying to maneuver a quilt of any size in and around there for quilting it will feel like a lot. This machine finally has the serpentine stitch that I always wished Phoebe had too.

I didn't fall in love right away. That first night I was feeling poorly and didn't realize that I didn't have the even-feed system engaged while I was doing my piecing. Once I figured that out I was much happier with the results. Then the next morning I layered up a sample quilt sandwich and had a go. This machine is capable of faster speed than the poor old Phoebe. Quilting could actually become fun!

All evening long there were discussions amongst my husband, my son, and myself as to which of the four sewing machines in the house I would use to get the $500 trade in credit. Two of the machines are vintage. They belonged to my husband's grandmother and mother respectively. They are quality machines that work but aren't currently up to par. DS has a starter machine he bought with high school graduation money and it has served him well. I wasn't excited at the prospect of trading Phoebe in. So while I tried out the new machine DS tried out Phoebe. By the time I had to return the Expression 2.0 to the store DS had decided that he wouldn't miss his starter sewing machine that much after all!

Because I had a couple of lingering questions about the new machine I took it back to the store the next morning and left the trade-in machine at home. Fortunately at that hour the store was virtually empty and the air quality tolerable. I was able to spend enough time to have my questions answered, my hesitations assuaged, and in the end I made the purchase. DH went back later in the day to turn in the starter machine.

These are the blocks I pieced while trying out the new machine.

I was really glad I had patches at the ready so I had something to practice on. All of these blocks turned out perfectly, in spite of some of the challenges I had. I can't say that I'm head over heels in love with this new machine but I feel confident she will grow on me over time. She is the machine I would have bought when I bought Phoebe if it had been available. All she needs now is a call name. I figure that, too, will come to me over time.

And before you go: I saw this vehicle on the street this week while I was stopped at a light. I was thrilled that this time I actually had my camera with me even though I had to take the picture through my car's window. Isn't it a beauty? Someone has put a lot of time and effort and love into it!

What's Cooking?

2011-05-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

I had planned to be back before now to show you the results of what's been cooking in the studio. We've had some internet connectivity issues. It's a little scary how dependent I've become on being able to access the internet!

The finished wall quilt (16" x 20"):

I've titled it "What's Cooking?" I think I mentioned in the previous post that I expected to use red to frame the chefs but liked the white "onion" print better. The same thing occurred when I got to the binding. I originally thought I would use red but this old mottled print with varying shades of green caught my eye and held it.

When I finished the wall quilt there were a few chefs still intact in the original half yard cut. Hmm, what do to? How about coordinating potholders?

This time I followed my inclination to use red as a frame. The red in this pair has a swirl in the print that could be interpreted as steam:

That pair of potholders used up the complimentary food print. For the next pair I decided to keep the red frames (but I had to use two different reds this time) and then use what I'm calling the onion print to bring the blocks up to size (8"). The black and white check I'd been using was all gone by now too so I had to find something else for the hanging loops. Again, this wiggly stripe reminds me of steam.

There's a third set of potholders. I'm keeping them for myself. I don't enjoy cooking but I do like to bake. I did all the decorating on my children's birthday cakes as they were growing up and had a lot of fun with that. So this pair of chefs seemed appropriate to have working in my kitchen. ;- )

The corners of the snowball blocks are a light pink on white that looks like sprinkles to me. The black outer frame and loops are a tiny muffin or cupcake print from eons ago.

Now I'm in that uncomfortable, anxiety producing zone between projects. We have company coming in a few days so I'm reluctant to begin a major new quilt effort. I've hit a snag with another project and have to wait a bit for supplies to arrive. So I'll probably resort to cutting and sewing scraps into random blocks for the next couple of days. I did take time yesterday to rearrange some of the storage in the studio. I needed a place for those random blocks to accumulate that was easier to get to. I think I've succeeded. I guess the next few days can be the trial run to see how it works!

Cooking in the Studio...

2011-05-15T12:59:00.001-07:00

So to speak. While I admit to eating in the studio (you know nothing gets done without chocolate), I have never enjoyed the process of cooking. But I have been having a lot of fun playing with these chefs:

I fussy cut these guys from a print called the Daily Special from Wilmington Prints. The black and white checkerboard reminds me of the tiles you mightfind in a busy kitchen. The question was, how much of that checkerboard would be pleasing?

Yeah, I think that is a bit much. In the end I set them right up against each other. I thought I was going to frame them out with red but this white and black print caught my eye. It made me think of onions, sliced and peeled. Double click on the photos for a better look.

The wide border print is also from The Daily Special line I believe. I bought it at the same time as the chefs at any rate. My whole plan was to make a little wall quilt for a kitchen. This measures 16" x 20." In between seams for this kitchen quilt I sewed together random blocks for future quilts. At one point I got a little sidetracked by a dog print. This is what my design wall looked like when all the pots were boiling.

The chefs have nearly cleaned up all their mess now. I'll show you the feast in the next post. :- )

Colorful Additions

2011-05-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

If you've stopped by my blog in the last few weeks you know I made this 12" x 12" quilt for a swap over on the 15 Minutes of Play blog.

This was not a direct swap but more like a round robin swap. So instead of receiving a quilt from the person to whom I sent my quilt I received a quilt from someone else in the group. In this case, I was given this absolutely delightful quilt from Nancy over at ColorFiberTexture:

When she showed it on the 15 Minutes blog I admired the happy colors with the black and white prints. Now that I have it in my hot little hands I see that not only is the center of the star made up of scraps ("made fabric") but so is the narrow border between the picot ribbon trim and the binding. And I love that she hand quilted it with embroidery floss. What a cheerful piece to have hanging in my home!

On another front, DD gave me a bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day. One of the little carnations was too short to fit in the vase with all the longer stemmed flowers. My begonias were in need of trimming so I combined a bit of the cuttings with the carnation in a bud vase. There's also one leaf from another house plant whose name I don't remember at the moment.

The arrangement made Miss May Belle's walk with the hounds this morning a bit more colorful.

Here's wishing you a colorful walk through your day!

One Thing Leads to Another

2011-05-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

My nearest bead shop (the one that was closest relocated, much to my disappointment) sent out a newsletter with a coupon to use for Mother's Day. Who am I to pass up such an opportunity?!

One of the things I purchased was this hank of purple seed beads. I thought I'd share with you a slick trick I came up with for getting the beads off the strings and into the plastic bags I like to use for storage.

Holding the hank at the top I very carefully cut the lowest points of each string, making sure the hank is well into the little pitcher (actually a creamer I found at the thrift shop one day).

The beads slide off the strings into the pitcher...

And then I can easily pour the whole lot into the baggie. :- )

I didn't really need any new beads but going into the bead shop and bringing home a few new goodies was inspiring. QuiltDivaJulie asked me to contribute a block for her new lab coat. This is the block that I pieced for her coat:

I wanted to do some beadwork to dress it up a bit. Putting away my new treasures from the bead shop was enough to start the juices flowing.

I used some of the dyed shell chips I'd used on my ATC for January's bead journal project. They're called "Happy Beads." They couldn't be more aptly named in my opinion!

I have some serious catching up to do on the rest of my bead journal projects for this year. I've been making notes about what I might do for each month but right now sewing up blocks with the sewing machine is what has my full attention. I suspect I would do more beading if I didn't have to clear space to do it. DH and I have discussed things we might do to create a dedicated space for my beading projects. We'll see whether or how soon any of it comes to pass.

Finally, let me take this opportunity

to wish all my readers who are mothers

a Mother's Day that warms your heart.

Dots So Happy

2011-05-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to play with dots for a long time now. An opportunity to play on a smallish scale came my way so I went through my stash to see what I had that I could use. There are lots of dots and dot-like prints but only a few had the white background I wanted. Aw darn, another trip to my LQS. ;- )

Look what I got!

They're in the washer now, preshrinking and being cleansed of the fumes that tend to cling to bolts of new fabric. Then it will be PLAYTIME!

Since my last post I've made a few more blocks out of scraps and samples of newer prints.

Mostly old scraps I guess.

FYI, that block in the bottom left corner is just four flying geese units, not actually a block.

I have no plan in mind for any of these blocks/units. I'm finding that I rather enjoy making blocks out of scraps and letting them pile up until I have enough to build a quilt top. I suspect the trick is going to be to make blocks in a variety of sizes to give myself a wider range of options when it comes to setting them together.

Time to put the newbies in the dryer!

Fabric Junkie

2011-04-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Apparently it has been too long since I've bought any new fabric. I found myself with an overwhelming urge this week. I drove downtown, parked the car, walked into my local quilt shop, and announced to the proprietress, "I need a fix!"

She stared at me a moment and then burst out laughing. Could have been worse I guess.

I see now that I've got the pictures out of order. These pieces are from my second stop that day, the shop where I meant to buy only thread. They are batiks and they were all on sale. Couldn't pass that up!

So were the little embroidery scissors. I have embroidery scissors, even a pair of storks, but these were so cheap ($3.99!) and so cute that I bought them anyway.

And here are the cuts I bought from my LQS.

The black and white prints are fat quarters. The other two are half yard cuts. See, I didn't need a lot of new fabric, just a hit.

Since then I've been sewing scraps into blocks again. It was some precut triangles from an old project that got me started.

I guess I should take a picture of the quilt these were leftover from. I'm not sure I've ever shown it here and it's one I actually still own.

When those were all used up I moved on to the miscellaneous patches I've cut up over time.

I've come to the conclusion that sewing these simple blocks gives my brain the opportunity to recruit the necessary energy for more creative projects. That's my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it!

Weekend Play

2011-04-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

I meant to get back online over the weekend to wish everyone a beautiful Easter...

But I confess to getting distracted. ;- )

I played around a bit with some bright prints that will eventually end up in QuiltDiva's hands.

Then I found myself sewing scraps and a couple of new pieces of fabric into simple blocks.

My friend D~ spent some time in the big city south of us recently. She brought back this fun skull print to share with me.

The first block I made with it was this liberated star. Then I went on to make a couple of Shoo Fly blocks. With the completion of the puzzle quilt that went to Japan I need to build up my stash of available blocks for the next quilt like that one. I think I finally get that I most enjoy working block by block rather than with strips or by some other "production" method. Which is not to say that I will never use one of those other methods for building a quilt, just that my instinct is to work a block at a time. So why not go with what you know?!

In closing, let this doting grandmother share with you her favorite picture from Easter Sunday.

I remember straw hats, white gloves, and shiny patent leather shoes from the Easters of my youth. This one is more likely to remember those sparkly pink sunglasses!

Three Happy Things

2011-04-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

1. It's very challenging to get a good picture of a nervous bird...

But I so wanted to share his lovely color with you! It's a little ridiculous how happy this bird makes me. Simple pleasures for the simple minded I guess. ;- )

2. I've needed a new purse for months now. The one I've been carrying has become raggedy around the edges. And since the addition of the Nook to my daily life my purse is no longer big enough. I've been carrying around my handbag and a tote bag with my travel sketchbook and Nook and whatever else I've felt the need to have with me. (Frequently I end up sitting in the car while someone else actually goes into the store to do whatever shopping is required. So while I need my wallet and other things, I also need something to pass the time.) Since I won't go into most department stores anymore it's a bit of a challenge to find just the right replacement handbag.

You'd think since I sew I could just make a bag for myself. Unfortunately that's not the sort of project I enjoy. I ordered one bag online that I thought was going to work but it turned out to be much bigger than I wanted or needed. I regularly get reminders to click through the donation sites over here, and I've ordered products from their shop before too. Recently they had bags and totes on sale. I took a chance on one and, hallelujah! It's perfect!

Not only is the bag big enough for my essentials and my extras, it's made entirely of fabric (and not quite as washed out as it looks in this photo). That means no vinyl or plastics off-gassing. It's padded too. My Nook and camera and cell phone should all be safe and sound. The label on the front there is sewn to an outside pocket that is perfect for my camera, which I often would forget to take with me on outings. Inside there are six pockets lining the side walls. I love this bag.

A couple of years ago my sister in law sent me what was intended to be a scissor or rotary cutter fob. I've personalized my lovely new bag by adding it to the zipper pull (which is the only thing I would change about this bag; I'd have the zipper bigger/stouter).

3. My sewing table looked like this last week:

A little of the QuiltDiva's mojo rubbed off on me and now it looks like this!

Now I'm going to take all this happiness and stitch it into some new blocks for new projects and good friends. :- )

Finished Swap Quilt

2011-04-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

When I finished embellishing the lower half of my swap quilt I had to figure out how to balance that out on the upper half. I decided to go with star sequins. I think it worked. ;- )

I found two leftover pieces of binding in my stash that couldn't have been more suited to this quilt. I only eyeballed the placement of the joining of the pink and the green. Look how perfectly it turned out! Talk about serendipity! (Hmm, that might be a good name for this little quilt!)

Here's a close up of the heart:

And here on the back you can see the quliting a bit better. I used Fast Finish Triangles to make it easier for the recipient to hang the quilt. I love that technique for little quilts. I first learned of it in the AAQI Priority Quilt pages.

I purposefully used two different fabrics for the triangles. I wanted the upper ones to stand out from the background and I wanted the lower ones to be pale enough for me use as labels.

That's all that's left to do and then I can pack this gem up and send it off. :- )

Playing in the Sunshine

2011-04-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

We had a couple of days of gray skies - nothing unusual there - and heavy rain, which is unusual. Saturday was an improvment, with cloudy skies but no rain. Yesterday was spectacular!

The sunshine on the leaves of the rose bush outside my studio window inspired me to do the quilting on my swap quilt.

Mostly I just stitched loosely flowing lines in a sparkly yellow thread. But in a "grassy" area I went so far as to attempt lines that could indicate grass or bushes.

Of course I couldn't stop at just quilting. I had to add a few embellishments. I think this is where real playtime happens for me: embellishment!

I had to gussy up the house too:

Having done that, the upper half of the quilt looked pretty barren. I'll show you how I dealt with that in the next post. ;- )

Doin' It My Way

2011-04-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Things have improved here in the Magpie's Nest. But Mr. Reilly had to go to the groomer today and he's likely to bring home some fumes on his newly shorn body that will have an adverse affect on me. I thought this might be a good time to pop in and show you what I've been doing as I recovered from the last toxic exposure.

Mostly that would be playing in my scraps. Victoria has arranged for a mini quilt swap over on the 15 Minutes of Play blog. I signed myself up just in time to be included. She's calling it the "Something From Nothing" swap since the challenge is to make a 12" square quilt out of nothing but scraps.

I had some parts and pieces laying around and started sewing them together to see what I could come up with. Victoria is a big fan of "making fabric" from scraps so that was the mindset I was in while I was sewing the parts and pieces together.

I managed to create three 12" blocks.

The problem was that none of them looked like cohesive compositions to me. In my eyes they just looked like a conglomeration of scraps. Victoria probably would have cut shapes out of this 'made fabric' and worked further with them. There were too many seams already for me to be comfortable with that procedure. Also, I'm not a quilter in the technical sense of the word so I couldn't rely on quilting to give the blocks the polished, finished, look that I would want my mini quilt to have. It was discouraging. Eventually I decided to try one more time, using a slightly different approach.

Some time ago when I was piecing scraps a house and a tree magically showed up. I'd set them aside at the time but I got them out to see what I could do with them. I also had a three inch heart block that I had pieced intentionally but completely out of scraps. All I needed to do was figure out how to combine these elements...

Ta daa! The bird is printed on a larger scrap that I received in a swap. This little top was more fun to make and makes me happier than any of the previous efforts. My first instinct is to hand quilt and embellish it but I'm afraid I don't have time to accomplish that before the shipping deadline. So under Phoebe's needle it will go (Phoebe is my Pfaff sewing machine). I suspect I will quilt it the same way I pieced it: by the seat of my pants. That seems to be how I roll! ;- )

Sunshine and Shadows

2011-04-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

We've had a few days of lovely sunshine lately. In spite of that I've haven't been at the top of my game. Pictures of what I've sewn are still in the camera and I don't have the energy to download and tweak them. I do, however, have pictures of a couple of quilts my friend C~ created recently. This first one was made of orphan blocks and bits. I believe it all began with the giant turtle at the top of the quilt.

She found a couple of other turtle blocks; they have 3D heads and feet. There's a house block and a little triangular chicken. Lots of fun things for a child to enjoy. :- )

She also left this small crazy quilt with me to bind.

I found the perfect fabric to use for the binding too. It's a stripey print with oranges and purples in it. The binding is on, the quilt is ready to be returned to C~, but I don't believe I have a shot of the finished product. Gotta do that before she comes to collect it! She gave me some scraps from this quilt; they will be fun to play with when I'm feeling more the thing. Which brings me to the shadows part of this post. Feel free to exit stage right (or left, depending on your preference) at this point.

I get so frustrated when my body shuts down like this. I ran into the slightest bit of fragrance and now I'm barely functioning. It nearly always begins with a burning sensation in my sinuses. That turns into an intense headache that no ordinary analgesic will tame. Many hours later I'm lethargic and slightly-to-moderately depressed. I know that the depression is a direct result of chemical exposure, not merely sadness or discouragement - although there are elements of both of those emotions present. I've paid close attention over the years since I was made aware of the potential effects of chemicals on sensitive systems. I now suspect that the depression I suffered for years before the MCS diagnosis was actually chemically induced a lot of the time. There were other challenges in my life of course, everyone has them, but I bet they would not have been the mountains they were had I not been suffering from serious chemical exposures on a daily basis.

My intention is not to be a downer but rather to try to educate anyone who may be reading this post on the prevalence and the powerful effects of the miasma of chemicals in our environment. The simplest, most innocent products can contain toxic elements. Rarely will you find any ingredients listed on a label. Consumers have no way to protect themselves or their families in most cases, short of just not buying the products (which is pretty much what I've had to resort to). It's totally a case of "let the buyer beware" but in this busy world who has the time to do the research? Who even wants to? I sure don't. And I wouldn't if I weren't forced into it. Just know that the lotion you slather on your skin, the shampoo you use in your hair, the perfume you put on your body, the cleaning agents and fragrances you use in your home all have toxic ingredients. Your body absorbs them and over time they build up. Some of them cause cancer. If you're lucky your liver and other organs are able to process them appropriately. My liver can't even process the low levels of these toxins so I have to be extra careful. And I suffer whenever I'm not able to adequately protect myself.

Hopefully what I'm experiencing now will have passed by the end of this day and I'll have my energy and enthusiasm back tomorrow. There is much in my world to rejoice over and I want to share those things with you more than I want to share my misery. Again, my only goal in sharing my misery is to enlighten and educate to the best of my limited abilities. If you've hung in with me this far I thank you and I hope you benefit somehow from my experiences.

Another One Bites the Dust

2011-04-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

In a manner of speaking. Margaret's Hope Chest is celebrating four years of making and donating quilts. They just sent ten quilts to Japan. Now they're trying to refill their coffers by asking folks to send in their unfinished quilt tops, any size, as long as they are clean and usable. I really didn't think I had anything but I looked anyway. Lo and behold, look what I found!

It's the beginnings of a Double Irish Chain from back in my teaching days. It only measured about 30 x 50 inches though, and there was plenty of fabric in the bag so I did some cutting and sewing and turned it into this:

A 50 x 70 inch top. I know I had borders planned for it. There may even be something around here I could use for a back. But you know what? It's gone. Outta here. The reason that top was only three blocks by 5 blocks when I found it was because I did not enjoy the process involved in making the blocks. It's one of those where you cut strips, sew them together, then cut sub-units and sew them together. I kept getting lost! It's much easier for me to cut the stupid little squares, place them on the table next to the sewing machine, and sew them together one by one.

sheesh

The top is now on its way to Margaret's Hope Chest. I hope some lovely quilter will turn it into the stunning quilt it could have been. Part of me feels bad for not finishing it myself but there was way too much negative energy involved. I need to go sew some scraps!

Puzzle Quilt - Done & Gone

2011-04-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

When I left you the last time I had a top row fleshed out for my Puzzle Quilt. Here it is all filled in. You may notice I made another stack of Flying Geese units off to the left side. Other than that I simply used whole cloth strips to compensate for the blank spots.

The next step was borders to bring it up to the size I wanted. Of course I had something in mind as I was sewing that top row to the rest of the quilt and, of course, something better came along before I got there! My LQS had a selection of bolts the owner really wanted gone. I used some of one for the outer border and binding and yards of another for the back.

The inner border or frame was cut from a multi-color print I found in my stash. That white background against the black background of the outer border really make the whole top pop in my opinion.

My long arm quilting friend had an opening in her schedule and was able to meander quilt this for me in a matter of hours. Her name and mine are on the label on the back.

Here's the final product:

No detail shots I'm afraid. We were lucky to get this picture in between rain showers. I don't think I could be more pleased with the way this quilt turned out. And now it's on the first leg of its journey to someone in Japan who will hopefully find it a happy distraction and a warm comfort in the days ahead.

Puzzle Quilt, Installment 4

2011-04-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Unless I'm mistaken, this is how far I'd progressed with what I'm calling my Puzzle Quilt at the end of the last post.

That row of Hourglass blocks across the bottom (they look like square in a square blocks because of the way I've set them) is mostly sewn into place. If you look closely, however, you'll see that the bottom edge of the Contrary Wife block is shorter than the Hourglass strip. It did not occur to me to just add a strip to the bottom of Contrary Wife. Instead I took out one of the strips in that compensating strip of strips between Contrary Wife and the small Churn Dash blocks. It was definitely the more time consuming way to fix the problem but there you go.

At this point I decided I wanted to make the quilt wider. Back to my box of orphan blocks. I found another birdhouse, I believe made by the same person who made the first one. It was about 11.5" square so I planned the column of blocks to finish at 12" wide. As it turned out, this was the place for that light red plaid 10" Churn Dash block. I used a few of my odd 6" blocks and made up a few more to fill in gaps.

You'll see some more of the Hourglass blocks too, making their way around the star in the lower right hand corner. I was thrilled to discover that I could make them turn a corner and keep the colors and values where I wanted them to be. The light in the right-most Hourglass is a green and the dark in the block above it is also a green. In person they blend together a little better. So here's the top, 60 inches square-ish. Now it needed to be longer.

I could either add a row to the top or the bottom. I didn't like any of the bigger blocks I had left at the bottom. Plus I kind of liked the Hourglass strip acting as a sort of border for the bottom edge. So I framed up a 12" Shoo Fly someone else had made to make it finish at 15" and used that height as my goal for a row across the top. That blue Spinner block finally found a home, along with a few of my Bow Tie blocks. In this row the only block I had to make on the spot was the Shoo Fly with the red background (9").

I think I can show you the final product in the next post. Once I filled in the gaps in that top row it was only a matter of adding borders to bring the whole thing up to size. I'll tell you right now that I couldn't be more pleased with the way this quilt turned out. It was surely meant to be. :- )

Puzzle Quilt Part 3

2011-04-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry to keep y'all waiting so long. I've had my nose to the grindstone (no, not literally!), the pedal to the metal (if you count my sewing machine's foot pedal), and been working my fingers to the bone (raised a blister on my needle finger - I've never been comfortable with a thimble). The puzzle quilt is nearly done as I write this but let's back up and show you how I got to where I am now. Or at least another step in the path I've taken.

My friend C~ brought these orphan blocks to me a little while ago. I think they were actually from someone else's stash:

You may have noticed the Dresden Heart block on the design wall in the last picture of my last post. I tried out all three blocks in this quilt at one time or another. The Dresden Heart is the only one that made it into the final product. It acted as a great anchor for the lower right side of the quilt. What I needed, however, was something to then fill the hole between that and the big Contrary Wife block on the left side. First I tried a ten inch Spinner block:

Too much blue all in one place for my taste. How about this Churn Dash, also ten inches?

Maybe. But what if I sewed some five inch blocks together to make a 10" unit?

I rather like that. Now, how to fill in that strip between the small blocks and the big one?

What about a strip of strips? I'd been piecing these odd strips together while I was over playing with the 15 Minutes bloggers. I first saw Sujata doing it for one of her quilts (the one she calls Confetti I think). I find I have a lot of those short little strips in my scrap basket. They work okay when you're first starting out a liberated log cabin or crumb block but I wasn't using them up very quickly that way. This seems like a good idea and may become part of my standard repertoire. Sort of like sewing those odd half-square triangles into sawtooth strips.

Meanwhile, my lovely canary officially has a name now: Mr. Bingley. Those of you who are familiar with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice may recognize it as being the name of one of the characters from the story. The description of Mr. Bingley's personality just seemed to suit my little bird. Darling Daughter came up with a unique and accurate moniker too: Colonel (kernel) Corn (as in the color of my bird). Fitting, but I just couldn't go there. ;- )

I promise to be back soon with the next installment of the construction of this quilt top.

Puzzle Quilt Continued

2011-03-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is where we left my puzzle quilt the last time I posted:

To refresh your memory, this is a quilt I'm building to send to Japan for one of the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami. I'm using parts of UFO's, orphan blocks, and the six inch blocks I've been making out of scraps. So once this section felt complete it was back to the closet to see what else I could use...

The Log Cabin and Contrary Wife blocks were both from a block swap very early in my quilting career. They measure 15". Someone gave me the birdhouse, also years ago. I thought that was very generous of her. It was about nine inches wide and twelve inches high. Now, what to put between the Log Cabin and the birdhouse?

How about a stack of flying geese units? Each one is six inches wide and three inches tall. That just left me with a 3" gap under the birdhouse to fill in. I decided to take the easy road and use a whole cloth strip. Who doesn't like a flower bed beneath a birdhouse? From that point on I started working on a vertical section to the left of the birdhouse and Shoo Fly blocks. I made a 12" liberated star, mostly just to have something to piece between seams but it worked well as an anchor for that new section. I pieced some six inch hearts and found other flying geese units based on the 3x6" formula. I used them on their sides this time.

A few more of my scrap blocks brought the composition roughly to the same length I had going on in the first section. When I put the blocks on the design wall I'm mostly eyeballing them to see how they'll look. Before I sew anything into place I do the math to make sure they will fit together the way I intend. It helps a lot that I'm working with blocks that are nearly all divisible by three. Whenever I come up short I simply frame up a block or add a strip to one side to get the size I need. The odd compensating strips help to throw off the eye when everything is sewn together, disguising the seam lines that hold sections together. That will be more obvious when you see the final product.

I'm much farther along than is evident in this post. In fact, it's possible that I could have the top finished today (cross your fingers!). I started out thinking I would whip up a 45 x 60 inch quilt and quilt it myself. Now I'm looking at one that will be around 65 x 85" and I've had to recruit my long arm quilter friend to do the quilting for me. That's added pressure to get this done because she needs to fit this in between other work she has scheduled and we still have to get the quilt shipped to the collection point by the end of April. No dawdling allowed!

Puzzle Quilt - First Steps

2011-03-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

Because I can't do anything easy or simple (as evidenced by the dry spell I had to go through after making the easy, simple quilt for our dear son-in-law) I decided to make a quilt to send to Japan out of my collection of scrappy and orphan blocks. The Bow Tie blocks were first up:

Meh. Maybe if I start with a different block?

That covered more territory but I still wasn't completely happy with it. All those blocks came off the wall and I started over for a third time.

I have a couple of bins of UFO's and experimental starts that I hadn't looked through in a long time. When I got into them this week I realized it's time to go through them again and redistribute things. Projects that I expected to finish someday have now become fodder for orphan block quilts. One of those was intended to be a wall hanging for the fall season. I know now that that will not happen. But it was a fun addition to the odd Shoo Fly block!

After that blocks with pointy bits became the focus of my design.

At this stage it measured roughly 30" x 39." The finished quilt needs to be a minimum of 45" wide and 60" long. Time to audition more blocks.

I like this strip of blocks but I'll tell you right now they didn't make it into the quilt top. At least, not yet. Stay tuned!

The new studio canary is still nameless. I want to give my daughter a shot at naming him because she seems to have a gift for that sort of thing. I expect her and all the granddaughters over later today. Have to say I'm excited to introduce the older grandgirls to him (he will not be leaving the cage however; canaries are not that sort of pet). After living with him for a week I admit to seriously thinking of calling him something like Loudmouth or Pretty Piggy. It's gratifying that he's comfortable enough to sing so often and so loudly. I'm surprised at how much interest he seems to take in what's going on outside the cage. And boy, does he love his mirror with the bell on the bottom! Who knew canaries could be so entertaining?!

New Addition

2011-03-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

A lot of quilters (and doll makers) want to add a Singer Featherweight sewing machine to their arsenal of tools. They are lovely to look at and wonderful to take to classes and retreats.

photo courtesy of Tami Levin

I've never really felt the need to acquire one, and now that I'm home bound it seems even less necessary. I have, however, hungered after another type of featherweight. Call it a Featherweight Singer...

My version is an American Singer canary. I ended up with a bigger cage than I was planning on but at the price being asked I couldn't pass it up. I'm happy to provide the bird with plenty of room; I just had to clear more space than anticipated and not all of my treasures have found a new home yet.

So far my little singer is nameless. I have something in mind but I'm still open to suggestions. I just love his intense yellow. Now I can have sunshine on the dreariest of days. :- )

I have been plugging away at my scrappy blocks too.

I think it's about time I quit making blocks and start putting them together into a quilt top. Between the orphan blocks already in my possession and these newest ones I certainly ought to have enough for at least one quilt.

I've learned that there is an effort to get comfort/utility quilts to Japan via Quilters Newsletter magazine as well as eQuilter. The details are here. Either way, it's easier to ship a quilt or quilts to Ohio (eQuilter and Mission of Love) or Colorado (Quilters Newsletter and Patchwork Tsushin) than to have to fill out a customs form for overseas shipments. My goal is to put together something cheerful and back it with flannel for extra warmth. So I guess I'd better get off the computer and get busy!

Quilterly March Madness

2011-03-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

Finally! Signs of spring in the studio:

And I'm back at the sewing machine - yippee! :- ) Yesterday I was inspired to get out a couple of shamrock prints to make a few blocks in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

The day before that I spent time tidying up around the cutting table. I have more of the bigger scraps to deal with now, leftover from my most recent quilts, than I've ever had in the past. I've never been as productive as I have been these last couple of years. Being home bound has its silver lining - at least on the days when I feel up to taking advantage of it.

For the most part I just folded up the remnants and set them aside in their own pile. I'm going to have to figure out a way to deal with them soon. I really don't have room for any more piles! I did cut some patches and sewed up more of my six inch scrappy blocks:

After the shamrock blocks yesterday I kept going and ended up with this on my design wall:

That's a nine inch liberated star on the left and five inch Churn Dash or Monkey Wrench blocks on the right.

I'm seriously thinking of trying to put together at least one puzzle quilt out of all this madness. I know Luana Rubin at eQuilter.com is talking with Kathleen over at Mission of Love about collecting quilts to be shipped to Japan for the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami. I would love to have one ready for that effort. When I say "puzzle quilt" I'm referring to a quilt top made from orphan blocks and scrappy blocks and whatever bits and pieces are necessary to make them all fit together. I find I really enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to make a bunch of mismatched blocks play together nicely. Hopefully the results aren't too chaotic to be enjoyed by someone under extreme stress.

Evolution of a Quilt Top

2011-03-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

Back in January (was it January?!) Janet sent me this block that she had put together intuitively. My challenge was to add to it, also intuitively.

I trimmed off the bits she left loose, added a sawtooth border and a few other strips I had laying around. Then I got stuck.

I made some experimental blocks and tried them around this original piece but nothing really clicked. It sat on the design wall for a couple of weeks while I read various works of fiction to try to clear my mind. Finally one day I asked myself what was the most dramatic thing I could think of to do to Janet's poor neglected block. Then answer was to quarter it. Slice it into four smaller pieces.

Well, that was just a bit too drastic for my nerves but I did take the rotary cutter to it.

That seemed to get the ball rolling again. I made more experimental blocks and played with them around the starter panel.

I quite like the wavy line that would have been created by the stick blocks but the light blue was too overwhelming in my eyes. There was just too much of it.

Eventually I came up with a selection of blocks I was happy with.

Inbetween the blocks I'd been piecing together leftover strips and bits. In a bit of serendipity there was just enough to make a great border for the top of the piece!

This humble effort and a selection of the unused blocks will be winging their way back to Janet as soon as I can get someone to go to the post office for me. :- )

Up From the Depths

2011-03-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

At least I hope so! I'm finally beginning to feel more like myself. (Hope I didn't just jinx it.) I think I'm ready to pull my nose out of the tissue box and get started sewing again. I certainly need to start sewing again. I promised Janet I would return her Intuition Swap in another week or so and I don't feel like I have it anywhere near ready for her. I haven't finished my bead journal project for February either and here it is March. Not that that's a big deal, but I know it's there in the background, waiting for my attention.

The postcard above and the ATC below are pieces I made sometime in the last nine months but never talked about here for one reason or another. The postcard was made just for the fun of it. I must have pieced the foundation two or three years ago. The fish was part of a pair of earrings I found at the thrift shop. I would be very nervous about mailing this particular postcard because the fish's body is gentle convex curve. I can just see it snapping in two when a heavier package was dropped on it in the mailing process. It would have to go in a box rather than as is or in a bubble envelope.

I remember this ATC but I don't remember the occasion for which I made it. I'm pretty sure it was sent to someone, somewhere, for a specific reason. The foundation fabric was a tiny bit of silk tie with those colored pencils woven into it. I surrounded it with a bit of quilter's cotton in the floral print, then added the sequins and beads to disguise the seam lines.

It may not have shown up on my blog because it was a surprise for someone and I didn't want them to see it before receiving it. Hopefully they're enjoying it! I do remember that I had fun making it. :- )

If It Ain't One Thing...

2011-03-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

It's another. Those cute little petrie dishes that visited about 10 days ago left a present for me: a cold. It hasn't been too bad, but it's been enough to keep me laying low. I haven't done any sewing either. Fortunately, I have pictures of a quilt my friend C~ found in a thrift shop a few months ago that I can share with you.

A lovely hand quilted Shoo Fly. Delightfully scrappy of course!

The border is unusual too. Leftover half-square triangles, I'm guessing, set in a liberated way.

I'm sorry, I don't remember what the quilting pattern was. I tried to adjust the photo to show it up better but it's still hard to see. Still, it's a happy scrappy quilt and has a good home now. :- )

Stitching Report

2011-02-25T09:37:00.001-08:00

And now for those less interested in our wintery weather, here's the Stitching Report. ;- )

I'd had an idea early in the month to make my bead journal piece for February with a red foundation and maybe try to incorporate June's Creativity Challenge theme of "Love" by working on the theme of Puppy Love. I have some dog buttons and charms and since I don't seem to be able to live without a dog in the family it seemed appropriate. I got out my doggy themed embellishments and went through my stack of red cottons... but nothing seemed to click. I put it all away again and tried not to stress over the fact that I wasn't sewing anything.

What I tend to do when I'm not sewing is to read or write, as in writing about why I'm not sewing. Sometimes I do jigsaw puzzles but right now there isn't a good place to leave one out. Parts of this little house are in a state of transition and my husband is working long hours so things are not progressing as quickly as I might like. Anyway...

On a whim I got out a piece of fabric printed with text. Then I looked to see what embellishments I might have that would carry out the theme of reading or writing. I have words on charms, and letter beads with which I could make words, but I didn't want a specific word or thought to prevail. I did find a pencil button (a couple of them actually). Well, what else could I use? Maybe a hand to hold the pencil?

I have a small collection of hand charms. Some of them are whole arms, for making small dolls. I had one arm milagro in the bunch too.

Then I thought of my head and face charms. I didn't have great expectations but one did seem to stand out as a possibility.

I placed the pencil, the arm, and the face on my foundation. Even though it felt like it needed something more I stitched them in place. Yesterday I looked deeper in my stash and came up with a book charm. That seemed to fill out the composition nicely.

I'm thinking the only real beadwork I do for this BJP is going to be confined to a technique that will create hair for the head. Any more than that and I will lose the effect of the background print.

I just have to figure out what technique and what color(s) to use...

Weather Report

2011-02-25T09:16:00.001-08:00

I think I'm beginning to recover from my most recent bout of toxic attacks. (Keep your fingers crossed!)

We have had a significant weather event this week. This won't be a big deal to anyone east of the Cascade Mountain Range but around here it is. This is what it looked like Wednesday morning:

When I looked out the window everything was virtually the same color. It was snowing when I took the picture but the flakes were so tiny and so fine they don't show up. It snowed all day, sometimes heavier and faster, sometimes just a few flakes. This is another shot from early in the day, just for persepctive:

We may have had a total of six inches. Half of it melted away when the temperatures warmed up in the afternoon. Then another storm front came through. I believe it must have snowed during the night and then it just kept on snowing all day yesterday. This is what we have now:

We may have 12 inches. Other areas around us have up to 20 inches! At least the sky has gone from gray to blue again.

And I don't have to go anywhere. :- )

Time Out

2011-02-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

It's been another of those rough weeks. As a result I've done no sewing at all in recent days. Last week I was playing around with stick blocks.

Then I read about Victoria's challenge over on the 15 Minutes of Play blog to make two blocks using only dots, stripes, and plaids. I found an old bit of strata that happened to be mostly dots and stripes and a big ole plaid. So I played around with that a bit until I had these two blocks:

Sent those off to V~ and haven't sewn since. I haven't even been back to see what V~ is doing with the blocks. But I did get some grandbaby time over the weekend. :- )

Unfortunately I still don't feel well enough to get back to sewing. On the other hand, I only have a few more days if I want to complete any February challenges by the end of the month!

And the Winner Is...

2011-02-15T09:52:00.000-08:00

I hope my readers had as happy a Valentine's Day as I did. I got to sew all day! And then my DH made dinner for us. He treats me so well. :- )

I've added a little bit to Janet's Intuition block. The sawtooth strip down the right side, some horizontal flying geese units across the bottom, and a strip of pieced greens across the top.

Not much, but it's a start. I made quite a few blocks yesterday; I'll show them in another post. It remains to be seen whether any of them end up in Janet's quilt.

And now, for the news about two dozen of you have been waiting for, the winner of my white Love Token...

Everyone's name went onto a ticket for each comment you'd left.

And the lucky winner is Joyce!

It will be a while before Joyce actually sees her prize in person since she's about to fly over to Australia but the beauty of fiber art is that it doesn't spoil or go rotten!

Done!

2011-02-13T10:33:00.001-08:00

Constructing this quilt top in three sections posed some pressing problems. It wasn't as bad as it may sound though. I merely had to decide which way to press the seam allowances to get the best results.

At this stage I had flat-pressed all the seam allowances but had not opened them up or pressed them in one direction or the other. In the end I decided to press the seam allowances of the center section upward and the two sides down. That allowed me to nestle the seam allowances up against each other to get clean joins on the front. The long vertical seams were then pressed open to help the quilt top lay flatter. Taa daa!

I had originally planned to do the quilting on this myself. The bigger it got the less I felt like wrestling with it. I called my favorite long-arm quilter and, lo and behold, she was able to find a hole in her schedule just the right size for this simple job. Woohoo!

I had several of the 6" half square triangle blocks left over, and enough of the focal fabrics to make up a few more. That allowed me to create a back out of just 4 yards of clearance fabric:

This won't be in his hands for SIL's birthday but it could easily be a completed quilt by then. Now it's time to put Janet's block back on the wall and see what happens.

In other news, my friend C~ dropped by for a quick visit. We hadn't seen each other in a while. I was able to finally give her a copy of Tonya's Word Play as a belated birthday gift, and look what she picked up for me on a recent trip:

A cute little bluebird clip and...

maybe the most fun skull print I've ever seen! This is from STUDIOe fabrics (studioefabrics.com). She found it in a shop in Oregon. I absolutely LOVE it! I haven't made a cover for my Nook yet; this may be what I end up using. :-D