Out With the Old, In With the New

A little more than a week ago I finally burned through the top of my ironing board cover.

Even though the cover itself was cotton, the built-in padding under the cover must have been a polyester blend because it released toxic fumes when it got hot. We'd had a new ironing board cover out in the garage, off gassing in preparation for this eventuality. Unfortunately it also had a polyester pad. Didn't think to look for that when we bought it! So I got online to see what I could find that would be safe for me to use. There wasn't a lot to choose from but I'm relieved to say that I was able to find a cover made of organically grown cotton. Better yet, it wasn't horrendously expensive. It looks so fresh and clean! (Wonder how long that will last?!)

Yesterday I spent time beading "Mother Hen."

I took a detail shot too, hoping you'd be better able to see the beads. Not sure it worked.

There are dark bugle beads under the egg. They're sort of a brown and purple, and they're twisted bugles. Well, half of them. The other half are straight short brown bugles. I want to do something in the green background areas but haven't entirely decided what that will be. I'm debating between regular embroidery stitches or more beads. I have to go out for food later today so I'm thinking I may brave the bead shop while I'm out.

Speaking of new things, this post marks the beginning of my second year of blogging. A whole new world opened up to me through the medium of weblogs. I've "met" people I now consider friends and become involved in projects I wouldn't have otherwise. I enjoy the positive feedback I get from those who visit and comment. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and made me feel welcome :- )

Color Me Happy :- )

Woohoo! The sun is shining and I just finished piecing my journal quilt for March!


Yes, yes, I still have a bit of work to do to actually finish it but at least it's pieced! You can see my original thoughts and the fabrics I'd pulled for this quilt here. If you do go back to look at that post you'll see that I ended up not using most of the fabrics I'd pulled. And instead of going with the 'spring chicken' theme I'm calling this one "Mother Hen." Which is very appropriate as another self portrait because I have three children. Two of them have flown the coop; one is still at home, not quite ready to break out of his shell.

For such a small quilt this one sure took a lot of time and effort to produce. First there was the decision to focus on just the one piece of chicken fabric. Then I auditioned green fabrics and brown fabrics and novelty prints and African prints. Very little of what I had wanted to be included in this quilt. They were either too bright, too busy, the wrong hue, etc., etc, etc. I pieced and unpieced and repieced. But I'm happy with what I have now, and delighted to be able to move on to thinking about quilting and embellishments.

It would be nice to go out and really enjoy the sunshine today but I don't dare. It's Saturday, and everyone has their gas powered lawn mowers fired up. Who knows what pesticides or herbicides they may be spreading on their lawns (and thus putting into the air)? Because it's so pretty there will be a lot of people out on the roads too. I don't go shopping or to weekend events very often anymore because of the exhaust fumes and assorted other pollutants that take such a toll on my body. I'm going to stay inside and enjoy feeling healthy for a change! (For as long as I can get away with it anyway.)

April's Take It Further Challenge

The challenge Sharon posed for the month of April was, "How do you see change?" She gave examples from her own life of times when she felt change was good and other times when it was not so welcome. I think all of us have had those experiences! And then there are various degrees to which we look forward to or dread change. How to depict this visually?I finally settled on a door. I figured how quickly one opens that door would indicate how welcome - or not- that change is in your life.

That was early in the month. Since then I've been working on a swap quilt and little else. But when I finished the swap quilt a few days ago I started thinking about this challenge again. I went online to find images of doors I might be able to use as inspiration. That search generated a couple of new ideas, one of which was to use a pair of doors rather than just one. I especially liked this picture of a pair of doors in Dublin, Ireland, taken by Luka Gentili. One door could represent happy, welcome, changes and the other could represent those changes we're sometimes forced to make whether we want to or not. And thus this 4" x 6" postcard quilt was born:


The photograph makes it look a little wonkier than it really is. The top is machine pieced (not paper pieced). The red trim around the doors is only a quarter of an inch wide. The hinges are created with bugle beads. One door knob is a glass bead, the other a pearl. I've discovered the blanket stitch on my sewing machine is a nice way to finish off the edges of these little quilts. I'm not using the stiff interfacing (Timtex or Peltex) in these postcard quilts. They're just a top, cotton batting, and watercolor paper for the back. They're a little less stout than postcard quilts made with the interfacing but I like the paper for the back because it makes it easy for me to label the work. For this application it's working fine.

And now, just for fun, a recent studio picture:

Happy Spring!

Catching Up

So, now that I feel like I have a little breathing room (having finished that swap quilt yesterday) let me show you a few things I've been blessed with recently.


Carol of Giraffe Dreams made this happy little basket quilt last year. She put it in her guild's silent auction this year but it didn't get any bids {gasp!}. I admired it when she showed it on her blog and expressed an interest in acquiring it. The quilt was returned to her after the show so she let me know it was still available. We made a deal whereby I would make a quilt or a cash donation to Wrap Them in Love and she would send me the quilt. Yippee! Now all I have to do is hold up my end of the bargain ;- )

The other goodie I received recently came from my sister. Some time ago she was in a thrift store, looking for a basket to hold miscellaneous small items in her bathroom. She didn't find any baskets she liked but was delighted to find clothes that fit. Then she learned that everything in the store was 50% off that day! By that time she was on auto-pilot, cruising the store for anything else she didn't know she needed but couldn't resist. (You know how that happens, right?) She ended up bringing home a dozen silk ties along with her other purchases. First one caught her eye, and then another one that had the same colors in it, and before she knew it her arms were full of ties! She toyed with the idea of doing something with them herself but she doesn't sew much. So I got this box in the mail a few weeks ago:

Woohoo! Playtime! Except that I haven't washed them yet. I have removed the labels and interfacings, but then I had a swap quilt to make...

These are a few of my more favorite ties of the batch. Of course the colors in the photograph aren't exactly true. They are much prettier in person. A couple of them have that iridescent thing going on where you can see more than one color, depending on how the light hits the fabric. I especially like the tie with the cowboy motifs. Apparently that was the one that started the whole tie-buying spree. I can hardly wait to see what it ends up in!

The End of Winter? Finally?

The hail we had on Saturday was almost gone when we went to bed that night. But look what we woke up to the next morning!

We had 2-3" of snow on the ground. Eventually it turned into a pretty day, if chilly. At least the sun came out. And we've had more sun than clouds since then, with no precipitation at all. It might actually feel like spring again in another day or two!

I've been busy stitching away on that new swap quilt to replace the one my husband wouldn't let me give away. I don't want to show it yet; I want it to be a surprise. I am pleased to report that I put the final touches on it today so it can go to its' new home as soon as I get a mailing address. Whew! Now I can turn my attention to those monthly challenges I've been neglecting. But first I'm going to spend some time in this:

It came a couple of days ago and has been airing out. I just love that lady pirate on the cover! I'm continually amazed at the wondrous creations the doll artists produce. When we lived near Houston I got to see the "In Celebration of the Doll" exhibits at the big IQA quilt show. If the quilts weren't enough to take your breath away, the dolls certainly were!