More quilts

Here I am, up in the middle of the night and still struggling with crummy cold symptoms. Not that I feel sorry for myself or anything :) Thanks for your get well wishes, I do appreciate the positive thoughts.

Here, to change the subject, are a few more quilty projects.


Here my friend Cindy shows her "big giant star", always a favorite fast gift quilt to make. You can make it even easier by using huge half square triangles. The second quilt is from a "Buggy Barn" pattern, Hearts and Stars.
Here is the same quilt pattern done in brighter colors and shared by our friend Kathy at the Jan meeting. You can guess which ones I like the best.

Traditional Quilt Content

Here are a few pictures from my little quilt group's last get together.

Here is Jerry's quilt, finished except for the binding, which is still in progress.

And here is the back. I particularly like the scuba "photo" fabric I found to use for it. You probably can't see the quilting, but it is done in blue waves.

Here is my friend Pam T's basket quilt.

Joan shows off her wool applique.

This is Pam B.'s lovely bright quilt, started in a Road to California workshop. (Sorry, I don't remember the instructor's name.) Lots of paper piecing. Naturally I love the bright colors. We talked quite a bit about some of the quilting possibilities for this one.

That's it for me today. I am home with the flu/cold thing I have been fighting so it's back to bed for me.

New Design Wall

Here is my finished "kid's quilt" for the 40 quilt service project. I will be mailing this out to Amy some time this week. Keeping the pattern simple helped me to complete the quilt and enjoy the project. I love the cheerful brights, they are so uplifting.

The little quilt is attached to my new portable design wall. Assembling it by myself was a little like making a bed with an old fashioned sheet that has shrunk slightly. Get one side on, the other pops off etc. Still, I finally got it together and I'm sure it will go more easily next time. The little poles reminded me of my old camping days when we used to put together our North Face tents. I remember when these light weight poles were quite the innovation for backpackers. Yes, this was long ago, and the memories are fun but they do make me feel older than dirt. My days of willingly sleeping outdoors on the ground are long gone.

Back to the design wall, I'm still deciding, but I think I like it. I love the portability aspect, and expect to get a lot of use out of it.

Wool

These beautiful artworks are by Ramona Sakiestewa, done in wool. See more amazing work here. This artist also does beautiful works on paper, but I thought some of you, especially those who have fallen in love with wool, would be interested in these. After all, we're all about the fiber.

I feel like such a neglectful blogger, but things have just been crazy busy. I had good intentions to show a little piece on Quilt Studio, but didn't get it photographed in time. I also wanted to share a little about my quilt group gathering, but didn't get those photos together either. I DID manage to get together some photo CDs done as gifts for all my quilt group friends. I take pictures at every gathering, so I had something from every meeting over the past year. I used a mounted photo of each person as the cover for their CD case, and I put one at each place at the table. Kind of a party gift and place card in one. It took a lot of time, but it was worth it. Everyone loved their gift.

Quilt group was fun, and I was really happy with how the food turned out. I found gorgeous flowers, including tulips, at Costco, so that saved me a trip when I was running around getting ready. We had some very summer like weather last weekend, so eating on the deck in the shade was lovely and relaxing.

I'm mostly finished with binding my donation "kid's quilt". I bound by machine this time, attaching the binding to the back and folding it around to the front. I used a zig-zag stitch and rainbow thread on the top, and monopoly in the bobbin. I usually don't like machine bindings, but this one looks pretty good. The monopoly is light years better than the old nylon stuff, and it really doesn't show. I hate binding by hand (impatience talking), so I may try this again.

A Family Quilt

Things have been busy since I last checked in here at the blog, and since I don't have any new pictures to show you right now, here is our Christmas quilt presentation to our neice Janet (lower left, second one in). In our family, we do "group" projects to make quilts. We have a variety of skill levels, but a great deal of enthusiasm. I have learned to pick easy "forgiving" patterns, so the projects turn out well and we have a blast making them. My sister in law just sent me these pictures last week.

Since I last blogged, I have participated in a quilt "shop hop" as well as a group sewing day. (I will share after I can get some pictures made.) I finished piecing the "diver's" quilt front and back and am having it quilted in blue waves. The bright "kid's quilt" is also coming back to me this weekend and will receive its binding in time to make the deadline.

This weekend I am hostess for my small quilt group, so I will be busy on Saturday cleaning and decorating. I've alread found some great spring tablecloths at Linens and Things, and I plan to pick up some tulips at Trader Joe's. Lunch will be lettuce wraps and fruit skewers, maybe vegetable rice. Someone else is bringing dessert, but the rumor is that it will be chocolate cheesecake. No calories in that, right?

A very big thank you to Dee for her generosity is sending me the book "Fried Eggs With Chopsticks". It looks like a fun and relaxing read, upbeat and funny (kind of like Dee's blog sometimes :)

WIP Wednesday

" Sunshine Pier" 12 x 12, mixed media

What have I been doing? This weekend I refinished a new wooden table for my sewing room. In a perfect world, I would have been able to cut a hole in it and make a place for my machine to drop in. Unfortunately, Jerry is not handy with this sort of thing and neither am I, so I will have to wait until I get someone else to do it. In the meantime, it's still an improvement.

I spent some time painting, thread sketching, and fusing. I made lots of things and ended up liking this one. "Sunshine Pier" was created by first thread sketching on a fabric "sandwich", followed by painting and fusing. I used Tsukineko inks at first, including the technique of blending them with aloe vera gel. I just couldn't get them bright enough, so I went back in with dye paint and acryllic. After all the paint was dry, I still wasn't happy with it, so I added fused pieces. This is what I love about working improvisationally. You can always do something else. Of course, sometimes you go too far and have to start over, but that's ok too.
I am really happy with this one. I got the watercolor look where I wanted it, the brightness of more opaque paint where I wanted it, and the solid shapes to help the design where I wanted them. Yes! I will be using this approach again.

And here is Jerry's quilt, coming along. I got rid of the angel fish blocks, increased the number of light blocks, and found some great "coral" fabric to make more of the alternating nine patches. The border will be next. I don't know how well the colors are coming across, but they are just wonderful "in person", and I am happy with my progress.

WIP Wednesday

Here is the quilt I am making for DH Jerry in progress. I have about half of the blocks finished. He loves scuba diving and taking underwater film. He also sails, but once I started auditioning fabrics I decided to stick to the underwater theme.

I don't have quite enough of that batik with blue fish, so I am going back to the batik stash to look for something else. I would like to find something that looks like coral or seaweed. It could still change, but I've pretty much settled on the nine patch and snowball blocks. They look like little windows into the sea, at least that's what I'm after. Those angel fish are looking kind of like "op art", do I like them? Not sure.

I've made lots of quilts for everyone else, but somehow never one for him. His birthday is next month, so I hope he likes it. Don't worry, he doesn't read my blog, it will still be a surprise. He's also kind of oblivious to what is going on in my studio, he just knows I spend a lot of my free time in there.

Nice and Neat

Well, it probably won't last, but I have the sewing studio nice and neat once again. I went through almost every bin of fabric I have and (gasp!) gave some of it away. My SIL Diane is selling on ebay to raise money to participate in the breast cancer 3 day walk. She will also be having a garage sale, so I have had lots of motivation to clean out closets as well. It feels great to be organized, even if I know it's only temporary.

I was happy to get my cutting table raised to counter height by adding some PVC pipe to the legs. Works great, and no more back strain. I view my current space as temporary since I will move to a larger room once our son moves out again. I want to plan it thoroughly and look into a better fabric storage system as well as better furniture

Check these out.
You Tubes for Book People:

Introducing the Book

Banned Books

Baghdad Day to Day: Librarian's Journal

Read about the war from the perspective of someone who is still trying to live and work there.

WIP Wednesday

"Blue Tulips in the Garden of Evening", handpainted silk and commercial cotton.

Nikki decided she needed to be in the picture. She is my sweet and quirky little border collie, thirteen years old this year. I put area rugs in my sewing room so she would have better footing. Actually, we have put rugs all over the house, even where the placement looks odd. She just can't keep her balance on the slippery wood floors anymore.

Here is a closer look. Handpainting silk was a new experience for me. (I used silk charmeuse from Dharma and the Dharma Pigment dye paints. There is also a little Tsukineko ink used in drawing.) I love the colors, the shimmer, the stitching. I am using lots of delicious hand-dyed embroidery threads and perle cotton to make very big textural stitches. Next time I paint silk, I want to try the "resist" and work for a better focal point and more control. I'm definitely having fun.

My donation kid's quilt is almost together but I haven't worked on the pineapple blocks again since last week. I started a new gift quilt for Jerry that features lots of tropical fish and sailboats since his favorite leisure time activities are scuba diving and sailing. It will be a simple "nine patch and snowball" quilt that showcases the fabrics. I would like to give it to him during his birthday month (March), but it will be a nice surprise any time he gets it. I have a trunk full of quilts in the family room that we all use to wrap up in when we watch TV, but I still think it will be nice to make one that is just for him.

Between work, water aerobics, and the daily household stuff, there are just not enough hours in the day. Good thing I am needing less sleep as I get older.

WIP Wednesday

What have I been doing?I started out with a little fabric painting. I used Hoffman PFD cotton and Dharma Pigment Dye paint. This was my first time using this particular paint, and I found I liked the intensity better if I diluted it very little or not at all. It did tend to make the finished fabric a little stiff but not all that different from a batik.

I used my painted fabric to make the little piece below. I had a gorgeous cobalt blue leaf print in the stash, so I used that too. It added the just the right contrast and intensity I wanted.

Starting with the "ladder" structure of horizontals and verticals, I then sliced, repieced , and added until I was happy. I have started doing thread work but there will be a lot more before I am through. This is a little hard to needle by hand, so I may switch to bobbin work since I want to use the thick bold embroidery threads. It's kind of a pain to wind bobbins by hand, but I have had good results in the past doing it this way.

Oh, and I made a couple more pineapple blocks, so you can see what I mean about the secondary pattern. I am not sure how big this piece is going to be yet, and I am considering adding blue and cheddar blocks as well. We'll just have to wait and see.

Happy quilting everyone!

WIP Wednesday

Here is the piece I showed you on Monday. I am adding big bright stitches using the fabulous hand dyed embroidery thread from Art Fabrik. I flipped it upside down and like it better this way.

Here is one I started yesterday, but besides the quilting there will not be a lot more to it. I call it "Waiting for the Purple Moon." I think its kind of retro 70s. Something about that that fabric in the background reminds me of a lava lamp.

And here are the big bright blocks for the kids quilt I will be donating. I bought some great neon bright yellow thread at Superior Threads to use in quilting this, unless of course I hand it off to my longarm friend to do. I will still have it done it yellow thread, but it might not be as bright.

And, of course the red and cheddar pineapple blocks which I showed you Monday. I haven't worked on them again yet, but I will. Do you think I have enough things going at once? Maybe I should start something else.

Road To California

Well, I'm back. We had a great time at Road to California, lots of beautiful quilts to see and fun classes to take. I must really be getting to be an old lady because I am exhausted from not being able to sleep well away from home. I had to go right back to work today, too. Have to pay for these little junkets and shopping sprees somehow.

The little quilt above is something I made in Laura Wasilowski's class. It started with the Ladder motif I've been working with and morphed into a garden trellis when I started adding shapes. I call it "Pea Pods in the Garden". I'm thinking I may have been a little enthusiastic in using my new toy, the pinking edge rotary cutter. I have not decided whether I'll do a fused binding or just back and turn it with an "escape hatch" finish.

I enjoyed Laura's class a lot, she is a good teacher, easy to be around and has a great sense of humor. Not a bad singing voice either. I also had the good fortune to meet Melody Johnson of Fibermania fame. She told me I looked familiar...it was from my little blog picture. I probably sounded like a stalker when I gushed about how much I admire her work.

Here is a little project I started using some of the new fabric I bought at Road. These are antique reproduction reds and cheddars, which I love. I always wanted to do a quilt in these colors. I think it's funny that they are actually old fashioned fabrics when they have so much zing. I will say one thing about making these blocks, they stretch like crazy if you aren't really careful. I think that's why it's so common to paper piece them (these are not). I only have two blocks done, but you can see that it will have a nice secondary pattern. It will be a small quilt or a table runner, haven't decided yet.

I love trips, but it's nice to be home.

Brr

Environmental sculpture by Andy Goldsworthy.

That ball of ice seemed appropriate, considering how unusually COLD it is here in California lately. At least we aren't buried in snow or crippled by ice storms, but I fear for the orange trees and the flowers.

I had a great weekend with the quilting friends but don't have a lot of pictures this time around. We worked out the details for the year, where to meet, who will make what quilt for whom etc. Not a lot of "sharing" of completed quilts yet. As the year goes on there will be more of those.

I worked on my "kid's quilt" and am almost finished . I like to take a simple project to sewing group because there is so much talking going on. I love the social aspect, but it is not a time for something requiring a lot of concentration, at least not for me. I didn't get a chance to take and download any pictures for WIP Wednesday.

I am not yet finished with my "ladder piece". I'm now thinking it might need to be part of something larger, in which case it will no longer qualify for the Quilt Studio 12 x 12 challenge. We'll see. I will post here on the blog whenever it is finished.

I will be away from blogging for a while, maybe a week? I'll try to post next week on Wed. Happy quilting everyone.

Photos At Last

Well, it's been a bit of a frustrating time, but I finally got to where I can post photos again with Blogger. I had to get rid of everything I had updated or installed before the glitch. This included Picasa, some Google stuff and an updated version of IE. From talking with others, I've learned that the new version of IE is a troublemaker and is to be avoided.
On top of that, as Jane Ann pointed out, Picasa does not play well with the new Blogger.
Ok, now to repost my WIP Wednesday.

This is the sketch I have chosen for my first new piece in the "ladder" series. More about that later.


Here is the start of the ladder piece, to be revealed when it is my turn at the Quilt Studio next week. If you haven't visited yet, go on over and see what people have been posting.

Here are the bright fabrics I have been auditioning for my kid's quilt donation for the 40 Quilt Service Project. I found some very cute "robot" fabric on the sale table at one of my favorite quilt shops and got enough for backing and some to use in the quilt. I have already "fussy cut" all the robot squares, and my happy little robots will be framed in a variety of bright fabrics.

I am delighted to be starting a three day weekend. Even better, I am going to a sewing marathon tonight with my quilting buddies. We have our meals and contributions all planned and some of us are taking along our aero beds to spend the night. We had a blast when we did this last summer, so I am looking forward to it.

Sorry about the photos!(or lack of them)

Very early this morning when I tried to post, Blogger (new) would not let me load photos, so I tried with Picassa. At the time, when I viewed my blog I could see the photos. So...it is a mystery to me why they don't show up now!
I am at work all day and having guests at home this evening, but I will try again to load the photos. Thanks for letting me know.

Valentines for Wounded Soldiers

I forgot to include this in my last post, but if you would like a quick way to show your support for wounded soldiers, here is a link for a project to send them valentines. This blog shows lots of great valentine examples, and both sites give some instructions for making the cards.

WIP Wednesday

Wednesday already? Here is my WIP for this week, actually on the right day for once. This is a table runner I started after Christmas, and it will be a gift for one of my sister-in-laws. She is a techno-phobe and does not even read her email, much less my blog, so I am safe to post pictures here. I love her, but I wish she would join us in the twenty-first century.

I am still working out how to complete this. I thought about a circular vine, I want to leave room in the center for a vase or candle centerpiece. I even thought about including one in the gift, so if I bought it first I could design around it. As you can probably tell, this is machine applique.

On the "art" side, I have been sketching for my ladder series. The 12th will be here before you know it, and I hope I have something to show.

Happy New Year!

Dan Olfe, Stir It Up

Patty Hawkins, The Light of Day (Diptych)2005,

36" x 39", 48" x 39"Pieced and fused

It's been a busy few days since I last blogged, more family gatherings, a visit to my neice's new house, a surprise anniversary party (for someone else). House cleaning and projects still in progress. Party shopping at Costco, taking down Christmas decorations, a little time (not enough) spent sewing.

The very best day, though, was Saturday when I went up to the Oceanside Museum of Art with Diane and saw Quilt Visions 2006.

We were both just blown away by the wonderful art we saw. To name just a few: Katie Pasquini Masopust , Susan Shie, Joan Shulze, Pam RuBert, Patty Hawkins, Laura Fogg. Each piece was intense in its own way and totally amazing. The gallery space has wonderful light and they did a great job with the installation. I bought the catalog, which is beautifully done and worth owning. I had seen the work of some of the artists online, but the "in person" experience is just so much more. When you see such marvellous work, you are simultaneously inspired and humbled.

The day was sunny and cool with a brilliantly blue sky. We walked down to the pier and enjoyed the expansive view of the ocean while we waited to be seated for lunch at Ruby's. We sat where we still had a wonderful view, and happily chatted about art and life in general. Then we headed off for a little fabric shopping and finally ended our day back at her house to do a little sewing and enjoy some homemade chilli. It was a nearly perfect day.

Today is New Year's day and it's inevitable that we look back and take stock, and look forward and make plans. The goals I set for last year have seen some progress, although not as much as I would have liked.

They are the same ones I will set for next year: improve my fitness and health, develop my art, spend time with family and friends, and live in awareness and gratitude. That last part is most important, I think. This year, even more than most, made me very aware of how precious life is and how much I have to be grateful for.