6.19.13

Karen Nyberg is one of my heroes. After I wanted to be an anthropologist, and while I was being a teacher, I wanted to be an Astronaut. 

I completed the application process when they were looking for teachers to send on the Challenger. It was not my destiny to make even the first cut, so I decided to be a mother. Fifteen days after I had my first son, the Challenger made its last lift-off. It was a monumental tragedy.

Nyberg's quilt for her niece

That rested my interest in space for about 20 years. I am thinking I would again like to become an astronaut. Not enough to train and apply, just to think wistfully about it. Now I can enjoy it via Karen Nyberg. She went. She docked with the Soyuz TMA-09M. And she has fabric (only four fat quarters!), thread, and I hope, scissors. She was limited in what she could  bring with her but since astronauts on the space station discard their flight suits once a week, she may be able to cut some pieces of the fabrics before they are jettisoned to burn in the Earth's atmosphere. 

When asked what she would miss most aside from family and friends, she said she would miss drinking coffee from a cup instead of a bag! I raise my mug to you, Karen Nyberg.

5.4.13

Ummmmm. Yeah. That is true. Yesterday I finished preliminary work on a block that my applique teacher thinks is going to be a Rose of Sharon. Sorry, Connie Tackett. Mine is turning out to be something a little different. 

I think I will call it Bouquet of Sharon. I started out with good intentions. Then I got carried away a little. If you know me, you expected something like that. I have each piece "semi-finished" and basted to the backing. I even researched border treatment and have a rough idea of what I want to do. 

While I was thinking it over, I finished the quilt I am making for my SmallTalk exchange partner. I chose a favorite pattern by Kathleen Tracy and while I was cutting for my partner, cut a set for myself. Mine lacks only hand-catching the binding. All in all, a very satisfactory Friday. 

While you are reading this, I hope I am continuing industriously. I missed a lot of time recently and it is good to be holding the needle and thimble again.

4.27.13

I have been lying low and just making plans rather than actually doing much sewing. It is much easier on the back. Here is a book I won at a recent guild meeting. It has a lot of interesting ideas.

But I have to admit, my favorite recent book acquisition is this one by Eleanor Burns.

She is the master of technique. Her sister, Patty Knoechel, came to the guild and spoke and before I knew what I was doing, I owned one of these books. It has already given me a lot of pleasure.

2.27.13

Scensational Gift from Harrison Niece

Chickens. Chickens. Do I have a chicken (and ROOSTER) obsession? Why, yes, I do, thank you. A few months back Country Stitches was having a sale on some of their fat quarters and I picked up this hideous yellow because the chickens were so cute.
I especially like the small chickens and the ones with dots. A fat quarter does not go far for quilting unless one makes ONLY doll sized quilts. What to do. A little time passed and one day, I unfolded this 18" X 20" piece of fabric and found that if I pieced one of the chickens, 

there would be four of each  design. Perfect. I put them face down on unbleached muslin, sewed around them, slit the backs, turned and pressed them. 
 
Then I had a stack of 24 chickens in various sizes and attitudes. So I put them aside.

One day, they came out again. What to do, indeed. They went with me back to the quilt store and I looked at various fabrics in various colors. That yellow is truly vitriolic. Why not try a color from one of the chickens? I thought maybe the gold or the green to quiet it down. Quilty Friend (the Original) pulled some garnet. YUCK I thought, but no. Unbelievably, it quiets the yellow and lets me enjoy the chickens. Now what. Twenty-four 4.5" blocks. ON POINT. What would you do?

2.22.13

Well, I was not going to make this one block from the Audrey class. It is called the Linear Log Cabin. In it, one uses eighths of inches and cuts either the darks or the lights noticeably thinner than the other color. I do not care for Log Cabin and have not turned the BASIC Log Cabin blocks I made into mug rugs yet, although that IS my plan. No, I had completely decided that those mug rugs would be my last Log Cabin. Then, I went to Quilting Group last Tuesday and some of my fellow sewists could not believe I would skip a lesson. They were right. I sat right down that afternoon and chose my fabrics. I decided to make the thinner "logs" the light ones. I knew I would not use the block in my 2nd grade quilt but I selected from that palette anyway, since the fabrics were "out". This is not my first attempt. Somehow my finished block did not measure the right size. My teacher told me to take the outer "log" off and recut it so the block finished out the right size. I DID take it off and I decided to just border it with a completely different color, discarding the darker orange shade. Not only that, I decided to make a tote out of the block. I have not yet put it together and I think I have an excuse for that.  
 
The block is ready, fabric is pulled for the tote, but I will wait until the quilt is done and let it be the storage case for the quilt. I may even make it into a pillow case style quilt storage case. Sounds like a good enough excuse for procrastination, right? 
I am also plodding along with the applique for my Audrey quilts. This one is for the Kindergarten quilt. I want to add some whimsical stitching to this pretty little flower. I put a little on but want to do more. The problem is, I can not decide whether to do all the "art"ing of the block before it is backed with the batting and ready for quilting or make it part of the quilting.

2.13.13

I ALSO completed four Log Cabin blocks last week. Log Cabin is not my favorite block to look at but it sure was easy to do the Audrey way. For Kindergarten I had to do six inch blocks. These will not go in my Kindergarten quilt because they do not fit on the schematic but they WILL be used. I chose red for the center for heat. Traditional Log Cabin blocks have a red or yellow center representing the hearth/heart of the home. 

Next, I put on a fabric that reminded me of coffee beans and dark black espresso. Then, the lightest fabric, which is called nail heads but it looked like sprinkles on the whipped cream of a designer coffee. Then, checks, looking like organized coffee grounds, unlike the times I dump the grounds on the wrong side of the filter in the morning. Last, a print that reads like coffee with cream.

Four unfinished Log Cabins, overlapping.

Why all the coffee connections? My Portlandia sister gave me some cute coffee fabric from her stash and I decided to use it for the backs of the four little blocks and make MUG RUGS!

Coffee and tea slops and spills on these little cabins will only "age enhance" them. Besides, I can't think of anything cozier than a nice cup of coffee or mug of tea by the hearth.

2.8.13

Here is the tote I told you about yesterday.  I was trying to get it done quickly, so of course, I made a hasty decision and could not correct it. 





I wanted the green to be behind the pocket and the blue to be on the back as well as the outer pocket. Oh well, design opportunity.  

I added applique, stitching, and buttons. I also made notes on the pattern for changes for next time. 

I had it in mind when I went to A SCARLET THREAD south of Atlanta and bought a couple o' three pieces of fabric to try the tote pattern again. What do you think? 

                       

                         
Here is some I HAD to have and I cannot even say why. It will be place mats or another tote. Girl can't have too many. What do you think of the basket weave? (Country Stitches) I think it is a GREAT go-with for a tote OR place mats.

2.7.13

I have been BUSY. Next week, I will be even BUSIER. I have accomplished a LOT and I will show you pictures strung out across the next few days.
First of all, I made a tote from a pattern that Quilty Friend (the Original) gave me. You would think I would have a picture of it, but it is too dark to take a good picture so instead, I will skip to the next business.

I went to my first Audrey class and came home EXHAUSTED. Brain overload. I sewed a total of four 9 inch seams and I was proud of that. I did not even get to make the nine-patch, no doubt while you are reading this, I am working on it. I spent the next four days (averaging 10+ hours) working on my schematics for the Kindergarten and First Grade Quilts. As I am writing this, it has been SIX days since the first class and I am only just now BEGINNING to think about the Second Grade quilt. You see, she sets up her classes so the Second Graders do what all the others do as well as their own work. 

Now, I am not sure I really am a Second Grader, but you know I pretty much want to be best at everything. I think now in maturity, I am able to translate that to be MY best at everything. Anyway, I enjoyed planning my schematic so much, most mornings I could not wait to get up to get started on it and was usually at it by 5:00 a.m.

1.10.13

EDITED TO ADD photo to the right after 2.5 hours of sewing and pressing.
It was tough, but I figured out how to cut the first block for Saturday Soiree for Marcus Brothers by Faye Burgos. The little pieces of fabric came with a diagram and also a list of template sizes but NO WHERE does it say, for example, cut 6 of template A with fabric 1 being careful to reserve some of fabric 1 for template 4. 

Fabric 1

I felt like a page of the directions was missing. I suppose quilt shops all across the land are struggling with that. The quilt shops buy the line of fabric and the backing and then buy the permission to make copies of the block directions. They only have what the program gives them, so it is not really their fault. Besides, this is my first Block of the Month, so I don't really know any better, do I ?

Leftover scraps from Block 1

Mine is cut, anyway, and I hope to do some of the machine sewing and pressing today. It is a fairly straightforward block, and looks like it might be the one on the top left.

12.27.12

I think I just won a contest! This is a book by Laura Wasilowski, the Queen of fused fabric.

It is out of print and I am excited to add it to my bookshelf. Here is an area I really need to explore further.

12.20.12

This post is possible due to my participation in the Free-Motion Quilt Challenge! Thanks, SewCal Gal and all the teachers we had this year. I am so pleased with my progress from HATE IT BECAUSE IT MAKES ME FEEL STUPD all the way to LOVE IT, SOMETIMES I FEEL CREATIVE AND WANT TO DO MORE.

I hope by the time you are reading this, I am ready to present my Christmas place mats to the family. Don't worry about the distortion of the edges--some of it is due to the binding not being sewn down and partly due to how short I am and my reluctance to stand on a rolling chair to get a straight-on photo.

I have had the pretty candy cane fabric for years--possibly 15 or more. I had the green and red binding at least that long. I remember buying it in blue and making an "overall/apron style jumper for sister KM before Niece N was born. That is a long time in the stash and time to get it out and use it!  I do not know what possessed me to buy the rainbow trees I have for the reverse. It even has metallic stars all over it. It is horrendous.


Can you see the trees I FREE MOTIONED? I sure enjoyed machine quilting these place mats. I should make some more--they were fun!

12.19.12

Merry Christmas, Mom (and Scamp)! Glad you liked it!

It looks wrinkly, but really, that is just where I did Sashiko style stitching. I used 30's green and lavender and made flowers with leafy vines.

I call it a floating 9-patch and it is done mostly in batiks with an assortment of white fabrics. The back was very popular.

Of course, I signed it!

12.14.12

I have been doing a lot of sewing since my machine was fixed. You saw the wheelchair bags for veterans last week. This week, I made some for some nursing home residents. 

I had fabric chosen for lap robes but the nursing home said they needed bags that attach on the arms of the wheelchairs. JM, a quilt guild buddy, measured and tried on several ideas and we came up with something we think works.  I bought the Velcro at my local quilt shop, Country Stitches, and Priscilla gave me such a discount since it was for charity, I doubt she made any profit.

6.9.12

I will be going to  a quilters retreat in a week or so. One of the projects is a Hunters Star Quilt, like this one. I did not make this one and I think the one we are doing may have more blocks but this is surely eye catching. Here is the fabric I have chosen for mine. In the sample, I chose fabric #3 from the left for the dark fabric. It is Civil War Homefront by Barbara Brackman.

I think the particular design is called Poke Salad. I bought #4 from the left--same design in red--to use as border. I Also bought two other pieces of fabric. I will use a red and cream stripe as a flange and the "white" part of the star is a heavy cream color with tiny star and leaf print, America the Beautiful by Judy Rothermel.

These last two pictures do not really show the deep cream color well enough. I think I have seen it referred to as "honey". The project is W-A-A-A-A-Y outside my comfort zone but it is a good idea to stretch once in a while.

6.6.12

A page from my sketch book.

6.3.12

I have been happily working on a new project. By the time you are reading this, I hope is finished, photographed, and delivered. If not, this may be all you get to see. Some of the fabrics I interviewed.

Only three of these made the final cut.

5.30.12

Look at this great pattern by Leslie Beck at Fiber Mosaics. It is called Cock-A-Doodle. A friend discovered it at our not-quite-annual Misty Mountain Quilt Guild Garage Sale last week. Imagine that--my friends know that I like chickens! I guess it is not a very well-kept secret. I enjoyed looking at the Fiber Mosaics site. Leslie has a lot of interesting patterns. I can say without reservation that THIS one is my favorite! Thank you, Nancy, for the surprise gift!

3.31.12

This quilt detail from Dana Marie Design Company shows little batik frog patches made in Java. I had three sets and spent yesterday putting big sloppy borders on them so they could be trimmed to the same size. Some of those little fellows were less than 4.5 inches square, some were more, and some did not understand the concept of square. Now I have to decide what to do next. I have 27 of them.

1.28.12

Maybe you can not tell, but this is going to be a crazy-quilt panel. I have a lot of work to do on it just to get the pieces down and then the embellishing happens! I have enough beads to bead every piece and lace abounds in my studio right now. My plan is several rectangular panels in these vanilla tones and then border around them in a grouping of color I can only identify as cinnamon just yet.

1.21.12

I won a contest the day after Christmas! My prize was a pattern by Toby Lischko at Gateway Quilts and Stuff. In my entry, I chose Zen Garden as the pattern I would like.  You can buy a copy at Quiltwoman.com. Here is what they have to say about the pattern.

"Zen Garden is a beautiful King size quilt that would do any bedroom justice.  It features a separate panel for the head of the bed.  This quilt is a favorite of our staff!"

 Thank you, Toby!