My Week, Part I

Well, it's been a busy week around here. Last weekend, my sister came for a visit. We went to Bellevue to see the exhibit of antique quilts that is currently showing at the Bellevue Arts Museum. If you're interested, you can read about it here and see a couple of the quilts too. There were some awesome quilts. I believe the oldest quilt was a whole cloth from circa 1830 with the smallest quilting that I've ever seen. And there were 2 string quilts that were different from most. Both had very small strings (some finished as small as 1/4 inch) and were totally free-pieced! Those were fun to see. After we finished at the museum, we drove to Kirkland for dinner at the Wilde Rover pub. We had a wonderful Herbed Chicken and Brie Boxty - Yum! (sorry, no photos - I totally forgot!) If you're ever in that neighborhood, I recommend the pub for dinner, and they have some great beers on tap as well.

I tried something this week that I've talked about for a while, but never worked up the courage to try. I actually accomplished my first art quilt! This was due to some pointed encouragement by my DH. It's not quilted yet, but it's all fused. I'm very happy with it. It came out better than I thought it might. Now I just have to quilt it without screwing it up - wish me luck. I'm nervous about it now.

I worked from a photo I took a few years ago of some black-eyed susan flowers that were in front of a picket fence in the backyard of our previous house in California. This little quilt is approximately 8" x 10".

Here's a closeup. What was interesting was that those flower petals weren't the shape that I assumed they were. I had to really look at them and then change the way I was cutting them when the first ones I made weren't right. An eye-opening experience, so to speak!

One day this week, it was warm and sunny, and I couldn't stand it any longer. I HAD to get out and dye fabric! It's only been something like 2 1/2 years since I've gotten to do it, and I've really missed it. The house we're in now has no good place to work inside (I'm terrified that I would drip dye on the light-colored wood floors!), so I have to wait for a nice day and do it outside. It didn't take too long to get set up and get to it. I've gotten a little rusty in that 2 1/2 years, but mostly did OK. The hard part was chasing the sun spots around the yard! I finally found a sunny spot. However, by the time I figured that out and tried some sun printing, the clouds came in and there was no direct sun. Rats! Next time I have to do it earlier in the day and in the right spot.

Here's what came out of that session. I'm happy with them, but now I want to do more!

Yesterday our little ducky friends came calling. They saw me through the window and came up on the deck - hoping for a handout, I think. They're pretty tame due to being fed over at the park. But they posed prettily, and let me come out on the deck to take their picture. They were a "couple" last year and it seems they're still together. Pretty soon there will be baby ducks here!