Thursday Update

I've been so crazy busy the last few weeks that I haven't gotten around to posting.  I have so much to share with you!  I'm going to break it up into a few posts, I think.  My brain seems to be "out to lunch" lately.  LOL

I've been so busy that I haven't had much time in the Quilt Studio.  But I've managed some time this week.

I am up to 9 blocks now on my Halloween Trip, which makes me 1 under the halfway point.  However, I have two more blocks in-process since this picture was taken.

I have so many strips cut for this quilt!  I'm planning on 20 blocks for this, but may keep on sewing until all the strips are used, and then see what I can do.  Maybe another one or two small tops!  These are big blocks - 15 inches finished - so it wouldn't take many for a quilt sized for a DGD.

Of course, no photo shoot is complete with the quilt inspector! He seemed to approve.

Here's a birthday card I made for a friend a couple of weeks ago.  I made the painted paper and then found the butterfly sticker that worked with it.  That made it quick and easy, and my friend really liked it too.  Good all the way around!

Two weeks ago I went to visit my sister.  It had been 6 months since we'd seen each other, which is silly since we live only 3 hours apart.  It was really fun to spend the weekend together.  We went to an art gallery, a quilt/fabric store, stayed up too late and talked our heads off (as usual!).  But more on that later.

In the middle of all this, we finally got around to exchanging our birthday and Christmas presents.  This was one of the gifts from my sister.  It's either a little quilt or a tabletopper.  It's about 30 inches square.  Now I just need to decide what I'm going to do with it.  Applique something in the middle?  Or just quilt it and put it on the table?  It's in my colors (blues and olive green), which you can't really tell from the photo.  The weather is being dark and grey, and lousy for photo-taking, which is typical of Washington in the winter.  I tried to brighten the photo some, but it's not true colors.

That's it for today.  I'll be back in a few days with more photos to share.  Meanwhile, happy quilting!

Helloooo. . . .

Yes, I'm still here.

Aren't these gorgeous colors?

I dyed these fabrics last Friday, May 1st. We had a beautiful warm day, perfect for dying fabrics. Not so good for sun printing though, as we had high winds. I tried a couple of times, but finally gave up after everything kept blowing off the fabric.

These are all the fabrics I got done that day - 14 fat quarters! A record for me, I think. It got kind of exciting a few times, when a big gust of wind blew through and flipped over the foam boards that the fabric was pinned to, and the plastic cups of dye blew over - all over the table. I finally got things under control. I tried some new techniques and got some good results. Some of these fabrics started as white-on-white fabric. I love how they come out! I was totally beat when I was done - 3 hours later - but satisfied.

This is what I've been doing for the last week. I had a commission to make about 2 dozen greeting cards. It's been a while since I made any, and it took me a bit to get up to speed. I'm pretty happy with most of them. They're all done and mailed, so now I can finally get back in the quilt studio!

I've signed on to do a "woooo" block for Lazy Gal Tonya's 'Halloween Noises' quilt, and also signed on to do another word for her 'Hope Is A Four Letter Word' quilt. I've been a little intimidated about doing "woooo" in a curvy font, but after thinking about it for a week, I'm feeling a little more like I can do it. I'm anxious to get in the studio and start playing with it.

And, in closing, here's a gratuitous cat picture. Dunkel had to 'test' the dyed fabrics during the photo shoot. Of course.

I wish all my friends a wonderful Mother's Day - enjoying your Mom or your kids (human or otherwise) or both.