6-6-16

I have so much to share with you!  May was another busy month....and where did it go?   It seemed to just zoom past me!

I took a class that I've been wanting to take for a long time, at the local art gallery.  It was Fabric Printing with Linoleum Blocks.

The actual block carving was much more difficult than I thought it would be.  It was very hard work, and very tough on my arthritic hands and wrist.  As a matter of fact, my wrist (that I sprained 2 years ago) is still giving me pain after 3 weeks.  Above is my first test print on paper.  It showed me that I needed to carve away more background material.

And here is my best print on the fabric.  Not perfect, but OK.  I have 3 prints from the class and now have to decide just what to do with them.  

I learned that this process is not for me!  Always good to know, but a disappointment to me.  I guess I will stick with rubber stamps for printing on fabric.  I have yet to try carving one, but I'm pretty sure it will be easier than the linoleum block.  And I have a lot of purchased ones to play with before I need to worry about carving one, so that's good.

I taught my 3rd bag class 2 weeks ago.  Probably my last one for while.  I had 3 repeat students out of four...they said because they had so much fun in the first class they took that they wanted to do it again.  And we had a lot of fun! 

V's bag

S's bag

C's bag

J's bag

I also made a bag as a gift for my sister, but totally spaced on getting a photo of it.  It was really cute.  You'll have to take my word for it until I can get a photo, I guess!  LOL

I went down south to visit my sister for 5 days.  We had a lot of fun.  Visited a couple of quilt shops, saw my niece and nephew who are both living in the area again, and went to dinner a few times.  But mostly we sewed!  I made a block for the BOM and then some other random things.  

This is the sample block for the June Block Of the Month for the Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild.   It is a pattern by Bonnie Hunter called Pineapple Blossom.  The colors for June are lemon yellow, cerulean blue and white.  

By the way, I found a fun website!  It's called "Color Palettes", and it's a lot of fun to play around with.  And I can see it being very helpful for planning a color scheme for a quilt.  Just pick a color or two and pages and pages of suggested color schemes come up.  Whee!

But mostly we made bags.  Sally is making some to sell, and I was making them "just because".  I've been using Noodlehead's Open Wide pouch tutorial, but decided to use a Missouri Star video this time, for doing the zippers a little differently.  I did use Noodlehead's dimensions for the pouch though, as those are good sizes.  I didn't do the zippers perfectly (wrong both times!)  but the pouches came out good anyway.

smaller pouch

I used some fabric I've been hoarding for years on this one!  It finished at 11 inches wide by 7 inches tall.

and the lining

the larger pouch

And for this pouch I used some new fabric that I love!  (my sister loved it too and had to order some for herself) This one finished at 12 inches wide by 9 inches tall.

And the lining

I don't know if you can see in these photos, but I added ribbons and beads on the zipper tabs, so they're easier to open.

I forgot to get photos of the bags my sister was making.  Her bags were very sophisticated, with linen and batiks.  

We had some fun playing with Zoe, my sister's tuxedo cat.  

Zoe was modeling for us on a vintage quilt that my sister owns.  It only took about 60 photos to get one good one!

And here is Zoe begging for her breakfast.  She does this sitting up pose all the time.  What a silly kitty!

I hope you have time to be creative this week!

Sewing But Not Blogging

It's been pretty quiet around here lately.  But I do have a few things to show you.

I went down to my sister's a few weeks ago.  My DH was off on a business trip and DS was home to take care of the kitties, so I took the opportunity to go play.  Sally and I had a lot of fun.  We went to Pioneer Quilts down in Portland, and then she took me to a place that I've been kind of afraid of, Fabric Depot.  I knew I could get myself in trouble there!  And I did.  But I had a blast.  And we got 25% off!  So it could have been worse.  Fabric Depot is everything I've ever heard about it.  A giant warehouse FULL of fabric, but it's all very well organized and so easy to find what you're looking for.   And even stuff you're not looking for, but discover that you need!  hee hee!

My Dad, about 1920

I ended up staying an extra day because we went through old family photos that our Mom had, and we just couldn't get through them very quickly.  We laughed so hard at some of those!  And it's a good thing we did it together, because what I couldn't remember, she could!  And vice versa.  I've brought home a box-full of photos to scan into the computer so that we can share them.  It's gonna take me awhile!  And we still have 2 more drawers full of photos to go through.

Zoe, my sister's tuxedo kitty

I've also been getting some sewing done.  Here is a quilt top that I got put together down at the California retreat.

This is the Big O blocks that I won from Block Lotto last December.  I managed to find a good border fabric at Fabric Depot, and I even got backing fabric from the clearance section - $6 a yard!  And it's perfect too.  So, now I have to get this finished.

I've also been working on another set of blocks I won from Block Lotto.

These are the Tall Stars blocks from August 2013.  I'm slow at getting things put together, but eventually they get done!  I've gotten more blocks put together since I took this picture.  I got this brilliant setting idea from Joe Tulips.  So far, I think this quilt is gonna be one of my favorites!

This past week, my quilt guild took a field trip.  It was our annual trip to Martingale Publishing (That Patchwork Place) for the tour of their offices with so many quilts to see!  It's always so much fun.  They have lots of quilts hanging all over their offices from books that they've published, and the tour leader, Linda, is a fun lady.  We  then got to visit the "hurt book" room and buy books at severely discounted prices.  I got about 6 books, and I'm having fun reading them.  And you can't tell that they're "hurt" at all.  A sweet deal!

Saturday my guild had a "sew-in" day and we made aprons to sell at the quilt show in October.  I got one child's apron done, and an adult apron cut out and ready to sew.  The next child's apron I make, I think I will make it reversible.  Putting on all that binding was a pain.  I made a mistake and bought the really skinny binding.  Ugh.  I think making it reversible will be easier - at least I hope so! 

My big project right now is to clean up the quilt studio.  It's gotten very cluttered and there's almost no room to work.  So, I've been plugging away at it for a few days.  Still  have quite a ways to go.  Wish me luck!  I'd rather be sewing, so after a while of cleaning, I sit down and sew a little bit.  Very slow progress on everything, but progress is progress!

Have a creative week!

Fun With My Sister

As I mentioned a few posts ago, my sister Sally recently came to visit.  She lives in the south part of Washington and we're only about 3 hours apart, but still don't get together as often as we'd like.

Sally said it was her vacation, and she wanted to PLAY!  As in - Sewing Fun!  So, that is what we did.  I set up my two little machines in the living room and we hauled the design wall down from the quilt studio.  And then we spread fabric and projects all over the place!

Wool work #1

She brought some fun things for me to see, like her wool projects she's been doing.  She's been playing with these for a while now, and finally got them to a "finish".

wool work #2

She was thinking of making these two pieces into pillows, but I suggested maybe wrapping them around a small canvas and making them wall art.  (No final decision was made at that time)  I love these!  They are so cheerful, and all those stitches make them very appealing to me.  Maybe I need to find some wool to play with!

Here is a quilt top that she has been doing.  Her color scheme is based on a tree by her front door.  It has the red-violet branches and the new leaves are a beautiful lime green.  This is quite different from what most people would do, but it's very "Sally" to me.  She's always loved those large floral print fabrics of the 1940's!  She just brought this to show me, and no progress was accomplished.

This is her "vintage baskets" quilt that she brought last year when she visited (see my post here).  She bought the border fabric last year and while she was here this time finally got it put on, with the addition of a little flange between the center and the border.  I just happened to have the right shade of turquoise for that!  Yay for stash!

detail of the border with flange

While Sally worked on her basket quilt, I worked on my liberated baskets.  I haven't touched these baskets in a while, but I did make a little progress.  I haven't decided yet just what I'm doing or where I'm going with these.  So poking along is just right for me at this stage.  I really like the basket in the upper right corner.  It looks "fizzy" with all those dots in the background!

I had made a bag for my sister, last year, I think. ( I can't find any photos of it anywhere to show you, and it came out really nice with batiks.  How could I forget to take a photo?!) She wanted to learn how to do that bag, so I helped her make this one.  You can find the tutorial for this bag called "Open Wide Zippered Pouch" here.  Sally used an old curtain from the thrift store that was bark cloth.  Very fun!  But it was also quite soft, so the use of interfacing was a necessity.  I think it came out cute!

She used a soft pink polka dot for the lining.  

I also made a bag (with cotton fabric), but neglected to use interfacing on it.  No photo, as it's doing a darn good imitation of a puddle!  (I think I learned my lesson)

about 18 to 20 inches square at this stage

This is a little wall hanging that Sally has in progress.  Never mind that it has been in progress for about 20 years!  Progress is still progress, right?  The fabrics date this work, but it's still cute and it will get finished.  Sally's planning on adding more borders, and still has the fabrics set aside with the top.  I do this all the time . . . do you?

  

Sally and I have always been slow about getting birthday and Christmas presents to each other in a timely manner.  It's a family trait, apparently.  Or so we're claiming anyway.  So, these are some of my Christmas presents from Sally.  They are kitchen towels that she added the decorative strip to.  The blue with the red strip is special to me, as that red fabric was a skirt that my Mom owned.  And, just so you know, I am actually using these!  They make me smile.

After I showed Sally my photos from my classes with Gwen Marston in March, she wanted to learn how to do a liberated star.  This is her first star!  She struggled to get the concept of how to trim those star points, but finally got it.  Isn't this cute?  I hope she'll make some more!

We had a blast while she was here.  My dear, dear husband cooked meals for us!  What a sweetheart he is!  I can't wait for her to come back to play some more.

I'm leaving for California in a few days to go to a quilt retreat with my California quilting buddies.  I can hardly wait!  I haven't been in two years, so we'll have a good catch-up while we sew up a storm.

Sewing But Not Blogging

I just don't know where the time goes lately!  I can't believe it's been so long since I posted on here.  No excuses - just busy.  So much for my resolution to do better at posting this year.  

My sister came to visit a few weeks ago while my DH was off on a business trip.  We had fun, but it was low-key as she was still recovering from a serious infection.  We did get out her project to play with a little.  She got these wonderful appliques and embroideries a few years ago and wants to get them together into a quilt top.  They are so bright and cheerful and just fun!  We were just testing how well they play together.  The bright striped fabric is some woven placemats she found that seems to want to be included.  However, we're not sure those red flowers on black blocks work with the rest.  What she will do with them all remains to be seen someday in the future.  But what a fun shot of color!

I finally got the baby quilt all quilted and it's now on it's way to the local hospital's neonatal unit.  This will probably be gifted to an indigent new mother.  I had it ready to quilt way back here at the end of April and probably had it quilted by the middle of May.  The binding took me more time than I wanted to because I had to finish the corduroy quilt first (see last post), so the whole thing took me much longer than I had originally planned.  But it's done now, and I have another one perking along.  Sorry, no pix of that one yet.

I finally have my Cherrywood earth tones wallhanging (this needs a better name!) to a point that I'm happy with it.  Sorry for the not-so-great photo.  It's not hanging straight, and it's hard to capture the true colors of this in the poor light here.  I never did find any more of the brown fabric (that matched what I had used on the rest of it) after visiting multiple quilt shops, so I had to improvise and I think I like it better because of that!  I had to piece in some bits to make the borders for the sides long enough, and so I also added the striped bits you see.  Now, I like that so much I've decided that I need to unsew a little bit and add some of the striped bits to the top and bottom border also.  So, that will happen soon, I hope!  I want to get this done for the quilt show in October and I know I have to keep up on it for that to happen.

There is no progress to report on my blue Bear's Paw quilt.  I have been thinking and thinking of what I want to do with this, and am not happy with anything I've come up with.  So, I labeled the rows and took it off the design wall so I can let this percolate a little longer.  It may not get done this year after all, but I don't want to rush this just to get it done.  It's waited this long - a little longer won't hurt!

And now for something completely different, a la' Monty Python . . . .

This is what is now on my design wall.  It's all trimmed and ready to assemble.  This is the Modern Disappearing Nine Patch pattern, which I found here.  I found this a while ago on the internets and have been intrigued with this pattern!  Then I found a couple of charm packs of Comma by Zen Chic and fell in love with that too.  I've got some yardage of a couple of the prints too, but wanted something that would be "background" and set off the fun, graphic prints, so I picked this silvery grey solid.  I'm really happy with how this looks and I'm anxious to get it put together.  

But I don't know how soon I can get to it.  *sad face*

I'm on the quilt show committee this year.  Yes, I opened my big mouth volunteered again.  Next week is Shop Hop around these parts, so this week Candy and I are spending 2 days visiting a lot of quilt shops to get our show poster put up.  It's fun, but it's also time consuming and tiring.  Friday is a 4-hour class that our guild is hosting and I'll be taking that.  Also fun and time-consuming.  Today is laundry and grocery store day (time consuming and NO fun), so no sewing.  *sigh*  There is not enough time in my day, nor do I have enough energy, to do everything I want to do.  Does this sound familiar to you?  I'm sure it does.  How do you find time to do the sewing/quilting you want to do? It's not like it's not a priority for me, I just have trouble actually getting into the quilt studio.  I could sure use some tips, if you have any.

I noticed that I've just recently surpassed 100,000 page views!  What a cool milestone to hit!  So, to celebrate that I'll be having a giveaway soon.  Not sure what it will be yet, but you'll have to come back to see.  (isn't that a clever ploy on my part?)  I promise to not keep you in suspense too long!

Here's a thought for the day:

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong."

Have a creative week!

Sally's Vintage Quilt

My sister Sally received this lovely quilt from a friend in Boston recently.  She brought it to show to me when she visited in March.  I thought you might like to see it too!

We couldn't get all of it on the design wall for the photo!

The Boston friend (I don't know her name) is a collector of quilts, but not a quilt maker, who's decided she wants to specialize in floral applique quilts.  So, my sister was gifted this quilt.  Lucky duck!

A closer view

The quilt is a large quilt, close to a queen size.  Sally and I thought it might be from the 1950's, although some of the fabrics look to be from the 40's and even the 30's.  It is in very good condition.

Even closer

Those big white diamonds are actually 4 diamonds that are the same size as the print diamonds.

Look at these wonderful old fabrics!  This is a true scrap quilt - lots of different prints and colors.

We have no idea what the name of this pattern might be.  Any ideas?  We'd welcome input.  I've been calling it the Diamond Quilt.  

I love looking at these old prints, don't you?  

p.s. Also, if you have a better idea of the age of this quilt, please leave me a comment!

No Foolin'

March was such a busy month - I can't believe it's April already!

A couple of weeks ago, my sister Sally came for a visit.  We had so much fun.  It was just the 2 of us, and we actually got some sewing done.  It's been decades since we got to sew together.  I didn't accomplish much, mostly I helped her with some old projects she had recently unearthed and decided they deserved to be finished.

We used my two smaller machines, so we had sisters sewing on Brothers.  hee hee!

I didn't get a photo of the first project she was working on, darn it.  But here is the next one.  Sally made this feathered star quite a few years ago, and in spite of the fabric looking a little dated, she loves it.  Me too!  She was trying to decide on borders, and after some pfutzing and trying a few things, we decided this idea works pretty well.  Isn't this stunning?

Her charming Vintage Baskets was the next one she pulled out of her bag.  This is just too cute!  Most of the baskets are made with 30's repro's but some use actual vintage fabric.  Sally has chain-stitch embroidered the handles, and then used her stash of vintage buttons to embellish the blocks.

We had to go shopping (of course!) and found this "modern" fabric that works really well for the border.  Plus a few other things.  *wink*

a close-up of some of the baskets

Don't you love those buttons?

Here's a couple of my favorite baskets:

a glimpse of the border fabric

The time went way too fast.  But we both hope to do this again soon.  At least, sooner than decades from now.

Dunkel had to help with holding down the fabric.

The Potter (DH) made a fountain that Dunkel believes is his personal drinking fountain.  He comes and begs for me to turn it on for him.  What a crazy cat!

Well, my bags are almost all packed.  I just need to decide on what clothes I'm taking, the fabric and stuff is already done.  Priorities, right?  I'm leaving this afternoon for a class with Gwen Marston tomorrow.  Candy and I are off to Quilted Strait in historic Port Gamble to learn how to make Gwen's baskets!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!  I'll report back here on how it all goes.  See ya soon!

No foolin'!  

p.s.  Go! and take a look at Audrey's post on creative habits!  She makes some great points, and things, as creative people, we should learn and remember.  It will be well worth your time.