Where Did Summer Go?

Dunkel is so surprised that it's the last day of August! Where did the summer go? All the kids in this area started back to school today. And it's not a very summery day today either. We were predicted to hit 80*, but I'll be surprised if we hit 70*! Summer seems to be winding down. Some of the leaves are just starting turning, and all the gardens look like they've passed their peak. I hope we're not going to have an early fall this year, because we had a late spring. That wouldn't be so good. In spite of the fact that I don't love the heat, I'm not quite ready for the return of cold weather.

I've actually gotten some sewing done the last few days. I made a pair of summer PJ's. . . . and no, you don't get to see them. They are not beautiful, just finished! And just barely in time, it seems! And I also finished two charity quilt tops.

This first one is cat fabrics and brights. These small quilts will go to seriously ill children @ a local charity. I thought perhaps someone might be missing a kitty and that this would cheer them up a little.

Here is what one block looks like. This is made with 5.5" squares and 3" strips (cut sizes), and finishes to a 15" block. Very easy!

And here's one in plaid flannels - it's very soft and cozy.

I've started working on Thing 2. I have the alternate fabric cut and now it's time to size my strings strips and start sewing it all together. Pictures soon!

I always have a hard time deciding which I'd rather be doing - working on something quilt-related or blogging. I guess that's a common problem, from what I've read on other blogs. So, because I've been sewing, I'm very behind in all my blog reading. Please bear with me as I try to catch up some. I'll try to make it around to everyone's blogs in a more timely manner.

Have you sent your Bundle of Love to Iraq yet? You have one more week, until September 7th, to get it in the mail. It's been so fun to watch this project just explode. I think this is an amazing thing Major LaFlamme is doing.

I found this wonderful video on You Tube. I can't figure out how to upload the video here, so will just put in the link here. This is an ad for Sony Bravia TV. It consists of something like 250,000 brightly colored super balls bouncing down a street in San Francisco. Just so fun to watch! And there's also a link to the "making of" video too. I love watching those "making of" videos. Enquiring minds want to know, maybe?

Are you a geek? Do you know and love any geeks? I found the coolest Etsy store, and it's all for geeks. I think my favorite is this clock for math geeks. See it here, then check out all the other wonderful items made from random computer parts, etc. Such wonderful geek-ness! I know some folks -mostly ones I'm related to!- that would love some of these items for birthdays or Christmas. (Which, by the way, is getting waaaay too close! But that's another story.)

This was Dunkel's way of "helping" me last night. He was sleeping behind the sewing machine, and when I started sewing the cat blocks together, he thought they should be his blocks. We eventually worked it out.

Strings & Things

I finally finished Thing 1 from my Spring String Fling. This top was started way back in March at my quilting retreat in California. I finished all the blocks at retreat and then had to put it on the back burner when I injured my thumb coming home. I couldn't iron the blocks or cut them to size until my thumb healed. I'm calling this Thing 1 as I have two other string quilts in the works. I showed you those blocks here (scroll down a little ways).

You may notice that my red strips don't always meet at the corners. . . that's because I was deliberately casual. I like the way the red "sashing" works, it seems to give the quilt more of a 3-D effect, and it was easier than doing "real" sashing.

I found this border fabric in my stash - I've had it at least 15 years. I bought it when I worked at the fabric store. I'd decided the quilt needed a black & white to really set it off (no other colors really worked very well), and this one has random red dots that really work well with the red sashing and inner border. The places where the white line is thicker is actually a printing flaw, but I like the way it looks. It's random, and it reminds me of a UPC code!

Most of these strings are from my 20-year collection that I was saving to make a string quilt. So, other than the foundations and a few fabric scrap donations at retreat, this quilt is entirely from stash. What's amazing to me is that I started with 2 large bags of strings, and I've made 5 quilts and Kate has made 3 quilts from them. I'd never have guessed that those string would go so far! It just goes to show you that you can make more quilts with just the bits most of us throw away, because most of those strings were trimmings from quilt backs and 'straightening the fabric' cuts.

By the way, those red strips for the inner border and the blocks is from way back in the early 80's, as well as I can figure. I bought it to use in a Log Cabin quilt for my son, when he was in 6th grade. He's 36 now, which makes him older than I was when I bought the fabric! Oh my! That is possibly Too Much Information! I marked the strips with a posterboard template and cut them with scissors, as my favorite tool, the rotary cutter, hadn't been invented yet. I never made the Log Cabin for my son and have moved those strips 3 times. I decided it was time to use them up. I have less than one strip left now.

I have more strings left still, but I'm really tired of looking at them now. Anybody want some strings??

I got my Bundle of Love for Iraq in the mail yesterday. It looks like there will be A LOT of these Bundles of Love for Iraq. So many that air support may be needed! That is just awesome! And, Mr. IBOL has a very funny blog too. I'm really enjoying reading about how this project is taking off.

I got the little doll quilt that I showed in the previous post all apart. I thought I'd share some photos of the "innards". The little "thimbles" were all sewn together by hand, but the rows are mostly sewn by machine, except this one. Some of them have hand-basting, and then machine sewn. These are little tiny stitches!

This little tiny red scrap was hidden in the binding that I removed. And I love this tan fabric - it somehow reminds me of kelp.

I found out why the little quilt was so uneven and lumpy. The quiltmaker didn't have the best accuracy when sewing the 'thimbles' together. I tried to press it evenly, but it just wasn't happening!

Check out this cool old fabric! I love it. It looks like rope, doesn't it?

I'm currently tieing the quilt together with new batting and backing. I'll show it again when I'm done.

Here is Dunkel, holding down Thing 1 for me, here in the office.

And here is Shade, begging for some pets and kisses.

New Treasures

I did survive all that heat, in case you were wondering if I really had melted! Just taking a little blog break, due to being quite busy. Our normal weather has returned. . . highs in the upper 60's and overcast. We even had some rain the last couple of days! (which we really needed)

We went to an art fair 2 weekends ago, and I found this little hooked wool mat. It was only $15!! I couldn't pass it up for that price. I have no idea who the artist was, but they did a lovely job. I just love this.

Last weekend we were selling pottery at a local art festival. We were happy with how well it went. Perfect weather and the rain held off. Remember the little leaf dishes I showed you in this post? (scroll down some to see them) DH made quite a few more too. We sold out of them! They were our best-selling item.

We were sitting across from a country "stuff" store that was having a 75% off sidewalk sale. They had some good stuff. I got a couple of woven tablerunners. They had some little quilts displayed out there, and I had to go check them out. Someone had cut up an old quilt into the squares and put new binding on them. I hate that - it just steams me. But the worst part was, I wanted one too. But no price, so I left them. After a while, another one showed up that I hadn't seen before. So I ran over there to check it out.

It was this doll quilt. I think this was an old un-finished top that someone put new batting and backing on. It's not quilted or even tied. It was on sale for $5!! Needless to say, it came home with me. It was hand-pieced and I believe that these are truly old fabrics - I would guess approximately 1880 to 1910 or thereabouts.

Shade is lending his paw for scale in this photo!

It is pretty smelly and slightly stained. I'm afraid to wash it like it is. The backing and binding are a dark rust solid, and I think it will probably run. So I'm going to take it apart and re-do it with new batting and backing. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to hand-quilt it or tie it. Probably tie it, as my hands don't really like quilting much any more.

If anyone has any ideas about how old it is, I'd love to hear your opinion. I'm just guessing about the age, based on other quilts I've seen. The fabrics seem kind of "frail", if you know what I mean. I've tried to make this photos big enough that you can really see the fabrics.

I have a bunch of links to share:

First, I found a fun little thing over on Jacquie's blog Tall Grass Prairie Studio. It's called Mr. Picassohead. Check it out. A fun design game.

A book I found a few weeks ago has really intrigued me. It's by Janet Bolton, and it's called Patchwork Folk Art. She is an Englishwoman who is very "liberated" and works very freely. Most of her work is applique, but she also does some patchwork. If you're interested, you can see more of her work here and here. I'm not really into applique, but I find her work very charming and very inspiring.

I found a new (to me) blog via Barbara Brachman's Material Culture blog. It's Thrift Shop Quilts by Deb Rowden. Deb's got photos of some wonderful old quilts that are pretty "liberated" and fun to look at.

Studio Kat Designs has some free patterns available. There's tote bags and an ID tag, a cash keeper and other patterns.

Here's a closeup of the most worn patch in the doll quilt.

I got this info in an email from my sister:

LNPB National Plastic Quilt Project: Call for Artists. Calling all creative minds and environmentally conscious people! Leave No Plastic Behind (LNPB) is asking outstanding artists, community members and celebrities to participate in the National Plastic Quilt Project by designing a square to be auctioned at our fall fundraiser. For the National Plastic Quilt Project, participants design a 12” square out of plastic materials that are usually thrown away. In the past,people have chosen to give plastic bottle caps a new life, woven plastic bags, and even sewn together various collected items to create an original piece of art. Proceeds from this fundraiser will contribute to Create Plenty, the new non-profit organization formed in support of LNPB and other projects that will promote community engagement and single use plastic reduction. To design a square, simply email Cheryl at cheryl.lohrmann@gmail.com and we will send you further specifications and information. Deadline: 10/15/09.

So, if you're into art quilts, or recycled art, this could be an interesting challenge.

Last, but not least, I found this over on Be*mused Jan's blog, who found the information on Kristin LaFlamme's blog. To quote Jan: "Kristin and her husband are facilitating a project they're calling Iraqi Bundles of Love. Briefly, he is stationed in Iraq and is collecting *bundles* of sewing or knitting supplies to distribute with local women when his unit leaves Iraq this fall. This sounds like such a wonderful project and since the contributions can be sent to his U.S. (APO) address, the expense to participate would be minimal. If your stash could use some thinning or you would just consider sharing your fiber wealth, do click over and read Kristin's post."

I've signed up to contribute a box of fabric, threads and buttons. Even after at least 3 passes through my stash while moving and unpacking, there's still stuff that I'll probably never get around to using. So, if it can help someone else, that's much better than taking up space in my quilt studio. I've already started searching for stuff to send. The deadline to get the boxes to him is September 7th.

I haven't done a lot of sewing lately. I'm working on a bunch of stuff, and not much is actually getting finished yet. Maybe next time I post, I'll have some stuff to show you. Meanwhile, happy quilting to all!

I'm Melting. . . .

It's waaaayy too hot here! I feel just like the Wicked Witch. Except with more whining, if possible.

Yesterday it hit 104.4*F here, according to my fancy-pants wireless digital thermometer (which I LOVE). Fortunately, DH insisted on dragging me to the river to cool off, with tons of other people. It was quite pleasant sitting on a rock, with my feet in the river, looking at all the beautiful trees, the totally blue sky and watching the bald eagle flying above. The best of the Northwest. Until I got out of the river! Yesterday was the hottest day. Today our high seems to be 95*. Not great, but definitely better. If only the humidity was lower. In the evenings, when it should be cooling off, the humidity skyrockets to 80 - 90%. Not so much fun.

My hanging basket is totally fried, and my hydrangeas are wilting badly in the heat. I totally relate.

The poor kitties are miserable. They keep coming to me and, essentially, whining. "Fix it, Mom!" Dunkel is currently flanged out on the stone entryway, and Shade is up on the bed, with the fan blowing directly on him. It's pretty funny. We had A/C in California, so they've never had to deal with this bad of heat. Poor babies!

There is no actual sewing or quilting here, until the heat subsides. (Maybe October??) But just so this isn't a quilting-less post, I thought I'd show you my string blocks.

Remember these string blocks? I started them back in April when I had to wear the brace on my thumb, due to tendonitis. Well, I've gotten quite a lot of them done. That was pretty much all my sewing in April, and I've also been working on them since then. Just sewing 4 at a time, when I wanted to sew but was stalling on the Color Challenge quilt, or couldn't think of what else to do. I now have 66 of these blocks sewn. It appears that I have enough for two quilts!

This is the first layout I tried. The blocks will be 4" x 10" finished. These blocks aren't running up and down the quilt, but sideways. Of course, that is subject to change. I haven't measured anything exactly, just trying to get an idea of the approximate size.

I found this great black & white fabric on sale, so thought I'd try it. It's pretty "Freddy", isn't it? It may be too much, but thought I'd see what it looks like, just for fun.

Here is Dunkel, helping me with a second layout, using the rest of the blocks. He was holding the blocks in place for me. Again, this is approximate. I still have more foundations and lots more strings, if I need more blocks.

This is fabric test #1. This is black dots on white ground. I found this good quality VIP fabric at W*lm*rt, for $4 a yard! I couldn't leave it there for that price.

Fabric #2, same great deal. Small white dots on black ground, but it's hard to see here.

And last, white dots on black ground, large version. Same $ deal. I'm kind of leaning towards either this or #1.

When it cools off, I'm going to start sewing these together. But since that will be awhile, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks for any input!

First Place, Pieced Catagory

They liked it, they really liked it! (with apologies to Sally Field)

The Challenge Quilt reveal went really well. There were more challenge quilts this year than last year, which was good. Many quilters didn't like their crayon color, but still did wonderful quilts. I heard one lady say she was never going to even look at peach ever again! We had a great potluck and beautiful weather. A little too warm, but no rain!

At the end of the meeting, we could draw our colors for next year's challenge. This time we were drawing paint chips, and we got two draws. The first was our main color, either a dark or a light/bright. We got one pick for that, and had to keep our draw. The 2nd draw was from the other catagory than our first draw (dark or light/bright), and we got 3 tries to pick one we liked. Everyone seemed to like this! The main color I drew was eggplant and the accent color is a light purple. So, I guess I'm not done with purple!

DH and I went to the Scottish Highland Games yesterday. It was pretty darned hot, but we had a good time. Listened to lots of good music, did a little shopping, and ate some good food. I didn't get my usual Scottish meat pie while there - they were out of them when I was at the booth - but I brought home 1/2 dozen of them (frozen) to enjoy later. The best part is at the end of the day when there's a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee). All the professional performers get 15 minutes each on stage, then there's the local talent contest. That's always lots of fun. The winner is determined by audience applause, and it's always a tough call. But everyone has a grand time!

We're having extremely hot weather this week. I don't do well in the heat and we have no A/C. It could be a long week around here! Maybe I'll go play in the sprinkler!

The Big Reveal

Ta Da! Presenting. . . . "Stars Over the Mountain"!

It's finally all done, and ready for it's unveiling. Tomorrow is the big day for the guild. We're having a potluck and then everybody votes for best in catagory. (I understand there's even some money involved in the awards.)

Here's the pieced back. I also included two stars that were too low in contrast to work on the front. You can see that they're really low contrast! You can also see the quilting a little better.

Here's the crayon I had to work with. "Purple Mountain's Majesty" (hence the name for the quilt). So, how'd I do? Really, it's hard to tell on the computer. Purple is so hard to capture on "film" (digital?) We have to display the challenge crayon with the quilt for judging. This should be fun to see.


Earlier this week, I decided to make my granddaughters some dresses. They're really "into" dresses right now, and I found some cute fabric at W*lm*rt. It comes pre-shirred and pre-hemmed. So, I measured the girls on July 4th, and bought fabric this week. The smallest one is 23" around her chest, and the bigger one is a little bigger. So I got 3/4 yard for each, figuring I'd have enough to make some straps with. Brought the fabric home and pre-washed it.


Guess what? That fabric shrunk like nobody's business! The smallest piece is probably just big enough for the 2 yo next door, and the largest came out 23" exactly. So, back to W*lm*rt for another piece of fabric. This time I got a whole yard. And there was no pink left, darn it. (Needless to say, they both adore pink)

This time after pre-washing, that 36" piece shrunk down to 31". *sigh* I guess I should know better. This fabric is so thin, you could read through it. I'm used to quilt shop quality, I guess. Anyway, they came out fine and the girls both like them. So, all is good.



Here is the youngest with her frog print dress.




I attached the straps with frog buttons, which I also found @ W*lm*rt. They're a very soft plastic. I left lots of strap, so when she gets taller, we just have to move two buttons.

Here's the oldest, with her watermelon dress.

She has cute watermelon buttons.

I've done some more free-pieced stars. I've started some words, but I'm not going to show them yet, because I haven't decided what I'm doing yet. More later. . . .

Almost Done

Well, after all that whining, I finally got the color challenge quilt quilted. Whew! That was tough. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I was torn between meandering all over the background or straight lines diagonally across the quilt. I really wanted to do the lines, to emphasize the diagonal chains, but I was afraid that would obscure the stars. I was also afraid that my meander quilting wasn't good enough to do a whole quilt. So, I practiced a lot and finally "meandered" the quilt. (Is that a verb??) I think it looks alright, but don't look too closely. I crossed some lines here and there, and did a few sudden turns, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with it. I also ended up quilting a square in the middle of the stars, as they looked too "poofy" to me. I quilted straight lines in the border area, just to differentiate the border from the body of the quilt.

But, I had a "Doh!" moment. I practiced so much with the "good" thread that I only got about 1/2 way done and I ran out of thread. I was using the Mettler silk-finish thread, and didn't realize how little thread is on there compared to the spools I'm used to using. So, I had to go back to the fabric store for more thread. Needless to say, I bought two spools the 2nd time! And I hope I remember this the next time I'm buying this thread for quilting! I really like this thread. It works in my machine beautifully, and it shows up nicely. Kind of sits on top of the fabric instead of sinking in too much. So I will be buying more of it.

I think I need to do more quilting more often, so that it's not so stressful and I can be more comfortable with it. I'm planning on quilting a few small items around here that are waiting for quilting, now that I'm "warmed up". I was hoping to get one thing quilted every month this year, but so far that hasn't happened. My big quilts will still be going to my long-arm quilter. I just can't handle a big quilt, and she does such a wonderful job for me. (Hi, Shari!) But there's really no reason to dawdle on my small projects. We'll see how well I do at this. *grin*

I got about 3/4 of the binding sewn down the other evening sitting in a lovely air conditioned room at the local library, but now am waiting for the weather to cool off some before I work on it again. Yesterday it was at least 91* and the day before it was 89*! Way too hot to sit under a quilt stitching. The color challenge reveal is next Friday, so I have a few days to get it done.

After all that precision and exactitude, I HAD to do some liberated piecing! I'm using mostly dark blue for the backgrounds - don't know if you can tell that in the picture. And I'm using my hand-dyed fabrics for the points on the stars. I got 2 more done last night, but no photo yet. I'm not entirely certain where this is going - I'm just playing and letting it tell me where it wants to go. Much more fun than those little 4 inch stars in the color challenge!

The other day DH and I made this little woodland garden (and I use the term loosely). It's on a stump in the backyard. These are all little plants that we found in our yard: a small fern, a tiny hosta, a little violet or two. So far, it's staying alive. That's a foxglove flower in the foreground that's growing by the stump. They're wildflowers here. About a month or so ago, they were absolutely everywhere. I used to struggle to grow them in California!

Yesterday we went to the county fair. That was fun, in spite of it being hot enough to melt metal. I really enjoyed seeing all the animals - that's my favorite part of the fair! The quilt display was disappointing - not very many quilts there, and the lighting was poor. But we had a good time.

On the way home, we took a side trip to investigate a road we've never gone down. (You can see we live out in the country, as this is about 5 miles from where we live.) We found this great shot of Mount Rainier. The mountian is starting to lose its snow, but there's also glaciers there, so parts of it are white all year round. You can see there's still some snow on the shorter mountains - that fell the last time we had rain, over a month ago!

It's California weather here this summer - hot and dry. There was a grass fire near here the other evening. And no rain predicted for the next 10 days at least. My DH is very happy with the weather, but I could do with it being cooler and damper, at least once in a while! But, I've got a tan (without trying) for the first time in 3 years!

Quilting....

Well, progress is being made! I got the color challenge top together after much auditioning. I think I stress too much over the balance of things. I was trying to spread out the floral stars so they weren't clumped in one spot. I decided that one star wasn't working, and made another one. I tried some things with the borders. Finally, got everything decided and started putting it all together. The actual construction went pretty quickly. . . faster than the decisions!

I decided to piece the backing, using up the left-over fabric. That took some time. It's like putting a puzzle together. My DH thinks I'm crazy. Maybe he's right?? But I used the two stars that didn't work for the front, and also incorporated a label. This post on La Vie en Rosie blog inspired me to do that.

Time to pin-baste. I stalled some over that too. But it wasn't bad at all. I did it on my kitchen counter, which is actually a peninsula. I can walk around 3 sides of it, and drape the quilt all over to reach the middle. And it's the right height to not strain my back. I put on some music, and it was done before I knew it! Sweet.

Last night after dinner, we went to the fabric store so I could purchase the right thread. That was fun. I was very restrained, due to having DH with me! I bought two spools of thread, and some fusible for another project. We also bought some denim so I can make DH a new pottery apron. The one he's using is pretty shot. We had priced an apron at the pottery supply store, and the price they wanted was outrageous! Something like $24! We bought enough fabric for $4.99 and I already have a pattern and thread. Am I cheap? I like to think I'm thrifty! But now, of course, I do have to do the work of making the thing. AFTER the challenge quilt is done.

Then we went to the Dollar Tree, and spent too much money on stuff. I never did find the one thing I went in there for. After that, I had to go to Borders as I had a 25% coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I found a book on folk art applique that intrigues me - not that I do applique exactly. I'll share that with you another time. That was our Friday night. Pretty exciting, huh?

I'm finding that I really am not that drawn to most quilt books anymore. I find I get my "pretty pictures" fix from the Internet now. And I'm not likely to need a pattern anymore. Kind of takes the fun out of the quilt books/magazines. So, I'm saving some money there that I can spend on more fabric! (not that I need that either!)

So, today I got down to the actual quilting. . . . eventually. That was a process too. I had to watch my Patsy Thompson DVD for inspiration. I had to find more batting and make a practice swatch to warm up. I was also trying to get some laundry done. Then I had to clean off the desk so I wasn't "dusting" with the quilt. I oiled the machine, wound bobbins, got myself all set up. . .music, fan, drink, cat/supervisor.

Finally, I started quilting. I straight-line quilted all the chains. Easy-peasy. Humming along.

Then I got stuck.

I can't decide how I want to quilt the rest of it. I outlined the two stars in the corners, and decided that I wouldn't be doing that on all of the stars. What a pain - remember, these are 4 inch stars. Way too much quilt wrestling! Especially considering that it was 84 degrees today! I also tried some straight lines in the background of the border, and ended up ripping that out. That's not the look I want either. So, I did more free-motion on my practice swatch and used that all up. I wasn't happy with the F-M either. I'm rusty, and it shows.

So, I'm taking a break. I need to make another practice swatch. And maybe tomorrow will go better. At least the weather will be cooperating. . . it's supposed to be a high in the low 70's and rainy. Sounds perfect to me! At least for quilt wrestling!

Thursday, we had an invasion. You can see the thundering herd here. I'm not sure why they did this. Maybe they saw us on the deck and were hoping for food. This the first time they've done this this summer. Eventually they swarmed the huckleberry bush, which has berries on it. I've even seen the robins going into the bush too, even though they usually ground feed. (Just not at the same time as the duck herd.)

And look! Two little baby ducks came along! Sorry these pictures are fuzzy - those ducks were moving fast!

Here's a fuzzy yet closer picture of the two babies, thanks to my DH. Don't they look like they have blue beaks? They had a hard time getting to the berries on the bush, and no one was sharing.

And here's a better photo. The flower in the foreground is lavender - it really brings out the color in his/her beak, doesn't it? I never would have guessed that their beaks would be that color. I don't think the adult ducks have that. Or are these mutant ducklings?? Whatever - he's really cute! You should have seen when he stretched out his little stubby wings - so cute.

So, that's it for around here. Stayed tuned for further whining about the quilting. . .maybe it will be all over next time you visit!