A Finish!

String Thing 2
50 x 66 inches

 This quilt is finally finished - Yay!  I made these string blocks waaayyy back in the spring of 2009, during my retreat that was "The Great Spring String Fling".  My friend Katie and I made sooo many string blocks during that retreat.  We were trying to finish off those strings that I've toted around for 20 years or so.  I still have enough blocks like these to do another quilt, after making  I-don't-know-how-many quilts with strings.  I've got a bunch and Kate has a bunch too.

This photo doesn't do the quilt justice.  This quilt is pretty "loud", as my Mom used to say.  The strings aren't that bright, which is what led me to make this so loud.  I'm getting pretty tired of some of these strings and wanted to jazz them up some.  So, I went with this wild batik, a la Freddy Moran.  Trouble is, this batik will knock your eye out!   When I was showing my friend, she asked me if I was on drugs when I made this quilt!  Hee hee!  I still haven't decided quite how I feel about this quilt.  It may be one only a mother could love.  But it is filled with all sorts of memory fabrics.  So I'll enjoy looking at it.

As usual, Shari did a super job of quilting this.  I asked her for something that "went" with the batik and then something that didn't clash with the strings.  So she did this wonderful leafy vine on the strings....

...and then did this great swirly bit over the batik!  I love it!

(click for the closeup)

Here is the backing and the binding.  The backing was something from the stash that I had enough of.  And for the binding - well, I went through a lot of different colors trying to figure out what looked the best before I settled on this black & white plaid.  It gives an over-all impression of kind-of-grey, that I think works pretty well.

The other week The Kid and I went to W*lmart for some things.  I always check the fabric dept. - just in case.  Well, this time was a good one!  I found these 2 black & white dots that are good quality.  Check out the year on the selvage!

Then, doing some wandering around, I found these cool stickers that are for laptops.  I had the idea that maybe I could cut them apart and jazz up my machine with them.  They're removable stickers, so no long-term commitment, right?.

front with stickers and "jewels"

Well, here's my machine, all jazzed up.  I had fun doing this, and so far I'm enjoying looking at this too.  It gives me a flashback to my hippie youth.  (Ooops, just gave away my age!)

the end piece

The sticker doesn't fit perfectly, due to the curve in the machine, but it's close enough for government work, right?

the back of the machine

 Hope you have fun this week!

A Winner and Some Other Stuff

My hollyhocks are finally blooming!  The purple flowers in the background are some of the foxgloves that are blooming now - and they're everywhere in my yard!  


As promised, Random Number Generator picked a winner for the giveaway today.

And the winner is Audrey of Quilty Folk blog!  I'll be contacting you for your snail mail address and will get the book in the mail to you as soon as possible, Audrey!

Recently my DH took a business trip to Taiwan.  When he asked me what I'd like him to bring back for me, guess what I answered?  Fabric, of course!  Well, little did I know that it would be a big adventure for him!  Long story short, it involved many stores, finding people that could speak some English (DH doesn't know Chinese), taxis and a lot of trust in strangers!  Here are the directions he received from a shop owner to give to a taxi driver to get to where there was fabric to purchase:

And here is the beautiful fabric that he brought home:

There is a yard of each fabric!

Look at the cool selvage!

And look at the fun, dotty plastic bag it came in:

full

empty

What an awesome gift!  He's definitely a keeper. *grin*

Some other sights around my yard:

Last year's (or possibly farther back than that) hanging basket got put on the side yard, hanging from the fence.  Whatever was in the basket died over the winter, and I hadn't gotten around to tossing the basket yet.  Today I discovered that it's now a fern nursery!  Yay!  I love ferns.  Now I have to find their permanent homes in my yard.

And in the back of the house, on the corner, is a bird's nest.  She's not too happy when we're out on the back deck.  I can't see her well enough to tell what kind of bird she is.  We think perhaps some kind of sparrow.  I have no idea if there are eggs or babies in there.  Time will tell.

the photo is straight, I can't pin things to the design wall straight!

Here's what I'm working on lately.  This is my Witch's Pantry from waaay back, when Lazy Gal Tonya was having the House, Home or Pantry Quilt Together.  You can see my beginning on this here and here.  I think this has "marinated" long enough.  I finally now know what I want to do with this.  I was thinking of what to do, and I had a sudden flash of what it could look like.  I love when that happens!  I want to get it finished, so it'll be ready for the quilt show in early October.  I made some more jars because I thought I needed more variety in the jar shapes/types and also the lids to the jars.  Then I edited the jars to a number that will work for what I want and decided on the layout, so now I'm ready to sew it together.  Photos soon!

Happy quilting!

Giveaway!

Gee, I think it's time for a giveaway here at Indigo Threads.  I haven't done one in a long time.  I missed my blogiversary this year (4 years!).  And just recently, I passed the 200 posts mark, and also passed the 100 followers mark as well!    So, in celebration of all of these milestones, here's the giveaway!

A copy of "Back to Charm School" by the ladies of Country Threads, Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene!    These ladies are just about my most favorite quilt designers!  And their patterns are so well-written and easy to understand and to do.

People Will Find You Interesting If You're Interested in Them
I love this pattern of Baskets or partial Bear's Paws.  This may be the one I make first! 

The patterns in this book are for small quilts, table toppers, table runners etc. that are made with charm squares, those cute little packets of 5 inch squares.  And each quilt pattern is named for some element of "good manners" that we were supposed to learn as children/young adults.  This is Mary and Connie's 2nd book of charm square patterns.

Never Wear Gloves at the Table
But the simplicity of this pattern is also calling to me. 
   

I don't know about you, but I find charm squares almost irresistible!  Kind of like penny candy.  Just delectable little packets of fabrics!  But then, I get them home and they sit there on the cutting table because I don't know/can't decide what to do with them.  This book will answer that question and help you use those charm squares.  And the best part?  If you don't have any charm squares, Mary and Connie were nice enough to include alternate directions for using scraps, fat quarters or yardage!  I love that part!

Better to Be Overdressed than Underdressed

So, now to the nitty gritty: To be entered in my giveaway, just leave me a comment.  Please make sure, if you're a No-Reply Blogger, that I have an email address for you so you can be contacted when you win!  (or you could go here and learn how to change that setting.)  You don't have to be a follower, but if you want to do that, it would be nice!  I will leave the comments open for one week and will draw a winner on Monday, July 16th.

Here is my latest small quilt.  Well, it was made quite a few years ago, but I just found it again and decided that I need to get it quilted up.  This was made as a test of a template that I got at a quilt show -  The Magic Triangle template.  And I think it was very successful!  Quick and easy, with no fabric waste!  I used Fat 1/8ths to make this, and I went with scrappy within the black, red and the white/cream fabrics.  I think these were the very first reproductions I ever bought.  The scrappiness is subtle within the body of the quilt, and a little more obvious in the border.

Note: This pattern is NOT included in the giveaway book!

look how nicely everything matches up!

I haven't gotten this basted yet.  I'm still trying to decide how I want to quilt it.

I really like this method of making the Magic Triangles.  I have plans for using up some of my Christmas fabrics making this block, but I'll  probably use a different setting.  That's one of the things I really like about this block - there are a number of different ways to set them together.

Good luck in the Giveaway!

Happy Birthday, U.S.A.!

To all my readers in the U.S., I hope you have a fabulous 4th!  Here's an iconic American image - Betsy Ross showing off her handiwork to George Washington and friends.  Don't we all love to do that?  Well, maybe not to George.  hee hee!

We're having a quiet day here.  Just the 2 of us here - The Kid has to work - but we're having a good day.  Going to BBQ some steaks and veggies, and the neighborhood will have plenty of fireworks this evening.  Everyone has been "practicing" the fireworks for the last week, and the poor dog is just about beside herself.  She'll get crated this evening before it gets too crazy.  The cats will be hiding under the beds.  ;)

And here's another iconic American image - the classic Schoolhouse block.  As promised, here is a finished shot of the charity quilt with the binding all done.  I decided that red plaid would go real well, and I really like it!  Still wishing I could keep this one!  

Close up shot - of course I cut the binding on the bias!

I finally got the back for the Halloween quilt all pieced, and now it is at the long-armers waiting to be quilted. Sorry, I totally forgot to take a photo of the back.  I couldn't wait to get it sent off!

When the new Block Lotto block was announced for July, and I was all through with the Halloween quilt project and had some time,  I had to run and try those Silly Strings!  So, here's my first block.  Hopefully more to come.  This was a lot easier than I thought it might be.  Next time I may cut my curves a little more curvy.  We're supposed to use a light fabric for the background that is not white or cream, and I don't think I'll be using any more of this pink.  It's kind of blah for my taste.

Here's a sneak peek of what I'm doing now . . . putting the binding on String Thing 2!  It's going slowly, as my arthritic thumb is complaining pretty loudly right now.  So, only a few minutes a day of progress. But I'll get there!

We got good news the other day.  The Kid has been accepted into the University of Washington and will start there this fall!  I'm so proud of him!

Finishing a Flimsy

I've gotten back to my Halloween Trips quilt top.  I need to get this one finished up soon.  I've had the top put together for awhile, but the holdup was the border. I finally decided what I wanted to do for the border.  Then I decided to find some fabric in my stash that would work, rather than go buy fabric.  I finally found a piece I've had for at least 10 - 15 years, and I had enough of it, if I was very careful.  Yay for shopping the stash!  The border is a little skinnier than what I usually like to do, and I did have to piece together some strips to have enough on the last two corners. . . . I just squeaked by!

I took my inspiration from Joe Tulips' awesome Zombie quilt, making some "stealth-mode" flying geese.  I have them by every corner, and they are all made with all the different black fabrics that are in the body of the quilt.  They're not all that easy to see, but fun to find when you do see them.  

Dunkel

I'm actually making this Halloween quilt to fit my bed, instead of being the same size as my design wall, which most of my quilts turn out to be.  When I was putting the top on the bed to check the size, I had some "help", of course.  So you're also seeing the quilt that is on the bed as well. (you can see the photo of that one here)  Sorry for the blurry photos - the kitties are getting good at avoiding the camera anymore.

Shade

Because this top is way too big for my design wall, I had to move furniture and lay it out on the living room "design floor".  Here I am starting the pieced back of the quilt. I just started putting pieces on top of the quilt top.  That way I'll know when it's the right size without having to measure.  Lazy?  Maybe.  (Yes, this photo looks weird.  It's upside-down from how I took the photo while I was standing on the staircase.)  I decided that I really don't need all those Halloween panels hanging around in the stash, but I still like them.  So putting them on the back of this quilt is a good way to use them.  Besides, I like 2-sided quilts.  

I'm almost done with the back now - it has taken me 2 weeks, off and on, to get this done.  Of course, the cats have frolicked though this layout a couple of times now, but it's generally the same.  The worst part of this whole process is trudging down the stairs to measure and lay out the pieces, then up the stairs to cut more pieces and sew, repeating endlessly.  This is much harder than just piecing the top, and I've often wondered just WHY I'm doing this! *sigh*  I know it will be worth it in the end, and I'm using up lots of bits from my stash, so I persevere.  I hope to have this done and in the mail by tomorrow. 

I wonder how many more trips up and down the stairs that will take?  Does that count as an aerobic workout? 

Bold Quilts and New Friends

This past Friday, I got to meet a new friend!  Kathy from Quilted Under the Influence blog, was in the Seattle area for her son's graduation and we got together for the day.  We toured the Bold Expressions exhibit of African-American quilts at the Bellevue Art Museum, lunched and then visited the local quilt shop.  A huge Thank You to Michele of With Heart and Hands for the heads-up about the exhibit!

Kathy was so sweet and brought me this great mug rug as a gift.  I think this will probably never be touched by a mug!  It'll be hung on the wall and enjoyed as the art that it is.

The exhibit is a private collection of African American quilts, mainly from the American South.  The quilts are mostly early to mid 20th century.  Most of them were made of cotton, some were wool, at least one was all polyester, and many were a little of everything.  

We visited the gift shop and we each bought the catalog of the show.  It was fairly inexpensive as these things go and it shows most of the quilts that were in the exhibit.  My only regret is that the photos in this book are rather dull not as bright as I've gotten used to in quilt books and don't really show the truly bold colors in these quilts. Also, my favorite strip quilt is not shown in the book.  But the photos are clear enough to  see the quilting in many of the quilts.  The quilts are totally inspiring!  I'm so glad that the book was available!  

Edited to add: I had a question about this book from one of my readers. Yes, I DO recommend the book!  It's 96 pages, softcover and over 50 photos.  If you cannot get to the museum exhibit, you can still get the book!  Go to the Mingei Museum (the publisher) here.  The book is under US$20.

This Mandala quilt was the first quilt I saw and it just knocked my socks off!  Love those orange ties!

I think this strip quilt was one of my favorites.  This photo really doesn't show the true colors - it was quite striking.  Again, I love the ties.  Many of the quilts were tied, some with wool and some with what appeared to be perle cotton.

This Housetop quilt really was bold.  I think the sashings are fun.  It was fun to see that there was at least some orange in most of the quilts, and many of the quilts were constructed in strips of blocks.  There was definitely some resemblance to the Gee's Bend quilts as well.

This all-wool strip quilt was so inviting.  It was hard to resist the temptation to touch it.  Most of the fabrics were what appeared to be wool suiting, but those pieces of red were a very fuzzy wool fabric that reminded me of a lady's coat.

It was a wonderful, fun exhibit, and I'm planning on going back to see it at least one more time.  If you are anywhere near or will be visiting the Seattle area and are interested in this type of quilt, I highly recommend that you take the time to visit this show.  It runs until October 7, 2012.

If It Follows Me Home, Can I Keep It?

No, this isn't my quilt (I wish it were!), but I love it!  This is a charity quilt that I brought home from guild meeting to bind.  It was suggested that I put on a black binding, but I had other ideas.  I'll show you when it's done.  This was made by a volunteer from scraps left over from the quilt show.  (We sold scraps next to where we were demonstrating crumb blocks, and we made over $50.  We still have scraps left!)  I think I recognize some of my scraps in this quilt!

Here's a detail shot.  P. did a great job on these blocks.  She started quilting in the early 1980's and she's still using templates and scissors.  Everyone was completely shocked when P. admitted that she didn't know what a rotary cutter is!  

I've been on a couple of field trips in the last few weeks.  Some fabric followed me home.  These are all the black and white fabrics.  I can't seem to stop buying them.  I need to make a black and white quilt, but can't decide on a pattern. Oh, and the black with white stripes in the upper left corner was a gift from a friend.  

The fabric on the left was purchased because I have a plan for it. You'll have to wait a while to find out!  The fabric on the right is a Lotta Jansdotter fabric and I fell in love with it. I think it looks like dandelions, or maybe sea anemones. I might just stick it up on the wall just as it is!  It would look great in my bedroom on my dark blue wall.  It reminds me of the Marimekko fabrics from the 60's and 70's.  I always loved those great graphic fabrics.  Now, I guess I'd have to say that they look like IKEA stuff.  Maybe that's why I like IKEA, aside from the wonderful Swedish meatballs!

Looking up Marimekko, I discovered they're still out there, still making those wonderful graphic fabrics.  And I still love it!  Look at the cool bedroom linens!  I love the purple graphic, and the blue ginko, and . . . pretty much all of it!  And, even better, they have fabric!  Now I want some, darn it!  (Sorry for all the distracting links, J!  Hee hee!)

More fabric followed me home.  I love that chocolate batik with the turquoise!  So far, I just like to pet it.

And some beads came to play too.  They'll go into stretchy bracelets.  That's the only jewelry I'm any good at making.

Mount Rainier at sunset a few weeks back.  That was the last time we saw the sun for any length of time.  Summer hasn't come to the Northwest yet.  We're not getting tans - we're getting rain freckles!

My 15 Minutes

No, not playing with scraps.  My brush with Fame.  Hee hee!  (As an aside here, I have to say that Andy Warhol had no idea of the internet when he said his famous quote.)

After my post on my little quilt I made in class with Gwen Marston, Kathie over at Inspired By Antique Quilts blog was inspired to make a little quilt using the same colors as mine.  She was nice enough to ask me if I would mind (I didn't), and then she blogged about all this.  Well, my stats went through the roof!  I got so many visitors, and also some new Followers.  Thank you, Kathie!!

And then, I discovered that my new Liberated Log Cabins quilt (see previous post) was featured on Craft Gossip.com!  Woo Hoo!

This has been fun!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming now.