Ribbons :)

Hi all,

I really am trying to get back into blogging. I enjoy it and it keeps me accountable, if only to myself, for what I am accomplishing artwise. Last weekend was the annual North East Arts Council Quilt Show in Standish, Michigan. This is not a huge show but it is always very nicely done. The Arts Council Headquarters is an old brick church and makes a great site for a quilt show. This is a low pressure show that I enter just for fun. They hang all quilts they get as long as they have room. The only thing I don’t like about this  show is that they they have really odd size stipulations for categories in this show. Their sizes are based mostly on size of the quilt and my quilts rarely have “normal” dimensions. So I end up searching for quilts that fit rather than choosing them based on what I would most like to show. Anyway, I took home 5 ribbons this year, one for every quilt i entered . Though this is not a big show and they tend to prefer very traditional stuff, it still makes me happy.

Here is one that took a blue ribbon for small wall quilt, all machine, pieced:

It is based on the design of a labyrinth in the floor of a French Cathedral. I love labyrinths! I also took the second place in the same category with this:

I call this one, “What Four?” My son came up with the name. It was supposed to be chairs (imagine this upside down!) but my son saw it laying over the back of a chair and said they looked like fours and gave it the name. Pretty clever guy! I liked it and so this is now right side up! I prefer it to the one above but I won’t complain .

I am off to class now. I will show pics of the others tomorrow. Until next time….

A few WIPs….

Confession time…….I am truly a schizophrenic quilter……

I LOVE LOVE LOVE art quilts. But, I LOVE LOVE LOVE traditional quilts too. But mostly those made to look very old. Think repro fabrics… I am not too big on much in between these two extremes.

Weird. I know….

Anyway, I have been away from sewing for quite some time and seem to have lost my creative mojo.  In recent weeks, I have been reading a lot of blogs in an attempt to find some inspiration! I was particularly drawn to the scrap busting sites. I have had several bins of scraps that I have not touched in years. I thought taming them might lead to some inspiration…..I went through three good size bins and using my Marti Michell templates, I cut them into usable sizes and shapes.

Last weekend, I finally started sewing again. Granted these are bits and pieces, no where near finished. But hey, I dusted off the machine! First is a 30s baby quilt sans the borders:

Next I used a charm pack of repro madder prints to make this doll quilt top:

I need to add borders yet to this as well. It feels good to sew again. Now that I have cut up scraps, when I don’t know what to do, I can do some mindless piecing and eventually I will have SOMETHING done!

Until next time…..

Remember me? Remember when?

It has certainly been a VERY long time! Remember when I posted some ugly fabrics from an experimental dyeing session? Maybe this will jog your memory (if not scare you away!):

I had a blog giveaway for three pieces like this. I sent one to Patti, one to Carole, and I was unable to contact the other person so just today, I used it myself!  Here are the results. First, Patti’s piece called Reeds:

Here is Carole’s piece called Lost Ball:

Aren’t they  beautiful? Finally, here is mine: 

This measures approx. 12″ x 18″. I haven’t finished the edges yet. I was going to use a facing but since the edges of the pieces are all raw, I am trying to come up with a more “raw” finish to the edges. I may just topstitch close to the edge and call it good. Any ideas?

After a long break, it is good to be creating again .

Until next time…..

What I have been up to……

A little of this and a little of that! Mostly this:

and a bit of this:

This is the best bread I have ever made! It was from a French bread recipe but I didn’t let the crust get too crusty. We like it soft .

And finally, I managed to get this pittle piece quilted last week:

Here is a close up of the quilting:

I liked the way it has turned out so far. I still need to finish the edges and I intend to do this with a facing. Click on the “Tutorials” link on the side  if you are interested in my facing tutorial.

Back to a movie and my sock knitting! Until next time…

Sock Knitting – After thought heel

I got a new sock knitting book! Here it is:

This book had an interesting idea called an “After thought heel.” The idea is that you knit a tube but use a piece of waste yarn where the heels goes and then come back and knit the heel later. I like this idea. I would like to try a sock with a pattern and I think it would be easier to do if I only had to think about the pattern and not the heel at the same time. So I decided to try this out. This is what it looks like when you knit across the number of stitches you need for your heel with saste yarn and then knit across these same stitches with the regular yarn to make your tube:

 

Then you insert your needle in the stitches on one side like this:

Next you begin to pull out the waste yarn (red) and pick up stitches on another needle like this:

When you have pulled out all the waste yarn and picked up the live stitches, you can knit in the heel and end up with something like this (depending of course on how you knit your heels):

I need more practice on this. The heel I did required the dreaded Kitchener stitch that I also need to practice. I think I like this plan though. It is definitely worth working on. It would allow me to work mindless rounds anywhere and focus on the harder parts when I am home and can concentrate.

JoAnn’s had a great sale on sock yarn and then I got an extra 20% off coupon. So this is actually the FIRST time I bought actual sock yarn for knitting socks! I was always freaked out about using wool but thanks to some encouragement from Melody at Fibermania, I decided to take the plunge!

Thanks Mel! Here is the first pair I started using Deborah Norville’s Serenity which is a blend of merino wool, bamboo, and nylon:

As you can see I have a very long way to go! It takes a while on size 2 dpns! Whew! I think that is about enough for one post! Until next time….

It’s been a VERY long time……

….both since I have posted and since I have done any sewing! I went back to school this fall for an advanced certificate in Chemical Processing. Back in the day, I got a BS in Chemistry with a teaching certificate and then I stayed home with my own kids for the next….ummmm…..number of years .  So now that my youngest is a sophomore in high school and the other three are all in college, I decided to get ready to go back into the work force.

I have been enjoying my classes but it seriously eats into my creative time! Actually, it isn’t the time so much as the fact that my brain is too tired when I do have time that nothing much creative has happened.

So a few weeks back, I decided to take some of my free motion trees and make them into cards:

Last weekend, I made a few postcards but didn’t take any pics yet. Today, I was thinking about the delicate balancing act of being mom, wife, student etc. This led to this simple piece:

It measures approx. 9″ by 21″ so it isn’t very big. I am going to make it my goal to quilt and finish this piece by Sunday night.  My dear hubby bought me a new camera recently and I am very pleased to say that these colors are pretty true to life! The picture above was taken with my old camera and should be a brighter purple than the pic shows.

I have another idea for another small piece…..maybe I will get back dow there again tonight! Until next time….

Two posts in one day!

I decided to do one more little “sketch” before calling it a day. It seems that as soon as I sit down at the machine, all my doodling ideas fly out of my head and I draw a complete blank. Oh well, it isn’t much but at least I did something.

Not sure what I will do with this, I might cut it apart and use the pieces for cardmaking The edges are unfinished but I wil probably finish them with paint if I use it for cards.

Now back to pondering the baby quilt!

Finished!

Okay, I finished the traditional mini tumbler made from repro prints. It was a beautiful day to sit out on my park bench and hand stitch the binding. Here is a picture before washing:

And here is what it looks like after washing:

The biggest difference can be seen in the borders. I use Warm and Natural batting which is 100% needle punched cotton. I love the way it softens after washing.

I am really pleased with the free hand feathers in the border but I can see here that I have a lot of work to do when it comes to photographing my quilts. These pics look washed out and definitely not as crisp as I would like.

I have a baby shower to attend on Sunday and haven’t even started the baby quilt yet. I better at least decide tonight what I am going to do!

Until next time….

What is this?

I used to make only traditional quilts, my favorites being scrap quilts with reproduction or real vintage fabrics. I still love these but in the last few years have moved into more of an abstract arty style. Yesterday while surfing the net, I came across some wonderful blogs that reminded me of my roots in traditional scrap quilts. There is a lady named Lucy who lives in the Netherlands and I spent a number of hours (yes, hours!) yesterday enjoying her blog as the rain poured down outside. Here is the link to her site called Quilting the Past. SHe inspired me to dig out some scraps and make a vintage style miniature quilt.

The tumblers are 1 1/2 inches high and the whole top is about 15″ x 20″. This shows machine quilting on my favorite machine, a 1955 SInger Model 201:

I am actually a bit farther than this now. I stitched the tumblers in the ditch and then free handed feathers in the borders. I am using a repro yellow for the binding. I should have a picture of the finished product tomorrow.

It does feel good to start and finish a project in one weekend! That doesn’t happen very often these days. I also knitted half a sock on a trip to IKEA Friday so this is the most productive fiberwise I have been in a long time!

Until next time….

A few more “sketches”

Thanks for the comments on my last little piece! I was encouraged to try a bit more tree sketching. I have never thought I was any good at drawing so it was a bit scary to try sketching at the machine without a pattern or anything to follow. But since I was working on small scraps of fabric and batting, I didn’t have anything to lose but time. This is what I ended up with:

Here are closeups:

I used light blue thread for the trees ( because it was already in the machine ) and again finished the edges with silver paint. Looks like it is time for me to clean my cutting mat!  The sizes are in the 4 1/2 to 6″ range. 

Until next time….