HAPPY HOLIDAYS

JUST A THOUGHT

I had a conversation recently with someone whose reply to my comment was"Your window of opportunity has passed." I turned thinking I could get a glimpse, but to no avail. So I got to thinking...what would my just missed window of opportunity look like? This is the result. I thought the attic window would be perfect to frame my window. After all, don't most unused things get stored in the attic? This sounds like an interesting challenge. What would your window look like?

TIS THE SEASON

There is a miniture quilt artist...Virginia Cole, whose work I really like. I tried to by all her books/patterns at Houston last year. She recently started a "One Another " series. What a great idea. I happened to have these 3 blocks in my to do basket. My intent was/is? to make enough of these 3 inch blocks for a king sized quilt. OK so it is a long term project. Have a look at her quilt. Her blocks are 1 inch and she uses paper for her words. I love it. www.gallopingponey.com

QUILTING AS ART

I have begun thinking about my annual machine quilting retreat, March 4,5,6 2011 with www.twowackywomen.com . I have decided to make smaller samples and offer them for sale. You know I love leaves and I will probably do some pears as well. This sample allowed me to use my new purchase of Misty Fuse, which I am really sold on, and Jacquard organza for the printer. I highly recommend both of these products.

CURVED PIECING...IT'S A GOOD THING

I have returned from the Houston Quilt Festival full of energy and ideas. I was also reminded, I have agreed to teach a class at my guild in May. So. I am going to combine needs and desires. I need a class sample and I desire a less traditional project. I have yet to see a lot of curves in our show and tell at guild and improv curves is really fun and not difficult. This is a 15 inch block and I think I will do 9 blocks. We shall see. So... what do you think?

ANOTHER PINCUSHION

This is one of those " I had to make it now" projects , right out of the new Quilt Festival quilt scene magazine. I think I like it.....but it's really big, 6 1/2 in diameter by 4 inches high. The quote is" CONSTANT USE HAD NOT WORN RAGGED THE FABRIC OF THEIR FRIENDSHIP."

MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY

Having Halloween as your favorite holiday can pose some problems. First, I don't defend evil, but I support fun. Childhood memories of dressing up in your parents old clothes, and collecting enough candy to last until the Easter egg hunt. Oh those were the days. So other people do a yearly Christmas quilt...I do Halloween. This started with a large piece of dyed linen, purchased at a show. Almost everything is raw edged or fused, since it will just hang and it is heavily quilted. HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!!

OH THOSE FEATHERS

I took a class this weekend from Cathy Miller on reverse applique using free motion machine outlining of your design. It was great fun and very fast. I am not a raw edge person, but I could get use to this.

LOST....MY PERSONAL EPISODE

I have returned to work full time. Needless to say, work is interfering with my life. I did not blog all of Sept. I have been gone a lot, but my time is well, not really my time. I intend to change that. So I thought I would share with you an amazing video a saw today. Until next time.

Renate Hiller - "On Handwork"

NO TIME TO BLOG

Sorry I have been very, very busy. We went camping at Big Sur for a week and then returned for four days, then on to Avila Beach near Morrow Bay for a week, and then home for two weeks and then we go to Monterey/Carmel/Napa for ten days. Oh my! I might need a vacation after the vacation. I have a month to rest up for HOUSTON! I do intend to finish the house project with envelopes 4 and 5 soon. I hope everyone is having a good and productive summer. Hello to my new followers, and thanks to everyone for continuing to check in from time to time. To my Tues class..I know some of you are having some stressful times. As the saying goes, this too shall pass. Keep in touch.( In case you are interested the "photo" is fused.)

ENVELOPE #3

So we are almost finished. These are 2 1/2in half square triangles. Pretty simple. I used triangle paper and it went rather quickly. Stay tuned as the next border is .. well...just a little more time consuming. but oh so effective.

ENVELOPE #2

Hello to my Tuesday group and all others out there.The famous checkerboard border....what can I say. It is more challenging than it appears, so there is a skill to learn, KEEPING ALL THOSE SEAMS STRAIGHT. It was stripped pieced which makes for easy construction, but prevents a lot of randomness, unless your strip sets are short. The picture is a little off. My wall is next to the window and we had a nice breeze for a while. I hope you guys are starting to sew. It gets more interesting..... Hope to see you at the Long Beach
show. Frances

IT'S A MYSTERY TO THEM

I will try to make this short. My Tues class is...well....lets say....taking a hiatus. We were cut from the budget. So to stay connected, we are doing a by snail mail project. Also known as a mystery.....sort of. This is the first "round". There are 4 more envelopes to go and it is my intent to blog about it. So Hey to my students!! I miss everyone and hope you are staying busy. I love these houses and they were not too difficult. I think I'll cont. with the dots and stripes theme, but you know me. I'll probably change my mind. I promised the blocks would be up by Sunday( like yesterday ), but I think it might still be Sunday somewhere. Anyway, you can thank Beverly, our class baker for reminding me it was Monday in her universe. OK so it wasn't so short.

BABY QUILT BORN

I find this difficult to believe but I finished the quilt before the baby came. At least I think I did. This is for a student whose baby is due this month. I haven't talked with her in a few weeks so I'll let you know which came first.

A LITTLE TEXTURE

I am so anxious to get some feedback, I did not even clip the threads! This was fun and has absolutly no purpose except to see "what if ". Let me know what you think.

WHOLE CLOTH

I originally was going to use this as a background for an applique project. So, I had it on the wall with the applique pieces in place( I thought) and went to get a glass of water. When I returned, the pieces were on the floor and voila! this whole cloth quilt was there. I think I like it.It has an envelope closure and is about 30x36. The fabric is Gradations by Caryl Bryer Fallert.

OH JOY!

I've resumed quilting an old project and it is not only going very well, but it really feels good to complete something. Of course I want to start several new things including a stripes challenge , finish up a workshop block started over the weekend, and start planning my March 2011 quilting retreat. However, I think being one with the Juki has won out .You should spend some time machine quilting today. It's a good thing.

PAGODA QUILT

I haven't been very productive recently, so I thought I would resurrect an old quilt. This free form curve piecing technique is very old but still one of my favorites. I hope you like it.

OK TO WASH IT

OK TO WASH IT is my favorite fabric glue.I am not much of a glue user, even with release paper products such as Wonder Under. So I wondered what would happen if I painted my fabric window with the liquid glue instead of using the paper . Well it is interesting. It was just OK to apply, and OK to quilt. It is not as firm as the paper fusible which is good. I would suggest watering it down a bit instead of full strength Bottom line... It is OK to try it.

CHEERS !!!!!!

IT IS MY BIRTHDAY ! EVERYDAY IS A GIFT. HERE'S TO MANY MANY GIFTS TO COME.

OLD FAVORITE

There is a quilter named Pam Rocco who frequently writes for Quilters Newsletter. She does very interesting quilts, and this one spoke to me. I really like improv piecing.

BOILING OVER

OH BOY! My blood is boiling now!! This will probably be the last big class project before our summer hiatus. This is a classic lantern block in updated color palette. I could be done fairly soon if I would stop admiring each block for at least a few minutes. I'm sure you will see more of this babe. I love it!

TRY OUTS

I always tell my students to try a block before committing yourself to a whole quilt. Sometimes it takes a few tries to find one that gets your blood flowing.

CLASS PROJECT

This is our most recent project. Take twelve fabrics and make twelve blocks. The key is pick your fabrics in 30 minutes or less and no purposeful matching. It is a lesson in color recipes. This is the everyday 12 bean soup whose ingredients we usually have on hand, and can "whip up" in a moments notice. It took less than 5 hours to cut and sew and about 2 to quilt. It measures about 62 x78. We are working on the company version of the recipe now.

ZEN AGAIN

I hate to be redundant...but, I simply love machine quilting. I calms me down. AND IT GETS THAT QUILT FINISHED! This is the second in a school project I am calling Twelve by Twelve. There are 12 fabrics that form 12 blocks. I am hoping 12 of my 27 or so students participate so I can feature them on flicker. We will see.