friends are wonderful!

After being side tracked by having to have a garage yarn sale (from which I have not totally cleaned), I do have a post of what my wonderful guild did for me.
     I belong to a smallish quilt guild (called STASH--Second Thursday at Someone's Home) which makes Lovies for Ronald McDonald House, along with fun, friendship and food.  Well, I got suggested to be president for this past year.  President sounded so pedestrian, so I decided I wanted to be Empress.  Much better!   Each meeting I tried for a new tiara and scepter.
     As a final gift at the end of the year, they asked me what kind of quilt blocks I'd like.  I asked for little red work blocks.  Well, imagine my extreme pleasure when I received these.     Are they not absolutely sublime?                                                                                                                      

I thought I was done.  Noooooooooo.  They said:  Look in the box, Linda.  I looked and :I couldn't believe it.  I was stunned.  I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I volunteered to Empress again next year!

later, linda

Busy, busy busy

Yes, I'm back again.  First there was the whole Easter thing, then I tore the cartilage in my knee--one of those "shaggy dog"  stories, then surgery, recovery, and catch up.  Have I done anything much in the mean time?  I feel like I've been constantly working on something, just don't feel like much is finished.  My work room, however, sure looks like I've been slinging stuff all over:

But I have been doing some small pieces for the doll quilt group we have at work.  Everything has been from Civil War Sewing Circle from Kathleen Tracy.  This one is Civil War Stars Doll Quilt.

The new Jo Morton Book just came in:  Banner Day.  I'm working on a little framed back basted applique house piece.  Waaaay too small and fussy for back basting, but why not?  Might leave all the windows out.  I know, that means I'll be replacing the one that's already done.  What's new.  It's process, not product.  Well, yeah, it is product when it's for work, but process is good.
I think I'll teach the process with a larger house that they can then translate.

The other thing that I've been doing is making yo-yo's.  Lots of yoyo's.  I've made over 250 so far.  The pattern is from the June 2011 issue of BH&G American Patchwork & Quilting.  It's on the cover.  I may have mentioned this in the last post.  I should read what I've written or write more often, as I have a very limited memory.  Ah well.

And don't get me started on the fact that the picture is not rotated.  I'm on a very slow, long learning curve.
I have things all lined up for my next post, so it shouldn't be as long.  The NQA show is in town starting this Thursday.  Big trouble.  :-}.  See you after that.
linda

I shouldn't be allowed......

I shouldn't be allowed to
                    1)  look at new magazines
                    2) look at old books
                    3) read other blogs
                    and any number of other things that are creatively stimulating!!!!!!!!

Have you seen the new issue of BH&G's American Patchwork and Quilting?  The cover quilt really got to me. 

For some reason I love yoyo's but have never thought of the open-ness of the coverlets practical for my house of little animals.  And here's the solution.  The yoyo's are topstitched to the strips of fabric.  How cool is that!  No fussy applique, just lots and lots of basting stitches !  So I couldn't resist, right?  So, I got out a bunch of 5 1/2 "  scraps and got busy with my Accucut and Voila!

Not quite Terry Atkinson's (the designer) colors, but I do work at a store specializing in Civil War reproductions after all. 

 And if that wasn't enough, I picked up an old BH&G Quilt Book that had a picture of a squashed and elongated hexagon type pattern that looked like an old Turkish rug, hanging on a wall behind a bench, and thought, hmmm, I'll bet I have something in Inklingo that'll work.  And I did!  These are elongated hexagons from the Inklingo lite #4.  It's squashed the opposite direction of the ones in the original photo, but with a little fussing, it'll be fine---and mine! 

So, in a matter of an evening I had this pile marked and  cut and ready to go.  Inklingo is truly magic!

And there have been lot of blog entries on sites that I visit that have picture of the red and white quilt show in NYC posted, so I was thinking of that...............Oh, and the doll quilt I have to piece for group this month..........

gotta go!

linda

I'd blame it on the Bosa Nova, but it was really the full moon...

Honest. Since the full moon was the closest in 18 years, I had a brain tsunami.  I was muddled and my math errors were waaay worse than usual and I miscut the same fabric TWICE.  But it's over now, and I'm getting on with getting on.

I've been big stitch quilting a 3" hexagon quilt that I made with Inklingo (the blocks are 3", not the quilt ; )  ) and I'm really pleased with how it's turning out. 

It only took about 2 weeks to hand piece the top and I'm doing the quilting with size 16 Perle Cotton in a taupe color.  Almost done. 

Which is good, because I'm going to be dressed up in my winter gear mowing the lawn any minute!

Do you see how cold it is???????

Can you see the grass grow before your very eyes???????????  The dogs are going out and saying: "I don't like to pee when the grass rubs up against my belly, ya know."  Just sayin'.  I even bought a new Spring purse to cheer me up, and I can't bring myself to use it, cause the weather is too blah for it.  Maybe I'll save it for Easter.

When you were growing up, did you get a whole new outfit for Easter?  From underpants, slip, socks, dress, hat and shoes to gloves?  We did.  And then, what ever the weather was, you could wear white or patent leather shoes until Labor Day.  Yes, I'm getting old.  Tough.   My purse will have to do for this year, unless, maybe I treat myself to..........

If you don't want to listen to me muse, skip the next paragraph.

I wonder why I don't care to machine quilt.  I'm not good at it, yet, but I know it takes practice.  I'm not afraid of practice--look at how long I'm willing to practice hand quilting, big stitch or small.  And I hand piece, and applique.  I have a couple of lovely machines.  It's not the equipment.  Granted, my Sashiko machine is in the shop for who knows how long, and I do enjoy quilting on that.  Must be the way it looks after.  I enjoy looking at other good machine quilting, I just don't feel like mine should look like that.  That being said, it looks like my friend Cathy will have to wait a little longer for the quilt I made her for her birthday last year.  Bit stitch quilting, here I come. 

later.

linda

Pincushions and Pies & Tarts, oh my!

Thanks to Cathi at Quilt Obsession, I got 5 of the cutest pincushions made yesterday.

Cathi has a great tutorial on the blog. I had made one of these a few years ago, and it was really fussy.  Cathi made it so clear, I whipped these right out. 

Then Linda and Monkey at Inklingo, in conjunction with Sue Daley, quilt designer extrordinaire, released an Inklingo version of Pies and Tarts, Sue's wonderful scrappy circle-y quilt.  So, everything came to A SCREECHING HALT while I printed out some pies and tarts:

 and then had to come here and tell you all.  You can go here to see Sue's version of the quilt, and you can google for other pictures.

I'm going to go cut and sew, now.

later.

linda

Long time, no post

Between the really terrible weather the last month-ish  and the wonderful hint of Spring we had this past week, I went from SAD to euphoric, and now that it's just cold, grey and wet, I'm back.  I have been working like the crazy person I am, though.   A lot of it has been projects for the shop, which you can check on their blog.  I'll give you a peek at the Christmas project in progress:

Lots of pieces to mark and cut.  Yes, I'm doing it the slow by hand way, so I can make sure the templates are good, no matter how you sew it. 

Then there is the mew BIG hexagon project I started:Wait!  Check it out next to my foot so  you can see it really is big:

Told ya!  The best part is how fast it's going.

Then, since my Sashiko machine is on the fritz, I decided to see if I had any machine quilting skills on a regular machine.  Didn't have a project, so decided to make a lovie for our guilds' project for Ronald McDonald House:

I'm really candy deprived, so I made it in soft pink and chocolate. 

Now to get it quilted. 

Of course I've had all kinds of help from the little "dust mops":

This one wouldn't even stand still long enough for a non blurry picture!   Two of the others were smarter and sacked out--sort of:

I've also been making Zentangles til my eyes got gritty:and:

So, now that  you've pretty well caught up with me, I'll try to keep it more regular.  The key word there is "try".  No expectations from me, so I won't accept them from anyone else!

Have a lovely late February afternoon.

later

linda

New toy

ooooooooo.look at my new toy!

It's a three tiered metal "lunch box" like the Japanese/Asian ones that are usually made out of a woven fiber--bamboo?.  Anyway, it was marked down 50% at Meijer, and I couldn't pass it up.  I kept thinking: sewing box, sewing box.  I want to put a big pincushion on the inside of the lid.  Hope this is a project that actually gets done,  instead of sits there.  There's always the weekend!  Have a good one and make a klosje or 2.

later.

linda

Klosjes, Zentangles & red&green, oh my!

Yes, I've been busy since I last posted.  I got a bunch of klosjes, done:

yippee skippee!

 

And I listened to the Universe, and did a number of Zentangles:

Wait, wait!  Here's a closeup:

If you

are a good little doodler. you won't be impressed.  Personally, I'm floating on cloud nine!  I shared with my friend, Jan, and she called me the next day and said if I were really a friend, I'd come take the pen out of her hand-she'd done 18 in two days!!!!!!!!!

Then I spent a few hours at 11pm Monday nite at the vet ER, cause I thought one of the puppies had eaten a straight pin--she hadn't, but she should be a magician, the way her jaws are faster than the eye. 

Tuesday I spent finishing up proofing the first block of the Good Wives Second Annual Red and Green quilt---and it worked!

I crashed at 9pm yesterday--I never do that, but I've been up and at 'em and getting lots of stuff done today, just no sewing.  Well, I'm off, and I'm leaving, too.

later.

linda

Apparantly I need to pay attention!

While reading my Inklingo group posts on yahoo, I saw a post from Jane Monk announcing an auction for the Australian flood victims.  She was donating a Zentangle kit to the auction.  I'd never heard of this, although it's apparantly been around for at least 15 years.  Stop.  Go check out the Zentangle site.  So, I'm intrigued, because although I've got a degree in art, I can't doodle, and I love to learn new things.  So, I sent away for the kit, picked up a copy of The Quilter Magazine and saw an article on Pat Ferguson, and her Zentangle quilts.  The Universe speaks!  Okay, now, tell me how behind the times I am and where have I been the last 15 years.
later
linda

It's mail day!

When I go to answer people's comments, my computer tells me that the default email is not properly set up, ergo I'm responding here.  I'll keep mail separate from the rest of the posts and label it as such.  If anybody has better suggestions, let me have'em please!

To Joan, I'm "reproducing" a quilt that I saw in the book, Classic Quilts from the American Museum in Britain.

It's on  page 80, and here's a picture of a picture (don't know how else to do that)and the original is 72"x65" (183x165 cm).  I chose fabrics that were similar to the ones in the original and am pleased at how it's coming out so far.  I got the book on Amazon.  The quilt was made by Elizabeth Mitchell (nee Cannon) in St. Cloud, Minnesota between 1875 and 1900.  The original background was a yellow sateen, and don't supposoe I'll be able to find that in that color now, but haven't started looking, yet.  The original was EPP, but I'm using Inklingo.  Yes, I'm planning on it taking a while.   Sigh.  Thanks for your interest.

To QueenB, I want to see a picture of a little flower of 1/4" hexagons next to something little.  Can't wait!  Thanks for checking in.

To Linda:  having the best time with all of this, thanks to you and Monkey! 

Have to go try to fix an old laptop and since it's Saturday, do some Klosjes!

later.   linda

lucky you!

Why are you lucky?  'Cause I deleted all the blathery stuff I had started this post with and started over!  It's a snow day and I don't have to go to work.  The snow's not that bad, but blowing and drifting all over the roads makes travel not ideal.

I've gotten parts and pieces done.  I added almost 2 rounds to my starburst repro: 

Takes longer and longer to get around-duh to me.

Last Saturday I got a few more forget-me-nots and klosjes done:

I was talking to a friend about the little flowers, and I considered that each flower was "precious", but the quilt as a whole is not more precious than the individual flower.  She, who is very insightful, likened it to seeing a vibernum cluster, and each little flower is wondrous and precious, and each are equal, and God considers us each individually, while dealing with the whole. And that kind of broke my mind.  The fact that I consider each is precious and the whole no more so than the each of the individuals is a good bit of insight for me in just talking about fabric quilts.  The rest is something I have to ponder  for a while.

Then, in between all of these, we got the 2 puppies spayed.  Trying to keep them quiet is interesting.

But I still made time to get the stems for the Garden Club Blackbird table topper appliqued-almost.

  Should finish up today.  The layout was time-consuming, as the blocks are 20" ish- and there wasn't a large layout sheet to put the fabric over-just a graph.  I suppose I could have blown things up and taped, or redrawn it on a red dot tracing mesh, but that would take more time before I could start to sew, so I "approximated" stuff.  We'll see if I regret that when I'm done. 

Tomorrow I'm doing a full scale Inklingo demo, so I have to go get that ready.  And one more ding on me:  I finally found all the comments people had left on the blog:  here I thought I was all alone, and low and behold, people are reading it.  Thank you, thank you.  And I hope to answer comments from now on.

linda

My brains going faster than my body can keep up!

I got the Valentine quilt done for the shop and took it up there yesterday.  I'm really pleased with it.

And then I spent this morning reading some of the blogs I follow and my brain is about to explode.  Inspired by Antique Quilts has some darling little numbers in it. Barbara Brackman is offering a FREE Civil War sampler quilt pattern ea. week to commemorate the Sesquecentenniel of the beginning of the Civil War this year.  I've thought about jumping on the band wagon, but if you've seen my last few posts, you'll know why I'm trying to be restrained. 

I'm gonna go kick up the furnace while Mr. Wonderful is at work.  Last week's thaw is over and it's in the 20's and my fingers and toes are chilled to the bone.  Oh, a cup of hot something, too, is on the agenda. And some sewing!

linda

Inklingo New Year!

Happy, happy!  It's the third of January and what have I got to show for the new year?  Well, I'll show ya.

I spent a good deal of Saturday marking, Inklingoing and cutting several projects, just because I could. 

I just love how sweet these little blue flowers look. and I do mean small:

Each side of the hexagon finishes at 1/2"-this quarter covers the whole center.  I keep thinking of them as little forget-me-nots.  Yes, it will take tons, but I'm not in a hurry and they print up so fast.

The POTC's that I talked about on Thursday?:

I got some of them done, too:

These are similar in size to the hexes:

You can find lots of info on them at Cathi's site, (and Valentina's,--and I'd give you the site if I hadn't accidentally erased everything on my favorites list-but you can find that on Cathi's site, too.  She seems ever so much more organized than I am.) if you search "klosjes",which is the Dutch word. Apparantly, they've been very big in the Netherlands for a while. (I'm late to the party,as usual).  A group of people have declared Saturdays as the day to work on your Klosjes.  There are a number of sizes and shapes, but I agree with Cathi that there's something special and addictive about this little size.  Did I say the finished blocks finish at 2 1/2" square?

 

Then I did some "old fashioned" marking with a pencil and got a bunch of hearts to top stitch applique ready:

And I worked on my Spring table topper out of the Blackbird design book, Garden Club.

I hope you didn't expect focus this year!

Well, dinner's in the crockpot, but the laundry in the dryer won't fold itself.

later

linda