Fabric Finds

Remember this psychedelic orange fabric? While I was at the quilt shop today for my second class on the longarm machine, I made a discovery. Not only do I have this design in orange, but also in turquoise, and I found another colorway at the shop today in a red/orange with black and white. My first purchase was the turquoise one, then the orange one, and today the "Last One".

It is interesting to me to see the three colorways together. They are the same fabric design, but with the different colors, they seem like three different designs. The 'light came on' today when I purchased some more of the turquoise fabric for my new quilt class project. I realized I had bought two colorways. I asked the shop owner if she had any others. I thought there was one in green. I would have liked that one, too, I am sure. But the third one was the "Last One", which I do not like much. Lately, I seem to gravitate to the more ballistic designs. I like the red/white/blue one Yankee Quilter has on her blog. Maybe it is the challenge of how to use these fabrics that draws me. Tonya suggested that with the house block for Bonnie, we could include some "uglies" for her to use. I have cut a 6-inch strip of all three of these fabrics to send to Bonnie! I don't really consider them "uglies", but certainly a "challenge".

The Turquoise One

This is the second colorway I bought. I had some of this fabric in my stash already, and I bought a couple more yards today. I think I will use this as the background for the new project for my evening adult quilting class. The design is like a maze. I will need two more colors to go with this fabric, maybe a deep purple, and a lighter pinky/purple.

I used this fabric in my Carolina Crossroads. I was careful not to use too much because I did not want it to dominate the colors scheme. This fabric came from my stash, as did all the fabrics for that top. I am very happy to be able to say that. Even though I have bought more of it for another project, I did use what I had in my stash for my Carolina Crossroads.

The Last One

This is the last one I bought today. Isn't it interesting? I think it is the same design as the other two, but I am not sure. Looking at the design, it looks the same, but with the different color values, it makes it look like a bit different than the other two.

What do you think the person who designed this color scheme was thinking?

Bonnie's Blocks

Here is a picture of Bonnie's (http://www.quiltville.blogspot.com/) house and crumb blocks. I sewed these up last night while my banana bread was baking and making the house smell so good! The house block was made from my house block exchange. I made the right side and another quilter made the left side. I have 20 or more blocks left to sew together and put the sky on the top of the house. It was fun making these blocks. The only rule was to use bright (Freddy Moran style) fabrics. Since Tonya said to put in red for the house, I was lucky and had two red parts I could sew together.

I was so focused on making these crumb blocks after I had the house block done. I pulled out a few (and I mean a few) scraps and started sewing. I needed to get to bed on time since I had to work today, but it was difficult not sewing more hours making more crumb blocks. All the ones I made previously have been sewn into my donation quilt, and I hope to quilt that in a couple of weeks at my long arm machine quilting class. I really had fun at that class. It is great to use someone else's machine in their space, so if I have a problem, I just holler and Denise rescues me! I love it!

Well, I must get my dinner out of the oven. DH is not hungry tonight, so I am on my own for dinner. I have my weekly quilt class tonight, and I like to be on time so I can get a seat up front.

Happy Quilting

Marathon Quilting Day

I forgot to tell you about this beautiful book I purchased yesterday at the craft fair. It is Mother Earth and Her Children by Sibylle Von Olfers, illustrations by Sieglinde Schoen Smith. On the cover is a picture of part of a quilt that Schoen Smith made. It is stitched and embroidered entirely by hand. It took her a year and a day. The illustrations in this book are various pictures of her quilt. Inside the book is a full picture of the entire quilt. It is incredible! The colors and the detail are fantastic. When you go to your next quilt shop or quilt show, look for this book. It is awesome!

Here is a picture of the quilt I quilted during my first machine quilting class at Sisters 'N Stitches in Fremont this morning. I had a great time learning how to use this machine, and I learned a lot. One thing I learned is how important it is to have a straight cut backing. I sometimes sew two strips together and they are not always even. I do not take the time to cut it straight across, or make sure it is squared up at the corners. The second class is next Sunday. At the third class I can bring my own quilt to work on. The first two weeks I work on Community Quilts. The owner donates fabric, batting, and thread, as well as the use of the machine, to make community quilts that she donates to our quilt guild. The last class I can bring my own top and backing to quilt. I have a crumb top (pictured in a previous blog) that I have been wanting to quilt so that I can donate it to our guild.

The bottom picture is of my four New York Beauty blocks that I completed for class this afternoon. I didn't even make it to my target of six blocks! I made half of another one in class today, but did not finish it. My sweet little Singer Featherweight machine was not working well for me today. It was working against me. I thought I should replace the needle since it was skipping stitches. Well, I put the needle in wrong and almost wrecked my bobbin case. I put that hummer in three times and finally got it right. I took a picture of the teacher's (Sue Wells) quilt, but it was too fuzzy to put in here. You can hardly see the spikes. So you only have my four blocks to view. Her quilt is really neat, too. She also brought her bed quilt. It is wonderful. She started with a center block, then added borders. Her last border is New York Beauty blocks.

But, I was so proud of myself today. I drove the green monster (my husband's Chevy Silverado pickup truck that he says is really mine since my name is on the registration and I worked and made all the payments). I had to drive about 15 miles to south Fremont where Sisters 'N Stitches is located. After my machine quilting class, I drove about 30 miles north to the quilt store, Quilt Fans, in Alameda for my afternoon class on New York Beauties.

After this posting I am heading into my sewing room and making some more New York Beauty blocks, maybe. Or possibly I will work on my feathered star class project, or make some house blocks for Bonnie. What I want to do is make some crumb blocks to send to her, also. I love to make crumb blocks. My Carolina Crossroads needs finishing, also. So many choices! And there is always my UFOs under the sewing table! No rest for the wicked!

Happy Quilting

Dolls, Dolls, Dolls

Okay, here is a rundown of my weekend so far: Friday evening my husband and I went out to dinner at our favorite burgers and pasta place. We arrived back home around 7:00 p.m. I looked at my calendar to see who had a birthday coming up. When I looked at my calendar, I realized that I had signed up for a sew-in at our local quilt shop, One Quilt at a Time. I had the time written 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. So, I told my husband that I was going to go because there were quilters there whom I had not seen in quite a while, so I would go and just socialize. I knew that I was an hour late already, but I went anyway. Lo and behold, one of our friends from out of state was there. She is working at a booth at the San Mateo Craft Fair this weekend. I was so excited that I decided to go because if I had not, I would have missed visiting with Beth. I also found out that the time was 5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. so I had an additional hour of socializing! I did do a little sewing, too. After I arrived home from the sew-in, I told my husband that I wanted to go to the craft fair the next morning to see Beth and all the doll ladies. Beth had told me that there was a bunch of cloth doll makers from the doll club I had belonged to a few years ago who were exhibiting at the craft fair. The next morning, I called a friend who lives around the corner and asked her if she would like to go with me to the craft fair. She said yes, so off we went. The first picture is of Barbara Willis in her booth. The second picture is of Colleen Patell's booth. The next picture, to the right, is of the Flying Phoebe Cloth Doll Club's booth. I was president of this club for two years, and had a wonderful time in the club. My mother belonged also, and she was Membership Chairman for about 10 years.

This picture is of elinor peace bailey (yes, all lower case!) in her booth. I credit elinor as the moving force behind the resurgence of the cloth doll movement a quite a few years back. She encouraged all the ladies in our club, and many other women all over the country, and outside the United States, to make and sell cloth doll patterns, to have cloth doll conferences, cloth doll retreats, cloth doll clubs, and generally push the cloth doll movement out there to the public. She has a wild and wonderful personality, and she really dresses this way every day. She used to live in my town. She moved a few years ago to Washington state to be closer to one of her some of her family. Beth is her partner in their cloth doll business. elinor is the pizzazz and Beth is the business mind. Beth has recently moved to Nevada, but before she moved there, she lived in my town as well. She has worked with elinor for years. And, yes, elinor has pink hair. When she lived here, she had purple hair. Beth has blond hair and blue eyes, and two beautiful children, and a good looking husband, horses, a house, a barn, and a swimming pool in Nevada, just in case you are interested!

My friend, Grace, and I decided we had a great time today. We enjoyed spending time together (sans husbands). There was a good variety of vendors, and many of the vendors were quilt oriented. The doll vendors were great, to say the least. Grace was just amazed at how beautiful and artistic the cloth dolls were at the craft fair. My mother's favorite craft was dollmaking, and mine was quilting, as it still is. I do make a few cloth dolls now and then. Of course, I have a few doll UFOs along with my quilt UFOs.

After I arrived home from the craft fair, I collected my applique and was off to the TAS (The Applique Society) meeting. I was there for a few hours, left there, stopped and picked up some dinner to go, and returned home.

Tomorrow I am off to my marathon day of quilt classes. I need to get into my sewing room tonight and try to finish a few more New York Beauty blocks before class tomorrow. I doubt that I will complete the requested 16 blocks. I will be lucky if I get six done. I am glad I will have Monday off so I can recover from my busy weekend!

Happy Quilting

Friendship Blocks

Above is a picture of my latest exchange blocks. Can you tell what they are? They are one side of a house (without the roof). One of the members of our group picked these little houses. It will have a peaked roof eventually, when they are sewn together. We decided not to put the roof on until after the exchange. We were afraid the bias edge of the roof might stretch with so much handling. We can put our own roof on when we sew them together. This block exchange was Sunday, but I was not able to attend this time. I wonder what is up for next time? This is the space on my sewing table adjacent to my machine. This is how much open space I have to work on. Behind the blocks are stacks of fabric, projects, Beanie Bears, books, magazines, etc. Under the table are Featherweight sewing machines, UFOs, bags of scraps, and boxes of material, and unquilted tops.

The blocks above are from our block exchange before yesterday's exchange. I am waiting for one last block from one of the members who had hers only half done. There were ten members in this exchange. I have the pattern to finish this quilt. I really liked the design, so I suffered through paper piecing (not my favorite thing). Two of the members took pity on me as I was totally whining and invited me over to help me overcome my problems with paper piecing. I just cannot get the backwards, cannot see where your fabric is, type of sewing. Yesterday I was in the first half of a New York Beauty class (paper piecing). I am doing okay with it so far. It is hard to sew the arc of rays to the curved center, and also the curved outside piece. I have only finished three of the required 16 blocks so far. I need to get 13 more done before this coming Sunday (the second part of the class). That morning I will be starting a long arm machine class, and the afternoon I will be finishing my New York Beauties. I cannot believe how February has been jam packed with stuff. I seldom go anywhere or do anything on weekends, then three weekends this month I am overbooked! No rest for the wicked!!!

Here is a picture of the quilt I have on the wall for February. These blocks were from a block exchange years ago, and I actually put these together and have a finished quilt. I love these blocks. Can you guess which one I made? Yes, of course, the purple appliqued Cupid! Don't you just love it? The theme was a block with a heart shape, 9 inches finished. It is interesting how everyone's blocks are different, with different colors. I don't think we chose colors, just the shape.

I have several block sets from exchanges. One is a patriotic theme, and I have the top together, and pin basted, but not quilted yet. I just don't know what to do with it. I will pull it out and get a picture of it. Then maybe you can give me some ideas. It is a sampler type quilt with different size blocks, as well as colors.

I was organizing/cleaning my sewing room last summer, and tried to find all my block sets from all my block exchanges. I made a list of the ones I thought I had, but then I found that I forgot several once I gathered them all together. I also have a few block of the month wins in there as well.

It is fun for me to participate in block exchanges. But you must remember that what you receive can be a surprise. We do have some members who like to break the rules. For me those are often times the most fun exchanges. We also did a round robin exchange in one of the groups I am in. It worked out very well. I have that quilt hanging on my quilt ladder in the front room. I forgot about that one. I will get a picture of it, too, and post it.

Today I met my retired boss and my co-worker and we had lunch. What a fun time. My retired boss made a patchwork pillow for me. I love it! Her first quilted project and she gave it to me. By the way, she made it in purple. She said she tried to find fabric with chocolates on it, but was not successful. So the next best thing was purple! She said she even worked on it by candlelight as the power went off during the last storm we had. I gave her some beginning quilting books. After lunch I walked over to the Williams Sonoma store in the mall and bought my DH an All Clad roasting pan. It cost me a weeks wages, but what the heck! Sometimes he is worth it!

Well, it is getting time for me to get organized for work tomorrow. Hope you all have a great week. We have another three day weekend coming up. That's the one where I have two quilt classes in same day!

Happy Quilting

Sewing with Friends

Check out Roberta's blog. http://www.colorfulquiltingworld.blogspot.com/ She is a great quilter who lives in the same city as I do. I am so excited for her. She will blow you away with her quilts. And, unlike me, she really knows how to use her computer. She gets stuff done, too.

I saw the quilt she has displayed in her header in progress. It turned out great. When I whine and fuss a lot, she invites me over to sew with her and other friends. It is always so much fun. I never get as much done as the others do because I am always buzzing around looking at everyone else's projects instead of sewing on my own. I try to keep them all entertained in the process! Isn't it great to sew with friends? Even though I do not get as much done as the others, I have a great time socializing and getting caught up on everyone else's life and quilting projects.

There is a picture in this post somewhere (I hope) of a quilt that I started at Roberta's. It was a kit that I bought at Quilt Fans, a local quilt store. The kit had 25 (?) 10 in squares of Tonga batiks. The directions were to cut them up, move a top piece to the bottom, cut them again, move another top piece to the bottom (under the last piece), etc. It is similar to the nine patch quilt that everyone was doing a couple of years ago. The orange quilt that I made and sent to Barbara was made from the nine patch pattern. I wish I could remember the name of the design. Anyway, I started this quilt at Roberta's and finished it at home. I could have finished it at Roberta's, but I got caught up in looking at all her new quilts and everyone's projects, too. Roberta has such a beautiful home, and she is a great housekeeper (unlike me).

Well, the picture is here. My DH was sitting (as usual) holding my quilt. (I need to find another way to get my quilts up and the whole quilt in the picture.) I bought this kit because the sample quilt was so colorful, and I like working with batiks. I also thought that if I buy kits instead of fabric yardage, I won't buy as much fabric. Chances are, also, that I will get this quilt sewn together because there is a pattern included with the quilt that I like (the pattern and/or the fabric in the kit). It is another top that needs to be quilted.

When I look at this colorful quilt top, I think of Roberta and friends, and all the fun I had that day sewing with friends!

Happy Quilting

Is It Purple?

Do you like the new look? I wanted more purple so I chose another template. Tonya - it is finally purple, sorta. I was thinking of changing the background to a dark purple and the text to white, or another light color. That is do dramatic. I think that combination is hard to read, at least for me, but I might do that yet.

Since I have a happy heart today, I am going to include a picture (I hope) of a heart quilt that I made and gave to my daughter. The blocks were done in a block exchange. We members of the exchange made whole heart blocks, then cut them down the middle. We all kept one side, the left side I think, and exchanged the other side. I enjoy these block exchanges. I have another one coming up next week, so I guess I should get those blocks finished! Anyway, I hope the picture is at the bottom, but who knows what will happen between now and then!

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Please don't forget to read the last two blogs. I have been blog happy today and posted three. (Actually, I have just been playing with pictures. I have been trying to discover how to do it more easily instead of the maybe-it-works method that I have been using.)

Happy Quilting

P.S. Bonnie - In the background of one of my heart blocks, you will see the same lips fabric that I sent to you!

Barbara's Orange Bag

Isn't this the cutest orange bag? My orange friend, Barbara, made this and sent it to me. If you look carefully, you will see some purple in there. She knows how much I like purple. I wanted to get this photo in my last blog post, but I could not find the picture in my photos file. I know I took a picture of it. I took a picture of the bag after I took a picture of the orange pyscho fabric. Baby Cat's picture was taken after I took my orange bag picture, but when I looked for it, it was not there. So where did it go? I told DH and he said, "Was the disk in the camera when you took the picture?" Yes, it was. The disk was in the computer, so I took it out and put it back in the camera, and took another picture. And whalaa...here it is. Barbara likes to make bags, and I certainly like to receive bags, so it has all worked out just fine!

I must get to my sewing. I have been playing with this computer long enough, and I want to get some sewing done today. I have a three day weekend and I want to accomplish the following: finish all the blocks for the last step for my Carolina Crossroads (I have a corner done, and it is so cool. Maybe I should post a picture? Do you think I can accomplish it?). I want to baste two baby quilts, and get the homework done for my quilt class. Also, I am going to work on my Scrappy Bargello with Bonnie tomorrow for the Super Bargello Bowl. Are you joining in tomorrow?

Happy Quilting

Orange - the fabric of the week.

Don't you just love this orange and purple fabric? Doesn't it remind you of the psychcodelic sixties? I have a friend who loves orange. Since I discovered this about her, I have been looking at the color orange in a different way. I have learned to appreciate its value as a color. Purple is still my favorite color, but if you notice, there is purple in this fabric. This design sort of reminds me of an ink blot at the psychiatrist's office. Anyway, I saw this fabric and thought of Barbara, so I bought two yards. One to send to her, and one to keep for myself. I thought seriously of just buying one yard, but I felt that Barbara needed at least a full yard, and since she was getting a full yard, I felt that I should have a full yard also. Yes, I could have purchased just one piece to send to her. But I always keep some of the same fabric I send to her. When I use that fabric, or see it in my stash, I think of sweet Barbara, and that makes me feel good. When I use some of this fabric, I will feel that Barbara is there with me, approving of my choice of fabric! I am not sure she will really "approve" of this one since it is so crazy, but she lives a little on the wild side, so it might be her most favorite. I seldom buy anything less than a yard, but since I have no room to house any more fabric (seriously), I have been trying to limit myself to smaller pieces. When I am cruising my stash for pieces for a quilt, like for my quilt class, it seems that there is never the right amount, or if I find the right amount, it is not the right color. I feel that my stash is too large, but I also feel that it is not large enough at times when I cannot find just the right combination of color and size requirements. I know, Bonnie and Tonya would say, "Use what you have. Find another fabric". I think these same thoughts when I am searching for just the right thing. Sometimes I actually do succeed. If I could ever get "really organized" with my stash I believe this would cut down on my cruising time. But I must admit, I like to cruise my stash. I like to pull out the fabrics and pair them up with other fabrics and see what combinations I like. Then I enjoy the actual handling of the fabrics. I stack them here, then stack them there. Its like Legos, I play with them and move them around. I attach them to other fabrics to see what I can build. It is visually stimulating seeing all the colors, and combinations of colors. It always amazes me when I see a different color combination that I have not thought would go together in someone else's quilt. I look at those colors and say to myself, "Why didn't I think of that?" That has been part of the fun of seeing all the Carolina Crossroads quilts on the mystery chat line. Well, here is a picture of my daughter's cat that has been living with us for nine or ten years. I call her Baby Cat. My daughter, Leslee, named her Ashly because she has so many colors scattered across her fur. Since I see so many cat pictures in blogs, I thought I should include a picture of Baby Cat. She looks sweet and calm here, but she is a holy terror most days. If she is not asleep or eating, beware. She has one snaggle claw that does not pull back into her paw. It is the one that always gets me to bleed. I have learned over the years some boundaries, but I am always pushing the envelope with her. DH is always telling me to be careful, don't aggravate her. But I can't help it! There is a little demon inside me that makes me do this. I really try to tamp those desires down, but sometimes the little demon wins. I haven't done much sewing this week. It has been cold and rainy, and I am still recovering from my cold virus. I did not even go to my quilting class this week. There is no heat in my sewing room, and there definately is no room for a heater. DH says I should put one of the little space heaters we have in there. I keep telling him I do not want to catch anything on fire. Besides, there isn't an electrical plug that I could reach that doen't have things pluggin into it. His response is to get rid of some of my stuff. What could he be thinking, get rid of some of my precious stuff? When he gets rid of some of his precious stuff, then maybe I will think about it. He also says I need to make more quilts. Then I would have less fabric to deal with. What a novel idea! That would make more room, then I could purchase more fabric. I like that idea! So, I better get busy sewing.

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog. Thanks to all the quilters who have left comments. I like reading someone else's thoughts and ideas on things I hold dear to my heart.

Happy Quilting