Pearl Street Road

Finally....

2012-01-30T20:46:00.000-05:00

......finished. Remind me never to volunteer my sub-standard traditional quilting skills again! (the white schmears are snow falling in front of the quilt) My friend Thearica organized this annual raffle quilts for Ronald McDonald House and in a weak moment I thought, I can do this. We had to use black and white and one other color and the mantra "my bowl is full of _______" I said "pennies". Red was the obvious choice for me. I worked diligently on hand stitching a slew of wool pennies. When they quilt was sewn together I realized most people buying a chance on a quilt probably would not "get" the handwork and pass it off to a child. It would not hold up to use. So I started a replacement. I used a pattern I got as a gift at the NC, HGTV quilt -retreat in April called Tiddlywinks. The large circles are my pennies. I cut it down a few blocks. The on-point setting was not easy for me. The machine quilting was not easy for me. The blocks were easy though! I also am not a white lover. There is a couple spots where a few stray black threads show through it. I will be boxing and shipping to Thearica asap. Next time I will send a raffle basket donation!

A "Going Away" party, Saturday, at Jill's parents house was very nice. All family.

A week from right now he will be in U.S.Army custody. He has to report Monday, stay in a hotel in Niagara Falls for swearing in Tuesday morning at 8:30 AM. I will be running up there after work Monday to stay with his fiance, Jennifer, to be present Tuesday for the big event. More than the overwhelming concern for him, is the pride I feel for having a son that has the balls to do what he feels he must. (or ball...you'd have to know him) His demeanor suits a soldier. His mother's demeanor, not so much.

I have learned:

jingoistic is a word.
Bruce. April 17, Cleveland. Road trip. Jim and Pam and me.
We have not had one snowstorm this winter. Hmm. weird.

Challenge Reveal!

2012-01-22T19:52:00.000-05:00

My guild hosts an annual challenge. This year I got to name it! I thought that Carnival/Amusement Park held much possibility. The results are in, and wow, it was an awesome and inspired reveal yesterday!
"Wonder Wheel" is my entry. Beginning with a Google search I found an old image of a Ferris wheel I liked. I stumbled upon a painted resist in a circular orientation and thought it would make the perfect base. I had to actually draft a pattern to the size of the circle. The tracing paper was then used as my thread sketching pattern. I found info online advising to use a short thread length, about 1.0. After many stitches all around, I cut the organza overlay to define the center star. The cars were fused down.

Added the mitered stripe border and when the binding was sewn down, I spent over 2 hours gluing scrapbook crystals, or "lights" to the wheel. The final addition was old wooden Bingo #'s.
I loved every step of this project, finishing up Friday night on the challenge we knew about since last February! Why do we do that? Everyone did it, (with a couple exceptions for very organized people).
My friend Karen had the entry with the biggest impact.
I saw this work in progress and the result is magazine worthy! Her original design. It is future award winner.

Elaine used the portrait technique MaryLee taught us last year to make this gorgeous quilt.

Martha's was a celebration of carnival color. The quilting and surface design on it needs to be seen up close.

Lori's love of photography and quilting marry wonderfully!

Beth, Lori's daughter, awed the crowd with her 3 dimensional Zoltar! She used clay to make the face and hands. It was the most exciting reveal for me. Beth is one of our youngest members, in her mid-twenties.

I have always loved the free, uninhibited aesthetic of my mail woman, Cynda. She works most Saturdays but Gloria had her two entries to show us. Art quilt....roller coaster! It is show worthy. I loved this piece.

Cynda made 2 pieces. I love the woven background of purple and green.

Gloria's exemplifies the theme. It is most playful and most amusement park!

Gloria also made 2. This one drew the most ahhhh's! Remember the wooden painted figures that have oval holes for your face? Celebrating the Royal wedding Gloria put oval mirrors where the faces go so you see yourself when you look at her quilt. Imagination indeed!

Mary Ellen's carousel horse under a tent, her own design, was magical! I wish the quilting showed on this piece. Excellent. Mary Ellen is also a new member of our art quilt group.

Kate was inspired by the colorful, twisted lollipop! She made a lollipop flower. The fringe she added at the last minute was just right.

Alex used a sentimental memory of her and her husband riding a double Ferris wheel. Her interpretation is just adorable. Making it with Halloween fabrics was especially charming. Alex has young children and this quilt will be great holiday decor.

Chris, a recent new member of our art quilt group, made this carousel horse piece. She used a Laura Wasilowski weaving/fused technique for the umbrella. Cool quilt!

Mary Lee also memorialized the carousel horse using her portrait technique. Her background fabric is her own snow dye. Love this quilt.

Dodie's art quilt perfectly emulates for me, the way I feel on all the round, swirling rides at an amusement park! Great job on this little piece.

Mary Lu used her memory of a trip to New Orleans post Katrina. I really love the 3-D jester hat...a lot. The saxophone is for the music, and in particular, hearing one of the Neville Brother's daughter performing. The key addition to her piece the the tag she sewed to the bottom right corner. It was the symbol they used on the properties during the hurricane to tell rescuers information regarding inhabitants.

Connie tried out some new techniques and made this colorful, festive quilt! I do believe she is one of the only ones who stared hers last summer! I love the rickrack she used.

Melanie is one of our procrastinators! She took Friday off to work on her carnival piece, even working on it on the drive to guild! She always pulls one out of the hat though. Her carnival quilt is great! I especially love her hand stitched fireworks.

Susan, also a new member to our art quilt group, does inspired work. She used her snow and ice dyed fabrics to make this truly gorgeous mask. Note the beading and the background.

Donna used photos from her childhood, printed on fabric, surrounded by beautiful batiks. Recalling the memory of family and fun, "Peachy's" sentimental entry was a treasure.

Diana's little quiltlet struck a chord with me. Using a picture of her granddaughter on a carousel, she recreated it in fabric. Never having taken a class for this, she nailed it! I love her use of lame for the poles. Wonderful piece that proves size does not matter!

Eileen's memory of fairs from her childhood always included fireworks. I absolutely love that she used this vintage symbol of a firework!

There you have it! I was awed by all the creativity. It will make a display to be proud of at our Richmond Library here in Batavia, the entire month of February!
I love a challenge. I love to have an assignment and a deadline. Wonder what Tracy will announce next month as our challenge for this year!

I had a good sew day. Worked on my HGTV UFO challenge today. I managed to sew an entire quilt top today. It won't win accolades, but it is growing on me. I need to quilt it and finish to post by Feb. 15th. I am on target.

My art quilt group started our embellishing RR. I have 3 idea's for Emmy's traditionally pieced, Amish inspired quilt. I love that it's all solid colors. The blocks are baskets. The first thing I thought to do was flowers of course. Then I thought I would like to work with the wide border. I will set the tone for this piece, so I am carefully pondering my options!

Michael leaves in 16 days for boot camp.

I have learned:

-4 lbs this week. It's a good start.
Melissa is a good caretaker for Sophia, Dave's 18 month old daughter. She sent me a pic of Sophia helping her make dinner.
Feeling like a last man standing with friends retiring.
Project Runway All-Stars is missing something. May be the I-already-know-you factor instead of the anticipation of getting-to-know-you each week. Regardless, I do like to see what they all come up with. I did think Rami's dress was more Miss Piggy than Michael's.
I just love my cats. Chester the old coot, Clifford the eater of all things cat food, in every dish, and Fiona the sweet round fur ball. Chester's hyper thyroid condition is advancing, in spite of his daily medication. It has been almost 2 years on the meds.
I want to see the new Sandra Bullock/Tom Hanks movie about 9-11. Waiting to get it on Demand and view at home is probably a good idea. I suspect it will invoke intense emotion.
Michael is addicted to "Lost". I have been encouraged to start season 1.

Letting Go...

2012-01-15T20:32:00.001-05:00

I happened upon this post a few minutes ago. It seems there is a lot of letting go going around. I mentioned in a previous post that I was getting rid of SOMETHING every day. I have been doing that for almost three weeks. The Yellow Box has some of old clothes, the Paper Recycling Box has old books, Arnold's has pounds of old metal from the garage and an avid knitter has a slew of knitting mags and a big trash bag full of yarn! The trash has also been a destination daily for many things that needed to just go....now.

My work is cut out for me. I have accumulated so much in the 8 years I have lived in this house. I am trying to be a more careful consumer. I don't want to take two steps back with each step forward!

I have a stack of good arty & quilty books that I want to sell...maybe ebay. Not sure how all that goes. It has been on my list of things to do for years! Maybe I was waiting for NOW.

So every day I will continue to toss, donate and share something, until I feel I am sufficiently uncluttered.
In 1997 I had a liberating letting go when I moved with my son & daughter to a two bedroom apartment from a big farmhouse. All my bedroom furniture was forfeited, since for 6 years I had no bedroom to house it. The living room couch was my bed. I didn't mind.

A few years later all my stored belongings had to be trashed. Very sentimental, childhood memento's were covered in mold. I still remember the day I threw away boxes of albums. Albums that were important to me for various reasons. Many things that I had dragged along with me for five moves. It pained me. But in the end it is only "things".
So I have had much experience letting go of things.

It is the letting go of habits, people and high hopes, that are more difficult. They take more emotionally. Harder than the "thing" thing.
This is a year of changes. Some I see right in front of me, some I suspect are on the horizon.

Michael leaves in a few short weeks for boot camp in Oklahoma. When he goes, he is done with life in my care. He will be a soldier and in June, a husband. His room will become part of the letting go. It is the end of an era for me, the mother. My main roll, my first roll...mother. My kids are on their own now, no more in the wings! I have to let go of what has defined me since I was 21 years old.

Work has been getting increasingly more trying both physically and mentally over the last year. I have questioned my stamina to carry on like this for 4 more years. I hope to have options. Of the 33 years with the same company I have been in this position for almost 16 of them, the longest time in one job in all that time.

I have rejoined, again, Weight Watchers. I will be letting go of pounds this year! I so want to let go of the letting go of WW and stick it out to Lifetime.

Will be letting go of some tree lumber and some acres. High hopes.

So I have my 51st year on earth cut out for me. I suspect there are going to be a few things this year that are not unexpected, but will be the epitome of letting go. I wish to be wrong.

I have learned:

I so enjoy reading Stephen King. 11/22/63 is my current read. He is so adept at nailing each characters essence. The storyline is secondary for me.
Ricky Gervais is funny. The accent doesn't hurt.
Shock Wave Therapy done. I should see results within six months with the plantars fascitis.
The Decemberists. Good listen.
My carnival challenge for guild is 90% finished. I do have 5 more days!

Last Finished Project 2011

2012-01-02T14:58:00.000-05:00

She looks good as on a pillow! My oldest, best friend, Pam, claimed this CQ block from Nicki's summer challenge. I used a vintage trim and the backing is a piece of fabric from her MIL's stash. I will have to remember to get it back from her for the quilt show in October!

My charity raffle quilt has been the bane of my existence for a too many hours. I am ditching the replacement quilt. I am going to send my first one, the one I felt I just could not let go of. Karma. I want to tie it though. It suits the old wool penny design. Of course it is not a traditional penny quilt. Not sure if it will even be accepted by our host....I am late.

My Carnival challenge piece is coming along. I have decided to add to it. Can't show it yet! I have til the 21st to complete it for the reveal at quilt guild. Plenty of time.

And since I haven't enough projects to switch to and fro, I cut a large block of wool pieces for the first block in Susan Brubaker Knapp's pattern, Bohemian Bouquet. I bought this from her when she did a trunk show at our HGTV Retreat in North Carolina in April. What a trunk show it was too! She does great work and is very gracious.
I love to hand stitch wool and needed a night time project to pick up and work on, one ready to go with no decisions to be made.

The holiday's are over. Something was missing for me this year. My demeanor is not light and jolly. Maybe next year. 2012 will be a year of changes. Michael leaving in a month being the biggest one. I already cannot think about it. Tears every time. Melissa is in a new relationship that has, as it should, encompassed her fully. Dave has a little girl, Sophia. I get to meet her today! She is a little porcelain doll. I know this is how it goes in motherland. I expect I will embrace and combat the melancholy!

I read on a blog somewhere, about 30 day challenges. One of them was to get rid of something every day. I am doing that. I have way, way, way too much stuff. I have a bag of clothes ready for a yellow box. I have tossed some things from my sewing room that I will not use. I have bagged up some knitting mags and yarns for Dave's mom, an avid knitter. The garage is less consumed after a metal scrapping run that yielded $70. It is all metaphorical. Of course the energy required to complete these tasks are at a premium. Slow and steady has always been my motto. I am seeing a New Years resolution taking shape. Apply pressure.

I have learned:

Michael's graduation from boot camp land's on the day Bruce Springsteen is rumored to be in Buffalo.
Found iPod. Charged it. Will learn to use it. Thanks to Sarah and Jim for loading it up for me!
I love Fibermania's blog. This is a technique, I will be trying out. Soon
Going to Bride's World bridal show in Buffalo Sunday. June 8th is the final answer! Sean Patricks.
Radial Shock Wave Therapy on the foot. 1 down, 2 to go. Ouch.
Project Runway marathon! I could watch them all over and over.
Chester, the eldest of the three cats, loves this pet bed. The chair was my granmother's. She sat in it to knit. I covered it in this fabric many years ago. I need to cover it again.

Tattoo Tale

2011-12-27T08:51:00.002-05:00

A recent discussion on HGTV message boards about tattoo's and who has them and what we think about them inspired me to share pics of my son's tats. It is a creative expression both from the artist and the adorned, meant to be a statement of some sort, reflecting something of import. My 23 year old, college graduate son, is enlisted in the US Army. He is scheduled to leave for boot camp on February 7th. It didn't come as a surprise to me that he felt the need to serve. His large eagle tattoo is a nod to his patriotism.

"For family we live. Through family we live on..." Andrew Gramza, 21, his cousin (his dad's wife's nephew) died as a result of injuries from a car accident in November, 2010. Michael had this sentiment tattooed on his back to commemorate him.

"Urraim" was his first tat on the back of his right arm. He researched Gaelic words to find the one that would express how he felt about his family. Honor, respect and reverence. Choosing a Gaelic word for my father, Michael Joseph Darcy, who was from Ireland.
The one thing I advised to both Melissa (who has two tattoo's also...will get good pics of them soon) and Michael was to make sure the ink means something to you. A dancing Tigger on the forearm might seem like a cute idea at the time....avoid this!
I don't have any. I don't plan to get any at this point.

Christmas is over. I managed to keep most of the holiday stress and chaos free. Dinner at my sisters was as crazy as it got! Michael brought Jenn for a few hours and Melissa brought Dave for dinner. The tryptophan (turkey was the main food fare) kicked in and the 50 minute drive home was too long! Ian and Darcy were wonderful. I will be sharing shopping time with them this week as we continue the birthday tradition of buying exactly what they want with my gifted money! It is an event...we shop, we eat and we talk. Fun for all of us.

I have a big, huge, quilting job ahead of me. I keep putting it off. I can't put it off any longer! My black and white and red "penny" quilt must go under the needle. I am not a fan of machine quilting. Quilting to me is the least fun part of the entire process of making a quilt. Dread. Frustration. Aggravation. This all awaits me and my Bernina. Ugh.

I have learned:

Michael and Jenn are engaged! She is a sweetheart. She is on board with the military thing and where it will take her. They will make a good team. Hoping we can count on a date for his "leave" after boot camp and training. June is the target month!
Vacation this week. No work. No oppression. I can always bid out! With 4 years left, you would think I would not have to consider this. Since @*@ has been on the scene...his boss was fired, he has "fired" a long time female worker...twice fired another guy, two others have felt the need to bid out of our service center to avoid being fired. Complaints to human resources about discriminatory behaviors. Pending lawsuit. Every day is a challenge. Not a good one.
Bruce Springsteen on tour in 2012...rumor has it Buffalo on the list!

Live Well & Be Happy. My Wish for You.

2011-12-18T17:09:00.001-05:00

That's all we can do, isn't it? These words resonate with me. So much that I have stitched them twice. I may stitch them again.

Will make a nice pillow. Silent auction at our quilt show in October maybe? I need to cut some more wool and have some satisfying handwork at night. Love stitching it.

Busy time of year. I have conscientiously made them less hectic. I don't like that it all gets soaked up with have-to-be-here and have-to-be-there's....making sure I have the obligatory gift in exchange for their obligatory gift. I am sure the bleak state of the economy and daily reminders that all is not well in the entire world (and this is on my limited news updates, since I don't read the paper, nor watch news with any regularity), has everything to do with my realistic attitude. I truly don't want any gifts, unless it is something made for me, with what you have on hand. Make me a CD of music you know I like...an ornament that says me to you...a little treasure you may come across in your junk drawer, that you know I would see the beauty in. Play a game of Scrabble with me. Leave me alone to create! I will enjoy my holidays with this in mind. Therefore, I will enjoy the special-ness of the holidays. You say Scrooge, I stay sane!

Last week's guild meeting was so inspired. Not only was it our annual Holiday Party, with many yummy dishes and goodies, but was the Bag Challenge reveal and Secret Sister Santa Stocking exchange. I was absolutely thrilled with the solutions to the challenge Elaine and I gave these brave participants! See this post on our guild blog (scroll down a bit to get to the bag challenge!) I was just so excited by this reveal that I didn't get pics of the wonderful stockings 20 women exchanged! Believe me, they were wonderful. I wasn't sure if the stocking thing was a good call when I decided to do it, but my friend Melanie told me to go with it and if it didn't work out, change it next year! It did work out!

I love this winged mannequin with tulle skirt and ribbon accents. Jen made it for me. She is a very talented paper artist. Melissa and I have taken some classes from her, the latest one we made 15 Christmas cards and 3 ornaments. I love her style and am so happy that she is really getting her own thing going teaching more. She knows I like winged things!

I have all 16 of my F8 blocks back now. Everyone did such a great job on them. Thank you! Now to decide how it will all go together.

After Jenn, Michael's GF, and I made a run to Joann Fabrics and Michaels yesterday, we both worked on a project at the kitchen table. This is what she made! A 94 cent composition notebook was transformed with scrapbook paper, lace and old Scrabble tiles into a mother/daughter journal. She even made a bookmark we completed with silk ribbons and tucked it inside a pocket in front cover. Nice gift option.

I posted a pic of this postcard for Cloth Paper Scissors, a few weeks ago. I knew it needed some tweaking. I added the silver letters and used some Tim Holtz black soot distressing ink on the game card to take up some of the white space. I need to mail it now. This is for a call they have right now.

My daughter Melissa turns 29 Tuesday. 29. years. old. I remember when my sister and i found out my mother was 29 by overhearing our grandmother expressing shock at a 29 year old nun playing football at recess. My mother's twin, Kathy, was the nun. Noni and I commiserated and announced we knew how old our mother was! Sneaky little children!

At 29 I had been working for 11 years and had 2 kids and a first house.

Happy birthday Melissa!

Clifford, Melissa's cat, has come back home. Home is here. He was running away. I am sure JJ, the little dog, had everything to do with that. I am happy to have him though. There was a short adjustment period for Chester and Fiona, but all seems to have settled already.What's a little more food and a bit more poop to scoop?!

I have learned:

I don't like working in the setting triangles for a quilt top set on point. Thearica's Ronald McDonald raffle quilt in the works! Ugh. Not having fun.
RoCo showing members only exhibit. Really cool stuff. Worth the time.
Extreme Materials 2 at MAG in Rochester. I liked quite a few pieces, but some left even me thinking "what were they thinking?" Menstrual blood belongs....well, not on a canvas.
I love the singer's voice in this commercial for j'ador by Dior. "Heavy Cross" by Gossip.
Watching "An American in Paris" with Gene Kelly. So far, so good!
My SSSS stocking gift package mailed to ------------- in --------. I have received mine and we will all open them together on the 23rd!

Secret Santa Sister Stocking

2011-12-02T10:06:00.001-05:00

I made my first lined Christmas stocking. Found a good tutorial on a blog that showed how to pull the inside out through a 3" opening in the lining seam. Easy. This will be for my Secret Santa Sister Stocking on HGTV message board. I used all red fabrics and thread, with silver beads, Scrabble tiles and a cool vintage edge from a chenille spread. I have made a few gifts for the stocking but cannot show them til my SS has opened her gift on December 23rd. Nicki plans it so we all try to open at the same time. I haven't done this swap before but everyone raves about it. Kind of excited actually!

Mary Lee gave me a bag of Kunin felt and I decided to find the pattern I knew I plucked out of a Fons & Porter magazine, December 2006. "itty bitty penny rug" by Bonnie Sullivan. Loved the pattern and presentation. It is 5" x 7" and they mounted on wool in a rustic wooden frame. Stitching wool is so satisfying. I love seeing the way the edges pull down with each tiny stitch.

I have such a great stash of wool from Salvation Army and friends!

I have started another project from this book, Applique Outside the Lines. I love the words "love well and be happy". I used this sentiment last year on a tablerunner for a benefit auction my sister ran for a dear friend. This one will be smaller. Not a linear presentation, it is configured on a square wool base. Not sure what it will be yet. A wallhanging? a bag? a center for a quilt? For now I will enjoy stitching it.

Back to work yesterday after a great vacation week. Went with my sister, Noni, and Ian and Darcy to Cincinnati to gather with my cousins Tracy and Jeff and their families. My aunt and uncle from Florida and aunt and uncle from Louisville also there. We made the trek last year. My sister and I are all that is left here, so it is nice to be a part of extended family for a couple of days. My cousins did not grow up in Buffalo but they were present in our younger years and a visit with them was always highly anticipated! Laughing is the one common denominator in every interaction. There is an indisputable bond and I am glad to know it again. I was on the fence about leaving my kids.I couldn't commit to going until the weekend before. My kids are 23 and 28. Not little children! Of course they were fine and involved in their significant others' Thanksgivings.

***************************************************************************

This is the 3rd time I have tried to finish this post! I have not felt well all week. Sore throat started Sunday and has progressed to a sinus infection. Waiting on call back from doc now.

It is snowing.

Michael is in the air right now on his first flight ever, to Minnesota for his game tomorrow! He bought a couple CD's on iTunes last night....soothing music. Melissa told him to sit near a cuddle buddy and listen to Faith Hill!

I have learned:

Talia, a 31 year old HGTV quilt message board member, died last Wednesday. She had gastric bypass years ago and has had increasing health issues ever since. Sad news.
Bruce Springsteen will be touring next year! Hope he comes near Buffalo.
Reading When God was a Rabbit. Good book. Laughed out loud already.
Nicki and Thearica are featured in Pat Winter's newest issue of Crazy Quilt Gathering
the Ikea store in Cincinnati was a sensory overload experience! I loved it! I bought a yard of this fabric and am only sorry I didn't cut more! I paid $6.99 for the yard. I want an Ikea store in Batavia!

Improv Pieced Mini blocks

2011-11-20T21:23:00.001-05:00

Some improvisational pieced mini blocks. No measuring, just sewing and satisfaction! These fabrics were what made up the pom-pom on the fabric prize I won at George Sciciliano's lecture last fall. Just couldn't throw them out.

That is Virginia, George's wife with me and the cool fabric pom pom.

St John Fisher beat an undefeated team Saturday to move on to the second round of playoffs! They will travel to Doylestown, PA next week. Michael is lovin' life!

Melissa is happy. She is dating a guy from back in the day..middle school days. I re-met him today and I like him. Things are good!

Guild was wonderful yesterday! Busy. Val Schultz was our speaker. Her work is as inspiring as she is gracious. Good day with good friends.

I have now received 12 of the 16 blocks in the F8 swap. This will be a pretty cool quilt. Thank you friends!

I am on track with all the upcoming due dates on various projects.
My stocking for SSSS is ready to be sewn together...gift bag using duct tape and t-shirt under way to go with the stocking. Want to make a make-do pincushion if I have time with some of the wool my friends have been supplying me with! Yummy wool.
Bag Challenge is put together, just need to add a couple of things and quilt it.
My Carnival Challenge took a turn today....came across some cool blocks in my UFO pile, pieced it up and yes, looks like carnival to me!
I do need to work on my charity quilt for Thearica's raffle. Have some circle blocks to make and trying to figure out the easiest, quickest way to do them.
Feel good about my progress. I will be taking some handwork with me to Cincinnati. My sister will be driving, so I can stitch!

I have learned:

Paging through a past issue of Cloth Paper Scissors, I found these wonderments! I want to find some wire and have at it. Love these. A lot.
"Beautiful Boy". Good movie.
"Hunger Games" is a good read. I am troubled by the subject matter. It is young adult.
Annual mammogram tomorrow....ouch already.
Martha and her committee have completed the raffle quilt for our show next October. It is bright and beautiful! (I just can't get it to post below...so that is it above!)

Postcard for CPS Magazine

2011-11-14T18:44:00.001-05:00

Cloth Paper Scissors magazine has issued a call for postcards in their current issue. I haven't made one in a while, but all you need to know is keep your composition within a 4" x 6" rectangle. I started with a game card from an old Adverteasing game. "Your world should know no boundaries". I didn't even look on the back for the answer! Anyone know what company used that in their ad?
The truth/dare is from a Country Living. Still recycling the 30 winged hearts I made a few years ago for a guild challenge, our 30 year anniversary as a guild. I love banners. Reminds me of when I was a kid, collecting banners from all the places we went. Remember those old felt things? Wish I had those now. The blue is dyed wool squares I cut up last year for a mosaic art quilt. The red felt is backed by old book page paper.
The only thing I haven't committed to on this piece, is the "soar" letters. I don't love them. The red part is too small to machine stitch a letter. Tried rub ons and they don't stick to the felt. I will have to go to Michaels to see if anything else works for me.
I had fun making this PC. It will be hand stamped soon.

Melissa's altered book is ready to go to Jody! So is Nicki's book! ( Jody, they will be there waiting for you when you return from Spain! )
Melissa's theme is Lost and Found.

She began her book by using a cool bit of metal she found on a walk. Melissa is masterful at the aging/distressing thing! I love her style. Her color sense is good too. Love these pages.

Pockets were created with torn pages, then old ephemera stamped and tucked inside.
I settled on a Found and Lost idea. Some of you know we had a large greyhound for almost 7 years. Dean was a docile dog. A sweetheart that would cause me and my vacuum grief at times! Dean had a fast growing tumor at the top of his front leg. We "lost" him this past March.

I found old 35mm negatives of Dean. How quaint, 35mm film. I stitched them to white paper so you can see them better. In the envelope is Dean's official paperwork from the track in Iowa, his home for the first 4 years of his life. There is even a letter from the caretaker telling us what he liked and how he had a pin in his leg. Obviously, he was loved.

On the "lost" page I made a booklet from a trimmed manila folder. Thanks to Sportos Jen, I know how to do that!

The rub on sofa's are from Michaels also. It refers to the four couch's I went through in those years. He was a loafer!
It was nice to work on these pages and remember what a great pet Dean was. I feel like we have a place for his memory now.
Next up is Jody's book. A purple, word., quote or women writers theme, since her old book is titled Editing Women. I have an idea. Need to find some papers and begin!

Working steadily on my SSSS stocking and gift for HGTV swap. I was going to start something new, but decided to work with the original project. Not enough time. I bought a t-shirt on ebay to make a special something gift that I hope she will love. I have til mid December to get this done. No problem!

Finally made some black binding to finish the edges of the jacket I worked on in the spring in Martha's class. Will be stitching that down later. I just could not make the same jacket again to sew as a lining. This will work!

Well Fisher Cardinals are in the playoffs! I am glad for Michael. Nice way to end the 16 year football career! Of course this prolongs the regular season.

Fiona spent the day snoozing on this quilt. She held her own there, even as Chester, the old coot cat, thought he would try a sneak attack on her. Fiona won!

These three day weekends are nice. I had enough vacation to take them off, with one exception in December, for the rest of the year. I have two weeks off too....Thanksgiving and Christmas. I need it. These last few weeks have taken a toll. Depression is not usually associated with me. I can shake most things with my little bag of coping skills, but I think I have been struggling for a long time to keep up with the overload. It hit the fan two weeks ago and a new attitude has taken its place. Retirement can't come soon enough.

I have learned:

Catholic schools in the area are regrouping. Again. Both Melissa and Michael's girlfriend work as teachers at Catholic schools.
Jimmy Kimmel had parents play a Halloween prank on their kids. Funny!
I am reading The Hunger Games at the strong recommendation of Melissa and the entire Bachwitz clan. I like it so far. Written well. Movie comes out next year.
I must be getting old....I have mammogram, colonoscopy, podiatrist and dermatologist appointments in the next few weeks. That doesn't even cover the cholesterol issues I need to deal with!
You have to see what my friend Charlyn did in Colleen's altered book. Wow. I can't wait to see this when I get her book.

Altered Book Pages

2011-10-29T12:35:00.001-04:00

I have been slowly working on Nicki's Lace book pages. She left off on the left with her page and my first page is on the right. We had to use lace. Harder than I thought it would be! I painted the background of each set of pages with oil paints. Blue is her favorite color. I used a stamp and silver ink over painted background, added overlapping rows of lace trim, lace and sequined butterflies, a magazine ad butterfly and a rhinestone butterfly off a pair of sandals from Salvation Army.

My other two pages are more me, with some lace additions. Since Nicki mentions the beach on one of her pages I asked Melissa, on one of her grocery shopping forays for me, to find me a vintage beach themed greeting card. I love this one! Fun, colorful and cool! The top half of the page has a sheer fabric under the sunny lace motif, with a sun pendant glued on top. Another vintage lace strip runs over the pic, and Nicki's own hand dyed lace circles down the side. I cut the words "such good friends" from an old book.
The right side has lace across the bottom, a card from an old game and a few bits I made into tags.
I am still thinking of stamping some words.
Was fun to work with materials I may not choose to use. That is the best part of doing these RR's. You are challenged to do more with your imagination!

Melissa gave me Jody's book to work on. Jody, her mom, me and Melissa are doing a RR! I love seeing what Melissa comes up with!
Jody's theme is women in literature and her colorway is mostly eggplant and other shades of purple.

These are the two page spreads Melissa did. Love the pockets made from torn pages and the addition of the brads. She used a silver wash over her pages to give them a really shimmery effect. It's great. I picked up a few sheets of scrapbook paper that will work here. I don't have a plan for my work yet.

Michael has turned 23 this month. My baby is getting old. Last home football game tonight. Senior night, so we all have to do the walk to mid-field with him. Hope it doesn't snow!

Each recent day has been passing in an overworked whirl. We are so short people at work that I am being sent out doing jobs that are time sensitive,which leaves all the other tasks I am responsible for not done. I am frustrated every day at work. I have never experienced, in over 32 years, such sloppy, on the fly supervision/management. Makes everyday a misadventure. So needless to say, I am tired and ragged and my plantar fasciitis is not getting better.
BUT, my podiatrist has confirmed my insurance company pays for an innovative procedure called Radial Shock Wave Therapy. I need to get the requisite physical therapy sessions out of the way and we will be able to get approval for the treatments. I am hopeful this will work. I walk most of my day at work and walking in pain sucks.

Elaine is working on an art show to be held at her church. I believe it is next weekend. Jen, Michael's girlfriend, is an artist. She paints. I have four of her paintings for the show. Gorgeous!

They are truly wonderful works of art. My pics are a bit distracting with the shine of the light, but you can still see the depth of color.

Love all of them!

I have learned:

Silver Lake has a perfect retreat center for a guild quilt away. Asbury Camp and Retreat Center, right on the lake! Tracy and I toured it this week.
Anne Rivers Siddons new book Burnt Mountain. Weird.
My library has a coffee shop/cafe in it now! So new it isn't even mentioned on their website.

F8 Block Swap and CQ Challenge Block

2011-10-09T19:58:00.000-04:00

I am participating in this block swap on HGTV message board, with 17 other women. We each send a fat 8th of a fabric to each woman, and they in turn make you a block using that fabric in some way in a 12" block. I sent the blue-green flower fabric you see in each block above. I asked that no one use white. Black is my neutral. Also encouraged them to use a black & white, or any other graphic print. I knew it was an unusual request and many may be uncomfortable adding them to the soft floral....but, wow, they did and these blocks are wonderful! I love each of them. This is a pic of the six blocks I received so far.
I have made all but one of my blocks. They are paper pieced. I plan to make one of these from my fabric also. Having fun shopping my stash, making each woman's block special.
Here are the ones that have been received so far.

I love every one of them! Paper Piecing is a well served skill to learn~!

I can also share my CQ Challenge block I have been working on all summer. The voting is over now. I have to say this was a true challenge. The blue swirly fabric was tough. I am not a bluesy girl, so I added grays and greens to make it a more diverse pallet. Many stitches and beads and embellishments went in to this, every second, satisfaction!

My oldest, best friend, Pam, has claimed this! I will make it into a pillow for her soon.

Michael's football season at Fisher is winning. 4-1. Ithaca was beautiful yesterday. Great game. Hot, sweaty day. And a win in OT.

My time is so spoken for in the next few months. Between project obligations online and in guild. I am trying to prioritize them. In no particular order....
1. Thearica's Ronald McDonald House charity quilt. Wool Pennies. Trying to figure out how to proceed now.
2. 1 more F8 block.
3. Altered books...Nicki's lace theme and Melissa's Lost and Found theme.
4. Two Christmas stockings. One for Secret Sister on HGTV and one I am running with my guild.
5. Bag Challenge. Elaine and I are running a challenge in guild where each participant must use in some way, each item in the bag, including a copper scrubby and a vintage tie.
6. Sarah's little landscape of Spain for her host family. I need to do some thread painting.
7. Carnival challenge. Annual guild challenge.
8. Art Quilt Group starting a project in January. Have my base ready for embellishment by each player.
9. Lining for my Martha Class jacket.
10. Colleen's Special project. Started, need to finish.
11. Cameron has asked for a quilt. Black and red. I will do a a contemporary thing for him.

I am sure I am leaving something out!

We welcome Anita Grossman Solomon this week to our guild. I pick her up at the Buffalo Airport Wednesday after work. We have two different workshops scheduled for Thursday and Friday and a lecture at the guild meeting Saturday! I took off work for the workshop Thursday. Using stripes we will make blocks. I am using my own version of stripes. Looking forward to each day!

I have learned:

2 Broke Girls is amusing. New Girl, not so much. I like her, not her roommates, none of them.
My first quilt Shop Hop was a blast with Melanie and her mom, Maryann! Many miles were covered. Good time!
Nice listen. Let It Be Me by Ray Lamontagne. AND he covers Gnarls Barkley's Crazy. Love that song.
A silk screen using HeatnBond vinyl and organza. Quilting Arts magazine current issue. Must do!

Fran Skiles Class Work....thanks Karen, for Sharing!

2011-09-25T20:43:00.001-04:00

My friend Karen, took a class this past summer at QBL, from Fran Skiles. I was actually wait listed for this class and obviously no one backed out, because I missed this awesome-ness. Karen brought these to our last guild meeting to show me. They are her class projects, and they are really great. I absolutely love every one she made. Fran Skiles has her students work on many pieces at one time, giving them directives daily. Doing things this way ensures you make design decisions as you go, as opposed to knowing the outcome from the beginning. I work that way already. I am not good at seeing the whole picture.

These are all completed on gesso covered canvas. Collaged, transferred imagery, added fabrics etc.

More color added to this one.

Karen was not happy with this one. I think it's cool. Melissa liked this one.

This one is really cool. She said she had never done collage before and was not comfortable with the concept. Well, she certainly did a good job on all of these. I am even more disappointed to have missed this opportunity to work in Fran Skiles' class. And , she is not teaching next year at QBL. Darn.
I was so inspired by these artworks that I came home, dug out a large canvas from the closet, covered it in a layer of gesso and found at least 3 black and white photos I would like to incorporate into a collage like this! So when I have a few minutes, I will begin.

I got my first block in the HGTV F8 block swap from Mary. This is the swap where we all sent a fat eighth of fabric to each participant and they add fabrics to yours and make a 12" block.

My fabric choice is the robins egg blue floral. It is my favorite shade of blue. I encouraged them each to add a graphic print like a stripe or check and love that Mary used the plaid. I can't wait to see the blocks that are made from this beautiful fabric!
I have made 8 blocks so far. I have finally gotten the paper piecing down on my chosen pattern. What makes me want to continue making them is seeing how all my fabric combinations turn out in a block. Once they are received by new owners, I will be able to post pics of them.

My CQ Challenge block is finished, pics emailed to Nicki. Next week she can post the pics and people vote. There is actually monetary prizes. How cool would that be!?

My friend Elaine, is putting together an art show at her church this November. She has enlisted some of us to contribute a piece or two! We can sell or not. Jen, Micheal's girlfriend is an artist...a painter. She will be showing. I am not sure what I will do for this. Have to take a look at some things, decide if anything fits the show. I do have ideas however! Always have ideas...

I have learned:

Camera lessons on this blog. Great info.
CSI:NY season premiere, excellent. Check it our OnDemand. Very touching remembrance of 9-11.
Ben & Jerry's has named a new flavor of ice cream....Swheddy Balls. Eww.
Ray Lamontagne....Let it be Me. So nice.
Melissa has taken in a little 5 year old pup. JJ is 5 and a mix of Chihuahua and some sort of terrier. One of those specialty mixes. He is precious. We continue rescuing pets!

First Portrait Quilt in Progress

2011-09-18T22:00:00.000-04:00

What a great workshop Marylee taught after our monthly guild meeting yesterday! She covered her process of building a picture into a quilt in our program beforehand, so the group that stayed were really ready to begin the project.
This is a pixelated blow up of my sister, Noni. Her proper name in Noreen. She is 15 months younger than me. She is about 3 here. On the right is my in-process, in a monochromatic colorway. I have four fabrics, 3 are laid down here. A light,medium light, medium and dark. You also see the drawing/pattern on clear vinyl over the top. This is used as a placement guide, much like some people do for applique. When all the bits are finally in the correct position, since she has warned us that a very marginal misplaced piece can skew the entire piece, we will fuse them in place. Marylee had us start our first foray into picture quilting, with a monochromatic color palette, because it is more forgiving than flesh tones. I have to say I love it! I love the whole process. Can't wait to have time to get back to this. It does require concentration.

Beth is doing the Hanson's! First I love that she is making hers in shades of orange, but her line drawing looks pretty cool! Can't wait to see it finished.

Cynda had a great picture of her puppy! Look at that line drawing! This will be really great when it is done.

Marylee made this quilt for our chocolate challenge last year. It was my favorite. I believe she calls this "More Chocolate Cake Momma" . Its her son.

Everyone totally absorbed in the task at hand. Fun day with friends!

Michael's football game was in Rochester at Sahlens Sport Park last night. They play University of Rochester in the annual Courage Bowl which benefits Camp Good Days. A just cause. After the familiar football roller coaster this week (will he start, will he play, is his shoulder re-injured, is his knee holding up, is his hip not aching) he did start and play three quarters until the next string went in since Fisher was winning 52-3. They won. Good game.

After final tweaking in my altered book for the RR with Melissa, Jody and her mom, I am ready to mail to Jody. Here are pics of the final product. Searching for all the bits, deciding what to add next is what makes doing these books exciting at every junction. I will be working on Melissa's book next.

Final front cover.

Inside cover and facing page. I made a transfer of a Batavia map with packing tape. (regular clear packing tape, a copy of your image, burnish well, soak in warm water til you can rub off all paper pulp on tape and voile) The "x" silver brad marks where I live. On the facing page I recycled a vellum envelope with my address on it by stitching it down to a scrapbook bit with some bandage gauze in between.

Final second page layout...I glued the pull down, altered file folder to the far left. Adding silver stamping, black oil pastel and silver and gold gel pen accents.

The pull down says..."be patient" aunt molly said. My Aunt Molly, actually my father's aunt, was the most influential woman in my life. She preached patience to Noni and I as children. I do possess patience. Most of the time.

I actually emptied three boxes of fabric and put them in a cubby in my someday-soon studio upstairs! The task of getting it all together up there is daunting! I obviously have to purge. Which is hurdle number one. I do love my stuff! But I found I love some things far less now than when I acquired them. Batiks anyone?

Watching the Emmy's right now. Some funny moments. The opening number was pretty amusing. Even when I was a kid I loved to watch award shows to see what people were wearing. Some of these women are so thin however, bones showing all over, that nothing they put on looks good. Someone should tell them.

Charlie Sheen's appearance was weird. He's just creepy.

I am just about ready for bed however, and will see all the interesting highlights on ET tomorrow evening!

A guilty pleasure since it started 30 years ago. Melissa remembers their theme song as a bedtime serenade!

This week brings me 40 hours of hard work, a podiatrist appointment and a good chance of a third painful shot in my plantar fascitis, dinner with a group of old work friends and many undiscovered adventures I am sure!

I have learned:

The New Girl looks promising as a new favorite comedy.
Will actually watch Two and a Half Men this week. I didn't watch because Charlie Sheen is gross.
Paper piecing should be less frustrating. I love the sharp points though. Worth the effort.

PC's and Thoughts on the Day.

2011-09-11T22:15:00.001-04:00

As I was going through my box of PC's (Postcards) I came across my own samples that I sent out in swaps a few years ago. This is one of my favorites! The orange background is cotton velvet, with wall sticker butterfly wings from the dollar store, cool discounted upholstery fabric (the house), charms and Scrabble tiles I drilled with a teeny tiny bit and sewed down. I loved making these.

This one uses the same orange cotton velvet in a Halloween theme. Notice all the seed stitching, by hand, in the background. I needle felted the ghost image.

Needle felted flower with beads. The background is a felted wool sweater.

I haven't made a PC in a while. Michael's GF, Jen, asked for idea's for a presentation in her Master's class at Buff State. I thought a PC would make a great project. I really enjoyed going through all the PC's I received in past swaps. When I get them all back I will post some of my favorites. I have one from Ireland, Ukraine and Norway. I love seeing the PO stamps on the reverse side.

Michael started in his season opener at St John Fisher, last night! They won, 12-7, against Buffalo State, Melissa's Alma mater. Good game. Great night for a football game!

This day cannot go by without mentioning 9-11-01. It was an awful day. I was at work. While in the front office, talking with the girls, I could tell by the tone of the person talking on the muffled radio, that something was happening. I asked Bonnie to turn the radio up. That was just after 9 AM. At that time we thought it was a terrible accident. As I was getting my truck ready to leave for the day, my boss, Charlie, came out to the garage saying "What the hell is going on? The second Trade Center building has just been hit." We knew then it was no accident.
All day we listened to reports on our radio's...a live account of each tower as it fell....to the reports of a plane hitting the Pentagon and finally the crash of a suspected terror-led plane in Pennsylvania. At this time I did not have any visuals, That shock came later.
No planes flying above us as the ban on air travel enforced.
Reports of all that death.
My kids were 18 and 12. They had no idea how life changing this day would be. No one could know then, how this would impact every day, from then on.
I couldn't watch much of the footage. It was too disturbing. I didn't want Michael and Melissa to pick up on my grave concern,.
Recently, I clicked on a youtube video recording of that day.
People were in those towers. Firefighters were in those towers.
Some of whom can be seen jumping.
Then the buildings crumble, like a well orchestrated implode. Unbelievable. Truly.
Brought tears.
All those innocent lives.
All of our lives forever changed.
Ten years ago.
My mother died in November of 2002. I remember thinking, distinctly, that she was fortunate to NOT know what was coming. I really did.
My son, Michael, has enlisted in the US Army. He is a college graduate. He feels compelled to serve. I know the last ten years have played a roll in his decision. Subliminally.
Everything changed that day.
Destiny changed.
Some would believe not.... Armageddon and all.
I do offer a prayer for all families affected.
Not that it changes anything.
I wish for peace.
*******************************************************************
I have spent hours this week working on my altered book for the little RR with Jody, her mom, and Melissa. I am working on a childhood memory theme. Hours literally flew by today as I played with paper and glue! I just love this mixed media of altered books. I will get pics when my covers and pages are complete. I am at almost stage right now!

My F8's (fat eighths) have been mailed to the other 17 participants of the HGTV block swap that Shey runs.
I have not done this before, but love the blocks made for it in the past. We all will make a 12.5" block using the F8 and fabrics from our stash. I have received 2 so far. I need to find some great blocks now.

My CQ challenge block, for Nicki's contest, is almost finished! I have a little more beading to do. I need to find the beads again! I hate when that happens! Pics due on the 22nd.

Also, I have been making progress on the little box challenge Colleen and I started 2 years ago! She finished and mailed mine to me a few weeks ago. I have vowed to not open the box until I have finished and mailed her piece to her. We acknowledged our similar style and exchanged bits with each other. We could do anything we wanted. I started her piece right away. Only recently have I picked it up again and competed the first step in the process.
I have more work to do!

I worked for days on these pages in Melissa's book. She had already torn the pages to form pockets, with the help of a couple of stitched lines, I made them a reality! I made many tags with ribbon and thread embellishments to tuck into the pockets. I used old game cards, stationary from dollar store, scrapbooking bits, and chipboard. I do not ever feel finished with these pages.

Great weekend!

I have learned:

Suits on USA. Excellent show. Smart and amusing. OnDemand for now.
Gloria Vanderbilt is Anderson Coopers mother.
The Help is a very good movie in keeping with the book. Kathryne Stockett's childhood friend wrote the screenplay and directed.
Love Edward Burns' voice. Like his face too. Audio books?

Not Enough Time.....

2011-09-01T20:53:00.001-04:00

I have been busy working on a CQ block challenge, but can't share pics of it yet! I love it. It is Nicki's challenge..we have to use the bits included in a little kit. It was a challenge and I have loved it! I have a few more beads to get down and a spider to make! It is due September 15th.

No sewing at all lately. I have been wrapped up with work and cat's vet appointments or kid things....or niece and nephew things too, as Ian was here Friday and Saturday and Darcy on Sunday!
Michael had a football scrimmage at Morrisville Saturday. It would have been a far less stressful drive on the NYS Thruway if I hadn't had to backtrack 30 miles and covertly key my way into the football locker room at St John Fisher! Yes, my son calls when he is 5 minutes from Morrisville, confirming he had forgotten his cleats in his locker. At school. In Rochester. I got them. Back on the road, with the caravans of lift trucks heading east to assist with Hurricane Irene's electricity outages and the NY State Fair traffic in Syracuse. It would only have been made worse if there was torrential downpours. I definitely had my Traffic-bitch face on! I know Ian can handle it, my sister is not far from this also, but Michael's GF, Jen, may have had a little shock!

I know the next 2 months will be this crazy, since there are football games to get to. It is Michael's last year. Not sure Maryland and Massachusetts is in the cards however. I am feeling more worry this season, since his health and well being are made more important with his obligation to the Army come February. February 7th to be exact. That is the day he leaves for boot camp in Oklahoma.

Fiona's maiden voyage to the vet came today after work. She mewed all the way there....and hissed as the Vet gave her a shot. She is so precious. Here is a cute pic of my fluffy baby. I love how she has to be in my proximity....in the room I am in....near me.

Animals provide so much love and companionship. Yes, I am a cat-lady!

I hope to have something interesting to share in the near future. But if I don't, I have interesting maternal interactions to share for sure! I am a mom first and foremost!

I have learned:

Ombre is cool. Project Runway has a little commercial showing some garments made with ombre fabrics. I remember my first exposure to ombre, in 9th grade. I made a blue ombre skirt and tube top, with a lace fabric jacket that tied with ribbon, for my Moving Up Day Dance. In retrospect, I am a bit troubled by the fact that the ombre fabric was polyester, but I only had a Singer store and Woolworth's store to purchase any fabric at in my area! I truly loved the ensemble. I actually went to this dance with Chuck, my kids' father. 1976.
Michael bench pressed 225 lb. 23 x's. 2nd best on the team.
Flummoxed. Good word.
Windham fabrics has a Gees Bend line.
Isadora Duncan died by strangling on her silk scarf as it became entwined in the tire of the sports car she was riding in. When I Googled her, I came across alot of information and am intrigued by her life in the early 1900's.
Melissa is happy and getting on with her life. School starts next week. She has been readying her new classroom.
My "Slipping Away" quilt, for the AAQI initiative, is going to the quilt show in Houston, along with 1499 other quilts. #7683

Altered Book Bit

2011-08-21T22:22:00.001-04:00

One page I have been working on for Melissa's altered book. It represents home. Our home. The three of us...her, me and Michael. She included a bunch of scrap booking items to use, which included the vellum quotes. I liked this one from Ralph Waldo Emerson..."The ornament of a house are the friends who frequent it"...but changed the "friends" to "family". Her theme is the small things in life. From where you come is more than small, but shapes the way you see all the small things. This page will be treated as a tag, and will be tucked in to pockets made from torn book pages. Pic when it is finished.
I am happy to see Melissa take an active interest in this medium. The possibilities are endless.Her and I will be joining Jody and her mom in a round robin exchange this fall.

This old game card, awash with super fine copper glitter, will become another tag in a pocket. The mystery game is from 70's, picked up at Salvation Army. The images are really cool. I know she will love the old crown as it closely resembles a tattoo on her wrist to commemorate her friend Mo O'Grady. Mo was her close friend that died in the motorcycle accident a couple months ago.

I finally finished the two ornaments Thearica is collecting for two people on our HGTV board that have lost homes to natural disasters. I have a Sue Spargo book that shows how to make them. The yellow is from a vintage velvet bedspread. Fun project.

Today was a very lazy, rainy day. Nice to hunker down and stitch! No outdoor work required. A couple hours on the altered book and a few hours stitching on the CQ Challenge block. I can fill every minute of every day with all the things I love to do!

Quilt guild meeting yesterday. Always a good day. Busy, a usual. Anne Fischer was our guest. She is a a quilter, dyer, thread painter and felter. Of all the quilts she showed us, this is my favorite.

I love the colors and the design. Anne does very intricate thread painting too. I posted one of her pieces back in the spring....it was a number 4 on the side of a weathered barn. She showed us this one today.

This entire piece is thread. Beautiful.

Show and Tell is always a highlight for me. I love to see what people are doing. I love it all. Big, small, finished and unfinished! I just like to see creations. I also love when I see a quilt by someone that I don't know very well and it makes me say, wow. I recognize something in them at that moment. Yesterday, Susan Rathbun showed this pieces..

It isn't her design she said, but it certainly is her interpretation of it. I love this quilt. A lot. She did all the hand stitching. She made this for her daughter who has been having a hard time after a breakup. What a loving, caring thing to do. I have always said, it isn't what you say, it's what you do that matters. I think she is wonderful.

As I mentioned today was a rainy day. I did stitch while watching a couple chick flicks. Made of Honor with Patrick Dempsey and 27 Dresses with Katherine Hiegl. Never saw either and they were perfect fare for the time. Fluffy and feel good!

I have learned:

Michael lifted 225lbs 23 times today.
Flummoxed. Good word.
Bedraggled. Apparently not a word in Pennsylvania.
FX has a new show this fall....American Horror Story. I won't watch it since I don't like scary shows, but the preview is so cool.
Melissa is an official part time employee of Michaels Craft Store! Great 2nd job.
Refinanced car loan to get 3.55%. Worth it.
My feather block has been received. Jude posted it tonight.

The Magic Feather Project

2011-08-14T19:57:00.001-04:00

Feathers for the Magic Feather Project. Jude Hill is embarking on a quest to collect 1000 feather blocks. It is fun to stitch. Check it out and make a block. 5" block. I may even make another one...
As Jude likes to reuse fabrics, she asks that you do the same. The blue linen type fabric is an old tablecloth. The white behind it is from an old curtain. Even the darker blue circle is from an old chiffon headscarf. If you scroll down on her page, you will see she has a short tutorial showing how he goes about making a feather to stitch. You know you want to make one! ( I must figure out how to get her great badge for this endeavor onto my sidebar.)

Yesterday was spent on a long overdue cleaning of my Trailblazer. Two hours vacuuming, window cleaning and clearing out. But it is done and I can cross it off my list...it has been on the list since May! After sweeping the grassy residue off the driveway, I met Melissa and Cam for dinner at Sporto's.
Today has been a rainy, thundery day. A good day to make chili (really? but it was in the crockpot and really delicious). The rest of the lazy day was spent stitching and reading. Perfect way to use the day.

Melissa and I took a class at out library Wednesday. We made cool books using manila folders. Jen showed us how to cut a cover, complete with pockets inside, and some pages. We were supplied with these great papers from 7Gypsies. Love them. Very collage-y. I haven't added the bits and pics to it yet, but here is what I made. Fun!

We used ink pads to distress the papers.

Inside right is the pocket. I cut the "GO" from the BINGO paper.

The pages, or signatures, are tied to the cover through two holes punched into each layer. I love this book just the way it is! Can't wait to see what Jen comes up with for her next class.

My Summer CQ Challenge block is due to be finished by September 1st. I am still steadily adding thread and beads to it. I will not call it done until just before I take the pictures to post for judging. I am pleased with it so far.

Well, pending the physical results this week in Syracuse, Michael has enlisted in the Army. Not Reserves. Active duty. While I support his decision, I am full of well deserved worry and concern. While he is feeling excited about the things that will challenge him, I am wondering how he will face them all without me. While he is sure it is his Patriotic duty, I am wondering how each day will feel to me as he becomes a soldier in a world out of control.
I am also immeasurably proud of him. I have raised my kids to be strong and decisive. I will have my say, but ultimately I want them to make their own decisions. He has.

One last football season at SJFC, then Fort Sill, Oklahoma for boot camp.

I have learned:

Melanie Moore won So You Think You can Dance. I wrote her name in my phone at her audition, that she would be this years winner!
Nike has a" reuse a shoe" program that takes old athletic shoes and makes running tracks, basketball courts and tennis courts from the ground up parts of the sneaker. The closest one to my town is almost 40 miles away. They need to use those drop-off boxes to make it easier from people to actually do this.
Remember the mimeograph machine? I can picture the slightly blurred ink, feel the damp page and recall the unmistakable aroma of the mimeograph copy from my youth!
Skin tags. Why?

5. AAQI. My quilt # 7683. May be next round. Slipping Away.

Woven & Quilted & Inspired by Spirit Cloth

2011-08-07T21:06:00.001-04:00

I spent a few hours hand quilting this small woven piece inspired by Jude Hill, better known as Spirit Cloth. I signed up for one of her online classes because I just love and admire, actually, how she reuses cloth and takes the time to heavily hand quilt and stitch her pieces. I love that she doesn't have to finish everything....how she pulls out an old project and adds her current signature.
This class focus's on weaving fabrics. It appeals! After watching her first few videos/audio blog-type class posts, I grabbed the thin strips left over from another day and wove them into a small composition. Today I added all the pink quilting and loved every minute of the process...loved how after stitching each row, the piece looked better and more interesting. Alive. Thinking this would look good mounted in an old wooden frame.
I have 3 other woven pieces made waiting for their next step. 2 are strips of an old sheer organza curtain, woven without a base and the other is white muslin on muslin base, waiting for me to add silk scraps in a mosaic grid pattern. Love this.

This morning, early, I sat at the machine and pieced small and tiny pinwheel blocks using the black and cream dot fabric from my jacket and the scraps from the binding on a quilt. Looks great. May be the beginning to my Carnival challenge entry for my guild's annual contest. Of course I have til January, so no rush!

Also cut and sewed a pair of nice black linen Capri's. Easy.

It is pouring rain right now. Pouring. Rain. Thunder. Lightening. Fiona is hiding.

I signed up to take a 2 day class in October to learn and make mud cloth. How cool to make a design on cloth with mud! I do hope she gets the required students to make this class a go. Will wait patiently...

I have learned:

92% humidity right now. So 8% of breathable air is not wet.
Love Bites...funny. Like the way the characters all connect...or how the writers/director make them all connect. Primetime on Demand.
I won't even say what size Capri pants I had to cut out of the pattern today. Are patterns on a different sizing scale altogether?
Melissa got the job!...at St Joseph's Elementary School in town! No more 32 mile commute a day! 1 mile from her house! She will be teaching 6-8 English/Literature. Her interview was at 9:30 AM Wednesday and had the call to confirm hiring by 1:00 PM. Proud of her!

Jacket in Progress, etc.

2011-08-01T12:23:00.001-04:00

I have spent some time this week composing and sewing my jacket together. I posted in May, I believe it was, that I was taking a class from Martha through my quilt guild. We were making "fabrics", such as Seminole piecing and wonky cut-it-up and resew with strips between it bits....I had fun playing with all those combinations of fabrics and patterns. I chose this Marcy Tilton pattern, which is meant for felted wool fabric, but I liked the style. I will make it work! It's not finished yet, but felt compelled to share it at this stage.

My last day of vacation is today. I extended my week by a day to avoid that sinking return-to-work feeling on Sunday! It worked. Each day was spent with a little hand stitching, sewing at machine, time with Melissa and Michael. My 13 year old nephew, Ian, spent the weekend enjoying the quieter surroundings of my 6 acres. I loved that I had nothing planned so every day was filled with whatever I wanted to do at the moment. Rejuvenating.

Pics of some of the stitching on my CQ petal pieces...that will one day actually be finished! Right now I am happy adding more and more work to them!

I found this image of wings online, played with the color and printed on fabric. Appliqued to velvet and hand stitched for more detail. Love the fun button face girl.

I made a yo-yo from an old headscarf and tacked down. Beads.

A nest...obviously!

Some silk ribbon and bugle bead bits.
Much stitching has been done on the Nicki Summer Challenge block. I can't show it yet though. After September 1st.

Do we send out "Don't Save the Date" cards?! After some reality checks and soul searching, Melissa has decided that cancelling her October 15th wedding is the best plan for her future. We all agree. Sometimes relationships become bad habits. Living with Cory for the last year and a half has been a revelation of bad habits. I give her credit for knowing and for taking action. All cancellations have been completed and notifications made. She is relieved. She is a strong young woman. I am proud of her.

I have learned:

Project Runway started! The first week kind of sucked though. I didn't like how they eliminated 4 designers before the first challenge.....and that first challenge was a bust. It can only get better now.
Haley Reinhart, my favorite American Idol last season, has signed a record contract.
I found this funny English sitcom on BBC onDemand. The inbetweeners. It would be so much funnier without the bleeps though!
I am working out, for the first time in my 50 years. I do have bruises on my legs from one of the leg lift machines. Let's see how it goes. Just can't face another round of WW.
The River House, by Sarahlee Lawrence. Very good read. Good writing, good subject matter and unexpected turn of events. Recommend.
AAQI Ami Simms Alzheimers Quilt initiative. I found my little quilt, "Slipping Away" on the waiting to be listed page. #7683. Not sure when it will be on the sale page. Will keep watching!

Altered Book

2011-07-19T21:37:00.001-04:00

The same group, plus a couple new talents, that created the fabric book pages, have embarked on our next endeavor! Thanks to Jody's suggestion, we are all excited about our altered books RR. I have always been intrigued by this, but needed this nudge. I actually took a class, a too short 2 hour class, at the library a few years ago.

This is what I started then. I covered the outside with black velvet and some images. I need to get it out and work on it!
Anyway, the name of my book is "vintage finds". I love all things aged and old. My page has a tarnished silver spoon, vintage tab off old index file, I sewed old crepe paper and gathered to pleat, Dean's license tag, punched picket fence edger from Martha Stewart collection (love this) from old book paper, scrapbook paper and paper from an issue of Somerset Studio. The pattern paper on back of cover is vintage as well.

I love the idea of a niche. Love shadowboxes. Something about a cozy cubby for treasures. After gluing about 40 pages together on the edges with Golden Soft Gel Medium. I cut the niche with an exacto knife.
Stamped "I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth" with those $1 alphabet stamps from Michaels.
I will be mailing this off to Jody near Chicago now. Fun begins!

Sunday, Melissa, Cory and I went on an urban adventure to Buffalo's east side. The old New York Central Train Terminal to be exact. I haven't been in that area in over 30 years. It is not a nice neighborhood. The Buffalo Police corroborated that with us after they drove the RR tracks looking for the occupants of the gray Trailblazer (mine) with the purse and phones inside.
I was taking pics of the two of them in the interesting, crumbled remains of once grand grounds. I remember being there as a young child with my grandmother and it was spectacular. Urban decay reality.
I did get some good shots though.

Cory and Melissa.

I love this shot.
After wandering too far, I did start to get nervous. There was evidence of a campfire on one of the old station pads, empty liquor bottles, lovers resembling destitution or prostitution.....I got that queasy, alarming sensation. Just after that the BPD showed up.

One former entrance. Such attention to detail. Pride in workmanship.

Pigeon's own this property.

Curious.

While I sweat and chafe my way through this week, it is with the knowledge I have next week and a day off! I need time off. I have much to do. The wedding projects beckon me. The Podiatrist beckons also. Appointment to see how she can make my left heal feel better. Walking to compensate for the pain for the last 6 months has affected the knee and hip.

I have learned:

Apparently the Buffalo Bills football team is the 10th toughest professional team to root for. It's not just football teams....it is every pro sport team. My son will agree with this. Hope reigns eternal.
French Onion Dip. Kind of retro taste sensation for me. As kids, chips and dip was a treat. Its been a recent craving.
Facebook status update makes is official. Michael is "in a relationship" with Jen.
Buffalo's Waterfront. When I worked downtown in the 80's, all that was there was a big old ship. Now there's a boardwalk and museum with cobblestone way and small bridge. Impressed.

Little Flower Quilt

2011-07-13T21:51:00.003-04:00

Here is a pic of my little Flower challenge piece. After a week of deliberating judges the results were posted on HGTV message board last night. I was so anxious to see the interpretation of each participant of this picture....

Well, I was excited to see awesome-ness!
Thearica posted all the participants quilts on her blog. You have to check these out!
My friend Colleen made my favorite. I covet it! I know she won't mind me posting her quilt. I just LOVE it. If I were a judge, this would have been my 1st place choice.

I used the Susan Carlson, Serendipity Quilts book method I talked about a few times. Using watered down glue and scraps, in my case I used squares and rectangles, to make my green and purple background. I decided those garage doors had to go, but kept the iron fence element by stitching black lines. The limb is cut from a batik...the flowers are vintage chiffon scarves....the green silk leaves are from silk blouse...and a little thread painting.

Tulle lays over the background to soften it and make the limb appear in the foreground. I had fun being challenged by this. I was actually wondering why I signed on when the original picture didn't spark an idea. I am thinking it is Thearica's southern persuasion....and the prizes she so deftly procured! One of which I won. I was honorable mention...which is like 4th place. I won a laser cut John Flynn quilt kit! I am pretty excited about this. I don't know if I will get a choice or if they will just mail one to me, but I will find out!

I have made my CQ block with the bits of fabrics included in Nicki's challenge packet. That spiral fabric was a bear to figure out how to use! That IS the challenge! I have begun stitching, so will see where it goes by the due date, 9-1-11.

The last week and a half has been one thing going wrong after another! My Trailblazer's manifold cracked to the tune of $409. My hot water tank needed a $169 repair. Yesterday after work my car was turned off, keys out of ignition but the blower inside for air was still blowing. Hmm. Can't be good, this. On down the road to my trusty mechanic....he pulls out some resistor behind the glove box...melted and wires exposed. Not good. I have no air and no blower until the part comes in. To the tune of ???

I have learned:

How to relight my hot water tank. I was scared, but I wanted hot water, if only for a little while, more.
Silver Lake is a hidden gem! I want to be there.
Rescue Me...final season, starts tonight. I know, but I like Denis Leary.
Independent Health made an automated call to me to remind me I am overdue for my colonoscopy. Oh joy.
Melissa's wedding is 3 months from Friday! I have much much work to do!
Apparently the new shovels we are stocking at work are "women's" shovels. So said old Jack-the-drain-tile installer today. Ha!
Thearica will be loading my Nancy Crow quilt onto her longarm tomorrow! She is a spectacular machine quilter. I asked her to use retro atomic symbols and just let go! I can't wait to see what she does.

July 4th and some Cool Piecing Up

2011-07-04T19:43:00.000-04:00

Picnic in the Park in Batavia at Centennial Park. I love the small town-ness of this celebration. Melissa, Cory, Michael, and Cory's parents, Karen and Bob all walked the grounds, followed by a cookout at Karen and Bob's new house. Hot dogs wrapped with bacon, burgers, pasta salad, deviled eggs and pineapple upside down cake. Still full!

In between deviling eggs and cake making, I grabbed the pile of leftover hand dyed fabric from the Iron Quilter day. A woman from guild, Cheryl Doodie, showed me how to do this cool technique that gets you a 1/4" or even 1/8" strip of fabric in your piecing. I had my sample from a few years ago to remind me how to go about it. I started piecing strips and bits and a couple hours later had this...

Very improvisational. Very satisfying. I love it.
And because I just can't waste a shred of this fabric (I still have some left, and I will use it!) I did this....

A mini weaving inspired by my online "class" with Jude Hill on Spirit Cloth. The weave is done on a backing fabric and tacked in place. I have an idea for some stitching. Also very satisfying. It's all about the process for me!

If I were to choose a work of art at the Art Gallery in Rochester to interpret, I would choose this painting. A few years ago, RAFA, did a challenge just like that. I went to the exhibit and it was excellent. Pictures were allowed....sooo when

I took last Friday off so Melissa and I could go there to check out the Fiberworks exhibit, I was disheartened to find out no pictures allowed of this very interesting show. How else so you look back for inspiration? To me the exhibit is like a traveling magazine. Out of respect for the rules, I won't post the one pic I did take...but it was really inventive. This woman had taken discarded lottery tickets, but them in star shapes and with dental floss, sewed them to a man's suit. What you didn't see readily with my eye, my camera showed she had incorporated color/value and made an American flag image.

Lunch at the Gate House Cafe in Village Gate. Nice day indeed.

I mentioned the Summertime CQ Challenge Nicki on HGTV message board is hosting. We got the bag of bits and have to use some of each fabric and lace in a block. I spent hours yesterday piecing it! Blue is not my favorite color. The blue fabric we got is a dense , 3-D, tricky bit. Using a third of this is THE challenge here! I managed. I actually counted how many swirls were in the piece, divided it by 3 and determined I had to use 15-17 of them in my block! Since this is a competition, I can't show pic of it til voting is over in September sometime. I have alot of stitching to do, but this is the fun, dress up stage. Many idea's brewing!

I have learned:

My Trailblazer sounds like a race car. Muffler? Catalytic Converter? I won't find out til Wednesday. Meanwhile.....music....loud.
Tomorrow is my 32nd anniversary of my start date at National Fuel. I was 18, two weeks out of high school when I took the bus to downtown Buffalo, in a borrowed flannel dress. to work summer help on the 8th floor in Materials Management. (yes, a flannel dress, in July. No one told me not to!) I am once again in Materials Management, but in the Operations end....different union, like a new job 15 years ago.
The Voice. Javier was my least favorite all along.
The Bernina Bernette 82e that I won at Iron Quilter is in the shop. After Melanie had a look-see and verified I wasn't inept, I called The Bobbin Case and dropped it off for a timing belt repair. Linda, the owner is a lovely woman in her 70's that opened the Bernina Machine shop almost 20 years ago! Since I am giving this machine to Melissa, in hopes that she learns to sew and stops asking me to do everything for her, she will pick it up and receive free lessons! What a great prize.
Why have I never seen these fabrics before? Thanks to an article in a magazine, I found her website. Marcia Derse. Her third line of fabrics with Troy Fabrics. Wow. I want every one from all three lines!

Pat & Mike

2011-06-28T21:44:00.000-04:00

My parents would have been married 51 years on June 25th. Cancer took my mother in November 2002, and an assumed heart attack took my dad 9 months later. They were 61 and 66 at the time.
I love this picture. Their whole wedding album is a story....a moment in time recorded on June 25, 1960.
Michael Joseph Darcy was a handsome Irish immigrant with a thick brogue and a twinkle in his gorgeous blue eyes, attending a dance at the Irish Center in South Buffalo, where he met Patricia Elizabeth Dolan!
It is interesting to see ones parents as young hopeful newlyweds. We all have been there. It is by design I suppose that hope springs eternal while young. Thus we insure the cycle of life. All stories have their endings...my parents had hard times for sure, but what ran deep, a constant undercurrent, was a true love. I am reminded of that when I see this picture.

I have been busy. But the things I have completed I can't show you! I mentioned the HGTV Flower picture challenge a while ago. We had to take this picture...and do whatever we wanted, no rules! My kind of challenge.

All I can say is that, yes, I did interpret it.. my way! Pics emailed to Thearica. I think there are 17 women signed up. The due date is July 4th. It will be judged and gift cards awarded to various online quilt shops. How cool is that? Thearica has the magic southern accent and persuasion when it comes to getting vendors to sign on!

I love Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth infamy. Her aesthetic is to reuse, rescue and repurpose old fabrics. She is all about hand work, which continues to be what feels good to me. I signed on to take one of her workshops. It is an interesting delivery of audio, video, pictures and paragraphs of the way she attains her precious, unique and comforting pieces. There is something that hits home for me in Jude's approach. I love old fibers and fabrics as evidenced from my treasure trove of linens, wools and silks from years of scavenging at Salvation Army! Tonight I made a very small weaving from leftover bits of a Judy Robertson hand dyed. It is approximately 4" x 9". I love it already! (No pic yet.)

I have learned:

XXX Hot Salsa. Delicious. Addiction. But tomorrow......oh. You know.
"Cathedrals" by Jump Little Children. Weird name for a band. Cool song.

Guild Meeting Fun!

2011-06-18T22:10:00.000-04:00

I got to revisit my Iron Quilter piece when Louise brought it to the NYS Quilters Consortium luncheon my guild, Museum Quilt Guild, hosted this past Wednesday! The meeting was a success!

I made this mini quilt for AAQI's online auctions. "Slipping Away" is dedicated for my friend Charlotte's 59 year old brother, Joseph. He was diagnosed 18 months ago with Alzheimer's. Her father was also diagnosed with Alzheimer's. (A woman collects them at these quarterly meeting and takes care of getting them where they go)

These are some of the others....

This is a panoramic view of our fun day with people from near and far!

Guild meeting today! Always a highlight of a month for me. John Roll, our resident and sole male quilter, headed up this Military Pride quilt making project. We were asked to come up with some way to commemorate regional heroes, men or women that have and are serving in any branch of the military. John and his committee created this wonderful quilt that will record names, branch and years of service. Next Saturday our local paper, The Batavia Daily, will feature this quilt in an article! This is one of the reasons I love my guild!

Mary Lee showed us her life size Jesse quilt. Jesse is her son and obviously a champion wrestler. This quilt won 3rd place in GVQC's huge show! These pictorial quilts are her special niche and she has mastered the technique. If she doesn't submit these to Lark books, who is searching for picture quilts for a future publication, I will!
Martha, our teacher for the jacket workshop I took the last two meetings, finished her jacket! It is beautiful. I love the mola piece on the back. Priscilla Kibbe always has an array for sale.

Paula Schultz, from Cottons, etc. in Wampsville, NY, was our program today. She brought with her an inspiring selection of garments. Some have won various awards in national shows! The orange/pink outfit above is made entirely of silk.

Her Matisse influenced jacket. It is made with the same Vogue Geoffrey Beene pattern as the jacket she is wearing. Of course it is discontinued!

Cool pintuck weaving inserted in this vest.

For my CQ friends...a crazy pieced jacket! The back was a tone-on-tone black with a random patch sewn on.

I LOVE this jacket! Paula started a Runway Addicts program at her shop 5 years ago. The group produces garments and accessories using items and challenge parameters doled out a few times each year. How fun is that? Some of the interesting items they had to incorporate were ear plugs, scrubbies, buttons, belts, ties, keys and stamps. I want to do this!! Anyway...this jacket is a remix of a wool blazer. She cut it down, added fabric at bottom and needle felted with a machine, the wool circles.

This vest is constructed of wool bits and broderie perse type applique.
We all were truly inspired to create, which is what Paula's purpose is in this show. She loves what she does. She loves to inspire people to create. She has today! Thank you Paula for your light today!

I meandered around my limited gardens, if they can even be called that...but I am taking liberty with the definition! I need to spend time weeding again. Is there a better way to weed? I kneel on my achy knees and dig with a trowel, then pull. Ugh. Not what I want to do on a weekend.

I have a few projects/challenges I have made some progress on.
I can't talk about the HGTV flower challenge as it will be voted on. I am liking where it is going though! I may be 1/2 finished. July 4th deadline.

My textured page for Art quilt group still needs disk beads sewn on and finished!

I am expecting a little package from Nicki next week. I will have to incorporate the 5 elements into a CQ piece that will also be voted on on the HGTV message board, so no pics of that in progress either. I will be able to show you what I have to use though!

I have purchased 2 great old sewn binding books at Sally Ann's. I will be using one very soon to begin my altered book for our next RR project with the AFF's. This is a non-mostly-fabric challenge and one I have wanted to try to do for years. Fun!

I am sure there are others that escape me at the moment, but there is nothing like a deadline to motivate me, so I know I will get them in order!

I have learned:

Old measuring tapes were 5/8" wide making it easy to check your seam allowance when sewing garments. Great idea.
Clarence Clemons, Bruce Springsteen's celebrated sax player, has died after suffering a stroke earlier this week. The Big Man. He was the epitome of cool.
I need to find time to make it to this exhibit at the Rochester Art Gallery before it is gone July 3rd.
I won't tell you the total of my fines at the library today but will say I am sure I bought a book or two for the shelves! I needed to get the book on Altered Books out so....
My studio is painted!! I am ready to move all my stuff upstairs. I guess it's time to call in those old sawhorses from Ryan. Pics soon!
Funeral homes have come into the 21st century. Last night my daughter posted a link on FB to the slideshow of pics of her friend Mo that died last weekend at the age of 29, in a motorcycle accident. Maureen left three young daughters behind. The picture/slideshow unleashed a deluge of tears for all the pain the family has and will endure.
I have been sucked in by The Voice. On demand.

Allentown Art Fest-ivities.....

2011-06-12T22:11:00.000-04:00

Allentown Art Fest in hotter than expected Buffalo yesterday. Very few new and interesting artists. The more entertaining aspects of the day were on Allen Street, like this installation piece. I believe it was by an art teacher with students. All bike tire rims, connected and strips of fabrics woven randomly. Cool.

Violinist. Dinosaur.

Art by Blair was doing this graffiti art thing which was apparently sponsored by Ford. Not sure if painting the car was next.

And lunch at Fat Bob's. Lauren, Bob, Melissa and Cameron, joined Carol, Sandy and myself for delicious BBQ!

I must be getting old because I was so tired and achy after 4 hours walking around yesterday. I was happy to be an example to Sandy that all her aches and pains are not necessarily from her medical ordeal over the last 2 1/2 years....we are getting old! Seriously!

Not feeling 100% today made making this Nook cover a slow go. (not sure if it is sickness or just all the bad news and work stress manifesting physically.) A young man at work, one of my favorites, asked me to make his Dad a Nook cover for father's day. I knew today was the only day I had to work on it, so I printed out the directions I bought from Birdiful Stitches. I had hacked my way through making one of these a few weeks ago but didn't have the dimensions right for the Nook. I felt more confident have her instructions and pictures to guide me.

This is the front/back cover. Ted had definite idea's he wanted incorporated in this project. He found his dad's emblem from his Marine unit, emailed it to me and I printed it to a nice canvas and fused to front. He wanted the cover to be red and the Marine fabric inside.The back cover design came about when I noticed errant threads showing under the red! I fused 2 bits from the Marine fabric my friend Jody hunted down in Chicago for me, right on top of the offending threads.

Inside.

I have learned:

Very sad news this morning. Melissa's good friend Maureen O'Grady died in a motorcycle accident last night. She leaves 3 daughters behind. While I never knew her I am feeling the loss for Melissa and Maureen's family. So much bad, sad news lately. Makes a heart heavy.

Link to All Iron Quilter Info...and Pics of Awesome Quilts from GVQC Show

2011-06-07T20:25:00.001-04:00

http://www.cs.rit.edu/~kar/ironquilter2011/

Since I couldn't say it better, click on this link to a great explanation of Iron Quilter and great pictures Margaret Reek's husband Ken took throughout the competition. As a participant I didn't get to look around much and appreciate being able to see what went on while my eyes were cast on my own piece in the machine!
You will also see pics of the entire 20 quilts made in 3 1/2 hours. They are very impressive. In retrospect I regret not buying at auction, to benefit Gilda's Club, a couple pieces.
I really liked this one by Kris Gedeon. She is in the Twin Cities Quilt Guild I just joined. She chose "Dreaming" as her theme. I have to find out her process. It's cool.

One other person chose "The Diet" too. I liked what Jeanne Simpson created. It stands on its own.

GVQC also had on display a small Hoffman Challenge exhibit. It was a garment/accessory challenge as opposed to the quilt display. This beaded bag was great.

And for my Crazy Quilting friends...this bag. I have some friends that do really good work. Challenge winning work!
This quilt show actually had over 1000 pieces, big and small, on display! Wow, it was overwhelming. So much beauty and creativity to take in. I know many of my friend left feeling the same way! There were traditional, art quilts, wall hangings, garments, special exhibits and attractions like Iron Quilter and a runway show of Priscilla Kibbe's intricate impressive garments. I had Priscilla come to Museum Quilt Guild last year with this trunk show.
Here are a few quilts that I especially liked.

Marcia Decamp. She is a very accomplished art quilter.

I don't know who made this. Thought I would be able to read the labels, but nope.

Pat Pauly's Diamond Ring challenge quilt. Love those screen printed circle's.

This little quilt is so cool! The background was thin scraps of strips woven together with yo-yo's. Kate Martin was admiring it with me and mentioned how "Carnival" it looked! Yes it does! (Carnival is the guild challenge this year. Apparently some people don't understand)

I had a very small bit of fabric in this show....literally...the slice of Convulvulous at the 2-4 o'clock. My art quilt group tackled this group project last year. I used the snippet/tulle technique.

I wish I had a better picture of this. It was gorgeous. "Fire" by Caris Burton.

My friend Martha's original design using Jane Sassaman piecing technique. I love this quilt. She should market the pattern!

I love all the little line piecing. I want to try some of these improvisational little bits.

My friend Elaine's original design using a photo printed to fabric. It has dimension and as her style, wonderful emachine quilting. It is a gorgeous piece.

My friend Mary Lee's life size picture quilt won3rd prize! Her son Jesse is the big guy. Around the left side and top Mary Lee sketchy stitched various wrestling moves. It is truly awesome. She really has a knack for capturing faces and her use of value is masterful. We have a program in September scheduled for her to share her secrets and techniques with us....workshop after. Looking forward to learning about this!

The woman that made this quilt had many pieces displayed, all using this large photo printing. I love her quilting. I want to know how she has this done. Apparently she sends images to an online company that prints them this large to fabric. So cool. What possibilities in that!

This traditional pieced quilt is such a strong graphic piece. I would love to say I made this! Beautiful.

This is for my HGTV friends that have all caught the "Twister" bug.

The best use of ties in a quilt ever!

And this number that was in Quilter's Newsletter in 2007. Love it.

These were just a few of my favorites. It was a spectacular show.

I have a few projects that have deadlines in the next month or so.

A quilt for Alzheimer's auction. I am stitching and beading a CQ pieced bit with Kaffe Fassett fabrics.
My page for Art Quilt Group. We took a picture of our choosing and isolated a small area to recreate in a 12" x 12"(approx.) page of texture. So far I have needle felted with my embellishing machine, added some big beads and machine quilted. I still have to sew on some disk beads to finish that up.
Alter a book. My AFF group is moving on to our next RR. We will take an old book and begin the round by setting the them/tone of our own book. Each of us will complete the front and back cover and start the inside. Cool fun! So many idea's.
Thearica, on HGTV message board is hosting a challenge to interpret in any way, the flower picture above. I have a base pieced. I have a couple idea's for the flowers. I love that this challenge has NO RULES~. Due July 4th.
I have signed on to Nicki's CQ Summer challenge. She will be mailing out 5 bits of lace that we all will incorporate into a CQ piece. We will be keeping them for ourselves in the end, which really allows your to think of your own aesthetic.

So as you can see I will be busy! This with the wedding creating that will be pressing come August. I have to come up with a great fabric flower, rhinestone brooches, ribbon bouquet and corsages that will not be ordinary. No worries!

I won Iron Quilter! (mini-post)

2011-06-05T21:44:00.000-04:00

http://quilterb-bethsblog.blogspot.com/

I participated in GVQC's Iron Quilter competition, held in conjunction with their huge, awesome quilt show at R.I.T. this weekend. 20 women came....10 themed categories announced at 10:00 AM (eg: frivolous, dancing, childlike, poetic, joyous, etc...and the one I chose, "the diet") I really chose the diet because it seemed less abstract. I felt with the other themes you really had to invoke a feeling. Not impossible, but not possible for me in 3 1/2 hours!

I want to blog about the process with pics my friends are supplying me with. I look forward to telling you the day-story. Soon.

I haven't downloaded pics yet, but my friend Elaine alerted me to Beth's Blog and a post with pic of my piece ( and couple others) and good explanation of the the competition. I will quickly say I had a BLAST with the whole process!
AND I won a Bernina Bernette 82e sewing machine!
Thank you to GVQC for an unforgettable experience and the new machine!
More to follow....when I have more time....and patience downloading my pics....!
I would like to thank my friends that stopped, stayed and cheered me on Saturday!

Cool Piece from GVQC quilt show...special exhibit

2011-06-03T20:41:00.001-04:00

This is part of a special exhibit at the GVQC Quilt Show at R.I.T. in Rochester. I love this. I have always liked collage style anything. The mix of materials is exciting to me. I will try to get the makers info and the name of the exhibit tomorrow.
Here is a close up of some hand stitching.

(Weird. I thought this post was "lost" Friday night. I see is appeared here at some point! )

Multi-Media Book RR

2011-05-28T22:15:00.001-04:00

Time flies, full of overworked employment, maternal obligations and rotten weather! In this span my laptop also got virus-ed on Friday the 13th. After a $100 trip to the PC Guy, I am clean, but my camera wasn't cooperating with said laptop...not able to download pics. My friend Jody spent an hour on my PC, from her home near Chicago, trying to get me ready to go. Seems my laptop does NOT like my camera, like the PC Guy told me! Now I have a card reader (learned something new today) that my SD card goes into to extract my pics. We bypassed the camera. So....now I can post a new pic! Thanks Jody for all your advice and time. What she knows about computers is like a foreign language to me.

I have been so excited to share my finished (almost) book from the RR I participated in with some of my most talented friends. When we were all together in Charlotte NC, we gave each book back to its owner...a reveal! I am so thrilled with mine! This is my cover. We each made our covers and back covers. It was to provide a direction for each person working on it. I included a slew of upholstery fabric samples, thanks to my friend Anne who gave me a treasure of books to work with. (I used a silk book to make my CQ purse). Each person used some of them in their pages.

Colleen worked her magic on this page. I had prepared canvas to be the substrate of each page and they could paint it the color of their choice. This page is a cool green, coupled with pink and this awesome beaded cabochon. Colleen makes gorgeous jewelry with these cabochons. I feel honored to have one in my book. The second pic is of the backside. She used a vintage apron and embroidery to complete her page. Colleen's aesthetic is similar to mine, so we are guaranteed to like what each of us do.

Nicki's pages began with a "friendship tree". I love how she used her favorite color (blue!) and created this wonderful rendition of a tree. She dyes lace to sell on Etsie and you can see some of her lace bits here. Her reverse side uses a cool dyed doilie and stitching, combined with some fabrics I included. Love these pages. Thanks Nick.

Denise has a very under-stated elegance to her designs. I loved her cover and back-side for her book. She used a felting technique she learned at Quilt Market. Her second side uses a wine cork cut into slices and stamped with the word "dasein" which means simply, to be alive, to be a being. Love these.

Jody was inspired to use the fabrics included in the box. I love the stamped bird (the bird thing...love it) and she incorporated Scrabble-like tiles since she knows I love the game! She used the leather-like bits to really come up with the perfect pages for my book. Thanks!

This is the back cover I made. I will gather my pages together with discounted bracelet chains I picked up at Michaels. This was the perfect combination of people and talents. We all worked well together. So well, we are gearing up to do an altered book RR. We have included our friend Charlyn in this round. It promises to be exciting! Altered books in entirely different. We will each start with a book...a real book... a book destined for nowhere. The front and back covers will be our starting point. Cannot wait!

My little art quilt group dabbled in a technique from Susan Carlson's book Serendipity Quilts. Using watered down glue and paint brush we glued bits of scraps to create a design. Our first attempts are very basic, but oh, so fun! I used a bag of scrap verbiage fabrics my friend Mary Ellen gave me a few years ago. It was truly soothing and relaxing just gluing bits to background fabric. I encourage you to get her books and try this out. Really fun!

I look forward to trying this technique out and making some fish from her first book, Free Style Quilts.

My body aches after another day of weeding and planting. I still have weeds waiting for me in the front garden. Tomorrow is another day! Can't wait to see the petunia's root and take off. Hope it fills in the front and all I have to do is deadhead the bunch.

I have quite a few projects in queue. First and foremost is a Nook cover. One of my favorites at work asked me to make a Nook cover for his dad for Father's Day. Ted actually found the emblem for his dad's Marine unit and emailed it to me. I copied it to fabric today...which was a trial and error. Some of the prepared sheets I have were affected by humidity and jammed my printer. I ended up using the canvas prepared fabric I bought at Office Max. It went through printer without jamming. I love the canvas and the emblem looks great. He asked for a red cover with emblem on front. After a plea to some quilty friends, Jody went out of her way to find me some Marine fabric at her Hobby Lobby in Chicago; mailed to me right away, received yesterday. The Marine fabric will be inside the Nook holder. I kind of came up with this myself based on a picture from a blog. It will incorporate triangle tabs that hold the Nook inside. Peltex will give it some rigidity. Thinking of elastic to keep it closed. Tomorrow will begin with me making this Nook cover happen!

I have also signed on to interpret this photo into a quilt of some sort. Hhhh.mmmm. So many idea's.

Michael is unofficially graduated from St John Fisher. He saved 3 credits for the Fall to return to play his last year of eligibility on the football team. The ceremony was held in Rochester May 9th. Kudos to Fisher for moving the ceremony swiftly along. 1000 graduates=2 hours.

I have learned:

So You Think You Can Dance started up this past Thursday. I have predicted Melanie Moore will win.
Really...Scotty? American Idol. Haley all the way.
D'onfrio returns. Criminal Intent.
John Steinbeck's Travels with Charly is a quick read about Steinbeck's excursion with his poodle Charly in the early 60's. I looked a couple of times at the publication date. Some issues were still relevant almost 40 years later.
Cameron is gay. Melissa's future BIL. He's 18. Cam has known for a long time. Melissa let him be what he is. What a gift.
Major Magic's memories. The pizza joint with games and animated life-sized animals singing songs. But it was all about the tickets! Tickets to "buy" a prize.

My Last Pages.....

2011-05-08T18:27:00.000-04:00

While in Charlotte last weekend, the five of us that were in the Mixed Media Book RR gathered to give the finished books to their rightful owners. The last book I worked on was Nicki's. The theme was your name basically. I had a bit of an issue coming up with something since my name and story are rather ordinary. I was born Kathleen Darcy, no middle name. I married, thus the Everett, and kept that name when I divorced because it is Melissa and Michael's last name. Jody advised me to just do techniques/design I like and meld my name into it. So, that is what I did! No more block! The top page is a rose tea-dyed vintage hankie with a bit of my birth certificate copied to fabric. The lacy "bug" is a made from a lace piece that Nicki had sent out to some friends to see what we would do with it. Each person's page had a pocket with a tag so I used an old library book pocket and tucked in 3 stamped tags with an account of each of my names.....Kathleen, named after my mother's twin: Darcy, my maiden name; Everett, my kids last name....and I wouldn't change a thing!
My book is waiting for me at UPS, in a box I had shipped from NC. I hastily wrote my address and the man in charge of shipping at the Hilton saw my "8" as a "5". When I retrieve it tomorrow I will get to putting my book together and showing the great work my friends did!

Happy Mother's Day to me! I have great kids. I am very proud of both of them for the young people they have become.

Tuesday my little art quilt group, led by Marylee this month, is going to do an exercise using the technique from the book Serendipity Quilts by Susan Carlson. One of the women from the retreat made a challenge piece using this process. It is awesome. I have permission to show you her "Charlotte's Wilbur". I think she did a great job on him. I can't wait to try this out!

Tomorrow, back to work after 1 1/2 weeks off. I love being home and doing my things. I am never bored.
My next week off is at the end of July. I get 6 weeks vacation, but 4 of them must be used in weeks. Using days would be so much better for me. I could take days off all year to go to classes and quilt guild meetings. I do take offense at the guilds that meet during the week, during the day! Barring all the wonderfully creative souls working hard for the man! Oh well....

I have learned:

Those lost WW pounds I lost, found their way back.
So You Think You Can Dance starts again on the 26th! I love that show.
Hailey still in American Idol!
How to make these Japanese thimbles, above. Charlyn took time at the retreat to show Lisa and I how to start them. (it's in the shipped box too). They are not hard. I love them! They are meant to be used on your dominant hand, middle finger, between first and second knuckle, to push needle. They are just beautiful.

Back to Reality.....

2011-05-05T21:01:00.001-04:00

A picture of my class at my COF (Circle of Friends) Quilt Retreat in Charlotte North Carolina this past weekend! We had a fun, relaxing 2 hours. I was very fortunate to have a class full of some of my favorite people and some of my new favs!

I had the most excellent time with all my online/real world friends! My roomies, Nicki and Jody are "old" friends now.
From the time my plane landed Thursday at 11 AM to the time my plane took off Monday morning at 9:30 AM, our time with 79 other women, from all over the USA and 1 from New Zealand, was full of activity! We took a double decker bus to a great fabric shop, Mary Jo's, and I know we left alot of money in their cash registers~!
We had a trunk shows from Cathy Wiggins and Susan Brubaker Knapp. I loved SBK. She was very accommodating and gracious.
There was a quilt raffle for MDA that Jean ran. I won an awesome quilt (which should be here by tomorrow since I decided at, literally, the last minute, to ship home....without considering exactly what was inside. Very precious cargo) It is a mini twister made by Carol from Texas! I love it! Thank you both for your hard work.
I took a class on making picture quilts of pets and another on reverse applique. Very good classes, very informative.
I can't say enough about Thearica and her crew. Blood, sweat and tears went into planning the extravaganza and I thank you all.
Yesterday I got back to my machine. I made a lanyard for a friend and a Nook case. (pic of case on phone, so will show later)

Got that package off yesterday...and made another lanyard for another friend....

This will be going out tomorrow. There is something about making these things I like. I made a dozen for my guild's luncheon in June already. I plan to make many more for special friends.
I also made a few more "fabrics" for my jacket class with Martha.
Taking this week off was the best gift I could have given myself! I am enjoying every single minute of my time away from work. Retirement. 5 yrs, 10 mos, 3 weeks.
Michael graduates Saturday from St John Fisher College. Proud mother.

So many projects in the works, so many idea's swirling around my head! Lucky me.

I have learned:

Hailey still a contender on American Idol! My pick all along. Darcy is a James fan. We will see...
Quilt batting has a right and a wrong side? Yes, true that.
How to make a Japanese thimble...yubinuki...thanks to Charlyn. Very cool.
Taco Bell Chihuahua's name is Gidget. Kind of weird.

Flour Paste Resist Dying Result is in!

2011-04-18T20:18:00.000-04:00

This is my rinsed flour paste resist dyed fabric piece! I am so pleased!

This is the Dynaflow dyed, crackled flour paste piece before. Sharon lead our art quilt group last Tuesday and taught us all how to do it. She had prepared dried sheets for each of us. The flour paste (approximately 1 cup flour to 1 1/2 cups cool water) takes days to dry after application. We each got to crackle and crunch it to create cracks in the flour layer that allow the dye or fabric paint to seep into them and leave an awesome design! I loved this! I have painted the two pieces of crackled flour fabrics and coated a prewashed yard of fabric with flour paste. I am patiently waiting for the paint to cure and the paste to dry!

Sharon over dyed the background fabric in this piece that was in a gallery show last month in Rochester. I like that it uses non toxic and readily available materials. I especially like the results!
Next month Marylee is going to show us the process from Sue Carlson's book Serendipity Quilts. We will use scrap bits and glue! This is a really cool book, starting with a simple design and gradually increasing the challenge using value and a more-is-more approach. Looking forward to it!
Quilt guild Saturday was a busy one! I had arranged for the annual Demo meeting this month and signed myself on to demo my Singer ER10 embellishing machine I relied on my enthusiasm to convey and demonstrate, in four 10 minute sessions, just what an intriguing machine it is! Martha demo-ed the Double Diamond ruler; Elaine showed everyone how easy it is to make the lanyards we need for our NYS Quilt Guild Consortium luncheon we are hosting in June and Melanie shared with us a pieced batting technique that makes machine quilting less troublesome. These meetings allow people to be exposed to something new and are always a success.
Martha taught our 1st of 2 jacket classes after meeting. We all cut out a muslin of our pattern that will become the base for the pieced fabrics we are making. These are a few of my "fabrics".

My "wonky" piece and 2 Seminole pieces. I really like Seminole. I have some instructions for other designs from an online class I took last year. I plan to make some of those for my jacket as well. They look so complicated but are so simple. We will end up sewing these in a grand scheme onto the muslin that will become our jackets we will wear to quilt shows for all to admire!! Great time sewing with great people. I love my guild!
We are having a UFO sewing day after the June meeting where I plan to be reminded how to cut the One Block Wonder pieces out and make more for my quilt. I don't have enough variety in the few I made already so hoping this spur me on to finishing mine. I love every OBW quilt I see.
In 13 1/2 days I will be in Charlotte NC with old quilting friends and new ones as well as we gather from all over United States in the 5th Annual HGTV Quilt Retreat. Four fun filled days with people that love the same things I do! Excited? Very!
Snowed today. Longjohns on again. Another reason NC weather (apart from the recent tornadoes down there) is appealing to me so much. Need to know better weather exists......somewhere.....
Melissa's wedding plans are all set. October 15th is around the corner. All I need is money now!
Michael graduates college on May 7th. Those 4 years went fast~!

I have learned:

The Killing, on AMC is really good. Well written. Excellent acting. I wasn't drawn to watch this from its name. I read someones blog that commented on how good it was and gave it a shot. Thanks whoever! And it's On Demand.
The King of Hearts is the only King without a mustache.
Very interesting quilt using a formula. Sunrise Sunset quilt. 2 1/2" strips with inserts.
I actually had the food channel on yesterday. Anyone that knows me knows I abhor cooking. Some woman was making this Swiss cheese stuffed endive, wrapped in ham, baked in oven. Looked delicious and I don't even know what endive tastes like! I bought 3 little endive today, have the ham and cheese. I am going to make these tomorrow.
The Streets of Laredo, the sequel to Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is not great. I am going to read it to see how it all turns out for Captain Cowboy Call, but it seems like another person wrote it. I find there is a lot of repeating, so much so that a few times I had to actually check I was in the right spot since I know I read this already. Editing maybe? Me maybe?
Gas=$3.91=less driving out of Batavia. Not acceptable.

CQ RR Block and other bits...

2011-04-10T19:38:00.000-04:00

My work on the last round of the Steampunk CQ RR on CQI. Hard block for me to stitch on....blue. Not my favorite. I appliqued a corset, adding tiny lock nut washers down the front. Metal bits are a key to the Steampunk genre and I love the spiky rounds! The bars on the black strap over the corset are actually the flat hook from hook and eye closures. The silver tinsel trim to the right was a ribbon Elaine gifted me for my birthday. I put rhinestone trim over that. The vintage silver button with black tulle gathered under it and the fabric paper bit to the left was a remnant from another project. I have the last block now. Need to get that finished and mailed before leaving for Charlotte at the end of the month.

This is the backing for Melissa and Cory's quilt. Improvisationally pieced with all the leftover blocks and fabrics! I used just about all the fabric I bought. It is ready for the quilter now.

Ruth Ohol made this gorgeous quilt. My friend Melanie and I attended Twin Cities Quilt guild meeting this past Wednesday where we got to see the gorgeous, unbelievably detailed and dense machine quilting Ruth specializes in. She has won numerous awards and has been published many times in Quilters Newsletter. Very talented woman. Great show. Thanks Penny!
Yard work was the theme of 1/2 of my weekend. I live on 6 acres. Of course I don't tend to all that but when your bending for hours picking up limbs, sticks, twigs and nut tree residual nuts and shells, it feels every bit of 6 acres! I have much more clean up to do yet. Back ache reserved already!
Today I spent time rearranging living room to accommodate my new-to-me loveseat. I live minutes away from Bontrager Auction Barn where every Wednesday evening they auction good stuff and junk. Of course it is all in the eyes of the junk lover. I have gotten many an interesting item there including oriental rugs, cool wire mannequin, couches, chairs, birdbaths and other treasures I couldn't live without! I left a bid for both the couch and the loveseat but apparently two men battled for the couch and surpassed my maximum bid. So I got the loveseat that no bidder wanted enough to spend more than $180. It is a Sofas & Chairs custom piece. My 14' x 15' living room is perfect for the love seat. Love it!
I have a very busy month. Tuesday, Sharon will show us how to do the flour paste crackle resist dying at our little art quilt group meeting. FUN!
Saturday is quilt guild day and I am demo-ing my embellishing machine and sewing at a workshop after that. Martha is guiding us as we piece fabric for a jacket. Prep and gather and gather some more!
And then there is the HGTV COF (circle of friends) quilt retreat in Charlotte NC to wrap up the month! I am teaching a class there, so I have to prep for that as well as pack and hope my reservations are all squared away with United Airways. I look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

I have learned:

My friend Maria got her puppy, Blue, last week. A very handsome Golden Retriever. She had to put down her beloved Wyatt a few months ago. Her dad had to put down his Black Lab a few months before that. Along with Dean's resent demise, we all have had our share of heartache. Blue is healing all that. What a pleasant disposition!
Ray LaMontagne. Listen. Good. Watching Live from the Artists Den now.
The Poisonwood Bible was a very good read.
I actually have a window open right now! Winter over!? No more snow? Long johns put away? Please say it is so!
I need a pedicure, bad. Soon. I like pretty toenails!
My favorite color is mostly red. Sometimes black. A certain shade of robins egg blue too. I know it is not yellow, unless it's mustard yellow.

Little CC Case

2011-04-02T19:29:00.000-04:00

Last night Lynne taught us how to make this credit card case on Friday Night PJ Party on HGTV message board. Of course I made it to the second side of zipper and well, I lost steam! So today I finished it up. My zipper is not wonderful, but it will work for me! I will actually use this too. I will slip the key ring onto my jeans belt loop with credit cards and cash zipped in. Thanks Lynne for a great project.
Tracy and I went to the Twin Cities Quilters Guild quilt show today. Very nice show! I am hoping to win one of the many awesome raffle baskets they are giving away! Any day spent with quilts and a good friend is a great day!
While there we saw a demo on locker hooking. I know I have this tool somewhere, having been enticed by a demo at another quilt show years ago! I actually did a few pulls and it is fun and easy. Makes me want to find it and design something cool and hook away!
I did find a great book. Had to have it now, not in Amazon time. Comfort Zone by Maggie Bonanomi. Wool projects including slippers and a jacket, as well as wall hangings, runners and quilts.
We lunched at the Panera Bread from Saturday afternoon, shopping mecca region, crazy Amherst hell. If their salads and sandwiches weren't a commodity to us Panera starved people, we would have ditched the effort. Serious table diving just to sit and eat. I was intercepted by a high boot fashionista on my first attempt, and was welcomed by a young man, while his less-than-thrilled girlfriend was less than that as we all honed in on another recently vacated table. Finally Tracy and I contracted for a booth as a party finished up their lunch fare. I was so keyed up from the table hunt by that time I was extra pleased by my Mediterranean veggie sandwich and Fuji Apple Chicken Salad.

I have learned:

Melanie will be 41 tomorrow! Happy Birthday my friend!
Tracy's sister pulled the best April Fool's joke off on her and their mom yesterday. She made a sponge cake. a SPONGE cake....yes, sponges were the fools surprise, complete with frosting, real frosting, in and on it! How funny is that. I love it.
Hailey is my American Idol pick.

Mossy Bit

2011-03-31T18:16:00.000-04:00

Isn't this cool? I was at work and the morning sun was shining on this gorgeous patch of moss near my stockroom door. I went and got a paintbrush, flicked off the dirty bits and took this pic with my Blackberry. (handy to have a camera with me at all times!) It was one of those rare days that there was no snow covering this up!
I made Darcy a sleeve for her tablet.

It was another Friday Night PJ Party project on HGTV message board. I wasn't able to do it the night they held it (surprise party!) but one of the helpful ladies sent me the instructions. Darcy chose these 2 fabrics at Joann's last weekend. Monkeys are all the rage apparently. This is constructed from an 18" quilted and bound square. There are 2 pockets, one on either side and the center opening you end up with is where the tablet (a small computer board) goes with a velcro closure. The ladies made them for laptops, ipads and notebooks. Easy and fun project. Thanks WQFC!
I finished my improvisational pieced back for the Melissa and Cory quilt. It is so big, to me anyway. I think it is large enough to take to a machine quilter now.
My friend Thearica is a generous person, much like the charitable Jean I mentioned a few posts ago. Thearica runs a Ronald Mcdonald House quilt raffle. People make quilts and she sells tickets! (click on her name and read all about the challenge.) Anyone can commit to helping out! I am making my first quilt donation this year. Wool penny's are in the works already!
I am to mail the current CQ Steampunk block tomorrow. I must admit I had a hard time with this one. It is blue and black. It seemed to need to stay close to those colors. I did add a gold corset though! I will get pics and post.
I received the Meg's block from Colleen yesterday and the colors are more varied and in my tones so I think I will be inspired!

I have learned:

I can retire in 5 years....exactly!
My sister makes delicious Irish bread. I want more!
Ian face painting at the St Andrew's Pasta dinner last Saturday. He was such a gentleman, sitting with me while I ate my dinner. I even gave him two chances to go back to his friends. Sweet.
Interesting contest someone on HGTV board posted. Doll quilts and Beds.
Cool quilt-along to make this quilt, Supernova, on Freshly Pieced blog.

Played with Paper!

2011-03-23T20:03:00.000-04:00

Melissa and I took a class at our library last night with Jen, our favorite Sporto's waitress and scrapbooker extraordinaire! We made these adorable birdhouses with scrapbook papers! I loved learning how to use edgers (cool! love that picket fence one) and distressing inks. Mine is the blue one. Melissa's is obviously the green one! Look forward to more classes from Jen this summer!

Batavia schools art show was up at the library. Truly wonderful work by students of all ages. I really love this mixed media piece. The background is newspaper, painted with the charcoal still life.

Another excellent artwork.

These were some of my favorites. If you live in the area I encourage you to go see this exhibit. It is worth your time.

Well it is snowing. Again. Still. Enough.

American Idol tonight!

I have learned:

I don't like Dancing with the Stars. Thought I would give it a shot since I love dance shows and it seems to be popular. Nope, no likey.
Elizabeth Taylor was only 79? I thought she was 10 years older. Beautiful woman.
Nicki unwell. Get well friend.
Adele. Rolling in the Deep.(Skip the ad.) WOW. What a great voice. If I could sing, this is what I would like to sound like. Listen to Someone Like You too. (I can't download it right now to link it)
I just can't do it. I cannot listen to one more word of The Cell by Stephen King. Unless someone tells me the gory horror will end and make it worth my sickening stomach.

Made More Lanyards.....

2011-03-20T20:53:00.000-04:00

These are the lanyards we have decided to make, as a guild, as the favor for the New York State Quilt Consortium luncheon we are hosting in June. I am part of the planning committee and we have had a swift start! The hosting guild always provides a favor. We wanted it to be something useful and different. We came up with this idea from Fabric Jewelry by Teresa Searle. It;s a lanyard that can be used for keys, scissors or name tag. I made these 3 today for a total of 5 so far. We only need 100-125! Hopefully we get many members to help out and make these from their leftover bits and scraps. It is fun to make. Easy too!

I have an update to my previous birthday post. It seems my sister Noni together with Melissa and Michael covertly planned a little surprise party for me at Melissa's! I was totally bamboozled by this turn of events. Every fib along the way was believable to me. I am oblivious apparently.When I walked into Melissa's, after a grand dinner Michael had commandeered me to at Alex's, I was absolutely floored when I was welcomed by the people I cherish most. Michael & Melissa, Cory & Cameron. Noni, Ian & Darcy. Sandy, Lauren & Gary. Pam, Jim, Hanners & Noah. Karen & Bob. Kassie & Mark. Wonderful way to usher in my 50's. I had adamantly warned my kids to do nothing of the sort! This is the cake Alan made. My kids step-brother. This is the construction worker that decided in his winter layoff time he wanted to make cakes! ala the Cake Boss.

Isn't it awesome? It was Red Velvet and de-licious~

Bridesmaid dress shopping yesterday. How easy this was. Melissa and I had really liked this dress when we saw it 2 months ago. Lauren, Kassie, Larissa and Kelly tired on a few styles. Then they all tried this dress on. It was a universal sell. I love it! And they can really wear it again! It is silk and figure flattering. Perfect for the venue and Melissa's dress. To celebrate the day we dined at Olive Garden.

I had fun today spending some gift cards! Target, thanks to Aunt Kathy and Gerry, found me a new cool scarf and a shirt. Joann Fabrics gave me a few yards of fabric and a new magazine. Tim Horton's was a yummy sandwich and naughty cinnamon roll! I know me. I have to "spend" gift cards as fast as possible or else I lose them!

I have learned:

Slacker Radio downloaded to my Blackberry. Cool. It is like Pandora.
Reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. This is Pam's recommendation. I am sure I will like it. We have been reading together for 43 years!
I have sneaky, deceitful children and sister. I love them for it! this time...

50..... All Day Today!

2011-03-18T17:06:00.000-04:00

I began the fifth decade of my life as of 1:36 AM. I can finally join AARP! I know this because they mailed me an enticing form letter 2 weeks ago! I will get right on that. Can I get Senior citizen discounts yet? That's the biggie~! I'll be waiting for that!

My friend Elaine thread painted this awesome quiltlet for me. On the reverse is my happy birthday wish! I just love it. It is prominently displayed on my fridge!
I will be sharing cake....chocolate cake with chocolate frosting...specially made by Melissa and Cameron...later tonight.
Michael is on his way home right now, we will dine!
I took the day off today. I get a Birthday Holiday floater. I am glad I did. Made it feel more special.
My friend Donna stopped by with a card and a coffee card inside...need that coffee! and a balloon. Her daughter's birthday is today also...this the one she says I remind her of.
I am not bothered at all by my age. I have so much more to do!

I have learned:

Each and every birthday well wisher is appreciated. It does matter to matter. Thank you.
50's today! Feels so good. Clean up will begin soon.
Tomorrow is National Quilting Day.
Isn't that picture cool? While walking cross country lines, through woods and field, I took this pic with my Blackberry (pretty good!) of beautiful ice crystals on the ground.

Great Chance at Some Beautiful Quilts for a Charitable Cause

2011-03-13T21:36:00.000-04:00

My friend Jean from the HGTV message board is dedicated to charitable endeavors. This year she is working to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy by raffling off at least 35 QUILTS!
3 chances for $5.00. I already mailed my check for 15 chances to win a beautiful quilt for a great cause.
Various quilters from the HGTV board made these quilts in answer to Jean's annual challenge. Part of her challenge each year is that the quilt be donated to charity. I know Jean personally and know how tirelessly she works to give back. I would love her to be able to achieve her goal...

To donate by Paypal, Credit card or arrange mailing of checks contact Jean at jayardi@wi.rr.com. One look at all those gorgeous quilts coupled with the great cause will certainly have you making a generous contribution. If you prefer, contact me and I will make the arrangements for you with Jean.

My friend Jody sent me the extra little ruler she bought and marked out for the Twister block. A few weeks ago we had a Friday Night PJ Party on HGTV message boards to learn how to do this. As happens on most Friday nights, I am too tired from the work week to actually sew, so I had my Twister night today! Thank you Jody for the ruler!

This is the 5" squares sewn in rows with a 3" border...

The green is really a chartreuse with blacks and grays. Yes, I do see where I put 2 gray blocks next to each other! I will have to fix that with some thread. Look at Jody's blog to see her little practice piece and how she quilted it. I love it! This is a fun project. I want to figure out how to make a small one. Maybe 2" squares. Anyone know what the marks on the sides of a template would be for that? I am sure I can figure it out as it seems it is around a 1/3 of the square.

I have learned:

This is my least favorite day of the year......losing that precious hour of weekend.
Kathleen=innocent. Darcy=dark. Everett=brave. I have to make pages for Nicki's AFF book with my name as the subject.
I could, and do, watch Law & Order SVU & NCIS all day, all evening, over and over. Christopher Meloni......Mark Harmon.
Trying fabric weaving thanks to Spirit Cloth. Love her aesthetic. Using some kind of organza, recycled old curtains I found at Sally Ann's. Loving it so far. Take some time to read her blog and watch her videos.

RAFA Show in Rochester....Wonderful!

2011-03-12T19:28:00.001-05:00

What workmanship in this beautful iron gate that leads to a courtyard with interesting shops and restaurants. After we met up with fellow art quilters Elaine and Sharon at their RAFA group show in Rochester at the Arts and Culural Council, we dined at a The Gatehouse Cafe. Delicious and great company!
The show included many pieces created by some of the memebers of Rochester Area Fiber Artists. Elaine's piece is machine quilted, thread painted and beaded. Dyed cheesecloth also added.

Simply stunning. Here is a close-up of the leaves. She is a master at the stitch control.

Sharon's piece included her flour paste resist fabric. Machine quilted. Compelling reflection on the Holocaust.

Close-up of the resist dyed fabric.
These two quilts along with the following quilts, were my favorites.
Val Schultz snow dyed fabric quilt was coveted by a couple of us!

Sharon gave each of a yard of her snow dyed fabric last year and I have hesitated to cut into it, but now I have idea's!
Caris Burton's quilt was subtle and alluring. Silks, machine and hand stitching.

Joyce Kliman's quilt was another favorite of mine.

I love this little thread painted piece. The detail and dimension is amazing. Anne M Fischer.

Really great day with good friends!

I love quilt shows. I love all the creativity in one room. I always leave with more idea's swirling around my already bursting head!

This morning I finished sewing Melissa and Cory's entire quilt top together! I am actually very excited about this! I ironed what fabrics I have left and am now piecing the back. I did a good job guess-timating just what I would need for this quilt!

I have learned:

I love those Netflix commercials on the radio...the one's where they ask game contestants a question and their answers have nothing to do with the question and they are right! Always make me smile.
How to download my Blackberry pics to my laptop. Good to know.
My new portable design wall is awesome! Penny Marble Quilt Designs makes them from felt and PVC pipe. Love this.
I want a pretty umbrella.

Wednesday.....

2011-03-09T20:02:00.001-05:00

This is me, at guild, show and telling my pieced scarf project from a Friday Night PJ Party as they are referred to! Basically a round up is made of volunteers that will spend time on a scheduled Friday night showing us how to make something cool. They post pics and instructions and we all follow along if we are able to stay awake and have enough energy at the end of a work week that is.
I used Nancy Crow "fabrics" from my class last summer to make this one. I called it my dog walking scarf since I wore it while walking Dean during this frigid winter. It is very warm!
I have finally gotten back on even emotional ground. I do have my old coot cat Chester who is 16 this year and my baby fatty fur ball Fiona who is 3, to keep me company.
Holy windy! And rainy. Wet day at work today. Had the galoshes on. Attractive.
Last night was my monthly meeting of art quilters and as always a great time. They had covertly arranged a little birthday celebration in my honor! (18th is the big day) Each person gifted me with things I love best....bits of this and that...some vintage and some not...sort of like hitting the jackpot miscellaneous box of treasures at the auction! Elaine stitched up a beautiful card I will get a picture of and post soon. She also made a most delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake that she insists is easy. All I know is it was yummy! I was touched by their thoughtfulness.
Saturday we are going to Rochester to see an exhibit 2 of our members are a part of. I am excited for them and this show. Elaine had a book they had published for the group of the show and all the pieces. Very nice.

I have learned:

My friend Melanie actually did get married at the Forest Lawn Cemetery Chapel! She's not married anymore....not that that had anything to do with it!
It is so windy right now that I feel a breeze sitting in my living room.
American Idol. Don't know who I like yet. The rosy jacket guy has a cool voice and face. Will watch tonight and see who's what.
The Kids are Alright. Not a great movie. Good enough. I thought Julianne Moore was the highlight of the movie.

Dedicated to Dean

2011-03-05T19:13:00.000-05:00

Dean.
I mentioned a little bit ago that my greyhound had been diagnosed with cancer in his bone and a fast growing tumor where his front leg met his chest. Walking had become troublesome quickly. Breathing was beginning to be labored. The hardest decision for a loving pet owner was made. Dean was put down yesterday. Michael, thankfully, was there with him. I was overwhelmed with the sadness of the moment and could not be with him. Intense. I thought I would have a handle on this...control. I did not. Still tearing today.
We rescued him from a race track in Iowa, where he was well cared for by his owner's, 7 years ago. He was a kind, peculiar, loving dog. he lived for love and food! I truly miss him.

Some Bullseye, Some Curvy Piecing, Other bits...

2011-03-02T21:31:00.001-05:00

I reworked those bullseye blocks from a few posts ago. I didn't like the fact that I had the same fabric showing around the edges of all the blocks. I ripped them apart and started cutting down to the layer I liked best in each quadrant. I sewed them together in a row, rather than a square. I will see where this goes when the idea hits me, but I do like this change!

I also was reading about curvy piecing. I saw a little tutorial on Bumblebeans blog (see my sidebar) and Jean Wells' book is an excellent source of inspiration and curvy piecing. So I cut some gently curving strips from some of the FQ's I won from Geroge Sicilano and this is the bit I made.
I will be sure to make them gentle curves since as soon as they get a little beyond that I ended up with a bit of a pucker. I do love the look of a wonky shaped line! I cut them up and pieced this...

It is interesting! I will be doing this again. Maybe longer, wider pieces. It was a fun, satisfying exercise and pleased me immensely on my Sunday morning~!
My Sunday afternoon was spent with Melissa and her soon-to-be BIL and BFF, Cameron at the Pearl Street Grills Big Fat Bridal Show in downtown Buffalo. We sampled a truly unique and oh-so-yummy Banana Pepper dip served warm and the Chicken Fricassee was mmmmmm. We need to change the chicken dish to this one.
While we were downtown I decided Melissa and Cam needed new FB profile pics. We had an impromptu photo session.

Then a mini tour of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo. My Aunt Molly and Uncle Tom would take my sister Noni and me there when we were very young to feed the ducks and catfish in one of the ponds. It is a beautiful, historic burial ground. I love it so much that when Melissa was mulling over places for a wedding ceremony I suggested the chapel in Forest Lawn. I am of the minority apparently that thinks a wedding in a cemetery would no be strange. Well turns out this may have been really weird as the chapel is also the crematorium. That is just bad karma.

Plenty of awesome doors too, something I have an affinity for.

My quilt guild is hosting the June luncheon for the New York State Quilters Consortium. We have a lot of work to do and many wonderful people to pitch in and make it special. Charlotte will be doing the lunch itself...she volunteered to take this on as she has done it before. Big job checked off! We gathered last week at Elaine's lovely new home to hash out some details. Things fell quickly in to place thanks to an agreeable committee! As part of the consortium luncheons the hosting guild prides itself on providing each guest with a "favor". We will be making these cool, useful lanyards! I want one!

I have learned:

Winter is wreaking havoc on my psyche. We need a break from this cold. My sister is a school RN in a Buffalo high school. She has had 3 kids with frostbite since January began.
Lonesome Dove was excellent.
Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. Usual John Irving quirkiness. I think I like it. I am interested, that is something.
Unstoppable. Good movie. Denzel Washington makes anything watch-worthy.

Steampunk CQ

2011-02-20T18:00:00.000-05:00

I have finished my work on Cathy's Steampunk CQ block. She wanted a "travel" theme which at first made me feel too limited. I have had these typewriter alphabet beads for a while. I love them. I find it hard to part with them! I stitched the sheer, wire edged ribbon down first, then added PARIS. That's a destination...fits the theme!

My old style hot air balloon with wicker basket made from felted wool sweater, yarn and ribbon.

the gray/silver bugle beads was a bracelet I found at Sally Ann's for .69 cents! I added the key dangling from silk ribbon...the crystal was already there.

The rusty ring was added by my friend Colleen. The only part of this I did was adding the rhinestone button and the bronze pull chain beads around the edge.
I love this Steampunk genre. Earlier today, on one of those cake shows, they had a team of bakers that created this awesome Steampunk themed wedding cake. This is so cool!

I am watching Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events It has a very steampunk vibe. Weird movie.

Yesterday, Margaret Reek came to talk to us about a program in a small town in Kenya run by CTC International. She joined a group sponsored by American Sewing Guild that travels there to teach women to sew and quilt. These women have found refuge in a small town after being shunned simply because they have a handicapped child. The aim is to teach them to sew and sell some things to be self sustaining. It was a fascinating lecture. The pictures of how these women live and what this program does for them was inspiring and a reminder of how fortunate we need to remember we all are. Margaret will be heading back in July to work with the women again.

We also had Margaret give a Textured Landscape class after the meeting. This is her gorgeous landscape quilt. I wish I had gotten close-ups of the mountains and the trees near the bottom. The mountains are all dimensional. She uses hand dyed fabrics and spray starch, scrunches up the bit of fabric and lets it dry. When it is unfolded you have a wonderfully textured piece of fabric that can be stitched to background. The trees are made up of small organic shapes with little holes cut in them, scrunched with the spray starch and sewn to the tree base. Really cool techniques. It was a great day...just what I needed. A day of inspiration.

Progress has been made on Melissa and Cory's wedding quilt. I am officially done with the 50 blocks that make up most of the quilt, but now I need to figure out how to sew the 1/2 pinwheel blocks that go around the outside since this is set on point. I really like how strong those black and white nine patches look.

Dean, my greyhound........is eating and acting normal. Yes, that is a pillow he has his head on! He is a big baby. The cancerous lump is getting larger but his limp seems to be less pronounced. Be-good-to-Dean day every day now!

I have learned:

How to texture up fabrics with spray starch and an iron...oh what fun could be had with that!
The Head and the Heart......great listening.
Mumford and Sons....love these guys. Saw them perform live on the Grammys
CQMagOnline out.
I want to make this desk...I LOVE it. I need a couple old wooden saw horses and some salvaged wood. (scroll down a bit)
Why is there multiples of the pics I just posted?

Mosiac-ed Winged Heart Piece on Dumpr.net

2011-02-13T10:26:00.002-05:00

Dumpr - Photo Fun

I was messing around in dumpr yesterday and mosaic-ed my winged heart piece. I love this! I want to be able to enlarge it and print it. Does anyone know how?

Today I plan to sew the rest of the 9 patch blocks for Melissa's quilt and make a little hot air balloon motif for a Steampunk CQ block I am working on.

I also must figure out how to unlock my Blackberry. How did it get locked anyway?

I may even post again later today! We will see how it goes....

I have learned:

Episode 709 Quilting Arts TV season 7, this season, is the show my UFO is on. Judy Coates Perez is the advising artist. It's still a UFO! Martha mentioned a UFO swap so maybe someone else can give this overworked piece a new lease. (if you aren't a member of QA online, it is free. I think you have to be a member to view this!)
I am taking a landscape workshop next Saturday. Searching through all my pics and I realize I am not a landscape picture taker! I have plenty of windows and doors and cool silos but no landscapes to work from. SO I googled Ireland landscapes and found this one....love it.

Mosaic Art Quilt...Playing

2011-02-06T16:39:00.000-05:00

I need to get my act together for my Mosaic Art Quilt class coming up at COF retreat in April. I created 2 more 9"x12" pieces from a different fabric, but the one above is one I made a while ago. I just wanted to show something that we could do with them after they are fused to background. I used black and blue to do some stitching.

This is one I made this morning. I left black "grout" for another option.

Same fabric, different layout.

And just for fun I fused some on the diagonal to a 4"x6" hard canvas. Obviously I can't stitch on this...but paint would work.

My little art quilt group is my work-the-kinks-out class on Tuesday night. I am hoping each of them does something interesting to their pieces so I can use them as examples in April.

Melissa and Cory's quilt is coming along! I have 17 of the 57 piece nine patch blocks done, 13 to go. All of the pinwheel blocks are done. I am anxious to see it layed out. Grabbing a few minutes at my machine before work has really been productive as well as a good way to begin the day! I need to get this top done to get it to a machine quilter in plenty of time for the August 14th shower deadline.

The year-of-the-wedding is in full swing! We met with the planner at Pearl Street Grill last weekend. It was good to revisit the venue and see what we need to get done in the way of decorating. While Melissa, Michael and I were there we decided to try the pot roast made with their own amber beer brew that will be one of the three options for the reception. It was yummy! So we have the dress, the reception/ceremony set, the photographer deposited, save the dates ready to mail, shower date and tuxes nailed down. Bridesmaid dress shopping in March....invitations are the biggest project we need to tackle now. Melissa did a great job on the save the dates, I know she will come up with something wonderful for invites.

Yesterday Pam cooked her own 50th birthday dinner for me and her hubby Jim...I bought the steaks, she got the crab legs and shrimp...so delicious! She is a great cook. An after dinner game of Scrabble, good conversation between old friends. My idea of a perfect evening!
I am next to turn 50. Jim is the "baby"...he flips over to the 5th decade in July!

I have learned:

My greyhound Dean has a cancerous tumor. He has been limping intermittently for months. The most recent bout started last weekend. Looking for things on his paws seemed logical...never found anything. Friday when I came home from work I could not believe the large lump that I saw at the top of his front leg, shoulder area if we think about how we are built. Called vet right away. They did 2 needle draws from the lump and an xray. Dr. called me yesterday to tell me he has cancer. Explained the heroic measures up to and including amputating his leg. We have decided that managing his pain is the only option. It is so hard to know what is coming. I love the big lug.
Making airfare reservations when your exhausted is a huge mistake. I realized my error when Nicki sent an email regarding her arrival time to the retreat on April 28th?!?!?!?!?What? 28th? Really? I made my reservation for the 21st! Oh no. Easter weekend? Didn't know that. Ding dong.
Mumford and Sons. Good music.
The Town. Good movie.
I have 5 or Packers and 3 for Steelers in the shop pool for Superbowl tonight. Not good.

Mug Rug

2011-01-27T21:21:00.000-05:00

Now that Susan has received this Mugrug I made for her in the HGTV swap I can show you! This was alot of fun to make..I used some of my rusty dyed fabrics and some Judy Robertson hand dyed fabrics and a thread painted mug with "hot stuff" on it!

I have been wanting to try the whole "thread sketching" thing..I just visualized what I wanted to draw and did it. I love how the machine quilting looks too.

I am still using some of my more productive morning moments before work sewing some of the nine patches. Little by little....minute by literal minute...I am getting this quilt done!

So January is just about over...my least favorite month of the year. Good riddance!
My mom would have been 70 yesterday...her twin sister is 70 now. It has been over 8 years since my mother succumbed to either breast cancer or colon cancer. One of them metastasized to lungs. She was 61.

I have learned:

Airfare to Charlotte NC for C.O.F. quilt retreat all set. Can't wait to meet up with old friends and meet new ones!
I love Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler on American Idol. Who knew it would be this much better?
I have wanted to read Lonesome Dove for a long time. Finally picked it up and really like how McMurtry develops his characters. This is a tome. I look forward to each page.

Bits of My Week

2011-01-23T18:58:00.003-05:00

After 4 hours yesterday and 4 more today I needed to do some improvisational piecing...all that traditional piecing on the Jam & Jelly...all those 1/4" seams and squaring up...that is out of the box for me! I dumped the bag of "fabrics" from Nancy Crow class and plucked a couple bits out and within an hour I had pieced this little number! I really like it. I think I will try some hand quilting on this.

I have pieced all 20 pinwheel blocks and am working on the nine patch blocks now. Each of them has 57 pieces! I love the scrappy look with a couple constant design elements. Note the same blue/gray corners in the pinwheel, the black and white nine patch and the latte border on the nine patch blocks....these will remain throughout the top and I know it will make a striking quilt in the end. I am really loving this quilt which will be a shower gift for Melissa and Cory in August! I have alot of work to do!

And all this sewing with my precious Fiona somewhere on the table in front of me! I love my chubby fur baby!

Some of you know this is the year of the Melissa & Cory wedding. October 15, downtown Buffalo at the Pearl Street Grill. Fun will be had by all! Melissa and I went to the very new Alfred Angelo Bridal salon in Amherst yesterday and the second dress she put on was THE dress. Melissa had noted the dress from an ad in a bridal magazine but when she saw it she wasn't sure of the flowers on the bodice. I loved it. The flowers were tulle so they were light and fun. I asked that she try it on any way. Yay! It is a new line of Disney princess dresses. This one is called Snow White. It is even more ironic since last weekend at Target a little girl asked her if she was Snow White! Her hair is dyed black and her eyes are blue...she could play a great Snow White~! Underneath the tulle and beaded flowers of the bodice is an edgy boned corset bodice. I just love this dress and she looked great in it! One more check off the list!

My best and oldest friend Pam turns 50 tomorrow! I have known her for 43 years! My family moved into the house next door to them shortly after they moved in. She is a wonderful, reliable friend with a great family, of which I am a part of. Her and Jim have been together since grade school and are a good example of what works. They each bring strengths and equal out any weaknesses in each other. Sarah, Hannah and Noah are like my nieces and nephew and I truly enjoy them all. But nothing can dispute the fact that Pam turns 50 before me!

This January has been very punishing. The cold, cold, cold temps day after day have had an effect on my bones and psyche. This week will be more of the same. I am grateful that many of my work days have been in my stockroom over the past 2 months. I have spent most of my time getting things in order. I know my days in there are numbered and then all control is lost!

Susan ran a Mugrug swap on HGTV message board. I swapped with the woman in charge! Here is the mat I received from our host! I love it! I love the teetering teacups and the teapot. Thank you! I can't show the one I made her yet as she hasn't received it yet. I was fun to make something small and quick.

I love this miniature that my fellow little art quilt group friend made. It is a replica of a high school boy's bedroom. I am not sure if this was for her son or another family member...I was just in awe and not really listening! She had a pizza box with a local pizzeria on it...all the local newspaper artlicles scaled down to size and posted on a bulletin board. The detail was unbelievable in this microcosm of adolescent boy life! My son would have loved something like this. Great job Lori! Thank you for sharing.

I am just about finished working on Colleen's Steampunk CQ RR block.

I used a watch face from an old watch I got at Sal Army for $1.99. The ring is from a belt. I stitched it down over a velvet yo-yo with the dial tacked down with a bead.

The rhinestone trim was tacked down on a curve. I liked the light this added to the block.

I have learned:

I love this song by Christina Perri...Jar of Hearts
American Pickers. What a job!
Allen, my kids' step-brother...a construction worker, Air Force Reservist and dad started making cakes after watching Cake Boss on TV. He's already sold a couple apparently and will be making the cake for Melissa's shower in August! Cool.
This frozen Jambalaya by Contessa is delicious! I added a can of diced tomatoes with jalapenos, a can of canellini beans, some extra turkey sausage and some red pepper flakes to the bag of ingredients.

Chocolate Challenge Quiltlets

2011-01-15T18:53:00.001-05:00

"Layer Cake"
(this is the only pic I got of it...this is still in process picture, note the needle? I did block it and iron it smooth
for a tidy presentation!)
Note the blocks, and I use that term loosely, resemble a slice of chocolate cake with raspberry filling and yummy frosting. A picture from a magazine of just such a cake was inspiration. I saw a block! I used my embellishing machine to punch the old chiffon scarves of pink, brown and light tan into recycled wool from a jacket...all from my favorite haunt, Salvation Army. Kantha stitching covers the entire piece, which for me was the best part. I love that repetitive, texturizing stitching. I was torn on the "finishing". I tried to put a binding on it and it was all wrong. I tried to sew it to a background....more wrong. I could have done the envelope or facing method but to me it would have been almost tragic to cover all the stitching on the reverse. I know the traditional judges will comment on that fact, amongst other non-traditional issues! Funny, I thought I could have rolled the edges and hand stitched them after it was out of my hands. When I get it back I think it will become part of a larger project....nothing is ever finished to me!

"Candy Bar Penny Rug"

I whipped this up a couple weeks ago when I wanted to play. The background is the requisite brown wool with a great shade of blue "candy bar" shapes sewn to it with a shiny blue fabric bit punched into it and some handmade X's over them. The tongues are the same rectangle shapes. Not a very complex plan but was oh-so-fun to make!

My presence was necessary at Michael's football banquet in Rochester today so I had to miss guild.( Of course he informed me Thursday at 11:00 AM of this after asking many times) I did hear that there were many awesome Chocolate Challenge pieces turned in today including art quilts, crazy quilts and traditional quilts. I can't wait to see them in the Batavia library throughout the month of February. If you are in the area, check them out.
I did see a few of them before the reveal and WOW. They were great~!

My little art quilt group met this past Tuesday and as usual it was a wonderful sharing of idea's and discussion on the new group book project. Karen brought in these grommeted fabric samples that we decided will make a good base to put our pieces on. The original idea of an 8"x8" page is now a 12"x12" page. So my approximately 3.5" ish square window of crazy quilt will now enlarge 4x's. I am excited about this and am anxious to begin.

Tomorrow I am ever hopeful I can sew more Jam & Jelly blocks. That is the plan. Maybe some bulls eyes too! I love them!

This wintry weather is wreaking havoc on my energy level. I am so tired at night...by 8 PM I am nodding off on the couch! I can sleep 8 hours and feels like 4. That coupled with work world......and of course cresting 50 must figure in here...all I can say is feeling so January.

I have learned:

I am still amazed that people I hardly know find gossiping about me interesting. I am so boring.
American Idol. Jennifer Lopez. Steven Tyler. Weird.
Apparently Joann fabrics was bought by a large something or other company....hope they focus some attention on the small stores. Ours is suffering from young-clerk-girls-talking-amongst-themselves-for-all-to-hear-inappropriate-conversations.
The man that hired me almost 32 years ago, died yesterday. He was a good man that had worked his way to the top from the bottom. That's how it was done back in the day. Now we have boy bosses that have earned no stripes. I am getting old!

More Bulls Eye Fun

2011-01-09T19:47:00.000-05:00

These are so fun! I love stacking the fabrics and cutting away layers to reveal a funky bulls eye block. I plan to make more, then quarter them and figure out some awesome composition with all the bits! The blocks are 6".
I have been under the weather this past week...I lost the battle, the vitamin C did not ward off the cold. It is still lingering in my head but finally feel better.
Yesterday I spent the day at Tracy's sewing and chatting and eating great soup! We decided to get back on track with the Jam & Jelly quilt we started back in September. After reacquainting ourselves with it we did manage to get in the zone. I made 40 9 patch's and 3 pinwheel with border blocks. I made 14 more 9 patch's today. Only 96 of them to go! I am working on improving my 1/4" seam with my Bernina 37 foot!
HGTV message board started up their Friday Night PJ Party lessons again. We made a scarf! I love it. I used some of my "fabrics" from Nancy Crow class. Here it is before I put the flannel backing on and washed it into soft submission!

I wore it outside today and it is so warm and cozy!

I have to say I feel so January. The cold, the snow, the cold and the work of it all. I'm just saying.

The Steampunk CQ RR has officially begun. I mailed my block out to Meg on Monday. I have Colleen's block and have already done quite a bit of stitching on it! I have to figure out when to stop since 3 other ladies have to work on it too! I reused another winged heart from my challenge piece 2 years ago...I placed a cool black charm over the heart and wooly bits under to ground it.

I stitched the grids with random X's over them....for a little bit of gritty. The blue and ruffle at bottom is 2 ribbons attached with french knots.

I have learned:

The year-of-the-wedding has begun, 9 months from from next Saturday. A gestation away!
Michael graduates from St John Fisher in less than 4 months.
Gas. $3.29 in Batavia.

Bulls Eye Quilt......a Little One!

2011-01-02T18:56:00.000-05:00

My little Bulls Eye quilt! I love this! I loved the process. It was all free stitching which appeals to me. I had 4 layers of fabric, including a sheer old blue scarf and a great chartreuse sheer and just had at it! I sewed 3 consecutive circles...

just winging it...then cut away carefully, each ring to the fabric reveal!.
How fun!! I then cut my 4 blocks into quarters and arranged into a pleasing composition, then sewed all pieces together. I began with 6 1/2" blocks of all fabrics.
I also tried this....

In the recent issue of Quilting Arts there is an article about a similar process. I began with a 10 1/2" block and
6 layers of fabric. I free motioned the design making sure to close areas that could be cut away. Interesting indeed.
I had a good day experimenting with something new. Best medicine for my return to work tomorrow.

My guild challenge is due in 3 weeks! Of course I have known about it since last February! I have been working on a piece ( can't show it yet!) but had another idea....so I got out some wool, my embellishing machine and made a 2nd entry. It is my take on something traditional....pics after our meeting later this month!

I don't make New Year's resolutions...I have been around long enough to know better than that! But I am determined to lose 15-20 lbs this year and to work on more things for myself...I want to try the things that I have sketched out in my journals.

Maybe make one of these jackets and a scarf. Vogue patterns were on sale at Joann's for 3.99 and I couldn't resist these Marcy Tilton patterns. I am a fan.

I have learned:

Vitamin C should heal all my woes. I am giving it a shot. I need a boost!
P.S. I Love You. My favorite movie. My dream...an Irish rogue in Ireland.
The Elm at the End of the Earth...good book my daughter recommended. Takes place in our county.
My feet have not been warm in 3 months! I'm just saying....

Crazy Quilted Gift

2010-12-30T20:27:00.000-05:00

This is the gift I had been working on the week before Christmas...for my sister. It is a crazy quilt block with a photo transfer pic of her and I when we were about 3 and 2 ish. I loved stitching every bit of this! It is in a shadowbox frame thus the reflection on the glass. I do love a shadowbox...something about stuff tucked inside a dimensional box!

The "D" for her last name, my maiden name and my niece's name...Darcy, i actually 1 of 2 bits from a belt I found at Sally Ann's. I covered the side edge with silk ribbon since it didn't have rhinestones on the part. The cat charm is from a bead shop I went to in New Hampshire at my quilt retreat in 2009. We both have cats and love them!

This wine themed charm was from the same bead store....we do like our wine!

I am not usually a button cluster fan but had some great vintage ones and decided to go with it. The cool button on the right is from a coat and the pinkish one was in a button box I found. The Celtic button I bought a few years ago just because....well I am Irish!

Of course a crazy quilt block is not complete without a good luck spider web. The spider is made of seed beads.
I need to get it into the frame now...not sure how to do that. I will figure it out! I hope my sister loves it. You know how it is when you make a gift for someone that doesn't do what you do! If not I know Darcy will take it under her wing!

On Monday I have to mail this block out. It is my base block for the Steampunk RR at CQI. Colleen alerted me to this RR a few months ago, knowing I had a busy year ahead of me. She knew I would be very interested in a CQ RR in this genre! It is very me. I look forward to this RR and each block I get to add my own interpretation of steampunk-ness to.

I bought this Karen Phillips-Shwallon embroidery pattern at a quilt show last spring. Her booth was gorgeous, her work inspiring. I saw am article about her recently in American Quilter I believe. I wish she had a website. I want to work the PEACE on the linen. Not sure about all the flowers yet, but I love the letters.

I have been off work since last Thursday. I love it. I am never bored. It leaves room for creative thinking! I worked on a mug rug today for an HGTV swap I signed up for. A mug rug is basically a small placemat and a large coaster. It is a great size for quickness and fun way to try something new. I did! I had so much fun making this that I made 2! Not sure when we swap, but when we do I will post the picture.

So 2010 is ready to wrap up. 2011. I am not a resoluter. I wish I believed it was a "new" beginning. That would be cool.
I plan to be home in my favorite place stitching tomorrow night. That makes me happy! Happy New Year!

I have learned:

I love mussels! Yummy meaty mussels!
Melody Gardot CD. Easy listening. Sunday morning music for anytime.
Growing hair out is a pain in the arse, but I am trying.
Thread sketching is fun!
Dutch Blitz. Fun card game.
Gas prices to go up to $4 this year? Really? I need a bike.

Merry Christmas Eve......Peace

2010-12-24T17:39:00.000-05:00

I loved this sign on a gate in Buffalo. I took this pic at the Buffalo Garden Walk this past summer. I wish PEACE were possible.
I have been very very busy these weeks of December. My daughter Melissa turned 28 on the 20th. That is such a measurement in my life! I am cresting 49, sliding into 50 in less than 3 months. I had 2 kids, my first house and a full time job for 10 years by then~! Times....
Last weekend I decided I would make my sister a crazy quilt with a pic of her and I when we were kids. She loved the one I received in February as a gift. I need to finish it up and get it into a shadowbox frame by tomorrow noon! No problem.
Michael is home from college. He made the Dean's list in spite of all the adversity's of the last 5 months. He has been talking with recruiters and the military may be an option when he graduates in May. I am supportive and would be very proud.
The Chocolate challenge for guild is due the 3rd Saturday in January. Good thing my piece is small! Machine stitching may be introduced soon!
I received a DVD set from Interweave today. I knew I hadn't ordered any of Quilting Arts cool DVDs. It was complimentary! When they called for UFOs a bit ago I sent a pic of one of my troubling pieces. They eventually had me mail it to them and it was used on an episode in the current 700 series of Quilting Arts TV!
I am watching it right now...waiting to see which episode I see my little quilt on!
Thank you Quilting Arts/Interweave!

I have learned:

My friend Sandy is another year older today! She's a fighter....no hot cancer spots in last scan! We had a great chatty visit this morning.
Time off.....priceless!
Jody + Nicki + me @ COF retreat in April = fun times!
Apparently Dean the greyhound thinks I put a Christmas tree up for his convenience.
Lobster tails and muscles the Christmas dinner this year. mmmmmm.
Why do we wait til now to meet up with friends when we have the whole year?
Melissa's wedding is less than 10 months away!! 10-15-11.

More is More and a Redwork Rejuvenated!

2010-12-11T17:41:00.035-05:00

Who was I kidding? I knew I wasn't finished with Colleen's book pages! NOW I am. Here is a close-up of one of my favorite sections. The slide frame is covered in torn cheesecloth; the center fabric is a silk velvet ruched and tacked; the heart is the backside of a charm (I liked it better than the embossed front) with a tiny star charm and a Swarovski crystal and a cool rhinestone bead. I used heavy black thread to secure the heart and all the stitchy bits around the outside edge of the slide frame. This feels like me. Here is the truly finished pages!

The redwork that almost died......

I am so happy to say it will live in Mary Anne's house along with her daughter Melanie! I made it into a little quiltie. I do love how the black & white looks with the redwork.

Great guild party today. Our new hospitality crew did a wonderful job with the decorations. And thanks to the VA for some festive ambiance upon our arrival! Our gift exchange was full of great projects. I received, thanks to my Jack of Spades ( & thanks to sewlovetoquilts for the idea to use 2 decks of cards to fairly distribute the presents) a tablerunner I love, a really great and useful zipper bag (I will be using this to carry my chocolate challenge around for the next month as I do all my handstitching!) a package of note cards and a yummy tea! Thank you Charlotte! I will get pics of these posted soon.

I just have to show you these little felted lizards Martha made. The pics are not great but I know I can coerce her into showing me them again to get better pics, but for now check these out...

She should have a better pic on her blog...Bits of Merth...in my sidebar. They are precious critters!

I have learned:

I need the recipe from Christine for that rice/chicken/cranberry/mandarin orange yummy salad she brought to party today!
Thanks to Dodie, I have found a guy that makes portable design boards with PVC pipe and felt. I have ordered one sight unseen for $60.00. I cannot wait to get it!
Christmas celebrations are trickier than ever this year. Time will tell where all the bodies lay come Christmas Eve & Christmas Day and apparently it is wide open now to the day after Christmas.
Some of us have made a pact, the ones of us that need a deadline, to have something ready to submit to Q=A=Q by the August due date. We have to start somewhere, why not close to home?

5. December 11 – 11 Things What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? (Author: Sam Davidson)

1......another loan, but that's not looking good
2......Another dead deer in front of my house
3......A pat down at the airport
4......Unruly hairs
5......nothing to happen with Pearl Street Grill til after 10-15-11
6......lit sensor lights in my Trailblazer
7......those 9 pounds I already lost
8......cameras in the trucks at work
9..... more.flaking exterior paint
10....bad things to happen to good people
11....one more broken vacuum
I will worry about them if they happen....one day at a time, it's all we can do.

My Little Art Quilt Group Project & other goings on

2010-12-10T11:18:00.077-05:00

I don't think I ever posted the finished Convulvulous (which I believe is a morning glory) flower group art quilt my little art quilt group made. Martha's picture in the lower left was the inspiration. She took it, enlarge it and cut into 5 slices that each of us completed using any technique we chose. Mine is the one that kind of stick out! At the 2-3 o'clock space...I used the snippet technique. Cutting little bits of each color using a rotary cutter and just slashing away. Taking those, with my picture next to the background fabric I just "paint" the petal out. I did include a sheer with silver in it and dispersed it in the white area's for a touch of sparkle. I used grey tulle to cover the entire piece and disolvable film pinned over everything to hold it all in and thread painted each section in appropriate color. I have done this technique before and love the pointillist effect. It is also fun! Sharon, Elaine and Martha, who actually did 2 petals, were the other artists. Martha also made the pieced background and Elaine did the machine quilting. It is a striking piece~!

We have a few new members to our group now....Karen and Lori and Marylee! Our next group project, inspired by my online book RR, will be a book. I believe it is a Sandra Meech book Martha has that had an exercise to make a collage of texture and isolate a small square area and reproduce that area into, we decided, an 8"x8" page. We also said a picture/image could be used isolating an area of that and doing the same. I think I am going to use the Kaffe Fassett Crazy quilted piece I made a bit ago. I sectioned off different parts of it and now to settle on which one I will use. Plenty of texture there~!

I am leaning towards the first one but my initial choice was the third one. Who knows, I may change my mind entirely by the time I start it! I know some of the girls feel daunted by this since they have not done a book page before...but all it is really, is a little quilt!
Remember the redwork piece I tried to wash a faint spot off of and the red dye ran? Well I tossed it into a mesh laundry bag in the washer with bleach and soap and it washed out! I didn't know if the bleach would affect the red thread, just figured it was destined for trash so why not??? I was pleased since it was quilt a bit of work. I just made my guild gift using it, but no pic til after tomorrow's meeting!
I am trying to decide how to fairly and funly (my own word) distribute the gifts the ladies make. Last year I did the right/left Santa story I found online. It was fair and fun. I don't like the take-it-from-others game, so that is out. Any idea's? Perhaps I should post this question on HGTV right now. Nothing like waiting til the last minute!
Our guild also has an excellent Community Service program run by Melanie and her mom MaryAnn. At Christmas volunteers make gift bags filled with age/gender appropriate gifts that they take to a school in Batavia every year. I have 4 year old Dahlia. Of course I still have to make the bag. I have a bunch of bits but think she needs a doll, so I will send Melissa to store later to pick one out for her!
Our guild's annual challenge, due at January meeting, is Chocolate! Anything with brown in it....dark chocolate is really the only one I like so I will be using super dark brown. I have started it on my embellishing machine, but I know I will be finishing it up the day before. I do feel ahead of the game however,since I usually wait til my vacation at Christmas to start it!
Another project I will be working on is a Steampunk inspired theme CQ RR on CQI. Colleen remembered I have a busy year coming up but knew that I could be persuaded to participate in this cool genre round robin. So I will be making a 12"x12" block by January 2nd. I have a sketchy idea for my block. The darker colors, the metal bits, the ratty-tatty will come easily. This promises to be my favorite CQ RR ever!
I have learned:

Anesthesia + me= hardcore nausea. But the kidney stone is out!
Uncommon Threads, an oldie but goodie on HGTV's old schedule still airs repeats some mornings. I got to watch two episodes this morning. HGTV used to have so many great shows for the crafter. What happened to HGTV?
Sewing with Nancy has a great thread painting show on right this minute! Check it out!
Found the most awesome filigree glittered 8" bells at Dollar Store for the wedding. 26 silver bells were weeded out of the gold, red and green ones. They are the vintage-gray glitter rather that the high silver colored glitter making them perfect for the Vintage Glam theme! These will be hung over the main tables down the center of the room with crystals. Pretty! Here is a few images of the room we have for the wedding October 15th, 2011! Cool joint!
http://www.reverb10.com/ My friend Elaine alerted me to this site. Designed to prompt you to ponder 2010 and think about 2011. It began December 1st but I am jumping in today. December 10 – Wisdom Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out? (Author: Susannah Conway)...................................Wisely I realize that creating things is like therapy to me and I allow myself time to do it..I actually need it, every aspect from designing a project through every step to the harder part for me~finishing. I am process driven more than product driven and that is ok with me. It will continue to play out daily and wisdom will abound!!

Snowy Day

2010-12-02T20:14:00.000-05:00

Snow. The first significant snowfall of the year never fails to invoke nostalgic memories of childhood and the truly magical play day it promised! I love the white cover, the challenge of driving in "conditions" and the sign of the holiday season. I had my first snowball hit last night! It is all good until January when that inevitable cold snap hits. Pictured is my immediate backyard. The deer actually roam there. I will see all the foot trails in the morning.

So Weight Watchers starts an all new program this month. Got all my new material for a mere (?) $35. I am committed for the next year. I want to lose an additional 15 lbs by Melissa's wedding day in October.

I was in Pier I recently and found these oh so adorable angel wings.....

Chester, the old coot cat is after these. Must be the bird feathers.

My final gift in the Homemade Holiday Swap is this awesome tote bag from my friend Elaine. I used it today to take my things to work! I love it. It is roomy enough for a good sized project or a bunch of mags!
Since I mailed my gift off before I took a pic I will have to try to copy the one on HGTV message board soon.
s
I am very excited to be going to the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center for the Quilts=Arts=Quilt exhibit Saturday in Auburn NY with Martha and Elaine. It is always an inspiring show.

More tests tomorrow...oh joyous me. Probing, prodding. Want answers.

I have learned:

A young man at work thought $60 to $70 would buy him a quilt. Silly boy.

Jersey Quilt and Book Pages...

2010-11-28T19:53:00.000-05:00

I FINALLY finished Michael's Jersey Quilt! Football jersey's from the time he was 7 to high school. Barb Hazen did the custom quilting, including a few well placed shamrocks~love it. I squared it up this morning , then spent hours binding and sleeving it. Michael has returned to school with a way to hang it in his dorm room and very pleased it is done! I want to show the reverse side....

.....it is a great football jersey print! Elaine (Quiltingnewbie2) found yards of it when she was moving. Nicki mentioned to her the jersey quilt I was making Michael and asked me if I wanted it! It is perfect! Thank you little woman!

I have been steadily stitching on Colleen's Book pages. The base is coffee dyed felted wool. I have had fun just finding things that I love and sewing them down. The thread painted winged heart was my practice piece for the CQ purse I made a few months ago; a slide frame wrapped in cheesecloth with ruched silk velvet is in lower right corner. Vintage lace, a tiny doily, a crown off an old child's shoe from Sally Ann's, beads and an old metal button are all little treasures I came across.

The second page....velvet ribbon, tea stained doily (using rose hips tea which gave all the bits in that batch a rosy tint) lace, fish beads (I'm a Pisces), rushed chiffon, an old necklace pendant, a keyhole and a celtic knot using tracing paper as a pattern. I consider these pages 90% done...then off to Nicki for her talents!
This Book RR continues to be one of my favorite projects. Good people sharing great work.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful reuniting with aunts, uncles and cousins in Cincinnati, Ohio! I have 9 cousins but really only had contact with 3 of them when I was a kid. (3 were in Los Angeles and 3 were in Chicago and limited contact with them)

Jeff is my age, Tracy is my sister Noni's age and Kelly is almost 7 years younger than me. They didn't live in NY so we would see them intermittently, but it was always a great time~a highlight in childhood memory. As family's go, the matriarch (my grandmother) dies and things get tense between sisters and contact falls away into busy lives. I have missed that familial attachment and am happy to have reconnected with them. Besides my kids it is only my sister and her 2 offspring here in NY. It was like no time had passed and fun was had by all!

Noni, my sister and me on Thanksgiving Day.....thankful for loving and laughing!

While in Cincinnati, my niece, Darcy posted on my Facebook that we were indeed in Cincinnati! My HGTV message board friend, Mary Ann (McPatches) saw it and since she lives in Cincinnati inquired if there would be time to get together....Yes! We had coffee early Friday. It was so nice to see her again and chat about life. She has been undergoing chemo treatments and had recently ditched her wig for her new doo! It looked great.

I get to see her again in 5 months at this year's retreat in North Carolina! It is a real bond with my retreat friends. I truly appreciate them all. I know if I were in any city that any of them live I would be welcome. How cool is that?!

Melissa and Cory are in Florida with her future in-laws again, doing the Disney thing. I am Cliffy's caretaker this week.

A busy week awaits. Dinner's with friends, luncheon with quilting friends in Rochester, Zumba, Dr. appointment and work. December always fills up quickly. I look forward to my week off after Christmas. A Lot!

I have learned:

I am getting better at the camera pic downloading on Windows Essential Photo Gallery. Less slow going we will say.
Pedicure = pretty toes + mini spa experience. Worth more than the $20.00.
Operation Write Home. Very cool program for our troops. A little bit of your creative time.
Cook This, Not That, the second book after Eat This, Not That, is a cookbook even I am excited about! I hate to cook. The pictures are awesome. I will really make some of these!
I did in fact where that Fisher sweatshirt all weekend!

Cool Quilts by My Friend Marylee

2010-11-23T12:59:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post these a while ago....Martha & Marylee, best friends since childhood, done in a pictorial style. I actually took this picture of them at Martha's 50th birthday party this past summer so the Marylee could get a pic to render for her as a gift. She made 2 (!) of the quilts and let Martha choose, either the green tinted or brightly colored quilt. If you know Martha you know she chose the colored one! These are unbelievably wonderful. They won numerous ribbons at our quilt show and well deserved!

Getting ready to leave for Cincinnati tomorrow to have Thanksgiving with cousins, aunts and unlces that I haven't seen in too many years. Looking forward to it but have to get through this day first~! Dr. appointment, then some CT (?) scan of body parts, then shopping, then packing but still have to Zumba and dine with Melissa! It all gets done.....

I have learned:

DMC 498, the perfect redwork color......runs. You KNOW how I know this....
Tiny nail + tire - air = (!).
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the CD by the same name....is excellent.
Scanning me some kidneys in an hour....

The New and Improved is Not Always

2010-11-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

This new laptop continues to be an uncomfortable transition. I have trouble loading pages for some reason...they time out in seconds. Pics load slowly. I don't even know where to start...is is my Internet provider? My router? My laptop?
I miss my old one.
I have kept very busy stitching on Colleens book pages ( I will work diligently to get pics of them loaded this weekend)
I am finishing up my Homemade Holiday Swap gift and will mail off to its recipient Tuesday.
I have Melissa and Cameron on a mission this weekend to procure paint chips from various hardware stores in town! for my current online art quilt challenge. I have a cool idea and am anxious to get started so I can finish by the due date, December 5th.

I want to share this piece. Junamea made this gorgeous quilt. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it hanging at our quilt show. She had seen a picture similar to it in an Australian magazine and decided she could do it. I love how she only colored some of the lace pieces. I know my crazy quilting friends would like this.

I have learned:

The audio of Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt is worth seeking out.
Down 9 lbs! Melissa down 23 lbs!
Zumba is fun and works.
New Bruce CD? The Promise. Need it.
Atonement.....at-one-ment.

my Symbol Project~~Winged Heart

2010-11-09T07:13:00.000-05:00

My online group's recent challenge was to create an art quilt using a symbol that has meaning to you. I knew right away I would use the winged heart. It is 26" x 14" ish. The close up of the heart shows all the Kantha style stitching I did on the hand dyed fabrics from Judy Robertson. I truly loved the process and outcome...the stitches undulate and form peaks and valleys that give it great texture.
The design is original...I drew it large on freezer paper, cut each feather out and fussy cut them on another hand dyed fabric to give them more visual interest. I thread painted them, then fused everything to canvas. To make sure it was secure I zig zagged all around the entire piece. I loved every step of this project from the design to hand stitching to machine work. I am not sure if it is actually finished though....the background seems stark. We'll see!
The new laptop has proven to be a little challenging for me. Jody got me going with pic downloading and posting with Windows Essentials Photo Gallery. All my favorites are gone. My bookmarks are also gone. Cory did get all my stuff off the old laptop in my documents, so at least I have those! Just have to get used to it.
Tonight my little art quilt group meets after a couple month hiatus. I am looking forward to that.
Tomorrow the annual mammo appointment. I am actually 6 months overdue. Not my favorite day of the year~
I must get moving...off to work. Longjohns on since it will barely make it out of the 50's.

I have learned:

I need a maid. And a cook.
The New Yorkers, by Catherine Schine promises to be a good read.

New Laptop....ugh.

2010-11-02T16:06:00.001-04:00

As you can see it has been weeks since I posted. The day I spent hours downloading the quilt show pics my old laptop died! So I got a great deal on this HP at BJ's. $513 original, I paid $318 in the end. BUT now the real trouble....I can't post pics because nothing looks the same! I tried the program that came with my camera....not good.

SO my friend Jody to my rescue!
She will be walking me through a download tonight and I hope I am not too technologically inept that I can't manage that.

I have been busy though. I am half way into the Homemade Holiday Swap, Christmas gift. It was much hand stitching so I was happy!

I finished my guild's holiday gift already too....another hand stitched item. I love it!

I also pulled out an ongoing CQ project....the flower...separate petals and center, and did some seams on them. I really would love this to be done for the next quilt show in 2012.

Today I made the ties for the 7 foley bag covers I made for my friend Terry's daughter to use at the VA where she works. Easy and satisfying project.

Colleen's pages have been calling me too! I love her aesthetic, much like mine. Very collage-y, very reflective of appreciation for old, vintage and quirky items. I started to put some things on my first page. Fun!

Michael is finally feeling better after the bout of mono. His blood work showed things were back to normal. Last weekend was Senior Recognition. We all made the last walk on a football field. There is a pic on facebook of all of us.

I have learned:

I usually love change, but this new laptop thing is too challenging.
Final episode of Mad Men.....didn't see that coming.
Gretchen was the winner on Project Runway. Not my favorite.
Loving a deep, hot bath in the evening. Half hour, a good book.....relaxing.

Quilt Show...a Click Away...240 Pics of Quilts!

2010-10-17T17:02:00.001-04:00

My Mermaid CQ RR piece won a ribbon at our quilt show for Best Group Quilt!! I had just gotten this back in the mail 3 days before the show...I sewed a backing to it and sleeved it just in time for drop-off on Wednsday. My friends Jody, Nicki, Thearica, Kathy and Carolyn were my winning team. I thank you girls for all your gorgeous work!

I have spent literally hours today downloading 240 pictures from the show. I always go through and adjust the contrast etc on each pic which is pretty time consuming but worth it for better images. It took a very long time to get them in albums on Snapfish....2 albums. Don't ask. Just enjoy the show!
Album 1
Album 2

George Siciliano, the Mrs and Me!!

2010-10-15T21:46:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post during this awesome guild quilt show weekend. This is me, holding the door prize, a 12 pack of fabrics George Siciliano sells to use in his gorgeously intricate mini masterpieces, with lovely Mrs Virginia Siciliano and George himself!! He and Ginny are adorable. Their trunk show is mind bogglingly inspiring, a true pleasure to be in their presence.
George held an all day workshop today, with another tomorrow. I will be taking tomorrow's and will have more on that later.
The quilt show is really going well. The new venue, St Anthony's old elementary school, is working out wonderfully. If you live anywhere near Batavia, NY, come tomorrow, 10-5 PM.
I am too tired to post more, but I have pics of all the great works, as well as George's trunk show, to post this week!

CQ Mermaid~Nicki's

2010-10-03T19:10:00.001-04:00

I have been stitching, finishing up Nicki's CQ Mermaid block. This is one area I did. I bought a packet of these transfers from ebay a while ago. I chose this precious one since I could change the concept to underwater. The dyed cheesecloth acts as a frame, tacked down with sparkly crystals, sequins and beads. The "bubbles" are white bunched tulle.

I redressed the little sprite in a pink with brown dots dress!

Further down on the block I used a netting from a vintage hat, tossed in some leafy sequins and a cool button I found at Joann's. I knew Nicki's block was blue!

And this is the last bit I have been working on...kind of a Sharon Bogan sumptuous surface thing. Lots of french knots and texture.

The whole gorgeous block! Nicki will love it.

This mermaid was the work of Kathy, a truly talented stitcher. Those sequins are tiny, sewn on individually to form the scales on the tail and the hair is split stitch using a variegated thread.

As I have mentioned throughout this year I have participated in a Homemade Holiday Swap. Deb51, from Tennessee made this beautiful fall table runner from shabby chic-ish fabrics. I just love it!

I made this raggedy applique pillow for knotme, in a workshop Chris hosted at guild. I loved this process. It was fun to do and I can see many ways it could be used in various projects. It is stuffed with a cushy down pillow form.

Last weekend I was immersed in Chautauqua, wondering the grounds looking at quilts, and taking in history. This is one adorable cottage....pink. Sweet.

The last 2 weeks have been consumed with Michaels mono and the various side affects (tonsillitis, hepatitis and rash) and doctor's appointments, missed work and light sleep. So I slept til 9 the last two mornings! After Friday's doctor visit and a shot of steroid to the arse, and subsequent meds, the horrible, itchy body rash has subsided and proper sleeping habits restored! Let's hope we are on the up-swing and things get back on track at school and life.

My symbol piece for the online group, Bakers Dozen, is slowly moving along. I have decided to do kantha stitching on a good chunk of fabric. It will entail many, many, many stitches! On the other hand, it looks so cool. The stitches form a secondary design, very textural. I have much to do on this piece.

Museum Quilt Guild, my guild, has our biannual quilt show in less than 3 weeks! Today I sewed the sleeve on "Freedom", which I was thinking I should have renamed "I am Woman". Too late for the show, but not too late for me to do whatever I want.....and that is to rename it! Luckily the small pieces are pinned to a board so no sleeve or hanging apperatice needed. Straps are waiting to be sewn on a bag yet and one piece I entered needs to be located (!) and finished with a backing and a sleeve! HHmmmm. Where oh where did that Crazy Quilted RR piece go too?

I have learned:

I am down 5.4 lbs and Melissa is down 12 lbs!!!! We have a little over a year to the wedding!
Project Runway.....still like April, like Mondo lately....Gretchen, not so much. Attitude not cool.
Blue Bloods...good show. Great group of characters. And it's on-demand.
I will be able to add photographers assistant to my skills after next Sunday. Sandy's brother is coming in to photograph Carol's wedding sans help, thus me!
I was stuck in the waiting room at doc's office Friday....with daytime shenanigans blasting in the foreground....a woman humming as anger management in Divorce Court...people yelling and cursing, well bleeping, as Jerry Springer tests men for proof of paternity. If I were to have had my blood pressure taken after that it would undoubtedly be high. I cannot imagine who would be entertained by that day after day. Apparently millions must. Ugh.
I can retire in 5 1/2 years.

What did they say to do? Quilting Arts TV UFO

2010-09-27T14:21:00.000-04:00

Remember this? IAQ (instant art quilt from Ellen Lindner's online class) has been anything but that for me! I have cut it up twice, over dyed it, even tried to add a little whimsy with the faerie patch. When Quilting Arts TV made a call for unfinished art quilts for consideration for this season's show, I submitted a pic of this. I just got it back with a note to watch for advice from an artist on an upcoming episode!
I don't record on my TV so I may not get to see it. If anyone sees it though, can you pass on the advice?

Last Friday I took a class from Janet Root with my friend Tracy. We both loved this quilt when Janet did a trunk show for us last spring. She teaches it with permission from the designer and the pattern was published years ago in a quilt magazine.

I really love the strong 9 patch design. I am making this for Melissa and Cory.

Here are my first 2 blocks. (the lighting in this shop was not conducive to true fabric color) It will be gorgeous.
Here are Tracy's. Love the striped fabrics she is using.

Some members of my quilt guild took a short bus trip to Chautauqua for a wonderful quilt show Saturday. I have never been there before, so being on the grounds of this unique old community of 250 acres and seeing all the old houses was special enough. Saw many beautiful quilts and shopped many a vendor. Too many!

Michael is still home from college with mono. The tonsillitis seems to be gone but now he has an all over rash which apparently is another possible side effect of mono.

Our quilt show is in 3 weeks! Of course I have quite a bit of finishing to do on the pieces I already registered. We have George Siciliano doing 2 workshops....this one on Friday I believe and this one on Saturday..

They are paper pieced on his foundation fabrics. I want to gather my own fabrics rather than buying the kit for quite a bit of money. Some of the fabrics I had to buy for Nancy Crow will work. There will also be a lecture Friday night and anyone is welcome. There is still room in both classes, $55.00, 9-4 each day.

If you live in western NY, come to a great show...Friday and Saturday, October 15 and 16 in Batavia.

A fellow Nancy Crow/QBL student has joined by guild. Karen worked diligently all week long, right near me, and it was the last hour on the last day that we realized we lived near-ish each other! She showed her Crow creation this month and it is stunning. She actually started over and this is what she made...

These quilts were referred to by Nancy as Ribbon Quilts. I had not heard of that term before, but they are just that.....ribbons of color and value. Karen had already shown us a few really great quilts and we are happy she has become a member.

I was rummaging through my fabrics that we spent hours sewing up in that class and there is enough to make more ribbon quilts. It is on my ever growing list.

Yesterday was spent messing around with my online art quilt groups current challenge....symbol. I used freezer paper to make my pattern, cutting it up and ironing to my fabric. I did get it layed out and can see where it's going. May need to do some Esterita Austin-class painting on it if the thread work doesn't give me the expected results. I need to decide that background fabric now. HHmmmmm.

CQing on Nicki's mermaid still. I am almost done with my bits. Pics in a bit.

I have learned:

my "live well be happy" table runner went for $65 at the benefit my sister held for a close friend. She assured me the owner loves it.
Blackberry + gravel = yep, cracked screen. It does resemble a stick figure though, so at least it's creative damage!
My cholesterol is not a good 251.

Live Well and Be Happy.......

2010-09-19T20:22:00.001-04:00

Words to live by, right? I just finished hand sewing the great orange velvet binding down. It measures approximately 44" x 10", a perfect table runner. The green/gold/black/gray base is all recycled wool clothing. blanket and ends. "live well and be happy" is from a very nice book called Applique Outside the Lines with Piece O' cake Designs by Becky Goldsmith & Linda Jenkins. A fun book. it was shown as part of a wall hanging but I was immediately drawn to it as a single element.
I had it enlarged at Office Depot, traced onto freezer paper, cut out, ironed onto stitched background and used my embellishing machine (!!!!) to attach all verbiage. Machine stitched for permanence. The cotton velvet is the backing and binding.
Fun to make. This will be donated to a benefit my sister is having Saturday, for a good friend of hers' family. I hope it finds an appreciative home.

Quilt guild was really interesting yesterday. Wenda Coburn runs a program called "Just.....sew", teaching inmates in the Onondaga County jail to quilt and sew. It was truly fascinating to heat her story, from the inception of the program to all the security measures it takes to get through each class to what she has learned about women, jails and herself.

What a beautiful day today was. I took some time to sit outside since I know very soon it won't be an option. I took some stitching with me and....ahhhh, relaxed!

Now that the BBB challenge is finished I have been thinking about the current challenge.....symbol. My friend Tracy mentioned last year, when we were discussing signage for a dream quilt shop in my retirement future (emphasis on dream) that it has to have a winged heart in it....it's your thing. Hmmmm. It is. I am repeatedly inspired to work with this symbol, so it was a no brainer. Well not entirely. I did think I should so something else....had an idea...but it didn't feel right. So now how do I execute? I have a pretty cool idea right now. Can I make it work? I am going to try! Now I can't show you til the reveal in 5 weeks.

I have learned:

smokeassist.com. What a strange commercial. People look so strange smoking.
Will I ever finish "Under the Dome"? pg. 844, 230 more to go. I need to find out what this dang dome is.
Project Runway. I like April.
How many vials of blood do they need to run a few tests.....4 apparently. Wonder what they will say about me?
Mary Ann Scarborough's Salon at Medina's Shirt Factory Cafe was a very nice night out with friends. All her work is hand stitched and embroidered in silk. It was luscious.
Debbie awarded my blog a Sunshine award! Thank you! I need to pass it on....it will take time.

"Cascade of Roses" Art Quilt

2010-09-12T17:27:00.000-04:00

So I made the deadline! My online art quilt group's challenge was Beads, Baubles & Bangles. Well, not being an overtly blingy person and one who has limited time amongst all my obligations etc, I knew my piece had to be light bling. I sketched out a cascade of roses onto which i would sew reclaimed (from a Sally Ann sweater) pearls and desirous and now depleted delica beads that look like tiny rhinestones. Each rose is a ripped strip of sheer fabric, twisted and tacked to a felt background. All roses arranged and sewn to a felt backing, then all those beads and pearls sewn on by hand.

I rust dyed the background, then over dyed it with chartreuse Dynaflow dye. Love that color! I machine quilted that with shiny rayon, rust colored thread.
After sewing the rose cascade to the rusty fabric, I used the rust and a deep red thread to randomly stitch a bit.
While this piece has definite design flaws (from any distance, the roses disappear and it looks like a big red formation....ahh well.) I tried some things I have wanted to do and met the deadline.
It has been good practice to make those flowers since I will be doing something along those lines for Melissa's wedding flowers next October for the Wedding!
The next challenge is "symbol". Presumably, a personal symbol. I have an idea.....or two! Of course I look forward to doing a new technique. I have six weeks. They fly by.

Nicki's CQ mermaid block has gotten some good attention from me already. I have a few area's on that to finish up and hope to get it to her soon as I know she is anxious to see it again.

Th gift for the current Homemade Holiday Swap is still in its 1/2 way done state. I really love it. I hope to make another one for the quilt shows silent auction in October and another for a hostess gift. It will be ready to mail by the 26th.

Made the Weight Watchers vegetable soup today, this semi-chilly Sunday....0 points! Now my sister is on board with all 4 of us. And I am tracking...the hardest part for me.

Watching "Fallen" on AMC right now. Good movie.Denzel Washington, 1998.

Thanksgiving may find me in Cincinnati, OH. My sister and I, along with our kids, are all that remain here in western NY. Relatives scattered across states, disconnected by previous relationship disasters and busy lives, will hopefully rekindle and stay relevant. I will be thankful.

Took Michael back to Fisher this morning. He asked about his jersey quilt....! I have a deadline now. His 22nd birthday, October 23rd. I work so much better within a parameter of time! So I will add this to the list!

I have learned:

M & M's commercial for the new pretzel version of the candy is funny.
The Bills 10 vs. Miami 15. Bills fans are ALWAYS so hopeful. oh well.
oneprettything.com is a great site with links to alot of creativity
Crazy Heart. Jeff Bridges was worthy.

Rusty Fabric Beautified!

2010-09-09T20:57:00.001-04:00

My rusty fabric overdyed with Dynaflow's chartreuse. I love that color. I have used this gorgeous fabric, cut up and resown of course...why do anything simple. I did have some issues with the needle/thread/rusty fabric however. It seems some metallic residue remains in the fibers so when I had more than two layers of it to sew through my thread broke. I had the best luck with a topstitching needle.

My friend Terry's daughter works for the VA. They have a great need for Foley bag covers for the patients to use on their wheelchairs. I spent some time sewing six together this week. Perfect mindless sewing and the gratification is wonderful. I will definitely stitch up more of these for veterans.

Weight Watchers...again. Goal is two dress sizes down by the Melissa's wedding next October. She is also on board, along with Cory's parents. Melissa wants this dress!

I have learned:

My Dunkin Donuts is closed til the 22nd for a remodel and I want my familiarly delicious coffee, bad. It will be the longest time without it in 15 years!
In 2009 WW nationwide....people lost a total of 4 million pounds.
Chester, my old codger cat, loves white wine!

Quilted "Freedom"

2010-09-06T17:03:00.000-04:00

I have been plugging along on this project. The machine quilting is finally finished. I have sewn a facing to it, so the last thing is sewing that down on the back...oh and the sleeve! I like it.

The next challenge, due on the 12th, is Beads, Baubles and Bangles. I nixed the first attempt and have 75% progress made on this one. I can't show pics of what I have done until after the reveal next week.
Also in the works is the current Homemade Holiday Swap. Can be either, Halloween, Autumn or Thanksgiving theme.I have been looking for a way to use some of my beautiful wool bits I have been collecting. There is parts of a blazer, blanket, suit coat and wool remnants in my gift. I used my sewing machine and my embellishing machine. I am happy with it and hope my recipient will feel the same. Of course, no pics of this either as it is a gift. After the 26th I can post that pic.

Thearica has possession of Atomic Number, my Nancy Crow class quilt. As I suspected, she is going to have a blast quilting it. I knew she was the woman for the job!

My quilt guild's biannual quilt show is this October. One of our younger, more tech savvy members created an online registration form for registering our quilts...what an efficient, time saving option! It's always the multiple step things (find form online, take laptop to printer upstairs, after finding paper..print, fill out form, mail or take to meeting) that give me troubles. I am curious how many of our membership used it.

I have learned:

my shift key broke off so every time i have to make a capital letter i have to delicately press this tiny rubber boot, which has also come off. not fun. not good. laptop nearing its demise i fear.
i have a favorite bead...a delica i am sure...charcoal hint with a crystal rhinestone shine. i don't know where they came from. not sure if they are vintage. i want more. lots more!
my elmwood art fest acquisition. i love the whimsy and tone of this piece.

i joined this 1-yard-hand-dyed-fabric-a-month courtesy of judy robertson of just imagination. she was a vendor at QBL and i could not resist a few pieces of spectacular fabrics. i just got my 2nd months gem.