My Retreat was a BLAST!

Here I am with a few of my Circle of Friends retreaters in KEEPSAKE QUILTING store.

(Lisa, Nicki, me, Elaine, Talia, Tami and Ely) I had a great time! I am very tired from the busy weekend ( not much SLEEP!) and the 450 mile drive home today. I learned much, laughed alot and met some interesting people that I will always call FRIENDS!!

Right next door to Keepsake Quilting is PATTERNWORKS store. (Jody, me & Shirl). There was also a bead store & Needlearts store in town.

I would love to know how much $$ all these woman spent that day! I have knowledge of at least one woman that spent $500 at Keepsake alone and had it all shipped home!!! We can't deny our part in stimulating the economy this past weekend for sure.

Today I learned:

1. Swine Flu is epidemic, or so says all news channels...I seem to remember a Swine Flu in the 70's..?
2. My daughter CAN take good care of home & animals. 1 Dean, 1 Chester & 1 Clifford all good and no signs of starvation...no broken molding on any doors, no sink full of dirty dishes. All went well in my absence. Thanks!
3. I paid 2.06 for gas in New Hampshire this morning and 2.18 for gas at home this evening. Sucks for us.

Finally Ready for C.O.F Quilt Retreat!!!

I am excited and ready to go at 7 AM. I will be heading east to pick up Charlene in Syracuse and off to Manchester NH. 70 women gathering for 3 full days of classes, bus trip, speakers, sewing and friendship.....many laughs for sure.
I plan to take my laptop since I have many ????? for a few of my PC SAVVY friends. I need pointers on this blogging thing!
I will try to post pictures over the weekend.
Wait til you see the Pajama Queen contest!

C.O.F. Retreat this weekend!

Being a very experienced procrastinator I finally finished my 2 challenges for the upcoming CIRCLE OF FRIENDS quilt retreat in Manchester N.H. with my HGTV message board friends...or my "online" friends as my kids call them! There are 70 women that will be meeting up and sharing a great weekend of classes, speakers and a bus trip to KEEPSAKE QUILTING's store. I can't show a picture of them til after since they are a SECRET!
My list of projects & class prep

1. FQ challenge...provided by committee
2. T-shirt that will be like a name tag...to represent your state.
   
3. mini quilt layer for learning some machine quilting techniques
4. Miranda bag supplies
5. Needles & floss to learn STUMPWORK

My friend Penny came and did a trunk show for my quilt guild Saturday. What a great presentation of her quilting journey and laughs were had by all! She is truly a talented woman. These were just a couple of her dolls. Here are a few more pics of her work. My camera batteries died in the middle of presentation and I missed some GREAT stuff.

Finished Cuff and other bits...

I added the eyelets and black cording for a cool corset-like closure. In my attempt to fulfill my gaol to publish something I am sending this off to be considered for Belle Armoire magazine. If you scroll down on this page-Calls & Challenges

You can see all the different magazines that Stampington & Company markets and what they are looking for at any time. I am thinking of making another one since the deadline isn't until June.

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This is Carolyn's artistic Mermaid crazy quilt block, complete with depth of field! It's not a great picture of it however, but the block is BEAUTIFUL. The first thing I did was add the FULL MOON..it's felted wool with beads sewn randomly on it.I traced out a pattern from a book that I thought interpretive of waves. I am filling it in with a very icy light blue pearlescent floss. It is VERY time consuming however but the effect is going to be nice..it will make nice definition between SEA & SKY.

This is my rendition of a JELLYFISH! I used tulle and beads and white pearlescent floss. I like it. I hope Carolyn does too.

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Last night I met with my ART QUILT group and one of the girls had us do an exercise using black strips and a white background. The top left and bottom right block were using straight pieces of black that could only be arranged perpendicular to the edges......the top right one was using only straight strips on a diagonal. Bottom left was curvy and I chose perpendicular. I REALLY like the curvy one and want to use the idea...maybe for an art quilt! It was really fun to work within the parameters. Sometimes starting is the stumbling block. I seem to need an assignment or at least a topic to channel my creative energy otherwise my mind is all over!

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I watched Walk the Line last night. I liked it. It made me want to read about June Carter actually. Also inspires me to listen to old Johnny Cash.

30 FQ give-away!

In honor of her daughter's birthday Thearica is giving away 30 Fat Quarters. Guess how old her daughter is?? I am in a crazy quilt RR with her. MERMAID'S are the theme. You can see her block on her blog. She is also a talented longarm quilter. I will get to meet her in a couple weeks at the retreat in MANCHESTER. I hope to see some of her work there.

SNOW. April 7th. Spring.

Today I mailed off my first piece for consideration for publication in a magazine. I have had this on my list for years and am determined this year it will happen. I actually don't have a good picture of it. It is a 12"x12" shadowbox framed wool/needle felted snowman/moon/nest thing I called "SNOWBIRD" The snowman has wings....again the fascination on WINGS. Not sure how this works....YES we will or NO we can't. Time will tell. I will keep trying though!

Today I Learned

1. We did an exercise in design & composition at my ART Quilt group. Just using linear & curved black scraps on a white background. I liked doing it...a good way to loosen up and just get something done. I will use this process.

Check out this Blog Giveaway

If you love fabric & more specifically MODA fabrics check out this BLOG giveaway. Great blog too.

Working on the Mermaid CQ block. I have been sketching & figuring out how to make a jellyfish. I have done one before with chiffon & beads. I don't like to do the same thing twice. I have some upholstery twisted fringe and think it will make good tentacles. (Not sure what those leggy things are really called!) I will use layered sheers for the body.

Also have some dyed lace that I cut up and configured some fish that are ready to stitch down.

Bought some pearlized white & light blue floss today. Might be good to fill it the waves. Tried beads....didn't like it.

Will post when done.

Here is a picture of a little something I stitched a little bit ago. I love words. DREAM was written to scale on a piece of tracing paper. I pin that to fabric and backstitch the outline. After removing tracing paper (can be tedious to pull out from under some stitches) I fill in open areas with lots of french knots, my favorite stitch.

Years ago, before I even had kids, I worked on a cute stamped embroidery I bought at a cool old WOOLWORTH's store that of course has been closed for years now in downtown Buffalo. It had a patchwork quilt and little children tucked in, but the most interesting thing on this piece was a teddy bear done entirely in french knots. I remember how satisfying it was to see all that texture. I love them clustered and I love them randomly spaced. They look good as an accent on any stitch combination and they can stand on their own.

Mini Quilts

I was in a mini quilt swap. We were partnered with a participant and allowed to share color preference. I favor BLACK & so did my partner Kathy from California. I received the one she made me and I love it! Bow-ties with a tux front, complete with tucks in the shirt, tiny buttons and a RED satin cummerbund. Her workmanship is excellent. I didn't get pics of the back but I will post when I do....she has done a cool thing to give it rigidity for hanging...really CLEVER.

I came across this in my STUFF. My son Michael goes to college an hour away and for his birthday freshman year I made this fabric postcard and mailed it to him so he would get mail on his birthday! I used recycled felted sweater wool for the base and needle-felted the little cupcake with candle and #'s and letters. You can't really tell in the picture but there is the non-fusible Angelina fibers on the cupcake. Needle-felting is like painting with roving & wool yarns. FUN. But you must pay attention every second or you WILL poke that gnarly barbed needle into your finger....and it hurts...for days.

I have been working on Carolyn's Mermaid CQ block. I stitched the outline for waves to seperate the sea & sky. Thinking of how to fill it now. Crests on waves are more white than blue. I could bead it or use a combination of french knots & split stitch or all three. I also added a full MOON. I have this great vintage coat from Sally Anne's. I washed it and it didn't really felt so not sure what fiber it is, but it's cool. I beaded a bit over it to add a little sparkle in the sky.

Also finished working on Thearica's pig CQ RR block. I can't show you a picture of it since it is a SECRET until they are all returned to the originator.

Projects for this weekend & near future:

1. Mermaid ~waves~
2. Eyelets & tie closure on cuff
3. COF FQ challenge (????????)
4. COF T-shirt "name" tag
5. baby quilt with birth info for Aliegh (actually have a pieced pink string block quilt I can use)
6. April Journal page
7. Carve a stamp
8. Son's football jersey quilt
9. Knit more sweater

Today I learned:

1. My un-beloved Jeep Liberty needs brakes all around. Ugh.
2. I better learn to love wearing my orange hardhat and highly reflective vest...required DOT road wear. Ugh.
3. My tooth aches. 6 Motrins and counting today.