Canadian Sunset

One of the gorgeous sunsets in Sunset Cove, Callander, Ontario, Canada. My first successful try at a panoramic shot. This was the day we actually had the fire going in the cottage all day. Good times.

I finally started my Bra for a Cause today. I pulled the petals and  leaves off a hydrangea stem of fake flowers and glued them to the cups of the 36C that is a specified requirement. It is still drying. 8 hours later. Humidity not conducive to quick dry time. I have a vintage butterfly motif I picked up at Sally Ann's a couple years ago that will be the finishing touch to the piece.

I broke more needles quilting Freedom. Ugh. It is thick in some places and I realized I had to take one stitch at a time in them to avoid the breakages. I defined the belly button, outlined the curves with some pebble stitching and quilted wavy lines on the red stripes. I need to stitch white on the white stripes still. I know why I don't machine quilt much. I hate struggling with the thing....mangling and rolling and pushing constantly.

I had hoped I would make more progress on various projects I have going but just couldn't get in the zone today. I was all over the place...mixing house/yard work in with some creative endeavor. I did manage to finish Jody's CQ block. She is going to love it!

I have learned:

1. How to take a panoramic pic!
2. "Shutter Island". Pretty good movie. I was advised to watch it just for the ending. Worth it.
3. Lauren won "So You Think You Can Dance". 

 Here is a great little house in the Buffalo Cottage District on the garden walk. I pretty interesting sculpture on the front lawn and....

 Her backyard "lily pond" was a small built in with vintage cups and saucers. Also showcased her crocheted potholder collection and....

 this awesome painting incorporating vintage gloves!

CQmagonline~Worth the Time!

I just perused the current issue on CQMagonline. Do take some time to have a look at it and when you see how great it is, check out the past issues. I especially liked the article on stitching trees this issue. The mini CQ quilt is really cool. That would be a fun project. Composite flower motifs from Allie Aller is a fun way to use fabrics, artificial flowers and threads to make a great dimensional flower. Really, every article has some great bit of inspiration to offer. I will be stitching that little beaded frog on my CQ flower!
Last night my little art quilt group met at my house to paint some fabrics. I will admit, I was ill prepared. Having come off 2 of the last 3 weeks being out of town and of course that constant.....work....I didn't get to a store to buy more fabric paints. BUT I did manage to create quite a few pieces that I really love. I used a great gold paint to stamp 2" circles with a piece of  foam. My daughter, Melissa, and her future brother-in-law, Cameron, came to try their hand at this too. Melissa actually made a pretty cool piece that I will have to use in some way! (no pics yet)

I am watching "So You Think You Can Dance" in HD on my son's TV. Nice. I need one of these new-fangled flat screens. So, if I were to vote....Lauren is great. I have loved Kent all along, he is an endearing little guy, but Lauren is consistently good.


I have learned:

1. Well, apparently I am healthy enough to drive our pick up trucks at work now...which all now have DOT #'s on them. I had to have my first DOT (Dept. of  Transportation) physical this morning.
2. Brooklyn's Finest. Not as good as I had hoped. High murder count. Too much unclearly going on. To me....last night.
3. I am reaching that "age". Wakes & funerals. A good old co-worker died yesterday. 58. Heart. I haven't worked with him for 15 years but kept in that used-to-share-the-same-load kind of touch. 
4. Urraim. My son, Micheal, had this tattooed on his arm a while ago. He carefully researched Gaelic (tribute to my Leitrim, Ireland born father, his namesake) words that reflected how he felt about his family.

Isn't this the greatest piece of garden art? Buffalo Garden Walk is always a surprise. I would LOVE this piece in my house!

CQ Pics and Other Project Progress

Back to reality. A wonderful week in unlpugged bliss in Canada. The weather was not cooperative...Friday we actually had a fire going all day in the cottage, but I can sit and stitch just as well there as on the sandy beach...so it awesome.
It was a no cell phone, laptop week as I don't have an international phone plan and was not willing to pay the extra bucks, so phone was actually turned off for 7 days.
I managed to sew many-a-seam on CQ flower petals. I made these pieces (round center and 6 petals in red and green) 1 1/2 years ago. Not much stitching on them as most of my CQ stitching is on RR blocks that end up in my friends hands! I will get a picture of the "idea" and post soon.
Today was spent working hard on the manor. Seemingly 50 lbs of weeds were tugged from the front gardens over 4 hours this morning. Ugh.
Cleaning various surfaces in the kitchen & bathroom took more precious moments away from my creating time! Any woman reading this knows the shock of returning from a great vacation only to realize all the work from all those days is waiting for you to catch up on in mere hours. Whatever.

Before I left last week I mailed off my "Quilter's choice" gift in the ongoing Homemade Holiday Swap I am participating in on HGTV message board. This round had us doing whatever we wanted, which for me was tougher. I like the assigned theme that goes with the other holidays.
I had planned to send Julie the silk scarf I made in my katazome class.

I should have left it alone. I thought the resist image was too faint, boring, anticlimactic. So I over dyed it using Dynaflow fabric paints thinking the purple would settle into the light areas and darken the lavender but what really happened is.......WHAT?!.....the image was lost. Totally. Not discernible. uh oh.
So I had to come up with a plan B.
I pieced a feminine block and stabbed away...many an hour, right up to my lunch on the day it had to be mailed! Hence the pic of the pillow on my front seat.
I do love how it came out. I think Julie did too.
The next theme is Autumn/Halloween/Thanksgiving. Our choice. Love Autumn colors and leaves are always a thrill but like Halloween too. Not even remotely sure what I am going to make.
Here are a few close-ups of the pillow.

I took these after the pillow was stuffed, thus the unusual angles!
The dyed birds lace and fan lace are from my friend Nicki's etsy site. You will find the link on her blog.The glorious fringe was from my friend Thearica. Thanks!
The button cluster (and normally I am not all about them) recycles vintage buttons. Love that.

Bakers Dozen  is the group of 13 women that have been gathered (online) to share and encourage each other to make art quilts. We get to try things incorporating a theme that each of us has come up with for the ensuing challenge. FREEDOM was the first challenge that Karen gave us. Interpreted any way we want, in any size and any technique. I had this sketch from last year. Loved it and knew I would use it someday.

Here is my quilt (approx 22"x30", since it's not done yet I am ishing the measurement!)

I started machine quilting it today. I really like how it has come out. I made the red fabric with felt, sheer fabric and my Singer er10 embellishing machine I wrote about a bit ago. The female form is cheesecloth.
It represents me and all women who are fortunate to live in a country that recognizes women as equal and gives us many opportunities that women in other countries do not have.
Our current challenge theme is Beads, Baubles & Bling from Colleen. She is a wonderfully talented jewelry designer.

These are spectacular. So it isn't hard to see where she got her motivation from! I am not sure where I am going with this. I did sketch out an idea in Canada last week. ??
I have been busy.

I have learned:

1. How to do a tequila shot. Lick salt, drink up, bite lime.
2. I like Margarita's. 
3. I don't like boats on water. Especially choppy-lake bodies of water. 
4. How to Zoomba. On the beach. No, we didn't care what the "neighbors" thought. It was fun!
5. I can actually turn on an ipod and navigate the playlist. I need to learn to download songs now. 
6. My laptop is getting cranky in its old age. The audio is going. It is slow. I need to back up my files. Of course that would entail me knowing what I was doing to do that.
7. Cliffy  is doing a trial run at Melissa's. He has been lost without her these past 4 months. She missed him as well. He is a missable cat.
8. Love my Cupids Arrow phone cover.

This chair has my name on it. Sunset Cove on Lake Nipissing in Ontario, Canada. One week of relaxation in a cottage on the lake.

Nancy Crow's Workshop (Boot Camp?) ....Awesome!

Nancy Crow, my quilt and me. You can't see how sleep deprived I was in this picture! My week at QBL was a whirlwind of creativity, sewing, good food and great company. I loved every minute.
Nancy was demanding in her rigorous assignments to sew strips into fabrics using line & shape (defined by the width of a strip) and color & value gradations.
I am not able to discern a warm or cold color, I need to work on that. Value in fabrics, don't see it. I can, however, intuitively put colors into gradation of value. Go figure.

Our first exercise was in black & white. Strips of each in varying widths were used to make a composition. In my critique Nancy remarked that the top half was not grounded, but the bottom had good figure to ground composition. She is an artist and composition is what she does.
I love the little square/line thing going on throughout the piece and would like to do more with that element.
Then we got into color. Lots of color all over the room!
Seemingly miles of strips in many complicated variations kept me sewing til 2 AM one night and past 11 PM each other night. (not unusual in her workshops). We were all in the "zone". I love that feeling. Susan, the woman who set up camp next to me said it was like we all didn't want to disappoint Nancy. She makes it clear she expected hard work and we all delivered. There is a lot to be said for high expectations.
Below are some of fabrics I made.

I love black (obviously) and deep color (obviously) and find working with light/bright color more challenging (obviously).

The middle strip was my favorite fabric. I knew I would begin with that.
Nancy assigned a ribbon quilt formation (basically a stripped quilt or strips inside a rectangular formation) 4'x8' or 7' or 6'. (mine was on the diminutive side of 4'x6' coming in at a little over 3'x5'...

My progression to final piece. I do like it.  I truly love the center bit...the not-rigid structure, the color, the lines.
I need to decide how to quilt it now.
Rewarding experience.
I will save the the pics of the class projects for another day. I need to do some things around here! My mower broke and a few acres of lawn already need to be cut.
I forgot about the Buffalo Garden Walk tomorrow with Sandy and Carol.

I have learned:

1. Nancy began class with a disclaimer that she is NOT mean. She IS not mean. Just demanding (her own words).
2. How exhilarating it is to be amongst women that "get" my passion for all things fiber and creative. 
3. I CAN stay up past midnight!
4. Spell check is back on blogger. Good.

Summer Days

The tag said thistle when I bought this a few years ago. I love the green, spiky head.

I have nothing new to show! I have been stitching on a block, but not done. I have the bones of my freedom quilt on the wall.

I am working on getting all my supplies, mounds of fabric, clothes, more fabric and all the other bits I will need at QBL next week. Registration is Sunday afternoon, should be about a 2.5 hour drive. My class with Nancy Crow starts early Monday and from what I hear, I will be consumed by it. I welcome that! I am going by myself, which I  prefer since I don't have to be concerned with socializing~~ the kind that knowing someone would make you engage in vs. new acquaintance socializing. I want to be in the zone.

After a weekend of trying to get my machine to run smoothly (thanks for trying Melanie!) I took it to the dealer yesterday after work and picked it up today after work! I am happy.All fixed, cleaned and ready for improvisational strip piecing.

Had a wonderful afternoon at Marthas Pig Roast and celebrated her 50 years of living!

I have learned:

1. "Flickendecke" is the German word for crazy quilting...thanks Elaine! My CQ friends will like that. Say it fast 10 times!
2. That Singer Er10 embellishing machine is AWESOME! I made fabric with it Saturday within 20 minutes after I took it out of the box. Easy.

Katazome Class, Day 2!

A sampling of day 2 in my katazome class. My "One Blue Fish" is second from right. We painted over the dry rice paste resist with pigment paints Karen mixed up in these great muted shades. They all look rather messy don't they? But next week (yes! NEXT week) we can soak the paste off in water and see what grows up.

My second piece is going to be spectacular! I love the golden yellow, charcoal black and crimson combination and once the paste is removed.....I am so anxious!!

Diane did an all over color wash, five layers of color...over a fern stencil. It glows. I can't wait to see what this looks like next week.

My favorite Karen Illman Miller piece. That tree is from one of her intricate, hand cut stencils.
I learned so many things in this class. I appreciate that it is very labor intensive, that you are fully engaged in each step, that it is completely toxin free and that it is doable. Karen has availed herself online to her students for questions and information on supply vendors. Her love of the craft is evident.

If I were a felted vessel this is what I would look like! Anne, one of the lovely women in my class and a member of RAFA (Rochester Area Fiber Artists) brought this wet felted vessel she created to show. Love the organic shape, the pebbles and the swirly bits!

I am thinking.....of what to do.....for my Bra for a Cause! Was thinking crowny points....then a thistle (flower) ran through my mind.....then the crown idea was in question since the bra is very shaped, not straight across...then "the girls" was an idea, you know, two girl faces, but then I don't know how I would make faces, but wild spiky hair sounds fun.....so I am only at this stage still. A paper pattern pinned as a preview for something! I have til the end of August.

THEN I started on my art quilt for the Bakers Dozen blog. A group of 13 women that my friend Thearica gathered up. We all are part of  HGTV message board and some of have actually met. It is a diverse and interesting little clan of creative souls. I am happy to be amongst them and to be motivated to make things!
The first theme is "freedom". We can do whatever we want which is magic to the mind. About a year ago I sketched a little something and knew someday it would become a quilt. I don't want to give it away before our reveal, so here is a little part of the sketch.
Today I got out the cheap little projector I bought from ebay last year, taped a piece of fabric to the wall, pulled the shades and penciled in the image BIGGER. Thanks to Marylee for the idea and then actually remembering I had one!
Picked the color/fabrics out and hope to get the embellishing machine out tomorrow on her maiden voyage!


I have learned:

1. That I gotta go....I am picking up a pizza, going to Melissa's where Ian & Darcy are staying during the week in July. 
2. Darcy is giving me a pedicure!! So worth it! She is excellent and my feet are aching.