Free For the Picking

When Su and I drove back from Quilt Guild Saturday, the roadsides were just lined with blackberry bushes. The small birds were darting back and forth across the road and I knew it was time to plan to pick blackberries for pie.

This is an annual event for me and any other able-bodied, willing assistant. Two can pick 16 cups, enough for two pies, so much faster than one. When my sons were small the three of us used to go. It reminded me of that children's book, Blueberries for Sal, as their buckets didn't fill as fast as mine; because as many went in their mouth as in the bucket! Well my young assistants have long since move out on their own, so DH and I went.

He was such a sport. No one can accuse him of being a character in the story of the Little Red Hen. He knows if he wants to eat blackberry pie, it would be great if he helped pick. He was often out of sight in the berry patch, but I could hear him. "Ouch!" "Yikes!" "Let go you!" *giggling*

At one point I was stretching out to pick that perfect berry just out of reach, you know the one, and started to lose my balance. I was seen circling my arms like a cartoon character trying hard not to fall face first into the briars!

From that to this:

And this:

And this:
Ahhh... summer.

Windfall Quilting

The next best thing to a trip to the quilt store is the Freebees table at our guild. It's amazing what other quilters want to get rid of. This past Saturday was our guild meeting and I always get there early and hang out by the Freebees table to see what's going to be dropped off for the membership to adopt. This month I made such a haul I almost felt guilty, shouldn't I pay somebody something for all this?

First off I scooped up 10 back issues of Fons and Porter magazine. Those will be great reading when the weather turns cold and I'm curled up by the woodstove.

Then I talked to a new member Kitty and admired her quilt guild cloisonne' pin, only to discover it was OUR guild's new pin. Had to buy one of those!


By that time there was a wonderful, warm buzz of quilters arriving, visiting and unpacking for the meeting. I said hello to our President and presented her with her Birthday FPC. She didn't know what to say! Partly I think because she'd never seen a FPC before. :D

I took another turn around the room and said hello to my good friend Rosy. She asked me if I'd been a good girl and that threw me for a loop... Yes, why? She then opened her bag and presented me with a couple dozen spools of DMC and Mettler machine embroidery thread! She said it was to go with my terrific new machine. And she didn't want to 'burden' me with too much, but thought I might enjoy playing with the embroidery feature on my Janome. Knocked my socks off! Rosy you are such a sweetie bear.

After picking myself up off the floor from surprise at her gift, I went back to the Freebee table and another member was unloading what looked like a good chunk of her fabric stash onto the back table in 5 or 6 large brown grocery bags full of quilt material. You're giving this away? She said she didn't have any use for it. Well you can bet I swooped in, trying to decide between what I'm always drawn to and 'rounding out my palette.' I tried for a little of both.

Greens are not unknown in my stash. So these pieces called my name.

And while I love purple and wear it a lot, I've never made a purple quilt. So these had to come home with me. And yellows used to be hard to find, so I often think I need those too. But the best find were the blues. Clear, watery blues just right for my Snail's Trail blocks. I got two 'useful baskets to put things in' from the Freebee table and sat during the meeting folding and grouping my blues in a little display.

I had one or two guild ladies ask me what I was doing putting these together like this. I smiled and said, "Just playing." Color play is so refreshing. And we all have enough fabric in our stashes to color play just fine, matching and contrasting fabric groups to our hearts content. I've gone on record as saying I don't do pink. So just to stretch myself, I threw in a pink print for fun.

To top off the day, I won the door prize. You guessed it, more fabric. :D Gee I went home happy that day. A serious fabric fix was had, without spending a dime. The best way to do it.

Snail's Pace You Mean

Well lots of blogland quilters have talked about the recent heatwave putting the kobosh on sewing much. I'll use that as an excuse for why my whirl-wind efforts to piece Snail's Trail blocks got put on the back burner. I got back to it this week after taking time to piece the border strips between my leader/ender stars. I'll post a picture of that when the top is together. In the meantime...

Snail's Trail blocks, 12" finished. Nine down and thirty-nine more to go. (!)

My design wall is full, but as I choose colors and cut pieces for blocks I refer to these to remind me of where I'm going. I have a TUB of blue fabric, but so many have grey in them and this is to be clear and bright, like water, sea and surf.

Maybe it'll be done for the intended's birthday Spring of '07. Then again... *shrug* The contrast seems sort of low for what I like to do, so it's challenging me. I'm already struggling to stick with it.

It's good to get out of my comfort zone once in awhile.

Fair Time!

We went last Saturday. My oldest son Nathan invited me to come down for the weekend so we could 'do the Home Arts' building together. That way, he said, he'd have someone to make comments to that understood and could comment back. I thought that was wonderful. 'Course he's lived most of his 25 years with a quilter-mother, so he knows the ropes pretty well by now and can hold his own when it comes to naming patterns and commenting on color and design.

Oh man, what I DIDN'T know was that he'd planned to present me with a pre-purchased Janome 6500 that I've been wanting for almost a year. Ever since my quilt buddy Su got one at Pacific International... somehow my 30 year old Riccar suddenly looked kinda shabby.
This is Nathan and I at Parkside Sewing, the vendor's booth at the fair. They told me to smile for the camera, but I was already grinning like a pregnant ape (what a weird expression). I was so shocked, pleased and surprised I felt like I was levitating. Now I know what people mean when they say they felt like they were walking on air. Thank you Nathan, you are such a sweetie bear. :D

We walked through the main pavillion, also known as the hall of hawkers, ate fair food for lunch and then I got my favorite ice cream on a stick, rolled in almonds and toffee bits. Yum! He told me I had to hurry up and finish, 'cause I couldn't go into the Home Arts building with food. Okay, okay!

So many wonderful things to see! So much talent and creativity in one room. I tried to see it all, be systematic and go down one side, then back and forth through the center, then down along the other side. But I kept getting distracted by the sights and exhibits that caught my eye. Here is the top winner for Best Use of Color and Design. I liked it better than Best of Show which I don't even think I took a picture of. Machine pieced, hand quilted.

Pineapple in 1930's reproductions

This one's for you Su. I think you should make one of these. =)

The curved piecing on this one is very nicely done, as is the highlight quilting - that doesn't really show in the picture.

Burrgoyne Surrounded

And I love this little scrap strippy. They had it displayed over with the dolls and knits for babies, but I could sure see it hanging in my house! Blue ribbon too. Machine pieced, hand quilted. Sweet!

This was a "Build your own teddy bear" vendor outside the Home Arts building. Teddy pushed the handle around and around and it mixed the fluff seen in the window to his left. The vendor's sitting there with his laptop open on his knee. I thought that was interesting.

And then it was time to go home. I wanted to stay and see more knitting, stitching, quilting, rughooking, tole. But my eyes were just too tired. It happens almost every year. So long till next July.

Another FPC

A quilter's birthday just seems like such a perfect reason to make a FPC. I mean, who else would look at this little 4"x6" fabric art, mini quilt thing and say, "Ohhhhh, it's soooo cute!" I've shown my FPC's to others and most people look at it quizzically, turn it over to the back, flip it back to the front, hand it back to me and say, "But what do you *do* with it?"
See? They obviously don't get it. :D


So this one is for the President of my quilt guild Cheryl. She's a special lady for a number of reason. In addition to being a wife and mother and commuting over an hour to a job in the medical profession, she leads and guides a diverse group of volunteer women with a wide variety of talents and skills into something of a cohesive group. Together we accomplish far more than we would individually. The group has some personalities and some rebels, and she rolls with their punches. I think personalities and rebels are part of any organization where humans are involved. But maybe they're more noticable in the guild because volunteers don't have to worry about being professional or getting fired.

So Cheryl, my hat is off. This bud's for you. .
Quiltingly,
Leslie

Changing of the Quilt

Hi!
'Member when I talked about the quilts I hang in the kitchen and change with the seasons? Well I finally got around to putting up the yellow-orange-red quilt I call "Summer's Heat". Seemed appropriate...

This quilt was started about thirteen years ago and I worked on it off and on for a few years before it ended up sitting for a long time. It got pushed to the back burner for a number of reason, not the least of which was that clear prints in yellow-gold, orange, tangerine and cherry red were just not available at the time. When I picked it back up again three years ago, I went to the local fabric store for a 'few more colors' to round out the fabric palette and I was *astounded* by the selection. It made the projcet so much easier. I guess my effort back in 1993 was just ahead of its' time.

We were vacationing in Oregon that summer and hiking in a cool wood. I was taken by all the different leaf shapes, textures and colors. It was July as I recall. This was the picture the quilt is based on.

You never know where inspiration will come from.

My quilty friend Su's been a quilter for about 3-4 years. She works in orange and red all the time. It's practically become her signature color. She sent me a picture of her recent quilt entitled Heat Wave. Talk about brillant minds thinking alike! We sure rub off on each others quilting. :D

Walk Among the Clouds

I guess it's been hot, hot, hot! pretty much everywhere. Ukiah's known for it's triple digit summers, but even in our valley it's been record breaking - like 114. (!) So I've moved my morning walk from 10 am to 9 am and then 9 am to 8 am. When it's 98 degrees at 8 in the morning you *know* it's going to be a scorcher.

I wanted to share the views and vistas on my walk with you, the goodness of God's green earth, even when it is over a hundred degrees...

Due West

West by Northwest

Due East

Due South

East by southeast

Pretty nice. It's even better when the sky is clear and that muggy haze isn't there. These are a few other sights along the way, if I'm lucky...

Common Blue Butterfly

Jack Rabbit

Red Dragonfly

Great Blue Heron

It's rare that I see the heron, but he winged his way south this morning and I had to smile. They're so large, I can always tell it's a heron by the seemingly lazy flap of the wings. Isn't it considered good fortune to see a heron? Well I had good fortune this morning.

The Wonders of Composite Art

When I got home last night Frank showed me his latest creation using his art and mine.
I made the Mariner's Compass wallhanging for him last year as a gift. He used a photo from our recent trip to the coast as the view from the windows of the room he created. This is designed for a dual screen monitor set-up, so something is lost when it's reduced. But you can see a larger version by visiting Frank's World.

It's so calm and dreamy. The view of the ocean through all west facing windows, the clear blue of the surf and sky. You can almost hear the hush of the waves outside. Timeless. Can I go there for a weekend? How soon can we leave?

FPC

I did it! I got out of the box, I quilted outside the lines! I did raw edge fusible applique'!

I know for some people this is no big deal, but we each have to take pleasure in our steps forward, our personal accomplishments.

Mavis's Birthday Fabric Postcard, the lapel pin is for scale... of course.

The Smells of Summer

Smells are so evocotive. As I walk along the road to the local Post Office, the smell of grape leaves warming in the sun takes me back to other summers. Days lounging by the river listening to the whir of insects as we both try to avoid the heat. The warmer weather brings out the scents and aromas of so many growing things. These are a few of the scents I enjoyed during my walk.

This one I smelled before I saw it. I had to look around and discover the redwood behind a neighbor's fence in among the rhododendrons.

And these rows of lavendar grown in a side yard a few houses down from the redwood. I don't know why; year after year the owner doesn't harvest the blossoms or do anything with the crop. Man! When I think of all the sachets and lavendar water I could make.


The honey bees are all over these flowers. The rows of plants seem to hummm with their industry. I like to reach out and slide my hand along a few stalks and bring my fingers to my nose for the sweetness of the fragrance. But I always check which stocks I reach for. I don't want to disturb the honey -makers, such cute little guys.

The Bar Has Been Raised

Leave it to my sew buddy Su...
She builds a fire under me. She created the first Fabric Postcard (FPC) between us months ago.
I finally made one and posted it yesterday. She said - what a great idea for a Birthday gift for Mavis! And yeah! I wanna make one for Mavis; we'll be seeing her next week at Sew What's.
But Su's on vacation, so she made her's last night. (in an hour!) And I just dropped my jaw!

You know how long it would've taken me to make this?? All that wonderful narrow satin stitch around all those flowers and leaves?? And never mind my machine doesn't even do embroidered alphas.

My FPC looks like a dish of frozen ice milk next to her triple fresh strawberry sundae! The bar has been raised. The design challenge is before me. I will never meet the challenge.

P.S. I love it. I said I did. But pink?? I don't do pink. Sorry, uh uh. :D

Sooo PC

Hey! I finally made one of those illusive Fabric Post Cards, i.e. FPC. See my previous blog entitled: Time Does Fly.
It was so fun! That's what everyone's been telling me, but I just couldn't seem to 'cut loose' and do the fused, raw-edge applique' thing. But for this sort of project, it's GREAT.


The lapel pin is just to give scale. It was fun... I can't say this one was fast though. I used Heat n Bond for the fusible, since I had it on hand, and it was a BEAR to satin stitch. The thread broke every half inch or inch. Took SUCH a long time to satin stitch the edge because the needle kept clogging with gum from the Heat n Bond. I won't use that fusible on the next PC, that's for sure.
So now that my feet are wet and I've re-aquainted myself with a couple of stitch settings on my machine that I haven't used in like a half a dozen years, I want to make more. A woman in my mini group -The Sew What's- is having her 71st birthday next week. What a great excuse for a BD PC!
Hmmm... the design wheels are turning.

Had to Get Outa Dodge

We decided to go for a drive yesterday, and end up at the coast. This is why.

Frank's usually behind the camera lens, so I thought I'd add a picture of him here, just before we headed north to go west.

We drove forty-five minutes north to the town of Laytonville, population: 1130. There's not much there, a merchantile, a hardware store, a volunteer fire department, a bank. But they DO have a quilt store, The Fat Quail Quilt shop, which is what took us there. It is so cute. I don't know how she stays in business but the owner-manager had a good selection of current fabrics and patterns and her prices were really reasonable. This is the outside. It was a hot drive to Laytonville and I was glad to go inside to the coolness and browse her fun shop.

Friday when Jana and Lynn were here for our Sew Day, Jana was talking about reorganizing her fabric collection. As a retired School District Librarian, she wants to buy an old library card catalog and store her fat quarters in the nifty little drawers. What a great idea. And since most libraries have moved to on-line card catalogs, the drawers should be pretty easy to find. Well I laughed outloud when I went into the second room of the quilt shop, for this is what I found.

This is a close-up of the signage. I had to take these pictures and send them to Jana.
So if you're ever traveling Hwy 101 north between Willits and Crescent City, be sure and look for this shop. It's worth the stop.

Finally we got to the ocean. I was near heat exhaustion by that point, it had been so hot in Laytonville. But the temperature at the coast was perfect! Usually our beaches are either socked in with fog or windy, so instead of picnic coolers and water toys, we bring wind breakers and shoes with socks. For the first time in about 15 years it was warm enough to leave the jackets in the car and put our feet in the surf. I was in heaven.

I promptly stretched out and fell asleep on the sun-warmed sand. The sound of the surf was in the back ground and I napped so peacefully. Frank was off taking pictures for us... for me to put on my blog and for him to use as source photos for his art.

We took our time driving home through the redwoods. A great day. It was still in the high 80s when we got back to the valley at seven pm. But for the better part of the day we'd been able to escape the heat. You can only hide in the house with the drapes drawn and the fans going for so long, then you gotta "Get outa Dodge".