The pattern calls it a pin cushion, but I might just hang it in the window of the sewing room. Filled with sawdust, not poly-fil. Thanks Su for supplying the sawdust and company while I *stuffed* this puppy!
Cheers!
I got the strips all pieced and it felt like I was pressing for days!
I'd just jumped in with the construction of this quilt without a lot of thought. Then realized I'd better stop and do some planning. So I drafted what I think I want it to look like in EQ.
Love that cheddar, red, sage green combo! It's a little bit like Bonnie's Strippy Leader/Ender but hopefully different enough to make it my own. Thanks for the inspiration Bonnie!
Notice I just did a *small* quilt in these break out colors for me. *giggling* baby steps... So now I'm trying to decide if I need to sew the rest of the rows on, or stop now, border and quilt!
Luv ya Su!
Entitled the World's Smallest Half-Square Triangles. =)
*Chuckling* Don't cha just love it! Sooo cute!!
During the retreat Su won the daily doorprize of Triangle Papers and spend part of the afternoon making little, tiny half square triangles. She said she didn't know they were going to finish at that size , or she 'never would've bothered.' Leslie, do you want them? Of course!
So partly to show there really was a use for 1/2" half-square triangle, and partly because I wanted to show 'it could be done', I made a Sawtooth Star block. It was so cute! I showed it around the group when it was finished and they just shook their heads - there goes Leslie again... The block was pinned to my design wall for many months until last week I took it into my care again. I bordered and backed it and now it's hanging on the tree in the living room.
These mini's are all pieced in the traditional way. I made most of my mini's before paper-piecing became popular, so I just use half-square triangle methods and away I go! This trio is hanging at my quilt guild's annual October show. It was fun to see them all together like that. When they're not at a show, they live in a drawer at my house. Too many quilts, not enough display space!
And no Virginia, these are not potholders and placemats. =)
He talks about the night sky. When he got back from Hawaii in November he commented on the way the Milkyway looked so completely different down there. He's told me about sitting in his hot tub on a winter night with the starry canopy for company. So I wrote this lyric on the back:
Catch a falling star and put in your pocket
Save it for a rainy day
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket
Never let it fade away
He *loved* it. It's sitting on his computer monitor where he can see it daily.
Be well Steve.
So I decided to make a quick doll quilt. Nothing flashy, just easy and satisfying. But what color scheme should I use? Hmmm... I have a bizillion blue and green 2" squares already cut. Noooo!
I finally finished it after fourteen years of fits and starts. At the time I was a die-hard traditionalist so I wanted a cotton batt. Well it was so hard to needle I could only get two stitches on my rocker needle at a time and it was *not* a pleasant quilting experience. The top was complete in 1995, cotton batts have improved a lot I'm told, but I don't think I'll ever attempt to quilt another quilt with a cotton batt!
These are friendship blocks created for me by members of the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild, of which I was a member at the time. When my name was drawn I was allowed up to twenty blocks, with the understanding that I'd 'pay back the block bank for as many blocks as I asked for. So I chose twelve instead.
I have loved wreaths and floral spray designs for more years than I can count, so an "X's and O's" selection of blocks seemed like a good idea. I collected a few traditional patterns: Rose of Sharon and Laurel Wreath, found a few current day patterns and drafted a few of my own. I chose the colors and fabric, provided the pattern in a kit and my friends applique'd the blocks.
Then I chose the layout, pieced the top and quilted it. When I finished it, I attempted to contact the 12 women that had helped me create this beauty... I wanted to thank them for their part in the creation of this quilt and to share a picture; for it really is one of my favorites and I'll never make another like it. But so much time had passed I was only able to get in touch with about a third of the twelve. Some had dropped out of the guild, others had moved away and no one knew how to reach them.
Last year I entered it in three local fairs. At the community Redwood Empire Fair in my town, it received Best of Show and was displayed in the winner's circle in the Home Arts building. At the county fair it was up against some National ribbon winning quilters and it placed Second. And at the end of the summer I entered it in a local quilt guild's annual Show and it placed Third. =) So all this confirms what I've thought all along... I make quilts for the pleasure of the process, the beauty of the finished product and the enjoyment of myself, family and friends. Quilt judging is subjective at best. 
Merry Christmas!
I try to make pieced ornaments each year for gifts, and if I think ahead, keep one for me. Here's a picture of last year's ornaments. These were actually created in EQ5, printed on fabric, bordered and then quilted. That was a fun experiment.
I guess I like cool blue looking ornaments. =)
And 2004
What a great idea for using mini's. I have a few mini blocks that never made it into a project. Guess I could make them into ornaments, hmmm...
This is a generic picture I grabbed off the web. But it looks an awful lot like the Eel River valley DH and I visited last month. I bet I can find the photos from that trip on his computer. They're worth sharing.
I'll get back to you.
This block is called "Indian Corn". I'd never seen it before, nor since. Sure like it though. Machine pieced, machine quilted.
The green on the sides is just the olfa board. Lila was watching me the whole time I was setting up this photo. She's happy to be inside now that nights are in the 40's. During the summer we hardly see her at all.
Q: What kind of cat does a quilter own?
A: A calico of course. :D
When working with 12" blocks, aren't a lot of quilts 4x6? If I were making that size I'd be done by now... But this is a good study in perseverance.
When I was five years old I attended Blue Birds... the forerunner to Brownies. We stood in a group at the opening of the meeting and recited the Blue Bird motto which included, "I will try to finish what I begin..." I don't remember anything else from that motto, but there it is, impressed on my mind at a tender young age.
I've been making quilts since my youngest son was just a twinkle in my eye; he's now 24. I've made a lot of quilts - bed quilts, wallhangings, placemats, baby quilts, lap quilts, donation quilts, the list goes on and on. And still I find I learn something from every single one I make. This one has already spoken to me twice. Originally I was going to use my teal, jade and aqua fabrics that I've been collecting since the early 90's when they first came out. I thought I'd do a jade with teal and then a teal with jade sort of thing, the combinations would be easy and I could be systematic. Having a system emerge always makes the construction of a quilt go faster. But that plan didn't work and I bogged down. Then I added clear blue and worked with less jade and I started liking it again.
After about 15 blocks it went blah again, I considered making it into a lap quilt, putting borders on it and calling it done. But I listened to the inner voice telling me to stick with it, see where it goes, try to make it work... and you don't want *another* UFO. So I listened to what the quilt was saying, it told me the colors were too close in value, it was all medium and therefore low contrast. Well that helped identify the problem... I really like HIGH contrast. But high contrast wasn't suitable for the original vision of this quilt. I introduced some light-mediums in among the medium-mediums and this is where it is now.
Sometimes quilts evolve beyond your original vision for them and you listen to what the quilt says it needs. Other times you just make minor adjustments along the way and you find you can keep working. I think this one is the latter.
I'm passed the half-way mark, 27/48 blocks, it's getting easier. But I remember why I don't make many King or Queen sized bedquilts. There are too many other ideas calling to me. It's hard to stay focused. :D
It seems I really don't want to have to count or plan with this quilt... but at some point I had to figure out how many of these little rows of light and dark squares pieced into strips I need to make. So looking at a thumbnail of the quilt-to-be, I counted the rows in the columns - 35 and mulitplied by the number of columns in the proposed quilt - 7 and got my total - 245. Well I'd pieced 325, so then I counted the strips into groups of 25 each, put them on safety pins and put the 'left overs' in another basket - maybe they'll be Starter dough for another quilt... The groups of 25 are what this picture shows. I thought it was cool how they fan out and you can sorta see the colors and get an idea what the quilt's going to look like.
In the next few days I hope to add a picture of the EQ draft. That'll give you a better idea where I'm going with this puppy. AND a picture of the break-out solids (for me) that I purchased at Beverly's for the sashing and border.
More later...
I thought about the belief that we all just sprung from some cosmic ooze and all the insects, plants, mammals, birds and humanity on this earth just sort of *happened*. How can someone that believes that look at some of these natural wonders and not see the hand of a Master creator?
DH and I walked the Gabrielli Winery road the other day and saw this little guy.
He couldn't have been more than seven inches long and about as big around as a pencil. He was so still (why are snakes always 'he?') we thought he was dead. But then he waved his little black tongue at us. It was so cute... I loved the little black stripe across his eyes, like a racoon's mask. It was hard to tell if it was a Western Rattlesnake; he didn't have a rattle, hadn't grown one yet perhaps? We left him alone and went on our way.
This morning I was walking the Mill Creek road by my office and came across this one:
Again, the one I saw was tiny... only as big around as my pinky finger. I didn't know it was a California King snake until I Googled it. Unfortunately he was dead, not stiff yet, but he had definitely expired. Should've have played in the road, I guess.
When DH and I were vacationing in Kaua'i a few years ago, I was wading in the wonderfully lukewarm waters of Hanalei bay. The water was sooo clear. Frank said, "Watch out. That looks like a snake." I was immediately intrigued. That wasn't a really bright reaction, but that's usually how I react when someone points out a snake, curious and without fear. So I stepped closer to the shape in the shallows and sure enough, it was easy to tell it was a snake as he swam *away* from me. He was smarter about the encounter than I was apparently.
They may be strange, or poisionous and therefore to be avoided, but I still think they're beautiful. The patterns on their backs, the way the scales lay in overlapping rows. The touch of the Master creator at work.
Left: Last year's Anise
Right: This year's Anise
I like to pinch off the tiny dried seeds and crunch them between my teeth. For such a small granule, you get a lot of licorice flavor.
These are all considered 'weeds', which I guess means they aren't valued by some people. But I think they have a beauty all their own.
This one is a shrub along the walk-way at work, so it is watered. But I love the way the leaves are turning purple on the end of each stalk.
~ One is often closest to God in a garden ~
Well sometimes all the world seems like a garden if you just look.
This bouquet lasted a long time, and I love the look of our Double X quilt in the background.
I've admired sunflower block patterns for years, maybe one day I'll make a full-size quilt of their cheerful circles. In the meantime I had to try at least one...
Then there was this jacket I made:
And this Rebecca Barker Quiltscape jigsaw puzzle I just *had* to have.
Hmmm... I see a theme here.
~Happiness is homemade~
