A circle, a gift, and a new challenge

This is a detail of the newest circle piece I am working on.  With the method I learned recently, you can make it so there is a piping effect around the circle.  I love the way this purple piping sets the circle off.   Here is the whole piece so far.

I chose the oranges and greens to mimic sunset over a bayou.  The sticks remind me of wooden posts you might see at the end of a pier or at a fishing camp.  I thought the orange and green batik at the bottom of the orange/purple pieces (third strip down) worked well as a transition piece.  When I think of a bayou, I think of rich deep greens, and heavy air.  I think of the sounds of frogs, fish jumping, and gently movement of the water.  I think of the deep south.  I don't know if this is a finished piece, or just the beginning of something larger.  Time will tell.

This is a piece of wide waled corduroy.  The colors are pretty true to the piece.  Did you know that November 11, 2011 is National Corduroy Day (NCD)?  One of the members of a wonderful quilting group called the Rebels brought this piece of fabric to the meeting yesterday and challenged us each to make a block for NCD.  I have looked at it all day today, and have no idea what to do with it yet.  I am thinking of adding some bright colors, maybe reds and purples.  I may even add some purple corduroy I have.  I have a while to come up with something.  As I always say, I do love a challenge.  This one is a doozy.

I also was given a very wonderful small piece of fabric to play with at the same meeting.

This is one of several Virgins of Guadalupe on a panel.  There were four up for grabs, and I was lucky to get this one.  I am going to have fun building a quilt around this lovely lady.
Have a joy filled quilting weekend.

Another fun cow and a short survey

I think I will call this one Freckles.  I just couldn't help myself today.  I found those two small orphan blocks that are in the body and figured they look sort of like cow's stomachs.  Of course, you have to squint your eyes and use a heavy dose of imagination.  Anyway, I pulled more of the fabrics in the blocks along with some purple and red and started cutting.  In my recent donated stash, I found several yards of grassy meadow looking fabric and decided to use some of it.  I had a small piece of batik that sort of looks like sky, so I decided to use it as background.  This was more fun to make because I had already worked out the measurements.  I am going to put more borders and embellishments on this one, I think.  Maybe a red hat?
Now for the survey.  If you belong now to a quilt guild, or have ever belonged to one, I would be so grateful if you could take the time to answer these few questions.
1.  How many dues paying members were in the group?
2.  How many of them were active?
3.  Did/does your guild have a quilt show?
4.  If yes, how often and do you charge admission?
5.  What kinds of activities does your guild do?  (ie: BOM, exchange blocks, presentation quilts, etc.)
6.  If your guild sponsors a quilt show, what percentage of the members enter quilts in the show?
7.  I would love some suggestions about how to motivate members who come regularly to meetings to become more active participants in all aspects of the guild.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy days to respond to my survey.
Quilters are the best.
Joyful quilting, everyone.

Playing in the studio today

Today, I wanted to get my guild's BOM done today.  I think I will make a few more of these and make a lap quilt using rainbow colors.  I have always liked this block, but have found it hard for some reason.  Getting all the pieces in the right place sometimes gets confusing for some reason.  I was pleased that this one came out pretty well.  Hopefully, they will be easier now.



I have been really wanting to make this cow from Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie McFarland's new book, Out of the Box with Easy Blocks.  I call this one Dreaming of Paisley.  I used some of my paisley collection and a piece of dark sky/cloud/moon fabric I was recently given.  The contrast between the cow pieces and the background is not as strong as I want, but this was a practice piece.  The pattern in the book is for a much larger quilt.  I wanted a small piece to hang on my bedroom wall.  I started out by using my math skills (LOL) to reduce the size of the pattern.  I adapted and adjusted as I went.  Now that I have good measurements, I plan on making more this size with brighter colors and more contrast.  I really love so many of the patterns and designs in this book.  So whimsical and fun.

The last thing I worked on today was pulling fabric together for the next block in my art masters quilt.  This time I have selected a piece by Henri Toulouse Lautrec called The Clowness.  I have always been a Lautrec fan, and I chose this painting for the colors.  I am using primarily batiks for this piece.  I have some process issues to work out before I proceed much further.  I am also expecting more yellow fabric from a very generous follower in the next day or two.  I will be posting more about this block as it progresses.

Until tomorrow, joyful quilting, everyone.