Studio Time

I made a couple of new blocks for the Jacob's Ladder.  I seem to be channeling some Victorian persona who loved these chintz like florals.  Each time I make a block, I am reminded of oak furniture, antimacassars, chintz covered couches, and tchotchkes.  I think I would love to have a parlor like that, with lovely quilts everywhere.  I also think I would have to be a better housekeeper to pull that off.  Oh well.  A woman can dream.

Yes, it really is this pale.  I have been working with so many bright colors, this one looks pretty strange on my design board.  These are four little blocks for my guild.  They are for a presentation quilt.  It is hard to believe I used to prefer these pastel colors.

On a completely different note, I received 12 blocks in the mail from an exchange I am in on Mary Lou Weidman's yahoo group.  Here they are in no particular order.

Aren't they fun?  They will have to wait for a little while before I have time to figure out how I want to put them together.  We all purchased the same background fabric and used bright fabrics to make our fish.  They were each supposed to be at least 14" long with no height restrictions.  Whacky and wonky is good in this group.  We are currently doing a Christmas ornament block exchange.  These blocks will be much simpler in construction.

I spent the rest of the day quilting on the BASICs quilt and cutting purple and pink polka dot fabric for Bella's quilt.  Tomorrow, I will finish up one BASICs quilt and load up another one.  I will also start sewing Bella's quilt, as well as working on my BOM blocks and another JL block.

Until then,

Joyful quilting, everyone.

A last look at the fish



This is officially fish #12, but I did another one so I could send one to Mary Lou, who hosted this exchange.

This is the last fish.  I created it from the fabric I made the other day.  I have enjoyed making all these fish.  This is what they all look like together (without the pink one who just didn't fit in).



I actually got to work on a couple of blocks for this months presentation block at the guild.  I really like this block pattern and think I may use it to create something for myself.

Tomorrow, I think I will take a blog break unless I make anything worth sharing.

Joyful quilting, everyone.



Two new fish and some made fabric

Only one more fish to go.

I spent time making fabric for the last fish, and another project.

Tomorrow. 

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

I have created nine fish now, and have three to go.  My design wall has a decidedly fishy flavor right now.  I had no idea these fish would take me so long to make.  I just couldn't make them plain, I guess.  I still want to sew some water around most of them, and some of them still need eyes.  My goal is to have them all done and ready to mail by Tuesday.

 Joyful quilting, everyone.



A new fish

This one makes six. 

 I think my mojo walked out the door this morning when Priscilla (my Juki) and I had some difficulty over a new kind of thread my client wants me to use on her quilt.  I am afraid, it is so bad that I am going to have to get Priscilla's bobbin case fixed or replaced.  I also had to rip out about 12" by 85" of quilting.  It looked fine on the top, but when I started to roll it up, it was a mess.  I am still new enough at this that I didn't automatically check to see if the back was alright before I got that far.  Priscilla didn't do her part in warning me, either.  Anyway, it has been on my mind all day and my studio work suffered.  Only one fish all day?  That is sad.  At least I like the fish.  I only have six more fish for the swap, unless I decided to send one directly to Mary Lou.  Then I would need seven more.  Decisions, Decisions.

If you are interested in the Soul Blossom giveaway, you still have until tomorrow morning around 9:00 AM PST to enter here.

I hope you are all having a better day than I am.

More fish and a giveaway announcement

This lovely lady still needs fins, but I couldn't resist sharing her portrait.  I now have four and 3/4 fish completed.  I need to have 12 for the swap.  They are really fun to make, but they do take me a long time to put together.  Here is the one I finished today.

My other big project for today was the Lotta Jansdotter challenge.  I got the top put together and am trying to decide about a border. 

Here are the details of the elements squares.

These were fun to make and I think they really improve the look of the quilt.  These were done after a family conference about the quilt.  Quilt by committee.  You have to love it.
Finally, I am guest blogging at Confessions of a Fabric Addict tomorrow and announcing a fun fabric giveaway back here.  Hope you visit over at Sarah's great blog and come back here to enter into the drawing.
Joyful quilting, everyone.

A little Matisse, another fish, a finished bookshelf top

Back in early July, Victoria over at Bumblebeans Inc invited people to quilt along on our own interpretations of any Matisse painting we liked.  I started by selecting this painting and these fabrics.

That was then.  After several starts and stops, I have arrived at this stage.

At this point, everything looks a bit out of proportion.  I will be able to fix some of that with the next additions, but it is still just my interpretation and not meant to be a real portrait.  There are several curved seams and quite a few Y-seams in this piece.  I was going to work in all solids, but I wanted to get the look that I could only get with batiks for a few sections.  When all the piecing is done, I am going to applique a flower or two to the hat.  I don't know if I will leave the face blank or add eyes.  I guess the piece will tell me what it wants.  This has been a real challenge, but I have learned so much doing this and that is what it is all about sometimes.

I finished the top for the bookcase wall hanging quilt.  It looks a little droopy in the photo, but it really is straight.  I know how I am going to quilt the book spines, but I am not sure about the background yet.  I think I will put a daisy on the mug.

I added another fish and now have a nice little family.

Have any of you heard about Cover to Cover Book Club Quilters?  They are Oregon based and they create quilts based on books they read.   Some of them are totally amazing.  I would love to start an online book club with other quilters to do the same thing.  Anyone game?  Take a look at some of the quilts these quilters have made and let me know what you think.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Taking on the Y seam

Here is my second fish.  Only ten more to go for the swap.  I did cut out two more bodies from this strata.  I used some already made fabric for the tail and the bottom fin.  The top fin is from a batik scrap.  The water fabric is consistent with all the swappers.  This fish is 14.5" by 8.5".  These fish are a bunch of fun to make, but they take time, at least for me who is angle challenged, it seems.

I got the top shelf of two done today.  I started on the bottom shelf.  I think it is going to be a challenge to get the widths to match for each section.  Again, it is the angles of the leaning books.  I really like the way they look, though, so I am keeping them.  The little blue and yellow pieces is another story,

The other day, I found a photo I took a couple of years ago of an abandoned lumber yard.  One of the walls of the main building was a mish-mash of boards and windows of different colors and textures.  It was that time of day when the sun was glowing in reflection on the glass, making the building look like there was a fire inside.  I decided it looked like a quilt.  Then, before I could get it sketched out, I misplaced the photo.  So, I started sketching my impressions of the photo, and I think it is better than it would have been if I had the photo.  The only problem is that there are tons of Y, or set-in, seams on the left half of the quilt.  I tried re-drawing it to make them go away, but I didn't like it half as well.  So, I am going to have to learn to make them.  I started to learn a while ago, but gave up.  Thus, the blue and yellow piece.

This is my fourth attempt today, and there is still a pucker in the corner.  At least I am heading in the right direction.  Now that I have an incentive, I will keep at it every day until I am happy with the results.  Hopefully, that won't be a long time. 
Have a wonderful quilty weekend.

The quilted book shelf

I got the first three sections of the bookshelf done today.  I have one more section of the top shelf, then I start on the bottom shelf.  It is fun putting the puzzle together where the books lean.  In the third section, I appliqued a fabric circle of Beatle fabric.  MAD is a Beatle's fan, so it seemed like the right thing to do.   I am loving the fabrics she selected for this project.  I will work more on it tomorrow.

I worked on building some strata for more fish today.  I got some of them sewn together, but it got too warm in the studio, so I decided to finish the rest tomorrow.  I will make several fish bodies using this.  Then, I will try something new.
I will have more to share tomorrow.
Joyful quilting, everyone.

Some ribbons and a fish

No, these are not all the ribbons I won at our quilt show last weekend.  These are, however, the ribbons we will be handing out at our guild meeting to the winners in this year's show.  There were some outstanding quilts featured in the show.  Over the next few days, I will try and share a few of them.  I had fun making all the ribbons.  I folded the points and stitched them together using a stiff pellon button covered with batting and fabric on the top.  I used iron on labels to cover the backs.  Each one gives the year and the type of award it is.

After I got the last pin affixed to the last ribbon, I started playing with fish.  I have joined a swap over at Mary Lou Weidman's Yahoo group and we are all making brightly colored fish.  This fish block is 14" long by 8" tall.  I used a piece of made fabric that doesn't go with any of my other made fabric.  It was just the right size.  Mary Lou teaches a method she calls hootchie mama piecing, and I tried it with this block.  I was amazed at how much stress was reduced using this method.  I have already sketched out an idea of how I want to put the 12 blocks I will receive together.  I will be working on these blocks for a while along with MAD's bookshelf quilt.  They should keep me out of trouble for a while.
Did any of you read the article in the new issue of Quilter's Newsletter about modern quilting?  It sort of gives an overview of the modern quilting movement.  I don't really consider myself a modern quilter, but found it interesting. There is also a cool lesson on whole-cloth "Applique" where you do no cutting.  You use permanent markers.  Intrigued?  I am ready to try it on a small scale.  Not too small, though, as it calls for very tiny stipple quilting as it is. I also downloaded free patterns for four 9 patch quilts from the Quilter's Newsletter site.  Free patterns are a good thing.