Quilts in progress . . . .

I have been busy trying to layer up a few Quilts that are just waiting . . .  I like to use my big Picnic table outside for this.
  I also have  just finished quilting a big star Quilt and need to get the binding on it now and then a label on it.
I plan to take a couple with me on my Sewing, painting get away weekend at the end of this month and we'll see how far I get with them.  I think the top and bottom quilts I will quilt mostly with straight lines so they will go quicker.  The top one was a bundle of  fabric from a Quilt show in the spring and the bottom one was using leftover 3.5 squares from a year long project that I did.  I will update with progress as they go along. . . .   wow - typos from auto correct when I first posted - sorry I think I have them all now.

Art & Fiber Part 2

In progress

Book I am currently reading snatches of and really enjoying it.

art by K York

Art by K York

By friend Vicki - the machine quilting is amazing as are the small-feather points in teh very center

Trout Lily - everywhere on a sunny spring day

Appetizers for dinner night. 

Everyone was doing a mixture of sewing, quilting, drawing, painting.  We are all doing a online course- Lifebook 2015 with Tam La Porte.  That is where my feather is from.  I have not yet tackled faces - well I tackled one - here at Watson and it was Zombie meets Michael Jackson - suffice to say i went back to sewing. :)   I do however enjoy the lessons and concepts of the online class. I am not able to keep up- just not enough hours in the day or week.  Off to mop the floor!

Spring Art & Fiber At Watson

A little Field Sketching - on a warm spring afternoon

Leftover 3.5 inch squares become a new quilt

Glorious Color!

Machine Quilting this

Quilt top from leftover squares - dark in center, medium in corners, lights in middles. 

yum

the sun was just hitting the hillsides just right - a pleasant early evening stroll by the creek

Overall a little bit of this and a little bit of that makes for a fun creative and relaxing weekend.

Pet Mesh Bags

So- this bag style was started in our Quilt Guild meeting.  It is called a Pet Mesh Bag as the black part is made from Pet Mesh- a material made to cover a doorway or a pet carrier or pet play-yard.  You can buy it at a Home Depot where they sell replacement screen materiel.  I got the 48 x 84 inch roll about $20.00 for 6 bags.   The construction is simple and it is fun to mix and match fabrics.  The bottom has a hard piece of timtex, cardboard or foam core to give it more stability and form.  I would estimate that it takes me about 2-3 hours to make one.  That is not to bad I did not think.   IT is very basic.  These 2 both went to Baby Showers, I have one then I gave one to a friend in early Nov. and another to a co-worker for her birthday . . . so I have made 5 - they are quick and easy and look nice.

Baby Quilt #2 . . .

So I knew that my co-worker was having a boy and I love owls.  I found this cute Owl fabric- large squares . . .  Then I picked fabrics to go with it.   I wanted something simple all the way around.  The outer borders I searched for a while on  what to Quilt in there and then it came to me . . . Hands of course.   I am a OT/ CHT- Certified Hand Therapist  the mama is a LPN in the Hand Surgery Practice that I just left. . . so Quilted Hands was a natural choice and a good space filler.  The Baby Shower is this Friday.  I hope to make a Pet Mesh bag to match it before then .

Baby Quilt #1 of Three . . .

Missing just 2 pink blocks, have 2 extra blue Blocks . . .

The planning . . .

1/2 square Triangles - my favorite.

So, I am making 3 baby Quilts for November and trying to get ahead of the game a little before I start this new job next Monday . . . . This is one, I just love 1/2 square triangles as they go together very easily and have many possibilities.  You layer2 squares then draw a line or make a crease down the center of one.  Then you sew a 1/4 inch on either side of  the line and cut down the middle- press them and you have 2 half square triangles.   I do not know if it is a girl or a boy so trying for a gender neutral quilt.  The mom to be likes whales- which are primarily blue . . . also Flamingos and found some on a bright turquoise so there are both of those.

Canada Trip 2014

Winding lane to Lake House

Sunset on Sand Lake

A view to behold every day!

Island

Boat Load of Snow and Good Bye it has been fun!

We have had the pleasure for 5 years to retreat to this lovely Lake House in late March. Usually 5-6 of us, to sew, watch movies, hike, cook, enjoy immensely the pleasure of each others company and relax from the everyday mundane and at times burdens.  This was our last year at this location and we will need to find another. Several of our group are also at crossroads in life that means we may not gather in this way for a long while. Lots of good food and fun, we shall miss this time but hold our memories close.

Working on it Wednesday . . .

So here we are working on 2 things . . . . the half square triangles are for a dresser top small quilt to keep the dust off.  Then I am also making a twin bed quilt-for my youngest son.   We recently redid an upstairs room, this was a major undertaking. we painted a few walls in the colors of Syracuse University.  Roasted Squash and midnight blue were the Valspar colors. It is a small room  that was made out of crawl space in this old farmhouse.  ( c.1822)  The family that lived here in the 60/ 70's had 5 boys and at one point they were all in one room but then 2 wanting room alone started to clean out this area to make it into living space.  The next family put dry wall up etc.. and made an upper bunk in this room and lower bunk in the room next to it.  It is hard to explain. Right now both my boys are back there.  They share a toilet between the rooms and each have their own sink. Generally works out good.  

For the dresser top I have not quite decided what arrangement the half-square triangles will take on.  The twin bed quilt will be a mix of 4-patch squares and large blocks.  IT goes together fast and is easy to quilt.  Right now Syracuse Basket Ball is 20-0 so they are having a good year.  Tonight is is SU vs Wakeforest.  Go Cuse!!! 

We'll share progress on this project as it starts to pull together.

works in progress . . . . .

Some of the things that i worked on while away sewing/quilting and being creative.  I really look forward to this weekend away as while at home there is little time to sew these days. Kid care, laundry, housekeeping and cooking seem to fill the days.   While this is fine , it is often not very well balanced .   I would love to say that I have the balance thing all worked out but sadly I do not.  I try to grab minutes to be ever so simply creative but  they often are far and few between. Only the top one of these 4 is complete.  The middle 2 are I am thinking going to be part of something bigger, and the last one is of the Falls in town and will have a brown frame around it. It may well be a year before they are what they are meant to be but they are a great reminder to a fun time and inspire me to keep grabbing those moments. Hope everyone can find a little creative everyday.

Quilt Away

It is that time again . . . . rest, reflect, rejuvenate
Time away with friends to sew, hike, read, write, sleep, paint, journal, take pictures, eat, watch movies, whatever we want to do. Time for us away from the wonderful everyday. Time that we can build up energy stores to face the every-days. Time together, time alone, time .. . .
Hope to quilt this quilt that is hanging on the line and whatever else moves me. The anticipation is the best part!

New Bag

Well I see that now I posted these photos the bottom one is not as clear as it appeared. This is a Frenchy bag from an Amy Butler pattern. I used this cool Hand fabric that I found for the main portion. Inside it is lined, has 2 pockets and a magnetic closure. Although my time from starting it to finishing it was long, it was because I could not get back to it, not because it was difficult to do. you do need sew in interfacing to give it body. The sewing construction is pretty straight forward and the pattern easy to read.

This moment . . . .

Postcard Swap

So these are the Postcards I did for the PostCard swap sponsored by iHanna

I started with a large piece of posterboard that I treated like a "Masterboard" I applied watercolor, acrylics, decoupaged some pattern tissues and magazine cut outs. I then cut it up into individual 4-6 cards and started to individually create. Some I Punched out the painted area so that part of the postcard I mounted them on showed through. I stamped on them with Stazon ink, applied more paint and custom decoupaged more items on them. Finally I used my sewing machine to stitch each painted card to an old Postcard. I bought like 100 for 1.00 at a garage sale in the fall.


Sorry this last photo is vertical when it should be horizontal. Hopefully you can still get an idea of what the postcards looked like.

I totally loved doing this. I have received 6 postcards so far and I will post them next. They are from both the USA and Norway, Great Britain so far. I would definitely do this again.