New Home, New Studio, New Look

Well, it has been awhile since I've posted, but it's because I have been super busy with graduation quilts, buying a new house, and getting ready for moving to new location.  Wow-  a lot has been going on.  Tried FB for awhile, but that is is not as gratifying as blogging.  Hope  I can be more consistant in the posting.

Well, the big new is that we are MOVING!  The movers come September 1, 2012.    I sure hope the new studio is complete by then.  Of course, that is optimistic as they haven't started on my building yet.  Bummer.

East end of new studio.

Here is current photo of studio.....   Right now, it is a mostly empty steel building.  A whopping 24' by 40'  building.  Bare walls, a few lights hanging and two garage doors.  This is the new building for T-Shirt Quilts of Texas and Shadywood Quilts.  We are moving September 1st, and we have NOT started on my buildout yet!  Yikes!!!!

The double garage door you see faces East  and will be replaced with  a solid wall and a couple of windows. 

The west end, is a solid wall with a couple of windows and we are adding an office, half bath and kitchen-ette.



West end of studio

 The contractor (and hubby) assure me that it will be ready by September 1, when the movers are coming to move us, lock, stock and barrel to the new location.

We have to finish hubby's new building, so we have a place to put all of our STUFF!  We currently have an attic, garage, barn and LOTS of stuff that we need to transport to his barn while we are moving. 

I am so excited, and can hardly wait for them to start, but the contractor says it will just take a week to do the build-out and they assure me that it will be done by the time we move.  We'll see....

OK, this is the BEFORE pictures.  I will post as we make progress.

Quilty Field Trip With Friends

The Daystrippers Bee (Tri-County Quilt Guild) went on a field trip to the quilt show at The Woodlands last Friday.  We crammed six of us into Shelly's SUV, and went to the show, lunch and then to Quilters Crossing in Tomball.    Pictured are Beverly, Katherine, Betty, Diana, Shelley and Barbara C.

That quilt we were standing in front of did NOT win a ribbon.  It was thousands of little tiny 3/4 inch squares to make that scene.  Should have won something, it was  neat quilt.   Speaking of winning, I did win a rolling chair in the Tin can raffle.   It only takes one ticket!!

Lots of vendors at the show, not really anything new, except for the Ruler Revolution bunch.  They are local, and I think her rulers are in the local shops, but have not hit the distributors yet.  Take a look at them.

Lunch was at Rico's just off of 45.  Ran into some friends from West Houston, who took the picture for us.

Then we stopped at one of our favorite quilt shops.   Quilters Crossing in Tomball where Deb and Mandy have a great selection of batiks and bright colored fabrics.  HUGE classroom, and lots of classes. 

Needle Felted Pin Cushions

I found a cool tutorial on WC Mercantile website  for making needle felted pin cushions.   Well, I have quite a 'fondness' for pin-cushions (OK, I'm a bit obsessed)  and even picked up a couple of containers at the WC Mercantile shop in Navasota to make these little creations.  Now, you have to understand.  My Thursday Night (Quilt) Bee exchanges 'homemade' gifts each year at our Christmas party.  (Yes- Christmas - not Holiday).  there are 14 of us, so that means making at least 13 of something.... Not always easy to come up with an ideas of the time to do it.  In past years, I've always wooosed out by buying Quilt calenders for everyone.  but, if you look at last years gifts  Mariet and a couple of others upped the ante on creativeness...  So, I've been thinking about making felted pin-cushions since this past summer.  

 I found pottery type votive containers on eBay, and they have been sitting on my dining room table since July!  Finally got them done last week, and can show the pictures now that the party was last Thursday.  Oh,  I did NOT hand needle felt these like in the tutorial.  I have one of those fancy dancy felting machines (Pfaff 350) that I got at Quilt festival a couple of years ago.  I used Wool Batting that I kind of shredded for the stuffing and as the base for the needle felting.  I used wool roving for the color swirls and machine felted the crud out of it.  Then made the pin cushion.

Got lots of cool things from the Bee members.  Cherry Salsa, some AWESOME Rum Cake,  a knitted Cowl from Michelle, a knitted/felted pin cushion from Mariet (these are COOL), Cup Cozies, Shoe pants, Texas Pin cushions (see a theme going on here..) and several other cool items.  

Doing a Little Dyeing




Yarn drying on the back porch



This summer, a couple of my knitting/quilting friends came over to the house for a day of experimenting with dyeing yarn.    Most of the dyeing was in the microwave, but we did some in the crockpot as well ( the brown & turquoise ones).  Mariet made a big bucket of Indigo dye, which was really fascinating.  It's GREEN when you first look at it, and pull the yarn out of the mix.   Then as you watch it magically starts turning blue.  A couple of the hanks were pretty bright, so we experimented with over-dyeing in the left-over indigo bath.



These are the ones I dyed.



New Grandbabies! Yes - that is Plural!

You all just think I've abandoned this blog, but actually there has been lots going on.  The best is that both my daughters were pregnant at the same time.  Due dates were just 3 weeks apart. Well, little Julia Kathyrn was born October 13, at a healthy 8 pounds, 10 oz.    I spent a couple of weeks in Atlanta, helping out with Chloe and little Julia.  What fun spending time with Rachaels family.

Had to miss Quilt Market and Quilt Festival this year, but that's OK, Lindsey had her first child - Olive Elena - and as her father said " A modest 9 ibs, 10 oz"   What a big girl!  She is also a pretty one - with the Moormann nose!   Sorry kiddo. You'll grow into it!  :)

Olive Elena Naumann - 2 days

Stashbusting News and Other News Fit to Print!

First and most important news is that I am going to be a Grandma again.   BOTH daughters are pregnant and due later this fall.  Bad news is that they did not consult my schedule and older daugher is having hers mid Oct in Atlanta, while youngest daughter is having her first child the first week of November.  Guess when Quilt Market and Quilt Festival occur?  That's OK, I know my priorities..  Those grandbabies - both are girls by the way - are most important.  They have sent pictures of the ultrasounds but I promised not to post them anywhere  :(

Have taken 2 workshops since I last posted.  Karen Stone and Gyleen Fitzgerald.  Both were awesome classes.  Karens' workshop was on the New York Beauty block, which I've done several, but the first half of the day was spent working on selecting fabrics.  Scrappy fabrics galore.  You know what the best part of the workshop was?  Permission to mix regular fabrics with Batiks!   OMG..  I always thought it should be OK, but many people that I swap with (and shall remain nameless) think that is sacreligious.  The supply list said to bring lots of scraps.  I brought a bundle of batik fat quarters.  (Moda Montego Bay - scrumptuous) , but we spent the morning going through SCRAPS and deciding what plays well together and what doesn't.  Sometimes it is starting with a colorful fabric and pulling lots of fabrics in that works with it.  I had a serious urge t just go shopping for fat quarters to expand my scrappy selections!  Not like I don't have enough fabrics, but including some brighter colors that I might be missing.  Great workshop.

The other workshop was with Gyleen.  Making pineapple blocks without paper piecing.   This workshop was using SCRAPS again (my favorite).  Made several pineapple blocks using Christmas strips.  I already had 1.5 inch strips cut because I've been wanting to make a Log Cabin quilt using 1.5 inch strips.  Was lots of fun.  I showed Gyleen my block and mentioned that I wasn't happy with those teensie tiny corners.  She very casually replied that with more experience I would become more accurate with my 1/4 inch seam allowance and those corners would be larger.   (I've only been quilting since 1978).   Again, though, got that "permission" to mix regular fabrics and batiks. 

Not sure I'll finish this quilt.  That's OK, I still  think I would prefer to do the Log Cabin.  Nita and I have been collecting/sharing strips for about a year now.  We both have plenty to make BOTH quilts!  LOL.

Official Stashbusting UFO Top 10 List for 2011 !!!

Our Thursday Bee has a new challenge this year.  FINISH THOSE UFO'S.  Mariet suggested we do what one of her other Bees are doing, and then Gail S. sent her version of what the Bernina Material Girls are doing.
Make a detailed list of the 10 top UFO's (or Projects Half Done) that you want to complete during 2011.

Then when you show a completed UFO, you can go into more detail on exactly what you had to do to complete the UFO. Each person participating in the challenge will write on a slip of paper the number of points (1 min.-10 max) they think you deserve for the work you did. I will be the only person to see the points--and an average will be given to you on the chart I will be keeping. That's why it is important for you to go into detail the amount of work needed to complete the project.

When you decide on your 10 projects, you can email them to me. I will have a printed page for each person participating and a chart to write the point average you receive as your projects are completed. We will start our Challenge in February and the first meeting you can earn points will be the March meeting. Remember what you show for points must on on the list you turn in to me. So think about your stack of UFOs and determine which ones you really want to work on during 2011 and put those on your list.

Hope to hear that a lot of you will be participating. Have already heard from Jasmine, Mariet, Nita.  We twisted Linda G. arm and she said she will join us.   Join the fun and get some of your projects that are languishing at the bottom of the heap on your shelf or closet floor, bring them out and set a goal of completing at least 1 in the coming months. So get moving and let me know that you plan to participate.

Today is a good day to stay in--so look through your UFOs and come up with a list of 10. Happy Hunting!!!!!

"It may just need binding, a final border, or a little quilting. It does not matter how much needs to be completed because it still qualifies for a "Project Half Done."

HERE IS MY LIST:

1. Blue White square in a Square with Pink & white nine patches. Started 2003   Current Status. In process of enlarging top from double to king size. Not a whole top yet.2. Pineapple – red, White & black. Stuck on borders. Started 1999

3. Road to Fairmeadows. King size drunkard’s path variation. Started 1998 (one block has appliqué ‘2009’) Still in blocks, needs appliqué and border, quilting and completion.

4. What’s the point? Patches on point. Needs border and quilting

5. Boston Commons. Top only. Started 1987

6. BRIGHTS churn dash – blocks only. 2010

7. Piece flying geese “Fly Away” swap blocks

8. Lindsey’s wedding quilt wall hanging. Signed pieces of fabric. 2009

9. 2 panel on point lap quilt. Fabric is cut!

10. Dream Quilt. Blocks are mostly done (277 pieces per block). Needs assembly and some idea of what to do for a border.
Who else is up for this?  the hardest part was deciding on JUST 10 - LOL

Local TV Star?? Made my TV debut today!

Had fun this morning talking about my T-Shirt Quilts of Texas business on the local Fox News show this morning.

Turning T-Shirt Memories into Quilts: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

Was invited to talk about how I got started with making t-shirt quilts on the morning news show today.  Had lots of fun and I PROMISE to learn the difference between the AGGIES and the LONGHORNS.  Let's see, Sharon says "Aggies bleed maroon and Longhorms are orange".

Will load some pictures from the set as soon as I locate the camera!