Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Stashbusting at its Best!
A friend of mine in Colorado sent me a big ole box of Alpaca roving? It has been cleaned and is super soft. I think I still need to card it it make it more like the roving that I have bought for my needlefelting. I asked Santa to bring me a hand weaving Spindle for Christmas, but I don't think the hints (or the list on the refrigerator) helped at all. I might still be surprized. We'll see. It's killing me not to get started working with the wool that Jan sent. I've been doing a lot of reading on the internet. I've decided that the hand spindle is all that I have room for right now. Hubby would probably shoot me if I asked for another room to start another hobby (spinning wheel). As long as I can keep it in the existing rooms, it shouldn't be a problem. (No picture, because it just looks like a black blob. Going to have to try differnt lighting.)
I found a great website for instruction on hand spinning at Joy of Hand Spinning Learned several new terms and found out a couple of other tools that I will need as well.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Week 49 (wow) Stash Report
I joined a new group with some friends of mine that while we only meet once a quarter, we have really been busting the stash. It is strongly encouraged to use only fabrics from our stash. The first exchange was 6 inch 9 patches, and the 2nd swap was HourGlass blocks to go with the 9-patches. I would have to do the math to figure out how much fabric I used to make 100 9-patches and 80 hourglass blocks, but I did not make a dent in the fabric.
The fabric stash grew when a friend of mine moved to San Antonio and she passed on a bunch of fabric that she did not take with her.
My Thursday Bee is doing another swap that is not due until after the first of the year, but I have already started on the blocks. (Montana Scrappy from Lynn Roddy Browns 2nd Book - a "Texas 2 Step" variation) These blocks consist of smaller Hourglass blocks and 4 patches.
The Katy Rotary Bee (my Monday Bee) is doing two swaps. One is for the quilt that was on the cover of the June 2009 McCalls Quilt magazine. Then we are also doing a Thousand Pyramids triangle quilt and we are all swapping fabrics so that we can go for each triangle a different fabric (500 lights, 500 darks).
Now, I must brag that at Quilt Festival this year That I only bought 4 yards of fabric. 2.5 yards were fat quarters that were .75 cents each and the other was some woven stuff I bought (and have already used) in some Halloween projects.
Well, after looking at this list, guess I better go get to work on some of these projects!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Out of the loop
Have really been off the radar lately. Youngest daughter is now offically married, the reception is over and everyone is back home and back to work. This is the year that the kids visit the husbands family on Christmas, so we'll be having several celebrations this year. Plans are to go to Atlanta some time during those last two weeks.
Well, grand-daughter Chloe was just barely walking when we saw her the last time. The next week Rachael reports that not only is she walking, but that she is RUNNING! Good grief they grow up fast!
I'm in a lot of new Block swaps. Always sign up for way more than I need to do. Well, I do plan on doing most of them from my stash. My Thursday Bee are all going in together on 7 bolts of of ICE fabrics (that is Ivory, Cream and Ecru). I need to take some pictures of the swap that we just finished from my NO PITA Blockbuilders that meets once a quarter. It was Churndashes done with BRIGHTS and Black on White or White on Blacks. The new swaps all are using the creamy backgrounds and either civil war repros or scrappy fabrics.
Well, I thought I was getting rid of a LOT of fabric. A large container packed and overflowing with fabrics. Donated to the ARTITUDE bunch that is going to make a crazy quilt for a fund raiser for the next quilt show. I ended up coming home with a car packed to the gills with 'stuff' from a friend who is moving to San Antonio. She was having the junk movers come at 4:30, so we were all 'rescueing' good stuff that was just going to get dumped. Still going through things, but I think the neatest thing was the stone tumbler doo-hicky thingee. Can't wait to put some of the Huatulco shells and glass that we brought home in there and see what comes out.
PC or Mac?
Don't you all enjoy those Mac ads where PC is valiantly trying to prove himself as good as Mac? Well, I've been a PC user since the mid 80's and you would think that when I asked for a new computer for my birthday that I might consider a Mac. Well, I didn't, and I got a new Dell. Actually, it has been a pretty painless switch-over from my old pc to the new one. I was also afraid of Vista, but apparently I've got Microsoft 7. I actually kinda like it. Guess I'm that nerdy PC guy.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Quilt Market Houston
I think I only took one picture, and that was of Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. She has a couple of new books. HOP TO IT and FRIENDSHIP TRIANGLES . Friendship Triangles will be available in November 2009. Edyta was doing a book signing, and these were available to us at Market. She loves doing half square triangles and apparently one shop made about 50,000 of the little squares! I don't think it takes THAT many to make the cover quilt. LOL. I'm already doing the HOP TO IT applilque quilt. Well, lets just say I have the first block cut out. Not sure if I have actually put an applique stitch in yet. BUT, this will be one the of the projects that I'm working on while babysitting the OLD FASHIONED QUILTING BOOTH at Festival. I'll be one of the ones sitting around the quilting frame showing others how to hand quilt. Be sure to stop by and say hello!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Paradise Found!
Friday, September 04, 2009
SHARE THE LOVE - IBOL
First, go to your stash and see what you can spare—fabrics, scissors, thread, thimbles, notions like needles and pins, etc. No books—too heavy. If you're also a knitter, yarn and needles would be great to include. Lots of us have duplicates, even triplicates, and what a great way to lighten your stash, gain storage space, and do good, all at the same time!
Then go to the post office and get one of their large, flat-rate FFO/APO boxes, which are fairly sizable (one quilter sent 9 pounds in one box). At just $11.95 to mail, it's a great tool to use in this project. Package your donations according to Major LaFlamme's directions (this is very important as it will reduce the help needed to unpack and distribute these supplies) and mail it to him in Iraq at his special project address (the post office will ask you to fill out a customs form, too).
For more info, go to: http://ibol.wordpress.com. Be sure you read the FAQ and the section on how to make up your bundle. You have to leave a comment on his blog to get the APO address for sending your box. Pass on the info to your friends, too. You just use a Flat Rate APO box that the Post Office provides for free, pay the $11.95 shipping and the bundle will be passed on.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Life is Good... .( or a Dog's Life)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Road Trip to Moda and P&B Fabrics in Dallas !
On Thursday we went to Moda. Ahh, sweet air conditioning... You have to understand. At 7:30 in the morning it was already 95 degrees and about 90 percent humidity. Rows and rows of fabric, it was wonderful... What was nice was picking out 'partial' bolts. Instead of getting the usual 15 yard bolts, they had lots of bolts with anywhere from 6 yards up to the 15 yard bolts.
After about 3 hours and a relaxing lunch, we headed over to Cabbage Rose quilt shop in Fort Worth. We were getting a bit frustrated with the condescending lady in the GPS who kept having to recalculate because the stupid signs were AFTER the exit instead of before the exit.
After another break and dinner, we went to the Dallas Guild meeting. Not much to say there, we were a bit under-whelmed with the experience. Then back to the hotel where we bid the GPS lady goodnight. Friday morning we are all ready to head back to Houston, and my car has been broken into! Oh NO! Some jerk has busted the window out of my car. The GPS lady has been kidnapped! THEY LEFT THE FABRIC! whew!
Can't say enough nice stuff about the manager at the hotel. He had my car cleaned and arranged for a glass guy to come fix the car. We were finally on the road a few hours later, getting home AFTER the fabric that Moda shipped for us arrived.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Good To Be Home Again and Again and Again.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Ready to Retire?
Monday, June 15, 2009
20's Flapper Dress???
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Longarm Meeting in Bacliff Texas
The first picture is Karen holding a quilt she just finished quilting. The 2nd one is Karen introducing some required reading to the new quilters that were there. Just look at all the neat stuff on the walls!
My friend Linda and I went to The Woodlands guild quilt show on Friday. This show was quite different from previous years, as they had always held their show in a fancy hotel/large convention room. This time it was in a church and the quilts were all over the place. Found out we totally missed the Boutique which was probably just as well as I DID find the Vendors! The quilts we did see were nicely done, but I'm not sure if we saw them all or not. The Last Supper quilt was there in the Sanctuary of the church. It was nice to sit in the pews, and just reflect on the amazing detail.
The featured artist was awesome. I don't have her name available (the program is out in the car, and I'm in my jammies and ready for bed) but she had miniatures that were amazing. This is just one of the many she had there, note the finger on the right to give you some idea of the scale of this piece. These are Mariners Compass for crying out loud. We were standing there oohing and aahing, not realizing that the artist was standing there. She was very gracious and allowed us to take lots of pictures.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Old is New Again!
I'm in a great Bee. We meet once a month, and we can crank out some quilts for Charity. Last Thursday, we hung out about 20 quilts that we have put together for nursing homes and for the Linus project. At the last guild meeting in May, we turned in 38 quilts. In the picture on the right is Michelle, Carolyn, Nancy, Connie, Mariet, Linda and Nita is kneeling in the front. A lot of this fabric is donated (those panels) , but a good deal of it comes from our own stashes. See that Log Cabin in the background? I have Blood, Sweat and Tears in that one - literally. I was cutting strips from scraps and had a major rotary cutter accident. That's the one where my finger was still bleeding the next morning, and Gail tells me to get my butt to the emergency room. Duh!
Back in April, I mentioned the strip workshop that was a lot of fun. The patterns were 'Pole Dancing', 'Street Corner' and so on. This one you can see we were all getting a lot done! NOT. Pictured left to right is Ann, Gail, Linda, Michelle and little old me, again from the Thursday Night Bee - otherwise known as the Sub-Bee! Well, we do have other names, but I can't reveal those!
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
UFO's, Stashbusting and so on....
Friday, May 08, 2009
New Toys
This vintage pretend-play toy is made in the 1960s-70s, Soviet Russia - USSR. It is made of solide metal painted in light blue with floral decorations. The black base stand is made of bakelite. When you turn the side wheel the sewing needle moves up and down. The toy is in very well preserved condition and works perfectly. Bought this one from a gentleman in Bulgaria.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Recycle, Reuse, Panic!
Anyone who is on the Quiltville yahoo list, knows about recycling men's cotton shirts. Well, I had kinda ignored those posts, thinking, I DON'T need more fabric. So, I didn't pay much attention as to the best methods for chopping these shirts into usable fabric. Thanks to those that sent me links on the best way to get the most fabric.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Skyrockets Workshop
Went to a workshop an all day last week, Sally Schneider taught us about making Skyrockets. This was a pretty good workshop, I even managed to get 5 blocks done. I don't have pictures of MY blocks, they are in the car already so I don't forget to take them to the day guild meeting tomorrow.
However, I did take a picture of the wall where everyone was putting their finished blocks. I love it when the students hang their blocks. With all the different fabric choices, the blocks always seem to look good together.
There were batiks, 30's prints, random fabrics and so on. The success of the block is due to paying attention to the placement of the value in the block. Darks, mediums and lights. The Rocket part was supposed to the bold or dark part. Now the picture on the left uses a few different backgrounds to give the light effect in the center.
This is one project that I do plan to finish. Guess I better go add it to my UFO list
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Strip Workshop by Ladies of the Night !
"Barbie" showed us "Street Corners" which was probably the best pattern for utilizing Jelly Rolls. I didn't get a picture of her beautiful Blue, Yellow and Green quilt top, but it just screamed SPRING and turned out nicely.
Benedicte "Frenchie" demoed "Spinning Strippers" and other patterns such as "Pasties", "Pole Dancing", "Red Light District" and"G-strings" were presented by other members.
Everyone in the workshop received printed instructions to go along with the demo. What great ideas to use up some of those scraps we've all been saving. I'm really looking forward to making Gails "Twirling Tassles" aka Double Pinwheels in scrappy reds and off whites.
Nita pointed out, that getting the Tassles to twirl in opposite directions is 'all in the shoulders'! What a hoot!
Knitting, Baskets and Quilting
Next door to the yarn shop was a BASKET shop called In The Works. Nancy and I talked to a lady that was unloading many baskets in various stages of completion. Kinda like our quilt UFOs. Danger Danger Will Robinson! They have a Basket Guild that meets at that shop.
Finished Chloes quilt and showed it at the Patchwork Friends Bee. They were the ones that made the 9-patch blocks for the quilt last year. The FMLC were instrumental in getting this one laid out in a pleasing manner. They suggested the diagonal rows of color and I think it turned out great! If you check the closeup, you can see the freehand feather meandering that I did on this one. The background fabric is good 'ole reliable Kona Snow, and I put a 30's print on the back that has the green and purple in it.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Cobblers' Kids Have No Shoes
On one side of the room, Sharon was stringing beads making several strands to go with a shell type necklace. Barb was working on a wire bracelet with Swarovski Crystals, and I was working on several pairs of earrings. I think they turned out pretty cool!
After the earrings I saw Linda some of her Peyote stich bracelets. There were so Anthropologie. Anyway, then she showed me how to get started with that, and I completed a couple of inches worth that last evening.