Mandarin Duck and Other Projects

This is the Mandarin Duck, my project from a class with Jenny Bowker at Road to CA last year. It came home with most of the pieces temporarily fused onto a muslin backing..I hadn't added the eye..and there were a few places that had 'holes' where the alignment was a bit off...I  fixed those and then sat down to stitch the edges with MonoPoly...started out with my normal foot and quickly realized that I needed to switch to the Big Foot and do this more like FMQ...

As I was scooting around in my crowded work room after I trimmed up the Duck, I knocked a piece of fabric off a stack..when I picked it up off the floor, it begged to be used in the Mandarin Duck...I originally was going to add a flying geese border, but I love how this piece looks against the rich dark brown...

Then, I played with adding a bit of the rust from the Duck's sail...and that just made it sparkle!

So..the borders are on, I stitched three wool batting pieces (still left from the days when Hobbs was a vendor at Road and sold the squares for 50 cents), created a backing - just plain white muslin...and batted the piece - when it rains, we eat lunch in the cafeteria, and I get some quilting time in..and its predicted to rain all week!

Finished off the rest of the stitching on my Beast from the Beasts of the Jungle class from a couple of years ago - Kissy has been waiting patiently by my sewing machine..and so she is done..

And...since I am taking a hexie class at Road this year, I made a portable design wall / block carrier out of a pool noodle, the cardboard tube from a dry cleaning hanger for pants, a piece of fleece and a hair tie...this will help me carry my design home from the class since there is no way on earth will I get 50 hexies prepared AND stitched in 6 hours..I am fast..but not THAT fast!

I have to cut 70 squares of a single color family for these hexies - I picked green (no shock there, eh?) and so far have unearthed at least 90 different greens!! On to the cutting...I hope I end up with 70 that I can use!  I know some have to be tossed - the plaids, strange fabrics, flannel - but I pulled them anyway..just in case...

Echos of the Grand Canyon

First finish of the new year:

I renamed the Drip quilt to  'Echos of the Grand Canyon' because..well, it reminds me of the Grand Canyon, in a vague sort of way.

It is long...it is thin...it has very many warts..but it is also DONE!!!
Started in January 2014 in a class with Katie Pasquini Masopust called 'Watercolor Painting to Quilt', it now qualifies as a quilt. (It's even labeled)

I couched various threads, yarns and fibers onto the seams of the applique. That was the most fun part  (besides painting the original) of this quilt - finding the embellishments! The border fabric is very strange..it's crispy (even after washing) and has an odd odor when the iron hits it (so its NOT quilting fabric)..But..it was the best piece in my stash for the borders..I had just enough to make the facing out of the same fabric - I just think facings look better when they match the front fabric.

Only place where I could hang it for its portrait and be able to the see the whole quilt to was the door at the end of the hallway!



more info on the quilt formerly known as the Drip quilt:
Around the World Blog Hop

and
Road to CA 2014

Happy New Year 2016!

Wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year.





Resolutions...well..not so good on those, but I will try to post more this year than last!

I am spending most of the day quilting ...a very good day so far!
Here is a peek at what I am working on:

Doodled Hexagons

I saw a series of posts on Jill Buckley's blog where she talks about her adventures in doodling and painting hexagons - I decided to try out this technique...using Inktense pencils and an ultra fine Sharpie on muslin...




(I will be adding the blue outer edge later...)

Here is my foray into this fascinating art form! (click on the link to go to the Photobucket album)
Doodled Hexagons



Couple of lessons learned:
 1. Wash the muslin before painting with water! Why this escaped me, I have no clue...the hexies shrank a wee bit...just enough to be annoying.

 2. Large blobs of water, when hit with an iron, make ghost shadows...blot before you iron, or wait til the piece dries... 

Over all, I like how my doodled hexagons turned out...and though its time-consuming, I could see doing this technique for a very special quilt...

Christmas 2015

Here is my annual rundown of projects I made for Christmas.


For the wee ones, I made butterflies (for the girls) and a dragonfly (for the boy):
















For the older kids, I made chalk board rollups and included a pack of colored chalk:



For my DD and her honey, I made fleece pillows:



For Mama, I made two pillows that match the lap robe I made for her birthday:
For Daddy I made a plaid flannel throw:



For all of the families, I made button pictures - saw a similar idea on FB and had to try it out - my initial attempt was so well received that I just had to make them for everyone! They are made from my Granny's button stash...each one is different (and I still have oodles of buttons left!)

Nesting Robin #1 - Chicks in Red Shoes

A few months ago, one of the ladies on the Quilting Forum issued a challenge - take an orphan block and make something with it by adding borders from scraps in our stash - she gave us a suggestion every month and what we did with the suggestion was up to us. Its called a Nesting Robin since it never gets mailed to someone else to work on..you do all of the work! Now..a Nesting Robin can get quite large, if you add as many rounds as there were suggestions...like I have said in earlier posts, I don't do many really large pieces - so instead of adding a whole border for each suggestion, I added just a side!

I found a  cute chicken panel in my stash that became the center of my Nesting Robin.
The first month was squares and rectangles..red and green checkerboard.

 I also did some ric-rac chicks (with red shoes) on the top and bottom of the panel ( click on the picture to make it larger to see them)

Second month was triangles - wonky triangle chicks

Third month was flora or fauna - yo-yo flowers

Fourth month was circles and ovals - appliqued chicks

Fifth month was 'If it has a name, its fair game' - that's the flying geese border

and Sixth month was Repeat something - which I repeated the yo-yo flowers from the third border in the corner stones. There were a couple of more months of suggestions, but my quilt was as large as I wanted, so I stopped!

Note: All the chicks have red shoes! And all of the buttons are from my Granny's stash except for the wee chick I bought at Rosie's Calico Cupboard on the Quilter's Run...she has red shoes too, courtesy of my Micron pen!

Finished off the binding on the Quilter's Run last weekend:

Tuscan Landscape

Many, many moons ago...I made the base for the Tuscan Landscape in a class at Road to CA with Martha Nordstrand...It went on a journey to visit the needles of some very talented quilters who also attend the Valley of the Sun Retreats..and finally made its way back home where it took me another year or so to finish off the embroidery and quilting and to decide on the border...

At last...here it is!

Quilters who contributed to this are Ami Krenzel, Kim Diggins and Kathi Eddy

Getting Back in the Saddle Again

Yikes..its been a VERY LONG DRY spell in these parts! Sorry for being absent so long.

I did attend Road to CA in January...took a couple of neat classes:

Tentmaker Work - I am almost done with this piece. It is going to be a pillow cover. This pic is how much I got done in the class...The class was taught by Egyptian Tent Makers..they are truly amazing applique-ers!

Images in Landscapes -
Loved this class but unfortunately, have not worked on this project very much since January. Class was in how to blowup a snapshot into a wall hanging sized quilt...which you then can add traditional blocks to make an interesting focal point..mine will not get too much bigger than this as I don't usually do very many 'big' quilts...but I am thinking of at least adding a border of flying geese..we will see how inspired I get! The small picture is the photo I started with and then enlarged...looks pretty darned close, eh?

Project Bag - This was a fun, quick bag class..I went to M&L a few weeks later and bought a yard of headliner fabric to make more of these. I think I even have enough of the clear plastic...just need time!

I did attend the annual Valley of the Sun Retreat in February:
One of the highlights was making this Mystery Quilt...I think EVERYONE loved the pattern and how their quilt came out! Still need to quilt it though...

And..just went on the annual So Cal Quilter's Run and stimulated the economy!

One of my additions is a Thread Director...supposed to help eliminate breakage when using metallic threads for FMQ...will have to play with that soon!

Around the World Blog Hop

I was asked by Misha of MishaMichele, whom I know In Real Life from the Valley of the Sun Retreats, to participate in the Around The World Blog Hop. Sounded like fun..so here goes!

I would love to know who exactly started this Blog Hop and when...I tried Googling  but there are soooooo many Around The World Blog Hop posts it's impossible to find the first one. I agree with Sophie - there should be a master page somewhere that lists all of the hoppers...maybe a suggestion for next year's blog hop??

1. What am I working on? 

The bottom of the Drip quilt. the colored part started out as a project in a class I took at Road to CA from Katie Pasquini Masopust. Most of the applique is done - I just need to finish that one last bottom piece (I don't care for how the under piece looks...) before I applique the piece to the border fabric.

The whole Drip quilt against the fabric that will be the borders - it is a very neutral looking piece of what must be home dec fabric - I have no recollection of how it came to be in my stash! It is a half yard piece, but from selvage to selvage, it is two yards wide.  The Drip quilt will measure more than a yard when the borders are added. I was initially worried about using this fabric because it seemed a bit thin, so I washed it...and it still has the same crispy body. It should be fine, since this is an art quilt, not a quilt that will get washed a great deal. I love the color against the finely dotted neutral...I have another fabric that is actual quilting cotton that is essentially the same pattern in a different shade of tan, but I like the color on this one better. Plus...there is more of this one so I can applique it directly instead of cutting border pieces. I need to iron the color block, but will wait to do that until I finish that last wee bit of applique.

The mini Eclipse quilt  - I did the blocks at last retreat.  I put the center together by hand since that is the only way I can get nice sharp intersections. For the borders, I have been trying different combinations of the Fossil Fern fabrics and I think I like this one with the triple border of orange, purple and pink best. I keep finding  more fat quarters of different Fossil Ferns almost every time I look through my stash. They are in a separate pile now. Need to get this one done before next Retreat as there will be a showing of all of the Eclipse quilts.

This is a detail from the Mixed Media piece from a class with Patt Blair at Road To CA...it needs a bit more quilting and the buttons need to be sewn on before I am happy with how it looks.

More buttons...

The whole Mixed Media quilt...with the buttons pinned on. Most of these are antique buttons from the stash I inherited from my Granny. (The green hearts are a more recent vintage!)

Framed Hexies - this was a project Pirate (another blogger I know In Real Life) started, decided she didn't like this particular technique for hexies so she gave the whole kit and caboodle to me. I worked on these during my vacation. Not sure what it will end up being...or how big it will get - there is enough done that with a couple more blocks, it would make an interesting table topper. But there are oodles of cut pieces still in the project bag...they are cute, quick and portable...and a conversation starter...

Tuscan Landscape - it is very nearly done. I added a flock of sheep on the hill after looking at some more pictures of this view of Tuscany which I have discovered is in Val d'Orsia. I may take the bottom edge quilting out since its getting too puffy...I need to quilt tiles into the floor and add some decorations on the archway.

My 'Forever Project' - the wee hexie basket...this is made with 1/4 inch sized hexies..I just have the background to finish..the boring part! It will likely get minimal quilting and be put into a hard frame to be hung on the wall when it is finished. (I need to take pictures more often...I see something I need to fix again!)

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? 
I tend not to use commercial patterns, though I have done some...and I really dislike making the same block over and over, so there are only a few quilts like that in my repertoire. And you won't find very many 30's reproduction fabrics in my stash. I tend to like either true-to-life colors or bright saturated colors. Batiks and hand dyes are my favorites.

3. Why do I create what I do? 
I have always been creative - I come from a very creative family, where creativity is cherished. My paternal grandfather was a professional artist - there are still examples of his art on display. His brother was also a professional artist. Their father was a master jeweler at Tiffany's in New York. My maternal grandmother was a prolific quilter - she and her charity group made hundreds of quilts for the homeless. As a child, I designed Barbie clothes, dressed my dolls and stuffed animals, made all sorts of things - my favorite magazine when I was growing up was Pack-o-Fun. Every month, I would read devour that magazine as soon as the issue arrived in the mail box.

I love trying new techniques just to see how they work. As a consequence, I have oodles of WIPs (Work In Progress) and PIGZ (Projects In Gallon Zippies) which is a common occurrence with most quilters, I suspect. 

4. How does my creating process work?
I draw inspiration from all around me. Sometimes a new quilt is suggested by something I see, though a goodly number of them are class projects. I know some folks never finish what they start in a class, but I feel obligated to at least do something with the materials since I have invested time and money and fabric - I can generally figure out a way to finish any project (I would not have taken the class if I didn't at least think I would finish!) - some just take longer than others!  I still have at least three in various stages that are waiting their turn to be finished. But...I will finish them - God willin' and the crick don't rise!

I noodle around with an idea for a while and mostly I can 'see' the finished product before I start...though I have been trying to loosen up a bit and try different things after the basic design is done..

I am supposed to tag three more quilters. It is getting hard to find quilters that haven't been tagged!

So...here are my tag-ees! I haven't heard back from the last blogger, but am putting her link info in in the hopes that she will reply back in the affirmative.

Rian  of Rian's Pages  who recently moved into a new house and has just re-started quilting. She has a very interesting technique where she uses large sheets of freezer paper with flowing designs, mostly rendered in yummy batiks.

Sophie of Sophie Junction who  already did the Around the World Blog Hop post.  I am fascinated by her use of color. Another of the quilters I know In Real Life as I have attended a Retreat with Sophie.

Tanya of  ByTaniwa who is a quilter from Japan. She moved to Japan from the US to teach English...and ended up staying after she met her handsome hubby Tetsu. I enjoy reading about all of her adventures.

Visit to the Reagan Presidential Library

We ventured out to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Saturday with DD for Father's Day. Got there just after they opened - a good thing, since the parking lot filled up quickly and when we left, there were cars parked all along the drive for almost a mile!

Very impressed with the grounds and the Library..we got to go thru Air Force One and  the helicopter that Reagan used...the exhibits were very interesting. I even went riding with Ron:

What I didn't expect to see were QUILTS!! They had a baseball exhibit that featured a number of quilts along with bats, gloves, baseball cards, peanut roaster carts, uniforms, models of the old baseball stadiums, pinball games, pictures and even the traveling trunk that Babe Ruth used!..the curator said it was only 1/3 of the collection (Wow!) My apologies for the dimly lit pictures...they have a no-flash rule at the Library, the quilts were behind glass..and there is only so much you can do with editing..

This last one did not have a card explaining who the maker was:

The Baseball exhibit will be at the Library til September 4.

The 1100 Year Old Tree

On our adventures yesterday, we found this 1100 year old oak tree...imagine what this tree has lived thru..it was around when the Magna Carta was signed!

The grounds are a popular wedding venue..we even saw a Bride walking down the dirt path towards this spot...

View from behind the oak tree:

The rest of the grounds are pretty interesting..its an old resort with ancient buildings...and this pond in one of the center park areas featuring a wee castle at the base of the tree..over time, the tree has cracked the castle so its ruins...

View from the other side of the pond on the stone bridge:

A light house on the far end of the pond:

And a waterfall on the other side of the stone bridge

Easter 2014

After a delicious Easter dinner of roast lamb, we had a yummy pineapple upside down cake:
I made the Easter table runner many years ago and put it out every year.

And we took a wee drive into the hills. Car was getting a bit hot so we turned around after a few miles but I managed to get a shot of these sunflowers..might put them into a quilt someday.

Spring!

We took a little jaunt up into Apple Country this afternoon. The apple trees are blooming! In all the years we have lived here, we have never gone up to Apple Country in the spring...we have gone several times in the fall, to pick apples and raspberries.

The air was very hazy and there was a lot of glare, so I was lucky this picture turned out - I could not see it on the phone and just had to hope it was ok! No idea why it was so hazy though.

It was peaceful up there without the crowds!