This week I’m working mainly on the snowman quilt, which has become two quilts. I’ve been cutting squares to make a raggy quilt with polar fleece as the batting. I couldn’t decide if I wanted the backing to be the polar fleece (2 layers—snowmen & fleece) or coordinating yarn-dyed plaids (3 layers—snowmen, fleece, plaid). So I cut the plaids just in case. Then when I went shopping for fleece I found these four delicious colors (photo above, stack on the right) and just couldn’t bear to hide them. So I cut up the other stack of fleece you see there from my stash to go with the plaids. Now I have two!

The cutting is all done for the plaids, you can see them on my design wall. I probably would have chosen some of the plaids differently if I’d been planning to use them on their own, but they’re not bad. There’s two each of 24 different plaids from my stash. Some day I’ll have to do a plaid quilt with all of them. Or I could just finish cutting for the quilt I bought them for in the first place.

I still have to cut 6 or 8 snowman blocks from the border print you see on the top of the snowman stack above. Then appliqué the pieces I cut from the panel and fused to some of the squares.

The snowman quilt is due December 1 so I have a decent amount of time. Because it’s fleece and not batting I won’t need to quilt the squares, but maybe I’ll quilt an “X” across the plaids and leave the snowmen alone to compare the difference. The open-face sandwich should be pretty easy to work with. Because it’s raggy edges I won’t have to bind them. I want to have them both done before December 1 so I can make just one trip to the laundromat. Do you think a laundromat is necessary for the first washing of raggy quilts? I’ve heard they create tons of lint, which will supposedly wreak havoc on my washing machine or clog the pipes or something.

Have a happy Thanksgiving! There’s so much to be thankful for!

This evening when I checked the mail there was a skinny little envelope from Road to California, where I entered my quilt Zéphirine Drouhin. Be still my beating heart. There was NO WAY that envelope could hold an acceptance packet. I was already worried that my photos weren’t good enough, that they were too out-of-focus, etc. and that would reflect badly on my quilt.

Turns out it was a false alarm, it was just a receipt and my registration letter for the Fine Hand Quilting class I will be taking from Cindy Walter (who will also be one of the judges by the way). They did recognize I was the same person from my entry and my class registration since the receipt included both, but it said nothing about the quilt’s status. At least they’re getting started on the paperwork. It won’t be long now till the acceptance (and rejection) letters go out. I guess I can hold my breath till the end of the month.

Currently I’m working on the following:

Spring housecleaning (If I start in November, I should be finished by spring.)
Postcard class instructions (See WIP Wednesday #3.)
CBQ Guild Christmas challenge (Use the snowman panel, Let it Snow by Diane Knott for CLOTHWORKS, in a project; here is part of the panel at left.)

Since I don’t have any impending deadlines, I’ve been doing a little of this and a little of that. Although progress is slow because I’m not focusing on any single project, I am making visible progress and that’s what counts.

happy quilting!

Sometimes a vote seems like a drop in the bucket and other times a vote REALLY makes a difference. In last week’s election local Measure V won over Measure U 1746 to 1735 (development control issues). For the math-impaired that’s only 11 votes! What’s even sadder is that this was out of 8500 registered voters, not to mention all those who are eligible but did not take the time to even register. I know that’s over 40% turnout, which might be considered good, but not in my book.

I admit it can be hard to imagine that what goes on in Sacramento, Washington, or wherever has a terribly large impact on our day-to-day lives. Local stuff hits us in the face every day. And this is where our votes can have the greatest impact. On the state and national level, elections are often decided by differences of hundreds, thousands, and more. It takes a great many concerned citizens banded together to have a noticable impact. Here in Loma Linda, the tide could have been turned if just 12 more people (or even 11 for a tie) had taken the time to get down to the polling places, where by the way I have never had to wait more than five minutes, or bothered to even register in the first place so they could let their voice be heard. Now unless Measure V is overturned in court for being unconstitutional, we are going to live with its consequences for a very long time.

This week I’m writing instructions and a class outline for a fabric postcard class that I will teach next year (January or February) at the Redlands, CA JoAnn’s. I’ve made a bunch in different colors/styles of fabric for the store display and also to test different methods and materials. The bottom one is my latest, not finished yet, but it’s my favorite so far.

They are a great take-along project. I brought some to my doctor’s appointment yesterday and was so glad I did. Someone got really sick and the doctor was running about 1-1/2 hours late.

The next quilt is not a wip, I made it for a challenge last week in only a few days (although challenge #1 is still in progress). I’m usually very meticulous about my work, so it is good for me to switch gears and race through something every now and then. You can read more about it in the FFFC blog.

happy quilting!

Halloween is over and I finished the dress in time, but just barely–5:00 p.m., right before we dashed out the door to a party and then trick-or-treating. Part of my trouble was procrastination (I know), the other part was using a flower girl-type pattern with lots of hand-finishing as opposed to a quick and easy costume pattern. Then we added details such as the pearl trim and bridal illusion tulle.

I’ve never worked with bridal illusion tulle. It has its good points and its bad. Lucky I bought extra because I destroyed half of it before figuring out a good way to layer it for cutting (I ended up cutting the yardage into smaller sections, pin the tulle over the pattern, and then cut with a rotary cutter four layers thick). Every snip of thread and stray bit of fabric in my studio (aka sweat shop) stuck to it. The garden-variety tulle never did that, but the tulle in the tutu I made two years ago ripped before Halloween even arrived (there was so much of it you couldn’t even notice though. We cut it into petals and that solved all problems of future rips and tears.) The bridal illusion tulle is stiff in comparison, and seems much sturdier. If anyone has any suggestions of neat ways to use bridal illusion tulle in art quilts, I’d love to hear them. I have a lot of leftovers to play with.

The dress stood up well to both the party and the trick-or-treating. The only damage was to be expected–a dirty hem from skimming the ground all night long.

I told my DD this was the first and last wedding dress I was going to make for her. I learned a lot, am glad I did it, and am happy with the way it turned out (we can also use this one for an angel costume at Christmas, the base for her birthday rainbow princess dress, and she can also add a sash and wear it to some swanky event). I definitely don’t want to repeat the process in full size though. That is why God invented Vera Wang. Or I have a very lovely dress that I wore at my wedding, if she’s close to my same size.

Today I went down to Artesia, CA to look at saris and sari fabric. Now I thought I have seen some gorgeous wearable art in my time. This blew all that away! Any of these could easily take best of show at a major quilt exhibition. Beaded, sequined, jeweled, embroidered, painted, and the most delicious colors of silk you could ever wish to see. Cutwork, shisha mirrors, shells, jingle bells, and intricate wire coils. One sari had small bugle beads sewn down in a quilter’s stipple pattern. Of course, all these embellishments had already been attached in India, and they don’t sell bags of beads or coils. If they did I would snatch up one of each!

Even the men’s garments were exquisite. There was one in white, looked to be a matte silk/linen blend. Picture this: delicate embroidery in thin silver metallic thread, and clear beads, the ultimate in tiny, I have never in my life seen beads this small (and I thought I had some small beads in my stash!) I had to look up close to make sure they were actually beads. Very tastefully done and not at all over the top.

I thought the shoes above were simply amazing. I love the jeweled fringe. I didn’t take any photos of the saris, though they were wonderful. It seemed impolite, and I’m not looking to copy any particular embellishment design anyway, I wanted more to fill my head with possibilities. And my head is certainly full to overflowing! It will take some time to sort it all out.

Lots of fun jewelry too, from inexpensive metal bangles to intricate gold filigree. DD bought some sparkly purple bangles, just her size, 24 for $3.

Then it was on to a delicious vegetarian Indian meal that I can’t remember the name of.

The next time we go, I’m going to make a decision on some fabric to buy for some wonderful future project and my DD wants to buy a children’s outfit. She will have major trouble deciding on just one, and it will be hard for me to cut into whatever I buy. That was my trouble today, when I saw something, I just knew I could never cut into it. I guess I’ll have to work on my cutting bravery between now and then.

happy quilting!

This week has been a making frenzy so far. On the right is the reverse of my FFFC (Fast Friday Fabric Challenge) quilt top. FFFC is a Yahoo group we just started to challenge ourselves to create a quilt in one week, much as the designers on Project Runway have to make their garments quickly. The yellow and orange leaf outlines are from machine quilting. The rest of the stuff is not embellishment, but rather is the bits and pieces of thread hanging around my sewing machine and sticking to my quilt top like neon cat hair. It amazed me so much I just had to show you here.

I have also had beads on the brain, so I’ve made two necklaces, one bracelet, and almost two pairs of earrings since Monday. I ran out of earring findings so the one pair is still waiting. Today my DD and I made a earring tree base out of polymer clay and we will finish that when I purchase some wire larger than the 20 gauge we have in our stash.

I’ve also been re-making my FFAC (Fiberart for a Cause) postcards. I have an interview on Friday about teaching some classes: postcards and art quilt wall hangings.

Finally I made one of those ribbon batons tonight. The Adventurers (my DD’s scouting group) are going to be in a parade on Sunday and I thought it would be fun for them to have something to twirl. I’ll bring this one to their meeting tomorrow night and let them test it out, then make the rest before Sunday.

Friday at CBQ Patricia Pepe presented the lecture Passing Judgement, and talked about judges’ comments, what judges look for, and the joys of quilt competition. From design to stitching, all the way down to the binding, there sure are a lot of details to attend to. Into His Light is one of the quilts she brought and it took 12 years to finish! It was worth the wait to take the time to do it right. Check back with me in 12 years. I may have a 12-year quilt or two myself by then!

happy quilting!

Here is my second FFAC postcard (see the first, Batik Penny Rug). They went off in the mail yesterday in order to make the October 1 deadline. I won’t be going to Houston this year, but at least they will!

The star gazing kitties are made from more of my wool felt stash, from my cat pattern on the needle keeper. I used some fun metallic embroidery filament on them, Nordic Gold by Rainbow Gallery. The color is ND4 and it’s like the clear monofilament you sew with except with many strands, including sparkly ones. You can see the difference in how it is more subtle on the lighter yellow cat. Like clear sewing machine monofilament, it shows up more on darker fabrics (not necessarily a bad thing in embroidery). Next time I’m at my local embroidery shop I’m going to check out the other colors. This thread’s a keeper—fun and easy to use! If you try it out, dab a bit of glue on the cut end to prevent the individual fibers from coming untwisted as you work with it. The gold around the edges is simple a double strand of Coats & Clark metallic decorative sewing thread—very easy to use and easy to find.

The larger gold stars are embellished with hot-fix gold metal circle things. (I’m not sure what they’re called, but they’re a seasonal Christmas item. I bought them to use as buttons when making Barbie clothes.)

Until I find the fabric I need for Reine des Violettes I might just keep playing with my wool felt. I probably won’t be doing a lot of quilting for awhile, at least not until after Halloween, if you know what I mean. I don’t mind though. It’s fun to do the costumes and to see my DD so thrilled about them, as well as just about the best garment-making practice I’ve found.

happy quilting!