Friday, May 14, 2010

Another Beautiful Mother’s Day!

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About 5 years ago we started going to my brother’s house on Mother’s Day & his birthday. He’s a block from the Fox River & the bike trails. It feels so good to walk down the trails of Spring greenery to the Dam so Bill, Jeff & the girls can drop a pole into the water. This year we walked a little further so Bill could show us a beautiful view.

DSCN4417Two casts later & Bill caught his 1st Northern Pike of the year & on the Fox River! It was at least 2 feet long! What a great birthday present to himself!

DSCN4420And of course, I had to make my bro a giant cupcake birthday cake!

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The craftiness that I unfortunately didn't take a picture of was the 2 button pins I made for my mother & sister based on an idea from the book Button ware. Of course I was making them the night before and trying to solder the pin onto them in the morning. I think they are pretty but of course as usual I didn't make one for myself. The buttons were the flowers & the coiling of the wire at the base looked like a vase. I need to get a picture of them at some point to personally document what I do with all my time!

I finally finished block 4 & 5 for the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along. Now I’m waiting to be inspired to create block 6.

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Block 4 makes me smile! Block 5 doesn’t belong to the same family!

I’m new the world of Jelly Roll quilting & I’m trying to use all the colors of the roll. Maybe you’re not supposed to when making a sampler quilt or maybe I’m just not combining them very well!

This Sunday is my first meeting at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild. I’m excited to meet some really creative people. I’d like to take part in their Inspiration Challenge Event (ICE), but my creative process to create a block with 4 fat quarters isn’t really happening too fast. Plus, I’m afraid to commit to messing up someone else’s block. It’s a swap challenge to create a wall hanging size quilt with someone else’s block & fabric pieces. I’m afraid I won’t make time to complete it on time because I’ll be digging out my house room by room for Mick’s graduation party in June. I’ve been sketching ideas this week but just can’t narrow down a design. I want to include CMQG-2010 on it so it will inspire me to keep creating. Let’s see what happens! Until next time…

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Moving Along on the Quilt Along & other March & April Things

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Blocks 2 & 3 from the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along from moosequilts.blogspot.com. I love my Frolic jelly roll from Moda.I want to mix up the colors but hope it will all come together in the end.I am currently behind by 2 blocks. How can that be?!! The new blocks come out every other Monday which I thought would be so manageable, but my procrastination & sidetrackedness did it to me once again! I think maybe the disaster zone of my work area has something to do with it!

The beginning of March was Dad’s & Aunt Adeline’s birthdays. Dad got a Giant Cupcake Cake from the pan I got for Christmas. Aunt Adeline got a Kanzashi flower corsage that I also made, based on Sister Diane’s Kanzashi in Bloom book. It was easy & fun, so why don’t I ever make more than one item when I try something new & of course, its always for a gift!

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My friend’s birthday was also in March. She appreciates all things handmade, so I made her this zip pouch based on the one in Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules Sewing. I loved it, my family loved it & Maureen loved it! All made with supplies on hand with a beautiful pink shiny lining!

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Easter was during the girls Spring Break. Eggs were colored on Good Friday as always. I had to get out the green checked vinyl tablecloth for tradition sake. Very bright, very fun!

easter eggsAlso during Spring break, we went downtown with my Mom & sister to Macy’s Annual Flower Show. Of course shopping was included to get the girls excited about going. The weather was PERFECT! Warm & a little windy. We each took the train & met up downtown.

The first 2 weeks of April were very sunny & warm. This made my daffodils start opening earlier than I wanted them to.daffodils They are always in bloom for my birthday so I wanted them to last, which they did. They are my favorite flower probably because they are the first pop of color in my yard after our long grey winters.

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My first time to the International Quilt Festival in Chicago & then I hear it will probably be my last because they are moving the Spring festival to Cincinnati, Ohio. That’s me & Pokey Bolton, Editor in Chief of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, as well is all of the Interweave things she’s in charge of. She was running Make It University at the festival, a series of 1 hour workshops by various mixed media artists. I was lucky enough to do 2 of them. Names were pulled & you had to be present.DSCN4386inchies forIQF I made a fabric ATC & a collage on canvas. Also pictured are the mini pieces of art I brought to their trading post to swap with others on a wall. Once again, they were fun & east to make but they’re all gone. Below are the mini art things I swapped for.

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These are the Thank You cards I made for my sister, cousin & friend, all who are very thoughtful people in my life & all appreciate creative work!

thank yousNow, on to my mess to clean up so I can catch up on the quilt along! The mess is stifling my ability & need to create. I hate when I let it take over my space. I wish I had an assistant!

On to the next month!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

New Month, New Projects to Do!

At the end of February was my main project, finished slowly, piece by piece. If I could just follow a pattern, instead of having to make it up as I went along it could have been done a lot more quickly. Loosely based on a bag in Designer Style Handbags by Sherri Haab, I LOVE the way it turned out and is my main bag right now. Although with it getting warmer out, I'm now thinking I need a Springy looking one. All the fabric was found at my local thrift shop. Some nice quilter is donating bags of scraps & some yardage. For $3, I got lots to play with now & for later!
New project for March, the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along from moosequilts.blogspot.com. I've always wanted to buy a jelly roll, never had a reason too. It was fun looking for just the right one. I decided on Frolic by Moda. I love the bright retro colors!
Block 1. Why do I have such a problem with straight stitching?!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Well Into the New Year & Going Strong!

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Continuing with last year's theme, "use what you have" projects, I made a January wall hanging with re purposed, thrifted, leftover supplies. January is the darkest longest month for me & I wanted to think Springy thoughts. Titled, Snowflakes on Daisies, I took 2 different components from quilt magazines. The daisy came from a floor quilt project in International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene, the snowflakes came from a table runner project from another magazine. I like how the toile and novelty fabric go together. The light blue is flannel scraps I got along with the red snowflake fabric in a bag full from my local thrift store. Some nice quilter is donating her leftovers & they are selling them for pennies! The toile is Waverly, but from a shower curtain I got from Goodwill a long time ago to make accessories to match the Waverly valances I used to have in my kitchen. I think I paid $4 for all that fabric that I knew I'd use someday for something. I love toile but it doesn't really go with anything in my house. (I really don't have any kind of style, anywhere!) It was fun & quick to make and good practice for free motion & echo quilting and my binding skills without making something huge.

Next on the January projects is trying to transfer a photo to muslin using gel medium, to be made into a tote. I printed it in reverse on glossy photo paper, covered it with 3 separate layers of gel medium. Then when each layer was dried overnight, I added one more thick layer to the photo and pressed it onto the muslin and used a brayer to smooth it out to get out any air bubbles and once again let it dry overnight. When it was then basically glued face down to the muslin, I wet the back with water & it released, leaving the thickened image on the fabric. It has a matte finish and feels like flexible leather.

I am now trying to piece it together in a pleasing matter to be finished into a tote from the book Designer Style Handbags by Sherri Haab. I'm doing foundation piecing onto some white felt I have from my collection of remnants. The reds are from that great bag of quilt scraps from some nice quilter. I wish I had more of the red geranium one!

The first February project was another quickie to practice my free motion skills. Made with some nylon lining fabric from who knows when (it's so old, it still smells after washing & drying it) and stiffened with a few fused plastic bags (I always wanted to try that) they are now hanging on the front of the house on the garland that is still up from Christmas. Now I just need to find some green fabric & ribbon so I can keep the garland up til St. Patrick's Day!


To think I was thinking about doing my own "52 Projects" this year! I'll be happy if I can keep the pace of at least one completed project a month and finish some of the lingering ones that are still waiting to be completed, like the Knifty Knitter shrug that I started possibly in 2007 or 08. I was working on it yesterday & it only needs the cuffs and to be connected on the sleeves. Not sure if I'll ever wear it, its made with the eyelash yarn that was popular a few years ago! We'll see.