Drawing Time

Elements: a Material Mavens 12 x 12 quilt

2012-03-15T14:46:00.002-07:00

The Material Mavens publish a 12 x 12 inch quilt the 15th day of every other month on their Reveal Day, each member's dealing with the same theme. This time the theme is Elements. I wrote:

In ancient thought, Fire, Earth, Water and Air and sometimes Spirit (something beyond the physical world) are the classical elements, the root units from which the world is formed. Hopefully the elements work in harmony!

Today these early descriptions are used in writing and graphics, paintings, tarot and astrology. In my stash, I found fabric to represent each physical elements and separated them by curvy quilting. The gold represents the spiritual.

I cut gold fabric to which I had ironed Wonder Under. I punched a hole in the center of the square piece of fabric and cut a spiral from the center all the way around and back again. I fused the spiral on the front and what was left on the reverse of the 12 x 12. I squeezed puff paint to edge the activating spiral, sprinkled gold beads atop and on the bottom, and used a hair dryer to secure.

Monument Men: a Journal Quilt

2012-03-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

Quilters and other artists often buy materials that speak to them because some day they will be of use. Early this year, I was attracted to a book fabric and one of Impressionist paintings. Having no idea how I would ever use them, I bought a half yard of each.

I cut a door in the front of the journal quilt to reveal the paintings below. Click to enlarge to see the keyhole made of puff paint on middle right side on the front book panel You can open the "door" for a view of the Van Gogh. Open the entire front cover to reveal more paintings.

Last month I hosted my book club which had chosen to read Monument Men. It is about how Hitler's men went about pillaging the finest art in Europe and declaring other art "degenerate." The Monument Men had a mandate from FDR and the support of Eisenhower in a race against time to save some of the world's greatest art treasures from destruction at the hands of Nazi fanatics. Much of the art was hidden and some found in salt mines. I had not wanted to read the book, since I had already finished The Rape of Europa and seen the documentary of the same name. However, I was thrilled by all that I learned. Also, George Clooney, reportedly will make a movie of the book.

Memories and Remembrance: two journal quilts

2012-03-09T09:56:00.003-08:00

Yesterday, our fortnightly Journal Quilt Connection was to meet and I was behind! I decided to make 5 quilts too fast. I made a list of the events in my life I wanted to remember or mark. I thought of the roundup/reunion of our 13 best girlfriends (like sisters) from childhood in Amarillo, Texas back in October and the recent wrenching losses of two special people.
The Roundup is made of the fabric I used to create souvenirs snap purses for my dear old pals; and to attach their names to the piece, I created brands using gold puff paint. I took their initials (either maiden or married names) to mark them on this journal quilt.

The other quilt I made quickly on a fabric that I felt only hinted at the anquish involved in loss and I made two hearts of blue tear images floating above and off. A satin stitch surrounds the hearts; and I used iridescent puff paint to float over the hearts' borders. The backing and quilt edge are silver.

Round and round: Triangle time

2012-03-08T07:39:00.000-08:00

It is Round Robin turn in time again. I just finished adding the triangles and a border piece to the prettiest Round Robin to come around so far. My colors are often so bright but I didn't mind buying muted batiks for this pretty piece. This quilt will now go to someone to add what she thinks it needs. Remember: the first person made a medallion; the second person added corners to that; the third put on squares and rectangles, and I surrounded all with triangles.

Sorry about the angle but I risked my life to photograph this on the bed for you since I don't have a big design wall. I see a thin brown border in the middle is folded down but that will be fixed. Now to get back to my four Journal Quilts that I will be posting soon. Click the photo to enlarge.

Joe Retired! : a journal quilt

2012-03-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

At the end of the year, Joe retired. He says he is under new management! I love it; but he has not said the same thing re this new stage of life :*).

This journal quilt reflects all the red tape and paper work that go into retirement and suggests the chairs Joe reupholstered in the new year (not to speak of the rooms he repainted and shelves he built to hold his books)!

The fabric of birds is from my quilting stash as are the chair silhouettes. The red tape is a zigzag stitch and the flying papers are Tyvek cut from an envelope to appear flying.

Home safe: neighborly encounter

2012-02-28T11:19:00.001-08:00

My neighbor Jean collects our newspapers and mail whenever we buzz to NYC. I dropped by to treat her with a bottle bag from MOMA and noticed some cross-stitch that seemed from the past. She said Anna her daughter had started it years ago (a UFO, unfinished object) and was completing it now. (click photos to enlarge)

Years ago I did a large painting of Anna using Alice in Wonderland imagery that I like a lot. I thought I would share. Since the painting is so long, I pieced the image together here w two photos. Oh! I should go over to rephotograph with my newer better camera :*).

Jean liked that bottle bag so much I wondered if I should try knitting one that I had seen. So handy for trips to our restaurants where one has to bring one's own drink. What fun it is to have another crafter in the neighborhood. If it were mine, I would tack up Anna's cross-stitch in its embroidery hoop right next to my computer to enjoy every day!

Busy Valentine Week: Survival accomplished

2012-02-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

After a week when I took a few days to iron and fold my stash, Joe and I drove to NYC to give Valentines to grandchildren and attend Erika's rock climbing birthday party. Two days later, there was a U-turn to return to a guild meeting, round robin exchange and bee hosting.

The first day in NYC, while Joe took David and Erika on a subway ride, I took Hannah to The City Quilter where she got stuffing and dog fabrics to make pillows for her siblings. The City Quilter has installed an art quilt gallery. Joe and I recovered at the movie Tinker Tailor, around the corner.

click to enlarge photos

The weather was perfect for travel and I made it to the guild meeting on time. The hallway where we meet was filled with these enchanting portraits of children.

Double dose fun: beading and quilting on the road

2012-02-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

Today I drove south to see a dear friend, Donna Jean Downer, who both quilts and beads. Last year I took a winter workshop with her. She has stacks of heavily beaded pieces that amaze me.

Today when I walked into her house, I found she had continued work on curvy quilting that we workshopped with Diane Hire last week. She took a left-over block, quilted it and then did some hand embroidery and beading of the fields in this memorable landscape below right. Unfortunately you can't see the fields of flowers but you can get some idea if you click to enlarge. I was SO inspired! She said it took no time at all and was so enjoyable to work on.

You remember I reported on the Chan Luu bracelets using leather and beads. Donna Jean does not let grass grow under her feet. This time she has created another bracelet using giant beads.

Of course we had to drop by Pflora Beads in Canton for more leather and the wonderful help the store offers. Harry or Hairy the resident dog is very welcoming.

After we had lunch at One Bistro in Norwood, I left to do some Valentine shopping and came home to find Joe had added built a shelf to raise his computer screen. He is feeling smug because he also took 40 years of files out to the shredder to make more room in the attic. He is one productive good man deserving of a Valentine!

(click on photos to enlarge)

Now We are Six: Erika's Valentine birthday card

2012-02-05T05:42:00.000-08:00

On birthdays, I try to make a quilted birthday card the children can keep. Erika was born on Valentine's Day, and this year I had trouble coming up with an idea.

Not looking, I found a fabric lush with grown-up roses, probably two dark for a youngster, but I wanted to use it. Also Erika has taken to wearing a bee antenna headband on most occasions. Next, I thought of the six of hearts card, had seen a quickie cathedral block technique I wanted to try, and had memories of the book, Now We are Six. If you click on the quilt to enlarge it, you can see all of these elements and how I combined them.

Maybe I should record the poems on a CD for her and make a fuzzy pillow she loves. One can go on and on. There are beads sewn to the red hearts on the card, and I am thinking the rose fabric could be stuffed with rice and lavender for a pad to rest the eyes. Just a matter of time :*) Ooops. Maybe I should return to the machine to stitch, "Happy Birthday!"

Round Robin needs a lift to fly!

2012-02-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

The Quilters' Connection is sponsoring about 5 different Round Robin groups. Each person makes a center medallion and passes to another person who adds corners to the medallion. The third round (this one) is squares and rectangles. The next round will be triangles, alas! The owner of the original medallion does not see her quilt until it is finished on reveal day. I don't relate to purples and pinks and the owner of this medallion hates red. Also, she prefers traditional to art quilts, so we are not on the same wave length. However, I know we will both get a "kick" out of what is returned to us at the end.

One learns when out of one's comfort zone (especially a quilter like me who has belonged to the guild only a year and a half) . I am posting this to keep a record, seek advice. I probably need to add some leaves and stems along the side or appliques on the corners, but I need for the muse to visit or you to make a suggestion. I am going on to another quilt due, having the basics of this obligation mostly out of the way. Pardon the askew photo. The piece is getting so big I needed to fly over it to photograph and almost fell :*).

Sweet Dreams: a "sausage" or "tube" pillowcase

2012-01-31T18:12:00.000-08:00

When I joined Quilters' Connection, I kept hearing that BUSY people make pillowcases for gifts, for children and friends. I didn't know that could be fun and FAST. A visit to the City Quilter in NYC introduced me to the sausage/tube pillowcase tutorials on-line and sold me this fabric. I liked the YouTube visuals.

This afternoon, Susan and I printed on our Gelli plates, but when I got home, I still had enough energy to make this fast pillowcase to surprise son, who is in town to close on his house. He loved super heroes, and was a devoted collector, always improving the manufacturers' costumes to make them more realistic. I hope he enjoys the surprise.

I first washed the fabrics and watched the tutorials at You Tube. I cut 3/4 yard (27") for the main part (assuming about a 45" width). Most suggest cutting 9" x 45" or so for the cuff. The piping is 2"x 45" or so. Iron the piping and cuff lengthwise down the middle. Open up the 9" cuff and place it face up on the bottom of this pile. Open up the main part and and place it atop, also face up. Next, do not open the 2" piece but align its raw edges with the the other two at the top. All sides should have been trimmed at some point to match. Roll the bottom of the main part toward the pinned top and once it is within the space of the cuff, gently lift the bottom of the cuff over the roll to pin all five raw edges together. Don't pin the roll but you know that if you watched the tutorials. Once pinned carefully, sew carefully. Next, reach inside to pull the tube out either end. Fold right sides together and stitch down one side and the bottom using straight stitch, zig-zag, serge or French seam. Iron to admire. I am making a toddler one tomorrow and I highly recommend. Again, watch the tutorial link in the first paragraph for clarification!

Ladder Bracelets: all wrapped up

2012-01-26T13:39:00.000-08:00

People love the wrap ladder bracelets by Chan Luu the jewelry fashion designer. Some of the bracelets are long and wrap the wrist numerous times. Others might be a single wrap.

There are a variety of instructions on-line at YouTube and otherwise. My friend DJ Downer taught me an easy way to make the ladder bracelets and where to buy the 1.5 mm Greek leather lace and the 6 lb size D Fireline in Crystal and Smoke. The latter is used for sewing back and forth between each bead 3 times. I got my buttons at Ben Franklin and secured all knots with a precision tip cement (I used Elmer's glue).

You can use pearls, large seed beads, or flat stones.You can work secured to a board as one did in macrame, but Donna Jean taught me the meditative pleasure of just stitching while holding in my hand. Once around is enough, I think.

Joe is not crazy about the leather look on me, but they are very popular, especially among young people. I could even conceive of a masculine look. Click to enlarge.

Quilt Week Survival: UFOs galore and more

2012-01-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

When the family phoned they wanted to come visit (see last posting), I said it was a busy week. I had a quilting bee, Journal Quilt Connection meeting, an all day workshop on Saturday and guild meeting Monday. The family came, as you saw.

12 x 12 journal quilts

unfinished backs of quilts

The four 12 x 12s I showed to the first two groups (bee and JQC) with their unfinished backs and fronts makes them the UFOs...unfinished objects. The curvy railroads and long panel are from the workshop. At the guild meeting, where I showed the workshop creations, I ran into two friends, Andrea and Nedra from Material Mavens, the International quilt group.

The sunflowers are Van Gogh's and at Jim's Thanksgiving, Lloyd from the Frick encouraged me to get Van Gogh: The Life although I had already read so many bios of VG. So glad I did. This book is quite interesting with new information. The snowmen have to do with our NYC Christmas. I helped the children put some mini snowmen together and they were proud of their creations. I used a printable fabric for the back to capture other images from that Christmas visit. I need to embellish more. The Robin on the blue stands for the Round Robin quilt group I joined, a first for me, and the piece it belongs to was my first attempt.

The curvy pieces of quilt tops (not sure what these UFOs will become) are from the all-day Saturday workshop. I showed them at QC; therefore, my MM friends Nedra and Andrea could find me at the guild meeting . Workshop leader, Dianne Hire, had a trunk show and talk that evening. I survived all the above and enjoyed seeing the family.

Click all photos to enlarge.

Nedra and Andrea (MMs)

Wild Winter Weekend: building and sewing

2012-01-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

Dianne Hire's classroom guides

The grandchildren dropped in on a busy weekend. I had an all day workshop with the fabulous Dianne S. Hire learning about her Curvaceous Curves (not pictured) and her Railroad Borders. All the while, Joe was watching the children as they built a snow man with limited materials. The relatives were here from out of town, visiting with old friends in segments, attending a birthday party.

click all photos to enlarge

Today, 7 year old Hannah tried out her Janome Hello Kitty sewing machine I bought her when she was 4 years old (a little eager here). First she stitched a straight stitch maze and then a little snowman container. She made a doggy paw pillow, turning it to finish with invisible stitching. When I suggested she take out the pins before stitching over them, she asked why she couldn't pin to the side to not worry. A little child shall lead.

Under New Management

2012-01-18T17:15:00.000-08:00

Joe retired at the end of the year. We keep thinking it is Sunday and tomorrow he will have to go to work, or it is a holiday so he gets to stay home. The good thing is I have a fellow crafter who is now my companion, laboring all over the house.

One day he built a shelf while I answered my e-mail (it is not easy to buy a shelf that will fit in the little real estate I have left him) . The next day he was stain-varnishing it. He went out to get another tall shelf and in no time was painting it. Then there was that bentwood chair he winced over when I retrieved it from the garbage. What to do? He found a can of brown spray paint, cut a circle of wood to fit the seat, cut dense foam to fit and covered it. I was excited to go to my stash to contribute the wild fabric I had found last year at Ben Franklin. I just LOVE that chair. He also painted my studio floor and stairs in the basement, put down a rug, gathered pop end tables from my earlier creations, and turned that area into a campy guest room for the grandchildren's parents when they visit this week. (There is a modern full bath down there.) We'll keep the grandchildren upstairs with us and the other studios :*).

I never know what Joe will be up to next. I LOVE Joe's retirement. I do hope he will be a good influence on ME.

Reveal Day at The Material Mavens: My Bird of the South

2012-01-15T05:11:00.000-08:00

My international 12" x 12" quilt group reveal quilts on a chosen theme every other month. Today is Reveal Day; and I just posted my Bird of the South. Each member chooses a topic for the group to tackle."South" was a tough theme. I posted the following and look forward to seeing what everyone else came up with...whether things "go South," birds flying South, snowbirds, or something else.

Click to enlarge

Recently, before the South challenge, I worked on a round robin quilt which had a mariner’s compass as the beginning. In no time, I found myself thinking South in re to a Chinese compass and learned that astronomy in China is different than in the Western World. For a long time, South for the Chinese was placed at the top of the compass: South, being the direction where the sun reached its highest elevation, is more important than North, and was considered the reference direction on maps. The ancient Chinese grouped the stars into Chinese constellations very different from the modern Western constellations which the International Astronomical Union based on Greco-Roman astronomy.

The Vermillion bird of the South, or Red-bird of Summer, is one of the Four (or five) Symbols of the Chinese constellations and is a mythological spirit creature. It is not to be confused with the Phoenix of Western mythology. It is an elegant and noble bird in appearance and behavior. Its seven mansions or moon stations are Well, Ghost, Willow, Star, Extended Net, Wings and Chariot which in the future I may crochet or bead into this sky. These constellations, when strung out almost look like the appliqued Fire Bird which is shaped from many different animal parts and associated with good fortune.

Holiday break, nothing broken!

2012-01-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

Son Jim in NYC turned over his pristine home to Joe, me, Farley the dog, and our three grandchildren. Colin bought a big tree. He decorated and loaded the underside with presents left for us, their guests. This was entertainment for Christmas Eve, while Santa's gifts were opened the next day. We had the darlings for three days and two nights all by ourselves.

Click on photos to enlarge

Some of the activities I had available for back-up you can see on the table:

Snowmen from Art Girls to glue together and embellish, a tablet of Melissa and Doug drawing paper, Melissa and Doug sturdy crayons (no paint with white everything to sit on) and a gingerbread/candy train to construct. Since it is a tradition for each child to decorate his own tree back in Boston, we had to rely on Christmas tree sticker books from Dover which each child decorated in his own way.

Jolly juniors

When I suggested a movie, Hannah said, "LinLin, this is a time we all want to be together, not running around all over town!" I am for that, although Joe and I enjoyed seeing the store decorations and the dancing Salvation Army men before the children arrived. Joe had picked up Home Alone 1 and 2 for soporific emergency movies.

Snowmen, trees to decorate, crayons/tablets

In the next to final photo (with Santa in front) enlarge to see the snowmen the children left behind on the mantle to which they added copious notes of gratitude for the hosts. Also, check out the dancing Salvation Army men who doubtless doubled their donations by their joy and enthusiasm.

Gingerbread train

Mantle of gratitude

Atara's Art: a colorful life

2011-12-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

At a meeting of the Studio Art Quilt Association ( SAQA) at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Ma., I was intriqued and moved by Atara Halpern's work, so much so that I phoned her in a neighboring town to see when I could look at it again.

Click to enlarge all photos!

In no time at all, this generous soul who did not know me had provided a delightful lunch and invited me into her quilting bee where I met other clever people from a neighboring guild.

Surprise is important for fun and Atara delivers when we meet. Mid-December she laid out her hand-stitched colorful place mats which have metallic free machine stitching for the quilting. She embellished them with the colorful lunch for the bee. Hand stitching, as in these place mats, is fun to have to work on when traveling.

Atara showed us the first quilt she made, combined in parts, for her bedroom seven years ago. She made more quilts. The Secret Garden below is one of many shared in a quilt show. She is now working on another Secret Garden. Since I have been doing some sashiko, I was interested in this other quilt she "saved" from a too loose fabric by close straight hand stitching.

Apologies for only a few snapshots of all the many interesting, moving works Atara has created. I had to twist her arm to get these. I will be so glad when she has a website so others can see her portfolio of fine hand work...such as the Gardens of Cambridge and other quilts with links to literature. Of course, you really need to see them in person...the buildup of grass and trees, rock and bark, for surface excitement and feel the hours of thought that have gone into the densely hand-stitched creations.

The Secret Garden

Sneak Preview with Shorts

2011-12-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ann encouraged me to join a Round Robin quilt group. (This posting is a secret since the work is not to be seen before reveal day. However, everyone is busy. My RR group does not know about my blog, and I want a blog/record.) I am a novice quilter and have never made a big quilt. I met with the group, presented my medallion to be set on point, and took home Evelyn's. She had paper pieced a detailed compass and provided fabrics. For the first round, we were given intricate (to me) mathematical formulas to use to set the corner triangles. Not wanting to ruin quilting for myself by following formulas, I set out as I do with journal quilts: I cut and paste to see what develops.

I got out my trusty Shape Cut Plus and rotary cutter to slice up some strips of fabric. This ruler helps to cut strips fast and straight. The problem comes trying to size and to fit the finished triangle. I did not do a perfect job at all, but I tried.

We are supposed to have fun and take chances. I will pass my work on to Rosemary and receive a medallion with corners from Evelyn for the next round. On Rotation two, we are to add a pieced border 2 inches to 6 inches wide. We may use squares or rectangles. We are to border all four sides and add a framing piece around the outer edge of our completed work. Egads. I may need instruction.

After each stage we take photos, but somehow the owner (who will keep the quilt begun with her medallion) won't see any work on her quilt until all rounds are complete on Reveal Day.

I am eager to get back to Sashiko which I so enjoyed Thanksgiving evenings. It is meditative and fun for grandchildren. The straight stitches are something young children can do to also have a product (pillow, coasters). It can prepare me for hand quilting and moderation :*) I have put some projects in stockings. Although I have posted on Sashiko before, you must visit Ellen Katz's blog "File Under Fiber" for a solid introduction.

Building Boxwood Trees: a tradition

2011-12-05T11:27:00.001-08:00

Read first "Comment" below the blog. This is a repeat offering. :*)

Click to see Chrissy's tree shape

Each year Nancy has the Beadsprouts to her home to make boxwood trees for the season. I didn't realize I would blog on this so I don't have a full set of pictures, but I have enough information for you to "take off!"

Note Debbie's joy and Nancy's gold container, oasis, tape and position of boxwood twigs

Nita is making a smaller one for her mother's table, and Linda B. a fuller one

To build a boxwood tree, soak an oasis in the sink until the green "brick" is filled with water. Place the oasis in a container that can hold water, where the tree can be carved and all secured like wrapping a present w string only with floral tape. The edges of the block are sliced to shape somewhat like a bloated tree, easily done with a carving knife. After taping the oasis securely to the base, the collected boxwood limbs are cut with pruning shears to various lengths and are inserted in the oasis. The lower branches angle down, the midway branches go more horizontally and the upper branches shape up to a point at the top of the tree.

Enlarge all photos by clicking on them

Then the fun continues as you see that everyone's tree already has a different personality. You will add bows and ornaments, even flowers, such as those on the my Costco purchase. I was baby sitting and would not get to make one this year. The ladies saw to it that four-year-old Erika did make a miniature tree in 30 minutes and decorate it before we had to leave to pick up Hannah at school.

Get some friends to join you in the making and be sure to water your tree daily. P.S. There are little floral spikes with wire that are handy for adding ornaments and bows....

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T06:27:00.000-08:00

It is such a pleasure to enjoy the cooking of young people! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. (click to enlarge photos)

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. Seneca

All that we behold is full of blessings. William Wordsworth

We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning. Albert Barnes

Happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. Frederick Keonig

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. Albert Pike

Hearty Beating: a journal quilt

2011-11-15T17:05:00.000-08:00

Click to see naughty errant heart waves.

I belong to an international 12 x 12 quilt group, The Material Mavens. Every two months we have a new theme chosen by one of the members. It was my turn and I chose "surprise," having no idea what to do. Not one idea came to me. I do love surprises. One should have them at every gathering, dinner party or meetings up...even in blogs and journal quilts. Today was REVEAL day when all show their quilts on the theme.

Life intervened to save the day, somewhat. I had some wild times with my heart and some good news as well, each happening, positive and negative, a complete surprise to me. I won't bore you with details, but the loud colors, the brash conflicts and softness in the quilt show the two extremes. Previously, in times of Afib thinking, I had quilted and beaded tiny rectangular heart quilts; and this assignment gave me an opportunity to display them. Across the center of the 12 x 12, I sewed some fusible thread in an EKG chart similar to an irregular reading and placed foil over the stitching to iron the iridescent waves.

The 12 x 12 quilt content is purposefully irregular and needs some balance and resolution but the topic has none. so that is appropriate for my "Surprise" journal quilt. The backing comes over the sides of the front to make the binding or edge.

Birthday Reflections in Fiber: a Journal Quilt

2011-11-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

Birthdays keep happening. I wanted to make a journal quilt as an extra for a friend's celebration (perhaps for people to sign the back or to hold greetings in an envelope attached to the back). I Googled "quilt birthday cakes" Images and blogs, and found many quilts and quilted cakes. One complicated piece at Threads of Conversation tempted me. I tried to paper piece it without a pattern. I made the top backwards and sewed the pedestal on upside down twice and gave up. My proportions were so bad I had to add a frame.
I decided to free-motion machine quilt with a multi-colored Superior thread and 90/14 needle and to bring the backing of cherries around to the front to form the edge or binding.It would help to slow down to plan!

Click to enlarge

I stitched some quotations* I had found for fabric fortune cookies should I decide to take those as a non-caloric addition to the party. So why were these quilting failures so much fun? Practice does not make perfect!. Why would one want to quilt when people's eyes glaze over when you talk about it or your work is not perfect? Clueless here.
Often I make quilts for people and then want to keep them. Aren't they fortunate! I may add "For LinLin1 on one side of the lower pedestal and "love LinLin2" on the other side. The whacky construction mirrors the whackiness of additional years. By the way, I have a real present for her.

*The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune.(English proverb)
Age, like distance lends a double charm. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)
Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art. (Garson Kanin)

Weaving Thanksgiving: a journal quilt

2011-11-08T16:34:00.001-08:00

For November, our 12" x 12" journal quilt group entertained the theme "Thanksgiving." To the last meeting we each brought small pieces of fabric to be distributed to everyone. These fabric pieces were to be incorporated into our block.
Nothing came to me except the notion of baskets of blessings for which I am grateful. Celeste at our last meeting showed how she had taken strips of fabric and woven them into a quilt and I thought that was the only thing to do.

I cut the strips using my new shape cutter that I picked up at the Quilters' Gathering in Nashua NH where I took Hannah who was evacuated from her home in NJ because of the latest storm. She LOVED the quilt show. Note the weaving behind Hannah!

I wove the strips as one would make a lattice on a pie. I did this directly on the batting, took it to the machine to sew with no pins or spray glue and, surprisingly, it held together.Maybe not on the edges, so I cut them off neatly and took the border fabric and placed it on the back, big enough in size to wrap to the front to overlap strips of batting to be zigzagged to the the woven area. While weaving I thought of all the different personalities, some rough edges of grateful Thanksgiving gatherings with multiple personalities and the mixing of families. It is a cheerful journal quilt that I thought would never happen
Click to enlarge the photos.

click on that turkey

I just added, a week later, the silhouette, in beads, of a turkey roasted.

Treats and Tricks

2011-10-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hallelujah, the exterior of my house has been cleaned. There was so much rain and we have so many trees that there was an unattractive glaze of mildew on the house. The nicest Martin went over the house and garage with Clorox, inch by inch. and I put up a wreath to celebrate.

Click to enlarge

For the goblins, I am putting out a mad dog, giant rat and a spider will top a bush. We have been "Boo-ed" and have hung ghosts in the window to show this. Now off to "Boo" others, for I have purchased my candy and am armed!

Close the windows at Halloween: a Journal Quilt Connection 12 x 12

2011-10-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

A Halloween theme was chosen by my Journal Quilt Connection group for October. I had just returned from Texas and was thinking wide open spaces and big skies. I found the "Attic Window" block pattern for that. Several patterns and ways of creating it are on-line.

I had dropped in at JoAnn's Fabric just to see what is new to find there were many exotic fabrics for Halloween. I bought small pieces of each and mailed fragments to the grandchildren. I decided my 12" x 12" attic windows were too garish alone, and placed these skulls atop the block. Perhaps I should sew them down, but I like the way the fabric floats or ripples like ghosts coming in the windows. It is Halloween, of course, but I had age and memento mori's on the mind :*)

The following quotation appeared at Rayna's blog (click to visit where you may subscribe by e-mail) and it spells out what happened in the making:

Philip Roth: What I have in mind when I start to write could fit inside an acorn -- an acorn, moreover, that rarely if ever grows into an oak. Write fiction and you relinquish reason. You start with an acorn and you end up with a mackerel. Unfortunately, my workday does not support the argument for a universe of "intelligent design." Chance and staying power. That's the hand that imagination's dealt.

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Round Robin medallion: a rough start

2011-10-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ann said it is fun to make a round robin quilt. There might be five in a group of quilters. Each makes a center piece. Each month or so, this quilt block is passed to another person to add to the top of a future quilt, usually winding around the medallion in the center. Until the quilt is finished, the originator of the quilt, the medallion maker, will not see the quilt. The five centers and each month's new additions to the quilt, an addition in the round, will grow the quilt. After several months there will be a medium size or large quilt to be returned to the owner to have batting and backing added, and quilting finished. Each of the five quilters will have the beginnings for a larger quilt as well as some interesting interactions and discoveries.

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We were told the center piece should be on-point, so a design or subject should be in a diamond format. The following are my first two efforts at my medallion. It would help to be a more experienced quilter; and next time, I hope to be more adventuresome to make a more personal image...home or flora! I may have to doctor these with some fabric paint.

Actually, I started a trompe l'oeil image, a window box, but I have to finish it to see if it would work. But then, Fall is so busy!

Credit: Whenever I am stumped for block pattern, I can count on finding one at Marcia Hohn's fabulous Quilters' Cache with a zillion free quilt patterns and instructions. Visit it: http://www.quilterscache.com/

Posting Pumpkins: fabric postcards for the mail

2011-10-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

October is beautiful outside and a time to be with friends. To touch those far away, there is the fabric postcard. Still having withdrawal from a great get-together with childhood chums in Texas, I was having trouble getting back to quilting. But I bit the bullet and sat down to make these small quilts.

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If you click to enlarge the photo, you will see the only quilting is around the edges and down the center. I made these 7 quilted postcards by cutting fronts, backs, and flannel or batting to a size of 4 1/2" x 6 1/2." The proper postcard size will be 4" x 6." Next, I stamped the back fabric with an old Post Card stamp. You could write "Post Card" with a fabric marker as you will the address and notes.

I put the front and back face to face atop the batting and stitched all around 1/4" from the edge, leaving two inches on one end open to turn. I then snipped off corners and turned the pieces. I ironed the "cards" turned, and once again stitched all around the edges, only this time, closing off. Feeling I should quilt a bit, I took a fancy stitch on my sewing machine to make the line down the middle and it was OK on the front. I could have quilted more before sewing the pieces together. Where the light string hit the black, I used a black Sharpie....and an orange Sharpie on the pumpkin.

Tomorrow, I will address, add a message, and take the Postcards to the Post Office for stamps and hand canceling. I do not put the postcards in an envelope, and they have always arrived at their destination. I like the soft quilt version, but you can use Timtex or other products for a stiffer version. YouTube also has videos on the subject.

Type "postcard" into the Search space at the top left to see earlier fabric postcards I have made.

Fortunes for the fabric cookie

2011-10-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted about the snap bags I made and the fabric fortune cookies without their "fortunes."

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Today I printed "fortunes" to printable fabric. Although you can iron fabric onto freezer paper and carefully run it through your printer, I used Printed Treasures, Sew-On Inkjet Fabric Sheets which are colorfast and washable.

I used my Comic Life to print the short "fortunes" and after peeling the back off the fabric, rinsing off any excess ink and drying, I used a rotary cutter to cut the strips.

After playing around with the cookies, I sewed the strip onto the cookie exactly where I had joined the fold yesterday. Look at these photos and then look at yesterday's posting by scrolling down. Now to mail them to Patsy.

Fabric Fortune Cookies: a quick craft

2011-10-01T16:29:00.000-07:00

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These fortune cookies are very easy to make. I found several tutorials on-line. Lady Harvatine's appealed to me most.This site by Shannon has a video of turning the cookie out.

Essentially, I looked at all the tutorials I could find, Googling "fabric fortune cookie." Then I looked at Images to see what sort of fabrics I preferred. I chose the easiest and most sensuous shapes. I took a cracker can that had about a 5" diameter and traced around the base with a permanent marker. I cut out freezer paper circle and ironed them onto fabric that had been spray basted to felt. Next I cut out the felt backed circles, then sewed about 1/2 inch in from the edge. I then took pinking shears and cut about 1/4 inch from the sewn circle. All that was left to do was to fold the piece in half, inside (felt) out. I sewed about an inch in the middle, touching neither the fold nor the stitched edge. I could then put my thumbs in under the folds on each side to open up the outside of the fortune cookies to give them shape. Click on both photos to see more.

I need to find some good fortunes about friendship or simply insert fabric or paper fortune strips suggesting BFF Best Friends Forever. Or, I could let people write up a bunch of fortunes to put in a bowl to draw out or insert in a cookie and then let the cookies be drawn.

Snap Bag marathon: assembly line construction

2011-10-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

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This coming Thursday, many best friends are gathering; and I wanted to make something for each. I don't know if I will mail or deliver. If you remember, I posted on September 16 my excitement about these handy items, useful in purses but mainly witty pieces that pull open by tabs and close with a snap, thanks to cut up metal measuring tapes. At that post there are links to tutorials.
I learned so much working in assembly-line fashion: One can make in two days what took a day to make one originally. I learned to use smoke invisible thread but to make sure the spool is a certain shape, for a regular spool is a nightmare. A spray glue was important to make the tabs hold shape so I did this outside and kept the black "patent leather" tabs under weights. I finally figured correct settings for zig-zag satin seams and the use of permanent markers to tone down problems. Most exciting, I found I could free-motion quilt with a regular walking foot and go 10 times as fast in the quilting, zooming and looping around.
Now to get to work on the fabric fortune cookies for the BBF (Best Friends Forever) tags!

Harmony on the Homefront: a Material Mavens quilt

2011-09-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

My friend, Alice, founded an international 12" x 12" art quilt group blog, Material Mavens. I had given her a book for her birthday about a similar group which lit a fire in her. She is quite the organizer.

Our first challenge was to make a quilt about "harmony." On September 15, we all revealed our quilts and a new theme was chosen for the next two months.

Home Harmony

My journal quilt design developed this way: Three things happened at once. My accuquilt cutter arrived. Joe and I were babysitting the grandchildren while their parents moved their home to another state. I needed to think "harmony."

I was excited to try the cutting machine and placed an inexpensive blended roll of batiks into the chopper to get numerous triangles and many squares of two sizes. In creating the quilt, I limited myself to what was available in this particular stash of batiks.

Off and on, the children concentrated to make houses of squares and rectangles. They had "house" on the mind and organized a tabletop of multi-colored homes (small square and triangle on big square as in the center). Harmony, however imperfect (I put the house on in the wrong direction) prevailed in several directions. This two-sided quilt is an homage to that time, the youngsters' design, and my new helper, the fabric cutting machine.

Snappy Bags inspire at my Journal Quilt Connection

2011-09-16T18:01:00.000-07:00

Last night the Journal Quilt Connection met to show the journal quilts we had been working on since summer. At the end of the meeting, Rita showed about 15 very graphic snappy bags she had made. I forgot to take a photo, but today I searched on-line for a pattern. I had to make one. Her bags are better!

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I found that Nancy has posted a tutorial at her Tattered Garden blog, and a school in Utah has written up the directions.

So, taking it easy today, I whipped up a snappy bag. They are so clever. You merely pull on the tabs on both sides to open and they snap back to close! Click on the colored links in the paragraph above for instructions to try one!

School for learning: a journal quilt

2011-09-12T03:11:00.000-07:00

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The Journal Quilt Connection meets this week. I needed to make a quilt with a school theme, one quite appropriate for September. I just couldn't get started. I thought of my upcoming trip for a reunion with friends with whom I began elementary school in Amarillo. The grandchildren were starting new schools in their new state. I wondered about new courses for everyone, my boys in NYC and Joe and myself.
I was blocked. But to get started, I set out a sky background over batting and cut the two to 14" x 14." That would be the big sky of Amarillo, the Southwest and memories of school, first through 12th grade.
Blank. I brought in Kaffe Fassett fabric pencils. Buying my school supplies (pencils and paper) was so exciting back in the 40's. I wasn't interested in clothes, just drawing. Where to put the pencils? I found black board fabric and sweet memories of lettering. But how to compose?
The 9/11 tenth anniversary memorials were on tv and my piece came together. I ironed Wonder Under to the fabrics and cut them out, ironed them on, and quilted them to the batting. The backing was put on at the end and brought around the sides and stitched as I watched the memorials on television or listened on the radio.

Lettering Headers: fabric penmanship

2011-09-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

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The Material Mavens, my talented Texas 12" x 12" quilt group, was inspired by Jamie Fingal Designs' lettering at her blog. We wrote her for advice. The generous quilter she is, Jamie sent advice. Each in our group has been given a letter to fashion for our moniker at our MM blog. I drew the L.

Listening to President Obama's wonderful Jobs Act talk to Congress, I cut and ironed away. I was assigned an L which I found on my computer software. I printed it, traced and cut it out a little bit bigger to fit onto a 4" x 5" piece of fabric. At first it looked too skinny. I traced the letter onto the back of freezer paper and cut out the letter.

I didn't know what colors to choose among my fabrics but I thought a more solid pattern should be the letter. Something wider in design would be the background. It is good I made two choices since I now see one of mine resembles Andrea's lined fabric background. On the piece of letter fabric I ironed Wonder Under to the back, ironed on the freezer paper L, and then cut out the letter to iron on the chosen background.

I now see Jamie uses different colors for background and letter. I must learn to prepare more thoroughly, but I got the letters made and will send them off in the mail to Alice in Texas where she will assemble all our letters to spell out Material Mavens. Be sure to visit Jamie's blog Twisted Sister!

Bead Crochet patchwork bracelet

2011-08-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

Often regarding a craft, I say, "It is so easy to do!" Not so with bead crochet. I always say it is the most difficult craft I have ever learned.

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However, it is a very portable craft. On vacations, in meetings, and waiting for appointments, it is relaxing to have something involving small motor skills.

For my birthday Nancy made a patchwork crocheted beaded bracelet that I had admired. I wanted to make more since I am so into quilting these days. The patchwork is a 6-around pattern. This diamond pattern is found in many crochet bead books and on-line but you can create any pattern.

It is good to start learning by stringing 6 different colors, repeatedly, on a topstitch thread and we Beadsprouts use Gutterman's 30m thread, a size 10 or 11 crochet needle, glass seed beads, a bead blanket made of a cut-up Velux blanket, a long wide-eyed needle, and a good light with magnifier. Sitting in the sun helps to see. There are wonderful books with techniques and YouTube demos on-line. Gradually you can expand to work in silver and gold, pop-up and other beads to vary. Below I have included the patchwork pattern.

I was excited by the craft six years ago when Anna mentioned that she and her friends each made a segment for a necklace for the birthday girl in their group. The Beadsprouts were soon to follow. In this pattern for the patchwork bracelet, B stands for the background color. Vary the colors As and Cs. Usually 42 to 44 inches is a good length. String the beads, wind them around the thread spool, put them in an eyeglass case and you are ready to roll.

ABBCBB

AABCCB

BABBCB

Vineyard Landscapes: a future journal quilt

2011-08-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

If Martha's Vineyard survived the hurricane, my beading friends and I will go to the island for our annual retreat. We each take a surprise craft to busy our hands at downtime. In the past, we have beaded glasses, flatware and tops of tins, decorated candles, cards and felt flowers, put our world in a bottle of sand. But this time, I could not think of a single craft I was interested in. I went to the fabric store for inspiration and bought too much work.

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In art you find good things happen from mistakes. I have decided we will fuse and stitch individual landscape quilts. When you teach, you learn. I made white cardboard frames, 10"x 10" on the outside and 8" x 8" on the inside, so each beader can design within limits. I ironed Wonder Under to 10 pieces of color for each of the six of us; and all that is needed is to iron the shapes we cut out onto the background piece.

I also cut larger "sand" backing (the bottom piece) that can fold over the sides to bind the mini-quilts when the quilting is finished. The second sand piece up in the photo is the background to which the beaders will fashion and fuse their cut-outs with an iron: grass, foliage, trees, rocks, sand, sea, sky, people, umbrellas...wherever inspiration leads. The background with their toppings will be spray-basted or pinned to the batting which I cut for each artist; and decorative stitching can begin for accents and interest.

For a design, the beaders can go abstract, look at watercolors of a Vineyard scene they have painted from the window, follow a favorite Vineyard photo, or work from their imagination. I might hint at the hurricane. I can't wait to see what they will do. In the meantime, I need to gather fabric scissors, needles and thread, pins, embroidery thread and needles, sketch paper and permanent markers. The ladies should have beads on hand to further embellish.

Note: August 27 and Sept 4, 2011 blogs for other get-away bead crafts. Click bead in Labels and scroll down.

Dyeing for fun: a play date for grownups

2011-08-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a play date for this blogger, especially with clever art quilter Susan. We had been talking about how we were not going to get into dyeing fabrics for our art quilts, but we found two simple ways to do it, neither requiring rinsing or breathing loose pigments.
Susan ordered several bottles of Adirondak color spray ink, put drop cloths on the floor and table, set up a drying rack and a back screen. We squeezed the water from and laid presoaked white cloths, silk, cotton, and white on whites on papers in the protected area, picked up bottles in analogous colors and sprayed. Then we squished the fabrics in the palms of our rubber-gloved hands and hung them on a rack to dry.
I had taken some Createx air brush paints that you also do not need to wring dry or rinse . We folded dry PDF cloth (prepared for dyeing) into different origami types of configurations as one does in tie-dye, then bound the pieces with rubber bands. We laid them on another piece of fabric and squirted transparent air brush paints into the folds of the fabrics. Then we put the fabric into plastic bags for an overnight rest. In the morning we will see our results, drying them further and ironing to soften. Marquetta Bell-Johnson in her Hand-Dyed Quilts book recommended using these paints.

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Before going over to Susan's, I collected materials and ran across a Better Homes and Gardens magazine article to remind me I had once before dyed fabric, back in January 1978. Our family created simple crayon batik pictures and I sewed the panels together for a window treatment.

Bambi, the Unexpected Gift: a journal quilt

2011-08-21T17:47:00.000-07:00

Bambi was a very influential movie in my life and I wanted the children to view it. Many said it was too scary; but my grandchildren loved the movie and wanted to see it repeatedly. Every night we kept them during the move to another state, they shouted eagerly: "BAMBI, BAMBI, BAMBI," when I asked what bedtime movie they wanted to watch.

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Although the children did not appear anxious over the recent move and on the drive to their new home started asking 15 minutes out of town how long it would take to get there, the icing on the packed snacks was that when Joe drove into the new driveway four hours later, David, 2, spotted the statue of a deer on the neighbor's lawn and hollered out, "BAMBI!"
As as the day went on, Joe looked out the window to see an antlered deer in the woods across the street; and by the time he rounded up the children to view it, a doe appeared. The animals remained there until eventually a car drove by to spook them. What a gift for the children on the arrival in their new home, one that made the grandmother quite thrilled, necessitating a journal quilt for this special occasion of gratitude.
I found a fabric that looked like the deer in the movie. I made the white ribbon by fusing Wonder Under to the back of white fabric. On the Wonder Under, I drew the bow and ribbons freehand, cut them out and ironed them, fusing to the deer fabric. I quilted by using a blanket stitch on my sewing machine around the ribbon and a free motion funny grass stitch between the deer. I cut the quilted block to an exact 12 x 12 inches but then imperfected it when adding the iron-on hem binding and zig sag stitch to secure.

Roundup Time: a Moving journal quilt

2011-08-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

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The grandchildren recently moved four hours from us. We were able to assist by keeping a 7, 5 and 2 for a week. Hannah learned to cross-stitch. They drew, painted, wove lanyards and worked on a journal quilt with me. Joe the saint, played with them in the pool almost daily. Crafts and swimming are symbolized on this background of not tears, but lots of water splashing.
The vehicles stand for the many rides to the pool and Joe's driving the little angels and Emmit their dog to their new home. At the end and the beginning, the grands had been so well prepared for the move that the giraffe security blanket, left behind, has not been missed. Ooops, I free-motion added Hannah, Erika, David, Joe and LinLin's name to the quilt with Summer 2011...but forgot both dogs, Emmit and Farley. The names are barely visible but I wanted to record.
Perhaps I could have added more interest to the quilt by framing or projecting the memories trompe l'oeil. Once again, I used the half-century old hem binder.

Material Girls Adventure: a journal quilt

2011-08-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

In late June, my friend Ann and I headed west to the Material Girls Quilt Guild show in Leominster, Central Massachusetts. We took off the day for culinary pleasures and art. Certainly, Jessica's works at that show were a major draw. We started at a top diner, did the show in depth, and stopped for a seafood lunch and baskets of farm strawberries on the way home. I couldn't ignore this outing when there is a strawberry challenge quilt to be made for the Journal Quilt Connection 12" x 12" group! (see last week's strawberry blog)

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But sometimes things don't work out! I wanted a basket weave pattern (such as I found at the fabulous Quilter's Cache/Marcia Hohn), alternating the yellows with the reds); but I didn't have enough basket yellow. I thought I would have a learning experience this afternoon and gamble on two prints of no contrast. I learned my lesson :*{ I did a basket weave and I used some strawberries albeit accompanied by kiwis. I alternated the strawberries with cars and put a simplified strawberry pattern on the back and drew it around the sides for a binding. Let me tell you, the back looks better than the front. Why the cars? We drove and drove and drove! all over the place, having a good time looking for quilt stores, inspired by the fabulous show where we saw great talent and picked up inspirational books and fabrics. Such sweet memories make me fond of this troubled little journal quilt!

Strawberry Fields: a journal quilt

2011-08-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

The Journal Quilt Connection, a Massachusetts 12" x 12" quilt group, has members choose a theme for each month. I chose birthdays or beginnings for July and posted these earlier. Pam's theme for August is strawberries. For me, that was a tough one, since I prefer cherries.

When I remembered John Lennon's Strawberry Fields, I began to warm to the theme. After about age 4 1/2, John Lennon (according to Wikipedia, and other sources on the Internet) lived with his aunt next door to a Salvation Army orphanage named Strawberry Fields. If I understand correctly, he loved to play in the wooded garden behind the home, especially when he heard the band starting up. I could also relate to Lennon's talk of trees as well as the elms in his memorial in NYC.

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People have studied the song's lyrics and made references to how different John felt from others. One source said he experienced visions that others didn't. There is in the second verse: "No one I think is in my tree." John said, "...therefore, I must be crazy or a genius."You can find all this and more if you Google Strawberry Fields Forever Wikipedia and check other URLs.

To create my quilt, I first drew simple shapes of boys and trees. I decided to cut silhouettes out of black fabric and applique them to the abstract strawberry field. I used Wonder Under and and then a blanket stitch. I knew I needed to quilt the background so I just started sewing straight stitches from the center out. A tiny border was called for so I used a 50-year-old iron-on hem binding I found in the attic. I stitched over that. Maybe I should quilt the boy and the tree but I don't know what would work. Perhaps I should have tried the "scribbling" open zig-zag black stitch painting earlier recommended by Susan! Maybe invisible thread to break up the expanses?The backing is a larger more realistic pattern of strawberries and kiwi.

Old friends and new friends: a journal quilt

2011-08-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes one can get busy and out off shape. We were so busy helping the grandchildren move, that I got off schedule in producing my one-a-week journal quilts. I don't know if I can go back to create them all, but this is a start...somewhat anemic, but a start. That is what is so good about a blog. It makes you get back to work!

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We need old friends to help us grow old and new friends to keep us young. ~LC Pogrebin

Several things come together in this 12" x 12' journal quilt. I found some fabrics I like for bags and bookmarks, neither (like friends) of which I can have too many. I like inspiring quotations and have shared them recently in birthday thank you's. But mainly, this journal quilt is about new friends. I introduced Trilla and Alice in the Southwest recently who found that both their fathers were journalists for the AP and that the two couples have much in common. I have had fun making new quilting friends and traveling down some challenging new paths that will get me back to painting I am certain: Donna Jean, Andrea, Susan. and Ann.

I joined the fabrics in pillow case fashion, using a black and off-white spider web backing. It seemed witty and wise. I free-motion stitched the names and blanket stitched everything else, but so help me, I cannot figure what else to do. I guess I could pump it up with black and white bead trim...and that could stand for dear old weekly friends. I have affection for the subject but need help on the quilt. Enjoy.

Fleece blankets: a security craft

2011-08-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

The grandchildren are moving four hours away and staying with us a week during the move. We engaged in many crafts. While at Ben Franklin picking up gimp for lanyards, Erika spotted a special sample no-sew, easy-tie fleece blanket.

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Already having spent enough on crafts, we got a half yard of the duck fabric and a half yard for the backing. When we got home I cut the fleece in two and each child decided what she wanted to do with it. Erika wanted a blanket as big as she could make with her piece and Hannah wanted to split hers for a pillow and a smaller blanket.
For Erika's we squared off the fabric, cut out 4-inch square pieces from each corner and then cut 1/2" x 4" strips to be tied into a half knots. We found that if we tied the knots right on the board just after cutting, it was less confusing.

For Hannah's blanket, since it would be smaller, we cut out 3" square corners, rotary cut the 1/2" x 3" strips with great care. This was a good lesson in learning how to square up fabrics, measure, plan in general. For the edges of the pillow, a pinking rotary blade added interest. A stitch was made on the outside, about one inch away from the edge, leaving an opening for polyfil. Hannah stuffed and then the sewing machine stitched up the stuffing hole, right on top.Very cheerful results.
Here you see they have their sewing kits loaded with tools and a basket overflowing with their stash. Hopefully they have enough sewing know-how to continue their art :*) in their new home. Hopefully the duck fleece blanket will hold Erika until her security blankets, left behind here, make it back to her.

Children Cross Stitch and Bead: Moving time is here

2011-07-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

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Keeping the grandchildren busy will be interesting. For the moment, they are at the pool and diving off the board. I had picked up a cross stitch sampler kit for Hannah and a purse of glass beads for Erika. Both were busy and content for hours. Last night I showed Hannah a book of samplers made by little girls and the kit says cross stitch goes back to Egyptian times. I suggested she do one letter to see if she should wait a year until she is 8. But she found it easier than I did. Erika whipped out a lot of rings and bracelets, but stepped on her needle. She wasn't crazy about needles before this and is less so now!

Fabric Bookmark: birthday follow-up

2011-07-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

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The birthday week is past. How wonderful that Trilla sent me a box of very appropriate cards that made writing thank you notes fun.
I wanted to insert a little favor into the envelopes and thought of making this quickie bookmark from a heavy fabric. I printed a quotation on fabric that I typed on the computer and ran fabric ironed on freezer paper through the computer to print. I used a blanket stitch on my Baby Locke machine to sew the quotation on and frayed the edges of the bookmark...pulled the strings out. I have recently been using the silliest bookmarks and needed this!
This quotation is inspired by all the fine new recent friendship connections: Trilla and Alice, Susan and Natalie, Ann and Linda, Andrea and Donna Jean. Also, I'm thinking of the new friendships the children will make in their new town as well as reunions (old fiends) I will be attending in the Fall. Joe put the cards in the mail today so they should arrive tomorrow or Thursday.

Myopia mealtime: a lovely day

2011-07-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

This morning, graphic weather reports suggested rain and lightening, and a cancellation of the polo match at Myopia. After two 100 degree days I was not too excited about sitting in the sun for 5 hours at an outdoor gathering and polo match. And last night we had picked up Stilton and Brie, crackers and wine, grapes, cherries and an apricot almond tart as well as two green chairs to sit by our car on the edge of the polo field.

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However, optimistic Joe went to the attic for our seldom used (these days) picnic baskets and I found in one, outdoor gear collected/created for one of my TV segments on The Good Day show, back in the 80s. I had appliqued a tablecloth with what I think is called Ripstop nylon. Not only was this lightweight waterproof "tablecloth," all set, folded up neatly in a little bag of the same color, but a Swiss Army knife was also there with its wine opener and other helpers. How handy this is to have and I am ready for more picnics. I wanted to share my find with you. Granted, it was not as fancy as the champagne buckets and real flowers at other tables.

Posting and Play in the heat

2011-07-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

Today I went up to Andrea's studio to trade smarts. I showed her some blog tricks and she gave me a tutorial in simple silkscreening. She told me about Kerr Grabowski's fabulous DVD, Adventures in Surface Design, which I have just watched and highly recommend.

Andrea also dyes her own fabrics. I caught her here, proud especially of the snow-dyed! She cuts her strips first, before dyeing, for more interesting textures. Both Andrea and Kerr suggest you can use simple methods to get subtle results...curtain sheers on wood stretchers or embroidery hoops, duct tape, water based paints and transparent base extenders, chalk and cards or squeegees, newsprint and masking tape for stencils, found plastic for texture rubbing. So much to learn, so little time!

P. S. I should add, Andrea uses Pro Chemical dyes she orders from Fall River. For silk screening, she uses PROfab Opague Paints which are water soluble. She has made her own printable fabrics with Bubble Jet 2000, and irons white fabric to freezer paper to run through the printer (makes it slightly smaller than the 8 1/2" x 11" cut freezer paper). For fabrics to dye without prior washing, she orders ready to dye Timeless Treasures Tonga B8700 PFD and Hoffman's 1377 PFD. I added this paragraph for reference!
P.P.S. I just printed directly on plain fabric backed by freezer paper.

Heart and Flower Die Cuts with Grands

2011-07-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

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   My flower and heart dies arrived for my new Accuquilt machine. I wanted to cut out some hearts and flowers for the children to make something.
   First, I WonderUnder-fused the backs of fabrics from my birthday quilt and rolled those through the die cutting machine. I cut the bigger hearts in half and took the flower stems, petals, flowers and circles in a plastic bag to the children's house when we went to Friday supper. Hannah and Erika placed the cut-outs on a 1/4 yard of quilted yellow fabric which I had halved, one section to each girl. The children made their placements, pinned them and I returned home to iron and stitch the hearts and flowers on.
   Erika just wanted to hug hers as it was, but I stitched a bias tape around the edges. Hannah wanted to turn hers into a purse for craft projects. I slipped some new scissors in since she was frustrated that hers were not sharp enough to cut the fleece she was using to make a quilt at home. I bound Hannah's with grosgrain ribbon I had fused. My sewing is NOT professional, but sometimes you want to find results fast. I must slow down! (two blogs in 24 hours is not slowing down). Oh, I also bought a Fiskars scissor sharpener. Did not know about those.

Busy Beads

2011-07-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is my birthday week and it has started off colorfully. Joe and I drove Hannah up to see the wonderful John Marin* show at the Portland Museum of Art.

On the drive, I was able to bead almost all the cherries atop my 12" x 12" birthday quilt. I have a few to go. And at beading a few days before, I was able to add the berries on the bird's tree as well as suggest rather pitiful water coming from the hose.

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I have the children's going-away parties to journal about, as well as events scheduled for this week. Maybe tomorrow or the next day I can post what the kids and I made after my Accuquilt heart and flower dies arrived. Stay tuned. Share the fun art/crafting.
*I am enjoying reading the catalog/monograph John Marin: Modernism at Mid-Century

Counting 72: a birthday Journal quilt

2011-07-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

On July 20th I will have my 72nd birthday. How can that be when I feel an enriched 22. To emphasize the years past to myself and my grandchildren, I cut out 72 birthday icons, either cakes or ice cream and put them to a 12" x 12" journal quilt.

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I alway make a soft card for the girls for their birthdays. Five-year-old Erika said if I gave this to a boy he would throw it away, but a girl would like it. Beth said it was her favorite because of the colors. I thought it a total failure, but I wanted to do it. Joe said it needs some black. I am going to sew red beads on the cherries tomorrow at beading and embellish some more. It needs black and white to absorb color.

Four different fabrics are in the piece. I ironed Wonder Under to the back of the cake and ice cream fabric and cut them out as I listened to the news. I ironed them to the 9-patch block, squares of which I cut out with my new Accuquilt. The yellow fusible binding fabric fills the back of the quilt. I made fusible binding with that same yellow fabric which I both ironed/fused on and sewed after overlaying some maroon tulle. I am returning to do some more sewing atop the block in yellow. I tried to slow down, to be more careful. However, I wish I had used the yellow tulle that I had forgotten about rather than the maroon which I quickly grabbed.

Birthday fun: Cutting up!

2011-07-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

At my advanced age I behave mischievously. I went on-line to order a birthday present for myself. The Accuquilt arrived quickly yesterday (from the JoAnne's sale), during the meeting of my beading group. This morning before breakfast I had to try it out; and before my cereal and coffee, I had created two more blocks for the Project Hope quilt. I was so into speed, it will be obvious, both design-wise and stitching. But what fun.

Click to enlarge

   I was so inspired by how fast the activity went, I ordered two more dies (Round Flower and Hearts 2", 3" and 4"), one which would cut hearts and another for flowers, stems and leaves. I chose a couple of small (5" x 10" no. 55110) cutting mats to fit them as well. That should keep me busy making kits for the granddaughters and surprises for my friends. I never got over the clever idea of the assembly line when we studied Henry Ford in elementary school.
   By the way, I set up my flannel board to put the little pieces on so I would know the order in which to sew. No more hopping up and down except to iron. Another step in becoming a quilter.
   P.S. In response to Sherron's question, I added the following: "You put a die on the bed of the roller. Add about six pieces of fabric over each die shape. Put a cutting board atop the fabric and roll the the three through. Your pieces will be cut for you. FAST. You would have loved it when you made the heart quilts for your granddaughters. There are videos of the process at the Accuquilt site and elsewhere."

The Brave Robin: a July Journal Quilt

2011-07-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

April showers bring May flowers, but in July, Joe's watering plants encouraged a guest who likes to play in the sprinklers.

A long weekend prompted Joe to purchase some more plants and to keep his earlier efforts alive. Every morn he waters the hanging gardens and other hopefuls; and every morning this skinny robin pads right up to be sprayed. Today Robin Redbreast brought a friend who was not so bold. The sparrows are equally interested to run through the rain but they keep their distance.

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This is my fifth journal quilt on the theme of Beginnings...in this case, beginning the day. I found the bird print and the batik that looked like sprayed water at JoAnne's. I fused the square to the batik and then machine-blanket-quilted around three sides with a zigzag at the top. What to do for the hose, I wondered, late at night. I looked in a drawer and found some yellow piping which I first basted in place and then machine stitched. Next, I cut close to the stitching so I probably should find some fray stopper for greater security. For the hose nozzle, I again used three widths of zig zagging. I sew with gray thread and use Sharpie permanent markers to blend on both sides. For the binding I fused on strips of fabric and then secured with stitching.

I probably should get out some of my bead drops to sprinkle over the piece for water. Where as I spend only two hours on my 8" x 8" journal quilts, these 12" x 12" pieces are bigger and seem more serious. I haven't decided how much time to spend on something due every fortnight.

Pillow passion: a holiday find

2011-07-04T17:28:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday again, and I don't like to go more than a week without a blog posting. I have a journal quilt half-finished and could complete it if I miss the fireworks. Not wanting to, here is my filler! And a good one it is.

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After a July 3rd lunch with the children we passed a store in the Atrium Mall in Chestnut Hill where at Anthropologie I saw the prettiest pillow...a big 22" x 22"-er. What drew me in was a richly painted landscape. It was a regular cover to a pillow, but the design was a lush oil or acrylic painterly scene over an ordinary floral fabric of static design. You could see only parts of the everyday printed "canvas" but there was the amusing effect that someone had just come along and painted on the pillow. The pillow's other side presented a still life. The grandchildren were very entertained, and Joe who also liked it purchased the art for me. I love it. Hannah and Erika, who spent the night with us after a swim, said they wanted to paint their pillows!

Of course the pillow is way too big, but it has pride of place in the center of the big dark green sofa. Two paintings in one and inspiration. I wonder who the artist is.

More blocks for Project Hope

2011-06-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

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   My calendar is crowded and time was running out on due date for blocks; so I got busy fast, yesterday afternoon. This has been a wild week with two birthdays, another quilt show, car menu needing a fix, rain galore, NYC recovery, two 12 x 12s, pruning, kids, and the dentist. I have written before:
In the Fall, Katie rounds up friends to make blocks for quilts for Project Hope . She brings in fabrics on a theme. People gather to take home remnants to create. There is no pressure at all. I usually make about eight different blocks; others make fewer and some, more.
   In the Spring we meet to see how things are going, to get ideas from each other and to know what is realistic to expect by the deadline in late July which is when Katie likes to start assembling the blocks. After that, we tie the quilt. It is fun to gather with those who have worked on it before and pull in others we see passing in the hall to engage them. We are always surprised by the individuality of different participants. I assure you, all are more complex and interesting than mine.
   This year, the theme is creatures of the Northeast. It will be fun working with animals. This goes much faster than the art quilts I am working on. Katie has the tough task, but she listens to books and sews away! She has come up with a cozy way to make people aware of Project Hope.  (See April 10, 20ll for two more)

Bloom where you are planted: a birthday journal quilt

2011-06-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

Bloom where you are planted 12" x 12"

Where did the year go. My daughter-in-law is already having another birthday and my bead group is having Nita's and my birthday this Thursday. But my birthday is next month. Summer plans confuse things. Luckily we had bought Beth a present in NYC this past weekend; and today I made a journal quilt in her honor. I remember Kathy's sending me a card, when we moved to London, that said "Bloom where you are planted!" and that was good for me.
Not only is it Beth's birthday, but she is moving with my son and grandchildren away from the Boston area. But there is excitement ahead for them with new beginnings. I found a fabric about NYC and its rivers and bridges to cross...and I fused blooming flowers, appliqueing them with the sewing machine. I wanted to hand-embroider the title but chickened out to free-motion-quilt the words, my initials and the date. I did quilt more, loosely sketching over the entire piece. The backside of the quilt picks up on the pink roses and is wide enough to come back over the sides to be ironed and sewed as a binding. I ironed, pinned, and again used the sewing machine. Thinking Beth might want to hang it near a reading chair, I sewed little ribbon hooks on the back corners into which a dowel could be inserted. Also, I thought the children could ask questions about the items in the background. They have ridden in the carriage around Central Park and Daddy's new office is pictured. Click the photo to enlarge.

In the Beginning...a Journal quilt

2011-06-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

When the Journal Quilt Connection met, they decided to let each member choose a theme for a month of the year for members to quilt. We decided to start in July, and members pointed at me to choose a theme. I said, "That is my birthday month." "We'll do 'birthdays' then...birthdays apply to lots of things: people, nations." Later I suggested "beginnings" to avoid cliche.

Although the "Beginnings" theme starts in July, this is my third in June. I seem to compulsively enjoy making one a week. This too will pass, I feel certain.

In the Beginning...

Joe and I went to New York City this weekend where I always get so many ideas, I hardly know where to start. We get our Metro Card and hop on and off the buses and trains at museums, book and crafting areas. This weekend we hit the Morgan, the Folk Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Met and MOMA, and Montclair Art Museum on the way home. I also got to The City Quilter 3 times and the beading area on 6th Avenue near the New York Public Library. The Strand and the book store in Grand Central were not missed either. Plus, I discovered near Rein's Deli, on the drive down, another fabulous quilting store where I got the pencils. It is Quilting by the Yard on the Hartford Turnpike, in Vernon CT.
I think this pinwheel journal quilt with no area to rest the eye shows the exhaustion, chaos and excitement of searching out new ideas from books, places and art before I finally get to work in many new directions! In the beginning is chaos, stitched in the ditch, bordered and backed by the wrapped yellow brick road. The dots are my brain and the subway lines you see as well if you click to enlarge.

Oh Sleep It is a Blessed Thing: a Journal Quilt

2011-06-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

After teaching English and history to 7th graders and becoming enamored of art history along the way, I decided to go to art school on my 50th birthday. My feet were like lead in cement, walking across the street from the museum to apply to the SMFA. I painted and painted, dawn to dusk, and the best time for dreaming up ideas for my canvas was in bed after everyone was sound asleep. So quiet...I could think.

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Dreaming up new ideas became a habit but that is not good if everyone in the house awakens at 6 a.m. to go to work or be walked (dog). Nevertheless, I still love to think late at night, and then when there are lots of new adventures and beginnings as there are in our family now, I really need to sleep more to keep up with the crowd.

This is my second 12" x 12" journal quilt for my new group in Massachusetts, the Journal Quilt Connection. For July, birthdays or new beginnings is the topic. I was planning this as an extra quilt, but the Ohm and Om fit right in with the idea, if the website I found is correct, which explains the meaning of OM. I saw the fabrics with letters and pictured them and images coming out of my head as my head was on the pillow. I made the binding by pulling the backing over the sides to hem. I used a batik fabric for the face and machine stitched absolutely everything.

First I sketched the idea, then gathered the fabric, scissors, glue stick and Wonder Under. I was off!

Peace Crane: a journal quilt

2011-06-10T06:03:00.001-07:00

Recently I joined two journal quilt groups, both creating 12" x 12" memories of special events or moments not to be forgotten. You have kept up with my smaller 8" x 8" journal quilt sketches. The size change could make me too serious since I have more time to complete them. Change and growth are good. I may still make the little ones.

As some of you know, I filmed six-year-old Hannah demonstrating folding an origami crane. Wanting to commemorate that fun in a journal quilt, I looked on-line and found that Margaret Rolfe in Australia had created a beautiful quilt incorporating an origami crane. I could not find her pattern so I drew up my own. By the time I finished I had located it at ShiboriDragon where I purchased the pattern. Using it would have been easier, but I enjoyed exploring two different techniques...that of Katie P-M and my own crippled paper piecing.

When I Googled "origami crane quilts," I found the Quilting Board and inspiring samples of Margaret Rolfe's peace quilt put up by Alpha39 of North Texas. Check it out! Now that I have bought the pattern, I hope, in the future, to have a little traveling bag of smaller cranes to put together. Small handwork is supposed to be good for one on trips.

I usually don't add a special backing to my journal quilts, but I didn't want the other bird to languish in my stash, so I sandwiched it with the batting and front side crane. Quilting it to attach created marks on the front which I covered with hand embroidery. This added to the meaning...holding things in flight together with the homey hand touch. Still, the journal quilt needed more quilting so I used a decorative sewing stitch on my machine to make the little waves going to the corners, another layer of meaning. Other efforts new to me were spray basting (from a can), making a mini audition board from a bulletin board with flannel atop, using invisible thread basting, and finishing a two-sided journal quilt. I made mistakes every step of the way, which are visible, but I so enjoyed doing this. Very relaxing.

Front side ~ click to enlarge photos

Back side

New York Decision: a journal quilt

2011-05-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Backtracking on my journal quilts, of one a week, I am posting about our recent trip to New York City. It is such a treat to stay in first son's beautiful home to visit art galleries and museums while he is on vacation. This time it was a joy to visit the other son's new work place, the Chrysler Building near Grand Central. We were so excited for Bill to make this move but the decision making was harrowing to observe!

We ate well and visited museums and libraries and, of course, The City Quilter where I got this fabric. The fireworks are from another piece of material, machine embroidered. I machine quilted quickly around the basic structures but some bead embellishment would add.

"The Chrysler Building

This quintessential art deco skyscraper is an icon of the extravagance and dynamism of New York in the Roaring 20s. The tower architect William Van Alen designed for auto tycoon Walter Chrysler features stylized hood ornaments, wheels and hubcaps. Its height was altered several times in a well-publicized race with the Bank of Manhattan Trust building. The needle-like spire was concealed until the last stage of construction to put it over the top to become the world's tallest building in 1930." I found this information on a postcard at MOMA in a collection of postcard models...with tips on construction www.buildyourownnewyork.com for the crafty. Build Your Own New York Postcard Models Scale: 1:3000 Wurlington Brothers Press

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The Circus has come to town: a journal quilt

2011-05-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

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Every year, good friend and active Shriner Neal buys tickets to the circus and gifts us for the grandchildren. It is our duty to ride the elephants and horses, buy lots of cotton candy of which all the money goes to the Shriners' burn centers, and engage with other goodies, treats and rides for a super concern. This year I made a movie but forgot the journal quilt.

I am far enough behind on journal quilts, I thought I would use the very first block which I made to teach myself patchwork quilting. Of course it would have helped to have read the instructions: I did not leave enough margin on the edges to sew to another. Sooo SEW! I thought I would use the elephant block to stand in for the circus journal, because I could not use it otherwise (no margins). Serendiptously, I see that the movie Water for Elephants is showing down the street. The reviews haven't been tops, but I liked what Ebert said. I read and enjoyed the book. Of course, I am still disturbed by some elephant training videos I observed recently.

Graduation in the 'hood": security blankets and more

2011-05-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

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Days are wildly full now, but I wanted to make something festive to take to a graduation dinner on the harbor. Good friend and neighbor,Jean and her daughter Anna, were both graduating...Jean with a Masters in Public Health and Anna with an undergraduate interest in international health.
First I made graduation cards using Comic Life and then added quotations on commencement to the backs of the envelopes. I learned this afternoon how to used the embroidery attachment on my sewing machine so I could put their names on "security blankets." I had many missteps in my education but succeeded after using a stabilizer ironed on the back of the fabric. I wrote the names and class and then made "pillow cases" with batting. turned and stitched on gold wings and around the edges. Of course the Kaffe Fassett fabric "made" them; and I listened to the graduation speeches as I sewed.The back was a complimentary exciting fabric by the same designer. I picked up some light-up rings for the graduates to be easily identified and had little gifts to pull out of my bag.

Worlds of Worry

2011-05-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I make journal quilts about phenomenon occurring in the world. Not only are extraordinary events happening in the world, one knows big changes in people's lives. There are the daily shocking newspaper reports as well as major alterations occurring in the lives of friends and family. Although we have many blessings and reasons to be thankful and to have faith, the worry in the world and neighborhoods is palpable. I thought I would say hello to WORRY in my journal quilt: time wasting, but around the clock worry. Hoping not to trivialize, I recommend several sites of worry quotations: Worry Quotes, Sayings about Anxiety, Worries, Worry quotes, Don't Worry, Be Happy Quotes These are just a few of the sites you find when you Google "worry quotes."
You asked about the fabrics: The black and white background I picked up at JoAnne's Fabric for use as hair on a portrait, but thought it chaotic enough as a backing for worry. I worked in the Text part of Comic Life software to write lots of "Worry" words and to distort them. I printed that graphic on an inkjet fabric "paper."The clock faces were from a Ben Franklin fabric of antique clocks which I thought were too baroque for this piece. So I cut out the clock faces, fused and stitched them on. I don't particularly like the white trim stitching, but I wanted more white and thought this seemed bursting chaos. A puff paint would be preferred, but I couldn't wait.

Super Joe to the Rescue: a journal quilt

2011-05-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

Usually I make an 8" x 8" journal quilt a week, in a couple of hours; but given all the recent exciting events, of Bill's traveling and accepting a position in NYC and the grandchildren's moving away, I have fallen behind. One reason was I simply could not think of a way to capture the idea of Joe's taking care of the three grandchildren in extraordinary situations.

I thought of Juggler Joe and had them pose...but nothing came to mind that I could do in a couple of hours. Finally, I decided to portray Joe as Superman, answering many calls from the parents, rushing to their home. I found some fabric to do the job. You can click to enlarge.

Decorating the ears: a quick craft

2011-05-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

Joe got me a new jacket for Mother's Day and I needed some earrings to tie it in with my motley outfit...to take in both the cool rainy days and hints of warm spring. The jacket is pink and I was going retro with black blouse and crops. I stopped at two bead stores to pick up some "stones" and I had some silver wire headpins at home to twist into shape to attach to earring findings. Some day I must get up the nerve to pierce my ears so there won't be so much hardware involved.

There are many videos on how to make earrings. If this link goes dead, just Google How to make earrings. I get a bit goofy sometimes adding fish, teacups and turkeys (Thanksgiving). But it is fun to have an endless supply. Today's effort is the pair top row second from the right. The beads around the colored malachite of red and black, are black and pink but didn't photograph well. The other earrings are recent efforts. Click to see better.

Hamsas: a blessing for Nina

2011-05-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

Many things happen at once. Son has taken a job in NYC. His wife's mother had a major bike accident. They just sold their house and will be off to choose a new one. Mother's Day is nigh.

Hannah 7

Daughter-in-law is wildly busy winding up the house situation, packing, mothering, but off to see her mother on Mother's Day. I thought the children could paint hamsas scented with lavender and I would quilt them for this other grandmother. I first heard about hamsas on my visit to The Jewish Museum last week on vacation to see the Maira Kalman exhibit. The shop was closed but I asked for ideas to send to Nina who is still in hospital. I saw jewelry of hamsa design and I looked up the term on return home. I Googled "Images" of Hamsas and was partial to a stained glass pattern, but there are so many others.

Erika 5

I made copies of hamsa patterns for the children to trace or to have a jumping off point for their own designs. I meant to TRACE their hands for signatures and flat forgot, darnit! I had ironed white fabric. Hannah, 7 and Erika, 5 chose different patterns and David, 2 worked on paper with watercolors. They left after supper; and I partially quilted the pieces, including the paper two-sided one of David's, spraying the interiors with lavender. The girls worked with Lumiere's halo and jewel color textile paints, having first placed their white fabric over the outlined designs. One could see through the white fabric. Hannah chose a teal blue batik fabric to back hers, and Erika chose a multi-colored one. I used the two papered watercolors for front and back for David. All scented, are in separate envelopes, ready for a trip to their grandmother Nina (Nana).

David 2

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Where in the World: Wonderland's Tea Party

2011-04-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

Founded in 1977, the Quilters' Connection is a dynamic group of more than 400 quilters and quilt enthusiasts in the greater Boston area and as far away as Japan. Although barely a quilter, I put my name on the membership list and have found no other group so exciting to me with regard to programs and mind- stretching art work. Although I am too shy to enter a big quilt yet, I was attracted to the idea of the Quilt Challenge at the annual show.

The 34th Annual Quilt Show will be held Friday-Sunday, June 3-5, 2011, at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown MA. Besides the completed quilts and quilted garments, each member may submit two "Where in the World" Challenge Quilts. These are not to be bigger than 20" either direction.

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I made two Challenge Quilts. One is shown below at the April 5 posting. The other is this teacup. Where in the world is Wonderland, inspired by granddaughter Hannah. I first sketched a teacup at Linda Blumsack's house during beading. Then I enlarged it (via grids) on tissue. Next, I sketched the same onto posterboard and cut out the main pieces. I traced these pieces with freezer wrap, and ironed those freezer wrap templates onto fabric. I cut out the fabric, leaving 1/2 inch margin for seams. I also cut out batting and a backing fabric (the blue) the size of the teacup with seam allowance of 1/2 inch. Before cutting out the pictures of Alice and other characters, I fused them with Wonder Under to make fine cutting easier. I ironed them in place. I was ready to put the good sides together w batting, sew pillow case style and turn inside out. I stitched the opening closed. Then with invisible or colored thread I began to quilt the three layers.With embroidery needle, I further defined things.

Both quilts are to have sleeves for hanging on the back as well as a label. I may further embellish the two.

Hannah's 7th: a quilted card

2011-04-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hannah turned seven and celebrated with friends at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. After creating a birthday banner, the group broke into two groups and the princesses sashayed off to look at four entirely different areas of the MFA which touched on royalty, returning after the tour, questions and answers to make copper pendants, have story time and dessert. Guests left with big 3D plaster royal cupcakes and paint palette in a bag. Some parents chaperoned and enjoyed the museum afterwards.The interns were fabulous and the project age appropriate. I was staggered by the new museum.

Hannah is seven and a sewer (click to enlarge)

If I remember, I try to make the girls a journal quilt for their birthday. This was a close call. I am making challenge quilts involving Alice and Wonderland, and Hannah has that long blond hair. I fused "her," cut out the figure, and took her to my stash. The two background fabrics fell into my lap. I lightly quilted all, placing a bright erratic pink polka dot on the back after the batting. I free motion wrote, "Hannah is seven and a sewer."

Hannah is proud of the sewing she has learned this year, embroidery and Sashiko. She wants to make a quilt. Alas, she is moving.Whereas I was going to make "her" with wings, carrying my heart, I sewed the heart onto the pocket here and we drove it by to her tonight with CDs of her birthday party to enjoy and send to her other grandmother. I also included a CD of her making the origami bird available at YouTube. For her birthday I gave her A Book of Artageous Projects by Klutz in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art that I bought locally.

Pearl and face knotting: a craft of concentration

2011-04-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

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Often people want to knot pearl or other bead necklaces to preserve the beads once a string breaks. Nita found dynamic Suzanne to teach the Beadsprouts, our group which meets every Thursday for lunch and chatting while we design bracelets and neckware.

We arrived with tweezers (available at craft stores or drugstores for splinters), some silk beading cord with a needle attached (from craft or bead store), pearls or beads to practice on, a clamshell to hide the beginning knot, and some jeweler's glue. We made simple overhand knots, inserted the tweezers and pulled the knot next to the bead...all better seen on this video at YouTube. One can learn so many skills at YouTube.

I was so amused by the deep concentration of my fellow beaders that I thought I must capture their knotted determination while out in the fields beyond, creatures munched with equal determination on spring that finally arrived! This facility in knotting will increase the variety of necklaces that we can make. Good idea, Nita; and thanks, Suzanne!

Project Hope: block collection time

2011-04-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

   In the Fall, Katie rounds up friends to make blocks for quilts for Project Hope . She brings in fabrics on a theme. People gather to take home remnants to create. There is no pressure at all. I usually make about eight different blocks; others make fewer and some, more.
   In the Spring we meet to see how things are going, to get ideas from each other and to know what is realistic to expect by the deadline in late July which is when Katie likes to start assembling the blocks. After that, we tie the quilt. It is fun to gather with those who have worked on it before and pull in others we see passing in the hall to engage them. We are always surprised by the individuality of different participants. I assure you, all are more complex and interesting than mine.
   This year, the theme is creatures of the Northeast. It will be fun working with animals. This goes much faster than the art quilts I am working on. Katie has the tough task, but she listens to books and sews away! She has come up with a cozy way to make people aware of Project Hope.

I am now off to embellish my Alice in Wonderland quilt, make decisions about buttons, and try to create and finish the teacup before the guild meeting tomorrow night.

Also, I hope you viewed Hannah folding an origami bird which I filmed this week!
YouTube - Origami Bird

If you want to see earlier postings on Project Hope, click on Project Hope in Labels below and it will bring up earlier blogs of April 12, June 14, and June 2l of 2010.

Where in the World: Wonderland

2011-04-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

My ultra creative quilt guild where I am quite the newbie, has a quilt challenge fund raiser. Since the size must be under 20" on each side, I thought I could try. Mother said I could do anything, and I naively have always believed her despite evidence to the contrary.

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The topic is "Where in the World," real or fantasy, the thought being to bring in many cultures but not to limit. I imagined I would make unfolding postcards from my youth and fuse fabric showing themes from Africa, Rain Forest, Japan, Mexico, spring or the circus. Joe thought the Jackrabbit postcards (cowboys atop) from his summers would fit the bill. The Alice fabrics I had on hand seemed manageable for a first attempt. With no pattern, I just started cutting and making a zillion mistakes, but nothing ventured. If I don't chicken out, I will make a big cup and saucer shaped hanging for the same images. Now I wonder how much to quilt besides the edges.

What I have learned: Make a serious pattern on card or poster board before starting. Use freezer paper and fusible fabric between image and turned pillow case of front, back and batting. Do a little basting. Will I ever learn?

A Mouse full of fun: a crafty find

2011-04-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

Apologies for tardy posting. I am working on too many projects at once and not getting any of them up. March Madness. April Fool is here and so am I. For an interim posting I want to share a quilt store find.

   Perfect for my beading group is this cute mouse, both pincushion and thread holder. Debbie said she wanted to have it hold her rings. This Little Mouse Needle & Thread Keeper is a Susa Glenn Design:ArtFabric Studio. This link sends you to her "Sewing Whimsies" but she has a big website to explore and if I had not posted this, the site I would not have discovered.The pincushion body is filled with sand (some suggest builders' sand or aquarium sand), but I wish someone would tell me how to find emery locally (though it may be for needles of the past, and wool, better to lubricate needles and pins). One could also use poly-fil. About 10" wire is included which you shape to secure the tale within the piece.
   At the same sight you will find other creatures from dogs to frogs. The rooster Nancy gave me is next! One can never have enough pincushions. Mimi Kirshner's are so loveable!

Friday Fun: back to painting

2011-03-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge if you dare

Yesterday I got my eyelid stitches out (too much sun as a child); and today I decided to make a journal quilt with myself as pirate. I had to paint myself on fabric, but I haven't depicted myself in a long time, I am so easily distracted and excited by contemporary happenings in the quilt world.

With a fresh eye, I realized if you paint yourself, looking in a mirror, your fabric should be at the same angle as the mirror, on an easel or equivalent. My canvas was on the table so I looked as if I had mumps. Using Lumiere acrylic jpaints, I grabbed the opague white to mix in with the other colors to narrow my face but I still look like a chipmunk. Also, I hopelessly bouffant my hair. I started out w a Sharpie Rub a Dub pen and sketched on the fabric a couple of noses and lips and chins. They may show through in the future. I have made so many self portraits in the past, I was not humble enough to make preliminary sketches and it shows. In the end, I was so glad to be rid of the patch, I left it off! And I had a lot of fun painting, regardless the results!
Now off to make the quilt, maybe with a patch that lifts up.

SAIGAI: a journal quilt

2011-03-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

   It is always difficult to create a journal quilt about a catastrophe such as Katrina or 9/11 and the one in Japan.I looked for a fabric that expressed maelstrom or upheaval, and I found the word for disaster is saigai. On-line I Googled "how to say disaster in Japanese" and found some characters and pictures at Japanese Symbols. I printed a couple of the many possibilities and then put the paper and fabric on a light box to mark with Sharpies.
   My fabric was too dark to see the markers so I got out the black Lumiere fabric paint and a tiny brush to enhance the characters. I will only be satisfied when I sharpen the edges with black crochet thread. I made a sandwich of batting and background fabric, stiched a border at 8" x 8" and cut the excess off with pinking shears. I went back to make a few quilted lines,

Saigai, Japanese disaster

You can view 9/11, my first journal quilt at my website, as well as Katrina, here at the blog, posted July 1, 2010. Relax a moment while the particular image loads.

Unfinished Painting on Fabric: a quilt workshop

2011-03-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

The Quilters Connection has exciting workshops and guests. Jennifer Beaven led "Paint, Stitch and Embellish." We started with quick exercises listing animals, smells, foods, places, plants, and music we love...wishes and stories about these. Beaven encouraged us to make a work about ourselves, the simplest of drawings. We drew images with Sharpie's Rub a Dub markers on thin cotton and painted with Lumiere fabric paints. These acrylic paints in both sampler groups or little bottles are good in that they leave the fabric soft and malleable. I took plain and irridescent. We ironed to set and then backed the pieces with batting and another piece of cotton the same size and started stitching with Pearl embroidery thread and others. We added beads and other embellishments. Mine was so tame, but I came home to do it with the 5 and 6 years old grands. None of us have finished!

(Phoenix awaiting beads)

(click to enlarge all photos)

Hannah and Erika were still in a Valentine mood and chose some interesting fabrics for the backs of theirs, but have not had time to start their stitching. Erika showed me several places in my house that hers would look good hanging.

First, put the fabric on newsprint and paper towels atop protective plastic.Draw your design with marker. Have water for your paints and plastic lids to mix them on. After finishing, iron to set the ink and paints; then sandwich to thin batting and a backing fabric. Safety pin together. With embroidery needles and threads, start in the middle to tack things down. Use running stitches, back stitches, French knots, chicken scratches. Embellishment is the icing on the cake...buttons, beads, necklaces and on to create a dynamic surface. The repetition of marks and stitches will hopefully lead to visually compelling and personally meaningful piece. We have a way to go.

Bill's Batman: a birthday present

2011-03-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

Monday is Bill's birthday. He is a collector and has not forgotten that I (he thinks) gave away his Star Wars what-evers when we moved to London or he left the nest for college or to get married. As a child, Bill had numerous super hero action dolls whose costumes he cut, taped and painted to make authentic. I have a box of his improved, over-loved figures and would never part with his handiwork.

Christmas came and went, but I had bought the book Scandinavian Stitches that featured a quilted container to hold collections. I also had some neat Batman (one of Bill's favorites) fabrics. Today, finally, I made what I could: a stuffed (not very successful but grandson might like) Batman, a little quilt (just trying to improve on the figure...maybe granddaughters will use w dolls), and HOORAY, the container. Joe and I may go buy a proper pretty box for Bill's collections, but I often enjoy making gifts, whether wanted or not.

click to enlarge photos

The base and sides of the container are quilted (by machine and hand). I made bias tape for the top and bottom edges with a little tool from JoAnne's. Note I embroidered the flight of the bat signal which had been fused on and stitched.

If you want to see a clever and artful Easter solution, check the container as a nest filled with birds (could be eggs) after you scroll way down on the Scandinavian Stitches book site at Amazon after you "Look Inside."

P.S. Synergy is amazing. The Yale Alumni Magazine arrived today with this cover:

Seductive Subversion: a journal quilt

2011-03-06T17:45:00.000-08:00

Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists just has to be one of my journal quilts since the show, book and dvd were so moving to me. I believe that over 40 years ago in Manhattan, at a Pop Art show, a door was opened to me and I began to paint. Seeing the show recently I felt the same again. The grafitti on the bat wall spells out the show title, "Beyond the Surface," Sid Sach's curatorial essay in the book.

Click on photo to see grafitti.

The door is pulled back.

Sid Sachs is a hero for bringing attention to the women Pop Artists who participated in the Pop Art movement but were overlooked in the history books. Some ladies are still alive and their participation in the video is moving.

The materials women used beyond the cool surface of the men's opened the world to the infinite materials used in art today. Maybe that is why I work in every medium except glass blowing. Certainly I appreciate all the artists in the movement for their wit/intellect and freedom to use any subject matter.

Pop Art Shows: Inspiration

2011-03-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

About a week ago, I drove to Tufts University to see the award winning art show Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958-1968. I haven't been so inspired to get back to painting in quite awhile. If you go, make sure you find time to sit to view the fabulous DVD which includes women artists of the 60's and the same people now. The show has just won "Best Thematic Show Nationally" from the United States section of the International Art Critics Association. I had to get the rich catalog:

It was Pop Art that first got me interested in painting. Joe and I had driven from New Haven to New York City and happened on the soft sculpture pies and goodies of people like Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine or was it Wayne Thiebaud. This was at a satellite museum in the Wall Street district, more than 40 years ago. Anyway, although I had always made posters and sometimes won contests, I had no interest in being an artist. But now I realized art could have an intellectual and witty edge. I went back to New Haven and started painting pictures for our first apartment and asked for a show at the local library. When we moved to Dallas, I painted Dallas: All-American City, about 2 feet x 4 feet.

(click to enlarge)

Sashiko: another portable craft!

2011-02-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Portable crafts like bead crochet excite me. I always want a craft or a book in my purse. I just discovered another easily portable craft, Sashiko. It is "Zen" for sewers.
Sashiko is a form of Japanese needlework with a fascinating history, which evolved, I have read, from patching fisherman's clothes long ago. Today these decorative running stitches are seen mostly in quilting and embroidery, a white thread on an indigo or navy loosely woven hopsack. I bought some red thread, special long needles with an eye big enough to handle the floss, and a fabric with a pattern already applied. Google the many images you can see or design for yourself. Many have a history.

Fundo (counterweights) is a design developed during the Edo period drawn from the idea of market balance scales. I bought my materials at the New England Quilt Museum. Then I picked up Mary Parker's book from the library to learn more of the history of the many patterns. My fabric had the pattern printed on it with enough backing for a pillow. I hope to put my hand on the sampler for coasters and stitch up this pillow. The Purl Bee has a tutorial. I will definitely do more.
Note: In the Comment section you can subscribe by e-mail to be notified when a new blog is up (I think! :*)

Life with Snow Cones: a 4-in-1 journal quilt

2011-02-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

When it rains it pours; and in Boston this year, when it snowed, it kept snowing! However, we kept moving and the roads were clear, though tight. Driving at night, one found landmarks obscured by snow cone after snow cone. These snow cones did make a great roof atop bushes for all those sparrows outside my door.

It seemed, as I have said before, we were all a little bit off-kilter. Our lives were a little off-center and there were probably more journal quilts I could have made on events, but I will summarize to these four:
1) I lost my iPad...thought it was at the mall after an Apple lesson; but the next morn found it on the snowed-in passenger side of the car, 2) In the middle of all the snowfall, the trusty Toro snowblower died after 25 loyal years; but we found one of the last snowblowers in Boston at Home Depot by another name. 3) I had to have some skin surgery that "didn't get it all" and went back in for another cut and stitch. 4) Too much sun meant I need to have more surgery on the lower and upper lids of the right eye; and this was postponed, when I was ready to go, at the last minute. All a bit discombobulating :*)
Since a journal quilt captures a "significant" or memorable event in a week, you can see I have been negligent not to get these made faster. Another event yesterday was that after I dropped my iPad in a case in a padded purse at my One to One lesson at the Apple store, and it was dented, Apple replaced it. I love Apple. Let's loop that story in with the upper left iPad symbol,

Valentine finale: another soft birthday card

2011-02-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

On grandchildren's birthdays, I try to remember to make a soft, sewn birthday card. Erika was born on Valentine's Day. This morning I copied two photos onto printable fabric sheets; and I was thinking about the new goldfish she asked for and the present I sewed for Erika and her doll. I cut the soft prints the same size and fused them with Wonder Under to different colors of fleece. Following some individual quilting around the edges and on appliques, I finally stitched the two fleece/photo pieces together, finishing with pinking scissors and then gold puff paint for the 5. These back-to-back images are on the soft fleece Erika loves.

At my website among the journal quilts I have two other fabric cards: Erika's 4th and Hannah's 6th. I hope tonight at the family celebration of her birthday, Erika will be amused to be featured as a mermaid. I should add some more gold paint around, but I got spooked the card would not dry in time for dinner tonight. I smeared it once trying to take a photo, but it cleaned up with water. However, one can always use a hair dryer with acrylic paints.

Snowing, sewing, stuffing: back to Journal Quilts

2011-02-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

At beading the other day at my house, we remarked that the snow, which fell, and fell again, and then fell some more, was throwing people not "just a little bit off-kilter. We were making silly mistakes. Our alignment was skewed in performing. Not important things, but we are a bit exhausted from it all, even if we aren't overwhelmed. I have gotten behind on journal quilts (apologies), but there is great pleasure in feeding those birds and sewing Valentines to distribute!

This is a lazy journal quilt and it took fewer that the usual two hours to create. I took a photo of the early snow on our house and printed it on an EQ Printables fabric sheet, let it dry for 15 minutes and then rinsed it, as instructed, for 10 minutes to get rid of excess ink. I put it on the radiator to dry, layered it with batting and a 10'' square of muslin for the back. After trimming the print, I fused it with Wonder Under to 10" square of a snowy calming light green. Next, I "quilted." I may use the tales of my being discombobulated by the snow in other journal quilts which I try to make once a week and need to double up on.

P.S. The fabric I printed on could be used for your grandchildren's faces on little stuffed dolls or other projects where you want a thread count so fine that texture is not apparent. You can make your own inkjet printable fabric as well. Just Google.

Snowy Day Play: a Hicks collaboration

2011-02-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

What a snow fall we have had. A good excuse to stay inside to craft. Look at the height of snow on our deck table!
A few days ago, granddaughter asked me to make something for her like the bird journal quilt (see January "Feed the Birds" post). So I took the dog she finished embroidering and the dog I worked along with her (see Archive "Going to the Dogs" post) and put them on a "falling snow" fabric similar to the birds' with the thought of preserving the art on a single pillow. I cut out two squares of fabric to fit a pillow form. With pinking shears, following the fold crease left by the embroidery hoops, I cut out the dog circles. Then I fused (with Wonder Under) the dogs to the red for Hannah's piece and the dark navy for mine. I worked so fast I didn't realize my dog was sewn in maroon. Anyway, I put the two right sides together and added another piece to my side so the pillow could slip in and out, sewed all around, no need for a zipper. After turning back out, I further secured the dog rounds with white floss to match the snow, but am trying to think of a little addition in words or color to suggest the good time we had in snowy January 2011, a label, or a free-motion stitched sentence for this one pillow preserving our two pieces together. Please leave suggestions.

(click to enlarge)

(find the Valentine)

Feed the Birds: a journal quilt

2011-01-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

The snow falls, night and day, but birds are abundant. The bushes by my front porch are filled with puffed up feathered friends. The bushes look like snow cones; and birds are under the snow canopy, chirping in chorus for food.
My grandchildren painted a birdhouse for Mother's Day and gave me a bag of seeds. I am not informed about bird needs. However, when I wondered why these sparrows and chickadees didn't fly south and I could not imagine where they were getting food, I started sprinkling my seeds on one side of the front porch. Surely my comfort food of seeds and bread crumbs couldn't hurt.

Nancy, bird guru and beader, said that some of these birds have evolved to extend their world, staying in the cold north to feed on berries and seeds they have cached. But with all this covering of snow it is good to supplement. Chrissy has a heated bird bath. I have tried to take the birds' photos but they are wary of predators, my dog and family's watching through the window.

I will sew on some yellow and gold seed beads for these fabric feathered creatures in my journal quilt, and then get some real seeds and bread to feed those sparrows, chickadees and blue birds. I read the little ones need more than the larger birds when it is so cold.

Valentines stuffed: Hearts and crafts for a very cold day

2011-01-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

(Click all photos to enlarge)

When I go to New York City, I love to drop by Purl Soho and The City Quilter to collect ideas and good fabrics. The other day I Googled something like stuffed fabric Valentines, checked Images and may have added blog to the search words. I found a variety of hearts and thought I would start off with what looked like the simplest. Nothing is simple, I always find out! The Purl Bee site offered my first effort and Molly's instructions are super: http://www.purlbee.com/valentine-heart-pins/ Thrill yourself with other ideas at this site.

As an elementary school student I was permanently impressed by the idea of assembly lines. And as you can tell by my photos, I cut out lots of hearts to sew and opened DMC floss to cut both ends of the opened loops to create 18" threads for my embroidery needle making sure the eye was big enough for the thread and the point sharp enough to penetrate the felt. I used pinking shears, a sturdy needle threader and stuffing. I found I could make these hearts in 10 minutes, stuffed, with safety pin attached from the one 18"thread. There will be enough string left for some x0x0's and I (heart) U. Wish I still had an elementary school student who would enjoy passing them out to classmates. I watched old movies while I stitched this coldest day in years in Boston. Abby taught me it is also good to listen to Craftypod.com, craft podcasts, while I work.

The last big snow day I cooked ebelskivers, filled with dollops of applesauce, but I was more restrained today. The are deliciously puffed and stuffed as well!

Valentine Birthday Duds for Erika and her 18-inch doll

2011-01-15T19:21:00.000-08:00

click to enlarge

Erika said she wanted me to make her a Valentine dress for her birthday. Last summer I made her a sundress that only involved one stitch from top to bottom, maybe simple straps added at the shoulders. This project was more effort.

At Barnes and Noble I found All Dolled Up, a book about sewing clothes and accessories for girls and their 18-inch dolls. The patterns seemed simple enough and Joe insisted I get the book. I worked steadily to finish the two fleece vest, hats, and scarfs in a couple of days. Fleece was easy to sew with a new needle (Universal, 12/80). To get the right separating zipper color, I had to purchase two zippers that were too long, cut them at the top, pull the teeth at the end with pliers and sew stoppers.

After the Plague: a journal quilt

2011-01-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

The 18th through the 20th of December was a fine early Christmas celebration at our house. The day afterwards, despite having gotten the flu shot (I try to be first in line, I am such a believer), I came down with a non-bacterial bug that lasted 2 1/2 weeks. Along with that enervating problem, bronchitis, I had pills for some minor double skin surgery and wounds to heal. I don't suppose I thought it was "the end," but when I finally got well, I was so overcome with gratitude that the entire world was Spring again. I loved and appreciated breathing, walking and looking...just being alive, often what is so easy to take for granted. Thus, I sewed in the journal quilt, the black shade's being lifted on the short dark window of my life...a special memorable incident!

Going to the Dogs: Embroidering with granddaughter

2011-01-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

I believe I am entering a second childhood, going back to some of my first crafts as a beginner, in this case, embroidery. Never humble enough to take beginning lessons, I usually plunged in to figure out how to do something as I went. Now I am intriqued by more depth. I love to draw and that is what embroidery is. The portrait possibilities are exciting me...the textures and embellishment.

Click to enlarge photos

Six-year-old Hannah dove right into her Christmas embroidery sewing materials, drawing her own designs or going free form; whereas I was timid and copied a dog pattern and technique from Craft-In, a compilation of 12 craft projects I read about at CraftyPod.com. Hannah liked perle cotton and I used two strands of embroidery floss, mostly backstitches or split stitches. We used 5" hoops. Whereas I was on cotton, my granddaughter had linen of course! We can go beyond these pieces, using both familiar, new and invented stitches to decorate clothing, add fireworks in the back ground, finish with beads to add whatever lines come into our minds.

Santa also gave Hannah a Klutz book, Simple Embroidery that she has used at home to create projects which I am eager to see. Her Kid's Embroidery by Nicholas has even more projects for us kids of all ages!
Note: What I learned from the practice effort above, was to to take smaller more careful stitches when I get to portraits. I am also wanting to make a contemporary linen sampler for Hannah should she be interested, and have been looking at the old ones in our history. Besides an alphabet, there is usually a picture and a line of poetry or a wise saying. I love what my grandmother wrote in my wedding Bible: "May your life be a blessing."

A Journal Quilt wish: Peace in 2011

2011-01-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

Missing spoke belatedly added

If you have visited my Journal Quilt site at my webpage, then you know the following: These quilt journals are sketches. They relate to a memorable event in a week. Whereas thinking of the ideas may take awhile, the crafting or stitchery should consume about 2 hours so that one will continue!

Peace Wish 2011

   This is not a steering wheel but my quickly rendered peace sign, always wishing for peace on earth, good will to all men at the beginning of the new year. Yesterday, we watched a sobering award winning movie Jean loaned me called Why We Fight. I have also Googled "peace quotations" which I recommend.  Peace has not been achieved. Therefore this journal quilt is a break with tradition. It is a WISH for such a memorable event.

   It was pleasant to sit at the piano to play some Christmas carols, today, before all is put away. I am always moved to play an adaptation of Longfellow's words:

I heard the bells on Christmas day,
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as now this day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rung so long the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.....

And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor does He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Christmas 2010: a journal quilt

2010-12-29T17:21:00.000-08:00

Usually a blog posting takes no time at all, and a journal quilt is easy. However, this Christmas, though the simplest, had so much going on that I could not narrow to a single special idea.

Click to enlarge photos

First, we put up the trees. We got the biggest and strongest live one for our main tree. Then there were the attic's older, crazier versions: one for the dogs and cats, one for our sons' creations, one for the grandchildren, and two little ones for the toddler to decorate. There was the centerpiece tree and others not pictured. And, besides family, there were the beaders to entertain.

The Nutcracker theater was a major addition. The technology purchases and their required adjustments, can bury one at this busy time of year. The celebration 18th - 20th was magical and then all heck broke loose with unexpected bugs, lost trips, weather surprises. But we remain grateful for the joy and peace of this time of year. And all those rollicking trees above under netting are beautiful but no more controlled than the days of our future; and I guess that is probably as good an idea as I can come up with today.

A Winter Baby Shower

2010-12-28T16:12:00.000-08:00

Dianthe amazes! At the busiest time of the year she hosted a Sunday brunch baby shower, not just for the ladies, but couples. Makes sense! Sometimes new patterns must emerge.

click to enlarge photos

Since the sex of the baby-to- be is not known, there were both blue and pink flowers and a holiday tree festooned in white. Soft white leather or satin/"fur" baby shoes topped the tree, a symbol of the movement of those in that gene pool, and baby breath flowers floated on branches. White shirts, hats, bibs and other items decorated the tree further. Mimosas, spinach cheese strata, ham in rolls, fruit salad, were some of the foods.The cozy fire and window views added to the family warmth.

It was fun to have the families included, always enriching the conversation!

Hanukkuh, Maccabees and Ebelskiver: a journal quilt

2010-12-20T16:11:00.000-08:00

This year Hanukkuh came much earlier than Christmas. A few happenings were special to my memories; thus, this journal quilt.
First, Max pointed out to me that the historical sources for Hanukkuh are not in the Bible or the Talmud but in the books of Maccabees I and II, which are part of the Christian heritage. "Things are mixed," he said. I loved going to my huge family Bible to find Maccabees I and II in the Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments, with photos and some illustrations by Dore. I also realized that Maccabees I and II can be found in my wonderful Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version.

Click to enlarge

Next, I wanted to take my usual Beaders' Christmas exchange presents to a gathering before Christmas and during Hanukkuh so that Linda B could have a bit of celebration with us during her holiday. My gift was an ebelskiver skillet that I found at CVS. I got one for each beader for only $10 ...so much fun, a craftsy challenge. I warned the beaders first to Google how to make ebelskivers (little round puff pancakes that can be so much more) to observe some videos.
Hooray for light and miracles.

Building Boxwood Trees: a tradition

2010-12-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

Click to see Chrissy's tree shape

Each year Nancy has the Beaders to her home to make boxwood trees for the season. I didn't realize I would blog on this so I don't have a full set of pictures, but I have enough information for you to "take off!"

Note Debbie's joy and Nancy's gold container, oasis, tape and position of boxwood twigs

Nita is making a smaller one for her mother's table, and Linda B. a fuller one

To build a boxwood tree, soak an oasis in the sink until the green "brick" is filled with water. Place the oasis in a container that can hold water, where the tree can be carved and all secured like wrapping a present w string only with floral tape. The edges of the tree are shaped somewhat like a bloated tree, easily done with a carving knife. Next, the collected boxwood limbs are cut with pruning shears to various lengths and inserted in the oasis. The lower branches angle down, the midway branches go more horizontally and the upper branches shape up to a point at the top of the tree.

Enlarge all photos by clicking on them

   Then the fun continues as you see that everyone's tree already has a different personality. You will add bows and ornaments, even flowers, such as those on the my Costco purchase. I was baby sitting and would not get to make one this year. The ladies saw to it that four-year-old Erika did make a miniature tree in 30 minutes and decorate it before we had to leave to pick up Hannah at school.

   Get some friends to join you in the making and be sure to water your tree daily.  P.S. There are little floral spikes with wire that are handy for adding ornaments and bows....

Pomander Pleasures

2010-12-10T07:50:00.000-08:00

The grandchildren are in our safe keeping for a couple of days. Fortunately smart friends gave me entertaining ideas. I saw Susan making pomanders at our craft group on Monday. I don't remember making pomanders, but now I am hooked: Get oranges (Susan suggested clementines for softness), a bulk supply of cloves (Costco for me) and thin ribbons if you like. I picked up gold- edged white ribbon at Ben Franklin, a bit of wire in the edges.

After nursery school, four-year-old Erika made a pomander and then another to give away to Nancy and the beaders for helping her make a boxwood tree. I tied the bow on first, as one might wrap a package, secured in one or two places with a short ball-topped straight pin (as in shirt purchases). I put the clementine on a folded paper towel and handed Erika a toothpick to make preliminary holes (not needed, I think), cloves in a little saucer. Six-year-old Hannah took up the craft when she got home at three after first grade. You may want to add loops for hanging. Some roll them in spices, let them dry and after they seem no longer useful, boil them in water to make the house smell wonderful. Google orange and clove balls for more ideas and possibilities. Click to enlarge the photos.

Keys to the City: a journal quilt

2010-12-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving weekend allowed our household some time in New York City where we have generous hosts. Thoughtful Jim phoned our car speaker from Miami to see if we had the keys to the condo. We have never before forgotten the keys, but this time we did. Just outside New Haven, we didn't panic, for we could have seen the show at the British Museum and returned to Boston. However, perfect son told us exactly where to find another set, and we drove on up to his place where a free parking spot waited to calm us.

For this journal quilt, I wanted to show the lively NYC fabric I picked up at the wonderful City Quilter on 25th. The keys could have blocked our way but were a gate to a good time for Joe, Farley and myself. Joe and I saw shows at the Morgan, Neue, Guggenheim and MOMA museums. Farley has never met so many dogs to whom he was so polite. And I went to the City Quilter twice. Love that place!

Embroidery for Children: Needling Noah

2010-11-30T16:19:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving we drove to New York City and I embroidered Noah in sunshine and dark in the car, trying to figure out the stitches while listening to a book CD on the life of Henry VIII.

For Christmas, among other things, I wanted to give the grandchildren sewing kits and "lessons" should they want; but I thought I better learn how before imparting my wisdom.

In the 60's I had embroidered jean fabrics. The colorful floss looks pretty against the rough dark blue. If I find a sample of my work in the attic, I will post later. But this time I was starting with a blank slate. Mother said I could do anything, so I threaded the needle with the included Persian wool and took off deciphering the instructions.

Embroidery should be easy, and these enchanting books on sewing I got for the children have numerous ideas for using felt and fabric.

Alice's Noah and animals, almost finished.
a design for Paragon by SHERBY BARBER

Friend Alice had just completed her recently found, incompleted Noah and animals on the way to the ark (from her efforts in the 70's) and encouraged me to get this kit on Ebay. Bill ordered for me and I am having fun. Embroidery perks up many crafts from simple felt pieces to quilts and clothes.