I've Got Hair!!

Flight of Ideas

This is my Self Portrait Challenge piece. I call it Flight of Ideas. It is supposed to be what I look like on any given day. I always say that I have ideas pouring into my head, and I can't do them all. This is my version of how I feel. I was going to put wings on everything going into my head, but, settled for silk wings on the lightbulb. I fused silk pieces together to make each wing. I am starting to bead rayon dyed ribbon 'hair' on my head. I have done all of the background quilting I plan to do. I glued the mirror glasses on, and tomorrow, I will catch the edges with some thread. I'm a quilter through and through, and never trust attachments to glue alone.

And of course, it wouldn't be finished without beads. I have some kind of cool earrings.. stars with hanging moons.. would be perfect for 'my' ears

Another Project Done!

I finished Kaye's quilt. It finished at 12 1/2 " square. It is machine quilted with silk thread and Wool Batting. It doesn't look too bad, I look at all of these as a learning experience. The thing I would change about this, is I would stipple from the feathers and cable on the border to the edge of the stars. There is too much puffy space between them. Or, I should have made the border quilting design bigger to take up the space.
I have to start working on my self-portrait for the Quilting Arts Magazine Challenge. I have some of it done, but, I want to do other things with it.




This is what I have finished.. actually, since I have taken this picture, I have beaded the glasses, and I have added ears, a nose, and a mouth. I guess I should have taken a new pic before mentioning it at all. Anyway, I am calling it "Flight of Ideas", to represent the ideas for projects that are constantly flowing into my head. Stay tuned!

I have the next 3 days off. I need to make that teddy bear quilt for my Aunt Betty. I have put it off long enough. I want to finish my pineapple mini before my guild meeting. And I have to finish this self portrait before my guild meeting. So I'd better quit blogging, and get to work. Have a good weekend!!

A Quilt for Kaye

My small stitching group "Twisted Stitchers" makes a miniature quilt for each member's birthday. Everyone, but the birthday girl makes a block. I finally finished the top for Kaye's Quilt. I still need to put on the border, but it is too late in the evening to refresh my memory on how to miter on a 10" quilt border. I have to look it up everytime I do it.
Kaye is a Civil War Repro lover, but she needs a little color in her life. I had to purchase the background fabric, the color is hand dyes. I think the toughest part of the whole thing was the 4 Y seams on the small blocks. Thank goodness I chose 3" blocks, and not 2" blocks. I am going to quilt diamond shaped feather motifs in between the blocks, and then I am going to quilt a cable and feather on the border. I haven't decided, but I think I might use silk thread for the quilting. I could use Aurifil, and I think that it would look just as good
We had a line of strong thunderstorms go through this evening. It was 95 today, but with the humidity it felt like 110 or so they say.. I only was out long enough to go to and from work. We sat in the dark for 8 hours yesterday evening. No storms, but I guess there was just too much need for energy because of the heat. It is supposed to go down to the 60's. I'll believe it when I see it, but that would be great. Well, I am going upstairs. It is nice and cool down in the basement where my computer and sewing room are.. Think I will hit the sack early tonight. I have a long day at work tomorrow. Keep cool!!

I was so right!

I am always reading Melody Johnsons blog, and the blogs of her buddies. They are always knitting great things in great colors. I learned to knit when I was little. I have knitted all kinds of things, mostly sweaters, never socks. Anyway, when I decided to devote all of my time to my true love, quilting, I gave up my other crafts. Looking at all of this knitting going on has made me want to start again. So I decided to stop at a local quilt shop that has wonderful yarns in the upstairs part of the store. I figured I would get what I need to make some socks.. small, shouldn't be too much.. Geeze, just lay me out the day I spend $20.00 to MAKE a pair of socks. That's how much all of the beautiful yarn was. Now, I know... it's an art. I know there are many people that would say.. why should I spend $300.00 to MAKE a quilt, when I can get one at Walmart for $39.00.. Well, maybe not a really good comparison. But.. I can get some pretty nifty socks at Walmart for $2.50....

I don't want to take up knitting anymore...

Pineapple Dilema

This is my progress so far on my pineapple. My dilema is, the seams. I have used 50wt grey Aurifil thread for the piecing. It is a very fine thread. I have also used a 60 sharp needle and a very small stitch length. My problem is.. the first 2 rows I have sewn together with this thread. And in some places, you can see the thread. Not alot, but enough that my eyes are drawn to it. The third row, in sewing the blocks together, I have tried to match the thread as much as possible with the fabric, although, the fabric color might change 3 times within that 2 inch width. I notice the seams a lot less in this row. My dilema is, should I take the first 2 rows apart and re-sew? I have used very small stitches to sew them. I'm afraid that I might damage the blocks in my attempt. and since it takes me at least an hour and a half to make each block, I don't want to mess them up.Because I certainly don't want to re-make any. I'm hoping that the quilting will detract from the seams in the end. I could always put that area as the bottom of the quilt. Maybe eyes will go to the top, and it won't be noticed. Of course.. being the perfectionist I am, I probably would always look at the bottom first. Have any of you run into this problem? How did you fix it?
I am taking a break. Have to go to the store and get vegetables and some food. I keep having this itch to start knitting again. I am trying to put it out of my mind..

Gingersnaps

I thought that I would write something that has nothing to do with quilting.. hmm.. how about cookies! These are really good. I got the recipe from a co-worker many years ago. They are soft, not hard like so many Gingersnaps are. We got into the discussion of Chai Lattes at work today, and I commented that Chai tastes like liquid gingersnaps.. well that helped me remember this recipe. It makes a lot of cookies, so, make it at your own peril. Beats celery sticks anyday.

Gingersnaps

Preheat oven to 350

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup crisco shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups flour
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Make a cinnamon and sugar mixture and set aside

Cream together: shortening, butter, sugar, eggs, molasses
add: soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and salt
add: flour

Drop by teaspoonsfull in cinnamon and sugar mixture

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes

Tuesday

I finished listening to Harry Potter. There was a profound (to me) line in the book spoken by Dumbledore, I should have written it down at the time, now I can't find it in the book. When I do, I will enlighten you. I am truly bummed about the ending. I have read all of the books, and listened to them all. The characters are so real, that I feel a saddness about what has happened in this book. I mostly feel sorry for poor Harry, who has had such a sad life anyway. Something to be said for an artist of words that can make me feel this way about a fictional character.
Anyway, I have sewn the first 2 rows of my pineapple quilt together, it looks awesome, and I am really happy with it. I have started the 3rd row, and now there are splashes of magenta in the pieces, which looks great.
Off to bed. I have to get up at least at 5 am. I want to get to work early, so that I can leave early. My co-worker is off, and I have to do all of the work. I'm too old for this....

Designs and things

I didn't bother trying to insert these pictures down farther into the text. For some reason, if I try to type some, and then insert an image, it always pops up above the typed area anyway. It is too much trouble to upload to photobucket just to put the html link in my post.

Anyway, we met our friends at Quaker Steak and Lube, the restaurant that I told you about. thefirst photo shows my view from above my head. A full sized car hanging on the wall above my head front bumper down. Something disconcerting about looking up to have a car bumper in your face. The second photo is the wall opposite where we were sitting in. It is the Corvette room. There is a full size car on the wall above the tables.. and another vintage Corvette on the lift at the top of the picture. If you're into cars and motorcycles, this is the place to be.

I have been thinking about sharing original designs with others. I am working on that pineapple mini. I would like to get it juried in to a large show. Maybe Paducah if I could only dream. I like for others to see what I am doing, but I am getting increasingly paranoid that my ideas will be stolen before I can even get them in a show. I have stopped putting whole quilts on my webshots, if it is something that I want to enter in a future show. I know many quilters, including myself, are inspired by looking at other quilters work. But there are many out there that steal your ideas. Of course if I was Carol Fallert, or Diane Gaudynski, Ricky Tims or any other famous quilter that has stamped their style on the quilting world, I wouldn't worry as much about it because a learned person would look at it and see it was a copy of an award winning style or quilt. But, when I put hours into drafting a pattern, planning the colors, making a piece, the last thing I want is someone to come and make a copy of my work. What do you think? Please feel free to comment. I know that many of you are very generous regarding your work. But do you hold back on that special piece?

Lazy Sunday

I did find the Harry Potter CD at Sam's. It was $25.00 less there than it was at Amazon.com. I have listened to 5 or 6 discs while making row one of my piece I'm really happy with the results so far.

As for lazy Sundays, it is just a day when I catch up with my laundry, and house cleaning in preparation for returning to work tomorrow. My co-worker is going on a couple of days vacation, so it will be a busy week for me.

My husband Bill, and I are meeting my best friend Nancy and her husband John at a restaurant called Quaker Steak and Lube. It is a very cool local restaurant. ( the original is in PA) It almost looks like an old gas station. I guess the original actually was. They have actual cars and motorcycles on the walls, and cars on garage lifts in the middle of the dining area. When John reached his 50's he bought the red Corvette convertible that he has always wanted. So the two of them are in a Vet club that meets at various places to park their cars and do whatever they do. To each his own. I'm sure that neither of them understand why I make 2" quilt blocks for a quilt that you couldn't put on your bed. I get a kick out of saying "Nancy has been my best friend for over forty years" Makes us sound ancient. Actually we have known each other since we were little girls living across the street from each other. We went to school from elementary to high school. We shared an apartment during college years. She got married younger than I did, so her kids are all off and married or living on their own while mine are still here. I longingly look at what will one day be my upstairs studio with windows. Well, back to laundry.

I'm Wild about Harry

In a few minutes I am leaving to pick up my Harry Potter book. I spent last evening mapping out my project. and I made a block while I listened to the last Harry Potter book to refresh my memory. I have ordered my book on CD from Amazon and I hope that it comes soon. If they have it at Sam's maybe I will just buy it and cancel my Amazon order. At least that way, I can listen to the new book, and still work on my project. Otherwise, I may have my nose in a book all weekend.
This is the way I need to keep track of my blocks and their placement
And in order to use the right fabrics, thank goodness for sticky labels, I have the tiny strips pre-cut and ready to go. This is for one block



Well, enough wasting time on the computer. I'm off to Sam's to get my book. Have a good weekend!

New Project

I started a new project while at my Twisted Stitcher group. It will be a pineapple quilt. When finished, it will be about 13" square. It's hard to get an idea from this one block, but there will be gradation of pineapple blocks throughout the piece. The fabrics are hand dyes. Each block is 2" I think the planning for it took longer than making a block. Each block has 45 pieces, I had to number a color correctly on each paper piece pattern. There can be up to 5 different fabrics in a block. It is a challenge, but what fun would it be if it wasn't? I DID prewash all of my fabrics again, after the disaster of bleeding fabrics on the flying geese quilt that it took me MONTHS to piece.

Twisted Stitchers

Guild went well last night. We had a speaker Named Sally Houk. She is primarily a knitter, I guess, she sells fancy yarns, and ribbons. She showed us a technique to use Steam a seam and decorative ribbon to make fabric pieces. Very pretty, but when I saw a hank of the ribbon was $20.00 I decided that I would stick to fabric. She also took yarn and water soluable Solvy to make fabric. She had a really nice lacy vest made out of it. We have quite a few knitters in our guild, So everyone was happy, and bought some of her wares. I should have remembered my camera and then I could have showed you a picture of her colorful set up at guild.

Today is my stitch group. We call ourselves Third Friday Stitchers... Good name because we are all of the age we can't remember things, so this way we can remember when we have our meetings. It is also know as Twisted Stitchers.. which is appropriate in other ways :) There are 7 of us. We meet at each others houses and eat and laugh and sew. We formed to make miniatures, but end up working on other things to. I will post a picture of my project later today.

Guild Night!

Tonight is Guild. I am the Vice President. This came about because I volunteered. In other words, I am in charge of planning all of the programs. I am an organizer and I was a Girl Scout Leader for 13 years. There are many similarities, but the hardest part of the programming is getting prospective speakers to call you back. Even if it was their idea to do a program! We all leave busy lives, but how hard is it to pick up a phone.. or better yet email me? Lord knows I'm always on the computer!
I need to get some back up plans in case someone cancels at the last minute. Our guild has over 100 members, and you know how hard it is to please everyone. That's why during my reign as Vice President... there will be lots of Art Quilt Programs... very few.. if any Civil War quilt related programs... and I can assure you there will be NO programs concerning "Underground Railroad quilts". The way I look at it, if I am doing the work, I am getting speakers that will interest me.. if someone else wants something different, they can volunteer next time. Okay.. I did make up a questionnaire, and got everyone's opinion about what they would like concerning programs. I was actually surprised how many WANTED more Art Quilt Techniques, and embellishment techniques.. this will be fun...

Thanks Rian!!

That was so easy!!! I don't know if it is a good thing that you told me how to add images. As if the lure of the computer isn't bad enough for me without having a blog. As if anyone cares what I have to say anyway. :)

Here is a picture of me with my Baltimore Treasures before I mailed it to the Vermont Quilt Festival (It got a third place ribbon) and it's new owner, the designer of the quilt Marcia Hohn. I know that she loves the quilt. I am working on a small hand applique version for myself. 12 blocks instead of 25. I only have one block to applique. And then the border swags. That's enough for me. I have made a small dent in my studio.. but I should be in there instead of on the computer. teri

The Problem with Instant Gratification

All of my complaining shows me, that if I had just waited a while, everything would work itself out. My blog looks like it should.
I worked early this morning. It is hot and humid here. I came home and turned the air conditioning on. My husband would say.. "Wait till evening and turn the air on." Yeah right. After suffering all day, when the air finally comes on, it takes forever to cool down the house, and when I only have 6 hours before I have to get up for work, I want to be able to sleep well in a nice cool room.
I have things to do today. I keep coming across all of these little containers of future projects waiting for me. I want to make a couple of miniatures, and maybe a large quilt. I am keeping my fingers crossed about getting something juried into a large show. Another problem is that my studio is an absolute mess! I just can't create under those conditions, but when I start cleaning, my mind wanders with all of the "new" treasures I forgot I had.. Wish me luck! Teri

Blogging Blues

Quilting is sure easier than this! I love doing things on the computer, but this is all new to me. I have 2 profiles showing... can't figure out how to get rid of one. I deleted all of the words, but it still shows. And the pink blog page that I started with is still linked to this new page. I have printed out some of the help topics, so hopefully I will be able to figure it out.

Hello to my about.com blogging friends!!!

What I did this Weekend

Edited to show that I learned how to upload images.. thanks to Rian.. thought I would leave my lengthy whine...

Another weekend and nothing major accomplished. First off.. I don't have a clue how to add photos or anything to my blogs. I downloaded the photo program, but I deleted it when it scanned my whole computer looking for jpegs.. creepy. Maybe I'll try again when I understand it better.
The only thing that I made this weekend was 3 Rosettes to be given to guild members participating in the Self-portrait challenge set for August. I am the new program director and I plan on setting up challenges to coincide with Quilting Arts Magazine challenges. The Guild members can then enter their pieces if they choose.

All of This, Just to leave Melody a message!

Hello, My name is Teri. I live in Lorain, Ohio about 1/2 mile South of Lake Erie, west of Cleveland. I guess I will start my blog with the reason I quilt.

My Grandmother Reed taught me to stitch my first block. It was a lavender and white Nine Patch. It was made out of feedsack cloth. Under her direction, I went on to make a lavender and white Churndash quilt. My grandmother’s mother, my Great Grandmother Gibson, died when I was five, but some of the few vivid memories I have of my childhood come from my trips to visit her and my Great Grandfather. They lived far up in the mountains in West Virginia on a road called Straight Run, in a place called Vadis. I remember the dirt road, the big outhouse, the cool spring house that smelled like apples. But my fondest memory is of big quilting frame that would be lowered from the ceiling when all of the women had finished cleaning up from our big lunch. There was always lots of talking and laughter. My mother would participate, but, she was never a quilter. She preferred sewing garments. I have always done some kind of handwork. Even before I made that Nine Patch I did cross stitch or embroidery on fabric stamped with a blue patterns. But without the steady influence of quilting during my teen years, I didn’t have the urge to do it. I taught myself to knit and crochet, and I made many of my own clothes. In my early twenties, I felt the call of quilting. I did a few things, but not until I was expecting my first child did I really start quilting again. I even joined the guild back in the early to mid 80’s, but with 3 small children and a husband that worked evenings, my fun with the guild didn’t last long. I still continued with all of my other crafts, painting in oils and acrylics, smocking and heirloom garment sewing, cross-stitch, woodcarving. I actually have my own scroll saw that I used in my woodworking phase. Then around 10 years ago, I got really intent with quilting. I had consciously decided that I needed to pick one thing and devote my life to it. Quilting was what I chose. I went along making quilts from patterns, buying every book I could lay my hands on. Four years ago, after my brush with death from a heart infection, I couldn’t remember how to quilt. I would look at a pattern, and it was like looking at a language I did not know. I could not figure out how to do the simplest thing. This lasted a little over one frustrating month. Then it was like God switched on a light in my head, and flooded it with ideas. I started making the first quilt of my new life. It was my New York Beauty that I called Out of the Darkness into God’s Light. It is the only difficult quilt that I have made in less than 2 weeks. I have always said about this quilt that God inspired me and drove me to make it. On the label is a Psalm that says “You, O’ Lord keep my lamp burning; My God turns my darkness into Light.” The quilt will always mean more to me than any quilt I will ever make.
Since then I have become better at my craft, my obsession. Many times it is the last thing I think of when I am falling asleep, and the first thing I think of when I awake in the morning. In my busy rushed life, quilting calms me. There is nothing like going into a fabric store even if I am just browsing…nothing like looking at a quilt magazine as if I have all the time in the world. Nothing like cutting the fabric…the hum of the sewing machine… or watching my stitches as I am hand quilting pulling that needle and thread through the fabric. The soft feel of the fabric as I am working on it. I love the idea that I am making something that will last, even if only for a few years. I love the way I can make something original. I can manipulate the colors, the design. I can make a mistake and say, “That is what I planned to do.” If I want, I can say I’m a Fiber Artist, or a Quilter, or a Quiltmaker, whichever I prefer at the time. I can make something small or something large, a work of art or a utility quilt. Anything my heart desires. I can play with fabrics and thread; I have no boss looking over my shoulder. I can go into a fabric store or a book store, or a library and if another quilter is there, I can have a conversation as if we were old friends.
I have quilted during times of joy and times of sorrow, sometimes with tears in my eyes. It is my peace and my comfort. It is one of my joys in life. It completes me.
One of my favorite bible verses is Ecclesiastes 9:10 – “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” That’s what quilting is to me, something I can do with all of my might. Why do I quilt? Because I can. And I am sure glad of that.