Lazy Gal Quilting

Get it While You Can

2012-01-22T16:50:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to include this in yesterday's post, but holy cow there is an incredible sale on the book Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown. It's only twelve dollars for a bargain book. I paid a loooot more for my copy and it was worth every penny, so believe me when I say it's a SERIOUS bargain now. I actually bought a second copy, couldn't pass it up.

I think this means that it's time for another Liberated Amish Get-Together. It was sooo wonderful the first time to see the amazing quilts that folks made. Really impressive. Maybe starting in February? But this time we'll use the UnRuly Blog so I don't have to make up another one. Sound fun? Maybe I'll actually make one this time!

You don't have to buy the book to participate, but I recommend it wholeheartedly nonetheless. You can see a bunch of the quilts on this website for the Browns Amish Quilt collection.

I figure I'll be more flexible this time about the guidelines so that folks can interpret it how they want, so that they push themselves - you all know where your own boundaries are. Can be any size that you want. I think it would be fun to make an Amish quilt as interpreted by a Gee's Bender. (Gee's Bendie? hee hee hee). But the goal is to still see the inspiration in there. For instance if they were ever hung in an exhibition together you'd want it to make sense...

Picture of Lily from awhile back, cuz I needed something to go in this post. I do still love this UFO - need to work on it some more. When I'm reunited with all the bits and pieces that is.

Oh, and I also can't believe I neglected to mention that I am thoroughly engrossed in the second season of Downton Abbey. I do so love that show!!!

p.s. You can click on the link for the book on sale here:

Stupid Brain

2012-01-21T16:46:00.000-05:00

I have the attention span of a gnat these days, jumping jumping jumping from one thing to another, not getting much accomplished. aaaghhh. To make matters worse, I'm not liking much of what I get done. For instance, in the last few months I tried putting a bunch of my bright-era orphans and experimental blocks together to see if I could get excited and work on something.

Nothing. No wheee, this is the direction to go. My stupid brain is sludgy and just won't play along. I'm slogging through mud.

I tried to narrow it down and do a "cathouse" quilt of cats and houses and maybe some joy blocks. [a "cathouse" is U.S./Canadian slang for bordello, brothel, house of ill repute...]

Fun but I just couldn't figure out how to work with them. Brain wouldn't cooperate.

Okay, how about the Crown of Thorn blocks I started ages ago? That should be easier since I just had to make blocks. I made a few more of them. Kinda funny, but quilting while taking muscle relaxants and pain pills? Let's just say it's a good thing that I like wonky and liberated and utility quilts. Some of these blocks came out crazier than I meant.

Looking at this now? I like it. At the time I pushed for sashing because I was worried about how they looked all mashed together.

This was an audition. I started sewing sashing onto them and then quit, not sure I liked the direction I was going. Unsure now too. Sashing or no sashing? And yes, I know I have a block split into two there. My sweetie, Mr. Symmetry, hates it but that's one of my favorite things about the quilt. Maybe what it needs is more blocks....

That's another thing my brain has been doing. Second-guessing. I start projects then rip them apart. For instance, last July I took a class, along with Nifty, with the Gee's Bend Quilters. I had a hard time in that class for all sorts of reasons (no instructions or quilt examples) and was unhappy with the blocks and bits I came home with. I added borders to one of the blocks, auditioned here with Pokey and Habibi's help:

But wasn't happy with that either. After a few days of living with it, I ripped it apart and started over, ending up with Something Nifty, shown in the last post. Which, thankfully, I love so it gets to stay as is. I'm even hand-quilting it now, despite the second worst basting job I've ever done...

Working with the same fabrics, I pushed myself to use big chunks and work big. (I do love little pieces - I'm much better at that approach.) Anyway, came up with this medallion quilt:

Not sure it's going to stay this way. I like column quilts better, and eek, don't like that bottom border especially. But I don't trust myself at this point, so not taking the seam ripper to it. Not yet.

On the topic of quilting, check out the Gratitude Quilt that Nifty made with orphan blocks. I helped her by choosing blocks, but that's it - all the rest of the brilliance was hers. Why is it sooo much easier to put someone else's blocks into a cohesive group? Not that she needs much help. Did you see Nifty's Santa and the Orphans quilt?

Take a peek at this Skinny String quilt group project that Karen Griska is doing over on her Selvage blog. I am in love - I want to start cutting and sewing now. Besides the fact that I don't need to start on yet one more gnat brain quilt project, I don't have much of my fabric stash here.

Why is that? Because of the Move to America. Sweetie and I bought a house (after a lot of online looking and a house hunting trip) in Maryland. Most of our belongings and my fabric stash are there now and Sweetie is taking care of all the arranging and unpacking while the cats and I live in the sunshine, out of the way, for a few months. Sometimes I think I'd rather be there too, but eek, they got snow today.

I have been watching some tv. Some tv? Who am I kidding. Lots of tv, as always. Can't believe that my favorite new/newish program is Revenge. My husband says it's just a soap opera but HA! it moves a zillion times faster than a daytime soap, which would probably take 5,000 episodes to equal what we've already gotten in a season.

I love that show more than Once Upon a Time, which I'm enjoying but not as much. Is it possible that the folks on Revenge are doing a better job of destroying lives than the wicked queen on the latter? Hmm, I think it is. I love the story of Snow White and Charming (both versions) and wish we'd focus on that a lot more. Stop introducing new characters already - the most recent ep with Hansel and Gretel? Boring....

I wanted to love Grimm but I'm only tolerating it, and that's just barely. So dull and the main characters are leaden (hate the actors). Except for Monroe, the Big Bad Wolf. Him I love and that's why I'm hanging in there. I keep hoping that they'll bump off whats-his-name and his girlfrend and his partner and all the police side of things. But would that help? Why am I watching this?

I watched Alcatraz, but didn't even make it through the second episode. Dull and I am sooo sick of shows that jump back and forth between timelines. It's okay on Once because at least that's an alternate fairytale reality. But hated the gimmick on the now departed PanAm and on this one. Stuff going on in prison? So don't care. And I refuse to watch serial killers at work so that's another point against Alcatraz.

Speaking of alternate timelines, I'm still hanging in with Fringe, although I dislike this season.

Loving Project Runway All Stars. I'm rooting for Mondo just because I love him, but so far? Don't care for his clothes. I might actually like Rami's clothes the best. The recent dress for Miss P? Fabulously fun and that polka dot fabric was wonderful.

Feeling sorry for the chefs on Top Chef: Texas. Should only have chosen chefs who work in Texas style of cooking. And twice they've had to stay up all night to barbeque? Agh, I'd be in a coma. The most recent ep Fit for an Evil Queen was sooooo fun with all the freaky ingredients. There's definitely an evil queen vibe going on in the culture these days.

Been watching stuff on Netflix Instant too. Did a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer rewatching. Season Six (what can I say, I'm a fan of The Trio) was better than I remembered but Seven? bleck. Not sure I'm gonna finish it even though it does have a lot of Spike. I do love me some Spike. Just finished reading the comic books for Season Eight and oh how I wish we had more Buffy.

Finally got into Breaking Bad which I resisted for so long (a high school teacher turned meth maker? too dark!) because I kept hearing how fabulous it is. Oh yeah. Amazing, especially when you can just mainline several seasons at once. I've watched them all through season three, but not four. Such an example of how great characters are enthralling, even when not much is going on. I wish the producers/writers of The Killing and The Walking Dead would take a few lessons.

Sigh. okay, that's enough bloggy blog blog for now. See ya!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-06T11:10:00.002-05:00

Hi, guys. Happy New Year!

I finished this quilt top on the first day of 2012. It's made with a lot of the recycled clothing fabric that Nifty gave me when I was out in Seattle last summer, so right now the tentative title is Something Nifty:

So much fun to use fabrics that someone else has chosen. Nifty had a lot of orangy coral salmon colors in softer tones that I never buy much, not to mention the nifty polka dots and retro flowers. She has an inconceivable distaste for purple, so that came out of my recycled clothing stash, as did the yellows and bright pink. One of the fabrics that really helps pull all this together is a dark brown woven stripe with gold and orange in it. Really beautiful and rich, but not showing up here well.

I made this quilt with my scissors and a steam iron (and yes, the sewing machine), just sewing things together and trying not to stress too much. I didn't even use pins, although I know my machine has a tendency to sew unevenly and pull a bit.

I started by adding some of my own recycled clothing fabric to go with Nifty's - far more fabric than I ended up using. Made sure that I had dark darks and light lights - because contrast now is my big concern.

I cut a row from the fabrics I most wanted to use, just guessing at the width (roughly the length of my index finger). Cut a few pieces and threw them up on my design wall, to check I was on the right track and liked the proportions. I tossed a few fabrics out entirely and realized I needed more of the dark red.

I did all that to gain confidence, not to work on that precise composition. Would have been too hard. Instead, I just sewed bits together, making combinations that I liked. Lots of times I'd make the join just because the widths were the same. I made several rows of different lengths and found one I really loved and just used that length. Then it was a matter of joining rows to that initial one, walking off any extra length.

etc. I auditioned a row, stepped back to see how it looked. Auditioned several at a time, then sewed.

It was only at the end, the second to last strip that I added, that I ripped apart a few strips to create one with the colors I wanted. Second strip from the left in the final pic. (by the way, the picture above has the truest colors.)

Really loved working on this quilt. It went together in just two days and woohoo, I felt good. It was the first time I was able to sew without getting a migraine in months and months. I mean that literally. I've been getting what my neurologist described as cervical migraines. That is, problems in my cervical spine are causing them. And that area of my neck is stressed when I sew. But I'm on some new meds and doing better.

Yeah, so medical issues have been a problem this year. I have been diagnosed with Spondylitis by my rheumatologist and so far the meds I'm on for that haven't helped.

But anyway, I spent January 1st happily sewing with my good friend Kathy, who said that how you spend the first day of the new year reflects on the year you're about to have. I sure hope so, because it will be a great one. Hope it will be for all of us!

Ellis Island

2011-11-20T10:30:00.000-05:00

I finished my Legos top and love how it turned out. This is Ellis Island:

While I sewed, I realized I was making a quilter's Ellis Island. (Ellis Island was the port of entry into the United States way back before airplanes). You know, send me your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse - all those unwanted (fabrics). The name's a bit formal for this loud fun quilt, but still appropriate. There really are some uuugly fabrics in here...

I ended up going smaller than king-sized - this is 70x80. With all these shedding cats, any quilt on our bed will have to be washed and I'd like it to be easy to do. Plus, I was really inspired by a photo of Mary's bed with multiple quilts on it. Perfect since my husband and I completely disagree about how much warmth we need to sleep.

So sorry that these fabrics from Barb didn't arrive in time, but they will get into another lego quilt! some of these are sooo not ugly. love love the "hello" fabric in all sorts of different languages.

Not that we need warmth that often in Florida. But we'll be moving to Maryland next spring and I know they get winter "up in America" as my husband calls it. We've done some househunting and fingers crossed will get a house we love. Anyone here a member of the Columbia Faithful Circle Quilting Guild? I think that will be the nearest guild.

Back to the legos. These blocks are sooo much fun to make and so addictive. Seriously fun. Here are some fun one that others have worked on (sorry if I missed anybody - just let me know!):

Chawne's Compost Quilt top
Julies Dumpster Diving
Siobhan's Pensieve Quilt top
Diane's Chinese Coins in progress
Clare's ongoing monster (don't we all need Doctor Who!)
Sara's legos with One-Patches top. The borders are great too.
Joe Tulips legos with Flying Geese. she got distracted by zombies though... (well worth it!)
Lynley's not quite legos top
Kim's I-Spyish lego blocks

This is how I approached making the Legos quilt. Sara came up with a different method, just sewing a biiiig long strip amd cutting it in two and joining those lengthwise etc.

I have to get a blogpost done so I'm going to sign off now... See you all hopefully sooner than the last time! By the way, you can follow this blog by email (there's a doohicky over in the sidebar) so you'll know when I finally post again! That is, if you're not using a reader (which I highly recommend if you follow more than a couple of blogs).

Lily says, time for a nap!

Watch Me on the Quilt Show!

2011-10-03T09:45:00.000-04:00

Hi guys! Ya'all can watch my episode of The Quilt Show for free (woohoo!) October 3rd through October 9th by following this link to episode #907. You do have to sign up to be a basic member (which is free) to access the show.

That's me at the sewing machine walking Ricky Tims through UnRuly Letters. So funny to see me worrying about straight lines and rulers. I've changed in the last year!

Additionally, you can sign up to be a Star Member and access other shows for 20% off by using the coupon code: 182844782548

Be kind while you're watching it - remember I was incredibly nervous! Someone asked me if LAWS is hand quilted. Most definitely. You can see me there working on it, no hoop or frame.

Thank goodness I had that quilt with me to work on and keep my mind focused on. Really helped with the nerves.

Can I just say I love Alex Anderson. She is an incredible sweetie.

Enjoy the show!

p.s. all photos courtesy of The Quilt Show.

Love Anna Williams Style - woohoo!

2011-09-27T15:16:00.000-04:00

I finished LAWS (aka Love Anna Williams Style) the other day. I love it!

I haven't been able to take a really good photo - this is a little dark. But you get the idea. I did a bonehead move and washed the quilt in warm water. I had two boxes worth of Color Catchers AND some Synthropol in the washing machine, so I figured it would get out the bit of bleeding I was worried about.

Well, it did that - the purple onto pink is gone. But I ended up with a brand new, far worse spot of evil. That bottom right corner? The thin line of blue bled. Here's Lily, turning around to look at me after inspecting the damage (it's in the gold up above her head):

I didn't realize I fabric had bled until after the quilt went through the dryer. I washed the quilt again, this time using a tip I'd heard from my friend Kathy. I thread-basted Color Catchers directly onto the quilt in all the places I was worried about. This is what the block looked like AFTER the second wash (again with free-floating Color Catchers and OxiClean gel and Synthrapol) and dry:

Look at how well that worked. I'd have been soooo much better off if I'd done this the first go round in the washer. And used cold water. Sometimes I'm an idiot. Anyway, I really recommend the Color Catcher baste method for fabrics that are a concern. I didn't like doing it - the smell and feel of the catchers is icky - but worth it.

After the second wash didn't get rid of the bleed, I'm just living with it. Bothers me less all the time.

Before you even ask: I pre-wash all my fabric - except for the hand-dyes. That will now change for blue, purple and red. The fabric that bled is from the 90's, definitely not one from Dye Candy. I have had some Cherrywood deep purples bleed on me, though none in this quilt.

Speaking of LAWS and Dye Candy... Watched The Quilt Show episode #907 this morning with my husband. I didn't torture him with the whole thing, just the bits I'm in. Here's the trailer for the show:

I'm relieved. There are a few things that bug me about my performance, but overall, okay. Fun to see me hand quilting on LAWS way back in August of last year when we taped and now I've just finished it.

Some of the hand-dyes in LAWS are from Chris Daly of Dye Candy. I love her fabric, so I asked her to do the giveaway to the audience on The Quilt Show. I wanted certain colors (turquoise and olive) and she created them for me, which is pretty awesome. Right now she's having a giveaway on her blog, ending October 2nd. Chris just finished "Night and Day," the wonderful quilt she made as part of the Liberated Amish challenge.

I've pinned Night and Day on my Pinterest board Quilts with Words and Letters. I've got other great quilt boards (and Halloween!) on my Pinterest too. I've recently added a Quilts - Anna Williams -y board for Anna's quilts and those who've been inspired by her.

Have ya'all seen the Crumb Along at Jo's Country Junction? I really like how she's structured her "along." Great place to get started/motivated on crumb piecing.

Willy Wonky did a great post on Andrea Balosky, aka Nyima Llamo recently. Andrea's work is gorgeous.

There is a great quilt exhibition called Bits and Pieces going on in Salem, OR. There are some amazing quilts on exhibit including some by people I've met on the internet and in person. These are liberated unruly quilts, and boy, do I wish I could see them. Nifty's "Inspired by Anna" is amazing. Oh, and some of these fab quilters are HAND quilters, so definitely go see the show if you can. (through Oct 15th)

My husband is home for awhile. I'll be happy when he's not away this much. So will he.

Woohoo, the new tv season has started. Important to a tv addict like me. I enjoyed the premiere of Pan Am and the first Secret Circle held my interest. There were a few I couldn't force myself to watch after I recorded them including Persons of Interest and Free Agents. Yay, Fringe is back as are Community and Parks and Rec. I only started watching the latter two over the summer and am now all caught up.

Pokey says it's naptime

which reminds me, The Quilt Life magazine's October issue (with Rumspringa, halloween quilts, and Pokey) is available in all kinds of stores now. It's a fun issue!

Ya'all take care. Later.

At Long Last

2011-09-23T12:57:00.000-04:00

Finally, a blog post. First off, I taught a class on crumbs to the Martin County Quilt Guild. It was fun and a really good way for me to see how people take different approaches to making blocks. We put all the blocks together, so much fun to see how all the personalities can blend to make a really fun quilt. The green carpet gives it a groovy sashing:

I felt like a harpy because I kept trying to nudge folks into using fabrics with more contrast. I did contrast so poorly for so many years, that it's just really glaring to me now. I wasn't sure how much of that I should do in class and finally decided that was part of my job. To nudge though, I didn't actually smack anyone around or hide their fabrics...

I've received more fun ugly fabrics in the mail. These are from Patti. I love the bicycle fabric and think it's a hoot that she included an e-coli pattern. I gotta guess that's the bottom left print.

Up next is Michele. Woohoo! Elvis and florida fabric. but yes, those cherubs are pretty ghastly.

Marge included this fabulous Halloween fabric, which is making me happy. Hee hee hee, skeleton reapers and mummies.

Not only did Lynette send me wonderful fabric (some of which I actually LOVE and wish I had more of - not ugly at all) but she also made me a crumby heart and some O-O-V-E

From Kathy W. Love the rooster fabric and the cocktails! Wonderful selection, thank you.

Cheryl sent me some fabric too. I'm not sure but this hunting outdoorsy fabric may just be the ugliest fabric ever. Seriously awful.

The package from Cheryl actually arrived the day I finished sewing my lego quilt together. Woohoo on the top finish, but sad I didn't get to include any of this fabric in this quilt. Definitely another one though!

Thank you to everyone who mailed me fabric goodies. I love thinking of you as I work with them. Also thank you to those of you who've emailed me, to make sure I'm okay. So sweet of you.

I've actually been struggling the last few months. I don't want to go into all the details in this post, but I've been struggling with an inflammatory arthritis that I've had for years, it kicks my ass, and I still haven't gotten a doctor to diagnose. Fingers cross that is going to change shortly - I think there is now enough evidence for the diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis, a form of inflammatory arthritis, which I've had for 19 years now.

It's one of those horrible diseases that's hard to pin down, has remissions and flare-ups. I've been in a flare for the last while. I got a new symptom of tension headaches/ migraines which act up after I've been sewing or cutting or ironing for a few hours (or even less). Needless to say, not good for a quilter. That's on top of all the back and neck pain I've had for years.

But one of the worst things is the fatigue. It's not just that my body doesn't want to be active, but neither does my brain. Makes thinking difficult, and writing. Which is why fewer blog posts and emails etc. All I want to do is sleep, watch tv, play on Pinterest. Lately at least I've been enjoying hand quilting again, so that's an improvement.

Fingers crossed I get my official diagnosis when I visit the rheumatologist next Friday. And if I don't get it from him, the search will be on for another doc. I'm soooo tired of this. I'll try to not whine too much, but wanted to let you know what was going on.

Okay, back to quilting news. Got Gwen Marston's new book 37 Sketches. here's a sample page

It is a beautiful jewel of a book. Very finely made. I hate to say that I don't love all the quilts in it, because I really wish that I did. There's a lot of influence from Jean Wells and it is fun to see how Gwen takes that on board and plays with adding some of Jean's techniques to her own arsenal. I just wish it were Gwennier. But wow, love seeing all of Gwen's sketches together in the report that The Little Red Hen wrote about this years BIQR reatreat. wonderful.

My appearance on The Quilt Show is coming up shortly - September 26th for subscribers. You can see a slideshow of pics from the episode here. Ya'all will be able to watch that episode free for a week (October 3-9), but you do have to sign up as a basic member.

So the link to watch the show for free, from October 3rd to the 9th is here

So anyway, that's what's going on with me. I try to not whine too much, but I'll let you know how the doctor's visit goes.

cheers.

Lego Tutorial

2011-08-30T20:43:00.000-04:00

Here at last, the Lego Tutorial. I love playing with bitty pieces, fitting them together like a puzzle and that is reflected in my write-up. This is just one way of many that you could go about doing a quilt like this.

First off, here is the amazing antique quilt that provided the inspiration, courtesy of Lucy of Quilting with the Past:

Go check out her post with all the details and close-up photos. I have studied this quilt over and over again, I truly love it. The strip widths in this are small (only 5/8" finished), as are the blocks (6.5" finished). It's very color-coordinated with lots of cream, brown, navy, red and pink with a few hints of gold and lavender.

I wanted to use every fabric that came my way, no matter the color, and most of my fabrics are far far busier, so I increased the strip and block size.

Let's get started. Cut strips and scraps 1.5" wide. Cut randomly to lengths measuring between 1.5" (aka a square) and 10.5". My quilt is super scrappy and I quickly discovered I did not need many pieces of any one fabric.

I strongly recommend that you include solids, near solids, and blenders, especially if you are going to be using lots of busy/novelty fabric. Include lots of different sizes and kinds of patterns. Include dull fabrics AND bright ones. The more of a mix you have, the better.

I didn't use more than one strip (42") of a fabric. For an eye-catching fabric, cut three or more pieces. Ugly fabric or something you just can't stand? Cut short pieces.

Not that you necessarily need it, but I give you permission to fussy-cut the heck out of your fabric. I bought this fabric because it was Elvis and never use it cuz it is ugly. Instead of cutting a 1.5" strip off, I cut a wider chunk and then selectively cut it up to get pieces I liked (the name and face). Okay, more waste that way, but it's getting used! If there are boring or strange bits of the right width, they get thrown in too.

The little snowman face is a lot cuter than just his hat would have been

To avoid a murky quilt, include light lights - I used white-on-whites and several fabrics with a lot of white background.

and dark darks. I used black but a good navy, for example, would be excellent.

Start joining the pieces up. I divide my fabric into light, medium and dark piles and pick randomly. (I might pick it, but that doesn't mean I have to use it). I chain a whole big bunch at one time and then iron after every join. And yes I said iron. Forget delicate pressing, I'm ironing the heck out of this, with STEAM.

Rows that are long enough get cut to size. Theoretically that should be 10.5" since I'm making 10.5" unfinished blocks, but it's less stress to cut them a tad bit longer (I add an 1/8" but a quarter or half inch would work too).

And yay, leftover bits longer than or equal to a square get thrown back in to the piles o' legos.

I don't know how ya'all piece, but I can't sew a straight row. Some come out even curvier than others:

Occasionally I use my rotary cutter and slice off bits that are sticking out (I'm especially eager to do it when it's a fabric I hate) otherwise I leave them as is - no seam ripping.

Oh, and I'm sure these things would lay flatter etc if I pressed the seams open. But I don't. It takes too long and I burn my fingers. Plus that would probably make it less wonky, which is not a goal.

I make a few rows that are only two pieces. The longer the piece, the more attention it will draw to itself.

Here are a few rows made with three legos. I initially had a much bigger piece of the bright blue with red dots and discovered that it was waaaay too dominating. Might not have been bad if I had lots of that fabric to use all over the quilt, but I've only got a bit of it.

Even more rows that are four.

And five:

And a few with six:

I really enjoy the process of making the rows. I can play with adding a dull fabric next to a neon to see if that will tone it down (it usually does). Do I like this color combination? It's easy to divide a fabric if it isn't working.

Notice that each row is a bit different. I think of it as morse code: dots and dashes. Some rows are dot dash dot dash and others are dot dot daaaaash dot, etc.

I do occasionally throw in a single fabric but geeze it draws so much more attention, even when it's a quiet nondescript fabric. How easily can you spot the one here?

So where were we? Rows. I keep them together and definitely do NOT sort them by how many pieces are in each. I grab the first two off the pile and audition.

I find two rows that look good together and then another two. I'm not working on bigger blocks, just concentrating on two rows at a time. There are always a few rows that don't play well together and get set aside for the moment.

I pin before I sew the rows together. Probably completely unnecessary, but I do it anyway. I make sets of 4 and a few with 3.

Three? I know, I know. Using 1.5" strips to make a block that finishes at 10" I should only need 10 rows. Don't ask me, but my first block was too small, so I decided not to stress and just sew on that extra 11th row. That gives me more room to slice here and there making some rows thinner. But usually my blocks come out a bit big. I just cut them down to size. ***Use a steam iron or mist with a spray bottle first and iron (or press) the block flat before trimming ***

I love using a big square ruler although it would be better if it was the exact size of my unfinished block. This is a Creative Grids ruler and it is awesome.

Only once did my block come up too small even with the 11 rows. I trimmed a wee bit and threw in a shim of solid fabric. It's narrow and pretty unnoticeable (it's the 7th row down). I love how wonky the legos are in that area. This is a section from the border.

One of the wonderful things about this project is that I've learned that some fabrics work sooo wonderfully with just about anything. That gray with the orange polka dots? fabulous. And some styles are atrocious such as busy prints that mimic patchwork - the cherries mixed with black and white dots and houndstooth for instance (2nd row from the bottom). *shudder* Really busy stripes are horrible too.

The bright yellow with red flowers 70's print is an eye-catcher. I think the other fabrics with red, yellow and orange help to balance it out.

The blocks in the middle of the quilt are set with one block's rows going up and down and the next block's rows side to side (think Rail Fence). The top and bottom borders rows all run up and down. The side borders go side to side.

My quilt isn't finished yet, but this is how a quilt would look set 7 x 7. I still can't decide if I'm going to go for it and make it king-sized or go for a more manageable (and washable!) smaller size.

I said there are other ways to go about it. Chawne makes a big long strip instead of separate rows. She explains her method here.

And hey, I just found the wonderful Scrapbuster Random Railfence Tutorial Riel wrote up months ago. She's uses 2.5" wide pieces and makes one big strip too. I love how she used these blocks to make this wonderful scrappy quilt with a unifying sashing.

Lily says, have fun and get to work!

Any questions? Just ask.

Two Steps Behind

2011-08-19T20:00:00.001-04:00

I feel like I'm getting farther and farther behind. None of this two steps forward, one step behind. I'm one step forward and two behind these days. I've made some progress on the insane Lego quilt, finishing 49 blocks:

Still completely in love with it. Believe me when I say there are some truly ugly fabrics in here - I've been muttering and grousing about them and then when it's all put together I wonder what I was fussing about.

Julie's making progress on her lego quilt with flying geese and now Pokeytown Kim has joined us as well. Anyone else?

I've received more uglies/olds/boring/just-get-it-out-of-here fabrics in the mail. Since I just mentioned Kim, here's her contribution:

Next up, Beth S's fabrics, shown with a hint of Habibi. ugh, shamrocks and teddy bears. I had fun fussy cutting the soccer players to get lots of feet!

Jill I. wrote she was excited to find the faces fabric (rather Andy Warhol-esque) and bought four yards of it - her friends that she was crazy. I understand though - I think it's awesome. Trying to convince myself to cut some of it off, cuz I'm tempted to keep it for a different ugly project in which I would leave it whole.

Sewkalico Karol-Ann sent these all the way from the UK. Yeah, kinda bland, but I love the little sheep!

Hey-Boo Lynn's group included the incredibly florescent fish and fabulous purple cabbage.

PrettyMade Nina sent these fabrics and the sweet heart all the way from Finland. I happen to love love the big bold flowers and the ?bee toys? I'm guessing those are kiwi birds in the corner and can that possibly be a kiwi-human hybrid playing football???

And for my fellow geeky quilters out there, Nina is one of us. She loves Doctor Who as well - woohoo! (Can't wait for it to start back up - not long now!)

Bumblebeans Victoria was mean to me. Aaagh. That hideous dark plaid with the roses will be awesome in a bugly quilt someday - I'm saving most of it for that.

Robert sent me two of his handmade Christmas stockings in addition to loads and loads of scraps. Love the tiny skeletons on blue. Are those turtles wearing roller skates???

Completely Cauchy Chawne is cutting up strips to make an insane quilt of her own (woohoo!) and kindly sent me some legos. There are some gorgeous fabrics in here! (Does that count as cheating?) Love the kitties and woohoo a sock monkey.

Thank you all so much!!! That's all I've received as of today. Hope I haven't forgotten anyone. Gotta run. I leave you with a pic of Pokey and a magazine that just happened to arrive yesterday:

Since I just got my subscriber's copy in the mail, I figure it will be two weeks before the magazine hits store. Ya'all take care.

Coming Soon

2011-08-16T13:25:00.000-04:00

Woohoo! Rumspringa is on the cover of The Quilt Life magazine this month!

yay! That's what Rumspringa was doing up in Knoxville at the AQS show - it was hanging in the magazine's booth. I haven't seen it, but they even wrote a pattern for the quilt. As a bonus, there's a photo of little Pokey too. And wait, there's more, just look in the table of contents:

Creature feature by Irene Berry
Frightfully funny, macabre in a playful way—Tonya Ricucci’s Halloween quilts

It was made to be. They were doing an issue on words and it happened to be in the October issue (even if it does come out in August).

I'm waiting by the mailbox. Not just for my copy of the magazine and for more incoming ugly bits of fabric, but also for Gwen Marston's new book, 37 Sketches. A quilt in the book:

Gwen's description:

It will be available for purchase the end of August, or early September. 37 Sketches is both an artfully designed and beautifully made book. It shows my new work built on the idea of exploring the elements of design by constructing small studies, which I quickly began to think of as sketches. I began to see these sketches in much the same way as a painter does in using sketches to explore technique and to work out color and composition ideas. These pieces are abstract compositions, worked primarily in solids. Constructing these 37 sketches provided me with a valuable and expedient way to explore new technique, color, and composition. I explain my process for making these small studies using my liberated, improvisational methods, of which many of you are very familiar, and discuss how the experience of making this series of sketches was like taking a crash course in design.

Whee. You can buy 37 Sketches directly from Gwen. She also has a new entry in her ongoing series about hand quilting. I had no idea there was a difference between quilting on and off grain.

And yes, I'm definitely getting more uglies etc in the mail. Some more ugly than others. I'll post pics soon as well as a quick tutorial on how I'm putting Legos together.

Speaking of my busy mailbox, I want to give a quick shout-out to Cherrywood Fabrics. I recently used a gift certificate and didn't spend the whole amount. I suggested they could use up the $6 by sending me bitty bits cause I liked small pieces. They sweetly threw a scrap bag into the box:

whee! I love their fabrics but I'm so sad they're no longer making Raspberry or Turquoise (good thing I bought 6 yards of the latter when I found that out). I do like the recent addition of Lime and the Mustard that I just got is gorgeous.

Yes, I know there is more to blog about - there always is - but I need to make soup (Sweet Potato and Kale - I'm experimenting) and sew and take photos and do laundry and love on kitties...

Older version of Legos on the design wall and no, Pokey doesn't actually drink Guinness. (I've been breaking my husband's cardinal rule of nothing but beer in the beer glasses.) It's easier for Pokey to get her head in this glass to drink ~~her~~ my ice water. Ciao ya'all.

Yet More Ugly

2011-08-11T15:46:00.004-04:00

Ugh, I've gotten so swamped (having too much fun) that I am waaaay behind on posting photos of the uglies/bored with/too busy fabrics that have been arriving in the mail. I honestly have stopped opening up the packages cuz I don't want to get things mixed up and not know who sent what.

Diane S sent these, which she says aren't all ugly, just some she's tired of. I think she knew I'd love the stuff with words so she made sure to include those. And whee, the fruit - kiwi!

Helen B sent these. Some of these ARE ugly, including the one in the lower right - it made me cry when I saw it. Not because it's ugly but because my mom used to have that fabric. I kept little of her fabric after she died back in 1993. I wasn't interested in using those particular colors and tacky ugly prints from regular old fabric stores (instead of the more expensive quilt shop fabric I favored). Foolish me.

Ramona B's. I like the paisley print, but yeesh that Southwest intensively colored IS hard to use.

Erin Vesuviusmama. Oh yah, uglies here! I really do dislike a certain type of floral - they always read as horrible to me.

Mary G's. This set of strips made me so happy, thinking of my friend Linda whom I quilted with in the early and mid-90's. She had that flying pigs fabric and a couple of the other ones too. Hmm, Mary was smart and offloaded some of her millenium fabric. sigh.

Cathy K sent a huge bunch of fabric that I wasn't even able to display completely. Definitely a hideous fabric with teddy bears in tennis clothes and eek, teddies in clown costumes. And Cathy intentionally sent me sunflowers too.

Someone had asked if I was getting duplicates and I hadn't then. But then this batch showed up with two of the same milleniums (which had foreign languages all over it - woohoo!) and flags. Still with all this fabric that's pretty amazing.

Pokey came to sleep right in the middle of Cathy's strips. I love (in a serious love way) this pink fabric with children's storybook characters - I am NOT cutting it up.

Yes, I've been laying out the strips on the white lid of a bin. There are some fabulous colors in here - look at that intense 70's green.

Mad-Eye Lily getting in on the action too. I've been cutting up some of my own fabric too, to put in my quilt and to share with whoever else wants to make a Legos quilt.

I'm showing quilts at the Martin County Quilt Guild tonight. Bibi and Pokey slept here on a big pile of quilts for a good part of yesterday. Those are hideous black and white pillowcases protecting the real stuff - except for the one at the bottom which is a back.

I'm a bit nervous about doing this presentation, but at least I'm prepared. I just got the binding finished on LAWS and now I have to go pack my suitcase. Wish me luck!

So Much Socializing

2011-08-09T12:52:00.000-04:00

I've been doing way too much socializing and not enough blogging, obviously. Last Thursday, sewing day at my house. That's my friend Kathy sewing at her Featherweight, and of course Pokey helping me out.

Bibi jumped up on my lap to get some attention so it was a perfect photo op. Love Pokey's ears laid back...

Lily at least turned around, Pokey's only got one eye open, I'm making a face and have a firm grip on Bibi's head - yay, family portrait.

My friend Susan is in town from Cairo. I loved living there, but I'm glad we're not there now. We've been driving around looking at real estate for her and eating some fabulous food. Susan brought me some of the scarab beads I love so much. I want to use these in a mosaic someday.

In fact, I'm going to lunch with her in 5 minutes so I have to run. A last look at Legos.

Thanks for the uglies that have appeared in the mail. ya'all are wonderful. yes, I'll let you know more details about how I'm making this. Meanwhile, Julie is making her own version with Flying Geese and it is awesome. She also blogged about it at the UnRuly Blog, so check that out too. Later, dudes.

Anyone Else?

2011-08-03T12:38:00.003-04:00

So glad ya'all are having fun with this quilt too. whatever the heck it's called. So far nothing has locked into place so I'll just call it Lego for now.

A block showing cupid fabric that Kim sent me ages ago, plus some other fabrics that should look familiar from the last few days.

An envelope in the mail yesterday from MC. Sorry the pictures turned out so lousy - late afternoon sun. I love the light colored bits in here - I really need those for this quilt. More busy florals (not made by Kaffe). oh yeah. And look the mysterious Howler as well as Habibi:

Thank you, MC! great letters and heart too!

One reason to start this quilt was to get fabric off of shelves, cut them up (10.5" squares for backs plus 2" squares plus these strips plus food for the crumb bin) and I've barely dipped into those. sigh, isn't that how it always turns out.

Anyway, I may still give it a go, esp if this does end up a king-sized quilt. So while I'm cutting strips, should I be cutting extra bits? Anyone else want uglies/unwanted/boring/dated bits from me to make their own Lego quilt (Inchworm quilt? Inch Madness?)

maybe this will give me incentive to DO it and not just talk about it.

ya'all take care. we have a lightning storm going on so time to sign off.

Clowns?

2011-08-02T13:59:00.002-04:00

What do I name this quilt?

With a Little Help From My Friends springs to mind but too long and unsurprising. My husband calls it the Lego Quilt, but I'm thinking that's a better name for the technique. Inch Madness? Ugly Uglies? Lost My Mind? Clowns? (Clowns??? read on, dear friends)

Rather ridiculous how much I love this quilt. I obviously must be having fun cuz I been sewing like crazy. Oh, did you figure out where my inspiration came from? Here's another clue: I've pinned the antique quilt in my Pinterest quilting board. Go and look because there are some amazing quilts to see.

On to fabric. I stole these from my friend's bin o' crumbs. When were Dusty Pink and Williamsburg Blue so popular? Early 80's? I remember this color combination everywhere, including cutesy country kitchen stuff like geese. Or was that just my house?

Okay, I just got back from a tangent, trying to find a website with photos of popular home decor styles throughout the decades. I came up with nada. Anybody? Anybody? Buehler? (and that blast from the past was brought to you by 1986).

I've received more uglies etc in the mail. First up, I think these are from Heidi B in Germany. Am I right? hope so. The dull sickly green on the far right spreads sadness to whatever its next to.

Next, Linda D and Julie P. I haven't used these yet cuz they just got here yesterday. More blasts from the past. Look at the selvage - Northcott Silk Inc - that is old fabric. But you know what, it really does feel silky, especially compared with others I've been using. Sunflowers - gah. Always hated that trend. Don't remember when that was from either. The hideous green? One of my new favorite colors.

Lucy D sent fabrics neatly stacked. Whilst I admired all the fabulous surprises, I was interrupted. What? Pokey and Bibi couldn't possibly be interrupting.

Okay, I can't resist those blue eyes - Pokey can have a head rub. Uh oh, look out for the Clowns - one of the ugliest, funniest fabrics I have ever seen.

Agh, there's another one. (ooh, and Hershey's Kisses - mmmm)

I used the Clown fabric in a single strip. They're staring at you now

I shouldn't say that - my husband will refuse to sleep under this quilt. (Never Sleep Again as a quilt title or does that sound too Freddy Krueger?) Yes, I'm considering making this a king-sized quilt. Am I insane? Just in case though, I'm not sewing them all together yet...

Last but not least, Kat K-B sent strips, many of which can in no way be called ugly. I think that was cheating! (but I'm happy nonetheless).

Thank you so much to everyone who sent fabric - love it. I gotta wrap this post up now, even with bazillions of things left unwritten. Time to take little Pokey to the vet for her weekly saline infusion.

P.S. if you have asked, but not received, my mailing address it means you are a no-reply commenter. (or I'm an airhead. possibly both are true). Please send me an email or comment again and inc your email. Later, ya'all.

Ugly Fabrics?

2011-07-26T22:44:00.002-04:00

Hi guys. This is just a quickie post. I wanted to show you what I've been up to with the uglies. This photo is a little misleading because there are two different projects on the wall. My blocks are the ones across the top and my friend Kathy has two Spiderweb blocks there too. I think they look amazing together. Click to biggify.

Here is a close-up. There are fabrics in here that I consider ugly or boring (as did the folks who mailed some of them to me) as well as some fun, lively and and gorgeous prints. But which are which? hee hee hee.

I'm using 1.5" strips but since I'm getting 11 rows in a 10" finished block, I know that they don't all measure 1" finished. Yes, I like little pieces. And no, I'm not strip piecing any of this. Just joining lots of little pieces and loving it.

The quilt I'm making was inspired by an antique quilt posted on a blog years ago. Any guesses? One hint: the quilt was photographed in a quilt shop in The Netherlands. I'll tell you more another time.

Thanks to those who've sent me uglies etc. Some of these fabrics I completely love.

Here are some fabrics I already had. Do you recognize some of these, Kathie B?

These came from Synthia, Carol E and Grass Roots Quilting Sharon. Synthia, I found these florals ghastly as well. eesh. Sharon, I LOVE these, but I can see how they're hard to work with.

Janet R and Roz sent these. I love the little cowboys on orange! and the horrible little white flowers on purple.

These were gifted by Kathy in FL, Stitching Hands Kristin, Rene (with an accent above the last e) and NiftyQuilts LeeAnn. I find the "egyptian" fabric particularly egregious - it looks greek to me and those aren't heiroglyphs.

I've gotten all of the above in the quilt already. But uh oh, I got two more packages in the mail! (that's a surprised whee oh boy! uh oh, not a bad uh oh). Viv M sent these - some are beautiful and look much better in person than in the photo.

QuiltMom Anna wins the prize for the ugliest uglies. Seriously. Check out the middle of the top row. A bilious mix of yellow, orange and green next to Raggedy Andy. eeeeek. I gotta make a block with just these.

I know I should have written a post all about the remarkable time I had in Sisters and Seattle (which I completely did) but I have to get a post done about this so everyone can see what the uglies are up to. And I know, they're not all uglies. Some are just plain grim and sad. or incredibly outdated. And sometimes you just need to use up your stash.

When I first started quilting, I cut strips off of every new fabric that I bought. and then they sat around and I never used them. So 20-some years later, these guys are finally getting used:

I just wish I hadn't gotten rid of so many fabrics (and strips) I considered ugly. I have really fallen in love with oddball, hard to use fabrics. Have I convinced any of ya'all?

I'm still taking donations of 1.5 to 2.5 inch squares to strips. and No, they don't have to be long. Just sending me bits is good. I'm up for a challenge!

I got two baby kitties on my lap, so gotta run. And so I don't get in trouble, a Lily photo:

Dye Transfer, News and Begging

2011-07-01T12:31:00.001-04:00

Hi guys. Wow, I promised to be a better blogger and failed spectacularly. Ya'll have to forgive me though because my husband is back in town for all too short of a period (some of which I won't even be around for) and that takes priority. The weather has been pretty miserable for him, rain and gray skies. Not even cooling rain - it's hot and humid.

In my last post I mentioned the dye transfer on my LAWS quilt. Here's one of the blocks in particular where it is noticeable, the purple in the L moving over into the pink (click to embiggen):

Some of you commented about Color Catchers. Oh, believe me I love those and use them lots. When I'm washing a finished quilt I'll put two boxes worth in. My friend Kathy has heard that you can thread baste a Color Catcher onto a problem area of your quilt and that will help. sigh.

Speaking of LAWS - I finished all the hand-quilting this week. Woohoo! Finished the quilting on my One Patch with Strings too (I'd set it aside to work on LAWS). Now to get the bindings on.

Onto the news: Season 9 of The Quilt Show has been announced. Yours truly is featured in ep 907 which debuts at the end of September. We'll get a special code so ya'll can watch that one for free for a week, but take a look at that list and maybe subscribe to the whole thing (if you haven't already).

Anyone going to the AQS Quiltshow in Knoxville this month? (Holy cow, this month? How did it get to be July already?). If so you'll be able to see my quilt Rumspringa, fingers crossed. I'd love for you to take a photo of you (and friends) standing in front of it waving at me and then post it somewhere or email to me. That would be a hoot.

Meanwhile I'm getting ready to go to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. I get to spend time with LeeAnn of Nifty Quilts and then we'll head down for Quilters' Affair along with a bunch of her Rebel friends. I'm hoping to spend time with Jessica and Kristin and hopefully bump into Bonnie. Anyone else going?

Now we come to the begging portion of this blog post. I would love if some of ya'all could send me fabric:

Type: ugly or outdated, or boring, what-the-heck-was-I-thinking, I'm-tired-of-having-this-in-my-stash fabric.

How much: 1 1/2" wide - any length from square up to 11" long
2 1/2" wide - any length from square up to 11" long

Either width works, don't need the same fabric in each.

I would also love some letters (which can be left as is or completed - scrappy log cabin-style - as 5 1/2" blocks) that include somewhere in them the kind of fabric I just mentioned.

very scrappy capital letters: L,V, H, X and some E's and O's (I need more of the latter two letters than the others). These should be basic beginner letters (no fancy fonts).

wonky heart 5 1/2 blocks. You can use the Crumby Heart Tutorial here.

{updated to add: I don't need everyone to send all of that, seriously. Just five short strips of ugly fabric would be fab, for instance. or a single letter....}

Sorry I can't tell you what this is about. If you want more details, just email me or put it in the comments. Also, I've really noticed that people tend to use more packaging than needed. Lots of times a business sized envelope or craft envelope work out great.

I've recently discovered the fun of Pinterest. (Haven't tried it? Well go see Tonya's Pinterest.) It's really brought home to me the need for including watermark information on photos. (Darn you iPhoto for not including that capability!)

I'm going out to lunch with my sweetie so I need to wrap this up quick. Later!

UnRuly Blogger

2011-06-15T14:26:00.000-04:00

Yes, I admit it. Bad blogger, bad. Sorry for the unannounced blog break, but I just wasn't feeling it. I've been sewing and working on secret projects - stuff that I can't share right now. You'll see little hints here and there but that's it.

I've been playing with some of the fabric that The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild gifted me (I squealed when I opened the bag and found eyeballs):

The guild gave me a gift for the kitties too: a compressed catnip ball. Just like little kids, they had fun with the packaging:

Here's something new to show you. I discovered artist Len Peralta and had him create the UnRuly Quilter with Scissors (as shown with Pokey):

I got it through the Monster by Mail project. I've never worn a miniskirt in my life but the teeth are accurate. hee hee hee. You can see more monsters here including a couple of knitting zombies. So far I'm the only quilter!

Here's a teaser. Gwen Marston is really excited about this:

I'll tell you more when there's more to know.

I continue to handquilt LAWS. I'm getting closer to done but I'm really bummed out that a couple of the hand-dyes (purchased way back in the 90's) are ALREADY bleeding onto adjoining fabric. I think I might have to boil (okay, just wash with really hot water) this quilt with Synthrapol when it's finished. Anyone ever try that?

One thing I'm not working on? Anything for the Text and Textiles exhibition that I mentioned in the last blog post. Just not enough time. I hope some of ya'all are doing it though.

Obsessing about Doctor Who. I've watched and rewatched a number of episodes and had to hunt down and read theories on what the heck is going on. All so cool. woohoo! I was pretty sure of who River was, but totally nailed it at the beginning of "A Good Man Goes to War." I want a spin-off of the Silurian Detective Agency in 1880's England.

If you're sure you wouldn't like Doctor Who but are willing to give it a try (that was me back in January) watch the episode "Blink" and then decide if you're intrigued enough to watch more. Fabulous episode and it's a stand alone.

Ya'all take care and I'll try to be better about posting. I leave you with a photo of Bibi investigating:

Text on Textiles Contest

2011-05-24T18:39:00.000-04:00

International Quilt Festival in Houston is having a contest for THIS year called Text on Textiles. Before I include some of the details, note the part that says no part of the quilt may be published in BLOGS. So you gotta keep it secret.

An international juried and judged exhibition of quilts

Explore the use of text in this contest and exhibition from International Quilt Festival. Entries are quilts that speak to the theme. Any techniques—piecing, appliqué, embroidery, photo transfer, wholecloth and/or manipulated fabric, etc.—may be used as long as they are appropriate for the quilt (consisting of three layers) and the theme. Quilts must be made specifically for the contest and must not have been published in books, calendars, magazines, newsletters, websites, blogs, or any other form of publication prior to November 2011.

Each work must measure at least 48 inches (122 cm) and no more than 92 inches (234 cm) on each side.

Registration is now open. The last day to register is July 1, 2011.

Me again. Eek that's not much time. Last year there weren't any UnRuly Letters. How about this year?
More info is available here.

Love and Lily

2011-05-13T21:05:00.000-04:00

For months I had my quilt Rumspringa hanging up on the wall directly facing the front door. Figured it would look great to whoever comes to visit if that's the first thing they see. Well, to heck with that - I want to enjoy it myself! So I moved it up on the wall, next to the tv and directly facing the recliner. Ah, now I can enjoy it all the time.

I am so behind on blogging so many things, such as my wonderful teaching trip up to the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild and how I finished three quilts and then unfinished one of them, and wanting to post a tutorial on Playing with Scissors. Agggh, too much. Plus, I spent the whole day sewing - been a long time since I really got going like that (thank goodness the horrible allergies that were making my life miserable have subsided somewhat).

So instead, I'll try to hold ya'all over with kitty photos. You can see the beautious Lily as well as some of my freehand fan quilting:

This came up the last time that I showed this rug. No, I didn't make it myself. It came from Egypt and was made by the women of APE (a horrible acronym that stands for the Association for the Preservation of the Environment ) located in what is commonly known as Garbage City. I only know of one place to buy it in the States and that's from the fair trade store Ten Thousand Villages. It's called a Shaggy Rag Rug, but unfortunately is only sold in black and white with a little bit of color.

Hope that tides you over. Ya'all take care.

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative Quilts

2011-05-04T21:22:00.000-04:00

I've been admiring the work of Andrea Balosky for sometime now - seeing mentions of her on the blog Wonkyworld and elsewhere. Andrea made a series of small doll quilts, with hand quilting. I love them and even bought the Small Wonders catalog, even though I wasn't lucky enough to see the show.

So when I found out that Andrea had six quilts available at the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, I dithered a bit (almost too long) and then sprang into action and purchased Confetti Sandwich:

It's a win-win situation buying from AAQI. I donate to a worthy charity AND get a fabulous quilt in return. Woohoo. Okay, and the real reason I just had to get it? The Bart Simpson in me loves the name Mungpoo, which is where Andrea lives in India. Mungpoo, Mungpoo, Mungpoo. There is a wonderful article on the AAQI blog about what Andrea had to go through to send her donations.

Having it inspired me to make a quilt for the AAQI myself. I started with UnRuly 9-Patches but I ended up making it too big. So I added a border and I'm going to keep it for myself. Although now I'm wondering if that border is strong enough. That's my quilt on the right. I made my friend Kathy try one too and look at the fabulous job she did. This was all without rulers or measuring.

Kathy surprised herself by enjoying making this quilt. And wheee, look at the red she added - makes her quilt so much more dynamic than mine. That fabric is auditioning as the binding.

So since the 9-Patch was too big, I made a One Patch. What do you think? I've even got it quilted already.

It was all made ruler-free. It's a mix of Cherrywood, hand-dyes, and regular solids. looks very art quilty to me, so I wanted to see what a similar quilt would look like made with repros. I wanted it to look like a child's first quilt, made for her doll from many many years ago.

Whaddaya think of this one? Did I succeed in making it look antiquey? Would you ever have guessed I made this? Think it's worthy of donating to AAQI?

Would anyone be interested in doing something similar? I'll do a Playing with Scissors UnRuly Challenge for AAQI and give ya'all some guidelines etc (over on the UnRuly blog) if you are.

Ugh, I've run out of time to add anything more to this post. I'll try to get the next one done sooner!

Ya'all take care!

P.S. I've somehow turned into a crazed Doctor Who-phile (Whovian???) this year after forcing myself to watch episodes during the BBC America Who Year's marathon. I once read that you had to try a food nine times before you could say you hated it. I'm not willing to go that far (tuna casserole? anchovies? liver?) with food, but I know so many folks whose opinion I respect and have great geek creds that I just had to force myself with this show. I had it on in the background while I sewed and when I was really bored I didn't finish the episode (daleks, zzzzzzzz). Fell in love when I saw the episode "Voyage of the Damned," then "42" and "Blink" nailed it. It might just be my favorite ep ever.

Can't stand the first season of the reboot (except for the WWII creepy face mask children eps). I hate Rose, her mother and Mickey, really like Martha Jones but wish she weren't so mopey about the Doctor. Donna was great but I love love love the current Doctor and Amy and Rory. Anyone want to come and discuss the show with me, become my friend on Facebook! I don't want to give anything away here about the AWESOME latest episodes, The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon. The Silence? So darn creepy.

okay, that's really it this time. cheers!

One Step Closer to UnRuly

2011-04-22T20:24:00.000-04:00

I finally did it. I ditched the rulers and am making a quilt using only my scissors and rotary cutter (and sewing machine and thread and fabric - did I need to add that?). Woohoo getting more UnRuly all the time. At first I admit it was scary. But now?

Love, love, love it. Very freeing.

There are other quilts and backings and bindings class write-ups that I should be doing. For a few weeks there I froze. Couldn't figure out which one to do, struggled, didn't have enthusiasm for any of them. And as a result did nothing.

Finally broke myself free from the stagnation by rebelling.

I've been wanting to go ruler-free for awhile, but haven't had the courage. Okay, I tried it once on a very small One Patch Quilt - and I even hand-pieced that one. But I didn't push any further.

(Yes, I am a hypocrite. I'm always trying to convince quilters to get liberated, to try the UnRuly Letters and get wonky, and yet here I am trapped inside a box as well. Maybe a bigger box than some folks, but a box all the same.)

You know how I love Anna Williams. I read that first article about her in 1997 and there was a photo of her working with scissors. That was the first time I ever heard of a quilter working that way. I wasn't even tempted to try it back then - waaaay more than I could handle.

I finished this quilt top last spring: Love Anna Williams Style (aka LAWS) inspired by one of Anna's quilts.

but is it truly Anna Williams-style? sigh. Not completely. I used my rulers. I wanted straight lines to sew with, even though I wasn't measuring.

But this time? I'm going all the way, baby! or at least, getting closer...

Okay, I'm still using a rotary cutter, cuz I like it and it's fast, but no rulers, no perfectly straight edges. um, well, that is.. okay I'm not cutting any NEW strips but I am using old strips that were cut perfectly straight. c'mon. I've got lots and lots and lots of fabric already cut. I gotta use it! That's all the solids, hand-dyes and Cherrywoods. Of course I have to wrestle them away from Lily first.

I'm also using shirts. I've got lots and lots of them and for the most part they're not already cut into strips.

I did quite a few joins where I laid two pieces of fabric right-sides up and then cut through them both, with a gentle curve or two, so that they'd match up. That's not how Anna would do it, I'm sure. But it was a place for me to start where I felt comfortable. I suspect I'm still straightening out too many edges, but I am getting looser as I go along. Baby Steps.

This love block in particular was inspired by Nifty Quilts. She's working on a quilt with 52 virtues (you're all invited to play along and make your own Virtues Quilt.

But Anna and Nifty are not my only inspirations.

The talented Victoria (who blogs as Bumble Beans) made an incredible ruler-free quilt back in 2009. I've learned so much from reading the WaveRunner Tutorial even though it's taken me way too long to try some of the techniques. She shows cutting and sewing wavy UNMATCHED strips (ie, those gentle curves don't curve the same say) and then steam ironing the heck out of them.

It looks so much scarier than it is. Really and truly. In fact, it is way fun. Great place to dip your toes in...

Another fabulous quilter I admire is Sujata of The Root Connection. Last year she made a wonderful quilt with, as she calls them, "bubbles and bumps." Using only scissors, she added and subtracted fabric to create this quilt, very intentionally letting the fabric speak to her and not worrying about flatness. Whee!

But the last straw that finally pushed me over the edge into ~~madness~~ freehand cutting? I discovered Sherri Lynn Wood's blog Daintytime. Whee, another kindred spirit. I've read her whole blog and it pushed me into action. I highly recommend her Mod Mood Quilt Along and in particular the posts about cutting fabric without a ruler, sewing together the puzzle pieces, and curve piecing.

Additionally, I love her Passage Quilting (insert little trademark symbol here) in which she sews (and teaches others to sew) together meaningful clothing items. Very moving. And wow, daring. She goes much farther than just using cottons. (Anything but leather? Wow, that is adventurous.) She has a Mini Passage Quilt Tutorial and it is wonderful. It really inspired me to use the curves of the shirts, instead of just hacking them into straight strips and squares.

So are you all inspired to try freehand cutting and piecing too?

That is enough for one post. Gotta get ready to watch Fringe... Too bad we're not going to get any more of Anna Torv channeling Leonard Nimoy. She did it fantastically.

Later, gators!

I'm Still Here

2011-04-19T07:46:00.000-04:00

Once again I have neglected my blog and am now so far behind I barely know where to begin posting. aagh. I want to write a thoughtful post about the project I am currently working on, but if I do that, I'll never get this written. So here's a hint of what I'm working on:

No, everything up on my design board does not go together. These are Mary C's Hallowistmas blocks

I love the jolly Christmas house set among the black and white tombstones and spooky mansions in particular. I also received a set of Hallowistmas Bordertown Houses from Julie. I fully intended to have fun making these houses but have to admit I haven't been able to get into the swing of it. ugh. So I'm going to push the deadline on that one for all of us. It will be easier to make these the closer we get to the holidays.

Speaking of which, wheeee more Bah Humbugness. I do believe I have all of the blocks now. These fabulous ones came in from Cherie, Marge and Amy.

I haven't laid out all the blocks for the quilt yet - I need to move furniture around in order to get the floor space first.

I squealed when I opened the package from Marge. Wheeeee more robot fabric. I'm absolutely thrilled.

Habibi loves the fabric too.

Alright, quick dip of the toes back into the blogosphere accomplished. Hopefully it won't be so long before the next post. Ya'all take care.

Ah Oui, But of Course

2011-03-29T13:46:00.002-04:00

I told ya'all that I was going to spread my fabric acquisition photos out over time. Too embarrassing otherwise. And you want to know what is worse? There's more out there. Must look away. Must look at pretty fabric I already own.

Here's Pokey modeling. You've seen bits of the buggy olive fabrics in previous posts, but not these two Paris prints. I'm a sucker for words anyway, and these are in French:

Definitely had to get this Paris map fabric. I love it, but it doesn't have my favorite area: Montmartre and the basilica.

Even more French-inspired fabric winged its way to me recently. The ever so sweet Jan of Be*Mused surprised me with Japanese fabric :

I get the feeling I need to put all the frenchiness into one quilt.

By the way, I didn't mean to make it look like my condition is so dire. I am not chair-bound, not by a long shot. Spending a whole day in the chair with Pokey? That was just indulgence and wanting to have her close by.

Watched The Bourne Identity last night. Oh, Matt Damon was so cute and young and I loved the interplay between him and Franke Potente. When the stars actually have charisma and the suspense stuff actually works? Heaven. So fun watching them race around Paris in the Mini Cooper - one of my favorite chase scenes ever.

Woohoo, Fringe has gotten renewed for a fourth season. Thrilled about that. It has gotten sooo good this season. But argh, now have to wait for new episodes. If you haven't tried it, read this and just give a recent episode a try.

Alright, I have to stop goofing off and do chores. Later.

Hum and Demo

2011-03-27T11:16:00.000-04:00

More wonderful blocks for the Bah Humbug! quilt:

From the top down, we have these wonderfully scrappy tropical feeling blocks from Beth, the humming hum, tiny bahs and wonderful sheep fabric (bahhhhhh) from Sandra, and Jen's wild bah and bug at the bottom.

Jen's practically been snowed in where she lives and meanwhile it's supposed to hit 90 here today. Remind me in July and August that I really do love living in Florida. Especially since the painters finished and took all the stinking plastic down and I could open windows, hurrah. Good thing because I was starting to get claustrophobic.

Yesterday I did two demos and some show and tell at the JaM Patch. I brought a variety of blocks to illustrate all the different directions you could take UnRuly Letters.

I think it went well. I actually felt relaxed and confident (what a difference from 6 months ago!). It helps that these were small groups and I wasn't up on a stage with a microphone. (eek. But I think I can do that too.) This was my first time ever sitting at a table signing books. Hmm, I must be an author after all. hee hee hee.

Is anybody reading this who was at the demos yesterday? I'd love to have you say hello in the comments. Actually, I'd love to hear from all (okay any of) the lurkers. Just say hello, maybe tell a bit about yourself.

You know why I'm thinking about that? Because I discovered a fabulous blog recently that I totally love reading. I went back and read through all the archives. Turns out she'd been lurking on my blog but never said hello. I only found her because I googled my name (that's embarrassing to admit).

The blog is Completely Cauchy by Chawne. I want to give you a warning before you go visit. She's fabulous, she's funny, and she's uncensored. If you are offended by seeing profanity written out, don't go. Otherwise check out her great word quilt featuring George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on TV. I love the quilt, I really do.

To hear the George Carlin riff, there's a good version of it here. I admit to using some of those words quite freely and using one of those words never. It makes me cringe and I don't even like looking at it. But it does make me think of my favorite joke on Arrested Development about Gob wanting to buy a boat called the Seaward, which you can see here. I just rewatched that four times - always makes me giggle.

Alright, I really am supposed to be getting chores done today.

Obligatory kitty photo:

ya'all take care

Red and White Quilts

2011-03-26T18:51:00.000-04:00

I have red and white quilt envy. How I wish I could see these quilts in person. The Quilt Show has produced an amazing video of some of the quilts on display in NYC this weekend at the Armory. Please please please, somebody publish a fantastic book with these quilts on big pages. Big, big book. Please.

I haven't even finished watching this yet, but couldn't wait to share it with you.

Monsters on the Brain

2011-03-24T18:10:00.000-04:00

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the previous post since I definitely had fun putting it together. We need something to smile about these days.

Our building is being painted, that's why we're all taped and papered up. I'm almost (just almost) embarrassed to be showing you this after reading blogs and seeing enormous mounds of snow.

It is windy here if that makes you feel any better. The plastic is making all sorts of noise and there is a particular tapping that is driving me nuts.

The electrical device? That's my TENS unit. It's supposed to help with the pain. It's a sensation like buzzing needles jabbing you (only not pointy painful needles) and people either love it or hate it. I'm a lover, although I'm not all that impressed with this little gadget. Two hours of battery life and then recharge for four.... Lily is not amused (and that's Howler looking up):

I've been soaking up the kitty love. Last Saturday I could not turn the news off. Little Pokey stayed with me the entire day, usually voluntarily. I definitely needed that warmth and love.

You know how if it's not one thing it's another? Dragging my poor sorry self around the house, my foot smacked into a case of canned cat food. Sigh. It really hurt for a couple of weeks. Stupid foot.

My recovery from surgery is going sooo slowly and I am quite cranky about it at times. The surgeon tells me it will be another 6 weeks before I notice a real improvement. Gah! I'm enjoying PT though.

Good news though. I received my registration info for the Sisters quilt show and woohoo, I got into the Gee's Bend quilters' workshop and lecture. Yay!!! I might even be mobile by then.

If you happen to be in the neighborhood, I'm doing a couple of demos on Saturday at The JaMPatch in Stuart, Florida. 11am and 2pm. Stop by, say hello, see some quilts...

Bah Humbug is wrapping up and I figured it was time for some more fun. The group project is: Hallowistmas Border Town. (Someone is going to have to come up with a better name than that.) You can read more about it here and here on the UnRuly Quilting Blog.

It's an idea I've been kicking around for years - Liberated Houses combining Halloween and Christmas. Why now? You know how monsterish I've been feeling. Meanwhile I still have my Christmas quilts up on the wall (had to keep them up for faux Christmas in February and then after surgery haven't been keen on laddering to get them).

See ya later

Transition Complete: I am a Monster

2011-03-23T14:38:00.000-04:00

See this wonderful fabric? Classic horror movie monsters acquired in one of my recent fabric acquisition sprees. Well, it's a good thing I like these guys because I am now one of them.

If the Bride of Frankenstein were actually pictured here, it would be my face you'd see. It all began innocently enough in 2006. I had a goiter in my throat. Disgusting word that, goiter. A biopsy of the goiter revealed cancer, so out went my thyroid. The swelling was sooo huge at first that it really did look like my head had been chopped off and replaced by a new one. Over time, the effect has diminished, but the scar remains:

In 2009, I had abdominal surgery and have a big old scar from my belly button down to where the top of my bikini bottom would be, if I were ever to wear a bikini (the odds of that? zero!). I am going to save your eyes the horror (and me the humiliation) and NOT post a picture of that.

Fast forward to now, 2011. I have a noticeable streak of grey in my hair reminscent of the classic Bride's although okay, she had streaks on both sides. It's modern times, baby, and asymmetry is in.

Last month I acquired a few more baby scars hardly worth mentioning. All of that not enough to make me a monster. But last week I got the pièce de résistance, the addition of electricity:

It's ALIVE!!!

Now they've sealed me into the condo so I can't go out and frighten the villagers.

Creepy, isn't it?

Mwa ha ha ha

More UnRuly Letters from Lajla

2011-03-22T20:12:00.001-04:00

Do you all remember Lajla? She's a wonderful Norwegian-Australian quilter who's made two previous UnRuly Word quilts which I shared in this post. Well she has made another pair of awesome quilts. She describes them as "use what you've got quilts." She only bought fabric for the backing - the rest all came out of stash. Both are machine quilted or else, she explains, they'd never be finished. Boy do I understand how that works...

First off is her four letter Word quilt - another take on using just four letter words like we did with Cake.

I love love love this quilt it is so joyous and exuberant. I asked her how she went about making it:

I had a list of words written down and decided to put GIVE HOPE together, somewhat fitting these days with all the drama unfolding around the world. Including Australia where we have had serious flooding this year. Started off with LOVE in the middle and just kept going, making one world at a time. Then I realised I would probably have to increase the size of the words as I went, or I would run out of words, and would maybe have to include the one word most people think about when you say 4 LETTER WORD........Some people look for it, even turning the quilt over to see if I have put it on the back! I sort of made this as a protest to how that word has become part of daily language, at least in this neck of the woods.

So I had to get my tape measure out; the quilt is 51" x 56" (kind of!) I only measured across the middle to be safe, my quilts are not guaranteed to be perfectly square (life is too short). LOVE block is 8 1/2" x 12" and CHAT letters are 7 1/2" tall (approx). WISH is next to PLAY and it is not a good contrast so difficult to see in photo. But as I said, I used what I had of fabrics, and I am not one to unpick either...

Unsurprisingly, I love her attitude as well as the quilts. I often list the size of my quilts along with an -ish tacked on at the end.

Here are a couple of close-ups. This is the center, so you can see how she created it medallion style:

I love this HELP. I'm sure Lajla used it in the sense of Help One Another but it looks like a Help Me! as the word goes sliding out of the block. Adds some humor.

This Home quilt is a sampler with houses, trees, hearts, cupcakes and mugs. Doesn't it just glow?

Lajla (shown here on a textile tour of India - my do I have envy) adds:

My quilts are pretty much just whacked together........Not much pre-planning, which lands me into trouble at times, or into a corner. Then I have to problem solve and get myself back on track. That's part of the fun! ... just tell people DON'T THINK TOO MUCH, go for it!

Thank you so much, Lajla, for sharing your experiences and quilts with us. I adore you!

Hope you all enjoyed this too. Pokey just brought a pompom - time to play.

Robots and Rocketships

2011-03-15T17:50:00.000-04:00

More of my recent fabric acquisitions. I had a blast (heh heh heh) finding robot and rocketship fabric. I'm really on that kick right now. There's also some alphabet in here too:

Take a closer look at the selvage:

Little rocketships - hee hee hee. Love it. The big robots and this particular fabric all come from Ingrid Slyder's Robotic line from Moda.

Here's a different batch which includes a couple of wonderful white fabrics with bright bits and a cool Day of the Dead cutout fabric.

I picked up my new glasses today. Self-portrait taken with the webcam in my laptop.

RayBan frames - woohoo. These look so much more me than the last couple of pairs of glasses I've had. I hate the small, narrow, rectangular frames that have been in style for the last, what, ten years? Yuck. I like big round plastic frames so that I can see more. RayBan also had some funny cats-eye glasses and I would have considered them if they'd looked good on me, but they certainly did not.

It's gonna take me a bit to get used to them. Feeling kinda seasick - it's always an adjustment.

I happened to mention to LeeAnn (Nifty Quilts) that I was thinking about going to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in July and she offered all sorts of enticements to ~~coerce~~ convince me to go. When someone offers to sleep on the floor to let you have their bed you know they have an incredibly generous nature and maybe really want you to come. So I've bought my tickets and sent in my registration for classes (for Quilters' Affair beforehand) and we'll see what happens. Not a big deal if I don't get classes since I'm get to meet so many folks I've only corresponded with for so long.

Mandatory kitty pictures. Habibi and Howler. Did I tell you Howler now weighs 24 lb? He certainly looks it in this photo:

Howler's too lazy to actually get up during combat operations:

Always love the big bushy tails. I don't think I've ever seen Howler do that. All the other cats, definitely...

I think I better be good now and work on those class write-ups I've been ignoring. Thanks for the feedback that ya'all gave me on it!

Class Homework

2011-03-13T13:20:00.000-04:00

Woohoo, I wrote up my biography (tweaking Kathy's version a bit) and actually included the fact that I'd written a book. yes, good call. Can't believe I forgot to mention that. I also had to submit a photo. I pinned The Margarita Quilt (still no binding) up to my design wall, put my camera on a tripod and snapped away. I coerced Lily into participating (initially she kept running away from me, but her curiosity got the better of her). Rather than use the timer I just stuck my arm out and clicked. Thought you'd be amused to see an uncropped photo:

I got an expensive haircut in preparation for this. For the last couple of years I've been going to the cheap places where you wait and I had one stylist who did a really good job. She left and my last two haircuts have been horrible. I felt ugly. So I decided it's time to start paying what a good haircut actually costs and go for it. In order to get the style I wanted, I searched online for "pixie haircut" and was amaazed at how many styles that actually encompasses. I found what I wanted with the Diablo Cody (screenwriter of Juno) haircut. I don't consider it hers, since this is how I've been trying to get my hair cut for years.
I also bought new glasses. Woohoo, so ready for that - I've hated these ones since I first got them. Anyway, I splurged and went for the new HD lenses which are supposed to provide better clarity and peripheral vision. I use my eyes quite a bit (don't we all), so I figure that's an area that's worth spending on. But it takes longer to grind these lenses so instead of one hour, think 10-14 days. I don't have them yet, but I'm excited!!!!

Is that all boring? Sorry. At least it's not me whining!

I got some fun stuff in the mail from Mary C. A hum for you-know-what:

A fun cat's head for Halloween:

and wheee, UnRuly Kitties:

Thank you, Mary!

You know in my last post how one of my favorite things is my TiVo? Well not today! It's refusing to start. Agh, it did this once before, about a month ago, but after several hours (and phone calls to customer service which did no good) it finally started working again. I decided that was just a blip and I didn't buy a new one. Agh. It's been several hours already and no luck. Life without tv? What will I do?

I'm glad I watched the new episode of Fringe last night. If you're not watching the show and you like sci-fi, then seriously, go rent the dvds, start with season 1 and realize that by the time the show hits season 3 it's really got it all together and is lots of fun. Just took them sometime with the world(s) building.

So after the successful biography writing session last post, it's time to set you guys on another homework task. I've been approached by several guilds to teach. It's one of those terrifying/exciting things. I need to have a professional write up of the classes I offer. So hard for me. Is that a left brain task or what. This is what I've got. What have I left out? What is it you'd really want to cover in a class. etc. Ready? Here we go.

UnRuly 4-Patch
An introduction to free-pieced letters. Weʼll cover how to piece just a few letters
and then practice them multiple times to really get the hang of them. We can do LOVE and if folks want to, itʼs easy to throw a few more letters in there too like I (LIVE) and an H and P (HOPE) and an easy HOME. This is a project that looks great in solids or completely and totally scrappy. Iʼll show different ways the 4-Patches can be put together.

Hugs and Kisses
Another practice and repeat project, Hugs and Kisses focuses on the letters O and X. Youʼll get really good at making them! The letters can then be put together in either an easy method (such as the 4-Patch) or more complicated, as in my Fruit Punch

An Overview of UnRuly Letters
Iʼll show you all the tricks you need to make every letter. I recommend working with two strongly contrasting solids. You wonʼt get a whole sampler done in a day, and probably wonʼt even finish all the letters, but youʼll have a great headstart.

Crumb Quilting
Anything goes to use up all your bitty scraps. Weʼll cover log cabin style construction, wonky hearts, easy houses, maverick stars and maybe even a few HOPEful letters.

Wonkytown
Wonky Houses aka Liberated Houses ala Gwen Marston. A free-pieced project that can be great fun using novelty fabrics.

Novelty Flower Pots
This is a design class where weʼll play with paper, scissors and fabric but wonʼt do any sewing. I have a love of Halloween which is why Iʼve made a booquet but this technique works great with a range of holiday novelty prints or something goofy like all cats.

UnRuly Halloween
We'll have fun making spiders, jack oʼlanterns, the letters BOO and a haunted house.

Biography

2011-03-11T01:00:00.000-05:00

I have to write a biography for an upcoming magazine article. The article part is exciting, but writing the biography is really hard for me. That's the work I was avoiding in my last post and well, I've managed to keep avoiding it.

I can talk/write for ages about things that I love like quilting, books, tv, my cats. But personal details about myself? Gives me the heebie jeebies.

So I've been trying to think of the autobiography that I would be happy with. I think it would go something like this:

Gwen Marston. Roberta Horton. Gee's Bend. Anna Williams. Susan Shie. Amish colors, simplicity, and quilting. Freehand fan quilting without a hoop. Bright, saturated color. String quilts. Cotton Crazies. Orphan Samplers. Firefly. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Jane Austen tv adaptations. Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. Cairo. Paris. Florida. My cats. Arrested Development. Tacky Refrigerator Magnets. Starbucks City Mugs. Sudoku. TiVO. Veronica Mars. Kolchak. Columbo. Fabric, fabric, fabric. Sunshine. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (must stop). Indian and Lebanese Food (not at the same time). Books. Quilting since 1988, liberated since 1996. Blogger.

I pulled out the journal I used to be really good at keeping (before blogging....). On January 25, 2001 one of my ideas was to make a quilt called "A Few of my Favorite Things" to include:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Go Spike). Tacky fridge magnets. Queen. English Breakfast Tea. The 11Thhour.com. DMB's Crash. Star Wars/Trek. Elvis Kitsch. Cobalt Blue Pottery. Risotto. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. Pitch Black. Aliens. Terminator/2.

There wouldn't be any more of an explanation. Just the list. I wish I had made the quilt. Would be fun to do one every ten years and see what's changed. I can't believe I left my English Breakfast Tea out of my current autobiography. Yeah, that has to go on there. Already rewriting me.

I have to drink about 6 mugs-worth (my big old Starbucks mugs) of Twinings or the day just isn't complete. By the way, I have managed to kick my diet soda habit. wooohooo. Now to stop the chocolate and junk food. One step at a time.

Anyway, I've got a job for ya'all. Write a biography of me. You guys won't get bogged down by silly things like the facts. Be creative. Ready? Set? Go!

And if you want some additional homework? I'd love to know a few of your favorite things too.

How did it get to be 1am? Well, I think I can finally go to sleep now. ya'all take care.

Work Avoidance with a B

2011-03-09T15:24:00.000-05:00

I freely admit that I write this post not to entertain you, but to avoid doing the work I'm meant to be doing. But okay, you might find some of it interesting anyway. First off, what's on my design wall?

I actually sewed something that I can show you on the blog! I made a letter B for Brenda, you can read more about it here.

I got some more fun Bah Humbugness in the mail. Ramona of Ramona's Handwork made the top one and 12 x 12'er Kristin LaFlamme made the lower big red Bah (probably in a brazen attempt to once again get me to link over to her blog. it worked!) Thank you both!

What am I avoiding you ask? Ack, I'll tell you about it another day since I gotta get to PT soon.

I know you need a kitty photo so here's Lily sleeping in her favorite spot on the top of the sofa cushion. I know it doesn't look like a sofa, but that's because I throw a sheet over it - so much easier to clean.

Lily sleeps here so often she's made a permanent hollow - kind of like Homer Simpson on his own couch.

Cheers.

Not More Fabric

2011-03-08T23:44:00.000-05:00

Over the last month since my knees surgery (knee surgeries?) I've been sitting a lot in the recliner icing. It's too awkward to do handwork. Instead of doing something relatively productive like watch tv or read books, I've been searching out cool fabric on the internet. danger danger danger. Didn't I say something about how I wasn't going to buy any fabric this year? ha hahahahahahahha. Yeah well, that didn't go so well. At all.

Now, I did give myself some outs. I did say I could buy Letters, Aliens, Robots, and Rollercoasters. And while you're putting the order in, you might as well get other fabric too... Rather than post all my acquisitions at once, I'm going to parcel them out in an attempt to not look like I've gone as crazy as I actually have.

I bought two colorways of the fabric that says Hello in multiple languages - I just wish they hadn't transliterated everything into our alphabet. Still cool though. and I love the reddish fabric in the middle that has passport stamps and place names: London, Egypt, Paris etc. couldn't resist that, now could I.

Some fun brights

Fun stuff. The third fabric over says Blast Off in big letters and then has a rocket with the countdown.

I have bugs on the brain (I blame the humbugs) and when I discovered that the completely awesome black and white diagonal bug marching fabric had other colors I got sucked in. Especially since the Fat Quarter Shop had the line at half price (emphasis on HAD). Can't expect me to resist that! I finally managed to get some help with the photo sessions, although Pokey was more interested in the lens cap than modeling:

okay okay

I love my camera, I really do. It's a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. I did a lot of research before I bought it and it had the best low-light capabilities for my purposes. I want to be able to take lots of photos of quilts in natural light AND the kitty cats and it's fabulous for both. The only drawback is the stinking lens cap. It stays on a string so that you don't lose it when you take it off, which is good, but itcan definitely get in the way. Sometimes I do use it to get Pokey's attention.

I take a lot of photos of the cats just to get a few to turn out. For this particular session I must have taken 50 photos with only 5 turning out. (yes, there are only four photos here, I saved one for another day.) I have a particular way of inhaling my breath that I use to signal kitty treat time. I can do that to to get Pokey to look at me, but it only works 2 or 3 times a session.

I got down on the floor with Pokey to take these, but luckily the staircase was nearby so I was able to scooch over and put my legs several steps down in order to get up.

I whine, but the knee is doing better. I'm such an idiot. I've been saying at physical therapy that my left knee is hurting worse than it was a couple of weeks ago. Never did it cross my mind that I was taking a lot of pain meds then which for the most part I'm not doing anymore. Well, no wonder.

I've been having problems with insomnia, so of course I took a nap this afternoon and now don't feel sleepy at 11pm. sigh.

I love the new show on NBC called America's Next Great Restaurant. It really should be on Bravo or the Food Channel but I'm not going to complain. Although yes, I do still hate the major broadcast networks showing reality rather than scripted tv. Anyway, they've got hopeful restaurateurs hoping to convince folks to invest in their particular idea for fast casual dining. So it's Top Chef combined with Shark Tank (US version)/Dragon's Den (UK version) all of which I love.

Only one episode has aired, but right now I'm rooting for the healthy Indian food option. Don't even have an unhealthy Indian food place to eat here - just a really bad one.

The guy who started the Chipotle chain is one of the judges/investors. I LOVE Chipotle. When I lived in MD for a couple of months there was one a block away from my apartment and I used to go all the time. really good fast Mexican food and I love their whole ethos. So much better than the mexican food I can get at restaurants here. Just discovered recently that we had one open near us here - woohoo!

Later, alligators.

twelve by twelve

2011-03-06T12:48:00.000-05:00

I have a beautiful book to share with you. Twelve By Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge.

The book is about the 12 x 12 group and their challenges to make 12" square quilts. Rather than go into the details, I'll just send you to their blog to read more. As far as the book goes, it's published by Lark and they always do such a gorgeous job with their books. It's my favorite kind of quilt book = wordy. That is, there are stories to about how the challenge topics were chosen, how the quilters picked what to work on, their techniques for putting the quilts together. Plus, I LOVE pictures of quilters' studios and collections and the book even includes that, as well as biographical details. So much information packed in here.

Holy Cow, the Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge is actually 50% off at Amazon right now. I highly recommend the book anyway, but at this price? Go, go, go.

My longtime blogging friend Kristin LaFlamme is a member of the 12 x 12 group. Kristin and I actually got to meet in Houston - woohoo! I was also lucky enough to meet her darling (but tired after the long flight from Hawaii and now we're at a quilt show) kids and her generous husband, who is known in Internetlandia as IBOL guy. IBOL = Iraqi Bundles of Love, in which quilters (knitters and anyone else who wants to help) send sewing products and fabric to share with Iraqis, to try and show some love and generosity. Read the IBOL blog to find out more.

So, this is me (on the left in my new Just Bobbin Along necklace that I bought at the show but you can buy here) and Kristin:

I have been working my way through the 12 x 12 book, savoring it slowly, but not doing much fiction reading. I go through booms and busts. Partly because once I get really hooked into a novel I can't put it down and I stay up until 3am reading it (just like I did all throughout my school years - not very bright).

TV has been really pathetic lately. When my sweetie was home we finally got to watch the rest of Burn Notice season 4. I hope he's not reading this, but I thought it was really disappointing. The whole Jesse thing just took too much time away from the main characters whom I all love. Not to mention that I am so tired of the whole Burn Notice thing. Let it go already.

Also finished The Closer's most recent season. (Can I just say how annoying it is for some of these summer programs to take a break in the middle of their already short season? gah). That show just doesn't intrigue me or make me laugh the way it used to. Always have too many kinda preachy episodes. But it did have one of my favorite episodes ever, The Layover, with Flynn and Provenza. I love those guys.

Hee hee hee. I was looking for a Closer clip to show you and came across this Sesame Street takeoff. It's short and a hoot:

Have ya'all seen Downton Abbey? Fantastic show. I had to order the dvd before the show even finished airing on Masterpiece Theater. Here is a quote from Jace Lacob's Daily Beast article on the show

Downton Abbey offers a lavish take on the period drama, depicting the lives of the wealthy Crawley family and their servants at an English stately home just prior to World War I. When the sinking of the Titanic takes the lives of the next two heirs to a vast estate, the Crawley family is left with a dilemma as the next in line to inherit is a distant cousin, a middle-class solicitor whom none of them know.

Whee, so looking forward to the sequel, filming soon in the U.K. Man, it's gonna take forever to get here!

Okay, so not only do I have a thing for shows made from Jane Austen's books, but also for shows set in this later time. The writer of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellows, also did Gosford Park which I love and is set in the same time period. Edwardian, right? Speaking of which...

Has anyone else ever seen the U.K. series Flambards? It's about a teenage girl Christina who's been orphaned and sent off to live with her mean uncle and his two sons. The elder is very virile and horsey and the younger, William, is crippled and extremely intelligent (and of course despised by his father and brother). Oh, and the good looking stable boy. So there are horses, early motor cars and aeroplanes and it's just fabulous. And uh oh, World War I is looming...

The show aired on PBS when I was about 16 - the perfect age for the show. I sooo loved it. Taped it on the VCR and watched it over and over and over again. When it played ten years later, I watched it all over again, sucking a roommate right into it too. Just writing this makes me realize how much I loved this show and the books (starting with Flambards) it was based on. I had to go see if it was on DVD and it looks like there is an old crummy transfer available and a new dvd set is coming out next month. But has it been remastered?

So funny thinking about this show as an adult because there is all this romantic tension between Christina and her cousins. Kinda icky. Hmmm, maybe it was a step-uncle or something. It appears I don't remember the ENTIRE thing as well as I thought. I could certainly tell you all the plot points though and about the adventurous Dorothy in her motor car....

Okay, that's enough of a novel to write for today. Oh wait. If I forget to put kitty pics in a blog post (again) my husband will kill me (with his sadness). While he was home, he managed to get some rare shots of all four kitties in the same place. Of course there was sunshine:

ah sunshine

Can It Be Even More Bahful?

2011-03-01T14:05:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am still alive, just a terrible blogger. The next time I am due for surgery (and boy does there always seem to be a next time) I need to schedule a block thingie so that all you wonderful people send me "presents". I can't even begin to tell you how fabulous it is to open envelopes and packages from all over the world and get these marvelous blocks. This is what Bah Humbug looked like as of February 27th:

There are a couple of items on the left hand side that aren't part of the future quilt, including the sweet postcard that Joe Tulips sent me. [By the way, J is currently working on a lettery geocaching quilt, it's wonderful and Holly G. in particular, you'd love it!]

My husband had a hard time believing it had actually come through the U.S. mail, despite seeing postage and a cancellation stamp on it.

I finally got so many blocks that they just won't fit on the design wall anymore. So this photo shows you a couple of the blocks that are in the previous photo (but didn't get nearly enough attention) plus the latest ones which arrived yesterday:

You can find out more about the blocks and their makers over at the UnRuly Quilting blog. Plus you can check out these two really fun UnRuly Letter quilts that Diane is working on here and here. Diane also sent me an extra block for me to use however I like in an UnRuly project:

I love the subway fabric. Diane works at City Quilter and this fabric is specially made for their store. Wheee, I've actually been on some of those routes.

Along with the outrageous toothy Bah, the always joyful and fun Em sent me a great buggy glass dish. I love it, thank you!

Um, for those of you planning to do a Bah Humbug block, might I suggest that if you haven't already started it, that unless you are really excited about it, maybe you could um, not do one and wait instead for the next exciting project that we do. cuz holy cow, this quilt is going to be huge. I wish I had the skills of Victoria to make king-sized quilts with ease.

This blog post doesn't have the smoothest transitions, sorry. To refer back to the UnRuly Quilting blog, hey you can post any UnRuly project you're working on there. it doesn't just have to be the Bah Humbugs. I keep hoping Hedgehog will come and share some of her fabulous placenames at the UnRQ blog but meanwhile you can visit this wondeful project at this post.

Speaking of places you can show off UnRuly Letter projects: send an email with a photo of your project to Karen at kburns@martingale-pub.com to go into the Martingale photostream AND into the Word Play Quilts set. on Flickr.

I admit I haven't been commenting on blogs as much as I used to, for all sorts of reasons. But I managed to delete my entire blog subscription list (argh) and it's taken awhile to rebuild. There are some blogs which I would have sworn I'd resub'ed to that nope, still weren't turning up. Soo eek, if you haven't heard from me in awhile, feel free to poke me with a stick.

I've gotten more fun prezzies in the mail, but I can't fit everything into this blog post, which is already rather unwieldy. But I definitely have to mention this. Wooohooo, Bonnie Hunter's new book Scraps and Shirttails II:

Wheee! I think my favorite quilt is Fair and Square:

I am so drawn to the strings and tiny squares. Lovely. If I were smart I'd cut out a bunch of those little squares so I'd finally have a leader ender project going.

I'm slowly getting better after the knees surgery. The second week after the surgery I was doing great and thought recovery would be such a breeze. Of course now I realize that had something to do with my husband waiting on me hand and foot and the lovely pain meds. Sigh. Now he's back to work (not to be seen in these parts for quite some time) and I'm having to take care of myself, the cats AND go to physical therapy. ow. It will someday be nice to walk without limping, which I realize I've been doing for years, compensating for the stupid evil tumor in my knee.

I've managed to do some sewing at last - woohoo! my husband got me a rolly chair, I put a mini rotary cutting mat on my table and set up on ironing station (tv tray covered with a towel and my beloved Rowenta Compact Iron.)

So I haven't gotten a LOT sewn, but at least some. I much prefer to stand while cutting, but you gotta do what you gotta do. But that's all secret...

I'm ever so grateful to have a laptop to work on while I recline with ice on my knees. I've been doing lots of sudoku as well, especially my newfound love Sum Sudoku aka Killer Sudoku. It involves math, which is hardly my strong point, but I've printed out cheat sheets to help. yes, pathetic as it is, I need to look up what combinations add up to 13 etc. I can do the easy puzzles and some of the moderate ones, but after that, whew, out of my depth.

So thanks again to everyone who has sent a block, card, present etc to me. It means a lot, even though I'm completely terrible about sending out thank you notes!!! I think this is enough of a novel, so signing off now. Later, gators.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you know how I feel about you all:

I had to show this quilt specifically for Kim, who sent me some cute red and white cupid fabric and seemed to think I'd never done a more traditional kind of love quilt. That one above is about as traditional as I get. (And if I were doing it now, boy, would there be more contrast - good to know I've learned a few things along the way). Have to admit though, this is more my style than the monochrome:

It's awfully good to have my sweetie home for Valentine's. Not that we celebrate or do anything in particular. I don't even have these quilts up on the wall - I haven't gotten Christmas put away yet.

Meanwhile this is what is on my design wall:

Hee hee hee. Love it. The most recent batch of blocks added some more color to the mix, including yellow and a whee hint of purple. Looking amazing, isn't it?

Bah to Surgery!

2011-02-07T13:45:00.000-05:00

I present Bah Humbug! so far:

I know I said I wasn't going to show the blocks for the Bah Humbug! group quilt here in this blog, but realized I'd better so that anyone who still has blocks to do can get a feel for the colors and sizes. For instance, some red background would be awesome. And I just have to beg for some smaller blocks - that will help, guys! I know I've got more coming in the mail! wheeee! Thanks, everyone!

Carol E included an UnRuly letter for a future student letter quilt (yay, now I have three) and a couple of fun crumb blocks. And wheee, she finished a wonderful free-pieced name quilt she started many years ago.

Clare sent me a block too, but I forgot to take a photo, so I'll send you over for a visit.

So my husband arrived safely home last week and managed to have one good night of sleep before my surgery the next afternoon. The surgeon vacuumed out the evil in my left knee and took care of arthritis stuff in both of them. Turns out I don't have PVNS in my right knee too. woohoo for that.

If you ever decide to have surgery on BOTH knees at once, even if it's arthroscopic, make sure you have a big strong guy to help out at home or demand a hospital stay that first night. aiyee, there is a reason you're not supposed to do them both at once. Husband has been marvelous and taken great care of me.

I've been using this Game Ready system the doctor recommended. It does ice and compression for 30 mins at a time and is great. I was tethered to it constantly for the first three days (ugh, hated that) even at night but now I'm down to a minimum of 5 times a day. I do it a bit more cuz I don't want to waste all that ice and it feels pretty good. Anyway, this is what it looks like from my point of view:

Thank goodness for laptop. Ya'all take care.

I So Love Fabric

2011-01-29T11:25:00.000-05:00

Beautiful wonderful fabric... The first two photos are from purchases way back in October. Some from the Houston Quilt Festival but most from the Mancuso show here in Florida. I love the bright happy colors here:

And couldn't resist the Halloween fabric:

My resolution to NOT buy any fabric this year lasted until my first trip to a quilt shop. Now in my own defense I had carved out exceptions for Letters, Aliens, Robots, and Rollercoasters. Not that everything here fits in one of those categories. sigh.

Bonnie sent me some fun shirt fabric from her enormous shirt stash. One of these days I'm going to do a red, white and blue shirts quilt and I needed a few bits that weren't stripes or plaids...

Bonnie thoughtfully included a present for Pokey. A new box!!!

Bonnie now has Word Play Quilts in stock and one of these days will actually be home (after a loong teaching trip) to send them. Not to mention her new book Scraps and Shirttails II. Woohoo! I'm looking forward to that one since I didn't even get to see it in pre-production. Buy books from Quiltville here.

Speaking of Word Play Quilts, it actually went into its second printing. Woohoo! Thank you so much for buying a copy and helping to spread the word. I don't know if this means the book is doing really well or just better than expected. Either way, it's all good!

Take a look over at the UnRuly Quilting blog if you regularly reading it. Fun wordy piecing and I just posted a pic of the Bah Humbug! blocks that have been sent to me. I'm not posting it here so that if you want to make your own blocks without seeing others you can do it.

Life threw me a wobble this month. I was feeling good and sewing and walking. All that activity made my problem knee blow up. And whee, just for fun the "good" knee went too. I have a joint disease called PVNS. Not fun. Recurring. sigh. And my good knee looks like it has spare cartilage floating in there.

It's been more than 5 years since I've had surgery on the bad knee so I guess it's time. I'm having arthroscopic surgery done on both knees on Thursday. The day after my sweetie gets home from overseas (fingers crossed). This means no Gwen Marston seminar from me, which really bums me out. But I'll feel a lot better after it's done.

The good news is that it won't be open knee surgery (long recovery time) or general anesthesia like the last time I did this. It will be the twilight amnesia thing, which I love. Gonna make recovery so much faster. Or at least it better because I have to be able to walk up (scooch up?) a flight of stairs to get home later that day. That, or my husband finally gets to put all the work at the gym to use carrying me. Hmmm, somehow I think I'd be sleeping in the car instead.

Last but not least, Lily refuses to be outdone in the box sitting photography contest:

Ya'all take care. I have to go watch the news reports about Egypt and think good thoughts for my friends living there.

First Finish for Student Letters

2011-01-11T11:56:00.001-05:00

I finished the Student Letters quilt yesterday. Woohoo. It's actually the first finish - I got the top done (click to make bigger):

Terrible photo (too dark), but a fantastic quilt. Here's a photo from across the room to get a better idea of size - 58" x 70"

Yep, that's my sewing area where the dining room would normally be. Don't you like my classy chandelier? ;-)

I added two more rows to the quilt than I originally intended to. It just seemed to need it AND I used up all the individual letters that ya'all sent me except for two. How about that. I could have fit them in, but decided to include a block from me. I wanted to include some of my love in this quilt.

I like Dub on its side and how it curves up and in to the quilt, kind of leads your eye in, at least that's how I see it.

Baby and Clank (it actually looks like "clgnk" which is why it ended up in this quilt rather than Slither Eek Boo) were dominating when they had all their background fabric on them. But having them oversized allowed me to cut them down to the size I needed. Along with the new "boo" block in the lower left corner, I think they help balance out the big pink Hope block.

I didn't put much of a border on this quilt. It's surrounded by beige that will finish off at approximately 1 or 1.5 inches. Some of the letters were too close to the edge and I don't want them lost when I go to cut off the edges and put on the binding.

(never mind this bit - the quilt now has a name) How about a name for this quilt? It's had alternate names as I've pieced it (besides the boring explanatory Student Letters 2005-2010).

Slither 2: The Revenge of Christmas
Slither Merry Christmas
Slither Baby (sung to the tune of Eartha Kitt's immortal Santa Baby)
Purple Orange Baby - which was all I could see when those words were all grouped together
Baby Clank - the most recent name. (sung to the tune of The Supremes Baby Love)

the only problem with the Slither options is that I use just the first word to refer to the quilt and Slither will always be Eek Boo... I could always spell out Slither Baby - unless that's too confusing. I'm avoiding the word "Hope" because I already have a few quilts of my own with that title (and that does confuse me!)

I'm sure there's a fun name I haven't thought of at all.

Wheee - we have a winner. I love Forest Jane's suggestion of *drum roll* Alphablitzen
Love that name for this quilt. Woohoo!

Oh, and the two leftover letters? They're in the drawer waiting for more UnRuly letters and words to join them. You know me, I LOVE playing with these. The next quilt of orphans will look completely different when all ya all send more letters and blocks. That includes any newbies who might be reading this. I'd love your experiments and the letters that just didn't work out the way you wanted them to...

Of course you can keep your own letters (if you have to) and make an orphan quilt of your own. Look at how fabulous all of Lynne's UnRuly letters and orphans are - Julie is going to piece them together for her and it's going to be a wonderful. These kinds of quilts are such a great peek at your own history of work. Looking through Lynne's leftovers and trial blocks I see some bits from Daft Zebras and how she worked on Chocolate for the 9 x 9 color quilt and I could go on...

Now everyone who has a block in here needs to come to my house and sign the quilt. How about tomorrow?

Call for Blocks: Bah Humbug!

2011-01-08T12:21:00.001-05:00

I've continued to make great strides on the Student Letters quilt. I'll show that in another post.

I so incredibly love the quilts that we've collaborated on - they turn out so fantastically. There was Cake, which ended up on the cover of my book. Slither Eek Boo isn't in the book, but will be on my episode of The Quilt Show. (Still don't know when that episode will air, other than sometime between June and December of this year.) Okay, those are the only two finished so far, but the letters quilt is exciting so far and the names will be too.

I figure since I'm making so much progress I can now bug you again for blocks. Bug, heh heh heh. This is a challenge to make me a block or blocks and can be done as complicated or simple as you like so it's suitable for beginning and advanced UnRuly Letterers.

Bah Humbug! done with UnRuly Letters. And maybe an UnRuly Bug or too. And by that I don't mean the word. (I'll explain more later)

I want blocks with the words "Bah Humbug!" And/Or just the word "Bah!" or just "Humbug!" with or without exclamation points. Definitely without the quotation marks.

Don't turn it into sheep, I don't need a string of "Bah Bah Bah" all together.

You can make the font fabulous and intricate, or simple and straightforward.

One option: incorporate insect fabric into the letters. I can easily see a bug peering out of the middle of the letter a or the point on the exclamation point.

If you have a reasonably non busy insect fabric you could use it to make the letters - don't get carried away, you need to be able to read the letters.

No one knows what a humbug is. You're creating it yourself. But when you look at the insect fabric do you actually see it as a humbug? For instance, there is fabric with ants. I see those and think "ants" not humbugs... Just keep that in mind.

Challenge yourself. You can make the words buggy. What would a "bug" font look like? Would it be made of antennae and creepy legs, maybe a wing or two?

It wouldn't have to be that extreme - you could just add legs or antennae to one letter. A hint of fun. You could do that with piecing or maybe there's fabric you could use just so.

Or go all out and make each letter made out of a formation of bugs. (if you do that though, please don't make it an entire quilt-sized block. maybe just do Bah! or one letter that way)

Have you seen the alphabets done using people forming each letter? you know, they hold up their arms up and out a bit and you have a Y. What would it look like with humbugs forming the letters?

Can you piece the word HUM so that it looks like a bug?

I don't want to give you any links or hints right now of how to proceed anymore than I've already done. Cuz you guys are awesome. Just look at Slither Eek Boo with its Rattle made of bones and a shriek and eek that look like they're actually being yelled out.

Summing up the rules: All the work has to be UnRuly (free-pieced) and your own (ie nothing that will get us in trouble with copyright violations). No applique.

If your letters are really big, it would probably help me tremendously if you left the words/bugs separate (aka a "Bah" and a "Humbug" word blocks and a block of a free-pieced humbug). Please, I don't need a block that's 84" long....

Finish all blocks off with background or even a border. Aim for blocks that finish to a number divisible by 2. In other words, a block that would FINISH at 6 x 12 or 20 x 20. yes, you can make big blocks, but there better be some interesting piecing in there!

Oh, this is a Christmas quilt. Please to use red and/or lime/chartreuse/yellow-green somewhere in the block(s).

Don't forget contrast. These need to be easy to read (if not understand right away until you get the joke).

Got questions? Ask away, in comments or you can send me an email.

and oh, I nearly forgot. I set up another blog called UnRuly Quilting for us to use as a classroom/get together to discuss piecing problems and triumphs. There is nothing in there right now, but everyone who want to participate in Bah Humbug is welcome - I just need your email address. You don't need to be playing with that challenge to get onto that blog - anyone working UnRuly is welcome, particularly if you're doing letters.

I'm so darn excited about this new challenge - hope you are too.

Another thing I forgot: Blocks are due April 1st. No, it's not all an April Fool's Joke - I just figured that would be a good way to remember it.

Fun Stuff to See and Hear

2011-01-07T10:06:00.001-05:00

I've got some fun links for you.

But before I tell you about them, I'm going to force you to see a photo of Pokey (even though you hate it when I do that):

That's my friend Kathy's Featherweight Pokey is peering through. Kathy has been coming over to sew a couple of times a week and it's really helped me to concentrate on sewing (rather than getting distracted by just about anything else). Kathy has been working on Bonnie's current mystery Roll Roll Cotton Boll (which is absolutely gorgeous). I had fun playing with the blocks and trying alternate ways to put them together. Look at how wonderful this is with sashing:

Did anyone else hear the This I Believe essay by Priya Chandrasekaran about using her deceased grandmother's saris in a quilt? It was on Bob Edwards Weekend on December 30th. You can find it on iTunes and on the show's website.

Fun article by Oliver Willms describing growing up with an increasingly obsessed quilter. It rings so true. The comments are interesting as well and note that the article was written with love and fondness - he's not being snarky.

Ooh, V has great post with photos showing you how she just starts without knowing where a quilt is going and following her intuition. Fabulous.

Sarah (House of Krom) shows step-by-step how to free-piece a mondo bird. It's a very cute bird and a well written tutorial.

Nifty finished her gorgeous Anna Williams inspired quilt. And Sujata her fabulous Confetti quilt.

I loved Barbara Brackman's article More Things That Can Go Wrong with some wild quilts. I think the last one is my favorite. Oh and this one too: Out of Control. I personally think all these are How Things Can Go Wild and Fun.

You can now pre-order Word Play Quilts and Bonnie Hunter's Scraps and Shirttails II (woohoo) over at Quiltville.

that's it for this post. See ya later.

Student Names and Letters Progress

2011-01-05T12:42:00.001-05:00

Wheee, I'm having fun. Mostly. First, the fun part. I put all the student name blocks I received up on the design wall (can't remember the time frame and want to do this post instead of search the blog archives for dates). The blocks look soooo fabulous. I didn't crop this photo just so you could see the size of this:

Whee, those are up and the letters are down because I've got big sections now. To give you an idea of that, here's a photo I prepared for you earlier.

What you see in the photo is a Slither row, a Hope row, an Orange/ Purple row and a Dub big block.

I think I think I think I can get this done after one more day of sewing. Fingers crossed because I'm at the point of not-having-any-fun-hating-this-project. Got harder at the end to fit things in and not everything made it, although there is a chance I might add another row. Okay, two more sewing sessions to finish this top...

So that's what I've been up to with the sewing.

The book (Word Play Quilts) still hasn't arrived at very many quilt shops. Which is a bummer. But it has been wonderful to get feedback from those of you've seen it. I greatly appreciate it. One thing that would help? If you HAVE seen it, go write a review at Amazon and any other online place where there are book reviews. Even if you hate it, that's still good. For instance, Amazon keeps track of how much time people spend at the page reading the reviews and that all factors in to how popular a book is. Negative reviews just help people know that there isn't a fix in.

Thanks, Roz, for being the first reviewer. Notice she even included a photo of an UnRuly Letter quilt in the customer images section. Oh and for an absolute hoot, check out how much used copies of my book are offered for. Someone wants $147.77 (yes, almost a hundred and fifty dollars) for a copy that's Like New. Not even new or plated in gold, but Like New.

Hee Hee Hee. Wonder if I could sell them for that much?

Later ya'all.

Student Letters 2005-2010

2010-12-31T10:40:00.000-05:00

Whee, look what quilt I'm finally working on. All the letter blocks that my students have sent me in the last five years. This is what it looked like just throwing all the letters up on the design wall:

Can you spot your letter/word/number in there? I've been thinking about (in no particular order) Lynne, Clare, Brenda, Tanya, Kathie B, Laura, Kim, Cher, Sharon, Nancy, Jude, Cheri, Kristin, Heidi, Annie amongst others who've contributed. I wish I could remember EXACTly who gave me every one, but my brain isn't that good.

I love the exuberance and wish there was a way to magically just sew them right where they are... using my mind powers! mwa ha ha. Unfortunately it's not that easy.

I'm using white and beigey neutrals as the background fabric to tie everything together without calling attention to itself. I finished off letters, where needed, to make them square or rectangle:

I finished off "orange" and "you" with yellow background and used a bit of purple fabric to put ends on the Stroop effect "purple" and in a couple of other spots where a darker fabric was needed. I'm NOT going to surround each letter with a background fabric - sometimes they'll slam directly into another letter and that's okay.

Next step was to put the big pieces onto the board, along with some letters that I'd sewn together into words, to get a feel for how big it needed to be. After playing with several options I did sew Lynne's "slither" together into one long word (these were her practice letters for the Halloween words quilt) which gives me a width for the quilt.

I wasn't planning on sewing words together but after my friend Kathy mentioned it I totally couldn't stop doing it. I'm not sure once the top is sewn you'll be able to spot cat, sew, unruly, lazy, quilts, and the year 2010, but it was a way for me to sort through the chaos and get started sewing. The only letter that I've altered was an incomplete "I" which turned into the letter one. Otherwise, I'm leaving them au naturel. So to speak.

Bit by bit, that's the only way to tackle this. I started working around Big Pink Hope because the biggest block has to be taken care of first. The smaller the block, the easier it is to fit in. I initially planned to work this medallion style around Hope and that's why the next unit was another square. I got that far with the medallion idea and realized it was rubbish. I needed to do rows.

Sorry this next shot is so dark. I've been trying to just use natural daylight to get these pics and it didn't always work out so well. Blocks are getting moved around and I've completed another big block. Everything to the right of the Hope is sewn together.

Next shot: I've got one big section all together. The Hope, Wish and Rub big blocks were all joined together and the Blitzen row added to the top of them. The Big W block (which goes all the way down to Joy) joins to the left of it. I moved Merry Christmas from the bottom to up above this section just to see what it would look like and really ended up liking it. I start thinking of this quilt as Slither 2: the Revenge of Christmas.

You can see I've also auditioning for the rows below Hope. As I work on joining these together, I'm trying to make it so that there aren't a lot of straight lines. An example of that is where I've placed Blitzen so that it straddles the edge of the Hope block - your eye goes up and then over.... Did that make sense? In this particular version I hated the black-backgrounded Lazy Gal right underneath Clare's H. It makes for a big dark strange bit there.

There is another section sewn together below Hope. That's the Q down to the big C and all over to the left. I realize now I should move aside the unsewn bits so that you get a better idea of what's done.

I'm posting all these so that you can get a feel for how I do improvisational work like this. I'm sure there are other ways to do it. I'm just happy to finally have my quilting mojo back.

Happy New Year!

Belated Christmas

2010-12-28T09:22:00.000-05:00

I know, Christmas is already over and I'm just now getting around to the Merry Christmas post. oops... Better late than never, I present my wall of small Christmas quilts. And Pokey:

Going clockwise from the left: I made the red and purple christmas tree quilt in 1994 from a pattern by my beloved Gwen Marston. I did Joyeux Noel during my time in Paris. I've never shown HoHoHo before on the blog - I made it for the book but the chapter got cut due to page limitations.

Skip the next two and you hit my Noel sampler which IS in the book and then the Joy banner my mom made by hand in the 1970's.

These two are crusties:

Crusty is the name I've given to a technique I learned from Susan Shie. The Better Not Pout girl was made by my incredibly talented friend Rachael. There is a lot of work in it - seed beads and french knots etc. I made the red Christmas tree crusty.

Despite the decor, it hasn't felt like Christmas here. You know the song lyrics "It won't be Christmas without You?" Well, turns out they're true. My husband is away for work so we won't be celebrating until February. I intend to leave the decorations up until then, but I might get sick of them.

So besides having my sweetie home for Faux Christmas in February, I'll also get to "unwrap" my present then. A two-day class with Gwen Marston. Woohoo! It's taking place on the other side of Florida and should be fantastic. Speaking of Gwen, part two of her hand quilting tutorial is up on her homepage.

Another reason it hasn't been Christmas? It's Florida. Palm trees just don't have the right vibe, although I enjoy the kitchy element. My new flamingo ornament:

Not that I'm complaining about Florida or the weather. Believe me, I prefer this to snow, especially blizzards. I'm so happy to not be in an airport right now... It's finally gotten colder. I actually had to wear a denim jacket out. Here are all four cats getting the first sunlight of the morning: that's Lily on the big box (my new crockpot), Pokey, Howler and Habibi.

Howler had his annual visit to the vet. Woohoo, clean bill of health this year although he has managed to gain an additional three pounds. Yes, Howler now weighs 25 pounds. In the last month he's had a much harder time getting out of the cat tree - and not even the top bit but the round bed. He has to get over onto the window sill and then down...

Hmm, just what is that on the design wall???? Here's another hint, because I just think this pic is a hoot:

Baby Pokey had great news from the vet as well. Her blood work came back the best it's been since we discovered she had kidney problems. Woohoo, she continues to improve just by bitty bits, but improve all the same.

Hope that all of you who celebrate it had a great Christmas. In case I'm a bad blogger again, best wishes, health and happiness in the New Year.

Book Recommendations and a Few Good Links

2010-12-11T13:04:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about books lately. hmm, wonder why... Figured this was a good opportunity to recommend some of my absolute favorite books.

Of course, Pokey approves of them all too.

Some of these books will be familiar to my faithful readers. Wade through those and you'll get to some you might not have seen before. Maybe.

First and foremost, is the one that changed it all. Gwen Marston's original Liberated Quiltmakingbook. I can't help myself - I have a strong emotional connection to this book. I love Gwen's style and how she describes the techniques and lets you make the quilt yourself. Right now this out-of-print book is available for $50 and it's worth the price.

Gwen's more recent book, Liberated Quiltmaking II is also excellent (and hey, I have a quilt in there) with a bit of overlap with the first one, but still a lot of new stuff to see.

For the hand quilters out there, oh boy, Gwen Marston and Joe Cunningham's fantastic but also sadly out of print classic Quilting With Style: Principles for Great Pattern Design is available used for hardly any money at all. A serious bargain. I love the book intensely and I've only ever done the freehand fans, so that tells you there is a lot of quilting eye candy in there. This book shows you how to draft quilting designs so you don't have to buy templates.

Speaking of hand quilting, Gwen is now doing a series of hand quilting lessons on her homepage. Check it out here. And while you are there you can buy some books directly from Gwen herself, including Ideas and Inspirations and her collaborative books with Freddy Moran.

Roberta Horton's Scrap Quilts: The Art of Making Do is another old standby favorite that you can READ since it's not a pattern book. Definitely the kinds of books I like.

Alright, you'd almost have to be living under a rock to not know about the Gee's Bend quilters, the fabulous improvisational quilters of Alabama. If you haven't gotten it already, run and grab The Quilts of Gee's Bend: Masterpieces from a Lost Place. Gorgeous coffee-table book with moving stories of quilters taking hardship and turning it into beauty.

You say you've already got that book? Well then how about Just How I Picture It in My Mind: Contemporary African American Quilts from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts or Accidentally on Purpose: The Aesthetic Management of Irregularities in African Textiles and African-American Quilts. Both are high-quality books of wonderful improvisational quilts.

I own a ton of books on Amish quilts. Far too many books only have the pretty and perfect quilts but the Amish had some rebel quilters. Try these books: Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brownwhich led to an awesome class we did called Liberated Amish. Eve Granick's The Amish Quilthas some great liberated quilts in it too.

I also love Illinois Amish Quilts: Sharing Threads of Tradition which you can buy directly from the author, Janice Tauer Wass. I admit I'm biased because I got to see some of these beauties in person, but the book is wonderful.

Wild by Design: Two Hundred Years of Innovation and Artistry in American Quilts features quilts from the International Quilt Study Center. It's an unusual book because it shows a quilt, explains how it's made but mostly it's a conversation by the contributors of what made each quilt "wild" for its time and what they like about each quilt. Features some great antique quilts.

Another historical book I treasure is Album Quilts of Ohio's Miami Valleyby Sue C. Cummings. This is a low-priced book for what you get - all these beautiful pics of loosy-goosy liberated, just put these puppies together quilts. I wrote a post about this book here.

Quilts by Paul D. Pilgrim: Blending the Old & the Newis another out-of-print beauty but at the moment you can get it for a decent price. I've written a glowing blog post about this book before, it's one I really love. It shows how Paul gathered together old blocks to put them together, using partial blocks and innovation. Marvelous.

Do you ever buy a book for just one fabulous quilt? Then have I got the book for you. Mississippi Quiltsby Mary Elizabeth Johnson. Honestly it has some other great quilts in here too, but this red, white and blue star quilt blows me away:

So many of the state history books ignored string quilts, but not this one, which is why I love it. I was about to say that Mississippi Quilts is my favorite state book, but oooh I also love New York Beauties: Quilts from the Empire State which has great antique quilts with WORDS. Great used prices at the moment, so go grab it.

On to something completely different. Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang. Lynne of Patchery Menagerie recommended this book and boy was she right. Okay, yes, it's a childrens book, but that doesn't matter. Very effective and it's recently been reissued and the price is great.

Another book on design that I love is Design!: A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists & Craftspeople by Steven Aimone. For a ridiculously low price you get a huge bunch of photos of interesting objects etc (including quilts) and well-written instruction.

Design includes a couple of embroideries by one of my favorite artists, Renie Breskin Adams whose work is so full of humor and joy. Ooh, her website has a collection of her work, which you can click on and explore BIG.

Hmm and now I have to direct you over to another fun embroiderer, Caroline Dahl. She's been doing some awesome Day of the Dead work, and I think my favorite is Laundry Day of the Dead.

Speaking of humor and joy AND knowing you just need a project to include UnRuly Letters, try Mary Lou Weidman's Out of the Box: Unleash Your Creativity Through Quilts (That Patchwork Place). Lots of bright inspiration and wheee color.

Feel like having some fun that has absolutely nothing to do with quilts? then try the book Bent Objects: The Secret Life of Everyday Things. These pics make me laugh. The blog of the same name is loads of fun too. Did I ever show you my favorite? Zombie potatoes.

Okay, I can't think of anymore. What books would you recommend for your favorite liberated, UnRuly quilters?

Feeling Overwhelmed By All the Love

2010-12-07T18:05:00.000-05:00

I have some of the sweetest dearest blog friends it is possible to have. Ya'all made me cry today, feeling all appreciated and loved.

And it IS all overwhelming! Rather than write a blog post that will take me another 10 hours to write, I'm going to include a Mr Linky box at the end of this post. Anyone who's posted about the Lazy/Liberated/UnRuly letters etc can add their post or blog to this. Hopefully I've included it correctly.

I am going to direct you to a couple of blogs though. Michele of With Hearts and Hands wrote up an amazing, thoughtful, funny post. thank you!

Em is celebrating at Em Celebrates and is giving away copies of the book. But ya gotta hurry and get over there quick, because I think it ends soon. My apologies for not getting a blog post done sooner.

I mentioned the Flickr collection that Martingale has got going on for quilts/projects done with UnRuly Letters. To get your photo added, send an email to Karen at kburns@martingale-pub.com

It will go into the Martingale photostream AND into the Word Play Quilts set. Although it is a hoot - I just looked at a photo where I am labeled as a sample made by Julie. hee hee hee.

This whole publishing thing has been a learning experience. For instance, today is the day the book is officially out, but that doesn't mean that it's in stores yet. My LQS say it won't be available until the 30th and that's what some of the online bookstores say too. eek. I had no idea it took that long. For anyone who can't bear the wait, apparently if you order it directly from Martingale it comes a lot sooner since they have it right there right now.

Don't forget to add your link if you've done a post. To everyone else, enjoy seeing all the creative quilts.

Almost Here

2010-12-03T15:36:00.001-05:00

What's almost here you ask? My book, my book. Word Play Quilts is to be released in four days.

I have to admit I'm stressing out about it. Oh nooo what if everybody hates it? Eeek.

Lynne is eagerly awaiting the book. She is an absolute hoot. She has a countdown clock on her blog Patchery Menagerie and, even better, is showing her quilts that include letters. It's great to see the progression of her style. One of her quilts is in the book and I was lucky enough to see it at market. Fabulous!

Speaking of market, Tanya's quilt was hanging up in the Martingale booth looking all fabulous and fellow blogger BrendaLou got pics of her and me with the quilt. Small world!

And I hadn't even realized it, but Martingale has set up a Flickr set for quilts made with UnRuly Letters. Take a look at it here. (And geeze, I need to figure out what the heck my Flicker name was. oops...)

I've decided not to sell the book myself. That would just be one more level of organization and paperwork to deal with and I'm sooo not good at that. Instead, how about:

Your local (or favorite) quilt shop. We have to keep them in business. I know I'd have gone nuts without the JaM Patch and all the wonderful folks who work there. For ages they were the only quilters I knew when I moved to town and they've been so encouraging of all my work. Not sure if your quilt shop is going to carry my book? Just ask - I'm sure they'd be happy to order it for you.

Quiltville. Bonnie Hunter is a wonderful friend and fabulous quilter. Her site was the home of my letter tutorials for years and I'm not sure I'd have a book without her. This way you can order some of Bonnie's books at the same time. She has two out already and another one due in late January/early February. Man, I do not know how she gets so much done.

Quilt Books Unlimited. My book isn't listed there yet but I met the owner Cathy Neri in Houston, where we were staying at the same hotel. She is an absolute doll and I adore her. She's been reading my blog since I lived in Cairo and totally gets the whole UnRuly thing. She carries a great selection of quilt books which are hard to find elsewhere so she's a great resource.

Amazon. I will make a few cents if you buy it from the widget in my sidebar.

I know, none of these will be autographed. I'm working on a plan to do bookplates which you can attach yourself. I haven't worked out the details on that one yet (another thing I am stressing about). If anyone has design experience and want to come up with some fun bookplate options, just let me know.

There will be more book celebration stuff coming along, but it's kinda awkward to have it all occurring during the holidays. I think the book launch stuff will expand to include the month of January. Just like Halloween oozes over into Christmas (although that's reversed at the shopping malls). I've got Hallowistmas going on:

I've got errands to run. But a couple more quick kitty pics before I go. More from the photo session where I tried to include Lily along with the book and Cake:

and Pokey in the sunlight with the book. And wait is that shadow Howler?

How is Time Going By so Quickly?

2010-11-27T15:06:00.000-05:00

I would swear it's still October and yet somehow it's already the end of November? Where the heck did the last month go? Herewith a much belated posting of photos from Houston.

I love Janet Fogg's work (here's a previous one). She picks fun subjects and her machine quilting is gorgeous. This is most of Caddy and the Cakes (I didn't get a pic of the whole thing):

Janet Fogg also did this fun kitty photo on a bulletin board quilt, called Denim and Calico. Check out the quilting in the background:

My Rhino by Pam Holland:

Here's Siobhan looking at Barb Vedder's Lunar Pineapple (a real hoot of mixed fabrics):

One of my favorite quilts wasn't even in the show - it was over at an antique quilt vendor's booth. This looks like it has an eye in the middle of it to me:

and a shot of me and Sio in front of the booth:

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back into the groove of posting. I did have an excuse there for awhile, of husband actually being home, but he's away again for work. heavy sigh. I miss him and so does Pokey:

I gotta get cracking. more later.

Vacation

2010-11-11T11:17:00.000-05:00

Okay, it's not an exciting vacation, but I am taking one. Sorta. My husband is the one who is actually on vacation, getting a chance to at last spend time with me and the kitties and the beach. It's been awhile since he's been around - too much away time for work. He was thrilled that the kitties all remembered him and didn't get in a snit about him being away. Plus it's a bit cooler here in Florida now in the evening so that makes the kitties more cuddly too.

So my sweetie gets to spend time with all of us, but especially Pokey:

who still gets extra love because of her health concerns (she's doing well, but she has a chronic kidney problem) plus the fact she's so kittenish.

So I will be blogging some more about Houston and life etc, but not yet.

Fantastic Keiko Goke Quilt

2010-11-03T13:24:00.000-04:00

Of all the quilts I've seen so far at Houston International Quilt Festival, this is one of my favorites. My Double Wedding Ring quilt made by Keiko Goke:

Keiko is incredibly talented. This quilt was made improvisationally without templates, and beautifully quilted. She also added some hand stitches:

I didn't know before, but I sure do now, that Market is the best time to come and see quilts. The winners aren't up, but most of the other quilts are and it is a ghost town. Keiko's quilt looks stunning from far too, not just close up:

My friend Siobhan arrived yesterday and we're stitching and relaxing before the madhouse that is preview tonight.

The Book Looks Great!

2010-11-01T22:28:00.000-04:00

Wow, I'm actually an author! Last Wednesday I got a review copy of my book Word Play Quilts in the mail. Wheeee! The book doesn't actually come out until December, but they have copies made up to send to magazines and I got one too.

I was worried (because that's what I do - I worry) that some of my quilts weren't going to show up well, but the photography is great. So happy with it. And look, the book is in the Martingale catalog:

Do you recognize the quilts on the bottom left and center? I didn't make them, QuiltDiva Julie did. So fantastic!

I'm in Houston right now. This was my first time attending Quilt Market - I only came for two days of it and I'm already exhausted. I got to meet several of the lovely folks from Martingale that I've exchanged emails with and talked to on the phone - so great to finally have faces to attach to names.

Plus I've gotten to meet some delightful folks who read the blog - wonderful to talk to you! If you do happen to stumble across me, say hello, please.

For those of you attending Quilt Festival, I'll be at The Quilt Show booth doing a meet and greet on Thursday at 11am. I think. Definitely Thursday. Please come by and chat with me.

I wanted to write more in this blog post, but I am beat and I have another long day tomorrow, but that will be holiday time visiting with my cousin.

Before I go though, here are pics of Lily in my suitcase:

Starburst center

2010-10-17T11:42:00.000-04:00

Whee, V of Bumble Beans Inc sent back my String Lone Star. Here is Pokey holding it down:

I made all the small stringed diamonds and assembled the big diamonds in 2008 while I was living in Paris. They sat and sat because I just wasn't sure how to put them together. While V was visiting, we got the pieces out and auditioned these orange shades. V, who loves making Y-seams, then made all the background pieces and then joined it all together for me. Huge thank you - she did a smashing job.

I tried to think of a name that had a star connotation as well as brightness. I came up with Starburst after the candy (which I bought just to give you this image):

And to give you a better perspective of the size:

Too bad I don't have fun Halloween pedicured toes like Barb.

I learned a lesson about paper-pieced diamonds - remove the paper before putting them together:

It's much harder to remove because of the angles, as compared to straightforward paper-pieced squares.

I think I'm going to add a border to this, although it's strong enough to stand on its own. I'll do some components assembly and then decide.

For a complete change of topic, I'm so disappointed in this fall tv season. Pretty bleah on the networks. Tried and disliked so many, including:

Hawaii Five-0 - so tired of cop shows
Undercovers - the leads are pretty, but oh so dull
Detroit 1-8-7 - love Michael Imperioli and the soundtrack, but ugh, so predictable. I'm watching it thinking how is it that the newbie who's wife is expecting a baby didn't get shot during the hostage crisis and then blammo. Yep, definitely called it...
The Defenders - loved Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell but man, I hate shows that take place in a courtroom. If they could have down more behind the scenes (ala Damages) I'd have been all for it.
Law and Order: Los Angeles - that whole ho hum cops and lawyers thing
The Event - completely unappealing. trying so hard to be Lost (look, we even have a plane!)

What I am actually watching:

Project Runway - of course!!! can I just say what a bleah runway show that was this week? black black black black. there are other colors people!!! I thought the judges chose the right person to go home (that really was the third time we saw the same outfit!)
Top Chef: Just Desserts - incredibly watchable. Who knew pastry chefs could be such divas, not to mention you shouldn't cast someone who is actually unhinged. The only bad thing about the show is that it makes me crave sweets.
Terriers on FX. Terrible name since it sounds like a show about the Westminster Dog Show, but it has nothing to do with dogs. Instead the title refers to the two down-and-out unlicensed private investigators getting into all sorts of trouble. It's got lots of heart, pathos, running stories, but you really can just jump in. Donal Logue has been my sweetie ever since the Tao of Steve - he's wonderful to watch. In some ways the show reminds me of Veronica Mars - highly recommend you try this one out.
Castle - I've really surprised at just how much I like this one, it's so grown on me. Fun mystery and it's lighthearted. Doesn't count as a cop show since it has the marvelous Richard Castle mystery writer as one of the leads (Woohoo, Nathan Fillion!) [note: I'd send you to the official website but it has an ad that starts up automatically and can't be stopped - how obnoxious is that!]
Chuck - I've been really disappointed this season. I want a fun, light-hearted show and it's determinded to be more serious. I want more Buy More and less relationship whining! More Jeffster and Casey paired up with Morgan. oh, and fill in Ellie already so that a great character isn't always in the dark whining.
Mad Men - truly been some series high points this season. The penultimate episode had too much Betty and Sally (I so don't care) - here's hoping they move really far away!
Fringe - the show is never quite as good as I want it to be, but still lots of fun.

So I should really think about getting chores done now. Here's another Pokey pic to hold you over until the next blog post:

This is Halloween

2010-10-13T13:49:00.000-04:00

Welcome!

If you were to visit me this month (or last month and a good part of next month), Slither Eek Boo would be the first thing you'd see. I actually don't have a good place to display a large wall quilt here, not since I put up my design wall instead.

Caution, here be spiders:

I love having most of my Halloween decorations here (more are in storage - sigh)

The buttons from repurposed shirts, plus a few eyeballs and spiders:

Bad to the Bone:

My shelves no longer look this tidy. I need to figure out something creepy to hang from the rod here. I tried a ghost, but it just disappeared into the wall. Blooming Horrors amongst a couple of crusties:

Pokey and Cranky Witch:

And that's not even all the Halloween quilts I've made. Definitely my favorite quilty holiday.

I got incredibly distracted while writing this post. First I wanted to find a video of This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas. I stumbled across this version by Panic! at the disco, which I like much better than the original:

unfortunately you can't buy just the song, it comes as part of an entire album. I don't like it that much. But the search for the song got me looking at Halloween compilations at iTunes. There are all sorts of songs I'd never even heard. Usually it's just Monster Mash... Anyway, now I'm looking for songs to add to my own mix. What's your favorite song(s) that would work for Halloween?

Since this is a Halloweeny post, you need a picture of a black kitty. Howler enjoying the cooler weather we've been having (woohoo!) and the fresh air:

Of course today it's hot and muggy and cloudy again, drat.

Wool Utility Quilt

2010-10-03T11:18:00.000-04:00

I love this wool utility quilt, made in New York state around 1900. It is so amazing and dynamic:

close-up:

The quilt appears in the book Living with Quilts by Phyllis George. The book shows 50 different quilts--running the entire gamut--in household settings. The book never shows the whole quilt except for small wallhangings which makes me nuts but on the other hand: great quilts, fun settings. (you can get the book used really inexpensively - I do recommend it despite the quibble).

Back to the wool utility quilt. I LOVE it. Try and figure out how it was made and keep in mind: no rotary cutters were used. I'm sharing this quilt today because I've been thinking about it when I visit the 15 Minutes Play blog, where a bee is working together to create this wondrousness. V explained how to make the blocks here.

On the subject of utility quilts, ComicBookLady had a great opportunity to meet several of the quilters from Gee's Bend AND see some amazing quilt. Read about it here.

Lily is waiting for me to get back to work so she can jump on the cutting table - although sometimes she does stay in the cat tree that I've airlifted her to.

take care!

Buglies

2010-10-01T11:19:00.000-04:00

Bugly is a term that stands for really ugly or "b--- ugly." Ugly fabric helps a quilt, lifting it out of the expected. I'm all for that, but I think these particular buglies would overwhelm my current quilt:

Smaller pieces than I'm showing here wouldn't be so overwhelming

but would lose their zing! I got these in an exchange with Nifty Quilts, whose blog I absolutely adore. Nifty sent me these buglies:

and in exchange all she got was bright plaid fabrics--positively boring in comparison--and labels. Anyway, I love looking at Nifty's quilts, such as this one, and this one and these ones (Heck, just go read her whole blog.) made with lots of uglies. So I want to do something big scale with the buglies she sent me, and not just use slivers...

Meanwhile, making slow progress on the hope and stars quilt, as you can see in the top pic. I've auditioned backgrounds. I thought this yellow check would work:

but it looks boring, especially in comparison to this:

Speaking of string stars... Years ago I started a string lone star, but bogged down after completing the big pieces. V aka Bumble Beans, who is a crazy woman and loves sewing Y-seams, took it home with her along with some fabric. She's pieced some amazing giant crumb blocks to be the star background. It looks so awesome, go check the star in progress. That link will take you over to 15 Minutes Play, a great blog with lots of fun going on - everyone is welcome to join in.

Sujata posted a pic of her current project there and it's amazing! Sujata, V, and Nifty--as well as several other fun quilters--post pics of their work to the Rebels! blog, which I also recommend. Great stuff out there in blogland.

Complete change of topic. This is such a great season of Project Runway. Without getting into any spoilers, I was sooo happy last week at who went home, but this week I would have gone with the other choice. Meanwhile, love Mondo and the fabric pattern he made this week totally rocks.

Cat photo time. I remember the days when I would put down fabric and instantly attract kitty attention. Now, Habibi would rather sleep:

And just because I'm afraid of rebellion (from you lot - not her) if I don't include Pokey too:

that's all for me today. take care!

More Diamonds, More Shirts

2010-09-22T10:48:00.000-04:00

I haven't sewn many more of my diamonds but I have enough for a blog post, if not a quilt.

I used one fabric with just one other on the tip to see how it would work, taking my inspiration from a string star utility quilt shown in Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts. Anyway, don't really love it, but leaving it in at least for now:

I'm including a few hints of the shirt fabrics that Bonnie sent me (ooh, way back when I lived in Paris ages ago) so I have something other than just stripes, plaids and solidish.

I know I need to buy more of the dark shirts, but it's hard to force myself when there are such amazing, gorgeous wonderful light colors. It wasn't an arm twist to get the fabulous dark purple plaid but I don't find enough wondrousness like that. I figure the pink paisley will work as a dark too - that one fits in the ugly category for me, but I know quilts need ugly fabrics to be fun.

One of these days I won't be living in Florida, so I gotta buy Florida shirts while I can. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I couldn't resist the fabulous iridescent purple even at a higher price (I'll just consider that a donation to Hospice) and look hot pink stripes!

It's so hard to find light blue shirts (just like the quilting fabric in that color is so scarce) and I don't understand why. I don't care that they're not "in." Look how great this shirt looks with Pokey's eyes.

Walking around the mall it was pretty obvious what colors are "in" for fall clothing. Lots of grays and purple/magenta. Can I just have a rant now about standardization?

I asked my branch library about donating new quilting books. Gorgeous books they don't already have - I want them on the shelf, not just sold for a dollar. Nope, not possible. They only put books, CDs, DVDs etc into circulation that have been purchased by someone at HQ, in bulk. All purchasing decisions are made at main. There's no head librarian at each branch making selections.

And you can't have something at this branch that the others don't have? what??? Yes it's a branch library system but that should mean a bigger variety of books, not fewer. I'm not going to be jealous that another branch has it - I'm going to request it and read it!

It costs too much money to catalog an individual book??? A FREE high quality book? grr argh. Get a volunteer to do it - can't be that difficult.

I worked at a city library and later a branch library for years in my hometown. The donations were carefully sifted and high quality books were put on the shelves either as new or as replacements for worn copies. The head librarian at the branch got to order new books herself (I know - I did the typing!). Man, I hope it still works that way there and this horribleness hasn't happened at all libraries.

Sigh. At least my hold request for Justin Cronin's The Passage finally came through...

Avoiding the Dreaded Ys

2010-09-15T13:53:00.000-04:00

Here's a little string star I made on Monday:

Can I say again how I love the shirts? The block just has a softer look to it than it would with typical fabric. loving it. Anyway, I played with triangles to piece this puppy so that I could avoid the dreaded Y-seams. I made the triangles oversized so that the star floats in what will probably be an 11" finished block. The final verdict: easier to piece but definitely more time consuming. I do like how the plaids look mismatched. I suspect I'll get better at it with practice.

Speaking of Y-seams, check out the quilt on the front of American Jane's Quilts for All Seasons

I think it's a beauty but eek, Y-seams. I'd have to come up with a different way of making it. I love Sandy Klop's use of color and fabric. This (mosaic tile???) quilt is my favorite in the book:

It looks like an antique but a bright and happy one that never faded. I haven't tried making any of the patterns or following the directions, but I love her technique for putting this one together. I'd never have thought of it - I'd have been sewing these things together in looong rows.

And for the Scottie lovers out there, I think this is my favorite quilted version of the dog ever:

See, I don't just blog about cats! Okay, I actually do. Speaking of kitties...

I told you about my allergy ordeal last post. Well, d'oh, I'm an idiot (you'll have to imagine the accompanying slap on the forehead). I hadn't considered when was the last time I changed the filters in my air purifier. So I ordered new ones and Pokey found the box I'd casually tossed aside:

I love how she managed to get in the box at that angle - and have it stay that way. You'll notice shirt bits waiting for further dismantling in the foreground and Halloween quilts in the background (woohoo!).

Of course Lily had to come over - she's sitting on my cutting table that isn't long for this world (the cats managed to break the screws so the foldy table bit on the other side came off.)

This is just inevitable:

More Hopes

2010-09-10T10:36:00.000-04:00

Here are some hints at the currently unnamed quilt I'm sewing right now using my shirt fabric:

The strange looking object on the table next to Pokey is my Keep-Kitties-Off-My-Fabric tool: a hamper lid. I get those strips all nicely ironed and cut and then Pokey and Lily in particular enjoy mashing them down flat.

I finally started sewing again after an allergy break (killer headaches from playing with fabric - really sucks) but I'm feeling a bit better now on a new medication. I did put away all my regular fabric though (is it old and so has more dust accumulated or just different chemicals used in the manufacturing process?) to just play with the shirts, which don't affect me nearly as much.

I don't know what the end point is going to be with this latest Hope quilt. Just trying to focus on the current step.

DAM Quilts

2010-08-24T17:36:00.000-04:00

DAM, DAM, DAM quilts.

DAM Quilts = Denver Art Museum Quilts. But I'm having a Bart Simpson moment and totally reveling in writing something that is accurate, but when spelled differently might be seen as not so nice.

The museum supports quilts as art. They've had previous shows of Amish, Mennonite and Gee's Bend quilts so it's worth checking them out if you're in the area. I think the quilts in these photos were part of their permanent collection. I got some good pics for you (try clicking to see larger). Here we go:

My Aunt Janet with the Princess Feather Quilt, made in 1860 by Martha Jane Cary Gray, probably in Ohio:

The quilt looked like it had barely been used, let alone washed. Can you see the beautiful hand quilting?

My favorite thing about the quilting, besides the fact that it's gorgeous, is how imperfect it is. Seriously. Look at how the diagonal lines take a noticeable turn at the seam line:

Why do I point this out? Because I'm always telling folks that they stress too much as they do the freehand fans, worrying about what EACH one looks like, rather than the overall effect.

Here's a shot of several of the quilts:

I liked the Pineapple quilt shown on the left. Here's a close-up so you can see the shirting fabric:

I liked this next quilt the best (but I wasn't smart enough to get any of the details about it):

I LOVE the shape of this flower and look at how lovely and softly faded the colors are. I don't know if you can see it but every bit of fabric is appliqued down with a herringbone stitch:

Gwen Marston always recommends NOT cutting away the fabric underneath your appliques. Looking at how this quilt has held together despite the wear, you can see why (look at the pink fabric in the center):

I love this patriotic quilt, but it wasn't as easy to photograph under glass. Look at how the top and bottom rows are turned differently than the middle ones - seems like a really unusual choice to me, rather than making the top half face a different way than the bottom for examp

Beautiful.

BumbleBeans and Halloween Fabric

2010-08-22T14:17:00.000-04:00

I had a great visit this last week with V (of Bumble Beans Inc and 15 Minutes Play):

We did a bit of hand quilting and talked a bunch. We ate out at one of my favorite restaurants: Seasons 52, which focuses on healthy, fresh food. We sat at a table overlooking the Intercoastal Waterway at dusk and it wasn't humid and not too hot. Very lovely, until the next day when I realized I was covered in mosquito bites. No kidding, I stopped counting after I hit the 23rd bite on just one leg. Eek. I was obviously attracting all the mosquitos in the area - V came out unscathed!

V did a bit of sewing, playing with my Halloween novelty prints. Even better, she enjoyed it!

I admit I have been completely sucked into Halloween fabric this year. V contributed to my stash with this really funny Edward Goreyesque orange print and the great lime green spider print:

Which added to the fabric I bought in Lyons, Colorado at Quilting Hands. The owner said she'd bought something like 150(??? - did I really hear that right?) Halloween prints this year. Not only that, but she had three books by Gwen Marston - my kinda shop. My favorite is the hearse print, which has a casket falling out the back. Doesn't it look like Mr Munster should be driving?

okay, and I'd already bought some Halloween fabric at a couple of local shops, one during their special Christmas in July celebration (and no, I didn't buy any Christmas fabric):

A few quick words about tv and then you can have your Pokey pictures. I am so completely and totally loving the new season of Eureka on Syfy. Well, maybe not completely. I do have a quibble with the actor who's joined this year and his "American" accent - why couldn't they just have let him be British? Anyway, Eureka is a wonderful sci-fi romp that has a lot of emotional depth. Love it, love it, love it and woohoo it's been renewed for another season. Even if you haven't watched before, try it.

I surprised myself by enjoying The Glades on A&E as much as I have. I'm so burned out on cop procedurals, but the cast has great chemistry and it isn't too intense. Fun. As compared to the horrible Rizolli and Isles. Hated it. Had to fast forward through the beginning of the episode (never ever want to see the victims' last moments) and couldn't even make it through the second episode (hmm, this whole plotline happened last year on The Closer). Speaking of which, The Closer continues to be uneven, but had an excellent episode this month. All I need to say is: Provenza and Flynn. Woohoo.

Covert Affairs? Watchable in a geeky way, but it's no Alias.

Ack, Pokey is nipping at me to get attention. So here are your Pokey pictures:

this was of course while I was trying to sew the binding on Slither Eek Boo (which I don't actually have a photo of. ridiculous, isn't it)

Taping The Quilt Show

2010-08-12T12:53:00.000-04:00

Taping The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims was an adventure.

I was so nervous beforehand, despite reassurances from fabulous producer Shelly and "Cruise Director" Lilo that it was all going to be fine. Sure, maybe for other quilters, but not me - I'm not prepared enough, I'm shy, I'm nervous...

The show is taped before a classic "live studio audience." Two shows are taped in one day and here's a secret: it's the same audience for both. They have them change shirts and sit in different seats. This is what it looks like empty.

My aunt Janet and I got to go to the studio the day before my taping to drop off some of my quilts and to watch a couple of hours of someone else being tortured. (Janet and I sat in directors chairs off to the side.) The guest turned out to be surfer dude Rob Appel. He was so relaxed and casual - made it look easy. Plus, they did some retakes so I knew that if I screwed up I could do it again - whew, that's a relief.

I was amazed to see they don't use cue cards at all. So whatever intros Ricky and Alex do, they have to remember them. It did make for some funny bloopers - I'd love to see that reel sometime. Alex would get frustrated with herself and say something like "C'mon, Alex, you're a professional, not Ricky Tims." Which made everyone laugh and relax.

It's a mad house behind the scenes because they don't have much room to work in. Quilts for the next day's two shows are placed on shelves in the prep area. I wasn't smart enough to photograph my own shelf, but look who was taping the day after me:

Jo Morton. I know some of you are big fans - her show will appear the same season as mine - in 2011 - as will everyone else who taped during this week. I think.

The quilts are later laid out on a table so that they can relax during the night. Once again, I didn't get a photo of my quilts, but these are Lola Jenkins' who was taping in the afternoon:

She was a hoot - I'm sure her taping went well.

So Janet and I arrived at the studio a bit more than an hour before taping. I then worked with the TQS folk to figure out which quilts were going up on the walls. And let me tell you - there isn't much room. It was much smaller than I had realized when watching the show.

This is setting up in the morning. In this photo you can see Alex on the left in the "bistro area" preparing the demo she was going to do in the episode. Ricky is at the Bernina sewing machine (thank you, Bernina, for sponsoring TQS) while a cameraman shoots a closeup. There is a flat screen monitor on the right where everyone can see what the camera is shooting. There are actually four cameras on the set.

And another angle, with Alex smiling:

Alex's husband John hanging Happy Halloween:

Set designer Jeff Bilyeau working on Slither Eek Boo (yes, I got it finished and Natalie Carlton did a great job with the longarm quilting):

Alex and Ricky before the taping began:

Unsurprisingly I have few photos after this point. I sat down on a chair over in the "living room" area in order to get out of the way. The day before I'd noticed how much "in-between" time there is during the taping, so I brought LAWS with me to hand quilt on - nothing soothes my nerves like hand quilting. I was able to focus on my stitches instead of holy cow what the heck am I doing here? anxieties.

Usually the guest is introduced and walks in and sits down. I knew that would freak me out - having everyone looking at me. Eek, so I begged to be allowed to start the show already seated working on the quilt and that's just what we did.

The whole thing passed by in a blur. I was told (as was the audience) "smile like an idiot" and look at Ricky and/or Alex - not the camera (eek) or audience.

I didn't even think about it until afterwards, but I never even looked in a mirror nor did a brush my hair. Hope it wasn't too goofy. My nails were in terrible shape. Per Siobhan's advice I did get a manicure beforehand--probably several days too early--but managed to chip it pretty quickly and then it went downhill from there - when I'm nervous I chew at my cuticles.

As far as I know the whole taping went fine. The demo ran a bit long and we didn't even use half of the material I'd prepared. I know I managed to get in some of the points I wanted to make but there were a whole bunch of others I didn't. Wow, that time goes by fast.

After it was over I admitted the whole thing went well enough: I didn't faint or throw up or act like a complete idiot. I know that's not setting the bar very high, but that's what I was hoping for.

More thoughts on this later, but I've got to get back to my kitty lovings. Pokey had to spend the week I was away in jail and she's in extra special cuddly girl mode. Here she is holding down my suitcase so it doesn't get away:

The Quilt Show!!!

2010-08-07T11:06:00.000-04:00

Guess where I am at this very minute. I'm filming The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims.

wheeeee! I'm sitting on the couch right now with Ricky and we're about to start filming. Gotta go now, will tell you more about it later

Love Anna Williams Style

2010-07-20T16:21:00.000-04:00

Whoohoo, finished a quilt top. I really really love how it turned out. Love Anna Williams Style (aka LAWS):

I know, it's a terrible photo, but I was too excited to wait until I had better light. I started this quilt way back in April (you can read the first post here - inc a photo of the Anna Williams quilt that inspired me). I had to think and cogitate upon it for awhile before I was ready to move forward with it.

I made all the blocks and then added piano keys and plain bits of fabric to make some of them larger or taller. I knew from fairly early on where I wanted each block and that I wanted to join them in columns rather than rows.

My first task was to get all the block the same width in a particular row. That meant adding on more than I needed and then slicing down. I joined the blocks of two columns together. I wanted a general idea of their length:

After joining the blocks of the third column, I played arrangements. Instead of my original format, did I want to make the two columns containing four blocks each the outer columns???

As it turned out, I didn't. Meanwhile, I added rows to the middle of the 3-block column, the only one that wasn't finished at that point. Once that column was all together, I joined the columns, just whacking off the extra length here and there. I made a choice not to get them all straight and even, hoping that I get a bit of wave, if that makes any sense.

I didn't make it monstrously large, LAWS is 49.5" x 52" more or less. Since it didn't get too huge I'm going to go ahead and hand quilt it.

An update on my health. Turns out (after medical procedures and blood testing) that I don't have Celiac Disease or any of the other possible horrors including bleeding ulcers. My iron and ferritin levels have improved and the only change has been to my thyroid medication, which I insisted on because of my lower-than-normal T3 levels. (My doctor said that couldn't be the problem... well, well.) I'm now on Armour (a naturally derived medication that contains T3 as well as T4) and doing better.

Gotta run, but here's a quick pic of baby Pokey before I sign off (I know some of you are only here for the kitty pics)

The Quilt Show

2010-07-14T11:09:00.000-04:00

I continue to make slow progress on my Crowns of Thorns. It's my traveling project so I only work on it when I'm getting together with friends. Pokey has to inspect them:

I guess the blocks passed muster. And okay, I hear ya all, I'll keep the reds in:

It's kind of funny. Even when I have perfectly sized triangles and squares, I'm still me. I don't need no stinking matching seams...

I've got news for you. I'm going to be a guest on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. On the one hand, oh boy!!! and on the other, aaaaaagh!!! definitely mixed emotions and nerves there.

The Quilt Show is an internet tv show that is filmed in front of an audience of quilters. I'll be doing a demo of the letters and bringing some quilts for show and tell. The good thing about it being on the internet is that you don't have to live in the U.S. to see it.

I'll be going out for the taping in Boulder, CO in August. Luckily that's where my favorite uncle and aunt (you remember Janet, the quilter, who helped me out after surgery last fall) live so I'm excited about getting to see them.

Unfortunately, the tickets for the TQS taping are all gone - apparently they go FAST as soon as they are announced. The show won't be airing until 2011.

My computer connection is miserable right now. So I'll just sign off with that tidbit. Later!

More Crowns

2010-07-11T08:04:00.001-04:00

I've made three more Crown of Thorn blocks from shirting fabrics - for a total of seven. I'm not sure if the ones with red will stay in - they seem so much darker than the other blocks. Since I don't actually have a plan, they might work or they might not.

I'd have gotten more done if I didn't have to do boring stuff like piecing a backing for a quilt. I know I could just buy fabric for that, but I'm ready to move older fabric out of my stash. Pokey was ever so helpful in the process.

Must wrestle fabric into submission:

Here she is, ready to pounce on another square of fabric:

Anyway, sewing hasn't been the highest priority. Instead I've been putting in time on the book. I was amazed to discover that Word Play Quilts is already on The Patchwork Place website. Holy cow! We now have a date for it too, December 7th. fingers crossed. I'm feeling like a real author.

Okay, I know I have lots more to tell you, but the Tour de France has finally hit the Alps. I've gotta go cheer Lance on.

Ya'all take care.