Rain, Rain, Go Away

Man, it is bucketing down rain today. The first day it rained when we were back was wonderful and refreshing, but now I'm ready for it to stop. Not that I liked yesterday's gray sunless skies much better. And this is what winter in Paris is like too.

Big thanks to Calico Cat Amy who lives in the D.C. area and let me know about the upcoming Needlechasers of Chevy Chase quilt show which is going to be just a short metro ride away. Hurrah. Not only that but I perused the guild's marvelous website and I think I might just be able to go to a couple of their events. Wheee.

I've joined Netflix while we're here so my sweetie and I are finally getting to watch the final season of "Friends" which was being broadcast in the states when we left and which Egypt was just barely starting when we left there... Have to say I find all the characters overly annoying and twitchy, but I still want to know how it all ends. As compared to "ER" which I was happy to make a clean break from.

We finally got to try Horatio Hornblower which I thought my hubby might like since he loves "Master and Commander." Obviously the tv series doesn't have the money for all the ship battles, but was still enjoyable enough that we want to watch the second show in the series.

I watched the first two episodes of "Medium" which I hadn't caught previously. One thing that really stood out for me. Allison in the first episode: no make-up, very average looking. Allison in the series: wow, now she's professionally done-up. I liked the first Allison.... No surprise since I don't wear any makeup myself.

So yesterday was a tv binge day. Watched the Mediums and three episodes of Clean House. Told you I'm loving that show. Got some Cranky Witch quilting in as well as some loving on my attention-seeking kitties. Today I'm getting out, despite the rain. I want to go to the library, get some books and work on my book without the distraction of little sweeties.

Inspiration: Family Quilt

Here's a way to make a fun quilt about your family.

First write down all the family members you want to include. Don't forget yourself. How about pets? Does one of your kids (or pets) have a doll or stuffed animal that is incredibly important - maybe they're a part of the family too.

Next I want you to come up with a quote for everyone on your list (at least the humans). For a small one it might be something like "no,no,no,no" or the classic "But Moooooom..." whine. For this particular project you might not want a lengthy quote.

Is there a thing/object/activity that you associate with each person? Write it down. When you are collecting fabric for the quilt, you may want to include some fabric that reflects items on your list. You know the kind I mean: baseballs, scissors and pincushions, doggie bones... It's an option.

Now you've got a bunch of ideas, it's time to start sewing.

Here are some suggestions: using the free-pieced letters (of course) make blocks with everyone's name.

Now the quotes. I would recommend that you don't join the quotes up yet, just leave them as individual words until you know how you want to use them.

Do you want to piece a block for each person/animal? You could do actual people (one of these days I WILL do a tutorial on it, I promise, once I have a sewing machine and fabric) or maybe a representational item. I know you could figure out how to improv piece a sewing machine.

You could also transfer photos onto fabric. I have to admit I'm not a big fan of that technique, but I know loads of people do love it, so definitely an option.

How about your last name? Maybe your address? A house block? Maybe a bunch of hearts?

Here's an example for you, using "I Love Lucy":

"The Ricardos." Piece a red-headed female figure with the words "Lucy" and "I want to be in show business." And a male figure with "Ricky" and "You got a lot of 'splaining to do." There would have to be a little boy with "Little Ricky" and I have absolutely no idea what he'd say. Little Ricky never had much of a personality. And of course "Fred" and "Ethel" would have to be included as well... That would be a starting point.

My next post with the quilt Happy Howloween was made using this same starting point. Not that all the monsters etc are my family, but you know what I mean.

Happy Howloween

I've previously blogged about this quilt Happy Howloween, but I thought I'd post it again since it's that time of year. I have been having a blast looking at all the spooky merchandise at the stores, but so far have managed not to spend any money (you should be impressed by my restraint.)

This is a lousy photo and unfortunately the quilt is in storage so I can't take any more. [We're getting into the storage on the 16th so I may just have a chance to get a peek and see how it's doing!] This is a large wall quilt. It takes the place of my Masterpiece Quilt during October and all the way up to Thanksgiving.

The idea for this quilt was to put all the monsters etc associated with Halloween into a quilt and to have either a quote or description attached to each. Everything was improvisationally pieced out of my very own brain - no patterns. I had no idea how it was all going to go together, I just started making blocks.

At the top of the quilt is a row of spiders that I made by making modified asterisks and then adding the body into the middle.

In the next row is a jack-o-lantern with the words "great pumpkin" -an homage to Linus of Peanuts fame. In the middle are the words "Happy Howloween" and a cat, surrounded by spikey border bits. And on the right, a witch and cat with the words "I'll get you my pretty" ala Wizard of Oz.

The third row starts with a quartet of ghosts and the word "boo." Next is "Trick or treat, smell my feet, I want something good to eat." Which, for my non-american friends, is a little song that kids sing at Halloween. Or at least they did where I grew up. The background is one purple fabric, but all the letters are made with different colors of orange.

Next is an improv Frankenstein's Monster. I originally intended to have something like "ugh" with him, but I had a small piece of purple and green batik that I LOVED and it worked perfectly in that spot. On the right is a hand coming up out of a grave. There is a tombstone with the acronym R.I.P. (Rest in Peace) and the word "zombie" up above.

Fourth row starts with a dancing skeleton. Originally the block "Bad to the Bone" was meant to go there, but I loved it so much that it became a quilt on its own. The next block is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" with a girl holding a stake and the phrase "here to save the day." This is where the row structure goes wonky. Below the skeleton and Buffy are a house block and a pair of mummies with the phrase "I want my mummy" - you'll notice the mummy on the right is carrying a handbag and wearing a hat - she's a mummy mummy.

Moving back up to the top of the row, there's a pair of eyes looking out at you. Below that is Dracula and the phrase "I vant to drink your blood." To the right, a large tombstone that I put my first name and the year in. That freaks some people out, but I liked it.

Bottom row is another house block followed by the words "Don't go in the house" which doesn't refer to anything in particular but certainly applies in several of my favorite horror movies ("Halloween" and "Scream" off the top of my head).

It's a goofy quilt, but because it wasn't serious I had total freedom to play and experiment and it didn't matter if everything worked.

Still a Pincushion

Sorry I did such a lousy job of talking about the quilt in the last post, the Kansas City Troubles. I was a bit wigged out about the thyroid thing (and continue to be so today, since it turns out I have to have it needle biopsied later this month).

I made that Kansas City Troubles quilt ages ago.To really narrow it down, sometime between 1997 and 2002. I think. I can't remember how large it actually is, but I think the smaller units were 6" so the blocks were 12" so the finished quilt is probably about 50" square. More or less. I almost always end up making the blocks a bit smaller than they're theoretically supposed to be due to my imprecise sewing.

Some links for ya'll to check out:

Passionate Quilter Karen worked with a group of women to make a wonderful Take the Leap Challenge quilt as a part of Quilt Pink Day. The quilt will be auctioned off to raise money for the Susan G Komen Foundation. The quilters did a great job for a great cause.

Giraffe Dreams' Carol has started an Alphabet Sampler. I love the way she chose to make her Q.

My Creative Mind's Pam has made a name banner with wonky letters. Pam's made bunches of wonky letter projects, so do go check out her blog.

Lois at Thoughts of Home Quilting is working on a small patriotic project with wonky log cabin blocks and letters. She's trying a new way to make a t - looks fun even if it is making her tear out her hair.

And for an incredibly fun Halloween quilt, make sure you check out Ragdoll Judy's Halloweenie Eye Exam - it is loads of fun. It's the September 30th entry.

And just a couple of replies to comments: Lily, I need a coat here, not just in Paris. It's getting cold. Tracey - love your idea for making a quilt of your daughter's to-do list. Fabulous. May I suggest that you change from being no-replies to having an email address to respond to. If you don't want to use your real email, get a hotmail, gmail or yahoo account. You'd get more interaction with folks that way. (Denise, if I remember correctly that applies to you too!)

Troubles

This is my Kansas City Troubles, longarm machine quilted by Bonnie Hunter.

Yesterday was fun. Went to an endocrinologist and discovered I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, in which the immune system attacks the thyroid. Great, fine. So had to do another ultrasound of my thyroid and get more blood drawn so that we can see if there has been any progression of the disease since I last had those tests done a year and a half ago.

It's not an incredibly big deal, there's a possibility that I will have to take thyroid meds for the rest of my life. Sigh. My body hates me. My husband is a bit stressed because I have to get some of my medical things sorted before we can be cleared to go overseas.

We have had some dinners and lunches with friends and my husband's colleagues. Have done some shopping as well and now I have a raincoat that should stand me in good stead both here and in Paris.

A book recommendation for Siobhan and anyone else who loves mysteries AND what goes into making movies. Earthquake Weather by Terrill Lee Lankford. Thoroughly enjoyable and it has a different rhythm from most mysteries I read - the dead body didn't turn up way at the beginning of the book.

We watched Team America World Police and loved the political incorrectness of it all and the goofy joy in blowing up models. Unfortunately it was the unrated version and of course just went too far in the ickiness. I want the "censored" version goshdarnit.