Hello October!

Alrighty then, one last finish for September squeezed in under the wire. It's the Aurifil Designers block for (prepare yourself) July--with added design elements (sun and waves). I think this one took so long because while I was finishing it up the August block came out, and I really do not like the August block, so it just put me off the project. Not sure what I'm going to do about August, either suck it up and make it work (channeling Tim Gunn) or skip to September and revisit or redesign the block in the end.

I pretty much finished up Fall decorating. This is my mantle. It needs one more thing...a candlestick lamp which will be placed where the banner on the right is and the banner will then move to the left to either replace or join the clock.

Love the crow. Wondering how long it will take Tucker to figure out it's up there, bring the ladder up from the basement and turn him into lunch. (It probably didn't help that when I brought it home from Michaels I played 'let's peck at Tucker' with it. Tucker is now crated whenever we leave the house, even if it's only to walk down to the mailbox .)

After looking at the mantle for a few days I decided it needed some sort of floral thing. Not a fan of flowers (unless they are fresh and in a vase), I picked up just a couple stems and tucked them in with the leaves.

I'm happy with the colors. Now if only I could do that well coordinating fabric colors on my quilts.

June Goes Out With a Bang and July Starts with a Giveaway

June was one of those hot months, perfect for just being a slug on the couch, under the ceiling fan, watching TV, commiserating about how the electric bill went from $119 in May to $312 in June. Too hot to blog, too hot to wrangle a quilt under the machine. Even Paco embraced SlugFest.

While I did finish up some projects, for the end of the month I took on little hand-sewing amusements, such as

the wool applique banner for July...

the 2012 Aurifil Designers' Block for June...

and the first of 3-5 Crabapple Hill embroidered Halloween panels that I have no idea what I'm going to do with (I smell a future Fall giveaway)

After that I've spent my time playing with the Slice Fabrique cutter (not exactly a fan yet), cleaning up the little messes I've made in the studio, and leafing through the quilt magazines looking for a new project.

I might have found one

It's Candy Store, by Rebecca Wells, and it was featured in the May/June Fons and Porter magazine. In addition to the single solid fabric used in the sashing/border/binding, it uses 18 fat quarters. And I think I've got the perfect fabric for it...

My Kaffe Fassett polka dots. I just happen to have 21 different fat quarters from that line, so I'm set (I've got a stash of solids in the studio closet to choose from). I love it when you can find the perfect fabric for a project in your stash.

I might start this tomorrow, but I think I'd best do the quilting on my sister's table runner that she dropped off a few months ago. And after that, I should sandwich the mystery quilt for my daughter and get that quilted and out of here. Come the 13th, I've got two days of classes with Gyleen Fitzgerald, with a quilt to be made for each, so I should probably hold off on this one until I've finished what I've started, and what's inked in on the project board.

Happy  Hour lasted a little longer than I expected that past Friday and I never got back to post the Fast Friday Giveaway, so let's just offer that up right here and now.

 

I'm giving away a fat quarter pack of 5 bright prints from the Hot House fabric line. There's multiple ways to get your name in the drawing. Choose one, or choose them all, each one gets you one entry.

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what you'd make with these.
2. If you're a follower, leave a comment to that effect.
3. Post the giveaway on your own blog and leave a comment that you did. (I think that most of us find out about  giveaways through the grapevine, and I appreciate that those posts are shared, so let's keep the sharing alive).
4. BONUS: Leave a comment on any other post I get in before the close of the giveaway and you'll get an extra chance for each (one comment per post, please).

Easy peasy. As always, no country restrictions, anyone can win.

I'll choose a winner this coming Sunday. Good luck in the drawing, and have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July. Stay cool, and be sure to hydrate (and if you're South Down Under....stay warm with a hot cuppa something ).

Cleaning Up Loose Ends...

...but not the house (ha ha).

I fell behind on posting when I went on the kitchen painting excursion. And, while I managed to get a new carpet shampooer and clean all the downstairs carpets (which are once again in need of a wash....thank you Paco and Tucker), I managed to fall behind on the day to day house cleaning.  Such a shame.

So, looking around me at the stairs that need vacuuming, the sheets that need changing, I decided to dive right in and...

PLAY IN THE STUDIO!!!!!!!

First up, we finished the Merry Mayhem Mystery quilt top. A quick (not) trip to Patches this week (coupon) to pick the backing, and we'll knock this one out of the park before we begin the two Mid Appalachian Quilters class projects.

A bit of English paper piecing (okay, a LOT of English paper piecing), and we were able to finish the four blocks in this installment of the Vintage Rouge Christmas quilt. The hubs really likes these blocks. Here's one up close and personal....

Will 'ya look at how round those circles are? The little one was a breeze, it's only 2", the bigger one is another story..it's a bit over 7" diameter. Thankfully I only had to do four of them (so far). Now before you think I'm the new Goddess of Dresden, think back to those 'Strip Its' I posted about last month. Those blades are a single cut of fabric. But, I'm going to quilt down the center of each of them when the time comes, and no one (except you) will be the wiser.

Next we spent a lot of time cutting little shapes out of wool and tracing and transferring lettering to some very strange embroidery fabric to prep a kit for this lovely Dickens quote for Christmas. Any bets on whether this gets done for this Christmas? We're going to Florida in early November, so this will likely be the in-flight entertainment.

And the wool arrived for the July wool applique , so that's all cut and fused and waiting to be stitched, backed, and sleeved.

While it's not easy to see, I took a little creative license (and a ruler) to the Aurifil Designer's Block for June. Look at all that yummy Aurifil 12 wt. thread. This will probably be the project I start tonight. Note the large plastic zip pouch. I picked these up at a super special sale on the Elinor Burns site and I use them to kit all my handwork projects. Toss in a small pair of scissors, the needle case, the needle threader, and the Costco reading glasses , and it's grab and go amusement for car rides, waiting rooms, lunch hour, drinks on the terrace...

And since we were kitting Christmas projects, it seemed like a good idea to prep the Halloween handwork. This is a little Crabapple Hill embroidery. The embroidery will attach to wool felt and that can attach to treat bags, or little pillows, or it could be framed in a sweet little desk frame. Should be easy enough to finish by October 31st.

It all looks like fun...way more fun than changing the sheets or vacuuming the stairs...guess that means I better invite the ladies over for Happy Hour Friday, as if I'm ever going to finish cleaning  my house, a little 'threat of guests' wouldn't hurt to provide the much needed kick in the pants motivation for cleaning.

Check back on Friday for another Fast Friday Fabric Giveaway.

In the meantime...stay cool!

Sharing Some April Finishes

I worked in the office today, and after that I did some merchandising, and when I was finally on the way home at 7:30, I stopped to pick up a prescription only to find out that they had sent it back into stock because I hadn't picked it up sooner, so I've got to sit and wait for that. Obviously, when I got home, I really needed to do something fun to take the edge off the day, so I made this pincushion. A bunch of circles to cut out, a little hand stitching and it's assembled with a glue gun. Two hours with the tv on. Not bad. I like it. (And now that I look at it, this is what I should have made for the 'Bloomin'' challenge!)

This is the challenge quilt that went in on Friday. String piecing on muslin, piping, piano key, a little applique, thread painting, used a template and a pouncer for the first time. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it's done. I'm sure we'll find a home for it.

Next we have my favorite so far of the Aurifil Designers 2012 Blocks. April Showers (clearly). I'm really enjoying the embroidery experience (I think it's solely due to the Aurifil 28 wt thread I'm using. It would most definitely not be so much fun if I was separating strands of floss.

The long in-process Drunkard's Path with the decorative stitched fabric also went off to the show. It was renamed 'Broken Records'. There's a lot of different ways to view this...negative space, positive space, pinwheels, curves. I should have named it 'Introspective Stoner Quilt'.

Last week I caught a sale at JoAnn online and bought a holiday cartridge for the Slice Fabrique (it has an alphabet on it), and a circle die for the Accuquilt. Notice anything different about this die? I was excited when I took it out of the package. They've started using two colors of foam on the die so you no longer have to Sharpie around the shapes so you know where to lay your fabric. Way to go Accuquilt!

And when I was at Mimi's class last weekend, I picked up some batiks to use on my first mystery quilt. I'm going to do a Merry Mayhem mystery (it's already started) that's being played out on the MidAppalachian Quilters site. I figured as long as I was going to attend the conference and take two classes, I should also do the mystery. Maybe tomorrow night I'll start cutting. While I'm not entirely confident, I'm pretty sure I've represented a light, a medium and 2 darks with the stack of fabric above.

Along with this I've got a wholecloth project that I need to sandwich and get quilted and then have at with some metallic fabric paint--another first for me. I'll be sure to share all the gory details of that project with you.

Of course, it might be nice if I got those last few blocks prepped for one of the Baltimore Album quilts. Next class is in 2 weeks, I think. And I've got to figure out how to get pencil out of fabric. Any ideas?

Is It Friday Yet?

Oh Jeez, tomorrow is only Wednesday. Talk about a slow week. Though, with all I have to get done, I should be loving a slow week.

So, what's been happening?

Sunday I went to Mimi's class and found myself in the majority--more than half the class had no show and tell for the past month. Phew! Glad that it wasn't only me that slacked on applique in February.

I did get something done (that I worked on until 4:00 a.m. the night before class--can you say pro-cras-tin-a-tion?)

Of course, I also like to support the quilt shop that hosts Mimi's class, especially since they always have some sort of coupon offer going on. They had a half wall of red and white fabrics that I just couldn't pass by. I've always wanted to make a red and white quilt (well, I've always wanted to make one since seeing the quilts in the Infinite Variety exhibit (which, is a very nice iPhone app if you've got an iPhone). I figured what better time than to snag a stack of half yard cuts to start me on the path to a red and white masterpiece.

Five yards is a pretty good start for something scrappy. I've uploaded the photo to my Fabric Stash app (on my iPhone), so whenever I happen upon some tantalizing red and whites I can open this photo and see what might play nice with these.

I wasn't a total slacker this weekend. I did finish my block for our Guild Raffle Quilt for 2013.  It's going to be a large Edyta Sitar Farmhouse quilt.



And, thanks to Aurifil thread, my new favorite thing is hand embroidery. I got a start on the March Aurifil 2012 Designer's block. I'm not chain-stitching it, as the sample was done. I'm liking the whole backstitch look, so that's what I'm currently hung up on.  Speaking of Aurifil, I was totally honored after doing my first block in this series when I got a shout out and a link to my post on Alex Veronelli's Facebook page. (He's that hunky Italian guy from Aurifil Threads). I felt as if I'd won the Academy Award (just like my ex-brother in law did for feature documentary-Undefeated this year).  I linked you to an interview posted today on Fat Quarterly.

Last night was our monthly Guild meeting. The speaker was Gyleen Fitzgerald aka the Pineapple Quilt lady. I was going to leave early until I looked up and noticed that the place was filling up more so than usual. And I could hear a couple of ladies discussing how entertaining Gyleen was, so I sucked it up and decided to hang around. I was so glad I did.



Gyleen was extremely entertaining. She was engaging, totally at ease, not to mention she makes fabulous quilts with even more fabulous backs, and most of them are made from scraps. Not a fan of pineapple quilts, having seen the photo for the workshop she held on Sunday (same time as my Mimi class), once I saw her quilt in person, I was gobsmacked. What a great looking quilt. And then a whole bunch of people from the workshop stepped up all smiles and grins and showed off the pineapple blocks they made in her workshop, and they all looked super.

I wished Gyleen would have spoken for another hour and brought a few dozen more quilts to show us. I want to be one of her quilting friends, I want to swap blocks and charms with her, I want to join her guild, as from the stories she tells they sound like a fun group. But since that's not going to happen, I did the next best thing. I purchased a pattern and her Polygon tool....

 

And I purchased her pineapple tool and a copy of her Trash to Treasures Pineapple Quilt book (which should arrive in the mail soon---she sold out at our meeting).



And today I went to Gyleen's website and signed up for her newsletter and checked her schedule to find that she will be teaching 3 full day workshops at MAQ (Mid Appalachian Quilters) in Emmitsburg, MD in July, one of which is the Pineapple Quilt. Guess where I'll be? :)  

Bonus....the MAQ site gets you psyched for their event by running a Merry Mayhem Mystery Quilt on their site. A new instruction is posted every 2 weeks. The first one posted last week, so if you like mysteries, you might want to check that out--especially if you're a fan of Merry May.

I see that the clock has struck midnight, so that means I should thread a needle and get to work on one of those blocks. (Or lose all control and order another dozen spools of 12 wt. Aurifil thread.)

Happy Wednesday!

Friday Night Ramblings

After my eye doctor appointment on Wednesday I decided to take a run through the Dollar Tree. In addition to fairy floss (cotton candy), Zapp's chips (New Orleans delicacy), and other items I didn't really need but couldn't pass up because they only cost a buck, I found some cute little storage baskets and plastic ramekins (for cupcake pincushions). The dollar stores are my favorite place to find neat storage items. Like the little totes below that I use to hold materials for a single project. Sometimes my short attention span gets the best of me and I tire of what I'm working on and want to start something else. Just toss it all in a basket and set it aside.

Do they have dollar stores in other countries?  We've certainly got dollar stores to spare here in the US.

The little green crates came 4 to a pack. Perfect to keep my 12pt. Aurifil threads sorted in my embroidery thread drawer.

 

And, speaking of Aurifil threads, I spent last night making the Aurifil Designer's block from January. I figured it was best to get it out of the way so it didn't take time away from prepping some Baltimore applique for Sunday's class. And I can't seem to get myself to bed before 3:30 a.m. the past couple of nights, so it gave me something to do.

Remember these cool vintage needle sets I got on eBay a month or so ago? Well, I finally did something with them.

One more item for the studio wall. Of course, that required rearranging some things to make room. My first applique project moved out to the upstairs hall.

Not to shabby for my first applique, and my first machine quilting, with a little embroidery and crystal embellishment. Every black on white fabric used has an exact white on black counterpart. Clever, eh?

Well, I've got to go check on the hubs. He was feeling a little lightheaded earlier. (Maybe someone put a roofie in his Cosmo at the restaurant :) ), and we've got the Grandpup here for a sleepover tonight...Paco misses Bailey, so we've been arranging playdates and sleepovers for him while we continue to look for a new pup. I don't want him to think he can become the Alpha dog around here (that's my position), so Mr. Rick works to keep him humbled.

I've got a busy day in the studio planned for tomorrow. Hopefully you'll see some progress on Baltimore and a binding on Broken Records (the Drunkards).

Whatever you've planned for yourself, enjoy!

Are we keeping you awake, Mr. Rick?

Aurifil Designer Block Finished

Today I indulged in a little embroidery fun using my favorite Aurifil threads. 12 wt cotton made this project fun and totally painless. I don't think I'll ever use DMC floss again. I breezed through all those French Knots and I don't even embroider!

Wouldn't it be great if there were a Mega Thread lottery every week? The jackpot would be a spool of every color and every weight thread made by Aurifil. Heck with Powerball....I'd be first in line for that. Or how about Aurifil Clearinghouse Sweepstakes? The Prize Patrol knocks on your door and presents you with suitcases full of thread. Sigh! (A girl can dream, can't she?)

Back to reality.... I'm pleased as it gives me another February finish. And I'm grateful that there's one more day in the month so I can make binding and finish the Drunkard's.

The deadlines are closing in.  Class with Mimi Dietrich is Sunday, and the only progress I've made is to scrap my designs for two of the blocks (and believe me, Mimi is such a sweetie, she'd say that was good work for the past month--I did something decisive ). The applications for what I'm hanging in the guild show are due Monday, along with a barn block for next year's Guild raffle quilt, so those are on the short list. I think I'm safe on the challenge quilt, for a minute, as I don't have to submit a photo or measurements on Monday, just an indication that I'll be turning in a challenge piece--so that can move back to the procrastination back burner for a bit.

The consequence of having so many projects in mind is that they require prioritizing (a task which we seem to suck at lately--for some reason the more I have to do, the harder it is for me to stay on track and carry it out--just ask my boss about that, ha ha----I tend to attribute the recent lack of motivation to  'Sucks to get old".). Decisions, decisions......

Well, I hope your Wednesday is lacking in pressure, or the need to prioritize anything. I'm off to bed, most likely to dream about thread (which is way better than dreaming about deadlines).

Keep Calm and Carry On!