Let Us Never Forget....

September 11, 2012.  Even 11 years later it's hard to believe.  There doesn't seem to be the same hype as there was the past 10 anniversaries.  I'm sitting here watching a PBS special on 9/11.  So emotional.


I have been trying to keep up with the challenge of doing at least an hour of hand work at night and want to get it posted.  I now have 3 rays done.

3 rays done

Earlier in the day I finished the top for my Lotus Temple.  I will not be able to work on it tomorrow-workout in the morning, coffee with my dad, hair appointment and I'm playing in a "Birdies for Breasts" fund raiser tomorrow evening.  But Thursday is ALL MINE!!!!  I'll go get a backing for the quilt and do minimal quilting on it.

Lotus Temple to completed

The last thing I did this afternoon was go over the Block of the Month Applique I started about 8 years ago and finished the center block just last week!  I had kept up with the blocks every month until the last block!  I still have to trim up the blocks to the correct sizes and make the striped border around the center block.  Then there's the quilting.  Very traditional.  Probably echo around the applique and grind.  Maybe (probably) some feathers because I love feathers.

Piece '0 Cake Applique

I will probably start the Hidden Circles before I start quilting the applique.  I also have another feathered star quilt that needs quilting.  Haven't decided if I'll do it myself or send it out.  I think I'm going to start looking into getting a long arm.  My dad and his friend came for brunch on Sunday and she was telling us about her niece and her long arm.  That night Joe started questioning me about long arms.  I've toyed with the idea for a while but couldn't justify the expense.  Theoretically, I'd like to have a small quilting business-something I could run on my schedule-workout on my current schedule, travel when I want and work my butt off when I'm home.  I need to contribute to my retirement.  I live a comfortable lifestyle but need to add to my retirement fund.  But Joe said it might be a good idea and he'd finance me.  I want to talk to some people who have them then test-drive a few when I go to Houston.

I'm rambling.  

I'm distracted by the show on 9/11.  

I will never forget.

Indian Star Progress to Date

This is a post about my "Indian Star" quilt.  I started this quilt while traveling in India with Jinny Beyer in November 2010.  I was trying to capture the colors and feel of what I saw.  The six pointed star was very prominent as was the marigold color.  The borders are from Jinny's collection.  Here is the to when I finished the top.

I then proceeded to hand-quilt.  I got all the diamonds quilted in the ditch.  I had been working on small parts and had not looked at the whole thing until I finished quilting the diamonds and laid it out to try to determine how I was going to quilt the negative space.  I realized I was not happy with it.  The star faded into the background.

This quilt may not be the most beautiful or the most difficult quilt I have done but it means so much to me because I completed many of the diamonds while traveling around India on the experience of a lifetime.   So.....I un-quilted the entire thing!  I then realized if I could bring out the star points the central star became more apparent.

 By replacing 4 of the points with yellow-gold, the star started to come out!  But it did not some out as much as I wanted.  I then decided to outline the central star with a stem-stitch.  I auditioned different #8 perle cotton-sparkly gold, regular gold color, yellow color and black.  I settled on the black.

2 diamonds outlined

A closer look

Up close and personal

The 2 diamonds took about 2 hours.  I am going to try to commit to at least an hour every evening while watching TV with my husband.  I am going to link in with Bonnie Hunter's "One Hour of Needle & Thread".  Hopefully it will keep me on track!  That doesn't mean I won't finish up on my Lotus Temple!  Just something to do in the evening when I sit with "my boyfriend" (he'll always be my boyfriend-even after 31 years!)

Happy Stitching!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!!

I'm hoping the computer gremlins have finished their games!  Here is the completed Disappearing Nine Patch.  Fast & easy!  Back it, Quilt it, Bind it.  That's this week's goal.

Disappearing Nine Patch

 Here's a close-up of some of the quilting I did on the Ohio Star.  The 9 Patch is going to get a simple, all-over pattern!

Close-up of quilting on Ohio Star

 Nest on our UFO Hit Parade is the Lotus Temple I started in Ursula Kern's class at Empty Spools this past March.

Getting close

Closer....

Here all the blocks are complete and waiting to be sewn together.  I'm so pleased with the way it turned out!  Below is the inspiration picture.

Lotus Temple, Dehli, India

I hope to have the edges finished off and I will back it and quilt it lightly with no batting as the foundation will make it heavy enough.  Another project I hope to complete this week!

Now that fall is here and the weather has cooled down, (and the pool has closed), I can spend more time quilting.  This week will be a busy one as I am playing in a fund-raiser tomorrow and Wednesday evening and my normal golf league day on Tuesday morning.  Add to that, my work-outs and I'm a busy girl!  Now that I've gotten my quilting mojo back, I'm looking forward to the creative process.  I also have the added incentive of a new project I want to start before I quilt another UFO!  It's called Hidden Circles and I'm going to make it scrappy to use up more of my scraps!  I'll post pictures as I go along.  The next project I'm going to quilt is my New Zealand quilt from a class I took at Empty Spools with Janet Fogg in 2009.

Until I post again,

Happy Stitching!