Busy Week

 I finished this quilt yesterday and am really pleased with how it turned out.  The customer is a neighbor and had a preview of it the other day when she was walking her dog.  IShe  seemed really pleased.  I did get a rack so I can hang a quilt to photograph it and to show the client without clamping it to the curtain rod in the family room, blocking most of the light from the room!  It was a good thing.  Today a friend came by to ask me about an antique quilt she had and saw the quilt hanging in the living room.  She loved it and is going to go through her sons' tee shirts and possibly have some made for them.

This coming week is a short one for me as I leave for Chicago Thursday night to spend the weekend shopping for a wedding dress for my eldest daughter!  I'm going to spend some time working on my Dancing Lady quilt I started at Empty Spools this past spring. In anticipation of spending my time sewing I started  a crockpot full of pulled pork!  YUM!!!

 Pulled pork

Then I set up my computer by my sewing machine and watched a few episodes of The Quilt Show.  I watched an episode with Jean Wells Keenan.  I'm signed up to take a class from her at Empty Spools next spring.  Ricki talked me into it (Ricki Made Me Do It) and now I'm really excited about it!  I need Ricki to push me artistically.  She talked me into taking Ursula Kern's class and I probably learned more from her than just about any other teacher except for Jinny Beyer.  Same same but different.

 Sewing machine set-up

My goals for this week is to quilt the simple Turning Twenty quilt I did for Ally and Josh to give their friends.  I want to take it with me to Chicago this weekend.  Then I get to play with Dancing Lady.  It' took me almost a complete block today to get back in the swing of the process.  I'd like to get the majority of the blocks done by the time I leave.  When I get home I'll get back to making the next tee shirt quilt then I have 2 quilt tops to quilt for another customer.

Until next time,

Happy Stitiching

My New Favorite Notion

While at Empty Spools I was introduced to a new WONDERFUL tool!

The Seam Fix!

It looks like a seam ripper with a funny end you say?  Yes it is, but it's so much better!  Here's how it works.

You use the conventional working end like you do any other seam ripper-cutting through every 4 to 5 stitches and

 pull the bobbin thread from the back.

But then you're left with all the little thread pieces to pick out!

You flip the seam ripper to the other side and "erase" the threads with the funny silicone end!

It really works!  It has 2 different silicone tips, one is on the top cover and the other is on the opposite end of the ripper.  I personally like the larger one on the cover but have used both and different times.

The only problem I've found with it is that the top does not fit on the end of the handle when it's removed.

It comes in 3 colors, Hot Pink, Teal (it looked more like blue to me) and Grey (which looked like black to me).  I got the Pink so I could find it easily when I'm in the throes of quilt making!  I got it at the store they set up during seminar but I found it on Amazon.  Maybe you can find it at your local quilt store.

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!

....While I Was Gone....

So I'll give you the Reader's Digest version:

Left on March 18th for Albany, New York where I met up with my buddy, Ricki, for 2 weeks of creativity!  After I went to the wrong hotel to pick her up (she flew in from Hawaii the day before) we drove down to Greenville, NY to the Hudson River Valley Art Workshop.  We spent 5 glorious days taking classes from Paula Nadelstern!  She is such a lovely woman, phenomenal artist and inspiring teacher!  The first project we did was the Nadelstar.  It gave us the opportunity to grasp the idea of making a kaleidoscope using fabric.

Mine is second row center.

We then went on to make a full kaleidoscope block.  Took me 3 days to get this done!  I did start another and have yet to finish.  Another UFO!!!

My kaleidoscope block.

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the inn, which was charming but here is a picture of the little cottage Ricki and I stayed in.  It has 2 rooms-Ricki and I were in the room on the right.  It was cozy-had a fireplace, big bathroom and just the perfect sized room for the 2 of us.  The food was OUTSTANDING!  I know I gained weight-something I was trying to keep under control while traveling.  Dinners were unbelievable AND there were fresh baked cookies every afternoon at 2:30!

 Over the river and through the woods to our cottage!

After 5 days of fun with Paula, Ricki and I packed up, drove back up to Albany, boarded separate planes and met up in San Francisco for round 2 of quilting and creating at Empty Spools!  We drove down to Pacific Grove and spent the first night in a little inn across the street from Asilomar, where the next class was to be held.  We lucked out in that they had a washer and dryer we could use to wash our clothes!  I was not looking forward to spending quality time in a laundry mat!  After the laundry was done we drove down the coast to the Big Sur area!  HOW GORGEOUS!!!  We had lunch at Kaffe Fassett's family restaurant.  The BEST sandwich I've ever had!

Sandwich + View = Wonderful

We drove back up to check into our rooms and get organized before class began with Ursula Kern at 4pm.

Fireplace in room!

Ursula's class war INCREDIBLE!  I've never had "art" classes, except in grade school and jr. high so I was blown away by Ursula, who was a professor of textile color and design at University of Basel in Switzerland.  It was a creative blur for the first 2 days as I absorbed the information.  I had brought a picture of the Lotus Temple in Delhi as my inspiration piece, not really understanding what we were doing.  I worked on that for the first 3 days until I had my "Color Dream".  It's difficult to explain but it was of a woman I had seen in Pushkar, India.  There was no picture taken of her but I have "seen" her in my head since my return.  I have put those colors on a page using Ursula's "Chop Suey" method and will make it in the near future.

My Board for the Thursday Walk About.  The Lotus Temple work is the upper left side, my first "Get Acquainted with the Process" piece is mid-way down on the right and my Pushkar Dream piece is the center bottom.

One of the views from Asilomar to the ocean.

Ricki and I on the boardwalk.

We went into Carmel after Empty Spools and this was a view down one of the little alleyways.

We then drove up the coast back to San Francisco.  The waves were crashing and it was SO AWESOME!  (Thanks, Ricki)

The adventure came to an end on the 31st as I boarded a plane back to Michigan.  It's been difficult getting back into the groove.  I want to stay in my creative bubble!  I made an overnight trip to Grand Rapids to visit Colleen and deliver her dog, Guapo, to live with her.  She has a great apartment and seems to really enjoy GR.

On a brighter note, I got my Mustang convertible on Monday!  More on that tomorrow!  (I have a sore throat and not feeling so wonderful today)

Happy Stitching!

Mid March!

Gosh, I was really going to try to post more often but I guess I'll just post when I can.  Just as I was thinking I was getting things under control, they're not!  Had a tough time with my SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) the end of last week and I think that a lot of emotions from my mother's death and Joe's surgery.  I was kind of useless for a few days.  I did quilt a little but not a lot.  Colleen and Bryn both headed back to school on Saturday and I spent the next 2 days getting caught up on laundry.

Let the folding begin!

With temperatures in the 60's and now in the 70's (in mid March!) I thought it was time to put the winter decorations away.  I give myself a few days to gather things on the dining room table before I box them up and take them to the attic.  If I did it all at once I would find things and have to traipse back up to the attic.

Winter getting ready to get sent to the attic

Then I had to focus on packing my supplies.  First I packed up my supplies for my Paula Nadelstern class in Albany.  I was going to try to pack all the supplies in my big suitcase and my clothes in the smaller one (priorities) but the big suitcase weighed too much!  I'm so glad I have a luggage scale-great investment ($10).  So I put all the fabrics in the smaller suitcase....

 And will pack my clothes in the room left in my big suitcase.  That is the travel scale sitting in the upper left.  And yes, that is a flattened box on the bottom.

 I am going right from the Paula Nadelstern workshop outside of Albany, New York to Ursula Kern's workshop at Empty Spools Seminar in Pacific Grove, California!  DH will ship my supplies for Ursula's class to Back Porch Quilts in Pacific Grove so they will be waiting for my and I will ship what I no longer need after Paula's class back home.  I have been checking the weather and it's going to be in the 70's for the week in Albany so I'm thinking of packing some shorts and capris in my luggage and some of my long pants in the box to be shipped to Cali then ship my shorts home when I leave Albany!  

And the BEST part of the trip.....I'm meeting up with my Deer Friend, Ricki!  (yes, I meant to spell it with 2 e's)  She's coming in from Hawaii (wait...why is she leaving paradise to go to upstate New York in March?...Oh, yea, Paula Nadelstern AND me!  LOL) and I haven't seen her since Empty Spools last spring!  We just "get"each other and enjoy each other's company.  I'll let you know how we feel after 2 weeks.

I painted the front of my big suitcase so I can spot it right away as it comes down the carousel.  I'm checking both bags so maybe I'll paint something on the smaller bag as well so I can spot it right away.

I did get some piecing done today.  Most of the top is done.  I got the blocks squared up and sashing put on.  I started this about 3 years ago and it was one of those I was going to make as a sample of what you can do with a Cinnamon Bun precut s (1-1/2" strips).  Apparently, I was going for speed and getting it done quickly as opposed to accuracy.  Let's just say, if you ever see this quilt up close, don't look too close!  I still have to put on the borders. 

Tomorrow is workout, bank and finish packing.  DH is out to a fundraiser with a client tomorrow night so I think I'll take my dad out.  Saturday is nails and date night and off on my Quilting Crusade Sunday morning!

Time for bed!

Happy Stitching!