Fresh Start

I started a new project. I was playing with the crossed canoes design in EQ and since this year's quilt fest has a Quilt Camp theme I thought it would make a good class. 

12 inch block

6 inch block

Possibly fabric selection

I really need to get going on the sample, the forms need to be in by the first.

First new Journal piece

Three and a half years ago I started a weekly journal project. I was going along ok, skipped a few weeks here and there but always intended to make it a 52 piece collection. I quit the project after my brother died. I have always intended to get it started up again and while I was in California in January I did! I had all the parts ready to go 3 years ago for this little piece. Now it is finished!

Back and label

And labeled! I am not sure what this week's piece will be. Maybe some idea will spring forth from the crap, er, um, stuff on the cutting table.

The first piece in the journal project

Back and Label

This was the first of my journal pieces. I had been driving up the hill and with a clear blue sky there was lightening over the mountains.  I will try to share the old journals when I show my new ones.

The sky this morning! I love the way that the jet streams cross! This might be the inspiration for my next journal piece.

This is my off the wall post for this week.

Is it really September?

Fabric that is not the challenge fabric

My little quilt group in Wales is having a challenge.  We each were given a fat quarter of this lovely, bright lime green print.  I am not being sarcastic, I really did love it!  Anyway, this afternoon I finally cut into it and got my top made.  I had a plan as soon as I got home and matched it up with the leaf print pictured above.Of course, being the space cadet that I am, I did not get a photograph of the challenge fabric.  I took a ton of photographs of the process, and not one of the challenge fabric by itself. I do not want to publicly post those photographs until after the meeting.  So look for it in a future post.

And I did get my pants mended.  It doesn't look all that great, but since I tend to wear long shirts to cover up my curves, it should be ok.  For now.  It just means I have to go jean shopping.  I am not quite up for that ordeal right now.

Tonight's sunset

I just love the wonderful sunsets we have at our house!  We live on the east bench and so have wonderful views of the west mountains.  Every day is a wonderful light show!

Geraniums 

My Dad has two pots with Geraniums at the cabin.  He is not taking them south with him this year, so I will get them. Hopefully they will be able to survive the winter in the basement.

Weeds on the beach

Some inspiration while walking on the beach!

I love to find art in the wild!

I did not draw this in the sand.  I love finding sand art left behind by others.  Luckily it had not yet washed away.

We saw a moose!

Sweetie and I drove up the little Hodges Canyon road and were delighted to see this moose having breakfast!  Yes, I did use a telephoto setting to capture him, but we were only about 20 feet away in our car, so we were safe.  Moose do not back down.

The lake just sparkles!

I am standing at the high water mark when I made this photograph. We are on the west side of the lake and it is very shallow for a long ways.  So in a low water year (like this one) it is quite a hike to the lake. You can see from the plants that it has been a couple of low water years.

It always throws me off when there is a holiday weekend.  I don't feel like I got a lot done.  I hope to have more to show next week.  

Off the Wall at Nina-Maries blog.

Mad Dash to the Finish Line

Up next on my agenda is a trunk show.  It is in conjunction with the Springville Museum of Art's annual Quilt Show.   There are two sessions, I will be showing on August 14th in the evening.  Along with 4 other wonderful quilters from the area.  Since I am doing a trunk show I feel I should have something entered into the show.  Hmmm.  Nothing that I have finished recently is suitable. In part because one of my friends is judging and I showed her all my new stuff.  So for the last 3 days I have been trying to figure out which of my  pieces in the unfinished pile would work.  This afternoon I had an idea for a new piece.  So at 3:30pm I started pulling out fabric.  Mind you the turn in days are tomorrow and Saturday.

Backing

Who starts with a chunk of batting?

So I pull out an Art Quilt that I had entered a year or two ago.  I wanted to make sure my piece was small enough to fit in the hall where they hang the smaller art pieces.  Ok, got my size.  First thing I do is cut a piece of batting. Really, that is where I started.  Then I pulled out a fabric for the backing.

My fancy drawing

It is going to be a landscape. So I drew a pencil line for the horizon. Ok, my drawing is done!

No time to tidy up

I pulled some fabric out of the closet, then realized the ones that I wanted were piled in a basket under the junk, er, um, fabrics and scraps piled on the cutting table.

Coming together

I am not going to show any more of this piece until I find out if it gets juried in the show.

Selecting thread

I got one section quilted.  I am still digging through the thread bin to find the one perfect thread.  I think that I should be able to get the quilting done in the morning.  I need to go to Salt Laketomorrow in the afternoon/evening and hope to finish the binding, label and sleeve there.  Then I can drop it off at the museum on my drive back home on Saturday.

And then the rain came

We had a thundershower blow through in the early evening.  The temperature dropped 20 degrees in half an hour.  The clouds hugged the mountain.  I love the smell of the summer rain.

This is my Off the wall post for this week. Also check out my post from earlier in the week about a fundraiser for ALS.  Thanks!

Inspiration in Salt Lake City

I am in Salt Lake City this week waiting to meet my new granddaughter.  The only thing I can work on is some inspirational photography.  Luckily for me all my friends have wonderful gardens!  I have been working on improving my close up photography.  I think that the fuzzy cactus would be fun to interpret into an art piece. Maybe using some dimensional thread work.  I will see what I come up with when I get back to my studio next week.  Click on the photographs to enlarge.

On another note, the magazine challenge that I entered posted the finalists and I am not on the list.  The victory for me was in actually entering.  I really need to put myself out there more.  I am glad that I made the effort to finish the piece and submit an entry form.  It was a learning experience.  My piece was very emotional for me, I am not quite ready to share it here.

This is my Off the Wall post for the week, check out what everyone else is up to at Nina-Marie's blog.

Off the Wall and into the Herb Garden

Volunteer in a crack

I had planted these cute little pansies last year in the planter boxes.  It always surprises me when volunteers pop up the next year in bizarre places.

Sage, working up to blooming

Thyme

My herb garden is in its third season.  It is a work in progress.  The Thyme has spread out well.  There are some deadwood I need to get cleaned up. My Sage is doing really well.  I love it when it blooms!

Garlic infused olive oil

I love to upcycle things.  I loved the shape of these bottles.  I used one to infuse garlic in olive oil.  It is getting strained into another bottle.

Straining the oil

I use a coffee filter to strain oils and vinegars.  I am really enjoying the herbs and infusing.

Thyme Vinegar

I had cut too much Thyme for a recipe.  So rather than tossing it, I put it in a bottle with vinegar.  This is the strained vinegar.  Again, a reused bottle (Rose's Lime Juice).  Note the fancy pants label!

I love it when the chives bloom!

The real project of the day.  I had remembered that I saw a blog post about chive blossom vinegar last year.  At the time, my blossoms were past their prime and dried out.  So when I saw my chives getting ready to burst open I did a search for Chive Blossom Vinegar.  There were several different blog posts on several sites.

Rinsed then spun dry

I took heed of one post and soaked my blossoms in water and then rinsed and spun them dry.

Packed into a jar

Vinegar added

Only one of the blogs talked about using hot vinegar.  I decided not to heat my vinegar up.  It is difficult to photograph the liquid in the jar.  I set it on my window sill and we will check back in 2 weeks and see how it turns out!

Brutus

I had received a package on Tuesday containing my brand spanking new Kitchen Aid mixer!  I have wanted one of these big boys forever!  I am going to use him this afternoon to mix up some banana bread.  I am going to have to completely rearrange how my kitchen counters are filled to make space for this guy.

Some weeks you find a lot of inspiration in the studio.  I found none there this week.  I found a lot of inspiration in my herb garden.  I love the various greens and purples that are showing up this week.  I love to brush my hand against the plants, the scent of the herbs is so wonderful and soothing.

This is my Off the Wall post for the week.  Check out what everyone else is up to at Nina-Marie's blog.

Other Stories

Chevron Quilt is finished and turned in for the raffle.

Pretty Pansies at Thanksgiving Point.

I attended my last board meeting for the Utah Quilt Guild on Monday. I have been the Area Rep for the East Central Area for the last 2 years.  I need to take a step back for a bit.  When I came on the board, I did have some friends on the board and I also knew quite a few of the ladies.  I feel like I was able to deepen friendships and also make some new good friends.  Shantelle, Bev, Becky, Kathy, Cindy (well, actually 3 Cindys, all wonderful) Sharon, the other Sylvia, Louise, Paula, Ann, Wendy and many others that I can't quite pull the names out of my head at this moment. Thanks to all for welcoming me into the group.  I will continue to promote the art of Quilt-making in Utah, just on a smaller scale.

I was able to get the binding on the little Chevron quilt and turn it in for next year's Mini Quilt Raffle at Quilt Fest.  I felt like I needed to finish something, anything way ahead.  Instead of stitching down the binding the day before the baby arrives! This is my TGIFF post, check out everyone else's finishes!

Becky's Mom and her quilt.

Last week I wrote a post about the T-shirt quilt that I had made for my brother. I want to thank everyone for their kind comments.  I had a wonderful email from Becky.  She told me about the memory quilt she made for her Mother.  I asked her if I could share her story with you and she said yes.

Reading the story made me cry, because I was thinking of my mom.

She passed away 3 years ago in December, she was 79.

About 3 months before her 75^th Birthday she mailed me her Square Dance Skirts and Vests. She wanted me to make a quilt out of them for her Bed. I made fans out of them and called it Grandma Promandes across the floor. It will never win any contest, neither. I got it sewn machine quilted just following the fans and had the binding machine sewed on before we flew to Minnesota for her Birthday. Every Night I went to bed early and worked on getting the Binding finished. She was so surprised when I gave it to her. I have it back.

Becky brought the quilt to the meeting on Monday and I was able to see it in person. Quite the treasure.  Thanks for letting me share your story.

Finished Photo

Tada!  Finished! 

The Fused back, with a label and sleeve!

A Mariner's Compass!

Quilted.

I am going to put on this black for a binding.

The next project to finish.

As promised, the finished photograph of "Sea Garden".  I am pleased with the way the fused back turned out.  It is now on its way to Arizona to go into the Rim Country Quilters show.  I wish that I could attend the show. Check out this Blog party about finished quilts.

I was drinking the last bottle of Trader and realized that there is a Mariner's Compass on the label!  With a hop flower in the center.  How fun is that?  You never know where you are going to find quilt designs and inspiration.

I  completed the quilting on the mini quilt.  I think that I will just bind it in black since I don't have any of the fabrics.

The next UFO I plan to work on is this birthday table runner.  The pattern is from Pie Plate Patterns.  I had won the kit at one of their retreats. Not sure which year I won it.  I have it pieced, the bow fabric is fused and traced and the batting and backing are cut and ready to go.  Since the Most Beautiful Little Boy in the World has a birthday coming up, I thought I should get it done in time.

This is my off the wall post for this week, check out what everyone else is doing at Nina-Marie's Blog.