Playdate with Lisa!

Capitol Reef

I went to Salt Lake earlier this week for my granddaughter's birthday party. While there I arranged to meet up with my dear friend Lisa to retrieve my National Park quilt from her. She lives near my daughter.  As we were making arrangements I mentioned that I was sad to be unable to attend the guild Dye Party that she was heading up. She said we could have our own when you pick up Capitol Reef! Oh Yeah! And so we did!

Twins!

Because so many events have been cancelled in the last year and a half, Lisa and I have not run into each other in about 2 years. Although we are in contact a lot. I drive up to her house and what do I see? A twin of my car! LOL! The last time I saw her she was driving a mini van.  These twins are the same make, model and year. The only difference is that hers is silver and mine is a gray metallic and I have a trailer hitch.

So wonderful to be together!

And since we are both fully vaccinated, we are able to hug and take a photograph with our faces next to each other!

Lisa's outdoor studio

Lisa has a wonderful outdoor covered patio that is perfect for dyeing!

Lisa mixing dyes

We had a wonderful discussion about safety around dyes.  We are both extremely cautious with the fine powders. It is important to always wear a mask when the jars of dyes are open and until the dyes are safely mixed.  We both have taken classes (from different teachers) where they poopooed the importance of masking while handling the powders. It appalls us both. Error on the side of caution. I was at least 10 feet away and upwind from her. There was a slight breeze.

Dye Spots

I had previously tore the fabric into pieces and it was in a pile next to Lisa, downwind. Notice that the dyes made their way on to the fabric. Usually when I mix dyes I put a damp soda ashed piece under where I am mixing so that it will trap any loose powders.  I use the same piece of fabric numerous times. You never know how it will turn out.

Parfaits 

Lisa was showing me some dyeing techniques that I had not used before. This was parfaits. Mine is on the left and Lisa's on the right.

Popsicle sticks

We also did some popsicle sticks and rubber banding. I don't have a photograph of my rubber banded fat quarter.

We each dyed a yard piece and then we had the various fat quarters. The parfaits used 3 fat quarters. Lisa did her yard piece  with the rubber bands.

Swirled and tied

My yard piece was swirled and then tied. 

Ready to cook!

Our bags of fun!  We needed to let them "cook" for a while. I headed back to my daughters house and had all of my baggies in a bucket to take home for rinsing.  I finally rinsed yesterday since I had a busy day Tuesday (party!) and the long drive home on Wednesday

Yard piece swirled

The results of my fabric dyeing.  I am happy with my yard piece! I may do some overdyeing on it.

Parfaits

My camera is not the best, but these are pretty accurate. Some of the dyes were old, and maybe we didn't have enough soda ash. The piece to the right was on top and the left was the bottom.

My rubber banded piece

Again, my camera does not accurately photograph purple. This piece is a deeper purple with a hint of green in the left quadrant.

Popsicle sticks

I used orange at the center and corners. This also has the purple. I am happy with the result.

Fan fold

We also did a fan fold in both directions.  The green is brighter in person. I believe I also used marigold besides the bright green and where they touched made a different green.

Crumpled in a zip lock

I am happy with the dark blue on the left. The other one is meh. So it can be over dyed or stamped or something or another. 
 

I know that Lisa will be blogging about her side of the story sometime soon. So check her blog as well.

Cactus in bloom

My pretty photograph for this post.

Linking to:

Beth

Judy

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Frédérique

On the Road Again!

 I think it is exciting to have a piece of quilt art in a traveling show! I belong to an online group that does a yearly challenge. And then the group of quilts travel together to several shows.  I have been with the group for the last 4 years.  The 2020 collection did not travel since all shows were canceled. So they will travel this year. Our coordinator received a last minute opportunity to display our quilts in a Gallery. She still had possession of the 2020 quilts, but they needed more for the display. She sent out the call for any previous years quilts to expand the collection. I had three quilts available.

Clouds in my Coffee

Sego Lily

20 Circles

I could not find a finished photograph of this piece. I am sure there is one in a very safe place. It was finished with a faced binding. 

Saving Red Knoll

This one is the 2020 piece. The challenge was "community".  My local community came together to save Red Knoll from a frac sand mine proposal.

Here is a link to a video of the show. Video show The exhibit is at the Cultural Activities Center in Temple Texas for the rest of June.

I have two other pieces in traveling shows. And as the previous one, they also were not traveling last year. They are both on display now.

First up is the "Inspired by Elvis" collection which is in Reno for the quilt show this weekend. 

Moonlight Swim

Second up is the "Inspired by Endangered Species" which opens on June 19th at the Forest Preserve District of Will County The entire collection will be there, although spread between 4 of their buildings.

My piece is "Bear Claw Poppy".  Still looking for a photograph of it.

Another Cactus in bloom!

And my pretty photograph for the post.

Linking to:

Alycia

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Anja

Finished with Joe

I have another finish to show off! I took a class from Joe Cunningham in September of 2017. It was a lot of fun! I love free form cutting and sewing techniques and this really hit the spot. As so many of my projects, once this was a top it got set aside.  Sometime in the last year or two  I started to quilt this top. It kept getting put aside.  Earlier this year I was determined to finish it. 

Barbara and my work in class

I was working on my piece in class and then went to the luncheon. I sat across the table from my friend, Barbara. I realized she was wearing a blouse that looked just like my project!  

End of the day progress

I pretty much finished the top in class. Looking at this photograph now I can see the issues that came up later in the process. Look at all those ripples at the edges. And note how it isn't even close to have a straight edge on any of the sides.

Quilted

I finally got it quilted last summer. This is the first trimming. It is too large for my cutting table and I tried to straightened edges by folding it. Did not work. Not only is there ripples at the edge, but it was no where near having 90 degree corners.  It went into time out.  I tried to stay stitch around the edge and then block it flat. Nope.  Time out again.  I pulled it out last month and ironed it and then carefully trimmed. I added a binding and called it good to go.

Finished!

I took this photograph after it had been folded and stored for a bit. It is kinda, sorta flat if you look past the fold lines.  I think I am happy with the final result. Looking at the class photograph I can see that I didn't lose too much of the design in the trimming of the quilted piece. I have a lot of chunks of large trimmings. I set them aside to play with at another time. The quilt measures about 44 inches by 37 inches.

Bowl

I had enough fabric leftover from the backing to make a bowl!  I hadn't made any bowls for a while and it was fun.

And for my pretty photograph of this post I have two of the same cactus flower. I love the coloration of this one! Not sure which photograph I liked better, so added both. Which do you prefer?

Linking to:

Judy

Beth

Alycia

Nina-Marie

Gail

Sarah

Heading into Summer

I finally feel like my quilting mojo is back. I am sitting at the machine most days.  It has been a struggle most of the pandemic to get enthused about sewing, but now I am looking forward to my time at the machine.

A UFO

I have a lot of UFO's.  When I was teaching at a shop, I would have a class sample, sometimes quilted, sometimes not. And then I would have an in progress sample that eventually turned into another UFO.  I also tend to use the leftovers of a project to make a smaller top. The UFO above is one of these. I took a class with a friend that was a race. You worked as a team and would end up with two quilts. Each using your own fabrics.  Anyway, this is the leftovers of that project. Yeah, the original class project is also a UFO.  I am not sure what year we took this class, maybe 5 or 6 years ago.

Finished!

I have 3 children, two girls and then a boy. The eldest girl got a High School graduation quilt that was from the Go Wild With Quilts book. The HS mascot is an eagle. So made the eagle wall hanging and it was hand quilted. She tells me now that she got the finished quilt when she graduated college. EH, I am not sure on that one, I remember entering it in shows and I believe it was finished before her younger sister graduated high school 3 years later. So daughter #2 got a HS graduation quilt as well. This time I bought a top from a friend that was the dolphin lap quilt in that same book (this is my swimmer girl). I hired out the quilting, but I did quilt around the dolphins.  There was some eagle fabric on the back. Son graduated HS the year after #2. He got squat.  It is like the baby book syndrome. First child it is filled completely. Second has hit or miss info in it. Third the book is still in the shrink wrap. 

Now mind you when I first started quilting in the early 90's son got the very first twin quilt, handquilted. They all have a lot of quilts now. And all their children as well.

Son has been giving me crap (well deserved) about not getting a HS grad quilt. It is all in good fun. This year he made the effort to finish his college degree. Over the years he had been going off and on to school, has two associate degrees but has always wanted to finish a full degree. A few years ago he was really making a push. He got to the last 3 classes and they were only offered in person and the University he was attending was too far to drive taking into account working fulltime, new house, new baby, etc. So it went back on hold. When the pandemic hit those classes became available online. He finished and graduated last week!  

When it became apparent that he would be finishing his degree I decided it was time for his High School graduation quilt to get done.  A couple of years ago I had bought some eagle fabric for a backing. I went through the UFO pile looking for something that would look good for a grad quilt. This guy fit the ticket. And it is only 21 years too late!  

Blooming cactus

And for my pretty photograph of the post, my cactus garden is starting to bloom.  I don't know the name of this one, but I love the bright color!

Linking to:

Judy

Beth

Michelle

Kathleen

Sarah

Nina-Marie
 

Windy Day

The wind has been heavy today and yesterday.  It should calm down later this evening. Even though I am inside, I still feel rattled about.

One other thing to note, the program that my blog uses to email those who have subscribed to receive the posts via email is ending this summer.  I don't remember what the widget was when I set it up and I am not that savvy to try and do something else. Just wanted to let you know so that if you would like to continue reading my silly little posts you might want to follow instead.

Wild Geese

My friend and sometimes co-teacher, Florence, asked me to play with some ideas for a class she was developing for the Utah Quilt Guild's Spring Remote Fest that is going on right now.  The photograph above was the original class and she wanted to add more options for the improv piecing.  The new class is "Scrappy Triangles"

Butterflies

I played with some of the options for using strips instead of squares in this piece. It was fun!

Braid

And then I was playing with shorter strips and put them up on the wall. I loved the look of this arrangement. Later I realized it was not feasible to sew the pieces together unless using major set in seams. Ditched that idea.

Another setting using the Wild Geese

I had another set of geese blocks that I played with and came up with this setting. It is a top, just waiting in the quilting queue.

Florence has a ton more ideas in this class.  The class is available to anyone, not just guild members. You pay one price and get access until May 31st to five different classes.  Guild members get a discount. It is a great deal.  Sorry that I didn't tell you about it sooner, but there are still 11 days left of access if you are interested. I am a guild member and friends with a couple of the teachers but have no vested interest or paid commission coming to me. I am sharing my quilts and wanted to let you know where you could take the class. Link to the event.

All the B's

I didn't finish my Sock Madness socks in time, so I am out of the competition. It was fun. And if I wanted, I could knit the next few rounds, just won't be able to count for the team. I am going to finish another project instead, I put it aside to knit socks.

Pansies

 I have a few pots with Pansies.  I love them!  My pretty photograph for this post.

Linking to:

Beth

Judy

Alicia

Nina-Marie

Sarah

Slacker or not?

Since I have not posted in a few months, I am slacking on that front.  But since I have gotten my sewing mojo back and have gotten a lot of things completed, I am not slacking on that front!

Log Cabin

This is a long time UFO. I made the top way back in about 2003 or 2004. It was a class sample for a Log Cabin of the Month class. two years ago I had told my daughter that I would finish it for her log cabin in Idaho.  Since her birthday was in March, I made the effort to finish it in time for that event.

Finished!

I wish I had a better photograph of the finished quilt.  I just quilted crossing wavy lines. I did a scrappy blue binding.  She loves it!
 

Yarn!

I have also been spinning a lot of yarn. This one I spun for a friends birthday. It is chain plied and the colors are actually brighter than the photograph.

Red Rock Arch

For my pretty photograph I am in front of this arch which is only 15 miles away from home. And a very short walk from the highway on the way to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.

Linking to:

Judy

Beth

Laura

Nina-Marie

Sarah

Snowy Days

We are having a snowy day today. It has been trying all day and finally sticking to the ground. I doubt it will be able to be measured.  Thanks for all the positive comments on my last couple posts. I try to stay upbeat in my posts, but this last month has been a doozy. Eddy is doing fine. Although it is hard to look at the long incision and staples on his back. Two recovery periods one after another has been difficult. He is a gentle dog and is being brave. And my tooth is all better. It required a new crown (which had been replaced in October) but since it was still in the machine's computer they were able to make another easily and I didn't get charged for the new crown. Christmas was quiet and we were able to video chat with our daughters and their families. Our son meant to video call, and finally did yesterday. He is on his own timeline. Which is fine, nice to spread out the calls. So since I finally finished the wedding quilt it was time to move on to the next problem child.  

Problem child #1. My Joe Cunningham quilt from a class I took a couple of years ago. In the summer I finished quilting it and tried to square the quilt. It was way off so I threw it in the corner for time-out. Since I had cleared off my cutting table to trim the wedding quilt I thought I would try again thinking it would fit on the 2 large mats. Nope. It is larger than that. So I pulled out my cardboard cutting mat to see if I could at least draw lines to straighten the top. It barely fits the short way on the mat, but outside the lines. And it ruffles. Probably because of the freeform piecing without paying any attention to bias. I decided I would stay stitch around the cut edge, and then block it. I also has some threads to tuck. It is now ready to go into the washer to soak.  I will try to do that sometime this week.  

So on to the next problem child.  

#2  I had signed up to do swap blocks with my old guild in CA. Signed up in January. Since I was scheduled to go to CA in March (Empty Spools Seminars and then a week visit with my friend, swap leader) I thought I would shop for a background for the blue and white blocks. Well, obviously my trip was canceled and since we rarely have left town I have not made it to any quilt shops. I really need to get the blocks done and in the mail. So I remembered that I had a UFO from about 1999/2000 that has white on white background. Let's face it, that UFO is never going to be finished. When I pulled it out I found I actually had two blocks sewn and parts cut for at least another block. I will try to make a table runner out of those blocks. This is a hand piecing project. 

Cover quilt

My two blocks

I had used charm squares for the colors and have a huge stack of them. They were from swaps I did in the late 90's.  So I will let this problem child (number 3) finish off at three blocks and call it good. It is a nice feeling to let a UFO go.

2020 Cotton Club Swap block

It is a fun block to sew! HST units and four patches. The size we are using for this swap is 8" finished, 8.5" unfinished. Dark blues in the 4 patches and medium blues in the HST. White on white for the background.

Swap blocks in progress

It is supposed to be a monthly swap through out the year. I am pretty sure the group has not met in person since March. Anyway, since I live so far away I make a year's worth and send it to Diane (swap leader) and she swaps for me and sends me back my blocks. Everyone has all year to get caught up with the hope all blocks are in by December or January at the latest. This year the number of blocks per month is 10. One for each participant and then one for the "pot". I have won the pot in a previous year (or maybe two). It is a fun way to keep in touch with my pals. I have about 30 finished, so about a fourth of the way there.

Leader project, 3 " 9-patches

Leader project part 2, 9" double 9-patches

I always have a leader project when piecing. I have done this long before I ever heard of Bonnie Hunter. I make little 9-patches out of one and a half inch squares. I cut my scraps into squares and strips. The double 9's are using the little blocks along with 3-1/2" squares from that scrap box. I have about a dozen finished. No idea how big this will eventually end up. I will figure that out when I get closer to a quilt amount of blocks.

I started another MKAL for a shawl. No pics right now, but will have some next time. I did finish the first sock and have half the second sock of the Advent Sock along. Pics next week.

And my pretty pic for the week. Yet another Christmas Cactus blooming! I think this one is my favorite color.

Hoping that everyone has a Happy, Healthy, productive new year!  

Linking to:

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Beth

Judy