Lunch Break!

It's not 'Black Friday' here (tell that to some of our American-based box stores, though)...but I'm joining along with Sandy et al for a Sew In.  I've begun the day with my C&G assessment piece.  Yesterday I did this:

Auditioned final fabric selection

And then this...

Fused background to foundation fabric

And then this...

Added hills, auditioned trees

The little white bits of paper on the tree trunks are numbered.  At that point the trees weren't attached (I wanted to quilt the sky first), so I numbered them with bits of freezer paper to be sure I could remember where I wanted to put them!

This morning I took up where I left off and quilted the sky and fused and stitched down the tree trunks.  In the photo the piece is lying on the extension to my sewing table.  Doesn't arlee's naturally-dyed fabric make great aspen trunks?!

I have a coffee date in a couple of hours...and now that I've had my lunch I'm ready to go back to work.  I thought about starting Part 1 of Bonnie's 'Easy Street' Mystery, but seeing as I seem to be on a roll with the assessment piece, I think I'll keep going.  The Mystery will be perfect for  this evening when I need something less stressful challenging  ...when I need something soothing -- like cutting and sewing strips -- with which to relax!

Will check in again later; meanwhile, check out the Sew Day at Quilting for the Rest of Us for Sandy's give-away and other blogger's BDSI activities.  Enjoy!

Fresh Out of the Dryer

The four main fabrics for my version of Bonnie Hunter's next pieced mystery quilt, "Easy Street".  Sandy's got hers posted, so I figured I'd better hop to it!

As Bonnie suggested, I 'shopped my stash' for all the colours except the green.  That's one metre, and I bought it Saturday at Carolyn's Homespun Seasons, my fave quilt shop in Stettler.  (My friend A suggested I go with orange, but I wanted to cool those hot pinks off a bit, so I went with green.)  Washed 'em up yesterday, along with these:

My background fabrics.  I really want to use the funky print on the bottom of that stack.  For one thing, it's what I have most of.  I got it in a donation of fabrics a year or more ago and kept it, thinking I could back something with it, but now I'm thinking it just might be fun cut up for background.  it has some pinky-red in it, and a touch of the green, too.

Most of these are fabrics I've had for ages, that just won't be making their way into my artwork any time soon. Some are left-overs from other projects -- off-cuts and excesses, like a chunk of purple I used to back a purple and red wedding quilt for friends of my daughter's who married in 2006.   The nice thing about working them into a mystery quilt top is that I'll begin with the ones I'm least likely to use elsewhere, and go from there.

I'm using my participation in the mystery quilt-along as 'break time' when my work on my C&G Final Assessment Piece gets bogged, or threatens to make my brain explode during the final design process.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow for all my American friends...I'm thankful you're part of my stitching treasures!

Lots Going On

First, some friends of mine are giving away goodies for this Blog Hop Party to which they belong.  There's Margarita and Kit, for example.  Both make wonderful textile art -- and Marga combines her fabric with paper...

Then there's The Needle and Thread Network (TNTN), a network of All-Canadian (sorry, eh?) needle-workers of any and all stripes, celebrating its First Anniversary with a series of give-aways.  The Network is operated by my cyber-friend, Monika -- she of the stunning (to use an over-worked adjective) threat-painted postcards and pictures of the Canadian prairies.  What's not to like?!

Then there's Sandy H. of Q4TROU (Quilting for the Rest of Us), who is coming up on Podcast #100, and will be giving away even more goodies...

Looks like creative cyberspace is replete with generous spirits!

Stay tuned: I have a couple of major anniversaries coming up in the next few months...and yes, there will be a few giveaways.  :-)

Meanwhile, however, I continue to plug away at The Work At Hand.  Blessed with a couple of cool, breezy days -- let's refer to them as 'Autumn Previews', shall we? -- I have been working indoors.  Wednesday, while my kitten, Pookie, was missing, I put up eight large jars of pickled crab apples.  Friday, to celebrate her safe return home, I froze some more green, purple (yes) and waxed (yellow) beans.  Today, I made kale and potato soup (!)  for lunch.  Totally yummy -- from ingredients provided by my CSA (Sandy, you know all about this sort of thing, don't you?).  Tomorrow...I'm thinkin' carrot soup -- with the tops, too!

Next I quilted my C&G piece for Activity 10/11 -- Shadow Applique:

I used free-motion straight stitching (no, this is not an oxymoron -- just ask Leah Day)  I wanted to replicate the funky not-so-straight lines of the cheesecloth layer, and I really liked the effect I got.  I used a thread (Sulky 40 wt) that would complement the background to keep the effect muted.  Here's a close-up:

Today?  Well...
First, I washed up the Stepping Stones Socks, from Clara Parkes' Knitter's Book of Socks, made on commission for my friend, DH.   Shown -- a detail of the cuff.  Isn't it pretty?  The yarn is Emu Superwash Double Knit, which means it's a bit heavy for just shoes, but would work well alone (think: house- or bed-socks) or in clogs, or in boots.

I've recently finished 2 hats for our 'knitting tree' at church:

#3 - Shining Star -
pattern by Canadian  Kate Gilbert

 The "Shining Star" hat was made from left-overs from the Dr. Who Scarf -- Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice Solids in 'Eggplant' and Scarlet' -- both acrylic.

#4 - Dibdin - pattern by Berroco

 "Dibdin" was made in Noro Himaraya wool yarn from my stash.










Next, I mounted 'Triangulation' onto its black mat board, ready to send to Gail Harker for her fund-raiser:

'Triangulation' (c) 2012

I think the mat board really sets it off, don't you? (yes, I know that's both a loaded and a rhetorical question; no answer is expected!)

I like it so much that I have another piece planned, and will send Gail two.





Then I took the bull by the horns and confronted the thread-painting I knew I needed to do to finish this piece:

Working title: "House" -- simply the first in a series of abandoned Alberta buildings I want to re-create from photos...You might recognize a close-up piece finished earlier..."The Watcher".  In fact, I showed "House" in an earlier post, before the roof was finished, before the quilting and thread painting...Now all it needs is to be bound/enveloped and labelled, and to have a sleeve for hanging.

But...if it's to be a series, there really should be at least three, so I will be re-visiting photos in up-coming weeks to figure out the right piece.

To take a break, finally, this afternoon I began to assemble the 9-patch blocks I've been making from flannel given my by somebody (!).  I bought some solids to use in between, and a different print for backing, and will put the entire baby-style quilt together for our "knitting" tree at church:

This evening? I think I'm going to kick back and relax!  Maybe even watch an episode of The Quilt Show...

Have a great rest of the weekend, eh?

"Quilty Resolutions"

On New Year's Day 2012, the intrepid Sandy posted a suggestion on her blog, Quilting for the Rest of Us.  She suggested that it might be an idea to have specifically quilt-related resolutions going into 2012.  I decided to join the participants in this little project.

Well, now.  Hmmmmm.  It's well-past the half-way point of the year, and psychologically for many of us, the real New Year begins in September with the start of the school year (even if we're a) no longer in school and/or b) no longer parents -- or never were parents -- of school-aged children.  (That said, my son is returning to school on his own ticket this fall to get a Digital Media diploma.  Does that count? :-) )

So...where am I with my QRs?  Heck, what were they?!  I just so happen to have the list handy...

1. Something New I Will Try:  I elected to play with bleach discharge on fabric.  As my kids would say, "Epic fail!"  So much so that I didn't even post about it in this space -- or anywhere else for that matter.  The problem?  Turns out the beautiful dark blue jeans I rescued from the thrift shop (broken zipper) weren't 100% cotton.  They were 86% cotton, 13% polyester and 1% Spandex.  Sigh.  Nothing discharged.  Nada. Zip. Zilch.  And as I don't have any 100% cotton denim I'm prepared to surrender, I'll have to get another pair out of the thrift shop before I try this again.
2. The Project I've Always Wanted to Do: I won't elaborate on this here, as it's a gift for someone who might just read this blog, but suffice to say, I haven't started it yet!
3. The One UFO I'm Committed to Finishing: a top that I'm hand-quilting -- sometimes hooped, sometimes free-hand, as the mood strikes.  I've made a bit of progress on it since January, but with the heat of the summer days, have done nothing on it for a good three months.  Definitely a "must get to" in September to finish it by the end of this year!  I have however been finishing some art pieces and working steadily on my C&G...so stay tuned for a 'Finished' post very shortly!

Getting ARound To It

Credit: Mouth Motions

Early in January I responded to Sandy's podcast, wherein she called for "Quilty Resolutions".  She had 3 categories, including, "One UFO I'm Committed to Finish".  Now I have Bonnie to thank for the impetus to Get (my) Round Tuit and get going.

For one thing, when Bonnie quilts by hand, she has several of the same preferences and habits as I do, and that has reassured me -- it's great to know one is not alone in one's quirks!

Gummi Bears - Haribo Co., Germany

For example, I have many thimbles -- including several of the ones Bonnie's illustrated: antique (from my grandmother's sewing basket), leather, one that looks like it's made from the same stuff as Gummi Bears...but I'm uncomfortable wearing them.  I'm not fond of gardening gloves, rubber gloves for dishes and dyeing, or quilting gloves either.  I'd rather have a calloused finger on my 'under' hand, as Bonnie does.  She got an e-mail from a woman who was taught to get used to a thimble by wearing it around the house, making the beds, doing the cleaning, etc. I might try this "just to see", but I strongly suspect I'd have that thimble off within five minutes!

Last spring, though, I met a woman who uses her fingernail on the same under-hand finger.  I tried that and it works quite well -- less chance of bleeding on the backside of the quilt, and the nail doesn't seem to mind.  It recovers its regular appearance quite quickly.

Like Bonnie, I prefer a wooden hoop.  I don't have room in my house for a full frame, and I tried a more compact one but didn't like it either.  I have to have the thing in my lap so I can get close to it and move it around to get at the areas I want to stitch.  For that reason, I also don't like a 'bottom' on my hoop -- that is, I don't like my hoop attached in any way to any sort of flat bottom (like this one), whether or not it swivels.  I prop my hoop against me if I need to, to get at any angle I wish.

Thimbleberries "Dawn"
Block of the Month ca. 2007 or 2008

And I really appreciated Bonnie's comments about consistency being more important than size.  My stitches aren't small -- yet -- and I've managed only 2 to 4 on my needle at a time, but they are consistent.

Here's that quilt I'm committed to finishing this year, when I was trying to hand-quilt it in the frame.  I've since sold the frame and moved the quilt into a hoop -- still pin-basted.  I'm not fond of thread basting -- it seems to take me an inordinate amount of time and waste a lot of thread.  The pins I can 'recycle' and use again!  I just make sure to remove any that would get caught under the hoop.

This quilt is throw-sized.  I don't think I'd attempt to hand-quilt a larger one in a hoop just yet, but I won't say "never" on that.  If I enjoy finishing this one, who knows what I might do next?