Art Piece Decision

The SAQA Regional Meeting was great.  We planned a gallery show and some workshops for the group.  We are small, very small, compared to the larger metropolitan cities across the US but we are so lucky to have Suzi Stone as our Regional Rep.  She is a person who likes to make things happen.  And I can help her with that.

This group has the anility to take our art to the next level if we pay attention and do stuff.


So I know you are wondering what I decided to take with me to the SAQA Regional Meeting!

I took my 100 Meter Swim and ……….

Hang on...…..

The Nudes!  But you won't believe this...…..

Another lady brought HER nudes...…..

And can you believe I just spent half an hour trying to fix the color on the Nudes rather than get up from the warmth of the sofa and take new pics?

Sawyer left me with his whatever infection.  When I had him earlier this week he was running a fever and his ears were draining.  An he was coughing.  In anybody's face he was near.

After a while he would cough into his arm, but the learning curve was steep in that 20 month old boy.

So now I have a scratchy throat and stopped up nose.  But I am fighting it.

Tomorrow we shall see if IT wins or now.  I want to try the new MDLive our new insurance comes with.  I am sure that will be another story!

Stay warm everyone!

OMG and UFO Challenge Finishes for Feb 2018

I have two finishes for these two challenges.  And it feels good to get them both done. I am linking to both the UFO Challenge and the OMG (One Monthly Goal). Click on the projects to see what others are doing with their challenges.

I get to a certain point in the quilt piece construction and it becomes less than imperative (or  fun) to continue going.  I want to start the new stuff!  I love these incentive programs to spur me along to  a couple of finishes.

First finish for February - whew, say that five times fast

100 Meter Swim - Just in time for the Olympics.  This is from a book written in German by Bernadette Mahr.  I love her work, so improv wonderful.

It is basically a Chinese Coin construction with watery blues to look like the shimmering water in a crystal clear swimming pool.  The diving board and starter blocks stand out in stark contrast to the cool of the water.

I really love this piece.  I am thinking it will be an entry in the CFAL show later this year.

The second finish is Triangles.  This is a quilt that started from nothings.  What I mean by that is multiple years ago Connecting Threads was having a clearance sale and I bought several packs of solid pre-cuts.  There were half yards, fat quarters and 10 inch squares.  Most of them are still sitting on the shelves.

I wanted to make a big block triangle piece so  I grabbed one of the 10 inch groups and just cut and sewed.  No pattern.  I ended up with a bunch of triangles and put them in a box for a year.  When they didn't  magically sew themselves together, I guess the quilting fairies didn't see them in the box, I  had to do it.  Then it needed to be larger, so I had a sheet from my mother's stuff from assisted living.

So the blue in the borders and on the back is that sheet.

It is a bit different to work with a sheet than it is to work with fabric.  And if you are hand quilting it would be difficult due to a higher thread count in the sheets, but I was going to put it on the long arm.

I also wanted to use it as a practice quilt for different free motion techniques.  I got out my Natalia Bonner and Angela Walters books and tossed in every design I could muster.

I totally love the solid blue back and the individual triangles.  Some are more shaky than others.  I found I had straight lines and ruler work down, but needed serious work on the curved designs!

So finish number 2 this month is done.  I have a thousand million threads to bury.  the back is finished and about 1/3 of the front done.  But it is done in all other aspects.


 Now on to the March finishing challenges!

Happy Lundi Gras

Lundi Gras is the day before Mardi Gras, which is of course, Fat Tuesday. The people celebrating Mardi Gras have been celebrating since Saturday.  Eating New Orleans food, drinking Jax, Dixie or Abita Springs beer.  Or drinking things like Hurricanes or Sazaracs.

It is also called Shrove Tuesday.  But in the middle ages Catholics were not allowed to eat meats, eggs, dairy during Lenten Periods.  However, if you contributed to the Crusades you could eat eggs or dairy in exchange.  Ah, the selling of indulgences continues even today despite Martin Luther.

Ah.......

I had Sawyer today so I didn't get much done in other venues.   I will have him again at the end of the week.  Andrew's mother will have him the next two days, for which I am ecstatic. 




I finally finished the binding on 100 Meter Swim just in time for the Olympics.  Granted, it is the Winter Olympics, but Olympics nonetheless. 

And a finish is a finish.  So let's call it a finish.








The Pool, as it is nicknamed in my world, is one of my favorite quilts.  I am thinking of entering it into the Kaleidoscope of Quilts this fall.  If they have it, their venue may be under construction and the quilts stand a chance of not being hung.

 I quilted it on the longarm freehand using thread from Connecting Threads.  the pattern is similar to Bernadette Mahr.  I have one of her books and this one is from one written in German.  She is amazing if you want go check her out. 

Tomorrow will be Mardi Gras, and then 40 days of Lenten sacrifice.   So what will you give up as a penance? 

UFO Challenge from Patchwork Times And the One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Just so you know I know....Judy picked umber 1 for the next UFO to be completed.  And I am using these two for my OMG at Elm Street Quilts.

That is...........

A double whammy......bind 100 Meter Swim AND the Triangles. and the One

I think I can handle that.

For some reason I can't flip it, but you get the picture.










Hmmmm.  this one either.  I wonder why I have to resize all the photos I choose now.  And why they won't flip.

These are mysteries of the universe and my computer.

100 Meter Swim

 The 100 Meter Swim went on the frame this morning!

It was not difficult to quilt, actually.  I always have this feeling like I am going to ruin the quilt when I start quilting. 

I have a piece of acrylic I practice on before I start the quilting process.  I can determine how large or small In nee to make the elements of the pattern at that point.  

 You really can't see the sea glass color thread on the water pieces, but on the orange part of the backing you can see them well. 

These are the waves.  In the next orange photo you can see part of the squiggles that comprise the second part of the whole pattern.


I was careful to square up the backing, the quilt top and the batting.  Usually I don't. 

And you know what?  It made no difference to how the very bottom of the quilt laid toward the end of the quilting roll.  Still working on getting to that point though!





Concrete pebbles in the pool surround are looking good. 

I am sure it will be finished tomorrow and can be squared up for binding. 

I am thinking this might be an entry into the Journeys show next year.  Journey to the Olympic Gold!

So Just How Many UFOs Do I Have?

That is the question on the table.

A count this afternoon comes  out to be:

29 tops and 7 in various states of progress.

Not as bad as I thought!  Whew, I feel better.  I was thinking it was more like 40!  There are several I can think of that I can no longer find since the flood last year.  Like my teal sewing machine quilt.  I made a million and a half of these 3 inch half square triangles and sewed them together to look like a sewing machine.  Nowhere in sight now.  And I still don't my photos recovered from LiveDrive.  I can't  get Andrew to work on it for me.  He  avoids anything I  do.  I just don't know why he won't help me with this. 

I guess I am going to have to call my friend Caroline and see if her hubby Greg can work on it for me.  It should be easy enough to do, if you know what you are doing.

I need to be part of two years of those UFO numbers Challenges to get this list done done.

So after Swooze and I had a text discussion about how many UFOs we had, I was all motivated to go in and get the backing together for three of them and get one on the frame.  I pulled them out of the pile.

100 Meter Swim - I knew what the backing was to be; those great swimming ladies.  So I put it aside.



 I need to find a strip of orange to make a pop in that backing and it can go on the frame.  Of course, I have plenty of orangey fabric somewhere in my stash, but I still put it aside.

I know how I want to quilt the pool water.  And the cement surround wll be pebbles.  So maybe I need to pull this one back out and get  it done.

 Triangles - I really love this one.  I pulled a fat quarter pack and used a
newly purchased ruler and made these great huge triangle blocks.  Once together I thought I needed more, so I put them aside.  I can make more, or make a smaller quilt.  Or add negative space.  So I pulled several pieces of fabric that would make some nice negative space.  Nothing thrilled me.  So I put it aside.

I thought I liked the weird light green better but  seeing this, I actually like the blue better, It makes the colors look richer.

 Funny, how that works.  I like looking at thing like this in a photograph, it gives a different perspective.



Improv Stripes -  I pulled 5 possible backings.  Nothing made me happy.  I thought I needed to have some sort of pattern on the backing.  But what I had enough of, wouldn't work.



And I really have nothing short of a solid black, grey or white that will work.  So I put that aside.

Two thoughts came to me.  I was crippled by indecision, or as Ann of Fret Not Yourself said " I am trying to marry conflicting guidelines: 1) give quilts enough time to evolve and 2) quit tucking projects away for years."

The second thought was:  Thank god I don't hand quilt my stuff, I would NEVER get anything done!

Dr. Who In My Own Family

Busy weekend once again.  Hope yours was a nice.  I would rather be busy than to lay around.  Even though I did that Saturday afternoon when I just had to sleep.

I felt like I had a fever, but couldn't get the thermometer to work.  Stupid things are so complicated these days.  A few years ago, we used to have a strip that you put on your forehead and it showed a number  Now  you have to turn them on, get them to light up......aughhh.

We even went to the pharmacy to see if we could get a simple device.  And came home with a regular thermometer with no mercury.  Now I can't see where the line is!  Nothing is perfect!

I have half a mind to use the Temp Gun I gave Frank last year to measure the temp of the air coming through the ductwork! Remember I went around shooting the temp of dogs, fabric, stove, window, chairs.  Remember that?

My CFAL meeting was today.  Contemporary Fiber Artists of Louisiana.  We turned in our pieces for the show that will hang at the Arts Council of Livingston Paris for two months.  I forgot to take photos of my piece before I took it in.  Dumb.  But I will get a good photo of it in a nice place all hung up at the show.  That's even better!

 I brought my Wreck This Journal book and turned it to the Invite People To Draw Here page.  And a few did.  I was happy.  And I can also bring it to several other places to get their artistic hand.

This week I can continue to work on my Improv Stripes Quilt Along Quilt. I think they are already putting the finishing touches on their quilts so I am REALLY behind.  The week in North Carolina did me in here.

And I can continue to work on the Fishes Quilt.   I need to put it all together and add a final outside row.  I will have more fish borders so I may have to add them in or even do a couple of pillows for the front room sofa.

And I need to put the swimming pool together and get it on the Avante frame.  I already know how I want to quilt the pool and the cement around it.  Yep, pebbles, of course!


I have decided that I need to finish quilts not just make tops for the proverbial pile.

I also have to finish up Sawyer's quilt.  I am thinking I have half the blocks done.  Maybe just over half, I can't remember.  All I know is that I had 17 fat quarters!  And they each make two.

We had dinner with the young man himself.  Well, we had Mediterranean and he had milk.

And he mostly slept.

This is him right before we left.  He was really excited about going!

And doesn't he look a little like the Daleks from Dr. Who? (when he was the best one, Tom Baker.)

Triangles and Leaves

Cindy needs to go back and take Hurricane Lessons!  She turned out to be a dud, which is a good thing.  We didn't have anything like the weather people were prophesying.  (Is that a word?) In fact, we had just under an inch of rain so far......like .8

As I said, this is all good.

My fiber group was cancelled, but we decided to meet anyway.  gosh these people are so creative.

I showed my 100 Meter Swim Meet quilt top today, even though the theme was "scent".  I pretended it was the chlorine in the pool, LOL.  BeBe had a fantastic perfume bottle she took a photo of, manipulated and printed on fabric.  she also had a piece that she printed at Spoonflower.  Tracy made some scented bracelets, Yvonne tested out some ways of finishing her piece and Judy found a UFO from a technique class 10 years ago that she finished up.


I have been working on the Leaves quilt on the long arm.  I had made the decision pre-flood to do the millions of tiny circles in the background.  Now, post-flood, I still have a million tiny circles to do.  I am thinking my decision was probably not the best decision.  But.....It is looking fabulous and I am getting really good at tiny circles!                                                                  



I pulled this from just before the flood.  I took one picture with the grey at the Quilt Haus and the one with beige is on my design wall.   Same quilt looks totally different.  Not sure which one I like better.

But I have a couple other things I need to work on before I have to make that decision.

Time for a Swim in the 100 Meter Pool

 I kept looking at the pool on the design wall. something was off.




The black and white float lines were too big.  So I took the seams out, cut them down and resewed.


 

Now they look a lot better.

The two traditionalists I was sewing with this morning kept telling me I needed a stop border between the busy water of the pool and the borders.  But that is traditionalism talking!

I tested the layout and I love it.

Tell me how much you love it as well! LOL  Or are you a traditionalist?

PS.....I have lost just under 20 lbs now, since may 2.