Wednesday, September 30, 2015
A bit of machine quilting
I managed to get a little bit of quilting done on the green, blue and black UFO. Gosh, it is so hard to see where I am going on that black fabric! I will be glad to get this piece done and off the list.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Working in a series with Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber
I haven't had much time to dedicated to this series when the t-shirt quilt had taken up so much of my time the last couple of months. I did pull these striped linens that I have. I think I will use them for the next piece in the series.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Busy weekend
It was a busy weekend. Saturday I got up to get in my 5 miles of walking before I needed to get ready to head over to my brother's house. We were meeting up to go to the gig at 2:00 p.m. First I needed to get the labels on the quilts for the kids and I needed to repair this drum case. It is a good quality case that he got at a garage sale, but there was a cut in the fabric.
I stitched it up using a double stand of quilting thread. It's not pretty, but now he doesn't have to worry about the rip getting any bigger.
We got to the venue about 2:45 and unloaded the trailer. That place was so hot. Sweat was just dripping off my forehead. Michael did a great job, but was whipped after his hour of playing due to the heat. After we got everything torn down and packed away we sat and talked or should I say yelled at the people that had come out to see the band. Why do they have to have the music on so loud you have to yell? Too me that makes it too much work to try and socialize. With all the hauling of equipment I ended up with 2 more miles on my fitbit.
There were lots of gift baskets to be raffled off. There was a wheelbarrow will a bunch of booze in it and one of the bottles was in a gift bag made from a shirt sleeve and bow tie. My SIL and I thought it was a cute idea.
Sunday I was just plain tired. I messed around the house a bit, did my grocery shopping, and then made these two little girl skirts for presents. The fabric was in my stash, given to me years ago from the lady who is the wardrobe lady for a band my brother toured with. The lilac skirt needed to be a bit fuller, but I used what I had. I got the bead necklace and bracelets, and the glitter wands at the grocery store. The theme for the party is fairies so I thought maybe this would work for a 5-year old.
I needed to get my big table cleared off and before you know it, it was time to go for a walk and get some stuff cooked for meals this week. I don't feel like I was very productive this weekend, but then I ended up walking 12 miles - 7 on Saturday and 5 on Sunday - so I am a bit tired!
On Sunday I walked by the stone wall I had showed weeks ago that they are restoring. Well, it looks like they are doing the entire wall around the property. It is a work of art.
They need a proper gate for this entrance. The chain link is ugly!
Where they are working now
It will be interesting to see how they fix this next section. The wall seems to sit on top of some retaining stones, nut the retaining stones are in rough shape.
I stitched it up using a double stand of quilting thread. It's not pretty, but now he doesn't have to worry about the rip getting any bigger.
We got to the venue about 2:45 and unloaded the trailer. That place was so hot. Sweat was just dripping off my forehead. Michael did a great job, but was whipped after his hour of playing due to the heat. After we got everything torn down and packed away we sat and talked or should I say yelled at the people that had come out to see the band. Why do they have to have the music on so loud you have to yell? Too me that makes it too much work to try and socialize. With all the hauling of equipment I ended up with 2 more miles on my fitbit.
There were lots of gift baskets to be raffled off. There was a wheelbarrow will a bunch of booze in it and one of the bottles was in a gift bag made from a shirt sleeve and bow tie. My SIL and I thought it was a cute idea.
Sunday I was just plain tired. I messed around the house a bit, did my grocery shopping, and then made these two little girl skirts for presents. The fabric was in my stash, given to me years ago from the lady who is the wardrobe lady for a band my brother toured with. The lilac skirt needed to be a bit fuller, but I used what I had. I got the bead necklace and bracelets, and the glitter wands at the grocery store. The theme for the party is fairies so I thought maybe this would work for a 5-year old.
I needed to get my big table cleared off and before you know it, it was time to go for a walk and get some stuff cooked for meals this week. I don't feel like I was very productive this weekend, but then I ended up walking 12 miles - 7 on Saturday and 5 on Sunday - so I am a bit tired!
On Sunday I walked by the stone wall I had showed weeks ago that they are restoring. Well, it looks like they are doing the entire wall around the property. It is a work of art.
They need a proper gate for this entrance. The chain link is ugly!
Where they are working now
It will be interesting to see how they fix this next section. The wall seems to sit on top of some retaining stones, nut the retaining stones are in rough shape.
Friday, September 25, 2015
What a day yesterday was! Lots of pictures!
Gosh, where do I start? Ok, the mail. In the mail I received a wonderful group of t-shirts from Glenda of http://quiltswissy.blogspot.com. These shirts will help me so much in my pursuit of making more t-shirt pieces for a hopefully a future exhibit. Thank you so much Glenda. If anyone of my readers like to do the second hand store/Goodwill haunts and finds some rock/metal band t-shirts, Bob Marley, super heroes, Star wars, or something interesting at a great price I will be more than happy to pay for the shirts and postage. I have found a bunch of Tour De France shirts on e-bay but they are $6 a piece and up plus postage. To get a enough shirts to make the kind of piece I would like I could have as much as $100.00 on shirts alone. Right now my budget is tight as I am scrimping every month for the lawyer bill that comes every month due to a family situation. Once that is resolved I will be free, but I won't know until the end of October or early November. But just look at these shirts!
Last night I met up with seven SAQA members to tour the Akron Art Prize venues. What a lovey group of ladies of seven who were so welcoming to me a non-member! Here is some of the art we saw. Of course they were very interested in the fiber arts that were in the show.
This piece was done by one of the SAQA members. Is was the meet and greet for the artists at the 43 Furnace venue so Susie stayed at the venue to greet visitors.
There was another lady in our group who had a piece, which stupid me I forgot to take a picture at the venue so here is a picture I took off the computer. This piece was at least 4' tall and made out of a stiff type of fabric medium. The level of detail in this piece was wonderful. Annette also stayed at the venue to greet visitors so our touring group was down to six people.
At the next venue we saw paintings, sculpture, and a layered paper piece among many other pieces.
How about this table with the design done in ink free handed (yes, free handed!), the carved rhino, a wood burned skateboard, fun sculpture, and this huge dragon which blew smoke out his mouth.
After the ladies went the venue to see my piece, two more people had to leave. I had planned on leaving after seeing my piece, but I just could not leave the three out of town ladies to fend for themselves to find the other venues especially since it had gotten dark outside. So I became the local tour guide and the four of us walked two blocks to the next venue. At the RO3 gallery we saw several fiber pieces - a art quilt, a weaving, and a dress made out of paper napkins. I wish I would have taken a wide shot of this gallery as this is the place the fellow asked me about exhibiting my work. I did drop off a CD with the pictures of my improv work made mostly from my hand dyed fabrics and a sample for the fellow I had talked to a couple of weeks ago.
Another lady had to leave so we were down to three. We walked one block to the next venue then when we were done there we walked two more blocks to the Akron Art Museum. I gave them the tour of the museum since I was a volunteer there I knew the place very well! The ladies enjoyed the exhibits at the museum as we wandered thru all the galleries. I hadn't been to the museum in a while and there were a couple of pieces that I had never seen before. I loved this piece
And there was this piece that caught my eye because of the African Dutch Wax fabric used for the walker's clothing. I have seen this artist's work before and the fabric just give me the chills! We had to get out to the front of the museum before 9 p.m. to catch the trolley to take us back to our cars. The ladies thanked me for being their personal tour guides and said they might not have been able to navigate and see everything if I hadn't been there to help them. I am so glad I could be there for them! I did get home at 9:30 which was a bit late for me, but I will survive!
This weekend my nephew's band is playing at this fundraiser. The mother of a 4 and 2 years old passed away and the grandparent have been left with the task of raising them. How sad. I don't know what happened to the mother.
I plan on putting labels on these two quilts to give to the kids.
Have a great weekend!
Last night I met up with seven SAQA members to tour the Akron Art Prize venues. What a lovey group of ladies of seven who were so welcoming to me a non-member! Here is some of the art we saw. Of course they were very interested in the fiber arts that were in the show.
This piece was done by one of the SAQA members. Is was the meet and greet for the artists at the 43 Furnace venue so Susie stayed at the venue to greet visitors.
There was another lady in our group who had a piece, which stupid me I forgot to take a picture at the venue so here is a picture I took off the computer. This piece was at least 4' tall and made out of a stiff type of fabric medium. The level of detail in this piece was wonderful. Annette also stayed at the venue to greet visitors so our touring group was down to six people.
At the next venue we saw paintings, sculpture, and a layered paper piece among many other pieces.
How about this table with the design done in ink free handed (yes, free handed!), the carved rhino, a wood burned skateboard, fun sculpture, and this huge dragon which blew smoke out his mouth.
After the ladies went the venue to see my piece, two more people had to leave. I had planned on leaving after seeing my piece, but I just could not leave the three out of town ladies to fend for themselves to find the other venues especially since it had gotten dark outside. So I became the local tour guide and the four of us walked two blocks to the next venue. At the RO3 gallery we saw several fiber pieces - a art quilt, a weaving, and a dress made out of paper napkins. I wish I would have taken a wide shot of this gallery as this is the place the fellow asked me about exhibiting my work. I did drop off a CD with the pictures of my improv work made mostly from my hand dyed fabrics and a sample for the fellow I had talked to a couple of weeks ago.
Another lady had to leave so we were down to three. We walked one block to the next venue then when we were done there we walked two more blocks to the Akron Art Museum. I gave them the tour of the museum since I was a volunteer there I knew the place very well! The ladies enjoyed the exhibits at the museum as we wandered thru all the galleries. I hadn't been to the museum in a while and there were a couple of pieces that I had never seen before. I loved this piece
And there was this piece that caught my eye because of the African Dutch Wax fabric used for the walker's clothing. I have seen this artist's work before and the fabric just give me the chills! We had to get out to the front of the museum before 9 p.m. to catch the trolley to take us back to our cars. The ladies thanked me for being their personal tour guides and said they might not have been able to navigate and see everything if I hadn't been there to help them. I am so glad I could be there for them! I did get home at 9:30 which was a bit late for me, but I will survive!
This weekend my nephew's band is playing at this fundraiser. The mother of a 4 and 2 years old passed away and the grandparent have been left with the task of raising them. How sad. I don't know what happened to the mother.
I plan on putting labels on these two quilts to give to the kids.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, September 24, 2015
More looking back
Here are a couple more quilts that were made BB - before blogging. This first one is named "It's not easy being green". I had bought some of this bright green fabric out in Charm at Charm Days in October 2000. I had taken it to quilt group and they looked at me like I was nuts when I said I was going to make a green quilt. I had a quilt made out of the fabric by the next meeting to show. Yes, there is a bit of purple in it, turquoise, and cobalt blue. I didn't buy enough different prints so I dyed a B&W striped fabric and a swirly design fabric to fill in. They came out a bit more yellow green, but fit in with the scheme. The quilt is 56" x 68", the block is called block party, and I free motion quilted it in a meander.
The next piece I made in 2009. I hand dyed the blue and green fabrics; the black and yellow are commercial fabrics.
It is 76" x 85" and free motion quilted. I used different Sulky rayon threads to quilt this improv piece. I used a facing style binding which matches the hand dyed back. I don't do those corner triangles any more when I do facing binding.
The next piece I made in 2009. I hand dyed the blue and green fabrics; the black and yellow are commercial fabrics.
It is 76" x 85" and free motion quilted. I used different Sulky rayon threads to quilt this improv piece. I used a facing style binding which matches the hand dyed back. I don't do those corner triangles any more when I do facing binding.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
My first flannel quilt - this and that
I bought the flannel at Miller's Dry Good in Charm, Ohio when I worked for Charm Days in 1999. Charm Days are held in October and they are coming up. I can't remember if I had much of a plan, but I wanted to make a chevron style quilt. I do remember I got home from Charm and immediately threw the flannel into the washer. I started on this quilt making the chevron center on Sunday and had that part done 10 hours later. It was a bit tricky as the flannel cut on the bias would stretch very easily!
One lesson learned is not to put bias cut binding on a flannel quilt. As you can see the quilt doesn't hang well as there is no support from the binding to keep it straight. I don't really care though, because it is one of my favorite quilts. The red plaid I used for the outside border was red and white, but I overdyed it to make it red and gray. The red and white was just too harsh looking. For the back I used my precious Hawaiian printed flannel. This is a smaller piece for me - only 63 1/2" x 73 1/2". I straight lined quilted it as this was before I learned how to do free motion quilting. I called it "Oxymoron" because I thought Hawaiian printed flannel was an oxymoron!
I am still tired from all that yard work, but I spent last evening taking photos and gathering up all the pieces I have made in my Stage series. I want to put them on a CD and give it to the fellow that offered me a exhibit. Maybe there is enough for this series and then eventually I will have the exhibit with using the t-shirts. Will see. I found 36 pieces that would make a cohesive display.
I was then really tired after that, but I forced myself to go for a walk to get my steps in. About a week and a half ago I got my Italian badge for 750 miles. It must be for walking the width of Italy - I don't know. I am too tired to care. LOL!
One lesson learned is not to put bias cut binding on a flannel quilt. As you can see the quilt doesn't hang well as there is no support from the binding to keep it straight. I don't really care though, because it is one of my favorite quilts. The red plaid I used for the outside border was red and white, but I overdyed it to make it red and gray. The red and white was just too harsh looking. For the back I used my precious Hawaiian printed flannel. This is a smaller piece for me - only 63 1/2" x 73 1/2". I straight lined quilted it as this was before I learned how to do free motion quilting. I called it "Oxymoron" because I thought Hawaiian printed flannel was an oxymoron!
I am still tired from all that yard work, but I spent last evening taking photos and gathering up all the pieces I have made in my Stage series. I want to put them on a CD and give it to the fellow that offered me a exhibit. Maybe there is enough for this series and then eventually I will have the exhibit with using the t-shirts. Will see. I found 36 pieces that would make a cohesive display.
I was then really tired after that, but I forced myself to go for a walk to get my steps in. About a week and a half ago I got my Italian badge for 750 miles. It must be for walking the width of Italy - I don't know. I am too tired to care. LOL!
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
T-shirt orgainazation and next project
I cleared out a spot in one of the closets for hanging my t-shirts that are prepped with interfacing. I pinned a post-it with the subject matter so I can easily find what I am looking for.
I spent the majority of last evening doing 2 1/2 hours of yard work. What a mess!
I first got the weed eater out and trimmed the front and a patch in the back that was so tall I couldn't mow it last time I mowed the back. Next I mowed the front. I was surprised how wet the grass was in places. We haven't had any rain since Saturday night. I did have to sweep up a bit from the crabgrass I pulled out of the flower beds, but I was toast by 7 p.m. Here is what it look like when I was done. Better, but it still needs more TLC.
My next project is going to be this UFO. I put this piece together with the scraps from another quilt. Most of the green and blue pieces are already machine quilted so mostly I just have the black to quilt. The backing is a piece of shibori that I dyed years ago.
This UFO quilt
was going to be my next project to finish, but I have run out of white quilting thread. I think I have too many UFO projects!
I spent the majority of last evening doing 2 1/2 hours of yard work. What a mess!
My next project is going to be this UFO. I put this piece together with the scraps from another quilt. Most of the green and blue pieces are already machine quilted so mostly I just have the black to quilt. The backing is a piece of shibori that I dyed years ago.
This UFO quilt
Monday, September 21, 2015
14th finish for 2015 and t-shirt update
The flannel quilt is done! I know the back is a bit weird, but I wanted to use all that red flannel, but I was a bit short. I used my favorite flannel print which is a Hawaiian print which I think is odd. Maybe that is why I love it so much. I also used this print on the back of the first flannel quilt I ever made. I will have to take a picture of it and post it tomorrow. It is a BB quilt - before blog.
Saturday I was out and about doing errands and grocery shopping. I had a coupon for 60% off at JoAnn's so I went there to check out interfacing. I found what I needed for the t-shirts and ended up buying 121 yards.
At 40 cents a yard I had to stock up! Besides the pieces I want to make for a possible exhibit, I have six graduation t-shirt quilts to make in the next few years. When I make a t-shirt quilt I can use 20 - 25 yards per quilt so 121 yards and disappear quickly! I had about 25 yards on hand, so this additional interfacing makes me feel better that I can just go into my fabric storage room and I will have plenty of stock to use!
I also stopped at a Goodwill last week and picked up some t-shirts. Sometimes I never find anything, but this was a nice score. Three Cleveland Indians, a Star Wars, a LSU Tigers, and a Pittsburgh Steeler t-shirt. The REM shirt came from ebay. I spent time on Sunday cutting this up and interfacing the fronts. I will have to take a picture of how I plan on storing these shirt until I get enough to execute a piece.
Then I received these two Bob Marley t-shirts from Vicki of Field Trips in Fiber. Thank you Vicki! I would love to pick up at least two more different Marley shirts to make a piece that is not too large, but makes a statement.
Glenda of quiltswissy.blogspot has some cool shirts coming my way and I will post those when they come.
Saturday I was out and about doing errands and grocery shopping. I had a coupon for 60% off at JoAnn's so I went there to check out interfacing. I found what I needed for the t-shirts and ended up buying 121 yards.
At 40 cents a yard I had to stock up! Besides the pieces I want to make for a possible exhibit, I have six graduation t-shirt quilts to make in the next few years. When I make a t-shirt quilt I can use 20 - 25 yards per quilt so 121 yards and disappear quickly! I had about 25 yards on hand, so this additional interfacing makes me feel better that I can just go into my fabric storage room and I will have plenty of stock to use!
I also stopped at a Goodwill last week and picked up some t-shirts. Sometimes I never find anything, but this was a nice score. Three Cleveland Indians, a Star Wars, a LSU Tigers, and a Pittsburgh Steeler t-shirt. The REM shirt came from ebay. I spent time on Sunday cutting this up and interfacing the fronts. I will have to take a picture of how I plan on storing these shirt until I get enough to execute a piece.
Then I received these two Bob Marley t-shirts from Vicki of Field Trips in Fiber. Thank you Vicki! I would love to pick up at least two more different Marley shirts to make a piece that is not too large, but makes a statement.
Glenda of quiltswissy.blogspot has some cool shirts coming my way and I will post those when they come.
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