Quilt now, work later

Dreaming more than quilting...

I wish I was as ambitious as NorthernDeb.  Heaven knows I love to can, I just don't take advantage of the local farmer's market as much anymore as I did a few years back.  Now, about all I try to can is chili sauce, pepper jelly and strawberry jam, and of those, the only one my family will eat is the jam.  The others are for me, so they last a long time when I do put them up.  And, my growing season is over...not that it got off to a very good start.  It was so hot here during the growing season that we weren't getting any bugs to pollinate and by the time I started doing the job for them, most of the bloom was over. 

But, I am dreaming about quilting.  I've started looking for cowboy themed quilt patterns and found a horseshoe and sherriff's badge for applique, and a paper pieced hat, cactus and boot.  Those, along with a few sawtooth stars should make a very nice quilt.  I'm thinking that is what I'm going to start on first as I want to keep the actual piecing a secret from da man and that means working on it early in the morning before work and having it put away by the time he comes in to say good bye. 

I finished the binding on the anniv quilt last night and am going to put it in the wash and block it this evening.  And, I have the awful block from the $5 quilt that I tea dyed a fabric from.  I've decided that it's too dark and am going to try hand washing in oxyclean to see if I can lighten it up some, then pin it to a fabric with a 12 1/2" square drawn on it to make sure I can get it back into shape and let it dry.  If it doesn't get better, I'll probably take it apart and substitute in another yellow piece of fabric I found in my stash that has red and blue flowers and will work with the other pieces. 

Ya'll take care and have a great Thursday.  I'll be thinking of quilting and watching the clock to see when I can get back to my favorite thing.

Lane

Trickery, School, and Quilting

Quilting:  Well, I wished for something different to do and went from quilting to hand sewing on the binding.  Not very exciting, but it is a step toward being finished.  And, just as I got excited about finishing that and working on something new, I realized that I still need to bind the wedding gift quilt, which is also gold and white.  But, there are three projects that are loaded with color laid out in the floor to entice me to finish what I'm working on now.  One is a group of cowboy fabrics to make a lapquilt for da man.  I've already got the back picked and there are a pile of cowboy themed fabrics, different scale prints and colors to go with it.  Now, to settle on a pattern.  It needs to have some large pieces to accomodate a fabric printed with 9" cowboys and some small pieces for the allover designs of hats, boots, kerchiefs and horses.  I'm thinking about a star with a large central block, surrounded by squares and half triangle squares to make the star pattern.  And, what is more cowboy-ish than stars?  So, unless I can find a miraculous way to piece a horse shape, I think stars is it.  Okay, that's what's on my mind for quilting.

School:  We love the 5th grade teacher.  When anyone starts talking, she just sits down and waits for them to finish.  And, if they go on for long enough, she advises that they're behind now and will have to work through recess to catch up...I love her!  Today, they are moving desks because some of the kids just can't keep quiet.  The kid has already been advised she can't sit next to her best friend because last year's teachers suggested that would be a mistake...I love them too!  It's going to take a village to get this kid educated.  Last night's homework assignment was to bring in two things that made each child unique.  The kid chose a section of the quilt she is piecing and some oatmeal (because how many 5th graders like oatmeal...or will admit they like oatmeal).  Anyway, she also wore her new necklace because beading makes her unique as well, but she had to wear it (she already dropped and broke it once so I won't let her carry it).  This week, the focus is on the class getting to know one another, and they've had a fun project each day to that end. 

Trickery:  When I was a kid, I remember that we were forced to watch things on TV that my parents thought would help educate us on the world...and we hated it...and they soon gave up.  So, I want the kid to choose to watch that stuff, for example, the olympics and party conventions.  Da man isn't that interested in the non-prime-time speakers, but so far, they've been my favorites.  So, he's watching other things in the family room, and I'm watching the democratic convention in the sewing room.  The kid can choose which room she is in...but, I have the advantage of the computer game in my room.  So far, she has chosen to sit there, and while she isn't meaning to watch the convention, I know she is, because she keeps commenting on what people say and do and questioning what they mean.  Hooray for parental trickery!  Now, if I can just be as diligent next week during the republican convention, which I also want her to see.  Two weeks of speeches may be more than I can handle.

Ya'll have a great Wednesday and we'll talk soon.

Lane

First day of 5th grade

We made it through the summer.  We made it through the reading list, and the multiplication flash cards.  We purchased all the school supplies and some new clothes.  We met the teacher.  And, dog gone it if we weren't late for the first day of class.  I asked twice if she wanted me to walk her to class and both times, she said "No.  I'm in the 5th grade now." meaning "I'm independent".  But, at the last second, when I was sitting in the teacher's parking lot to let her out, the little girl kicked in and she changed her mind.  And, by the time we found a spot and hiked from there, she was late and there was only time for a quick hug at the door as she went in.  Everyone else was already at their seat and the teacher was calling them to order.  Oh, well.  Nothing like a little drama to start the school year on the right foot.  And, Rhoda, you are right.  I don't know exactly what changed, but something did and she seems to have caught on that good choices lead to rewards and bad choices don't.  About 6 weeks ago, we started to see markedly better behavior and she has started seeing rewards like computer time, game time, play time with both of us, and more general peace at home.  And, she's seeing easier consequences because when she does make a bad choice, it's not piled on a lot of other bad choices.  We can treat each choice on its own.  WHOOHOO!!! 

On the quilting front, there wasn't much time to quiltg yesterday, so I ironed the binding fabric after chores and made my $5 block.  I did tea dye one of the fabrics and it came out great!  I wish I hadn't darkened it quite as much as I did, but it will lighten over time.  I know I gripe about this project a lot, but that's because I'm so focused on the quilt instead of looking at this inexpensive project as a chance to practice my block technique.  But, the blocks are hard and have a ton of bias and usually take about 2 1/2 hours each.  When I get done with that, I want to end up with something pretty to show for it.

Anyway, I've got my next project rolling around in my head and am looking forward to pulling out all my bins of fabric to choose some colors. And, I've got a batic mariner's compass swirling around in my head.  We'll have to see if it lives there long enough to come out, or if it's just an idea from a magazine that will go in the closet with all the other back issues.

Ya'll take care and have a great Monday.  Wish me luck as homework season begins again.

Lane

Now to the binding

Wow, the quilting on my parent's anniv quilt went much faster than expected.  I'm done with it and ready to bind.  I've blotted out some of the ink and gotten some close up pics that are posted below.  Can you tell I'm pretty proud?

Friday I took the day and spent it with the kid.  We shopped all day long...at least I tried to keep up.  But, after about 6 hours, I just gave out...and I had a sugar event from the junk we ate and had to lie down.  Anyway, we went to exchange something that my beanpole friend bought with her that didn't fit and ended up finding a 40% off sale on tops that started at $8 or less, so we left with an armload for $35.  And, we found some jeans in her size with some bling on them.  She loves that, even though the laundry man hates it...but what's to be done.  I wanted her to have a new piece of beaded jewelry for the first day of school, so she made a beautiful blue necklace with a heart shaped piece of glass that has a blue flower in it.  And, she got new underwear (can I tell you she got her first bra with cups?  She's proud enough to pop!  And how many dad's could shop for that and still maintain their dignity?)  Friday night, we met the teacher and dropped off school supplies.  Her best friend is in her class and the boy she has a crush on sits across the table from her, so she's all excited.  I've already warned her that if she can't pay attention, I will have her moved.  And, last night we went to a new place for dinner and who was there, but her best friend.  Wasn't that lucky?

On Thursday, I picked up the fabrics for the next $5 quilt block.  The quilter that's leading that isn't even trying.  She even let slip that she didn't start planning the block until the night before, so you can imagine my disappointment.  I'm going to try to tea dye one of the fabrics to get some more contrast out of it and if that doesn't work, I'll have to find something else to put in.  And, there's another block I'm going to take apart and replace a fabric in.  Her plan to sash the quilt is to use greens in a garden maze sort of pattern, and that's just not going to work.  The only thing I can think to pull these blocks together is to sash them in black/gray, so hopefully, she'll give me a discount instead of selling me her setting packet.  This is getting kinda out of hand...lots of work for something that has a high risk for UGLY.

I'm going to try to bind the anniv quilt over the next couple of days and then I have other holiday gifts to start.  I'm pretty excited to start something new.  The last two quilts have been basically white/off-white, so I'm ready for some color. 

Here are the pics.  You can see that I blotted out some of the blue ink to see what the quilting is going to look like.  Ya'll take care and have a great Sunday.  I'm on my way to the supermarket and getting ready to start some chores.  The muse is pretty quiet today.  I guess I've made enough progress that she is satisfied for now.  So, it's time to clean house!

Lane

almost done!

Yes, I am almost done marking.  I took two pictures this morning and uploaded them to photobucket, but I can't get an image that you can see my light markings on, even the close-up.  Maybe I'll try again by laying the plastic template over the quilt top and you'll see the drawing in black instead of blue.  Anyway, I have two flowers to add to fill in some blank spots outside the rings and then I have to draw what is going inside the rings and I'll be done with the marking.  Whoohoo!  I can't wait to get started quilting.  I paused to iron the back this morning while I pondered what to do inside the rings.  I'm torn more morning glories and a diagonal grid.  What do you think?  Think I can use both the grid and the flowers in one quilt?  Seems that using grid would give me kind of a mix of the masculine (grid) and the feminine (flowers).  Or, it might be too different and clash (like da man says it would).  Anyway, soon as that decision is made, I can proceed with the pin basting and then take it to the machine.  I'm definitely going to have to wear my gloves on this quilt, not to help me control it as much as to keep my hands from sweating on it and removing the ink.  That would definitely make me cry.

I included the pictures anyway.  If you get really close to your monitor, you might be able to see the blue marks.  Imagine that all those random looking blue marks are morning glory flowers and vines and leaves.  And under the rings, is the number 50.  I've let the morning glory leaves extend a little bit into the border, but the largest portion of the border is a separate vine and the script with my parent's names and wedding date. 

Ya'll take care and have a great Thursday.  I'm thinking about taking tomorrow off to spend the last day of summer vacation with the kid.  While I'm very much looking forward to her getting back in school, I'm going to miss her as she continues to mature and grows up and becomes her own person and doesn't need me as much anymore.  I'm already seeing her tastes change to more mature pursuits, like teenage outfits, the piano, and boys.  When she first came to us, all I wanted her to do was GROW UP! but now that she's started doing that, I want her to slow down a little.  She acted like such a little kid when we first got her.  In the year since, she seems to have experienced many of the things that she missed out on as a little kid and is now ready to start being a pre-teen...at least that's what the therapist says.  And, from what I hear, from now on it's just hang on for the roller coaster ride.  yippee.  can't wait.

Lane

ambition...

I asked da man and the kid if they wanted to see my ambition.  What I was referring to was my parent's anniversary quilt.  I chickened out of going into the sewing room closet last night and found an applique pattern of morning glories on qnm.com.  It really spoke to me when I saw it, so last night, I printed it, traced it onto plastic sheeting and set it up on my "light box" (a sheet of semi-rigid plastic set on two tubs with an aquarium light under it) and began to trace.  I got three of the corners traced in and am anxious to get started quilting.  This is my most ambitious project yet, but if I can pull it off, I'll have taken a huge step in my machine quilting skills. 

In answer to a question from Sam, I started as a hand quilter and still plan to do more hand quilting, but moved to domestic machine quilting about a year and a half ago when I upgraded my machine.  Because I'm on a domestic machine, I haven't tried to quilt full size quilts for a while.  I tried one and it was a disaster, so I decided to reduce my quilt size to wall hangings and lap quilts until I got the hang of it.  A large quilt is much more difficult because of the space the quilt takes up on the sewing surface.  I had my sewing machine cabinet custom built (da man is handy) to the same height as a drop leaf dining table that I keep in my sewing room.  The plan was to open the table to its full size so I could quilt large quilts on all that level surface.  From practice with smaller quilts, I've learned that the problem I had with the large quilt was thread related, not size related, but I've never gotten back to trying that quilt again.  It is about 3/4 done and has all these little birdsnests in the back, so I'll have to pull out all the quilting to try again (why did I keep persevering when I saw there was a problem??? must be another man thing) 

Anyway, I'm ready to stop drawing and start quilting. And, I'm ready for someone to invent the perfect water-soluble ink pen; one with a tiny pump in it that inkjets the ink onto the fabric lightning fast...I'm never content with the current task...always looking forward to the next thing.  Hurry up and finish so I can move to the next project.  Take care and have a great Wednesday!

Lane

Marking and marking

and marking some more. 

Not much to blog about today.  I'm still making progress on my parent's quilt.  I got all the quilting lines marked in the borders...have I said lately how much I hate marking?  I used my best script to write out their names and wedding date, two inches tall and as close to 31 inches long as I could get it on the top and bottom borders.  And, I drew a vine with flowers and leaves along both sides, joining the script.  I'm still working on what to quilt in the body and have an idea, I just need to get it out of my head and onto paper.  Once it's on paper, I can fine tune it and then draw it on plastic and trace it on the quilt top...but I need to get that rough draft out.  I'd so much rather quilt than try to draw what I want to quilt on the fabric.  I have 4 water erasable pens sitting next to me and I use one until the point gets dry, then cap it and move on to the next one.  I guess I need to get better at my freehand quilting so I can skip the marking step. 

In the corners of the body of the quilt, I'm going to quilt flower bouquets tied with a ribbon...at least that's what I'm planning.  I want to do them with the flower sketches I created for some applique a few years ago so I can get a variety of flowers in each bouquet, but i can't find my  drawings.  They've been eaten by my sewing room closet.  So, this evening, I'm taking a break from marking and going to dive in and try to find them.  If you don't hear from me for a couple of days, call in the marines...and have them bring a crane to lift my quilting junk off me. 

Ya'll take care and have a great Tuesday.

Lane

Welcome to the workweek

This was a busy weekend, trying to get stuff done so the kid can start school and trying to do some of the housework that has been so neglected. 

Saturday, I went to Linus and there was a packed house.  Most of the people I had seen before, but not all at the same time.  And, there was some bad sewing machine karma going on.  Everyone was having trouble getting their sewing machines to work, so most of the Linus labels got sewn on by hand.  There weren't many projects for folks, so I ended up crocheting most of the time, much to the fascination of some of the ladies.  I am very anxious for the afghan I'm working on to be done.  I've been working on it for almost 4 months, and even though it has only been in a little bit of spare time and when I was waiting for quilting inspiration, I'm just tired of the color...and the yarn was a baby soft yarn and I'm having trouble with it splitting around the hook, which means taking out and replacing stitches.  Boring!  There is a young lady in the group that asked if I would teach her to quilt (and like a good quilter, I exclaimed "of course!") and another lady that is learning to quilt that brought her stuff for help.  I tried to help, but there is an older quilter in the group who was giving what I thought were not so good suggestions, so I sat and listened.  At one point, the older lady left the room and I made different suggestions for a couple of things that had been said, but the older lady walked in and caught me and corrected me, so I kept quiet the rest of the time.  A few strips that have V's at the fold will prove who knew what they were talking about (uh-oh, I'm going to h-e-double hockey sticks for thinking that!)

I got the two gold rings pieced for my parent's anniv quilt and got them attached to the background and the blanket stitching done.  Now, I'm adding borders and will mark my quilting, and I'll be well on my way to finishing that project.  I'm going to do more free motion on this one instead of the echo quilting.  Since it's for my parents, it can take a little more work...but their anniversary is looming.  I think I've got three more weekends before I need to ship, so plenty of time. 

Yesterday we did the pre-teen fashion show while I was cleaning carpets.  I had her put on everything she owned and planned to wear to school this year.  We ended up with a big pile of stuff for goodwill.  Wish I'd gotten to that sooner so it would be there as other folks shopped for back to school.  But, it will be there if they need it later.  She has some really good looking outfits.  We sent her shopping friday night with my best friend, who is a beanpole.  We're going to have to take a couple of things back and exchange for other stuff.  My beanpole friend has trouble shopping for my full figured girl and she ended up with some things that were a little snug.  Thank goodness my girl is as conservative as me in picking out what she wears.  It took us a while to show her that what she'd been allowed to wear before she came to us did not flatter her, but once she started to see that, she completely changed her style, which is making me very happy.  I did catch her putting stuff into the goodwill pile, not because it didn't fit, but because she got bored with the fashion show before she ran out of clothes.  Poor thing.  Then, she got mad at me because I made her pull everthing out to try it on, but wouldn't stop my chores to help her hang it all back up again.  Poor thing.  Such a shame to have so many clothes to hang. 

Anyway, she complains about school a lot, but I can tell she's very excited to be going back.  And, I'm excited to see her go back.  There is much more structure in school than in summer camp and we live by structure.  Not looking forward to homework battles, but I'll get through that as well, with a little perseverence.

Anyway, take care and have a great Monday.

Lane

Busy Sunday

Well, yesterday was Linus, so I didn't really get much done, other than my rings are paper pieced.  Today, I went to JoAnn's and boughtthe back and binding, but they're not washed yet.  Hoping to build up a little load of laundry so I don't waste on a couple of pieces of fabric.  Cleaned carpets all day and then cooking.  I just downloaded some tunes for the kid and now I've been talked into a game of Clue, so I'm going to take a break from next week's ironing.  Just wanted to check in and see what's up with everyone else.  Got my drawing name and am excited to make a plan!  Ya'll take care.  Lane

working from home

All day, it's been me and the kid.  I couldn't afford to take today off after being sick last week (I'm really behind on their stuff), so the kid has been entertaining herself.  I shudder to think what the state of her room is.  But, she's been relatively quiet, so I guess we'd better get started on that before da man comes home.  She's been very good, although she did try to distract me a few times and get me to play, but I wasn't biting.  I've got my MP3 player on so I don't get distracted.  We went out for lunch and a couple of errands and had a nice visit then, but I think she's worried that what I do for a living is this boring .  When she asked whether I was going to do this all day, I told her I was earning her daily bread.  That got her attention. 

Anyway, I'm calling that quits and going to tie that Linus quilt.  I have not gotten to it yet.  But, I did get the anniv quilt background finished and drew the rings to paper piece, but I think I want them bigger, so I'm going to draw them again.  Anyway, a busy boy is a happy boy...especially when he's quilting. 

Ya'll take care and I'll talk later.  Lane

P.S.  To remove a coffee stain, I make a paste of oxyclean and shout (yes, I am a dangerous shade tree chemist, but have not actually asphixiated (sp?) myself yet though I've come close with bleach mixtures) and rub it in with a toothbrush.  As far as I can tell, that will get anything out.  It got a red juice stain out of one of the kids new white school shirts last week, so I'm hopeful.  I did replace one of the squares in the quilt because it was too stiff to work with (lots of cream and sugar) and I didn't want to iron it cuz I just cleaned my iron.  lw

California Mom gives birth on front lawn...

That was the headline of a story I just read about a lady that went into labor in her car and delivered before the police or ambulance could get there.  Okay, now that's just more dedication to parenthood than I can muster.  I'm happy to give the kid a good breakfast, but anything that causes me pain requires an anesthetic.  (I know what you're thinking...just like a man)

So, you guys know that sometimes I do really stupid things.  And this morning, I did a humdinger!  I'm working on that anniversary quilt and piecing the white background.  I've got it almost all together and it's looking good, even though you can't see the trip around the world pattern in all those whites and off-whites.  I've added enough rows that I'm getting my rectangular shape...

and I spilled coffee on it.  Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!  Okay, I'm calm.  I can get a coffee stain out.  I have the tools and the equipment.  But, I had to stop work to wait for it to dry.  So, that ended my work on that for today.  Tonight I need to tie my August Linus quilt because I think the meeting is this Saturday, so that should give the coffee plenty of time to dry.  I stopped at Hobby Lobby yesterday and got a lighter weight fusible interfacing for the rings, which will take some of the stiffness out of them.  Other than that, I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed by all the deadlines I've set for myself; Linus, anniversary, wedding.  And, we've got school starting in 11 days, so it's going to be a busy month.  We'll see if I can balance all my projects and finish them by their deadlines.  But, I've gotten much better at accepting a missed deadline.  They used to make me crazy but now that I'm a parent, I've realized there's just some stuff I'm not going to get to and I'm good with that.  Hey, who needs clean clothes?  And what's wrong with frozen pizza for dinner once in a while? 

Ya'll take care and we'll chat later.

Lane

A better plan

Thanks for the nice comments about the wedding gift quilt.  Even though it was a lot of work, I think I enjoyed almost all of it.  For my parent's quilt, I'm certainly taking a more logical approach.  For example, when I made the wedding quilt, I started with the rings.  Then, I had to make a background to fit those two 13" rings.  On the anniversary quilt, I started with the background.  Because I draft the circles for the rings on freezer paper, I can make them any size I want.  The background of the anniversary quilt is a 2" finished square trip around the world.  So, I might not want to make it 24x32".  When I get tired of sewing those little blocks, I can adjust the rings to fit.  But, I don't want to go too small because I want to keep 24 pieces in each ring. 

After I started the trip around the world, I realized that there isn't enough contrast in my background fabrics for the trip to show.  But, it has the coolest shimmer.  The fabrics are regular cotton with no shine, but the combination has movement like light and shadow.  Again, can't wait to see what it will look like with the rings on it, but it should be a cool effect.  I'll try to post a picture of just the background when I get a little further along in the piecing. 

Ya'll take care and have good days.  Talk soon.

Lane

A stitch too far

This quilt is what I spent the bulk of my sick time on...well, the sick time that was not spent on long naps. 

Plan:  design a simple quilt that I can make two of, that will be appropriate for both a wedding and a 50th anniversary, and that can be completed by early September.  I decided on double wedding ring as my design starting point.  These decisions were made before I got sick.

Okay, so you have to remember that here I started running a fever and was clearly not thinking straight.  First, I tried to piece two wedding rings the old fashioned way, using 24 pieces for each ring and setting in all the pieces to complete the block.  I got the first ring made and realized there had to be an easier way.  First, I'll try paper piecing it so it will really be a circle instead of an oval.  Then, I'll applique it onto the background to avoid all those curved seams.  To make it easy, I'll try Eleanor Burn's method of sewing a piece of fusible interfacing (one side sticky) to the front, slit it all the way around between the seams, and turn the interfacing to the back to give me a great round edge.  And, begin.

So, I got two perfect rings made, one that is open between two pieces so I can interlock them.  I decided to piece a background of 4 1/2" squares to applique the rings onto.  Again, all is going well.  I get them attached and blanket stitch around them with gold thread.  Then, I decide to tempt fate and try something else new.  I want to quilt the bride and groom's names and wedding date into the border and to make it stand out more, I'm going to do trapunto.  So, I find a great script font on the computer and I print it out in 250 point size and trace it onto my border fabric.  I'm going to use white batting in the trapunto and put it onto a natural colored battting to make it stand out more.  I sew around the script to attach the white batting and then I use my tiny embroidery scissors to cut out all the extra, just leaving batting behind the letters.  I lay that onto the natural batting and a piece of backing and I start to quilt.  Now, I think that with all the trapunto I've seen, you have to use a very small quilting around it to make it stand out, so I echo quilt around it at 3/16" intervals.  The writing wasn't standing out, so I used a slightly darker off white thread to go around it.  Now, the borders are quilted, but they aren't attached to the body of the quilt.  So, I'm going to quilt the body and then attach the borders.  I'm starting to feel better here and take a more practical approach to the amount of quilting I'll do.  I quilt the body with a grid inside the rings and 1/2" echo quilting around them.  It looks GREAT!  Then, I lay those two borders next to it and they look terrible.  But, undaunted, I press forward.  I attach those outer borders and quilt the inner border...again, the center looks great and the outer borders are terrrible.  I have to either add quilting to the body or remove quilting from the borders.  

I spent all my quilting time on Sunday picking out half of the echo lines in the outer borders and now the whole thing is perfect...well, it's close anyway.  My mistake was that  I used a loosely woven fabric for the back and so I can't pick out stitches from the bobbin side where it is easiest.  I have to pick them all out from the front.  Anyway, now that it is done, the quilt was a ton of work and took the better part of a week, but I'm going to be glad to give it to my boss. 

Now, for my parent's anniversary quilt...minus the trapunto.  For them, the background is going to be a trip around the world with the rings attached in the same way.  And I'm going to quilt their names and date into the outer border.  It will be much easier and look more plain, which I'm sure they will appreciate. 

Anyway, here is the first one.  It still needs a binding and the blue marks are water erasable pen, but I'm so proud of it that I have to show it off.  I can't wait to see what it looks like after laundering, but the wedding is after the anniversary, so I have to stop on this one and get started on the next. 

Ya'll take care and have a great Tuesday. 

Lane

The smell of good cookin means all are well

Yes, the smells of cooking and cleaning mean that everything is good at my house again.  Finally, yesterday, I started to feel back up to par.  But, I still needed to take a couple of rest breaks during the day (my excuse for getting to quilt in a day that should have been too busy for that).  After we'd all been sick for most of the week, you can imagine the state of the house.  Not to mention, it needed a good disinfecting so we didn't just pass our individual illnesses to the next person in line.  I tried to keep up with it, including laundry which isn't normally my responsibility, and bathrooms and keeping the menagerie fed, but I didn't do a very good job of anything else.  I did however, get a ton of quilting done because I was perfectly content to just sit and sew.  I got so much done that now I need a trip to the fabric store.  Isn't it always that way?  quilt a lot, shop a little, quilt a lot more.

Da man said he could tell I was finally feeling better yesterday because of the smell fried chicken, mash, gravy, green beans and cornbread for lunch and a roast in the crockpot for later in the week, and turnip greens, butterbeans, and candied sweet potatoes (foods my family will NOT eat) for my lunches this week.  For a while, I did have the kid convinced that all the food was for me and that she was getting a sandwich for lunch, but I gave in because I think she was going to cry for a piece of that chicken.  I know it was good enough to cry for.

So, we started the week with a clean house and full bellies and a long prayer for good health this week...cuz I'm really tired of hanging around sick people...including myself, even if it meant I got to quilt all I wanted to.  Who knew I'd ever get to quilt all I wanted to.  I didn't know there was such a thing. 

Ya'll take care and we'll talk later.  I'm almost finished with a quilt that I can't wait to show.

Lane

get up and go

Yes, my get up and go has got up and went.  We've all three been sick, each with something different.  My poor couches have seen more use this week than ever.  Da man had something very flu related, the kid had allergies, and I've had strep.  But, we're finally all on the mend.  The kid only missed one day of camp, da man missed two of work, and I won with three days out.  Between opening kleenex boxes and keeping us all in clean t-shirts I've been quilting.  I've included a shot of a Linus quilt that I finished last weekend.  I've got another one ready to tie and I've been working on a wedding quilt for my boss that's pretty close to done.  I'll post pics of them soon and I want to blog on the wedding quilt because I've broken about a hundred "rules".  I guess I was delirious. 

Anyway, this is just a short post to say hey and I'm back to the blog.  Sorry I've been out so much.  I have been trying to keep up with you, but for the last couple of days, I've lost touch.  Ya'll take care.  Lane

My favorite meal...

Well, I'm back from my business trip to Ohio.  The weather was great.  I've found that everyone complains about the heat.  In Ohio, they complained that it was 87*.  In Austin, we complain that it is 103.  Me, I was pretty comfy in Ohio...  Anyway, I figured out what my new favorite meal is.  I've decided on room service.  I had this bright idea while eating a turkey wrap with avocado, spinach, tomato and black olive and mayo and fries in my shorts watching a movie.  Room service is better than restaurants, my previous favorite meal, because you can't go to a restaurant in your undies...or at least you can't go to any restaurant I want to go to in your undies.  And, you actually have to "go to" restaurants.  Room service "comes to" you, delivered by some nice person and left on the desk.  And the part of room service that makes it the best is the dishes...just open the door and shove them out into the hall.  Oh, if only I could do that at home...I'd do the cooking, but I just want to shove the dishes out the door.

Anyway, I would have posted over the weekend, but my muse was screaming at me and I had to quilt.  And, after I had left everything to do for yesterday afternoon, this hurricane blows up and I have to go monitor that for work.  So much for cleaning house.  My luggage is still in the floor and da man just stacked my clean clothes on it for me to put away (which I did not).  I did manage to complete the obligatory home cooked Sunday lunch and did the dishes from it, and we did all the back to school shopping and treated ourselves to a movie matinee on Saturday.  And, I cleaned the potting shed so I could move my ferns to a more shaded place as the heat was not making them very pretty. 

But, I also had to answer the muse.  I tied one Linus quilt that was all ready and pieced another Linus top.  And, my parent's 50th anniversary is in September and my boss is getting married in October, so I designed a double wedding ring variation (just two overlapping rings appliqued onto a pieced background).  That was fun.  I first pieced one of the rings traditionally, planning to piece in all the background, but soon decided to paper piece the rings, back them with interfacing to turn them and give me great smooth round edges and applique them to a background of pieced 4" squares.  I'm going to pick a fabric and print the couples' names and wedding dates on that and attach them as borders and quilt the whole thing.  I'm pretty pumped and I have the first pair of rings made and the background pieced.  I'm going to need more offwhite fabric for the borders, but that's easily solved.  There's probably a pattern out there for this exact quilt, but I'm going to take credit for designing my own as if it were an original idea.  I think I saw it before...somwhere.

Anyway, it's nice to be back.  Hope you're having good weather.  We're not going outside after 10am around here.

Lane

What is she thinking?

Okay, so I'm into mixing colors as much as the next person, but I can't imagine what I'm going to have to do to bring these blocks together.  They actually photographed better than the look together, but some just wash out completely in real life, like the one with the yellow.  There's little contrast in some of the background fabrics and heavy contrast in others and the ones with the weakest backgrounds lack the bold colors necessary to make that work.  I know she didn't have a plan for how to finish the quilt, but if I was her, at this point I would be panicking (does that have a k?)  Sunday morning, I decided I wanted to piece something quick, so I did the next block, which is in the upper left of the photo; turquoise and orange???.  The one on the right that looks black is really dark green and purple.  Anyway, it's probably going to take something pieced and sashed...but never give up, never surrender...that's my motto...at least for quilts. 

Y'all be good and take care.  Talk soon.

Lane

hands.spanning time

I'm reading an article in an old QNM about a quilting bee that spanned most of the last century.  I look at the pictures of the early members at the turn of the century.  Tiny women in long skirts.  Women who had servants because human labor was cheap and they could afford pleasure time.  And, I look at their associated quilts.  They were delicate and intricate and specialized in tiny oddly shaped pieces and delicate needlework embroidery and crazy quilts and beautiful applique. 

Then, the pictures advance to the thirties.  There we see big boned, country women with huge muscular hands.  And, I look at their quilts; simple patterns, even in their most beautiful quilts.  The size of my hands is the biggest obstacle to tiny intricate patterns and I think now I understand why the quilts we refer to as utility quilts from that era are so simple.  It wasn't just the scraps they used, scraps of clothing that had to hold up to hard work and feedsacks used to make quilts destined for heavy use.  It was those strong hands that couldn't hold a 1 inch long needle any more than I can.  Lacking machines to make their quilts, they had to stick with simple patterns.  And, they relied on color value to give interest to their work.  Scraps from all across the rainbow, combined in simple artful ways to get the prettiest quilt they could from what they had on hand or could trade with a friend.  I wonder if some of those quilts weren't utility quilts at all, but were their own works of art, meant for display like my wall quilts, but we've classified them as "utility" because of their simplicity. 

As time passes and you see the bee in the 50's.  Just a few older ladies, still making heavy duty, warm "utility" quilts, still working with scraps.  But, by this time, almost every woman had a sewing machine, so the pieces get smaller again.  I look at the quilts I've inherited from this era and I see delicate, small squares and set in pieces in a multitude of colors.  Rarely were these quilts planned to come out a certain way and the only fabric purchased for the quilt was the back and maybe some sashing.  But, the colors of the fabrics they purchsed for backs; turquoise, pink, red, navy are so different than the pieces in the quilt top.  The top pieces reflect work clothes and are often heavy brown fabrics that have rotted away because brown dye contained iron that rusted, taking the fabric with it.  But, the backs that were bought special are bright and light fabrics that would never have held up to wringer washers for long.  Like us, they must have loved collecting fabrics for the top, but I bet the part they loved best was getting to buy something new for the back.  My inherited quilts here split into two groups.  My mother's family had the easier life and their quilts are intricate with tiny quilt stitches and hand sewn bindings.  But, my dad's maternal predecessors were hard workers; washing, field work, cooking, canning and wiping babies mouths and bottoms.  They worked at least as hard as their men and although they could piece tiny pieces on the machine, their quilting stitches are what we would consider huge, as were their hands.  When I started quilting, I thought that's what we were trying to accomplish, so my early hand quilting also has large stitches.  It was much later that I heard about 12 stitches to the inch...and my fingers are too big for that. 

The bee seems to have slacked at this time and the next photos are from the quilting revolution in the 70's.  Patriotic, early american, these are the words I'd use to describe these quilts.  In this era, machine quilting in straight lines seems to be the norm.  I have one quilt from this era that my Mom made.  Brightly colored stars cut from scraps of her dress fabrics and satin stitch appliqued onto muslin, then machine quilted.  Everything made by machine.  These women had time to quilt because of all the modern conveniences, but I can still remember that the last thing my mother and aunt's did was sweep and mop the kitchen floor...every day. 

That's where the article ends.  I guess that's where our generation of quilters kicks in.  We collect tons of beautiful fabrics and with even more modern conveniences, we have more time to turn them into quilts.  And, with all the tricks our machines can do, we can put together the tiniest pieces and quilt with stitches that look like the finest handwork. 

I love to quilt.  I love to collect fabrics.  I love to design and plan and then turn that into something beautiful.  And, I'm so lucky that I have tools that can do things my big hands can't.  And, I think I have a little better insight into why some of the old quilts are intricate and some are "utility".  It really was a matter of economics, but not necessarily the economics of fabric buying.  I think it included the economics of what your hands were expected to do while you weren't quilting.  Harder work, harder use...these are economic as well. 

Okay, so enough rambling about hands.  Ya'll take care.  I'm going to see what trouble I can get my hands into...it won't be hand washing...you can bet on it.

Lane

antiques.

Hey, Everybody.  Well, we're officially out of vacation mode; all the dirty clothes have been washed and put away, which denotes the official end of a trip for us. 

I enjoyed working on my hexagon quilt so much that I decided not to start anything new until I get back from my business trip next week.  It is going very well, but incredibly slow.  I understand now why we don't piece by hand.  Having never pieced by hand, I was not prepared for how labor intensive it is.  I have replaced the center of the quilt for the third time, this time with blue and am building some blue hex's into the muslin corners.  Each corner takes 99 hexes tho, and I can only seem to sew in three sides before i have to knot the thread and get a new start.  It feels like I'm going really fast, but with such tiny stitches, fast still doesn't get far.  This is going to be a completely hand made quilt, including the quilting and binding and there's absolutely no deadline.  I've already been working on it a year.  What's another? or one after that?  It gives me something to do when I travel, which is not very often.  I guess the name will have to reflect something to do with travel.

Finally, I uploaded the picture of the antiques to photobucket and a picture of the three of us at my Mom and Dad's.  We're very happy with our little haul from the trip.

There are pieces of two sets of dishes here.  The one with the leaves is our everyday set and we got a very large and shallow oval serving bowl, a butter dish and the s/p shakers.  The pitcher is from the good stuff and cost less than the shipping would have had we bought it on ebay.  I actually walked right past it looking for bargains stacked on the floor, which is usually where I find them in antique stores.  The pyrex is for my best friend.  She collects it, so the two turquoise pieces were her thank you gift for taking care of the cats while we were away and the two white pieces are for c'mas.  The kid got the two bracelets.  They're cute and a little old for her and they're pretty old, so I don't know how long they will hold up to her rough handling.  There are three rings.  You can't see them well.  Da man got a ring in the first store we went in and the other two of us looked all over for rings for us, too.  We didn't find them, so went back to the first store, where we each found a great one.  We touch them together and say "family power".  The kid thinks it's really cool and it makes us all laugh and smile.

Y'all take care and have a great Friday.  If I can, I'm going to sneak out of here early and take a little quilting time...If I can't, I'm going to dream about it.

Lane

The greatest waitress...

Okay, so I didn't get around to getting more pics to photobucket.  I'm still recovering.  Part of my process is to clean (da man says he can always tell I'm feeling better because I feverishly clean), so I spent yesterday morning wandering around unable to focus on anything for more than 5 minutes.  I managed to drag myself to the shower just in time for lunch and then da man wanted a therapy appt to help us decompress from the chaos.  But, when I got home, I started cleaning and I cleaned until I was about to drop, then played with some quilting.

So, I want to tell you today about the greatest waitress.  When we came out of the first antique store, we saw a small cafe across the street and decided to work our way around the block and stop there to eat lunch.  I don't think of us standing out in a crowd, but after I told this story to a few friends, they let me know that we do...more for our smiles than anything else.  The smiles, when the three of us are together, make folks want to know what we're up to and why we're enjoying ourselves so much, and after a little watching, they figure us out.  But, I digress. 

Anyway, the waitress was very attentive.  She just kept telling the kid how pretty she was and how pretty her hair was and that she should never cut it and how pretty and clear her skin was and on and on.  She paid more attention to the kid than some of my relatives did, and paid her many more compliments.  After a little chatting, she told us her mom and grandmother were at the table behind us, so we turned and spoke to them.  Her mom was a very striking woman.  After some eating (the best homemade chicken and dumplings and chocolate cake I've had in many years), we were talking about how tan the kid is and that she swims several times a week.  The waitress told us that her mom doesn't tan at all, but her other mom does.  Oh, she had pegged us and she gave the kid a great look at a very friendly, well adjusted, young adult who had two same sex parents.  As far as the kid knows, this was the encounter with an adult with this in common, even though there were other kids at school.  We could not have asked for a better "first contact" for our child and we let them talk all they wanted to about hair and nails and tans...girl stuff that we don't know anything about.  Now, this waitress was not the only waitress that treated us special while we traveled.  And several of them fawned over the kid.  Here in Austin, we're not that unusual, but we were very pleasantly surprised with how friendly wait staff was in a small town.  That friendliness is about the best part of small town visits. 

So, whenever you're in some small town cafe where the food is good and the conversation is better and there's free coffee and a smile, remember that you might be about to have a great encounter with a wonderful person and be sure to be available for that encounter.  It might surprise you how positive an experience it is. 

Y'all take care and have a great Wednesday!

Lane

I'm back in my real world

Yeah!  We spent 8 hours in the truck yesterday, trying to bring the kid back into some kind of control.  It didn't take long with my family for her to forget what we expected.  But, she's doing better, and we're all recovering from our vacation.  There's so much to share.  I'm sure that I'll share little pieces of it all week.  I haven't even downloaded pictures yet.  But, I'll let you know when our website is updated with the vacation pics, even though there aren't many.  We spent the fun time having too much fun to take pictures and the rest of the time, we don't want pictures of.

The kid was charming and wound them all around her finger.  My family thinks we don't talk to her very nice, but that's from folks raising a 3 year old that didn't eat anything but potato chips or drink anything but coca-cola the whole time we were there, and then stay in trouble for not being able to behave...hmmm.  And my other niece was in shorts that were short enough to see all her business if you didn't watch exactly where your eyes were everytime we saw her.  The first time I accidentally looked down was very embarassing and I kept my eyes at eye level the rest of the visit.  And, the kid being raised by the less than optimal family (our child (and it is clear they think our family is sub optimal for child raising)) was by far the better behaved.  We made commitments to her and we kept them, which is how we get her to behave so there was as much pool time as we could get every day.  That didn't make my mom very happy, but it was more than a visit with my family.  It was also a family vacation.  While it was hard to balance both priorities, I think we did a really nice job of it.

Friday night, we had dinner with the whole group.  It was the only time that everyone got together.  Although they said they didn't have anything planned when we were planning our vacation, they were pretty busy when we got there.  Saturday morning, those that wanted to go quilt shopping and antiquing were supposed to meet at my mom's house, but nobody wanted to go, so we just got started.  I spent a small fortune in the GREATEST quilt shop.  It was in an old house and she had converted it very nicely.  There was a class going on in the back that had about 25 ladies in it and they just welcomed us in and made us at home...of course, there was that few minutes in the beginning when they wanted to know what two men and a lttle girl were doing there, but they soon realized that two of us were quilters and just fawned over us to help us find stuff.  Okay, I paused to download pics.  Here's my haul from that store.   I got a shadow box pattern that I want to find cool fabrics to go in the boxes.  The Mckenna Ryan kit is part of a larger quilt, but I'm just going to make this part.  My dad told us about going over the hill at his place and seeing two deer in his meadow, so this kit has two deer on it and it is for his Cmas gift.  There are three light colored batiks to add to the collection and that wild fabric is something we all fell in love with enough that the kid and da man talked me into buying the rest of the bolt, which got me a small discount...not enough discount to justify the cost of the rest of the bolt, but it was okay...  And, I got a plastic darning foot for my bernina.  It has a larger hole and the plastic means I'll be able to see where I'm going better.

Okay, that's enough for now, but some of the most fun stuff is still to come.  I need to fix breakfast for the kid and get her off to summer camp and myself to the grocery.  My mentor and I are meeting for lunch and I'm really looking forward to that.  Whoohoo!  I'm back to my own life.

Lane

Thanks you guys!

Hugs to you guys and thanks for the uplifting comments.  It helped me have that good cry that I've been waiting for.  There's a rule that men don't cry (stupid, stupid rule) so I had to run to the car after reading what you said.  Fortunately, I had waited until the end of the day to revisit the blog.  There's nothing like good racking sobs to clear out the cobwebs. 

Anyway, we're still preparing for vacation.  We hope to hit the road at 6am tomorrow...I'm not sure why because the earlier we leave, the earlier we get there.  For some reason, my Mom thinks we're coming there to do chores that she can't get my father or brother in laws to do.  I mean, I'm as susceptible to the forces of maternal guilt as any other man, but I'm on vacation.  Actually, this expectation is pretty common as I'm on vacation from my life, but stepping into their lives, still in progress.  I guess that's the danger of going home for vacation instead of meeting them someplace.  I'll have to try that next time. 

I announced last night at supper that the cook's vacation had officially started and if they were looking for food, they'd better look to the KFC on the corner.  My bags are packed and all I'm missing is the smell of suntan lotion (30 spf if you please).  It will take us about 8 hours to get there and we have dinner plans with the whole group, or at least as many as will show up, tomorrow night.  We have swim time scheduled between driving and supper, to tire out the kid.  Saturday, we're going to try to get to a quilt shop at 10am.  They're the offical bernina dealer and I'm hoping they'll have an open toed darning foot for my machine.  And then some antique shopping, more swimming and dinner with the family again (good old southern fried fish, cole slaw and hush puppies.  Yum, yum!  I can feel my arteries preparing to harden).  On sunday, we'll spend the day with the family and even though the cook is on vacation, I'll probably be drafted into cooking lunch for everyone.  Not a problem as idle hands are the devil's workshop...although there's little chance my hands will be idle with the large activity bag I have packed.  I'm taking my laptop and plan to check in on your posts and tell you about how our vacation is going. 

Ya'll have fun!  Lane

A blog on family.

Wow, there is so much going on right now.  I don't remember a busier summer...at least since I was a kid.  We're planning a trip to see my family this weekend.  It will be the kid's first time to meet them.  She's very nervous and very excited, despite our reassurances that she shouldn't be.  It's our first vacation as a family, so I'm also excited and nervous.  We can't decide which car to take, we've changed the hotel reservations twice, and we're bringing home a very large armoire that was mine from many years ago but has been at my Mom's house since I moved out.  They downsized their house a few years ago and just don't have room for it, so she's been after me to take it for quite a while.  Of course, it's 7' 10" tall, 4 feet side to side and 2 feet deep, so we don't really have room for it either.  But, it should make a great place to store fabric...right?  Isn't every cabinet, box and bin a good place to store fabric? 

Add to that, one of my Dad's sisters passed away on Sunday.  She was a favorite aunt many years ago.  She was the black sheep of the family because she was twice divorced and had moved far away.  She moved back to be near the family about 30 years ago, but as far as I can tell, she never recovered from her black sheep status.  She was different, funny, and because of her different life experience, I found her fascinating.  She worked at the local college and I had lunch with her as often as I could when I attended there.  We'd walk to her house, eat a quick bite and walk back to her office, then I'd move on to class.  Of course, as I got older and started to develop my own life experiences, we grew apart.  And, when I moved away, I lost touch with all the family except my parents, sisters and their families.  Occassionally, I would see someone when I traveled home, but not often.  In the beginning, that was so they wouldn't know about my life choices, but later, as my immediate family adjusted and became okay with people knowing about my life, so much time had passed that it was too hard to rebuild those extended family relationships.  Sometimes I miss those folks and I keep a special place for them in my heart...but it is how they were, not necessarily how they are that I remember.  And, true to life, this aunt died as differently as she lived.  She walked to her church on Sunday night for a singing program and passed away in the ladies' room, no signs of discomfort or stress or pain, just a quick end to a long life.  As I've shared that story, I've learned it is not as funny to other people as it is to me, but have you ever heard of anyone passing away at church???  She would have loved that she was able to leave this earth with a story, being different in death the way she was different in life.

So, I'm reflecting on family and what family means to me, and finding that I've grown a new family in my adult life.  A family that includes friends, a partner, a child, a great set of quilters and teachers, and a terrific group of bloggers that keep up with me and that I keep up with.  That's got me thinking of Molly and how much I miss her.  I've tried to make contact and given her my phone numbers.  I'm sure some of you have also emailed her.  And, we haven't heard from Elaine (TeXas) in a while either.  I'm hoping that when Vera gets back from vacation, she'll be able to update us.  I know that the world keeps changing and that people come into and go out of my life, each for a reason.  Life really is like a river, constantly moving and changing, but in many ways, always the same. 

And, the week after next, I go to Cleveland for business.  I don't think I've traveled twice in one month in my whole life.  When I'm in Cleveland, da man and the kid will be at home alone together.  That should be an adventure for them both.  I'll leave them a roast and a jar of peanut butter and we'll see who survives.

Ya'll take care and forgive this blog about family posted in a quiltblog website.  Hey, sometimes what's important doesn't happen at the sewing machine...not often, but sometimes.

Lane

And the winner is...

My backside is so sore from spending the day in a dining room chair.  But, she got through 140 pages to get caught up.  Now, in case any of you are thinking what an ogre I am to make her stay home and sit in a chair for 7 1/2 hours to catch up on a book that isn't required school work, then you need the detail I forgot yesterday.  We divide the number of pages in the book by 14 days and that's what she is supposed to read each day.  This time it was 24 pages per day (small pages with large print).  Twice she didn't tell the truth about how far she was in the book, both times trying to skip about 100 pages.  Not having just fallen off the turnip truck the day before yesterday, I was not falling for 100 pages in one hour on Weds night.  So, I took action.  Here's one of our many similar interactions from the day.  You need to know that the girl scouts come to summer camp on Thursdays to lead a fun activity:

she:  I wonder what the girl scouts are doing at camp today?

me:  I don't know (no nonsense in my voice)

she:  I bet it was fun.

me:  I bet so, are you bored?

she:  yes

me:  if you had done your assigned reading all those days, you'd be there today instead of sitting across this table from me...

and we both went back to our work.  Me with delight, her with something less than that.  But, she did it and each day she has to write a paragraph about what she's read that day.  After that, she sewed some. 

So, I did get the kimono quilt posted last night.  You really can't see it in the picture, but the fabrics are very asian inspired and have lots of gold printing on them.  The back, which I haven't photographed but should, is an older asian print of some ladies in kimonos with fans and parasols.  It makes the back look like a painting.  Anyway, it's beauty and my friend is going to be very excited when she gets it tomorrow.  I had to clean all those jeans up off the floor to block it last night.  Now, they're stacked everywhere in the sewing room closet.  I'm going to have to make a quilt just so I can get them moved somewhere else.  I'm trying to come up with a good car project to take on vacation, but I can't find my flower applique patterns.  They've been swallowed by my stash and there will not be time this weekend to search them out.  Looks like I might be basting hexagons and adding them to that red quilt.  I've decided to add some blue to that quilt.  They're not very patriotic shades, but should go wonderfully together.  And that red/white quilt is going to need something.  Just adding muslin is leaving me feeling flat.  I think some blue will make it all pop.  Here's a picture of that quilt so far.  It's one you've seen before, but since I brought it up, I want to take the opportunity to show it off again. 

Ya'll take care and I'll be reading your posts. 

Lane

as promised

Here is a picture of the second kimono quilt. 

And, just for giggles, this is why I usually won't show you a picture of my sewing room.  But, I expect most of our sewing rooms look like this sometimes.  Granted, this isn't what it looks like today.  Today, all the surfaces are cleaned up, but the floor is covered with jeans. 

Take care.  Lane

The joys of parenthood...

Here I sit, on my work laptop, with a phone sticking out of my ear, at home, working.  I'm across the table from the kid watching her read. 

Are you familiar with the phrase Mexican stand-off?  She's been assigned to read a book of her choice every other week during the summer and has decided that she'll show me, she ain't gonna do it.  Surprise!  So, she's home from summer camp for the day (all fun is suspended) and I'm working from home, and she's reading to catch up.  I win! 

I've been trying to blog.  I've started an entry each day, but haven't been able to think of anything I wanted to say.  All that's been going on is this reading thing and we're planning a trip home to see my family so they can meet the kid for the first time.  We've decided to treat it as a real vacation and stay in a hotel with a pool and see the family as we have time instead of the normal being restricted by their schedules.  They keep very different hours than us and so much of our family relationship is based on expectations...when to get up, when to go to bed, when food will be made available...  Before she came to live with us, the kid could never count on anything, not even being fed, and she does best when she knows what is going to happen and when, so we live by our schedule.  Others find this restrictive, but she finds it very comforting and that's very important right now as she tends to misbehave when things are left too flexible. 

I've been washing jeans and I might get one of those denim quilts started.  We put covers over some of our furniture to avoid pet damage and we want to replace some of the assortment of things we're using with denim quilts.  Or, I might start on the log cabin quilt kit I bought a couple of weeks ago. 

As you can tell, I'm having a little trouble getting motivated, which is very unusual for me.  I'm usually obsessed with quilting.  But, parenting takes priority right now, and what I want is subordinate to that.  Hopefully, I'll teach a valuable lesson today and won't have to repeat this very often, although I'm certain that we will have this battle of wills again.  But, maybe it will be a little while and I can get some of my own stuff done in the meantime.  I'll try to take a picture of the second kimono quilt during our lunch break and get it posted this afternoon. 

Wish me luck.  And, I know most of you are parents or work with kids, so if you have suggestions, please feel free to share them.

Lane

Sharp scissors.

Sorry, I did not get a picture taken of my sewing room.  I want to post one, so I guess I'll have to show you what it looks like most of the time instead of trying to snap one in the 10 minutes that it stays clean. 

There was so much to do this weekend.  Friday, I spent a lot of my time on chores, but we didn't really do much to celebrate the holiday.  Da man and the kid went to the parking lot behind my mechanics shop and watched the city's fireworks display (none of us were going to try going downtown and deal with the other 50,000 people trying to get home when it's over).  I spent a lot of the weekend working on aquariums.  I have a fish that won't stop having babies and I'm trying to raise them big enough to give them away, so I set up a separate tank for them.  And, I've been trying to control some bad stuff in the water of my big tank, so I'm doing daily water changes.  There were a few hours of yard work I had to do and we spent most of Saturday getting ready for the pool party, at the party and then putting away all the stuff it takes to make a pool party/picnic.  Wish my picnic quilt was finished.  I worked on the second kimono quilt and am about half done with the binding so that's a pic that should be up soon. 

And, I started sorting and cutting jeans from the piles I've been gifted.  This morning, when I was throwing away the waist bands, I was sure I'd cut 20 pair, but only counted 14.  Imagine my disappointment.  Anyway, I'm sorting into three piles, donate to goodwill cause they're too good to cut, cut them if they have any flaws, and try them on if they look like they'll fit any of us.  The kid got three pair of denim shorts last night, and free clothes are always a good thing.  I'm still trying to figure out who could have donated the two pair that were 30 waist by 44 length.  I mean, the waistband came up to my neck...what's up with that?  One pair I donated, but one had a hole.  That pair will give me a lot of quilt squares.  Lots of the jeans had been stored someplace dusty, maybe a barn, and so they had to be washed before they could be cut.  And, there were a lot of kids jeans.  The legs are so narrow, I can't get much fabric out of a pair and they're barely used, so off to goodwill they'll go. 

The kid is working on her quilt and doing a really nice job.  She's had to pull a few seams out and has learned the lesson to look at both sides before you sew blocks together to make sure you pinned them together straight.  She turns the fabric in a funny way to get the pins in it and sometimes they get off square and she hates to seam rip...I told her about it being the frog stitch...rip it! rip it! (thanks whoever shared that one!)  It's a great quilt in blues, greens, purples, pinks and browns.  I had to talk her out of some pink blocks tho.  It was getting a little overwhelming and making me kinda sick cause your eyes couldn't settle anywhere, but once I cut extra blocks and laid them in over the pink, she agreed that it was a prettier quilt.  Her point was that she loves pink and mine was that it looked like spilled pepto.  I went ahead and did all the cutting for her, but she picked all the fabrics from my stash.  She's really excited and is showing everyone that will slow down long enough to look.  We rolled it up inside a flannel backed plastic table cloth to store it while she sews.  I can put this pattern together in about 3 hours, but she takes a little (okay, a lot) longer. 

Ya'll take care and have a great Monday!

Lane

Hey, hey, hey!

No time to play!  The kid is sewing, I'm supposed to be dusting.  I've been checking on blogs and looking at that beautiful piece of applique! 

Riet, thanks for the card.  Would love to print those pictures and make them into a quilt!!!  They're beautiful. 

Well, I'm going to try to get back to it so I can cut some denim this afternoon.  Ya'll have a great Sunday.  Lane

We the people...

Oh, I'm in a patiotic mood today.  Yankee Doodle all the day.  Wish I'd used more red in that blue and white kimono quilt.  As it is, there is some, so I hung it to celebrate the 4th.  I'll have to make something else in those colors for patiotic holidays. 

Riet, my kid is 10.  She's a tall 10, though, so she can handle large pieces of fabric and doesn't need a special table to be able to sit at the machine and reach the pedal anymore.  When she first came to live with us, we had to put the pedal on a large book for her to reach it.  She still has pudgy kid fingers that lack strong muscle coordination, so I haven't let her use the rotary cutter or my sharp scissors, but am going to try to find a way that she can safely cut her own fabrics this time.  But, it will have to be a quick method as she loses interest fast and wants to finish NOW.  She has a small Singer she named Princess that she'll use to make her quilt.  I doubt it has enough power to penetrate her fingernail, but I've taught her to be very careful of the needle (my own terror of sewing through my finger means that's the first thing I teach).  And, she is chomping at the bit to dig into my stash to pick fabrics.  She knows exactly what she wants and what size, so I'm hoping she will stick with it this time and that it's not just a passing fancy. 

The other day in the quilt store was the first time anyone introduced me as her dad.  It really took me back and made me think that this is really happening.  So many people, including me, stumble around describing our relationship (is she my daughter, is she my niece (she is da man's niece), is she a foster child)?  We're in process of an adoption, but that's going to take more than a year, so for now, I'm technically her guardian.  But that sounds so official and doesn't really fit with the way we interact.  She calls me Lane unless she wants to annoy me; then she calls me mom (thank goodness never in public).  She tells kids at school and camp that we're both her uncles.  Glad our relationship isn't as complicated as describing it is.  This morning I told her something she was doing annoyed me and she launched into the long list of things I do that annoy her.  Wow, I had no idea.  She's all girl and I'm basically as goofy as all three stooges, so I do a lot that annoys her. 

We have big cookout and pool plans with da man's best friend and his family tomorrow, so I won't get as much quilting done as I had hoped.  Guess I'll stay up late tonight and nap in a chaise in the shade tomorrow...hey, all I'm supposed to do is show up.  They didn't say I had to stay awake.  Be careful what you ask for cause analysts live on technicalities. 

And, Hey Everybody that's reading this blog!  I've had 715 hits in just three weeks.  Who knew I was so interesting.  Thanks for reading my ramblings on quilting and parenting.

Take care and have a great holiday.  I'll log in from home this weekend and maybe I'll get that big bin of fabric out of the floor and can post a picture of my sewing room while it's clean. 

Lane

Where have all the quilters gone?

I know, it's July and everybody is on vacation.  But, I haven't heard from some of my friends in a while and I'm jonesin' for some quilters company.  I know that at my house, I'm having to steal quilting time from time I should be doing chores, but it's just too hot to work outside and I'm not really feeling like starting a big inside project.  Seems like all my time is being spent trying to keep flower pots watered.  It has rained all around us, but almost nothing at our house. 

I'm still making kimono blocks, one after the other.  I'm not going to make my goal of finishing a second quilt by Saturday, but maybe by Monday.  And, the kid has decided she wants to try another quilt.  I knew I could out wait her and that sooner or later she'd want to try sewing again.  When we went to the quilt store yesterday afternoon, she charmed the pants off the ladies in the sewing class that was going on.  I finally had to pull her away so they could get back to their class work.  I got the last piece of kimono fabric (famous last words) and have enough to make several of these quilts and since they're so simple to quilt, I may try to sell a couple.  I have plenty of people trying to buy a quilt and these go together so easy now that I've "fixed" the pattern.  The kid wants to use my Linus pattern to make herself a quilt with a cat theme.  We got her a piece of focus fabric yesterday and she's ready to dig in my stash for the other fabrics. 

Y'all be good and stay cool.  And let us know what's going on in your life, even if you can't find enough time to quilt either.

Lane

more do-overs...

Yes, I am the king of doing it again.  Yesterday when I folded up that blue/white kimono quilt to send for my mentor to see, I realized there was something wrong around the edges...something very wrong.  But, I didn't have time to investigate what it was.  Last night, when I got it back and fingered it some, I figured it out.  To bind this quilt, I just cut the batting a little larger than the quilt top, folded the backing over the batting and folded all those layers over the top to make it look like there was a binding all around from the front.  Then, I whipped that down by hand.  Because the quilting was intentionally left simple, there was no quilting in the border, just ditch work between the two borders.  What happened was that in the wash, my batting pulled back from the folded edge and was all wadded up behind the border.  So, I had to cut the folded binding open and pull the batting back to the edge, fold the backing over it again and fold all that over the top again.  But, this time, I'm going to machine stitch it down so that there will be a sewn line all around the edge through all the layers to hold the batting in place.  Good grief.  For such a simple quilt with almost no quilting, this has been an adventure for my seam ripper. 

And, as a family, we unanimously rejected one of the fabrics I was going to use in the next kimono quilt.  So, it's back to the store I go.  I've got all the blocks with me so I don't repeat a fabric I've already used and they're sealed in a plastic bag so I don't get a big nasty stain on them.  I love these kimono quilts and I've learned so many things, from pattern drafting, to paper piecing, to a new binding technique.  Just goes to show, you're never too old. 

Ya'll have a great Tuesday and remember, don't run with scissors!

Lane

quilt, clean, repeat

I had planned to post a picture of my sewing room from yesterday morning and then another after I spent the evening cleaning it up, with the caption "don't let this happen to you".  But, I couldn't see enough difference in the two pictures to make it of interest.  I've been quilting and piecing kimono blocks and my mentor and project Linus have been donating fabrics to that cause and I went in there yesterday afternoon and it looked like the fabric fairy had exploded all over the room.  There were bolts of fabric (denim and quilt backing) stacked everywhere, and piles of old jeans, and scraps in various states of being laundered, snips and thread ends all over the floor, a variety of pieced kimono blocks in browns and reds as well as the blue kimono quilt being blocked on the floor, three sewing machines, the iron and board, and every pair of scissors I own was scattered around.  Every flat surface was covered in fabric leaving a foot stool in the center of the room as the only place to sit.  In short, it was WAY OUTTA CONTROL.  So, I cleared a path through the middle to make room for a water change in the aquarium and after that, left the door closed until I could get back in there to do something more.  I don't know how long I spent folding fabric, but I got almost all the Linus fabrics in a single plastic bin and managed to get the lid closed (yes, I did have to sit on it to get the ends to latch).  Now, if I can just get another shelf bracket installed in the sewing room closet to give the shelf strength (oh, honeydooooo), I can get that bin out of the middle of the sewing room floor.  I stacked all the bolts of denims in the sewing room closet along with the first two boxes of jeans (there are two more boxes that are going to have to go to the garage until I can do more with them).  I picked up everything that was not in its proper place and got it to it's real home, whether in the sewing room or not.  I picked up all those snippets of fabric and used the lint brush to pick up all the thread so I could vacuum without getting it wrapped around the brush.  I sorted scraps into what I could use in my "tiny pieces" bin and what I had to let go.  While I was cleaning up, I discovered that I really needed to dust, but that's just going to have to wait until another day.  Then, I sat down to do some quilting...of course, by then, it was bedtime.  RATS! 

Anyway, the good news is that I finished the blue and white kimono quilt on saturday and fixed the problems with the pattern and over the course of the two days, managed to piece 4 more of those blocks and my block of the month.  Two more kimono blocks and I'll be ready to put that quilt together.  The last one took two weeks, and I'm shooting for this one being ready by Saturday (I have the 4th of July off) so I can give it to my friend.  She's going to love it.  It's done in all the colors she's used in her office and I hope it fills that one last blank wall.  After that, I'm going to start cutting denims for a picnic quilt.  Just something to stay in the trunk car and I plan to tie instead of quilting it.  I have so much denim that I'm hoping to sell a few of these quilts, so I need to get a sample made to show off.  These would be all profit as everything was handed down to me, but my timing is off.  Picnic season is over here and I'm just getting started.  But, I need a better way to store the jeans and small, neatly stacked squares is appealing to me.  I hate to cut good jeans to use in a quilt, so I'm planning to go through the lot and donate any that are still in good condition (and don't fit any of us) to goodwill.  I'll quilt with the ones that have holes in the knees or are worn out in the behind.  That way, I won't have to feel guilty about wasting something that someone else could use.  And, since she gave me like 8 bolts of denim in various shades of blue, I think I can spare a few pair of good jeans. 

My list of quilts is long...if I could just stop the clock long enough to make a few of them.  Take care and have a great Monday. 

Lane

I quilt, therefore I rip...

Ugghhh.  I've watched all these quilting shows where they talk about stretching the backing fabric tight before laying on the bat and top to make the sandwich.  I've never taped or pinned the back to the floor to accomplish this and have never run into trouble.  But, this week, I learned to never say never...okay, so I've learned that a lot lately, but this time it was about quilting.  The first thing I did with the kimono quilt was the ditch work around the blocks and edges.  Then, I started the ditch work on the kimonos.  Yesterday, I turned the quilt over and there are all these wrinkles in the backing where there's extra fabric inside the border ditch work. So, now, I'm ripping out (or as my mentor calls it, reverse quilting) all that, just leaving the quilting around the kimonos.  Then, I'm going to stretch the back and pin it to the floor and re-pin baste it and try again.  YUCK!  Luckily, it's only about an hour of quilting.  I wish it was only going to take an hour to pull it out!

I'm in a conference all day today, so my biggest challenge is going to be staying awake.  Ya'll take care and have a great Wednesday. 

Lane

P. S.  I'm watching Simply Quilts and guess what the topic is?  Preventing puckers in the backing by stretching it on the floor before making the sandwich!  hmmm.  lw

Cinderella

This is a Linus quilt that I brought home to "fix".  The kids that designed it had a great idea.  The quilt tells the Cinderella story and they drew all the pictures and added all the captions.  You can't see it good, but in the upper right corner is the square where Cinderella's father dies.  The drawing is a very complex girl crying and the caption says:  Dad Died.  Okay, so I saw that and asked the group leader and she was going to throw it away because you never know what circumstances the kid that gets the quilt will be in.  But, it's just too cute.  I couldn't let it go that way.  So, I've bought a set of fabric markers and I'm going to cut into the seamline so I can put something between the top and batting and I'm going to color over the caption in black.  Fortunately, it's at the top, so I'm thinking a black cloud.  But, I need another caption.  I'm thinking "Sad Days", "Chores, chores, chores" or "Work too hard".  Either would fit in with the other captions and the story line.  But, I thought I'd ask and see what you creative quilters could come up with. 

I love these little muslin quilts and am thinking about cutting squares for the kid to draw on to make a quilt. 

Ya'll have fun and stay cool. 

Lane

For Sarah:  I'm having trouble getting into your blog to write back.  I feel your discomfort being around a group of older ladies in a quilt group and I'm doubly affected as a man.  But, those ladies have a ton they can teach, about everything from quilting to nuts (both kinds).  I'd challenge you to mix in with them to sew.  They can take a little longer to loosen up around you, but once they do, they can be hilarious...especially if they think they're being naughty!  I sewed alone for years before I started to join in what is going on in the world of quilting.  I wish I hadn't waited.  Have fun.  One day I'm going to be one of those leaders in the quilting community and after that, you will.  Take care.

Log Cabin quilt kit

Hi, Everyone.  Here's a picture of the Log Cabin fabrics and a link to the free pattern.  I figured out that you make the log cabin blocks by piecing one quarter of the block at a time and then join those quarter blocks together.  That way, you can substitute a different quarter block and make it look like the blocks overlap. 

This picture is actually only three pieces of fabric, each divided lengthwise into four stips of shaded color (my cameral makes it look like there are 8 shades of blue, but there aren't.)  After my washing machine fiasco last week, and the hand wringing I had to give these fabrics, they look like wadded paper.  That's going to be fun to iron out.  Don't know when I'll start this one, but I'm looking very much forward to it. 

http://www.blankquilting.com/quiltgallery/pages/SHADE_CASECADE.html

I'm still basking in the fun of the Linus group on Saturday.  I almost didn't go after a very tough therapy session Saturday morning, but because the group is important to me, I decided to go alone.  The group is only about 10 regular members.  About half are ladies older than me and there's a mother/daughter combo that comes (the mom brings the chicken salad).  The leader spends almost all her crafting time working on group business, but did bring the coolest, brightest afghan with a hippy theme (all the great symbols from the 60's) that took her about 3 months...not sure I could give away something that took that long.  The first time I went, I was quite the attraction; the man in this group of women.  But, now they're used to me and talk freely around me.  Seems one person tells a story and then everyone else tells about a similar experience, so there's lots of talking and laughing going on (I chose not to participate in the conversation about testicular cancer, but at least they were comfortable enough to talk about it with me in the room, even though I wasn't).  The north Austin group is made up of all quilters and runs more like a guild, with classes and group projects.  But, I prefer the more relaxed format...and the chicken salad!  We have fun and I'm enjoying getting to know these ladies.  There's only one other quilter in the group (although a few more will make quilts if pressed) and she makes about 18 quilts a month, compared to my one!  She has an easy pattern and can just pump them out fast as lightning, each different and yet the same.

Other than that, it was a weekend of chores, chores, chores.  We laughed that we've been watching Asian influenced films on TCM and I'm making a kimono quilt.  Which came first, the inspiration to start the quilte, or watching the movies???  I'm keeping the quilting simple on this quilt to show off the kimono fabrics, so I'm just doing ditch work.  Most of the kimono fabrics are actually cottons that would be used in kimonos and are left over from an asian quilting class my mentor took...how lucky is that? 

Ya'll take care and have a great Monday.  Talk soon.

Lane

Happy Sunday

Hi, Everybody.  I'm so late getting my chores started, but I just had to come online and read posts and post this picture.  I stayed up late last night watching Nick and Nora Charles catch another Thin Man killer and got the top finished.  I'm loving it.  Before I spent about $40 on fabrics to make a "prettier" quilt, this was the quilt I designed.  I should have just stuck with this plan, but it's my job to second guess myself...I guess. 

Linus was a ton of fun yesterday.  I ended up going alone...ok, so even the best parents have to get away sometimes.  There is a lady that brings the BEST chicken salad sandwiches every month and there was a pile of sweets.  All the crochet-ers loved my afghan and couldn't believe it was my first.  I spent the day re-tieing some of the cutest muslin quilts.  They gave the kids 10" squares of muslin and fabric markers.  Each group came up with a theme and made 12 blocks.  They must not have had very good instructions because about half only tied them through the top and batting, not running the yarn through the back.  So, I cut out knots and replaced them with bright red yarn...and sewed a few seams back together.  They got hundreds of quilts and fleece blankets donated and have spent several months making repairs to get them ready to donate.  We're just about through with them, so in August when we meet, everyone was asked to bring a project to work on.  I brought home 2 large bags of scraps that were considered too small for the big Linus group that meets in North Austin (fancy-schmancy).  But, they were perfect for my quilts.  I can use anything 4 1/2" square or larger and took anything that didn't have flowers or was pink.  I also took yarn for another couple of afghans.  I was ashamed.  Now, I have to make a bunch of quilts to justify taking them.

Okay, so this pattern was easier to piece without paper.  And before I make the next quilt, I'm going to fix the angles.  Mine were hand drawn and were random, but I'm going to have to change them to 30, 45, and 60 degree angles and this will be much easier. 

Ya'll take care and have a great Sunday.  Lane

TGIF

Did ya' miss me prattling on about whatever is on my mind this week?  Sorry, it's been a hard parenting week that's kept me too busy to quilt and too absorbed to think of anything pleasant enough to share.  (Whaa, whaa, feel sorry for me week).  Most of you are moms and you know exactly the week I'm talking about. 

Anyway, I played hookey yesterday afternoon (the boss was away, so the mouse got to play).  When I left the office, I turned in my $5 quilt block to get the next one.  Good grief!  It's red, white and yellow!  That's after a purple and green block, and two red white and blue blocks.  I said "the ladies on my quilt blog can't wait to see what you're going to do to pull these colors together" and the quilter and the store employee looked at one another and said in unison "we can't either".  I am worried now.  The only thing I can think so far is to use gray or black and sash between these brightly colored blocks.  It's scary that she has about 35 people here following her lead and she doesn't know where she's going yet!

Since I was in such a funk, I whipped out my credit card and used my 25% off coupon (I get one of these each month I turn in a block) to buy the coolest kit.  It has three fabrics, but each is printed in such a way that you get 4 different shades of the color in stripes that run lengthwise on the bolt.  You cut these out and then cut them into 2 1/2" strips to make a really cool log cabin block where the center of the blocks are the lightest shade, moving to the dark around the outside edge.  The blocks overlap one another, so that 3/4 of the block is one color and the 4th corner is another color from a diagonally adjoining block (not a very good description, but trust me, it's a cool effect).

I also found a couple of fabrics to use in the kimono quilt (yes, I have enough different fabrics to make at least two of these quilts and enough yardage to make about 10.  I'm out of kimono control). 

When I got home, I edged these new fabrics and some others that I got for father's day and a couple that I've had a while and had never laundered.  I get them in the wash, and the machine went on the fritz and wouldn't empty or spin.  So, I got to rinse them in the sink and dry them a few at a time.  (Somebody was really testing my powers of self control).  When da man got home, he discovered it is a short in the spin cycle kill switch (brakes when you open the lid during spin), so we don't need a new pump or a new machine...yeah!!!

I put the back and front of my latest linus together and plan to take it to the meeting tomorrow to tie.  I am so looking forward to that meeting and would go by myself, but da man has asked for a few hours alone to recover from the week as well.  She's going to take her crochet and sit very close to me and be well behaved...OR ELSE!

This morning, I started kimono block number 3.  This block is made from a piece of fabric that is barely enough, so I can't make any mistakes.  That's why I decided to get it over with, but maybe this week was not the best week for a stressful block.  Anyway, I got 1/3 put together this morning, despite having to take it apart three times to get everything to fit (and I found a mothhole in one of the pieces after I'd sewn it in).  I found an article in an old Quilters Newsletter Magazine about paper piecing odd angles when you want all the background pattern to run in the same direction.  I'll read that during the day and maybe it will make it easier.  Keep your fingers crossed.  (Maybe it would have just been easier to buy the pattern with instructions than to draft my own and try to teach myself paper piecing on that.  Hindsight!)

Ya'll take care and have a great weekend.  I'm getting out of here as soon as I can again and it's too hot to be outside, so I'll be happily quilting...alone!  In the quiet.  Probably watching a Thin Man mystery that I've seen at least 20 times and use as comfort TV...

Lane

weekends pass so fast...

Just when I'm getting settled into the routine of chores and accomplishments, the weekend is over.  This weekend's big project was getting our family website updated with all the new pictures.  I'd received a lot of feedback that the pages wouldn't open (especially from my Mom) and realized a couple of weeks ago that it was the file size of my pictures that was slowing folks down, especially those on dial-up.  So, I fixed that and added a couple of pages for me to display my quilts.  My next thing is to get a page added for da man's hobby pictures, but after spending about 7 hours yesterday just bringing the site up to date and replacing everything that was there, I was just too tired to take on another page.  It was a great father's day project because I involved everyone in deciding which pictures to add and what captions to use and we all spent the day watching movies and looking at family pictures. 

I also found some time to work in the yard, and cook a big lunch yesterday (roast, potatoes, corn and three bean salad).  I maintain a neighbor's front flower bed and it was time to cut some old stuff out so we could see the new stuff in bloom.  She loves purple, so I try to use lots of purple and yellow.  She catches me out there sometimes, playing in her flowerbed and just gushes about how much she loves it.  And, we love to do it.  The kid thinks of it as her own garden project because she's in charge of water and selecting flowers.

You guys saw the kimono blocks I made and I got a Linus top pieced.  Now, I just need to make a back for the Linus and get it all stitched together before the meeting on Saturday, where I hope to get it tied.  I'm really looking forward to that meeting because I couldn't go to the last one and have three quilts/afghans to turn in and I enjoy the comeraderie.  It's a great place to take the kid where she can be herself and observe me being myself in a group.  We don't get enough of those opportunities and if I want her to model my behavior, I need to show it to her and I'm so introverted that I don't give her many chances to see me in a group.  I tied the last Linus with pearl cotton (thanks to whoever suggested that!  it's easier to tie with one thread than 6 strands of floss). 

If you ever wonder whether we're just this small group of folks reading one another's blogs, I've gotten over 200 hits in about 11 days.  I thought there were only about 20 of us reading because that's about all that post.  But, it's clear there are other folks out there, and they must be interested in what we have to say.  So, if you're reading my blog regularly, I hope you're enjoying it.  Feel free to chime in anytime and let us know you're out there and whether you enjoy it...

Take care and enjoy your Monday!

Lane

Happy Father's Day

Part of my father's day gift was the afternoon to myself yesterday.  It's wierd to be the only introvert in a house of extroverts.  But, everyone had fun with their time...except I spent part of mine doing chores.  I guess I've forgotten what to do when I'm by myself. 

Here's what I did with my time.  These are the first three kimono blocks.  The lavendar one that doesn't have much contrast was my practice block.  I used it to test the pattern.  Then, I started with the ones that have the white background that are for a small quilt.  Let me know what you think. 

Have a Happy Father's day.  I'm off to start a big lunch.  Lane

multi-color quilts.

Hi, all.  I wanted to talk more about the multi-colored quilts.  If you've seen any of my early quilts, you'll recognize that I was definitely color challenged.  Sometimes I got lucky, but more often, my quilts had so many colors, or so many patterns that they just looked muddy.  There was no place for the eye to focus, they didn't draw the eye either in to the center or out to the edge, and the colors conflicted in such a way that the pattern was often lost, usually because all the colors were mediums and there was no contrast. 

One of the books my mentor loaned me was a color selection book by Jinny Beyer, Color Confidence for Quilters.  In this book, one of her suggestions for beginners was to pick a focus fabric, then pull fabrics in those exact color tones, using the same proportions that the designer of the focus fabric used.  So, if there's just a little bit of black, only add a little bit of black.  But, don't forget to use some black or another dark stabilizing color because even if you don't perceive the dark color in a print, it is probably there as an outline to separate other colors or shades of the same color.  Then, once you have those fabrics selected, use other shades of those same color tones to tie everything together.  So, if there's a royal blue in the focus fabric, use several shades (lightness and darkness) in the same tone of blue (royal).  If you look at that last Linus quilt, there is a medium green, med blue, med red-orange, light cream, and tan and all that has thin black outlines.  So, I pulled all those colors.  I also pulled a light and a dark blue, a light and a dark red-orange, and a dark brown (to finish the light/med/dark of the cream and tan combination).  I only had one green fabric in the right tone, so I didn't add any other greens, but the shading in the blues and browns made up for it.  There are just a few small pieces of black.  The background of the focus fabric was cream, so there are a lot of cream squares.