I Used to Know That...

When I look at the the beautiful embroidery stitches that people like Allison do, I'm awed. Then I found this crewel pillow that I made in 1975 (yes, it's signed and dated). It's a sampler of background filler and ornamental stitches, and I must say I'm proud of it. I found the idea in a book or magazine, but I changed it a great deal, including the color scheme. Funny, although these 70's shades look dated to me, the red color family combined with green is still one of my favorite color schemes. But the amazing thing to me is that I really could make all those stitches. Now I have no clue, and even if I found the book and reviewed, I don't think they'd turn out as well. Truly a past life!

On a completely unrelated topic: I have been machine quilting using Signature Threads Rainbows. It's 40 weight polyester, variegated. Very pretty, but it's so fine and slippery that I find the stitches coming undone unless I both backstitch and use small stitches at the beginning and end of the stitching rows. Just a word of warning.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Quilting underway on the Australian circle quilt--



Also I am thinking about making a Christmas gift for the dear woman I work with at the Soup Kitchen. It would be a quickie from one of the fat quarter books: pinwheels in various fabrics with background either same or various and a plain coordinating border. Here's one choice, pretty but dull:



This one I like better:



And if it were for me, I'd choose this, with print background:



But I have to remember that this lady is in her eighties, and the prints might be too much. My mother wouldn't like them. So I don't know. Also, there is the time available to be considered, so I will have to think about this, and decide quickly.

Beta

I think I have switched to Beta--seems ok so far!

Chicago Quilt Expo

Yesterday I went to the Chicago Quilt Exposition, a Mancuso show, the Grand Finale of the World Quilt Competition. This show has been in Michigan in the past, and this is the first time it's been in Chicago, I think. They must have been disappointed with the turnout which was pretty slim for what's a good show. What I like about it is that the quilts are not the same ones that keep showing up at shows and in American magazines. The quality may not always be as good as at Paducah or Houston, but the variety is interesting. "Best of the World" was Wrought Iron Roses by Linda M. Roy, which I've seen pictured several times. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it that the quilting is absolutely phenomenal. Here are some of my favorites, not winners.

First are South African quilts. We were there last year, so I particularly liked the one of South African trees, by Dee Oxborrow (I think), and the one called Zulu Kingdom by Jenny Williamson and Pat Parker. These images seem more "real" to me than the wild animal ones that people expect.



But who can resist a flowered warthog?



I'm so sorry I don't know who did this quilt.

There was a special exhibit by the Professional Art Quilt Alliance on the theme of water. These were fascinating. Here's my favorite, Rain on the Lanai, by Judy L. Clausen. The subtlety of this doesn't show up as well as I wish it did.



Another special exhibit was by Wendy Butler Burns, and this one is a favorite.



Other special exhibits included the Alzheimer's Forgetting Piece by Piece collection; a Hoffman Challenge group, including the dolls, which I've never seen before; a collection of Ann Fahl's quilts featuring her cat Oreo; and an exhibit by the Chicago School of Fusing (Laura Wasilowsi, Frieda Anderson, Melody Johnson and others).

And finally, for no reason except I like pink and yellow: Tivoli, by a New Zeeland quilter named Chris Behersing.

Last weekend I went on a guild retreat located at a church camp on a lake about an hour south of here. As usual it was a relaxing, but productive time. I only take brainless work to retreats and try to plan the projects I will work on so I don't have to pack and unload so much. Some people seem to bring their entire stash and collection of notions, but I'm too lazy for that. This works for me.




Last year we exchanged colorful nine patch blocks; here's one result of the exchange, and Nancy working on hers.




Denise had this quilt, without the applique, at our retreat two years ago, and someone asked her if it was a tablecloth. That has become a running joke, as it reappeared last year in slightly more advanced form, and this year, here it is, complete except for final step of binding.



Another tradition is the ugly fabric exchange. Here two members try, unsuccessfully, to make their ugly fabric look enticing.


I ended up with what was voted the ugliest fabric of all: a polyester knit snakeskin print; but after I used it to upholster the donor's chair late at night, she took it back. So you are spared the sight of it, except for this small piece used as swim trunks for the "mutant frog" utensil pouch that Ginny had spent several hours struggling with earlier in the day.



And finally, here I am, maybe working. Note the two chairs. Everything at this facility is great, except the chairs are too low. But this works well.



I arrived home very tired Sunday, planning on early to bed, but was reminded that we had tickets for an organ concert that night. I slept though most of it--but I would have even without the retreat!

An enjoyable weekend--not Houston, but fun!

WIP Wednesday

I actually have some work in progress today. First, FINALLY the borders are on this Australian circle wall hanging. I had put this off, thinking it was going to be so hard to audition the various fabrics for the border, but it turned out to be easier than I thought. I stitched the diagonal seams and mitered borders together with little problem too. A relief. When I took the picture I was debating whrether to keep the border six inches wide or cut it to 4 1/2 as it is on the top and right side. I have since cut it, and I think that was the right decision. My other project is putting together these nine patch blocks which came from a retreat block swap a year ago. I'm going to use a strippy set with black and some sort of bright on block sashing between the strips. I don't know about the border, but I won't buy fabric, that's for sure.




I'm posting early because Blogger seems to be cooperating--

Bah Blogger

Is anyone else finding Blogger totally insufferable lately? I know they were down for maintainance, but beyond that, whenever I try to read blogs they take forever to load, or the blog loads but not the comment screen, etc., etc. I haven't even tried to post myself. Is Beta really better? And when you get a Google account and have to give a user name and password should you use a different one or is it ok to keep the same one? I think someone said they had trouble by using the same name? I really will change one of these days soon, just haven't had enough spare brain energy for the effort.

We spent Saturday afternoon and evening in downtown Chicago. I didn't take a camera because the forecast was for rain all day, but the rain held off until late evening, so although this made for a wonderful day, I have no pictures. It was a glorious day: blue lake, the bright green grass along the lakeshore, the skyline as wonderful as it always is, the trees full of rust and gold, and because it's been so warm, the fall flowers in Mayor Dailey's please-the-tourists landscaping still in full bloom. And there were lots of tourists to please, many of them in town for the Chicago Marathon. Not us though--much less disciplined and more self-indulgent, we had a delicious dinner at Blackbird, and then saw Deborah Voigt in Salome. Both were memorable. For non-opera fans, (and fans too, I guess) the big news about this performance is that Deborah Voigt, who was fired by London's Covent Garden about two and a half years ago for being too fat for her role, had bariatric surgery and has lost almost 150 pounds. The experience didn't seem to hurt her voice, and she looked wonderful, although maybe a bit haggard. You have to admire the guts of this--it's supposedly tough surgery, she's not young, and the demands of her career must make the experience doubly difficult. But if anything could make it worthwhile, the reception she got Saturday night would do the job. I loved the opera; the story is sordid, if not downright sick, but the music is wonderful. This is one opera you stay awake for, even after a great dinner and a bottle of pinot noir! (It's short too; we drove home in the rain--what a letdown!)

Just an update on some past posts. Here is the stitching on last week's "venting frustration" piece. Thanks to everyone for their kind comments about this. I liked it myself, but it's good to hear other people did too. I agree with the idea of a repeated block and may do that sometime in the future. But for now I'm just going to finish this small thing and use it for a little wall piece. The stitching is bobbin work using Ricky Tims' Razzle Dazzle thread--great stuff. I find that glitter thread doesn't show up well in photos though, at least not on my camera. The thread and stitching just looks uneven and patchy. In planning exactly where to put the lines of stitching I put the photo into Adobe Illustrator and drew the lines on a new layer to be sure of the best place to get that repeated angle I wanted. This worked really well, except I don't know how to make the lines straight, so they were wobbly! Technosavvy, I'm not, but I'm sure some people could carry this ideas further. I'm not sure what to do next on this piece. I think I'll just do enough quilting to outline the slashed part and make the bobbin work stand out, bind it, and call it quits.



I also finished the Christmas quilt I made for my sister. This is from Alex Anderson's book Fabric Shopping. It's a simple, but very attractive design I think, using both seasonal and other fabrics.

And finally, I sent off the baby quilt I complained about, and got a fast, very charming thank you note. So I eat my words.

A greeting to all--

What's Going On?

This is not about quilting, so skip if you want. I just have to rant about a commercial I saw last night while watching the National League Championship Series. It was for Burger King, I believe. I'll try to reproduce it for your edification.

Office scene, slightly heavy, nerdy guy sitting at computer. Beside him, perched on a desk, I'm sure with crotch totally visible, is attractive female coworker who coos: Want a bite of my Croissantwich? Nerdy guy, with eyes averted: I don't like French things. Girl (still cooing suggestively): What about bikinis? Nerdy guy (turning to face her and leering): How about French kisses? Girl (drawing back in disgust) Oooh, gross! Enter Mr. Cool Stud male coworker. Girl: What's the French word for creepy? Stud: Le ------ (I didn't catch this). Nerd (confused): That's my name. Stud: I know.

That's it, in its entirety, unless I missed something. Now, I ask, what is happening? Why does Burger King think it's ok to present a woman as a brainless, heartless c--kteaser, and men as leering goons, or worse, cruel macho jerks? What is the demographic this is supposed to appeal to? At first I thought not too bright male twenty-somethings, but then I lowered it to high school kids, but actually, the level is about middle school. I'm also not sure why it bothers me so much, but it sure does. Any one else? Am I over-reacting?

Grrr--

I've been planning a lovely October piece: falling leaves, poem, hopefully very lovely. But today I decided to EXPRESS MY MOOD! So I pieced this dark block, and then slashed it in half. Very satisfying. And it was rather stress relieving. But of course, now I don't know what else to do with it. It's actually a neat looking block by itself, but I could either embellish, slash some more, or leave it as it is. Maybe it's served it's purpose.

Gee's Bend Quilts

Recently Debra Spincic wrote a wonderful review on her blog about this exhibit. For anyone in this area who is interested, the Indianapolis Museum of Art is hosting the exhibit until December 31. The Indianapolis museum is worth seeing anyway, I think. They have a small but interesting collection, especially of American and Midwest Impressionists, and the grounds and gardens are beautiful. You can also tour the restored Lilly Mansion. If anyone is looking for a good fall road trip, this would be one. You can also visit Quilt Quarters in nearby Carmel, Indiana. This is a great shop. So there--another plug for Indiana tourism.

Work in Progress

It has not been a good week for creativity, for reasons I won't go into. Here's the progress on the baby quilt. Actually this took two hours Tuesday, so obviously it has been a VERY slow week. The border is of course still not done, but if I actually can get going on it, it won't take long either. Funny thing though--I have had the fabric on my table for several weeks and finally cut into it Tuesday afternoon. That night my nephew's wife went into labor, a week overdue. Don't you think she owes me one?

Today I drove to Shipshewana, Indiana, in the heart of northern Indiana's Amish country. Shipshewana is just a small town, but like many other Amish areas, it has become a bit touristy full of shops selling made-in-China tschotskes (sp?) But its main attraction for me and other quilters are the wonderful quilt shops. The first is Yoder's Department Store. It really is a department store, selling all sorts of clothes, hardwarde, and other products geared to a rural and largely Amish and Mennonite customer base, but it has a wonderful selection of quilt fabrics. As you can see it was a busy morning there.




Some fabrics:


Then I went on to Lolly's in the Davis Mercentile Building. This building was completely destroyed by fire about a year and a half ago, but is better than ever. Lolly's has even more fabric than Yoder's and a large selection of finished quilts. They are locally made, and handquilted by the Amish women in the area. Lolly's looks a bit "matchy-matchy" for my taste, but the array of colors in wonderful, and as you can see, not everyone has fallen for the large pieces type of quilt.




This quilt is of course the kind you would expect to see. It's being raffled to aid a local organization.


This hand dyed over-dyed wool is something I haven't seen before. The colors are luscious.

And a final word from Amish country:

Work in Progress Wednesday--sort of

Pretty pathetic ammount of work in progress here. First there's the Quilt of Valor that Deb Geyer quilted. The quilt itself is not pathetic; it's just that it has been "in progress" for a long time. One more side of the binding to do. The stack of fabric represents fabric chosen to make a very quick baby quilt for my nephew's baby. Since this will be the third I've made a quilt for and I have never received a thank you note, it's hard to get too enthusiastic. However, I am TOLD by my sister that they like the quilts, and I have seen pictures of them in use, so I believe it. My kids aren't that great about thank you's either.

What else have I done today? I vaccumed because my book group is coming tomorrow, I had my hair done, and I helped my son revise his resume. Now I think I'll spend the rest of the day reading Bob Woodward's book. A sweep--no sewing!

The new Hoffman Challenge fabric is posted on their web site in case anyone wants a peek before it goes on the market. It seems to be a large scale print, unlike the usual all-over pattern, and although it's very pretty, that seems to me more difficult to work with. I find it harder to think outside the box when something is so clearly representational, but I'm sure some people will do interesting things with it. They did with the cherries a few years ago, and I thought that one was hopeless!

Yesterday I received the Quilt of Valor that I made and Deb Geyer quilted. As you can see, she did a terrific job. The variegated thread looks wonderful on that red check fabric.

The three other stars are for a special Quilt of Valor that Debra Spincic is putting together for display in the Houston Quilt Show. Yesterday I pieced three 8-pointed stars. Practice does make perfect I think, since the blue and purple one, my third attempt, has a neater center, and doesn't have the strange pucker in the fabric that the red one does. When you read not to use steam to block a block, believe it!

So yesterday was a big day for my Quilts of Valor projects. Today I plan to spend time putting away some of the fabric I have pulled out in the last few days! A photo of my "studio" would be good for a laugh. Sorry I didn't think of it earlier.

A Hoffman Challenge Saga

As I posted back in July, I entered two quilts in this year's Hoffman Challenge, not feeling terribly pleased with either. I liked the design of one, but felt I'd messed up the workmanship, and the other one (the purple thing) just didn't jell at all. So I was amazed to see on the web site that Twilight (purple) was in traveling group A. Many jokes were made about this in my family ("They had a purple quota"), and my mother and sisters mourned the parrot quilt, which they had liked. Today I received a box from Hoffman Challenge, and when I opened it expecting to see pink parrots, I found the purple thing instead, along with a rejection letter for Parrots in Paradise. I immediately emailed Kelly Gallagher-Abbott, and she called back within a few minutes. Yes, the parrots are traveling, they mixed up the names, and I should get an acceptance letter (for Twilight?) soon. Should be interesting..."Congratulations, your quilt has been accepted," but then there would be all the negative comments. It's sort of like twins separated at birth--positively Shakespearean. But all's well than ends well. Apparently Kelly has had a nightmarish time with her move and organizing the challenge, so I certainly can understand how this happened. And I am pleased to know that people aren't looking at the purple quilt saying, "Hmmm."

Here it is: officially traveling quilt.

A hand for the Show of Hands project. This was fun: it gave me a chance to use up very small scraps of my kimono fabric, some ribbon flowers, and take advantage of those decorative stitches which I never use. I made both sides of the hand separately by putting the scraps on fusible fleece interfacing, zigzagging with invisible thread first, and then with colored thread and decorative stitches. I embellished them, glued the two sides together, trimmed them, and zigzagged the edges, then added the pearl hanging loop and the big ribbon embellishment. The hand wanted to cup a little bit, so I blocked it over my tailor's ham to accentuate that, making it quite hand shaped. I really enjoyed this, and I like the way it turned out, although as I was making it, I didn't. Sometimes you have to have faith! And you see, I can embellish--thanks to you crazy quilters for the inspiration.

Fun Idea

Here's another fun projectfor the Houston Show. Make a whimsical fabric hand for the "Show of Hands" exhibit. Lots of scope for creativity, without the pressure of making something worth $30!

The Worm Turns

OK, there is now an ultrasuede worm with a bead eye beside the flower. Cute, isn't he? Probably not what Allison and Debra had in mind, but I just can't do the heavy embellishment thing. Puritan upbringing or something, I guess.

Fiber Art for a Cause

Here's are two postcards I made for the ACS fundraiser at Houston. This is my first use of the fabric I painted with Seta Color. I used a leaf to make a not-very-clear leaf print, outlined it, and then quilted heavily in the background. I have a second one on which I outlined the leaf with heavy metallic thread used in the bobbin. I don't like it as well, actually, although the leaf shows up more. The funky flower is an ultra suede embellishment that I made for a hat when I was making and selling those, and I stumbled across it by accident and found it went perfectly with another piece of painted fabric. The leaves are also ultrasuede scraps. I fused the binding on these cards, and then stitched over the fusing. I like this look, and it's a bit easier than the usual binding. Compared to the examples on the web site, and other people's work I've seen, these may be too simple, not $30 pieces. What do you think? I'll keep going, I think, but I'd appreciate some feedback.

First Quilt

I had to get in on the "first quilt" discussion started at Quilt Studio. I made some blocks when I was about 12, but they were never finished and mercifully lost. So this must be the first. It was made in 1972 (I was so proud I signed and dated it!) while we were waiting to adopt our older son. I guess I found the pictures in coloring books, except for that cat face in the center, which I drew myself--always artistic. It represents the dearly beloved cat we had when we were childless. The beautiful hand quilting was done by my dear, dear mother-in-law and her church group in Waterloo, Illinois, who did hand quilting as a fund-raiser. It's WAY beyond the deserts of this quilt. The quilt was used, but not particularly loved, so although the fabric is faded and worn, there are no actual holes.

Blogger Beta

I'm back w/o many pictures. Will post what I have soon, but first I have to do a mini-rant. When I came home last night, I eagerly checked up on the blogs I had missed while away, and of course was unable to comment on the beta ones until I found Debra's suggestion to use "anonymous". But isn't this whole thing beyond annoying! What are they thinking! The whole ease of communication is going away. As for eventually "fixing" the lack of interface between Blogger and Blogger Beta, isn't it more likely that the old Blogger will just go away entirely, phased out as obsolete? Well, I will have to get a new Beta account, or at least a Google account that would allow me to post on Beta blocker. But apparently there are some risks here, and you can lose the ability to access the original blog. Does anyone have any additional information?