Thank you everyone, for the kind comments about my elephant. As I said, I'm fond of him, and of the handsome guys riding!

I've also finished and sent off these four little pieces to Alz quilts. Binding that many things in a row should be good practice for improving the binding, wouldn't you think? I'm not sure, but I did learn that the quarter-inch Evenfeed foot on the Janome has a little quarter-inch bar in the front so you can stop precisely a quarter inch from the corner. Wouldn't you think I'd have figured that out sooner? Duh!



I'm now working on a guild charity quilt. Aren't the colors and images on this Paddington fabric adorable? My goal on this quilt is to improve my free motion stitching, and so far, so good. I've been able to keep the curves fairly smooth, and the way the Janome runs with the start/stop button should help with the evenness of the stitching, if I can just BE PATIENT, and move at a steady speed. This is not easy for me.


Not too bad. I hope to finish today, and then more binding!

You Can See the Elephant Now...

Time to reveal my Hoffman Challenge entry:

From this:



to this:


I Dreamed of an Elephant 29 x 35

I really did dream of an elephant: Since paisleys are originally Indian, I looked through my art books for Indian designs, seeing if that would give me an idea for this fabric, but I had no success. A week or so later, I dreamed an elephant with trappings featuring this paisley tree design. This is a rather common Indian or Moghul motif; I'd put it in the subconscious memory file, and it popped out later. Deciding on a setting for my elephant was much harder. I combined two Dover book drawings to make the elephant and rider, drew the palanquin myself based on other designs and paintings, and then I was stuck. After lots of thinking and advice, I abandoned my original idea, and planned the arch based on Persian carpets in The Grammar of Ornament.

I enjoyed this project. No matter what the outcome, it's the first challenge I've made that doesn't feel wrong to me--not my style, not what I intended, not satisfactory. I missed it when it was gone!

Great Giveaway

Michelle of With Heart and Hands is giving away a copy of Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran's new book here. Her blog is terrific to visit even without the give-away. Go visit. A recent highlight is wonderful pictures of the Sisters, Oregon show.

Scattered Progress

Working in a very random order, I've made a little progress on the pieces I posted last time. There's a brighter version of the butterfly weed as well as the original, and both are quilted, ready for applique. I will only make one, and am trying to decide which one. The brighter one looks much better in the picture, but in reality, I'm not happy with the thread color I had on hand. Then there is a partially bound piece, another ready for binding, and this one ready to finish quilting. It looks better in a close-up. The butterfly does not. How I wish I were better at free motion quilting!

New Beginnings

Isn't it a good feeling to finish a big project? After I mailed the Hoffman and got the question of what to do with Refractions resolved, I felt as though shackles had come off my ankles. In a creative spurt, I sun painted fabric (without much success), and then I put together the beginnings of several little projects I hope to send to Alz Quilts. The wonky log cabin blocks are an attempt to re-create something I did once before but no longer have, and the others are beginnings of pieces that may be interesting or may not be.

But this is my favorite.


I picked a piece of butterfly weed from the wild area beside the house, scanned it using the back of my streaky sun dyes as a background, and printed it on fabric. My idea was to use this as the home for one of Debra's butterflies, but I'm not sure it's bright enough. I can increase the color saturation and try again, or I can see what stitching does to this one. I haven't decided yet. For now, I love it the way it is.

Fun and Not Fun

In addition to quilting, I have been staining the deck rail. Our deck was showing its age, and after one of those long husband/wife philosophical differences which I never win, my husband replaced the floor himself instead of hiring a contractor. Six weeks later, it is almost ready to be used again. (Six weeks is actually a bit under my original estimate.) My only role in this was helping to stain the rail (not new). I have spent three hours for four mornings, but it is essentially done. The weather was perfect for these days, so I'm not really complaining except that my hands hurt from gripping a paint brush.

Yesterday afternoon I fastened, buried, and clipped many thread ends on the blue piece, and it is now ready to be blocked and bound. But rather than do that, I finished the afternoon by beginning to tame this



into this--blocks for a strippy guild charity quilt.



It felt so good to do something simple and fast after being so painstaking for so long. I hope to continue this project later today. There are plenty of strips left!

Thank You

Libby Fife, The Quilted Craftsman, sent me this wonderful card she stamped in honor of my finishing my Hoffman. Her beautifully detailed elephant puts mine to shame, but then, look how much prettier that paisley is than the challenge fabric! Thanks, Libby. This will have a place of honor on my bulletin board of hand made cards.

Revision

Over a year ago I stuffed this piece into a bag and put it way on top of my storage space. It was pieced, almost quilted, and partially embellished when I decided I hated it. (Notice all those dangling quilting threads to be buried.) A week or so I got it out again, and decided maybe it wasn't hopeless. After consultation and thought, I made the round circle irregular like the others. (I made it round in the first place after thought and consultation also. So it goes.)


This was not an easy fix. I ripped out the quilting stitches, took off the applique circle, remade it so that it is irregular, which meant piecing more blocks, took out the squares underneath where the circle had been, and appliqued the new shape on, trying to match the edges of the new blocks with the seam lines. Now I have to match up the quilting lines and re-quilt, which means there will be even more ends to fasten and bury. I also put some more blocks with blue into the large gold shape on the upper right, but that was relatively easy. There were leftover blocks to use, and I'll just quilt over the old quilting without removing it since the space is so small.


I don't recommend this kind of fix. Ironically, this piece was one of the most carefully planned ones I've made. However, there is an almost infinite way to arrange those little blocks, and that was where the trouble began.

Next steps: finish the quilting, do a bit more embellishment, and bind. We'll see if this was worth it. I'm still not sure, but at least I don't cringe when I see it anymore.

This and That

Dr. Jekyll...


and Mr. Hyde.


And in fiber content, the ribbon centers are finished. Hooray!

Prize Ribbons

I'm again making the center medallion for prize ribbons to be given at our guild show. This year I'm paper piecing a block to be formed around the cardboard circle, and then surrounded by a rosette of the fabric shown with fabric and ribbon streamers. There will be eighteen medallions in all, three for each of the five categories and three special ribbons. Given my feeling about paper piecing, this qualifies as chore sewing. My goal is to get this done early next week and turn to something else. I'm still tweaking the fabric choices and the best way to make a smooth edge. Neither one of these is quite ready for prime time.

I tried Dritz Wash Away foundation paper for this project. It washes away beautifully, but causes some puckering. That might be less of a problem in a larger block where the seams make up a smaller percentage of the total area. Puckering or not, it sure beats tearing away little bits of paper! I'd recommend it.

Happy Fourth, everybody. If I had a sample of the white ribbon done, wouldn't that be patriotic?

More Glimpses

The Hoffman is finished, as good as it will get. This picture shows the central image, the idea I started with. The whole composition, which I'm not revealing yet, was the hard part.

Technical issues have plagued this piece. My applique method is one I learned in a class by Jane Sassaman a few years ago. The image is not fused, but traced onto fusible, non-woven interfacing, which gives enough body for machine embroidery or embellishment before the applique is attached to the background (also interfaced). After zig-zagging around the image, the background is trimmed away. This doesn't produce stiffness as you might think, but just a good body, desirable in a wall quilt. However, Pellon has changed their interfacing. I knew it was different, but didn't think anything of it because it looks slightly different every time I buy it. But the new stuff is too stiff and crisp, and didn't fuse smoothly. By the time I realized this problem it was too late to correct it. The background is ok, but some of the more lightly quilted areas puff out too much because of the interfacing. More quilting might have helped the puffiness, but would have caused other problems, so it has to be what it is. I'm moving on...

Life List

This list has been around for a while, but seeing it on Nellie's blog this morning reminded me of it, so here's my life. Things I've done are in bold type. The list is high on travel and old farm girl stuff, and low on adventure (I don't think I'd ride a motorcycle unless my life depended on it), but that's me.


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped - no way!
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (if you can call what I do art)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (Doesn't the elevator count? I did that once)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (I had pet lamb, pig, calf, chicken...the whole farm)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (actually I'm fibbing here--when we were in Venice I was too cheap to pay the very hefty fee for a gondola ride)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (sort of)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (it doesn't take much)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (and the snow)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check/cheque
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle,
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88.Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
..........................................
That was fun! Here are the rules for you to play, too:
Copy and paste the above list.
Bold the things you’ve done in your edit box.

I'm home, and hope to stay here awhile. It's hot and muggy, my husband has our deck torn apart, and there are strawberries to be made into jam, but I'm trying to stay calm and upbeat. The basement is the place to be as much as possible!

At guild meeting last night, and one of our members showed her small whole-cloth quilt that won first place for Whole Cloth Traditional at the Machine Quilter's Showcase. It's a beautiful quilt, and quite an honor, as well as a first for our little guild. Congratulations, Denise! The list of winners is something to see.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous--I have finished quilting my Hoffman, and have it pinned down for the first blocking. Binding tomorrow. I hope to have it ready to go by July 1. I'm very ready for some brainless piecing as a change of pace, but I also have to work on ribbons for the guild show. I wonder who might win the machine quilting award...

Out of Town, Out of Sorts

I'm staying with my mom while my sister is away. My job is to keep her company, clean, cook, shop, etc. It has rained every day since I came, and I didn't bring enough to do with me. I brought the big red stars quilt to bind, but that's not fascinating, so I'm a bit in the doldrums.

Trying to keep alert, I've been doing these things:

1. Reading blogs. I like to read Elizabeth Barton's blog. In her latest post, she strongly urges working in a series, not a scattershot approach. I am certainly scattered; but what do I want to serialize? Maybe lilacs?

2. Looking at quilt magazines. My mother has a few, and since I don't buy them anymore, hers seemed new and fresh. I learned about the design team at Blue Underground Studios. These are patterns especially designed to be quick and simple, but they're interesting, sophisticated, and contemporary looking, not just traditional blocks made with unattractively large pieces, like many "quick" quilts.

I also read a kind of "Surface Design for Dummies" article in Quiltmaker that suggested putting diluted fabric paint in a spray bottle and misting fabric with it. That sounds like something it might be fun to try, and was a new technique to me.

3. Gone on a brief fiber art tour. My home town is having a fiber art exhibition scattered through different venues (banks, hospitals, galleries). The link is here for anyone in the central Missouri area who might be interested. It's not possible for me to go out long enough to see everything, but today I caught a couple of the installations, and I hope to see some more later in the week.

One artist had small landscapes framed and matted behind glass. I don't like fabric works behind glass. Framed and matted is fine, but not the glass. It spoils the tactile quality; even though you don't really touch fabric art, you should feel like you can. How do other people feel about that?

4. Reading. I finished The Curate's Wife by a now-forgotten English novelist called E. H. Young. Fascinating picture of marriage, told with quite a bit of humor. I'm now reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog, an odd novel that is a mixture of short philosophical musing about art, beauty, and the meaning of life, social satire, and character study. Interesting. It was apparently a best seller in France for a very long time. On the drive down I listened to The Book Thief. This novel focuses on a young German girl in the years prior to and during WWII. Quite gripping, moving, highly recommended.

If anything else of interest pops up, I'll be back!

Failure

A month or so ago, when the lilacs were glorious, I wanted to try to make a little piece with stylized lilacs. I thought, "The leaf is a heart, and the flower cluster is a sort of rounded cone, so I should be able to do that." So I stamped some heart shaped leaves for a background, and then appliqued one fabric leaf and the cone shape on top. Here is the result.

I wasn't very happy with it, and when I asked the men I live with what this is, they both said, "It's three leaves," and then when I asked why the leaves were purple, my hubby ventured, "Well, I guess it could be some sort of seed pod." My son then added (after reading the label), "The individual flowers don't show up enough to be a lilac." He's right. I tried to suggest the flowers with the quilted circle design, but either the thread was the wrong color, or the whole concept is faulty. The circles show up much better in the picture than in reality.

I like the way I did this, though. I wanted to quilt around the stamped shapes, so I did that before I did the applique instead of after. I fused the lilac shape to interfacing, stitched the circles, and then zig-zagged the shape in place, outlining it with another row of stitching. The border was added last with a flip and sew method. With a busy back, I think this approach works fine, and I'll do it again on something small.

When I make something small, my husband often asks, "Is that a hot pad?" In this case he may be right. But maybe not. It still looks like lilacs to me--sort of.

More Glimpses and a Poem

The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe

There were six men of Hindustan,
to learning much inclined,
Who went to see an elephant,
though all of them were blind,
That each by observation
might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant,
and happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
at once began to bawl,
"This mystery of an elephant
is very like a wall."



The second, feeling of the tusk,
cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear,
This wonder of an elephant
is very like a spear."


The third approached the elephant,
and happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
thus boldly up and spake,
"I see," quoth he,
"the elephant is very like a snake."



The fourth reached out an eager hand,
and felt above the knee,
"What this most wondrous beast
is like is very plain" said he,
"'Tis clear enough the elephant
is very like a tree."

The fifth who chanced to touch the ear
said, "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
deny the fact who can;
This marvel of an elephant
is very like a fan."

The sixth no sooner had begun
about the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
that fell within his scope;
"I see," said he, "the elephant
is very like a rope."

So six blind men of Hindustan
disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
exceeding stiff and strong;
Though each was partly in the right,
they all were in the wrong!


I'm quilting my Hoffman, and since you're smarter than the six blind men, you can probably fill in the rest. More later--

The June Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative Auction is underway, and my quilt Not Your Grandmother's Flower Garden is being auctioned. An interesting feature of this month's auction is the little autograph quilts. There's one with the autograph of former First Lady Barbara Bush, and several with autographs of the cast of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me show, and one with the autographs of lots of well-known quilters. Take a look.

Changing Scene

Good-bye old friend,



and welcome new.



My faithful ping-pong table which I've used as a cutting table for about ten years has finally gone, to be replaced by a new table from Tracey's Tables. The ping-pong table had a huge amount of work space, room to store things under it, and space on top to pile materials and odds and ends. But it was so big that it made access to some of my storage difficult, so I decided it had to go. I've put it on the Free Stuff section of Craig's List, and hope that someone will carry it away and use it as I have. Its days for ping-pong are gone, alas. The new owner can have the cinder blocks too.

The new table is a perfect height, and although smaller, seems to be adequate for most things. The problem is where to put the things previously under and on top of the ping-pong table. I'm working on that...

Fusible Web

Quilt Studio is hosting a series of posts about fusible web, how we use it, what brands we like, etc. I don't use fusible web too much, but I will comment on my experience.

Brands: I've tried Wonder Under, Steam-a-Seam, Steam-a-Seam Lite, Misty Fuse, but my favorite is one called Trans Web. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find this at my local JoAnn's so will have to look on line when my current supply runs out. My biggest gripe about fusibles is that the paper sometimes doesn't release after the first fuse. I have most success by scoring the paper with a pin and pulling from the score, not pulling away a corner. I like Trans Web best because it releases better than the others. There is a new product made by Pellon called Wonder Under Web, which is just what it says, web only, no paper. So you would have to use parchment paper or a teflon press cloth with it. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds promising.

Here's a link to an old post where I talked about fusible brands in a bit more detail.

Fuse the Shape, Fuse the Whole Fabric: I've done both ways. Usually I trace the shape on the paper, fuse, cut out the shape, score the paper and peel it away before the final fusing. But I have cut free hand from a pre-fused piece of fabric for something small and casual, like a post card. That is easier, but you have to be a good free-hand cutter, obviously. You can also trace around a pattern directly on the fusible-backed fabric. This works well for a simple shape.

Finish the Edges Usually. Again, not for a postcard.

How to Clean the Iron Dritz Iron-Off. Works like a charm. The ironing board cover is another matter. I throw those away regularly. :)

Cruise on over to Quilt Studio, read the other links, and add your own.

Brag Time

Thursday I drove up to Evanston to see my son awarded a major teaching award by Northwestern University. I'm so proud of him. He's always been a terrific speaker, and I can vouch for his teaching ability, since he has patiently helped me develop the computer skills I have.

Anyway, I enjoyed myself tremendously, even though the awards ceremony was not quite as expected. The twins came along, probably not the best idea. Aidan is a wanderer, so I spent the entire ceremony outside with him exploring things like dandelion puffs and the man in a panda suit across the street advertising something. We had a wonderful time, although I would have liked to see the speeches. Conor wouldn't come out with me, and because he expresses himself LOUDLY, even when he's just happily pointing out "Da-da", his mother had to stand with him in the hallway outside the room. We all enjoyed the refreshments afterwards though. The twins loved the fruit, cheese, and crackers, while the adults were certainly ready for a glass of wine.

Here's a picture of the award winner and family that expresses the general flavor of the day: parents trying to look proud and professional while the children have other ideas.