Marty's Fiber Musings: August 2010

Butterflies Are Free

Butterflies Are Free

It was fun this morning seeing that Lurraine had added my Butterflies Are Free art quilt photo to her Flickr favorites. That's how I found her fabric labels' tutorial. It's the best!

And, that's not all - go see for yourself - Patchwork Pottery.....

No Place Like Home

No Place Like Home
Originally uploaded by Sweetnellie

Life's too short - SMILE!

These houses made me so happy this morning....just had to share so you could smile with me.

Pink and Chocolate Quilt for Baby

I have been sewing - and sending quilts out to my longarm quilting buddies to be quilted - just haven't been taking many pictures of recent projects. 'Nuf said!

Bedrooms in my Dreams.....

I know I just got out of bed, but I'm dreaming of bedrooms - and Design Sponge has me wanting to redesign my room to look like any and all of these.

Sweet dreams....Marty

Cleaned and guess what I found?

No, it wasn't these money wrappers, nor the selvage pot holder and certainly not the $5 bill......

I cleaned out the storage bin where I keep all my selvages (you know the ones that will be put into something someday???) AND, I found a crochet doily. And I found my bag of fancy feathers that I've been trying to find for a year. I know it's been a year 'cause my niece's birthday is in September and I needed the feathers to make her something last year for her birthday! And, I found my binding for hooked rugs. Yes, all that in with all those selvages. I should clean more often! No wonder I don't sleep well at night!

Now, back to the pictures....I've never made a selvage item, well, except for now. Thought I would start out small...as in the pot holder. I like it!

I've been wanting to try to make this money wrapper. Myrtle and Eunice made the tutorial available and I downloaded the instructions. Glad I did - these will make great little Christmas money or gift card wrappers for those hard to please folks in my family. I'll make them in Christmas fabric - of course!

Flamingo On Parade

I marched in, out, and around in photoshop with this picture this morning and decided this must be a flamingo on parade day! Here is the original flamingo - such a handsome guy doing his daily preening.

Solid fill layer added then brushed.

Then a texture added.

then more textures, until he wound up on the cover of a Quilting Arts magazine! (in his dreams)

Chains!

Unchained Melody, Unchain My Heart, Chain of Fools, Working On A Chain Gang, Locked Up In Chains, etc.

all that from this one picture....no wonder I haven't gotten anything done today! But I found this great extreme grunge texture from Kim Klassen today and really, really needed to use it. I'm enjoying taking a totally nothing picture to a higher level!

ya know i'm always telling you to click the picture to see it's best side, well, no need to do that here....i think you can see the dirt w/o enlarging.

I haven't a clue why I took this picture of the copper pot/pan holder. We were taking it down so I suppose I thought I could sell it. Well, I don't think so with all that greasy dust on it! Anyway, it was one of those pictures that you can't ruin, so may as well play around with it....you get the picture, don't you?

Stairway to Cat Heaven gets top billing

It's a three part series by Quilt Inspiration and I am blown away by all the cat inspiration. They did a whale of a job finding lots of original and traditional quilts for us to drool over. And, what a cat's meow to think that my quilts are included! Cats Rule!

First things first this morning -

Here is Jose with Susan(s) with DJ's 'fused fabric 2' texture added -

You simply must click to enlarge to see the beauty of it all!

Wow, she's done it again....what a great set of textures - free textures. I'm lovin' it! Thanks DJ.

What's on the design wall?

I saw this orange and white quilt pictured in a magazine and was inspired. It fit me perfectly since I like orange and I like simple!

Now, I'm committed! Five rows completed - only nine to go! I started this last week, but have been distracted with life's other little treasures. Hope to get back to sewing this afternoon. Look closely to find the less-than-obvious pinwheels! More later.....It's Thursday...rejoice!

I won....I won....

Everything was so beautifully wrapped, I was reluctant to open...but only for a second!

Let's see...how did this begin. Gerry and I visit back and forth on our blogspots. And one day, she decided to change her music. I loved her music just the way it was, but fell in love with her French music and told her so. Anyway, being the generous person that she is, she decided to give 'stuff' away that was very frenchy-frenchy. I entered the contest and lol, won this whole bundle of goodies. There was a made-by-GerryArt bag, bookmarks, journal and a book/box - all frenchy-frenchy style. Such joy she gave me.

Moi says merci beaucoup to you Gerry!

An Auction for A Good Cause....

Karen often opens her home to foster puppies in need. And she did so for Chili who needed a safe house while recovering from major surgery. While Chili is now a healthy, happy little 9 month old looking for a permanent home, her healthy vet bill is still sitting out there. So mixed media extraordinaire, Karen Steihl Osborn, came up with this great idea to auction a piece of her art to help pay Chili's bill. Jump over to Studio Notes to read the entire story, then email Karen with your next bid on this beautiful piece.

Yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow is out of sight.....

xx's and oo's and happy Tuesday.

Sawtooth Cat hysteria.....

What has caused all this cat hysteria? Quilt Inspiration is having a field day with "Best of Cat Quilts." Part 1 and Part 2 has already been published - Part 3 is coming up Friday. Can't wait. So, seeing all these inspiring cat quilts prompted me to take a look at some cat-themed quilts I have made in the past. This Sawtooth Cat pattern is a Janet Miller design. Not only does the border have the paper-pieced sawtooth pattern, but each cat's back is sawtooth as are their tails. Now this is a lot of cat love and this quilt is available here.

Improv(e) My Quilter Butt Progress Report

08/15
cycling: 0.0
walking: 2.8
total: 2.8
08/16
cycling: 3.0
walking: 2.0
total: 5.0
08/17
cycling: 0.0
walking: 0.0
total: 0.0
08/18
cycling: 3.0
walking: 2.6
total: 5.6
08/19
cycling: 0.0
walking: 3.0
total: 3.0
08/20
cycling: 3.0
walking: 2.6
total: 5.6
08/21
cycling: 0.0
walking: 0.0
total: 0.0
08/15-08/21
cycling: 9.0
walking: 13.0
total: 22.0

What all these numbers boil down to is that I tightened my bra to the first hook this morning. Something is working!

It's a Prairie Quilt

Happy-ness is finding a new quilt pattern - or even better - a new quilt kit....that means the fabric is included with the pattern and instructions. Look here....You'll feel happy too! Esch House Quilts - YES!

Kitty Cat Charm Quilt

Here's the McCall's Quilting Magazine - October, 2000. Kitty Cat Charm - designed by Robert Callaham.

I completed mine January, 2001. It went on sale HERE today.

Hand quilted closeup.

Art Quilts from Photographs?

I was reminded yesterday when reading Autumn's blog post about printing on fabric, that I once did that. It's only been a few months ago, but I've been so busy with other projects that I haven't gotten back to this wonderful way to incorporate two loves - photography and quilting.

Here's Callie. I first did a thread sketch and made a fabric art card. As time went on and my love for her continued to grow, I took a picture of the art card then printed Callie on fabric. Short, sweet and to the point.....here's Callie in an art quilt. For Sale Here.

Click to enlarge.

And here is a quilt top I was commissioned to do. A very fine lady wanted every one of my thread painted pretty ladies in a quilt. I actually did two quilt tops for her since I had too many ladies to put into one quilt....and she wanted all of them! Bless her generous heart.

Yep, you got it, just click to enlarge!

Just a note before I go.....

Remember that I said last Tuesday, I was going off to sew with friends....well, here is what I started. Finished yesterday - well, almost - still have the binding to hand sew. I'll do that as soon as I find a good movie to help me along. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love to do hand work and certainly like the finished look of hand sewn bindings vs machine sewn ones. But, I just save up my quilt bindings for the next good movie. Multi-tasking at its best to the limit!

Now I'm off to make a treasure box. Later, Gater!

North Louisiana Quilters' Guild

North Louisiana Quilters' Guild

Kathy Letsinger is gonna show us how to make this little jewel tomorrow. Click on the link for the Treasure Box supply list and if you are in the Monroe/West Monroe area, join us for a fun Saturday morning that will be filled with treasures!

Gone Totally......digital

Down Under Quilts has....and I'm loving it. Here is the link to Ann Ferguson's fabric interpretation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

Sorry, no picture available, but it's still worth the trip over there to see issue 143 and back issues. View page by page, zoom in and print. Bunch of quilt patterns with complete instructions.

It's nice to have best friends

And these are my newest.....

From The Graphics Fairy.....the goodness just goes on and on.....be still my heart!

Just set the table...and they will come

Of course, I had to clean house and rearrange furniture for the NLQG board meeting here Tuesday night, but we all fit in (somehow)! And important decisions were made.

Embrace what you have.....

and today it's sunshine....lots of sunshine. Sunshine, that's what makes the world a greener place to live. It only has three leaves, but that was just enough to doodle with on photoshop this morning. How's that for embracing what I have!

All jazzed up.....

I'm in a hurry this morning - so I had to jazz it up really fast. Now I'm off for a fun sew day with friends. Then there is a quilt guild chapter meeting here at my house....had to clean yesterday....so I probably won't be back until tomorrow morning. At first glance, there seems to be lots of interesting things going on in your world that I'll be missing today. I'll catch your stuff later....I promise.

Photoplay before breakfast.....

It's a picture of the travel issue - Forbes Life - May, 2010, blended with a flower from my garden...I can go to Tuscany in my dreams, at least until I get there in real time. Oh, I just threw in the butterfly for grins!

This could be the cover of a magazine In The Pursuit of Dreams.

Cute Handmade Cards on Flickr

Cute Handmade Cards on Flickr
Originally uploaded by kateym71

Imagine this... one of my little handmade Christmas cards has been included...it's #15 in this favorites collage.

Improv(E) my Quilter Butt

There is no doubt about it...he says...mine has improved. Even if it's a little white lie...I'll take his compliment. Helps me to stay on goal. I must have had on my walking boots this week - traveled 17 miles on foot and cycled 9.

Today is my day to rest.

A new look in my closet

Oh my....in my haste to be busy, I forgot to show you the fab purchases I made while in Dallas a few weeks ago.

I first found this little green quilted purse with extra long strap. Plenty of room for everything I carry with me...like ID money credit card lip gloss phone anything else I need. It just grows and grows to fill my needs! Quilted, you say...why would a quilter and purse maker buy a purse? Simply - it was only $12. A true mark down that I couldn't resist snatching up. The strap alone was worth that much!

Next came the shoes. No, I know they don't match the purse but these $90 shoes were marked down to $30. In addition, they were a perfect fit. I love the Van Eli look..... And it really looked good with this sweater. No bargain here, but it was a must have, so I now have it!