Brown and Pink Quilts

With lots of Bernina sewing machine embroidery - here is the center medallion.


And then there was "at piece with time"

 

And there is another brown and pink quilt, but it's in the top of the closet and I can't find a picture of it!!! so I'll save that one for another day.....


But what to do with all those pink and brown  fabric scraps?  I started out making a little quilt, but that just wasn't working, so I scrapped that idea. 

Now I jump from my quilts photo storage folder to my miscellaneous sewing projects folder!

  I just added a pocket, neck strap and ties...lined it to hide all those seams and there you go...It's an apron and just my size.  HuMaN asked if it was for him since he's been doing a lot of cooking lately!

Do I need to spend more time in the kitchen?

I hope I'm finished with the pink and brown phase of my life.  Oh, but I do still have a zip lock bag of brown/pink scraps left...enough to make  a pot holder...or maybe a covered diary for my purse, or maybe...oh well! 

Miniature Christmas Trees - Art Quilts

Oh, how I love Christmas....and trees....a lot of trees.....and mini quilts....a lot of them too!

I used a picture of this art quilt to make my 2010 Christmas cards to friends and family.  

And here is my little Frenchy "Merry Christmas from our home" art quilt!

'Tis the season.... be joyful and embrace it!

Santa's Profile

Santa's Profile
Originally uploaded by contrarymary

I'm in love, I'm in love with a beautiful guy....and he's also mad about me!

It's a table runner for sale

Hermoine likes it too!  I'm calling it "burnished"....the fabric colors just dictated that tag!  Just finished and ready for purchase here.

Rose Geranium Raspberry Liqueur

A picture and a recipe from my house to yours.

4 half-pints raspberries

1 cup rose geranium leaves

4 cups vodka

1/2 cup white wine

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Combine the berries, rose geranium leaves, vodka, and wine in a large jar with a tight-fitting cover.  Place in a cool, dark place to steep for one month.  Crush the berries slightly with a wooden spoon and steep for another 4 days.  Strain the liqueur, pressing the juice from the berries; pour through a coffee filter to remove any remaining residue.  Boil the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved; cool, then gradually stir into the liqueur, tasting as you go.  When the liqueur has reached the desired level of sweetness, bottle and age for an additional 3 weeks in a cool, dark place.  Makes about 1 1/2 quarts. 

She's only three...but boys, watch out!

With family today....meet Abbi!  (sippy cup et al) 

Fall Leaves

Happy Thanksgiving



Banana Nut Bread....A tried-and-true-recipe!

Haven't killed Tom (turkey) yet, but we've sure made a dent in this loaf of banana nut bread!

Banana Nut Bread

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. each, baking powder, soda, salt

2 cups flour (plain)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3 medium size (very soft) bananas to make one cup pulp

Mix softened butter and sugar, beat in eggs, sift dry ingredients and add along with milk.   Stir in banana pulp and pecans. Pour into a 2-pound greased loaf pan and bake 1 hour (until toothpick comes out clean) at 350 degrees. 

I must admit that I always alter  this recipe a bit.  I  cut the salt in half and only use 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar.  I don't really care for the very sweet dishes.  And....I see no harm whatsoever in using more nuts! 

What the heck....it's Thanksgiving!

Thread Painted Fabric Art Cards

I'm laughing through my tears....as I put Peaches and Priscilla Lee in the mail this morning.  You see, while I do love to make sales, I do not love that they have to leave home.  So, gals....as the tears of joy roll, Marty's Fiber Musings....has marked you sold.

{Echo} Week 26 - Clouds

Clouds over the horizon are beautiful,

 but add clouds to a sunset as in the picture Autumn caught here in Arizona, and you've got a priceless picture!

Autumn and I are loving being in Chrysti and Susan's {Echo} flickr challenge.  To join....easy....just go to one of their sites, get the instructions and join in.  It's a  bi-weekly challenge.  You don't even have to have a partner, but Autumn and I do really well together even though I have to admit her pictures always have a bit more flair than mine do!  Sigh.....

The post office is a big help.....

when it comes to covering boxes.  With one 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" express mail box and 13" x 32" piece of fabric and the hottest of glue guns and you've got a project on your hands.  Well, actually, as you can see, I had several of those boxes and different fabric left overs, so I got 8 of these little handies covered yesterday afternoon.  It's easier when doing assembly line....mark all the boxes....cut all the fabric....heat the glue gun....turn up the sound....and in record time, you're done!  The perfect storage place for all those magazines and how-to books I always have around.   Our quilt chapter is having a money-making sale in February....I think I'll donate these for the cause.  Reckon they'll sell? Hummmmm

 These are some pictures from the past....there just can't be too many!

Click photo to see my favorite reads.....

What I love about Monday Mornings!

The start of a new week - lots of projects in my head....but first, a little love -

If this is not the greatest home/office desk. No, we couldn't find one like this for HuMAn's new office space....but more affordable and also very sleek - here it is!

He may be color impaired (formerly known as color blind), but notice that his mouse pad is in harmony with the New Orleans jazz festival poster.  It's one of  Rodrique's blue dog trilogies that's in his new office space.

Monday....what's not to love?

Lights Out, Please!



Well, that didn't take very long.....the little piece of quilt I cut out of my latest whimsical art quilt....the piece I was going to trash...well, it's now a cat's pallet.  She loves it and I'm glad I don't have to go to the trash can.  Keep reading to get the rest of the story. 

Divide and Conquer - an art quilt

I did as I say do: Divide and Conquer - when things are broken.....fix them or grab the scissors and start cutting.  And so it went with this wall hanging. Let me start from the beginning. Here is my inspiration - a piece of art pictured in a magazine I was recently browsing.

I didn't have the same yellow or tan as in the artwork, but using the fabric I had on hand  I was satisfied with the balance of color. On completion, well,  it just didn't work. Here's where the nothing gained, nothing lost part comes in...okay perhaps some of my time.....I cut the whole into four parts, trimmed it down a bit, stitched around all parts to preserve the borders and quilting, then pinned it back together, leaving out a section.   With a few gold pins instead of the silver, it will really be to my liking.  What!  It's fun and whimsical and fits right into my mood today.   

Here is the section I decided wasn't needed.  As badly as I hate to trash things, I think this must go!

Chinese Checkers - an art quilt

The rules are pretty specific - take this piece of fabric and follow the rules.  The rules say we are to incorporate the fabric given us into a quilt based on the theme "Games People Play."   It's a North Louisiana Quilt Guild fabric challenge and I've thought about this challenge just about all year long and it has just left me baffled.  What game is out there that I could use this fabric in a quilt to exemplify??? I came up with none...as in nada....that means zero....so, now that I'm down to the wire - we meet December 4 with our quilts in hand to meet the challenge - I decided I would let  some of my fabric "speak to me" as "they" say.  My quilt is almost finished....still have to stitch the binding on  and make the label.  To the ungamely out there....this is my idea of

Chinese Checkers!    I'll  proudly display mine among all the real quilted games next Saturday just as if I read the rules correctly (even though slightly misinterpreted).  Hey....it's a game...and the rules say we should have fun with this fabric.

I'm not complaining about quilts for sale!

Getting organized continued....organizing my completed quilts is easy - it's the taking pictures of same that just drives me up the wall.  I'm not complaining about the sunshine, really, but some days it's just too bright and there are too many shadows.  I'm not about to complain about the rain, but.....it does make it difficult to take outside pictures.  So, to help with my picture-taking dilemma, he HuMaN -

made some tall...really tall....poles to suspend a hanging rod through.  Works beautifully with the lighting system he had already devised for me. However....I'm still not complaining, but - being the neat-nik that he is, when not in use, he HumAN, likes to store all this gear in the attic.  Not only is it all out of sight, but also out of reach.   So, I have to schedule a photography session on his calendar.  We did that Sunday afternoon and took pictures of six large quilts!  Yea!... and for sure, I'm not complaining.

I'm also organizing The Blog....I now have a new blog for photography and another one reserved for "for sale" stuff...like big quilts and art quilts and purses and.....well, anything I want to put on the market!  I appropriately named this blog "Marty In Motion."  Check them out.

Getting Organized...one shelf at a time!

Since HuMAn has moved his office into the guest(?) bedroom, I have a little more breathing room so decided to get more organized.  No better way to start than here....all my pasties and sprays, oils and cans of hot air shelved together.  And away we go...one shelf at a time.

Yes, I did take the liberty of altering the photo...see how here!

Great Big Snowball Quilt (or super-duper shoo-fly)

Yep....they are great big snowballs! Black, Red, Lime Green, Pink! It's so easy to blame it all on someone else.  I guess that's the bad girl part of me - but it's true - it's all Malka's fault.  The fabric requirements and directions on how to whip this up are  posted on Sew Mama Sew.   And, Malka has a new book - Color Your Cloth -  it's on my Christmas wish list.

See more of this whimsical eye-catching quilt at Marty In Motion

Spending Time

I've been spending time with Reflections Unfurling.  It's one of my newest blogs that has everything to do with my photography and photo manipulations.  Reflections are truly unfurling day-by-day as I continue in my quest to alter every single photo in my computer albums! 

Here's a little snippet of how I took a photo and came up with something totally unrelated just by cropping.  Some folks think I never sleep....they could be right.  Gotta go...it's time to go play again. 

Do you see the red pepper painting on the wall over Lil's left shoulder?  Well here it is again.  Sorry, Lil, I had to do it!

Christmas Time's a'Coming

An hour later....and there was nine!  It was a sad day for me when I ran out of white-on-black and black-on-white scraps.  I was just hitting my stride making these Christmas hot pads! See previous post....you can make them too.  Sew easy! 

Hot Pad Tutorial

As seen on Esch House Quilts - Love her design for Christmas hot pads.  Mine are much smaller, but I just grabbed the scraps available and started following instructions.  Well.....almost.  Since I love to raw-edge applique, I decided I could constuct the hot pad per instructions, then go back after the layers are turned and applique the trees and tree stumps in place through all layers of the hot pad. 

P.S.:  Mum should be the word - friends and family may see these again!

Changing Spaces

Oh life is full of Sunshine - Tuesday Bees at their best - We gathered at the Walker's home yesterday for sit-and-sew fun, then lunch.  What a great group (picture) is we.....

And now, the fun begins.  Madeleine has the most wonderful, very large, sun room in the rear of her home and I coveted her space!  Matter of fact, I am green with envy.  When I bounced back home yesterday, I made HuMan an offer.....I would give him back his office if he would enclose the back patio for my sewing room.  Well, of course, it was a "no dice" response. 

But the hint of having his own office space back again stayed in the forefront of his brain.  Oh, the power of silent persuasion!  After reflecting a bit, he decided that a move to an unused bed room might be a great plan.   We're going today to look for his new desk and chair.  He'll also need his own printer (we now share).   We'll take one bed out of his new office space so he'll have plenty of room.  Don't want to crowd a generous man!

What does this mean for (clever) me - I can totally rearrange to make the once shared space MINE.  More cabinet, counter top, shelf and floor space....{sigh} and {smile}....and WE can continue to enjoy our back patio as one happy couple!

Miniature Log Cabin Quilted Wall Hangings

"The Road Less Traveled"

 "A Very, Very, Very Nice House"

Hung individually or together....miniature quilted log cabin wall hangings!

See these and more.....HERE!

Maxine Says.....

Gotta Love Maxine!  Hope your weekend was not too exhilarating.....

Website Updated.....

.....to include The Birdhouse Quilt!  I haven't come up with an original name for it yet, so it is simply "The Birdhouse Quilt." But, with or without a proper name, it went up on my website today. 

And here is how I described it:  It's a birdhouse quilt! Black and white polka dots surround six 9" x 14" individually pieced birdhouses. Then there is color.....lots and lots of wonderful, whimsical color. You may want to use this 43" x 63" quilt as a wall hanging or a lap quilt - either way, it will make you smile! Custom quilted by Hannah Marie Lee. $ 650.

Does that aptly describe "The Quilt?"