A Lyric ~

Rhythm Of My Heart ~ A lyric to live by

 

after four months of drought
rhythm of the rain this morning is making me happy
playing around with pictures of a sunny day on the beach
listening to the rhythm of my heart ~

 

"What if?" ~

Do you play the "What If?" game?  What if I had more money?  What if I had a fabulous sewing studio?  What if I had more time in the day?   What if I had a cook, housekeeper, gardener and all around good person to look after me???

He doesn't like his picture taken, but this is where my all around good person sits to pay the bills, make his chore list and plan his day. 


















My mind is playing the What If? game like this:  What If?  I took out my basket of scraps and made a simple block each day.  Simple as in log cabin....simple as in very scrappy....simple as in each block doesn't have to have the same center color.  Simple as in each block should be the same size, probably 12" square, because I'm thinking....       "What If?" I made a simple, scrappy, log cabin each day for one year.  Just imagine the possibilities.  What if I decided to make community service quilts out of my 365 log cabin blocks.  If I used the 4 blocks across by 5 blocks down layout, 20 blocks each quilt, I could have 18 quilts made by the end of the year.  Or, what if I used the 3 across by 4 down layout, 12 blocks each quilt, the yield could be 30 community service quilts.  

Realistically, I probably won't get 365 log cabin quilt blocks made in the next 365 days....but, hey!  time's a wasting and I'm counting on one being made by days' end. 

 
 
 

 

 

 

Now, shut up and sew!

 

 

I'm a little screen print

I've been dibbling my toes in screen printing.  I took the Celina Mancurti screen printing workshop while at QuiltCon 2015 and loved the process but just haven't found the time to pursue that career....until last week.   Quilters' Guild Acadienne in Lafayette, Louisiana, had the most delightful program  - Mary Felder on screen printing and Judy Momemzadeh on Gelli plate fabric painting:  both teachers awakened a new desire in me to jump in.    I ordered a few thermofax screens from Mary and it was love at first sight when I saw her sandpipers printed on my fabric. 

Then taking another giant leap of faith, I first printed her poem, then topped that off with the sandpipers.  Be still, my heart!   Just looking at these prints allows my mind to wander to the beach, feeling my toes in the sand,  gaily strolling along, the sandpipers and me, side by side, soothed by the sound of the surf.   

Mary's poem reads:

 

"The sea soothes my soul,

My spirit sways in harmony

with the gentle winds.

I roam the sands like the busy sandpipers.

They seek food - I seek a

reason for existence."

                                        MC Felder

 

In the good ole summertime ~

Just flipping through quilt photos and ran across this one from the past.  I still like it....made from fabric that was no longer my favorite....fabric I didn't want to give away so I used it to make snowball blocks.  At least, I think these blocks are snowballs! 

 

 

 

 

That was then, and this is now.  Funny thing on the way to finishing this quilt top.  It was finished, but when I spread it out to get a picture, it seemed too heavy....so, I cut the seams out of each row, then cut out the blocks that I wanted to replace and inserted a more calming block.  Of course, this meant that I then had to shift the rows to the left or right since the vertical seam lines no longer met!  Oh, well....nothing like making this quilt twice in one day!   But cutting out the seams was much faster than ripping.  Doesn't bother me that some blocks are 8" and some are 7" or perhaps 7 1/2".  If it bothers you, just keep quiet about it....please. 

 

 

and while in Florida, I made this fantasy 4-patch.  I am so intrigued by Joe Cunningham's Craftsy class - quilting without a pattern - that I've made four more: each one with different fabrics for totally different looks.  Instead of using two contrasting fabrics as Joe suggests, I used several to get the right amount of yardage needed.  I found a strip of dark  fabric to eek out a skinny half-border, then used the left-over scraps to add the half side and bottom border. 

 I like the mix of fabrics and the asymmetry. 

 

 

 

 

 

Look what's on the design wall. 

Black and white with color:  improvisational piecing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still thinking about yesterday ~

I've been saving my little fabric clippings for quite a while.  Some I pass on to a nearby animal shelter for dog beds, some I keep for myself for the beds of cats that have adopted our house.   Some I save for the two pathetically lazy inside cats. 

But back to yesterday's thinking:  At the guild meeting yesterday, I found a scrap of giveaway fabric.  Well actually, it was about a yard with humpty dumpty printed on both sides with instructions to cut out humpty dumpty along the scissor lines, then sew on the dotted lines and stuff up to make a humpty dumpty doll. 

I wasn't falling for that stuffing!

But this morning I did make the two pathetically lazy inside cats a new (and clean) nesting pillow, stuffing it with my saved fabric clippings. 

The biggest pathetically lazy cat found it first and begun his nesting in. 

 But, lol, when I came back later, I found that he had just about been nestled off by the second pathetically lazy inside cat. 

Neither one is complaining about the smaller than necessary nesting pillow.....

they know a good life while living it. 

 

 

 

I've been roped in!

When asked to do a quilt guild program, my first response is usually YES.  I strongly feel that being a member of any organization or group- even family -  means giving back.  So when Christie asked me to do the fabric wrapped rope bowl program for our quilt group this month, I told her I would.  Yikes----I've only made one! and really didn't know what I was doing.  I found a u-tube and Christie loaned me a book, I bought rope, cut strips and off I went.  For the past two months, I've been teaching myself how to wrap a rope and make bowls.

Bowl No. 2 (I've already given away bowl No. 1)

I've even taught myself how to paint a rope and make a bowl

and make a floor mat and make it more personable with paint.

I've made nesting bowls.

and I've made teeny bowls with teeny kitchen twine - you know the cord you wrap around the Thanksgiving turkey legs to hold them together!

and a little jute twine bowl with frilly edges. 

But all this working with rope paid off today.   The theme for this months Art Quilts Around the World challenge is "Uniform":  meaning a piece of clothing worn by a group, or something being like another something, such as pieces of coiled rope that look somewhat like other pieces of coiled rope. 
All coiled and stitched onto scrap fabric, layered, then free-motion quilted.  I've named my art quilt "The Path of Least Resistance." 

I'm hopeful that at day's end I can say that I've finished working with rope for a while. 

Yes, I did....I let Christie rope me in.