A festival quilt ~

It's been finished for a couple of weeks!  I simply forgot to get pictures.  The Peach Festival Raffle Quilt 2018, is ready for Jan Trump,  one of my favorite long-arm quilters,  to work her magic.

The Piney Hills Quilt Guild members in and around Ruston, Louisiana, will begin selling tickets in July or August.    It's a fund raiser for the guild to give back to the Ruston community.  We keep the very smallest percentage for ourselves - just enough to get another raffle quilt started and have a few pennies in the guild's pockets for supplies for more community service projects. 

A few leftover blocks went on the back along with Forever Dots in Black by fabric designer, Dianne Springer, also local to the Ruston community.  Thanks, Dianne for the black and white inspiration to get me started with this modern design. 

 

 

 

Improvisational, modern, finished quilt top......now that's a good thing ~

Putting on a happy face: lost and found

With new computer
pictures
lost in the system

or, so I thought. 

I'm laughing out loud
today at finding all those lost pictures in
folders

right where I left
them. 

Lady with man's best friend beach-combing in blue water on the shores in Italy - 2012

 Blue door under the hill in Natchitoches

 I found this perfectly manicured blue building on the streets of New Orleans.  I could make this building my quilting shed! 


So, what do all these pictures have in common?  They are all about blue 'cause that's how I was feeling about having lost them .   All pulled from different folders where they were safely stored, just waiting for my next visit. 

Boy in blue with father in blue taking a lunch break at outdoor restaurant

Putting on a Happy Face

Are bow ties history?

This bow tie quilt was almost history.....one I started at a quilting retreat several years ago after my friend Dorothy did a demonstration of the 3-dimensional bow tie.  I completed a few blocks just to reinforce the technique in my brain, then put the project aside for a year or more.  Being the A-type personality that I am, I do like to finish what I start....aka controlling the ufo's. 






When my Martelli was delivered in late October last year, I began searching for quilts to practice on that had no real value to me. 

 

 

 So, here you have it:  one of my first finishes quilted in the simple stipple design.  All quilted and washed and ready to donate to a child in need. 

 

 

 
 


















Bow ties always look so nice and neat.....I do hope they aren't something of my past that I see only in pictures. 

 

Slow Stitching ~

Hand stitching is slow.  It's a time for relaxing, for thinking, for watching a long movie or listening to good music.  It's my time to let go of preconceived ideas that all quilt stitches must be small and that they must be equal in size and in distance apart or that the quilting thread must be small.   Hand stitching is personal. 

It was in a QuiltCon 2017, Heidi Parkes workshop that I learned about layering.   Just another interesting dimension - a buried  snippit of perle cotton thread between the quilt top and batting.  Quilting through the layers holds the buried  thread in place. 

This picture shows layering, big stitch quilting and the Korean Jogakbo stitch (in pink).  Yes, Jogakbo is meant to be a visible stitch.  It might take me a bit more practice to achieve sameness in each stitch. 

You can also see where the quilting threads were attached and tied off on top of the quilt.   Interesting idea I picked up on at QuiltCon 2017.  There was more than one quilt in the show that didn't have buried threads!!!  and you can bet the police were getting ready to make a few arrests. 

 

 

Improv quiltmaking and slow stitching are addictive. 

Life doesn't have to speed by.  Mine now includes some slow stitching.

softly ~

Enjoying the Spring  garden ~  The potted chives always enjoy the cool Spring temperature.

The gnarled old Hackberry tree continues to amaze us each year with it spectacular greenery.  It's a delightful bright spot shaming the dullness of the neighboring pine limbs.  The Hackberry is one of those three-personality trees.  It shines in the Spring,  blends in to an almost diminishing view until Autumn, then it shines again with golden leaves until the Winter wind bares the branches.   

 

 Bird bath and blue flowers.  The pine tree bark reflection was a happy surprise in the bath water. 

 

 

Rocking:  From the back ~

 

 

 

 

Enjoy your day

 

                                                                        Marty 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Break-Through

Yes, I've been in a long winter hibernation and just broke through into my spring revival.  Lots of quilt-making has been going on in the studio during those cold days. 

One of my favorite finishes is this improvisational log cabin made from thrift store linen blouses and skirts and cotton jersey t-shirts.  It's heavy since I had to back the linen for stabilization, but it looks just right for a spring night on the back porch rocker. 

 

Quilted on my Martelli:  Life can't be any better than being able to get up, bounce into the sewing studio and finish a quilt in no time. 

Lots of ideas have been flowing in and out of my head.  More checkbook covers for craft fair.  A fun little something to make for  the guild's fun money fund raiser. 

Oh, and more munchkin pillows made from machine felted wool scraps.  They are only 6" - 8" square (more or less) and are  just the right thing for any little munchkin. 
 
 

 
 

 

When there's just one more minute in the day, I love making simple note cards.  This was a coneflower from my garden last year.....manipulated in photoshop and printed on card stock.

It goes without saying that while in Savannah,  there was a whole lot of fabric purchases made.

 

loved the Victoria Findley Wolfe booth in Savannah Quilt Con East

 

And best yet, a free half-yard fabric bundle of Art Gallery Fabric.....5 free yards.  What a deal !

I've been doing lots of planning and preparing for a 2018 workshop.  I think I'll call it "Improvisational to the Nines."  You see, we'll be starting out with a nine-patch.  The workshop will probably be filled with very traditional quilters and I want to draw them into my love of improv.  I'm hoping this very simple, very easy-to-make traditional block will get their traditional attention.  My first thought was to have each participant have a completed drunkard's path or churn dash block on workshop day and bring along with large scraps from their scrap pile.  Then I decided for ease of easing into improv, we best start out with a nine-patch.  I'm excited. 

Improvisational use of fabric in  a simple 12" 9-patch is all this one took to get this quilt started. 

 

 

 

 

See how easy improv quilt making is!  A 9-patch surrounded by borders finished at 40" x 46" for an
"Improv to the Nines" workshop sampler.   

 

TaTa for now..... I'm off to enjoy a beautiful day filled with sunshine.  May your day also be filled with hugs and sunshine and all things that warm your heart. 

Marty