Photoshop Play - from Italy (last year about this same time)

I'm still remembering the good time spent in Italy last year....wishing I could go again.   Still enjoying the pictures taken and loving the Photoshop play, Rad Lab and a Kim Klassen texture. 

Before

 

I can't remember if I took this picture for the cyclists or for the architecture...the shuttered doors and windows or the beauty of the over-flowing flower-filled window boxes.   Doesn't matter.  It was fun editing/enhancing and it brought back the pleasure of the company of the Italians in Padua. 

After

 

Playing Favorites ~

 

Yes, we do.  We have our favorites.  I have my favorites.  I have a favorite car....dress....shoe....

 

I have a favorite room

A favorite picture

and recipe

A favorite movie

A favorite tree and flower.

 

I even have a favorite way to bind a quilt

 knit a scarf

hem a skirt

and make the bed.

 

I have a favorite color

coffee mug 

 cereal

and pajamas. 

 

I have a favorite toothpaste

toilet tissue

tomato

way to have fun

and

fruit salad.

 

Playing favorites?  Yes, I do.    That's what I'm thinking this morning as I decided on how to complete my Quilteroo's Fruit Salad Challenge Quilt.   The final words on the official rules is "Keep it fruity and make it fun."    It has to be in the hands of Quilteroo's Quilt Shop by June 15 and I only picked up the challenge bag yesterday!  So, it goes without saying that this will be my favorite challenge of the day -    "Keeping it fruity and making it fun." 




 

Pardon the noise....ma'am!

The noise is beginning to be deafening.  At first spring, we would walk out and enjoy his music.  And we still do....really!  It's beginning to make for quite the conversation for me and the HuMan.

However, his singing has been relentless.  Morning 'til night, night 'til morning.  We think he's looking for a fine feathered woman and after all these weeks, there are still no takers.  He's tried his high notes and his low notes, fast dance and slow.  He's looked far and wide.   In the words of "bobby magee"  he's sung all those songs that trucker knew.   I must admit, I love his attitude.  Never discouraged, never losing hope.  Out there claiming his space. 

We've encouraged him to find a new neighborhood.  Perhaps ours' doesn't offer what he's looking for.
But he won't budge.   Yesterday on my stroll around the back garden, looking for solitude from the pleasure of a full day,  I just lost it!  I caught myself shouting to the sky hoping he would hear me over the pipe organ he seemed to be playing, 

"this isn't the red light district you are in, now move on!  There's gotta be a fine feathered lady bird out there somewhere.  Go get her.  Give me some peace."   

He just fluttered a wing, turned his back on my suggestion and continued to sing.  My hope for the day will be that if he can't get his woman, he'll sing a different tune! 

 

 

Smile with me and enjoy the day.

 

 

 

 

What's not to love about half-square triangles?

Step 1:

Half-square triangles left over from a past project arranged on point on design wall.

Step 2 and 3:

Little red border added

Brandon Mabley border added

 

 



 

 

Step 4 and 5:

Amy Butler black and chartreuse border added

Anna Maria Horner poppies border added

 

 

Stepping back to take a look: 

 

Me and Kitty like all that remains of those left-over half-square triangles in this modern setting.

 

 

Now, I've started on the back for this quilt....first, you build a house!

 

 

Stay tuned ~




 

Quilting the Harley-Davidson T-Shirt Quilt ~

 

I didn't go exercise yesterday, but I sure got my exercise......lifting and shifting the heavy Harley-Davidson T-shirt Quilt I started here ~ 

 

 

I've been doing more of my own quilting on my domestic and decided to tackle the T-shirt quilt yesterday.  But, let me digress.  I don't like to baste large quilts - primarily because my table isn't large enough to work on a large quilt and secondarily, because my back and knees won't allow me to crawl around on the floor.  Or, maybe I have that backwards.  Okay...truth is, my back and knees are a major culprit!   So, I had one of my favorite long-arm quilters baste the layers.  Now, I have the stability I need to get the quilting job done myself. 

 

Now, let's keep this in perspective:  It's a T-Shirt quilt.  Okay?  The T-shirts are old.  Okay?  I've already invested lots of time, money and energy in getting it to this point.  Okay?  Now, I'm ready to move on to another quilting project.  Okay?   So, a tight zigzag stitch randomly stitched in each block is working beautifully.  I'll come back after all this is done and quilt in the sashing and borders. 

While I'm not a fan of T-shirt quilts, I'm liking this one.   Here's  a pic from the design wall back in November auditioning the mustard color sashing and blue cornerstones. 

 

 

 

ColorBoard No. 25: Plate of Fruit

Honeydew Melon, Watermelon,  Pineapple, Cantaloupe, surround Grapes

 

A Sweet Treat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gen X Sisters' Ten Modern BOM ~

The May, 2013,  Gen X Sisters' Ten modern  BOM is on the design wall:   Let's welcome Aunt Eliza's Star Color-way No. 1

 

and Color-way No. 2 

as they both join the January thur April blocks. 

 

A road trip back in time ~

We took a few days off - a road trip to Natchitoches, Louisiana, where they are gearing up for their 300th anniversary.  It was a trip back in time.  Our close friends moved away a couple of years ago, so this was our first trip back since their move.  Things haven't changed much, but it was still nice to re-visit a beautiful town and countryside where history abounds. 

 

We were going to Melrose Plantation and stopped at this church for a picture and a prayer. 

What once was the gas pumps at P. Phano Prudhomme General Store ~ now closed!

 

Blue door at Melrose Plantation

Shuttered and Barred at the Roque House on Cane River Lake in Natchitoches, Louisiana

 Seems that every family has a cemetery plot....many surrounded by these old wrought iron fences.

The Cane River was formed when the Red River flooded and took another direction: 

 What a beauty it is. 

 

 

All that remains after the fire that destroyed the Levy-East House Bed and Breakfast....the carriage house.   Thankfully it wasn't damaged and remains on the property as a remembrance of what once was and what might have been. 

 

 A place to sit a spell on the Queen Anne Bed and Breakfast front porch.  And we did!

I could not resist making my May desktop calendar using this picture I took of the ancient live oak tree with limbs so long and heavy, they bent to the ground. 

 

I'll be dog gone ~

Where does my time go? 

 I haven't been sitting idle;

No one has me tied down

However,

I feel that I've been left behind.

And

 

 I have no explanation about nor proof of my busy-ness! 
Who would ever have thought I could use this picture of a little beagle puppy tied in the streets of Levanto, Italy, in a blog post!




 

What's not to love about a THREAD tree?

The thunder woke me early, so I've already opened my emails and ordered my tall thread tree.  You see, Alyssa over at Pile O' Fabric says she always uses a free-standing very tall thread tree - even if her sewing machine doesn't come with one built in.   Since purchasing my Juki, I've become very accustomed to the built-in thread tree and can really see the difference.  So, now, I wanted a tall one for my Bernina and couldn't find one tall enough.  What's a girl to do?  I emailed Alyssa with my plight and she immediately sent me the link to Connecting Threads.  My tall thread tree is now in the mail.  It doesn't have a lot of branches....one tall branch standing 11" high  was all I needed. 

 

Clinging Vine: ColorBoard No. 23

 

 

 

As pretty as some of them are, clinging vines are no fun to have around.  Most of them are nuisance vines, invasive in one's space, and are difficult to get rid of.

 

Don't be 'A Clinging Vine'

Unless it's in a ColorBoard

Bookmaking Ingredients ~

"The books went to press."  I now know more about what that statement means.....you see, yesterday was my first day at the bookmaking workshop at Monroe's Masur Museum.  A workshop taught by Frank Hamrick.   By the end of today, I'll come home with two new books - the pages will be empty, but they'll still be hot off of or from under the press! 

 

Ingredients to bookmaking

First you measure and cut, then you paste, press and sew.....

All in a two-day bookmaking workshop!

 

How to make a matchbook-style note booklet

The littlest things make me happy: 

All one needs is a photograph....any photograph to make a matchbook-style booklet.   It's just the right size for my purse or pocket, ready to grab and jot a quick note or phone number as a memory jogger later.   Here's how:

I printed my photograph on 4" x 6" photo card stock, but any weight card stock would be fine.   Fold in thirds.....the bottom will fold up 1" and the top will fold down 2 1/4"  The top should overlap the bottom fold by 1/2".  

Now to make the sheets for your booklet.  The 'back' of your booklet should measure 2 3/4" x 4" so you want your paper inserts to be smaller.  I cut mine at 2 1/4" x 3 1/2".  Copy paper will do just fine for this and 12 is a good number to start with.  After you've cut, then stack all 12 inside the booklet and stitch across the top of your papers, about 1/4" down from the top. 

Now to finish the matchbook, fold the bottom 1" up and stitch across the bottom edge 1/4" from the bottom.  This gives the front of your booklet a tab - the matchbook style - to hold the top flap in place.

Need more explanation - here's a picture or two.  Hope you can see.  The first one was a picture taken of a page in a book. 

And here is a picture of a neighbor's cat who came to visit.  He posed so prettily, knowing one day he would be a cover for a matchbook-style booklet for my purse.   Here you can see the stitching line to secure the note paper and the bottom stitching line that makes the tab for tucking the front in place. 

And another shot of the top and bottom stitching lines.  I like to bring the thread to the inside and tie a knot to secure and then clip the excess. 

 

A WIP worked itself off the design wall ~

Oh, Boy!  I finished the Crosses quilt top and decided on the backing.  Only one decision left (well, actually two).  #1 How to quilt it? And, #2 what to use for the binding? 

Crosses will finish at approximately 50" x 70"....a perfect napping quilt size.

 

Artificial Tree ~

Good morning Sunday:  Can you see me now?

In explanation....we have a great neighborhood, friendly, clean, with an active neighborhood watch, walkers, joggers, traffic a little too fast.  We like being aware of what's going on - just in case.  Well, the other day, a new and yet to be identified item appeared in our neighbor across the street's front upstairs window.  I noticed it and commented to the HuMAn.  He had noticed it also, but figured that night as the lights came on he would be able to identify the item.  Well, that didn't happen. 

I'm still curious;  he is too.  We aren't stalkers, just curious.  Now, I didn't know he was doing this, so I'm no witness.....but he came in with a big smile on his face and identified the object.....an artificial tree, he proclaimed.  I finally mustered enough courage to ask how he knew and he explained that he got his big camera out - the one with the zoom, really zoom, lens. 

That's when I stopped him....I didn't need to know the rest of the story.  As I said, I'm no witness and continue to hold fast to the fact that we aren't stalkers, just curious folks.  


 

Lady Of The Lady....a quilt block pattern

A pretty quilt block.  Sisters Ten BOM choice....Lady of the Lake.....in two colorways.  To minimize wasting the other half of the half-square triangle,  I surrounded one of my blocks with the Brandon Mably fabric in the blue flutter colorway and the other in the red flutter colorway. 


This one is my favorite.....no, wait!

I like the red one too....can't I have two favorites this month? 

 

I have a pretty little secret ~

that I just can't contain any longer. 

When at QuiltCon back in February, I found this most wonderful fabric....hand dyed by Cherrywood Fabrics.   In addition to the full yardage (which I couldn't resist), I found what Cherry calls 'grab bags' which contain  at least 50 cuts of her hand dyes.  Okay, now the secrets out - what a diverse sampling all contained in one little package.  It's the grab bag hand dyes that I used this morning to make my wonky crosses. 

I found the ZenChic, Comma, layer cake at Quilt N' Stitch the other day and didn't want to waste not one fraction of an inch of these 10" squares.  Between the two fabrics, I think I'm gonna love this one.  Here's the start "Going Steady." 

 

Art Quilt Challenge Theme ~ Carnaval

I usually don't begin an art quilt based on any particular theme.....I just start!  But in our group, Art Quilts Around The World, we make an art quilt each month based on a theme.  It's a newly formed group and the first one we published was entitled 'self-portrait.'  Now for reveal #2.....
'Carnival.'  All 30 of us in the group posted our finished art quilt March 31.  Another specific about each of our art quilts is size....each one is 11 1/2" x 16" - wait...is it 11" x 16 1/2!!  Oh, my.   There is so much energy and talent in this group, I'm racing to stay up.....smiling as I run with them.

There's always a story,  visit Art Quilts Around the World for the rest of it. 






 

Improv Curves:

What a gem of a gal....Lisa Calle demonstrated how she makes improve curves at QuiltCon.  I tried it yesterday and oh, how quickly this little 40" x 40" (or so) quilt came together.  Starting with 10" squares of different fabrics  that I felt comfortable practicing on - those that I wouldn't cry about if I didn't get the improv curve process just right.  But I got it right the first time and kept on and on until - each block was trimmed to 8 1/2".  Some I sliced only once, some twice.  Something to keep in mind is that the blocks shrink with each slice.  While working with larger blocks to begin with might be manageable, I found 10" ones very comfortable.  If I had sliced a third time, I probably would have finished with a block about 8".  I might try that next.  I have some Zen Chic, Comma, fabric that I've been itching to cut into.  Can't wait to make more improv curves.....Lisa Calle style. 

So easy that I even had time to piece my backing.  I found this yard of fabric in my stash, but it was just a tad too narrow.   Three fabric insertions did the trick.  Now this improv quilt is ready for me to practice my free motion quilting on.  Now that's a work-in-progress! 

 

What? A Fool?

Don't be fooled by my April, 2013, Quilter's Calendar. 

All the days are there....just remember that this April week starts Monday but the rest of the weeks begin on Sunday.    Sure, it's free to download as your desktop background.  I'm on Flickr! 

P.S.:  I'm loving the Sew Mama Sew/Pile O' Fabric big block BOM.