Field Trips in Fiber

Field Tripping the Web – Issue 11

Eye Candy – Projects people have recently completed

• Nancy's Miranda Bag
• Karen's Stained Glass Quilt
• Lyn's wedding quilt
• Knot Garden's knitted ewe
• Wanda's Parisian purse
• Lynn's plaid quilt
• Mary's Heartstrings quilt
• Linda's sea glass quilts
• Michele finished 3 quilt tops
• Rhonda's Sunday Baskets quilt
• Leah's Pink Lemonade quilt
• Helen's mini-sunrise
• QuiltPixie's "Homage to Edith" quilt
• Swooze's Christmas quilt
• Amandajean's Bento Box
• Kim's Crumb Bear quilt and related journal quilt
• Patti's Burgoyne Surrounded
• Joanne's Nickel Star quilt

Longarm –specific Eye Candy

• Deb's quilting on a bright sampler quilt
• Helen-Mary feathered a braid quilt
• Terri quilted a Peeled Back quilt

Fiber Art

• Pam's postcards and Funky Houses art quilts
• Sue's paper collages
• Gunnel's ATCs and postcards
• Debbi's journal quilt
• Deb's embellished alphabet
• Kate's manhole cover

Garment Sewing

• Debbie's new outfit and her Coldwater Creek copy
• Anna's two art garments

Tutorials and On-line Projects

• Carla's Quilt Photo Transfer tutorial
• Shirley's wool dyeing tutorial
• Tany used a bullion stitch to attach braid to the hem of a dress
• Sally shared her method for freezer paper foundation piecing
• Guzzie makes a distressed Celtic textured ATC

Other Interesting Stuff

• Carla is having a very special giveaway!

  

Handwork Wednesday

Progress on Maggie the Messmaker!

Last week on the left and this week on the right. This has been my occupation while watching the Olympics. I finished the basic stitching in the upper right corner and started on the bookcase. I want to try to get the outline stitching in that section started this week. I counted the grid on the pattern and there are about 55,000 stitches in this thing. Given the cost of the kit, it was pretty inexpensive on a per square basis - I've got that going for me. Egads, I'll never finish this thing!

Here's one from the archives to share. I worked on this in college and I believe I finished it shortly after I graduated in 1982. It is signed but I used to always sign my pieces in an area that would be hidden by the mat. I think that my Mom had this framed for me because I'm pretty sure I couldn't afford a double mat and frame. I don't remember if it was a kit or a pattern but I have always loved iris so that's why I made this particular piece. Today it hangs in he guest house and looks good against the sage green wall.

I could make walking a straight line complex

Really. How difficult is it to pick fabrics for a project? Very, when you decided to custom dye your own colors! Remember my 4 colors that are based on the color palette of a commercial fabric?

It's the 4 colors on the right on the bottom row. Next I had to figure out how I want to develop these 4 basic colors into the 8 colors of the Judy's Star Block of the Month. I printed off a gray scale photo of the quilt. OK! OK! I printed off SEVERAL of them and colored them in every shade of these 4 colors. I FINALLY settled on the color placement. Next I had to calculate the dye mixes.

Hmmmm, maybe a convoluted spreadsheet would help.

First I entered the original recipes for my 1/4 yard samples and then determined how I wanted the final fabric to differ from the original and then somewhere around column "U" I got my final recipes for the amount of fabric I want to dye.

Of course all of this has to be reviewed tomorrow with fresh eyes to catch formula errors and then has to be tested on one "real" piece of fabric to see if I even know what I am doing. I bet there's probably some free spreadsheet like this out on the web somewhere. Oh well, it's a learning experience! 

I figure to be piecing my first block some time in December.

I'll have sewing content again soon. I went to the massage therapist again yesterday. At one point it hurt so bad that I saw stars but it was worth the pain. I am better today. Maybe some quilting content this weekend - along with this fabric dyeing.

A special message to Kim and my brother: keep your comments to yourself. I am well aware that you are laughing at me without you taking the trouble to tell me.

Stash, list and other stuff

I missed posting my stash report and list last weekend. With my company and my back, I just wasn't in the mood to review a list that didn't get done! The list doesn't look any better this weekend but I need to review and set some new goals. After all, Craft Week is coming up and I've got to start getting ready! This year we have a bonus because our friend, Denise, is joining us. Denise also works with us but she works in our Woodland Hills, CA office. We convinced her to take some vacation time with us this year. we will have two Chris', mine to do the cooking and Anne's Chris to provide wait services. He doesn't know that part yet - he thinks he's just coming to relax. No man comes to Craft Week for a free ride.

Let's review the list from TWO weeks ago:

• Work on the reversible QOV quilt - no, the back thing
• Work on samples for secret project #1 - ditto
• Work on instructions for secret project #2 - ditto
• A couple of tie dye t-shirts - imagine, I actually finished this one!
• Continue to develop the fabrics for Judy's star block of the month - wow! and this one too!

You've seen the tie dye proof. Here's the proof for the BOM fabric dyeing. To refresh your memory, these are for a Block of the Monthproject that Judy L is running over on her blog. If you want to get in on it you need to do it before August 15 when she takes down the first block instructions!

I could/should have just picked some fabrics and made a beautiful quilt. But no! it seemed perfectly logical that I should spend just as much time dyeing fabrics for the quilt as I will spend sewing and quilting it - combined! I used the floral print in the center as my color inspiration and wound up dyeing 15 sets of fabrics to get the colors that I want to use. For every color I made I dyed a bleached and unbleached sample. The fabrics at the top of the photo are the rejects. The fabric colors that I have settled on are the ones on the bottom. The set on the left is unbleached muslin and the set on the right is bleached cotton. I actually like the unbleached colors a little better but prefer the texture and sheen of the unbleached. These are the color families. I will dye the actual fabric in darker (red) and lighter (yellow and green) values - next weekend.

As much work as this was, it was a valuable lesson. It was a mini color theory and color mixing class and I'll do it again. I like the colors on top too and have all of the recipes. These fabrics will be nice in a future hand dyed scrappy quilt.

Here's the new list:

• Gather my projects for Craft Week
• Dye fabrics for Judy's BOM
• Start the MQResoueces "Gone With the Wind" postcards
• Cross stitch while watching the olympics

As for the stash: 
It's an "in" week and if I get that fabric dyed next weekend, there will be a second "in" week to follow. I dyed the backing for the Citrus quilt (I calculate those as 9 yards) and 4 yards of individual fabrics for another project.

This week IN: 13

This week OUT: 

YTD IN: 136 yards

YTD out: 182.5 yards

NET OUT: 46.5 yards (Goal 100 yards)

Even more tie dye...

Are you getting bored with these yet? I can't seem to stop tie dyeing!

I believe that these are the last ones that I have promised to people. Next I have some new techniques and designs in mind (and Chris is still wanting perfect UVA colors.) Next weekend.

From left to right: for Gina, for Terri and for Lisa (my massage therapist who will be unhappy to find out that I was tie dyeing this weekend.)

Field Tripping the Web – Issue 10

The bloggers have been busy this week! Maybe people are having their own personal Olympics to finish projects. I know I even missed a few posts because one day I closed the file without saving so I apologize to those that I left out!

I generally wouldn't highlight one particular project but occasionally there's something truly exceptional out there. So this week if you don't read any others, do not miss Allie's Spring Crazy quilt

But if you have time and want some inspiration for the weekend………

Eye Candy – Projects people have recently completed

• Helen's incubator quilt
• Katrina's wedding gift quilt
• Lisa's new bag
• Barbara's CQ block and red basket quilt
• Nicole's red and white quilt
• Knot Garden's crochet pansies
• Desert thread's recent quilt
• Nancy's bowtie quilt
• Heartstrings QOV quilts
• Barbara's latest community service quilts
• Barbara's Shirts and sheets quilt
• Tammon's shaggy Hug and Mooch quilt
• Sally's colored quilt
• Three quilt tops from Silver Thimble
• Margaret's scrappy blue heart quilt
• Sarah's quilted tote
• Quilts and Pieces star quilt and teal quilt
• Amy's appliqué quilt
• Andrea's Quillow
• Jacqie's quilted bookmarks
• Linda's knitted rabbit
• Megan's mini tumbler quilt

Longarm –specific Eye Candy

• Gina's quilting on Art Quilt Hawaii
• Jeanne's under the sea quilting

Fiber Art

• Marie's fleece bag
• Terri's Beautiful Garden and Color My world
• Linda's latest experiments
• Annica's postcards
• Cindy's photo pendants

Garment Sewing

• Shannon's New Look dress
• Carolyn's jacket and pants

Tutorials and On-line Projects

• Cindy found this fabric flower tutorial
• Sarah provided crochet instructions for Hawaiian Flowers
• Darling petunia's tie bag
• Carla's fabric crochet purse

Other Interesting Stuff

• The Twelve By Twelve art quilt group has posted their projects for July – the theme was Illumination
• Fibercopia is a great blog that highlights interesting textiles
• Suzanne is leading a 3-month nature journal quilt challenge

Bring on the mail!

What a day it has been! First was my rant about the magazine at lunch and then later brought in the mail - and what mail I received today! You know how a lot of bloggers show a photo fo the unopened package before they show the contents? Not me. I can't wait long enough! Let's jump right to contents.

The first package, from Debra, contained this panel of black Kona with these 6 beautiful embroideries. Here's a close up photo of one of them. They are each about 6" square. How do I know the fabric is black Kona? Because it matches the 4 yards of black Kona in my stash! The colors really aren't showing up very well but you can be assured that they are beautiful! I want to make something very special from these and you are welcome to make suggestions. Thank you Debra!

This next one is from Marie. She has been making these beautiful baskets for weeks and I have been in basket lust since I saw the first one. She sent the basket in this cigar box and you know there are lots of things to do with a cigar box! In the photo on the left you can see just how small the basket is with the pencil next to it. I will find a special use for this! Thank you Marie!

This next one I'm almost embarrassed to tell. I worked at home today and set up my "office" in my sewing room. Summerset had left this beautiful dragonfly postcard and a note not 3 feet from where I was working. I didn't see it until around 3:00 in the afternoon. The fabric is some that she dyed here and then she did the stitching and beading during the extra time that she had waiting for the car. Thanks Summerset - I was really hoping to receive one of these cards! LOL!

How's that for a mail day?

Thanks for all of the comments on the post about Quilters Newsletter. Thanks to the people who posted to point out that the subscriptions would be extended so that we get the same number of issues. That makes things a little better but I am still offended by the reason they posted and I decided to cancel my subscription anyway. I also took the magazine with me to the doctor's office and read the entire thing in about 30 minutes. It was grueling - I sure am glad I have 2 whole months to recover before the next issue would arrive! Whew, they saved me!

Am I reading this right?

I'm sitting at lunch today and opened my new Quilters Newsletter Magazine. I don't often read the letter from the editor but I decided to today and there in paragraph THREE is an "oh by the way" announcement that they are cutting the magazine from 10 to 6 issues per year. Why? Because people are telling them that the magazine has so much information that they can't get through it in a month before the new one arrives.

Are you kidding me?

 

Honestly, is there anyone that needs more than 2 hours to get through the meat of that magazine? I've been considering canceling my subscription anyway because the content is weak (IMO). I never clip anything to save and I'm usually done with it in a hour. I haven't read about this subscription change in cyberland but maybe because most people haven't heard about it yet. Or am I the only one that is annoyed? I'm annoyed on a number of points:

1. They need to be honest with us about the reasons and it has NOTHING to do with readers asking to receive LESS! It's about cost of production and difficulty getting advertising revenue. I can understand that and it could easily be sold to the readership. It's a trade-off - decrease the number of issues or have the subscription costs soar. I'd buy that argument.
2. The method of announcing it was sleazy which points back to #1 - they are misrepresenting the reason. There is no mention on the website and Jan Maggee's third paragraph mention is the only one I can find in the magazine. They should have had a banner on the cover and a separate article explaining the REAL reason for the change.
3. The announcement says not to worry we will get "the same amount of great information and inspiration you always have, plus more time to read, sew and experiment with the techniques presented". So does that mean that, since I will get the same amount of content" that each issue will now be 160 pages? I don't think so! Please don't insult me. That annoys me the most.
4.  And since when did we give them the control over what we are charged for and what we do with our free time? Yes, they are charging us half our expected subscription rate to give us half as much material to read and therefore we are paying to get that time back. That takes some nerve! The announcement should have been open, prominent and bold and should have given subscribers an easy option to cancel the magazine and get a refund. What if you just renewed for 2 years? You might be a little miffed. If they were open, honest and made declining the "offer" easy most people would just say "thanks for being honest, I like the magazine so I'll stay".

I'm not going to cancel my subscription yet. I'm going to stew on it for a couple of days but I will likely cancel it. It's not even in the top 5 of my favorite magazines and I really don't take kindly to being lied to and tricked. The cool thing is that with me they will lose 4 subscriptions because I will not renews the 3 Christmas gifts that I buy either!

What do you think? Am I really the only person bugged by this?

PS Who am I kidding? Of course I'm going to cancel my subscription. This was all just too obnoxious. So today I'm an environmentalist - I'm going to save some paper! LOL!

 

Wednesday Hand Work

I thought it might help keep me motivated if I post a weekly update on my cross stitch project. Who knows, maybe it will get me back into doing embroidery. I used to do a lot of hand work and I especially loved hardanger embroidery and other kinds of counted work with specialty threads. In some future posts I will share some of the things that I've made in the past.

This kit has a huge pattern sheet. It was starting to wear on the crease lines so I photocopied the whole thing onto 6 sheets of paper. I use the yellow marker to color in the stitches I've completed. This week I am working on the pale brown wallpaper on the upper right side of the piece. I did the section in the purple circle since I pulled this back out. It's boring but it's getting done!

This might become a good project for football games. We'll see how long my interest holds. Angelcat will keep me on task.

and they're off!

We got the surprise call yesterday afternoon that Summerset's car was ready - earlier than expected. After they came back from their day at Maymont, we picked up the car, ate dinner with Kim at our favorite pizza place and then visited Quilting Adventures- always a nice place to spend an hour!I picked up two books and some crystals and Superior Glitter thread from the sale bin. It was a fun last evening and they left for Georgia early this morning.

We all agreed that there's been quite enough drama this week so we are hoping for a safe and uneventful trip. They'll be back for a quick one night stay on their way home.

By the way, for all the people who think that you can't make real friends with people you meet through blogging - they are wrong!

What's going on?

You might be asking "what's going on?" I usually post much more often. So let me catch you up!

I still have company!

Summerset and her fabulous kids are still here! They had planned to leave Monday and you can read all the gory details on her blog. All I can say is this: I am so grateful that her car troubles happened here and not on the interstate. We got her car in the shop and we've made the most of the extended visit. Her kids have allowed themselves to be hired to help me with a few chores around here - like watering the garden while Chris is out of town. With my back so messed up I couldn't wrestle that garden hose. Summerset has gotten to do some sewing and it's just been all around fun to have a fiber friend visit! Tonight I will take her to my favorite quilt store. Today they are visiting Maymont on the James River in Richmond. I think we have made some fine lemonade from the lemons that she's been given this week!

Giving thanks to my massage therapist

You know I've been whining about my back for over a week. It turned into a big knotted mess. My left arm alternated between pain and numbness, my neck hurt, my chest hurt and I couldn't even sew. You know that once it interferes with the sewing that it reaches an emergency situation. So I made a desperate call to my massage therapist. OH THE PAIN!!! Holy crap. I have NEVER had so much pain at her hands but today I am much improved. Not fixed but I can turn my had from side to side and take deep breaths again. THANK YOU LISA!!!

Blaming Angelcat

for pulling out this OLD project. Angelcat is diligently working through her Mom's old cross stitch and needlepoint projects. Darn it. I felt like she was pointing at me for all of my unfinished embroidery projects. I had been considering pulling out this one to take to craft week to work on. Since I couldn't sew this week I decided to pull it out to work on in front of the TV in the evenings. This is a cross stitch kit of a Charles Wysocki print "Maggie the Messmaker". I bought it because I have the print. I knowthat I've had it at least 10 years because I started it before we moved to Richmond. It's been so long since I worked on it that I had to wipe away a quarter inch of dust on the box where it was stored. Maybe I can get a little more done on it this year. I still don't know if I should thank Angelcat or blame her!

So, you see, I am alive and having a great time with my guests. I should be back into regular programming by the weekend!

I think they are happy

with the results of their tie dyeing!

The even dyed their socks!

Weekend Visitors

It's not often that I have company on the weekend so it's a real treat when I get a vacation from my self-absorption. It's an even better treat when the diversion is a fiber friend! This is the best of weekend then because Summerset and her fun kids are visiting. They are on their way to their vacation destination in Atlanta but I persuaded them to stop here for a couple days of play.

First on the agenda at the Welsh house is always fishing. Chris has the fish in his pond perfectly trained and today they were performing on command. Both of Summerset's children caught their first fish! I think one caught 6 and one caught 4. These were the biggest and I believe they were thrilled!

After the morning fishing we headed straight for the dye studio to tie dye shirts and socks. We'll have those results to share tomorrow.

Summerset wanted to go shopping the vintage shops in Richmond. Since I couldn't really do the outside thing my friend Kim, another vintage lover, offered to take her. As we were planning the weekend Kim threatened to wear her crab dress. She is so very proud of this dress and it's not that I don't like it. OK, well it is but I do RESPECT the dress and like that it makes her happy so she can wear it around me anytime she wants. But I reserve the right to ridicule it. So that they would look appropriate together Summerset donned her famous lemon dress. Too bad I didn't have a butter dress – get it? Crab, lemon and butter. Anyway, they had a very fruitful day and you can see the results on .

We've had great food and great fun and we have another day ahead! Maybe some sewing tomorrow......

Field Tripping the Web – Issue 9

I don't have anything to show for the week. I have a little pulled muscle in my back so that has slowed me down a little bit and I am so over the menopausal hormone roller coaster that I could hurt someone. It's sort of like going insane slowly. But the weekend is going to improve everything because Summersetand her 2 perfect children are coming to visit! Her children really are perfect and if you guessed that we are going to tie dye t-shirts you were right! So there will be some blog activity this weekend but for now I have to get into my sewing room and make room for Summerset to set up her machine. In the mean time you can entertain yourself with these blogs:

Eye Candy – Projects people have recently completed

• Anne Ida's backback
• Barbara's patriotic QOV
• Esther's Peony Pride
• Calidore completed several projects
• Nellie's Bear Lake wall quilt
• Kathy's Tulip quilt
• Margaret's Big Bear Project Linus quilt
• Quiltification's Teal Brass quilt
• Lynn's plaid scrap quilt
• Helen's Summer Season quilt
• Quilt Pixie's cat sack
• Kimy's rainbow fish baby quilt
• Annie's woodland quilt

Longarm –specific Eye Candy

• Judy's quilting on a New York beauty
• Rhonda's quilting on an AQS quilt
• Jeanne quilted a music themed quilt
• Michele's quilting on a Baltimore Album quilt

Fiber Art

• Carla's spiral beadwork
• Deb's crack whore mermaid doll
• Cathie's hand made buttons
• Alis' arches
• Pam's Fiber Art cards
• Sue's paper bag surface bracelet

Garment Sewing

• The J's new sweater

Tutorials and On-line Projects

• Jeanne shows us how she made her design wall
• Angela's kitty postcard step-by-step

Other Interesting Stuff

• Paula posted a lot of links on stumpwork
• Here's a site you should just check every day. It has nothing to do with fabric, crafts, fiber – it's just Cute Overload

Sunday Dye Results

Here are the results of my Sunday dyeing efforts. First I dyed a back for my Fresh Squeezed quilt. I can't believe I got the colors so close to the colors in the commercial fabrics. I love it! I also found out today that my Secret Quilter is Lisa so I got to thank her for all of great gifts! This quilt is a direct result of her generosity.

Then I did a few other pieces - 4 1 yard cuts for a special project and 2 parfait sets. All of this is going into stash so I have to count it in my stash report Sunday.

Weekly List and Stash Report

Here's the list from last week:

• Load my next QOV (I have 2 new ones from Mom too) - no I did some other things first
• Work on the Reversible QOV - ditto
• Dye fabrics for Judy's Block of the Month - I'm working on it. I've got 1 color perfect and am refining 4 others
• Secret project #1 instructions and samples - instructions are drafted!
• Secret project #2 instructions - nope
• Quiltland Chronicles challenge - not this either

But I did get these things done!

 

• I quilted 3 baby quilts for Anne yesterday and today
• I finished Neely's baby quilt
• Tie-dyed T-shirts for James, Terri and Chris
• Dyed a quilt back for my Fresh Squeezed quilt

Let's see, what are my goals for next week? I've got company coming for the weekend so the list will be short:

• Work on the reversible QOV quilt
• Work on samples for secret project #1
• Work on instructions for secret project #2
• A couple of tie dye t-shirts
• Continue to develop the fabrics for Judy's star block of the month

 As for the stash: 
There's more on the OUT this week! I can now count all of the Monkey fabrics out because I am giving away all of the leftovers. That's a total of 13.5 yards!! I did a lot of dyeing today and will have that fabric to count IN next week - but I'll look good for a week!

This week IN: 0

This week OUT: 13.5

YTD IN: 123 yards

YTD out: 182.5 yards

NET OUT: 59.5 yards (Goal 100 yards)

More Dyeing Fun!

I was so happy to be feeling good again this weekend and more than anything I wanted to do some dyeing - and will do more today. As I was having my tea yesterday morning I received an email from my nephew asking for shirts for him and his girlfriend. I have trouble telling him "no" so these are for James and Courtney.

I've been trying to get a deep dark blue to make shirts in UVA colors that he can wear to games. The first one I made was way too light. This is closer but he hasn't seen it yet so I don't know if I got it quite right.

And finally I did these shirts and fabrics for Terri. We are doing a little art swap.

For my MQR Secret Quilter

I participate in a Secret Quilter program on MQResources. This is the week that we send the last gift and reveal ourselves. I decided to do it here because I know that my SQ reads my blog - she posted a comment recently. Let's see if she can identify herself!

I decided that for my final gift that I would make a hand dyed quilt back for her. I noticed on her blog that she recently pulled out a UFO to complete. It has lots of vibrant colors but the name she has given the quilt made me think of water so I dyed this backing in water colors.

It also goes with some fabrics that I sent to her in the first month.

Does she know who she is??

Monkey Baby Quilt

I am so excited to have this quilt done 5 weeks before the baby is due! Of course it's 4 weeks after the baby shower but I pointed out that, when it comes to baby quilts, they really aren't late until the baby is 1 year old. This one is for a coworker and she picked the monkey fabric as the theme and picked yellow because she doesn't know what she's having. I've been wanting to get these fabrics for a long time and I was glad to finally have a reason to buy them!

 I designed this quilt so that I could fussy cut the little monkeys for the pinwheel blades and all of the fabrics are from the Monkey'n Round line. It's 46" square

Here's a close up view of one of the blocks and the border. I used one of the stripes cut on the bias for the binding. The backing is one of the larger monkey prints on mint green flannel. It's quilted with an overall free motion swirl using Superior So Fine thread (light yellow and green). I LOVE this quilt and can't wait to give it to her Monday.

Field Tripping the Web – Issue 8

I know I haven't posted in a few days but everything is just fine. I've had to catch up on real work from being out all last week. I have done a bit of quilting and will share it this weekend. I feel totally back to normal except that I still have laryngitis. It's been two weeks and it's not novel anymore - I'm over it! Enjoy visiting these blogs until I can post some more things this weekend.

Eye Candy – Projects people have recently completed

• Helen's table runner
• Dianna's star quilt top
• Kathie's bright Trip Around the World
• Alis' cool cat bag
• Comicbooklady's black cats
• Becca's Runs With Scissors
• Anglecat is finishing her Mom's cross stitch projects, here's Silent Vigil
• Nicole's Friday finish
• Juliann's pinwheel quilt

Longarm –specific Eye Candy

• Terri's recent customer quilting
• Deb's quilting on a kaleidoscope quilt
• Carla's quilting on an appliqué quilt and a heart quilt
• Rhonda's quilting on vintage valentine
• Alycia's feather quilting

Fiber Art

• Terri's latest art quilt
• Linda's mixed media vessels
• Marion's latest piece
• Michele's journals
• Sue's journals and paper bag surface vase
• Gayle's "Granny Goes to the Fair" doll
• Calidore's birthday girl

Garment Sewing

• Tany's elegant top

Tutorials and On-line Projects

• Quilts and Pieces shows how she makes appliqué circles
• Judy has shared her worksheet for pieced quilt borders

Other Interesting Stuff

• Carla gave us a studio tour

From the garden

Chris puts in a vegetable garden every year. This year he's growing something extra in the carrot patch.

Is there a more perfect home for 4 baby bunnies than a carrot patch?

Weekly List and Stash Report

Of course NOTHING got done this week (except for some shirts for Chris) so the list remains the same:

• Load my next QOV (I have 2 new ones from Mom too)
• Work on the Reversible QOV
• Dye fabrics for Judy's Block of the Month
• Secret project #1 instructions and samples
• Secret project #2 instructions
• Quiltland Chronicleschallenge  As for the stash:

As for the stash, I can now count 12.5 yards for the QFAH project that was completed this week! I also purchased 2.5 yards of backing fabric for the monkey baby blanket.

This week IN: 2.5

This week OUT: 12.5

YTD IN: 123 yards

YTD out: 169 yards

NET OUT: 46 yards (Goal 100 yards)

Batik Quilt for an Hour

Thanks to Mom's superior binding, my Quilt for an Hour is finally done! The Quilt for an Hour projects are done by Judy Laquidara. I like all of them but this is the first one where I ended up liking my fabric choices. I think it's a very happy quilt and will make a nice Quilt of Valor. All of the fabrics, except the orange, came from my stash. Here's a close up of the quilting on the front. I used Superior Rainbows in the needle and Superior Bottom Line in the bobbin. It's quilted with Suzanne Earley's Meandering Magic technique.

On the left is a photo of the backing fabric. It's hand dyed to compliment the main fabrics. The dark spots were from a dye spilling accident but it turned out to be OK! On the right is a close up of the quilting.

This was a fun project - thanks Judy!

Wanda's Quilt of Valor

  Mom came by today to bring my sewing machine back from being serviced and to drop off the two quilts that she finished binding for me. This one is a quilt made by Wanda to be a Quilt of Valor. I quilted it with free motion loops and stars using a variegated patriotic Signature thread.

This is the third QOV quilt I have done with Wanda and Mom took the 4th one home with her to bind. I still have 3 more tops to quilt before we send them all off to a OQV destination.

Back in the dye studio

I'm still not up to par but once I had some energy the first thing I wanted to do was head to the dye studio. Yesterday I made these new shirts from Wanda, my brother's girlfriend. These are much better than the ones from a few weeks ago! I also made shirts for Chris and his friend that visited yesterday and I did a few fabrics, but Wanda's shirts are the highlight!

Today I am working on doing some test color mixing for my fabrics for Judy L.'s Block of the Month. I figure it will take me a few weeks to get my colors selected and the fabrics dyed.

Here's one more pretty picture - my recent soap batches are all wrapped now. That a great project for when you feel a little wimpy! I had to get these wrapped so I could send my brother some soap with Wanda's shirts.

Field Tripping the Web – Issue 7

Yes, I'm alive again! Thanks for all of the comment and emails to check on me. It was a bad week but I am finally back to my normal state - just plain allergies - except that I still have laryngitis. I've really got to make myself stop talking. Work should be interesting tomorrow.

While I was "out" I received THREE web award recognitions from Debra, Jeanne and  Nancy. Thank you all, I was very flattered and it was the highlight of my week. I know that doesn't sound like much given my week, but it would have been a highlight on a good week too!

I am supposed to nominate 7 more blogs for the award. I suppose that means 21 - 7 for each award. I currently have 437 blogs in my reader that I track. It would be difficult to pick 21 favorites so I decided to pass the award to this issue of Field Tripping the Web. My favorite blogs are those that share their creativity - this is a great place to start!

Eye Candy – Projects people have recently completed

• Desert threads Sunflower quilt
• Floribunda's Monkey quilt
• Helen's baby quilt from UFO blocks
• Cathie's art slice quilt
• Lisa's wall hanging
• Barbara finished 2 UFOs
• Nancy's quilt for her Grammy Dot
• Randi's Storm At Sea
• Amy's recent projects
• Debra's Hoffman Challenge Upon a Dream
• Kim's Inheritance
• Margaret's adorable little bear quilt
• Wanda's flannel quilt
• Tammon's Snow Smore quilt
• Kate's latest quilt
• Helen's 9-patch puppy
• Nicole's Coventry quilt top
• Julie's new bag and sampler quilt top
• Anamdajean's red cross quilt
• Knot Garden's crochet garland
• Keryn's Double Vee quilt

Longarm –specific Eye Candy

• Rhonda's latest beautiful quilting
• Terri's wall hanging
• More quilting from Vivian
• Sonya's customer appliqué quilt
• Deb's customer appliqué quilt
• Angelcat's cute owl wallhanging
• Gayle and Steve's bear baby quilt
• Barbara's Little Flower embroidery

Fiber Art

• Elizabeth's House Collage
• Linda is doing some cool things with Tyvek and metallic surfaces
• Sandy made a great display for her bead journal postcards
• Allie is sharing a walk around each block of her current Crazy Quilt project
• Sue's willow hinge journal

Garment Sewing

• Carolyn's new vintage dress from beautiful embroidered fabric
• Pretty Isabelle and her pretty knot top
• Debbie's favorite new top

Tutorials and On-line Projects

• Forest Jane made a beautiful and unique Jewel Box quilt. She shared instructions here
• Carolyn posted an piping tutorial
• It's not really a tutorial but Rebecca has shared what she does with leftover bits from her quilt piecing

Other Interesting Stuff

• Elizabeth posted about a great art project to benefit Breast Cancer Research
• A tip from Theresa on keeping your blocks in order
• If you have every been interested in City and Guilds, Helen has posted about her experiences in 3 parts: part 1 starts on July 13
• A tour of Gina's new quilting studio

and the Monkey drawing winner is........

Karol-Ann!!

Thanks to everyone who posted to help me get rid of some of my scrap fabrics. I also want to thank everyone who posted or emailed me to see how I was doing. I am getting better. The drug (prednisone) was much worse than the cure. I still have laryngitis and am almost recovered from the medicine. I'm really hoping to do some fabric dyeing this weekend.

Karol-Ann, drop me an email with your address so I can get your fabric in the mail to you!

....and the first winner is...

Diana!

Thanks for all of the well wishes. I'm not sure which is worse - the illness or the cure. I am working through some prednisone and all of its horrid side effects. Hopefully I will be back to normal this weekend. Today's milestone was being awake for more hours than I was asleep!

I just remembered that I needed to do the drawing. Sorry, I didn't have the energy to get photos but I printed off the comments and had Chris do the drawing.

Don't forget about the monkey fabric scrap drawing Friday. Enter by posting a comment here if you want to be included.

 

Leftover Monkeys - Another Drawing!!

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm happy to report that I do not have bronchitis, so no antibiotics! Instead I have prednisone - too many bad allergic reaction in a short period of time. I hate steriods, they really mess with me but it's only 6 days and hopefully I'll have my voice back by Wednesday!

In the meantime progress has been slow around here but I have been very motivated to get done with the monkeys. So between yesterday and today I made these 2 baby quilt tops with the scraps. They are both about 29 x 35. The big squares in the one on the left are cut 8" square. Everything else is 3" squares or 3" strips. They should have gone together in 3 hours instead of 2 days but at least they are done! I have no plans for them. Maybe they will someday become charity quilts or maybe I'll save them for future baby quilt gifts. The photo doesn't do them justice, they are brighter and cuter in real life. Of course it won't matter at all once there's baby puke on them.

So now I am totally over the monkeys but I still have some fabrics left. Here's the next giveaway! I didn't use any of the 5 fat quarters in the red colorway and there are bits of everything else. I warn you, this is a true scrap bag! Some of the fabrics have holes cut in them, there are lots of triangles, 3" strips and various other odd pieces. If you are interested let me know in a comment on this post. I will draw for this one Friday. Even if you posted (or win) the Wednesday drawing you can enter (and win) this drawing. Please get this stuff out of my sewing room!

Stash, lists, a giveaway and other stuff

The weekend isn't turning out as planned. I'm pretty sure that my allergy/laryngitis has become bronchitis - an almost annual event. I'll go to the doctor tomorrow for some real drugs. So the list isn't getting very far! But between naps I decided to do some piecing. I don't have the energy for for dyeing or longarming so for once I was focused! I got the entire Fresh squeezed top pieced!

That is one darned easy pattern and was a great use for the layer cake of the Fresh Squeezed line that my secret quilter gave me. There are 3 new fabrics in there that I just purchased this week. I'm not sure that I have ever used a fabric so quickly! Those 3 yards will be in my stash report (at the end) but I won't count them out until the quilt is done. I even got the binding cut. Mom thinks this pattern would look good in black, white and gray - I agree and might have to give it a try soon!

Which brings me to the giveaway! The photo on the right shows all of the leftovers. I'm not in the mood to cut them up to add to my scrap bins so I'm giving them away. There are several of the 10" squares, leftover sashing strips and about 1/3 yard each of the 4-patch dot fabrics. If you are interested leave a note in the comment that you want them. If there's more than 1 I will do a drawing on Wednesday. (Stay tuned for a monkey giveaway later.)

Lets to the list. Here's last week:

Finish quilting Wanda's QOV  - DONE!!!

Load my next QOV (I have 2 new ones from Mom too) - nope

Work on the Reversible QOV - nope

Saturday dyeing day - shirts for Chris - uh, no

Secret project #1 instructions and samples - no again

Secret project #2 instructions - and no once more

Quiltland Chronicleschallenge - also no, the fabrics that Chris selected for the swap were part of the fabrics ruined in the Retayne episode of last week.

No need to put up a list for the coming week - it's the same list - and it all depends on the timing of my energy returning. I've decided to set low expectations for the week and maybe I can surprise myself next weekend.

As for the stash:

This week IN: 3

This week OUT: 0

YTD IN: 120.5 yards

YTD out: 156.5 yards

NET OUT: 36 yards (Goal 100 yards)

Mom has finished the binding on one of my quilts and we got word that our sewing machines are ready - one month early!!! She's going to pick them up this week and bring the quilts back too when she drops off my baby. So I will finally have stash going out next weekend.

 

I love sock monkeys!

It's been a really crappy allergy week and I haven't had the energy to do any longarming so I've been doing a little bit of piecing every night. I got all of the monkey baby quilt blocks done last night and tonight I added the side triangles and border. I was surprised at how quickly it all came together with all of the fussy cutting. I probably should have used a monkey print in the side and corner triangles instead of the dots but I still really, really like it! I talked to the baby Mom today and we decided on flannel for the backing so I ordered one of the monkey flannel prints from the same line. I'm really excited to get this one done and delivered. I have a feeling that the baby might be early.

I'm not doing my normal Friday list tonight. I decided to start combining my lists with my stash reports on Sunday. Besides, I didn't get far along last week's list anyway - it's still good.

Field Tripping the Web – Issue 6

Eye Candy – Projects people have recently completed

Diane's Cowboy quilt

Kimy's Ladybug baby quilt

Beth's customer quilt

Kate's pineapple quilt

Lisa's 4OT quilt

Karen's current projects

Judy's show and tell of charity quilts

Belem's matching mini quilts

Lois' commission wall hanging

Sally's fabulous quilting

Keryn's latest quilt

Kathie's vintage inspired quilt

Libby's 2 quilts

Amandajean's spectrum quilt

La Manosa's baby quilt

Knot Garden's appliqué quilt

Nicole's blended log cabin

Margaret's Project Linus quilt

Longarm –specific Eye Candy

Judy's customer quilt

Fiber Art

Pam's latest postcards

Margaret's new bags

New postcards from Joanna

Garment Sewing

Carolyn's latest vintage summer dress

Tutorials and On-line Projects

Judy has posted some information on her star block of the month and she even added several color options

Sarah's tutorial for a chain of crochet loops – loopy loops

Summerset's appliqué tutorial

Other Interesting Stuff

Knits and Wovens crochet sun hat

Sarah's retro crochet with instructions

Wanda wrote up a great sewing machine needle tutorial in 2 parts, here and here

Another one off to the binding factory

This quilt was made by Wanda and is for Quilts of Valor. I just finished the quilting and it's off to Mom this weekend for binding. I'll take a full view photos when it's totally done.

Cute monkeys!

I'm lovin' the monkeys! I just had to get several done tonight so I could get an idea of how it's going to look all together. It's going to be ADORABLE!!! That 9-patch in the corner is made with the scraps. The fussy cutting is really hacking up the fabric so I'm trying to cut as many 3" squares out of the remaining fabric bits and I'll put them together into 9 patches and see what I get.

Meanwhile if you have been reading my blog for more than 3 days you might expect that I am spending waaaayyyyy too much time agonizing over Judy's new BOM project. This quilt is going to be mine so I want something that I want to look at for a long time. I've decided that I will make it more complicated by dyeing all of my fabrics so I had to come up with a color palette. I've pulled my color chips and spread them all over the floor, got out the colored pencils and colored several palettes and searched Colourlovers palettes for about an hour. Nothing. I finally searched through my stash for some inspiration and found this fabric to use.

I think. This weekend I will try to dye some fabrics to match this palette with the background fabrics being the buttery yellow/oranges and red. I'll see how the samples look and make a final decision. I think it could be very pretty if the fabrics turn out OK.

Quilting ADD (and stash report)

Let's get the stash report out of the way first. You already know that I bought fabric- it was 7 yards. I still don't have anything going out but I will as soon as Mom finishes the binding on my QFAH quilt. Then there will be another shortly behind it.

The current tally:

• This week IN: 7
• This week OUT: 0
• YTD IN: 117.5 yards
• YTD out: 156.5 yards
• NET OUT: 39 yards (Goal 100 yards)

Today I have been dealing with my hangover from my dyeing experiment. I've had a headache all day and haven't been able to concentrate on any one thing. So I've flitted from project to project.