2016 Quilty Wrap UP!

In the few minutes of quiet this morning... (new Puppy, introductions coming soon), I want to share the last couple of quilts... 

I made and quilted another QOV (Quilt of Valor), very similar to the first one. I just have to put the label on it and it is done.

One of the guilds I belong to had a newsletter mystery. All the clues were delivered in the newsletter  over 8 or 9 months and we were able to work on it at our own pace. I chose to make the throw. It would look so much better if I had read the first clue correctly. It suggested to cut the scraps from medium and dark fabrics. I let some lights slip in which muddied up the look a bit. But it will make a nice top to practice longarm quilting on!

And lastly.... a Sparkly Chickens Quilt. It was pulled together from blocks we swapped in 2009. The label tells who made which block and the rules for the swap. I set the block in South Africa... and would certainly made some different choices for fabrics and the chicken arrangement. I did share with the others that they should either quilt it themselves or be prepared to loose their longarmer over the beads. Oh, my... they did pose a problem.... in some places. I won't pretend that the quilting is perfect, but from 30 paces on a galloping horse it looks fabulous!!! It is hanging over the balcony... in the family room on display.

Next up news on the puppy... name, size and color.... antics and all the particulars. A teaser picture... perhaps?

More Later-  Beth

Strips, Duty and Wasps

Lately… I have not spent much time in my sewing space… other than to make a bit of a mess. I actually had a mess in several locations… I mentioned before that I was organizing and participating in a strip swap. I had the cutting and sorting station in my sewing room, the arrival station in a spare bedroom and the shipping station on the dinning room table. I have shipped out the strips to everyone, so now I can play with mine!!!!

I needed these additional strips so I could have a bit more variety to make some blocks. I have made a test block… and this is where we are going…. with all those fun bright strips. Gave up trying to rotate this guy straight… you get the idea! I was going to mix the fabrics regular cottons with batiks, but I think now it will be all batik.

 

And, Ouma Duty. The 2 year old DGS (darling grandson) had a break from Daycare with his Ouma from Wednesday evening through Friday evening. I just didn’t want to waste the time or gas driving back and forth daily so he stayed the duration. The other reason, is that he would be staying over for 4 days next week and I thought he might need to be eased into …. time away from his parents. Nope. He adapted beautifully.

I did get the camera out a couple of times lately, in my own back yard! First up, some Red Aphids on my basil. It was interesting… they all stayed together… and if I moved the plant they would all move, nearly as one to maintain their location.

My backyard is pretty sparse as far as plants go, but I do have a rather large hydrangea. I love to look at the flowers and complexity of the different types of Hydrangeas blooms. There are so many different varieties now. In this picture with the Black and White Wasp known as the Potters Wasp- black and white body with blue wings, you can see the disturbed pollen falling.

I also saw this wasp on the same plant. Called a Northern Paper Wasp- who would have guessed that there are so many different kinds of wasps? In this picture you can see the centers of the hydrangea flower… large petals, with a much smaller center flower.

Yes I like nature…

Beth

Heat, UFOs & Strips

Lately I haven’t been in the sewing space very much! In July it was just too blasted hot up there. July was hot and then a heat wave and then just plain hot again.

We have two air conditioning units for this house. The one for upstairs, bedroom level and the sewing space, had been having difficulty before the month long heat set in. We had the A/C repair folks out 6 times before it really got hot, and when it would run nearly all day and still not be able to bring the temps down very much, I just turned the a/c off up there and didn’t spend any time in the upper levels. We have a basement room, that never warms up, so that became the bedroom. We moved a spare bed down there, where it will stay. Is it perfect? no, but it is much better than trying to sleep in a room that just won’t cool!

Temperatures are finally better, but I still haven’t spent much time actually sewing.

Ah, but I do have a project in the works! As I mentioned somewhere before, I am trying to deplete the stack of Un-Finished Projects, that have accumulated for various reasons. So far, I am turning one UFO, into two and have started another….  My idea for completing part 2 of the UFO will require a variety of brightly colored fabrics…. and to not have to buy each fabric… I decided to organize a strip swap! The little time I’ve been in the sewing space, has been dedicated to finding suitable fabrics for strips. The swap is nearly complete, but let me just say…. YUM! I hope to begin playing with those beautiful strips later this week. No pictures yet…. of the project, but they will be coming soon! I have enjoyed this swap so much, I might just have to do another!!!

Wednesday, was a sew-in at the local guild that I joined. It is in lieu of a regular meeting…  I have a baby quilt due sometime in September, so I thought I would work on that. Actually it is the beginning of every baby quilt I make in the future. I have decided to make a variety of 9 patch blocks, and the leftovers will be the beginning of the next baby quilt… Since babies need stimulation, and generally only see black and white early on, I am going to supply the black and white for the babies.

PICTURES!

I am still revisiting the pictures from our visits to Kruger National Park in South Africa. One of the most amazing adventures I have ever had. Above is the Lioness portrait. These ladies, along with some other adult females, young adults and adolescent cubs were just finishing up a breakfast of zebra when we found them. They are looking at lunch, a small herd of Wildebeest (Gnu) in the distance. Lions never pass up the chance for a meal… they did give a half hearted chase of the Wildebeests…. but they were full and it was too much work, so they faded off into the long grasses, for nap I’m sure!

and

Three of the young adults… do you see the onlooker hoping for a scrap? The grass is over 2 feet tall where it hasn’t been crushed. Oh the onlooker is a vulture. There were also quite a few of those hanging about…. waiting for the leftovers. They are not as pretty as the lions… trust me!

More Later- Beth

Jacaranda Quilters of Pretoria

Yesterday was the winter Friendship meeting. There are only 3 a year. These meeting are the equivalent of the end of year meeting for a monthly guild in the US. There are lots of vendors, -many quilt stores are run from homes here, and going from shop to shop can really eat up a day. So the friendship meetings are for shopping as well. The meeting starts at 9, so the vendors have to get up awfully early to get here and get set up!

Like any quilt guild meeting there was a short business meeting and then, we had a program on color from a member of the guild. There are usually demonstrations at the meeting too, but this time we built a color wheel, that we used during her talk, when she would describe the relationships of color. A very useful tool.

The meetings are also a small quilt show. The small group that I belong to, Kwetterkwilters, and another, Frangipanis, were charged with procuring the displays. Each group showed off some of the things members made -projects, challenges or round robins. It was obvious once our display was up that the 7 of us are NOT afraid of color. Our group put up, last years birthday blocks (miniature log cabins), this years challenge (12x12 Word), miscellaneous small quilts, along with a few larger ones and the postcards that we have all received so far!!!

The postcard display was a favorite among the members. We each pinned our postcards to a ribbon and hung the ribbon over a black background. It really made all the colors pop.

The first stand has the Miniature Log Cabins (birthday blocks) and the last stand has some of the groups smaller pieces. Since I didn’t have much in the way of group projects, I took my Black, White & Bright quilt, and was surprised to win ‘Viewers Choice’. It was quite fun to win!!!

This may well have been my last Jacaranda meeting… The next one is in October. I have met some really wonderful, warm and very generous ladies through quilting. I am sure glad I am a quilter.

More Later!!!

Beth

A Little More Quilting

I’ve spent a little time in the sewing room these last few weeks. Nothing monumental… like a huge quilt… just a bunch of small projects.

The first weekend in May the Kwetterqwilters went on a Retreat. They had a small cabin with 3 bedrooms, kitchen, dinning area and a living room. Not much eating went on in the dinning area!!!! I went up for the day, Saturday with one of the other members of the group. I was going to work on my postcards, but forgot to pack the silk. So I was the slave and did the chores…. pin basting, seam ripping and dishes.

The smallest project was postcards. Round 3 of the International Swap. There is a theme for those that need one -‘Where You Want to Be’… and this time I did not use the theme to make mine. The general idea… is the Sky or Aurora Borealis… I am showing just 2 here…. The fibers are silk tailings, from what I can’t remember the vendor telling us. They were acquired at the last IQF Chicago Show 2010, (before being relocated to Cincinnati Ohio in 2011). My friend Karen (she blogs here) and I saw these brightly stuffed bags of loose silk threads for $2 per bag. I bought two!!! I had fun attaching the fibers to the Peltex with a few anchoring stitches and then using beads and findings to hold more of the silk in place. These were fun. These postcards will need to be sent in sleeves.

I also made 2 Birthday blocks…. Both were houses.

Marinas was first. She had some specific requirements. It had to finish at 6 inches and the house had to have a red roof. The block is a little bigger, so Marina could cut this down and square it up herself. This is an original design and was lots of fun to make. I wish I had thought to cut away some of the fir tree so it wouldn’t show so much under the house.

The other house was for Hester. She didn’t have an restrictions!!!! This is a semi original design. I have a line drawing of this house, but it is about any inch big, so I had to redraw to a larger size…. and things changed a little. I did consider putting some smoke coming from the chimney and a door knob, but thought maybe that might be added with the quilting… so I have left that up to the recipient.

 

I have also been busy waiting for fabric!

It takes so long for it to arrive in the mail (2-3 weeks). But, when an online shop, takes the order and then waits a week or more to cut…. the wait becomes much too long. I have been waiting for blue fabrics. I thought I had picked a bunch that would go together, (even used the design wall of an online shop to see all of them together). Well When the fabrics arrived…. some major issues, so I had to order more. Once enough

arrived I got busy… making 3 baby ‘boy’ quilts. One of my favorite quick patterns is the Disappearing 9 Patch… although it really isn’t all that quick. It does make a really nice quilt. I got the tops done, but trying to find a crisp blue and white fabric for the back was a huge obstacle, to make matters worse, when I did, they were either out or didn’t have all I wanted. So 2 of the 3 are done. The first one goes to a fellow my DH works with. His first child was born last month… a whole month early. More about where one of the others is going…. in another post.

Waiting for backing #3, in 2 more weeks, (well and a few stash builders for ME!) I am still up in the sewing space, making another birthday block today.

More Later- Beth

Quilty as Promised!

The Kwetterkwilters are exchanging birthday blocks this year. The first birthday up was Lynette, in the first part of April. The pictures aren’t the best, because I used my phone… but once again… I didn’t have a better camera with me.  The first picture is all the blocks. She received. Can you guess which one I made?

Lynette chose birds as her theme. She did not even restrict if the birds had to be realistic or comic, just birds. There were no other restrictions on her block theme, not size, background or colors. Just it had to be a bird. Her plans are to make a wall hanging. I  think she has a great start.

If this is the block you thought I made, you are right. I chose a stylized peacock, so I could use lots of green and purple fabrics. Both are Lynettes favored colors. The little chicks block is my favorite though.

Lynette was not the only one to receive a ‘quilty’ gift. I received one too. The other Kwetterkwilters presented me with Twinchies back in late October, after I shared my small stash of postcards, Twinchies and 4x4’s. But one was outstanding. Isn’t it just wonderful? Definitely worth waiting for!!!

…. the last quilty project for today.

I have organized a small International Postcard Swap. Total of 21 players. We are just now moving into the last round of the swap. The photo above was my postcard for round one. We have a theme, for those that need/want to produce on a theme. I actually knew what I was going to do… before the theme…. and would have done this anyway. The theme was “Where You Are”. I put a little Swarovski Crystal to represent …Pretoria, South Africa.

These are the postcards I received in Round 1. There are only 5 displayed because one refuses to arrive. The maker has made 2 and mailed them both. They only have to come across town… but…. they don’t get here! She has said that the 3rd one will NOT be mailed. For many of the participants of this swap, it is their first try at postcards. I say WoW!

And if you are still with me. This is my 2nd Round postcard. The theme was ‘Plant’.  A native plant here is the Aloe. There are so many different varieties.  Mostly red or yellow flowers, long stiff leaves with a serrated edge. I also entered this postcard for the ‘Teeny Tiny “Bling Your Thing” Challenge’ over at IHAN there are 4 or 5 pages of entries, use the Archive to find all the pages (1/2 way down on the left side of the page).

Tonight we unveil our next 12” x 12” challenge. PASSION. I can’t wait to see what we have all come up with for that!

More Later- Beth

PS- Thanks everyone for all the comments on my Sad Post, they really helped! The void isn’t nearly as big and I am thinking of making a fabric portrait… from the posted photo.

Postcards!

Well it's now January... and things here in South Africa are getting back to normal. South Africa takes the Summer Holiday (which also includes Christmas) very seriously, and very little gets done from about Dec 15th through Jan 15.

Several  others on the Internet have indicated that they wanted to be part of the Postcard swap with the South African Quilters, if you are one of them… then please let me know, in a comment or email.  We are ready to get underway!!! Anyone else want to be a part of this? It is open to any one, not just Pickles so if you know someone that wants to join... please pass along my email address. I will close sign ups on Feb 5.

Rules will be simple.... Kicking off in the first part of Feb. 4 weeks to create, and then mail. Theme is your choice, all the same or all different. Groups will be between 5 and 10 members, dependent on the number of players, few plays big group, lots of players small groups.

These are some of the Postcards I have made in the last few years. As you can see nothing fancy! So if you ever wanted to give them a try, now is the time.

Last of August

We are nearly at the the end of August. Where did the month go? I mean really, one minute we were looking at the end of July and now the end of August. I have been thinking a lot about ‘this time last year’ and how to mark the differences or note the changes.  No solutions yet…. still thinking.

DH is gone again, and has been for 2 weeks. Maybe home next week or the week after… no firm date as yet.

I have caught up with the Sparkly Chicken Swap blocks “Receivers Choice”… they are going in the mail on Monday as are 2 more gifts…. Of course no photos… because I want the recipients to see them first…. I can however post my swap block for the ‘Fiesta’ Chick. Originally I wanted to do bright pieced block in primary colors, but that did not work out. My piecing skills are way off and I just was not meeting the vision. My true inner vision of  “Fiesta” is warmth and sun or beer and lime , a la Baja Mexico and Southern California. That was the end of creativity for me….

and how you say was that the end of creativity? At work the other day I broke one of the cardinal rules of cutting; ‘Always cut away from yourself’. I was using a utility knife, and was cutting toward myself. BIG mistake. Sunk the blade into the thumb muscle of my left hand. Very little blood, but plenty of pain… and 2 very ugly stitches later. Do you think some day that we might get a choice of color for the stitches? You know maybe compliment the skin tones, or at least a really nice shade of say blue or purple or maybe lime green. Nothing looks worse than puckered skin and black stitches with long tails. So not much in the way of of other stitching activity here.

I do have some new toys to help pass the time. Sometime in late June, my iPhone was giving me connectivity and reception problems. Like stating no carrier… and to resume I would have to turn the phone off and then let it power back up…. a very long and time consuming process. So I bought a new phone. An Android Desire. I think I like it better than the iPhone. Not as many Apps yet, but most of the important ones are there and there are some that are better and built in. The other new toy, to match the new phone is a Tablet, (a gift from DH), The XooM by Motorola which as I recall uses the Android platform. Anyway…. it is similar to the iPad, but doesn’t have the Flashplayer restrictions of the Apple platform. I love it especially for the web based applications. Displays much better than the iPad, has some cool function fly outs and has USB input as well. I can read books (Kindle), listen to music (still have to transfer my iTunes library over), send and receive email and of course surf the Web.

And since not much in the way of other pictures… more birds.

Black Collared Barbet - are generally very shy…. not good photo subjects.

I think this is a female Cardinal Woodpecker. It was beating at the bark like a woodpecker…

 

More Later-Beth

Recently in the Sewing Room

I cannot believe that we are finished with the first week of July!!! Next thing you know it will be Christmas!

I received a swap block, from the Sparkly Chickens, and I’ve had it for a month now.  It is just the cutest take on a ‘Paisley’ don’t you think!!! It is so cheerful and bright. Jean B. the maker has the most amazing imagination. Everything I have received from her has a simple twist that is truly her own mark!

I also received a postcard from Oregon! Becky (blog is here) took a detour into

fabric postcards this earlier this summer and has made a few. I think she has a new addiction. She sent me one of a Bird, because I feature so many here? I have it on the wall where I can look at it all the time! I love it. I have a plan to reciprocate… and a new series of African Postcards! More on those when I get to them.

I have put the UFO Challenge for July, #2 on the design wall. It was a challenge project from a guild I belonged to back in the early 90’s in Chico CA, called Annie Star.

I don’t know if the guild is still in existence. The chairperson of the “Music Challenge”; who I can still see in my mind but her name escapes me set forth the rules.

About the only thing I can remember is it had to be based on a song and as I think about it… I think that was the only rule.  In looking at what I could do and what it needed… I think “eliminating” is the way to go on this project. Now to the borders.

In the mean time I have finally completed the swap block for June. I had a terrible time with my original idea, which was going to be brightly colored pieced block with a Lemoyne star as the center. I could not get the center to line up at all. I made 3 blocks and they were all off… so I gave up. Then I had difficulty coming up with a better idea. But in the end I did, but alas no picture until the recipient sees it first!!! I like it, so I hope she does too. One of the ‘off’ blocks was turned into a Journal Cover… and I think it is destined to become a gift for Christmas in July. Except for the black and print fabric, it’s all hand dyed fabrics.

A  month ago, (maybe more) I was messing around with a journal cover… and made this one.  Nothing special… just wanted to sew… and this was easy. Laid the strips on in a flip and stitch… so it was layered and quilted at the same time.

 

I spent a few minutes in the sewing room today… but I am sponsoring again, and I had to make ready for them. Food and niceties in the house to say welcome!!!

 

As Usual, More Later-

Beth

Flowers and Sewing

Of course I have to start with a couple of pictures. I keep trying to get a some that say Winter!!! but so far no luck, so I will show you these… that are just nice.

One of the ornamental garden trees is the ‘Bottlebrush’. Also called Callistemon salignus, a member of the Willow family. It is a familiar plant for me because growing up we had a Bottle Brush Shrub in our yard. I really liked the yellow butterfly and the red blossoms on the tree. Aside from the butterfly, bees and birds really like the nectar and the tree usually has lots of company.



Back in September I took a picture of the Coral Tree which is a surprising thing to see. The bright orange flowers cling to bare branches, then the leaves come, but I don’t think they are as interesting as the flowers. But the other day I noticed the seed pods.  You can see a few in this picture…. but nothing but seed pods in the next picture.






The look a little alien… don’t they.

I can reveal the “Happy House” block that I made for the Sparkly Chicken Swap, because Sandy got hers in the mail the other day. I had so much fun putting this together…  I can just picture the happy family that lives in this house… Mom, Dad and a puppy named Mozart… Can’t you?




I have been working diligently on my April Challenge…Judy Laquidaras 2011 UFO Challenge but alas it’s gone as far as I can… so I don’t think it will be done on time. I have once again been thwarted by the inability to run down to the local shop for what I need. It takes me 2 to 3 weeks to receive any items I order. Since I really didn’t know how I was going to quilt it… I didn’t know what thread or how much I was going to need when I started, (you see that I don’t have much left… on the spool). 

So since I will now have some more time (I have ordered a spool)… I may change my mind about the binding.  The picture is showing it much more red than it is… but I think I would really like a pinker maroon to finish it off. I wish I knew what the next number was... I'd get started on that with the extra time I have.









I’ve been doing a few other things… and will of course tell you MUCH more later 

-Beth

Hodge-Podge Post

Last week was sort of hurry up and wait… with the impending and threatened Government shut down. Of course my job is not ‘essential’ so I won’t have to report to work if they don’t come to a resolution.

I have been busy again in the sewing space to kill some time. I have another Swap Block ready to go… so no pictures yet -the recipient has to get it first. However I can show you the last Sparkly Chicken Swap Block, because the recipient has received hers. Her theme was beach, so I did a very typical beach scene.  Does it say beach to you?

I have also been working out the quilting I am going to do on the April UFO, from Judy Laquidaras UFO Challenge. I have a plan and I hope it goes as well as I think… and do what I want it to do. I made the top back in the early 1990’s, when I was a member of the Annie's Star Quilt Guild in Chico, CA. It is the second of two. The first I hand quilted and I don’t want to do THAT again… I have an idea of what I want to do… so now I am working out the details… and then I will begin.  I have changed out the poly batting to a cotton and spray basted. With DH on the road again, I will be able to quilt as needed.

I have, also-- finally gotten caught up on an International FQ Swap I am a member of. I was waiting for some fabric I ordered to arrive. I waited and waited and waited (from a US store that does online as well, I am just about fed up with them… and the backorders), and finally all but one piece is here, but I have time to get that one still. I have received some great pieces of fabric from all over the world since being involved with this group.

On Thursday last week, I had a short massage on my left shoulder and neck. I wanted to try Shiatsu and see if helped. Oh YES!!! I am thinking I may set up a regular massage appointment to see if I can get my neck and shoulder to relax long enough to get past the tension. I was a little reluctant to try massage again, as the Chiropractors massage therapists… did not ever get deep enough to do much good… I have been managing my neck and shoulder issues… without a chiropractor for more than 2 years with very little pain or discomfort, and few headaches.

A little about South Africa- It is fall here. Not that there has been a real noticeable change in the weather, at least not that you could say… it’s fall. A few trees are showing some color change or leaf loss - the poinsettia trees are beginning to get the red bracts that we see on the small shrubs at Christmas (in the US). I keep trying to get a good photograph, but so far no luck. Maybe a trip to the Botanical Gardens is in order, possibly next weekend. But I think the slight chill in the morning and evening air is the biggest change.  Enough that if you were going to be outside for a bit, you might want a sweater. The day time temps are still upper 60’s or lower 70’s so it’s still nice in the sun.

Well the Government did not shut down, so I must go to work.  Until later, and as always… there will be more later!

Beth