The Perverseness of the Universe

Good morning, Superfriends!

As many can attest, once a person makes a decision about things, the universe shifts, and those goals are no longer so easily reached.

Naturally, once I decided my goals - life happened. 

I haven't given up on them - oh, no... I'm far too stubborn for that!  But it might take me a wee bit longer.  So be it.  I am stubborn.  Seriously stubborn.  And so I am NOT going to quit.  Nope, not this girl.  I have better things to do than quit.  Sometimes, life makes it a challenge, but really... what would life be without a challenge?

In the meantime, we've fired up the old testing schedule at work, so there's less free time until, oh... January.  Hooray!  (Overtime is good money, right?)  I enjoy the testing part in some ways, but it does take up my time!  We're probably working 6 days a week until December.  And of course, now is the time that my brain goes "Oh, hey!  I've got these lovely ideas for a quilt!  You should totally make these!" 

I would love to make a steampunk hippo quilt.  I haven't figured out how yet, but it's percolating in my brain, along with the other new things.  My list is growing and growing! 

But, I am still plugging along, working as I can.  If I listed all the quilts I have in planning stage, I would just be overwhelmed.  I DO have a list, but it's kept on a spreadsheet for my sanity.  Right now it's sitting at 98 quilts in various stages: planned, designed, in process or done.  17 of those are done.  Currently I am sitting at 18% completion.  I keep shooting for higher.  Eventually.  Maybe.  :)

I am also testing one of my patterns for accuracy.  I want to see if it can get accepted in a quilting magazine, so I wanted to be certain it would do!  And, since I was making a test piece, I decided to do something a little different.  A little more modern.  It looked muddy until I added the blue.  I intended to go all black and white, but I think I have too much grey.  The blue helps, though!

So that's what I've been up to, superfriends!

What's up in your worlds?  What's currently challenging you?  Does life get in the way of quilting and crafting?

S

Onwards! Fruit, birds, and quilts

Good morning, superfriends!

I am keeping to my goals -  so far.  I have quilted on Boston Molasses Flood at least a little each night.  I have also planned out three (sigh) new quilts.  So, those go on the list for "someday."  At this rate, I won't have to worry about running out of ideas!  Even if I don't have another one for five years, I think I'm set!

Today is luau day at work - jeans, hawaiian shirts, decorations, food day, etc.  I volunteered for fruit, but because I am me, I couldn't just plop fruit on a plate and go with it.  No... not this girl....

Behold.  The fruit bird!  Pineapple body with pear wings, a banana head, and plumage of strawberries, cherries and grapes.  Hooray the fruit bird!

I put this together up here at work, and people kept stopping by to watch and make comments about how it's amazing how creative I am, and how they would never think of things like that.  One even asked if I'd taken a class on it.  (That one blew my mind).  I told her I'd seen a picture, and figured out how to put it together.  She looked at me as though I'd grown two heads.  To me, this is a bird made of fruit held together with bamboo skewers.  Apparently to other people this is something they would admire, but never even think to make.  Something too difficult.

I guess quilting is like that.  Actually, I suppose a LOT of life is like that.  Things that are simple to one person are amazingly difficult or even unthinkable to other people.  What is simple to me, not so much to others.  Likewise, what is nigh-on impossible to me is probably easy to some people. 

Tonight will be more quilting and such - and prepping Quilter's Moon for a small road trip.  We're going to a picnic this weekend, and it's going with me.  Just in case I get tired of talking and need something to do with my hands.  Or something.

Oh... what is Quilter's Moon?  Oh, yeah.  That entry crashed when I tried to post it.  So... Quilter's Moon.  Improv pieced moon of creams and whites on a dark blue starry background. The improv piecing came from an article in Quilty. I am immensely enjoying this magazine! 

 

The background color doesn't show up very well in this shot - it's considerably more blue than this.  But this shot does show the detail of the moon.  I am reasonably pleased with this as well, and now have to buckle down and quilt it! 

 

 

S

Inspiration photos and such

We went to the zoo in San Antonio... got to go to a short talk about condors.  It was amazing!  They have two, and they have bred in the past, but no longer.  Apparently they got a condor divorce.  :)  They live in two different exhibits now; we got to meet Daisy.  She is being trained to follow a certain stick so they can move her into her cage when they need to.  She doesn't fear humans - she was raised by them, so she has a tendency to want to play instead of get in the cage.  Can't say I blame her!

One of the other things we noticed at the zoo was the number of statues that you can actually climb on!  They have little signs warning that the metal statues can get hot in the Texas sun, but other than that, have fun!  I thought that was amazing!

One of my favorites was this one:

 

Steampunk hippos!  They were adorable!  The live hippo had a new (to me) exhibit behind glass so you could watch it swimming around, but he was having his breakfast while we were there.  The old hippo enclosure is now for a capybara and a tapir. 

 

 



This is at the Japanese Tea Gardens - looking almost straight up into the top of the pavilion.  It was amazing.  I wish I had a better camera to grab better shots, but this one isn't too bad.  I'd love to recreate this in a quilt - the beautiful geometric pattern and the different shades of wood.  It's like looking up into a flower unfolding above. 

 

The pavilion from ground level - it's amazing.  Everything is limestone from the quarry the Tea Garden is located in, and it's chaotic and orderly both at the same time, organic and formal.  It's an amazing balance, and I adore it!

 

I did indeed work on Boston Molasses - got another complete row of quilting done - both parts of the "wave" of molasses, so I am reasonably pleased.  Got it rolled up a little more and started the next row of "wave" as well.  So far, so good.  Now for shower and working on pineapple.  (Not a real one, a stuffed one for a luau at work).

 

Goal Setting and Things Accomplished

I am setting new goals for myself, in several different areas.  The first is health - I have a weight loss goal - not for looks, but for health.  I would like to lose another 20 pounds by the end of February 2014.  I'm giving myself plenty of time, because I want it to stick!  It will be a little easier because D is also losing weight - again, health reasons.  So we're shooting for eating less, eating the right things, and doing more. 

I am also setting new goals in the sewing and quilting arena.  I am setting a couple of goals here.  The first one - finish Boston Molasses by the end of September.  Once that is done, start working on Crazy Diamonds.  Finish that one by the end of January 2014.  (They are being quilted by hand, and neither is a wee thing, so I am giving myself time).  If I manage to quilt the smaller ones as well, all the much better.

The second quilting goal - blog about what I am doing every day in the month of August.  Even if it's just a little, I am going to try to have something up EVERY DAY.  Hooray!  (And it's cheating if I post things I did several days ago.  It's got to be do something and post every day.).  Quilting and sewing related, obviously.

In order to make that second goal, I am going to have a bit of a run-up.  I will post (hopefully) more often henceforth.  I have ideas, and goals, and stuff!  I have things to say!  And by golly, I intend to say them!  (That almost got typed out as By Gollum.  Can you tell I'm a LotR fan?)

I got a lot of inspiration this past weekend.  D and I took a trip to San Antonio.  It was my mother's birthday, and I thought it would be fun to surprise her.  (Which I did, and it was fun!).  We did a lot of running around as a family, which was nice.  We haven't really done that in a while.  One of the side trips we took was to Las Colchas - which is a FABULOUS quilt shop in San Antonio.  If you get a chance, oh quilters, you should go!  They have a wide array of fabrics in a converted house, and it's just stuffed to the gills.  If I had unlimited funds, I could spend all day in there getting fabrics cut. 

They also had a lot of fabrics that I haven't seen up here in Fort Worth.  So... needless to say, I did some buying.  I don't have an immediate use for the things I bought, but still.... I know I will use them! 

D and I also went to the zoo and to the Japanese Tea Garden.  Both were amazing!  Both are built in an old quarry (as are a lot of things in San Antonio). but neither of them resemble quarries.  They are gorgeous!  The zoo has made a LOT of improvements since I was there last.  We were among the first people in the Tea Garden when we went, and so we got to meander around without lots of people barring the way.

The flowers were in full bloom, and butterflies flitted about.  Again, because we were early, the lizards were scurrying around doing their thing.  The koi and turtles were happily swimming around the Tea Garden.  It was a very pleasant morning, and afterwards, we got to meet my parents for lunch before heading out.

In a lot of ways, this trip was a little hard.  We went on a trip last year for a long weeked, and while it was a great deal of fun, the day we got back my cat died.  So I was a little leery this time.  Nothing seemed wrong last time, so that didn't give me much encouragement about THIS time.   But all was well when we got home.  Joji jumped off of her perch and came charging to meet me, and didn't hold any kind of grudge over our absence.  (Although she's been eating my toes every morning since).

 

At any rate, we are home and all is well now.  Still catching up on sleep - the weirdly cool weather (for July in Texas, rain and 80's is cool!) is helping, though.  And in the meantime, I am still working away in the forge getting things made.  I will post about them later today, when I have better pictures.  And maybe a few more pics of San Antonio, too.

 

And I have gained more inspiration from the San Antonio trip as far as quilts than I expected.  That's a nice thing - it feels like a long dry season that's finally coming to an end.

 

See you later, superfriends!

S

So many quilt tops....

Happy Monday moring, superfriends!

So many quilt tops, so few finished quilts!  (I SHOULD be working on Boston Molasses Flood... instead, I seem to have fallen into working on the next top... Bat Flight.)

It will be a throw sized piece... I just want to see how it will all go together.  This, by the way, is only a test piece... the fabric is not speckled.  :)  No leopard bats!  D is still piecing hers, and rather than leave her in the forge alone for hours at a time, I started piecing the next quilt.  So... Bat Flight.  There will be multiple bats, of course.  One would be silly.

Last year we went down to the Hill Country here in Texas and went to a bat emergence.  It was... impressive doesn't really cover it.  The sight of all those millions of bats zooming around the ever-darkening sky in a loose trail was amazing.  If everyone was quiet you could hear their wings fluttering.  They made elegant swirls through the air, circled a big tree, and headed out for their night of bug-eating.  I wished them the best at the time, and thought that I would love to make a bat quilt.  It has taken me a while, but now I am getting there!

Working on Bat Flight does mean that the previous quilt top is done...  yup.  Here it is...

Ninja!  The gold almost glows in the sunlight - next time I will put it more in the shade!  :)  The border will have ninja throwing stars  quilted into it, and there will be at least one ninja in the main body of the quilt.  Masters of concealment!  It'll be a "find the ninja" quilt.  :)  Mostly because I can, and because it's practice for another quilt I want to make that requires a lot more detail and a lot more effort.  So Ninja is my test piece.  If I can make a ninja appear in the quilt, I will be happy.

And yes... we had class!  It was a small class, due to illness and lots of other things going on.  We'll have a make-up day, so it will all even out.  Even with the small class, much was accomplished, and I cannot wait to see finished projects!

The weed garden is almost gone - we will finish it up this week and get the tarp over it to kill what we can.  Hopefully the Texas summer will do the rest and by fall we can get containers in there to have a nice little kitchen herb garden going!  More pictures once we finish that off...

Tonight we might get our hanging chairs up so we can lounge in comfort  - in the hot Texas summer.   (No, really...we're fine.  There's plenty of shade.  I can lounge outside and read with no problems).  And then... maybe I will get an arbor to put outside the forge... once I figure out how to anchor it to the concrete.  My goal - make the outside pretty!!  I'll do it, too!

S



Quilting Class again!

So, it's getting on to time for another quilting class...  Time to start thinking of the next thing to teach our lovely group of ladies who are of all different levels.  (I love it).   Fortunately, the thinking is the easy part.  The planning of the rest of it - not so much.  (The when, the fabric, the writing out of instructions for those who prefer to have written cheat sheets, the step-by-step versions to put on the design board....)

This time, we're going to cover quilt as you go projects.  Starting with a nice basic one.  Table runner/bed runner...

Here's a little sample I whipped up tonight: the semi-kinda-patriotic-colored thingamajig!

It's dirt simple and not bad looking for something I didn't spend too too much time on.  An hour, maybe?  And a little time for the back binding by hand?  The ones we will make in class will be bigger, but the technique will be the same.  An easy-peasy project!

Obviously I spent time in the quilt forge tonight.  It felt good!  And in addition to this little sample, I worked on Molten Glass.  I've got half the rows pieced together.  Just need to finish the other four rows and then add the sashing between the rows, and I will have the top done.

Which I guess means I REALLY need to finish Boston Molasses, so I can bind it and then get Molten Glass on the rack.  *sigh*  And so on.  (I need to quilt faster, or piece slower).

Here's the first four rows (well, some of each row, anyway).  There will be horizontal sashing in black as well, to separate out the red blocks a little bit more.  When done, it will be just over 10' square.  So far I am greatly liking it... and hope that the trend continues!

While stitching, I have been watching/listening to/laughing at Japanese giant monster movies.  Right now I am working my way through a three-disc set of Gamera movies.  Giant flying turtle, anyone?  (Which is great fun... although makes me want to make a hexie quilt of Gamera, complete with jets coming out his legs).  It certainly passes the time well, and keeps my brain occupied on several levels.

Now I curious, though, and will have to check: did Gamera ever fight Godzilla?  Seems like they should have... I will poke around and see, and post later.

Here's Molten Glass lines from the side.  It shows a bit more of the size, if nothing else.  It's only 64 blocks, but with the sashing, it's big. As mentioned before. 

 At any rate... wanted to give first looks at Molten Glass.  I like it.  And ultimately, since it's for me, that's the main thing.  I get to make it to MY desires, and I like the flame and heat and warmth of it.  The black in no way diminishes it - just breaks up that large chunk of red. 

I look forward to seeing this one done.

Guess I better get busy, then!

See you later, superfriends!

S

Three Month Hiatus??

It feels like I've been away forever.

Well, in a way, I have!  Scarborough Faire started up, and so my sewing time went down the drain.  Any evening time was eaten up by the day job, where we had testing to do.  Lots of testing.  New costuming, and then add to that the fact that I made a chemo quilt and 5 quilts to raffle for fundraising for the friend for who the chemo quilt was made... there wasn't much time for doing other stuff.  We spent last weekend cleaning up the forge, and now we're back at it.  Finally. 

If anyone out there is stuill reading this, I apologize for the long period of silence.  If not, no biggie.  :)

I've managed to get all 64 blocks pieced for my next (Personal) quilt.  For me.  Hah!  For my bed, no less!  It's based on the same pattern as Sea-Glass, but it's in phoenix colors.  And will have black sashing - that's my goal for tonight, cut out all that blasted sashing!  And start sewing again!

And since the forge is now clean again, we can start gearing up for the next class.  We're going to do a quilt as you go project, to introduce new skills.  Hooray!

This is one of the quilts made to be raffled off.  It is made of every kind of material and every weight, backed by a silver-gray moleskin.  The blocks are from costumes from Scarborough Faire (because it's all for one of the women out there).  The back contained more blocks that weren't quite the right size and would have been hard to adapt. 

The woman who won the quilt wanted it VERY badly - and I was thrilled she got it.

The other quilts were less spectacular, but no less wanted by people.  My Binary quilt went - quite popular, which made me smile, as well as three log cabin variations in several colorways.  Those were pieced by a friend who said "Here.  Add these in."  So I backed, quilted and bound them.

I was greatly pleased to do it, and I hope it helps out my friend.  But it SURE did take up the time!!!

So now I can get back to the normal updates, and back to the quilting and designing!  And tonight I will pull Boston Molasses back out and see what I can get done.  And start looking at other people's blogs again.  I feel like such a slacker.

Cheers!
Shay

Another one bites the dust!

Or at least gets finished!

Good morning, superfriends!

Look!  Finished ADD quilt!  (Yes, it's actually done).  This is more a personal exploration of how my quilting feels sometimes.  A wonderful detailed plan, ideas.... and then it all stalls out when I come to the actual creation.  I know that people with ADD can concentrate very well when it's something that is interesting.  And I do - but sometimes... things just don't work the way they do for other people.  So here is the ADD quilt: the quilting gets less as it goes, and the binding... well... it just peters out.  Rather like my enthusiasm for a long project.  :)  This one is small, so I COULD accomplish it in a timely manner.

And of course I've started a new quilt.  I've got most of the fabric sitting in front of me right now, just need to cut and such.... we'll see how far I get. The best part is that I can use only fabrics from my stash - no buying of new fabric!!  I can start whittling down the stash again!  (That makes me VERY happy, as our stash is about to overrun the two long shelves we've set aside for it!) 

Work is gearing up with yet another project, and I will apparently be involved.  Which MAY mean working 6 days a week - I should find out today.  10 hour days, 6 days a week.  The overtime will be nice - but it will certainly cut into other things (Faire) if it happens.  I should find out today.  I am a little nervous, torn between Faire (which I love madly) and Work (which allows me to do faire).  Who knows....  I will after our 6 hour training session.  SIX HOURS!!! 

I bought myself a Kindle Fire for my birthday - inspired and urged by my parents' gift of an Amazon gift card - the perfect prezzie, really.  It's a wonderful thing, and I am enjoying the heck out of it.  The only downside - it's WAYYYY  too easy to buy books that way!  (Not a HUGE problem, but one I am going to have to watch!)  I bought three last night!

Anyway... more about quilts later.  I am going to be busy! 

Oh, yeah!  And I am working on Boston Molasses again!  Hooray!!

Oh!  (sheesh - the post that never ends!)  AAQI - The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative - is going to be ending this year.  Apparently they are really close to meeting their financial goal of One Million Dollars.  (Wow).  So they will only be accepting quilts for a few more months, and selling/auctioning them off for a few more past that.  So if you want to get an AAQI quilt and help support research, better look into it pretty quick!  Right now I've still only got the one out there, but there are two going out by next week.    Here's the link for those who are interested: http://www.alzquilts.org/  Go forth, look, buy, and offer support.

Okay, I think I am actually done with this post now. 

Shay

2013 Goals and Plans

I started making my list of things I want to accomplish on the quilting/piecing front last night....  I feel like I must be nuts.  Crazy, even.



BMF



On the "dear heaven I need to finish quilting this!" front, my goals for the year are:

1. finish quilting Boston Molasses Flood

2. finish quilting BST

3. quilt Crazy Diamonds

4. quilt my Dead Me quilt

5. My sister's quilt (need to do this one quick, too!)

Not too bad, except two are bed-sized quilts, and being done by hand.  *sigh*

On the "piece piece piece" front....

1. Molten Glass (currently in progress)

2. Wonky Sun Runner

3. Gatchaquilt (a brand new one that has leapt madly to the front of the line.  very pushy, it is).

4. Sun Phoenix (applique... why do I do this to myself??)

5. Hex Bird-Tree

And on the smaller scale list....

1. Complete all my block swaps in a timely manner

2. at least 2 more AAQI quilts.  (1 already planned....)

Now, looking at it, it doesn't seem like much.  12 items, 12 months.  But... I know me.  It won't work like that.  Even if it did only take me a month to hand-quilt a king-sized quilt (which is NOT going to happen).  We'll see if I can reach my goals.  If not, so be it, but I wanted to get it down in black and white so I can refer to it when needed.  And... it will keep me honest, I think.  I know other things will get added to the list, but this is my first of the year working list.

And of course, faire will be starting up soon.  The show starts in April, but we prep earlier than that.  And I will probably make a new bodice this year.  Nothing else garb-wise, but at least a new bodice.  And yarn things.  Because Penelope Weaver must have yarn things. 

So, we'll see how I fair on my goals.  Tonight - work on BST - it's smaller! and maybe on the Molten Glass.  We shall see.... (unless I pull greens and browns for the Hex Bird-Tree... See?  This is my problem.  Too many ideas, too little focus!)

Shay

More pics

So whilst sorting through the vacation pics and so forth, I found this one... the close up of a flower.  It's not too bad, considering that I am NOT a photographer.  I tend to rely more on my mind for memories instead of pictures.  *shrug*  But for whatever reason, this set of flowers stood out for me.  They were pretty, and the only color standing out from the myriad shades of green and brown.

I am considering using the colors as a quilt... but I am still hashing out the pattern.  (Naturally... too many patterns, not enough time!)  But right now... I am mostly working on the other one inspired by the trip.

While wandering across Arkansas, we drove through yet more mountains.  We came around a mountain and down (wheeeeee! like a roller coaster) and all of a sudden there was gorge and bridge.  Normally, no big deal.  Except that this bridge (and how I wish I had a picture, but I was driving, so THAT would have been a bad idea) was all patches.  It must have been old and/or well-traveled, because there were so many patches on that bridge it looked entirely unstable!  It was fine, but the crossing was a little nerve-wracking.  When we were safely over, I thought "hm... a patchwork bridge...."  So now in my head I have a picture of a quilted bridge with trees rising all around.  If I can translate that to fabric, I shall be quite happy!

But first....
1. Stained Glass pattern (in black and white) to be quilted.
2. Baby Quilt to be quilted
3. finish quilting Little Moo
4. finish quilting Boston Molasses Flood
5. finish piecing Crazy Diamonds
6. finish testing Diamond border

Gosh... there's a lot to do!

Shay

Boston Molasses Flood

As promised, here is the alternate color way for Isaac's Storm, called Boston Molasses Flood.  (Actually, BMF came first, but it's still being quilted.  Yay for hand quilting?)  This is an up close and slightly wonky shot of the quilting - since it's all about the Boston Molasses Flood (ew!) that sent a wave of molasses through parts of Boston in 1929 (If I remember correctly).  It may have happened in January, but the wave moved fast and struck hard. 

Other than that, it's Monday.  Which means work.  I have a migraine and really want to be at home sound asleep, medicated... but not today.  Too much work to do!  Maybe I can leave early... I hope.  If not, so be it!