Skull-tember

This is the month of skulls - mostly felt ones so far!  I am working to make Halloween In A  Jar to decorate people's desks at work.  Since there are about 40 people in my department, that's a lot of little felt sugar skulls!

Here's a little sampling of the skulls I've made so far.  I have about half done, and one giant one for me, to decorate at home with.

I am also considering - if I have time and felt left - making a giant wreath wrapped in black or black and white fabric and sugar skulls.  I'll hang it inside the front windows with some purple lights, and have Halloween wreath to show the neighborhood.  And I am also making a mantle runner for Halloween.  (think I am looking forward to it this year?)

I've also been working on a t-shirt quilt for a friend who does Scottish Highland Games.  She's got a lot of t-shirts!  It's been a challenge to find the right combo of shirts for front and back, and the right material for sashing.  I think I've done fairly well so far - uncovered thistle fabric for the sashing.  It's a nice neutral, but still in keeping with the theme. 

And just because, I've managed to actually start QUILTING things again!  I am hand-quilting Quilter's Moon - pics tonight, if I can swing it.  I am also getting ready to start quilting a lap-quilt sized springy-looking quilt that I made on a whim.  I will probably wind up taking it to work for my part of the Christmas gift exchange.  There were lots of comments last year about "what, no quilt?" and this is a pretty set of colors, but not my style.

I feel like I've picked back up my sense of creativity and such.  I've gotten some of the stress reduced, and feel a little more like creating.  I'm back to writing, sewing and quilting.  It's going to be a good Skull-tember!

There's just something about September; it's always been full of promise.  It's always been a favorite month for me.  It's new beginnings for school (even though school often now starts in September).  It's that big lead in to Halloween.  It's the promise of cooler temperatures (even if that promise takes a while to be filled).  It's all the fabulous upcoming days and social events and holidays.  It's not just the end of summer.  It's more.  It feels like my own personal spring.
 
 More pictures to come later today... and I'm going to try to be better about this whole blogging thing.  With reduced stress comes more time for making and posting about making. 

Meh. But soldiering on!



Not here... but about the mood!



Today is a grey, dreary day...  Work is busy (that whole paying job thing), and it feels like there is little time for making things.  I know that's not true, though.  I've been busy enough that I really need to get out to the studio and quilt for a while!  I have three tops done that need quilting - I have the backs done for two of them, so the only thing slowing me down is me!  (and housework, and... and... other excuses).

D. is sick right now - not too bad, but bad enough that she doesn't feel like doing anything.  And... there's a new kitten now.  Her name is Joji - she's part Maine Coon and part whatsit.  She's a handful.  I've decided her nickname is The Kitten Without Fear.  She explores, jumps, wanders, runs, careens, and has an unholy fascination with my eyes.  Seriously.  She pokes them when I am half-asleep.  When I AM asleep, she stares at me.  How do I know?  I woke up to find her eyeballing me from about three inches.  Not much more to see than kitten head at that distance!  But she's cute, and lively, and is already helping the other cat (Harper) lose weight!  :)  (I feel sorry for Harper, a little).

I've got a border planned out - just no quilt to go with it.  :)  I've made a sample in fabric, but no pics of that yet.  So... here's the rough sketch.  I'll show it as it takes shape, see what folks think of it!  So here it is.  It SHOULD work out the way I want - but since I've only made one diamond so far, it's hard to tell.  I will make a few more this week and see if they stitch together quite as well as the paper fits...  We shall see!

I'm halfway done with a baby quilt for one of the women at work - she's got a new granddaughter, so she chose fabrics in pink and purple.  Fortunately, I had most of it on hand, so the cost can be kept low low low!  It's also a simple pattern, since it's a baby quilt.  Big patches and bright colors.  So far she loves it.  I will quilt it this week and get it to her, since she's going to see the new one next week. 

I know I said I would post pics from vacation... so now I will!  Only two to start, but it's a beginning, ne?  First is the cabin in which we stayed - to me it looked like a little caboose!  It was cute, and comfy enough for a weekend stay. 

The little windows up top are at a sleeping loft.  There was another one at the other end, where I slept.  It was nice and quiet here, except for the pet pig in the area.  Yup... someone had a pet pig, and it sounded big!

We hit a nice used bookstore in town while we were there.  It was amazing to find a used bookstore that wasn't part of the HalfPrice Books chain!  Not that I have anything against HalfPrice, but still... sometimes you can find the offbeat and old old books at the other kind of used bookstore.  (I guess next time we go to our not-terribly local LQS we'll have to hit the used bookstore up there!)

And last but not least... the mountains.  We went to the mountains a lot.  And took a lot of pictures.  (Hey, I live in Texas... we only have mountains wayyyy out west!  This is a big deal for me!)

So that's what's been going on.  Things have been rough, but they are getting better.

Now if I can scrape out a little time for quilting, things will be even better! 

Tonight - the fabric store for backing for the other quilt, and get things set up on Frank for quilting.  Then I can bind them tomorrow and start delivering!  (Or at least figuring out what I am going to do with them all!)

Oh, and I need to start set-up for the next class... and finish the next pattern....

*sigh*

Back to work!

Shay

Quilting, old style

I have a handful of quilts made by other members of my family.  My sister made me one, my great-aunt made me one, and so forth... Quilting has been a hobby for female family members for generations - and more than a hobby before that. It was  a way of making nice looking, warm bed covers.  These quilts were and are beautiful.  And exceedingly utile.  They had a purpose, and that purpose was to be used.  They were used.  Loved, used, stained, washed, hung up to dry, used in grass as picnic blankets... it in no way denigrates their beauty.

The quilt made by my great-aunt is not made in colors I care for.  But it was made with love, with Gingher scissors and an old sewing machine that was so well-used that it flat out wore out.  It was in a cabinet, but the hinges that held it in place broke.  Instead of getting it fixed, she 'fixed' it herself with two knives wedged into the back to support the machine.  Neither knife is in great shape now, but they still support that old machine!

And the quilt she made for me is still in a place of pride.  It will be shown to the class at the beginning quilter class at the Anvil on Saturday.   It wasn't made with all the fancy tools I have at my disposal.  It was made with an old machine (not even a vintage Singer, oh the horror! [whatever]), with scissors, not a rotary cutter, with any old thread she had lying around.  It was made to be used.

Ultimately, isn't that the origin of quilts?  They are made to be used and loved.  I have no objection to wall quilts, or art quilts, or any of the other kinds of quilts that don't lay on the bed.  But somehow the heart of quilting still beats in those who worked with the simple tools - the things that everyone who sews have: scissors, thread, machine (or their own hands!).  Of the bed quilts I have made, none have used a rotary cutter.  I've never mastered that particular skill.  My machine is newer, but it's still nothing super fancy - I don't need fancy!  And thread.  Fabric from whatever doesn't run away fast enough to escape.  They aren't necessarily traditional quilts, the quilts I make, but neither are they wild and crazy multi-media quilts.  They are just... quilts.   Made to be used, and loved, and dragged around.  Old style, I guess.  Not vintage.  Not antique.  Just old-style.

Shay