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



Progress in many things... and still working.

Making progress in the weed garden!  (eventually we will finish chopping down the wild greenery and lay a black tarp over it to kill off what we can).  This will be converted into a container garden area... herbs, etc.  And not a place for yellow jackets and feral cats to hang out.  We're making progress.

Also making progress on the green wall.  It doesn't look like much right now, since there's still a ridiculous amount of honeysuckle.  We'll have to trim that back soon, too.  Anyone want some?  Lord knows we have it to spare!

Our neighbors on the honeysuckle side - we had to borrow their lawn clipping bin this week to get rid of the remains of greenry and the leaves hiding underneath - were so happy that we're keeping up with the green wall.  The house was empty for a couple of years, so it got a little out of hand!  But we're quiet and tidy and try to be good neighbors. 

Also making progress of the next quilt top: Ninja.

These - currently untrimmed - are the four corners of the outer border.  They will be throwing stars.  :)  Because I can.  I should finish the top by the end of the weekend.    It will be all in shades of brown and gold, with bamboo print.  Tonight it will be the thin gold inner border, and then the outer border!  And then I REALLY need to sit and work on quilting instead of piecing!

Progress has also been made on class prep - I made samples for the steps last night, so I'm ready there.  A bit more clean-up and we're all set.  Got fabrics, instructions, and ready to go.

The one area I am slow to make progress in these days is my own personal outlook.  While I generally strive for positivity... sometimes it isn't so easy.  (Duh).  I look at other quilters' work and wonder why I am such a terrible quilter.  (Generally, I know this is not true.  But there are days....).  I have a perfectionist streak in me.  And if I see something in my head, I want it to look like that picture.  Unfortunately, the ADD tends to get in the way of that... and I am never Dis-satisfied with my end projects... I just fall prey to the "why can't I be better??" 

But the truth is... I am getting better.  I am working at my skills, accuracy in measuring, cutting, stitching, etc.  And everything I quilt gives me that much more experience!  So I AM getting better.  That's progress.  It's just slower than I would like.  (Well, OTHER people get better faster!)  There are days that I don't like my inner voice.  It is very critical.  That's a given - most of my friends have the same issue.  We know what it feels like, so there's no need to belabor that point.  (And it's not just about quilting, either.  It's quilting, costuming, writing, etc. etc.  If there's something I do that's creative, there's always someone I know personally who is better than me.). 

I come from a stubborn family.  It's got its benefits, certainly.  My parents today are celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary.  That's a good kind of stubborn!  I earned my stubborn... and it's serving me well in this area.  I am not quitting.  I still write.  I still piece and quilt.  I do things and I improve when I do.  My costumes are - I think - getting better each time.  And the time I spend angsting over the fact that I am not as good as I think I should be is getting less. 

So that's progress. 

PS... "Angsting" is an interesting-looking word.

Hooray! Top Done! The sequel!

Well, kinda, anyway....

It's only throw sized - about 60 x 60.  And it is big chunks of fabric, so it's not as though it took forever!

But anyway...

Here's Crop Circles.

It's very basic, as stated.  When quilted, most of the sections will have parallel lines - rows and furrows.  However, a few lucky sections will have crop circles quilted onto them.  It sounded like fun when I drew it out!  So, we shall see!

Like Molten Glass, it's a very simple pattern.  Dimensions are easy to work out, since it's all basic math.  Now all I have to do is quilt it.  And then, if I think it will work, turn it into a pattern as well.  :)  Build up my stock of patterns!  (Get good drawings of crop circle designs to offer a variety of fancies!)

So, get in line, Crop Circles... at this rate, you have some time to wait!

And... because I said I would, here are pictures of the Weed Garden of Doom.... it's actually a lot better than it was.  That bare area was all overgrown, too.  I pulled up a lot of low-growing cedar of some sort, and lots of treelets.  Now to tackle the monster in the middle!  (We are intending to plant an herb garden here if we can conquer it).

 

 

And the Green Wall - the part that we tackled and removed trash trees from.... yeah, the driveway is still a bit messy.  We're getting to it.

 

(Yes, that's the neighbor's roof.  We're on a hill)

 

 

And the part we haven't gotten to yet.

 

Scary, huh?  Lots more in the tree department.

This is turning into a very GREEN post... good thing I like green!

Enjoy yourselves, and hopefully I will have more to post soon!

S





Hooray! Top done!

Good morning, superfriends!

I've finished another top!  This time, it's Molten Glass.  I mentioned it a little before, and put the hammer to the forge and knocked it out.  Here it is, sprawled out in the yard outside the forge, relaxing after being put together.  It had a hard time, you know, being wrestled around the forge between the layout board and the machine!  When I laid it all out in the sun, the batiks looked like damask, and made the entire thing look almost shimmery - which is fabulous! 

The black offsets the red corner squares nicely and gives it a little separation that it needed.  It's all of 123" x 123".  Should provide plenty of drape for my bed once it's all quilted - having an 18" mattress can sometimes be a pain!  When I am done with Boston Molasses, this one will go on the hand-quilting rack to be done.  It's too big for Frank!  Besides, I am going to quilt phoenixes into it - that being a theme with me.  So hopefully I can get Boston Molasses done faster than a snail laying tracks and get this one on the rack. 

In addition to Molten Glass, there was yardwork this Sunday, trimming down the great green wall to allow some breeze through.  We left the honeysuckle alone, but took out a lot of the trash trees that are growing up through it.  We've still got work to go in the weed garden, but we made a good start.  (Oh, golly, the weed garden... low growing cedar that's in terrible shape, some kind of monster shrub that just eats up everything, a few small oaks, a few small pecans, and lord only knows what else!)  If the light is good later, I will try to take pictures. 

Today it's all rain and storm - the sun is usually up by now, and it's as dark as night right now.  Rain is a good thing in Texas during the summer, though, so no complaints from me!  (Does make me want to be out in the forge, doors open, working away).

This week will be working on the next top - Crop Circles - and trying to start work on Bostom Molasses Flood again.  And trying to track down quilt pattern publishers.  Or go to etsy.  We shall see.  Etsy might be the first and easiest way to go. 

And - on the 23rd - Class #3.  So there's prep for that to do still.  I am always excited about the classes!

Oh!  This past weekend we made a few more quilt stores we hadn't hit before, too - those that are a little further afield.  And most of our travel was backroads, which was nice.  Saw lots of horses and cows, and a handful of goats.  Found some goat fabric - been looking for some for a while, now, and was thrilled to get some finally!  And took a few pics.  If I'd remembered to upload them, I would post them!  (So, tonight, then!  Along with pics of Crop Circles layout, at least!)

Until later, superfriends!
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