let it snow

Its snowing again today. supposed to do the same tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday. yuck. Oh well, good to be able to stay in the house.

This is a small kokopelli I did for a challenge list. the word we had to work with was "connected", so I "connected" the segments of this small hanging with thread. The outline of kokopelli was done with glue and gloss powder, I think it makes him look like he is floating above the landscape.

This months word is "opposite" so I have several sketches and now have to decide what to do with it.

Ice Storm

We had a nice little ice storm over the weekend. The picture is the tree by our back door. The ice was Saturday and I took the picture on Monday morning. Brrrrr. The scene is made from a kit that I bought at Curtis last spring while we were there for the spring fling. Was fun to do and now wish I had done it sooner. I painted the windows and street lights with glue and then put gold powder over it so the windows really look like they have lights in them.

still alive and kickin"

The last 6 weeks have been the pits. In a good way and a bad way. In August went to the Ricky Tims seminar in Omaha, now that was really a fun couple days. Lots of new ideas to play with, but not the time to actually do it.
Next was CQC retreat, this year it was at Camp Moses Merrill by Schuyler. Way out in the country on the bluffs, what a great place that is to have a retreat. Motel type rooms and a huge work area that was well lit and food, oh my, the food was great. We even got a few of the recipes for some of the dishes served.
Next was Threads across Nebraska. What a wonderful 2 days that was. Helped at the silent auction table all day on Saturday and helped sell tickets on our opportunity quilt on Friday. Sara Dillow had a showing of some of her antique quilts. Past presidents quilts were shown and lots of vendors. Ah yes, the vendors, good place to leave your $$$. Although I was good only buying some fat quarters.
Now am rounding up supplies for the Hancock Fabrics retreat at Ashland on Thursday.

H finally is finished with the physical therapy that has been going on since last March, has new glasses to correct the double vision caused by the fall in July. Got the new water heater installed, fixed the hoses on the Mercury, brake line on the Chrysler and I don't know what else that has fallen apart the last while. grin. But now think most is repaired and do not forsee much else going wrong for a while.

Have made a couple purses using the rope technique and will try to get some pictures up soon.
So if anyone does read this, I am still alive and kickin' and will try to get some photos taken soon.

another week gone by

Another week gone. Went to a class on Tuesday for the fabric bowls. Wrap a bias strip around a cord and then sew into a bowl. I didn't get to far, but did learn the technique, so that is a plus. Thursday went to state fair all day. White gloved the show from 2 - 6, then went out and found something to eat. Peach on a stick---Actually was good. A peach is skewered with a wooden skewer, then rolled in a batter and deep fried. Cinnamon and sugar or powder sugar or both sprinkled on when done. It was sort of like peach cobbler. Then went and looked through some of the booths. Even passed up the cookbooks from the Morris Press Booth. $1, $2, $3, and$4, which really is a bargain, but didn't buy any.
Got home around 11 so was tired on Friday. Today is first Nebraska football game. It's on but I am doing laundry. Will watch the last 5 minutes and watch the clips this evening. that way see the whole game in a few minutes.
Hope to have something to post soon. Haven't had time to sew. Its actually been cool and less humid, so should get some energy back soon.

Hanging

OK not a real hanging, but hanging the quilts at state fair. There are over 450 this year. What a selection. I entered the raffle quilt in the two person catagory. Gloria and I did it, we got a yellow ribbon. Pretty good with all the competition there is at the fair. I didn't see if anything else got anything as all was not up when we had to leave. It was down to where there were to many hands and not enough space to work, so Sandi K and I left to get something to eat and head out for home. Sold another half dozen of the tee shirts.
Will go down on Thursday to see them all hung and tell who won the big prizes. My guess is Sandi McMillan will get one of the biggies. Her stuff is always so neat.
Stopped in Seward at the quilt shop. Sandi K needed sewing machine needles. I didn't get anything. What I wanted they didn't have.
Finally cooled off and stopped raining.
Sorry no pictures. If anyone can, take a trip to the fair, the quilt show is great.

still kickin'

Ok, I know I haven't gotten anything written in two weeks again!!!! This summer is still the pits, however, have been busy with lots of Non-Quilting Stuff!!!
Did get to the Tims Seminar last week though. What an eye opening experience. Learned a lot from the presentations by Ricky, Alex and Libby. Now to find time to actually put some of those new ideas into practice. So keep watching and hopefully will have something new up soon.

I have two projects from State Meeting to finish. They are close to done, but still haven't strung enough time together to accomplish this. Soon I hope.

went to Norfolk meeting last night. Oh my it rained, wind and some hail. Thought we might have to swim home. The wet pavement quit about 2 or 3 miles out of town, so wasn't a big deal to get home. Not one drop here. Thats OK though as we didn't need a storm. seems the front split and some went south and some north.

Need to go cook something.

poor neglected blog!!!

Ah finally I am back. This summer has been the pits. Its so humid it just drains a person to even go outdoors. SO I did manage to get these two wall pieces finished. I just took a printed scene and added the 1/2" black cross sections to make it look like I am looking out a window and seeing wildlife. I think they turned out kind of neat.

Have some other things in progress, but the heat has really sapped my energy.

Went across the street to the auction on Saturday. Ended up buying Aggies car. Its a low mileage Oldsmobile that we know was taken care of, so bought it. Will sell the old Chrysler. Its still a good car even though it is pretty old. Starts and runs like a top and has a heater that will drive you out of the car.

House sold also, to a local young family, so will have good neighbors. Its always a gamble when they auction a home.
State convention was last week, so spent from Wed. through Sunday in Omaha. Had the CQC quilt show this past weekend, got state fair entries sent in and next big event will be the Ricky Tims seminar in Omaha on the 17th. Then state fair. So will be busy until end of the month. Will white glove at the state fair on the 30th, should be fun.

Enjoy the pictures.

still here

Haven't had time to tend this for a while. Have had more pressing things. Do have a couple things that I will be ready to photograph soon.
Have been getting my things ready for state meeting plus, running the raffle quilt to different places, plus taking H to physical therapy and eye Dr, etc. So cuts into time. Garden needs tending and the heat and humidity do not help matters.

Oh well, next week will be State Meeting so will be having fun for a few days. always good to take some classes and see people I haven't seen for a year.

Hope to get more stuff up soon so don't give up on me.

The Flapper

This is called The Flapper. I found this design on an iron railing down in Oklahoma. Took a picture and then worked this design up using that as inspiration. It traveled in the Hoffman Challenge show for a year.

Haven't gotten time to write anything here for a while. Last week was busy, had to check out Country Traditions new shop in Fremont. Its nice, large and will have nice classrooms when they get finished.

Aurora quilt show was good, as usual. We went down on Saturday to see the quilts. Bought a few tickets on their small raffle items and won a kitty kit. So made that trip even nicer because I will have a memory quilt. Checked out the Picket Fence quilt shop in Aurora. Then on to York to the quilt shop and had lunch at Chances R. Thats always good.

Shirley is back from Nevada for a visit. Monday we had a visit day, Tuesday was quilt guild workday and today Shirley and I went to see Material Girls new shop. WOW, I love it. If you haven't gotten to see it yet, be sure to make the trip. Lots of samples that are well lit, lots of space to browse the fabrics, books, patterns , etc. etc. They are hanging our raffle quilt for a couple weeks.

So did not have much time to devote to the blog. Hopefully will find a bit more time this coming week.

Something accomplished again

Finally something accomplished. I got the idea for these silhouettes from a Dover book I purchased at the IMQA quilt show in Kansas.

If anyone doesn't know about Dover books, they are copyright free books that you can purchase for use in crafts and arts projects. Some have a maximum of the designs you can use free in one project or publication. so read the notice in front page of each book, as the number varies from book to book.

I'm thinking of working up a class to offer at next years state convention. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated on this.

The silhouette is cut from Kona cotton that has fusible web (the pattern is drawn on the paper side of the web) pressed to it. Then cut, peeled and fused to background, then a layer of black toule (spelling?) is put over the top, the piping sewn on and border added. If any of the cut areas on the design fray a bit, use fray check on a toothpick and smooth the cut area.

I may use this as my auction piece instead of the flowers I did earlier. I think I like this better.

Light color batiks make wonderful backgrounds. Next I want to try them on some hand dyes. Have a feeling this could become addicting.

IMQA show

Thought this might give other groups an idea. When our club lost its first member, we decided to have a quilt that would be a memorial to all current members. The names are inscribed when a member passes away. It hangs at out quilt shows each year.

Went to the IMQA show in Overland Park, KS this past week, what a wonderful experience. Lots of quilts to see and lectures to listen to, vendors to shop and just an all around good time.

Had a great visit with Sue and Cathy, so good to see them again. We usually only get together at Quilt Nebraska each summer. This year will get to visit at least 3 times. QNE and then the Tims seminar.

Omaha Show

Found one quilt at the show with exquisite quilting. The varigated threads were just great, Unfortunately lost my note with the name of the quilter. You will get an idea of what was done from the pictures. Saw lots of neat quilts, vendors were great and had a visit with June (Vogies) who I haven't seen in ages and ages. Was good to visit again.

Will leave tomorrow for Overland Park KS for the Machine quilters convention. Should come home with lots of new ideas. Its a huge gathering of all machine quilters. Will stay with Sue again, she so graciously opens her home to us "quilters from the North". Always so good to visit with Sue, Cathy and all our other new friends from Kansas.

Will get home late on Saturday, so hope to have loads of new ideas and "toys" to play with.

Blocks & thread painting

I did accomplish a bit over the long weekend. The flowers are thread painted and will be used as a fund raiser for the NSQG auction in July. I started out with a print from a fabric. Starched the fabric until it was almost like a board!!! Then put a sheet of computer paper under the fabric, dropped the feed dogs and outlined the areas to paint, with black thread. Next started out with the darkest value threads. Moved the fabric to cover the fabric print. I stitch the darkest area on the actual fabric and then worked to the lighter following the values on the base fabric. Used a combination of sulky, polyester, and cotton threads. Cut the whole thing out after pressing it flat. Now its ready to stitch on a background and add border and quilt.

The block is the result of the 9 patches I was cutting a few days ago. First you stitch a nine patch that will finish about 5". The next step is to cut that 9 patch down the center vertically, then across horizontally. This makes 4 small squares that look like a square with rectangle sashing plus a tiny cornerstone, Then these are stitched together to make blocks. I have squares cut for 11 blocks and will need 9 more to make a throw. I pressed the seams open on the nine patches and on all the seams in the blocks. Eliminates bulk at the joinings.

I think this would work on slightly larger 9 patch blocks also. This will be something to try in the future when I can spend more time cutting. Goodness knows I have plenty of scraps.

Someone Smack ME!!!

Pulled a stupid today. Rotary cut some 9 patches into squares and irritated the Ganglion Cyst on my left wrist--- again! I KNEW I should not do this for longer than 10 minutes, but OH NO, I had to cut for about half hour. Now that nasty little cyst is hurting again. OH well, live and learn. Does make me angry that I did this, as now it will set me back with healing the little devil for another week or more. grrrrrrrrrr.

Taught a class today

Spent the day at quilt club teaching a class on Slice N Dice 4 patch. Lots of pretty tops will come from the days work. Forgot my camera so couldn't take pictures of the projects, perhaps some will bring them to next club meeting and show them.

Beautiful day even though it was windy.

Second Blog

A couple more flower picture to share, The orange is of course, a Poppy and I am not sure what the purple flowers are, can't remember the name, Guess its a Sr Moment!! Enjoy

To all who read this, I have started a new blog for recording the recipes from my grandmothers handwritten cookbook. if you would like to see this go to www.RecipeRiot.blogspot.com/
I hope I got that right, plan to post some recipes almost every day for a while. I have two spiral notebooks with the handwritten recipes. The books are so spotted and fragile thought I had best record the recipes before they all disintegrate, a few will be lost as parts of the pages are gone.

Spring

Ah spring is finally here when the fern patch is growing, the iris and phlox are in bloom. Thought I would share a few flower pictures with you all. These are also inspiration for use in the quilts I do.

The fern patch is all along the north side of my studio. Its about 10 ft wide and 30 foot long. They really are a sight when fully grown later in the season.

Iris are my favorite flowers ---however so many winter killed this season. Not sure I will replant as it gets harder to do the work every year.

The phlox were started from plants across the street before they tore the house down and destroyed all the plants there. They spread a bit more every year. This type grows about 3 foot high. Someone told me they were wild phlox, but do not know if this is true.

Haven't gotten a lot of stitching done lately, but have been sketching in my sketchbooks. Mostly haven't decided what to do with black and white quilts. Think I may do one of each and just name them Negative and Positive. What do you think?

Its been beautiful weather here the last days. into the 80 degree range during the daytime and 50 ish overnight.

The wild mama kitty brought her babies to our garage, when they get a bit older will take the mama to the vet and get her spayed and give the kittens to humane society to find homes. We will take her back and continue to feed and care for her. I finally tamed her enough to pet her, so shouldn't have to much trouble catching her when the time comes to take her in. She has two black/gray kittens and one bright orange kitten. Cute little things and want to get them good homes.

Mothers Day

Exploding Bear Paw #2 This is a plaid version of the exploding bear paw (blue and white) that I have posted earlier. This is such a fun quilt to do, may have to make one more so all my kids get one of these quilts.

Happy Mothers Day to all Mom's --Will be rather quiet around here as yesterdays graduations will serve for Mothers Day visits too.

This is OK with me as I am a bit tired too.

Will be a beautiful day here in central USA. Actually will be a bit to warm as temps are to be in the 90's. To hot for me, but we don't control the weather.

Want to spend a part of today trying to cut something out. Wrist is still giving me problems, but it slowly is getting better.

Graduations

graduations are over--both went well. Went to the 2 o'clock ceremony, did a quick stop at the party after, then off to the second graduation. Got there just as they were getting home from the ceremony, so made the party after. Both grandsons understood that I couldn't be both places at the same time.

Finally accomplished something this week, Did samples of two color ways of blocks I have had in my design book for ages. Found the negative/positive fabrics on a clearance sale, so just had to try them with this design. Had planned to use both in a quilt, but now I think I will do one that is mainly the negative print, and one the positive print.

class

Have been running again this week. My online class starts on Saturday, so will keep me jumping for a while. www.quiltuniversity.com class is Drunkards Flowers. A combination of applique and Drunkards Path pieces.

Accomplished exactly nothing this past week, well did get the club fund raiser quilt blocked and tickets made, so guess that was something.

Two grandsons graduate next weekend. Of course in different places and one hour apart so will have to miss some of both celebrations. Will go to the 2 pm commencement ceremony, then drive to the other where we will get to the party after the ceremony. Thats the way it goes though.

Will try to have something interesting to show soon.