Challenges....

.... are fun.

Who doesn't like a great challenge?

A few weeks ago I received this pack in the mail.  MQX is hosting a Charity Challenge to benefit the New England Quilt Museum.  The fabrics are sponsored by Sew Batik and are beautiful. The requirement this year is- to use the Bear Paw block anywhere in your design.  I know what I'm going to do... but finding the time will be a challenge...

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Below is my last year's Charity Challenge.The theme was Victorian Elegance and we had to craft something typical from the Victorian Era.. 

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Below is a Guild Challenge from a few years ago. The guild I belong to hosts a challenge every year. I've done every one since joining- kind of a personal challenge.....  This is a "Novel Idea" 

One of the things I like about challenges is interpreting the theme and seeing how others do, as well.

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This is "The Shape You Are In".  Also a Guild challenge from years ago.

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Another Guild challenge.
"How Does Your Garden Grow?" 
You wouldn't think of garden, when you see this quilt. I will have to post about it's interpretation some day.  I liked thiking about this quilt, designing it and quilting it. I wanted to remake it but haven't gotten to it.....  Still on the bucket list of challenges, I guesss you could say.

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Below is not a challenge, but finishing it was. I can go awhile before I quilt another circle.... I still have threads to tie off.  The background is a mottled black. Seeing the quilting stitch was/is a challenge... kind of like quilting in the dark. 

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And as some guessed... yup, below is an extreme closeup of a tiny section of my Fiberactions Challenge.  There are so many new online challenge groups popping up all over the place.  I look forward to watching other artists/quilters approach their new challenges.

I'm looking forward to this new challenge. I'm going to learn how to make this cool bracelet shown here. I love fiber, fabric, quilting and all things textile... however, I do need to take a break from it. Especially now, when I'm so busy with a lot challenging quilt deadlines. This will be a fun afternoon out.

I can't show you this....

.....until January 15th

..... So today I'll show you this. 

 I love it.

I made it using the vintage buttons, some costume jewelry parts, black pearls and an amber colored vintage crystal.

  All stuff I love to collect. 

  The amber crystal is from a bag of crystals and cabochons I picked up at a tag sale years ago.

Winter.....

.....arrived last night.

I tried to play with some settings on the camera to capture the snowflakes. 

Remember when there were only three stations on your tv (aka the olden' days)?  Around midnight the stations would go off the air, the National Anthem would play, you'd see colored stripes and then the snow static? 

This looks like hair.

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Out the window this morning was a winter wonderland.

The CPP was winter for this week. Perfect. 

More of the same....

Last month I went to the Ninigret quilt show. It was in a an old Armory.  Several of the quilts were draped over antiques and it gave the show a charming  feel.

  One of the vendors was selling Featherweight parts. He had a zig zag attachment and I had been looking for one, so I bought it.  I set the Featherweight up to do some zig zagging on the Nutcrackers.  It's the first time I used it and it took a few minutes, but after that - it was a breeze. 

It sews out a different looking zig than my regular machine, but it's fun to use and breaks up the monotony of all that zigging. The foot moves the fabric from side to side as opposed to the foot moving from side to side.

I think you can probably see the difference. I did the bag with the Featherweight. That's okay it's different looking, I'm not bothered by it. I just love the nostalgia of using my beloved Featherweight.

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Normally I would pull my threads to the back and tie them in to a knot.  In the interest of time, I'm pulling the threads to the back and dropping a blob of glue over them.  I'm using Aqua glue shown below. It has a fine point tip which works perfectly. I think this will hold up for this quilt which will be a wall decoration.

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And things have been so crazy around here it seems I've had only about 3 minutes to quilt. It's been longer, really. But, there is a lot of quilting on this black quilt so when the time is chopped up, it feels like I'm getting no where fast.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend...

One of the house elves reminded me "the blog needs updating."

Oh.  Let's see what I can come up with...

  Thanksgiving morning the guys went up to watch the high school football game. I stayed back to keep an eye on the turkey and get some sewing done. Instead of sewing I sketched a cornucopia. 

(I'm using it for this week's prompt-gratitude. Okay, I finished it before Jaye even posted... but it works, so I'm going with it.)

We had a nice Thanksgiving lunch and spent the day with friends.

The youngest had an art assignment: to sketch an action figure. So while he sketched his guy, I sketched my guy.  I thought in the New Year I'd like to look into taking a drawing class...

Little by little these guys continue to get faces. A friend stopped over and we had a conversation about the sashing and border.  While we were chatting.... the house elves quietly put the tree up. What a surprise! I'd show you, but all the lights don't work... so that is on tonight's agenda during the Celtics game.

And while the fabric guys were getting faces, the wooden guys marched their way down one by one.

Some went in for repair. It's always a long, hot, dry, off season in the attic. Stuff happens.

And while all that was happening this sat on the frame waiting.....

a face, a knot and a brain...

The first nutcracker got his face. I  lined the white fabric with interfacing and Misty Fused it to another piece of white fabric. Now you can't see through the white and it has a little dimension.  The teeth lines are drawn on with a fabric marker and will be stitched over with black thread.The eyes, nose and cheeks are fused.

All the parts of all the guys will be zig zagged over to hold them down.

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I think I picked up some new readers last week. I hope you have fun poking around and get inspired to try some things.

If you are new and are wondering what the line drawings are I show; click on the cow to the right. You will be linked to the Creative Prompt Project (CPP).  Each week a new word is given by Jaye. The reader can interpret the word in any way. It's been fun, challenging and gives mindless doodling a purporse on some days.  You should give it a try if you like to doodle.

And don't be embarrassed to post and show off your doodles.  It's fun!

Below is the Creative Prompt knot. 

Remember the big, wide (thick) ties with the fat knots? And what about the knit ties?  Wasn't there a little comeback of knit ties? Last year of so?

And this is the CPP core.  I've had the brain on the brain lately, so I used it for core.

And speaking of remembering, do you remember when Dr. Hfuhruhurr did some brain transplanting?

not much new to report

 Most of the Nutcrackers are completely dressed but are hairless and faceless. As I start to satin edge them down, I'll decide on the faces.  Still fussing with their angry looking mouths.   

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The finished table quilt.

It was fun to work on.  I recently had a conversation with someone about stippling as a 'fill'.  I'm not opposed to stippling. I still like it, it works.  I think traditional stippling has taken a back seat because there are so many beautiful fills being used. I'm not sure all quilts require the intricacy of beautiful fill work.  What do you think? 

(ed note- this quilt is Louise's see previous post.)

I decided why I don't post many finished quilts. Getting the quilting to show in the photos and look good is hard. Lots of taking and retaking pix. I'd rather be quilting.  These were taken with the side light on, overhead off and camera flash off.

Happy Quilting!

Spirit

Two weeks ago the CPP was spirit. I'm just getting around to it... and it's pretty lame at that. My intent was to doodle out a bunch of intertwined lines all over the page. It was going to be one of those pom pom things. That got boring, so I stopped here. And doodled a  gourd with the extra time I would have invested in the lines.

And keeping in time with spirit..... I dragged out this unfinished project. I'd like to finish it this weekend. It's for my son, who reminded me yesterday- "the Holiday Spritit is right around the corner." He is the Nutcracker collector and this was once going to be a surprise, but not anymore. Sometimes it's hard to go back to projects once they are put away for awhile, but this is so mindless it will be a good change of pace.  I need to figure out something to do with the faces. Nutcrackers can look so angry and I want these guys to look happy. So right now, they are faceless.....

And I'm asked why I don't show more quilted quilts....?  So here is one that is on the frame. Funny thing about this quilt is, Louise brought this to me and said "do whatever."....  A long time ago I had purchased this book and was going to make it for a Valentine's gift. I never did..... So now I get to quilt it as I would've.  That is a great thing about being a quilter..... I will never  make the quilts I quilt, but while they are in my care - I love them and quilt them as if it were my own.

more vintage buttons

I strung some beads and used more of the vintage buttons to make a necklace.

The glass buttons are hard to find. They are my favorites.  There is a tiny sweet pink button attached to the end by the key. And two tiny ivory buttons, the old threads still attached.

I love making stuff with these charming old buttons.
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Judy  chose the first theme word for the Fiberactions challenge. Go on over and read what she had to say. Then remember to check back on 1/15/10 for the 13 reveals!

Visiting Mulligan Lake

I worked on this yesterday and pieced the squares into the background. I don't love it, but I'm going with it. It'll be covered with trees anyway. I think eventually it will look better. I need to get the swans painted and the reeds made, that will give the foreground life and make me stop looking at the background.