Happy Earth Day!

Things are waking up in the northeast.

These guys are starting to eat again. Still a little shy; but by the end of last summer they were eating out of my hand. Little Goldy is the most social and brave so far.

This is Stinging Nettle.

It started to grow in the perennial garden last summer. I got into it by accident. It's noxious to the skin. Thinking it was something else this past weekend, I went to yank it out and sadly remembered what it was. I did pull it out, and here it is back 3 days later. Not sure how to completely get rid of it without killing all the other stuff off.... It has a shallow, invasive route system. It will grow tall and has microscopic razors on the leaves.

Quilter's influence

The QOV is quilted and will go back to Annie.

Before cleaning up the scraps from the crazy ink project, I put together some cards. Simple, quick and fun.

....And because somewhere along the line I learned -never return an empty plate-....my friend, who bakes us goodies all the time, will get the cards on her plate....

A few years ago I found this phrase (by anonymous). I was head of Programs for my Guild at the time and one meeting we did a 'tips and tricks' night. I use a bamboo skewer in both my sewing and quilting on a daily basis, so I made these up and gave them out as favors. I will send this to Annie when I return the quilt to her, as she will finish this quilt with binding and pass it along to QOV.

More Inks

The Tsukineko inks were used to color in the above image. I know, I thought I wasn't going to use them this way again, but then I thought about these neat images. The image above was traced from the book of patterns and instructions for American Needlework. I picked up this box of patterns at a flea market several years ago. It has $5 penciled on the cover, though, I know I got it for something like 25 cents. I love to find old stuff like this. (Now that I say that, I should be careful using the old word.. it's copyright is 1963... I am older.) The colored blocks are from another quilt that didn't work out, so I cut them apart and pieced them back together with the white scraps. It is rather boring right now, I admit. But, I will continue to decorate the white areas with the inks, add lots of quilting and embellishment. I think this will be my contemporary crazy piece for Crazy for Quilts. Check out the info for the Alliance for American Quilts here.

I purchased my inks at the MQX show. They can be purchased as a kit, or in individual pots. The kits come in various colorways. A search for Tsukineko inks will probably bring up quite a few purchasing options. If they are available at craft stores, I would guess they would be with the scrap booking supplies.

Tsukineko Inks

Finally, I broke down and bought a set of Tsukineko Inks. (The Romantic Color set). Not wanting to be left wondering.... 'why did I buy these?' I had to try them out. I doubt I will use them in this way (from start to finish), but I think they will be perfect for adding shadows and blending colors for art quilts. They were more translucent than I expected. They felt much like markers.

I put a blue wash to the back ground because the white was too distracting. I like this better. There was some running of the colors, though, it didn't bother me. I don't know what I'll do with this, but I had fun messing with my new inks. ...... (and then the sideways image, not sure why this doesn't post straight) .....

It's a Winner!

Thomas' "Kids Can Quilt" entry earned a 4th place ribbon at Machine Quilter's Expo. I'm proud he took on the challenge. It was fun to see the kid's quilt exhibit.

Tomorrow's quilters.

And, real men can quilt.... There was some phenomenal work in the special exhibit made by men.

''Ode' to Lukie'

A tribute to our little, blue parakeet earned a second place ribbon in the charity challenge.

It's a little stressful entering a quilt in a show, filling out the paperwork, finishing on time, sending the quilt, etc.... But it's all good in the long run.... and if no one entered quilts in shows, there wouldn't be shows to go to.

Baby's quilt

A cute, little, baby quilt.

Amy is a relatively new quilter and does precise piecing and beautiful machine embroidery. Around the border twinkle - twinkle..... is embroidered.

So sweet.

A QOV sent to me from Annie. I will quilt it, send it back, she will bind and send it on it's way.

The Day

~From the frame~

~From the feeder~

~From the pond's edge~

~From the backyard~

~From the sewing room~

~From the ball field~

Simple Gifts

.....the new lanyard using the 'right' fabric.

..... something for the olden golden. She will appreciate it, but couldn't be bothered with the photo shoot.

.....the long overdue BZ bag - For our gal pal who helped make the QOV.

....for our gal pal, too.... not only can she sew, she can run circles around any soccer playing guy!

.....to me from a friend. Too pretty to eat, but we will.

Happy Easter Weekend.

Using the Scraps

There's a new driver in the house and it's important (so I hear) to have a stylish key chain. The peanut gallery wondered, "Is it a good idea to have a homemade key chain?"... Had he forgotten it was this mother who had made this child a Christening suit out of my Grandmother's antique table linen? And I wasn't going to make his first key lanyard? The result: "Hey, this is really cool, because you made it for me - but the colors are wrong." So we chose a black and red from my fabric pile, I agreed, that will work better. Finished photo to follow.

While the scraps were out, some postcards were made up.

And an eyeglass case from the pattern shown here.

The Journal

The finished journal made from the fabric I won on our weekend away. It's for Coral, who put together the weekend plans.

I made the pattern. Basically, it's a quilted rectangle of fabric, pockets for the journal to slide into, and binding. It's like covering a text book, making sure there is enough give in the cover to be able to close the journal. The actual journals are from the discount store where I buy the pool shock. I happened upon them, they were dirt cheap so I stocked up.

Pages from my journal.

I'm a doodler. I try to doodle or sketch something out everyday. I put down ideas for projects, customer quilting designs, practice out those designs, or just doodle. Recently, I think it was on a PBS special, I saw something about how doodling can strengthen retention during informational lectures. Interesting. Something to do with using both sides of the brain in tandem without really thinking about it.

My journal is paper. I have several, actually. I like paper, I'm a paper person. I used to love to schlep my Smith/Corona typewriter around to do my reports, back in the day.... Until my husband, (boyfriend at the time) hooked me up with his sweet Mac. Woa, I was quickly addicted to technology. Gone was the dorky typewriter; in was the new Mac. I was hip, in, cool and I could cut and paste with out scissors and glue. Until- the canon ball of death. I hadn't learned to save stuff, yet. Back was the dorky typewriter and White-Out. Okay, so things eventually got better, I do use the computer for some stuff.

Again, I'm hip, I'm in, I'm tech savvy.....

(or at least trying)

Husband bought me a computer tablet last week, trying to keep me up to date and revolutionize what I do. I got myself all hitched up. It took awhile with a little frustration, but I did it. I was doodling and sketching on the tablet. Knowing that practice makes perfect, I played around with it quite a bit. I was doodling and sketching quite famously, but I couldn't get over the feeling of backwardness. How could this be? I was in the now, this was to be easier than my ancient concept of paper and pencil. Why did it feel so backwards? There was nothing natural about this, I was relearning to draw everything I already knew, I knew.... Then I realized - I had the tablet reversed. I was drawing backwards.

Anyway....