spring fever

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.  ~CharlesDickens

so at lunchtime I sloshed around in the yard, feeding the birds,  investigating and looking for spring.

i love to save thread and fabric scraps  for the birds. 

today i bundled them into the green, net bag the avocados come in.

it's been a long, busy winter and i'm thankful.

but i'm ready for some green.

and speaking of green...

i finished the last quilt for the quilt show on the 13/14 of this month.

it's Michelle's quilt.   

it's a huge green and cream Irish chain.

the results are in...

....from our dying day. 

Saying I love these new fabrics would be an understatement.

This photo includes the Egyptian cotton, the cotton  napkins and table cloth cuts.

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A few decorative napkins and lace pieces.

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The crocheted table cloth pieces.

The green section was really gross looking when I took it from the dye to rinse. I almost chucked it - but I'm glad I didn't. Here you can see I've already started to use it!

...but you will have to come back on 3/15 for the Fiberaction reveal to see more.

And here are silks.

Sue had given me a silk blank which is the tangerine piece to the left. The others are fat quarters of Dupioni silk. 

I recently bought a pair of pinking sheers at JoAnns with my coupon. I used them to cut my fabrics before dying.  I loved how the edges came, without the bird's nest after being washed.  I forgot to pink one edge of the silks and they really got chewed up in the wash/rinse.  The pinked edges were perfect.

"dying" to take a break...

Instead of quilting- today Kathleen, Sue and I got together to dye fabric.

Sue mixed up this huge selection of colors for us to work with.

I didn't really have a plan so I  just went to work mixing and combining colors.  I brought  half yard cuts of Egyptian cotton, vintage linens and an ivory crocheted table cloth. 

I did quite a few purples,  a really great nuclear green.....

...the usual obsession of pinks....

...a yellow and a few cool shades of blue.

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I mixed a few trays of combined colors. 

This particular tray of color was affectionally named "yikes".

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Both Sue and Kathleen put some lengths of fabric around pvc tubes, then added the dye to it.

Here is one Sue did.

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And here is a piece Kathleen did. The red was more of a fuchsia in real life.

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The hard part is waiting the time to rinse my fabrics. I can't wait to see the new colors! 

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But for now its time to get back quilting.

...inspired by color

My friend Deb's quilt. 

 She raided her stash and taught herself to applique. 

She then taught her daughter. When this quilt is finished they are giving it to her daughter's friend.

A rainbow of color and

a beautiful gift!

The border fabric is a brightly colored batik.  Deb thought feathers would be pretty along the border and said "Oh, I've never had feathers on a qult before!" So I gave her a double set. 

I love doing double feathers, all kinds of feathers for that matter.

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Below are some of my first twirling feathers on a Guild challenge. I made it 2 years ago.

The quilt hangs in my longarm room, but I took it down to get it ready for our quilt show in March. We exhibit our challenges from  the past two years.

  When I looked at it up close I decided it needed some extra quilting in the areas between the rays....

 - I'm not sure what to stitch there. And I think that is why I left it unstitched to begin with (that, and the fact I ran out of time that year.)

What do you think?

More or leave it alone?

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Pretty enough to eat.  So we did. 

A surprise delivery from a friend.

Delicious!

and

Thanks!

operation pillowcase. . .

My friend Debra is collecting pillowcases for Operation Pillowcase.

I told her "You can count on my son to make some pillowcases during school vacation."

It got to be Wednesday of this week and with play time, snow time, sports time and down time we hadn't touched the stack of fabrics yet.

Yesterday afternoon we got set up and started.

Together we worked. I cut the fabrics and pressed, he stitched the seams, finished the edges and flipped  right sides out.

After a few finished cases he asked "Can I keep this one?"  I liked that the sometimes surly, really 'cool' acting preteen still saw the value in a simple handcrafted pillowcase.  But I reminded him of our mission and why we were making the cases.

 After awhile I could tell he was growing tired of the sewing.  And even though there were more fabrics to stitch, I didn't want to press my luck. It was time for him to do something else.  But before he went off,

 we stacked and counted our work. Together, we had made 12 pillowcases. 

I knew he was proud and I was proud of him.

When he wasn't looking I made him this.

Today is a new day and I think we can easily tackle the next stack of fabrics.

I mentioned Operation Pillowcase to the women in Guild. I know a few members will be bringing cases to the meeting tonight.  My friend Susan dropped off a stack she had made.  Working together I think we can help Debra put a dent in the next call for cases. It looks like they will need 500 for the next unit. 

....is this your favorite quilt?

I get that question a lot from my family and friends who might see a beautiful quilt in my house or on the frame.  This one, though, might just be an all time favorite. 

First, it's red and white and I love that combination.  Especially now, with Valentine's Day around the corner. 

But, also, it's my friend Sharon's.  She's been crafting this for a loooong time. We've been together on many sewing retreats and sewing days when she's been hard at work pulling her fabrics from the boot box and meticulously stitching them together.   

And last but not least. I offered a quilting job up for an auction our Guild hosted last year. We were raising funds for the Jimmy Fund (which supports cancer treatment in children and adults through the Dana Farber clinic in Boston.)  Our fundraiser was in support of our friend's son who has leukemia.  Sharon won the auction with this quilt in mind.

Not only is this quilt beautiful, it has an all around good feeling.  I liked working on it.

I'm almost finished. I have a little quilting to go, remove the chalk and tie the loose threads....

The pictures aren't great... but I promised a sneak peak...

...the odd bead bracelet

The creative cue over at Three Creative Studios last week was odd.

I thought I'd post a photo of my odd bead bracelet for the cue.

My birthday was in December and the boys gave me this cute little pouch.

Inside were beads and all of the components to make a bracelet.

I say the bracelet is odd, because there were a few beads of each color and I added a few extra odd beads. With all of the beads I was able to make the bracelet having three strands.

I like the odd number of strands.

The clasp they gave me was the little heart. I thought that was really neat.

The colors of the beads are bright and the silver beads have quilting like swirls.  The bracelet reminds me of a patchwork scrap quilt.

...the woven heart

To celebrate women's heart health and to get ready for the upcoming Valentine's Day; I made a few woven hearts.

The large hearts are about 6" and the small heart is about 3".

The large heart can be filled with treats, goodies and is big enough for a gift card. I plan to make a few more of the large hearts and gift them to the house elves (aka house cherubs this time of year.)

The pink heart is my favorite.

I used vintage table linens as the fabrics.  I couldn't part with the binding edge of one of the napkins so I used it with a length of organza ribbon and made the hanging loop.

Going into the button jar and the treasure chest of vintage stuff, I found a pink button and some scrap lace. Silver beads, charms and a vintage glass ball were added under the pink button.

Now, if cuteness were a factor in choosing my favorite heart, I would go with the little heart. 

another quilt finished...

This is Dolores' quilt. It's so soft and feminine looking with pale colors and the pretty, paisley border.  A fun quilt to work on because of the sampler block style border. I did something different in each of the border blocks.

When I was clipping threads I noticed I missed a line in the center,  I marked it with a safety pin so I know where to go back and stitch.

The paisley and green fabrics were so busy that I couldn't see where I was driving too well. I had good luck  turning my overhead lights off and casting a light across the top of the quilt. I quilted in the shadows I guess you could say...  but my husband walked through and wondered if I had lost my mind...... 

"Quilting in the dark?"

If you live in the MA area I hope you will consider attending our local quilt show. There will be over 200 quilts.  Each year we have a special exhibit and this year we have two.  We are hosting a handcrafted apron display with many going for auction. Funds are being raised for women's health. We also are sponsoring a kid's quilt display. Several members mentored a child or group and made quilts for this display.  You  can find information in the side bar and soon I will put a link for directions to the venue.

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....  and I'm  still plugging along on this, but can't show you til I'm finished so you'll have to keep watching.....

creative prompt/creative cue. . . .

My hands have been busy quilting so. . . . .

. . . . . . . .I am a week behind with my responses. Below is my response to the creative prompt- hand.

I think in some card games having  a hand of 21 is a good thing.

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My photo response to last weeks creative cue rolling is shown below....

I first thought of marbles.....

...and then took a photo of rolling marbles.

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