a good read

The Devil's Puzzle

A Someday Quilts Mystery

 by Clare O'Donohue

 A mystery set in the small town of Archers Rest, NY.  This is a light hearted story for those that love mystery AND quilting! While preparing for the towns anniversary celebration and a historic quilt show, the discovery of a skeleton changes everything. Quilters are sure to enjoy this book as the threads of the mystery are woven together with quilting lore.    

Stay tuned for a book and handmade giveaway.

inching into autumn

while finishing the inchie quilt.

I will quilt it using beautiful Kimono Silk thread by Superior Threads  

Then add the inchies.  

The dragonfly is made by my friend Joyce.  Earlier in the year Guild friends made and swapped inchies.  We are all making little quilts with them and then we will show them at our quilt show in 2012.

It will be a neat display.

 -off the frame is Jane's pretty and large quilt-

---------

and somebody got some custom made accessories

 then capitalized on something when items from the unfinished cupboard were overhauled.

-he's thinking-

 with a face like this she'll never notice the leg and tail tucked into the studio 

(where she says I'm not allowed)....

- - - - 

and inching into Soxtober

 we Sox fans get to live another day

Thank You 

Ryan RedHotLava-rnway

and 

Alfredo A-Saveus

coastal currents

Below are some hand dyed fabrics from Vicki.  She makes up color palettes using a photo as her inspiration then dyes her own fabrics. She used one of my photos and last month she created 

coastal currents.

Visit Vicki's online fabric shop here.   Her fabrics are gorgeous.

She also posts pattern ideas with her color palettes and all sorts of interesting stuff to her blog here.

summer's harvest

One of the things I did this past summer was take a pottery class.

It was great fun to see our progression from beginning to end.

  

These are slab bowls and look pretty 'organic' I've been told.  It's clay rolled with a rolling pin like you would roll dough.  Textures were pressed in before firing and then glazed very simply.

 they look much better dressed

  Mug making was not so successful, but we have been using this one. It's small, though.

The red bowl was one of the last things made and it's almost round.

They were made on the potter's wheel.

 I had the most fun making beads, and that was sort of like making little cookies.

 A tiny bowl just the right size for dipping and a plate for serving.

 both made on the wheel

and two more things made on the wheel

I liked learning a new art, but I think it's safe to say I'll be sticking with needles and thread.

I was inspired, though, to continue to play around with some more clay...

...so over the weekend I had some time and made this little pendant using my vintage button as a stamp.

-textures of life-

 Today is the Fiberactions Group reveal day.

Our theme word is texture and this is named

Textures of Life

The seed pod theme and color way were revisited as well as using the vintage, hand pieced blocks (shown at the bottom and used with the last challenge.)

This is a traditional three layer quilt which was constructed with a top, batting, backing and then quilted.  Gesso was painted over the finished quilt, background color was added, the pods were masked then painted and stitched.

 The thread did the work and maybe for the first time embellishment was not added for texture.

 Head on over to Fiberactions and check out the challenges as they are posted throughout the day.

MA Historical Buildings Raffle quilt

Below are the individual blocks from the second Historical Buildings Raffle Quilt.

The winning tickets will be pulled during the Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild 2012 show. 

March 24-25 at Blackstone Valley Tech High School, Upton, MA

Go here to see photos of both quilts.

 Robert Treat Paine House, Waltham

Sharon M.

The Grist Mill, Sudbury

Susan F.

House of Seven Gables, Salem

Ann B.

 

Red Brick School, Franklin

Barbara D.

Nobska Point Lighthouse, Woods Hole

Susan A.

Merwin House, Stockbridge

Jane M.

Paul Revere House, Boston

Kathleen Murphy

Boston Public Library, Boston

Donna L.

The State House, Boston

Sandy D.

. . . it was back to the basics

for almost a week after Hurricane Irene.  No power. No water.

Things slowed down and we worked together with no conveniences.  

We figured it out and it really wasn't so bad.

massive trees came down

  and delicate things were untouched

next week is back to a schedule and that will be good, I have pictures of the Massachusetts raffle quilt to post,

but in the mean time Happy Labor Day weekend.

=)

raffle quilt process update

Above you can see a peak at the Guild's second Massachusetts historical buildings quilt.  The first quilt has gone off to another member for binding and a hanging sleeve. Another member will make the labels and we will all try to sell the lucky ticket(s).  

A group effort.

 I've invited guild members to follow along in the quilting process.  

Lots of pretty threads were used to quilt our quilts and below you can see some of them. 

I'm using a longarm and if you are not familiar with this type of machine, you can see mine below.  

 The machine has wheels and rides along on a track. It rides over the quilt as opposed to a sit down machine where you push the quilt through.  Looking at the picture, the left side of the machine is the front and the right side is the back.  You can sew from both sides.  For this quilt, I'm sewing from the front.

The thread sits on a spool holder towards the back of the machine and is threaded through various loops and knobs and ends at the machine's needle which is on the front.

The quilt backing and top are attached to the rails which are covered in canvas. Below you can see the backing.  I like to use flat pins, although there all kinds of great, new systems for attaching to your frame.

If you think of your backing and quilt top as the top of a table you can begin to understand why your quilter likes your top and back to be square.  There is no place for extra fabric to go when working in opposite parallel lines.  

 Once the layers are attached, the whole system works much like a hand quilting frame.  

Stabilizing or stitching in the ditch is important for this type of detail quilting. This gives the quilt a crisp look and keeps your layers together while you add your detail quilting.  Some people can do this freely and others use a ruler to guide the machine into the ditch of the two fabric joins.  Below you can see the ruler up against the foot.  If I was doing this in real life, my left hand would be holding the ruler and my right hand would be driving.  

Once your three layers are stabilized you can go back and forth to different areas of the quilt.  So, say- I'm using a grey thread; I can complete the blocks that require grey thread and then I can move to green or whatever thread I want.  

So that's all part of the process, now stay tuned and I'll show you some more pictures of our second raffle quilt.

...and because some of you have been asking.... scroll down.  

he is doing great.

= )

historical buildings raffle quilt

 Covered Bridge, Sandisfield.  Donna H.

 Trinity Church, Boston. Paula B.

 Martha Mary Chapel, Sudbury.  Susan P.

Foxborough Memorial Hall Foxborough.  Suzanne T.

   John Farnum House, Uxbridge. Elaine N.

 New England Quilt Museum, Lowell.  Deb H.

Wayside Inn, Sudbury.  Glenda J.

 Mayflower II, Plymouth.  Deb W.

Bunker Hill Monument, Charlestown.  Jane H.

I know, I know - the pictures are blurry -
(in a hurry to get the post up before the weekend)
I was using the natural light from the window and here in New England today, we have big puffy clouds overhead  ... Every time I went to shoot, a cloud moved over.
Have a nice weekend!
 Happy quilting!