Love and Marriage - You can't have one without the other - Part 2

This is a lovely quilt with a strong graphic image. Let's see what happens the second time around?



This is the upper left section of the quilt. If you click on the image it will enlarge so you can see it better. Almost all my images on my blog are clickable.
It took the second time around with quilting to make this piece all it could be.



This is the quilting in the lower left section.
It is a loose free flowing quilting design which is perfect for this particular quilt. The sharp lines created by the machine quilting enhance the strong graphic image of this quilt.



This quilt is a lot busier than the previous quilts I've shown discussing my choice of quilting designs.



In this section of the quilt my quilting design is a loose interpretation of the pattern I created when I created the cloth. I have left this image larger than normal so you can click and see the actual quilting.

I love to do free motion quilting creating the design as I work. Sometimes I have no idea how I will quilt it until I actually put the needle to the cloth.

The puzzle is a close up of one section of the quilting. Enjoy.

As Time Goes By

I am going to show you some of the oldest furniture I have in my house.
These are not valuable antiques. They are things I love that bring back a lot of memories.

We purchased these pressed back rockers at a farm auction in Ohio 48 years ago for $1 each. We could have bought 20 or more at that price! I had intended to paint them white to use the porch. We moved before that so they were painted navy blue and we used them in our living room. They have also been antiqued brown, another shade of green and orange. They are far from perfect and that is why I don't mind using them outside on the lanai. For the latest color reincarnation we took them to an Auto Body shop and had them painted mint green.


This little table has to be close to 80 years old. It was made by my dad or one of his brothers in Manual Training class. I have no idea when we acquired the mirror.
Both of these were also painted at the Auto Body shop.

These are just a few of the things we have repurposed and reused to furnish this house.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Quilts and patchwork seem to show up in the most unexpected places.
I'd love to share some of my sightings with you.


















Although I think these are all new pieces of furniture this could be a great way to recycle furniture. You could use upholstery samples and this could be done very inexpensively.

My home is furnished with recycled furniture for the most part. I have things I have owned for up to 50 years. In addition to my own things I have family things that were not valuable that were being discarded. We have painted a lot of old furniture - some of it has been painted at least 4 different colors over the years. These pieces are like family and I could never get rid of them. I get a lot more satisfaction from doing this than I get from purchasing new furniture.

You can put this patchwork sofa together.

The Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow!

Today was a beautiful day for a walk.



The 70 degree temperature was ideal. There was just enough of a breeze to keep me cool.
This is my pot of gold at the end of my rainbow as I reach the half way point on my daily walk and then turn around to return home.

Another beautiful day in Paradise. Life is good!

Love and Marriage - You can't have one without the other

The perfect couple consisting of the quilt design and the quilting design can create a perfect marriage.

This quilt was made with my special Gradual Gradation fabric. I played with the fabric strips moving them up and down to get the two opposing arcs created by the lightest section of each fabric.
Often it takes me quite a while to come up with the quilting design. This piece was no exception.
This is machine quilted. The sharper line created with machine quilting enhances the strong graphic image of the quilt.


I followed the pattern created by the movement of the colors with my quilting design.
I tried to come up with something else that would not involve starting and stopping as I stitched across just one strip at a time. I finally realized, if I wanted the quilt to work I would have to choose the best quilting design to enhance what was already happening in the quilt and not be concerned about starts, stops or time.



This quilt also has a relatively simple design. It needs the correct quilting to enhance the pieced design.



My choice for quilting this quilt included curved vertical lines in the brown lengthwise sections.
The gradation area that shades from gold through turquoise needed a different type of quilting.
Curves lines that zigzagged back and forth echoing the curves of the piecing. This quilting truly enhances the quilt I started with and is a perfect marriage.

You can click on each one of these photos to see a larger version of what I am sharing with you.

This is a topic I will be revisiting from time to time.

I haven't forgot to include a puzzle for you.

Ladies Who Lunch Do Dinner

It's been a while since I've posted Ladies Who Lunch.
That's because I'm either lunching at home on my delicious homemade soups or I forget my camera!


Instead of walking for an hour or so my neighbor Jane and I decided to do dinner outdoors in The Villages and then walk around after dinner and listen to the music.
When we got there the sun was shining right in our eyes. Within half hour it was behind the buildings and 15 minutes later it disappeared and the temperature dropped quickly.

With the sudden drop in temperature we decided we'd forget the stroll around the square and the music and head home to warm up.

One of my favorite meals is coconut shrimp. I even like mediocre coconut shrimp. Tonight's rated above mediocre but below great!

The Colors Of My Life - Grand Finale - Finished wall sculpture

This is the finished version looking from the left of The Colors Of My Life - Grand Finale.

This is the finished version looking from the center of The Colors Of My Life - Grand Finale.



This is the finished version looking from the right of The Colors Of My Life - Grand Finale.

As you walk from left to right you gradually see it change from one view to the next.
Each side is a separate image and they work well together when they meet them in the center.

This is the final quilt in a series of 20 quilts. Each quilt is a strong graphic image made only from squares.

A challenging cut for a challenging quilt!


Take some time and visit this new website about quilting:
http://www.quilterschoicenetwork.com

The Colors Of My Life - Grand Finale - creating the third dimension

This view of The Colors Of My Life grand finale quilt shows the quilt in the process of adding the third dimension to it. This was the most challenging quilt I have ever created.



As I sewed the quilt together with the third dimension structure there were times when I felt like I had to crawl inside the quilt as I was sewing.
It required absolute perfection while I created the third dimension.


If you were to stand on the left of this quilt you would see this. In this photo the armatures to give the quilt the crisp edges are not yet constructed and put in place.



If you were to stand directly in front of the quilt this is the view you would get. Again the armatures are not in place yet.



If you walk to the right this is the view you would see. Again the armatures are not in place yet.

Although this was the most challenging quilt I ever created, I was extremely satisfied with the final outcome.

Stay tuned for to see the final outcome with the armatures in place.

As you put the puzzle together remember your challenge is so much easier than the challenge I had when creating this quilt!

What a Wonderful World

When I started this adventure called blogging I felt like an explorer venturing into uncharted territory.

Eventually I learned that I could track the number of visitors to my blog and where they were from.


All of a sudden this week I have had a surge of visitors from Belgium. After the United States they were the second largest group of visitors.



The United Kingdom and Canada are usually dueling it out for second place as visitors to my blog.



I also get a lot of visitors from the Netherlands. I would be interested if any of you from other countries would post a comment and let me know how you got here and what interested you enough to make you want to visit or come back to visit.

The newest countries to visit my blog have been from El Salvador, Jordan, Belarus and Mali. Welcome to the visitors for these countries. These are just 4 of the 112 countries that have visited my blog.

This is a journey I am thoroughly enjoying and plan on continuing for a long time.
Thank you to everyone who has visited and keeps coming back again and again.

I'll be here. Will you?

XXI Olympics - I'll See You In My Dreams

I put my all into my Olympic effort. I didn't cross the finish line yet!
Sometimes you have to dream big, and if that dream is not ready you have to wait.



I spent the afternoon burying and trimming the gazillion threads from the quilt. It looks so much better now.
I have even decided how to finish the quilting in the borders.
I'll be crossing the finish line in the near future.

Both of these photos can be enlarged to see the detail better if you click on them.

Another chance to work a puzzle from this quilt.

Love Story - Where do we begin?

Most of the work you have seen on my blog was done after I had been quilting for a few years.
Today I would like to share with you some of my very early work.
I sometimes hesitate to show this to people. The reason I am choosing to share it at this point is I want you to see how my journey began. Without doing this work I wouldn't be doing the work I am now.


This is my first quilt. It was a kit from Lee Wards. I started it when I was expecting my oldest son. I did not finish it until his birthday - his 29th birthday!



When I started to quilt there was a very limited selection of fabrics available for quilters. The fabrics in this quilt were from the Grannie's Trunk Collection which was one of the first coordinated fabric collections designed especially for quilters. I thought I had dyed and gone to heaven when I first saw these fabrics and bought yards of each!
I mounted it on a stretcher frame. Eventually I donated this to a church auction.



This is a simple Dresden plate. It was made from Jinny Beyers very first fabric collection.
I added borders to a 12 inch block and made a nice wedding gift for someone. Mounting it on a stretcher frame gave it more presence than just a flat quilt. Eventually I gave up giving quilts for wedding gifts when I found only 1 out of 5 of the marriages I made quilts for lasted longer than five years!

After seeing these early quilts I hope you agree I've come a long way.
When I start getting smug about how much I've improved, I stop and tell myself I couldn't be doing the work I am doing now without the wonderful fabrics we now have available to us as quilters. The commercial fabrics are so much more sophisticated today. Add to that the hand dyed and painted fabrics we can buy or create ourselves and there is no comparison to where I started my journey.
Yes it has been and continues to be a Love Story as I create my art.


Today's puzzle is the Dresden plate quilt.

XXI Olympics Closing Ceremony

Congratulations neighbor for a job well done.


You welcomed the world with your open arms.

It sent chills down my spine as I watched the closing ceremonies you produced.
It was a thrill to see the pride in your country by the audience. The energy in the stadium was electric - among both the spectators and the athletes.
Your closing ceremony was to me what the Olympics is all about.
The entrance of the athletes from the various countries made me smile, cry and have pride in the athletes.

What fresh faced happy athletes who we can hold up as role models for our youth.


From Alexandre Bilodeau first gold medal for your country, I cheered for your athletes along with those from the United States.
You thrilled us as you defeated us in hockey. What a game!

You were the ultimate host to the world.

I will fondly remember this Olympics for the rest of my life.

O Canada I salute you and I am glad you are our neighbor.