Introducing ALEXANDRA

I have a new quilt and I did not make it.
My long time friend Mary Stori created it and if you read her blog you may have seen it.

She is hanging in our breakfast area. It seems a perfect place for her as the kids drink their milk in Wisconsin, the dairy state!


One of the groups Mary belongs to did a challenge that was to be inspired by an artist, but not a copy of their work.
She chose Alexander Calder and this really is recognizable as being inspired by him.

I fell in love with this work early on in it's creation and contacted Mary. I agreed to purchase this long before it was finished. She certainly did not disappoint me in the piece. The entire piece is an artistic triumph.
Her quilting stitches are unbelievably small and even. The beading is a delight for the eye. The polka dots you see in the binding are beads.

My friends and family who have seen this have been just as enthusiastic as I am about it. It really IS getting rave reviews.

http://marystori.blogspot.com/2011/08/alexandra-separation-anxiety.html

The above is a link to a better photo of the quilt at Mary's blog and a few words from her about the quilt.

She is a perfect subject for a puzzle.

Great News - My Real Live Studio Assistant

Quilting Granny loved to flaunt the fact that she had quilting on her lap, but she really never lifted a finger in the studio. I don't think she wanted to mess up her hair!


Now I have a real live studio assistant who does an excellent job at anything I ask her to do. I am happy to have her working here any time she is available.
She wrapped fabric on 6 more poles today for me to take to Nancy Crow's barn when I take the Pole Dyeing class the middle of October. I did one myself and she put me to shame with her skill so I let her do the rest.


Jan Myers-Newbury recommends you hang your fabric to dry after prescouring it. She said it takes the dyes better.
I did another load of fabric and Heidi hung it to dry. With the heat on and the dehumidifier running in the laundry room it is almost dry in about 3 or 4 hours.

One of the next things she'll be doing is pasting up dye samples for me in the personal color palette I dyed last year about this time. She will thoroughly enjoy that. I started playing color with her when she was 7 days old. They say babies can't distinguish color at that age, but I don't believe it. She has a fantastic sense of color and color arrangement.

She says of all her jobs (and she has others) this is her favorite. I am so lucky to have her to help me. I could keep her busy for months or longer. Sure wish I could take her along to Florida!

Blog Post Number 800! 3 years and 3 days!

I just realized this will be my 800th post on this blog. I started blogging exactly 3 years and 3 days ago. That doesn't make one post a day but it's still "respectable"!


Other than the header on the blog, this was the very first quilt I showed you.
It is one of the 8 king size quilts I made for my 8 grandchildren for the Millennium, each with 2000 different fabrics.


Cubic Jubilee is another one of the quilts I showed early on. It is made from hand dyed fabric.


In Living Color is another quilt I showed you in that first month.


Bodacious Blossom was another quilt I showed you in that time period.

I think it is quite evident when you view these quilts why I call my blog "Quilts + Color".

When I started this journey I had no idea where I was heading. I now know it was a way to document not just my quilts but some of the activities that are a part of my serendipitous life.

Thanks for coming along on my journey and I hope you'll be back again soon.

Miniature Log Cabin Quilt

One of the quilt guilds I belonged to has an auction of quilts at their annual show.
This was a fantastic way to aquire some wonderful quilts and donate to the guild for expenses.


This is one of the quilts I purchased. It was created by Barbara Wessel.

The strips that create the log cabin blocks are 1/4" wide and the completed quilt is 21" square.

Technically it is not a "miniature" quilt as a miniature quilt is 1:12 scale. If this were enlarged by 12 it would be 242 inches!

It is made up of miniature blocks that create a wall quilt. She does precision work with her electric needle. She even did the quilting with her electric needle and it is perfectly placed on the blocks - not an easy way to get perfect placement.

It is reminiscent of an antique quilt.

I am so happy to be the owner of this wonderful piece.

Fall In Wisconsin - I LOVE It!

I'd like to share a bit if fall in Wisconsin with you.
You can't see it yet, but you can feel it.
The weather is cooling off...that is until the next warm day.
You pile an extra quilt on the bed since it is not time to turn on the heat yet.
You wake up in the morning and snuggle under the covers, not wanting to get out and face the chill in the air.
Once you finally make the move the air is invigorating.
You choose something from the closet that you haven't worn since last year and delight in the cozy warmth.
You head to the kitchen for a hot beverage and a hot breakfast.
You are now ready to face the day which can turn warm again before it cools off in the evening.

It's a wonderful time of year as you anticipate the colors that will soon be changing and the leaves that will be falling. It makes you think about football, pumpkins, corn stalks, taffy apples, cider and how fortunate you are to be spending fall in God's glory in such a perfect setting.

It's also perfect quilting weather.

It's my favorite time of the year in Wisconsin.

This just in: I gave up and turned on the furnace!

Studio - Putting Fabrics Back On Shelves

This is my main quilting fabric collection.
I take fabrics out, buy new fabrics or find fabrics put in another part of the shelving.
I have been putting them in a pile on the bookcase so they can be put where they rightfully belong.


My granddaughter Heidi is working for me in her spare time doing all those things I can use help with. She works 2 other jobs, but this job is made for her.
When she was about 3 she could arrange the crayons in a box of crayons in color flow order. I trust her to put each fabric in the correct space.

I know it looks like this is FULL, but since I took out all the batiks and some of the novelty fabrics there is space in certain areas. We can spread out and condense things to make them all fit.

Patriotic Puff Quilt

Years ago I taught many sewing with knits classes.
The first project in the beginning class was a T shirt. Since I taught this class over and over (at least 100 times) I had many scraps of t shirt fabric.



So what does a sewer do with scraps?
Make a quilt of course.

T shirt fabrics did not lend themselves to traditional style quilts.
I made a puff quilt from some of the red, white and blue t shirt fabric scraps.

It was a time consuming proposition making and stuffing each individual puff. I didn't make this for anyone in particular. My oldest granddaughter fell in love with it and I gave it to her over 10 years ago.

I am in the process of trying to document as many of the 361 quilts I have made over the years as possible. I believe the list I have includes them all. When I started making quilts a lot of them were given away before I took pictures. I am attempting to track down as many of them as possible to photograph.

When Heidi was over recently I told her what I was trying to do and she just happened to have this quilt in her car. I've photographed it and I washed it for her. It washed well.

As we remember 9/11 this is a fitting quilt to showcase our patriotism.

I'm Back After A L O N G Absence

I've been busy doing a lot of house things.
I've mentioned them briefly before and I am still working on them.

A few days ago I received this hanger for this long narrow quilt. I had ordered it over a month ago, but it was on back order.


I think it really shows off the quilt.

I still am working on my home projects. It is a good feeling to see how much has been accomplished to this point.

I have taken giant steps getting rid of things and organizing things that I have kept. Even if no one but me can see the difference it has been well worth the time and effort I have spent doing this.

I have had a question about where I got this hanger for the quilt.
This is the link to it at halycon Yarns:
http://halcyonyarn.com/products/miscellaneous/70803200.html