57/57 Class Reunion Casual Get Together One Year Ago Today

We held this class reunion in Florida and had three full days of activities. Everyone had such a great time. I am guessing some of our classmates who weren’t here will be readying this post. You are going to be so envious of the wonderful time EVERYONE had. We were honored to have John Wayne join us. Zsa Zsa Gabor is always so much fun to be around. Dean Martin (minus the rest of the Rat Pack) graced us with his presence. Debbie Reynolds looks forever young. Dick Clark is also one who never ages! James Dean is no longer a Rebel Without A Cause! Andy Williams came here straight from Branson. Judy Garland was in fine voice. All the ladies swooned when they saw Pat Boone….in fact three of them followed him home! Who can forget Connie Francis’ big smile? I think all the men were in awe of Jayne Mansfield. We were happy to see Natalie Wood. Of course everyone was pleased to see that Paul Newman was able to make it. Grace Kelly graced us with her royal presence. Roy Rogers made an appearance although Dale Evans stayed home with the horses. Katherine Hepburn hosted the casual reunion.

My Colorful Dish Cloths And Dish Towels

I am slowly dyeing all my white flour sack dishtowels and terry dish cloths as I dye fabric. I like to put something on a rack below the primary piece I am dyeing. The first time I did this I had no fabric ready to use so I grabbed a few of these. It is more fun to wash and dry dishes with these “Kitchen Works Of Art”!

TBT First Six Koeper Cousins

We are the first six cousins in our family that eventually had a total of 19 cousins.Someone correct me if I have the total wrong.
We are all sitting on our grandparents brown mohair couch, a place many family pictures were taken.
From left to right: Barbara, Jim, Bob, Chip, Mary and Me.I do not know the year this was taken.

Mandala With Layers Of Ice Dye

When I dyed this the first time the colors looked washed out. I decided it was worth a try to dye it a second time and I saved it.

This is what it looked like before I redyed it. The center was pale and weak.
If you look closely not only are the colors more vibrant but there is a pattern in the center that wasn’t there the first time.
That is one of the wonderful things about dyeing fabric. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
And when you try again you may find “Love is lovlier, the second time around!”

Snow Quilt

Thinking about all the snow so many parts of the country are experiencing I had to share this snow white improv quilt.
It is constructed from irregular strips of white silk. The only color is some quilting in both red and black to complement the stark whiteness and the design.

One Of My Masterpieces

As a grand finale I created a 3 dimensional quilt in my Colors Of My Life Series.
I found the pictures of it after only searching for 3 days on my new computer!
I think you will like it.


If you start at the left of the quilt this is what you will see.

The view changes as you walk past the quilt. This is what you will see as you get to the center.

This is what you see as you get to the right side.
It is much more impressive in person.
I designed each side differently so you see a totally different quilt as you walk around it..
The biggest challenge was putting it all together neatly. I felt like I had to climb inside the quilt to sew.
Once it was all put together I realized I didn’t have the skills to create an armature to hold it in position.
I took it to Seebeck’s in Kenosha and John constructed the sections to make it work. He did a fantastic job.
I wish you all could see this in person.

Playing With My Ice Dyed Fabrics

I love putting groupings of fabrics together with the possible intention of creating something from them.

As I settle in I felt the need to play with my fabrics.
I spend time organizing them each time I add new fabrics to the collection here.
For this grouping I started with the center fabric and added other fabrics I thought could work. You could call that center fabric the theme fabric.
I may or may not use these fabrics in the same piece.
I may add other fabrics as necessary to make this work. I am quite certain many won’t make the cut….pun intended.
Playing with fabrics is truly a happy time for me, I even enjoy the uglies.
I used to tell my students “Every quilt needs an ugly”.
What I meant by that is if you liked everything equally well they were probably too similar.
One person’s ugly can be another person’s beauty. It’s all in the eye of the beholder/artist.
This is a perfect time of year to start a new project.

Throw Back Saturday

I have been scanning a variety of pictures.
This is myself and my siblings.
Front row: Connie, Bill, Carol
Back row: Kay, Karen
I don’t know the year this was taken. We did it as a surprise for my parents one Christmas.
We had it taken at Charles Studio on Washington Avenue in Racine, Wisconsin.
We were so afraid my parents would drive past and see our cars there. They didn’t and it was a surprise to them.
The next year they had one taken there to surprise us! I can’t find a copy of it on the computer.

Three Alternating Quilts

It is nice to change out the quilt you display as often as possible.
This Christmas quilt was the first one chosen for this stairwell.

This was the next one selected to use in the space. It is appropriate for display any time of the year.

This one can be used for the 4th of July or other patriotic holidays.
They all are similar in size.
I made all of these quilts but they belong to a collector couple.
Not only do these add to your tasteful holiday decor, but they also give the quilts time to rest when they are not hanging.
With the various hanging devices available today it is easy to change out the quilts you display.

Color For The Coffee Table

I love my turquoise coffee table. It was my Grandmother’s library table which we cut down.
We had several pieces of furniture painted at an auto body shop. They are glossy and easy to take care of.
The arrangement was made with things I had. The balls have a quilty look to them. I love the big fat candle which has 3 wicks and I’ve burned it often.
Decorating and quilting have a lot in common and for me it’s all about color!

Christmas Pictures That Were Lost!

I took quite a few Chritmas pictures with my camera but since I was without a computer until now I couldn’t share them.

A good view of the back of the Santa shirt!

Dana

Jeff Jr….If you think he is getting to look more and more like Jeff Sr., you are right!

The boys….Cooper, Jared and Nick

The married grands – Stephanie, Blake, Nate and Heidi


Julie making her delicious lasagna.

Greg setting the table with the most important items!
I did miss a few peope, but they were in the earlier posts.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

How Many Ways Can We Say Ice?

This picture is from New Years 2000. We made ice lanterns from 5 gallon buckets filled with water and emptied the water from the center after the shell froze. The temperatures were about like we are currently having….around 0 with wind chill in the teens.

This is one of my ice dyes I created. It is a much warmer look! About the only similarity is that the colors are swirling around like the winds we have been experiencing.
Right about now I’d prefer my ice in an Iced Tea or a Margarita!

Long And Longer Ago

This picture was taken on New Years Eve 30 years ago. 

I crocheted the shawl I am wearing about 20 years before that.

And here it is today!

It was one of those patterns everyone was sharing years ago.

Handmade hints last.

This is classic enough to wear today.

20 Years Ago

It's hard to believe that this was over 20 years ago. Heidi wanted to learn to knit when she was about 4 and she had to sit on my lap and I had to help here hands make the stitches.

In this picture she was almost 7 and was able to do it all by herself.

The ombré yarn she is knitting with was so appealing to her and made her want to knit. I remember loving that yarn coloration when I was about the same age.

I wonder if she is knitting a fashionable nice warm scarf for Nate this winter?

Having A Meltdown

Today I'd like to share a book about ice dyeing with you.  

I DID NOT WRITE IT.

It was written by Sondra L. Millard. 

She shares 4 different ways of manipulating the fabric before you put the dye and ice on it.

She also gives very thorough instructions on the process she uses.

In addition she gives instructions for 6 different quilt patterns she has designed with both dyed and commercial,fabrics.

This book will be great for anyone who has never done ice dyeing as she covers everything you need to know.

It will also appeal to the experienced dyers as they can learn Sondra's methods.

Her website is:

www.shesgotmojo.com

You can get the book directly from her, Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Ice Dyed Tapestry

This is my second finish for 2016. It is so good to be finishing my current important work. 

These are all part of my  major work currently.

I still have a long way to go but I am spreading out the work so it will all be finished by the deadline.

Ice Flower

When I ice dyed this central piece of fabric I was disappointed in the results.

But my designing head prevailed and by adding some of my other ice dyes I created this great composition.

If you can enlarge this you can see how the quilting gave it even more artistic dimension.

I absolutely love this one.

I chose this backing fabric as the color worked and I had enough of it for backing, facings and casing. I also like fabrics for backs that are busy so if my quilting is less than perfect (and it always is) it hides the imperfect parts.

As I was doing the hand sewing on the back stitching down the facings and casing I realized the pattern in the fabric was similar to the central design.

I love it when this type of serendipitous thing happens!

What Do You Call This Scarf?

I had this mohair  scarf finished except for weaving in the ends.

Kim and I were talking about color and she said burgundy was a great color for her. 

I quickly wove in the ends and it went home with her. 

She has had ample opportunities to wear these warm knits with the weather we are having.

Frosting Courtesy Of Mother Nature.

No one else can do what Mother Nature can!

More gorgeous frosting by Mother Nature. 

She needed temperatures In the single digits to make this happen.

New Socks, Blue Socks

I showed the first sock on Facebook a while ago.

I have both socks finished. I think I have finally mastered gauge as this is the second pair I have knit one at a time that both individual socks ended up,the same size. 

Casting on another pair so I have some knitting to work on.