Who Likes To Go To the Dentist? Raise Your Hand

Can you see me? I am holding up my hand. I'll tell you why if you continue reading this post.
I looked forward to going to the dentist yesterday.



As I walked into the office I was greeted by these 3 big smiles. I always enjoy seeing each of them.


This is my dentist. He is getting ready to do a CEREC crown on one of my teeth.



This is a 3 dimensional view taken with a special camera on the computer screen. Now he will use his skill to build a crown that will fit in my mouth.



This is the almost completed image ready to be made into a cap.



My crown is being made in this top machine in 8 minutes.



While my crown was being created my friend Char who I had not seen in a long long time came in from a different operatory and we each got our calendars out and made a dinner date for next week.


I heard the word PERFECT when it came out of the machine. It fit perfectly between my other two teeth. Within minutes it was cemented in my mouth and I was on my way home with a brand new crown in less than an hour.

No temporary, no wait for 2 weeks to see if it fit and possibly had to be made again.


As I started to leave I met two more of my smiling favorite people who work there.



I always stop in the front office to see two more of my favorite people. Look at those big smiles.


I like to think my dentist inherited some of his artistic skill required to make a perfectly fitting crown on the computer from me.


The rest of the office staff are no relation, just the best office staff in an dental office anywhere.

My Oldest Work In Progress

When I retrieved the clothes that I had saved from the attic I found this dress.
I realized it was never worn because I never finished it. The hem still had the pins in it. I found them after I washed it. There was not even a speck of rust on the pins. I do believe I have a box of pins from that era somewhere in my pharmacy cabinet.



I was able to date the time I constructed this dress from the buttons. Ship and Shore blouses had identical buttons to what I used on this dress. I always tried to copy good ready to wear and searched all over to find just the right buttons and notions so my clothing would not have that "made at home with loving hands" look.



Another tell tale clue are the double box pleats I made to pleat up 3 widths of fabric to fit my 24 inch waist.
I loved making pleated skirts and tried every style I could imagine. This is the only one from that time period that has survived all these years. Everything else was given away or thrown away with one exception. I will be showing you a wool skirt and top in the future. Just waiting for my model to return!

It is amazing that this is in such good condition because it was stored in various hot attics, in cold garages that would have had mice and various other locations over the years. I took no special care of it and it was stored in both open and closed cardboard boxes.

Shirtwaist dresses were also very popular in the 50's.

I would date this dress from 1956 which makes it 54 years old - and still not finished!

Tessellation Tutorial - Lesson 5 - Are you WOI?

In Lesson 2 you saw some of the tessellated shapes I came up with.


This is the shape I decided to use. It is simple enough to be able to trace and cut these out in a reasonable amount of time. It is also complex enough to be interesting.


Before I absolutely positively make up my mind that I will use a shape I draw several repeats of it on paper. If I like the overall design I then go with the shape. If not, I would select a different shape.



Trace this shape on a piece of template plastic and cut it out.




Mark the side of your index card with the lines: This side up on face of fabric.
Turn your template plastic shape over so it is a mirror image and write on it: This side up when tracing on Wonder Under.



Place your template on the Wonder Under and trace around it with your black permanent felt tip pen.



Trace the shape as many times as you can on the Wonder Under backed fabric. Do not attempt to place it on grain. The more variation you have the more interesting it will be. Depending on the size and shape of your template you will probably get between 6 and 9 on each piece of fabric.



Continue tracing you template on each fabric getting as many as you can from each fabric.




Look closely at this picture. You will see the traced line is outside of the template shape. READ THIS CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO CUT THESE OUT.
You will cut these out OUTSIDE the traced line. This is different that what you normally do when cutting out a traced shape. This gives you a fudge factor on each shape when putting them together.



In this photo I am cutting outside the line.


DO NOT THROW AWAY THE FABRIC YOU CUT AWAY THAT IS BACKED WITH WONDER UNDER. You can find many things to do with these leftover pieces.



These are some of the shapes I already have cut out. The cutting is a good project to do in the evening while watching TV. Pay more attention to the cutting and listen to the TV!

If you missed the previous posts you can find them at:
Supply list: http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2010/06/tessellation-tutorial-supply-list.html

Fabric Choices: http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2010/06/tessellation-tutorial-fabric-choices.html

Lesson 1: http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2010/06/tuesday-tessellation-tutorial-time.html

Lesson 2: http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2010/06/tuesday-tessellation-tutorial-time.html

In the next lesson you will learn how to put these together and continue creating your personal quilt art piece.

Raspberries - Georgia O'Keefe style!

Have you ever got this up close and personal with a raspberry? I have never really noticed the detail on each berry. These berries are bursting with juice.
Georgia O'Keefe got up close and personal painting flowers. I am enjoying seeing the berries with this much detail. My camera is my paint brush.
Like me, Georgia grew up in Wisconsin.


My sister got 4 pints of homegrown raspberries for me. I froze all of them I didn't eat.
I put them on cookie sheets in the freezer. When they were frozen (about an hour) I just poured them into freezer containers and I can take out as many as I need to eat, make jam or for any recipe.



What I am really on a quest for is BLACK RASPBERRIES. I have been hunting for them since I arrived in Wisconsin the beginning of June. It may be too late in the season to find them now. I hope not.
If anyone in Racine or Kenosha County can point me in the direction of some BLACK raspberries I will be eternally grateful. They seem to be in danger of becoming extinct.
Please send me an email if you know where I can find some black raspberries to
kay@kaysorensen.com

Celebrating July 4th on the 3rd - playing catch up

I took so many photos at our family get together and haven't had a chance to share more of them.
My sister in law Mary loves quilts and antiques. When I walked into their dining room I was surprised that she had put this beautiful quilt on the table.

Well imagine my surprise when I looked closer and it was a printed tablecloth. It really was appropriate for the holiday.



Some of the family was camera shy at the party. Not my nephew Craig - he just slept right through the photo shoot!



Our family continues to grow. This is my niece Erica, her husband Paul and their son Sean. I have been waiting over 6 months to see him. What a happy baby.


This is my nephew Dave and his fiancee Tara. I love this photo of them.



This is my sister Carol with her grandson who was born about a week after Shaun. Another happy baby.



This is Captain Bill, my brother. He is waiting for the next group of family members to get ready to go tubing behind his boat!



This is Tammy and my sister in law Mary. We think Tammy must be family as she fits right in and if she's not there we feel the family is not complete.



This is Lisa, Craig's wife. Who else could look so cute blowing up a balloon?



Did I say camera shy? Someone is hiding behind some of the balloons they were blowing up to decorate the pontoon boat for the boat parade!



Keith is helping Mary tie the flags to the boat. I'm sorry I don't have photos of the finished boat with it's pirate theme and pirates. I had to leave before they were done.

If there's anyone missing on these photos they were camera shy, down by the water or tubing.

I think Mary loves my puzzles more than anyone else but this is the first time SHE has been a puzzle.

Still More Studio Stuff

These are antique French printing blocks from the 1900's that hang on a wall over my desk. I purchased them a long time ago at a quilt show. I had intended to try printing with them but so far I have not. You can see these more clearly if you click on the photo to enlarge it.



This block hangs on the wall at the other end of my desk.



This wall basket hangs below my wall hung TV. I can see the TV when I sit and sew but I hardly turn it on anymore. It is so old and small.

You will notice that all the items I am showing today are neutral colors while all the items I showed yesterday were very bright. The neutral and the bright complement each other and allow you to appreciate each item for what it is.

More Studio Stuff

I love having things in my studio to inspire me. Many are very colorful like these dragons from Oaxaca, Mexico. They are carved from tree branches and often the shape of the tree branch determines the shape and subject of what is carved.



The painting on this dragon is well done.


This is the first large dragon I acquired. I am lucky to live less than 10 miles from a lady who travels all over the world and imports wonderful things to sell at her farm. I can buy things from her for less than I would pay if I went to these countries myself.



This three headed dragon is one of my very favorites. I acquired it by default. It had been promised to another person but she never showed up to buy it so I was able to get it.

I don't take my inspiration literally from any of the things in my studio.
I just find that living with things I enjoy makes me more creative and the ideas spill out of my head much faster than I can execute them.

Christmas in July

If you want to be sure you get things finished for Christmas now is the time to start.



Christmas Toys is a child size quilt that can be used as a Christmas blankie or hung on the wall.
I made log cabin blocks with a large center and machine appliqued each toy cut out on the center square.



These pillows were so much fun to make. The log cabin pillow was made with some of the same fabrics in the Christmas Toys quilt. I added a few others to complete the design.
The others were made with small pieces of fabric I had left from other projects. I love creating things with these "leftovers small pieces" of fabric. I am not afraid to try anything as the fabric is no longer precious when it is a scrap.

I hope you too will take advantage of those crazy lazy hazy days of summer to get a head start on your Christmas projects.
If you don't celebrate Christmas how about getting out your scraps of fabric and seeing what you can create with them?

Can you tell a book by it's cover?

I just ordered my 4th book from Blog to Print.
Since my blog is quite wordy and heavy on photos I am ordering a book every six months.



As you can see the covers of the first three books were red, orange and yellow. The book I just ordered will have a green hard cover.
This blog is all about color and I am ordering the books in rainbow color order.
There are a total of 31 different covers to choose from at this time.
You can order your book with a soft or hard cover.

If you want to order a book from your blog just click on the icon on the right of this page and it will take you directly to the Blog to Print pages so you can order your own.

This is such a great way to document the blog that you have spent so much time creating.

Tessellation Tutorial - Lesson 4

I have a friend who often gives this answer when asked if something is being done.
WOI which means working on it.



You can see I am very involved WOI. This is some of what I have been doing.



It is now time to back each of the fabrics you have chosen with Wonder Under.
1. Cut a piece of Wonder Under 8 3/4 inches by the width of the Wonder Under. Fuse this to a piece of fabric that is just slightly larger than the WU following directions on the package.



2. Do the same thing with each piece of fabric. You will have between 8 and 12 fabrics.



These are the fabrics I am working with. Each piece has been backed with Wonder Under and is ready for the next step.


I have cut at least 30 different shapes which gives me a lot of possibilities.
I found one I really liked and went so far as to make a plastic template for it.





After tracing this shape on the Wonder Under release paper I realized it was more complex than what I was willing to spend my time on.



These shapes are complex enough to be interesting, but not so complex it would take forever to trace and cut them. Of course you only will be using one of you shapes. I am just showing you a variety so you can see some possiblities from the ones I cut.

Review for Lesson 2
1. Back each piece of fabric with Wonder Under. (Do NOT remove the release paper from the back.)
2. Continue cutting more tessellated shapes until you find one that appeals to you and is neither too simple nor too complex.

Stay tuned for Lesson 3.