I Am Happy My Friend Debbie Is Here

My friend Debbie Jones arrived early this evening for  a visit.
We intend to play with the dyes tomorrow and try some things that are new to us.
She spends time in Florida teaching for guilds, shops and shows during our March quilt season even though she has moved to New Mexico.
We all love seeing her between her professional engagements. She has developed some really personal and unique classes.

Lanai Looking More Coordinated!

You saw the cushion I reupholstered for the rattan lanai furniture with the green fabric.
I had enough fabric left to recover these pillows on the new loveseats.
It sure helped to pull the room together.
And in case you are wondering, that first cushion is the only one that is done. I am working on the other 7 production line style and hope to finish them within the week.

My Tasteful Flamingoes!

Recently I shared a video of flamingoes on a beach on Facebook. I mentioned I had a TASTEFUL flamingo collection.
This is one of my flamingo statues.
I keep them all in one cabinet.
One time I mentioned my TASTEFUL flamingo collection to someone and she said she didn’t realize there was an such thing as a “TASTEFUL” flamingo!

New Covering On Lanai Cushions

After 11 years the covers on the green furniture on the lanai were starting to show slight fading and wear.
I bought the fabric last year and didn’t get them made. It was partly because time ran short and partly because I don’t like to do this type of sewing.
I finally bit the bullet and started on them. I finished one of them and it turned out great. The biggest problems were working with a long heavy roll of fabric, cutting the outdoor fabric accurately and dealing with the raveling. I did a lot of edge finishing with a zigzag as soon as each piece was cut out but it still didn’t eliminate all the raveling.
I have 7 more to go and although I know they’ll all work just as well as this one, I still am not looking forward to making them.
If you look toward the top of the picture you can see some of the furniture on the lanai.

I Want To Share A Few Eggs I Created

Nothing more fun than decorating eggs for Easter……
Oh, I forgot there is…..Eating Jelly Belly jelly beans and Chocolate eggs!

Happy Easter

E B and I wish you a Happy Easter!

Stitching On The Lanai

I usually leave all my hand sewing/finishing for the evenings when I watch TV.
It is such a beautiful day today I decided I’d sit outside and watch the golfers while I stitched down the facings.
I think that since golf is a part of this it can be considered exercise?

My Quilts Around The Globe!

This was a fun idea to share several quilt at once!

Stitching A BIG Spiral

You are only seeing a portion of this quilt which I am currently quilting.
I started at the center and am stitching a single spiral to fill the surface of this 40 something inch quilt.
I do love stitching circles and spirals. Quilting one this size is a challenge.
I should finish the quilting very soon.

Ugly-No, Beautiful Scrap Blocks

I had some small pieces and strips of some of my hand dyed and hand painted fabrics. I decided I’d do some simple blocks and use almost all of them up. It was also a good chance to empty some various colors of thread from bobbins and spools of thread that were almost empty.
As I looked at them as I was working I thought “These are some really ugly blocks and I’m going to have to work miracles putting them together and adding something to make them sing.
As I was giving them their final press and looked at each one I realized these were really beautiful blocks. You may recognize some of these fabrics from previous blog posts.
At this time I have no idea how I will put them together or what I will add to make it work. There are 21 blocks of various sizes.
I have to tell you the scraps I have left are mostly those too small to use. It’s a great feeling to have achieved my objective.

Another Finished Quilt…

When you look at this quilt do you see anything familiar? I am not going to tell you and I want to see how many of you can figure it out.
My middle child was here and gave it a name that is under consideration. What would you name this?
This is one of those quilts that I like so much better when it is quilted and finished. Often as I work on a quilt I am not sure what I think of it. It also was fun to make this one with the bright cheery colors.

Supporting Cast

Most of the time when I start a quilt one outstanding fabric inspires me.
My next choice is finding other fabrics that work with and complement the first fabric I chose.
This is a group of fabrics that are possible supporting fabrics for the next quilt I will start.
Just because I choose some of these fabrics doesn’t mean they will make the final cut.
That is why it is important to me to have a wide range of fabrics to choose from.
Over half of the fabrics you see here have been created recently. The others have been created sometime in the last 10 or more years.
And if none of these do the job I also have a drawer full of hand dyes along with the selection on my cutting counter.
One of the biggest challenges is sometimes finding the PERFECT fabric and then not having enough of it. But….I think of that as a design opportunity as often a piece is more successful when additional fabrics are added.
It is not only my love of fabrics and color that keep me coming back to make more quilts. It is also the thrill of the chase as I find the perfect fabric to make a quilt sing.

After The Rain….Azaleas

With the crazy weather we have had this past 6 months I didn’t think we’d have many azaleas.
As I looked at them this morning I may be wrong. Maybe not as many as some years, but it is sure to be a beautiful display.

Finished Knitting Scarf

I finished knitting my scarf today.
It is about 90 inches long. I still need to weave in the ends, block it and do a little felting which means it will be a little shorter.
I carefully watched the colors and the amount of yarn I used and I am proud to say I finished with less than 2 yards of yarn!

Just A Few Small Fabrics I’ve Created

I sometimes try different things or products on a piece of fabric. Often they get put away in a drawer and taken out at a later date and I do more to them.

This is a small piece. The detail is a little lighter than it looks in the photo.

This actually started with a boring piece of a commercial print. I think I have 3 or 4 layers of pattern added to it.

This is another piece that has at least 3-4 layers of pattern. I used one of my original design thermofax screens for one of the layers. Two of the images were my own rubber stamps I made.
All of the pieces I have showed you on this post are relatively small. I have no idea how or when I will use them. That is true with both these small pieces and the larger pieces I create.
I have always let the fabric inspire me. That has held true whether I was sewing a garment or making a quilt. ( OK, I admit, I did make some poor choices of fabrics for 9th grade sewing projects.) But I learned a lesson and didn’t repeat the same mistakes.

Designing With Images

I cut out each of the images from the piece of fabric I printed all these designs on.
Now the fun begins. I will be trying different ideas to use all of these to create a cohesive piece of art. I have many options and a collection of possible fabrics to use.
Wish me luck.

Miniature Works In Progress

The only thing left to finish on this miniature quilt is the binding. I think the reason I am putting it off is I know the seams of the three different fabrics on the binding have to match the seams on the border. The strips are 1/4 inch wide.

I got an ink spot on one of the borders on this miniature quilt so I removes that piece of the border. I have the fabric to replace it but have never finished it. The squares are 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch. Like the first quilt this is hand quilted with teeny tiny stitches. I don’t think I could make stitches this small anymore!

Happy Pi Day

Have a slice of my square Pi!

The Quilting Is Finished But This Is A Teaser!

This quilt is the negative image of a positive image I showed you recently.
I have finished quilting the entire quilt but right now I am only sharing the center section.
Stay tuned until I get it finished!

Decorative Machine Stitches

I have had my Janome sewing machine for over 15 years.
As with most people who have machines with a lot of decorative stitches I have rarely used them.
I found they were the perfect touch for one of the latest quilts I finished.
It is not easy to see what a stitch will look like from the tiny diagram on your machine.
After cutting two fingers and having them bandaged while they heal I had to find things I COULD do.
Knowing that I might like to do some decorative stitches on future quilts I made a sample of all the stitches. I was surprised to see some of them.

I have two alligators, one facing left and the other right. Not sure I’ll be using them unless as a Florida joke!
I have found some that are candidates to use on future quilts.
So stay tuned and see if any of these stitches show up on future quilts!