Why oh why do I get myself into these things?

Months and months ago, I decided to check out some of the challenges going on around the web.   I decided to try for two:  the Quiltcon challenge and the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza.  Intentions are wonderful things when you have creative ideas and a lot of time.  But, life sometimes gets in the way and then deadlines sneak up and hit you over the head.  Last weekend, I went the Hallowood retreat center with a fun bunch of quilting buddies.  The Quiltcon challenge was due August 15th and I went to the retreat with challenge fabrics and instructions and invited the quilters there to make a 12" square block.   On the second day, Twila began making a block.  This motivated me to throw together a block.  I mailed hers and mine on August 15th. Yeah!  Goal accomplished.  I did not take a picture of my block before I mailed it.  I'm sure it's going to be included in one of the charity quilts that will be made from left over blocks...it was a last minute, get it done kind of thing.  Twila's block, however, might have a good chance of being included in the Quiltcon display quilt. 

So, all that was left was the PNQE challenge.  The theme was "Keystone".   Knowing that this year is the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, I decided to design a quilt that reflected the event which inspired the Star-Spangled Banner.  I knew that from above, Fort McHenry contains a keystone shape.    What if I took the public domain drawing of the battle, portrayed it within the keystone shape and put the whole thing on a replica of the flag that was flown?   Fabulous idea on paper, challenging on fabric.  I left Hallowood with a half-finished quilt top and an August 18th deadline, at least that's what I thought.

Yesterday morning, I decided if I spent the whole day on the quilt, I could finish it, photograph it, and send off my application today.    I got out the application and was horrified to note that the entry must be postmarked by August 17th.  It was iffy that I would be able to get the entry to the post office by 5 p.m. but I did my best.  In truth, I had to pin the binding to take the picture...but the entry is on it's way.   Here's the original design:

 

And here's my attempt:

Now I just have to wait to see if it will be accepted.   If it's not.....well, I've learned a few lessons.   Twila taught me how to apply paint to fabric to lighten the color.   While I didn't have time to do that yesterday, her lesson is a tool I can use in the future.  I calligraphied the Star-Spangled banner on fabric that resembled parchment paper.  I satin stitched with metallic thread.  And, finally, I used a few of the quilting stitches I learned in Leah Day's book: 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs.  All in all, it feels good to achieve some goals and learn something along the way.

Enjoying My Projects

My house is one of those houses that doesn't have curb appeal.  We moved into it 19 years ago when it was a new home and quickly became best friends with the local nursery.   A blue spruce, a cherry tree, and a river birch block a view of our house from the street.  Some say this denies our house curb appeal.  I'm thankful for the shade.   Our front door is recessed into a little alcove.  When I first moved here, like many new home owners, I wanted to decorate the front door....so I purchased a wreath and hung it.  It looked grand until some birds decided it was a wonderful place to build a nest. 

Back in 2006, I purchased 365 Foundation Quilt Blocks by Linda Causee.  I was really into paper piecing at the time and made my first quilt in October.  I tried adding magnets to the quilt so I could display it on our metal door....but strong winds just blew it all over the yard.  So, I purchased a magnetic curtain hanger.  This worked much better but sometimes it would remain on the door without a quilt because I couldn't bring myself to make the other 11 months.  My neighbor said to my husband that only Linda was have a curtain hanger on the front door.   That motivated me to make the rest of the month quilts.    Some are whole cloth quilts I purchased, others are applique patterns.  Here's the one's I've completed to date:

I  just finished the July quilt.

They're not perfect and mostly they're made from scraps but they make my ugly brown door come alive.  Every morning I take my dog out for her morning constitutional.  While she's nosing around under the shade trees for the perfect spot, I am just enjoying my "door quilt."  

Powerful Worldly Connections

Okay, so the title should have been WOOOHOOO! But there's a story behind this one.  I received a package in the mail two days ago:

Seven lucious fat quarters from SpringWater Designs.   It turns out that I won her Memorial Day giveaway and until the fabrics arrived I had forgotten all about it.  

For the past three days, I've been sick.....temperature over 100....body aches and pains....headache that wouldn't go away.  I was so sick, my quilting cave sent me a reminder that I haven't visited it since Sunday.  My doctor fit me in his schedule yesterday...and he believes that I might have chronic lyme's disease.   So, I took my first of 42 pills last night....and this morning my temperature is below 100 and the headache is gone.  I still have to go do the lyme's disease test to confirm the diagnosis...and no, I don't remember any tick on me and no, I didn't get the bull's eye rash. 

So, Dawn of Spring Water Designs....those fat quarters sat on the coffee table and were the only connection I had to quilting....the only ray of hope that I'd get beyond what I thought was the flu...and get back to my quilting cave.  In a more lucid moment yesterday, I took a look at the envelope.  It turns out that Dawn lives on the street I lived on a little over twenty years ago.  Now if you're like me, the theme to the twilight zone is playing in your head now.  But, isn't this proof that we are all connected in some cosmic way?  

Joy Jam!

Beth Wheeler from the blog "Confessions of a Thread Junkie" is having a Joy Jam!   She challenged her readers to make some hearts with the word Joy on them and give them to people you think might need some joy in their life.   It's nearing the 1 year anniversary of my father's death (Father's Day 2011), so I thought a little joy in my life would be just the ticket.  Here are my hearts:

Basically, I took out my ribbon basket, made a quilt sandwich out of muslin and started sewing all types sizes of ribbons across the sandwich.  I cut that ribbon quilt up into 3" x 3.5" pieces and then cut out hearts.  I didn't want to run ribbon through my printer, so I experimented with a bunch of pens and found a gold metallic gel pen that would write on satin ribbon without bleeding too much.  Here's a close up of one of the hearts above.

Now I can't wait to pass them out.   My father's sisters are coming to visit on Monday, June 4th...what would have been my father's 81st birthday.  They might need a little joy to take home with them.       Where the other hearts go is a mystery right now....but I'm sure I'll be able to spread a little joy for a while.  

Recreating a lost quilt...in miniature

Recently I've been getting some of my creative mojo back....challenging myself to try new things.   Almost 2 years ago, I made a quilt for the 100th anniversary of Naval Aviation.  It's still in the "Lost Quilt Come Home" database.   So, two weeks ago, I decided to recreate that design in a 12 inch block for the EAA AirVenture Quilt Block Contest.   It's not an exact replica, but pretty close.   Here's what I sent off to Oshkosh, Wisconsin yesterday.

Instead of meandering the sky, I decided to echo the aircraft.  To simulate the tiny little sparkles on the top of the aircraft carrier, I randomly took little stitches with that silver metallic thread I haven't been able to use with my sewing machine because it breaks all the time. It took over three months to make the original.   This one only took a couple of weeks.  Remaking it was healing.   Here's to hoping the Post Office doesn't lose this one too. 

Doing the Wasilowski

Recently my guild offered a two-day class from Laura Wasilowski.   Yes!  I'm now a member of the Chicago School of Fusing.   I still sometimes murder my glue, but I enjoyed the class and lecture immensely.

First, we were given two pieces of hand-dyed material and asked to create a garden using nothing but our scissors, wonder under, and an iron.   Here's my attempt:



I'm not pleased with the huge pansies in the right hand corner but love the hand-dyed fabric and the four-leaf clover I added to the clover patch at the bottom.  We were given variegated threads with which to embellish the piece.   I relearned how to do some french knots and started outlining the bleeding heart branch.

The next day, we were instructed to take the left over pieces of the garden projects and make collages by cutting and layering fabric.  Eventually, the pieces I was playing with began to look like my dog.  So, I cut her out of the collages, and glued her to another piece of fabric.   Here's Misty:

Ok, so I haven't really touched these pieces since the class...in fact, they've been relegated to my UFO (for the non-quilters UFO = UnFinished Object) file for a while....that is until I figure out what I want to do next.  Any ideas?

Zentangle Fun!

I had the opportunity to take a Zentangle and Zen Quilting class recently.   What a lot of fun!   Of course, anyone who knows me knows that I am a doodler.   So, it's no surprise that this class spoke to me.  Pat Ferguson taught the two-day workshop.   The first day was learning how to doodle, Zentangle style.   Here's what I ended up with:

It's not exactly my style of doodle, but it was fun and satisfying.  Now on to quilting Zentangle style:

Does it look at least a little like a four-leaf clover?....my first one of the season!   Here's where the price of the class was worth every penny.   I've been trying to do this on my own with my sewing machine and colored thread... always running into difficulty representing heavy colored lines or designs with lots of stops and starts.  I began doodling only doodles that I thought I could quilt. That hampered my doodling creativity.  In this piece, I quilted the basic sections, then used archival ink pens to doodle on the fabric.  When I was finished doodling, I took a dry iron and heat-set the color, washed the quilt, and used a pencil to add shading.  The final result?   A whole new realm of quilting possibilities!   Woohoo!