Quilts & Glass Art

 

Above & below are pictures of fused glass made by my friend Mindy, as thank-you gifts for helping with the wedding. She made 4 of the birch plates for her “sisters by heart” (so lucky me I got one!), & the trivets below (which are about 4 1/2” square), were given to every guest. I love using her little glass trivets for things like setting my tea-bag on, or keeping my little beads from rolling away when I am beading a project. They also make nice soap dishes & spoon rests. I am lucky to have lots of Mindy’s glass now.

 

Next is a customer quilt, Jan Bronson made this from Pricilla Bianchi’s book “Caliente Quilts!

She wanted it quilted similar to the design in the book, but I just couldn’t copy it, so I went inspired by the book. Similar, but different.  You can click on any of the images to get a bigger picture.

It looked pretty neat from the back, when I hung it to get the full effect.

 

The next quilt to go on the frame is by Marilyn Moreno. I’ve hung it up to photograph & contemplate designs. I’ll play with my Bamboo, & do some different designs for her & let her choose (which is what I did for Jan too).

Below are 4 of the options that Jan had to choose from for her quilt.

The Wedding of Lindsey & Kyle

 

 

 

Lindsey Meyn, daughter of my dearest friends John & Mindy married Kyle Wark, grandson of a Tlingit Chief. Kyle & Lindsey are 2 of the most brilliant & kind souls that I have the privilege of knowing.  Their ceremony was as unusual & special as they are. Ann officiated. It was held in her back yard. Christie & Hope were the bridesmaids, & Shane (Christie’s boyfriend) the Best-man.

Kyle & Lindsey read poetry, & gave simple vows.

Once the wedding was completed, Lindsey was then adopted into the Raven clan by Kyle’s relatives. His aunt, & Grandmother spoke, his cousin drummed. Live ravens were in the trees surrounding us, & chortled & called out as if they were part of the party.

The Elders sang, & they all danced an eagle dance.

The cake was topped by a topper handmade by Lindsey.

 

Family had to pose for obligatory photos.

Here is a close-up of the back of Lindsey’s shrug. She drew the design, & a Salish native in Washington made it for her.

We played with bubbles.

 

Instead of a Guestbook, guests were asked to sign one of the beautiful planks that Lindsey’s Dad, John had made for the benches that we all sat on during the ceremonies. It will be coated with polyurethane & made into a bench for Lindsey & Kyle’s home.

Summer Solstice

Above is a gift I just got from my friend Kathy. The Penny rug is so cute, now I just need a 2nd one, mirror image of this one, so I can have one on either side of my dresser! The candle came with it & it smells SO GOOD! Mmmmm, cinnamon spicy!

Tonight we go to Lindsey & Kyle’s wedding. Lindsey will be adopted by the Eagle Clan prior to the wedding. Kyle is of the Raven Clan. I made this card for them,

It was inspired by this silver ring that my son gave me.

I did the card out of 3 layers of my natural dyed wools. I drew the design on paper first, then traced it on to Wash-away stabilizer. Pinned it to the 3 layers of wool, * stitched with black cotton #12 wgt thread. Then I just cut back the layers.
I’ll post wedding pictures next time.

Busy June

Summer time is always so busy. Even with days being endless, darkness never falling, there never seems to be enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. I’ve only been working 2 days a week at the hospital (max, sometimes only 1 day). This past week, I finished Lindsey’s wedding dress again. We added one more tier of fabric to the skirt. It looks really nice, & I will post pictures from the wedding next week. I have another quilt on Lily that I need to finish for a customer. I did some major spring cleaning last week to prep for all the company we were having. Calendar Girls met at our house Thursday. Mary needed a little extra light, & clipped my book light to her glasses like a headlamp!

 

I taught a class at the quilt shop on Friday evening after working all day. Saturday I had friends Christie & Hope , & another Christie to work on party favors for a surprise shower we had on Sunday, for Lindsey & Kyle. It was “Camping themed”, as they were wanting camping gear for gifts.

They thought they were just coming up for the usual Sunday dinner at the Hardman’s house. They were surprised to find several other friends there. Weather was nice enough that we were able to at least eat out on the deck. We had a Pizza Pasta Salad (Kathy Jolman’s recipe), & a Caprese salad, with garlic bread, veggie chips, & of course the cake.

Inside we did one game, a word scramble, & the kids got to open all of their gifts. Everything Camping related.

Mary Fisher Memorial

One of my friends, Mary Fisher died Thursday night. She was a vivacious, wonderful person. She was an OR nurse (that’s where I met her), & a wife & mother of 2 teenagers. Her son just graduated high school this year, & her daughter is a couple years younger. Mary & her family did a lot of traveling. She bought fabric during her travels, & wanted to make a quilt out of it. She started getting sick a few months ago, & at first the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. A trip to the Mayo Clinic found the diagnosis of Mad Cow disease.

Another OR nurse Margarite Mc Manus pieced this top together from Mary’s fabric, & asked me if I would quilt it for her. We had hoped to give it to Mary finished, but she died the night before Margarite could give it to me. So now that the quilting is done, I will pass it back to Margarite to finish the binding & it will go to Mary’s family. I did simple swirly quilting on the body of the quilt, & feathers on the borders.

 

On a happier note, Tracy had one extra block left over from the quilt I just finished for her, & I made it into a pillow for her. The quilting is done. The pillow cover is constructed. I just need to make a pillow form to slip inside it. I made a simple over-lap back on it, out of micro fiber. Click on any of the above pictures to get a closer look.

I also did some more work on Lindsey’s wedding dress. We added another tier of fabric on the skirt. The wedding is Monday, June 21st. Summer solstice. I will get pictures of her wearing it & post them then.

Now I think I’ll go back to my spring cleaning! I finally got in the mood! Probably because I have Calendar Girls coming on Thursday!

 

Tracy’s Quilt & a Quick Trip to Seward

 

 

I finally finished Tracy & Wendy’s quilts & delivered them to them yesterday. Both seemed very  happy with the quilting. I also did the binding for them. I sat out on the deck in the sun, hand stitching the binding to the back of the quilts. I actually have a bit of a tan now. We’ve been having beautiful summer weather the past week.

Wendy even gave me this pretty bouquet of flowers to say thank you. I felt like I’d won a prize!

This pair has been staying in our yard for the past week. The little one was still pretty shaky on it’s feet when we first saw it, but seems to be growing stronger & bigger every day. The Mama moose killed out neighbor’s little drop-kick dog yesterday. They let them run loose, & he came at the mama moose yapping, so she kicked him. She was just protecting her little one. Fortunately, we only have a cat, & he stays indoors, so as long as we don’t bother her, she doesn’t bother us. I can see her through my window as I write this. I’m glad she feels safe in our yard.

 

My DD Michelle sent me a “Skin” for my Kindle. Isn’t it pretty? Now I will think  of her every time I read. I listened to Bram Stokers “Dracula” while I sewed this past week.

 

Yesterday evening we took of down the highway to Seward.

We got to Ray’s just in the nick of time for dinner. It’s our favorite restaurant down there. We didn’t realize they closed at 9pm.

After dinner we walked on the boardwalk looking at some of the boats., then we went & found a place to camp by the water over night. There was an otter just off the shore where we camped in our van. It’s an ‘86 Dodge van, & though it’s looking older, it still runs well, & works perfect for us now that it’s getting harder to crawl on the ground in a tent.

Today I went to “Sew and Bee Cozy”, Seward’s little quilt shop. I fell in love with the metal thread stands they had, & brought on home for myself. They are works of art. If you want one you can look at paulsmetalpetals.com.

Speaking of thread, I reorganized some of my collection last week.

The other thing I bought at the quilt shop, was this bunch of buttons. They are all hand made free trade buttons from women in Africa.

Last on today’s list is a book cover that I made for my preceptor at work to go over her dog-eared address book that she uses at work., as a thank-you for orienting me.