Another quilt for Shirley Fraser

 

Dr Shirley Fraser is my most prolific customer so far. I’ve taken a long time to get this quilt finished, but it is large, & I’ve finally conquered my stitch regulator! I’d tried using it before, & could never get the momentum of it right, but I think I’ve finally got it.

You will have to click on the pictures & see the larger versions to really see my quilting, & it definitely stands out better on the back than the front.

 

On the outer edge I used this large curved ruler, that I bought from Carol Olson.  I used it to draw the curve on paper first, then bumped the hopping foot up against it as I sewed. It worked well so long as I was in front or on either side, but when I wanted to position behind the foot I had a problem with the peg handles getting in the way, but overall I really like them.

Dean Bivens Carver & Textile Links

Today we had Calendar Girls at Betty Bivens house.  When I first arrived we ended up drawn out to the garage where her husband Dean was working on painting one of he carved fish. We started talking to him & he was showing us parts, & works in progress. This is a quilt’s husband who really understands UFOs!

One of the things Dean has been able to use his talents for is helping out at the Wild Bird Refuge. There is an eagle who lost a big chunk of his beak due to getting tangled with a fish hook & line, & a local dentist has cast a prosthetic beak for the bird. About every 6 months Dean has to remove it, & do a little shaving underneath, the reattach it, for it to fit correctly. He said the eagle is all eagle, & very predatory when he’s in the atrium, but when they catch him & lay him down on his back to work on his beak, he just lays there. Dean actually uses a power tool  to carve on his beak, then glues the prosthesis back on, & the bird doesn’t seem to mind.

This is a Kestrel he’s working on. Amazing stuff.

I’m not sure I ever showed this quilt on here before, but it is one that the group did from a photo I took at the Alaska State Fair, & I drew the pattern for it, the sliced it apart, & 6 of the Calendar Girls made it. It won a Blue Ribbon at the Fair.

Rena brought a new book with her, & I want to share it with you. It is one of those books that is great for inspiration. It is FULL of beautiful textiles, & I was excited to skim through it & see several people I know, here in Alaska such as Linda Beach, KC Lowe, & Ree Nancarrow. here are a couple of people I’ve taken classes from, Ann Johnston, & Patti Madaris Culea (who is also a blogger). & Then there are some people I know from blogging, Sue Bleiweiss & Terry Stegmiller. It’s beautiful book. There are links to all of these people embedded on their names, check them out!

Quilts, Old Trucks, & a quilting DVD Review

 
Yesterday I went to Seams Like Home to buy a new foot for my Bernina. I had forgotten that Friends of Pets was having their auction, so I was pleasantly surprised to have a nice little quilt show in the mall. I bid on a couple, but couldn’t wait until the end, because I had to get home to make dinner, so I didn’t get any of them. I snapped some pictures just to share here. The one above is by my friend Pam Harris.


This last quilt is one of Linda Beach’s quilts. She is one of our SAQA members.
 
The reason I had my camera with me was because I had wanted to stop & snap some pictures of these old trucks that had been calling to me every time I drove past them. I love rusty old vehicles! Is that weird, or what?!

The other thing I wanted to talk about here, was some quilting DVD’s that I recently purchased. Sharon Schamber was here to teach for the ALCQ guild last month. I went to the free lecture, & it was entertaining. She did a trunk show, with a few of her spectacular quilts, & some of her “stipple” samples, & a few works in progress. She talked a bit about Astrology (which was amusing). Over all it was a nice evening.
I looked at her DVD’s for sale, & she had them bundled in 3’s. I really only wanted the “Corded binding” DVD, & she had it bundled with 2 other binding DVD’s, which I really didn’t need or want. I was also interested in her Dancing Feathers, but again, they were all being sold in bundles.  I had decided against signing up for her classes, & her Longarm Lectures were priced at $55.00 each, for two, 2-hour lectures. The price included the $15.00 DVD that went with the lectures. I decided to go on line & order the DVDs of the 2 lectures, plus the “Corded Binding” DVD. I have to say after watching all 3 I am glad I got the corded Binding, & I’m also glad I didn’t spend $110.00 on 4 hours of lecture.
The other 2 DVD’s are probably very good for a fairly new quilter, but for the money, I would recommend anybody (beginner or advanced), take an on-line “Quilt Whisperer” class with Carla Barrett . As far as learning feathers, I feel Kim Brunner’s “Feathers DVD” was a better learning tool.
  Please don’t misunderstand, as far as Sharon Schamber is concerned, I have nothing but admiration for her work. It is really beautiful, & spectacular, & I’ve never done anything that could begin to compare. I do strongly recommend her “Corded Binding” DVD.

Happy Birthday Boys

My first born Brandon & my DH Warren share the same birthday. Happy Birthday fellas! 

Yesterday I passed my PALS (Pediatric advanced Lie Support) tests, now I have to start studying for ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support). Tomorrow I work at the hospital, Sat & Sun. I'm on call. I'm going to have to find time to quilt in between! I'm suffering from creativity withdrawal!!!

Soul Sister

 

Did you ever get a song stuck in your head & you just can’t get it to stop? I even work my DH up singing in the middle of the night. Singing in my sleep! Must be the stress from studying, my brain is turning to mush!

The song is “Hey Soul Sister” by Train, though I also love Alyssa Bernal’s rendition of it too. This kid has a lovely voice.

Another Lady needs a quilt /Mckenna Ryan pattern

 

I got this email today, & told Barbara I would post this for her. Please contact me if you are interested in the job & I will give you each other’s contact info :

Hi there, I have a pattern by McKenna Ryan that I want to have made into a 60”w x 68” long wall hanging.

http://www.pineneedles.com/SuperStore/SuperStore-Assortment.asp?AssortmentID=33

It has a fair amount of detail, some of which I want removed, like the fisherman and the fish in the sky.

I would also like to trade the cotton flowers for pink fireweed.

Anyhow it does involve cutting and fusing.

I cannot find anyone willing to do it.

I went over to Seams Like Home and the person they recommended has never done fusing.

Quilt Tree recommended Linda P. but she does not do other folks’ patterns.

Can you make any suggestions? I am willing to pay whatever it takes.

 

Wildlife in my backyard..& need a quilt-Piecer

Yesterday I made a wish on my blog, & today like a good fairy, he showed up & my wish came true. Yeah!!!
While I was outside talking to him, this fellow showed up.


There were also geese making all sorts of noise. What a beautiful autumn day!

In regards to "NEED A PIECER", I have been contacted by a woman who sent this request:


"Hello,


I am looking for someone to finish a quilt for me.

My mother was in the process of making a quilt for me when she passed away. She finished 18 squares of the courthouse steps pattern. I would like to have those pieces and a star pattern (to join the courthouse steps together) made and then quilted to make a queen-size quilt.

Is there anyone who does this kind of work?

Thanks for your help.

Kathleen"

If you know of anyone who can help her,please contact me & I will send you her email address. Thanks!

Termination Dust 2010

 

Those white spots in the picture are not on the lens. Yes it’s snow. Termination Dust. So, yes Rian, it’s Fall already! At this northern latitude winter moves in quickly.  The snow didn’t last long, for which I am grateful.  I am afraid the ice melting wires that need to be hooked back up on the roof, & the electrical wires that I have been tripping over outside the back door still won’t get buried before it snows again. We are waiting for our favorite electrician/contractor to come finish the job. I fear another winter will crawl by with me worrying over the snow load & possible leaks in the roof.

This was the accumulation on the driveway. Tomorrow we could wake up to real snow.

At least the stone work was finished before the snow.

I got all of the autumn quilts up for the next couple of months, before I change over to the winter decor.

I am trying to move ahead on Shirley Fraser’s latest quilt, but still feel the need to study for PALS too.  Gosh I wish I didn’t have to take these classes!

Neck purse & Fall Clean-up

I usually make a neck purse as a gift from our ALCQ quilt guild, for visiting teachers. Tonight is our lecture from Sharon Schamber, so this will be her gift. I decided to do a crazy log cabin front on it, since we are the Log Cabin quilters.

We are having another spectacular autumn, (which helps make up for the lousy summer we had this year). A couple of days ago we found our deck decorated for Halloween already. There must’ve been a spider jamboree out there! UCKY! I HATE spiders!

We have been very busy this past week, between my working extra days in the Recovery room, studying for my PALS exam coming up in another week, & cleaning out our garage, of all of Aunt Ethel’s old things. I hope to give away or sell most of it.

 

Cleaning out the garage exposed me to more molds, so I’ve been coughing a lot, & ended up sleeping in the recliner last night.

STRETCH A leaf Study with Gel Printing

 

On the Fiberactions blog our current challenge word was ‘Stretch’. For myself, I wanted to do something I had never tried before. I started by getting out my copy of Rayna Gillman’s book “How to Create your own Hand-Printed cloth” and looked at her directions on Gel Printing. I used textile paints instead of mixing dyes, but the gelatin was the part of the process I hadn’t done before, & it was fun using such a squishy surface for the printing. I picked leaves from my yard, & laid them on the gelatin, then rolled the paint over them, peeled off the leaves, laid down the fabric for the mono-print, then also used the leaf to print an image too.      

I sewed the front & back fabrics together like a pillow, turned it with the batting in place, & closed the opening, then arranged the green pieces & 1 brown on the surface, sewed them in place, & machine quilted until I felt it was time to add another layer of texture.

I added lots of big stitches, French Knots, x’s, & a scattering of seed beads.

You can click on any of the images to see close-ups.

 

ALCQ Show2010

 

Harmony Moser was our featured quilter for this year’s ALCQ show.

I was delighted to meet Mary who traveled all the way from Ireland to come to our show. I was demonstrating free-motion machine quilting.

My “sister” Carol Wight Jones won viewer’s choice in the large quilt category, for her exquisite hand appliqué's & hand quilted quilt. The detail below is the nest with little eggs that I made for her from polymer clay.

This piece by Sandy Winfree was really beautiful. I love the silk textures. She hand dyes it, & ties rocks in it while wet, then lets it dry to retain the interesting shapes.

  his was another of my favorites. Linda Postelwaite hand appliquéd all of theses squares, & hand quilted this, all during the Olympics. Detail pics below.

This won Viewer’s choice for small wall quilts. It is ‘Painted Feathers’ by Cindy Rainey. She used Shiva sticks to paint it, & Sharon Schamber’s cording technique.

Jan Wills got the Viewer’s Choice for her appliqué’ quilt, that I quilted for her! We were both tickled pink!

The final Viewer Choice for wearable art, went to Connie Cloud, for her Puppies jacket.

Some of my other favorites were:

Pam Harris’s ‘Fan Fungi’,

& her ‘Postcard from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles’. She credited me with teaching her the Treadplay “cup corals”.

as did Jackie Carley for the threadplay trees she did.

These purses were made by Pam Harris, & Joyce Webster.

The doggie coat by Elaine Fergen.

 

Done with the show report, at home now, I want to show you all the scarf that my DGF Kathy Jolman dyed for me using Eucalyptus leaves. She wrapped it on the stick with leaves tucked into it, & let me open it up to reveal the print. The other thing she did the same way was this hank of wool yarn shown in the upper left corner of the scarf picture.

This is how our nasturtiums look today.

 

And last, as I ate my breakfast this morning, the sun was shining, & a mist rolled through, giving me the most ethereal view. Beautiful day!