A Perfect Day

Everything went RIGHT today. The rest of Lily's parts were delivered bright and early. The delivery guys were really nice. They couldn't quite wrap their minds around what kind of sewing machine could come in so many big heavy boxes. The big long box was over 400 pounds, & the 2 of them & my DH had all they could do to get it as far as they did.
The weather cooperated well too. It was bright & sunny, no snow falling when the boxes came & we had to open them & unpack them outside, bringing parts in one at a time.

This was just the legs.

This long box was all the rollers, & the table itself. The table was the HEAVY part.

Warren & I carried everything in except the table, then I covered it up with old blankets, & the wood on top, & we went to the airport to get Megan. Her flight was 1 hour late, which was just perfect timing for us.

Together the 3 of us got the table in the house, & miraculously everything was in place just the right direction! Nothing had to be taken out & turned around. Megan went right to work & together we got it all put together.

The girl really knows what she's doing!

She talked me through loading the fabric & batting, & she did the first test drive to make sure it was running right before I got to play.

I didn't take a picture of what I did. It isn't pretty yet, but it was fun test driving. Tomorrow I will spend the day practicing, then on Saturday Megan will come over again, & teach me how to do timing the machine, & answer any questions I come up with, plus give me some basics & pointers, & references on running my business. Whew! Am I tired!

We finally quit at about 6 p.m., & went to the Bear Tooth Grill for supper. Now off to bed, so when I wake up all recharged, I can go play, play, play!

Life is always an Adventure in Alaska

Today was the big day for the delivery of Lily the Longarm A-1 sewing machine. Megan said it would be in 3 big crates. 700+ pounds total. I readied my studio as best I could. Set up the saw horses where the 2 ends of the machine should reach.

Mother Nature has continued to DUMP on us. Warren snowblowed the driveways yesterday, both front & back. We put my car in the front to keep it out of the way for the delivery truck.
Warren shoveled the path again this morning, we had about another 10-12 inches of fresh snow.
The truck backed up the driveway, but couldn't make the turn.

They carried the palate over to where Warren had shoveled.

We asked them, "Are you sure this is all there is? We were told there were 3 big boxes, & that it weighed over 700 pounds." "Oh sure the guy says, see there are 3 boxes here, they just strapped them all together".... Warren studies the invoice....

The chair is here,

the machine is here,

but this is it. No rails. No big 12 foot long crates. I called Megan, she said this isn't all there is. 2 12 foot wooden crates are missing. Well the shipping company found the crates, they're here in town, but because the roads are so bad from the storm, they aren't delivering anything else today, & don't know about tomorrow. I'm still waiting for their call to tell me when the rest will be here. In the meantime, Megan comes tomorrow. Guess we'll just have to do some playing, shopping, maybe we'll go to Calendar Girls!

PS- The gal from the freight company called back just after I published this post. They will bring the rest first thing in the morning, in a smaller van. 8 A.M. sharp! YIPPIEEE!

Bubbles

I can't believe how fast I cranked this one out. Last night I sprinkled all the rest of the Angelina fibers that were in Mary's bag, over the top of the circles of fabric & Timtex. I pressed with the iron & press sheet, then layered plain blue tulle over that, & pin basted just like a regular quilt.

I quilted for about 1 1/2 hrs before going to bed,
then finished all the quilting today. Another 4 1/2 hrs worth. Here's a close up of the back side with the wash-away stabilizer, showing the quilting.

After rinsing, I laid it out to dry on a fluffy towel.

It has lots of shine from the Angelina fibers. I also quilted it with Holoshimmer thread, so that made it even glitzier.

Here it is completed with the quilting. Now I have to add a sleeve, label, & maybe some beads for embellishment...hmmm..

Oh, & my sister asked what were the rules..basically use what's in the bag, & I forget if there was anything else! If I broke the rules, oh well, what else is new?! I never follow rules when it comes to quilting!

Thanks for all the kind complments on my works. I was reading Rayna Gillman's blog last night, & she brought up a good point...What is it that you like about it? What's your favorite thing?

Oh, there was another post I read, that struck me as an on the spot syncronistic moment for me, it was Beadlust- Robin, on symbols I am really into circles right now!

April Showers?!!?

This was what greeted me outside my windows this morning. It's been snowing all day long nonstop. It is April isn't it?
Meanwhile, down in the studio... I've started on the 2nd Calendar Girls challenge for this year. We each filled a 1 ziplock bag with stuff (including fabric & anything else we wanted to throw in), then each of us drew a number & took someone else's bag. I got Mary Gerkin's bag. She seemed to have an aquarium, or under the sea theme in mind.

Not wanting to do the obvious, I focused on this fabric that looked like bubbles, & took my inspiration from there.

I started by drawing circles of different sizes on Timtex, & cutting them out.

I like how they look here, but of course couldn't just leave them like that.

I poured blue & green Dynaflow paint all over them, & added a little water to help it flow more.

They were still very wet this morning, so I layered parchment paper on my ironing board, then the circles, then a layer of pale blue fabric for more absorbency, & topped it with another layer of parchment paper, & ironed until they were all dry.

The fabric absorbed a lot of the extra.

The circles turned out nice.

Here they are on some wash-away stabilizer & a piece of blue tulle with some sparkles on it, a little bit of Angelina fibers thrown in, & now I can start cutting & layering on the fabrics.

That's as far as I've gotten for now. This is how the bonus fabric turned out below. I think this will be a fun project.

I also made this purse last month. It was for my friend Ilene's birthday. We got together with her & her husband Stu in Port Townsend Washington last month. It was a small Reverse-a-purse.

black on this side,

and dark brown on the other.

I used 2 pieces of Mindy's fused glass on it.

Thread painting holds the glass in place.

I've got it ready to send finally! Better late than never?

Calendar Girls Tree Project

My Calendar Girls group is doing tree quilts as a group project this year. 12 of us each drew for a month. I got February. While in Michigan this February I took this photo of a lone tree by the beach at Lake Michigan. It's just a short way down the road from Allie's family cottage, & my brother's house.

I photo transferred it on to fabric, & did a little thread painting on it.
I had also thread painted this tree below about a year ago, & decided to use it too.

For a little softer look, I added some icy snowflakes made from Angelina Fibers.

It's been a while since I've had the time to flex my creative muscles, & I'm not sure I'm completely happy with the results, but it felt REALLY GOOD to be creating again.

Next week my Longarm will be delivered on Wednesday, & Megan flies in Thursday morning to set her up. I think I'll call her Lily, after my birth flowers, Lily of the Valley.

Happy St. Patty's Day & AFF Ribbons

Well, it's been a FULL week here, & frankly I'm glad it's over. We're all tired & maybe a little cranky after the hard work we put into the Alaska Fiber Festival. The show was good. A few things could've been better, & we're going to try to learn from the hitches. Nothing major, just a slow start to the Fashion Show, (but I wasn't there, so don't know about it first hand).

Today I thought I'd just do a quick post to show you the award ribbons that I made for the show. I really had fun with the Art Quilt Ribbons. I didn't get any of them back. My quilt wasn't included in the judging. Oh well.

This was 1st place Art Quilt.

I used a piece of my friend Mindy's fused art glass in the center, & embossed the center together with embossing enamel. It was pretty messy, but I liked the results. I wired & beaded & sewed the center into a circle of copper mesh.
2nd

& 3rd place were done the same way.

I made 2 of these for the Aussie Challenge viewer's choice awards.

This was for the Recipe Quilt Challenge.

I liked how this one turned out. It was for the "Barrowmore Quilt Challenge".

I loved this purple fabric when I bought it, & it was very expensive, but I doubt I would ever actually use it on a quilt, so I thought this was a good use for it.

These 2 were for the 50/50 challenge. It was art to wear by 2 people.

Trendy Trench Coats, 1st

2nd

& 3rd place.

This last is made from leather, was for the Tundra Boot Challenge.

When I 1st volunteered for the ribbons I was thinking I'd be making somewhere between 3 & 6. I hadn't realized that it would end up being 14. I was proud of how different I managed to make the ribbons, & made them to fit each challenge. It was actually fun!

I'll add more on the AFF later this week. Right now I have to run to UPS to mail out the Hoffman Challenges & pick up some of my quilts from downtown. The owner of Sivigney Art Gallery downtown, came to the show yesterday, & asked if she could keep my "Oh! To Dance With A Dolphin" longer, & would I be willing to do a show in her gallery next winter. Of course I said "Sure", so I guess I better get busy cranking out pieces to sell!