Summertime.......and the living is easy.

I have been sewing like crazy this summer. I guess it is what I usually end up doing as it is too hot here to do much else. It is only going to 100 today though, so we are having a bit of a springlike cool weather. My kingdom for some rain...... I finally finished the Bali Wedding Star top. Excuse the crappy picture. I can't get it all in without using a panorama app. ha! It is HUGE!!! this thing. I can't wait get it quilted to see what it looks like on the bed.

I also had some leftover fabric and made a bed runner for my bff. Awwww. Also not quilted...this will be a theme so I will stop repeating myself. It is my next big project. I am procrastinating getting it ready for quilting.

The main sewing I have done this summer so far is a UFO from a class I took with Jacqueline Dejonge last year in the fall. It is called Surprisingly Red. The original is much softer with a floral background. She is just brilliant with her designs and fabric choices which absolutely drew me in in the first place. Mine took on a different timbre with a bold set of batiks that screamed to be made into this quilt. She helped me pick the background when I was unhappy with some of the kit choices the host store provided. They were similar to the original but yet somehow not quite as congruous. I loved the paisley, though and kept it. Don't know why, but I just didn't feel most of the other choices, so we looked around. This was the result.

It is serendipitous that I put this away before I started the Bali. The Bali had so many curved pieces that it was great practice for the curves and circles on this Dejonge. I am not sure I would have gotten through the arcs and circles on this quilt without the practice of the Bali. It is funny how things work out. Thank you, Jacqueline!

New Pretties

Time flies. Seems like it was just August and here we are in February! The school year is more than halfway done. It is unbelievable! I think the saying that time goes faster as you age is right.....or maybe that alien abduction thing is for real......nonetheless, I have lost about 5 months somewhere along the way....


Anyhow, I have some new stuff to post. I started a quilt class in the fall at one of the local quilt stores. My absolute favorite, Quilt Country. Same place and teacher that taught the last Niemeyer quilt I made. Eileen is an amazingly talented teacher. We had several classes and then one more after the Christmas holiday blur was over. I am not finished, but now I am to a point where I can almost start sewing the larger blocks together. Do you recognize the pattern?


















It is Judy Niemeyer's Bali Wedding Star. I fell head over heels in love with this one and knew I had to make this one day. Getting closer every day.....it would be nice to finish so I can go back to daily life. Might even shower then.............just kidding. It is a bit blurry in spots as I had to use a panorama application to get it all in...it is a king size. And I will be making a bed runner for one of my bestees, too. What have I done to myself??? The king alone has more than 3200 pieces.....




I also was fortunate enough to be able to take a class with Jacqueline Dejonge this fall as well. Now THAT was an amazing class. She is such a warm and friendly person. I enjoyed the class so very much. Word to the wise, make sure you have all of your pattern and kit if you need one before the class. Unfortunately we didn't get them until the day of the class and most of us spent the majority of the time tracing the pattern instead of sewing......exactly what I tried desperately to avoid.....but couldn't seem to get the host shop on the same page. After many phone conversations and hearing my stuff would be mailed a few different times...nothing was. It was disappointing to say the least. But Jacqueline was very nice and patient. She brought many of her quilts and allowed us to look at them. Stunning. I am working on her Surprisingly Red pattern in a different color way. I started the Wedding Star right after this so it had to go on the back burner, but it is one of the reasons I am working so feverishly to finish. I want to get going on it again. These are a just a few of her treasures she brought to show:










And lastly, here is my mom's present almost done. I need to add borders and then I think I will send it to be quilted. I have someone in mind if she has time and will take it. I want this to be very specially quilted sine it is for my mom. :0)





A little knitting to show I do still knit.....Kate Davies Fugue tam. I loved knitting this one so much I see many more in the future. I am waiting on the yarn for her Sheep Heid hat, but for some reason it is taking a VERY long time from J&S. I usually receive packages from them very quickly...I am a little worried about it.

Harriet Hargrave workshop

I was fortunate to be able to take a Harriet Hargrave workshop at Quilting is Happiness in McKinney recently. I wasn't sure about what I was in for....but I had a pretty good idea it would be intense. Harriet is a wonderful teacher and very passionately serious about quilting and teaching. She teaches Heirloom Quilting on a machine as well as piecing techniques. This class was on the quilting aspect of her knowledge. I haven't done any freehand quilting at all, so it was a huge eye opener for me. I learned that I will need to practice....A LOT.....to be able to free hand. I like this. It means you can't just pick it up, but you have to work at it. Challenging. Yes? Yes. Right now my quilting looks like a drunk trying to mend a sock on a crummy sewing machine. Yeah.......almost disheartening......but I am going to try. And try and try.... This is Harriet with one of the students and one of her glorious quilts.




One of the things I love about taking classes is the people I get to meet. I don't tend to meet a lot of quilters in my daily life so this is nice for me. I met some wonderful quilters in this class. Not only great quilters but genuinely nice supportive people. Hi Chris! :0)

We also worked on stitching in the ditch a bit. Here are my placemats getting that technique. I had no idea I was doing it wrong. This does look a lot better than my previous work. I also learned I should not meander on a walking foot...........yes. I actually did this. hahaha I was wondering the whole while "why in the hell do people do this?" Yeah......so much for self teaching. It is easier to do it freehand. Not that it looks better at this point....just saying easier than the alternative.








Now....can you guys be brutally honest with me? Would you hate these? My fear is that I have no style and no idea they are actually hideous. I think many crafts people probably wonder this. You get into it and all of these new techniques and fabric draw you in and pretty soon...WHAM!! You are wearing ugly quilted coats that shouldn't even be in public because you like the fabric or technique, think it looks great and you have no idea you look like a Bozo reject. I am serious. You wouldn't let me go out like that, would you? Honest. Brutal. I can take it........




And this is a top finished a few weeks ago. I think I will also ditch quilt this and maybe branch out slightly and do a pattern within the blocks....hmmm. We will see......

Why do they call it CATnip?

Cuz it grows cats!!! I think this one's ready to pick....maybe a little over ripe.






Shhhh, I don't think the recipient reads my blog...so I am going to take a chance and post these after all. I know I said I wouldn't......... You know, I can't keep Christmas presents til Christmas if they are already made, either. Makes it hard to do handmade gifts. Probably a godsend for my friends. "Oh look.....ANOTHER handmade gift", all the while thinking....."I wonder if she ever sees these things at Goodwill?" And yet...I still keep trying. Here are the tops of some placemats and a table runner to match. Still need to be quilted. Not Christmas presents....I am too smart for myself this year. Just because gifts. Just-because-I-would-like-to-torture-you-and-see-if-you-still-have-them-next-time-I-visit-you gifts Beware if your kitchen is blue.........She has no idea I am doing this anyway....so she might not even guess it was hers in the off chance she ever checks this. She might even hope they aren't hers....muahhahahahah!!!





Even though I have quilting on the brain I am still finding time to do a little knitting here and there and some spinning......when I am not lurking on the net for items I am stalking indefinitely.....but that's another story..........there is probably a reality show for people like me..... oh yeah. There is...it's called Hoarders. Haven't seen one with only fiber related items yet.........but I'm going to THAT garage sale, baby!

Hillswick Lumber




Kai-mei socks from one of Cookie A's books.

Finished stuff and not so finished stuff.

Bayerische-check.




Pomatomus-check.



These have been on the needles so long I don't even remember start dates.. Ooops. But they are done now...just in time for 103 degrees today. Whew! I was afraid my feet might get cold.

I am also working on a couple of quilted presents now. One group goes to Germany (can't divulge any more info than this) and one for my mom... of which you have already seen the beginnings. I think I best not post any more pics here now lest she see them. ;0) I am dying to post them, tho.....I may just keep them on Flickr for now, so if you are on Rav you know how to find that. Sorry Mom. :0D But the top is almost finished and now begins border fun. Frame or flying geese? One yellow or many yellows? Decisions decisions.....


And this little guy is a Mockingbird that comes and knocks on my studio windows every now and then. I give him water


......I am so trained by birds. Especially this one.

A little rain, a lot of hail

Wow! We wanted rain, we got it...and a little more. It hailed for at least 30 minutes straight. I have never seen a hail core last that long......but, at least it was mostly small here. A few minutes north they had hail that was golfball sized. Windows out, car windshields broken. This pool was sparkling clear blue the day before. Blech. But that's Texas for you.







I am now working on one of my mom's Christmas presents. I had to ask what she would prefer in a quilt....so no surprise there. She asked for a "happy yellow king size quilt". I am thinking a bit traditional with blocks and sort of scrappy but an overall feeling of sunshiney yellow. I can't decide if they should be on point or straight out. I will add white sashings and plain yellow blocks between the sashings to further brighten the quilt. Then at least two borders. What do you think?





On point?



Or not?