Mini Quilt Challenge

There's a mini quilt challenge going on at Amylouwho.  Participants will be entered in her great giveaway too.

Not one to be left out, I thought I'd enter a quilt I made a while back for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.

My inspiration for this quilt came from a greeting card I found in a button shop (of all places).  The original drawing was by the German artist Maren Schaffner, who graciously gave me her permission to design a quilt from her drawing.  I call this quilt "Abe's Kittens" for the inscription on the card, a quote from Abraham Lincoln that said, "No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens."  This quilt was sold at auction and raised $65 for Alzheimer's research.

Book Review: Your Machine's Decorative Stitches

This is the first book of Karen Linduska, who is an art quilter from Illinois.  I became aware of this book when I saw it available for pre-order on the American Quilter's Society website.  I ordered it (prior to publication) some months ago and just received it yesterday. 

It's an interesting book, and unique in my library.  The objective is to teach the reader to use all those fancy stitches you have on your sewing machine.  I happen to have a Bernina, but it can be used with any machine.  If you don't have the specific stitch she's talking about, you can substitute a similar stitch.  There are also 12 projects included for practice and inspiration.  These two especially appealed to me, and they are representative of the others that you might choose from.

Very cute.  There's a good explanation of tools you might use as well as techniques for making the stitches longer or wider, or distorting them by either pushing or pulling the fabric faster or more slowly. 

I'm not sure when I'll get around to trying these, but I can imagine a project for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative to try out some of her techniques.  I can recommend this book to anyone who's interested in putting those decorative stitches to work.  I've used them for quilting narrow borders on table runners and baby quilts before, but this book has given me some ideas about using the stitches in a more creative way.

My quilt, Celebrate!

I was excited to learn that my last quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, "Celebrate", earned $79.92 for the AAQI.  I'm assuming it sold at the International Quilt Festival recently held in Houston.  That's a good amount, and since I made the $1,000 promise, it gets me that much closer to my goal!  Now on to my next one.

Update on my quilt, Celebrate!

I was excited to learn this evening that my latest Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative quilt, Celebrate!,  is included in the 1,000 quilts being collected to go to the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, this year.  It isn't currently for sale, but it will be for sale at the quilt festival.  I'm honored that my quilt was chosen to be a part of this event.

My Quilt Sold!

The October Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative Auction has now closed.  I'm happy to say that my quilt, Abe's Kittens, sold for $65.

I've taken the $1,000 Promise, and this leaves me with $890 to go on my commitment.  I already have my November quilt submitted.  "Celebrate!" will be up for auction starting November 1st.

I'll tell you again when the time comes in case you're interested in bidding on it.  All proceeds go for Alzheimer's research.

Design Wall Monday--October 11, 2010

I didn't do much on my design wall this week.  I had to go into town two days this week, which usually takes up the whole day.  Sometimes I just don't feel like sewing either.  I spent quite a bit of time on my blog because of the new design.  But even when I don't sew, I don't feel badly about it.  My time is pretty much my own these days, and so I figure if I want to sew, I will.  In fact, as soon as I finish this post, that's what I'm going to do.

So this is what's on my design wall for this week:

I got the fourth of nine cats done on my "Let Sleeping Cats Lie" quilt:

And here's what I have so far:

That makes me close to half way done with this one.  All the cats are different colors.  And I have a beautiful cat print border for it.  I think it'll be pretty when it's all done.  It's an exacting and time-consuming block though because those measurements and seams have to be just right for it to go together right.  If you've ever done this snail's trail block, then you know what I'm talking about.

And I managed to finish the 23 pink tulips for my "Dutch Treat" quilt.  The whole quilt looks like this:

I'm using a different tulip fabric.  Mine has a black background, and so I have the center panel with a black background too.  There are 96 tulip blocks--23 in each of pink, yellow, purple, and blue.  Today I finished all the pink ones:

I already have the blue ones done.  Here's how they look together:

I still have the purple and yellow ones to go, and then I can start sewing the whole thing together.

This week, I hope to finish and quilt my Downy quilt, which has been with me way too long.  I said I was going to take a break after the last one, but then I changed my mind so I could use it to practice the quilt design I want to do for my Flip Flop quilt.  (Sigh.)  After this one is finished, I really am going to take a break from these.  I took the $1,000 pledge for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, and so I really want to focus my charity work there for now.  (I already know what my next one will be!)

And speaking of the AAQI, my quilt, Abe's Kittens was bid at $65 last time I checked.  The auction ends today.  So, stay tuned.  If it sells for that price, I'll be into my $1,000 pledge by $110!  I still have a long way to go, but I already have a quilt for auction next time around, and I'll be submitting one for December too.

Now I want to see what all of you have done.  Take care.

Design Wall Monday

I was sick last week, and so didn't publish my design wall.  But there wasn't anything to report, and so I guess it all works out.  Here is what I did before I got sick:

It's the 9th of 13 blocks for my Spring Sampler.  After I started feeling better, I did all the topstitching and embroidery of these two applique blocks for my "Home is Where the Heart Is" block of the month.

Finally, I finished my next Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative quilt.  This one will probably go up for auction in November.  It was inspired by a painting by Synthia Saint James, who was gracious enough to give me her written permission to use her painting in my quilt.  Her painting is called "Tchokola."  I'm going to try to find out the translation of that word.  I tried several different languages and couldn't find it.  I'm going to call it "Celebrate!"

I used jump hoops used in jewelry making for their earrings, and so the earrings are 3D.  Very cute.  And just so you can see, here is Synthia Saint James's painting:

And that's it for me.  Be sure to stop over at the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative  site where the October auction is going on right now.  I see that my quilt, Abe's Kittens, as drawn one bid so far.  I'm hoping for more, but at least somebody wants it.

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Auction

My quilt, Abe's Kittens, is up for bid in the October Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative Auction.  There are many very nice quilts there--all no larger than 9 x 12 inches.  I'm working on my next one as I write this, and it will be unveiled soon.  For now, I hope you'll browse the quilts available.  Here's my entry, Abe's Kittens.

As I say on the AAQI website, making cats into quilts is one of my favorite things to do.  I hope you'll like one of the quilts enough to bid on it.  All proceeds go to research into Alzheimer's Disease.

Happy to say that I'm Back!!

That was a bad illness.  Day after day after day of nonstop nausea is no fun, let me tell you.  I started feeling better after our trip to the ER where they gave me some medicines to stop it.  They also gave me two liters of fluid IV, which also was helpful.  Unfortunately, being down in bed for such a long time means that my back is messed up now.  It's getting better all the time though, and so I think I can safely say that I'm on the mend. 
I'm going to see a specialist next week.  There is a laparoscopic surgery to take care of this problem, but I am loathe to spending any time in the hospital.  It's probably outpatient.  Still, I don't like subjecting myself to the risk of simply being there hanging out with their antibiotic resistant bacteria strains.  And then there's the risk of anesthesia, medication errors, etc., etc.  I think you know what I mean.  But this is my third episode of this, and so I'm getting close to thinking surgery might be the better option.  But enough about that.

I was finally able to get back to sewing for real today.  I'll post pictures in a few days, but I got all the topstitching done on my machine applique, I made another of the blocks for the Spring Sampler, and today I started on my next Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative quilt.  It too is machine applique.  I have all the pieces fused down and I've made the quilt sandwich.  (You need to remember that AAQI quilts are only 9 x 12, and so it's easy to finish one fairly quickly.)  Tomorrow I'll quilt and bind it and it will be ready to submit.  All in all, a pretty good day.

Thank goodness our deck is almost all finished.  If you've been reading along then you already know that we had to replace our deck.  The deck is built over our family room downstairs (daylight basement).  It's actually the roof of that room downstairs.  So it has a waterproof membrane on it since you can't really put shingles on a deck.  The membrane was supposedly a 30-year membrane.  We've been in the house eight years and it was already leaking. 

It did quite a bit of damage to the ceiling downstairs.  That's actually Mike's fault because he wouldn't believe me when I said there was a leak, even as the damage was obviously growing and changing.  When the paint started slipping down the wall I finally had him convinced.  So he walked upstairs to look at it and found the demon crack in about ten seconds.  (I wish we could have skipped the part where I have to convince him of something.  Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I told him I was having a heart attack.  Actually, that's not fair because he was very sweet to me while I was sick.)

This afternoon I put together the yummiest macaroni and cheese.  I use Ina Garten's recipe and it is so good.  She uses three kinds of cheese.  It makes a lot, and so we have leftovers for another night.  I've never been much of a mac and cheese fan, but this one is really good.  When we take our RV out, I make it ahead of time and put it in single serving dishes (think large ramekins) so that when we arrive at our destination, there's no cooking.  I just pop them in the oven and 30 minutes later, we have dinner.  We're both always very tired on the first day out on a trip.  I think it's the let down after the business getting everything ready to go.  So . . . all of that to say that I'm looking forward to dinner tonight.  Keep in mind that I only was able to start eating again yesterday, and so a comfort food pig fest is sounding very good to me right now.

I'm sure happy with how things are going in the greenhouse.  All my seedlings are up now and I've had to thin some of them.  Even the carrots I planted in a very deep pot (and then promptly forgot about them) are doing well.  It gets very warm in there too, which is good to know because our winters can get very cold.  As long as the sun shines (as it often does after a snow), it'll be warm.  I had it all opened up this morning, and it still got up to 105 degrees.

Okay, I'm off to do something else.  I just wanted to check in and let you know I'm still blogging.  Don't forget the Fall Into Fall Quilting Giveaway that starts tomorrow!  I'll be giving away my usual fat quarter, but I'm adding a pair of my favorite scissors, Galaxy Stitch N' Snip.  Who wouldn't want to win that?  So I hope I see you here tomorrow for two chances to win.  I'll tell you how when you click on the link I've given you in this paragraph.

Design Wall Monday--September 20, 2010

I've been sick the latter part of the week, but I still managed to get quite a bit done on my "Interrupters."  This week, I had to work on the 2nd part of the Mystery Quilt being put on by American Quilter Magazine.  They say this mystery quilt will be something like the quilts featured in their Beyond the Block book.  The sections are so strange that the only way I see this working is if the longest section runs diagonally through the whole quilt.  Here is what I completed this week:

Here are all of the segments I have completed:

The large flower blocks are my focus blocks.  The long strip in the middle must run diagonally down the middle of the quilt from corner to corner.  That's the only way I see this going together right.  It is definitely a mystery.  It's my first one, and so if I wanted a real mystery, this one was a good place to start.

Also, I finished the third block of my "A Kitten's Tale" block of the month.  I took some time to read what the designer had written about this quilt.  She says she has a dog and a cat that are the best of friends.  They are both represented in the block I finished this week.  This one didn't have as much embroidery as the one I did last time, but it had enough.  Here it is:

And here are the three blocks I've finished so far:

And here's what the whole quilt will look like:

Finally, I finished the third block of my other block of the month, "Home is Where the Heart is."  I still need to stitch down the applique pieces on this one, and also on the last one I finished.  Also, there are some kite tales that need to be embroidered on the band across the bottom.  I think I will get all that done next week.  For now, I'm just trying to get caught up on these before the next blocks come (probably soon).

You can see that I have the kite tales drawn in, but not embroidered.  Here are the three blocks I have finished:

And here's what the whole quilt will look like:

Oh yes, and I almost forgot about my next Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative quilt.  I haven't started it, but I was able to get permission to quilt a painting by Synthia Saint James called "Tchokola."  When I finished graduate school, my field instructor gave me a graduation card with this painting on it.  Now that I've taken the $1,000 pledge, I've been looking everywhere for inspiration.  After doing Abe's Kittens last time (which was also from a greeting card), I noticed this one on my wall.  I wrote to Synthia to ask for her permission and she was kind enough to give it to me.  I haven't started it yet, but I did get the drawing made.  Now I can start making the templates.

I'm going to use jump chains for the earrings for a 3D effect.

So that's about it for me this week.  I'm still feeling terrible, so I think I'll go back to bed.  Hope you all are doing well.  I'm looking forward to checking out your design walls.

Design Wall Monday, August 16, 2010

I didn't get as much accomplished as last week, but I still have a few things to show you.

Here is the transparency for my newest Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative quilt.  Maren Schaffner, a German artist, was gracious enough to give me permission to use one of her drawings.  She specifically asked me to give her credit in this way:  Original art © Maren Schaffner.

I enlarged it to about 9 x 8 (AAQI quilts can be no more than 9 x 12), and made this transparency.  Then,  I traced it onto some freezer paper and made my templates.  Since it's done mainly in black and white, the most important part of the quilt is the thread "painting" that I did to gain some texture.  This is a technique that is brand new to me.  In fact, the whole "art" quilt technique is new to me.  This is my first one.  First of many, I hope, because I still want to do that little building in Italy.  And, if that one goes well, I really, really want to do my own house.  But back to the cats.

I did some reading and found some good examples, but I was still a little unsure what and how much to do.  Fortunately, it's a small quilt and the applique part was pretty simple.  I figured, if I mess it up, I'll just start over.  And this is what I ended up with:

I had wanted to put borders on it, but I didn't have enough room and still end up within the 9 x 12 size limit.  I just put a narrow border to finish it off and then the binding.  I'm calling it "Abe's Kittens" because the original drawing was on a greeting card.  The inscription on the card was a quote from Abraham Lincoln that said:

"No matter how much cats fight there always seem to be plenty of kittens."  And, Maren, if you're reading this, thank you again ever so much. 

Next, I got the third of nine blocks finished for my "Let Sleeping Cats Lie" quilt:

Here is a close up of one of the faces:

And here is what I have so far:

And speaking of cats, don't you just love this fabric?

It's a batik that I found at my favorite online cat fabric store, Feline Drive.  If you're a cat lover, they are the best for cat fabric, patterns, and books!

Lastly, I made a label for my "Spring Chicken" quilt.  I decided to name the quilt "Hunt and Peck" so that I could say "Happy Birthday, Spring Chicken."  It seamed awkward if the quilt had the same name.  Here it is:

I printed this one out using Printed Treasures.  Sometimes I use my machine embroidery module, but if I have too much text on them, the label is either too hard to read or it's too big.

Copyright Permission Granted!

I'm so excited.  I just got word (after quite a long wait) that Maren Schaffner, a German artist, has very graciously given me permission to use one of her drawings to make a quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.  I waited so long for her permission that I had kind of given up hope; but today, I received an email giving me her blessing. 

It's a great design, and it lends itself perfectly for an art quilt.  Now I can get to work on it.  I'd show you the picture, but I'm not sure that's kosher.  I will definitely show you the quilt when it's finished.  But as a hint, it's two cats!  What else?

What am I talking about?

Okay, now that I've fed the family, I've spent some time decorating my blog.  I think I'm happy with it now, but I'm sure I'll change it around another 500 times before I'm finished.

I started thinking I should state my goals.  As I said, I started this blog because I thought it would be fun to participate in Design Wall Monday.  But I'm interested in more than that.  I have two cats.  We lost one of our cats recently.  We had her 19 years--longer than our children.  We call our place the Three Cats Ranch, and now that we're down to two, we're keeping the name in her honor.  We do more traveling than we used to, and we decided not to get another cat.  I will admit it's tempting, but really, three cats in an RV leaves little room for the people.  Until one of them gets a job, we'll keep the population at two.

I'll probably post pictures of my cats from time to time.  As a cat lover, I love making cat quilts.  If I didn't limit myself, every quilt I make would be a cat quilt.  Now I allow myself a cat quilt each time I finish another quilt, so that every second quilt I make is a cat quilt.  I'm trying to fill the walls of my two stairwells with cat quilts.  So far I'm about 25% there.  It's a worthy goal, don't you think?

I like to make charity quilts too, and recently donated a quilt to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.  I like making Downy Quilts for Kids too.  My guild is doing a challenge quilt this year.  We are supposed to make a smallish quilt (the dimensions escape me), and it should incorporate a technique we've never done before.  It should also be based on a children's book.  When we're done, the books and quilts will be donated to CARES Northwest, which is a program that does forensic exams on children who have been abused.  The idea is that the child will be examined by the CARES program, and then will be free to never tell their story again.  The exams are well documented and are used as evidence in court.  It's a worthy program.  My quilt is going to be based on "Little House in the Big Woods," by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  My new technique will be landscape quilting.  It's possible we will travel this fall, and if that happens, I will miss the challenge deadline.  Nevertheless, I'm planning to forge ahead.

I'm a gourmet cook and I'm an avid photographer--hobbiest only.  I used to be a licensed clinical social worker, but I don't do that work any more.  I'm still licensed, just not working.  I doubt I will return.  It's a stressful and thankless job.  There are, sadly, few resources, and it's hard to feel like one is making a difference in anyone's life.  The rewards are few.  I decided I'd had enough.

So that's about all I'm going to say right now.  I'm hoping to tell you about quilt shops I visit in our travels.  At the moment, I'm back from the quilt show in Sisters, Oregon.  In a span of three days, I visited five quilt shops, which I will tell you about over time.  I'm also going to talk about my local quilt shops, and I'm hoping to visit the ones I haven't visited yet.  Okay, now I'm really finished.