Miles and Jazzy...

I meant to blog about these 2 cuties several days ago, but as usual life tends to get in the way.

Jazzy and Miles

Jazzy and Miles are Kathy's 2 sweet little dachshunds.  Kathy was the dear lady who hosted us for the week of our quilting retreat and she brought along her dogs.  I think all of us enjoyed having them around while we were sewing.  Except perhaps Kathy...

Kathy and Miles - sewing

Miles wanted to spend all of his time in Kathy's lap - whether she was sewing or sorting or sleeping.  I think my pets make it difficult to get stuff done, but Miles may take the cake in that department.

Miles helping Kathy sort her fabric

Who's the boss here?

When he couldn't get mom's attention, he still kept himself plenty busy.  I vacated my sewing chair for a few minutes and came back to find this...

He looks so cute, I hated to move him.  I think that was his plan all along.  But when I scooted him off (after snapping a bunch of pictures), he was quite happy to pursue his other 2 loves - Jazzy and Otter (his stuffed toy).

Miles, Otter and Jazzy

It was so cute how Miles would groom Jazzy.  He's 2 (I think) and she's 8 and you could tell she was long-suffering.  She puts up with him because she has to, but I think she'd prefer her own bed, no baths and all of mom's attention to herself...

Jazzy and mom

I took a ton of pictures of these two as I found them just delightful.  It seems so empty when I stay somewhere and there are no pets around.  I think they just complete a home or at least they do mine.

Until later...

"Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life." 

1 John 3:14 (CEV)

Stash Report Week #39 and #40...

September 24 - October 7, 2010

Because I was at the beach last week, I never got around to filing my stash report.  And it was a good one too!  So this week I'll just combine them.

To start off,  I bought NO fabric either week.  Our host for the beach retreat even gave us directions to no less than 3 quilt shops on the way to her house, but I didn't stop at any of them.  Of course, I got really lost on the way down, it was pouring down rain and I wanted nothing more than to arrive there safely.

I spent some time before I went down there making kits for a Disappearing 9-Patch quilt using the tons of charm squares I had in my stash.  I made 6 kits and each kit had 4.5 yards of fabric in it.  I made one quilt, some friends made 3 more and another couple of friends will make the final 2.  So I can count all that fabric as gone.  That's a total of 27 yards for the 6 quilts.  Here's a picture of the one I made...

Disappearing 9-Patch quilt top

I sent my mom a quilt kit for her September package that contained 5 yards of fabric and I used a half yard combined for the October Camelot Snowman and the next Winter Wonderland block.  I also brought 2 yards of black fabric for a friend to use for borders on one of her charity quilts.  This adds up to another 7.5 yards.

I also completed another charity quilt top with fabric from my stash.  I bought the panel from Wish Upon a Quilt during Stash Dash.  I cut it up, added some sashing and a border to make this quilt...

Owl charity quilt - 50" x 50"

The quilt top used 2.25 yards of fabric.  And that brings my grand total for the 2 weeks to...  36.75 yards!  Yeah!!!  (I'm imagining waves of people cheering for me right now.)

So...
Purchased-this-week: 0 yards
Used-this-week: 36.75 yards
Purchased-to-date: 218.75 yards
Used-to-date: 364.75 yards
Net used: 146 yards

Now if I can get these quilts quilted that will give me another boost.  And I've finished all the blocks for LeeAnn's quilt so once the top is assembled, I can count all that fabric too.

Until later...

It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others. 

Ephesians 2:10 (LB)

CQ Update #8...

I'm almost done now! Tonight I finished all but the last of the patches on this block.  If I didn't have such a bad headache, I might have continued working on it.  There's something about seeing the finish line that gives you an extra burst of speed.  In any case, I plan to make Hyacinths on the last patch and expect them to take a bit of time.  So here's the block as it stands right now...

Current progress on the CQ block

To my eye, it's looking rather busy.  But I've noticed that with a lot of the crazy quilts I've seen.  Every time you look at it, you see something new.  And the more you examine them, the more you appreciate all the work that goes into each one.  After working on this small 12" block for so long, I have a huge admiration for anyone who has made an entire quilt like this.  I think it's a bit beyond my level of patience.

I've finished 2 more patches since my last report.  Patch # 9 is another row of flowers.  I found some purple iridescent shells at JoAnns the other day that are shaped like flowers.  I attached them to the background and added stems to each of them using the Stem stitch and 3 strands of DMC floss.  The leaves are a combination of Ribbon sitches, Folded Ribbon stitches and Straight stitches using 4mm green silk ribbon.  And finally I added a butterfly charm above the flowers.

Patch #9 - more flowers

For the next patch, I used some ribbon flowers that I also purchased from JoAnns.  I stitched them on and added a Whipped Chain stitch for the stems using 2 strands of DMC floss.  I found the beads for the leaves in my stash of jewelry stuff.  The little bug charms I added were given to me by my friend, Thearica.  I really like the touch of whimsy they add to the patch.

Patch #10 - Red flowers and bugs

I'm so glad Thearica suggested I stitch all the seam treatments before embellishing the patches.  It would have been much more difficult to go back at the end and add them.

I've been wanting to stitch a caterpillar somewhere on this block and found the perfect place for him tonight.  I've placed him climbing from one seam to another in the last unfinished patch of the block.  He's constructed of a bunch of Colonial Knots placed close together using 4mm yellow/gold silk ribbon.  I then went back and added straight stitches between each pair of knots using 2 strands of DMC floss.  Although it doesn't show well in the picture, I also added a couple of Straight stitches for antennae.

Patch #11 - The caterpillar

Hopefully I'll get started on filling in the last patch tomorrow.  Once it's finished, I still need to put a backing on the block before calling this challenge piece complete.  

Until later...

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."  

Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)

Quilts, quilts and more quilts...

And all for charity.  The final tally for the number of quilt tops we made while at the beach is 17!  I think that's just amazing.  Of course, with 15 inches of rain, there wasn't a lot else we could do except sleep, eat and sew.  And of those three, we spent most of our time sewing.  It was like a sweat shop in there.  But a fun sweat shop.

We used 2 main patterns for our charity quilts.  The first is the Megabits Quilt Pattern by Swirly Girl Designs. A total of 8 of the quilts we made were based on this pattern.  I made one and have to say it goes together very quickly.  And depending on the fabric you use, it can end up looking completely different. 

Clockwise: Susan, Tamah, Jan, Kathy

Hopefully I got the right names with the correct quilts.  I had to go based on memory because in the pictures, there were only toes peeking out to identify them.  Some of us went borderless while others added one or even two borders.  To give you an idea of the size, without a border, the quilts are 50" x 60".

Clockwise: Kathy, Tamah, Kathy, Dee

Hats off to Kathy.  Not only did she host us, she also got the most done.  She made several quilt tops and cut out about a dozen more kits for others to use.  Plus she had to care for her 2 dogs, Miles and Jazzy, which included taking them out for long walks in the pouring rain!  I plan to dedicate a separate post to Miles and Jazzy.  I took more than twice as many pictures of them as of the quilts.  But back to the quilts...

I brought along the 6 quilt kits I had prepared using the Disappearing 9-Patch pattern in EQ7.  Jan and I each made one, Verna made 2 and Tamah and Carla will make the remaining ones.  I really like how they turned out although I have to say the purple one is my favorite.  These quilts are 59" x 74".

Clockwise: Dee, Jan, Verna, Verna

I have enough charm squares set aside to make another 3 tops in red, orange and yellow.  Once I find a border material (and some time), I think I'll make some more.  There is always a need for them.

And the final quilts we made were a mix of techniques.  I think the first one is a stack and whack made by Susan.  Note - Tamah made one like this also but I couldn't find a picture of it.  The second is the pattern that comes with the Quilts for Kids kits but I don't remember the name.  The bottom two were made with panels.

Clockwise: Susan, Tamah, Kathy, Dee

So now that we have all these quilt tops made, we need to get busy quilting them.  And I think for most of us, that's the more challenging part of quilting!

Until later...

"We should make our plans counting on God to direct us." 

Proverbs 16:9

CQ Update #7...

OK, I'm back with another update on my CQ block.  By now you must be wondering if I'll ever finish this thing, so I'll reassure that I'm actually getting close.  I finished the rose bushes (I think) and 2 more patches besides.  Here's where the block stands right now...

CQ Block in progress

I only have another 3 patches to fill.  Since my last update, I added a bunch more roses to the fence in the bottom right hand corner.  These are Spider Web Roses made using 4mm and 7mm silk ribbon in shades of red.  I'm considering adding some greenery around them and perhaps even a few more Roses, but I'll wait until I've finished everything else before deciding.  I did add a few charms around the Roses - 2 bee charms to the top and a bunny charm to the bottom.

Patch #6 - Spider Web Roses and bunny

For patch #7, I added a Chrysanthemum in shades of purple.  It was really easy to stitch.  I just made lots of Straight stitches and Twisted Straight stitches using 4mm silk ribbon.  I then added a bunch of Colonial Knots to the center using 4mm silk ribbon in 2 shades of yellow/gold.  The stem is a Whipped Chain stitch using 3 strands of DMC floss in 2 shades of green.  The leaves are a Fly stitch again using DMC floss.  I then added a snail charm beside it.

Patch #7 - Chrysanthemum and snail

And the last patch I completed is a Spyder Chrysanthemum using 2mm and 4mm white silk ribbon.  These are the same stitches as the Chrysanthemum in patch #7 but in a slightly different arrangement.  The center of the flower is Colonial Knots made with a 4mm yellow silk ribbon.  The stem is made using a Stem stitch and 3 strands of DMC floss.  The leaves are made using the Fly stitch and 4mm green silk ribbon.  The buds off to the side are Twisted Straight stitches in 2mm white and Ribbon stitches in 4mm green silk ribbon.  Finally, I added a butterfly charm to one side.

Patch #8 - Spyder Chrysanthemum and butterfly

I bought a couple of buttons and ribbons at JoAnn's today that I plan to use on a couple of the remaining patches.  And if all goes well, I'm going to attempt some Hyacinth's in the last patch.

Jack has taken up a new favorite spot at night in the living room.  I think she just likes to sit across from Mr. Quilting Bug and stare at him.  I don't blame her, sometimes that's all I want to do too.

Jack just hanging out

Until later...

"Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." 

John 13:17

Home again...

Just to let you know, I've made it home safely.  We got almost 15 inches of rain at the beach and a lot of quilt tops made for charity!  I might be absent for a bit trying to catch up on my sleep and deal with things around here.  But then I'll be back to share pictures of everything.  I should also have an awesome stash report this week.  Until then, here's a picture of one of my quilting buddies at the beach.  His name is Miles.

Miles helping sew

Until later...

"The Word of God is a seed and it's planted in our hearts" 

Luke 8:11-12

Charlyn's Nature Art quilt....

Note: All of my blog posts this week were written in advance.  I'm currently at a quilt retreat at the beach working on charity quilts.

I was waiting until I finished my own Nature Art quilt before showing you the one I received in return.  I'm in a group called The Twelve of Us made up of ladies from all over the country.  Every 6 weeks we have a new project to complete and mail to one of the other 11 ladies.  And in return a different lady will mail you hers.  So far we've completed a purse/tote bag with yoyo's and a sketchbook cover.  I've shared both the ones I've made and the ones I've received with you.

Generally I like to share them back to back so you get a better idea of the originality of the projects, but as you know, I'm late finishing my Nature quilt, but Charlyn (who has my name) was actually early sending hers.  She went in a completely different direction than I did but I think she did a fantastic job.  (I had it stuck in my head that it had to be a crazy quilt, but really it didn't.)  So here's what she sent me...

My Nature Art Quilt from Charlyn

You really have to hold this in your hands to appreciate the dimensionality in it.  It looks flat in the pictures I took, but it's anything but.  I love the two eagles she stitched by the tree.  There are teeny tiny pieces of fabric in them and tons of stitching.  Funny thing, when I complimented her on the eagles she fell out because she meant for them to be turkeys!  I suppose you could say they are, but I like eagles better and that's what I'm sticking with.  Check out their bodies...

Eagles by the tree

And you should see the tree.  It's made up of a lot of different strips of fabric twisted and tacked down.  It has the look and feel of a really old tree with lots of knots and roots.

Tree trunk

To make the landscape she used several pieces of green fabric and layered them on top of each other to get a sense of distance.  She sewed each one down and then came back with scissors and made hundreds of vertical cuts in them so they look like grass and are raised off the surface.

Grass in the background

She also added a bunch of tiny flowers from a floral bouquet (I'm assuming) to the base of the tree.  I tried several times to get a good picture of them, but they still don't show up that well.

Flowers at the base of the tree

And here's a picture of all the leaves and foliage she put into the tree branches.  There's lots of tactile things here.

Leaves and flowers in the tree branches

And not only did she send my art quilt, she also included a number of other things in my package.  She wrapped every bit of it in fabric which I've already washed and pressed, ready to use.  Along with the fabric was a book on green giving.  I though it was very appropriate given the theme and her wrapping.

Book and fabric

And finally she included this charming candle holder.  It's a bird and its wings are inset with some kind of iridescent stone.  Again, the pictures don't quite capture it.

Bird candle holder

Thank you so much Charlyn for my quilt and everything else!  I'm looking for the perfect stick in the yard to use as hanger for it.  I haven't found one yet, but when I do, I'm going to hang it in my sewing room.

 Until later...

God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:19 (NIV)