Awesomeness

I wish it all looked like this...

(fabric is Ellen Crimi Trent from her line Woodland Friends)

...but honestly, it looks like this.

My friend Lauren wrote the other day about creative types either being in the state of awesomeness or in hackdom. Well, last week I was in full hack mode, and I have the full trash can to prove it.
I can only dream of awesomeness...

There is, however awesomeness in my world.
You all are AWESOME. Alissa smashed her goal and we are helping some really needy women and children in the Congo. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who donated.

I'm off to work on being a little less of a hack. That's a small step toward awesomeness.

Fitness Friday Blues!

I don't know a better way to say it except this week sucked. Not even close to my goal and feeling pretty crappy about it.

I just talked to Katie and she told me to stop talking about it and go do it.
She's right.

I hope you all have better news. Are you out there? Are you moving your butt?

I'm off to move mine!

There's A Lot of Giving Going On!

To those of you who headed over to Alissa's to give to Action Kivu, I can't thank you enough.
It's not too late to get some action on this bundle of Flea Market Fancy. The fundraiser on Alissa's blog is going well, but we're not there yet. Can you give up a yard of fabric this month and donate $10? Or would you like to get your hands on this wonderful bundle of joy? A $75 donation will get you in the draw. The money we raise beyond our $7,500 goal starts putting kids to school in the Congo. Alissa has raised the goal to $10,000. We can SO do this! If you thought about making a donation, go ahead and do it now.

What else is up around here?

I've been making quilt backs...so far I've got backs for these three finished. Quilt backs are one of my achilles heels (yes, I have more than one!). Sometimes when I've spent so much energy on the front, it's hard to tackle the back. But now there will be some quilting going on.
I received a bit of good news this week. My little home on the net was featured in Quilter's World magazine. Pretty cool. I like that she called me no-nonsense. I sure try to be. Inspirational...geez....a pretty nice shot in the arm during a tough week.

Taking Action

When Alissa asked me to post about the Action Kivu fundraiser I knew I wanted to do more. A little bundle of Flea Market Fancy seems so insignificant in comparison to the good it might do for these women and their families.

Alissa is hosting a fundraiser for Action Kivu, an organization in eastern Congo that runs a sewing workshop for victims of the conflict there. The conflict in Congo has taken the lives of over 5.4 million people since 1998. Rape is used as a weapon of war, with estimates putting the number of rapes in the hundreds of thousands.

The faces of these women speak to me.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL GRAHAM

Our quilting/sewing community is an amazing one and we understand the therapy and joy that a sewing machine and needle and thread can bring. Head to Alissa's blog and read more about Action kivu and most importantly donate. Whatever you can give will help. If you'd like a chance for the Flea Market Fancy you'll need to donate 75 dollars. I'd love to see Alissa smash the goal she's set. We can do this!

Randomness

Randomness...that seems to be how my mind works...ideas pop in and sometimes they have to come out.

So many times I'm inspired by fabric and with Finlandia and Lauren's fabulous birds that is definitely the case. I'm still in the playing stage with this one, but I'm imagining birds in the Finlandia forest. Kate, thanks for the Finlandia fabric. I'm in love with it and wish I could get bolts of it! And it's purple...I'm working with purple again.
Here's something totally different! I'm not sure how this one started except I was reading one of my modern art books this weekend and reawakened my love for simplicity, clean lines and geometry. No idea where this might go, but for now it's staying on the design wall.


Stay tuned till tomorrow to find out how to get your hands on that Flea Market Fancy bundle!
Have a great week everyone!

Red Cross and Fitness Friday

I had two of my virtual quilting bees make cross blocks for me, and then I made some more. I have crosses coming out of my ears, so before they take over the place I thought I'd better get started with them. I started with this amazing embroidery and teeny, tiny cross and made them a focal point for the quilt.I changed the layout loads of times and came up with this. I love the idea of crosses forming crosses.
Pretty fun looking at the differences in the individual crosses...there are some stunners in here. I think I'm going to like it!
And guess what? The American Red Cross featured this quilt on their facebook page. How fun is that!!
FITNESS FRIDAY!
I actually posted on Friday...aren't you impressed! We have some new members to the team this week. Welcome! I'm still working on getting you added in. The winner of the scrap prize is SARA! Sara, send me your address and I'll get it out to you. For the next prize....everyone is in...you just have to move! Sounds like most of you are doing pretty well. I actually made my goal this week....Yeah! Hope your butt is still in motion!
Have a great weekend!

FMF

It's one of my favorite fabric lines...if you don't know it, it's Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt. My stash is slowly dwindling, but I'd rather use it than hoard it.

This is a set of fat eighths of the entire line. I couldn't put this set together on my own. I needed a little help from my friends...Heather of A la mode Fabric and Ashley of Film in the Fridge each donated 3 pieces that I was missing. Thanks girls!

So, why am I posting this 45 piece set of lusciousness? To tease you, of course.

I will say it can be yours, but you'll have to wait until next week.

Patience is a virtue.

A Little Modern Touch

Over the years my style has slowly evolved to a more modern aesthetic (with a little push and a shove from my sons). I love mid-century modern and I've been trying to incorporate it into my decor once piece at a time. I love a little vintage too...modern vintage seems to sum up my style. I found this amazing gray wool drum shade on sale and replaced my chandelier. Oooooh, it makes my chairs shine and it's soo cool.

One of the downfalls of modern furniture is that it's not as comfortable as the cushy, puffy, overstuffed stuff you find everywhere. My hubby has been wanting a recliner since we've been married (that's over 25 years of desire!), but I've never been able to find one that I love and he thinks is comfortable. Well, who new that you don't need a recliner to sit comfortably and there's a modern chair that he loves and is just my style. It's so great when style and comfort come together. Does wonders for a marriage too!

One more thing for this Monday morning, the Modern Quilt Guild has a big announcement today....you might want to tune up your sewing machine and sharpen your scissors. It's going to be great. Be sure to check it out!

Oh, and I finally finished the 'Church Lady' quilt. I volunteered to make a quilt for my mom's church with sheets collected by the church ladies. They've been very patient with me. It really isn't nice to make church ladies wait.

Fitness Friday Again on Saturday!

So, how did you do this week? Did you make your goal? I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t. My trip to Minneapolis messed me up. I was much more into fun, shopping and eating than exercising. I could have, but I didn’t.

We’re not sure of our team miles this week. The gov site is telling us that we’re back at 436 miles…either we’ve gone across the US once already or we’re all walking backwards.It doesn’t really matter as long as you’re moving your butt! If you made your goal, drop me a comment and Katie and I will draw for this week’s prizes.(I’m stuffing a gallon ziplock with some great scraps!) You can enter here or on her site. (two chances to win!)Leave a comment and let us know how you’re doing even if you didn’t meet your goal.

We’ll be doing a prize monthly, so keep on moving your butt. To enter next month you need to make your goal and start sewing your fabrics to enter. We want to see less of your butt and more of your creativity and talent!
Check out Katie’s site for a great recipe involving my new addiction, Greek yogurt! Keep on moving folks!

Send good wishes to our friend and fellow quilter butt participant, Robin, who was attacked by a dog on her trail run. We wish her the best and that she's back on the road soon.

Bee-u-ti-ful

I've been catching up on my virtual quilting bees over the last couple of weeks. These are a couple of my favorites. Rossie's block for the Mid Mod Bee. If you saw this quilt you know I love this shape. I don't always like it, though. So many atomic shaped quilts seem static and boring to me....all the same size all connected the same way. That doesn't appeal to me.
Rossie calls this her "Kelp" quilt. I never thought about the shape resembling kelp plants. You can see her design plan here. I love the innovative use of this shape and her hand dyed fabrics have such depth. They are truly a wonder. I also love that she asked for a 9" x 65" block. Now that's a block size I don't do every day!
This is my final block for round 2 of Common Threads. Sarah asked for a dimensional block. I think this was the most challenging block I've ever had in a bee. When I heard dimensional, I thought of those folding paper fans I used to make as a kid. I'm pretty happy with the shapes in this one.



A quick word to my Common Threads buddies. You all have given me such wonderful bee experiences. Your creativity inspires me and I so appreciate the opportunities you have given me to challenge myself and grow. You're the best!

Presto Chango!

Before:After:
I've been meaning to do this for years. I decided to fly by the seat of my pants and give it a go. I have a lot to learn about sewing gussets, but the good thing is lots of sins are hidden by the window seat. There's a zipper in the back so I can remove it for an occasional washing. I chose to go without piping...maybe next time. I used inexpensive IKEA fabric since I didn't know if this project would be a success. Have to grit my teeth and tackle the second one....I hope it's better than the first!

Fitness Friday on Saturday!

Where did Virginia and Kentucky go? Did you enjoy the views? We've hit Illinois as a team and we are almost flying across the country. We are 74 quilters strong and as a team we have over 1000 miles and some of us haven't even entered our mileage yet. Dang, we're good! Where are you individually? Are you moving?

Next week is an important one for the "Improv(E) your Butt Challenge. Our first reward week. Next week you will want to make your goal. (Hint, Hint!!) If you haven't set a weekly goal, yet, now is the time.

I've finally got everyone added to the team and the sidebar and I've figured out a way to get everyone access to team stats. I converted my individual site to the team site. If you'll drop me an email I'll send you the login and password so that you can see team progress. (That will save me the time of entering all 74 email addresses!)

Let me know how you're doing. How many pieces of fabric have you earned?

Organic Line Quilting

I made this quilt over a year ago, but a couple of weeks ago it was in a quilt exhibit at RicRac Roundup in Kansas City. A bunch of people asked me about the quilting on this one and I said I would post about it so, here it is. I dubbed the quilting on this on "organic line quilting' simply because the lines are done 'organically', or in my mind willy-nilly. Organic line quilting creates an amazing texture on a quilt. There are a couple of tricks to this kind of quilting. First, wind a lot of bobbins because you'll use loads of thread and make sure you have a full bottle of wine and some snacks because you'll need sustenance and lots of time!I start at the top center of the quilt. The lines are quilted alternately top to bottom and bottom to top. I work from the center to the edge of the quilt and then the center back to the opposite edge. It's important to use a walking foot so the quilt doesn't shift. I quilted this on my mom's little Bernina, so you don't need a fancy machine.

Notice the two blue lines in the diagram. I place two pieces of painter's tape the length of the quilt. The line in the center is to help establish the first quilting line. You want your lines to stay essentially perpendicular to the top and bottom of the quilt. It's easy to get going at an angle. That's where the second piece of tape comes in. I place it about 8 to 12 inches from the first piece. I use it as a gauge to measure the distance from the quilting lines. I want to keep that distance consistent so that the lines don't end up running at an angle. As I move across the quilt I move the second piece of tape.

As for the lines themselves, I try to relax and let it go. It feels a bit like free motion meandering, but in a straight line. Let the lines wave and flow. The lines can get very close together....they range from about 1/4" to 3/4" apart. I've done this kind of quilting on other quilts where I let the lines cross, but I like it better this way.

Any questions, let me know. Give it a try...it's amazing!

Atomic Connections...2 years 5 months

It's been quite a journey...I think I first posted about this quilt here, and then here and now finally it's a top.

The Journey:

Phase 1: Inspiration and Excitement

Atomic connections was inspired by a chilly walk through the Loose Park rose garden in Kansas City. I was struck by how the paths connected. I'd always wanted to use the 'atomic' shape (my absolute fav) in a quilt and I thought this one might be the one.

Phase 2: Initial Construction

I chose to go bold and go with a color I love. I started making the shapes, making connectors, experimenting with singles, doubles and triples. All was well.

Phase 3: Stalled

The first comment I got on this piece. "safety orange...really?"..."does it have to be orange"...I think it was then that it first got shoved in a box. I kept thinking about it, loving the shapes.

Phase 4: Rejuvenation

I tended to pull out this piece when I wanted a good dose of modern. I struggled with the layout...how complicated did I want the connections to be? It's been put together and torn apart several times. I tend to do that. As for the color, Jessica Jones is right, How About Orange!

Phase 5: Pause

Sometimes I simply don't have the time to work on the quilt that I want to work on.

Phase 6: A Top

For some reason I needed to work on this quilt today. Before I knew it, it was a top. I know it's going to be quilted soon. This one won't be hanging in my closet where tops go to die.

I'm so happy with it.

Any Twin Cities folks out there...I'm taking a road trip to see my son this weekend. Is Cia's Palette a good store to visit? Any other quilty adventures I should pursue?

It's Not Like Riding a Bike

I quilted a couple of quilts last week and you know, it's not like riding a bike, at least not for me. It takes me a bit to get in the groove again. It's no wonder longarm quilters get so skilled, when you quilt a bunch you get better. If I quilted as much as I pieced I'd be pretty skilled. So, last night I made 30 12" x 12" quilt sandwiches from scrap batting and scrap fabric. I'm going to quilt one each day of the month. I can try different things and hopefully keep my quilting rhythm.

I had a little accident yesterday...I tripped over some debris littering the studio floor (the cleaning fairy still hasn't made her appearance) and in the process, knocked over my iron and smashed it to bits.

Actually, I'm glad it's dead. I never liked it. Do you have an iron you like? Any recommendations?