Night Forest

I was so excited to get this top done and show it to you. I'm so happy with how it came together. In some ways it's not a typical quilt for me, but the improvisational piecing and freedom to design is so me. Thanks to Krista for the challenge! You can see the original challenge and inspiration in this post.
I love that the tree fabrics are all from my neutral scrap box. The blue in there was totally serendipity...stuck that piece of blue in that box by mistake, but I adore how it works.
So cool how the eye of a bird now becomes a scar in the birch bark. All of the cutting for joining the pieces was done freehand, no ruler! Cutting sans ruler creates curves and a more organic feel to the forest.
The top finished at 19" x 41". I hope I can find the perfect place to hang this when it's quilted and bound.

Reality Bites!

After the euphoria of the KC Star article yesterday all I wanted to do was sew, sew and sew some more. That's a great feeling!My KC Modern Quilt Guild 'Robert Kaufman No Prints Allowed Challenge' quilt has been on the design wall for weeks so I tackled it. It was coming together pretty well until that row...that dang row that didn't look just right, but I ignored it. A couple of rows later, that row was on my mind, bugging me. My perfectionism took over and I grabbed the seam ripper and went at it.
Sometimes a little ripping is a good thing, sometimes it simply multiplies the problem. In my case, it was the latter. I'll leave out the colorful language, but it wasn't pretty.
It got so crooked, and then I tried to save it with pressing. It wasn't cooperating. Everything I did made it worse. So, instead of cease and desist I ripped some more. I'm stubborn.
It's a wake up call to go from an 'I can do anything I put my mind to' feeling, to being manhandled and bested by some 2" squares and some thread. Reality does bite sometimes. I guess that's why they call it a challenge.

May I Offer You....

....some cheese with my whine?
I'm not going to hide it. I'm feeling a little whiney about this weekend as my friends whisk off to Houston for quilt market. It's not the right time for me, I'm resigned to that fact and determined to work my butt off and accomplish lots this weekend.

Speaking of my butt, there's another thing I've got to whine about. I've fallen off the exercise routine. In fact, I've totally sucked. I've fallen so behind I haven't even gotten some of you on the sidebar. So, I'm recommitting. I guess that happens. I'm getting on the treadmill right after this post is done, then I'm going to get caught up with all of the participants.

Next Friday, a giveaway for all of you "Improv(e) Your Butt" participants. A big one...lots of nice goodies coming right from my stash. (That's a good penance for my exercise sins.) All you have to do is recommit yourself to your exercise routine, or if your one of those who have kept it up, you don't have to do a thing. Leave a comment and let me know which category you fit in. Let's keep going!

Have a happy Friday and be sure to come back tomorrow. I'm the Saturday stop in Elizabeth's (Oh Fransson) book tour. Stop by to win a copy of her book and some fabric she picked especially for you!

Fitness Friday

I've been a bit lame on my Fitness Friday posts...I guess it's better to be working out than sitting on the computer. I have to thank Glen who left a comment a couple of weeks ago about his 12 mile bike ride. It sparked an idea that maybe the bike would be a good thing for me too. I never ride out here (gravel roads are the pits for bike riding!) A little light bulb popped in my head that maybe I could ride our trails. Well, I tried it and it's great! Thanks Glen!

I've been thinking about why I'm doing this...what's my target? I don't think I have an ideal weight or a specific goal except developing a habit. I want exercise to be a permanent part of my life.
How are you doing?

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!

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!

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.

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?

Fitness Friday!

Well, team, we're off and running. As of this morning we have 55 team members who are running, biking, walking, swimming, and moving their way to smaller butts! In less than a week we've traveled almost 400 miles.


My biggest challenge now is remembering to record my miles. I need to get into some kind of routine. I can't seem to get it recorded on a daily basis. Maybe once a week would work better for me.

Have you set a goal? You can set a weekly goal on the site. Just click on the tab 'my goals.'
I set up automatic email reminders to enter my mileage and to tell me if I met my weekly goal. (I'm not sure I like that last one, but I do need someone to bug me, so I'm leaving it!)

So, how is everyone doing? Are you on track to meet your goal? Katie posted her progress. Aren't you impressed? She did better than I did!

Next decision...what project am I going to do. What fabric? Decisions, decisions!

It's not too late to join. Just go here and follow the instructions to sign up.

Check and make sure your name is in the sidebar and your link is correct. I'm excited to hear about your progress.
**PARTICIPANTS: LOOK FOR AN EMAIL FROM ME IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS WITH A LOGIN AND PASSWORD. THIS WILL ALLOW EVERYONE TO ACCESS THE TEAM INFO. (I need a little time to get all the emails compiled!)

Quilter's Butt and an Improv Challenge

Alas, those of us who sit in front of sewing machines (and computers) for long periods of time are prone to that only whispered about in coffee shops syndrome known as the dreaded Quilter's Butt. There are similar maladies for other artist and crafter types who spend long hours doing anything but exercising and avoiding and making seriously legitimate excuses for not hopping on the treadmill, jumping on a bike or hitting the pool.

My friend Katie and I met on the internet and we initially connected trying to motivate each other to exercise. We know that exercise and healthy living will allow us to be more productive quilters and in the end isn't that what it's all about? We want to quilt longer and harder, so we need to be in shape.

When Katie was visiting Kansas last month she suggested I join this government site that tracks your exercise. It's a virtual transcontinental trip across the United States. She suggested that we become partners to motivate each other. I was all over that. I need all the help I can get!

Are you like that? You want to, you know you should, but you can't seem to get your quilter butt out of that chair? We thought it would be great if we could form a team and get a whole bunch of quilters to join with us. So, Team 'Quilter Butts' was formed and the 'Improv(E) Your Butt Challenge' was born.

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS. To join in, you need to head to the site and sign up as a participant. It's all confidential too! You'll be able to set an individual exercise goal. When you sign up you'll get an ID number. To join Team Quilter Butts and the challenge, email me your id number and whatever you want me to put in the sidebar of my blog. (your first name, an alias and a link if you'd like.) Katie and I will add you to the team. My email is jgeringirre (at) yahoo (dot) com.

You can decide what activity you want to qualify as your exercise. The options on the site are biking, running, and run/walk, but Katie is counting her water aerobics and I'm counting my swimming. You can figure out how to convert your activity into miles. You can enter your exercise daily or whenever you have a minute or two. You'll be able to track your own miles as well as the team's. It's all on the honor system so you're on your own. Do you think that together we can make it all the way across America? We do!!

So, how does quilting fit into this challenge? Both Katie and I love to improvise, so this is an IMPROV challenge too. For every mile you log, you get one piece of fabric. My weekly goal is 15 miles. So, if I achieve my goal, at the end of the week, I get 15 pieces of fabric that I can sew together in some improvisational way. You can use scraps, or you can cut new fabric. You can add a piece one mile at a time or you can collect them on your design wall and then sew them together at the end. If you want to make a potholder from your first 15 pieces, go for it. It's up to you. Improvise!! We're going to try to keep the challenge going for at least 6 months...let's see... 4 weeks a month, 15 miles each week x 6 months...that's 360 pieces of fabric. Imagine what I or you could make from that!

I'm pretty sure I'm making a quilt. I haven't decided what colors or if I want to use scraps or cut new fabric, but I have time to decide. I'm only 5 miles into my trip across the US. I have a LONG way to go.

Let's report our weekly fitness and improv progress on Fridays. Fitness Friday has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Feel free to post photos of your quilty goodness in the Project Improv flickr group. We'll be cruising the group to look for in progress and finished work to highlight on our blogs. Be sure to let us know this is your 'Quilter's Butt' Challenge piece!

We're working on some fun motivation for all of us along the way. If you'd like to contribute to the cause, feel free to contact Katie or I.

Here's the code so you can add the button to your blog.

<a href="http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/2010/07/quilters-butt-and-improv-challenge.html" title="Improv(E) Your Butt Button by Jacquie G, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4829448666_47e75cc324_m.jpg" width="173" height="240" alt="Improv(E) Your Butt Button" /></a>

So, wanna IMPROV(e) your Butt?

Hot Summer Reading and a Few Winners!

I'm sorry I'm late with this. I seem to be saying that a bunch lately, but life comes before blog. The 'Hot Summer Reading' quilt is finished and ready to head to a new home.
The back echoes the front with a panel and half borders.
I did some experimenting with the quilting....I've been playing with some spirographesque (remember that toy, anyone?) straight line quilting designs. This is one of them. It needs some tweaking, but there is so much potential for interesting quilting with these.
All of us who finished at least something were winners in this challenge. The big winner is Quilty Goodness! The 'Hot Summer Reading' quilt is heading your way and Rebecca of Craft a Little will be getting a lovely fabric pack from my friend Cheryl of Naptime Quilter. (I have a picture of that fabric somewhere on this computer, but I can't find it to save my life!) Trust me, it's gorgeous! Ladies, please send me your mailing info and we'll get your prizes off to you ASAP! Thanks to everyone who participated!

We Sprang...We Finished

Hard to believe it, but Spring to Finish has come to an end. I'm pretty happy with the dent I made in that mega-list of mine. Still lots to do, but it's time to celebrate. Remember to reward yourself for the work you've done! This quilt, 'Hot Summer Reading' will belong to one of you on Friday. I wanted to finish it for today, but it's not quite there...a little more quilting, some binding and then off to a new home. It's a perfect size to snuggle under with some summer reading.

So, if you signed up for the challenge, leave a comment letting us know about your finishes and how you plan to reward yourself. I want to make sure no one misses out, so I'll leave comments open until Friday, noon central time. Feel free to leave a link to your blog so we can all check out the work you've done. Friday, I'll draw some names and cap off the celebration with a few prizes!

The Experiment Begins

Before I share the challenge I accepted I wanted to share Rossie's idea. I'm accepting her Process Pledge. Essentially it's about sharing the process I go through to design and make my quilts. I think I do a lot of process sharing already, but I'm going to be more cognizant of trying to document that process and post about it. I think it's a great idea, mostly because we can all learn so much with a glimpse into other people's processes. I emailed Rossie this weekend and asked her if she had a process flickr group, she said I should go ahead and start one, so I did. Feel free to go here and join the 'Quilting Process' group. We'll post inspirations, sketches, in process shots, and talk about and share our process. I'm pretty excited about it.

So, on to the challenge. I received soo many good ideas, it was hard to choose where to start. I will be doing more than one of these! I'm starting with Krista's idea of using a family heirloom as my inspiration. I actually chose two items that are related. First is my grandmother's silver birch china. It's pretty special to me, first because it was my mom's and my grandmother's but also because it reminds me of my 'up north' roots. I love the birch forests of Minnesota and Canada.
I also chose this framed piece of birch bark. My husband brought it home from a trip he took to his hometown, Wausau, Wisconsin. He picked it up on a run on Rib Mountain. My hubby loves the woods, loves Wisconsin and so I framed it for him and now it hangs in his office. So, those are my inspiration pieces.
Krista also suggested beautiful scrap box colors, but I changed her challenge a bit. I chose my neutrals boxes...one is filled with grays, browns, blacks, beiges...mostly solids, but some prints too.
...and then my whites and creams. That's what I have to choose from. I'm not sure if there will be a background fabric or not.
So I started by studying my inspiration pieces. What did I love about them? What was the feeling I wanted to create? The texture and intricacy of the birch trees, especially the bark is what I kept going back to. I decided to try to create an exaggerated birch bark texture. So I started playing with some fabric.
Then I moved to the design wall and sewed a few pieces together.
I decided pretty much immediately that I didn't want any vertical pieces.
I played some more...cutting, rearranging and sewing.

This is the piece I have now. I'm not sure where I'm going with this. It may be sliced into thin trees. I think for now I'll continuing building pieces. I'm not quite satisfied with how the dark areas look. Stay tuned and have a great week.

Experimenting

I've been experimenting with this idea. It's not ready for a reveal though. I love to experiment.
The 'urban garden' quilt was an experiment too and now it's one of my favs. For that quilt I pulled handfuls of scraps from three scrap buckets and challenged myself to make a quilt. The inspiration was an urban community garden. I'd like to do something similar again, but this time I'd like to involve you. I'd like you to create a challenge for me.

Simply leave a comment telling me what color scrap buckets I should choose from. It could be one bucket or more than one. I have scrap buckets for red, pink, yellow/orange, blue, green and neutrals. In addition to what fabric I should choose, I'd like you to give me an inspiration for the quilt...a place to start, or something to think about as I work. I get to add a solid or maybe a background fabric. I'll choose one of the comments and then go for it. What do you think? Want to help?

Little Finishes and Check in Winners

I'm just about back among the living, but now I'm sooo behind in all things. I did finally get these in the mail to my partner in Malka's 'Great Potholder Swap.' I used some of Malka's hand dyed fabrics and some great carolina chambrays in these. I love how graphic and fun they are. I hope they work in her kitchen.


We've got a few Spring to Finish winners too. They'll be receiving either a pack of bright and fun Ikea fabric or a beautiful piece of Anna Maria Horner's voile. The lucky gals are: Cheryl Arkison will be receiving the voile.
Regi and Littlebluebirdie will be receiving the fabric packs. Drop me your info and I'll get your prizes in the mail!

And lastly, I finished the 'Church Lady' quilt top from all those vintage sheets. It's being quilted and will be late, but I'm doing my best. I have all these cut squares left over...if you're interested in them, drop me an email. First one, gets them! (Kelly gets the squares...dang, she was FAST!)

I'm off to start the catch-up process!

Mother's Day Glow

I'm living in a Mothers' Day glow. My boys convinced my hubby that my dinosaur of a cell phone had to go and they replaced it with this. Could I possibly be iphone cool? I'm going to do my best at it, boys! I also received this wonderful book, Style by Kate Spade, from my hubby. I adore Kate Spade's designs, simple, graphic, and classy. The book is a wonderful insight into color, design, and Kate's philosophy.
This was the card I received from my youngest son. It's true. I'm more interesting on my blog. Today, my life is kleenex, throat lozenges, and too many trips to the bathroom. I was sick all weekend and I can't seem to shake it. It's cold, rainy and miserable. The weather and I will be in the same boat today.

Today is the the midway point in our Spring to Finish Challenge. I have 6 finishes off my list. I'm not satisfied...the list is still VERY long, but I'm committed to plugging away at it. I do want to take time to enjoy the process though.

So if you've made progress, let me know in the comments. When I have some energy I'll put together a few fabric packs for a couple of people from today's comments. You have until the end of the day...midnight central time to leave a comment. Keep up the good work!

Are You Focused?

Sometimes all it takes is a fun focus fabric to bring things together. A group of us in guild are making a quilt for a special little girl. We all got a piece of this fabric and we decided to bring out the colors in the fabric in the block and to make a sort of square in a square block. I made two from my chunk of fabric and then I couldn't stop, and since I had more of the owls I had to make more. I can't wait to see everyone's blocks and how the quilt will come together.






Speaking of focus, I need to be totally focused this weekend. The 'church lady' quilt (that I'm donating to my mom's church) is due Saturday evening. Nothing like waiting until the VERY last minute. Fabric will be flying and the machine whirring. I do hate to miss a deadline.

Remember, the Spring to Finish check-in is on Monday. Gosh, has the time flown, but I know you can get at least one finish by then. Have a happy Mom's Day with your mom or with your kiddos!!

**For those of you who have asked...the focus fabric is 'spotted owl' by Alexander Henry. It is pretty available and comes in several colors and also in a home dec weight with BIG owls.

Excuse Me While I Finish Things

It's been a crazy busy week. No time to take pictures. I had my first finish...a BIG one, my quilt for the Block Party book. I can't show you anything, not even a peek. I packed it up, tracked it, insured it and sent it on its way to Los Angeles.

Some of my favorite bloggy friends are starting a new venture called 'The Fat Quarterly.' Here's their announcement:

The authors of six blogs popular for their modern sewing and quilting projects have teamed up to launch a new e-zine featuring quilt patterns, interviews with top fabric designers, previews of upcoming modern fabric lines, and more.

Fat Quarterly is a collaboration between Kate Dixon (One Flew Over...), Katy Jones (I'm a Ginger Monkey), Brioni Greenberg (Flossyblossy), Tacha Bruecher (Hanies), Aneela Hoey (Comfortstitching) and John Adams (Quilt Dad).

"With Fat Quarterly, we hope to provide a source of ideas and inspiration for anyone interested in the modern sewing and quilting aesthetic", says Ms. Dixon. "We have assembled a truly global team with diverse skills and styles, but connected by a love of handmade items and of sharing the joys of creating with others."

Fat Quarterly will officially launch when its first issue is available on Tuesday, April 27th. This introductory issue will be packed with exciting and original content including six brand new patterns for modern quilts and other sewing projects, designer interviews and previews of six upcoming fabric lines, book reviews, a report from the British Quilts exhibit at the Victoria & Albert museum, amazing giveaways of some of the fabric and books featured in the magazine, and much, much more.

The publication will be released four times per year.

Learn more about Fat Quarterly at www.fatquarterly.com, where even more original content will be available. Current and past issues of the magazine will be available via the Fat Quarterly Etsy shop (fatquarterly.etsy.com). Fat Quarterly is also on Twitter (www.twitter.com/fatquarterly)!

To help them launch their venture they've offered a free issue of their new e-zine to one of my readers. So leave a comment and let me know what's up for you this weekend. Entries close Sunday at midnight central time. I'll announce the winner Monday morning.

Are you 'Spring to Finishing?' Check out Rossie's post 'feels good to get stuff done.' She made this great list and I'm loving her rewards too.

Spring to Finish Challenge 2010

The "Spring to Finish Challenge" starts today and ends six weeks from today on May 31st. We'll have a 'Halfway There' check in on May 10.

Let's keep it simple. You decide what you want to work on, and do your best to achieve your goal. It doesn't matter to me if you are finishing quilts or finishing that half painted room in your house. It's all up to you. Count your projects however you see fit.

Simply writing the words 'spring to finish' the other day gave me the kick in the pants I needed to motivate myself.

After you've decided what you want to do, decide how you're going to reward yourself for completing your goal. If chocolate is your thing, indulge. If you love movies, take a friend or your honey and get a big popcorn to go with the show. Have a relaxing bubble bath with candles and all the trimmings. Treat yourself!

I've made a button for all of us. Feel free to take it from the sidebar and link back to this post. Here is the code for the button. I hope this works!
<a href="http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/2010/04/spring-to-finish-challenge-2010_19.html" title="spring to finish big by Jacquie G, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/4533831188_69e0fce7d2_m.jpg" width="202" height="240" alt="spring to finish big" /></a>

May 10 is the halfway point in the challenge. I'll do a post that day and everyone can come back and leave a link to their finishes so far and I'll do a little giveaway that day for all of you who have at least one finish by that date.

May 31 is the end of the challenge. There may be a prize or two that day, but folks, any finish is a prize and remember, we're all going to reward ourselves!

So, leave a comment to tell me you're in. Tell everyone your goal and most importantly how you plan to reward yourself for your finishes. Feel free to invite others to join.

Can you feel the collective energy building?

I have my list of projects made and prioritized. First on the list is my niece's graduation gift. This is not a quilt (though I'd sure like it to be.) They will be four stacked book placemats. She's getting dishtowels and potholders too.

As for how I'm going to reward myself. If I finish my list, I'm taking my hubby away....it may not be very far away, but we are getting away together and NO ONE is going to work.

I hope you'll join me. (not on the getaway...on the challenge!) Now, I'm off to sew. Could I get that first finish by the end of the day?