Saturday, September 28, 2013

WHEW... WHAT A CONTRAST!

 Just in case you thought Mother Nature 
had forgotten about us in the Pacific Northwest...
after months of blue skies and sunshine...


Leaves are falling, 
wind is blowing, 
and two inches of rain has fallen... 
just this Saturday!

Gratitude to Mother Nature
as she created 
a perfect day 
to hunker down
and sew and sew and sew... 


at Calico Creations in Mount Vernon.

Here's my packed up car, with 
more samosa pouches in heart fabric,
cute tote bags filled with ideas and chocolate,
my juki baby,
AND
a bottle of JOY 
(just in case anyone needs help
remembering that quilting is a joyFULL process). 



Today was my Summer Solstice class
a pattern/style of piecing from Karla Alexander.


I made the quilt above as a sample to hang...


and started this quilt as a teaching example.

This is the blue and purple quilt in 
black and white to help show contrast.


The ladies did a great job!

I piece in a very relaxed,
enjoyment as my first objective
style...
which can be very different and
intimidating for some ladies.

Here's a few pics of their work
with a few black and whites
to explore the idea
of making a quilt pop with light/dark contrast.










Just as I am working on 
being in the moments
of my day
and
realizing there is peace in each moment...

I am teaching/leading fellow quilters
into a style of quilting
that rejoices in what the moments,
IN THE PROCESS of quilting,
are offering...

Opportunities to...
discard "rules",
play,
experiment,
jump in/out/through/around "the" box,
get in touch with your own quilting muse,
(yes, we all have one!),
and have fun!

Fun? Fun! 
It can be quite different,
almost revolutionary,
from what they are used to!
What a contrast...all in a day!



Thursday, September 26, 2013

FAVORITE QUILT

I just love getting lost in blogland
and feeling soooo very inspired
by all the creativity!
It seems that I have been struck
twice this week

I had so much fun looking at other quilter's favorites
that I just had to link up and share my favorite.

(Must be that I have Freddy on my mind! hee-hee!)

It's
all Freddy fabric!
An original liberated design! 





(it gets a lot of use in the tree house!)

Nothing but LOVE!

Check out all the other lovely favorites...


Sunday, September 22, 2013

SUNSHINE DAYDREAM


Ahhh....
with encouragement and help from son #2,
I rushed outside yesterday,
after a full day of mom duties,
and captured a delightful hour in the last rays
of our soon to be sparse sunshine!
(notice dog Fred enjoyed frolicing under the table!)


In that plastic tub is the last
of my way-too-many-yards
of Freddy Moran's line of fabric
that she did many years ago.
It was called "pure color" by Quilter's Only.
I finished making a bunch of baskets 
to try to make a dent in this part of my stash.


It felt sooooo good to be 
outside
in the sun
listening to the birds and squirrels
gratefully sewing

All this happiness compelled me to make a littlebit.
I pulled out some Terrie Mangat fabric!
It's a shrine to the art of trusting!
Trusting that the universe has our back.


Terrie Mangat is another quilting super hero of mine!
Here's some pics of my way-too-many-yards
of Terrie Mangat fabric!









OOHHH LA LA...Terrie's "fiesta" line...LOVE IT!

There's a lot to love about 
quilting...
like this new book...


I had a lot of fun sifting through my stash 
to make this lattice quilt 
in hopes of teaching it in the spring.





I leave you with a quote from 
Emily Cier in her book, Scrap Republic,
"Be eccentric. Be crazy. And most important, have fun! It's very liberating!"



Sunday, September 8, 2013

WINNER!

YELLOW...

according to 

YELLOW IS...

uplifting
illuminating
hope 
cheerfulness
fun

"the best color to create enthusiasm for life and can awaken greater confidence and optimism."

I had already been playing in a littlebit of yellow...



Then,
the stars and planets must have alligned because...
last night,
all the men in my house went to the Mariner's game
and left the computer free for...
me!
So, I spent a rare hour (or two!)
getting lost in blogland 
enjoying all the creativity out there.

After reading the latest posting from a favorite blog
I discovered
and loved every project I saw!

I was immediately inspired by her
YELLOW scap buster quilt
and went leaping off the computer
and into the sewing zone!


Then I added a touch of green...
and that's where I left it before bed.


Ahhh....
enjoying YELLOW
and feeling the happy possibilities...
my husband picked 
#1 for the chunks giveaway...
Congrats Sharon!
and...
#5 for the yummy scrap bag
Congrats Gill!

Please send me your address!

Thanks for reading and for commenting!!!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

AHHHH...FEELS LIKE FALL! (AND A GIVEAWAY!)

This is how I am feeling. 



 Deep, 
                                                 vibrant, 
                                     and coming to a close. 

                                   Our fabulous summer  
                        has ended with school starting today and
                         noticeably shorter amounts of sunshine 
                         including our first rainy day in forever.

                               Here's what I've been up to -

                  I made it to the APNQ show in Tacoma, WA.
                              Here are a few of my favorites.













    I did a little shopping and fell in love with the "Collage" line!


Do I need more fabric? Ha!
NOT!
Especially because his is what I have been working on
obsessed with. 
"Magnificent Madness"
It measures 64x69 and is mostly 1 1/4 inch strips!



I can't seem to stop, and so am finishing up the leftovers...


The scrappy look seems to be a theme.
I have two classes coming up!


Scraptastic! at Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop - 
inspired by the book Scrap Republic
Sunday, September 22, 10-3.

I just finished putting the binding on this scrappy guy!
Gosh, I did/do love that line by Desise Schmidt!



AND...

Karla Alexander's Summer Solstice 
from the book Stack the Deck Revisted
is a fun, simple, and stunning quilt!
Calico Creations, Saturday September 28, 10-4.


I like to make little somethings to give away in my classes.
Here's tissue pouches...


and Samosa pouches


from the great tutorial here:


Besides sewing, 
I have made a point to do some reading in the hammock, 
while the outdoor reading time was good.
 I enjoyed the silly 
Where'd You Go Bernadette 
by Maria Semple, 
and 
A State of Wonder 
by Ann Patchett.

I really enjoyed 
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce. 
SIGH....
it is just so very beautiful AND
Harold is working on the same stuff we all are working on!
I just have to share my two favorite quotes...

"Harold was so tired he could barely lift his feet, and yet he felt such hope, he was giddy with it. If he kept looking at the things that were bigger than himself, he knew he would make it..."

and

"He had learned that it was the smallness of people that filled him with wonder and tenderness and the lonliness of that too. The world was made up of people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simply because the person living it had been doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that was the dilemma of being human."

lovely!

Here's a "littlebit" - me happily riding the wave of life. NOT attaching a negative or positve value to what is happening.
Ahhhh!


I am also reading Flow 
by Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi,
a book I have had for a while,
and have picked up several different times,
each time getting something different from it.
This time,
what I am really hearing,
is...

"Each of us has this freedom to control our subjective reality."

really?!

and he has two quotes I love -

"Men are not afraid of things, but how they view them." - Epictetus

"If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgement of them. And it is your power to wipe out that judgement now." - Marcus Aurelius

HOPE!!!!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...

It's time for a fall feeling giveaway!
I noticed this morning that Halloween stores have popped up
and decorations are displayed!

So...

20 chunks of Halloween fabric!
(I am guessing at least 6 yards) 


or large bag of all kinds of yummy Halloween scraps!


Anyone can play. 
Leave a comment sharing something that makes you happy
and which prize you would prefer
and/or
become a follower.

(PLEASE make sure I can get a hold of you!)

My husband (who has been traveling for a very long time 
and is happy to be home for a bit
probably will need something to do to stay out of trouble
(and take his mind of all the fabric his darling wife has...
so much that she is compelled to give some away! hee-hee))
will pick a number on next Sunday morning!

Good Luck! 

Tell your friends!