Retro Radio

Kristy from Quiet Play has added her retro radio to the Kitschy BOM this month and I finished it this weekend.  My husband ---who seems to remember the good old days so well---promptly asked what's that???  When I explained it was a retro radio he pointed out it needed numbers on the dial and a speaker grill. Maybe he should take up designing quilt blocks. Or maybe not...I think he'd be having me sew blocks of engines and gears and gadgets and miscellaneous garage tools.  I on the other hand think it is perfect.  Kristy does have a dial on hers and I will need to add one to help my confused husband find the right station.

Linking this up to her linky 'cause all the other radios are so dang cute, they can hang out together and jam it up.

Just two more blocks to go in this series.

Tulips, tulips, tulips

The second block for the Garden BOM hosted by Janeen van Niekerk from Quilt Art Designs this month features the most beautiful tulips.  They are my husband's favorite flowers.  I adore them when they are closed up in the bud shape but they quickly open and start to wither making them too short lived to be my favorite flower but they do offer an early punch of color in Spring making them just the needed friend in the garden after a cold dreary Winter.

First, I spent a little time coloring in a sheet, trying to get just the right color combo and then moved on to fabric selection.  The purple one really was challenging for me and not sure I got the best color combo on it as I struggled with the light and dark areas on it.

I colored it in darker in the middle but then switched it to the lighter area, still not sure which would have been the better choice.

 

All the pieces are made and its time to see how they'll look arranged correctly.   

 

 

The orange one is my favorite --- even though yellow is my favorite color.  I am finding I don't usually like the red in the low volume fabrics as they like to steal the show but I think it works here as it looks like flowers growing amongst the tulips in the garden.  When I started piecing it all together I noticed I forgot one piece in one of the yellow tulip sections.

 

 

At first I didn't notice it and sewed it in place and realized it needed corrected.  Almost decided not to fix it but I love the extra piece in it and am glad I took the time to redo it.  Plus since I added a piece of fabric that is in the second yellow tulip it adds cohesiveness to the two yellow tulips.

 

  

I have to say this one turned out stunningly beautiful!
 

Thanks so much Janeen for another fabulous pattern to work with this month.  You can join this BOM anytime. Each month the featured block is a free pattern during that month and past patterns can be bought in her craftsy shop for a small fee plus she now offers a Digital online magazine called  Paper Piecing 1/4" featuring some of her other fabulous patterns and other artists great designs, too.

 

Here's a peek at what all the blocks are looking like together so far:

 

 

So far I am pleased as punch with how this is coming together --- can't wait to see what gets added next month.

 

Till then...

 

Keep Stitchin' 



Bee Eater Birds

This week I needed badly to get something accomplished.  It is the middle of July and not one thing completed until now.  I decided to set to work on my Quilt Art Design Blocks for this month and started out with the bee eater birds that Janeen van Niekerk created for this month in the Garden BOM she is hosting this year. Actually she created two for this month.  The second is a bunch of tulips that I look forward to getting done soon I hope.  I colored out a sketch of how I want the tulips to look and am excited to see them come to life soon.

This block I worked on about an hour each day plus another hour or more to put all the pieces together.  It took me a good hour the first day just to pick out colors.

As of this morning, all 24 sections looked like this below picture

 

 

Scattered they don't resemble the end product at all, but it allows me to right off the bat see that the brassiere fabric is much to attention drawing.  I really like it when the scrappy low volume background doesn't shout quite so loudly --- look at me.  So I spent a little time replacing it.

 

Oops... still hadn't replaced it in this photo but I will...I promise...it has to go.  Rearranged it looks much better and is starting to look better all ready.

 

Before I even start piecing all the sections I write on each piece what color goes where, but obviously messed up with this one...yikes.

LOVE the completed block!!!  Thank you so much Janeen for another fantastic block pattern.

Keep Stichin'

Sisters Quilt Show... part three

If you are not bored with the Quilt Sisters Tour, I have some more quilts from Sisters that I enjoyed this last weekend to share with you today.

This one reminded me of one of the pharmacist I work with, Craig.  He collects sock monkey stuff and even takes a Curious George stuffed animal with him on vacation to be in his vacation photos...like a traveling gnome.  I thought these monkeys hanging out on the side of the liquor store was an appropriate place for them to be monkeying around and just an adorable quilt.












This year I have really given some thought to how I would ever use up my ever expanding stash and all the scraps in it also.  This is such a cute idea.  It reads, "Mama told me to get rid of my scraps sew I did'.  I'm not sure it would make a very big dent in my scrap boxes but should be on my bucket list.









This one was cute and all the ladies seemed dressed for different seasons, some had lots of embellishments like buttons and such and was for sale for $1000.00

I hadn't realized before that some of these quilts are available to purchase and think quite a few people were actually very interested in looking for just the right quilt to take home with them.

Hexagon quilts always amaze me.  It would take me 100 life times to achieve a quilt this huge out of hexies.  Who am I kidding....probably more than that.

 

Love the blend of traditional with a playful twist of whimsy this one has.

 

 

Aren't the colors in this gorgeous???  The quilting is superb, too.  I can't remember if this was all painted on here or if the red was appliqued but this is truly an art piece.  One of my other purchases in Sisters were some Inktense blocks-- a set of 12 colors-- they are water soluble ink blocks that when water is added, deep intense colors are created, giving a translucent ink-like effect.  Once dry, Inktense becomes permanent and can be worked over without affecting the layers of color.  I am not sure if that is what the quilter did with this piece but I imagine it was something like that. Stunning!!!

Once again, I was drawn to the creative side of what can be achieved, these inspire me to dream of being more artful in my quilting.   I only have to dare to believe I can achieve a piece such as these and set the goal to do more than to dream about creating them but actually starting with a piece and seeing what happens...seeing where the process will lead me to.

 

Beautiful

Is that a Rocking Horsefly??? LOVE it!!!

 

Well that's it for what I captured of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this year.  I am already thinking that next year I will need to expand the amount of time I spend in the area.  Can you believe I didn't even make it to the PMGQ exhibit?  shhhhh...don't tell...I don't want my membership card revoked.

Seriously, when I look at the flyer (newspaper thingy) they handed out at the event, there are things happening all weekend that are worth checking out like a $10 lunch held at Black Butte Ranch on Friday that has a quilt exhibit on their lakeside lawn that I would love to have attended.  Maybe next year...

'til then Keep Stitchin'

California State Park Quilts

One of the exhibits that my daughter, Ashley, definitely insisted we visit was 57 of the quilts depicting California State Parks 150th Anniversary made by the Quilters Sew-ciety of Redding, California on display at the Don Terra Artworks Courtyard at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this last weekend.  She loves the National and State Park systems and would love to one day be employed by one of them. 

These ladies did a fantastic job capturing the beauty of their state parks

 

 

I loved the foggy, filtered sunlight coming thru these trees at Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park
Quilt by Kimberley R. Heaps

Being a bear lover, I love the top right hand one by Fay Leighton featuring Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the one in the top left depicts Bale Grist Mill State Park by L. Molter

Each of these ladies did an outstanding job creating a pictorial quilt of a favorite state park.

Aren't these just amazing

These quilts will be touring this summer and if they come to your city they are worth viewing

I loved this one.  The thread play on it certainly helped bring it to life.  I loved how the waves over the snorkeler made it really look like he is in the water and the water was so crystal clear you could see him perfectly thru it.

 

 

We both loved the state park signs in some of these...how realistic and perfectly captured in thread

 

 

 

 

Another one with a group of bears...albeit a little too close to the tent for comfort if you ask me

 

 

Another one with a fantastic job of thread play, those mountains are just covered in it.  I definitely need to play with this art medium.

 

 

Ashley is delving into art journaling and she has been picking up supplies recently and it is pulling me again into how exactly to tackle a mixed media art project with fabric and paint so I picked up some decolorant and some Jacquard textile paints while at The Stitchin' Post.  While these quilts are not exactly mixed media they do start you thinking of all the possibilities of creative play with fabric that one can do...when one finds the time.  Right now I am quickly falling behind on my to-do lists but I guess Fall and Winter are a great time to both catch up on projects and start new ones.

 

Keep Stitchin'

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Sisters, Or was alive in color today.  It definitely was worth the drive and I hope to be able to do it again next year!  I read last night that there was 1401 quilts being displayed this year and I am sure we never saw a fracture of them but what we saw was outstanding.  To tell you the truth, our local quilt shows in March and April were kind of a let down from last year, but the Sisters' Quilts were simply spectacular.  Maybe it was the drop dead gorgeous day they had.  When we left at 2 pm today it was already 98 degrees.

I wanted to get back to Salem in time to get my Row by Row Experience quilt pattern from Greenbaum's in Salem so we left early, but both my daughter and I, were ready to get out of the heat of the day.  While it meant we didn't see over half the quilts we were tickled pink by the wonderful day we had.

I will try to post a few pictures over the next few days of  a few of the beauties we saw.  Just seeing the town decked out in quilts made our day.

There were a large number of quilts that caught my eye but especially the ones with their beautiful Kaffe Fassett fabrics shouting loud and proud...check me out. Love, love this one.

 

Kaffee Fassett fabrics were everywhere.

 

I quickly needed a pit stop at the Stitchin' Post to stock up on some Kafee Fassett fabrics of my own.

It was a beautiful store and we spent quite a while shopping in there.  I had to buy a keepsake Sister's 2014 bag to stow all my treasures :) Bag did double duty...carried my finds around town and hid them from the DH's prying eyes when I got home. Guess, my shopping spree was just one of the benefits of working all that overtime.

 

By this time I think my hair was already melting from the heat, but that didn't stop me from smiling with all my shopping satisfaction achieved.

My daughter loved the large number of pictorial quilts

I was still drawn time and again to anything with outstanding colors

 

 

The crowd was huge but what a well behaved group of people...everyone we encountered was just so
friendly...Quilter's Rule

 

 

We saw a couple of the New York Beauties.  Both were calling for me to make one of these someday.

 

The second one added a great row of jumping fish to the bottom.  Love it!

I will try to share more of my adventure in Sisters in the next couple days.

 

Keep Stitchin'