New May Blooms

We’ve been having a lot of May showers but that hasn’t slowed down the flowers a bit.  New blooms….the day lilies are starting to come on strong and by the next week or so should be making quite a show.  The Asiatic lilies are just ready to burst out and make the carport look like a wall of flame on one side.  Stokesia has lots of bloom heads and one has decided to bloom before the rest – I love the shaggy blue flower.  My salad garden pots look wonderful and have been giving me radishes, lettuce, spinach.  The big garden has lots of tomatoes setting on and a few little zucchinis that will need harvested in the next day or so.  The white clematis on the front corner is really showing off.  The miniature rose was my father’s and it just keeps doing better each year with no help from me.  The pink rose is an old one that has been moved at least four times and I think may have reverted to original stock.  But it is pretty and I can see it from my studio windows.

We have baby wrens and chickadees and bluebirds.  Lots of purple martins in the purple martin apartment houses and one set who decided to be antisocial and have nested up under the carport.  Cardinals and blue jays abound and some goldfinch are still hanging around.  Hummingbirds are back and we’ve spotted painted and indigo buntings. And of course SQUIRRELS!

Enjoy the blooms!

Simply elegant

This customer does not like heavy quilting and sometimes that can be a challenge for me.  There were big setting blocks in this one that could have been quilted over the top.  I had this PLAN.  To integrate the setting block plan with the rest of the quilt I adapted the plan to the border and started quilting.  I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach after quilting the first part of the plan but I persevered   Not a smart move.  I teach about listening to your quilt and here I am ignoring everything it wants to say.  Punishment – an entire day of unstitching ugly quilting.  Ugly because no matter how well it was quilted, no matter how great the design was, it didn’t suit this quilt at all.

So……….back to the drawing board. And a day and a half later, with the help of some “line dancing” and a stencil….I have a simply elegant looking quilt that is singing its song.

Have I learned my lesson?  I hope so but this happens to me at least once a year!  LOL

This one is for Betsy – I asked to quilt it for her because I had plans to “show off” in that large open space.  Well I did show off but not how I had orginally planned.  Sure hope she likes it as much as I do!  Betsy and the rest of my Sew ‘n Sisters are going to White Oak for the QSC Spring into Summer Sew-In and Virginia is taking the quilt to give her there.  Betsy does not know I have finished it yet.

Heard from White Oak and Betsy is a very happy camper!  Sure wish I were with them but I had too much on my calendar and could not get away.

Batik Three Dimensional Baltimore Album quilt

This one has been finished for about a week and will be delivered to its owner tomorrow afternoon.  Swirl feathers and feather waves……swirls and stippling………….and a scroll frame are the quilting motifs I chose to enhance this absolutely gorgeous contemporary Baltimore Album style quilt.  All the applique was done by hand.  All of the blocks were just beautiful.  Check out the ruching and the tiny stuffed berries and the little 3-D flower buds.  It is very hard to give this one back – and A++ to owner and appliquer Rhonda V!!!!!

My morning stroll

I’m trying to explore the “property” every week and document the changes in the flora and maybe even some fauna!  Many of the shrubs are blooming (and I’m sneezing) but I love the froth of white blossoms – it’s like a little fairy land.  The Ref has been trying to naturalize areas and start some wildflower patches.  This week found Sweet William (one of my favorites), a daisy like yellow bloom, and the cutest little wild strawberries.  So petite and just shining red – but no taste whatsoever – yes I stuck one in my mouth.  Big white lilies, a Russian iris, Confederate jasmine, variegated spiraea which has yellow-green leaves and a fuchsia bloom – way cool!  All of the clematis are just spectacular and my favorite, the deep red, got its picture taken.  Two day lilies have opened  - dark yellow and a pretty peach.  More of those in weeks to come.  And the fauna of the week……….Samson and Delilah watching me.

Hope you enjoy the stroll!

Wiawaka Whig Rose

A very long time ago….I think August of 2006 or 2007, my friend Janice and I traveled to Lake George in upstate NY to a quilting retreat hosted by Anita Shackelford at Wiawaka Holiday Retreat House.  This is a historic place built in the late 1800s to serve as a vacation place for girls who worked in the garment industry.  It was rustic and beautiful.  While there we worked on Whig Rose blocks.  All hand applique.  These are very big blocks – about 20″ each. I worked diligently on my first one and then slowed down a LOT on my second one.  I just finished it last Sunday.  I want to make four blocks – each one different – and then do some piecing – either sashing or setting blocks or both – to pull it all together into a large wallhanging.

I love the fabrics I used – very nontraditional and I fussy cut all the green so that the paisley motifs would show up in all of the leaves.

So tomorrow I’m going to prep and lay out Block Three and see if I can get it done in a couple of months instead of many years!!  If I just stitch for an hour every night that will be doable.  Less Words with Friends, more stitching!

Which block do you like the best?  I like them both but think the block on the right has a more pleasing design.  I like the stems coming from between the big leaves better than out from the big leaves – but Whig Roses can be done either way.  One set of stems in the left hand block needs to have more curve to them but I’m sure not unstitching all that tiny hand applique stitching.

Look Ma! No Hands!

At the beginning of the year I purchased a second longarm system that was computerized.  I purchased it from Jennifer Kay at The Quilting Solution.  I got her 22″ Homesteader machine and the SideSaddle computer system.  I have been in my spare time (what’s that?) learning how to use the system and bonding with it.  I believe all machines should have names so I have Henrietta Homesteader and Sally Jo SideSaddle.  They are quickly becoming my best friends!!

So what can you do while Henrietta and Sally Jo are quilting a 92 inch by 92 inch quilt top for you?  Here’s what I did today:

Cleaned/straightened up the studio.

Washed all the dishes in the studio.

Washed, dried, and folded a load of towels for the studio (it has a full kitchen and a bath and I do sometimes  take a shower there.)

Washed, dried, and folded three loads of fabric from my shopping spree in New Hampshire and elsewhere.

Took the completed Baltimore Album quilt off the Prince and trimmed threads and squared it up.

Took my handy dandy CLEAN NEVER BEEN USED toilet brush and brushed up all the loose threads from the carpet in the studio.

Got the next quilt top ready for Henrietta and Sally Jo.

And…………sat on the studio porch and enjoyed the SUNSHINE and watched the birds.

I also fixed a chicken and broccoli casserole and went for a walk with the Ref and the pups.  Had to go to the house to do the cooking so Henrietta and Sally Jo got a break for a bit.

Here they are doing their thing.  Nary a thread break or a tension problem.  Such good girls!

Quilting Update

I’ve been quilting away since my return from New Hampshire.  First up I did a Be Attitudes – this is a darling applique calendar quilt by pattern and fabric designer Nancy Halvorsen.  I think this is the third one I’ve quilted and my own is still hanging in the “to be quilted” closet.  Here are some pictures of this one. I love it’s sweet sayings – a different one for each month – Be Warm, Be Loving, Be Kind, Be Patient, Be Honest, etc. I used a soft variegated thread for all of the background (King Tut) and did some quilting in the appliques with matching thread (So Fine).  Used Bottom Line in the bobbin and the tension gods were with me as I was able to use the same color on the bottom no matter what color I used on top and no pokies!!

I just finished a lovely Baltimore Album quilt yesterday – it isn’t even off the frame and trimmed up yet.  Here are some pictures of it while I was working on it. I took these with my phone so they may not be the best quality.

The outer border – swirls and feathers

A portion of an applique block – triple “bracket” framing and small background stippling.

Applique middle border with swirl background quilting.

Feathers in the sashing and inner dark green border (hard to see).

While I was at the Beaufort quilt show on Friday I dropped my good camera and I think I may have killed it.  I just got this one last September so I am not happy about this at all.  It turns on and gives me all the menus but nothing shows up in the view finder and it takes black/blank pictures.  I’ve been yearning for a digital SLR so maybe now is the time?

The Baltimore Album is not being delivered to the customer until May 18 so hopefully I will either have the broken camera fixed or a new one (most likely the latter) before then and can get some full shots and some good close ups and will share again then.

If anyone has any camera recommendations (besides don’t drop it) please let me know!

Next up in the quilting line-up for the Prince is a Jacobean Applique that is a collaborative effort between my friend Virginia and myself.  We are entering this in the NQA show in Columbia the latter part of June.  The entry form was mailed out yesterday……so I need to get busy.  Lots of drawing and marking to do before I can load it on the frame.  While I’m doing that I’m going to do some charity quilts on the other (computerized) system and give my neck and shoulders a much deserved rest.