Hooray for Saturday!
I took today just for me! I walked the dog a couple of times with my friend (which I still consider time for me), but that was all! Hubby was sweet and made our lunch and a delicious dinner. It was a nice quiet day with me at the sewing machine, and he reading the last of his book.
Why did I want this time today? Well, I worked 53 hours and drove 886 miles in 6 days! For those of you who don't know, I merchandise flowers at three different SuperTarget stores. I love my part time job, except at the end of these big holidays. I am just soooo tired! Out of 6,000 bouquets and vased products, there were only about 2 dozen (total) left at all three of my stores the next morning. I would say it was a successful event! 

I've heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. Following are my two thousand words about what I sewed today:

Under the needle

The finished project

This was fun, but if you plan on using your selvages in this manner, make sure you load a LOT of bobbins before you begin.  I used 8 bobbins total....but since it was old thread that I don't like to use for my quilting, I am a happy camper to upcycle all this trash treasure!  I still have some selvage left and I have a plan.  Watch out! I'll be bob-bob-bobbin along over the next few days, getting ready for the next project!

Fun, fun!

After I read the book in my last post, I have been itching to paint, fuse and play in my strewdio. I let all the ideas in my head simmer, and I finally decided I would play with some of the ideas that the book led me to.

All of this involved some paint, some fusible web, some sample stretch velvet scraps, some chiffon pieces and other various and sundry scraps gifted me a couple of weeks ago. Sue W, do any of these look familiar? LOL! I TOLD you I would pass them on to someone find a use for them, didn't I?

Painted fusible web, fused velvets and chiffons

At any rate, if this turns out the way I think it might, there will be more fusing, more painting, and more thread play in the next few weeks,  

I wanted to take the time to play now when I had a few hours, since my next week will be jam packed full with flowers to merchandise at three different stores. I might not be in this space on Sunday, so I thought I would post now, in keeping with my new resolve to post at least once a week again!

Check back for the next steps!

Super Week

I've had a marvelous week, even though it's been cold, then in the 70's then cold again. That's winter in the Midwest, for sure! I haven't been able to ride my bike or start my C25K (Couch to 5K) program outside, but I have been working inside a little bit.

The two ongoing scrap projects I've been working on continue to excite me! I received my exchange blocks from Bobbi and Deck the other day! And they are as different from mine as they could be! If you have ever hesitated about participating in a block swap, hesitate no more! Get out there and do it! Just look at these beauties!

Aren't they wonderful?

Many of you know that I also am an avid reader.  I belong to goodreads.com, and track my books there as well as share my reviews with others.  And of course, I get reviews from the people I follow so I can possibly make good choices for my reading materials.  Recently, I became a member of Net Galley, and I was able to recently read a galley copy of a new surface design book in exchange for a review on my blog.  The book is Fabric Surface Design: Painting, Stamping, Rubbing, Stenciling, Silk Screening, Resists, Image Transfer, Marbling, Crayons & Colored Pencils, Batik, Nature Prints, Monotype Printing, by Cheryl Rezendes.  Whew!  What a mouthful!  It will be available for purchase next month.

It is a most wonderful book!  I truly think the title didn't really need to say all that, but all in all, I would buy this book in a heartbeat!  The photographs are beautiful, and the explanations are very clear and informative.  There is even a section on how to use the book to your best advantage.  Sections on the fundamentals of setting up your workspace, organization, and equipment not only make suggestions but tell you why you need this.

Then there are the section on how to explore the media with a great tutorial on comparing textile paints.  Selecting fabrics to work with, and how to prepare it for paint (stretching or flat), and then all the different methods of painting are reviewed.  While there is not exactly a direct tutorial that you follow for each section, I was dying to get into the paint pots and stretch a piece of fabric on a stretcher frame, and try all the different methods the author shared, both in writing and in pictures.  

And it doesn't stop there, either!  The author goes on to explain how to add texture,  and then goes even further to explain surface design techniques.  There is a chapter on how to make your own stamps from different media.  Stenciling techniques, nature printing, printing with plants, and many other types of prints are explained and shown for the reader.  Interspersed with the chapters are full size pages of other artists and their work, and the types of surface design.

Beautifully illustrated, clearly written and basic instructions along with "exploration of possibilities) are the best reasons I have to recommend this book to you if you've ever thought about playing around with surface design.  Get it!

I will have another review of an e-book from Fons and Porter on Log Cabin quilts later in the week, so check back then.  

Another week

It's been really cold here, with periods of sunshine. We are still way below the amount of rainfall that we need. It is supposed to rain a little bit tonight and tomorrow, but I don't think it will be enough to matter much. I am getting a bit weary of the cold, but that is winter in the Midwest!
Not much new here this week. I've worked a little bit, played a little bit and sewn a little bit. We also have a visitor here from France, who we have been entertaining. Flat Clementine is the sister of Celestine, the daughter of my 1987/88 foreign exchange student/daughter, Helene. She went to work with me and then to a friends house to play. I am hoping to be able to get her out to the Lewis and Clark trail, the Santa Fe Trail and Stagecoach stop in Olathe, KS, and to Westport Landing where part of the Civil War was fought. That's just a few places I have in store - if the weather cooperates!
I've been working on some Japanese X blocks to exchange with some friends. They really are a good scrap buster, easy to make and fun to see the random results.

Japanese X blocks

Another good scrap buster are the pineapple blocks.  They just seem to keep coming.  I love them, and I don't think I will ever run out of scraps for these blocks!

Trash to Treasure Pineapple blocks

This is my last tub of scraps to "process". I never thought I'd see this day! LOL!

Tub o'scraps 

Organized strips/squares

This is the scrap strips/squares new condo. They live under my big board ironing station (which sits on top of a thrift store sofa table). I dismantled three children's sliding drawer plastic bins and replaced the drawers with my own baskets. I have found that if I can see in the basket or tub more easily, I am more apt to use them.  
Just in case you were worried, I still have the equivalent of three more of the big tubs, all "processed" and put away in their appropriate tubs. I don't think I will run out anytime soon!

An almost perfect week

Before I get too far into this year, I need to start with the end of last year first!  And don't forget, you can always double click any photo to enlarge it if you'd like.

Ibby, Shirlee, Quiltgranny, Carol and Vicky (seated) 
Christmas-2012

Yes, the gal pals are still together after all these years, and we had a rollicking good time with food, games and gifts at Carol's home for the holidays.  We just got together again at my house this past weekend to test out the new stewdio space.  As always, it was a lot of fun with laughs and lunch and a lot of sewing.  We've decided to take a break from our birthday quilts this year and work on our own projects instead.  Watch out longarmers in the KC area!  Lots of UFOs are going to be coming your way!

Hard at work!

Even Mayo is looking for her UFO!

We had a scare the other day with Clyde, our 13 year old cat, brother to Bonnie. He is generally a mellow, happy go lucky guy and doesn't get into much trouble. Around bedtime, he started crying and wailing. It went on all night, and all he wanted was to be held. It was a LONG night! After an afternoon long visit to our vet, we discovered he has kidney stones. Not unheard of for a cat, but not as common as bladder stones. Nothing to be done for him except a change in diet, lots of fluid (how do you get a cat to do anything he doesn't want to do?) and some pain meds for the next 10 days.

This is Himself just 12 hours after beginning his pain meds. 

But of course, there was a wool/leather combo he just had to check out! All 13 lbs of him!

I don't have any pictures of what everyone was working on, but I do have some show and tell that they brought.  The first one is Carol's umpteenth rendition of a baby quilt for her soon-to-arrive second grandchild, Claire.  We all agreed that we love this one!

Claire's Zigzags

Shirlee shared her birds with us for the first time.  She had a tough year last year with chemo and radiation treatments, but her applique kept her busy.  She also worked on some Kim McLean flowers that are just out of this world, too, but I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE want to steal these birds!  They are from a Barbara Brackman pattern (which is traditionally more civil war era colors), but Shirlee sure knows how to choose the fabrics to make them sing, doesn't she!

I worked on a swap that I am doing with some new/old friends.  The Japanese X block is quite fun to make, especially with using my scraps that I just recently sorted.    Five blocks down, 100s a few to go......

When everyone left, and it was such a beautiful day here, I decided there was no time like the present to give my Christmas present from Hubby an inaugural ride.  Isn't it great?

Look both ways!

My new ladybug helmet

The last trip I made down our street was with Mayo, the Wonder Dog in the basket. I wasn't too sure how this would work out since she usually likes to charge bicycle wheels instead of riding over them, but she just sat ever so quietly and rode. I need to get a quilted basket liner made, a handlebar basket made, and find Mayo's harness so she ride safely in the back. I wouldn't want to risk her jumping out right in the lanes of traffic!

Mayo the Wonder Dog and Quiltgranny, rockin' and rollin'!

It's supposed to get really cold again for the next few days/weeks.  I'm so glad we got to go out and play.  As a matter of fact, I'm so happy I got to play ALL day with my friends and my toys!  See you next week!

She's ALIVE!!!

Where oh where is Quiltgranny?

 
This "disappearing act" seems to have been a regular thing with me for the last 6 months or so, but I can assure you I have my feet back under me now, and the wind in my sails!
I could tell you that I've been sick (which I have), I could tell you that the family has been sick (which they have), or I could tell you that the dog ate my homework (which I don't think happened).  
    Mostly, I have to admit a certain kind of ennui, a kind that I can't quite put my finger on, but I am in a better frame of mind today and so too, last week. The definition of ennui is weary or bored. Bored, I am not, but weary I am. I don't know about you, I am weary of the senseless killing across the nation and the world; the movies filled with hate, blood and guts; and the overall negative tone and spirit of non-compromise in our political world. I am weary of the ads on television for cars I don't want, for medicines I will never use, and all the sports anyone could ever care to watch hour after hour.

     I was also weary of getting ready for the holiday, and then getting it all undone and put away.  Nothing seemed to be easy this past year.  And all I wanted for Christmas was an "easy button"!  LOL!  I didn't get it, though.

     ENOUGH of all that, I said!!!!  I just want to sew!  And like Rodney King said, "Can't we all just get along?"

     So with that said, my New Year will be filled with positive views and I will turn away from the negative. 

     So really, what has  Quiltgranny been doing besides whining (internally)?

     Well first, I took myself to a local retreat with some girlfriends the first week of December.  I thought that would be a nice break from the craziness, and it was!  It just wasn't long enough or far enough away, even though my car looks like I am packed for a month!  LOL!  

Retreat HO!

Ibby and her Christmas Ornaments

I liked Ibbys's ornaments so I much, I made some to make covers for binders.

These were a Christmas present for Phyllis, my neighbor.

I also have fallen in love with Gyleen Fitzgerald's Trash to Treasure Pineapple ruler.  It's like eating peanuts, you can't stop with just one! I have about 30 of them done now.

Nancy's Olivia.  I love the Snail's Trail blocks!

Tina with a finished Snail's Trail - I love the borders!

     I still have been working on the "stewdio" space.  I've had a couple of small groups over, and so some areas have been tweaked.  As soon as I download more pictures, I'll get an updated view.  I am loving working in my space now.  My friend Sue W. sent me a nice email telling me how I've inspired her to work on her space too.  So, I will keep sharing the news on the "stewdio" too in the coming weeks and months.
     Right now, I am working on Japanese X blocks.  These are part of a swap that I was lucky enough to arrange with some friends who have already completed the first leg of a swap with others.  Apparently I missed their initial arrangements, but lucky for me, they still needed/wanted a few more of them.  Last night, I got all the parts together, and tonight I am going to sew some before and maybe after Downton Abbey.  I love their scrappiness!  The tutorial is here, if you want to make some of your own.

This one is from Gone Aussie Quilting

     My guild has a lot of projects coming up this year, and as soon as I can get a handle on which ones I want to do, I will start sharing those with you too.  In the meantime, stay happy, healthy, warm and stitching!

Mayo the Wonder Dog is a great snuggler under a flannel rag quilt!

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, since I returned from Michigan, I've been to the Des Moines IA Quilt Show, and helped with our local guild's quilt show and kept working on my flower job AND getting my stewdio all ready.  Along with the normal craziness, there you have it!

Since this will be a short post (I can't keep waiting until I have the time to write everything I want), I will post the pictures of my new stewdio space now.  The Amazing Quilt Babes will be here tomorrow morning to break it in, so to speak.  I am pretty pleased with how it's turned out, and I hope I don't have much more moving around to get things in just the right place.  You can double click the pictures to see them larger, too.

This is the entire view from across the room (without the design wall on the right side)

Design Wall side beside my "faux" door 

Closer view on the east side

Behind the "guest work table" are all my sorted fabric bins

Closer view of my sewing table and big board
 my personal cutting table is behind the sewing machine by the window 

I went to a local furniture consignment store to see if they would take my HUGE glass tables from the big house.  What did I find?  The guest work table for a pretty price AND they delivered it for me too!  Kewl Beans!

My favorite painted chest, and my board o'ribbons and junk
I store my larger hoops and infrequently used tools in the chest

I was able to mostly cover the circuit breaker box with little quilts.
The pegboard stores all my specialty rulers.

This is my personal cutting table.  I found it at a church rummage sale for only $20.00!

I have so many projects that I found while I was sorting, I can hardly wait to get started!  Tomorrow, though will find me sorting those two tubs of scraps (seen in the third picture down).  That way I have all my fabric for another project almost ready to roll!

Have fun, and keep stitching!

Where in the world is QuiltGranny?

Missing in action, you ask? Swallowed by the mounds of fabric? Lost in her stewdio?
No, not at all! I've been off to my annual Beaver Island Quilt Retreat with Gwen Marston and 30 of my closest (once a year) best quilting buddies. We meet in Elk Rapids, MI now, at the White Birch Lodge where Gwen has been hosting this retreat for the last 8 or so years. Before that, and until 9/11, it had always been on Beaver Island, MI. I always go up a couple of days early to explore Michigan, since that part of the country was never in my growing up years. September, right after Labor Day is just marvelous because all the vacationers are gone, but the weather is still generally really nice. And this year, it couldn't have been more glorious!
So, Sunday was my arrival day, and I spent a bit of time getting settled in, buying groceries for the condo, and going to JoAnn's in Traverse City for the bits of things I had forgotten before driving on up to Elk Rapids. Monday morning found my friend, Carol, and I headed even further north to Mackinaw City to catch the ferry for Mackinac Island. It was about an hour and a half drive, but oh!, so pretty!

Carol and Quiltgranny waiting for the ferry.

We took the catamaran because it's a smoother ride they say.

This is the Mackinac Bridge (Mighty Mac), the third longest suspension bridge in the world - it's 5 miles from shoreline to shoreline!

And the wind was in my hair since I had a window seat!

We did the carriage ride around the island which was very informative.

We had a nice break at the butterfly house on the island.

I think they liked my lotion and my hairspray!

It was delightful to see all the different beautiful butterflies here!

This is a view of Lake Huron from one of the highest points on the island.

We did a little shopping on the island, and had a marvelous hamburger at a tiny little 1950's diner, the Chuckwagon. It was served on a pretzel bun which made it even better.

A wonderful garden shop chock full of all kinds of bright, pretty things!

Tuesday found us going to Sutton's Bay for lunch at Martha's, and to visit one of our favorite garden Shops. The drive is always lovely along the shoreline from Elk Rapids to Sutton's Bay. And yes, we stopped at at least one quilt shop along the way!
We had to be back by late afternoon for the start of the retreat. We always gather together and talk about our plans for the week, but this time, there was other news to add. Gwen has been doing this retreat for 29 years this year, and she says she is ready to retire after thirty years next year...sort of like the Detroit auto workers - thirty years and you're out. At any rate, next year will be a transition year, with Gwen still there, but along with Pat Holly and her sister, Sue Nickels. I hope they will keep the "retreat" in our retreat, and I know it will not be the same without Gwen, but, I think it will still be a great time. They might even be able to teach me I might even learn some new things!

     This year's theme was medallion quilts, and the next morning, Gwen shared many quilts with us.  She gets inspiration for them by looking at the parts of quilts in antique quilts, magazines and books.  I took a lot of pictures, but mostly just the parts that interested me.  AND, most of my pictures had other people's parts in them, so they weren't so interesting to share with you:)  This is the one that really intrigues me.  I love the setting triangles around the central medallion.  AND look closely to find an extra border in it that will make it a bit longer than it is wide so it isn't just square as most medallions are.  I kept this quilt in mind as I worked through the week.

Gwen's medallion quilt

Isn't this a clever way to repeat those zebras?  Carol B. just made chunks of fabric for the heads and used a stripe fabric for the legs.  She will use this as a lower border. 

     There were many so quilt tops made this week, but I haven't sorted through the pictures yet to give attribution to them.  I will probably drop a few pictures here and there in the coming posts as soon as I match up who made what.  They were all just spectacular, though!

This is the view right outside my condo door.

Sunset on the lake from my doorway.

Annie from Australia brought treats all the way from home - Tim Tams, Iced VoVos, and Crackers.  Yum, yum!

A string pieced corner triangle and a liberated border, hmmmmmm.  Thanks, Ronnie!

This is the view from where I sat and sewed each day.  This was the last day:(

Have ironing board, will travel, Marge and Carol W.

Thank heavens for tape and newspaper so I didn't have to do the math!

I'm sure you are all waiting with baited breath to see what I accomplished this past week, eh? I'll surprise you - I really DID get something sewn in and amongst all the travel and the chatting and the eating! And I love it. I think I am going to tweak it a bit, and then move on to the next section. You can double click any of these pictures for the larger view. And yes.....it will be another one for MY bed, so I have a ways to go! So, off to sew!