This Quilter's Journey

Other misc stuff I've been working on

2009-09-22T18:59:00.001-07:00

I've been having fun doing some smaller projects........I need to post more frequently....seriously.

hand stitched labrynth

Checkbook cover

Business card case

a little bag

A new stole for Mary

2009-09-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a stole for Deacon Mary for a couple of months. That would actually mean that I've been thinking about working on a stole for Deacon Mary - but not actually work on it much. I used flying geese - a paper pieced method - very time consuming - will use the regularly pieced method next time. In any case, the end result is excellent. We added beads on the bottom and along the tie that holds the two sides together and they really add a lot to the finished product. Here are a few pics.

Pictures from Long Beach International Quilt Festival

2009-08-04T19:12:00.001-07:00

Long Beach - after the show

2009-08-04T18:35:00.001-07:00

We went to the Long Beach International Quilt Show the 25th. We had such a wonderful time. We took two classes and did the Saturday night sampler. Since we arrived Thursday we were able to walk the Vendor booths on preview night - much less of a crowd than Friday and Saturday. The quilts on display were amazing. I took lots of pictures, but I need to figure out how to link to an online album rather than putting them up individually.

The Long Beach Convention Center - as the show was winding down.
Machine Quilting with Mary Mashuta - sample 1
Sample 2 - such an easy way of machine quilting - I'm so glad we took the class

Accidental Landscapes taught by Karen Eckmeier - this is my class project
This was another excellent class. So much fun.
Janelle - my travel buddy
Long Beach harbor
The lighthouse (remember this you'll see a version of it in my final landscape)
Random pic - we passed 23 trucks filled with tomatoes on the way home....in the heat. How do they ever make it to our stores not crushed and ruined?

More quilt show day

2009-07-22T21:43:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day - colorful quilts, good friends, good music (the Gee's Bend ladies).

Sisters - Quilt Show Day

2009-07-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Quilt Show Day. My batteries died (bad planning on my part), so it's only a few.

Friday at Sisters

2009-07-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely day today. We went to Camp Sherman for the Pine Needlers Quilt Show in the morning, then Katie and I headed off to Bend to look at sewing machines - on sale. We had a great time looking at things. Then on the way back we stopped at Twigs and the Stitching Post and picked out some wonderful gifts for Angie for her birthday.

Katie took some pictures at the Gee's Bend presentation last night, as well as some pictures from the Camp Sherman show today which I will put up at a later date.

Katie at Camp Sherman

Katie and I - trying to take our own picture
This was the best of the lot.

The musicians (in the background) at Camp Sherman

A few quilts from the Camp Sherman show.

Then back to Rosemary's where Katie did some sewing on her new Janome and I cut out fabric and provided support. Then it was Pizza from Papa Andreas in Sisters and now, a lovely piece of chocolate cake from the lodge.

It's been a great week and I can't believe the time is nearly over. We'll head in for breakfast at Angelina's Bakery in the morning, spend a couple of hours at the quilt show, meet up for lunch - somewhere, and then it's in the car and on the road for both Katie and I - heading in opposite directions.

Can't wait for next year.

How can it be Thursday already/

2009-07-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

I started the week with a class: Collaged Journal Covers with Kathy Shaker. It was a great class where she taught us many new techniques - and a few I've already done. The journal turned out really well. It's amazing how much you can add to a piece of cloth and what it does to the finished product.

The camera just doesn't capture the color well at all, but you get the idea.

Here's a shot of all the painted fabric from the class - outside drying

Tuesday I took my car into Sisters to get the check engine light fixed. Luckily it was simple and cheap to get fixed. Then I headed over to the Llama Farm to look at their wool. Oh my was that fun. Here are some pictures from there.

I just thought this one was so darn cute.

Sunday - July 5th

2009-07-05T20:29:00.001-07:00

Another lovely day. It was great to have gotten so far yesterday as I was only 40 miles from Bend with another 20 from there to Sisters. I managed to fill the morning and early afternoon with visits to BJ's and Sew Many Quilts in Bend. The once I got to Sisters I checked in at the Stitchin Post to get my tote bag and goodies for the week. The only traffic I hit was heading in to Sisters. It is just one main road through town at 20 miles per hour, but it was really slow. It allowed me to take some great pictures though.

This is one of my favorite spots, with the "flat horses" in the foreground and the mountains in the back - gorgeous!!

The mountains - lots of snow still on the tops.

Pat, Rosemary and Merry Lee - my house mates for the first part of the week.

With all that's going on in the "real" world, it is a real treat to be here, staying at Black Butte Ranch and relaxing with friends. I have class tomorrow that should be a lot of fun, then the rest of the week nothing planned but hanging out at the house and quilting. A little bit of heaven on earth!!

Oregon or bust - July 4th

2009-07-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

I made the drive to Sisters in record time (especially since I was on my own with no help driving). I left home around 9 on Saturday and arrived in Crescent OR at 4:30. The weather was beautiful and traffic was not bad at all considering it was July 4th.

Mt. Shasta

Welcome to Oregon

I had planned to stay in Klamath Falls, but arrived so early that it made more sense to continue on. I'm glad I did. I stayed at the Woodsman Lodge, like last year. Such a nice place, wonderful folks who run it, and a great value. I had dinner at the place with all the taxidermied animals. Not nearly as overwhelming on second sight. All in all a great day.

On the road....

2009-07-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

I head out tomorrow for Sisters, OR and the wonderful Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. I'm taking a class on Monday which should be fun. I'm hoping to keep this updated with pictures and commentary from my week away.

new quilts

2009-06-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

I seem to be in a blitz of sewing. I took three quilts to be quilted, finished two others, put the binding on one, finished a "sweet treat" from the shop in Davis and used the leftovers to make a fabric folder from a tutorial on the C&T publishing blog.

Here's the "Sweet Treat" quilt. I really have to figure out a better way to get pictures of the things I do. These aren't the best, but it gives you an idea.

Here's the inside of the folder (in pieces - needs to be finished):

And here's the outside:

I don't know what I'd do if I didn't quilt.......

Napa

2009-05-24T21:41:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I took my monthly trip to Napa for the Napa Valley Quilt Guild Meeting. Luckily I had my camera with me and caught these pictures.

A birthday present

2009-05-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

I never found the cord to download pictures from my camera, but I did purchase a thingy that I can put the memory card in and download pictures. Hooray!

This is # 3 daughter's birthday present. The second picture is a closeup of the stitching.
More pictures on the way.

Now it's really been awhile.

2009-04-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back in my sewing room and have finished a couple of things. I've been waiting for some sunshine to be able to take some pictures.

it's been awhile.....

2009-02-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've posted. Work has been hectic and I haven't felt much like getting in to the sewing room. I'm hoping things will be calmer this week and I'll have some things to share.

New Header

2009-02-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

Look what my geek daughter did!! I love the font she found for the header. Yeah Katie!! She wants to do some more work, so there will be more changes to come.

Another bag

2009-02-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

I finished Mary's deacon stole Friday night, just in time for her to use it this Sunday. I don't have a picture of it yet as I was in a bit of a rush to give it to her, so hopefully we'll have pictures by next weekend.

Meantime, I used the leftover bits and pieces to make myself a little lunch bag. I love how it turned out.

Birdie Sling

2009-02-08T21:04:00.000-08:00

Birdie Sling - Amy Butler Pattern

I went over to Janelle's today and she helped me put this together. I can follow quilting patters, but sewing patterns, not so much. All in all I'm happy with the results.

Note to self

2009-01-30T07:59:00.000-08:00

It is not a good idea to edit pictures and blog while your breakfast is cooking. My hasbrown ended up pretty darn crispy......

Mary's Deacon Stole part 3

2009-01-30T07:44:00.000-08:00

The angle on this thing is going to kill me. I have another of Mary's stoles to use as a pattern and I've still taken this apart twice and will need to do it just one more time at the join in the middle. Frustrating, but...the end result will be worth it.

Journal Quilt #4 - a little late

2009-01-30T07:33:00.000-08:00

A Little Darkness - much light
stamped, apliqued

Here's what the writing says
Friends are angels who lift us up to our feet when our spirit has trouble reembering how to fly

I like this one - finally. One of the things I am trying to do with this is only use scraps in my scrap box. I may not always be able to because it doesn't have that many larger pieces in it, but that's part of the challenge.

Mary's Deacon Stole part 2

2009-01-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

Mary's hoping this will be done by the 14th of February. I'm thinking the chances are good. Here's a small sample.

5" square quilt

2009-01-28T15:26:00.001-08:00

I picked up two sets of 5" squares that just happened to go together beautifully. I was a little short to do the size I wanted, so i added the inside panel and will do some kind of applique in there. It's not my usual type of fabric choice, so it may sit awhile till I figure out what belongs in there.

Journal quilt #3

2009-01-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

Sunshine
painted fusible web, machine quilted

My camera battery died and I've spent a while searching for my charger. Someday I really need to get organized!!

Mary's Deacon Stole

2009-01-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

Here's the fabric Mary choose for her green stole. I've been look at pattern options - I'm looking forward to working on this this weekend.

Michael's Stole

2009-01-19T21:22:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely day off today and spent some time in the sewing room and finally finished Michael's stole.

Here's a close up of the dove, the cross and the flames

Journal # 2

2009-01-12T19:13:00.001-08:00

Life is for living
painted fusible web, stamped, quilted.

This one was good - till I went overboard with the embellishment - but it is what it is. Next time I'll do more of the embellishing of the base fabric before applying the other elements.

Cat in the Studio

2009-01-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

This is Gideon, the fat black cat. Poor guy, to get stuck with such a descriptor... His favorite spots to hang out include piles of quilts, in my scrap basket, or under the comforter on my bed. He's a funny guy and loves to walk over and sit on what I'm sewing (as it goes through the machine). I don't know what I'd do without him.

French Braids - almost finished

2009-01-10T23:05:00.001-08:00

How exciting to get to this point. The colors don't look quite the same in this pictures - the blues are really purples, but I do like how it looks. I need to find the book for this pattern so I can figure out how to cut the edges off (right now they are layered over one another to see how it will look when it's done. So I'm off to the library tomorrow. I will need to figure out what to use for the quarter square triangles at the top - obviously, something dark to go with the purple. Then it's a question of whether to sew them directly together or do a strip of some kind between each of the long rows. That's the fun of quilting!!

New Years Eve Class - progress

2009-01-03T21:47:00.000-08:00

On New Years Eve, Julie and I went to Cornerstone Quilts in Fairfield, CA for an overnight class/sew in. I decided to try the french braid class. All good and well, but we had signed up late and I didn't get the supply list so I came with a set of batiks and another grouping of fat quarters. Luckily the pattern called for fat quarters (although, as I found out - you had to cut very specifically or get another fat quarter [I think I did that 3 or 4 times!!!]. Several of the gals helped me with fabric selection. One in particular was absolutely excellent at it.

It wasn't one of my best nights: the sewing machine I brought had issues, I had cutting issues, I was tired from all the holiday hoopla....excuses, excuses. I was able to get most of my cutting done, but when my machine failed at midnight I decided to give it up. I had booked a room at a local hotel so I didn't need to worry about being on the road after midnight - which was a great idea. We stayed till about 12:30 and were the first to leave.

There was food, giveaways (thanks to the P&B Textiles rep) and lots of fabric to fawn over. Many thanks to the owners and staff at the shop.

The picture above is where I am on the french braid quilt. I have another 6 braids to add for the full 12 color run, then I'll do it again for the second run. I think it's going to be a gorgeous quilt when it's done.

Journal quilt #1

2009-01-03T21:42:00.000-08:00

Hope is another four letter word
dupioni silk, beading, leaves, trim

This is my first attempt at journal quilting. I did a small drawing first and the thing I wanted to convey was hope - for the new year, for life in general, etc. Then I found a stamp that said "Be Merry" and though that Be Hope was offering more of a challenge to myself. I'm still thinking maybe it should say be hopeful - but for now it is what it is. 1 of 52 - we'll see how far I get with this.

Pink Penguin: Tutorial: Fabric Basket

2008-12-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

Pink Penguin: Tutorial: Fabric Basket

I'm not sure if I linked correctly last time, so hopefully this willbe correct.

fabric basket

2008-12-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

I saw a really cute fabric basket on another blog: Pink Penguin and decided it might be fun to give it a try. Here's the result:

The directions were easy to follow and I finished it in a little over an hour.

Christmas Gifts

2008-12-28T20:34:00.000-08:00

Table Runner

Christmas Pillowcase

I haven't posted in a bit. I took a break from quilting for a week or so after the ordination. Then I had a lot of work to do for Christmas gifts which included 3 knitted scarves, 5 pillow cases, 1 notebook cover, a table runner and 4 placemats and 12 fabric coffee clutches (you know - those paper cuffs you put on your coffee shop coffee cups so you don't burn your hands).

Every year I say I'm going to work on Christmas gifts earlier - like October - and every year I'm working on things till the night before Christmas (or in this case - a couple of days after). I didn't get pictures of some of the things I made, but the pillow case and the table runner are above.

2008-12-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

Today was the big day. Michael was ordained a priest. Mary was ordained a deacon. It was a fabulous event at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

While we were in the city I stopped by Britex to see if I could get another yard of the silk I used to line the chausible. The bad news...there was none left. The good news - they had this gorgeous gold silk with butterflies that I picked up in the remnant department. I see another stole coming out of this purchase.

Congratulations Michael and Mary!

2008-12-01T20:47:00.000-08:00

This is how the images will be offset.

2008-12-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

Here are the two images that will be on the stole, the dove and the cross (copied from the book of common prayer).

Finished

2008-11-30T21:48:00.000-08:00

I used the orange silk from the lining to create a binding around the collar so that all the edges are finished and the part that kept wanting to ravel is now captured inside. I'm happy with the final product. I can't wait for Michael to come back on Wednesday so he can see it in person.

One more

2008-11-29T21:48:00.001-08:00

another view

2008-11-29T21:46:00.001-08:00

A little closer

2008-11-29T21:43:00.000-08:00

Here you go Michael - it's together and pressed. The only thing remaining to do is fix the collar area - I think with some of the gold, then do any beading I may have time to do. It's pretty darned exciting.

The Long View

2008-11-29T16:22:00.000-08:00

Coming Together

2008-11-29T16:09:00.001-08:00

All that's left to do is sew the lining to the main body of the chausible and it's done!!!!! Of course, there's always beading - but it will be wonderful to have all the pieces together.

Almost there..........

Picture of the dove

2008-11-28T22:55:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the Dove. I could not add it to the last post for some reason.

Just one week to ordination -- I can't believe how quickly the time has flown since we started talking about this.

Moving on to the end

2008-11-28T22:45:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of days I have been sewing on the appliques. I am happy to say that they are all on, sewn and done. What I can't decide is if that is enough definition around the pieces or if I should do more to make them stand out.

I will be taking everything to church tomorrow to finish cutting out the lining. It's just easier to have a couple of large tables together so the fabric isn't on the floor. I'm hoping to get some other opinions from Joyce and Pam and some of the altar guild folks. Yeah for other opinions!!!!

testing......

2008-11-25T07:32:00.001-08:00

Tonight I reset all the applique pieces so that they are evenly placed on both sides. I am satisfied now that it is all set properly. Tonight or tomorrow I will be able to iron on the appliques then I'm on to sewing them down.

and that brings me to testing. I fused the different colors of silk onto the deep red silk that the chausible, then I tested a couple of different stitches and thread colors. Unfortunately the colors don't show up as well as I'd like in terms of a photo, but I have settled on the stitch and which colors of thread go with the different colors of silk on the applique. Hooray

Sunday - PROGRESS!!

2008-11-23T21:51:00.001-08:00

I made quite a bit of progress this evening

There are a couple of pieces missing that need to be remade. Other than that the big question is - are the pieces lined up and correctly spaced. I'm leaving it up on my design wall and will take a look with a fresh eye tomorrow after work.

Cutting out the fabric

2008-11-22T19:21:00.000-08:00

I have put this off for as long as I can. Today I finally - FINALLY - cut out the fabric for the chausible itself. I don't know why it seemed like it was going to be so difficult - but in the end it was a piece of cake. I cut out the outer part and the lining in less than 30 minutes.

It's funny how we psych ourselves out about things.

I'll have lots of scraps to play with for later creations - pretty exciting!

The design

2008-11-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

I did a charcoal rubbing of the window, then translated it to tracing paper. From there I laid the design on a chausible and made the changes necessary to effect the curve of the chausible. I used the "cartoon" of the window to trace the pieces onto fusible web. From there I put the fusible web on the dupioni silk and cut out the pieces that will make up the stained glass effect.

This doesn't look like much on the white background - but will look great on the wine red dupioni silk that we are using for the chausible.

the beginning

2008-11-22T18:55:00.001-08:00

About a year and a half ago I offered to make a chausible for a friend of mine who was studying for ordination to the priesthood at CDSP. At the time we started this project we didn't know for sure what the due date would be. Happily for Michael, the date has now been assigned and he will be ordained December 6, 2008 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

Over the intervening time, we have talked symbolism, drawn pictures of designs, chose fabrics and finalized a design for the chausible.

The design started with a stained glass window at St Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Concord, CA.