Saturday, October 6, 2012

Flimsy Finish

I finished the disappearing nine patch, made from the fabric i picked up at the International Quilt Festival in Ireland. I'm happy with how it turned out.



Its definitely a happy quilt!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Fabric shopping

Doris and I took a trip to New Pieces in berkeley http://www.newpieces.com/index.php.
To see the fabric being sold from the collection of Jonathon Shannon. My goodness there was a lot of fabric and I had a great time looking. There were batiks, solids, hand dyed and wovens, along with some japanese silks. I picked up a few lovely solids allong with some sky fabric.


Mickey Lawler sky dye


Solids, a marbled hand dye and one of those sky like fabrics.

Not sure what the plan is for these, but i have been collecting solids for awhile now, so I'm sure I'll think of something.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Getting ready for Christmas...or thinking about it

When I was in Ireland for the International Quilt Festival, I saw this cute ornament at the Christmas display in one of the local churches.


Cutest thing ever, right? Well, i thought i would give it a try today and this is what i came up with


Easy to do, just make a half circle and fold as above. I just need to get the little jingle bells to put on the ornaments. I made a stop at The Cotton Patch today in Lafayette and picked up a nice selection of christmas fabrics to use for this little project. I certainly have a jump on the season this year!!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Birthday banner finish

I was able to finish the birthday banner i plan to take to work. I hand sewed the binding around each letter. It took a bit of time, but it really makes it look nice. Now that i have the walking foot on my sewing machine, maybe i can get some bindings on some of my other finished quilts. I have a few waiting in line.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Sisters week 2012

I arrived wednesday around 4 . The drive seemed inordinately long this time for some reason. It was, as always, so good to arrive at Rosemary's at Black Butte Ranch. The place just exudes peacefulness. The Medford ladies arrived just a little before me, so there were lots of hugs. It is just like coming home!

Thursday i took a class called "billboard quilts" from Elizabeth Hartman, Author of Modern Patchwork. Elizabeth blogs at ohfransson.com. We were really lucky to have a small class which meant lots of individual attention. My project is to use the lettering technique to create some banners for church. I got a good start and Elizabeth drafted out the pattern I came up with complete with fabric requirements and measurements. It was such a great class! Elizabeth had lots of tips and tricks, and a great eye for color and design. I got the f and a done for the faith banner.


I still have to figure out what fabric the letters will be on. Elizabeth suggested a linen cotton blend, or a cream colored solid cotton or maybe a silk blend. Lots of options. I think I'll look for fabric at Stone Moumtain and Daughter in Berkeley unless something just pops up at me when I'm in Bend today.

The ladies went off for another class todsy, so I had a chance to sleep in and have a slower start to the day, which is nice after sll the busyness of the last few weeks. I brought the fabric up that I purchased in Ireland so I cut it into five inch squares to use in a disappearing nine patch.


...so much fun color huh?

Katie is on her way over from Portland. She and I will do some running sround in Bend, then head back to Sisters to stake out our spot in the line to get into the Picnic in the Park. Tomorrow is Quilt Show Day - ALREADY!

More tomorrow.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

More sewing

I bought this great elephant fabric to make something for Meg, who loves elephants (altho, she may be getting tired of the things I've sent her way). Anyway, after I finished the placemats there was fabric leftover, so i made a bag. Since she's an urban dweller with no car, bags for carrying groceries are always helpful.

Birthday banner

I've been wanting to do some kind of birthday banner to use at work for a long time. I finally found a pattern I like when I was at the International Quild Festival in Ireland. I've sewn the binding down on two by hand, but now I 'm wondering if fusible wouldnt work just as well. 15 letters could take a lot of time for something people won't see when it's hung up. I will ponder

It is going to be really cute, I think.

Knitting finish

This cowl has been on my knitting needles for far to long. It is finally DONE! I love the yarn. It was purchased when i was in DC to visit Meg in March. This one I get to keep.

Next yarn up for knitting is the green tweed I bought in Ireland.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Sewing again

After a week of work and dealing with jet lag (which I fear is not over yet), i am back at the sewing machine. I started with some simple placemats for my elephant loving youngest daughter. Beyond those i have so many ideas floating around in my head i have no idea what I'll do next, but i surely have some fun fabric to work with

The placemats


Here is the fabric i got from Ireland - the prints. Ive added some solids from my stash. Im thinking of doing the nine patch block where you cut them off center and mis and match. I've seen it on one of the blogs i read so I'll have to go looking.


This is a set of lorax material along with a panel. I can think of a little red headed girl who might like this.


And this is some christmas fabric I just got on sale. I don't really have a christmas quilt, so with a little perserverance i hope to have this done for this christmas. We'll see how i do.

Certainly no lack of options or inspiration. I also have the pattern i created in my class at the quilt festival in Ireland. Can't wait.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Coming home

Well, the time has come to head home. Its been eleven wonderful days seeing beautiful scenery, attending the First International Quilt Festival of Ireland, hearing loads of traditional irish music and seeing world class dancers, eating delicious food, and meeting new people. Memories for a lifetime.



I took a class from Nicky Foley on designing from the book of kells. I left the class with a pattern i created. Now i just need to execute on it.



This is my favorite picture of the Irish countryside. I would love to do a landscape quilt using this as inspiration.



We got to see Blarney Castle. Gorgeous grounds!



I took so many pictures of streams and rivers....


And stone walls....


And 1000 year old atructures



And ocean views



And wildlife....



And ancient landscapes



Here is another i would love to make into a quilt....

Thanks for coming along on the adventure.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Friday-Dublin and our farewell dinner

Dublin tour today. Our driver Will is great. He has so much information to share I don't know how he remembers everything. He's been great the whole trip and has arranged some special things for us, so we were lucky to get him. Luana Rubin, owner and boss at Equilter.com has been our host for the trip. She's been so kind to all of us, making sure everything was just right. Again, she helped make the trip special. I can't wait to see the pictures she has taken when she posts them on her blog. She is quite the photographer along with all her other talents!

Dublin was surprising to me, I think because there were a lot of people and a lot of traffic. I guess I've been spoiled by 10 days of being driven all over the countryside. Dublin reminds me in some ways of San Francisco - without the tall buildings. I love the pedestrian walkways through the shopping areas that we've encountered both in Galway and here. How nice to walk around without concern for cars and bikes .

We started with a driving tour of the city. Then we went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. I took a class at the international quilt festival on making quilt patterns from designs found in the book of Kells, so it was exciting to see actual pages from this ancient text. We were also allowed to walk through the long room, which is the oldest part of the library at the college, where other rare, old books are on display. Amazing to think that some of the books there were over 300 years or more old.

After the tour Janelle and I took off to explore the city. We saw a couple of Anglican churches and walked around the outside areas of Dublin Castle. We then tried to work our way back to a pub suggested by Will, however, after a long walk we gave up and chose another pub for our lunch. Food was great and we toasted Janelle's 32nd wedding anniversary.

We came back for our farewell dinner with the tour group. It was here at Druids Glen. Food was fabulous!

So now we are packed and ready to go. We leave the hotel at 7 am for a 10:45 flight. I'm definitely sleeping on the plane!!

Here are a few pictures. When I get home and have my computer I'll go through and edit these entries and organize the photos better with some commentary.
Literary Walk
Put in Dublin
Oscar Wilde Statue in the park
A little blurry (taken as we were driving) - the color doors of Dublin
Literary Walk
A view of the River - Dublin
Another colorful door
and another
crazy modern sculpture on Trinity College grounds, Dublin
Pedestrian Mall
Deer in one of the parks in Dublin
Another literary great
Entrance to Trinity College
St Patricks Cathedral - Dublin
Another Door

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Wednesday-Avoca

Avoca is close to the place where the larger and smaller Avoca rivers meet. This is where Thomas Moore wrote the following lovely poem

The Meeting of the Waters
Thomas Moore (1779–1852)

THERE is not in the wide world a valley so sweet
As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet;
Oh! the last rays of feeling and life must depart,
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.

Yet it was not that nature had shed o’er the scene
Her purest of crystal and brightest of green;
’Twas not her soft magic of streamlet or hill,
Oh! no—it was something more exquisite still.

’Twas that friends, the beloved of my bosom, were near,
Who made every dear scene of enchantment more dear,
And who felt how the best charms of nature improve,
When we see them reflected from looks that we love.

Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest
In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best,
Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease,
And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace.

Our tour guide quoted the first line or two so I went to google and found the whole poem.

Anyway, Avoca is the town were the BBC show Ballykissangel was filmed. I know I've seen an episode or two, but now I have to catch the whole series on Netflix when I get home.

Our reason for going to Avoca was to tour Avoca hand weavers and have lunch at their cafeteria. I was amazed at the color on display both in the reception area where the tour director met us and as we walked through their yarn storage area. I felt like a kid in a candy shop. It was interesting to here the history of the company and see all the things they have diversified into since new owners took over in the '80s

From there it was a delicious lunch of spinach and Brie quiche and a to die for chocolate cake. Major splurge, but worth every calorie.

We ended the day at an irish pub for a meal and a show of traditional Irish music and dance.

One more day and we'll be heading home. Tomorrow it's a day in Dublin followed by our farewell dinner.
Town of Avoca - Fitzgerald's pub - which figured heavily in the Ballykissangel tv show
Oh the fibers they weave - awesome colors everywhere
Just love all the colors
At Avoca Handweavers - more color fun
And more yarn used in the weaving
The building
more color
Some of the blankets they weave
A simply perfect rose
Colors to dye for.....
More yarn
The person who led our tour at Avoca - she's worked there 18 years
more blankets