Red and White Treasure

Canada is celebrating its red and whiteness today!  :0  So I thought I'd postpone stripping for a week and show some red and white myself.

I am a big fan of Gwen Marston and early on in my quilting life I was going to make a dozen miniatures to compliment my folk art period.  Unfortunately the folk art period passed before I got very many done. ;^)  This is hand appliqued.  I also tried my sewing machine's hand quilting stitch.  Boy, all that back and forth took a long time to stitch out!  :O

I had made three quilts for my parents but my mum kept talking about a red and white quilt that her mother had made.  I finally figured she wanted one also.  It must have been an Ohio Star and I was not looking forward to making a two colour boring quilt.  :{  I actually used an early EQ program to make sure I wouldn't be doing this twice. ha! If I alternated the colours it looked better to me.  So I proceeded. The blocks are about 9 inches.  And as a nod to my assymetricalism  I put a wee star in the corner.  The backing is a strawberry print, my mum's favourite fruit.  The batting is 100% cotton and I machine quilted it in a plaid pattern to add a bit of Scottish heritage.

I was still into miniatures and couldn't resist making a smaller version for myself. I think these are 6 inch blocks and then the wee guy.  I hadn't quite figured out that miniatures take just as much time as full size quilts.  LOL

They were made as a Christmas present and I called mine Peppermint Star!  A sweet treasure!

I am linking this up to Jenn's Throwback Thursday!

A Memorable Monday

It is self evident that I have lots to do this week and prudence dictates to stay home an do it.  But I am starting out with a road trip.  :\

The grand kiddies, particularly 'that girl' and an elderly lady from church have connected and I've promised a visit.  It also election day in Canada and somehow there seems to be an inner urgency to do the right thing.  So I'd be going out anyway.  This should prove to be a memorable week!

After the thanks

Thanksgiving was a rainy day but it started off in the wee hours with VERY strong winds so the shed rehab took a step backwards.  A little more dampness to add to the day but all is not lost. Just flattened.  Hindsight says it shoulda been secured together better but we had a few other projects to wrap up.  Prairie winds- sometimes I don't appreciate them!

The vitamins are still fueling the ambition.  Tuesday morning I spent time editing a goodly portion of the basement.  I had all kinds of boxes and bags in the veranda to take away.

 Part of the editing is in my accessory shelves and I realized that I've got some purple articles intended for the fall decor so I am changing up the hall.
I have felt a major AHA in my understanding of decorating this year.  I need a 'boring' backdrop so I can let my accessories spread the seasonal bliss.  I think a sisal runner would work.  And homemade pillows!  :)

I gessoed my red flowers and I'm not sure these are finished but I'm pretty excited about them.  I have always wanted our home to reflect us!   BTW, all those drawers are for the Rooster's clutter/stuff!  ;^)

 I need the Rooster to mount the glass fronted cabinet above the small table.  And yes, definitely spiffier pillows!

The ...And Then We Set It On Fire blog  is featuring Kelly Hendrickson and I thing her approach is wonderful and certainly confirms what I've been feeling is a great way for me to mix things up in my journal.  But what if I made a fall wall hanging?   I am trying to find a piece of fibre bark I made but as it is I likely have too much stuff.   I wanna start that next week.

 I need a new lap quilt for the sitting room.  I have a kit of shot fabrics and a tree pattern.  I am hesitant to start a new project with all those UFO projects hanging over my head.  And then there is the series. :O  I can't start till next week so I will think this through as I work on sewing my square in a square series. 

I've been very much motivated as I settle into the Wednesday and Thursday focus for Art 101.  I am back working on my own smash books, sketching and journaling.  woo hoo!

The third Thursday of the month is sketching with the grand kiddies.  With the inclement weather we'll be doing it at their wonderful library.  :)  Thursday is a big day for the kids.  Art, then skating and then choir.  Tires me out, I don't know about them!  :O

Finally I got to try Zoomba!   I luv the music but the moves are gonna be a challenge.  If its okay to fake it till you make it,  I'm gonna poomba till I can zoomba !   Every second week I'm going to zoom around the gym with my energetic workmates!  :)   I may not get out of bed tomorrow though!  ;^)

It was a bit of a short but rushed week.  I'm thankful I got as much accomplished as I did.  :)

A Medium Day

 It took a bit to get to this place but I like it.  The assignment for our studio time was a paint chip.

My mix for the dark navy was kinda off but I wasn't thinking of showing too much.  The palette suggested a woodland floor so I slathered on fibre paste.

We mixed up various earth tones and put shelf liner leaf masks onto the background and splashed away.  I neglected to get  some of the process on camera but ithe spread just was too dark for me so I gessoed everything and began again.  I also twisted up some masking tape for twigs,

The leaf masks are in place and I also used a baby wipe to  lighten things even more.

The leaf shapes are kinda soft but I also stamped some leaves on. I splattered some almost navy drops.  I want to use those leaf masks on a follow up layout.  yum!

I splattered and I stenciled on a word. It bothered me that the navy was almost a no show so I found some paper.  I also added some wee dots of gold Stickles that one can discover as one looks close...  

I did discover that a medium kind of day can lead to discovering something special!!!

Jumping the tracks!

 As a traditional quilter who was slightly bored,  I joined Naptime Quilter's quilt Along for a modern  version of a rail fence.  Cheryl has since given up naps and has started a Dining room Empire.  I can't seem to locate the finished quilt but it was finished and gifted to my niece.  I learned I don't like high contrast but I did enjoy the improvisational aspect of making it.

And sew began my journey to explore the fields that grow alongside the tracks.  I wouldn't stay fenced in.   I started sticking my neck through the fence so I could better see those wide, more open spaces.

I made a smaller quilt in modern fabrics a few years ago and this quilt is seldom put away.

  The lower contrast stripe is much more to my liking!  And I off set the blocks. 

How can I go back to the old rail fence????

It was in me to want to row over the wide world.  I tried quilt as you go early on in my quilt history and I made this quilt up one winter as a Christmas present for my parents.  It helped use up a lot of blue fabrics that I had accumulated.  Again, I enjoyed this process. And I definitely want to do more quilt as you go!

 Seems like I jumped the tracks.  Those two parallel lines were too confining.  I needed this quilt a bit bigger so I added the borders.

 I machine quilted it using the wavy serpentine stitch on my sewing machine.  This is another older quilt.  The peach period!  It isn't this puckery in real life.  I must have just washed it! :O

When I needed two quilts for the bunk beds I again picked this easy approach.   I just stitched in the ditch between strips.  I think I'm ready to try some fancy MQing all over rather than fall into those ditches again though.

Another quick spring table runner.  I luv this minimalist look!

I did a workshop with Marilyn Stothers, a Manitoba teacher, gosh a decade or so ago.  I enjoyed her curved strip piecing.  I made place mats and I expect these curves will show up on a larger quilt some day.

 I'm not sure whether rail fences were influenced by the row idea or if strippy quilts played a part.  Next week I'll do more stripping as I unravel the mystery of how I got where I am since I did jump those tracks!  LOL

I'm linking this to Throwback Thursday on A Quarter Inch From the Edge.  

Its a very happy Monday

I'm so very thankful for such a great year!  I think we sewed some good seed that produced good food, productive days and sweet memories.

We don't want to be resting on our laurels so I have some more things planned for the rest of the week.  I'm happy to do so and thankful to be able to!!!  :)

week review

We were sitting having supper the other night  and I excused myself to capture the westerly sunset that was causing the birch to glow!  After I sat back down I thought, oh, that's even better but the Rooster had been wondering if the chickens were back in the flower beds so his supper was getting cold, too!  :)

ah!  I've figured out where these 'odd' pictures are coming from.  There is a painting setting on my camera!  kinda cool  And it helps disguise my morning pages. ;^)

The vitamins are definitely upping my motivation factor.  One big one is a multi multi.  One is a vitamin C because the Rooster is coughing and sneezing and I have NO time for down time.  The other big one is a free form amino acid and I think that is doing good things.  I also have some liquid B and a B6 'cause my right hand is kinda twitchy and I have no time for carpal tunnel issues!
Hopefully I can eliminate some of these as time goes on.  I must have been depleted somehow.

But I definitely felt great this week!

I managed to get the 'chores' done without entering into full house overhaul which is my way of procrastinating. I kept an eye on the clock for where I was at on the list.  Kinda deadlines to keep me moving forward and not stuck procrastinating on unimportant stuff.

 I did get a bit more fall decorating done.  It is recommended to light the candles and turn on lamps for decor pictures but I'm not seeing the yellow ball as cozy so...  :P

I got a journal spread done and a box of inspiration for the next pages.  In fact I have a second spread started in another book.

I am mulling over rail fence influences for the next treasure but that is still in the thinking stage.

We wrapped up last year's colour art book and signed the 'I am an artist' page.  :)

Then I handed out the new books for this year.  I'd taken portraits for the first page and then they got their first spread organized and glued down.  Josh needed to list his favourite subjects and he wanted to know how to spell the boy next door's name.  lol  Thursdays are busy days.  We do art before lunch.  Then a quick bite and we are off to hockey, free skate, and choir with the local home schoolers. I think that makes me a hockey gram'elle which makes me a regular grandma but 'cooler'!   :^)  I don't do anything but collapse Thursday evenings! :/

I got a busy and sewed.  I figured out the sewing block- as in stalled.  An audio teaching/lesson/sermon keeps me at the machine till the end and I often press next!  I got all my fabric cut.  I'm sewing one quarter of the top (25 blocks) at a time so I get good fabric mixes, at least I hope so.  This is a fabric kit and I'm about four fabric pairs short so I'm hoping my additions add a spark to the mix.  We'll see but there is no time yet to evaluate.  Head down, pedal to the metal and sew!   woo hoo!!! 

Now to continue the forward motivating!

Journal Joy

I am back to journal pages again.  I have found a better way of working!  It makes me JOYFUL!

I had started this layout and kinda stalled at what to do next.   Sometimes I just call it done,  leave it for another day and start a  new page.

 As I've been gathering stuff up when I clean my playroom I started realizing that bits and pieces were good journal fodder which I set aside. hmmm!  What if I made up smaller challenge boxes???  So I gathered together a collection in a box  and finished my page from the contents.  mostly!

I chose some odds and ends, some  new products I hadn't even opened and some just because items.

woo hoo!  I've discovered a great way to finish my journal pages.   I may need two boxes to contain my joy!

First Kit

One Christmas I persuaded the Rooster to give me a fabric kit.  I'm not sure when that was nor am I sure that it came with a pattern.  The fabrics were all woven, mostly plaids.

I really liked them and actually made a quilt that I machine quilted and used on our bed.  It has faded somewhat over time.

I struggled to find a good layout and learned my first lesson about coordinated fabrics.  There will never be a WOW factor if you only use the kit.  It needs a spark to make it come alive.  The gal who was teaching us the sampler course helped me audition some fabrics and this wild  yellow/orange mottled fabric waved wildly.  I was amazed by what it brought to the quilt table.  This was way before Bali's became popular and probably started my luv affair with orange!

When I joined the Working in a Series project,  I chose the square in a square block. First step is to make a traditional quilt using the block.  Gee, I should have remembered this quilt instead of reinventing the wheel.  :^P  As I've been looking for treasures I was reminded that I'm even using a kit of coordinating fabrics. Sheesh!

But I'm encouraged because I also found a wonky square in a square quilt that I 'designed' myself.  :)

I have the beginning and the future!  Time to get busy on all the middle quilts and see where this all ends!