Summer Wanderings

July 25, 20162 Comments

Cindy has been holding down the blog while I wandered away on my summer vacation(s). Don’t hate — my vacations of late have been rare. But luckily, in the last month 3 weeks I’ve been to Austin, Anaheim and Hilton Head. In the process I got my fix of barbecue, sand (from both the Atlantic and the Pacific) and the grandbabies (to whom I am Grandma Ishi — as in “is she or is she not grandma”) — long story. Nevertheless, I’m claiming them because they are flat out adorable! Evidence here:

What all this lovely travel did was take me away from my sewing machine. Finally, in Hilton Head, I could stand it no longer, I needed to touch, see and smell some fabric. Island Quilters delivered my fix; well, they didn’t really deliver, I had to go to them, but you know what I mean….

Owner Clare Jones was efficient and patient as I wandered around her store searching for my happy place and a project. Her store is filled with bright and unique prints and lots of fun dots. Her Christmas and Halloween fabrics were both classy and fun. I had a hard time resisting them.

Finally, I settled on the idea of a log cabin quilt pattern and Clare and I pulled from her excellent selection of fat quarters (on sale, no less) to come up with vacation-inspired color palette.

I think I’ll cut out the pieces and then sew the blocks in the winter so it will remind me of my whirlwind July.

What’s in Your “To Go” Bag?

July 18, 20164 Comments

Mine is filled with everything I need for my hexie project!

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Here’s what’ in my bag: a hexie flower in progress, hexie templates, fabric covered hexies, hexies in the process of being covered with fabric, a small pouch, thimbles, two colors of silk thread, straight pins, safety scissors, and my needle case (missing from the picture…oops!)

This colorful “To Go” bag is really a ‘free with purchase’ make-up bag. The larger bag has a handle for easy carry and better yet, a zipper for no spillage. The smaller pouch is the perfect size to hold hexie templates, it zips up and fits neatly in the larger bag.

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Let’s talk about traveling with scissors! These babies belonged to my son when he was about 6 years old and I dug them out of the crayon box he no longer used…can you imagine going to high school without a crayon box?! These scissors have made it through airport security many times and with the blunt ends, I don’t have to worry about them poking through my fabric when they get jostled around.

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I’ll be traveling again soon so I took some time to re-stock my “To Go” bag which is always packed in my carry on bag. I often meet other quilters who stop and talk when they see me hand stitching my hexies. It’s fun to hear about what other quilters are working on.

So….what’s in your “To Go” bag? Let us know!

A Quilted Declaration

July 4, 20161 Comment

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays! Several years ago, I was shopping with my friend, MJ, and when we saw this panel, we just had to have it! We each made a wall hanging using reproduction fabrics.

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Here is a close up

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It even has the appearance of parchment stains on it for more authenticity!

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The real document lives in Washington D.C. in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom. You can read more about it here The Declaration of Independence

Enjoy your day!

Sweet Violet Dream

June 30, 20164 Comments

We are, of course in the throes of summer, but just a few weeks ago I snapped this picture of one of the early harbingers of spring. I was thinking about a new quilt project and I remembered a gorgeous poinsettia pillow from the Crafty Quilter. Inspiration struck — what if I could make a wildflower pillow?

A wild violet before it goes back to sleep.

Did you know that violets are edible? Here are few more violet facts.

I have to confess once again to my love of the color purple. This project gave me an excuse to find just the right hue of purple — not blueish, not pinkish, not mauvy –my fabric had to be just the perfect vibrant purple. I found a beautiful dotted Swiss for the flower and then stumbled upon an understated purple and green paisley to use for the background.

Love this fabric purchased from the charming Barefoot Quilter shop in Rushford, NY. It is so mesmerizing that I had to buy it twice ~~not~~ because I a made a cutting error…

I drew the pattern on freezer paper first, then decided to use fusible applique as the foundation. So I traced, labeled and cut out the pieces again.

Next I ironed the pattern pieces onto the wrong side of the fabric, using scraps for the stem and anther? stamen? I wish I knew more about flowers…

Sometimes I love my fabric so much I really hate to cut it. Does that ever happen to you?

Cut out the center of applique shapes to lighten the finished product.

Then I placed all the cut-out pieces on my 10.5″ background square, peeled off the paper back, and ironed the first layer of the flower into place.

This may look upside down, but it’s really not. It’s purposefully positioned as if you were standing above the violet in the forest. Or I can’t figure out how to make this picture rotate. One of these is the correct answer.

I used a zig-zag stitch to set them in the quilt. I added a few simple borders and now I’m ready to quilt.