Monday, December 17, 2018

Temperature Quilt 2018

Spent today catching up on my 
Temperature Quilt 2018


Able to put together most of November today!

Each rectangle is 4.5 x 2.5 (unfinished)
the "Goose" represent the high temperature of the day
and the smaller triangles represent the low temperatures of the day.

I've embroidered any special occasions (birthdays) and 
special weather events (rain or snow)!

It has been a fun project.
Planning on doing it again for 2019,
but will change up the design...
thinking of doing circles!


Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!
            Janet

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Quilting through Summer, Fall and into Christmas!

In August my Tropical Applique Sashiko was accepted into the 
Mancuso World Quilt Show New England...
It was fun to see her hanging around with some absolutely beautiful quilts!


Summertime was spent doing EPP at the canal 

and watching hubby fish!


Very Happy that Matthew and Emily have relocated
from Florida to Cape Cod!
Nice to have them close!

The Fall took hubby and I up to Vermont...
I appliquer while he tried (unsuccessfully) to gold pan!!

Oh!! He did find A flake of gold!
One flake ... 12 hours ...
yeah not going to pay any bills on this venture!!

But it was Nice being out in nature!!

Quilt retreats are SO much fun!
Had the privilege of joining in on a small retreat
at the West Pond Inn ~ Bolton Ma
run by Sue Loring
also owner of The Quilted Crow in Bolton.

The rooms were all beautifully decorated 
(this was my little corner for the weekend!)

and the other side of the room!!
Just wonderful!

and the view!
One of the quilters saw a fox and another a beaver!!

West Pond Inn only accommodates small groups
of 8 - 10, but it is well worth it.
Sue is a fabulous cook and treated us to 
scrumptious breakfasts and dinners!

My new BFF's
"The Stitch Sisters"

My little "Inga" buzzed along
thru these little 2.5" squares

creating a checker board

that will have an embroidered block in every other square.
the embroidery blocks are from
Ruby Short McKim's Roly Poly Circus...
Just LOVE them!

The making of my version of Sue Garman's Ladies of the Sea quilt ~ continues...!
 Using the prepared edge method to appliqué on the swag boarders.

and here She is all put together...
unsure if I will hand quilt or machine quilt...
thinking of really mixing it up and doing
a little of each!
Could create an interesting effect using both
hand and machine quilting...
still unsure about it!

October was a busy quilt guild month!
Silver City Quilt Guild hosted award winning quilter
Susan Cleveland.
She is one of the funniest talented women I have ever met!

Her work is outstanding!

From the time I picked her up at the airport, 
to when I dropped her back at the airport three days later...
We laughed, and laughed and laughed some more!

Then the Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild hosted
award winning quilter - David Taylor!

He is hysterical!
and Talented!
OH My Gosh - is he talented!
I had so much quilty fun this month!!

The end of October hubby and I zipped down to 
Texas to visit Victoria.
Got to see her in action as an Athletic Trainer!

While she worked during the week we drove up to 
San Antonio to see the sights!
The Alamo and Riverwalk were my favorites!
But the all time highlight was an hour tour
of San Antonio on a horse drawn carriage!

November was Barn Quilt Block painting!
We had the choice of one of these three designs...

My finished Friendship Christmas Wreath!!

Currently on my design wall is a Judy Niemeyer 'Mariners Compass'
this one is for my daughter ... eventually!!
It's coming together... slowly!
Now to test out colors for the long spikes...
Turquoise? Medium Blue?
Decisions!!!


If you are on Instagram - go and check out
the year of color
It's fascinating!

These are my 2017 colors...

and these are my 2018 colors!
amazing the color change!
Life is good!

December finds me decorating for Christmas,
my absolute Favorite time of year!

Just Love all the colors, lights, music, gathering of friends
and most of all 
my family...
this will be my first Christmas since my mom has passed,
I miss her dearly,
but life goes on
each day is a new and wonderful gift..
Enjoy it!

Wishing you all a wonderfully
Happy New Year!


Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!
            Janet



Sunday, August 19, 2018

Schooner Quilt is progressing!


The original Ladies of the Sea by Sue Garman 
is beyond Beautiful and Huge!

Knowing where this quilt will hang in my house 
the need to scale it down was a must!

Here is my design incorporating 
~Eight of the Sixteen original ships
~ Pearl Pereira's 'Massachusetts' as the center block
~ Moving the Mariners Compass blocks to the center of each border
~ Double swag borders


with my plan in hand 
the next step was to design the swag borders
using graph paper, rulers and freezer paper...

The original elaborate applique border is beautiful... but...
since my quilt is smaller version this border would just be to big.

After much self-debating 
swag verses redesigning a scaled down applique border
indecision set in
Hubby made the choice!
Swag it is!!


Next decision...
colors for the mariners compass...
first ... too dull
second ... too bright
third ... blah 


fourth times a charm?
Right??


until it went up onto the design wall...
YUCK!
Reminds me of a Jesters Hat!


back to the drawing board..
Fifth time ... IS A CHARM!
much happier with this color way!



My usual applique method is needle turn
with freezer paper on the back, 
 making a dent in the fabric
by folding the seam allowance to the back,
then peel the freezer paper off,
 and pinning piece into place. 
The fold in the fabric makes it easier to needle turn the edge - 
this works for me!

Wanting to try something new (to me!!) 
 the prepared edge starch method came to mind.
Using a 'Starch Brush' 
by Missie Carpenter of Traditional Primitives,
the process was fairly simple...
paint the seam allowance with the starch product
 and then iron the seam allowance to the back.
This process created a very nice smooth edge.


Trying another new (to me!!) method for the circles...
the Apliquick glue method.
This worked fabulously for the 1" circles


Once pieces started going up the orientation of the Mariners Compass
went back to the corners - as in the original pattern...
At least for the Moment!


Happy with this weeks progress!


                                                       Til next time...
                               Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!
                                Janet

Friday, July 27, 2018

Quilting and Life ... lots of catching up to do!

The past several months have been busy...
Life Happens!

Lots of catching up to do!
Grab a cup of your favorite beverage...
this is a long one!!


Back in March the Silver City Quilt Guild
invited Lisa McCarthy
from East Kingston N.H.
to speak and run a BeColourful workshop.

In the workshop we started the "Happiness" paper pieced pattern by
Jacqueline de Jonge

Lots of prep work for this baby!!
All my pieces cut, labeled and ready to go!!

 center paper pieced star completed!

this was as far as I got in class...

four months later
no progress made!
But it's on the first UFO list!

It has to be done by Sept 2019 for SCQG's biannual show! 
There is a special section in the show that is solely to display all 
of the projects members made in guild sponsored workshops!
Time to get cracking!!


In April I attended one of my favorite quilt shows!
Taking way too many classes!
Must contain myself next year!!

"On the Edge: The Devil is Still in the Details"
was an outstanding class.
Her process is unbelievable!
She gave wonderful hands-on instructions.
If you ever have the chance to take this class...
Take It!!

The 5" quilted squares were proved by Bethanne,
Made it so easy to get right to work with the edge designs!
My samples from the class!
Definitely need to incorporate these techniques into my next few quilts!


 Another outstanding class was
"Dense & Dainty"

Margaret's talent is .... amazing!
Awe - Inspiring!
After following her work for several year,
it was a privilege to soak in all the information
she provided in her class!

There was a FUN evening with 
you had the opportunity to pre-purchase an Octopus kit!
We were able to start the wall hanging that evening...
mine is again in that UFO pile!
The above photo is Kathy's finish wall hanging - outstanding!

 "Graffiti Quilting"
was an interesting class and totally out of my tool box!
This was her first year teaching!
She did a really good job!
This musical quilt is fabulous in person!
Just loved her style - will definitely incorporate it into
one of my future quilts!

To get out of my quilt box and into the paint box,
Kathy McNeil's class on fabric painting was spot on!!
Her work is just outstanding - 
that's why she is an award winning quilter!!


June brought me down to Texas to visit this sweet Gal!
Gosh I miss her so much!
We had a nice visit!

Victoria took me to the Art Museum of South Texas  for brunch 
and to see the beautiful works of art on display.

But the show stopper for me was this magnificent 
Chihuly display!
This hand blown glass piece hung in a center pavilion,
we walked up to the second floor to get a good look at it...
amazing!

 Outside the art museum there was a bronze statue of a 
Texas Longhorn steer ...
so of course we had to take the obligatory vacation photo!!

 And it was only the beginning of JUNE!!
Yup it felt HOT that day!

Victoria had to attend an Athletic Training Conference so I was the 
Doggie Sitter!
The pillow speaks for itself!!

Since I had her apartment to myself for two days...
there was lots of paper piecing going on!
Managed to accomplish quite a bit!


The center of the Judy Niemeyer "Mariners Compass" quilt
darling daughter has been asking for this quilt for two years!
Time to get it started!!
Selecting the fabric was the hardest part...
made several changes along the way!


A year ago, as Program Co-Chair for SCQG I met
Gladi Porsche from NH
She is a retired doctor and VERY talented quilter.
The guild LOVED her!

We have become great Quilty Friends 
(she was my roommate last November at the Houston Quilt show!), 
and this week we meet at the Quilted Crow Quilt Shop in Bolton
for some Fabric Therapy! and lunch at the Bolton Bean.
Fabulous day!
We are already planning our next Fabric Therapy session!


The amazing thing about Quilting ... 
it brings the best people into your life!


Life changes....
My son Matt and his fiance Emily have relocated from 
Florida to Cape Cod!
To say I'm thrilled ~ is an understatement!!

The best thing is Emily LOVED my
mom's Mid Century Modern Dresser...
so off it went to the Cape!!

It looks fabulous in their bedroom,
my mom would be so happy!
She always wanted to live on the Cape...
well a little piece of her now does!

And Of Course I had to see if there would be any interest in Quilting!!
the answer is YES!!
Emily is hooked on quilting!
Yippee ~ another young new quilter!!

Thrilled that my extra sewing table could be put to good use!
Its just waiting for a shiny new "used" Janome to arrive from ebay!!!
My gift to the new quilter!!

And for her first pattern a so easy (LOL!!) 
diagonally paper pieced quilt!
"Atomic StarBurst" by

Emily is doing a Phenomenal Job!!
Her design wall - 
flannel backed table cloth from the Christmas Tree Shop!!

My Hubby loves his Gold Panning hobby!
 July found us in the mountains and streams of New Hampshire...
well he was in the streams...
can you see him??
Hidden in place sight!
Didn't help that he was wearing a green shirt!!

Thankfully I had lots of EEP and a good audible book!
enough to last for two six hour days of watching hubby play in the dirt!!

 But id did find ... a real flake of Gold!!
He was THRILLED!!

 On the way back to the hotel after the first day he yelled
"Quick, stop the car, turn around, there's a moose"!!!
Sure enough this big gal was having a late afternoon snack in the swamp!!
It's the first time we had ever seen a moose live in the wild...
such a majestic sight!
She hung around for several minutes then after a long look at us,
turn and meandered into the woods!

 The mountain do not appeal to me much - 
your either a mountain person or and ocean person...
I am definitely an ocean person,
but the view from our hotel (have to admit!)
was breathtaking!
The rolling clouds over the different shades of green...

Just Beautiful!



Now that I'm adjusting to true retirement!
feeling the need to DO Something!
Volunteering at the New England Quilt Museum
to help hang new installations is becoming something 
that is filling that void.

Hanging the exhibits in the classroom is my favorite,
once its done - to stand there,
twirl around and see it all hanging and beautiful...
well ...  it's inspiring!

The current exhibit features quilts from the Material Girls Quilt Guild - 
winners of the NEQM 2017 Summer Celebration

they had some fun quilts!!


Another hobby of my Hubby's is Fishing..
or another opportunity for me to catch up on my EPP or applique projects!


This cute fellow joined us for awhile!

 No fish ...
but the boats were pretty!
this one was spectacular!

Speaking of boats...
Ship #9 is DONE!!
YIPPEE!!
now onto the sashing and designing a swag border!
Still debating...
Hand Quilt vs Machine Quilt???


My sewing area has undergone a few changes!
My mom's bedroom has become the 
Guest room / Quilting Annex!!
Design walls are up!
Big Border Ironing Station and big cutting table are up!

and the closet is now filled with quilts ready for quilting,
extra batting, projects in the wait! 
and a quilty retreat bag packed and ready to go at a moments notice!!


The sewing room now is just for quilting and sewing!
The Janome will be the quilting machine
and the Bernina the Piecing machine!!


All  (well most all!) of my fabric is neatly folded
onto comic book cards - to make it easier to "Shop My Stash"!

 this closet is filled with more quilt projects "In The Wait"
(they are just waiting to be started, continued or finished!!)

my Mom's "back room" has been repurposed as my library


and a quiet place to sip coffee/tea/lemonade,
browse thru my books, update my blog!!
and watch the hummingbirds!



Till the next time!
Happy Quilting!
   Janet