Sunday, July 7, 2019

June Recap: Quilting, Audiobooks and NEQM

Trying to keep up with my Temperature 2019 Quilt
May is heating up with yellow, orange and one 90+ day!
There were 14 days of rain ( gray bubble fabric)
The June blocks are done ~
just not put together in calendar form.



The main focus now is getting my "Flower Garden" quilt
(pattern by Kim McLean)
ready for Silver City Quilt Guild's September show!


the 'Fabulous Fabric Glide' by The Gypsy Quilter
is helpful with moving the quilt under the needle of 
my domestic Janome 6600


One does need to keep the quilt bunched up
to allow free movement...
and sometime one does get all tangled up!!
The first task was to stitch in the ditch all the long seams
to stabilize each block...
then it was easy to go in and start quilting each block individually.
First outline each flower,
then slowly tackling the lattice work,
and then adding in the matchstick quilting
to create a depressed background
making the lattice Pop!
It's definitely a challenge for me!
My neck is paying the price from hours
of intense quilting...
good thing I have a good chiropractor!


Here are a few finished blocks....



Once each block is quilted,
I will go back and add in quilting to the leaves and flowers.
Then quilting up the two borders...
not sure what the quilting motif will be for the sashing,
percolating a few ideas!!
Will up date you in a later blog post!

Since deciding that concentrating on quilting is not conducive to
tv watching, Audible books have become a mainstay in my 
Quilty room (studio sounds so professional - and not me!)

Having always listened to quilting stories
Elm Creek Quilts being my favorites....
I decided to venture out into more
'grown up' themes!

Michelle Obama's book 'Becoming'
came recommended by a friend...
and I'm so glad I listened.
The book gave a nice background story
to our former First Lady,
it was so interesting listening to her thoughts and feeling
(the story was read by her - which I loved!)
 of growing up, becoming a lawyer, becoming First Lady...
I just found it fascinating!



Now I'm searching audible for books from each of our
former First Ladies...
we always see the President - hear his words,
but I want to hear from the Ladies ~
and their side of the story!

Moving onto a completely different genre
Murder Mysteries!!!

Have to admitted 
between concentrating on quilting and a murder mystery
there was a bit of rewinding going on!!

"Magpie Murders"
was and excellent book
captures you from the very beginning
entwining two (or was there three) stories at once!
Fabulous book - highly recommend this one!


With the warm weather here in New England
you know what that means!
Hubby fishing at the canal,
and me stitching at the canal!!
Definitely one of my favorite things to do!


Stitched Block:1
Hubby Fishing: 0


Just look at this beauty!
Taking off with out stretched wings,
this heron was huge!


I might have followed him around to snap a few pictures - 
maybe to be used someday in a collage quilt??!!


The end of June wrapped up with a volunteering day at the
New England Quilt Museum 
(Love this place - wished it was closer)

Had the privilege of hanging the 
'19th Century Basket Quilts' 
by the
American Quilt Study Group Challenge

After the quilts were hung there were a couple minutes 
to snap a few photos! Sorry no information tags~
that was the next days job!

This was my favorite!
Red and Green Appliqué...




This instillation will hang until the end of July
then the Summer Celebration will go up.

This exhibit features one quilt from each of the museums supporting guilds...
and this year my quilt  "Tropical Sashiko Applique"
will represent the Silver City Quilt Guild.



This Spring we have noticed a number of new birds into the backyard
Baltimore Oriels, Scarlet Tanagers and many more...
so hubby decided to dismantle garden...
and construct a "Bird Sanctuary"!
Thanks to Walpole Woodworking
we now have a beautiful Arbor.


and now to create a nice little garden
of flowers and bird feeders...
this may take awhile!!



The front of the house is shaping up
and one Blue Hydrangea is looking fabulous....
it's the only one a deer did not feast on!


Now back to quilting my Flower Garden!!


Have a great Quilty Day and enjoy the process!
                               Janet