Monday, August 27, 2012

Catch up over the weekend...

My post today will be a catch up of several things that I didn't have anywhere else to fit it into a post. Just small things, some random, some not even my own projects.

First of all, last weekend, Dan finished up the frame he had made for a puzzle that he and Stephanie had put together. He had to adjust the opening just a bit because it was a little too small. But once done it looks really good don't you think?
He used old door molding that we had replaced when we got the new doors in the house, and he planed it, routed out the groove on the face of the trim, routed out the channel that the puzzle sits in, cut it and assembled it then stained and poly'd it. He did a great job. The puzzle itself is a Thomas Kinkade puzzle. I love it. This will be a nice keepsake for them. It reminds me of the puzzle that Jeff and I put together when we were dating and my brother framed it in an antique frame that my mom had in the basement. We still have it and it has hung in a place of prominence in every home we have lived in. Here it is.
I guess some family traditions don't even have to be purposefully passed down. They are picked up by exposure and respect given to the ideas and thoughts behind them.

I ordered some new books and DVD's this past week and have received them and already devoured them. The first book was this one.
I love Diane's quilting. She does such a superb job of quilting the traditional patterns while infusing new life into them. She is so accurate too. That comes from much practice and taking the time to do things right from the very beginning of the project. I learned some new tips from her book. It is on sale on Amazon for $14.17 right now. That is a great price for this book and well worth it. The best tip that I got out of the book was to spray starch your backing fabric before basting your quilt sandwich together. She says that you will get a smoother back with less likelyhood of puckers on the back and that it will slide across your machine bed much easier. I am going to definetely try that the next time I do a quilt on my DSM. It might not be as important a step if you are quilting on a longarm machine.

I then got a sales email from www.patsythompsondesigns.com and I ordered these items.
The dvd Divide and Design The Cure for Quilter's Agoraphobia by Lisa Calle. This is a great dvd that breaks down the designing process that she uses to develop a quilt motif that turns a quilt into a masterpiece. The transformation of a rather simple quilt by the selection of properly positioned and proportioned motifs is amazing. There is no limit to what can be created with this step by step process. Of course this can be very time consuming so it is best used for those heirloom or show quilts. It is the type of quilting that would be best used to enhance a wedding quilt but not a play quilt for a child that is going to be used heavily.

Another book/dvd combo that I got was also by Lisa Calle and it is the Feathers of a New Generation, "Not your Grandmom's Feathers" It had a lot of feather variations. I have seen the curling feather border done before and knew how to mark it out but I would get lost in the stitching out process and she gave some good tips on that and I could see the progression in how she stitched it so I got that now. The quality of her videos is top notch. Very good teacher and I will be trying out some of her designs in upcoming quilts.

The last book/dvd I got was Twirly Whirly Feathers by Kim Brunner. It is a good beginner to intermediate set. If you have some good basic skills she really moves you forward in making lovely feather designs. I still learned some tips from her too. She has a great teaching manner too.

Over all I loved all of these new items I got and highly recommend them if you are wanting to move on to the next level of machine quilting. These techniques can be used on a longarm machine or a DSM, or even if you hand quilt. The learning process should never end. We need to continue to grow and try out new things everyday.

Yesterday, was a fun day with friends. After church and lunch with DH, I headed to Greenville to meet up with friends to go see the movie Hope Springs, with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. So funny, we laughed so hard. I passed DH on the road when I was heading home, so I called him to see what he was up to, he was going golfing with a friend, later on I got a phone call from him asking me to come out to Compadres for dinner, well, I had already eaten but I went in to have a margarita and spend some time with him and our friends he had been golfing with. It was a great day.

I hope you have a wonderful day and be open to trying new things, learning new things.






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