Back on track...

I spent a good part of the day yesterday in the studio. I redyed some of the fabrics for the online class I am taking. It is called Dyeing to Design, it is a class that teaches some unusual dyeing techniques and also how to design quilts that will use these fabrics most effectively. Here is my first lesson's dye results.

We started out dyeing an 8 step gradation of black. It is so interesting to see the other colors that show up especially in the lighter values when you are using black since it is made by mixing all the colors together, mine had a lavenderish cast to them and the lightest value had some interesting red spots in it. Next comes designing a quilt to use these. Here are 2 abstract designs I have come up with. I have a more realistic quilt idea that I am considering also I just haven't had time to work with that one yet.

I have made photocopies of these and now I will play with value placement to find the right arrangement before I begin to cut out any of the fabrics.

Once I did this first gradation I did another one using a dye called Palomino Gold. I need some flesh tone fabrics so here it what I got.

I think the lighter values will work in the piece that I will be creating next week while in New York at the quilt retreat. Here is another trio of fabrics and the dark brown will become the background for next week's project. I also think that the bright goldish/yellow one will work also.

Our dear friend Betsy is in town and we got together last evening for Mexican/Margarita night. Here is a good picture of Friends.

We sat and talked for nearly 2 hours. It was good to see Betsy.

I also got started on the quilting of the t-shirt quilt. Here is a sneak peak of that.

Now I am off to get a bunch of work done. I plan on dyeing a deep brown piece that I need, quilt some more on that quilt, clean up my studio as I go, start to gather up the supplies I need for the retreat next week and pack them up, and I plan on making stuffed peppers for dinner tonight. I think that will keep me pretty busy and out of trouble today. I need to look at my to do list and make sure I am not forgetting anything.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and take time to laugh and enjoy the fruits of your labor and good friends.

Last T-shirt quilt for the year???

I promised to share with you what I was working on so diligently over the weekend. The last t-shirt quilt that I will be making for a customer this year. I have several other customer projects to finish up yet but this is the last start to finish t-shirt quilt. I did the prepping of them while I was at MM's for the weekend so I could get to the piecing this week. Here is the top. I couldn't get the whole thing in the photo due to its size.

It measures 87 X 96". The customer wanted turquoise or pink for borders. I found this beautiful mottled turquoise fabric at Joann Fabrics but of course there wasn't enough to use for the borders and backing so I added a little hot pink and lighter turquoise and used them all front and back. I pieced together a simple backing. I think it turned out really cool. What do you think?

I had 2 small pieces adding up to less than an eigth of a yard of that dark turquoise fabric left over. That is really close. I had planned on getting it on Lola's frame yesterday to start quilting but I didn't make it. I dyed some fabric for the online class I am taking and for the retreat next week.

I also took Georgie to the vet yesterday morning. Sunday evening before bedtime I noticed that she had a large mass under her neck. It would fill my cupped hand thats how large it was. It was basically the same when we got up in the morning so I called the vet. They were able to see us right away. Georgie did not seem to be bothered by it even so we got in the car and went to town. I am thankful that she enjoys riding in the car. At the vet's, he stuck a needle in the lump to see if he could withdraw anything, and he got a syringe full of blood. He felt she has a hematoma from some injury. Thinking back now, when I came back from MM's house and she greeted me last week, she was covered in mud around her neck and head. She probably injured it then and then did something else to aggravate the bleeding. He gave her an antibiotic shot to prevent an abscess and sent her home with antibiotics and steroids to take for the next 10 days. She is no worse for wear. She is doing fine and takes her pills fine if I wrap them in a slice of cheese.

So today's plan is to finish up some more dyeing, I didn't get the results that I needed in yesterday's attempts so a little more work there and I am going to get the quilt loaded and start working on it. This afternoon I will be running into town, without Georgie this time, to meet friends for margarita night, since Betsy is in town. My plans for the week have been altered a little but it is more important to allow for these changes and go with them instead of fighting them when people and relationships are involved. We can not be too busy to take the time to foster the relationships in our lives and to love our families and friends. So I am trusting the Lord that I will get everything done that needs done while also following His lead when He has something else that He needs me to do.

So I am off to get going on the days work and I hope you have a wonderful day and remember to take time to be there for friends.

Does abscense make the heart grow fonder?

As you can see I took a full week off from blogging. Last week was a very busy week at least at the beginning and then I just didn't have the mental energy to tackle a blog post the rest of the week. I will give you a brief fill in of activities.

The weekend spent at MM's house was great. We worked hard on our respective projects and also a collective one. Wendy is going to be a first time grandma so we all made a 12" block to create a baby quilt for her to have at her house when the baby visits. I will be quilting it once Janet puts it together and MM offered to bind it. We also went on several road trips. We went to an apple orchard near MM's house and checked out all of their goodies. Next we went to one of the local quilt shops to help MM spend her gift certificate. We also went to see MM's 2 grandkids homes that they are renovating. So fun. I was not a very good reporter over the week end and didn't get any photos to share. I had planned on it but I just kept working away and didn't do it. This is one of the pieces that I worked on while there.

This was so much fun to do. It is a pattern that is being offered via TheQuiltShow.com by Laura Wasilowski. I plan on doing a few more in different themes. I love the hand embroidery work. Relaxing while you are watching TV. I did the hand work while watching Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman. I had most of the quilting done before leaving. The weekend ended on Monday after lunch. We packed up and headed home.

Tuesday, was treatment day for me so Mom Pratt and I headed to Pittsburgh early and spent the day doing all the waiting to get it over with. Fortunately, we were home by 4:30. Everything went well and I am good to go for another 6 weeks, well it is already down to 5 weeks. How is this year flying by so quickly?

Here are some photos of things that I managed to get done even with the decreased mental energy that lasted for several days after the treatment. I made this apron out of one of Jeff's old shirts that I dyed and upcycled.

I put together several table runners for the craft sale at out church. Last year people were asking me if I had any so I am going to make sure I have some this year.

I have another Christmas one started but still have to fuse everything down. Here are 2 that are more spring/summery.

I stillhave the stitching around the applique yet to do then layer them up and quilt away.

Tomorrow I will share with you the larger project that I had been working on over the weekend between going shopping with the kids, church and watching the football game with them. It was a great weekend.

So the question is did you miss me while I was lost from blog land? Sometimes I feel like I am here alone. Leave me some comments and let me know what you think. Thanks.

Have a great day and enjoy it.

Another fun weekend...

Today, I head over to MM's(as she is affectionately referred to) house for a weekend of quilting/crafting and fellowship. We have been getting together for decades for a weekend of crafting, renewal and friendship. The members in the group have changed somewhat due to deaths and relocations but it is the same core members that have brought us together through the years. It is a great time to get together, encourage one another, support one another through hard times and seeing the growth we have made in our crafting expertise. I am so excited to be a part of this group and to share my talents with them and to gain fresh insight also.

I spent most of yesterday packing for this weekend. Truth be told I spent most of the day looking for the legs that go on my extension table. These legs.

I looked in every drawer, every basket, every tin, every nook and cranny searching for these things. I had given up and texted Tina to see if I could borrow her legs from her extension table. Unfortunately, hers were not the same as mine so I borrowed her complete extension table, which also did not work with my machine. I was just about ready to give up again when I remembered that I had moved a set of Rubbermaid drawers into another room, so I went digging through all of those drawers. Finally, I found them in a plastic baggie, which I figured would be the case, in about the 5th drawer down. I am never going to lose those babies again.
Too much drama and work for 6 little peg like legs.
In the meantime this is what my studio looed like while trying to pack up enough of the right supplies for the weekend.

The large tote on the right is not going with me, it is my quilted items for the craft sale in December, the smaller tote holds all my fabrics and supplies. The plastic garbage bag in front are t-shirts that I am taking to do the prep work of fusing interfacing to and cutting out the logos for the last t-shirt quilt of the year, maybe. If I do anymore this year it will be for family.

Here are 2 photos of the last quilt I quilted. It is a t-shirt/sweatshirt quilt done with all Steeler's shirts. The background fabric was a mottled black and she used gold stripes occasionally to fill in some of the sashing areas. It was a very nice t-shirt style quilt. I used the "cathedral windows" motif that is on their helmet as the motif for the borders.

The customer was very pleased with this and so was I. I am going to remember that idea if I have another Steeler's quilt to do in the future.

Well, I need to go get my stuff packed into the car so I can get over to MM's after lunch.

Have a great weekend and remember to enjoy the beautiful fall days. It has been beautiful here. The trees are glorious shades of red, orange, gold and greens. Spectacular. I love fall.

Short post...

I am sorry that there was no post yesterday. I had appointments yesterday for my 6 week scans and dr. appt. after to review the scans. It was the shortest day down there so far. I did not expect to get home before 6PM and I made it home just after 3 PM and I stopped at Joann's in Cranberry to see if they had any cotton/bamboo fabric that we use to dye. The results of the scans were good. All clear, nothing to worry about. I have to go back on Tuesday for my treatment but between now and then I am going on another quilting weekend. Margaret Mary is hosting this at her house this time and I am so excited to get to play while surrounded by good friends. Today I have to pack up my projects and clothes so that I am ready tomorrow.

I will have lots of fun photos to share with you come Wednesday. I will be absent Monday and Tuesday. I will try to post some photos tomorrow morning before I head on out. Have a great day.

Chautauqua show photos

As promised here are photos of the Chautauqua Show. Did you notice that I checked the spelling for today's post. I had been spelling Chautauqua wrong all last week.

Here goes. We started off the day witnessing a rainbow. What a nice sign from heaven that we would have a nice day, and it was.

We stopped at Erie to have breakfast where I was going to get a picture of the group together but by that time I forgot all about photo ops. On to the show pictures.

This room was divided up into smaller themed displays. Check out the pink valance topper that unified all of the displays into one larger display.

Who invited the ants to the picnic? This quilt reminds me of one that I made years ago that had ants carrying away the food. Cute.

Who let the fox in the hen house? Tina has made this quilt before, and she even has another one of the fox blocks done to make another one. Let's see it Tina. Bring it on.

Are you crazy enough to make a miniture quilt like this one? The hexagons are only 1/4". Tiny. This was beautifully framed under glass.

This is a gorgeous floral applique wall hanging and quilted beautifully.

Lovely kimono quilt.

The oriental booth. Tea is served.

This is what the men do that get drug along to a quilt show. Male bonding.

Super effective thread painting. I want to do this someday.

The different birds in this quilt are uber cute.

This quilt was beautifully quilted. I studied it for a good long while.

I love the dog in this landscape. He belongs there.

Such a pretty tree on this pieced background.

That is it for photos. I hope you have a wonderful day and remember to enjoy the fall days. It will soon be snowing and this year I am looking forward to that as I have plans to do some snow dyeing. I did not take any photos at the vendors booths but we saw some beautiful snow/ice dyed fabrics at one booth and they were selling for $28-$30+ a yard depending on type of fabric was used. So until the snow flies enjoy the fall season.

A weekend of fun...

Today I will share photos of the quilt show that the IQ Quilter's hosted on Saturday. You know that I have been talking about this heavily for the last week. So without much further ado, here are some photos of our day.

Tina sitting down for a few seconds at our demonstration table enjoying a little down time.

We hung our "quilt as desired challenges" in this area also and the row below are items that we created using the blocks that were made using the techniques we were demonstrating.

Some of my quilts.

Tina's Gatehouse Quilt. It received best of show at Jamestown Fair.

Kelly did a great job along with many other's hands creating a beautiful If the Shoe Fits display on the stage.

Mary and Edith ready to greet and welcome the public and of course take their money.

Some cute wallhangings over by the Kid's Corner.

Our honored member, Kelly. She was enjoying a lull in the visitors to sit down for a minute and relax, and what do we do to relax but look at a quilting magazine.

Kelly's Creations Corner.

Tina being silly after a very long and busy day and Patty enjoying the moment too.

We follow this long and exhausting day with dinner out as a group. I think this might have been the largest group we have had in a long time.
But to top it off, God did not want our man made efforts to out shine His own and He gave us the most gorgeous of sunsets to enjoy on the way home. I am sorry that the colors in the photo don't do it justice.

Saturday was a great success and we had a wonderful time. I hope that we will see you next year at the show. Have a wonderful day. Tomorrow I will share more about our day at Chataqua and the quilt show there.