Monthly Archives: June 2010

So What Do You Think?

     I feel a bit stuck and would love to hear your opinion. No major decisions or anything but just an inconvenience for me. I am in Vermont for another six weeks. ( I know- I lead a really tough life…)

  There are many things that I love about being here.

 But the one thing I really dislike seems to be more inconvenient this time-lack of internet service. I knew I was reliant on the computer for many things but I wasn’t blogging last summer. I really do enjoy it and I miss it if I don’t do it. Is the pain og blogging with dial up service worht it? Dial-up service is the only thing available to me and my pictures distort and turn out all blurry. It had taken me 50 minutes to download these meager photos….

So I guess my choices are 1.take a break for six weeks. Or 2.continue with less photos and may be just twice a week? So I don’t drive myself crazy. I am not a very patient computer person….

Quilt related updates:40 yards of fabric dyed-least you think I am not working! and one piece being worked on .

 So what do you think? Do you take time to read blogs in the summer? Is it less often or time to take a break?

Happy Summer,my friends!

A Warm Rainy Day

  
  I finally felt like I could think again today. Everything is unpacked and put away. Groceries are put away. And it’s a warm rainy day here in Vermont. I spent the moring sewing. Slow mindless strip piecing with a few of the fabrics I brought with me. I decided to go backwards -I just seem stuck with all the new info so I went back to easy piecing. And it was just plain nice again. Not much brain work involved and I loved it.

     The kids were settling down and playing darts in the garage so I decided to start dyeing fabric in the barn when I saw the sun starting to peek out this afternoon. I picked a few colors I had purchased smaller samples of at the Quilt Festival on Saturday-butterscotch, eggplant, teal blue, nickel and then one color that was just a mix of old dyes I had. I thought I would just start out with about ten yards for today.

     Well you know how that works out. It just multiplies. I had lots of different kinds of fabrics that were leftover form previous dyeing days-linen, linen-cotton blend, broadcloth and just plain PFD cotton from Testfabrics. I kept going until I ran out of containers.

   It’s always nice to see your work all lined up.

Another rainy day tomorrow to wash it all out. Sorry these pictures are so blurry. My dial up connection is killing me! If anyone has any suggestions ,I will take them . Almost worth selling a  sewing machine for some type of a computer solution-just kidding!
Happy Sewing, my friends!

37 Hours

     I have had an adventure beyond belief. I traveled from Michigan to Vermont for our summer vacation on Thursday. I was pretty excited to think that it would take me a mere 7 hours and my daughter and I would be there ahead of another portion of the family. (Various family coming and going all summer.College girl and grandma at home…very confusing- just trust me.) Well I was getting very smug with myself with the thought of big dogs riding in car with lots of stuff and husband driving. I would just jet in in less than a day. And be refreshed after a few days of pre chaos sewing.

But, it took a mere 37 hours for me to get here. Yup-37 hours and involved missed flights, delays, an overnight adventure, a re-route to Washington,DC…and finally two days later…Peg’s Taxi. Which meant the end of our journey. And the beginning of our vacation.

I came here earlier than the rest of the family to make it for the Vermont Quilt Festival. I went there today and had a great time. More pictures later when I can find wi-fi at the local library. Pictures take way too long to download with dial up service. I wanted to check in and let you know I am still here!

I just need to sew to be a tolerable person to be around after that horrible experience.

And have a cup of Green Mountain coffee.

More intelligent posts coming.

Happy Sewing, my friends.

The Finish Fairy

     I am dreaming of the fairy that is going to get me off my duff , wave her magic wand  and  sprinkle lots of magic dust and then I will finish something wonderful. And then I will write this amazing blog post and have a million followers. Hah..my dream continues and ….I am amazingly productive, daringly creative and thin.

    But in my real life, I have just been trying to catch up. And keep up. And no matter how hard I was trying to dig out, I couldn’t make any headway. I have big gardens and they just needed to be thinned out and replanted. Nothing got done last fall because of my silly foot. And kids just needed to be kids and have a million kids over hanging a million wet towels all over the place. But the garden is ok for now.  The kids have settled down a bit into summer and need less to just be and relax into summer laziness.

    So the finish fairy and I had a date this morning and at 7:56 am a finish was born.

                                                      
                                     Lisa’s Quilt: 42×52

     I used hand dyed cottons, commercial batiks, hand dyed silk ribbon, embroidery and machine quilting in this quilt. It is a commission that has been around for way too long. I really had trouble with this one. And it came down to the fact I just don’t like browns -it was hard for me. (and me procrastinating) A lot of stalls along the way waiting for our schedules to coincide for approval. (and me procrastinating) But once I got past that and did exactly what my friend wanted, it came together. She is happy with it and will be excited to have it. Actually-when she saw it last week she said it rocks. And her being happy with it is the only thing that  mattered. Because it’s hers.

     I learned quite a bit from this process. 1. I was able to work with a color that was not my favorite. 2. I always underestimate how long it actually takes to complete a quilt from start to finish. 3. As long as they stay true to what I like design wise, I can do a commission and be satisfied with my results. And get paid for it.

  
      My yardwork is done too and now I am just going to enjoy a cup of coffee in my rocking chair on the porch. I can’t tell you how good I feel that this is DONE.

Happy Sewing, my friends!

Beach

     We went to the beach yesterday for a party. Water is so relaxing and the breeze was just so soft. It reminded me of the colors in one of my little woven pieces from the cloth to cloth workshop from Jude Hill. (I am sad I didn’t join in to play on the class blog!) So I added a little bit of sun.

     And there was more sun to save for later.

     On a cloudy lazy day like today, sewing seems like a good thing to do. I am adding some handwork to my friend’s quilt. Then on to the binding and sleeve on a pretty big piece. I have promised it to her this weekend.

Happy sewing, my friends!

Slower Things

     I will show you some more pictures of my Nancy Crow workshop piece but not until it is done. I am working on two things this week. One is my commission piece and I am still machine quilting. My goal was to have it done by the 15th. We’ll see….I told her the 24th bit it would be nice to have it done sooner.

     I am also taking an online class called cloth to cloth workshop with Jude Hill. It was a five week class on developing this cloth weaving with raw edge pieces and this is the last week. Tearing, weaving, layering and hand stitching the piece before the piece is embellished. I haven’t been much of a completer but did little samples so I could have the techniques down. She has prepared great little videos for us and a blog to post your work. All the videos files have been put into PDF files so we can download it and keep it in notebook for reference.

     So why not just buy a book and save some money? (Or better yet take a book out of the library and not spend any money). 60$ versus a 25$ book? Well, I am a visual learner. I need to see someone do the technique and then I can do it. But the format that she has set up of a blog to post your work and ask questions is really worthwhile. She has spent a massive amount of time answering questions and responding to people’s work. Each person has interpeted the work differently so it inspires you.

     It was well worth it and she is a great teacher as well as talented person. I can’t wait to spend time with these techniques. A nice small project size and something to use up all the scraps I seem to be accumulating. Recycling-I love this. And the process of hand stitching is really relaxing for me.

Only crazy people take blog pictures with the birds chirping before 7:15 am! And I will need to be a little crazier than usual in order to keep working this summer.

Happy Sewing, my friends!

Waiting

     I have waited for today for three weeks. I knew things were going to be busy so my expectations were very low for what I would accomplish in the me aspect of my life-the sewing part of me.I tucked it away while I did the fun stuff with them and enjoyed every minute of it. I didn’t want to wish my time away with end of the year kid stuff but the carrot at the end was-today. A day when I could sit and sew and they could play outside and just have fun in the sun.

     Except when I went to sew, I had machine problems. Once again. I must deal with my machine issues( I don’t know how yet but I think a trade-in is warranted!) and -my really sore neck. I don’t know what I did to it! Ouch!

     In all my mental confusion from all these classes and information overload, maybe I have driven myself crazy. I do know one thing from this temporary break from sewing.

     I am not one bit happy unless I sew. Every day. I miss the process . Having something in my hands-be it machine or handwork is a part of me. I knew it before. But it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad art, it’s just not me without it. I really have struggled with whether what I do or will do is good enough lately. But it doesn’t matter if it is good enough for anyone but me. Because I just need to sew to be me.

     So, tomorrow on our three hour drive to a soccer finals game -you know I will have sewing in my hands. Because, I am not driving there.

     I might need some serious Aleve or Advil though. I am back.

Happy sewing, my friends!

    

    

    

A Good Weekend

     It was a great weekend. We drove to Indianapolis for my son’s soccer tournament. It was crazy in Indy as it was the weekend for the Indy 500. The town was celebrating! The weather was steamy-90 and humid. Our team made it to the finals but lost 1-0. The boys weren’t really disappointed just happy to get off the hot fields-so were we! We were able to visit with my brother and sister-in-law too.

(He’s so grown up already-no more baby face).

We drove home and spent some time in the yard trying to get caught up on Monday. A bad storm early Monday left us with out power all day. My early summer flowers are really pretty now.

     And finally, after a long month of learning, I went to sew. I first ironed some of my class samples from our day of discharge dyeing at the Velda Newman class. It was fairly easy techniques using bleach.

Just used masking tape on these samples.

Freezer paper templates.

Paintbrush, dipping directly into it, etc. Just playing.

I am working on finishing a quilt I am actually getting paid for this week. At least that is my goal! And it’s the last week of school. I can hardly wait to have them be done. I just wanna play!

Happy Sewing, my friends!