Progress...

Just a few things going on.

Typical.





BBD Easter Parade progress, I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.



Our guild's quilt show is coming quickly so am finishing up some of the quilts that I entered. This baby is a montrous 102" X 102", am hoping to hand stitch the binding at a pace of one side a night when I can, so this will be done by the end of August. Crossing fingers.




Hubby in the kitchen cooking. And he wonders why I need to be absent when he's there.





He just doesn't get it, I spend more time wiping up after him, closing doors and putting things away that it drives me nuts. There, that explains that.




Oh well, my man can at least cook! lol

Enjoy your blessings,

Jane

wow, Wow and WOW!

What a fantastic quilt artist! My good friend Trudy has a friend that was having a gallery showing in Brandon, Vt and thought I would be interested in seeing her works. She was right. Friday was a girl friend road trip day to visit this exhibit and a couple others showing her work, besides stopping by her studio as well as more stops along the way, wherever we wanted or were drawn to. What a great Day and the artist, JUDITH REILLY is absolutely fantastic. What a talented quilter, artist besides a very gracious lady.

Another like minded friend, Sue along with Trudy and moi left early Friday morning packed with our picnic lunches, enthusiasm, and with the sole intent of visiting Judith Reilly's exhibits. OF course a road trip also includes little stops along the way. The first stop was at Knits and Bolts. I stumbled upon a sale of Accuquilt Go! dies at 40% off. YIKES! They are never on sale and though they didn't have the particular dies I really, really want, I was able to increase my assortment of dies with that discounted price. WHat a nice surprise, I am feeling very contented at this point.

The dies I would like to get next are the Funky Flower, Tulip, stems and leaves, Rob Peter to Pay Paul, and Winding Ways. It will be after I finish my quilts for the guild's show that my intention is to play with my Accuquilt Go! and cut the rag squares for a quilt in my UFO pile. I really need to get some "hands on" time and play with my toy. I can see how this purchase will help out and speed up my creativity. With the back issues, many times cutting is a difficulty for me and this will be a huge help and hopefully keep pain in check besides the speed up the time when cutting up my scraps for humpjumping.

Of course both Trudy and Sue found a bit to bring home with them as well, even though neither are into the Accuquilt Go! yet. Our next stop was in Brandon Vt. We found a museum/visitor center with a picnic area on the lawn, so we took a nice lunch break and stretched out our legs, found out about the area and where all these exhibits were happening.

Continuing along our journey, Judith Reilly's studio was next and she was there. Heaven! Her works of art are so detail specific with just a touch of whimsey that I loved each piece. Each one seen I loved and yet the next viewed I loved just a tad more than the previous one. Absolutely stunning works of art. So for your viewing pleasure peeps, I present to you just a few of her pieces.





Judith was so gracious to us and gave us a private tour of her studio (where the magic happens). She answered every question we asked and even gave us a glimspe of the steps she does to create her works. WOW! How diverse and talented. She frames her own pieces too, amazing!



This is Judith with a little friend she made. Can you say Multi-talented! The next snapshots are of the piece of fabric she played on while we were there and a little something I purchased.



It was going back into her gallery and gift shop that I honored my "non-smoking anniversary" gift to myself with yet again with an original art work piece. I call it "Amongst Friends" but I need to write to her and see what title she has for the piece. Thank you Judith. I left her studio feeling so thankful and glad and inspired to try out some of her steps.

Our journey continued and we visited two additional galleries. The Brandon Artist Guild where many talented artists had samples of their passions. Besides Judith's work there I also found a silver artist that made the most original pieces of jewelry, Meg something (I'll have to find her business card and insert her last name later). She might be able to give a class on her technique sometime in the future, so Trudy and I both left her our names and contact info. Hopefully, we will be able to learn her steps. Of course being a gallery, photo's were not allowed, so I can't share the wonderful sights seen there.

Next up was the Gallery in the Field just north of Brandon. Yet again more gorgeous works of art. The space was amazing and the artwork displayed beautiful. Some of Judith Reilly's older pieces were visible there besides the newer ones and the development of her art was evident.




All in all, it was a fantabulous day. Thank you Trudy and Sue for sharing your day with me. This journey of ours made for a long day, but one I will cherish and remember fondly.



While traveling back home, a peculiar sight we encountered along the way just near Ferrisburg, Vt. Ollie the camel bearing witness to our journey.




Thank You Judith for all your inspiration. And as she would say, Follow your instincts and enjoy your journey or "Whatever blows your hair back".

Jane

Update, new challenge,

After my Mom visiting I realized that perhaps I could list parts of my projects and try to complete them in stages by imposing my own fab four every Friday. I had seen this idea before out in blog land and I don't know whose it was but it may help me in my creative endeavors. So last week I wrote out 4 projects I wanted done or specific steps on certain projects completed by this Friday.

To date I have 2 off my list. The first is one of the Ott light bags that Mom and I started on the last day she was here. I had found a pattern on the web at:

cqmagonline.com/vol03iss04/articles/368/index.shtml

I used it as a reference but drew up a pattern and thought it through several times. I ended up cutting a large rectangle and then cut out the top center area leaving two rectangles attached towards the outside portion. Oh no, take that back, that was the first prototype thought through.

I actually had a large rectangle and then cut out two rectangles off each top outside section.
Serged around the whole perimeter.
Sewed the one seam from the top of the bag to the bottom and then I top stitched both sides of that seam for a little detail. That part was a bit fussy but to me it was worth the effort of squeezing the bag cylinder under my Number 10 foot a bit at a time.
Sewed the bottom seam, then sewed the gussets into the the bottom corners.
Made a 1-1/4" single fold binding and sewed that on the inside of the bag, then after flipping the binding over the raw edge, top stitched that by machine to the outside.
Made a handle and then attached it to the back, just behind the flip over top. Sewed them in place.
Velcro fastenings for the closure with the top one covered with a complimentary button and VOILA!



An Ott Light Bag that helped me bust 1/2 yard of prequilted fabric and cross one of my FFF (Fab Four Friday's) off my list.

Another step to Miss Shabby Chic's Bird BOM was stitched, another FFF met.



This last snap is of an apron I completed a couple of months ago, but never wrote about it here. I fell in love with this fabric while shopping at Yankee Pride Quilt Shop in Essex Junction, Vt just before the VQF show and thought it would be nice to update my apron. Quite of a few of my aprons get so stained that I hope to keep this one tidier. I really love this one.


That's it for now. I hope to be back perhaps Satuday night and share the other 2 FFF I wish to have completed by this Friday, even though when I scheduled these I didn't know I be running into town more often! My schedule is a bit heavy. Despite DH finishing his cardiac rehab last Friday he now has injured his back and it's daily trips to town to keep his appointmkents for that. AS Rosanna Roseanna Danna used to say "If it's not one thing, it's another". Oh well, I continue to count my (our) blessings.

Jane

Good Morning

As previouosly mentioned on another post, I finished Cheryl's nephew's quilt and snapped a shot but never gave you a glimpse at the finished top. Here it is.



That's all of the quilt I could get from laying it on our bed, grrr! the effort of living in a samll home! Another friend, Carole is doing the machine quilting on her gammill named Penelope. I do promise to show you a better shot of it after I bind it when it comes back, so that is one more project hanging o'er my lil' head.

I've been remiss in my blogging lately, so I offer you my apologies. No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, just have been real busy. My Mom was up north visiting for 6 weeks as you know and I brought her to the airport last week. That woman can really get so much done. She accomplishes so much and I have always marveled at her time schedulings and things she completes. She has lists of what she wants done by whichever dates and meets those self inflicted deadlines consistently. This last visit I had as Oprah would say an ah ha! moment. She is a task quilter while I on the other hand am a process quilter. Her satisfaction is when she completes a task. It drives her to continue to the next step. Now me, I'm liking the process so I'll putter away on the project and love my time spent while doing it, not hurriedly get through it just to get to the next stage of the project.
With the grandkids here and chaffeuring DH since his medical problem, I would get the next fabics cut for a couple of projects we worked on together before heading out the door. Between feeding the grandkids, getting myself ready for a trip to town 3 days a week, plus all the erands and business to-dos while there and then meals, besides measuring and cutting fabric for Mom to have something for her to do while we were gone, are you getting the picture. It's a wonder I kept my "calm" sanity and didn't start barking orders like a mad woman to get my list of to dos done!
Anyhow, all the projects she brought North with her were completed so we looked at some baby quilt "kits" I had in and thought we could finish a couple baby tops before she had to leave. We worked on those together. She did all the pinwheel piecing and assembled the centered parts. I did the measuring, cutting, fudging how to come up with more panel fabric and only some border assembling. The result. FOUR BABY quilt tops made!

So Peeps - for your viewing pleasure the tops that I actually found time and backings for, that I layered yesterday while DH was at rehab. I'll let you in on a little secret I did. Shhhh! In one of the medical buildings close to DH's rehab, the hospital has 2 conference rooms with tables already set up. I know this because we used one during rehab. for a stress management class AND because any time it rained and I didn't walk the city streets I used the stairs and walked hallways so I saw how often thsoe rooms were empty. Another ah ha moment, bring in the pressed tops, batting and backing and spray baste my quilts there instead of my usual moving furniture, laying them out on the living room floor and doing it on my knees.
A VOILA!





Four quilts basted! Would you believe I had 2 of the same baby kits and I purchased a couple of yards of complimentary fabric for them at the time ( I was thinking of backing) and all 4 of these quilts were made out of that. We made them even larger than the pattern thanks to some stash diving and getting other complementary fabric to make the first borders for all of them. AND I still ahve enough fabric to make one more baby quilt, albeit it will have to be a different pattern, time will tell. I'll tackle that AFTER I get these quilted, finish the UFO's I wanted to work on but slid to the side to enjoy time with Mom and of course besides finish two quilts I entered into our guild quilt show coming up in October. The patience corners and my C.O.C. (Cadyville Orange Crush). Eeeeks! I just threw myself into a panic, best get my butt moving.

Ta Ta For Now,
Jane