Another Bag

I'm getting ready for a trip and decided that I just had to make this bag ... well, it's been on my to-do list for quite some time ... I originally wanted it as a 'quilt' delivery tote.  And then this trip came up and voila!!!   This is big enough to carry my clothes and toiletries and lots of other must-have-can't-do-without-stuff ... might even be able to throw in a project or two! 

My manta is (and has been for quite some time) ... the first one is always the hardest ... and it sure is true with this bag.  I'm pretty sure I'll not make another one like it.  I did learn a lot and maybe that's the secret.  With each item I make or quilt I learn something new.   Like I really don't like how the bottom was installed on this one ... or the handles ... I'd really change those up.

Anyway, it's not in my 'colors' but I do like it.  I bought this fabric this time last year while on my yearly trip so decided to use it and surprise my friends later this week ... "Look what I did with that fab fabric we bought last year!"  Cool beans...

Big Projects, Small Projects

I have spent a lot of time lately quilting some very big quilts.  Here's one that went home yesterday.  It is B-I-G!!!  So big that there is no way I can get a full picture.

This is a southwestern quilt that just works!  I love all the fabrics and that black inner border just sets it off!  Great job piecing also.  Have I mentioned how blessed I am by the excellent piecers that cross my path?  Makes my job so so so much easier.

While visiting the Georgia Quilt show I came across a vendor who specializes in purses and Japanese fabric.  I have a boat-load of Japanese fabric that I get from Primitive Gatherings and I've been wondering how I was going to use it.  I know there is a quilt that I want to do, but I came across this cutie-patootie purse pattern and grabbed it.  And today put it together ... the hardest part being "Which fabric do I want to sacrifice for this purse?"  THAT is always the hardest part, isn't it?  Anyway, this is very very subdued for me, but I like it.  I added the Asian buttons, and then put some bling on the embroidered flowers.  Cute!  

Sometimes it's just about the right tools ...

Sometimes it's just about the right tools ... 

Currently I'm working with the Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons and this fabric is absolutely wonderful to play with IF you treat it with respect and use the right tools.  So as I'm working with this I'm thinking about how much I really love some of my basic tools that make playing with this fabric a joy.   Below is a pic of my most POWERFUL TOOLS that make me feel like Super Woman!

Like Magic Sizing.  A spritz of this and the Shot Cottons behave.  I also have Best Press but I've found that it really doesn't do too much.  I was expecting a little stiffness when I use Best Press but it just doesn't happen.   And I won't use regular spray starch because of the residue that starch leaves behind.

Now if you really want to have a POWER rush, grab those green-handled batting scissors!  I can glide through layers of batting without that pesky 'grabbing of batting' at the tips of the scissors.  Love love love these scissors!

Those blue-handled scissors?  Those are Karen Kay Buckley middle size scissors and those stay right by my sewing machines.  Sharp serrated scissors that just feel good in my hand.   I hate having scissors that my fingers get stuck in the handles ... 

That big cone of thread?  When piecing I usually only use one of 3 colors - beige, grey, and black; however, I added this chocolate color and have found that it goes with a lot of my fabrics.  And with these KF Shot Cottons it blends beautifully.  And buying the large cone is cheaper!  

My favorite rotary is the blue KAI rotary cutter.  The blade is never exposed.  When unlocked, the blade will glide through fabric when you apply pressure.  I never have to worry about having an exposed blade, falling rotary cutter cutting my foot, etc., etc.  Just a big safety issue.

See that leather thimble?  I have about 6 of those scattered about the house.  One with my hand-sewing in the family room, one in my tool chest, one with my applique work...you get the picture.  I have found that this leather thimble can be my best friend.  

Another power tool is that blue tin of Iris pins.  Look closely and you'll see 3 of the pins next to the tin.  These are sharp pins that have worked so well with my latest piecing projects.  I started using them with a paper piecing project and then used them with the KF fabrics.  So nice and thin and long.  Love them!

And my latest find is that Beba's Rotating Cutting Mat.  I found them at the local quilt show a couple of weeks ago.  I got this large one and the smaller one.  I use the larger one on top of my cutting table.  I was afraid it would get in the way, but it's been a real Power tool.  I can cut pieces on this board and it doesn't 'rock' or become unbalanced when cutting and rotating.

So that's how I feel like Super Woman when I start cutting fabric for a new project,  sit down to piece, or cutting batting for a large quilt.  

Super Woman had her tools and we have ours too!  

So content ... or should that be Sew Content?

First of all, big news!   I just celebrated my 10th year in remission!!!  September 27th is my celebration date.  Ten years!  WOW!  I remember looking at my husband 10 years ago and saying, "One of these days we'll look back on this time and know why this is happening."   And yes, indeed, we have looked back on that span of time and marveled at how gracious God can be!  I'm truly blessed in more ways than one!

Sooooo ....  Max is not feeling well and we are waiting for a part to be delivered.  

And while waiting for that part, I've been busy doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  

So some pictures of a little kit I made.  

So here we go ... it's kit time!  Thanks for the idea, Tina!

 Cutest little kit ever!  Most of it is hand-stitched.  

OMG!  Wait!  Wait!   Are those hexies???  Good grief ...  

 See that 'flower' shape to the left ... that flips over to the front and snaps onto the right-hand-side flower.

The 'top' flower is flipped to the back in this picture.  Several pockets to hold scissors, marking pens, glue, whatever ... and then the little tins have blue pin cushion, green needle catcher, and a 2nd tin to hold whatever else you need.  Just too cool!

Some more eye candy ...

Here are some more pics of quilts I've done lately.  Enjoy!

 It's getting to be that time of year again!
This is a cute Christmas panel ... it's nice to be able to take a panel and make it into a wonderful quilt or wall-hanging!  Good job!

And this is Swoon ... aptly named, isn't it?

 And here's a great Peacock panel surrounded by large blocks of beautiful jewel tone colors.  I like this one!

What's Old is New again ...

Have you been bitten by the "Hexie" craze?  Well, I have (and we won't say another word about THAT) ... but I got to work on a REAL hexie quilt!  What a beauty!

I recently had the pleasure of helping restore a somewhat vintage Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt ... member's of Debbie's family have been working on this since the 1960's!  And it turns out it's 100"x80" ... that is a whole lotta hexies!

Debbie brought this beauty to me and asked if I could make it whole.  She had a list of names of women who had worked on this top over the years.  And for as many hands that have touched this quilt top, it is in marvelous shape.  

The top is completely hand-stitched and hand-quilted, so my job was not to quilt the top, but to bring it all together into a real quilt.

Evidently the plan had been to take a large sheet and cover it with the gorgeous flowers ... because upon examination I discovered that the flowers did cover the sheet but in some places actually over-ran the sheet.  Hmmm ... I didn't want to take off those flowers that over-ran the sheet, so I found some muslin that matched the sheet.  I sewed a strip of that to the backing and then layered in some thin batting to make it just like the rest of the top.  

And then came the binding ... aaarrrggghhh ... talked with customer and explained that I just couldn't do each and every hexie with binding ... how long would that take and how much $$$ would you want to spend?  So we decided to just trim down the hexies on the side ... we still got that zig-zag effect, not just with every single side hexie.  I found a look-alike fabric for the binding and voila!  We're in business.  

Once the binding was done, I went around the edges and hand-quilted places next to the binding that hadn't been hand-quilted by the ladies through the years.  

And shame on me for not taking pictures, but I made two pillow cases - each with one of the Flowers appliqued on the case.    Pretty pretty pretty!

So, Debbie, thanks for the opportunity and what a gift for your daughter!

Yea!!!  Debbie sent me this pic of one of the pillow cases.  Thanks!

I thought I'd found it ... turned around and it was gone again ...

Geez, May huh?  What the heck happened?   You turn around once or twice and suddenly 45 months have flown by.  

I'm just going to post some pics just to prove that I have been working and not necessarily slacking off ... but since quilting isn't really working-working to me, I've just been having a lot of fun.  

So here goes ...

 This is a modern quilt made with traditional fabrics and I think it looks fabulous!  

 A beautiful quilt for someone's niece!

 I love this take on a traditional quilt.  Love all that white!  Stunning!

Cathy did a great job on this one.  I think she actually transposed the lights and darks which gave it this wonderful artsy look.  

A peek-a-boo baby quilt.  I had to dodge those cutie-patootie flaps.  Cutest baby quilt in America!

I am so blessed to have piecers who are so talented.  This quilt was absolutely spot-on ... not a wiggle to it.  Great job!

This is my own private pile of joy!  I'm in the midst of a Kaffe Fassett quilt using these shot cottons.  LOVE LOVE LOVE working with these beautiful soft cottons.  More to come later ... 

   Isn't this yummy?  Love that yellow!

Beautiful modern-type quilt that is going on someone's bed!  Love the colors and the pattern.

Modern modern modern ... and oh-so-pretty!  Great job, PR!

 And here's her long worked-on red quilt.  Lots and lots of different reds and it all came together beautifully!  My colors!  Another beautiful quilt by PR!

The next two are huge quilts but oh so pretty!  Another perfect piecer which makes my job a bit easier!

Love the teals and browns!  Lovely quilt!

 Twelve months of Snoopy!!!  What a fun fun quilt for someone!

 The next two are Comfort quilts and they are so lovely.  Thanks to Stitchin' Sallies!

And here's the University of GA quilt I made and donated to our local Kiwanis Club to be auctioned off during their annual Golf Tournament.  It found a wonderful UofG home!

Have you seen the other half of my brain?

Geez, I'm just in one of those funny moods.  I decided to take the afternoon off and just do something for myself.

I have collected a bunch of Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons and the Striped Cottons and I just couldn't hold back - I had to get to them, play with them, and start cutting them up.  Picture below ... 

I just wrote a friend that I'm sometimes not sure what it is about 'quilting' that I like because:

          1.  Picking out fabric can be a real PITA, so a lot of times I just go for the cute fat quarter bundles.  And then again, once I find the zone, I can pick out fabrics with the best of you ...

          2.  Ironing the fabric and then cutting the fabric can be tedious.  It has taken me most of the afternoon to just complete one set of cutting directions for this beautiful quilt that I want to piece, just for me ... I'm tired ...

         3.  And reading directions can be a real downer ... do what?  Where?  How the heck do I get that piece to go with that piece?  Criminy ... sometimes I just want to skip over Steps 3 and 4 and get on with Step 5, which always looks more interesting than step 3 ... but I learned early on that the directions are there for a reason ... 

        4.  Making 280 flying geese, or 4-patches, or _______ (fill in the blank - you know what I'm sayng)  is not a challenge (are you listening, Bonnie K. Hunter???), it's a punishment!  I can make flying geese, I can count flying geese, but I guarantee you that at the end of the day I'LL BE SHORT 42 FLYING GEESE!  I've actually accused DH of taking my flying geese ... what the heck would he need 42 flying geese for?  

       5.  Not being Queen of Quilting can be liberating ... I can make up my own rules. 

So what is it about 'quilting' that I like ... the finished product, silly! I have to admit that the journey getting there means a lot to me, even as tedious and as nerve-wracking as that journey can be.   But once I finish the binding and hold that quilt up for inspection I am one pleased piecer!  

Quilting for others is wonderful - I totally love it - however, it means that I don't get to do the "piecing for myself" thing a lot.  And I guess I've been missing that the past couple of days.  

So here's part of my Kaffe Fassett collection ... love those soft pastels ... and the stripes are beautiful!  Can't wait to start putting this one together!  Don't hold your breath, though ... my piecing is SLOW!!!  

Airing of the Quilts from Franklin, North Carolina ... and Cyprus Food

Last year Mr. Dancing Bear surprised me by taking us on a weekend trip to Highlands and Franklin, NC ... two sweet towns right next to each other.  This was to celebrate both our anniversary and it just happened to be Mother's Day by the time he could get the reservations that he wanted ... 

We had such a great time last year that we decided to do it again!  Every Mother's Day Saturday is Airing of the Quilts in Franklin so we wanted to keep our visit on this particular weekend.  We stayed at a local B&B in Franklin this time and traveled over the most windy, twisty road in America to get to Highlands.  Why go over to Highlands, you may ask?  More on that later ...

It may be that I wasn't feeling 100%, but I was somewhat disappointed in the actual airing of the quilts this year.  Last year they had formally displayed some beautiful quilts in the Town Hall and I enjoyed roaming around down there.  There are also quilts all over town, on park benches, in store windows, and on stands placed around the gazebo area and down one street.  These were all very pretty but the ones that caught my eye and made me go closer to actually look were the hand-quilted ones!  So there are still people out there doing some beautiful hand-quilting.  We will definitely go again because I know this is just going to grow and grow and get better each year!  Maybe the addition of some street vendors, food/drink vendors, etc., would help.  

And I did visit both of the quilt stores in town, and came away with bags of goodies from each!  Wheeeee .... I love me a road trip!!!

So on to Highlands, the next town over from Franklin ...

Highlands is a small town just like Franklin, but they are so blessed to have one of the most spectacular restaurants ... Cyprus Restaurant.  The chef picks a theme and uses that theme for a week or a month, whatever ... we will introduced to Koi Phi Phi Cookout, a Thai Open Fire on the Beach.  And keep in mind that I'm not a Thai fan ...  When you walk into the restaurant you are looking right into part of the kitchen and they have displayed the food cooking ... a huge pork roast from which they cut the chops.  And mussels ... and the mango-spiced salad ...  So the first night we both had the rice wine braised pork chop with the mango spiced salad, jasmine rice, and other goodies.  It was absolutely delicious.  And Saturday night we changed it up .... I had the fish topped with finely shaved snow peas, fried garlic, jasmine rise, fresh coconut, and a slightly sweet red curry sauce.  I was afraid of the curry but the waitress assured me it was not the heavy hot curry associated with Thai food.  I sat there while eating, just marveling ... this was the best food I've ever eaten!  What a talent is Chef Nicolas!  We are not "foodies" ... but everything about this eating experience was wonderful.   The service was spot-on without the heavy "everything ok here" or trying to clear away your dish before you are through.  They are great!  The atmosphere is smart, without being smarty-pants, if you know what I mean.  A lot of couples were there, a lot of 4 people parties, and several larger parties, and we all went away with great smiles on our faces!

For dessert, we changed it up both evenings, having the lavender ice cream stuffed between two thin cookies and drizzled with honey ...... and jackfruit sorbet covered with shaved coconut and two small thin cookies.  Yummy!

And then we had company while eating ... look below ...

 This is the fish covered in thinly sliced snow peas, topped by fried garlic .... do you see the fresh coconut on top of the rice ... and that slightly yellowish/red sauce is oh-so-good!  All served on a large banana leaf ...





This is the jackfruit sorbet with the toasted coconut and crispy cookies and orange slices.  Yummy yummy yummy ...

 Yep, that's a black bear just loping along behind the restaurant.  And he is a big one, too!  No one rushed outside to invite him in ....

We think Spring has finally arrived ...

but then again, who knows?  

We have this lovely screened porch and we were able to have dinner on the porch for the first time this past week!  Wheeee ... Spring has Sprung!  And pollen has become the Georgia state irritant ... aaacchhhoooo !!!

I don't have fabulous pictures of the outside flowers and such ... I'm such a mole ... I spend 90% of my time in the studio quilting away, so instead of pictures of flowers I'll share some pictures of quilts!

So here goes ...

 This is Vintage Rouge.  Pieced to perfection, making my job easierl  This is hand-guided using templates and rulers.  Dare I say it?  It was fun!  Once I decided what to do where it went along nicely.  Good job, Debra!

I took full-length pics (see below)  but camera was not cooperating, so that picture is a bit blurry ... I call it my Robert Redford picture ... looks like camera-man smeared vasoline over the lens to 'soften' those old old lines!!!!  

I used Magna-Glide thread on top and a Delights bobbin and it went so smoothly.  Love that Magna-Glide thread!  

BLESSINGS OF SPRING ...

This one is Blessings of Spring, which is/was a BOM. Wanda does fabulous applique and I had a great time playing with this one.    Again, I used a Magna-Glide thread on top with Delights bobbin.  I get such great tension with my machine that I don't worry about having to match top and bottom thread.  I will use two different colors knowing that I'm not going to have tension issues with my machine.  Love my machine!!

This quilt is now hanging in Tiny Stitches - they are doing this as a BOM this year and didn't have the sample ready so Wanda agreed that they could hang this one (sans binding) for a while in order to show how beautiful this  BOM is going to be.  Congratulations, Wanda!  I love love this quilt!

Every so often you get a customer that just sews up the most adorable quilt tops and Cathy is one of those special people.  She did this Beach Theme quilt for a soon-to-be-here grandbaby!  It is adorable!  I played with it and just kept it simple and trying not to step on her beautiful appliques.

And this is a double-knit top that was pieced by someone's grandma ... and customer wanted it finished to actually put on a bed.  So I added the borders and then put that bad boy on the machine and Swirled it!  It's true, double-knit will grow and grow ... you have to corral that stuff so that you don't get those overly-friendly borders.  This one took a long time to do because of having to find cotton fabric that went with that 60's polyester.  And then all that cotton fabric had to be washed (including the backing) before sewing.  I'm glad she sent me the picture ... I love seeing pictures of where the quilts I've touched are finally resting ... 

 And this is a University of Georgia quilt that I'm donating to a local group for auction.  Benefits will go to benefit local Children's organizations.  I have put a reserve price on this quilt ... if it doesn't auction successfully, I know several people who will purchase. I'm in the middle of Dawg country, y'know!!!!

 So that's about it!  I've been busy!  There are other quilts done and gone but this is enough for now.  

Happy Spring, y'all!