Birthday Greetings

On the Salmon River, it has been a tradition to make group gifts for the milestone years. Our sweet and super creative friend, Sue Anderson, who lives up at Yellow Pine Bar Ranch with her companion Greg Metz, will be turning 50 on Earth day this year. The group effort is to make prayer flags for Sue to hang in her awesome garden. Last year I mended some tattered prayer flags for Sue. I am so excited to see the finished group effort and I wish I could see Sue's face when she opens the grand surprise. Here are my/our flags: They have a 3/4 inch sleeve for stringing. Bells will be hung between the flags. Mine are 6 " x 8 " and faced with muslin for durability. It was quilted with black metallic thread to catch the sunlight. The hanging beads were found at a thrift shop, the pieced suns were from a long ago retreat, and the letter beads have been waiting in my craft box for oh so long... I am quite pleased with the result.

Does She Sing?

I am still working on defining my style. I love bold colors. I love large scale prints. I almost always toss in a scrap or two, even on the most unscrappy quilt. I love old patterns and new, artsy statements. I like combining colors to get that resonance, the feeling that the quilt shines and is wonderful. I like a challenge, to try new color combinations, a style I haven't tackled before, something that will be original. I also like making useful quilts that are not exciting, just comforting. This little wall hanging came to me via my sister. She picked up 6 old blocks from a bin at a thrift store. They are hand pieced and look to be 30's fabrics. Not reproductions. They are probably dirty and are also stained. They colors looked dingy and frankly, ugly. They had remnants of yarn ties. I challenged myself to put them together in a manner that made them sing. I have not read Mary Mashuta's color theories, but I did learn some color theory from her identical twin, Roberta Horton. Maybe it is intrinsic at this point. I auditioned a lot of colors before finding the old fabric and some mustardy neutrals that did the trick. The little sashing with faded print was part of a woven piece that stated, "made in Persia." Granted, that could be printed anytime and doesn't guarantee authenticity, but my research showed that real, old fabric from Persia was likely made before 1935. I'll add that little label, appliqued to the front.What do you think, does she sing to you?

Fresh Modern February Finish

This month's project for the Lovely Year of Finishes Challenge was a baby quilt for my great niece, Lauren Olivia Jensen, born in May 2012. Her modern mommy decorated the nursery in grey, lavender, and light green. My challenge was to create a baby quilt in those colors, in a very simple and modern pattern. I made a first try in a busy pattern called "X- Block" using floral jelly strips. It did not look good. Way too busy. I seldom throw fabric away, but this went in the garbage. I put the project idea in time out during the holiday sewing frenzy. This finishing challenge pushed me to get er done. So, here it is: I hope she likes it.

February First

I have been sewing up a storm around here. I have cleaned the lint from my sewing machine so often that I actually lost my lint brush. True story, it fell into my machine through an opening, and try as I might, it won't come out. I thought I heard it fall out when I turned the machine upside down and shook it, but I can't find it on the floor. Unless it fell into a crevice between the OSB and the insulation, it is stuck in the machine innards. The machine seems to work as well as ever.

Here is my first February UFO, for the Lovely Year of Finishes Contest:

 My challenge was to make a baby quilt in lavender, grey, and light green. The baby this is intended for, Lauren Olivia Jensen, was born last spring, that is, 2012.

From Mary Hickey's book, "Sweet and Simple Baby Quilts."

I decided to make two quilts and offer one on my etsy shop.

Here are the tops, ready to baste and then quilt. I found some vintage (read, old) pale eggplant purple for the inner border, and the outer grey border is an African fabric from Bozeman, MT, circa 1996.

Comforting Little Kids

Hurricane Sandy turned much of the east coast upside down over the holidays. Out here, without TV or newspapers, unless we see it on the internet, we miss it. The impact is lessened without TV's barrage. One organization I am involved with, Operation Kid Comfort, was shut down for several months. They team with the YMCA to provide small photo quilts for kids who have a parent in active duty military service. I agreed to sew up quilts for a family with 4 little kids. This has been a great oportunity to use up some quilt blocks that have been in serious time out, some for years. Here are the tops with photos attached. After I finish blogging I will start the quilting.

This one is for David, age 5.

This one is for John, age 3.

Here is the quilt for Rebecca, age 4.

And, this one is for Sara, age 6.












The backs are flannel, pieced from scraps. I keep lots of batting on hand since I can't get to town very often, so I was able to cut 4 pieces from a new roll. Oddly, after using the blocks, the borders, batting, and backing flannel, my fabric totes are still full. it is like scooping a bucket full out of the ocean. No diffeence apparent in the total. Hmmmm.

It's Still Good

   My daughters say that my motto is, "it's still good." I am frugal. Which is maybe synonymous for a quilt maker. At least, it once was true. Many quilters buy all new fabrics for a quilt project, and if they don't have enough, try very hard to find the identical match. Not me.
   I love scrappy quilts. I love the odd piece that is different. I have learned a lot about colors and my preferences by having to make do with what I have. Living in the back country where the nearest quilt shop is 45 miles away, and even a trip to the post office to pick up my internet order is inconvenient, I HAVE to make do. My quilts show my make do style, my personal flair.
   I have challenged myself to use colors I don't like. I have taken prints I think are boring and paired them with something surprising to end up with a quilt I am in love with. I try new piecing techniques as a palette cleanser after a long day of sewing. This is how I stay fresh with my quilting.
   Here I am, making do with some batting scraps from my sister: piecing them together for charity quilts.

I used to sew them by hand with a stitch I learned suturing skin when I was a nurse practitioner. Now, I like to sew batting the fast way: with a zig-zag stitch on my little Swedish work horse.

   Do you like to make do?

Sounds Like Fun!

After a challenging session with the free motion feature of my sewing machine, I switched to a fun and easy play project. I have 3 Tammis Keefe place mats that were a wedding gift for my mom, who got married in 1955. My sister gave them to me some years ago when I was thinking about making a linen quilt. That idea has been abandoned. So, I decided to use these little gems for a table runner, ala this link..

Chai approves.

I looked up Tammis Keefe and found out she was a designer in the middle of the last century. Her colors and drawings were whimsical and charming. You can check out lots of her fun designs here.  

The dark blue fabric around the place mats is Japanese, little frogs on lily pads, also from my sister.

And now, the reason for the title of this post:  I woke up early this morning, and was thinking about getting up. Mike started talking in his sleep, which he does often. He said, " good idea. Sounds like fun. By God, that sounds like FUN!" I started laughing and woke him up. He couldn't recall what he was talking about, but it still has me chuckling.