Mr. DeVille, I'm Ready For My Closeup

At long last I have a couple of quilts to photograph. They are not the best pictures I have ever taken. I was in such a hurry to finally get photos of these quilts, that I went ahead and took the photos even though it was a sunny day (which I prefer it to be cloudy), and worse yet, it was windy. I will get some better ones when the weather cooperates better, but here they are.

Burgeoning Springtime:

See how the right side of the center block looks washed out? That is my friend Mr. Sun at work.

Hoopla:

I have also been hard at work writing patterns for both of these quilts. I decided to give myself a new challenge when I wrote these. Instead of just using Microsoft Word for the writing, and hand drawing the little figures, I am laying out the pattern, and doing the drawings in InDesign. I have never done this before, and I will confess, it has been a bumpy road, as using a new computer program always is. Hopefully, I will get good at it one day.

I have also been helping my friend Eleanor start up a booth at an antique store. I have been helping her gather, clean, and arrange items. So far I think her booth looks really pretty. It is booth #165 in a place called Gigi's in Griffin GA. Here are a couple of photos of what she has put together so far:
 

 That, and a little bit of getting ready for retreat, is what I have been up to lately. I hope you are having a pleasant January. Another month is almost here! Thanks for stopping by!

Hitting the Ground Running for the First Weeks of 2017

They go by so fast! Here is what I have been up to since the first of the year.

I have been working on finishing the 3 quilts I got back from Regina, late last year, adding bindings, labels, and sleeves. That is pretty pleasant and relaxing when you are tired, and brain dead. Especially after you get the machine sewing part done. I should have some finished quilt pictures done before too much longer. 

I am also getting ready to go on a quilt retreat with some of my very favorite people in the world. Hooray! Hooray!

Quilts I want to work on at retreat:

 

It is time for this quilt to get done, especially since it only has 16 rows left before it is there. I am really looking forward to seeing it finished, but I work on it less than others because it is less portable than the next quilts I will tell you about.  

 I have started another quilt in my Jacob's Ladder series. Or as I like to call them: "Quilts comprised entirely of HST and four patches". Now THAT is portable. During the holidays, I cut out my pieces, and paired them with a mate. I have been sewing the units together in the evenings, when I am tired. Then, when I go to visit friends, I carry a box of the units, with a small, portable ironing board, and iron, and sit and press, as we chat. I already have all of the HST done. When I get the four patch strips pressed, I will have to cut them into 2 units, then sew the center seam to make a four patch.

 

Here is my Drawing.

The colors of this quilt make me think of a rose garden. I want to make as many HST and four patches as possible before retreat, and start building the blocks at retreat, where I know I will have large blocks of sewing time.     

By the way, here is a curious question. Do you notice that my text is centered in this portion of the post? It is not because I think that it is artistic. I have been trying everything I can think of for the last 15 minutes to get it to justify to the left. I have pushed the text down from the quilt photo above. I have gone up to the icon and clicked the left justify button at least 50 times by now. I even justified the quilt photo to the left, hoping the text would follow along. No dice!!! If anyone knows what this is about, I would love to know! For some reason this blog post is just not a left justifying frame of mind.Go figure!

I have also been trying to sew together some strip sets for the remake of this quilt.

 Okay, so the photos will justify to the left, but the text will not, maybe later?

Keep calm and carry on.

What else have I been doing the last couple weeks? Working on my technological skills. Can't you tell? I did successfully add a tab to the top of this blog that shows my speaking and teaching schedule for the year so far. I also added the rest of my quilts, classes, and patterns to my stand alone website:quiltdesignsbycandace.com

As with so many things lately, it took a day and a half to figure out how to do it, and then another half day to actually do it, but I did it.Yippee! That is one thing I can check off my New Year's goals list. 

I have edited my guild program. I had to move some things around since I added some new quilts. 

I have written 3 Youtube video scripts, and spent some time watching Youtube videos about how to make Youtube videos. I confess, I am a bit nervous about getting the editing right, not to mention, having to see myself on camera.  I don't even like to hear myself on tape!

I have started writing the first of several patterns that need to get written. I have sworn that I an going to learn to use InDesign, or something similar, so I can use the computer to draw the figures, instead of doing that by hand. At the rate things are going, that should be exciting.

So that is what I have been working on. I Hope the first few weeks of 2017 have been good to you, and you are accomplishing what you want to get done. Maybe by next post I will be able to justify to the left again! Check back and find out.

Thanks for stopping by!