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!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has been having a lovely holiday season!

Now that the New Year is almost here, my thoughts are drawn to what I can do to make the most of the coming year.

For a couple of years now, I have wanted improve my technological skills. Navigating the digital world has not come very naturally to me. A couple of years ago, I felt completely lost. Then I learned that you can find videos on how to do almost anything imaginable on YouTube. That helped some. I have since discovered https://www.creativelive.com/

They have classes geared towards people who are trying to pursue some type of creative endeavor. There are always many classes about photography. I have learned many things about my digital camera that I never knew. There are also a lot of classes on using Adobe Suite programs, and different aspects of digital marketing for creative people. I have always wanted to figure out how to add computer drawn figures to my patterns, instead of the hand drawn figures I have been doing. That way it would be easier for me to sell a digital copy of my patterns if someone prefers that to a hardcopy. The classes there are quite meaty. They are not too expensive, and there are lots of sales. Also, they always have about 6 classes you can watch for free. But, to see them for free, you have to watch them when they are on, like old style broadcast TV. To watch them on YOUR time schedule, you have to pay for them.

So here are some goals I am planning to work on for 2017:

1. Synchronize imagery in my blog, FaceBook page, Website, Pintrest, and Etsy site. Notice the new banner?

2. Add rest of my quilts to my Website.

3. Learn InDesign, and use it to layout patterns, and add illustrations to those patterns.

4. Start a YouTube channel-I already have several quilting related video ideas. First I am gonna have to learn to make and edit a video. Before I do that, I probably going to have to get rid of this pesky cold. 

5. Make an email newsletter so I can let people know when I have uploaded a new video, have a new pattern, or quilt. 

6. I have always wanted to write a book, but my quilt designs tend to be pretty varied, and I struggle with tying enough of the together with a cohesive concept. I might try to write an ebook. That way I can experiment, and not be restrained by a publisher's idea of what will sell.

7. I want to add projection to my trunk show. Sometimes I want to show a quilt I no longer have to make a point. It would be really nice to be able to project a photo of a quilt I no longer have on hand. 

8. Last I hope to be a better, more consistent blogger in 2017. 

So that is what I will be striving for in 2017. What will you be working on? I would love to hear what your goals are. 

Here are some quilts I finished in 2016:

Sand and Sea Glass-complete

Hoopla-pieced and quilted, still needs binding hand stitched, sleeve added, and photographed

Burgeoning Spring-likewise, piecing, quilting, and binding machine attached, but I still need to sew the hand sewn side, add the sleeve, and photograph it.  

Ablaze-pieced and quilted, partially bound, but still needs binding hand sewn, sleeve, and to be photographed. I have also added a boarder since this photo was taken.

 
 Dresden plate-I haven't gotten it quilted or named, but the top is done. It will probably be the first to get quilted in 2017!



Baby quilt for Dori-completed and delivered.

Baby quilt for Madelyn- shame on me, I finished this quilt, but forgot to photograph it. In a year when I have so few finishes, I am not about to exclude it anyway!

I hope you all had a good 2016, and best wishes for all of us for a 2017 filled with good times, good friends, and good quilty fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Road Trip

Life is oh so good when you have the unexpected pleasure of being invited to a last minute trip to the mountains in the middle of the long hot summer.

My dear friend Eleanor, who I had a sewing play date with last week was the instigator. Her adult daughter, Emily is starting back to school this week (she is an ESOL teacher). They decided they wanted to do a girls only weekend trip, and since Emily was starting school this week, we decided to do it while we could, and head out to the north GA mountains on Friday, with just a couple of days notice. Mary Beth, who I have been friends with for years, but Eleanor has been friends with since grade school, rounded out our group. New friends are wonderful, but there is something really special about doing things with people you have known for years and years. I have been friends with Eleanor since college, I met Mary Beth through Eleanor soon after I met Eleanor. I have known Emily since she was born. 

Highlights of the trip included several lovely meals, a well contested Scrabble game, a shopping trip to Blue Ridge, where I found this cute little dress on sale. I couldn't pass it up. It feels like wearing air, it is so comfortable!

We also had a movie night, some hot tub time, and an afternoon of art making, in which they all painted. Since I am not much of a painter, I sorted a big bag of scraps by size.

Here are some photos from our trip. I wish I had thought to photograph the paintings. Maybe I will be able to get a shot of them in the future, once they get a little further along on them.

The view off our deck

Eleanor, Mary Beth, and Emily on the deck

The view down on the dining area from the sleeping loft

The view down on the living room from the sleeping loft

When I got home, I made a back for this quilt.

This is the fabric I used.

So now that quilt is ready to go to the quilter!

That is what I have been up to. Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Reboot

Gosh it's been a long time!

Last winter I had 2 temp jobs. One I had to get up at 4:30 am for. I am not a morning person, and at the end of the day, my brain was so scrambled that I could barely write my own name, let alone a coherent blog post.

It has been a busy first half of 2016. Rugs to weave, teaching jobs and trunk shows hither, thither and yon, other trips and retreats. At times I went months with out even seeing my sewing machine (except and retreat-thank goodness for retreats!).  Through all of that, I totally got out of the blogging habit. Just as bad, I got out of the habit of taking photos when I WAS sewing. When I did take photos, uploading, and editing photos became an obstacle. But, I finally, finally got some photos uploaded and organized. 

Back in November, (shamefully, 2 whole posts ago) I wrote about starting 2 new quilts, and using them as leaders and enders for each other. Since I have to begin somewhere, let's begin with those quilts. They are both completed tops now. 

This first one is already at the quilter's.

This is the quilt that was inspired by seeing the new leaves come out in the spring, and the way they look against the clear, bright blue sky, and older, darker leaves and evergreens.

I had made a couple quilts using one of these motifs in the center, see those quilts here but I wanted to try a quilt that used several blocks. I was initially planning to make 12 blocks and lay them out 3 by 4, with no border, but as I was making it, I decided that it needed a border.

The other is a just a top, but I still have to make the back.

Again, I wanted to try this motif in repeat. 


 This is the first quilt I made using this motif.

  I also finished my Dresden Plate quilt top. It still needs a back also. I will have to feed these quilts to the quilter gradually, so I can pay for the quilting. I don't have great photo of this top yet, but I did snap a quick shot when it was on the floor.

So, that is what I have been up to lately. Thanks for stopping by!

Trying Out A New Idea

Lately, I have been feeling like I am living in that TV commercial that says: Life comes at you fast. Fortunately, I have been doing many fun things that I should be blogging about. Unfortunately, I have been a very poor job of getting photos, either because I didn't have my camera, of phone handy, or I did, and it wasn't charged, or the light wasn't right, or it was raining. We have had SUCH a rainy fall. I feel bad about those on the other side of the country that are experiencing a drought. I think it might be because WE have all of their rain. 

A week and half ago, I went to speak to the Altoona Guild in Acworth GA. I had a really great time there! Those ladies were so friendly, and welcoming. Talk about luck! I was there for the meeting where they have their covered dish Thanksgiving lunch. What a feast! What was even more fun, since they start their meeting in the morning, I got to spend the night at my friend Mary Beth's. Mary Beth lives only 15 minutes away from Acworth. It would have been too exciting for me to get there on time from where I live which was 65 miles away, during rush hour, through Atlanta.

I am proud that I have FINALLY added some tabs to the top of my blog. I think that was one of my New Years resolutions for this year. 

I have done some sewing. 

While visiting Mary Beth, and meeting with my friendship group, I have gotten a few more dresden plates sewn down on this quilt. 

I have only one left to sew down, before I start connecting the sections, and sew down the second half of plates that I could only sew one side of since, they straddles 2 sections.

I also started another new quilt. I have written many times over the last year and a half over my wish to make a quilt about new spring leaves against the cerulean blue, clear, springtime sky. I guess this is a sort of ironic time to start that, but I have been collecting fabric for it for awhile, and I couldn't stand it any more. Here is a photo of my fabrics.

  

Here are a couple of photos I took of the sky and trees last spring. I was never able to get a photo that I thought really did it justice. 

Last year my friend Eleanor ordered this quilt for her daughters wedding.

I have always wanted to make a quilt that used the central motif in the above quilt as smaller blocks. I am thinking I will make 9, or 12 blocks for this quilt. Here are the first 2.

Not sure if I like the brightness of the green in the block on the left. I will have to see how it fits in with future blocks. It may get the boot if it doesn't play well enough with the others.  

I haven't forgotten this quilt. I started 2 new blocks. I am using these 2 quilts for leaders and enders for each other.

Ironically, both of these quilts are using smaller blocks from motifs that I had previously used to make a whole quilt. Here is the original quilt from the above motif, for those who may be new to this blog.

  
So, that is what I have been up to lately. Hope you have been having a lovely autumn. Thanks for stopping by!