Fiber and Pulp

What _have_ I been doing?

The end of last week went by in a total blur ... I came down with some kind of intestinal virus on Thursday night. :P I spent Friday and Saturday in bed. :P By Sunday I was up and coming back to the store ... a little wobbly but ok.

It always amazes me how the passage of even so few hours 'on a different plane of being' so to speak affects my outlook. When I get back to my desk at work, I feel like I've landed from another galaxy. LOL (ruefully)

Last Wednesday (my day off) before I got sick, I managed to make a little prototype spool 'pinkeeper' (pictured above). I ordered a set of ten wooden spools from an Etsy seller (name/shop card is at home as I write this) - I empty spools of thread at a fairly regular rate, but they are all plastic nowadays. I want to use the wooden ones to make pin/needle keepers.

I sewed a strip of hand dyed wool around for 'thread' and added wool 'caps' on each end of the spool. You can stick your needle or a few pins through the caps or the 'thread'. The one shown above was the smallest spool I got - it is really a bit too small to be a useful pin keep! I might end up using it as a fob for scissors or my rotary cutter. :)

Onward and upward (and hopefully, please Providence, not bedward again any time soon!).

:) Linda

Dragon's Years

Happy Chinese New Year! This is another Year of the Dragon and I am celebrating. I was born in a Dragon Year (I'll let you count backwards on your fingers to figure out which one:) and I have a fondness for the creatures. Especially the Chinese Dragons which are generally portrayed as spirits of the earth, air, fire or water. Theoretically I think I am supposed to be a 'fire' aspect 'dragon' due to the time of year I was born (November). (shrug:)

I did an Google image search for 'chinese new year 2012' and found quite a few nice desktop image dragons - I think I'll use them for a while. :) I can't say I've been doing anything 'dragon-y' lately ... mostly just working hard to keep my head 'above water' at the store.

We had freezing rain/ice Friday and Saturday so I have to deal with when-to-open-the-store, what-to-do-about-scheduled-classes and who-will-show-up-to-work items. :) Here in Maryland, the very threat of snow or ice in the forecast causes near-panic! That is one of the ways I know we actually do live in the 'south' of the USA. (grin!)

I taught two quilting classes earlier this past week - Cathedral Windows (as a make and take) last Sunday afternoon and two patchwork blocks on Monday evening for our Stripper's Quilt-Along series (blocks made from pre-cut 2 1/2" wide strips). I quite enjoy teaching and those went well. Here are my samples:

 

I managed to lose my bank/atm/debit card on Friday ... somewhere. (sigh!) So, had to cancel it ... and have to go to my bank tomorrow and apply for a new one. :P

Guess I'll be running errands tomorrow as long as I am out. I have to buy some underwear, get a board for the Accucut to sit on, get my car inspected (state pollution abatement), and get some drug refills after I go the bank. I hope the freezing rain they are calling for in the early morning turns into plain old cold rain before I have to go out! I am hoping to get to attend my quilt guild's weekly meeting in the evening, too.

:) Linda

Sewing and Typing

I got talked into participating in the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild's first round robin (I admit it did not take _too_ much talking:). I have been in a number of round robins over the years of several different kinds. This one is a border round robin ... the central block above was the one I drew (random lots).

This is the first round and the assignment was to add a 2" wide or so border made with squares and/or rectangles. :) I pretty much stuck to the three original colors Lainey had used - blue-green, lime-green and gray for my border (2" squares all around).

The reason I was reluctant to join in originally is that I am concerned that I might get too busy with my store and not get the round done in time. So ... give it a priority. :) Just have to sew quickly. :)

I put one of my red and white blocks in for my center/beginning. Another red and white piece should come back to me in four? six? months. Maybe I can work this red and white fixation into a big bed quilt! LOL

Things are kinda crazy at the shop and I still have two more class samples to make. Tomorrow is the beginning of our new Saturday Sampler program and Sunday afternoon I am supposed to teach a  Make&Take class of students  how to sew Cathedral Windows and Secret Garden blocks. :) Gotta make their kits tomorrow!

Monday evening I'm teaching the first winter round of my Stripper's Quilt Along class - but those blocks are already done. (whew!)

Oh, and my husband is still fiddling with my new-to-me office computer so I can't do much of anything with it as of yet. :P Hope he gets that finished tomorrow!

Busy, busy. I'm either too busy or too bored. My life never seems to move along an even keel. :)

Linda

All That Glitters

I don't know why I keep finding videos I want to save here lately - just got my eye out for them, I guess. :) (shrug)

Here is one I love, being a fully credited bearer of the Magpie Gene which causes me to instantly align myself to the nearest shiny item(s). LOL!

All That Glitters: The History of Shiny Things from Etsy on Vimeo.

 

I do know that glitter is often made of other things than metallized mylar - very finely ground glass is what Art Glitter is made from. I also know there was some kind of glitter or glitter-like stuff in Victorian days. :)

Linda

What Will I Do?

This is the pillow top I finished yesterday in my weekend sewing 'retreat' - it's a project from WoolyLady's autoship that I finished sewing a month or so ago. I decided to quilt the backing fabric (a leaf print designed by Jane Sassaman) and yesterday I put in a zipper (_with_ concealing flap:) and sewed up the pillow. Now to go out and get a stuffed form (wonder how long that part will take me?:)

My mother used to tell me that the 'old folks' when she was growing up would tell her that whatever you do on New Year's Day is what you'll be doing all year long. Mom is from the mountains of eastern Kentucky (Betsey Layne, for those of you who know Pike County:) - I wonder if this NYD belief comes from 'over the water' with my earliest immigrant ancestors or if it is new?

Whichever is true, I spent yesterday (the last day of 2011) and today (the first day of 2012) sewing, eating, and sewing some more. :) My friends Barbara B. and Arlene C. and I met at my store and oozed ourselves all over the larger classroom to sew to our heart's content. :) 

The first thing I did was finish my pillow, above. Then I got to work and, I am thrilled to say, added the last two borders AND the binding to my daughter's quilt. Now, mind you, this quilt was supposed to be her graduation from college gift (she graduated in 2003:). I still have to finish the hand work on the binding strips and label it - but it is substantially finished!

This is not a very good photo but I was too sore to climb up the step ladder and hang it on the photo wall (to get a full pic). I actually designed this quilt myself - the patterns were our block of the month program for 2002-03. My quilt is a bit different than the b.o.m. one - my center block is different. I LOVE this quilt and I sure hope my sweetheart will, too. :)

I quilted this thing (queen sized) by the section, each section has a different sashiko-style quilting pattern, and then joined the sections with a method that I like. I thought I had invented this, but found the same method later in Fons & Porter's intro quilting book.

Basically, each quilted section is joined to the next with a very narrow (1/2" finished) width strip on the front and a double folded strip on the back to cover the seam allowances. The quilt ends up flat and tidy and I love the method. It is one of four or five that I use to quilt by the piece - I cannot wrangle a full-sized quilt on my Bernina. :P

Whatever you did today, I hope you will continue to enjoy doing it throughout this year! :)

Linda

PS I decided to treat myself to a subscription to the Stitched video workshop series - 20 fiber 'shops for $89. Sure hope I can sustain the excitement! :)