Fiber and Pulp

Great Visuals

What a busy day we had today in the store! I can't even begin to tell you who all came in ... but I CAN share with you one customer's show and tell. :) This is a quilt top she just finished for her nephew:

And two close up images:

She (the customer) was looking for more backing fabric and some professional quilters' information to send this quilt out to be finished. I think she found both. :)

My daughter, Eva, gave me a beautiful Doll for Xmas...on condition that I keep her here in my office (in fear that she would get broken by my four beasts at home:). I think she is incredibly wonderful -- hand made by an artist named Molly Stanton...here is Taellia:

Tomorrow we are going to be counting everything in the store...that's right, it's Inventory Day. :P We make a big party out of it (great pot luck food, staff gift exchange) but it is still really hard work. (sigh) If I think of it, I'll take some photos to share.

Pretty Newbies

As promised, here are the new fabrics we have received here in the shop since I last reported. These are from Kaufman and Alexander Henry.

31 years!

I hope you have been having a nice holiday. I've been deeply enjoying having my daughter, Eva, home with us ... and being together as a unit. :)

Today is our 31st anniversary, Skip and I -- we were married in Wisconsin on December 27, 1975 (makes figuring out the number of years easy, arithmetically speaking (grin)). So, what are we doing today? Skip had a dentist appointment this morning (cleaning) and then was going to go bowling with Hugh (to pick up the ball that he was having redrilled to fit Hugh and try it out). I asked him to stop and get a haircut, too (way, way overdue in my humble:) ... but I don't know yet whether he did as I am at the store with Eva.

Yesterday Eva and I drove to Frederick in the late afternoon (pretty weather and some real sunshine!) to Sisto's Sewing Center. They sell a number of different brands of machines (Singer, Janome, Brother, Bernina, maybe some others) and I wanted Eva to get a look at several. I promised her a new machine as a graduation gift some time ago -- a fact which she brought up gently on Tuesday afternoon. :)

Eva is a costumer and garment maker. One of the things she is becoming really good at is corset making (she's a much better seamstress than I am, even though I sewed all my own clothes from the time I was about 8 years old until I left college). So, what she needs, we decided, was a good mid-level machine. After some looking and testing, we settled on a Janome Decor (I forget the exact model number at this moment) -- for a little over $500, it had all the abilities I thought she might need and is durable and lightweight (she still is an apartment dweller). Today she is testing her new machine and tracing/redrafting a Victorian era corset pattern she wants to make for herself.

I put the binding on the floral strippie quilt and am really happy with how it turned out. I think it is probably the easiest to make quilt possible! I am planning to write up the instructions to sell (free with fabric purchase to make the quilt:).

We have gotten quite a bit of new fabric that I had not seen yet ... but I have not taken the time, yet, to photo it (probably tomorrow). What I do have to share is some wonderful show and tell, courtesy of a customer. She lives in Ohio and comes in occasionally (she and her husband visit their children in this area) -- she has been working on a 'seasons' quilt for two years and brought the finished top in to show us (made with many, many of our fabrics), and to buy a backing. Apparently this pattern is (or at least was) available on the HGTV website:

She did all the embroidery and embellishment on these blocks by hand and I think she did a wonderful job! Here are four of the blocks (more or less chosen at random) for you to see:

Eva and I will go home in a little while. We are all four going out to dinner tonight (at least, I _think_ that is the plan:) -- probably to our favorite Chinese resturant. It's not that Skip and I don't celebrate our anniversary, just that we tend to be kind of low-key about it. Also, I give thanks volubly to him on an almost daily basis (and vice versa) -- we are very happy to be able to be together. :)

Winter Day?

The wind was roaring in the tree tops this morning as we went out to drive to the store. My house has a number of trees around it, including six big ones in our tiny front triangular yard. The limbs were tossing wildly -- but the air was warm and wet. What strange weather we are having here!

Today was exceedingly quiet at the store -- Robbyn and Barbara were both working on their applique projects in between waiting on customers. :) I managed to teach a private class for two hours (still teaching my student applique methods -- today I showed her how to do template-free applique and needleturn).

I also made up the January work schedule and distributed it (there was some surprise on the part of the staff present that I actually managed to do it in a timely way -- it is not unusual for me to forget to make the schedule until the last day of the month (grin)).

The rest of today I spent sewing on a new sample. It is a very, very basic quilt using floral prints by Valerie Wells (except for one Kaffe Fasset print). I wanted something to show off her fabrics and a simple design that the most basic beginner could master easily. I have not trimmed or bound my sample, yet, but here it is:

I think I will sew a welt using the green print and use the remainder of the floral strips to make the binding. :)

My dear daughter is driving across the midwest today, on her way here from Wisconsin. I am hoping she gets in sometime soon after dinner this evening -- I am so looking forward to her being home. I love my children fiercely and I get to spend less and less time with her as she matures and takes up her own life. (wry smile) We are all looking forward to a quiet, peaceful family holiday.

I hope you and yours are together and happy this holiday season. Love is what it is all about, in my humble. :)

Happy Monday

Today has been a great day for progress with samples here at the store! I finished the four block sample I was making that uses Mimi Dietrich's new fabric from P&B -- the blocks are reproduction prints of actual Baltimore album blocks from a quilt in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art (and so are the fabrics, some in original colors, some in contemporary equivalents). Here is my little baby (just to prove that you don't need much to make a statement):

I also made another basket today -- this one is round and much smaller than my first effort: (if you are in FiberLectic, no peeking -- this is my holiday exchange gift for tomorrow's meeting:)

I'm so happy to have the new camera! I am very carefully putting the wrist strap on every time I pick it up, though (I hope to avoid a repetition of the last one's demise!:).

We had a special treat this evening here (open til 8 pm on Mondays) -- one of our customers and her daughter came in to show their joint efforts in quilt making for this holiday. Lovely quilts! I thought I'd take photos (with permission) to share with you, too. :)

Here is a beautiful aquarium quilt they made together -- Mom did the handwork and applique, Daughter did the quilting and finishing (the quilting had jungle-y leaves, fish, frogs, etc):

Here is a different, pieced, fish quilt they made together -- the pattern comes from Mimi Dietrich's 'Bed and Breakfast Quilts' book:

Here is a closeup of the quilting itself for this one:

Apparently Daughter has a PC Stitcher which allows her to digitize any image and then plot it out to be machine quilted. She said she wanted something with curves to balance the straight geometry of the fish designs. I think the quilting is beautiful (and I managed to get a photo of it).

This pretty blue and yellow star quilt is for a collegue of Daughter's who just got a promotion (in the Navy). She also had a lovely red, white and green quilt for another co-worker that was quilted in chili peppers (he is Latino) that I did not move fast enough to photograph. :)

I do love quilts so! :)

Is It Friday already?

I was convinced when I woke up this morning that it was Monday (I think still Monday, though Lord knows, with my mind (grin)). I guess it's all the time off -- felt like a long weekend, eh?

My visual fields test went fine this morning (as I had hoped/expected). The machine they used was MUCH better than the old ones -- just watch for the little light to squiggle and push the button. (whew)

I spent some time today working on compiling, addressing and stamping holiday cards to the very best customers of the store. Now I have to wrap and pack and address the teacher gifts and cards. Then I'm off to the mailbox!

We got some pretty new fabrics today -- I think they are all from Alex Anderson's new line, Alexandra, for P&B:

Here are photos of the new Kona Bay prints I told you about last time -- the new Emporer's Collection II print for December (very large koi fish) and the new kimono panel (which features the Heron Castle, I think it is called):

We got several new books this week (which I have not read, yet):

We also have a number of new magazines, several of which are special issues. Asian fabrics magazine just came in (there's a gorgeous pattern to use the kimono panels in it!) -- we have very few copies of most of these, as a word to the wise (smile):

I'm looking forward to my evening at home tonight -- my son, Hugh, and I are planning to watch an anime movie (Lupin III: Treasure of Mao) and, of course, Battlestar Galactica. :)

Those Cleaning Frenzy Blues

Here I am, taking time off -- supposedly so I can clean house and prepare for the holidays -- and instead I am going out. :P I spent most of yesterday afternoon out with Hugh. First we went to the eye doctor for our once-every-two-years exams (semi? no, bi-annual?:). Our doctor (Sirotkin, I highly recommend him) has moved his office (closer to our house:) to Steven's Forest neighborhood (a new building I'd never even _seen_ before).

I have always had somewhat high-side-of-normal pressures in my eyes. He tells me that my right eye has gotten up into the be-careful-and-watch-it range (sigh), so I have to go back on Friday morning for a Visual Fields test. When I was a young woman of 19 or 20, an undergraduate, the doctors freaked out and gave me a VF test (along with photographing my retinas -- you have never seen bright until you've had the back of your eyes pictured -- that is B-R-I-G-H-T!). 'Course, that was so long ago the records have almost certainly been burned by now. (shrug) Anyway, it's a test of your exact field of vision -- how far you have peripheral sight, etc. Helps them to tell if you begin to loose vision due to glaucoma. :P

He (the eye doctor -- I know it's hard to follow my cricketing brain:) gave me a prescription for eye drops for the allergies that I _don't_ have (according to the most recent allergy tests) which are aggrevating my eyes. Gotta get that filled.

Hugh just needs stronger lenses -- he's still a growing boy. (grin)

After the doctor we went to LLBean at Columbia Mall and bought him some winter shirts, a fleece vest and a coat ... oh, and fleece gloves. I'm trying to talk him into going back to taking classes at HCC, so we are both thinking he needs warmer clothes (since he will be riding the bus, etc.).

By the time we got done with those two chores, I was pooped. :P His Dad took him bowling yesterday evening (one of Skip's team members had to drop out to have surgery) -- Hugh enjoyed it so I am guessing he will be on Skip's team. I was hoping to be able to do it ... but my back is just not strong enough. (sigh)

Unlike yesterday, today was warm and wet. Rained or misted all day. I woke up around 9:30 this morning, thinking it might still be really early as it was so dark in my bedroom. Even Foxy was not interested in going out (he hates rain, although the snow brings out the Northern Spitz in him:).

I managed to do a little house work this afternoon ... but not nearly as much as I wanted to do. (sigh) The job is so overwhelming, I'm having trouble breaking it down into tackle-able bits. :P

My friend Barbara B and I went to see the movie Happy Feet tonight. Setting aside the obvious anthropomorphism (literally, human forming), I enjoyed the story. Great music and interesting commentary on a theme that I believe in deeply, fundamentally -- that the mixture of cultures and tolerence of others yields a better life for all. (smile) I loved the introduction of the Latino (penguin Latin? grins) element and rhythm made the whole Emporer life more interesting. (yeah, dance!)

Misty and foggy out tonight (I was grateful that Barbara was driving!). Hope it is a little drier tomorrow as I plan to do some outside working, if possible. Eva wants me to transplant a little Japanese red maple for her to take back home with her -- we have a ready supply growing beneath our tree in the front yard. Maybe I'll remember to reach for the camera and take a photo (no leaves on the little tree, now, of course).

I read my friend Vicki's blog (I Love Orange) regularly -- yesterday her photo showed snow on the ground in front of her house (no surprise, she lives in Ann Arbor:). Reminded me how very mild Maryland weather actually is...much as I love snow, I can live without it if absolutely necessary. (smile)

Patty was busy today!

Patty, our receiving clerk and general Girl Friday was very busy today unpacking boxes and boxes and boxes! Poor woman, I think she was majorly tired by the time she went home this afternoon. (smile)

We got the Hoffman Challenge collection:

This group is called Small Wonders. I always enjoy seeing what quilters make with these challenge prints -- this year's print is truly lovely:

Speaking of Patty, she finished a really nice new sample for us to show off -- it's from a pattern called Contra Dance. Isn't it pretty? The quiltling itself is really nice -- take a look when you come in:

We got this month's issue of the Emporer's Collection from Kona Bay -- three very large scale Koi fish prints and a couple of go-withs. We got a very nice assortment of antique-y prints. There was an entire array of nicely colored tone-on-tones:

We also got the last two of the limited edition Kimono panel prints.

This pair of prints really caught my eye when we saw them on paper (some time ago). I like the colors quite a lot and I had fun with the mirrors, thinking about how to whack up the blocks (in my experience, prints that have some straight lines in them make really exciting, whirly blocks).

I spent most of my morning and half the afternoon on phone calls and phone tag (just as I thought I would, yesterday:). I did get some important tasks done, though, so I do feel that I accomplished something, at least. (grin) I think I will start another sample tonight -- I have a hard time starting, stopping, and transferring from one task to another (when my kids were little, all the child-rearing articles called this 'transitional issues'). If I start a sample and go away, I will know what to start in on when I come back on Friday. (This is my Most Useful Tip for the past six months:)

Pleasant Progress

I think Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I usually let myself sleep an hour later than usual ... and eat breakfast. :) Skip and I go in to the store around ten or eleven in the morning and that gives me some quiet time to work on things.

Today I went back to working on the coiled basket I started yesterday. Here is how it looks as I am working:

This method turns out to be immense FUN! I thought it might be tedious, but it is sheer pleasure. I'm not sure why, it's just satisfying to make the thing grow. I had planned to put a simple three row blue rim on the basket, but here is how it turned out instead:

My basket is a bit wobbly ... but I think it turned out just fine. :) I am anxious to go on and make some more (am thinking seriously of making a covered basket with handles for my giftee). The book said to use about a half yard of the main print and an eighth of the accent -- and maybe 14 yards of clothesline. I think this basket used more like 35 yards of line for the half yard of print. Maybe I don't wrap as tightly as the author?? It is a pretty big basket -- it holds an entire bag of Werther's butterscotch candies. (smile)

Business was fairly brisk in the store today -- in waves, they told me later. Lots of happy faces and pretty fabrics to cut. I'm not usually so cheerful this time of year -- so finishing two samples this week must be giving me hope, eh? (happy smile)

I expect to spend tomorrow on 'bookwork' stuff -- got several important phone calls to make, have to address and send shop Xmas cards and teacher's gifts ... and, as always, I'm sure any number of things will pop up during the course of the day that absolutely have to be done NOW. (grin)

Oh, here's a pic from the opposite angle of my basket:

Curious Tidbits

What a pretty sunshine there was today -- and how cold (especially compared to last week)!! We did actually get some snow showers here in Columbia on Thursday evening (Skip told me he thought it was leaf litter blowing around the neighborhood streets -- but decided that it was too consistent:). Our lawn service finally came and took all the down leaves away (whew!) so the front yard is passable again. (grin)

Today was one of those days when I put my nose to the proverbial grindstone and worked with occasional exits for 'air' and a walkabout. I was quilting a sample for the store that I started several weeks ago (of course, I forgot to take a photo) -- made from that pretty fabric panel with great blue herons on it. I decided to use wool batting as I wanted the loftiness to make the birds look 'real'. I'm really happy with how the thing turned out (and had Skip hang it up on the shop wall) ... will try for a photo tomorrow.

One of the customers that came in today needed help choosing binding for several small quilts she was finishing for gifts. She said that she went this past summer to Michigan to visit with her sister and they got totally carried away with nature printing. She had more than a dozen different leaf prints made with (I'm guessing here) nice Lumiere paints onto fabric...really gorgeous prints! She had several small four block pieces and one long table runner -- I felt quite privileged to be able to see her work!

After I finished the heron sample, I decided to start on making a new candy bowl for us. There is a relatively new book out called 'It's A Wrap!' -- you use fabric strips to wrap around cotton clothesline and sew the cords into baskets, bowls, etc. I chose a brightly colored print designed by Cheryl Kahn and went to town. I thought the work would be tedious before I started -- but I am happy to say that it is very soothing and relaxing. I hope to finish the bowl tomorrow and take a photo to share. I'm thinking maybe this is what I should make my gift exchange person -- a sewing basket bowl and cover, maybe in brown/black/ethnic colors. (hmmmm)