Fiber and Pulp

Paper Quilting

     On Sunday afternoon my MetroThreads Mixed Media group met at the store. We played with a paper quilt making technique that was written up in Quilting Arts called Cracked Paper Quilts. There are three really good videos on the QA site to explain the technique. 

The pieces I made (shown in photos above) were all experiments with different kinds of paper surfaces ... I will be doing more painting and embellishing and finishing on them before they become assorted gifts. One of the pieces I made did not please me visually so I cut it up into two inch squares and will further play with that. 

I guess the impending winter is getting to me (we've had gray, cold, rainy skies here in Maryland for what seems like weeks now:) -- the pieces I made were mostly about butterflies and flowers. Even the snowflake one I made (I do love snow:) has a butterfly for hope in it. :)

Working

 

Been a while since I posted any thing here. (sigh) The Quest went _very_ well this year and it took us all an entire week to recover. :) Everyone on the staff worked overtime! Since I finished tidying up after that event, I've been somewhat coasting at the store ... finishing up the Winter '10 newsletter, getting it to the printer and up on our website ... trying to plan for inventory taking at the end of this year ... thinking about when to go see my Mom since I decided not to travel over Thanksgiving (I was just tooooo tired to be trusted to drive a day each way) ...

Monday the 23rd was my birthday and I spent the day very happily indeed. My husband took me out to lunch at a local eatery (Mimi's Cafe in Snowden Overlook). I had a chicken salad, apple waldorf sandwich (on croissant) and Skip had a Reuben. My favorite caricature on the wall there shows an iconic kitchen and wait staff gathered and greeting you with a big 'Bonjour, Ya'll!" LOL Then we went to Home Depot and ordered/bought a new Maytag dishwasher (has steam cleaning!:) and clothes dryer ... the appliances in our house are mostly 20+ years old and are dying off. :P Started reading one of the books my beloved daughter sent me -- '1491', the Americas before Columbus arrived (very interesting).

Today the shop is closed but SKip and I are here working -- me on a class sign, snail mailing a few newsletters, and hanging class samples ... Skip on upgrading our computers all to OSX Leopard and book keeping chores. :P

I think we will have a quiet Thanksgiving tomorrow, just the three of us. I hope to get the table cleaned off so we can eat properly. :)

Busywork

The regional shop hop (Quilters Quest '09) is going on right now -- my store has been part of this every year since we started in '99. I've been sitting and stamping passports as customers come through for the past three days ... and ringing up at the register to check customers out. In the down time, I am working on my second Patchwork of the Crosses block. I'm still working with scraps and I'm happy with the way it is coming out. :) 

By late afternoon my fingers were feeling rather pricked to bits (I'm making my block with English Paper Piecing which is pretty brainless ... easy to pick up and lay down ... but no thimble as I dislike them). I went next door and bought some pretty, soft alpaca yarn and started knitting my first Xmas gift (a nice warm neck scarf for my son-in-law who is allergic to wool:).

 

You might be able to see the scarf pattern in the photo -- it was a free download from Martha Stewart's website. I like the way the scarf tucks through itself so you don't have flapping ends. :) I have my fingers crossed that he is not also allergic to alpacas (don't know when he would have been exposed to those animals:).

Two more days to go with the Quest .. might get the POC block finished? :)

Moments of Beauty

Every once in a while I have to stop and enjoy the natural world around me. :) Several mornings ago I left the house before my husband (we were on our way to the store) -- the sun was shining but the air was crisp. I sat down on our concrete front step to wait for him and enjoy the sunlight filtering down through the Japanese maple tree's red leaves. The front sidewalk leading from the step I was sitting on (very cold on my bottom:) was covered with what my daughter used to call 'cornflake' leaves -- dry and crackly when you walk on them. :) I looked down on them, soaking in the lovely colors, and notice an ant energetically crossing the sidewalk -- the smallish red and black sort shown above.

She was really intrepid, putting any human walker to shame -- up an down the leaves she went, busily tramping up and down twice as far as she went forward. Never swerved or hesitated, just pushed onward. I had to admire her energy, especially considering that she was cold blooded and I don't think it was much more than 55 degrees out.

Gotta be more like that ant! :)

Last Chance

Here's a word from the group to whom I donated this quilt-let:

The third and final week of the Alliance for American Quilts’ Crazy for Quilts eBay auction begins Monday, November 9 and ends on Monday, November 16. Auction begins and ends at 9pm EDT.

 

View all 85 of the quilts (including the quilt above that I donated to the auction), download full-color auction guides and find instructions on bidding at the AAQ website: http://www.AllianceforAmericanQuilts.org/. Or go straight to the auction on eBay by clicking here.

 

The opening bid for all quilts is $50. Add to your collection, find a perfect holiday gift and support the nonprofit dedicated to documenting, preserving and sharing the rich history of quilts and quiltmakers.

 

Many thanks!

Windows on Busy!

  What a busy weekend this has been! I had to work on the sales floor in my store both days (with Alice M) -- Saturday was crazy busy (well, compared to what has become 'normal'). Today poor Alice had to work on the floor alone (with my husband to ring the register) for two hours while I taught my Hand Piecers to make Cathedral Window patchwork. :) Above you can see the small piece I made as I taught -- four base 'squares' that finish about 1.5" each and a tiny 1' square pink window. ;) I used batiks and I really like the way the striped gray came out on the back:

  This little unit could be the front of a needlecase, the top of a pincushion, an ornament ... whatever. :) 

I"m getting somewhat frantic as the Quilters Quest gets closer -- there is SO MUCH that remains to be done to prepare. :P