Sunday, January 29, 2006

Table Topper




Finally finished and ready for the table just in time for February.

I've mentioned our diabetic furball Lady. The other night when time for her evening shot of insulin came around we hunted high and low for her, under the beds, in the closets and all the other places she likes to curl up for a snooze. Just about the time we gave up deciding she would come out eventually, I turned around and there she was sitting as if to say "silly people, here I am". VBG

Darcie...in answer to your question. No, before becoming a merchant mariner, John retired from the Navy, and spent a few years working in a small local shipyard here in town. With the exception of the few years of 9-5's, we've spent a good portion of 27 years with this lifestyle. It works and does give me a lot of time for quilting when he is gone.

This afternoon, I got out the wedding quilt star pieces I had set aside when hubby came home, trimmed them down and they are waiting on the sewing machine to be put together. I hope I can get to them tomorrow. I need a sewing fix.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Busy, Busy, Busy

DH arrived home bag and baggage for his two months off the ship leaving me with lots to do and little time for stitching. Time to get re-acquainted again and catch up on the honey doo's before it's time for him to pack up his bags and be gone for another four months. Phew, this here today, gone tomorrow gets mighty tiresome.

I started a quickie table topper for Valentines day, a project on another list. Nothing spectacular, just quick and fast. I'm almost done with the little bit of handquilting I will do, ready to trim and add the binding. It's nice to have a quick, mindless project to do, one I can drop beside my chair when I hear DH calling me and not worry that I won't remember what I had in mind when I can get back to it.

The rain has finally stopped for us here in our corner of Washington. The sun has come out and it almost feels like spring is trying to sneak in. Down the road in Olympia they have set a record of 34 continous days of falling rain, last set in 1953 or 54. Am happy to see the sun shining here, was beginning to think I needed to check for webs or moss growing between my toes.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Rain

Would Noah please row the Ark around to the front door. Here in Washington we are having a run on rain. It's been steady now for 24 or more days without let up. Roads are washing out, rivers flooding their banks and hillsides sliding away closing roads and disrupting rail service to Seattle and south. My creek out back is trying to flood the neighbor. 15 ft and rising as Johnny Cash would sing....







I started the first of the wedding quilts this past week. One block down and many, many more to go. I'm not sure about these blues and greens way to many darks. I don't want this quilt to look angry. A wedding quilt should be happy.











Pictures, pictures and more pictures. My backyard has always been a sanctuary for all kinds of animals from the birds to the raccoons. Last summer this big boy visited while we were all standing in the yard. One of a group or is that herd that comes by frequently.

Monday, January 09, 2006

WOW !!!!

What a fantastic Welcome you gals have given me. Had it not been for Joanne, I would never have found this wonderful group of "wonky" gals. Thank you Bonnie and the Membership committee for accepting me and Joanne for suggesting I submit my blog. I am thrilled to have moved into the neighborhood.

Friday, January 06, 2006

Mavericks

How does one determine if they are a Maverick quilter, if they color outside the lines? Is it in how we put our quilts together, the blocks we scatter helter skelter, the colors we choose or are we "mavericks" because we don't conform to the standard of what a quilter should be? Is it because we act independently, we do our own thing?

Everyone has a different definition of what makes them a "maverick". Mine is in the colors I choose rather than how the pattern is set. My imagination lays in color rather than pattern. You and I could take the same block and by the very fabrics we choose we imprint our quilts with our own signature and originality. How many times do we take a pattern and choose the color of fabric making it different and not what the pattern called for?

What is a style?? Is it the fact we choose the bright vivid yellows, the turquoise, the oranges or the browns, grays and tans? Is it how we set our chosen blocks to the quilt top? Are we Mavericks only because our imagination allows us to see something different than anybody else, to "color outside the lines"?


Autumn leaves blowing in the wind. Scattered over this quilt with no rhyme or reason, with thoughts of leaves falling and rising in the wind.



My son is a free spirit. I called his quilt "Birds in the Air" I spent days laying these blocks out and shifting them around until I made it his. This was the second quilt I ever stitched all by hand with hand quilting. It's one of my favorites quilts. That's me standing by my handiwork. VBG






My favorite niece was graduating from HS, she wanted a quilt. As a beginning quilter I chose a log cabin block, it was easy. I didn't like the standard log cabins. She wanted black and green, I wanted different, something that would grab your eye. It did and I still like the effect.


This is a closeup of the handquilting.








I remember my grandson when he was a little itty bitty boy. He was a clone of his father. He's now a 6'7" handsome young man. He grew out of his young child's quilt and wanted granny to make him a bigger one. He wanted a blue and white, his favorite color is blue. I had these "drunkards path" blocks. I think they look like flower blossoms, I didn't tell him. He's grown out of it again.




When it all comes together, we are mavericks because we do our own thing, be it a "style" or being able to adapt what your vision is to the fabrics you have at hand or take your vision to a higher level of design.

I want to belong to the "Mavericks" but if I don't qualify, I can live with it, it wasn't meant to be.
I'm not a traditional, art, scrap quilter or designer. I do what peeks my interest changing that to be my own. I don't belong in a catagory, I have my visions. I am a "Maverick" in my own mind.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Wedding Quilt

My Grandson and his Fiance are planning a May wedding, a quilt has been in the thinking stages since last summer. The pattern and colors have been requested. Shakespeare in the Park all green and blue.

Today I checked my stash and gathered together what was there. It's nowhere near enough, I'm a yellow, red, orange type....a trip to the LQS looms on the horizon. If I have a comfort zone, I haven't found it yet...this will be a fun quilt to put together. A big step towards being a real Maverick as I color this quilt outside the lines. Visions are dancing through my head.