Our quilting guild is having a block exchange. Each month, one person presents the parameters for their quilt blocks.  Some people give just the dimensions, some request anything made out of batiks, some give a pattern, some fabric and then ask you to add some of your own.  All 11 people in your group go and during the month make the designated block for the person.  Then the next month, the people in that group bring back their finished blocks for her, and another person presents.  It goes on and on for 12 months, so you have 11 blocks made by others and your own to make 12.  And you  have made 11 blocks for others.  It is a great project as long as you don't let it overwhelm you.  

The first person in my group asked us to create  a block that represents your house, your dream house, your view out of your window (the real one or the imagined one!), your yacht, or your Fifth Wheeler.  I chose to do a modified version of my real house.  This is the cleaned up house I would like.  It's tidy and the flowers are all growing in the right places and not chewed to the ground by the deer.   We live in a log house in the forest with deer, raccoons, foxes and eagles as our neighbors.  We built the log house structure ourselves when we were young and foolish.   Now we're old and more desirous of some of the luxuries that other construction might allow.  Oh well!  This is my rendition of our house as viewed from the south side.  The left hand window on the second floor is a bedroom, and we have these lovely diamond paned windows in all the bedrooms.   So far the quilt block is totally done with fusibles and no stitching.... can't decide if I want to get into that..... she said it would just be a wall hanging, so it wouldn't need to be laundered.  I might do some beading and some machine stitching on it yet.... don't have to turn it back until the 5th of November, so can sit with it for a while and see how it feels!  

October Finished

I am astonished at myself. I sat down and finished this month's page today ..... it's only the 12th!!! I really enjoyed using closely hued beads to fade in and out to mimic the colors in the water-color fabric. I had drawn paisley type images in the lower right and top center of the page. The one in the lower right looked more like a leaf, so I put a leaf on it, but it wouldn't stay in place.... I could have glued it, but chose to hold it down with a bezel.  Those bead are a dark green, but they look almost black in the photo.    It got pretty heavy in terms of value, but I liked it that way at the bottom of the piece. As I was putting away my beads, I ran across some tiny metallic butterflies, so added three of them.

Changes to September

I realized as I was explaining this month's bead journal page to my daughter that the circle in the upper left hand corner was too out of place and glaring for the piece.  So, tonight I removed those light beads and replaced them with darker beads... some fabulous Charlottes that I have used in other areas of the piece.   I think I may be finished with it now!  I like the visual weight of the "grass" at the bottom to hold it down.  I think that this represents my only child.... a single large flower?  Her birthday is in September and her favorite colors are purple and green.  Oh yeh.... and did I mention that she is going to make me a grandmother in January?????

September in process

I have been waiting, not all that patiently, for my hands to get rested.  I finally decreed that they were well enough and began to search in earnest for my format for BJP 08-09.  I got out my beading stuff and found a block I started in May of last year... it was 2-1/2"x2-1/2" and I really liked what I started there.  So I decided that since only about 12 beads had been attached so far, it could easily be my September block and my format for the new BJP. (The beads I had attached were the matte flowers that flow from the lower right to the upper left with a size 11 bead on top of each... I had only put on 6 flowers with the beads on top)  I started work again on Friday, then on the ferry going both ways on Saturday when I was  on a trip with girlfriends to see the quilt show in La Conner, WA.  One of the vendors at the show had beads for sale, and I found some new-to-me leaf beads to immediately add to my block.   I will be adding more beads, but probably won't be totally covering this piece with beads.... leaving some of the fabric showing.  

Delay!

Well, it turns out that I did too much hand quilting at our county fair, so my hands are painful and I have to wait a bit for them to heal before I can do any tight work like beading.  BOO HOO!  I am in the planning stages again... have changed my mind about 6 times in the last two weeks.  Since I can't really start, I may change my mind 6 more times!  I have thought about crazy quilt pieces, puzzle pieces in about a 4x4" size, a puzzle in a 2x2" size, a color and texture study using 12 colors in sequential order, an under-water series, or a trees series.   I hope to be able to start by the end of the month..... pray that my hands will heal!  Actually, I would really like to do the "same" concept as someone else but not see theirs.... it would be fun to see how we both would interpret a subject.

About to begin anew!

Here it is almost September, and it's not only nearly time to start school again, but to begin our new Bead Journal Project for 2008/2009.  I have been toying with several ideas but haven't decided on one.  Last year's theme for me was flowers that were my own photos.  This year I'd like to do something that is more extemporaneous and less planned.  I think I will try to work a little smaller so I can be sure to finish within a month, so I will not be in a panic all year worrying that I won't finish in time.  I did finish in time last year, but much of the year, I was behind and it gnawed on my conscience.  I hate that panic feeling of being behind.   

Since I last wrote, we've found out that we're going to be first-time grandparents in January 2009.  Since our daughter, Sarahjoy, lives in Costa Rica, it will involve a trip to the tropics in the middle of the winter.... pretty hard to take!  LOL!  Unfortunately, their house is small, their business is growing (www.boyerotours.com) and they have a baby coming, which means they no longer have a guest room for us to use.  So, we are busy looking for something nearby that is more of an apartment than a hotel.  I have been looking on line for some places, and found a few... need to get our daughter's input.  

I have spent most of the last month working toward our county fair.

 I am the co-superintendent of the Textile Department at the San Juan County Fair in Friday Harbor, WA. That's me on the left in white and Christy H, also a BJP-er on the right in rose.   This year, the state judge awarded our department with the black and white ribbon for our fair.  Every year he/she gives this award to one department..... and I am proud to say that our department won it this year!  You can see how proud we are of this award-- two cheshire cats there!!  

Here is a photo of the whole barn from the end, so you can get the "flavor" of our little fair.  We are truly a small town fair!                            

Every year I look forward to the fair, and spend a lot of time there in that building.   Actually, except for bathroom  and lunch & dinner breaks, I spend most of five days sitting among the most beautiful creations made by our local artists. This year, I also demonstrated hand quilting on a beautiful antique Dresden Plate quilt top.  You can see the quilt frame there set up on the left.  

  Of course, just before the fair, I realized that the baby quilt that I was working on for our new grandchild would not see the fair if I didn't finish and enter it in this year's fair.  So, I pulled a couple of late night sewing and quilting sessions and finished it in time to enter it!  I named it "Star Baby".    It was all paper foundation pieced to get those peaky points.  Sarahjoy chose the fabrics and the block patterns, but she had no idea how I would place the fabrics.  I am pleased with the way it looks!  We will deliver it to her in January when we go down to Costa Rica to wait for/greet the baby.

I spent the week prior to the fair, sewing with my favorite 6-1/2 year old twin boys! They are infatuated with birds, and know names and habitats of all the different types of birds, so we sewed our own little birds. We stuffed them really hard, sewed on beads for eyes and added florists' wire for legs. They were so on task and devoted to the project! I was really surprised that they could concentrate for three hours a day to sew! We used my sewing machine, and they got to take out the pins! It's different to sew with young kids! They don't have the coordination to push the pedal, guide the fabric AND take out the pins all at once, so as long as they were focused on the fabric, helped guide it under the needle, and took out the pins, they got credit! It's amazing how much attention the pins need when you are 6-1/2! Getting the pins into the pin cushion is really important. Since the fair we have been working on quilt blocks. They are each making four 12"x12" blocks, and will be latticing them together and adding borders, then quilting them before Wednesday afternoon! We are ready to add the strips between rows, so I'm sure we will make it! We have three 3-hour work times left together. At the end of our last session, we laid out all the parts on the bed to see how they will look when we finish them. It has been fun to work with them!

Twelve Months and a Puzzle!

Here is my Bead Journal Project from 2007-2008.  I am really pleased with the way it looks all together.  I am  happy with the leaves that I made for each month.  Each month is labeled with the name of the month on a photo of a real leaf printed on fabric the same way I printed the flowers.  All the photos were my own images and printed on fabric treated to accept the ink from my inkjet printer.  The images are really finely focused, and give good definition.  The fabric comes pre-adhered to paper to help it run through the printer smoothly and easily. I left the paper on the fabric so that it would be stabilized as we usually do for bead embroidery.  

I had decided to use 12 puzzle pieces for next year's BJP. I kept thinking about it and wondering about how that would work.... how much did I need to cut away to have the picot edge fit? So, I decided to try out the project by doing a little puzzle with only four pieces. Here is the fabric just adhered to the Timtex and ready to trim and bead. It has been enlightening and fun!  The picot edge worked out ok, but I found that I had overestimated and cut away too

much. I also was using  Timtex for the first time for my backing. It is interesting, but I'm not sure it's a "fit" for me. So, I have almost finished my 4 piece puzzle. I think I am "done" with puzzle pieces. Now I have to think of something else for next year.... hoping that "something" will come to me by September.

Here is my nearly finished puzzle. It's been fun to try out different stitches.... mostly using Robin's new book for inspiration and guidance.  I had so much fun planning each flower on the batik.  The one that most people find irresistible to touch is the periwinkle blue half shell petals.  It was fun to do, but the gold one was great to do with the herringbone "weave".