Works in Progress

Of course, these are not all my works in progress, just what I've been able to devote some time to this week.
Here's more quilting on Brent's quilt:

...although you will be able to see the golden feathers better if you open the photos in gallery or in a new window.
Here's the thing:  I love coffee, tea, chocolate, caramel, butterscotch--all the lovely colors in this quilt.  Still, I find I can't quilt on it for very long without starting to get depressed, despite absolutely loving to quilt feathers.  Back in the 60's when my parents separated, my mom had to get dishes, and we bought some gorgeous pottery ones in brown, with flowing lighter colors at the ages.  A few months later we realized we were depressed at the end of a meal after eating off those dishes and managed to go out and buy lighter colored ones.  So, I don't know if it's the colors or the memory of those dishes that give me the blues.  I do find it interesting that some people absolutely love colors that I find very depressing.

Because of plummeting emotions, I decided it is wise to work on something I find very cheerful, and what could be more cheerful than rainbow colors...even if it's only the first three colors of the rainbow.

I realize it doesn't look very quilted, but since deciding only this morning that I needed something more cheerful to quilt so far all I've managed is the stabilizing.  

And since I soon have to head into Albuquerque for one of my therapies, I won't get any more done until much later this afternoon, depending on how much energy I have left after the trip to town and my experiences there.  I do have to save enough energy to head to choir practice this evening.  I'm wondering if I'll ever get back to the point where I don't have to carefully budget energy expenditures--I certainly hope so!

Yes, I'm quilting both these quilts on my Necchi treadle--although for ease of transition between quilts, I'm thinking maybe I'll thread one machine for Brent's quilt and thread the one in the sewing room for the rainbow truncated quilt.  (Guess I should come up with a name for the quilt while I'm at it!)

I'm linking to some sites that have some really outstanding quilts posted this week:
Esther's WOW: WIPs on Wednesdays
Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday
Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday
and Connie Kresin's Quilting by the River  (Be sure to check out Connie's posts about Missouri Star Quilt's grand opening in their new property as well as Connie's visit to Hickory Stick Quilts in Hannibal [yes, I've been there and loved that shop].)

Happy quiltmaking......

Mennonite Quilts

There are no pictures in this post because I'm urging you to go visit the quilts that were sold at the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale back in April.
If you love traditional quilts, you will love some of these.  As a bonus, if you grew up in or near Mennonite, Apostolic Christian, or Amish communities, you will recognize a lot of surnames. If you have a treasured copy of Judith Schroeder Tomlinson's book on Mennonite Quilts (published by Good Books back in the 1980's) you will even recognize some of the groups that did the quilting.

Saturday Night: Friday Night Sewing

Oops!  I was busy most of the day and forgot to post these:

 These are more of the colliding feathers on Brent's quilt.

 I wish they showed up better--but you can click on a photo and they will open in a viewer.

Of course, the colors and the quilt are much more beautiful in person.  (Using my treadled Necchi BU to quilts with Fil-Tec Glide in my current favorite gold.

I'll link back to the Friday Night Sew-In linky party to make it easier for you to go view the sewing a *lot* of other people did.  Please let some of the bloggers know how much you like their work.

I should add that part of the reason I was so busy today was that I spent hours working in my yard.  I had a virtual forest of horrible weeds around the area where the water meter is.  It is on city property, and there just must be some kind of leak there for that many weeds to grow that tall that fast (despite the fact that I used a weed killer, which I used to hate). I did quite a bit of yard work and was praying for rain (it *is* monsoon season; it just keeps missing us!), but, alas, no rain today.

Quilt Think

I'm thinking about how to quilt these:

The first is a modern setting of some 1930's fabrics.  Top pieced by Judy. 

The second is one I started from my hand dyes a few weeks ago.  I now have the asymmetrical borders attached and need to decide where and how to quilt this.

Of course I'm still working on Brent's quilt and spending much of my day travelling for therapies.  If I'm lucky, I'll get an hour or so to quilt this afternoon.

I'm linking to:

 and

and since I'm late linking up, I've already seen some great quilts that others have posted.  I hope you get to visit some of those blogs and leave comments too.

And a heads up that this Friday is the Friday Night Sew-In for July.  (Link in my right sidebar--you can sign up now and then revise your blog link after you post about your Friday Night accomplishments--sewing, but does not have to be quiltmaking.)

Happy Quiltmaking.......

Quilted: Mod Circles

Over the weekend I quilted another of Judy's quilts for our Victory Quilts prayer quilts.
She pieced strips of fabrics together and cut them into three sizes of circles on her Accuquilt and then appliqued them to large half square triangles.

 I quilted each block differently...

 but this time I had enough sense to use the same quilting thread throughout the quilt,

 and didn't have to change threads constantly as I did on the Robin's Song quilt.

 I did spend some time quilting colliding feathers on Brent's quilt, but I needed a quicker project,

 and this met that need.

 I would never have come up with this design and pieced this myself; I like stretching my creativity to do things a little differently, and this quilt provided that opportunity too.

 We've heard from a couple of members of our congregation that they really like scrap quilts because they remind them of family quilts from when they were young.

 I used a medium green Fil-Tec Glide thread for this quilt.

 I love how threads seem to shift colors, depending upon the fabric they are on.

 I also love how productive Judy is with her piecing.

 When I checked the quilt cabinet yesterday morning at church, almost every quilt there had been made by her or Ruth.

 Judy came to quiltmaking from painting, and is truly an artist.

 This was treadle-quilted on my Necchi BU from the late 40's in a 1919 Singer treadle cabinet.

That reminds me, beginning July 16, 2012, Fil-Tec will be introducing a new Glide color every day for two weeks.  You can check them out on their FaceBook page.

I'm going to share this post at some linky parties, where you can find other quiltmakers sharing their progress.
 Every Monday, Judy Laquidara has a design wall party.  (Yes, I know.  This one is beyond the design wall stage.)
Also, Connie has posted her Quilting By the River Linky Party a day early due to so many activities  going on this week.

Happy quiltmaking....

Blessings, Busy Bee, I-40

We have had no rain for weeks--unless you want to count the few mud drops that fall from the sky as clouds pass over. For the last few days, while showers were falling over other areas, I've been able to count the raindrops that visited us.

 Today we had real rain.  The storm lasted for over an hour--I'm guessing we may have gotten an inch, or two, at the most. (Our little airport is reporting 0" thus far.) And, yes, I remember that about this time last year we were in East Tennessee and experienced 10-15 inches in about an hour and half.

We still have flash flood warnings out across the state and are concerned for erosion of the scars from forest fires.
For a while today it came down so hard that the buildings across the field weren't visible.
I occupied myself quilting on the treadle near my north window--reminding myself that if I owned one of those expensive computerized machines and/or a long arm, I would have had to unplug them and would have been just spinning my wheels.

 After the rain:  puddles!

 And more puddles! Glad the rain happened today instead of last night during our town's one-hour-plus fireworks display (that was close enough that I watched it from my driveway).

On the way home from therapy, I stopped in Edgewood to help Busy Bee Quilt Shop celebrate their fourth birthday.  For those traveling I-40 through New Mexico, Edgewood is slightly less than thirty miles east of Albuquerque.  There is only one Edgewood exit, and those who drive between two and three miles north will find the little strip center with Busy Bee Quilts.

Busy Bee is owned by a very nice couple who truly understand the  meaning of hospitality and dish it out liberally.  (I did turn down the offer of cake today.) I really don't have a solid plan for these fabrics yet, since a lot of ideas have been floating around in my head for weeks. While I love the idea of charm packs, layer cakes, stacks of fat quarters, jelly rolls, etc., I do love choosing fabrics from across several lines from several manufacturers.

I came home with this quilt inspiration, including the pale teal in the background. I also won a free fat quarter (I was one of three customers in the shop at 2:00; others, kept away by the thunderstorm, I'm sure.)  I think the last time I won something in a store was when I was seven and won my Charlotte doll a week before Christmas in Mrs. Beatty's Gift Shop in El Paso, Illinois!

I also picked up these interesting dots to add to the collection for Sweet Teen's polka dots and stripes quilt.  I really need to work on that design instead of buying more dots!

I was grateful to have only one therapy today, although it was vestibular therapy and was pretty tough to get through (as are the home exercises, for that matter).  Tomorrow includes two appointments and Sweet Teen's return from her mission trip--so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to fit in some visits at thrift stores because I'd like to find a couple more white 100% cotton sheets for a window project.

I did manage to quilt two colliding feathers onto Brent's quilt--so I'm really just at the beginning of that project still!  I'll console myself with the fact that during some of my waiting time I was able to work on tatted lace.

Happy quiltmaking.....

"Accessory to Independence Day Murder"

I carried my coffee, a lemon teacake, and some cherries outside to enjoy the peaceful, quiet morning.

 I looked up and saw that the barn swallow nest was mostly on the ground.

 I thought, "Okay, maybe they finally understood that this is not a good place for their nest."
However, I couldn't ever remember hearing of barn swallows tearing down their nests.

Then the door closed, and I saw this:

Definitely  not the kind of feathers everywhere I want to be seeing!
As I was cleaning up the sad mess, one of the swallows swooped in angrily.  However, I didn't commit the murder. I'm guessing the culprits were....

...or their siblings, or aunts and uncles.

I also now know why the Nanching cherry tree is still loaded instead of decimated by the birds.
I'd seen some of the feral cats my neighbor feeds up on her 8 ft wall.  So now I understand how one of those cats was able to leap at the swallow's nest and knock down it down and leave the mess behind.  While I was outside, one of the cats captured a bird that was sitting in the cherry trees.  I sooooo wish my neighbor would stop feeding those cats!  I love sweet cats when they are pets, but I do not like them when they are wild and prey on birds--especially when they are being fed and don't need to prey!  (Yes, "cycle of life." I grew up on a farm and understand that--and it's much easier for me to accept when their purpose it to prey on the rats that like to come to the barns and cribs.--I don't like it when they prey on birds, and wonder if that's why I've been hearing less birdsong. Besides, every single one of our barn cats were also our pets.)

Okay, enough of the Independence Day Murder.  I'm going to go make a bit of pasta salad to enjoy later--along with more bright red cherries!

Happy family and friend gatherings.....and happy quiltmaking to those able to enjoy some of that today as well.......

Quilting Progress, Chocolate? Toffee?

 No, just the back of Brent's quilt.

I'm still stabilizing it so I can fill it with the kind of colliding feathers I practiced on Sanctuary II. And while it isn't a donation quilt, it's still a prayer quilt with many prayers for Brent.

I got sidetracked with some carpet cleaning. Oh, how I wish I could replace the carpet in this house!  I'd love to have hardwood, but I have to admit that I'm still leaning toward laminate due to the nature of the winds, dust, and dirt where we live.

For me and my personal activities, this Independence Day is going to be my personal celebration of a day with *no* therapy appointments!  The car may not leave the drive--although I do probably need to go get drinking water and check the mail at the post-office.  I received a generous invitation and turned it down so I can stay home.  It's a beautiful, peaceful morning without wind so far--undoubtedly a great contrast to the 4 to 6 hours of fireworks we'll hear tonight.  (My daughter reminded me that I can use earplugs!)  While most of the state is in the midst of an aerial fireworks ban, our county brings in a lot of tax money from the fireworks manufacturing and sales that take place here, so there will be plenty of fireworks--we usually spend a couple of hours in our driveway watching fireworks in every direction.  Until then, I'm going to savor being home and doing things I want to do.

Will share my progress via linky parties, and hope you can follow some links to what other quiltmakers are sharing.

I love these parties:

Quilting by the River with Connie Kresin

Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story

WIPs on Wednesdays with Esther

WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Happy quiltmaking!

Sanctuary II Finished

I finished the Sanctuary II quilt--it will be handed back to Judy so she can add the binding, and it will be dedicated for the Victory Quilts Ministry.

I really wanted you to be able to see at least some of the colliding feathers, but they just don't photograph very well.
Judy is an amazing artist and she really worked magic with this piecing.
I quilted it using Fil-Tec Glide gold thread--a thread that looks great on so many quilts.
Much better to have colliding feathers on a quilt than this kind of collision:

I left my car in the physical therapy parking lot while a friend drove me to other appointments in an area of the city with much more intense traffic.  When I returned I discovered a note on my windshield and a name and telephone number.  Now I ask you, what percent of drivers would be so conscientious as to leave contact information?  I'm guessing maybe one percent--or maybe only 1/10th of one percent.  We'll get it fixed, although with therapies or dr. appointments pretty much every day, I don't know how I'll manage the time for that--let's hope it's a quick repair!

Oh, by the way, right now Fil-Tec is offering a combo of three of their most popular thread colors along with 20 magna bobbins for each color at a special price. I *Love* this thread!

Linking to Sarah Whoop Whoop!





and Richard and Tanya's Link a Finish Friday



And I'm also linking to...

 where you can see many June projects.

Great places for you to follow the trails to a whole passel of wonderful quilt blogs.  Be sure to leave a comment when you see something fun!
If you are lucky enough to be able to make donation quilts, please visit this link for a brand new linky party and a chance to see what others are making for donation.  It's so helpful to get new ideas!



Happy quiltmaking......