Playing with Paper Dolls

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time."  

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

I love this quote and it might explain why, instead of rushing around doing some last minute errands, this morning, I was making this:

A few blog-less quilters had asked about a group blog for the Tea Towel Challenge.  It didn't seem to make sense to me because the challenge is relatively small and short term.

But then I thought about setting up a blog for my blog-less friends that occasionally have a reason to blog and the image of a string of paper dolls is what came to mind.

If the lack of your own blog has been holding you back from joining the Tea Towel Challenge, let me know ... and I'll hook you up.

I NEED a Friday Night Sew-In

I know I probably seemed ungrateful to some in my post about those birthday fireworks.  I have politely left out some of the facts and tried to put a happy face on events.  Plus, I guess I have come to prefer the French tradition where if you're the person with the birthday, anniversary or other reason to celebrate, you throw the party ... if you want one.

My uninvited visitor continued to push and insist and push some more that we go to Abiquiu.  I thought he meant the tour of Georgia O'Keefe's home there, since we had talked about it at my birthday dinner–and we did come dangerously close ... but his only goal was to eat a meal at a restaurant where he had once travelled with a friend, and found closed when they arrived.  The cafe was located at the Abiquiu Inn, which also contains the tour office for the Georgia O'Keefe house/museum.

I should have kept my mouth shut as he hopped back into the car after our lunch, but instead, feeling some disappointment at the bait-and-switch tactics of my visitor, suggested we might wander around the area that inspired O'Keefe ... since I still believed that was the point of the trip. He took my suggestion as a cue to drive, drive, drive some more ... first to the historic hot springs in Ojo Caliente–where we might have enjoyed a soak, but didn't, because we had to race to go to Taos.  The road winds through the Rio Grande basin–I wanted to take photos, but only when a pair of big horn sheep blocked our path, did he slow down.

The sunset was spectacular, but it took a traffic light in Taos before the vehicle stopped and I was able to capture the last of it.

Maybe it's a Mars-Venus thing?  He joked a little too much about having me captive ... and it felt a little too much exactly that to me.

Our afternoon together ended at 10 PM when I finally got home ... because my pushy acquaintance wouldn't take me home until I had dinner with him–an Indian meal that didn't sit well.  I woke up violently ill after 3 hours at 1AM and was miserable all day yesterday. 

I'm so happy my visitor has moved onto his next victim surprised hostess and that I finally feel well enough to eat ... the Friday Night Sew-in couldn't come at a better time for me.  

A week ago, on the Block Lotto site, I shared this simple sketch of an idea for for a quick project that would work with any of this year's lotto blocks in a simple medallion.  

Follow the link for measurements, if you're interested. 

Using 6 by 9-inch blocks and 9 and 12 inch squares (finished sizes), the result is a 30 inch square. 

My plan for FNSI tonight is make some of this month's Banded basket blocks and pieced square blocks and arrange them like this for a holiday table topper.

Some Unwanted Attention

An old acquaintance came into town earlier this week and insisted that he take me to dinner to celebrate my birthday (which was last week.)

And then, despite my firm objections, he insisted that I enjoy the fireworks that the restaurant provides for birthdays because while he waited for me to arrive, he had seen another birthday celebration.

And so, along with the apple crisp ala mode that we shared, this was also served.   (That's the insister on the other side of the table, taking an especially unflattering photo of me with his phone while trying to stay out of the shot I was taking with mine.)

For me, birthdays have become a much more intimate and introspective event. And while I'd never say no to a birthday party–for me or anyone else–and I really don't think anyone should be forced to have a party they don't want ... or indoor fireworks.

Keeping Cool at a Quilt Show

Last weekend, a friend invited me to go with her to the Wildflower Quilt Guild's show in Temple. Here's a detail photo of the Best of show quilt, Anesthesia, by Janet Smith, quilted by Linda Buckner. You can see the entire quilt here: Anesthesia and all my photos from the show in my Flickr photo set, Wildflower Quilt Guild Show.

When Karen and I came across this Underground Railroad quilt, by Don and Phyllis Baker, we both confessed to having block of the month kits and decided to challenge one another to finish them.  She's already started work on hers . . . I won't be able to get to mine until after I'm moved and settled in. 

 

It was a really nice show and an impressive effort for a relatively small guild (about 100 members).  After the show, we stopped for lunch at Las Casas, a local Tex Mex restaurant.  It's well known for something called white wings–jalapeno and cheese wrapped in chicken breast meat, then wrapped with a couple strips of bacon and grilled.

 

Made smaller, I think they'd make great appetizers for a party . . .  another thing to add to the project list for AFTER the move is done.

Walking Around Campus with Friends

Barbara and Debra were in Austin last week and invited me to join them.

We sat and talked about quilting and our lives a lot and walked around a little–because it was one of those triple-digit-days which have become the norm around here.

If you have seen some of their Madonna quilts, then you know that when we walked past this building on the way to lunch, it was a photographic opportunity for a portrait of them that I couldn't pass up. 

After lunch, there was a quick stop in a vintage clothing store, then we walked through campus, where we ran into Barbara Jordan and Cesar Chavez . . . and some sunning turtles.

We finished the day with more sitting, more talking, some show and tell and then dinner. Thanks ladies.
 

Lost & Found - a Doll Quilt

I hear yesterday that my last quilt project of 2010 has safely arrived at it's destination, so it can go public.



It's constructed of 3 inch house blocks - a smaller version of 6 inch paper foundation pattern I designed for the Block Lotto in 2008 (also the year I nearly finished this little quilt for Kate ... before I packed it up to move with me and lost it).  I found it last month when I turned my apartment upside down looking for my walking foot ... which I was afraid I had lost in my most recent move.

To make each of the house blocks, I only needed a charm square of fabric, these are from a set of Moda's most popular "marbles."  The background really is a dark navy batik--maybe a bit darker than the photo).

I had a lot of fun making the quilt ... and was a little brokenhearted when I thought it had been lost in the move from Michigan to Texas. The quilting is far from perfect (and in this photo, I can see a quilting thread that wasn't yet snipped--I sure hope I caught that before it went into the mail.) I remember tormenting myself over the choice of binding fabric. Along with my fear of the free motion quilting in the borders, that was probably what kept me from getting to done BEFORE the big move. It all seems pretty silly in retrospect.

I do hope you enjoy your Lost and Found quilt, Kate.

If you like this block, check out the wonderful quilt Julie made from the blocks she won in the lotto here.

Slimmer, Smaller, X-small and Just Right

A couple days before Christmas, the weather became a little bit frosty and I remembered some fingerless gloves that Julie had made and written about a couple months earlier.  At the time, she was asking if they would be worn by people in Wisconsin in winter . . . while they might not work so well for Winter in Wisconsin, as I was walking across the office park to get a warming latté in the cafe in another building, I was thinking they were PERFECT for cold winter days in Austin, Texas.

I contacted to Julie to find the pattern--I decided they were a great last minute Christmas idea for a friend.  Julie told me I could find Tera Johnson's Braided Mitts on Ravelry and suggested that I use a smaller needle because they were on the large side.  I pulled some nice wool out of my stash and started knitting ...

I never finished the first pair because, even before I had added the thumb and the ribbing at the top, it was clear they were going to be STILL way too big for me and I knew they'd never work for my petite friend whose hands had to be at least as small as mine. 

So when I saw my friend over the holiday, I showed her photos from the Ravelry site and looked at everyone's Braided Mitts projects and decided on a color and yarn.  Then we traced her hand, mitten style, so I'd have something to use to compare as I reworked the pattern.While I waited for the yarn I ordered for her (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in Grape--a dark red-violet), I worked on making the pattern fit.

I felt a little like Goldilocks, first making a slimmer pair from a tweedy brown wool ... that felt too long, then making a smaller pair (in the photo above), which was OK for me, but still too large for Charisse, then making the extra small pair from the grape yarn.

It's hard to see the pattern in the dark yarns, but they are all the same, with the single braided cable on the top.

Tonight I am meeting Charisse and another friend after work ... fingers crossed that the "slimmer" brown tweedy pair and the X-small grape pair fit. The timing, at least, is good. Temps are predicted to drop dramatically over the weekend and stay there for a couple weeks. I have a feeling that I'll have an opportunity to wear sweaters and coats that have been too heavy for Texas.

I couldn't resist ordering a ball of the luscious Cashmerino yarn for me, too ... so I'll knit one more pair for me, tweak the pattern slightly and have a pair that will be "just right."  I'll be tucking this into my bag and working them up quickly.  I figure once the cold weather hits, I'll REALLY be in the mood to knit.

Some memorable finishes

Unlike so many productive quilters in Blogland, I do not have a long list or a big beautiful collage of images of many things created this year.   But here are some favorite projects from this year.

BEAUTIFUL AND USEFUL

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. - William Morris

I love this quote and confess that I feel great accomplishment when I make something that is beautiful AND useful.

I used a beaded heart class project to make this small sewing kit, based on a Moda freebie given to me by a quilt shop, long, long ago. I gave it away as a prize for the longest "term of endearment" in the February Block Lotto–if you are curious, the winner was "hunka' hunka' burnin' love."

I still plan to make another for myself–if you want to join me, the directions are blogged here: My Portable Handwork Sewing Kit



This spring, I finally finished my Summer Tote--begun in Lansing, Michigan and finished in Dallas, Texas. I blogged the directions–you'll find them here–Summer Tote from Orphan Blocks–and it inspired quilters from the Block Lotto community and the Lib-quilters Yahoo group to make one of their own.

And their beautiful bags make me want to make another or two this year.

Here are two bags Laura made (made using some 16-patch lotto blocks she won).

BECAUSE THEY ARE OUR FRIENDS

It takes a long time to grow an old friend.  - John Leonard

As soon as I moved to Austin, an old friend here told me that she was "going to extract a craft" from me.  I was wary, but when she told me what she needed, I couldn't say no. Here is what I designed and made for my friend, Charisse and why she needed it.

She was participating in Barb's Race, a women's half-iron triathalon in Northern California which is held the same day as the Vineman Ironman Triathalon and raises money for woman facing a cancer diagnosis.

She wanted something light-weight, that she could pull on over her bike helmet and wear for the bike portion of the race on which she could add the names of the family and friends for whom she was swimming and riding for.  Her mom, a cancer survivor, shared the race with her and completed the running part.  She was the oldest participant that day.

For the back, I gave Charisse a package of fabric for her printer on which she could print the names.  She said it was shocking to see the all the names of family members who were touched by cancer. I know that when I was sewing it together, it made me worry for my friend and her family.

Sadly, one of the friends she had included in the "hope for" box lost his battle just before the race.

PROOF THAT I AM AND ALWAYS WILL BE A GEEK

I'm an utterly average, total geek. -Julia Roberts 

When I wanted to update the design of the block lotto blog, I kept coming back to the idea of a quilt image ... and created this table-runner-sized banner quilt.

Then, in the way that one thing leads to another, when some of the bloggers in the block lotto community wanted to add the block of the month to their own blogs, I made this doll-quilt sized blog "badge" for anyone to add to their blog to show their Block Lotto love.

The Block Lotto has just finished it's most successful year ever–we made a total of 2,170 blocks in 2010.  While it hasn't resulted in any finished objects for me, it continues to be, for me, a place to encourage other quilters to try new things and have fun ... and somehow I still haven't run out of ideas for blocks for all of us to try.

All's Well That Ends Well

Anyone that clicked over from the FNSI group might be wondering what happened to me Friday night . . .  well, my plan for Friday kind of fell apart when this happened to me.

After a meeting with a staffing company in the morning, I was on my way to Nancie's house to meet her bee and join them for some quilting when I stopped to run a quick errand and my car stopped and wouldn't start again.

I called AAA for a tow truck and giving them all the details of where I was and to which mechanic I needed to be towed . . . then, I waited for the estimated half hour in a hot car until a man showed up with jumper cables.  Huh?  He told me I needed a tow and that he would make the call and it would be at least another half hour of waiting in the hot car.
After dealing with the logistics of dropping the car off and borrowing a friend's car for the weekend, I did catch up with the bee and, at least, got to meet everyone, but I was wiped out and I ended up scratching my Friday Night Sew-In.

But, as the title suggests, my weekend did improve and even included some quilting.  A friend was traveling from Dallas to San Antonio and planned a stop-over in Austin at a city park not far from me.

On Saturday night, we chatted while her sweet husband cooked for us and on Sunday, we quilted and chatted some more ... while the men cooked–it was pretty much a quilter's dream ;-)

I finally got back to hand-piecing Bonnie's wonderful blocks–I am still hopeful that I will finish the year on time . . .  if Bonnie will forgive my tardiness and send the rest of block patterns.  Linda worked on a pile of wonderfully scrappy 9-patch units for her next quilt. One her cats, Mr Guy, helped by holding down her fabrics.

I finished my block just as the first batch of shrimp were ready.  It's not exactly a design wall, but here's my work in progress for Design Wall Monday–something both Linda and I decided we want to get back in the habit of doing.

Yesterday, was exactly the kind of day I needed. Thank you Linda and my regards to the chefs.  Thank you for taken such good care of me and reminding me how I need to get off the beaten path more often.

I can't remember the last time I drove down on a road without street lights, watched the sun set over the water or enjoyed a perfectly toasted marshmallow.

Check out the actual design walls of other quilters on Judy Laquidera's blog, Patchwork Times.

Fat Felt Flower Face

Look what arrived in the mail today from Kate.

On Christine's blog today, she posted about the difference between admiring photos of quilts and up the up close and personal experience. I have to agree. The lush thick felted flower petals and the shiny ribbons on this little are really wonderful in person . . . looking at the photo, you may have to take my word for it. I've always loved the faces Kate made and adds to some of her pieces and I'm so happy to have one in my collection.

I love it, Kate. Thank you.

Thank you, Michelle

Look what arrived in the mail, today.

It's an 8 x 11 inch little quilt with birthday wishes from my virtual twin sister, Michelle. (We share a birthday, she's the much YOUNGER twin ;-)

Thanks, Michelle. I love it.

I had to laugh when I opened the package because my sewing table looks a whole lot like this right now. I've been working on some ideas (and block directions) for future months of the Block Lotto which means I can't share any of it right now . . . and I'm really itching to share these blocks. Whether you dream it or just make your best efforts to come up with a colorway, you never really know until you actually make a few blocks that test the limits of the guidelines. I guess it's true that proof is in the pudding (or the quilt). I'm happy with my results so far . . . and anxious to see how well they will be received by the Block Lotto crowd.

"We Need the Rain"

"We need the rain."

It was a phrase I heard a lot yesterday and one I truly tried to embrace–because I know it's true. But after getter soaked three times, it became a little bit harder: first I got caught in a downpour when I was just a few blocks from the office in the morning on my walk to work. Later, during an informal tour, it was still coming down and I got really drenched again, when I was walking between buildings and crossing the street in a downpour . . . and it was still raining when I went out to get some lunch.

I had a big umbrella and it helped . . . a lot. But my nicely starched and pressed linen pants were soaked from the thighs down before I got to the office (and again and again) and so I wasn't anything close to neatly pressed. And, even though I had taken special care in the morning and even pulled out the flat iron to ward off the humidity-inspired frizz, at the end of the day, when I met a an old friend for dinner who happened to be in town–someone I hadn't seen for almost 10 years–I felt like my hair looked a lot like Alice's, from Dilbert.


Except in my case, there were no curls, just frizz that created my pyramid-shaped do.

Dinner was great, though, and my friend was so distracted by my "blonde" hair so much that I don't think that my crazy frizzy Alice like hair made that much of an impression. (She said I looked great as a "blonde"–aren't old friends the best?)

Spring Break Quilting Day

I helped Diane celebrate the last day of Spring break on Friday by packing up my Featherweight, some quilting tools and a project and heading out to the country to her house to spend the day quilting.

A little less than an hour later, I was bringing my stuff inside and she was pulling her stuff out into the big room and we were spreading out.



(You can see that flying geese top-in-progress in its entirety on the Block Lotto blog, here, A Goose of Another Colour)

Diane pulled out some beautiful works in progress and some round robin tops to share.



Here are two finished Round Robin tops



After Show & Tell, we settled down to work. We had decided to work on blocks from a swap that we had both participated in almost a year ago. I finished all the alternate blocks I needed. Diane needed some additional blocks, so she was adding to her pile . . . and thinking about color choices for her alternate blocks.

Later in the day, another quilting friend. Moira, came by and brought some eye candy for a Show & Tell break. Diane and Moira have been part of online groups and swaps for more than a dozen years but never met until our Spring Break Quilting Day.



That's Dixie, Diane's Mom, in the center, admiring a very wonderful Crazy Quilt round robin piece that Moira brought to share.



And check out this very big, very bright, pineapple quilt.



The quilting continued, but my camera did not :-(

Moira stitched on a new crazy quilt round robin piece and then she and I helped Diane complete enough blocks for a queen size quilt. I came home with all the blocks I need to put together the queen size top. Diane and I laid out her blocks and my alternate blocks and auditioned borders from her stash. No one left with a finished anything, but real progress was made and it was good ;-)

The Play's the Thing

Last night I joined Cyndee and Alanna at MSU's Summer Circle Theatre for their first production of the summer, Red Herring.



It was a fun, comedic romp, set in the 50's, filled with commies, spies, g-men, murder, mayhem and, yes, romance (with a happy ending).

Since I missed out on celebrating world-wide knitting in public day earlier at the farmer's market, I brought along my Jaywalker sock project and noticed I wasn't the only knitter in the crowd. Irene was happy to show us her knitting.



The outdoor setting, on the banks of the Red Cedar river that runs through campus, is just beautiful. Ice cream sandwiches and other treats are served and parking is plentiful and a short walk away. There was a nice crowd and everyone seemed to be having a great time.



After the Main Stage production, there was a short improv show followed by a late night one act play intended for mature audiences. Last night's late night play was Medea, a play so funny, it reminded me of all the great theater in the San Francisco Bay area . . . something that hasn't happened since I moved to Michigan.

I'll definitely be going back to the Summer Circle for more. Maybe we'll even get organized enough to bring along a gourmet picnic one of these times.