Saturday, April 28, 2012

Update

We just had our first retreat last week.  Five of the Needle Divas got together for our second retreat (first one at my house).  We really had a great time and especially enjoyed seeing Kathy.  She is back in Colorado and I think we need a retreat there sometime.  We are hoping to have another one this fall when Kathy is back in town and hopefully, Lesley, Carol, Sara, and Suzi can join us.

We also celebrated Linda's birthday!

 I have a goal of trying to finish some projects.  This was a scrap therapy quilt.  The background fabric is banana's.  Who do you think that is for?  Me!  Kathy said we should finish two unfinished projects before starting another.  My question is when is it an unfinished project?  After you purchase the fabric and have it all planned or do you have to actually start piecing.  Thoughts?
So to finish some things up I made this charity quilt.  The fabric was leftovers given to me from the Common Threads Charity group and have been sitting around for forever so I just put it together with what was there.  I quilted another one that was made by someone else for Orange Blossom Quilters.  I also finished a purse that my friend Debbi had started.  She came for a few days after the Needle Divas went home.  It has been busy here.

I have been working on the Mariner's Compass quilt.  It is taking some effort just to put the blocks all together only because I'm ready to move on.  I hope to start quilting it this week.  I finished my Whisper Challenge quilt for this month and then finished one from two rotations ago.  That one was in the middle of moving and was almost done.  I am now all caught up till Wednesday when we exchange for the last time.  The unveiling will be in July at Quilters Quarters in Hanford.  I'll keep you posted.

Thursday our art group Loose Threads will present a trunk show at the Common Threads monthly meeting in Hanford.  I hope you will come!

Today was my first class teaching at Bolts in the Bathtub in Lancaster.  We are working on the Vintage Moments quilt.  I only had three students but they were fantastic.  I hope they liked my teaching.  They are very good quilters and did an awesome job.  Here are their first Lemone Star Blocks.




Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Finally a post!

I know, I know it's about time I posted!  I have been gone more than I've been here the last two months.  I also haven't really done much to post.  I have been working on the Whisper Challenge but can't show you yet.  We are going to reveal our quilts in July so then I will post them.  I'm excited to show you what I have been up to.

We have been painting and getting the house ready for a few friends who are coming to sew tomorrow for three days.  We have gone through 15 gallons of a paint and we still aren't finished.  I have the living room/dinning room and entry hall to finish.  But I have wallpaper left to tear done first.  I think I'll take a break for awhile.

I made this quilt at Cambria a few weeks ago.  It still needs to be quilted.  Wonder when that will happen!

This quilt I made last week for a friend's first grandchild, Casey.  Of course, he is now one.  Better late than never.  I made it with all my scraps and Wendy still liked it!  Hope Casey does!

I also took a class from Jean Wells this month at Empty Spools and have come back with a new perspective.  If you ever have the chance to take a class from Jean, do so without hesitation.  She was fantastic.  She is very encouraging and really knows her stuff.  Over the last few months, I've come to the conclusion that I need to develop myself into an art quilter with a purpose.  Not sure what that is yet but I have some ideas that I am going to work on.  I want to paint, dye, and stamp more of my fabrics and then look for my voice in cloth.  This may sound a little strange but I have been struggling a long time trying to find my path. 

After this last quilt show, I've decided to take two years off from entering any shows and try to develop some art that is worthy to be shown.  My work has not been very good lately and I think it is because I have lost that drive to excel.  I don't see my quilting skills and design instincts improving.  Time to refocus my attention on what I want to produce for myself and not for anyone else and spend time doing that.  I just need to refocus my priorities and get to it!

Well, I need to do some baking for the ladies and finish cleaning this house especially the quilt room.  When it is all cleaned up, I'll take some pictures and post them.  Till next time, keep quilting and enjoy your art!