I put together a few mismatched fabrics, and an awesomely overpowering purple flecked with silver, just to see what would happen. I might make a purse out of the squares.
Black & White and Bright!
This little quilt is a favorite! I love black and white quilts and wanted to throw some really bright fabrics in it, just for fun. For extra special fun I am using my extensive collection of 12wt cotton Sulky threads. I couldn’t be happier if it were quilting itself! I can’t wait to see what my granddaughter Audrey thinks of the colors 🙂
Longarm Midarm Shortarm
I’ve quilted on them all. Only thing I haven’t done is hand quilting. I started on the Kenmore and couldn’t make nice feathers on it, bought a Bernina & loved quilting small quilts on it and then sold the Bernina to help finance the Gammill Classic Longarm. I quilted professionally for several years, averaging about 4-6 quilts a month (I was working full time and a single parent of a teenager!). I got really tired of how big the longarm was and sold it. I bought a Nolting midarm machine and a Hinterberg Stretch frame and I found happiness.
I have written a much longer article on Squidoo about machine quilting – click here to read it.
Artistic Quilting
I was inspired to do some traditional quilting when I quilted for Dina Pappas as she was writing her first of 3 books. I did the feathers on the border of one of her bigger quilts and loved every minute of it!
However it was Trish Stewart who made me “quilt out of the box” by giving me tops (hiring me as a longarmer) and saying “do something wildly creative and spectacular”. I panicked. I procrastinated. I thought about giving the tops back and saying “I just can’t do it” but you know what? I don’t like to admit defeat. As I was pacing my studio at the time (I’ve moved & sold the longarm) I came upon a pile of top stitching threads that I’d always wanted to use and never had (this is in the days before Sulky’s 12wt – which I just *LOVE*). I grabbed them and threaded the machine before I could chicken out and just started. The first step of any endeavor is the hardest. And I lived 125 miles from Trish – there was no “come on over and see and if you don’t like it I can un-quilt it”. No, this was commitment and it’s most committed.
She loved them and we went on to collaborate on quilts for years until she moved to Texas due to her husband’s health. Here are a few of my favorites. Check out the hummingbird on the peachy colored quilt.
House Bunny
Here are some pics of bunny (yep, that’s the best we can do for a name – LOL). The one with Tom is just days after bunny came to live with us, and the other one is with my old girl bunny Pooh, who has crossed over the bunny rainbow bridge.
We’ve had so many bunnies that I don’t name them anymore, and even when they did have names, they ended up being called nicknames. I know, you are saying “who would live with a rabbit in their house?” and then do it again?!? We are kinda silly. And don’t just fall in love and go get one, they can be a real problem – like when they chew the cord to your sewing machine foot and you can’t sew or quilt until it’s repaired.
First overnight stay at grandma’s house
Audrey stayed overnight at gramma’s house and we both had so much fun! She played a full day of “keep gramma running from room to room” and she had a great round of air-sparring with bunny.
Audrey’s idea of fun was to run to wherever the bunny was, every 3 minutes, hollering out “bunny” at the top of her lungs. When she located bunny (who has only 3 or 4 hiding places and isn’t used to being searched out) she would do her “bunny dance”. This consists of hopping from foot to foot while pointing at bunny and hollering “BUNNY!” and laughing.
After about 5 hours, bunny decided to take action. He advanced on her by a foot! Ohhhhh, did she squeal! And she backed up exactly 1 foot. Hehehehehe, betcha you can see where this is going. Bunny backed her up, through the hallway, the kitchen and into the living room – 12 inches at a time. I about peed my pants laughing so hard. Bunny advance – Audrey squeal – Audrey dance backwards 1 foot – repeat.
But wait, you don’t think bunny won do you? She won round 2 when he went back to his room, thinking himself victorious and parked in his favorite spot – the doorway. She danced down that hallway and touched him on the nose!
Ha ha ha ha ha! Bunny jumped a foot into the air and took off to hide behind the bed! Ding. Round three is the weekend of January 19th when Audrey comes back for another weekend. Let’s see who wins this time!
The X Bag
I read about this bag and saw a photo posted to the website for Stashbusters at Yahoo! I wanted it immediately. I ordered it from Quilterswarehouse through a link on the designer’s page Four Corners Designs.
I just love this pattern. I put it together in a few hours, modifying the size (down) to a small purse size instead of the tote bag size in the pattern. The pattern gives specific directions for creating it from 3 types of materials (fabrics, denim and quilted fabrics) which I thought was very cool and the instructions were understandable, with good diagrams.
I chose to make my first one from a tapestry fabric and a cotton print but my next ones will be of our own crazy shortcut quilting technique. I already have a few squares prepared but I wanted to test-drive the pattern first before using up my quilted squares.
Travel the States
I also love to travel the rest of the states. I grew up in new england and have taken train trips from Florida to Connecticut, and from New York City to San Francisco to San Diego & L.A. and back to N.Y.C. via Kansas and Missouri.
I’ve flown into Detroit and driven to Oshkosh and flown into St. Paul and driven to Oshkosh. I flown into and explored Kansas City (twice)(both of them), Portland, Oregon (twice so far), Houston, Texas (three times so far), Las Vegas, Nevada (can’t remember how many times!), Los Angeles, California and Honolulu, Hawai’i. Wherever I go I usually rent a car or ride the bus and explore, explore, explore! And then there’s the two trips up/down the AlCan Highway between Seward, Alaska and Arizona. Hehehehe. More travel than I had thought…
Moving to Seward, Alaska
In 2000 I moved to Seward, after living in Anchorage since 1978. What a change! When I came to Anchorage at the end of the pipeline construction phase the population was just at 100,000 and dropping. After living in an east coast city of millions, it was a refreshing change.
By 2000 the population was close to 225,000 and getting too crowded for me. I had spent from 1990 to 2000 traveling around Alaska, looking for where I’d like to live and enjoying the rest of the state. I’ll write about the places I’ve visited, from Fairbanks in the north to Ketchikan in the south, from Crooked Creek in the west to McCarthy in the east, the roads I’ve driven, ferries I’ve taken, ports of call and bush flights, and also the places we’ve fished on the F/V Dolly B. This gal’s been around.
Photos of fishing and more in Alaska
I love taking photos around Alaska. Here are some of my favorite fishing pictures (and a black bear pic) – I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! The black bear is in the woods inside Nuka Bay, the 2 men on the bridge of the F/V Dolly B are Tom and his brother Steve the bay photo shows the Dolly B with her net out in a set in Resurrection Bay with the city of Seward, Alaska in the background and the up close photos shows the Dolly B anchored with the jitney in Resurrection Bay, Alaska.
