Quilt As You Go, Simply Done

Simply Done

Marguerita’s Blog

Audrey and the bunny – Final Round!

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Well, this one is a draw. After 2 days together they are getting used to each other, and seeing the benefits of friendship. Audrey realizes that if she doesn’t reach too fast, she gets to pet the bunny and bunny (not so dumb) quickly figured out who was leaving him small tokens of affection on the floor, like Corn Flakes and globs of banana. Hehehehe. He found them before I did!

So now he warily follows her around, at a safe distance, and she thinks she just added one more admirer to her posse. Happy Days for all of us!

Round Three – Audrey v. Bunny

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When I picked up Audrey in Girdwood today (Sarah and I meet aprox. half way between Seward and Anchorage) I asked Sarah for her advice on fabrics for bindings for both the purple scraps quilt and the reproductions quilt. We talked for a few minutes and I agreed with her choice of a white-on-white for the reproductions, and then I commented that I would hopefully have it finished this weekend. Her laughter was loud and long, and I was slightly offended. Her thought was that if I thought that Audrey would leave me with energy or time to quilt, I was indeed, nuts. And she said so, out loud, between laughs.

I hate admitting that I am wrong, but at 10pm tonight (I drove away with Audrey at noonish) I believe that she may be right. How I managed to raise a child and her cousins being a single parent, I just can’t remember. I am exhausted. And bunny just came out of hiding.

Audrey finally fell asleep at 9:30 and the only nap she had was on the drive back to Seward. It was a gorgeous day! We had a fun drive and stopped at the property on the way home to feed the “free” bunnies – and I noticed for the second time that the eagles must have gotten one of the little ones.

At home, Audrey immediately sought out bunny, and found him in his usual spot, in our bedroom (he has his own room, which doubles as my quilting room). She stayed about 4 feet from him, and they had a staredown. She did her dance and he glared, giving me “the look”.

If you are a pet owner, you know “the look”. It’s what you get when you take them to the vet for shots or bring and infant into the home. The “why are you subjecting me to this torture?” look.

They left each other alone for about 4 hours and then had the showdown in the kitchen. Bunny came out to assert himself and he backed Audrey all the way up to the kitchen cabinets, where she squeeled and clung to my leg. Then she took action. When he got close enough (overconfident bunny!) she reached down like lightning and touched him on the back!! Whoooooooooeeeeee! He took off, halfway down the hall, and then stood his ground (they don’t call them dumb bunnies for nothing). She just toddled on over and did it again! Off he ran, to hide behind the bed, and Ding! Audrey is the winner of round three!

Gramma’s gonna collapse and re-prioritize her quilting and move a few deadlines back (don’t tell anyone!).

Fabrics from Quilt Market in Houston 2007

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My daughter, Sarah Raffuse, my best friend Penny Herndon, and I all went to Quilt Market in Houston and I came away with these fabrics! I bought quite a variety!
The Earthtones are P & B Textiles.

The dark chocolate and periwinkle blue are In the Beginning fabrics, called Bohemian Manor.

The milk chocolate and powder blues are Marcus Brothers

the stack of autumn colors are RJR;

the muted tonals with the rose is Transitions by Benartex.

The two photos of Kings Road Fat Quarter Packs (there are 4 of them) are the exact same fat quarter packets, just reversed. On one side of the bundle you see 4 fabrics and on the other side (I just flipped them over in the same order when photographing) you see the other 4 FQ’s in the bundle.

I can’t wait to use them all!

Scrapper at Heart

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I love scraps and save every sliver – I even save the ends of my decorative threads! I randomly pieced these scraps together and ended up with 4 squares. Check out the stitching – I am happy with it. I need to get it sashed and bound this week.

Overpowering Purple

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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!