Saturday, May 30, 2009

Yard Sale Treasures



I am trying to increase my embellishment stash, so when time and children permit, I go yardsaling. Today, I found 2 beautiful broaches for $.25 each at a yard sale. I think if I had been there earlier, I would have found some buttons. I have asked my sister in law, who lives in the big city to look for buttons, beads, men's ties, purse handles, vintage material or clothing and anything embellish looking. She is a fantastic yard saler.

There are 1001 benefits to living in a small town among other small towns, but yard saling is not one of them. On a few occasions I have been in the big cities of Ottawa and Barrie for yard sales, and it is a quilt artists dream.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Current Project continued


Here is the second part of my new quilt! Told you it was wild.

Just got back from the rummage sale at our local church. Got some great fabric for quilts, purses and pouches. Also got myself a Padagonia quick dry hat, jean jacket and 2 skirts. I think I will go back again tomorrow, once it has been picked down a bit.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Current Project


This is my new work of art. I now have to start quilting it. I have been putting it off as I am unsure what pattern to use on the petals. I will post the other fabric I am using tomorrow as that is sure to shock you. It looks like it doesn't go together, but it does.... with sunglassess!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

President's Challenge


Here are 2 of the president's challenge quilts. Like I had said on my previous post, no one knows who made what. Mine is the wild flowers on the left. There were 12 entries and the theme was to pick your favourite season and embellish it, use some applique and do a picot border. I met all the criteria, now I have to wait till mid June to see if I managed to win a prize.
This week marks the beginning of the CQA National Juried show in which my flower quilt will be proudly hanging.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Pamela Allen Was Here


On Thursday night we were treated to the infamous quilt artist Pamela Allen. She did a trunk show for our guild.

The following day she did a workshop titled 'Still Life is Boring, NOT!'. For those lucky 20 that attended, it was fun, informative and exhausting. She kept us working and motivated and taught us many new things. What I discovered is that I cannot quilt still life. It may have something to do with the fact that I have no inspiration from a piece of fruit or vase or plate. My first attempt at still life ended up with a kayak on a river shore. Don't ask me how. My second attempt, I really tried to focus on still life, and you can see how I made out. It was a great learning experience and I came away with alot of knowledge, and some not quilt related.

That guild meeting was also when we handed in our president's challenge quilts. There were 12 quilts entered of all different styles. Mine was easy to pick out, I do have my own style. Members were to vote on their favourite which would be announced as the Viewer's Choice at the June meeting along with the President judging and choosing the best.

I will post them tomorrow and you can choose your favourite.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

#5


Okay, I couldn't help myself. I said I wasn't going to sew anymore jackets, but it was 9 pm last night, my current art quilt project was on the floor in a design I have been staring at for the past 4 days, trying to figure out how to quilt it.... so I had to do something with fabric.

Obviously I am stressing many out, judging by the comments being left, and I was handed a new pattern today by a 'friend'. So no more jackets!

On another note, after taking a 2 week fitness break, mostly recovery time from my big race. Well, that is what I told myself. I was up at 6 am doing a workout. Let's just say it really is not worth it to take too long of a break, it just hurts way too much to start up again. But paddling season is upon us and my kayak is ready to hit the water.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

What a Day



Had a quick trip to emerg today to check out my little boy, things should be okay soon. It could have been way worse, so I am very relieved. Good friends help too.

To celebrate I ordered some fabric from Etsy. If you have never checked out this huge market, do so. It has everything hand made and all supplies that go along with it. The picture is the fabric I ordered, it is a Michael Miller one.

Life is good.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

#4


Here is the latest one. I may have a slightly addictive personality=) This one is done in only 2 colours, but I added a collar and cuffs to it.
I may try one all in batiks. I was going to be done with this pattern, but my mom really, really likes the blue/brown one, so I will give it to her for her birthday.

On a Canadian quilting note, 4 quilts from Manitoulin Island got accepted into the National Juried Show in Saskatoon at the end of May. The infamous Judy M got 2 accepted and Myra T and I each got one accepted. That is pretty good representation for our little island. And I would not be surprised if the other 2 both walked away with some type of award, their handwork is amazing. And me, not so patient with the handwork, but I am working on figuring out how to market my 3D technique. I have a couple of ideas up my quilted sleeve=)

Friday, May 15, 2009

Try and Try Again



I gave it another shot and made another jacket. I like this one better. And then I made another one... I like it too, be sure to post if you like them. I am now on my 4th one.
Went to sudbury Thursday night and only went to the fabric store and Valu village. But made some great finds. I actually got a belt that matches the pink and white circle fabric. Material $3.00/m is just too good to pass up. That is the cost of the 2 jackets pictured here. I think I will make matching purses, but need to find some nice wooden or plastic purse handles first. Without spending too much money on them.

Oh, and my first jacket, my mom loved it and I think is going to shorten the sleeves and it made the perfect birthday gift for her. It is in June and I sent her home with it and then when I made the pink one, she did like it better, too bad! But be sure to compliment her on it when you see her=)

Bring on the Clowns

I finished my jacket the same nite I posted previously but was disappointed. I think myart quilt side of me is unsure how to pick fabric for clothing to wear in public. All these pieces of fabric go great together. But assembled into a jacket? What do you think? Yard sale item?

I am thinking of making it into short sleeves? And maybe making the tie thinner or using a nice piece of ribbon? Post your comments so I don't leave the house looking like a clown.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A quilted jacket



I have a serger, I have material, I have pants. I should make something quilted to wear with my pants. Thus begins my sewing challenge. I borrowed a quilt pattern of a blazer/jacket and am starting to make it. I am not too optimistic as I have a hard time doing a 1/2" seam with the serger. Actually I just have a hard time with the serger, and my biggest fear is the thread breaking. Then I would have to sell it.

The picture shows where I am at. I had to wrinkle it up so you couldn't see if the seams were matching or not. Just assume they are. The sleeves are a burgundy print, so there is an excellent chance that when this is done, I will look like a clown. I will update as things progress

Friday, May 8, 2009

Gram



The most amazing woman I have ever known died last night, my grandmother. She had her 2 daughters with her, her 3 granddaughters and her nephew.

I had been travelling up every night for the past week to see her at the hospital. She told me on one of her visits that the sweet pea flower was her favourite. She had it climbing on her fence that entered the walkway to her house.

For the past 10 years, I have travelled up to their farm once a week to see her and Grandad. It was a year and 13 days since Grandad died. They both went into the hospital 2 weeks prior and they both died on a Thursday. Both times their daughters and granddaughters were with them at the end. There is no way we could have asked for a better life for them, or for them to have found more happiness. They loved their grandchildren and great grandchildren more than anything.

They witnessed my marriage, the birth of my children, and their baptisms. Gram was over at my place for supper less than 6 weeks ago and I showed her the quilts I was working on.

She was my role model, my hero, and the best Grandma in the whole world, and I loved her with all my heart.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Wipe off the Dust....


and take the serger in for a tune up and out comes a pair of pj pants.

I have had a serger for about 9 years and have really never used it. I finally decided I had better get using it. Now don't get me wrong, I am not switching from quilting to sewing. But realized that my fear of the thread breaking and never being able to rethread it was a hurdle I should overcome. I did up a pair of cotton pj pants yesterday and plan to do one more pair. When I say 'pj pants', don't be surprised if you see me wearing them all day, I like them as casual bum around the house pants.

I have even wondered about having serged edges showing for an art quilt... something I am thinking about....

Monday, May 4, 2009

JUST RUN

That was my motto going into my 10 km race... I had been saying it to myself for 2 weeks and finally race day had come. Here's how it panned out.

Sunday morning rolls around, 4 am ish, was up every hour worrying I would miss both alarms etc… hit the road at 5 am , and just past sheg came upon an accident…. Yep… car overturned in ditch… girl trapped in car… thankfully I talked to the one kid whom I think got out of it, and another car pulled up and said they called ambulance, and it came 1 minute after I got there, so I go and ask one attendant if there is anything I can do, yes, do you have a blanket? Well yes, , so I ask if I am needed, and no, fire dept.. is en route so I drive on, yes, thru the broken glass as no one has swept it and I can see myself with a flat tire in Sudbury. ( girl was talking in car)

Nonetheless I make it and wait for my turn to run with the other 200 plus doing the 10 km race. … I am ready, the gun goes, I start off and um, how the heck am I supposed to find my groove, beat, pace, whatever with 400 other feet running beside me? Hello, I run in the quiet in half dark on Manitoulin, people? BE QUIET…. So 1 km into the run I feel a cramp…. What is that all about? I have never had that before… ok, keep going… oh, there is the 2 km mark, oh so they mark off each km…. Well that is a great idea, I like knowing where I am in the race… Now here is where it gets strange. Btwn the 4th and 5th km, I think I ran about 1500m, there is no way that was 1 km it felt way too long. Well, to be honest it was probably only in my mind … so by the 7th km, I wanted to take those little signs and shove them into the nearest garbage can! Why do I need to know where I am at all times? When I hit the finish I will know I am done. For goodness sakes, mark 5 and 10km, don’t put every one in between. Or skip one to make me think I am really cruising.

Now prior to the run, my friend had commented wondering when she was going to ‘hit the wall’… I said nothing as I had never experienced it, only heard about it…. Whatever, I am only running 10 k, and had done it twice before… so guess what at 7.5 km…. Something happened… wall, solid brick wall.. I don’t know how, but I wanted to stop, crawl into the fetal position and tap my ruby red slippers 3 times and I would wake up at home. OMG!!!! That was not fun… and guess what, that little 8 km sign was no where in sight. Ok, it did finally show up… I swear someone moved it further away. Now I am thinking ok, only 4 x 500m to go. Wait, another steep hill, for goodness sakes people, I am barely breathing here!

Now when I had read the description of the route it said easy, and only 3 rolling hills. My definition of a hill is my treadmill set at an incline of 0.1. That is an incline so that is a hill. I had already counted 3 of those hills and there were another 3 whopping big hills coming at me I was not prepared for. I think I am going to email the course organizer to tell him for the future the course description should read ‘ 3 hills and 3 mountainous regions on the route’.

To conclude, I do have my watch going to time myself and I usually do a km in 7.5 minutes… I did realize I was going faster than that. What else am I going to do between those stupid little km marker signs, than compute what speed I am travelling at?

At the 5km mark, I see I had done that in 31:31 minutes,, a personal best. So I was now really trying to clip along, clip for me, snail like pace for real runners… and I even picked up speed at the end.

There was no one there to cheer me in, but I didn't care one bit because I didn’t have to look at any more of those blasted km signs and because.... wait for it….. I have only ever done a 1 hour and 15 minutes time for a 10km run…. and wait for it ….. this time I did a ……… 1 hour 4 minutes and 16 seconds.
Yep, I took 10 minutes and 44 seconds off!

Yep… to reward myself I am not doing any exercises for 1 week! Mostly because I can't feel anything from the waist down.

Friday, May 1, 2009

No chickens

Well, I received a letter in the mail today from our township. It didn't even get to go back to council, two people made the decision. Basically, in my translation, the lawyer never gave them an answer, so it was too difficult for the administration to follow up with another phone call.

Basically, they are politicians and those paid by politicians, need I say more?

After sleeping on it, I decided to fire off an email asking them if they could get in touch with their lawyer and 'review and consult' by next April. Now of course, they may have to form a study group to decide if they can find out the information in a year. Then it could take another year to find the phone number of their lawyer, another year to make a decision and yet another year to tell me. These guys are really the best at excuses.

The dumb thing is that, I believe 3 or 4 of the council would go for it, but they won't be allowed to put it to vote because administration is not giving them the chance and stating we need a lawyer to raise chickens. It is reassuring to know where our tax dollars are going.