Parakeets’ Expression


This is a quilt that TFQ and I saw at the APNQ show. It has been on mind because of the expressiveness of the little parakeets. I think that this quilt tells a story because of the implied movement of the birds. I can appreciate realistic quilts, but don’t always see the point in reproducing a photo in quilt format. This one, however, tells a story.

Towards Final Bullseye Arrangement

After magnificiently struggling with the layout for the Bullseye, I believe I have settled on a shape I can live with and one that is successful. The difference between this and the others I have done is that the ‘knots’ I have created are self contained. I keep thinking of them as Lovers’ Knots, but I know that term may confuse people who know the actual Lovers’ Knot quilt pattern.

I have more patches on the wall and am finalizing fabric placement now. I hope to get to sewing today as I would like to have this piece ready to take to the quilter with the Chocolate Box. I am itching to get back to the Pineapple (amazing, but true). I need to move a couple of projects forward first.

Playing with Fabric

Barsha is an artist I know who is the poster girl for creative play. This stuffed bear is a good example. His story is that Barsha saw the fabric, bought it and just had to make something right away. I think the fabric makes the bear.

We had a long discussion, similar to one that TFQ and I often have, about how people deal with their creativity. We came up with the possibility that people don’t feel free enough in their creativity (pressed for time so everything has to be perfect???) to just play and to make mistakes.

Go forth and play with your fabrics and, yes, make mistakes.

Admiring Rectangles

Fractions on a Roll is another Jelly Roll pattern that I admired at the APNQ show. In addition to diamonds, I have also been admiring rectangles. I actually started a rectangle quilt to comfort my aunt while she was in the hospital. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish it in time and haven’t had the heart to work on it. This design, however may give me the boost I need to work on it.

The layout of the rectangles is different than my original design and may give a UFO new life.

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Jelly Roll Patterns

I saw this pattern at the APNQ show, which I promise to write about soon. I seem to be attracted to Jelly Rolls and Jelly Roll patterns lately. Not sure what that is about, but am just going to go with the flow.

I have long admired diamond quilts, but aside from a few 8-pointed stars and a Lone Star center, I haven’t ever made a diamond quilt.

It is appealing because of the way larger diamonds are made up of smaller diamonds. Strip ‘n’ Dip is from GE Designs, an Icelandic company.

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Mixed Media Event in Pleasanton, August 22-24, 2008

<span style=”font-size:100%;”><span style=”font-family: georgia;”>The Convenzione Zne, a mixed media artists convention will be held </span><span style=”font-size: 18px; font-family: georgia;”>August 22 – August 24, 2008 in Pleasanton, apparently at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. Why am I telling you this? Because the event will </span><span style=”font-family: georgia;”>host the 1000 Journals Project</span></span>. It looks like the screening will be on August 22, but it is a little unclear to me. Everyone who attends will receive a free journal. Tickets are $25 if purchased before August 13, but check out the website. I don’t know if I will go or not. I have bad feelings about Pleasanton and don’t want to spend a whole weekend out there, even for the 1000 Journals. Let me know how it is!

See the website at: http://www.znecon.com/page/page/5942610.htm

SHOWpost.jpg picture by zneart
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Mosaic Quiltmaking

This is a quilt top that my SIL is working on. You might notice, especially from the detail (below) that it looks like the mosaic quilting technique of Shannon Williams displayed on Simply Quilts YEARS ago. the patches that my pieces and Shannon’s pieces use are much smaller, but SIL used the leftovers from another quilt and I think this piece is wonderful. The mosaic patches really add a lot of interest to the piecing.

More on the 1000 Journals Project in San Francisco

The SF Chronicle wrote a story about the first commercial showing of the 1000 Journals project.

clipped from www.sfgate.com

Chronicling the journeys of 1,000 wayward journals

It all started with bathroom graffiti. When the artist who calls himself Someguy read what people wrote on bathroom walls, he was intrigued by the uncensored thoughts and messages. Under the cloak of anonymity, he saw, people will say anything.

“And then I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if people could write in a book and make their own comments.’ “

Last year, Chronicle Books of San Francisco published “The 1000 Journals Project” ($22.95), a compendium of outstanding images from several journals. Someguy and the journals will also be part of “The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now,” an exhibition of participatory art practice that opens Nov. 8 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

1000 Journals: The documentary opens Friday at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., San Francisco, (415) 863-1087, roxie.com.

For more information about the 1000 Journals project, go to 1000journals.com.

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Baby Janes

I never thought I would do a Dear Jane quilt and I haven’t started one yet. Being a block lover, I have, however, always admired the multitude of different looking blocks. Today I saw a Baby Jane grid of blocks on Twiddledetails blog (http://twiddletails.blogspot.com/) made on her blog and was intrigued. So I went to the blog and was pleased to see that the person running the blog really had good directions and for making the blocks.Do a little exploring and admiring.

I still want to see where I can find that grid although it would look pretty stupid with NO blocks filled in.

Dear Baby Jane
Join me on the journey of creating a “Baby Jane quilt” in the tradition of Jane Stickle’s original “Dear Jane quilt”.

H-6 Pie Sale

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Latent Love of Dolls

Deirdre sent me a link to Mimi Kirchner’s blog and it made me start thinking about dolls.

clipped from mimikirchner.com
clipped from mimikirchner.com
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I have to admit that I have always loved dolls: Barbie and friends, baby dolls that you could dress and feed, soft huggable stuffed dolls.

I loved dressing up dolls. The dolls always looked glamourous and could walk in their tarty shoes, which wasn’t always the case for me! Dolls always provided an opportunity to play house and have things go my way. Dolls are also a great opportunity for creativity. Now I am too old for dolls and they have been replaced by a family of Mr. Potato Heads on my desk. Yes, I dress them up for the entertainment value.

As I have been washing and pressing the fabric from my trip to the East Coast, I have been cutting off schnibbles. I keep thinking to myself what great hair the schnibbles would be, which further makes me think that Art Warrior and Mother Warrior may need a new friend.

Artist Warrior (left). Mother Warrior (right). On display at the last CQFA show.

Mimi’s dolls are really creative and beautiful, and they also have a lot of personality. They are also BIG, and, presumably, huggable.

I am really glad to have the blogosphere accessible to me, because it is just a fountain of creativity that I can dip my toe into whenever I want.

Rebel Quilter’s Bullseyes

JulieZS, one of my partners in Bullseyes (in case you haven’t been reading) sent me the link (http://rebelquilter.com/latest_news.htm) to these bullseyes by Susan Leslie Lumsden. I can’t really see them up close and personal, but I love the colors and the look of them. I am always interested in seeing other people’s iterations of bullseyes.

clipped from rebelquilter.com
Slipstream Adventure
Slipstream Detail A
Slipstream Detail B
Live Water Magic Time
Strength Through Diversity
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Projects Calling

I couldn’t stay away from my workroom on yesterday. I found a playmate for the child and left them to their own devices (except for an occasional admonishment to go outside away from the screens) while I sat and sewed. I sent Aja’s Bullseyes off to her, as I may have mentioned, last week. She received them Thurs or Fri, so I only had my blocks to work on.

This calling business was a bit disconcerting, because it seemed like my mind had a mind of its own. Normally, I will sew a bit, do the laundry a bit, sew a bit more, make my weekly phone calls, sew a bit, change the laundry and do the dishes and sew a bit more. Yesterday my body and mind were united and they were having none of it. I went to the workroom and basically stayed there. No dishes, no laundry and the dinner didn’t get started until almost 7pm. IT WAS FABULOUS!!!
This is one of the blocks and I really liked it. I fussy cut the last circle and was sad to slice it up, because the flower is so perfectly displayed.

These are my blocks after I have added the last circle. The blocks in the upper right hand corner are blocks that weren’t in the photo I posted the other day. My design wall isn’t big enough to accommodate all of the blocks.

These are details of the blocks from the upper right hand corner.

Now my Bullseye blocks are nearly complete. I have sewed the last circles on and trimmed all the blocks down to 9.5″.
This is how the back of a block looks after I have sewn the last circle and before I have cut the back of the second circle out. You can see that Julie and Aja have cut out the backs of the background and the first circle.

Here is how the above block looks after I have cut out the back of the second circle. This reduces bulk and provides lots of lovely circles for another project.

I finished the process of cutting out the backs of the second circles, and I have sliced the blocks into quarters. I am preparing them to be sent off to Julie and Aja.

Here is how I set up the blocks to slice them. I love the Creative Grid rulers, because they have a lot of different markings that allow you to line up the ruler so the block is sliced very precisely.

I keep two quarters of the block and send one quarter each to Julie and Aja.

Here are my slices. I just slapped them up on the wall, but I like the internal maze surrounded by a larger maze and may go with that type of design for the final design. I think I will have to put some of the stronger colors, perhaps red, in that internal maze so that it stands out. I will also want the self bordering technique to give the piece a finished look You can see it in Seeing Red.

Bullseyes – Another Round

Friend Julie sent me a second package of Bullseyes sometime last week and I decided I needed to get my act together and sew them up.

Adrienne’s blocks detail.
The rest of Adrienne’s blocks after I put the circles on.
Adrienne’s blocks after Julie put the first circle and I sewed the second circle.
The rest of Adrienne’s blocks after Julie put the first circle and I sewed the second circle.


The rest of my blocks. I was surprised at how much non-purple the other girls used, but then I remembered that that is the fun. DUH! I have cut all the squares for the last round and hope to sew them on this weekend. I recut a lot of them so that most, if not all are purple. I want to cut them up and send them off before I start off on my travels.