Flower Challenge Progress

I decided to work on my flower challenge quilt yesterday.  In the last post, I had not yet joined my flower quarters together, but I had pieced a patchwork base for the stem section.

I got my flower sections together.  This was not that easy.  If I used the traditional quarter inch seams, I would lose part of each flower design.  Plus, some of these flower parts had so much fusible web that they were quite stiff.  I ended up putting a strip of fusible on the backs to join them, then using a decorative stitch on my machine to stitch them together.  I used red in the red/purple sections, and a neutral for the background.

After looking at it on my design wall, I rejected the beige patchwork base and opted for a plain beige background with a very muted rose design.  Then I started playing with different shapes for the stem and leaves.

Notice I did not go with the straight stem and symmetrical leaves found in traditional quilts!  I am wondering if the dark hand-dyed fabric is going to be too strong a color choice.  And maybe there are too many leaves.

I also tried making a sort of bud.  We are limited to the twelve-inch width and nineteen-inch length for the stem section.

I think it is too much.  The emphasis will be on the flowers.  And I know none of the other stems will be anything like this.  Nothing is sewn down yet on the stem section.  I will keep playing...these are not due until September.

Today is my birthday!  That's right, 29 again!  Last night we went to a famous restaurant in Raleigh, The Angus Barn.  If you ever fly into Raleigh-Durham Airport, you can see it as you approach the field.

Dave and Emily had a gift certificate for The Barn, which they contributed to the occasion.  They brought Baby Charlie in her fancy OshKosh overall dress.  We had a wonderful evening.

Today so far I have done nothing but play on the computer and listen to Pandora radio.  I guess I'll get off the couch pretty soon and start doing something.  Or maybe not!

Back From the Beach

Our annual family vacation at Sunset Beach, North Carolina, was the best yet.  While the Raleigh area suffered damaging thunderstorms, winds, and rains, we had beautiful beach weather every day.  There were a few lightning displays at night, but nothing to keep us from enjoying our beach week.

From the cottage that we rent, we have views of the Intercoastal Waterway, the marsh, and the Atlantic Ocean.  There are great sunsets to enjoy with an adult beverage and the ones that you love.

During the day we spent all of our time on the beach.  All together, my extended family had five cottages.  It was fun to see all the cousins playing together.

I love the photo I took of little Holly wearing my hat.  This might be a future painting subject!

Baby Charlie enjoyed the beach, but took advantage of the tent that her parents set up for nap time.  Cousin Lily joined her for a little nap a couple times.

When Charlie was not in the tent, she wore a little sunhat.  Here she is with her dad.

I always enjoy seeing the watercolors in the cottage done by Brenda Butka, one of the owners.  There was a new one in our bathroom that I just loved.  Wonder if that was me?

I like the colors in this picture of the marsh.

All good things must end, and this vacation did, too.  Monday through Wednesday I spent babysitting for little Charlie.  Such a delight!

Another Watercolor Painting

I had so much fun painting the view from the Christmas tree farm in the mountains, that I decided to try another iconic scene from Ashe County.  

Peak Creek Dam, by Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2013

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you have seen photos of this dam across Peak Creek many times.  We used to camp in the grassy field next to the creek just below the dam.  There is nothing like the sound of that rushing water!

The large structure on top of the dam used to house a turbine, which powered the copper mine at the top of the mountain.  Now the water flows through there and makes a splendid waterfall.

Painting water is always somewhat challenging, but I was rather pleased with this first attempt to capture the cascade.

Anything Art Flower Challenge

Today was our monthly meeting of the Anything Art Bee.  I traveled on the new I-540 toll road for the first time.  I would say there is strong resistance to paying the toll for this section of highway.  There were only two vehicles on the southbound trip, and three on my return trip!  Lovely not to have any traffic, but $1.00 each way seems high to travel a few miles.

First, we had Show-and-Tell.  I showed my baby quilt top and my paintings of the Christmas tree farm  and another one that I have not posted here yet.  I dropped the paintings off at Michael's on the way home to get them framed.

Roberta had an array of beautiful hand-made cuffs.  

I loved the one she was wearing.

Our hostess, Toni, made a great-looking T-shirt quilt, quilted by my friend Cathy Kirk.

Marion made a unique background display for quilt pins from a folded fabric technique.

After a delicious salad lunch, we proceeded to show off our red/purple flower blocks for our group challenge.  Don't they look beautiful grouped on the table?

Several members made more than one block.  What a wide variety, from the simple broderie perse rose, to the traditional blocks at the upper left, to the exotic in the second row!

We decided to slice each block into four equal parts.  Marion volunteered to be the slicer and dicer.

As soon as they were cut up, we started playing with the pieces to recombine them.

Everyone got one section of their own block back, and chose three more.  I thought we played very nicely during this game!

When I got home I tried mine in different combinations on my design wall.

We decided we would add stems and leaves to our blocks.  I found some pieced beige fabrics already in strips, probably left over from some Debbie Mumm-inspired quilt projects in the nineties.

Now I have to figure out how to join my flower squares, design a stem and leaves, quilt, and embellish.  Each person will make an individual quilt with a hanging sleeve.  They will be hung together if we decided to enter the in a quilt show.  Can't wait to see how they all turn out!

New Baby Quilt Top

I have had these blocks on the design wall for a couple of weeks.  Now they are sewn together.

Most of the fabrics were left over from my great-nephew Lucas's quilt that started with ten-inch squares.  I added some pinks for this version, which will be for his cousin Holly.   I originally wanted to just make half-square triangles, but half of those ten-inch blocks looked a little too large for a baby quilt.  I cut each HST in half again.  I lost a lot of the fabric that way when they were squared up, but I like the look much better.

These could have been set in hourglass style with the darks together and lights together, but I opted to set dark against light.  It makes a pinwheel set on point.

I auditioned several fabrics for inner and outer borders, and finally decided to just use this dark butterfly print.

The dark background makes the bright colors pop, and the colors in the print echo the fabrics in the blocks.

Lately I have been trying to use up my fabric stash instead of purchasing more.  The last few quilt backings I have made have been pieced.  I spent a good part of the afternoon piecing the backing for this quilt from coordinating fabrics.

I had to ask myself, "Why didn't I just spring for a few yards of fabric instead of doing all this piecing on the back?  But it will make the back of the quilt more interesting and colorful.

Now I need to find time to go out to Clayton to visit my Gammill at its foster mother's house.  We set it up out there to make my home look more spacious as it is on the market.  I sure do miss it!  We thought we had found some buyers last week, but the offer did not come through.  It's a process!

Book Review: The Giving Quilt, by Jennifer Chiaverini

I recently had a giveaway provided by Plume Books, publishers of the Jennifer Chiaverini Elm Creek Quilts series.  I have given away The Giving Quilt to our winner Linda James, but they sent me an extra copy of the novel for a review.  Here is the review, and then the extra copy of the novel will go to Karen L for entering the drawing.

The Giving Quilt, by Jennifer Chiaverini

The Giving Quilt is the latest in the series of books about the quilters of Elm Creek Manor, an old estate that is the setting for weeklong quilt retreats.  The books in the series are always best-sellers.  This particular novel takes place during "Quiltsgiving" Week at the Manor.  The regular staff offer a week free of charge to quilters who will make quilts for Project Linus during their stay at the manor.  Let me just say, that offer sounds too good to be true.  Three fabulous meals a day, a free room, quilting supplies including sewing machines and a longarm!  I would take up that opportunity in a heartbeat!

My usual novels of choice are thrillers and mysteries, so I thought this novel began rather slowly.  I did not really need to hear about how they set up their registration materials on the tables, you know?  But the novel really becomes intriguing when you hear the stories of the participants in the quilt retreat.  There are chapters devoted to several of the quilters, and each has a compelling background story that is very related to today's societal issues.  Unemployment, budget cuts, death in the family, unfairness, even the typical frustrations of dealing with difficult members of a quilting group are all interwoven into the plot.  I enjoyed hearing how each quilter resolved their challenges and issues.

The Elm Creek Quilters offered a lesson in making a quilt top.  Instructions for the quilt are provided in narrative format as the quilters attend the daily lessons.  I personally would have liked for the quilt instructions and a photograph to be included, perhaps as an appendix at the end of the book. I only saw the paperback edition, so perhaps they are included in the hardcover edition.

If you enjoy quilting and enjoy Chiaverini's well-developed characters, you will like The Giving Quilt.

Mountain Weekend

Here it is Saturday again, and I see that I have not posted since last weekend!  The weather turned out to be beautiful for Amanda and Natty's outside wedding.  We had a nice time visiting lots of friends and family.  

Baby Charlie turned out to be a good mountain baby!  She loved riding the Gator, enjoying the shade down by the creek, dressing up for the wedding, and meeting her baby cousin Lucas.

Here she is, kicking back in her wedding outfit.

We had a beautiful sunset ride to the top of the mountain, and saw the perfect triangle alignment of three planets.  (Not visible in this photo)

My sister and her husband have started a hobby farm.  They now have two pygmy goats

six piglets, some chickens, and they are planning to get some miniature cows!

Speaking of cows, I went to Jerry's Art-a-Rama in Raleigh a couple days ago, and there was this lovely painted bovine just inside the entrance to the store.  I think they must have bought it from the auction last year.

I will end with this shot of flame azalea, which grows wild on the mountain in varying shades of orange.  Beautiful way to light up the mountain!