Ricky Tims Fabric Sale

I just received a package of hand-dyed fabric from Ricky Tims.  He had a close-out sale of his Caveman and Rhapsody fabrics last week because he was switching to a new base fabric.  I always liked the very robust hand of his old fabrics, so I hope the new line will be even better.  I got three yards of dark Caveman, a bright orange and a dusty gold.

I have used that dark fabric in the past on many quilts.  I especially like it for bindings as it has blues, purples, and a little blue-green, making it a good blender.

Buying pretty new fabric almost makes up for missing my trip to Mary Jo's last Friday!

Last night I attended a meeting of a book club that I have belonged to since the 1990's.  The members are all former elementary school teachers or staff members.  I worked with many of them at Millbrook Elementary in Raleigh for eleven years.  Now most of them are either retired, or teach at Baileywick Elementary School. 

I have not attended a meeting in a couple of years, although I enjoy reading the monthly e-mails about which book they are discussing.  Last night the meeting was in the Heritage neighborhood, exactly 1.4 miles from my house, so I had no excuse not to venture out!  We talked from 7:00 PM until after 10:00!  I have a new list of great book recommendations.  My suggestion for next month's book was accepted:  The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros. 

It is a fictional account of a young girl of Mexican heritage growing up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago.  The book is actually a series of vignettes, some only a page and a half long, describing the people in her family and neighborhood.  I think it should be required reading for teachers who are now responding to the needs of a growing population of Hispanic students.  I am currently reading Caramelo, by the same author, which goes into more detail of her family, particularly her Mexican grandparents.

I am still having to run back and forth to Rex Hospital every three or four days.  On Monday, my lab results for my anticoagulant levels were back within normal limits, but they still want to monitor me closely after that bad one last Thursday.  I also have a prescription for a compression stocking that I am going to pick up on my next visit on Friday. That is supposed to help with the swelling and pain from the blood clot.  I keep getting more medical bills every day.  I did not know that when you visit the emergency room, you get separate bills from the radiologist, emergency room physicians, and sometimes the lab.  My little fall in the mountains ending up being a costly mistake!  But I am thankful that so far, everything I have is fixable.

How is your week going? 

Another Little Quilted Critter

At the last minute, I decided to make a little gift to take with me last weekend when we visited the McBrayers in the western part of North Carolina. Charlie's brother Richard and his wife Phylis have hosted us for many Christmases past. This is no small task, as I well know from having all of my family over for a big Christmas dinner. Richard and Phylis are cat lovers, and lost their long-time family pet, Simba, due to illness this year. I wanted to make them a Simba quilt. I did not have a picture to refer to, but remembered Simba as a big, friendly orange cat. It must have been somewhat close, because Phylis started crying as soon as she saw it. I named it Golden Memories.

The pattern is once again one I purchased from Sharon Malec, who is known for her animal portraits. This pattern was called Tabby Cat. When I finished piecing, this is how it looked.

I asked my husband if he thought it looked like Simba, and he gave a non-committal "sort of." I decided I had not used enough orange, so I got out my Tsukineko inks and went over the cat areas with several shades of orange and gold ink, including some metallic. I also gave him some eyeballs.

I thought that looked better, so I started quilting. I used a thin batt, possibly Thermolam, behind a batting of Warm and Natural. I found that when I made Miranda's horse quilt, the batting needed to be a little firmer to hang right with all the quilting I put in.

By the way, isn't that a great backing fabric? I have a good supply of hand-dyed fabric, and I think this piece was purchased from Ricky Tims. It certainly gives an art quilt a good start to have a beautiful piece of cloth to work with.