Lark Books Quilt It! Contest

I received an e-mail from Lark Books announcing a new Quilt It! contest. It will run from October 15 to January 5. To enter, just submit a photo of a quilt- but it must contain three of these five elements: birds, mountains, something silver, recycled materials, and beads. You can read more about the contest at Lark's website.

http://www.larkbooks.com/crafts/quilt-it-contest The contest is open to residents of the U.S. only.

One Grand Prize winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to www.hancocks-paducah.com and 11 quilting books from the Lark collection. Four Quilt Category winners will each receive 11 quilting books

The categories are:

Best Use of Beading or Beaded Elements:

In celebration of Creative Quilting With Beads, this prize will be awarded to the quilter who employs the best use of beading or beaded elements in his or her quilt entry.

Best Use of Hand-Dyed/Altered Fabrics

To celebrate the November 2009 release of Color Your Cloth, this prize will be awarded to the quilt that incorporates the most creative use of hand-dyed or altered fabrics.

Best Art Quilt

This prize will be awarded to the best art quilt. This category celebrates Masters: Art Quilts and the forthcoming 500 Art Quilts.

Best Use of Recycled Material

As beautifully illustrated in the January 2010 launch of Quilt It with Wool, this prize will be awarded to the quilt that represents a creative, original, or unexpected use of recycled or repurposed material.

Actually, I think I already have an art quilt that could be entered in this contest, but I might do another one since you know how much I love one of the required elements: mountains! How about a silvery frozen creek?

An Uncloudy Day

This weekend's weather was a blessing- especially on Sunday. We were in the North Carolina mountains, where it was bitterly cold, wet, and dreary on our last visit. This time it was sunny, warm, and not a bit windy.

At our elevation of about 3,000 feet above sea level, the trees were bare except for the oaks, whose leaves tend to cling on into the winter. But the sky was so blue and the air so balmy, it was just gorgeous.

We had a wonderful time. I'm not sure if I will be going back again until after Christmas, because next weekend is the beginning of gun season for hunting deer. I don't like hearing the guns going off or being around when someone kills a deer. But if the weather stays this nice, I will have to go up one more time.

As we came down the mountain, there was still some lovely autumn foliage.

And the clouds started to pile up, but just gentle white clouds.


And we could look back on the sunset as we headed east for home.

Greenway Walk...and Vicki's Prize Package

Yesterday was another simply gorgeous day here in the North Carolina piedmont. I went for a two-hour walk, exploring more of the new roads in the Heritage neighborhood across Rogers Road. It was 42 degrees F when I left, and 72 when I got back! I was surprised to find that I could walk to a greenway system that begins in Wake Forest and ends in Rolesville.

The Wake Forest section is all made from a ten-foot wide wooden walkway with rails. It curves and meanders through a wooded wetland.

How wonderful that all this open space has been preserved! A short foot-trail off the boardwalk leads to this lovely rocky cascade.

In Rolesville, the path becomes pavement. I followed it as far as this new amphitheater that backs up to the woods.

I could just see a blue-grass band playing on this lovely wooden stage, with woodland birds and animals scampering behind them.

I have not had any more close encounters with lust-crazed white-tail deer, but there were lots of turtles sunning themselves on logs in the creeks and little pools of water in the woods. This one is only about two inches long.

Finally I left the woods and walked home, to find a wonderful surprise: the package from Vicki Welsh with my prize from the October Postcard Challenge on her blog, Field Trips in Fiber. It was wrapped in hand-dyed cheesecloth and the pine needle sun-print fabric.

What fun to unwrap the package and fondle the hand-dyed and hand-painted fabric,

the colorful hanks of dyed cheesecloth,the delightful vintage button collection,

and packages of fibers! I had to start playing right away. Here is Vicki's painted card with some fiber I draped around the border.

and my cheesecloth-draped chandelier!

Thank you so much, Vicki. You know I am going to have fun with all my new pretties!

More "Flower Power"

After I quilted Susan's quilt with "Big Shot" die-cut flowers a couple weeks ago, she showed it to another Stampin'-Up demonstrator, Martha Armstrong of Zebulon, NC. Martha brought me her flower quilt on Tuesday afternoon, and I was able to finish it yesterday evening. And she was here bright and early this morning to pick it up, so she can show it in time for a craft fair on Saturday! Martha has a blog where she features many of her lovely cards and other projects.

Martha also used a "layer cake" collection of 10-inch coordinated squares. I've got to say, I love these fabrics and the way they work together. Martha's fabrics were softer colors than Susan's eye-popping citrus colors.

I quilted it almost the same as Susan's, with lots of flowers, leaves, vines, feathers, and a butterfly or two. The three shapes comprising each flower have to be stitched around in order to attach them to the quilt. I used a wiggly circle that somewhat echoes the scalloped edge of each flower piece. The edges will fray if you choose to wash the quilt, for that soft cottage look.63 flowers x 3 pieces = 189 circular trips around. I upped my price after doing the first one of these!

Martha intends to wash her quilt to achieve the shabby chic look. This morning she told me that she had not pre-washed any of her fabrics, including this almost fire-engine red backing. Uh-oh! I guess you can't really pre-wash the jelly rolls and layer cakes that come pre-cut, or they would fray before you even use them.

I have found that reds tend to bleed more than any other color, and with the white background fabric on the top, I was a little nervous about her washing the quilt. I sent her home with a little Gladware container of Synthrapol, a liquid detergent intended to be used for washing hand-dyed fabric. With that and a Shout Color Catcher sheet, maybe her quilt will not bleed.

She is not going to wash it until after the Craft Fair just to be safe! And she has a handful of my business cards in case she runs into any quilters who want to make a quilt with the Big Shot die cut machine.

When I showed this quilt to my husband Charlie last night, that conservative gentleman informed me that he liked the glowing orange back of the quilt better than the front! Okay, this is a chick quilt, indeed!

Finished Projects

After I finished my post yesterday, my friend Mary came over with some gifts for me. We had cut some branches from my magnolia tree to make wreaths for her craft fair last weekend, and look what she gave me!

This wreath has a straw base. The leaves are sprayed with hair spray. I think it is beautiful! We cut some more branches so she can make more wreaths. She also brought my door prize from the craft fair- look at this lovely purse in fall colors! (The painted artificial gourds were purchased at the Cotton Company in Wake Forest last weekend- aren't they cute?)

And it is on the table that features my finished quilted tablecloth. I am so pleased with this project. Before quilting, the hand-dyed, embroidered fabric would not lie flat, but it makes a perfect table-topper now.

Here is the topper with one corner flipped up to show the back side. It will be reversible- the salmon/yellow batik will be perfect for spring.

I bought two other pieces of dyed vintage linens at the Artistic Artifacts booth last spring during the NC Quilt Symposium. They are destined for quilting, as well!

Not today, though. Another Stampin'-Up demonstrator brought one of the die-cut fabric tops like Susan's for me to quilt. And she wants it fast! So, of course, my thread broke about every eight inches when I started quilting yesterday afternoon. I think I will take another walk, hope for another deer sighting, and then get to work on the quilt.

November Nature Walk

All my good intentions for doing chores disappeared this morning, when I looked outside and saw sunshine for the first time in a long while. I had not walked through my neighborhood since I lost my little companion, Maggy. It did not seem right to be walking without my doggy, but the sunshine and beautiful autumn scenery put my mind at rest.

My street looks very beautiful against the clear blue November skies.I have always liked this big tree that seems to lean across the street to lend its shade.

Isn't this a great nature shot? The leaves are gone from this honey locust tree, leaving the long seed pods and branches silhouetted against the sky.

I walked all the way through the new Heritage neighborhood across Rogers Road. The developer, Andy Ammons, has done a first class job on all the landscape and architecture of this large development.
In this photo, you can see the dock and shelter on Forgotten Pond, and the red roof of another shelter near the children's playground.
The ubiquitous Canada geese were enjoying the sunshine.


On the way back I stopped by the Freeman family cemetery. The iron gate was open, so I went in to pay my respects. The headstones obviously are not original. Some loving descendant of the family must have identified as many of the grave sites as he could and put identical granite markers on them. For some reason, Blogger insists on turning the photos sideways today. The oldest date on one of the markers is Mary, wife of Allen Freeman, born in 1805, who lived to the surprising age of 85. There is a wonderful history of the Freeman family online at the Wake Weekly, our local newspaper.


Many of the gravestones marked the graves of infants and children.

I was heading home after taking these photos, when my camera was acting sluggish. I decided to switch out the battery. There I was, camera in hand, when I heard a clattering on the street next to me. Less than ten yards away was a female deer tearing across the street. She jumped over the iron fence into the gated cemetery. Close on her heels was a magnificent ten-point buck! It was a sight I will never forget. The bucks are in rut now that it is mating season, and they are making some bad decisions for their safety right now. I hung around for awhile in case she ran him back in my direction, but they disappeared in the woods.

When I got home I decided to walk across my back yard and check on the grave where I buried Maggy. My previous dog, Sassy, is buried between two large hydrangea bushes, and I put Maggy near to her. I planted a double-file viburnum called "Summer Snowflake" next to her grave, thinking that it would provide beautiful blooms next summer. To my surprise and delight, this is what I found.

RIP, old friend.

Lucky Me!

I had very good luck this weekend in two different drawings. First, I won the door prize at Mary Nennstiel's craft fair at her home near mine. The prize is a hand-made purse that I have not yet collected. I purchased quite a few items from her sale, and also provided the magnolia leaves for her gorgeous wreaths. I also got this great black-and-white print purse from Mary last Christmas at our bee's "gift grab."

Then, on Sunday, I found out that I won the drawing in Vicki's Postcard Challenge for October. Look at all the lovely things she is sending me:

A pine needle sunprint in the back, a metallic painted fabric, 3 hand dyed fat quarters, some dyed cheesecloth and some of her favorite yarns and buttons in autumn colors. Thanks, Vicki, for such a generous prize!

Better head on over to Field Trips in Fiber and get the details for the November Postcard Challenge!