Cold in Alaska for the Fourth of July!  Today was a relaxing day.  I made chocolate cookies that had chocolate, walnuts and pecans.  I think the cookie was just a vessel for the goodies.   They taste much like brownies.  A trip to a friends and we dug some iris and trollius for the flower garden. 

I finished hand quilting one of my fall class samples.  The binding has been machine stitched so now a little handwork and it is complete.  Samples and pictures are due on July 20.  I'll be teaching beginning quilting in October, scrap fun in November, and hand quilting in December. 

My summertime mum quilt will be hanging this summer in the church and will come down for entry in the September Anchorage Log Cabin Quilter's Show. After its hanging, I will take a full picture and post. This is the large free hand quilted with white perle cotton. The Baptist fans give lots of movement to what seems a simple but colorful quilt.

In the meantime, I had forgotten we made pictures of the "mad quilter" .  The background is one of my early quilts.  My first sampler and first real size quilt.  It comes out every Christmas and even hung at the church a few years ago.   The mad quilter on the other hand is modeled after German Christmas ornaments and will hang our Christmas tree this year.  Elizabeth made the glasses, Dan turned the body parts on the lathe........



Happy day after the Fourth of July! 

Thrift Shop Crazy Eight

I like the way the reds and yellows pop in this quilt.  The fabrics from this quilt came primarily from Bishop's Attic in Anchorage.  Fat quarters and half yard pieces with a date range of at least the 1980's for the blue and purple stripe, 1990's for the Alexander Henry primary colored jungle print.  I'm guessing the remaining fabrics were from the 21st century.  The green/black check was a favorite.  I always like fabrics that make  your eyes work and I actually got a large piece , 2 1/2 yards for only $2.50.  I thought of using it to back the quilt but my friends thought it was too busy so I used the remainders of the quilt patches from the front and pieced the back with a black fabric with primary colored polka dots.   I'll use this for a sample in my beginning quilt class to demonstrate hanging diamonds for machine quilting. 

Well, the name has finally changed to fit more of what I want my blog to reflect.  Sometimes quilting isn't the only thing that I do.  This weekend I do hope to quilt and wrap up my class descriptions for the fall session.  I plan a hand quilting, at least one beginning quilt class as well as my favorite class to teach....scrap fun or as I plan to start calling it ..."the remainders"........today's entry is just to get me back on track and hopefully tomorrow will have pictures. 

We have the remainder of a lovely pineapple in the refrigerator so pork, pineapple and green pepper shish kebobs on the grill this evening.  Suppose I should take a picture of that, too!

Chopped, confetti salad

So my salad was not quite as good as Yak and Yeti's but was not bad.  Chopped cauliflower, swiss chard stems, red cabbage, peas, carrots, cucumbers with a garlic ginger dressing....I liked the colors and it was pretty like a crumb quilt.  I have to conquer the camera still but , I'm figuring out how to upload the pictures. 

This week is the last class of my evening beginning quiltmaking class.  I'm making the blocks along with the students using some mint green, pale turquoise, lime green and a little gray and brown....I'm thinking of setting the blocks very modern with lots of white negative space.   My Saturday class is halfway through and is a little smaller.   All three students are doing well.  One is doing a batik sampler, another black and white and the third various shade of green. 

In early November, I start my last class for this fall.  It is full with two people on the waiting list. 

The difference in this class besides an extra block is that there is curved piecing, more complicating piecing of multiple sizes triangles , rectangles and squares plus the whole quilt is set on point.  I made the sample a couple of years ago so I need to pull my books and draft the directions.   I love the orange print in this quilt .... the bright daisies were pretty festive, too. 

Purple and Yellow Pants

A few years ago, we went to Washington, DC.  We were walking to the Textile Museum from Dupont Circle, I think, and we saw this Sunday farmer's market.  The street was closed for the market and it was pretty crowded with early June vegetables, flowers , and baked goods.  These bright purple and yellow cauliflower caught my eye.  They were the colors of some awful pants that I had in sixth grade.  Oh, how we dressed in 1972.  I think one leg was purple and one was yellow with the reverse on the back or maybe the bell bottoms were yellow with a purple upper part of the pants.  Thinking back they were quite bright.  I loved them!!!

I am having fun stitching kona cottons; I finished this a couple of weeks ago.  These are scraps from a larger quilt ,  easier to finish the small than the large.  I hand quilted with narrow rows of perle cotton.  I am trying to decide if this is a table runner or a small wall hanging.  The quilt took on a life of its own.  I started with a black square added the scraps , Chinese coin style but I didn't like it at all.  A little slice and dice before it became a vertical piece.  Its bound with black and has a solid eggplant back. I realized sometime ago that the "big stitching" is lost on the back when a print is used.  Solids are much better. 

Today's finish.  I really liked the stitching on this.  I used perle cotton again, free hand stitched an outline for the concentric squares and finished with triangles in the border.  The kona cottons have such vivid colors.  I haven't washed yet but I will soon.  I wanted to finish so that I could carry both pieces to the Anchorage Modern Quilt Guild meeting tomorrow night.  Local Quilt Artist Diane Melms will be the  special guest speaker sharing some of her quilts and process. You can view some of Diane's work here - http://www.dianemelms.com/

Teal Surrounded

Two more borders to quilt!! This quilt is coming along....it is pieced from scraps of Kona solids with a border of green.  Outline quilted with perle cotton and quilted with green interlocking triangles on the border. Everything is freehand and this time I am not using a hoop.   The stitching is done in matching colors but more dramatic on the sable brown back.  Should have taken picture of the back. I can't decide whether to frame with a brown binding or more green. 

Quiltmaking 101 starts on Wednesday and it is a full class of 8 students!  Need to find my directions and update with any corrections .... first night is always fun , talking about fabric choices , showing some quilt samples and talking about tools that make quilting fun.  Shouldn't take long to get into the rhythm but it was nice not to teach this past summer. Everyone deserves a break.

Taking a week off was nice but of course, I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted.  But I have 8 new flourescent light bulbs in my sewing room, a pile of stuff  folded and a new bulb in my Ott Light.....I can see again.  The Miata is detailed although I still need to mend the seat and get the oil changed but it is washed and waxed!!  Maggie's stairs are finished.    And I saw two good movies, The Help  and Contagion.....a shopping trip to Kohl's on the other side of town and now I have new work slacks....if only I had gotten around to hemming!!!