The Quilts of 2013: A Tribute

For the past few  years I've made a small wall hanging to sort of commemorate the quilts that I made throughout the year using scraps from each of the projects.  I have the ones from 2012 and 2011 hanging in my sewing room.  This year I decided to go a slightly different route.  One of my Christmas presents was a Sashiko sewing machine.   The machine didn't come with a cover so using scraps from my projects in 2013 I created a cover and quilted it with the Sashiko itself:

 It was a great opportunity to practice using the machine.  It makes this great stitch that looks like hand sewing.  You can vary the length of the stitch and/or the spacing between the stitches.  Amazingly those two little changes really give a different look to the final piece.

 It uses only one thread - in the bobbin and the threading process is unlike any machine I've ever used. I will say, it can be a persnickety little thing.  It likes things to be the same, so the settings that worked on fabric and batting didn't like sewing on the bottom finished edge which required going through multiple layers. 

Next I'm going to try it on the border of the quilt I'm presently working on.  And I have a few decorative pillow ideas in mind, too, whenever I get through my backlog of projects.  I keep reminding myself that it's about the journey, not the destination.  It's important to enjoy the process, not just try to cross another thing off the list. 

Hmmm.....that would make a good wall hanging.  Oh, but that's another project, isn't it?

 

Whisper Block #3

I've finished the next whisper block for my local quilt guild.  In this project the first person chooses a picture and passes it to the second person who interprets it into a block and passes that block onto the third person who interprets the block into another block and so on.  Any technique can be used to interpret the block. In the end each person receives back four blocks related to the picture they provided.  They then incorporate these four blocks (made by four different people) into a wall hanging quilt.  This has been quite a challenge.  You can see the first two blocks here and here.

This month I received this block:

And I created this:

After I took this picture I did some trapunto on the outside picture frame which gave it a bit more perspective.  If it looks like the border is uneven that's because it is.  Again, I was going for perspective, but apparently you need to have a greater difference in the size of the borders to get the effect I was going for.  I didn't have enough of that border fabric to have another go at it.  Also, my block may come up a bit small because I didn't account for losing a little to the puffiness of the trapunto.

 

So, one more to go.  I'm anxious to see the blocks created from my picture and I'm already planning on how to put them together.  They will all be displayed at our quilt show in June.  



 

Kevin's Quilts of Valor Block Drive!

I find myself playing blog catch up once again.   I can't seem to keep up lately with all of my hobbies.  I feel like I'm getting a lot done it's just difficult to get a lot done AND record all that I get done.  A long time ago someone in my life stood on the principle that "The unexamined life is not worth living".  This is a famous quote by.......well, you'll just have to Google it because I can't remember at the moment.  My version of this is that "Sometimes examining your life takes away from the time you have to LIVE your life".

But some things need to be recorded and shared and Kevin the Quilter's block drive is one of them!  Kevin is collecting blocks to make into quilts for donation to the Quilts of Valor program.  You can read about the specifics on his blog at the link above.  The blog drive continues until June 1, 2014.  So far I've made these:

I'm not going to mail them in right away, Kevin, because I'm hoping to make some more before the deadline.  They are super easy to make.  And there will be some prizes.  For every 5 blocks you send to Kevin you will have one entry into the prize giveaway.  One of the prizes is a gift certificate to Missouri Star Quilt Company! But, everyone really wins because having a way to show our thankfulness to those who protect us, sometimes literally with their very lives is a great, great, great privilege. 

 

 

 



 

Celtic Solstice Progress

Before I left for our travels I managed to finish all of my Celtic Solstice blocks and get them up on my design wall.  I took one vertical row off to create a rectangular quilt instead of a square.  So, just to show that I am indeed still sewing I thought I'd share a picture:

 

Yes, Winkie DID travel to Florida Too....and My Pants Bag

When I started to write posts about traveling I mentioned that we usually take a little stuffed pig with us.  It's just one of those quirky things we do.  We like to take pictures of the pig in different places.  I forgot to mention him in my travel post, so not wanting to leave him out let me assure you that we were not pigless for our travels south.

 And, my pants bag - an "original Jen" came with me, too:

 

UFO Welcome Center

On our recent trip we relied on a navigation system to help us find our way to our destinations.  Our navigation system monitors traffic and occasionally will re-route us to avoid congestion.  This can result in some interesting side trips.  On the final leg our trip we had one such re-route that took us past an all-American roadside oddity.  You know what I mean...."World's Largest Ball of String" or a giant cowboy statue or a the big Longaberger basket in Ohio.  This time we went by the "UFO Welcome Center".  At the time we wondered if it was a center to welcome aliens or if it was meant for earthlings to be welcomed BY aliens and several miles down the road we wished that we had stopped and taken a picture.  But......thanks to the wonders of the internet I can show you:

It even has it's own Wikipedia page.  It is located in Bowman, South Carolina.  We learned after we came home that we could have even taken a tour of this place.  And it IS meant to welcome aliens.  You can read all about it and it's creator on Wikipedia.  There are also several You-tube videos devoted to the place. I mentioned to son #3 that I thought South Carolina was a strange place to welcome aliens.  After all, wouldn't New Mexico (a la Roswell) make more sense.  But he pointed out to me that aliens coming to earth for the first time would probably just use Google to find a Welcome Center so location wouldn't really matter.  Of course.  Why didn't I think of that?

Escaping the Cold

I've been playing hooky again from my blog.  We decided to celebrate the husband's retirement and escape the frigid winter here at home.  Florida is just about the only place in the states where you can be fairly sure to have warm weather this season!  We set out on a driving trip to visit a few fun spots and to visit my sister and her family.  They moved last year and we hadn't had a chance to visit yet.  My brother joined us from the colder and snowier state of Indiana, so it was a bit of a mini family reunion. 

We started out in historic St. Augustine on the east coast of the state.  There is plenty to do there and we only skimmed the surface.  They claim to be the oldest city in the US and it was originally settled by the Spanish.  There is a great Spanish fort to visit and my favorite...a lighthouse:

You can see that the day we visited the lighthouse (actually on our return trip) was our only cloudy, rainy day.

From St. Augustine we crossed to the west side of Florida and spent several days on Sanibel Island.  This area is known for its great shelling.  They also have an abundance of birds and a great bird sanctuary that you can drive through.  And the sunsets are awesome.

From there we went to my sister's house (also on the west coast).  She lives in a great community with lots of activities available and that perfect Florida weather.

Then we retraced our steps and came home to our 30 degree weather....but also to our beloved dog and beautiful new grand daughter.

Lots of shells, lots of new baby clothes and some great fabric jumped in our car and followed us home.

I have lots of pictures and more to tell but for now the sewing machine is calling my name....and I must answer.