Exploring my Creative Childhood

My mind, this month has been filled with ideas that I want to use for the Sew Along with Lori  DeJarnatt. The theme this month is "Something from your Child hood".
I was lucky to live next door to a couple of girls  Sarena and Mallie. With them I could  imagine and create things from simple things. I remember seeing a dress on one of their dolls that was not bought from the store. It had uneven stitches but the girls made it by THEMSELVES. I wanted to learn how so very much I was about 5.. I was curious about scissors too. I even discovered I could cut my own hair.

  I even had a doll that I could make her hair grow. Crissy doll, she had huge hands and feet I remember holding her on my hip like a real baby.

I don't remember if I was allowed to use a needle. But I was very fascinated. I played with Barbies and made furniture and accessories from things the family would throw out.  So I added some Barbie Fabric. I drafted the Paper Pieced scissor block and primitively wrote cut.

My parents realized early that the toys I would play with the most were creative ones, not premade ones. I discovered after his death that My Father kept the crayons I had in Kindergarten. I remember him arguing with  the Teacher that he did not want to limit my creativity with just 8 colors. So my crayon box had 64.

As a child of the 70's I remember tie-die clothes and  psycadelic prints, peace and love. I had some of these prints in my stash and added it to the border.

I also remember collecting frogs after the rain. Where we lived the tiny frogs would come out of their hiding spots.I would carry a bucket to collect them to see how many I could get. My record was 20.

My Dad also shared his love of Ladybugs with me, so I added a piece of fabric with ladybugs.
To signify my love of fabric from an early age I decided to design the square in
a square block.Then I designed the scissor Paper pieced block and the needle and thread block.

My friend Lisa from Preschool taught me the Cat's cradle string game and we played it often. It was a great game that did not take up any room to carry a string. I found this as a drawing on Pinterest and then created the Embroidery.

The most fascinating thing that has happened is that after 40 years,  I have finally been able to reconnect with both sets of childhood friends. What a treasure they are and the Memories too.
Here is the completed "Memories" Border

Until next time,

Tanya

In my sewing basket

When Lori over at Humble Quilts asked if her followers wanted to participate in a sew along, I was curious. We were challenged to make a basket block for the center. I decided to plat along.

I looked through my pattern stash to see if I had anything to spark my interest. I decided to draft my own.

Then I decided to sew it onto a white background. I thought one blue stem would add interest and help the marbled fabric not look so crazy.

I was happy to find the basket weave fabric. At this point, the I felt the colors were very strong. I like bright colors and fun prints too, but there was something that I felt needed to change. So I auditioned a different background, and I liked it. 

I have been working on my hexagons too. I dug out these Denim Hexie's, they are my oldest UFO to date. I started these when Ieada was in the hospital with Cancer. I would bring these along in a plastic container. I put them away when Mark wanted it to be king size. Just one more Hexie flower to go.

The other Hexie quilt 

I am doing is the New Hexagon sew along from Katja Marek.

I also visited a local Quilt Show in Baytown Texas. My dear friends Billie and Susie met me there and we enjoyed the quilts and a Bed turning. 

One of my favorite quilts in the show was the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt made by my friend Connie Sheffield . I was able to get a quick picture of her and the quilt. 

She has inspired me to get back to my Mystery Quilt. 

Last but not least I met Carolyn Koenig. The famous Quilting designer from Austrailia. It was a pleasure to see her enthusiasm for quilting and how she studies Vintage quilts to reproduce them. It was my pleasure to see her trunk show and learn about her new fabric line.  

Yes I added the Hexie's to my shirt too. 

Thanks for visiting.

Tanya

Going Batty down a County Road

My sweet daughter loves black and anything to do with Halloween.

 All of her shoes are black, her entire closet is filled with black clothes. So a few weeks ago she was counting the days the stores would put out their Halloween decor. We both love making cookie cutouts, and she found some in the Halloween themes, Bats, Spiderwebs, Coffins, cauldrons etc. she baked and iced the cookies with black icing. She liked the bats the best because they could have expression. She made a silly one, a scared one and an angry one. All of the these were too cute!

A week passed and I noticed the Lori at  www.humblequilts.blogspot.com was offering another one of her Mystery quilts. So at work I noticed a beautiful black print that looked like Christina would like it. I thought Hmm. Maybe I would make her a small quilt for her wall or Kitchen table when she finally moves out. I chose a Purple and a light shirting to go with it and I cut out one block and laid did a small layout of the quilt on a mini design board. 

 

When she got home from her job that evening she saw the pitiful arrangement and asked "Who is that for Mom?" O.k., just to fill you in she has never asked that question before, so I was in a state of amazement. I usually have to get her attention and ramble on about what I am up to. But this time she was actually interested and so I said "it's for you dear, for your kitchen table when you move out or you can hang it on the wall." Then she promptly said. " I have no use for a small quilt I want a lap
size or a twin size, I Love the colors." Oh, goodness, so now I'll need to make 90 blocks instead of 9! And I will be happy to do it. The next day I dragged hubby to the Fabric store to get the rest of the 9 yards needed to complete the top. I lead a Wool group and needing more things to inspire them I felt inclined to create a small block that resembled those cookies that my daughter made. "Going Batty" refers to the 90 blocks I am going to make. I could also use this block as a label square for the back of the quilt when the top is complete.

I decided to complete the County Roads little quilt with this block in the center to show my wool group. I also told the group about the Humble Quilts blog. After the group is over I'll take out the center strip and use the top and bottom sections for the finishing the quilt top rows.

Thanks Lori for inspiring so many, and in my case creating memories.

Happy Stitching 

Tanya

         

Celtic Solstice Mystery a new Adventure

I finally decided to participate in the Mystery Quilt Bonnie Hunter was offering this year. Celtic Solstice. Here is my progress so far.

The original colors for the Mystery are yellow, blue, green and orange with a cream background. I decided to change the blue to dark green and the orange to orange/pink. I had tons of Shamrock fabric I was saving for a special project and this seemed to be a good one. I am only making the twin size but if I like the look I have enough fabric to make it king size.

This is my color palet.

I added a few oranges to this after the original pull of fabrics.

I added sand paper punches to the wrong side of my template. I peeled off the paper to reveal the sticky side of the paper and then punched. I also like to place the dots on top of the numbers, it helps to see them better.

Crossed off the Bucket list...

There are few times in life where you can simply enjoy a moment in time and feel at peace, happy, and amazed all at the same time. Well Monday at our local guild I was able to do just that. I met and heard a brief concert by The Singing Quilter, Cathy Miller and her husband I think his name is John. They have voices of Angels. I introduced myself and she told me a brief history lesson of several of the songs which added to my interest. Both of them were very charming and they sounded and looked exactly as I had imagined for years.  You see I discovered her music at a funeral of my dear friend and quilting goddess Terry Morris who died in 2003. Ever science then I have been listening to her music. Every car I drove had her CD, sometimes two of them and I'd switch them out. The music always put a smile on my face as well as a warm feeling because I love folk music and quilting. There is no wonder they were on my Bucket list.
When I told Cathy about crossing her off my list I think she was a little surprised.  She then asked if I had a camera and I told her I left my phone at home. Her hubby got out his camera and took this quick snapshot, they said they would e-mil it to me. How sweet, it arrived this morning. I think it turned out great.

Bucket list crossed off
- Bonnie Hunter class
-Brenda Papdakis retreat
- Cathy Miller and John singing quilter "Live"
-see how indigo is made

Tanya

Quilt Along - Fall

After checking out Lori's quilt along at http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/  just had to try it. I dug through my pre-traded 9-patches. I found one particular one that was uglier than the rest. She challenged us to use scraps. Since the block was green and orange kinda like fall colors, I looked through my triangle stash and pulled out the ones that looked like they would go. I thought Purple would look great next to the 9-patch. I actually sewed the purple strip on first and then decided it needed the lighter green strip.    

 I finished this yesterday.

Tanya

Finishing up loose ends...

After making the flying Geese quilt in the previous post I decided to see how many small or Doll quilts I had.  I found a Pink ad Green Basket quilt I made about 4 years ago, There was a tiny twister quilt I completed at the Shop Hop last year, and an Amish 9-patch that I picked up at the Guild auction about a year ago. But the yellow/green basket had the backing and batting ready. In the box where I found this little quilt was a Borders quilt. Actually the borders quilt took up 2 plastic boxes. So if I finished the quilt I would have 2 empty boxes. It was close to completion and it still lacked a few borders. But after opening the boxes and examining what exactly needed to happen next I knew why it sat so long. The black floral was printed 40" , there were spaces between the motifs but it was still a challenge to make it fit in a pleasing manner. So I laid out the quilt and after letting it sit on the floor for over 2 days my daughter finally helped me to decide the final color placement. She is so good no wonder she loves to work with Cosmetics. Here is a corner of the quilt. After It is quilted I hope to post a photo of the completed quilt.

Over 3 weekends I completed the top. Now how to quilt this? Hmmm, I'll probably do some doodles and then decide. 

I decided to quilt the little baskets. I found a pink and green thread to quilt with. I did not want the
green to show on the pink areas. Nor did I want the pink to show on the back. I decided to ditch quilt
around the blocks and the baskets. Then I went through my templates and found a leaf shape. I did not
want to mark on this quilt so I traced the leaf shape onto freezer paper. I used this shape in the alternate blocks and the border.

Here is the back

Dealing with UFO's

It has been a while since I posted. Life gets crazy sometimes and mine has been a roller-coaster. I have been slowly getting back in the swing of things. Earlier in spring I completed several quilts for our guilds Quilt Show. My Many Heart Strings I had been hand quilting on and off for several years and finally pushed through the finishing stage to have it hang in the show. I was delighted it won a red-ribbon (2nd place).

Over the years I was constantly searching for the "New" project. Something in my brain would ignite a tiny "Thrill feeling" just thinking about starting something new. Most of the time I would just look through magazines or patterns and not be tempted at all but just enjoyed the seek. Other  times I would purchase special piece of fabric for a "Someday" quilt.  After painstakingly completing several tops for the Quilt Show I realized that I need to start completing what I started. So I decided to evaluate my UFO's.
I have had a long UFO List for years. The past few years I've tried to prioritize but, I made several levels (1) long term projects, (2) on hold, (3) current, (4) tops to assemble (5) completed tops (6) tops  basted and quilting.

As I cam across trying to get fabrics together for my current list. I came  across several flying geese blocks that had been shoved into the bottom of my scrap barrel. After playing with these I realized it would make a quick Doll sized quilt.  I only needed the brown print and I purchased that the next day I worked. This little quilt came together so fast and the quilting was even faster. I used red thread to ditch quilt and a red backing.

This sweet doll I found at an antique store. She was originally made in 1990's. A Daisy Kingdom Doll. So naturally I named her Daisy. I think she needs a few more quilts don't you?

Well that's all for this post. I really miss this Blog. 

Tanya

Virtual Retreat and Guild Community Service..Oh my.

On February 29th, Leap Year Day, I participated in my first Virtual Quilting Retreat. This was held on the internet with some new friends I met there. Throughout the day we would post photos of the types of projects we were working on and discussed different Quilting topics. Heaven for me! Hubby had to be on hold for the day as I took up residency in the Dining Room as my temporary sewing room.

I started the day off with a cup of coffee and began to post photo's of my propoesed quilt I wanted to work on. I never really worked on the said quilt instead I made some tiny progress on my houses. The Lorax quilt that I started kept making me think way too hard so I put it on hold for awhile. I still want to get back to working on it someday when the mood hits.
We also hosted a Siggie Swap where individuals sent in their signature square and they were traded back out.

I recieved a total of 8 squares and after the retreat was over and this is the Quilt I created.

After the Retreat was over I needed to prepare things for the Community Service Night at My Local Guild. I asked a Representative from the Crisis Pregnancy Resource Center to come to the Guild meeting scince we are going to Donate baby quilts to them. Someone took this photo and it made the the front page of The Baytown Sun .

Afterwards I lead my local Guild in making Community Service Quilts. Over the past 6 months or so I've been collecting scraps from the guild members. After I receive them I would sort them into different catagories. The scraps smaller a fat quarter to be cut down into usable sizes, separate the yardage and the leftovers smaller than 2 1/2" would be saved as strings. It's these Strings that we used to make these quilts. We used the Quilt as you go technique from Mary's Quilts http://www.maryquilts.com/heartstrings-qayg-blocks/ in her tecnique you use a square of batting and a square of background fabric and sew strip across them to create a prequilted block. The idea is very simple and when you recieve the blocks back they are already quilted so there is no need to send them to the quilter.

Here are some of the ladies at the guild discussing the quilts.

Here are is some of the fun we had, We also sewed strips into sets to create a Coin Quilt.
Here Delores helps cut the presewn strips.
I sent several ladies home with fabric and at this Month's meeting I recieved many presewn blocks and fabric strips. I hope this technique inspired the Members to use up these smaller fabric pieces. This month I sent 10 members home with these QAYG squares. I sent 10 home with fabrics to cut into 10", 5" squares and 2 1/2" squares. I recieved more donations this month than would fit in my Jeep, so my sweet friend was able to take it in her car, and let me pick them up from her at Work. I'm so thankful that we have such generous people in our Guild.

Tanya

My houses 21-32 and a completed top an Auction Quilt

The first subdivision is comming right along. Wow, I'm now into the first week of February and 4 half rows done. If you look close I'm adding a cheater block here and there.

Blocks 21 and 22

23 and 24, thanks to my friend Elizabeth, for helping me find the cute snowmen.

25 and 26 the one on the right is my quilters dream house with my very favorite fabric (wonky quilt blocks) as the roof pins in the door and a painter's pallate as the windows.

27 looks like a Summer Cottage and 28 The house where love resides. Roses for upcomming Valentine's Day.

29 and 30 has a green floral print (around the door) I used in an outfit I made for my daughter when her grandma was going through Chemo treatments. She picked out the fabric and I even made a Bandanna to match.

31 is Bow the cow, when my family went to the amish country a few years ago. we stayed at a place where ther were cows that roamed right infront of our cabin. One had a cute white patch of fur in the center of her head that looked like a bow. I really love the Amish country and the simple life. and 32

The last photo is my completion for January. A friend asked me to make a quilt for her for a Homeless Auction. She handed me a bag of precut squares and it contained the brown ticking border and the inner border and binding. In out Community Service materials I found the pre appiqued center. I just trimmed it up to the width and length of the blocks. I added a few more pieces of the floral to the quilt to help it sparkle. Wendsday I sent it to the quilter and Yesterday I got it back. I've been binding it today during the Super Bowl. I'm almost done. I think it turned out lovely. Hopefully I remember how to make a seamless binding. Ugh...

Tomorrow is the Guild meeting and I need to bring my community service project stuff.

Tanya

The Modern Bee

On Sunday I was invited to attend a bee with some of the girls from the Houston Modern Guild. Knowing that I always arrive everywhere late I decided to pack the night before and leave a little early. Scince I left early I actually arrived early. I met Amy, and started to unpack my stuff. I was so happy to be at a real sew-in in over 6 months. I started marking my quarter square trianges that were due to swap the day before. While marking these little squares I was intrigued by several of the cute wonderful colororful mini quilts. And then I noticed the Chest or cabinet where Amy stores her fabric. It was vertical. I have never seen a vertical stash before.

I soon started sewing my quarter square triangles. I was going to town, hoping to complete this task before I left the bee. I sewed on both sides of the diagonal line one way and then decided to sew diagonally the other way too, and in no time all of my stitching was compete. So all I needed to do now was to cut the triangles apart and resew them. That's when it hit me. Holy cow! I just made 40 x 4 Barbie party hats. I sewed 2 sides of the triangle together to create a triangle with 2 sewn seams. Oh well at least I brought my seam ripper and that's what I did the rest of the bee. The FROG STITCH!

No matter, the conversation went from places to purchase online fabric, to fabric styles, and types of projects. I even pulled out my houses and shared them too. Liz brought her Ipad and was sharing differnt places on the web to discover. From new rulers to neat patterns.

Amy worked on hand quilting and Fe was attaching the binding to a baby quilt using a wide Zig-Zag. It turned out really cute. I'll have to try that sometime. Gabi was working on assembling a quilt that had rings of blocks. It looked really cute too.

I had a really fun time. We even planned a game night. I cannot wait.

Oh and I discovered a Virtual Retreat recently. It's on facebook and on February 29th quilter's from around the world will be participating in an all day sew-a-thon. Mostly it is to connect people from all over who would not be connected other wise. We even planned a fun signature-swap.

Tanya