I finished Solstice Dream. I added more leaves, berries, bees and caterpillar to the border. The top is currently 36 1/2" by 42 1/2". I was really happy to cross off a wool appliqué wool project off my To Do List. Solstice Dream was a fun project, I learned a few new stitches and new techniques. I am getting ready to mail the quilt top to be machine quilted.
A Lillie update. Lillie is growing and learning new things each day. She is now 5 months old, over 30 pounds and 20" at the shoulder. A few weeks ago, I was able to get a few not blurred pictures of Lillie and Molly.
I attended the Houston International Quilt Festival last week. I flew to Houston on Wednesday, November 1st, I arrived just in time to attend preview night and flew back to Phoenix on Sunday night. The George R. Brown Convention Center is huge, a total of 547,730 square feet on the first floor which equals about 10 football fields. Pictures of the 2017 Houston winning quilts.
There were over 1000 vendors at Festival, lots of beads, buttons, patterns and notions to covet. I am afraid that I coveted and bought too much this year.
. Buttons and beads
Beautiful linen fabrics and trims
Sue Spargo's second edition of Creative stitching pus some patterns I just could not pass up.
A few notions I needed.
I promised myself that I would not buy any quilt kits this year. Oops, I fell in love with Jacqueline de Jonge's La Vie set Belle quilt. Not only did I buy the fabric, I also purchased the Swarovski crystal to embellish the quilt. I am now trying to formulate a plan to make sure I finish this beautiful quilt in the next year.
Another fun time at the Houston Quilt Festival, always great to spend time with Sandy, my quilting buddy, Monica plus an opportunity to meet new quilting friends.
These last 10 days, I have been concentrating on finishing all the blocks for Solstice Dream. Last night, I finished the Curvy Caterpillar block.
I rather enjoyed stitching the tiny caterpillar and I am thinking I may add some caterpillars and bees to the borders. This afternoon, I stitched all my Solstice Dream blocks together. The quilt is now 24 1/2" by 30 1/2". I really like all the blocks but I think my 3 favorites are Pretty in Pink, Curvy Caterpillar and the Marsh blocks.
I have the top border prepped and really to appliqué and embellish. I am beginning to think I might be able to finish the quilt by November 1st.
I woke up this morning to bright sunny skies and a beautiful fall day in Phoenix. I turned on the computer and read a blog posted by my friend, Sandy.
Sandy wonders - "What will this post on my not-widely-read blog accomplish? Nothing, I’m afraid. Only our government representatives can pass laws to assure help for the mentally ill or to get automatic guns out of private hands. We absolutely must push for them to do exactly that."
I often wonder the same thing when I call, write or email my elected representatives. What can one phone call do? What can one letter do? Probably not much BUT many calls, letters and emails to our elected Congressional representatives does work, maybe not right away but persistent pressure DOES WORK! I decided to support Sandy's blog post by posting to my not-widely-read blog.
How many mass shootings will it take for the United States Congress to pass common sense gun control legislation? When will the United States Congress stand up to the NRA? When is enough really enough?
I took a week off from stitching September Fresh Cut BOM, I was able to finished blocks 9 and 10 of Solstice Dream. Nest Building I always go a bit crazy stitching drizzle stitches, I love to just pack them in.
I fell in love with the colors of Morning on the Seine silken pearl which was used to stitch the cast on bullions and crested chain around the cotton appliqués on the petals.
Just had to post latest picture of Lillie. She is getting bigger everyday. Lillie is 17 weeks old and now about 25 pounds. She is getting too big for a small dog bed but she did manage to curl up small enough to fit this morning.
I have been stitching quite a bit lately, I have more projects started than normal and I want to finish Solstice Dream before the end of 2017. I finished stitching Woven Petals and Pollen Gathering. I now have more than half of the blocks are completed.
The woven petal block has feathered chain stitch in the leaves which adds an interesting look to the leaves. I sewed blocks one through eight together, these blocks are 18" by 24".
The girls got groomed on Monday which is always a good time for a poodle photo shoot. It was not easy to get 2 poodles posed and I was thinking posing 3 poodles might be impossible. I actually got some great pictures of Katie, Molly and Lillie. 2 black poodles and 1 white poodle equals a poodle Oreo cookie!
The girls were amazingly cooperative of posing for me however Lillie did decide that she needed to climb over Molly.
Lillie is now 15 weeks old, she seems to get bigger each day. She weighs 22 pounds and is 15 1/2" at the shoulders. Lillie is a sweet puppy and keeps Katie and Molly on their toes.
Trying to stay on track, finished block 6 of Solstice Dream quilt. The block is 12' by 12" finished size. This blocks used a variety of threads which always adds interest to the finished block. Rousseau Ric Rac is appliquéd in place then thorns, pistil stitches, were stitched with Painter's Rousseau pearl cotton. Painter's Kadnisky shimmer floss adds a beautiful shimmer to the bird wings and tail. New to me was the Feathered Chain stitch on the 4 larger leaves, adding a small in the chain really added a lovely touch to the leaves.
Turkey work is never my favorite stitch, I did preserve and stitched the 4 bee bodies using Thread Gathers Sheep's Silk. I used a Bunka brush to fluff up the cut stitches. The Bunka brush is a notion for turkey work which makes the fluff so much easier.
I have not posted for a while, web site needed a major update plus I have a new puppy. Lillie was born on June 4, 2017 and I brought her to my home on Saturday, August 12th when Lillie was almost 10 weeks old. Chrissy, Lillie's mother, is Molly's litter mate, so Molly and Lillie are aunt and niece. Molly had a tough time excepting Lillie as a new sister but after a 5 day snit, Molly and Lillie became friends. After 5 weeks, Molly and Lillie are now almost inseparable.
Katie, who turned 11 years old on September 2, 2017, leaves most of the puppy sitting duties to Molly but still has accepted Lillie as a permanent member of the family.
I attended the second class for the cactus collage today. I spent many hours this past week trying to finish 9 of the cactus. Thursday night, I bonded the 9 cacti to the background. I also traced and bonded over 30 pads for the prickly pear which will be the full length of the right side of the quilt. Today, at class I cut out all the prickly pear pads an a few more flowers for embellishment. This weekend, I am hoping to get the prickly pear cactus bonded to the background. The left side of the quilt has a large saguaro cactus so I still have quite a bit of work to complete.
Friday, I attended a Cactus Collage class at the Bernina Connection. This is the quilt made by our teacher, Mary Lewkowitz.
The class is using the pattern Collage Cactus Sampler by Laura Heine. Before class I pieced the background for the cactus collage. The background is abut 46" by 63".
Laura's collage technique is a bit different, she uses Steam A Seam 2 which I dislike. I last used Steam A Seam about 6 years ago, I stopped using Steam A Seam because I thought it gummed up my needle plus I think it makes wool appliqué difficult to needle. I can say that my opinion of Steam A Seam has not changed, in fact I found the new improved Steam A Seam awful. Since I purchased 10 yards of Steam A Seam, I will continue using it for this pattern. The new Steam A Seam is more gummy and IMHO more difficult to work with.
The first step was to trace each cactus onto Pattern Ease which is a non-woven material. An appliqué pressing sheet is placed over the cactus tracing, then the Individual pieces are cut out and placed according to the pattern. After the entire cactus is built up on the appliqué pressing sheet, it is pressed to make one complete unit. The completed cactus unit is then placed on some parchment paper. After all cactus units are completed, they will be pressed to the background.
This weekend I was able to complete 5 cactus units which is good start but still leaves a lot of work yet to do.
I really enjoyed stitching the Marsh block, the fifth block in Solstice Dream Quilt. The block is 6" finished. I was a bit worried about stitching the dragon fly tail and frog, I was worried the bullion knots would not be round and plump. The frog and the periwinkle bullion knots of the dragon fly tail were stitched with Thread Gathers silken pearl. Silken pearl is a 100% silk thread with a tight Cordonnet twist that is about a size 5 pearl thread. The tight twist of the silken pearl creates firm stitches with a gorgeous sheen. The dragon fly wings were cut from a sheer, organza-type ribbon and stitched down with Painter's Metallic Braid thread.
I started this quilt 12 months ago, I finished the stitching and then waited 6 months to get the quilt machine quilted. I am so excited to have this quilt almost complete, I just need a hanging pocket and label to the back of the quilt. This is my version of Sue Spargo's Tootin' Along quilt. I changed the generic auto with VW Bugs which are loved by myself and my daughter, Marcie. We have always driven blue Bugs, my first VW was a dark blue 1969 VW Bug with a flowered vinyl roof. Two years ago, someone made a left turn in front of my daughter and her lovely blue bug was totaled. I could only find a yellow VW Bug to replace the blue VW, hence the lone yellow VW on the lower left of the quilt. The quilt was machine quilted by Gina Perkes. The quilt is 23 1/2" by 37".
Marcie is also a dog lover, so I added some wooden dog buttons I found in Houston a few years ago. There is a poodle on the upper right of the quilt. Emmie is Marcie's miniature poodle.
I finished the fourth block for Solstice Dream quilt. The block size is 6" finished. The center stem is stitched with Shimmer Floss using a Palestrina knot stitch. The horizontal stitch of the Palestrina extends the full width of the 1/4" stem which gives the stitch a different look.
I am stitching on too many large wool projects at the same time, so I am not sure when I will start stitching the fifth block of Solstice Dream. Most of the blocks are 6", the stitching is not as intense as stitching on Fresh Cut, Sue Spargo 2017 BOM, so I do find stitching on Solstice Dream a pleasant break between my Sue Spargo projects.
I just got home after an absolutely inspiring workshop with Sue Spargo at Madeline Island School of the Arts. MISA is located on Madeline Island, the largest of the 22 Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. I flew out of Phoenix on Sunday, June 25th to Minneapolis, Minnesota. My wool appliqué buddy, Monica and her husband picked me up at the airport and we drove to the Duluth airport to pick up a rental car. Monica and I then drove to Bayfield, Wisconsin to catch the ferry to Madeline Island and Monica's husband, Glenn, began his week fly fishing vacation in northern Minnesota.
The class project was the peacock. I spent a few weeks getting the background and peacock appliqué pieces prepared.
I had the wool appliqué pieces all whipped stitched on my background and I was ready to start embellishing. After 5 days of stitching, I have a good start on the peacock but have much more to stitch. The peacock block is approximately 21" x 21". Friday afternoon, Monica and I drove to La Pointe. Monica had a chance to look for agates on the shoreline, she was brave enough to wade in the cold waters of Lake Superior and found some beautiful agates and rocks.
I finished the third block of the Solstice Dream quilt.
This block gave me a chance to learn a new stitch. The 3 marigold petals are stitched with the double Pekinese stitch. The double pekinese stitch looks complicated but really was quite easy to stitch. First, I stitched a backstitch around each marigold petal and then threaded another thread through the backstitches which gives the stitch a braid-like appearance.
I am always looking for the perfect bag. A perfect bag has the perfectly sized pockets and shape to carry everything I need. There are thousands of bag pattern but one pattern never seems to have everything I am looking for. Sue Spargo designed the Allium bag a year ago, the bag was quite ingenious and almost perfect. The Allium Spool Sac was designed specifically to store Eleganza, Razzle and Dazzle threads with the special vinyl zippered pockets manufactured by Yazzii.
I found the vinyl zipper pockets were ideal to keep my project thread organized. I loved that the vinyl zipper pockets had velcro along one edge so the pockets could easily be changed out of the bag. The bag was almost perfect but it lacked pockets to keep my wool block, notebook and needle keep with the project threads.
After months and months of thinking about adding pockets to the Allium bag, I finally came up with a bag construction plan. I decided to use a light weight mesh for the pockets. byannie has a wide selection of colors of mesh and zippers.
After much trial and error, I finished my first bag.
I am using the bag for my Solstice Dream quilt. Below are pictures of the inside of the bag. I have mesh pockets on each side of the bag, to hold block, pattern notebook. Solstice Dream requires a lot of different threads, I used 2 vinyl zipper pockets which attach to the bag with velcro.
Overall, I was pleased with my new bag. A few sewing design glitches which I tried to fix with my next bag. I will use this bag for my 2017 Sue Spargo project, Fresh Cut.
