May Small Quilt of the Month

Well, I am managing to almost keep up with the Small Quilt a Month Challenge - put the last stitches in the binding today for my May Quilt.  The pattern selected was "Civil War Stars" from Kathleen Tracy's book Civil War Sewing Circle.  I've had this Tom and Huch fabric medley for years and have been trying to figure out how to use it.  Instead of using 4 patches as the block centers, I fussy cut out the small vignettes of Tom & Huck.  There are a few things I'd do differently, but I am pleased with how it turned out.  I think the goal of making one quilt a month helps you "just do it" and maybe learn by trying instead of spending too much time over analyzing!  Please forgive the wrinkles - I need to do a better job "staging" my quilt photos!




I am looking forward to the June Quilt - it is going to be an easy one, and I'm going to try for something to match a larger quilt that I've pieced, but only begun to machine quilt.`

Izannah Walkter progress

On Friday night, the stockinette was applied to the heads. It is a stange, but wonderful feeling, to watch these little people become who they are are.  Personalities are emerging, friendships are forming, and bonds are being made.  They are no longer wads of clay, fighting change.  Now they are growing, like buds forming on flowers, trying to become something larger than the sum of their parts.

Tonight, they are a group of aliens, with antennae sticking out of their heads.  Actually, their ears have been made and glued on, and stick pins are holding them in place.  For some reason, that just didn't seem like a very dignified way to have one's photo taken!

Mother's Day Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.  After my daughter's piano lesson on Saturday morning, my husband, daughter and I drove to the Eastern Shore to spend the day with my Mom.  We went to the Farmer's Market in her town, had a terrific lunch at a little place called The Lemon Leaf Cafe, visited a few little shops,and spent the afternoon visiting and helping around at her house.

In addition to some lucious tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers and pies, I picked up a few pieces of pottery from a local artisan.



My husband replaced a self-closing hinge on her door from the house to the garage, and stained the new threshhold for her front door, that he'll seal and install later in the week.  I helped Mom stake up some flowers in her garden. 

This morning, we went to early church, and the ushers gave all the mothers carnations as we were leaving.  Since my son was ushering, he picked out this one for me.

After church, we made our usual trip to Target for Starbucks, then went home to change before heading to Six Flags to "break in" our season passes and pick up the annual coupon book.  We rode a few rides, enjoyed walking around a bit, had pizza and Cold Stone ice cream before heading home.  The weather was very nice - not too hot, a gentle breeze, sunny - so it was a good day to be outside.

Wishing all the mothers, and people who have mothers, a wonderful day.

Head Work!

I've been slowly scuplting my Izannah Walker heads with paperclay over my softbodies/heads.  This is the first time I've worked with this material, and it has been a good learning experience.  The next step is to cover these with a knit fabric - if I decide that these are done!

All Gesso'd Up

In addition to the Small Quilt a Month Challenge, I have been working on another project.  I am taking Dixie Redmond's on-line Izzanah Walker workshop.  It began April 1st, and wraps up at the end of June. I am feeling a bit behind, having been delayed by my 13 year old sewing machine ceasing to work, and then a false start with some fabric I had on hand that just wasn't going to work.
I have managed to get three torsos and heads sewn, and the heads are now gessoed up and ready to go!  The next step is scultping with paperclay, something new for me to learn!  I am looking forward to trying a new medium out and seeing how well I do.  Wish me luck!

April Small Quilt A Month - Doll Nine Patch

I am actually keeping up with my Small Quilt a Month challenge!  Here is what I did this month.  April's quilt was designed by Kathleen Tracy and shared in the Small Quilt Talk Yahoo! group, rather than being based on one from one of her books.  This one was quick and simple.  I used a charm pack that I'd gotten a year or two ago from Keepsake Quilting for all but the borders, binding and backing.

March Small Quilt of the Month - Civil War Baskets Quilt

     March's challenge was from the Remembering Adelia book by Kathleen Tracy.  This is one of the quilts that I really wanted to make, so I decided to make it using the full book pattern rather than the smaller alternative of a single block!  Appliqueing all the basket handles slowed me down a little bit, but what really slowed me down and made me "miss" my self imposed end-of-the-month deadline was when my Janome Memory Craft 9000 decided to stop running 10 mintues into the machine quilting.  Luckily, my wonderful husband had suggested that we purchase the Service Manual years ago, so he did the diagnostic testing and determined that either the motor needed to be replaced (about $110) or one of the 7 boards (A board = $650), n,eeded to be replaced.  Since it had seemed a bit sluggish lately, even at the high speed, we decided to order the motor from a local dealer and see if that fixes it.
     While waiting for the motor to come in, I was really stressed out and missed my machine very, very much.  I decided that I wanted a new "back up" machine as an "early birthday present."  I spent about a week reading reviews and had finally narrowed my choice down to 2 machines.  I showed them both to my wonderful husband, and he suggested that I get the one that was the more expensive of the two (a Janome 2012).  It arrived while I was visiting Longwood Gardens last week!  I finished the machine quilting and sewed on the binding on Friday, and then hand sewed the binding to the back while watching movies with the family on Easter evening.  I wanted to take a photo outside, but the winds were working against me today. Tomorrow ends my vacation, and I have to go back to work, so please excuse the "kitchen table" photo!




I made good use of my final day off, too!  I photographed the apple blossoms and lilacs blooming in my yard (look for another post later this week), backed up my folder on our home server to my laptop's "scratch pad" drive, and pieced the April Small Quilt of the Month top, using squares from a charm fabric pack, my fat quarter stash, and some fabric left over from a dress I made for Felicity.  April's quilt is a special design by Kathy that is shared in the files of the Small Quilt Talk group., rather than selected from one of her books.  It is a nine-patch doll quilt - stay tuned for more photos in the upcoming days and weeks ahead.
I hope you are enjoying the Spring weather and finding time to do what you love!