Death spiral?

Ugh! Quilting a large piece in a spiral is deadly boring, takes forever, and you are quilting blind. Until you get to the end you have no idea what it is going to look like. I seem to be in the "what ever was I thinking" mode.

Thankfully, I am close to the end. This ought to be done in about an hour .. hope it doesn't come out looking like crap!

Not quite procrastinating...

I have finished my purging and reorganization. Some really ugly placemats (never finished) are going to a friend whose hubby wants to practice his free motion quilting..... good use for them!

Kind of wonder what I was thinking when I chose this combination!!  They will be gone in a day or so as soon as I get to the post office.
Ned helped me move stuff around and I no longer feel so claustrophobic in that room.

I have 2 pieces that I want to quilt but I still break out in hives when I think about doing them...I still hate quilting. I am hoping to start one of them tomorrow. The other is a dyed piece that I want to quilt as it is. However, I cannot think of what to do with it... do I leave it as is or do I chop some of it off? I am open to suggestions.

I played hooky today and did nothing but read... it was a good day.
 

Once upon a time...

in a kingdom far away.... well, not quite. My stuff has been taking over so I decided some (almost) spring cleaning was in order. In my piles of stuff I came across this book and all the triangles for octagons I cut out. Those were the days  I was just starting out and had no idea I could create my  own stuff. Conundrum... what do I do with this all?

I actually still like the fabric, however, it really has been ages since I followed anyone's pattern. There must be enough to make a queen size quilt. I am really torn here. I hate to waste perfectly good fabric...on the other hand what would I do with this when I am done?

The cleaning is cathartic. I have thrown out so much crap and I am reorganizing as I go. I have a while to go but in the long run I am going to be happier not being overwhelmed with so much that I will no longer use.

Enjoy.

Happy Hour:Drunken colors

I finished my quilt. This piece had lots of help from Lucy.. she insisted on sitting on it while I sewed the strips....they are not all straight, hence the name.

I am pleased with the way the colors play with each other here. If you didn't know already, I love color.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. Ned and I went to a local Arts fair. I think I am jaded. With few exceptions I see the same old, same old stuff. ...nothing I would love to bring home.. just is well, we have no room.

Next piece is going to be different for me. It is a surface design piece; my biggest problem was how to quilt it. I figured it out! I am just waiting on my new batting to arrive and I will tackle it.

Enjoy.

You haven't heard from me in a while...

I am still here!
I stopped blogging... I stopped doing a lot of things, but life has a way of revisiting itself so I am hoping to blog more... assuming I have something to say! For whatever reason I found it easier to post on Facebook than on here.
My 5 year hiatus from creating art appears to have come to an end. Part of my issue was a sewing machine that pretty much failed me... as did the dealer. I cannot say the manufacturer was much help either. I had a lemon. The issue has been resolved but it was very costly and I will not be recommending this company to anyone. Frankly, their customer service stinks. Moving forward....

My first foray back into sewing was to make my 3 year old granddaughters tee shirt dresses with tulle skirts. Here are 2 of them:

My next project was a small art piece... nothing spectacular here.. just getting my feet wet. I really love Ginkgo's and was just playing. Most of the fabrics used were my hand dyes.

  I had a small piece lying around that I think I used as a rag when I used some silk paints.. it's been a while. However, I have an upcoming piece that I wanted to quilt spirals or circles on so I used it as a practice piece. I am going to frame this one... I am hoping it will find a new home when I do.

Did I mention that I really hate the quilting part?

My current piece is just a fun color piece. I combined my hand dyed fabrics with some commercial ones. It is in the process of being quilted. I had a lot of help with this one.. in fact Lucy has had a lot of input into this one!

I should be finishing up the quilting tomorrow.

I have been using Warm and Natural batting for my projects but I hate it. I have issues with bearding. I did put out a query on one of my lists and got several great recommendations to use instead. I ordered a different batting and will try it out.

Once I get this done, I have a another in the works... it will be strictly a surface design piece.. The fabric has been "ageing" as I couldn't figure out a good way to quilt it. I have come up with a solution. I hope I don't screw it up.

My fun news is that my almost 7 year old grandson with be visiting us over his spring break... I am so looking forward to spending time with him.

Stay tuned.