Mistake?? Oh, Joy!

Ever make a big mistake?  A major mistake?  What's the saying--"measure twice, cut once"?  How about--"read all the instructions carefully!"? before continuing on your quilt.

We have been working on this quilt since last summer--it took lots of half square triangles.  All that sewing on paper to get just the perfect square.

By joining Esther Aliu's website, you can receive these wonderful free patterns.

Lots of stitching took place over the summer of 2011.  Going good here we thought.

Just great handwork--looks perfect and ready to sew into part three of the steps.  All stitched--hurrah!!

It took four of these corners to finish up step 3.

Here is where both of those sayings at the top of blog come in--!  Thinking all was well and it was time to move onto the next step, out came the rotary and ruler--cut away all that excess--  Well, horrors of horrors!  These pieces would not fit into the pattern!!  Woe is me!  Looking at the pattern--again, one could plainly see that there is another 1/2" that needed to left on.  What to do? What to do?  Restitch all those time consuming patterns--AGAIN?  Another summer of stitching and all that work gone to waste?
NOT!  This is the time when the brain becomes creative!!  why not do this.................

applique all those patterns onto matching cloth and then cut away the back--well, why not?  And we are off and running smoothly again.

At least, it isn't all wasted time--and the cutting lines have been MARKED!! Certainly won't make that mistake again!  Read carefully before cutting is THE major rule now!!



Cheese Box--but no cheese!

It sounded like fun at the time!  It was summer of 2010 and friend Judy and this soul were on one of our little shop hopping adventures.  Judy came upon this delightful kit in the back room of The Little Wool Shoppe in Windsor, CO.  The price was right--only $60 for everything, including the cheese box.

We even had the right fabric for the inside of the box--just perfect, so bought a kit we did. 

Needless to say, Judy finished her first--she is always an overachiever!

This one just languished around for a summer; then in summer of 2011, we decided it was the perfect time to work on the project.  All the 'guts' were laid out.

Cut a bias strip of wool for the top piece.

Ease to sew on the top two circles.  And then we stopped--okay, there were just too many excuses to continue and there is no reason to list the excuses here either.  Now, we come to spring, 2012--

There it is--all finished--well almost finished!  it still needs to be fitted around the box, which is at the summer location.

Way cool, isn't it?

One of the hold-ups on completion was figuring out how to make the tape measure part of the strip.  Dear friend, Judy, had cut hers from wool, marked all the numbers--oh, way too much work for this soul!  But, guess what, friend Judy found this tape measure tape online and sent me a link--cool!  ordered a yard and now we could finish the outside strip.

The top looks neat--took some liberties on design--after all, it's for my summer cheese box and it can look anyway we choose!  Now, can we call this sufficiently aged or what?  :-0

Road Trip #101

Want to take a road trip?  A road trip through the best scenery of the country?  Texas, it is the best!  And spring time is absolutely the best time to take a road trip.  We had visited several of the painted churches in past months, but we could never make it to Praha, TX.

This time we made it and stopped in St. Mary's Church, Praha.   Although the church is under scaffolding, we found the front door and entered to find peace and some of the most beautiful handwork made by man.

The side altar

The painted ceilings and columns.

Another view of the main altar

And along the roadside, we found plenty of wildflowers!  It had been a wet spring and wildflowers were popping up everywhere in Central Texas.  What a lovely site!

We used our wildflower reference guide to identify at least 50 varieties of flowers along the wayside.

Colors galore!

This was an interesting wildflower that we had to see up close to find the name--it's in the milkweed family.

We visited Wildseed Farms to walk through meadows of flowers.

At this location, wildflowers are grown for their seeds.  You name the flower and you can see it growing here.  This is a field of poppies.

Indian paintbrush

And larkspur inviting to butterflies and human visitors

down the road from Wildseed Farms, at Hye you can tour Garrison Bros. Distrillery for a taste of true Texas bourbon

And the day is not complete without a slice of pie from Fredericksburg Pie Company.  If you are in the area on the weekend, enjoy a great evening show at Rockbox Theater--
Always up for something different--take a trip to Hill Country, Texas

What Paints Can Do For Your Wearables

Have you ever thought about using paint products on your cloth?  The April program for HAFA (Houston Area Fiber Artist) was such a topic.  Barbara Jackson, a knowledgeable rep for Golden Artist Paints, presented fiber samples to show just how you could use these paints for wearable clothing.

There are a variety of colors and types of paints from Golden that can be used in various ways to achieve the look you want.

Some of their paints are based on historical facts, e.g. these fluid paints.

This direct painting on fabric gives intense shading.  All paints must be heat set after drying.

The 'handle' of the fabric isn't exactly soft and pliable but not hard enough to crack.

These fluid paints can be used much like watercolors.

These are air brush paints--interesting applications come to mind.

These paints have luminous advantages.

And then there is molding paste that be used for screen painting.

The sky's the limit!  Dare to Paint on fabric with Golden Paints.  it was very intriguing program. 

What's in the Studio?

It's always a treat to enter Judy M's studio!  There is eye candy on every wall.  This one is a treasure--one she made many moons ago.

This pattern is not paper pieced, but had templates.  Black & white speaks volumes--the absent of color??

Simple but striking in it's own right.

And we all agree--quilting is therapy!

A salute to all patriots--and many she wave for all to see.

This log cabin hanging is just charming--something about blue and white combination.

and the embroidery adds the right finishing touch.

Work in Progress (WIP) by Annette--can't wait to see the whole top.
Yes, a walk into Judy's studio is pleasing and satisfying.