Love's Fresh Lemon

Here's the first few blocks. Really easy to sew... cutting is a minefield for those of us who are directionally challenged and cut out things in right-side-together pairs. I believe I have enough segments to make a duplicate quilt of reverse blocks :)

So here's the update:

Air in my car is fixed, YEA! My hubby is so brilliant. The air in the house is much better. After crawling under our house (a really unpleasant job) Jim found out that a gizmo was stuck and we were heating and cooling at the same time. Said wonderful husband unstuck gizmo and now we have air!

I have also been coveting my sister's new Bernina (she has a fab. hubby as well who purchased this BMW of sewing machines for her as a surprise). Coveting is not good, so I resurrected an old class machine that I had, small and portable not fancy. The great thing is that it fits right in a space that puts my feet right next to the floor register, me under the ceiling fan, and my body facing a window unit that we have in the loft for cooling. A primo spot!

Now I have started sewing again on a new project. I'm not really a "yellow" person, but I felt like stretching and found a great mod lemon fabric by Alexander Henery. I had some stray yellows, so I started sewing this Whiligig pattern I saw on Nettie's site (she has become a great inspiration). After laying out all the fabrics and savoring that lemon fab, I was taken back to the 70s when my older sister wore something called Love's Fresh Lemon. Usually I would make it for her, but since she got her new machine and some color confidence, she's been sewing quilts of her own. I'll post some pics when I get the camera this afternoon.

on-line classes & inspiration a cure for being broke

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Currently we are without air in 2 out of 3 vehicles, the air in our home is barely functioning, but on the bright side we can cool off in the shower since our water heater is out of order as well. All that to say that new fabric, quilt classes, the purchase of a new gadget or book is out of the question. But in this summer of broke, I have still managed to feel creative through the inspiration and instruction I have found on-line.

My first class was in free form piecing with Tonia, the result was wonky houses.

I continued to experiment with Live, Learn and Love which created lots of scraps. Not being able to purchase anything new and wanting to use up these pieces, I came upon my next piece of inspiration from Nettie. the result is "Think Pink" a Commi fav (see pic), it sets off his steely coat so nicely! In my daily surfing I came upon an amazing site, which set me on my next journey and learning experience. Sue Spargo is one of the most talented fiber folk artist I have seen in a long time. Armed only with a few pieces of old wool scraps I had accumulated 15 years ago, I decided to try my hand at dying wool. I had no $ for expensive dyes, but I did have paste food coloring, left-over from many a christmas cookie and cake decorating adventure. My hubby also had a gallon jug of vineager (we never did figure out why he had that). So if it's good enough for eggs, it's good enough for old wool skirts, right? Pictured above is the result of my dying adventure and the lop-side wool needle keeper that I did.

Two of my friends were leaving on summer trips this weekend, so to send them off in style I made a "free" gift. They were thrilled, well the one who grabbed the blue batik wallet was... the other friend gladly took the leftover pink and aqua. The tutorial is easy to create the wallet. It has sections for credit cards, cash, checkbook and extras. This one is a must for Christmas presents this year!

I guess the point is, yes it's a hot summer and I have been coveting many of the fabrics I see on the various sites I visit, but it's been a summer where I can learn how much I do have and how far inspiration and creativity can take you. Besides I can sew in front of the open refrigerator door if I have to.

quilt appreciation-real men like pink

Izzy my new kitty is starting to adjust. We have discovered she has a flea allergy and we are battling that, such a miserable thing! We have to go to the vet, but meantime we are using combing, which as you can tell, she finds very relaxing, or maybe it's the quilt?

We are in the midst of a new project, using pink scraps and I have never seen Commi so excited about a project, real men do like pink! Will post when done, or mostly done.

live, learn and love

This may a bit long, so consider yourselves forwarned...

A few months ago, some dear friends started the process of adopting 2 beautiful children a little girl 5 months and a boy 2.5 years. As you can imagine, as never-before parents, they were quite over-whelmed. At church we planned a baby shower, and I started a baby quilt for my "little teacup" (her ears dip in and look like delicate teacup handles). I thought hearts would be a good theme and began appliqueing many shades of pink. After finishing the applique I began to plan the border only to find out by accident that the new momma was not "a pink person"- *sigh*. I put the body of the quilt to the side and made another really pretty quilt with lots of bright pastels and more yellow. Everyone loved the quilt and I called it a success, but what to do with the hearts?

In steps Tonya with all her wonkiness, and I thought it might be a good learning experience to try words on the borders of this quilt before actually working on something meant for someone. I began all wrong and and gave up several times, including just letting sit on my studio floor as a cat amusement...Commi was the only one who appreciated my effort. Then I saw Clare's Licorice Lane. She had a mishap in the cutting process and cut a portion of her quilt. Did she dispair? Well maybe a little, but she finished it and it's great. So I gave Commi another pile of fabric to scoot on and finished Live, Learn & Love. Well the top at least. I wish the hearts were wonky and that I had known to do the components individually instead of doing each word (amazing what happens when you read the instruction), and then trying to make it work...but live, learn and love.