Crazy about Mandy

Mandy is staying with me on Spring Break and wanted to "sew pieces of material together" so I showed her how to assemble a crazy quilt block. She jumped into it and has had a blast using scraps from my bag for the block. She wants to use it to make a pillow. Here is what she has done so far.

I've shown her some of the crazy quilts by Debra S. and Allie and am going to see if she wants to learn to do some embroidery stitches on the seams. I was much younger than her when Granny taught me my first lazy daisy stitch and similar simple stitches. I am so glad that Granny had so much patience with us kids.

Spring is beginning to tease us here. My periwinkle is blooming and I've seen daffodils blooming in several yards, mine are on the north of the house and bloom later. Some plum trees and a few very early apple trees are blooming and the Globe Willows and Weeping Willows are turning green. Here is a photo I took of the Weeping Willows and the pond just down the road from me.

The native trees and bushes know better than leafing out early, but some of the introduced ones start blooming and leafing early. A few years ago we had a bad late freeze that killed most of the Globe Willows and they have had to be replanted and are getting some size now.

Mandy and I went for a picnic today at the Five Points Rapids picnic grounds west of Canon City in the Long Horn Sheep Canyon on the Arkansas River. The trees and plants at that altitude are still pretty much in winter mode even though it was a lovely blue sky day. Mandy picked up lots of pretty river pebbles and I enjoyed watching a Dipper bird skimming just over the water and dipping and singing on the rocks in the edge ripples. They are very plain looking black birds who sound beautiful and are fun to watch. They even dive under the water and appear to be swimming to find whatever is down there that they eat. I saw one years ago, above Boulder, that would fly into the water above the waterfall and float to the bottom, then fly up and start all over again. I'm not sure if he/she was finding food or just playing.

Spring has Sprung!

_Last Spring_ California Poppies

In one of my elementary textboods was a section on Spring poems with a drawing entitled Spring; everything depicted was made of springs or had an attached spring of some type. I've always remembered that drawing and have never seen it again. I would love to find a copy of it.

I had to get up at the crack of dawn to go to Colorado Springs Penrose Hospital for oral surgery this morning (fasting_no tea_no food_no meds). The IV went in perfectly first time! Since the usual "go to sleep" med they use is soy based, I was given the alternative cocktail to relax me, lower the pain threshhold, and something else I don't remember. The surgery went well, I now have 2 less teeth and have to figure out what type of partials I need to get installed since those were the last 2 teeth I could chew with. I'm thinking that implants would be better than attaching the false teeth to crowns on the side teeth, since I would have to have 6 crowns to attach the 3 partials I need and that is time consuming and costly. I'm hoping the implants would be about the same cost. Mom had to have implants to get her false teeth to fit and has been pleased with them.

_Last Spring_ Chamomile

When Joe drove me home we had to stop at a grocery store to get some good lowfat yoghurt (Mountain High is what I prefer since it was invented and sold first in Boulder when I lived there) since I can't have solid food for 48 hours. Hopefully this will assist me in losing a few more of my goal of 80 pounds, while I can't eat solid food. I took a pain pill and reclined and slept till late afternoon, when I got a call from my brother Steve.

He is starting a new corporation to market his photos and photo tile murals and had just gotten back from a meeting in LA and is really excited with his new corporate board of well experienced advisers who "know" people. Steve has done away with his blog since it didn't get enough traffic to justify the time it took. His photos can now be viewed at http://jpgmag.com/people/smetzner, where he gets a lot more attention and feedback.

After talking to him I felt well enough to go outside, feed the birds, watch the birds, and do a small amount of cleanup of locust seed pods in the herb garden. I also sat a bit on the new patio I built last summer and watched a fat moon come up in the still fairly light blue sky. It must be close to full moon. Does the Equinox come with the full moon? Where is my "Old Farmer's Almanac"?

It is time to plant the Sugar Pod Peas but with the rain and snow I haven't been able to prepare the soil so they will go in a little late. While sitting there I discovered lots of one inch tall California Poppy plants just coming up in my new Lavender garden; seeded from the ones I grew there last year. I'm anxious to see what all made it through the winter and will come up and flower there this year. I need to spread some Camomile seeds so that I have some white flowers with the gold poppies and lavender Lavender. I love the look, smell and taste of Chamomile, which makes a great relaxing tea (see the photo of Chamomile with purple Veronica and yellow Yarrow growing in pots on my previous roof top garden, La Playa Brea_click to enlarge) .

The Wisdom of Mary Englebreit

I have to share some great sayings that have graced my Mary Englebreit calendar (without which I cannot live) recently.

“In order to have a real relationship
With our creativity,
We must take the time
And care to cultivate it.”
-Julia Cameron

“The cure for boredom
Is curiosity.
There is no cure
For curiosity.”
- Ellen Parr

The photo I chose to illustrate these great sentiments is one sent to me by my virtual quilt buddy from Woodland Park, Colorado. This is such a cute picture of her machine quilting (up to her neck) her Moda University quilt. The blocks on the design wall behind her are for a Happy Trails quilt for her husband. I am so proud of her wonderful quilts and I love this photo of Karla which shows her beautiful face and spirit.

More Quilting the Names of God Blocks

Week 6 Stars and Hearts Forever fused, machine applique block for the name LORD/YAHWEH.

I originally placed the hearts on a white and gold background but it was too simple and bland. I wanted this block to represent the deep incomprehensibility of the infinite Lord to his finite creations. To me it also represents God's playfulness toward us.

"God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites:'I AM has sent me to you.'" "God also said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD [Yahweh], the God of your fathers--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation." (Exodus 3:14-15)


Week 8 is a fused, machine applique Purple Coneflower block representing The LORD Who Heals/Yahweh Rophe.

"If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you." -Exodus 15:26 NKJV

Week 9 is a pieced Banner block in red, gold, and metallic gold for the LORD My Banner/Yahweh Nissi.

I did easy half square triangles to make this block and tried them in various configurations until I found the one I wanted. The imagery of the banner brings to mind the colorful photos I've seen of Italian Renaissance festivals with all the colorful costumes and banners, which probably influenced my choice of color arrangement in this block.

"Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. He said, 'For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.'" --Exodus 17:15-16

"See, I willl beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples;... I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save." --Isaiah 49:22,25

The blocks for weeks 5 and 7 are still works in progress and I'm ready to start the block for week 10. I hope to get, and stay, up to date on the blocks for this study.

Ricky Timms on CBS TV

A profile on Ricky Timms is tentatively scheduled to be aired March 16 on the CBS News Sunday Morning show. Correspondent Seth Doane did the segment with Ricky in his La Veta quilt studio. It's not often that a major TV news program gives time to quilters. Spread the word!

Novice Thread Painting/ July 12 x 12 Challenge

My July 2007 12 x 12 Challenge piece has been hanging behind my sewing machine for several months because it needed free motion thread painting to complete it. I made a trip to Colorado Springs to order a free motion foot for my Bernette and since it arrived I've been too petrified to try using it. I tend to subscribe to the old adage, "If you can't do it well, don't do it!" which isn't a help when what I need is "If you can't do it well, do it poorly until you learn to do it well."

I finally got up the nerve to install the foot on the machine and started experimenting. Naturally, my first efforts were pitiful. But, I began to get a hint of the idea of what I was supposed to be doing. When I took up the 10 minutes a day in March Challenge I needed to change back to my regular foot so I took a deep breath and started thread painting the July quilt.

This quilt is called "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" and was inspired by my trip to the hospital, which lead to having an echo cardiogram, the week after I came home from my high altitude July 4th camping trip to my beloved Snowblind Camp Ground in the Gunnison National Forest. The doctors decided that my problem was the result of the stress of high altitude followed by 100 degree weather at home.

Seeing my own heart beating, with the valves opening and closing, and then the brilliant colors of the doppler effect flashing on and off, impressed me so much that I realized that I had to use that image in one of my quilts. I wan't able to get a copy of my own echo cardiogram but I copied one from the internet and printed it onto fabric, which I cut into a hexagon shape and fused onto one of my photos of Snowblind which was also printed onto a prepared cotton fabric sheet. Since my printer will only print up to 8 x 12 inches I had to do some creative patchwork to make the image fill the 12 x 12 inch quilt.

I then printed the same photo of the campground onto a silk organza prepared sheet and fused it, with Misty Sheer along the edges, over the cotton fabric photo, so that the center was not attached. The organza was then slit into wedges to open, with the points fused down, to show the echo cardiogram as if it were breaking through the scenery. The front and back were sandwiched with cotton batting and finished envelope fashion and top stitched around the edge.

The Aspen trunks were outlined with pale gray thread on the sun side and dark gray thread on the shadowed sides for added definition. To give the effect of the quaking Aspen leaves twinkling in the sun I thread painted them with tight circular squiggles ("technical quilt language") of iridescent Sulky thread. A bright green thread was used to paint the spiky clumps of grass in the foreground.

I am still struggling with balancing out the stitching speed with the hands moving the fabric in a controlled fashion. I also havn't figured out how to begin and end the stitches so I don't have ugly bunches of thread on the back side. But, I'm glad I did it because I can see what it can add to a quilt's effect, and I will certainly be continuing to experiment. I really do need to find a class where I can actually watch how it should be done. When I started stitching I was scared that I would ruin the quilt but I think that it did come out fairly well for Kindergarten.

I wasn't able to get a photo that showed the stitching well, although I took photos with and without flash, etc. The organza refracts the light in a strange way and looks fuzzy. You can get a better view by clicking to enlarge the photos.

Debra, this quilt is the result of the photo quilt of a seagull on Coreopsis flowers at ocean cliffs that we saw and discussed at the Denver show. It took me long enough to try it, but I'll definitely be doing more of this type of quilt. "Sitting Pretty" by Barbara Merrick McKie.

I'm glad I finished this yesterday because today (more cold, light snow) I am feeling yucky with a cold, runny nose and coughing, so I have reclined, wrapped in a down throw. Too bad I didn't have any bon bons to nibble.

March Comes in Like a Lion

Typically for Southeastern Colorado we had a record breaking 78 degree high on March 1 and today we are having a March blizzard with the snow blowing sideways through the air and a temperature of 29 degrees.

This area tends to get most of our snow in March, even though it is not the coldest time of the year, and usually the next day the sun comes out and melts it quickly. Even though I think that snow is a four letter word, I know we need this to bring up the prairie grass and flowers. The Arkansas River snowpack in the mountains is around 160% of average this year and every snowpack in the state is well above 100%. Depending on when the hot weather arrives we should have a very high runoff in the River this year and the reservoirs will fill up again after the years of drought.

This is definitely luxurious hibernation weather! And a good day to start my 10 minutes of quiltmaking a day. Today it will have to be 20 minutes to make up for yesterday, since I didn't discover the challenge early enough to do my 10 minutes.

Quilt Every Day Challenge

Laura, the Quilting Diva, has posted a challenge, on Quilt Studio blog, for quilters who will work on a quilt project for 10 minutes a day in March and then post the results on April 1. I haven't been working on my quilting regularly lately, so I signed up for the Challenge.

For at least 2 years I've been planning to make a vintage airplane quilt for my son, Carl, a pilot who loves to fly vintage planes. He is also proud of Granny's quilting legacy and was fascinated by one of her quilt blocks that must date back to the time of Lindbergh's flight. I searched and found a similar pattern (Lone Eagle Airplane) on Quilter's Cache and made a one block wallhanging for him, and added his quilt to my goal list for 2008 but haven't gotten beyond printing the paper piecing templates onto tracing paper for the first block. I want the quilt to look like a vintage quilt so am using depression era reproduction fabrics. My project for this challenge will be to work on this quilt 10 minutes a day in March and see how much I get accomplished. Thanks, Laura for this nudge.

Here is my aerospace engineer (almost a rocket scientist) son, Carl, and his fantastic wife Robyn, with his Old BBQ, a vintage puddlejumper Waco biplane, that has an interesting history in the backwoods of Canada (The Waco, not the son).

Eat your heart out, Kat; the sooner this quilt is done the sooner I can start on your (unknown pattern) quilt.