Digital Poppies for Houston ATC Swap

I took time out from stitching to work on a few Artist Trading Card designs for the ATC swap at the Houston quilt show in November. I plan to print this on fabric, probably draining every drop of ink from my printer's color cartridge, iron it on to peltex, and embellish with beads and embroidery. I'll iron a fabric back on it, and finish the edge with a machine zig zag stitch or a hand embroidered buttonhole stitch. I love the colors, and I hope my printer will duplicate them as vividly as they show up in PhotoShop.

I started with a layer of solid fuschia, then added layers of brushstrokes in various colors. I added the flower photo (taken in my front garden in the spring), and placed it between layers until I got the effect I wanted. The green floral design across the bottom is a brushstroke, and I even tried some embroidery stitch brushes (didn't like the effect). PhotoShop brushes are fabulous, and with so many free ones out there it's easy to build up a large library. Some of my favorites are French handwritten script, kanji symbols, floral designs, and abstract designs.

Big CQ Countdown

I do believe that I see a tiny light at the end of the tunnel. I am working through my stack of "Big CQ by 2-0-1-2" blocks for the final time. I've finished a few blocks, and will be posting them here until they are all completed. I don't remember the exact count, but I think I have approximately 45 blocks in this project. Block #1 (below) has not been blocked, and intend to use Gerry Krueger's olderrose's blocking technique to straighten it out.

The working title of this quilt is "Hats' Desire".  As always, I look at my work and I see so many of my friends represented there. The little butterfly in the bottom right corner is one of Cathy Kizerian's Crazy by Design "golden lace" pieces. The hand dyed cotton lace across the center and the yellow sequins are gifts from KG. I purchased the purple crushed velvet while in Arkansas attending a cq class with Martha Green. I learned to make the yellow fargo roses in one of Judith Baker Montano's classes. Every block in this quilt is a reminder of happy times.

St Louis blues ... and greens and reds and mauves and pinks ...

For four days we stitched and shopped and laughed. Twenty eight crazy quilters met in O'Fallon, IL for the second cq retreat, put together by MaryAnne Griffin. We spread our projects over half a hotel ballroom and dropped threads and beads all over the carpet while we sewed and laughed. And what a talented group! I wish I had taken more care to get some good photos of people's work because there was plenty of eye candy spread around.

Martha Green and I traveled by car to the retreat and Martha dragged me into a huge candy store on I-44, somewhere in MO. We left with more sugar than we came in the door with. Enough said.

The first day of our visit, MaryAnne took us to a scary warehouse where we pawed over old jewelry and fabrics spread over an entire floor of the building. Donna of Donnaland, dealer in things old, was there to show us around.

Most of us left with some cool old jewelry to either wear or take apart to sew on something beautiful.

Martha and (I think) Bonnie (above) on the creepy warehouse elevator. It was the kind of place that might have been a set for a horror movie.

Things got even spookier when we went to a nearby restaurant (all part of the Lemp Brewery of old) said to be on the Top Ten Most Haunted Houses in the US. The food was great and I, at least, didn't run into any haints.

Then it was back to the hotel for more stitching and carryings on.

A few of the crazy women ... (as you can see I need some practice photographing people from the front).

A couple of the Kansas City group. Sorry I don't know names!

Yvonne and Kay

Lori Bates working hard. Lori was my roommate for the first night of my stay. It was a pleasure to meet her and get acquainted.

 Marci Henkel laughing evilly. (Or maybe she is just laughing, but she has such a great evil laugh.)

It was a wonderful retreat and god willin' and the creek don't rise, I'll be back in 2012. Thanks again to MaryAnne and her helpers Willa and Mona for putting together such a great event.

Tornadoes and Friends

Yesterday I was glued to the tv, watching the progress of the three major tornadoes that wreaked havoc on my little corner of the world. I am not a big fan of viewing live devastation, but these things were headed for me at various times and I wanted to know if I needed to get out of the way. I was one of the lucky ones yesterday. The tornadoes came close, but not close enough to hurt me or damage my home. Others were not so fortunate; several people lost their lives, many more people lost their homes. Oklahomans are a resilient bunch. We help each other, and we rebuild lives and property. We love the land and we love our state. (Oklahoma has some terrible things wrong with it, and change is needed, but we all agree that we help our neighbors in times of need.)

In the midst of this tv vigil, my phone rang and it was Yvonne Streeter, a crazy quilting friend from Texas. She was driving up Interstate 35 and found herself in my city just as the storms were coming in from the west. Since I live a good three hours from her and she was on a very long drive to Nebraska to see her mom, it was kind of an amazing coincidence that she was just a few miles from my house when she realized that she should get off the highway. She came over, we watched the storm together on tv, and my husband cooked dinner for all of us. It was such a nice thing to be able to provide, literally, shelter from the storm for a friend. When the storms had passed, we calmed down enough to stitch on our crazy quilts, and Yvonne spent the night in our guestroom before resuming her trip this morning.

I feel doubly grateful today that we were spared the horrors of the tornadoes at my house, and that I had a friend with me while the storm raged.

gardenia

I have a gardenia bush in a pot on my deck and it is in full bloom. It smells heavenly and it has attracted a beautiful butterfly. The butterfly was so overcome by the fragrance that it didn't even notice me as I was snapping photos. (At least that's what I am making up about its lack of attention to me.)

Crazy Button Quilt by Pam Kellogg

Pam Kellogg of Kitty and Me Designs has made a lovely video of her crazy button quilt, complete with beautiful music. It's about 3 minutes long, and packed with the kind of eye candy that crazy quilters love. Pam has put together some of her wonderful stitching in an e-book, Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments.

the least among us

Okay, sorry, I've gone all political on you. I just needed to get this stuff off my chest. I have a surprise for tomorrow! Some cute little gift tags that are fun to make from fabric, but that's all I am saying for now.