MIA

Wanted to show what I've been working on and explain where I've been. We had to have a new AC put in so that meant cleaning out the garage so they could get in there to work. It needed to be done and in the process we have decided to get a storage building for DH to move his stuff to and close the garage in for my studio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Soooooo, I was even more motivated to throw stuff away and insist on Christmas stuff going into the attic. We have also been shopping for new appliances and finally made the purchase last night-new fridge, freezer, washer and dryer. Not a minute too soon!! Last Friday I decided to make DH a quilt for our anniversary which is May 15 so spent Saturday shopping for fabric. Found what I wanted, it is now all pressed except the border and backing and the pattern I chose is a quilt as you go so need to get the backing pressed so I can get it started but that will have to wait until Sunday because my sister called yesterday and said they are having a cookout for Mother's day tomorrow so we are headed there tomorrow for the day. I may have to give him what is done on Thursday and promise the rest ASAP!!

OK, as for what I have been doing lately, besides the above and working on my beach challenge which I will get finished and show after I get the anniversary quilt finished, lots of pillowcases, some for myself, DH, the boys and gifts and the Shadowed Squares quilt-it still needs the dark brown border.

Hope everyone has a great Mother's Day!!

Swaps, pillowcases, quilts

Light med dark values

Med value with black, grey and brown additives

My preferred way to mount a color wheel

Make a shade gradation

Half step 50% gradation

I can't believe it has been over a week since I last blogged. I have been busy mounting the many dyeing swaps that I have participated in-I have mounted about 150 color wheels, 70+ gradations and a few misc type swaps, like make a shade where you add black, brown or grey, etc.

I have also cut out a lot of pillowcases, a few purses (3 or 4 I think) and quilts (including my Montana quilt and the teal and brown shadowed squares). I am one that likes to do assembly line stuff sometimes and really like to cut a lot of projects out at one time and then sew without having to stop and cut the next project so I am set for a while now. When I was a teenager my mom and I would spend an entire weekend cutting out pants and tops for her once we knew a pattern fit and she liked it, cutting out 2 or 3 at a time, to save time and then would pin the steps and when I was finished with one, all of the ones we had cut out would be finished.

In a few days I plan to do a tutorial on the way I do my pillowcases and will do a giveaway on the one that I use for the tutorial, so watch this space.

On Saturday I will be going to the quilt show in Melbourne and will be meeting Ellen Lindner in person (I took her Instant Art Quilt class online) and taking my IAQ for her to see and get some ideas for quilting. I can't wait. She is doing a talk entitled "Increase Your Fiber with Raw Edge Appliqué".

Shibori swap and new patterns

I received some gorgeous shibori pieces in the mail today from a shibori swap I did with one of my dyeing groups. We could do any type of shibori so I received a variety of styles. Artist listed left to right - if their name is in a different color click on it to go to their blog

Kate
Karen
Wil
Kelly

Maya, dyelicious.com/
Linda
Ann
Ellen




I also got the Shadowed Squares pattern I bought the brown and teal fabrics for the other day and one I ordered from twowackywomen called Magical Slice and Dice for some kinda oriental fabrics I bought. It is similiar to a stack and whack quilt but is done with 4 squares so it doesn't use as many repeats of the fabric. I saw it on Robin's blog, one of the wackywomen and she has done it with some beautiful large floral fabrics - 3 different ones from Alexander Henry . If you go to Jan 27 she used Astrud, on Jan 21 Abbey Road and Dec 27 Day of the Dead

Quilt show and my new stuff

I must confess, I haven't even started pressing all the fabric I dyed the other day yet but hope to get it done after I take DS horseback riding tomorrow and we run a few errands.

When I got home yesterday I had a wonderful surprise in the mail from Thelma, these beautiful lace motifs to use in my upcoming crazy quilt project. THANKS so much Thelma!! You can see some of her CQ here (http://thelmassewnthings.blogspot.com/) AND the Tintzl I ordered from Bonnie McCaffery to use in my Elements in Fabric class came!!











The quilt show was great and you can see pictures of some of my favorites in my photos under March 1 Quilt Show (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrismomom/) and of course I had to spend a little money, you know support the quilt shops....








I am hoping to make two laptop bags to use when I don't need to carry too much with me so I can take a cute bag so I got these fabrics to use this pattern to make them and will decide which bag to use, based on where I am going and how I feel that day LOL











After the show I went to a local shop I don't get to often as it is about an hour and a half away and spent just a little more, added to my black and white stash and bought some teal and brown to make a pattern that I am going to call Shadowed Squares until I get the pattern in the mail next week (they are waiting for it to come in). The dark brown will be the borders, binding and the shadow, the light grey/blue will be the background and the teal and brown prints will be the squares. I think it will be really pretty.











Oh, and I forgot to take a picture of the purse pattern I got there. If I just made one of each purse pattern I buy I could change purses once a week and use a different purse every week of the year, think I should quit buying them and start making them, huh??