This Tree Quilt. . . whoo boy.

If you have been following my progress on this tree quilt, then you know that I have been stuck at this design conundrum since last June. I am growing tired of staring at this thing on my design wall, and I'm anxious to come to a resolution.
My latest try to choose a background that would better represent a forest, was the following.

I drew a picture of a tree with no leaves, then I cut out the template to make some trees out of black construction paper to audition the idea.

I liked the results enough to go a little further by making a prototype to see how laborious it would be, and whether it worked against the pale blue and gold background.

I started first by piecing together a small prototype of the background.

Next I drew the design on the back of some tear away stabilizer.

Once my template was transferred, I made a sandwich with the black fabric front side down, the background fabric right side to black fabric wrong side, then the stabilizer. Then I held the 3 together with a basting stitch.

Next, I set my stitch length to very short, then carefully and slowly stitched along the markings on the stabilizer until every line was covered. This took a while. The one mistake here, is that I used a blue thread so I could see more easily the outline on the black fabric. My eyes aren't that strong, and I hoped it would help somewhat. We'll get to that in a minute.

I flipped the sandwich over, then marked in chalk the negative areas I would cut away.

Once I cut away the negative areas with small, sharp scissors, This was what was left.

I then began to satin stitch around the branches, which is where I struggled with the blue thread. My Janome doesn't do satin stitches well, and the blue kept peeking through.
Even so, it is very dramatic and I like it. But I think the contrast is too stark for this quilt. Plus, I think I will use a technique my machine can more easily handle. I'm looking now at internet photos of birch forests and am now considering adding some tall, narrow, deep grey birch trees to the background to help the eye travel to the sunset rather than just jump there. I'll finish the satin stitching on this block and maybe add it to the back with my signature.

Modern Mystery Revealed

I am posting my pictures almost a month later than the my modern mini mystery round robin quilt reveal Linky mainly because my quilt was one of the stragglers that didn't make it back home until well after the deadline. I received this block in the mail last week.

 I liked it, but didn't know what to do with it. Some of the quilters spent a lot of time carefully piecing their borders to my quilt and I wanted to honor that. Some of the other borders needed to be resewn to the quilt top with proper 1/4" seams since the fabric was already beginning to fray. So I started first by deconstructing it. And as I did, I wondered how I could use it. I'm one of those people who likes my art to be functional.

Then suddenly yesterday morning, I remembered my torn up plastic Ziploc bag in my purse used to carry my hand applique, scissors, thread and needles to get some handwork done on the train to work in the mornings.  I decided to make myself a proper pouch to carry those supplies.

 Here is the front of the pouch. Now the colors are popping! The ultra linear design is gone and the eye travels all over the place.

 Here is the back. The front colors blend very well with some leftover Matisse's women fabric I had.

 

I added some pouches to hold the needles and scissors.

My hand applique border project fits neatly in the pouch.

All folded up, it fits perfectly in my purse, with the dimensions at 14"L x 8"H x 1"D

 I am very, very happy with my new bag and look forward a little bit more to my morning commute come Monday.

I Am Thankful

I am thankful for my God

I am thankful for His grace
I am thankful for His gifts

         I am thankful for His mercy

 

I am thankful for my family

     I am thankful for their love

     I am thankful for their talents

     I am thankful for their presence.

I am thankful for you.

     I am thankful for your support

     I am thankful for your brilliance

     I am thankful for your sharing

Today I give thanks. Thank you all.

Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin Quilt

A few months ago, when I entered the quilt world online, I came across Michele Kuhn's blog, Quilts From My Crayon Box, when she was looking for participants in her Modern Mini Mystery Round Robin. I didn't know much about modern, but I do love a good mystery, so I decided to join in.

Now, 6 months later, we have all finished the monthly send around and most of us have received our quilt tops or will soon receive them.  I'm still not sure what was so modern about it, but it was pretty interesting.

I started my modern mini mystery journey with this as my center block.

For the first month of my add on, I added a pieced border to this block.

Next came this bright, breezy block.

I did others, but I guess I forgot to take their pictures. But here is another one, where I tried to bring the center colors back into the border.

Then the last one I had to work on was this.

And last, here is a photo of my quilt top which is on its way to me.

I'm looking forward to seeing it first hand.
If you want a great sightseeing tour, take a trip to the following pages and look at all the other quilt tops that transpired over the summer. And thanks Michele, this was fun!

Melinda - Tilda's Twisted Life

Deonn - Quiltscapes

Kylie - My Addiction to Quilting

Wendy - Why-Not-Kwilt

Bea - Beaquilter

Jane - Jane's Fabrics, though her reveal will be posted here on my blog

Pippa - Pippa's Patch

Madame Samm - Sew We Quilt (hasn't received her quilt back home yet, hopefully in Monday's mail)

Annie - Annie's Musings

Diane - The Cheshire Quilter

Vicki - Sew On and Sew Forth

Lisa M- A Day In The Life of Raising Six Munchkins

Renae - revealing here on my blog

Kathy - new2quilting.blogspot.ca/  

Charlotte - revealing here on my blog 

Celine - Espritpatch

Lisa C-revealing here on my blog

Edy - revealing here on my blog

Ella - Throw a Wrench in the Works

Rachel - Suz Made Me Do It

Samantha - Sami's Quilts & Crafts

Karen - K's Quilting Korner

Leslie - Les Quilts

Ann - Orange Crumpled Napkin

Sharon - Dancing Through Threads

Doris - Made By a Brunette

Margaret - hasn't received her block back yet, will be posted on my blog when it arrives

Tiffany - Pink Sweet Treats

Janet - Caribou Crossing Chronicles

Michele - Quilts From My Crayon Box

A Quilt Raffle!

A good friend with extraordinary artistic talent recently donated this quilt  to raise awareness of BDD, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, and to generate funds for desperately needed research. Friends of Zurn Perry had a son who suffered from this neurological disorder that ultimately ended his life last year at age 24.



This is a beautiful quilt of a cityscape using all Marcis Derse fabrics. Please take an opportunity to buy raffle tickets to win this quilt for yourself!


http://spillingenergy.blogspot.com/2012/11/quilt-raffle.html

What You Can Do

1. Donate by purchasing a raffle ticket HERE .

2. Please share this site on your blog:   http://walkingwithnathaniel.org/

3. Consider an email blast encouraging all of your friends and family to donate just $5.00
4. Post a link on your Facebook :)

The winner of the quilt will be drawn on December 18th, 2012 and will be notified by email.

100% of the proceeds will go to BDD awareness and research administered by the International OCD Foundation in Boston, MA !

A Busy Month Already

It seems lately I haven't been posting much, but it certainly doesn't mean I haven't been sewing. I finished this week 2 more blocks that are overdue, but happily are now ready to be mailed tomorrow.

The first is an appliqued block I made for Meg for the Block Swap Adventure, I named it Hurricane Sandy.

This one is the center block for the Quilt U Be Mine mystery quilt I entered. This one is so late, I may have to send it priority mail. 3 other quilters will add onto this quilt, and I should have it back in time for Valentine's day. I'm interested to see how it will turn out.

I have a couple more blocks left to do, then, back to the tree quilt.

What a Long, Long Week it Was. . .

First off, I want to tell those affected by Hurricane Sandy, I pray for you each day. I pray for your health and your sanity as you navigate the endless rounds of paperwork and bureaucracy you face to restore your lives to a new normal. I ache for you who have lost loved ones, family pets and prized possessions during the storm. In my solar plexus I feel pain when I view the photographs of the streets I used to walk on. I spent so many summers as a child on the Jersey Shores. So much so, it felt really strange the day I moved to Florida many years ago and had to start using the word "beach" so that the natives knew what I meant. 

  And for my friends and former neighbors in Hudson County NJ and Manhattan, stay strong.  Stay NY strong. Stay in your face Jersey strong.  You will triumph.




 It felt so strange to have power when all around us lost theirs.  Where we live just outside of Philadelphia, the trees came tumbling down like dominoes. Streets were closed and homes were cut off with live wires blocking the paths. If anyone wants to know what hurricane sounds like, it sounds like a long, long train barreling full speed down the tracks which for some reason are located right outside your window. Last week's storm, this sound lasted from Monday afternoon to early Tuesday morning.

I have lived in Florida for many years and have been through several hurricanes while there, but rarely for more than 4 or 5 hours.  Sandy lingered like an unwelcome guest who refused to leave.

Meanwhile I kept myself occupied with handwork  set aside just in case the power blew. I spent last week working on the Autumn 2012 project, assembling blocks made from beautifully hand dyed fabrics and laces from such talented artists such as Tatyana, Masha, and Tihonciuc. I loved opening these envelopes from Europe and see tumbling out rich autumn colors, and beautiful cards.  As I stitched these together, I noticed that my breathing slowed as my mind drifted away from the present ugliness outside and moved closer to the rich colors and pure beauty I was honored to use. Pure, primal therapy. Thank you ladies, I truly needed this project to clear my mind.This week I will be sending these back to you for the final step, which will be to embellish with embroidery and hidden treasures.

I had a September block swap project with Meg of North Carolina, where I was asked to provide any pattern I wish with green batik on white background. Well Meg, I've never been this late before, but I took the opportunity to use your swap block to alleviate some storm stress. I have titled this block, "Hurricane Sandy". I will be done soon and will be glad to mail this block and all the worries it signifies out of my state.