Geneva, congratulations on your prize for your art quilt.

Barb - unfortunately without the Mot certificate the cops can nick you for not having a street legal car very easily, just not worth the risk! However DH went hunting on the net and has found a cheapish little runabout for me a Peugot 206 (sp?) which he has been to see and reckons is sound & with 12 months Mot, so we go & pick that up tomorrow.

Last night & this morning did some serious sorting and tidying and I can now get to my sewing machine So I have spent quite a bit of time this afternoon having me a 'sewing fix'. I am working on a scrappy top for Lilian Hedley, who is collecting quilts to send over to Nepal, via her dentist, who comes from there. She was sent a couple of packets of 200 x 2" x 2" ready cuts and a bag of samples (approx. 1.5" sq). Lillian doesn't piece that small, so I offered to piece them larger for her . Got a good plan in my head for what I will do with them and have made great progress on it.

I also rediscovered some books along the way that I am looking forward to going through again.

PS I now have some where to hang my Veggie Chicken Pie....

Congratulations, Geneva! What a wonderful achievement. Well deserved.

Rosemary, Looking forward to seeing pictures of your sewing room with all the improvements. So exciting! Not so good news about the car though. Bad timing.

Lorna

Hello all....

I've not been able to sew at all as I've been taking care of my mother. She was in the emergency room this morning, so now she is home with me.

However, I keep walking into the sewing room to just look at the quilt I am working on. It makes me feel good!

And.... I just saw the results of the National Quilting Association show in Little Rock Arkansas. I won 3rd place in Art-Innovative! I've shown the quilt to you all before but here is "The Doors". It's about 21" x 27".









It is always nice to be recognized by your peers. This was a fun quilt to make and really stretched me.

It's a nice day here in Eastern Washington. Sunny, in the high 80's and very dry.

Have a good day everyone!

geneva

Rosemary,
I had loads of magazines and I had looked at them so many times then I thought .....am I ever going to make anything from them.......no!
So I took them to a local charity shop and they were pleased to take them.
And I have never missed them.
Sorry to hear about your car ....hope you get a good deal on the next one.
Anne

I had less than expected results with the dyeing. Everything turned out quite pastel. It could be that my dye mixtures are getting old, my ph up product wasn't doing a good job, or most likely, I just did NOT put enough dye into the fabric. You need to squish it into all the layers, and Ricky squeezed out the excess at the end. But I think I would put my yellows on and let them saturate at their own pace for fifteen minutes, then come back in with the red and blue sides. Let everything mingle and get acquainted for another fifteen minutes. Then do the black along the edges. And perhaps Wait another fifteen minutes before doing that squeeze out. I think this might end up as an experiment. The fabric can get numbered and I can have the "formula" written out, along with time amounts to follow. Now I could do all of this,,, but will I? Hmmmm,,,

Linda Schmidt is the instructor for the 'Elements in Fabric" class I'm taking over on The Academy of Quilting website. Www.Academyofquilting.com
It's been very interesting so far. Last night I started my 'forest fire' piece. I made it larger and it was much easier. Also, I'm not cutting up the background piece, folding over an edge, and tucking rocks and stuff in behind each wave. This time it's layers and much more intuitive for me. I may make a water one without cutting the backing up. Just make slits into it and tuck stuff in? Hmmmm,,,

Oh the mind has too many thoughts to do them all.
It was 85*F, 82%humidty at 8:30 this morning! That makes it feel like 96*F , toooooo hot for me to go outside. Well I will take water to my four potted plants on the porches. But that's all.

Have a safe and blessed day,
Luann

LuAnne, your art quilt is coming along nicely. Very interesting technique to make bubbles. Seeing your tubs of fabric batching reminded me I want to fold and dye some fabric like Ricky did. Will be looking forward to seeing your finished fabric!

Rosemary, best of luck car shopping. Just make sure you do not buy a car that has been in the flooded areas. The Red River flooded at record levels. It had not been that high in at least 70 years! It had just started getting back down and then we got all this rain the last few days. I am so thankful I live on high ground.

Susan

Rosemary, it's either/or depending on the situation. And, sometimes it's three steps forward which is especially wonderful when this sequence occurs a few times back to back. Hoping for better times ahead for you.

LuAnn, Be sure to show us the next step of your dye experience "ala Alex & Ricky". I need to enjoy this technique vicariously.

A new car brrmm brrmm, hope you find a good bargain.

Luann delicious tubs of fabric. It's fun to see your art quilt evolve. I'd never have thought of doing the foam that way, very creative.

Rosemary - Sounds like your room is coming together. I need to go thru my magazines too. Sorry to hear about your car, too bad you can't tease it along a little longer.
Barb

crocus999 wrote: Whereas I will use any old scrap of paper, or the receipt from buying the book.... with one exception - a book called 'Women's Work, The First 20,000 Years' about Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times, then I use a book mark from Maree in Tasmania (it is a great read of a book too).

My sewing room is coming together only one unit left to put up. The rest are all filled. But I am strongly considering offloading some of the magazines I have been hoarding, but never getting back to re-reading. First up is a collection of Sewing World - dressmaking from about 2004 -09. after that a possible cull of embroidery/quilting mags (after checking the contents ) and probably various copies of 'Threads' magazines too. Then I might be able to use some of the shelving for fabric instead

Bad news on the motor front today, my car failed it's MOT (legally required ticket to say that it is roadworthy) and the cost of repairs will be about the same as it is worth with probably more big bills to come after that. So we will be scrapping it and looking for something cheapish with an MOT for me this weekend. NOT what we had planned, I had been hoping that it would carry on for another 6 months or so and then go shopping for something a bit nicer and with no pressure to find it straight away Hey-ho, that is life for you, two steps forward, one step back ( or is it one step forward and two back?)

Over the past several days of my virtual retreat I've been working on a little art quilt. It's part of a course I'm doing on Academy of Quilting. I painted fabric for my water, painted and melted cellophane for my bubbles, and a bunch of other little techniques that I had not tried before. Then I cut up the water fabric, made rocks, etc. Here!s where it sits at the moment.



And this morning I dyed up 16 pieces inspired by Ricky and Alex in show 1612. They are at batching stage.




Well, onto the next project,,,
Luann

Judith, I would love to see pics. I wondered about how someone picked the colors. Buying the Bali pop sets was a smart move. I have seen ads for Judy's classes. I live in such a rural area I would have a 2 to 3 hour drive one way. Just too far. Nice to know the instructions that come with the patterns are understandable.

Hope everyone is having a great day. The rain and wind were terrific here this morning. A little calmer now.

Wendy - Love the quilted quilt and the bookmarks!
Judith - I bought the pattern too but haven't started it, perhaps I should.

Barb