Still in Winter's Grasp!

With the warm temps on Sunday, I was hopeful that we would be past another cold spell...but here we are with temps in the teens at daybreak and cold and wind! But . . . it is sunny and the snow has either melted or blown away today!

I went with my cousin Rosie to Honeoye Falls to see the RAFA (Rochester Area Fiber Artists) exhibit at The Mill on Tuesday. Friends Elaine (Blog: Elaine's Blogging World) and Kathi (Blog: Pearl Street Road) have pieces in the exhibit. Love what they created! I have such talented friends! What a neat show! It is amazing what people do with textiles! Loved it and then had a nice lunch at the cafe across the street. It was good to spend time with Rosie, who I see way too infrequently. When we finally do get together, it is hard to part because we have so much to talk about and we seem to just pick up where we left off, even though it has been months sometimes!

I have been busy in the studio with getting some of my UFO's out and working on them. Of course, I also just had to start a new project! I signed up for a class at Mt. Pleasant Quilt Company, a quilt shop in York, NY. It was for the Stack 'n Whack technique. I took the class yesterday and loved what I was able to get done in just six hours! I learned a lot from the instructor and shop owner, Barb Miller; and now I feel skilled enough to finish the other 11 blocks on my own and get them in to the modified Irish Chain setting. It will be a work in progress, but I was so excited when I got home from the class that I spread all the pieces for the blocks out on the back of the sofa last night and looked at them and rearranged some of them and then pinned them into sets so I could sew them in the same patterns I had them arranged in. With this kind of technique, using stacks of diamonds, you can use the pieces to make a block with either end at the center, so you do have choices. Each block is completely different from the next and it is really fun to see what emerges when you put the block together. I won't show you all of my blocks until I get the top done, but here is my first block completed at the class yesterday. I feel like a little kid when I finish something like this and want to run home to have Mommy put it on her refrigerator door!

I love the fabric I picked out. It is by Timeless Treasures, a fabric maker that I seem to be drawn to! I used one of their fabrics in the recent Literature Challenge my quilt guild held. The colors in this fabric are ones that my husband and I both like and he thought the blocks were beautiful and was surprised that they all came from just one fabric. He is my biggest fan and he indulges me with my daily studio show and tell!

Today was a home day, and although it is already 6 o'clock, it doesn't feel like it because it is light and sunny! That is a nice thing about the time change...more daylight at the end of the day.

A trip to Penn Yan is in my near future to get my Bernina machine in for maintenance. It has had a rugged workout lately and as I finished my last block of 32 for my Amish Stars quilt, it finally stopped stitching correctly. So...I will be without that machine for a while, but it will force me to use my other machine that I keep in a cabinet upstairs. I get a little lonely up on the second floor landing, but I will see how it goes sewing up there. It really is a great machine...I just may find I enjoy sewing up there after all. In the afternoon there is light from the south, so that is a plus! It has not been used in a long time, so I hope it works! It may need to go in for maintenance, too!

I have named this quilt "Stars Over Chincoteague". I started it way back in 2007! Another UFO that I have been happily working on. Paul and I love to go out at night on Chinoteague Island on the road that leads to Assateague Island and gaze at the stars. We have spent many weeks there in the winter, with the exception of this year, and love the slow pace on the island during the off season -- not to mention the mild temperatures and lots of sunny days!

(  That isn't fabric between the rows! . . . The blocks are lying on the floor on my patterned rug.The rows will be sewn of black fabric like the background in the blocks. There are two more rows...so, there are 8 in each row. )

Oh, and I worked on the first row for my RRRR (Row by Row Round Robin) that I am doing with my guild. At first, I didn't like it, but now I do. Here is what I came up with. I think it will be fun to see what the next four people in my group do with it.

If I don't have a machine to use, I have other projects to work on, that is for sure! Knitting my beautiful cable scarf that is almost done, starting some cathedral windows quilt blocks. . . . a handwork project to keep next to my chair in the living room so I can work on it during TV shows, or my wool project from a class two years ago . . . and of course, my album making.

I always have plenty to do . . . not to mention working with my husband on our real estate career. I might even start my spring cleaning . . . no, maybe not . . . why rush the season? But, my husband did  mention to me today that he is interested in rearranging some furniture. I love rearranging furniture in rooms, so I better strike while the iron is hot!

It is dinner time and I need to help in the kitchen. . . Chicken and Asparagus for dinner tonight! Yum!

What I have learned:
I CAN keep up with the group in a quilt class!

What I want to learn:
How to do everything on my list by day's end!

What I appreciate:
Sunshine and more daylight at the end of the day.

What I want:
People to practice kindness.

Back from Museum Quilt Guild Three-Day Retreat . . .

It seems like I just got back home from the retreat, but that was Sunday evening and it is now Wednesday evening! I am still settling back into my studio, putting things where they belong . . . since when I go to a retreat, I seem to take about half of my studio with me!

I worked on three projects while at the retreat.

1.      I finished putting the blocks together for my blue and yellow log cabin. Now to add the flange to the edges and then a big wide border.

2.      I made the four parts of a black and white 8-inch paper-pieced block and assembled it. I need to complete eight more blocks and I will set it into a lap quilt. It will end up being about 50 inches square, which will be a nice size for the sofa or a wall hanging. 

 

 

 

3.     I trimmed the blue and yellow paper-pieced flying geese blocks I took with me. I need to make several more and will put them into a wall hanging OR a lap quilt . . . haven’t decided which, yet.

Using the blue and yellow fabrics helps me keep my pledge to use up a lot of my stash this year and actually FINISH many of my UFOs (Unfinished Objects). I have some beautiful fabrics and they need to be put into quilts  . . . or aprons, coffee quilts, or whatever! I have such a big collection of blue and yellow fabrics, . . . (I definitely over-bought when I was in the acquisition stage for the log cabin quilt!) . . . that it might be all I work on for quite some time, in addition to the black and white blocks and guild challenge blocks and the new project we just started in our guild…a Row by Row Round Robin (RRRR) quilt.

For the RRRR, there are five to six people in a group. It starts this month and we will start with a row of four 12-inch blocks that we will make and take to the guild meeting in April along with four to five strips of 42x6 inch strips to pass along to each of the four people who will work on the next four rows. They need to use part of the fabric you send along in the blocks they make. You can state in a little journal you send along with the quilt that you like certain colors, want a certain look, or that it is for a certain holiday, or whatever, and the other people in the group will try to do something you will like, but hopefully something that also represents something of what they like, either in the style of block they choose, or the other fabrics they add to the quilt blocks. At the end of the Row Robin, we will get our original row back with four to five additional rows, each with a different size block for the block set. The project will end in September when it has gone Round Robin! So, I will be digging in my stash this weekend to discover what I have that I want to use for this project!

Along with three other women in the guild, I am planning to go shopping at a quilt shop this weekend to buy some fabric for our next Museum Quilt Guild raffle quilt. The quilt is for the show in 2014, which seems a long time from now, but between deciding on the design for the top, to completion of the quilt, there is a lot of planning and sewing to be done! It is our hope that we can get a lot of the guild members involved in the creation of this quilt by offering techniques that will include patchwork, applique and hand quilting. We want everyone in the guild to have the opportunity to use their skills in completion of the quilt. Then, after the quilt is completed, there is the sale of tickets, publicity and planning the venue and all the other things that go into a successful quilt show.  You will be reading more about this here in my blog and in the Museum Quilt Guild’s blog:  www.museumquiltguild.blogspot.com 

as we go forward with plans. Check out the Museum Quilt Guild blog for some fantastic pix of what kinds of things our guild members make and what kinds of activities they are involved in.

While it snowed big fat flakes today, I stayed home and wandered around the house working on this and that . . . and worked a bit on my newest mini album design. Here is a sneak peek at the cover. It is a metal tile that I found at Michael’s!

 

 

What I have learned:

I can get quite a lot done in a retreat setting!

What I want to learn:

How to pack (and unpack) more efficiently for retreats!

What I appreciate:
Down time and a day at home.

What I want:

More days like today!

 

 

MAKING MY LIST & CHECKING IT TWICE . . .

No, it isn’t Christmas, and I am not Santa Claus, but I am packing for a three-day quilting weekend retreat and want to be sure I don’t forget anything! However, I will be with many other quilters who, I am sure, will share a notion or a scrap of fabric, should I need it!

This will be the second year of a weekend getaway at Silver Lake, in Perry, New York. The sewing room is big and bright and the cook feeds us three meals a day, so all we need to do is sew, sew, sew. It was a lot of fun last year and it is a great way to get to know other guild members better.

What I really like to do is walk around and see what everyone is working on. For me, it is a great way to learn new techniques and learn about new notions. The show and tell at the end of the weekend is always spectacular. So . . . I won’t tarry here for long on my blog today because I have to give my pile of UFOs another look and decide for sure these are the three or four I am taking with me, along with an applique project for times when I get tired of cutting and sewing on the machine.

 

Three projects I am taking to the retreat. Putting it in a photograph makes it more real for me and hopefully will help speed me along to completion!

 

Besides quilting, I have been continuing to make mini journals. I just posted a new one to my YouTube channel. I made it for a friend and sent it to her, a page a day for five days, as a surprise. You can see it by going to my YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/studioemmy

The mini I am currently making is a custom order that is for a bride-to-be who will record her dress shopping excursions in it.  Doesn't that sound like fun? I love the ideas that customers come up with for their albums! The papers are beautiful and I can’t wait to finish it! But . . . that is going to have to wait until next week . . . time to finish packing.

 

What I have learned:

Planning a project takes me much longer than making it!

What I want to learn:

How to plan less and create more!

 

What I appreciate:

My husband, who encourages me, supports me, protects me, and loves me for who I am.

What I want:

Same as always . . . more hours in a day!

LOST AND FOUND!

LOOK!

I found the January 18th post that I lost!



Brrrr!  It is creeping up to 20 degrees . . . and the bright white snow cover  on the ground brightens up my studio . . . so, that is where I will spend the afternoon. I will finish my challenge quilt for the quilt guild "literature" challenge today, so it can be revealed with all the other ones at the guild meeting tomorrow. I can't wait to see what everyone else has done!

Working toward a year of finishing projects in 2013 . . . some that are very old that I started and put away for some reason . . . others that are just ideas that I already purchased materials for. If things are not appealing to me at this point, they will just have to find a new home. It is crazy to keep things around only to handle them when I clean out a closet . . . and restash them back in the closet! My DH is right when he says he can hear out house utter a sigh of relief every time we carry a donation out the door to be delivered to a charity.

I turned 60 years old yesterday . . . It is really very hard to believe I am this old! Where did the years go? They really do fly by faster as I get older. I think my parents would be proud of me and would love the man I married. I just wish they could be here to get to know him and all of my family. They would love to spend time with their grandchildren . . . and great grandchildren. :-) I am so very grateful for the time I spent with both of them and realize what sacrifices they made to give me a good, safe, loving home.  

I will be back in a few days to post a photo of the "literature" challenge quilt I made . . . maybe after the show is installed at the Richmond Memorial Library in Batavia in February.

POOF!

I wrote a blog post about two weeks ago, had it ready to go, wanted to make a correction, hit the back button, and POOF!  It disappeared!

Having just celebrated my birthday, I wrote about turning 60, about the snowy winter, and the projects I had been working on in my studio.  

2013 is the year I am calling my “Finish It” year. The UFOs – unfinished objects packed away in totes in my closet – will come out of hiding and WILL get finished. That is my pledge to myself, my husband and my house. There will be a lot more space in my home come the end 2013 and I will have more examples of my work displayed on the walls and shelves in my home and ready for exhibits at art and quilt shows. My husband has remarked that he lives in our house with an artist, yet we have nothing on display to show it! (In the past, I gave away almost everything I made.) And, many times I have missed the opportunity to exhibit something because it is still a UFO!  

To jumpstart my “Finish It” year, in January I finished a small quilt. All it needed was the binding! That was finished in the span of three nights while watching TV with my husband. Currently, in February, I have pulled out the dreaded mending bag. Jeans for garden work just needed some patches and buttons sewn on . . . and they will be DONE by the end of the month! One wall quilt and two mini quilts will get their borders and backing and will be machine quilted. What a feeling it will be to actually have finished these things that have been waiting for a long, long time! 

I have put another of my handmade mini albums and boxes on my YouTube channel and am working on another video to upload soon. I am making a custom order mini and box now for a client to give as an engagement gift. It is really fun for me to work on something like this because it allows me to make a very pretty and romantic piece. I will be sure to post photos and a YouTube video when it is finished.  

What I have learned:

Write blog posts first in my MS Word so they don’t go POOF!

What I want to learn:

How to make the photo at the top of my blog smaller.

What I appreciate:

My family and friends who support and humor me when I ask them to watch my show and tell.

What I want:

More hours in a day to work on all the things I love doing . . . and even the things I don’t love to do, but still need to be done!

A Sunday Afternoon at Home . . .

The first Sunday of the year . . . and I am inside where it is warm and cozy. I am spending time in my studio today making things that are fun and creative, as well as making things to meet some deadlines! Thank goodness we have lots of leftovers from a little neighborhood party we hosted last night. It will be a grazing kind of day for my husband and for me. He is having a mostly casual day, too...along with a little real estate work.

I am working on an Ohio Star Block for Kathi (due Tues nt!) , the Literature Challenge for the Museum Quilt Guild's annual challenge (due on Jan. 19th!), a mini album for a client that is due in a couple of weeks . . . so, that is enough for today! I have the fabrics and papers picked out and the ideas in my head for all three of these things, now to get my ideas on paper before I proceed. I stopped at Chestnut Bay in Caledonia the other day to get even MORE fabric for these projects because I didn't have just the right shades of burgundy or greens or blues to work with. So, I have a real good start . . . maybe by tomorrow I will have made enough headway to keep the feeling of panic at bay!

Happy to be keeping on track and trying hard to remain positive every day. Six days into the new year and I have kept that resolution! :-) 

The Golden Rule

I love the first day of the new year. A new beginning. When I was a kid, our family would have a big dinner in the afternoon with my father's side of the family. We were a farm family, so New Year's Eve revelling was kept to watching Guy Lombardo on our little black and white TV and toasting at midnight with ginger ale and cranberry juice. A fond memory.

Today I will continue organizing my studio. I am anxious to begin a new project, (I have three deadlines to meet), and maybe even finish one; but putting things away where they belong is the first order of business! I have established two areas for my studio, one for making mini albums and paper crafts, the other for sewing. It is brightly lit in the room today because of the new snowfall! :-)

Now, for my title . . . The Golden Rule . . . In this world that is so torn with natural and man-made disasters, today and everyday in 2013, and hopefully everyday I have ahead of me, I will try to practice The Golden Rule that was one of my earliest teachings. Paraphrased from the Bible, in Matthew 7:12:  “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, . . . "  If only each person would consider and practice this purposeful intention, I think our world would be a better place for most of us.

With that in mind, I think it is time to make some lunch for my husband and myself. Be good to yourself today. It is my hope and my prayer that your year will be full of blessings.

Happy New Year!