Beautiful Boxes And Such

Oh, come on Blogger! WHY are you upending my photo?!! I think, perhaps, you are jealous. It is MY quilt box, and I'm not going to share.

I've been trying to sort and organize and make things look nice (story of my life) and today's efforts uncovered this beautiful end table. It was used in the living room of our last house, but shortly after we moved here (15 years ago) it was pushed into our bedroom. There, it held STACKS of things that I didn't put away. (I know. I'm not supposed to air my dirty laundry in public. But I just did. I'm a packrat. That's just the way it is. I'm trying to deal with it.)

Anyway, today was the day I pulled the quilt box out to the living room. It is filled primarily with quilts made by my friends. It has 2 or 3 that I made, but for the most part? It's filled with friendship.

Speaking of friendship, I have another beautiful box. This one has not been with me for years on end, this one is new. This one arrived at Christmas. Made by Mel Bell, Carpenter Extraordinaire, I've finally put it on display, right here, on top of my box of friendship quilts. Isn't it beautiful?

Here it is from another angle. ooh, baby, I like your lines!

In the quilting realm, I spent a few hours yesterday working on my pattern for my 2010 Hoffman. I'm going to ENJOY working on this year's quilt. I am NOT going to stress like I have in the past. This is a quilt I want to make, because I love the topic. It won't bother me in the least if no one else loves it. Okay, so maybe it will bother me, but I already love it, so it's fine. I want this year's quiltmaking to be making quilts I WANT to be making. Goals are good and all that.

When I put aside the pattern, I pondered what to work on.

I worked on a quilt back in October, at the Hartland Quilt Retreat, that turned into a warped mess of a mess. arg. I reworked it twice, then shoved it in the closet.

Yesterday I pulled it out of the closet, cut off the offending warpiness, and set to making it right. The top is now perfectly flat. I can't say that I am 100% pleased with the composition - it was better when the pine tree batik traveled the width of the quilt - but I'm 90% pleased. Quilting will improve it tremendously.

"Fish Dance" - unquilted top
Suzanne Kistler 2010

I'm trying to get back into "show mode," and "Fish Dance" will be my submission to the West Coast Wonders Exhibit in Long Beach in July. Goals are good, doncha know?

Finally, I've got a half-way decent image of my 2008 Hoffman to submit to M-AQF. Finally, finally! If you've never tried to photograph a black quilt, you have no idea how difficult it is to get the colors to come out accurately. I took this photo outside. I threw white sheets over the fence and put the quilt on a stand in front of the sheets. The sun had been shining, but just as I was ready to shoot, clouds came in. They actually helped with the color accuracy. Finally. Now I just have to fill out the form and send it in. It isn't really warped at the bottom. A breeze kicked up. of course.

"Window of Tradition"
2008 Hoffman Challenge
Suzanne Kistler

And that's all for today, folks. Next week we are predicted to get a frightening amount of rain. 6-8" is frightening, when 8" is your yearly average. We've also made plans to completely redo our backyard, utilizing the skills of a professional landscaper. If I don't blog much next week, I'm either under water or freaking out about the yard...or blissfully sewing away in the Studio, oblivious to the chaos swirling around me...Goals are good...