Shaping Up

I'm talking about the house, not me, in case you were wondering...

This week the painter came and transformed my living room.  What I thought were flat white walls were apparently more of an eggshell.  Or darker.  Against all advice, I went with bright white in a semi-gloss.  You see, my house is a cave.  If you've spent much time with me, you know it's been my major complaint for the past 21 years.  Too.  Dark.  period.  exclamation point!

 wow!  What a difference!  I can actually see across the room now!!

I'm trying to remember the last time I posted.  I decided to take everything down from my design wall, so that I could put up my project from the David Taylor class.

These Christmas blocks had been up since before Christmas.  Five months is enough.  It's more than enough.  Just stitch them together already!

I didn't exactly knock that UFO off the list, but it's at a stage where I can put in a few more hours come November, and have something quilt-able by December.  These were all leftovers from Double 4-patch quilts and scraps that were turned into stars.  Perhaps you wondered what I do with those scrappy stars?  This is one option.  I make the star points from...are you ready for this?  I make the star points from binding trash.

When I piece my binding, I have leftover triangles.  I toss them in my Triangles Box, and when there are too many to close the lid, I start piecing.  voila!  Soon I have enough to make stars.

An aside regarding my Triangle Box.  It is currently filled to the brim.  I am going to have to either start binding with some light valued fabrics, or break my unspoken rule and cut some triangles so that I have something to match up with all of those darks in the box.  For now?  Stash the box away and move on. 

As to the UFO pictured above, I close my eyes and I can see it finished.  It's currently 32" square.  I think I will add a 1" dark green border, then another 4-5" border of piano keys.  That will make it a better size, and pull it all together.  Now if I can just remember to do that, come November...

Yesterday's mail brought a wonderful surprise.

I guess the mail surprise wasn't enough.  Blogger wanted to surprise me too.  "Surprise!  Your image has been rotated 90 degrees.  No charge, it's our gift to you."  Thank you, Blogger.  Thanks a lot.

And thank you, Barbara Daniel.  The quilted card is breathtaking!  Makes me want to kick my cardmaking up a notch and then some.

Happy Quilting!

Odds and Ends

Did you receive fabric for Christmas?  I did.  My sister gave me an odd look, and said, "Your gift might be redundant."  snort!  She'd never seen my stash.  I can't wait to do something with this.

I think the biggest surprise was that I didn't have any fabrics like these in my collection.  :)

It was fun to have my sister here.  It was her first visit since Easter, 2001.  She's not much for the drive up from San Diego.

 We hammed it up a bit, as my son played paparazzi.

Penny's package from one uncle was particularly beautiful.  And clever.

She was more interested in the pennies, than the contents of the box.

I particularly love this photo.  The robe was made for me by my Nana, when I was about 6 or 8.  By the time it came back into my possession, my daughter was in college.

I've begun some gifts for the coming year, gifts that will hopefully hold memories of this year.  Today I have been piecing this quilt, which I put on the wall the week before family began arriving.

It's made from leftovers of several Christmas quilts, made over the years.  I hear that Penny has insisted that her mother's Christmas quilt belongs to Penny.  Hopefully by next Christmas, there will be two Christmas quilts in their household.

The New Year is coming, and I'm trying to collect my thoughts on the matter.  It's always a good time to take stock of where I am in my UFO pile, and where I want to be by the end of the year.  I've certainly added quite the number of unfinished projects, and haven't crossed off many at all.  My record keeping has been particularly atrocious, when it comes to postcards and quilted cards.  Tomorrow I'll do my official counting.  Let's hope I did better than I think I did!

Until then, happy stitching!  I have a top to finish piecing before going to bed tonight.

Feeling Foolish

So last time I went on and on and on about this supposed binding that I supposedly made and supposedly lost.

*sigh*

I looked high and low and hither and thither, and nothing.  No binding to be found.

And so, I went to my batik stash, hoping for something like-enough to pass for acceptable.  What should I find, but a piece of batik that measured 2 yards x 21".  Really?  I remembered cutting the borders lengthwise.  I guess I assumed that I also cut binding, because who would cut lengthwise slices and then fold the yardage and put it away when more slices needed cutting? 

groan.

I guess it's better to be foolish than losing it?  Or so I tell myself.  :)

My entry forms are almost complete, and I am printing out my photos.

My quilt just needs the now-made-and-attached binding tacked down.  (And a sleeve, and a label.)

And as a bonus, these crazy quilted Christmas cards, which were not embroidered until January, are now ready for December.  woohoo!  At least one thing is early!

I promised pictures of the UFO Log Cabin.  I quilted feathers.  Once it's bound, I will share pictures.  woohoo.  Knocking off weekly goals seems to actually be almost working.  This is good. This is very good.  I may not be hitting exactly what I've listed, but my list is shrinking, and this week doesn't end until tomorrow.

hip hip hooray!

Another Cover

I don't have much to show for yesterday. I covered this photo album:

Here is the back:

And when you open it:

You see the space for the photos...and the tag stating that it's all acid-free storage for them.

That's it for yesterday.

As to decorations, I haven't gotten any further than the ladder in the bathroom. ;)

But I did take 3 large photo albums, 3 journals, 3 small photo albums and two small (very small) framed art quilts to Arts Visalia. They are having a Holiday Sale, now through December 20, and they agreed to offer a few of my pieces. (I'd give you a weblink, but they don't seem to have one.)

And that's a wrap. I HAVE to decorate! :)

"We Have Seen His Star..."

Back in 2005, I was contacted by Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, regarding my quilt "We Have Seen His Star: Wise Men Still Seek Him." They had seen it in Jan Krentz's Diamond Quilts book, and were interested in publishing a pattern. I gave them the go-ahead, and it was presented as their 2005 Christmas Memory Pattern. All you needed to do was send them an SASE, and they sent you the pattern.

Every once in a while I get requests for the pattern. I usually tell people to contact QNM, and see if it is still available. They wrote the pattern, I didn't. I constructed the quilt differently than they outline, but the results should be very similar. I used Jan's Lone Star techniques to make the star.

This week I received TWO requests for the pattern. You have my blessing to make this quilt. In fact, I don't think there could be too many of this quilt in existence. If anyone else would like the pattern, either contact Quilter's Newsletter or email me.

Now that you've read this, you'd probably like to know what quilt I'm talking about.

Here is the full-view:

And here is a detail of the quilting:

If you click on the image, it should give you a larger view.

That's all I've got for today. I've worked on my April Step twice, both on Thursday and last night. The boy is appliqued in place, and I'm giving him hair. I might actually get the top together by Thursday, but the quilting is looking iffy. Goals are good. Don't allow the inability to reach every single one keep you from setting them. Every step we take is progress. Let's keep moving forward!

Christmas Past Revisited

Oh wow. I checked my lap top and found more photos. Here are some Christmas quilts sewn before I'd ever heard of blocking a quilt. Square? What is square? If it's hip to be square, I was definitely NOT hip...

This first quilt was made for a guild challenge. We were given 6 Christmas fabrics and told to use at least three of them. We could add three more. I added a red with gold stars and the creamy background. You can't see it, but the interior is hand-quilted with gold thread. I remember quilting this while sitting in the waiting room at Children's Hospital while Daniel underwent gastric endoscopy. He had bleeding ulcers when he was 3. I'm glad those days are LONG gone!!

Poinsettia Challenge
Suzanne Kistler 1991

We used to live in Tulare, near Kaweah Drive. They went all out every year, putting lights on everything on the block. They would have decorated their pets, if they would have held still long enough!

I belonged to a small quilt group, and each member made a 4-house block for me. All of the trees and houses are covered with beads, representing Christmas lights. I was thrilled with the result, but now, so many years later, I cringe at the woobly edges. yikes.

Christmas Comes to Kaweah Drive
Suzanne Kistler 1992

Here's another oldie but goodie. I never named it. I just wanted a red and green throw quilt to make the house more Christmas-y...

1994

And then there's this one. It's got to be a few years old too, because I remember sewing it while my machine was set up in our bedroom. That would have been before I appropriated Andrew's room, which I stole around 2004... Then again, I think I made this while I was working at Thimble Towne, and that was 2002-ish... yep. Another Christmas past. I gave this one to sister Carla that year. It was my lone attempt at a "string" quilt. It wasn't very successful...


I hope you've enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. It's kind of fun to pull out the pictures and remember back to by-gone eras...

And now, it's time for Christmas Present: Merry Christmas! And God bless us, everyone!!!