Making Art

After the week in Laguna Beach, my creative juices were overflowing.  But when I got back over the mountain?  It was 107.  Not a lot of incentive there to get excited about anything.  I plowed through the things that had been set aside for a week, and by Tuesday, I was ready to finish quilting my quilt.  Here it is, finished and faced.  It still needs a label and a sleeve:

 "Shalom," by Suzanne Kistler  August 2019

Here is a close-up, where you can see the hand quilting.  It is also hand appliqued.  I'm very happy with the results, and plan to enter it in PIQF.  It remains to be seen whether or not it will be accepted.

 One of the things that I was really drawn to in Laguna Beach was the collage art.  I came home and bought 2 small stretched canvases and acrylic medium.  I prepped the canvas, and set them aside.  A few days later, inspiration struck.  I had planned to use paper, but I have all of these fabric shred scraps.  I wonder if...?

 Well, look at that!  They do work well.  This was after two layers.  Today, I added a third.  I don't think it needs much more than that.  I just need to decide what to add to the foreground.  I imagine a starfish draped over the edge.  If nothing else, it is different from the sailboat that I'm sure everyone expects me to add.  :)

Several states away, my son and daughter-in-law gave birth to our 3rd granddaughter/4th grandchild on Monday, August 19.  Here she is, quite a beautiful little thing.  She weighed in at 6lb 6oz.  Tiny compared to my kids, but right on target for the grands.

I believe she is less than 24 hours old in this picture.  Such a beauty!!

And that's all I've got for you today.  I'm thinking of jumping into a MAJOR hand quilting project, so I doubt I'll have many more finishes before the end of the year.  Then again, you never know when I'll feel the need to make another baby quilt.  We have another grandchild due in November.  Stay tuned for that.  :)

Happy, happy, joy, joy!!

Sew Faster!

I think I mentioned our Sew Eclectic Challenge in my last post.  I finished my second piece, and am very happy with it.  I can't wait to see what the rest of the finished quilts look like.  We have a new deadline of February 1.  Hopefully the other half of the whole will be done by then.  no pressure.  ;)

 We went to the first estate sale of the year, and I found this cutter quilt for $2.  Had to have it.  I thought I would make it into pillows, until I realized that it only has holes on one end.  The other end has already been chopped off.  Maybe I'll chop off the holey end and make it a floor quilt for babies to play on.  We'll see.

 I wasn't familiar with the pattern, but Charlotte looked it up and tells me it is Road to Oklahoma.  In looking at this photo, I see that there are chains running top left to bottom right.  I hadn't noticed that before.  The blocks are set with cornerstones and sashing, so it's a bit tricky to see that the blocks consist of 4 diagonal squares and two arrows.

Other than that, I've been busy trying to prepare for various events.  Tomorrow I give a trunk show presentation at the local Orange Blossom Quilt Guild.  It should be fun, and will be good preparation for my scheduled presentation during the World Ag Expo.

This year has gotten off to a wild and woolly beginning.  Let's hope it calms down a bit, because it's hard to keep up when so much is happening so quickly.  My father-in-law passed away at the beginning of the month.  His memorial service was held last week.  This was the first time to see all of our grandchildren together in one place.  They are a joy to behold.

The baby does not belong to his handler.  That's Penelope's dad, holding her itty bitty cousin.

And I guess that's going to have to do it for now, because I've got lots to do and not a lot of time in which to get it done.  Happy New Year!  Happy Quilting!!

Bits & Snippets

I'm working steadily on my second piece for the online Katie Pasquini Masopust class.  So far, so good.  I was so very proud of my sea urchin shell...

 I fussy cut the fabric, prepped it, and put it together with 10 segments.

 I was thrilled with the results, until I showed it to my husband.  He thought it was an umbrella.  My son asked, "A pin cushion?"  groan

 It turns out that my boys don't know what a sea urchin shell looks like.  Here is a real one, next to my fabric one.  Now, what do you think?  Close, right?

 Next on my list is a conch.  I'm hoping to get it finished today.

Goals are good!