Blog Strolling

Quilt Night for November 2011

Elizabeth E.3 Comments

Quilt Night was over at Jean’s house this month.  And guess what?  It was just Jean and I there–we chatted and visited, talked about how we met our husbands (we’re both in second marriages), our grown kids, pets, recipes, and of course, quilts.

But first, check out this beautiful spread of treats: caramel brownies, vegetables and dip, fruits (including some awesome fresh raspberries), salsa and Halloween chips in black and orange.  I must admit the brownies and the raspberries held my fascination.

Jean went first for show and tell.  She’d finished the quilt she had been working on at October’s Quilt Night, and was now sewing on the binding.  It is a stunner.

I couldn’t get a very good picture of it, but you can sort of see the beauty and complexity of her work.  She owns a long-arm, so she’d quilted it herself as well.  Jean’s a Renaissance woman!

Then we got to talking about combined fall/Halloween quilts.  She pulled this one from her table in front of her TV — one side is a beautiful fall fabric and the other side are these cute log-cabin-style pumpkins.  We also talked about the ebb and flow of Quilt Nights.  Sometimes after a big bash, we go small again, like tonight.  I was so ready for Quilt Night–it had been a long week and I needed to get out and go.

Finally, after working all evening, I have something to show: the Halloween House quilt was quilted.  I trimmed it up and sewed on most of the binding, but when it got to the end and I wanted to try to join the binding fancy-style, my brain gave out, so I gathered up and went home (with a few brownies for Dave).

I’m so glad I went and so glad Jean and I got a chance to chat and sew together.  Really, whether it’s two or twenty, isn’t that what getting together as quilters is all about?  Thanks, Jean!

WIP

WIP–Wonky Log Cabin Christmas Blocks

Elizabeth E.18 Comments

After a week of home improvement and grading, I just had to break out and slice up some fabric.

Turned out to be some Christmas fabrics I’d stashed in the Christmas Fabrics drawer (how original) and just re-discovered again.  I had purchased them in the Washington DC area, at the Hollin Hall Variety Store, which at the time (7 years ago) had a terrific quilt fabric department.  It was right around the corner from where our Mt. Vernon Quilt Guild met, so how convenient was that?

What’s that old line?  Before you make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs?  Is our corollary: before you make a quilt, you have to make a big mess?  Maybe.  I was inspired by a quilt shown on Ashley’s blog Film in the Fridge, which was a lot of interesting squares from her bee friends.  But I didn’t feel that disciplined, so mine sort went wonky right away.

I reigned it in with some blue swirly fabric.  Of course, in a quilt like this, once you use up a piece — say, like the blue swirly fabric — you are out of luck with getting any more.  I made a Christmas quilt last year, but it was a billion pieces, every block is different and I love it.  It’s not at all like this one, which I love too, for its sheer unbridled enthusiasm.  A good tonic for what ailed me.

And that’s my Work in Progress for this Wednesday.  Congratulations to Lee of Freshly Pieced Fabrics for hitting a milestone: a year of hosting WIP Wednesday.  Head back to her blog for all the fun!

P.S.  Another WIP in progress was putting together a site for my quilter.  Click here to head to CJDesigns.

Finishing School Friday

FSF–Halloween House

Elizabeth E.5 Comments

At long last.  After the holiday.  In time for next year:

Binding on and stitched down.  Label is coming. . . later. . .as are most things in my life right now.  We’re in crunch time at school and if you think witches in doorways and skeletons all dressed up going to a party are scary, you haven’t seen midterms and research papers for some time now.  Yesterday the students all dragged in after having taken the fiction exam last week.  They looked, in a word, bedraggled and like that scene in Roger Rabbit where the character is run over by a steamroller.  Only these young adults hadn’t popped back up yet, cartoony-like.  I opened with a few jokes, but really folks, we had more work to do.  My wry comments were followed quickly by a more thorough reading of the Research Paper packet and ideas for drafting.  There’s no way to avoid it–it’s work work work until the end of the semester.

We shifted gears and discussed the play that was assigned to them, as well as the difference between fiction and drama.  I gave them a pop quiz and wrote a condensed version of our final few classes in a modified calendar up on the board.  A few squares, like the quilt above, filled with goblins (essays), research papers (witches), exams and presentations (other scary things).  Finally, one young man spoke up, his voice weary: “It’s nice to know we have a light at the end of this tunnel.”  The ice was broken, everyone laughed, and their spirits rose a bit in order to finish the group projects, get their exams returned (they had all studied hard and did well) and move on out into the crisp California afternoon.

Halloween’s over.  The work continues.  Reading and writing for them, grading for me.  And maybe an hour or few stolen for another quilt project.  Just to keep the goblins at bay.

Housekeeping

Just Painting

Elizabeth E.2 Comments

I’ve not been quilting, because we’ve been painting the house.  Back soon.

Read more *here,* especially the wearying story of Choosing the Colors.  Right now I’m working on the front door color and am leaning toward Million Dollar Red.

I miss the cloth under my fingers, but tonight’s Quilt Night with my buddies, so I hope to work on the Halloween House.  Especially since Halloween’s come and gone.  But that’s my life lately!