Wednesday, November 2, 2011

November Gratitude & Roxbury Farm

Our modern lives are so full with obligations including those of family, work, home, career, friends, etc. We often forget to take the time to show gratitude. The way of thank you notes and simple "thinking of you" phone calls seems to have fallen aside in our modern, busy lives.

     Two years ago, a friend on Facebook suggested a simple "I am thankful for........." statement to become each person's daily "status update" for the month of November. I participated and can say now that it effected me. To have to set aside time for gratitude in my daily life and then to write about it was not only a good exercise, but did change the way I look at my life and all its "obligations."

    So this year, I'm expanding my gratitude to include people, organizations or things for which I am thankful.
   
   Here is today's:

I am grateful for Jean Paul and his team of farmers at Roxbury Farm in Kinderhook, NY (http://roxburyfarm.com/). These veggies were the last in my CSA Farm Share for this season. Participation in the CSA, for the first time this year, has TOTALLY transformed my relationship with food, my thinking about meal planning and our family's health, I'm sure!

The Farmers wrote in their last newsletter, "We lost 50,000-60,000 lbs of produce due to the flooding and excessive rain.  We thank you for your support during this difficult and season and we are looking forward to an abundant harvest in 2012."

At the much needed, Roxbury Farm Festival in September 2011, I made a small quilt of gratitude, seen below,  for the Farmers to hang in their barn, office or home.

 


 The brown paths were, in my mind, the ways to access the fields. I did simple stitch-in-the-ditch quilting and then some free motion work in the brown outer border.

Two photos of Roxbury Farm on that beautiful September day.
Please see their website for more photos and information about 
Community Supported Agriculture: Roxbury Farm

Also, check out my friend's blog for ways to use and to store all these awesome veggies:


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

"Little Hospitality" and the Empire Quilt Fest 2011



This past weekend, my "Little Hospitality," seen above, was proudly included in the Empire Quilt Fest, a multi-guild show in upstate New York. She earned "Second Place" in the Miniatures Category. She is a paper-pieced 14 3/4 inch square traditional pineapple block work which uses warm floral prints. The design was adapted from a pattern by MH Designs. Each block has over 25 pieces of fabric and there are over 400 pieces in the entire quilt. Created as a challenge to myself for this particular show, "Little Hospitality" now warmly greets visitors to our home from her place in our foyer.
To the right are all the quilts in the Miniature Category.
They included the following other quilts:
First Place: Martha Flanagan's "Spiraling Out of the Box"  (top left of photo)
Honorable Mention: Bonnie Maclean's "Mini Mariner's Compass" (Purple and white in the middle)
Bonnie Maclean's "Mini New York Beauty" (top right) &
Marcia Hajeck's "Pieces of Old" (bottom left)


This gorgeous quilt is called "Spiraling Out of the Box" by quilter Martha D. Flanagan. It earned the "First Place" ribbon in the Miniature category.
Mrs. Flanagan wrote "This quilt was designed and created while working with Ranae Merrill as she wrote her book "Magnificent Spiral Mandala Quilts." This quilt is shown in the book." It is machine quilted and I assume, paper pieced.

Look at this detail shot! Amazing! 
It is quite an honor to have my quilt by these other amazing works of art!


The Empire Quilt Fest Theme for 2011 was "When Life Hand You Scraps." I, naturally, answered the call with this little piece to be donated to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative: www.alzquilts.org
Called "Number 20 for AAQI" it will be the 20th donation quilt toward my $1000 Promise. So far, with 13 of the 20 sold, I've raised $530 for Alzheimer's Research as supported by the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.
Very exciting stuff!


Finally, my friend and new owner of "Blumen"-Maggie, graciously let me borrow her for this show. Please see my May 2011 post for the artistry behind this little piece of abstract art.


I'm already thinking and looking ahead to the Empire Quilt Fest 2013!! 
It's never too early to plan!!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Inspired by "Seven"




Remember "Seven"?
It was posted in July in my piece called "Seven and Friends." Since then, "Seven" has been donated to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative and has earned $50 for Alzheimer's Research (www.alzquilts.org).
Amazing for such a little piece of art!

This "Squiggles" technique, learned from Kris Gregson Moss (http://www.krisgregsonmoss.com)
and used with her permission for the Q.U.I.L.T.S. AAQI Challenge, reveals a new and exciting result each time.

The original layers of fabric, seen on the left here, are sewn with a free-hand drawn design and then cut away to reveal the gorgeous colors below. No one color touches itself in the work. The piece is completed with appliqué fibers sewn to cover the seams and free-motion quilting to accent the other design elements. 

Below is the final result for this new piece. Although quite abstract, I think it looks like a child waving palms on Palm Sunday.  What do you see it in?



Here is the next set of fabrics to be "Squiggled"!
Wait and see what beautiful piece of art they will become!








Kris Gregson Moss Website:    http://www.krisgregsonmoss.com
Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative:   http://www.alzquilts.org/
Quilters United in Learning Together Schenectady:    http://quiltschenectady.org/

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Christmas Stripes


'Twas a few months before Christmas,
and with nothing to do
I sat in my quilt room-
seemingly blue.

The UFO's rested untouched on the shelf
and none of the BOM's seemed to 
bother myself.

Then in the corner a package 
caught my eye,
some new Christmas striped fabric, 
I just HAD to buy.

Full Striped Fabric
 Armed with a triangle template* and a sharp rotary knife,
I thought to myself, "Now this is the life!"

Just a few simple cuts and some seams 
sewn together--
I instantly had table runners for the 
snowier weather.
   




Layer two identical stripes, cut like this.




Poinsettias, reindeer and snowmen with S'mores--
What more could I make behind these closed doors?

A head start on Christmas 2052--
Because that's how long it takes me to finish things---
How about you?

    
 
  




Sew together end triangles first and then center seam.
Finished detail.   

*For the 60 degree triangle template I used in this piece:

http://www.online-quilting.com/

"'Twas the Night Before Christmas"

By Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;


The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,


When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.


The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,


With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;


"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"


As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.


And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.


He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.


His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;


The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.


He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;


He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;


He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT! 

Classic Poem from http://www.teachervision.fen.com/christmas/resource/4051.html

Friday, September 9, 2011

Peach Cobbler

The Purple Cook's Website Link

Hi Quilting Friends,
Here is my latest post through a girl friend's fantastic website!
Check out The Purple Cook!

She regularly comments on our CSA vegetables and fruits and how to use them on your family's table. She also has ideas about freezing, meal planning, etc.

I love her work and am thrilled to participate with one of the two desserts I made this summer. Frankly, I'd rather be quilting than cooking, but baking I can handle!

Enjoy!!!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

For the Love of Autumn


"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity;
but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance.  What man can stand with autumn
on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling
hills that reach to the far horizon?
-   Hal Borland*

"The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop away from you
like the leaves of Autumn."
-   John Muir*

  
I love autumn! The season brings with it change. 
Change in our schedule as we return to school, new activities and our non-summer/ more "normal" life. This also means new adventures, new friends, a new quilt guild year, new projects, new classes, the resurrection of deeply loved old projects yearning to be finished and, of course, apple and pumpkin picking and my personal favorite-- hot cider and doughnuts!

One of the first events in the Fall is our church's Dutch Fair and silent auction. This year the chair of the silent auction is my mother, so I've donated this table runner/ wall hanging.
From Pieced Tree Patterns (Forest City, Iowa), "Falling Leaves" features four easy Maple Leaf blocks which not only allow one to practice their perfect, or not-so-perfect, point making techniques as well as time playing with these rich and lovely Fall florals. The pattern is designed to create a wall hanging banner with three sections. My piece is a modification from the center section.


In order for the piece to be more versatile, I've added "Fast Finish Triangles". They are squares folded in half and sewn into the binding of the corners. This way small pieces can be hung with a simple piece of wood underneath the corner trianges (seen below). I learned this technique from my work with the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (www.alzquilts.org). Here is the link to the "Fast Finish Triangles" tutorial: http://www.alzquilts.org/paqdisplay.html
Other hanging techniques are also available on that page which include hanging sleeves and the use of the multi-purpose soda can tab!



* Quotes from http://www.egreenway.com/months/autumn.htm#Autumn

Monday, August 15, 2011

Winter Blues



Winter Blues or STUMPED!


This lovely piece was made to replace the very red and green "Christmas Stars" piece on our hearth for the mommy group's book club meeting earlier this year. The pattern is called "Moroccan Tile" by Cheryl Phillips. It is a very easy pattern to follow and came with directions for cutting the fabric with either an acrylic template set or a paper pattern. The details are below.

The fabrics, however, were purchased from The Joyful Quilter (www.joyfulquilter.com), my local quilt shop. It was very humbling to face a bunch of beautiful "Fairy Frost" fabrics (by Michael Miller Fabrics) and to truly not be able to tell the difference between a true white and a very light blue!!!

Meanwhile, the piece came together and my "Winter in Morocco" tile was gently pinned to cover those "Christmas Stars" for the book club meeting. The reviews were in and everyone loved it. That was in February.

Since then, however, the piece has been in the same place and I am TOTALLY stumped as to how I should proceed to quilt it! Suggestions have been made by my friends and family (some of whom quilt), but now I am looking for advice from you, my greater community!

What do you think I should do to quilt it? Design ideas are welcome! Please comment or e-mail me with your thoughts. I appreciate it greatly!!!!

***********************************************************************************

"Moroccan Tile" pattern by Cheryl Phillips and is available from Keepsake quilting:
http://www.keepsakequilting.com/

"Marbled prints provide the realism.
All eyes will focus on this 42" x 47" quilt.
Kit has Cheryl Phillips's piecing directions, and fabrics for the top and binding.
Requires Cheryl's Gems 5 & 10 (pentagon and decagon) two-piece acrylic template set.
"
--Description from the Keepsake Quilting Website

Michael Miller Fabrics "Fairy Frost" blue fabrics available from The Joyful Quilter (www.joyfulquilter.com)