Going to Guild - Anita Heady

Last night was the Chattahoochee Evening Stars guild meeting, and our guest was Anita Heady of Sewcial Studio. I have no pictures to show you, partly because a lot of her presentation was on screen (although she did have most of the quilts there to show and pass around afterwards) and partly because I got there a little late and didn't get a seat conducive to photography.  However, you can see her gorgeous work in the gallery of her website and skip the lopsided pictures I normally bring you with people's fingers and backs of heads around the edges.

I did snap this one shot with my phone of an interesting quilting design she did on one block of her Morning Glories quilt.  I'm not sure why this jumped out at me, but each block was quilted differently and I just loved this one.  In this block you see examples of her string piecing, some of her hand dyed fabrics, and the way she cuts string blocks apart or assembles them in non-square shapes and puts them back together to create her design.

Anita shared some of her tips and techniques for her beautiful and unique string quilts in the program called Stretching the String.  She has made this style of piecing modern and fresh in her work, and there is nothing old fashioned looking about it.  Anita and her husband also brought some goods from their brick and mortar store, including many hand dyed fabrics.  He apparently does some rust dyeing as well, although I didn't spy any of the pieces there. 

It was a busy meeting that included a sneak peek of the design for our next raffle quilt and a show and tell line that had more members standing than sitting in the audience.  People have been busy!

I sneaked out early because, despite what I keep telling myself and everyone else, I am tired.  My test yesterday went very well in that it didn't take long and everything looks good; the only downside is that they still don't know why I'm anemic.  Blech!

Now I've got to get to work so I can join the line next month for Show and Tell!



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Post 555 - The One With the Winners

And the winners are....



Drum roll please...



The winner of the five fat quarters is Heather who wrote, "I read a book once with a bedroom with Mood Wallpaper. It changed colors and patterns depending on your mood. I want that!"

That would be cool.  And helpful for husbands everywhere!

The winner of the 10" flannel squares is Gill who wrote, "I like to read by the fire!"
 
Me too!

The winner of the 5" charm squares is Ruth, who liked my facebook page.  She also wrote, "At the moment I am loving charm packs and jelly rolls. I love jelly rolls because I am obsessed with scrappy trip along quilts and I love charm packs because I really want to create a Crochet Fusion Quilt soon."

I've never heard of these, but google is your friend.  These projects are awesome!  

The winner of Quilts in Georgia is Gill who wrote, "At the moment my favourite book is Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen."

That's a great choice!

The winner of the pattern and pre-cut denim squares for My Recycled Quilt is Pam from Hip to Be a Square Podcast who wrote, "Oooh.... this would be good for my son, who loves blue! Happy Blogiversary!  And related to the actual question you asked... in five years, I hope to have finished a postage stamp quilt for my king sized bed. HA HA HA HA."

If anyone can do it, Pam, you can!

Congratulations!


Thanks so much to everyone who commented and read along for my 5th Blogoversary.  It's been a blast!



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My 5th Blogoversary!

Today is my actual 5th Blogoversary and the last day of the giveaway. I just want to say thanks so much to everyone who reads here. I wish I could send you all a present!

Unfortunately, I haven't won the lottery, so today is my last day of giveaways.  Today I'm offering a set of denim squares, pre-cut, and the instructions for making My Recycled Quilt.

You can use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter in several ways.  Today I want to know what one thing you hope to have accomplished in five years - by March 28, 2018.  (YIKES!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Denim

I'm still cutting cutting cutting and have barely made a dent.  It's astonishing, really, just how much there is.

This week I've been cutting up denim in the hopes of eradicating my stash completely.

You see, several years ago I started collecting our old pairs of jeans when they were ripped or worn in a way that made them unsuitable for handing down or donating.  I wanted to make a denim quilt out of them.  Clearly this is where my abysmal spatial abilities truly failed me.

I finally thought I had enough saved and started cutting.  I found beautiful green and lavender flannel for the back of the quilt, and started stitching the X's across the blocks.  And eventually I finished my quilt.

Then last year for the National Quilting Day Sew In, I offered a complete set of the denim squares to one lucky winner.  I will confess now that I am a horrible blog prize giver away-er (what?) and didn't have the denim all cut when I posted.  I will confess that our home remodel, where my entire sewing room had to be moved to the basement in boxes, caused me to fail to live up to my promise.  I can only thank goodness that the winner (Sandy from Quilting for the Rest of Us) isn't the kind of person to hold a grudge against me for this.

My sewing room is back together and I'm working on my cutting.  Sandy will be glad to know that I've finished cutting not one but TWO sets of squares.  Sandy's will be at the post office this week.  Someone else will get to win these this coming National Quilting Day (more about that later), and take comfort knowing they won't have to wait a year to receive them.

Here's my only dilemma:  after cutting enough squares for my own quilt plus two more, I still have this much denim left. 

I know there are some great crafts to do with old jeans, but this is ridiculous!  Any ideas?



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Up to Here

Not much to post today because I am cutting cutting cutting...


Trying to make this...

Into this.

Thank goodness for all the podcasters out there who are keeping me company!




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Reusable Gift Bags

One of the "gifts from the studio" projects I did way back in October but never blogged about are my reusable gift bags.  I saw this on a bunch of blogs, but the one that made an impression was from Amanda Soule last Christmas. 

I made my bags even less complicated than hers!  I found some leftover upholstery fabric when I cleaned out the linen closet.  I think if the piece has already been recovered again, it's safe to use the fabric for something else, don't you? 

All I did was take a long piece (sorry, no precise measurements.  I used what I had) and hemmed the short ends.  Then I stitched up the sides - no fancy French seams for this project! - and stuck a gift inside.  I can't tell you what it is because The Pit Boss has recently started reading my blog (everyone say hi!) and it's for him.

I tied a bow around it and called it done.  Quite possibly, it took less time than finding scissors and tape and wrapping the gift.  For sure next year when I can just pull them out, I will be so thankful!

Also, this is a great procrastination project when you really should be folding laundry or making your next Modern Block.

Did I say that out loud?  Just kidding, Hon!  The laundry is completely caught up!  ~nod nod nod ~



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More Green Quilts

In addition to our winners, we also had another twenty-two quilters participate in this year's challenge.  Here are just some of the memorable and unique:

Ben made a second challenge quilt as a joke.  This dog bed might not be very cozy, but it sure is green!  Made completely of dog treat wrappers, each section is stuffed with plastic grocery sacks. 

Rena shared these gorgeous rag rugs that she crochets with a giant hook.  They are made completely of old sheets cut into strips.

Laurie made this quilt called Global Warming.  She made this quilt entirely from her stash after being inspired by a visit to several national parks.  On the back she included a poem she found in one of the parks.  

Julie made the panels for this quilt of memories from a trip to Egypt completely out of recycled tea bags!  Her instructions read:  "Rinse them, let them dry, and oh yes...empty them before you use them."  The back, batting and binding all came from her stash. 

Doris wrote:  "Throughout the years, my mother-in-law has been giving me all of her leftovers from her quilting years...I came across these drunkard's path blocks.  The bubblegum  color really caught my eye...As I placed them together I noticed that they were not squared, so I undid all the blocks to the simple units.  I trimmed them, sewed them together by machine, and hand quilted them...I hope the person who made them is happy with the job I did!"  A pretty sure bet, Doris, since I can't think of any quilter who wouldn't love one more posthumous finish...and such a treasure!

Once again we had a bumper crop of challenge quilts and so much fun hearing all the stories. 






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Going to Guild - Green Challenge Winners

It's time for the annual guild challenge show!

In case you haven't been paying attention are a new reader, this year's guild challenge was a green challenge.  There were no size or fabric requirements; the only rule is that there had to be some element of the quilt that you could defend as being "green."

Throughout the year I brought in several examples of entries to get the creative juices flowing.  One month I brought in Bonnie Hunter's book Scraps & Shirttails.  One month I brought in my denim quilt.  One month I brought in an item made with bamboo batting, and another time I brought a UFO that had pieced batting scraps and a pieced back from my stash.

Here are the winners:

Third place went to Lene.  This beauty is made out of her late father's silk ties.  She used red and white silk for the centers and the opposite sides of the log cabins, and silk batting.  She said her machine has never sounded so happy!  Isn't it a beauty?

Second place went to Ben.  When his wife Jackie was alive, one of her favorite things to do was to go thrift shopping.  She was the green queen, and loved to come up with new uses for old clothes.  Aprons from skirts, tote bags from drapes or upholstery samples...and quilts.  This pastoral scene reflects a time when everything was used and reused, before it was cheaper to replace than to repair.  I believe he said all of the pieces in this wool quilt were from Jackie's adventures in thrifting.

First place went to Vicki.  For her artist's statement she wrote:  "This quilt has 2330 pieces of more than 250 men's ties and 30 yards of fabric.  It has over 200,000 hand stitches and has taken more than three years to complete.  I wish to thank my husband for accompanying me to all of the Goodwill stores during our travels to buy men's ties, and also for his contribution of his and all of his relatives' and friends' ties."  

Isn't it amazing?  I wish I had taken more pictures close up.  This whole thing is made up of Cathedral Stars.  I've watched Vicki work on it for what seems like forever.  In person, it almost glows with the gorgeous fabrics and textures.  It is truly a work of art.

And, no, you aren't imagining it.  The WannaBees rocked the house for this year's challenge!  I'm so proud to be able to work and learn alongside these incredibly talented quilters.

Tomorrow I'll share some honorable mentions. 



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Gifts From the Studio - Tag It!

This week's gift from the studio is a mini fabric postcard that can be used as a gift tag.  In your family circle, these could be returned to you and reused every year, or they can be used by the recipient as an ornament.

While stashbusting, I found that I have an abundance of Christmas fabric.  I'm not sure why, especially since several of them are not high quality material.  I suspect that I had big crafty plans for them when I made my purchases.  Either that, or fabric really is reproducing on my shelves!

While writing this post, I realized my link to the basic instructions for fabric postcards has been taken down.  I guess Deb really did give up blogging.

You will need:

1. Cute fabric for the front
2. Any embellishments you'd like to add
3. Something for the middle.  You can use batting.  I like Timtex Fast2Fuse Heavyweight or Peltex 72 - double sided fusible is best so you don't have to fuse your own, but it is sometimes hard to find.  I got mine on my visit to A Scarlet Thread.
4. Fusible web if you couldn't find the double sided fusible.
5. Pressing sheet so your iron and ironing board don't get gunked up (yes, that's the technical term)
6. White muslin or other neutral backing fabric that you can write on
7. Pigma pen or other fabric safe pen
8. Sewing machine, coordinating thread, etc.

I roughly cut out my designs and fused them to the Timtex or Peltex.  

Then I cut them out more precisely and fused them down to the white muslin.  Cut them out and stitch a narrow, tight zig-zag stitch around the edges.  I chain pieced these and just left them in my machine for whenever I had a spare 5 minutes to whip out a few. 

Now you can add your message to the back.  For those I don't expect to get back, like the ones I will put on cookies or pet treats, I just wrote a general "Happy Holidays from Quiltin' Jenny" type message.  For our immediate family, I wrote to and from messages so I can reuse them each year.

 
The very last thing is to add any embellishments that are dimensional.  I chose not to spend the time on that for this project, but for a birthday postcard they really add a lot of pizzazz.

What gifts are you making in your studio this week?  Please link up for show and tell!



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Hosting the WannaBees

It was my turn to welcome the WannaBees, and I was glad to see everyone again so soon.

No one brought their own projects this time because we had some serious work to do.  Our group quilt, WannaBee at the Ocean, was accepted into the East Cobb Quilt Guild Show.  The dropoff deadline is Sunday, but ever since we saw it hanging at our guild's show Lene has wanted to fix the binding.

It looks fine to me, but I'm a "galloping horse" kind of girl. 

The other thing that has been bugging Lene is that there is one ribbon.  No one knows what to do with it.  For Ben and Lene, it might just be one more to hang in the collection; however, this is probably my only chance to have a blue ribbon from a quilt show.  So Lene and Jodi, who were on the committee that made the ribbons, generously offered to help all of us make our own duplicate ribbons.  We finally got around to that today, so now I can proudly show off my awards!

It's a green thang!  Recycled CDs give the ribbons a little backbone.  I couldn't believe how many we all had lying around!

Also recycled:  cardboard from cereal boxes for the foundation.

No, that red isn't for us.  Lene and Jodi are so generous, they felt we should make some for the second place group winners as well.  

 And here we are, the WannaBees, each with our own blue ribbon at last!




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Johns Creek Farmer's Market

I am so proud of my new little city!

Just a few years ago, our unincorporated area voted to become an independent city.  Living in one of the largest and most diverse counties anywhere, there were times when we felt that our community's needs were getting lost in the crowd.

Since that time our leaders have had some big ideas.  One of my favorite movements has been to make use of our great park space.  What was once an asphalt track around the recreation department fields and tennis courts has now become a gathering place for all ages. 

Last summer they started a community garden.  Each day as we walked by we would notice the corn growing taller or the beautiful vegetables on the vine.  In late spring, the dog park was completely revamped, thanks to a grant from Beneful.  We haven't been there yet - I'm waiting for the crowds to die down a bit - but it's on the list. 

Today was the first day of the Farmer's Market.  Mom and I were so excited to get up there right when it opened, and we weren't disappointed. 

David's Garden was there with his freshly canned jams, chow-chow, pickles, vegetable soup, and so much more!  Mom bought peach preserves, and David generously promised to send her a recipe for canning her figs.  Her tree is loaded, but she hasn't had much luck finding a recipe online.  Sadly, the one my great-grandmother used to use has apparently been lost.

Wally Bee's was there with local honey, beeswax candles, and other beeswax items.  I had just bought honey last week (doh!) but he is on my list for future purchases. 

Pappardelle's Pasta had a beautiful and intriguing selection of homemade pasta, including ten gluten free flavors.  I bought the garlic fettuccine to play it safe for the first time, but the orzo is definitely on my radar for next time. 

Essential Light Aroma offered a beautiful selection of diffusers, creams, sprays, and other aromatherapy items.  I'm especially intrigued by the flea spray (not for me - for the dogs!).  If anyone knows my husband personally, you could put a bug in his ear that I really really really like the Night Fragrance diffuser.  Also remind him that my birthday is Tuesday. 

There were several produce stands, including The Veggie Patch, Mountain Earth Farms, and Burnell Farms, where I picked up some gorgeous tomatoes. 

Last, I bought some creamy and delicious type of mozzarella, the name of which I should have written down because I can't remember, from CalyRoad Creamery.   I also didn't take a picture of these artisan cheeses because I was too busy sampling them chatting with the owner, Robin.

There were several vendors with bread, including Freshly Milled Breads, who had both healthy Ezekiel bread and yummy cookies and pies, and Belle's Breads, who made theirs with sage honey.  It is supposed to have a lower glycemic index, good for diabetics.  It was also very soft, honey wheat that I think my kids would love. 

It was a wonderful way to spend the morning.  We sipped coffee from CoffeeM, saw several neighbors and friends, pet the many well-behaved dogs, and tasted so many yummy things.  Special thanks to Leslie Guria of Fresh From Your Kitchen who helped organize and make this possible. 

I'm looking forward to next week when Leslie expects additional vendors to join us, including Little Red Hen with fresh eggs and poultry, and Just Butter with shea butter soaps and lotions. 



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Going to Guild - Nancy Graham

I finally made it to a guild meeting for the first time since January!  This spring sports season really put a damper on my social life, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This month's speaker was Nancy Graham, the sister of one of our members.  Nancy came to visit a few years back, and I was the lucky winner of a jar of her hand dyed fabrics.  It was great to have her back.

She shared some of her beautiful quilts, made with her own hand-dyed fabric, as well as her stamping and printing techniques.

Nancy is very green, using all kinds of things the rest of us would throw in the garbage or recycling bin to create texture and images on fabric.  "It used to be called 'cheap'," she says.  She finds patterns in all kinds of materials, from the bottom of a yogurt container to bubble wrap!

Nancy often uses styrofoam from food packaging to create her own prints.  You can use a ball point pen, but Nancy also likes fat knitting needles and other found objects to cut out the designs.  She claims you don't have to be an artist, and has even put plastic lizards onto a copy machine to get the outline of her "totem" lizard.  Although she has used many kinds of paint, she likes the Jaquard Textile Paints a lot.

Nancy sometimes uses Fun Foam, adhering it to a piece of plexiglass, to create stamps.  One of those little suction cup hangers makes a great handle!  But she's also been known to glue her foam stamps to bottle caps, credit cards, or anything else you can get a grip on. 

Of course, her designs look that much better when they are printed on a piece of her yummy hand-dyed fabric!  Nancy is a big fan of Dharma Trading Company, and swears by their recipes. 

Nancy's signature prints are her New Hampshire leaves.  She has a freezer full of them - who needs food? - that she collects and saves.

She was so generous in showing us her techniques and even letting us come up and practice. 

I got to make and take this beauty!

 

 Thanks so much, Nancy!  I can't wait to try this at home!



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