Parts ready for a new quilt and daily project update

My " Sixty five days to 65" quilt is now quilted and the facings done, still have to do the label and hanging sleeve. The finished size is 48" wide by 36" long.



I started the "65" quilt with 35 coordinated fat quarters that I had dyed quite awhile ago. I've used the leftovers to make parts for another quilt.



I'll assemble the parts into 12" x 15" blocks and then get those sewn together.

Here's #12 thru #17 of the current daily project.

More birthday gifts!

Yesterday my friends Lisa Flowers Ross and Kathleen Probst drove out to visit, have lunch and see my studios. My friend Barb Huck also joined us and we had a delightful afternoon, talking, sharing, eating and talking some more. Lisa and Kathleen each made a piece of artwork for me and they both included circles.

This is Lisa's piece, she stamped the background fabric with the roman numerals for 65. I've hung this one in my office.



This is Kathleen's piece with the aqua and lime color combo I love. This one is hanging near the dining room table.



If you get Quilting Arts magazine, in the current issue you can see a fun piece that Barb made for the "Time Flies" challenge. Hers was one of the eight that were published.

It's great having such talented, creative friends.

Daily project update and a quick book review

Here's the six squares I've done since my last post.



That's about all I've gotten done this week, it was a week of several unplanned time suckers popping up. Like new tires at Costco and Costco is 50 miles away and it involved two trips. Nothing bad, just not how I had hoped to spend my week.

After I finally got home from my second tire trip there was a surprise package in the mail. I received a copy of Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World a new release from Lark Crafts, written by Martha Sielman.



This book is a feast for the eyes. There are not only theme galleries of pictures, there are many in depth artist profiles. I went straight to the Tree themed gallery since that's my latest obsession and was not disappointed. Wonderful quilts of trees and not a one that looks like anything I would do. I've not had time to actually read any of the artist profiles and am hoping to get some reading time in tonight. I have gone thru and looked at the wonderful pictures and came across some artist's that I'm not familiar with, so I'm looking forward to spending some quality time reading.

Another rejection and a new daily project

Yesterday I received an email rejection from SAQA for my very large circle piece. I had entered it in an exhibit called "Sense of Scale". Now I need to find somewhere else that it may fit.

I started my new daily project on my birthday last Wednesday, below are my first five pieces. I plan on doing this for a year, ending the day before my next birthday.



I have no real plans for these and I'm trying not to form one. I just want the daily stitching to be a form of meditation and I am just responding to what ever is already printed on the square I choose. Some squares are covered in paint or dye and others have almost no marks on them at all. I'll take pictures of recent groups, but not daily ones. I let my "65" daily project take over my studio and I don't want that to happen with this one. I do tend to become a "bit" obsessive about these things.

Speaking of obsessive, lately I have taken a large quantity of photos of trees, many of them in black and white. This one is one of my favorites.



So I'm thinking it might be a sign that my circle obsession is fading and I may be moving toward trees, or not. Notice I'm still in black and white mode. I should count how many black and white circles I've made over the past few years. I'm not a sketchbook person, but I'm giving it a try for trees. I'm particularly drawn to the stark winter trees that I've been looking at for the last several months. I'm not sure how I'll translate them into fiber or if I even will, I just know that right now I'm very drawn to them.

A birthday yarn

My wonderful husband gave me a delightful birthday gift yesterday morning. He had gone to my favorite yarn shop (now closed) during the final week when everything was 50% off and purchased a whole bunch of yarn. Tuesday after I had gone to bed he strategically placed yarn around the house where he knew I would find it. The first two were at the coffee pot, then there were two by the computer, one by the sewing machine and on it went, until I found the last two as I picked up my yoga bag to go to yoga class. I ended up with thirteen skeins of yarn, both sock weight and worsted weight - all different! I know eventually some of it will become socks, but I have no idea what I'll do with some of it.

A few weeks ago I emptied a basket that was overflowing with fabric scraps - now it is filled with yarn!

Sixty five days to 65, Done!

I spent the afternoon sewing the blocks together. I'm quite happy with it and loved doing a block a day, so much so that I have started a new daily project today.



This is how my cutting/work table looked when I finished the last block yesterday, actually it still looks much the same today, except the blocks in the middle have been sewn together. Tomorrow I'll clean it up.


On the lower right of the picture above you can see blocks that I'm making out of the leftover fabric from "65" - another quilt to donate. In the upper left corner of the table are assorted fabrics that I have printed in some way or the other. Most are rejects, some were samples and all of them are done in black or grey on white or off white fabric. I'm cutting them up into 4" squares and will be doing stitching on them for my next daily project. I've got about 120 squares already cut and I'm starting with just black stitching, but may add color to some. In the lower left is a piece of deconstructed screen print that I'm also planning on doing some hand stitching on.

This is the start of the stitching on the square I picked for today.

Sixty five days to 65, day #65

Blocks are done!!! Tomorrow is my actual birthday, so I will show you how they look together. Well probably not together, but at least up on the design wall. If you are wondering why I'm ending the day before my birthday it's because I forgot that it was leap year when I counted backward to my start date. I kept it this way so that on my birthday I get to put them all together. I'll also show you what a mess it's turned my studio into and my new daily project that will start tomorrow.

3" square, appliqued circle and embroidery

Sixty five days to 65, day #64

3" square, appliqued circle, embroidery

Sixty five days to 65, day #63

3" square, appliqued circle, beads

Sixty five days to 65, day #62

3" square,appliqued circle,embroidery

Sixty five days to 65, day #61

3" square, appliqued circles, embroidery

Sixty five days to 65, day #60

6" square, appliqued circle, beads

Sixty five days to 65, day #59

6" square, appliqued circle, embroidery

Sixty five days to 65, day #58

9" square, appliqued circle, embroidery

March, donation quilt tops and more!

On the first of March, while it was snowing out(melted the same day), I walked over to the grocery store to pick up a few things. At the check out stand there was a bucket of daffodils and the checker put a bundle of them in my bag "to brighten up a snowy day". They look so cheery on my dining room table.



Later that day, while reading my email I found that Shelly Stokes had written about me in her newsletter. It's now on her blog and you can read it here . I must say between that and the daffodils I had a great day!

Over the past month I've made six quilt tops that I'll quilt sometime later and then donate to either Project Linus or St. Luke's children's cancer center. I took some quick pictures of them - they would have looked better with some space between them. The best part is I used up a whole pile of scraps and now have an empty scrap basket!





I have a little over a week left on my "Sixty five days to 65" project and have decided to do another daily project. I will be starting on my birthday and continuing until my following birthday. The fabrics in this pile will be used.

Sixty five days to 65, day #57

3" square, appliqued circle, embroidery, beads

Sixty five days to 65, day #56

3" square, appliqued circle, embroidery

Sixty five days to 65, day #55

6" square, appliqued circle, embroidery

Sixty five days to 65, day #54

3" square, appliqued circle, embroidery

Sixty five days to 65, day #53

9" square, appliqued circle, embroidery ,beads