Sparkle, sparkle

I'm suddenly interested in sparkly gemstone rings.

I don't know why. Is it a midlife thing? (Like wanting leather upholstery in my car, not being interesting in camping any more, and preferring bed by 11pm rather than going out on the town...) When I'm flipping channels on the TV, I've actually gotten mesmerzied by the Jewelry Television channel. Watching those sparkly jewels spin around on their cute little carousels is so hypnotic!

Maybe it's a disease.

Now, really, I don't want to own expensive jewels. If I had a ring worth $5,000, I'd be a nervous wreck wearing it. Heck, I'd be a nervous wreck just having it in the house.

Still, I have this new urge for sparkling gems. I figure the cubic zirconia stuff is about my speed. Sparkly but cheap.

With the thought that I could satisfy my urge for jewels with cheap, fake stuff... I mean, affordable quality fabricated gemstones, I set off to investigate. It's amazing the "faux jewels" you can find online. Some of that fake stuff is darned expensive, too.

But here's the discovery making me happy today: Ebay. Good old Ebay. (Dangerously addictive Ebay, I might add.)

I discovered that I can have a gen-u-ine pink sapphire in a 14-karat gold ring setting with real diamond accents for $3.99 or less. Well, with shipping and handling, $15.99. No, that's not a typo. All this pink sparkliness for Fifteen Dollars and Niney Nine Cents, people! Looky:



Don't believe me? Check this out. I'm sure it's of the highest quality.

But wait, there's more. Emeralds like this, $3.99 plus $12.99 shipping.



Rubies and garnets! This undoubtedly flawless ring is up to $1.26 already.



Ooh! Mystic Topaz! The bidding has soared from $.01 all the way up to $.26 ... so far.


Now, c'mon... isn't this FUN? Don't you want to go look?

I must confess that I have, indeed, bid on and won an auction (I spent an exorbitant $5.99 for a ring) and I can't wait to see what it turns out to be. At worst, it'll be great dress-up fodder for Caroline and the little girl next door. Or maybe I've discovered the secret to owning lots and lots of gorgeous jewels. I will keep you posted.

It's cheaper than pretty much anything else (who knew you could have a real -- cough cough -- gemstone ring for the price of a fat quarter or two of fabric?!) and it's not fattening.

So if you see me with jewels on my hands, let's just pretend you don't know where I got them, okay?

Design evolution

So, here's where my current design challenge is going.

I mentioned the design workshop where we got a mystery item and have to use it as a starting point for a design, yes? Well, here's what I got: an elongated pod thingie, I think an acorn without its cap.


And remember how we were also challenged to use a color we find difficult? I'd selected olive green as my challenge color. Well, I spent about two weeks uninspired by the idea of brown and olive green. And, trying to escape being "tragically literal" (a phrase Jane Sassaman once used to describe someone and something I have to struggle not to be) I was determined not to make something about acorns.


I doodled and doodled and was not inspired. I was trying to do something abstract with the shape without making it into "something" at all. But I couldn't seem to get anywhere.


Finally, several things occurred to me. First, I didn't have to use brown. (See what I mean about the tragically literal thing? While trying to avoid "acorn," I still got "brown" stuck in my head. Geez.) Second, I could use the green that's difficult for me and add another color. Hey, I know, how about PINK?


Suddenly, things felt fun. I doodled some more, and came up with this:



I know, not brilliant, but I did like that bud-like shape with the leafy thingies around them. I mean, that abstract ovoid shape with the abstract curvilinear shapes embracing them. Ahem.

So after more equally talented (!) sketching, I came back to this and decided to work with it:



I was going to do tiny... maybe 10" by 10". But then, on the theory that a small thing is just as much work as a big thing, I went bigger... about 24x24 inches.

This doodle reminded me of an art nouveau design and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whose Glasgow style of design is so pleasing to me. And that thought process led to this, which is on the wall right now:



That's a white background, by the way. My plan is to add some colored quilting (maybe some hand-stitching, even?) tomorrow. We'll see where it goes.

Hey, it's not brilliance. But as a response to this pod thingie, I'm happy with it. I've used the shape in a not too literal way (yes, I know, it's still fairly representational, but heck, it's a step in the right direction and since I came at it by not thinking "flower" but just playing with shapes, I'm gonna be content with that), and I've also captured the sense of curviness in this which sort (in my mind, anyway) relates to the smooth, curviness of the pod that I found so pleasing when I hold it.

Considering that I was starting to think about just avoiding the challenge as something that didn't inspire a response, I'm pleased that I kept at it and have ended up with something fun. I guess that's the biggest bonus of this design workshop: it takes me places I wouldn't go on my own.

A good day to dye

What do you do when your child is home with a cold and the case you've been working on has settled and your day opens up without any place you need to be?

Dye some fabric, of course.

It started with the desire for some avocado green fabric. In my design workshop, this month's assignment involves two different challenges: first, we were given a small item and asked to design a piece inspired by that item somehow. Second, we were asked to think about colors we avoid and then to try to work with one of those colors in our piece.

I'll tell you more about my item when I show you what I've done. But one of the colors I tend to avoid is that olive/avocado green. Grey, yellow green. Army drab. That sort of thing.

Naturally, I don't have any of that in my stash. I could have gone over to my sister's house, as she has fabric in that shade in great abundance. She's drawn to that and dusky pink the way I'm pulled toward red. When we shop for fabric, she always comes away with green and pink. But I decided to take a stab at dyeing some, as there I was at home and I wanted to try Tommy's microwave dyeing method. (I aspire to get even half of what Tommy gets done in a day...)

Anyway. I apparently didn't use enough black with my green, as this is a bit less olivey/army green and a bit more spring green...but that's okay with me.

And of course, in my current love for things PINKPINKPINK, I had to dye up a bit of fuchsia, mixing in a touch of black to see what happened.

I'm a novice dyer, but each time I try it I vow to dedicate some serious time to dyeing a color wheel, some gradations, and mixes and keep actual detailed notes. That's my project for this summer, actually. It's not that I need more fabric, goodness knows, but I want to be able to make color! I made my way to THIS incredible site, where thanks to the generosity of Melissa Wills, there is everything you would want to know (and them some) about getting started with low immersion dyeing.

I was happy with my results (considering how slapdash I was)...the colors were paler than anticipated, but I may have used water that was too warm while mixing the dye. Or not.

Today, I drew and cut and fused and ended up with a small quilt top. More revealed tomorrow!

Books and Quilts

Don't you think quilts go well with books? Well, look! An assortment of quilts by members of my art quilt group The Pointless Sisters is currently hanging on display in a local library (the Rincon Valley Public Library, if you live in the area and want to pop in and see them.) It's a great venue for large quilts, don't you think?

You can see my butterfly wing up there. (That quilts looks best viewed from a distance like this, I think.) The next quilt with the puppy on it is by Cathy Hansen, and the wonderful giraffe quilt (you probably need to see a close up of the photo) is by Diane Land. That's her entry for the muslin challenge--she dyed and painted all of those vibrant colors herself.



Here's another shot showing how great the quilts look up there. How can those people be just standing there, not looking up?!



And this row of quilts hangs opposite the one in the previous shots. From the left, you can see quilts by Mary Hernandez, Carolyn Wolf, and Selma Sklar.

There are many more quilts which look wonderful up there. I think our quilts really grace this lovely space. I hope some of the library patrons take the time to look up once in a while!

In the Pink

Here in Northern California we are having glorious, sunny spring days. The plum trees are in bloom in cotton candy shades of pink and white, and trees and shrubs everywhere are leafing out in a soft spring green. The pink tulips in the backyard are starting to bloom. I just love pink tulips.



I like all pink flowers, in fact.







All of this puts me in the mood for Pink. Suddenly, I'm craving all pink, all the time.

This is my current favorite pink fabric, from Kaffe Fassett. I just want to wrap myself in it.



And look! Here are pink Kaffe Fasset pjs! Don't you want to put these on and sit on Sunday morning on a white-railinged porch to sip coffee and read the paper?



And you could wear them while you sit and knit something pink?



Cruising the pink fabrics at Equilter.com makes me feel happy.










Ooh, and such shades of pink thread...



Oh, c'mon, doesn't this quilt make you smile?





And you know, there are such things as pink diamonds.





Aren't they gorgeous and sparkly? If I had $5000 lying around, I'd buy this:





...but then I'd need something like this to wear with it:



And then there's the pink wig...




Um, never mind.

Maybe I'd buy this Kaffe Fassett painting with my hypothetical $5000:



Ah, well. The pink tulips will do it for me today. But in my pink mood, I'll be working on this quilt, all in pink and rose and red fabrics, at my April quilt retreat:



Here's wishing you a sunny, pink Sunday!

All that jazz

On Friday, I was one of the parent escorts on a class field trip to hear a terrific jazz concert. The trip was the culmination of a very cool history and music project the class was doing, known as "Operation Jazz Band." I was really impressed.


You can check out the main artist, Babatunde Lea, here. His site explains that ""Operation Jazz Band is a week-long course in which a 5 piece professional Jazz band takes up a one-week residency in a school to offer students hands-on experience with jazz theory, instrumentation, improvising and vocalization." What that meant to Caroline's class was that each afternoon, one or two members of the band would come to class, bring their instruments, and talk about jazz, its development in American history and its evolution from the music brought to the US by enslaved Africans, explain what part their instrument played in the ensemble, and encourage the kids to have fun and make music. Caroline came home one afternoon bursting with excitement and eager to play the drums.


By Friday, the kids had met all of the performers and had sung some of the songs. So, all of the 5th grade classes in the community gathered at the local theater to hear the band play. When the band started in playing Duke Ellington numbers and their own compositions, the audience was a sea of finger-snapping, clapping, bee-bobbing 5th graders. It was really fun to see.


In these days when budget cuts and federal testing requirements are forcing public schools to eliminate everything but the bare-bones test content, I was really delighted to see this terrific program come to Healdsburg's schools.

The event also is a great lead-in to a big community event here, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. There's a lot of jazz going on around town, from now through the summer. Check out the Festival website if you're in Northern California and want to come, taste wine, and hear good music.

That's what friends are for...

Well, this week took an unexpected turn.

On Tuesday night, Roger and I were hanging out in the family room, recapping American Idol performances and guessing who'd be booted. The phone rang, and it was my best friend Beth asking about heart attack symptoms in women....and because she was feeling ill with an odd feeling of heaviness in her chest, she was worrying. Recently separated, she's also feeling vulnerable about being alone.

Beth lives two hours away from me, and after I told her to call her dr and then call me back, Roger looked at me and said "You're worrying now, right?" I nodded. "And you want to go, right?" I nodded. "Go, get your stuff together, you should be with her."

So, I flung a few things into a bag, grabbed a caffeine-laden soda, and jumped into the car. Halfway there, Beth called to report that her EKG was normal but they still didn't know what it was. I kept driving and was at the ER with her by midnight.

ERs are odd places in the middle of the night. I guess those tv shows really don't exaggerate (too much, anyway) the weird and unpredictable mix of people who'll show up. I was greatly relieved when they let me go back and hang out with Beth while she waited for test results.

The chest-heaviness turned out to be a case of pneumonia, which was finally diagnosed by about 3am. All things considered, it wasn't bad being there and we found plenty of things to amuse us. We were both impressed with the diligence of the ER staff in keeping her comfortable and doing tests to make sure they knew what was going on. At one point, I resorted to the tricks we'd used when Caroline was a baby in the dr's office--I made balloon animals with dr's latex gloves, and pulled little things out of my purse to do an impromptu puppet show ("Look! It's Mr. Pencil!") which of course made us giggle wildly. We were probably the only ER room where the folks outside heard laughing instead of moaning and retching and angry cursing (and we heard ALL of that.)

So, with a prescription for antibiotic in hand and instructions for breathing exercises, we headed back to Beth's house. I stayed with her until Thursday afternoon, by which time she was doing better and I figured it was time to return to my family.

We are still laughing over what a great time we had together, even considering the pneumonia. And that's how you know your good friends, right? They make even the icky things so much better.

By the way, one evening we watched "Stranger than Fiction" with Will Farrell, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman. I LOVED that movie!! Very quirky but charming. It's the best thing I've seen in a while, I think.

Fun with friends

It's been a busy week, as we've had our friends Silvia and Paolo visiting from Guatemala. As I've mentioned here before, we met them when they lived here in town and became fast friends. They returned to Guatemala about 3 years ago, and luckily Silvia's visa requires that she come to the US every year to keep it active.

Silvia is not only fun and funny, she's very talented. I am THRILLED that she brought this watercolor for me:



Interestingly, the project up on my design wall when they arrived is some fuchsia blossoms I started in a class with Jane Sassaman a few years ago. I finally arrived at a solution for finishing it, and had it up on the wall to get the thing done. So the arrival of these painted fuchsias was startlingly appropriate.

As always, Silvia was eager to shop and get started on a new project. Her ability to buy commercial cotton is limited in Guatemala, and the mailing costs (and likelihood of disappearance en route) makes online shopping and mail delivery unrealistic. So, we spent one morning perusing quilt books and magazines for Silvia to get ideas and make plans, then we headed off to some local shops for fabric purchase. I am not one to buy all the fabric for one project in one fell swoop, but Silvia doesn't have the choice not to do that. Once she gets home, what she has bought here is what she will have to work with.

At any rate, she successfully got fabric for two different projects. This is a close-up of the one above in progress.


Nice, eh?

She also fell in love with the fruit and vegetable fabric I've used on 2+ quilts so I happily gave her most of what I had left. After all, I don't need another fruit and veggie quilt. I'm happily handing that obsession over to her.

I also gave her her birthday present (for her April birthday, so as to avoid that mail problem) of a set of Tsukineko inks and a great how-to-use-them video by Patt Blair. I figure that with Silvia's painting skill, she can do a lot with these cool inks.

They left yesterday, so life is back to normal around here. But we had a grand time and there is nothing like sharing creative fun with friends.

Because sometimes you need a silly joke...

A cowboy walked into a bar and ordered a whiskey. When the bartender delivered the drink, the cowboy asked, "Where is everybody?"

The bartender replied, "They've gone to the hanging."

"Hanging?Who are they hanging?"

"Brown Paper Pete," the bartender replied.

"What kind of a name is that?" the cowboy asked.

"Well,"said the bartender, "he wears a brown paper hat, brown paper shirt, brown paper trousers and brown paper shoes."

"Weird guy," said the cowboy. "What are they hanging him for?"

"Rustling,"said the bartender.

A Sneak Peek

I've been working on my muslin challenge today, and here's a peek.

You remember? This is the challenge where the only fabric we can use is muslin. I gave myself several goals with this project. I wanted to experiment with painting with Tsukineko inks, which I'd never used before. I wanted my piece to have a bit of color, but a lot of exposed muslin with the design in threadwork. And (doubling up on challenges, here) I decided to make a Eucalyptus related quilt, as the Eucalyptus tree one aspect of inspiration in my design workshop.

This isn't the greatest picture, but I was trying to show the dense linear background quilting done in muslin-colored thread. I've discovered that quilting in off-white thread on muslin creates a lot of texture but it's pretty invisible.

Anyway, quilting is done, and it's now blocking on my design wall.

Desert Twilight

I realized that I never did post a finished picture of "Desert Twilight," so here it is. (Once again, it's straight even tho it looks funny from the photo angle here. I've got to figure out a place where I can photograph quilts hanging in a straight vertical...)

Anyway. Can you see from the picture that the binding colors change and angle to follow the main lines of the quilt? That was tricky and mainly a function of fussing and fussing until things lined up. There's probably an easy way to do that, but I used my own "seat of the pants" method. Also, in the lower right hand corner, I wanted the binding to change colors right at the mitre... Which presented a challenge as I figured if I pieced the color change there, my usual continuous-binding method would leave me with an even bigger lump at the corner. What to do?

Well, Ricky Tims came to my rescue. I know I've raved over and over about his Grand Finale DVD on machine quilting and finishing techniques, but I remembered that he showed a mitred corner method that involved joining the binding pieces in the mitering seam. I put the DVD in my computer, followed the steps (again, having to pause, run to the machine to execute it, then play the next bit) and I came out with a PERFECT corner.

I"m going to use this mitering method on all my quilts in the future, because it really does work. And as soon as I finally get the steps fixed in my thick head, it'll be easy. (It's actually quite simple, just so different from what I usually do that it's not fixed in my brain yet.)

So, check out that DVD. I've gotten my money's worth several times over. (He shows how to stop and start machine quilting so it's secure and invisible--another challenge for me. I'm going to do some practicing on that today, in fact.)

Whether or not this Desert Twilight quilt established my "credentials," I'll never know...but I've been invited to join a small art quilt minigroup of quilters whose work I admire tremendously. I'm quite thrilled. They don't meet regularly, but they do coordinate a few small shows at local wineries and arrange to bring in really great teachers for private classes. I'm delighted.

Heart to Heart

Yesterday, I had a lovely visit with my cousin Sean who (as you know if you've been reading this) is recovering from major surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. He's home and up and around and doing GREAT, which is truly wonderful to see.

It was a lovely day all around. After a few days of rain, yesterday was sunny and clear. My brother Gregg was free to go with me (he's taken a leave of absense from his stressful job as head designer at a high-pressure graphic design studio) so we got to have a very nice chat in the car on the way to see Sean.

Once at Sean's house, I gave him the quilt I'd made while I he was in the hospital and we were all edgy and distracted and focused only on hearing news about him every day. I used 5 inch squares of the funkiest novelty prints I had, plus some I had to buy because they just fit what I was remembering about our childhood...I mixed in fabric that had football stuff (cheerleaders, even!), playing cards and chips, lots of hot rods, even all-star wrestling! (Only for Sean would I have bought THAT fabric!) Following the lead of my friend Pat D. who did a similar "color wash) with novelty prints, I laid them out by color and had great fun quilting it. The back is a black fabric with hearts all over it -- appropriate for a heart surgery patient, yes?! And I call it "Heart to Heart." Sean loved it.

(I know it's a slightly out of focus picture. Sorry about that. I MUST remember to haul out the tripod when I photograph things.)

We went out to lunch and talked incessantly and laughed a lot. Anyway. On the way home, after dropping my brother back at his car, I found myself in the heavy San Francisco-commuters-heading-north-at-rush-hour traffic, and decided that the best way to get out of it was to simply go do something else. So, I pulled off and spent a lovely 2 hours cruising around a large Borders bookstore. Rambling around a bookstore to browse is such a treat!

I stumbled onto a magazine I'd never seen before called Quiltmania. Turns out it's a french publication now printed in English. That made it into my purchase pile! It was glossy and well-written, with a good assortment of traditional and art quilts featured. The magazine featured a lot of Japanese quilts too, and I love the Japanese quilt aesthetic.

Today is an errand and chore day. But my heart is a lot lighter after seeing Sean and seeing how well he is. The body is a miraculous thing.

Pointless Comments

Yesterday, my art quilt group "The Pointless Sisters" met for our monthly meeting. Virginia had us laughing when she told us that as she said goodbye to her husband on her way out the door, he said "So, you're off to the Hopeless Sisters?"

Hey. We may be pointless, but we're always hopeful.

There is nothing like gathering of women with quilt art in common. We represent a pretty wide variety of ages, life experiences, quilting and art interests, and artistic goals. Still, it's always interesting when we get together to show each other our latest work and discoveries.



That's a bolt of muslin. And it's there because our current challenge is "Muslin." The idea is to make any art quilt using JUST MUSLIN as the fabric. We can paint it, dye it, embellish or treat it in any way...but the only fabric in the quilt must have started as muslin. The results of this challenge are due next month, and I'm very eager to see what comes in. Two members have shared their Muslin Challenge pieces already, and you'd never know that they started with muslin for their colorful pieces. (I'll take photos at the official "reveal" meeting next time.)

Meanwhile, mine is not quite done but well underway. It's a big departure from my usual stuff. I've opted to keep a fair amount of the muslin plain, unbleached, with threadwork providing much of the design. I'm not sure yet how successful it is, but it's been a fun experiment.

I respond well to challenges. Apparently I'm sufficiently pointless on my own so that it motivates me to have a specific task and deadline to meet. I'm already working on ideas for our next Pointless Challenge.

Which leads me to these questions: what challenge would you like to do? What challenges have you done that you found really fun or thought provoking?

Just for fun, I searched "pointless" under Google Images. I learned that there is pointless music...even a place to buy "pointless but cool" items.

Randomly trawling through Google images? Now, that's pointless.

Your Body of Work

One of the neat things happening in my design class these days is that each month, a member brings in as many of her quilts as she can gather to hang a one-woman show. We spend time looking at the artist's quilts and talking about them. I'm new to this group, so it's a wonderful way to get to know these new friends. Only two women in the group are professionals (they teach in local shops) and I don't think anyone has ever had the opportunity to see all of their quilts hanging in one place. It's a wonderful and satisfying experience. So far, each quilter has expressed anxiety ahead of her show that she won't have enough to show, and then as the walls are covered and there are quilts to spare, draped over tables and chairs, we all marvel at how much beautiful work the quilter has accomplished. It's a powerful experience, I think, to see the result of such effort over time.

It's been very interesting, too, to see definite themes in each quilter's work that the quilter herself didn't recognize.

Our discussion yesterday led our teacher Marilyn to ask whether we'd kept a specific list of every quilt we'd ever made, including the very first one, and where it is (or where it went). None of us had such a list.

So, this morning I sat down at my computer to try to piece together such a list. The more I thought, the more quilts I remembered. My goal is to track down as many as I can to get photographs, if I don't already haved them. To my great surprise, I've come up with a list of over 50 quilts, most of which have been made since 1999.

So--I challenge you today: Make a list of EVERY QUILT YOU HAVE EVER MADE. And go ahead, count the quilt tops that you've not quilted yet. They're part of your body of work, too. I bet you'll be surprised at how much you've accomplished!

On a tastier note, Judy asked me to share the "Enchilada in a Blender" soup recipe that is a favorite in my house. So, here it is:

Sedona White Corn Tortilla Soup
aka "Enchilada in a Blender"

3 Tb. Olive oil
2 seven inch corn tortillas, cut into 1 inch squares
1 ½ Tb. Minced garlic
2 Tb. Minced onion
1 ½ tsp. Minced jalapeno pepper
1 pound white corn kernels (I’ve used regular frozen yellow corn)
1 ½ pounds chopped ripe red tomatoes (I’ve used canned chopped tomato)
1/3 cup tomato paste
2 ½ tsp ground cumin
1 Tb. Salt
1/8 tsp. ground pepper
½ tsp. Chili powder
1½ cups water
1 quart chicken stock
24 blue corn tortilla chips (optional garnish)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (optional garnish)
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional garnish)

1. Over medium high heat, fry tortilla squares in olive oil until they begin to crisp and turn golden yellow. Add garlic, onion and jalapeno; cook 1 to 2 minutes, until onion becomes translucent.

2. Add half of the corn along with all other ingredients (except garnishes), reserving other half of corn to be added at the end. Bring soup to a low, even boil. Boil for 5 minutes.

3. Remove soup from heat. Use a hand held propeller blade processor, food processor, or blender to process in batches to the consistency of a course puree.

4. Remove to heat and add reserved corn. Bring soup to a boil again, being very careful to avoid scorching or burning.

5. Serve, garnished with blue corn tortilla chips, cilantro, and grated cheese.

From California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook

Venturing out

Thank you all for the nice comments about my most recent quilt! This has been a real voyage for me, so I appreciate the positive feedback.

In my design workshop, we were asked to choose a picture off of a table that was spread with postcards and photos from magazines. We were told to choose quickly, instinctively, and based solely on the color palette. As I'm trying to get away from my usual brights, I selected this picture:



Although I didn't realized it when I grabbed the photo, once I took a close look at it I learned that it was an image of a quilt by Karin Lusnak, taken out of Quilters Newsletter magazine (Oct. 2003). The golds and rusts and browns just aren't in my usual palette at all, so I figured this would be a challenge for me.

Then, we were challenged to work from our chosen picture to interpret our own way. Although I hadn't realized it at first, the picture I'd chosen was really a simple nine-patch quilt, with alternating nine patch blocks and plain blocks! Not obvious at first, huh?

Well, I turned to my Electric Quilt software, which is perfect for this sort of design. I was able to scan my fabrics in and design with the actual fabrics I intended to sew with. How cool is that? (I recently upgraded to EQ6 and it makes scanning fabrics and creating one's own fabric library really easy.)

I decided to work with a modified 9-patch block alternating with half-square triangles to see where that got me. I had such fun trying different variations on that incredibly simple theme! I think I ended up with over 40 variations. For a while, I fiddled with the idea of extending the square-lines into the border, like this.



Then I decided it was stronger and bolder without that border fussiness, and I went back to one of the first designs:



So, that was my roadmap for sewing. I've never done that before, designed something so fully before cutting a single bit of fabric. Not surprisingly, things changed with the look of the real fabric and the large scale (the final quilt is 60 by 60 inches), and as I just saw what needed something different as it went up on the design wall.

And that brought me to this.



I've yet to bind it, but it's done enough to show to my design class tomorrow. I'm really pleased with it, as it did take me somewhere I wouldn't have gone on my own.

I've not settled on a name for it yet. Maybe "out of the box," because it is, for me. Maybe Desert Twlight, because that's what it makes me think of. I'm not sure.

One Important Cookie

A while ago, I wrote about how Roger's Human Sexuality textbook was finally finished and back from the printers and ready for sale to college students. The publication of of this book is a Very Big Deal to us, and we're pleased to find that it's apparently a Very Big Deal for his publisher, Prentice Hall, too.

My Very Famous Author husband was invited to the publisher's big sales meeting, to talk about the book for the sales reps who would be sent out to colleges to persuade professors to adopt the book for their classes. He came home very impressed and pleased at how P-H is so diligently and creatively publicizing his book.

Well, imagine our amusement last week when THIS arrived in the mail:



It's the rather huge poster from one of the sales meeting events (an outdoor barbecue dinner "under the stars") where Roger talked. At that meeting, they were serving cocktails chosen for each of the books they were promoting. Notice that Roger's book's "signature drink" was "Sex on the Beach"!!

That poster has provided plenty of amusement around here, especially as Willow, one of our two cats, gets totally freaked and totally puffs out her fur every time she sees Roger's picture on the poster.

But then this week, another package arrived from a bakery back east. We couldn't figure who sent it or what it might be... And it turned out to be this:



It's a Valentine's Day tin of cookies from Prentice Hall! Look at that! And yep, you're right... half of the cookies are frosted with the cover of Roger's Human Sexuality textbook!



Is this funny or what? We've not tasted them yet (I insisted that we wait until I had time to photograph them) but the box says they're "as delicious as they are pretty." We'll soon see. I'm thinking I'll heavily shellac one as an amusing keepsake (A Christmas ornament, maybe?!)...unless they're especially delicious and we can't help ourselves from eating all of them. And I guess we'll wash them down with some "Sex on the Beach." To drink, I mean.

Blockhead

I'm blocking my quilt today. I learned this method from Kathy Sandbach, machine quilter extraordinaire. Here's how I do it.



I prepare the area by clearing a large space on the rug in the bedroom and spreading out an old flannel sheet. The carpeting works because I can pin down into the carpet pad, and I use the bedroom because I can close the door and prevent the cats from strolling around on the quilt while it's being blocked.

The sheet helps to protect the rug from getting wet, although the quilt never gets wet enough to soak through to the flannel anyway. (Plus this way I can save my favorite old sheet with the little sheep on it.)

I also assemble various straight edge tools and my biggest square cutting ruler for squaring the corners, a tape measure, a box of T-pins (I've used the larger glass-head pins too... but fine ones with thin shafts aren't strong enough), and a spray bottle full of water set to mist.

Here's how bad and warped this thing looked before blocking. Usually my quilts aren't THIS distorted, but the linear pattern I used seem to really distort things badly. Never fear. It'll fix right up.



Basically, I spray the whole quilt liberally and then start smushing it around (that's the technical term), pinning, straightening, pulling, spraying more, smushing more, pinning more, spreading, unpinnining, spreading, smushing, and pinning. You crawl around on the damp quilt a lot so you end up with damp knees. You get the idea. Smush, pin, measure, unpin, smush, pin... until it's the way you want it. It usually takes me pinning one side, straightening up from there, then working across the quilt to smush things in line several times before it's the way I want it.

Here's a not-quite done look:



Much better, huh? When I have it the way I want it, I give it all one last spray, then I walk away and close the door and let it dry ALL THE WAY.

You do have to be careful about this if you've not preshrunk your fabrics and think something might bleed, by the way. Also, I'm told that this doesn't work as well if the batting is 100% poly, as that won't give the way cotton does. I always use cotton batting (actually, the 80/20 Hobbs Heirloom) so I've never had any problem.

Now, you can sit and have another cup of coffee and gaze proudly at your quilt. That's what I'm going to do.

Zoomin'

Quilting in progress today. I'm putting on my headphones, cranking up the ipod, and flooring the pedal.

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