spectacle

Staggering around the internet yesterday I came across the blog of Sheila Frampton Cooper with great images the quilt festival in  Houston. One of the winners in particular slayed me - "ElaTED" by Ted Storm. I remember a similar fascination with another one of her quilts, "Nocturnal Garden".

Then this blog post at Wonkyworld came into my radar and I finally did some research on "broderie perse"

Are you shocked that I would be absorbed by something so traditional? I have always loved chintz-the colors, the gloss, they all appeal to the Magpie brain.

The technique of clipping elements out of the whole cloth and reorganizing them to my own satisfaction and all that obsessively tiny stitching has grabbed me by the tiny attention span. I watched the video four times and still cannot get the buttonhole stitch..maybe if I watched it in the mirror.

I found a half napkin with my embroidered initials in the scrap basket. The reverse applique Easter eggs were raided from another UFO and the cranes clipped out of a scrap of chintz gifted to me some time ago..there were only about four whole birds left because I've been using up wings on other things. It's my day off and all I wanted to do was a little hand stitching.

wicked commerce

Sat down at big J this morning to get this top wrapped up into what I call a Kindergarten quilt..bigger than a baby blanket, smaller than a twin.  It was pure fun to free piece the top which has both commercial and hand dyed cottons, no vintage in this one. It's backed with a wonderful commercial print of dancing blue waters and I used one of the IKEA fleece as batting.

The design is a little wonky - at the last minute I wanted some length and added on that keyboard looking business, kinda like a counterpane (she tells herself). Waste nothing!

For about thirty seconds I thought about hand quilting it...then I remembered who I am making these for and why. These quilts have to take the licking, get washed, dried, and keep on kicking - and they do just that when I machine quilt them! I'll post this one for sale in the store for a while and then off it will go to NY when I get the word that the venue is back up and running after Sandy.

the (better) lost week

I know it's the worst kind of sin to wish away ones  days but this week has been so hard on everyone in so many ways.

 I would shout TGIF from the rooftops except that I have to work this weekend but just reminded myself that the weekend clients can be quite entertaining and I can further amuse myself by practicing my Downton Abbey accent on them with an effort to pare down the snobbery case by case. Yeah, I watched a few episodes and I'm hooked hard.

I have busied myself with this little gem of a crib quilt constructed from a tiny fraction of the commercial batik fat quarters I was recently blessed with. So much cloth! So little time!  There's a little more machine quilting to go here and then into the washer and dryer with it to get the full effect of how it will be when it's gifted away.

On the shopkeeper front, it's restocking time.

I've packed up half a dozen baggies with very small pieces culled from this huge pile of hand dyed treasures. Read more about Bites over at Random Acts of Dyeness.

developing the pollock

I really have to start calling this something  else. As I work on it, I'm realizing that all my stitch and thread choices are about construction - the stitches are smaller and smaller and the color of the thread blends in with the fabric. All the big white lines of basting are slowing being removed.


The shapes, color and placement of all the elements are what matters here - I could be gluing them on, or painting them on for that matter, but I am staying with stitching for my own satisfaction.


The pace slows me down, forces me to consider and reconsider and, if something is not right, it's not a huge pain to clip the thread on the backside and snatch it out so the wayward scrap can be relocated or replaced. Slow going on purpose.

election day

After a sleepless night and a busy morning, all I felt like doing was mixing up these jewels and starting another pieced top.

We went out in the cold and rain and voted. Now it's nap and wait and see.

last of the trio

This is the third of my QN entries. "Los Dados Encantada" was inspired in part by Grace's black and white kids .

The ground pieces for this one (dyed and discharged vintage sackcloth, damask and sheeting)  have been "in waiting" for some time. Once I paired them with the high energy of the graphic pieces, the whole thing fell into place within 24 hours and is entirely machine stitched and finished out at 59x34 inches.

Despite the simplicity of the graphics, there's a lot going on when you come in for a closer inspection. This is another line that I will following in the months to come.

detail from Los Dados Encantada

a wistful day

Today is my Mom's birthday and I've given over much thought to her today.
I have to admit that I could never remember her birthday spot on..it floated between 11/2 and Election day in my mind but today, for the first time it was fixed and correct.

Jim read my mind and brought home a bouquet of red roses in her honor (she adored my husband).

This photo was taken in 2002 on one of her rare visits with us down south. She loved Jinx and Jinx seemed to love her right back. Miss you Rosie.

waiting in the wings

I'm finding there are some  problems and benefits to having a string of works-in-progress, especially if the the pieces are, if not a series, at least cousins in some way.

You fool with the thing until it begins to annoy you but don't set it aside at that point or you are asking for a permanent UFO bound for the shredder.  Find the problems areas and at least take some notes somehow towards remediation...that way you won't be stonewalled when (and if) you pick it up again. I unfolded this one grateful that I had pinned some bits and pieces of maybes and possibilities on it's face.

The base cloths for this piece are two very old huck tablecloths that came out of the dyes looking like a rainy weekend. Dreamy but coma inducting except for the way the woven textures came to light.

For a long time I wanted to examine just what the hell Jackson Pollock was up to/looking for besides wrecking his head. Without doing any reading or presupposing - except for that damn Ed Harris film - this piece is my exploration in that territory. It's going to be some time in the making because it will be all hand stitched in keeping with the very old and tender fabrics. I don't know how fast Jackson flung the paint around but I do know how long it takes to stitch a large piece by hand. Come next summer, maybe.

And now I have to go out and buy a new iron. The 9$ special that is at least five years old has bit the dust and puked on my cloth for the last time.

a push

My new business cards came today..I did away with the extravagant glossy color image on the other side, saving myself a bundle,  opting for a nice clean space where whatever could be written.

Now I have to challenge myself to the rest of the nitty gritty and finish the website makeover.

I taught myself as much html as I needed years ago and used to have real fun with it but the gloss has worn off that toy entirely. I'd really like to just hand it off to a pro..but I'm too cheap.

TGIF

I've been machine quilting this all morning and, as I suspected, have not much more than cold feet and hunched shoulders for my trouble. I'll keep at it though now that I'm committed.

And I am taking more than just a moment to give thanks for a roof over my head, a dry bed, someone elses cooking and loving companions here to help me make it through the day.

fretting & rejoicing

The problem with mixing hand and machine stitching on a piece is recognizing when your hand work is no longer for the purpose of the design...when you keep on stitching because it's a comforting action, like my drug of choice.

To keep from running off the rails I put this one back up on the design wall this morning and found a few places where less was more and few others where something else was needed. I hope to get it back under the machine needle tomorrow.

I meant to post this here yesterday...everyone is doing as well as possible under the circumstances

This morning Jake called to tell us that he has proposed to Missy and she has accepted and we are thrilled!