Timna Tarr and Beauty and the Beast

This morning, members of the Crosstown Quilters Guild were treated to a trunk show presentation by the delightful Timna Tarr from South Hadley, MA. Her use of color was pure joy.

I encourage you to check out her website with gallery and blog here.  

Being a self-admitted history geek, I got a particular kick out of her George Washington quilt. Too cool!

 

This afternoon I went with a friend to see Disney's Beauty and the Beast. The visual effects are truly amazing and the music lovely, but let me sound a cautionary note. I would hesitate taking very little ones to see this movie as there are a number of scary scenes: two involve a pack of hungry, pursuing wolves and another, an angry mob scene. I think they would be a bit too intense for young children, and I'm not sure Mortimer's friend Walt would have approved.

Another Block Completed

Here's the second hand applique block completed based on Yoko Saito's Floral Bouquet book. I worked on it a bit at each of the quilt retreats that I recently attended. This is loosely based on the original design. In the original, the buds each have two or three inner sections of coordinating colors and pointy bits on top; I chose to stop at this point for a cleaner. simpler look. I can always add the inner sections later if I change my mind, but for now I like it this way. Though the buds and vase appear to be the same color, in 'real life' they are different. The vase is actually much brighter.

It was a busy week with two lunch dates with groups of retiree teacher friends and a lovely belated St. Patrick's Day dinner party at my friend Marilyn's yesterday. Lucky for me her dinner last Saturday was postponed due to threats of snow, and so, I was happily able to attend yesterday. Love that corn beef!!!

Have a fun filled, wonderful week.

Glorious Cyclamen

 This gorgeous cyclamen had to come home from the supermarket with me this morning. (The $3.00 green Le Jardin pot came from Job Lot.) Later, I took Emma for her grooming appointment, and when I picked her up, she was sporting this pretty pink bow. If she looks slightly perturbed, it's because she was eager to get out and race around the backyard, but I was holding her up by taking a couple of photos. :-)

Emma had spent the last two weekends at a friend's home while I was on my quilt retreats. How very lucky am I that she is always welcome at her "home away from home." She had a great time playing with her canine cousins,  Harvey and Bailey.  :-)

Hello Spring!!! Falmouth Quilting Getaway 2017

This past St. Patrick's Day weekend seventy members of the Herring Run Quilt Guild headed to the Sea Crest Beach Hotel in Falmouth, MA for a retreat. The large conference room was filled with humming machines, chatter, and laughter. As one would expect, there was a vast scope of projects; here are just a few.

Tina completed this wonderful Bermuda piece based on the book Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier.    You may check out her website, "The Quilted Lizard -Fiber Art Studio" here.

 

I loved Gina's Pioneer  Spirit Quilt.

 

I don't know whose quilt this was, but what a great way to use up scraps! I wonder how many pieces there are???

Laurel worked on laying out strips for a quilt as a gift for an upcoming wedding.

Marianne peeked over the top of her cheerful quilt.

Another quilt which caught my eye was being worked on by Nancy. The colors were wonderful.

Edith worked on blocks for the 365 Day Project. These blocks with their many, many pieces are just six and a half inches! Her work is always so meticulous.

Now you might be wondering what I accomplished. Well, I completed all the blocks and segments for the double Irish chain that I am working on. Hopefully, it will be on my design wall sometime this week, so I may begin assembling it. Also, I stitched on one of the blocks for my current hand applique project.

It was a truly fun, wonderful weekend. In closing, here's Friday night's sunset complete with serendipitous strolling man and his faithful companion.

Yarmouth getaway last weekend, Falmouth getaway this past weekend . . . gee, I wonder where I can go next week! :-)

Deer in Our Woods

 

I don't believe that I have ever written two posts in one day before, but I wanted to share these photos with you. This morning about 9:00, Emma began barking wildly while racing around the backyard.  She has spotted five deer in our woods. Now when I say 'woods,'' I am referring to a narrow section of trees and brush which separates the backyards of about five houses on my street from the backyards of the street behind it. There are houses on one end and a dentist office at the other. It is not deep or large by any means, but in the summer when everything leafs out, you can not even see the homes on the other side of the 'woods.' It's lovely! I'm explaining this because it creates a haven for all sorts of wildlife: turkeys, raccoons, foxes, small birds, you name it - we've probably seen it.

Anyway, I wasn't quick enough to get photos this morning, but sure enough at 1:00, the five were back with three of their dearest friends! This time I grabbed by good camera and my long lens and was able to capture these images. (Miss Emma was in the house so as not to scare them away.)

I'm sure they are looking for a safe place to shelter through the impending blizzard. (Just click on any of the photos to see a larger version.)

Get your bread! Get the milk! It's the rallying call echoing through supermarket aisles across the state.

Batten down the hatches, keep your shovels handy, and stay safe and warm tomorrow!

Crosstown Getaway 2017

 

Over the weekend members of the Crosstown Quilters Guild headed to the Bayside Resort in West Dennis on Cape Cod for a getaway where we quilted up quite a storm. (We do not, however, accept even the slightest responsibility for tomorrow's impending blizzard.)

 

 

Many of us visited a relatively new quilt shop, Cape Cod Quilts and Cottages, in West Darmouth. What a delight! The owner carries bright colorful batiks, patterns, notions,  and ocean themed fabrics.  The entire shop is bright and cheerful. When visiting the Cape, be sure to stop in for a visit; you won't be disappointed.

I finished this small block for a project that I am working on from Yoko Saito's Floral Bouquet book. From the latest forecast, it looks as if all of us will have time to quilt when we are snowed in tomorrow.

"Leaf" It to Me

Today's post is about applique. If the thought of hand applique makes you shiver, please feel free to skip this post. :-) Anyway, when I decided to work on Yoko Saito's "Floral Bouquet," I wanted to make it smaller. Instead of enlarging each patterns 200%, I went with 150%. It seemed like a good idea at the time. That is, until I began prepping a few blocks. Look at how tiny these leaves are. I used these apliquick tools to make them possible.

These tools were developed by a woman in Spain and there are a number of videos on YouTube demonstrating how to use them. At first, I found them slow and awkward to use, but as I kept at it, they became easier to manipulate. Soon I had plenty of practice making the leaves for just two of the blocks. 

When I thought the pieces couldn't get any smaller, they did! There are three separate prepared pieces resting on this dime. Yikes!!!

I really don't think I would have been able to prepare them without the apliquick rods which with practice work very well!  The good news is that though the pieces took a long time to prepare, being so tiny they will take no time at all to stitch. :-)

 I borrowed the little book light which is usually on my music stand and clipped it on the Lap App which I wrote about here. It works great!

Hidden Figures

 

We had two, warm, absolutely delicious days this week pushing sixty and so these little crocuses popped their heads up. Unfortunately, today and tomorrow we will be experiencing bitter cold, but not to worry, crocuses come back even after being covered in snow. I used the app Moku Hanga, an older app on my iPad, to render this wood block interpretation.

On Tuesday after our Crosstown Quilters Guild meeting, my friend Laurel and I went to see Hidden Figures, a very fine movie. If you have not seen it yet, I urge you to do so. It is wonderful. Reports are that many schools across the country are bringing students to see this movie, and I applaud this move. Not only will students learn about America's efforts to put a man in space, but they will will also learn about the struggle for racial equality. The movie focuses on three brilliant, black women and their valuable contributions to the space program. Why their story was unknown until now, is simply unfathomable. If you watched the Oscars last Sunday, you may have seen ninety-eight year old mathematician and physicist, Katherine Johnson on stage; she was one of the key figures depicted in the movie which again, I urge you to see. 

I am going on a quilting retreat soon, so the other day I did all the cutting for Gaelic Blessing, a pattern by Ricky Tims. It is a double Irish chain with a celtic cross centerpiece. I am using gold and a cream with tiny gold circles fabric for the cross. He used purple on his edges, but I will substitute the cream fabric again for those sections. Yes, I know, I already have a million other projects to finish, but when you go away it is fun to work on something new. :-)

Enjoy the rest of this very cold weekend!