First Finish of 2011!

I finally finished my 2010 Wool Club rug!  My project for this week will be to decide on a name.  I stink at naming projects!  "Flowers" just doesn't cut it.

I had a fairly productive holiday weekend.  In addition to putting the finishing touches on the rug, I made a cover for my journal (I've been trying to decide what to do ever since Wool Club!) and started on my first new quilting project for the year.  Although I shouldn't have, I committed to a group project through the Primitive Folk Art Yahoo group.  We are doing a quilt inspired by this book:





















There are eleven quilters participating in the project.  We are each supposed to start the project by making an eagle this month.  We will then make a swap block for another member of the group each month.  I selected the cake basket block as my swap pattern.  Each month I will make and sign a cake basket block and send it to one of the other participants.  We can make as many other blocks as we want to complete our quilt.  This is not a pattern book - we are designing our own projects in the tradition of the Miami Valley qlbums.  I started my eagle this weekend and made fairly decent progress.  I am using the new "Piecrust" primitive muslin designed by Lisa Bongean as my background.  I love the color!  I wish I could say the same about the rest of the fabric I am using... it's all quality stuff, but the repro cottons just don't work as well as batiks when needleturning tiny eagle toes and beaks!

Taking a Deep Breath

I'm just beginning to recover from the craziness of the past couple of weeks.  I still haven't tackled the gigantic mess in my sewing room (although I have to admit that my recent purchases are only part of the problem - I still have bags from Chicago, Paducah and Colorado), and I am way behind on other things like making arrangements for rug camp, installing my replacement router, etc.  I can hardly believe that it is nearly the middle of November already.  My travels and the warm weather have me totally baffled!  I took this picture of fall foilage this morning.  Trees around here usually aren't quite this brilliant in color, and the almost never have any leaves left by November!

Immediately upon returning from Houston, I attended a rug class with Anne Marie Littenberg at Nola's studio.  It was one of the best workshops I have ever attended!  We had a fantastic group of really creative people, and Anne Marie was an incredible teacher!  I am very excited about my project and was so inspired by everything I learned! 

The rug that Anne Marie is holding in the above photo illustrates one of the techniques I would like to try.  (And yes, that is Sharon Townsend in the corner - I said it was an awesome class!)  Anne Marie uses smaller and smaller cuts to create perspective as she works away from the foreground. The designer of this rug is using an 8 cut in the foreground and is gradually working to a 4 cut in the distance.  You could already see how dimensional it will look!

Here's a picture of my pattern and the hooking I got done in class.  With Anne Marie's and my daughter's encouragement I opted to do a view of the side of the Ha Ha Tonka castle rather than the view from the front.  I learned all kinds of tips for creating light and shadow.  I can't wait to get a little farther along to see how my building looks!

Another thing that Anne Marie inspired me to do is start a journal.  I have tried to capture ideas in various places in the past, including this blog and a composition notebook in my sewing room, but I have never been very serious about it.  I haven't found the perfect journal yet - I am off to Barnes and Noble in search of something tomorrow.  I want to do a better job of documenting my projects as well as the hundreds of ideas I come across, and jotting notes from my three days with Anne Marie seems like the perfect way to start!

Snowman Finished

I finally finished my snowman!  I need to come up with a better name, but my brain is so overloaded with work and getting ready to leave for Australia that I am unable to think of anything the least bit creative.  This rug was made to satisfy two different efforts.  It was originally designed for a Wool Club project.  We all hooked holiday-themed projects that will be photographed to create a set of Christmas cards.  We will each receive a complete set (one of each project).  I then plan to donate my rug to my quilt guild's auction in November.  It's almost ready to go - I just need to come up with a name and create a label.

My next post will probably be from Australia - I head out on Friday.  I've prepped plenty of applique for the long flight!

Fantastic Weekend!

I had such a wonderful and productive weekend!  It's a shame there isn't some reason to be off on Monday at least once a month.  I got an early start to my weekend on Friday, heading over to Bread Company with a friend to sit outside (the weather was absolutely wonderful and completely atypical for this time of year) all afternoon and work on binding Bird Party.  I was 75% finished by the time we left for the day!  I finished whipping it Friday, stitched the binding tape down Saturday, and did the final steaming this morning. 

I finished the first week's applique blocks for the Summer BOW late last week but didn't get a picture posted.  I have prepped the applique for week two.  I haven't started on the pieced blocks yet.  I am absolutely loving this project!  The pieces are tiny but the blocks are so cute!

I also managed to finish the first sewing step of my Runaway Mystery quilt this weekend.  I was really worried about how all this scrappiness would turn out, but when the blocks came together I was very happy with them.  I took a peek at the next step thinking I would get going on it, but the first instruction involved making 80 of something - an immediate turn-off!  I went back to my applique.

Last, but not least, I did get some applique done.  I am still plugging away at last month's AA assignment.  It's an obnoxious block!  I have 27 of 45 pieces sewn.  I also took a quick break today and started one of the quilts that I have been wanting to work on for a long time - one of the Nancy Page Quilt Club patterns.  I appliqued one block but still need to add embroidery.  I will write more about the quilt and my Nancy Page obsession at a later time...

Vintage Postcard Rug Finished

I managed to get the Vintage Illinois Postcard rug bound over the weekend and gave it another touch of steam tonight. I'm so excited to be able to mark another UFO off the list! I started this rug in Florida a couple of years ago. I thought I would be able to finish it during the vacation, but ended up packing everything but a hook, so I wasn't able to get started until half way through the week when we got to my inlaw's house (my mother-in-law had one I could use). I worked on it a bit after we returned home, but then packed it away in favor of starting something new (probably my Toddhall camp project) and didn't get back to it until recently. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but won't be hooking another face any time soon!












I am working on a quilt block for a dear friend that is fighting cancer. I started working on it yesterday and managed to have one of the least productive sewing days ever. I had all kinds of great ideas, but some of them didn't work out so well. I decided to crazy-piece the dress using some of the fabrics my friend and I collected and used in a class we took with Judith Baker-Montano last year. That seems to have worked okay so far, but the real challenge will be needle-turning it. I found a beautiful silk fabric for the wings, but after numerous attempts to applique the, I decided that silk is not my applique friend. I tried needle-turn, stabilizer, sewing to stabilizer and turning inside out, etc. Nothing worked. I also painted some lace to use at the bottom of the dress, but I think it may be a little too bright. We'll see when I get a little farther along. I couldn't find anything remotely close to a flesh color, so I stopped by Jackman's on the way home and picked up fabric for the face and wings. I managed to get one of the wings down tonight, and hopefully can get the other one on tomorrow. Hopefully, now that I have a plan, the rest of this project will go smoothly.












I received my package of wool for this weekend's workshop from Jackye Hansen. The colors are beautiful and very interesting. I'll have to give it more thought over the next couple of days since I need to choose my backgrounds. The pattern I selected is her "Crazy Quilt". I have loved that pattern since I first saw it in Rug Hooking several years ago. Not a surprise, I guess! I'm thinking of doing browns and antique black for backgrounds, but I need to lay everything out and see what works with my motif colors.












Last, but not least, I received my "Wool Crazy" book and wool from Primitive Gatherings last week. I am waiting to receive the first mailing from the club meeting for layout ideas. Earlier this evening, I stumbled across a blog that is dedicated to making this quilt. What fun! I can't wait to get started - it's so much more fun when you can do things with a group!

Off to bed for tonight. More time to create tomorrow!

Another Rug Finished!

I finally finished my Basketful rug! It's a bit sad that it took nearly the entire year to hook it. I suppose I did take time to work on my baskets and the blog rug this year, but I really need to pick up the pace if I ever plan to make a dent in the pile of projects I have already started or plan to start in the near future. I'm back to working on the Illinois postcard now.

I'm really looking forward to the new year of wool club and all of the projects I will be inspired to start (yikes!). I am also looking forward to getting back to starting my Baltimore, hopefully later today. I'm minutes away from twelve glorious days of vacation - I hope to get lots accomplished!