Labels

No, not the kind that we all fight against.

Real labels. For quilts!

Because in my guild, we get flogged when we forget to add one!

So here is proof that I made a label for the quilt I made.

I made it. Isn't it cute?

The quilt was auctioned off for a Habitat For Humanity fundraiser last March. The quilt was made of the winning posters of the annual Third Grade Poster Contest and some batik-white nine patch blocks I received in a swap from WASIQ members. The posters are from a county-wide contest my local Association of Realtors holds every year. (I am a Realtor, if you didn't know.)

But this is the first year we made a quilt from the posters. (I may have created a monster!)

The agent who bought it gave it as a gift to her broker, and my understanding it is going to hang at a local office for all to enjoy.

I also delivered it, so that is a FINISH!!!

Just in time for me to get started on the one for next year LOL But we hope to get it done sooner this year so we can raffle it off and raise even more money.

Wish me luck!

Too much work!

Not Enough fun time! (I always forget how busy I get in Spring, doing this stuff.)

I just looked at my blog and realized it has been entirely too long since I posted. But I have no pictures of finished things to share :(

I did buy one little thing...

I have been eyeballing the Eco Market Tote pattern by Favorite Things, so I broke down and bought the pattern. No time to make it, but I am satisfied because I will be able to make it when I have a moment.

So what sewing fun have I been doing?

• Adding a hanging sleeve and label to the auction quilt.
• Working on the next round of the Robin- this month's round is "rectangles".
• Puzzling over the Doll Quilt- I am still in that brainstorming stage for that one, but I saw a great one at the guild meeting tonight that has captured my attention.

My quilt guild had our fun meeting tonight (we also have Business Meetings the first Tuesday fo the month). One of our members is a certified & very experienced quilt appraiser did a seminar about what judges at juried shows look for. She reviewed the different judging standards and talked about her experiences with that. And she also did a lecture about the different kinds of appraisals she works on- in this area, she does mostly appraisals for people getting ready to send quilts off for big shows!
I hope other guilds have the kind of expertise ours does, and remember to call on them to share what they know.

The most interesting thing (fiber-related) I did in the past couple weeks was during my Weaving guild's meeting last Friday. We had an absolutely inspiring speaker- a fiber artist from Northwest Washington named Anita Luvera Mayer. She is not only incredibly funny and talented, she is dramatic and passionate and vibrant. And if you ever have a chance to hear a lecture from her, GO!
I loved her story about how when she went to the first weaver's Convergence in Chicago, she made a commitment to herself to make her own clothes. And she did! She was wearing this amazing dress, which is all small squares of hand dyed silks, over the surface, like little prayer flags. It was on the cover of one of her five books, so if you look her up, you will be sure to find it. She is currently having a show at the LaConner Quilt Museum (which is a really fun place to visit).

The other interesting thing that I did is attend the South Sound Yarn Crawl. Actually I only went to a few of the shops, but there were 16 shops who were part of this little yarn shop hop. Such YUMMY fibers!
I was very good and only bought a little bit of alpaca fingerling (on clearance at the Lamb's Ear in Tacoma). I have no idea what I will do with it yet- a lite alpaca hat would be nice??
But I loved it because I had not been to any of the shops I went to this weekend and I met some really fun shop owners.
Here is the website for the South Sound Yarn Crawl, if you are curious what we have available around here. (We are spoiled in this, much like we are for quilt shops.)

I think I may need a second job to support my fiberlust...

Five Fluff

Kate has challenged a few people to take up this Meme- it is an easy one. SO I am doing it, since hers made me chuckle and I immediately thought of what to say.

Five things Found in your Bag/Purse:
emergency dog leash
financial calculator
Starbuck's card
digital camera
tin of Altoids

Five Favourite Things in Your Room*:
silver water pitcher
turkey-shaped macarena whistle thing
orchid cactus on the shelf
painting by my friend Sasha Teter (who I have lost track of, where are you??)
metal coat/purse hanger in the shape of a Soldier Rabbit
(*not sure quite what to do with the phrase "your room" so I have simply chosen the room I am in at present - my office)

Five Things You Have Always Wanted to Do:
travel through outer space and meet aliens
grow a really productive garden
ride a horse well enough that I enjoy it
speak another language fluently
go to school without concern for financial responsibility

Five things you are currently into:
workworkwork
Lilly, my doglet
stripey bright things!
bits of sunlight
going to the ocean

I'm supposed to tag five people, but I am going to take the path trod by Kate:
If you Read it, You are Tagged!
So leave a comment and let me know where you are posting :)

Quilts on Display in Downtown Oly

If you were anywhere near Olympia WA (my home) this weekend you likely heard the beating of the drums-made-from-things and the stomping of dancers as they wound their way through our downtown and huge waves and trees being towed down the streets by people in outlandish costume.

While these sounds and sights could happen at any moment around here, there was an actual purpose this weekend.

What you witnessed was our home grown spectacle, the amazing springtime event, the Procession of the Species parade!
It is an annual thing, held during our equally wonderful spring ArtsWalk. And while the parade is only a few hours once a year, the Art of ArtsWalk is still available to see.

ArtsWalk is a cooperative event between local artists and downtown businesses: the businesses host and display the art and the public gets to come and see what is what. Some of the art is installed for just the official day of the Walk, but others, like my Quilt Guild's display, is up for a week. Some is up for even longer.

I had the opportunity to host the Guild Display at Olympia's well-loved Browser's Books on Saturday afternoon. I met lots of nice quilters and quilters-in-planning, and got to tell them where the wonderful local shops are, who is teaching what kind of classes, hand out brochures and invite to attend a couple Guild meetings.

And we sold Raffle tickets to this cute little reproduction fabrics quilt. (Only $1 per ticket!)

If you would like to see the amazing quits in person, please stop in at Browsers. Or at least look at the wonderful window displays, full of miniature quilts, doll quilts, quilted postcards, softies and stuffed things like Sock Monkeys!

I also posted some other pictures of the weekend and some of the other Art at my work-related blog.

Cute new shop!

In the Puget Sound area of Western Washington where I live, we are blessed with dozens of quilt shops, long arm quilters, quilt appraisals etc.
How many is this? I count 10 shops within a half hour drive of my house. (And here is a google map that shows the 56 shops on the Shop Hop this year: Map. This isn't even all the shops in the area!)
With so many places for the quilters to choose from, every shop strives to differentiate themselves and set themselves apart from the competition.


One of the members of my quilt guild recently opened her new shop for quilters and creafter in Tumwater: Ruby Street Quiltworks. She took over the space of a well known and well loved quilt shop called Quilters Quarters when the owners decided to focus on their longarm quilting business.


And the new shop is a complete success! She is carrying fabric lines no other shop has, tools and essentials, and has some very fun non-quilt related, but crafty and fun! I am doubly lucky in that she has invited my small Bee to come in to sew once a week. So when I get time away from my work schedule, I come in and sew around all these gorgeous fabrics.


Inspiration!
And some minor naughtiness- it is really hard to resist the pretty things, like the Kaffe Fasset fabrics.

And the owner has just sent out an email that there is now Open Sew on Sundays: 11 to 3 pm, just bring your machine and project and get working. How much fun is that!

I'm #37!

"Another Little Quilt Swap" has been posted, and I jumped! So that makes me #37 of the swappers from around the globe. I can't wait to hear who I get to make for. These little quilts go together so quickly- the hardest part is figuring out what to do. I must of course say Thank You to our fabulous Hostess, Kate. Now I must go prowl the web to see what has been made on the other little swappies recently.

Half a Pug, plus

We had one of those pretty spring mornings recently, and the dog and the husband and I all went out for a very brisk walk at a nearby park. I got some great pictures too- shapes that I think may translate to a quilt...

Gorgeous tree shapes
An outdoor art exhibit of stones
Big toys make some great shadows!

No patience for me!

I must that admit I am not a patient person. I sent that block off for the Round Robin, and then had to wait and wait, because I jumped the gun a bit and sent it about 2 weeks earlier than everyone else LOL

So what to do???
Start a new quilt! (of course)

At the sew-in at the library on Saturday, I cut out scads of 2 1/2 inch wide brown strips, and 1 1/2 inch wide cream strips and have been happily making offset Log Cabins, with cheery little indigo cranes for the center square.

I also signed up for a Charm pack swap at guild, which is tomorrow. So late tonight, I remembered, and cut out 51 charms of Striped Fabrics! I can't wait to see what goodies I get from everyone else tomorrow. But here are the ones I did tonight.

I think I am done cutting for a while.

Inspiration from...

Olympia is is the midst of spring, and that means some of us get itchy feet and want to start getting out and seeing the natural world again. I decided I needed an adventure. But I am realistic enough to acknowledge that I am in poor shape for any kind of exciting adventure LOL So we looked for mini-adventures to day- things to draw inspiration from and ponder.

We found lots of free things in front yards, blooming skunk cabbage and tree blossoms, a couple llamas in back yards, and even played with the sundial at the nearby elementary school.

We also have a great open space park, with about 4 or 5 entrances, one of which is about 4 blocks from our house, and another which is about 3 blocks from our favorite little bakery- the San Francisco Street bakery. So of course, we took the trail and got ourselves some coffee and pastry.

I hope you all are having fun adventures!

Migrating Robin... errr Spawning Salmon???

I signed up for a Round Robin with some of the other members of WASIQ (Washington State Internet Quilters).

We are calling it a Migrating Robin, because it is going all over the countryside as we work on each section. We all made a center block with something that is reminiscent of our area. Then each row has a specific set of rules to use when designing. We will all be including one of the fabrics we used in the center block. I think I will send the dark brown. Beige is everywhere, but that brown is rich and specific.

This is the Center block I made, just some extra 4-patch blocks I had from my Table Runner, plus some sashing, and I added a salmon applique (made of salmon fabric!).

We were also encouraged to include a journal for the others to write in- I decided to send my Soft Journal, with pages made of muslin. (I had not decided what to do with it, and since it is the same scraps as the block background, it just really fits.)

It will be shipped out just as soon as I hear who I have to send to. I can't believe I am done early! What is happening to me!

I have never participated in a Robin before, so I am excited to see how it works out and how I interpret each Round from another quilter.