Friends Visiting

It has been a fun and busy start to September... and here we are looking at the first day of fall. Where has the summer gone?

I had a friend, Laetitia, from South Africa visiting and she brought along one of her friends, Ilette, as

well. Laetitia and I were in the Jacaranda Quilt Guild together and were members of a home group (bee) that met just about every week in the evenings. I collected them at O'Hare on Saturday and from there we visited a Quilt Shop. Quiltfabric.com, one of my favorites when I lived there, and I always try to stop in for a visit when in town. I love the huge selection of batiks!! We made a stop at a retailer for some necessities and then dinner at Portillos, burgers and beer long what could be better after a long flight? Does Laetitia look happy and excited?

The following day we did Chicago. We did a lot of walking. Navy Pier, caught a lake tour boat, and we saw one of the tall ships sailing about as well.


We then took a friends suggestion and made our way to the Chicago Cultural Center, which had escaped my notice ... when I lived here. There are 2 dome rooms, one on the north end of the building and the one we wanted to see the Preston Bradley Hall with the Tiffany Dome is on the south end. The Mosaic is absolutely stunning and worth the few minutes it takes to visit it. My photos are not the best. I had the zoom lens and it does not do so well in low light, but this will give you an idea....  those tiles are about 1/2 inch square, so there are millions of them.... and many of them glitter too.

We next walked across the street and spent a few minutes under the trees listening to the Jazz Festival music and viewing some of the artists on our way to 'Cloudgate' otherwise known as the BEAN. I have never seen so many people at the bean. I have even  been there when, the only reflection has been us, no other people on the square!!! It was very very busy... and I forgot to mention HOT in Chicago.

Our next stop was the Buckingham Fountain, which was under renovation when I came in the past and you would think I would take a picture of it.... nope... We continued our walking tour... on down to the Field Museum and then along the waterfront back to the car.

It was a long day, and we packed a lot into it.

I will share more in the next few days.... More for sure Beth

On the Wall

Before I left South Africa I received my ‘birthday blocks’ from the Kwetterkwilters. I posted about it here.  I mentioned that I was most likely going to frame and hang one of the blocks in my new sewing space. Marina, made a block that was so moving, bright and beautiful, that I thought it deserved a frame of its own.  

  

Its been up for a month or so. Things have changed a bit…. while I was out of the country. You used to be able to have a mat for a frame cut at the big box craft stores, but no longer. Now they take the measurements and send it out…. and then charge an arm and a leg to stick it in the frame… It took 2 weeks to get the mat back. I opted to have the mat cut, but I did the rest. Easy enough. I stitched the block to a mounting board and then put it in the frame behind the cut mat. It looks great.

Here it is hanging on the wall with a couple of other things…. You can just see a couple of postcards in the upper right corner.

I am still waiting to finish the space. We got the ledge out. It was really pretty simple. I still need to paint the wall and have the bare floor taken care of. Hopefully by this weekend… so I can tackle making curtains for the sliding glass door. I have tried 3 different ‘ready made’ solutions and all of them were hideous! So I have resigned myself to making a curtain to hang. The door is over size… so off the shelf is not working!

The Fast Lane

Since my last post about Mark…. life here has hit the FAST lane, well that is how it seems. Sure there has been down time… but not enough to do much with and certainly, nothing to write on the blog about, and the time thieves (those little things that eat up the time… but you can’t remember). Of course it doesn’t help when we are waiting for “The DATE”. I don’t think I have mentioned here on the blog…. that we will be returning to the states. 1 year before our tour is up, and a bit earlier than the 5 year plan we came with. The DH has been offered a new position, and of course he accepted. We will be returning to the DC area!!! Of course all the headaches that come with a move are now showing up. But more about those as they become more of a reality…. Once we have a date, it should move really fast.

One of the time thieves -one of my co workers was moving… and needed some assistance. She had some scheduling conflicts… so I volunteered to sit with the movers while they packed her belongings. The next week I took her to a medical test…. and picked her up later in the day. The other was Axel, since we have been here… his allergy thing has been much easier than in the states, but for some reason he has had 3 subcutaneous cysts burst. The most recent one was on his neck…. can we just say oh YUCK!!!! The physical part is easy, but it’s the twice a day meds that take up the time… and energy.

In the quilting department (and finally some pictures)… I have completed 2 more Birthday blocks for my friends and took my turn hosting the ladies. I nearly forgot that my date for hosting was at the end of June…. whew… I made Baked Ziti for dinner and strawberry short cake for dessert. It was delicious.

At the beginning of June we celebrated Corriannes birthday. She selected birdhouses for her blocks and provided a black background and a color swatch…. we could make any size of block…. She wanted ‘bright’ primary colors.

In the middle of the month we celebrated Laetitias birthday. Her block was very specific in size and background, which she provided. She has a plan and wanted a flower. If she had provided more background I would have made another!!!! Somehow I let that block out of the house without a picture!

The small group, belongs to the larger group, the Jacaranda Quilters Guild of Pretoria. Each small group was asked to make a block to represent their small/home group. This was our block. We have all participated in the building of the block in some way. I did the quilting!!!

I also finished the last of the baby boy quilts. I was planning to ship it, but I don’t think I can squish it down enough to fit in the size box I can ship from here, (10” x 8” x 2”).

I also had to put a sleeve on the black, white & bright quilt, so it could be hung at a small show. So I spent a morning playing with a little Embroidery machine, a Brother, I bought before we left the states…. WoW how much fun can they be? I put the name of the quilt on the Sleeve, playing with several fonts and thread colors. I can see how and why some have the ‘super duper’ embroidery machines.

In between these few quilty things…. I have entered a baking contest at the Embassy 4th of July Party. And I won! THE Category (Brownie/Blondie), THE Extra Ingredient (macadamia nuts) and THE Overall Best Dessert!!! I submitted the Blondies and the Decadent Chocolate Brownie. Woo Hoo! I have sort of established myself as a baker here. I usually make something for the bake sale table and for the quilters, I take the dessert to the hostess. Sometimes its extravagant, like cheesecake, but sometimes as simple as snicker doodle cookies.

Jacaranda Quilters of Pretoria

Yesterday was the winter Friendship meeting. There are only 3 a year. These meeting are the equivalent of the end of year meeting for a monthly guild in the US. There are lots of vendors, -many quilt stores are run from homes here, and going from shop to shop can really eat up a day. So the friendship meetings are for shopping as well. The meeting starts at 9, so the vendors have to get up awfully early to get here and get set up!

Like any quilt guild meeting there was a short business meeting and then, we had a program on color from a member of the guild. There are usually demonstrations at the meeting too, but this time we built a color wheel, that we used during her talk, when she would describe the relationships of color. A very useful tool.

The meetings are also a small quilt show. The small group that I belong to, Kwetterkwilters, and another, Frangipanis, were charged with procuring the displays. Each group showed off some of the things members made -projects, challenges or round robins. It was obvious once our display was up that the 7 of us are NOT afraid of color. Our group put up, last years birthday blocks (miniature log cabins), this years challenge (12x12 Word), miscellaneous small quilts, along with a few larger ones and the postcards that we have all received so far!!!

The postcard display was a favorite among the members. We each pinned our postcards to a ribbon and hung the ribbon over a black background. It really made all the colors pop.

The first stand has the Miniature Log Cabins (birthday blocks) and the last stand has some of the groups smaller pieces. Since I didn’t have much in the way of group projects, I took my Black, White & Bright quilt, and was surprised to win ‘Viewers Choice’. It was quite fun to win!!!

This may well have been my last Jacaranda meeting… The next one is in October. I have met some really wonderful, warm and very generous ladies through quilting. I am sure glad I am a quilter.

More Later!!!

Beth

A Little More Quilting

I’ve spent a little time in the sewing room these last few weeks. Nothing monumental… like a huge quilt… just a bunch of small projects.

The first weekend in May the Kwetterqwilters went on a Retreat. They had a small cabin with 3 bedrooms, kitchen, dinning area and a living room. Not much eating went on in the dinning area!!!! I went up for the day, Saturday with one of the other members of the group. I was going to work on my postcards, but forgot to pack the silk. So I was the slave and did the chores…. pin basting, seam ripping and dishes.

The smallest project was postcards. Round 3 of the International Swap. There is a theme for those that need one -‘Where You Want to Be’… and this time I did not use the theme to make mine. The general idea… is the Sky or Aurora Borealis… I am showing just 2 here…. The fibers are silk tailings, from what I can’t remember the vendor telling us. They were acquired at the last IQF Chicago Show 2010, (before being relocated to Cincinnati Ohio in 2011). My friend Karen (she blogs here) and I saw these brightly stuffed bags of loose silk threads for $2 per bag. I bought two!!! I had fun attaching the fibers to the Peltex with a few anchoring stitches and then using beads and findings to hold more of the silk in place. These were fun. These postcards will need to be sent in sleeves.

I also made 2 Birthday blocks…. Both were houses.

Marinas was first. She had some specific requirements. It had to finish at 6 inches and the house had to have a red roof. The block is a little bigger, so Marina could cut this down and square it up herself. This is an original design and was lots of fun to make. I wish I had thought to cut away some of the fir tree so it wouldn’t show so much under the house.

The other house was for Hester. She didn’t have an restrictions!!!! This is a semi original design. I have a line drawing of this house, but it is about any inch big, so I had to redraw to a larger size…. and things changed a little. I did consider putting some smoke coming from the chimney and a door knob, but thought maybe that might be added with the quilting… so I have left that up to the recipient.

 

I have also been busy waiting for fabric!

It takes so long for it to arrive in the mail (2-3 weeks). But, when an online shop, takes the order and then waits a week or more to cut…. the wait becomes much too long. I have been waiting for blue fabrics. I thought I had picked a bunch that would go together, (even used the design wall of an online shop to see all of them together). Well When the fabrics arrived…. some major issues, so I had to order more. Once enough

arrived I got busy… making 3 baby ‘boy’ quilts. One of my favorite quick patterns is the Disappearing 9 Patch… although it really isn’t all that quick. It does make a really nice quilt. I got the tops done, but trying to find a crisp blue and white fabric for the back was a huge obstacle, to make matters worse, when I did, they were either out or didn’t have all I wanted. So 2 of the 3 are done. The first one goes to a fellow my DH works with. His first child was born last month… a whole month early. More about where one of the others is going…. in another post.

Waiting for backing #3, in 2 more weeks, (well and a few stash builders for ME!) I am still up in the sewing space, making another birthday block today.

More Later- Beth

Quilty as Promised!

The Kwetterkwilters are exchanging birthday blocks this year. The first birthday up was Lynette, in the first part of April. The pictures aren’t the best, because I used my phone… but once again… I didn’t have a better camera with me.  The first picture is all the blocks. She received. Can you guess which one I made?

Lynette chose birds as her theme. She did not even restrict if the birds had to be realistic or comic, just birds. There were no other restrictions on her block theme, not size, background or colors. Just it had to be a bird. Her plans are to make a wall hanging. I  think she has a great start.

If this is the block you thought I made, you are right. I chose a stylized peacock, so I could use lots of green and purple fabrics. Both are Lynettes favored colors. The little chicks block is my favorite though.

Lynette was not the only one to receive a ‘quilty’ gift. I received one too. The other Kwetterkwilters presented me with Twinchies back in late October, after I shared my small stash of postcards, Twinchies and 4x4’s. But one was outstanding. Isn’t it just wonderful? Definitely worth waiting for!!!

…. the last quilty project for today.

I have organized a small International Postcard Swap. Total of 21 players. We are just now moving into the last round of the swap. The photo above was my postcard for round one. We have a theme, for those that need/want to produce on a theme. I actually knew what I was going to do… before the theme…. and would have done this anyway. The theme was “Where You Are”. I put a little Swarovski Crystal to represent …Pretoria, South Africa.

These are the postcards I received in Round 1. There are only 5 displayed because one refuses to arrive. The maker has made 2 and mailed them both. They only have to come across town… but…. they don’t get here! She has said that the 3rd one will NOT be mailed. For many of the participants of this swap, it is their first try at postcards. I say WoW!

And if you are still with me. This is my 2nd Round postcard. The theme was ‘Plant’.  A native plant here is the Aloe. There are so many different varieties.  Mostly red or yellow flowers, long stiff leaves with a serrated edge. I also entered this postcard for the ‘Teeny Tiny “Bling Your Thing” Challenge’ over at IHAN there are 4 or 5 pages of entries, use the Archive to find all the pages (1/2 way down on the left side of the page).

Tonight we unveil our next 12” x 12” challenge. PASSION. I can’t wait to see what we have all come up with for that!

More Later- Beth

PS- Thanks everyone for all the comments on my Sad Post, they really helped! The void isn’t nearly as big and I am thinking of making a fabric portrait… from the posted photo.

2 Things….. with the Kwetterkwilters

Last week I mentioned that I wished I had taken pictures of the other Dragons that were shared for the 12x12 Challenge…

Marina took pictures of all of them… which I will share here because I think they are all so creative… and great vision for the word ‘DRAGON’! (scroll down for mine, its in the last post)

The first one up is Laetitias… she pieced the background and then and using her sewing machine stitches (specifically the tail) created the dragon on ‘wash a way stabilizer’.

Next up is Lynette, she used Lizard from Australia (Frilled Lizard), for her dragon… foundation pieced…. and I can just see him puffing up as a warning to leave him be!

 

Marina’s is all sparkly with silver threads and a very awesome geometric background, backed and bound in satin… 

Hester also chose to foundation piece her dragon…. Reminds me of the dragon in Shrek…. movies!

and lastly is Susara's Dragon--- which I think I like the best…. because her view is different……. just the essential parts!

The next word is ‘PASSION’!!!

The other thing was a color class yesterday, given by another South African Quilter, Marian. She did a wonderful class and covered in better detail and more concisely than a well known name quilter in the US did in a 2 day class!!!

The exercises were more fun…. and we all came away with a billion… little 2 inch squares to play with in a color wash or a postage stamp quilt…. or backgrounds for 12 x 12 quilts.

Our work table about halfway through the class… .we were on a ‘Tea Break’

Marians Color play quilt …

Next up?   Good question… but as always…. More Later!  Beth

A Small Quilty Project

The small group of South African Quilters that I belong to…The Kwetterkwilters, is doing a 12” x 12” challenge this year… based on a word. You must interpret the word in your challenge piece any way you choose. These are to be worked on in secret… no sharing until the unveiling. I didn’t commit to doing the last one, and I don’t think I will commit… to doing any, but if I get the inclination, the idea and the time I will make one.

The last one was ‘Dragon’ and last week I looked for an image that inspired me. Not only did I find one, I found 3. I asked my DH which one he liked best…. he liked the simplest one, which I seriously considered, since time was an important element. But of course I did, something totally female and picked the complete opposite…. the most complicated image and the race was on.

Once I saw the design -the process slipped into place. It is fused, reverse applique, the black over a batik. I tried to find a suitable black batik to use for the top, to stop the edge fraying, but I did not have one that didn’t look dirty. So I used a Kona cotton. The hardest part was cutting out the design…. and I have a few things in mind to maybe make it easier in the future, (if I were to do something like this again). I was so afraid I would snip the wrong piece. I quilted with Free Motion to secure all the black, and to give it some sparkle I used a gold Superior Flat metallic thread over a variegated Rainbows for the ‘fire’. The eye is an antique (faceted) black jet bead. Of course I couldn’t just add a black binding… I decided it needed a bit more orange, so I made piped binding.

I wish I had thought to take pictures of the other ‘Dragon’ because all of them were simply inspired!!!

Looking forward to the next… word!!!

More Later…. Beth