It's time to work the soil

Yup, the Peas are up already.

And this is what the lettuce looks like today.

The rhubarb will be ready for Mother's Day!

This year, I decided to use these cute little brass headboards. 

They were always destined for the garden. 

My sweet hubby picked them up a few years ago at a garage sale, with just this in mind.

I just love them -Thanks! honey.

The Peonies are forming their blooms. These are an Old Fashioned Double from my Mom and Dad's house back in Minnesota.

They are both gone now, but these bring back some good memories.

All of our Rhododendrons are in bloom, too. Since we've been in this house (going on 15 years now) I don't think I can ever remember when it has been a warm enough Spring for that to happen.

The Lilacs are out!

Our white Lilacs are in full bloom, so  I brought a handful into the house this weekend.
How glorious! the smell.

We are so excited to finally be enjoying the warmer days.
And, along with them, the work in the yard and gardens has begun. 

After quilting, it's time to 'Square-up' the piece.

• Machine baste 1/4" from the edges of the top fabric, to stabilize all the layers. 
• Use both a horizontal and a vertical seam line for alignment with your straight edge. 
• trim only on the right outer edge of your straight edge, turning the quilt to work on all four sides. 

 It's very important to note: if you use the edge of the quilt top fabric to align your straight edge, you are only cutting off the excess fabrics and not 'Squaring-up' your work.

To illustrate, this photo shows that your fabrics sometime shift a little in the quilting process. But 'Squaring-up' helps to correct the alignment of the entire quilt. Adding the binding usually covers most of your 'corrected' areas.

And now for something different . . .

. . . I started quilting 'Watering the Trees' this week. 

I began by stabilizing the piece with some traditional quilting in -the-ditch, 

which quickly progressed to more linear topstiching.  

Then a few days ago, bored with the whole process, I just let go . . .

. . . filling in some of the spaces with stitches as if I were coloring them in with a colored pencil. Scribbling across certain areas with thread. Hmmm??? . . .

We'll see just where this takes me . . .

(To be continued)

'Watering theTrees'

This week, I needed a little 'therapy' piecing after all the violence that has been occurring in the nation.

Sometimes, this is my way of taking my head out of the present moment, to get a break from it all. 

I received this wonderful pattern in a newsletter (I think?) from the American Quilter's Society. 

It's a small tutorial on how to piece abstract representations of trees. Here is a link to the pattern page:

http://www.americanquilter.com/quilt_life/patterns.php

I believe it is from the current June 2013 issue of The Quilt Life magazine  

http://www.americanquilter.com/quilt_life/index.php

by Irene Berry.

It is quick and easy. But, what really attracted me to the article was how Irene starts out by writing about how forgiving this process can be. I thought I'd give it a try.

The other day, I took notice of how the trees across the street from us are looking so thin.

Evergreens do go thru different periods of losing needles and then filling back in again. But, my concern came from the fact that, some time ago, the trees in the back of our yard had also started looking the same way. I think that they are stressed from the changes occurring in our environment. . .

which gives pause for some thought.

And, of course! I had to work this out by sewing my thoughts into a quilt.

What inspires you to create a sewn 'thought'?

What do you think about while you are sewing your quilt?

Easter and yes, Spring . .

This little 12" x 12" quilt I finished a while back. It was intended as an entry for a competition that I decided not to enter. At the time, the stipulation was a limit on the number of fabrics we could use. There are thirteen in my composition. (A baker's dozen) 

Although, that was back in December, I was clearly working on how to portray the emergence of Spring. 

A subject on most people's mind these days, given the long winter that we all have experienced. 

. . . I think that Spring has finally sprung!

Do enjoy your Easter Holiday!

'Signs of Spring'

Well, I finally finished! 

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this quilt turned out to be a challenge for me in many ways.

With each step, I was trying something new. 

And in turn, ended up stopping and restarting in a new direction many times. 

The construction process consisted of :

Ice dying an old bed sheet

re-purposing a costume print from the Goodwill store

use of commercial prints and batik dyed fabrics

rotary tool and scissor cutting

random/irregular piecing 

machine seaming

hand applique

hand printing the quilt surface using acrylic paints 

long arm and sewing machine quilting

multicolor pieced binding construction

new sleeve/hanging technique

Yes, I am aware that I broke all the rules with this one.
I'm waiting for the 'Quilt Police' to comment.

I have to admit, I really enjoyed it all. 

Making decisions as I went along, I learned so much. . . . I'm ready to start again.

Yuck!

Today is March 20 and my calendar is marked as the first day of Spring.

This is a quick photo taken midday, as the already overcast skies darkened, and the icy sleet came rushing down. Soon the garden was solid white.

You can see that the Skimmia are starting to release their first leaves.

I really shouldn't complain about our weather. 

By most standards, the rest of the country is dealing with alot more 'Yuck' than we have here.

I guess it's all relative.

and some more . . .

Yup, still trying . . . 

At this stage of the game, I had the idea that I could cut out templates from freezer paper and quilt around them. Therefore, accurately sizing the quilting in relation to the leaf shapes.

But, nope. I ended up stitching and then taking all of this stitching out too.

 

So, back to deciding just what it is I want to see in the quilting for this piece.

Is change always good?

There's been some stitching . . .

. . . and some un-stitching.

 

At every stage of this project, I have changed direction. 

I work in one area, step back to evaluate what is happening, and promptly decide that

I don't like the results I am getting.

I have spent alot of time on this one. Doing and un-doing. 

Hmmm? I'm wondering just what will become of all this?

Seasonal therapy

A little playtime can be very therapeutic.

Although I haven't posted much lately, I've still been working in the studio a little each day.

Experimenting . . .

My Valentine

Begin

 Go on your journey. 

Don't let others hold you back; don't hold them back. 

Don't judge their journey; and don't let them judge yours. . .

Start today to follow your heart.

Melody Beattie from her book 'Journey to the Heart'.

For the New Year . . .