15 June - Fan of Quilting

I am a fan of quilting. Today is quilt guild day at the Piecing Partners Quilt Guild.

Be it quilts I have made or quilts made by others, I appreciate them all.

My granny, Virginia Smith Blair was a quilter. I still have 2 of the quilts she made. One is a bible quilt, it was made when I was a wee child. The original wore out and she remade it. It has polyester double knit for some of the applique pieces. There is also a applique dogwood. She was into applique more than piecing. Her's were traditional.

I also own an antique quilt made in South Dakota that I found at a yard sale.

I have made and own both pieced and applique. Mine tend to be arty rather than traditional.

My girly, Rebecca does AMAZING crazy quilts. My friend Luana, owns e-Quilter. Nearly half my friends on Facebook are quilt related.

I like making traditional quilt blocks with a twist. Things like log cabins made from batiks or skewed/wonky traditional blocks.

I also have WIPs and UFOs that are quilt related, piles of them in fact...

Currently on the pile of UFOs are a Steampunk themed, a sheep grazing by a Henge, and a Japanese influenced one about Peace.

Most of my quilts tend to be small, more for the art of them than as a bed cover. I also use unusual embellishments on my quilts, such as nuts and bolts, scrap metal, etc. I use quilting in wearable art as in appliqued shirts, quilted vests and the like.

Where are the pictures you might ask? Well, they are mostly on my external hard drive and not accessible at the moment. If you scroll thru my older posts you'll see some of the ones that I have made and/or own,

One Hundred Things for the 100th Post

Today's post is the 100th post of this blog. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see if I could come up with 100 favourite or at least, interesting things to me.

I have really enjoyed keeping this blog. It helps to get my thoughts in order on a regular basis. I also have a commitment to something on going, that answers to no one. It leads me to explore other blogs and check out who, what, where, why and when. I find laughter, thought provocation, sadness and just life in general. I have discovered more about the quirks and foibles of my friends and their families. I have witness the children growing. I have also come to understand that my friends really are somewhat interested in what I might have to say on any given topic or occasion.

1. My family (Dad, Erin and my sister's kids, Merlin, Etienne and Lelani, Auntie Mags and all of her family)
2. Our cat, Pan

3. Ravelry and the really awesome people I have come to know through it.
3. Knitting (got 3 pair of sock, the Shawl from Hell and a ribbon tee shirt on the needles)
4. Quilting (just finish two new pieces and working on a 10 YO UFO)
5. Reading (Diana Gabaldon, Joshilyn Jackson and Dorothy L. Sayers are on the night stand)
6. Working in my garden (LOL, okay, so everything is in pots, but I still have to tend it)
7. This blog and the people I have come to know through it.


8. Moleskines Notebooks Moleskine
9. My new spinning wheel (now, if I could just learn to use it) Louet North America
10. Coming up with new recipes to use for the supper.
11. Our Library aka East Branch and all the folks that work there. They are amazing and they always want to see my socks. Pike Peak Library District East Branch Library

12. Garden of the Gods

13. Having a awesome new grocery store nearby. Sunflower Farmer's Market
14. Going to the camp in Michigan

Art Gallery on Main Street in Michigamme, MI

15. Revisiting crafts I haven't done for a while.
16. The El Paso County Crafters group from Ravelry
17. Columbines, Colorado State Flower

18. Highland Games and my Scottish heritage
19. Trader Joe's Markets
20. Philadelphia Soft Pretzels (Miss them more than Tastykakes)








21. Great Yarns and Great Fabrics
22. Being Creative
23. Ravens, Pine Martens and Owls
24. Historical Re-Enactment
25. My 1981 Toyota Pick Up Truck
26. Dancing
27. Listening to the music of Great Big Sea, The Young Dubliners, The Indulgers, Il Divo, Sarah Brightman, Andre Bocelli, Seven Nations, Albannach, The Elders, Van Morrison, Orff's Carmina Burana, Gob's O'Phun, Hadrian's Wall, Isla St, Clair, Natalie Masters, Ashley McIsaacs and Alex Beaton
28. The art of Milton Avery, Anne Huskey-Lockard, Vincent Van Gogh, Pamela Allen, Vimala McClure, Leonardo DaVinci, Caravaggio, Mary Stephenson Cassatt, Paul Klee, John Singer Sargent, Amy Brown, Tristan Blakeman, Ces, Leah Piken Kolidas, Kay Koeper Sorensen,






29. The poems of Veronica Franco, Robert Frost, e.e. cummings
30. Dr. Who and Torchwood
31. Thunderstorms
32. Bond, James Bond, the Movies
33. Carnations, Thistles, Roses and Peonies
34. Fabric as gifts
35. My Country, right or wrong
36. A new Sketchbook or Journal
37. The way the mountains change from hour to hour
38. Cloth, Paper, Scissors, Interweave Knits and Quilting Arts Magazines
39. Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds and Candied Ginger, well anything dark chocolate
40. London Broil with a baked potato and green beans
41. Border Terriers
42. Tartan
43.Gourmet Camping
44. The Ocean (I miss it I do)
45. Sailing
46. Fire in the Fireplace
47. My Quilt Maverick Lovey
48. Having a Ball Winder and Swift from Knitpicks


49. Being the Block of the Month coordinator for Piecing Partners Quilt Guild
50. Amber Jewelry and a good strand of pearls
51. Finding a new use for something old
52. My Blazing Saddles Chair
53. Cooking and Baking
54. Finishing Something!
56. The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT
57. History
58. Bodice Rippers
59. Using the words "Event Horizon" in a sentence
60. Learning something new every day
61. Rescue Me and Sons of Anarchy on F/X
62. First Responders
63. Learning the difference between American English and British English
64. Celtic Knot Work

65. Crossword Puzzles
67. A Game of Nasty (Canasta)
68.Playing at the Renaissance Faire
69. Researching period clothing and reproducing it to wear
70. Creating Wearable Art
72. My New Wellies
73. Discovering a new to me art technique
74. A new box of Crayons
75. Odwalla Strawberry Banana Smoothies
76. Trombones
77. Being Cack-handed (Left Handed)
78. Old church buildings
79. Found Objects
80. Seashells
81. Rocks and Stones
82. Burn Notice on USA
83. Men in Kilts
84. Bagpipe Music
85. Starry nights with clouds moving across the Moon
86. Dogwood Trees
87. Ginkgo Leaves
89. Silk and Wool yarn
90. Samhain (All Hallow's Eve)
91. Little White Dogs
92. Making my own greeting cards
93. Making the morning biscuts with theme cookie cutters
94. How much my friends love my shortbread cookies
95. You, my friends
96. My daughter's quirky sense of humour
97. Needle felting
98. Woolly Shawls on Chilly Nights
99. Sleeping through an entire night
100. The Old 100th

It's April 17th & the 1st Annual Blogger's Quilt Festival

This is so kewl. Check out the link here: http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com and view some wonderful work included in the 1st ever Online Blogger Quilt Festival. The raven postcard pictured here is one of my favorites. It was made for the 200th Anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, which is being celebrated this year. I will post a different quilt later on when it's completed. Take a look, as well at "While the Octopus is Away" in an earlier post. It was done from a Bag o sCrap. The theme for that one came about after my daughter got back from seeing the Cirque de Soliel LOVE show in Las Vegas and describing the Octopus' Garden segment.

Rebecca, if you are reading this one, go check out the ParkCityGirl blog and then you should post the Pirate Quilt or else the new neutral one with the brown borders.

In reference to the date in the title of this post, it SNOWED AGAIN today. April is half way over, what's up with that?

Quilt Guild Door Prize and Life is Funny that Way

This morning was the meeting of the Piecing Partners Quilt Guild of Colorado Springs, CO. I have been a member of this guild since I moved to the Springs last year. I am the Block of the Month Coordinator as well. This requires that I pick out a quilt block and choose the fabric colours and type. I then make samples to show the ladies how it will look when finished. Last month was a paper pieced Aspen Leaf, to be done in a medium to dark blue background and yellow-green leaf. Rebecca and I are the only ones that got it right. Rebecca got it right, cuz I gave her the yellow-green fabric, LOL.

It has been a challenge to get the ladies to stick to the chosen colours consistently. I can't figure out if they don't know what the colours are (even tho I make 3-4 samples for them to see) or if they just don't care and are doing their own thing. To that end, for the Appliqued Columbine that I chose for next month BOM, I stole an idea from Vinda (also a member of the Guild and in charge of the Guild Challenge Quilt) and got paint chips in the colours chosen for the block for them to use in helping them pick their fabrics. We shall see what we shall see. It is a challenge to the winner of the blocks to make something from all of the blocks if they are difficult to put together, either colour-wise or size-wise.

I also induced my friend, Rebecca to join the guild a couple of months ago. She has been setting up her CQ kits to sell at each meeting. So, last month I won a door prize and as I had at least one of, if not more of every object in the bag, I gave them to Rebecca as she didn't have a bone folder or a magnet wand for picking up pins. The deal is, win a prize and bring another one back the next meeting, so I brought a pack of fat quarters of batiks this month.

Well, I won another door prize today. I got the bag and turned to Rebecca and said, "I wonder what I am giving you this month?" Then I opened the bag and there was fabric I recognized! It was a crazy quilt kit that Rebecca had put together and donated for the door prizes! What was even funnier, is that it was a bag of greens that I had given the fabric and embellishments to Rebecca so she could make kits from it. We about had hysterics over it, along with Rebecca's friend, Sheryl, who we have also induce to join the guild. Rebecca IS so bringing the door prize next month!

I also showed off the Baggo'Crap quilt in the making at show and tell as it will be finished and on it's way back to the owner before the next meeting. Yummy, dupioni silk, fake rose petals, beads, velvet, ribbon yarn and tassels. Ye Gods, it sounds like a stripper! A Baggo Quilt is made from a gallon zip bag filled with bits and bobs of stuff. The bags are sent to a central person, who them sends them out again to someone else. The challenge is to create something from the crap in the bag. After the quilt is completed, a picture is posted to our Yahoo Group, the Fiber Pirates and the person who's bag it was claims it and gets the quilt that resulted. Here's a preview of what is to come. I am pretty sure the person whose Baggo I got doesn't read my blog so I can get away with posting a partial view of it, I hope.

Edited: 22 April at 9:20 pm to add picture of the finished Baggo 2009.

While the Octopus is Away was the 2008 edition of the Baggo..

2009 Creative Every Day Challange and the El Paso County Crafters Get Together

My friend, Anne has induced me to be Creative Every Day. Click on the Creative Every Day 2009 icon and it will take you to the blog that started this venture. I will post pictures of what I have done creatively today after I find the cable to my camera.

As for the El Paso County Crafters; we had a lovely time together. It was wonderful to see all the things that the others were working on. What a great exhibit of creativity was on display. There were Rebecca's Crazy Quilts, Sheila and Sue's spinning, Wendie's baby items, (loved that pink flamingo bib) Jean's husband's vest. Of course we all had to show off our socks as well. I really liked Sheila's pair of socks and her Montana Clog Company handpainted clogs (I want a pair, so very much, here's the link: http://www.mtclogs.com). I had on my Encore Scrappies which keep my tootsies toasty and I was glad of it as it was a frosty day yesterday.

I showed Rebecca, Anthea and Tara how to do needle felting and they each made a Valentine themed piece. Anthea also made a crown themed one as well.

I will also post photos of the Ravelry.com El Paso County Crafters group craft day, after I find the cable to my camera. As promised here are the photographs from the El Paso County Crafters get together on 14 February, 2009

BTW: I am a Winner! I follow a blog that had a contest to Pay it Forward and I left a message and I got this in return.

Congratulations!  You're one of the winners from my recent...

Since I rarely if ever win anything it was a nice treat.  Maybe a little of that French Good luck
on Friday the 13th Rubbed off on me...