Pondering ...

Reflecting back on where I've been

Thinking of new directions in which I wish to travel

Preparing for the new year to unfold.

Shall I list my resolutions publicly this year?  or keep them to myself?  or perhaps blaze forth without any at all?   I do confess, I have gone without resolutions before -- enjoying each day with whatever it brings.

Perhaps I shall simply ponder some more ....

CQJP 2012

It's official -- I've signed up with another group for a year of productive creating and sharing.  This group is the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012.  Check out their website for more information at  www.cqjp2012.blogspot.com 
(Note: The deadline for signing up ended yesterday, but you can always play along independently!)

My goal -- to make 12 new crazy quilt blocks, perhaps to incorporate beading in each as well as fun and funky embroidery with the eventual end result of a finished quilt/quiltart piece -- hope I can keep up with one a month ..... always good to have lofty goals, right?

Thoughts for the new year ....

Have you been pondering the new year that is fast approaching? 

Making resolutions for changes you hope to make ...

Serious revisions on your current life ... 

Or pondering how to add a touch of whimsy and fun ...

Whatever your thoughts and resolutions may be, my wish for you is a simple one: 

May your life continue into a healthy, happy place and may you be surrounded by loved ones whom you cherish dearly!

Here's to 2012!

cold toes

It's a cold day

I've got cold toes

but the cold feels so good 

and I wish I were there again

now.

Taken on July 1, 2011 on Mt. Rainier in Washington State while hiking.  It's cold, wet and chilly today, in Houston.

Alas there's no snow ....

Blue Vase

I realized that I have never posted photos of the first delightful quilt that I received through Kate North's Another Little Quilt Swap #4 (ALQS).  Click here to learn more about the ALQS swaps and click here to see my post about my quilt Big Foot, framed!, that I offered up for trade.  But enough about these details as this blog post is featuring the quilt I received!  Tell me what you think of this little detail view ....

This sweet quilt originally  came to life  in Victoria, Australia.  Sue McBratney is the quilter who pieced, stitched, embellished and quilted this little quilt which I adore.  Here is the full view:

Blue Vase

Thank you Sue, for swapping such a lovely quilt!  

I love the pieced neutral background as it adds such texture and interest without distracting from the focal point of the blue vase filled with flowers.  I love the embroidery details that enhance each flower's center (and how you covered the threads on the backside of the quilt with little circle appliques).

Sue, I am thrilled to be the owner of your art!

BJP 2012

It's official -- I've signed up for another year of beading with Robin Atkins Beaded Journal Project, my 5th year (is that right?)!

Granted I have only completed the first year, 2007-2008 with my beaded pieces 4" x 6" in size.  Below is one which I named DNA gone wild!.  This piece is in a private collection...

DNA gone wild!

In the second year of BJP, I have so far only completed 8 of the 12 pieces.  Here is my February piece, reminiscent of a Madam from the Wild West ...

Queen of Hearts

I haven't started pieces for the third series, and am contemplating sizes to use for it as well themes -- and then to get started on the 4th series as well.  I am looking forward to working with my beads once again!

Zinnia

 I love love love my new quilt! 

I received this lovely blossom through the Another Little Quilt Swap #6 (ALQS6), hosted by my internet friend, Kate North.  My quilt, Zinnia, was created by Nickels Pickles (aka Nicole), who lives across the ocean from me (in Germany).

 

Click here to read Nicole's blog posting about making Zinnia which measures approximately 19" square.

(perhaps you recognize the border print - it's a Kaffe Fassett fabric)

 Here is a view of the back --the dark triangles are the hanging loops, in lieu of a sleeve.

Don't you enjoy getting to see the quilting from the back too?  Zinnia smiles on either side, front or back.

This is a great swap, Another Little Quilt Swap, too.   Anyone can sign up with no fear of failing to finish their swap quilt .... because Kate North, our fabulous hostess, will only swap the quilts that have been finished with two digital photos sent to her via email.  You can sign up, then life interrupts your progress on your quilt-to-swap, and that's OK, no one is let down (but you won't be eligible to swap).
If intrigued, join me when I sign up for ALQS #7 later in 2012 (or email me with questions).

Here I am

Here I am

standing in my own back yard

admiring my newest quilt 

and 

enjoying the gorgeous fall day with its cooler temperature. 

Love my quilt, love my sandals and love the lovely day!  

Summer heat seems so very long ago.

Did we really have 100 degree highs 

day after day after day?  

and a severe drought? 

and wild fires raging nearby?  

Yes, 

but all that is in the past now 

and 

today is a gorgeous fall day ... with rain coming ... soon ....

I am a fan of Lynn Krawczyk and her "Where I Stand" series and this is my version (and first attempt) of borrowing her idea.  (Thank you for the inspiration Lynn!) 

... Will this be the beginning or do I lack the dedication, time, energy, etc. to do this every week (taking photos, writing thoughts, then remembering to post these photos and thoughts every week?  I do not know the answer yet  ...  be patient as I dabble with this new element I hope/plan/want to add to my blog.

Thank you

For my birthday, I received some lovely handmade cards ....

 

and I love handmade cards.

Especially these made by my Toddler students! 

They are 2-3 years old.

After receiving such lovely cards, I couldn't bear to send store-bought "Thank-You" cards.

Could you?

So I  gathered a few supplies ...

to use as I set to my task... 

 of making simple, colorful cards, such as these.

After adding a handwritten note inside each one, I mailed my cards to their young recipients.

Thank you to all my Toddler students and my Kindergarteners, as you made my birthday such a wonderful day!  Celebrating is always fun, especially with my young friends!

Jazzing

I have a new found love ... and surprisingly it has nothing to do with fabric or fiber ...

It's jazzercise!

If you haven't ever tried it, or have ever been curious, or even used to "Jazz" days ago .... come check it out!  Come to a class before the holidays sweep us away (and before the post-New-Year's crowds swarm the classes in January (all those resolutions ...)

It's more fun that I imagined, plus I benefit from the exercise, and can celebrate with a guilt-free ice cream indulgence (ssshhhh, that's my secret).

Look for a class near you -- or come visit me and I'll bring you to mine.

TAST 2012

Calling all the Stitchers (and Stitcher-wannabe's) out there -- it is time to sign up for TAST -- Take A Stitch Tuesday!

Don't you like the label?  It is created by Annet, whose blog is fat-quarter.blogspot.com

Take A Stitch Tuesday is run by Sharon B, from her blog PinTangle.com, where she has posted a list of the many who've already signed up to participate.  Basically, Sharon (who lives in Australia) posts a stitch each Tuesday (in Australia, which appears here on Monday) and challenges everyone to try out this stitch on something this week.  It is an open group, one can follow along, or join it and share their stitches made via Stitchin Fingers group, or via blogs, or through Flickr.  To learn more click here (for details on the new year's group & sign-up list - and to sign up!) or click here to see Sharon's  "For-the-Love-of-Stitching Band Sampler" or click here to learn more about any number of community challenges.

If you're interested in the Stitchin Finger group (a ning thing) click here for a direct jump to the homepage.

Betty's quilt and Lynn's books

Reasonably Realistic Structures, 2011

Here is the full view of Betty's quilt, which she calls "Reasonably Realistic Structures."  Betty made her quilts from ten house blocks that were swapped in the QGGH Block Builders Bee many years ago (possibly more than a decade ago? but less than 15 years ...right, Betty?).

The quilters who traded in this ten-block swap begin with Betty Rivers (who is the first to piece her blocks into a finished quilt!), Lynn Roddy Brown (the initiater/organizer/planner of this swap), Rita Carter, Jill Danzer, Denise Goodman, Catherine Purifoy (who has quilts featured in Fons & Porter, click here and here), Barbara Reynolds, Harriet Rhea, Elizabeth Stewart, and myself, Cathy Winter.  Lynn, the organizer of this swap, is our most famous swapper as she has published not one but three books all about making (and trading) scrappy blocks and quilts.

Her books are:

Simple Strategies for Scrap Quilts

This is her first quilting book and features my favorite, "The Texas Two Step".  I have also spied one (or two?) of my blocks on this cover -- but I will not try to point out which one is my block!  Click here to see other quilts featured in this book.

Simple Strategies for Block-Swap Quilts

Lynn's second book has more fun scrappy quilts, including a few more that I have blocks in!  How exciting it is to see blocks I made featured in a quilt that has been photographed and published in one of Lynn's books!  Click here to see more quilts from patterns featured in this book.

Patchwork-Play Quilts

This is her most recent book published.  I ran into Lynn during Quilt Market this year, where she kept busy autographing copies of her newest book.  Stay tuned, I think she may be writing another book already (perhaps one of my quilts will get into one of her future books, eventually .... it never hurts to dream big, right?).  Click here to learn more about my friend Lynn Roddy Brown.

Be sure to check out her website http://www.lynnroddybrown.com any time.  Note: Look for Lynn's books at your local quilt shop.  They are available through Amazon.com as well.

Rita's house

Rita Carter is a member of our Block Builders house-swapping group.  Here she is, next to her house.

Of course, at the moment, I can't recall which of the two story red brick houses is Rita's (apologies to Rita!)  I will correct this post once I've remembered (or been reminded) which is hers, promise!  (hazards of aging -- the forgetful mind, or is it the hazard of holding onto UFOs for far-too-long?).

 

Here are the three of us at the Quilt Show this past summer.  I only wish that more of our group of ten were there that day.

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will post a view of the quilt without smiling quilters blocking it.  As mentioned previously, this is Betty Rivers' quilt made from ten blocks traded many years ago when we were all in the QGGH Block Builders Bee.  I have since switched to another bee, but the Block Builders Bee still meets (on Wednesdays, right?) -- perhaps I will rejoin them!

Betty's house

This is Betty Rivers in front of her house block, the one just above her smile.

With a last name Rivers, naturally Betty incorporated a flowing stream, err, river, in her house block.  Her house is set in the woods, next to a flowing river.  Look to the left to see a narrow sliver of my red Victorian.  Notice that she added a gingerbread man in her doorway, too.

As mentioned in the post before this one, this is Betty's quilt made of blocks we traded in our Block Builders Bee several years ago.  There were ten quilters that made blocks for this building swap.  Mine are still in my collection of UFOs while Betty finished hers in time for this year's QGGH quilt show.  She has finished other award-winning quilts from blocks we traded in our bee.  Click here to see another one of Betty's quilts.

My house

Years ago, I made ten of these two-story red Victorian homes for a small block swap in my Block Builders Bee, one of the many bees in the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston (QGGH). 

 

For this swap, each of the ten swappers were to make ten blocks of a house -- I can't recall now if we had a size restriction, possibly a size range to keep in within (larger than X" and smaller than Y').  I'll check to see if anyone remembers.  Should I mention that my ten blocks are one of my many UFOs?  Then what is this I'm standing in front of, you ask?  Betty Rivers pieced her blocks together and entered it into this year's QGGH quilt show!  She added the gingerbread man standing in my doorway.

A Texas Call ...

Craft Texas has opened it's 2012 Call for Art ... This Call culminates into a Fall Show, CraftTexas 2012, at the Houston Contemporary Craft Center (HCCC).  This is the seventh year for this special exhibit which features the best of Contemporary Craft made in Texas.  Featured artists, artisans and craftsmen hail from across our grand state and specialize in a diversity of materials including fiber, wood, glass, metal, clay, recyled/found objects and more.  Click here for more information about the exhibit and application process or go to http://www.crafthouston.org to see learn more about HCCC.

Applications are made through CaFE, CallForEntry.org, a website that specializes in Calls for Art (this is the first time I've ever heard of it -- but then I rarely apply these days ...).   Now just because I'm not applying, doesn't mean you shouldn't!  Go for it! (but you must live in Texas .... so move here, if necessary!)

Don't Kill the Birthday Girl

This book happens to be my second memoir this month ...  a different kind of memoir ....

Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life by Sandra Beasley is a fascinating read, all the more so for me as I have two allergic Kindergarteners in my class this year, one of whom is highly allergic.  My eyes have been opened to a precarious life-hazard previously unknown (or rather unrecognized) by me.  Sandra weaves her story of emergency room visits and her coping techniques (not recommended for you to try) with facts about foods and their associated allergies.   Click here to read another review with more comments/endorsements.  If you have a friend who has food allergies, or a friend whose child suffers from food allergies, then reading this book is a must.  Don't Kill the Birthday Girl is an excellent read even if you do not have allergies.

Note: I happened on this book in my local library on the New Releases shelf.  Perhaps you will find a copy in your local library -- or request it through inter-library loan -- or borrow it from a friend -- or read an e-book version -- or purchase it from a local bookstore or via an online one.  Have I listed all the possible options yet?

Tactile Architecture

I recently found this neat slideshow of the 2011 Tactile Architecture exhibit from the 2011 International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston.   I wanted to be able to find it again, so am doing a post-dated post (sending it back into time on this very blog).  Hope the links work -- I am slowly becoming more adept at running my own blog, but it's a very slow process. 

2011 Tactile Architecture click here

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d6a6b7a4e544d344e44673d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_playback_link

Photo Ops with Alice

Beyond the Borders, my art quilt group, had our "Alice's Odyssey" in a Special Exhibit at the International Quilt Festival this fall.  It was our challenge piece that was started perhaps 2 years ago .... and we were thrilled to be sharing it with the quilting enthusiasts that flock to the largest quilt show around, especially since it will soon be dismantled with each individual puzzle piece being returned the its original maker.

We tried gathering everyone for a group photo ... finally agreeing that we were too many to coordinate the same one day and time.  So we scheduled two photo-ops with our Alice.

First is our Thursday gathering ...

 

From the left (seated) are Nancy B. Dickey, Linda Teddlie Minton, Ann Schaefer and standing are Cheryl Johnson and Jo Sweet.  I'm the one kneeling.

Then we gathered again on Saturday ...

 

Connie Fahrion, Hannah Mallon, Sara Sissenwein Norris, Elaine Connelly all joined me this time around.  

Missing from these photos are the Alice puzzle-piece makers Bethany Carter (the originator of this challenge), Susan Carter, Gloria Kohnen, Janice McKeehan, Susan Fletcher King and Liz Broussard. 

Our quilt as seen at the Quilt Festival (with protective barrier in place).

Alice's Odyssey

 and for the curious among you .... here is my piece.

I like to call it "Big Foot Alice" ....

One view at Quilt Festival

Here's a view of my favorite Quilting booth, Thangles!  My friends, Mary and Pat come from Wisconsin annually to share their product with fellow quilt enthusiasts.  I look forward to seeing them as much as I look forward to the Quilt Festival itself.   I help out in their booth when I can.  "Meet-n-Greet" is a fun job, or restocking supplies, or wrapping the new-fru.   I even enjoy closing the booth and packing it up at the end of the show.  The best part is just being with my friends every year, here in Houston.

In these two photos, Mary is visiting with her friend, Roxanne Fawl from Overbrook Quilt Connection (another great booth!).  They were neighbors at the International Quilt Festival many many years ago and have built a strong friendship (from sharing many experiences at Markets and Quilt shows scattered all across the country).  Quilting friends are the best!

Free For All

One of my sons noticed this book on a recent trip to our local public library.  Being the library regulars that we are, he promptly picked it up, checked it out, read it and then recommended it to me.  I have just finished it this morning.  I confess, I thought I was reading a fictional story, only to be corrected by my son -- this is more Memoir than Fiction.

Don Borchert shares many stories of the quirky folks he has come across while employed in a public library.  If you are regular visitor to your local library, you will enjoy reading Mr. Borchert's tales of the "Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library".  Look for this book (or request a copy through the inter-library loan, which is a favorite feature at our branch.  We browse book titles at home, via the internet, then select a few and "request" to borrow them.  An email arrives when the book is ready to be picked up. 

Support your local library and your local Independent book stores.  Above all -- Read!
Please be sure to share any good reads you discover with me.

Veterans Day 2011

Happy Veterans Day to all our nation's Veterans -- including my own Sister-in-law (who served in the First Gulf War), my Dad (who served in Korea and Vietnam) and in memory of my Father-in-Law, Papa Herb (who served in World War II).
Happy Veterans Day to many many more who have served or who are currently serving in our Military.

This quilt is titled And Our Flag Was Still There and was created by Melinda Bula of El Dorado Hills, California.  It appeared in the 2011 International Quilt Association's show that was open one week ago in Houston, Texas.

And Our Flag Was Still There by Melinda Bula

On the placard near this quilt are Melinda's words:

Attending my son's graduation from Marine Boot Camp in August, 2010, I was moved by the young men who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.  I consider myself patriotic, but nothing prepared me for that day.  This is for all the families like mine, who raised proud and devoted young Americans who have and will continue to protect the United States and what it represents, with their lives.

Melinda, thank you for sharing your colorful quilt and its heartfelt message with us.  

This quilt is an original design by Melinda Bula.  She used commercial and hand-dyed cotton fabrics, 30 weight rayon Sulky thread, and Quilter's Dream cotton batting.  To create her quilt, Melinda used fusible applique techniques as well as thread painting techniques.

To see more wonderful quilts (think lovely flower blossoms), please check out her website at http://www.melindabula.com/

Melinda also has a blog (doesn't everyone these days?).  Her blog is called Melinda's Cutting Garden (great name!).   Read about her adventures in Houston by clicking here.

A First Birthday quilt

A first granddaughter is such a wonderful blessing.  This gorgeous quilt (visually striking up close and from a distance) was made in celebration of the quilter's first granddaughter's first birthday.

Happy Birthday by Harumi Asada

The quilter is Harumi Asada who is from Higashiura, Japan.  What a delightful quilt she has made!

Look closely and you will find photos of her precious granddaughter tucked into many stars circling the quilt.  This baby is truly loved and treasured!

This quilt was in a special exhibit, Hands All Around 2011.  Here are a few more details about the quilt as shared by the quilter Harumi Asada.

Hint:  If you Google this quilter, you will find that she has made many other gorgeous quilts -- but alas, I cannot find a blog or website that I can share with you.  Instead I will share names of her other beautiful creations:

The Breath of Life featured in a 2008 Quilt Market exhibit
Gems of Thirty Years (looks like an Anniversary quilt, perhaps?)
Family, Flower and Music  (happy memories with her family)
Open Up! Your Dream Flower  (inspired by an 1870 Bengali embroidered quilt)

I am sure there are more -- please share any that you know of with me.
Harumi, if you are reading this, please know that you have another true fan - me!

Quilted transportation

You never know what you will see when you attend Houston's International Quilt Festival.

I am guessing that this is a fun vehicle to drive around town in.  Wouldn't you agree?

Of course, in Texas, not everyone travels by motorized vehicles....