A room with a view

I love to travel.

I love to stay in hotels too.

Best of all, I love to stay in a hotel room with a fabulous view!

like this one ...

isn't this lovely?

same window, looking to the far left.

and again, looking straight forward.

I'm so very pleased that I thought to take these photos as soon as we checked in, as the light is luscious.  It is heading toward sunset, but not late enough for the bats to fly out from under the Congress Street Bridge.  Years ago the State Capitol and the UT Tower would be easy to see -- long before high rises were allowed to be taller than these two landmarks of Austin, Texas.  Of course, I am looking out from the fifth floor of a building that didn't exist back then!

The other great treat of taking these photos upon arrival, is that a cold front blew in after sunset.  The window were covered with condensation in the morning and remained so for the rest of our stay.

But isn't this a lovely view?  Ladybird Lake with the Congress Bridge to the right and downtown Austin as it looks today, December 26, 2014.

I confess -- I do love a room with a view!

PS  Hint:  Always ask for a room with a view when you are checking in, or better still, ask when you place your reservation.

New finishes to tackle

It is a new month and time to decide what to tackle in my ongoing "A Lovely Year of Finishes" challenge.  I have so many projects that are just waiting to be finished that it is difficult to select just one to be the focus of finishing this month.  Perhaps because I know I will be distracted and stray from my challenge to work on other quilts.  I am learning that I love most to bounce from one project to another (might this must be the key to why I finish so few items? ... perhaps .... sigh).  

But I've finally made the decision for this month - at last!

This lovely quilt is the one that won the race and is my December focus to finish in "A Lovely Year of Finishes" challenge.

I aim to bind this lovely Bargello Batik quilt made by another and quilted by my friend Pam Biswas.  I will add a binding to this quilt, and possibly bind a sister bargello quilt too this month.  Be sure to check out Pam's website at http://www.pamquiltaholic.com/ as she's pretty awesome.

Here is a peek at my ongoing counted cross-stitch project.  It has been awhile since I've revealed where I am with it ... and I am plugging along ever steadily yet somewhat slowly.  Perhaps one day it will be upgraded to be my selection for the A Lovely Year of Finishes challenge - but not this month!

Two little peeks at my ongoing work -- come back to see how I fare with both ...

Also, be sure to join me and many more who are actively working to finish projects with the yearlong challenge called A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I have stated my goal and am linky #58 on the December Goal Linky Party page. Check it out here and feel free to join us. 

I'm excited -- this is my seventh month to post and link my goals in this yearlong challenge.  Here's a list of months with my linky numbers on the matching Goal Setting pages.
February - goal linky # 148
July - goal linky # 105
August - goal linky # 32
September - goal linky # 52
October - goal linky # 25
November - goal linky # 38
December  - goal linky # 58

Mmm Pot Pie!

Mmm Pot Pie is finished!

This is just a peek as I am entering this quilt into the upcoming Quilt Con, the Modern Quilt Guild's Quilt Show coming to Austin, Texas in February 2015.

I have used the Pot Pie pattern from Thangles, though I needed to resize the pattern to a smaller block size (from 13" to 8.75") due to the challenge fabrics being less than one FQ which is what the pattern needed.

I thought I would show my various layouts as I was deciding where to put each block.  Piecing a scrappy top is always fun, and when it is a small quilt, it is easy to agonize where to place each block.  Is it too close to its reverse block?  Are the darker solids scattered well (since there are more of the pastels and fewer of the dark solids)?  So many placement options. This is a fun quilt to make!  I plan to do it again in other contrasting mixes of pattern (batik, traditional calico, new modern prints with a coordinating solid, or any other combination).

This is the finished top.  The next puzzle was to decide how to quilt this little top.

My friend Pam Biswas did the excellent quilting (look back at the detail image at the beginning of this post).  Pam and I had fun talking about various possible designs to use, before settling on the swirling spirals with the occasional spiky swirl inserted randomly.  The spiky swirl reminds me of a cocky rooster crowing in the morning, so much so that I nicknamed my quilt "Rooster Pot Pie". The actual name is "Mmm Pot Pie" in honor of the challenge which started this quilt and for the tasty pot pies (that Sara and Mary are enjoying together while I am working hard to get this posted be tonight's deadline!).   So the "Mmm" of the quilt's name represents My Michael Miller, and also Mmmmm, good!).

This quilt is my successfully finished project for the November "Lovely Year of Finishes" challenge.  Click here to see others that have finished their goals for the month, where I am linky #52.  You can also click here to see who entered the month with the goal of finishing something.  I am linky #38 on the goals page. 

After I learn if the quilt is accepted into Quilt Con, I will post a photo of the full quilt.

Just a few of my favorite Thangles quilts.

I love seeing my Quilt Family at our annual gathering in Houston for the International Quilt Market and Quilt Festival.  This blog post features a few favorite quilts made with Thangles, created by MB Hayes, who I met at Quilt Market maybe 1,000 years ago.  I plan to start one of these soon ....

I love this Orion Star quilt.  If you are familiar with Thangles, you may recognize this best selling pattern which is always on display in their booth at Quilt Shows and Markets -- but in a cooler color way (purples, blues and greens).  I plan to make it one day, possibly in reproduction prints ....  The project pack is available online (directions and Thangles included!) by clicking here.

I love this StashBuster pattern!  It is very similar to the current 2014 StashBuster pattern that is the free bonus sent out with all online orders placed this year.  Check out the one featured on the website here. Better yet, order a few Thangles via the website (click here) and receive the pattern for free! 

This is a variation of a pattern called "Stash Balls" -- such a fun what to use up your colorful fabric stash!  There are many stash-busting patterns featured on their website gallery (or click here for a quick trip there!)  Thangles are great to use when clearing out your gallery of fabrics with the double bonus of making room for new fabric acquisitions as well as giving you a fabulous new quilt!

This is one of the older designs and possibly one of the first Thangles patterns that I made and have kept.  I made several that were given away - both baby quilts and table runners.   I should get busy and make more as gifts!  There are two new patterns that feature quick-to-sew quilts (great for making and gifting to friends and family).  They are "Dress Your Table" (aptly named for a collection of six small quilts) and "Dress Your Table 2" (hmmm, guess this pattern was created second).

Susan's work

Tuesday before the opening of the 2014 International Quilt Festival, I visited the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) with a friend visiting from Chicago.  I was delighted to spy a quilt in the current exhibit CraftTexas 2014 that is a creation of a local friend of mine. 

Moon Drunk is an original work by Susan Fletcher King.

Susan used fabric, dye, thread, ink, and batting to create moonlight scene, stitching this piece in 2012.  (note: CraftTexas 2014 is open through December 24, 2014 at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft located at 4848 Main St, 77002.  Be sure to see it.)


Thursday was the first chance I had to view special exhibits at the huge festival.  Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison co-curated an exhibit titled Reflections (sponsored by Havel's Sewing, presented by the Dinner at Eight Artists).  It's description in the program reads: "A mirror image. A response to a thought or word. A memory. What glints back at us as we gaze upon the water? The throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it. What will your reflection reveal about you?" Susan has a piece in this exhibit too.

The Parable of the Dragon and the Sheep by Susan Fletcher King

Susan explains her Reflection piece with this statement:  "Do you choose to stand out, be bold, and make a statement?  Or do you choose to be part of a flock, merely a reflection of your surroundings.  Every day the choice is yours."   She was inspired by a photograph of a South African Blue-headed Agama Lizard.

Then on Saturday as I was admiring the many quilts in the International Quilt Association's judged show, I spied a third quilt by Susan.

 

The Visitor by Susan Fletcher King

"Little miracles happen very occasionally, and if we are lucky, we might be in the right place at the right time to witness one.  Here, this heron is stepping from his world into ours, giving us a moment to always remember." reads Susan's statement.  Materials she used include prepared-for-dyeing (PDF) fabric, Tsukineko All-Purpose inks, acrylic paints, cotton batting, commercial fabric backing, numerous and various threads. Her original design was inspired by a photograph supplied by Thomas Wrublewski.  

All three quilts measure 24" x 60" in size.  All three quilts feature original designs that Susan drew, painted, inked, fused raw-edge applique pieces, stitched with many various threads and machine quilted.  To see more of her work, visit her website:

http://susanfletcherking.com/

Susan's work is also shown and sold through Copper Shade Tree Gallery in Round Top, Texas:

http://coppershadetree.com/

Quilts by my friends

I always love wandering through the many quilt exhibits on display at the annual International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas.  I'm thrilled when I spy quilts made by friends of mine.  This post is to share three of these quilts.

First up is this lovely vase of flowers, Spring Bouquet, by my friend Ann Graf.

Ann is in my Art Quilt group, Beyond the Sunset.  She started this quilt about twelve years ago, then it sat in her UFO pile until more recently, when she brought it a time or two to our Beyond the Sunset meetings.  Ann's quilt was displayed as part of the "In Full Bloom" exhibit, sponsored by Martelli Enterprises.  This juried exhibit celebrates the tradition of floral quiltmaking and is in memory of Helen Pearce O'Bryant, one of the founders of the Quilt Festival.  To see more of the quilts from this exhibit, click here.  Ann also had quilts in the Journal Quilt exhibit in 2003.  Click here for a view of those.

Insanity 3,044 is a quilt by my friend Lynn Roddy Brown.

The quilt's name comes from the number of pieces within it: three thousand, forty-four and the zaniness of the scrappy fabrics used.  According to Lynn, "the variety of fabrics" used in this quilt "lends exuberant chaos to the very structured pattern.  A uniform pieced border brings all of this discord into harmony."

This detail view makes it easy to spy the triple nine-patch blocks which were joined with a nicely pieced sashing.  The blocks in the outer border are also triple nine-patch blocks, but these are made in a uniform fashion using only two fabrics.  The triple nine-patch blocks are very scrappy in the center of the quilt as she has swapped these with quilting friends.  In fact, that is how I know Lynn.  She is one of the members in the Block Builders Bee that I am also in.  It is just one of the many bees within the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston.

Scraps, Spare Parts and Leftovers is also by Lynn.

Lynn excels at making scrappy quilts.  This one has a medallion look with a center built with three different quilt projects.  There are split nine-patch blocks, rail fence blocks, a block made in a Sharyn Craig class and four corner blocks.  The borders were made from other spare parts that Lynn had on hand.  According to Lynn, a quilt made entirely from her stash is a 'free quilt!'

Both of Lynn's quilts were part of the exhibit showcasing "Texas Quilt Guilds' Award-winning Traditional Quilt".  Lynn is a master of making scrappy quilts.  Learn more from her in any one of her three books published by Martingale.  Her first book, Simple Strategies for Scrap Quilts, is available as an ebook (click here).  Her second book, Simple Strategies for Block-Swap Quilts, is also available as an ebook (click here).  Patchwork-Play Quilts- Make the Most of Scraps, Spare Parts and Leftovers is Lynn's most recent book and is available in both print and ebook form (click here).

Challenge to finish and dolls

Here it is -- this is the packet of beautiful pastel solids I received from Michael Miller for their Spring Cotton Couture Challenge for 2015. 

In this latest challenge (issued to the Modern Quilt Guild members), rules state that we can use only Michael Miller's Cotton Couture fabrics in the quilt.  Thus my first challenge was not only what design shall I use, but where in the world can I find more of their Cotton Couture fabric line?  Using the trusty internet, I discovered that High Fashion Fabrics carries their fabrics.  After a Sunday afternoon trek to their downtown shop, I discovered these darker solids to add to my challenge piece.

Now for my list of steps:

• Decide on a pattern (done - plan to revise (slightly) a pattern by my friend MBHayes of Thangles fame - I will share more on this in the next post about this project), 
• Cut it out and stitch it up (the top is stitched!), 
• Select on a back fabric (any Michael Miller - print or solid - is acceptable.  I've chosen one from my friend Patty Sloniger's latest line called Emma's Garden), 
• Choose a quilting design and thread to use (this seems to be where I am stuck ... ).
• Quilt it, 
• Bind and label it.
• Last of all, photograph and submit it before the fast approaching deadline!

My quilt is not finished, so I have made it my November "Lovely Year of Finishes" challenge.  Now it is in two challenges!  I have stated my goal and am linky #38 on the November Goal Linky Party page.  Check it out here and feel free to join us!

I have selected my pattern and have stitched up the top, but am still playing with many ideas of how to best quilt it (and shall I pull in Pam_Quiltaholic's expertise to do the actual quilting?  Here is a photo of my friend MB and myself standing in her Thangles booth during the International Quilt Festival this year.  We are standing in front of my "Summer Baskets from My Friends" quilt!

It is really fun to see something you have made hanging up in a public place for many to see it, admire it, and possibly even buy the pattern for it!  Read more about my basket quilt here.

The International Quilt Festival has closed for the year so now I have time to share a few photos taken during the busy days of the show.  First - "In Celebration of the Doll" is always a fun exhibit.

It is even more fun when you are searching for a doll made by my friend, Marlene Slobin.  I'm glad I knew to look for three dolls, not just one!  Below is a closeup of "The Novak Sisters" that she made. 

 Marlene, your creative dolls always make me smile!  I look forward to your next one...or group ...