A trio of Hamsa quiltlet gifts

Three weddings among our small religious school staff during our year with "Peace Love & Music" theme gave me the challenge to make something special for these friends.  The gifts were commissioned by our Religious School Director and would be given from the entire Religious School Staff.  Something alike yet different was needed as well as something incorporating the Judaic charms that Marna gave me.  My ideal goal was to create original pieces that would be well-loved by each of the three newly married couples.   Months of pondering lead to the idea that was shared in the post here and the finished pieces are below.

This first Hamsa quiltlet of Peace, Love and Music was made especially for Sarah and Michael, the first couple to marry of the three.  The fabric used for the hamsa is the same that I used to applique a dove on my block for their wedding chuppah.

 My dove block is on the farthest side of the chuppah - in other words, you can't really see it in this photo...

so here it is or click here.

 The beautiful bride Sarah and her Mom Cathy smile in anticipation.

One serious groom Michael is focused during the ketubah signing.

The second Hamsa quiltlet of Peace, Love and Music was gifted to a journalist Michael (another different Michael, of course) and his bride Rachael.

   

I loved using this newsprint fabric for this wonderful couple whose wedding was a lovely outdoor setting in Central Texas.  Purple was also a prominent color in their wedding and reception.

 Such beautiful smiles by newlyweds in love!

Cutting the cake is always a fun time at weddings, and moments captured on other's smart phones is the new normal.  Do you see the purple kippah?

The third Hamsa quiltlet of Peace, Love and Music is in orange, the favorite color of the groom Matt.  I hope his bride likes it as much as I do -- it may feature my favorite quilting too.  Note: I only quilt my smaller pieces, such as these which are approximately 15" x 18".

 Their wedding was small and intimate amidst the trees in the Houston Arboretum.  I do not have any photos of their small wedding and reception, so will share a favorite from last summer, when the groom Matt was traveling in Israel as a chaperone for a group of teens from our religious school (a group that included my sons).  I think he does like orange!

These three quilts were a joy to make for my friends.  They were finally completed and gifted to the couples in June, after the school year ended, though a sneak preview was shown during our closing school luncheon for the faculty.

I've missed the linky at the beginning of the month (again) but this is for the final linky for the month of June in "A Lovely Year of Finishes" ... sigh.  However, it's never too late to finish something!

Join this monthly challenge group "A Lovely Year of Quilt Finishes" at any time.  In the first few days of the month, you post your goal for the month, then in the closing days of that same month, you post your successful completion.  It's that simple.  To keep it fun, there are prizes awarded randomly - woo-hoo!  I am linky #64 on the completion posts.
(Is this a perfect number?   Eight-squared - I love playing with numbers, don't you?)

Flood Texas with Love

The week-end of Memorial Day 2015 brought massive quantities of water flooding through several Texas towns.  The photos on the news that week-end and the days following were amazingly awful to look at and the news of the amount of loss, both the loss of life and the loss of property was heart-wrenching.

When I saw this logo posted on InstaGram by "supersara20", Sara,  I immediately wanted to join in and help with this great drive. 

credit to Brenna (IG - beknitpicky) for this great logo!

Quoting Sara  from her blog Southern Transplant:
The state of Texas is many things to many people.  To millions it is home.  Texas has recently dealt with severe weather including flooding and tornados in many areas, the worst of which was in Hays County and the city of Houston.  I am a resident of Hays County, I have had to deal with flooded roads, rain, high winds and losing a few shingles on my house.  I am one of the lucky ones.  Many others have had to deal with flooding of their homes and the loss of loved ones.  To date there have been 28 deaths associated with the flooding and several of these people are still missing.  There have been hundreds of houses flooded and many completely washed away.  As the flood waters recede people are returning home, to find mud, mold, venomous snakes, fire ants and rodents in their homes making the clean up that much more difficult.

The idea is for the community of quilters to Flood Texas with Love (and with Quilts).

Sara obtained permission from Cheryl Arkison, who has graciously given permission for us use her Just One Slab block from her book Sunday Morning Quilts which is a fabulous book (I own a digital copy).  

 The directions for the color-slab blocks can be found on pages 48-49.  

Cheryl gives directions on her blog, Dining Room Empire.  Click here for the specific post or keep on reading as the following is quoted directly from her post:

If you don't have the book (Sunday Morning Quilts), let me summarize how to make a slab:
Take two pieces of fabric and sew them together. Do that a few more times. Then start sewing more pieces to those first pairs. Sew groups together. Add additional pieces of fabric as necessary to get up to your finished size. Start with small bits or big ones, it doesn't matter. Raid your scrap bins and go with what you've got.

Sara adds to make each block using one color per "slab".  Any color.  Each block should measure 15.5" square.  The hope and plan is to make quilts 60" x 75" in size, in a rainbow of colors.   Sara is collecting blocks through the month of June, then the piecing, quilting and binding will be completed in July.  

So far I have made four slabs....

 an orange one came first...

 then a green one ...

 then not one, but two blue ones!

I discovered that piecing two slabs at a time is very time efficient.  I love this creative way of using up the fabric scraps that I can never toss into the trash.  This is a fun block to piece, perhaps because there are no specific rules. The directions are to improvise as you go, ending up with a block that measures 15.5" square.  I believe improv piecing is quite freeing! 


Thank you to Sara and to Cheryl for this wonderful project.  I have so many friends who lost so much in the flooding, specifically here in Houston, but also all across our mighty state.  The time to heal is now and sadly it is moving forward ever so slowly.  I know it is still hard for many.  I hope that these quilts, when presented to their new owners, will provide them with much love and with new-found strength.

Here is Cheryl's update on the Canadian floods from 2013, with photos of the quilts made then.  Click here.  She also acknowledges the drive we are currently holding in Texas to help flood fellow Texans with love and quilts.  How awesome is that!  Besides piecing slab blocks, I am also helping to quilt and bind the finished quilts too.  An amazing project that I am very proud to be a part of.... truly.


If you would like to join us, it is not too late.  Make a slab or two -- in your favorite color or in whatever color is most predominant in your scrap bins.  If you can't make a block(s) you can donate through Paypal to sara_stetson@yahoo.com in any amount.  All money will be used for quilt materials (batting/backings/thread/binding), shipping and long arm services. Any excess money collected will be donated to the Red Cross of Central Texas.  (Sara is happy to provide documentation if requested to show the donations are used correctly!)

Please email Sara at sara_stetson@yahoo.com or send her a private message on Instagram @supersara20 when you have blocks that are ready to send to Sara in Austin, or contact me in Houston.


Thank you all in advance!


#floodtexaswithlove

Plastic bags storage idea

I love trying to neaten my messy, unorganized life and was tickled to learn a simple and easy way to downsize the amount of space that grocery plastic bags can take.  Thank you to my friend Katie of www.charliemarlmalade.com fame for sharing this idea with me at our recent Houston Modern Quilt Guild Retreat.  It's a simple idea that I wonder why I never thought of it before.

You can take this big goofy mess and ....

end up with this small pile of neat triangles.

Basically you flatten the plastic bags and fold them up into triangular shapes, much like the proper folding of the flag of the USA or like young boys fold paper-tabletop footballs.
Here are directions in a few simple steps.

First, take a plastic bag and flatten it neatly.

Fold it in half lengthwise, then into thirds lengthwise again to get a long folded rectangle.

Starting at the bottom edge of the plastic bag, fold one corner down, making a triangle shape.

Now carefully fold the triangle over on itself, neatening and straightening with each fold.

Keep folding the triangle over onto itself, slowly moving upwards toward the handle ends.

Be sure to straighten the triangle with each folded step.

When you get to the end, it may be a bit puzzling....

But you simply take those leftover handle edges and tuck them into the opening made by the folded edges of the triangle

Voila, one tightly tucked and folded triangular football shape -- which is easy to tuck into purse pockets, in the glove box of your car, or most any where.

This is amazingly rather fun and has the happy result of a neater, smaller space holding your extra plastic grocery bags.  I think it is my crazy new addiction which I am sharing with you.  Now you too can easily tote a plastic bag or three or seven with you wherever your travels and wanderings may take you.

finishing another

I have missed posting on my blog this spring -- guess I was just too busy playing-err-working-&-teaching my Toddler class.  It was an awesome group of a dozen little ones with an amazing co-teacher!  Such a fun time spent every MWF with them this year .... and meanwhile, at home, I've still been stitching and sewing and creating.

So this is my official jump back into the blogging world. 

This quilt has been waiting for a binding to be stitched on to officially complete it for many years.  I do not understand why I struggle so with finishing projects (such as this one), but here it is -- the binding is being handstitched into place and I may stitch it once more by machine, just to add to the security of it staying stitched down, as I plan to gift this to a dear friend later this summer.  More on that in another post ....

Can you see the peekaboo of one furry critter who likes to be nearby when I am sewing?

I've missed the linky at the beginning of the month (as well as last month and perhaps the one before that ...) but this is for the final linky for May in "A Lovely Year of Finishes" even though I did not post my goal at the beginning of the month ... sigh.  However, it's never too late to finish something!

Join this monthly challenge group "A Lovely Year of Quilt Finishes" at any time.  In the first few days of the month, you post your goal for the month, then in the closing days of that same month, you post your successful completion.  It's that simple.  To keep it fun, there are prizes awarded randomly - woo-hoo!  I am linky #14 on the completion posts (almost got the prime number #13... but missed by seconds....sigh).

an idea begins ...

Sharing the beginnings of a new series ....

First, the germ of an idea is flushed out with the help of construction paper.

I am using the hamsa as the focal shape of this new series of quilts, small quilts (quiltlets) that will be given to three pairs of friends who have recently been married.  They are all faculty of the religious school where I teach Kindergarten.  Our theme this year is "Peace, Love and Music", hence the three shapes in yellow.  Question:  which way do the fingers of the hamsa point?  or does it matter?

          This is what I learned when looking for this answer:
The hamsa, meaning five fingers (or digits) of the hand, symbolizes luck and prosperity. The hamsa is sometimes referred to as the Hand of God and is also known as Hand of Fatima, or the Hand of Miriam.  One source stated that the hamsa hand conveys a message to the devil, so upwardly hamsa is good against the 'evil eye' and a downward hamsa is an auspicious sign of prosperity and success. However the hamsa is displayed in either direction.... I may have to look into this further.  

For my project, I have decided to place the fingers downward.  Next step is to select the backgrounds and the hamsa fabrics for three different quiltlets.

 

 

After appliqueing the hamsas onto each background, my next step was to use reverse applique to attach the Peace sign, the heart and the musical notes.

Stay tuned for further developments ....

Modern Rainbow Blog Tour

 

Becca Bryan's Modern Rainbow three week blog tour has begun.  Visit a few blogs and enter your chance to win a copy of her colorful book.

I met Becca through the Houston Modern Quilt Guild and tested a pattern for her last Fall, Trilobite Cats shown here.

Trilobite Cats

At the time I made my rainbow trilobite cats, I had no idea that Becca's new book being published by Stash Books was about using colors of the rainbow in quilts. 

 

Imagine my surprise when I saw her five quilts on display at QuiltCon (four were juried into the show and the fifth was on display in a booth) and learned that this is the theme of her book.

Rainbow Remix by Rebecca Bryan

Rainbow Remix was inspired by quilts made by the Quilters of Ghee's Bend.  Becca gives directions in how to make this quilt more wonky or less wonky, leaving it to your preference.  To get started,  gather 10" squares of fabric ... in fifty different solid colors.

detail of Huckleberry by Rebecca Bryan

Here is a detail view of Huckleberry to see the exquisite quilting, a true example that quilting makes the quilt. This is the quilt featured on her blog tour logo, showing the entire color wheel with 72 different solids.

Ducks in a Row by Rebecca Bryan, quilted by Angela Walters

I love this quilt from its' name to the scrappy low volume background to the colorful "ducks".  Becca says this quilt was inspired by a textile on display in a Houston restaurant.  Yes, inspiration to create comes from anywhere and everywhere.  One only needs to look ....

Which may explain why I love to wander among the quilts at quilt shows, looking and admiring and soaking up inspiration.  On the last morning of QuiltCon 2015, I bumped into Patty Sloniger, a friend and designer for Michael Miller fabrics and she mentioned that Becca was giving a free lecture in 10 minutes. Quickly, I finished snapping a few final photos and hurried to get a seat.  Becca's talk was all about color, of course. 

She shared guidelines to think about when playing color and showed early blocks that were reworked differently before going into her book - a good lesson that not every idea works perfectly on the first go-around.

I enjoyed her presentation and afterwards zoomed directly to Stash Books where I spied Wavelength, the quilt that graces the cover of her book. 

Wavelength by Rebecca Bryan, quilted by Angela Walters

 
Now back to her blog tour, yesterday's featured blog was Sally's Angel Works, my friend Sally Keller, the current President of the Houston Modern Quilt Guild.  Sally shared a quilt she made from Becca's book. 

Irish + by Sally Keller

This is Sally's version of Irish +.

 

Here are all the stops on the Modern Rainbow Blog Tour.

Stop by and visit as many as you can -- because each have been given a copy of this book to giveaway (International visitors will be sent an electronic copy).

March 23rd             C&T/ Stash Books

March 24th             Heidi Staples of Fabric Mutt

March 25th             Generation Q Magazine

March 26th             Jennifer Mathis of Ellison Lane 

March 27th  Sally Keller of Sally’s Angelworks

 

March 30th            Amy Garro of 13 Spools

March 31st            Angela Walters of Quilting is my Therapy

April 1st                Rebecca over at Craft Buds

April 2nd               Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness

April 3rd               Sarah Craig of Confessions of a Fabric Addict

 

April 6th                Janice Zeller Ryan of Better Off Thread

April 7th                Beth Vassalo of Plum and June

April 8th                Nicole Daksiewicz of Modern Handcraft

April 9th                Giuseppe Ribaudo @giucy_giuce

April 9th                Shannon Brinkley of Bottle Tree Quilts

 

April 10th              Rebecca Bryan at Bryan House Quilts

I cannot decide which quilt I want to make first from this book.  Possibly this one ...

Flame by Rebecca Bryan

Flame, or The Impossible Rainbow, or Rainbow Remix, or MonStar, or Scattered, or Icarus Star, or .... Hmmm, how to decide?

Which quilt appeals to you? 

Inspired to make these

I have to share more of my favorite quilts from the recent quilt show by the West Houston Quilter's Guild earlier this month.  All of the quilts in this blog post are quilts that I want to make  .... eventually.  I guess I am adding them to my ever-growing "Quilt Bucket List," the list of quilts that I want to make, stitch, keep.

Feline Fantasy by Sheila Tweed, quilted by Donna Warnement

I love the graphic effect of the black and white in this colorful quilt names Feline Fantasy.  Sheila Tweed made this quilt in a class led by Debbie Caffrey at the International Quilt Show in Chicago, June 2014.  The pattern can be found in Caffrey's book Open a Can of Worms.

detail of Feline Fantasy by Sheila Tweed

Sheila dipped into her own Laurel Burch fabric stash to make this striking quilt.  The quilting by Donna Warnement used Sheila's favorite color, lime green.

In My Garden by Diane Balcerowicz, quilted by Brenda Marien

I have a huge stash of floral fabrics (including many featuring bluebonnets) and love the idea of using some of them to make my version of this quilt.  A friend of Diane's gave her scraps of the 50 state flower fabrics (lucky her!  I only have about 7 of them).  After searching for a few years, she found this pattern featured in Better Homes and Gardens Quilts and knew it was perfect.  She then added 22 more florals so that each of the 72 blocks features a different floral fabric.  I love the colorful simplicity of this quilt. 

Scrapper's Delight Variation by Summer King

This delightful quilt is adapted from Scrapper's Delight by Amanda Jean Nyberg in her book Sunday Morning Quilts.   Summer was playing with creating these blocks when the announcement of the String Quilt Challenge was announced by her guild, the West Houston Quilter's Guild.  She continued arranging and rearranging her blocks until she settled on this configuration, adding the scrappy string border last of all.  This quilt makes me happy and reminds me of the many many scraps of colorful fabrics that I own.  Surely this means that I can easily make my own version of this quilt, right?

Mama Said by Sue Garman

This quilt, Mama Said, has long been a favorite of mine.  It was a twelve month series (began as a Block of the Month) which "pulls at your heartstrings."  Sue designed this quilt years ago to honor her parents and has written about the creation of this quilt on her blog here.  Featuring nine key values with more familiar parental sayings embroidered around each block, this quilt is a true legacy of love. 

detail of Mama Said by Sue Garman

Why am I including this older quilt with others from the recent West Houston Quilter's Guild show?  Because it was in a special exhibit of quilts by Sue Garman as she was one of three judges for this show.  I had purchased patterns of a few of these blocks, but have yet to stitch any of them.  There is a redwork version too, which I've seen for the first time while browsing her blog and am very intrigued by it.  Be sure to look at Sue's blog http://suegarman.blogspot.com/ and/or her website, www.comequilt.com/.  Yes, one of these days, I must make at least one block from this quilt or something that is inspired by this quilt!

Tissue Box by Connie Bihner

This quilt has an easy-to-piece block that was inspired by the shape of a Kleenex tissue box.  I think I may try to make a scrappier version.... perhaps.  Connie's quilt Tissue Box won a third place ribbon in the large bed-sized pieced (one person) category.  She saw this quilt displayed at Quilt Works and after admiring it, she decided to make her own version using Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  

Christmas Boots by Suzanne Humble, quilted by Valerie DeRuiter

I've got to stitch some boots together one of these days.  Suzanne enlarged the popular "Boot Scoot'n" pattern by Martha Dzines to make her Christmas version.  She hangs it above her fireplace mantle for the holiday season where it coordinates nicely with her other holiday decor.  Perhaps I will stitch up Walking in the Wildflowers which is another boot pattern by Martha Dzines featuring bluebonnet fabrics that I already own. 

Tea in Central Park by Beverley Bennett

Here is a classic Modern Traditionalism quilt.  It is the "Spiced Chai" pattern by Katie Clark Blakesley from the Vintage Quilt Revival book by Katie Clark Blakesley, Lee Heinrich and Faith Jones.  Be sure to check out each of their individual blogs (Katie's is http://swimbikequilt.com/, Lee's blog is http://www.freshlypieced.com/, and Faith's blog is http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/). 

detail of Tea in Central Park by Beverley Bennett

Back to Beverley's quilt, she made this for the WHQGuild's Tuesday Morning Friends Bee's challenge which was to use 1/2 yard of a funky fabric, which is the yellow seen above.  Beverley used a bundle of New York fabrics that she had which echoed some of the same colors in the funky yellow fabric.  She designed an original border to complete her quilt.  This quilt earned a second place ribbon in the bed sized, pieced, small category.

Of these wonderful quilts posted here, I wonder which will be the first that I stitch up ....