the Nutcracker

This is our view as we wait for the fantastic opening of Ben Stevenson's The Nutcracker on December 20, 2015.  We are seated in the Founder's Box seats, gifts from a friend who unexpectedly could not use the tickets.

photo from this year's Houston Ballet's  Playbill

 

We were thrilled to be there as my sons had promised to attend one of this year's Houston Ballet's Nutcracker performances but had not purchased tickets yet.  I had seen it years ago, but they have not.

photo from Ballet News, UK  

More important, this is the last year the Houston Ballet is using Ben Stevenson's choreography which they first performed December 4, 1987.

The original performance of the Nutcracker was in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1892 with an original score by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  Below is a photo from 1900 production of the Nutcracker by the Imperial Ballet.  Click here for more information and photos of the history of the Nutcracker.

photo from Moscow Ballet

The first full-length performance of The Nutcracker in the USA was December 24, 1944 where it was danced by the San Francisco Ballet.  Click here for more information on the San Francisco 1944 performance.

photo from the Classical Girl

It did not take long for The Nutcracker to become an American holiday tradition.  For more information about the Ben Stevenson's choreography and Nutcracker history click here.

We didn't want the magic to end, so enjoyed a walk in the neighborhood after the performance before heading to the 59 Diner and then home.

I look forward to seeing the new version of The Nutcracker designed by the Houston Ballet's Artistic Director Stanton Welch next year and plan to enjoy it with my sons too.

One last addition -- click here to read an article from The Week about this ballet being the cheesiest ballet of all time!  It includes more history about the story and the ballet .... beginning with this:

In 1844, French writer Alexandre Dumas adapted an earlier, darker version of The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman that had been intended strictly for adults, making it "happier and more appropriate for children.” The master of the Russian Imperial Ballet liked Dumas' new, lighter version of the story and decided to transform it into a ballet, commissioning Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky to compose the score, now some of the most recognizable pieces of music in the world.

I do love this ballet, cheesy or not - but then I like live performances of all kinds!

Colorful quilts

I love making quilts.
It's a fact, simple and short and very very true.

But how many quilts can one household truly need?  Especially when their home is located in a never-snows-here climate?  What's a quilter to do?

I have found an easy answer -- I make quilts for charity!  In fact I make lots and lots of quilt tops that I donate to various causes (most are given to my traditional quilt guild and someone there finishes them).  Basically, I love to piece blocks and to piece together quilt-tops.

After this spring's severe flooding in Texas on Memorial Day, I joined a group formed on InstaGram (#FloodTexaswithLove) making many many quilts to give to the many flooded families.  Originally I planned to make a few blocks and send them in, but somehow I became the Houston coordinator and received many blocks, tops and quilts to finish and label before dispersing.  A few friends even dropped off their colorful scraps which I used to piece more blocks.  Below are a few of the completed quilts.

All the quilts above were all pieced using the Just One Slab pattern found in Cheryl Arkison's book Sunday Morning Quilts.  Many different people from across the country, and possibly Canada as well have made blocks and sent them to Sara.  Click here for my earlier blog post about how this drive started and for further information on how to make the scrappy-one-color block or click here for Sara's original blog post about this.  Many thanks to Sara (@supersara20 on IG) for initiating this quilt drive and also to Cheryl (@cheryl_arkison on IG) for granting us the permission to use her pattern for these colorful quilts.

Many quilters also donated quilts made using different patterns and techniques, as seen below.

A Trio of Scrappy Striped Columns

an Around the World pattern

A Modern Graphic Color-Study

A Texas-themed Split Nine-Patch

A Batik of Abstract Stars

An original design was used to make the labels for these quilts.  Thank you the gracious Instagrammer for the colorful logo which appears below.

Thank you also to Karri (@karriofberries on IG) for printing numerous labels for me.  Photos below show the label stitched onto a few of the quilts.

I confess that I have lost track of how many of these quilts have passed through my hands, but it is well over a dozen perhaps close to two dozen.  I have personally handed out some to dear friends that suffered from the flooding and must thank Marna M. and Jamie B. for helping to deliver more of these quilts.  There are still a few being quilted by other volunteers (so many have donated fabric, thread, time, and their talent and skill!), so I haven't quite closed up shop yet ... but I plan to end the drive as this year draws to a close ... any new blocks or scraps that may find their way to my home will be used for new quilts that will be given away to someone who in need of extra hugs from the world at large. 

Thank yous must be extended to the great InstaGram community of quilters including all those named above and many many more.  We love to sew and to comfort others, especially in their times of stress and discomfort.  Hugs to all who received one of these quilts and more hugs to the quilters who helped to make the amazing gifts of so many quilts happen.

Postcards from the East

This lovely quilt, Postcards from the East, began with a block swap with my QGGH Block Builders Bee.  Each block is a lovely Asian print with a black strip pieced into the center.  

Making these blocks is quite simple and basic.  

  1)  Start with a 5" square.

  2)  Slice this square down the middle, resulting with two rectangles 2.5" x 5" each.

  3)  Stitch an insert, a 1" x 5" black solid piece, into the middle split.  Use 1/4" seam allowances. Be cautious of piecing the insert into the former middle of the original block.  Depending on the print, this may not matter -- but on larger prints where the design continues across that black strip, it adds to the block.   

  4)  The resulting block will measure 5" square.   

  5)  Repeat steps 1 - 4 until you've made the number of blocks that you desire.

In this swap, we could make as many as 8 blocks that were identical, made using the same asian print.  After the trade is completed, we each receive a multitude of different blocks in return for the identical ones that were submitted.  Swapping blocks like this make it much easier to create scrappy quilts.  One more tip: I like to keep one of my original blocks before any of our swaps as my own record (to help me remember which blocks that I made). 

This past week-end, Postcards from the East was hand-delivered to Beverly who had been waiting patiently for over a year.  As soon as I gave her this quilt, I realized that I had not taken a nice photo of it for my own records.  At the time we were enjoying a lovely breakfast in a cozy New Orleans restaurant where there was no room to open the quilt to take a photo then, so Beverly promised to share a photo.   She sent this photo within an hour of our good-byes!  Hmmm, might have to start a new quilt for her soon ....

The quilt below was exhibited in the 2015 Joy of Quilts show held by the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston (QGGH).  It is made with some of the very same blocks that I used in my quilt for Beverly. 

"Asian Delight" made by LaNell Neel and the Neartown Bee,
Machine quilting completed by Jane Plisga.

LaNell was gifted with many of the Asian blocks from the Neartown Bee on her birthday, as she loves Asian fabrics.  She then used them to create the borders surrounding the center panel which she had in her collection of fabrics. 

Same blocks, different setting, makes for two lovely quilts.

Tree of Life

The 2015 International Quilt Festival closed a week ago today and I am late in sharing photos and stories from this annual gathering.  I am starting this year's review with a post about the one class that I took this year, the Tree of Life taught by my good friend Sara Hochhauser.  This is a new pattern of a traditional pattern using Thangles. 

This is a new pattern of a traditional block that Sara is developing using Thangles.  Below are the pieces that will be growing into a full tree.

I enjoyed seeing the variety of colors and fabrics that others brought to make this quilt block. Here are a few (the last ones to pack up and leave the classroom -- I didn't think of getting photos until after others had left) of the trees that were started during our three-hour class.

This first one, a Yellow tree, is in the early stages of piecing the sections of leaves and branches for the block.

 

This Blue tree is ready to have the sides stitched together (they are only pinned at the moment this photograph was taken).

This is my Red tree.  It will be going into my growing stack of red-n-white blocks.  I am planning a red-n-white sampler quilt, inspired by last year's huge Red-n-White quilt exhibit to honor the International Quilt Festival's Fortieth Anniversary.

Most students in the class were able to piece the main components of this lovely block, and many actually finished their entire block in our three hour class.

This is another sample that Sara shared with us.  I love the quilting -- the vining leaves on the dark background.  I am also dreaming of making one quilt of four trees, each representing a different season.  Sara also shared her version of a Four Seasons quilt that she had made.  I can also picture my many quilt-pins being attached to the leaves and in the background of this quilt ... I have many plans for more of these tree blocks....


I must end with the tale of a lovely wedding that I attending in New Orleans this week-end.

The bride and groom exchanged their vows under the spreading branches of the spectacular "Tree of Life" located in Audubon Park.

Legend states that "the tree was first planted as a wedding gift for the bride of a New Orleans plantation owner many years ago. And the gift of love still stands today", over one hundred years later.

While many brides and grooms in New Orleans are married standing in front of this massive and impressive Tree of Life, not many of them exchange their vows in a rain storm!  This wedding happened in spite of the weather, and the party that followed was loud and festive.  Great food, drink, dancing and the live music was awesome!  If you're ever invited to a wedding in New Orleans, go!  You will be glad you did -- and check the weather before heading there so you arrive prepared with a rain coat (if needed).  Mazel Tov to Lizzy & Danny!  May your years together be filled with love, sweetness and good times, regardless of the weather outside.

Maple Leaf left-overs

Left over blocks -- and such cute ones too ....

What shall I do with these ... I Must Make Something, of course!

but what ... a table runner?  a totebag?  a quilt?  several coasters/mug rugs?  what do you suggest?

Doll quilts finished

I reached my August goal - hurray!

I have finished Dots for Dolly, my circle dots doll quilt.  It was fun to quilt - probably because I did both hand-quilting and machine quilting on this small quilt.

Here is a view of the front side-by-side with the back.  These photos were taken during the hand quilting stage.  I so enjoyed making this little quilt.


I also made two monster-lizard pencil pouches.  This is a free pattern available from my friend Liz.  Click here to see the directions and pattern on her blog Fat Chick Quilts, http://www.fatchickquilts.com/.

I made the striped one first in a workshop Liz gave to our Houston Modern Quilt Guild and immediately knew that I had to make one for my friend Chela and her little man grandson Isaac.

 These are the three doll quilts that I made especially for Chela... well, specifically for her son's daughters and their American Girl dolls.  I hope they love these doll quilts as much as I do.

These two monster pencil pouches reminds me of chatty lizards and you can see the quilting of the circle dot quilt underneath them.


This completes my August goal in A Lovely Year of Finishes too.  Click here to find out more about this monthly "can you finish it?" challenge being run by Melissa at Sew BitterSweet Designs (http://blog.sewbittersweetdesigns.com/) or Shanna at Fiber of All Sorts  (http://fiberofallsorts.blogspot.com/).

I am Linky #66  in the Goal posting for August (click here to see all that posted goals) and I am Linky #57 in the Finishes posting for August (click here for all who posted finishes) 

August goal for finishing.....

 

Time to declare my goal for the month of August in the A Lovely Year of Finishes ongoing motivational challenge.  This month my goal is to finish doll quilts that I've promised to a friend for

her granddaughters.  They are started but I've stalled out and need to get going again to get them completed and delivered.

The one that is the farthest from completion is nicknamed "Dots for Dolly".

I had fun appliqueing the dots onto the background but how in the world shall I quilt this?

Maybe I will try some big-stitch hand quilting .... in straight lines or in spiraling circles or both?

I also hope to finish this bargello quilt-let which I blogged about here.  Originally meant to be the third doll quilt, it ended up being too small for the requested size, which is probably why I've been stalled on finishing these three quilt tops.  Since this one is too small for the doll quilt, I think it will become a quilted pocket-sleeve for my cellphone (which is a larger size than I've had before).

Join me in the Lovely Year of Finishes fun and set a goal to finish some project you have.  Click here to see who else has set a goal in this month's challenge.  You can find me at linky #66.


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