Friday, January 28, 2011

For the Birds - Cathy L.'s Block



This is my stitching on Cathy L's "For the Birds" Do Your Block (DYB) in my Crazy Quilt International (CQI) yahoo group. It's my first thread painting experience and I enjoyed it immensely!

Friday, January 21, 2011

7 Things About Me

I got this idea from my friend Laurie's blog: http://indulgeyourshelf.blogspot.com/

1. I love to crazy Quilt. I love all things pretty, sparkly, and the more of it the better! Picking the fabrics, the colors, the embellishments -- selecting the theme, the stitches, the project -- the whole process delights me!

2. I love to exercise. I had to really think about this, but I guess it is really a part of who I am. There are days when I don't want to go, but I almost always end up going and feel great about it when I am done. I have been exercising since I was in my early 20s. Today I walked/jogged on a machine indoors for 30 minutes because the wind made working out outside bitter cold, but usually I like to walk/jog outside even if it is 30 degrees. I dislike running for a long period of time so my latest endeavor is to walk a bit and then jog a bit. It is called interval training. The theory is that by increasing your activity level for a while your heart rate and metabolic rate increases and when you decrease your activity level they stay high for a while even though you are now doing less. Plus, since I like running outside in the winter, I have incentive to increase my activity level to stay warm and finish my workout faster!

3. I love to read. When I exercise I'm always listening to a book. Right now I'm listening to Atlas Shrugged by Ann Rand. I also like to read at night before I go to bed. Right now I'm reading The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.

4. I love to ski. There is really something about being on top of a snowy mountain in the sunshine looking out for miles and miles. I enjoy the outdoors, the beautiful views, the cold, the exercise, and skiing with my family.

5. I love photography. I'm constantly taking pictures. I love taking pictures of the great outdoors, wildlife, and I also take sports pictures of my daughter and her school's teams.

6. I love nature and wildlife. As a family we are always going to National Parks on vacations. I will wake up my family at zero dark thirty so we can go out to find the wild animals! Of course I can also take pictures while I'm out there and we can go for hikes so it combines several of my interests at once.

7. I love the past. I have always loved the past since I was a small girl. When I was 14 I started researching my family tree and collecting antiques and family relics. I still love finding old family photos and trying to figure out who's who. This hobby has made me closer to my parents, grand parents, and aunts and uncles. Most of them love talking about their lives and I love hearing their stories. Now I like to share them with my family when they'll listen. I actually started this blog to document my progress of learning how to crazy quilt so I can make a memory crazy quilt of my family. Someone else on my CQI yahoo list had the same idea, so it looks like I'm going to get a chance to do a practice version. I'm totally excited about it!

I could have also written about loving to learn and loving to travel, but I guess I shouldn't bore you too much!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Seven of Eight


Here's number seven. I won't be doing number eight right away because it's for me! I'm going to wait until I get my swaps and then complete it.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

4th of Eight

My Good Fortune




I just bought a bunch of charms and rhinetones that will go very nicely on a CQ quilt. This gal had been collecting them for years and just decided to sell them. There are some really nice metal charms of Christmas ornaments, stars and Egyptian design. There are also tons of rhinestones and crystal stone settings. Most of these are either beads or have some other way they can be attached to the fabric.

Monday, January 3, 2011

First of Eight


I am doing a swap with my neighbor, Laurie, from "Indulge your Shelf" blogging fame. She is involved with a group that is doing a Valentine's inchie swap and she invited me to participate. The swap involves making 3-inch fabric embellished blocks in a Valentine theme. Since there are 8 swappers, I have to make 7 blocks for trade and one that I'll make for myself to keep the block numbers such that I'll be able to make a finished project more easily. The blocks I receive won't necessarily be crazy quilted, but since that's what I do...

On these blocks I tried a new technique of printing on ribbons that I learned from a book called Fabric Embellishing, The Basics and Beyond by Ruth Chandler, Lis Kettle, Heather Thomas, and Lauren Vlcek. The book is rich with ideas for embellishing with great instructions, and practically, it is spiral bound. This ribbon may not be the best example of the technique because there is not enough contrast between the ribbon and the words. You will see better examples in the remaining seven blocks. I can see a tremendous application of these ribbons for my memory quilt.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

English Garden Round Robin Blocks







These are my blocks for the CQI English Garden Round Robin. We are still waiting for one more person to sign up, but I am a little paranoid about all the commitments I've made for this year already and am not letting any grass grow under my feet!