Red and Black, Take Two

Back in 2006, I started a quilt to use up some of my reproduction shirting prints. I added black and red reproduction "Garibaldi" prints and made a period-accurate (late 1800's) pattern called "Lost Ships." The tessellation was cool but the quilt was a bit too somber for my taste. Off it went to the Bend Ronald McDonald house.

What to do with the large stack of leftovers? If you guessed "buy more fabric," you would be today's winner! I learned my lesson, though, and stocked up on black and red batiks and Asian prints instead of ditsy calicoes. I like the result better already! I have lots of left-over half-square triangles so will have to add a sawtooth border to use some of 'em up...

(Picket Fence Star, a scrap design for my "Simply Charming" class next spring)

Quarterly Crunch Time

Will I ever learn? (No!) It is time to finish up my class proposals and samples for Spring 2010 at the Stitchin' Post and I always take on more than I should. New this term will be an Introduction to Photoshop Elements for Quilters class, plus a couple of more shorter classes on more advanced topics, another round of my scrap classes ("Simply Charming")--that's 4 samples right there!--and a new art quilt class called "Happy Accident Quilts". One sample is done so far...

I love messing around with Photoshop Elements and have a bunch of ideas for projects, but the reality is that working on digital collages and other images can easily consume most of a day. I learn a lot and will be a better teacher for having spent the time, but time on the computer doesn't move fabric under the needle!

Whine whine whine--at least it is warmer and puppies got their first decent walk in almost a week.

Done is Good!

I just love 30's reproduction prints (I like jelly beans, too!). I started this quilt in a workshop with Gwen Marston from her "Liberated String Quilts" book. It has been quilted for a while but I couldn't decide what to use for binding. I tried several different fabrics but they competed with the border. The yellow is perfect--not too busy, not too bold. I've got another version of this waiting to be quilted (the story of my life these days...)

Happy Place

This was my demo block for last Sunday's "Simply Charming" class. Many of the fabrics are scraps from a Kaffe Fassett design ("Gridlock") that I gave to Chris's cousin Randi. The soft yellows, pinks and greens were perfect "blond" colors for a very lovely woman. We lost Randi to colon cancer and even though I adore these pastel-bright colors (they take me to a happy place), they will always remind me of her as well.