Silk Tie Project Update

Here are photos of the silk tie quilt.
Photo below is before quilting.
This one is after quilting. ----------->
I am very pleased with how this quilt came out even if it still contains a "humility block" I might have put it on purpose as the client wanted a traditional piece.
This quilt crosses and blends traditional quilt design with modern technologies. I stated it was the most traditional quilt I'd ever made and people are willing to argue with me about that. The log cabin is a traditional design yet my use of the colors is not. The quilting design I used was the very traditional feather motif. Yet the way I did free-forming feathers in the diamonds is ultra modern. It all came together wonderfully and I created a quilt that is beautiful. I believe it will truly please the client I created it for.
I also got this quilt done in record time for me - only two months! On occasion, I can really pump some quilts out. I've also been known to take my time with some quilts too. ( Like my brother and sister-in-law's wedding quilt. I finally finished it after they had their 2nd child.)
Now, I just have to bind the quilt. I will be doing hand blindstitching to continue the traditional look. I prefer the look of hand blindstitched to machine stitched anyway. Besides, I can't finish a masterpiece like this with a below-par binding. It is a beautiful snowing spring day here in the mountains which is perfect for that cup of hot cocoa and about 4 movies. It usually takes the Lord of the Rings series and then one more movie to bind a queen size so I best get working.
I hope everyone else enjoys their day too.

Wind in the Pines

It has been so windy for a few days now. No snow in the wind today but my goodness the damage it's done is amazing. The first thing I saw when I got off the bus in Ned was a poor VW bus whose roof had been blown off. It was really quite sad. Heavily-weighted mailboxes were down everywhere. The Pine trees are all being whipped into frenzies every which way as I right this blog. We are used to wind up here, but this is pretty impressive! I wish I had a web-cam to share it with y'all.
I have been happy lately. It's because I've returned to work at the iris farm and Spring is approaching. I finished another 16 blocks for the silk tie quilt. So that leaves me with 20 left, and I've even gotten up to Strip 5 on all 20 of them. One of the reasons I chose to back the ties with interfacing was so that I could chain piece them. It's worked out really well for me. I can just zip through them with ease, knowing the strips are stable and behaving themselves. I always knew silk was tricky fabric, but it is nothing compared to velvet. I did a crazy quilt for a client once and discovered just what a squirmy, runaway, do anything but what you want it to fabric.
Okay, that's for all now. Keep quilting, dreaming, creating, and loving!

Silk Tie Project Stage 2

This has been a wondrously productive week for me. I have constructed 48 of the 100 blocks for the silk tie quilt. They are coming out absolutely gorgeous, you just can't go wrong with rich silk fabrics. I have been using interfacing in order to make the ties behave better as I sew them. This is making such stable blocks, I love it. I also have my husband fusing the interfacing and cutting my strips for me. It just tickles me to have ready-to-use strips appear before me. I recommend this method of construction if you can talk anyone into it.
I have a recurring lesson in quilting. I never buy enough (of whatever) in the first place. I even try to do the math beforehand and always end up short. One time, I had to go back to the store 5 times for a mint green fabric. For this project, it is the interfacing that I didn't get enough of. I have made half of the blocks and used all the interfacing that I ordered. As soon as I saw that I would need more, I ordered again. I am now waiting a day or so and paying for more shipping costs. The time isn't so bad, I needed to do taxes anyway. But paying twice for shipping because I can't do math is pretty bad. This is a lesson in better business management that I must learn.
Now for some personal news sharing. I went back to work at the iris farm this week. I only worked one day, which is good for breaking back in the body that didn't do 'physical' this winter. My soul sang with happiness to be in the sunshine and digging in the dirt. Do others feel the call to dig in the spring? I can't be the only one. Spring is here officially on Sunday, but for me it has already sprung. I wish you all a happy spring and many creative adventures!

The Silk Tie Quilt Project

Do you see all these beautiful silk ties? I am

in the process of turning them into something that will resemble the antique quilt also pictured. This project was recently begun for a dear friend of the family. This friend wanted a traditional quilt pattern so I pulled out my copy of Vintage Quilts by Bobbie Aug, Sharon Newman, and Gerald Roy. I found this most exquisite Log Cabin Barn Raising from 1860 made by Florence Mae Hart Diehl. I just fell in love with the color ways she used. In the next few weeks, I will show photos and share the progress. I want to get it done quick because I get to go back to Long's Gardens and play in the dirt and smell iris soon.

It's been quite a week of progress for the quilt and my husband in the quilt world. We started by having to arrange the ties in appropriate color ways. I put Sid to work on that part, because he truly is my color guy. He started putting them in groups all over my long arm. A couple of hours in, I noticed he might not realize what we were trying to achieve. I continued explaining and he kept rearranging the ties. After about four hours, we were ready to kill each other. So we put it away for the day.

Second day of working on it, we begin in same (wrong) direction. I finally gave him all the books on how to piece a log cabin block, the photo above, any math I'd managed and sent him to his room. About a half hour passed and he started coming downstairs every few minutes to ask a very pertinent question or two. Then he'd go back upstairs to study and think. He finally came down and I could actually see the light bulb shining above his head. He actually got it, he figured out what I needed him to do. Ties were flying in all directions as he arranged them in wonderful groups of colors. When he was done, I realized that now it was my turn.

Well, Day 1 was only 6 days ago. I have already completed 28 of the 100 blocks. And I must it is coming out gorgeous! The next time we have the blocks laid out, I'll take photo for you all to see. We could vote on favorite variations of the settings.

Ice Fishing for Star Flowers

Here is the next in our series of Star Flower quilts. My husband put the fabric into the soda ash one day to prepare for the next days dyeing. When he returned to the bucket, it was frozen on top. Now, this is a really salty mixture and doesn't usually freeze! It did this time though and Sid broke a hole in the top and proceeded to go fishing for the fabric. He choose to go for the purple/aqua combo that always looks great. I also had him pleat the borders. I learn something with each quilt and this one taught me not to quilt feathers on pleated borders. It took a lot of time and they just disappear into the pleats. Sid and I have just started planning and creating quilts together again. Sometimes our ideas work and sometimes they don't. This one came out quite nice though and is for sale at my Etsy shop, www.mountainjoyquiltndye.Etsy.com.
Speaking of Etsy, my mother and both sister-in-laws have Etsy shops now too. I love it that there is somewhere for all of us to do our thing. There are so many creative people in the world. It is simply fabulous! Keep quilting and creating!

Blizzards & Hydrangeas

Hydrangea Table Runner (for sale at www.mountainjoyquiltndye.Etsy.com)

One doesn't normally think of blizzards and hydrangeas in the same thought. That's exactly what I did this week though. It was a mild fall and now we are paying for it. Last week, it -32 one night and one of our pipes froze. Luckily it thawed and we didn't have to rip up the kitchen floor. That would have been a major problem for me. I've been sticking to my rule of only half the house can be missing floors at any given time.

After the cold snap lessened a little, the snow came. We got 4-5' fresh snow and it just won't stay put. The winds cause it to move and drift like it is a living entity akin to an ocean. Sid has been digging the Scout out from where it got stuck in the middle of the driveway. Better our driveway than any where else though, huh? He might be close to the road with it now. Maybe today is the day we get out. It'd be nice, we are almost out of coffee. No Bueno!

As Sid's been digging and the snows been blowing, I've been trying to stave off cabin fever. I have been quilting and drinking lots of hot cocoa. I decided I needed to get a few new items up again on my Etsy site. I made a few cute little fabric wallets. My battle against cabin fever was led by the mighty hydrangea fabric. It is so bold and beautiful and colorful, that it put me in a better mood. Those reminders of spring are very important and I think we quilters gravitate to florals in the dead of winter. I made 2 table runners and 8 place mats. It's a good thing I have plenty of fabric in my stash to keep me busy for the next month.

Spring must return sometime so just keep quilting and stay warm.

My Bogie Bear

Today was all about my dog, Bogie. He is the light of my life and my best friend. This is only funny because I was afraid of dogs for quite a while. You see, I was attacked by a dog when I was 3 1/2 and the same dog got me again just before 4 years old. My parents kept nice dogs around when I was little. Partly because they love dogs and partly to keep me used to them. Family dogs were fine, but strange dogs terrified me until I met my husband.
He taught me how to read dogs. There are many things that make good and bad dogs. Genetics in the breeding are the start for personality. I have learned however that nurturing can win out over nature. I have had the pleasure to meet 3 of the sweetest pit bulls ever as well as many not so good ones. This is the case with my sweet beast.
Bogie is a Catahoula mix of the mountain variety. We didn't quite know what we were getting into when the 7 week old was given to us. Luckily, we did some research and found out his genetic temperament. Catahoula's are not recognized by the American AKC because they don't breed true. They can come out grey with spots, brindled, or the mountain ones are brown with a white butterfly on chest and white feet. That's my little Bogie bear. He weighs 89 pounds and is the great at snuggling. The Catahoula's have a reputation for fierceness and a used in packs of three to bring down wild boar, bulls, and alligators.
I never wanted to be afraid of my own dog, so we learned and trained for specific things. Socializing him was a huge goal and we succeeded. He is friendly with other dogs, people, and children. Just don't bring food into the picture. As he ages, Bo is getting more aggressive over food issues. A good old codger we knew looked at me once and said, "You ruined that dog." To which I happily took responsibility for taming a beast into a sweet, snuggle dog.
Don't get me wrong, Bo can be quite a handful. As a puppy, we trained him the property boundaries by having tied to a rock climbing rope that was tied to the house. He could go anywhere on the property and we checked on him often. During one of those check ons, I found my dog looking up at me innocently with his teeth in the knot. He was halfway through untying the knot! Well, right then I knew I had thinking dog. He knew he wasn't allowed to chew the rope, we'd gone over that one. But to untie it... it was funny. I have thousands of Bo stories if people like them, I'll continue to share. The story of how he made me see a bear so he could eat the cake is good one, maybe tomorrow.
I'm writing about my buddy today because he is at me feet trying to shake some heavy anesthesia. Very fast metabolisms are another Catahoula trait, so the Doc has to give a rhinoceros size doping when my dog gets surgery. Yep, Bogie went under the knife today to get some lumps removed. We weren't too sure if it was a hernia, fatty lumps, or worse. Luckily, it was the fatty sort which can be dangerous as well. One of the lumps had tentacle-like things that were thinking of strangling an important blood vessel. He is going to be fine though and continue to enrich our lives. We are moving him to the back rooms now so I'll say goodbye for today. Thanks for letting me talk about my best friend while waiting for his recovery.
Dogs are the best. Bo's the first I've ever truly loved. Now I understand just like everybody else. If you have one, go hug your dog right now.