La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum Show opens Friday

The 2013 Quilt and Fiber Arts Festival opens on this Friday, October 4.  I am pleased that my art quilt, Roots, makes it debut at the festival.

Last year I was able to attend the festival and it is really worth seeing. The display is extensive and on view in a number of venues in La Conner. The community really gets behind the annual show. I loved the stories that accompanied many of the quilts.

The museum itself will have a number of exhibits on view as well including Regina Benson's From Nature's Studio. Regina's work is amazing and if you have never seen any in person, that alone is worth the trip to La Conner.

Hope that you will have a chance to attend. The festival is from October 4 - 6. If you would like more information, you can find it on this web page. 

Art That Lifts Our Spirits Exhibition

I was pleased to learn that my art quilt, Journey, has been juried into the online exhibition, "Art That Lifts Our Spirits", hosted by Manhattan Arts International. The exhibit is on view until November 23, 2013.

There are 60 artists in the exhibit. Hope that you will stop by and view some of the works. They are all quite amazing!

A Studio in the Works

It wasn't planned exactly, but change is happening in my sewing accommodations.

It all started when I stopped by to see my friends at the BobbinCase. As we were chatting, for some reason I started asking about various sewing tables on display. One thing led to another and I soon discovered one floor model was priced very appealingly to make room for a new table soon to arrive at the store. Before I knew it, I was taking measurements and heading home.

A few days later, that floor model resides in what has been termed my 'office' till now. I think it is finally beginning to qualify as a studio. :)

We won't discuss what the rest of the 'studio' looks like quite yet. Since this wasn't exactly a planned project, miscellaneous sewing items are currently residing on my floor while I create room for them in that walk-in closetbehind the doors you see in the photo. Up till now, my 830 Bernina has resided in our family room so things like thread have lived in that area of our home.  For almost two years my stash has been in a walk-in area off my office, so with this move, most of my sewing life is actually centralized in one place in our home.

I am really in love with the table. It is incredibly comfortable to sew at. What you see upon it is the Comfort Quilt I wrote about a few weeks ago. Quilting it with the larger extensions of this new table expanded was sheer joy. When I am not using my 830, it conveniently drops into the table. The resulting surface area is great for quick cutting projects, or I can collapse the extensions for a more spacious feel in the room.

I expect I will spend many happy hours creating in this 'new' space.

My Weekend Project

It was inevitable, I guess. New granddaughter .............sewing children's clothes.

The weekend before last we were in Arizona to introduce our granddaughter to her great grandmother. Needless to say, it was a very special time.

We just happened to be near one of my favorite quilt stores ever, Quilters' Store Sedona, so my daughter and I had to stop in to check out their fabrics. They always have a wonderful selection of batiks and unusual Western motifs. They also have a large selection of patterns. Daughter fell in love with a pattern from Indigo Junction, Pint-size Pinafore. We found the perfect fabric for a pinafore and I took it home with me.

I haven't made very many clothes since my wedding dress - a few things for my daughter when she was young, but it has been many years. Fortunately pinafores are not hard to make. Being true to form, I immediately made some adjustments to the design. Old techniques popped up in my brain and by the end I was sewing with little reference to directions.

The pinafore turned jumper turned out fine, as you can see. I think the thanks for that goes to a dear friend from my teen years, Millie Kovach. She was the mom of my best friend, Georgette, and she was an awesome seamstress. Millie taught me everything I know about sewing. I would appear at her door with a Simplicity pattern and some fabric. She would give me a big hug and commence to share with me shortcuts that professionals know while explaining garment construction in simple basic terms. I learned those fundamentals well and this past weekend I felt as though Millie was looking down from heaven and smiling as I stitched up Judy Kate's pinafore. Thank you, Millie, for those precious gifts of your time and knowledge.

Linking to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday blog. Check out what others have been doing!

Taking a Break .....well, sort of.

I finished quilting "Serenity" last week and decided I needed to let it rest for a bit........it isn't finished but the quilting part is. So, it is sitting where I can serenely contemplate my next steps. :)

In the meantime, I decided it was time to get in gear for our GVQC's new year which begins in September. I took a year off last year from contributing to the Comfort Quilt project. There was just too much on my plate with my new travel schedule etc. But, one year is enough time off! So, with Labor Day looming and three full days at home with no big activities planned (well almost none), I decided to start a comfort quilt.

I found a pattern at e•Patterns Central that was fairly easy to follow.

Of course, I used my own color selection and altered the borders a bit. However, by Tuesday I had the top pieced.

I used a green leaf fabric from Kona Bay that really appealed to me:

Here is a close up of the block layout and some of the border. I used another fabric with wavy black lines for one of the borders. I had bought it a while ago, thinking I might use it in a penguin image. I haven't gotten to that project yet. :)  However, I thought it complemented the lines in the leaves nicely and worked well for this border.

My goal now is to complete the quilting and hand the finished quilt in this fall. I have set a goal of two more creations during the guild year.

I have linked this post with Nina Marie's "Off the Wall" Friday blog so check out what others have been up to.

Appreciating Harvest Time

It is that time of year when local farm produce is in abundance here. We have belonged to a CSA, Mud Creek Farm, for a number of years. It is exciting to pick up our 'share' each week and return home with an abundance of fresh veggies.

Last night we dined on a delicious ratatouille with eggplant, squash, aruguala, tomatoes, and fresh herbs, served with freshly picked corn. Today for lunch, it was a stir fry of tomatoes, leeks, arugula, peppers, mushrooms, basil and cilantro.

Lunch Stir-fry

It is such a gift to have this food to eat, knowing the care that went into growing it. I hope, when growing season is taking place where ever you reside, that you have an opportunity to enjoy some of your area's local harvest!

Have a great day!