#7 UFO Challenge for August

Finished my UFO Challenge #7 for August. with a day to spare. This is called Nantucket Knots. It's a pattern i have had for a while....don't know where i got it. years ago i cut all my reds and blues to make these blocks. the blocks are 5.5 inches finished. the pattern was for a quilt about 36" so i really didn't calculate how many blocks to cut.....i think i just cut pieces until i used all my red and blue fabrics at the time.

I had maybe 3 rows finished. this box lived in my sister's closet for years. whenever i went to visit i would sew a few blocks together. finally i brought it home and it became an official UFO for 2012. i made 130 blocks....set them 10x13.  i figured that was plenty. it came to 65x86 inches. good enough.

I had cut so many blocks years ago....that there were still enough pieces in the box to make at least 150 more blocks. yikes!!  what was i thinking?  so, when i went to quilt class last Monday i gave them to Brenda. she makes a lot of veterans quilts and i was hoping she would take them...and she did.  thank you, Brenda.

I wasn't going to put a border but finally caved and did it. there was a piece of red/blue/purple fabric in the stash and i had just enough to use it up. it was fate! and found a maroon in the stash for the binding.

I used a panto on this one....Star Swirl. it's one of my favorites. dark green Glide thread on the top and white Bottom Line on the bottom.

So, another UFO is finished and 3 more to go for this year. i'm hoping to finish more than 3 though.

But if the weather cools off some i might have to do some yard work and save the quilting for ...

Later

Chinese Lantern Festival - last posting

Finally.....here are the final pictures from the Chinese Lantern Festival that was displayed at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri. today is the last day of the selling of the fabrics that were used to make these exhibits. unfortunately, i did not check on that in time and was not able to participate and see if i could score some cool silk Chinese fabrics. but, my understanding is that you had to remove the whole exhibit piece that you wanted....so that might have been a problem anyway.

This is Qilin

This exhibit was constructed of thousands of Chinese medicine bottles...filled with colored liquid.

Qilin is a mythical chimerical creature with hooves that is said to appear alongside the arrival of a sage.

A good omen that brings prosperity.

This is the Moonlit Pathway.

Crescent moons...

And stars symbolized a happy and celebratory occasion.

Here is Pandas Paradise...China's most protected animal...they eat bamboo shoots, leaves and tasty tips.

A long walkway showed the Zodiac lanterns. each animal depicted in detail on the face of the lantern with strings of traditional balloon-shaped lanterns dangling. each has its own distinctive advantage in strength or power, intellect and heart.

This depicted the Goddess Blessing Buddha.

An enlightening being who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas.

It has listened to the preaching of the Tathagata Buddha and has pledged to help all that are suffering and in pain.

This is the Blissful Wedding...traditioanlly arranged through a matchmaker.

The bride and groom wear the lucky color of red, a symbol of love, happiness and prosperity.

I loved the little dancers in the wedding party.

And finally, we have the Terra Cotta Warriors. these are figures dating from 210 BC..depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China.

The figures were discovered in 1974 by farmers near Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China, near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.

And that....ladies and gentlemen....concludes the tour of the Chinese Lantern Festival. i hope you enjoyed your visit and will come back again soon.

Later

Bird Cage Lights

I had cheap flourescent shop lights in the studio. and, they worked well for years but finally just died. i didn't want to replace them with the same thing....so i got to thinking.......

I scouted for some birdcages....and my friend, Carole, came up with 2 of them for me. so i spray painted them....1 black and 1 tan. and had my hubby add a light fixture to the inside of them.

Then i covered them in fabric. This one has a chenille piece of fabric that i made and never used for a project. i intended to make a dog coat....but, best laid plans and all that. i like it as a light cover better.

Here is the inside with the light attached. the inside is a blue flannel. LOL  a 100 watt bulb. i believe it is far enough away from the fabric that nothing will burn. I just wove the fabric in strips through the cage and pinned it on the inside. i could have used the glue gun but that seemed like it would take longer and besides....i would have had to hunt down the glue gun. hahahaha

This one is covered in a purple satiny fabric. this was another 'let's try this idea' piece of fabric. i forget the name of the stuff....but you stitch it in a grid to your fabric and then hold a steam iron over it and it shrinks and scrunches up the fabric. pretty cool. i had thoughts of a dog coat with this one, too. cold dogs....warm lights. LOL

The inside shows the stuff that shrinks. i think it is done shrinking....but i guess the light MIGHT get it warm enough to shrink a bit more.....but i don't think so.

Here they are hanging.

The cage in the middle is one that i had hanging in the studio. it has fabric 'grass' and a fabric stuffed bird and some artificial flowers in it.

I still have one more flourescent light hanging that works....but as soon as i find 3 more bird cages, it is coming down so i can hang more lights and bird filled cages.

I have 6 chains hanging down and 3 wires for lights so there will be 3 lights and 3 bird filled cages. hanging at different heights for interest. i like them much better than the old lights.

So, when i can find more cages and get them up....i'll show you more. I'm on the hunt for cages so hopefully this project will be completed sooner rather than

Later

The French General

I just finished a cute little quilt for a customer. the fabric line is called French General. great colored stripes and cute alphabet blocks.

I did the small 2" clamshells in the stripes using my Quiltazoid boards

A crosshatch in the alphabet blocks and SID around the side pieces.

I love all the different styles of the letters.

This one takes me right back to grade school.

The back was a pretty print.

A fun and easy quilt. customer loved it...what more could you ask.

Now if my internet will stay connected and work reasonably quickly, i'll show you more finishes..

Later

Painting at the Duck

I spent a couple of days at the Duck...days with a paint brush in my hand. i got a second coat around the front door and then decided the rest of that 'brick' needed to be brown also.

The 2 free quarts of brown did around the door and the corner. then i had to go buy a gallon of paint.

This is the south side

And here is the north side. ignore that rotting window sill. LOL  i think i better replace that this year instead of next. when you look at the top of that corner it is a darker brown than the bottom. when he mixed my paint.....i wound up with a different color....even though the name of the color was the same.  so around the door and the side of that top corner piece is darker than the rest. i didn't have enough paint to go over it again....i used all i had. so i will live with it for now....i am thinking it is ok .... if not....then next spring might be more painting.

I spray painted the inside of this washtub. i have plans for it

Then i spray painted this light fixture. the light fixture will go inside the washtub and it will all hang in the laundry room ceiling. there are glass globes for the light.

I am hoping when i go back to the Duck next month that it will be cool enough to bring my hubby along so he can hang the light for me and do a couple other projects that i have in mind for him.

Progress is slow right now but i am waiting to get on the schedule for window installing and drywall. hopefully still this year.

Once i get some drywall....then some fun painting can begin. but i guess that will be next year.

Crazy Quilt blocks for October

Just because i haven't been blogging....doesn't mean i haven't been busy. it means we haven't have internet service for about a week....we had a storm and a lightning strike...again....and were having problems every other day....the phone people came out here....several times...we wound up with a new modem 3 different times....and i think we finally have all that problem solved. fingers crossed!

Here are my crazy quilt journal project blocks for October. i thought orange would be appropriate.

These have more embellishments on them than previous month's blocks.

But i am going to go back and add to some of the other blocks from previous months, too.



Of course, this quilt will probably weight about 50 pounds.

I better not use it when i am old and feeble....it will suffocate me. hahahahaha

But as i was working on it i decided i have WAAAYYY too many embellishments still....and will add more to previous blocks to use them up.

I am trying to use up fabric stash, thread stash, button stash and embellishment stash. i better live a long time yet.

We won't even talk about the paint stash...or gourds....or whatever else is in the closet that i haven't seen in a while.

But i am really enjoying the hand work....surprised myself there.

Novembers blocks are blue.  at least i managed to stay ahead of myself on this project. perhaps by the end of the year all the embellishments will be on all the blocks and i can actually assemble this monster.

I already have too many blocks for 1 quilt....so this will be 2 quilts. there will be 108 blocks when all are done....10" blocks. maybe 90 for the first quilt and then a wallhanging or just make more for the 2nd quilt.

His and hers heavy monsters. LOL

Later

Mexican Hat Dance

This is a quilt done for a lady in California.....she brought me 4 tops and told me i could play....do whatever. and she wasn't in a hurry. isn't that a nice change?

Here is the first one....design is called Mexican Hat Dance.

I really like scrappy quilts so this was right up my alley.

Love that wonky star in the middle

I quilted it with a fancy Quiltazoid board.

When she got it back she called me all the way from California to tell me she loved it. that is what i like to hear. i traded the quilting on this one for some woven table runners that she had made. she brought them to show and i fell in love with them. so we are both happy.

Have her next one on the frame now but it is slow going....so will show that a bit

Later