Round Robin Rally

My friend Denice posted a lovely tribute recently about 8 quilting friends that completed a Round Robin with a similar group of ladies in Germany.  Denice organized our US contingent, and I was asked to participate in this last fall.  Even though I had a few reluctant and overwhelmed moments during the process, I am so very glad I did. 

In short, a round robin quilt is made by a group of quilters where one person makes a center block, and the other quilters add borders one by one.  The original quilter doesn’t see the quilt until the last border is added.  They may finish as is, or decided to add to it, depending on the rules or finished size desired.  We chose to keep the finished quilt to 4 borders keeping it on the smaller size.  Even then, if 4 people add 8” borders, you still end up with a pretty big quilt to finish. Each of us had 6 weeks to complete our border before passing it on to the next……sort of like musical chairs for quilters.

Denice hosted the unveiling at her home so we could meet the quilters we hadn’t met in our group yet, and see all the finish tops together one last time before she shipped them off to Germany.  We saw photos of all the center blocks at the beginning, but since each only added 4 rounds, some of us hadn’t seen the progress and final result.  What a wonderful range of ideas! Interestingly one of our gals noticed we sent them almost all hand applique blocks whereas they sent us mostly pieced.

I can’t show the quilts yet since they haven’t received ours yet, but I’d like you to meet our US group of quilters.  I’ll show the quilts later, once I know they have them late August.

Sally – we knew each other back in high school, then lost track of each other, and I’m so bless to have reconnected at Janet’s house by chance about ten years ago.  Sally’s quilting skills are highly skilled and impeccable, and she LOVES tiny piecing.  We’ve made many quilt shop stops and retreats along the way.  Sally stepped in for Karen after we lost her to liver cancer in February.  I’m so happy Sally will receive the quilt made for Karen, since Sally was close friends with Karen, and responsible for bringing her into our bee.

Janet – no photo, she could not attend last week because she’s riding motorcycles somewhere in the Ozarks.  We became friends after she long armed one of my quilts, and have been good friends since.  Janet likes to switch things up, and vacillates between her engineering and artsy side.  We’ve made many quilt shops stops and retreats too….Janet always wins the ‘most purchased fabric award’.  J

Denice – I met thru Denice at a retreat in Harbor Springs.  She played ‘border collie’ to this group, patiently keeping us on track.  Like herding mice I suppose!  Denice loves loves loves hand stitching…..and has joined our retreats also.

Marilyn – I met thru Denice via Janet. Marilyn is part of our retreat also. Marilyn and Denice became quilting buddies thru the marriage of their children.  Our traditional styles and colors are probably the closest within our group, unless I’m working on art quilts.  Like Sally, her quilting is beautiful.

Ines – originally from Peru with a very (humorous) entertaining story how and why she left MANY years ago. We met thru our bee, joining us on retreats as her busy life allows. I love the Peruvian design and color influence she brings to her unique designs.

Dodie – my first time meeting Dodie who is a beach/quilting/neighbor friend to Denice.  She luckily missed all our snow last year since she winters in Florida. She loves the modern quilt movement and is not afraid of intricate and complicated piecing.  It was lovely to meet her finally.  I passed one block off to her, which nearly had to be replaced after I got my wires crossed and sent the block to the wrong address.  Lets just say the quilt is 'well traveled'.  Whew!  Crisis averted…..

Jan – my first time meeting Jan too.  She is a quilting friend/relative of Denice, who loves all handwork, and does beautiful detailed applique and embroidery.  Jan belongs to several local guilds and bees, so I hope I will run into her in the future.

Barb - yes, this is me. Denice post says I'm "incredibly talented and very funny" on her blog. LOL......I have her fooled!

These women do AMAZING work! We were asked to write something about ourselves or what inspired us about the round we did in the quilter’s journal.  This will give them a little insight into our lives, and build friendships between us.  Yes, I worked on four quilts, and yes, I will get a quilt at the end, but to me the most important thing is the 16 people (some old friends, many new) I have a bond with, and some great memories of the process……and the quilt too.

Stay tuned for all the quilts once we get theirs.  

Happy Campers at Camp Chloe

This past weekend we hosted 14 of Aaron’s friends from the Chicago area (and a sweet Shiba Inu puppy named Spiderman) to camp in “the forest” at the back of our property. They celebrated Chloe’s 25th birthday.  We pitched our tent, stacked wood high, set up parking signs prepping for their arrival Friday night.  More tents would follow.  Besides Aaron, Chloe, Neil, Andre, Bill, Sam, Miguel, Forest, Drew, Bojan, Kristen (+1), Michele (+1), and Lauren came for the weekend.  Sadly, Dan couldn’t be here as he is in Spain until the 16^th.

Our biggest fear was rain…..since rain would drive them all inside.  Thankfully, the weather was absolutely perfect for camping……low 80’s during the day and cooling to 50’s overnight.  Gary fed the campfire continually from Friday until they left Sunday evening.  The chill in the night air was perfect for an evening campfire, and perfectly clear skies with no light pollution to enjoy star gazing.  They counted 7 shooting stars total.  We are so very fortunate to live away from the city lights, so close to Lake Michigan to enjoy the night sky. They visited several nearby beaches, took in the sights and shopping in nearby Saugatuck, and some antiquing. 

Saturday morning we set out coffee, banana bread and pig in the blankets to get them started….and I surprised them with a carrot cake for the birthday girl.  Sunday we provided brunch – coffee and orange juice, scrambled eggs, sausages, fried potatoes and fresh blueberry muffins.  No one should have left hungry.

It was a good weekend and a pleasure to meet Aaron’s friends, some he met at SAIC, and some later….but all in the arts one way or another.  And all very nice young adults welcome back anytime.  The last car pulled away just before 7:00 PM Sunday evening.  We put the last few things away, started the laundry from all the showers, locked up.  We slipped into bed early, exhausted……..PS, in case you can't find him, Aaron's the one wearing the Chloe Seibert t-shirt.

Happy Campers!

Wild Blackberry Pie.....

The wild blackberries are ready to pick, in spite of the unseasonably cool summer we've had.  They aren’t quite as big as years past, but I’m not too concerned.  I have every hope they will make a wonderfully juicy and rich pie.

Summer growing can yield so many happy surprises, especially to someone like me that does not possess a green thumb.  To many, actually to the vast majority of you folks, you’d be thinking….”what’s the big deal?”.   Even the slightest success is reason I celebrate.

So out comes the pie pan, pastry rolling pin, and all the ingredients needed to make a sweet, juicy pie.  A bit of sugar, a little flour for thickening, a dash of cinnamon because it makes everything better, and a squeeze of fresh lemon, tossed with a heaping half gallon of wild blackberries then into the pastry crust.  Top it off with a crumble topping made of oatmeal, brown sugar, butter and flour and pop it into the oven to bake. 

The hard part is always waiting…..waiting nearly the hour for it to bake, then waiting for it to cool which allows the juices to thicken slightly.  But the consensus is…..the wait is always worth it.  Top it off with Country Dairy Grandpa’s Vanilla Ice Cream and you’re sweet tooth is happy and content.  Summer has paid you well.

Sweet Dreams!

Dream catcher 101.....

I can’t say I’ve ever been drawn to dream catchers.  That may be because I’ve never inspected them up close, nor have I made one, or really got what they are all about.  Until today, when my crafty pal asked me if I’d like to make one with her.

Hung above the bed, the Ojibwe Indians believe dream catchers change a person’s dreams, that only good dreams would be allowed to filter through. Bad dreams would be caught in the net whereas good dreams pass through and slide down the feathers to the sleeper.  Lakota origins say nightmares pass thru the holes and out the window.  The good dreams are trapped in the web and slide down to the sleeping person.  Either way, good dreams should take over.

Kimi brought the embroidery hoop and some variegated yarn purchased from Joann’s, and enough enthusiasm for both of us.  After doing Google search due diligence we narrowed in on several designs for inspiration.  We pulled a nice range of ribbons, trims, beads and embroidery floss and got started. And most importantly, we selected 5 perfect turkey feathers from the turkey she shot last fall, making the design even more meaningful. 

We had a blast.  She was a natural weaving the yarn tightly around the hoop and the floss into the intricate lace pattern web in the center.  The variegated yarn set the color tone from then on…..blue for the sky, purple for sunrise, white for clouds, all set against the brown and grey earth tones of the feathers.  simply lovely.........sweet dreams!

A bad day in your studio is better than the best day in the office

I may have retired six months ago, but I clearly remember the stress some days at work could feel like.  Since I did Sales/Account Management with long cycle times, it was tough to feel a sense of accomplishment.  You know, that pick it up, touch it, see what you did at the end of the day feeling.  That is why I sooo love making things.  It’s tangible, and tactile, and soothing.  Whether it’s a handmade from scratch loaf of bread coming out of your oven, or putting a finishing coat of wax on a newly made wood cabinet, or the final stitch on a quilt, there is nothing so satisfying.

Today I had some help in the studio…..Buddy helped me pick out some fabrics. It was more like ‘put Buddy in the bag of Kona solids scraps and see him play’ mode.  We compromised on some of his selections, some clearly too dark for this project. 

I began by making basic random width strip sets.  Then I slit them into small slivers.  Next I sewed the slivers with sashing strips, producing a piece roughly 10” x 14”. 

Then I inserted the narrow black and white strip fabric on irregular diagonal lines.  I finished with self-backing, turn inside out and a few whip stitches and black quilting and it’s ready to frame.  The final 7”x14” piece will be hand sewn onto white mat board with a white mat outer frame and finally black outer wood frame.  Soon to be hung on my studio wall…..or perhaps sold.  Either way, a great day in the studio indeed.

Happy feet......happy studio....

Now that my work space is back in order, I need to be more productive, right? There's no excuse with such an inspiring space.....unless all I want to do is daydream.  I hope you know I'm not bragging, I'm just so happy to have this space.

The exciting part of my new space is lining up the many projects in queue.  What to do first?!?!?!  I decided to dust off the paint brushes and re-purpose an old pair of leather mules.  They were very comfortable, but being well worn they needed a bit of TLC.  Now.....I can’t wait to wear them to my next quilting or artsy event. 

Here are the steps I followed to jazz them up, and give them a second life:

1.      Soak a cotton ball with nail polish remover and rub thoroughly over the leather to remove the shiny finish, then let dry thoroughly (see photo). This prepares the surface to accept the paints. 

2.    Using opaque acrylic paints, paint in your base coat colors as desired. I choice Daniel Smith artist grade because it’s somewhat elastic which will help reduce cracking once I start wearing them, its viscosity, plus I already had them.  Let dry thoroughly.

3.    Using the same paints and permanent paint markers draw in your design (see photo). Take your time as this can be a bit tricky due to the curves and how porous the leather.

4.    After everything has dried overnight, fill the inside of the shoe with newspaper to hold their shape and spray protective sealant such as spray polyurethane over the entire painted surface.  Let dry, repeat.  Let dry another 24 hours before wearing.

5.     Happy Feet!  Pretty cute, eh?!

Next I decided to give a primitive wooden plate a new life by added Zentangles(c) to it.  I love the simplicity of tools……pens and a surface to draw on, and a spray sealant to finish it.  I can feel the BP lower just working on it.  You can Zentangle(c) practically any surface, so put your thinking caps on!

Happy Studio

Well I’ve been offline for several weeks. But with good reason…..after all the fireworks and holiday celebrations we began a home project that included moving three rooms around.  At our age (and with my limitations) this takes a lot more time than we’d like to admit.  We had to carefully choreograph the move since the contents of each room would be shifted around, and pace ourselves so we didn’t end up in the hospital.  Luckily we had two teenagers help haul my MANY books up two flights of stairs….with no sign of stress whatsoever. 

But that was only the start.  You see, we needed to pack up the entire guest room, my old office space, and my sewing studio which occupied half of the family room and jockey them to different floors.  Now the guest room is in the lower level where my old office used to be, right next to the guest bathroom (wow, such logic!); my entire studio including all sewing and art equipment is now upstairs in the spacious area that used to be Aaron’s/guest room; and the family room, well, is just a very spacious family room again.  Everything is all spiffed up, carpets cleaned and back together and frankly, we love it.  I especially love it.  There are no remaining remnants of my old home office, which I’m glad to put behind me.  Aloha and adios Victor!  And now…..Happy (and creative) Studio! Sorry for the extra sunlight in the one shot......  Now I can get busy with the many quilting and painting projects I have swirling in my head!