my new portrait...

isn't this a neat drawing? my (very talented) daughter did it from a photo and it looks like me...so here it appears...

the next Block of the Month...

this was a lot of fun...got iffy when attaching the last segment but I figured it out...which is really cool...my confidence is definitely UP!!!!

playing with curves...

I have to find the book that made me feel confident enough to make my first curved pieces...(or it could have been a Simply Quilting demonstration that gave me the confidence)...

of course, now that curves seem to be within my grasp, I have been eying books on circles...when I was getting school supplies together for DH this year, I found some lovely round rulers in Staples...and at a significantly lower price than the local sewing store...I also got an adjustable ruler for delineating my own curves...

quilting is not turning out to be the art form I thought it was...I probably would have tried it years before but I was convinced that it was all exact angles and points meeting other points and there was no forgiveness in it at all...but the books, television shows and lovely ladies I've met at Webfabrics have opened a free flowing artistic world for me...I have relaxed, knowing that I will NEVER be doing precise kaleidoscopes like Paula Nadelstern...lol...

anyway....here is my first curved piece

I found the photos!!!

just like everything else...I put them "in a safe place" on my computer...lol...I realized as I was falling asleep where I'd moved the folder...

<<<<>>>>

shoot...I cant find the photos...*sigh*...

as Scarlet said....tomorrow is another day1

my fun Block of the Month...

this has been a huge help to me in learning quilting patterns...I just picked up the third pattern yesterday...but I've a bit more stitching to do tomorrow ...

Here are the first two...plus the duplicates I've done in Asian fabrics...


these squares are things I'd never try on my own...which is comfortably outside my "box"...

aw..here's my squares...
>

I forgot this last night...

I thought I would list links to a couple of the Alex Anderson series...

How Alex Anderson changed my life...

When I first contracted the quilting bug from my sister, Chris...I was told there was no vaccine...no 12 step program...no cure...in short....no hope for me...

But there was some light at the end of my tunnel. It came in the form of Alex Anderson and "Simply Quilts" on HG-TV.

After waving my DH off to work, starting laundry, checking emails, and making a fresh pot of coffee, I sat with a notepad and Alex explained, interviewed and generally, used her charm to further drag me into quilting. I made notes, downloaded PDF's full of information on show segments, visited quilters and artists websites and sat quietly in the 746.46 stacks at my library.

What could have been more natural than when I started building my library of Quilting books , that Alex would be my first choice.

I have 9 of her books. With my first..."Start Quilting", I felt comfortable. Her style of writing is the same as her on-air personality. I could almost "hear" her, as I read.
That book was followed by " Rotary Cutting", which made me at ease with the "fabric pizza cutter" !!! lol
"Keep Quilting" encouraged my growing confidence and added some more pattern ideas to my list of "Quilting To-Do's".
I've found that my "newbie" questions have been easily answered in her many volumes. Whether it's a simple design choice or a finishing technique, these books make it so simple...
I really can't improve on her shows' title!!!

I own and totally recommend for ease of understanding , especially for brand new quilters...(like me...hehehe)

Start Quilting
Rotary Cutting
Keep Quilting
Paper Piecing
Hand Applique
Finish It
Hand Quilting
Beautifully Quilted
Baby Quilts

quiltlinks

WebFabrics...

I am so very lucky to live near WebFabrics ( www.webfabrics.net ), the largest Quilting store in the Washington, DC area...every Saturday, they offer free classes in a variety of areas.
We've had simple classes about using different types of iron on adhesive inter-facings...Fabric Postcards...Snippet Art...fabric gift bags...pillowcases that can be made to match a quilt or to store a quilt in...rag quilts...gosh I can't even remember all the things I've learned...
Most often they are tied into fabrics, books or patterns that are available in the store, but the staff are such delightful people, that going each week has become a joy and it's visiting friends.
Today's class was about quilted sweatshirts/ jackets....some were appliqued, some just fun finishes with fabric.
So, of course, I ran off to Ross and found a cheap sweatshirt to turn into a jacket...it's a nice teal color also...which will be perfect with some of the Asian fabrics I have in that color family... pictures when I get closer to finishing it!!!

This is the Thanksgiving table runner I made this week...I learned those lovely trees...
I also got a chance to play with some fancy stitches on my sewing machine...I will be quilting the plain leaf squares...I have a nice leaf chain that will look really nice...
I also sewed together some silver and blue Christmas fabric ( I think it's Hoffman)
I will post a picture of that tomorrow...

I've spent most of today working on plans for my Art Quilt for the Purcellville Art Quilt group... we are having our second meeting this coming Wednesday .

I gathered fabrics and embellishments that I thought might work with my basic idea...I narrowed it down (after re-reading the chapter three times...lol) and I made myself walk away...tomorrow I will be able to start with a fresh eye and hopefully I will still like my choices...

I love Thangles!!!

I am a newbie quilter...with all the accoutrementes that being a newbie entails...INCLUDING Thangles!!! I made a table runner for Thanksgiving today and after struggling with half squares and hourglass squares for Ohio Stars....OMG ...I love Thangles....
they totally take the math (which I hate) out of quilting!!!