Slow Going

Things have been going pretty slowly the past week or so.  We have been having some much needed work done on the driveway and foundation of the house; however, most of it has been going on right outside the window of my studio.  The vibration from the backhoe breaking up the concrete has been a little much. 
And this morning I was supposed to go to my first meeting with the Art Group I belonged to when I lived up here before and, instead, I ended up in the driveway digging channels in the rock and dirt in order to keep the water away from the foundation .
Oh well--one of the phrases I remember from my Spanish classes is "Asi es la vida" or "That's life."  And I guess that's right.  At least I have the muscles and the shovel.
Anyway, I HAVE finished the blanket stitching the fusible applique on my newest quilt, Lady in Waiting.  I just thought I'd post a picture of the pinning.  So many people have asked me how far apart do I place the pins.  I like to place them between 2 and 3 inches apart.  I think it helps to prevent those nasty "accidents" that can take place on the back of your work when you all of a sudden discover that you have quilted wrinkles into your quilt.
So now, I can begin to actually quilt something.  This particular piece has been in the works for almost 3 years from the time I took the picture of the Lenten Rose.  And now I can hardly wait to get it finished!

The Finishing Touch

The final thing in my studio that needed to be done was to replace the formica covering for the top of the worktable.
As you can see, the large sheet of formica arrived and is ready to install.  It is 5 feet wide--a foot wider than standard.  We ordered extra length so the trim on the end of the table could be replaced, also.

 Smokey's first task was to cut off the overhanging section.  I looked up on the internet for instructions on how to do it but he decided that a saber saw was the way to go--and it worked perfectly.  The problem about cutting formica is that it's brittle and can easily chip off and leave an uneven surface.

 The next day, our neighbor Anthony came over to help with the actual installation.  The top of the table and the wrong side of the formica are slathered with adhesive and set aside to "cure."  Then removable sticks are laid down the entire table top.  This is to prevent the formica from touching its surface.  The adhesive is sort of like super glue and of the two surfaces were to make contact with each other when in the wrong position, it would be somewhat of a disaster because they would be STUCK.

 So, here are Anthony and Smokey laying the formica out over the table, resting on the wooden stakes.

And here they are starting to roll the formica where they want it to touch the tabletop.  As they rolled, they carefully removed the sticks as they went along.  They rolled and rolled and rolled so there would be no air bubbles that could lead to separation of the two surfaces.

 At this point, they've removed all the sticks, the laminate is in place and they're rolling some more.

 This is what the roller looks like.

 Next they used a router with a special bit to trim off all of the overhang along the edges.  Anythony's holding the vacuum up to it to catch some of the sawdust.  It actually did a pretty good job (of course I may find some later when I go through my fabric!  But that can be washed.).

And here is the final, finished table top.  I'll have to say, they did a better job than the man who installed the original top.  And now, I guess I've run out of excuses about getting back to work.  Hi ho, Hi ho.

Yes, I'm Still Alive And Kicking!

A lot has happened in the last two months.  And it's been pretty intense.  As many of you know, we have moved back and forth from the mountains to the sea a couple of times in the last couple of years.  When we moved back to Charleston, we said, "This is it.  We just don't have another move in us."
Well, little did I know!  Our house in the mountains hadn't sold--and most likely wasn't going to sell in the near future  (or who knows when given this economy).  So, we had more or less decided that we would list both of our houses and live in the one that didn't sell.
Wouldn't you know?  As soon as we made that decision, someone called up and offered to buy our house in Charleston (before we even put it back on the market).

And not only did they want to buy it, they wanted to move in right away.  WE packed and packed and packed, rented a truck to bring many of the boxes to the mountains before the movers came, took lots and lots of stuff to Goodwill and sold more things on Craig's List.
Given the speed and our age, the move went exceedingly well.  The movers didn't break anything and they were nice and polite--and worked.  Thanks to Craig's List, everything I have left fits nicely into my smaller space.  There is still much to do, but I'm beginning to sew.

 A few comments on the pictures.  We were able to get my large table out of my old studio and into the new one.  We did have to throw away the formica covering on the top, but a new piece is on order and we'll install it as soon as it arrives.  I sold two of my sewing cabinets (to a VERY nice woman in Summerville) and two of my machines and that opened up a good bit of space. 
Lighting has been an issue in this space.  You can see the overhead light in Picture #1 and the nice flourescent that my husband replaced it with in Picture #4.  It has made the world of difference and he will also be replacing the old flourescents with newer, brighter models.

 Also, a comment on Craig's list.  I think I was able to sell my sewing-related items for a higher price than I could have gotten on eBay.  Perhaps people prefer being able to come see the actual items in person instead of relying on a photo from an unknown person in another state and then adding shipping costs on top of it.  I really enjoyed meeting these people but I made sure that I wasn't home alone when they came.
We also sold some furniture and although we didn't get what it was worth really, it saved the headache of having to deal with it in the midst of a move.  All in all, for us, Craig's List was a good experience but I think that listing sewing related items are less likely to draw an unwanted response than other items.

And this is the piece that I am finally getting back to work on--a Lenten Rose.  I'm in the process now of anchoring down the fusible applique.  And, in spite of some bumps in the road,  this is feeling like home.  I surely miss my friends in Charleston--I have been blessed to be part of a wonderful art group there and have also known other quilters there for quite some time.  They are all special people in my life and I know that they'll continue to be so.
So, here I am--alive and kicking.  I hope everyone is doing well.

More Feathers

 One thing I know--from a student's perspective--is that a teacher can never have too many samples for a class.  Since I'm teaching classes on quilting feathers, I decided to make a more complex piece showing how you could use all of the different elements that are taught in the class.  Unfortunately, my picture doesn't quite show all that I would like it to, but I hope you can see well enough.  The fabric is a hand dye by Ellen Ann Eddy and I think it "confused" the camera somewhat (not to mention the quilter!).
I've been to several classes lately in which the teacher had the diffinitive answer on what needle to use and the proper weight thread.  The truth is that these figures are merely guidelines and that many other threads and needles will also work--depending on the fabric and the tightness of the quilting, etc.

For this piece I used a 75 quilting needle and had absolutely no problem.  The purple thread is a Superior 50 weight Masterpiece thread on top and a 60 weight Superior Bottom Line thread in the bobbin with a 2.00 tension.  For the background quilting, I used Isacord thread in both the top and the bobbin with a 1.5 tension.  For use in my Bernina 430, I also threaded the Bottom Line through the little hole in the bobbin case--which helped to pull the top thread down into the fabric and prevented the bobbin thread from showing on the surface of the quilt.
Of course, one of the major challenges of this piece was using a dark thread on a lighter, fairly blank top because any boo-boos are sure to stand out.  There are some, of course, but overall I was very happy with the end result.

The Final Result

Well, after months and months of piecing, ripping out, fusing, appliqueing and quilting, my latest quilt is finally finished.  It was quite a challenge in many ways but part of the enjoyment I get from projects I begin is the "figuring out" of how to make things work (which often means even more ripping).  I always come away with some lesson learned--even if it's "I never want to do that again."
So . . .Here is Summer Soiree (double click on the image for a little better view).  And now it's on to the next one.

I've Been Waiting For Five Years

Since we moved back to Charleston several years ago, I have been spectacularly unsuccessful at growing decent tomatoes.  My last garden in the mountains was huge and organic (lots of manure, compost, etc). There I had tomatoes coming out of my ears.  I canned them, dried them, cooked with them and--most especially--had tomato sandwiches--day after day and never got tired of them.
My yard in Charleston has sandy soil and there aren't many cows grazing in neighboring fields (what neighboring fields?) to provide that very necessary boost to fertility that will produce big honker tomatoes.  Well, AT LAST, this was the year.  These tomatoes are sitting on a dinner plate--not a salad plate--and I can tell you right now what I'm going to have for lunch today--with soft bread and mayonaise.
Whew, there's not many things I like better.  I think I've reached nirvana.

Hope

 The Challenge for our Art Group this last quarter was to write a Haiku poem and then create a quilt based on the poem.  A haiku poem is vert short--3 lines--the first line is 5 syllables, the 2nd is seven syllables and the 3rd is five.  Here is my poem:
Life's many circles,
Reaching to include us all--
Containing Love's Hope.
And so I named my quilt Hope.
I had made the the petal-type shapes in a workshop with Phillipa Naylor earlier this year and felt that they could be my starting point.  I then added circles--and more circles--that were connected to each other.

This is the quilt after it was quilted.  If you look closely, you can see the pins where it is being blocked in order to square it up before I add the binding.  Before I block it, I add a little synthrapol to coolish water and then immerse the quilt into it.  I swish it around to get it good and wet and then rinse it out.  I wrap the wet quilt in towels to remove the excess moisture.  Then I spread it out on the CLEAN carpet and start smoothing and stretching to bring it into square as much as possible.  I always need to block my quilts because of my tight quilting stitches.

 And this is the finished quilt.  You can't really see it in this picture, but there is a very tiny piping next to the binding, ala the Susan Cleveland method.
One thing I decided to do with this small quilt was to play with various elements as I went--and to just have as much fun with it as possible--using threads, stitches and techniques that I don't ordinarily incorporate into my work.

 This is some of the beading I did.  I sewed on the beads before I quilted.

And the background quilting is composed of jutting lines from variegated thread.  You can also see the gold thread I used on the red "leaves."

And the quilting with gold thread went well.  As a final touch before I quilted, I used my braiding foot and sewed down mettalic embroidery floss with red rayon thread.  This technique joined the four corner circles and, thus, encircled the other circles in the center.
All in all, I really enjoyed myself.  For me, one of the freeing and fun things to do is to participate in a Challenge and just enjoy the journey of discovery along the way.