The Neverending Journey

Season to Season Finished

2009-07-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

I think... I never know what is too much or too little on these half and half swaps. I don't want to hog it all, yet I don't want to leave too much for my partner to get stuck with either. Anyway, all I have to do is serge the edges, and it's ready to go out and I can leave on my trip without stressing. I'm looking forward to working on my partners block and hope she feels the same.

Season To Season

2009-06-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

I talked to my partner in crime Lesa on CQ4N to make sure it was okay if I could get a head start on the swap. I won't be here for mail out and didn't want to have to pass on this swap because of it. I wasn't even sure I wanted to use this particular block, but once I started working on it, I began to see it as a Summer Block. I still have quite a bit to do on my half, and need to get a move on if this is going to be in the mail to her by Friday. And as two years ago, this is one of my favorite swaps, and a great one for the Newbies because they are only working on one block for the four seasons. And having that one half a block to work on (rather then 5,and a small area on RR's) their creativity can take flight.

A Crazy Quilter is Born

2009-06-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

What a great time I had this past weekend. I was over at my MIL’s working on our Season to Season blocks and her sister was down from Big Bear for the weekend. I had just picked up my Winter and Autumn blocks that we did a couple of years ago on CQ4N from the Quilt Shop were I taught my classes. She saw them and was fascinated because she had never seen anything like this. She was asking how it was done, what all was involved, etc, and I told her I would show her how to do it if she wanted to give it a try. She was a little intimidated at first, but said, she would give it a go.

I showed her how to piece a block and gave her the material to pick out in order to see how she was on color theory. I was so ecstatic to see how she picked out her color scheme. Without telling her, she knew to place solids against prints, and to keep to scale. She pieced that pup within 10 minutes with no raw edges showing, and I could barely see her hand stitches. She looked at me like a little child in a candy store, and holding up her very first block ever. Now she wanted to learn stitches, so I gave her my bible of stitches, seam embellishments and told her to pick out something she would like to try, but her eye gravitated towards the blocks, and she wanted to emulate the stitches on those. I had her pick out the thread (and yep, she knew exactly what to choose regarding a color to compliment the patch) and showed her how to do the feather stitch she loved so much. I showed her one time, and all I told her was to keep it to scale, and she executed it perfectly. I have only known one other person whom I taught to CQ who picked it up so fast, and excuted it so perfectly and that was my Christy who is on our CQ4N list.

By the time I was done showing her, she had most of the seams done using the stitches she copied from the blocks, and was now getting excited because it was time to add other embellishments. Sadly, it was late and I had a husband to feed and water, and she was leaving the next day. However, she asked me if I would go up to Big Bear for the weekend and continue with our lessons. So looks like I’m going to escape the flat lands when I return from Oregon. I will watch this new baby Crazy Quilter grow into a artist, and enjoy this journey I take with her. There will come a time when she will go on her path alone, but I will have the memory of knowing I was there when she took those baby steps and evolved into a marathon runner.

I love to teach, and I love the look on their faces when they have mastered a stitch or pieced a block properly, etc. Considering I am not the easiest teacher, (mom calls me a task master because I make her take out her stitches and re-do them), but I’m a person that believes if your going to do it, let’s get it right the first time and no bad habits will have to be broken down the road.

One of my students who I had been teaching contacted me recently. I had gotten ill and had to cancel my ongoing classes at the shop. She told me someone else had a class that they took in Redlands and they did not enjoy it, she wasn’t as strict as I was, and their work did not look good, so they wanted me to come and teach the class. Well I can’t do that! So they asked if they could come to my house and I could teach them here. I’m a little hesitant because my health is not the best anymore, but they told me that if I wasn’t feeling good, they would wait no matter how long it took. That’s a huge compliment for me, especially coming from sane quilters who have never done this in their lives.

What A Difference

2009-06-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

A year or so makes! I was getting my photo’s organized on the computer and pulling them off the main hard drive to move over to the 2nd hard drive (yep have two hard-drives) and found pics of when we remodeled the sun room for my studio/office area. I started to twitch really bad remembering the utter chaos, clutter, and close to nervous breakdown. Do you notice that when you remodel or simply re-paint a room how the rest of the house tends to go into utter insanity? Not to mention the fur babes get their nose out of joint, have no idea what’s going on and are always underfoot. I can’t tell you how many times Sahara, Sydney, and Nikko had gotten into the paint and wore bright white fur for a few months until it wore off. Sahara had it on her muzzle and the bridge of her nose, and I have no idea how that got there. More then likely Syd had something to do with that. We did the remodel by ourselves and it was a lot of work, a lot of mess, frustration, and sometimes downright exhausting, but the end results were worth it.

Here are some pics of the mess, chaos and the progression of the room. It is a beautiful, peaceful work area were I spend most of my free time. I love it because it is neat and organized and everything has its place. Every drawer, cabinet, etc is full of stash and hubs picked out everything to make sure there was room for my stuff. The man is one in a million and everything he does, he does for me.

Except for the last pic, that he made for himself. ;)

And finally found my favorite pic of hubby and I on our wedding day. It was eight years ago, that I married my handsome Spanish Gift from God.

The Bird Watcher

2009-06-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Karen and I have been talking about Soft Sculptured Dolls which I use to do a few years back. This particular one is from one of my favorite designers Leta Benedict called the "Bird Watcher". This pattern is fun because you get to incorporate marabou feathers and some really fun fabrics.

Blocked Pieced

2009-06-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

I worked yesterday on getting the block pieced and focused on soft pastels. The weather here in Cali is the pits, with no sun, gloom and misty. I figured I would try and bring some sunshine in with the colors of the block, and not focus on June weather which is more like January in Cali.

Ing stopped by on Wednesday and she took me to lunch at Romano's Macaroni Grill in Redlands. This place has the most fantastic Italian food in the area and everything on their menu is delicious. She got me the new Piecemakers Calendar for my birthday, and this one is a beauty with an array of fantastic CQ blocks. Ing thanks so much for a wonderful day filled with good food, great conversation and many laughs.

New Block

2009-06-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well the beginnings of one anyway. I worked on this little lady today and she is now ready for the a coat of Createx which will keep the colors from running and/or fading.

I haven't picked up an art pencil in a long time, so she is not exactly what I was hoping for, but she didn't turn out as badly as I thought. The colors of this block will focus on pinks, soft greens, aquas and some yellow thrown in.

Charlie Surfaces Again

2009-06-11T09:38:00.001-07:00

Once again I had a “situation” where he showed himself. I have never been afraid of those types of the things and would be the first one to jump at the chance to check out places like the Myrtle Plantation, Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Bobby Mackey’s, etc.

I got to the theater on the last day of the show and Sue and I are the only ones there. She was working the ticket booth and noticed the door was locked to the booth with her inside. I said hi, chatted for a few and went turned on the stage lights and the lights backstage. I went downstairs to the kitchen to start the coffee, and made sure the coffee started perking (the thing is older then dirt and needs to be replaced) and then went back upstairs to start pre-set. Ten minutes later I went downstairs to get a cup of coffee and the coffee pot was hanging half way off the burner with a whole cup missing out of the pot. I thought okay who did this. My first thought was one of the actors came, and got themselves a cup. I yelled out, “Hey you guys, make sure you put the dang pot back on the burner! No answer. I walk over to the dressing rooms, everything is dark, not a soul in sight. Went upstairs and asked Sue if she had grabbed a cup of coffee, and she said she had not left the booth because the phone was ringing off the hook. Oookkaayyy…. I told Sue what happened and the color drained from her face. She said, “you know when I got in here today I was the only one here, and I heard footsteps on the stairs and then the doors back stage slammed shut. I got so scared I locked myself in the ticket booth. Ahh good ole Charlie, guess he liked my coffee… God I love that place!

I'm Free!!

2009-06-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Thank God I am free at last! The show was fantastic, but the work involved was overwhelming. I’m still trying to catch up on posts from my list and still have not had a moment to look at all the pictures in our files.

I’m finally looking forward to stitching again and all I could think of was I want to get back into my sewing room and have some relaxing time for me. Even though I made the costumes for the production, it wasn’t the same thing. There was no creativity involved it was just plain old sewing and getting the parts put together. However they did come out beautiful for someone who doesn’t do well with rules and guidelines when sewing.

I’ve already signed up for a swap (something I have not done in over a year) and already have so many different ideas floating around that I can’t wait to get started. If nothing else, this show got my mojo back! I even pulled out ole “Captain Jack Sparrow” and started working on him, he has been promised to someone, and it’s about time they got him.

June Already?

2009-06-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

It’s been almost three months? Hell, I can’t keep up with time anymore, and one day implodes into the next. I have had a few months of being really sick, but that’s the norm for me anyway. I just hit the big “57” and there are days I feel like 97. The mind is young the body however is going east right towards the Atlantic. I got a severe infection in my tooth and within 24 hours it was entering my blood stream….Hospital time! Took me a long time to recover from that one, because I had a really bad reaction to the antibiotics they gave me to get rid of the damn thing. Then I got hit with a mega mutant flu (they need to bottle this crap and drop it right over Iraq – war over) which took me awhile to get over that since my immune system was already weakened. Starting feeling really good, went to a funeral for a friend’s mom and my friend has a car that should only be used by little people and I’m 5’ 11” so I need to support this crippled back to get out of the thing by using my knees and legs, and WHAM! I screwed up my knee really bad and was in a leg brace for weeks. They say I need surgery on the thing, but no thanks. I have had enough surgeries and already look like a medical cadaver, except my coloring is nicer and I dress better.

Since I am over the worst of things, I have been involved with another show at the theater. This one is called Sherlock Holmes Last Case. I did the costumes for the women and I tell ya I will never, ever do those types of dresses again. These things are historically correct and it is no wonder woman fought for their emancipation. Not to vote, but to get out of those things!! Sheesh! If I ever see a Mutton sleeve, bones for the corset area, and three thousand hooks and eyes again, I’m leaving and not giving anyone an address.

I’ve also been helping out backstage with props and special effects and thankfully this weekend the show closes. I love live theater and love working a show, but when it becomes too much stress it is no longer fun. We do not have a Proscenium stage, and we have to use a turntable to change scenes. This thing is older then dirt and works about the same way. Half way through a live performance during a black out the table has to turn to another scene, and well, sometimes the table doesn’t want to turn….well halfway anyway…. You have this wall with half an apartment showing and the other a dank, dark cellar. Ah, live theater. Then you have the tech – now that’s interesting when the damn thing decides to do whatever it wants (shutting down the stage lights, playing sounds, etc) all on it’s own without a cue and in all in the wrong places. I have worked a lot of shows in 12 years, but this one has to be the craziest show I have ever experienced.

Now, with that being said, we are beginning to wonder if it is “Charlie”. Charlie is our resident ghost. I have encountered Charlie twice in all my years at the theater. Once when I was getting the personal props ready for the actors backstage. I placed all the props where they should be, then walked out to set the stage props. I go backstage and some of the personal props are missing that I just put there. At first I thought someone was playing a joke, but I was the only one in the theater at the time. I go downstairs to the lounge area, and there are the props nicely placed on the table in the same position I had them in upstairs. Okay, I’m losing my mind, but I have been doing this far too long not to know what I am doing. I am very methodical and organized which is a requirement for doing this insanity and I double and triple check everything before I am satisfied Never forgot that and always tell Charlie not to play with the props because it will mess up an actor’s scene, and cause me to lose any live brain cells which are still activated in my head! The second time was just a few weeks ago. I was sitting with Cindy taking blocking notes for her, and then right up close to my ear I hear my name whispered “Julieanne”. Only a few people call me by that, and Cindy being one of them. So I look over at Cindy who is sitting a seat away from me and said “What?” She looks at me – “What, what?” “You called my name, what do you want me to write??” She looked at me funny (she has had many experiences with Charlie) “I haven’t said a word to you; I’ve been focused on the actor’s pitch and movements”. Oookaay. Then just the other week, Crystal one of the gals that’s helping us, got her back touched (like when you rub someone’s back) and no one was backstage. I’m beginning to think I need to send an email to Ghost Hunters, but we don’t want to upset Charlie with complete strangers and their gadgets in the theater.

Here is a pic of some of the actors who play Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Mrs Hudson and the turntable area which is “suppose” to change into a dank, dark cellar.

Laters

Thinking Out Loud

2009-03-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

I am not sure how often this happens, or if it even happens to other CQ’ers, but I am such a dunghill slump it isn’t funny anymore. Yesterday I thought to myself, I am going to do something, anything to try and get the mojo back. What I did was take fabric out, look at it, put it back, take out another palette of colors, put it back. I did this about five times, until I actually threw the whole stack in the air and walked away saying “the hell with it”… My motivation and creativity are about as dry as cocktail hour at the Betty Ford clinic for cripe sake… Has the passion gone? I don’t know, but I know that the Kitten Block was the first thing I have done in almost a year, and that was difficult. Not the CQ itself, the actual doing it.

The one thing I do enjoy is teaching, there is something about teaching someone who is willing to soak up the knowledge and the experience, you pass on. The excitement or the look in their eyes when they have done something they never thought they could do, is mesmerizing and I remember when I first felt those feelings.

At the moment I am teaching a couple of gals in my CQ list off-line, and I so well remember all those questions, the desire to do the best you can, and the passion of one day being an accomplished CQ’er. I also teach a group of sane quilters who have never heard of this art form, and to actually see their faces when they look upon this for the first time is something that is hard to explain. It’s a journey and a path I enjoy revisiting with someone who for the first time is discovering all the beauty with that wide eyed wonder and amazement.

Kitten Block Finished!

2009-03-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

About time too! If there is a slow boat to China, I'm not on it, I'm driving it...
I can't seem to get the mojo back, and it is like pulling teeth to get me to focus on something anymore. I don't know, maybe I have lost the passion or the creativity or something.

I don't like the way this block turned out and that stupid mouse looks like it had one too many liquored cheese balls. If things get any better, I may have to hire someone to help me enjoy it.

Anyway, it's done and I don't know if I even want to send this thing to the recipient, but I don't have the motivation to do another one.

Weekend

2009-03-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

I had the greatest weekend with Ing who came over to spend a girl’s weekend. To be honest, we didn’t get any stitching in, but sure did get a lot of talking and lots of laughter accomplished. And I have to tell you, I was thinking she was going to bring a couple of things (I should have known better) I swear she had case after case after bag after bag of stuff. Poor Phil lugged all this stuff in and to be perfectly honest, I think he is use to this, because he had it down to a science. Let’s just say, half of my living room floor was covered in cases and bags of stash.

I think Ing is the only one that lives close enough to me for a get together once in awhile. Since I am not someone who likes large crowds this is something I enjoy. I don’t know how these ladies do these retreats, because I would be running screaming from the place. However, I did promise Ing I would do the upcoming Pomona Quilt Festival in March, so I have plenty of time to gear up and get my mind wrapped around the onslaught of a crowd. As long as I am in close proximity to an escape route when I can no longer deal with it, and need my freedom.

Ing is one of the sweetest, kindest and generous people I have had the honor to meet in person. She brought me a fantastic book of Celtic patterns and some gorgeous Venetian lace. And her work is absolutely exquisite and was thrilled I was able to see it in person. Pictures do this ladies work no justice. I don’t have a picture of what she showed me, and even if I did, I could not post it because it is for someone very special. I wish I could be there when that little lady gets to see this for the first time.

I took her into Redlands where she got to see some of the Victorian homes and mansions, and we ended up at Hancock Fabrics so by the time we got out of there, it was too dark to show her the Morey Mansion, or some of the other famous homes in the area. But when you get CQ’ers in a fabric store, everything else goes by the wayside.

She got to meet my MIL (Jenny) who is on my CQN list, and the two of them were like little peas in a pod and even though mom does not speak the very best English, they seemed to understand one another just fine. Mom started pulling out all of her old swaps from people who worked on her blocks, and we all took a walk down memory lane.

Here is a pic of Ing and my two heathen dogs. Sahara (the big one) is in love with her, and would not leave her alone the whole time she was here. Thanks Ing for a fantastic weekend darlin.

More Work on The Kitten Block

2009-02-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

First, thanks so much Amber for telling me that the Loopy Loo stitch is actually called a Threaded Double Running Stitch. Hon, I will never remember all that!

I was able to get some more work done on the block today. The first pic are the seam treatments I finally decided to do around the artwork. I did a simple Cretan stitch and added some nice gold glass beads. Then I did a pink braid trim and did an easy straight stitch with French Knots.

This was a smaller patch area so placed a small cabochon and did some Goldwork around it with some Fargo roses on the bottom and added a beaded swirl around it. The seam treatment was done using Ribbon Ruffles which I ironed out straight and then tacked down and added some French knots to the center.

What's a CQ block without the spider and web. Simple web done in metallic with vines, Fargo Roses and leaves, added on to it.

If all goes well tomorrow and no major catastrophe hits, I will finsih the other side of the thread painted rose and finish doing a little work around the kitten and this block is on it's way to the recipient.

Another Seam

2009-02-20T18:45:00.000-08:00

I'm on a roll and for me that is dangerous. As long as I am rolling along with working on a block vs, rolling down the yard or trying to get unstuck from a doggie door...all's good.

This is probably one of my favorite stitches along with the Cretan. I call it the loopy loo, since I don't have a clue what it is called. I added some Swarovski crystal beads for flowers in the center of every other loop. I also did a little more work on the thread painted rose area, and I am going to do another one on the other side of the rose. All in all not to shabby a day for someone who gets lost in her own house.

More Seam Work

2009-02-18T22:27:00.000-08:00

Can you tell I'm wishing for spring? Southern Cali is turning into my hometown in MA, the way this weather is.

Have been doing a little more work on the block. I finally got all the seams done around the kitten. I have some really cute buttons that spell out LOVE which I am going to put in the blocks the kitten is holding. I also got the adjacent seam done and just did a combo seam on that one.

I fell in love with this painting I saw and I had to think about recreating it on this block. Since Duponi is not something you can do artwork on, I ended up removing that patch and replaced it with something I could use. It was rather plain, but I figured the artwork would take care of that. I think she is so cute with her little raggedy rabbit. I only got one seam adjacent to her done, and still have more I want to add around her on that patch before I get a feel of what I want to do on the other seams.

Patch Embellishing

2009-02-16T19:45:00.001-08:00

Tammy brought up a point about doing sections of the block. We tend to focus on seam treatments, but not too much on the patch embellishment. I have posted some old pics of patches and seam treatments that I have done. I hope this helps to get the creative juices flowing Tammy.

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Scale

2009-02-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

Some of the newer gals on the list were talking about beads and sizes. I usually keep a rule of nothing over 6mm with beads and always try to keep any embellishments to scale. I thought I would repost a few pictures of things I have done for swaps so they could see the scale of the beads and embellsihments. Hope this helps them somewhat.

Two Seams

2009-02-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

Alert the media!! Bold Headlines!! JK HAS ACTUALLY FINISHED TWO SEAMS I'm going slow, because my patience is thin these days, and I'm talking anorexic thin.

Other then the occasional CQ, I have been passing all my lessons in PSP which I have been dragging my feet on for two years. I never realized what a monster this program was, and if I see one more layer, inner bevel, outer bevel, raster, mask, float, defloat, vector, bicubic, bilinear, etc., I have been seriously thinking about throwing the computer along with the program out the window. CQ is much easier.... Less raster layers and no floating vectors to worry about.

Southern Cali has had some really cold weather in my neck of the woods. Hail, freezing rain then snow. If I wanted to live in this kind of weather, I would have stayed back east. Even the dogs are huddled near the heating unit or fighting for my lap to keep warm.

Hey Judy and Charlene, so nice to see you ladies... I miss you guys on the list, but then I miss all of the older members who have disappeared. It seems I left one day to a happy group of chatty women and the next day....gone. It saddens me, and I don't know how to fix it. But so glad to see you pop by and say hello.

Purple Block

2009-02-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!

While I was on hiatus one of our monochrome swaps had a glitch, and Lesa had to track down a lot of missing blocks. The trooper that she is, she got them all back except one which was our lovely Alice's block. She never complained and told Lesa not to worry about it. Well, Lesa and I do worry about it, and we are not going to have one of our members be without their block. So Lesa put the block together did a bit of embellishing, and I finished it off. I got a beautiful card from Alice thanking us for doing that, and I am so pleased and relieved she liked the block. Now that she has it I can post it here on the blog.

Shower Flower Block

2009-02-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

Or something like that. No clue, it's a great little idea someone came up with when a member has been ill, gone through some difficult times, etc. Anyway, gals that want to send in a fully embellished block to the recipient can do so. You'll have to excuse me, because I have been out of the loop so long, I have no idea what is going on half the time, so I just wing it and come up with my own names for things.

Anyway this is a block that I just put together for a member of our list. Hopefully I will get some work done on it this weekend, if I can still remember how to embellish a block. However I was able to get the silk painted rose done, so I can still remember how to thread paint.

Table Runner

2008-12-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

This is a piece I have been working on for close to two years. It was suppose to be for Christmas 2006, didn’t make it, then for 2007, ah….nope, and looks like it won’t be ready for 2008 either! I just finished hand piecing this puppy, and it needs to have the seams embellished. I’m not going to do any fancy work on this (i.e. SRE, buttons, beads, etc) because it will need to be laundered. The second pic is what I will be doing to the seams, just basic seam stitches. I have Carol Samples book, and there are enough stitch combinations in that book to embellish 20 of these things.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends and added to the memories. Ours was very quiet, with just hubby, mom and me this year. The kids went to visit my eldest step-daughter in Missouri this year, so it was rather peaceful. Christmas might be altogether different.

I switched up my music since I am such a big Tolkien fan and studied him during my high school days and well into my late 40's. My love for Tolkien had been renewed since LOTR. I had a good grasp of the elvish language, as I did my ancestral Gaelic, but with the passing of time, I had forgotten quite a bit. However, just like my days of riding, you get back on the horse and it comes back quickly.

I have done a bit of stitching, nothing like I use to do, but every now and then I have the urge to revisit my old friend that I have not seen in a quite awhile. I finished another of the little Dog Ladies, and did a bit of work on Hubby’s camera pouch. I thought I had forgotten how to do a lot of techniques, but it’s just like that horse riding. The last pic is some progress on my silk thread painting. I have one bird done (this took almost a year) and started some work on the second bird. Perhaps by this time next year, this piece will be done.

Tenna' ento lye omenta (Until next we meet).

Thank You

2008-11-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone. I got some lovely comments about Oliver, and I want to thank all of you that help out these precious furbabies. If you want to help out, but cannot take on one of these babies, I ask you to sign up at The Animal Rescue Site which helps promote awareness and prevent rescued animal deaths every day You can join and it is free! There is a little purple button on there and when you click on it once a day, it helps feed these babies. It also has a reminder sign up (it is on the left hand side bar) which reminds you every day to pop over and do your “click”! Please remember to click every day to give help and hope to those most in need. Every click counts in the life of a rescued animal.

I have a link on the right hand side of my blog. Don’t forget every little bit helps these beautiful animals from certain death.

Oliver Twist

2008-11-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

Or as I call him, Lil Bit. In the midst of everything we have been going through, we have adopted a new fur baby. He is a Jack-Chi, and a handful, but he has brought so much laughter and joy into the house.

A friend of mine was telling me about her co-worker and the problem he was having with his wife. It seems she did not have much patience and he found her abusing him (kicking him down the stairs, yanking on his leash until he choked, slapping him in the face, etc). He told her one more time, and he was going to find a new home for him. It broke my heart when I heard this, and told her, if he needed a home for the little guy, I would be more then happy to take him. I had just lost Nikko this past year (about two weeks before I lost Sydney) and with everything else, I was heartbroken. Well he came home and caught her kicking him across the room!!! So my friend called me the night and asked me if I could take him that evening, and I told her to bring him over. Poor little guy, he was very "skittish" and any sudden movement with your foot, he would cringe and piddle! It took me about a week to show him I would never hurt him, and he is not the same dog that came to my home in August. He just turned a year old on September 11th (ironic isn't it) and is a busy boy! He took to my other dog Sahara immediately and they are inseparable. He is so good to her, and frankly he has spoiled her. Silly little guy!