Peace Bag

Well, it's been the craziest time since my last post. Life keeps moving and changing. Since my last post in June, I believe, we've downsized and moved, and i've made a transition from working contract to working full time (salary). These were fairly significant changes in our lives, and we are still working through the transition, and it looks like we're still not through to where we want to be yet (whatever that looks like). So the adventure has been focused on things outside of quilting. We moved into our new house at the end of November, and outside of the hot tub going up in flames at the end of January, all seems to be going well. Routines are being made. Long walks with the dog are happening. Friends are coming to visit. Toby (the Best Dog) wanders freely around the house. David (the Dear Husband) wanders all over the house too. It's our little sanctuary.

More to come on all of that. The big surprise is that I have been quilting. I have been working to make my creative work my default work, when I'm not at the office job. That is a lot harder than it sounds. So there are 2 posts here, maybe 3...after all, one should be devoted to my new sewing room.

Anyways, we'll start back with my Peace bag. This is a bag i created using a free template i found on line. Caveat Emptor, of course - the free template did have very unclear directions and the measurements didn't exactly add up. However. I did make do. It was my first bag ever, and I am surely proud of it. The two squares are paper pieced. The triangle is spiral based, and comes from a design out of RaNae Merrill's book: Simply Amazing Quilts. This was my first attempt at a spiral and i loved it. The second block is Mariner's Compass , another free design that I am happy to advertise.

Why these 2 blocks? The 2 blocks are test blocks for a quilt i am designing (my first design ever) - my Peace Quilt. That will take up several blogs at a later date. The Mariner's Compass is for direction, for starting to learn and trust my own true north and true self. My higher self already knows all the answers i need to live my life - i just need to access them and understand them. The triangle is symbolic of many things that i have learned over the last few years - the move from victim/fixer/aggressor to creator/coach/challenger paradigms, the move to a self love paradigm of nurture/custody/letting go...and there are a few other triangle paradigms in there too. The spiral reflects a couple of symbols of well - spiral of life, and also the spiral of conflict. For me, the spiral helped me learn to understand where conflicts in my life exist, and what level of healing they require.

Anyways, the bag was a fun exercise. the pictures will start with the making of the blocks, to the design of the circle for the triangle (which my facebook friends know was quite the mathematical challenge for me!), through to the end product.

Mariner's Compass  - Block

Nested Triangle Spiral - Design

Triangle - working out the math to do the circle....

Nested Triangle Spiral - Block

Thread SNAFU

The majority of the material came from my stash, although i did go out and pick up some lovely batik fat quarters to assist with the Triangle Spiral. And all i will say to end it off is that i will always remind myself to wash all material before using, especially dark blue flannel that I may use for lining...let's just say the bag has lots of "character" after it's first washing...


And quilting plans for the next year? finishing up the Joy Quilt - my sister Lenore's wedding quilt; 2 baby quilts (for Eadie and Norah), and my peace quilt. Maybe more bags...Another blog at a later date...finally finishing my sampler quilt that I started in 2006.


What adventure are you having today? this week?

Amy's Creative Side - Quilt Blogger's Spring Festival - The Cottage Quilt

Thanks, Amy, for hosting this festival again! This is so much fun!
http://amyscreativeside.com/

In a previous post, I mentioned that my first quilt (as a grownup!!) was made at our cottage. I don't recall now why I selected this design, or what made me decide that now this quilt had to happen. I do know I started it in the fall of 2001. We bought our cottage in May of 2001, and I knew I wanted to spend time up there on my own. I also knew I didn't want to read all the time I was there, with guests - very anti social. I wanted something I could do while we had guests, so I could keep my hands busy and still be part of the group. I spent, well, maybe 2 hours in the LQS picking fabric. I didn't think about polyester VS cotton, or designer lines - i just went for colour. I cut out the same amount of squares from each fabric, and after I pieced all the 4 patches, my husband and I put it all together. My husband then bought me a quilt frame for Christmas 2002...and it took me 3 years to hand quilt this queen size quilt. Don't look at the binding too closely - well, OK, go ahead, do. It's something I've been working on improving since this quilt. I have made great strides in binding technique. Couldn't have gotten worse!

My husband and I slept under this quilt at our cottage, and when we sold the cottage, we moved it our bed at home. We sleep under it every night. The colours make me happy, and it evokes very fond memories of our very special cottaging period in our life.

Pattern: Four-Patch, from Diana McClun and Laura Nownes (http://dianaandlaura.com/) from "Quilts, Quilts and More Quilts!", published by C&T Publishing, 1993. The material...is all over the place, with a pretty traditional slant.
Machine pieced, hand quilted.

I managed to find a space between all the rain today to hang it outside and take pictures!!

Joy quilt teaser

OK, not posting too much about this one for now...but here's the cut quilt. It's already been sorted and organized...needs to be sewn up!

Peace & Adventure

Quilting, a celebration of creativity

There is a huge community of quilter in blog land. It is a fabulous resource for learning and inspiring creativity.

I've included a link here that celebrates all this diversity: Modern Quilting discussion.

Diversity, of any sort - whether in quilting, or in people, or in choice of career, or in the books we read or the music we listen to - is what makes the world go around. It inspires creativity and new ways of thinking.

peace is...a world in which women of all ages learn from each other's experiences....

Peace & Adventure
Liz

wow...it's been a few months

So a quick check in. The list of projects is growing, with little progress.

Christie sent a comment in in March - Christie, I don't have your email address. The Tulip Quilt is from a book called "Tulip Quilt", from The Quilt in a Day series. It's by Eleanor Burns, published in March 1991. Publisher: Quilt in a Day!

I gotta tell you, it took more than a day...

OK, projects on the go...
1. finishing up the sample quilt (hand quilting)
2. new baby quilt for Norah! (at some point)
3. pillows from scraps
4. completion of Listen test square
5. keep on planning the Peace Quilt. I think i have designs for all 9 squares. I have the designs for the corner spirals. There is a lot of prework for this quilt - i have to learn how to do the spirals, so there will be a number of tests. I need to learn how to do the applique required for the other other character block. And so on...the design for this quilt will be a whole 'nother blog.
6. gift quilt...more on this later, it's a bit of a surprise!

enough for now...time for some homework.

Peace & Adventure

Happy New Year!

I celebrated the start of the New Year in several ways. These included:

• celebration with close friends and family (kids and dogs included!)
• long meditation on peace and energy, at least for today
• walk with Toby in the pouring and blowing rain (well, the first 10 minutes anyways)
• and...actually some sewing!

I've finally made headway on a kit that I've had since 2006. When I pulled this out a few months ago, I realized that I really wasn't that fond of the prints now. However, cut fabric is cut fabric, and there is always a space for another quilt, and it's always great to have something to practice machine quilting on. Started & finished the quilt top today, now I need to figure out a border (suggestions welcome!) in terms of colour and width, and the binding, and then put it all together,

Picture was taken with my iphone, and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the glare in the top corner. Photography is not a strong suit of mine. I'm if I had asked the DH (dear husband) to help me, it would have been better. However, he's down on the couch watching football with a full tissue box and a big pile of used tissues beside him. Better leave him be!

So, what to do now while I'm waiting to get to a store and work out the border? I can start on my christmas presents for next year!! The nice thing about not getting them done this year is that I now have a head start on next year's presents. Great planning, Liz!

What else - there's another baby on the way, due in May. Maybe I can get this baby quilt done by the time the baby arrives. This baby will sure have the advantage of all the lessons I've learned with the previous 4 quilts. And I'm looking at a pattern or tutorial online, and purchasing fabric online. These will be the new things for this quilt! There may be at least one more baby this year, so I will start keeping an eye out for ideas for that one too. And then, keep dreaming of my peace quilt. I got a Chapter's gift certificate for christmas, and I have a few quilting books earmarked - one particularly on spiral blocks. Very appropriate for the peace quilt! and something for Toby is brewing as well...some sort of Toby specific quilt for his bed(s)..

I'm not setting a resolution this year to post more regularly or frequently - rather the resolution is to not put too much pressure on myself to have to post!! Generally, as I'm sewing, I'm posting. If I'm not working in the sewing room...posts don't go up!!

Thanks for reading, all - comments are welcome & appreciated! If you are reading this as an email update, you can follow the link to the blog site. To leave a comment, you likely have to become a google member. To become a follower, you certainly do need to become a member of something!

And thanks to the 2 followers I do have!! it's nice to know someone is out there! It makes me realize that when I am following via a blog reader, that I need to mark myself as a follower on the sites still, so that the blogger knows that someone is out there.

Happy New Year, all!

really quick post

since I haven't posted anything for the last few weeks - you may be waiting with baited breath for an update on the peace quilt, or even just the Listen block...
Well, there are problems with one of the battery chargers, which is causing the camera batteries to whack out - so pictures are an issue right now. I wanted to post today about one of the reasons why there is no quilt update - I'm making Christmas cards! so just imagine the picture - my sewing desk cleared off (no sewing machine, rulers, cutting board, scissors or whatever) - and instead, covered with card stock, ink pads, stamps, embossing powder, embossing machine, more stamps and so forth. These have to get done! and it's fun. Most of it was done with DIL and her son, with Toby and DIL's dog CJ popping in to keep an eye on things (literally "popping in").

Also working on Christmas presents, so no pictures of the ironing board or of the fabric hanging on the quilt frame - that would give it away.

The Listen block - I ran out of my blue thread for my satin stitch, and haven't gotten back to it yet. But have ideas of how to do it differently next time! and thinking about my other squares.

There is a block quilt just waiting to be sewn (from a precut kit). I'm not terribly fond of the fabrics anymore, so am having a bit of a hard time just getting into piecing these blocks (8" blocks).

And I still owe 2 or 3 posts - one of the cottage quilt (my first big quilt), one of quilts & afghans from my Oma, and one of an afghan that DH's sister made for us, and it's history.

Anna in Switzerland finally received her quilt "Fast Asleep on Cloud Nine"...I hope she sleeps well on it!

Also spending a lot of time getting into a meditation practice - I think I'm on day 16. It takes about 21 days of repetition, I understand, to form and ingrain a new habit. Sleeping tons better and much less stressed about life in general.

Anyways, that's the update. Will try to get pix for next time!

Have a good weekend!