Mulligan Stew

Funny name for a post, but this one is going to be hodge podge of  thoughts. Today was moving day for us. Last August when Mr. O and I made the decision to come to Arizona, our plan was to stay for 2 months and then move on to greener pastures...No pun intended...(we are in desert country? ...on to greener pastures?) get it?  Hahaha...Sometimes I am just so funny...

Ok, so like I was saying, our plan was to stay for 2 months, but we are enjoying the weather, and all that Mesa has to offer so we decided to stay an extra month, however the unit we were staying in was already rented out for March so we had to find other accomodations; I had wanted to stay with the same neighbours and quilting friends I had made, I wanted to finish my stained glass project and don't forget my sister and her husband are right across the street in a different park, but within walking distance, so that was a big draw for me too. We are close to a great produce market, pharmacy, grocery store, thrift store etc.etc. Luckily we were able to find something to our liking in the same park and today was moving day.

My goodness! We apparently had hunkered down, moved right in and moving day was a lot of work! I had to pack up my sewing room (yes I had a sewing room), the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom...

Cleaning up behind us, unpacking at the new place, settling in again...I am pooped!

Last night I realized I had neglected to take pics of my Schnibbles and it was packed, and there is no internet at the new place until Tuesday! Oh dear! What to do, what to do?

I HAVE A PLAN!

I have decided to write my blog post offline and then walk over to the old place(where the internet still works) and sit on the deck and use our old wifi signal to make a post...ingenious, no? 

The new tenants only move in tomorrow at noon, so I won't be disturbing any one and I solve my problem!

Ok, so onto the subject of Schnibbles...this month we were able to make any Schnibbles we wanted, so you know the parade will be really interesting, with lots of variety.

I decided to make the Schnibbles kit I bought in January at The Olde World Quilt Shop, the day we met Carrie; Miss Schnibbles herself! The pattern is called Squared and the fabrics are a mixture of Civil War reproductions. The sashing  appears to be a brown woven fabric, but it is a printed cotton. I think it is perfect with the repros!

See what I mean? It looks like a wool tweed suiting, but it is just a cotton fabric( not sure of the designer or company)

Usually I try to have my Schnibbles quilted in time for parade, but I think I have decided to hand quilt this one...it will be a perfect sized project to work on in the car, for the drive home...what do you think?

Sue emailed me a photo of her Schnibbles for this month. I will cut and paste her explanation for you...

"I picked Open Season from Schnibbles Times Two for two reasons. First, I wanted a wallhanging to fit a spot in my workroom and I wanted a Fall-ish look as I already have a couple of Schnibbles that take  turns hanging there for other seasons. [ my next one for there will have to be in Countdown to Christmas!]  Second, I love watching the flying geese that come through in the fall so as soon as I saw Open Season I knew that it was the one for me.  I made it in Portobello Market....a collection from a few years ago."

Make sure you check my side bar for the posts at A Quilting Life and Pink Pincushion for all the parade details; it is sort of like a mini quilt show! Grab a cuppa and a comfy place on the sofa and enjoy the parade.

Next breaking story? Mr O went hiking the day before yesterday, and just take a look at what he saw...

Yup! A Mojave Rattlesnake! He almost stepped right on it...heard the rattle, and then it coiled to strike. Now I have to tell you, that at that point, I would have done one of three things; screamed for my life, fainted dead away, or ran for my life. Mr O however stopped to document it with photos! Sheesh!

Ok, let's see, what else have we been up to?

Did I mention we went four wheeling in the desert...Box Canyon to be exact.

Do you recognize me?

We got to see javelinas, ...I fired off one photo, but they were up and over the hill before I could get a photo.

...and there they were...GONE! Sorry.

Ok, what else is new? Oh yeah! I finished this

It needs a good washing and polishing, and a chain, and then it is ready to hang! It is not even close to perfect, but for a first attempt, my coach said I did a great job. I know I said I was only interested in doing one project, but I can see how this hobby could be addictive...so you just never know, I may do another, but just one! Lol

A little news about my broken finger...when it happened a month ago today, I refused to go to hospital, because I knew the drill...wait for 6 hours at emergency, get an xray, yes it's broken, here's a splint. I thought I would save myself the aggravation and just go directly to a pharmacy and buy a finger splint, ice it regularily, and in a month it would be better...well it is not a lot better, still swollen some, red around the knuckle...people kept telling me horror stories of broken fingers gone wrong, so I broke down, called the insurance...went to urgent care clinic, waited, got an xray, yes it is broken, keep the splint on...BUT the doc says there may be more to it than that...it sounds like it is broken in two spots at the knuckle, so I need to see an orthopedic surgeon on Monday to determine if it needs a pin or not...I sure hope not! In hindsight it probably was not a good idea to make a quilt and 3 table toppers, take an applique workshop and do glass cutting with a broken finger...who knew?

Tomorrow there are three quilt shows in the area, so I may check them out and then I hope to unpack my quilting stuff and build a new "nest" for the month of March.

Probably no news from me until we get wifi on Tuesday. See you next week!

I leave you with a little quilty chuckle

A few more quilts to look at...

My last post showed a few quilts from the AQS show two weeks ago and I thought I would show you a few more.

This quilt was quite amazing. The choice of fabrics and the quilting was really well done. It is titled Jerome by Margot McDonnell. It surprised me to read that it was only 30"x32" because it "felt" much larger. Jerome is an old mining town about 1.5 hours from Mesa. It really is quite an interesting little place. The town is built with Narrow winding roads, on a very steep incline. We stopped there for lunch on our way home from the Grand Canyon. I tried to spot the house depicted in the quilt, but no luck.

Houses of character challenged Margot to recreate this one with fabric, embroidery and paint.

Piles of newly dyed wool and silk fibres, followed by a trip to the Saturday Market with piles of fruits and vegetables stimulated the creative process for the above quilt. If you enlarge the photo you may be able to see that each bag is embellished with different fruits and vegetables.

This quilt won a ribbon for Best Wall Quilt. It is entitled Hurricane. Made by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga from Netherlands. The quilting in this piece is spectacular. When I look at it, it boggles my mind as to where you would begin to construct something like this!

When I spotted this quilt, it immediately made me smile; even before I read it's title. Be Yourself-Everyone Else Is Taken, by Meg Cowey. Meg says this quilt was created for a new baby of modern parents, with blessings for strength of character and independance. The quilt is simple enough, but it does portray a message of independance. Can't you just picture this child growing up to be someone that zooms off to stand apart from the crowd and be someone special? Love the quilting on this one too.

This quilt is titled La Chemise Fantasmee by Genevieve Attinger of Pontivy France. It was part of a special exhibit SAQA(Studio Art Quilt Associates) Master II

Even though the simple undergarment may seem artless because it belonged to a peasant country woman 100 years ago, its ghost still evokes a symbol of desire.

In these closeups you can see the exquisit thread painting done on this piece...the hands, the lace.. The artist must have laboured many hours to achieve such details.

This quilt is titled Waiting For The Rain by Margery Goodall of Mount Lawler, Australia. The pieces in this quilt are incredibly tiny. I have included a photo below with my thumb on the quilt, for scale. I wonder if the quilter kept a record of how many pieces she used in it.

I absolutely cannot believe that I cut off the information label for this quilt. My apologies to the artist. It won a first place ribbon for its quilting. Is there any question why?

The next few quilts are pure whimsy. There were about a dozen different ones with a cow theme, and I love the imagination of the quolters both in designing and naming each piece.

Wait till you see the udders on CowTown...

Little hotdog beads!

These next two though simple were part of an challenge exhibit put out by AccuQuilt Go Cutter, and Go Baby

This one titled How To Build A Snowman was a cute idea.

This was called A Penny For Your Thoughts. 

The Go and Go Baby is not a "gadget" I ever thought I would want, but I have to say it would be the cats meow if you needed to cut a lot of small circles...like wool pennies.

Speaking of the cats meow..this is one of the first quilts we saw upon entering the show.

The pattern is called Ms. McDonalds Farm by Bonnie Keller. It was part of the Author's Exhibit.

The original is in the Paducah Kentucky National Quilt Museum. Bonnie had several ladies do different blocks of the quilt and then she constructed it and had it quilted. It won best of show in Paducah and was purchased by the Paducah Museum. One of the ladies who made and contributed a block is residing her in our park and will be giving a talk to our little quilting group on Tuesday. We are having a luncheon and then a talk/demo for the remainder of the afternoon. 

Check out the details on some of the blocks....

Unfortunately she will not have the quilt with her, but I am looking forward to hearing her speak about the journey of the quilt.

I have lots more to show and tell you, but I think I have pretty much overloaded you with pics for today. 

Tomorrow I spend the afternoon working on my stained glass block. I should be finished in another week or so. It is not a priceless heirloom but it will be well packed to make the journey home!

How about our Canadian athletes? Didn't they shine? I have found a source for this quilt pattern and I think I need to make it before the next Olympics. 

BRAVO CANADA!

 

Quilt Show Eye Candy

Just random photos of quilts that impressed me for many different reasons...the quilting, the colour, the embellshments, the pattern. Get a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy.

I have tried to include the label with the entrants name and other detail. You may have to click on the photo to read the details.

Amazing quilting!

Applique inspiration.

Can you find the Mother Beast in the garden?

The piecing and the colours in this one are amazing! It was embellished with over 3000 tiny crystals to portray the explosion of this super nova.

This quilt was made in memory of the quilter's mother who loved the outdoors. Elements are shown by Earth(worms), wind(squirrels), fire(fireflies), and water(fish); surrounded by pots of flowers and more than 2000 elongated hexagons representing caskets.

When I read the description it seemed a bit morbid, but when I reread the name of the quilt, I realized it was a "mourning quilt". Grief is apparently dealt with in many ways...

The legend of the dream catcher is portrayed in the spiral element. These pictures do not do this quilt justice. The custom quilting was amazing! Quilter Cyndi Phare of Prescott, Arizona

Spirit of Many Moons by Sue Kluber of Geurnsey, IA

Lots of detail in a 35x42 quilt by Patsy Kitteredge, of Sedona, Arizona.

This was done by a Canadian quilter, Naomi Pearson, of Vernon, BC

It was a guild challenge with a theme of mountains, lakes and vineyards. It was inspired by a view from her friends vineyard.

I was so impressed with the quilting on this l one I forgot to photograph the info. My apologies to the artist. I love how she quilted the frame to resemble the corn that Mr.Squirrel is dining on.

The last one for tonight is "More Than A Memory" by Kathy McNeil of Tulaip, WA. Kathy dreamed about a tree whose memories panned several hundred years and had seen lovers and pioneers come and go. This quilt was hand appliqued, thread embellished and if you look closely you can see ghost images to the left of the trunk.

I went quilting today and made and applied binding to my circle quilt and pieced the blocks for my upcoming Schnibbles. 

More quilt show pics tomorrow...

"Quilting is not just a craft...it is therapy."

Author Unknown