Grandma and Me

 

 We dodged another snow bullet this season.  The jet stream keeps sending the snow north.  Our luck is someone's misery.

 

One year ago today I uploaded my first post.  Like my quilting this past year, my writing is forever evolving.  Except, I noticed that with the last couple of posts, my writing had become very bland and same old, same old.  Something else I need to work on.

  

Well, I finally found a winner, plus two other pictures that will be used as subjects for future wallhangings.   I really like this photo of my mother and niece.  There is just something about seeing an adult walking with a child; I guess it is the portrayal of generations, young and old.

 

 

I like the idea of keeping them in a pumpkin patch, but I think I will take "artistic" liberties and change the pumpkin patch.  I will trace the figures, because I know my drawing limitations.

First, I thought I would have the figures cover most of the wallhanging and add a pumpkin or two.  So,  I enlarged the figures to 14" by 9".   

 

 

 

 

After tracing onto the muslin and after much thought, I thought this was a cop out and would make for a boring composition.   In other words, it would be easy and not present much of a challenge.  The wallhanging would be the two figures as it looked at that moment.

 

 

 

I retraced the figures onto a larger piece of muslin and decided I would let the rest of the wallhanging evolve as I go along.

 

 

 

Before I could begin, of course, I had to go to the fabric store to get material for the road.  I had browns, but I really liked the look of the reddish brown road.  Not really knowing how or what I was going to make the pumpkin patch, I decided to work on the center of the wallhanging.  First, I decided to cut and lay the road.  Next, I will progress to the two figures and go on from there.

 

 

 

As a child, I loved reading the "Little House" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  So back in the summer of 2003, Mom and I embarked on our first real road trip.  We decided to follow the trail of the Ingalls family.  Wevisiedt the homesteads and homes that Laura mentions in her books.  The first stop was Pepin, Wisconsin where Laura was born.  This is a picture of a replica of the cabin that stood on the site of the original cabin.  To this day, I can still feel the excitement we felt standing on the same land where Laura was born and played as a child.

 

 

Double-sided Table Runners

This past week, I have spent several hours going through my photos trying to find one that "talked" to me.  As of this writing, I am undecided what to tackle next.  So for my post this week, I decided to share my quick and easy Christmas presents that have become very popular with my friends.

Four years ago, I made my first set of  quilted Christmas table runners to give as presents.  A friend suggested that instead of making time consuming quilted table runners, I should make simple two-sided table runners.  Thus began my journey of making table runners as Christmas presents for several years.  I made everyone two two-sided table runners for Christmas.   This year was suppose to  complete the set or so I thought.... a total of 6 table runners; one for every month of the year.  This year's featured May and July;  plus August and September.  Thinking I was finished with making table runners, requests have been made for a Happy Birthday and Party; plus an Anniversary and Baby Shower.   Oh well, I know what I will make for Christmas 2013. 

To make each table runner, I sandwiched the material with iron-on thermo fleece in the middle to give the table runners some loft.  Since I make 16 sets (two for each person) of table runners each Christmas, they have to be made in a fast and efficient way.

Here are some of the table runners I have made:

 

August and September

 

December and January

 

March (St. Patrick's Day) and Spring

 Fourth of July and Memorial Day

 

October Table Runner

Happy Halloween



Pumpkins mean October.

 

The Kayaker is Now a Wallhanging

Maryland was spared again of the snow, harsh winds, and outages taking place in New England.  Looks like we are going to skirt through winter again this year with no major snowfall.  I started taking a class on Wednesday on Teaching Second Language Learner Reading and Writing.  After reading the syllabus, hopefully the homework will not interfere too much with my quilting.  This week was relatively quiet in our household, sometimes that is a very good thing....especially when you want to get some quilting done. 

I neglected much of everything else this week  and just spent every spare moment  quilting in the evening.

I outlined the the trees and the kayaker using threads to match the color of the material.  For the water, I tried to imitate the ripples you would see as the kayak moved through the water.

Looking at it with a critical eye: I should have added shading in the water around the kayak; shading on the kayak itself and on the figure.   Shading would have added to the depth of the focal point in the picture.  Also, I could have made the water and the sky more interesting.

 Now, I will have to go through my pictures and find an idea for my next wallhanging....mmm I wonder what that will be.  At this point in time, I have no idea.

A street in Baltimore that was decked out for Christmas. 

 

 

Same Old Problem

 

This past week had extreme temperatures, short sleeves one day and layers the next.  Some days it is difficult to keep track of which season it is.  I love all types of weather, but it would be nice if it would stay a little more consistent.  Last night it was snowing very lightly and this morning we awoke to about a half an inch, just enough to make it pretty, but not enough to make it a real nuisance.

 

 

 

Mmmmmm...again, the same old problem, what do I choose to frame the picture?

 

I was thinking about picking up the colors in the trees;  not really working for me.

I thought the green would compliment the trees.  I really tried to make it work.

 

No, not that, too blah!
 I though maybe the problem was....I didn't have the right material in my stash.

 

I ended up making a trip to the fabric store, and as my husband  sarcastically said, "What?  You have nothing in your 3.2 million dollar inventory?"  Yes, there was nothing that thrilled me.  So, I made time to drive up to Mt. Airy to one of my favorite quilting stores, Patches Quilting and Sewing.

 

 

 

 I did find something more to my liking.....the brown and green.

 

 

 

I think we have a winner!


This picture was taken in the basement of an office building in Locust Point while on our tour in baltimore.  I loved the perspective in this picture.