Class Accomplished

The winter session of my Quilting class ended with a bang last night. We had a wonderful pot-luck dinner, prizes, and lots of fun and laughs. Joan Willey won the block drawing for the second time in a row!!

Above is Catherine with her very first quilt that she completed this session - binding and all!

Above is Lori's version of the denim quilt that I taught a couple of sessions ago. She used some wonderful indigo fabrics with dark denim yardage to a very nice effect. She had some unfortunate issues with fraying, but I still love how it turned out.

Below are two small quilts that Joan Weaver quilted herself on the longarm machine at Always Quilting in San Mateo. Nice job on those!

See you all in a couple of weeks for the Spring session!

Fabric Thumb Tacks

Who would have thought that they'd be this easy... Check out a free tutorial on how to make these over at How About Orange.

Happy Birthday to Bach!

Johann Sebastian Bach

b 03/21/1685 d 07/28/1750

Many years ago, practically a lifetime ago, I was a classical guitarist. I had many concert pieces memorized, and I suppose I could have gone far in that field. But I was very young and when I lost my teacher, I just let it go. It is very sad to me now, but to pick it up again would be to start from square one.

What does this have to do with J.S. Bach, you ask? Well back in the days of the great composers, there wasn't such a thing as "classical guitar", and therefore no music was written specifically for it. There was, however, such a thing as the cello, and very much music was written for it. Bach wrote quite a bit cello music, which was later transcribed for the guitar. Of all of the pieces I learned, I always liked the Bach music the best. I have therefore declared him my Favorite Composer. Take a moment to sit back and listen to a little Bach today. I know I will.

More Applique Cats

The scale may be a little off, but here are three more of the applique cats (shown in Applique Cats 1 and Applique Cats 2) that I started working on a while back. Three more to go and I can piece them into the quilt top in a modular fashion. I'm really on a roll with these. I love hand-appliqued quilts and for years thought I could never do it, but I decided to try a new technique and it was not as difficult as I thought it would be.

Adventures of Bear

Well, Bear isn't 100%, but he is feeling much, much better. He's gained all of the weight back (and then some) and seems pretty happy -- and purr-y. He even FINALLY used his hammock the other day. We had to take a picture to commemorate the event of him actually using something we got for him. However, I think he might be taking advantage of his illness knowing that he will get lots of love and pets. Below I was trying to put the binding on another fabric picture frame and he absolutely HAD to sit on my lap. He couldn't even wait for me to pull a quilt all of the way over me before he plopped down and fell asleep. By the way, pay no attention to the pile of fabric sitting next to me. Just my latest quilt show acquisitions...

The Big Read

The Big Read is taking place this month! As a community, Redwood City is reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This program is presented by the National Endowment for the Arts and the biggest local sponsor is Montalvo Arts Center. They have really gone all-out in presenting this event. There are copies of this book all over the city, in shops and restaurants, and even randomly placed on park and bus benches. The idea is to give out the book for free, have people read it, and pass it on. I found out about it last month and so Lance and I grabbed copies and got to reading. I had never read the book before, but it had been on my "want to read someday" list from way back. I even had an old copy of it in a box of books. We both finished it in time for the kick-off gala at the old restored courthouse in downtown Redwood City last Friday night. It was a very nice reception with lots of local names. The mayor, former mayor, city council members, and even Assemblyman Ira Ruskin were in attendance. There was food and music and, in keeping with the theme of the book, a booth where you could write down and submit a personal rememberance of a time when you personally felt censored. Our attendance was somewhat spur-of-the-moment, so unfortuantely I didn't have my camera on me, but the restored courthouse was spectacular.

There will be over 40 events this month related to The Big Read, including drop-in book discussions, screenings of the film, an interview with Ray Bradbury via satellite, and a street fair at Courthouse Square on the last day fo the month. How exciting to live in a city participating in this event!! Find out more info at The Big Read.

Class Pictures

The ladies from class seem to have a finished quilt top (or "flimsy" as I hear they are called now) every week. Here are a couple from this Monday night's class:

Lori's quilt top

Joan's quilt top

Very inspiring!

Rubbin' Elbows

Okay, so I look incredibly goofy, but I got a picture with Alex Anderson! She is as sweet and funny in real life as she seems on tv. Oh, and she smells really good, too.

SF Quilt show this weekend!

The San Francisco Quilt Guild quilt show is this weekend at the SF Concourse. Alex Anderson will be there so that will make it even more exciting. I'll post some pictures next week (providing I don't forget my camera!).

Heart Yo-Yo's

So here's one I haven't seen before... Heart Yo-Yo's. Very cute. You can find a free tutorial over at Penny Sanford Porcelains. People's creativity never cease to amaze me.

Picture Frame

For Valentine's Day I made Lance a fabric picture frame. I pulled together some "forest" looking scraps quickly before class on Monday night, and I think it came out pretty nice.

Cindy made one a few weeks ago for her friend at work made with some of her purple scraps. Vey nice, too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Miniature Quilt Shop

I love things like this! This shop is made almost entirely out of polymer clay. You can go the Polyclay.com website to see some step-by-step pictures of it being put together as well as some detail shots. I've got more than enough on my plate with quilting to take up any other hobby, but if I did have time, I think I would probably work with polymer clay. It is just amazing the things that people create with it.

Fraser Smith

Beautiful work, isn't it. But you certainly would not want to sleep under it. It might weigh anywhere from 80 to 130 pounds!! That's because it is not an actual quilt, it is a sculpture of a quilt completely carved out of wood. The detail is incredible. It is the work of artist Fraser Smith. You can see this piece and many more at his website. I encourage you to go there and take a look around. Also, check out the Frequently Asked Questions page where you can learn all about how he does it. Simply amazing. This particular piece is on permanent display at the Museum of the American Quilter's Society (AQS).

Where have I been???

Don't you just hate when Life gets in the way of all of your plans? Well that's what been up with me lately. The main thing going on in my life right now is that my dear, dear cat, Bear, has been ill. Never mind the fact that my husband and I both have colds, too. For some reason our cat has decided to stop eating and drinking. We're force feeding him thinned down food with a plastic syringe, but we can see that he is getting weak. The vet ran some tests and says his kidneys are fine and he has no fever. It is possibly because we had given him some antibiotics for a sore foot. Whatever the reason, it is an emotional drain on both my husband and myself, when we are both already under the weather and busy at work.

Anywho, on a brighter note, my quilting class started up again this week, and we have lots of people having lots of fun! Helen showed her version of the Batik quilt I taught last year and it looks WONDERFUL!! It was done in juvenile prints for her grandson, Liam. Nice job, Helen!