On the 8th Day.......

God said: "Let's Dance!" This is the name of one of my favorite small quilted wall-hangings. Made as part of a challenge project for the guild I belong to---Berea Mill Stream Quilt Guild, in Berea, Ohio.

The challenge fabric was the multi-colored dots on a black background surrounding the entire border and the dancing figures. As soon as I saw it, I knew what I would do with it! To me it represented chains of DNA or molecules. So I knew it had to be some kind of a figure involved in the final project.

Because one of my granddaughters takes ballet lessons, it was almost her birthday, the quilt took on a life of its own when I decided to use the dancers as the figures.

Here is how I made this: I went to a program which I use a lot to make my own birthday cards and searched for a graphic of "dancer" and found this one. Just an outline of a ballet dancer. I printed it out in several different sizes; used them for the figures and just played. Later that day I was wrapping a gift and noticed the silver ribbon among my possibility of tying up that package. When I took the ribbon out, it fell off the spool in swirls and seemed to be just what I needed to link the figures together!

Now I needed something to start this process....and some silver satin backed crepe from my stash made itself known to me! So that became the cornerstone. It seems that whenever I look for something specific I never find it, but when I am just browsing all the components leap out at me! The rays coming from the left and right were a scrap of silver, dotted & shiny fabric I found about the same time.

I tried to make this a very festive active picture. You will note that the characters are jumping and playing as though skipping through space and having fun. They are all linked with the ribbon to the DNA or whatever they are made from up to the beginning of their life. The large SUN! or GOD!

After this was all done I drew around the cut-outs I had made and used them in different sizes for the quilting done between the actual figures. The back is a composite of silly things--- a dog, a tree, and a flower along with the leftover figures dancing and playing!

The quilting was all done with invisible thread on the back so it doesn't detract from the characters. Then I went back to my greeting card program to create the label. I scanned in the background from a scrap of sky fabric, printed out the label and it was done. Whenever I make a label this way, I try to always have a component of the quilt included in the information.

It was great fun to work on and I hang it proudly in my workroom. I hope you enjoy seeing it!

For success in life: learn something new everyday

And boy was this a new event for me! Saturday afternoon we all went to a rugby game!
None of the family had ever seen a game of rugby. When my 14-year-old quiet grandson announced he was going to be on a rugby team we all had looks of shock on our faces. This boy who really didn't like football, but did play basketball was taking on this new sport?
Although he didn't get to participate in this game, along with the other "newbies" he will soon we are assured. No wonder he likes to play. This game looks like pure fun for all the boys!
I had researched the rules via the Internet before we left, decided against printing out 15 long pages of instructions that I came upon, so went knowing nothing about this new (to us) game. The older boys (juniors and seniors) were so nice to us. They explained all the rules, the scoring and kept us informed as to what was happening on the field. And it soon became obvious that these boys were having a great time. With one exception which was a little scary when one boy was knocked down and didn't move for a few minutes....getting the wind knocked out of you can do that!...it was an exciting hour.

And now we all know much more about the game and will be going often to watch!

What does this have to do with a quilting blog? Absolutely nothing, but we all learned something! and it was fun! for everybody! well maybe not the boys who didn't play, but their time will come I am sure! as it does for everyone learning something new, which I will do next time.

Alzeihmers Art Quilt Project

Ami Simms has given me permission to copy and print her entire message from her blog...It is important that lots of people read it.

---

Alzheimer’s On The Rise

The news is not good in a new report released on Tuesday by the Alzheimer’s Association:

The number of Americans with the disease has grown to 5.3 million. Their care continues to be a huge financial drain on our already fragile healthcare system and on the families who care for loved ones with this disease. Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death across all age groups in the United States. As yet there is not a single Alzheimer’s survivor.

In the next two years, the first baby boomers will reach their 65th birthday. One in 8 persons 65 and older have Alzheimer’s.

Don’t sit on your hands. Use them to fund Alzheimer’s research by purchasing a quilt from, or donating a quilt to, the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative.

Use them to write a check to support Alzheimer’s research.

Use them to email, fax, or call your congressperson to urge more funding for Alzheimer’s research.

We need YOU. Now. Pass it on…

Curator, Alzheimer's Forgetting Piece by Piece
A nationally touring quilt exhibit of heartbreak and hope.

Check out her website at http://www.amisimms.com/ It is beautiful!

After being disappointed yesterday at not finding any quality fabric for my quilt project, I returned today to my favorite quilt shop, Quilter's Source in Parma, Ohio. Such beautiful fabrics are featured there. And I came up with a solution for the back of my grandson's quilt. Black with little gray squares. Nothing that has to be cut a certain way or matched, but just random squares.

I have had to make this quilt extra long since this guy is 6'7" tall! and he said "make sure I can pull it up please" so I did.


Before we went out to lunch, I put together two more tops for our community quilt projects. They are all cut in 8" squares so they go together very quickly. That makes 7
done in two months plus I have one from strippy squares sitting on the John Flynn waiting patiently for me to figure out how to quilt it. Pretty soon! during the summer hopefully!!!

A somber day!

Not a whole lot happening today! It has been a very gray dreary day. And so far my trip to look for a quilt backing fabric has found nothing of interest. I started off for Joann Fabric store carrying my trusty coupons. Nothing I wanted there and everything was on sale anyway. I find the fabric is so thin and cheap that it doesnt warrant using in my quilted treasures. So I will go back to the quilt shop for this important piece.

But I did buy a package of Bamboo Batting. I have never used this before but the label says it is non-allergenic and easy to use. It is my effort of "going green" for the week. Bamboo is an annually renewable resource and is about the same price as Warm N Natural batting. It is also naturally anti-bacterial which means it doesnt have to be sprayed for insect control or have any chemicals used on it which might be injurious to our bodies. Since I am using it in a quilt with squares and just doing stitch-in-the-ditch it should work out fine. I will let you know when I am finished how it works out!

I did find two pieces of fabric on sale at Wal-Mart which coordinates well with the two community quilts I am in process of doing, but forgot about the third one completely. See what happens when you make a list! I have 3 more quilts ready to go for our guild project, just needed a backing and now I have two of those.

Time to get started on my newsletter for the guild. Next month we are having an old-fashioned tea party at a local church. Good time to get dressed up and pretend we are royalty! Tea and biscuits! And a talk about doing square-in-a-square quilting and a trunk show. Should I try and find my white gloves? I think not, but will wear my fancy frillies that only come out once a year!

Back to work!

MY first day of blogging

OK here we go! As I say on the header, this is all a mystery to me, but I am sure it will be figured out by somebody, then they will tell me and I can learn a lot!

I thought I would start out by telling you about myself. I live in Berea, Ohio. A college town, Baldwin-Wallace College is here right in the middle of town. It is fairly quiet around here, a lot of dogs, and some kids. Not as many as we used to have about 20 years ago, but enough that on warm spring evenings they are out playing kickball or most recently hide-n-seek! Which really surprised me! Some of the kids are so small you cant see them anywhere such as behind the big trees, but then they tell me that climbed over a 7" high fence to go between the yards! They are all so nice! When we walk our dogs every night they take a break to come over and chat and pet the dogs. We have a German Shepherd and an American Eskimo dog which we adore.

We have raised 6 kids in this house. Our"starter" house which we bought 50 years ago this year. Originally had 3 bedrooms, then we added on to become 4, and then made our living room bigger, so now we are back to 3! And with just 2 people living here, we are running out of space. But, then as quilters you all know why!

Where does this all come from? It seems I only buy as necessary but now people are giving me fabric and I have to give it away again!

I will start sharing my quilts with the readers soon. I am going to tell you some of the ways I make my "pretties" and some of the tricks I use. I don't win any prizes and they aren't all wonderful but I love them just the same, because they are my ideas!

So for now all I can do is hope that you will like them and come back, visit and comment, ask questions and enjoy!