Family Time

     My husband has spring break this week and we decided on visiting a small town near us to meander and see what it was all about.  It was fun to be together and the weather was warm and sunny.  Could spring be coming at last?
     I also found time to work on a quilt that I must finish this weekend.  I keep trying to machine quilt my own quilts and end up so frustrated with the outcome.  I've taken the classes but it is just one of those things that seem to confound me.  Do you have a quilting technique that seems to continually be difficult for you?
     It is odd not to fill an Easter basket for my children.  Even though they are grown, I still made one for each of them every year until they were in their early 20's. We won't be with them this year but it is good to know that they will be worshiping together at the sunrise service on top of Mt. Helix in San Diego.  It should be a beautiful morning.
     Tonight at church we sang a song that my daughter LeAnna played for me often on the piano and I just love it.  Enjoy the words!

The Lamb

The lamb, O Father, where's the sacrifice? 

Faith sees, believes

God will provide the Lamb of price!

Refrain:  Worthy is the Lamb whose death makes me His own!

The Lamb is reigning on His throne!

The Lamb, One perfect final offering.

The lamb, Let earth join heaven His praise to sing.

He sighs, He dies, He takes my sin and wretchedness.

He lives, forgives, 

He gives me His own righteousness.

He rose, My heart with thanks now overflows.

His song prolong Till every heart to Him belong.

Matchy! Matchy! Been there, done that.

Happy Wednesday!  There has been a bit of sunshine today and it is so welcome.  I hope wherever you are that you have the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine and sweetness of spring.

I've had the privilege of helping several customers with choosing fabric for a quilt and started noticing a trend.  Each one of them were working with either a novelty print or a large scale floral type print and were looking for fabrics to go with them.  Each  one thought that their theme fabric was very busy and they wanted to tone it down and were looking for fabrics that matched exactly the colors in the print and read as solid.  I gently laid some fabrics with geometric designs and character that didn't quite match exactly but were in the same color family along with the plain matchy fabrics.  They would have nothing to do with those swirls, polka dots and geometrics.  They adamantly stuck with their marbles and solids and weren't sure they liked what was happening.  One of the customers felt it was the novelty fabric she picked and decided to choose a different main fabric.

This is a common mistake we make but rarely does it work well.  You need several fun and lively prints along with a mediator fabric to make your quilt sing on tune.  Check out what Kaffe Fassett does with color and prints.  Whew!!!!  I've made an attempt to give you a visual from my stash below.  Not quite Kaffe quality but....  So the next time you are shopping for fabric stretch yourself, be bold and try bolder color, and use several lively prints along with your other fabrics.  You just might end up singing right along with your quilt.  Do you have any suggestions for fabric choice that works for you?

Ouchy!!!

Happy Palm Sunday to everyone!

I spent most of the afternoon and early evening starch appliqueing.  It was a quick and fairly easy project but somehow I kept getting my fingers a little too close to the iron and touching way too hot fabric. It hurts.  I think I will finally invest in these things called thermal thimbles.  They protect your fingers while ironing or guiding the fabric under the iron.  Most quilt shops carry them or you could order from Keepsake Quilting.  It felt good to get that part of my next project done.

You may notice a few changes to the blog.  This evening my friend and graphics designer Robin and I have been making changes and hopefully making the site a bit better.  Notice the button on the top of the page that tells about my upcoming retreat.

Have a blessed week and may there be no ouchies in any of your projects.
Dee

Highways and Buyways!

Today was lovely.  Invited by two very special women from quilting club to join them on the OH-MI shop hop made this a great day!  Starting early and traveling through parts of Ohio and back through Michigan shopping, eating and laughing was definitely the way to spend a day.  This was my first official shop hop.  I am usually working them.  If you have never gone I would highly recommend it.
Here are a few hints for making the day even more enjoyable:
Bring bottled water and/or other drinks along for the ride.
Pack chocolate!
Carry an easily accessible bag for your passport and to drop all of your goodies in.
Have a supply of address labels for all the forms you need to fill out.
Comfortable shoes.
Have an adventuress spirit and laugh a lot!!

I was able to find fabrics I needed for my upcoming projects and will be busy cutting them up tomorrow.

It's good to take those mental health day breaks once in a while.  It does the body and spirit good.  I believe it also refreshes us and gives us a better perspective and new energy to accomplish all the tasks we have to complete.  May you have days spent with good friends, lots of laughter and adventure and a family that loves you to come home to.

Blessings,
Dee

Putting the Template in its Place.

Today it was hard to stay focused on one thing so I flitted between several.  I have projects that are on a deadline and really need to get them finished,  one that I would just like to get off the design wall and at least 3 or more I'd like to get started on.  I couldn't decide which one to work on so I flitted between three of them all day.  I actually got quite a bit done.  How do you solve the multiple project dilemna?

One of the projects required a template.  As I was working the template slipped on the fabric and I had to keep adjusting it.  I became frustrated at the wasting of time and then it dawned on me that I could use double sided tape and solve the slipping issue.  Putting the double sided tape on the template turned out to be brilliant.  No more slipping while trying to cut.  Using the Fiskars finger cutter  made cutting the curves on the template quick and painless.

Hoping your day is filled with brilliant ideas,
Dee

Here are the pieces of my project.

Of all the things

a woman's hands have made,

The quilt so lightly thrown

across her bed-

The quilt that keeps her loved ones warm-

Is woven of her love and

dreams and thread.

                 Carrie A. Hall

Don't forget to breathe!

I've taken yoga and exersice classes where the instructor has reminded us to breath.  Today I had to remind myself to breathe while sewing.  Sewing along I realized I was holding my breath until I finished the seam I was working on. I started my chant to breathe and discovered the tension in my shoulders eased.  So, please " Breathe!"

Have you finished a quilt top and then debated what to do with the border?  This was my dilemma today.  The easy thing is to put a border on the quilt and call it a day but I wanted, or felt the quilt needed something more.  I've decided to put a pieced border around it.

Breathing deeply,
Dee

Welcome!

Join me as I quilt, craft, play at mixed media and create snippets of this and that.  When I am in the midst of the creating process I find my time to be special and rejuvenating.

I just finished lunch with an old friend and am shipping out patterns from my latest quilt designs.

The top one is called Stargazing and the bottom one is Child's Play.  Two more are on the cutting table in my studio.