8 days w/o a post???

Oh, I'm so ashamed!  I can't believe that I've been so preoccupied and busy.  Some of the problem has been testing, some has been wrapping up the school year, and some has been sewing.  


 That means, I suppose, that this post is meant to catch up with me.  Testing is much too boring to discuss with anyone, even in person.  So let's just skip right to wrapping up the school year.  

On Thursday I took my Explorer Club on its last college exploration field trip in Monroe.  We had a great time touring ULM (University of Louisiana at Monroe).  One of the interesting sites at ULM is the sculpture garden.  


There are several sculptures, although I've managed to get only the one photo.  All the others have students, but I'm not allowed to show students.  The war eagle sculpture in the top photo is not part of the sculpture garden, but I loved the look.  The photo is actually taken on the diagonal but I've figured out how to turn it the right amount.



One other thing I've been busy with is a quilt.  My plan is to applique the fleur de lis pieces, add several different blocks so that it is something of a sampler quilt, and to finish the quilt with a wide border of the focus fabric.  


I've finished up several of the blocks already but haven't decided the final arrangement.  


The blocks have been fun to work on, but they've also been time-consuming.  It's much faster to make many of the same blocks.  I am learning one thing--that I'm not very good at piecing.  


I keep finding that my 1/4 inch seams are not just right.  I've tried changing the presser foot, added tape to help guide my fabric and slowed down just a bit.  While those strategies have helped, I end up back at that darn place of messy points and crooked seams.  I'll keep working on it, but I tend to want to speed through seams.


One project that doesn't require pretty seams is this one........


One of our sons does home improvement work and is just as rough on jeans as an offshore deck hand.  He dropped off three pair that all looked this bad or worse.


I did what I could, but they still ended up looking like something that should only be worn in the fields.  I'm just hoping that he doesn't wear them to meet clients for the first time, but I know him well enough to know that he likely will do just that!


I've tried convincing him to buy new jeans, but honestly, he's right when he says they don't last any time.  He also complains that it's especially difficult to find jeans that fit.  


And finally, this comfy quilt was on my to-do list last week.  It's an older blanket that had already been repaired a few times, but because it had never been quilted, the cotton batting kept moving around.  The owner asked me to quilt it and I readily agreed.  


It was a bit of a challenge, however, since the top and bottom are stretch knit. 
In addition, the earlier repairs warped the top, but I enjoyed the challenges and had fun stippling the quilt.  Doesn't it look great on my grandmother's old chair?  

I found the chair in my mom's house and recognized it immediately.  There's a spindle broken and the seat needs to be recovered.


I'm probably not going to fix it though, simply because I have always known it to look exactly like this.  I can still picture it in my mind's eye in the back bedroom of Ma-ma's house.  I'm just not sure that I want to repair it.  For now it's sitting in the studio gathering bits and pieces of quilting castoffs because it happens to be close to the long-arm.  But then it sat near Ma-ma's treadle machine, too, and held much of her bits and pieces, so I figure it can handle the job!


And I think we're all caught up for now.  Have a great week!
Happy Quilting,
Mary

GSQA Show

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Gulf States Quilt Association (GQSA) show, "Charmingly Southern" in Slidell.  We boarded the small charter bus at 7 a.m. and took off with a couple of stops along the way to increase our numbers. Imagine the chatter and laughter as we played games and visited.

Photo from GSQA flyer by Ilaine Hartman.

Although we were there for only the day, I managed to see every quilt and even had a little time left over to sew in the community sewing.  We sewed strips together that will later be cut into blocks and made into charity quilts.


I only wish my camera were working as the quilts were stunning and I'd have loved to post at least a few.    I'm hopeful that I will get a few later from kind friends.  In the meantime, enjoy their website at http://gulfstatesquilting.org/index.html

I did pick up a few goodies and won a few prizes.  I'll share those later, for now I need some rest......my feet are tired!
Happy Quilting,
Mary

Migraine

Remember my post over the weekend that we were lucky enough to eat crawfish twice?  Well, my hubby believes that I gave myself "crawfish poisoning" of all the craziness in the world!  At any rate, something triggered a migraine....you know, the headache from Hades.  It started early Sunday morning and two Frova and a missed workday later, I'm still suffering.  I'm desperately trying to deal with the pain without another dose of Frova. I really can't handle the nightmares and muscle aches.....not that the headache is any better.  


Since I am fairly sure this makes very little sense, I'm simply going to say if you have migraines, please share your coping technique.  Love any thing that will make this better!

Crawfish!

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Seafood/CrawfishBoil.htm

Here in Louisiana crawfish are a wonderful opportunity for family, friends, and food--our favorite things for keeping tradition alive.  Our favorite way to eat crawfish is boiled, but we also enjoy them fried, in an ettouffe gravy, in crawfish Couvillion, and in poboys.  Yes, we love our crawfish!


I'm posting about crawfish because I've had the pleasure of enjoying boiled crawfish two nights in a row.  What a weekend!  Last night we had a wonderful time with some friends from work.  Laughing, telling stories and boiling crawfish.

http://stacyburkhartphotography.weebly.com

Tonight Rich and I had the kids over for......yea, crawfish!  We definitely taught our children the importance of Cajun traditions because our sons can boil a sack of crawfish!  Really, they were perfect!  Exactly enough seasoning with corn, potatoes, mushrooms and onions as sides.
What a fabulous weekend..... and there's still another day left!

He Is Risen

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.                                                                                                                                       Matthew 28:1-10

A Happy and Blessed Easter 

to you and yours.

Small, bright, modern

The title pretty much describes my two newest quilts. The first is "Round Pegs, Square Holes" and is very colorful.  I finished it yesterday (binding and label).  

 The second one is another in the Nursery Rhymes series, "A Pocketful of Posies."  I imagine the purple squares as pockets and, of course, the flowers are posies.  I think this is number five of the series.     

The squares are deep purple and the flowers are different shades of yellow.  I quilted it with a feather motif, then stippled around the flowers up to the feathers with a small stipple.  Well, as small as I am able to stipple.  

I did a little thread painting with a yellow thread mostly to make sure the raw-edge applique will hold.  The iron-on adhesive is really thick but I don't trust it.  I trust stitches. I really don't like it because it makes the applique very stiff but I'm having some problems finding the brand I like.


What do you think?  Aren't they modern?  Do you like to make modern quilts?  How do you define modern quilts versus traditional quilts?

Liebster Award and Picket Fence milestone

This award is given to new bloggers with fewer than 200 followers.  Translated from German, it means one of your favorite blogs.


And yes, I won!  Imagine that!  This award is a way of getting smaller blogs noticed and recognized.  Once a blogger wins, all he/she must do is say thank you in such nice ways as linking back to the person who awarded the prize--in this case, Stacey of  TwirllyGirls blog, which I just found not so long ago. You really have to visit, it's such a pretty, fun place!  After I left a comment on her blog, she decided to come on over to Fleur de Lis Quilts and check us out.  Next thing I know, there's an award in the transaction.  

Now I get to nominate a few blogs, but I'm going to take a day or two to make my decision.  I have a few in mind, but I visited so many that I really like during the blog hop party, that I'll just have to revisit to finalize my decision.  And you, my dear reader, get to meet other bloggers!  That's a nice little side bonus, isn't it?  

I've been a little busy.  The week is going to fly by, so I'm trying to make the most of it before returning to school.  Today, I picked up tax papers, went to a guild meeting, arranged flowers for church, helped Rich put in a new dishwasher and then helped him take it back out (new, but broken), cleaned and swept the studio, and (breathe) stitched on the label for the quilt I finished last week.


These are the flowers.  we're donating them in memory of mom and dad.  Father Ibe and I talked and decided on neutral colors, so I used white with some soft greens and yellows.  They are silk and the two bouquets above are matching in size to put on the tabernacle table (one on each side).  The larger one is meant to be put on the floor in front of the altar.  It doesn't appear so tall in the photo, but it is about 2 1/2 feet from top to bottom.  I don't want it to reach above the table but I do want it to be dramatic. 

How does your garden grow?
#3 Nursery Rhymes series

How about this little tumbler quilt?  It's finished!  Yay!  This is the one I wrote about one day last week here.  


I really had fun with the quilting.  I decided to take advantage of those daisies.  They aren't all whole flowers, though, so I made them into whole flowers with the quilting and added a few in places where there were no flowers at all, connecting them with a big stippling.


Yes, definitely fun!  Check out the quilting in this photo.




 So that done, it's time to get to another quilt, or two.  Right now there are two on the design wall.  Both tops are finished and waiting on the long arm.  In fact, I'd have loaded the first one, had it not been for that darn dishwasher.  What could have been an hour, quickly became two.  Aggravation and frustration to boot!  So tomorrow I'll load this little sweet one!


It's a modern quilt I'll name "Round pegs and square holes."  


I think I'll quilt it with circles and squares interconnected, but we'll see.  Who knows?


Then it'll be the other one's turn.  I have no idea what this is, honestly.  The dark blue is really purple.  The huge flowers are supposed to be daisies.  I wanted to give it some personality, but I'm not real sure what, exactly, is going on.  I think I need some help.  I'm taking suggestions.


Please leave a comment with any ideas you might have.  Do I add more flowers?  Leave it as the mess it is?   Then there's the quilting....
oh, well, win some, lose some.  I can always donate it, right?


Oh yes, the second part of the title!  Fleur de Lis Quilts blog has passed 200 votes on Picket Fence!  That's all the way to page 17 of 154!  Go you voters!  Thanks!


Happy Quilting, 
Mary