Flowers and Apologies

First, my apologies for not posting in a few days.  I suffer from depression and it has gotten really bad in the last few months.  Some days are horrible.  I'm on a new medicine that may be helping but it's difficult to tell.  And while this isn't an excuse for not writing, it's all I have.

I spent part of the weekend putting some flowers together for the family graves for All Saints' Day.  Cleaning the graves and putting new flowers on them is a tradition here in the deep South, especially among Catholic families.  This weekend congregations everywhere will pray for the souls and bless the graves.  

Rich and I first went to Moreauville to visit my grandmother and grandfather's graves.  We forgot to bring a broom, so we stopped at the dollar store on the way.  In no time we had swept the dust, grass, and cobwebs off the grave and gravestone.  I arranged the flowers and snapped a few pictures so my sisters and other family members can see how pretty the flowers are.

 


The next grave is my great-grandparents' and great-uncle's grave.  Yes, all three in the same plot.  The concrete is barely above ground, so it gets very dirty in the course of a year and requires lots of scrubbing.  He has a Woodmen of the World vase on his grave, so I didn't need to buy a vase.  

We also went to visit my parents' grave.  Cleaning that one is easy since it's still new.  Rich took the reins on this one while I arranged the flowers in mom's sewing basket vase.  Dad bought the vase before his death, so it's really special to us.  

And that was the big part of my weekend, except for the many papers I graded, but there's nothing interesting about that boring chore.  How did you spend your weekend?

AAQI Quilts for Sale

While writing Sunday night's blog, I wanted to include photos of small art quilts as examples.  I made and donated several quilts to AAQI and decided to check on their progress.  I discovered that they are posted on the AAQI website.

I thought some of my readers might be interested in knowing which quilts of those I have donated are currently up for sale.  The basic information is mostly the same for each quilt, so it appears at the end of a segment.

12,240 - The Old Home Place

 12,241 - Christmas Cabin

12,242 - Sunbonnet In Blue  

Mary Marcotte

Evergreen, LA USA

Width: 9" Length: 12"

Materials/Techniques: Cotton fabric, batting, pieced backing with appliquéd and embellished Sunbonnet Sue.

Artist Statement:

I made this quilt to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research and to show my support for the AAQI. Contact Mary

Dedication: All of my AAQI quilts are made and donated in memory of my mother, Ellen Bourque, who had Alzheimer's. She was a beautiful woman and friend, and I miss her every day.

This quilt has Fast Finish Triangles.

 

  12,273 - A Feather in My Cap

 

12,275 - Fractured Memory

 

12,276 - Wish You Were Here

 

12,277 - Scrollwork in Cotton

 

Mary Marcotte

Evergreen, LA USA

Width: 12" Length: 9"

Materials/Techniques: Quilters cotton, batting, embellishments.

Artist Statement: All of the Alzheimer's Art Quilts that I make are meant to honor my late parents, Ellen and Riley Bourque. Mom was an Alzheimer's patient, and while my sisters and I helped, dad was her caregiver. Their 53 wonderful years gave them eight daughters and memories that she could not hold onto.

Contact Mary

Dedication: In memory of Ellen and Riley Bourque.

This quilt has Fast Finish Triangles.

If you're interested in purchasing any of these quilts, or any AAQI quilt for that matter, simply go to http://www.alzquilts.org/ to make your purchase.  Type Mary Marcotte in the search box and all seven of these quilts will appear.  They are priced at $35-50 each, which means that together we will raise over 300 dollars for Alzheimer's research.  My personal goal is to make and donate enough to raise $1000, so this is only the beginning.
Happy Quilt Shopping,
Mary 

Computer Cries

Ever get a scary message from your computer?  I get one about every 10 minutes.  It done for, I'm afraid.  We squeak by day by day, but it won't be long before I'll have to cough up the money for a new one. 

The message reads something like this:
Windows detected a hard disk problem. 
Back up your files immediately to prevent information loss, and then contact the computer manufacturer to determine if you need to repair or replace the disk.

If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why.  In the meantime, I've been more than a little busy at school.   It's amazing what is required to teach these days, and I'm not talking about the patience!

I did get a little sewing done.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll find a minute of daylight to photograph the projects....yes! plural! I finished a couple of AAQI quilts and have one waiting in the wings.  All it needs is binding.  So if all goes well: the sun shines and the computer works...I'll snap a few pics for you.

Three Little Quilts

Once upon a time there were three little quilts who all wanted to go to a special place where they could find new homes and help raise money for Alzheimer's research.

I started these little quilts two weekends ago and wrapped them up last week.  They will go to AAQI after the holidays.  I'm hoping to add another one or two before sending these off.  My goal was to get 12 to AAQI in 2012.  I don't think I'll quite make it, but I'll do what I can over the holidays to get a few more finished and on their way.

I discovered that making a couple of quilts is easy if I begin as though I'm making only one large quilt.  Each one has the same background fabric but the flowers are different.

To avoid putting flowers in the way of my cutting, I measured the background and drew a line using ink that vanishes when pressed.

From that point on, I just played, designing and dropping in flowers as I went along.  I tried to stick with the rule of three, but it's not a hard and fast rule, so I didn't worry it to death.   

After pressing the flowers into place, I went to the Bernina and stitched them down using either the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) or one of the specialty stitches.  

On the pink flower below, I used two of the specialty stitches and like the lacy look that I achieved.  On the purple straw-flower beside it, I used the BSR and ran over the petals over and over adding several layers of thread to darken the petals and add dimension.

On some of the flowers I zigzagged the edges but on others I left the raw edges exposed.  The two toned flowers in this quilt are a good example of this.  While I sewed the purple petals, I left the blue without stitches because the other parts hold it down.

The little yellow flowers on the vine were a bit difficult because they are so small.  I planned to have more them, but once I realized how difficult they are to work, I dropped the idea and added another pink flower to fill the space.

In the end the three quilts are just the right size for AAQI, which I discovered returns any quilts that are 1/4 inch over the 9 X 12 inch limit.  I got two back earlier this month from the last group that I sent.  I was able to trim one down, but the other will not cooperate.  Trimming it takes too much away from the motif, so that one has become a small quilt in my studio.  I measured these more carefully and made sure to leave enough wiggle room for the binding.

I hope you come back tomorrow for a visit when I hope to announce the winner of the Blog Hop Party giveaway.  

Happy Quilting,

Mary

Another AAQI Quilt

After making a small quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) over the weekend, I just wasn't crazy about the embellishments.  So I posted a photo of the quilt on the Quilting Board and asked other quilters for their opinions.  Not many responded, but every single one said the same.....lose the beads.  Well, how does one argue with that, especially since I kinda felt that way myself?  

The beads came off and two more fabric scrolls came on.  These two are in orange and I am much happier with the end result.  So this one is ready for shipping.  Well, actually, I was planning is to drop them off when we go to International Quilt Fest in Houston in November.

AAQI usually has a booth at the Festival, so it would be easy to drop them as I pass by the booth, but it's occurred to me that doing so might make keeping track of the quilts a bit more difficult for the volunteers who work the booth and pack up at the end of Festival.  Besides, if I get my act together and send them in a few days, the quilts might be available for sale at the festival.  Now that would be cool!

Had you noticed that I keep referring to the quilts, plural, as in two?  That's because I first reworked that one....
then I picked up some of the fabric that was left over and played a bit.  

Viola!  Another little quilt.

They're just so easy to whip up.  Especially if you whip up extra stuff while putting one together.   

Another reason that I like playing with these little quilts is that I can experiment with different techniques without that nervous feeling that I get when I'm working on a large quilt.  Besides, it's sometimes hard to get a real sense of whether something is working until the quilt is finished.  Large quilts take time to get to the finish.  These babies finish up so quickly that I get some instant gratification and find out quickly whether the experiment works.


Sometimes an experiment is a total bust.  But that's okay on a small quilt because I've only invested a little bit of time and resources.  Toss a mistake in the trash and move on!  

Toss a big quilt?  No Way!  I have to make it work somehow, and I can get pretty frustrated fighting a quilt that does not want to come together.  But a small 9 X 12 quilt is not a huge investment, so I don't feel guilty when it doesn't cooperate with my bright ideas. (Or my bright ideas weren't so sparkly to begin with.)

Of course, running into the studio for a couple of hours to relax after work is much more fun when there's a quick project awaiting my attention.  Okay, I admit it: I'm like some instant gratification on occasion.

I don't even have to tell you how good it feels to know that my little quilts are helping AAQI to raise money for Alzheimer's research. Now that's some gratification!  Talk about a good reason to play, experiment and throw a cute little quilt together. 
Happy Quilting,
Mary

AAQI to the sixth power

This is the sixth quilt for AAQI (Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative) that I've made.  A couple of years ago I designed several chicken blocks to make a large quilt, but after I drew out the blocks and made a couple I decided that I'm not into chickens that much.  

Lo and behold, I attended a couple of quilt shows and there was at least one chicken quilt at each show.  Then I discovered that one of the larger fabric houses has really cute chicken fabrics available.  So I guess I was on to something.  

What's Kickin' Chicken?

While cleaning and moving things around the studio, I discovered my drawings.  I chose my favorite to turn into a small quilt for AAQI, added some country fabric from mom's stash and had a blast working on it.  I wouldn't purchase this quilt for myself, but I'm hopeful someone will appreciate it enough to spend a few dollars on it.  

Knowing how popular chicken fabrics and quilts are, don't you think that it will sell?  I don't have any idea how the AAQI quilts are priced, but I hope that it will be priced low enough to sell.  I'd really like to see the quilt raise at least a few dollars for Alzheimer's research.