Pin It Weekly #233

After taking Jolie to get her new pointe shoes and hand-sewing the ribbon and elastic on them, I had ballet on my mind. Of course, that meant finding some ballet shots to add to my Pinterest.

Zsa Zsa Bellagio

When I had a minute to do some pinning, I added a few pins to my "ballet, dance" board.

Marianela Nunez as Giselle

I guess I got a little carried away. My original intention was simply to pin a few pictures and share the board with Miss Prima Ballerina herself, but I just kept pinning. There are over 200 pins on this board, but maybe Jolie will scan through and pick out some favorites for her Snapchat.  In the meantime, I'm having great fun. Hope you do, too.

Myriam Ould-Braham and Mathias Heymann in Cranko’s Onegin

Pin It Weekly #109

Having taken Marley to take her dance photos today, I've got ballet on my mind.  I am thrilled that two of the granddaughters have the opportunity to learn dance.  Both are interested and have had a couple of years' training at local dance companies. 

It's something I'd have loved to do as a child, but we simply could not afford such a luxury. So I tried to teach myself ballet by reading a library book and practicing on the front porch, a window sill for a barre.  

I was pretty good for a seven-year with no formal training.  I eventually became light enough on my feet that my parents quit fussing about the jumping around while they napped.  

Eventually, my interests and reading turned to learning other skills: a girl can learn only so much from reading the one library book available, and a two week check-out time limits that.

Nevertheless, I still love ballet, my lost opportunity.  And the few times that I've had the chance to go to the ballet (whether local recital or world-renown production), I've watched enraptured by the beauty and grace of the dancers, the costumes, the stories they tell.

Another Pin It Wednesday

I'm supposed to be cleaning house and cooking, so this post will have to be a bit shorter than usual.  The kids and in-laws are coming for supper.  We're celebrating Thanksgiving today since everyone can come tonight.  Waiting till tomorrow means missing out on a couple of family members and we can't have that!

I was getting worried that I'm spending too much time on Pinterest.  While pinning yesterday, I took note of some other pinners' stats.  It was just for my own curiosity, of course.  Well, I discovered that I'm a bit of an underachiever when it comes to Pinterest!  Whew, that's a nice discovery.  

Enjoy these pins of a variety of visual arts.....

One of the problems with Pinterest is that people can load photographs from anywhere and include no information or the wrong information.  Choosing pins is fun and easy, unless like me, you tend to want the photographs to be captioned correctly. 


I've had to give up on this.  At first I would add comments with information I knew to be correct.  That is a battle I lost the day I began it.  Now, I choose carefully the pins I will add to my own boards and edit when I just can't take the comments.

I do enjoy looking at the photographs, and I've found them to be a great way to add artworks to my lessons.  My days of teaching fine art survey are long gone, but I still hold on to the appreciation I developed while teaching the masters.  That's a gain I hope to hold on to for a long, long time!  

Are you a pinner?  If so, leave a comment with your Pinterest address so we can come for a visit.  I can be found here.

Another one done!

I finished Adrienne's ballerina quilt this afternoon. This despite not getting to work on it at all yesterday. 

I took these photos in the back yard in some of the most beautiful fall weather.  

 I sure hope she enjoys it. 

What do you think?

Back to the Ballerina

After a brief stop to work on a dress for Jenny, I got right back on that little ballerina quilt.  I was hoping to get the blocks made today and sew the strips up tomorrow.  I probably won't make my goal since I've got a bridal shower to attend in the afternoon.  


I did get some blocks stitched up, however.  This cute little ballerina print is the focus fabric.  I tried mixing it with the purple that matches the little purple tutus so well, but it was just too overwhelming.  So I had to rethink my plan.  


I tried a red that matches the red tutu perfectly, but the pink is so light and the other colors so dark that it just doesn't work.  Scratch the red.


I tried a bright pink and played for some time with the arrangement.  Nothing seemed to work: the purple just overpowers the print.  Finally I had an idea.....to put the purple on the outside of quilt.  


 I like this arrangement much better.  I am fairly sure that the purple will be the drop of the quilt so it will be even less overpowering.  


I realized just in time that I needed to cut some of the purple blocks a different size to accommodate the white strip on the outside.   I really want the quilt to finish just like this with a white border.  Luckily I still had a few strips of uncut blocks.  

Each of these small pictures is a single block.  First, I cut a long strip of the center of the block and two strips of white and sew the strips together.  Then I cut the blocks apart.  It's much faster than sewing individual blocks.   


I had cut most of my purple blocks when I realized that I'd need a smaller block on half of the purples.  I could, of course, cut them again then sew on the third strip of white, but that's giving myself more work.


At any rate, I figured it out in time and managed to get all the blocks complete.  Half are on the design wall waiting to be sewn into strips and the other half are on the worktable waiting their turn on the wall.  I definitely need to put the blocks on the design wall.  It would be very easy to confuse them and sew something wrong, especially since the focus fabric is a one-way design.  I don't want these cuties dancing upside down!

What do you think?  I'm not especially crazy about it, but I think it works and I also think Adrienne will like her quilt.  I'm thinking of quilting some ballet terms into the blocks but I haven't decided quite yet.  I've seen some great quilting designs that I I want to try, so they may make the cut, especially since my worry is that Adrienne will outgrow the ballet theme.  If I include a more grownup quilting motif, she may use the quilt longer.  

I am having fun with it and love the fast blocks.  I've learned a few things as well and may reuse this block pattern for a scrap quilt later.  It's fast and fun and I like the wavy pattern that it makes from a distance.


Y'all are such sweet followers!  Thank you to those who voted on Picket Fence.....I now have the 100 votes I was hoping for--up one more page!  Of course, the #1 blog has 6,000+ votes.  Can you imagine?  

Ballerina Quilt

Now for the next quilt for my sister's grandchildren.  

Her little Adrienne is into dance and ballet.  

She wants a ballerina quilt, for which I found this fabric.  

I really like the looks of the little girls in their leotards and tutus.

Their little pointe shoes are just too fun.  

Hopefully, Angie will like the fabric as much as I do.  

I'm thinking of adding red and purple.  

I have a pretty purple from mom's fabrics that may work.  

I'm not so sure what red will do.  

So tomorrow I'll audition several fabrics to determine what will work with this fabric and the purple.

That is assuming that Angie will approve this as the focus fabric.

What do you think about purple and red?  

I'm a bit nervous about mixing them but they work so well in this fabric, don't they?

On a different note, I found out today that the class I'm teaching for Quilt Campus met the minimum number of students, which means the class will begin on October 22.  If you're interested, there's still time.  We'll be working on this stained glass quilt and will take about three weeks from start to finish.  I certainly hope you consider joining in!  I'd be thrilled!