CQG meeting

 I almost missed the window of posting about our August Cotton Quilters' Guild meeting. There will be another meeting in just a few days. In addition to having our meeting, this month we held a sew day which, I am happy to report, was a great success. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

President Maggie

Treasurer Irma and Secretary Mary C.

 social distancing and masks

Some of the blocks for our current BOM, which I have yet to begin. Oh dear me! I've decided to finish my current BOM (Sugaridoo) before beginning another. Hmm, maybe not the best idea, but it's decided. Now for a really cool show and tell. Everyone has been busy. It must be this quarantine business.

And two more items, a set of bags that Sheila made. I love how professional they look. She used cork on the bottom one which really gives it a good structure. 

And lastly, also from Sheila, a felt quiet book about "The Three Little Pigs." This is the cutest little book you can imagine. There are several pieces that are separate from the book so that the reader can play by moving the pigs, the wolf, the building materials, etc. around. I think there's even a pot to put on the fire in the brick house. She explain how she makes them and that she makes several every time she builds a new house. I was really impressed! 

Magnolia I ~~ art quilt finish

I love combining quilting and painting--remember the cotton paintings? There's another here. It's a time-consuming joy that I don't think I'd have been able to appreciate back when I was working. Oddly, I started painting not long before retirement, so everything just sort of fell into place. Well, I've moved on from cotton to magnolias. 

This is my first attempt. I see so many flaws, but I've decided to let them go. If I move on, I can take the lessons with me to the next painting. 

While they are glaring in real life, they don't look so hideous in a photo. Getting depth was a struggle, but making the petals look cupped and curled...it feels impossible. But I'm determined!

And then there are the leaves to contend with. I need to work on those. But there's something I did that I love and that was to add ghost leaves in the background. I might do things a little differently later, but this idea really works for me.

There's another coming. I like it even more than this first. But I took an informal poll on Facebook and the two are about even in preference, so maybe I should show this one a little more love. What are you thinking of this one? What constructive criticism can you offer? I want to improve and knowing what to work on makes that job a bit easier.

December is kicking it!

I am not keeping up with my crazy life. Here's a quick catch-up of the happenings since our return from Disney, starting with a fam photo (above) of the one day that we wore our WDW shirts, which I made using the Silhouette and heat press.

Two days after Disney, we held the Cotton Quilter's Guild Christmas party. As Madam President, I was in charge one last time, but Margaret (our incoming pres) was generous enough to take care of the food and details. Thanks, Maggie!  

Maggie is on the left here. Thanks girl!

We got back on Saturday and on Sunday I drove Richard's mom to Dollar Tree in Alexandria to do a little shopping and picked up table cloths and flowers. I needed centerpieces for Monday. Yeah, down to the wire. 

Dirty Santa (or White Elephant) game

 As soon as we returned, I thought about what to do with the little I'd bought and started digging through "my flower stuff." It turns out that I had some cotton stems salvaged from a BHS prom before retirement. Wow! I'd completely forgotten. And they were perfect! Cotton Quilters' and cotton centerpieces. Yay! 

Boxed up and ready to go.

I'd found these red containers and picked up six to serve as vases. A bit of sand (thanks to the old flowers from the cemetery) and they were heavy enough. So here we are! Just like that. Flower arrangements, and they didn't cost a fortune. Score! I love to find reusables in the studio. Save the earth, save a fortune!

Red poinsettias and green sprigs make up the bulk of the arrangement. A touch of gold adds some elegance and a stem of cotton makes it home. I had a roll of wide burlap ribbon that didn't get used for the cemetery flowers, so voila, it just worked. And just like that we had a party!

Another Cotton on Green ~~ Finished

On Friday I told you about the most recent cotton painting I created. What I didn't tell you is that I had loaded two canvases and worked on them side-by-side. Sister paintings, if you will. 

They have many similarities, but one is not their sizes. This one is 15 X 18. Another difference is this little blossom on the upper left side of the canvas. It just found its way there with no argument from me. I just sew without thinking when I work on these. Sometimes some interesting things happen. 

Cotton bloom - Google images

I decided that this serendipitous occurrence was something to take advantage of. So the blossom became a cotton blossom out of season. I quilted around it in the same way that I quilted around the cotton bolls, and let it take care of business. It may not be a cotton blossom, but it's not far off. 


There are the right number of petals and it is white. Which, by the way, means it has not been self-pollinated because, once they are, they turn pink becoming a deeper pink as time goes by. 

In the next stage the flower dies and falls off leaving the green boll where the cotton grows. It is enclosed in green bracts which dry up and split open as the boll gets larger. Once the boll is fully mature, it will eventually fall off the stem. The seeds are in the fluffy cotton boll and are supposed to find their way to the ground, but most end up at the gin. But that's another post.

This cotton painting, then, has all the stages of the life-cycle of a cotton plant. Now that's serendipitous! 

Cotton on Green ~~ Finished?

I've worked on this piece and another one for several days. I had built the canvases quite some time ago and set them aside. At the time I had another, more pressing project. Oddly, I can't think of what that was. 

Nevertheless, I discovered the stack of canvas pieces and decided to load them on the long-arm before something else jumped in front of me. I have a few more canvases in the stack, but I want to see what the green background looks like. 

I've been working on this series of cotton paintings and have eight or ten pieces. I haven't really named any of them, but I think I'll just number them. Luckily, I've written about them and can look up the order. 

With this piece I was going for a cleaner, less is more, feeling. I'm not sure it's working. I keep thinking there's something missing. If you realize it, please let me know. I will definitely rework it. Otherwise, my plan is to show it to my artist friend and ask her opinion. She will be absolutely honest with me! And I believe strongly in the power of constructive criticism and learning from others.

Oh, I have to give credit to my sweet husband for building the frames! We've created a pretty good system: I sew the canvas in no particular size--just whatever works for me for the moment--then choose one when I'm ready to paint. Once the painting is complete and dry, I decide on the dimensions and ask for a frame. This one is 16" square. He builds it, I mount the painting, and voila! we have a painted quilt. Isn't he the best?!

Here's another picture so you can help me with a comment. I really want to figure out what I'm missing. Plus, some of the other painted quilts in this series.

You can find the posts for these paintings here: upper left blue, upper right neutral, lower left neutral, lower right blue.

Fold, wrap, roll and fold

The last week I've been working in the studio doing a little cleaning and a lot of folding. I started with shelves that looked like this...

 and this...

and this!

However, I've been looking at ways that other quilters organize their fabrics and decided that it's time to take some action. So now they are beginning to look more like this...

And check this out!

Honestly, it's not quite as beautiful as it appears. Well, it looks great, but everything is much too crowded. In fact, an attempt to handle anything means contortions of mind and body to keep stacks of fabric in place rather than on the floor. One wrong move and I'm back to folding the same pieces, again or maybe again two or three times.

  
I'm working on that, too. Richard added another shelf and I'm moving some fabrics. All of my modern and specialty fabrics will go above the desk where I can see them, and that will open up a bit of space. I'm also considering moving the solids. Then there's this idea...

See how I have two sets of rolled fabric in the pink section? That, I hope, is the ticket. One row of large rolls in the back of the shelf with another row of shorter, smaller rolls in front. Not everything will be rolled. Smaller pieces are folded like fat quarters and stacked. The very small pieces will go into the scrap bins that may (or not) also go on the shelves. So much depends on the amount of space I'll have after everything is rolled and folded and stacked. I don't know that this is the best system, but for now it looks pretty!

Paducah Quilt Week -- 2 -- plus a giveaway game

Good grief! This stomach virus is a miserable, miserable way to spend three days. I thought the first round was bad, but nothing about that compares to this. I recommend that you do your best to avoid getting it. Especially the second time.

Anyway, I've recovered somewhat. Well, enough to walk out to the studio to prepare my Cotton Robin block for the mail. It should have gone out last week while I was in Paducah. (That didn't happen.) Then the virus, which Richard was fighting when I returned, found my system. Again. 

I don't know today's date, but I'm certain that I'm a week late getting the first block out--not a good way to begin. One indication would be the fact that the block for the next round was already sitting on the worktable. I was a good Robineer and did not open the second until the first was packaged, addressed, and sealed. 

The pictures that I'm posting tonight are from a quaint little moonshine brewery. It's a fun little place that Beth and I happened upon. A small group of quilters were rocking on the front stoop and told us that the bar was giving free taste-testings. We decided to drop in. 

I tried the peach flavor and Beth the chocolate. The peach was delicious, but then I heard about the pecan. Shoot! Oh well. When Beth decided that she wasn't crazy about her cup, I gave it a go. Yum! It was difficult to walk out without a bottle of the good stuff. Other pictures are from antique shops, a hotel, and a flea market. Beth is an antique hound! She stepped into every antiquey place she could find. It's fun to dip into places on a whim. 

The bottom left picture in the collage is of an apple masher. I'd never seen one before, so I had to take pictures to show Richard. A little part of me wanted to bring it home, but that was silly because there was no space for such a large piece.

Front view (the side from which you'd be working)

Edge view (looking at
the machine components)

Instead I had to settle for this little item which attaches to a table using a C-clamp. Rich and I tested it and it works! Do you know what it is? Here's a hint: it's a sewing item but doesn't sew. 

Let's play a game! The first one to answer or guess correctly (post your answer in the comments) will get a couple of fat quarters from the small stash that I purchased in Paducah. I hate doing this but I'll have to limit mailing to USA only. Postage is crazy expensive.  

I haven't shown you the things that I bought yet, so I suppose it's time for a reveal. Come back soon to see the yummy colors!