Pin It Again

Time for Pin It Wednesday Thursday!

Sorry that I missed it last night.  Wednesdays it turns out, have become the night that I must go to a mandatory "high stakes" meeting in Marksville.  We may have to move Wednesday to Thursday for a few more weeks since I am much too exhausted when I get home to do anything, at all. 

So without further delay. . .Some pics from my Dresden board

 

I really like Dresden Plate Quilts, but check these out--So very creative!

Here's a colorful one with a reverse applique center and of course, a modern black and white with a touch of yellow.

   
And because it's Valentine's day, this pretty, romantic little pink.  But because it's Valentine's let's have a few LoveBirds visit.




                     
And a few flowers for those who really enjoy them....

         

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and that all those you love were able to share it with you.

Happy Quilting,

Mary

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 

"the collective whole is my stash"

Pinterest photo

I was reading Rachel's post at "ps I quilt" (one of my regular reads). Lisa Lee's comment, "To me the collective whole is my stash" really spoke to me.  How succinctly Lisa Lee said exactly what I was thinking. 

scrap basket I made for a non-quilting
friend who gives me her scraps

The post asked about the difference between scraps and stash.  Before long, I began wondering why there has to be a distinction. 

Oh, I understand that there are those quilters who are a little OCD and need lines.  But some of us are a bit more laid back, and others simply don't know or make distinctions between scraps and stash.  I'm in the last of the three, sort of. 

I do now separate scraps simply because I have a way of doing so: this dark blue fabric basket--made from scraps. (I wrote about it here.)  But scraps are, in my mind at least, still part of the stash.  I make an effort to use the scraps so that they don't build up to overflowing, but I don't get crazy about it. 

I don't know that it matters as long as your system works for you.  For those who don't have a system, take your time in setting one up.  I have been in my studio for years and only recently began separating scraps.  I'm not sure that I even like this new way either, so I'm going to try it for a while.  If it doesn't work, I'll go back to the system I was using before: everything goes on the shelves.  In the meantime my little homemade scrap basket will do.
Happy Quilting,
Mary

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: No-UFO

Here we go.....a little inspiration to help you get going on that UFO that's been sitting around for years, or maybe to get from idea to fabric to quilt sandwich, or perhaps to try your hand at free-motion quilting.  Whatever it is that's got you stonewalled, I have a few thoughts on ways to get off the wall and on the machine!

Quit calling them UFO's!  I know, it's cute and all, but the problems sometimes lie in the labels.  Instead of labeling the quilt a UFO, call it a quilt or quilt section.  The sections will be a quilt one day soon, if you think of your work as quilts rather than something that you won't finish.

Forget the original thought of the project.  Sometimes a quilt wants to be a table runner.  Sometimes it wants to be a lap quilt, not a queen.  Honor your work and listen to it.  I worked for weeks on this blue paisley quilt that, in my mind, had to be queen size.  I struggled and struggled, put it away and came back to it months later, still unable to figure out how to get a queen sized quilt out of what I had.   I finally listened to the quilt and saw that I was pushing myself to make a large quilt only because I always made full or queen.  I gave in and made a pretty little twin quilt for a granddaughter to sleep under.

Remember how to eat an elephant...one bite at a time.  In the case of quilt-making, it's one block at a time.  Don't fret over the whole thing.  Instead, focus on the one part you are working on.  Sure, there are times when you look back at what is complete, but don't let the big picture blind you from the focus of what is important right now.  This small quilt is made up of many left over pieces from other projects.  I knew only that I wanted an AAQI quilt with a theme dealing with being broken or fractured.
 

 Give it away, go on, give it.  Finish the sections by turning them into pillows, bags, or baskets and give them to friends as gifts.    Again, not every quilt must be, well, a quilt.  Once a section is sewn together, it can be any quilted project.  And quilt parts would much rather be gifts than UFO's!  The Christmas stocking here became a giveaway gift for a blog hop sponsored by Quilting Gallery.

Want to give it away but don't have a recipient in mind?  Donate small quilts made from sections to AAQI or make lap quilts for a nursing home.  This is an AAQI quilt that I made from a log cabin block I'd made for a project that just didn't work out. 

Finally, just do it!  Yes, jump in and finish the thing already!  Regardless of whether you change directions, create a gift, or finish by using your original plans, just get to it.  I finished several projects last year (2012) by forcing myself to work on UFO's.  I promised myself that I would finish one UFO before starting any new project.  This allowed me use the new projects as incentive to finish the UFO projects.  It worked--I wrapped up all but one of the UFO projects in the closet.

You can do it, too!  It's a matter of getting to it and staying there.
Have a great week of knocking out those no-UFO's!
Happy Quilting,
Mary

Mardi Gras crazies

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the last Mardi Gras weekend for 2013.  That doesn't mean much to the rest of the world, but to Louisianans, it's pretty important.  We will have two days' vacation so that we can attend parades and parties.  But for this family, Mardi Gras is a little bigger.  One sister is dragging her two children all the way from North Dakota for a visit that just "happens" to coincide with the holiday.  Her kids don't have the days off, but, oh well!  

 Aren't they just too cute in their fall on the farm photo?  I can't wait to see them, especially since it's been over a year since their last visit.  They are excited to be able to go to several parades. 

I've said I'll have to visit on a parade route if I'm to see them at all.  There have been several Facebook posts of dates and times of parades. 

If my family gets to only half, they will be busy all weekend.  Oh, they're crazy enough!  In this picture my niece and her two boys are at one of three parades they attended last weekend. 

Do they mind dressing the part?  Not at all.  Here she is again, with her mom, who is the Mardi Gras queen....she makes sure everyone knows when and where and how good the parade will be.
 

All the crazies together! Gotta love em. (They are family, after all.)

  

 

So the plan is to meet for a parade, talk and laugh, eat too much, drink if you can, and grab some beads, cups, toys, candy, whatever happens to be flying in the air. 

If nothing is airborne, shout, "Throw me something mister" or in Louisiana dialect, "Thro me somthin mista." 

Lots of fun--hope I am able to get to one parade.  There will be, oh, Angie, Courtney, Reese, Lee and Jeanne, and they are the sisters. 

Their respective children and grandchildren will tag along.  A typical parade will call 15 to 45 of the crazies depending on the day and time.  Some of us work and others, well, they need time to recover from previous parades.  I imagine that because Jeanne is home from ND and Lee will be in from Texas, the crowd of family nuts will be a little bigger. 

I, for example, haven't been to a parade in years.  I used to haul my own children to a parade or two every year, but they grew up and I discovered that with everyone off to Mardi Gras, I could get lots of quilting done.  Guess I'm back in the game, or I'll miss being with my family of crazies.  Will I see you there?

Happy Mardi Gras,
Mary

Sunday Quilt Inspiration

Here's hoping you're enjoying the Super Bowl.  It just happens to be on right now and half of the family is here to watch the game.  The other half was still here this morning, but they all headed to their own homes after lunch.  The game ends too late for those with little tykes to hang with us till the end and still get to respective Monday morning musts.  That's only one of the problems of a late night Sunday.

Since it's Sunday, it's time for a little inspiration for the week ahead.  We had a beautiful weekend.  The boys all showed up quite by accident, since nothing was planned. 

We especially enjoy those laid-back visits and extended the time outside by making a fire in our patio pit.  Everyone was already sitting around visiting, laughing and telling stories.  Let's start with a little of that fire pit feeling, in the form of candle light.

Don't you love these mix and match sets?  They are so easy and casual and look great.  I appreciate old things more and find that casual and comfortable is much more my style.

And since we're appreciating old things, how about appreciating quilts that have been around for as long as the Amish have?  I've found that there are quite a few pictures of Amish quilts on Pinterest.  Here are a few from my board:

 

Since it's the night of old things (for me anyway), let's take a look at a few abandoned buildings from around the world.  

Some of these were absolutely stunning in their glory, but today nature, time and decay have done untold damage.  It's easy to imagine how beautiful these building must have been and sad to think that we've simply deserted them.  Come by to see the 85 or so other pictures on my forsaken, heritage board.
Have a wonderful, creative week,
Mary

QuiltCon Linky

Last night I discovered a linky party for those bloggers who are going to QuiltCon in a few weeks and dropped in my blog url.  In fact, that's the reason I posted the photos from my sister: I needed one for the link.   MQG asked that we also post something about it on our blogs to help get the word out and so that anyone who likes modern quilts can meet the quilters.

First, they've asked for a photo.  Since I've been playing around with my new computer I've discovered how to take pictures with it.  Of course, it's one of the worst ever, but it's recent...I snapped it last night--no makeup, tired hair, and exhausted body--but anyone who sees me at QC will likely see me looking just like this!

Let's face it, I'm not very photogenic to begin with and, after driving 8 or 9 hours, then traipsing around QC for a day, I'll be thrilled to look this good!

MQG also asked us to post five things about ourselves that you don't know.  Here are mine:

1. I've lived in the same town for the last 34 years and hubby has never lived anywhere else.
2. We were grandparents at 40.  A few of the seven stinkers.....
3. We're in the middle of a remodeling frenzy and I hate to dust!
4. I made my first quilt using my sons' receiving blankets.  The sons are now in their 30's.  (The quilts were loved to death.)
5. QuiltCon is on my birthday!  I'll be 54!

Thanks for visiting and I hope to meet you at QC!
Mary