A Big Catch Up - Part #1

I know it's been many months since I've posted here, and my main reason is my lack of power.
I've kept track of what I wanted to share, though...so you'll find all the tidbits below.

I just noticed that the last time I posted - in October, was just about the same amount of weeks from the winter solstice - as today is past it.
I'm happily noticing the longer days.
Beautiful sunny morning, so lots of power right now!

I love when this happens:

This tiny square tripped me down memory lane...
It's a scrap from the baby doll nightie I made in home economics in high school.

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To take the pictures of my Pixelated Garden quilt, in my small house, I had to move a whole bunch of things, to clear a wall.
This pine box full of some of my design papers/files, which hadn't been moved in 9 years, had to be emptied before I could budge it.
It would have been fun, if I had the time to look through the papers.
I thought perhaps in the winter on one of the no electricity days.
However that didn't happen, as I've been up to something else, that I will be sharing soon.

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I found this pretty pillowcase at the thrift store.
My teeny tiniest scrap bits & threads are building up again, so I'll soon be able to make another pillow for the kitties to use.
Super easy - fill the pillowcase and stitch it closed!

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When looking through some older pictures I found this one, that I'm pleased to share with you.

This is my friend Alice Hutt standing with her Tumbler Star quilt.
We met through our quilt guild, and she was one of the first people to seriously encourage my quilt designing.
I haven't lived close to her for 18 years, but have many, many fond memories of our time together.

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This is my quilted wall hanging 'The Mill' which I made for a quilt competition back in 1992.
I spent over 200 hours on this one.
It was before quilt fabrics were available with rocks & leaves and other great prints for pictorial quilts.
That rock wall was stitched one rock at a time.
I used upholstery fabric for the stream and that's tulle where the water splashes.
The wood walls & roof details are quilted embroidery floss.
And I quilted a tiny clam-shell design as the leaves of the trees.

If you're interested, I have a few more of my pictorial quilts on the Gallery page of my site.

It was an awakening for me, that competitions were not where I wanted to put my energy, as winning can depend on many things.
In the case of The Mill, the curator of the competition didn't want to take my thin rod, to hang it, insisting she had one.
The one she used was a big, fat one, which distorted my piece - and all the judges mentioned that in their comments.

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Did you know?

I've this pretty little bag tutorial for you, on my site here.

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This is my new Pixelated Garden Quilt Pattern.
I 'sew' loved making this queen size quilt, and I'm sure you will, too!

Playing with Fabric - Sew Fun!

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Something you probably didn't know about me...

The fabric I have has different angels to choose from, but I chose the one playing violin, as a nod to my 4 years of playing lead violin in our school orchestra.

This gives you a good view of how I prepare most of my applique patches - by basting them.

This is six of the nine blocks from my Blue & White Tiles - quilt as you go wall hanging.

Block #7 will be online next week.

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Well...the clouds are coming in, so I'll have to stop there for now.
I'll post more of my catch up tidbits soon!

Happy Weekend Stitching!