Kaffe Facett Colour Lecture Photos, Slow Stitching Weekend

Museum of Flight , Seattle Washington, where the Kaffe Facett lecture was held.

Museum of Flight entrance.

Checking into lecture, beautiful evening light.

Quilts done in Kaffe Collective fabric and patterns were hung all over.

The lecture begins.

Almost done with my Violet ABC sampler, pattern from The French Needle.

Detail on the corner I've been working on last couple of days.

Happy Friday!! From Renton, WA.

Sunny with clouds today, perfect temperature; not too hot, not too cold.

And I'm remembering to be thankful.

September 16, 2017 was Kaffe Facett's  Colour Lecture at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington. I went and my husband went also without much bribing. He didn't faint but said he was a little light headed, too much perfume or something like that. There were other men there, what's the big deal?

It was inspiring and his slides were beautiful. We saw gorgeous photos of Ireland. There were slides of photos taken in market places, town squares, nature scenes; Kaffe gets inspiration everywhere and is good at documenting it. We learned from him that his next book, coming out next year, will be inspired by Pennsylvania and the Amish influence. Won't that be a wonderful book?

I enjoyed myself, my husband put on a good show of it. ( I didn't take many photos, the lighting wasn't great and they didn't want flashes all over, which I understand.)

The last few days I've been working violets and leaves on my Violet ABC sampler. I can feel the finish coming on. It's been a few years getting this far, whew. Slow Stitching!

Have a Happy Friday and a good weekend.

I'll be by to visit.

Blogger's Quilt Festival, Fall 2017

I started designing/planning four patch butterfly quilt fall 2016.

Four patch butterfly blocks, 'liberated' triangles as the butterflies.

Finished 'Gathering' September 2017.

Back of 'Gathering' 2017.

I backstitched my initials/year on the back.

Hello from Renton Washington!

Where we have rain and clouds off and on. It was dry, the rain is welcome around here.

Remembering to be thankful.

Amy Ellis @ Amy's Creative Side  is hosting Blogger's Quilt Festival, Fall 2017. Stop in and join in the fun and sharing. Thank you Amy for this opportunity.

I entered my recently finished quilt 'Gathering' a four patch butterfly quilt. I made the butterflies in the liberated style, as in Gwen Marston's book, Liberated Quiltmaking II.

I used Kona solids, batiks and prints. The blocks are 4", finished. I added a 1" border using Tim Holtz  fabric. The batting is Quilter's Dream.

That's what's happening in this corner of the woods.

Have a great weekend remember to share a smile!

I'll be by to visit.

Kaffe Facett Lecture at Museum of Flight Today, Slow Stitching, Thankful

Doe and fawn munching the hosta in the backyard.

I've been working on this corner, violets to fill in and a few more leaves to go.

The violets, leaves and stems are pretty much done here.

Happy weekend from cooler, sunny Renton, Wa.

Where we are enjoying family and the beautiful Pacific NW!

Today is the Kaffe Facett lecture hosted by Gossipium Quilt Shop, Issaquah, WA.

It's being held at the Museum of Flight , Seattle WA. I'm going and I'm planning on having fun.

I've been to a Kaffe lecture before and he's entertaining and informative talking about his design inspirations and travel insights. I've got Irish heritage and so this will be interesting for me.

I've had a little time to work more on my Violett ABC sampler. It's a slow stitch and fall gets me in the mood to settle in and slow down, being thankful for family and friends.

I'm linking up with Linda and Julie  for 'Sew Stitch Snap Share'. Stop on by for color inspiration and thanks Linda and Julie for hosting this opportunity to share!

I'm also linking up with Kathy for Slow Stitch Sundays , great idea, thanks for the opportunity to share Kathy!

And I've been taking time to send prayers for all the people that have been displaced and maybe lost homes and businesses in the hurricanes in Texas and Florida.

Remembering to be thankful this weekend!

I'll be by to visit.

Basting Quilts, National Honey Month and Wildfires

'Bees in the 'Burbs', Maple Valley  WA, purveyor of fine honeys.

Honey paraphernalia for sale inside 'Bees in the 'Burbs.'

Bees in the 'Burbs , various honey for sale...

Wildfire smoke in Enumclaw, WA about 25 miles SE of Renton.

My 'Kiwi Mimosa' small quilt in liberated triangles with batik binding now basted.

This is 'Santana Row' now pin basted, 60" x 18".

We got home with our honey and had to make Huckleberry scones to go with it.

These are beautiful thank you cards I ordered from Rifle Paper Comp.

Greetings from Renton Washington in the Pacific NW!

Where we are enjoying the antics of our one year old grandson and taking time to sightsee.

We took a road trip last week to buy local honey to celebrate National Honey Month and to get a glimpse of smoky Enumclaw, WA. where firefighters are working to put out wildfires. The smoke and ash were thick here in the Renton highlands and we found ash on our screens and window sills. And cars and lawn furniture too.

The honey we bought from a family that run their honey business from an industrial park outside Maple Valley, WA. They call their business, Bees in the 'Burbs.' Cute name, and they have their own bees local; clover honey,  they also import from B.C. Canada; fireweed honey and California; orange blossom honey. We bought the local, clover honey, beautiful amber color.

Then we had to make Huckleberry scones to go with the honey. Delicious!

The recipe we found online at The Rowdy Baker. It turns out she's more fun than rowdy.

Also if you need greeting cards visit Rifle Paper Company. They have gorgeous designs and they have beautiful fabric; Tapestry and Rosa being two of my favorite fabrics.

I managed to get basting done on a couple of my quilts and binding cut for my 'Kiwi Mimosa' ( is that a fun name or what?) in a turquoise batik from Jo Ann Fabric made in India.

Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend.

Remember to celebrate National Honey Month!

I'll be by to visit.

Butterfly Quilt Finish, Hourglass Blocks Hand Quilting, Kaleidoscope 20

'Gathering' butterfly quilt totally finished.

I labeled the back with backstitch.

Loquin Admiral butterfly for September 2017.

This a new project, just for fun.

Happy Friday and first of September!!

Finally, 'Gathering' butterfly quilt is all done. I backstitched my name and date on the back. Embroidery is a good way to 'write' on quilts and projects. 

I've started a new project. I want to 'document' hand stitching and embroidery in quilting. My grandmother sewed clothes, made quilts and embroidered, as I'm sure many of your grandmothers and aunts did. Hand work was an important part of life for women, a comfort and a creative challenge.

So I'm starting out with 12" blocks, with some modern piecing and then some traditional piecing, machine quilting, then some hand quilting/stitching/embroidery. 

I follow Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilts , I enjoy the history and little bits about construction and fabric etc. and she has examples of traditional piecing and hand stitching. Lots of ideas there.

My calendar butterfly for September is Loquin Admiral. They are common on the west coast. They

lay their eggs on leaves and the larvae feed on cottonwood, willow, cherry and orchard tree leaves.

They can be active from April-October.

I'm linking up with Ann and Cathy for Kaleidoscope of Butterflies 20.

Thanks for hosting Ann and Cathy.

Stop by to share butterfly inspiration!

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to share a smile!

I'll be by to visit.

String Challenge Small Quilt, Rail Fence Pattern

String blocks I had put together arranged in no particular order.

Same string blocks cut into 4" squares now sewn together.

Happy Weekend !!

Sunny and warm in Renton, WA.

Debbie Feske  had a string quilt challenge going on so I decided to work up some string sections and join in for fun. And so I sewed together some strings and played with arrangement until I ended up frustrated and thinking this is a waste of my time.

I finally realized what the problem was; I didn't want the quilt to end up big,  I've been working small lately and that's what makes me happy now. We're staying with relatives, helping out and vacationing too. So I don't have a lot of space or time to devote to large projects, so small it is.

When I figured that out I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly unpicked a couple of long seams and cut the strips into 4" blocks. Now I had something that gave me peace. I laid them out, 3 blocks by 5 blocks, in rail fence pattern and that was the trick.

I call it 'Attract' as in opposites attract.

I'm linking up with Julie and Linda  for Sew Stitch Snap Share .
Visit them for inspiration and progress in projects. Thanks Julie and Linda for hosting.

That's what I've been working on the last couple of days.

The rest of my time goes for adventures and walks in the sun.

I hope you're having a good weekend, and leaving time for rest and relaxation! 

I'll be by to visit.

Purple Haze or Smoky Purple, Compositions by BasicGrey, AHIQ Time

Tim Holtz fabric with alphabet, backing on butterfly quilt.

String improv, small, with 'Composition' fabric by BasicGrey for Moda.

My 'liberated' blocks to be arranged improv. style.

This block has beautiful 'smoky' batiks and newsprint fabric.

My small liberated triangle quilt will get orange border soon.

Foley's Produce market, Maple Valley, WA.

Peaches and plums, boxes of pears and tomatoes!

Corn and cucumbers, delicious.

Hello from Renton, WA.

Where it's summer and wild berries and farmers markets are ripe for picking.

My grandson loves berries. I bought beef steak tomatoes and they'll be sliced as a side dish for dinner.

Gossypium Quilt Shop  is hosting Kaffe Facett for classes and a lecture.

I'm planning on going to the lecture, September 16, 2017.

I put up photos of some of the ways I use letters in my work. I like to use fabrics with compositions on them. BasicGrey has 'Compositions, Newsprint, Number Jumble-etc for Moda.

Tim Holtz has fabric with maps, letters, numbers etc.

My butterfly quilt has Tim Holtz fabric on the backing with alphabet.

For my newest blocks, I'm calling them 'Smoky Purple' or ' Purple Haze',  I used a fabric pack of smoky purple batiks, made in India, I found at JoAnn Fabrics. I used to work there and know that once in a while some great fabric comes rolling through. There's also some 'Compositions' fabric by BasicGrey in there.

I made the blocks in an 'Improv Piecing' class by Debbie  at Gossypium Quilt shop.

Great class.

I'm linking up with Ann and Kaja for AHIQ #24, where all kinds of improvisation is celebrated. Stop in to share and get inspiration!

Have a great week and remember to share a smile.

I'll be by to visit.