Monday, May 25, 2020

Quilt News, Happy Memorial Day, Wild Flowers, Art Quilts, PieLadyQuilts

Queen Anne's Lace

Yarrow

Lady Bug on fennel.

Figs forming.

Blackberry blossoms.

Wild Cherry.

Hiking Path along the American River.

Yellow Iris grows along the river bank.

Wild flower, Triple Lily.

My art quilt, 'Queen Anne's Lace' more embroidery added, couching lace down.

Another of my small art quilts with running stitch added, I'll wrap my embroidery threads in it.


Hello from beside the river!
Sun and warm/hot weather here.
Happy Memorial Day to you, remembering those who gave their lives and served, those who've gone on before us and remembering to be thankful.

Along the river walk there are wild flowers blooming and wild cherry and fig have their green fruit forming. 

This week I added more embroidery/couching to my 'Queen Anne's Lace' quilt. Yes, I changed the name, naming it for a wild flower made more sense to me.

And I finished my smaller art quilt (which has some similar fabric and color as my 'Queen Anne's Lace' quilt) by embellishing it with running stitch, leaving the starting and finishing knots exposed for effect. It is now a wrapping cloth meant to protect my embroidery thread. 

And be sure and visit Jill @ PieLadyQuilts to see her inspiring quilts, they are exciting and amazing, very improv, very liberated.

And that is the Quilt News from along side the American River, where projects are progressing!
What are you working on?

I'll be by to visit.

Friday, May 15, 2020

Quilt News, Quilt Sampler Progress, Embroidery, Embellishing Fun, Happy Friday!

Hand quilting progress on my Bright Sampler.
This is a couple of years ago when I finished piecing the center.

Wild flowers, note the orange, green, red, fuchsia and white colors!

I pulled this piece out of storage and thought it needed more embellishing.


The vintage glass buttons look like seashells, going with this art quilt's theme, sea life.


Hello quilt friends and Happy Friday!
 from alongside the American River.
Where yesterday we had clouds and today it's clear skies.

This week I got more hand quilting done on my Bright Sampler, the outside border is all that's left to quilt! I started this quilt as a BOM free pattern by Piecing the Past Quilts. The block choice and arrangement and choice of borders is mine.
And since my sewing machine is in storage and I don't have a lot of room here,  I rummaged around in my project box and found a small art quilt that needs more embellishing and embroidery. 
Its theme is sea life, kind of along the lines of what you might find in a tide pool or washed up on a beach. I wanted the colors to be neutral. You are correct, red is not what most people would think of as a neutral but I'm going along the lines of Freddy Moran when she said, 'Red is my neutral.' 

The wild flowers along the river are an amazing source of color inspiration. 

The Folsom area has historical monuments to the Gold Rush. Main street is named for John Sutter, the man who owned the mill where gold was found and the 'rush' started.
Folsom is also home to the Folsom Powerhouse  State Historic Park. The power house, up and running in 1895, was the first alternating current hydro-electric power station in the U.S. providing electricity to Sacramento, 22 miles away, one of the longest electrical distribution lines in America at the time. 
A lot of people come here to see the American River and tour the history info.

And that quilt friends is the news from beside the river. 
Where I'm remembering to be thankful. What projects are you working on this week?

I'll be by to visit.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Color Calendar for May, Favorite Sewing Tools, Josef and Anni Albers Influencial Modern Artists

May's color romantic purple!

One of my favorite sewing accoutrement bags, machine quilted by me.

What's inside, those thimbles work great.

My needle book, my design.

And my Yazzii  tool tote can hold a lot.

The zipper pockets are handy and you can see what's in them.


Hello from beside the river!
Where the mountain air is delightful.

My color calendar features purple for the month of May. The calendar uses these words for purple, inspirational, spiritual, extravagant, noble, magical, mysterious. Fun with color and words!

Make sure and visit Stitchin' Post with Jean Wells and read her excellent post ' Dreaming in Color, Supporting Colors'. Jean has a great way with color and she's a good communicator.

And Debbie Feske in her post Unmatched , listed Josef Albers as an inspiration for her newest repurposed art quilt, which turned out amazing.
For tons of inspiration read up on Josef Albers and his wife Anni Albers and peruse their art work. They were and are still influential in the modern abstract art world.

That quilt friends is the quilt news from beside the river.
Where color is being appreciated and studied, and I'm remembering to be thankful.

What's your take on color this month? Are you busy with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and dark green?

I'll be by to visit.


Friday, May 1, 2020

Hand Quilting, Wild Dogwood Blooming, American River South Fork

Big color blocks will be quilted with an X.

I finished hand quilting the four patch border!



The corner and side triangles are all quilted.

Wild Dogwood was blooming all along east 50 past Placerville.

The South Fork of the American River was high with spring runoff.

'Megalithic' stone along the river.

Hello from Northern California where the wild Dogwood is in bloom!
Last week we did a little sightseeing out to the South Fork of the American River.
The mountain air was invigorating.

And progress has been made hand quilting my Bright Sampler, approx 84" x 74".
I finished quilting the fourpatch border, it was a bear, just tedious.

And that quilt friends is the news from along the river.
Where I'm remembering to be thankful because it sure beats being grumpy.
I hope you're all well and that you've made progress on your projects.

I'll be by to visit!