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.

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.

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!

Hand Quilting Bright Modern Sampler, American River Walk, My Spring Handbag.

My Bright Modern Sampler hand quilting in progress.

Bridge across the American River, Folsom, CA.

Wild flowers along the river walk.

And more wildflowers along the river walk.

My Vera Bradley handbag, echoing spring colors!

Hello from Northern California!

Where we are enjoying spring walks along the American River.

Yes, we made the move from compacted Los Angeles, Southern CA, back to the north where life is a little more relaxed and less complicated. People here are of course practicing social distancing and many are wearing masks but there are less people here and they tend to live slower lives.

We are in temporary housing and won't be able to unpack for a bit so it's vacation time. Also I'm using a new tablet so getting used to it is a challenge. This is the first time posting on it so we'll see how it goes!

I brought my current hand quilting project along. No sewing machine for a while.

And that quilt friends is the Monday news where life is good. I hope you're all busy and well.

I'll be by to visit!

A Story of Three Liberated Log Cabin Block Quilts, Spring has Come! RSC Green Blocks Arranging..

Liberated Log Cabins Quilt #1, cotton batting, hand quilted, 29" x 29".

Liberated Log Cabins #2, flannel batting, hand quilted.

Liberated Log Cabins #3, craft batting, machine quilted, 28" x 19".

Back up close view.

Back view of LLC#3, my machine quilting.

Front view up close.

Auditioning arrangement for Hour Glass and String blocks.

These blocks were started for the AHIQ challenge Hour Glass Blocks.

Happy spring from Rancho Palos Verdes!

The Wisteria is blooming here and birds are singing.

This week I finished my Liberated Log Cabin Block Quilt #3. I pieced the little log cabin centers from scraps left over from my #1 and #2  Liberated Log Cabin quilts.

Here's a little history on the three; I started #1 being inspired by Tonye Belinda Phillips pattern,Welsh-Folded Log Cabin. I roughly followed her directions but did not hand piece. I chose to machine piece instead. I chose my own colors/prints and arrangement and hand quilted.

I had left over scraps so I slowly pieced more log cabin blocks and arranged them into my #2 Liberated Log Cabin Quilt and hand quilted it.

And I had more scraps, they must reproduce when no one is looking! So I pieced them into small log cabin blocks and got them arranged into a smaller Liberated Log Cabin Quilt #3. I used craft batting; poly, and machine quilted it. I like the puffy look that craft batting gives.

And that is the story of the Three Liberated Log Cabin Block Quilts and how they came to be!

I've been piecing more blocks for the AHIQ Hour Glass challenge and the RSC green challenge for February. I'm not done yet. I work slow, no hurry. Hurry takes the fun out.

So I've been arranging on my 'design' bed and thinking out a plan, slowly.

That quilt friends is the news from the rancho where progress is being made and spring did not forget to come. It's out there, do enjoy!

An old saying goes something like this, 'With difficulty opportunity often comes.'

Don't forget to look up and have hope. The best things in life are free.

I'll be by to visit.

Happy National Quilting Day! Plus Blocks in Turquoise, Liberated Log Cabin Blocks #3 Progress, Flying Geese Medallion in Orange Finish

I've pieced more Turquoise/Teal Plus Blocks for RSC.

Saturday at Torrance Beach, spring weather.

The Pacific Ocean is calm today!

Here's my Flying Geese Medallion in Orange, 14" x 14", another project inspired by RSC.

Start of unpicking the binding on my LLC #3.

Liberated Log Cabins #3, Machine quilted ready for another try at sewing on the binding.



Happy Spring and National Quilting Day from Rancho Palos Verdes!

Where we have spring weather, clouds and sun with showers off and on.
The California Sunflowers are blooming and the birds are singing.

This last week I've had time to piece more turquoise/teal Plus Blocks for my 'parts department'.
Prompted by the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Dawn's 24 Challenge using Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston's book, 'Freddy and Gwen collaborate Again'. 

Have you seen Lori Kennedy's Steampunk Quilting tutorial @ lorikennedyquilts.com?
Steampunk is a literary genre where romance meets technology, very exciting!
Visit for lots of good tutorials and inspiration for quilting.

I also sewed binding onto my Liberated Log Cabins #3, however I was in a hurry and stretched the binding in a few places which caused rippling.
So I decided to redo the binding, so I could live with it!

And hand quilting is progressing on my quilt

'Bright Modern Sampler.'


And that is the quilt news from the rancho, where we are staying warm and practicing 'social distancing.' And yes, we have plenty of toilet paper!
We have a lot to be thankful for.

I hope, quilt friends that you're healthy and well.
I'll be by to visit.

March Calendar Color, RSC Color, Dawn's Challenge 24 Plus Blocks

My calendar color for March, green!

RSC color of the month Teal/Turquoise and Plus blocks for Dawn's Challenge 24.

Using this book, pg. 124 for Challenge 24...

'Sticks', I think they're close enough to call them Plus blocks.

My Liberated Log Cabin quilt #2 with borders, binding sewn onto front, pinned down on back.

Torrance Beach, overcast and cooler today.

Happy March from Rancho Palos Verdes!

And St. Patrick's Day is coming right up.

Reporting the quilt news from the rancho where we have overcast skies.

My color calendar color of the month is green, I like the words used describing green,

nurturing, organic, fertile, healing, generous, etc. Those are some good words.

Wouldn't it be a wonderful change if the media/news industry started using those words and words like them, instead of the usual negative, destructive, gloomy words they pelt everyone with.

What a relief that would be.

For Dawn's Challenge 24, I chose to use my book by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, 

'Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again' pg. 124. The block is titled 'Sticks' but I think it's about the same thing as a Plus Block so that's what I'm calling it. 

I used teal/turquoise scraps to piece the Plus Blocks for the RSC color of the month and so got two challenges fulfilled in one.

I sewed the binding onto the front of my Liberated Log Cabin quilt #2 and now I'm working on hand sewing it down onto the back, almost done!

Torrance Beach for coffee this morning, overcast and cool, but still enjoyable.

And that quilt friends is the news from the rancho, where progress is being made and I'm remembering to be thankful.

We do have so much to be thankful for don't we?

I'll be by to visit.