More Quilts and Fall Colors

I finally think I may be getting caught up. I have been working non-stop for the past few weeks getting my Journal quilt done and shipped to Houston, along with finishing 2 quilts that would never be finished if I hadn't entered them in my local guild's quilt show. They were both started from classes I took this year. I really enjoy the art quilts much more than quilts from patterns, but I have always loved bargello, and when a friend was teaching a class, I took it. We were to have started piecing strips of fabric together before the class, and learn how to cut the "sheets" of strips to piece the top in class. I was in the middle of a bad fibro flare, and hadn't done my homework. I also could not bear lifting my machine to get it into it's wheeled case to take it, so I went with just my smile and notebook. Someone else in the class, knowing that I do mostly small art quilts didn't believe I would really actually do it.

Well, Here it is, "Butterfly Bargello" (42"x54") I did do it! I had some great commercial hand dyes and batiks I've wanted to use, and here they are. This is the closest to red I like to use- a deep berry color. The border fabric is a blue, turquise and purple batik. I had to do something different with this, so I added the applique butterflies, quilted with silver metallic thread, and there are also other butterflies that are just quilted with the silver thread, so you have to look really close to see them.  I used matching thread to quilt the main lines through the darkest fabric. The detail shot shows one of the butterflies and the heart leaf and vine quilting done with clear thread used between the dark  fabric areas. The border is quilted with my "usual" vine quilting.

The other is from a mystery quilt class taught by Nancy Halpin at our annual guild retreat. At first I was not going to do it, but took what I thought would be the fabrics I could use, and when found out what I really needed, I went back to my original thought of not doing the project. Well, after looking at my stash, I realized that if I did things a bit backwards, I could do it. The project called for a light fabric to be the background, and medium to dark scraps for the rest. I had a lot of little bits of lights, and a good dark, so did things my way. Linda taught us how to stitch the pieces so that we made triangles by only cutting squares. This usually wastes a lot of fabric, so she showed us how to add a second seam 1/2" away from the first, and when the corner was cut off, we had tiny squares with half square triangles to use in another smaller quilt.

Being one who doesn't always follow directions…… I decided to use the tiny squares along with the larger blocks we made in the same quilt. I used them in borders at the top and bottom of the central blocks. I also used a striped fabric for the outer border. I ended up having to piece a part of the border after I cut 2 pieces at once 1" too short, and only had enough fabric for one new border piece- OOPS! When taking the photo of this, I realized that I will have to do more quilting in the border to get control of the waves in it.
This one is "A Little Backwards" (40"x50")

The Endless Mountains Quilt Guild is having it's semi-annual show this coming weekend. Tomorrow is set-up day, and I have finally finished the quilts. After finishing these, I now really remember why I don't do very large pieces. They are so hard to get quilted. By the time I got these done, my arms were screaming at me, and are still aching today.

It's hard to believe, but the fall colors are beginning to show up. I'm not sure where this summer went. Monday, when I went to the post office in Wysox to ship my journal quilts, I decided to take my camera. I have been kicking myself a lot for not having it with me- I'm always seeing something I wish I could have photographed.

I was taking photos out my car window while driving. I guess living on the roads less travelled has it's advantages. This is a farm on the hillside overlooking the road our driveway meets with.

I took most of the potos on the way home, because the best colors were on that side of the road. Here is a pond I pass, the colors are just starting to pop out.

This is my favorite photo of the pond, this caught the reflection of the sky, a deep blue. I was driving (slow) while taking this, so I didn't know what I had until I got home and downloaded photos from the camera. I think there is a quilt in this one.

Another shot of the pond, the road curves around it. The first photos were taken from the far left end of the pond as it is seen here. There are a few homes around it, but not really close.

This was taken as I started in our driveway, looking back at the road. You can't really see it past the weeds in the field (just this side of the row of hay bales). The farm from the first photo is just to the left of this photo. Many of the fields around here are pretty brown, It's been very dry.

I took these photos this morning, things had a bit of an eerie orangish look at the time. We got a sprinkling of rain early, but it left, and it has been another dry day. These show the lower part of the driveway as it comes down toward our trailer. The trees on the right side of the drive were planted only about 10 yrs ago. When we moved here, we could see almost half way up the driveway. There are some neat, old trees to the left fo the curve, I love the way the setting sun looks coming through them.

Final photo for today, while typing this, I have been enjoying a soft breeze coming in from the greenhouse. Well, it is more of a porch right now- the plastic on the walls was taken off for the summer, and the skylights leak when it rains. I love to be able to look right out into the back yard like this. The bugs aren't bad right now, so I have opened up the glass door to let the air through. Not too many days I get to enjoy the whisper of the breeze through the trees while working in my studio or office. Soon, the plastic will have to go back on, and my view will be blocked till spring. Some day….there will be windows instead of plastic, and a larger studio space. A girl can dream can't she?

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I am a former textile artist and new pattern designer with a degree in horticulture, wishing to share my love of nature, flowers and gardens with everyone through my photos, sunprinted fabrics, and now pattern designs. Chronic Lyme Disease has caused major changes to the direction my life. I have to limit the amount of time spent digging in my gardens, and quilting has become more difficult. I discovered pattern design as a way to get art back into my life. I now use my gardens and photos to inspire designs that can be used on fabrics and print on demand items.