Bella the Quilting Puppy

December 1, 2015Machine Quilting, Puppies, UncategorizedPuppymscharl1@cox.net

Pete (white 90 lbs) & Boopy (fawn 40 lbs)

Last New Year’s Eve we adopted Bella the Boxer which quickly slipped into Bella Boo, then to Boo Boo and since we have two boxer they temporarily became Boo Boo and Yogi (sorry Pete). Since the sound of Boo Boo reminded me of Betty Boop – finally, (hopefully) she is now – Bella when she’s in trouble and Boopy the rest of the time.

Boopy is a rescue dog with visible and invisible scars, she’s quite the little singer and although Doggie Daycare loves her they’ve deemed her the Mexican Jumping Bean 😜. The invisible scars mean she’s also attention needy, thus a quilting puppy:

When I stand at my long arm there is a big dog bed underneath it which both dogs occupy regularly, but Boopy, being a puppy, gets bored rather easily. When she’s bored Boopy likes to jump (we’re working on this). The other day I had a quilting deadline and she wouldn’t stop jumping so,… I picked her up like a child and put her on my left hip, her front paws on my shoulder, and proceeded to quilt with my right hand (yes quilting one handed can be done, it’s the only way to “quilt things out”). She watched the quilting for a while but, as luck would have it, was again bored easily and ready to get down and explore some other adventure.

I forgot how inquisitive Pete was when he came to hone from the Humane Society . Boopy has broken a stained glass lamp among other things but Pete broke three crystal wine glasses, ate a bag of cookies and loaf of bread all in one day when he was younger – LOL.

Puppydom and quilting – not always the best mix, but an exciting one none the less! – did I tell you she likes to sit on my lap while I piece at the sewing machine???🐶

RELAX – Live music, Art, Antiques & Artisans

November 21, 2015Hand dyed fabric, Shows vendingmscharl1@cox.net

Flights of Fancy Open House Feb. 29, 2015

Where will I be the Sunday after Thanksgiving ( November 29^{th, 2015})??? – at one of my favorite events of the year – Flights of Fancy Gallery’s Open House. Why might you ask is this one of my favorite events, because of the combination of happenings occurring simultaneously:

FIRE - fiber wall art by Charlie — FIRE – fiber wall art by Charlie

Live Music – acoustic guitar played by fingerstyle guitarist Glenn Roth 12:30 – 3:30 http://www.glennroth.com/
Artisans – invade the Antique shop co-located with the Gallery – this year has a French Open Market theme so the variety of artists should be intriguing (click on the postcard above to see more details)
Art – Flights of Fancy Gallery in the lower level offers the work of painters, potters, fiber artist, photographers, glass artist, twig furniture maker, felted accessories and more. The products range from bookmarks to framed oil paintings, etc. http://www.pondhousebb.com/html/artgallery.htm
Antiques – from furniture to collectibles, I always find something I can’t live without (last year was a working Treadle Sewing Machine that became a Christmas present from my Honey) http://mallardsnest.com/
Food – the Gallery owner Georgia is a wonderful baker, she makes breads, treats and drink

It’s a laid back end to a busy long weekend, a place to just relax, enjoy some music and take in some art. It’s also the perfect place to find that certain something for that someone who has everything. Hope you can make it!

Flights of Fancy Gallery, 17 Crystal Lake Rd, Stafford Springs, CT

Painted Blocks Galore!! – thanks Jennifer

November 20, 2015Enfield Quilters, Lecture, Paintfabric paintmscharl1@cox.net

Jennifer O’Brien of SewCraft provided a great presentation on fabric paints last night at Enfield Quilters! She explained the qualities of the paints and provided a small trunk show demonstrating a few of the ways to use the paints. She quickly progressed to the fun stuff – hands on, brushes flying, PAINTING!

With a table piled with Jennifer’s stencils for members to choose from – she dished out the paint (literally on a dishes at each table), loaded her own brush with paint, explained and demonstrated smooshing the paint, then everyone one was on their way to creating beautiful hand painted blocks. We all got a first-hand experience to see how great the 404 spray on the back of the stencils worked in keeping the paint from running beyond the stencil edges, and how it also worked great for checking your progress in one area of the stencil and sticking the stencil back down without the it slipping to a different location.

Members provided a lot of positive feedback for the night. Many people took home their painted blocks and some already had plans how they were going to use them. The blocks that people didn’t take home will be incorporated into our donation quilts and with any luck be part of our binding bee in January 2016.

Thanks to Jennifer for coming and providing such an entertaining night!!

Oh, and although some of us went home with funny colored hands, no paint wars broke out, and no clothes were harmed in the painting of these blocks – so all in all – a very successful night!! 🙂

Finger Painting at Enfield Quilters 11/18/15

November 15, 2015Enfield Quilters, Paintmscharl1@cox.net

Well actually various forms of fabric painting with Jennifer O’Brien of SewCraft http://sew-craft.com . Jennifer has her own line of paints from primary colors to metallics and stencils (a multitude of them). She’ll be going over a couple different painting techniques, just like art class in school – woohoo!!!

Did I mention our meetings are open to the public? You too could be playing with paints and conversing with a great bunch of quilters! No Paint Fights or you have to mop the floors and wash the walls 😜 . It should be a great night of kindergarten fun for all!!!

Jennifer O'Brien's Twinkle Star ruler hand painted Cat quilt — Jennifer O’Brien’s Twinkle Star ruler hand painted Cat quilt

Here’s one of Jennifer’s painted quilts that I was lucky enough to get to quilt, it includes her new cat stencil.

Quilt Happening – Lost Acres Orchard 11/13/2015

November 13, 2015Uncategorizedmscharl1@cox.net

I’m off to North Granby, CT tomorrow for Ginny’s 28^th Annual Fall Quilt Happening. She has three of these events a year which include:

A lecture
Shopping – fabric, patterns & kits, vintage & new quilts, tops and blocks, soap, hot pads, jams and jellies
Kitchen Shop – breads, soups, entrees, pies & other goodies (Dave’s favorite that I’m not allowed to come home without – chocolate chip cookies J)
http://www.lostacres.com/ginnys_quilts.htm

The lecture this time is Generations of Stitches and Memories to Share.

Doors open for shopping at 9 am, lecture starts at 10:30, noon on is more shopping and complimentary light lunch food.

Ugly Orphan :-) - green & blue — Ugly Orphan 🙁 – green & blue

I’m an Orphan Block collector so I love searching the table of blocks to add to my collection! My favorite orphans I’ve deemed “Ugly Orphans in Need Lovin’ ” but I do buy pretty orphans also. Yes, I like to torture myself by buying other people’s UFO’s (unfinished objects) LOL. Sometimes the ugly ones will surprise you – see my Gallery page for one of the quilts I’ve made from an Ugly Orphan – the center block was very crooked and not the most striking colors but it dates to the 1830’s (old is fun!!).

Ugly Orphan Pillow :-) reproduction fabric & custom quilted — Lots of Lovin – Ugly Orphan Pillow 🙂 reproduction fabric & custom quilted

Hope you can join us, these events tend to be three generational for me – we: my Mom (Mumzy), my Aunt, and my Grandmother, we try not to miss any of Ginny’s Quilt Happenings!!

Oh yah – this is a free event, thanks Ginny!!

On to the Yellow Brick Road

November 9, 2015Uncategorizedmscharl1@cox.net

View walking to Road to California venue

Flights are booked and we’re ready for, well not quite the Yellow Brick Road, how about the

Road to California Quilt Show 2016 http://road2ca.com/!!! – YEAH!

Yup, Jennifer O’Brien of SewCraft Inc. https://www.sew-craft.com/ and I are off to Road to California to be vendors for the third year in a row! We always have a great time meeting all the quilters,

last year over 39,000 quilters attended from all over the world.

Great people, amazing quilts, classes and vendors – a quilter’s paradise!!

Jennifer brings Spray and Fix products like 505 and 404 spray, her fabric paints and stencil lines, and of course her quick quilt rulers like the EZ Quilting ruler from Simplicity – the Twinkle Star ruler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9KsV-ULln4 just to list a few of her products. I bring my fabrics, hand painted cheese cloth, pincushions and other treasures.

The days at the Show are always super busy but we’ve found some great restaurants to relax at in the evening. We always have what I’d describe as gleefully exhausting time.

New adventure – H Quilt

November 6, 2015Two Color QuiltTwo color quiltmscharl1@cox.net

H Block Quilt

"H" block, the start of my latest quilt — “H” block, the start of my latest quilt

I’ve started a new quilt, a mix of contemporary and tradition which many would say matches my quilting personality. Contemporary in the center design and traditional, with an overall Amish feel, in the overall design. At least that’s the current plan, then again I tend to change my mind as I go.

The quilt was inspired by a “Joe the Quilter” Cunningham’s http://www.joethequilter.com/gallery.html two color quilt that was on display at Vermont Quilt Festival last summer. His quilt was based on a block he called the ”Sisters” block which kind of looked like the letter “C” in some of the blocks. He varied the block design by manipulating the piecing placement so I can’t be sure what the original block looked like (the quilt is on his front page, it’s red and purple also).

"h" block quilt block two — “h” block quilt block two

I chose a center block representing the letter “H” where my rule for this quilt is whatever color is somewhere in the center strip must also be in at least one piece on each side strip. I began with upper case “H’s” then made lower case “h’s”. Now I’m adding unrecognizable “H” or “h” configurations – sooo much fun, how far can I stretch the idea and in how many variations. My other self-imposed rule is an upper case “H” in each corner.

My center design will be on point, another difference from Joe’s quilt. It will have a final border to bring both colors from the center design out into the borders. If I remember correctly Joe quilted his in feathers, I’m looking forward to getting a little insane with a traditional quilting design, it’s still very much in the planning stages at this point but I’ll post some in progress pictures as I go.

I don’t think it will be minimalist enough to be considered modern, I hoping for a strikingly Amish flavor of contemporary.

Halloween House Warmer

November 1, 2015Holiday, Machine QuiltingHalloween, quiltingmscharl1@cox.net

My friend Donna and her family recently moved into their new home. She’s definitely feeling smothered in boxes which I can completely understand because I’ve moved a bunch of times. Even though she’s overwhelmed with STUFF – I’ve decided to add to her STUFF with this house warming present – hopefully she likes it!!

It was nice to do some fun for me quilting (where for me = a gift for me to give). Doodling on a panel is always fun, especially when metallics behave nicely, even the Sulky Sliver (a flat metallic thread, like xmas tinsel,that sometimes can be a little temperamental to quilt with http://www.sulky.com/catalog/sub/thread/metallic/sliver/ ) decided to cooperate.

Great Event!! – GHQG Annual Gathering 2015

October 29, 2015Uncategorizedmscharl1@cox.net

So I was up bright and early last Saturday, off to set up our booth at Annual Gathering. Friendship Quilters of Windsor found a great venue with nice lighting and room for all! We were set up across from Ami Simms booth http://www.amisimms.com/, speaker for the day, which meant we had ring side seats to her lectures.

There were lots of attendees, the guild offered a quilt raffle, quilted sweatshirt raffle, a silent auction with some great items, and plenty of complimentary food! – YUM 🙂 Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves especially Ami’s lectures, if you were there for the first one,

Annual Gathering 2015, Ami Simms making us all laugh!! — Annual Gathering 2015,
Ami Simms making us all laugh!!

“HOW NOT TO MAKE A PRIZE WINNING QUILT”

then you definitely wanted to stay for the second

“LIVING WITH QUILTS: A SURVIVAL GUIDE”.

Annual Gathering 2015 crowd — Ami had the crowd giggling all day!!

This was my third time attending an Ami lecture and she gets better every time! Ami had everyone rolling in the aisles, her down to earth quilting humor and slides assured us that we were not fabric hoarders, nope we weren’t – Ami provided photographic proof that people find the most unusual places to stash their stash, and that we all start somewhere and eventually our skills improve – all with a lovely bit of humor. The room was full of laughter and isn’t laughter great, I think it’s like a little break from reality.

Booth mix of products — our booth – from antiques to contemporary

I presented a demo on Fusing Basics. It was well attended with lots of quilters asking lots of questions – yeah! I had to beg forgiveness at the demo after starting early, it was only a couple minutes so I started again. Mumzy brought vintage lace and feed sacks to sell and I brought hand dyed fabrics and pincushions, the tables had a multitude of other items too. We had great fun visiting with everyone who stopped by the booth – what a great day – good friends, good quilting stories, and plenty of laughter!!!

Thanks Friendship Quilters of Windsor, great job!!

Crazy Quilt Lecture at Enfield Quilters

October 25, 2015Crazy Quilt, Lecturemscharl1@cox.net

Crazy quilts were the first quilts to really interest me when I started quilting, they were my initial interpretation of outside the box quilting. Consider –

they weren’t pastels (which were the only colors my Mother was using),
they were abstract in their piecing (no Ohio Stars or Flying Geese there)
and talk about embellishment – anything goes: embroidery, buttons, and beads – oh my!!
NO RULES! – absolutely my idea of fun quilting, even now.

I was very excited when Madonna Terlizzi of Blackstone Valley Needle Arts Studio agreed to provide a lecture on Crazy Quilts. She brought beautiful samples, both antique and new, that were envied by all. She provided interesting historical facts such as how metals in silks can cause the shattering we now see in some of the fabrics and why both the manufacturer and the end customer may have wanted the metal in their fabric. She also covered embroidery symbolism like spider webs representing good luck. And best of all, she let everyone come up for a closer look with all there questions at the end. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

I learned how to make crazy quilt block patterns from the first issue of Quilter’s Art magazine a long time ago (which was called Crazy Quilt magazine at the time). Just like everyone else (I assume), I started out with a lot of ambition and grand ideas for finishing my crazy quilt. My favorite crazy quilt block, completely embroidered mind you, has since hidden itself amongs my UFOs of late but, based on Madonna’s inspiration, I’m motivated for a UFO treasure hut to find that block and begin my crazy quilt quest again LOL, OK somehow I picture my crazy quilt hiding amongst my UFO’s repeatedly before I, hopefully, finish my crazy quilt in my lifetime.

Thanks again Madonna for making the trip and lecturing on such an inspirational topic!!

Charlie's Sew Unique Studio

Exploration of unique fibers and art