Monthly Archives: November 2015

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.

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Exploration of unique fibers and art