Monthly Archives: August 2012

A quilter of many colors

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I haven’t spent much time time on Pinterest lately, or Flickr… honestly I haven’t sewn much either (nursing my lower back–which went out two weeks ago, so not much sitting. period.).  But last night, I needed to create a mosaic for our upcoming Des Moines MQG Mug Rug Swap–and I was blown away by what I’ve missed seeing on flickr in the last several months!  I could have easily made this mosaic 10 x 10 squares!  And a spent a lot of time just ogling my contacts photostreams.  Some talented folk out there…

I also realized in creating this that my tastes are VERY diverse–or eclectic.  I really like traditional piecing, I really like detailed paper piecing, and I really like free pieced quilted items as well.  I’ve always had a thing for cutesy representations of houses, clotheslines, fruit, bowls of fruit, sewing tools, spools, leaves, dishes… you name it.  Any household, gardening, or architectural themes always strike my fancy.

My partner will either be very torn & confused, or very happy to have so many possible directions to go in!

So, do you know just what you like, when someone asks you?

Or do you, too, like a little bit of everything when it comes to sewing and crafting?

Ha!  It’s been so long since I posted, I had to do this twice…  :-P

Pretty in pink (and purple, too)

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My niece turned 1 over the weekend, that’s her focusing intently on the mylar Butterfly balloon tied to that bag of gummy candy I just gave her (she has two big brothers to help her out with the candy) ;-)  It is incredible how fast a year can fly by… and she looks so tiny in these pics at age 3 months…

She’s got that looking cute thing down pat.  ;-)  My sister has been planning Zoe’s big-girl-bedroom for a few months now, and when I was at Gruber’s last month, I started cutting hexagons for her twin bed quilt (see bottom right photo:)Friday, I started to make a pillow that will match her big-girl quilt.  This was probably as much a birthday gift for her Mommy as it was for her; but keep reading, Zoe liked her gift, very much.

My sister has always loved animals of all kinds, and the inspiration fabric I bought for the quilt is covered in butterflies, and is being used for other items that will go in her room, too.  And, I have been dying to try our One Big Cabin quilt pattern in feminine colors, ever since I first drew the animals… so…. Ta-Da!

A pink owl pillow, with two pretty butterflies (fussy cut from the inspiration fabric) surrounded by scrappy log cabin blocks made from all the fabrics in her quilt!  Isn’t that pink and purple owl precious?  Well, not as precious as that sweet baby girl up there, but it is pretty cute.

There are 9  little owls hiding in the log cabin blocks, as well as some fussy cut flowers and one red heart.  These are from a Rile Blake fabric by My Mind’s Eye.

On the back, I used a piece of the butterfly inspiration fabric, and found in my stash, I had Cosmo Cricket alphabet fabric that just happened to have the Z and the O lined up, so I decided to make another log cabin block with her name on it:

Zoe’s Mommy loved the pillow, just as I thought she would, but Little Miss Zoe Grace loved it, too:

She did her best to crawl onto the middle of it and perch there proudly, but a 20″ fluffy pillow is pretty big for such a little girl.  So she continued to climb on, roll around on, roll off of, lay her head on… giggling the whole time…

She even found it was useful for baby yoga poses:

(oh to be so flexible)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Zoe Grace!  Thanks for sharing that pretty little smile–Auntie Doris loves you to the moon and back…

Dry as a bone

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and hotter than… well, you know.  That pretty much sums up our Summer here in Des Moines.  We had a brief thunderstorm Saturday morning, with maybe a half an inch or so of rain falling in a very short span of time, and that was the first rain we had in. a. very. long. time.   The sound of the thunder and the flashes of lightning were such a welcome sound and sight.

Typically, mid summer in Iowa the grass is a bright shade of green, the flower beds are bursting with color and blooms… (these pics were taken mostly in Des Moines Water Works Park, professionally maintained and manicured flower beds).  Most of the grass in Iowa has gone dormant, dry brown patches are the new norm, and many flower beds outside of area homes do not look nearly as nice as these.

The day I was at the park snapping these photos, and trying to get good style shots of our newest quilt, it was 98 degrees, and the humidity was incredibly HIGH.

It’s been hard to enjoy typical summer activities like bicycling, sightseeing, going to the park, etc., because it is just difficult to remain outdoors for any period of time.  Thankfully Saturday’s thunderstorm brought a little relief, and my sweetie and I were able to take the bicycles out for a ride Sunday afternoon–a very welcome break and a wonderful diversion.

I love the shot of that pink zinnia, one of my favorites, but the colors and the sunlight are just so rich.  The bumblebees and dragonflies were busy that day, and not minding the heat nearly as much as I was…

See the eye of this bumblebee?  Wild, huh? It’s amazing what you can do with a point and shoot camera when you put in a little effort.

As I said, my main reason for being out and about that day was to snap pics of our newest quilt for the new pattern cover.  I received a lot of strange looks as I carried two quilts around in nearly 100 degree weather!  This shot shows the Des Moines River in the background.

Hard to get a good quality, true color shot in such bright sunlight, but when the sky doesn’t provide you with cloud cover, you gotta do what you gotta do… (and Photoshop helps!)

Question for you quilters out there: Do you take your photos inside or outside?  Do you wait for the perfect weather conditions to come around to take your pictures?