New Quilt Yet to Be Named

Speaking of Teri Austin, this is a sneak peak of another project I started this weekend (can you tell I've had a little time to sew???). The green area is made up of pieced 1 1/2" strips. The flower is fused.

Special thanks to Kristin La Flamme for the inspiring photo this quilt is based on!

I'm not going to show you the whole thing now, just little bits as I go. there is still LOTS of work to do just to finish the top, then painting, then threadwork, then quilting.

I'm having a great time working on this one. I've been using quite a bit of a gorgeous hand-dye by my friend Jane Loeffler. Turns out my friend Keri knew I was dreaming of that particular piece and she nabbed it from Jane to give to me as a gift. I've been reluctant to cut into it, but it was perfect for some of the flower petals so I dug right in. It will be swiss cheese when I'm done, but I'm sure I'll put every bit of it to good use. Thanks Jane and Keri!

Bits and Pieces

Last February, Esterita Austin came to Maui for a three-day workshop using her fabulous Misty fuse. As you make your project you end up with little bits of fabric with fuse on the back:


I am not one for saving teeny-tiny scraps, but I saved these bits and ended up with a whole shoebox full. I figured they would be good for something. Turns out I was right! These little bits are the great beginnings of various postcards. Here are a couple I started this weekend:









This one is my favorite:


They didn't take long at all.

Block of the Month

The Maui Quilt Guild's block of the month for June is this: Summer Solstice. Have I told you I love orange? Well, my devious plan is to win the drawing...I made 12 of these blocks this weekend. Six of each of the two different fabrics. I would have made more except I used up all I had of these two fat quarters and figured that was enough anyway. Wouldn't this make a great picnic quilt?

I let you know if I'm the lucky winner. Our meeting is on June 6th!

Stash Busters

Last December I read on another blog (sorry, I can't remember which!) about a group of quilters who were starting a Stash Busting program. In other words, they were going on a fabric purchasing hiatus for a specified amount of time, trying to use up some of what they already had.

Well, I loved the idea and shared it with my Round Robin group. Here's what we came up with in January (if I remember correctly):

1. You may not purchase any fabric for for six months (our term expires on July 21) - and that's ANY fabric, not just 100% cotton quilting fabric
   
2. You must create one quilt strictly from your stash
3. You must finish at least one UFO (UnFinished Object, for those non-quilters out there)
   
4. You may purchase borders, backgrounds, backings, but only for quilts in #2 or #3 above, and only with permission from at least two other members of the group

The players are Shel, Robin, Penny, Joan, Melissa, Janey, Elyn and me. We're calling ourselves the "Ladies of Eight" or the "Crazy Eights" depending on the day!

Anyone who violates the rules of the program must purchase at least one yard of "excellent quality fabric" for everyone else in the group - what could be an $80 penalty! YIKES!

So far we've done quite well, despite our weekly Thursday lunches at the mall (with subsequent visits to Sew Special, our local "quality" fabric store and Bernina dealer). We even made it through our Guild's auction in April! Shel's comment is that we are building character - we have definitely been the poster children for restraint these past couple of months.

Will we make it to the finish line? Only time will tell.

Off to the Show

My turtle quilt, Honu, is winging its way to Columbus, Ohio for the National Quilting Association show June 8-10. I had reservations about shipping it over the holiday weekend (a definite DON'T for precious cargo), but so much is going on right now I had to get it off my plate.

Swim, little Honu, swim!

Sympathy Card

My cousin, Marla, passed away last weekend from cancer. She was about 10 years older than me. She will be dearly missed.

I've been shopping for sympathy cards and can't find ones with the right message, so I decided to make my own. This is one.

I'm going to send a couple like these to Virginia Spiegel's Fiber Art for a Cause as well.

Postcard Going to Germany

One of the things I really like about blogging is the people you meet. Beate, from Germany, posted a request to swap small fiber art cards, so I immediately jumped at the chance.

I'm sending this card to her in Dusseldorf today. she is sending me one as well. Check out her site: Beates-Fabric-Art.

She's sending me "Joy of Life" from her April 21, post. Fun!

On other postcard-related news, Virginia Spiegel, who pioneered Fiber Art for a Cause, is doing another postcard sale later this year. To date, this fabulous woman with help of many fiber artists, has raised over $50,000 for the American Cancer Society. I'll be sending a couple of cards this year since I couldn't get any done in time for last year's sale. I did, however, purchase one!

Round Robin Sneak Peak

I started quilting my round robin project this weekend. I have so many projects going right now that I promised myself I would only quilt this one border. I anchored the center before I got started so I shouldn't have too much trouble with wrinkles. Have I said recently how much I love my Janome? I'm not much of a Sulky fan, though. This rayon thread that I had in my stash didn't behave too well. I think it's past its prime; I've had it for over 5 years and I was reading a recent discussion about thread having a short shelf life. Oh well, I like the color!

Handsome!

Saturday Beach Day

THIS is one of our favorite things about living in Hawaii. Nothing like being on the beach at sunrise...even the hardiest tourists are still in bed.


This is a picture of Black Rock at Ka'anapali Beach in front of the Sheraton Maui with Moloka'i in the background.


I think the Sheraton still has a diver jump off the rocks at sunset after lighting the tiki torches. Coincidentally, according to Hawaiian legend, this is also a "jumping off place" for spirits to enter the netherworld.


Here's Cody relaxing with a view in the other direction.






He loves to swim and is getting a lot of practice. He especially loves to rest on Bruce when he gets tired.


We don't particularly like to get up at 5:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, but if this is the payoff it's worth it!

Fiber Related

This is a sample I made up for our new art quilt group that met last Tuesday. I used the book "Fusing Fabric" and an article from the Spring 2005 issue of Quilting Arts magazine for inspiration.

I'm not sure if I'm completely satisfied with this process. It seems some fine tuning needs to be made while using the soldering iron to burn away fabric. The iron tends to get covered in a gummy residue from the melted fabric and the tip is so hot I'm afraid to wipe it off.




I think I'll embellish this little piece and see what happens. I bought some decorative yard/thread yesterday, and I like the combination:

I think I'll play with it a little this weekend.

One More Cody Pic

Stay tuned for beach pictures this weekend!

Cody: Then and Now

Here's Cody shortly after coming home with us. We can't believe he's grown so quickly! Now he's a still-growing 88lb. boy.

Last weekend we took him to the beach early in the morning. He's starting to spend more time in the water and does a really good job fetching. He's very mellow and minds well on the beach - a plus when there are so many unruly pets!

His new favorite beach is world-famous Ka'anapali Beach. Since not many local folks go there he gets the undivided attention of all the tourists (the dog-loving ones, anyway).

Here he is with his favorite snack - avocado! You can't see it, but there's a whole "cocktail" avocado at the end of that stem. At least it's a little one.

Another Reason NOT to Put Pins in Your Mouth

Check out this news story:

Teenage Boy Survives Bizarre, Dangerous Pin-Swallowing Incident

New Art Quilt Group on Maui

The first ever meeting of the Maui Art Quilters group happens next Tuesday, May 16th. I even started a blog for this fun group at http://mauiartquilters.blogspot.com

Add it to your list and check back. I even have a link on my sidebar.

More fun stuff coming soon, I promise!

A Little Aloha from Cody

Art Saturday at the Hui

This is the Hui Noeau Visual Arts Center in Makawao, just 5 minutes from my house. My oil pastel class was in the solarium - the bottom floor room. What a great studio it would make!

Here's another view of the grounds. As you can see, it was a beautiful day!

I even got a couple of pictures of a great hibiscus. Such a pretty pastel color. Imagine the veins as quilting lines. How am I going to dye this fabric? I'll have to figure out something!