Lucy Boston

Saturday, April 30, 2011

more class stuff

I love fall colors and all of the fall colored fabrics are just yummy:
 I made a whole bunch of one and a half inch strips, sewed them together into a whole bunch of light/dark/light and reverse dark/light/dark strips, then sub-cut into one and a half inch strips:
 to sew together to make a whole bunch of these:
 to go around the stitchery part of this:
for the Vintage Trick or Treat,
a Crabapple Hill pattern.
I'm leading this hand stitch embroidery class
at Always in Stitches here in Ohio.
It's our goal to stitch the center block this month
& do a little piecing too,
stitch the top banner next month, and so on,
until we have them all stitched in the next five months.
That way we'll have a quilt top ready by October!!!

You are more than welcome to join in at home...
we meet the third Tuesday at the shop,
but if you send me your pics, I'll add them here to share with others!

Ready, set, go!
The center stitched block is our goal for May 17th 

Friday, April 29, 2011

another wonderful

Easter! 
Last weekend, my family, my house...
and even though it's the same old/same old,
it's just wonderful and fun! 
Same old/same old,
as most everyone brings the same foods to share to each dinner,
and I prepare the same meat/potatoes dishes
but we love it!!!
Sharing family recipes and dishes and memories! 

It was a little different this year,
only about 25 people, as not everyone could make it home,
so we missed seeing some faces :(
Oh yeah, and it was wet and soggy...
the sun did come out just a pinch,
so the egg hunt was on the decks
and in the flower beds around the house
and spread onto the drive/parking area
around the puddles and mud :)
Everyone laughed and had fun
and had waaaay too much to eat. 

And there was enough food leftover
that we could ask some neighbors up
for dinner later in the day to share our bounty.
We even shared our "peeps s'mores",
But, please notice that I've used the dark chocolate,
so you know it's good for you!
Anyway...

Now, this weekend is Sweetie's family dinner...
double the people and double the food and laughs.
I hope not double the rain!

I always change up what I take food-wise
to the in-laws,
just to keep
the in-laws on their toes, don't you know.

And, yes, I'm sharing the
"peeps s'mores" with them, too!
so now they'll really think I've lost it! :)
I'm telling ya' -
keep 'em on their toes!

Hope your weekend is a great one!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

class stuff

a couple of pics to share from my last couple of classes taught...
I taught a piecing class from Lori Smiths'
"Fit to Frame series: pattern Twelve
 I taught the top right quilt in the picture,
Abe's Logs. 
It is a great piece (for teaching and for practice),
as you really have to pay attention to your seams to keep your little finish squared up. 
Lori's Fit to Frame patterns fit ready-bought frames, so this piece finished 11"x14".
Anyway, I quilted it using the Utility Quilt stitch,
that big, hunking, running stitch that I love.
I finished the Abe's Logs piece before the class started
so I had a class sample to hang in the shop.

So for the class itself, I had another piece finished up
so I could teach layering, basting and the Utility Stitch stitch;
this is what I had chosen:
It's just one block from the pattern Autumn Pennies
(Kim's picture from her class schedule)
in the Kim Diehl book:
Simple Seasons.
I still have to bind this fifteen inch square,
but it will make a great table topper, don't you think?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

meandering in the rain

That's sort of like singing in the rain...
While the rain is coming down outside,
I'm inside, meandering...
you just don't want to hear me singing, rain or no...
Meandering is much more pleasant...
Here are a couple of pics of last weeks' meanderings...
Loretta's great batik:
 And a commission for a commission
(I got to meander on this quilt that was a commission piece
that Mary at the shop put together
for someone else, if that makes sense...)
And, yes,
this was during my stalling period
that I wrote about...thanks for asking!

Monday, April 25, 2011

the sounds of spring...

the spring rains have come...
I can hear the rain hitting the roof ...
inches of rain over night and this morning.
This pic shows the flooding up to the edge of the road:
 and more rain, so higher flooding...
with water across the road...
There's a tile under the road in our front yard.
Just too much rain in too little time,
so no where for all that rain to go all at once.

As the rains calm this morning,
the spring peepers start singing
(click here to hear the spring peeper).
These peepers start competing with each other
and soon it is almost a cacophony of sound...
but I'm sure that means the rains have stopped...
at least for a little while.

Happy last week of April to you!


Sunday, April 24, 2011

carrots & chicks

Yes, these carrots have purple sprinkles...
and yes, these orange, purple, yellow & green chicks
have carrots for noses.
I had great helpers icing and decorating!

Happy Easter!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

I should be doing some meandering...

meandering on quilts...
I have a quilt all loaded on the machine.
I went and refilled my water cup-the reusable coffee shop cold cup with the sealed lid and straw--the big one.

I shuffled the laundry from the wash to the dry.
I de-sheeted the bed.
I put the sheets into the washing machine.
I went back and looked at the quilt that is all loaded.
I got out some more thread spools and pulled out about a yard or so from each and laid the threads all over the quilt top.
I drank some more water, so had to refill my cup again.
And because I am drinking all of this water, I'll have to stop in the bathroom again soon.
Is it almost time for lunch?
So from the above paragraph, did you read:  Stalling?

That's definitely what I'm doing.
Stalling, with a capital S.

Most of the time I put those commission quilts on the machine and I just jump right into the meandering:
Most of the time the thread color choice for the top is a cinch.
Most of the time the thread color choice for the back is a cinch.
Most of the time the meandering design choice is a cinch.

That's the hard part for me:
choosing the design and thread color that is permanent for this quilt, for this person...
something that I think will be the right design/color for the customer/friend,
that they'll have to live with for as long as this quilt exists.
Whoa, that's deep...

So, I'm stalling, as nothing is coming to me.
And, yes, I may be thinking too hard and too long on this.
Really, it's just a quilt, not rocket science, I know.
I don't have a heart waiting in a cooler or anything like that.

But, I want to make it a "fit" for this person who has trusted me to finish their labor of love.
It needs to be right.  For them.  And for me.

So, I should really stop blogging and stop doing the laundry,
and everything else that I have been doing for the last half hour,
and get that machine a-cranking a-hopping a-stitching.
Yep, that's what I should do,
after I re-fill my water cup again.
Capital S, I tell you   :)

Monday, April 18, 2011

I no longer have to stalk

my mail lady...
It's here!!!
and it's WONDERFUL!!
Sooo many projects from sooo many great designers...
go to their website and check them all out... 

I hope to retreat-sew
in the next couple of weekends
with this book in mind.
Well, not this weekend,
as there will be family
and food and egg hunts and
chicks

I still like these chicks...
Anyway,
not really retreating away anywhere,
just closing myself into my
own room,
snacks, iced tea, and as many projects
as I can fit in!!!

Thanks,
Primitive Quilts and Projects
and all of the great designers who have projects
in the inaugural issue!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

I have become a stalker...

Way back the middle of January,
I subscribed to the new magazine
and I have been waiting patiently,
knowing that it was coming out in April.

Other folks that have become blog-friends
 have shown their first issue as it has arrived,
and it looks like all it was portrayed to be and more...

Last weekend at the
International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio,
I saw that the Primitive Quilts and Projects people had a booth there. 
I was soooo excited to see that the
magazines' first issue was being shipped
and it should be in my mail box soon!

So, my poor mail lady...
Almost every mail day I hear the mail truck
coming around the corner
and I head down to my mail box at the road...
so right about the time that she pulls that truck up to my box,
I'm there to greet her....
Rain, snow, sleet, hail, gale force winds or sunshine,
I've walked through it all.

At first I think mail lady thought it was nice -
I greeted her and thanked her for my mail,
asked how her day was going,
you know,
all the niceties that you say to people
that you really don't know but see regularly...

Eventually, I think mail lady saw through my niceties
and saw my disappointment when I flipped through my mail,
looking for THE new magazine
and not finding it in my sweaty little hands.
So, I think mail lady has deduced
that I'm really coming to find something that is being delivered,
not really walking down to greet her every mail day. 
Sorry, mail lady...
I'm just stalking you
to get my new magazine!!!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

a picture is worth

a thousand words?
Maybe not my pictures---maybe only about ten words or so...,
but I do take pictures 
to use them for
editing my quilts
in progress.

I took this picture:
(That's a whole lot of applique!!!-- six words :) 


of my blocks, laid out all together, to see if:
  • One, I like the posie colors next to each other, as some blocks can be rotated/switched
  • Two, to see if I am missing any elements
  • Three, to see if I've sewn something/placed something were it shouldn't be.


So, the One -
colors play well together, I think...
at least at this point I am not un-sewing anything.


The Two,
I'm missing a leaf in between the bottom right bunny's ears


The Three,
top left bunny - the leaf out in front of him is too high to meet the stem from the middle bloom block...oops, a little un-sewing there.


And, as I look again, the top two bunnies are missing the leaf that goes between their ears.
Don't know that this one bothers me enough to put them in...


What do you think?
Two more leaves
to make the top two bunny blocks
the same as the bottom two bunny blocks???
(:I did wonder why I had two leaves left-over...:)

What's your opinion?

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

alterations...

just a little unsewing and resewing... 
It's that time of year - prom time...
(remember that if you try to go out for dinner
in the next few weekends).

This year,
I got to alter THE yellow dress
that Kate wore in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days...

well, not THE dress that Kate wore, but
a dress made to order like Kate wore...

I also got to alter this
beautiful floral:
remember when???
if we saw a dress on t.v. that we liked,
we  M-A-D-E  it?
Fabric shopping, measuring, cutting,
sewing, unsewing, resewing,
 fitting, sewing,
fitting, hemming...

Nowadays, you get online,
do a quick search,
compare prices,
click order,
and in a couple of days -
waa-laa, the dress appears in your mailbox!

Anyway, the yellow dress
is just as cute on Abby as it was on Kate,
and the floral was as cute on Ali as it was pictured...


Love them both,
(and the movie was cute, too).

Monday, April 11, 2011

is today the tomorrow

that I promised pics from the International Quilt Festival?
Sorry, day late!  Where does the time go?

I don't have a whole lot of pics to share from the Cincinnati International Quilt Festival,
as most of what I liked the most were in "no Photo" areas... like SAQA, the Studio Art Quilt Association.  There is a publication that comes out later with all the "winners" pictures, but the book would have to be HUGE if they put in all that I thought were winners!!!
The talent was amazing at the whole show!
We, the collective we, should all give ourselves a pat on the back AND a great big blue ribbon, as I think we are all winners in the quilt arena!


Anyway, I did ask a friend for her pics, so here are a few:
(I tried to get the pics all loaded so that you can double click on each pic and enlarge it to see the amazing details)
In the first pic, the creamy-white area had a sheen to it,
and it made it look very three dimensional
& just jump out at you,
like you were wearing 3D glasses...
and, check out the bottom right corner that is turned -
amazing quilting:
YO YOs!!!!
This one was the most beautiful rust color
and the thread-work was excellent:
This one was paper-pieced, ribbon embroidered,
machine quilted and had beautiful thread work
(& check out those teeny-tiny little points!):
and finally, a one color quilt that had the best use of tones...
the picture looks like it was shot in grey scale, but it really was the true color:
That's it for now...
Back to the quilting machine -
I can see that I need some more practice!  :)

Happy Stitching!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

International Quilt Festival Spring 2011

Fifty women...
a large bus...
going to one of the best attended quilt shows in the U.S..
As you know, any trip will have to involve stops for food...
and bibs:
 Ribs were one of the main menu choices,
and finger-licking good as I can attest.

When we arrived at the Show for the preview night,
the doors had already opened,
but we still got to be
corralled back and forth and back and forth,
just to make sure we were going to get in enough walking!

Here are a few of the gals from our bus group
coming around the corner under the Welcome Sign:
some of them already had on their "trip t-shirts"...
the blue ones with
"Because I said SEW"
across the front.

I visited with some old friends,
people that I keep running into ONLY at quilt shows.
 
I spent my moolah at some of my favorite booths...
 (not in any particular order)
Primitive Gatherings always has great kits - I couldn't resist!:
Lisa and Nick (aka Elvis) were both greeting & helping customers.
This is one of their new patterns...Alphabet Stew:
Then I ran around the corner to Country Threads...
these gals are sooo nice!
They also have great kits and packs and patterns:
I went back a couple of times to hit the Mary Flanagan Woolens booth,
and later in the evening I finally was able to get in and say hi to Mary.
She also does a GREAT job...
the booth looked great, the hand-dyed wools are to drool over (which I did),
and she was still smiling and happy to help me find (after a very long day)
some bittersweet colors for a project I'm dreaming up. 
Thanks Mary!

I bought a book of new-to-me patterns:
But it is Glenda's/Liberty Homestead's 25th Anniversary,
so don't know how I missed her all of these years, as I L-O-V-E her stuff!!! 
It was so very nice to meet Glenda, talk with her and see her booth of great stuff
(& I can see a road trip in my future!).

And, finally, here's a pic of me with my new BFF
(yes, i took this pic with my arm extended and neither of us has "the double chin thing" going on)-yay!
(P.S. to Colleen:  Lori SAID she & I are BFF's!)
(P.P.S to Lori:  Promise, I'm not a stalker!)

Lori ALWAYS has a bunch of new stuff 
& I want to stitch it ALL, RIGHT NOW.
Which, of course, is impossible.
But I did get just one of her new patterns:
This is  Mrs. Lincoln's Sampler...
all 5 inch finished blocks, half pieced, half applique.
I am really restraining myself not to start this one right away!


Enough for now, so
Later, Gators...
quilt show pics tomorrow!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

a couple more meanderings

I really love all of the quilts that I get to meander all over...
so much talent,
so much creativity,
so much drooling...
wait, not really the drooling part, really,
 but I do like both of these that I got to do so far this week ...

First up is Ann's. 
Ann found these unfinished dresdens,
piecing that her grandmother and mother started in 1932,
I believe.
She rescued them, put them to blocks,
added sashings and borders, and look how great:
 Next is a newer pattern called Milton's Musketballs.
I did Sashiko stitching in a chocolate brown thread
(and I love it).  This finished at about 25" x 30".
and now that I've seen it and quilted it,
I think I am adding it to my "I will make one, someday" list.

On a different note,
I am packed and ready to head off to the International Quilt show. 
It's only a couple of hours ride, but you'd think it was longer,
looking at the stitching stuff I packed!
That's the plan though,
I am going to get soooo much hand stitching done in those few hours!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

don't forget

if you are anywhere close to southern Ohio this weekend
April 8th, 9th, 10th -
get yourself to the

The IQF is a great show - quilt-wise, class-wise, & vendor-wise!
And definitely worth a drive.

I'm going with a local shop
and can't wait to "board the bus"!!!

I have traveled with this local shop before,
and can't wait for the fun to begin!

A bus,
with a designated driver...
(designated as in knows where to go to stop at the best quilt shops, best food stops, and drops us off & picks us up right at the door of every place we go, not the "I need a driver because there is alcohol" reference!)

Fifty women,
with great plans
swirling around in their heads
for fabric, fibers, notions, & patterns.

A quilt show,
with vendors from around the world,
 people from around the world,
buses from around the nation, 
quilts from around the world..
Oh, the things you can learn and see and do!!!

Hope to see you there! 
I'll be the one with
the eyes-glazed-over expression
wandering half-aimlessly
with a big smile on my face!

Monday, April 4, 2011

not lion & lamb

as in the April coming and going reference,
but, there is a tune,
with a lion in it,
that just keeps going
'round and 'round in my head
as I stitch on my applique.
It just took me a while to figure out what it was.

carrots and bunnines and blooms,
carrots and bunnines and blooms,
carrots and bunnines and blooms, oh my!!

Do you recognize the repetition and cadence?

The tune that keeps going round and round in my head
as I finish stitching the last of the applique?

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!!
The Wizard of Oz tune that
Dorothy, the Tin Man and Scarecrow sing...

Carrots and bunnines and blooms, oh my!!!
as I skip stitch merrily
down the path of yellow brick
around the last block of applique...

Can you tell I'm lovin' this quilt??

Thanks, Dawn Heese, for the great pattern.