flippytale Quilter

Art Journey with a Quilty Voice:
I here Voices. The Voices tell me to cut up Fabric. Good Fabric. Into small pieces. Small interesting pieces.
Then the Voices tell me to put them back together again. In interesting ways.
.... I must Obey ....

Thursday, June 28, 2007

In Praise of Coffee

Ok, I should have known better... But, during our cruise all the coffee I drank never had any affect on me (and it should since I am pretty sensitive to that stuff), no matter how strong it tasted I always felt like I was half asleep. I was convinced I was drinking decaf. So, once I returned I decided that I would drink green tea, it has caffeine in it too, right? And it is suppose to be really healthy with all those antioxidants and such. Right?

Well, maybe it does, but I don’t think it is the same type of caffeine as the caffeine in coffee. Anyway, I’ve been drinking green tea since I returned, almost two weeks, until this morning…. I just could take it any longer. Oh, am I glad I finally had some coffee. Who needs antidepressants when there is coffee??? I am in such a better mood today and everything. Coffee IS the wonder drug, I don’t care what the latest study says, I am convinced…. and will remain a life long coffee drinker. Green tea is not off the menu, nor are my favorite herbal teas, but my morning beverage of choice will continue to be that wonder liquid, coffee!

Will this revelation make me a better quilter? I'm not sure yet, but it will get me motivated to get other things done faster so I just might have more time to sew!

Me:

+


=Heaven!



Not Me:

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

What get's in the way of my quilty progress?

Stashbuster Topic of the Week:
What get's in the way of my quilty progress?

Well, I guess I have the attention span of a gnat... I will start a project and once I "get" it, instantly get bored. (see my unfinished projects page for the evidence) And sometimes with my perfectly good projects I will get even more excited about something new and start it, BOOM, instant UFO created out of the old one. Or, life just interupts my progress, I loose momentum and once I get started up again I want to start something new. It must be the obsessive need to cut fabric into small itty bitty pieces.

So, those are all the excuses I can think of.

What helps?

Blogging here, keeping a list of my projects. As long as they are in sight I will remember them, and if one is lucky, I may get interested enough to finish another project. I've set a goal for myself this year to finish 25 quilts. I am up to 8, year is half over. We shall see....

Monday, June 25, 2007

Lone Star Center

Here is the center that I completed at retreat, it is about 60" square. I am still thinking of what to do for the border. I decided to put the bright yellow at the tips to make it glow. The background fabric was picked from another project that I had with me. I couldn't have planned that it would be the background until my star points were done. But, don't the yellow points match perfectly with the lettuce leaves? I am thinking of calling it "Loose Leaf Lettuce".
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Labels: ,

Friday, June 22, 2007

Alaska photos of Rainforest, Ketchikan

Can you believe that I am fooling around with photos instead of packing for my Quilt Retreat??? We don't have to be there until 2pm and it is 9am.

Anyway, enjoy!



www.flickr.com





Labels:

Thursday, June 21, 2007

First Alaska Photos

This is the first group of photos I've organized so far...

We were at Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier after leaving Juneau on the 13th. It was so amazing that now I am having dreams of Alaska every night since returning.

I am also learning to use Flickr now too and I think I've got it right...
Take a look in the side bar, I tried to put the flash version here in the content of this entry but it didn't show up for some reason. So here is a HTML badge.


www.flickr.com





Labels:

Passport Application Tip

I have been hearing so much about the woes of applying for a passport and how the agency was caught off gaurd with the flood of applications.

Thankfully I already had mine in place before all this nonsense started. But, I thought I would pass on the site that I used when I was applying for my visa to China last year. They also do passports. They are fast, but you will have to pay for the service. Which is okay with me if I have to travel somewhere, I don't want something pesky like my passport holding up my travel.

This is the site we use at my work, there several other companies out there that do the same thing quickly too.
G3 Visas & Passports

Quilty Fun Retreat!

Tomorrow I leave for a three day quilt retreat. It is a small group of us, just us board members from our guild. I can't wait! And, I am so not prepared, I haven't packed a thing! I am so glad I picked out the material for our class already. It will be a lone star pattern. Now I just have to finish my day of work and gather up all my quilting accoutrements so I can have FUN the next three days.

Here is a mockup of what it might look like when I get done....
I took pictures of my fabric and imported them into Adobe Illustrator to create this little picture
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Labels: ,

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

I'm Home!

Some one overheard my mother and I talking and asked if we had gone on a quilting cruise.... We just laughed and said we made it into one! We stopped at all the quilt stores we could find, four, and one more north of Seatlle .... Glorious!

I will share my pix a little later on, but here is a teaser.....
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Me, sewing during my plane ride home...
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Labels: , ,

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Vacation!

Well, I'm outta here! Going to see Alaska, never have been. My batteries in my camera and phone are fully charged, my clothes are packed. I have a good book and my sketch book. The cats have figured out that I'm leaving...

Note to all would be robbers:
Plants are all dead, the cats will hate you and claw your eyes out, my electronics are all antiques and mostly broken, my fabric is all moth eaten and stinky, and I know that the neighbors have better stuff than me.... 'cause they leave their garage door open all the time so you can see what they have.

Whoo-Hoo!

Labels:

Thursday, June 07, 2007

I Mailed the Quilt!

I don't know why I drug my feet mailing it, I suspect because I had so much fun making it. I took a lot of pictures and can make another one if I want to... I could have sent it Monday, but I waited until today. I wrote a nice card and sent some washing instructions too. I really hope they like it.... I think they will... I always feed odd giving hand made gifts, even when I know they will be liked.
Timon had to put in his paw of approval on my wrapping, or maybe he just wanted to eat the raffia. I shooed him off when ever he tried to snack on it, but I know he sure would have liked to.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Labels:

How I divide my three blogs

Sometimes I have a hard time dividing how I organize my three blogs. I am writing this more for myself to keep track of, but it will help you, as you stumble onto my blog, navigate all my entries.

All serve a purpose and all are quilt related.

  • This blog, flippytale Quilter is for general musings about quilting and day to day quiltiness. Just like what I am writing right now....

  • My STASHBUSTING is more about my works in progress and I will transfer blog entries from this blog as they relate to a specific project, but many entries are unique to that site. I have a list of my UFO's there as well as a 100 yard stashbust tracker and a "finish 25 quilts this year" tracker. I like those, they keep me motivated. I wasn't specific about which 25 quilts needed to be finished, just as long as 25 are completed this year, that includes new ones started along the way. Okay, I'm not that disciplined to just work on existing UFO's. .....I am an "artist" and must create.....argh!

  • Then my Wall of Delights are my finished quilts. Many entries were transfered from my web site to here (my web site is soooo out of date because I, don't laugh, know how to upload new stuff to it anymore) I will transfer entries from the Stashbusting to the Wall of Delights as I finish a project. I do try to go back an check all my links as I go to make sure there as a track back to each projects.

    Complicated enough? I guess that is how my brain works, it won't be the first time I've been accused of making a system more complicated than it needs to be. I think I do it out of the need to figure stuff out and stay interested in projects. If it is complicated, I will fool with it. If it is too simple I will get bored and move on. Just wired up that way...

    Al-righty, thanks for looking!

    Labels: , ,

  • Wednesday, June 06, 2007

    WIP Wednesday 6-06

    Well, I finally "allowed" my self to cut loose on this project. It contains some of my currently favorite fabrics, I think I've slobbered on enough about how much I love them, and the fact that I got most of these out of print lovelies for only $4 a yard! It is going together fast! I have a lot left over and a thinking of making another one....

    Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

    I am also itching to quilt my favorite junkie-stippling-swirly stitch all over it too, so I can snuggle under it soon!

    PS, I have more Details on my other blog, it is more a running journal of each project so some things will be repeated.

    Labels: ,

    Stashbusher Topic of the Week - What kind of quilter am I?

    Since I've discovered how to free motion quilt I've become a free-motion-junkie! I look for ways I can free motion my quilts, I am especially good at that meandering stitch, it is such a rush! I am getting better and better with each quilt. I've even begun to experiment with little leaves and flowers in the quilting too. I like to sketch out my idea in my sketch book and wing it on the quilt. Maybe not precise, but a whole lot of fun!

    See Storm at Sea for some of my sketches

    I made a point of getting better at doing my own quilting when I realized that any quilts I entered into shows would have to credit the quilter who quilted my quilt. Being rather selfish I wanted all the credit to myself since my quilts are my own designs.

    Labels:

    Sunday, June 03, 2007

    Yeah! New Project

    One of the things I just love about starting a new project is the excitement of sewing together the first blocks. I may have spent hours drafting and picking out fabric for the new project, but nothing gives me a bigger thrill of seeing that first piece of fabric completely surrounded by seams from other fabric connected to it. What a rush!
    Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
    Paper mockup to check full size scale (since I designed it on the computer and had only seen it on my computer screen until then)
    Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
    PS,
    I had designed the quilt for large scale prints, based on a design I had created earlier. I didn't have this quilt in mind when I bought the fabric, I bought them because I loved them so. But, once I got them home I dug out an old design I had sketched up and they were a perfect match.
    Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
    New design inspired by earlier quilt:
    "Piet's Trip Through the Cosmos" ©2002

    Labels: ,

    Saturday, June 02, 2007

    Leaf Quilt - is DONE!

    All of it, Label and Sleeve. Now I just have to write a nice card, include some care instructions, find a box, and put that puppy in the mail!


    PS, It is for my cousin in Austria, who is getting married. We met once about fifteen years ago and have kept up with each other through email.

    Labels: