Beginning a Gift Project

I've always wanted to take on a vintage linen project  for 2 reasons.  One...because I'm from Oklahoma farm country where in my youth linens were seen everywhere. And second... Cindy Needham is a friend and has done wonders to revive the love and appreciation of vintage linens.
Not quite 2 years back, I had a day at Road To California I was not teaching and decided to take my buddies one day class on designing patterns for a vintage linen brought to class.  The number of stencil options Cindy brought was unbelievable. I relaxed ( a bit too much as you'll read), but designed and marked a linen with hopes of finding time to quilt it later.  The cutwork linen I'd purchased and brought to work on was SO beautifully made that I failed to note I had marked the linen on the BACK side.  Oh well... I had a great design day and a few mos. back I decided to carefully place the image on my light box and trace marked the front side too.

So the time to begin the quilting is now. I've placed a  contrasting value drapery brocade behind the linen so the cutwork elements can be appreciated.  I had secured the linen top to the backing using a  machine basting stitch grid of invisible thread  (which will need be removed later). After the fact, I wonder if this would have been a good time to use a water soluble dissolving thread...  but I'm fine with what I did .  I still found I was more comfortable pinning here and there but recognize some old linens might not like pinning.  This one did.
I begin like I do my art quilts... working from the middle outward. I used a thread slightly warmer color than the crisp white linen. I now know I might have used a slightly darker cream value but I'm good with this and will not 'unstitch"

Moving outward from the center there is a squared pattern of 8 cutwork elements.  All elements called for outlining to show off the cutwork.The cutwork looks nicer with the outlining and I now think there would be benefit in outline stitching the embroidery. I love the quilting journey.

Doing so added a bit of refinement /stability to the small original embroidery design. 

My short term goal ( still  progressively working my way out  from center toward outer edges) is to get the basic quilting done.  I'll be coming back to add filler elements to even better show off the original linen design.  I'm loving this... 'am awakening at odd hours to steal an hour of two of quilting. 

(  Cindy's book... "Wholecloth Linen Quilts"published by AQS  in 2007).  

My new color wheel clock.

I think I've worked out the perfect WIN WIN with friend Jan Stewart.  Jan made this Cherrywood Fabric / Cherrywood pattern color wheel and her brilliant hubby turned it into a wall clock.

I get the clock in turn for finishing up an art piece she began. This clock is both functional and a great color wheel reference. I've had this pattern myself thinking I'd make it "someday." Not Required now! Yeah and thank you Jan.

In a New Book!

Linda Seward  ( in the U.K.) just published her comprehensive art quilt book titled "The Ultimate  Guide To Art Quilting" It is available now on Amazon. 

click here   to go to  the listing on Amazon

It includes lots of how tos as well as inspirational photos of finished quilts, among them my piece... "My Gentle Giant Ben."

Hope For Good News

Today I take Ray for xrays on his broken bones. Sure want him out of this wheelchair.

Looks like he does too.
UPDATE:  He did get out of the rented wheelchair  Yeah! He's pretty unstable still but it's definite progress. His shoulder injury ( break behind the humerus) will be a longer issue but we are moving forward. He's not scouling as shown here but  he was mighty grumpy when he took his first steps and wasn't perfectly well.  The word tantrum sort of fits the moment.

A Weekend to Sew.

Therapy at last.  I got 2 1/2 days of time in Temecula, Ca at Vina Lestonnac.. a favorite retreat of quilters.   Okay.. this is a beautiful place surrounded by vineyards and horse ranches.

Thanks to my hubbys daughter and some friends who checked in on him, took him to church, etc.... I got to take care of Me for a couple days. HEAVEN....
This is the third block of 9 from the QN My Christmas Album pattern... I stayed true to the pattern but admit I wasn't crazy about this  one so I used a variety of fabrics  to avoid being serious about this vase of poinsettias. .

Then came ornaments....  made in kind of a color wheel orientation for me. You can see I'm not feeling bound by a Christmas color scheme. 

Then Candy Canes. Why go strictly red and white? 

LET THERE BE LIGHTS!!

and HOLLY!

Egads... these snowflakes took forever. 

I've started laying out the sweater borders but had one more block to finish.  

These LITTLE gingerbread guys took a long time. 

and finally... the big picture is done.... using every bold color possible. 

I made this for fun... along with other members of my friendship group the Wanabe Quilters of Orange County Ca.  I can't wait to see everyones put together. For once, I'm a couple months early. 

yeah... a sense of completion.... at least until I'm able to quilt it. 

Moving Forward

There is so much to do in our mountain canyon ( and still with my wheelchair-bound hubby and I living in my studio off the mountain)  A rock slide is destroying my hubby's glass workshop. This  photo is the day after the flood.

The rock slide continues to press downhill tho it will  have to wait til Ray is on his feet and we are back home. 

A large boulder  decided to try a break in to the very back side of the house (the back at the bottom of the steep grade of the mountain).

By the grace of 4  young men from the Mormon Church... I was able to  get a temporary fix til we can get back home. I see new siding in our future. :-) 

The immediate things taken care of. Praise God.

Mother natures fury!

This is today's view from our bedroom window.  The marked car sits atop mud and debris that filled the waterfall pool we have enjoyed prior to the freak flash flood in Mt Baldy, Ca  yesterday afternoon. 4"  in less than an hour brought a wall of water down our narrow canyon. The car here is my neighbors to our uphill left.

The stream bed is usually 8 feet or so below the once walking bridge which washed downstream yesterday. All thats left of the bridge is one steel beam.  Our house is to the left, beyond the covered vehicle that only stayed put because my hubby had 1) built some large stone walls that diverted flood waters, and 2) had his vehicle nose against a big rock wall.  The car in the previous pic was parked just above where the white bulldozer is in this pic.

About a hundred feet further down the canyon was this car. This is the vehicle that contained the  48 yr old visiting hiker that was trying to leave the canyon. He didn't make it. News coverage taking place in this photo.

Most people on the mountain and many in Claremont ( the city at the base of the mountain) know this car. Runr Dad...  Hubby Ray is a lifelong runner... presently in a wheelchair from  a driver hitting him as he walked along a road in Kenya last month.  6 broken bones and 1 unhappy guy.  I couldn't get his wheelchair up the canyon road to our house today. We'd been off the mountain when the storm hit... staying somewhat uncomfortably at my studio while he recovers. This has been an exciting summer to say the least. Lots of outside the house cleanup that will just have to be put on hold.

No quilts lost.