Friday, June 29, 2007

My friend...

made this for me for my birthday. We took this wool workshop together at guild last year. The wool was supplied by our instructors (guild members), and I chose blue (thinking it was dark navy blue). It was a light gray blue and another light color for the top oval. Needless to say, mine is not finished and probably never will be -- well, it doesn't need to be now! The bunnies are not really blue, they are a black tweedy type wool -- camera is playing tricks. Anyway -- Thanks, Jackie!

Today I spent two hours in the yard finally getting all the flower beds weeded. Now if I can get out there every week for an hour or two, I might be able to keep them up all summer!

I also spent 45 minutes hand quilting, an hour and a half hand appliqueing, and about an hour and a half playing on the longarm. I'm trying to learn some all over designs to do from the front of the machine that don't have to be marked. I'm doing pretty good on leaves, and curly tendrils and ribbons, but I'm have a heck of a time trying to do holly leaves in all directions -- I can do them from the top down towards myself -- but can't seem to make my hands work correctly from the bottom up or horizontally. It'll take more practice, obviously. Also working on a teardrop echo type shape, which also needs work because I confuse myself trying to do all directions! And I need a lot of practice filling the area evenly -- not too heavy in one spot and not too thin in the next. I'm having a good time practicing, though.

Gratitudes:

The bathroom in the basement.

No humidity and temps in the 70's.

Making lists....things to do, things to buy...I live and die by lists!

3 comments :

Melanie said...

Three cheers for lower humidity!!! love the gift...

Shelina said...

Happy belated birthday Joanne. Looks like you've had two great finishes of baby quilts since I last dropped by. They both look wonderful. You've been really busy with helping out Steph and quilting things. I too like the variety of hand quilting and machine quilting.

Susan said...

Try the teardrop/paisley shape with paper and pencil for a while. Make squares, back yourself into a corner, see ways you can get out, etc. It'll help when you go back to the machine. =) Try it with the holly leaf, too. If you are into visualizing, that can also help, but I found a paper and pencil to be my best bet . . . and clicking the stop button on the machine, too! =)