Friday, the 13th

"Paraskevidekatriaphobics — people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th" Seriously, who comes up with these names??? 

I often wonder how these crazy things come to be. Who first decided that there was a stigma attached to the number 13 or the 6th day of the week? For those of you who struggle with Friday the 13th, apparently there will be three occurrences of this day in 2012: One in January, today, and one in July. They are each exactly 13 weeks apart.....weird!

I recently joined the Block Swap Adventure, a fun way to meet others quilters around the world. Each month, you are assigned a swap partner, and you each make a 12" block for the other. You pick the design you want and the colors. So, my first partner lives in Oregon. She asked for this block, and her favorite colors are black and red...

Since I had some more fabric, I made her another one for fun...

I finished the ribbon quilt for my friend. After adding the Paintstik blocks, I wondered if I had made a bad decision. Maybe I have to live with it for a bit. The colors were so much fun to work with.

When I look at the center, I really feel like I'm in a planetarium. 

As for Friday the 13th, for me it's just another day. However, Fridays generally are a wonderful reminder that the weekend is coming. 

Progress...

It was far from a quiet weekend, but thankfully a sewing day with a friend helped me make progress on the new ribbon quilt. I've added two more stars and have lots of ribbons done for more panels. One of my favorite fabrics in this is dark blue with gold metallic dots,

so I'm leaning towards adding some work with Paintstiks. Time to color :)

Something new from something old...

The New York Times Natural Food Cookbook. I got it in the late 70's in paperback. Last fall, I found an old  hardback copy in good condition. I was ecstatic because my copy was in three pieces. I have truly loved this cookbook. I have been making the whole wheat banana bread recipe from this for as long as I can remember owning it. The only tweak I made consistently was adding a generous quarter cup of sesame seeds to the batter. All these years, I have looked forward to brown bananas so I could make this recipe.

The other day, I got the batter ready and said to my son who happened to be in the kitchen...."What can we do differently this time?" His suggestion was to add fruit. We happened to have blueberries, so in they went. I did not expect it to be so absolutely delicious!

I decided to make twelve placemats with the Paintstik bamboo panels that I made. I clearly wanted an Asian theme for the fabric I chose. I hunted through a box and found a lovely piece that my wonderful stepmother brought back from Japan maybe fifteen years ago. I was so excited to be able to finally feel good about using it.

The bamboo panels got a 1/4" border of dark green with metallic gold dots...

and the result was this. They are super-sized placemats 15" x 20".

I've been wanting to get the brown star quilt done, so I completed the blocks for the April class...

May class...

and June class...

Thankfully, I have now finished ten out of the twelve blocks. Two more to go....then I can put it all together!

Leap Year..

"Today isn't real! Do whatever you want."

This morning, a friend posted this on her Facebook. After all, today only happens once every 1460 days. So, maybe I can ignore it. Ok, no school today!

Today, we will prepare for my daughter and my only grandchild to arrive from the west coast. I will make banana bread, prepare wasabi sesame crusted salmon for dinner, and have a long overdue visit with an old friend. For a good part of the day, the deep recesses of my mind will be pondering my plans for the month of March. To be realistic, it's going to be very full. Visits from two of my out-of-state children, a class to teach, quilt group with my lady friends, and the opening of Art Quilt Elements 2012.

Looking back on February, I am pleased with what I accomplished. 

-Bound 5 quilts

-Finished 2 quilt tops 

-Took 2 tops to be quilted

-1 pillowcase for my daughter

-Finished twelve bamboo paintstik panels

-Started the "Overlapped Mountain" quilt

-Continued working on 3 other quilts

My plan for March is to simply keep doing what I'm doing. When I have time, I work (play). That's it. It is also time to prepare my taxes, and I have wedding invitations to work on for my son's wedding this summer...more on that later.

Here is the first panel of the "Overlapped Mountain" blocks. There are 3 here, I have 2 others done, and 3 to go. Then I get to mull over ideas for the center square.

Here are the bamboo Paintstik panels. There are 12 of them. At the moments, I'm thinking about a set of placemats.

I think the most exciting thing about welcoming March is that I will go into my closet and pick another pile of something from my stash for a new project.....Happy Leap Year :)

Resolutions...

We've all made resolutions for one New Year or another in our life...maybe most of them! We get off to a great start, and then what happens? One day, we wake up, and our best intentions are a distant memory. Then comes the guilt, the negative self-talk, and the embarrassment. Maybe we try again; maybe we give up. The truth about the success rate of resolutions haunts me a bit these days. I'm only two weeks in and wondering when I'm going to fizzle.

Yesterday, I was sitting with my brother telling him about my commitment to finish projects this year, and he said, "So really, how many projects do you have?" I paused, did a split-second inventory, and was horrified at the realization that a year is not even close to enough time to finish it all. All I could do was laugh.

Now, I think I need to tell you how I define unfinished:

1. I have several quilts blocks or part of a canvas already done.

2. I have a quilt pattern that I purchased but have never opened it. In my stash, I probably have everything I need to complete it. (I have a slew of these)

3. I had a idea, I purchased all of the fabric, and it's sitting in my closet.

4. The quilt top is done and has never been quilted.

When I broaden my definition to include projects I have but have never started, I see the really big picture. I could stay busy for years and only have to buy thread, needles, batting, and backing for quilts....maybe some Gesso and glue for my canvases.

I have 11 1/2 months to go for this resolution.....and I'm ready!

I finished the Paintstik pillow in time for the demonstration at Cloth and Bobbin yesterday. It was a lot of fun....

and I finished the second transparency quilt top!

Now, every once in a while, I need to take a class to keep my creative energy challenged. The class is called "Ribbon Quilts: Color and Fabric Fusion." My teacher is Sarah Bond, and the class is based on the work of Quilt Artist Nancy Crow. The class involves "making fabrics" by strip piecing solid and patterned fabrics using gradations of color, value, and size. After the pieced fabric constructions are finished, we will cut them and reconstruct them to make a final composition. Here is what I have so far. I am having a blast!

Off to a good start!

I am a chronic list maker. I believe my mother taught me from the beginning that almost everything can be solved with a list, every dilemma can be better understood, and every task more quickly accomplished if you first write it down. She taught me well. One list a day is never sufficient. It is always several. Of course, I started my New Year with a list.

I teach quilting at a "small but mighty" fabric store in Narberth, PA, called The Cloth and Bobbin. I am presently teaching a "block-of-the-month" for a quilt that I call "What Star Are You From?" Each month I make a sample block from another fabric combination so that at the end of the classes, I will have another quilt :) Yesterday I cut out all the pieces for the next block. Next class is on the 21rst.

I was also able to finish a quilt top yesterday. This is from Weeks Ringle's new book Transparency Quilts: 10 Modern Projects. My friend, Carol, www.loracdesignsclh.com, does all my machine quilting. She's having a 15% off sale until the end of January, so I am working hard to get a few quilts finished to take to her. Now all I need is the backing and batting for this one.

My other commitment for January is a PaintStik demonstration at the shop on the 14th. I want to have a few samples available. One of my quilts currently hanging in the shop has random red and blue squares embellished with gold PaintStiks,

but I want to finish this pillow. The center square was done with gold, silver, and bronze PaintStiks.

I wish everyday could be this productive, but it was, after all, a Sunday. Now the week has begun and will be full of overseeing the kids' schooling, dishes, cooking, laundry, etc. Oh, and the cat litter, my least favorite job, that I didn't clean yesterday :( Gotta go get that one off my list.