Recent artful projects

Accessories for me, from vintage Alpha fabric. The bigger one is for my Mac Book Air, the smaller one for phone...

A doll made recently in my First Friday group. Jeanette Kelly originally taught us the techniques. 

A second purple dog, ordered by a friend:

The rest are items I made for my soon to arrive second granddaughter. So fun to sew tiny things!

Can't forget the first purple dog. 

Yet Another purple dog underway

I put the first purple dog on Instagram, which I am a total newbie at btw, and I got orders for two more! These are from people I know. I wasn't expecting that.   

But I said yes, and here is the first one started. I'm not making it just like the other one, because that's boring. I didn't start it until I finished a 6" block for Frances Holliday Alford's 70th bday, and the baby quilt. I need to photograph that before I pass it on. I also made another hexie baby ball. Some of you remember the one I made for my first granddaughter, and I taught a couple classes at Flying Geese Quilt Shop. 

This is the new one,  a little different:

Two views of same ball. 

What I'm working on now

Yes, I have been working on quilty projects. I can't talk about them all, but here are some snaps that I can share. 

Sewing on label and sleeves. 

A little guy I finished recently. Mostly Guatemalan fabrics from Alpha. 

Baby quilt slowly progressing....

Another cockamamie project. Photo promised when it is finished. 

What I'm working on

As I said before, I am working on three quilts, two art and one baby. So here is a peek:

It still needs to be attached to the canvas frame. These are mostly Guatemalan fabrics from my centenarian friend Alpha, who passed away last year at 101. OMG, this woman had quite a stash! 

And these are blocks for Warren and Cia's baby. I will be making several more blocks. Windmill blocks, template given to me years ago by my friend Lynda. 

A wee project that went too fast

Tiny baby hat, started on an airplane and finished the next day. That was fast! Now what? This goes with the sweater posted recently. 

flannel baby ball



A friend of mine loved my flannel baby ball but will be out of town when I teach the class at Flying Geese Fabrics. I am amazed that she figured it out all by herself! Cute, huh? Wendy made the cute quilt, too.

If you are interested, I still have openings in this and other classes. Look on the right to my new "Coming Events" section to see my schedule.

I still have photos in my camera from the NY/Chicago trip. One of these days I will bring them out, I promise.

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead to upcoming events. I can't wait to go to the Long Beach Quilt Festival, which begins later this week. I'm there Thursday-Saturday. I'm taking a gelatin monoprint class from Pokey Bolton on Thursday. I'm docenting at the "Space Between" exhibit on Friday - look for my quilt there, too. It's called "Between the Air Conditioner and the House," and it features my desert tortoise, Gramps. Quilt detail shown below. Then I'm going to the SAQA/Art Quilt List reception on Friday evening.

Hope to see you in Long Beach!

The AAQI auction is coming up in early August, with my "Gaps" quilt in it. I have all the info in a recent post.

I am also teaching two more classes at Flying Geese Fabrics. On Saturday, August 6th from 1:30 to 5, I'm teaching how to make my flannel baby ball. If flannel and baby toys aren't your thing, I can teach you how to make any style ball that floats your boat. Here's a photo of the one I made for my grandchild:

Then on August 18th I'm teaching my Holiday Cookie Stocking. You can make individual cookie ornaments with the same pattern, so I can teach them, too. This is on a Thursday, from 3 to 7.

If these classes interest you, you can call Flying Geese Fabrics in Tustin at 714-544-9349 and say, "Sign me up!"

pretty cute video from NY

I made the ball that she's playing with.

farmers market, plus more granddaughter pix

My daughter and her husband have had a booth at the farmer's market in nearby Hamilton, NY, for the past two weekends. Quite an impressive array, if you ask me. They say it's going well.

More photos of my darling granddaughter, for those who are interested. She's lying on the quilt that I made her in this one. Cute dress!

She looks so tiny in her bouncy chair.

Naptime.

Beach bunny in Rhode Island.

new samantha photos

Here are some new baby photos, for those family and friends who wish to see them. I think this is a great mother-daughter photo.

Look at what a cute smile she has! She's over 9 pounds now.

Quite a big smile here. She seems really happy about something. The little outfit she's wearing was dyed and stenciled by me. It's really too big, but the onesies in her size don't fit around her big cloth diaper butt.

Something has her fascinated here.

She's almost as big as Ginger, their miniature dachshund.

I'm thinking about starting a new blog, just devoted to baby stuff. That way the interested people will know where to look, and other people don't have to. I'm thinking "Crafty Grandma." Maybe one of these days I'll get my act together.

what I'm working on, and Long Beach

I was happy to see that  the "Through the Eyes of the Quilter" photography exhibit was at the Long Beach Quilt Festival. My cat Matilda is part of this exhibit, which debuted in Houston last fall.

My visit to Long Beach was short and sweet this year. I was only there on Friday, but I managed to rampage through the entire show, plus work at the SAQA booth, go to the SAQA/Quilt Art reception hosted by Karey, and have dinner with many of the other "Beneath the Surface" artists. What fun!

It's been a while since I've been able to show any quilt activity. This is a little something I'm working on to donate to the Flying Geese Quilters auction in October. I'm mixing tie dyes (from Ghana) and dyed ties. There will be more to it. I am also going to make a small house quilt for a Habitat for Humanity house.

I made a second sundress for Samantha. It's the same pattern as the green one, except a little bigger. Hope it fits.

I finished up this cute little green knit cap just a few days ago. First time I've worked with circular needles. I got the pattern at a little yarn shop in Telluride. Sorry I forget its name, but if you go there it's the only yarn shop in town. It's a delightful little place with a whole room for children's patterns, plus lots of exotic yarns and local products, too.... I like this cap, it's kind of simple and unconstructed. Notice that the ends are tied into a topknot on the top.

 This is how the cap looks with the ends untied. I'm smitten with knittin', I must confess. I'm enjoying refining my knitting skills and learning new things. I have learned how to knit continental style, which is great for lefties and faster than the throw-over style. There are tons of little videos all over the internet that show you how to do all manner of knitting techniques - what a wonderful world.... Besides, it's really cold in winter where my daughter and her family live, so I'm compelled to knit warm things to keep little Samantha warm.

Any other knitters out there? I'd love to hear from you.

A Quick Post

I can't resist sharing a photo of my new grandchild, Samantha, in the sundress I made for her. She's outgrowing it already. I have made her another one, and will post a photo soon.

By the way, the designer of the original online pattern that I adapted is Rae Hoekstra, at http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/

And the cute green sweater I knitted for Samantha came from Mission Falls' Wee Knits 3 book.

Okay, while I'm at it I can't resist posting one more photo. They tell me she's over 7 and a half pounds now, and her hair and eyes are lightening up. She's 5 weeks old.

Okay, twist my arm, one more photo. Here she is in her swing. I hear she likes it a lot.

What I've been doing lately

I have a couple of new quilts underway, but I can't show them yet. However, I can show you two finished clothing projects.

First, here is a tiny baby sweater I recently finished. It will hopefully fit Samantha next fall/winter. I am enjoying getting back into knitting! And the thing I like about making baby sweaters is that they go fast. I did this one in about three weeks.... I actually knitted another sweater before this one, but it turned out so boyish that I'm embarrassed to show it. I'm hoping that a heart or flower embellishment will save it. I'll show it at some point. (maybe)

This photo shows the sweater before I sewed it all together, plus the ball of yarn and the pattern book. As baby designs go, it's kind of chunky and primitive. Hope it looks cute on her.... I have already started another sweater!

I made this sundress last week. I mailed it off right away, because it's meant to wear now. I found a pattern online which I changed quite a bit - I didn't do the bias tape hem they suggested, and I added a tie in the back to make it more form fitting. I hope it will be adjustable so that it will fit Samantha for a while. I will post the designer's name of the original design next time.

This view shows everything untied. It was pretty fun and easy. Maybe I'll make more.

random baby sightings

Here's a sure sign that a baby is in the house - diapers and tiny clothes hanging from the clothesline. My daughter is using cloth diapers. Woohoo, I salute her!

This is the finished hexagon ball toy that I brought for Samantha. Most of the fabrics are flannel. I embroidered on the solid fabrics. Ribbons were scraps I had.

A second view of the ball.

Here's a view of grandma, Samantha and Ginger on the couch. At this point Ginger had decided that the baby's feet needed washing.

Samantha had plenty of cranky times in her early days. She became much more mellow as time passed.

Jack spent a fair amount of time rocking Samantha. Swaddling is another technique to relax her.

A little mother-daughter bonding going on.

Samantha started getting sunbaths after the doctor said she had a touch of jaundice.

Baby makes three, and Ginger makes four.

Ginger has her own doghouse out by the old apple tree.