Raggedy Ragamuffin

I have been going like a mad woman yesterday and today... and BOY DOES IT FEEL GOOD!

I felt like I lost my steam going on vacation, But now I am back!

I dug out more quilt tops to see what I could finish up and GET OUT OF HERE... 

Deciding which I want to quilt, and which I want to send out.

Can I tell you, I have so many tops that have ONE THING for them to be finished?

Example:

RAGAMUFFIN

This top has been done and the backing has been sitting here...

the ONLY thing I needed to do was applique the YEAR on it... 2010...

Today was it's lucky day...

 I put some thought into what FONT the 2010 should be...Simple, slight curves to the letters, 

and then also, I wanted the stitching to SHOW, and be slightly elementary looking...   

I have to say, trying to MAKE it look that, was as hard as getting it to NOT look that way! 

I got pretty good at the stitches by the end of the last "0"... 

It seemed fitting to have it this way.. Ragamuffin + orphan blocks+

unwanted lost blocks, all coming together coming together, it now feels complete...

It's been boxed, and shipped to LINDA, who also quilted my 

EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK QUILT.

With so many seams on this quilt, 

it will be good just to have an all over pattern to keep it all in place...

Applique has been a big part of the thing's I need to finish on many of my quilts... 

I go through streaks where I love it and other times when it is such a chore...

But I guess that's normal!

 Well, that's one to show you for today!  

I have 5 more done and two more nearly done! 

Next time you see this one, it will be quilted.

And soon I need to get working on my 2011 version of this quilt.

I have a start on it already. (SILK)

but it's hanging here staring at me, begging me to pay it some attention.

Added to the list...

What is the next quilt up on your 

LIST OF THINGS TO DO?

P.S. Kristin has a fantastic quilt up at her blog.... go see... It's amazing...

I am being given my friends old service uniforms to make them into a quilt for his family... 

I hope I can make something as worthy as Krisitn's!

CHOICES!

Hey FOLKS!  I need your help!  WOOHOO I'm so excited after, living in this loft, 12 years, and having a bare minimal bed in my master bedroom, meaning, metal box frame and two headboards that were supposed to be for Boo's room... I just got my NEW BED!  I feel like I  can finally make our bedroom a REAL decorated room.... and not just the room we hide stuff in, that we don't want visitors to see... hahaha! So, OUT goes the headboards... OUT goes the metal box frame....

IN GOES my new BROWN cozy bed, (the exact same bed I have at my house!!! I LOVE MY BED)... Add some new deep purple and white stripe sheets (LOVE STRIPES), looks good with the Raspberry ice paint job from this past summer! And also, IN GOES my RUG I bought for my KITCHEN, that was moved to my ENTRY HALL, and now LIVES in my BEDROOM!  It's all very complicated, decorating, isn't it?

So, You know I have a few KING size quilts laying around here.... This is the AFRICAN FABRIC    top I made last weekend... I was going to put that fabulous zigzag border on it, but now realize, this quilt pretty much fits this bed EXACT...  IF I put the border I wanted on it, it will go to the floor.... I may just add a 5" border down the lengths, so that it hangs the same down those sides as at the end... 

It looks good right?

But then, I made this last summer with the intention of THIS one living on my bed.... I still need to add the borders...  I really like all the purples, grays and browns in this... It does look good!  And look at all the nice spots for QUILTING in the gray bits.... LOVE THAT!

Here's the Ragamuffin Quilt on the bed.. This quilt is so huge, it hangs all the way to the floor all around the bed.... Although I love this quilt, I'm not sure it's right for here, right now... I still need to applique' 2010 on it... And get it quilted...( I'll send this one out, it's WAY to big  for me to quilt...

All my bloggy pals, I see you all in this quilt!

And here is the quilt I made for my Husband probably three years ago... It has lived on our bed for as long as well...For as simple as this quilt is, I just love it.... the colors, the yellow twist to add a bit of surprise to it... I love the navy BLUE in this room...  But I think it's time for a new Quilt....

Although I love my Xmas crosses, I slept under it for  two weeks, and then took it off and put it away.. I'm so afraid of the dogs ruining it.. It's my all time favorite quilt... the "I can't believe I made that quilt"  so I keep it on my quilt pile....  Do you have a quilt like this? that you love so much you won't use it?

And lastly, my "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" quilt... This quilt seems to work everywhere...  Another big time favorite, I hate to have the dogs ruin it... decisions!!!

So?  Which one should live on my new bed??

Tell me your thoughts!

Have a great weekend!

Ragamuffin complete

 Today, I tackled the Ragamuffin... more than half of it was together and it was time to get it off my design wall....  I hope to clean up the studio before I go to Houston... 

There is something nice about going away and coming back loaded with ideas.... 

ready to dive into a clean studio...

I did a post recently about being surprised how easily this quilt went together...

It really did for the most part...

Can you believe all these blocks, from all you lovely readers across the globe, 

fit so nicely all together... 

You know what that means right?

There are no wrong choices, 

no wrong fabrics... or colors...

They just need the find their way into the right quilt...

Thank you!

 At mid day today, I got all of this above, put together,

and ran to pick up my daughter from school, and made a deal with her that, 

Tonight, I was going to finish this quilt.  Period. 

I only had this little square left to finish....(above)

I had a rhythm going and I did not want to break it...

 It was a huge joy to see all the blocks you all sent in for this quilt...  I have learned a lot about

many kinds of patterns and block styles, applique styles, piecing styles etc.  

You can learn quite a lot by looking at the backs of your blocks...

For instance, if you don't know Carol, from postcards from panama....

hop over to her blog and say hi... This girl can piece on a machine like I've never seen before...

I saw some great paper piecing blocks, Some of you use starch, so that was interesting to sew on,

as I have never used starch...  I'm curious now! I like how flat and perfect everything laid...

Only a couple hand pieced blocks... I guess machine rule...

 I've used up nearly every block I rcvd.... 

STARS, pinwheels, and HOUSE blocks ruled... Interesting!  

Not many all solid blocks...

One kid print block. (doggies!)

and really cool a bunch of Folded, origami style blocks...

I've never done that, so that was fun to look at...

I have about 4 or so blocks left, that I will put into a pieced backing...

I had thought that I would put a fun border around this because 

I didn't think It was going to be big enough....

haha!

 It's 109"X 111"

It hangs perfectly down the sides of my King bed....

I don't think I need that fun border any longer...

thinking (to much)

 I was thinking as I worked on the ragamuffin today, how when I put the kitchen sink quilt together, it was very complicated. Y seams galore, and I loved every minute of it... It was giant puzzle needing to find the right pieces to put it together...  

I noticed as this Ragamuffin quilt is going together that it is MUCH EASIER... I was trying to figure out what I had done differently that made this process so different... I actually really liked the way the last process was, and wondered about how, with each "THING, QUILT, etc" we make, our process changes just a tad... or perhaps, a lot.

Rather like Human life, one experience changes our views on things a million times over...  Some things we do the same over and over again... relationships, types of people, arguments... this sort of dance that somehow is very difficult to change...

So I'm not sure I always like that the process has to change...  I'm looking at this quilt in a new light to try to get the same effects happening in this as they did in the Kitchen sink quilt... more Y seams so things don't line up.. adding more bits here in there, trying to keep it wonky,

and often, trying to force it to happen, doesn't work either...

 So I am turning it over, letting it be what it wants to be.  I am looking at the seams in a new light, an perhaps for now, the seams need to be straight. 

Life throws us curves, and right now the road is smooth, so perhaps my seams can be also...

I've never been one to like a lot of drama, so perhaps my quilts are taking that turn as well?  

or, maybe 

it's because all these blocks are from all you lovely readers, 

and we've made a little community

and you are all just getting along so beautifully that no drama is necessary!

hmmm, I like that idea.

However this quilt turns out, I am realizing the stories run similar to life. we grow a little with each bit, we can't ever go backwards, we keep going forward, and hey,

Hopefully we find a little bit more out about ourselves as we go...

Or maybe I think to much!

I had to make a small project for a show that sort of sums my style up...  I have made probably three or 4 pieces,  not liking any of them and time was running out.. So today, I grabbed some stuff, stopped thinking so much, and this little thingy emerged....  And it just feels right.

What do you think about,when you think about your process?

or do you?

When do you stop working on something?

Is it a feeling?

Is it by sight?

Instinct?

Happy Weekend!

people are grand.

 

People always show you who they are, if we just pay attention.

Have you seen Em Celebrates!  She has this energy that radiates through the computer waves...

Her blog is always FUN, and cheery and just plain fabulous.  She always puts me in a good mood...

Well, this morning, my hubby brought in a package that was left in our lobby, and handed it to me, I thought, "Now what did I order, that I am not recalling?"  I snipped open the package, put my hand inside, never looking a the label, and pulled out the LOVE HOUSE that Em has in her blog header!

ZOIKS!!!  It's fabulous, and caught me off guard... I feel so honored to have it.. I put it on my studio door so I see it all day long....  Thanks Em! Girl , You rock!  I love your energy,

And thanks for showing me who you are.

And speaking of grand people, I finished all the BASICS quilts... 

Pics soon, I need to go buy a new camera.

****

On a separate note, did any of you see Debby Boonie on Oprah? 

I  tivo'd it...

I had to rewind it twice to hear Oprah say, it's been 33 years since

"You light up my life" was number one on the charts...  I can very clearly see myself at 7, YES,

7 years old, singing into my mother's LIME GREEN HAIRBRUSH, every word to that song, 

and getting teary over it...  

( probably still do) LOL! 

OK, fess up... Who else used to LOVE that song... 

When she sang it on the show, I swear I was 7 again... I totally had a moment... ;-)

**

 

RAGAMUFFIN IN PROGRESS

 The Ragamuffin quilt has now been up on my wall for, what 2 months?  I need my wall back...  So bit by bit, it's becoming one giant quilt... I'd love to get it done by Friday... 

but that might be wishful thinking...

Here's a few more pictures from the Folk Art Museum Quilt show...

 Tiny Stars..... Glorious!

 I love the border prints in this quilt... Fab stuff you just don't see anymore... the dyes are so rich....

 

Look at the detail on this.. raw edge applique with scratchy cross stitches.... and embellishments... oooh so cute!

***

And lastly, I kept playing with all those Kaffe scraps this week for my play time... 

A few Xmas gifts, a few other goodies... 

If one receives, one should pass on the good fortune...

This one is in the mail... and need to bind a few others...

Pass it on... Make some one's day.

fun fun fun!!!

Some of you may have seen this project I have been working on with Tonya at the 15 minutes blog. 

 She made the fabulous star, and I did the background orange/yellows and bits...   Hop over to the other site for more info on it...  It's been so fun to work on, and now I need to get to those Y seams!

It makes me sing and dance when I look at it!

Yippeee!

******

Many of your comments yesterday regarding machine quilting feathers, were extremely helpful! Thank you! It's good to learn form others who have gone through the same thing!  

Thanks for all the great encouragement as well!

Above is one practice attempt at my feathers, I drew it out on vellum, and then quilted right over the drawing...  This was very helpful.

Although it was hard to get the paper off... I felt much more confident after I saw how it looked....

I did watch that DVD on FUN WITH FEATHERS, and I took her advice on which way to start your feather swooping motions, which was very helpful indeed. It was opposite from the way I was drawing them...

 As I sat watching the DVD on my computer, i thought, why do I have such an ugly mouse pad??

So I had to fix that with a bit of steam a seam and some funky fabric...

Much better! Do you agree?

After I ironed the mouse pad down, I accidentally pulled my iron off the ironing table and quickly did  dance to get my feet out of the way... But alas, it bit me twice...

After I watched that DVD on feathers I got all excited to get the STAR SPLITTER quilt basted...

Half way through I ran out of pins... oh well, always tomorrow! My day wasn't going so great...

Later,

I had much more fun anyway, running around NYC with RENE from Rene creates, and her son.

They were in town for two days checking out colleges, so I took them through Times Square, Central Park, Union Square, subway rides, etc... It was a lovely day!

I'm so glad you came by Rene!  Great to see you again!

Friday run around.

Folding

Stacking

Staring out my window

Tiny bit of machine quilting on Color Exploitation

Sent my official middle schooler back to school today!

(Thanks Rondi for the Shirt! She loves it!)

So much more thoughts to share, 

but so much more work to do...

more later.

What's keeping you BUSY today?

Have a lovely weekend!

Before & After

  Well, My studio may not be totally clean yet, 

but the rest of my loft is getting there!

I snuck a bit of sewing in today, as I need this baby quilt done tomorrow...

Just need to sit and do the binding...

 

 BEFORE &

AFTER!

POOL TABLE GONE!

The floor is scrubbed, and the rug and pieces put into place...

Yes, the rug says LIES...  I had it made back when I had an exhibition of my photographs, and it went with theme at the time... Now we have a place to use it!  I love the bright colors. 

Since we do not have a guest room, this area is going to magically become 

a guest room...

See those pipes up above, for the sprinkler system?

We're having a fabric tent made that will hang from them to give  us an instant

guest room when we need it...

At least it will give some privacy, since we do no have curtains on our windows....

I think I have a few takers already for this room...

Do I need to make a list?

Shelly? Linda? Rene?

I've played a bit more yesterday on Ragamuffin, as a few more blocks came in...

I need to add about three more inches to the right side, and I will be ready to sew it all together...  

Extra blocks that I have, will also be used on the back... 

The plan is to use everything that was sent to me... 

so if you don't see your block there, it will be on the other side...

It is a  KING SIZE quilt.

Gotta run to do that binding! 

Happy Sewing!