1930s Applique Sampler

I have had The New Applique Sampler by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins for several years, but hadn't really done anything with it. I am now taking an on-line class using this as the textbook. We are making the samll applique sampler, and the fabrics I am using are below.

So far we have made the overlay, the templates and stitched the leaves. I need to redo my tulips because I shouldn't have trimmed them yet. I got carried away. But I put them on the fabric to show the colors I will be using. It also needs a stem, fabric TBD, might be one different than the rest of the greens, or will use four and match the leaves.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Last weekend DH,DD, and I went up to Ashland Oregon for the Shakespeare Festival. As usual, the plays were excellent. I especially liked the new play, Equivocation. It depicts Shakespeare being commissioned to write a play about the Gunpowder Plot, which is not his usual thing, generally histories are not recent. This was really a current event, and he is not sure that what he has been given is actually true. Trying to please King James, Robert Cecil, himself, and his company, without losing his head (literally) was fascinating. Full of relevant Shakespearian quotes, it was a crowd pleaser. We also saw Henry VIII, MacBeth, Paradise Lost and Don Quixote. I liked this version of MacBeth a lot more than the last time I saw it at Ashland. This was at the Angus Bowmer, the older version at the New Theatre, too small a venue and too small an ensemble cast. Peter Macon played MacBeth, does crazy very well (he was Othello last season). Kevin Kenerly (one of my Ashland favorites) played MacDuff.

In addition to 5 plays in three days, DD and I went shopping, we all ate, trying a couple of places we hadn't been to before, Harpers being the most memorable and one we will go back to, and I sewed. I managed to finish two Dutch Treat Blocks, picking that up after a long hiatus.

Butterfly was started a long time ago, and finally finished.

Cherries was started on this trip, and finished too. Both are 6" blocks.

King Tut at the DeYoung Museum

We took a trip up to San Francisco on Saturday, going to the DeYoung Museum to see the King Tut exhibit. I have long been fascinated with ancient Egypt, since the seventh grade (at least). Now I am thinking of creating an Egyptian themed quilt using some of the objects I saw at the exhibit. Can't you just see something like this pectoral in a quilt? Not sure of everything yet, and I have several quilts in progress that I want to finish, but meanwhile I can start playing around with designs. Image is from the King Tut exhibit preview images http://www.tutsanfrancisco.org/category/image-galleries/king-tut-exhibition-preview

One thing I do know, I want to put my name in heiroglyphics on the quilt.

Empty Spools, among other things

I've been down at Empty Spools, a quilt retreat with classes held at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA. Fabulous fun. I took a class from Suzanne Marshall, an appliquer with a quirky sense of humor. I can't show you her latest quilt, but it is called, at least right now, The Musicians, and what musicians they are! Taken from an old print, she enlarges them and makes them her own, with her signature bugs. We worked on what she calls Wacky Birds. Mine is almost ready to quilt, having found a perfect border fabric in my stash. It is hand appiqued, hand embroidered, and will be hand quilted. We learned her take away applique method in class. Works well, but I need more practice.

Before I left I had been working on the Prairie Paisley baby quilt, made with some blocks I decided not to use with the Patchwork Party blocks. The four extra blocks are in the center, surrounded by a pieced border, and then a triple border. I used Marti Michell templates (sets B & D) to make the blocks, which work lovely with the Peaky and Spike and Ice Cream Cone shapes. I pieced the border before attaching, reversing the pressing so the seams would nest when I mitred the corners. Works pretty well . Now to find backing and batting, this will be machine quilted.

The Cotton Patch from Lafayette brings down a mini-quilt shop so that people can get things easily that they need for class, or another new project. They had some flannel baby kits, I got one. I decided to make nine patches, 4 sets are done, 4 more to go. There are 8 fabrics in the quilt, then I need to get backing and binding. This is the first flannel quilt I have made.

Oh, and I finished a sock! Just one, working on the second one, made from Opal's Harry Potter yarn, Ron coloring.