AAQG March Meeting

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Rete

Just back from the Austin Area Quilt Guild March meeting, where Kathy York talked about how her everyday inspirations show up in her fabulous quilts.

I absolutely love her work. It inspires me to create something fun and free-thinking of my own every time I see a piece… which is practically every month on the cover of Quilting Arts magazine. :) I try to get that magazine whenever I see it (I know, I should just spring for a subscription already!). Sometimes I forget about it for a couple of months, but whenever it leaps off the magazine rack and smacks me in the face and forces me to buy it, I know it’s one of Kathy’s quilts on the cover.

My friend Lorri wants to see if she’ll maybe do a little dyeing workshop with the ladies in our bee, which would be great! I hope that’s something we can make happen. Either way, I need to spend some time exploring the inspiration that puts itself in my path every day and see what happens.

If you have a chance to see Kathy’s work in person, do it! The incredible detail on her quilts is awesome!

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Colorado Valley Quilt Guild Show 2010

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Rete

Yesterday I took a drive to La Grange, TX to see the quilt show put on by the Colorado Valley Quilt Guild. It was a small show, compared to the show that the Austin Guild puts on, but it had a lot of great quilts! There’s tons of talent out there in La Grange!

This quilt was one of my favorites — I love all the precise points and bright colors of the starbursts. And there’s always a blooming 9-patch that makes me want to make one of my own:

There were quilts with stars:

And even quilts with boots:

Awesome job, quilters! Loved the show!

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WIP Wednesday

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Rete

I’m joining in on the WIP Wednesday bandwagon. (WIP = Works in Progress) Here’s what I’ve been working on — these are projects that should have been done by Christmas, but a bevy of fun-fur scarves for paying customers bogged down the crafty works for a bit. lol :)

First, recently off the needles and only needing a quick weaving in of the ends before they are off to my mom:

Needing a little more work, a quilt for my father-in-law. I have a few straight lines quilted in this for stability; next I’m going to do some free-motion quilting on this.

I’ve just figured out the free-motion quilting on my machine, so this is a little nerve-wracking for me, but I think it’ll look very cool!

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Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday!

Posted on December 25, 2009 by Rete

I hope everyone is have a fantastic holiday season. I was stressing about some presents that didn’t get finished on time, but ultimately decided it was okay to give people i.o.u’s and just stop stressing about it.

Today I’m 36! I’m going to enjoy my special day and I hope you do too.

Here’s something fun that’s the favorite thing on my ipod right now. Enjoy!

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WIP Wednesday – 11/18

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Rete

The first of the furry scarves is growing… and due to an extraordinary twist of fate, the 2nd is not far behind. While cleaning out a closet I found a box that I had stashed a work-in-progress. It just so happens last year I had begun a sapphire scarf — it was a popular color and I could have a scarf in reserve if anyone else should want one. I didn’t finish it, but it is one of the colors I needed for this year’s orders. Serendipity! Luckily I also had 2 pairs of that needle size, so I have 2 of the scarves about two-thirds done. Ta-da!

Soon, perhaps on the Thanksgiving holiday weekend when I’m not busy eating, sleeping or shopping, I am going to clear out my sewing room and organize my creative space. Boxes and bags are taking up the center of the room thanks to Geoff’s garage cleaning effort. Some of my older stuff that I’ll never use up because my tastes have changed will be looking for new homes.

Speaking of shopping, is anyone venturing out on Black Friday? I’m going to hit a few stores early Friday morning, just to see what it’s like. I haven’t done the early morning madness before so I can’t wait to witness the craziness. Assuming I can wake up that early of course. I don’t plan on spending hours waiting for stores to open, since I’m not after any big electronic deals, but I will be there in the opening hours. I might make more of an effort if I were after a good price on a new t.v. or something… but not this year.

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Knitting again

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Rete

Several years ago, I knit my MIL a fun fur scarf. Not only did she love it, every year when it gets cool enough for her to wear it to work, several people in her office request I make them one as well, either as Christmas gifts or for themselves. This year I’m making 4 (so far), which will enhance my Christmas shopping money nicely. So this weekend I went yarn shopping:

Let the knitting begin!

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My Little Ballerina

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Rete

What a great weekend! Emily had her ballet recital on Saturday. She’s so cute – she can’t dance without sticking out her tongue a little bit to concentrate.

Of course, we couldn’t use the flash on our camera so most of the pictures I took were completely blurry.

For Mother’s Day, we went out to brunch at our favorite special occasion place, Freda’s, who has the best seafood buffet with tons of crab legs. They cringe when they see us coming. Emily gave me a lovely card to thank me for all the “carits, cookese, and candy” I give her and for taking care of her and “now it’s time for me to take of you”. I can’t wait – lol!

Meanwhile, my mom was wearing a fantastic sweater at the recital on Saturday and I have to see if I can find one in my size!

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April Fool

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Rete

Do you ever have those days (weeks? months?) where hooking the camera up to the computer is just too much hassle?? I have been knitting, but the last picture I have of my project is of the 1st three inches (see my Ravelry project page here).

It’s a cardigan, and so far I’ve completed one sleeve, both fronts and I’m chugging along on the ribbing to the back. I decided to wait on the 2nd sleeve because it seemed really long for what is supposed to be 3/4 length. I think I’ll seam up the body and add the 1st sleeve to make sure the length is right before finishing the 2nd sleeve. Also, I had to fudge the numbers on the back piece to make the ribbing come out right. We’ll see how it turns out.

On another note, Geoff has been cleaning out the garage and rediscovering all my quilt books that have been in storage. So I have to get busy in my sewing room to organize all my stuff. He’s reclaiming the garage for a woodworking studio.

I was flipping through my Sally Collins book Art of Machine Piecing yesterday. I took her class a while back and her methods for achieving precision in piecing are very cool! Not that I really need any help feeding my OCD sewing habits, but I would like to work on my accuracy. If I could manage a consistent and accurate 1/4″ seam allowance, I would be very happy.

So that’s what’s going on in my world… I hope I work myself out of this funk soon; I’m starting to get on my own nerves!

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Ravelry is Coming!

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Rete

I haven’t been to the Knitting Nest in South Austin yet since it’s on the other side of town from us, but this weekend is definitely a good time to check it out. Saturday is their “Texas Loves Ravelry” party and Ravelry founders Jessica and Casey Formes will be visiting. So Saturday morning we’ll be heading down to see what it’s all about.

My dad originally told me about this party (yes, he’s a knitter!) and then started cooking up a lunch together with some friends afterwards for my mom’s birthday. She and Geoff will be dragged along and hopefully won’t be too bored with all the yarn talk. Geoff’s planning on taking his laptop along.

I’d like to look around for some laceweight yarn and maybe something for a sweater. Geoff is of the opinion that I already have too much yarn, but I’m quite certain he’s mistaken. ;)

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Welcome 2009!

Posted on January 2, 2009 by Rete

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year’s Eve and Day. We didn’t have any big plans – just relaxed around the house and watched movies. Geoff and Emily shot off a few fireworks and then we toasted the new year with a bottle of bubbly (just the grown-ups).

I’m really looking forward to being more creative in 2009. Last year I got really burned out with the whole creative process. That probably had something to do with the quilt show that took entirely too much of my time and energy, which were at very low levels during the latter half of the year. Some unresolved health issues played a major part of that, but things are looking up now.

Gearing up for Christmas, I felt the creative stirrings begin. I didn’t have any plans for making any gifts for people this year, but I did get a commission for a knit scarf and promptly began another when it was done. It didn’t get gifted for Christmas (in fact, it’s still not finished), but it was nice to have something mindless to work on during the last few slow days at work.

I also got a new sewing machine a few weeks before Christmas. It’s way more machine than I’m used to and I’m still playing with it and trying to get comfortable with it. I started sewing a quilt which was presented as a mystery quilt online with clues coming out all day Christmas. I didn’t get going on it til after all the festivities were concluded and am still working on it. I haven’t decided on the borders yet.

And this weekend I’m taking a class! Our guild is offering a class with Norah McMeeking – a quilt from her book, Bella Bella Quilts. I can’t wait!!

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