A busy weekend...

...for my Hubby!

I spent the weekend with a cold and sore throat. Except a quick trip to the Library for new books and DVD's, I didn't leave the house from Friday to today.

We had all these plans for things to get done....poor Hubby of mine....he went on without me! First, he painted the guest bathroom...it's been yellowish for a few years, which I liked, but he didn't, so now....
It's a grey...unfortunately the photo looks purplish, but trust me, it's a light grey. Our daughter says it's a lot more calming then the former Yellow

I had cleaned my studio this last week. The fun things you discover in the piles! I didn't know I had SO MANY projects left unfinished. I reorganized my "current project" basket with Christmas projects/gifts so I can get to them and get them finished in time. Mostly, on top, you can see some of the monthly pillowcases I am doing for my granddaughters.(I don't think my ex-daughter-in-law reads this blog, so I can post that).

Are you ready for the Holidays....I'm not, but I'm trying!

New light on the subject of Quilting

I went to a wonderful lecture on Quilting and the place it holds in History, especially Women's view of History. First though, my photos got loaded backwards (dumb computer!), so you get these photos first..... My family has lived in our current house a little over 12 years now. We took over the building of this house after alot of the actual building and planning had been done. I didn't get to choose alot of the fun things, like lights and paint color, so I have had the lights (pictured above) on the front of my house for 12 years. Well, the light at the front door died, so we had to buy something new....
How do you like the new light....I love it! We are going to get two more of the same design but larger in size for the front of the garage.

Now on to the subject: The Lecture....

I attended a lecture called "Text & Textile" at Weber State (Ogden, Utah) by Dr. Judy Elsley, Professor of English. She compared writing a text with creating a quilt and it was an absolutely wonderful lecture.

She is a self taught quilter who dyes her own fabrics for her creations. Her dye/formula book was about 4 inches thick! She also makes her own stamps and other items for printing on the fabric. The picture above is of Dr. Elsley and one of her quilts from the her University website:
www.weber.edu/jelsley

This quilt, also from her website, is called "Midday". Beautiful!!!!!!!

I had a "AH-HA" moment at her lecture, when she said she dyes the fabric, then waits until the fabric tells her what to create. I try to do that myself, though there are times I fall into the "it will be just faster & easier to use this printed pattern & get it done" mode. I hope to be able to take one of her college textile classes in the near future!

Warm weather & quiltathon weekend

I think Spring has finally decided to hang around here for a while. We've gone two days without snow and there are not even rain clouds in the sky this morning. I am planning, after a couple of errands, to sew for the rest of the day as part of Judy's (patchworktimes.com) weekend quiltathon. I love these quiltathons....makes me plan my sewing out and get things finished.

I finished this quilt top this morning. The pattern is from a Sewing with Nancy TV program on how to use jellyroll and fat quarter packets. As usual, I am trying to use up my scraps, especially my solids. I'm not positive, but I think this will be my April Charity quilt...charity undecided yet.

With the warmer weather, and a Hubby who had Spring break off of school, I decided it was time to paint the porch rails. They've been the same old white color since we moved here 12 years ago, and I was ready for a change. I had grape vines woven all through the rails and over the front door entrance.... took them down to paint, then decided to give them to my neighbor who has really liked them.

Unfortunately, I don't have a complete porch painted picture (try saying that 3 times fast!), but it looks really nice. My family is so nice when I get them involved in my house plans!

Now, out to run a few errands, then back to sewing!