Mmmm

When machine quilting a quilt sometime you just need an "M,M" break. My son loves MM's. And I suppose they do help ease the nervousness that arises with a blank surface to coat. I'm going fast and broad and a lot more spaced out on this one, and that sounds bad, but I really do mean the quilting style.

And as in potty training, just maybe those MM's will help with discipline. Yes, they do, and also the Thanksgiving deadline I have set. This throw quilt is purely made from stash, and a little wacky, but the tones and colors go.

With young children around who dump out toys as fast as you pick them up, and smear the floor to look worse than before you have just mopped it; I take a deep breath and am thankful that there is quilting to make one feel as if they have actually put down some sort of accomplishment for the day.

I've noticed as I quilt more quilts, I am learning to just go with the fabric. To loosen up and enjoy the way the fabric leads the needle into a free-form type pattern.

Speaking of dumping, I put baby (D de) in the toy wheelbarrow to shoot a pic, and brother comes over and dumps him out! No harm no foul, but it did make for some cute pics. I think being two years old is all about dumping out everything one can, and so maybe I should take a cue, because the only thing I dump out seems to be clean laundry.

During our "ride bike" session this afternoon I noticed the trees have lost most all there leaves. Poof! Just in the span of a flu, and they are almost all down. I was supposed to have the flu during the rain, not the sunshine as happened.

Winter is so near, but I am grateful for these last sunny days. Warm enough still to throw off the Crocs and dip toes in the water, yes, you heard right, even way up in the great North. Kids don't care, they just wear there shoes in, and sometimes I suppose we all just should, they dry anyway.

I think young children have a lot to teach about quilting:

Walk right into things

Throw a tantrum if things don't go your way

Dump everything out until you find what your looking for

Make up funny names so things don't get dull


Laugh like crazy when you mess up and it's just plain funny

Throw it in the garbage can, I mean, will you even miss it?

And diapers, sometimes, yes even those I imagine could be handy.

The MM's are gone. I feel better. I feel like I accomplished something that actually shows.

Summer

Weekend activities like crab cracking can cut into studio time, but when it is warm and stuffy in there with all that fabric, there are other activities that even the most nutty fiber artist will retire to. Here in the northwest we grab summer with claws because we know all too well the stainless steel skies that hang around sea side locals after these few fleeting months.

There are countless roses to be deadheaded, and I feel really blessed. The left-handed Felco's may work over time to keep the roses flowing. I'm still waiting for "Leda" and it is using up my patience.

The breeze ruffles the sheers and slams a door. Sweet, almost boy band hip hop syncopates soothingly on the system, and my thoughts are optimistic as the butterfly shaped clouds whisk by wanting a taste of my bubbling ginger ale, my drink of choice at times like this.

I accomplished some more free motion quilting on my Whale Horizon, and I am stopped due to one particular thread choice, (I find my vast jumble of noosed thread somehow inadequate in the purple range). I have been thinking of just serging the edges in black thread and calling that a frame??

My home-dec. projects are stacking up. So much to be done; and this mermaid begs for my attention gracefully arching on my design wall anticpating a head of famous hair.

Whale Horizion

This is the latest work. It is one of the pieces that I sun painted/dyed/painted. While painting the fabric I had the free-motion designs in mind and left areas open to thread play. The colors are kind of soft and muted, and even the bright (on the spool) Madeira thread seems to sink in and add the bold but gentle color that I was looking for.

What kind of quilting designs are in a Whale's Horizon? Mountian peaks, sea, trees, foliage, the sun? Stay tuned for the water, which I hope to finish tonight. Why do I seem to blank on quilting motifs when I sit down to the machine?