Jacket sewing

Beth and Priscilla were at the studio for a little more sewing time.

Priscilla was contemplating how she might cut into this lovely sari for a new jacket.







Beth brought in this new king-sized quilt top that she finished recently so she could get some photos of it.












The other day Priscilla had shown us the scrunched and embellished fabric that she made, seen here on the right.  Today she showed us some beautiful fabrics that she found in her stash that are going to coordinate nicely.





 

And Priscilla also found these lovely sari fabrics that would be great in a jacket.














Beth worked on adding the band to her jacket.












And Priscilla put this new jacket together.  She just has the band to finish.

Cutting up the Saris

 Priscilla offered a class on Cutting up the Saris at the studio.  The goal was to make jackets from the beautiful sheer sari fabrics and the stitched sari shawls that she brought back from trips to India.

The tan and gray pieces on the wall came from one sari, and Priscilla and Liz were making jackets from it.  With 5 to 6 yards of fabric in each sari and with careful cutting, it's possible to make two jackets from a sari.  The pink sari fabric on the cutting table was being made into a jacket by Frances.




At the left of the photo Priscilla is helping Jenna decide on coordinating accent fabrics for her jacket.

On the right you can see the stitched sari shawl that Beth is using for her jacket.










Everyone made a paper pattern for themselves, so they'll be ready to make more jackets.

Deb and Liz are conferring here, and I had to have a picture of Deb's shirt -- "Love to quilt, Forced to Work!"













 Priscilla showed us some embellished fabric that she made from fabric that she had scrunched and covered with fancy couched threads and yarns.    And we discussed how this fabric could  be used with sari fabric.




We got to see Beth's jacket pretty well finished except for the band.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but she added strips of fabric from a jelly roll that accented the blue/lavendar/purple colors.

Another Sewing Day

 Most everyone was back at the studio for more sewing time.



We even had a little visit from Bill.






A couple of the quilts that we saw last week were back on the walls for some more work.









I have two jackets very close to completion, both in kimono style.




This one is based on sari fabrics that were stitched together to make a scarf.  I added the dark brown knit fabric to it, along with the red and green accent fabrics.










And this one is made from one of the saris that Priscilla just brought back with her from her last trip to India.

Sewing Day

Bev checked out Priscilla's new quilt made with 9 molas that she got on her trips to the San Blas islands in Panama.

She's making seminole strips to go around the outside of the blocks.











Everyone was busy working on new projects.

Jeanne's grid pieces are going into a new quilt.











Linda made these great pieces in a Cynthia Corbin workshop.














Linda is also making this lovely quilt as a gift for someone very lucky.















 Nancy showed us her Kodak quilt and shared her news that she'll have quilts at the Earlville Opera House next month.

See the link below for information on the exhibit.
http://www.earlvilleoperahouse.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/VMS.EventDetail/EventCatPK/GLE/EventPK/78031FBB-19B9-EB12-B07B20E829110915.cfm

Strawberry time

 Even though it was a rainy day, I found these strawberries for sale at a farm near us.






Most of them were destined to become jam, but a few of them made it to the top of some dishes of ice cream.





We make the cooked jam from berries that have been through the food processor.









After the jam cools, we put the jars in the freezer (instead of processing them in a canner).

Wildlife in the garden

 We have a friend who does not appreciate seeing any snakes at any time and usually keeps her eyes on the ground around our gardens.



Little did she know that they like to sun themselves at the top of the row of hedges in the front of the house!



More than one was peeking out to keep track of our attempts to weed around the bushes.



Others had found prime sunning spots.





















 The lilly pond had these flowers blooming.











And this turtle showed up amid the lily plants.  We think it is an Eastern Painted Turtle.

Perennial garden scenes

 Suki likes to help me with my gardening chores by guarding the tool cart for me.

















White clematis climbing up the pergola


















Purple spiderwort














Purple flowers on the sage

My article in American Quilter

The July issue of American Quilter, published by the American Quilter's Society, is now available.

I'm very excited to have an article on page 36 on designing and creating improvisational quilts, titled "Five Easy Squares."







It's been about  a year since the folks at AQS saw my "Five Squares" quilt (52" x 52")
on exhibit at an AQS show in Lancaster.

They contacted me to ask if I would make another quilt like it and write an article to explain the process.










And here is "Blue Squares" (64" x 64").

The article includes instructions for making your own quilt like this one -- no pattern, no templates, and no two blocks alike.

Sewing Day

 Priscilla found this great zebra print batik fabric in her stash and cut out a new jacket for herself -- and had enough fabric left for another jacket for very lucky me!



















Priscilla was also auditioning more fabrics for a new blue and red jacket.
















And she showed us this embroidered linen table cloth from her stash.  It looks like the embroidered designs could be cut apart and used to embellish jackets.














Bev finished adding the facing to her quilt.

Summer Exhibitions at Schweinfurth

 Priscilla, Bev, Pat and I attended the lovely opening activities at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY, last night.

We heard from Therese Verley Strodel, who has her Illuminations 2012 exhibit in Gallery Julius.

Elin Novel introduced her work in "Fold & Unfold: The Cloth and Quilts of Elin Novel." 


And Kenise Barnes, curator of "Super Saturated: Pigment & Pattern" introduced the work she selected for her exhibit.






The snack table offered lots of goodies and was a popular spot.















We met up with Genie Barnes and Elin Nobel and a few others after the opening for more snacks and more chatting.











This is Donna Lamb, caught with a well-deserved burger in hand, and Mick Barnes.















And this seemed to be the favorite appetizer of the night -- wonderful crispy potatoes with even more wonderful cheeses!