I've been tagged

by LennaHere are the simple rules to being tagged:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs

so here goes in no particular order ..........

1. I am a pharmacist. have been for a little while now. lets see, oh ya it will be 25 years in 2008!!! holy &*^%$ where does time go??

2. I have 2 gorgeous delightful darling daughters. my greatest creations ever!! just thinking of them makes my heart swell with love. They are on their own now so when I see them I want to gobble them up just like when they were babies.

3. I'm engaged. for over 3 years now. 2008 WILL be the year.

4.I never work on just one project at a time. I always have many on the go at once. I am trying very hard to finish most though.

5. I can't leave a surface uncovered. It just happens.I can clean the coffee table and in what seems like mere seconds- magazines, notes,books, fabric, newspaper, the odd coffee mug, folded laundry appear. Its like magic, not good magic. good magic would be if things disappeared with equal ease.

6. I want to write a book one day.

7. I am usually very happy & extremely grateful for my life.

hey that wasn't so bad. not much weird stuff. sorry

do I know 7 people I can tag? here goes - Melissa, Nadine,Myrna apparently I don't.

snow day

Here in Southern Ontario we had a good winter storm over the weekend with lots of snow. at least a couple of feet. the best part is getting to stay indoors all day guilt free (well yes this is something I do at least once a week - most Sundays and occasionally from Friday am through to Monday am.)
A good change to finish a few projects for Christmas gifts. There is very little chance the recipient will see this as she has a strong dislike for computers and wouldn't own one except she is in college. Yup we are talking about my youngest daughter. I won't have to ban her from the blog like some people!!
anywho this is a little wallhanging for my tree-loving daughter.

A piece of hand-dyed fabric from my course in Kingston last summer. The centre stitching is machine embroidered from a design made on 4D Sketch by Laura Kemshall from her journal Thr3fold.
It may look familiar as it is very similar to the pillow Laura made for Quilting Arts magazine.
I don't have very much hand-dyed fabric so I used a commercial fabric for the binding. I like the way it looks like looking up through a tree full of leaves. there is a tiny bit of bronzy gold in the binding that ties into the painted leaves.

sometimes a quiz says it all.....

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

The only TV show I made a point of watching while in University--- The Muppets. The only stuffed toy I still own - Kermit. My only kitschy garden ornament - Kermit.
what else is there to say? oh ya KERMIT RULES!!!
Hey Mel I didn't cheat either.

Pay it Forward

I received my lovely Pay It Forward prezzie from Lenna. a beautiful piece to hang in my studio.
picture of dets

and inside the pocket were these lovely photos printed on fabric

my Pay It Forward treats will be made from this - a dyed & painted fabric from last summer sliced & diced into these itty bitty pieces. stay tuned to see what they will be or better yet jump in to Pay It Forward and you will get a surprise in the mail from moi!

my work from Katie's class

These are my pieces from Katie's class.

This is one of my favourites - developing depth using the rainbow colours in order of value. This was from a favourite photo of Monceau Park in Paris. remember these are just quick cut & fuse exercises that could be developed if desired.

Color & composition with Katie PM

I spent 3 days in a workshop with Katie Pasquini Masopust and had a blast. We worked from her book Color & Composition for the Creative Quilter. Katie prepares a kit of all the colours fused ready to work through the exercises from the book. After each exercise we would tape them to a large wall for group discussion. Her is Katie with our monochromatic & achromatic pieces.

I won..........

this beautiful piece by Penny Milton at the Oshawa Fibre Arts Show recently. Bidding on the silent auction, benefitting Osteoporosis Society of Canada, had a prize for bidders and I WON!!

Pay it Forward

Artists are such a generous group of people. I'm thrilled to be participating in a great challenge called Pay It Forward. I met Lenna last summer at her husbands family compound on St. Lawrence River near Kingston. Lenna has some pictures of us here, sitting in what I know as Muskoka chairs or as Lenna & Steve called them Adirondack chairs!!
The first 3 people to leave a comment here for me will receive a gift handmade by me. Hmmm? what to make, what to make?? shall I embeliish, quilt or paint?!
Your part is to Pay it forward. simple!
To participate:

1. Comment on this post, expressing your wish to participate in ‘Pay it Forward’. I will contact the first three responders for your mailing address so I can send you your giftie. Make sure I have your email! If I can't contact you, I won't be able to include you : (

2. The first 3 to comment here who I can contact, will receive a little handmade gift from ME!

3. The first three who comment here will post this message on their own blog, and offer three more small gifts, handmade by them. You will be making one gift for each of the first three people who comment on your post, who in turn will go ahead and announce this idea on their blog and then make gifts for the first three people that sign up with them!

Christmas stars

a fun easy piece as a wallhanging or lap quilts. A variety of Christmas reds & greens & a few stars good............





but this is better.

Finished with it

This is a quilt top I started years, many years ago as a gift. It is or I should say WAS my guilt piece. It is no longer appropriate for its original intent. I have finished with it - I finished the top to the easiest size and all the extra blocks, strips, every scrap of fabric from the project is now gone. I donated it to our guild for someone to quilt & then it will be donated.

shopping in US

There's a lot of noise in the media about people trying to buy cars in the US now that our buck is worth a few more pennies than the greenback. I don't want to buy a car I just want more fabric! what quilter doesn't!! I dodn't realize how much cheaper fabric is in the US until last summer when I went to QBL. Johnnie in my class recommended zandsfabrics . The I had a look there was a 10% discount on everything so I figured - as good a time as any.
Its fun shopping in the comfort of your own home. I knew some of the lines I wanted so there were no surprises there. some fabrics were on sale. My only limit was 18 yards for $23 shipping. My parcel arrived yesterday. No taxes,no duty, no additional brokerage fees. so ya wanna know eh?!

WITH shipping





under $6.45 per yard!!! not bad eh? A neat little box - every piece of fabric folded and stacked perfectly, wrapped with a strip of fabric.The packing slip has a little colour picture of each fabric in order to make checking it off so easy.
these last 2 on the left go with this collection of fabrics

more finished

I started this in 1999 after a week camping in Algonquin park with DDs. I read Larry McMurtry's Comanche Moon. so I'm calling it Comanche in Algoquin. cheap striped stuff from F-land & upholstery fabric with butterflies. I still love diamonds and may do something on a smaller scale like this one in Mark Lipinski's magazine.

Bee Day

we had a great day at the guild workshop. We cut & stitched & sandwiched many quilts for our charity groups. Bea showed us how she takes orphan blocks assorted strips & joins them together to make charming quilt tops.
these are 2 simple tops I made. The first one makes a great zigzag with the orientation of the 2 part block.
the other is a contemporary zigzag from Denise Schmidt's book

is there any easier way to...

ease your guilt about blogging than a silly quiz?

You Are From Jupiter

You are exuberantly curious - and you love to explore newness. Enthusiastic and optimistic, you get a kick out of stimulating intellectual discussions. Foreign cultures and languages fascinate you. You love the outdoors, animals, and freedom. Chances are you tend to exaggerate, so try to keep a lid on that. If you do, you'll continue to be known for your confidence, generosity, and sense of justice.

What Planet Are You From?

what I've been doing

I had a wonder trip to France with my SO & his parents. I have a ton of pictures to share but instead of loading them. I've been watching this
thanks Mel!!

I've been tagged

makes me think of playing tag in the yard at school!
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) –kuchushe sunfire!

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) sticky toffee puddin' Mcvitie

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) -MHan ps what is a fly girl?

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - green lion

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)-Ann Newmarket

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) -Hannma

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”)The yellow coffee

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Mike Joseph (?)

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) brown sugar ripple

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) help don't know

burn baby burn

another fun weekend in Kingston at St. Lawrence College playing with fabric & stitch.
used my painted fabric & covered it will rows of sheers. then zapped it with the heat gun. them sliced & diced and woven with the hand dyed. Its so funny at every stage other classmates where like, oh my your gonna do WHAT?! its only fabric people. repeat after me 'its only fabric'. It had a long way to go. I have to sew down the rows may with more sheers to zap then cut open the darker parts & roll them back to reveal the fabric underneath.
dets on this one to follow

my melon

This is one of the samples I did in Velda Newman's class or it might be Velda's sample. I can't remember!! they start with a plain piece of white or yellow fabric over cotton batting then plain cheesecloth stretched & pulled this & that way to get rid of the grid. the lots of free motion circles to make the texture. the next step will be to paint

fabric stash at QBL

sew much fabric sew little time!! my we have come a long way. from using old clothes & feedsacks for quilts. Now if we are in a class and we need something - rather want something - we can just pop down to the merchants mall & buy it!!
There is something to be said for limits. Having all the fabric in the world at your fingertips doesn't necessarily make for a better quilt. I brought a large amount of fabric to Carol's and still had lots less than some others. I ended up using many of them but edited them back to a more manageable palette.

but I digress.........I did manage to do some shopping at the merchants' mall. I like to get things that I can't always find elsewhere. I got lovely felted handbags from Nepal for $14. and matching felted balls. I couldn't make them for that price. I bought 5 books by Doubletrouble Press - Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn's stuff. They will be in Ontario in the fall but everything is booked!!
I'm not a big fan of co-ordinated things. furniture, clothes, bedding, fabric. but I may have to change my opinion if the fabric designers keep this up!
a gorgeous collection of fabrics called Beatnik. I love the colours and they go so well with the piece of dyed cotton sateen I bought from Carol Soderlund.
I'm thinking of a very modern quilt pattern - something like this.
what do you think?

my piece from Carol's class

This is my piece from Carol's class. I worked in the hall of the new air-conditioned automotive lab- huge windows and the coolest seats - old car seats including the seatbelts. Gave me & Carol a great spot to evaluate the work. I made many many components. did a quick sketch after the first day. On day 2 made made more components with additional colours and fabrics. when things don't go well why do we throw in more of what doesn't work? I did serious editing - out came lots of components and colours. I needed a structure to build on - something to respond to - If Myrna could hear me now!! so this is where I restarted.

Check out my Slide Show!

These are photos taken on the last of 3 days with Carol Taylor. We had a wonderful group of artists making elements & working with them to make a quilt.

Quilting by the Lake Part 1

I'm at quilt camp!! specifically Quilting by the Lake in Morrisville NY at Morrisville State College.
I found out a few things. there are two ways around Lake Ontario to get here & I took the LOOOOOONG way. will be going home the other way!!
secondly & very important there is NO LAKE. the event started out by a lake but have grown & changed venues so there is no lake here. Don't go looking for it cuz it ain't there!!

playing with colour

there are so many great colour toys on the internet. They are great to play with to find a new palette. Take a quiz here to find a palette - don't forget to turn on the speakers. The first time I did it I got Urban Stone. Not me I thought until I remembered my latest & greatest fabric (rust & gold marble-bottom one) by Paula Nadelstern from Bernatex. I'm building my fabric stash for Carol Taylor's class at QBL around this fabric.
Joen Wolfrom has a new book Visual Coloring that is based on just that theory. The photos are breathtaking & the quilts are gorgeous. I find that most of the fabrics are close to solid. I like to use a larger variety of printed fabrics.
You can take any photo of your own upload it here & you will get a colour palette to work with. great fun.

ATC swap

I am participating In Lenna's ATC swap. She is the best swap hostess ever and I get to deliver my ATC's in person. We will both be in the same area at the same time - she is on holiday in Canada & I will be taking a summer course at a local college. These are my ATC's for her swap. check out some of the ones I might get on her swap blog.

Christmas in July

many quilt shops at this time of year hold 'Christmas in July' events. I taught a fun group of friends this Christmas placemat at a local shop.

MIA

where does time go? I've been busy weeding, planting, watering,working, lying in the sun. Summer is here!! and summer school will be starting soon. I've got 11 days of classes.
I finished this quilt to send it to Quilting by the Lake. I started it here. The blocks looked too busy together so I added the sashing and fairly simple borders. I like the narrow red border. It seems to keep everything contained.

allium in the garden

the inspiration - wonderful allium in the garden. I wanted to capture them in fabric. was hoping for a loose sketchy rendition. wasn't to be!

Work in progess - a mottled green background, lovely matte woven hand-dyed Italian linen with lovely blobs of mauve that told me where the flowers should go. and the stem is there too. what I didn't see until I cut the linen away was the 'S' in the darker green around the central flower. serendipity or unconscious design decision?!
I added a tiny bit more thread painting to highlight the darker & lighter sides of the flowers.

This is a scan of the final quilted piece. I can see better in the picture a bit of airiness in the center of the flower.

finished piece on the garden table!




back to the garden. the weeds are growing, the grass needs cutting. the poppies are in bloom now.........hmmmmmm!!

playing with stamps

the latest issue of cloth, paper scissors has a great article on embossing velvet with paint. I've tried this before with cotton velvets and it didn't work. I bought a second hand shirt because the colour was mottly muddy green & golds. It embossed really well with acrylic stamps.

punched organza

I love this star. layers of organza punched over cotton. the organza starts to look like angelina and colours mix almost like watercolour. They don't show on the photo but there are tiny flecks of foil on the felt. the spiral was done with the fancy yarn in the bobbin

work fast

I'm trying to work faster. taking less time to mull over decisions. also reduces the chances of abandoning a project in favour of the next great thing!! This was from a book called Quilted Projects from scraps and stash
spend a good portion of the time I had looking for that darn box with the watercolour squares. Can't remember if it was taken away in the great purge! Into the scrap heap, cut 2" squares. wanted to use foil adhesive for the swirls but it takes too long to dry. used 3D fabric paint.

another one finished

in cleaning up my studio specifically UFO's using the mantra- finish with it or finish it - this one was a keeper. The block had the tree and leaves done, from eons ago, I don't even remember where I was living when I started this!! added a cute little bird, wavy border, binding & it is FINISHED!!

1" square pieces of art

I got a fun little parcel in the mail today. 35 little pieces of art. so cute. They are fun to arrange. I'll think I will attach them to a piece of paper or fabric. My pieces are here.

more punching

I love sheer organzas. I've quite a collection now in orange, burgundy, reds. bought 2 large panels of red sheers & one of large satin stripes in orange & burgundy alternating with sheer. all 3 for $2! I tore some into about 2 & 1/2 " strips & punched them onto stretchy denim. I think it needs some free motion stitching now