My jaws are tight....

 

I had a friend once who used that expression when she was upset about a situation that was better ignored than confronted... and this week my jaws have been tight.

Twenty six years ago I planted over 5000 trees and have this 20 acre absolutely joyous forest... I walk in it most every day with the dogs and every day it is different.....the light, the smell, the wildlife, etc.

But all the snow is gone now and most if this week I have been picking up trash....yes! trash in my lovely forest.

I took this aerial photo of my forest from the  Google maps on the internet.  I check every few months as I love to watch it change.. You can see our house, barn etc. lower right.  The open space lower left were the sheep pastures.

























And this Google's aerial photo is my neighbor's farm.   If it looks like this from a plane or satellite you can imagine what it is like close up.  Whenever we have a big wind storm lots of it blows into my forest.  So all this week I have been "forest cleaning" with tight jaws.

Latest organizational solution.....

The only problem with crazy quilting is that it requires soooooooooo much stash and such a wide variety....and the long you do it the more stuff you accumulate.  I do like to be organized and love shallow drawers, bins and label but I am still constantly trying to get better organized.

When I have several projects going I keep them in ziplock bags for various parts and all go into a extra large ziplock and I was storing them   in wicker baskets which I could stack.. But I was still having to go through layers when I am working on several projects at once.  But now I think I have a good solution.  I buy these bulletin boards at the thrift stores when I find them...  I have been using them to block needlework and as a mini design walls...

But I have designated a board for a each project and when all the bags for that project on a board   it's easy to find just what I'm looking for.... and the boards stack against the wall taking up practically no floor space.  And since they are two-sided I can still use the back side for blocking.

Lately I have had some great solutions for keeping organized.... First was combining a revolving shoe rack with a floor lamp base to keep all my threads on rings... a system I admired at Judith Montano's and thought so clever. (although she has hers hanging on a wall which I do not have)  Now I did another for all my ribbons and love, love, love it.

The next one that really worked is keeping my ziplock bags organized in beverage carriers.  It is easy to sort them by height.  This works so marvelous that I wouldn't even look for another solution.  I've added another carrier and keep anything on a roll in it. 

My favorite and most beautiful are my bento boxes... sometimes called wedding boxes.  I got the first one at a thrift store and loved it so much I found two more on ebay.  Mine are just plastic so were only $10-12  apiece.  Again each set of boxes is for a specific project.  I keep threads in one tray, beads in one tray, and laces and trims in one tray.  When I want to clear the table I can do it easily and also move between projects easily with little mess.

I really like having several things going at once.  Sometimes I run our of ideas on a project or get tired of it and it helps to go to something else and come back refreshed with new enthusiasm. 

The unbelievable beauty of thread

I belong to a couple Facebook  Crazy Quilt Groups (crazy quilt divas and crazy quilt international) and a new member, Marianne Hoeksema, posted her blocks recently and I just love them because of the all over stitching.  This style is seldom  done by American crazy quilters so I knew she had to be European or Australian.. and sure enough she was from the Netherlands.

I am always so caught up with my laces, trims, and other whimsy, I forget just what a wonderful medium that just thread is. 

When I did my rainbow vest to wear to Houston I only used thread and knew that at some time I wanted to explore this more and maybe the  CQJP2017 will be the perfect opportunity.

In CQJP2012 a stitcher from Austria used just thread and I kept photos of all her blocks... Her name was Claudia Weinwurm and she used to blog but hasn't for a couple years.  She did all types of embroidery but it was these "under the sea" blocks that are my favorites. 

You can still see more of her work on her blog but don't wait too long because inactive  blogs tend to disappear...

It was this all-over texture created with just thread that fascinates me and bring me to my favorite thread artist..  an Australian wildlife fiber artist Annemieke Mein...


She does lots of butterflies and other insects but it is her birds and frogs that I especially love.  Her works are huge and she uses a sewing machine but it is the thread that creates the magic.

There is a lot about her on the internet and she does have a gorgeous book if you are interested in seeing more.

Finishing "Ala Allie"

There was a time that (like many other stitchers) when I was finishing a set of blocks I was content with adding a simple sashing, border and binding.  But since I have followed Allie Aller for the last few years I could never do that anymore.

Making a incredible focal piece is just a beginning for Allie.  Everything she adds to finish it not only coordinates with the piece, it enhances it and the entire project becomes grander with each addition and most important, it is all in harmony. 

 Her current piece of work has a wonderful floral piece as the center to which she added an embellished CQ border.  That  might be enough for an ordinary person...not Allie. She added another CQ border which would have been extraordinary by itself....not Allie.  She is now adding hundreds of leaves which will require additional hours to the finishing.  When Allie has a vision she never considers the extra work involved.  I so admire the way she finishes everything that now every time I am about to finish something I have conversations with Allie in my head.

The cottage blocks I'm finishing into books is a case in point:

And I think the embellished backings will work beautifully with the cottage blocks especially since most of the blocks have a similar stripe in them... Now I just need to do 13 more...   Thank for the advice Allie!!!

Getting back on track...................

For those who weren't following or can't remember, my inspiration was this sampler I stitched when my husband and I were married in 1976.  I wanted to do a CQ to commemorate our 40th which is coming up this fall.  It was a difficult piece to carry about and in the last months of caring for my mother it was set aside.









I had this vintage tablecloth which had this lovely crocheted border but the linen in the center was stained and had hole.  So I decided  to cover it with a  foundation for this piece using vintage hankies..

I had gotten this far with it before I got sidetracked.  Two bluebirds morphed into 8 bluebirds.  I still have the charms and beads to add and lots of foliage to finish. But the end is in sight.

I had wanted from the beginning to back it with a soft blue moiré taffeta which proved almost  impossible to find.  When I visited Susie W in January 2015 we scoured the garment district and fabric stores with no luck.  I did find a piece of blue silk the right color but I had my heart set on the taffeta.  I finally found a piece on line and used the silk on the corset blocks...

The camera greatly exaggerates the pattern of the moiré.  It is really very subtle.  I had wanted to add some SRE in the indentation in the sides but again it is awkward to work on with a hoop and difficult to carry about at this stage of completion.

So I pinned the piece to the taffeta and basted around the indentation. I used the quilter tape so I didn't have to mark a line where to baste.  I did put a tailor's tack on one corner of the quilt and taffeta so when I reapply the quilt it will fit correctly..

When I remove the quilt I have the basted area marked and it will be easy to put in a hoop, carry about and add just a touch of SRE.  I would really like to have it finished and enter it in the fair this fall.  I have never entered a piece in the fair but this has special memories with every stitch...  Happy Valentine's Day...