Like falling off a log...

Yes, a picture of actual sewing about to happen on my sewing machine...FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 5 WEEKS!  I'm happy to report that I still know how to drive my sewing machine...it was like falling off a log.  All the stress of the past 3 months just melted away as I pieced blocks today.

Those of you who know me are thinking, "Teresa doesn't usually sew with those fabrics!"  Bingo.  These are blocks I owed to my fellow Bee Balm quilt bee stitchers.  I have been such a scoundrel and they are VERY tardy.  These modern, funky, scrappy log cabins are for dear Lizzie.  Sweet Sue is going to assemble them into a top for Lizzie, who has her hands full right now. 

These two blocks are for Vivian...can you believe I had no Kaffe Fassett and very little modern and bold in my stash?!?  Good excuse to go fabric shopping, agree?  I found a local place with both, and then it was 'Katie, bar the door!'  I wanted ALL the Kaffe Fassett!  I think I don't own these fun fabrics because I'm scared of them...don't know what to do with them.

I really am alive, although right now I am sick and have been sleeping for two days.  The concert was last Friday night, and as usual, my body just gave up when it was all over.  I was a huge target for getting sick, as exhausted as I was.  Three out of four of us got sick...the drummer is far too cool to get stressed...

BUT, the concert was great!  The four of us raised a lot of money for the music program...here are some pictures (taken from the side, where my husband wasn't in the way), but I think they will give you an idea of what went down...

This was the instrumental opener, "Blue Bosso."  Then Jill came out and the four of us did "Hallelujah" (K.D. Lang).

Then we did "Send in the Clowns" (Barbara Streisand), "The Rose" (Bette Midler), "Amazing Grace" (my arrangement), "Wade in the Water" (traditional Spiritual), and "Fever" (Peggy Lee).

Then we did another instrumental, "Spain" (Chick Corea), followed by "People" (Barbara Streisand), "Sway" (Michael Buble, Dean Martin),"One and Only" (Adele), and "Happy Days Are Here Again" (Barbara Streisand).  The lighting makes it look like I was appearing with The Blue Man Group, doesn't it?!?  The drummer's cute, shiny head beautifully displayed each color beautifully.  The color was constantly changing, thanks to some great professional LED lighting...it's so dark it's hard to tell that I am sitting at a black grand piano.

Steve got one picture of me by myself...and a not-too-flattering one, at that.  Note to self - keep mouth shut while playing, unless I am singing, and make sure people take more than one snap of each pose.

I'm happy to get back to my dull (by comparison), little life and I look forward to lots of sewing and pattern designing.  I can only take so much of that stuff in the spotlight.

What else happened in the past 6 weeks?  Mr. Fabric Therapy and I celebrated 18 years of being hitched.

We continued our tradition of REALLY doing up Halloween right.  Here are half of the pumpkins we carved (mine - Steve and Riley's are inspired by pretty obscure references - it's no fun to me when I have to explain them to the confused parents of trick or treaters...).

Oh wait...Tonya of Lazy Gal Quilting will get this one of Riley's (you have to be a Dr. Who fan to get that it is a representation of the TARDIS)...2 people in the neighborhood recognized it...it seems that most parents of small children do not have time to watch BBC America...

Anyway, I am excited to catch up on blog reading and projects, projects, projects.  Christmas is coming and there are a lot of exciting things going on in my local quilting community right now.  It's good to be back!

In stitches (finally...),
Teresa  :o)

I was captured by aliens...

OK...that's not exactly the truth.  I'm so glad I found my way back home to Fabric Therapy!  This is the longest I've ever gone without posting, and I've sure missed it!  I kept thinking that I had no business posting without something very, very quilty to share, and there has not been enough fabric therapy going on in the quilt cave lately!

First, we got away to celebrate our anniversary and do some Octoberfest-ing on the west side of the state.  We were in the Saugatuk/Douglas area on the first colorful weekend and enjoyed these Alpine horns playing in downtown Douglas, after the harvest parade.  Hey, they can play more than the "Riccola!" song!  They were playing difficult brass band marches and such, and the nice lady in the group and my daughter hit it off (both French horn players...duh!), and she let Riley play her horn!

These horns are beautifully carved and are only made in Switzerland and, until recently, the "Canadian Alps."  They do come apart, I was relieved to find out.  Either that, or all Alpine horn players drive vintage 1970's station wagons to haul their horns to gigs.

We listened to Alpine horns, ate a Bratwurst, drank a good beer...yep, it was a real Octoberfest.

Saugatuk and Douglas are art colonies, so we enjoyed looking through the shops and galleries.  Great towns...but no quilt shop.   :o(

Then, the block of the month I was administering and kitting for the local quilt shop arrived at the final month.  There were many evenings of sorting out little pieces of cut fabric and interesting buttons for forty kits.  All of that went into several small baggies for each kit.  Weasley found this boring, especially since I wouldn't let him "staple" the edges of the ziploc bags (does anyone else's cat have a thing about ziploc bags and plastic sheet protectors?!?).  I had said "no" so many times, he was pouty and refused to smile for camera.

This was a fun quilt to come up with and sponsor.  The center blocks are from the Halvorsen book, "Count On It" (we made them larger), then we designed the outer border using the letters in that book and designs from some of her other books.

Then, I volunteered to design and make the samples for the upcoming Holiday Dash at the shop.  Oy!  Each participating shop is featuring a different block for a holiday or season.  The blocks can stand alone as wall-hangings or be made into a large quilt.  Here is our Halloween block, the Pumpkin Watcher, now all hand-quilted and bound, featuring my "bowling pin kitty" (start with a sketch of a bowling pin and just add ears and a tail...grin)..

Julie Hale of Bits and Pieces, one of the participating shops, came up with the design for a "Celebrate!" quilt that will hold each small holiday quilt.  You might say it's a "wall-hanging wall-hanging."  I call it DONE, as I got it hand-quilted and bound this week as well.

But mainly, the bad economy has been affecting me greatly, but not in the ways you might guess.  FUNDRAISING is eating my life!  It seems like every group, every love, every interest is struggling for funds right now.

I'm writing arrangements and playing piano for a fundraiser concert at the church in a couple of weeks.  It will be fun, but it takes a lot of time on my part, listening to CD's, then transcribing those arrangements for piano, bass and drums.  I have a good music writing computer program, which is much easier than writing them out in manuscript, but it is still a time eater.

My daughter is going to a new school this year...really...the first year of it's existence!  It is a public school, but follows the International IB curriculum.  A brand new school has no music library, which means the band, choir and orchestra are sort of living hand-to-mouth...you guessed it, MORE fundraising to purchase scores, equipment, etc.

I don't submit all the hours I work doing things for my local quilt shop, so that seems like fundraising, as well.  Some shops are really hurting in this economy.

There's a disturbing trend here...we are losing the arts...music and art in school, music in church, quilting.  State education budgets are taking a pounding, as are teachers.  Good thing I am hand-quilting Steve's boxer shorts quilt (Boxer Rebellion)...I need lots of fabric therapy right now!  Quilting on a quilt made from old underwear seems very appropriate in this economy!

I also took some quilts to the Ypsilanti Heritage Museum for their annual fall show.  They mix quilts in with their regular displays, and people attend the show for a small donation...yep, more fundraising. 

I aired out The Bride and also took All Around the Town.  I always love to see what people bring in.  LOVE this one with the music fabric...

This one really spoke to me...the owner made it from his grandfather's flannel shirts.

 

Sorry to be so rambling...I won't be a stranger.  I've missed you!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Strip tease...

(really?  that's the BEST you can do for a title, Teresa??)

The scrappy neutral and green log cabin blocks are progressing.  I have found that quarter inch "sweet spot" on my new Janome 6600.  There's nothing like making 120 log cabin blocks for solidifying that perfect seam allowance.  I have 25 of 120 of the blocks completely made.

They aren't this dark...for some reason all the pictures for this post are too stinkin' dark.  The centers are really nice, vibrant red scraps, not the muddy brown that they seem to be above.  This isn't the final setting...I will probably set them in a barnraising setting when I get them all done.  The "logs" finish 3/4 inch wide and the "cabins" will finish 9 inches.

I have a few more blocks in various stages of "done-ness."  Now if the pressing was as much fun as the chain piecing...

I like LOVE piecing again!  I love the feed dog system on this machine. ..I have not had the block eaten by the throat plate a single time (what a nice change!).

I also managed to get Kate's block finished for our Bee Balm quilting bee.  It looked really challenging, but with Kate's directions it went together pretty well!  Yahoo!  I'm catching up!  Beebee, your heart blocks are next on my list...

This was something from my UFO pile...I started this YEARS ago and put the blocks away in an unlabeled container with no notes.  I thought if I put the blocks together, I might remember where I was going with this, but there are no bells ringing in my head...just that annoying cricket sound.  This is why I now make notes and put the pattern/quilt plans away WITH the project.  I have no memory of even starting this one...I need to come up with some simple borders and call this one "done."

Between a new roof and hot water heater for the house, my new Janome sewing machine, and a new French horn for my daughter, we are doing more than our part to get the economy going...now it is somebody else's turn...

Ahhh...I love sewing in the quilt cave and hearing beautiful melodies coming from upstairs...Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and Doctor Who melodies, not to mention some Mozart and a few other jewels. It doesn't get any better than this...

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

It doesn't get any better than this...

Aahhhhh...hand applique on a perfect west Michigan afternoon, listening to fantastic music on the last day of Session One of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.  Yep...I had to actually leave home to get some sewing done this summer!  I was just hanging out in the 'cheap seats,' stitching and enjoying the perfect place to applique until my daughter's Symphony Band was ready to play.  Then we moved up to good seats and enjoyed a fabulous concert with all the other adoring parents and grandparents.

Before leaving home, I had hastily prepped some of my Blackbird Design basket blocks and placed them in my "Magic Box" with needles, thread, scissors, beeswax and my thimble.  I had everything I needed for a good time.  It was Heaven!

 

To prep the blocks, I glue basted everything together using my light box and my Roxanne's Glue Baste.

First, I placed my placement guide on the light box, lined up a background square on top, then used my pattern weights to hold everything steady.  This is what it looked like before I turned the light box on.

Now the light box is on and the placement guide shows up nicely.

Next, I put tiny dots of Roxanne's Glue Baste on the background fabric where the basket handle will go.  Can you see the tiny dots?  Remember, "dot-dot-not-a lot!"

After placing the handle, I applied tiny dots of glue on the background around the edges where the basket went (and around the edges of the peep hole!).  Once pressed in place, I set this aside to dry and prepped another block.  I am careful not to put the glue dots right at the edge of the outline...I don't want to have to stitch through the dried glue when I come back and make my applique stitches.  I only glue to hold things in place temporarily so that I don't have to work with pins.

All ready for hand applique!  Once appliqued, I will soak the block in water to remove the glue, then press it dry with my iron on the WRONG SIDE (dry iron, no steam), working on a towel placed on my pressing surface.  Once dry and pressed, I trim the basket block to 5 1/2 inches square.

nce the glue dries, into the Magic Box it goes until I have about 10-15 minutes to stitch it (and a few of its friends...).

While on the west side of the state, I had the opportunity to visit a new quilt shop (new to me, anyway...).  The shop is called "Fabric Quilt Scissors" and it is located in a charming little town called New Era, just northeast of Whitehall, where my husband and I were staying while waiting to pick up our daughter from music camp (not far from Muskegon, MI).  It was not in my Quilters Travel Companion...I asked the Innkeeper where we were staying if she knew of any quilt shops in the area.  She had hosted a quilt retreat recently, and the quilters attending had nice things to say about this shop.  I programmed "New Era, MI" into my GPS, and off I went, looking for an adventure!

What I found was a charming shop!  New Era is about 2 blocks long, and this shop was right in the middle of town.  I noticed there was a nice bakery right across the street, but since I'm dieting, I steered clear of THAT little adventure...

The shop is bright, cheerful, and full of fabric and project temptation!  Owner Kathy Szczesny (pronounced "chez-ny") carries a nice variety of fabrics...batiks, modern, baby, kids, brights, florals, color blenders, northwoods, novelties, patriotic.  There were plenty of patterns, books and notions to temp me as well.

 

The back room hosts more fabric, samples and a classroom.

 

I loved the Amy Bradley bug sample...

I gave into temptation many times, but by FAR, my favorite fabric purchased was this glow-in-the-dark piece from the "SKELETOONS" collection by Mark Hordyszynski for Blank Fabrics.  Fun, fun, FUN!

I love the colorful sneakers!

So, if you find yourself near the coast of west Michigan, check out Fabric Quilt Scissors, located at 4708 1st Street, New Era, MI, 49446, (888) 861-4646 (http://www.fabricquiltscissors.net/).  When visiting new places, don't be afraid to ask the "locals" about quilt shops...there are lots of charming shops that aren't listed in the travel companions.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)