"Pretty in Pink"

This is my latest finish.  Another in my Flaminingo series of quilts. Similar motifs to "Placidos Flamingos, but almost a wholecloth...the birds are the only elements keeping it from being a wholecloth.  This little quilt is 47" x 49" and will be donated to the auction for education at MQS next week.  I also did step by step video instruction on how to make this little art quilt.  It is available  to premier members of MQR . Click on the photos to enlarge them.







The feathers are free hand cut from wool felt and were attached on the longarm during the quilting process.





And the back is a wholecloth!











I used two layers of batting; Quilters Dream Puff over warm & natural. And all the threads are by superior..all King Tut except for So Fine in the "sky" background fill.

If you're going to MQS you can see this quilt up close and personal and bid on it with the proceeds going to a great cause.

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Die cutter comparison

I have had a ton of e-mails asking about my two die cutters...mostly if the dies are interchangeable.  They are not. Some still don't get it even after I respond to explain. SO since a picture is worth a thousand words..here are the pictures (along with a couple words)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Here is my Accuquilt "GO" beside my Sizzix "Big Kick"  As you can see, there is a huge size difference.

Then the dies..this is a "GO" die ( it's 10x10)
This is a "GO" die (it's 5x10)  and there are others..some as large as 10x24.

This is the largest available sizzix "Bigz" die on top of the "GO" 10x10.

The "GO" cutting mats are obviously larger, but also thinner and more flexible than the Sizzix mats

Sizzix large mat

And my sizzix "BIG KICK" dies stored


"GO" dies stored
Both cutters side by side..(the "GO" is closed up in this photo)

So, does that make it clear??

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Creating some pretty fabric

The quilts are on their way to MQS.  All my teaching supplies for my classes all boxed up and on their way too.  So, now all I have to do in preparation to go is make my quilt for the auction.  That means a play day for me to get some pretty hand painted fabric done for my background.                                                                                                                                                                                This is the finished piece.  Done with Dye-na-flow paints diluted 1:1 with water, brushed on wet PFD fabric.  I then scrunched it, threw a little sea salt on it, and laid it outside in the sun to dry.  The beauty of drying it out in the Florida sun, is that it heat sets it at the same time...saving a step.  It works because the sun is closer to the earth here and much more intense than up north.  and a close-up of the salt effect. 

And of course Harry claims it right away!  Once I get him off, I'll load it and start quilting!

Now, I have tested this sun heat setting process many times.  It did not work in Virginia...even in the heat of the summer.  Because it has more to do with the intensity of the sun relative to it's position to the earth.  But it works like a charm here and I love it...such a time saver.  Once it comes out of the washer and dryer I use Mary Ellen's Best Press and iron out the wrinkles.  

If you don't live under a tropical or sub tropical sun, you'll need to heat set yours, You can do this easily by covering your ironing board with foil and pressing for 10-15 secs in each area. Then turn over and repeat.  Then it can be washed.

And here are the rags I used to clean up and use up the rest of the paints I had diluted.







This one I'll use again as a rag...still has room to soak up more color!

Have a great weekend!

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Where does the time go!

Don't you wish you could slow it down sometimes?  I sure do!  But alas, time doesn't wait for any of us.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Since we are still in the dry season here I was out watering the fruit trees and snapped a couple more pictures.  This is the mango, yum!  These babies will be ready in August.  And the tree is loaded this year.

To keep the trees from dropping the fruit, we have to water twice weekly when it's this dry.

But it sure will be worth it later this summer when they're ready to pick.

June is the beginning of our rainy season, when every afternoon will be punctuated with a rain shower.  It's so nice, because it cuts the heat for a little while. And some of the thunderstorms give us the sky for those perfect tropical sunsets.

Next up is the lemon, this is a Meyer lemon...a sweet variety.

These will be ready in about 4 weeks. Here in south Florida the lemon and lime trees are

"ever-bearing" which means they goes from one fruiting cycle to the next, producing fruit
all year round!

This is the same lemon tree and shows you how they fruit all year long...they begin to flower again right after the fruit gets about the size of a half dollar.  So that about the time the lemons in the first photo are harvested, these flowers will have become little lemons,  and then the process starts all over again!

And it's been a while since I posted fur baby photos.  This is Harry, into mischief as usual!  He will be 2 years old on Wednesday!

And beautiful Chloe, keeping an eye on her crazy brother!

Hope you are enjoying your Saturday!

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Postcards and "For Services Rendered"

Postcards first...got this pretty one from Mary yesterday for our April family exchange.  Thanks Mary.And this is mine for April, it is on it's way to Mother.  We are sure enjoying those die cutters we bought! 
I am using both the sizzix and the 'Go' cutter to make my latest MQR postcards...those cutters are truly addicting.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Now, on to Mary's quilt.... "For Services Rendered"   For those of you who don't know the story of this quilt, it belongs to Mary. Mother made it for her to 'pay' Mary for all the quilting she does for her.  Then Mary decided I needed to quilt it. I finished quilting it back in November, but kept putting off doing the binding...I hate binding.  Well, It has to get shipped off to MQS tomorrow, so I figured I'd better get it done.  So this past week I did the binding, sleeve and label.  Then I had to soak it in cold water to get all the marks out, then wash and block it.

So I put it in the washer to soak....then had a panic attack!  It's red and white...I never thought to ask Mother if she pre-washed those reds!!!!!!!  Well, too late now...so I paced thru the whole process of soaking and washing.

Happily, there was no bleeding!  And now it's all blocked and dry and packed up ready to ship out first thing in the morning.  Here are the photos after binding but before soaking and washing/blocking.  The blue you see is from the marking pen.  It's all gone now.
The light isn't the best, but you get the idea.
The lattice...pretty, but very time consuming. Of course, now I have figured out a quicker way to do it...by just backtracking tiny segments you can zip right along...duh!  And I figured this out on the LAST row...LOL
 It's far from perfect, but all in all it turned out fairly well.



Now to finish putting my class kits together and finish up some postcards!

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It sure is hot, but....

The fruit trees love it! That is one of the biggest perks here, having a  mini orchard in my back yard.   First up is the fig.A better view

And this is the lime tree...see the tiny baby limes starting? 

Also fruiting right now is the lemon, kumquat, Mango and Avocado...pictures of those another day.

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Busy as a bee!

My goodness, where does the time go? I haven't posted for ages!  I assure you though I haven't been slacking off!  I just last week finished teaching a 4 week online class on custom quilting, and started another on Monday. The class is offered through MQR...a great resource for machine quilters...if you haven't checked it out yet you really should.  Just click the button on the right hand side of the page.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                In addition to teaching those classes, I'm trying to getthe editing done for a DVD, and also getting ready for MQS.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           I decided "Bye Bye Blackbird" needed more quilting in the large leaves, so that's back on the frame.  I'm also working on my little quilt for the auction for education that they have each year. And... putting the kits together for the art quilt class I'm teaching there.  Lots to do and very little time left to do it.  Oh, and I'm still hand stitching the binding ,sleeve and label for Mary's quilt. I've been putting that off for months due to our quilt show, finishing up client quilts...you know stuff! Then it's got to be washed and blocked.   Trying to get all this stuff ready to ship.  in 10 days.  Soon, it'll be time for me to pack and head out to Overland Park!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                But I got two nice surprises in today's mail.  This cute postcard from my cousin Mary Ann!   

And this beauty from Mother.  Boy, I think she is really enjoying her new die cutter!  You should see all the great postcards she has made....I hope she sends me more, hint, hint!

She is getting very creative with her postcards.

Well, break time is over, so I'm back to work!  I'll try to check in a little more frequently...and maybe after it's washed and blocked, I'll share a picture of Mary's quilt before I ship it off....we'll see!

Have a great weekend!

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