Creativity

At the recent guild meeting in Victoria I picked up a SAQA journal. (Studio Art Quilts Associates)  As I was on the plane home I came across an interesting article by Quinn McDonald called Learning from failure not as painful as it sounds. 
The premise of the article was dealing with rejection, whether it was from a show judge or not getting into a juried show.

This was the part that struck a cord with me,
 " The reason to create, to practice, to struggle with your creative urge is to express creativity and make meaning in your life. That is the prime directive of the creative soul- make meaning. It is the process of creating that lifts the soul, not the price tag. "

I have a personal belief system that gives me meaning in life. But the creative quilter part of me agrees with this!
Did anyone ever asked Michelangelo, "Don't you have enough paintings? Or sculptures?"
I know many people still consider quilts, a blanket to keep us warm. Ah, yes, it does that, but oh, it is so much more. We are putting our creative soul into the quilts we make.

Having to choose what quilts to bring to TX was like choosing a favorite child! LOL
Even if we use someone's pattern, we are still taking it and making it our own.

Just food for thought today, friends.

I'll leave you with this.

As I was preparing this post to publish when I was gone, I realized I'll be in Florence, Italy on my birthday, which is tomorrow! I can't think of a more creative, amazing place to celebrate!

Arrivederci, bellissimi amici!!!

My 50th Year Recap

Today is my last day of being 50 years old. What a fun and memorable year! What I set out to do was celebrate by doing something special every month that I was 50 and in that way I would be celebrating all year long. In no particular order:

13.1 miles on my 50th birthday........why? Because I can...

A week later we went on a Caribbean cruise.

Made extra special memories with extra special friends in Vermont.

Had fun with long time quilt friends at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

Climbed South Sisters 10, 358'

Relaxed at the Oregon coast

Enjoyed Huey Lewis and the News

Rocked to Bob Seger!

Got in the Christmas spirit in Portland, OR

Visited my good friend Kathy and the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in Cleveland.

Made a jubilee quilt to celebrate my 50th year.

Took a leap out of a plane

Got a tattoo

The tattoo sums this year up for me. If you've been putting off things you would like to do, figure out why you aren't doing them and take some steps to make your dreams a reality.

The days will tick by, they will turn into weeks, then months, then years. Are you going to watch the world go by? Or be a part of it?


The bottom line is :
Be a part of LIFE!!

Jubilee Jubilation!!

It's done!! Finished! Acabado! Færdig! Fini! Hotový!  Finito! Ferdig! Voltooid!!  My Jubilee quilt celebrating 50 years of my life is now on my bed.

I would have loved to machine quilt it myself, but I knew my good friend Kathy would be able to understand what I wanted for this quilt. When I was there in January I brought it with me to leave for her to work her magic. And work it she did!!

I loved the electric look of the center radiating from my funky little spikes. Just a reminder that I saw the center block in the NYC Folk Art museum and used my photo to duplicate it. It wasn't an easy task.

Someone commented the dates reminded them of birth-death so I put  a label on the back so nobody would be confused. I suppose something could happen in the next few months and then the label could be removed off the back! lol

If you want to see how this quilt came about click on the post label that says Jubilee to see my past blog posts about this quilt.

When I saw this backing I knew it was the ONE for my jubilee!!

Thanks for following along this year on my 50th Jubilee quilt! And I actually finished it in my 50th year! Woo-Hoo!!

Variety is the Spice of Life

 Here are my March Sally Post blocks. I'm attempting 3 a month to have the blocks completed by the end of 2013.

 They will be sashed in pink with green cornerstones, like the original. Don't ask me why that photo is tipped!

 Here's my braided quilt, quilted and bound. I'm loving it!!

 Here's a sneak peak at my Jubilee quilt!! It's lovely and my friend Kat did a remarkable job of quilting it!! Feel free to check out her quilting link.

I got photos! That's kind of like I've got mail! Marei was a real creative machine when it came to making Mountains Trails quilts. Look at these fantastic quilts she made and donated to her quilt guild!! Thank you Marei for sending me your photos.

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Productive Week

Here were my retreat projects. I feel pretty good about what I got done.

Another quilt made from the cowboy fabric!! Yeehaw! I have a border fabric picked out and am hoping to get it on today.

I added the cheddar outside the spikes to help give this quilt balance. I brought a stencil to possibly get it prepped for trapunto. The stencil was too small and am now having second thoughts about doing it at all.

After finding my blocks at home I finished the main body of Just Takes Two!! After seeing some options I considered a more elaborate border, but only for about two seconds. Now I'm thinking a 4-6" red border and calling it DONE!

We didn't only sew, we also played in the snow. Click here to check it out!
Happy Christmas Eve!!

Jubilation of my Jubilee

Here is my Jubilee top with the four borders attached!

The zig zag looks bold and heavier then the spikes, so I may add a small cheddar border to the spikes to balance it out.

There is no right side up, but I wanted to see the difference with the borders.

I'm not sure when I'll get to it, but there is lots of room for quilting!!

Cherry Tree and Jubilee

 Our weather has cooled off in the evenings so I've brought out my 100" x 100" cherry tree quilt. I've outlined all of this block and the center was empty so I took one of the previous stencils from the quilt and put the star in the center. Because I'll be going back and cross hatching I went ahead and left the basting stitches in this block.

 Working on another one! The pen marking is the Frixion, which I feel totally comfortable using on this. I always double check though and make sure I've picked up the correct pen! Once I finish this block then it's time to switch to applique on the porch quilt. I got my pieces prepped the last few days.

Here's a sneak peak of my Jubilee quilt. I've got one more border to go!!

When I'm working on a lot of different projects my sewing room gets to be a mess!! That's when I know I'm being creative and having fun. There does come a point when it needs to be picked up. I got to that tonight. Yea, feels good!

Friday I'll post the next step to Mountain Trail. That should give everyone plenty of time to get caught up.

Birthday Quilt

Here's what's happening with my birthday signature quilt.

Here are the 4 blocks I received during  Sisters show week. Thank you Andrea, Bonnie, Darlyn, and Debbie.

One more from Lori in the mail today. Thank you!

I left a space to add two blocks. One I received today and the next one I receive will go on the front. Any other blocks coming in after that will go on the back.

When I went to Eagle Crest I brought the sashing, cornerstone and setting fabric with me. The tan setting triangles are 2 different Primitive Gatherings prints. I proceeded to cut every setting triangle I needed the WRONG size! I didn't include the sashing when I was figuring out how large to cut my squares.  What did I do? Sewed two triangles together to make one setting triangle. Of course, they are on the bias and much too big. So when you see the outer triangles now you know why they are so funky! As soon as it is all together and my cutting area is cleaned up I'll give it a nice trim and it will be lovely! Thank you all again for participating!! It is going to be a very special quilt.

Jubilee Progress

Here is the progress I've made on my Jubilee quilt. There are still a lot of wide open spaces that I plan on filling, but I was happy to get the baskets appliqued.  It too is packed up in my Sister's retreat pile to work on.

Jubilee

 The last time I shared  my Jubilee quilt I had one pot on one corner. I don't have them all appliqued down, but I am making progress. I'm trying to stay focused.

Here are a few more blocks that came in for my Jubilee quilt. I am hoping to start adding sashing when I have a good block of time the week before the Sisters show.  Thanks friends!!

Birthday Blocks

Here's a closer look at the awesome table runner Sharon made for me. She will be 50 next month!! 

I had several people who asked to see the blocks all spread out. So far there are 87!!  I think you should be able to click on the photo to enlarge.

Thank you again!! This is also going to be called my Jubilee quilt.

I decided to have a celebration of some sort every month that I am 50. I'm already looking forward to June!! Jill and Susan are you ready for me?