Tag: Stitch: Quilting

The Texas Quilt Museum field trip

~ Liz A ~ 16 Comments

Don has been spending his Saturdays attending docent training at the Wildflower Center … which I would love to do if only I didn’t have a hearing impairment.

So is was that Nancy’s recent posting of a video about the Texas Quilt Museum motivated me to (finally) make the 75 minute drive to see for myself (and really, what took me so long?)

The museum was lovely … a veritable trove of quilty eye candy. And this was the quilt that I went to first, as it had caught my eye in the video …

It was amazing … I don’t think there was a single piece of cloth that was more than one inch wide! Most were in the 1/4” to 3/4” range and the colors were fantastic.

But it was the quilt right next to it that stole my heart …

I loved how perfectly not-perfect it was. And it colored the rest of my visit as I looked to see if I could find any other hand-pieced and hand-quilted quilts. Which I did … on the “vintage quilts for sale” table. But there was only one other quilt on display that was partly made by hand …

And that’s not to say that I don’t appreciate the precision and complexity of machine-pieced and machine-quilted quilts … not to mention the artistry of their various designs … because I certainly do appreciate them. But I didn’t find any at the museum that spoke to me in quite the same gentle manner as Stripescape.

So there you have it.

It may go slow, but taking the time to piece and quilt by hand takes me to my happy place. It just takes a bit of determination, which appears to run in the family …

Good work Parker!

Half of a half

~ Liz A ~ 22 Comments

I’m halfway through quilting one side of My Heart’s Compass … of which this is about half … so I guess that makes it a quarter-side of cloth …

Not exactly a fascinating reveal, but I continue to enjoy the simplicity of the going … even the circular shadow stitching, which I had been apprehensive about.

Here’s the other side, which I’ve managed to keep knot-free …

I don’t plan to put it on the bed “other side up” when it’s done, but I do enjoy looking at the other side when I take a break from stitching.

In the “life happens” category, we went to update our wills, last done ten years ago. A mundane exercise, but our lawyer advised adding a provision that will allow our executor to access our online accounts (who knew?) and we now have everything set up to “transfer on death” which will avoid probate. So we celebrated by getting new shoes, going out to lunch, and buying a small oil painting from our favorite Wimberley gallery, Art on 12 …

And for those of you who enjoy such things, here are some more end-of-school-year pictures of our grandkiddos (click to see full images) …

Parker’s journal about our visit to her class
Future soccer phenom Jackson
The obligatory end-of-school pose …
and a peek at the summer to come
Our newly minted first grader …
who surely earned this encomium
The coolest kids on the block …
and their posse
A home run hitter …
and his ball (found after the game)

Suh-weet …

Undone

~ Liz A ~ 12 Comments

There hasn’t been much to show stitch-wise as I’ve been quilting …

Valdani 12 O31 (that’s an “o” not a zero) is listed as “tealish blue” … but I think “ocean” would be a better description as it shifts between gray and blue and green depending on the light and the color of the cloth it’s stitched onto. Which is to say, it’s perfect.

Unfortunately, I didn’t figure that out earlier. I actually started quilting with a strand of white and a strand of black DMC floss …

And honestly, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t right. I ended up unstitching three days worth of quilting in about three hours. So it goes.

I also took the time to watch a few of Kate Ward’s Zen Stitching video workshops and took copious notes and screenshots of Ellie Beck’s excellent instructions on how to handsew a zippered pouch …

There has been lots of other fun stuff happening … a gallery opening for Billy Keen, whose No Path graces our walls (gotta love those boots) …

Much excitement in St Louis at Jackson and Jace’s year-end concerts and art show (which we visited virtually) …

Not to mention their new backyard pool, complete with neighborhood friends …

Parker and Ellis still come over every week, P on Mondays and E on Thursdays …

(virtual visit to P’s cooking show)
“Oh! Red and white make pink!”

Plus we got to go in person to see Griffin portray William Travis at the 4th grade wax museum (step on the display board and the wax figure comes to life, reading a self-written “autobiography” … so now I know about Travis’ “line in the sand” challenge at the Alamo) … Parker was also there with her Kindergarten class …

Yesterday was the girls’ turn to perform, dancing in their end-of-year ballet recital, complete with stage makeup, ballerina updos, and great smiles (minus one front tooth) …

And last, which is always not least, our oldest granddaughter Logan just completed her freshman year at James Madison University …

(Lo is is the middle)

How is that possible when this seems like it was only yesterday?