H's 9/11 Painting

My late Uncle Hal, that tough old Marine, could only paint through his tears watching the television on September 11, 2001.
God bless H and all the souls who died that day.

...in case we've forgotten....

Two Quick "Sane" Quilts for Bad King Chad

Since I am in Sane Quilt Mode, sewing strips for hours on the sewing machine, (as opposed to Crazy Quilt Mode, which actually feels much more normal to me)...I thought I would share a couple of my fairly recent bed quilts...
Both of them were made for my son Chad, who didn't like either of them. (I still love him.) I think redheads are particularly Sensitive to Everything. The first quilt had a velvet backing and was "too heavy". The second quilt had a flannel backing and was quilted too closely. "Too hot." He likes his quilts puffy... I'd made him three different tied sane quilts in the past which he loved (especially the PokeyMon one...hee hee). But tied quilts do not stand up to the wear and tear of being wrapped around a boy like a cape and dragged around for months and years. He would get this Dearth Vadar thing going....Those tied quilts lived good, if hard, lives, and each died a somewhat smelly death in shreds on the burn pile.
So I had thought the quilted quilts would hold up better....but alas, no sale....I ended up going to Linens 'N'Things and bought a polyester blue comforter for twenty bucks for Chad which has held up remarkably for five years now.....go figure!

Sorry about the lighting. Here is the first one....OK, so it is velvet on the back and has upholstery fabric in the border. Maybe a little heavy. But those fabrics were so much more interesting than plain ol' cotton!

Ah, don't those Jinny Beyer borders bring back memories?

Again, sorry for the poor lighting. This second try is the one of the last times I ever pieced "blocks" for a sane quilt. Big pieces, too, eh? ;-) It was red and orange to match Chad's hair.

Dang, that upholstery fabric snuck in there again!

One day this quilt will mean much more to him, I am sure. He's a sweetie down deep....

Not to mention highly entertaining and a serious ally on the road of life!

September Flowers

Before getting down to working with these...

...for my Quilt of Valor project, I just had to spend the morning playing with these....


So many of the flowers in the garden are going to seed now, and have lost their luminous vigor....but the sunflowers and their warm colored friends are still putting on quite a show!

Quilt of Valor #2 Underway

Well, the fabrics are pulled anyways. I do still have a cotton "sane" quilt stash, currently heavy on the repros. But some old favorites from my landscape days and a few contemporaries are in this quilt's mix, too.

These Quilts of Valor are all headed for wounded soldiers upon their return to the United States. My first one was for a gal soldier; this one will be for a guy.

Whenever I see a picture of a sane quilt I might like to make, I tear it out of the catalog or magazine I'm paging through. This one is from the Sundance catalog, which I don't know why I get because really, it is all just too hip, pretentious, and p.c. for my taste. There is some cool stuff in there, though, I admit. (Though wildly overpriced, and for models who weigh 100 pounds or less....Its quilts are all imported, too, which makes me wonder about sweat shops. But I digress....)
Ever since I started crazy quilting I cannot bring myself to do any kind of sane quilt but the one-patch kind. This one from Sundance suits my purposes exactly. No seams or corners to match, either!

That large floral is actually going to be the backing fabric. It is from Kaye England back when she was doing those luscious floral border prints. This one is a strange color which is why it has lasted intact in my stash for so long. But it will be perfect here....I knew I'd use it someday!
Tomorrow morning will be spent rotary cutter in hand.....the afternoon is, of course, for pears.

A Simple Shopping Tote

Gee, it was great to get such a positive response to my Autumn Tote. Thanks, everyone!!

This next tote was an entirely different project....fast, functional, and geared to lots of everyday wear and tear. It is for my son's girlfriend to use when she goes grocery shopping, so it had to be sturdy and not have a bunch of loose embellishments or beads that could pull off.

I bought a heavy-duty, ready-made denim tote at my local Craft Warehouse; nice and cheap. Because Esther likes Oriental design, I decided to use some of my authentic Japanese indigo fabric to go with the denim.

All I did was sew strips of these fabrics together to make a band, which I machine appliqued to the tote front. I sewed in the ditch afterwards for added stability.
Then I added just a hint of embroidery, plus 14 beads total, and voila:

Nothing flashy but kinda pretty...I think these would make wonderful last minute-style gifts. Of course, that band could be of crazy quilting and that would be great.

Here's a detail of my minimal embellishment. The thread was a lovely surprise in the mail from Susan...it is Sassa Lynn fine perle, and even in denim it was nice stitching....
So I will send this north to Esther and hope she fills it many, many times with good healthy food.

Speaking of which, here is what is waiting for my attention....

These are the Comice variety...ultra, ultra sweet. This picture shows about a half of our crop this year. And that's not counting the Boscs! Or the Asian pears....which are bearing heavily for the first time this year.
Anybody have any ideas for storing/preserving Asian pears?

Autumn Tote, Finished!

After driving to Seattle....


...to help my son move (with his girlfriend's assistance).....


...and picking pears (the first of many bagfuls)....


...and helping Robert prepare the corn for freezing....


....and going into Portland last night to see Crowded House, those smashing gents from New Zealand....

Here they are playing my absolute favorite Crowded House song, "Pineapple Head". They also did "Distant Sun", "Weather With You", and of course, "Don't Dream it's Over"....I've had a thing for Neil Finn for years.....

Well after and amidst all these shenanigans.....I finally got to finish my tote!

My favorite part of this project was playing with all the crazy fibers that went on as the fringe. The weaver's scraps and thrums that I had to select from was a treasure trove of so many neat and strange yarns. Towards the end I felt compelled to dip into my silk ribbon and variegated chenille stashes as well...

A veritable rat's nest here. But as I added the fibers one by one I felt like I was working on a painting..that was a new experience for me...it just was so absorbing.

Fringy fun! Color, texture, and value were my usual playmates.

Fringy excess.....but not enough to cover the sequins, who after all started this whole thing.

The finishing of the tote was a hoot too. For the hardware I ended up canabalizing an old Gucci bag that a friend had handed down to me, which I had named "The Barn" . The leather was completely shot, so I didn't feel too badly about doing in The Barn.

It is kind of ugly, isn't it? From the '60's, I think.

Gucci hardware on my tote, how cool is that?

And here it is, finished.
I am the drabbest dresser I know, so it is hard to imagine my actually using this. But believe it or not, I had my upcoming trip to Houston in mind when creating this tote. I'll be attending Quilt Market at the end of October, under the auspices of CQMagOnline (as a credentialed member of the Press, no less), and I know I will need a large tote for samples, notes, even my laptop would fit in here...

So what's next?...going to do a quick tote for my son's girlfriend and then another quilt for the Quilts of Valor project. It is such a good cause, and even this crazy fringy quilter can do a sane cotton bed quilt once in awhile.
And as I work I'll be happily humming from "Pineapple Head"......

And if you choose
to take that path

I will play you like a shark
and I'll clutch at your heart
I'll come flying like a spark
to enflame you...