Blog

Seeing Red

By Jenny | February 14, 2011 |

I’m decompressing from all the work of my guild’s show and I see my surroundings with new eyes. And everywhere I look, it’s red-and not because it’s Valentine’s Day! I just have  to share all this red with you. x x I love this red Cordyline set amongst the blue/gray/green of the Hen n Chicks-it’s just so dog gone pretty this time of year. When it’s back lit from the sun it just glows red/pink. x x x x xx x x I don’t know the name of these trees but they line one of the streets going to my house. For most…

Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild Show

By Jenny | February 12, 2011 |

The Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild show opened today and it’s spectacular. I loaded up a fairly random group of quilts from the show that I especially enjoyed. It’s a lot of work to put on a large show like this and it has consumed my life as of late, but what a great show. Enjoy looking at the gallery of pictures:

Epilogue

By Jenny | February 5, 2011 |

One of the unexpected benefits of all this organizing is the discovery of intriguing fabrics long ago lost. Look at this beautiful hand dye that I unearthed-it’s stunning in person and I see all kinds of possibilities with it. It has a kind of ethereal quality. I don’t know who I got it from, but I suspect it was from Linda M Designs. Isn’t it fabulous? This whole process was not really about “cleaning” or “organizing”, it was about creating a space that allows me to work freely, to be intuitive, to not spend time looking for tools or pushing…

Still Organizing….

By Jenny | February 2, 2011 |

I had no idea the monumental task I was undertaking when I decided to organize my stash. DH called me a “whirling dervish” (in the nicest way!). x I decided to take over #1 Son’s room use an existing closet for storage. First thing was to get all the stuff-my car was filled with boxes and containers-none of this is cheap! I thought it would take an afternoon, two days max. So far, I think I have put over 50 hours into this and I’m on Day 6. x x xx I started out using the Polar Notions cards to…

Organizing my Stash?!

By Jenny | January 26, 2011 |

In the midst of working on Fashion Show for Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild and getting a Special Event set up for American Sewing Guild, I hit my limit. I simply could not function without some sort of organizational change in my stash. I’m actually pretty organized but I work in a small space-my stash spills out into the surrounding rooms. I hope Oldest Son is not reading because I realized that the only way this reorganization was going to happen was if I created space and that space was…his closet. I threw away the receipts for potato chips purchased…

Good Vibrations 2

By Jenny | January 17, 2011 |

Who knew it could take this long to complete an 8″ square wholecloth?? Design is something I am working hard on and the point of this piece, for me, was to take a simple design and play with value more than color, to use value to push some motifs forward, others back. x x x Well, I got the lower left flower to recede alright, recede into oblivion!  That burgandy thread was way too dark. So I tried a purple-still too dark; tried a lavender-it shouted; tried salmon-ugh. x x x x x x After 6 hours of unstitching, even more thread choices,…

Good Vibrations

By Jenny | January 10, 2011 |

Okay, it might seem like I’m skipping around from project to project, but really, I’m not…kinda. I work in a pretty small space and I find it difficult to work on more than one thing at a time. It does keep me focused and I really do finish my projects-I have to before I can move on to the next one. x x x x I’ve got a deadline on this one so I had to move it up the chain. It looks pretty simple but there’s more to it than meets the eye. The requirement for this piece is that only 8″ will…

Santa Barbara

By Jenny | December 31, 2010 |

I recently made a quick, unexpected trip to Santa Barbara for the latest surgery for my Accident-Prone 21 year-old son. The surgery turned out well and was almost a non-event, thank God. Since I’ve been on a garment sewing kick lately, I knew I had to make a trip to one of my favorite fabric shops for garment sewing: Fine Fabrics of Santa Barbara. Proprietor Susanne Chess runs a delightful, welcoming, inspiring shop. She carries fashion fabrics that range from cottons at $8.99/yd, to exquisite hand-sewn French lace for over $1,200/yd., Italian wool, French knits…. Yet when you enter her store, she graciously welcomes you…

Garment or Quilt?

By Jenny | December 23, 2010 |

Who’d a thunk it-I actually have a wee bit of time before Christmas to do some sewing! x I am a garment sewer as well as a quilter, so I decided to whip up a jacket in this lovely fabric I purchased from Loes Hinse. x x At Pacific International Quilt Festival this year I had tried on a sample of the “Long and Short of It” jacket in Lorraine Torrence’s booth that fit me beautifully. What a coup-a jacket that fit without a muslin!Even though I knew the jacket should fit, I decided to make a muslin up just to…

Learning Curve

By Jenny | December 16, 2010 |

When I am inbetween projects and everything is in the musing/creative stage, I still need to create something. My solution is to grab a fun pre-printed panel, layer it up and quilt away.There are no piecing or color decisions to be made and I can enjoy the pure, simple pleasure of quilting. xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx   xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxx x xx x x x x x x x  x x x x x x  x x x x  x  x x x x  x x x x  x x…