Ready to Stitch

This week's "Focus on Fusing" lesson is on "finishing techniques" focusing on machine quilting. Remember this whole quilt has fusible webbing on the back....and this week we are supposed to fuse it to a piece of batting that is cut just a little bit smaller. We are going to fold the edges over and fuse it to the back rather than creating a binding. (see Melody's lesson...or stay tuned for my attempt)

I was worried about my initial small size...not having enough room to get any interesting effect with the stitching and folding over the dots and stripes. In hindsight I should have copied Melody's actual pattern like I was supposed to.  So....I fused on a simple border....which changes it from a 6 by 8 to an 8 by 10.  I actually think it improves the piece and it will be easier to quilt.




My batting is fused to the back and I was ready to stitch.

  

I was a little hesitant to get started....but I did some of the stitching this afternoon. I'm keeping it really simple...most of it stitched in the ditch. I will look at it with a fresh eye in the next couple of days and finish it up....maybe even with some hand stitching.

What a difference a little stitching makes! More to do.

Jubilant Acrylics

Another treat while attending "Art Off the Square" in Madison was seeing Laura Meddaugh's Jubilant Acrylics. See my collection I posted about here. Laura continues to change her technique...and it's always fun and colorful....and yes, jubilant!

I came home with a small print of "Stark Raving Mad Town" similar to the one in the center above....seemed so appropriate in the current political climate.  

Funky "Love Birds" and "Birds of a Feather" from her Facebook Page.

 

A Splash of Color

Carrots from the farmer's market for my stir fry tonight.
I was surprised by the white core inside the purple one.
What a delight! It's the little things.

Pattern Assignment

I finished this week's fusing from a pattern assignment.  It's a tiny little thing....only 6 by 8. Next week we are going to fuse it to batting and finish it with stitching....I may regret all the fussy details when it's time to stitch...we'll see.

Here are some of my little pattern pieces cut from the release paper. I lightly fused them to the fabric pieces with the "G" facing the glue side. After cutting them out just a little bigger I assembled the whole thing on the whole pattern piece above overlapping pieces just a bit.

Melody does a much better job describing it on the class site using the link above or below. It's a handy technique.

 Here's Melody's example for the class assignment.

Caught My Eye

A month or so ago while I was in Wisconsin Becky and I attended "Art On (and off) the Square"....a fabulous art show all around the capital.  

From a distance something shimmery caught my eye....I had to see what it was.

I love repurposed art....but I had never seen anything like this before....so clever! All the circles are punched from aluminum cans. A second smaller hole is punched in the circles so they rest loosely on the nails allowing them to jiggle and shimmer in the light and breeze. They were made by Hannah Dreiss & Nemo of Eco-Folk Art from Comfort, Texas.

I bought a mini version that's only 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. I love the blues and greens...and I mostly love that it's made from recycled materials.

It's new home is between the windows at the kitchen sink....where I can see it every day I'm in Maine. It makes me smile right next to a little sunshine and a little joy.

Appreciative....

....of the clouds.

I drove up to Maine today with the sun high in the sky. I was appreciative of the clouds the whole way up...not only for shading the hot sun...but also for being so beautiful. There were so many shades of gray and white against a very blue sky.

The clouds and my new book on tape made the trip a breeze.

And....this evening while we were on the deck....the clouds continued to impress.

It was a good day for clouds!

A Tree!

I started working on my small art quilt this morning for my fusing class. It was a little painful to cut into my green strip fusing piece....but I did....and I'm pretty happy with my funky little tree.

 

If you check out the lesson here you can see we were to draw a simple pattern on release paper....and using another sheet of release paper trace and cut out the individual pieces and parts to make patterns for our fabrics. This was my simple little design....I'll add in details as I go.

The tree was easy....picking the other fabrics was tough.

Greens

Green strip fusing for the "Focus on Fusing" class....nice and calm after the rainbow experiment.

This week's lesson is "Fusing From a Pattern"  and we will be putting a small art quilt together. I have to give it some thought...so stay tuned.


Some of this green piece may find it's way into my little quilt.

Fusing Experiment

A new lesson comes out tomorrow for the "Focus on Fusing" class....so today I played around a little more with strip fusing.

I wanted to do a rainbow spectrum (surprise surprise) but the transitions felt a little harsh in my first draft. (I didn't take a picture at that point.)  So I overlayed some narrow strips to make it flow a little better. I can see in this photo where it's still a little harsh but I think some top stitching will add more interest and help a with the transitions.

I decided to add black
and white strips.
hmmmm

I haven't actually framed it....I just set the matt and frame on top to 

check it out...I think there's potential for something interesting. 

I'll try some machine quilting at some point.

Scatter Joy!

A sweet...and clever card
from Margie, my mother-in-law
and my niece Clarke. There is
a cellophane insert that holds the
sequence in the jar.

Suspense

One little bud on the succulent plant in Maine just started to open this last weekend. It's been a slow process and the suspense is killing me. 

Meanwhile my rain lilies keep going strong.

Strip Fusing

So far in the fusing class we've been fusing shapes on to a base fabric and playing with leaves. This weeks "Focus on Fusing" lesson is strip fusing.  Rather than fusing shapes onto a base fabric...we are slightly overlapping strips of fabric and fusing a seam of sorts. As you can see...some of my strips have fused parts also. It's actually quite fun and somewhat addicting.....and pretty easy to overdo. I'll have to keep that in check.  I think it will look even better when I add some borders and do some top stitching or quilting and maybe a bit of embellishment.


And...I can start to see how the pieces and parts of what we have been making can start working together to form an art quilt. I'll keep you posted!

What's in a Name?

I got some interesting feedback this morning from someone who stumbled across my blog. She seemed to like what she saw, but was troubled by the name...and the "ugly" word "puttering." She wanted to know what my title meant....and it got me thinking.

Webster's definition of putter is "to move or act aimlessly or idly, to work at random"...and I guess that has a negative connotation. But to me puttering is not an ugly word.  It's finding time in my day to do exactly what I want...often flipping from one thing to another. Puttering is almost an attitude...a way of just being present with whatever I'm doing whether it's a project or a chore...it doesn't even matter if I finish it.  I'm doing it because I want to.

To the onlooker my "puttering" may seem random...and my husband would probably agree...but he's used to it by now. To me it's being delightfully distracted by things that bring me joy....collecting photos of brightly colored doors, connecting with someone I met on a walk, or starting to create something new when there are already 10 things in the works. And yes, even cleaning sometimes...especially when I do it with a "puttering attitude."

But I have to be totally honest here. When my niece Clarke helped me start this blog...we tried and tried to find a name that wasn't already taken on blogspot....and it was really hard.  I made a list of words that I liked and we just kept trying combinations until we landed on "Joyful Puttering." A little random? Maybe. But I do believe it's a perfect fit.

New York Magazine took on the question of why women love to putter in their article called "To Putter, Divine....Time Wasted Wisely."  The author, Lisa Miller, describes puttering as "respite from the relentless obligations of life."  She quotes Ellen Galinsky who said "It's the abandonment of our forever to-do list. I'm so happy when I have time to just putter. I might look at the flowers and decide they need watering.  I might think about calling my sister. I might think about calling my college roommate. And then I might half-do-something entirely different, before meandering to the next diversion."  Click here to read the full article.

Alexandra Stoddard says "puttering is really a time to be alone, to dream and get in touch with yourself....to putter is to discover. It helps us to become aware of what's still important to us, what continues to have meaning. This quiet, private act can....bring aspects of life into sharp focus....and identify your needs."

So there you have it.  I'm a joyful putterer and I'm Ok with that!  Thanks Juliana for nudging me to ponder what my title really means.

You can read about a puttering connection here....it runs in the family.

Summer at Folly

I delivered the matches I posted about few days ago....here's the turquoise, blue, and red at Folly 101...I missed photographing the gray section.

If you're in Portland...it's worth a visit at 101 Exchange Street....it's a beautiful store all decked out for summer.

Astrid uses a lot of vintage pieces for her displays....and this is one of my favorites: an old feeding trough filled with little bottles.

Planner #8

Connie is a month into planner #8. I make a new one for her every six months and you can see the rest of them here.

I used crazy colorful fabric for the cover on this one. You can read about the process of putting one together here. 

making the fabric cover

I smartened up and put some of her standing appointments right into the template. And rather than printing pictures on the pages ahead of time like I have in the past....we added photo stickers that were given to her by her daughter of her family, her rug hooking, and her art.  It will be a fun way for her to enjoy the stickers....there's a different sticker each week from July through October.  Andi ordered them on Snapfish and you can see some samples here. 

More Matches

I spent several hours this morning filing a match order for Folly 101 in Portland. Astrid requests colors and I cover the match boxes in simple stripes and dots.....72 this time in gray, blue, turquoise and red. I will be delivering them this weekend and it's always fun going into the store to see what's new.

A Little Joy

"We do not live an equal life, but one of contrasts and patchwork; now a little joy, then a sorrow, now a sin, then a generous or brave action."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

While I was in Wisconsin.....Becky gave me "a little joy" and Tracie gave me this sweet speckled Lake Superior rock. They actually go very nicely together...Becky and Tracie have always made a good team.

They may migrate around my house...but for now they live in a bowl in the corner of my kitchen counter where I see them every day. We all can use a little joy in our patchwork lives.