Portrait Quilt Workshop
In October, the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston offered a painted portrait workshop with Maria Elkins, http://mariaelkins.com/. Maria is talented, and I encourage you to look at her website and blog. You will be blown away by her work.
The workshop was fantastic. We began with a personal photo that had a face filling the entire photo frame, or detailed enough to enlarge and print on a letter sized fabric sheet. I used a photo of a little girl outside of a temple in Cambodia. The picture on the left shows the printed picture, and the right, my drawn image. I used a purple crayon to create the image.
Below I quilted the image. This was my first effort at quilting a face. It was kind of scary, but I think my first effort turned out reasonably well. I am currently in the process of creating 3 more images to be put together in a Warholesque quilt. I am trying to decide how to frame them and attach them together.
Later I will show how the others are turning out, and what the final version looks like.
Happy quilting…
Nancy
Loving Life in Houston
I am loving life in Houston! This is our first tour of duty here, which is somewhat surprising with our life in the oil patch, but we are thrilled and happy to be here!
I love the music, the food, the shopping, but most of all, I love my quilting experiences. I have met a wonderful group of ladies that are so talented. I became a member of the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston (http://www.qgghouston.org) and have been so inspired! The most important thing about belonging to such a group is exposure to so many quilting methods and design. I have been able to take classes from some real textile artists and put more emphasis on design, and art-type projects. I have taken classes from Susan Carlson, Cindy Needham, Dianne Hire, Colleen Wise, Noriko Endo, Rami Kim, Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison. How lucky is that? AND, I also bought a Pfaff Powerquilter 16.0. More about all of this in the future!
I worked a little bit in my garden yesterday, and couldn’t resist posting this rose!
Happy quilting….
Nancy
Shipment Arrives!
After seven weeks living the wanderer lifestyle, our shipment arrives tomorrow. Although I appreciate that life is about the people surrounding you and your circumstances, it is nice to have your things and to make your home, a home. We have been ‘camping out’ in our new house. We have a bed, a couple of nice living room chairs, and a dining table. I bought some outdoor dishes and new pots and pans. So it has been more than enough for living.
BUT, I have had to stop myself, as I want to make it more homey. I keep wanting to buy things to set up the house. I have to remind myself, I have 347 boxes of my things coming this way! Wait to get it all, and then decide what you need, and head to the stores after that!
I really can’t wait to set up my sewing studio. It is kind of refreshing to move, review my stash, supplies, ufo’s, and start fresh!
Happy quilting . . .
Nancy
Singapore Good-byes
All good things must come to an end … we have moved from Singapore to Houston. All moves are bittersweet. Although, I am sad to leave my dear friends, I am happy for the opportunities that await in Houston. I absolutely can not wait to go the International Quilt Festival in October. What an adventure!
My sweet quilt friends in Singapore prepared friendship squares for me. The squares are beautiful and remind me of my three years spent on the other side of the world. Before we left, I quickly sewed the squares together, and look what was created ….
Happy quilting . . .
Nancy
Quilting on Route 66
Well, I have started machine quilting my daughter Sarah’s Route 66 commemorative quilt. You may recall from a prior post – Route 66 Quilt, I made two quilts, to commemorate our journey in July of 2010. My daughter and I drove my car from San Francisco to Los Angeles where we picked up Route 66, and followed it through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. We wanted to see all the amazing, kitschy tourist sites, such as the giant dinosaur park, the Wigwam Motel, Cadillac Ranch, and other fantastic sites. It was the trip of a lifetime.
So now, I have started machine quilting. I am very excited by the quilting pattern I chose. I have always liked doing an overall pattern, and it was my desire to do something simple, but a large pattern. I played with the pattern first on blank paper until I got something that I knew I could repeat easily. Here is a close view of some of the quilting.
Here is a different view to give more of the overall look on the quilt.
This picture shows the backing that my daughter chose. It looks perfect with the colors in the quilt!
Happy Quilting . . .
Nancy
Funny Signs
My husband and I were golfing this past weekend, at a little executive 9-hole course here in Singapore. We hit the 9th-hole, and as we were walking to the green, I noticed this big chain link fence with barbwire at the top. It was a pumping station behind the fence, and these signs were posted all around. I am guessing that you certainly won’t hunt for your ball if it goes behind the fence. I’m not going anywhere where they threaten you with guns if you enter the ‘protected place.’ The monkeys didn’t seem to be too worried. They were walking the barbwire like a tight-rope.
Happy Quilting . . .
Nancy
Fabric Shopping in Singapore
Although my dear friend, Laura, only had a couple of days to spend with me in Singapore, we had time to go shopping! As quilters, we naturally love to see textiles and fabrics in any city that we visit. We made our way down to Arab Street. You can find a wonderful selection of fabrics, carpets, baskets, and all sorts of goods.
I ended up buying this fabulous chainstitch rug from Kashmir. These are handmade by men from the region. It is being used in “the blue room.” It is the bedroom for my oldest daughter Lauren, and guests. The walls are blue, and everything in the room is basically, black, white, and blue.
I also bought an embroidered table runner from India. I love the colors and the designs on it. It also is adorning “the blue room.”
My friend bought this wonderful tablecloth for her sun porch. I can’t wait to visit. I am imagining sitting on the sun porch, sipping lemonade, admiring this tablecloth!
Happy Quilting . .
Nancy
Visiting Quilt Bud
One of my dear quilting friends from Moscow, Laura came to Singapore with her husband on business. We had such a wonderful visit! Unfortunately, our time together was short, but we were able to shop! And yes, fabric was high on that list! Laura, lucky girl, was staying at the new Marina Bay Sands hotel here in Singapore. The hotel is a fabulous structure with three towers, and a “boat like structure” on the top with a bar, swimming pool, and views. The whole structure is over 55 stories tall.
Here Laura and I are in the lobby –
Here are a couple of views from the top by the pool. It is absolutely stunning, and the infinity edge pool is amazing.
Tomorrow, I will post some pictures of our shopping adventure!
Happy Quilting . . .
Nancy
Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks
Well, I hate to call myself an ‘old dog’, but I guess a rose by any other name smells as sweet. So, even calling myself a ‘young dog’ is not going to change the facts! My husband has encouraged me over the years to learn to play golf. I have made the decision to play twice before in my life. At the time, I played a game of golf each time. The clubs were heavy, I really didn’t have lessons, and I couldn’t hit the ball half the time! I could think of a myriad of other things I would rather be doing, scrubbing the grout in the bathtub, cleaning lint out of the dryer tube, and anything else that popped into my head!
Before moving to Singapore, I decided that I was going to try one more time. After all, I am an empty nester, and I have not committed all my time to volunteer opportunities yet, so I might as well give it a try. I thought it would be nice if my husband and I could share some enjoyment in the sport.
I have taken two golf lessons now, and with no other background, we took a two day trip to Batam, Indonesia over the Chinese New Year holidays. We really had a wonderful time. I played 9 holes on Thursday, and 18 holes on Friday! I didn’t keep score, but for playing golf for the 3rd time in my life, I didn’t think that I played that badly! On one Par 3 hole, I actually hit the green in three and sunk the ball in another 3. I know that isn’t spectacular, but for a beginner, I was excited!
We had a wonderful time during the Chinese New Year holiday! It was so much fun. Here is the New Year tree in the hotel lobby –
There was a celebratory dinner, Thursday, the 3rd of February, and it started with the traditional Yusheng toss. Basically, food items that are auspicious to the new year, are placed on a platter, and everyone takes chopsticks and they give everything a toss.
The traditional lion dance. I love the movement of the lion, it is magical!
I am playing 9 holes on Thursday. Am I becoming a golf nut?
Happy Quilting . . .
Nancy
Watch out for the Sidewinder Pardner
No, I am not talking about the venomous, pit-viper, I am referring to the handy bobbin winder that is a happy little addition to my studio space. I have never been thrilled with the way this Pfaff machine winds bobbins (to be fair, I have two other Pfaff’s that wind bobbins superbly). I wanted something where I could just wind a bunch of bobbins at the start of a project, and just have them at the ready. I had been eyeing up the Sidewinder. I told my family that I really wanted one for Christmas. But, like my usual, impetuous self, I bought it while shopping a fabulous Christmas sale at one of my quilt shops in the Louisville area.
The sidewinder is a portable bobbin winder made by Wm. Wright Co. Because the power is 220 volt here in Singapore, I can’t use the power cord that comes with the system unless I use a transformer. But, you can use two AA batteries to power the Sidewinder instead. I used the Sidewinder for the first time last week. I wound 5 bobbins, and I must say that I was impressed with the speed and the smooth flow of the thread onto the bobbin. I found that it did a fantastic job, is easy to operate, and I am really happy that I bought it! Be sure to determine if it will work with the your machine’s bobbins. They list the few machines where the bobbins are incompatible very clearly on the box. I am glad my bobbins work just fine.
Happy Quilting . . .
Nancy
NancyE_Quilts 