Jasper the quilting kitty resting

Jasper the quilting kitty resting
Originally uploaded by blueskyquilter

Taking a break from quilting today. Spent most of the day talking to tech guys to set up eye-fi memory disks for my camera.

My Aunt Bea's fabric came in the mail. It is beautiful.

Looking forward

Pile of quilts made so far

I have uploaded pictures of all of my past quilts in to Flickr.  It feels good to have a chronology.  I am still missing a few here and there that I gave away as gifts.  I will add them as I get photos.
I feel liberated in a way.  I have learned from all these quilts and wall hangings in the past. However, I feel like it is a fresh start.  I can see where I have been, what I have turned to for inspiration ( and fabric). But now I have an idea what I want to learn and explore in a more focused way.  I would like to work with more solids. I would like to be a better machine quilter.  I love the idea of working on collections ( like my fav Nancy Crowe).  I can now look forward with a more focused intention.

Next project

Washed and cut fabric

Moving on to the next project.  I am making two lap quilts that I designed and call "7 quarter quilt."  In the past I have tried to keep it simple with interesting contrasting fabrics. Then I saw a fussy cut demo on Kate Conklin's blog.  Here is a link.

Fussy cut tutorial

Now I am torn between simple vs.  more interesting.  Hmm. How much time do I have?



This is a picture of  washed and cut fabric for the 7 quarter quilts on my cutting surface.  I read the book Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space by Lois L. Hallock.  It encouraged me to make over our loft into a quilt studio.  It has changed everything.  Now I have an organized efficient, inspirational space.  The cutting surface is the ergo 36" from the ground.  It really was just a higher bookcase, but it works. I can leave projects and go back to them.  Now I quilt everyday. Cool.

First blog entry

On Monday, I submitted my quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild Challenge 1.  Here are pictures of the quilt and my explanation of the inspiration.

Canada Fields

This quilt is called Canada Fields.  My inspiration came from a satellite photo.  This summer our daughter was on a canoe trip in Saskatchewan, Canada for one month.  The only communication would be for emergencies. To feel closer to her, we would check the weather online.  As I zoomed into the satellite pictures up north, I would see these patterns of the farmer's fields.  I was fascinated by the randomness of what was in the fields within a predictable structure of the roads and symmetrical property lines.  It inspired me to make this quilt of randomness within a structure.

Satellite of farmer's fields near Saskatoon, Canada

Here is the satellite photo of farmer's fields in Canada.

Jasper on patrol by Canada Fields

I could not resist putting in this photo of Jasper, the quilting kitty.