Lemon Tree Tales

Half Square Triangle border

I'm participating in the third Spring Fling Round Robin hosted by Margaret. This time we all made our own center block and mailed it to Margaret. She then sent them to people for the first border. We're supposed to only post sneak peeks so that no one really knows for sure which one is their quilt. Well I couldn't resist playing with Photoshop to keep it a secret. The only true things in this block, besides the half square triangle border I made, are the pale ecru and tan fabric triangles. Everything else has been changed with color filters. However I'm really liking the way this looks. I may have to make one of these blocks up for myself. It's almost as fun tweaking a real block in Photoshop as sewing it ... almost, but not quite.

Mammogram Slam

Today was my very first mammogram ... ah the pleasures of being 41. Actually I was supposed to schedule this last year but I forgot to do it. Okay to be honest it wasn't the best feeling in the world. A little uncomfortable even. But it is necessary so ultimately I'm glad to have done it. Lynne Butcher has a doll pattern that really does a good job of showing you what it felt like in a humorous way. She's called Mammogram Slam.

Below is a picture of Lynne Butcher's doll pattern (not made by me):

Colorful pillows

Do you remember the Crate & Barrel table linens that my mom bought me in December? Well I finally got them out and turned them into new pillows for our sofa. It's a great sofa, nice and comfy but it's such a deep dark blue, midnight really, that it needed something light. Our living room and dining room are basically furnished in blues yet I've discovered that it's lacking contrasts. When we saw these place mats and cloth napkins we knew that it was exactly the pizazz needed. They make me think of colorful mosaic pottery.

From this ...

to this!

The center dark green stripe was much wider than the others. That was quickly fixed with a few pin tucks. Voila!

New dolls for my studio walls

It seems that lately every thing that comes into my studio has some aqua or purple in it. The quilt from Emma was full of gorgeous aquas and is now hanging on the wall next to my dressform. Last week I was lucky enough to receive a lovely doll from my Secret Pal Donna at my doll club. She knew that I liked some of Linda Misa's dolls (Tact-Ilse blog)that were in the book, 500 Handmade Dolls. So Donna made one using Lisa's pattern.

Those beautiful peacock feathers were fussy cut, then appliqued onto her dress followed by machine embroidery in gold metallic thread. Donna said that it took her two days just to do that part. Wow! She's lovely and looks just right on my wall next to my mermaid quilt. I can look up from the computer monitor and see her now and smile.

Now the other doll was won at the silent auction that was hosted by another doll club that I joined. They only meet four times a year which works out better for me than a monthly gathering. Originally I wasn't going to get anything because I really don't need anymore fabric or trims. Ah, but when I saw the Pinball Wizard it was love at first sight. I had to have him and now he sits on my desk next to the lemon branches.

Bloggers Quilt Festival 2009 - my favorite quilt

Today is the first annual Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of Park City Girl. Everyone has been posting their favorite quilt made. Most of my quilts have either been baby quilts or "doll"/wall quilts. And all, not just a few, have been given away. But there is one that I remember with fondness. It's my very first original design.

It was made as part of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap in February last year. I was inspired by a wonderful tree that I'd seen on an Amazon flyer and the rest just took off from there.

My favorite parts were finding all the buttons from my stash ...
 

... and using silk ties remnants for the flying geese.

Now go and have a look at all of the wonderful quilts that are being displayed at the Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Sunfire Mermaid

In the sunny rocks near New Zealand, where the water is warm, clear and deep, there lives a most elusive sea creature. She's sunshine captured beneath the waves. Sailors have tried to catch her but she swims away each time. I was lucky enough to persuade her to pose for photographs. Making her debut, here's the sunfire mermaid. Her name is Moana Ahi which loosely translated from the Maori language means Ocean Fire.

Some close ups:

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She's made from batik cottons and a tightly woven muslin with hand dyed cheesecloth and many beads. I took this as an online class by Angela Jarecki hosted on Doll Street Dreamers. They're running the class again, so if you'd like to make one too sign up for it today. I guarantee that you'll have a lot of fun. Alas, Moana Ahi can not remain at my home. She's destined to live with a lady from my doll club as part of the Secret Pal exchange.

A Mermaid's Tail

The studio table is a bit messy with all the cuttings and scraps from this mermaid's tail. It's just the first step to making a hopefully nice mermaid cloth doll. We'll see how it turns out.

First I have to clean up the messy house ... I made Pastel (a meat/matzo pie) for Passover. If I get everything together I'd also like to make some Albondigas Soup (a mini matzo ball soup). Both recipes are from my mother in law's mother. Yummmm! Just don't tell my MIL that I added extra spices to it. Steve loves it that way.  :-)   Happy Passover!!!

4SQS 5 Quilt: Spring Tulip Fields

This little quilt should be arriving at its home any day now but I just couldn't wait a minute longer to share it with you. It was for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap 5 with a monochromatic theme. My partner chose black with an accent of red. She didn't specify a season but luckily before I designed it I discovered via her blog that she doesn't like Winter. So I opted to go with my favorite season, one of hope and new beginnings: Spring. It was inspired by the lovely tulip fields and these photos in particular, here and here.

Here's the back:

The labels were machine embroidered with my Bernina's alphabet option on the hanging triangles:

Quilting details:

A few heat set Swarovski crystals to add a tiny bit of sparkle:

This really was a challenging quilt for me. At first I was thrown off by the color black but then realized that I should treat it as a b&w photo that has had a portion of it color tinted. Once I overcame that roadblock then it was a matter of choosing a theme. For some reason red triggered the visual of roses or tulips. Tulips won because of how graphic those tulip fields look. From there it was all a matter of just pulling out fabrics and doing it.

The process: