Fall in a Garden

Here are the rest of the pictures I said I'd post after visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden fiber arts show last week.  This popular garden is one of my favorite places to walk. Walking around the neighborhood with the dog is fine once in awhile but I get so tired of it. It makes such a difference to drive somewhere and then walk in more pleasant surroundings. It takes a little longer but I find I'm more likely to do it more often. 

Which way should I go? I chose Evening Island.

Ornamental cabbage

Near the waterfall

Outside the English walled garden

The leaves will be gone before you know it and soon I'll have to bundle up a little more. But I'm ready. Have a great week. Take a nice walk outside before the weather gets too cold.

Fall Quilt Show

Two of my favorite things -  fall and quilts. Every year around this time I make sure to stop by the Fine Art of Fiber exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois. The gardens are a lovely backdrop for this unique show. Because it's Illinois and fall, the show is held indoors. If you live near the Chicago area, it's worth stopping by this weekend.

The quilts that are featured are usually very different from the type of quilts I make - modern, bright, versatile and often non-traditional. There are always a few traditional quilts thrown into the mix, but the fun part is seeing just how creative some of the quilters get with color and fiber. It's always a glorious show of color indoors and out.

Made by Pat Niffenegger

This appliqued one was one of my favorites -

Made by Linda Howard

An English paper piecing demonstration

Made by Carole Zucco

Made by Mario Alonso

A beautiful exhibit on Victorian style embellished purses. Gorgeous detail.

I love this one! Flower Power. Made by Marcia Lee Hartnell

Made by Chris Deering

Made by Mario Alonso

Made by Nona C. Flores

The day was kind of gray - windy, cool and crisp. I spent over an hour walking around the garden afterwards and will post those pictures in a few days for those of you who love coming with me on my nature walks.

Red & White

Remember the red & white quilt exhibit that was held in New York a few years ago? I was not able to attend the show but sure wished I had seen it. Now, the book is out.

                                  

Members of my small quilt groups have become inspired and so we're making small red & white quilts in November and December. The culmination will be a "little" showing of our quilts mid-December. Find more info on my Small Quilt Lovers Facebook group  here 

Why don't you join us? You know you want to  . . . .

Your quilts do not have to be complicated or fancy -  just a simple red & white quilt smaller than  30"  x  30" will do.  Try making one from a pattern in one of my books or design one yourself using a favorite block. If you're new to quilting, it can be something really simple, like a four-patch or nine-patch quilt.

                                 

Doll quilt found on ebay

A little red & white quilt  -  one of the first quilts I made when I first began to quilt. Gotta love those wonky blocks and cut off points! We all have to start somewhere . . . .

Here's some inspiration - 

                                                       

Crib quilt, 1890 - See info on buying this quilt

    

            

A Lazy Day for Sewing

Another BORING post, LOL . . . . Fall has arrived here in Chicago after a late start. Today it's nice and cool and slightly wet outside so that means I'm likely to be sewing. Or making soup. The kind of quiet, lazy day I love.

There's nothing pressing on the homefront agenda. What should I do today?

The sewing desk is relatively clean for a change. Makes it easier to work on those fussy blocks you saw in my last post.

The desk gets cluttered up pretty fast. When it's clean I'm much more productive and can see the tiny paper pieces.

Paper piecing is going well - finally. 

All I need is a clean desk and some quiet and I'll be happy and productive. Living outside but still near Chicago sometimes means traffic and noise, dogs barking. Every time a police siren goes off after some speeder, the dog mimics it by howling back. Other dogs on the block chime in. Her favorite spot when I'm sewing? Right next to me, as close as she can get. To make sure I can hear the howling up close I guess. She does an awesome impression of a police siren and I always laugh but, much as I love her, it gets annoying pretty fast. 

Who me? Annoying??

I finished this appliqued DJ block yesterday after working on it for two days. (Applique's not my thing but I'm getting so much better the more I work on these tiny blocks.) I was so proud I wanted to frame it.  But then I decided if I did that I'd have to make ANOTHER one to put in my Jane quilt. THAT'S not happening, ha ha.

Should probably also get around to organizing those overflowing scrap baskets of mine. Pretty soon I'm going to run out of baskets and have to start using bowls, haha. Need to put the fat quarters away too.

But maybe I'll play around with some wool instead. 

The day is young. Who knows what stitching marvels will occur?

Getting There

Thanks for all of your kind words about my "boring" blog. You all have put me in a sentimental mood with your nice comments. I have no intention of stopping the blog just yet. It's nice to have feedback and know some are actually reading it. Otherwise, it's a whole lot of wasted time. I do hesitate to share much because I often feel I am not doing anything of much interest to anyone else. Just living my life, you know?  In addition to working and teaching and taking care of the family here's something else I've been busy with for five years - 

There's almost no room in my tiny house to lay out all of my Dear Jane blocks but last weekend I put up a makeshift design wall of batting so I could finally see all of them together. It's amazing to see how much work has really gone into this quilt. Most of the rows have only a few blocks left to go. Yay! It's fun to see my progress. Almost looks like a quilt.

I know that there are some of you want to begin this quilt or get back to it if it's been put away for awhile. I so encourage you to do this. At the very least, if you began one and know for sure you will never finish - take the blocks you have completed and make them into a smaller quilt or table runner. Be proud of what you have accomplished. There is no shame in not finishing. It's not for everyone. 

Once you commit to making this quilt then you have to accept the fact that it will take you awhile; try not to become discouraged. Very few of us have the luxury of only working on this one quilt all day long, every day, until we finish. We also have work and lives and families and other projects we want to make. That doesn't mean you have to stop completely if you can't finish it immediately. I don't mind the long time frame as long as I can keep going, slow as it may go, one block at a time. I keep my book out near my sewing table where I can see it to have the constant reminder in case I become inspired. You just can't lose momentum or you will get stalled. Ask me how I know.

I let mine sit way too long too many times. But then two years ago in my Small Quilt Talk group (SQT for those not in the loop) we had a month where our small quilt challenge was to finish a UFO, any UFO. I decided to revive my DJ blocks that month and some people there joined me. That's why I started an online DJ support group - so we could keep ourselves accountable, move forward and get support and encouragement to finish by talking about our progress. Some have made fantastic progress. 

Three things have helped me progress - The DJ Electric Quilt software, my Yahoo DJ group (see blog sidebar for info if you're interested in joining us) and finally making the decision to tackle paper piecing, which I have always hated and put off learning.  See my post on this.  You can certainly make the quilt without paper piecing and I sure tried to avoid it for as long as I could but it's much easier using this technique to make some of the blocks. And when you've made a few difficult blocks that don't look half bad, well, then you become motivated to go on and make more.

To those of you who started but struggle with this quilt, all I can say is - Keep going! You have to find what works for you. Some do it methodically row by row but I chose to skip around so I could do more of the easier blocks first and not get stuck. By the time I made enough blocks I knew I could tackle some of the more difficult ones without quitting. Then I figured out that committing to making at least one block a month gets me motivated enough that I want to go on to make a few more. If it's been awhile since I worked on my blocks, then I choose an easy one to ease myself back into it. I am not an expert quilter when it comes to these small blocks. Many are difficult, but I seem to be able to focus better on the difficult ones when I am motivated. What works/worked for you? 

It seems longer but it's only been five years since I started my Dear Jane journey and I had to take some time off in between then and now. In the back of my mind I never really knew if I would finish. But, several years ago, during a long illness, I made a decision that if I do nothing else, then I will try to finish this quilt. So it got bumped up on the list of Important Things I Needed to Do. Working on this Jane quilt takes you into a place that calms you and if there ever was a time I needed calming that was it. Jane Stickle was supposedly an invalid and bedridden while she was stitching her quilt, did you know that? 

Kudos to all of you who have finished the quilt. You should be proud. It's an awesome accomplishment. I like to think I'm right behind ya!

Jane's quilt on display in Bennington, Vermont. I was thrilled to make the pilgrimage last year.