Put it on Paper

I often struggle when designing my blocks with having to cut the fabric before I'm sure that I will LOVE how the fabrics will go together to finish the block.  Reading saves the day!  While reading one of my quilting mags, a reader had a tip to make a color copy of the fabric on paper and cut out your pieces from the paper sheets and lay together in your design - It works wonders!  It was in the June 2016 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting, "Tips from Readers" section.

I chose the fabrics that I thought would be the finalists in the block - the teal color is a favorite fabric that I have been saving for something special and want to have it be the center piece of a project - I just haven't been able to be positive that I will LOVE it once I put the feature fabrics together for real.  I just laid the fabrics on the glass of the copy machine and pressed green for go!  It doesn't matter if there is some white around the edges - you can trim that off when you cut your pieces.

Color photo copies aren't always exactly true to color but they are awfully close.  Use your paper scissors for cutting the pieces - paper will dull your rotary and your scissors alike!

I drew the pieces on with a fine tip Sharpie and then just cut them with scissors instead of trying to rotary cut them..  I made multiple copies of each fabric in case I wanted to  change up the pieces or rearrange them  in a different setting.

Cutting the paper pieces and taking a picture of it let me see that these colors aren't quite what I was looking for - the darks are too dark and the light is really a medium!   A secondary trick is to lay the pieces on different background colors and rearrange them to find the one you love.  It works great and I didnt have to cut my beautiful fabric before I was really ready to build the quilt!

Have fun with it - Im pretty sure this could work for scrap booking and other textile arts as well!

Giving meaning to Mothers Day!

The wheel of the year is passing so quickly this year!  Easter has gone and Mothers Day is upon us soon (May 8th if you didn't realize)!  This year it appears that both of my boys will be out of town for Mothers Day and I know that will give me cause for lament.

It is also the time of year for Alaskans to take the studded (winter) tires off the cars.  This is appropo to Mothers Day in that as my car was getting worked on today I walked over to one of my favorite stores in the Universe - The Boardwalk Shop.  Inside the Boardwalk is a Co-op of shops that have such wonderful things for mothers, children babies and even men!  There is even a coffee shop - that espresso helps when you are tired and have to wait a long time!  And they have a mothers appreciation wall set up in the cafe (The Coffee Corner - where I was waiting),

I am loving this idea!  What a great thing to have each person post on a real wall, (not a facebook) a photo of their mother and what they appreciate about their mother!  The photo below shows one of the posts - the lady in the picture just happens to be my marvelous Aunt Linda - Cranberry Cottage in the Boardwalk Shop happens to be owned by my cousins - her daughters!

Below shows the Coffee Corner where the wall is located - there are a few posts there already and the store is having  special event the day before Mothers Day to help celebrate.  It makes you really think about your own mother and why you appreciate her!  I also thought about my appreciation for mothers everywhere.  It is the hardest job on the planet and they do not give an instruction manual as all of us mothers know!  Holy crap!  I have such great memories of Aunt Linda though as a mother figure - she had 6 kids and one summer my parents went to hike the Chilkoot Trail which is a 33 mile stretch that the Klondike gold miners traversed.  Of course, after the folks left us with Auntie Linda we got chicken pox and impetigo!  We were sick the whole time, but Aunt Linda took great care of us!  Uncle Neil did his part too - he kept us entertained by playing his guitar and singing as well as yodeling for us - I have tried to repeat his yodel to no avail.  It was a horrible wonderful time! 

The Boardwalk Shop also includes the Alaska Chicks store - Alaskan clothing for women of all ages!  Some really cool stuff - one of my favorites are the boot cuffs - a bit of lace to wear at the top of your boots so they dont look so much like man wear!  They also have these great little camisoles that have lace at the bottom to wear under your hoodie sweatshirt and the lace pokes out the bottom and is so stinking cute!  Makes mom feel pampered and pretty!

Another favorite item in the store is the Gladheart Acres shop - they are soap outlaws like me and make wonderful soap products!  Cinnamon Apple Tea goat milk soap is what I am currently using (top 5 soap choice for me) but they have bins and bins of different soaps and lotions and lots of wonderfulness!   More of what will make mom feel pampered and special!

There is a book store - what co-op/mom rest/oasis/waiting zone would be complete with out one- it is complete with notebooks, pens, Vera Bradley items (I have the wallet but her notebooks are my favorite and the pencils), and clothing as well as some vintage items like quilts, lamps and tables!

The Co-op of shops is in the middle of a "town square" style mall area with a very busy parking lot/street out front, but it really feels like an oasis inside - no pressure to buy but always someone ready to help if you need it.  There are chocolates at the ready and a hot cup of tea anytime you need it!  I hope you have a Boardwalk Shop oasis near you or at least close enough that you can go there and feel appreciated and pampered at least for Mothers Day!  Father's Day too!

Listen Up! I have a shovel!

We often have funny memories from growing up at Snowfire Gardens and all of us trying to work together planting, weeding, caring for, and harvesting there.  A lot of mine are memories of the queen bee (my mother) trying to get us to get the work done through various type of cajoling, threatening, and bribing depending upon the circumstances.

One of my favorites is a time when I was about 14 and my brother was 11 and we were all out working out in the garden - my dad included.  No one would listen to what my mother wanted us to do and we were all talking over each other - in good nature - but incessantly talking and arguing about what should happen that day.  My mother had finally had it and she shouted (which she does not do often so the frustration level must have been high)! "Listen up!  I HAVE a Shovel!"  All the talking and arguing stopped and we all started laughing - because if you know my mother you know that her having a shovel is not really a threat but it broke the tension so to speak and we got the project underway with a good memory point thrown in!

The welding class at the school is my sons favorite class and the instructor (Mr Parker at Houston High School) is a ball of fire with a creative metal imagination who can upcycle just about anything at all!  What does this have to do with a shovel you ask?  They had heard about my heinous moose problem and made me a creative upcycle to "solve" my problem!

It is a wonderful upcycled shovel in which the wooden handle had broken and they replaced it with  a metal one for a stand!  It says "stay out" and has a flower torched out.  It adds a little whimsy to the garden and makes me smile when I see it.  I have a shovel!!

The base is a section of casing that the kids welded into a planter and welded their names onto it as well.  In the above photo the side facing the camera says "To Mrs Humphreys".  The two pieces are stand alone so I can use them together or separate them.  A square planter will fit into the base section perfectly and it is heavy so the snow plow driver doesn't put a hurt on it either!  The "stay out" helps too!

You can see some of the writing on the side in the above photo - its just a wonderful reminder of those students and that shovel memory from the garden of long ago!

I love that the welding class and instructor are using left over materials and broken items and making them new and wonderful!  Keep up the good work Guys and Gals!  Thank you for the memories!