Yellow Stuff

When working on a quilt, I keep the threads for the project in one of my many fabric bowls.


These bowls are addicting to make. I've got them in various colors. I found you can also manipulate them into a shallow shape, more like a dish.


The following link gives written and visual instructions:

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/33825/how-to-sew-a-fabric-bowl

Hybrid

Created for a special exhibit at the Miami Orchid Show, this is my interpretation of a hybrid orchid.
To finish the fused applique edges a varied satin stitch width adds interest.


Several small orchids are quilted in the background. I drew the orchid on tracing paper and pinned it to the quilt as a template.


After quilting, I tear away the paper, then place the work under my magnifier floor lamp and use a good tweezers to pluck away any stray bits of paper. There are a lot of magnifier lamps on the market. I ordered a Mighty Bright Floor Stand Magnifier Lamp through Amazon.com.

Yellow Stuff

Today my husband and I enjoyed the annual Concours d'Elegance in Geneva IL where over 200 vintage and new cars of distinction are on display. Here's a sampling of the bits of yellow:





Our favorite was a 1926 Packard Roadster.

Heartburst

Machine pieced and hand quilted, my first competition quilt made its debut at World Quilt in 1999. David and Peter Mancuso, of Mancuso Show Management, host this and several other quilt competitions. From my experience with quilt shows, their contest rules and entry forms are the most streamlined and easy to follow. You can get show info and entry forms, plus view prior year winning entries at:

http://www.quiltfest.com/ The heart theme is repeated in the background quilting.

Yellow Stuff

Yellow and blue is always a winning combination.


I inherited these vintage Dutch boy and girl salt and pepper shakers from my husband's aunt Jean.

The first written reference to salt is found in the Book of Job, recorded about 2,250 BC . . . From ancient times to the present, the importance of salt to humans and animals has been recognized. Thousands of years ago, animals created paths to salt licks, and men followed seeking game and salt. Their trails became roads and beside the roads; settlements grew. These settlements became cities and nations . . . Salt has greatly influenced the political and economic history of the world.

--from http://www.mortonsalt.com

The history of the spice trade is, above all, the history of pepper, the ‘King of Spices’. Pepper has been moving westward from India for 4,000 years. It has been used in trading as an exchange medium like money and, at times, has been valued so highly that a single peppercorn dropped on the floor would be hunted like a lost pearl.

--from http://www.theepicentre.com

Into the Deep

One of two small quilts made for the PAQA Water Challenge. See the entire collection at:

http://www.artquilters.com/

The history of the anchor dates back millennia. The most ancient anchors were probably rocks and many rock anchors have been found dating from at least the Bronze Age . . . The ancient Greeks used baskets of stones, large sacks filled with sand, and wooden logs filled with lead . . . Such anchors held the vessel merely by their weight and by their friction along the bottom. Iron was afterwards introduced for the construction of anchors, and an improvement was made by forming them with teeth, or "flukes", to fasten themselves into the bottom.

--from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Anchor

Yellow Stuff

Part of my stash. One can never have too much fabric. Especially yellow.

Lady in Red

I'm a member of PAQA (Professional Art Quilt Alliance.) Occasionally we participate in a small quilt challenge. You can view several of our challenge exhibits online at:

http://www.artquilters.com/

Modeled after a hydrant next to the Lutheran church in town, Lady in Red was one of my submissions to the PAQA Water Challenge.

Here's some hydrant trivia by Curt Wohleber.

The ancestor of the fire hydrant is the even more humble fireplug, a term often still used. Fireplugs date back from at least the 1600s, when firefighters would drill holes in wooden street mains to provide water for bucket brigades. Afterward, they stopped each hole with a wooden plug and marked the location in case the plug was needed again. After fire destroyed three-quarters of London in 1666, the city installed new mains with predrilled holes and plugs that rose above ground level.

--from http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2002/3/2002_3_10.shtml

Yellow Stuff

Feeding my favorite bird: the American Goldfinch.

A healthy male is brilliant lemon yellow, a color produced by carotenoid pigments in its diet.