Sneak Peek Sunday

It’s that time of year again – when I rant about Daylight Savings Time.  The original purpose of DST was to add an hour to standard time to make better use of daylight and conserve energy.

Germany was the first country of the modern era to use DST in 1916 (during WWI) to minimize artificial lighting to save fuel for the war effort.  In the US, President Wilson continued the worldwide trend by signing DST into the law; again, to support the war effort.

The Water Clock inside The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

But the history and usage of the idea goes back centuries.  Ancient civilizations adjusted their daily schedules to the movements of the Sun.  The Romans used water clocks with different scales for different months of the year.  Now that’s an idea I can get behind – gradual changes per month would be easier for me to adjust to rather than this twice a year disruption!

So now that I have the rant behind me, here’s a sneak peak of the two quilts that I have finished quilting recently:

I have four new pantos from Urban Elementz that I have been auditioning.  The two for today are both designed by Sarah Ann Myers and digitized by Patricia Ritter.  The one on the brown quilt is called Alfalfa.  I like that one a lot.  And the one on the red/green quilt is called Retrographics 2.  I like the design, but I will adjust that one to make it more compact the next time I use it.  I wanted a more open design so my children’s quilts wouldn’t be so stiff, but I think the way I did this one is too open.  It does look good, but there will be another time!  More photos when these get bound …

Sunday Sewing

I’m joining with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at: http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

My intention is to make various animals this year in the Challenge colors-of-the-month.  The January color is PURPLE, so these pieces were on the cutting mat this morning:

And sewn together, you've probably guessed that they make this (I have cut out all of the parts and will be making three):

This cute elephant block was designed by Miri and a free pattern is offered on her blog Milk and Honey Quilts:

http://milkandhoneyquilts.blogspot.com/2009/03/free-pattern-elephant-baby-quilt-block.html

And then I got distracted with organizing a little of the sewing room to decide what to put next on the quilting frame.  First, I put all of the UFOs into the purchased bins and labeled them:

Then I went through the cloth baskets of tops and backings and put each top with an intended back:

They look lovely now and all ready to pick one and quilt it up!  It feels good to be a little more organized.  Unfortunately, I discovered several more UFOs in one of the cloth baskets:

They never end!  Whatever made me think I had corralled them all?!

I just had to stop and unplug everything since we are expecting bad weather.  We are under a tornado watch until 10 this evening and there will be severe thunderstorms.  Our Sunshine Skyway bridge is already closed to all traffic due to high winds.  I definitely want to protect my expensive equipment, so it will have to be hand-sewing this evening.

A Designer and Gardening

I tend to gravitate towards animal prints when selecting fabrics for quilts for children.  You might recognize some of the artwork of Sue Zipkin because you can see her designs on greeting cards, paper products, scrapbook materials and other things in addition to fabric.  Aren’t these adorable?!

And this is Sue Zipkin.  Check out her home page and see her extra special, vibrant watercolor butterfly.

Two fabric lines that Clothworks has out now are Cool Cats and Froggin:

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/collection.asp?ID=298

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/collection.asp?ID=278

Click on the links under the photos to see all of the colorways and fabrics in these lines.  Sue and Clothworks are also sponsoring two free quilt patterns designed around these collections.  Click on these photos to go to a .pdf file with directions:

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/pdfs/patterns/coolcatsquilt.pdf

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/pdfs/patterns/frogginquilt.pdf

My own special animal was supervising my gardening this past weekend.  Here she is directing which overgrown flowers needed to be cut down and replaced.

And here are the before and after shots – I put in pansies for the winter since the local newspaper advised they should make it through the winter in my area.  Good luck, Pansies!

Before

After

I also did a little cleaning up in the sewing room and ran across this beginning of a homespun fabric top.  There are lots of pieces cut out in various size squares and logs and I had started putting them together.  Apparently, they had gotten set aside and forgotten.  Now that I want to put them together I don’t have a working sewing machine – heavy sigh.  Maybe I’ll get the call tomorrow to pick up my machine!

It's a start!

Exploring Fabric Designers

I have been continuing my journey of exploration into discovering who designs the fabrics I like to use when making quilts for children.  I was at a local quilt shop recently and put several fabric collections onto my Christmas Wish List.  Then I looked into the very talented people that put these collections together.

First up is Richard Neuman:

Richard holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising design and a master’s degree in art graphics.  His paintings and designs are held in high regard by many patrons worldwide, and he includes  clients among large corporations such as GE and John Deere.  His artistic efforts include whimsical renditions of tractors, barns, lighthouses and much  more.  To learn more about the background of this talented man, see http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/designer_bio.asp?ID=30

Have you ever met a kid that could resist watching heavy machinery?  Me neither (and not just the boys … just sayin’)!  Well, during his varied career, Richard (as illustrator) partnered with author Stacey Gabel and introduced the early reader series of books for children with “The New Blue Tractor”.  Check out these darling books for children who love machines at his website:  http://www.richard-neuman-artist.com/

Some of Richard’s designs are now available in the Clothworks Textiles collections.  Two of my favorites are “Ready Go” and “Choo Choo You” (I’m a BIG train lover!):

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/pdfs/patterns/readygoquilt.pdf

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/pdfs/patterns/choochooyouquilt.pdf

Clothworks has also sponsored free patterns for quilters.  Click on the links under the pictures above to take you to .pdf files of the free patterns shown here.

To see all of the fabrics in each of these collections, click on the following links.

Ready Go:

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/collection.asp?ID=316

Choo Choo You:

http://www.clothworkstextiles.com/collection.asp?ID=290

Another talented designer tomorrow!