Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Our library quilt show


"The Art
of the Quilt"

October-November 2016
Gig Harbor Library
4424 Pt. Fosdick Drive

By members of
STITCH


My art quilt group, STITCH, hung its annual fall show at the Gig Harbor Library this week. I hope some of you can stop by and see it!

My "Yoga Girls" share space with Nirvana.
In other news, I just got back from a quick trip to L.A. to visit family and am out the door next to visit family in Madison, WI. More later!


Have a colorful day


Monday, September 19, 2016

Sew Day color



No, this isn't a new sewing gadget. It's the homemade grout scrubber that Nancy showed us when we met at her house yesterday for Sew Day. She got the idea on Pinterest and had her hubby (in the background with his Seahawks shirt) make it for her.


Game Day/Sew Day meant a hearty, spicy taco soup for lunch, followed by pumpkin cream cheese bars. Delish! I forgot to get photos of breakfast, but it included a yummy breakfast casserole, cinnamon bread and fruit.


But I digress. Here are the projects we worked on. I continued to hand appliqué the pomegranate table rug, which is a Sue Spargo pattern. It looks like a pumpkin, but once I add the seeds it will look more like a pomegranate.



Linda P. worked on another Sue Spargo appliqué -- the same wool birds that I made. In fact, it was Linda who introduced me to the wool birds and Sue's work. In the lower photo, Linda is bordering the wing with a bullion stitch.


Here's another wool appliqué that Linda P. worked on:


Next up is the inside of a fabric bowl that Linda made in a class by Hilde Morin last summer at the Sisters, OR, quilt festival:



Nancy worked on her winter embroidery in red and white. You can't tell from the photo, but she embroidered graceful swirls of white on the background.


Finally, Linda J. free-motion quilted her exuberant sunflower, which is an Ann Shaw pattern. It's almost as tall as she is!


Have a colorful day


Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Good blues


Blue, blue, my world is blue ...
but in a good way.

Low tide this morning.
We've been having bright blue skies and sparkling blue water here in Gig Harbor all week, with promises of more good blue days to come. So I took my coffee down to the water this morning and soaked it in.

Mt. Rainier floats above boats in Gig Harbor.
Then in the afternoon I walked out onto the downtown public pier to see the blue and white mountain and more blue sky and water.



Detail of "Searching" by Sherrie Spangler
 It put me in a mind to snap some pictures of watery blues in my quilts.

Detail of "Searching" by Sherrie Spangler

Detail of "Starfish Rising" by Sherrie Spangler

"House on the Water" by Sherrie Spangler

Detail of "Beach Houses" by Sherrie Spangler

Have a good blue day


Saturday, September 10, 2016

Last beach walk with Julia


I took one last beach walk behind our house with Julia yesterday before she headed off to grad school. The weather was glorious ... 70s and sunny, with calm sparkling water.


We can't see Mt. Rainier from our deck, but if we walk down a few houses it comes into view. A common saying here on a sunny day is, "The mountain is out!" It's 40 miles away but looms large.



The beach is pebbly, the water clear and cold. Crabs are common in our little area of the Puget Sound, and Julia found a few crab claws.


It was a beautiful, relaxing stroll, even though it signaled the end of summer. I'm sure we'll still have sunny days for awhile -- it's usually nice in the Northwest in September -- but the boat traffic has already slowed and it's dark now around 8 instead of 10. Wish we could store it up for the winter, but photos will have to do.


Have a colorful day


Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Yoga girls are quilted


I just finished free-motion quilting the yoga girls from the back, tracing around the flowers and leaves on the back (more or less). It worked out a lot better than I expected!


Now all I have to do is bind it.



Here is one of the many reasons that I like yoga:


For more creative inspiration, follow this link to NinaMarie's Off-the-Wall Fridays: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

And here is my daughter and two of my furry grand bunnies.


 Have a colorful day