Tag: Debby Brown

did ya ever?

img_20161119_111224Have a night where you didn’t sleep so well for no particular reason? It’s happened on more than one occasion, being a woman nearing a certain age I’m sure this will again. This usually happens when there is something to do the next day, like get up early and be coherent. Wild and crazy dreams woke me up every two hours. Sheesh!

That was bad enough. I checked into facebook where I saw a picture of an alligator nose coming up through a toilet bowl. Not a big deal, but in my sleep deprived mind memories flooded my brain of the trailer in which we resided in North Las Vegas and someone sharing stories of scorpions being found in toilets. I was five when this happened. Five. I still remember this and shudder with fear of going to the potty without some adult making sure everything was okay.

And it doesn’t help that as I write little flashes of memory of some neighborhood teenager telling me about seeing Jaws at the movies. Okay that’s fine. The vivid imagination leading to nightmares and falling out of bed didn’t help.

What has all of this to do with quilting? Well, the trip into the City was to meet up with a friend and get a sneak peek of a quilt shop that will open. At some point there will be a facebook live, but today wasn’t the day. Spending time with my friend was important. Then I met Cathy at Sarabeths! I had pineapple and mango waffle. Oh how decadent! I’ll go back there for breakfast again.

20170614_131401The 1000 Postcards for Peace facebook page is live. Please feel free to join us. Debby shares the thought behind the project here.  And the Facebook Live vid we did. It’s a beautiful story, and a good way of adding something beautiful into the world. Will this solve the problems? No. But it is healing for the maker. It is a moment of creativity, and prayer. As quilters we know how much quilting can heal wounded hearts, warm people, offer comfort. And so we stitch on.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

 

Gah!

dance bang head 1975

I’m not sure what happened however, all of the sudden Microsoft Office isn’t working on my laptop. So early this afternoon I handed this thing off to the in-house tech support. It’s still not working. Gah! I’m going to have to give it back to him tomorrow. He says there’s an app I downloaded and I don’t think so. The only thing I opened is a document from someone I know, that I need. It needs some work. I have an alternate plan but the look isn’t quite as nice as Word. Oh have mercy.

Tomorrow the in-house tech sets up the air conditioning in the sewing room. This will be one happy quilter. I am jonesing to sew. I need to quilt. My quilting person is deeply unsettled and has some things she wants to stitch out. But first the a/c then a wee bit of a tidy up so that I can once again function. I mean I started this tidy up then I started sewing, then I went to Quilt Market. It’s a common experience among quilters. I could bake cake and go to Debby’s for the day. I don’t really need the cake. It’s more the mental space.

My sweetie (aka the in-house tech) made dinner today. In the few minutes before I turned on the tv to see this:

Well done Ford for the commercial featuring, promoting and supporting sewing, and well done Egypt “Ify” Ufele. A little more looking around and my sweetie found this Times Ledger article on how Chubiiline was created. Gotta give it to Gramma for teaching Ify to sew, navigate some tough social interactions, and her mom for creating a space for the sewing to happen. I love that she sews for at least two hours every day. I love that she loves her body just as it is.

This is timely as I listened to This American Life podcast 589 Tell Me I’m Fat. I can’t stop thinking about the experience shared by one woman in her crusade to be thin, because from her description she’s not healthy physically, and more importantly emotionally.

2017-05-28 12.42.34After all the angst of trying to figure out who I am in the quilting world I think that craftsman (yeah, yeah language but what the heck it’s my blog) is the best fit. I get how this machine quilting works, though there is still much to learn, explore, dream, and think about. And even more to do, the ideas keep floating through my brain so quickly I wonder if I’ll ever have time to stitch them all out. Probably not, and not the point. And no, I’m not going to go around telling people I’m a craftsman this is simply personal clarity, a gift to me.

And as soon as that a/c is installed I’m quilting baby! First up a post card #1000postcardsforpeace!

PS – did you see this on Instagram today?

Working on a little wall hanging. All precuts! Simple! #sewbatik #itsallaboutbatik #precuts #precutbatiks

A post shared by sewbatik (@sewbatik) on

Sew stinkin’ cute!! Diane (or Bruce) will be at the Vermont Quilt Festival.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

PS

Arsenic & Old Lace, Chocolate cake and a long arm

Arsenic & Old Lace, Chocolate cake and a long arm

 

Debby Brown has a Handi Quilter Avante in her studio, and on occasion when needed she lets me use it to baste my larger quilts. Yesterday I basted two quilts Arsenic & Old Lace pieced by Keith Dommer and Supernova in Chartreuse designed by none other than Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero. A&O L has lived in my studio for a while as life has happened. As I basted yesterday thoughts of quilting came to mind – which is such a good thing oh the thinks you think when you think quilting. Keith uses elements including hexagons, circles, and old linen, well leaving me with great blank space to work in. When he sent the quilt I looked up the color of arsenic gray, yellow, and black all come up and then there are shades of blue and acid green leaving me a lot of room for interpretation here.

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Now when I get to Supernova I don’t have a particular plan in mind however as I write decision made, whew. I need more fabric. She says, shocking no one reading this missive.

Kindness and gratitude matter. Both are a balm to wounded souls. They are a cup of cold water to someone who is in need of refreshment. A cup of coffee with and a good chat with good friend. Lemonade on a hot summer day. These things are all refreshing.

Sometimes we have challenges in life, challenges in our communities. Friends have troubles. Things are going all icky in the greater world and the events trigger awful memories. Things at work go all haywire in so many ways and we need a word of encouragement and support.  We might see all this happening and want to do something about it. We may not be able to fix it, but we can be there through our words.

While I was at Debby’s we had a facebook live with Joliene Williams. Joliene supplied me with Girl Scout Cookies. First I’ve had in a looooooooooooooong time.

Debby Brown and I are starting a project called 1000 postcards for peace.

In the next week or so I’m starting a facebook page that will be a place to offer ideas, share experiences and support those in our life who might need a little support or a little something because we can. I’ll post again here once the page is up, and directions are available.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Quilterly Writers Block

Quilterly Writers Block

I’m a quilter. And by that I love to free motion machine quilt. On and off I’ve had to work through the equivalent of writers block. I just. couldn’t. quilt. Those moments were tough but often led to something that would pleasantly surprise me. Whew.
Would it surprise you that, while I’ve been quilting on and off over the last few years,  I haven’t really done anything original, inspired, intentional for a long time. I’ve dabbled. Made a few small pieces. I’ve looked wistfully at the pile of quilts in need of time, attention, and breath.

T

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Cherrywood van Gogh Challenge

he last few years the need-to-dos have taken, necessary, priority over the gee-I-get-to-dos producing a level of fatigue not previously experienced.

I can assure you this has not been the most pleasant experience. Quilting is something akin to breathing. An exchange of oxygen, and carbon dioxide that gives life, helps clear the thoughts, work out whatever is going on in daily life. The need to do list has not changed, however the stress that built up from the need-to-do’s, has started to recede. I’m beginning to breathe deeply.

Overall quilt market was good, there’s still follow up to do. There were a few very difficult moments. Long about late Wednesday afternoon I stopped what I was doing, headed up to the sewing room and started the Cherrywood challenge. Cut, stitch. Cut, stitch. Cut, stitch. Rinse, repeat until this piece said, “I’m complete.” I’ve added a border bigger than currently needed because I have a habit of quilting densely and shrinking a quilt.2017-05-28 12.42.34

Well then this happened. A while back I had a give away on a post offering to quilt a small piece for one of the folks who commented. I knew it would take a little while and let the winner know that as finishing a quilt or two and getting ready for Market were the higher priorities. The winner said she likes red, so red Oakshott it is. Teeny tiny stitching makes me happy, so teeny tiny stitching all over this eight inch square quilt that needs trimming, facing, signing and sending.

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The back is as pretty as the front. This is making me think that trimming it up, and running a tight satin stitch along the edge might be a better plan.

As I’ve quilting a friend has repeatedly said, “the dam is broken!”, creativity has free reign. And these two pieces are evidence that the water is flowing, I’m breathing the air. My heart is full, and there are plans afoot for a couple of other projects.

I love quilting.

Teri

Lesson Learned:

Don’t mess with Debby’s Chocolate Cake.
This is by far the most important thing learned at Spring Quilt Market.

 

Needless to say I handed over the fork in my hand.

My bandaid after trying Debby's chocolate cake @debbybrownquilts

A post shared by Teri Lucas (@terilucas) on

Luckily I had a bandage in my purse. I was really wanting a Hello Kitty bandage, sadly none was readily available when the need was most pressing.

The rest of this week will be Market follow-up and some quilting.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Tour Day 1

Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Tour Day 1

18217683_10154868553702663_1383341271_nWelcome to the first top on the Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop 2017 hosted by Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com.

Well. Well. Well. There is something beautiful about the process of opening the windows, blowing out the stale air, pick the stuff up off the floor of the sewing studio, straighten out the fabric, do something to invigorate the quilting senses. Truth be told I don’t mind a bit of a creative mess, however it’s a bit out of control.

When Cheryl mentioned the blog hop I signed up immediately because:

fabric shelf

oh the spillage! It’s terrible. Years ago a friend showed me how to store fabric for maximum use of space.

line it up
line the folded edge of the yardage
fold it over
fold over the ruler – keeping the folded edge lined up
tuck fabric
tuck the last bit of fabric under

 

pull ruler half way out
pull the ruler half way out, and fold the fabric on the ruler to create a lovely folded edge
stack it up
bonus! more fabric fits in the cubby
stack it up 2
the beauty of the fabric shows
making progress
it’s amazing what a couple of hours does for the look of the shelves

The bonus of tidying up is that I get to pet fabric, see what I have, see what still speaks to my quilt heart, and if I want to let anything go. All of it still speaks to my heart. With several pieces I could see whole cloth quilts. My gut says a few of these will happen. One surprised me, deeply surprised me because I don’t do repeats on quilts. But that’s a post for another day.

And here are the blogs for the next 21 days. That’s right 3+ weeks of Spring Clean Your Studio, please visit each blogger on their day. See more studios, meet some cool people, be inspired. #springcleanyourstudio

Happy Quilting!

May 1 – Teri Lucas 
May 2 – Tammy Silvers
May 3 – Emily Breclaw
May 4 – Amalia Moursiewicz
May 5 – John Kubiniec
May 6 – Debby Brown –
May 7 – Melissa Marie Collins
May 8 – Delve MIY
May 9 – Misty Cole
May 10 – Sam Hunter
May 11 – Dale Ashera-Davis
May 12 – Sara Mika
May 13 – Sarah Trumpp
May 14 – Carma Halterman
May 15 – Jessica Darling
May 16 – Lisa Chin
May 17 – Sally Johnson
May 18 – Mandy Leins
May 19 – Shruti Dandekar
May 20 – Jane Davila
May 21 – Ebony Love
May 22 – Cheryl Sleboda

 

 

I’m piecing! I’m piecing!

20170411_131224Then I looked at this photo and thought good golly I do need to tidy up.

I like that the folder has orange dots.

And a cool thread holder from Blue Fig. Do you see that glorious silk thread? I love silk thread.

I see a memory from my friend Debby. She has an incredible sense of humor and a way of presenting gifts that imbues a sense of beauty and fun.

And business cards. This has me thinking of something I can make to store all of them easily. I could invest in a rolodex but what would be the fun in that?

So I’m off to do some more stitching, make a few calls. Organize some more fabric, and start a blog post for sometime next month. It’s going to take a little bit to write and get pics. And well, do some stuff to get the pics necessary for the post.

Happy Quilting!

Teri