A Healthy Dose of Mother Nature

Hello Everyone,

No quilting from this neck of the woods for the past week.  We've been playing tour guide through our beautiful Redwood forests and high mountain lakes.  One batch of company left this morning, another group arrives later on this afternoon.  I have just enough time to regroup and put a short post together.

I'm so often asked where I get my inspiration for color and quilting designs.  I'm surrounded by inspiration....everywhere I look.  From the little mushroom cap growing in the nook of a rotting tree....



.....to the towering spires of the majestic giant redwoods over 2000 years old.

The color of the bark and the greenery in the forest inspire me to do better.  To really see nature and appreciate her beauty......a gift for us to cherish and preserve.

As I put my quilting projects aside for the week, and hiked the mountain trails both groomed and ungroomed, I was in total awe....as always.  It was a healthy dose of Mother Nature that I needed.....to relax and calm the soul, regenerate the spirit, renew the love of friends and family. 

Yesterday, we were the only people at Elephant Rock Lake in Alpine County.  The elevation is 6863' and it was a very pleasant 70 degrees.   Zinnie enjoyed the walk around the lake, the picnic on the shore, and chasing sticks in the water.  This was pure doggie and people heaven.

Zinnie is the impartial judge for the Pick Four contest. You still have time to enter.  Just leave a comment on this post or my last post and your name will be entered in the drawing to win a copy of Pick Four by Sue Abrey.

Try to get out into nature this holiday weekend.  Look, really look at colors, textures, leaves, flowers and the blue sky above.  One can't help but be inspired.

As always,

Lynn

PICK FOUR

Hello Everyone,

England gave us the FAB FOUR, and now England has given us PICK FOUR by Sue Abrey.  Let’s all get A Ticket to Ride and hop on the double-decker bus and drive down Pennie Lane on a book blog hop.  There will be a total of ten stops along the way which means you have ten chances to win an autographed copy of PICK FOUR.  The best thing about this book tour is….you don’t have to pack a bag!  No airport security, just the security of knowing that you will have a great time going Here, There and Everywhere.

Do You Want to Know a Secret?  Once you get a copy of this book, you are going to want to quilt Eight Days a Week!  First of all, I read the book like a novel.  Sue’s very matter of fact way and essence of being a quilting Paperback Writer, makes you feel that she is right in the room with you, coaching, encouraging and sharing her knowledge, love of quilting along with her sense of humour. (That spelling is for you Sue.)  She figuratively Holds Your Hand through the process of quilt making from beginning to end.

Those of you that follow my blog know my quilting style.  I’m a scrappy quilt maker for a couple of reasons.  I love the complexity of a scrappy quilt.  I love the challenge of combining all different colors, styles and scales of fabric together.  I have hundreds of fat quarters all begging to be selected for the perfect placement in a quilt.  When I first sat down with my cup of coffee and Sue’s book I thought, “I’m in trouble now!”  How can I decide on only four fabrics in a quilt, when I’ve been known to use over four dozen fabrics at one time? 

So here was my challenge…..PICK FOUR fabrics Lynn…..only FOUR and Let It Be. Rein in your thinking. Think outside the box while staying in the box. Remember, the fewer the fabric choices, the more important those choices become. I achieved this by applying Sue’s technique for choosing fabrics which is fun and not the least intimidating. She’s a Woman who understands that it isn’t always easy to select fabrics for a quilt. I followed her technique as I selected the fabrics for the two projects I made from the book. Four interesting fabrics equal one interesting quilt.  Here are the fabrics I selected to make Stars at the Crossroads.

Block #1.

Block #2.

In no time at all, thanks to Sue's clear, concise directions and illustrations, I had a table topper ready for quilting.  (Sue's book has full size quilt designs, for the sake of time, I made smaller versions.)

The book is broken down into four sections.  Sue will take you full circle from fabric selection, quilt making techniques, to choosing a quilting design. Then comes the fun part, the projects, for beginning to advanced quilters.  I’ve Got a Feeling you are going to make more than one of Sue’s wonderful designs.  This is where I had another problem, Because I couldn’t decide which project I wanted to make first!  There are 12 beautifully designed quilts in PICK FOUR. 

I didn't want to stop at just one project!  I selected another grouping of four fabrics and started making Lis's Midnight Flower Garden. (I feel a song coming on Dizzy Miss Lizzy, and I know it's a stretch, but you have to work with me people.)  I'm thinking to myself that I'm really getting into this Pick Four!

This has the appearance of a complex block, yet is not complex to make.  Surprise yourself and your friends when you make this quilt.

 I zipped through this and made another wonderful table topper. 

Sue is a master at creating a secondary design when the blocks are sewn All Together Now. She also addresses searching out the secondary designs when you start thinking about how to quilt your quilt and gives you so much Help. One section of the book is a detailed set of questions that walk you through making your quilting decisions. Every design in the book includes a section on color alternatives and quilting options. There is none of this Quilt as Desired business!

Here is a great example of a secondary design.  I have lots of open space to do some wonderful machine quilting.

I learned so much from Sue’s book.  I was intrigued by the way she illustrated how to make a large block, cut it apart, and before you can say, “Bob’s Your Uncle”,  there is a whole new design before your eyes!  She experiments with different layouts and encourages you to do the same.

I work in a quilt shop one day a week and I know the resource I’m going to turn to when I hear someone say, “I have the hardest time choosing fabrics.”  The illustrations are excellent as well as the commentary.  I will be using PICK FOUR as a resource long past When I’m Sixty-Four. 

Now for more fun.  In the comment section, tell me your favorite Beatles song and relate it to quilting in some way shape or form. My 2-year-old Golden Retriever Zinnie, will be the impartial judge and select a winner of an autographed copy of PICK FOUR.  All decisions are final, and the judge can be bribed with Kibble and dog biscuits.  The comment section will be closed at 12pm Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, September 3rd. 

I want to thank Sue for giving me the opportunity to review her book and her generous offer to give one of her books to ten lucky winners over the course of the blog hop.  If you don't win, please go to your local quilt store, Amazon.com or Martingale Press to get a copy of the book.

Here are the rest of the stops along the way:

Wed 31 Aug - Paulette at Sweet P Quilting

Fri 2 Sep - Trudi at Quilting Prolifically

Sat 3 Sep - Hazel at Cotton Cocktails

 
Have fun and enjoy the blog hop. I'm anticipating great comments from many of you!

As always,

Lynn

Yo Yo Quilt

Hello Everyone,

This is one quilt that I can work on while company is around.....the yo yo quilt. This is a fun, mindless project that doesn't require the precision of an appliqued quilt.  I need to make sixty-four of these blocks.

I have over half of them completed.  I think I'll start sewing them together in groups of four.  First you make the yo yo's then you applique them on to the block.

I just keep making yo yo after yo yo and have a nice little pile to put together on a little hour glass block.  This quilt is going to be unlike any quilt I've made in the past and I'm so anxious to see it come together.

The blog hop continues at Darlene's today.  Head on over and enter her contest to win PICK FOUR by Sue Abrey.

We are off to Calaveras Big Trees State Park today for a hike and a picnic.  My cousin is going to kill me with all of our hikes.  If she lived closer I would be in much better shape!  We've been walking four to five miles a day along the scenic mountain trails.  Today's walk is a little more my speed....only three miles.  Wish me luck!

As always,

Lynn