Happy Easter!!!

 

And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39“See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; 43and He took it and ate it before them. Luke 24:38-43

 

Well, a lot has been happening lately. First, Happy Easter to everyone.

This past Friday I did my first art walk. Cynthia of Cynthia's Boutique, downtown Pocatello, as me to participate by making up something of my art to sell.

So I got busy and made up 7 Goodie Bags to sell!

 Katherine Wright bought the blue one before I was finished with the others.

Thanks, Katherine, I hope you enjoy it!

Then the big night arrived!

I had advertised myself with an info board.

 Had an easel to showcase my Under the Sea pictures, the larger one took second place in the Pocatello Art Show last May. The top smaller one is the month of July in the Crazy Quilt Calender, by Pamela Kellogg.

On the table I had my purses laid out along with a couple of other crazy quilt pieces to showcase,

 Have sold three of the bags, but even more exciting had at least 10 ladies interested in taking my classes. So it was a very successful promotional evening.  Thanks, Cynthia!!!

Had a great time, and enjoyed connecting with several friends, along with several students,  and I thank you all for your support!!

Some other exciting news, I was interview and taped in February for the show Potpourri Pastimes by Verna Pitman on our local PBS station. It was so much fun promoting crazy quilts. You have the whole month of April to visit the site and see the half hour show, but I don't believe they will be archiving it.  So don't miss out!!!

My Downtown Abbey blocks have been sent out and won't be back for at least five months, so it will be exciting to see what they do with them. Here are the "naked" blocks.

Also just started another RR (round robin) and sent these blocks out to work on, but since there are only 5 of us, I only mailed four of them:

These are for the Spring CQ Stitchers RR #2....I just love the vibrant colors, although the purple is really more like a wine color!!!

Also be sure to pick up your May issue of the Crazy Quilt Quarterly. Since I am the "Cover Girl"!!!

I also did an article to give you an idea of how I put these pieces together.  But if you want to learn from the real pro, you need to take Judith Baker Montono's class, called "Underwater Fantasy"

It's a week-long class, and I highly recommend it, because you just can't learn it all from an article.
Thanks, Pamela for inviting me to contribute to this wonderful magazine!! Visit her blog to see a sneak preview!!!!

I plan on taking my fourth class with her next summer on the Mountains and Valleys!!!

So lots going on at this time of the year. I have a new Crazy Quilt class starting in May at the Pocatello Art Center and you would need to call them to schedule your spot.
And in June I will be able to tell you about my trip to Oregon for the Brazilian Embroidery conference. I am really looking forward to learning a new art form!

Thanks for visiting. Hope you all have a Happy Easter!  Please click on the following buttons to get notices when I blog. I am trying to develop loyal followers.  In the next few posts I will do more "instructional" post. Give me your ideas of what you would like to learn. 

Well, it's hard to believe it's March already!!!! Although, our friends in the northeast are anxiously waiting to dig out of all that snow and have some spring, it will be here soon.

Here's my front door hanger for this month, hope you like it!!!

It's always bittersweet to finish up a crazy quilt class, and Thursday was the last of four weeks. I love watching the individual creativity show up in each of the ladies. As I always tell them, I am not trying to make them into a carbon copy of me!

This was the second class of 3 hours on each Thursday for four weeks, and I just love it over a 2-hour class. We had the time to really cover a lot of stitches. They learned to do at least 15 stitches, along with some ribbon embroidery and beaded stitches. And since I am trying to learn Brazilian Embroidery, they learned a couple of those stitches also. I will let their beautiful smiles speak for themselves!

                               Janine Palmer did very well on her block, and used her creativity to remember stitches she had already known. Nicely done, Janine.

 Sandra Mertz hadn't picked up a needle in a long time, but she also did very well and mastered all of the stitches.

Diane Tauscher also mastered the different stitches, she had been in the last class and missed the last class, so she was back to catch up. Great job, Diane!

Lorna Stacey is a natural for Crazy Quilting, because she is a collector of "stuff" like me.  Also, great job, Lorna.

 Sad to say, there were  four other ladies who didn't finish the class, but I will let them know when my next class starts if they wish to do any makeups!  Lorna was also the winner of the drawing for a copy of Judith Baker Montano's book of "Elegant Stitches." Congratulations.

March and April are going to be busy months for me and crazy quilting. I am participating in the CQJP2015 this year. Here is my March block, but I am not finished with embellishing it yet.

Because I am participating in the Downton Abbey RR, I created these blocks and have sent them off to be embellished by other artist.

Well, I fell in love with one of the fabrics so much, that I made a valance for my bedroom with it!

 Here, I am cutting out the fabric, using the old valance as a pattern.

 With a strip of crocheted lace at the bottom, it fits perfect with our blinds.

 And here it is with the bedspread in the foreground. The walls are a very light sea foam green. My Hubby picked out the bedspread and that is Sonny enjoying his favorite spot. When my blocks come back embellished they will hang in this room!

StashBuilder

Nicki at RavioleeDreams on etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RavioleeDreams

Hello from snowy Massachusetts! I am Nicki Lee Seavey and I am a Crazy Quiltaholic who is also addicted to lace. I have been a Crazy Quilter for the past 9 years and love creating colorful and unique items using a variety of fabrics, laces, beads and buttons to name a few things. When I first started Crazy Quilting I searched everywhere for pretty colored laces to no avail. I then decided to take a course in fabric dyeing and started dyeing my own laces. After a while I started to get requests “where did you get that pretty lace?” When I mentioned I dyed my own, well… the rest is history. My #1 passion is collecting and dyeing pretty lace. I hand paint with dyes, each item with a tiny paintbrush in a wild array of beautiful colors. I love collecting beautiful lace trims and appliques and tend to spend a majority of my week deep in a plethora of color dyeing the days away. Over the past 5 years I have built a large customer base for custom dyed laces. Give me your color pallet and I will create a beautiful selection of dyed laces perfect for your next project. A couple years ago I started posting a “Lace of the Day’ on Face Book (Barbara Nicki Seavey) . Come visit my albums for 2013, 2014 and 2015 for some fabulous eye candy or stop in for a visit at my Etsy shop : RavioleeDreams

 To see a variety of the projects I have created, visit me at my blog cqnickilee@blogspot.com 

Well, thanks for visiting. Spring is just around the corner! And I can't wait!!!

Happy Valentine's Day From My House to Yours!!!

   

Well, it's proving to be an usually warm winter this year for us, already have had some 60 degree days. Which is really weird for us, while my heart goes out to those suffering with more snow than usual. But I am not complaining!!!

The month has started out with the brand new issue of the Crazy Quilt Quarterly with Pamela Kellogg as the new owner. And it is a beautiful issue.

 

http://www.magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me

If you are interested in purchasing the only crazy quilt magazine completely devoted to us "crazies" just click on the link above, and order from Magcloud, which is a print on demand. They print and ship your order in just a few days. Back orders are always available.

Pamela had put out a call for storage ideas, and so I answered her, and she featured a whole page to my sewing room.

                                                   Other storage ideas. Jars for buttons, dresser drawers, and my fave is the shoe holder on the back of the door for yarn. I have already incorporated that one!

So this month also saw a class of newbie crazy quilters ending and a new one started.

These ladies are having fun and really caught on fast.

We have a great meeting room at the New Knowledge Adventures continuing education building, and Gary Keirn is always helpful by setting up the projector and computer, along with having the tables set up. I like working back and forth in-between the tables. I am able to use the internet to show my blog and Flickr sites, along with using Mary Corbett's Needle 'N Thread site for the "how to" videos.
These have proven so helpful for new students.


A new feature I am going to start adding to my posts, is a "Stashbuilder" recommendation. These will be friends in the Crazy Quilt world who sell or make items that we collect.

STASHBUILDER

                                                  I would like to share with you a website that I believe you all will enjoy. You will be delighted with their great customer service and reasonable prices. CrazyQuiltingSupplies.com offers a broad range of embellishments for the needle and thread artist. The owners love for quilting and creating unique needlework projects herself, is evident by the stock that is available on the website. 
           Everything from pearl cotton threads, laces, Czech buttons, Riversilk Silk Ribbon, vintage linens, and beads are just a few of the items that await you. Be sure and visit their blog , CrazyQuilting.com to stay up on the latest announcements for new products and all other news. If you are up for a challenge, please visit CrazyQuilt.com for information on current challenges that the website may be hosting. Starting a crazy quilt project can be overwhelming for the beginner so they have set up a website dedicated to tutorials by various artists which can be found at CrazyQuilter.org. If you need inspiration to help you decide what to stitch and embellish on your project, please visit CrazyQuilter.com where you will find photos that have been shared by talented crazy quilters to inspire you. You owe it to yourself to check out CrazyQuiltingSupplies.com.

Thanks for visiting and keep stitching. Watch for future posts on more Stashbuilders!!! 

January 21, 2015

    Amazingly, we still have no snow on the ground. Temperatures in the high 30's and next week,  low 40's. Usually, January is our coldest month with below zero temps. Well, I am not complaining, though we may get hit hard in February.
  This has been a busy month with my crazy quilting passion. I am doing the monthly CQJP2015Challenge. This is the first time I am joining in.  At least the first six will be on Peacocks.
Here's January's block:

I enjoyed doing this one so much, I have already finished February's block:

Then I decided to take on Pat Winter's challenge of doing a hand...she is going to put them all together in one quilt:

 First, I traced my hand on a square block of muslin, the I turned it over and crazy quilted the whole square, and then used my drawn line to cut out the hand pattern. I then embellished it on the front. I used several fabrics from Judith Baker Montano and lots of fancy threads, shibori and lace with my initials; I also had a nice little charm for Idaho.Was a fun project and did it in less than 3 hours.

    My classes have started up again this month, and they are having a wonderful time. We used a pattern from Vintage Vogue, Janet Stauffacher who offers her patterns on pinterest:

 

This is the pattern she sent me, though it is free on her pinterest site. Since I had never crazy quilted using a pattern before, I decided to use it to see how I would teach with it.

And the class was able to get their blocks completed in one class, and now we will be embellishing for the next 3 classes!

So thanks, to my crazy quilter friends for all their help and support, Pat Winter, Judith Baker Montano, Janet Stauffacher and last but not least, Dana Anderson for her geekness helps make my blog even better!!!
  Stay tuned for more info and pictures on our class as it develops!!!

January 16, 2015
Computer tips for the crazy quilter....

What a great day to blog and stitch...it's snowing outside!!!
   A fellow crazy quilter, Claire Turner, ask me about how the computer can be best used to show off our crazy quilts. So I told her that I would do a blog on a few ideas I have, if you have others, please add them in the comments section for all of us to learn from!
 Now, I don't use my cell phone to take pictures, I just like my digital camera best.  And on my laptop I have Windows 8.1. So if you have an older version of Windows, some of what I do on mine will not apply to yours.
  First of all, when I take pictures of my work, I do not try to zoom in. I find I get a better picture with the camera at normal. I also find that my Ott Lite gives me great light for my cloth works.

Then I download it to my computer, just a matter of plugging in the cord from the usb port to the camera, though some would take out the chip and plug it in. Your choice. I work from my desktop, so with the photo there, I right click on it and choose "open with" which then gives me the choice of "photos" among others. When it opens my picture to fit the screen, I can click on the picture and a bar opens at the bottom to give you the choice of flipping pictures and cropping it.

Now, if I wanted to show off a close up of one stitch, it's the same process...right click, choose open with, then photos, then crop.

I find this gives a much better close-up picture than if I had tried to zoom my camera in!!! The same process will allow you to alter your pictures, either sharpness, lightness, or whatever.

You do this effect, when you have your picture up on your screen, click on the picture, at the bottom of the page pops up "edit" as a choice; click on it, and on the left of your screen "effects" pops up. When you click on that, on the right side of your screen some choices pop up, one of them being "vignette". Click and hold your mouse on it and run the circle around till you get the effect you desire like above!
  Another tool I learned and love recently, from Nicki Seavey is the "snipping tool". I have had so much fun with this tool.  When you are on a web site, I will use Nicki's blog page, you would use your search tool, which on Windows 8.1, it's found by moving your mouse to the upper right corner and waiting for it to show, then click on it and type 'snip', then when it pops up, click on it, and it brings a little box on your page. By clicking on "new" your mouse changes to a pair of scissors, and you move it around your picture that you want to save.

Be sure to visit Nicki at her blogspot, Raviolee Dreams, thanks, Nicki for this tool!!!!
And one last tool for crazy quilters especially.  By visiting Big Huge Labs, you can design your color palettes just the way you want.  You click on "browse" and then upload your photo by then clicking on "create palette" and wait for the magic!
 First you will want to click on your snipping tool, which is the only way to save the palette that comes up.

So with my photo of my project, you can see the color choices I made. You can do this with a piece of fabric by scanning it on your scanner, and then save to your desktop, add it to the browse choice on the Big Huge Labs page!
  Well, I hope this helps all newbies, including Claire. And I am sure there are more tips that I don't know about. So please add them in the comments section.
                      Happy Stitching!!!