Pictures and quilts

About 25 + years ago I made my first quilt. Over the years I have made a lot of quilts. After quilts started to pile up with no place to keep them, I started to sell at a local quilt shop and a gallery that sold only hand made items. I also gave my family quilts over the years. Baby, lap and queen quilts. Many I have forgot what they looked like. When I started to make quilts I did not take many pictures of the ones that I made.

With the older cameras I had to take my roll of film to a store where they sent your film off. After impatiently waiting for a week my pictures finally came back. Such disappointment, most of my pictures where either to light, blurred or to dark.

I remember one time trying to submit some of my wood craft designs to a magazine, I took about 12 rolls of film before I finally got one picture right to send in.

When I discovered the digital camera I thought I was in heaven. I bought a cheap inexpensive one at first to see how I would like it. O, yes! I liked. I could take all the pictures I wanted and print them out on my computer. If I don’t like the way my pictures look I just take more. No more wasted rolls of film and having to wait to see what my pictures look like. I am still learning to take decent pictures but I am getting better. Now just need to learn to take good pictures of my quilts.

Mounting small quilts on foam board

I like to mount a few of my smaller quilts on foam board. I like the looks that it gives to them. Here are directions of how I do it. Very easy to do.

Supplies : Your quilt Foam board: these come in all different colors Sharp tool, I use an ice pick Thread. I used cotton Needle Paper. 2 sheets Glue stick Large rotary cutter. Ruler Acrylic paint. Optional. Paint brush

I had black and white foam but did not like the looks of either with my quilt. I used the white foam and decided to cover it with paper the color I wanted. Using your ruler and rotary blade cut your foam board to the size that you want behind your quilt. I left 1” on each side of quilt. I have a large box of assorted papers for using in mixed media collage. I picked a brown that I thought looked good behind my quilt. Tear your paper into strips and start gluing on foam board. Use a roller are your hand to make sure you get all the air bubbles out from underneath papers.

Did you know that if you tear paper up you will have a white edge and if you tear paper down no white edge. I like the white edge look.

This is how my board looked before I trimmed the papers even to board using my rotary cutter and ruler.

I also used paint to give edges of foam an antique look. I painted edges of foam board with paint, use a thin brush. You may get a little paint on back of board but that is ok.

This is the tricky part. Lay quilt on foam board and mark for holes. Do this for each corner of quilt at top. I also like to stitch the bottom of quilt in middle. Use your ice pick are sharp tool to punch two holes in board. I then take a threaded needle and starting from back of foam board come through one of the holes to front and stitch quilt. Take needle to the back and tie off. I put my quilt a little off to the side of my foam board as I liked it that way. My finished quilt. Ready to be hung on wall. These can also be framed.

What is your fairy name

This is a fun site. I love to collect fairy's and use them in my fabric art.

I decided to see what my fairy name is. You can also get your fairy name. Click on the site below.

My fairy is called Field Elffly. She is a cheerful sprite. She lives in fields where wild flowers and poppies grow. She is only seen at midday under a quiet, cloudless sky. She likes to wear red petals in her skirt. She has delicate green wings like a cicada.

http://www.emmadavies.net/fairy/default.aspx

doll quilt

Doll quilts are fun to make and collect.

I like to make them as I don’t have space to store many larger quilts.

I had a small piece of rabbit fabric left from a children’s quilt that I made.

I wanted to showcase the fabric and picked this pattern to use.

The pattern is paper pieced, one of my favorites to use.

I choose a tan and dark brown fabric to use. I did not have enough of the backing nor the rabbit fabric to use for my binding. The lime green fabric that I used was perfect. You can find this little quilt for sell on my artfire site.

sunsets and snow

I took this beautiful pictures the other week of a sunset over the mountains.

Trees on mountain covered in snow, looks like a winter wonder land. Click on picture for closeup.

Lavender sachet

I have been making new lavender sachets this week.

I have a box of beautiful antique lace that I bought in Canada several years ago.

Lace was so brown in color that I was not sure I could get it back to original white condition.

With a little hand washing all the lace washed out beautiful.

I was looking at my box of lace the other day and decided that I need to stop saving it for a raining day. Now that rainiy day is here and I decided to put on sachets.

A few pieces of lace I will use on a wall quilt at a later date.

You can see my sachets on my etsy site.

Good old days

With the high cost of everything today I found these ads from an old Sears Roebuck catalog in 1935. Prices seem to be eye popping cheap compared to today’s prices. We have to remember what folks made back then. I know my grandmother made $10.00 a week working in a cotton mill. Out of this she had $1.00 took out for her Christmas fund too buy her children and grandchildren Christmas gifts each year.

One yard of flannel fabric: 11 cent One yard of cotton fabric: 11 ½ cent. Ladies dresses: 74 cent. Three piece bedroom suit” $32.88, cash. Are you could pay $4.00 down. All wool blankets: $3.99 Men’s sweaters: 98 cents.

Fairy pillow and log cabin

I am finally getting back to my blog after a very busy summer.I am showing one pillow that I made sewn entirely by hand, no sewing machine used.

I put yo-yo flowers with glass beads on top.

There is a small fairy purse that is made with hand-dyed wool.

I like to make quilts and pillows all by hand and find it very relaxing. I will be posting more pictures of other items I have made as I get time.

Making preserves with Flathead cherries

My daughter gave me several pounds of flathead cherries last week. They taste so good at first, better than store bought cherries . After my family ate their fill for a week we started to get tired of cherries. I needed to do something with about six pounds as they were getting ripe fast. I decided to make preserves and ended up with 12 ½ pints.

Here is the recipe I used. You can also use this recipe with most fresh fruit.

2 pounds cherries ( 6 cups) 4 cups sugar. 6 ½ pint jars Pit cherries and add sugar into large pot. Cook to a rolling boil for 20 minutes. Because my cherries were so ripe and sweet I only added 3 cups of sugar to 2 pounds cherries. I also had to add one box Sure Jell to mine. Put cooked preserves in clean canning jars and seal. This is a simple and easy recipe to use. If you have never canned before I would recommend getting a canning and freezing book by either Ball and Kerr.

Summer flowers

There is a bed of beautiful flowers at the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge. I took these pictures about 30 minutes before dark.

There were a lot of bees, damselflies and mosquitoes flying around the flower beds. The damselflies are a beautiful blue and after several attempts trying to photograph them I finally got a somewhat decent picture of one. The purple flowers are lavender. One of my favorites.

This is the latest picture of my husband camper. Starting to look good.

1974 Aloha camper

My husband bought a 1964 Aloha Shasta compact trailer today. Camper had been used as a hunting camper and you can still smell dog odor in it. The price was very cheap, cheap, cheap.
My son and husband are going to use it on weekend prospecting trips .
They go into areas that have black bears and possible grizzly bears and did not like sleeping in a tent. Outside of camper needs a good painting.

I tried to get pictures before my son and husband gutted it but was to late.
The carpet was so dirty and smelly and it was hard to tell what the original color was.
This picture shows my husband mopping the floors after taking carpet out. You can see how dirty it is, after only just a small bit of mopping. Floor had nice vinyl floor and most likely the original.

This is my son vacuum the dirt out, he had earlier taken out an old frig that does not work. They plan to take this cabinet out and make bedding area a little larger.
There is one small leak in corner that can be fixed.
After we paint, put in new curtains, new bedding and a portable toilet camper should be ready to go.

I believe these are the original curtains. They are in very bad condition. Cute fabric when they was new, have little hula girls on them. I will make new curtains but without the hula girls. Maybe flowers, I think they would like that.

My cat loves flowers

I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my duaghter on mother' s day. I decided to keep the dry purple flowers and put in a vase other red flowers..

The first day my cat, who loves flowers, jumped on the table and checked each one of them out for about 15 minutes.

The next day he again jumped on the table and rearraged them to his liking. Yes, I just left them as he had arranged them.

The next day he again jumped on the table and picked one of the purple flowers from vase. He dropped it on the floor and the second picture shows what he did with it.

I hope this has satisfied his curiosty and will leave the rest of flowers alone.

Kootenai Falls or let me just die

Yesterday we drove 4 hours for a soccer game to Libby, Montana and the temperature was 93*. Not suppose to be that hot here in Montana.
After we left the games we stopped with some of the parents and about 10 kids at Kootenai Falls.

The walk back to falls and swinging bridge was suppose to be a short walk. But with temps in the 90’s and walking down narrow trails going down hill, the walk seemed to go on and on and on.
We crossed a bridge going over the rail road tracks with about 4 sets of stairs on each side of bridge and time I got to other side, I thought let me just die here, but my daughter would not let me. Finally we got to the falls and the river was raging with mountain snow melts.
After a brief look at falls and no kids falling in water we made our way to the swinging bridge.
By time I got there, I was hot , sweating, thirsty, and I thought my heart would beat out of my chest.

I was breathing like a horse that had just raced in the Kentucky Derby.
If my daughter had left me there I think I would have just died right there.
The kids went across the swinging bridge and seemed to have a good time.
I looked at those millions of stairs going up to bridge and decided that I had rather rest on a nice rock than cross that bridge.
After some time kids came back across, ready to climb back up that long hill (mountain) to me.

When we got to bridge going across rail road track, one man had lain down in grass to rest. I really wanted to join him but my daughter said she would carry me on her back up steps. ( great daughter).
I told her I can make it. I believe the steps had multiplied from the first time we had crossed them There seemed to be more of them than the first time.

I have decided either I am to old or out of shape for all these mountain trips. I think it is a little of both.
All in all we had a good time that day and I would do it again, but without the heat.
And a good bottle of whiskey.

Old man winter is out of here

Since old man winter seems to have lifted it's hold I have been doing a lot of bird watching and local site seeing. Came across this old log house that was about to fall down the hill. Also the rock buiding may have been a root cellar. The way the rocks was piled on top of each other was very artistic.

Ring neck pheseant in a field. Such a beautiful bird. Introduced to North America from China in the 1800's. Picture taken at Lee Metcalf wildlife Refuge.

Came across this garter snake lying on the path. He was reluctant to move. When I seen a group of people coming with dogs, I stomped my foot on the pavement and he crawled off into the grass. He was about two feet long. It would have been nice if the kids in the group could have seen snake. Since so many people are afraid of them and they had dogs, I thought it best if he went on his way.

Earth Day and a Canadian goose

I took these pictures this weekend at the Lee Matcalf Wildlife Refuge.

This is a favorite site for amateur and professional photographers to take pictures of birds and scenery.

There was two geese feeding on the lawn but only one that wanted his/her picture taken.

The mountains had a late spring snow storm that came through and dumped several inches of snow on them.