Empty Cone!!

I emptied an entire spool of So Fine thread. All on bobbins. That's 1000 meters. I still have a bobbin and a half left, but I've used at least one other bobbin, so it evens out. I've bought a lot of cones thinking  I'd be using them for the rest of my life! This one only lasted a couple of months.

I finished quilting the floral quilt. If I ever need to quilt a lot of straight lines, it will be with my domestic. yikes! Not too many of the lines in this are actually straight, but it was good practice. Of course I got bored with straight lines and so I snuck in something a little different, too... all will be revealed when it's painted.

I can now follow lines pretty well with the longarm. The free hand arcs are a little wonky and apparently you have to really know where you're headed before you get going (second arc up on the left). oops. 

and we got some more snow! This was the view out my front door yesterday afternoon. We got in a little snowshoeing and cross country skiing this week, and I ambushed Steve with snowballs when he got home last night. heh. heh. heh.

I suck less

I've been practicing my machine quilting, and I am showing some improvement! My first tries were just too embarrassing so I don't have pictures, but here are some feathery things that look decent. These are pre-printed panels by RGA Design. This is panel number 2. I'm really glad I had these. While they aren't designed specifically for a long-arm, most of it works and has been super helpful. 

Next to the practice piece I have a piece I am quilting a whole cloth that will be painted later. I am trying for straight lines. Pulling the machine straight back and forth isn't too bad, but diagonals are really hard to keep straight. There will be no question that this piece was hand guided, not computer guided!

Here is a view from the back. The simple grid will lend itself to a more abstract painting instead of the (slightly) more realistic images of the last two pieces.

 And to close: food. I made this for dinner tonight. They had me at Siracha mayo, but all of the other toppings we put on were yummy, too!

Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold to the rescue

Probably my favorite color to paint with, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, came to the rescue for this piece, Sunflower. It was looking a little pasty, a wash of the gold and then edged with a wash of browns made the yellows pop. 

Sunflower 

Have you ever driven through Vermont in the summer? Rolling greener-than-green hills and clear bluer-than-blue skies. And hay bales. Lots of hay bales. 

Hay Bales in Vermont

Snow!

It's snowing here, yet another Storm Of The Century. We are getting anywhere from 8 to 24 inches and wicked strong winds. I could do without the wind, but it'll be nice having snow on the ground.

The kids are home this week. well sort of. Adam was home last Saturday through Wednesday and Sarah is home (with a friend) Wednesday through this Sunday. I love being able to be mommy again, even just for a few days.

I am still working on Artem #2. I've added the green for the leaves. It seems as it's going to be a while before it's actually finished... I want it to look like an illustrated manuscript, with a decent amount of detailing on it. Maybe I should put it in the guild quilt show, then it would have to be finished!

More fabric and batting are being loaded on "Sweetie". These will be much smaller (!) and more abstract then Artem #2.

I am auditioning "ugly" fabrics to use as backgrounds. Some are high contrast, some have very bright colors and there are a few low contrast all mixed in so I can see how different prints show through the paint.

Vita brevis, ars longa

The quilt that I am working on for my class is long - about 10 feet long! It's 18 inches wide.

There's a whole lotta machine stitching going on. This is actually my first official piece on the long arm. yeah, so of course it's ginormous and for a class. A little optimistic, aren't we?

 After the "primer coat", bringing most of it back to a neutral white.

Starting to add some color. The blue and pink are from Sarah's baby furniture. Eighteen year old paint and paint cans are not very cooperative.