Sometimes silliness and serendipity happen….   one night I made cornbread biscuits.  As I buttered one, my older son said “It’s a smiley face!”

Then, at that same wrestling meet of the double-chicken-wings, I saw and enjoyed this t-shirt:

That’s all for today…some random smiling and food for thought.  Personally, at the moment I’d like one of those hot cornbread muffins…..

It has been a long time since I posted about our sons… somehow the vastness and sometimes-creepiness of the internet (and the fear of what may be lurking at the dark ends of cyberspace) have led me to be significantly more cautious about what I say and post.  But let’s face it…. kids and hubbies and family are what make life worth living.  They are also what constitutes “life happening” meaning that quilts don’t happen!  I wouldn’t give up either.  And, in these photos, the kids are basically unidentifiable, so here goes!

This season, our younger son’s second in wrestling, is proving to be a good one.  The first year on a wrestling team is often a learning year as the wrestlers figure out holds, what to do, what NOT to do, and learn to try to win (as opposed to wrestling “not to lose”).  This year, E. clearly is in the “going out to win” mode.

Last year, E. got pinned (and therefore lost) when a kid got him in what is called a double-chicken wing.  He achieved a goal this past meet:  he did it to another kid–see photo above!  So far this year, E. has had six matches with opponents (when the other team doesn’t have someone in the same weight class, he gets a technical win, but real ones are better).   He has pinned the opposing kid (which leads to more points for the team than winning by points alone) six out of six times.  In this past meet, he had four matches, won all four by pins, and won three of the four in the first period. E. ROCKS! Here’s how one of his matches went on a recent Saturday:

Shake hands first:

E. makes a move (he’s the one   on the top, with red stripes down the side and the headgear/ear protectors  falling off):

E. grapples, gets the kid in a near-pin, but not quite, so reconsiders and goes for a double-chicken wing (and don’t your shoulders hurt just looking at the poor kid on the bottom?)

…this is the classic…the losing kid is the one in the upside down, how-can-he-really-be-in-that-twisted-position:

To get a pin, BOTH of the opponent’s shoulder blades must be on the mat for one full second.  That means the ref ends up flat on the mat peering in unusual places and positions to make sure there is full contact for the full second.

PINNED!  Ref slams hand on mat, match is over, E WINS!  E ROCKS!  It is good *not* to be the one twisted up like a pretzel!

up front admission:  I’m a cover girl!   Yes, the quilt on the cover is the Elusive Batiki Bird designed, patterned and made by me!

Pretty Little Mini Quilts is the latest installment in Lark Books’ successful “Pretty Little” series, which is an 8 x 8 inch format book, in this case with 31 projects to make. The projects range from paper-pieced hexagons, to a nearly mixed-media house-shaped piece on stretcher bars, pieced quilts, appliqued quilts and quiltlets, and more all 36 x 36 inches or smaller.  Some are variations on traditional patterns such as the nine-patch (and would make great table toppers as well as wall art), others are contemporary abstracts, and others are whimsical or contemporary applique.  I liked that there is a wide range of techniques and ways to present the quilts.

I am TOTALLY in love with the bunny, by Aimee Ray, who appears on p. 5 (pattern on p. 86), with a birdie perched on his antlers/ears/branches! This piece is small, embroidered, with limited piecing.  It is just adorable!

Not only do I love the bunny, but also my friend Kathy Daniels (blog here) has a lovely piece called Spring haiku that, at 16 x 14 inches, would make a lovely accent on a small wall anywhere in the home. Pattern on p. 80.

My quilt, seen on the cover, p. 31, and patterned at p. 118, is 26 1/2 inches…just the perfect size to be the front of a Euro square pillow for the bed or a decent size on the wall.

The book begins with a quick (p. 11-27)  review of some quilting basics, followed by the 31 projects.  As you might guess from the size of the book, the instructions are not in-depth, as you might find if you spent $10-12 for a single pattern.  As a result, total beginners might find some of the instructions a bit spare.  However, if you are at the confident beginner stage (or have a nice quantity of gumption even if you are a total beginner) or up, or have garment sewing skills, you’ll be able to follow the instructions.   If you want in-depth coverage of some techniques, such as crazy quilting embroidery stitches or painting on fabric, you’ll want an additional book that provides the in-depth instruction, but I think it’s a good thing to expose folks to the range of styles and techniques out there.

One reviewer commented she couldn’t figure out who would be the intended audience for this book.  My guess is the 20- and 30-somethings who are relatively new to sewing and quilting, are setting up their homes, sewing for children and friends and personal satisfaction, but that doesn’t mean the projects don’t also appeal to the rest of us who are looking for something fun, fresh, and that won’t take forever to make.  I expect that someone will buy this  book for a single project–with the $17.95 cover price, it isn’t too expensive–but may then find themselves tempted by something else, too.   Like that bunny.  I LOVE that bunny!

PS–Thanks to Lark Books for making me a cover girl again…. I was also on the cover of Creative Quilting with Beads… I think I like Lark!  I blogged about that one here.

One of the coolest things when you are a teacher is when a student writes to you with what she has learned and used from your classes.  Last week, I was tickled pink to receive an e-mail from Susan Molin who took my Fabric Postcards class at the Merrimack Quilt Guild in New Hampshire in late January.  The first picture I saw was this wonderful rhinoceros…doesn’t he just make you grin?

I think Susan did a fabulous job using the printed fabric, the yarn-edge finishing technqiue, and creative embellishments.  I had shared a piece or two that I did where I made the postcards first, then applied them to a quilted background (for example, the Mountain Seasons pattern in my book, ThreadWork Unraveled, is made that way).  The photo of the overall quilt, Jungle Play,  is a tad blurry, but I’m including it anyway so you get the feel for how she has done the piece:

Here is the giraffe–the “hair” for the mane is PERFECT:

and the gorilla–love those hanging-down branches:

I like how Susan has used understated quilting, creative beads and buttons, and couched yarn to the background quilt.   Very effective!  Thanks so much Susan for sharing with me and letting me, in turn, share here on my blog!

Heads up!  Dijanne is beginning a new lino-cutting class on March 8th! To sign up, visit her blog and contact her by clicking here.

I’ve been trying to work on my online lino-cutting class with Dijanne Cevaal during the Olympics and breaks from working on that quilt I can’t tell you about yet.  I’ve been having FUN! One of the exercises was to cut a monogram / initial.   As part of that, I decided to print up some stamps I had carved in the past and share with the class, so thought I’d share them here, too.  The older stamps are all done in either Speedy-Cut (a somewhat soft, rubbery material, or a generic version of same), an art eraser (the grass)  or the cuts-like-a-hot-knife-in-butter MasterCarve (the bunny and leaf in the top row are on opposite sides of the same block).  The sheet below is an 8 1/2 by 11 inch (about A4 size paper) piece of paper.  The rose block is about 3 1/2 inches square, the bunny maybe 1 1/4 inches across (printed on point).

Here are the carvings for class (the “S”) and an older tree of life design printed onto paper with textile paint (brown) or stamp pad ink (black):

I also did an owl in Dick Blick (online purveyor of art supplies) Wonder Cut, a type of linoleum.  It is about 1/4″ thick, and feels like tightly compressed sawdust.  It is harder to cut than the rubbery stuff, but easier than the Golden cut or battleship gray linoleum.  Since I have (I think) incipient arthritis and other issues with my hands, I used that first:

I didn’t really like the three echo lines to the left of the owl, so I subsequently removed them.  I’ll share prints made with the revised version a few blogposts down the line…..The lino cut is at the bottom, the paint on paper prints at the top, and paint on cloth to the right (along with a few attempts with the “S”).  I need to get a better print on cloth… I think I figured out the trick.  It is called buy MORE paint supplies, the kind suitable for lino-printing! More on that later, too….. you get the same exploring and learning curve I had!

Last, a stamp I made a while ago to use on labels.  It is large… 5 1/5 by 8 inches (half a sheet of paper).   I traced my hand then drew inside it, then carved the whole shebang into the soft-cut rubber.  I had thought I would need to make this into a Thermofax screen for screenprinting, as I was not having luck getting such a large surface colored up with textile paint and printed before the paint began to dry.  However, with my buy-more-stuff discovery, maybe I don’t.  Hmmm….I’ll have to go try the new stuff with this stamp….hmmmm……

Anyway, hope you like my total collection of stamps, which will be growing!  I like the lino-cutting!