YOU MUST LOOK AT THIS

I've said this before....I'm not a fan of receiving Internet links, jokes, puzzles, etc. Mainly because I feel compelled to following them and before I know it.....hours have disappeared.

However, 'the husband' sent it to me, saying it was a must. And it is, especially if you are a dog lover. Surely this Golden Retriever is super human....or super dog.

Click HERE

MAGAZINE ARTICLE

The Aug/Sept. issue of "Quilter's Home" magazine should be on your newstand any day now....or arriving at your mail box.

In it....you'll find an article by yours truly.........for the instructions/templates of this fun woolfelt wall hanging..... Enjoy!

MISS ME??

My travel got busier than normal, so I had to cut my posts for the last few days in order to squeeze everything in.

But....I'm back home...suitcases are empty but my tummy is NOT after all the great food I consumed. I'll be paying for that for quite some time!

Hope to have something better to share tomorrow then this......

FEAST FOR THE EYE AND TUMMY

My sentimental journey continues......

I've been a huge fan of Rowe Pottery for years and years.....this company has gone through some ups and downs but it remains, now under new ownership in Cambridge, WI. It would be easy for me (if the funds were there) to spend thousands of dollars within 15 mins. after crossing their threshold!

This style of pottery is called salt glazed.....a style I adore and one I rarely see in other parts of the country.

Another Wisconsin tradition is the mandatory Friday night fish fry. No matter where you visit in this state, residents will swear that their favorite eatery has THE BEST fish fry. You'll find them offered at VFW halls, Mom & Pop restaurants, supper clubs, well...just about everywhere on any Friday night.

This is a typical view.....folks crammed elbow to elbow in rooms that keep their Christmas icicles up all year long.

The fish is served FRIED and often family style....no frills......fish so tender it falls apart, hot and crunchy french fries, and tangy coleslaw.

After that fat fest....who needs more to eat?? Seriously, after this visit, all I have to do is get down on the ground and I can just roll my rounding chubby body back to NC. This unassuming....well, frankly...ugly building houses a very famous Wisconsin business. One, believe it or not, I've never been to before.

Friends of ours have been telling us for years that Kopp's custard is superior to my favorite, Culver's. That of course requires a personal taste test.

Inside the massive building it's all stainless steel with literally dozens of order takers dishing out both burgers and frozen custard.

Kopps was the first fast food chain to feature a flavor of the day......and on this day there were several to choose from. The custard constantly flows from huge machines into holding containers where it's scooped up almost as fast as it's made.

Yes, it was the best frozen custard I've ever put in my mouth.....but Culver's concrete double chocolate malts are still my favorite.....perhaps because I'm such a fan of malt flavoring.

My growing waist awaits who knows what today......too bad I'm not closer to Racine, WI home of the mouth watering Kringle. Hummm....that sounds good....it's only about an hour away!

HOME COMFORT FOOD

Going home always brings back a flood of good memories......among them of course are comfort foods.

I swear the 4 food groups Wisconsin residents recognize are beer, brats, cheese, and ice cream...

I just witnessed THE LARGEST display of ice cream in a grocery store that I've ever seen....how does anyone decide??

And the names.....well...they are just too cute....

This row of coolers, just for ice cream had to be a min. of 150 feet long.....

Next we hit the beer section and stood there way longer than was necessary just to pick out one 6 pack.......look at the selection.....

Berghoff is a well known Wisconsin beer.....their company was only a spit away from where we used to live. And of course there's Point beer.....from Steven's Point WI.

Again, this was a huge display of beer, much of it featured Wisconsin breweries..... great to see the little guys getting so much shelf space!

I ALWAYS appreciate being back in this state and appreciate how immaculate everything is. There is no litter anywhere.....nothing......no paper cups, no cans, no bottles, no napkins or cigeratet butts. Stores and restaurants are sparkling clean, displays lined up just so......helpful clerks, rest rooms your Mom would be proud of. It's one aspect I truly miss.

I'm totally disgusted by the horrible, unsightly litter that is common in much of the South East where we live. It's such a shame to be in this visual paradise only to look down and see trash everywhere along the roadways, parking lots etc. We do our part to keep our the roadways in our immediate areas but picked up but within a few days more is back...... It's a true puzzle to me that folks don't care enough to keep their surroundings pristine. (sorry for the mini rant).

....and finally.......after consuming enough calories at lunch (or should I say at 11:18 in the morning.....I waddled through another favorite of mine at dinner time.......Uno's deep dish pizza.

I'll be paying for this indulgence......but for now .......I'm enjoying every bite.

Hoping you are taking pleasure in some good summer time eats!

HAPPINESS

This made getting up at 3:00 AM in the NC mountains seem like no big deal, because here I am......it's not even noon and my first stop in Wisconsin is at Culver's! Where I will consume every drop of my all time favorite, high calorie, no redeeming factor, yummy treat.

A Culver's Double Chocolate Concrete Malt. They provide a spoon because it's too thick to suck through a straw......this puppy will use an entire day's worth of calories. Perhaps I shouldn't admit to such indulgence.....oh well......

I'm using the excuse of need some perking up.....after lecturing and teaching a beading workshop to a fabulous room full of students on Tues. and Wed. for the Asheville Quilt Guild. I have to say, my butt was dragging this morning....but of course with all the fat and sugar now streaming through me.....I'm bouncing off the wall.

GENEROSITY!!!

Moria and Adam Dewar of Island Batik have donated $25,ooo to the Alzeheimer's Art Quilt Initiative........ read more about their generosity here. And consider using this merchant the next time your stash needs a refill of Batiks.

DO-OVERS

Life doesn't provide you with many do-overs.....but quilting does!

So.....I was saying yesterday that I didn't like the appearance of the metallic thread in the tan section..... [side tracking here......I want to mention that the main background piece is not black as it appears....it's a rich dark chocolate..... ]

So I spent some do-over time yesterday (while catching up on the Housewives of New Jersey!)....ripping out the metallic and sewing again with a matching cotton thread. Funny...this photo doesn't show much difference but there is in person.

Now I'm ready to begin the thought process of how I'm going to attach a sea shell......as my focal point.

Well....I'm going to bead it on of course!!

Detail

For those of you who are playing along in this guessing game......what is the theme of this L.I.N.T. exhibit......I can see there are many choices already......color, material, size, shape, non fiber addition....hummmmm is it any of those?? OR.....something that will become more apparent as the pieces continue to grow...... Stay tuned......

MOVING TOO QUICKLY??

Even though I haven't finished the 'sand dollar' piece yet.....still muttering to myself about how to attach this embellishment.....

So, I moved along to my second idea for the L.I.N.T. theme show.....

This time I used Xotic by National Nonwovens.....a bamboo/rayon blend. It's a super soft felt....love the look, love working with it, but one must take care as it is not very sturdy.

The only multi-color thread I had for machine stitching was a metallic....it behaved just fine however now that I look at the piece, I'm not happy with the results. I'm considering removing the stitching in the brown section and sewing that area using matching thread instead. To me, though I like the pattern.....it's distracting, given that the finished piece will only measure 9" x 13" and there will be stitching in grey section with matching thread.

I'm preparing for a lecture and workshop for the Asheville Quilt Guild on the 21st and 22nd so I may not have time studio time today anyway which is probably a good thing. Often if one allows time to study the piece, the answer will become apparent.

The Asheville Quilt Guild meets at the Folk Art Center at 7:00 PM. Guests are welcome. My workshop is full with a waiting list, however, I'm happy to teach another one in the area if a group is interested.

IDEAS FLOWING

I'm still really jazzed about our new L.I.N.T. exhibit....and couldn't wait to get started on the first of several small pieces I plan to make. The rules are simple....so far, it's just one....but I'm going to let you all (gosh, I'm beginning to pick up that Southern way of speaking!).....see if you can detect what it is as I continue to add posts on this subject.

Again, I've turned to my fav material.....National Nonwovens Woolfelt (70/30 blend). A non-fusible stabilizer has been basted to the wrong side and I'm auditioning what thread to use......

........for the simple background stitching I'm doing.

Once that was accomplished, I added two more elements, varying the stitching pattern.

It's now time to figure out how to secure the sand dollar onto the piece.......glue is and would be the obvious solution......but I want additional security and more pizzazz...... Watch what happens.

I need to sign off......we are having another monster storm.......we've had over 4 inches of rain in the last 2 days.....it's coming down so hard and fast, you'd think we were in the tropics.....but it's also lightening.....so off goes the computer!

IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING!*!*

Okay....so my design for one of my new small pieces that will eventually go into an upcoming L.I.N.T. exhibit is coming along nicely.....don't you love it when that happens?

But, just like my still on hold Bansky piece.....I hit a small stumbling block.

I wanted to feature a sand dollar on the woolfelt design.....and ideally, hoped to have a hole through it to make attaching the embellishment easier. There are natural holes in the back....so...I'm thinking....okay all I need to do is use a strong but sharp straight pin and puncture from the back to the front.

Well....sure I sort of knew these things weren't sturdy....sadly, they are rather fragile.

That was yesterday.....so my 3:00 AM thought last night was to forget about making a hole....I can still bead around it or ??, but I know I can get it on. Yet, there's no point in adding such an item if it's terribly fragile especially since I now sell my work....that wouldn't be fair to a potential buyer.

So.....I figured I should strengthen the sand dollar.....but how? Ah ha.....I used a heavy duty glue....positioning the tip of the bottle into the larger of the two holes of my 2nd to last sand dollar. I squeezed until I could see the glue coming out the other hole....hoping it had filled the cavity and when dry, it would make it strong.

Trouble was.....I was holding the darn thing in one hand and squeezing with the other....dah.....

and I ended up not being very gentle with the other side of the sand dollar. If you look hard, you can see a small indentation in the upper left section of the flower.

Happily though.....otherwise, it worked great. I pressed and pushed on it as hard as I could and it stayed intact. Next, I duplicated this procedure on my 3rd and final sand dollar...this time keeping the item on a paper towel as I filled it with glue......

Perfect......now it's time for a happy dance and some stitching!!

MOVING FORWARD

Well......I can't just sit around while I'm waiting to find a solution to my Banksy inspired quilt......

So, I'm gearing up to begin a few small pieces for an upcoming L.I.N.T. exhibit......there's going to be a theme for the show. I'll disclose it as my ideas materialize....or maybe I'll have another contest and see if you sharp readers can recognize it.

For now....here are some of the groupings I've selected to work with. Not surprisingly they are woolfelt....or bamboo/rayon felt...... I love beginnings.....

Not sure how much I can accomplish today as we are still dealing with 'the husband's' recovery....which is going well by the way, but still time consuming at times.

Have a good weekend everyone....hope I'll have something to show for mine in a day or so....

CHARMING DECOR

Yesterday was our June L.I.N.T. (Ladies In New Textiles) meeting. We gathered at Jude's, a creative artist who makes both wearables and quilts. Check out her work here.

With her permission, I'm sharing just a few of her many, many awesome re-purposed items that left me absolutely tickled.....

How's this for a coffee table?

.....and an oh so clever hallway mirror....

Detail

All of her cabinets had these unique terrific handles.

LOVE IT!!

This old drinking fountain was on display in her kitchen.....complete with an interesting tableau (below)

Detail

On her porch I found this long narrow window box filled with sand featuring succulents and other small fun objects.
This put me over the top......I LOVE yard art......notice the cow creamer peaking out of the first container? For those who don't know about our long standing passion....we've collected cow creamers for at least 20 years.....having now amassed over 200!

Why not cover an outside door entrance with interesting objects?!?

Jude's husband apparently haunts junk and metal scrap yards....he's collecting man hole covers for an outside patio......super idea!!

Thanks Jude for allowing my readers to take a peak into your creative world!