Windows

 

We are still in the Polar Vortex, like much of the country.  Last Sunday we had balmy temps of 30 degrees, sun, no snow, no wind.  We fled the house on a wonderful visit to nearby Wauwatosa, WI, suburb of Milwaukee for a dinner out.  We walked down a charming street filled with small businesses and shops, and I stopped in amazement to see two big old-fashioned store front windows in a dry cleaner's store filled completely with pots of geraniums, blooming, growing, blossoming in the afternoon sun.

 

What a complete treat, a luxury to behold in the middle of the frozen winter with sun once a week if we are lucky, and snow and cold almost every day.  The flowers must have been on the sidewalk outside for all of last summer, and then brought in to flourish through the winter in the windows.  The owner saved them, loved them enough to keep them going thru the winter and let us, those who walked by or came in for business, delight in their beauty.  All those shades of pink, rose, red, white! 

 

Note the gloomy, snowy, bleak landscape behind me in the photo, and our reflections too, all bundled up, trudging along.  Sigh.

 

We saw a mini library outside too, next time I'll get a photo of that, they are so charming.  The old shoe store but with modern Clark's in the window, and real moccasins, love that one too.  The chocolate shop, the bakery with incredible confections.  Then we arrived at Balistreri's Italian restaurant, one of our favorite local places, for yummy pizza.  We experienced Christmas all over again with the holiday décor, and spent a very enjoyable time, eating delicious thin crust melt-in-your-mouth real pizza. 

 

 

We're headed to way below zero again, and the icy ferns on my window will reappear, just another winter window for me to enjoy. 

 

I think I spoke too soon about enjoying the treasure hunt in my new Windows 8 computer, eeeeek!  I am finding it so frustrating not to get my old menus, not to be able to easily find and do things, but it is getting better as I conquer this.  I do like the slide shows of the photos from the App screen, much like those in tablets.

 

I reached my breaking point last week trying to print a coupon for the office store.  It was a pdf attachment and showed on a black screen.  No matter what, no menu, no right click, no way to say "PRINT."  Finally I read the Help topics and did a Screen Shot, saved it, and could print that from the little file folder system on my taskbar.  Well, it printed the entire black APP screen plus the coupon, which I did take with me to show my tech guy and ask how to do it.  He didn't know, and they all laughed at my using half an ink cartridge to get the coupon........grrrrr.  I had to laugh too.

 

I figured it out now; I hook up my old Windows 7 Netbook I used for travel, open the email and coupon in that, click Print, and out it comes on white paper, perfect.  There must be a better way.........

 

Then I get an email from HP telling me they will soon have new laptops with Windows 7!  Ah, too late.

 

Hope you are surviving winter, it's a bad one for the entire country.  I am glad I am not driving to teaching gigs, or the airport at 5 a.m. on dicey roads. 

 

Today I was organizing my photos, writing an article for American Quilter Magazine, and found the one, below, of my window in the room I often had at Asilomar where I taught for several years.  I loved that window.  I could relax after class and before dinner and evening events, feel the cool ocean air, smell the Monterey pines, and just "be." 

 

 

 

Soon I hope to crank up my trusty Bernina and do a bit of quilting.  I think Oliver would like to be back in "that room" again, looking out his two front windows, watching the world go by!

 

Keep quilting; don't let the cold grey days stop you.  Your work gets better every day...

Diane

 

 

Happy 2014!

 

Oliver and I survived the holidays, napped through New Year's, and are now huddled finding warmth in the Polar Vortex that has overtaken the country.  Yesterday it was -14 when I took this photo of Oliver in his favorite cardboard box by the front door where he watches and stalks birds and squirrels at the bird seed I put out. 

 

Today it is supposed to hit zero degrees, and I might venture out for coffee, cat food, and bird seed!

 

Happy New Year to all of you, and best wishes for great quilting this year.  I hope to get back to giving you some ideas and tips soon. 

 

I am now working on my brand new laptop (a total impulse purchase for me, not at all typical) and have been rocketed into the new age of all things geeky.  Fixing DH's computer, system restores, installing all sorts of things that took forever to get back to normal, including a new WiFi router that gave me fits but is humming away now and not crashing and blinking and melting down - all this has been my daily routine for the past two weeks!  My new friends are the guys who help me out in the tech department.  The end may be in sight I think.  A few loose ends to tie, and I shall be freed from tech stuff.

 

It didn't take me long to get used to Windows 8 and I must say I am enjoying the treasure hunt to find where files are now stored, how to do the things I used to do without thinking, but it is all getting very easy and it is fun, not stressful.  I still need to get my photo program downloaded and then my old laptop will be cut free, to relax and enjoy its much-deserved retirement. 

 

And I have Apps.  I love my weather App.  The background photos look like my view out the window.  It can "find my location" and tells me everything and more about my weather. 

 

I've liked seeing all the holiday quilting projects and photos on Facebook, and pet photos too.  I know quilters are busy as always being creative.

 

We had our little Charlie Brown faux Christmas tree again, decorated with birds, nests, and real nests blown down in the yard that I have saved over the years.  I added clear lights and my collection of crystal ornaments, and it was beautiful.

 

 

 

Oliver took several days to "notice" that the new thing blocking his view out the window had BIRDS perched in it.  Every night at 9:30  he sat on the old Singer treadle next to it and gazed at it for a long time before gently reaching out and swiping one bird or nest off and onto the floor.  In the a.m. when I was having coffee he did the same thing.  The victims were then placed in the greenery on the mantel, out of his reach.  It was a game with us, and he ignored the crystal ornaments and never toppled the tree.  He is four years old and has developed civilized sensibilities. 

 

Below, a hazy photo of him gazing at his tree.

 

 

I hope your year is filled with lights and crystal and wonder, and quilting always.  Stay warm......

Diane

 

Color!

 

While another half foot of snow falls, we think of spring here in the frozen tundra.  I started keeping track of how many sunny versus cloudy days we've had since Thanksgiving, but honestly it was too depressing to know for sure.  If one day a week was sunny we were lucky. 

 

After Christmas and when the grey days began in earnest, the bright reds and glistening trees were packed away, it was so flat and dull in my house that I decided some bursts of color were needed.  It began by my putting out some spring robin's eggs I saw in the junk drawer while looking for a screwdriver to repair my reading glasses, and I suddenly knew more blue of the eggs, more purple, magenta, and even chartreuse were needed in my house.

 

 

In my sewing room I opened a cupboard door and out fell this charming doll from a student at Asilomar (thank you Ann!).  It had been put away so Oliver wouldn't eat it; the feathers were a huge attraction.  It was like a burst of sunshine!  I knew I was on the right path in replacing my typical neutrals with some saturated tones.  The doll is bright orange with turquoise bead eyes and some green shiny mesh wings.  Love it.  It made me smile.

 

I rummaged around and found a few things, but knew it was necessary to go on a shopping trip for some big inexpensive bright objects.  It was a cloudy grey damp cold dreary day, of course, but shopping was fun.  My cheeks got rosy as I went from store to store.  I came home with packages, bags, paper, and Oliver was thrilled helping me unpack it.

 

 

Success!  I found a bright blue pottery jar for some faux tulips (wishful thinking for spring and Oliver eats real flowers), fresh fruit in a brown/blue pottery bowl, Oliver's wheat grass in a deep aubergine basket, and a new spring green trivet that I don't know how I lived without.  I felt much happier already, and so did Oliver.  He knows he looks great in this setting!

 

 

When I shopped I looked at items I normally would have bypassed but this time I only looked at color, didn't matter what the item was.  Purple and green striped kitchen towels went into a soft green pitcher I had stored way back in a cupboard for a splash of much needed color on my kitchen counter.  And....I can always grab a towel and use it if necessary.

 

I unpacked more exciting bags.  New pillows for the khaki cotton couch, chartreuse and ivory ikat print; and the purple quilted circles one I already had, and a shimmery silk green pillow too.

 

 

My favorite find was an abstract art print for the dining room, with rich wonderful unexpected colors, detail below.  I love it.  I got it for a steal because of a small ding in the frame, and it's signed and numbered.

 

 

 

Below the framed print I placed some of my pottery, an old everyday platter my grandmother had, and a new vase from the National Quilt Museum's gift shop that I treasure.  It has the most beautiful blues.

 

 

And in the family room I also included some shine and color with a reflective platter and added some smooth globes that have two tones of color on each, a dark and a light, so they can be rolled about to create new combinations.  Oliver is very good at rolling them about. 

 

 

The one on the left is really more vibrant chartreuse, fantastic.  I added more color here and there, lit a candle on the mantle out of Oliver's reach, and walked from room to room, enjoying the color, the focal points.  I still love neutrals and soft tones, but adding more color made them look better too.  

 

And then I unwrapped and set up my wonderful new deep cobalt blue lamp.....sigh.  It looks so pretty with my collection of blue/white china.

 

 

 

As I went through my years as a quiltmaker I discovered much the same thing.  Use what you've always loved, but look for something new and wonderful to add, an unusual color, a new or different style of print, a glistening thread.  I still like many of the fabrics from years ago, but need more color now, and love what is available to quilters that was not in the past.  Texture, shine, saturation, contrast, cool and warm, bright and subdued.  You have so much to use to create something that will delight. 

 

 

My little doll says goodbye by showing you her back and her lovely wings.  Think about some orange or polka dots when you make your next quilt!

 

Keep quilting, keep growing.  Your work gets better every day.

Diane

 

 

Tension and Stitch Length!

More information arrives from quilters who are dealing with new, electronic machines. Mercy recently explained her tweaking with the Bernina830 and silk thread, and she reports now that if the stitch length is set at "0," the thread tension on top gets very tight.

I have noticed on some Bernina 440's that when the BSR is used, the tension gets tighter than if a normal free motion foot is used, but of course can be adjusted down so a proper stitch is achieved.

Many things can affect the thread tension on top, even the humidity or color of thread. Dark threads may need a slightly different top tension than ecru, in the exact same thread.

In my first book, Guide to Machine Quilting, I suggested setting the stitch length to zero if you drop the feed dogs and free motion quilt. This was back in the Dark Ages when I used a mechanical machine, no brains, no sensors. Now I don't even think about doing that because my machine knows if I lower the feed dogs I don't NEED stitch length and allows them to rest comfortably in the basement, not moving at all. So I never touch that stitch length dial when the dogs are down.

On the Bernina 830 Mercy found that if she did use the zero stitch length the top tension became way too tight. If you own this machine, don't change the stitch length at all when the dogs are lowered.

All things are interconnected. Be aware.

Hope you are not slaving away too hard here in the US where we have our big Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. I am hoping to get in an hour or so of quilting today on some ideas I've had before I forget them, and take a break from cleaning and polishing, shopping for food, cooking.

Keep quilting! Your work gets better every day.
Diane

Labor Day?

Arnie and I are 'home alone' this Labor Day weekend. He is sleeping. Then he wakes up and moves over and sleeps some more. Perhaps later in the day we will sit on the front stoop and watch the dogs and owners walk by and say hi. And then sleep some more.

I am busy getting my supplies and handouts ready for my upcoming classes in Brainerd, MN. I should be able to do this in my sleep by now, and I'm sure Arnie could, but it is always a big job.

Things are moving very slowly here in Wisconsin this weekend. It is a lazy, late summer day, the smell of Fall in the air but yet it is very warm and still. We listen to the late summer insects humming, and feel an expectancy of bright crisp days ahead.

Enjoy your weekend, relax, maybe do some quilting.

Diane

Class Experience

A beautiful copper ceiling in downtown Paducah, KY, is indeed an inspiration for quilting designs. Don't forget to look up every now and then! Surprises await us at every opportunity. Sometimes it's simply the way a line intersects with another, or the color of a leaf next to a blossom, but ideas are everywhere.

Our classes in Paducah at the National Quilt Museum have concluded but it might be fun for you to read about one student's experience, especially how she learned to use her provided machine, a different brand than what she herself uses. Mercy sent me her class scribe notes, and she has her own blog, so follow this link to read her delightful report on "The Adventure Continues": http://tropicalapplique.blogspot.com/

Keep quilting!

Diane