sharing my quilt top at LAMQG

0404_24, a photo by n.ramirez on Flickr.

Here's a fun photo of my quilt top from a little further away! I brought it to the LAMQG meeting the other night, especially to show the girls who work at Sew Modern (where we have our meetings) what happened after they helped me pick out the rockin awesome fabrics to go with those quirky squares.
Our amazing guild photographer, Nichole, got this pic.
Going to the guild meetings is really funny for me. Every month I get so excited to go, I know that I will leave inspired and more passionate than ever about quilting. And every month it's also one of those things where I have to face my insecurities and feelings of inadequacy. The guild is so encouraging to everyone who does show and tell... and being in two bees with women from the guild has helped me to make some friends there, but it's so funny how I seem to break out into a cold sweat every time that I show something I made. I am utterly stunned at what people in my guild are making. Even if it's not all my taste - the actual skill we're looking at is mind-boggling. I would say that I am probably in the 30-40% range if we were ranking skill level... just to give you an idea. (and I'm not exaggerating)
I ended the evening, kind of weedling my way into a conversation with some other folks as they discussed what "modern quilting" is... Which is funny, because since I grew up around so much mid-century modern design, modern art and then worked in an industry for 6 years making "modern" textiles - my personal style is rarely what falls in the "modern" category...
I really encourage you to click on this pic and ride it to the flickr group that it is in... To see the breadth of what the Modern Quilt Guild covers is simply amazing.

ps. helping me hold the quilt is one of our amazingly talented male guild members, Craig... He's from the same hometown as me and we've laughed about how two Palos Verdes kids ended up meeting each other in a Los Angeles quilt guild.

642 things to draw

Some days are less creative than others. I recently bought this book with the idea that simply drawing is good for the soul. It's turned Into an awesome family sketchbook... Sketches take 5 minutes to do and are so calming...

Even if I'm drawing a rolling pin, cereal or knitting needles... It does something good inside me to sit  and draw... Especially on a day that seems less creative than I'd like.

Z's drawing here was under the caption "feelings" - so he decided to draw what he thinks are "dog feelings" by facial expressions.

Mimi's page said "Olympics" - so she drew Dorothy Hammill, figure skating in an arena... Now we just have to get Daddy on board...

Hoops for Japan

My kids are really concerned about what is happening in Japan, so they decided to do something about it. Z has decided to have a shoot-a-thon where he tries to get as many baskets in his 7.5ft basketball hoop as he can in one hour. Will you sponsor him?
(keep posted to hear about a painting Mimi wants to auction off on eBay for the same purposes)

-if you want to sponsor, you can either send me an email or post here how much you're willing to pay per shot - we expect him to make 60 or more shots, so consider yourself warned!
 (you can also state a maximum)

We're going to have the Backyard Hoops for Japan shoot-a-thon on April 16th (unless it rains)....I'll keep you posted!

cutest family... okay, they're my family, but they are cute..

My sister and brother in law have the cutest kids. I mean, REALLY.

Victory also has a fabulously talented photographer friend that has come into town a few times this year and snagged flipping awesome pics of the Ludwigs... and I just have to share, because even if you don't know them, you can't help but to love them here. These pics are great.  (FABULOUS JOB, EM!)

WIP - charity quilt #2

I chose a black and white image of this quilt to show while it's being finished, because honestly, it's the colors that make it pretty.
I did the "Lap quilt in a Jiffy" method by Kari Ramsey again... It's seriously fast and easy and though this is a bigger quilt than her pattern, the technique rocks for whipping out something quickly. I also did a self-binding on it to save time... Tonight that gets stitched and this one is D-O-N-E. I made it big enough to use as a picnic blanket, or as a couch cuddler. I'm clueless as to what to write down as it's value... I've never sold a quilt, so I don't know. (this one has taken me about 12 hours all said and done... Thoughts?)
And if no one bids on it... I'm bidding on it and bringing it home... (I like it. Will show you tomorrow, when it's complete and sunlit)

my sewing goes to new widths and lengths

Remember these funky quilt squares that I made slowly over the past year with weird (and some really ugly) scraps? I loved the way they turned out and was so wanting to use them in something really fabulous... but nothing in my stash elevated them to the level I felt they were worthy of. So I did something I rarely do... I went to Sew Modern (my friend, Lauren's new quilt shop in West LA) - squares in hand with the purpose of buying just for them... and had the amazing gals there give me great suggestions and chat with me as i wrapped my head around what to do to with them.

We ended up with patterns and colors that I LOVE - I mean, I was telling Jay the other night that this is definitely the most sophisticated and complicated color scheme that I have ever worked with... And there are fabrics that no online shop could have pointed me to to make this all work. On top of that, the fact that I'd only had enough fabric scraps to make 6 of these little squares really challenged me so that I needed to come up with a cool solution for the rest of the space.

I've gotten tired of making lap size quilts... they seem small sometimes - though they are REALLY useful around here for 1000 purposes... too many of the same size, well -that's boring...

so... I had a blast the other night, sewing this puppy up. Seriously, I paid NO attention to the size. I just kept working with it until I felt like it was done. And the result is something I am really proud of!
I think the ending size is somewhere between a twin and a queen... but not really a full size and I think I love it the way it is.
It is most certainly something bigger than anything I've pieced yet...

Quilt to donate

I made this quilt this week to donate for an auction I'm involved with. I used fabric that I did not buy... Not one of these are my taste and style, and once again, it's a little game I seem to play with myself... "can I make something I like even a little from materials I hate?"

Modern Relief Japan

I'll be honest, I simply haven't known what to say about what is happening in Japan.
but it's been on my heart a lot.... and seeing how I am a newsradio addict, it's been all news all the time as I want to hear more about our neighbors across the Pacific.

I saw today that Modern Relief is having a quilt auction.
I'm super happy about this and I hope that you'll enter to win... I will be!


check it out here.

We've been flamingo'ed!!!

Look what we woke up to!!!
It's the best Young Life fundraiser ever... They left a flyer that says for a $25 removal fee, they'll come get them - and for $10 more we can send the flock to a friend. Haha! (gotta love blackmail as a way to get kids to camp)
I told my friend, the director, that we want to keep them!... The neighbors love it...
I had a horrible day yesterday, this was a fabulous change of scenery. ;)

The things we sew for love

Sometimes we have to throw out our design ideas (taste?) for the sake of our kids. (Sometimes, not often)...
I did just that last night as I cranked out this heavy duty book caddy for Z's bunk bed. I asked him what fabrics he wanted for the project, "all of them!" ... Ok... There you have it... The perfect place to store your books about heroes and dinosaurs... Complete with pockets for a flashlight and water bottle. Just don't judge my style based on this project. In the eyes of a 5yo boy, this has perfect style.