French Gourmet Dinner and Displaying Your Quilts

We used to belong to an active gourmet dinner group - I think we started over 20 years ago, but haven't done anything in about six years.  There were eight of us to begin with, and then we added another couple to make ten.  Dean and I decided to host a reunion (I planned ahead - can't believe it, because we are usually best at spontaneous entertaining) and we had it last night.  I think it turned out great.

Since we were the hosts, we got to decide what the theme would be and we chose French.  Maybe because we went to France in June, and maybe because I haven't cooked much French food.  I can't believe it.  I have been known to make lots of ethnic foods - Sushi, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, German, Polish, Greek, etc.  I used to make crepes years ago, but I think that's it.   Dean and I made Boeuf Bourgiginon and Potatoes Au Gratin.  Tons of cream and bacon and butter and oooh, la, la, it was really, really good.  Probably my best effort with our gourmet group.

Dean couldn't find any sunflowers at the store yesterday, but he did find these yellow flowers, and I pulled every piece of blue glass from my house and put it on the table.  We used my blue and yellow dishes, and I even whipped up six new napkins - couldn't make all ten because I just didn't have any more blue/white fabric.  I tell you, I have really been on a stashbusting roll lately!!

 Of course, I have tons of quilts all around my living room.  At one point, I had only one, but have really been using more lately - why not?  I love them, and I love fabric, and they really warm up our house - with all that tile it can get a bit austere looking.

My tablecloth wasn't big enough so I took a couple pieces of fabric and tucked it under the tablecloth and it worked.  

View from the front door entryway.  Maybe the best thing about entertaining (which we rarely do anymore) is that our house is clean, and will be for a day or two.... at least until my quilting crap gets scattered from here to the other end of the house!!

How about you?  Do you entertain anymore?  Do you have your quilts displayed around your home?

Watermarking Photos from IPad

I have been following a discussion on MQR about watermarking photos of your personal quilts.  One of the members found that her original design was reproduced by another quilter and posted on the web.  It was mentioned by several quilters that we watermark our photos.  I think it is a good idea, too.  I don't know that I will take the time to do that with each photo I post, but I will try today.  I am also testing this process from my iPad 1. I found a free watermarking app, SignatureOne Lite.  On my first attempt I found it very easy to use.  Then I uploaded the watermarked photo using a Picasa app.

Posting from an iPad can be a frustrating experience at times.  For instance, right now the cursor isn't visible so I just have to guess it is at the right spot and then start typing.  

  

I don't know how I feel about posting photos of my quilts and having them pinned on Pinterest.  It is flattering to find your work admired by others.  On the other hand, I have made a few original designs, and if I saw that someone had copied, let's just say, my wholecloth, for instance, and then entered it into shows and didn't note that it was a copy of a quilt made by myself,  I might be a little unhappy.  I have seen that a couple people pinned pictures of my quilts, but the pinners have all referred back to my blog and commented nice things, like "love Mary's border" or something to that effect.  I do really appreciate that.  

I think that almost all quilt patterns and designs are copied from something, be it a quilt in a store, a design in a carpet or on a blouse, etc.   I would be very unproductive if I couldn't see what others were creating, so I hope that people continue to post pictures of their work, and I plan n doing the same.  How about you?  Are you worried about someone copying your work?

Back to the test...my iPad is acting so strange right now that I better get this posted before I lost it altogether.  I hope it works and the watermarked picture shows up.  Have a good day!

Feather Practice and Decision Making

Just thought I would post this for new quilters...  When I have a particular shape that I will be filling with feathers, I may take some practice fabric and draw that shape with pen on the fabric, and then audition feathers in those areas.  I have taken a couple "whimsical feather" or "alternative to feathers" classes, one from Dawn Cavanaugh, and the other from Sue Patten.  I usually stitch out the same type of hump/bump or heirloom feathers or I will do a regular feather....but when I have time, I like to pull out my class notes, and practice those unique or different feathers.  

If you have followed my blog, you will know that decision making is one of my weaknesses.  I have been known to stitch things out, then remove the stitching, several times if necessary, if I don't like it.  I will also draw on plexiglass to help me decide how I will quilt something.  I have also taken pictures of the quilt, and drawn on it with my ipad and a stylus.  Sometimes, though, I just miss quilting feathers, and I have to play!  

Here is the border area of the next quilt I am doing.

A little bit of whimsy here.

Oh, something else I do when I practice:  I grab all the small bobbins and try to use them up so I have some empty ones for my next big quilt.  I used three partials on this practice piece.

 Sloppy, but fast and fun!

 Really sloppy, but super fun!

What type of feather will I end up doing?  I don't know!  I am going to load this one, and hopefully be inspired to do something new and different!

Quilting a Comforter

Well, this was interesting.  My five year old grandson is sleeping in a queen bed and was using a small full size quilt I made him a couple years ago.  I pondered making a new quilt for him, but queen?  Oh my goodness, I thought about the time and expense, and honestly, it didn't make sense to create a true quilt.  I went to our town's version of a mall...  a KMart...  the only store we have in town other than a Home Depot and two grocery stores...but hey, I am not complaining... when we moved here we had none of the above!  They had the perfect comforter, navy blue, at a perfect price, $30!

I wish now I had planned this better, and might have skipped the flame borders.  Now, I do love them, I am just not 100% happy with the way they blend with the super huge meander in the center.  I toyed with the idea of no quilting in the center, just a few more stars, but that didn't seem the perfect fit either.

So, here it is, all done, and I am sure my little guy will LOVE this rocket and the flames and his name on it!  He is going to get the same flame fabric on his pillow cases.

Angi's Buzzsaw

This is Angi's buzzsaw quilt.  Angi told me I could quilt it any way I wanted, so I chose the square spirals panto.  I used a variegated King Tut on it.  I love the way it turned out!