Movin' Right Along

We have movie night once a week in our house, and we watched "The Muppet Movie" a couple of weeks ago! For some reason this song is repeating in my head this week, I guess because I feel like I'm finally getting into the rhythm of school and work and keeping up with life!



I found a new place to sell my patterns, so I am really excited to get busy with that, I really think that is where my interest is at the moment, and I really want to work on getting more designing done in the coming year. It seems like life kept getting in the way this year, I started out with great plans, but was never really able to get on a roll. So I've got a few uploaded and am working on finishing up some that I've never really quite got all the way completed. Here is my Journal Cover Pattern. Check out more of the great patterns on PatternSpot - love the fact that they are instantly downloadable! Plus there are lots of free ones, too. I've got a couple in mind that I'd like to add, so I'll let you know when I do.

Last night I spent most of the evening using EQ7 to put an idea I've been kicking around in my head for quite a while into an actual quilt and I am so loving it! Can't wait to choose some fabrics tomorrow and actually do some sewing (and writing instructions!) It's been a while since I was actually this enthusiastic about a quilting project, so it feels really great. Today I am finishing up a few odds and ends so I can be ready for some concentrated sewing.

Here is a little teaser - it's not the whole project, just a taste!

The Louvre Museum - Part One

Bright and early we got up on Wednesday so we could tackle one of the most famous Museums in the world. Armed with our audio tour (and the headphones!) we set off. Having done our research, we knew the quickest way to enter the museum without having to stand in line (you can access an entrance in the Metro station), but once we were in came the task of figuring out where we were and where we wanted to be, as the exhibits had been moved around since our audio guide was made! Since the guide couldn't be skipped forward or backward we decided to listen as we looked and hope to catch up. We looked at lots of old statues, eventually finding our way to one of our "must see" sights - the Venus de Milo. Apparently it's on everyone's list so there was a sea of people around her. We very much enjoyed the added insights from the recording - we now know exactly what contrapposto is (counterpose) and why it is important! We learned that she is made from two pieces of marble and how she is a study in contrasts. It was so fun to look at this beautiful work while listening to why it is important and so interesting!

Further along we were introduced to another one of the important ladies of the Louvre - the Winged Victory of Samothrace. I really loved this one, and it wasn't as crowded here. We were able to walk around at our leaisure and study the beauty of this one! I wonder what kind of a face this lady had? Fierce and proud, I think! The third grand lady of the Louvre is the Mona Lisa. Now that was a crowd! Mona Lisa has an entire large wall in the midst of a huge room. The crowd starts at the back, then you work your way forward to the front for your look, then to the sides and out. We just stood to the side, I figured I could see it better in a book and we didn't want to spend an hour on one painting when there were so many more to see!


Founded over 200 years ago. Our country is so young in comparison!




The crown jewels of France! Beautiful, but not easy to get in a photograph.


We saw many wonderful paintings including The Wedding at Cana. There was a wonderful discussion of this on the audio guide, telling the story of who is who in the painting and discussing the various perspectives of the people in this. There were several paintings that were discussed in detail and it really added to our enjoyment of the art. The Raft of the Medusa was another one we really enjoyed. I'm not sure what this one is, but I liked it enough to get a picture!


With over 35,00 works of art you can never see it all in one day, so once we finished our audio tour, we looked around for a bit, then decided to leave until later in the evening (we chose Wednesday for our visit because we knew we would be able to return in the evening). We sat for a bit in the Tuilleries Garden and just enjoyed the nice day - the sun was out and it was a perfect day!
Look at all the neat statues on the outside of the building!
And the big Ferris Wheel. Didn't ever get time to do that, though.But of course there is time for lunch - Jambon et Fromage (ham and cheese) with a cafe creme. Sitting on a park bench behind Notre Dame enjoying a summer day in Paris - most awesome!

Taming "The Beast"

Have you ever bitten off more than you could chew? I definitely did on this project. I was so excited about making a quilt out of neckties, that I never gave a thought to all the logistics of completing it. Early this summer, I finally got the ties sewn together into a circle for the middle of the quilt, and was completely in shock at how heavy it ended up. At that point I was at a loss as to how to attach it to the thin, silky sheet the customer chose for the background. I decided to lay it out with the backing and batting and pin baste it to the top, then quilt the ties to the background.

This started out fairly well, until I realized that I had a bit of rippling going on. So I folded it uop for later. After a couple months of languishing under the dining room bar, I decided it was time to pull up my big girl panties and finish up this monstrosity. I adjusted pins and kept quilting the ties down, figuring the bulk of the ties wasn't going to allow for a perfectly flat quilt, and it would be fine in the end. After the ties were all quilted I had to quilt the remaining background.
I marked lines from the seams of the ties out to the edges and stitched those. I'm not entirely sure it's enough quilting, but I'm afraid that more quilting would just magnify the problems that the center already has. So I am leaving it as is, and getting another opinion tomorrow.

I decided to applique a padded center circle to cover the gap in the center, figuring that the extra bulk was needed to balance the thickness of the tier. It looks pretty good, and did work to stabilize the poof that was forming in the center. The back is a little rough, but not horribly so.
Last, but not least, bias edging on a scalloped edge per the customers request. Haven't done this in a while, and it took an afternoon of hand-stitching, but it's done now!
This is a super heavy quilt. Would probably be very warm if any one ever wanted to actually sleep under it! I think it's just meant to be a show piece, so I hope my customer is happy with the results - I'm not 100% satisfied myself, but it was an experiment and I learned a lot. I am just happy to call it done!