I Love NY!

Julia and I had an amazing time in NYC!

The main event was a Broadway workshop for Girl Scouts. Saturday morning, we arrived at the theater bright and early. "Teaching Artists" led the girls though sing-alongs, games and dances.

The highlight for us was the talk by Susan Hilferty, Tony Award winning costume designer for Wicked. She was awesome! She told us about her creative process in general, and specifically how she came up with the costumes for Wicked. I wish you could see how stunning her jacket is.

Glinda's gown is completely hand made and takes 11 weeks to create. Susan explained how she looked to the Edwardian period for inspiration, since the Wizard of Oz was written in 1911. But since Glinda was princess-like, she started looking at princess ball gowns from the 40's and 50's. She mentioned a Dior gown that we think we found. (Take a look. Scroll down to the 3rd photo.)

It is so gorgeous up close. All hand-beaded and perfectly tailored for the actress. I was happy that Susan talked about the craftsmen who work on productions like this- seamstresses, beaders, embroiderers, cobblers(!), wig and hat makers.

Twenty lucky Girl Scouts were called up on stage to dance with two of the ensemble actors. See Aaron on the right? That's how close we were to the stage!

Here we are in row DD with our friends Leslie & Robin. Our best seats for a show ever!

After the workshop, we went to lunch and had some time to hang around. Julia was pulled into a street performance! The guy in green had just flipped over the 5 unsuspecting volunteers!
I missed the shot. : (

Back to the theater for the show. Incredible! Being so close, were could see every detail of the costumes that Susan had told us about earlier.

With some time to kill before leaving for home, we walked over to Rockefeller Center

The Lego store has a recreation of the Prometheus statue!

Julia and I are small town girls who have never seen an Anthropologie store before. The windows were amazing! Hand-dyed paper, hangers and tape measures. Oh, my!

And there was that lamp that everyone is talking about!

We went into a music store near Time Square to look for something for Bill or Pete, but came out with this poster for Julia instead. She has been wanting one for a long time. And when we arrived home, my eQuilter purchase was waiting with this fabulous fabric. Rosie is holding a rotary cutter!

After so many years away from NY, I'm hoping to return again soon. A guild friend is taking a bus down for the big Red & White exhibits in March. If you are anywhere in the Northeast, you must try to make it to this exhibition!
And maybe I'll see you there!

If we can make it there...

Julia and I are leaving this behind

and heading here

to see

with thousands of our closest Girl Scout friends!!!

Oh, dear. That blog post has a double meaning.
I was thinking about the song lyrics to New York, New York...
"If we can make it there, we'll make it anywhere."

But with all the snow, I hope we can get there!
I'm sure the highways are fine and the main streets in NYC are fine.
There are plenty of people hanging around outside the Today show, so I think we'll be fine!

Yay!

WIP Wednesday

Welcome to another installment of

Work In Progress
Wednesday!

The baby quilt top is complete and has been added to the top of the "to be quilted" pile.

Also to be quilted:
Zig Zag Friends

This will be included in my Modern Quilting Lecture to demonstrate how the different designers play so nicely together! Lots of boys here: Kaffe, Philip Jacobs, Joel Dewberry. Some girls, too.

Sugar Wave
New Wave pattern with Sugar Snap fabrics.
Or maybe New Snap? (not)


Meadowsweet Dresden

I thought I would love this most of all, but I should not be allowed to set blocks on point. Ever again. See the wrinkles in the corners of the blocks? Boo.

The last two Saturdays, I was helping out at Girl Scout sewing workshops. My friend Carolyn and I didn't help plan them, but were called in at the last minute to cover. So we were stuck with patterns we would not have chosen for 10 year old non-sewists.

Here are my samples of the bag (Simplicity 5151)
and doll's sundress (Oliver & S).

Definitely cute, but a lot of work to try to complete in 2 hours with 16-20 girls and only 3 or 4 machines. It took us 3 hours both weeks. Everyone went home happy!

The annual amaryllis!
This year, we have 3 flower stalks!

Visit Freshly Pieced for more WIPs!

Snow, Ice and Warm Socks

With so much of this

And this

Who wouldn't want some of these?


Julia finished her first pair of socks (a Christmas gift for Josh)!

(I had fun photographing them in the snow.)

Stay warm !

Design Wall Monday

I've been working on this baby quilt, on and off, for a couple of weeks. Other projects took priority, but now I can get back to it. I decided to go with the Waltzing Matilda border, so I need to make more whirlies with the bluish print from Fandango.

The sagey green will be a narrow border or binding.


I made His and Hers pillowcases for the bride- and groom-to-be (my nephew) as part of their shower gift. Christopher wanted to use his pillowcase right away, so I think he likes it! He is a bow hunter and picked out the deer fabric when we were shopping for their wedding quilt fabric. They chose a few collections that they liked and I picked Fandango. I love it so much! Which is a good thing, since I'm going to be spending many, many hours with it over the next few months.

I've become the designated bow-quet maker at bridal showers!

I'll show you the wedding ring blocks soon. There are only two done so far. Only 47 to go! And a hand-appliqued border. And hand quilting. Maybe it will be finished for Christmas!

Stalling

I need to start a new project today, with a deadline looming.
But I'm stuck. Almost paralyzed with fear.
Which is crazy because the fabric is gorgeous!


With such a huge investment already made, I think I'm afraid it won't work and I'll have to start over. How about starting the first time!

At least I'll have this view to gaze upon as I press yards and yards and yards of Fandango and more Kona Snow.


OK! I'm going to start!

WIP Wednesday- SNOW DAY!

Well, my guild meeting (including my lecture on Modern Quilting) scheduled for tonight was snowed out. I'm hoping a snow day will translate into lots of sewing! My lecture is being bumped to next month which will give me time to get some of the pieces quilted, so I won't be showing only tops. It's all good.

I have been working on a Whirlygig baby quilt for a couple of days. I started out with the inspiration print below from the line Savannah by Christine Graf for Clothworks. I like it just fine and it would be lovely as a baby quilt. (As a side note, we met my nephew's girlfriend Savannah last week, so I'm saving the selvages to make a little something for her.)


Then this Philip Jacobs print, Waltzing Matilda, appeared on the table and I love it even more. So I cut some pinks and pulled out the blue. I think it could use some green. We'll see where this ends up!
Which do you like better? Savannah or Matilda?

It's been snowing since about midnight and is expected to continue into the afternoon. This is the most snow we've had in one storm so far this season.
View of the back yard:

View out the front door:

I love snow!
Kona Snow, that is!
It is a gorgeous soft white and it works with everything.
Who knew I could love a solid white so much?!

Visit Freshly Pieced to see what other bloggers are working on today!

Design Wall Monday

One of my goals for 2011 is to quilt more, so I hope to have something on my design wall every Monday. I use a small portable design wall, made from foam core covered with flannel.

This is will be a New Wave quilt made from Sugar Snap by Melissa Averinos. I'm using a light gray solid in between. There are 4 completed rows on the dining room table!


I had hoped to complete this top on Sunday, but we had a basketball game to go to. Our kids' high school band got to sit in with the University of Rhode Island pep band!
If you look closely, Pete is in the green hat sitting at the drum set to the left of the sousaphones.

It was impossible to get a photo of tiny Julia in the middle of a sea of trumpets.
Unfortunately, Rhody lost the game, but we had a great time!

Visit many other inspiring Monday Design Walls at Patchwork Times.

21st Century Modern

I will be presenting a lecture to my quilt guild on Wednesday night on the Modern Quilting Movement. I have made an outline for myself along the lines of Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Here's a sneak peek of the quilts (tops!) I'll be showing.

Hexie Tablerunner

Mod Bento Swap and Three by Three Swap

Sugar Snap Wave

Meadowsweet Dresden

Mod Zig Zag

Later today, I'll be starting a Whirlygig baby quilt similar to Anna's.

So, my dear bloggy friends...
If you were introducing a group of traditional quilters to the modern quilting movement,
what would you show and tell them?

2010 Finishes

This picture collage customized with Smilebox 2010 Finishes Quilts: First Quarter Baskets, 1/22/10 Math Geeks Unite, 4/10/10 Go Baby Go, 5/12/10 T-shirt Quilt, 5/28/10 Brownie Heartstrings, 7/31/10 Hexie Runner, 9/27/10 Stacey's Tree Skirt, 11/11/11 Crafts: Paper Bead Bracelets, 1/27/10 Felt Rosette Heart, 2/9/10 Biscuit Basket, 6/12/10 Eyeglass necklace, 6/26/10 Giveaway Prizes, 7/4/10 Paper Beads, 7/12/10 Boy Scout Pillowcase, 7/22/10 Turk's Head neckerchief slides, 7/22/10 Family Reunion Centerpieces, 8/10/10 Posy Applique Needle Cases, 8/20/10 Stripey Pincushions, 8/23/10 Gathered Clutch, 8/24/10 Felted Wool Bowl, 10/29/10 Baby Shower Favors, 11/12/11 Crochet Ball Ornaments, 11/23/10 Christmas Crafts, 12/24/11