Michigan Quilt Artists Invitational 2010

I don't remember why I didn't set this entry to post but I found it in my draft posts so it is a bit late but I hope you enjoy it.

The Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational Exhibit 2010 has the theme of SOUTH OF THE BORDER. The opening reception was September 10 at the Greater Flint Arts Council.

This is my quilt for South of the Border. It is titled "SOME LIKE IT HOT".
I used purchased hand dyed fabrics and fused everything. The only sewing was to enclose the edge. I used Melody Johnson's Escape Hatch Finish so it needs no binding.
I did my signature curly cue machine quilting.

Close up.

Another close up.

The special label for the exhibit.

I got to use my favorite lime greens and hot oranges.

My quilt for the South of the Border theme, "Some Like It Hot" as it hung at the opening reception.

Linda's quilt...Kahlua. As you can see she had to make many sacrifices to obtain the materials in the quilt including Kahlua bottle labels etc.

Ruth's quilt.

Ruth and her quilt about the Panama Canal.
"A MAN A PLAN A CANAL"

Ruth and I drove up to Flint for the reception and the room was packed with people. It is fun to see all the quilts that travel for two years. Most are for sale and some get sold before the end of the two year tour. Some even sold at the reception. The quilts are all unique since each artist uses different techniques to depict the theme. The quilts are all spectacular.
I got to see Marty and Mary who coordinate the exhibit and pack and send it all over. I also got to see my friend Kris and her family, but the biggest surprise at the reception was seeing my cousin Anne and her (artist) husband Matt who stopped by to see the exhibit. It really made my day.

The theme for next year is THE ART OF THE KITCHEN. I already have an idea, but I usually wait until the last minute to get my quilt finished.

BUILDING BLOCKS.....I LOVE A PARADE!!

On September 11, 2010, National Day of Service and Remembrance, I had the joy of attending the Blessing of a new partnership project between Habitat for Humanity Lansing, Michigan State University and Whirlpool Corporation. The three entities worked together to fund and build a home at the MSU Commuter Parking lot. MSU students and other volunteers built the home in two parts: the Green side and the White side. Much of the home was completed including the shingles on the roof and then a few weeks later the two parts were moved to the home's final location in Lansing.

Denise Paquette, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Lansing
Governor Jennifer Granholm spoke at the event and reminded all of us that she and her whole extended family have been working on a Habitat home in Detroit this past summer. Yeah Jenny!!!
She had great things to say about Habitat, MSU and Whirlpool, but the most memorable thing to me was that she acknowledged all of the businesses and organizations that were listed on the back of the program for the event and who helped build or fund Habitat homes in the Lansing area. To my surprise the Capital City Quilt Guild was listed second and she asked are there any quilt guild members here today and so yes of course I yelled out and so did a fellow quilter, Julia. The governor then went on to say, "Yeah for the quilters. I love quilters." I was so thrilled to represent the many quilters who have made and donated quilts for each of our Habitat Lansing homeowners and who have donated to and attended fundraisers and many other things to support Habitat for Humanity Lansing.
Jeff Noel of Whirlpool spoke from the heart about Whirlpools dedication to Habitat through the world and here in Michigan.
Anna the new Habitat Homeowner.
Sandy Pearson of Executive Director of Habitat Michigan also spoke to the crowd.
The beginning of the home.
Bob, Habitat Lansing Board member, Governor Granholm, and me.

I LOVE A PARADE!!!!

This past Friday I had the opportunity to participate in the MSU Homecoming Parade to represent Habitat for Humanity Lansing in its partnership with MSU and Whirlpool. It was a bit chilly but I managed to keep warm during the long walk from the Hannah Community Center to the heart of the MSU Campus. I loved the marching bands especially the tuba players who threw water from their instruments as they marched. We walked south on Abbot and then turned east on Grand River to the Collingwood entrance then to Farm Lane and ended on Shaw Lane near West Shaw where I lived for two years as an undergrad.

Thanks to Ruth for taking these pictures.

The Habitat banner lead our group.
I'm in this picture near the center. I was walking with Habitat Lansing Board members Glenn, Monica, and Rachel and her husband. The rest of the group was MSU students who helped build the home.
The MSU students had bags of candy that they passed out to all the children along the parade route. There were hundreds of people.
Walking along.
Hi everyone.

I had never been to the MSU Homecoming Parade so this was a real treat for me. Thanks to everyone who came to see the parade.

Homecoming weekend was topped off with another win by the MSU Spartans!!

GO GREEN!! GO WHITE!!

What Have I Been Up To?

The summer was almost perfect with lots of heat and sunny days and it has made for a pretty autumn with all the bright reds, pinks, lovely oranges, and golden yellow colors in the leaves.

Yard and garden work has been taking up much of my time on the most recent weekends but my gardens are now all cut back and "almost" ready for that "white stuff". The leaves have been falling and I have managed to vacuum up lots of leaves to use as a winter mulch on parts of the hosta and fern shade garden. My friend Eileen's son, Costa, helped me with raking and bagging the leaves last weekend and he will have to come back when more leaves have fallen. He will help me cage some of the delicate Japanese maples and hydrangea and fill the cages with leaves to help insulate the plants.

My former "disappointment garden" has been dug up and in its place is a new ornamental grass garden. It was a lot of work but it is a good feeling to have created my new garden. I can't wait to see what it looks like in a few years when the grasses mature in size. Some will get up to six feet high others only four feet to three feet. I've pruned several trees and shrubs and even cut down some major limbs from the dying Russian Olive. I extended the brick edgers all around the gardens and have only about twenty more to put in place next spring. They each weigh 13 lbs and I have had to move them from place to place so it has been a good workout.

This was the view from my second floor window a few weeks ago. Look at all the leaves.
Another upstairs view to the north.
An upstairs view of the ornamental grass garden.

A ground view of my new ornamental grass garden from a few weeks ago.

The first big bunch of leaves that fell a few weeks ago. Most of these were vacuumed up and chopped to become mulch in the shade garden.

What a pretty autumn we have had this year.

A recent view from the second floor of my house. The leaves are now golden yellow.
An arborist has deep root fertilized the big Sugar Maple and will return soon to prune it. It is expensive but worth it to keep my beautiful shade tree healthy.

This is the view from my kitchen sink window. What a view!!!
My big Sugar Maple has turned bright golden yellow this year.
A good overall view of my backyard from the big patio.
Another view.

A view of the smaller patio and my garage garden which is all cut down and ready for winter.

The garden this side of the retaining wall is my "sun garden". It is a mess with grasses and weeds and I will tackle that garden next Spring and Summer. It currently has yellow and orange day lilies, Russian Sage, a Buddlia and two tall yellow flowered plants, as well as California Poppies that love to reseed every year. I tried to stick with Orange, Yellow and Purple in the "Sun Garden". This is my newly created "Ornamental Grass" garden. You can kind of see the eleven grasses that I planted. They are small but should mature to a good height in a few years. The one on the far right near the back is reddish and has gotten darker as the temperatures dropped in the last few weeks. I mostly added Miscanthus and made sure they are all clumping grasses.
This is the north east corner of the back garden.
The center of my back garden. The weather vane marks the spot where my Blue Bottle Tree will be installed. I have collected lots of blue wine bottles and am just waiting for my friend Marty to get time to install the "tree trunk" and branches.

A view of the south east corner and the hosta and fern shade garden. It is all mulched and ready for winter. I placed all the brick edger blocks this past Spring.

The south east corner of my yard and the beginning of the brick edge where the rock edge ends.

Facing east at the hosta and fern shade garden. The crunched up leaves have been spread to mulch and protect the ferns and hosts roots from the cold winter.
Another look at the south and east corner of my back yard.

These hydrangea turned a dark reddish color in the fall. Next Spring I will attempt to make them true blue.

Same plant as above but this one turned pale green and pink. I just love hydrangea.

I have been spending quality time with my sewing machine too.

I have been wanting to make a clothes line wrapped bowl ever since I saw this craft demonstrated at the Sauder Village Quilt Show a few years ago. I purchased some special 100% cotton clothes line at the West Michigan Quilt Show and voila! I might just be hooked on this!

My first attempt wasn't perfect but, not bad. It uses lots of thread but not a lot of fabric.

A view of the inside. You can see I had a bit of a problem with the beginning in the center. I just needed to tweak the tension a bit to get it right.

You wrap the clothes line with a strip of fabric cut between 1/2 and 3/4 inches wide and then you stitch it together round and round and round with zigzag stitches. What do you think?