I must say Linn Woodard has inspired me to get back to blogging. I have been working on a number of quilting projects and have all of them in half finished mode. If I blog every day I can keep track of my progress on these undertakings and perhaps they will earn the finished status

One of my unfinished projects is a book I decided to write about the Heidi birds. It is a collection of information about the birds, patterns for the quilt and projects for each of the nine blocks. It is coming along nicely and with this cold weather you would think I would make great progress. However It seems that Dr. Phil and a jigsaw puzzle occupy my time in late afternoon and staying in bed in the morning with my IPad and  some sleepy warm cats cutting into my morning time, it isn't happening. After reading Linn's blog this morning I have a renewed surge of "get it done" coursing through my veins. All I need to do now is get at it.

I am going to use the blog as a reminder of what I want to accomplish and it will show my progress, or lack of it, to me and the outside world This should be a great motivator.

I am off to get started on my new plan. I will share the results with you shortly.

Well, it has been a year since I last posted to my blog. The show at the museum was wonderful and all my students that participated made it a very special event. I had a busy year both with my quilting and family wise. We had numerous grandchildren graduating from college and two of our grandchildren were married. George, My husband and a Presbyterian minister even married our granddaughter Katherine Luther to Nicholas Woods.  We ended the year with celebrations on both sides of our family and told each other how very fortunate we are! I hope 2014 brings much happiness to all our friends and family

My exciting news today is that I am part of the new show "Taking Flight" at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. The show opens on Wednesday the 9th of January and runs through the 7th of April, 2013. I will have about 30 quilts hanging in the museum, all with the theme of flight, and there will be about 30 quilts made by students of mine from various classes I have taught. Other exhibits include life size carved birds, soft sculptured birds by Robin Fleming and Luella Doss, a quilt book of everglade birds and quilts to match by Sue Van Wassenhove, clothing representing birds, woven birds by Mary Burns and a lot of other wonderful bird stuff.

There will be 2 family fun days, January 13 and February 17, 2013. The January date will be "All about Owls" with a speaker from Riveredge and crafts celebrating owls. On February 17 the theme will be "Songbirds". You and your family will be able to make a bird for a new bird quilt and do many other crafts based on the beautiful songbirds we all enjoy. Riveredge will provide a speaker for the day regarding songbirds. 12:00 - 4:00 p.m.

January 27 will be "Meet the Artist" open house and all are welcome to attend to see the exhibit. Free admission on that day and light refreshments will be served. 12:00 - 4:00 p.m.


I will teaching 2 classes at the museum. "A Walk With John" a hand applique class on February 17th and "Let's Fly Together" on March 12. A wall hanging featuring Cardinals, Hummingbirds and Morning Glories.

Thank you to all my students who so graciously loaned me their quilts for this exhibit.   A few extra bird quilts flew in to join the flock. If you have the opportunity to stop at the museum for the show I don't think you will be disappointed. And a gigantic thank you to Luella Doss and Norma Klimpke who stepped between the bird droppings to pull this all together and to Sharon Timpe who is sponsoring this exhibit.

Hope I see you there,

Roberta

for additional information please contact me or the museum

Wisconsin Quilts and Fiber Arts, N50 W5050 Portland Road, Cedarburg, WI  262-546-0300  www.wiquiltmuseum.com

It is another beautiful day in Milwaukee. I started sewing again yesterday but today it was sitting outside in the screen porch and watching our kitten breathe in the outdoor life. What fun it was to watch outside activity through the eyes of a year old kitten. She watched chickadees cracking open sunflowers seeds. She saw a family of sparrows where the mom and dad sparrow were trying to teach their fledglings how to land on a perch of a bird feeder. One of the little sparrows landed on the top of the awning and the kitten watched it's shadow and it's movement in amazement. An apple dropped from the crab tree that both startled and fascinated the kitten when it thudded. The robins spent their time eating service berries and hopping from one branch to another. We sat out there for over an hour and she never saw the same movement twice. She is now fast asleep and I am sure dreaming wonderful dreams after her morning adventures. I was not aware of how much activity there is within a few trees until today. It was a most pleasant and relaxing time. Breathe in the sun and air. We do not have many days like this in Milwaukee and when they are here they are to be cherished.

Several days ago I opened a window in our computer room and it was immediately filled with cats. They do love fresh air and the world outside.

The garden is growing faster than any time I can remember. Plants are ahead of their normal blooming time. I hope this means the fall plants will have a longer blooming time, one not cut short by frost.

I sent the Delonix for Art off with my daughter Wendy to the Red Line gallery auction. I started this in Jane Sassaman's class and loved her creating technique. I outlined stitched the piece in Jane's style but finished quilting it in mine.

Another warm day in Milwaukee. This has been a beautiful spring. The gardens all over the city look lush and green. Our garden is making us very happy as everything seems to be blooming at once. I do not remember having lilacs, peonies, and day lilies blooming at the same time.

Several years ago I started a white garden. I even planted a white clematis to take the white in a vertical direction. The plant just disappeared so 2 years ago I put in what I thought was another white one. It turned out to be purple but did so well I left it where it was. This year it is filled with blooms and is growing over the top of the trellis arch we installed in the garden. I was out inspecting the plant so I could train the strays wandering into the garden to grow up the trellis and what to my surprise should I find? Where has this plant been for the last 10 years?

Last year I brought a darling pregnant stray cat into our home. I had been feeding her throughout the winter and when I realized she was pregnant I knew I had to bring her into our house to keep her, and her future babies, safe. We named her Trouvee which means found in French. She turned out to be a wonderful mother to the 7 little kittens she brought into the world. She is a very sweet loving cat and is a wonderful addition to our family.

We decided to keep one of the babies of the litter as well. We have called her an assortment of names and it always seems to be Baby to which she answers. Baby and Trouvee are 10 years younger than our other cats and have been trying to decide where they belong in the hierarchy of cats in our home. They are always jockeying for position with each other as a result. Where ever I am in the house they need to be there too. I have a bookcase in our computer room with a file case on the top shelf. This became a special place to sleep so I put a kitty pad on top of it. Baby and Trouvee vied for position and one or the other was there every day. Yesterday Trouvee beat Baby to the room and got first dibs on the special spot. Baby had enough and decided there was room for 2. She took action and this was the end result.

Enjoy this day.

Roberta

I obviously have not blogged for a while, 8 months it seems. I plan on becoming an active blogger again starting today with today's news.

I recently took a class with Jane Sassaman and so I will start there. I decided before the class I would make a piece for the auction being held the end of June at the Red Line Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My daughter, Wendy Carlson, is serving on the board of directors for the gallery and honored me by asking if I would make a quilt for their auction.

I chose this flower because of all the red lines and the tie-in to the gallery. I made the quilt using the new techniques I learned taking Jane's class. I love the process and thoroughly enjoyed the class. I have always quilted with very thin threads but in keeping with Jane's style I will quilt this project with 12 weight thread. I find the whole process enchanting.

I made the parts of the flower and leaves in class using Shir Tailor as a fusible interfacing . I then assembled the flowers and leaves. Next I placed different fabrics under the assembled parts and created the background. These were all techniques I learned from Jane's class.

After I had the background finished I added the borders. I backed them with Shir Tailor also leaving a 1/4" seam on one side. I folded the seam over the edge and pressed it in place. I put a little washable glue on the edge to help keep the seam tucked under. I then used a washable blue marking pencil and drew lines on all 4 sides of my top making sure the top was square. I placed the long sides on first and top stitched them in place. I then added the top and bottom borders and stitched them in place. Next I layered the quilt with a backing and wool batting.

I have started quilting the piece and so far it is going well. More on the quilt tomorrow.

Today is a beautiful sunny day. There is a family of sparrows outside my window which have been a delight to watch. These are newly fledged baby sparrows who are trying to learn to eat at the feeder. Mom and Dad are very good at landing on the tray of the feeder but the babies have not figured out that landing style at all. The little ones fly in to the feeder and then keep flapping until they can reach a branch. They are wonderful at branch landings but can't seem to get the hang of the flat footed approach. My cats and I are having a wonderful time watching them learn this new skill. So far they are getting a lot of practice in flying but not so much eating!

Be with you tomorrow, enjoy today.

Roberta

Our last kitten has gone to her new home. Grace Casey, now known as Billie, has gone to live with Andrew and her new sister cat, Lucy. She is adorable and we know Andrew will give her a wonderful home.

The Birdwatcher's Club just finished it's 8th month. All the quilts are taking on the personalities of their makes. It is such fun to watch how

different and yet how beautiful all these quilts are going to be. My friend

Kay is doing her quilt on Diawabo

fabrics. I will be posting different quilts each

week. I love them all.

We have decided to keep the kitten with a stripe on her nose. We have named her Quin, Gully, Stripe, Popcorn, Baby and Little toots. We have not settled on her name yet. She comes to them all and welcomes us with loud and continuous purring. She loves our original 3 furry friends and our dog Spirit. She also loves computer cursors and will spend hours chasing it on the screen. This is not a good thing.

I will be posting more pictures soon.

Have a Happy Labor Day!

Roberta