Quilt artist exhibit was the perfect inspiration!

oh my goodness! So much has happened recently I don't know where to start. I apologize if I talk in circles because it is just one big jumbo and it all interlinks and connects in a big way for me. It's one of those moments when I realize everything has happened to bring me to this point. 

Although many of my fellow guildies are members of the Mississippi Quilt Association (MQA), I have resisted joining a statewide or nationwide guild.  But as it happens, my PTQ guild mate Julia Graber is soon to be inducted as president of the MQA at the Spring Quilt Show on Feb 12 & 13. She proposed a challenge to my PTQ members that we make 25" square quilts to be displayed at the show in honor of MQA's 25th year. She said think "25" and "celebration" and "how MQA has influenced my quilting". To participate you have to be a member of MQA.

Well, I was going to let it pass. After all, I hadn't any intention of joining a big quilt guild like MQA just yet. I'm just getting settled into PTQ, right? PTQ and the Starkville Hoopers keep me busy enough! 

MQA has two shows per year, a spring show and a fall show. The responsibility of hosting the shows goes to each guild in a revolving manner. This year my PTQ guild is hosting the Fall show here in Columbus in October. It's very interesting as we start preparing! Anyway, with that show on the horizon, I anticipate I have to join MQA to participate. What's the difference in joining now or in a few months? 

I don't know.. Maybe it was that a couple of my friends announced their finished quilts for the challenge. Or maybe it was my reflecting on how much I've progressed in quilting since moving here. Or maybe it was the enthusiasm of my fellow guildies to show support for our very own Julia Graber as new MQA president.... whatever it was, I was inspired to accept the 25th Year Celebration challenge. 

I started to draft my quilt... first on newsprint, then when I had a better idea of what my plan was I put it on freezer paper. Originally, I was thinking I would do free-motion quilting (FMQ) in a whole cloth style. Then the thought of letting my FMQ speak for it's self was too intimidating. I figured I would either applique some wavy strips of color or piece it. Either way is time consuming and caused me to delay progress because i can't decide how I was to proceed....

While I delay progress due to indecision, I went to a Caryl Bryer Fallert quilt exhibit in Oxford, MS. "40 years of Color, Light, & Motion", Oh my! this lady is quite the accomplished quilt artist! I'm going to share with you some of the pics I took. Most of my pics are close ups of the quilting. The  Bryerpatch Studio Gallery has better and many more pictures if you are interested in having a look.

(Edit: my quilt friend has some wonderful pictures of the gallery as well. Have a look at Terry Turnage's blog. It's an interesting read as well!)

close up of the quilting on the Fibonacci's Garden

I was amused that my draft has similar wavy lines as many of her quilts.. (and I can see how mine lacks the organic movement. Mine is very calculated and started with a "25" square grid :). )

I like how she used quilting to make strips , looks like lacy ribbon. The stippling is so very tiny!

I like how she quilted her signature to the front of the quilt here!

All of Caryl Bryer Fallert's quilts were amazing and inspiring. I felt a very personal connection. She has a fearless use of color that she expertly balances very well. She is fearless in her free-motion quilting, and at the same time it's very precise and controlled! I am working towards that level of  mastery.

Walking around the exhibit, I realized I tend to think of quilting designs as limited to the piecing lines. In many of Ms. Caryl's quilts, the quilting was not confined by the piecing. These last three photos are here to remind me to think outside the lines! :)

And so I go home, inspired to continue on my challenge quilt.... ohhh!! I forgot. In her presentation, Ms. Caryl showed how she uses freezer paper to piece her quilts. I learned about this technique many years ago and was happy to be reminded of it since I already had mine drawn up on freezer paper.... LOL, well,,, wavy line piecing is not easy in any technique, that's my opinion!! I finally settled on top stitch method. I'm not completely happy with it, but it's faster than hand piecing or hand applique, and there's no judging for this challenge, so fastest is very good.

I'm also not happy that after getting these two bright vibrant colors pieced together, they wash each other out. I stitch a small sample piece with variegated and dark purple thread, but it still didn't satisfy me. I was beginning to think I would have to start over and chose different colors... :(.

small sample piece and a fabric print I couldn't resist purchasing when I went looking for a deep purple for the border.
Obviously, the orange print is not going to work for a border. Actually, I had no intention of using it at all for this project. I just loved the print and had to have some. 

But look!! (my phone pic isn't doing the colors justice.) That print will work perfectly sprinkled across the background! There's just enough red to make it pop, and tiny flecks of purple to reflect the inner border deep purple. I am pleased I gave in to impulse this time ;). 

another practice sample. Don't look too close :). I was pretty speedy just trying out threads and quilt designs.
I am pretty pleased with the tiny stippling here too :), because stippling has been confusing to me.
Anyway, my Heart suggested using a neutral color for the veins of the feathers instead of echo quilting inside or the two lines. I'll probably go with his suggestion... we'll see.
Can you find the heart in my little quilt?

Starting a Vignette page

If you have already viewed my Vignettes page, I apologize for this repeat. I am in the process of organizing topics now that I have figured out how to use permalinks in the separate pages of my blog. 

Sarah

My daughter is a natural artist. She has a wonderful eye for all things beautiful. She notices things most people (or I) overlook. She has always amazed me from the very beginning. One of her many talents and passions is writing. 

Even before she knew how to read and write, she wrote a story...

Sarah: "mom, i have a book in my head, will you write it? I will tell it. And you write it on paper." 

She already had two sheets of copy paper folded in half and nestled together like a book.

We sat down and started. she told me her story slowly as she waited for me to write her words. 

She'd give me about 3 or 4 sentences then tell me to turn the page, leaving space at the bottom of the page for her to draw a picture. At 4 or 5 old, her little story about 2 horse sisters, had a beginning, middle, and end! When we were done writing, she took her little book and added her illustrations (another of her talents, she has an incredible sense of proportion in drawing.) 

I still have that book stored away, ready toyears  give back to her sometime in the future....

I am not an avid reader. It's no big secret that I'd rather be sewing or crafting than anything else, reading takes time away from that. But once in a while, when Sarah has read a really good book she can get me to read it as well. 

Recently, her English teacher had the class read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. It's a compilation of vignettes based on the authors childhood. And as part of the assignment Sarah has to write 5 vignettes of her own. 

She enjoys assignments such as these. And that is how this page has come to be. Sarah has suggested/requested I write vignettes. I don't think she meant for me to do it in my blog. She just wants me to write them somewhere. (My mom also has always wished that I write more, and still tells me she enjoys how I express my thoughts in writing.) And so here it is, for Sarah and Mom. 

Sarah sees me blogging, so she knows I have it here, but I don't think she has come by to read it yet. That's ok. everything has it's own timing. With any luck, someday she will come across these pages and see what a blessing she has been in my life. 

how it all started

I apologize for the repeat of this story. It was originally my profile introduction. The space allowed is a mere 1200 characters. I had to really edit and cut my story so it would fit in that spot.  However, looking at the web version of my home page,  the long introduction felt distracting from the blog posts. Looking at other blogger's introductions, I guess all that's really expected is a couple of short sentences describing myself. "I'm a needle crafter. I enjoy creating with needle and thread." And the short story that I had in that spot can be put into my Vignettes section. So here it is again.

How it all started

I am the youngest of 8 children. My only sister is 12 years older than me and we have 6 brothers between us. One of my favorite childhood memories is of my mom sitting at the sewing machine. I was about 5 or 6 years old. In the daytime my mom would set the sewing machine up at the end of the dining room table, the same spot my dad sat during dinners. I specifically remember her working on a prom dress for my sister. It was a sleek, long, dark brown halter top dress (think '70's). My sister was a beauty as well. She was slender with straight long dark hair that fell just past her waist, silky tanned skin, and a beautiful smile.  I adored her then and still adore her today. I remember my sis trying on the dress, my mom pinning for adjustments and hem. I was sure my sis was the absolute luckiest girl ever!

But then I got lucky too. Out of the leftover pieces, my mom made me a reversible bikini. (let's remember, i was only 6!) The dark brown fabric on one side and a bright orange on the other side. I loved it!!

So, I have two favorite parts about watching my mom sew... Sometimes she had to concentrate so hard, I could see the tip of her tongue out the corner of her mouth.. hahah, i bet she's not gonna appreciate me mentioning it, but it was very endearing and it's MY memory :).
The other favorite part was that I was allowed to be the Seamstress's assistant (as long as i was quiet so she could concentrate). My job was to clean up any of the scraps that fell to the floor.  Now that I think about it, she probably dropped them on purpose just to keep me busy and involved! But the best part was when my mom was finished sewing for the day and before the machine was put away, I got to sew those scrap pieces of fabric together! Of course, I wasn't making anything in particular, but I was learning how to guide the fabric through the sewing machine. And by the way, taking two small pieces of fabric and making them into a bigger piece is addicting!

I've been sewing every since. In middle school, I started sewing clothing for myself. Around the 8th grade, I expressed an interest in quilting and my mom purchased a subscription to a quilting magazine for me. My first pieced project was a pillow made out of a Sister's Choice block in christmas fabrics. I'm sure none of my points matched because I had no idea about "accurate cutting", but I was hooked.
And that's how it all started for me, all because I had an incredible mom that nurtured my nature :).

Permalink tutorial

This post is for any bloggers wondering how to file their posts into the appropriate pages/tabs and your followers can click on the link and be taken to the exact post without having to scroll through all subsequent posts to find the one they are seeking. (I haven't yet figured out how to use a photo as a permalink, I hope there's a way to do that.)

yay, the permalink worked as I hoped it would.

I might as well make it my first tutorial.  Because, really, I can't be the only one who wonders how to do it, can I? 

Each new blog post gets automatically gets assigned a permalink. If I click on the permalink button to the right of the text editor (compose box), this is what I see..

the http://hitaswhimsy.blogspot.com/2016/01/permalink-tutorial.html is automatically assigned. But you can check the Custom Permalink and rename it. like this:

then click done.

This is where I highlight and copy the url.  (photo is from my mobile device. the pop up menu does not appear when using the computer.)

up until now, all the previous is how to acquire the url before you publish the post. I believe it's the only time you can custom name the permalink, yet you can still acquire the url from a published post in the same manner. It may be possible to rename it if you revert your blog post to draft, but I didn't care to test it out as i don't want a new post alert to be sent to my followers (I have at least one! :) ..)

After you've published your new blog post you can use the permalink url anywhere else you would like to share it, like posting it to your facebook. And when your friends click on the link they are taken straight to that specific blog post, no matter if it was yesterdays post or a post from two years ago. Pretty cool!!

To link it into another page/tab in your blog you have to go to edit the page. Once your page is open to edit, be sure the cursor is where you want the link to appear and click the "link" button on the tool bar above the text editor (compose box).

and a box will pop up:

fill in the "Text to display:" box and paste the url link into the "To what URL should this link go?" box, Then click OK. and like magic the link appears as the words you typed into the "Text to display" box!!

CUSTOM PERMALINK (by clicking this link you will leave my home page and be taken to the top of this specific post. It's almost impossible to tell until you scroll to the end and can't scroll to the previous blog post.)

That's it. I hope I got it all and this will help someone! :)

Learning how to use permalinks

Ok, I admit that I'd prefer someone was holding my hand as I continue creating this blog. I wish I had someone that would tell me what I need to do next, or show me the steps for what I want to do. My Heartbeat is a computer engineer/programmer and really good at it. But he's never blogged and has no interest in blogging, so I'm on my own in this blogging adventure. (Which is good. I love the sense of accomplishment, and ownership, and "look at what i can do". Lol, silly to have so much pride over a blog, huh?) But I'm a little frustrated that I don't easily find what I want in a quick Google search...

I'm thinking I'd like to add tutorials to my blog. Or at least organize my posts a bit by filing them into appropriate pages. If you're looking for a pattern, you shouldn't have to scroll through who knows how many posts to find it. Just look in the Patterns page. I've kinda tested this out by creating pages/tabs. But I quickly realized something is missing. Adding new material into a page doesn't create a new post and no notice goes out to followers because it's actually not a new post but an update (kinda like an edit).
I looked at blogs that are already established. I see links in their tutorial tabs and not the actual tute. So what I want is a link to put into the tab to click on that will take you to the tutorial post!
OK! I understand it, but how do I do this???...

So, now I know what I want! It's way easier to find something when you know what you want, right?!.. I go to Google search. I type in "how to add tutorials on Blogger" and Google gives me "tutorial on how to start a blog"... Umm, not a big help because I've already started my blog! I spent a bit of time trying to word my search differently, but Google kept giving me "how to start a blog."
Really frustrating.
Then I remembered that under "post settings" there's a "permalink" option....

OK, many of you probably already know what a permalink is, but I had no idea...  dictionary.com says:

permalink

[pur-muh-lingk] 

noun, Digital Technology.

1.

a permanent URL that links to a specific Web page,typically a single blog entry or news article.

... "a single blog entry"...  YES!! that's exactly what I want!! Lol, it's right there next to the compose box. Easy for anyone to use!!..... IF they know what they're looking for!! Oh gosh, I amuse myself sometimes with how difficult I can make things. Haha, I imagine you shaking your head at me or telling me "bless your heart".. That's OK, I'm giggling at myself too :).
All the same, it would be so much easier if I had someone that would point out and explain these things to me!! ;)

Now to test it out.... I'm going to publish this post then put a permalink back to here under the tutorial tab. Wish me luck!!

a slight detour in the plan is a good thing :)

:) this year started out a bit differently than I expected. Funny how our plans sometimes get redirected. In this case I think this detour is even better for me. 

I am aware that every year I get what I call the "after Christmas blues". You know, you do months worth of preparing for the day of giving gifts from your heart, then your gifts are sent out, and everybody loves them, but there's an emptiness left with a feeling "ok, what now?"... So what's a girl to do when it's all over??

I thought I had the solution! Many of my Possum Town Guildies participate in the Bonnie Hunter's Annual Mystery Quilt. This year it's Allietare! Since I knew I'd be giving up one of my quilt babies (Desmond & Annette 2015" Bronco quilt), I decided to join in on the mystery to fill the empty spot on the sewing machine. My plan worked for a short while....

Step 1: make almost 300 half square triangles...

Step 2: 20 sets of 4 trapezoid units = 80 total

Step 3: 120 fourpatch squares....

I am half way through step 4....

To tell you the truth, I prefer working one block at a time. The numbers are not quite so overwhelming... 

18 half square triangles vs, 300, 

4 trapezoids vs, 20 sets of 4, 

4 fourpatches vs. 120.... 

lol, it's just not as intimidating!! 

anyway, I think I'll name my Allietare "Star Light, Star Bright". 

But like I said, my plan worked for a little bit. Then I hit the wall on New Years Day. Perhaps I was over zealous to catch up on the Bonnie Hunter clues (I joined in a couple weeks late). Or starting this blog replaced time at the sewing machine... Or something.. But I didn't make it back into the sewing room until the 10th. And it wasn't to pick up the Allietare! Mystery but instead it was the hand-pieced Double Wedding Ring started 20+ years ago!... which is coming along nicely btw, it's all planned out and I found the perfect batik fabrics needed for the center squares at Main Street Fabrics in Ackerman. I am amused that it feels like I just started a brand new project, because starting something new is my favorite step!

I thought I would add a faux Cathedral Window
to the center square.
I'm loving the feeling of past and present that
mixing the batiks with calicos  gives me. 

 only the rings are sewn together,
Everything else is just placed in the design board
So I can get an idea of how it looks.

While I'm having fun with hand-piecing, I'm afraid of losing what I've learned about Free-Motion Quilting! I figure if I don't practice I'll have to start all over! ugh... So I dedicated today to FMQ. 

Free-Motion Quilting is very much like doodling with thread on fabric. I find it difficult to doodle, It's not easy for me to fill a blank paper up with random shapes much less a big piece of quilt sandwich. I needed help filling my block up with sewing doodles. I found a wonderful blog with FMQ tutorials, The Inbox Jaunt by Lori Kennedy . (I actually followed a link from Pinterest to her blog. I'm really appreciating today's technology and social medias :)!)

Anyway, here's a small snapshot of what today's efforts produced. I'm loving the basic-leaf design along the bottom border! Lori Kennedy's step by step tute was extremely easy to follow. I also used The Fabulous Flower along the left side but not shown in this pic.

Lots of fun FMQ review and progress today :). 

And I must show you the sweet treasure my Heart got me for the anniversary of the day we met. It's a 1950s Featherweight with many of the original accessories. I love how he encourages me to pursue my crafting passions. Should I name her "Sweet Beauty", or since I got her in Mississippi maybe "Miss. Beauty" or "Miss. Belle"? I like all three names and can't decide :).  

There's even an original spool of white thread and an original sewing needle in the package, the oil can, and a lube tube, bobbins and the original manual! Just amazing. She sews perfectly :). 

 

my oldest unfinished quilt project

      

Oh boy....
I'm not sure I want to admit this. But this blog is all about getting my quilts to the finished status, so here goes...

Being part of quilting groups is pretty amazing. The encouragement that flows through quilters is never ending. They encourage to start, to continue, to stick with it, to complete that final step, to label, to take a break.... they encourage everything!!
One is a Facebook group called "Celebrate Hand Quilting." The requirement for posting in this group is your project must be at least partly done by hand with needle and thread.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/handquilting/
from this group branched off another little group for quilters that wanted to make a Double Wedding Ring quilt.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1024194140970891 /

(here is a link to a completed Double Wedding Ring quilt for those that are not familiar with the pattern https://www.amishcountrylanes.com/Pages/hs7093.shtml  priced at $1175! I'll have to remember that and show it to my son.)

See this little blue box in the picture above? It says "Payless Shoesource" on the inside band. That was a shoe box that held one of the first pairs of shoes for my son, it still has the size 5 tag attached. LOL he had chubby baby feet, I loved it!... Inside the box I have stored the beginnings of a Double Wedding Ring quilt that I started handpiecing when I was just 3 or 4 months PREGNANT with my him... He is now 20 years old!....  ya, that's how old this project is,,, oh my...

The start up of the facebook DWR group is perfect timing. I hadn't even included this one in my unfinished quilts list (I'm sure it's not the only one that hasn't been included, but we're not gonna get into that right now). What would be more perfect for my goal this year than progressing with my oldest work-in-progress?!!
On top of the fb DWR group, Ms. Jenny from the Starkville Hoopers quilt guild suggested that we start the year with a project that every week we would bring in it's progress for show-n-tell. Perfect to motivate me to work on my 20 year old DWR! Now that makes it a double accountability for me. How wonderful, right? :)


The first hurdle was that I don't have the book on hand to get my pattern pieces out. And every DWR pattern is different because each designer has their own idea about it, making it impossible to find another pattern to match. I have the few plastic templates I used for marking the "rings" that I've already stitched together. I had to re-draft the pattern for the other pieces. The rings don't make a perfect circle, so it's not as simple as drawing a circle and going with that.
After a few failed tries of placing wedges that just weren't matching up correctly, it finally clicked that I need to look at this as a quilt block. A block has 4 corner points! As soon as that clicked for me re-drafting was done in a matter of minutes.

I have decided this is going to be my son's heirloom quilt. Since it was started when I was pregnant with him and he will have his milestone "21st" birthday in December. With that in mind, his favorite colors are purples. I chose a purple and lavender for the joining squares. I also found a deep periwinkle for the background. Even more perfect, I found the needed fabrics from my stash!! 

I've a special idea for the centers to give a bit of a twist on the "Double Wedding Ring" title. Since my son isn't anywhere close to getting married, or even close to thinking about it, this will be a quilt to tie the past with the future and all my hopes for him <3. I'll show you as it progresses, but for now I'll concentrate on wedges :).

Thanks for visiting. Have a great day!

A break from quilting

Since October I've been quilting about 6 to 8 hours a day, keeping busy with one stage or another. That is, up until the New Year... I've  spent maybe 6 hrs total since the new year and today is the 10th! (Though I have to remind myself that I haven't been unproductive :). I mean, starting this blog is a big deal!)

One of the things I do to keep my hands busy is tatting. I've kept this little project in my bag so I can work on it in the car or when sitting at home watching shows in the evening with my Heartbeat. It's a simple 2 shuttle trim that doesn't really have a purpose right now except to keep my hands busy. 

The kids: "what's it for"

Me: "it's a trim"

kids: "but what are you going to do with it?"

Me: "i don't know yet"

Kids: "why don't you make something that you're going use?"

LOL, out of the mouths of babes!!

I will use this trim on something eventually. But what they said echoed in my head.

I googled "free simple shuttle tatting patterns". After looking at I found one that caught my interest. It's posted on a Polish page but tatting graphs are pretty much universal, yay :)!!

bazardekoracji.pl/Koronka-frywolitkowa-cinfo-pol-18.html   ~~edit: hmm, not the exact link.. the pattern i printed out is in Polish so I can't look up the correct link :( 

As soon as I got this started, I knew exactly to whom i was going to give it. It would make a perfect candle mat for a guild mate who gifted a beautiful tote bag to me for Christmas. 

In the next picture, the tatting is done and in the starching stage. But I about cried. I thought I was being smart, using a contrasting fabric underneath the starch soaked doily to make a good picture. Well, apparently the black wool hasn't ever been washed and now my beautiful white doily is no longer beautifully white. Thank goodness I only put one doily on it and the second doily is unscathed. 

moving on..
I am loving the finished product....
These were ready to take to the guild meeting yesterday to surprise my friend.... and I forgot them on the kitchen table :(. Well, I'll see her in two weeks and give them to her at that time :).
I'm still wanting to make at least one or two more. It's very addicting once the rhythm starts. But I'm also ready to get back into my sewing room too...
Thanks for having a look. Enjoy your day!

Java bag/purse pattern

I was sitting here wondering what in the world am I going to put into my blog. I'm kind of in a panic, "oh gosh, I don't have anything to write!"

Then I get an email from a Possum Town Quilt Guild member requesting the pattern I created for a multi applique techniques demo/class. OH YA! I can put that into the blog!!

The idea behind this cute little bag was to have a small project we could use our appliqued pieces from class. 

The bag is designed so you could actually applique on all 4 outside panels, but there is a definite front side and back side where the handles attach. 

On my Java Bag (above) I have an elastic casing to pull the sides in a bit. 

Tonya chose to leave the elastic casing out, she used ready made purse handles and she chose her own applique pictures. Her girl and purses are just way too adorable!!
:) Thank you, Tonya, for using my pattern and making it so beautiful! and for providing pics for me to share on my blog. You're the best!

I thought I would share a link to my pattern. I would say it's a simple bag construction but intermediate to advanced level sewing as I haven't used illustrations or very detailed instruction. 

Java Bag is all my own design. I give permission for my pattern to be used for your personal use. If you wish to make these to sell, please acknowledge me, Naomi Hernandez Perry, as designer on your tag. Thank you! (please be patient if my link isn't working, as I am still learning how to do things in Blogger, thanks!) 

https://drive.google.com/folder/d/0B4UBjU3O6H_xTnN6eW9aeklNU0k/edit

Oh wow! I've actually had this blog for a while. I just looked it up and see I set it up in 2008 and today is the  2016 new year! Not one post in almost 8 years! .....OK, I think I did a couple posts at the very beginning, when I was making and selling coffee sleeves and had self published a sewing pattern. But at the time it wasn't working out for me, so I deleted the posts and set the blog aside.

I'm not quite certain what I want to accomplish with this blog. I have read a few others and they all seem clever and with purpose. That makes me feel a little nervous and intimidated :p.
However, I do post a lot of my quilting stuff on Facebook, but I think it might bore most of my FB family and friends :p. It seems that a girl can say and post a lot more about that kind of stuff in a blog! So I plan to blog about my quilting, sewing, crafting, and things-that-catch-my-heart news. And maybe slip a little bit in about my family - my dear "Heart" husband, my aspiring chef son and my beautiful, amazing daughter (though, they have asked me not to post them on the internet without their consent and I try-try-try to honor that request, but they are just so darn adorable and I'm so proud of them!).

....
Alright!
I'ma get started then :)!
First, to figure out how to attach a photo...

Ok! I'll introduce the other members of my family! On the left is 5 yr old Sweetie, on the right is 10 yr old (my best guess) Prince. Both very loving. And both can be very onery.

Here's my sweet Chewbacca, or Chewie. He's about 10 yrs old too, with a bit of grey on his chin. He makes it his business to be by my side as much as he can and brightens my day every day!

Well, looks like adding pics is easy enough :). I'm quite pleased with that. As a new blogger I look forward to figuring out what features are available to me here. I'm excited to get started! But it's 3:51 a.m. on New Years day 2016... I think it's time to get some sleep now ;).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! wishing you many blessings in the year to come. <3