Kristin Shields Quiltmaker

Thanksgiving Visitors

A wee bit of stitching

A friend came over the other day and wanted me to show her to to make "those little cloth pictures".  It was a chance to get away from the college applications and immerse myself in the slow cloth again.  While she put together a simple little woven block, I did some stitching on Blue and Orange.

I'm adding stitched areas very slowly to this piece because I haven't had much free time.  However we are nearly ready to submit the applications and life will go back to it's normal hectic pace!

We got our first big snowstorm of the season on Monday.  It doesn't look like much here, but we got about 6".  It's been bitterly cold.  Last night I was in the hot tub and it was -1.  I lasted just long enough to warm up before bed.  

The feeders have been filled and the birds are loving it.  I haven't managed to get a photo of the birds yet, but we've got lots of Juncos, Pygmy Nuthatches, Stellar's Jays, Mourning Doves, Flickers, and Downy Woodpeckers.  The splotches on the tree are the fabulous Bark Butter, a favorite treat for the woodpeckers and jays.  I have been filling the tube feeders with sunflower chips.  I especially love feeding the birds in the winter.  Their feeder antics are quite entertaining.

A very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!  We'll be off to my parent's tomorrow for a fabulous feast.  As a birthday present to me they are cooking the whole thing!  

Hiding?

No, I'm not really hiding.  I am taking a break to concentrate on the college application process.  Our trip last week was fantastic.  Our questions have been answered, we have a list of colleges to go for and she's very excited about the whole, daunting process.  If you don't hear from me for a bit, that's where I'll be.

**This photo was taken on the first leaf day.  Though many of the photos that day didn't come out well, I really like this one!

Asian Style

This one was also donated to the guild last night.  I hope it's off to a good home.  These photos were taken yesterday just before the storm rolled in.  Today, it's been snowing off and on all day.  That's life in Central Oregon.  Tomorrow we head off over the mountains for our last college trip!

Scrappy Coins

I do like this one a lot.  It's a bit hard to see it go.  It will be so easy to make another one some day though.  Look at that backing fabric!   I really love this one, which was on clearance at one of the quilt shops.  I have a bit more, maybe it could go on the front of a scrappy coins quilt....

15 handles and easy squares

I'm finishing up the bindings on the first three community quilts, but managed to get the baskets pieced.  Then I looked at the rest of the pile of scrappy "blanks".  I ended up cutting them into 9.5" squares, easy peasy.  I chose that size because I have a square ruler in that size and it makes it really quick to cut out.  I used up some of this blue that I had originally bought for Whimsy and never used.  These won't make it to the guild meeting tonight, but they are for the community quilts program, so hopefully they'll be done by December's meeting.  I still have another quilt's worth of these 9.5" blocks too!  Don't even get me started on the full to bursting scrap bin again.  Oh my, it never ends does it!  I guess that's the fun of quilting!

Leaf Day

Just about my favorite day of the year!

15 handles

16 baskets, 15 handles.  I forgot to put one on, but figured that just makes it more interesting!  I'll put the blocks together soon, I hope.

Baskets full of fun

I got distracted the other day and it's all her fault!  Sujata's been posting these fabulous scrappy baskets and I just couldn't help myself when I realized I had all these scrappy blocks already put together.  All it took was cutting them to a basket shape, making a handle and putting them on a background.  Very fast and very fun.  I think it took only a couple of hours to make the first 4 blocks and that included tea time and fabric choosing time.  

I have way more of these scrap "blanks" as I call them.  Jude likes to make these in color themes and calls them color blankets.  It's a very effective way to handle your scraps and then they are all ready for the day when you just decide you can't spend another minute not making scrappy baskets!

I plan to make these into another charity quilt.  It's a great way to experiment without feeling you have to make something perfect.  Someone will love it!

The handles are done a la Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran.  I used a 1/2"bias tape maker to make the handles and top stitched down both sides.  I'm pretty sure I have a 3/4" or 1" bias tape maker somewhere and if I could find it, I would try that too.  So fun and so cute.  Now, what was I doing before I got distracted???

Trick or Treat!

Chloe and friends.