Lynn Carson Harris

Face #1 by Melissa Averinos

I am just back from a great trip to Austin to attend QuiltCon 2015. The quilts in the show were fabulous. I took some great classes and attended lectures that I'll share more about later. 

Today I want to show you my favorite thing at QuiltCon. There was one quilt that I knew I wanted to see before I ever left home, Face #1 by Melissa Averinos. I watched the construction of this quilt on instagram as she posted photos. Her process is so interesting. After looking at all the quilts this one is a stand out favorite of mine. 

Face #1 by Melissa Averinos.

This is what Melissa says about the quilt:

"After creating a large raw-edge applique self portrait, I challenged myself to make a pieced face quilt, This image was not based on a photograph or drawing and no computers or charts were involved. I drew on my experience as a painter to improvise with fabric squares and rectangles to create the image as I would with painting. I've been making my whole life and when I finished this quilt, I cried with happiness. It's my favorite thing I've ever made."

Here's a close up of one of the eyes.

I love the variation of the fabrics that she used. There are some very old calicos and novelty prints. Look at cat face, and the skeleton print. The overall design really draws you in from across the room, right up close to see the tiny fabric parts. I like that she used older fabrics and those that are not easily recognizable as current "on trend" designer fabrics. 

I had to go back and visit the quilt several times a day. It is just so unbelievably beautifull. 

Melissa, I can't wait to see where your journey takes you next.

Aurifil Designer of the Month - February

It's that time again, time for the Aurifil designer of the month feature.

I didn't make a project this month as I had hoped but I do have a quilt waiting for the delux Aurifil treatment on the longarm. I'm waiting until after I take Krista Withers' class this week at QuiltCon. I'm hoping I learn some fun tips and tricks that I can incorporate into my own style of quilting.

Since I don't have a project to share I'll leave you with this bright splash of Aurifil color. It's quite a contrast to the white we are surrounded with here in Michigan.

Each month throughout the year a different designer on the 2015 Aurifil Design Team will be featured on the Aurifil blog. They will post an interview and a link to directions for a project designed by that month's designer. 

If you make one of the featured projects, take a picture and add it to the Aurifil flickr pool for a chance to win a box of thread. EACH month someone will win a big box of 12 spools of thread. That's a BIG prize! I can't wait to see all of the projects coming up this year.

Joanna Figueroa is the February designer of the month. You can hop over to the Aurfil blog and read her interview with Pat Sloan. You can also see her project and get the directions on the Aurifil blog.

 Here is the full list of designers for the year.

Jan – Gudrun Erla www.gequiltdesigns.com/ 
Feb - ​​Joanna Figueroa www.figtreequilts.com/ 
March - Kimberly Jolly fatquartershop.blogspot.com/ 
April - John Kubiniec bigrigquilting.wordpress.com/ 
May - Sara Lawson sewsweetness.com/ 
June - Barb Groves and Mary Jacobson www.meandmysisterdesigns.com/blog/ 
July - Ebony Love www.lovebugstudios.com/blog/ 
August. - Nancy Rink www.nancyrinkdesigns.com/index.php 
Sept - Valori wells www.valoriwells.com/ 
October - Lynn Harris thelittleredhen.typepad.com/my_weblog/ 
Nov - Bonnie Christine www.goinghometoroost.com/ 
Dec - Celine Perkins www.perkinsdrygoods.com/blog/ 
Host - Pat Sloan blog.patsloan.com​​

 

 

Holland, Michigan - the winter edition

The second day of our trip to Lake Michigan started with a visit to the lighthouse in Holland, Michigan.

The ice formations were very different here than they were in St. Joseph. There was a lot of fresh ice here scattered like broken glass.  

I love these icicles dripping from the large ice formations.

St. Joseph, Michigan in Winter

This weekend was a long holiday weekend for us. Both B and Miss P had Friday and Monday off. Friday we did some catching up on chores at home. Saturday, we had a tourist in our town day in Ann Arbor. We parked just north of town and walked in to Ann Arbor on a walking, jogging trail by the river. We walked up to the hospital and saw an amazing exhibit of paper cut snowflakes by Thomas Clark. Then we walked over to the Natural History Museum, for our fill of rocks and dinosaur bones. After our dinner in town I was exhausted. It is a lot harder to walk around town in subzero cold, wind, and snow than it is in warmer spring and summer weather. 

I have seen pictures of Michigan lighthouses covered in ice and icicles and have always wanted to see that in person. With the Saturday snowstorm and extreme cold temperatures we thought that this might be a great time to head over to the Lake Michigan and see what it was like. 

We went to St. Joseph to see the lighthouse yesterday afternoon. It was not dripping in icicles as I had hoped but the ice on the lake did not disappoint.

The lighthouse is at the end of a long pier and the lake was frozen all the way out to the end. Where I was standing to take this picture was on a bit of an ice cliff. The usual beach line was far behind me.  The ice formations were quite impressive.

I had my camera set for photography inside the museum in Ann Arbor so the first photos I took didn't turn out well but I did like the lighting on this one. After changing lenses for a wider view and adjusting the settings I did get some photos that I liked. I'm sorry the ones with the rainbow in the sky did not turn out. You will just have to trust me that they would have been GREAT!

There was so much ice. B and Miss P are standing on a giant ice hill. The shoreline is far behind us.

You could hear the creaking of the ice below us where it wasn't as thick. The ice formations around us were fascinating. The big dunes of ice were made of packed snow and broken pieces of ice. They looked a bit like ice concrete.

Closer to the shoreline were giant balls of ice that had been trapped in the growing ice and snow.


It was a beautiful sunset at the beach but one unlike any other beach sunset I have experienced before. 


We were remembering our visit to St. Joseph last summer when it was so hot. I was wearing long underwear, jeans, snowpants, two shirts and a sweater, winter coat, super boots, hat, scarf, and mittens and I was still cold. 

This morning we visited the lighthouse in Holland, MI. I'll post pictures of that tomorrow.

 

Thoughtful Sunday

"You were stubborn...and fought against the storm, which proved stronger than you: but we bow and yield to every breeze, and thus the gale passed harmlessly over our heads."

"The Oak and the Reeds," Aesop's Fables

Thoughtful Sunday

"Goodnight stars
Goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere"

Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown, 1947

WIP Wednesday

I really enjoyed making these string pieced melons throughout last year. It was fun sewing and I was able to make some of them with the handcrank machine on the back porch last summer. I took them on a couple of retreat weekends too. Putting the melon units together with the background fabric requires a bit more concentration than building the string units. The curves are gentle enough that they are  not a problem. The challenge is in getting all of the points to line up nicely where they come together. For a flatter finish I am sewing just up to the point where the seams intersect so that the seam allowances will twirl on the back side. I have them sewn into rows and am now taking my time sewing the rows together as that is the trickiest part. 

I am eager to have this together and start the quilting on it. I am also itching to start a new project but I will wait at least until this top is sewn together.