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Tag: pinterest
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Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Old Architecture
As readers of any amount of time, you know how much I love old buildings. Especially old barns, mills, gins, and sheds. I just can’t help myself. I see an old building and I feel something. I know there are stories there. Someone, at sometime, loved the place. Had a home or job or hope of some kind. Grant it, I love old books and their stories. Yes, and old journals! Therein lie some stories! And dishes of comfort food. And I love old furniture with dings and scratches and tears. Old farm tools that worked the land. Oh, and what about old photographs and their black and white or sepia coloring?
So I suppose I’m a romantic at heart and everything old is really something new in its own way. It’s the reason we love old things. There’s a history in old things. Stories about people and time and place. I want to know those people and, if I can’t know their real stories, I want to make up stories for them.
But today we need to look at beautiful quilts, so I’ll stop rambling and romanticizing. The first quilts are architectural quilts, meaning they all deal with buildings in some manner.
Although I wasn’t able to determine if my theory is correct, I think the next few pics go together in one quilt. At least, I think they would make a stunning quilt!
A few more architecture, quilts and we’ll move on. I love these two art quilts. The first photo was taken at the 2012 Road to California Show.
You can find the last SQI, about hot air balloons, here. And you can find my Pinterest board, “buildings, architecture, construction, edifice, structure” here. Have a great week everyone!
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Pin It Weekly #353 Back at it!
I realized just how long it’s been since I’ve posted a PIW. Oh wow! Of course, I decided to work on that. I mean, really?
Thus, I present my lastest additions to “heart, quilts.”
Though I have been pinning on occasion, I just didn’t get to the next step–Pin It Weekly posts!
There are 13,563 quilts on this board, so surely you’ll find something to inspire you.
These are mostly about the quilting.
Piecing seem to take a back seat.
In addition, the quilting gives a three dimensional feel to them.
Or… maybe it’s the trapunto.
Regardless, I’m in love with every one!
Which is your favorite? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.
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Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Full of Hot Air … Balloons
A hot air balloon struck an electrical wire and went down earlier in the week. How unfortunate that the four passengers were having a fabulous time one second and the next second found themselves free-falling with no hope of survival. I simply don’t know what to think.
However, no one needs to worry about me. Sure, I’m facinated by the beauty of hot air balloons. From the ground.
Firstly, I am terrified of heights. So there’s that. I get weak-kneed just seeing someone else in danger of falling. And that person can be on the television. I do not need to be there in person. No, I DON’T want to be there in person. In fact, I still get sweaty hands reading “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets.” Oh, I recommend it. Be forewarned, however, the suspense is terrifying.
Regardless, for all that I love hot air balloons, I never wanted to ride in one. Years ago, Richard and I went to a balloon race that began on the levee outside of Baton Rouge. People could go early, pay about 100 dollars, and get a 30 minute ride. We watched from the truck as they took off. You see, I was barely able to watch as people leaned over the baskets, waving goodbye.
Secondly, hmm, maybe there is no second. Heights. The thought of heights stops me cold.
Love hot air balloons? You can find over 200 stunning photos of balloons by going to Paula Baker’s Pinterest board here. However, it’s time for quilts and other fiber art…
Also, I like these blocks below and thought you might like it, since it would be easy to modify or turn into a paper piecing pattern.
Finally, Last Sunday’s polka dots were pretty popular. You can find it here.
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Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Polka Dots for the Win
Diddly spots (random polka dots)
polka knots (polka dance steps)
shiny watts (lights)
Mommy nots (No, again)
puppy dots (dalmations)
and summer hots. (sweating)Did you play rhyming games as a child? We sang lots of nursery rhymes, but I don’t remember word games so much, then I had my own children. And I made up for lost time!
Poor darlings, they were subjected to all manner of play. In the game above–we called it Diddly Dots–each player comes up with rhyming words along a theme and the rest of the players try to guess what the rhymes mean or what the theme is. The theme in the rhyme above is “Seeing spots.” For the most part, we tended to make up the games, and the rules, as we went along. We played most games that way, be they word play, outside play or board games.
Perfect for car trips, Diddly Dots can take a long time, because guessing the meaning is not easy. Did you figure out the theme? How about figuring out what each rhyme means? Sometimes, we just made them rhyme and played with the sounds. Of course, my boys grew out of games quickly. However, I extended those years a little by playing the games differently, such as coming up with the rhymes and letting the boys figure out the meaning. Eventually, the word games just went away, then the grandchildren started coming! Yay! for grandies!
Well, enough of memory lane. Here are the polka dot quilts I promised in the title.
It’s certainly time for SQI, especially since the last one was two Sundays ago. As it is, I got tired of trying to convince the internet to cooperate. Finally, I got this post to load today and have recycled an SQI from 2014. It’s a favorite, so I don’t feel too bad. Besides, aren’t those quilts cute enough to see again?
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Sunday Quilt Inspiration: My Grandmother
I hope you have fond memories of grandparents. Mine was an idyllic childhood, despite that I cried All. The. Time. It would take almost half a lifetime to come to terms with those tears.
Nevertheless, my grandparents’ home was a safe, homey, loving place. I still pray thanking God for them. She was always an inspiration for me. Quilting, of course, but also in many other areas of creating and building a home for family.
After looking through a jar of Volcie’s buttons, I just had to make a quilt with her likeness, renderings of her buttons and some of her lace. It’s one of my first art quilts and though some people find it weird, I still like it. Why the little jaunt down memory lane? I miss my Ma-ma. It’s been 30 years since her death. I was blessed to be able to help her in small ways, such as driving to appointments, nursing home visits, and sitting with her at the hospital.
Volcie made the quilt top above and, after much guilt from sisters, I quilted it in 2011. It was horribly ugly, but I love it. I’m fairly sure that my grandmother created the pattern based on the shape of the fabric pieces that she had.
Quilt top that my grandmother made and I quilted ten years after her death. You see, Richard worked at a garment plant, and after work he would pick up the larger scraps that had been thrown away. No doubt she made use of as many pieces as possible.
Certainly she made use of every kind of fabric possible: cotton, velvet fleece, polyester blends, and strechy knits.
Volcie’s Legacy, 2014, a small quilt using her pattern. It was a devil to quilt, but I used a good muslin for the backing and was extra careful to catch all the seam intersections. She had died ten years prior to the top’s discovery.
After I decided to love the quilted version, I made a pattern and then my own quilt in grays with a little yellow for a modern contrast. This one was a devil to quilt because of its size–an extra big queen.
What is one of your favorite memories of a grandparent or whomever you have fond childhood memories?
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Did WordPress die? Can I Kill WordPress?
It seems that I write apologies for not writing on a regular schedule. Well, this time, I’m not apologizing. This time, it’s all on WordPress. I tried, many times, to log onto the WordPress dashboard last week. Nothing happening. Occasionally I got some kind of “can’t access this site” page, but that’s about it.
You know, that page with NOTHING. You wait, and wait,
and wait.
When that happens, I tend to open something else and forget all about the WordPress (or whatever) problem. I’m a squirrel-chaser, for sure. In fact, a friend told me–very recently–that I also chase rabbits and birds and racoons. Richard says I’m ADADADD. Perhaps so.
I’ll admit that I have several pots cooking: selling my book, the Griffin’s booth, blogging, working Father Shoury’s book, trying to get rid of the excess in this overcrowded house, sewing, gardening, making little projects to add to the booth, and quilting (of course).
I’m pretty sure I’ve missed a few things and I haven’t even mentioned husband, kids and grands, the house, extended family, friends. Not necessarily in that order. So much depends on which squirrel crosses my path.
So enough of the whining. I choose most of those things. I just don’t know quite how I got into them all. WordPress is mostly an annoyance and trying to fix problems is a rabbit hole that requires hours.
Here’s why: I have to figure out the problem and what the gobbley-gook means. THEN, I can begin the long stretch of following directions. I promise I WILL make at least one error that will require starting all over. And I promise that the error will bedevil me for at least 30 minutes. BOOM!
Half a day just got sucked into ONE post. It’s exhausting and infuriating.Sometimes I compensate by looking a pretty pictures on Pinterest. Because Pinterest, my friends, never causes a problem or a headache. Squirrels and birds and rabbits and raccoons, well of course!
I hope you’re having a better this week than my last week.
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Pin It Weekly #352 Followers stole my heart
Before we begin with PIW, I want to announce that I’ve written book discussion questions for This World So Fierce. You can purchase the novel here on marymarcotte.com but the discussion questions are free! Help yourself: download, print, whatever. Enjoy!
It’s been a while since we last met followers, so we’ll start with Janice Walker and her glassware board that is absolutely stunning. I can only hope that there are still collectors who are saving beautiful pieces like these for future generations.
And hello to Meghan Plamondon, who has a geometric quilt board that, well, check it out:
Thanks for visiting!
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Sunday Quilt Inspiration: More Summery Quilts
Last week’s SQI was about summer quilts. We are having such beautiful almost-summer (but not yet hot) weather, that I thought why not do it again?
Kaja of Sew Slowly blog mentioned that they don’t have quilts just for summer. Allow me to explain. Firstly, in Louisiana the heat is muggy and heavy. I don’t know if that’s a good way to explain it, but nevertheless…
Secondly, that comes down to sweat. Serious sweat. We don’t perspire or glisten or glow. We sweat. It’s hot in June, July, August, September and maybe October. There are hurricanes coming and going. Meaning everything in Louisiana just makes summer hotter. So why a summer quilt?
Simple, because when you’re hot and sweaty, and you walk into a cold, air conditioned room, you get a chill. Well, some people do. (Richard is not one.) Anything that cools you off–a swim, a shower, ice tea–is going to be wet. So there you are, again, going from sweaty hot, to wet, to A/C chilled.
Almost every woman I know gets a chill from the air conditioner and the ceiling fan. It’s the moving air. We like to wrap up just enough that the air moving around us is not actually touching us. I imagine it kind of doesn’t make sense, but if you were here, you’d get it. So when it’s 100+ degrees outside, I’ll be huddled under a light quilt or layers of sheets.
And maybe I’ll sweat, but as soon as that air starts moving, I’ll be pulling the covers up. And annoying my husband.
As always, thanks for visiting and leave a comment!
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Pin It Weekly #351 Modern Quilts
Welcome to Pin It Weekly! Since I feel a little guilt over not posting an SQI Sunday, I’ll post a few extra quilts today.
These are pins on the board heart, quilts – modern section.
Finally, if you want more Pinterest ideas from “heart, quilts,” you can go to this recent SQI.
As always, thanks for visiting!
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So Many Apologies, Sort Of…
Sunday was Mother’s Day here in the U.S. If you are a mother, I hope you had a wonderful, celebratory day with your children. My day was definitely celebratory. We saw all the Marcotte mothers–Rich’s mom, the three daughters-in-law, and the granddaughter. We also spent most of the day with our three boys and all the grands. In other words, a house full!
mom tumblers for my Griffins booth. So why “apologies” in the title? Well, I just didn’t have the time or energy to post a Sunday Quilt Inspiration. I’m sorry for that. In fact, last week was somehow extremely busy. Though I can’t quite tell you why. It just sort of slipped by.
I did steal a day or so to make this little art quilt. Making it was absolute fun. The tree and cypress knees are built of the same brown fabric. But those other elements? A million little, tiny pieces of fabric. Each suare smaller than 1/4 inch. I really like this technique and the outcome, so I may use it again. We’ll see. It is only 9″ X 12″ and will hang in a Baton Rouge show, titled Louisiana Stories. This work is based on the cover of my book. Well, the book is an influcence anyway.
Do you see how it influenced the art piece? Right now, it seems the book is influencing everything about me. If only it sold itself. Right? I did not take into consideration how much work selling a book would be. Maybe that’s the kind of business research I should have done beforehand. Comme de fait, (Cajun French meaning loosely “as a matter of fact”) in my usual way, I didn’t think it would be a thing, much less a big thing. Is this not a typical Mary thing? I am laughing as I write it, because the answer can almost be a fact it’s so true.
