Works in Progress

February 24, 2013

I couldn't stand seeing this forlorn bolt of fabric at The New Ewe being ignored with its true potential unseen by so many sewers. I knew I have to take it to new heights, so yesterday I bought 2- 5/8 yards of the Windham Fabrics Delft Collection brown.

I had always seen this as Stack N Whack stars.  So I cut half the fabric into diamonds to construct 8 pointed kaleidoscopic stars.  I over-cut the dark brown background fabric so the stars could be trimmed to make "perfect" 12-1/2" blocks. Here are the first four:

I am going to place them in a layout design from the book, Circle of Nine, by Janet Houts and Jean Ann Wright.

The New Ewe is participating in the Spring Shop Hop March 11-16.  I have been preparing for my part in demonstrating of new tools and techniques during these days.  Exciting things to see! 

I have my classes scheduled and the samples made.  Here is my newest Stack N Whack class sample--Fans!  Fun and E-A-S-Y!  Not hard at all. March 8 or April 17.

Another class is using the Square in a Square ruler.  It's been over 15 years since I have used mine, but so much potential for quilt designs.  This is a 24" square table topper. 

My Travels in Taiwan

February 16, 2013

I have been very lax with blogging and I am going to change that.  I apologize to all those who have visited my blog and have found nothing new posted for quite some time.

In December I traveled with our daughter, Lisa, to Taiwan to visit our married daughter, Laura, and her husband.  This trip was something I wanted to do for a few years and with them planning to return home withing the year, now was the time.

After flying 22 hours from Detroit, to Tokyo and finally Taipei, we were ready for a good shower and a long sleep.  After a customs check-in, a bus ride and then a taxi ride we arrived at our hotel for the first night's stay.  It was a small, lovely place my son-in-law booked for us. The novelty in our room was the special faucet where we could get instant hot water for tea with the press of a lever.

 I won't go into much right now about the two-week adventure we had in Taiwan, but I will let you know that we went to visit Wulai, an aboriginal village.


It was touristy, but I learned about their history and discovered their weaving.  I bought a purse and zipper coin bag made from aboriginal fabric.  I also found a small gizmo (I will call it) carved from the native evergreen tree.  I gave that to my husband to move around in his hands to keep them limber.  It can also be used to work out knots in sore muscles. http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/pda/m1.aspx?sNo=0011367&id=166&jid=228

Later in our trip we went to the fabric district in Taipei.  I was able to purchase some pieces of the aboriginal fabric and some cloth made my the Hakka, a native people.