Where Eagles Fly

In mid-June, my best friend suffered a stroke. As she struggles to come back to herself and us, and we pitch in to keep her kitty and her house going, I've kept myself together partly by working on a landscape quilt, now finished.

Where Eagles Fly is 15-1/2 inches x 32-1/2 inches. It will be listed in my Etsy shop as soon as I get the hanging sleeve made and attached.

The eagles remind me to fly above the turmoil, while the bear tells me to stay grounded...equally important. The ducks remind me to stay afloat, and on the wing as well.

This landscape began with some beautiful Northcott Mills fabrics (most from the Whispering Pines line), discovered at The Quilter's Trunk in Liberty, KY a couple of years ago. I love their shop, which from the outside looks like any other metal-roofed/sided industrial-type building in the middle of this beautiful Amish and Mennonite countryside. Inside, the merchandise is altogether modern, brightly lit and beautifully displayed. (And I found a refill for my Chaco chalk marker, which I'd been looking for for ages!)

Here are some closer shots of Where Eagles Fly. Click on any one to enlarge.

This one shows the quilting better.

After the sleeve is attached, I'll start some new quilt tops for Louisville Nimble Thimbles. They are a local guild that will make finished quilts from those tops, and then donate them, currently to Norton's Children's Hospital. I'm so grateful to be able to piece tops and have them be useful to this guild, as making a bed quilt, even with the QAYG method, isn't doable anymore--although I can still handle a crib quilt.

Fall is just around the corner and our weather has been delightfully cool for this time of year--unlike that of many folks across the USA and the world. We have been very fortunate, and these days I'm extra grateful for many things I used to take for granted. Like my best friend. Hopefully she will fully recover that blazingly brilliant mind of hers and be able to continue enjoying her simple, beautifully mindful daily existence. And I sure have missed working our jigsaw puzzles--another thing I took for granted. I've reminded her that (thanks to my sharing mom) we still have 25 of them waiting to be worked. That made her smile--and me grateful.

Have a blessed autumn--or spring, south of the equator. And be grateful whenever you can.

Linda

p.s.  I'm also very grateful to say that three of my landscape quilts are featured in the new Autumn 2023 issue of Art Quilting Studio Magazine. Thank you, Danielle.

Rescuing a UFO

UFO is of course "unfinished object." Ten years ago I pieced these kooky palm trees from unlikely fabric prints and then auditioned them in an arrangement that didn't work (photo further below). This year I tried again with a different scene, now finished and titled Springtime on the Nile.

34" wide x 36" long

To keep things lightweight at the machine, I first quilted the background to the batting only, after using masking tape to make guidelines for the sun's rays.

Then the fun began, adding the palm trees, the papyrus boat, and the animals with their babies (hopefully they won't prey on each other in such close proximity). The backing was attached with some of the lines of satin-stitching.

Ten years ago, I tried and tried to make it work with this combo...

...yeah. No wonder I gave up on it.

Springtime on the Nile will be listed in my Etsy shop within a week or so.

I got the best compliment ever on it when my husband said it made him feel happy just looking at it. It doesn't get much more gratifying than that.

Have a good weekend!

Linda

A Finish for My Sister's Quilt

 Finally, a finish for my sister's quilt! Weeks of quilting, but I enjoyed it (my legs, shoulders and neck did not, but they'll get over it!).

Hung it the best I could. Too wide for the design wall! 56 x 64 inches.

I quilted it with a 2-inch diagonal grid in a wavy stitch pattern, to represent lake waves.

The back is a 2-yard length of Liberty cotton lawn (a very fine, almost silky, cotton) wildflower print to represent the wildflowers growing on my sister's place at Lake Cumberland in Kentucky.

I had to border it on the sides to make up the width. For that I used a deep-rose polished cotton (shiny side down) from my stash. The binding was made from a Hoffman Watercolor in my batik stash.

Also on the back, two mini-blocks from the "Dear Sister"  panel shown in the last blog post. (Haven't sewn them down yet.)

Looking forward to our first lake trip this year, when I'll surprise Karen with this (planning to take a photo of her holding it). Hoping she'll love it.

Happy spring or fall, depending on what hemisphere you're in!

Linda

Progress on My Sister's Quilt

Some progress on the quilt for my sister. First, finished the log cabin blocks surrounding the camper panel...

...which did require giving up the narrow green outer border of the panel. It wound up in the seam allowance, and the blocks ended up fitting perfectly. The muse definitely knew what she was doing!

(This is looking gray, but it's deep blue.)

I wanted the quilt to be wider than 4 feet, though, so I looked for a good border fabric. Found this water waves yardage in my stash:

...and made a border that will be 4 inches wide after binding is attached.

Now for the back. This 18 x 22 "Dear Sister" panel appeared in the most recent Annie's Craft Store catalog--how fortuitous was that? The muse at work again!--so I'm planning to incorporate this into the back somehow, after cutting it into blocks.

Until next time,

Linda

A Sister's Thank-You

Recently I fell in love with (and purchased) this 33 x 41 fabric panel by Grace Popp for Studio Fabrics, titled Beneath the Stars.

The scene depicts what my sister Karen and I have done several times since 2019.

Her camper is modern, not retro, and her boats are kayaks, but everything else--stars, moon, fire, chairs, trees and lake--are right on. Except, replace the guitar (I wish one of us could play that!) with a nice bottle of shiraz, merlot or cab.

I don't want to surprise her with a wall quilt that she might feel obligated to hang. Instead, I want to make a quilt she can snuggle up under while watching tv; a quilt that will remind her of her lake retreat and of all the laughs we have when we're there.

My favorite quilt blocks are log cabin blocks, so I decided to at least surround the panel with a row of those, and then see what it needs from there.

And then it hit me...of course log cabin...we grew up vacationing at the same lake, in our Aunt's and Uncle's log cabin!

Me left, Karen right, swinging on a rope. Cabin at rear.

Our brother John with Karen,
between cabins. 1971.

So....apparently the muse had joined this project, and now I was pumped!

I figured 8-inch blocks were going to fit best around the panel, 4 each at the top and bottom, 5 down the sides, plus corner blocks. There might be some adjustments necessary in seam width and maybe a need to add sashing somewhere, to correct any spacing problems. But I've decided to plow ahead and trust the muse.

So, we'll see where this goes. I'm thinking I'll probably have to give up that narrow green outside border to make the blocks fit, but am hoping to save it. Not a big deal, though. Crossing fingers--no, trusting the muse--this will all work out!

Linda

Odds & Ends

Not much landscape quilting going on of late, but a few odds and ends were started and in some cases, finished. First, a normal-size stocking for my sweet granddaughter, Lucy...

...whose old stocking was a giant one made in a Minnie Mouse print flannel. Lucy is nearly eight now, has outgrown Minnie, and wanted a normal-size stocking like her parents' (which I made years ago from my same hand-drawn pattern).

Next I made Lucy's other grandmother (Grammy) a stocking, too. She is a dragonfly person, so out came the dragonfly fabric...

...and the music scale Christmas fabric in honor of her talent as a pianist...

            ...to make this stocking from the same pattern.

Also have been working on a scrappy QAYG project.

But this week I've been photographing all my fabric and categorizing it in a photo program. Now I can view my fabric on-screen, which saves me from having to haul out heavy storage bins and unfold and refold yardage, just to remind myself what a particular piece looks like. Fabric that you can't "read" well when it's folded, like these two pieces, for instance:

But I'll probably end up photo-cataloging everything, regardless! I love an organizational task.

Looking forward to designing a new landscape quilt. Got a couple of things stewing on the back burners in my mind.

Be well, and remember, spring is on the way (or fall, if you're below the equator--my favorite season)!

Linda

A Visit to the Creek

 A Visit to the Creek features a doe and her fawn making tracks toward their favorite water source. Designing and working on this scene helped keep me cool during some very hot weather this summer--and has me looking forward to winter.

28" wide x 33" high

I'm thinking the black forest fabric was among the Halloween offerings in Annie's Crafts (https://www.anniescatalog.com/) catalog last fall. If not, then I probably bought it at The Quilter's Trunk in Liberty, KY (www.quilterstrunk.com). The snow and water fabrics definitely came from the shop in Liberty. There are just eight different fabrics in this scene.

The largest tree began as a strip of gray hand-dyed (from the same fabric as the snow--a gradient that ran from white to dark gray). Free motion quilting gave it a tree-bark texture, while white fabric and white paint added bits of snow. Shading and the hollow were done with a black paint marker, while highlights were added with a silver Sharpie. Here's the before and after:

And a couple of closeups:

I started the quilt in mid-June, and have worked on it fairly regularly. It should be "sleeved," labeled and listed in my Etsy shop soon.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy autumn!

Linda

Quilting with Parkinson's

April is Parkinson's Awareness Month, so I'm thinking, what better time to address the "elephant in the room" at Linda's Landscape Quilts?

Over the years in my blog, I've occasionally mentioned shoulder and neck issues, but in 2018 a tremor began in my left hand. For a while I suspected it was a condition known as "essential tremor", but as it eventually worsened, it was time to see a neurologist. Four weeks before the Covid lockdowns in 2020, I was diagnosed with PD.

This is a gradual "degenerative" condition, but aside from tremor medication, proper nutrition and rest, it particularly responds well to exercise. Quilting is fairly sedentary, other than moving from the sewing machine to the cutting table to the ironing board. Consequently a fair chunk of of my usual designing/quilting time has been spent walking and gardening (hence the less frequent blog posts) for the last couple of springs, summers and autumns. I'm working on getting the nerve up for winter walking--cold is not a friend to the muscle stiffness and tremor inherent with PD, so an indoor yoga regimen or a gym membership may be in the offing.

What has this to do with quilting, other than loss of time? Everything.

Designing and working with fabric and quilting, especially landscape quilts, is my passion and my sanity saver. Along with knitting, it is how I would choose to spend nearly all of my time if I could. I refuse to give it up. However, I have had to make some adjustments, and might have to make more as time goes by.

Here are some of the changes.

1. Working smaller....size does matter. 😀 No more 40 or 50-inch landscapes; I try to keep them

    under 36 in. long or wide. Bed quilts are now batted and quilted in thirds or fourths to cut down

    on weight at the machine, adding and fusing the batting sections as I work from the center out.

    AND I recently discovered a local guild that will accept quilt tops that they then quilt and give

    to charities.

2.  Using more machine-guided stitching and less free motion...I could insert a "sad" face here. I love

     the variety and grace of free motion. But it's also fun to incorporate decorative machine stitches.

3.  Exceptional care using the rotary cutter...my left hand can suddenly spaz while holding the ruler

     down.

4.  Thinner batting, also for less weight at the machine. To my relief, the quilt texture is still

     surprisingly good.

5.  Somewhat slower and more deliberate movement around the studio, due to balance issues and

     slower reflexes. This one has been a challenge--I'm used to moving fast and gracefully

     for 60+ years. A couple of minor falls have nipped that in the bud.

6.  Shorter blocks of time spent in any one place or position (leg stiffness can make switching

     places and tasks necessary anyway).

7.  Fewer blog posts, due both to slower quilt production and slower typing.

8.  More patience with myself, especially with fine motor movements such as threading a needle.

I am fortunate so far that the tremor is almost entirely on the left side of my body, while I'm right-handed. But for quilting we depend on both hands for nearly any associated task. So tremor medication is necessary, but there's a fine line, for me at least, between calming the tremor and becoming too sleepy to focus. So, some tremor and some stiffness as well have to be endured and worked around.

And yes, my neurologist keeps me updated on all the latest medical info and PD exercise/therapy groups. But I love my walks with Susie, my son's "Mamalaw" (we usually get in about 3 miles a week in decent weather), and quilting IS my therapy. And knitting and gardening--especially weeding and trimming.

Any of you fellow quilters deal with PD? I'd love to hear any tips you might have for continued comfort, efficiency and quality in quilting. Feel free to comment below. We're all in this together!

All the best,

Linda

The Birds and the Bees (Part 2)

Work has progressed since the previous Birds and Bees post and now all four quilts are (nearly) finished. A hanging sleeve on number 4 is all that's left to do. Here they all are, together on the design wall.

Again, this project was all about rescuing some beautiful upholstery fabric samples from a potential date with the landfill...birds and bees, embroidered in silk thread on 100% silk fabric, which I cut out and fused to various cotton backgrounds. The edges were secured with a decorative machine stitch, but both the cotton backgrounds and the silk panels were stippled in free motion, mostly in matching threads so as not to distract the eye from the stars of the show--the birds and bees! Check out the previous post (about the brown quilt, number 1) for more detail regarding the process.

Here are better photos of quilts 2, 3 and 4:

21 in. wide x 17.5 in. high

23 in. wide x 18 in. high

24 in. wide x 17.5 in. high

Here are some "texture shots":

And here are some bird (and bee) panel closeups:

All four quilts are in my Etsy shop now (https://www.etsy.com/shop/LindasLandscapes?ref=shop_sugg) and are looking for a good home. 

Thanks for checking theses tweeties out! Please consider checking with your local upholstery shop for possible availability of discontinued sample books for your own quilting or craft projects. This was a fun and rewarding recycle project.

And speaking of birds, which are in mating season just now, happy spring (or autumn if you're in the southern hemisphere)!

Linda