Thank You Quilting Arts.....

Look what the Mail Man delivered...

Click Images to Enlarge:

This is a PRIZE package from

Quilting Arts Magazine !

This Portrait Quilt of our dog Gunnr

was chosen for the 2012 Quilting Arts Calendar:

Gunnr would love to give Quilting Arts a

BIG Lick of gratitude.

I, however, would just like to say

THANK YOU so much Quilting Arts Magazine!

I am thrilled with my prizes.

Here are a few images of the spring calves:

They are not tiny babies anymore...

The Calf Trio

Clematis are blooming now...

These images would make a gorgeous

Neocolor II Portrait Quilt

Things are looking better in the hay field.

Brad's cousin called and said they were done with their

round baler so we could come over and pick it up.

We just finished hooking it up to our tractor.

After lunch Brad will begin making round bales again.

Life is Good...

Many Thanks to all of you who wrote and called with words of support.

Your kindness means so very much.

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view Neocolor II Portrait Tutorial

CLICK HERE to view Cord Bound Edge Tutorial

CLICK HERE to view Photoshop Elements Portrait Tutorial

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Fire in the Hay Field...

5:00 I brought some food down to the hay field for Brad

since I expected him to be working late.

When I got there I saw smoke!

Click Images to Enlarge:

The Big Round Baler was on fire !

Brad had already put out the 2 fires in the hay

field before I arrived.

Brad drove the baler over to a green field that wasn't

cut for hay, so it would be safer than the dry hay fields.

The river was nearby.

My father-in-law was raking hay in the next field so arrived

quickly to help.

I drove to the barn to retrieve buckets.

Two neighbors showed up to help, with fire extinguishers.

We fought the fire for nearly an hour.

At this point the fire in mostly extinguished, but

still smoldering in places.

Brad climbed on top of the baler and dumped buckets

of water down inside it.

The belts continued to smolder, so the guys

are removing them.

At this point the burning belts have been removed.

The guys are trying to determine what started the fire.

A bearing went out on the bottom roller of the door.

It ignited the hay bale that was inside the baler.

The hay bale ignited the belts.

The burning rubber belts really fed the fire and

got it hot.

Brad is optimistic, at this point, and is hoping he can replace

the belts and the bearing and some wiring that burned and

have the baler up and running in a few days.

As you can see we are surrounded by dry hay fields and timber.

We are so very lucky the fire was contained and didn't spread

throughout the valley.

It was truly our lucky day!

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Progress...

Brad is back in the hay field~

We are making some progress

Click Images to Enlarge:

The John Deere dealer just dropped off a tractor

Brad is making hay again...

Hay raked and ready to bale...

We may have some big round bales in this field

tomorrow.

This Hay Photographer

is heading back home to start dinner

Suzy, showing off our new front entry way...

Now this is a step a Quilter could love...

What Quilter could resist blocks set on point?

Check out what's blooming:

Marigolds

Poppy

Painted Daisy

As always, you are welcome to use my photography

in your personal art work.

Enjoy!

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view: Adventures in Art Quilting

CLICK HERE to view: Art Cloth Surface Design

CLICK HERE to view: Baby Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full of Hay,

LuAnn

Thread Shed........Making Progress

I am making some progress on the re-organization

of the Thread Shed...

I repurposed a hand-me-down TV cupboard

into a media center.

While I am creating I enjoy listening to audio books.

I also enjoy watching instructional DVDs.

Listening to relaxing music is the only way to go for free motion quilting.

Click Images to Enlarge:

I piled all of the video and audio equipment into this

big cupboard and it works!

The best part is, the doors close and hide all the clutter.

Brad built a shelf to hold the TV and speakers.

Underneath that is the stereo.

This light green cupboard was moved across the room to

its new location here as the Surface Design Cupboard.

(in its former life, it held all of the music and movies)

It holds textile paint, dyes, inks, screen printing supplies,

brayers, brushes, sponges, gels & mediums,

waxes, tools.....and lots more!

Again, the best part is, the doors close and hide the clutter !

Plus, everything inside is protected from the light and dust.

With the Design Wall all cleaned off,

I just had to put the Winding Ways/Wheel of Mystery

blocks up for a look see:

56 Blocks so far...

Sewn by hand.

This is one of my take-a-long quilts

I am realizing, as I work on the Thread Shed re-do,

that this is not a quickie, overnight project...

I have barely scratched the surface

with what I have accomplished so far...

I plan to get into all of my work areas

and tear them apart...

decide what will stay, what will go,

and then re-organize them so I can work more efficiently.

In the middle of this project...

we will begin mowing hay tomorrow.

I am also curating a quilt show that will go on exhibit August 1st,

so the Thread Shed is piled high with quilts this month.

I am gathering my own personal quilts and

finalizing my lecture notes

for a trunk show July 28th at the

Mary's River Quilt Guild

Philomath, Oregon

July 30th I am hosting a Fabric Painting workshop

here at our home for the quilt guild members.

I will continue with the Thread Shed project as time allows

and share my progress with you as I go.

As always, if you are inspired by any of my photography,

feel free to use it in your personal art work.

The dogs travel everywhere with us, even if it is just

to town shopping for groceries.

When we open up the back door of the pick up,

this is the view inside the back seat:

How is this for relaxed...

Gunnr and Suzy

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view: more Cupboards in the Thread Shed

CLICK HERE for the 2009 Thread Shed Tour

CLICK HERE to view: Organizing, a Fresh Start

CLICK HERE to view: Big Board Ironing Board

CLICK HERE to view: Life Through a Quilter's eyes

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Thread Shed Clean Out.......Continues

Day 2

I spent 6 hours out in the Thread Shed today.

It was hard to get back in the door this morning.

I really tore it apart yesterday.

You have to make a BIG mess in order to

re-organize...

Click Images to Enlarge:

Every flat surface had piles and piles of

quilting and art supplies on top of it

just waiting for me to make a decision...

Keep it? or Give it away?

I was in the right mood to get rid of things

I haven't used for awhile.

Several boxes were filled, loaded into the pick up

and are going to the Goodwill Store in town....

I enjoy giving old furniture a new life in the Thread Shed.

I use the old island from our kitchen as a cutting counter and to

store my stash of landscape fabrics.

I use two old antique cupboards to store my main fabric stash.

The cupboard doors close and keep the light and dust off the fabrics.

My son recently gave me his big TV cupboard,

since his new big screen TV doesn't fit inside it.

It has big double doors in the front.

Today I turned it into a media center for the Thread Shed.

The TV and DVD player fit inside, along with the stereo and speakers.

There is room for all of my Instructional DVD's, music, movies, audio books.

I just close the big doors and all of the mess and clutter are gone!

I spent the afternoon moving all of my textile paints and

surface design materials to a bigger cupboard.

It will be great to have it all in one place and be able

to get my hands on what I need very quickly.

By 5:00 I was cleaning off the design wall:

I removed this mountain landscape quilt I started years ago.

I have additional fabrics, along with the inspiration image.

30 x 36 inches

I would like to give it all away to one of you.

Please leave me a comment...

Gunnr will pick a winner out of his food dish next week!

I will continue working on the Thread Shed.

If I remember the camera, I will take a few

in-progress photos to post here soon.

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view my Take-a-Long Quilts

CLICK HERE to Watch me Work

CLICK HERE to view the Cow Pony Quilt

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn