Spring Hardwoods

Spring Hardwoods

 Will wonders never cease - here I am updating my blog after only 1 week! Yay me! However, you might not hear from me again for quite a few months - I want to repaint my bathroom and spend more time outside for awhile. 

I just finished this wall hanging for a class sample so I thought I'd show you how I did it. 

Mesa Verde and Creating Birch Tree Trunks

Mesa Verde

 I shared some of my vacation photos last blog and since they were so well received I thought I'd show you more. All these are from Mesa Verde National Park - it is an extraordinary place known for its well-preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings.

I also thought I'd show you my work  creating some birch tree trunks out of 2 fabrics I have in stock.  I worked with both acrylic paints and markers on these fabrics to get ready for classes I'm teaching next year. We'll be having lots of fun and creating them is pretty easy - seriously!! 

Free Motion Embroidery - Trees and Kodiak, Alaska

Living Water - Progress is being made though slowly!
As you can see, I've made the big trees. If I decide to add a border, this dusky blue will be it. (You can see all my in progress shots of this quilt by looking at my last couple of blogs.)

Hubby and I went to Kodiak, Alaska a couple of weeks ago. We used to live in Ketchikan, AK and made some very dear friends. We moved to the lower 48, and they moved north to Kodiak.

Irises and Sonoma County - Two Quilts to Show You

Irises at Dawn by Cathy Geier

 I finished a sample project for my Strip Pieced Landscape quilt class. Well sort of finished, I haven't quilted it yet. The last 3 little quilts I made have yet to be quilted actually. I think I'm a bit burnt out on the quilting part of making quilts. Maybe I should take my old machine in for a tuneup and enjoy the time off? 

And get busy baking Christmas cookies and fudge! 

Back from Bonaire

Autumn Path?! I don't know what to call this little landscape. How about 'Birch Trees Along a Trail in the Fall - With Rocks", lol. 

 Last week hubby and I took our oldest son and his fiancé to beautiful Bonaire. The waters around this little island which is just off the coast of Venezuela are an International Marine Preserve. The island is governed by the Dutch but they use US currency. You can park your rented car along the road side practically anywhere on the Eastern side of the island and tramp right out into the water and snorkel or scuba dive.  Of course you have to be very careful where you step so you don't destroy the coral.

I have a few pictures, but my son had the underwater camera so all those babies have to wait for him to process them. 

Progress & My Character and More Quilts from Paducah

Me, lol.

This week I'll show you some progress on my latest landscape and show you more quilts from the big AQS Show in Paducah. Thank you all for your comments last week, you all were right on! Debbie mentioned 'anchoring' the base - that started me on the road to the finish line. And Ellen also wanted more depth... and she was right that one thing always leads to another...

As it turns out, I only had a couple more hours of work on it and I was ready to quilt. 

Newest Quilt and Life

Late Autumn Birches by Cathy Geier

Well, this is what I started work on yesterday afternoon. I've been REALLY busy, whine whine whine, and YES I'd like some cheese with that!

First though, as I was getting my camera out to show progress on my quilt I figured you might want to see what a genuine online fabric shop looks like!

Second 3 Hour Workshop Project/Small Tutorial

What are you going to do with that crayon?

 Ellie cat has been helping me finish up a second project for my 3 Hour Class/Workshop.  (I like to give my students at least 2 choices of kits in my classes.) This time I'll show you how I draw saplings in the background AND how I remove the ones I don't like. 

3 Hour Class Workshop Project/ Small tutorial

3 Hour Workshop Project

I've been working on a project  I'm submitting to the Wisconsin Quilt Expo next fall (2015) for one of their "Hands On" workshops.   This is a class I regularly teach at guild meetings, but since fabrics change so much every year or so I have to make the same sort of quilt again.

In this blog, I'll show you some of the steps I took making it.

Landscape Quilting with 'Challenging' Fabrics

3 Hour Workshop sample

 You may not know it, but I sell landscape fabrics - I have over 100 bolts!  (The link to my online store is on the toolbar at the top, just under my Material Girl collage.)

 I decided to invest the profits from my first book's royalties into opening an online fabric shop dedicated to help landscape quilters find the fabrics they (we!) need.  The thing is, we are completely dependent on manufactures to make the right fabrics and many times they don't quite get it right.  Soooo, in this blog I'm going to show you how I use the not quite "right' fabrics.