Jordan River Temple

 We took the opportunity to visit the open house for the Jordan River Temple since we were in Salt Lake. Grandma Helen came with us; she was the only one of us who had been inside pre-renovation. I had always been told that it is a sister to Seattle, so I was curious. 

The impressive chapel seemed to go on forever. And the staircases were enormous. It did have a feel of Seattle, but more open. Seattle feels more utilitarian where Jordan River feels more ornate. 

While we were at the Willards, I took a picture of Charles and James Howard Willard, brothers from Illinois, born in 1894 and 1885. They are quite handsome.

I'm on the Cover of a Magazine!

 On the way to Rexburg I got a phone call from Dodi Poulsen in Poulsbo. We have a common friend, Jen Bay, whose father-in-law was Paul's mission president ages ago. Anyway, she wanted me to do some quilting for her that would go in a magazine. How exciting. 

There were two in this batch. She explained that magazines require quilt submissions to be more on the beginner side of the scale. At times she has had to dumb down patterns and designs to suit them.

Unfortunately, when I got to the bottom of the quilt I realized something was terribly wrong. I had to unstitch my quilting and then unstitch the turned block on the right corner and restitch it back together. That was the second time I'd done that for a client. It actually doesn't take that long to do. There are deadlines to meet!

Now that looks a lot better. I hope I get to work with Dodi again. She has been designing fabric for Riley Blake and is very busy.

Organized Chaos

 I loved Sujata's Organized Chaos when I first saw it. It's found in her book, Cultural Fusion. My preference or aesthetic is grid-based. Even if the fabric patterns are wild and crazy, there is stability in the grid. I can appreciate a lovely pictorial quilt or a Baltimore Album, but I prefer a grid.

Another secondary design coming through--bonus points! I could make this quilt 15 times and they would each look different.

So many options for placement!

I threw the rest of the fabric line onto the back. 

Even Chuckles approves.

Marnie's Bag

 Marnie requested a handbag and I happened to have the perfect pattern in mind. I just needed to stop by Quilting Mayhem and pick up the hardware.

I took a class from the woman who makes Bag Bits and she is dangerously brilliant. It can be scary to sew around metal, but you can do it! I wish I had a riveter, but not now. Maybe when I retire.

A little Kaffe and a strong strap and she was ready to go.

Bonfire

 Today we enjoyed a bonfire in the front yard. There is always spring cleaning after wintery weather takes down branches and trees. It's a great opportunity to have s'mores and roasted Starbursts. Pam's mother is here from Brazil and has never enjoyed a bonfire.

Marnie showing good technique.

Jim and Bonnie got to play around the fire, which their parents loved.

And Naomi chilled in her stroller.

Design Elements

 I was invited to be a featured speaker at a guild in the north. I drove to Lynden to a community hall with most of my quilts to talk about design elements. Shirley took a bunch of pictures, to my surprise, and sent them to me. Otherwise, I would have forgotten about the whole thing.

I love this picture. I'm trying to explain the ombre effect from top to bottom.

These are the four trees I made in Lorraine Torrance's class years ago. Using the color wheel, I can explain the difference between warm and cool colors, complementary and monochromatic combinations, , and harmony.

Warm and Cool colors in the same composition.

Two different album quilts. One with a dark background and one with a light. Feel the difference?

The same quilt in different colors. Cathy's Millefiori is on the left and mine is on the right. It is not yet finished, so the women are having a hard time holding it up. The papers are still in the edge pieces. There isn't a stitch of yellow, orange, or red in my quilt. Warm and Cool in one shot.

My spring quilt by Scott Hansen and a block of the fall version.

Simply Delicious proves you can use many different colors and still have a cohesive quilt.

Silk pyramids uses only a small section of the color wheel. It's a very harmonic usage of neighbors yellow, orange, red, and magenta.

Cactus rose is a Judy Niemeyer pattern that I used to play with purple and green. I didn't have trouble filling an hour of talking!

Family Fun

 Church with two babies is super busy. Pam and Howard are learning how to manage it. They attend the Edmonds building and have a great choir for Howard to join.