Outdoor Afro Recon II to Eno River State Park

On Wednesday I made my second Hike recon for an Outdoor Afro hike. I've really liked Jordan Lake, however, I wanted a free hike and the entrance fee for that park as $6. Fine for a family, but kind of steep for a single person for a couple of hours.

Anyway, I very much enjoyed to the Eno River State park and I've set the date for Saturday, October 20 at 10:00 AM.  It is an almost 4 mile hike and there is the option of adding another mile loop if we're feeling it.

Here are some views from the trip.

 

 The main entrance to the Park is at the end of Cole Mill road in Durham. The road dead ends at this sign and there is parking just past this point.


We'll take the Cox Mountain trail, which is more like a  large hill.

Suspension Bridge Over the Eno River
 



First Uphill - About a half a mile long

 

View to the South towards Hillsboro

At the Bottom of the Ravine

Along the Eno River

Taz Drooling over my Keen's, wishing she had two pair!




 

Stash Bee Sept.

 

For September, the queen bee wanted these starburst blocks from Film in the Fridge.  I must say that I like how they turned out.  I enjoyed making the two blocks, but I can't see myself making an entire quilt.  She posted a tutorial as well as a look at her entire quilt.



 

 

Art Quilt Finished

My employer offers an annual employee art show. Last year I submitted my first piece on a whim and I decided to do so again this year.  Every time I start a new project, I try to challenge myself by using new techniques or trying new design elements.  This project was going to have three new elements for me.

1. It was going to be an Art Quilt - a self portrait, to be specific. Something to hang on a wall and not used on a sofa or table.
2. It was going to contain curves instead of straight lines
3. It was not going to have any blocks, but be free-form and sew-as-you-go.

In homage to my new found friends at Outdoor Afro, I also decided that I was going to place myself outside, doing something that I love.


First I sketched the basic design on graph paper and then transferred it onto interfacing in the actual dimensions of the finished project. (that's a 12" X 12" grid square)



I then traced the shape of the body onto fusible interfacing and cut out the parts of the person (me!) to ensure that it was the right scale for the rest of the work.  Piece by piece, I cut out fabric for the body parts, leaving a seam allowance, and fused it to the interfacing.

                

 

Once the body was finished, I began cutting and sewing the background, laying the finished parts back on the interfacing to ensure that I still in the right range for size and pattern.

  

 

 

 When I was finished piecing the project, I hand quilted it using DMC 5 floss and big stitches.

 

Finally, I added a sleeve to hang it and bound it in a dark brown. Here is the photo taken when I entered it in the show. I'll be sure to get another, once it is hung.

 

 

 This quilt just flat out makes me happy. Not just because my vision became a reality, but also because hiking makes me happy and I'll be able to look at this whenever I want to get out, but can't.

Joanna's Quilt

It has been a crazy summer, but on Saturday, I attended my friend Joanna's wedding.  Since the big day is over, I can now show the quilt I made for her and Geoffrey.  Despite my usual procrastinating, I've had this quilt finished since June, a whole two months early!!! 

I've used the pattern from Crazy Mom Quilts so there were no triangles harmed in the making of this quilt.  (whew).  I added a border so that I wouldn't have to lop off the edges of the squares on each end. I just love this fabric; Parson Grey, Curious Nature, by David Butler.  His new line, Seven Wonders, comes out in October and I can hardly wait!!
 

I would also like to send a shout out to my longarm quilter, Cathy Kirk at the Quilting Cowgirl, without whom this quilt would have never been finished!

Stash Bee - August

Here is my August block for the Stash bee. It is a little long, but I think she'll like it.

Outdoor Afro Recon

Today I did a little recon for a hike for my friends at Outdoor Afro.  Taz, my dog, and I went out to New Hope Overlook, an area in the Jordan Lake State Recreation area.  I wanted to see if the hike was a good one for an Outdoor Afro event.  It was a little cooler than usual for this summer (low 90s) with a little breeze.

We started down the trail, which was well marked and quite soft, due to the pine needle groundcover. Taz trotted eagerly along, trying to lead the way. I'm sure she was happy just to be outside. It has been so hot lately, that her outside time has been considerably shortened.





TAZ Leading the way.


Taz Decided to lead the way for a bit. She was very good about staying on the trail, even though I'm sure she paid no attention to the blazes.




Trail Blazes

 Once we reached the Overlook, Taz decided to go for a run down the beach, and then a swim. It was a  refreshing way to break the heat.

Running down the beach.

Refreshing dip

AHHH Nice and cool!



The trail was quite easy and relaxing. Almost a meditation. The breeze was soft, I could smell the lake and hear the little critters running throught the woods.  The only negative to the day was that the trail was obviously not recently used and I broke a TON of spider webs with my face, before I finally smartened up and picked up a stick to break trail.

All in all, however, I think that we both agree that this is an excellent trail for a future Outdoor Afro Hike!

Kona Cotton Solids

So, I went to my local fabric shop to start, what I thought would be, a long day of shopping around for the Kona Cotton Solids that I need for my art quilt.  Lo, and behold, the very first shop I stopped in, Wish Upon a Quilt, had ALL 243 solids in ALPHABETICAL ORDER!  Yowza!!!  My entire day of shopping down to about 30 minutes. 

Here is a rough sketch of my quilt

Me hiking through the mountains

Here are some of the fabrics that I picked for the quilt.  I can't wait to get started.

Sky

Water

Tree

Tree Bark

Mountains

Dirt and trail



Stash Bee, Hive 1

So, this is the very first post of my very first blog.  Not very exciting, is it?

Part of the reason for taking up blogging is to post the blocks I'm making for my stash bee - a virtual quilting bee that uses fabric from your stash to make blocks for other bee members.  The other part of the reason?  I haven't a clue.

Here are the four blocks I've made to date:

I am just starting my very first art quilt. I'm telling you here so I don't chicken out. I'll let you know how it progresses.