Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Friends who Smile and Laugh Make Me Happy Too

Above is my friends Sue, Tina and De. Sue and De were in a horible car crash last month and their car rolled seven times. De has a borken neck and Sue has 7 broken ribs, a crushed hand, arm and shoulder, and other injuries. Thakfully they are healing and could have been killed. They are going to heal and will be quilting again with us when we can all get together. We love laughing together and counting our blessings.
Just thought you would enjoy smiling faces, silly whimsical things and colorful blocks. Isn't quilting FUN? Endless ideas and the BEST friends you could ever ask for.

Autumn Photos for fun and Something Serious to Ponder- a great quote too!

Emily who owns Tasuti Zoo does really fun stuff and this is one of her many wallhangings that are sort of like a story quilt except they are not quilts......Color, whimsy and a ton of fun...she is my kind of gal!
 Sunflowers always look good in a fishes mouth don't they?
These are my two Grandchildren who are cousins...they are fond of each other
If you are old like me, you remember when pumpkins all looked the same and now....they are wrinkly and colorful and creepy and FUN!
 Look at the wonderful colors and shapes and light on these-would be great for a drawing class wouldn't they????
 This is my Grandson during his Wild Bill phase.....
 The block below was one of Wendy's from last year and I especially loved it because of the owl on the hat!


My husband is reading a book about a Lutheran Minister during WW11 that spent time in a concentration camp I think his name was Baunhaufer. He keeps reading excerpts to me and I asked him to write one of them down because I remember well, my Mother quoting this to me when I was in Jr. High .
"First the came for the Socialists and I did not speak out-because I was not a socialist
Then
They came for the trade Unionists and I did not speak out-because I was not a Trade Unionist
and then
They came for the Jew's and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew
and then
They came for Me- and there was No one left to speak for me.
I think this is pretty profound
I hope I am the type of person who would speak up.
And a nice quote to think about before bed below........

" Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to put a child to bed." Rober Gallagher

Comments from Students Let's Me Know They "Get It" and That is So Wonderful

You know friends sometimes a student writes and tells me how they feel about creating a story quilt after taking a workshop and I am just giddy because then I know they "get it." Bringing your artist out to play brings a whole new meaning to quilting and creativity. I had Mary Margaret Hogan in my class at MISA (Madeline Island) and this is the letter she wrote to me. If you haven't taken a story quilt and I am in your area, honestly you should take it and tell the world about YOU.
Mary's letter says-

"This work is so amazing. I am using the large one. I decided to start with the hair (of course) and woman's face. I'm tracing as I go along, so I get to some sewing. It sort of feels like the characters or the story is emerging from the quilt. I feel like a madwoman as I want to keep cutting, placing, and sewing so I can see how it is going to turn out.  
 
I have some quilts that I may try to use as backgrounds for one of these, which will mean applique on top of an already quilted piece. But why not?"
 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Creativity and the Beauty Of Tahoe....

I picked up the MOOlon Rouge quilt from Sandy Fisher and my goodness what details. It will be great fun showing it at Market! Sandy is really good at quilting and color and whimsy. Note the tassle on the udder....very funny.
One of good friends named Lynne could not make it this year because of chemo so we put together something fun for a pillow for her. She will love it and know how much we missed her and her best friend Nancy

Above is my buddy Kathy Collins who lives in Atlanta and is a lawyer and a delight! I have known her many years from my workshops and we became good friends. She made this cow and told me it wasn't a reflection on my body,,,thank  heavens....I hope she was being truthful- Anyway I love it and it is made of different fabrics I designed over the years. By the way, I am not with Benartex any longer.....
Candy brought her totally complete story quilt and I wanted a good photo of her with it done....I love it-color, content, great story and whimsy-wonderful!
It is 5:30 and Tina and Candy toast to a productive and FUN day
As I was posting this blog, I saw that Sandi from Canada sent me a photo of her pieced cow....I think it flew OVER the Moon! Very whimsical Sandi!
If you have not been to Tahoe, you would love it-gorgeous in any season, it is a great destination place. I am thinking of doing at least one retreat there next year...it will be on creativity and might include paint-I would love to do that somewhere...so many ideas, so little time
look at the clear color of the water-fabulous!
Our friend Kathy was on this boat- I wanted to be but put my quilting first...I am still not sure that was right....oh well next year
Tina Made this cow for our show at Market. I think it is wonderful and all of these quilts are so much better in person-the color and theme of this is fabulous!

Kathy Collins made this quilt and put in a hoochy background with stratas....I think it is spectacular. The colors in person are wonderful and hey, the theme is super too. I told her once it is quilted she should have carrots hanging off the cows tail.
SO much fun!
Would love some comments please

Saturday, October 22, 2011

THE Cutest Halloween Quilt Ever!

 Above is my witch block for the witch swap that the "Tahoe Quilt Chicks" had. It was hard deciding what to use for her dress but as you know I like fun, color and larger prints which many people will not buy. If you do not have larger prints in your collection, you are missing out! They have alot of personality and carry a great
message. As I look back on this post and the photos of the witches, I notice that no one else used a larger print. I wonder why? Small scale seems to be the choice and is it because we are taught that in quilting when we start? Or, is it safe? Or is it that we want to keep the scales of our prints small if the block is small? Why do we not choose larger prints? Maybe we don't because we don't use these in real life because we look bigger...what do you think?

Here are a couple of photos taken while people were fooling around with the blocks...all so different and so much fun. Three people still have to turn theirs in. Below, Tina put her blocks in a Halloween bag along with See's candy...wonderful touch! Tina is one of the most creative and FUN girls out there. I think she will be cooking for my retreat in Idaho in June which is almost full.
Below, I am going to put these 12 girls together for a great quilt and maybe I will do a swag border and will have it up next year...it is so much fun. I may also do some lettering and would love suggestions...someone suggested "Which Witch"-any other suggestions for fun?
Knowing that I will still have three blocks coming my way, I am going to make a banner for my fireplace for next year.....Autumn is my most favorite time of year!
How about You?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Hoochy Mama, Flower Power and "Out of the box with Easy Block"s Makes for GREAT quilts!

So I got these photos from a friend who works for Martingale (Leanne) and she and Mary Burns wrote to brag on their wonderful friend Tracy Overturf who make this cute scrappy and easy piecing quilt complete with DOG she made from the cow pattern. Pretty wonderful i would say and the colors are just super!
Look at all of the aspects that are easy piecing in this...right out of my books and perhaps the bottom row is Freddy Moran, an old friend of mine.
I LOVE this kind of quilt and who wouldn't and hey, it could be a pieced story quilt about your dog and your garden. Piece some letting with names and places (also in my Out of the Box with Easy Blocks Book) and you have a great piece that will pass along some information about YOU!
So much fun!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A LOVELY LETTER to my chatroom friends from a story quilter who did my workshop

Ladies, she wore me out or maybe it was the 1300 miles i drove. I came home so
full of energy, you know; clean my sewing room, organize all my scraps, sweep,
clean basement, clean yard, wash outside of my house, power wash deck and they I
realized I was exhausted and didn't do a thing for 2 days.

The class was so much fun, I never heard a complaint and I heard lots of
laughter. Wow the stories that were told in class would take a year to make. I
am actually working on my story quilt every day, today I got shoes on my feet
(my DD wondered why I had Duck tape on my feet) and a wooden spoon in my hand,
tonight it is time for the cat. Things just keep running around my head (lots
of emply space there). Tonight one of my DD called and said she thinks she and
I should make a Haloween quilt together. I said, fine, she can do the
emblishments.

I write like I talk, too much. I just want to urge every one of you to take a
class with Mary Lou. She will never run out of ideas.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And I didn't even have to pay her to say these nice things.....hope to get some of YOU to do a story quilt too. You can start by reading my "Out of the Box" book which is all about creativity and story quilts. This book is NOT the new one called "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks."
In any case any quilt you do today that tells about YOU is a quilt that will be here in 80 years to show things to others about who you are, who you love, what is important, collections, expressions etc.....
-----
Thank you MARY, you made my year!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

COW QUILTS from Dawn Tonoli- VERY fun!

This lovely cow quilt is from Dawn Tonoli who has been making my style quilts for many years. Taking a pattern from the "Out of the Box with Easy Piecing Blocks" book, she really created alot of whimsy and color! She said she might just stop making anything but cow quilts because they are fast and they are so much fun! As you can see the quilt above is MOOcho Villa and this cow has a cowboy hat and mustache....pretty creative!
Above is a closeup of MOOcho Villa.....
The cow above has a sky theme and is called "MOOLAW"....nice colors and fabrics and theme
MOOey Christmas everyone! Complete with a halo and Christmas tree and wreath fabrics to make her very festive and ready for Christmas. I would add crystals to this one for sure.
MOOey in Pink...I think she needs flamingo earrings...who said you can't have a cow in the bedroom? She would match beautifully! Look at the print here isn't it wonderful? So whimsical and fun!


I have a block swap i
I have a blkock swap often in my YahooGroups chatroom and they swapped birds not long ago and here Dawn took the darling birds she got and created this whimsical and wonderful quilt....so free, so happy and so fun. To join the group you simply go to YahooGroups and type in Mary Lou Weidman. We share lots including recipes, quilts ideas, where to purchase things, holiday ideas and we even support our friends who are under the weather, ill or sad because of family illness's or death. It is nice to offer to help any way we can and many girls send cards to people they do not know. This room is awesome.
AND you meet many quilters and sometimes meet them in person in Houston or other quilt shows. Many close friendships have been made in the chatroom. Come and join us!

Story Quilt Beginnings Makes for Fun Letter and Photo

The photo above is a story quilt beginning about Mary who makes stollen for her family and all of her friends (70 or more). She has her border done (we do this first to set a color pallette) and now she is putting in the story. Those red drawers behind her will have buttons on them for pulls. She has lots of good ideas for this. So if you want to do a story quilt and learn how to get out of the box, think inventive and creatively and have lots of fun telling the world your story, come to Madeline Island next year or one of the many places I am teaching story quilts. My schedule is on Marylouweidman.com
She wrote this to me today-
 I wanted you to know I am finally "getting" what to do and now i don't want to go to work.  Darn.  I called in to work later hours (which my boss likes anyway).  I just wanted to show you.  I loved the class and learned so much more.  I enjoyed all the people, we learn from everyone.  Mary Graves

Monday, October 10, 2011

Madeline School of the Arts Class Brings Fun, color and Ideas for Story Quilts

This is a beautiful photo of Mary Margaret who we all enjoyed. She has a great personality and tells you just what she is thinking which we all loved and she dyed her hair for the class the most beautiful color of purple. It fit her and we all LOVED it and wished we could pull it off as well.
Mary Margaret took my "quilter's" fabric I designed and she made a great block showing parts of the faces. Very clever and we all thought she showed it off in a unqiue and fun way!
Below are blocks that will be a story quilt border....lovely blocks with light giver fabrics....
Below is Sue Bright's story quilt border. She is doing a quilt called "the Little Store" and it has a candy counter with an old man with glasses and a mustache and a little girl in a cute outfit buying candy (it is her when she was small). Who can't relate to penny candy and these pretty colors we used to have around us when we were little.
I still do.
Above are some of Mary's blocks, aren't they pretty and scrappy?
Original and fun blocks take shape to make a quilt canvas for a story quilt.
 Above is Jackie with an original and pretty block.
Above is Penny's lovely sunflower which just fit in so well with the beauty of the colors outdoors (Autumn). I told Penny that my five year old Granddaughter said "Mimi, I don't like it when people tell me what to do." And Penny said to me "I know just how she feels." THAT has to be a story quilt for either Penny or me!
Note the white block on the bottom that Penny made. I just loved the way those colors looked in person....so subtle but so pretty.
    I wish I had photos of each person...I guess I am too busy talking or something. You can see the group as a whole and how nice they all look. Love class photos and MISA took a class photo and then marked each name individually for us to take home so we know who each person is. WONDERFUL gift for each of us. I will be there next year same time and hope you consider saving for it NOW. It is sure to fill and we will have lots of autumn ideas for quilt stories that will last for generations.
Judy gets her border going for the story about she and her husband
NOTE- see Mary Lou and Cherries Too for more on Judy's quilt.