I'm Just Sayin

Deadwood by Ricky Tims
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In 1993, as an novice quilter with less that 2 years experience, I accepted the position as quilt show chairman for the Circle in the Square Quilt Guild in University City (St. Louis). As a thank you, the members created for me these cowboy boot blocks. They also provided a bit of the theme fabric so I could use it if necessary in creating the quilt. The boots sat in the UFO pile, tucked away (as we do). When i moved from St Louis to Denver, the box somehow got buried amidst other boxes and didn't opened. Then I made a move from Denver to La Veta, and boxes were moved, and stored, but left unopened.

I remember the day when I finally got around to sorting through many unopened boxes and finding these boot blocks was like Christmas morning! I was so excited and I set my mind to get this quilt made. The best thing to come from this is that all those years I was growing as a quilter and designer. Although it took about 21 years to finally join these blocks into a quilt, the result is much better because of my growth. 

You'll see sketches of the quilting designs I used on the boots, and the fun Alexander Henry bare-chested cowboys I used on the back. I should also add, the panel of the 'sheriff' and stage coaches was a piece that someone added. However, the top of the sheriff was at the bottom of the piece fabric and the legs of the sheriff were at the top. There was no full repetition of the design. So I cut the fabric and joined it to make the complete sheriff as the center focus of this quilt.

Here one final tip. I purposefully chose to put these boots into an attic window. As is the case of many group projects, none of the boots were the exact/correct size. By putting the attic window on two sides, I could trim THAT away if necessary rather then trimming any part of the boots - so that each block was the exact size and assembly would be clean and flat.

TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Choose your own difficulty. Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

Critique Group

Challenge: Shimmering
photo by Claudia Schumacher

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Claudia says:

I captured the lighted tree in our local park. Then later, as we walked on the beach and I saw the Gulf shimmering and captured a sunstar. With much experimentation I combined the photos using each one as the bottom layer but was not completely happy with the results so I wondered if I could embed the sunstar photo and then erase the sky from the picture and maintain the shimmer of the tree. So I did and it worked. The sunstar is visible and the shimmer of the Gulf is as well but I also have the magic of the night.

Photo Challenge Class

Challenge: Celestial Celebration 
photo by Rhonda Schmelzer

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Rhonda says:

This morning's sunrise was the best Celestial Celebration I could think of. I reviewed the week on Panorama because I wanted to shot the whole sky and needed a refresher. I edited in LR then PS and reduced the size.

Let Freedom Ring by Ricky Tims 
Click on quilt for full view.

WIN THIS QUILT

TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Choose your own difficulty. Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

52 Week Challenge Class

Challenge: Silence
photo by Allen Etheridge

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Allen used a technique that is taught during the year called Dreamscape. He said: "We rarely have snowy vistas here. I grew up in Colorado and fondly remember the absolute silence that a good snow can impart. We have had quite a bit of overcast lately so a night shot would have been a stretch.

In early winter it is not uncommon to get morning fog. It rained all night Tuesday. On Wednesday I could not see my neighbor’s house, but the morning chores of coffee and walking the dog the fog around the house lifted. A good fog does impart a silence to me. I drove up Green Mountain here in Huntsville, AL, and it was extremely foggy halfway up (all of 600-foot change in elevation). Given the weather there was no one at the Madison County Nature Trail. It was lovely albeit very wet.

Oh, one more bit of learning, when the breeze blows in the woods the trees will “rain” on you. When shooting in this environment one should always have a dry lens cloth to eliminate droplets on the lens (first water is not good for cameras, and second tiny drops create little fuzzy halos on the photograph). Yet another “Duh!” moment for me.

 52 Week Critique Group

Challenge: Tickled Pink 
photo by Wendy Hodina

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Wendy said: "Only in Cleveland! These inflatables caught my eye this morning as I was heading out for a hike in the snow. The 1983 movie “A Christmas Story” was filmed in Cleveland nearer to downtown in the Tremont area. This house with the inflatables is actually in Hudson, OH. We do see leg lamps occasionally around town.
After the hike I came back by to take some photos. And I’m still chuckiling about it. The house is fairly set back from the road and it’s a busy narrow road so I had to shoot through the open car window. Slightly cropped and cleaned up some props in the front yard. Used the Topaz filter starlight glitter. Happy Holidays, All!”