Blue Nickel Studios

admin April 30th, 2013

So the folks over at Free Spirit wanted to have some fun with Dave’s new World Tour line in conjunction with the quilt that I am wrapping up for them.  The quilt was designed by the fabulous Mr. B, and has a really unique feel to it, well branded into his Parson Gray aesthetic. The center of this quilt has something in the center that the Free Spirit peeps thought it would be fun for you to guess what it is…...AND give you a cool prize to boot!

Here’s the deets:

For the next few weeks before Quilt Market,  I am going to be posting some successively “revealing” photos of the quilt here on my blog, and then you get to go over and  make comments on Free Spirit’s Facebook page guessing what is in the center of the quilt.  Each post will reveal a bit more about the quilt, and on the Friday of Market, you will get to see the full thing here at the Blue Nickel, if you aren’t already down in Portland, Oregon for Market.  If you have the correct answer to the mysterious center of the quilt, then you will be put in a drawing for a fabulous gift package from Free Spirit!

Good luck, happy guessing, and all that good stuff!!

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admin April 25th, 2013

So I had a little time between quilts, but hardly any time for this post now, but I wanted to show you what I was playing with using my World Tour scraps.  I added some reds and a solid pink to the World tour fabrics and I am working on this improv piece called Reykjavik after the capitol of Iceland. It is the first in a series of quilts I am working on in prepping some class ideas for next year.  The other two planned so far are called Paris-by-the-Sea and Danskia and I think I may have one called Dresden....but maybe not….

Anyway here is what is happening so far on this one…

It’s funny that my first piece is using mostly Dave’s World Tour line….I hadn’t planned that, but all of these quilts are based on places or make-believe places of the heart….I am very excited about this series and I can hardly wait to get to work on them some more…but right now all the Quilt Market stuff is finally flooding in, and I gotta get that stuff done first!

Now back to the Quilt Market sweat-shop in my studio…....

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admin April 24th, 2013

It’s that time again! The weeks seem to go so quickly with this FOLK Journal Challenge! Here’s this week’s prompt:

It’s time to start planning those Summer vacations! What has been your favorite trip of all time? What did you enjoy most about the trip?

The good thing is that the question doesn’t ask what this year’s vacations will be. We are hoping to head to the Washington Coast for a few days, but with our oldest son’s school and summer internship coming up, we are not sure if we will be able to get us all together for it.  We really do NEED a vacation though this year because we weren’t able to take one of ANY sort last year.  Luckily in Spring of 2011 we made it to Disneyland, even though we really couldn’t afford it then. But in hindsight, it is a good thing we took that trip because a trip like that is going to be even longer away at the moment as we try to recover from our financially “less-than” year of 2012.   But I digress…..as usual….

Back to the question.  My favorite vacation? It is a bit difficult in one sense because I just so love traveling. Even our trips to the beach are just splendid to me. Linda and I have gone twice to the southern Washington Coast just the two of us. Once for our honeymoon, and once for our 20th anniversary three and a half years ago.  And we have gone to the Central/North Washington Coast with the kids many times, but not in the last 3 years I think. And before the kids, Linda and I took some camping road trips to Yellowstone and Montana. And I find all of those trips so relaxing.  Just writing about it reminds me how much we need another vacation.

And I absolutely have been loving my trips to Quilt Markets (all Spring ones so far, I think this fall may be my first time to Fall Market in Houston….so excited for that!) I love the freedom of traveling alone even while I am very much missing my family at the same time. But with Markets, I get to see all my quilting peeps that I normally only talk to electronically in one form or another.  I treasure those trips and those friendships so much!

But my FAVORITE trip has got to be my very first trip to Disneyland in October 2007.  We completely surprised the kids with it.  Here is a video we took of waking them up for the big day!  The kids were so surprised! And they will be mortified that I am sharing their wake-up on the blog, but oh well…..

That trip was so much fun.  The kids had never ever been on an airplane before and they and I had NEVER been to Disneyland, and I was over 40 already! I felt like a little kid.  We had beautiful weather…in fact HOT…80 degrees in October. The picture above is the only one I can find, but it sure shows how delighted we all were.  I loved how there was music everywhere….and CLEAN? wow, it was so clean there!  The boys loved the Haunted Mansion, we all LOVED Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  We drug the kids through It’s a Small World at least once….it doesn’t have the same meaning for them as it does for Linda and me. The fireworks and parades were just incredible! I really can’t tell you how much I loved that trip. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

We went again in 2011 and it was very rainy and stormy for a great deal of our trip that time.  Not as much fun. I was very disappointed in that aspect of it, because I was thinking about the money I spent for it, and it just wasn’t as nice…..but that was probably not the best way to look at it.  On that second trip, we did get to eat at the Blue Bayou restaurant which was REALLY expensive, but the service and atmosphere was so superb, the kids really, really enjoyed that special treat so much!  And we went to Universal Studios that time too, Linda and I were thrilled to see the “real” Hollywood sign after so many years of seeing it in movies and such!

Anyway, that is just a little bit about my favorite trip so far….I really can’t wait to go again! Don’t know when that will be, but I know I will be just as excited for that trip too!  As for now, I have a lot of sewing to get done for Quilt Market….so I better get to it….

How about you? What was your favorite vacation? or is it a dream vacation for the future??

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admin April 17th, 2013

Once again I get to play with David Butler’s newest line for Free Spirit. This one is called World Tour, and yup…it’s his best yet!

The first thing that I noticed and absolutely love in this mix is the printed linen!!   First, it is just a bit thicker than the regular quilting cotton, but much more “substantial”.  And the drape and hand of this linen is just incredible!  It is perfect for bags and lightweight jackets, etc. I am thinking about getting a vest made out of it, but not sure if I will have time before Market which is when I want it for.

The quilt that I am making for Market is David’s design, and you are going to love it! I am not allowed to show the full thing here yet, you are just seeing pieces of it today…...... I will post a photo of it here while I am at Market. It is great for those guys in your life! Very Dude-sanctioned!!

But I did have scraps, and you know how I can’t throw out any scraps! So I have been playing with this  “planned” improv piece tonight while the World Tour quilt is at the quilter’s, and I am waiting for the other fabrics for three other Quilt Market projects to get here.

Not sure where this is going, but this is where it is starting from.  I am thinking more and more that this one is going to be named Reykjavik. I added some hot pink solid I had floating around, and I have some  Curious Nature prints in mind as well as this red/burgundy Ombre from my stash by Blank Quilting

I have similar plans to do this with some Glimma from Windham fabrics that have been here in the studio for awhile that I have been wanting to feature…..and actually I had drawn up this idea for Glimma first…..but I had all these half-square triangles and skinny strips from fussy-cutting…..and well, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do….. 

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admin April 16th, 2013

It’s that time again…..for another one of these posts (and LOOK! I was honored with being their featured link from last week’s post! Thanks Hillary!).  This was a fun one, and pretty easy this round because I had a lot of pictures left over from last week’s “Nature Walk” and this week’s topic is an offshoot of last week’s!

Spring is full of new life and new beginnings. On your nature walk last week where did you see signs of new life? What new beginnings are evident in your life at this time?

This silly cat, Trinket,  was sleeping in the kindling box on the porch…..and not the  swan planter my dad made for us with towels in it (we had geraniums in it a few years back and then when they got thrown out one winter….the cats took it as a bed)...

Okay, so the gratuitous cute cat picture is taken care of…now onto the subject at hand.  New life? well it was more like “dormant” life coming back to life.  Which IS much like what is happening in my life right now….. My book which I excitedly shared about MANY MANY Months ago is a go again right after Spring Quilt Market and I am very happy about that!  These next few weeks, I have 4 total quilts to make and finish for three different companies, and then it is on to the BOOK! I can’t tell you how disappointed I was that my DayJob transition took so long and so much time away from this life.  It is really difficult being the main breadwinner and working at building a creative business.  You may have noticed here….I just DON’T get to do the things that I want because I have to make sure that all of our other needs are being met.

And I am not complaining….really….It is just hard, and the last year and a half has been particularly hard…..but things are really looking good now, and I am ready for that dormant life in me to come back again! I am VERY HAPPY about that!! And now on to the photos!

These blossoms are from the wild plums that grow along the bank of our winter wetlands.  Always the first fruit trees to bloom on our little piece of heavenly earth.

In the grass by the front part of the driveway, these little grape hyacinths faithfully come up every year….I thought they were lost, but apparently they come up a little later than I had remembered!

And this quince was here when we bought the place, I am pretty sure it is over 50 years old at least…..It is IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of and Really needs a deep pruning this year….Not sure when I am going to do that when I want to be sewing so much more this year.

Close up of the forsythia from my sister-in-law’s old place. It’s been here at least 17 years now.  Love the color that it brings to end the brown/grey Pacific Northwest winter. I think it is pretty late too, come to think of it.  Kinda like my creative life lately…...hmmmm…..

This white flower is some “weed” tree that has grown up in the lilac hedge at the front of our place.  It has such pretty flowers, I am just going to let it grow.  I love how God throws his own gardening in onto mine…..okay, well not all weeds get to stay…..but this one does…..  

And the best is for last….the Lilac hedge is getting ready again to intoxicate me with its smells and color.  These lilacs all come from suckers that I took off the original settler’s lilac here. The mother plant is still here too, and she is at LEAST 90 years old.  I do have a couple hybrid lilacs that I bought and put in with the rest, and there are a few rugosa roses as well, that add color later in the year, but it is mostly lovely, lavender lilacs….....

This spring is especially a hopeful one for me.   I am hoping and working towards a much better and brighter one than 2011 or 2012 combined…

And for my quilty friends which is most of you reading I know, I have some posts already prepped to share some of this Revival Quilting life of mine!!  So they are coming soon to a monitor near you….

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admin April 14th, 2013

today’s post is another one of these babies…...

Take a nature walk and connect with the sights, scents and sounds that surround you. Reflect on these senses and how they affect your mood.

So I did it…I took a walk….in nature…and out of my yard where you see a lot of our little bit of nature most of the time anyway. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook, you saw all of the pictures I didn’t take with the good camera on April 9th.  I didn’t really have time for a walk because I was still finishing up taxes and working on the first of many Quilt Market quilts.  But I did anyway….mainly to escape working on taxes .....but also just for some fresh air and some solitude.  And that was Wednesday. Here it is Saturday night and I am just getting to writing about it.  A lot of sewing and DayJob  in between…...

Just to let you know. I loved that walk! I very seldom walk alone, and in fact Linda and I walked that same path the day after just the two of us. Which also hasn’t happened for quite some time.  Both walks were delightful.

The walk alone was for this post as I was more focused on the world around me as I went. I can’t really attest much to the smells from the walk; I don’t have a very good sense of smell. Things have to be pretty strong for me to smell them at all. And I took a TON of photos…I also very seldom walk with the camera so this really doesn’t happen much. I even took a few notes on the sounds. When I left the house there were a few birds singing (much fewer than earlier that morning) and a lawnmower somewhere….as I walked closer to the park the lawnmower grew fainter.

When I got into the park a little way the “human” sounds started to disappear and the frog-song in the bog/pond grew louder with each step.

On the other side of the bog/pond was the darkest part of the woods.  I found out later there had been bear sitings in here!

Then the path moved onto the river which was very full and rushing along swiftly, but relatively peacefully after the frogs.

I had discovered the work they had been doing in this park over the last year.  They added a “riverlet” to the middle of it. I learned later that this had something to do with recreating some natural salmon runs that had been damaged in the past.  Much of the park felt much lighter and airier to me in this section.

Then I walked into the last half of the path which hadn’t been changed too much back into the lighter deciduous portion of the forest and heard more birds singing….including my favorite red-winged blackbird…...and I could see the colors of spring coming back!

I could smell a little more of the musty woody smell of rotting trees and composting leaves at different times through this walk …..

and a lot of visual texture!!

and then home back to more residential noises (even though I live on three+ acres)  including some rap music….and more lawn-mowing (I found myself wondering Was this the SAME lawnmower??)

Oh, and how did this little walk affect my mood? Well, I came back pretty darn chilled and relaxed…even though I had to get back to those nasty taxes and all….. 

Thanks for coming along on my little Pacific Northwest Forest stroll.  Hope you feel as refreshed as I did after my little journey!

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admin April 8th, 2013

Happy April Fool’s Day! It is believed that April Fool’s Day resulted from the calendar change in 1582. Until this time, the new year was celebrated on April 1st. Some refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1st. The general population made these people the butt of their practical jokes and labeled them as ‘fools’. Reflect on a time when you have been stubborn and/or went against the grain of the general population.

Now this topic from the FOLK Journal Challenge hits home big time.  I have hardly EVER followed the grain of the general population. If you ask me much about anything “pop” culture-ish, I can pretty much assure you that I really don’t know much about it.  Particularly “GUY”  pop culture!!  I know very little about which teams are playing who in sports.  I know a little bit about cars, but only because my dad loved tinkering with engines and if I was going to spend anytime with him it was while he was doing that.

I don’t watch much of anything on TV…in fact a few years ago, we dropped all Cable service and went straight to Netflix haven’t missed a thing.  The only reason I even got hooked on “TV” shows like Glee or Downton Abbey was because my quilting friends were all talking about them….and Glee has jumped the shark a long time ago for me!

And the pop culture stuff that I do like are really odd things like this or this....and yes, we LOVE going to the thrift store rather than the mall (although, I do like to check out Anthropologie every once in awhile

I am not entirely off the grid of course, but I really prefer things that are not of  a general nature.  I would rather see Les Miserables than Terminator VII.  I would rather watch some off beat British Sitcom like Black Books than Friends.

And Linda and I often discuss how we don’t fit in with art “artistic” crowd or “Christian” crowds very well….because those two parts of our life seem diametrically opposed sometimes. It is hard to be both…..

Since we are already into a new week even though I started this post last week with more to say (see below) I am going to cut this post shorter than I originally intended.  I have got a lot to do this month! (also see below).....

See ya later, alligators,

Scott

P.S. I had this post started and already to go before Easter….and then this happened Easter evening….

okay, well you can’t see much from my Instagram shot here, but we discovered that our hot water heater had started leaking into our living room….so we spent most of the first part of last week moving stuff and messing with this….and in the second half of last week, Quilt Market projects started rolling in and getting discussed….Two (at least) for Free Spirit, one for Michael Miller, and one for Cloud 9….stay tuned….

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admin March 31st, 2013

In my Easter basket this morning…..some Tula Pink fat Quarters….from the Birds and the Bees  that most delightful line from Tula that I had the pleasure of giving out at Spring Market last spring, but NEVER managed to get any myself (how on earth did that happen??)  Very, very happy to have them for my own use….

I…uh…had more candy than that in there too, but I ate some and sorta hid some from myself….

And thanks for putting up with my spiritual travailing in my last post….my wife’s grandmother used to say “life is a yammerdahl” which is supposed to mean “life is valley of tears” in Danish (but I just looked it up…and I can’t find it, so it’s anyone’s guess as to it’s origin or translation) .....

Anyhoo…life is full of trials and jubilees, isn’t it? So nice that today “feels” a bit better than yesterday. The gorgeous weather and a wonderful church service have  so helped improve my attitude.

Hope you are having (or had) a wonderful Easter if you celebrate it, and a wonderful weekend if you don’t.

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admin March 30th, 2013

And here it is, time for another FOLK Journal post.  I hope you all aren’t bored with these. I think for at least this time in my life these posts are helping me keep up with the blog even if they are mostly “non-quilty”  There is more to life than quilting right? ....at least there should be….

Passover begins at sundown on the 25th and reflects on the importance of remembering. What family or religious traditions do you cherish and believe are important to remember?

I find this topic difficult this week. We don’t celebrate Passover, but I have celebrated Easter all my life which is related to Passover for more reasons than I really have time or inclination to recite here.  It is a holiday of many spiritual ramifications, but I don’t know that many people really pay attention to that anymore….

I have been feeling at my  house that we have been losing sight of the holy part of Holy Week as well, and as someone who calls himself a Christian, that makes me more than a little sad.

I wonder if that is because we haven’t really held on to any traditions in that aspect of Easter. Instead we have had our traditions of the kids hunting for plastic eggs filled with candy and money and our annual Ugly Egg Contest with the dying of eggs. Not very spiritual. at. all.  Sigh.

Those things are fun and cheerful….but not particularly deep.  I grew up in a church with so much ritual and tradition, I found it boring at times, but perhaps though I thought the traditions were boring, they helped ground my faith….. maybe the lack of “traditions” has been not helpful in that area…...

Sorry if this isn’t a very “upbeat” post today. I have had a hard week in many areas this week and even though this is supposed to be a holiday of hope and joy and redemption,  I am not feeling any of those things.  Good thing we don’t need to live by what we feel! Feelings change, and I am sure that I will be back where my faith tells me I need to be soon.   If it didn’t it wouldn’t be much of a faith, would it?

I probably didn’t really cover the “subject” of this week’s FOLK prompt very well, did I? But I did write a post, and I did share some of my feelings and thoughts with you, so I guess I get points for at least letting the “prompt” prompt me to do all of that!

The sun is up and this weekend looks to be great weather all around.  So I will force myself to remember all that I believe and rejoice in the ultimate Passover Lamb and His sacrifice for me.

A Blessed Easter to you and yours!

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admin March 27th, 2013

well, really there isn’t much time for playing around these days. Even though I am down to one dayjob from two!  This last month and more than a half, I feel like I have been catching up on rest and not much else.  It is probably very much needed.  The nice thing is that I am getting a little time back to sew, and though I really do need to work more at time management in other areas, this sewing bit is still fun (most of the time).

Here are some progress photos on a Free Spirit project that I am working on using Ty Pennington’s Fall 2012 line. It is fairly new by current industry standards (or OLD by past industry standards) and you still should be able to find some it out there. I went with the Sunset colorway as I have been working with a lot of cool colors lately and the warmth of these prints felt very summery to me!

And here are some scraps I have been sewing together as I go in the fashion that my friend Victoria has now made “famous” although it really isn’t anything “new”.  I love how Victoria has made it fun for others now too though! I have loved doing this for so long, it’s fun to see what other folks do with their scrappy playtime!

I have been doing these type of things for years. Here is a photo of some very old ones that I turned up during ….ahem…. “cleaning” the studio.

I love finding these old things and see how my palette has diversified since then. I don’t want to say changed, because I still love these old things…well, most of them at least…

Well, back to sewing….and actually in a bit, I may go out to do some mowing…before the rains come again....

What about you? what are you up to??

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