Sew Far Sew Good

Hi Everyone!  I have been busy with lots of sewing and working on quilt patterns.  I have to admit I'm slow in many things, including sewing and writing for that matter.  I'm also still a part of the Round Robin at our Valley MQG.  It's been lots of fun to see other guild members add their touches and ideas onto the piece. I can't wait to see my piece, still have 3 more months to go.  

I also repaired a boat cover for one of my dear friends.  The cover was torn at several places where the anchoring straps are because of the wind.  Before I became a quilter, I was a re-upholsterer.  I did all kind of projects, such as cushions, chairs, sofas, couches and even car seats!  Of all the projects, the car seats are the most challenging because there are many connected curve pieces.  And when the covers are done, they have to fit like gloves onto the seats.  So sorry that I couldn't find pictures of the car seats that I did on my computer .  I didn't have a digital camera back then.   I think I've shared a picture of a sofa that I did for my friend before, but for those who haven't seen it, you can see it here.  Doing upholstery jobs taught me precision sewing and patience.  For everything, I owe it all to Mr. Jackson at our local occupational school where I took auto-upholstery classes when my younger child started school twenty some years ago.  He would make us redo the pieces over and over again until they were perfect.  I still remember redoing a part of one particular car seat cover five times!!

In May, at our Valley MQG, we had another challenge.  It was a song from the Led Zeppelin called 'Stairway to Heaven'.  We were to take anything from the lyrics and make a quilt project with it.  I decided to use a part of the lyrics from the song about glitter and gold.  After all the quilting and facing were done, I hand sewed the golden beads on with gold thread by Sulky that I have had for many years but never used it on any project.  The big beads have real gold foil inside.  They are pretty cool. 

This is my piece.

This song reminds me that we can't buy our way to heaven.   I believe that everything in this life is for us to learn and while doing that, we are supposed to help and serve one another along the way.  

You can go to this Valley MQG webpage to see the lyrics.  It's been so much fun doing the challenges this year.  My husband dusted off his Led Zeppelin CD collection and we listened to them all.  My ears are still ringing from Robert Plant's high pitch voice.  It's amazing that his voice worked so well with the music.  Many wonderful old memories flooded back to me as we were listening to these old rock classics.  I remember my brother would play his guitar and we would sing old classics from The Carpenters, Peter Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, and many, many more.  When I was young, I didn't speak English so I didn't really know the meaning of some of these songs.  All I knew at the time was that they sounded good.  Now that I speak English and I have my husband to ask what things mean.  I have somewhat better understanding of things.  In the other part of the world we admire the Western culture without knowing or understanding the true meaning of it.  I believe that Arts have no boundaries!!  I never knew a lot of these artists before I came here either, I just liked their songs and music.   I also watched Jimmy Page's interview on Youtube and I realized how committed he is to his art.  That's why he is so good with his guitars.  It is quite an inspiration to me.

For June our challenge is to incorporate a selvage or selvages into a quilted project.  I have to come up with something before next Monday!!

Have a great day!!

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