Finished a small quilt

In article ,
"Carl R" wrote:

Wow Sandy - you succeeded - not only in the air, but I can see the dragon
flying. Awesome and I love the colors. Mmm, machine appliqué - wasn't it
you and I that took a hand appliqué class at the LQS so many years ago?
Beautiful job on the entire quilt! Carl


--
Carl in Henderson, near Sandy near Las Vegas
carl-ryan (at) cox (dot) net (change the ( ))
http://members.cox.net/car-kar/carkar.htm


Thanks, Carl! I really did fall in love with that background -- so
much so that I bought more of it the other day, just to "have". I didn't
want to take a chance that I'd need it someday and kick myself.

Yes, we did take that class -- and now I'm hoping to take another hand
appliqué class at camp next summer. Some day I may find a technique I
like and can use. While I love doing machine work, it's very nice to
have something to work on by hand, too.

--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
sw.foster1 (at) gmail (dot) com (remove/change the obvious)
http://www.sandymike.net

OH WOW! It's gorgeous. Your quilting is exquisite Sandy. If you're
doctor doesn't like it I'm sure you'll have plenty of takers on here )
I've got a wall it will fit on quite nicely

thanks for sharing
Elly in Scotland


"Sandy" wrote in message
...
My eye therapist has been so good to me for the past couple of years --
even driving to my home the night of my eye surgery to make sure I had
some glasses I'd be able to see with -- that I decided to make her a
small quilt (my favorite kind G). She's been given many different
dragons over the years, mostly from the children she treats, so I made
her a little dragon quilt. Before I could make it, though, I had to take
a machine appliqué class to learn a technique I thought I could actually
use, so that finally happened last summer. I finished the quilt today,
though I still need to sew on the label.

I machine quilted it, with feathers, pebbles and flowing (sort of) lines
-- I'd hoped those last would indicate motion, but I'm not sure I
succeeded. The dragon's eye is a garnet bead, and I put a double row of
corded piping next to the binding as an accent.

Pictures are posted he
http://www.sandymike.net/html/applique.html#Dragonflight. I hope you
like it, but -- even more important -- I hope my doctor likes it!

--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
sw.foster1 (at) gmail (dot) com (remove/change the obvious)
http://www.sandymike.net

In article ,
"Elly D" wrote:

OH WOW! It's gorgeous. Your quilting is exquisite Sandy. If you're
doctor doesn't like it I'm sure you'll have plenty of takers on here )
I've got a wall it will fit on quite nicely

thanks for sharing
Elly in Scotland


G Thanks, Elly! I'll let you know; my next appointment is at the
end of the month. G

--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
sw.foster1 (at) gmail (dot) com (remove/change the obvious)
http://www.sandymike.net

I only WISH I had some kind of handwriting training in elementary school.
My handwriting is not good either. If i have 3 "e"s in a word, they all
three may be made differently.

I need to practice on paper before I practice on cloth.

Good analogy though. I think I shall do "i"s tonight!

Cindy

"Butterflywings" wrote in message
...
Piggybacking to Cindy:
Did you have cursive writing in elementary school? if so, did the teacher
make you do pages an pages of PRACTICE O's and o's before you were allowed
to make a page of 'to be graded' O's? We did. that is another way of
'doodling. Not all of us are gifted in that department. Instead of
doodling per se, do a practice page of O o's, Cursive A a 's, etc.that
will get your brain in 'connective mode' which is what quilting
is....connecting lines: straight, curved, looped, etc.

HTH
Butterfly (Thinking back to 3rd and 4th grades and how I use to be able to
write.)
"Roberta" Roberta@Home wrote in message
...
I can't draw feathers on paper either, but my MQ ones are pretty good
(modest but honest, what to do?) It really does just take 30 hours of
practice, more or less, so you could be feathering with confidence by
the end of March. And machine doodling or writing your name is a good
place to start. Then move on to circles/ ovals, working on getting
nice even stitches and a smooth curve. Do a LOT of them. Then maybe
practice re-tracing your stitching lines. there are feather methods
that don't ask you to re-trace, but it's still a good skill. After
your 1st 15 hours, try watching some of the online feather videos,
then go forth and practice some more!
Roberta in D

On Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:12:07 -0600, "teleflora"
wrote:



I practiced once for 15 minutes. My teacher tells me to practice writing
my
name. I want to make feathers... I can't even draw feathers on paper.
And I
don't seem to be able to make more than one star at a time.

I am not a doodler. Do you think that makes a difference?

Cindy

You didn't have penmanship in elementary school? Well then, how do children
learn cursive? Maybe I'm just too old to get this!

If you want to improve your penmanship, you might try a course in
Calligraphy. It is lots of fun and you can amaze your friends when you sign
birthday cards with the fancy script. Ask at your local Michael's or other
craft store for a short course. Just buy the special felt tip pen to start.
As with quilting, I advise not to spend too much money on tools until you
decide to continue the craft. Good luck.

PAT

"teleflora" wrote in message
...
I only WISH I had some kind of handwriting training in elementary school.
My handwriting is not good either. If i have 3 "e"s in a word, they all
three may be made differently.

I need to practice on paper before I practice on cloth.

Good analogy though. I think I shall do "i"s tonight!

Cindy

"Butterflywings" wrote in message
...
Piggybacking to Cindy:
Did you have cursive writing in elementary school? if so, did the teacher
make you do pages an pages of PRACTICE O's and o's before you were
allowed to make a page of 'to be graded' O's? We did. that is another way
of 'doodling.

You didn't have penmanship in elementary school? Well then, how do children
learn cursive? Maybe I'm just too old to get this!

If you want to improve your penmanship, you might try a course in
Calligraphy. It is lots of fun and you can amaze your friends when you sign
birthday cards with the fancy script. Ask at your local Michael's or other
craft store for a short course. Just buy the special felt tip pen to start.
As with quilting, I advise not to spend too much money on tools until you
decide to continue the craft. Good luck.

PAT

"teleflora" wrote in message
...
I only WISH I had some kind of handwriting training in elementary school.
My handwriting is not good either. If i have 3 "e"s in a word, they all
three may be made differently.

I need to practice on paper before I practice on cloth.

Good analogy though. I think I shall do "i"s tonight!

Cindy

"Butterflywings" wrote in message
...
Piggybacking to Cindy:
Did you have cursive writing in elementary school? if so, did the teacher
make you do pages an pages of PRACTICE O's and o's before you were
allowed to make a page of 'to be graded' O's? We did. that is another way
of 'doodling.

Did you have cursive writing in elementary school? if so, did the
teacher make you do pages an pages of PRACTICE O's and o's before
you were allowed to make a page of 'to be graded' O's? We did.
that is another way of 'doodling.
I only WISH I had some kind of handwriting training in elementary school.
You didn't have penmanship in elementary school? Well then, how
do children learn cursive? Maybe I'm just too old to get this!

I did the pages-and-pages-of-doodling thing, but it didn't work all that
well. At first my handwriting was so bad the teachers thought I might
have low-level cerebral palsy. What changed it was a different approach
that required thinking more than drill: they showed me examples of a few
different kinds of handwriting, and the one I decided to try out was one
where the letters were s___p___a___c___e___d o___u___t with connecting
lines, looking a bit like Arabic. It didn't take long before my writing
was way better than the average (though still rather slow) which is what
it still is - though I didn't stick with the spaced-out style for very
long. What it did was make me THINK about the shapes of the individual
letters, it wasn't a rote-learning process at all.

That was in New Zealand nearly 50 years ago. New Zealanders still seem
to have better handwriting than the British. From what I've seen, most
British methods of teaching handwriting are garbage and have been for
decades. If you don't get it first time, rather than try an individual
approach, they encourage you to just give up and label yourself as
dyslexic/dysgraphic. I'd probably think of myself that way if my parents
hadn't got me out of England before it was time to switch to joined-up
writing.

(I have seen one exception: an approach used in Fife in the 50s and 60s
which is described in a book about improving your writing by Tom Gourdie.
There must have been other local experiments around the UK, but overall,
the British of the last two or three generations write dismal ugly
scribble, and Scotland is no better than England).


If you want to improve your penmanship, you might try a course in
Calligraphy.

I'd suggest Tom Gourdie's book first. It's more down-to-earth, aimed
at communicating rather than creating works of art.

Oh, and before that, throw your ballpoints away and get a fountain pen.

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === http://www.campin.me.uk ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

Chiming in here, since I've got a lot of background in this area
(linguistics and composition master's degree and all)...

I did a bit of research in grad school on cursive writing in the middle and
upper grades. Turns out that well over ninety percent of the students I
polled had not received cursive training since fourth grade...and that was
ALL the training they received. They were not forced to use it, so they
didn't. The result is that they use either printed letters or block letters
(i.e. all CAPITAL LETTERS) when they write. The only cursive most of them
retained was used to write their signature. Many didn't even use it for
that.

Even though a lot of researchers have found that cursive writing is faster
and puts less strain on young arms and hands, the trend to devote more time
to "hard" subjects and less to "frivilous" ones in American schools has led
to handwriting instruction being given the boot. One article I read said
that only fifteen percent of SAT test takers in one recent year used cursive
or print to write out their honesty statements; the other eighty-five
percent used BLOCK LETTERS.

Schools justify the trend by saying that typing skill has taken the place of
penmanship. It's hard to argue against them, but when they have students
spending so much time actually writing instead of typing....it's no wonder
it's frustrating to the students!

And I would whole-heartedly encourage the study of calligraphy for someone
wanting to improve their handwriting. A dip pen is especially helpful, since
it allows you to worry more about your stroke and less about pressure, which
is the downfall of an elegant hand. Personally, if I could afford it and
they were a bit more mature, I'd have all of my students return to dip pens
and ink. Hand cramps would be a thing of the past!

--Anastasia

(who is still tossing around the idea of studying ancient orthographies for
her doctorate)

On Mar 8, 8:04*pm, "Anastasia Luettecke" wrote:
Chiming in here, since I've got a lot of background in this area
(linguistics and composition master's degree and all)...

I did a bit of research in grad school on cursive writing in the middle and
upper grades. *Turns out that well over ninety percent of the students I
polled had not received cursive training since fourth grade...and that was
ALL the training they received. *They were not forced to use it, so they
didn't. The result is that they use either printed letters or block letters
(i.e. all CAPITAL LETTERS) when they write. The only cursive most of them
retained was used to write their signature. *Many didn't even use it for
that.

Even though a lot of researchers have found that cursive writing is faster
and puts less strain on young arms and hands, the trend to devote more time
to "hard" subjects and less to "frivilous" ones in American schools has led
to handwriting instruction being given the boot. One article I read said
that only fifteen percent of SAT test takers in one recent year used cursive
or print to write out their honesty statements; the other eighty-five
percent used BLOCK LETTERS.

Schools justify the trend by saying that typing skill has taken the place of
penmanship. It's hard to argue against them, but when they have students
spending so much time actually writing instead of typing....it's no wonder
it's frustrating to the students!

And I would whole-heartedly encourage the study of calligraphy for someone
wanting to improve their handwriting. A dip pen is especially helpful, since
it allows you to worry more about your stroke and less about pressure, which
is the downfall of an elegant hand. Personally, if I could afford it and
they were a bit more mature, I'd have all of my students return to dip pens
and ink. Hand cramps would be a thing of the past!

--Anastasia

(who is still tossing around the idea of studying ancient orthographies for
her doctorate)

Chiming in to say, I agree with you & Pat the calligraphy course.
It is great fun and
beautiful penmanship all but becoming a lost art. I was self-taught
with a show on PBS
called "The Ken Brown Method", bought the book, pen & nibs, and it was
easy to learn.
Also regarding penmanship -- my son started school in the mid-
eighties, and was
taught "The DeNealian (SP?) method" of penmanship, they never really
learned to "print"
with block letters; they learned a different style which flowed easier
into cursive handwriting.
Today his penmanship is very nice; unusually neat and even.

Sherry