Catching up Part 2

What's Creating Today - Catching up Part 2


If you read my last post then you know that I have been lacking in my resolution to be better about posting to my blog.  I'm hoping to redeem myself a bit by catching up my readers on what has been going on at The Loft since my last real post.  Also in my last post I mentioned that I reached a personal milestone of 1000 miles on my bicycle.  To celebrate that accomplishment and our 23rd wedding anniversary my husband took me out for a wonderful dinner and treated me to a mini staycation by taking me to a hotel in Downtown Tampa, for a weekend of fun.  After our wonderful dinner we enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the Riverwalk and Channelside areas.  On Sunday morning we headed over to the Tampa Art Gallery and saw some great art and a special exhibition of celebrating the work of fashion designer Norma Kamali.  As a fashion design student Norma Kamali was one of the many designers that I really admired.

We also got to see some another special exhibition of the work of Peter Max.   

And here are a few pieces from the galleries permanent collection

The Tampa Art Gallery is a very large building that houses a very small permanent collection.  It's a nice place to visit once in a while but is overpriced for the size and the quality of it's permanent collection.  I love art and art museums and have been to many big and small ones, but unfortunately our museum in Tampa is far from what I would call great.  There are so many times I can keep looking at very similar pieces of pottery, which this museum has a lot of. 

After the trip to the Art Gallery we headed over to the historic Tampa Theater to watch a screening of one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies "Notorious".

As for studio time, I did manage to work on another project in July.  I did this great mermaid wall hanging.  Here is a photo of the project after it was fused and mostly quilted.  To dress it up a bit more though I bought a couching foot for my sewing machine and have been busy adding different fibers and trims to the sea grass, and have been adding some hand sewing in as well.   I'll post a finished picture when it's all done.

For the rest of July my husband and I were busy planning a getaway to Toronto in early August.  Growing up in Buffalo, trips up to Toronto were not uncommon.  But since I moved away 23 years ago, I didn't think much about going back, until my husband surprised me with the idea of a trip there for just the two of us.  We had all kinds of ideas of things that we wanted to do, and sadly we didn't get to do some, but still crammed in a lot of fun in a short amount of time.  But more on that in my next post, so be sure to come back and read all about it.

As always your comments are welcome so please feel free to drop me a note and let me know what is on your mind.

Catching up Part 1

What's Creating Today - Catching up since my last post - Part 1

Wow, so my resolution of posting on my blog is not going as planned as I have barely found the time to get into the studio let alone find the time to blog about things. 

Obviously life at The Loft has been anything but idle, so I thought I would share some of things we have been up to.

The Loft was in full Tampa Bay Lightning fan mode as our beloved Bolts once again made it into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Besides our normal half season tickets, Hubby even got the full playoff package, so late season and post season hockey was at the forefront of all of our activities from March through May.   During this time though, Cassidy and I took advantage of a behind the scenes tour of Amalie Arena before a game in early March, so here are some pictures.  The free tour was really great and very informative.  I never know so much went into ice maintenance.

This is Bob, who is in charge of making sure the ice is in top form for each game, and is one of the drivers of the Zamboni.

 

 

 

The Press Box

 

The hockey playoffs definitely kept us busy as we had tickets for all the home games.  Here is a picture from Game 1 of the first series against the Islanders.

 

 

 

Even for Mother's Day, the Lightning made for more lasting memories.  My husband unfortunately had to be out of town that weekend but he arranged for a wonderful surprise for me.

 

ThunderBug our team mascot, paid me a visit at work and brought me flowers.  This was one of those wonderful surprises that people always see on the internet but almost never happens to them. 

 

 

I did manage to get some studio time in however, and finished these two Toni Whitney wall hangings.

 

 

 

I even managed to get my first tattoo on the 4th of July weekend.  Lord of the Rings fans may recognize the font.  I'm a big fan so I had my name inked on my back in Elvish!

 

 

 

I also reached a milestone with my bicycling.  I logged my first

1000 miles,

since I started seriously riding in October of 2014.  I know to some this might not seem like a lot, but for me it was a huge personal accomplishment.

 

On my next post I'll catch you up on the rest of what we have been doing since my last post.  I am also working on some new posts about a few other projects I have been working on so please come back soon.  As always comments are most welcome so feel free to drop me a note and let me know what is on your mind.

 

Thanks for reading and we'll see you soon.





 

 

What's Creating Today OSQE 2016

One thing as a quilter that I always look forward to every year is the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo in Lakeland, FL.  When I first started quilting the expo was a place to go to see a wonderful and magical gallery of quilts on display that both amazed and inspired me.  It undoubtedly was also a good time to shop for hard to find items or new gadgets and products that were just coming on the market.  As the years went on it the OSQE experience changed for me and became more about going to classes.  Taking one class here and there transitioned to an entire weekend retreat for me and a desire for learning new things.  Here is where I take time for just myself, and focus on a craft that I have come to love with a fierce passion.  I have a real thirst for educating myself, broadening my horizons and opening my eyes to new techniques and different ways of doing things. 

I have found at times however that classes can be hit or miss.  I have been fortunate in that most of the classes I have taken were very educational and teachers were both knowledgeable and wonderful at conveying that knowledge.  But there have also been a few that were less than the value at which I paid for them, and more that a little disappointing.

The quilt gallery however has always been the place for me to be inspired an motivated.  It never fails to impress me, to open my eyes, to make me look at things from new perspectives, and to deepen the passion for quilting in me even more.

With that being said I thought I would share with you photos of some of my favorite quilts from the gallery.

These were but a small sample of all of the amazing quilts that I saw.  So which ones were your favorites?  Feel free to leave me comments or drop me an e-mail I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Quilting!