Congrats, Karen!

Karen! I sat down to look through the new Quilting Arts magazine, and I was flipping along when a quilt jumped off the page at me -- it was the one thing among the quilts that really stood out to me. And it was YOURS! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the quilt and am delighted that you are getting recognized for your work!

It was the article on the "edges" quilts -- go track down the magazine and find this beautiful quilt!

Well done!!

More Mood Music

Here is the first tune that comes to my mind when I think of "12." I'm sure other kids of the 70's will remember it!

A little mood music

In 12 hours or so our Twelve themed works will start to appear online. Here's some music to add to the suspense:



And you can read more about this on my blog.

A Tiny Sneak Peak

I thought I would give a tiny little sneak peak of what I've been working on. I have a busy day and a half ahead of me -- hand stitching always seems to take longer than I expect. As long as I keep up the pace, I should be done with time to spare so don't worry. Now I have to get back to work. No playing no the computer for this girl.

Twelve & a bit

I've always struggled with making quilts to a specified size. You would think after our twelve challenges I would be getting more accurate but, as you can see, my sizing fluctuates and there are some pieces that are more like "twelve & a bit" along the edge. And if you look closely, you will see that there are more than twelve quilts in this photo. I have completed two utterly different pieces for the "Twelve" theme and cannot make up my mind...Kirsty has seen my stack of quilts, maybe she has some advice for me?

Clue

I think Helen's clues for our next piece have been way to easy, so I thought I'd give you something to really ponder. It's ok if you can't figure it out, I'm not giving you much to go on!

What's Missing

While contemplating what to do for this final theme, I've been studying my past contributions.
After considering a dozen eggs, the twelve disciples, the months of the year, etc... I decided not to focus on something that comes in a group of twelve, but rather just create something that is "me" and incorporates elements of twelve.

So that's a start. Now what?

I'm noticing there is almost no red in any of my quilts. So, I'm pulling out red -- fabric and paint.

An Australian Twelve Historic Moment

Kirsten, Peter and I were having so much fun talking and eating (Thai if you must know) that we almost forgot to take a photo from our historic first meeting:

Clue Number 2

My last hint at what I was doing for our Twelve theme did not lead to any one even being close.

So here is another clue. Oh go on, it's weekend. I'll give you two.

Fabric especially purchased becuase it was from Guinea.

And some bathroom plug chain.

12 degrees of separation

I'm so excited. All going well, I will be meeting with Kirsty and her husband Peter in Sydney in just over 24 hours. I've admired Kirsty's quilts from way back (and even based a City & Guilds assignment on her work) so am thrilled to be meeting in "real life". I understand that Karen and Francoise will be catching up in the next few weeks and Helen will be meeting with Diane as part of her forthcoming travel adventure. I'm not sure that this diagram is complete or accurate but it shows my understanding of which Twelves have met or have have plans to meet in person soon. How exciting it would be if we could ALL meet up in one place at the same time!

Shibori Twelve?

So far, three out of eleven of my Twelve by Twelve works incorporate shibori-style techniques: Piece de Resistance, Radiance and Introspection. I thought it might be fun to see if I could put some shibori into the current theme - Twelve. I have an idea but first I had to raid the piggy bank for some twenty cent coins...

Drawing Board

I am also back to the drawing board (as Kristin mentioned in her post below).

First I was totally hyped up to do a quilt with a background of a 12 patch quilt block. Then I realized that pieced blocks don't really come in 12 patches. Duh. Tons of 9 patch options. Like these.After all these months of creating 12x12 inch square quilts, it's somewhat disconcerting to realize that "12" does not lend itself to square in any kind of a symmetrical grid.

A dozen eggs keep popping into my head, but not in any creative way. I've also been thinking about 12 months which has lots of potential, but I like the idea of doing a seasonal quilt in four sections rather than twelve. So, that doesn't really fit.

I think I actually need to do some real research. The bolt of inspiration doesn't seem to be coming on it's own.

But December means ten...

There are twelve months in the year and twelve signs of the Zodiac. That seems like a good place to start a Twelve themed challenge. I was born in December, which also makes me a Sagittarius. Perfect tie-in, yes?

No. The root of December is not surprisingly, ten. It's the 12th month in the Gregorian calendar, but it's nomenclature relates to it's position as the tenth month in the Roman calendar.

Sagittarius is the star sign for November/December birthdays, but it's not the 12th sign. There is no beginning or ending to the star signs; no one to twelve order. And guess what? Sagittarius isn't even visible in the December sky, at least in the Northern Hemisphere where I live. It's an August constellation!

So, although December and Sagittarius are part of a group of twelve, neither one actually has much to do with twelve itself. I'm back to the drawing board for this challenge.