Pursuit of Quilts

Just an Update and a Smile

2012-02-23T09:50:00.000-05:00

We are finally painting my sewing room. I posted about doingit early last year and it has taken me this long to get to it. As with manyhome projects this one is leading to another. We really need to replace theflooring. We plan to replace the vinyl tiles the inexpensive way – with morevinyl tiles. I plan to do some rearranging and organizing, too. I bought somebaskets at Home Goods last month. I’ll post a photo when we are done and linkto my post from last year.

Moving my fabric and quilting paraphernalia was a goodexercise for me this week because I’m going to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festivaltomorrow. I really must limit my acquisitions- especially fabric. I made a list– thread and paper for paper piecing are among a few other items. I have afriend who moved to Hampton a couple years ago to live with her daughter so I’mgoing to pick her up and take her to the show. We talk on the phone everyoneonce in a while but it will be good to see her. This is the first time I’vegone to this show and I’m excited. I’m also looking forward to going on the bustrip organized by my guild to the AQS show next month in Lancaster,Pennsylvania. I’ve been to that show before, but it’s been years. My only regretis that I will be up there and won’t be going to Burkholder’s.

Lots to look forward to and lots I want to do. When we movedthe furniture to the middle of the room to paint, I made sure I had access toeverything; especially my sewing machine. I have a banner block for Mclean QU,a raffle block for Springfield QU and HSTs for the McLean auction to make. I’m making the HSTs out of batiks. I know quilters love batiks, but I’mone who doesn’t really care for them. I think it is their stiffness that turnsme off. I have a small stash and it will all go to the auction. I’m making someHSTs with them because the challenge this year is to make a quilt using 250HSTs. Just thought it would sweeten the pot and maybe someone will do thechallenge that may not have otherwise. And then, of course, there are all theother projects I’ve posted about in recent months.

I’m keeping up with my handquilting and here is a peak of the border quilting on the lone star. I had toget the binding on by last Tuesday so it could be photographed for the showlayout committee. I still have to quilt the big triangular areas and inside thefeathered wreaths before I can call it done.

Quiltmania has become my favorite quilt magazine. Theonly way I know of to get it delivered is through Amazon. I think I worked itout and it is a bit less expensive to buy it at a Barnes and Noble bookstore.The trick is actually finding it there. It has become a treasure hunt for me.When I know a new edition is out I stop in a Barnes and Noble when I’m nearone. It usually takes a few stops before I hit gold. I love the quilts featuredin this magazine and I get a kick out of their French to English translations.I must say I’m very thankful they do it because languages are not my strongpoint. If it wasn’t in English I wouldn’t buy it. In the Reader’s Corner theyreview recent publications. In the Jan/Feb 2012 edition they review TheQuilters Hall of Fame and have this to say about it. “Each year this veryreputable organisation nominates someone who has contributed in a remarkableway to the world of quilting. Quilters, authors, historians and collectorsreceive the quilty equivalent of an Oscar award, delivered by this organisationbased in Marion, Indiana. This bulky book features all the recipients up tothis day, and includes their masterworks.” Bulky? It brought a smile to my face.

So did this-

“Prepare yourself mentally for sewing.

Think about what you are going to do.

Never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically.

Good results are difficult when indifference predominates.

Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or bedsunmade.

When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do these first soyour mind is free to enjoy your sewing.

Put on a clean dress.

When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible.

Keep a little bag full of French chalk near your sewingmachine to dust your fingers at intervals.

Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on. If youare constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband will comehome and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewingas you should.”

From the 1949 Singer machinemanual. It got a big laugh at the Springfield QU meeting last Tuesday.

Life is good!

A Place for Quilts

2012-02-15T12:23:00.000-05:00

I almost titled this post “Chalk Paint”, but that’s not very quilty and since this is a quilt blog I thought I’d focus on the function of my newly painted vintage desk.

This little desk was my mom’s. She gave it to me (well, she really gave it tomy son, but he doesn’t seem to mind my antics with it). I think this is thethird time I’ve painted it. The last time was a bad milkpaint job.

The lid won’t stay on because the wood has rotted in one corner.

Iput two coats of Old White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (drying 24 hours and sanding after eachcoat) and two coats of Annie Sloan Clear Wax (again, drying 24 hours and buffing after each coat). Thanks to my DH for helping me with the buffing - that's a good workout! The surface is really smooth and I’m veryhappy with how it turned out.

I also did these two wooden trays. I’m not sure what I will do with them. I picked them up cheap and they were a good example of a smooth wood surface and a rough one.

What did I learn? Next time I will put on twothicker coats of paint or a third thin coat. It really is a friendly paint – nopriming needed though there were some rough spots on the desk I wish we hadsmoothed out more.

I’m participating in the Jubilee Quilt Project that Barb,Regan and Lori have masterminded. The link is on my blog list. I plan to postsoon, ideally tomorrow since I turn 51 on Friday. I figure at least I will havea start as a 50 year old. I’m glad they aren’t being too strict withparticipation.

; c )

Millwheel

2012-02-11T19:23:00.002-05:00

Or Double Millwheel according to my two block pattern books.I purchased this quilt at an estate sale yesterday. I was out and about –picking up chalk paint and stopping at thrift stores. I don’t know enough toput a date on the quilt – just that it is old. I’d love to give it a bath. DareI toss it in my front load washer? I won’t do it before I get an okay fromsomeone with knowledge of old quilts. It just has a slight odor. What bothersme more is the surface dirt. It looks to me like it is hand pieced. Not thefinest hand quilting, but not bad and a good amount of it. Baptist fans are my favorite hand quilting design.

The binding is the front border rolled over to the back and hand stitched.

Quilting Away and a New Distraction

2012-02-09T17:03:00.002-05:00

In the evenings I’m working on this-

I do at least one fan, maybe two each evening. If I keep at it Ishould be done in a month. Maybe sooner since the closer I get to the finishthe more I want to do. I first posted about this project here.

During the day, I’m carving out a little time to machinequilt my lone star. I found directions in Harriet Hargrave’s Heirloom MachineQuilting (I have the third edition) on how to do a continuous curve. If mythread hadn’t broken midway (there was a knot coming off the spool!) I couldhave done the whole star without stopping. I’m happy with how it looks. Now I’mmaking feather wreaths in the corners.

Here you can see I’ve gone all the way around and come backto the start of my wreath. This is the trickiest part – getting it to fit. Thisis my second wreath. On my first I ended up taking out and redoing a featherbecause I didn’t like how it turned out. I again ripped out the last twofeathers at the end for the same reason. On this second wreath I made it allthe way to the end without any problems, but wasn’t totally satisfied with mylast feathers.

I ended up with this little triangle where the little greenfrond is in the center of the photo. I decided not to undo it because Icouldn’t see a way to fix it.

When you stand back and look at the whole wreath you don’tnotice it. Especially since the green frond distracts from it (top, center of photo). My feathers arevery humble looking and I’ve decided that is okay with me.

I really worked on relaxing while quilting this time.It is a smaller quilt – about 47 inches square - so that helps. I went slowerthan I usually do - trying to take my time with it. I think some of us who took freemotion quilting classes in the 90’s were told to go fast and I’m having tounlearn that.

So, what is my new distraction? Chalk paint! Have you heardof it? No, not chalkboard paint, although I understand it can be used for that,but chalk paint – specifically the Annie Sloan brand (haven't heard of any other). There was an articlein the Home section of The Washington Post this morning about a local bloggerChristen Bensten and her use of chalk paint to bring new life to old furniture.Her blog is Blue Egg Brown Nest. I’ve recently been thinking aboutpainting my grandmothers dining room set. It's about 90 years old, very dark and very beat up andI’d like to brighten it up. I wasn’t looking forward to stripping it and allthat mess and I think the chalk paint might be an easier solution for me. Itcan go straight onto most surfaces. I spent way too much time online thismorning investigating it. I found another blog Miss Mustardseed, an onlinesource in the U.S. Best Furniture Paint and a nearby shop that carries thepaint. I just may stop by there tomorrow. I have some smaller pieces offurniture I can use for testing.

Have a great weekend and I hope you find time to stitch!

Where Did January Go?

2012-02-02T16:11:00.001-05:00

January was way to busy! I have been stitching whenever Ican so I have some progress to share.

A year later and I finally finished Lori’s 2011 HumbleQuilts quiltalong. I’m very happy with it. I hope it doesn’t take me a year tofinish Pink Lemonade, her 2012 quiltalong.

I’ve also been doing a good bit of hand quilting andstitching on other projects. I’m doing a little every evening and, though I’mslow, I’m seeing a lot of progress after just a couple weeks.

On the Design Wall-

I’ve got a top! I’m so happy I finally finished this top. AsI worked on it I was thinking about how to quilt it and I think I’ve settled onfeathers in the big open spaces and I’m not sure what to call the quilting I’mgoing to do on the stars and diamonds (concave diamonds?) so you’ll just have to wait and see! ; c) I need to practice the feathers and I hope I can come up with something thatlooks okay. Knowing ahead of time that I want this to hang in the QuiltersUnlimited show makes me a little nervous. I’m usually more of a – “well if itgets done it goes in, if not, oh, well”. But this is part of a challenge and Idon’t want to embarrass myself!

My two schoolhouses – don’t know when I will get more made,but I’m pretty sure I will stay with the dark blues.

I found some of my dark blue stash hiding with my spoolblocks. I made 3 more at a swim meet last week. Hand piecing may be slow but itis more forgiving.

More baskets – one more (in addition to the first one) formy project using 19^th century reproductions and a new one for anexchange. I’m on the Quilters Unlimited 2012 Quilt Show committee and at ourDecember meeting we were invited to join an exchange/challenge. We were givenhalf a yard of a new red Jinny Beyer palette fabric. We each picked a 6” block designof our choice and we have to use this red fabric and a white or white on whitein the block. We are also allowed to add additional fabrics, but it looks likemost participants are keeping it to just the two. I decided to do the basketbecause that was what I was making when the challenge came up and I couldn’tdecide on anything else. I need to make 18 of these blocks for our May meeting.We will go home with 18 different blocks and are challenged to make a quilt togo in the 2013 show. Sounds like fun!

And here are 126 blocks from the McLean QU 9-patch exchangeI organized. Some of us enjoyed it so much we are doing it again in February. Iwill get 66 more blocks. With the addition of some settingblocks/sashing/borders – whatever I settle on – it will make a large lap sizequilt or maybe a twin if I add more 9-patches. The blocks will finish at 3inches.

I guess that's it for now. I plan to practice machinequilting feathers this weekend and maybe make some baskets or 9-patches. I hopeyou find time to stitch this weekend. ; c )

Schoolhouse Block Tutorial

2012-01-21T20:59:00.000-05:00

My last post was a brief one, this one much longer. It’s funseeing all the 3” house blocks so many of you are sharing on your blogs. I thoughtabout joining in, but just wasn’t into piecing that tiny block with many pieces.At the same time I kept coming across schoolhouse blocks in books and magazinesand a blog or two - Needle Turnings and Repro Quilt Lover. When I came across a diagram on the Passion Patchwork blog mapping out the piecing order I was ready to give it a try. A couplepeople seemed interested in how I pieced my schoolhouse block so I thought I’dshare it. I couldn’t find a ruler among the many I own with the right angle forthe roof so I paper pieced the roof section. Here we go-

This is the diagram I drew for a 9" finished block-

Cutting instructions for sections A and C-

From white fabric- 2- 2 ½” x 2”

1- 2 ½” x 4 ½”

1- 1 ½” x 3 ½”

2- 1 ½” x 5 ½”

3- 1 ½” x 2 ½”

From blue fabric- 5- 1 ½” x 2 ½”

4- 1 ½” x 3 ½”

2- 1 ½” x 5 ½”

For section B (the roof) you will use the remainder 1 ½”strip of white. You will also need a 2 ½” strip from the white fabric and a 3”strip from the blue.

Piece sections A and C using the numbers in the diagram forpiecing order-

My source for paper piecing instructions is Show Me Howto Paper Piece by Carol Doak. Use a large needle in your machine (90/14)and a smaller stitch length (18-20 stitches per inch or 1.5 on a machine with arange of 0-5).

I drew section B on tracing paper-

Added 1/4" all around-

Sorry for this poor photo and confusing drawing. If you like, email me and I will send you a pdf of this section.

Click on the the photos to enlarge.

With paper right side up, cover piece 4 (I should have labeled these- piece 4 is the big section of roof) with a piece of your 3" blue strip (cut it making sure it extends at least 1/4" all around). Place a piece of the 2 1/2" white strip on the blue strip so it will cover piece 5. Since section B is asymmetrical it is important that the fabric is right side up on the marked side of the paper.

Turn over and pin-

Stitch-

I like using my "add an eight" ruler to trim the seam allowances.

Press without steam-

Right side of the roof complete. Now start on the other side using the 1 1/2" white strip-

For the triangle use the 3" blue strip. Make sure you have it placed so it will cover the whole triangle when flipped over.

For the last piece (which is actually piece 1 in the diagram) use the 2 1/2" strip-

This is what it looks like after all the pieces are sewn and pressed-

The other side-

Trim all the way around being sure to keep your 1/4" seam allowance-

This is what I do to make sure seams match up where they need to. Measure 1/4" between piece 2 and 3.

I would do the same between pieces 8 and 9, but since I have the paper I can use the 1/4" line.

Keep that pin going straight through both sections and pin on either side. Remove the pin in the middle. Pin the rest of the seam, doing the same where seams need to intersect just right. Stitch.

I pressed the seams toward section B to minimize any blue shadowing through the white.

Not too bad-

Remove the paper-

Finished block-

To the one person who made it this far! Hi, Mom! LOL. Please let me know if you have any questions. I didn't show every single step, though it may seem like it. I'm sure there are plenty of videos on Youtube showing you how to paper piece. I always do a quick review in Carol Doak's book and think about what I'm doing before I stitch. Because of the small stitch length you want to avoid having to rip out.

I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with these blocks. Can't believe I've started another quilt! I will probably keep it relatively small - maybe 20 blocks and with 3" white sashing all around.

School Zone

2012-01-18T21:39:00.001-05:00

Schoolhouse
9 1/2 inches

I couldn't resist. ; c )

Pink Lemonade

2012-01-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

My top is finished! I saw Lori’s post after watchingDownton Abbey last night and just had to go down to the sewing room and finishit. It looks a bit warped in the photo, but is actually pretty straight. I haven’t decided if I want to hand or machine quilt it.

Along with Pink, I’ve been working on my Lone Star –three diamond borders finished – one more to go and then I need to figure outwhat to do for the corners. I have templates to make 6” Lemoyne stars but theborders will finish at 6 ¾” wide. I guess I could add strips of backgroundfabric to make it fit or draft a slightly bigger star. I think I will have justenough of the background fabric so I need to plan carefully.

I’m making additional pinwheels for the Stars and SteppingStones in leader/ender fashion.

I had some oral surgery last Wednesday, a dental implant, so I wasn’tfeeling up to sitting at the sewing machine for a couple of days. Instead, Idid some hand quilting on Lori’s QAL from last year. I have just a little moreto go. I hope to finish it in time to enter in the QU quilt show. I’m also entering Concord, Cranston and PeterPan and the Lone Star if I can get it done by the end of February.

Looking forward to more of the same stitching this comingweek. I also plan to do some cleaning out around the house. I set out 3 bigbags full of stuff for a local charity last week, filled another bag since, setaside some things for a consignment shop and moved some things into mydaughters bedroom. If her life goes as planned she won’t be in it for over ayear so I decided to use it as storage for a while. I freed up some space in mysewing room – a good thing as long as I don’t fill it up with something else!

I've been meaning to share this with you - a tray my husband made back in the 90's when he was into woodworking. Didn't he do a wonderful job? It's on a chest in our family room.

Happy Stitching!

Little Blocks

2012-01-07T15:22:00.000-05:00

Here are my Pink Lemonade blocks for Lori’s quiltalong. Ihad fun selecting the fabrics from my stash. I’m happywith what I found.

I’m listening to John Adams by David McCullough on CDwhile I sew. Because I’m using an old boom box, I have to listen to a whole CDbefore taking a break – I can pause it, but I’m not sure I can turn the thingoff and be at the same place when I turn it on again. I could test it, but won’t. ; c ) I’m getting more done in one sitting than I used to. It’s a long book - 26 CDs. I read it many years ago and loved it and now my bookclub is reading it. I knew I wouldn’t sit down to read it again (too muchhappening in the sewing room). This is the first time I’velistened to a book while sewing and I don’t think it will be the last.

These are my 9-patches for the block exchange I’morganizing. I must be about as good giving directions, as I am following them –not so well. I received a lot of questions about my instructions and at themeeting last week we discovered that one woman had made all her 132 blocksexactly the same. We have 22 participants and we are making 6 sets of 22 blocksin order to get enough for a lap quilt of 132 different 9-patches. The blockswill finish at 3”. She had already put so much work into it so we told her wewould use what she had. She had pinned and chain pieced them at the meetingand when she got home she asked her mother to pull out the pins and snip thethreads. When she came home from work she found the blocks totally taken apartand she now had a bunch of 1 ½” squares. Her mother misunderstood and rippedout the seams! OMG! She said she had to excuse herself from the room. I think Iwould have done the same to cry and then to laugh at the absurdity of it. Sheemailed me and said those blocks just were not meant to be. She has sincestarted over! I feel so bad for her and hope in the end she is happy with allthe 9-patches she receives. Our exchange is later this month and we may do itagain in February. Some of us want a bigger quilt.

It really is time for me to get back to my lone star. I’mreally pushing myself with this project. I’m not crazy about the fabricsanymore, but I found in the past that I learned from projects like this.Because I don’t absolutely love it I’m willing to take more chances andsometimes loving it in the end because of those chances.

Well, I had a plan…

2012-01-04T08:54:00.001-05:00

My plan was to start a basket quilt this weekend using the19^th century reproduction fabrics I’ve been collecting and aspiderweb quilt to use the strings from my overflowing bins. Then Lori posted about her new quiltalong and I started thinking about the shoofly blocksBea sent me last spring. So, as it goes, I made just one basket block and alittle quilt with the shoofly blocks.

Bea sent me 15 blocks so I made one more to get 16. Mine isblock 3 in row 2. Hmmm, mines a bit bright compared to the others – why do Inot notice this until the blocks are all sewn together? The setting squares aremade from fabric I won from Vivian last year. I plan to use the fabric on the right, also from Vivian, as the backing. I just can't seem to cut into those heads for another purpose. Thanks you two!

According to 1000 Great Quilt Blocks by MaggiMcCormick Gordon (love this little block book) this is a May Basket. I’vewanted to start this for some time. Had the block and fabrics picked out andthey’ve been sitting in my sewing room for a couple of months now. It was funto finally start it.

My weekend plans reflect my plans for the year – to starta couple projects using my 19^th century reproductions and to makeprogress on 3 scrap quilts – my pineapple, crumbs and a string-

Happy Stitching! And if you have some snow send it my way –I’d like to be snowed in for a couple of days!

Looking back to 1-1-11

2011-12-31T18:23:00.000-05:00

I’ve known for a while I wanted to address what I posted on 1-1-11. Overall, I’m happy with what I accomplished this year.

Here is what I’ve done with the stars and stepping-stones.

Earlier this year, I thought of doing some applique, but that just wasn’t happening. I really wanted to get this one out of the way so I decided to chop off some of that plain border and surround it with pinwheels. I finished it up this afternoon, but I see I need to add more pinwheels on the bottom. It measures about 68"x 84". I'm concerned with how big it is getting and how hard it will be to machine quilt it. It is no longer a square and I'm happy about that.

The only thing I’ve done with these New York Beauty blocksis put them on the design wall and take them off. Maybe next year.

Here is my progress on the Lone Star. Appliqueing it to the background worked and now I’m painstakingly making these diamonds for the border. I’ll make Lemoyne stars for the corners. This needs to be done and quilted by the end of February. I decided it fits the “diamonds are a quilters best friend” challenge of one of the quilt groups I belong to. I was determined to do something with pieced diamonds to show I can do it. I took apart the extra strip sets, cutting and sewing to make these 4 part diamonds. I found this ruler at Mary Jo's Cloth Store. I'm not sure I'm using it exactly as it is intended. I may have a few cut off points, but I can live with that.

These two projects were also old timers so I’m glad I atleast have 2 finished tops.

I'm still thinking about adding a border to the star quilt so I can square it up. It measures about 33" square though there is variation of about 1/2". What do you think of this fabric for a border?

Quilting these tops is on my list for 2012. My next post will beabout my other plans for next year. I'm planning to get a start on two projects tomorrow.

I was surprised to read the end of the post from 1-1-11. I’dkind of forgotten about that – the quilting in the moment bit, but I do thinkI’ve gotten better at it. I find I’m taking my time more and not worrying somuch about other things. I took the time with the pinwheels for the stars andstepping-stones to trim them up before stitching them together. I knew I wassupposed to do that, but often didn’t take the time. I’ve also done somechallenging things – like the diamonds – that force me to take it slowly toeven have a chance of it coming together correctly. I want to do more of thatin 2012.

No parties for me tonight. I’ll probably spend most of theevening in my basement stitching away, maybe read a little (I Only Say This BecauseI Love You by Deborah Tannen), and watch a little tv with hubby. We’ve beencatching up on The Big Bang Theory reruns.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T12:52:00.000-05:00

I’ve been thinking about posting for the past week and justdidn’t get to it. I had to type up minutes for a quilt show meeting and draftan email for a 9-patch exchange I’m organizing with a friend for our quiltgroup. It’s been over a decade since my last 9-patch exchange and I’m reallyexcited.

I’m repairing this bedspread for my parents. I posted aboutit here. Over the past few years I‘ve worked on it here and there and havereally focused on it the past couple of weeks. I wondered if I would ever bedone. The other night I realized it was taking me longer to find areas in needof repair. Yesterday, I laid it out on my bed to see it all at once. I think Iwill be done with it today and can give it to my parents tomorrow. Santa’s notthe only one checking things off a list!

We went to 2 cookie baking parties last Saturday and camehome with lots of cookies. My husband’s favorites are all gone so yesterday hemade these date swirls. The recipe came from his grandmother.

Have you ever had these belly button snacks? They are justthe right combination of salty and sweet.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Place pretzels (I use snaps – you want a shape that willhold the candy) on paper and put 1 Hershey's kiss on top of each pretzel.

Bake for 5 minutes.

As soon as they come out of the oven, push 1 M&M intoeach kiss. If kiss isn't quite melted, wait a minute and they will havesoftened.

Freeze or refrigerate.

Early in November I showed my mom some of the knitted ornamentsI’ve seen on many of your blogs and when I saw her on Thanksgiving she gave methese. So cute!

I’ve truly enjoyed this year of blogging and value all thekind comments and email exchanges we’ve shared. I wish you all a very MerryChristmas and all the best for 2012.

I’m a Proud Mama

2011-12-12T18:37:00.001-05:00

A couple weekends ago we attended the Bachelors of Fine ArtsExit Show at the University of Georgia. Our daughter is studying graphic designand here is her project.

“Threads is an organization that promotes awareness of andlegislation against the unethical use of pesticides and insecticides,employment of sweatshop labor, and other issues pertinent to the textile andespecially retail clothing industries”.

I thought this was amusing…

I didn’t know she knew how to make minor repairs toclothing. lol Notice the little mending kit.

Flowers from friends.

The show also included fabric designers-

And I liked the packaging for these seeds done by one of the other graphic design students-

While in Athens we visited this little craft market-

I purchased this cute owl for my tree-

We talked with a young woman who was busy sewing by machine.She repurposes clothes! Some of her creations were in the local thrift storeand she had just sent some things to a shop in Arizona. Good for her!

This quilt was the backdrop in one of thecraft booths.

I’m recovering from a head cold so I didn’t do muchstitching last week. I picked up something mindless I had started before ourGeorgia trip. What else – half square triangles! I decided to finish this UFOby surrounding it with pinwheels. I think I will look back on 2011 as the yearof the HSTs!

These young women inspired me to do something in regard torecycling fabrics. Last night I stitched together narrow strips of batting andquilted this pillowcase. I hope to visit the local animal shelter sometime soonto see if they can use this and whatever else I can stitch together to use asbedding for the animals.

I discovered beagles like old pillows in their crates. Len has been with us 9 months and I've only once seen him go in his crate willingly. Len watched me put the pillow in his crate, followed it and settled in for the next couple of hours. Wish I'd known sooner!

Hope you are enjoying this holiday season. Cheers!

And the Winner is…

2011-12-05T16:14:00.001-05:00

Doniene of Now It's Just Quilts

Congratulations, Doniene. Send me your mailing address and I’llsend those fabrics off to you sometime this week.

Last Thursday my husband and I drove down to Athens, Georgiafor our daughter’s graphic design school exit show. We stopped at Mary Jo’s Cloth Store in Gastonia,North Carolina. I told my husband to go find something else to do for an hourand I had a fabulous time checking out their notions and reproduction fabrics.I over did it a bit with my purchases. Their prices and selection werewonderful. I paid $6.50-$7.50 a yard. Fabrics at my LQS are over $9. I waslooking for reds and couldn’t resist these other fabrics. Designers include JoMorton, Paula Barnes, Judie Rothermel, and Faye Burgos.

My husband drove the whole way down and I stitched spools. Imore than doubled my number of blocks. Some of them are a bit puckered. Hislittle Subaru Impreza doesn’t have the smoothest ride.

My husband took a lot of photos at the art show and I’llshare some in my next post. I was tickled by my daughter’s project. Stitchingwas involved!

Christmas Quilt

2011-11-30T18:12:00.001-05:00

I finished my Christmas quilt. It’s only 36”x44”. All thelap quilt I need when I’m sharing a couch with 3 dogs! The fabric is VintageHoliday by April Cornell for Moda. I had 2 charm packs and yardage of thesashing fabric that I also used for backing and binding. Here is a close up ofthe quilting – a clamshell design by machine using Aurifil #2325 50/2 weightthread.

It’s my favorite thread to use for machine piecing and quilting. Itseems to go with so many of the fabrics I use. I call it antique gold but Idon’t think that is what Aurifil calls it. I enjoyed quilting this one – thequilt was small enough and the design was pretty brainless especially since I’dmarked the quilt. I used a Sewline pencil in white and it vanished withwashing.

My daughter introduced me to Pinterest last summer.I hadn’t been back to the site since and she made a comment last week about itbeing taken over by a certain demographic group of which I’m a member. Well! ;c ) I was led there this afternoon when I was blog hopping and found thisquilters eye candy here. I went back to the homepage and I have to admitshe’s right. It doesn’t have the same feel as it did when she first showed itto me. Now that I think about it, when she said “old ladies” she may have beenreferring to women in their 30’s! Geez!

If you’d like a chance to win some fabrics, leave a commenton my previous post by Monday morning.

December is almost here. Where does the time go?

My First Blogging Anniversary Giveaway

2011-11-26T14:13:00.001-05:00

Here it is…

approximately ¼ to ½ yard of each fabric

To enter just leave a comment on this post about anything –your favorite holiday, what you’re reading, the best quilting lecture/classyou’ve ever attended, what you did this weekend or something else you don’tmind sharing. I’ll pick a winner on Mon. Dec. 5 around 9am EST.

As I write this, my daughter is flying back to Georgia. Wehad a nice, quiet visit. The quiet is very unusual. She is usually in and outwith friends but everyone was away this break. Lucky for me. I enjoyed our dayof shopping, sitting quietly while she did schoolwork and I stitched, goingout to eat with the men in our family, and decorating the Christmas tree. And I can’t forget ourThanksgiving feast at my parents. There were only 20 of us this year. Greatfood and company – Thanks Mom and Dad!

Holiday gift idea - One for the Money by Janet Evanovich. This book is laugh out loud hilarious. Ask for it or give it to a friend. My daughter was complaining that she wasn't getting enough schoolwork done despite the time she was sitting with her computer so I got a copy out of the library for her. I think she needed to get her mind off her studies for a while. She read it in less than 24 hours. The movie comes out January 2012 so read it soon.

I took advantage of nice weather and everyone together totake our holiday greeting card photo.

I’m thankful for my kids.

Don't forget to leave a comment!

T-Shirt Quilt

2011-11-21T21:04:00.001-05:00

Here is the t-shirt quilt I’ve been working on-

quilted by Judy Hendrickson of The Quilting Cellar

Here are just a few hints and instructions that were givento me and I found helpful.

Launder shirts without fabric softener or dryersheets.

For my first t-shirt quilt I found it helpful to cut and apply interfacing to a test shirt - one that wasn't going to be in the final quilt. It gave me the confidence to cut into the other shirts.

With scissors cut along both sides of the shirt to open it up-

Cut a piece of Pellon 911FF (lightweight woven) interfacingthat is a couple inches larger on each side than your expected finished block.Both the shirt and the interfacing have more stretch in one direction than theother. Make sure to have the less stretchy of one matched up with the morestretchy of the other.

Lie your t-shirt face down. Place interfacing on top makingsure you have the adhesive side toward the shirt.

Press with a pressing clothusing manufacturers recommended heat setting. Let cool and check. Heat again ifnot firmly applied.

Cut block to desired size. Typically, shirts are cut thesame size and uniform sashing is added. A lot can be said for doing it thisway, but you can also have fun piecing the “sashing” so you can cut the shirtsto any size logo.

I use graph paper to plan my layout-

Glue graph paper to cardstock.

Draw on t-shirt logos and cut apart.

Apply a rolled up piece of masking tape so t-shirts can be repositioned.

Position on a large piece of graph paper and move around until you get a pleasing design.

Piece with an even feed foot.

Remember - always use a pressing cloth! This is very important. Otherwise you may melt the logos and possibly the shirt.

The added interfacing makes this a very heavy quilt. Use 4oz. polyester batting off the bolt from JoAnn’s. Cotton will be too heavy.

Trim hems and seams from leftover t-shirt fabric. I use theremaining fabric as rags.

Hope this makes sense. Feel free to send me an email if you want more information.

I like to reward a finish with a new project-

I’m using the back basting method and find it is veryaccurate. Downside – the basting takes a while. Upside – no glue, starch,freezer paper or template plastic needed. I chose this method because it is avery large piece. The block will be 20 inches and my freezer paper isn’t thatbig and I couldn’t find my template plastic.

My daughter is home from college for the week and I spiedthese images on her laptop-

I know they are for her graphic design exit projectbut she won’t tell me how they relate. Very curious!

I’m still thinking about what my First Blogging AnniversaryGiveaway will be. I’ll probably post it on Saturday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Recent Winnings

2011-11-18T11:34:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I won a giveaway from Cathy.She included this sweet little needle keep as a surprise. I had just beenthinking I needed something to put my new favorite betweens (John JamesGoldnGlide) in because they come in a clumsy little envelope. Perfect! Thanksagain, Cathy.

Yesterday, I received my winnings from Barbara Brackman forentering her patchwork clothing post. She sent me over 2 yards of her newreproduction fabric line – Old Fashioned Calicoes. They are true to theoriginals except for their hand – these are so soft and supple and of course nodoubt they are 100% cotton. Ideas are brewing. Thanks, Barbara.

Yes, I’ve been a lucky girl. Next week will be my firstblogging anniversary so check back here for a giveaway.

This is what my living room looks like this morning. I’mstitching the binding on my nieces t-shirt quilt. The crocheted spread on theother side of the couch still needs repair. I hope if it sits there where I cansee it I will work on it. Some of those books on the table are library books.Every so often I clean this table off and it doesn’t take long before I find itis full of books again!

Have a great weekend!

Quilts in Progress

2011-11-13T09:36:00.001-05:00

I was a working girl last week. I spent 3 days at theJinny Beyer Studio helping out during Quilters Quest, the areas annual shophop. I cut fabric for online and in shop customers, assembled kits and justtried to make myself useful. The studio is located in historic Great FallsVirginia which is in the outer suburbs of Washington DC. It is one of acollection of shops, restaurants and businesses all surrounding a grassysquare. I wish I had thought to ask about the building. It was very warm andcozy – lots of wood and old features. I’m not sure if it is actually an oldbuilding or just built to feel that way. My time there was fun and busy. Everyonewas so nice. Jinny was there to greet everyone who came in the door. Check outthe Quilters Quest Quilts.

In the evenings I took turns stitching these projects-

Humble Quilts Midnight Stars Quiltalong

This is very puffy because I’m using wool batting. I’m beingvery free with my stitching. I don’t want to undo uneven or crooked stitchesbecause I have to many hand projects in the queue. This is the first time I’vehand quilted without a hoop. It's easier on my hands and arms, though I don't have as much control.

I taped the background of the lone star to my dining roomfloor and carefully laid the 4 segments on top so they butted together. I then basted the segments to the background-

I’m in the process of appliqueing. Thesestar points aren’t easy for me – my first attempt has been my best one so far-

I stitched the first segment directly to the background. Thenext segment was stitched to the background until I came to where it butted upagainst the first. There, I stitched it to the first segment-

I don’t want any of the background to show between the starsegments. So far, so good. I’m almost done with the third segment. I’m thinkingabout adding a border of diamonds.

I also stitched my hexie blocks together and I’m almostready to piece the back. Glad I remembered to cut my binding from the leftoverblack and white fabric I used for the sashing before using it for the back. Willadd some of my 30’s repros to make it big enough.

Yesterday, I started marking a Christmas quilt top I madeout of charm packs. I hope I can have itmachine quilted and bound by the end of this year. The hexie quilt will also bemachine quilted.

I’m looking forward to next week. My daughter arrives forthe Thanksgiving holiday this Saturday. I need to get busy cleaning her room.We’ve been using it as a catch all – not a good idea.

As we approach the holidays, I’m renewing my vow to keep itsimple. I get better about it every year. What are your thoughts on this? Iknow some people just love all the hustle and bustle.

Morningstar Top

2011-11-06T20:56:00.000-05:00

I finished a quilt top this weekend. It includes myMorningstar blocks from a class I took over a decade ago. I was inspired by the setting used in anantique quilt Liz posted on her blog Quilterie. If my math is right, I used342 one inch half-square triangles. It is about 33 inches square.

It took a lot of pinning-

A lot of steam-

And here it is-

The edges are pretty wobbly. Maybe I should add a plain border to even it up.

Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

2011-11-02T19:27:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday my husband and I drove a little over an hournorthwest to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester Virginia. The Glen Burnie Historic House and Gardens are on the same property. This was the last day to take a tour of the house before it closes for 3 years for renovations.

The cows in the field by the parking lot were mooing like crazy when we arrived.

Some of the gardens were closed due to the snow. We were able to take a few pics on our walk to the house.

I couldn't really get a photo of the house since we weren't allowed on the grounds. That was okay because our (my) real reason for going was to see the Daughtersof the Stars quilt exhibit in the museum – 16 star quilts from the Shenandoah Valley. Mostwere late 19^th century. No photos were allowed of this exhibit butmy husband snapped a few of those in the museums permanent collection.

This wasdefinitely worth the trip. The exhibit goes through January 8^th of2012. There were so many helpful people working there and the museum building is a beautiful new space. We had lunch in the tearoom. I had a turkey, bacon, brie,and apple Panini on whole grain bread. It was delicious. I usually ask them tohold the potato chips but these were Route 11 chips, which are locallyproduced. Double delicious! For whatever reason they were not charging for entry into the house and museum that dayso I felt compelled to spend some money in the gift shop. I picked up somepostcards, notecards and a book about Amish quilts. My husband had scoped outthe gift shop while I looked at the quilts so he was all ready to help me withmy selections. He carried them to the register and seemed to very much enjoybuying them for me. I wonder if this has anything to do with him wanting toupgrade his smart phone. ; c ) He thinks I want his old one but I still hang upon incoming calls on the cell phone I just got last summer. I'm hopeless with these things.

Here are a few photos I snapped this afternoon.

The dogs love the noon day sun. Here is Duke.

Batting is just as good. Here is Penny.

As I sipped my tea I admired the color out my living room window.

Hope you have found time to stitch recently. I've stolen some stitching time from the t-shirt quilt to do a little hand quilting. A relaxing thing to do while my son filled out college applications. What a process!

Back in the 70's

2011-10-30T17:05:00.000-04:00

This past week I’ve been working on the t-shirt quilt for myniece. The top is almost done and Friday morning I met my SIL at G Street Fabricsto buy the border and backing. Almost done! I hope to get it to the longarmquilter by the end of the week.

Did you see Barbara Brackman’s post about patchwork clothingof the 70’s? You can find it here. At the end she asks readers to sendphotos of their patchwork clothing from 30+ years ago for a chance to win someof her Old Fashioned Calicoes fabric from Moda. I was pretty sure I didn’t haveanything, but I took a look at the old photo album anyway. What I did find wasa top I made of cheater cloth.

This photo was taken in 1975 when I was 14 years old. I’m ata new amusement park in Virginia – Kings Dominion.

Notice the embroidery on my friends’ top and jeans. Did youembroider your clothing back then?

This got me thinking about my old pair of patched jeans.Look at these things!

Did I really wear them until they were this worn out?!?!These were my favorite jeans as a senior in high school. I don’t remember whenI started patching them, but I do remember wearing them in college too. So, youmay be asking – why in the world does she still have them? Probably for the same reason I have everypair of jeans my family has ever worn out. I think I’m going to do somethingwith them (she says sheepishly). And in fact I have started one of thosepatchwork quilts with the squares of denim and flannel and then you clip theseam and make a mess in your washer and dryer. I’m still at the cutting up the jeans phase. I did finish a dog bed madeof jeans, oh, and I have patched other jeans using no longer wearable jeans.All wearable jeans that we outgrow or no long want are donated. I just keep theones with holes and I have quite a collection. Someday!

Here I am in my favorite jeans with my 1978 Mustang. By the time I was 17, I had saved $3,000 from babysittingand waitressing. I used it as a down payment on this car (purchase price of$5000) and paid it off over the next couple of years. Yeah, I was pretty goodabout saving, but can you imagine how much babysitting and waitressing a 17year old would have to do nowadays to buy a new Mustang? Just looked it up onEdmunds - $22,000! BTW, I waitressed at Bob’s Big Boy on Rockville Pike inMaryland. I was the naïve 15 year old the older – and by that I mean 18-21 –waitresses liked to tease. It was a big eye opener for me!

Back to cheater cloth. Seeing the top I made got me thinkingof this cedar chest. My aunt bought it in the 70’s. I acquired it 20 years ago.I meant to recover it and never did. I think I’ll leave it as is.

Yesterday afternoon we had a dusting of snow! Snow inOctober in the DC area is almost unheard of. And this morning we woke up to ahard frost. Good for my allergies – not so good for the mums.

My husband was a good sport and took me on a quilty outingtoday. I’ll share in my next post.

Union Star and a Bonus Quilt

2011-10-23T18:28:00.000-04:00

Union Star - 70"x80"

This Union Stars quilt was a Ways and Means for Burke QU many years ago. We received a bundle of fabrics and the pattern. I had quite a bit of fabric left over after making the quilt. It wasn’t prewashed fabric so I didn’t want to just toss it in with my stash. One day I just started playing with the leftover pieces. I don’t remember how long it took me to make the quilt below, but I think it went together pretty quickly. I was very flattered when I went to purchase the backing fabric at Treasures from the Heart in Occoquan (now closed) and the owner asked me what pattern I used!

Bonus quilt - 53"square

The Union Star was one of the first quilts I quilted on my Bernina 440 with the stitch regulator. I did a big meander stitch. The bonus quilt is just quilted with straight lines on the diagonal.

Yesterday, I bought some apples at the farmers market andmade applesauce in the crockpot. I was blog hopping a couple weeks ago andfound a recipe at Loft Creations.

I modified it – just put the peeled,cored and quartered apples to fill the crock pot ¾ of the way full. Added a cinnamon stick and a splash of orange juice and set it on high. Afteran hour it looked like it hadn’t changed a bit.

When I checked at 2 hours itwas done.

Very tasty!

Edit: Vivian made a good point in her comment. Notice how the applesauce splattered within the pot. Be sure not to overfill - 2/3 of the way full may be best. I think the next time I make it I will do it on low. I used an old crock pot and I think they get hotter than the new ones.

This afternoon I went to a quilt dating club meeting. Wow!The antique quilts I saw were such a treat. I have to wait until January for the nextmeeting. I will have sweet dreams tonight – that’s if I can fall asleep withall the quilts dancing in my head!

Serendipity Quilts

2011-10-19T03:18:00.000-04:00

I love the word “serendipity”. From The American HeritageDictionary - n. The faculty of making fortunate and unexpected discoveries byaccident [From its possession by the characters in the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip].

Serendipity Quilts is the name of Susan Carlson’s latest book. She is a quilt maker, teacher and author from Maine and thespeaker at the QU fall lecture last Saturday evening. Susan is an “artquilter”. I’m not sure there is an official definition for “art quilter”. In mymind an art quilter is someone who only makes quilts to hang on walls. Susan’squilts are fabulous and I thoroughly enjoyed her talking about her quiltingjourney that started in her last year of art school. Her quilts are collages offabric scraps. Basically, she glues the fabric scraps to muslin, stitchesaround the pieces and uses tulle to create shadows. I think I have that right.The image on this tote bag is of her quilt titled Tickled Pink. It’s hard tobelieve it was made with little pieces of fabric. This tote and the photo onher website don’t do it justice. I don’t know if I would ever make a quilt ofthis style. I’ve admired other art quilter’s work, too, but haven’t had theurge to create my own “art quilt”.

It has taken a while, but we finally finished ourkitchen/bathroom paint job turned home repair job. I say "we" loosely - my husband did most of the work. My biggest effort was not getting mad when he started painting at dinnertime. I know this is an odd colorfor a kitchen, but I like how it cools down the wood cabinets, table and floor. I'm going for a less cluttered look, so I haven't rehung the plates and vintage crocheted hot pads. It needs something, though. Maybe a quilt under that clock? What do you think?

Here is a shot of the little shelf in the powder room offthe kitchen. I rearranged things a bit and added my little blue and whitequilt.

Some Thoughts and Things to Share

2011-10-16T16:17:00.001-04:00

My last post and your lovely comments got me thinking. I doso appreciate your comments.

I’m obviously in the jump from one project to another camp.This seems to work best for me. It keeps me interested and gives me time tothink about one project while I’m working on another. I know I could give up onsome of these UFOs, but that just doesn’t sit well with me. I have gotten somuch done the last year or two because of all the inspiration I get fromblogging. I’m a member of 3 quilting groups (3 chapters of the QuiltersUnlimited guild) and I don’t think I would ever give that up, but the day-to-dayinspiration has been so helpful in getting me over the hump on many projects.

I guess this is an early Thanksgiving post! lol

My mom asked how I get so much quilting done and I told herI use it as a substitute for worrying. When I’m working myself up aboutsomething I’ve learned to switch gears and start thinking about quilts instead.Better yet, I go to my quilting cave!

All of the above was written last Monday. It is now Sunday and Ifinally have a day to relax. I was hoping to post on Thursday or Friday and tell you about Janet's, Cathy's and Doniene's giveaways.Janet’s is over, but you still have time to enter Cathy’s and Doniene’s.

I hosted Bunco Friday evening so there was a flurry ofcleaning, shopping and food preparation last week. Yesterday I was at a highschool marching band competition, a craft show where I found a couple pairs ofcute earrings and the Quilters Unlimited fall lecture. I will tell you about the lecture in my nextpost.

I slept in late today and have just been puttering aroundthe house. I so admire the beautiful photography I see in many quilting blogsso I asked my husband if I could use his camera. Typically, I just use my pointand shoot. I took some photos with his camera and mine today and can tell itisn’t just the camera that is important. I definitely have a lot to learn.

Here is a better look at the little pincushion from Ireland.The stuffing isn’t like it used to be so it is a little flat. I’m just using itfor the few pins I need while I hand piece my spool blocks.

This is the corner of a pillowcase I embroidered as a teen.The pillowcase was tie-dyed purple and has been washed so many times you canbarely see the purple dye.

I also stitched these little ladies as a teen (click to enlarge). I’m not sure what to do with themnow. They were taped around cardboard and I can faintly see where I signedthe cardboard and dated them March 1977. Not sure if you can see in the photo– they are printed with “ CopyrightSunset Designs 1973”.

It is a beautiful day here today. We’ve had so much rain Ican’t help wondering what the winter will bring us. Today is cool, sunny andbreezy. I went outside and took some shots in the yard and of my paternalgrandmother’s sewing case.

That tomato pin cushion was mine - probably purchased when I first took Home Ec in junior high school.

The thimbles and bobbins came from my maternal grandmother.

My sewing machine is beingcleaned so I’ve been prepping the t-shirts for the quilt I’m making for myniece. I had a couple gals from the neighborhood over one morning last week tosee how I do it. They aren’t quilters and want to make t-shirt quilts forfamily members. I may be giving them advice as they progress.

Now, time for me to go catch up on my blog reading!

Concord, Cranston and Peter Pan

2011-10-09T17:10:00.000-04:00

Here is my finished Triangle Quilt. I don’t usually name myquilts, but this one is titled Concord, Cranston and Peter Pan after the fabricmanufacturers of most of the fabric in the quilt. It measures about 74” by 86”.The HSTs - all 957 of them - are 2 ½” finished. My inspiration came from thisantique quilt I found pictured in Mimi Dietrich’s Quilts An American Legacy…

Here is the back of the quilt. I can tell I was just tryingto get it done quickly.

My inspiration for the back came from this quilt in thebook Virginia Quilt Museum by Joan Knight…

Here are some closeups-

I had to chuckle when I read on Barbara Brackman's Material Culture blog that she has a new fabric collection coming out featuring calicoes from the 60's and 70's. Click here for a peek.

I’ve read on other blogs that some of you like making littlequilts because they are faster. They may take less stitching time, but for methey do not necessarily get done in less calendar time. The Triangle quilt tookme 4 months to complete. This little blue and white took about 4 years tocomplete.

I made the little top and it sat. I quilted it last fall and it sat.I wasn’t sure what fabric to use for the binding. A couple weeks ago Iauditioned fabrics again and this itsy bitsy flying geese (Civil War Crossingsby Barbara Brackman #8121 – Susquehanna 1860-1880 for moda) was easily myfavorite. I picked this fabric up at a guild yard sale this past spring. Soglad I did!

These are just the finished blocks.
I have 25 more in various stages of completion.

My poor sewing machine has gone 14 months without a propercleaning. After making a gazillion pineapple blocks for a guild demo (it wentwell), I decided I needed to give the thing a break. I’ll take it to The QuiltPatch tomorrow and hope I can get it back in a week. In the meantime I will dosome hand stitching and prepare t-shirts for a t-shirt quilt I’m making for myniece.

Here are some spools I’m hand piecing…

Do you see the little shoe pin cushion? Our Irish neighbors, the Murphys, gave that to me after one of their trips back home. That was back in the early 1970's. I would have been a young teen. I guess I brought my embroidery with me when I babysat their daughter.

I just outline machine stitched this table runner for my church auction. Others will bind it. Sorry for the blurry photo.

I posted about this lone star on January 1. It was one ofthree projects I wanted to make headway on this year. I’ve thought a lot aboutall three, but haven’t done anything. I finally picked this one up and pinnedthe 4 segments onto the background. I had to do some creative pressing to makethem meet correctly at the center. I had tried sewing the segments together,but they just aren’t going together smoothly. I did a poor piecing job. Let meknow if you don’t think appliqueing them to a background will work. I plan todo it by hand. My motivation on this one is to meet the Springfield QUchallenge “diamonds are a girls best friend”. The completed quilt is due in February.

I didn’t realize how much I like 8-pointed stars. I recently became reacquainted with this quilt in Scrap Quilts The Art of Making Do by RobertaHorton. Mabry Benson was copying an antique quilt top when she made it. It isone of my all time favorite quilts!

Happy stitching!

Just One Quilt and Some Books

2011-09-30T09:07:00.000-04:00

In my last post I said I would share three finished quiltsin my next post. Only the quilt for my niece’s baby is ready to share. I’m busywith another project – more about that later. As usual I think I can do morethan I can. Oh, well. This one is finished! I’m sending it out to Californiawith a puzzle for big brother.

See my Penny there in the background on the left. She turned 14 last Fridayand I forgot about it until Saturday. I don’t think she noticed. ; c ) She hasslowed down a lot, but she has moments like yesterday when she runs out thedoor with Duke and Len chasing squirrels and chipmunks.

New books for my quilting library-

I usually keep a wish list of books and when one of the kidsneeds a book I order one or two to get the free shipping from Amazon. At leastI’ve delayed my gratification!

I LOVE History Repeated. All the quilts are gorgeousand photographed so well. I was a bit hesitant to order this because I reallydon’t need another pattern book. I like books I can read and I usually don’tfollow quilt patterns anyway. There are two things about this book I thoughtwere a bit different and a plus. Because the book is based on a 19^thcentury block exchange group they show more than one quilt for each block. Thesettings are different which sometimes totally changes the look of the quilt. Also,for each block exchange they provide information on their fabric selectionlimitations. “We used 1880s and earlier reproduction fabrics in brown, blue,indigo, Prussian blue, Perkins purple, pink, Turkey red and green as well aslight and medium shirtings and conversational prints. All participants used thesame cheddar fabric. We did not use poison greens, neons, clarets, chromeyellows or cadet blues.” I’ll have to research Perkins purple. This descriptionprovides more limitations than most. I thought this feature was very helpful. Myonly complaint is the cover material – it doesn’t seem very sturdy. I keepflipping through this book so I’m thinking maybe I should take it to a copy shop and have it spiral bound and plastic covers added.

I read about Great Little Quilts on Dawn’s blogCollector with a Needle. I was a little disappointed with the condition of thebook, but it is full of lovely little quilts. Obviously, it is used – thought Ichose one that was in “very good” condition. Not only is the dust cover messedup; the binding looks like it is chewed a little. The books pages are finewhich I guess is what matters most.

I found this treasure at the library books sale. Crib Quiltsand Other Small Wonders by Woodard and Greenstein is chockfull of quilts.Look at this – 6 on one double page spread and there are pages and pages likethis!

More books from the library sale-

And a Japanese Quilt magazine –

I’m preparing to do a demo at the next Springfield QUmeeting. I’m sharing Gyleen Fitzgerald’s Pineapple Ruler. I blogged about ithere and here. There are three other people demonstrating three other rulersand it is being done round robin style. I’m so glad I started preparing thisweek because I need to have enough blocks in the various stages to show fourgroups. They are fun to do, but not real fast. The binding on the other twoquilts will have to wait.

Hope you find some stitching time this weekend.

2011 Sully Quilt Show

2011-09-26T08:32:00.000-04:00

The Sully Quilt Show was originally scheduled for September11^th. Despite the fact that it was a beautiful day, it was cancelledbecause we had several inches of rain the previous week. Since the show isoutside and we park on the grass it was rescheduled to the 25^th. Well, it rained last week and today was alittle misty but the show was on! I haven’t been in several years. Not sure whyas I thoroughly enjoyed myself today. The vendors are a mix of repro and modernfabrics, vintage fabrics, sewing accessories and quilts. As you walk in fromthe entrance this is what you see-

Just as I remembered – Bellwether Dry Goods was rightat the front. They sell beautifully hand quilted quilts at very reasonable prices. They arecoming to the McLean chapter of QU in October. I’ve seen their trunk showbefore and I’m looking forward to seeing it again.

These are bowtie blocks - not sure I've seen this setting before.

Piecing The Past--

Piecing The Past is one of my favorite vendors.Donna is very knowledgeable and helpful. She specializes in 19^thcentury reproduction fabrics, patterns and books. She will be at theMid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, Virginia in February.

A vendor specializing in antiques--

My eyes were drawn to the basket quilt with the brown settingsquares (count up 3 photos - bottom, right). I thought it was reasonably priced and I've been resisting the urge to start a basket quilt. I really have no businesspurchasing antique quilts at this time. We are in that awkward phase with grownchildren who are full or part time at home. Them and their STUFF! And thenthere is this curious fellow-

So far he has just nibbled a little on 2 quilts I don’treally care that much about. One I made out of the kerchiefs Penny and Dukecome home in when they are groomed. It lines Duke’s crate. The other is thefamily room throw about quilt. Believe me – I gave him what for when I foundthese chews. Fortunately, he hasn't touched the other quilts in his reach.

The Sully Quilt Show takes place annually at Sully Plantation- part of theFairfax County Park Authority. The show consists of vendors, a house tour and members of Quilters Unlimited demonstrating hand piecing and quilting.

Here is adescription of Sully Plantation from their website – “An oasis of the past, Sully reflects thehistory of Fairfax County. Completed in 1799 by Richard Bland Lee, the mainhouse at Sully combines aspects of Georgian and Federal architecture. RichardBland Lee was Northern Virginia's first Representative to Congress, as well asGeneral Robert E. Lee's uncle.”

On previous visits I hadn't taken the time to tour the house. This time I did. Since the show was originally scheduled for 9/11 they had anantique patriotic quilt in each room. Included were centennial and bicentennialapplique quilts and my favorite, a c. 1900 lemoyne star quilt pieced with red,white and blue strings. No photos allowed.

The house and demo tent--

The door prize--

Shucks! I didn’t get a callfrom them so I guess I didn’t win. It was a vintage top donated by theHaymarket chapter of Quilters Unlimited and quilted by Springfield QU memberDiane Henry.

What’s happening with my projects? I’m sewing binding for 3quilts. Yay! They will be my next post.

Have a great week!

Whadayathink?

2011-09-15T20:20:00.001-04:00

I think I know how I want to stitch these together, but I’dlike to get your opinion. Do you like the two blocks on the left with thesashing strips or the two on the right with just the hsts or do you have asuggestion for something else? I’ve made 250 1” hsts. I’m putting them asidebecause I have other projects that need tending to. Three quilts need machinequilting – the triangle quilt, the churndash and a little table topper. You’ve seenthe first two.

Two women at my church made the table topper for the auction inNovember. They asked me to machine quilt it for them. I’ll show it when I’mfinished. The last time I machine quilted something for them it ended up in theQuilter to Quilter section of the Nov/Dec 2010 edition of McCall’s Quilting. Itwas quite a surprise.

I feel like I have so many projects competing for myattention. I also finished appliqueing the hexagon flowers to the backgroundblocks. So the hexagon and star quilts will be my carrot to entice me to finishmy machine quilting projects.

The floodwaters I showed in my previous post only lasted acouple of hours at the most. I guess it was a flashflood. By Friday afternoonthe sun was out and we had a beautiful weekend.

Saturday morning I found these at a yard sale-

Our temps fell into the 60's this afternoon. It feels so good. I’m ready for fall!

UFO Breakthrough

2011-09-09T16:20:00.000-04:00

I first blogged about these Morningstar blocks here. Ithink I have a new plan. I was browsing through Liz’s blog Quilterie and found a setting I love. It's the first quilt in the Sept. 13th post. I don’t know if it will work with these blocks. If not, I’ll just surround each star block with hst’s and hope I can do it so it is relatively flat.

I looked this star block up in Jinny Beyer’s Album of Patchwork Patterns and she lists 15 different names for it!

I’m paper piecing the hst's with Thangles.While I have been on a hst kick, this one has sort of beenassigned. This years McLean QU challenge is to make a quilt with at least 200hst. At first there was a size limit, but then that rule was relaxed. Off handI don’t remember the size limit, but I’m pretty sure I’llmeet the original challenge.

I’ve also been stitching hexagon blocks and have just 7 moreto go and I can piece the top. I’ve been stitching one a day. The back for the churndash quilt is done. I'll baste that sometime next week.

I’ve spent a couple hours a day for the past 3 days painting the trim in ourkitchen. We have a lot of trim! There are six entryways to this room. One is abathroom just off the eating area (I know – Ugh – must have been designed by aman). We are painting the bathroom too and while taking the wallpaper off the wall near the toilet my husband found rotting drywall. The toilet has been leaking(and I thought the men in my house just had bad aim!) so we need to replace the drywall and the laminate flooring. Off to Home Depot we went!

The basket and board were my barricade to keep Len out of the kitchen while I painted. Lucky for me (and Len) he’s on dirty laundry.

Such a sleepy pup!

A shot of our side yard late yesterday afternoon.

And in front of our house looking across the street. We’vebeen here over 20 years and have never seen it like this. Luckily my neighborcame home in time to move his truck. That is firewood in the water.

And look at his side yard. Amazingly, he didn’t have anywater in the house. No, I did not take this photo! My husband grabbed an umbrella and my camera - any excuse to go play in the water. No use telling him it's dangerous.

We had 10-12 inches of rain over 4 days. The floor in the unfinished portion of our basement was a little damp. That was it - the sump pump did itsjob.

The dogs thought it was something, too! The only thingmoving is Duke’s tail.

Churn Dash for Audrey

2011-09-02T08:10:00.000-04:00

A finished top! 42" x 48" This is the churn dash I started in thespring for my niece’s baby. The nursery is black, white and pink. This looksmore red than pink. Not what I planned, but I’m going with it. I plan to domeander quilting with variegated black and white thread. Audrey’s firstbirthday is on Halloween so I hope to send it to her before then. For somereason I have a hard time making a quilt for a baby who isn’t born yet so Ialways give myself a first birthday goal. I wasn’t expecting to work on thistop last weekend, but I switched gears. I started quilting the triangle quilt (74" x 86"),but even just doing a wavy line caused my arms to hurt. Quilts seem to growwhen I start machine quilting them. I started with the even feed foot. I wasn’thappy with it so tried free motion. That wasn’t any better. I know quilters doking size quilts in their domestic machines but it just wasn’t happening forme. I thought about it for a day and decided it wasn’t worth the pain. I’ve hadissues with carpal tunnel and tendonitis in the past. A few years ago I went toa wonderful physical therapist who worked with me on my posture. In the past,PTs had worked my elbows, but she also worked on my back and while it hurt itwas a good hurt and after a few months I felt so much better. My PT recommendeda massage therapist, so poor me goes once every 2 weeks. ; c ) She, too, is amiracle worker. I still get aches and pains, but I recover much more quickly.In years past there were months when no stitching happened because it was toopainful. Anyway, after doing just 4 lines of machine quilting on the trianglequilt my arms hurt enough that I felt I needed to stop. I put heat on them and after acouple of days I felt fine, but I don’t want this to take forever. So I’mpicking out the quilting and I’m going to do straight lines. Even that can geta little awkward with a big quilt, but just guiding it and not having tomaneuver it will make a big difference. I’m hoping.

We are taking wallpaper down in the kitchen. It was 20 yearsold and looking it. The inset photo is the wallpaper and molding. I chose thatcolor on the molding to go with the curtains – in a heap in the backgroundphoto. I matched the blue in the curtain to a paint chip and then went a fewshades lighter. Maybe not an obvious choice, but yellow was already used in myfoyer and living room and I didn’t want to go with pink or white. I still lovethe curtains so I’m thinking of putting this “English hyacinth” color (orsomething close) on the walls and an off white for the trim.

Senior year starts for my youngest on Tuesday. He had hissenior photo taken last week. Here he is (on the left) with a longtime friend in their faketuxedos. They’ve known each other since they were 2 years old and their sisterswere in the same Brownie troop.

How about this “cheddar” pumpkin? I wonder if it will getdarker as the season passes. This pumpkin is in a front yard around the cornerfrom us. I pass it often as I walk the dogs. Just 2 weeks ago it was the sizeof a grapefruit and I would already classify it as huge!

I’m almost done with The Count of Monte Cristo. I started itat the beginning of summer and really put a push on it this past week. It isgood, but at almost 1500 pages I wouldn’t call it a good summer read!

I was asked to work at the Jinny Beyer Studio during thearea shop hop Quilters’ Quest in November. I know a few of the gals who workthere from my quilt guild. How cool is that?

We’ve had some beautifulweather here for August. Well, other than the hurricane last weekend. There was storm damage in the area, but for us it dropped some much needed rain. This weekend I plan to get started on painting the kitchen, attendthe crab feast at our community pool, finish reading The Count and, of course,do a little stitching. ; o ) Hope you have a great weekend!

A Winner and a Spool Block

2011-08-23T14:39:00.001-04:00

I decided to go ahead and pick a winner. Blogger still seems to have some problems, but I don’t want this to drag on forever. Who knows when it will be fixed! So…I put each name on a slip of paper and put them in a bowl and picked one. The winner is Anne-Mette. Check out her blog – she seems to like food as much as handcrafts (me, too!).

Congratulations, Anne-Mettes! Send me your snail mail address and I’ll get your winnings sent off right away.

I completed a spool block and was happy it is fairly flat and square. This will be a good project to hand piece at guild meetings and I won’t forget what I learned from Jinny. As I was stitching, it dawned on me that I had some yardage that might work as a back. The spool block is sitting on 4 yards of -YIKES – briefly interrupted by an earthquake!!!!! Scary!!! TV is saying it was a shallow 5.8 also felt in New York and Ohio but centered in rural Virginia between Richmond and Charlottesville. Okay, what was I saying – oh, yeah – the backing fabric is Windham Fabrics A Little Bird Told Me 1840-1880 by Maren Scott. I bought this a few years ago because I loved it and 4 yards should be plenty for this spool quilt. I might use this dot fabric – Garibaldi by Sara Morgan for Blue Hill Fabrics - for the binding. Shopping in my stash! Love it!

Last Sunday my husband and I made tomato sauce out of 45 lbs of tomatoes from the farmers market. We use the recipe from the Ball Blue Book of preserving.

We’ve learned to cook it on all burners to speed the process; otherwise, it becomes an all day (8am-10pm) project. Dave puts the tomatoes through the food mill and I do the canning.

This year it only took us about 8 hours and we got 7 quarts of sauce. It is SO GOOD! The flavor is so intense.

This morning I pin basted my triangle quilt. I can imagine the quake would have been much scarier if I had been on the floor at the time instead of a chair.

Len was a good beagle during his first quilt basting.

That’s it for now – have to check out the news about the quake.

Hand Piecing

2011-08-19T20:18:00.000-04:00

I’m having a problem with blogger. So sorry if you’ve tried to leave a comment on my Giveaway post and weren’t able to. Try it on this post and I’ll include you. Remember, you have to be a follower to enter. If that doesn’t work I’ll extend the deadline beyond Tuesday noon. Not only is it not letting people leave a comment it also isn’t updating my blog roll. : c (

The past two days I’ve been in a hand piecing class taught by Jinny Beyer. She is such a classy person. The class was held at her studio in Great Falls. This is a lovely shop. She carries so many great notions and gifts for quilters. Quilters from California, Washington, Pennsylvania and North Carolina traveled to Virginia just to take Jinny’s class! I know it was worth my one hour commute.

I should have taken a photo of my block before I pressed it. It was so puckered I thought it was a lost cause. Amazing what a good steam pressing can do! Yeah, it still has some issues and I need to add the border fabrics.

Here is a look at the back-

Jinny says she just lets the seams fall where they may! Not sure she meant to this extent! I wish I had taken a peak at the back of her block.

Here are some notions Jinny recommends-

John James GoldnGlide quilting needles were wonderful to use. I plan to try them out the next time I do some hand quilting. I’d never used this Aurofil 28 wt thread before. Jinny uses it for hand piecing and for hand quilting if she can’t find the color she wants in the YLI quilting thread. Some lucky ladies will be back to the studio tomorrow to take her hand quilting class. I can’t imagine sitting for another whole day of class. It is really hard for me to sit that long. I’m more of a do a little quilting, do a chore, maybe some reading, do a little quilting, walk the dogs, make dinner, do a little quilting kind of quilter!

After I did my homework last night I made my own templates for a spool quilt. This will be my next carry around project (the hexie flowers were it for 10 years – I know – I don’t do a lot of quilting on the go) so I don’t have any expectations of getting it done soon. I don’t even know how big I will make it. The blocks will be 4 ½” finished. Many of these fabrics are Windham Fabrics Farmhouse West 1890-1940 by LB Krueger. This makes the 4^th quilt I’ve selected fabrics for, but haven’t started cutting – not yet! Yikes! I’ve wanted to try a spool block ever since I started seeing Klosjes (Dutch for spool) in blogland. I think many bloggers are using a stamp and ink. I didn’t want to go that route. I settled on the color scheme after browsing through Dixie Doodles blog.

I won a giveaway from Janet of Rogue Quilter. Thanks, Janet! I won a wonderful Lori Smith pattern and Comfort by Howard Marcus for Moda charm pack. I think I will use my charm pack to make a tote bag for myself.

Have a great weekend – hope you find some time to stitch!

Giveaway

2011-08-15T19:20:00.001-04:00

Thanks to all of you who have clicked my follower button. I’m having a giveaway to celebrate hitting the 50 follower mark. Since it is a giveaway to celebrate followers you must be a follower to enter. Just click that follower button and leave a comment on this post. I will pick a winner next Tuesday, the 23^rd, at noon. The winner will receive a copy of Scrap Quilts The Art of Making Do by Roberta Horton. This is one of my favorite quilt books. I have a copy and found one at the library book sale. As much as I love it I don’t need two copies! Also included is 1 ½ yards of light fabrics. The LQS (local quilt shop) was having a dog days of summer sale last Saturday. I needed batting and because I’m trying to limit my fabric purchases I defined my needs before going into the shop - plaids and lights were on my list. I didn’t find any plaids I wanted, but did find some lights. I doubled my light fabric purchases – one for me and one for the giveaway!

It just dawned on me that maybe a lot of you already have this book. It was published in 1998. If that is the case, but you would like to be in the drawing for the fabric, just say so in your comment. If you win, I’ll send the fabric to you and pick another person to receive the book.

I finally hung the quilt I won from Lori of Humble Quilts. I love it! It is in my sewing room where I can be inspired by it! I used just 5 appliqué pins to hang it. That was a tip from Dawn of Collector with a Needle. Have you seen her little quilt gallery? So fun!

I’m very pleased with how my hexagon flower quilt is coming along. I have 63 flowers. Only 24 still need to be appliquéd to a background. I attached the sashing and cornerstones to the rest of the flower blocks last week. Blocks are 7" finished with 2" wide sashing.

Because my sewing room is in the basement I'm relying on artificial light. It looks much better in real life. When it's finished I'll take a photo outside.

I had a little mishap with a rotary cutter blade the other night. My blade needed changing and when I opened the package one of the blades popped out and sliced my thumb. It took a while to stop the bleeding. I am such a wimp, especially when it comes to my own blood and especially on my right thumb. Ten years ago I had 16 stitches put in on this little digit. When I got home from the emergency care center that kitchen mandolin went straight into the trash. I still can’t see one of those things without wincing. So, BE CAREFUL with any and all sharp objects!

Daughter was home for a few days and has already gone back to school in Athens, Georgia. Here are the gifts she brought us from Japan. The 2 larger boxes are candy and crackers. Little sachets were in the pink boxes. The Japanese wrap everything beautifully. Those four packets in front are rayon fabric. Not sure what I will do with them. If I ever go to Japan I will seek out a quilt shop. I must know if the fat quarters are individually wrapped.

; c )

Family and Flight Delays

2011-08-08T08:12:00.000-04:00

We got a call from our daughter yesterday afternoon. She was safely in San Francisco – Yay! But her flight to Dulles was canceled – Boo! Instead of arriving super late she opted to take a flight out this morning. Spending the evening with new friends in San Francisco, a city she has never seen may have played a part in her decision! I totally understand – even if it means we will have less time with her. She leaves later this week to go back to school in Georgia.

We missed her at our family gathering yesterday afternoon. We celebrated my step dad’s birthday. Having the family together reminded me of this lap quilt we made last year for my step sister who was having some health challenges. Blocks were signed in California, Minnesota, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia. We are a big family- brought together back in 1976. My mother was a widow with 4 children and the man she married was a widower with 5. Not an easy feat, especially since most of us were teenagers at the time, but they made it seem so. We probably get along as well as or better than most “regular” families. Even though they are in their 80’s we still gather at their house for holidays and when those who have moved away are back east for a visit. The step designation almost seems inappropriate now.

I added this sentiment to two of the blocks –

How much like a patchwork quilt we are;

Some of us are bright and gay,

Some are quieter, more delicate and subdued.

Yet how well we blend together,

The quieter ones set off the colorful

The brighter ones accentuate the pastels.

Often the more fragile pieces

Hold the sturdy ones together;

Blessed are we to be varied.

All of us are stitched with love and tied to one another.

-Author Unknown

I would venture to guess that Anon,

who wrote so many poems without signing them,

was often a woman.

– Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

I Googled “Anonymous was a woman” to see who to attribute it to and found this interesting article in the Yale Alumni Magazine titled Your Favorite Famous Quotations: Was it by Voltaire? Yogi Berra? Or Some Woman You’ve Never Heard Of?

My pink plaid chair –

I love it because it is small – it doesn’t take up much room and when I sit in it I can lean back and my feet still touch the ground!

Commercial Break

2011-08-05T10:41:00.003-04:00

Last week Mary Jenkins announced on her blog Little Welsh Quilts and other Traditions the release of her new ebook Little Welsh Quilts. I ordered it from Rainbow Disks and was surprised to find it in the mail Wednesday afternoon. That was fast! I enjoyed skimming through it last night. This is my first ebook. It is on a CD and what is really neat is there are videos on it – Mary demonstrating her handwork. I love her little quilts made in the Welsh tradition. I think what strikes me most about these quilts is the lovely and unique hand quilting. A little Welsh quilt is going on my to do list! Mary has an organic way of quilting. She reminds me of a quilting friend who rarely purchases fabric from a shop. I showed you a quilt of Jenny’s here and here is another.

Jenny purchased the top on ebay, repaired it, added the border and quilted it.

Clarification - it's Mary's philosophy of quilting, not the style, that reminds me of Jenny.

Jenny likes quilting spirals (very Welsh according to Mary). Maybe if you click on the photo above you can see better the overall quilting pattern.

I finished the backing for the half square triangle quilt. Now I just need to find the right time to baste the layers together. I baste quilts in my dining room. I have hardwood floors and the table is conveniently on rollers so it is easily moved out of the way. I’m thinking I need to do it one morning when my son takes Duke (the goldendoodle) and Len (the beagle) to the dog park. Duke knows how to behave when I baste a quilt, but I’m not so sure about Len. I’d rather test him out on a smaller quilt!

I’ve also been stitching my hexies. I was using my Roxanne thimble. It doesn’t fit me as well in the summer because my fingers swell a little. After a lot of fumbling I remembered the thimble made of goat leather I purchased at the QU show in June. Dawn of Collector with a Needle recommended Elaine’s Thimbles. It feels very comfortable. Thanks, Dawn!

Okay, I know I shouldn’t let him do this. This chair was a yard sale find. It was originally covered with a plastic fabric – I think it was a vanity chair. I should have taken a photo of the whole chair - it has a pretty heart shaped back. My husband thought I was crazy when I spent more than he thought I should recovering it. I thought it was worth it, so why do I let this rascal even near it?

My daughter returns from Japan Sunday evening. Can’t wait!

Happy Stitching!

Batik Stars – wish this one was mine

2011-07-29T17:36:00.001-04:00

made by Ilsa Johnson

click on photo for a closer view

I told you I’d milk these Quilters Unlimited Show quilts! These batiks were first used as clothing. Note the blue thread with which Ilsa hand quilted this beauty.

I’m slowly making progress on my projects. The heat really slowed me down earlier in the week. Yes, we have AC, but spend a lot of time outside with our son’s swim team. Tomorrow is the last meet; followed by awards night. It hit 103 degrees this afternoon (same temp as last Friday) and tomorrow is forecasted to be in the cool lower 90’s. Seriously, we had 3-4 days of 100 or close to and when the temps dropped to 93 it felt pleasant.

Quilty wise, here is what I’ve been up to-

This is the last of the hexagon flowers. I have about a third of the 63 flowers appliquéd to their background, another third pinned to the background and a third are waiting for me to cut more background squares. I think I said in a previous post the end of this project is in sight – well… I’m not so sure about that, but I have made a lot of progress in the past couple of months. It helps having it sitting on the dining room table – all ready for me to stitch when I have a few minutes.

Here is the start of the backing for my Half Square Triangle (hst) quilt. The zigzag measures about 12” across. I swear I thought the background of those two light fabrics were the same color. I knew the vines were blue on one and green on the other. It wasn’t until I stitched them together and was pressing that I realized the blue has a lighter background than the green. Oh, well! It does feel good to use these two fabrics. I've had them for over 10 years and have been waiting for the right project. I used the pink version in this quilt. I love this delicate print, but there isn't a name on the selvage - must be really old! I typically don’t name my quilts, but I think this one will be “Concord, Cranston and Peter Pan” – named after the companies that produced much of the fabric in the quilt. Are those companies still in existence?

August is almost here. Where does the time go? Hope your weekend includes a little stitching!

Pressing Seams

2011-07-20T08:08:00.001-04:00

Thanks for all your comments on my previous post. Here is the back of a block where I used 3 different seam treatments – toward the darker fabric, open, and collapsed. Looks like I couldn’t make up my mind what method to use with this block so I used them all.

Here is a closeup showing what I thought was a collapsible seam. I'm not sure how to describe how to do it, but you kinda just work a bit of the seam loose until it lies flat.

Liz and I did some searching on collapsible seams and she discovered that some quilters will also clip a seam – GASP!!! Okay, I won’t say I will NEVER clip a seam when quilting, maybe I just haven’t stitched a seam that requires this, but I know I will hesitate before doing it. In my searching, I found an interesting article on the merits of pressing seams open here.

My triangle quilt is almost finished – just a few long seams to do. I could have finished it last night, but I was so tired. I’m not sure now if I want to have it quilted by a longarmer or do it myself. I’m thinking all it needs is wavy lines and I can do that myself. Years ago I took a class called “Quilt as Desired”. The instructor talked about what you should consider when deciding on a quilting design. I think the most useful tip I learned was sometimes straight (or wavy) lines is all a quilt needs.

That dreadfully hot weather is on its way here. We will be in the low 90's today, but the following three days will be close to or at 100 degrees. I can escape it tomorrow, but we have three pool related activities scheduled Friday and Saturday. It doesn't matter how much water I drink or shade I seek - I know I'll feel a bit wilted on Sunday. It will be a good day for me to stay inside and stitch ; o )

Half Way to a Top

2011-07-14T19:12:00.000-04:00

Here is half of the Triangle top. I’m determined to finish it before switching to or starting another project. I’ve been very tempted to make some basket blocks, but I’m resisting. They can wait. I already have most of the hst made for the rest of the quilt so I’m hoping to have it done by the end of next week. I like to set target dates, but I’m very flexible about meeting them!

I’m pressing the seams open and have been doing this for the past year or two. Do you ever do this? I remember they used to say to press toward the dark fabric. Has that been ignored for a while and I’m just catching on? I like the way my blocks look when the seams are pressed open – they lay flatter and go together much easier.

I’m looking forward to the last Harry Potter movie. I’m not one to see it right away – will wait until the crowds thin out a bit. I just love these books and movies – read and watched them all more than once. I think J.K. Rowling was just so creative with this series; especially with her characters – love their names! I can’t wait to see Mrs. Weasley get her revenge! One of my favorite lines is toward the end when Dumbledore says to Harry “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” This won’t make sense to you if you haven’t read the books, but it is so Dumbledore!

Can you believe it is already mid-July? My daughter has been in Japan for over a month – she returns early in August and will have just a few days at home before returning to school. Last week we Skyped with her and her host family. She had to translate and it was neat to hear her speak Japanese. She has been studying the language for 8 years.

See Penny behind the chair - keeping out of the way. She and Duke were just groomed.

I hope you are finding time to stitch! Enjoy the weekend!

Spoon Quilting

2011-07-07T11:32:00.000-04:00

Gayle Ropp of spoon quilting fame made this quilt. It was in the Quilters Unlimited show back in June. Was that only a month ago? Gayle is a member of the McLean chapter and though I don’t know her well I can tell from our brief chats and chapter meeting exchanges that she is a sweet, generous person. Check out her website TJS Quick Quilter and be sure to click on the demo video.

One of these days I’ll make an Amish inspired quilt, too. The solid fabrics intimidate me.

Look at these tiny, even stitches. What a master!

Still plugging away on the calico triangles. Last night I started sewing hsts together – Yay!

I’m reading The Count of Monte Cristo. Not a quick summer read, but I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy 4th

2011-07-04T10:14:00.000-04:00

Pattern from Little Quilts All Through The House by Alice Berg, Mary Ellen Von Holt and Sylvia Johnson.

Summer’s Here

2011-07-01T16:26:00.001-04:00

I always think things will slow down with the summer, but it never does until August. My youngest son still swims for the community pools’ team. Running a swim meet requires many adult volunteers so you can’t help but get to know people and it becomes a social event. I was just thinking that this is our 13^th summer with this team. We have 2-3 meets a week and I’m helping with the pep rallies on Friday evenings. Seems we are always headed to the pool!

I don’t have any photos of the 22 lbs. of blueberries my husband and I picked last Sunday. We like picking the blueberries much better than strawberries because you do it standing up! It was easy picking this year and while the weather was warm it wasn’t too hot. It took about an hour and a half, but it didn’t feel that long. I made my grandmother’s blueberry crumb cake. I had one piece and sent the rest to work with my husband. My sons don’t care for it and I just couldn’t eat all that cake. Well, I could, but you know what I mean! I saved a few berries to eat on my cereal and froze the rest. They will be good for future cakes and in my oatmeal when cold weather returns.

Mmmmm - cherry pie – we will ALL eat this! I picked up some tart cherries at the farmers market and made this pie. It’s a good thing I’m back to swimming laps. I try to swim 2-3 times a week, but there were a few months this spring when I didn’t swim and I can tell. Turning 50 hasn’t been good for my midsection – seems like all my fat is migrating there! : o (

My sewing really has been just doing a little here and there. I completed the DJ block for the raffle quilt. Here it is beside my practice block.

I think the practice block looks better for two reasons. The printed fabric is more forgiving and, in hindsight, I should have taken the starch out of the raffle block fabric before trying to appliqué with it.

Here’s what’s on my design wall.

The triangle quilt is coming along – it will be larger than this, but I was tired of picking 3” hst’s off the floor.

I can see the end of this hexagon project and I am so glad. This has been in the works for over 10 years. I will have 63 hexagon flowers when I finish stitching them together – almost there. I’m appliquéing them onto 7” squares and the sashing is 2” finished.

Here is my first attempt at a collage. These hydrangeas and day lilies are blooming in our backyard. We see them through the sliding glass door in the eating area of our kitchen. I love the green, orange and purple/pink/blue combination.

To all who celebrate July 4^th- have a great holiday weekend! For everyone else, hope you have a grand weekend, too!

Virginia Quilt Museum

2011-06-22T14:59:00.001-04:00

I’m not used to so much talking – 4 hours with Regan on Friday and another 4 with Judy K. on the bus to and from the VQM. Plus, talking to so many quilting friends while visiting the Dayton market, Patchwork Plus and the reception at VQM. I consider myself an introvert. I think that is one reason I like this blogging thing. I have time to think of what I will say in my posts and comments. A real conversation requires me to be on my toes and think fast. Not always an easy thing for us introverts. I can’t stay in my comfortable place all the time and I do love getting together with others. Okay, enough of that – the Virginia Quilt Museum-

The VQM is in the Warren-Sipe House (built in 1856) in Harrisonburg located in the Shenandoah Valley. I should have taken some photos of the mountains, but I was too busy talking. ;o)

No photographs of the quilts were allowed, but I encourage you to go to Carolyn’s website and look around. I think you will get a sense of her energy and wit.

Look at some of these lovelies in the museum collection-

Here is my practice block for the Dear Jane raffle quilt. All ready for stitching-

Thanks Cheryl for telling me about the Pam Buda applique tutorial and Bea for this interesting DJ blog - That Quilt. I mostly followed Pam’s method, but I thought Anina's way was very creative. I just didn’t think I could use her method with the starched fabric. I think I’m ready to try the real block – not even going to stitch the practice one first. It was getting to this point that had me nervous. It isn’t perfect, but I can live with that. I think I will make a reverse of this block – red on yellow – and use it for my sampler quilt.

I won Lori’s quilt giveaway! Summer started off right for me!

A Special Visitor

2011-06-17T17:30:00.000-04:00

I had such a wonderful time with Regan today! She is as warm and fun in person as she is online. I showed her many of my quilts, some works in progress and my sewing room. After lunch, we headed out to The Quilt Patch in Fairfax. Regan purchased a pair of Machingers gloves and I purchased Kim Diehl’s new book Simple Graces. Regan and I have very similar quilting styles and we both like to cook, bake and preserve. She brought me these jars of salsa and sweet pickle relish. I can already tell you the salsa is yummy – just the right amount of heat (Regan, I want your recipe!). I gave her a jar of tomato sauce and my extra copy of the Ball Blue Book of Preserving.

Thanks to all of you who left comments of advice and encouragement on my last post. I guess I did sound very panicked. I now feel ready to start this little Dear Jane block and will let you know how it goes.

I hope you have a great weekend. I'll be on a bus trip to the Virginia Quilt Museum tomorrow to see Carolyn Lynch's exhibit "Articles of Merit Not Listed". Sounds interesting!

What was I thinking?

2011-06-16T14:07:00.000-04:00

The Springfield chapter of Quilters Unlimited has started making the 2014 QU Show Raffle Quilt. The ladies on the committee have designed a quilt using Dear Jane blocks with batik fabrics. I believe there will be an appliqué border. At our last meeting I signed up to do B7 World Series. I don’t know what I was thinking. My appliqué skills are just okay. I saw a few finished blocks at our end of year luncheon – they are so small – 4 ½ inches! What was I thinking? I just received my kit and, as usual, Judy B. has included great instructions, but it’s up to me what method I use. She also referenced two websites – Dear Jane in the 30th Year of her Journey and Sharon's Dear Jane Pages. Oh, and I have to complete the block in 2 weeks! I plan to do a practice block. I know many quilters use silk thread to appliqué – do you recommend it? This fabric has been starched. Is there a particular method you suggest? Do you know of a good online tutorial? I looked at my books and I don’t have anything on hand appliqué. Do you know of a book on the subject? I welcome your advice.

Just Scrap Quilts

2011-06-14T16:59:00.001-04:00

Amy was very humble about her quilts when I asked if I could post their photos on my blog – “these are just scrap quilts nothing special”. Oh, but I do think they are special. Look how she combined this Kaffe Fassett fabric with the repos in “Leftovers from Trade”. I LOVE IT!

Amy's quilt made me think of this quilt I made for my oldest son a few years ago. He doesn’t like it because it is heavily quilted. I’m just not happy with my fabric choices, but I think it is perfectly comfortable and in the winter when I’m really cold at night this is the quilt I grab.

Here is a peek at Triangles. See this post for a little background. Friday evening I was thinking I needed more light calicos and as luck would have it, on Saturday I found some at my neighbors’ yard sale! I think most of the calicos I’m using are from the 70’s and 80’s. I’m tossing in some current day dots, plaids and strips. I’m showing two photos because I don’t think the third diagonal row of hst from the top looks good. It’s too bright. I think the calico was really a modern one from Joann’s. It might have been okay with something else, but the blue I paired it with was too bright. So I’m going with my replacement.

I’m so excited. I just signed up for Quiltmaking by Hand with Jinny Beyer at her studio in Great Falls. I recently decided I wanted to learn to piece by hand and who better to learn from than Jinny. I tried to get in her class in April, but they fill up quickly. She usually has 18-20 students! I didn’t know there was so much interest in handpiecing. Maybe the interest is more in Jinny! My class is in August.

Last Friday my youngest son took a friend to her prom. It was his first dance and I was surprised to hear that he was the one talking her into dancing!

It’s a quiet week here, which is good. I’m expecting a visit from Regan of Floating on a Quilted Cloud on Friday. She is in Virginia for her grandson’s graduation. I have some cleaning and straightening up to do. Long neglected because of recent activities. I’m so looking forward to meeting Regan.

Here is another of Amy's quilts-

Show Quilts II

2011-06-10T08:02:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I dropped my daughter off at a hotel in Northwest DC where she will receive an orientation today and be off to Japan at 6AM on Saturday. Sigh…why do they have to leave!?! I want her to be independent and I want her to leave. I’m tired of her stuff lying around and lights on in the middle of the night. But I can’t help worrying about her. This is where quilt therapy comes to the rescue.

I’m working on a couple of projects – the hexies and Triangle quilt with the calicos. The hexies would be boring to show again and I’m not ready to share the Triangle blocks so here are some more show quilts. Yes, I will milk this for as long as I can! ; o )

Enjoy-

Tana’s quilt has an antique feel. Love the bold stars and fabrics.

This one has a lot of movement-

Don’t see too many pineapples-

Lina has appliquéd these beautiful flowers to linen and hand quilted it with YLI jean thread. A lot of show attendees lingered over this quilt. The pattern, designed by Kim McLean, can be ordered at Glorious Color. She contributed to the Glorious Applique blog while making this quilt. Lina also posted through flickr.

Ann is a pattern designer and Bloomers is one of her designs – so sweet. Love the scalloped border. I just noticed last night that Ann designed the cover quilt for the most recent (July/August 2011) issue of McCall’s Quilting. Another charming design – Congratulations, Ann! Her website is Gingham Girls.

Jo designed this quilt on Electric Quilt for a contest by QuiltMaker magazine. It won!

Congratulations, Jo!

Show Quilts

2011-06-07T07:40:00.000-04:00

The show is over and it was a success. It was fun, but I’m glad to free of the responsibility. I enjoyed meeting a lot of new people and getting to know others better.

This gorgeous quilt made by Kathy was one you saw as soon as you walked in the doors. Kathy is a teacher and long arm quilter for The Quilt Patch in Fairfax.

These cheery quilts showcase Sue’s creative designs-

Suzie didn’t piece the center of this quilt, but she added the border, which is perfect for it-

Susanne’s quilt, also one you saw as soon as you walked in, is just made up of squares. What an impact. Small squares in a large quilt and scrappy - love it!

We expected a long line down the sidewalk on Friday and Saturday, but were pleasantly surprised to find one on Sunday, too. Saturday afternoon was a little slow due, I think, to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure that always coincides with our show.

See my string quilt - right in the center of the photo.

The raffle quilts. The one on the left is for the Virginia Quilt Museum and the drawing isn't until 2012. The one on the right was raffled off on Sunday. It was made by the Reston chapter of Quilters Unlimited. Some very talented ladies.

I did well with my purchases on Friday – only picked up some needles, a Sewline pencil and Synthrapol for that turquoise hand-dye I want to use with my crumb blocks. Oh, and I also found some items for my Featherweight – bobbins, a ¼” foot, belt and light bulb. All of that fit into my apron pockets, but Saturday I weakened at Schoolhouse Quilt Shoppe. Judie Rothermel had bundles of fat quarters that were very well priced and I loved the fabrics. I could say one fit in my pocket, but not the other, which had 27 FQs from the Heritage Center. I took some handwork with me Sunday to keep me away from the vendors. I was busy during the show – training volunteers and the like, but had plenty of time between shifts to see the quilts and shop.

I was a little worried Saturday morning as I drove to the show. I felt more tired than I had the night before. I did okay and rested on the couch Saturday evening and got a good nights’ sleep. I think taking handwork (kept me off my feet) and a big thermos of tea helped me through Sunday. I felt great on Monday and spent the day catching up on things around the house. Monday was the only evening we would all be together before my daughter goes to Japan so we went out for a family meal at one of our favorite restaurants – Mike’s American Grill.

I hope to catch up on all my favorite blogs soon.

The Show Goes Up

2011-06-02T22:51:00.001-04:00

I’m exhausted, but excited! Eleanor burns delivered! Her lecture was on early 20^th century quilts. She shared some beauties with us.

The show goes up-

by young, paid workers, directed by quilters.

I was very busy early in the afternoon. I looked up and where just moments before were black drapes, there hung two stunning quilts. I'll try to get better pics over the weekend.

The lights were low and this was the best my point and shoot camera could do.

I won't be able to check my favorite blogs until next week. Hope your weekend is full of fun and stitches!

What will I do? Quilt, of course!

2011-05-30T09:35:00.000-04:00

For various reasons I resigned from my job at the library. It was just a 10 hour a week job with little pay, but it was really getting in the way of my life. After almost 3 years it was time to call it quits. Someone asked me “What will you do”? I always think this is a funny question. I wake up every morning with a hundred things I would like to do. Aren’t we quilters lucky? We are never bored!

Another question I get and I’m sure you do, too, is “why do you quilt”? I use one of two answers – it keeps me out of trouble or it amuses me.

I’ve been working on various projects this weekend– made a couple more of the churn dash blocks, prepared a few more hexie blocks for appliqué, and stitched some crumb blocks. I have over 70 crumb blocks now.

I decided I was spending too long digging in my scrap bin so I started organizing the scraps by shape. Some were too big and I’ve been cutting them down to 1 ½”, 2”, and 2 ½” for a scrappy 4 or 9 patch in the future.

I pinned the blocks into groups of ten and here they are in this cute fabric bowl my sister gave me.

I’m using my 4” square ruler to cut the crumb blocks down so they will finish at 3 ½”.

I’m thinking of using a zigzag setting with one of these fabrics. I think I like the turquoise blue the best.

I found the book Quilts An American Legacy by Mimi Dietrich at the library book sale. She takes 12 quilts from the Smithsonian Institutions collection and has her own version with directions.

I really like the quilt on the left and I’m thinking of using these old calicos that I love and have been picking up from chapter yard sales for about $1 a yard. I also have a few of my own and I love how they look with stripes, plaids and polka dots. My husband is doing the burn test on them so I know which ones have polyester in them. I’m separating those out and will probably use them in their own project someday.

I want to spend time this week before the quilt show just soaking in how much fabric I have and how many quilts I can make without purchasing any more. I’m even wondering if I will have much time to shop. In looking over notes from previous volunteer coordinators it looks like I will be very busy.

The lavender is starting to bloom. It’s a couple of weeks early this year. The bumblebees usually come when the lavender blooms. I hope to see them soon.

I don’t expect to post again until next week. We set up the quilt show on Thursday and the show is open Friday to Sunday. I expect to be very tired come Monday, but hope to have some quilts to show you.

Strawberry Time

2011-05-27T09:20:00.000-04:00

I went strawberry picking with my husband and daughter on Wednesday. We go almost every year to Butler’s Orchard in Germantown Maryland- the same farm I’ve been going to since I was a little girl. The strawberries are fabulous this year. It was easy picking and look at the size - almost like California berries!

We picked 16 pounds. It took me a few years as a young adult to remember that picking is just the start. Once you get those berries home there is still more work to do! We made jam, froze whole berries for oatmeal (my favorite winter breakfast), sliced and sugared some and ate a lot while we worked.

We also like to eat our strawberries with this dip – mix together 1-32 oz. container vanilla yogurt, 1-3.9 oz. box vanilla or chocolate (we like the chocolate) instant pudding (not cooked, just the powder), and 1 cup mini chocolate chips. Yum!

Fabrics with strawberries on them were among the first I started collecting as a new quilter. I made the blocks in the quilt below a long, long time ago and they sat because I didn’t know what to do with them. The 2005 McLean QU challenge was to represent a favorite recipe in a quilt. So I put the blocks and sashing together and submitted the strawberry dip recipe for this cookbook.

Our challenges are almost always considered complete with just a top. A couple of years later our challenge was to use a technique you’d never used before. So I pulled out the strawberry top and added the borders – both the dogtooth border and scalloped edge were new techniques for me. This time my challenge was a completed quilt.

I think I started saving strawberry fabric because of a childhood memory. When I was about 5 years old I had a shorts set made of feed sack fabric. It was a beautiful cornflower blue with strawberries. My aunt had made it for my cousin and it was handed down to me. I loved it so much I wore it out.

Have a great weekend!

Churn Dash Blocks

2011-05-25T06:13:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday was one of those rare days that passed by slowly. I need to figure out how to get more of those days. It does my soul good!

Here is my progress on the churn dash quilt for baby Audrey. I’m very happy with how it is coming along. Am I the only one who likes how a project is looking on the design wall, but not so much when looking at a photo of it? I think I remember hearing that taking a photograph of blocks or looking at them through a reducing lens was a good way to – what – now I can’t remember - something with value? Can anyone enlighten me on this? It never made much sense to me, but maybe I should reconsider.

Beware of this Jo Morton for Andover fabric. Look what it did to this white plastic tub when I presoaked it! I never used to worry about testing for colorfastness, but then I got a front load washing machine that uses much less water to do the job. I ruined a few light colored fabrics and the culprit was a black print. I had heard the warnings about red fabrics, but never black. Since then I presoak my reds and blacks. This is by far the worst bleeder. I had a red once that took over a dozen water changes, but this black fabric released a lot of dye very quickly. I’m noticing some pink stains on the tub, too, and I’m trying to think if this tub was used recently in a way that might make it accept the dye more readily. Can’t think of anything and that water was pretty black. Still like the fabric a lot.

I sent out reminders to over 200 quilters about their volunteering at the upcoming quilt show – June 3-5. I’ve only received a few back saying they can’t do it so I’m feeling pretty good about being ready for the show. I know it is going to be a lot of work and I’ll be in the Dulles Expo Center for most of 4 days, but I’m really looking forward to it - my big volunteer job will be over and I always get super inspired being surrounded by all those quilts and vendors. Did I tell you Eleanor Burns is giving a lecture on June 2^nd and teaching classes at the show? As a new quilter I used one of her “Quilt in a Day” patterns (which took me months), but haven’t used any since. I hear she is a lively speaker and teacher.

A New Project

2011-05-20T10:24:00.000-04:00

My sister who was just here from California has a granddaughter who will be a year old in October. I’ve been thinking about the quilt I will make her ever since she was born. My goal is always to have it done by their first birthday. I know the nursery is black, white and pink, but I wanted to pull in some other colors. I picked up this floral fabric on my visit to the Manassas quilt shops. I haven't decided definitely how I want to set the churn dash blocks or use the floral fabric. I hope to make some more blocks this weekend. The calendar is pretty free, but you know how that goes. One thing leads to another and the weekend is over before you know it! We’ve had a lot of rain and the garden needs some serious weeding. Hope to do some of that, too. Here are just a few photos I've taken over the past week of flowers in my garden.

Have a good one!

A is for Apron

2011-05-18T08:05:00.000-04:00

This past week has flown by. My sister from California is back east for a visit (staying with my parents) and my daughter returned from school. She is still scheduled to go to Japan this summer and leaves in about 3 weeks. We have a lot we want to do before her trip.

I took a break from all the activity yesterday and stayed home. I finished entering over 200 email address of the quilt show volunteers. I have reminders to send out. And, I made this apron-

I wanted something to wear at the show that would hold my money, camera, cell phone and maybe some purchases. There won’t be a safe place for me to put a purse or bags.

Do you think I can limit myself to what can fit in these pockets? They are bigger than they appear and I’ll have 3 days to fill them!

I used a pattern in the book A is for Apron by Nathalie Mornu.

I also finished A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley. This is the third book in a series about young sleuth Flavia de Luce - a light, but entertaining read.

My son’s jazz band concert was Monday night. He is a junior in high school and living near the nations capital offers some neat opportunities. Four members of the Army Blues band also played for us. One of them is the father of one of the school band members and he has worked with them throughout the year. This was their end of year concert and both bands were awesome! Living near the nations capital has some downsides, too – TRAFFIC. There is a 4 hour window during daylight hours when traffic on the beltway isn’t too bad -10AM-2PM. My mom and sister wanted to come to the evening concert so instead of possibly getting stuck in some horrible traffic jam and missing it they came early in the afternoon. We visited Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna and enjoyed some beautiful scenery and wildlife. Thanks to my daughter for taking the photographs.

A red-winged blackbird posed for us.

Wish I knew what kind of birds these are. I can't see enough of them at this angle to identify them in my field guide to North American birds.

Love the peonies in May...and the roses--

Opportunities to Contribute

2011-05-11T12:12:00.001-04:00

This is a signature block (before sig) I made last night and it is on its way to Australia. Linda of Quilts in the Barn asked for blocks for a raffle quilt to benefit breast cancer research. The quilt will be raffled off at Quilts in the Barn Exhibit in early September. Last year Linda and her friends raised $10,000 for this cause. Check out her instructions and see if you can make a block by May 18^th.

I haven’t made my patriotic pillowcases yet, but Carol of Brown Quilts has put the call out to help a friend in need. These pillowcases will go to service men and woman.

Thanks to Sue and Lori for letting me know about these opportunities.

Humbug Bags

2011-05-10T07:32:00.000-04:00

These little bags were my weekend sewing project. I learned about these triangular “humbug bags” about a year ago and picked up the pattern at my local quilt shop. Finally got around to making one and once I got the hang of it, easily made two more.

I have to confess – I am pattern challenged. Don’t listen to me when I complain about a pattern. I was almost done with the large humbug bag late Friday evening and realized I put the zipper in upside down. There was no fudging it and had to rip out and start over. I was actually crying and laughing at the same time. Crying at my stupidity and laughing because I knew I needed to ‘fess up in blogland. I think this is why I tend to look at the pictures in quilt books and magazines, getting ideas here and there and then just doing my own thing. It seems I always make mistakes when trying to follow directions. In this instance, I read and reread the instructions, examined and reexamined the pictures and still didn’t do it right. Urrrgggh!! Oh, well. The other two went together pretty quickly – spent as much time quilting the fabric as making the bag. I strayed from the directions (intentionally) in two ways. I used fusible fleece for the batting and I made the handles with batting and fabric rather than ribbon. I didn’t think the ribbon would be very sturdy.

I was glad to use a recycled zipper on the yellow bag. I have several I picked up at a yard sale years ago.

The pattern I used is a product of quiltwoman.com. Their description says the shape is based on a traditional 19^th century English candy, from which the bag takes its name. I had wondered.

It was a beautiful day here on Sunday. Instead of traveling away from Washington, D.C. to take the dogs on a walking trail, we went toward it to Theodore Roosevelt Island.

The bridge to the island

A view of Washington, D.C. from the bridge

It took about an hour to walk the trail. There were other walkers, but not too many. Planes taking off from National Airport were fairly frequent reminders we were near the city.

This is what the National Park Service pamphlet says about the island. “Memorial dedicated to the 26^th U.S. president and conservation advocate preserves 88 acres of swamp, marshland, and forest. A formal plaza has a statue of Roosevelt with quotations from his writings carved in stone”.

Pretty yellow irises grew in the swampy area. I don't know if they are native to the area.

A view of Rosslyn, Virginia

Here are crumb blocks stitched on my featherweight. The featherweight is sitting on my dining room table with my container of scraps. It is very convenient to sit down and sew a few seams when I’m waiting for the water to boil for tea or dinner is on the stove.

Yes, I had to pry Len’s mouth open to retrieve that little block in the lower left corner. No harm done – just a little doggie slobber ;o)

Shooflies from France

2011-05-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago Bea started a Contemporary Jane quilt and mentioned on her blog that she needed more Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I have a few and I told her I'd share with her. She asked me what I wanted in return and I said a few shoofly blocks. I fell in love with this block while making the quilt for Japan and thought it would be fun to include in my sampler quilt. Look what she sent me! Such delights! They are 3 1/2" and such perfect piecing! I said a few and she sent me 15! And she says there is another envelope coming. What a sweetie! She also sent some beautiful Sophie Campbell fabric. In her note, Bea introduced me to Sophie Campbell, an american quilter and pioneer for french quilting. She taught quilting in France, wrote a book and designed fabric. You can read more about quilting in France here. I googled Sophie Campbell and didn't find much, but check out this sampler quilt on the home page of France Patchwork.

What a treat! Thank you so much Bea!

Hope you all have a wonderful mother's day, whether it is celebrating as a mother, with your mother or commemorating your mother, I hope it is a special one.