The Show Goes Up

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!

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

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

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

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

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

 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.