500th Post and counting....

Dobby - still growing!

I started to draft a wonderful post for my 500th...decided it was way too, well too! So to simplify - thanks to all of you who follow my posts; big thanks to those who leave comments; huge thanks to all of you who post on your own blogs and make this such a great quilting community to be a part of. At the risk of sounding like one of those simpering acceptance speeches I'll stop there.

I did the random generator thingy (but blog is being a pain today and not pasting the link...) anyway, the winner of the "giveaway" is Debbie at #25. She does not write a blog of her own but does follow lots of quilting blogs. I have contacted her by email. She is getting some civil war fabrics for her Brackman block of the week project....

Speaking of the Brackman Civil War block of the week I finished this week's block - forget my initial comment about these blocks being quick! Little 1-inch finished HST's...lets say lots of coffee was consumed in the constructing of this block!
These are the 4 blocks from the project plus my Mulligan block. I a still have the 7 sisters applique block in-process. All and all I feel like I am keeping up. I do want to put a bit more green in the next few blocks and perhaps a bit of yellow.This week I am going to make a dent in my Roll Roll Cotton Boll mystery quilt. I packed it up to take to retreat and have yet to unpack it and work on it at home again. I also want to get binding on one of the 5 (yes, five!) quilts that just need binding to be really and truly finished! A finish would feel good right about now, no?!

Blog Anniversary!

I almost couldn't believe it when I saw the number...this is my 499th post on this blog! So of course I have to celebrate breaking the 500 mark with a giveaway (yet to be determined but sure to include fabric and chocolate!)

Goldie on Birds in the Air and Lemoyne star top

To be part of this momentous event just leave a comment on this post and tell me if you are a traditional/reproduction quilter or a modern quilter. On Sunday at noon EST I will run the number generator and pick a winner. (and if I can't get that to work I will put the numbers in a bowl and let Dobby pick one...if anything is in a bowl he "wants it"...)

Dobby claiming a Turkey Track quilt

Today is a roundup the stray fabric day...bits and pieces have wandered all over the house and it is time for an intervention. Does anyone else store fabric in their guest bathroom? Just wondering....

This came about because last night my DH broke a wineglass. I was at a Guild meeting so he went rummaging through the cabinets for the box of extra wineglasses (hoping to replace the broken one before I found out...) Anyway he saw a box marked "wine glasses" on the top shelf in the laundryroom. He got out the ladder and with significant effort freed the box only to find it filled with...wait for it...fabric. I am so busted.

So when I got home it was the "can you name the fabric in the box" game. Silly man...once I saw the first piece I knew it was the missing box of fabric for my Tobacco Road! But the point was taken...if I continue to stash/hide fabric then I will never know what I have and may continue to add to the stash or pile of UFO's.

The next few days I may not get a lot of stitching done but gathering fabric, roping UFO's, and herding needles and thread will keep me busy for sure!

Mulligan block and road trip...

Like many of you I have been trying to keep up with Barbara Brackman's Civil War block of the week. The last couple of weeks have been a bit crazy with lots of quilting and medical activities so when the block came up on Sunday I thought maybe it would be easier for me to paper-piece this block.

The answer...not so much! Paper-piecing helps keep my points nice and lines even but it does not help with putting the fabric in the right place. oh no, the T's were supposed to be blue! Duhhh...so I ended up with extra pieces and put them together in a slightly different (and easier!) block.

I figure now I have a bonus/mulligan block in case I have to miss a week later on this year!

In other news...What do you think of this fabric stack? So not like me is it! About half of it came from my stash and the other from a trip to Intown Quilters in Decatur, Georgia (part of Atlanta.) Just going into this store makes you happy (a bit dazed, confused and overwhelmed but happy!)

They carry lots and lots of Kaffe along with the other Westminster designers. In the back room are brights and 1930's repros while in the basement are the clearance fabrics. Before the holidays I bought two of the Material Obsession books and have decided to kick the fabric selection in my next quilt up a notch...should be fun!

More on the other places we visited when I get the fabric out of the car...

New Old Orphan Quilt

A few weeks ago my DH got a quilt for me that I had seen on an auction house website. I usually will not do a phone bid if I haven't inspected the quilt. ( It was a general estate auction at a small auction house and they don't know much about quilts so what they say is excellent condition may really be well - not so excellent.)

That aside - I am really happy with this quilt...just so much to look at! It is in good condition. There is some wear on one end and the brown fabric on one block has shattered (but brown fabric of this time period is notorious for shattering...) Otherwise the fabrics are strong and maintained most of their colors.
It came from an estate in Abbeville, S.C. It just looks so southern to me...soft colors, lots of fabrics and big baptist fans quilted right across the quilt. The corners of the quilt are slightly rounded...this is my third southern quilt with "cheater" corners. It certainly makes binding a quilt easier...I wonder why we still don't do it like that?!

I think it is circa 1900...there are a few fabrics that are much earlier than that but a couple that read 1900 so as we go with the most recent that is the date. There is really nothing in the construction or design of the quilt to help with dating it. However if anyone sees something I've missed please let me know!

Eyecandy from retreat

Retreat was a lot of fun...lots of food, laughter and even a bit of quilting. One of the things I really enjoy about my guild is the wide diversity of quilting styles in a relatively small (100 members) group.The first thing I saw when I came through the door was an almost compelted RRCB...Sharon, who pieced this top, kept up with Bonnie through the month of December. This top went to the longarmer on Saturday...btw I was on 410 of my 600 hst.....
Some quilts make repeat visits to retreat...the birthday quilt above was started in 2010 and finished this year. The center is all appliqued and shows her garden and cats! (My block is the basket on the left side...)This red quilt comes from a Piece of Cake Pattern. Last year I believe she worked on the border...now it only needs binding!
Several of the newer quilters were working on Turning 20's and Take 5's.
And I'm not sure of the name of this quilt but it involved sewing a jelly roll strips together until they were the length of the conference hall then folding and cutting...and folding and cutting. Anyway it turned out quite cute.

More later...got to nap!

Packing for retreat....

Each year my guild has a four day quilting retreat at a state park about an hour away. Each year I tell myself I will not pack so much stuff (I've pulled a bag out of my sewing room closet still packed from the year before....)
Four days sounds like a long time and that you will get so much done...in reality - not so much.
So at first I was only going to bring one small embroidery project and Roll, roll cottonboll. Then, well, maybe just another hand-piecing project. And well, I promised to make a sewing roll and a quilt for Q4L....now I have my car full. (This year I did remember to pack enough clothes and an extra blanket!)
Then there is the food. How can you sew without food? And what if we have another ice storm? So....two loaves of Sweet Potato Pound Cake, a pan of brownies, a large box of Ruby Linzer bars, and four bottles of wine. I do have a bag of salad too....
So I will be off the grid for a few days and hopefully will have some fun photos of finished projects to show! And hopefully I will still be able to button my jeans.....

btw...Dobby (new photo at the top of post) had his second set of shots today. He is 4 pounds 5 ounces...he is only 12 weeks old...

Wordless Wednesday

Block a week

Two weeks and I'm keeping up...may be a record! This is part of Barbara Brackman's new Civil War Quilt history blog. I've put up a special "design wall" so I can keep the blocks in view (out of sight out of mind is not good for long term projects!)
We got slammed with ice and snow last night...they say it will continue until tomorrow morning. Good thing I made lots of Beef Barley Soup last night and bought lots of coffee and cat food...ready for a long hunker-down if need be! (oh ya, and I have lots of fabric and quilting projects to keep me busy!)
Can you believe I filled this bird feeder last night! The birds are treating like a McDonald's drivethrough! By noon it was empty and the ice had frozen the top shut. I ended up putting some seed on plates and setting them into the snow. I'm amazed how many different types of birds I saw...cardinals, orioles, a chickadee, and many small birds that I can't quite id.

Easing into the New Year

No I don't have list of resolutions finished..my Christmas tree ornaments are down but the tree is still standing in my dining room...and the new organizer for my closet that I vowed to get in before the new year is still in the box. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come!

Oh dear...between my leg problem and a cold I just haven't been very productive. I spent most of today trying to uncover the parts for my Roll Roll cotton Boll. During the holidays they seemed to have scattered like cotton on the back of the truck during harvest time. (I love driving down the back-roads here in Georgia in the autumn and seeing the bits of cotton drifting along...)

Brownie (the cat) had taught Dobby (the kitten) how to block surf...these cotton boll paper pieced blocks rock as kittie boards. They have been setting all sorts of distance records across the living room....(and I wonder why I am not getting anything done.....)


I did make the first block, Catch me if you can, from Barbara Brackman's new blog. She is posting each week with a block and a bit of civil war era history to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the American civil war. Living here in the south I expect there will be many events in my area. In fact later this month they are re-enacting the handover of the local munitions factory to the confederates at the start of the war. I am going to try and keep up (perhaps rename this block "keep up if you can?) with the blocks she posts. I've seen many around "blog-dom" doing the same...