Back from Bermuda...

The toughest part of vacation is coming back to laundry, finding out that I didn't get all of the food cleared out of the fridge that needed to go, and battling a travel induced cold...Bermuda was very nice...very bright! When in England I took lots of photos of sheep, in Greece and Turkey it was cats, and in Bermuda it was chickens...they were everywhere! Crossing the street, the golf course, and even outside the pub. These roosters are probably complaining about all the Americans....
I did bring some hand-sewing with me but did not take one stitch...I have lots of work to do before our show next month! For now though I'll just down another cup of cold and flu medicine, toss movie in the DVD and huddle under a quilt....ok, maybe after I walk Macbeth....

Wordless Wednesday

A bright NYB made 7 years ago...seems like yesterday!

A couple of hex's...the good kind

Last night I had a great time with the Carolina Pine Quilters. I am always amazed at the generosity of quilters. These ladies were making Quilts of Valor, sending boxes to the troops in Afghanistan, Care blankets for members, quilted place mats for meals on wheels, bags for the Lydia Project, children's quilts for a number of organizations, and even little pet blankets for the SPCA.

So how many quilts did I bring with me...well if you include the tops it totaled 38. I've decided I need to start bringing more tops and crib quilts...they certainly are lighter than a backs seat of full-size quilts! The quilt in the photo above was brought by one of the members. It really fascinated me...part hexagon and part logcabin! I looked it up in Brackman and it is called a "logcabin." Maybe a Buckminster Fuller cabin....
The black center hexagon is corduroy! It was foundation pieced by hand and then hand pieced. This one is a top but the owner has a matching one that was hand-quilted...that quilter must have had really strong hands! The quilts were made in Alabama.

While pulling quilts for the talk I found an old one that I had purchased at a flea market with the intent to use it at a quilt restoration workshop. I ended up using a different quilt and this 1930's hexagon ended up at the bottom of one the quilt boxes....The quilter had used some silks for hexagons which not surprisingly shattered. Since the quilt is so scrappy and I have boxes of authentic 30's fabrics this project is back on the active list again....
A question came up that caused me to pause a bit. The quilter wanted to know how often did quilters in the past piece their backs with multiple fabrics. It is a good question. I know in my collection of over 100 quilts made prior to 1940 I only have one. Even that is a stretch as it is made from multiple feed-sacks and those all have a tan background but do have different advertising stamped on them. Does anyone know if there is research on quilt backs anywhere?

A complete finish!

Today I took the final stitches on the binding and label of the "Pink and Green Ladders" quilt! This started after on of those Bonnie Hunter "want to play" posts. Always get me trouble...but amazingly I finished this one in time for our show next month!

This morning a neighbor came by to borrow an electric drill...when she stepped in the foyer she asked, "are you moving?" "No," I answered, "just packed up a few quilts for a program tonight up in Aiken." She didn't look convinced. OK, I packed up a lot of quilts for the program...jeesh.

"The quilt inspector" thinking this quilt needs more Scottish plaids...

Every time I do a program I get nervous that no-one will bring a quilt so I bring lots of them just in case....Now it has never happened that no one brings a quilt that they want assistance in dating or identifying the pattern...but there could always be a first time! (of course the last time I did a program in Aiken it was at a Town and Country meeting and they brought over 40 quilts...may have been a record...)

A few of the quilts getting ready for travel....

I know that I enjoy lectures/programs with lots of quilts. Just like show and tell is my favorite part of guild meetings, a lecture only comes to life for me if there is lots of eye-candy. So how many quilts are "enough" for a 60 minute talk...six would be one every ten minutes - too few...ten would be every 6 minutes...twenty would be every 3 minutes... So how many do you think I have packed? (Hint it takes up the entire back seat of a Tuscon....)

6 by 6 and growing

These blocks are a bit addictive. I've tried to use them only as leaders and enders but...well, I find I've run more of these through the sewing machine than the project I am "supposed" to be working on.
So now I have 40 blocks...the setting in the photo is 6x6...I may stop at 6 by 7 and do something on the border. Then again I may let it grow to 7 by 8 and do no border...I'll think about that tomorrow...

Birthday block made by Rachel...quilt shops and a scottie dog!

Today I visited a local quilt collector. She is in her early 90's and is trying to get her things in order. I took a lot of photos and typed up descriptions of her quilts and some other items. She is going to use these pages with her will so there will be no confusion "when the time comes." She is a real character and it was interesting to hear her memories of when and where each piece was collected. This whole project came about a few weeks ago when she gave a red and green quilt to her great-granddaughter. The next day she got a call from her son saying she had promised him the red and green quilt. "Not that red and green," she said. "Just how many red and green do you have?" he asked, as if there was a great shortage in the world of red and green quilts. Today she has an answer to that question...she has ten beautiful mid to late 19th century red and green quilts. And just to make sure he is happy...she put his name on two of them!

Need to turn the channel

Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, floods, drought and fires...anyone else feeling a case of natural disaster stress? Makes watching a political debate a feel-good event...

Birthday block by Ille...it is the house I lived in in England!

Enough of that (though if anyone knows of a place to send a quilt for either flood victims in the Northeast and/or fire victims in Texas I would love to know.) Hitting the send button on the Red Cross website makes me feel like I am doing something but would like to do more....and it isn't like I don't have a closet full of quilttops....

I'm working on bindings which means lot of time in front of the TV...need to dig out some BBC costume dramas and ditch the news. Anyway, should have some photos tomorrow to show...a finish even! That is if I can get Goldie off of my quilt so I can work on it...

Also spent a few hours on the computer sending press releases for our show in October. If you are anywhere near the Augusta area it is a really good show representing a wide diversity of quilting styles...can you tell I've typed sentences like that all afternoon....
We are using my friend Rachel's quilt on our show cards and emails...it got the ribbon for "best use of color" two years ago at our last show.

The piecing is incredible too..

Twenty five and counting

I can't believe I already have twenty-five string/lego blocks made for my Pensive quilt. I don't think I will make as many as Tonya...right now thinking I will stop around 42 (which would make it 6x7 or about 60 inches by 70 inches.)
I'm finding this a great place to use up all sorts of odd bits of fabric. There are some batiks, repros, hand-dyed, novelty (yes, Elvis is in my quit too), and some modern. I hadn't used any solids until I read Tonya's tutorial...today I added a couple of solid blues. Since many of my brights are like-solids I'm not too concerned.
On the getting ready for the Quilt show front, I did get the first step binding on the Jacob's Ladder quilt. Now I just need to hand sew it to the front and put a sleeve on it. There is already a label sewn on....

Dobby has been great entertainment while I've been sick. There isn't a bag in the house he hasn't climbed into...guess his idea of recycling is to make everything a toy! Anyways, I am feeling much stronger today. I have an appointment to view a private quilt collection this week and I was worried I would have to cancel...amazing how the idea of seeing a dozen antique quilts can make the aches and pains go away!

Back in the Saddle..

Maybe the title should read back at the sewing table...whatever. I know I fell off the edge of the earth but MS-y issues took over and I worried if I posted I would be in danger of being whiny so instead I waited until the magic of medicine made me not-so-grumpy! All I will say is quilting coffee and tea cold turkey is not for the faint of heart....Enough of that...I did get some quilting done...a finish even! I had worried about what binding to put on the little quilt above and finally went with the gold-ish/yellow. I really like how it came out. This quilt is hand embroidered and hand quilted. It is based on a little quilt I bought in Paducah a few years ago....I also did a lot of semi-mindless piecing. Lots of 1-1/2 inch strips have been sewn into 10 inch blocks....I can thank Tonya for this project! It is using up a lot of funky fabric and bits left over from past projects. I was thinking of calling it my "pensive" quilt since the little strips of prior quilt projects sort of reminds me on the memory threads from Harry Potter.

This weekend I have to put this project away though and focus on the binding Que...I've committed several of these for my guild show next month. Nothing like a show to get me caught up!

Piles of binding...

Every two years my guild has a show and even though I know it is coming I am always scrambling at the last minute to finish us some quilts. The show is October 14-15 so the scramble has begun!

The past couple of days I have made miles of binding. This is my least favorite part of quilting so my binding pile is dangerously tall at the moment!
My economy block quilt quilt is getting a plain brown binding.
While my Jacob's Ladder above is getting a multi-fabric pink binding. (though now that I look at it I'm thinking of remaking the brown...duh, this is why I never finish things!) Once I get the bindings sewn down on machine I turn them to the back by hand...good for watching movies or baseball games!

I also put away some things I picked up at an estate sale while up in New England earlier this month. A vintage tin sewing box...

Some fabrics from the 1930's
Along with many envelopes with patterns from the 30's and 40's that were purchased through the Boston Globe...

Inspiration

My trip to New England this month has me sketching lots of quilts

Scituate Lighthouse, Scituate, Massachusetts

based on lighthouses,

beaches,

Hyannis, Massachusetts Hydrangea

gardens and

My niece taking photos at the Sandwich Glass museum

even Sandwich glass....don't you just love those colors! Now back to the sewing room to play in fabrics....

Back but not unpacked....

New York Wedding Cake

You know your vacation is over when you spend the day doing laundry, cleaning out the refrigerator, and disassembling the empty pizza box monument you husband built in the garage....So this will be a short post...the weddings were wonderful, the weather cool, and the food, well, I will not be posting any photos of me anytime soon! (However I am going to try and make some "savory lasagna cupcakes" that we had at one of the receptions - they were wonderful!)

"Cape Cod" Wedding Cake...

After checking into the hotel in Hyannis for the first wedding I went in search of a quilt shop a blogger had put me on to...of course I left the name right next to my computer back in Georgia but that was no problem. The shop ended up being right across the parking lot from the hotel!
It is a really nice shop. Lots of fabrics, nice samples, and a great stock of notions. The only down side was the four bolts of Halloween fabric that I fell in love with that were already sold...sigh....not that I needed more Halloween fabric but just the same...

Wordless Wednesday

Summer break....

Vacation....

Cape Cod Star, circa 1920

I am off to New England to see family and to attend weddings. Not sure with all the events I will have time to post! Be back mid-month....
And from the random files...here is a close up of a pinecone quilt seen at a local documentation day several years ago...there were 16 blocks about 20 inches across. This quilt weighed a ton! I did love the colors though....

clean up on cutting board five...

I know I have written about how my projects wander and have been known to migrate into every room in the house and periodically I have to do a roundup...today is one of those days.

Rose of Sharon bush...about the only thing thriving in this summer's heat

I've been so focused on a getting a few projects finished for my guild show in October I have let the gate on the fabric room open and those fat-quarters, spools of thread, packets of needles, and pincushions (not to mention notes, photos and magazines) sure do like to roam.

Since I am going up to New England this week for a couple of weddings I thought it would be nice of me to get all my "stuff" out my DH's way for the week. So I've boxed and bagged ongoing projects. Packed some handwork to do during downtime, and even put some fabric (like the pink and the green from the Jacob's Ladder) back on the shelf.

Some of the fabric pieces are small enough that they get cut into building blocks, quilt seeds or what ever you want to call the pre-cut part of your stash! I do have a couple of active leaders and ender projects...the red, white and blue crumb blocks in the photo above finish at 6 inches.

I have some 1-1/2 inch strips that I am sewing into these 5 inch finished blocks. This project was on the cover of a recent magazine but as I've tidied up the living room I have no idea which one it was...(New edit thanks to several more organized blogger - the pattern is from the August 2011 edition of American Patchwork and Quilting. The quilt is on the cover and was made by Kathy Holland! A name many of you bloggers should recognize!)And I have made about 20 bowties...yes, another Bonnie Hunter "let's play" call...I am using a variety of cheddar through dark gold to yellow for the backgrounds. These finish at 3 inches. To keep the little bits organized I am cutting the bowtie pieces then slipping five sets on each safety pin. I have about a dozen safety pins loaded and ready to go....sounds like a lot but at 3 inches these would only make 18 by 30 inch table-runner! So still lots of cutting to do!Are you wondering where all the brights and modern scraps go? I have these crumb-pieced setting blocks for a spiderweb quilt that is in the ongoing pile....

I plan to get back to work on that one after the quilt show in October.