Week over....

 At last this week is over....Macbeth had surgery, we had to have a tree cut down before it fell on the house, and my DH's car was rear-ended at a stoplight.  Ever want to just crawl under a quilt and wait until it is safe to come out again?!

Anyway, looks like the coast is clear now (as I toss salt over my shoulder and hang the rosary beads out the window...) Macbeth is eating and walking around fine though he hasn't quite forgiven me for the whole ordeal.  The tree came down safely and now there is more light for my flower garden.  And finally the car will need some work to the trunk lock but overall isn't too bad though my DH is grouchy about his back, his baby Mazda, and a spot on his no-accident streak of  over 20 years....


So what did I do during the past week...well besides worry a lot I played with my Liberated Amish quilt and worked on some applique.  The photos above has color issues...the star is two shades of purple not maroon and black.  I'll try and get a better one today as I finish the star.  While going through solids I found this little Amish quilt-lette I made years ago...I was debating adding it to a liberated block or just finishing it up.  I did find my applique stitch suffered for all the stress this week.  (Note to self - only work on primitives when so much is going on...)

The photo to the left is of my friend Margret's applique.  The pattern has been around for awhile but now People, Places and Quilts down in Summerville, SC put together a kit with all these wonderful Kaffe fabrics.  And of course Maggie is changing the whole kit up a bit...

Is anyone else using the new blogger system...not sure yet if I like it...maybe it just takes practice...I thought I had added five photos but only three came over and now it will not let me get the other two....grrrrr....

Quilt Day!

My guild celebrated National Quilt Day by holding a sewing bee/demonstrations at the local Arts and Heritage Center. Most of us worked on quilts for Quilts of Valor and a few on their blocks for our next quilt for Camp Rainbow. We used the Twist pattern from Bonnie Hunters website to make the first quilt and then the "leftover" pieces to make the center blocks for the second quilt...sort of like a two for one!
The center is a great place to work with wonderful lighting and lots of space. Being surrounded by local artwork helps too!We got two quilts tops in Autumn colors almost finished and the patriotic themes blocks ready to go together. Not bad for a few hours work. Amazing how much faster it goes when many hands work together!I also tried out a new tool today. You know me - always in search of the perfect rotary cutter.
(And for "perfect" read one that I don't slice myself with when my eyes and/or hands are feeling all MS-y) I was told this fingertip controlled Mini rotary cutter was good for folks with weak hands...since it sort of clips to your finger so you don't have to focus on holding the cutter just on moving your finger. It took a few minutes to get used to it but in no time I was cutting out a pile of leaves to applique on my border. Now the downside - if you have any problems with your hands there is almost no chance you will get the plastic blade cover off without serious damage (for that read one lost fingernail and a nasty slice on the knuckles - big ouch!) What were they thinking? And it doesn't get any better the more you put the cover on and off either. I made a small felt cover for mine and ditched the plastic....

Happy St Patrick's Day

Well my DH just left for work wearing his Irish Rugby shirt and carrying a large loaf of Irish bread made with lots of raisins and caraway seeds...funny how it was tucked under his arm like a football! There are some scones in the oven to take over my friend Magaret's house where we are planning on doing some applique this morning. A pretty quiet St. Patricks day here.
On another topic...this is a photo of Margret's most recent quilt. She started it in a class with Kaffe Fasset when he taught here in Georgia last Fall. I love the fabrics in this one!

Back to Irish...are any of you quilters following American Idol? Have to admit that it has grabbed me this year because of Siobhan...and I am not just supporting her because she has the same name as me! That girl can sing! She is also a bit quirky which helps too....

Catching up is hard to do...

I finally got out of the house and made it to our local guild's morning meeting. Lots of fun stuff...
This top was made by Anne for our Quilt of Valor National Quilt Day Project....boy that is a mouthful! I love the colors in this quilt...Next Saturday on NQD we are going to make some quilt tops using one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns, Twist and Turn, that will then be quilted by some of the members and give to soldiers at a local Army Post.
This next photo is of a Birthday quilt made by members of the guild for Maggie Hunt. There is so much going on in this quilt!
I still haven't gotten back to doing much sewing. Mainly I have been cutting fabric. I am "mentally" working on making one of these Parisian Overnight bags (name of the pattern) in some great Kaffe Fasset Browns. This bag was made by Maggie who got the pattern the same day I did...she has finished two! I've thought about making several....

And I had to share a photo of these strawberries...I love spring. And, they taste just as wonderful as they look...I love spring....Can you believe I ate and entire box of these berries on the way home from the store! Fortunately I bought two so we can still have strawberry shortcake for dinner...whoops I mean for dessert. (I lost 5 pounds from that darn cold/flu so I have a bit of room to celebrate!)

Fabric Auditions....

Not much sewing done around here the past few days but I have played in the fabric piles and done a lot of auditioning (between rounds of coughing, hot tea, and lots of pills and potions...) My guild did however have our quilt (in photo above) that supports camp rainbow at the local Home and Garden show last weekend and it raised a lot of money for the camp. The camp is sponsored by a local hospital and allows critically ill children a chance to play like the rest of the kids for a week in the summer.(This is the cherry block I made for the quilt...)

Back to playing in fabric...I was trying to find the right center fabric for the star in my crazy liberated amish piece. This is the one that started by my slicing up an old UFO and then morphed into a project piece for Tonya's liberated Amish class. Funny how things morph no?

Anyway I am OK with the black star points (there are about 5 different shades of black in this quilt...mainly because of age and maker of the fabrics!)

My first thought was to go really light for the center square. I'm not even posting the photos because I hated it that much. It high-jacked the entire quilt (who knew light pink could be sooooo powerful?!) So I am down to two choices...a medium eggplant that shines because it is just off the brown and the maroon but nowhere else is there purple in the quilt top.

Then there is a bright blue of about the same value as the eggplant but which blends with the blues already in the quilt top.Enough excitement for the day...I'm off the wrap myself in quilts and sit on the back deck and get some sun on my face. Feeling the need for some vitamin D! Plus someone has to go out there and keep these daffodils company!

Knocked out....

Just a quick post to let ya'll know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth...just feel like I have! My DH was "kind" enough to share his latest cold with me and it has knocked me for a loop. Not getting much sewing done here (or anything else for that matter!)

So it may take a few more days of rest, fluids, and cough meds before I am social again....

(photo is of a little quilt my friend Rachel made me a couple years ago...it is about 6 inches by 6 inches...makes me smile!)

Can this quilt be saved...

The past few days I have been playing with a liberated Amish top for a class/group being hosted by Tonya at Lazy Gal quilting.My top isn't too liberated at the moment. So I put it aside and decided to play with a top I started working on back in the late 80's. Yes this is the oldest of the UFO's in my closet and I needed to either "save" it or toss it!
The piecing on the this quilttop isn't good...there is about a 1/2 inch seam allowance and my sewing machine wasn't working well so the threads skipped around a bit. And then there are the bias edges which need no explanation....

So this morning as I waited for the rug cleaning crew to show up and for the cold meds to really kick in I started slicing. This is very therapeutic! The pieces are 6-1/2 inches or less and then are going to be built back up....

I found that even a pink and red can read as medium/dark and since one of the black fabrics had faded to a dark chocolate the entire quilt (including the tan) was very flat. (trust me the only flat thing about this quilt was the colors!)What I needed were some very light (ice-y clear colors) and some ugly clear colors. (like the green, pale pink and clear red strips at the bottom of the photos above.) So this is what is happening....
Not sure where this is going but it is a fun journey....

How my borders grow

No this isn't a gardening post...this is how I can make what started out as a quick and easy border into a week-long angst session.

Started out with a plan to finish up some leftover Baltimore Album blocks. A quick finish to start off my quilting year. First there was the squaring up disaster - I trimmed one side of a block 1/2 inch too short (duhhhhh.) Fortunately I had extra leftovers so I just put the too-small block into the orphan bag and called in the first substitute. I figure in the end only I (and now you) will know.

The blocks went together fine. I was even able to find the fabric I bought for the border over 13 years ago! (that number 13 foreshadows what is to come....) I laid it out on the dining room table with the single wide wild dark paisley border to show my DH. He just said yuck. Then it hit me...that is why this has been a UFO for so long. My blocks started out sort of muddy and dark then I added more and more clear colors. The clear colored blocks made it into my first album quilt while these darker blocks racked up frequent-flyer miles in a pretty white box that has moved across down the east coast and twice across the Atlantic. I made my mind up that I didn't want yuck...so back to the fabric stash.

First I cut a ribbon strip from a medium red fabric that there is a bit of in the quilt. (yes, I have fabric that old in my stash...this is housed in the applique cabinet where fabric doesn't turn very quickly! - pun intended!) It did brighten up the paisley a lot. But it gave the whole thing a very formal feeling. I'm just not like that anymore.
So out came this plaid from the same time period - brighter and less formal...but also just a bit boring.

Then I remembered the little HST leftovers from the Carolina Christmas quilt (ok from working on the Carolina Christmas...another one to finish this year!) I have a large baggy filled with these in reds and shirtings.

They make it all a bit scrappy. Sort of a mulit-generational quilt feel...someone found their grandmothers UFO applique blocks then added some HST and a border. I like it...I think...what do you think? Do the HST need another border like with this dark green? or should I pull in a bit of the gold/cheddar? This is definately more fun looking...oh ya, and a lot more work....

So this is my conundrum for the week. Fortunately DH is out of town on business for a couple of nights so I can leave all these good ideas draped around the living room as I make up my mind!

Road Trip.....

Sorry I have been slow in posting the past week. Lots of "stuff" to do for the local guild caught up with me. We are going to have not one but two workshops this March with Laura Wasolowki. This may be the first time in Guild history we have had so much interest in a workshop that we added a day so more members could have a chance to get a seat! Needless to say the taking reservations and payments for the first class was a bit wild and hectic...then adding another day (which ment some folks on day one now wanted to change days) made me brush off old worksheet skills...

We also had a roadtrip yesterday up to the One Stop Shop Hop in Lancster, South Carolina. Got to say planning things with this quilt guild is like herding cats. I hope everyone had a good time...I know my carload did! There was a button vendor there that had some beautiful and unusual things. And a girl can never have too many buttons! They were like little pieces of art....
Of course if there was a scotty dog button it went directly into my basket....
After the One stop we drove over to Mary Jo's in Gastonia. One of the quilters in my car was new to the area and it was her first MJ trip. Shannon was awed only for a few moments then went right to work hauling bolts of fabric over to the cutting table! It helps she had a specific project in mind...the rest of us MJ veterns wandered aimlessly buying a bit of this and a bit of that...I got some solids that are about 1/3 yard for less than a dollor each from a scrap bin and scored almost a yard of Kaffe for $3 on a remnant table. Since I only needed one thing (8 yards of backing fabric) most of my time was spent rummaging any box that looked like it may have some fun sale items in it. So how is it I still had a really large bag of fabric when I left the store?! Oh, well....If you are ever in the Gastonia area visiting Mary Jo's you shouldalso add Charlie Rector's Long Creek Mills Thread shop at 108 South Webb St. It is about 10 minutes from M.J. and is to thread what her shop is to fabric. Just standing at the door and taking in all the rows and rows of thread in all the wonderful colors is worth the trip. But bringing home some of those colors is even better. It was only $2 for 3000 yards of cotton thread. So I am now stocked up in all the basics and then some!

And for some more eye candy...this is a Piece of Cake quilt pattern two of the members of my guild are working on....

Housebuilding

Just as I finished up the 6th house block and feeling proud I had met my goal to have 6 ready for today's mail it hit me...it is a holiday...no mail service! Oh well, they are ready for tomorrow...the little half-square triangles across the bottom are made from trimming the roof pieces.

These are going to V over at Bumblebeans. She is collecting them to make quilts to support homeless in NYC. She amazes me with all her energy.On the homefront - the first block for the 2010/11 annual Donation Quilt my local guild does each year to support Camp Rainbow is in...doesn't it look great. We are using a pattern from Blackbird Designs "Simply Vintage" (with their consent of course.) Generally we have found applique quilts raise more money than pieced ones...I know I am getting excited about this quilt. Other advantages to applique blocks: much easier to square up to consistant sizes (amazing how difficult it is when you get 25 pieced blocks ranging from 11-3/4 inches to 12-1/2 inches) and if members of the guild donate bits and pieces of fabric it cost a lot less to make so more goes to the charity. Some of the fabrics in this quilt are "leftovers" from a quilt the guild made 4 years ago...no waste with these quilters!

snow days

Like most of the country this is a slow weekend due to snow. I'm not complaining.
We had over 8 inches of the very wet stuff the other night. I went out three times to knock the snow off the "pepper myrtle" in my front yard. (They are very susceptible to breaking.) In the morning I was so happy to see it standing there in one piece. But than as I finished my second cuppa coffee we heard a loud crack...the largest of the limbs had broken off. Duhhhh. On the positive side I am saving the limb to see if my BIL can use it for wood turning and there will now be a bit more sun for flowers this summer in the front bed....

Goldie has been the smartest of the bunch....she has stayed in the bedroom under the quilts for what seems like days! The sun is out this morning though so I expect Goldie sightings any minute now....I did work on a few blocks for V's latest project (bumblebeans.) She is collected 10.5 (unfinished) house blocks to make quilts for the homeless in NYC. I'm going to try and have 6 ready for tomorrow's mail pickup...two down and 4 to go.
The second went together so much faster than the first I don't think this should be too big a hill to climb!Oh...and happy Valentine's day! The block above is from my 1860's applique quilt. I love the fabric used in this block! Half the signatures in this quilt are from Maryland and half from Pennsylvania.

New things...

I guess I just going to write this off as a play-month...
My sister showed me how to do rug hooking last week and I have started a sampler piece. She gave me some "worms" (already cut wool) but I wanted to try some different patterned wools so pulled some from my very meager wools stash. I made a run at dying some...

the bottom is the natural and on top of that is the dyed. I found the rougher wools took the over-dye much better than the smooth wool on top that came from an old skirt. (both had been washed and felted a bit before dying.)

Then I went over my friend Maggies house...have to insert cute cat photo of Tom on "his" Kaffe Fasset quilt!)
Anyway I tried using some of her inks and then experimented with what happens when you get the inks wet...
It needs a lot of thread painting and beads to crank it up a notch...and you know I have thread and beads!

Check out this 1930's quilt that Maggie quilted up for a customer. Lots and lots of exposed bias made this a really wonky quilt. I love the colors though....