Thre's a world out there...

Another favorite from the Charleston Show. She used lots of Kaffe Fasset fabrics that I love...both the semi-solids and stripes. The purple border is great!Soem of the inner corners are pieced and some jsut use dthe stripes to create the effect. Simple but beautiful
Yikes, I didn't realize how bad my eyes had gotten until the steroid teatment kicked in late yesterday! Life is good! Better living through chemistry from a woman who only a few years abo wouldn't take more than an aspirin and a vitamin! I was convince cranberry juice could cure anything...
Spring has hit Augusta early this year. We are still a few weeks away from the big event - Masters Week - and some folks are getting nervous. If it stays warm the bushes may peak too soon but on the other hand we could get a cold snap and the buds will freeze...all in the name of looking good on television! I hate to sound cynical...the course is drop dead gorgeous and it is run so civilized even non-golfers can have a good time. (What other sporting event can you get pimento cheese sandwich, a beer, and a bag of chips for under $5.)Of course it is almost impossible to get a ticket without planning at least a year in advance....personnaly I'd prefer to go to the Quilt show in Houston.
I got lots of fun fabrics in Charleston that I am slipping into the house each day. Makes no sense since I have piles of fabric to give away that I bought years ago but who needs to make sense when it comes to fabric anyways! I'm not being quite as strict on my fabric culling as I first wanted. I was tougher with the books since I can get so many ideas from the internet. Most of the books will go into storage...it is funny how I seem to pull the same ones out all the time anyways! The ones that are beside the bed come to England with me - obviously they are my comfort/inspiration reads!

Beach time

Since getting back from the show in Charleston I've had another MS episode. My face feels like a crazy dentist attacked it with novicane...sometimes I can't feel it, sometimes I can't hear, most of the time my nose feeles like it is running, and I make twitching movesments like the guy on the Pink Panter. Needless to say I've stayed home the past few days. Wierd as it may sound it is better than the times I'm lost my sight. This disease has a way of helping you appreciate little things! Like playing with the photos I took down at the beach while we were hunted for shells, neat rocks, and fossilized shark teeth! We also called it excersise...

I also posted a quilt from the show that I loved how they set the blocks on point with a variated pieced alternate blocks. It makes the quilt glow! I apologize for not including the maker's name...I can't find my show booklet right now.

Well today I am going to go into work for a little while to pick up some performance review materials so I can work on them at home. I am also giving my notice that my absolute last day will be mid-April. We will leave for overseas in early June and I need some time to get this house together!

Quilt Show Mavericks

The show last weekend was a lot of fun. Some great vendors (I was very bad!) and I got to see Bonnie and other quilter friends. Though, like most of the quilt excursions I wore myself out!

The photos is of Bonnie with a quilt made by members of our night bee - Wonderful Woman Who Quilt (WWWQ...The initials sort of makes it sound like a wrestling channel! Anyway, it was designed by Maggie Hunt and quilted by Bonnie in time for Rachel's 50th birthday. It is a great quilt! The colors are ones Rachel loves but doesn't use...sounds odd but it worked!

I drove down on Friday with a friend from out group. A good thing since we used two lane roads the entire way and unless there were two of you there is no way you would find all the turns! We stayed at Maggie's family's beach house in Edisto, SC. There were 8 of us staying there so of course that means we stayed up late in the evening reading quilt magazines, quilting and knitting. (Oh ya, and a few glasses of wine....) The next day we had lunch at a Middle Eastern Restaurant called Saffron...the service was poor, food was good the desserts were excellant! I'd go back...no skinny little high-school girl is mean enough to stand between me and great chocolate!

The high point of the trip for me was a visit to the People, Places and Quilts's booth and little shop in Charleston. They are one of my favorite shops on earth...and since I've gone through a fair many that is saying something! They have beautiful and unususal sample on the walls, great selection of fabric, and they are friendly. I love the way they package things...I got a basket of fabric that could be used as a centerpiece it is so pretty! Anyway, since I was in Charleston I got some of the Charleston reproductions that just came out and picked up the PPQ pattern they made to go with them. I don't usually use patterns with my reproductions but this will have good memories!

Antique Charity Quilt

Since I helped with the quilt exhibit at our local museum I have gotten a call a week from someone with a qult that they would like me to look at and tell them either how to take care of it, how was it made, and what it it worth. Most of the quilts so far haven't been too exciting. Friday was different.

The quilt in the photo was dropped off at a charity thrift store a few months ago. It was at the bottom of a box with several other quilts. The others were from the early 1900's and not in the same league at all as this one! I found several names for the block pattern - Whirling Wheel and Full Blown Tulip to name a few. The color placement is a bit different but these are the closest. The fabrics are pre-civil war. The quilting and piecing is excellent. Unfortunately the black dye in the red print is popping, it is very dirty, and there are a few paint, nailpolish, or some other red hard substance on the quilt. Combine the dirty and the popping and it makes for a difficult quilt. The setting of the blocks however is striking and the yellow fabric in the centers is beautiful. No provence on the quilt hurts its value as well.

It is a very fun qult though...but I am supposed to be downsizing not acquiring! So unless someone jumps in an buys it at the store this week you will see it on ebay in the near future. Sigh.

Finding Time

First I had to post a picture of Goldie...she was feeling left out since both Brownie (her sister) and Macbeth had made it into cyberspace...

As I've made my way through blogs I've noticed lots of UFO lists. I've even considered posting my own but am too nervous my husband would see it! I'm really good at starting projects but not at finishing. Sound familiar? So, I have a choice to make - this weekend I can stay home and finish at least one project (most likely my king-size log cabin) or I can go spend the a few nights at Edisto Beach, S.C. and visit the quilt show in Charleston.

Having read the first sentance you can guess I'm heading to the beach....I'm declaring this "freedom from UFO guilt" weekend. I will not make lists. I can buy fabric. I can start as many new quilts, necklaces, sweaters, journals, jackets, or anything else during the next three days. (It helps tomorrow is payday!)

Promise to bring back lots of photos from the show.

Home again

More photos from the quilt exhibit...the quilt top in this photo is one of my favorites (ok i say that about almost all the photos...) The applique stitches are so tiny and the colors so bright it makes me happy to look at it. I also like the way the border is perfect on one side...almost perfect the next and then by the final one she just chops off a third of the swag. Take that quilt police!

We got home late yesterday from New Mexico and are no closer to deciding on where we want to retire! I found out my husband doesn't like high elevations, small towns, lots of space between towns, or lack of green. He is suddenly thinking Florida! Is there a cool place in Florida? I guess we'll think about it tomorrow.

I really enjoyed New Mexico. I visited a very sad little quilt shop in Riudoso...it was closing. I got some batiks for my someday stash. I loved visiting the little shops around Las Cruses...got some great ideas for quilts and got some nice photos. Now I just need to find the cable for the digital camera...this is supposed to be easier than my old 35mm right?

Nosegay

I'm not a huge fan of 30's era quilts. I like them but they are not my "passion." Like all rules however there are exceptions and this nosegay quilt is one of them! The quilter made a quilt for each of her children...I belive 6-7. Anyway I got to meet two of them. They were surprised but happy that the quilt was in the exhibit.


I love how she pieced the corners...used such wild fabric combinations (marron and lime-green!) and let every stripe go any way it fell. Truely mavrick.
The humility block in the corner is a nice touch too!

I am off to New Mexico for a few days looking a property with my DH. He has it in his mind he would like to retire out west. My sister and kids live in New Mexico so we will give it a try. I'll report back next week!

One of my own...

It's funny how different some of the quilts looked while hanging at the museum versus how they looked at my own house. The photo is one of my log cabins quilts that I only put out occasionally. Not sure why. In the museum it is a stunner. There is little light and the pattern just jumps off the wall. It was a late entry...at the last minute the number of quilts that we could put in the show was cut back due to a new director at the museum. I will leave it as she has her own opinion on everything - qualified or not. I was getting very depressed. WE had dropped from exhibiting 60 to 30+ quilts. It was getting complicated. Just when we thought we had the final-final I noticed a little 6 foot wall at the edge of one of the exhibit rooms. I threw in my 60 inch log cabin circa 1880 mainly to increase the number of quilts...and it is a good example of the fabrics of that time. Anyway, I will blow my own horn and say it looks great. Humble beside the crazy quilts and Baltimore Applique this little cotton log cabin still greets every visitor to the exhibit and shouts I am an American Quilt to the visitors. I'm proud of it!

Voted Bonnie's most likely

I can't believe I don't have a full shot of this quilt top! It came from the same family as the cheddar and when I first say it I immediately thought of Bonnie! The blocks are almost 7 inches square and are a variation on the monkey wrench. The blocks are set in a lightning strip with some wild black and white stripes. Mixed in the bunch is a bit of silk and velvet! Talk about maverick!
The owner is a wonderful, refined southern woman. She lives in a beautiful antique filled home "on the hill." When I went to view her collection she said,"oh my family ran moonshine so there was some money there." I didn't know what to say...was she pulling this yankee's leg? What is the appropriate southern lady response? I decided to stick with what I know, "well, they sure could quilt" was all I said.
I had some questions about what demonstrations we did at the museum. We brought a bit of everything (my approach to every quilting event is to fill the Tuscon...then maybe I'll have what I need when I need it!) We had some handpiecing so we could show how templates were used and how to follow a pattern. In this case it was a carpenter's wheel done in repro fabrics. We has several examples of hand quilting - both a whole cloth and a "cobb quilt" pattern from Mimi Dietrich's book from the Smithsonian. Since there was a honeycomb quilt from the 1940's on display I also had my english paperpiecing project with me. (one gentleman from Chile was convinced I was using a machine somehow and got nose-to-stich with the piece!) Rachael had a crazy quilt block to show various stitches. Finally we had a couple of applique blocks with paper-n top and needleturn. I wish we had more folks attend...both from the guild and visitors. The museum isn't very good at getting the word out on anything.

Museum Cheddar

Today I did quilting demonstrations at our local museum with a couple of other members of my quilt guild. Other than the building being really cold it was fun. On exhibit are quilts made in the souther U.S. The photo is one of my favorites. It has eightpointed stars set in cheddar then in a dark blue which is sashed by a grey/teal blue. It was made in North Carolina. I don't think it has ever been used or washed...the browns and madders are in perfect condition. The quilting is tiny and done on the diagonal with three lines about 1/2 inch apart with the sets seperated by almost and inch.
I'll post more of the quilt photos during the week.

Still like brightest.

I am trying to finish one last volunteer project before going overseas - our annual donation quilt for Camp Rainbow. The box in the photo has the "project packs" ready to hand out at the next guild meeting. Partly I'm showing this so you can see I do work in other colorways than just reproducing fabrics! I have a lot of purple and bright green too!
The quilt will be of my own design and I'm more than a bit nervous about it! So far a half a dozen blocks have been handed in and they all look fun. We have had enough folks volunteer to do the applique so I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing! More photos to follow!
Working with the brights this weekend helps...it is cold and wet outside. I even found myself watching women's hockey on TV and liking it! I grew up in New England playing hockey on the town pond but had lost my appreciation for it. Olympic rules are a bit different...more finesse than beat-down. (Not to say they don't play hard though!) It may end up being the only event of the Olympics that I go out of my way to follow!
Tomorrow I will be doing quilt demonstrations at the museum with some other members of the quilt guild. It is part of the exhibit that is on display there until the second week of April. I'll try and get some photos of the neat cheddar quilt on display!!!

The things you find..

Today I am not at the Judy Twitty embellishment workshop. My hands started doing the dropsey thing last night and today I'm poking one fingered at the keyboard. I considered going and watching but decided I really needed to jsust rest. Maybe when I'm feeling better I can convince one of the other guild members to give me a crash course.

Clearing space in the quilting room is taking more time and energy then planned. I find myself tryng to finish things (it only needs binding....,) package projects (if I have the right fabric to put sashing between these blocks they would make a quick quilt...) or just reminising (this is the box of miscel. thimbles I bought in South Carolina at the little antique shop....) This means I've been in the quilt room for almost two days and have only one...that's right...one box - a large box - of stuff to get rid of. If I was on that TV show that forces people to get rid of clutter I would flunk! I just am not making progress and now with the MS kicking back in it seems almost insurmountable...alright, no more whining.

The photo is of 12 of the blocks I made during a year long class with Mimi Dietrick in Maryland. It was a great class. There are six half-made blocks...I think I was trying to finish 16 total. Now, I will finish two of the half-baked ones, put in sashing and call it a quilt...ah, well, a quilt top!

Almost forgot

A month ago I signed up to take and embellishment class that is scheduled for this Monday...I am soooo not prepared! Not to say I don't have the things on the supply list - if I could find the supply list - it is just they are not in one place. Not even in one or two places! So today is a scavenger hunt day.

To further complicate the matter I am supposed to have a block to embelllish...so I close my eyes faced one of the bookcases full of fabric and just reached out. The first one I laid hands on would be the feature fabric. This time I was lucky...it was an old Hoffman with shamrocks on it! Not a lot of color but something I could work with.

The photo shows that I can shop my own sewing room and not be deprived! I have enough to get through at lest one day!

First a Path...

So I've started to take the sorting and packing of my quilt room seriously. Nothing is going into long term storage so the options are simle: pack or get rid of. Of the latter I'm not even so concerned about how. There are half finished projects I will never finish so I will just let go of and not feel guilty in the least.

I think it is the yankee in me that feels just because I bought the fabric, the thread and started something that I am honor-bound to finish...not that it makes me finish. It just makes me keep the half done pink kitten babyblanket started for a girl who is not in middle school with a ring in her navel...I've digressed...I keep the half-finished projects in boxes and bags because I think it is wasteful to just stop and give them away. I am anxious to see the bottom of the closet.

The room is a hazard zone. When I first was diagnosed with MS the Insurance company sent over a social worker who specialized in making homes more accessible. I read the pamphlets before the man came and got it into my head that my sewing room would be much more "accessible" with hardwood floors instead of carpet, recessed lighting instead of lamps, and built in cabinets instead of free-standing bookcases. But when I opened the door the sewing room and asked for options he simply said, "first you need a path." I was stunned.

So my goal this weekend is to be brutal. When I look at a piece of fabric if I don't love it (or hate it so much that it is a perfect ugly) then into the box it goes. I've already uncovered four six inch acrylic squares, a broken iron, and a long lost mini-quilt that somehow got folded into extra pieces of batting.

Anyway, the rediscovered square on square with sawtooth border in the photo was a reproduction of a 1870's doll quilt. It is done in madders and measures about 16 inches square. I hand pieced and hand quilted it. It is in the keep pile!

More from the textile talk

This is another of the quilts brought by one of the attendees to the talk at the local antique gallery on textiles. The photos barely do this one justice. The colors are so saturated and bright and bold and beautiful in real life. I liked it. It is hand quilted in a grid pattern. the quilting is very good.

It is an around the world done in the 1920's. It is about 70x70 inches with 1-inch blocks and 5 borders! The yellow and pink really pop. Solids were popular in the 20's and most the prints are lareger floral.

It had been made by the woman's grandmother and It has spent the past 30 years or so in her mom's closet but recently the woman had used it to cover the floor while her kid's played. It is her quilt, but on the side I did reccomend she just buy an import for 30 bucks for the kids to play on and put the family piece aside. The kids will appreciate it more when they get older that way. She went off the buy acid free tissue at the Jeff's.

This is the end of the quilts from that day though. The rest of the bags contained woven coverlets and samplers. They were fun just not quilts!

Anyway, I have to get to work sorting today. One room...one closet...ok, one corner at a time.

Antique Textile talk

This morning I went to a lecture on antique textiles an appraisals at a local antique gallery. A nice way to spend a saturday morning! A few folks brought in some interesting pieces...mainly samplers and woven coverlets but a few quilts. The photo is of one that I really liked. It is a solid green and off-white with a double pink sashing and border. I'm not sure which block came first..did she start with the wonky ones and get better or start with the perfect blocks and then go nuts! I'm not sure the appraiser really cared for it (she looked at me funny when I asked the owner for permission to take the photo) but I thought it was a hoot!

It was nice to go to one of these and get to sit down and listen. I was very well behaved and only spoke up twice. (Major self control for me! When old quilts are around my mouth tends to run like racecar engine!) The woman was very gracious however and gave a lot of publicity for the exhibit at the Augusta Museum of History that I worked on so maybe some of the folks there will also go to the museum.

Finally Friday...

I was rummaging through my photos to find something interesting to show you all...looks like I need to set up a photo shoot since it seems I have more photos of other folks quilts then my own! Anyway, this is a project that has been almost finished for over 7 years! I can't believe it either! It is one of those projects with no real purpose...I just wanted to try 3-inch stamp baskets. So no timeline means lots of time! Anyway, I want to finish it this weekend so I can make one of those big fat checkmarks on my to-do list! That is if I can find my to do list....

This has been a long week...I am so excited about it being Friday I could just take a nap! About noontime I began to think about not meeting friends after work and going straight home. By two I had called a neighborhood teenager to ask her to take Macbeth for his afternoon walk. By three I called ahead to the Italian restaurant to have takeout ready for me so I could use the drive through. By four I began to think drive though was such a good idea I called in a perscription to Walgreens...that way I don't have to get out of bed on Saturday...

I'm not ususally like this...and I wasn't the only one like that this week. When I left at 4:15 I was the only one left on the Administration Floor and the parking lot was almost empty! It is nice the days are getting longer again. I don't drive well at night so the longer the day the easier it is for me to get around.

(Just to show how "out of it" I was...I accidently saved this as a draft on Friday night and forgot to publish it!)

Late to work

First the good news = Macbeth, my Scotty terrier, is no longer ignoring me. Hopefully the lab reports will go as well.

The photo is of a miniquilt I made using 3/4 inch strips for the log cabins. The difference between Bonnie and I is mine finished quilt is about 15 inches by 15 inches where hers will cover a real bed! I stitched this by hand during in ice storm where the lights kept going on and off. It has some of the first reproduction fabrics that I collected - the Harriet Hargrave shirtings, cadet blues, and indigos. I ended up tying the quilt since there is so much seam allowance behind the strips.

I'm allowing myself to take it slow this morning. Last night my muscles were acting up...I'm sure it was a combination of stress and just plain being tired. I called in and told them I was coming in late to the office so I could take some extra time stretching, drinking coffee, and patting the animals. I didn't have anything scheduled so I do not feel guilty in the least! I may even cruise past the quilt shop on the way and see if they have that perfect blue and green stripe I need for the donation quilt (of course I only have an 8-inch square left in my stash!)

When I do go out today I will have to use my cane to keep my balance...I so hate that. The alternative however is to get these funny looks from people like "I can't believe she is drunk this early in the day." MS irritating in how erratic it can be...one day fine the next I have problems seeing...standing...speaking etc. Today is not a bad day - just not a good one. I've had thoughts of embellishing a cane! I mean if you have to have one it might as well be wild, right?

Stress Stitching

My little scottish terrier, Macbeth, had to have surgery today. He is fine. I, on the other hand, am a mess.

When I was grooming him last week I noticed a strange bump on his neck. I thought it was an ingrown hair and tried to take care of it but by Friday it looked really bad. I brought him to the vet and he said he would have to cut it out. Well on the surface it was only 1/2 inch across but it was huge underneath...the poor pup has a 2-1/2 inch row of stitches right behind his ear. He is soooo angery at me he will not eat anything. He will not play with his cats. He will not chase his stuffed camel named Sadamn. He will not even look at me. He is killing me!

The worst part is they had to send the specimen out for pathology. I hate the wait. My DH was watching me like he thought I would have a breakdown right there in the reception area. At least he didn't blink when I paid the bill..he knew better. (Though he has often commented that we pay more for animal medical care then we do for our own!)

So my DH is pushing me out the door to go to quilting bee tonight. We are working on a new donation quilt to raise money for Camp Rainbow - a camp for children with cancer. I'm trying to make some very diverse quilters happy (art, contemp, traditional, advanced, beginner, applique, piece....you got the picture?!) Last year we used 1930's prints, the year prior we used country/reproduction, so this year folks were lobbying for brights. Me, I love all of them. I'm being a bit more adventurous and doing the design myself...this makes some of them nervous...it makes me nervous! Hopefully all will go well. I'll have some photos soon. I'm sure I'll be asking for advice!

Macbeth is asleep now. I'll say a prayer to St. Francis and go to bee...

Too much stuff

Today my DH and I got word we most likely will be moving overseas. We've talked about it for at least a couple of years but things just never came together. This time it looks very likely and I'm a bit unsure of the whole thing now. The problem? Too much stuff.

It isn't just fabric (that is all coming with me!) It is the 12 suits I haven't worn since I left corporate, the 11 pewter dishes still in their boxes from our wedding day, the ten boardgames left behind by the stepchildren when they moved away, the nine Lladros given me by friends who thought I liked them when they saw me buy one as a gift for my sister, the eight putters all of which my husband thought would solve his golf game, the seven pairs of worn out shoes, the six boxes of old photos, five broken coffeepots, four chairs that need re-caning, three crystal decantars, two pullout couches, and lazyboy recliner with worn spot. (sorry, I couldn't help myself.....)

The point being, I only have a limited amount of energy and time. I know I'll feel better when it all is done. It is all that in between stuff that wears me out! I'm hoping the local MS group takes me up on my offer..if they pull it out into the front lawn and run the yard sale they can have the profits. (If I have the disabled vetrans come again my neighbors will think I'm having an affair!)

I may even part with a few of my antique quilts. My nieces and nephews aren't interested and I've already given my sisters a few. It comes to a point that I just can't take care of them anymore. A few years in storage certainly isn't good for them and a trip across the ocean is tough too. So many decisions!

Anyway, I've included a photo of my steeple chase circa 1870 that hangs in my DH study and will be replaced by the red, white and blue if and when I get that finished!