Tall House Quilts

It's rare

2012-01-22T12:33:00.006-07:00

that one magazine is chock full of things I want to make but every once in a while it does happen. Like with this one. I really like this one. And easy and scrappy, right. I have lots of scraps. But not the '30's fabrics like in the picture.

So this is my version. Substitute fabrics in my normal colours and some Kona tan -- yes, a solid, and here it is. I like how it turned out. It is pretty big -- you can see it is bigger than my design floor. So it will be a bear to quilt. Ahem, once it is sandwiched and pinned. Whenever that will be...

Then there is this one. I love all of it but the appliqued leaves. They don't do much for me. But I love the turquoise added to fall colours. Even though I don't particularly own much turquoise. Being blue and all.

So this is what I did. The leafy focus fabric had been hanging around for a while and is one that I really like. Rich jewel like colours in it. So I chose others, again many scraps. and ended up with this. Again I really like how it turned out. It, too, is awaiting sandwiching and pinning.

And then there is this one. Tiny little bits.

And it just so happens that I have lots and lots of the corners that were cut off from another project. So, ta da, here is my raw material. And the first few rows. This is a project I am working on in between others -- kind of like leaders and enders. So it won't be finished for a while even at its small size.

So what else have I been doing? This quilt started out as one of those stacks of fabric that look good together. But of course I didn't take a pic of the stack. The top is not together yet and I am considering borders. I think that the blue may be my choice! The lighter blue. That fabric is probably at least 25 years old. It is an old favourite. I had it in kind of a toast brown, too. But that one is all gone. Every once in a while I find a tiny bit of it. It makes me smile.

So, speaking of really old, this is a nightgown like I wore when I was a teenager and in my twenties. Lanz of Salzburg. This is actually one from those years. I have saved it thinking of using the flannel in something.

At some point my MIL gave me a new one. A little pastel for my tastes. So I never wore it and at some point I gave up on these nightgowns. Too long ago to remember. Anyway, I decided to make these pajama pants out of the newer one. Let's you know how full those old gowns were because with some careful laying out I got all the pieces I needed with all the stripes even going the right direction. I had to show you the old one because of course I forgot to take a pic of this one before I had taken it all apart. Now I just need to remember how to sew clothing!

We live in a little neighbourhood full of older retired folks. That means estate sales are a pretty regular feature. I found both these bottles for $1 each. Don't you love the metal handle? I have a brown Borden's quart milk bottle, and now I have a bigger one. Milk tastes much different from a glass bottle I think. Almost drinkable. Almost.

Then these were at the thrift store. They were hooked over what looked like asbestos trivets. Pretty stained as well, but now that they have been set free and soaked aren't they cool? I don't know what I will do with any of these finds but something will come of them I am sure.

It's so hard to pay retail for decorative items when they are so inexpensive at the thrift store. Buying there leaves more funds for fabric. And that's a good thing.

Just in time

2011-12-24T11:42:00.008-07:00

I am posting pics of some of my Christmas decorations. I had intended to get this post up early enough to join some of the link parties. Oh, well. In fact I had intended to post sooner than 6 weeks from the last post. Oh, well. So directly from Halloween to Christmas we go.

This is one of my absolute favourite things I have ever found haunting the crafts gone bad aisle at the thrift store. Don't you love his wire ears -- like old wire coat hangers. With apologies to Joan Crawford I like them. Much of what I did this year I did like last year but some things are different and this is one area that is. The Santa sign was also thrifted. It is stick on letters, not paint, so it gives me hope that I, too, could make a wooden sign.

This is my mantle, or at least one end of it. I decided not to fight garland this year, so omitted it -- remember I am garland impaired. I like the patriotic bear with my own home made vaguely patriotic Santa against the flag background. I already have ideas how to add to this next year. Which I will probably forget by next year.....

Here is the entire mantel. Yes, I have 3 of those bear angels. I just love them. Part of my idea for next year does away with the topiaries. While I love the tins they sit in, topiaries are just not me. I think they will go tinless into the spring neighbourhood garage sale.

Here is the wooden box with its winter lid. I thought the little snowgirl went well with it. The stocking, not so much, but it did fit the space. It, too is a thrifted find. I like it lesss now than when it was purchased. But that's the beauty of thrifting -- it is inexpensive to change your mind!

This is actually quite different from it's usualy look. But I think I like the new look. Yes, another thrifted sign. You can pretty much figure that anything that is painted is thrifted because I have no artistic talent. Painting is definitely not my forte unless it is walls.

A couple of new little Christmas quilts by the front door and tree. My love affair with yellow green is showing.

Also by the front door. I was visiting some blogs via the link parties and one blogger was mentioning that she did not have much in the way of family things because her mother was not a saver. I can sure identify with that. My mother did not value anything old. But these little characters were hers and they go with some I have. She took them to the retirement community she lived in for her last several years so I was able to salvage them when she passed. This is there first visit to this shelf. I think it is a good fit.

This little marble table/stand is under the shelf. It came from my in-laws. They were always making things out of other things and this is one of their creations. My MIL loved this piece of marble -- with its bold colour. I like it too, it just needs to go in a safe place out of traffic because running into those marble corners leaves big bruises!

Since the tree goes by the front door in the dining room, the dining room gets is the main Christmas area. This is on the other side of the room. Don't you love the braided tree skirt? It came from Gooseberry Patch when they still had their catalog of stuff other than cookbooks. I wish they still did as they had so many cute things. It seems like an odd choice in the age of the internet recipe that you would make your business model only cookbooks. But what do I know? Anyway, I think the little tree skirt will stay out and become a table mat somewhere all year.

Also in the dining room, another little shelf.

The top of one of the cabinets Mr THQ built. This is a new little vignette. Both those sleds have been thrifted. They both would have been red but we ran out of red spray paint and it was so old we couldn't match the colour. So one became green. A lucky accident because they look good together paired in the traditional Christmas colours I think. And yes, I should have traded out that quilt for a Christmas one, but didn't think of it until everything was finished and the thought of one more trip of the ladder was a definite non-starter!

The other cabinet he built that sits in the corner of the dining room. Mr THQ gave me the little Coke crate wagon a few Christmas's ago and it is a favourite.

At last we move into the dining room table. I have noticed that lots of the bloggers on the link parties set their table for the holiday meal and then take that picture. I love to set the table so maybe I should do that. But I also love my box, my H O M E blocks, and my little fence. so it is hard to pass up making a new vignette for the table.

I have a baker's rack in the dining area of the kitchen that I don't usually take pics of because it is in front of a window and most of them come out very badly. In fact, the one I took of the higher shelves is just shadows. But this one of the bottom is okay. I changed this up a bit from normal. See that little chest? I was a doll clothes chest from when I was a kid. One of the few things I have. I refinished it years ago. It holds recipe clippings, coupons, little things like that now.

Over the cabinets in the eating area. I really love this little tree. It is really the top from a long gone artificial tree. I like my little gingerbread baking corner, too, although I think next year I will expand it further across the top -- maybe both corners.

Another little tree. Most of the ornaments came from my LQS a nubmer of years back. They all have an old fashioned look to me.

And for the finale a couple of shots of the tree. I took these pics on a really cloudy day because that is all we had for a while, so they are a little dark. I love to fill my tree with lots of things, many hand made (some even hand made by me). Basically no traditional Christmas balls. I like it to be really full, too. but no "kissies." This view is coming down the hall from the laundry room and garage, taken from the kitchen door.

This view is a bit brighter. It's the view from the front door. It is the "front" of the tree to me so it is the side with my favourite ornaments.

Well, that's the tour. Here is the part where I make all the normal promises about getting back to posting on a regular basis. And I mean it, too. Really. The intentions are good. Now maybe the reality will match.

Merry Christmas.

Gaposis

2011-10-29T06:57:00.010-06:00

That's what my mother called that open gap between the buttons just in the wrong place on a button up blouse. I never wear button up blouses because of that gap.

So I have been suffering from blog gaposis. It has been awhile. I have the usual excuses -- busy, blah, blah, real life, blah, blah, etc. But I am back, so let's get on with the show. I still have lots of quilt show photos but since I have actually both decorated for fall and Halloween and completed some quilts I thought I would start with me, me, me.

So, let's start with decorations first. I think this little bear came from Avon a number of years ago. The sunflower box top didn't come with the box when I got it but I found it thrifting not to long ago and while it is not an exact fit it won't fall off and covers the box opening. I love the little orange witchy bear -- I have had him for a long time.

At Art in the Park, an annual festival here in Boise a woman always sells lots of little quilts like this one with various shapes. After we first moved here and I saw them I made this copy cat. I have a heart one for Valentine's day, too. This is its first year in this spot and I kind of like it.

Do you always put your holiday decorations in the same places every year? I do on the ones I really like -- in fact I look back at pictures. But some things roam. This little scarecrow always goes right here. I love the witch wooden thing-- I think I found it in the crafts gone bad aisle at Deseret last year and I think this is where I put her last year. I really like her. She stays out in my sewing room all year long.

I don't know if I really like these gourds. Like the colours, but, meh. This is a new spot for them and I am not sure the new scenery improved them.

This area is ordinarily kind of fallish in its look. I like the little white pumpkin against the black.

I have more table runners than I have tables so I just added these to this basket 'o quilts. I certainly have way more quilts than beds, and walls, and shelves, and...

My dining room table. I forgot to get that runner thrown over the chair put away before I took the pic. Oh, well.

Fall mantle.

I've had this little ghost pillow longer than my daughter is old. He is in pretty remarkable shape for hitting his '40's, don't you think? Even still pretty white.

Have done a bit of thrifting during my absence. Not as much as I usually do because, blah, blah, blah, but here is a small sample. Love the Santa pattern. Now if I would just make some of these doll patterns.

As I said, I have some finishes to share. A friend gave me the new Whimsicals panel a few months ago. I didn't want to make a full sized quilt so I made mini quilts from the bits. Here is Krackle Kitty.

I gave this one to the friend who gave me the panel because the poinsettias made me think of her. It ended up in a local quilt shop as a sample for a while. Happy, happy, now I am a quilt shop recognized designer and a published author. :-D No, authorship has nothing to do with quilting but does have something to do with gaposis.

I really like how this one came out.

And I really really like how this one came out. Even if it is basically blue.

So what else have I been working on? I love this back even if it was just a way to make enough of the checkered fabric.

Here is the front. It was a panel and a kit from the Gathering Place in Rupert that I bought at a quilt show a few years ago. And I pretty much used the fabrics that came in the kit.

I made two alike except for the fabric choices. The pattern is by Malka Dubrawsky called Fish Baby Log Cabin. I think I found it on Sew, Baby, Sew, but am not sure. Hers is bigger and in solids but I really liked the concept. I love, love, love how this one came out. Mr THQ likes the chicken fabric.

And here is my fall version. You already saw part of it because it is on my dining room table right this minute being fallish.

Then I have some "modern" quilts, unlike what I normally do. Here is a bright one. I am currently madly in love with chartreuse right now. Thinking back I have always like it I think. When I was in junior high and those huge mohair cable sweaters were in style I saved up baby sitting money and bought one in chartreuse that I wore and wore until it was just a lump of pilled threads.

Not so modern here, I used up fat quarters. I have a fall one like this, too, but it is not quilted yet. Or even pinned. It will have to wait for next year I guess, but this one is ready for Christmas. I like it a lot, too. I looked for all my kind of darkened reds and greens. Lots of Thimbleberries here. I really like the black dots on the ivory background squares. I love it when I love a finished quilt, don't you?

And another modern one. I am showing you the back to prove that you should use no fabric before its time. I have had this VIP print since the late '70's or early '80's. I had it in blue that you have seen on other backs I think (it was in my blue phase) but I have always loved this colour way and it is the perfect back here, don't you think?

This is a colour study from a blog called In Colour Order I think. I had fun using brights. And look at my binding... yup, that green again.

When my daughter still lived at home way back when Mr THQ who did all the laundry used to complain that all our clothes were the same and all blue-green-purple. That's what he said when he saw this quilt. But there is only the tiniest smidgen of blue on it. This is not at all what I usually do but I fell in love with that kind of blue green fabric with the thistles and ended up buying a fat quarter stack of the line. And bonus, it has that green in it.

Well, back with a vengeance, don't you think? Lotsa pictures. I am not going to make a promise I might not keep as to how soon I will be back, but I will be back, that I can promise. Still have lots of quilt show pics to share, some works in progress, and other stuff, but have more traveling coming up and that often gets in the way.

Hope not everyone has given up on me and that you are still out there......

I took a lot of pictures at the Boise show,

2011-08-14T09:00:00.008-06:00

now, didn't I? Are you tired of them yet? I hope not. I just need to increase my posting frequency to get them all up.

You might not be able to tell but this is one of those picture tapestries that was incorporated into a quilt. Really cool. Hard to tell in the pics but what a great idea! Especially for those of us who are not applique stars.

I thought this was really a nice quilt. Some details and then the entire thing. I like the colour choices. I even like the butterflies although I am not generally a butterfly fan.

Look at this bottom row. Cute, cute, cute.

And houses, too. I have never made a row by row quilt. I don't know why. I generally like them.

Okay, here is the whole thing.

How about this red work one? It has houses and you know I am a sucker for houses. Oh, chickens, too. I just noticed.

Not sure why I have this photo. Probably because it is a simple scrappy block.

Bright sampler. I really like a couple of the blocks.

I have this pattern, have made the backgrounds, and collected the oranges. I love all of it but the top row. Time to haul it out and make it. I can omit the top row, right? I think I don't like it because it's pretty traditional and the rest of the blocks are a bit whimsical and I love whimsical.

Favourite block, bright colours. What's not to like?

This was the featured quilter. She also owns a shop in a town an hour or so away. She does a lot with folded log cabin. I love the way they look and she sells kits but they are pretty spendy. Need to get to her shop. Her booths are always great at shows. First up is this flag. Really cool I think.

Houses -- at the beach.

I adore this one with the hearts. I love the colours. It was one of those spendy kits. Didn't come home with me.

Another of hers.

More patriotic. I have seen something similar to this in a magazine I think.

Here is a closer view of the center. I always like it when other people use backgrounds that are kind of busy but I never like it when I do it. Weird, huh?

This was last year's raffle quilt but done in different colours. There was one at the Kuna show that you will eventually see, too. I guess I just really like this quilt as I take pics of it every time I see it no matter what the colour way. It's the sunflowers I guess.

I like these tied flower bundles, too. I just could never do the applique even with blanket stitch and fusible. There is so much and so much that is small.

Gotta love the birdhouses.

Well, still more to go but I didn't want to load up too many pics. I will truly try to be back sooner. Just so much to do!

Before we get back to the show

2011-08-04T14:11:00.008-06:00

I thought I would share what I am doing right now. Do you like this mess? My scrap tote (see it there, the clear one) got too full to close so I decided that I would take the scraps that are outside my "normal" style and put them in another spot. In this case the white tote that of course had to be emptied of its contents first. So I got started. One thing I discovered is that I have been saving way too many scraps that are totally too small to be usable. So from now on no strips less than 1" and no scraps smaller than 1 1/2" square. That's probably still too small but I have to start letting go somewhere. I am just way too much of a P A C K R A T! Now on to the show. I love the fabrics and colours in this quilt so much that I have several close up blocks as well as the quilt. Apparently it was a kit at a shop a few towns away from me. One of these days I will take pics of the bathroom off my quilting room. It is my only cottage-y room and is mainly pink and green, like this quilt.

This block is pretty even though it has friendship stars in it. I love stars but of the Ohio variety, not the friendship variety. Weird, isn't it?

I love the fabric combination in this one. I love the plaid and the check.

Here's a little bigger view so you can see the cornerstones -- stars. I have never done that. I really like it. Of course they have those tight angles but on the end of sashing it would be pretty easy to do I think.

Here is the whole quilt.

I love the colours in this one. And the border print. Very french country, don't you think? Once upon a time my style was french country.

I have the book with this pattern. I really like it and maybe someday I will make it.

Here is the whole thing. Another interesting border fabric.

Look at this colour wheel. Cool, yes? I love the grey scale blocks on the top and the black and white on the bottom, Oh, and the wheel itself, too. Just really like it a lot.

Interesting pictorial and I love the quilts on the line above. And the border on this one, too. Kind of like a frame.

This is the end of a happy table runner.

See, happy colours and happy fabrics.

Curvy log cabins. In rainbow colours. Love the purple and green together. Once a long long time ago I read an article that said you should never go on a job interview wearing green or purple if you wanted to get the job. I can't remember why but I have always remembered that. Seems so unfair to pick on too perfectly good colours. I have hired people who wore purple or green. But maybe I am the exception that proves the rule!

Here is the whole quilt. Don't you love how the colours streak through it?

There were a lot of versions of this quilt and you will get to see a bunch more on another day. But I love this one both colours and I love the curvy border treatment. And the stripe next to the graphic dotty fabric is just a phenomenal combo I think.

A local quilter has written a book on curved piecing and teaches classes. When I first heard about it I didn't think I was interested but seeming some of these quilts, and I think this one is hers, I am reconsidering.

The other corner. Since I am short I could only take pics of the bottom corners so you just get two.

Here is the whole thing. Don't you love the curvy framing around each block? And the colours?

That's all for today. I will be back as soon as I can with more. And then there will be Kuna. Oh how I love quilt show season!

How about some Boise quilt show pics?

2011-07-29T13:00:00.007-06:00

Riddle me this -- when you accidentally load the same pic twice it is really difficult to find the right key combination to delete it. But when you want a picture it is soooooooooooo easy to do whatever it is that deletes it. Grrr.

But I digress before I even get started. Since it is only a week away from the Kuna show I figured we better start looking at pics from the Boise show held at the end of June.

This first one is blue, I know, but it is really pretty. And you know I love this block. And I love the scalloped border. I will have to try that I guess. (And yes, it adds insult to injury that the pic that I accidentally deleted and had to reload was blue!) I am not a fan of batiks but I really like the block in this quilt. Besides it is Boise State colours.

Here is the whole thing.

And here is another block close up. Isn't it interesting? And actually, now that I stare at this block, the quilt is not really batiks is it? Just has that look. And lots of those taupe Japanese fabrics or Japanese like fabrics. I stand corrected.

Here is a bright one. I love the way the wheels on the bus go round and round. Well, you know what I mean -- lots of movement in these circles.

Here is a closer look at part of it. Bright colours, black and white so it has reverse colours, and lots of curved sewing. Eek on the curved sewing part.

I guess I am in a blue phase. I love the way the blocks form the pattern in this one. So simple yet so effective.

It does contain at least half a bazillion HSTs though, doesn't it? Nice quilting, too. I am getting to like solids more and more.

A more traditional quilt.

And nice reds and greens. I like the use of the stripe as a border and I love the all the fabrics used in the block. Checks, stripes, and a nice star variation.

This one was in the featured quilter area on a table so the shot is kind of funny. I like that it uses purple.

More next time. I will try to be back sooner rather than later. Life keeps getting in the way of personal blogging. You know how that goes. Hope no one melts out there.

Mid Year's Resolutions

2011-07-17T09:50:00.005-06:00

You can make them mid-year, can't you, not just at New Year's? I think I need to resolve to stop buying fabric until I use more up. The stash is definitely getting out of control. The shelves are stuffed to overflowing. What brought this on you ask? Well, if you must know, digging in my scrap bin. Which is also overflowing.

I am working on several projects at once and they require digging in scraps and in the stash and this has brought cold hard reality to the fore. I really have a lot of fabric! I bet you are not surprised. But such cool stuff keeps coming out. And it can make some of the things in my stash look a little tired and forlorn.

Plus sometimes when you are digging in your stash don't you just wonder how you ended up with some of it? I think our tastes change a bit over time plus there is always the stuff that gets bought when you just have to have another red or green for some project. Or blue. Yesterday I bought some blue at Joann's with my 50% off coupon because I really did need some blue. You know I did.

One of the other things that affects tastes is blogging don't you think? I have been reading lots of "modern" quilt blogs. In general I love the bright colours. While primitives is my style the brights attract me and I want to some of those, too.

Oh, well, we will see how long I can keep this resolution.

Meanwhile, what have I been up to? Well, going to quilt shows as you know, and yes there are still lots of pictures from the Boise show to share. But I thought I would let you know what little I have been doing.

First up is a panel a friend sent me. One day an unexpected package came in the mail. It was soft an squishy and you know what that means. This was inside. From Whimsicals. Isn't it cute? I have cut it up but that is as far as I have gotten so far.

This was in the package also. It is a tall house. And there is a tall house in the panel, too, see it? Now this friend knows the secret about my tall house but these reminded her of me and she got them for me. Isn't that just the greatest? I found a chain so I can wear this tall house. I love the autumnal colours in this, too.

So on to what I have been working on. I found a new blog, "Live a Colorful Life" which I read all the way back to the beginning. I found it during the online spring market quilt show. This was the quilt she showed. I fell in love. I think she will ultimately do a tutorial -- at least she mentioned she might. Anyway, even though I had never worked with selvedges before and just had the picture to go by I copied her quilt shamelessly. But hers is way better because she uses pieces of the selvedges that say something meaningful. And hers is finished with cute quilting.

I learned a lot and now I think I know how to work with selvedges. I am leaving this one alone though because I like it anyway and thank you, thank, you, thank you to Cindy for creating such a cool quilt. Go look at her blog and her really cute pincushions she makes with selvedges.

And I finally finished this top. I wasn't really happy with any of the choices I had for sashing and the voting was mixed. I found a new lighter green Susan Winget fabric that is almost like the acid green and it looks terrific I think. So now this top is finished. Boy do I have a lot of pinning and quilting to do. The box of tops and backs really runneth over. (Yes, you noticed, another new fabric purchase here.)

And then I made this little top. I love, love, love it too, now. It is a free pattern on Sew Mama Sew.
You do go there, don't you? It had a couple more rows around it but I didn't like it as much when they were there so I took them off and left it like this. I really like the different widths of the logs. The outside ones were fatter and they just seemed too big to me. Here is the link to the pattern: http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2011/04/free-fish-baby-log-cabin-pdf-pattern-malka-from-a-stitch-in-dye/ It's called Fish Baby Log Cabin. I like it so much I am going to make more like it in different colours. I have a bunch of fat quarter bottoms from making Buggy Barn quilts that will work for this I think. I found them and thought of it when I was digging in the scrap bin.

Then, speaking of "modern" quilts, which I was, I made this top, too. It is from the warm/cool quilt a long at the "In Colour Order" blog. Here is the link to the QAL: http://incolororder.blogspot.com/p/warm-cool-quilt-along.html

I thought it was fun because I got to use some of the newer and my older (from when the grand kids were little) BRIGHT fabrics. I do not have a clue where I will put it in my house but it is fun, don't you think? Well, yes, I do have a clue -- on the guest room bed under the comforter where lots of quilts go to hang out. One of these days it will be so tall you will need a ladder to get up onto that bed!

So, this post probably should have been entitled something about links since I have added so many. It's kind of an all over the place post. Just catching up and matching up to my all over the place life right now. Keepin' it real, you know.

The rest of the Council show

2011-07-10T13:32:00.005-06:00

Remember, I told you I didn't take a lot of pictures so we can finish up today. This one is an interesting log cabin-ish quilt I think. It makes me think of watermelon because of the colours I guess but not really. You can see just the edge of this one peeking out of the previous pic so here is the whole thing. Signature block pattern I think. Interesting colours. Probably the most modern quilt at the show. I have started reading lots of modern quilt blogs when I have time to read blogs, which, unfortunately has not been often lately and I think this one would fit in, especially with the kind of aqua.

More traditional with lots of stitchery. I worry about that poor sheep who swallowed a house... Interesting wool and stitchery. I don't think I have seen anything quite like it before.

I love this sunflower block. It is part of a great quilt but it certainly is my favourite block. I don't know that I have a favourite flower but sunflower would certainly be in the running.

Here is the entire thing. I love the dark background. Oh, and it has sunflower yellow sashing hasn't it?

I have this pattern. Actually it was a kit. I got it out one day and decided it looked like too much trouble and I didn't really have a place for it to go if I were to finish it so I used some of the fabrics for something else. My kit was Christmas red and green. Here are two interesting colour and fabric takes on the pattern. Incredibly different and different still from what my kit contained.

Obviously there are others in this pattern -- it was a group challenge. But I only took the pics of the ones I liked the best.

Here is another applique quilt. with my more favourite country prim colours. I love all the different baskets.

So there we go. Yes, I have been doing a bit on my own and I also have a lot of pics from the Boise show so plenty more to share, just need to get to it along with everything else that is going on.

Council Quilt Show Pics

2011-07-05T14:35:00.006-06:00

Let's have a look at the Council quilt show, shall we? I didn't take lots of pictures so probably two posts will do it. The Emmett show didn't have a chicken quilt but Council came through. I really like this one. Kind of bright prim colours. I love that they face different directions and that there is that one upside down one. I always feel like the upside down one -- out of synch with everyone else... This is one of the theme quilts. I really like the tree and the basket on the bottom right.

Love the colours on this one. Lots of different bits and pieces of applique and piecing. Even embroidery.

I love, love, love this one. Sweet. Lot's of stitchery. Not something I am ever likely to do but I like to look at it. It looks like some of the Australian designs I see all over the web.

I liked the use of stitchery in this one, too. Interesting colours.

This is an unusual border I think. I don't know that I have seen the long strip and little square treatment before but I like it a lot. I hope I can remember it when I am thinking about borders and edge treatments. Love the diagonal stripe binding, too. I never think of that but It always looks absolutely terrific.

Here is the rest of the quilt. Kind of deep bright pastels. I imagine this is paper pieced. Did you catch the quarter circles/suns in the borders? Neat ideas all the way around on borders on this one.

It's funny that I have decided to make 2 quilts after this show that I didn't take pictures of. Both Buggy Barn -- one hearts and one stars. I already had the patterns and have pics of them buried somewhere on the camera that I will share later on. Both of the quilts at the show were done in batiks which is not my favourite fabric style. But also there was not much contrast on them so it was hard to discern the stars and hearts. But I still got to thinking a lot about them and want to get them made. Isn't that funny -- that you would be inspired by something you didn't particularly think worked?

So what do you think?

2011-06-21T13:49:00.006-06:00

Which sashing looks the best? Help me decide. This one is a light green gingham like thing from DS from JoAnns. This one is a kind of dull green with dots.

A bright pink with dots. April Cornell from JoAnns.

Followed by an older Michael Miller light aqua dot.

Or what I originally thought I was going to use -- a kind of acid green texture.

I thought taking pics of all of them and looking at them on the screen as well as on the floor would help. But of course the colours on the screen are not like real life, so it hasn't helped. But you can, what do you think? Let's crowdsource this question!

Let's finish the Emmett quilt show pictures

2011-06-20T13:21:00.005-06:00

This was my very favourite quilt at the show. Mr THQ said it looked like a formica table top from the fifties and it kind of does -- the colours certainly are very fifties and it kind of has that boomerang look. It is a Buggy Barn and when I came home and looked it up it appears that the fabric choices I was so enamoured of were all part of the kit. So at least I don't have to be quite so envious of the colour choices -- after all, they were done by a PROFESSIONAL. I always like samplers. Lot's of applique on this one. I like how the borders go all roundy.

Not my colours at all seeing how this one comes across as pastel, but I loved the churn dash border.

This one said it had been made a while back and the colours show that. I have made these kinds of hearts. They are fun and easy.

Isn't this a cute little one? I love the border.

This one was up high, at least way too high for me to get a good look at it. I like the snowy looking backgrounds.

More Buggy Barn. Of course, I have 4 BB books but none of them are the ones that have the quilts from this show that I liked. Go figure. Nice cats but what I really love is the funky flowers. I had seen this one in the most recent "Quilt Sampler" magazine in one of the pictures. It wasn't labeled but I figured it was a BB and now I know that it is.

Don't you find when you look at all the shop pics in that magazine that they never identify the quilt you want to know about? I have called shops in the past to get pattern names but they take the pics so far in advance that sometimes it is hard to get the answer, and even harder to get the pattern.

Another little one. More my colours. I once tried to make all the little quilts in one of the Little Quilts books and got about half way. I guess I should resurrect that project. Small ones are almost instant gratification. And I can pin baste them on my cutting table so I don't have to get all my stuff out and moved around in the dining room.

See, another Buggy Barn. I would never in a hundred bazillion years thought of doing any BB pattern in neutrals. Of course I would never in a hundred bazillion years think of doing anything in neutrals. But this is really striking and I like it a lot.

Another green and red one.

And I don't really like the colours of this one at all but I like the pattern. It really has a 3 dimensional look to me even though it is flat. The description said it took 2 special rulers!

This one has yo yos as flower centers. I liked the addition of the lavender colour in it.

And another fun applique quilt. I really like the sunflowers on this one.

Well, that does it for Emmett this year. We are heading up to Council on Thursday for their show and then the weekend brings the Boise show. So be prepared for lots and lots of quilt show pictures. June is a great month!

Let's go to the Emmett quilt show, shall we?

2011-06-17T14:49:00.006-06:00

Hard to believe that's already time for the Emmett Cherry Festival which means quilt show. Cherries were not ready again this year as the weather has not cooperated at all so we will have to make another trip for them in a week or two. Meanwhile let's go to the show. Here is a little bit of a closer look at this one. You know I love scrap quilts but I really really like that all the tan bits in this quilt are the same. Love the colours. Very autumnal. Speaking of autumnal, I always thought I was a winter, not that I really ever cared enough to get my colours "done" but I had a book from the library written by the stylist for "Mad Men" and she had a web link for checking out your colours. Of course I have lost it now and it only goes by hair colour but according to it I am an autumn. While my clothes don't particularly show it my taste in quilts sure does!

I love this one. I love the sort of half rail fence blocks. And my other favourite colours for quilts has to be reds and greens of which this quilt has an abundance.

Yeah, I know, I forgot to rotate this one. Just ignore the flowers on their side! I love churn dashes. I think they have passed stars as my favourite block.

This one is so happy.

And I love these colours and the polka dots. This was a Christmas line last year or the year before wasn't it? I remember thinking I wasn't sure about the aqua but the polka dots really do it for me. Oh, that purple around the edges is the quilt behind it, so don't go thinking someone added a purple border!

Here is a closer look at those polka dots.

Cute, cute, cute. I have never seen this pattern which kind of surprises me as I love Halloween quilts. You can't see it but the skeleton had a gold lame tooth.

Cute stitchery.

Red and green. And my now second favourite block -- stars. This had some purple in it. The corner posts and some in the star blocks and it looked great. The sashing is a tiny lined plaid that was tan, red, green, and purple.

This is just the first installment. I have about as many pictures left to share but thought I should divide it up into two posts. The Emmett show is not real big but they always have quilts I like. Of course, you only get to see the ones I liked -- a curated display!

While I was waiting

2011-06-12T12:56:00.006-06:00

for the holiday sale so I could buy my 12 yards of bias tape, I of course decided to start something else. After all, what else do you do when the multiple things you are working on are in a holding pattern? Remember when I decided to work on all my kits that were hanging around? That didn't go too far, now did it? Anyway, this pattern came in a kit with the panel so I decided to work on it. All the fabric except the panel were brushed homespun plaids. I didn't like most of them but have to admit the colours were super with the panel. If they weren't by the panel designer they were chosen well. Anyway, all the squares were 4" finished and used the Thangle method for the HST. I decided not to make the bear's block because I did not want to make all those tiny HSTs. So it was on to the star blocks on the bottom. Now you know I love star blocks and have made at least a bazillion of them. So, what happened?

You would think I would have noticed something amiss before I had sewn all 11 of them together. But, no. So the decision was to rip them out or do something else. Little homespun pieces do not rip out well so these went in the trash and I decided on the something else. Next morning I did dig them out because that seemed so wasteful. Grrr. Anyway, the top did get finished and I like it a lot despite not liking so much of the fabric. I wonder what I would have chosen if this had not been a kit? Unanswerable.

We had done some thrifting not too long ago and I keep forgetting to take a picture of this bowl. It is so wonderfully retro that I had to have it. I haven't a clue what to do with it since I am not much for pastels, but it's now mine.

Back to quilting. Here is the center block with all the applique completed. And as it turns out I like the fact that the curve of the vine and the curve of the cat's tail go the same direction. So that turned out to be a good mistake. I am glad I left it alone.

And today I got the blocks sewn into place. All that is left now is the borders which are FULL of applique. When I cut this out many months ago I cut 4.5" borders instead of the called for 6.5". I have no idea why I did that and now need to decide whether to use them or find more black fabric and cut new ones. This quilt has had way too many decisions I think.

But I am liking it a lot. I don't think it needs the additional applique. Just some plain black to set off the stars would be sufficient. And that would keep it slightly smaller. It is a big one. I really have a dilemma about quilting it, too. My usual stipple does not seem right. Maybe some shadow quilting. Like I said, too many decisions on this one. I expect it will have to hang around for a while now until I feel like making some of those decisions!

This cracked me up...

2011-06-05T07:59:00.007-06:00

And I'm sorry the picture is a bit blurry. I had a hard time getting the picture. I got this book from the library and this is what I found. Oh, and I didn't read the chapter. I was really not liking the book and had been mostly skimming so I figured this was good advice. One of the things I have decided as I have gotten older is that it is OKAY to not finish a book I don't like. So I don't. I have managed to get more applique on this guy. I had to stop here until I could get out and get the 12 yards of 1/4" bias tape. I wanted to get it at the Hancock's on Decoration Day because it was on sale for 40% off and there was a 10% off your entire purchase coupon.

So I fused and cut out the rest of the applique pieces. There is a lot of machine blanket stitching in my future, isn't there? Look how nicely these are sorted. I decided that with so many pieces it was imperative to sort. That bag on the right is the rest of what goes on the center section above. The rest is for borders once the quilt is together.
Did you see that Connecting Threads is having their 40% off book sale? I have pretty much stopped buying fabric there. I used to buy a lot of their little fat quarter sets with patterns. But I just have not liked their own fabric -- nothing about quality -- none of the fabric lines have appealed to me at all.

But I love books. You already have realized that I am sure. So this is what I ordered. Well, I think I had 2 or 3 times this many in my basket but I culled down to this. I like to stay just a little over the $50 mark so I can get free shipping without feeling totally profligate with the spending. I have quite a few Nancy Halverson books and just love her things although I have never made a single thing. But one of these days I will. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I have been reading in lots of blogs discussions about Denise Schmidt fabric now being available through JoAnn's. I am not really a Denise Schmidt fan so I really don't have an opinion as to whether she is "selling out" or not. If I were trying to make a living as a quilt pattern and fabric designer I am sure I would be on the lookout for any way to continue to support myself. Anyway, since JoAnn's also had good sales on Decoration Day I stopped there too and found these that I like. That top one is now with a stack of red white and blue fabrics that have been huddling together for a while. I have to decide to make something with them other than a nice stack to look at!
It turns out that I do own one DS pattern. I bought it when I was in SC visiting my daughter and she took me to a cute quilt shop. Her patterns are unusually expensive I think and looking at this one now I am not sure why I bought it. In general I am a "think about it shopper." I go and look at something, do not buy it, and then go back. Sometimes many times. If it is still there when I finally decide to buy it then I buy it. But when I am at a store that I know I can't go back to I get into a "buy it now, buy it now mode. There will never be another chance." So sometimes I end up with out of character things like this pattern.
I got this top together, too. It also needs bias tape so it has been on hold, too. I am still deciding between matched and mis-matched buttons. At JoAnn's buttons were all half price, too, so I bought the little sacks of black ones thinking I could then be matchy matchy if I want to be. You would think that out of 2 packs of 130 buttons there would be 57 alike. No, two more packages would be needed. So much for an easy and inexpensive choice.
And of course while these two were on hold I started in on two more projects. They will have to wait for their show and tell until next time.

Actual progress is being made!

2011-05-21T13:42:00.004-06:00

Yeah, I know, nothing is appliqued yet, but look, the start squares are ready to go. The house that I sewed together rather than applique came out nicely I think.

And I actually climbed up and got my fusible web so that I could get ready to applique. Boy, that cat and moon are large! I usually do the window method of fusible web and getting that twisted cat border down and fused was not a lot of fun.

And then, do you see it? I realized that I didn't reverse the piece so my kitty faces the opposite way of the pattern. Now I need to decide if I should make more of it the other way or just ignore it. You know, no matter what you decide there is always another decision waiting to be made, now isn't there? Progress on this one, too. This one is all pinned ready to be appliqued. I didn't want to start blanket stitching until I had finished the star blocks. I sewed these houses together, too. On the first set the measurements came out perfectly. So of course, for some reason I added to the measurements when I cut the second set out and guess what? Yes, they were too big. Duh! Fun unsewing!

Here is a closer look at one set.

And the other.

This pattern uses buttons for the windows and flowers which is what originally drew me to it. But it calls for 24 red ones and 57 black ones! 57 matching buttons! JoAnn's is having half price buttons Decoration Day weekend so I guess if I want matching ones I need to go there then. I haven't decided, though, if I want them to match or if I should just dig in my massive button collection. See, there is another one of those pesky decisions!

Like I am not in the middle of enough

2011-05-18T12:09:00.004-06:00

We went to the mall the other night, admittedly a rare event, and I picked up all flavours of Pottery Barn catalogs at PB. I used to get them but since I never bought anything they stopped coming. Anyway, in one of them was this star quilt with all the fabric parts of the stars made out of crazy quilt type stuff. WOW! And what a great use for scraps. Check out the link:

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/shelburne-crazy-patchwork-quilt-sham/?pkey=cpatterned-quilts-shams

Isn't it pretty? Like I need another to add to the to do list, don't I? Better get going on the things I am already in the middle of!

Yes, it is a mess

2011-05-15T13:42:00.003-06:00

and I know it. Since I have not been able to decide what to work on I have been sort of working on several things at one time and the result is a real mess. Does it make you feel at home or make you want to run screaming from the room? I started working on Midnight Silhouette -- see the pattern there? I have had the pattern for a while and had been collecting blacks. I cut the black pieces out a year or so ago and since I needed black for something else I decided to make this so I would know how much black is left for whatever it was I needed it for. I then decided that I didn't want to applique all the house pieces so I actually did MATH and cut and sewed the basic house pieces into one big piece that I will applique using fusible web around the edges and blanket stitch. At least I will once I climb up and get my fusible web down. That seems to be a stumbling block right now so I started in on the star blocks. See them there piled on the table next to my machine?

Of course I am making it take a long time because I am making the little extra squares when you cut the diagonal off. Do you do this? I am making myself sew them as sometimes I just cut them and through them in the bucket called little half square triangles to be. They are likely to be "to be" forever as the thought of diving into that bucket and sewing them together is not at all attractive. Much better to do it as you go along, don't you think?

I am also in the middle of working on this. It is from a "Quiltmania" magazine. I fell in love when I saw it and had gathered all the fabrics but that was as far as I got. Again I didn't want to applique every house so I did more MATH and cut the house larger so I could sew them together in a strip and then applique the funky pieces that are not seam-able and the roofs and doors and stuff. I think it will work out okay.

I had finished the center checkerboard a week or so ago. I like it a lot although now that I have seen it and thought of the perfect place to hang it it is a little too wide for the spot. I will need to cut one row off. But now I need to decide if I take a row off both directions so it is still a square or just on one direction so it is a rectangle. Decisions, decisions! I certainly am making it harder on myself -- no wonder I have not gotten much done! I really like the brown, black and grey in this quilt.

Mr THQ and I did a little thrifting yesterday. He found these books which were all priced for $1.00! Usually the quilting and craft book hunting at this thrift store is good but they are usually $2-$3 each. These were really a bargain! Each of them has a cute quilt or two in them. I like the can of worms title, don't you? She was making 2 1/2" strips before 2 1/2" strips were cool.

June is coming up quickly and there are 3 quilt shows in the area in June. Maybe quilt show immersion will inspire me to get going on my own things. I sure hope so. Talk to you soon.

Oh my goodness

2011-05-08T19:56:00.005-06:00

I am just amazed at how much time has passed since my last post. I simply must do better! Part of the problem is that I just have not produced much. I have been working on several things, doing some cutting, but am in one of those kind of funks when you just don't seem to know what to work on so don't get much done. But I realized tonight that I still had a few pics left from the Twin Falls show, now over a month ago, so let's have a look and finish off that show.

Always love a log cabin. That's what I have been working on, right -- the big one. And it reminds me, have you seen the new magazine "Primitive Quilts and Projects?". I looked for it locally but finally had to break down and subscribe. There is a super log cabin in the first issue. Paper pieced because the logs appear to finish at 3/4". I refuse to paper piece but using bigger strips and trimming every round works too for narrow logs. But I digress. Here is a great sampler. I am just a sucker for red and greens.

Here are a couple of little applique blocks. These were up high and a tall person saw me trying to take the pics and offered to take them for me so you get a head on view, not the from the bottom up you would have had to settle for if I had taken them. Butterflies are not my favourite but I love the flowers and look at that button caterpillar! Cute, cute cute.

Love the happy watering can.

And I love flags. This is a different flag treatment. I don't think I have seen one like this before. Look, two colour coordinated pictures -- wonder how I managed that?

Nice colours I think.

I have now done 1 stitchery. And I have piping pinned to it to make a little pillow. But it's still waiting like that. I need to do more so I could have something like this little snowman.

This is the quilt he came from.

Now this quilt was really different. I have a big jar of labels I have been collecting for years. One of these days I will do something with them. I am glad I have been saving them since they are rapidly disappearing from clothing. I like the fact that there is no scratchy label at the back of my neck but I do miss how cute or pretty some labels were.

You are probably wondering why I am talking labels when this is a selvage quilt. But look, it has Neiman Marcus ribbon -- almost a label. Certainly label like, right? And of course you know I am now cutting selvage strips, too. I have a bucket full for some future something.

I like the colours in this one. And stars are always great. And this is double stars. I think this is a Miss Rosie pattern. I like Carrie Nelson patterns -- great for scrap quilts.

A bigger piece of it.

And bigger still. I must have really liked this one! I like the border, too. Lots of half square triangles in this one! So what method do you use? I have used Thangles but usually I cut them 7/8" bigger, draw the line and sew on both sides of it. Kind of lots of steps but they come out okay I think.

Blue, blue, blue. But stars.

Now this one is more than stars. This is just focused on one part of the quilt.

See, it's a row by row. With chubby little snowmen! And a farm. I love this. Anyone know the pattern?

And speaking of farms.... well, barns at least.

And one more, raggedy stars.

Another sampler.

And that's all of the quilt show pictures. Now I will have to get something done so I have something to share! I will be back son-- promise!

I am really excited about this

2011-04-20T13:55:00.008-06:00

Yes, I know, it doesn't look like much but I am amazed that it looks like it is supposed to! What is it? It is part of the border for the quilt I am working on. The quilt that is eating its way through my baskets of 1 1/2" strips like crazy. The pattern calls for 1 1/4" strips but whenever I make anything really strippy like log cabins I like to use a wider one and trim down. I get straighter strips that way. Besides I have more 1 1/2" strips hanging around. Here is a section of it closer up.

As I said I have been using strips like crazy. Many of the blocks are courthouse steps with the same fabrics on all 4 sides so I have been doing lots of sorting. Probably the tool I have been using most is my lint roller. Gathering and sorting all these strips that have been wrapping themselves around each other in baskets for months generates lots of little stray threads. And here in Boise it is still fleece season so I have to constantly roll myself. And the ironing board.

So what is it I am making? Not this. This is the reason I bought the book. When we went to the Twin Falls show we made a preliminary stop at The Gathering Place in Rupert. I mean Rupert is only 30 minutes or so farther east, so once you have invested the gas to get to Twin you may as well head for Rupert, right? I wasn't in much of a shopping mood that day, though. I only bought this book and 2 patterns the entire day. Anyway one of my traveling companions showed me this picture first thing at the shop and the book immediately had to be bought. Isn't it cute?

But what I decided to make is the quilt on the back cover.

I am truly in love with it. Now, mine will not be quite so brown as I am using a variety of dark strips. And I am not going to do the stars. I don't think the quilt needs them. If you look closely around the edges you can see where the borders fit in. This is interesting construction. Instead of doing something like setting triangles you make the borders with graduated sizes of strips. I am glad I didn't have to do the math for this quilt! The thing that is amazing is that the seams in the 5 border strips that you sew together are supposed to be offset by 3/4" and mine are coming out just that way.

This quilt has many blocks. It has the courhouse step ones like I mentioned plus plenty of log cabins. The log cabins are random browns and golds. I didn't have alot of golds either in strips or in the stash so to call some of them gold is a bit of a stretch but I think it will work out.

Here is the stack of blocks waiting to be laid out. You can see why this one is a strip eater, now can't you? I thought I would finish the borders before I started laying it out. I am anxious to see how it looks.

Stay tuned. Oh, and there are more pics from the Twin show. I just thought it was time to show you that yes, I really have been sewing!

One thing that happens

2011-04-16T12:07:00.005-06:00

when you post quilt show pics in multiple erratic posts is you can't remember what was already posted. I have to keep looking back at the last post. Oh, well, a small thing. Here we are back at the Twin Falls show, I thought this was a really unique basket quilt. I guess I should have taken pictures of all the baskets but I only took a few favourites.

I love the flag as basket on this block.

And I like sunflowers. Isn't it funny how things go in and out of style. I remember when it was mushrooms. Geese, owls, all kinds of things have been the thing. Recently it seems to be butterflies. Oh, and crows. Like right here.

I haven't the slightest idea why I took a picture of the middle of this quilt only. Maybe because I thought it was a great use of scraps.

This one is just plain cute.

This one is simple -- I see this bordered square everywhere especially on the "modern" blogs. This was Sandy Gervais fabric from last Christmas or maybe the Christmas before. Since I am currently over attracted to lime green I liked the quilt. I don't own this fabric though so it must have been readily available before my lime green crush.

Here is another that is just plain cute. And unusual to find a really cute little boy quilt. And it isn't cars or trucks or construction equipment!

Here is another mystery photo.

This is just not a quilt I would ever make. Maybe it was the use of the sampler squares as the border around the center medallion. Maybe it looked much different in person. In the pic the background colours go a little funny to me -- too many grayish ones perhaps? This quilter did a lot of work for this quilt, that's for sure. The center medallion has tons of pieces. And then to add applique on top of that! Although I don't own much in the way of thirties fabric I find I am always drawn to quilts made with them at shows. Maybe I should rethink my non use of them. This has to do I am sure with my split colour personality. Do you have one of those? On the one hand I love the dark primitive colours and on the other I love the clear crayon colours. They are not really reconcilable colour palettes.

Here is the whole quilt that basket is from. I like the long rectangular baskets and I really like the squared off flowers. It is just a very happy quilt. Interesting sashing treatment don't you think? You don't see alot of quilts where the sashing crosses like that. I have made one or two. It is not my favourite way to do it. But I do like the yellow colour here.

None of my comments are meant to cast negative aspersions on the quilts or quilters. I was rereading this and realized I perhaps sounded too negative. Everyone likes different things and has a different eye. And that is a good thing! I love looking at quilts whether they are to my taste or not and appreciate every quilter who has the nerve to put her quilt in a show for others to see!

I had a question from a commenter whose email address was invisible to me. The Christmas quilt in the last post is in the book "Tis the Season" by Jeanne Large & Shelley Wicks. I still haven't pulled the greens as I am knee deep in another project. Till next time.

One of my favourite quotes

2011-04-03T08:12:00.006-06:00

is from Ralph Waldo Emerson and it goes like this: "Inconsistency is no disgrace." Went to the Twin Falls quilt show yesterday. It is held every other year and I have never been before. It is pretty big and they had quite a few really nice quilts. I took a bunch of pictures that I will share over the next few posts. What you will notice, and what I just love, is there was no consistency as to where they put the signs on the quilts. Some on the left, some on the right, even some on the bottom. Yeah! First up we have some detail from a large quilt. I love the colours in this one. And the log cabin borders. First some little chicks. Then a flower and bee. look at that bee. Isn't she cute? I love the way the quilting kind of goes around the flower and leaves.

Here is the whole thing. yes, basically it is a chicken quilt. Look at that happy dancing chicken in blue to the left of the main block.

Oh, one more, here is the detail of the main block.

Then this Christmas one. I have this book. Makes me want to go start pulling greens right away. The stockings were sewn down with blanket stitch that was thick. I think it had been done with perle cotton. I will have to experiment with my machine to see if it can blanket stitch with perle cotton. Because you know I wouldn't want to do it by hand. It was really cute, though, so it could/might be worth the hand work.

I thought this one was really cute. (You are noticing the signs, aren't you? So far we have right, left, and right again.)

And the bear family album. I think I have seen this one before. Two of the people (out of 4) in the car to the show had made this one. That's pretty amazing don't you think?

Here is a close up. I picked this block because the Atlanta Braves are my favourite BB team even though I have never lived in Atlanta.

I love this Halloween one. The RIP tombstone that was fussy cut and put in the

center star looks great I think, I really like the addition of purple and lime green to the traditional black and orange

Halloween palette that has occurred over the past few years. I have this pattern. I have had it for years. I was going to make it for my granddaughter long ago before she had a little brother and certainly before she was 10! I like the clear colours in this one. Better than the pastels that are shown on the pattern pic. I think after seeing this one I may make it with this brighter tonality.

Wow, just out of these few pictures there are two I have the patterns for and that I would like to make. That's one way to judge the success of a show I guess. And it is the first one of the season around here. That's a happy thought. There will be more pictures to share in the next few posts.

Homespun plaids

2011-04-01T14:49:00.007-06:00

are really something I should like better than I do. Since I love primitive quilts you would think they would really appeal to me. And I like them when other people use them. But when I do, something just doesn't click. I was having some difficulty deciding what to do next so I pulled out a Kim Diehl book and started in on my homespun stash. I do have to say that it is much improved as the blocks go together. In fact I might just end up liking this quilt. I have a couple more rows to add on and then it will be time to decide on the border. And to decide if I will add the applique to the border. I thought I had some flowers and leaves already cut out that I didn't use on another quilt (notice a pattern here?) but I have looked everywhere and cannot find them. I just know I put them "in" something. Well, I have looked "in" everything and not found them. Once I put something "in" something when we were moving and found it 7 years later! So probably there will be no applique on the border.

I did finish a little top from a Fig Tree book. I had a stack of fabric that looked really nice together I thought. Until I put the plain blocks between the houses. Then I did not like it together at all.

Oops, pictures out of order so we will have a slight digression. Have you ever made 9 patch blocks this way? I just love it as I never would get the right lengths of strips to get enough of the right combinations of light and dark

for the 3 strip wide pieces. I was always ending up with too much of the two dark with light in the middle and never enough of the two light with dak in the middle. This way you just do a two piece strip of one dark and one light and make an extra corner. I don't remember where I saw it but it is my go to method now.

For some reason blogger will not let me type in between those two pics. Well, the reason is probably that it has been just one of those weeks with nothing going the way it is supposed to. Anyway, I decided to try out the green silly string fabric between the blocks and liked it much better. And I really like the little checkerboard border. So this stack of fabrics with only one slight substitution really made a nice top I think. Of course I am partial to houses.

Usually I do not like the House of White Birches books. I am not quite sure why but there you have it. I went to a guild meeting last month and they were selling lots of old magazines for a quarter a piece. I bought a few called "Quilters World" because I had not seen them before. When I was looking through them when I got home I realized why -- they are from House of White Birches. Anyway, one of them had a quilt I liked with pretty large blocks so I pulled out another stack and started in on it. I love this Christmas tree print. I did not exactly follow the directions and I could not decide on a border.

So it has remained borderless. It was fun to put together. Mr THQ doesn't like the acid green very much. I am not so sure myself! I wish it looked as good as it was fun to sew!

There was a question in comments -- yay, I got some comments -- about the circle quilt on my last post. No, I did not use the WonderArc. I do not even know what that is. I traced circles around round things that were in my house and then cut them out. If you were to look really closely you would see that they are not exactly round. But with the dots and blanket stitching no one will ever know. At least that's the way I look at it. Others only see the flaws you point out, right, so keep your mouth shut and no one will see what looks like the biggest boo boo on the face of the earth. I am right about that, aren't I?

Funny how things look different

2011-03-16T14:36:00.006-06:00

when there is a big gap between the last time you touched something and a more recent time. First, though, here is this one all finished. I like it alot although it goes absolutely no where in my house. It's just so happy! I was able to use a different colourway of the pink border for the back. I like that about it, too.

Here is another one I finished. Here is its back.

And here is its front. It is a lap from fat quilt from when I was trying to use up my fat quarters. The pattern had multiple borders of the various strips like the sashing but I just didn't like it so I didn't do it that way. Quilters' license, right? These were all kind of deep colours -- not exactly jewel tones but approaching that. Mr THQ likes this one alot. I like it, too. I like the extra bits in the star points.

I like the back, too. That back fabric is absolutely ancient. I bought it originally in 3 colourways. You will notice that one of them is blue. I guess it's time to explain my blue aversion. It's really a result of an overload of blue. My FIL could reupholster anything. We had an old couch that we had gotten cheap from friends that needed to be recovered. We lived in Reno at the time and I was walking past a store window of a kind of off the beaten path weird store and they had a bolt of upholstery fabric in the window. It was love at first sight! The fabric was basically royal blue with lots of rust and some kind of taupey brown in a southwestern pattern. I will have to look through old photos and see if I can find one that I can scan.

Anyway, he recovered that couch and a loveseat and from that moment on all my decorating had blue and orange in it. Of course the part I am leaving out is that the house in Reno had bright blue carpet -- royal blue -- I referred to it as Crisco can blue. We only lived in Reno that time for a couple of years but that couch stayed with us for a long time. I think it finally drowned in the great 1984 Tulsa Memorial Day flood that we got to participate in. Sort of a fitting ending, I guess.

The blue and orange versions of these fabrics were in pillows along with lots of other blues and oranges. I never did use the taupe until this backing. Anyway, before he died FIL recovered the loveseat in a brown fabric which is a good thing!

Boy, I am in a multiple colourway frame of mind aren't I? How strange. I didn't realize I did that so much. Anyway, the above two fabrics were ordered online as backing for the quilt that is coming up. I could not decide looking at my computer which wa the better colour. I ended up using the red but if I had it to do over I would definitely use the pink.

This quilt was a kit from Fons & Porter a long time ago. It has been waiting to be quilted for a while because I couldn't decide how to quilt it. I ended up using my walking foot which has spent lots of box time and not much machine time. I like the way it came out and will use the foot again I am sure. I tried to use only the fabrics that came in the kit even though I didn't like some of them AT ALL and as a whole it looks good. This was one of the first times I used a solid, too. Since then I have noticed lots of solids used in blogland, especially on contemporary quilts so I have started using them a little more. This is actually baby quilt size.

Even though I have a couple more quilts that are pinned and ready to be quilted (yes, still including the monster) I decided it was time to do something new. Actually I was looking for something else and came across this kitty angel fabric and decided its time had come. Isn't it cute?

Here is the finished top. I would have liked a slightly wider kitty angel fabric border but I didn't have enough to go any wider. It makes me smile, too.

Now I guess it's time to get back to the quilting. I have another one that I am not sure how to quilt so that is my excuse. Is it working?

Favourite things

2011-03-03T14:58:00.004-07:00

I was reading one of my all time favourite cooking blogs, Mel's Kitchen Cafe, and noticed a section of favourite things. Related to cooking, of course. Well, I had just been thinking about a couple of my favourite things, quilting related, of course, and thought I would share them. This is the best seam ripper on the face of the earth. I love it so much I want to buy another one. If I could find it. I found another by Clover but it has a rougher tip -- not ball point I suppose -- and despite Mr THQ's best efforts at smoothing it out, it is, alas, not as good. But I am always searching.
This is another. Although I certainly missed half of it in the picture. Oh, well. It is just a box with sections and I keep all my Bernina feet in it. They sit nicely protected and dust free. Which is important since dusting is not one of my highly developed skills.

And my baby scissors. They are out all the time when I am sewing, and go into their case when I am not.

My quilting gloves. They are wonderful for free motion because they grip so well. And they are small. I have small hands so it is hard to find gloves that fit. I actually wore through my first pair. Then I discovered that the company for which I worked carried these in some of the locations. But not in small, of course. I got them to order me an entire dozen in my size! So as long as I can find them when I need them I am set for life.

Now I know I have mentioned this staple puller before. I use it to close the safety pins when I am pin basing the layers together. It works much better than spoons or anything else I have found. It was a freebie. Fortunately I have a few of them, too.

And clips for holding the binding on. I knew these as pin curl clips when I was a kid but now they are sold as binding clips and they are terrific. As you know I sew all my bindings on by machine and these are hold it all in place.

My bobbin storage case. This is ancient. I bought enough bobbins to fill it plus one more that is in the machine. When I get ready to quilt I wind a whole row of the colour I am using. It saves lots of time, oh, and, dust free!

And my favourite ruler. 6.5 by 18.5. Creative Grids. I don't like Omnigrid too much because of the yellow lines. This is my second one. I wore the first one out. Absolutely the perfect size for me.

While I was thinking about favourite things and thinking about what I might make next once my quilting binge is finished I thought about how I love these types of patterns, buy them often, but rarely make them. I need to rectify that. There is one I finished in the to be quilted stack so you will see it soon. But these are all sooooooo darn cute I need to stop buying and start making. Or keep buying and start making. That is probably more likely.

I have finished quilting some tops. This is a kind of Christmassy one. I like the yellow green colour with red. Not too prim but I like it.

And this one was a charm pack plus some yardage. Minnick and Simpson. I like it okay but you know I think it is a little boring to only use one fabric line. For the flag room.

And this one was to make use of a fat quarter I really liked at one time. Now, not so much. Funny how that happens, isn't it?

And you probably remember this one because I took it apart and replaced some blocks because I was unhappy with it. It really is cute quilted and now I am ready for a boy baby to appear somewhere.

And another little one. I like these colours. It is already in my bedroom because the colours are perfect for in there.

And I love, love, love how this one came out. It is mostly a bunch of half yards that I thought went together really well. Oh, and a fabric I bought in Charlotte last time I visited my daughter.

And look at the back. It looks so great with it. And the back is from JoAnn's. Lots of my backs come from JoAnn's because of cost but this one is cute and perfect.

And you just saw this one. Another quick from start to finish!

Still a few more to quilt so best get going while the finishing bug is still active!

So I pinned and pinned

2011-02-26T12:32:00.004-07:00

and this stack of tops and backs is still waiting to be pinned. And of course there are still tops that still need backs. I ran out of pins until we went to JoAnn's and used a coupon to get more. But I decided that was enough pinning anyway. Here are the small to medium ones ready to go.

And the larger ones. A couple of these have been sitting waiting for a long time. Especially that big one on the bottom. Its time just has not come... yet.

I pulled all my bindings from the various places they were tucked -- I had outgrown the binding drawer for sure! I think it is a good idea to make the bindings when completing the tops. Except when it is so long before the quilting I can't remember which binding goes with what. (Yes, I have tried to sew one meant for another onto the wrong one. But only once. So far...) I guess I need to pin post it notes to the bindings.

Don't they look nice in their boxes? I just look soooooooooo efficient... ha ha ha! Or as my best friend when I lived in Rhode Island as a kid would say, "snicker, snicker, snacker, snacker, ha, ha, laugh, laugh, ho, ho, hee, hee." Amazing that sticks in my mind. Had to be 5th grade-ish!

Anyway, while we were out we stopped at a thrift store and look what I found! What a lot of work, and so cute. I could do without the pearls but I love the little handle and the edging around the top.

I also kind of delayed the quilting until I had finished this top. It was one of those stacks. The pattern I used did not call for a border but it looked wrong to me ending with such a light colour so I added one. Now it goes into the needs a back stack.

So, did I ever stop procrastinating and start quilting? Well, yes, I did. And wouldn't you know the first few I quilted had NO bindings in those bins! So you are not seeing them. You are seeing some that were quilted later that did have bindings in the bins. This was done from left over half square triangles. I really like the sashing fabric. Kind of a nice light toasty colour background.

Then you remember this one I am sure. I added some borders but I am still not in love with this fabric.

And this one. I know I just showed you the top. This is definitely record top to finished time! I didn't do such a good job on the picture, now did I? Oh, well.

This was made of leftovers as well. The quilt that it is leftovers of is waiting to be pinned. Someday you will see it. The main fabric is some I bought years and years ago when I was about to make a quilt for my MIL who did her house in oriental style. I ended up doing something different so this one sat and sat. I mean for like 10 years. I kind of like it with all these also uncharacteristic florals.

I love this one. It was a panel and some coordinating fabric. I added the green border from my stash and I love the purple stripe border. I worked really hard to make the stripes all be at 90 degrees and straight, not my usual helte skelter scrappy style. Anf it came out cute, cute, cute I think.

I like the kitties. Mr THQ just told me he read an article that house cats can live to be 30 years old! Can you believe that? Ours seems to be feeling her age at 15 or 16 which I thought was the normal life expectancy. We keep having to put helper steps everywhere so she can get to where she used to jump up to. Of course she is not a true house cat as she does go outside all the time. Interesting, no?

Fabric stacking

2011-02-13T10:25:00.008-07:00

is something that I do all the time. Even though my stash is basically sorted by colour I have these little stacks stuck everywhere of fabrics that go together really well. That's a problem because, first of all, those fabrics are not really available for use until I have made something from the little stack. And second, because I love to make scrap quilts, it is hard for me to start from the little stack and decide what quilt to make from it.

Usually what happens is I end up making a churn dash or Ohio star quilt from them with a nice planned colour scheme. I really like those two blocks. This time I am determined to do something different. Here is one of those little stacks. See that bottom (blue background) fabric? It is a Thimbleberries that I had just a fat quarter of. I loved it so searched the web until I found more and bought it. I bought those 3 star prints, too. They go great together. I just don't know what to make with them.
Here's another. When I was separating out fat quarters I stacked up these reds and whites. I like red and white quilts whenever I see them in a quilt show. Just need to decide what these should become.

Here's another little stack. I loved that star print when I found it. Red, white and blue with a twist.

Look! I actually decided what to make with it! I forgot to take a picture of it until I had put it on the pile of to be pinned quilts. I was intending to do a star fabric border but decided to end with the blue, yes, blue again.

Here is another. This fabric was actually part of a tote bag kit from Connecting Threads years ago when they sold fabric other than their own. I knew I would not make the tote, though. I love the shade of red --Gingham Rose is the name of the fabric line, I think.

And look, it actually became something, too. Very country French, don't you think? I was working on it while I watched "Julie and Julia" or "Julia and Julie", whichever way it is. Seems fitting. I will have to remember that when it is quilted and it comes time to name it. And, no, I didn't care very much for the movie. I have never been a Meryl Streep fan, and the Julie parts were not all that interesting, either. I used to watch Julia Child on TV but have never owned her cook book. I have made beef bourgenon (or however you spell it) but from my Good Housekeeping cookbook. I used to call it "alky stew" because it has so much alcohol in it -- wine and cognac. Good, though.

But I digress. I took a quick class at my local quilt shop on embroidery as I have not been too successful at teaching it to myself. I could never figure out for sure on the back stitch if you use the same hole. Well, you don't. And I have always hated and made poor French knots. I learned to make decent ones. Yay! I don't have much in the way of Valentine decorations so once this becomes a little pillow it will be a nice addition to next year's Valentine's decorations. Oh, and she recommended always putting batting behind the muslin when you stitch. I really like this idea. I may try it on cross stitch, too.

Boy, this post is all over the place, isn't it? That's what I get for posting so erratically. It's hard to believe it has been so long. I was lazy getting my pics off the camera. Anyway, I like to keep all my empty spools each year. Both in 2009 and 2010 I used 55 spools. Isn't that weird? The year before that only 34. Here is spool number 1 for 2011.

I had decided it was time to make backs for all the tops I had accumulated. In fact my next post was to be called "backs and bindings". Ahem, never happened. Anyway, I have now made backs for about 25 quilts of all sizes. I even made backs for these I just showed you made from little stacks. The pile to be pinned is now huge. I need to get pinning and quilting. Pinning the layers together is the only part of quilting I don't like so I tend to have to go on pinning binges. Look at this mess while I was auditioning backs.

Here was the stack needing to be pinned before I through those two more recent ones on top. Big, yes?

Long post, I know, with lots of pics, but there is more if you can take it! Remember I was trying to use up kits and pre-cuts? Here is a little tablerunner using precuts. It came out cute I think. I would use this pattern again.

Here it is full size.

Remember this fabric from putting together the work squares? I have had this Thimbleblossom pattern for a long time and could not decide what fabric to use for the big piece in the middle. The pattern pic has a pretty plain print. I thought this happy print would look great and it does. I like the big applique, too.

Done with machine blanket stitch of course.

I like it alot.

I liked it so much I decided to do a similar thing with another print for another Thimbleblossoms pattern.

I don't like this one anywhere near as much. Of course it doesn't have the flower applique. I am thinking I will make a house applique copying one of the houses in the fabirc. That will help it I think. Mr THQ was thinking it was just a piece of fabric on the floor when I took this picture. Definitely needs more work.

Sorry about the lumpy picture. Those red and white fabrics are lined up underneath this. I was too lazy to move them out of the way. Oops. Happy Valentine's Day Eve.

Winter but not Christmas

2011-01-28T10:05:00.003-07:00

So there are a few decorations that go out with the Christmas things that stay around because they are winter, not Christmas. This for example. They sit in the corner of the vanity in the bathroom next to the flag room until March or April or so. That works, right? We used to move around very very frequently. Like every year or two. A good way to keep the pack rat tendencies under control. But we have been in this house 7.5 years and 13 in the one before that. That means too much stuff! Our neighbourhood has 2 garage sales every year and we have decided to participate in the one that is coming in April so I was in the flag room hunting garage sale items and look what I found. Oops, never got put away.

But that's not the worst thing. A week or two ago my eye just caught this candle. That is not where it belongs but other than noticing it I did nothing further.

Then a day or two ago I noticed this Christmas tree hiding in plain sight! It has managed to escape me for an entire month! It is sitting in the holder where that misplaced candle belongs!

That's better, this is how it is supposed to look. I am not much of a candle person but my daughter gave me these a few years ago and I love the candle holders and the candles are okay, too. Since I don't burn candles they should look just like this forever. Ahem, except for the occasional errant Christmas tree...

On the quilting front I finally got these pinwheels made properly and I really like them. I must say though that the gremlins were still with me for a while as I sewed many of the right angles together with the solid on the wrong side! Must remember to always keep the same fabric on top! So these are really hard fought pinwheels.

And then I managed to get the rest of the top together. Here is the way the kit was supposed to look.

And here is mine. I substituted another row of the big house print fabric for the appliqued row and then did some extra rows of the hour glass blocks. I still don't like alot of these individual fabrics but the top is nice now that it is all together. I am even dealing with the blue border as it has alot of grey tone to it. It's a little too tall for my design floor but you get the idea.

So now I am off to use up my last package of precuts -- the Deb Strain fall set. Soon I will have to make myself do another backing and borders day and get to pinning some of these together so I can get them quilted. The tops are starting to get out of control!

Some days nothing goes right

2011-01-23T08:34:00.007-07:00

Or some weeks, or even some months. One month into retirement and let me tell you it has not gone well. Both Mr THQ and I have been sick. Now I must tell you that in all the years I was surrounded by people who were sick or had sick kids, I maybe caught something once every 5 or 6 years. Now that I am not surrounded by them, poof, a cold like thing that will not go away. What's up with that?

I have been sewing some though, and even taking pictures, just not getting them to the blog. So let's start with my most recent mess up in the sewing department. I had decided to clean up some pre-cuts and kits that were sitting around and this experience has made me appreciate just plain stash even more. You know I am not a big fan of pre-cuts and kits and recent experiences have not changed my mind.

When I saw the picture of this quilt in a magazine I fell in love. Finally found the kit at a price I could handle and ordered it. There is always a little pressure with kits, isn't there, about not making any mistakes because you don't have enough fabric to fix it. So what do I do right off? Sew the triangles togethter WRONG! If you look closely at the picture you can see I should have sewn the straight sides together, not the long sides. Grrr.
So the options are to take all of those apart, which will be very time consuming plus I will stretch the bias all out of whack. But since I had already decided that I was going to do something other than those applique blocks in the center row I had enough fabric to just recut and start again. Now I have some nice triangles for something else. Right?

Despite how much I love this quilt I just don't like the fabric that goes into it very much. I hope I like it better when it is finished. Oh, and the directions tell you to cut the two house fabrics lengthwise! But the pattern goes crosswise. I promise you I am not reading that wrong. Honest! Of course, I did it crosswise and had plenty to replace that middle with another of the large house sections if that is what I decide to do.

So in my quest to clean out kits I found this one that I bought many years ago at a quilt show to make this runner. I don't think that is what I am going to do, now, though. I think I have enough Christmas runners. I am busily trying to convince myself to just add these nice Thimbleberries fabric to my stash. There's nothing wrong with that, now is there? Why does it seem wrong?

Here is another kit from the ancient past. A bunch of friends and I went on a "shop hop" in the SW Idaho, eastern Oregon region and this kit for the border of this pattern came home with me. I just dug through all my scraps to find big enough pieces for the leaves. Time to get this one put together, too. It has 64 leaves and I want them to all be different so it will take some stash digging too for sure.

Away from th kits for a minute -- here is a fabric audition. I have had this Thimbleblossoms pattern for a while and at first had auditioned many fabrics with kind of a solid or light print in the middle like in the picture but was never happy. I realized when putting together the blocks from work that this flower fabric makes me really happy so I am thinking of using it as the center. What do you think? I have to contemplate it for a while,

Here is a quickie I did from a layer cake. It is Bliss. I bought it as a deal of the day from the Missouri Quilt Co. One thing about layer cakes, is they do go together quickly.

The biggest problem with pre-cuts is I usually only like some of the fabrics. For example, I love the two pieces here. Red and green are favourites of mine.

And I love this green floral. I might have bought these fabrics on their own. But I do not really like the aqua and white dot above or the aqua and green dot below. And I really am not fond of the red and aqua combination at all. I know it is popular now and even appears in Christmas fabrics. It does remind me of the '50's, but not in a good way!

Here is one I did with a charm pack of French General fabric, again a deal of the day. I am not sure why I even bought this one -- okay, yes, price, but other than that I am not sure. I really don't like the colours at all. This is the same pattern as the layer cake, just to scale. The shades of blue, red, and brown are really a little different in this fabric and I don't know if I like anything from my stash as borders. This really needs borders. I don't want to buy anything to go with though. I have one more charm pack of a Deb Strain fall collection and then I am swearing off pre-cuts forever!

Okay, let's move on to fabric I love. And back to the Buggy Barn Quilter's Village pattern. I did finish the top. This little flower is one of the fabrics in it and I decided I love, love, love it. Of course I used virtually all of it up. The selvedge said it was a Maywood Studios fabric, but of course, no collection information. So I went out to quiltshops.com to search. You have used that, haven't you? Of course, the big issue then is how to look. So I entered in "Maywood Studio". 54 pages came up. I carefully scrutinized each one and along about page 45 I found it! Little Lulu it is called so I ordered some from the only shop that listed it. It's in Bozeman so it should show up pretty soon. Don't you just love it? The red is a little odd but in a good way. Kind of a happy little flower.

So, as I said, I did finish the village top. Here is the funky churndash set of blocks.

And here is the set of pinwheels. For some reason these all came out short on the quilt block side. So I had to dig through my scraps and luckily found some of all of them. I just added a strip on the bottom of each of the quilt block sides. I didn't want to have to cut all the blocks this short. I don't know how this happened but if you don't tell no one will know.

Here is the last set, the heart blocks. They were easy and fun.

So the pattern called for black sashing between the rows. I didn't think the colours I had chosen for blocks would look very good with plain black so had to do some auditioning.

I think the blue was too close to the blue in some of the houses.

Look at me testing out two, count them, two, solids!

I really do like this black with the brown stars as it is a happy print. But I was afraid that cut into narrow strips the stars would be totally lost.

So I went with the tan. Here it is, although it is a little too big for my design floor. I really do like how it came out and oonce it is quilted I have the perfect place in mind to hang it.

Well, I think I have made up for missing a few posts with this one. Now that I can load pictures on my new computer and am not sick anymore (well, almost not sick) I should be able to get back to my regular posting schedule. Or even more often now that I am not working everyday. Let's see how that goes, shall we?

Christmas, come and gone

2011-01-01T15:49:00.003-07:00

So much preparation and anticipation and suddenly it has come and gone and here we are at a brand new year. We had a white Christmas -- it was leftover snow, not fresh, but still white. My daughter called from South Carolina Christmas night and they were getting snowed on and expected 5 inches! That east coast storm reached way down the coast.

Today seems like Sunday so it must be time for a blog post. Come to think of it, since I am now officially retired, every day is going to seem like Sunday.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and that this will be a good year. Mr THQ helped me take down all the decorations since my booted broken foot won't climb a ladder. So the house looks a little bare. But not too bare. My house would never be described as minimalist. Oh, no, never!

I did work on the quilt blocks from my retirement party. I wasn't really satisfied with anything from my stash so I ended up hobbling into JoAnn's. This is what I found. I just love the happy floral print.
And here is how the top came out.

Then I moved on to the Buggy Barn Quilter's Village houses. I had made the trees long ago and pulled the fabric. I don't know why I didn't get to the houses sooner. They have been lots of fun. Here is the first six.

And the next six. My productivity is down a bit since I have to push the sewing machine pedal with my right foot. When I first got my Bernina I took the classes and one of the suggestions was to use the pedal with your left foot because that frees up your right knee for the knee lift. I switched right away and have sewn that way ever since. It has been hard to change back. Then it will probably be hard to switch back again!

Here are the trees that have been waiting for their houses for such a long time.

I have a hard time pulling fabric for these cut and stack swap around quilts. It's hard for me to envision how the blocks will look and I end up with combinations I am not fond of. So then I mess around with the swapping the stacks part and end up with two of the same fabrics in one block. I need to quit fussing because once all the blocks are together I always like it.

Happy New Year!

Looks like I'm stuck in fall...

2010-12-19T16:53:00.005-07:00

Just fall fabrics. So I finished this top using the same fabrics as in the zig zag quilt. I really do love them. I have a little bit left but really and truly what is left is just scraps. Couldn't make another quilt with them unless I added lots of other fabrics to them. And since my stash is full of fall coloured fabrics I guess I could do that. Here is the whole thing. I didn't want to add a "foreign" fabric to it so pieced the border. The binding w ill be the same as the sashing. I really like this pattern. I am sure I will make it again. It was quick and fun. I never would have found it if I had not seen it made up since the pattern cover sample is done up in batiks. It's called "Fractions".

As you probably remember I am about to retire. Only 2 weeks left. Well, 8 days actually because of the holidays. Friday night was a retirement dinner put on mostly by my group plus my two immediate bosses. We had a great time but even greater was the gift they gave me. Remember I made them all little quilts? Well, they made me all little quilt blocks. Each one is completely different. I have them spread out with some auditioning sashing fabrics. I really like that bright stripe but decided it would take over from the blocks. And the red one is too red I think.

See that pale green ladybug print on the left? I think it is my favourite of what I have on hand. There is lots of blue in the blocks and there is a little blue in the ladybug fabric. That blue dot is the right blue but I thnk it would be overpowering, too, but I am thinking it might make corner posts. Just can't decide.

What do you think? Or do I just not have the right fabric? The blocks are 8 1/2 inches and I am thinking 2 inch sashing. I think I only have enough of the ladybug fabric to do 1 1/2 inches but that would be okay, too. I am thinking just sashing and corner posts, no borders. What do you think? It's hard to pick a favourite block. Each of them made one representing themselves plus some generic all department ones. Isn't this just the coolest present ever?

I would like to get this together soon so I can take it in and show them the finished quilt but if I can't find the right fabric in my stash I will not make the two week limit. I broke a bone in my foot last Monday so between hobbling around in a big black (stylish, not) boot and all the ice and snow that has been falling the last few days it will be tough to go shopping. So vote for your favourite!

See, back as promised

2010-12-12T15:25:00.012-07:00

And the Christmas decorations are finished. Not real happy with the tree this year. Can't really say why. But we'll get to Christmas in a minute. And to the giveaways, too. First, I was looking in a magazine about over the top event planning that came into work addressed to someone who has not worked there for a long time. Found this picture whcih I think is really pretty. I am not much for garnishes but the crushed peppermints look really cool here I think. But on the same page was this. This looks really weird to me. I can't imagine eating it. It is a basil coating. That red thing is a pomegranite seed. Smoked turkey is the base. Hmmm. Nice Christmassy colours though I guess. Just had to share.....

So now that the tee shirt quilt is finished I have been sewing. I have had these fabrics in a pile on my cutting table for months. Well, all but the one that looks like it has arrowheads on it. That one is new from my last trip to Charlotte.

Anyway, I had been looking for just the right thing to do with them. When I saw this picure I realized I had finally found the right thing. I think this picture attracted me first because the colours are somewhat similar. And then because of the use of big prints. Since this stack included some large prints I wanted to be sure the pattern would not chop them up too small.

I've seen zig zag quilts before, usually made with half square triangles. But this pattern called for the Easy Angle and Companion Angle. I had them from using the coupons at Joann's but had never used them. have to say that it took me awhile to see how they were helpful getting the corner overages nice and even so the strips would look nice but I finally figured it out.

Well, then the rest of the quilt did not want to cooperate either. I didn't have quite so much fabric as the pattern called for plus I wanted to use some of these fabrics for another quilt.
So I decided to make the quilt smaller. So I cut fewer Companion Angles. Then for some reason I thought I would use the colours twice alternating them. Much seam ripping later I finally figured out how to do it.

And here is the top all finished. I really like how it looks. What do you think? Yeah, yeah, it's Christmas now but now I have months to get it quilted in time for next fall. Think I can do it?

So on to Christmas. This is the new Noah's ark ornament I just got. I don't know why I like it so much but I really, really do. And no, not from the thrift store -- from a craft show.

Look at this Raggedy. Isn't she fantastic! One of the folks who works for me gave it to me. I felt really bad taking her because she is so cute. Hmm, but I did now, didn't I? I just love the hair. And the bow. Love me some polka dots.

Here are some other tree shots.

This is not any old bell. It is one I painted myself with splatters and dots. Probably my best paint job ever. Yeah, the bar is low.

And now for some other Christmas. Every year I do things mostly like the year before, but not completely. I love this little picture. The quilt hanging from the hat rack is one that I finished this year. I like the funky light green. And it is churndash, one of my all time favourite blocks.

Last year this is the quilt that was on the coat rack. It's a favourite, too. Love the snowman fabric.

I think this is the same spot where these little Moda stockings were last year although I am not completely sure. I like their not quite Christmassy reds and greens, too.

This is new this year because the piece of furniture is new. I like the way it worked out for Christmas.

Another corner of the dining room.

And another. I do have alot of little chairs, don't I? Another of my collections.

And the I have had this candle holder forever. I mean that, probably like 35 or more years.

A flat birdhouse Mr THQ made for me. That is a pretty recent thrifted sign. Again with the odd Christmas green.

Near the front closet.

My only ever successfully finished doll. Once I retire I intend to try more dolls. Let's see how I do.

This is a new location for the bunnies. It's a good one I think.

A new miniature chair fits this Santa quite well. He fits in it perfectly.

This is a new combo, too. Now that I have this picture I can remember it for next year.

The mantle. I was trying to remember where I got that nice rusty lantern but I can't.

Here is a farther away view of the mantel.

Don't you love the camera light? Yes, Mr THQ made it -- a long time ago. Nice shot of the receptacle. Oops.

Everyone has a Bannock device, don't they? Perfect to decorate for Christmas, too.

Moved this guy this year, too.

Over the cabinets in the dining area. That sled is new. From my daughter last Christmas. Makes a great addition.

My favourite gingerbread corner.

So now, that I have made you read all the way to the end, the winners. Boy was the cat bowl popular. 4 people expressed interest in it and the winner is the 2nd cat bowl chooser, Sherrill. Since there was so much interest in the cat bowl and not much else I am going to leave the giveaway open another week and see what happens. See you then.

Long time no blog

2010-12-05T15:37:00.007-07:00

Yeah, I know. Been busy, busy, busy. Hasn't let up for a minute since the Thanksgiving holiday. We have alot to catch up on, so let's get started.

First things first. We need giveaways to celebrate 100 posts. Well, 101 posts. We have 4 all with a holiday theme. All you have to do is leave a comment as to which one you like the best and next Sunday, December 12th, at my usual posting time I will pick winners. Since I don't get a whole lot of comments your chances are really, really good. We will go in holiday order so the first one is a Halloween cat bowl. It's around 6 or 7 inches in diameter and very, very prim. It came from Gooseberry Patch when they still had a catalog. Boy, I miss that catalog. On to Thanksgiving. A cornucopia. Remember how I told you I was garland challenged? Well, it turns out I am cornucopia challenged, too. This is not my first one nor the only one I own. But it is definitely the cutest one. It is a Boyd's Bears item. I just never can make them look good in an arrangement. But I bet you can.

On to Christmas. These are old fashioned icicles from the old Martha Stewart catalog. Since my tree is always a riot of colour and all kinds of stuff, I do not know whatever possessed me to buy these elegant things. Once I used them on a small tree with some old glass ball ornaments that I brought home from my mom's. But it just wasn't right for me. I bet they will look great on your elegant tree though.

So from elegant back to prim. When we first got married we lived in the top of a 2 family house and the people below us had been stationed in Germany when he was in the Army. They brought home the tradition of putting LIT candles on their tree. I just knew they were going to burn the house down. They didn't and when I saw these with faux wooden candles that clip onto the tree branches just like the ones they used to have I had to have them. Prim, too, aren't they? But they take up alot of room on the tree and mine just doesn't have that kind of room. But you will find a spot for them I am sure. Oh, there are like 6 of them.

So, there you have it. I am excited to share these things with you because as you know I love to decorate for the holidays. And yes, they are slightly used but only barely since they were better in my mind than in my real life.

On to what has been going on. I went in over Thanksgiving weekend and hung all the stashlets in my old office. Then everyone got to choose the one they liked the best. It was amazing how quickly they all gravitated to one. Only a few folks had a hard time choosing. It did look stunning I think. Here, see if you agree.

And the rejects went into the annual Craft Fair. Unfortunately for sales at the craft fair on the first day we had 7 inched of snow and many folks did not make it into work. Then on the other two days the main employer in our complex had a main electrical panel exploded so they had no power and so no employees. So few customers. I did sell a few things but not nearly as much as I usually do. Oh, well, I was told I could still participate as a retiree!

So, what else. Oh, I finished the tee shirt quilt and presented it to them last night. They seemed to really like it and I was very happy to get it finished. It was big and heavy to quilt. I am glad to have done a tee shirt quilt and I am pleased at how nice it looks but I don't think I want to do another.

And now that it is finished I can get back to working on other stuff. So I finished cutting out the Buggy Barn Quilters' Village. I haven't shuffled them yet though. I wanted to get the cutting done so I could put all the fabrics I had pulled back into my stash. I have been on a bit of a cleaning up binge.

And I finally found a pattern I like for a stack of fall fabrics that I bought quite a while back and couldn't quite figure out how I wanted to use them. Now I can get started on that, too.

It seems like it's been awhile since I sewed for fun. Oh, and I did get Christmas all up. I will get some pics for you. For some reason I am not real happy with how the tree turned out. Can't really say why. Pics next time and you can see what you think.

100th!

2010-11-21T14:20:00.005-07:00

This is my 100th post! Well, since I had a guest blogger for my last post it is really my own 99th and my next one will really be MY 100th. So as is customary with a 100th post, there will be a giveaway. I just need a little time to get it sorted out. The last few weeks have been totally hectic. First week of November in Chicago, last week in Chicago!

I got Halloween put away and Thanksgiving out of the tote but not put out and here it is almost time to put Thanksgiving away and put out Christmas!

It's going to stay hectic, too. Next Tuesday is our Thanksgiving potluck for work so I have to make something. Then on the 29th we are going to have our departmental Christmas potluck and gifts. I think it will be fun to eat everyone else's leftovers because by then I will be tired of my own. Isn't that a good idea? Say yes...

I know, I know, it is early for Christmas. But the point of making all those stashlets was so that I would have a gift for all my folks to remember me by after I retire. Our office complex has a Christmas craft fair every year and I always put little quilts and a few big ones in it for sale. Since I have a little over 30 stashlets and only 15 folks I know there will be leftovers and I want to be able to put them in the sale. That seems reasonable, doesn't it? The sale is December 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, so I have to let my folks choose their favourite stashlet first! Oh, then I have to go to San Francisco on the 1st, too. Phew. Are you tired just reading all this? I am!

Anyway, I have managed to do some sewing. I finally finished the tshirt quilt top. I really like the way it came out. The sashing is a funky green and Lisa really loves green so I know she will like it. This quilt turned out to be BIG. In order to get all the print on some of the shirts I had to cut the blocks at 14.5 inches. It is heavy, too, with so much stabilizer. It is now pinned and ready to be quilted but after man-handling it all morning I decided it needed to wait a bit for quilting. So what do you think of my first tshirt quilt? I don't know if I will get it quilted over Thanksgiving weekend or not since that is the weekend when I do Christmas. It will just depend on how exhausting Christmas is. Anyway, I am glad that only the quilting and binding are left. It has been a big project.

So next time you will either see a finished quilt or finished Christmas! And the promised giveaway! It just amazes me that I am at 100 posts!

Now for something completely different

2010-11-08T17:06:00.003-07:00

I have a guest blogger for you today! I was contacted not too long ago about hosting a virtual book tour by Nita Beshear who has written a book called "Devoted to Quilting". Since I have long harboured aspirations of being a writer and since she lives in Oklahoma where I used to live (Oklahoma, like Idaho, my current home, a state starting and ending with a vowel) how could I say no? You are right, I couldn't, so here is Nita's guest post:

Protecting Quilts

“When was the last time you refolded your quilt?” This is a question I often ask people when they stop to share their quilt story with me.

The blank look I get in return is also common. “What do you mean?” They ask with a shrug, before continuing, “I don’t know, it’s in a trunk.” These are always special quilts, and the owners want to preserve and keep them, forever, if possible.

I’ve heard stories of quilts embroidered with the state birds, flowers, or other pictures, quilts done by grandmothers, aunts, even mothers. They tell of quilts that were made in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, sometimes stories of quilts made as late as the 1960’s. Other quilts are of patchwork, sometimes made using what is now a traditional pattern, something like a Drunkard’s Path, or Star quilt, or a simple patchwork quilt. Other descriptions are of appliquéd quilts.

Always, though it isn’t the quilt that is memorable it is the quilt’s story. The story of the quilter and how important she was/is to the current quilt owner. They share stories of love. The quilts representing these stories are locked away in trunks, and have been, sometimes, for years. They don’t want to use them, they want to keep and treasure these reminders of people and a time long past.

Because they aren’t quilters, they don’t understand that storing quilts in a plastic bag or box for a long time is not good for the quilt.

There is usually some discussion about where and how they can safely store their quilts. Once that is determined I remind them the quilts need to be refolded, not only when they move it to the safer location, but on a regular basis, like annually.

They are also always surprised to hear the quilt needs to be refolded; this usually leads to another discussion. However, when they walk away, I feel better knowing their treasure will be around, in good condition for future generations.

Sometimes as quilters we forget that last detail, refolding our special quilts. The approach of winter is a good time to add this job to our lives. After all, while we’re saving other people’s quilts, we want to protect our treasures.

Some quilts are meant to be used. However, there are some quilts we just want to save and protect. We need both kinds of quilts in our lives and it’s important to me to help others keep those special quilts safe. So, have your special quilts been refolded? Are they in a safe place? Don’t forget to remind others.

Thanks to Tall House Quilts for allowing me to visit with you today. Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance at two of Darcy Ashton’s Appliqué Pattern Books. You can also visit the other blogs on the tour, as well as my blog, Devoted to Quilting to leave a comment. I’ll be back later to answer any questions or comments you have.

Thanks again. It was a pleasure.

Remember Sisters?

2010-11-05T17:41:00.012-06:00

Only 4 months ago, right? Well, more pics have magically appeared from Mr THQ's camera so let's have a look.

You know I love houses but this one also has those great stars in the border. Love, Love it. And the blues (yeah, I am going to say something good about blue) really set this off, don't you think? Another view. I also love the little checkerboard borders around some of the block. Oh, yeah, super scrappy.

I have this pattern. Have had it for years and years. This is the first time I have seen it made up now I will have to go dig out the pattern. It's one of those oversize ones so it is not with my regular patterns. It's in a "special" place. You know what that means -- the big honey hunt is on.

Not only is this a nice log cabin, but don't you love the venue?

Great ladies. Love the aprons. And the flowers in the sashing and borders.

More ladies. I have seen this pattern made up before. Usually in more primitive colours.

Okay, several views of one that I am absolutely crazy about. Don't you love it? I had Mr THQ take enough pictures to get every bit of it. I think I remember that it was done in a class according to the information the quilt. I hunted for it everywhere and could find nothing. So sad.

I think I had read somewhere about the car. Here it is.

Nice colours on this one, don't you think? Pretty.

If you remember, I was really liking the bright quilts. This one is really interesting colours, too, don't you think? I really like the backgrounds, too. Interesting.

Another bright one. The black background on this one really sets off the colours. I like the big applique pieces, too. I even like the birds. Just kind of perched on the flowers. And usually I don't care so much for the birds.

Another bright one. Really abstract.

This one is different from the others we have just been looking at. Look at all that neutral background! You can guess what I like about this one, can't you? The houses, of course.

Partridge in a pear tree. Just in time for Christmas. I think I have seen this pattern before, too. This is nice.

Back to the brights.

More of the street scene. Remember we got there really early so we were able to take pictures of the quilts from a distance with only a few folks in the way. Later on in the day it was almost impossible to take pictures like this. And in some places it was hard to even walk!

This one seems nice and sparkly. Maybe that's why I wanted a picture. Blue and yellow are not my thing. And snails' trail isn't either. But I like this one. Does it seem sparkly to you? Or am I just rationalizing my liking something I usually would not like?

Lots of stars. Gotta love this one. Nice sort of autumnal colours, too. I like all the different kinds of stars and all the different sizes.

So, what do you think? Worth waiting for I say. And there are more hidden away on that camera. So we have more to look forward to. Just don't know how long we will be waiting!

It's Magazine Season!

2010-10-24T15:56:00.007-06:00

Yeah, I know, it's always magazine season. But around the holidays there are extra ones and I just love to look through them for ideas.

On my search recently I came across this one. I have never seen it before, have you? I try to find the annual Christmas ornament issue and now I guess I will have to start hunting this one every year. It has some really cute things in it. Here is my Thanksgiving reading. I have been subscribing to Cooking Light for a few years -- started subscribing on a fundraising subscription drive at my granddaughter's school. I have continued the subscribtion because I really like it. The Martha Stewart and BH&G subscriptions started up when other magazines to which I had subscribed went out of print. Like the Mary Englebreit one. And Country Home. I guess I am glad that they provide something for the rest of your subscription time but I really wonder how they come up with the substitute.

I used to read Martha Stewart all the time -- she is an alumna of the same college from which I graduated -- so it seemed like a solidarity thing. But then I let the subscription lapse. I find alot of the recipes to be for things I would never make. And the decorating is just a little too, too, for me, if you know what I mean. But I liked this holiday issue.

You might notice that these are only covers. I like to only go through most magazines one time and tear out all the things I like for my files. Usually the covers go directly to recycle. But I saved these just so I could take pictures for the blog. I guess that makes me a committed blogger. Tee hee hee. Here is my start on Christmas magazines. I love Country Sampler although I was a bit disappointed in this issue. In fact, they have gone nearly all Early American and don't have as much variety in their home tours as they used to. I am ever hopeful that they will get back to the variety they used to have. The one called Holiday seems to be a combination of what Redbook, Good Housekeeping, and Country Living would ordinarily do for Christmas. I guess the magazine business is struggling so they needed to combine efforts. So that must mean there will be fewer special issues this year.

Now these I tend to leave whole for a while. Usually after the season is over I go through and rip them apart, too. And yes, I do get behind on my filing, but I find it much easier to find what I want if the articles or pictures are filed instead of being in huge stacks of magazine. I can never remember which one something is in.

I just love the little house ornaments on the cover of the Quilting Arts magazine. They have linen like bases. I think I may have to make a few of those.

About the only exception to my rip and file technique is American Patchwork & Quilting and my Fons & Porter magazines. Those have lots of yellow stickies sticking out of them with labels for things I think I will make.

"Inconsistency is no disgrace". That is my favourite quote of all time and it is from Ralph Waldo Emerson. It applies to just about everything including my magazine habits!

Remember I told you I wanted to finish this quilt for this fall? Well, ta da! I actually managed to do so. It's kind of hard to see here as it is hanging in a hallway. Usually I have a house quilt here. Well, actually, I still do. This one was bigger so I just clipped it and pinned it to the house quilt behind it. Easier and quicker than taking the other one down. This one was supposed to have 3D flowers on each basket but I decided I like it just fine the way it is. It has been a rainy weekend so Mr THQ and I decided to do a little thrifting yesterday. I didn't find as much as I often do, but I really like what I found. Aren't these cute? The pink flower one has a little stand and the circle one has a magnet on the back. Since my sewing table and my bookshelves in my sewing room are all metal, I should have plenty of choices in where to stick it. We found some nice craft books, too, to add to my collection. And what do you know, some Christmas ones, too. Both the Martha and Gooseberry Patch one are part of a series and I didn't have these volumes. I keep a list of all my craft books in my PDA so that I don't buy duplicates. If I ever leave home without the list I manage to double up. I guess I know what I like -- multiple times. I find that books are no where near as inexpensive at thrift stores as they were even a year or two ago so I like to make sure I am getting something new.

Did you ever watch Lynette Jennings on HGTV? I always liked her show. It has not been on for a while though. In fact, I think HGTV is not nearly as good now as it used to be. Oh, well. That knitting book is kind of a reference book. I thought it might come in handy. And none of these are too dated which is nice. I know the bear and chair are a bit out of proportion, but they were both a good find. I have some other bears that will sit in the chair nicely. And it doesn't even need to be painted!

And you can never have too many Christmas ornaments, can you? I like the dark colouring on the bell. And one last find. From my favourite aisle -- the crafts gone bad aisle. Although this particular craft did not go bad at all. Don't you just love Noah and the animals? Kind of like finger puppets. I have no idea where it will go, but there was no way it was not coming home with me!

Stash in the stash

2010-10-17T17:42:00.006-06:00

You know what that is, don't you? The stuff you set aside in your stash for a special reason. That you then forget.

In general I sort my stash by colour. Well, except I keep my flannels separate (sorted by colour though) and my Christmas and Halloween fabrics separate. Oh, and bright grandchildren-ish fabric is separate, too. And then my modern fabric is separate. And then the special stuff.

As you probably remember I sew mostly on the weekends. But sometimes I have time during the week and I cut. I don't sew because I don't like to turn my iron on if I am only in my sewing room for a short time. Dumb, I know, but there you have it.

Anyway that means I often cut several quilts long before I sew them. And I have learned the hard way that is a good idea to set aside the extra fabric for those quilts until I have sewn them. Because, otherwise I screw something up and need to recut something and, you guessed it, no more of that fabric.

The problem with setting these fabric aside, oh, and other ones that just look great together, is that when I am looking for a fabric I just KNOW I have in the stash I can't find it. Because it is somewhere "special".

Or when I need a particular colour or pattern and go through the ENTIRE stash, except for the stash in the stash and can't find anything.

Well, after that long preamble, let's see what I have been doing. First up is something a bit out of my normal zone. I had seen this fabric line, Wee Wonderland, and liked it. Then one day on the Quilter's Daily Deal the charm pack was really cheap so I bought it. This is the quilt so far. Using the solid sashing is also a little unusual for me. I meant to make it thinner, but oh, well, forgot when I was cutting, so it is a little wider then I intended. (Cue the "Twilight Zone" music -- when I just went to make the link today's deal is a jelly roll of Wee Wonderland!) And yes, it needs a border for sure. I am going to go back on the web and find some of this letter pattern on black for the border. It comes in brown, too, but I really like the black. Then I will get some of this pink stripe and also some in the lime green for the binding. I am not sure which I will like better so of course I need both. So much for the cheap, cheap cheap charm pack!

So since I need to order and receive the fabric to complete this top I decided to dig through the stash for something quick to do and found this ABC panel and several fabrics that go with it. I have had them awhile but remember that I got it all on sale. Isn't it cute? There was a free pattern on the web for the quilt that used it but I didn't have all the fabrics it used so I used something from my stash for the sashing. I added the purple skinny border again using something from my stash and now need to decide what goes on it next.

Here are some possibilities.

Anyway, back to the stash in the stash. While hunting just the right red for this little quilt and not finding it I realized that I had some cool fabrics cut for this quilt. I thought that there might be a good green in that stash.

Well, of course I will not make it in blue as pictured. I saw this pattern in a magazine some time back and fell in love. It was free on the web so I printed it out. I am not sure why I like it so much. It is kind of like a blooming 9 patch and I don't especially like blooming 9 patches.

Well, shortly after I saw this pattern I saw and fell in love with this fabric. There is a shop in Boise called the Cotton Club. It is mostly mail or web ordering but until last year they opened the shop on First Thursday every month as part of downtown Boise's monthly celebration of the arts.

I don't buy alot there because their fabric is not really my style. Lots of Fossil Ferns and batiks. Anyway I used to try to go as many Thursdays as I could and at least look around. They had this fabric. So I bought it for the middle of the quilt. It is a Susan Winget fabric from a line called Kansas Song. No wonder I like it. I love Susan Winget illustrations.

This quilt requires lots of half square triangles. They are finally finished. Don't you like all the fabrics? They look really nice with the center fabric, don't you think? So autumnal. No wonder I dug it out right now!

Lots of flying geese, too. They are now finished, too. Don't look too closely at the ironing board cover. I am brutal on ironing board covers. This one is not very old. You can tell because there are no holes yet. Mr THQ is always on the lookout for covers on sale just to try to keep me going.

Anyway, back to the theme of this post. While I was digging I also found this stack. Don't these fabrics look great together? I remember where I bought them, but boy do I wish I knew what I intended to do with them. I think I will go through my Miss Rosie's books and patterns and see if anything strikes my fancy. I like her stuff alot.

So anyway, I still haven't found the right fabric for the ABC quilt border. But I have decided to sew up everything I have pre cut so I can resort the stash totally by colour. Except for the flannels, Halloween and Christmas. Those deserve to stay separate.

So how do you sort your stash? Do you have a stash in the stash, too?

Really, I have been working on things

2010-10-09T16:27:00.006-06:00

but I have been a bit slow to finish much. I seem to be scattered -- you know, working a bit on this and a bit on that. But I finally have some things to share. First up is a crocheted scarf. Doesn't look like much I know. That's because it is a twisted ruffle. Several of my folks at work have been learning to crochet and all their requests for help got me interested in crocheting again. I had this yarn hanging around and this project was just small enough to be quick and fun.

And, yes, that is a little 2 foot ladder with a carpeted top. I don't go anywhere without my 2 foot ladder! And this one is at my cutting table in my quilting room. It makes a handy seat. Ages ago I did the tracing for this Buggy Barn pattern. And made the trees. And set aside stacks of fabric for the houses. And that's all.

I have finally chosen the fabrics to use and put the rest away. Soon it will get cut out. Yeah, soon! I think it will be one of my next projects. See, what happened, is after I made the trees and selected some fabrics I saw this made at a quilt show in Christmas coloured flannels. It looked absolutely terrific. It was used as a tablecloth at one of the quilt shop booths so I couldn't get a picture. It made me want to make it from flannel. So I set aside what I had done.

But sometimes these cut and swap around quilts end up with skinny slivers of triangles and this one certainly has lots of small pieces some of which will be quite small. I think flannel is better suited for larger pieces. And simpler blocks. It likes to shred and stretch so. Bottom line -- back to the original plan. Only about a 2 year detour!

I had made the snowball blocks for this quilt last year right after I saw it on Kim's blog. I decided I wanted to change the words around it (because I am probably the only person on the face of the earth who does not like pumpkin pie) and rather than use wool like she had, use fusible applique. But I wanted my letters to be all different. So I hunted around and found several types of scrapbook letters to trace. Then traced them, ironed them on to my fabric, cut them out, and -- nothing. It sat and sat. I sewed the words on a few weeks ago. Now it is pinned and ready to quilt as soon as I decide how to quilt it. That could take awhile, though, so I though I would share it.

And last year I decided when I was putting away Christmas that I would replace the corner yarn ties on this tree skirt I made way back when with buttons. So I dug around in my buttons, bought some additional green ones, and, ta da, actually got this done BEFORE Christmas. I used my 18 foot to sew on the buttons and only broke 2 buttons and 2 needles in the process. Yup, I am pretty darn proud of myself!

Oh, and I have worked a bit on my fall decorating. Fall is my favourite season but I don't seem to be able to get much done with my decorating. But at least I have done some.

This little wagon is a recent thrifted acquisition. I love the little ceramic leaf the pumpkin girl is holding. It is the only thing I found last year at my favourite Christmas craft fair. It's a keeper, though, I think.

And one more finish to show. In my kitchen eating area I usually have a long skinny quilt hanging as a kind of valance. I took a picture of the one that has been there and of this one when I put it up as part of the fall decorating. But it's hard to take a picture of a window during the day, so you will have to just imagine this as a valance. This has been made a long time too, but not sandwiched and quilted. But now it is finished!

Well, I am off to Scottsdale to teach the AP class. Just when I was getting used to the nice cool fall weather I am heading back to summer! Oh, well, it's only temporary.

Getting around to Sisters

2010-10-03T16:20:00.010-06:00

Hard to believe it was almost 3 months ago now. Hard to believe it has been almost a month since I posted. I have no excuse. Well, I do have an excuse for last Sunday, my usual posting day. I was sitting in an airplane all afternoon not getting home from a visit with the grandkids.

Well, obviously, I finally did get home. After running through airports. Then of course my suitcase didn't run, so it didn't make it. Funny how you pack favourite things when you go on a trip and then when your bag doesn't show up you wish you had packed things you don't like much. But my bag finally showed up so I have my favourite things back again. And I did have a good time.

Anyway, back to Sisters. Mr THQ has gotten the first batch of pics off his camera so I have some to share. First up, proof positive that we were really there. Isn't this the classic shot of the Sisters show? Main Street bedecked with quilts.

These are what are called in the biz, "ambiance" pics. We went really early so it wasn't super duper crowded. Still hard to get a good shot sometimes without part of someone in it.

This was actually the first quilt we walked up to. Entered in the youth group. I absolutely love, love, love this quilt. And made by a young girl. Really impressive. I love everything about it but especially the colours. I guess I should warn you I was in a bright colour mood that day so you will see lots of bright quilts.

Here's one of those that I wonder about later. Maybe those big white snowballs looked better in person. I do like the little square border, though. Looks kind of like a filmstrip.

I'm having my customary difficulty tonight getting the pics in order. You will just have to put up with me. It's too hard to fix them especially since my head is stuffy from allergies. Funny day today, the fall allergies hit with a vengeance during our morning bike ride yet for supper we had local fresh corn on the cob. Weird weather this year.

Anyway, back to the quilts. Another ambiance shot. You know, I always thought that all the buildings in Sisters were old but they are not. They have all been built to look like an old western town, though. Guess when I just saw pictures I was fooled. Hmmm. Guess that's the point, now isn't it?

I warned you about the brights. Gotta love the wonky star. I have made only one quilt with wonky stars and I thought it was really hard to do. It usually is that way. Controlled chaos is always harder than regimented and orderly. Interesting, too, with the white background. I notice on lots of contemporary quilting blogs that solids are very popular, especially white. I do like it but am really a cream/ecru kind of person. Besides if I ever wear white I seem to become a dirt magnet. I would think a quilt would get dirty easily, too.

Here is a close up of a pretty cool basket quilt. I like the way the baskets are made of strips. I also love the sashing that is squares set on point. Looks like lots of work but it is really effective.

You can't tell from the picture but those this one was beaded beautifully. It really did glisten and shine in the sun.

I love this one, too. More bright colours. I love, love, love the big dots. And the little dots. You will see some close ups of this one below. Out of order, of course.

Here is a full view of the basket quilt. Interesting how the square on point sashing is mixed in with a big print sashing. I am not sure I had noticed that until I was looking at the pictures tonight.

Here is a nice way to use special squares. I like the hearts, too. And the turquoise sashing.

We were walking around Sisters as they were hanging them up and it was interesting to see that the clotheslines stay up permanently. As they hang the quilts they wipe the dust and grime off them (good thing) and add new clothespins. That's a good idea. Otherwise it could take a long time to get everything hung. It is absolutely amazing how quickly they get everything hung!

Here are a few closeups of the quilt with the dots. Okay, one here and more later. I told you I was having trouble with the order of the pics. Lately I have been totally loving lime green and this quilt has plenty of that in it.

A bullseye quilt. Always a favourite of mine. I have made several. This one has nice colours and I like the pieced borders. Cream and ecru! What do you think of that?

See, the reason there are so many shots of the border of this quilt is that the quilter used all her fancy rarely used zig zag stitches in lots of colours. I think this is probably the best view of it. Isn't that a clever idea? I need to remember to try it.

Close up of the bullseye quilt. You can just see here that there are buttons in the centers. Since I saw this one I have also seen them with yoyos in the centers. I like the buttons better. Because I am a poor yoyo maker. I mean I make yoyos poorly, even with the yoyo maker thingies.

I love log cabins. When I first started quilting I didn't like them at all. Isn't that funny? I like how dramatic the light/dark stripes are and think it looks great setting off the center.

Here is a sort of sampler. I really like all the different elements. I don't think I would ever have put all these things together but it looks great. Lots of work on that center panel. Phew.

More bright colours. This looks like a totally scrappy endeavor. I wish all my scraps looked this good.

There were lots of house quilts at the show and I am a sucker for them. This one is a little different. Hmm, more bright colours, huh? I like it with the black. And I like the little checked sashing. Little checks to rectangles, etc. Nice.

Close up.

Extreme close up.

Here is another house quilt. This one is like log cabins and houses all put together. And I like the border on this one, too. I hope I remember some of these border treatments.

Here is the whole thing. Kind of an Amish sense to it, too, don't you think?

More wonky stars. This time with plaids. Good combo. These are normally my kind of colours. Wow, it looks nice on that blue building, doesn't it?

Well, I've come to the end of today's pictures. This was outside a shop selling lots of quilts. It looked like a temporary shop that was in business just to catch all us quilt lovers. Probably a good business plan! I like the hanging stand. You know I am always looking for ways to hang quilts. And since Mr THQ was with me now he knows how to build one just like it.

Hope you enjoyed the show. There will be more to come. It was a fun day and we took lots of pictures. And I promise not to let a month go by before my next post. It's hard to believe that much time went by. Sure goes fast!

When the little voice in your head tells you

2010-09-05T15:06:00.015-06:00

that something is just not right you have to listen to it. You just do. I wonder why it doesn't speak up sooner though. I finally have my own work to show you and, well, I do NOT like it. I bought the little chickadee fabric so tried to match everything else up with it. The brown fabric has little lime birds in it so I thought it would be perfect. And go with the little brown sqiggles in the chickadee fabric. But, it is just so BROWN! So out it had to come. Like the quilt now? I have new blocks made but first I had to rip. You know, as ye sew so shall ye rip.

See that blue in the second block from the left on the bottom row? That's what will replace the brown. More in the blue and green family. Of course now I am second guessing the yellow but since there are definitely yellow flowers it will stay. So this top was finished and now not so much.

That's probably because I am just working outside my colour comfort zone. Now this basket quilt is more in my zone. And it has fall colours. This was a $30 stack of fat quarters put together by one of the local shops at the Kuna show. The pattern was free. One of those stack and rotate ones. The samples had appliqued flowers decorating the baskets but I am not going to add those. I like it like this and since it is fall now, I want to get this finished and hung. This fall.

I also finished this. It is from the book "Lots of Dots" by Cotton Way. I wanted to use up my '30's-ish fabrics. I think I pretty much did, but again I am out of my colour comfort zone. This just came out so PINK! Didn't it?

And remember the commission quilt? Here it is. I love the colours. Don't you? Happily the commisioner was happy with it. And it is finished. I am glad.

I didn't forget that I still have some Kuna show pics to share. Here is the last of them. This is one of those times when I can't remember at all why I took the picture.

I like this one. I really like the on point baskets. And the non symmetry of it. Pastels, though.

Remember the theme was flower baskets. Here are a couple little theme quilts. Cute I think.

This one is not my favourite by any means but it was such a cute idea that I had to have a pic. I wonder if the idea was inspired by the fabric or if the quilter had the idea and had to hunt everywhere for the fabric. I would think it is the former but you just never know.

I guess I am in an on point mood. Nice treatment for a sampler quilt. I keep picking out quilts with applique on them, too. But whenever I try to do something like this I think the vines and leaves look silly. But they look fine when other people do it.

And this is hard to explain. Actually it was hard to understand when I saw it but I think the idea is that there is a different little towel like quilt for every month that goes in the holder. I tried to get them all. See the holder?

I have never seen anything like this before.

Here is another sweet one. Kind of pastelly again. But bright pastels. I like that the backgrounds are different colours. And the kind of horizontal flowers.

Here is another version of that market basket quilt that was at the Boise show, too. You know, the one that I thought I had the pattern for but only had a similar pattern. I do like it.

This one is kind of cool. Makes me think of a backgammon board.

This sampler is not quite on point, but kind of wonky set. A little too much blue for me but I like the wonky setting.

And I just love this one. Love the colours. And the kind of squared off flowers. And the chekerboard. Yeah, I do like it, alot.

How about this one? This one was in the youth category so it was made by a youth. WOW!

And isn't this one cute? Baa baa not black sheep. The background is really interesting, too. I like the little orange head peering out from behind.

So that is now the end of Kuna. Took us awhile to get here, didn't it? I still have the pics from Sisters so there are lots more quilt show pics left to see. And since I think I am finished with stashlets and the commission now, I can get going on what I want to do. And maybe it will come out better than two of the tops I am showing you today.

Time to decorate for fall, too. The weather is definitely cooler which is both great and inspiring. Have to get the fall/Halloween box down. Woo hoo!

Back to the Kuna Quilt Show

2010-08-22T14:34:00.009-06:00

You're ready for chapter two, aren't you? Well, I am, so here we go. My own sewing has been dominated by a commission quilt and while I just finished it this afternoon I don't want to share it until I have given it to the commissioner. So more show pics will have to do for now.

I'm not sure what style you would call this first one. It's pieced and appliqued. I love the use of plaids. And I like the star block for the sun and I love the flowers coming up through the holes in the hearts. I could attach alot of symbolism to that notion, but I won't go there... I like the colours in this one. I really like the braided strips between the flower sections. I have never made a braid because I usually see it done as a border and am not real fond of it but I like this use. I also like the way the side flowers are straight on views whereas the center flowers are more side views. Such nice symmetry, don't you think? And rich colours. Come to think of it they are much like those in the commission quilt!

You know, I just noticed that the pots don't seem quite right. Don't you think the rounded one on the side should be the middle one with the more pointy ones being on the sides? Not that I am criticizing. The pots are not identical after all. But that is the kind of thing that I would notice on one of my quilts after it was all quilted and bound and then it would bug me that I had done it that way even though I had not noticed it before.

This one is a memory/family history quilt with photos printed onto fabric. Normally I don't go for these kinds of quilts. I don't really like the way the photos come out and of course the quilts are in general just meaningful to the family. But I love how they added in all the blocks that show something about the people on this one. Great detail, too.

This is a Whimsicals pattern done with Whimsicals fabric. Their colour palette is just a bit different don't you think? I have this pattern -- it was free on the web. Haven't made it yet, but I liked the squared off sunflower look of it. This is a nice rendition. Love the zig zag border.

Now I have taken pictures of apron quilts before but I don't think I have seen one this large. I guess I will have to go pattern hunting as I really do like them. I have a couple of close ups of some of my favourite aprons below.

I love the colours on this one. So crayon colour-y true. And with embroidered cherries. And great use of baby rick rack on this one. On lots of the aprons actually.

This one looks alot like an apron my mom would have had. I love the pocket treatment. I also love the skinnny yellow sashing on this quilt. If I were doing that sashing it would not look anywhere near that straight and even.

Another super use of baby rick rack. And another great pocket treatment. These '30's fabrics are also great. I have only used '30's prints once -- making bumper pads, a quilt, and a wall hanging for my granddaughter's nursery long ago. I pulled out my left overs thinking about this quilt but I would definitely have to go shopping to have enough variety to do something like this.

No, this is not an example of my bad picture taking skills! This quilt is made to look like this -- I have never seen anything like it -- fractured. I don't think I would want it hanging on my wall let alone work on it. It might make me seasick but it is quite striking.

Another super complicated applique quilt. This time it is Father Christmas. The work is wonderful.

Here are a couple of blocks close up.

And a few more.

Here's a Dear Jane for those of you who love them. What a tremendous amount of work!

I just received my Keepsake Quilting catalog and this quilt is in it. Doesn't it just make you think Fall?

Every year this show uses the stage to display quilts that represent the following year's theme. I am soooo lucky -- next year's theme is Americana. I am sure it will be a great show. Just look at some of these. I love the pieced stars in this flag.

I love the setting on this one. And the plaids. Why oh why can I never find plaids like this? Cool binding, too.

The red, white, and blue colour choices in this one are a little unusual. That blue sashing kind of gives it a '30's feel to me.

Another flag. You know there have to be just hundreds of ways to do the flag. I love the pieced stripes on this one. Some of them have pretty big patterns and it looks great. Hmm, pieced stars, pieced stripes, I think I know what my next flag quilt will be like.

Patriotic sampler. I love the diagonal flag block. Oh, and the heart flag one. And the use of some panel pieces.

Well, believe it or not there are still more Kuna pics for next time. Hope you are enjoying this show. I think it is always a fun one. And so handy of it to come along just when I don't have much of my own work to share.

59 pictures!

2010-08-15T16:46:00.010-06:00

That's how many I took at the Kuna quilt show. For me, the bad photographer, that's alot! And no, they are not all in this one post.

There have been some computer changes since my last post. I have an older, slower computer, but we have upgraded our cable modem speed so the uploading of pictures is much faster. But the saving and resizing is much slower. But at least everything is now working!

We have been having quite a few power outages as well and when the power goes off it really makes you realize how utterly dependent you are on having it. There was a fire nearby that affected it, then a traffic accident, and then assorted other outages. One of them killed our DVR so all our recordings went poof! That was what generated the trip to the cable company that resulted in not only a new DVR but the higher speed cable. Kind of a mixed bag over the last few weeks over all.

Enough of other stuff, let's get started on the show. I love this quilt. I love the colours. I cannot imagine ever making one like this because I do NOT do curved seams. Well, I guess I could do a quilt like this with fusible web and blanket stitch applique. That probably would look just fine. This one is kind of interesting. It looks like someone put together lots of leftover blocks and came out with something that worked. Since I have been working with so many left over blocks to make stashlets this large quilt was nice to see.

I almost didn't take a picture of this quilt but then I realized it was a super cool use of machine embroidery so then I did. I have a friend who collects flamingos. Well, she doesn't really, but people seem to think she does and gift her with all kinds of them. She might actually like this.

I like this one because of the black background. Really makes the colours pop!

Oh, oops, got the pictures in the wrong order again. Here is a larger version of the flamingo quilt. I tried to follow Paulette's suggestion about cutting and pasting but the cut doesn't seem to work so you will have to suffer along with me I guess. Anyway, this quilt is also very multi media. Look at all that beading!

You can't tell from the picture but the curvy blue pinwheel pieces are 3 dimensional folded pieces. I like the way all the background pieces are repeated in the same order, too.

I like the colours on this one. Kind of those bright pastels again. I am not a real butterfly fan but I do like the mix of applique and piecing.

Here is a fuller view. Funny I didn't notice that big crease in the middle when I was looking at the quilt in real life. You know you always read that you should refold quilts periodically to prevent this. Guess that is a fact. I just rewash them. Since I like the way they crinkle up after washing I figure another go round in the machines won't hurt them. In fact, they just get better and better to me.

This was actually the very first quilt I saw when I walked into the show. Remember, I always like to go to the left when I enter a show. This one was very striking I think. Again the dark background but this time in a primitive style. I kind of like the thin border around the center medallion, too.

Here is a close up of the center medallion. Nice colours, don't you think? And it even has light blue in it!

Now, I love, love, love this one. The story that went with it said the maker had worked on it over a period of several years. I can certainly see why. There was not pattern or anything listed so I am thinking she must have designed it herself, too. Wait until you see some of the blocks.

Love this one. Of course, it is a fall one so why wouldn't I? Love that the pumpkin stem is really a star. What a cute idea.

And look at this one. Snowman and pumpkins! Cool concept, too, early snow. I like the snowman's hat, too. What's up with that?

Love, love, love this sunflower. I like the way the front petals are curled up. And it looks great on that background fabric.

I like the fabric used for the rabbit. Looks a lot like curly hair.

Cute sailboat. Love the sail fabrics. And have I said how much I love all the plaids and tickings?

And look at the birdhouse!

That's all for today. I can't think of any creative ways to describe how much I love this quilt. Sorry about the week of radio silence. I promise to be back with more Kuna pics soon.