The Road Weary Traveller...

I am back from Falls Church, VA!

I had a wonderful time there. What a fun group of ladies! This was the Falls Church branch of Quilter's Unlimited that encompasses the whole DC area.

I arrived friday afternoon, and enjoyed lunch at a wonderful vietnamese place for "Pho" which is a noodle soup that you can add all kinds of good things to. One of the fun things about travelling is trying different foods in different places. I'd had pho before and really enjoyed it, but it had been a while (like a YEAR!) so it was time to have it again. These two pics were taken with my phone. And yes, I got plenty of funny looks while taking them, but what the heck..they'll never see me again anyway so let them look!


The appetizer was veggie egg rolls...yummmmm....and you can see the plate that has all the goodies that you add to the pho noodle soup. And a pic of the soup itself!

I stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Falls Church. What a great place! I've never stayed with them before and it was really homey and comfortable. It had a kitchenette which was handy. A little sitting room with sofa and chair and TV, a desk (to set up featherweight on!) and a little kitchen table. It had a cozy bedroom with a comfy bed and the usual bathroom, but this was really nice!


I went to work right away setting up my featherweight and commencing to sew since I didn't have to meet up with anyone until dinner time. I brought the "rocky road to kansas" blocks with me that I had been piecing with the shirt crumbs..you know the smallest parts when taking apart shirts? collars, cuffs, pockets, plackets, etc? I used the evenings and free time to finish piecing ALL the blocks that I needed for this quilt! They are DONE! Now I just need to set them together and figure out what to do with the borders. I love how big these blocks are. 15" (the quarters finish at 7.5") so it goes really fast. 20 blocks does a queen quilt. This is what I had done laid on the bed before I commenced to making more blocks...

Later friday afternoon I met up with Amy and her daughter and we made a run to G street fabrics, and Joanns for some notions. I bought 4 FQ's at G street.. (such control!) and nothing at Joanns. Amy and I got a long great! From there we went on to Sweet Water Tavern for a yummy dinner with another quilting friend, so there were four of us enjoying dinner.

From there it was straight to the guild meeting. I was so thrilled with the turn out. It was a full house with several people coming from outside the area. My friend Aby came! It was so good to see her in person, it had been a couple of years I believe. Tracy also came. That meant a lot because she is in the middle of packing up and moving. Here is a pic we took together. And yes, I am soaking wet! It decided to down pour (more like hosing down rain!) while we were loading my car. What a mess! There was no telling if it would stop or not, but of course, shortly after everything was loaded, it DID stop!

I came back to the hotel after the meeting, just energized from talking to so many people about scraps and quilting. I sewed some more on the string blocks while watching Law & Order on TV! Before I knew it, it was midnight, and I crawled off to bed because the next morning was the workshop.






The workshop went GREAT! One of the things I love about teaching is seeing the different fabrics and color combinations that people are using to make their quilts. Each one had a story on who the quilt was for, or why they were using the fabrics they chose. Machines were humming, voices were happily chattering to each other. What a great day! Of course, we had the requisite M&M bowls...one with peanuts, one without!






























4pm rolled around rather quickly and it was time to pack up. I went straight back to my hotel room thinking I was going to lie down for just a little bit, and before I knew it I had slept 2 hours! I guess I needed it. I got up, went and got something to eat, and then came back and worked on the rocky road blocks again. I'm going to have to name this something else! Maybe I'll call it "Frolicking to Falls Church" or Rocky Road to Richmond (Stopped and saw a friend on the way!) but we will have to see!

This post is rather long with the pics, so I'm going to end it here and catch you up with the rest in my next post!

Weed Whackin' at Retreat!

Shelly sent me a great email with pics from her guild's retreat! She had asked earlier if she could demonstrate Weed Whacker to the girls, and I said OF COURSE!

They are the Illinois Valley Quilt Guild in Ottawa, IL. The retreat was held at Cedar Creek Retreat Center in Marseilles, IL!


It looks like they had a great time, not to mention a great room for their machines at retreat!


The pics speak for themselves. Wonderful Colors, lots of scraps being sewn up.





Great Job Girls!

Over Being Crabby!!

I had a fun phone call last evening from our Tazzie! It is always a delight to hear her voice. I don't know how Aussies feel about listening to American accents, but I am just enchanted with her Aussie one!

We were talking about the changes that our children go through when they hit those teenage years and go from sweet darlings to AUUUGHHHH! As we were laughing about this, I told her I needed to show her (or send her) the fabric that I used on the back of the latest string star quilt.

It's CRABS! I think this came from Fabric.com at some ridiculously low price and I was at the time charity quilt coordinator and was going to do children's quilts with it...but it just seemed to fit the crabby mood I was in this past week and so I used it to signify how even unpleasant experiences can be the catalyst needed to get those creative juices flowing again. How many of you find that you sew like a banshee and feel that creative frenzy when you are stressed? I know I do! The motions of cutting, ironing, playing with color, fabric, shapes, and designs is centering to my soul. Without my quilting time, I'm like Linus without his blanket!

So! As you can see...the string stars are quilted with baptist fans...the sleeve used up the last chunk of this bright huge dot fabric I had in the closet. The binding is on and ready to stitch down! I used red strips from the 1.5" strip bin in random lengths for the inner red border, and used more red strips in random lengths from the 2.5" strip bin for the binding.

I'm headed to Falls Church, VA on thursday do do a lecture/trunkshow and a class! I am so looking forward to this road trip. The weather has turned SO lovely, it finally feels like fall here in the Southeast. The quilt will come with me so that I can do the hand work in the evenings while gone. I've also got the crumby quilt that I made at Tonya's in January quilted and the binding is on it and in the sewing on process too. So you will get a pic of that one when it is complete upon my return.

Just remember, when life gets you crabby, don't get mad, get quilting!

The $1.00 a pound dress!

You asked for it..here it is!

This was a fun dress...easy fitting (loose) and it is two layers. The top layer is sheer and crinkly (ie...no iron, no wrinkle!) and the bottom layer,the under-dress is cream. It felt so feminine! Oh, I love weddings.

The shoes....anyone remember the old Steve Martin joke about "CRUEL SHOES??" I think these shoes were the next runner up in the cruel shoes contest! Oh well....

It's a lovely day here in SC, windows are open, breezes wafting in. It's a good day for quilting at the machine, and that is just what is on the agenda today! (minus the cruel shoes!)

Sneak Preview!

I have had some fun playing with some orphan string star blocks!

I haven't had a chance to post about last week's retreat at Camp Gravatt, nor about Randy's and my trip to Charleston (which was FAB!) but I'm in a hurry, so hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow. Let me say that it was HOT HOT HOT...in the high 90's with unbearable humidity, and my poor California friend Randy was not used to that kind of Southern Oppression! (While a pic was being taken at the close of retreat she said "Hurry up! I can feel my hair frizzing as I stand here!) :cÞ

While at retreat, I was gifted with a baggie of strings and partially pieced string panels from Stephanie! She knows I love this stuff, so instead of tossing it..she brought a big bag with my name on it!

I made a couple more string stars to round out the number to 9, set them with easy asymetrical sashings, and used 4 patches made from the leftover strips from the star struck quilt as my cornerstones! I am calling this quilt "Out on a String..."

Stephanie's strip pieced panels quickly became stringy sawtooth triangles for the border...I think it turned out really cute. I'm going to use this one as a tutorial for teaching 8 pointed string stars (Yes, with set in Y seams and everything, I think they look best that way)

As to the setting, I think this would be a great setting for any blocks you've got hanging around out there! I played with this in EQ 6, and I really like it. I've got some swap blocks I also hope to set this way. The sashings just go on two sides of the block, and then you can twist and turn them any way you want...

I'm off to my choir director's wedding! I got my hair highlighted and trimmed yesterday...felt good to have some "pamper me" time. And get this...the dress I am wearing is gorgeous and came from the $1.00 a pound bin at the good will clearance center! I kid you not!....The shoes came from Burlington Coat Factory, and were NOT as cheap :c|

Will report back later! Have a super weekend everyone...

double vision!!

If you are seeing double on my signature, that is because I just figured out how to add it into my template so I don't have to add it in html at the bottom of every post I make! Trouble is...it will automatically add it to the bottom of every post in my blog (all 2 1/2 years worth!)...including where I have already added it!

And I don't feel like going back and editing it out of every post that has it showing up double...

Just consider this my version of the double mint gum jingle!

Little Projects, Precious Old Pieces....

I have a new hobby...or is that HABIT?!

When I am browsing through ebay, I often come across "cutter" quilts for sale, with mixed emotions. Some quilts just are too damaged to use in any other capacity, and in my own home I have bears, bunnies, pigs, pillows,etc made from the remnants of old quilts. These little quilt pieces are still loved and appreciated this way and not shoved into a corner or a closet!














Do I advocate cutting up a perfectly good antique quilt just because you can make more money off it it by "piecing" it out? Heck No!

I hadn't bought just the cutter pieces before, because I didn't want to make bunnies or bears. But it occurred to me that if the piece was big enough...and in okay enough shape...that I could bind it and display it as a table topper. Many pieces end up looking like doll quilts or crib quilts.




It is a good way to get a sampling of actual fabrics that were used during a specific time period in history! It is a special feeling to run your fingers over these fabrics of a by-gone era and see and feel the stitches of the woman who pieced this "cutter" piece and wonder what her life was like.

A few weeks ago I came across this cutter piece. It was a long narrow piece of a log cabin quilt. It is a tied quilt, pieced on a muslin foundation, wool batting is used inside, and the backing is a wool blanket. This quilt must have been HEAVY! I cut it in half, squared it up, cutting out some of the really damaged areas (Hence one half now is shorter than the other)and found a blue stripe in my stash that would look like it fit in with the other fabrics in the cutter and used that to bind them. This quilt is tied with what looks like "string"...maybe it came off of some seed bags or something and was saved for tying quilts? Who knows....

What is amazing to me too, is that the quilt was machine sewn on an early machine. She used black thread to sew the strips to the foundations.

I'm happy to have these little pieces in my collection! I finished the binding on them during the workshop up in Burnsville NC on monday.

Stars Abounding!

The Star Struck Class went so wonderfully! You know, this was the first pattern I ever uploaded to my website, and it's been over 8 years now! I am always constantly amazed by how different the blocks turn out in the wide variety of pallets that the quilters choose to make them!



This was supposed (SUPPOSED!!!!) to be a scrap stash reduction class. However, it is also the week of the Burnsville quilt show, which means there were vendors, and the guild really wanted the vendors to be happy and to want to come back....so half the class had jelly rolls! *LOL*(If you don't know what a jelly roll is, it is a bundle of 2.5" strips put out by moda..just perfect for strip piecing.) I rationalized that jelly roll purchases are okay if you use the strips in a project right away, and they are not allowed to just go INTO the stash. They sure did make beautiful blocks!



There were about 13 of us I think. A couple of the ladies had to bow out due to family interruptions and emergencies. Dorothy's brother came to town to visit, and Roma's grandson got hurt in a scooter accident, so we missed their presence! I was glad to have time with them the evening before at dinner.



It was a fun day of power sewing! These ladies really took to their machines like this was the QUILTY 500, instead of the Indy 500! Lots of laughter, lots of chatter!

I made my way around the room giving every one a shoulder/back massage. Lots of moaning, groaning, purring and "I'll have what SHE's having" jokes going off! (Thank you Meg Ryan from when Harry Met Sally!)






Pictures are worth more than 1000 words, so I'll upload and let you click to enlarge! I'm going to put these on small size so they don't take up too much space!



You'll see the photo of the old building across the street from the town center where the class was held! See the quilt block on the building? Had to get a pic of that! It was also fun driving down the road in the beautiful mountains and coming up on barns with the quilt designs on them. It really is a wonderful project they are doing there! I can't wait to go back there again. They are a wonderful group of ladies. SEW much fun!