Squishie Deliveries!

Yep, I'm up early! Too much to do today to sleep in!

Fist item on the agenda? Tackle the "IN COMING" Mail here at Quiltville! I've been so busy with the OUT GOING mail over the weekend, that I left this job for this morning when I had some peace and quiet here in the house.

I received not one, but THREE suspicious squishies! *LOL* I looked at the names on the return address labels and I swear I never ordered things from these people, so what could they be sending me in the mail?

You guys are SO fun!

Judi sent me strips and squares from the swaps on Quiltvilleswap@yahoogroups.com! THANKS GALS! These are GREAT! And they are just what I need to spice up my own scraps that are starting to look "same 'ole, same 'ole" to me! I love them! And the extra fabric too. I've always got use for that, even if it goes into a charity quilt, it is much appreciated!

And look...Kathi C is a blog lurker and sent me some pieces from her Orange Crush quilt, along with a "SPARE" Rotary cutter for me to keep in my suitcase when I travel so I don't leave one at home! *LOL* She read about me being rotary-cutter-less on my last trip! Thanks Kathi...this will now be the "glove box" rotary cutter! *LOL* I suppose I could use it as a weapon in a pinch, right? :c) You are terrific!

You know how you get attached to certain things you are used to? These blue dritz 45mm cutters with the spring loaded blade guard and rubber handle are my FAVE!

Katheryn also sent a squishie along with extra postage she forgot to include on her book order. WOW! These are great!

I feel like it's my Birthday or something :c), only one that doesn't add any more numbers to my age!

Does this come naturally with pets, or is he just a quick learner? I was working on my Fungly Challenge last night, and Toby had to park himself right in the center! What do you think of this funky bright yellow with purple stripe? Isn't it PERFECT!? Okay, Perfectly Fungly!Actually, it really brought all these weird blocks together. I tried EVERYTHING in my stash, which is extensive, more than extensive. THIS ONE is what the quilt wanted.

I was going to set the blocks together without sashing between, but it was so mucky, and you couldn't really see the funny fabrics if they were all up against each other. So..I switched gears and plain ole sashing it is. I should get the top finished,at least the center part today. Then I'm off to the Post Office with the carload of books.

I packaged up ALL the book orders I could, and am waiting for more books to arrive. I needed two cases to go to Pennsylvania with me Thurs...so I held those back in case the books don't come before I go. Fingers crossed that more will arrive in the next couple days and I can do another round of "going postal in the dining room" before I head to Altoona!

Backtracking to Thursday...

I was so discombobulated by the book arrival that I forgot to post about Thursday's Charity bee! I just so dearly love these Ladies. They have no idea what a life line they've been to me. Mrs Goodneedle, Holly, Martha Claire (Who will tell you in her best Charleston accent that it is NEVER just Martha,but always Martha Claire, as her mama said!) These ladies took me in when I was a stranger in town and gave me a place to call home right away. THANK YOU LADIES! It's nice to have a place to set down some roots and feel grounded.





This week I am happy to show how many hands make light work of tying a Hearstrings top into a finished quilt! Mary Johnson, this one you can add to your totals! I don't think they have it bound yet,and I won't be there next week to see it finished,but consider it done. The ladies are donating quilts to the South West Indian Project. At least I think that's the right name. Everyone LOVED the bright colors in this quilt. They tied it and backed it with red, and it will have red binding.


I pieced a little animals streak of sunshine for my project.

The borders look like Halloween, don't they? It turned out cute. I was also given some other novelty fabric to cut into kits like this. They sew so fast. You'll probably get tired of seeing me show these in every fabric combination I can come up with, but when I can make and donate a top in 2 hours, why switch gears? This way I can talk talk talk and not have to pay too close attention to what I'm doing, I've made so many of these!

From Dining Room to Mail Room!

I'm sorry I haven't even done a heads up for a couple days. You should see what my dining room looks like...there are about 500 books ready to be mailed out on Monday. Or close to it anyway. I think I'm going to run out of stamp sheets from stamps.com and the rest will have to be hauled to the PO and figured out at the counter while the line behind me grumbles....*LOL* I've ordered more stamp sheets,but it could take 10 days to get here, and I leave on Thursday for PA...

SO..you are asking, can you send a check? Of COURSE you can! You just have to wait a few extra days for the check to clear. Money Orders and Cashier's Checks are also welcome.

Same prices as via the online shopping cart.

The books are $25.00

Within the USA, shipping is $3.99 for one, $5.00 for two, and free for three or more.

If you are not in the USA, it makes things a bit difficult to do things by mail because of having the funds converted, etc. I'm not sure how to handle that, I'm not set up to take anyone's visa # personally either...That has to go through the online shopping cart.

I have added international postage for single book orders to the order page. You choose your postage as an ITEM, and then fix the postage in the bottom of the shopping cart to say Zero. It's the only way I could get all the various over seas options on there.

Monday I'll figure out the over seas options for multiple book orders. All I could do today was figure out the gobal priority for one book to various countries. Tada. It's $14.00 You guys were right!

Anyway, feel free to order the "Old Fashioned Way!"

You can mail it to:
Bonnie Hunter
136 Teague Ct
Winston Salem, NC 27107

Thank you!

Borderlands....

I didn't have enough of the SAME blue to do a full border. I didn't have enough of any ONE fabric that looked right. Because I was going for a vintage look, having so much of any "same" border out there made it look coordinated too much. If I chose all blue...it looked TOO blue. If I chose rust (the little inner border is a rusty orange)it too looked like an after-thought and too plain.

I guess I have my own drummers in my head! So I picked a bunch of different blues, some with that rusty red in them,and cleared them out of the FQ bin. That blue bin doesn't want to shut nicely anyway! *LOL* Some of these are OLD OLD....so it's good to have a home for them.

The thing is...as I was looking through all my books on antique quilts for inspiration, RARELY was another border added to a quilt beyond the pieced border. I could find VERY FEW from 1880 on that would have gone past the pieced border.

I think I would have been happy with it left as it is, and now the pieced border seems swallowed up some how. Live and learn again, right? I sure ain't wanting to take the 4 outer borders off now! Oh, I like it just fine, but I think it would have looked more vintage if I had left it as is. I dunno. I'm half-dozen of one and 6 of the other.

I do know that throwing the blue-with-red prints in there helped. It kept the border from being TOO blue, and it used up those weird prints that were half blue/half red and hard to use in any project as a specific color.

So this brings me to the following questions that were raised by everyone's comments.

WHY does a border have to be half the width of the finished block? Who made up that rule?

Why does a pieced border need to be stabilized with a plain outer border?

I just realized that I've got these same assumptions floating around in my head. I think we've been brainwashed by the QP. When I look at quilts from by gone eras, none of this applies. NONE OF IT. And I think I like things looking less planned and formulated.

I love the antique quilts where there were borders on only 2 sides to make it wide enough. Or long enough. Along with that row of half blocks that got chopped off because the width wasn't needed. I love antique quilts that are simply bound to be used with no borders at all, or maybe just end after the sashing.

And maybe the sashing doesn't have that final outside edge to go all the way around the outside of the quilt, just grids the inside. You know what I mean? Like the blocks on the outside edges are left exposed somehow :c)

I'm not disappointed in how this turned out. I just think it minimized the impact of the zig-zag border and swallowed it up.

Still, done is better than perfect! And I think I have enough of that Eddie Bauer red plaid king sized 100% cotton fitted sheet to use as a backing.....and THAT makes me happy!

Needs another border?

I can't decide....one more border? Or quilt it as is and just bind it in the same blue as the zig zag fabric? This is the "Stars Over Shallotte" That I put together a few weeks ago.

HELP!

Learning as I go....

My apologies to the international quilters who found they couldn't place an order in my shopping cart unless they put in a "STATE". It's a form shopping cart, and I spent some time in there this morning wheedling things around trying to make it international! I think I've succeeded. It will take someone ordering from somewhere overseas to tell me how it worked!

So...if you are Across The Pond or Down Unda or anywhere other than here, please let me know if my improvements worked! As I said...this is all new to me, and since I don't LIVE over seas...I can't place an order for myself there and see if it goes through :c)

*****Toby Update*****

He has chewed two of my shoes, but not pooped in the house. This is good! We also thought we'd found where he came from as we were driving about 5 miles out of the way and saw a sign for a lost black lab. We quickly called it. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad! But upon talking to the lady who posted the sign, we discovered that her black lab is over 6 years old, has a collar and tags, is neutered, and was last seen chasing after a deer. Definitely NOT Toby!

We are still looking for his owners, but kind of keeping our fingers crossed that he was a dumped dog as we thought. He stays by my side down here in the studio, rather than hanging out with the other dogs. Just as sweet as can be. Chloe is even tolerant of him.

He barks like crazy and goes nuts if he sees Jeff on Rollerblades. You'd think the world was coming to an end! Bizarre behavior? Yes...but we all have our terror buttons!*LOL*

Interview with Kansas City Star Quilts!

I was recently interviewed by Diane McClendon, who is the marketing and sales manager for Kansas City Star Quilts. She asked some really fun questions.
(like if your life was a movie, who would you get to play you!?)

If you want to check it out, you can go HERE!

Today was a run around day. I had to go to Sam's Club and buy padded mailers! Only to come home and find that I need more than double the amount I bought because the orders keep coming in for the book! I am so tickled! I'll have to order more in to send out what has been ordered. This is so cool. I really really wanted this book to do well, and I owe it all to you guys!

I stopped by the shoe repair place to pick up my right shoe. Yup. Just my right shoe. I bought these shoes a while ago, but the right one would never ease into comfortable wearing. So I had it stretched. Funny driving home the other day...the guy at the shoe place said "Bring it on Monday when you have a spare pair with you to drive home with." I said..I'm going straight home from here and I don't mind driving with one shoe, and one sock..he looked at me weird,but hey...it's 20 miles almost to the shoe place and I was going straight home!


Moral of the story..shoe feels better. I also picked up a roast chicken for dinner at Sam's....they were just putting them out.I couldn't resist! Neither could Jeff. When I picked him up at school, he dug right into the package and ate both legs. NO KIDDING! Growing boy. So much for presentation at dinner time. My chicken is legless. *LOL* OH well...what's a mom to do?

I also put the borders on a little donation quilt...I didn't finish it at charity bee last Thursday, so I did it this morning. Too cute...and this tile looking fabric is now OUT of the stash. I don't know why, but it was hard to use....it reminded me of public bathroom tile. *Hehehe* But it's gone now!

Book Update!

I have been informed that the books just hit the warehouse yesterday! I have placed my order and they will be shipped to me here "SOON". I asked for delivery before Oct 1st because I am leaving on the 2nd for Pennsylvania!

Here is where I am a bit worried...how to ship all the books to you when I am out of town on the road!

If the people I am staying with have computer and printer, I should be able to process the books just fine if I carry along my "mobile office" with me....mailing envelopes, packing tape,etc, and just drop ship to you from wherever I'm at. I can work on filling the orders in the evenings when I am not teaching a class or giving a trunkshow or lecture!

I don't know how else to get these to you in a timely manner. Believe me, there is no way my family is wanting to help with this :c( It's my baby. Still I'll do the best I can!

If I am flying somewhere, the book shipping may have to wait until I get back home. I'm thinking about my trip to Wisconsin and Illinois. Tho, I suppose if I have books shipped up there I could do the same mobile post office thing while I'm on the road? I don't know how other authors do this and travel and teach at the same time?

SO. The Shopping Cart is ready! Come on books!

Antiquing in Cameron, NC!

A busy weekend and a busier Monday meant I didn't get a chance to edit the Cameron photos down until this morning.

As I was doing so, I was reflecting on how things "used" to be. Remember when the only way to have instant photos was to use a polaroid?! And before, if we wanted to take pics of our quilts, it was guess work. Never knowing how they would turn out, or if....especially if you were at a quilt show, and unable to go back and get "better" ones if they turned out blurry or lost detail due to the flash aspect, etc.

I LOVE MY DIGITAL! How different life is with this little gizmo. I love being able to get pics of my neices and nephews in my email, especially since I live so far away from family. It really is like being there in a way.

For instance, my sister sent this pic with her latest blog update. Kelly broke her wrist! And it looks like all she got for it was a blue cast and a pink clickable pencil. What a gyp! But it looks like she is handling it really well....

Used to be that this would sit in a roll of film, maybe gather together in a drawer with other undeveloped rolls of film, and never make it to Auntie Bonnie so far away. Yep. I love digital technology!

So here I am sitting here clicking through these great photos..oh so many photos! I loved the little town of Cameron, NC
It really is just a small village with a gas station mini mart at one end....a post office next to it...a bunch of old buildings turned into antique shops...a few old churches and lots of old wonderful gingerbread style houses.

Mary and I spent HOURS there until we closed out the antique shops! There was even a little deli with a soda fountain and we had to stop for a root beer float and a piece of pie.

We even spent time at the Cameron Jail! Fun fun. I love history, so it was great wandering through these old buildings that used to be hardware stores, general stores, and people's homes. We even met the great grandaughter of the builder/owner of one grand victorian house that is now a tea room and antique shop. Not only antiques, but she has novelties. Mary and I died laughing and said we HAD to have pics of the "Leg Lamp" because it was like the one in "A Christmas Story". The ulitmate in tacky decor..*hehehe*

But the best part of all was ALL the antique quilts. I really did enjoy this part of the day more than the quilt show. I'm just an old fashioned girl who is drawn to soft old quilts, falling apart as they may be, they touch history and hold the hands of the maker within their stitches. The way the quilts were displayed was just SO natural, it was like walking through the pages of country living magazine or something. I just LOVED everything we saw, and the feeling these quilts provoked.


Antiquing in Cameron NC, 9-19-2008
There are 80 some photos...the slide show will do probably about 60, so if you want to see everything, you'll need to click over to my webshots album by clicking the link below the slide show.

Sand Hills Quilt Guild Show!

I traipsed off to Asheboro yesterday to meet up with my friend Mary(Doesn't that sound like that movie...Something About Mary? *LOL*) and we drove together to the Sand Hills Guild Show!

The venue was great...it's held in an the Pinehurst Fair Barn, located near the Harness Track on Rt. 5, in Pinehurst, NC. It was a gorgeous early autumn day, and we were SO inspired by the quilts!

I'm a funny photographer when I go to shows. I might just get a pic of a border, or quilting detail, or something about a color scheme, etc....but rarely do I get all full shots of all the quilts. Still, there are over 100!

It took me some time to edit them all down. I've uploaded them to my webshots album. I think the slide show will do up to 60 photos,but there are over 100 in the album, so you might want to click the link and head on over to view them all.

From the show, four of us went to lunch at Panera Bread, and then Mary and I drove to Cameron,NC to immerse ourselves in the wonderful old town and antique shops. I'll have to wait for that upload for another day!! Believe me when I tell you it was MEGA photo opportunity. Quilts Galore, and displayed so nicely....I ran out of camera battery before I ran out of pics to shoot!

It was a great day, Mary, Thanks for inviting me! Mary also has big news...her new long arm arrived today, and I'm sure we won't hear from her for a bit as they do some bonding and get used to each other :c)


Sand Hills Guild Show, Pinehurst, NC

September in Old Salem...

Yesterday was SO gorgeous out, that when I dropped DS Jeff off at Forsyth Tech for class,I decided to take the two hours and go wander through the gardens and buildings in Old Salem!

I moved here in February, and have only done a "drive through"...so this time I bit the bullet and went in and bought myself a year pass. I'm so glad I did! There is so much to see, and they have events going on all the time, and when you are a member, you get invitations to different things. Consider me culturally happy!

In the two hours I only was able to visit just a bit. The gun smiths, and the single men's dormitory. I talked to some people in traditional dress out on the street. I can't wait to go back! Here is a slide show of nearly 50 pics. No time to write captions, but you can see how charming it is.

I regret that Jeff called me before I even made it to the bakery! That is a must do on my list. It's wonderful having this so close to where I live.


Glimpses of Old Salem, Sept 2008

I finished the binding/sleeve on the Atlanta Crumb Sampler, so named because I made it in a hotel room while teaching in Atlanta earlier this year!




I used really cute pink dinosaurs on the back! And what was left from the backing was used in a charity quilt top that I worked on at charity quilt bee this morning.

I was going to hand quilt this..but it was so printy and so busy that I really thought it would just be easier to machine quilt it. Heck, it was already in the machine for machine basting! So I just switched gears and quilted it simply with a tan gold thread.

And this news: We have been adopted by a 6 or 7 month old black lab puppy. He's been wandering the neighborhood for weeks, and we've even seen him up the road a couple miles...just running. No collar. Un-neutered. I think he is a "dumped" dog. Anyway..he is beautiful, albeit a bit skinny from being homeless, wonderful temperament. I told the family that if he stays on his own accord he can stay here. So far he has stayed. (Feed them once, and they won't leave?) If I see signs out looking for a lost black lab, I'll turn him over. But it makes me so mad if someone just left him un-collared, un-tagged, un-neutered and left him to impregnate the neighborhood. (He's been trying on Buddy, which is ridiculously funny, at least Jeff and Dave think so...sheesh....MEN!)




If after a month there is no one looking for him, He's getting fixed and shots. And he'll stay. Sadie loves him. Buddy can't do much of anything since he broke that leg and had the two surgeries to put plates in it. He still hobbles around.....poor old guy.

We're calling him Toby. He's curious about the cats, but they don't seem to mind him, and he hasn't been vicious with them, just wants to play. I'm rationalizing...I need another animal like I need a hole in the head, but I have an acre and a half with woods and a creek and love to spare. He fills the overwhelmed spaces in me.

Right now he's crashed out at my feet as I write this...huge floppy adolescent puppy, all legs, huge feet, way big fur coat to grow into, huge broad head. Full tummy after going a while without. Yep. I think he'll stay!

Cooking With Quiltville - - - Shepherd's Pie!

Shepherd's Pie is one of DS Jeff's favorite meals. I don't cook it much in the summer, it's just too hot for all that frying and boiling and baking that go into this meal. But with yesterday's rain, and leftover mashed potatoes from sunday's dinner,and 5 lbs of ground beef (Ala Sam's Club!) that needed to be browned, it seemed that I had all the makings to do this just for him.

When I buy ground beef, I usually buy 5 lbs or so...and fry the whole thing up with onions and then drain/rinse. After cooling I package it in freezer zip-locks so it is easy to pull out and add to things like chili, spagetti sauce, soup, etc. And since I was doing that anyway....Shepherd's Pie just became part of that time saving process. :c)

Of course, the painter guy showed up right in the middle of the frying part, and there I was a mess with kitchen apron on, etc...oh well!

The ingredients are simple! This is a recipe that was handed down from my Scottish Grandmother (Dad's Mom)and I've augmented it over the years.

Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
* 1 onion chopped
* 1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas, celery
* 1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones) (Or leftovers from Sunday Dinner!)
* 1 can cream-of-something soup. I like mushroom or celery,but I've even used tomato in a pinch!
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice
* Optional: Grated Cheddar Cheese



1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2 Add ground beef and onion to hot skillet and sauté until no longer pink. If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. I use a large grating blade and grate my carrots...easier than slicing, and they cook faster. Add corn or peas at the end of the cooking. Add salt and pepper. Add Worcestershire sauce. Add can of soup, thinned with just a bit of water and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes.

3 Mash potatoes in bowl with a bit of butter, season to taste.

4 Place beef and veggie mixture in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top.

5 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Add grated cheese on top for the last 5 minutes of baking.


I also drain and rinse my beef/veggies after cooking,but before adding the corn and peas to the pan. I like to get rid of as much grease as I can. Paprika sprinkled on top of the potato layer is also a must! Grannie said garnish was everything... :c) It had to LOOK pretty, as well as taste good!

This is also one of those things that tastes even better as left overs. In a pinch I've used regular frozen mixed veggies, which also puts green beans into the pan, and that's good too. Mushrooms are also wonderful. This is a good dish to "clean out the crisper" in your fridge! I've even used a stir-fry mix with peppers, and THAT was yum. It's just one of those dang-easy things. So if you are planning on mashed potatoes for anything, just do extra and make some Shepherd's Pie later in the week.