Wearing O' The Green...

Well, it's the day AFTER St Patrick's Day, but as I challenged myself a few weeks ago, I was going to sew something GREEN in March. And this is the start of it.

These are the corner units for the blocks in "Jared Takes a Wife", or Blackford's Beauty block as it is traditionally known...a remake of a quilt I gave as a gift because I have to teach it as a class.

When I made the quilt, it was made specifically for someone very involved in music, so the original quilt has a music theme in 2 of the fabrics.

This one....I didn't have to go that route because it isn't being made for anyone in particular, and there wasn't any one focal fabric that I wanted so I could play with it a bit differently.

See those purple rectangles? Those are going to be the star points...there are 8 rectangles of each fabric, 30 fabrics in all...for the 30 blocks of the quilt. I think it will look great, and I had a fun time pawing through my collection of Fat Quarters..and believe it or not, I did come up with 30 different purples to use as the star points.

The star centers will be gold..and that is on the agenda for tomorrow morning..I need to cut a bunch (as in 240!) of neutral 2" squares, and 240 more GOLD squares, to make the star points into star points. I'm going as far as I can on this one even though I know it won't be done before I leave here.

I'll pack it all up in a box along with the rest of my fabrics, etc..and mail them HOME on my way to the airport tomorrow so they will be there waiting for me when I get back from teaching in Olympia.

We have made the most out of every minute. The weather was gorgeous today, snow almost gone, and we have been able to hike and walk the dog every day except for one when the weather was just too bad to be out in it. I'm really glad I had this opportunity to spend the time with friends while cranking on these workshop quilts that have to be done...what a way to combine the two, huh?

You have to see these strawberries!! Aren't they HUGE? They were delicious too...there is nothing like fresh fruit even in the dead of winter (or especially in the dead of winter?) I thought these were so amazing I just had to take a pic of them. They tasted as good as they look!

I'm looking forward to the next few days in Olympia, Washington!

Snowing Snowing, Sewing Sewing!!

Hello from Sun River, OR!

I was able to arrange a little side trip to my friend Randy's and we have been sewing non-stop! It's a working retreat of sorts...I had two tops that I have to make for class samples, and what better way to do it than retreat in a blizzard!?

Our friend Lori joined us for a couple days as well and we had 3 machines set up at the kitchen table....just a hummin!





My first project was to remake "Cathedral Stars". I have had so many requests for this as a class, but had turned it down because the sample was raffled off and now lives in Germany! 5 days sewing time in Oregon..YEP! I can remake it!

I am also working on "Jared Takes a Wife" in Green, Gold, and Purple....that's my challenge for March Madness, to sew something with the overwhelming collection of green I have.





It has snowed and snowed and snowed..and yesterday Randy and I, and Max the 11 week old golden retriever puppy who now owns Randy....bundled up into snow gear from head to toe and headed out to go hiking through the golf course in 8+ inches of newly fallen snow. It was still coming down hard and heavy while we were hiking..and there were plenty of photo opportunities!

Cathedral Stars top is done...Jared Takes a Wife is under way....and I don't have to be in Olympia Washington until Thursday eve! Will I get it done? Doubtful, but one thing is for certain, I got a lot more done than I would have if I had tried to stay home and do it :c)

Puppy Rescue Fundraiser!

Isn't this little guy cute?!

I'm always up for a cause, and when this one came into my inbox, I thought I'd pass it on to you. The following email is from Barbara P:

Bonnie...

I know you are a dog lover too, so I thought I would let you know that I have donated the "Boxy Stars" quilt I started in your Woodbridge, VA workshop last summer to the Ohio Toy Breed Rescue. I just adopted a puppy from them, and know they have incurred some huge vet bills-- many of their dogs come from puppy mills. They are auctioning the quilt on ebay to defray some of the costs. You were, of course, credited as the pattern creator in the listing.

If you feel it is appropriate, could you post the information on your blog? I am sending the email I just got from Ohio Toy Breed Rescue. One of the pictures has another rescue dog, Jackson, sitting on the quilt. If the pictures don't email well, I can send you another attachment.

Please let me know if you can help. I know you must get lots of requests, so I will not be offended if you decide not to post this. (but it sure would reach a lot of people!)

Thanks, Barbara Powers

I'm happy to help Barbara! And you did an awesome job on the Boxy Stars quilt. I love the stars you put in the sashing too..that orange is just the ticket!

The quilt is up for auction on EBAY! Perhaps this will tug at some of your hearts to go and place a bid.

Quiltmania Came!

Weeeeeeee! I was so excited to see a large mailing envelope from France in my mail box this afternoon!

I was not expecting a 5 page spread with full page photos in this issue. I'm not sure what all I was expecting as I can hardly remember the interview, I was so jet lagged and tired and had only arrived to Lucy's house a couple hours before the people from Quiltmania were knocking on Lucy's door.

It was a real treat to meet Carol, the editor, and I wish I could remember the name of the photographer that came with her. He was AMAZING. He could group things together so quickly and take the best pictures. Lucy is very much into photography, so I know she was watching him closely to see what he was doing with all his camera equipment.

Funny story.....My shampoo had leaked during the flight, as my toiletries bag was packed in my checked luggage due to "liquid" restrictions. I had showered at Lucy's to freshen up, but didn't notice that my COMB had shampoo on it! As my hair dried...I could feel that I didn't have all the soap washed out of my hair, or rather..I had combed soap back IN to my hair after getting out of the shower. I was too tired to care!

I love the pics of Lucy's house in her article. Her house is so darling and cozy and I just love being there. Fun to see good ole Joseph too, what a darling! Good memories of taking him with us on an afternoon off to go walk through the woods.

All this makes me want to plan another trip to the Netherlands as quick as I can! Lucy, I'm honored to be in the same issue with you, my friend!

Hello Again!

I guess I'm still enough of a zombie that I can't think of a catchy title phrase for this post. However, the Hello Again part does apply, as I feel like I am going around on a Merry Go Round! (And having a mighty fine time of it too!)

I arrived home from TN and AL on Sunday night after spending time with the Evening Stars Guild in Pelham, which is a suburb of Birmingham. I'd never been to Birmingham before, so it was fun to wander around. You know me and antique malls! Even if I don't buy something, sometimes a photo is just the inspiration I need.

I really REALLY love the "Utility" style quilts best. The ones made not to win awards,but to cover those we love. To be worn out with the using, functional every day quilts.


These pics were taken in an antique mall in downtown Birmingham. Nothing came home with me, but the photos. Compared to others I've found, these were pretty pricey for the kind of quilts they are and the condition they were in. Still, don't you love this improved 9 patch? I love the colors and the splashy dress fabrics, definitely from someone's sewing basket! That yellow just brings in the sunshine, doesn't it?

How about a little string snowball/bowtie cutie pie in an old iron sits bath? Sometimes just looking at the ways quilts are displayed gives me ideas for home too....but I don't know where I would put a sits bath, nor could I fit in this one :cD I love the blue chambray that was used as the background fabric. Definitely an "every day work shirt" type of fabric, it gives a homey feeling to this scrap bag quilt.















This flying geese quilt was my fave find of the day. Very worn, but still wonderfully graphic. I think I see one of these in shirt plaids and stripes in my future! It's a classic!



I will admit to NOT being a lover of the average every day wedding ring quilt in all it's perfection. I made one once...my second bedsized quilt. Hand quilted. I think that was enough to make me NOT like the pattern, but I love this splashy version with it's big "squarish" rings instead of the perfectly round ones. It's got ATTITUDE! I love it when someone uses something other than "muslin" or "white" for the background..some bold IN YOUR FACE color! (like cheddar or red maybe?) It just gets me all excited. This one was made in the 40's. Very fun with the polka dots, lots of bold prints and a great accent of black.

And this one needs no introduction. It was just BEAUTIFUL in unwashed condition. I had to turn the binding over in my hand to check to be sure it wasn't a chinese knock off because it didn't have much quilting in it,but it is all hand pieced and quilted...binding applied by hand. Not a knock off, and never ever washed. Someone's prize. And here it is in an antique mall. *SIGH* That's almost sad, don't you think? I'm not sure what is sadder...for a quilt never to be used, or for family to sell it to strangers. Still, it was graphically lovely with it's traditional solid green and red on cream.

Wouldn't this look awesome on a wall at Christmas time?

From TN to AL!

Hey everybody!

I'm so excited...when I logged in I see that I have gone from 290 something on "follow this blog" to over 312!!! I am so tickled. Thanks for taking time out of your day to follow along in my crazy life.

I have been in TN since Monday, and had a wonderful time staying with Chris in her beautiful home, and was in complete awe of her management skills as a mother of 9 children! 2 may be grown and gone, but there are still 7 at home. Add two parents, me, and Quilt Diva Julie who came for some visiting fun, and Chris had a very full house for a few days. Not to mention all the neighbors and other visitors that are constantly coming in and out and across her threshold, I'm thinking she should have simply installed a revolving door in her front hall, or maybe one of those "auto open" "auto close" doors like you find in front of Target!! *LOL*

An extra bit of side-fun yesterday....During lunch time for the workshop, Chris and I ran to subway..to split a footlong (turkey on whole wheat with the works! YUMMY!) and there in the parkinglot was GOODWILL!! Oh yes...yellow tags were all 99 cents! We did quite a bit of damage on shirts and pajama pants to be recycled into quilts. Wahooo!

Chris, I am amazed at all you get done almost so effortlessly, and am so blessed to consider you as a friend! Thank you for your hospitality!

And Quilt Diva Julie, it was a real treat to spend two evenings and all the time in between that we could talking quilts (what else?!) and getting to know you in person after having known you for so many years through our online quilting ties :c)

I have a fun fun fun video to share with you of Diane at her treadle at Tuesday's Sister's Choice workshop!



DianeTNtreadle.MOV

Diane, it was so great to meet YOU after these many years too!

Diane was wearing a "Quilt Green" t-shirt..with a treadle machine on it. She sews by people-power exclusively. She also spent time going over my hand crank machine and tuning him up for me so I can be people-powered too. I really REALLY want to do this, and watching her treadling away has me all fired up to get my treadles in working order too. Thanks Diane!

And if you are treadle-intrigued, Here is a link Diane sent me of her friend ANNIE doing free motion quilting on a treadle machine....WOW!!!

I love to consider that there has been machine quilting as long as there have been machines, but I don't think anyone has made treadle quilting into as much of an art form as Annie has.

I got an email from Lucy saying that our articles are out in the latest Quiltmania Magazine!! Congrats Lucy!! I need to find where I can get my hands on a copy of the issue.

And a little fore-warning for those who have subscribed to Irish Quilting Magazine, there is an article amd more coming up in a future issue!

I'm in Pelham AL now, drove down here last night and was met by Terry, who showed up with the most GORGEOUS gift basket!! I tell you, I am overwhelmed with the open arms and the gifts and comforts that are shown me everywhere I turn. You give me far more than I can ever hope to return and I am so blessed to be on this road with you all!

I don't have to speak until tonight, so today has an errands list for me, which is always fun in a city I've never been in before. I'm off to the gym that the hotel gives access to (gotta work off all the quilter's goodies!) and then find a place for an oil change, and tire rotation. Then off to find ANOTHER place to find out and fix why I don't have a passenger front side door speaker working. I've got one sided music in my car, and that doesn't make for a happy traveling quilter.

I've got a ton of bookwork to do which I can do with my laptop in the hotel, and just use today as a "down day" to get ready for the rest of the week.

The Great White South??

It started snowing sometime last evening and was still at it when I went to bed. The power blipped off at least 4 times through the evening/night, and miracle of miracles, we have power this morning still.

Our driveway is STEEP, and poor DH had a hard time getting out. As for ME, I'm waiting until closer to 9am and letting things melt a bit. This will also give all the "morning" traffic a time to subside for those going to work etc.....hopefully helping me avoid any traffic accidents that have occurred due to stupid people who don't know how to drive in the snow :c|



Snow Storm March 2009

It really IS beautiful out there....I wish I didn't have to get in a car and drive in it is all!

Rain, Sleet, Ice & Snow....

If you've seen the weather channel at all, you'll be familiar with this messy chaos coming across the Southeast, and I happen to be in the midst of it! I was all dressed to go out this morning, but when I attempted, I saw the deck and the driveway just slick with ice and decided against it. So I am HOME for the duration.....that duration ending tomorrow morning because I am headed to Franklin TN!

Yes folks, I'll be driving over the Smoky Mountains in this mess...so please keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm meeting with the Cumberland Valley Quilter's Guild in Franklin TN, and then on to Pelham,AL to meet with the Evening Star Quilt Guild. After tomorrow temps should be warming up and there should be no more problems, but tomorrow makes me nervous!



I had a great time visiting the Hampton show. So many friends from so many places! It was like a very fun homecoming, and I got to introduce friends from MY guild, to friends from other guilds, and just have a great ole time.

My friend Susan had a challenge quilt in her guild's display. Their theme was "name that tune" And everyone had a different song to portray in fabric. Susan is So artful, her Marilyn Monroe "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" nearly came off the surface of the quilt, she looked so great!

As for the show itself...there was NOT a whole lot of "traditional" quilts on display. But there were some, and I saw hand quilting as well as gorgeous machine work....

My favorite booths of course, were the ones with antique quilts! I was told I couldn't take pictures in some booths, but I did snap a couple from the aisles so you can see what drew me in.

Thursday at lunch I got to sit with another group of friends and witness their "show and tell" Exchange blocks that they had swapped for a year, and each set in their own way. Aren't the quilts WONDERFUL?! Most of these ladies met each other while in the military stationed all over the world..and they still keep in contact and do swaps and challenges with each other. Isn't that great? It really IS the thread that binds!

Thursday afternoon was also the best day outside....beautiful. About 2:30 I put my purchases in my car, put the ipod buds in my ears, and went for a 1.5 hour power walk, following wherever the sidewalk lead. The sun felt WONDERFUL and I'm sure glad I enjoyed it then, because it started raining on my way home Friday and hasn't stopped since!

So what did I buy? Really...I was very very very good. I bought a bundle of indigoes with cheddar in them. I've been WANTING these, and I feel justified because I have used up a bunch of my other indigoes I've bought from this same vendor over the years. Now I'm trying to figure out who's TOP LOADER washing machine I can borrow to wash them, because my front loader just is not the thing for shrinking and removing excess dye! It might be the laundromat at this point.

I also found another pair of my favorite thread snips. I keep these by my machine at all times.....just super duper.

And I bought a "satin edge" foot for doing machine applique among other things. I watched the gal demoing it..thinking to myself..."that's cool, but will I use it? Does it really do all that she says it does?" And I decided that if it does HALF of what she demo'd I'd be good with it! So...it came with me too.

Maybe I'll get to pop it on the machine this afternoon and play with it a bit! Heck, the car is still packed from the VA trip, I don't have to repack the trunkshow because it just goes back out with me tomorrow..so...surely....can't I get a COUPLE hours to sew this afternoon?? :cD

In between it all, this is the hand project I'm working on! It's just a little ditty I was making out of leader-ender 4 patches and bonus triangles...it's been pieced since last summer,but never started the quilting on it. Nothing fancy so far, but I think you can see where I am doing crosshatching through the 4patches....

Monday Monday....

It's another week! How does that happen?

I wanted to show you a couple of goodies found on my way home from Statesboro GA last week. These were actually unearthed in Charlotte.

TWO of the quilts came home with me....$30.00 each! Mind you, there is wear, there is tearing,there are loose seams, there is fabric shattering...but I love the feel of these,and just for studying the fabrics that are in them, they are AWESOME.

These quilts contain all my favorite things I love about utility quilts. They were made to be used. They use "everyday" fabrics and scraps from household sewing. They are not prefect, but are ordinary well known patterns. They contain "odd ball" fabrics, and many of them show "frugal piecing" where one patch is sewn to another to get a piece that is big enough for the piece needed.

The first one is this Log cabin. It's basically a "summer spread" type...no quilting, but discreetly tied to a striped backing. Look at those fabrics! I think what makes this one interesting is the use of some discreet mediums in the light areas. Lights to this gal meant anything that was lighter than the darks....so there are pastel pinks, blues and yellows in amongst the light shirting prints. I also love that the logs surround a double pink center square instead of a red :c)

This one has no border, but is just simply bound.



The second one is a wonderful Churn Dash. In fact, the quilt was there 6 months ago when I went through that mall, and it didn't have a price on it then, so I passed it by. There are photos of it from the last trip somewhere! Well...it was still there....still no price, so I asked the counter girl if she could call the dealer and find me some info on it. Again...$30.00 SOLD!

I LOVE the row of half blocks.....And that bright bold red plaid amongst the browns. The backgrounds are various, from cream shirtings to a green on light blue...some red on a brown/cream stripe...some simple shirting plaids. And that poison green sashing!

What I also love about this one is the odd borders. Top and bottom are different than the sides....and there are two fabrics used for the binding....a brown for part, a double pink for the rest. Lots of quilts this age have "rounded" corners...not often was binding mitered the way we see it today.

She quilted it really interestingly, putting more into it than just a simple "1/4" around the patch...there are X's and echoed triangles in the corners of the blocks. The top and bottom borders are quilted with a dog tooth zig zag...which is one of my fave things to put in a narrow border, so I really related to this quilt!





The 3rd little ditty...I loved for it's graphic appeal...but it is a ROUGH ROUGH quilt...it felt like the backing was a horse blanket of some sort...the batting was burlap, and the top fabrics were very rough too. The price was more than I could handle,but the over all appeal was great. I bet this was stored in a barn for the past 90 years...it smelled like it! *LOL* Another reason it didn't come home with me because I'd have been afraid to wash it, and really...it was.....well...VINTAGE!
*LOL*

I'd still love to have a peek at the history and the life of this quilt. It just appeals to me, even if it was out of my budget, and offensive to my nose :c)

If you don't hear from me for a few days, don't worry....I'll be back as soon as I am able. I'm road-tripping again!