Thank You....

My heart is very full at the love and support you've shown over our ordeal with Buddy, and at the same time, I keep reminding myself that there are even more things going on in the world that need our prayers and concern. Like this mess in the GULF for instance.

I listened at the gym today as some news report asked where the support from hollywood was as far as this disaster is concerned. And I thought to myself...wait a minute....Katrina was a natural disaster, mother nature at her worst. Same thing with the Tsunami that followed not long after, and the earthquake in Haiti. Lots of help from Hollywood's actors in those messes....and I applaud the many that went out of their way to help both with hands-on and monetary donations.

The gulf mess? Why should hollywood's wealthy famous have to foot the bill for THAT?! Isn't that BP's problem? I just don't see that natural disasters, and this one are one in the same. I know it's bad.....but you just can't ask and demand that those in the eye of the camera stand up and clean up.

And this is about as political as I get. If there was something I could do, I'd do it...after all that BP can do first. (Please don't make me don my flame proof pants, I'm already down about a run away cat, a grandfather's passing, and having to put my dog down..you don't want to mess with me!)

It was really hard to be home alone yesterday. Jeff had gone to school and DH was at work, so I got in the car and off I went for a pedicure. Anyone else cry during a pedi? The little Asian lady working on me just kept patting me, there was a language barrier, but I think her heart could feel mine. It helped. Any kind of human touch helps.

From there, I decided that since my eyes were already red and puffy..I'd head off and have my brows waxed. At this point, Michele asks me....."Hey, want me to do your upper lip too?" What do you MEAN my upper lip? Does it need it? and then I got the dreaded words..

"Well you know....when we women reach a certain age, certain things start to appear..." (*&@#$(*&(*&(*&!!! I've grown peach fuzz! And I asked her...if she removed it...is it going to grow back in darker?! Ratz.

We did kind of laugh about it. I mean, who else can you laugh about it with other than another woman of the same age? Which reminds me...I better go pluck the long hair that keeps returning from that mole underneath my chin :c/

This morning I was up to hit the gym early. I really missed the sound of Buddy's tail thump thump thumping to greet me good morning as I descended the stairs. I hit the elliptical trainer with a vengeance, and my floor workout was brutal. I figure since I was sweating so much, and breathing hard, and that my face was red with exertion, that no one would notice the tracks of my tears as well. I came home, took a long hot shower, and got to work.

I've done most of my packing for tomorrow. I'm ready for my jaunt to the airport to pick up Pat Sloan! Several girlfriends are also going to be at Symposium this week, so I think this is just what the doc ordered. I'm SO happy this trip is close to home for me, (About 80 miles) and at the same time, I'm a relative newbie to North Carolina. Having only lived here 2 years, I am looking forward to getting to know the Charlotte guild ladies who are in charge of the whole shebang. They've done a ton of work behind the scenes...It's gonna be GOOD!

Rest In Peace, Buddy

Feb 14, 2000 - June 1, 2010

Blood work came back that Buddy was also battling cancer. It's just too much. He's lived a good life. I will miss him every day.

Antiquing in Decatur...

Sharon J and I spent last Wednesday after the guild meeting taking my quilt bags to Fex Ex to be shipped home...and, out antiquing!

The antique mall was a large refurbished train station, and at first glance, we weren't sure we were going to find ANYTHING..it was quite "prissy" for lack of a better word. Lots of depression glass and fancy dust catchers, not much of the stuff I love such as old tins with cool labels, beat up housewares, crocks, chamber pots, baskets...the stuff that "daily life" was made of.

I did fall in love with this Brunswick Treadle machine....at a really reasonable price! But alas, it would not fit in my carry on and my other baggage was already over weight limits..lol!

But upstairs in one corner of the antique mall...we found:

It's made with 30's 40's prints and solids...and what I love about it is the purple background! I also love how not all the kite shapes are string pieced in the same way and direction, but several are more crumby!

It's a youth size...for a whopping...$40. :cD And the hand quilting stitches in the purple areas are minuscule!! Who ever made this was not a haphazard quilter by any means.

And because I'm a contrasting binding girl (rarely do I ever do a binding the same fabric as the border, it just disappears) i love that she bound this with that pea green. It's seen a lot of use. I wonder who used to drag this around, make forts with it, play superman with it...or cops and robbers, cowboys or indians...

I'm packing up for the NC Symposium, and gathering samples for my two classes. I'm teaching string spiderweb, and crumbs, so all the samples I can grab of how different quilters did different things, then and now..are being packed in the car.

I almost feel like I'm getting off easy because I don't have to do a trunk show at this venue..just relax with a couple classes, and enjoy the symposium with everyone else!

Sharon also found a goodie! on this trip! (Look close, you can see my purple string quilt hanging on the cabinet door behind her!)



This churndash variation (I think they call this Grecian Cross?) is all shirtings and indigoes and in GREAT shape! Not only that...HERS was 50% off, and my purple string star wasn't! And, I probably would have snatched this one up too if she hadn't been quicker than I was! *LOL*

Here is a detail shot of the fabrics:


Of course, we had to follow up our antiquing adventures with the ultimate refreshement...Culvers ice cream! I have to hit Culvers every time I visit the midwest. And this time did not disappoint...the flavor of the day? JUST DRUMMY! It was like those drum stick frozen ice cream cones (waffle cone, chocolate, nuts) all crunched up into vanilla custard...unbelievable!


I also took some pics of quilts that did NOT come home with us, but that will have to wait for another post.


The studio awaits. It's time to clean it again, some how over the past few days my muse has been quite reckless! Time to clean it up again....it never ends!

PS..Dropped Buddy back off at the vet this morning. He had a really rough whimpery night. He's not eating, he's hardly drinking (this worries me the most, dehydration)and so we wait while they do more tests. Fingers are crossed..he still thumps his tail. I've read all I can on the internet about dogs surviving snake bites.. :c/

Wishing for a Dog...

....to get WELL. But things do not look good. Even with the antibiotics and the pain meds, Buddy is struggling. The inflammation has gone up into his shoulder now and he is having the hardest time getting around. He still thumps his tail. He still eats (and drinks, which is good) and does his business...but other than that, he lies there, just so uncomfortable, just so NOT BUDDY. The struggle he has to go through just to get down the easy few front steps out into the yard is excruciating.

I hate this "Basically there is nothing we can do but just watch" thing. He has been a member of our family for nearly 11 years. I have never had a dog as wonderful as Buddy, never a problem, always a joy...and this is just breaking my heart to watch him fail like this.

And then I am reminded of the fact that he "CAN" pull through, that he still has fight left in him...and I try to rally around that.

And I dreamed last night that Emmy the cat is also gone, maybe she got bit by a nasty snake too? This living in the country thing has gone down a few notches for me :c( I'm afraid to go walk my yard. I'm afraid to go down by the creek.


So...last night I finished kitting up what I needed to take today to my bee sew-a-thon at Leanns!

I dug through 1.5" strips, pressed them, cut them to size, they are stacked and ready. I did the same with 2.5" squares..and it STILL didn't make a big enough dent. Some of these strips are REALLY OLD! I'm having to eat my own words of "fabric has no expiration date" because some of this stuff really should be gone by now..lol!

I also have THIS baggie of UFO parts that should be turned into a quilt top in short order if I can just make myself work on it. It's been languishing since our Bee Retreat in January. I just find it very hard to work on red and green in MAY!

SO...which to work on first?

I'm getting personalized service this morning...Jeff is washing my car inside and out because I have a VERY FUN date planned with a VERY FAMOUS quilter on Thursday! Pat Sloan and I are both teaching at the NC Quilt Symposium, and I get to be the lucky girl to pick her up at the airport....take her to lunch AND...to the infamous Mary Jos! She has never been! Oh, this is going to be fun fun fun, and I can't wait.

So when Jeff asked "Mom, is there anything I can do for some cash?" (You know how it is with 20 yr old starving students)I handed him my car keys and told him "Inside and out...VIP style!" Of course, it will probably rain now that my car has been washed, but....the inside will be clean!

Dash for the Churn Dashes!

I'm kitting up!

Yep...I've got some fun sew times coming up in the future, and I really do better when I have to travel with my sewing stuff if I just take time to do the pre-cutting as much as I can before I go!

In celebration of my being home for (almost) a week...I made a complete mess digging through 2.5" strips, light and dark...1.5" strips, light and dark (Trying to purpose the short ones that were extras from a log cabin quilt I cut out for long ago...)and 1.5" squares!



I matched the light and dark 2.5" strips with right sides together and cut 4 half square triangle pairs from each strip set...these will go with the 1.5" strips which will be sewn into connectors and cut to size, and the 1.5" square is the center.

How fun is it to match a civil war repro kind of thing to a debbie mumm to a 1970's calico (I had a dress out of this in highschool!!)and a scrap of shirting fabric, and a random 1.5" square? The crazier the combinations the more I like them.

I pinned each block set together, but we'll see if that helps me keep pieces in order or not. I'm thinking, knowing me...NOT!

I tell you what...kitting up 42 little churn dashes does NOT make a dent in anyone's scrap bins, and certainly not mine. If anything, the drawers are harder to close now that I've stirred them all up!

However, it was great to just play with color and pattern and texture and just make these little mixed and mis-matched guys ready to sew up at my bee's Memorial Day Sew-a-thon on Monday! Actually, these blocks are going to be so cute, they finish at 5". I love little blocks!! I might have to make more, but I think 42 will give me what I want for this thing I have floating around in my head.

I spent yesterday upgrading my windows vista to windows 7. I was afraid to do it, but....tada! IT SOLVED MY PROBLEM! I was able to load EQ 5 with my EQ 6 upgrade (not sure about going to 7..)and my block base and other software with NO ERRORS. Hallelujah!

Not sure what Sunday will bring for me, but I really REALLY should spend some time reorganizing my cave down here... :c/

Things Work Out...

Grandpa's memorial service is Weds, June 9th. I'm flying to MN on Tues the 8th to spend that time with family. My aunt and uncle are coming from Germany. My mom is coming from Idaho. I am coming from North Carolina, and I am sure there will be more.

Thank you so much for the comments of sympathy. He was my last living grandparent, and it is kind of shocking when we all move up a notch on the generational scale. In my life it's always been 4 generations....My grandparents, my parents, myself and my siblings, and my children.

My children don't have children of their own yet...and we've all moved up a notch now that my grandparents have all passed. My parents become the eldest living generation, and I am moved UP one rung on the ladder! My children are now on rung 3 instead of rung 4. I don't want to go there yet! LOL

(There are way too many quilts to be done yet....story of my life)

I spent the morning upgrading my computer to Windows 7. It was easy...but now I need to see if I still can't install block base and EQ because of those stupid errors I was getting previously. I've got them on my laptop, also vista...but this desktop wouldn't let me load them and I've got some design work that needs to be finished and instructions written for future things and..I NEED IT ON A BIG SCREEN! My lap top is 13" and its just too small to be pinpointing bits of color into a quilt layout :c/

That said..I did get an email for EQ7...and I've not mastered EQ6...this is the story of my LIFE!! I was the same way with getting a CD player..I've got cassette tapes, why do I need that? And then when it came to MP3...I've got a CD player, why do I need THAT?! I just can't keep up. I guess that's further proof that I've moved up one more rung on the ladder...into obscurity!

SO...I had plans to spend the day sewing on the UFO that is going in the next book...and I've been side tracked by little churndashes! I want to play with bright color and scrappy happiness, and here I am back into the bin of plaids and just not sure what I want to sew on.

A bit ago I ran upstairs to get a bowl of cereal, poured it into the bowl, only to discover there is no milk in the house. :c| SO..I've been munching it dry, and washing it down with a can of diet cherry coke zero. I think grocery shopping ought to be on my list of things to do today too...but I just want to SEW!

Oh..and while I was away...Buddy got bit by a snake :c( His leg swelled up like a tree trunk, the vet found the bite marks after shaving part of his leg. We don't know what kind of snake, but he's been not able to really walk around the past week. He's been on antibiotics and pain killers, and he'll just have to ride it out. He's lasted THIS long, he should be okay, but it's a painful process for him. That's the dangers of living in the woods with a creek at hand. Even though it probably wasn't of the poison variety, his leg got infected due to the saliva, etc. it's just...EWWW! Living in the country just creeps me out sometimes.

And...I'm sorry to report that Emmy Lou has been gone since I left for Texas. That's the thing with In/Out cats...she was 10, so still middle aged by cat standards. She wanted out.....just never came back. I don't have much hope for her coming back, but I keep watching. Maybe she was adopted by someone. She HATED Oscar and Chloe....so maybe she found greener pastures in a one cat household? Who knows. I just keep hoping I won't find her carcass anywhere :c(

And if you made it to the end of this..I apologize for the wordiness with no pictures to hold your attention! I'll do better next time...promise!

My Grandpa

Paying tribute to my wonderful Grandpa, Alvin K Mach who passed away yesterday at age 94. We called him "Superman." He was a dentist, and the one who fixed my front tooth when I chipped it in 6th grade. He was a gentle soul with sparkling eyes. He will be missed by all who knew him. My brother's wedding is next weekend, so the funeral is being post-poned a week. (I think Grandpa would have gotten a kick to know that we were talking of "putting him on ice" for a while so we could get our ducks in a row!)

Speaking of ducks...Grandpa loved ducks. And when we used to go fishing, or out and about wherever we were..he'd shushshshhhh us and tell us "shhhhh! you'll scare the birds!" or "Shhhhh! you'll scare the fish!" All of these memories are just flooding back, and I'm sitting here with a lump in my throat the size of Australia.

I'm not scheduled to be anywhere else between the 8th and the 17th of June....so I'm hoping they will plan the funeral in that window so that I can head to Minnesota to be with family. Those family heartstrings are so strong, aren't they?

When my mom told me this morning...and said that she wants me to be there, needs me to be there, I tell you, there is no where else on earth I want to be.

He's been in the nursing home for quite some time. It's not a shock that he has passed, it's an acknowledgment of the life he has lead, and how he filled it all the way to the end, until his body was just so worn out it just needed to rest.

I'll miss you Grandpa!

Love,

Questions on fans...

There have been questions on how I go about doing this, and I thought I'd take some time this morning (At HOME...sitting with a cup of tea...in my JAMMIES!) to show you how I work things. The pic you see above was a photo I sent to the Quiltville page on facebook, sitting there on the plane, quilting away, waiting to take off from St Louis to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta home. I quilted the whole way, and am making huge progress on Dreamsicles!

I started hand quilting fans when I lived in Idaho, oh....many moons ago! The first one I did was a block swap through interquilt, and the blocks I got were called "wind blown square." It was the perfect quilting pattern to add motion to this quilt. I still have it somewhere, and i know I quilted this at least 12 years ago? I know because it traveled with me on the plane (yes I've been doing it this long!) to Connecticut from Idaho to visit my brother....and he hasn't lived in Connecticut for over 10 years or so. Where does the time go?

That first batch of quilts with fans, either in the border, or over the whole surface of the quilt, I used stencils. I tried lots of ways to mark them, from blue marker, to purple marker, to schoolhouse chalk....it was a pain to mark them, really! I also once went so far as to take a strip cut from a sheet of plastic canvas grid...Mark the holes that I wanted to use to measure my arcs with a sharpie marker...and used that strip of canvas like a compass. It worked really well, but again I was still marking.

And let's face it. If you have to lay something out to mark it...it's not going to be that user friendly in a small space like an airplane seat. Being able to quilt without marking is my method of choice!

It wasn't until I got Gwen Marston's book "Quilting With Style" that I even thought about free-handing them, and my first few attempts were...ehhhhh??? And I gave up. I just wasn't that ready to go wonkily liberated yet....until I met Tonya!

I think the thing about free handing fans is that we forget to think about the whole surface of the quilt...we are just sitting there looking at one crooked one, next to another not so crooked one, and comparing them to each other, and we think it won't work. But you have to keep going! It's the texture and motion of the WHOLE SURFACE that matters, not how perfect each individual fan is.

One of the first things I figured out was that I was trying to make my fans too big with too many arcs to them. I limit mine at 5. In fact, 5 arcs gives me the perfect number to keep them moving continuously.


I start my quilting in the bottom right corner, working right to left because I am right handed. Lefties would probably do better working left to right from the bottom left corner.

I *DO* use a hoop. But my quilt is very loose in the hoop. When I quilt, I am not holding the hoop in any way...I have one hand on the underside of the quilt, feeling for the needle, and my right hand on the top doing the stitching. The hoop just rests in my lap and keeps me from having to grab and hold the quilt flat so I can stitch. Some prefer to go completely hoopless, so try it both ways. I'm a hoop girl.

Also...quilting from the OUTSIDE IN toward the center means you have to be basted VERY VERY VERY well. I baste my quilts by longarm with a huge stitch in a meander pattern. I remove the basting threads in each area as I quilt.

If you look at the corner of the pic above...you can see the first fan that started the whole process. I also thought it might help if I drew this with pencil on paper. You can draw it on paper too so you can get the feel of how things work, and how the fans just run off the edge in the direction you are going...and THEN you turn the corner. Like this:

The arrows show you the direction I am stitching. I go DOWN the first inner 1/4 circle, up the second, down the third, up the fourth, and down the 5th.

At this point...I travel my needle up through the layers so I can start the next fan in the same way...down the inner 1/4 circle, and repeat! Don't you love my Casper Wyoming twig pencil!! LOL Fun picking up souvenirs from where I've traveled! I think this one can only be sharpened by whittling...hehehe.

Here we are working toward that next corner..just keep repeating fans until you run off the end.

After I have gone off the side I've been working on....it's time to turn the corner and just start again where the last row ended!

Here I've reached another corner...straight off the edge. Sometimes I need to add another little line as if it were the "top arc" of the one that ran off the edge, just to fill in the space. Then head down the third side...are you getting it now?

At this point, I'm just going to keep going until this whole first round is completed. Once I've gone all the way around once, I start the second round, then the third, and on....until I've filled in the whole surface of the quilt. When I reach the middle, the fans are going to end where they end...just quilt to fill!


This is the BACK of the Dreamsicles quilt...it's a yellow toile! Can you see the pattern with the red thread? Quilting with contrasting thread is so fun. I mean, who wants to put in all this work if the quilting is not going to show? I'm in love with color, and quilting this orange quilt with red thread just makes me happy!

So...are you ready to try? Get out a piece of paper and just start drawing. I'm sure mine are different than some, but that's okay. Oh...and my stitching lines are about 3/4" apart. I just measured. You can make them as close together or as far apart as you like, again there are no rules....just texture texture texture! I like to think of fans as one of the "earliest" pantographs out there......seconded only by clam shells, and cross hatching that went over the entire surface. Quilts that were quilted this way tended to last a bit longer I think...because the stitches CROSSED the seam lines and that anchored them, adding strength. Well, that's my theory anyway. I've also seen applique quilts that SHOULD have fallen apart..but they didn't because the fans marched right across the applique holding it down. Yay fans!

Meet Me In St Louis!

But you'll have to be quick about it, because I'm leaving in about an hour! :c)

I've had a great time with the Decatur Quilters Guild of Decatur IL! I love learning things about different areas I visit. For instance, did you know that Decatur IL is the SOY BEAN CAPITAL of the US? Maybe the world...but I know my shuttle van driver said it was the SOY BEAN CAPITAL of somewhere. :c)

I get so excited to see landmarks like this!
This pic was taken as I rode shot-gun in the front of the shuttle van from St Louis TO Decatur last Monday. The van guy was really nice and invited me to sit up front and of course I took him up on it. I could see the arch come closer and closer as we drove toward it....it was SO GREAT to come so close to it that I could get a good pic! The last time we were in St Louis was Thanksgiving of 2000.....and we watched my son Jason play in his high school marching band in the Macy's Parade in NYC from the living room of our friend's house......that is....until the tv station pre-empted the NY parade in favor of a local one and we lost coverage!

He remembers vividly that road trip, and how he got to tour the twin towers. Little did we know at the time that less than 10 months later they would be gone.....

Our Pineapple blossom class on Tuesday went really well....we had an experience with the "body bags" of quilts, though. I had fed-exed them from Lawrence because I wasn't going to be able to take them on Delta Airlines (My bags fly free on United, but not on Delta and these are over sized $$$$) and I couldn't take up ALL the luggage space for the other passengers on the shuttle, so we mailed them.

They arrived WET. At least one bag was anyway....like they had sat it in a puddle or something. Now I mailed these last THurs and they arrived Friday...and sat damp until I unlocked them on Tuesday..so you can imagine how they smell faintly like a load of laundry that has sat in the washing machine forgotten for a few days. Phehhhewww!!

At this point I realized that I was really REALLY glad that I make bed quilts, quilts to cover people, quilts that are meant to be washed. I can't imagine what I would do if these were "art" type quilts, or the kind of prize winning quilts with $9,000.00 worth of crystals sewn to them.

We draped the quilts out to dry! By the time evening rolled around for the evening guild lecture, most of them more more dry than damp. After the lecture we spread them out again, and by morning, all was dry. I'm still going to have to do some washing to get some of the musties out though. I'm going to have to rethink how I ship body bags if I ever do this again!

One of my favorite things about visiting other people's guild meetings is the show and tell! I have to show you this lovely. If I remember the story correctly, it was pieced by the grandmother and aunt (or further back) of the owner, the lady shown here in the black blouse:

What a lovely 30's postage stamp variation! I really love how the print postage stamps are separated by the rows of white and blue squares. Again, it's a great use of solids to give boundary to the busy-ness of prints. I love antiques that mix the two, prints and solids, together. And this blue is just great into the border too..

It was a great quilt for studying up close...all those wonderful old prints..you just wonder about the story behind them and where the scraps came from. Were they dresses? Aprons? Skirts? Blouses? All of the above? We may never know..but these kinds of scrappy quilts are the ones that make my heart leap for joy!

I have more I want to share with you, but I've gotta go stand in line and get my seat assignment for this flight. Another reason I don't like Delta..they wouldn't let me make my seat selection online!! Grrrr! And....even at the gate here, they can't assign the seat for my connecting flight either..I've gotta do that at the next gate. I'm a United Girl...all the way!!

Another Shredded Lovely...

Whigs Defeat!

How many times does this name bring to mind a quilt pattern, but leaves us wondering what really happened at the event this quilt pattern was named after?

I typed Whig's Defeat into google...and the first few entries brought up QUILT related topics, but didn't even take me to the real event until way down the list!



This is a screen capture, not an ad, and not anything you can click...so don't try :c)This is what I got in my google search!

(Btw, I am typing this while on hold with Delta. There is a reason I fly United..just sayin! Delta won't let me choose my plane seat on linem I can only do that at check in time at the airport? I need a right side window so I don't poke anyone while quilting! >_< )

A little history lesson thanks to Wiki:

The Whig party was ultimately destroyed by the question of whether to allow the expansion of slavery to the territories. With deep fissures in the party on this question, the anti-slavery faction successfully prevented the nomination of its own incumbent President Fillmore in the 1852 presidential election; instead, the party nominated General Winfield Scott. Its leaders quit politics (as Lincoln did temporarily) or changed parties. The voter base defected to the Republican Party, various coalition parties in some states, and to the Democratic Party. By the 1856 presidential election, the party had lost its ability to maintain a national coalition of effective state parties and endorsed Millard Fillmore, now of the American Party, at its last national convention.

I just find it really interesting that such a political thing could spawn such a GORGEOUS well known quilt pattern!

Sharon and I found this one while in the attic of a lovely antique store. It is SHREDDED...which is a shame because it was so heavily quilted....the stitching was awesome.

The applique almost looked raw edge, but I tend to think that it is because the applique stitches came undone over use, and the only thing holding the applique pieces in place are the quilting stitches :c)

The variations are many! Here's one dating from 1870:

I just know this is a pattern I will never ever piece/applique myself. Not in this life time, no how! But oh how lovely.....makes me wonder what the original maker of the shredded quilt above was thinking while she was busy needling away. How did this quilt end up in Kansas? How many people over the decades did it cover as they slept, because this quilt WAS USED TO DEATH....we will never know!

Booth Sighting from Quilt Market!

I wasn't able to make it to Quilt Market, but my quilts did! In a long round about way, the gals from Kansas City Star came to my lecture in Lawrence, and then spirited the 3 quilts you see here away to Minneapolis for Quilt Market...how cool is that? I can't believe how nice it worked out.

What you see are Crabapples, Bowdacious, and Nine in the Middle!

I wish I could have been there, but it turns out that Randy was meeting some other friends there, and I sent her with a specific mission to get a photo of the booth for me!

I'm really kicking myself because I was born in Minneapolis, I have aunts uncles, cousins and a grandfather still living there! I would have loved to have had a chance to visit with everyone, and hopefully that opportunity will come round again...

I'm post-dating this post....if you are reading this on Monday, I am on my way to Decatur Illinois for their Spring Party! Two lecture/trunkshows and a Pineapple Blossom class are scheduled...Throw the world "PARTY" into the mix, and I'm raring to go!

Antique Fever!

You know me and antique hunting....always on the look out for elusive lovelies!

This last trip did NOT disappoint as you saw in my last post, all the goodies that came home with me!

This Ohio star did NOT come home with me, but that didn't mean it was not photo-worthy! It's a 20's 30's quilt...Just LOVE that solid red especially set with pink and blue! I really love quilts that are not "too much white".

Great indigos...mixed with those lovely 30's prints!

Who says pink can't go with red? I love it!

This photo is a bit blurry, but I wanted to show that she also included some muslin star points mixed in with her pink print ones. Definitely a scrap bag project with some rhyme and reason thrown in. The setting squares are a blue/yellow/pink feed sack. I can imagine she had to hunt to find enough feed in the same pattern of sacks to get enough to set this quilt!

Sharon and I had a great time going antique mall to antique mall from Kansas to Missouri last Thursday! She even found a great little Spartan 128k to bring home....for $45.00! It works super. What a darling machine. If I didn't already HAVE one, it would have been mine..lol!

I DID find this lovely 6 point star with a pink background....is it not sweet? I get to love on it for a couple of months, and then it is going to my friend Randy who has had me on an antique quilt finding mission. Her reasoning? I have too many and I need to share the finds! *LOL* I do love 6 pointed stars, and I'll get to visit this one when I go to see her, so it works for me. Truth be told, I AM kind of out of room here :c| Of course, it is quilted in my favorite hand quilting pattern, all over fans...BIG ONES!

And I just noticed....two great quilts...that didn't require borders to finish them off! More and more I love quilts without borders.



Here's one that was great to look at, but out of my price range. That didn't stop me from oohing and ahhing and taking pics too! From far away I couldn't tell if those gingham squares were pieced in or appliqued..but to me it looks like they sewed a bunch of regular string blocks together and appliqued those gingham squares on TOP to give the blocks a snowball appearance.

Nowadays we would just do sew and flip corners....right? Who wants to inset those seams or applique them down? But I still love the look of unity it gives to this quilt. What a great selection of fabrics in it too!



Even if we don't find anything...even if nothing comes home....it is still a great day to be on a treasure hunt! You just never know what you will find out "junking". Keep your eyes open, what you see just might inspire you, even if it's just colors, or ideas for a border, or even just giggling at WHO would piece a giant grandmother's flower garden out of the ugliest double knits on the planet!! (Yes, we saw that too...more than once!)

And while all this hilarity was going on, I got to thinking...WHICH of my UFOs are going to turn up at an antique mall of the future, and who will be shaking their heads wondering who this crazy quilter was!? Maybe it's best...not to label everything after all! ;c)