Feeling Further North....

Or at least driving there!

The car is loaded with 3 duffels of trunkshow and workshop quilts. 4 cases of books. wheelie trolley cart. photographer's backdrop/quilt hanging stand.

Suitcase is almost packed, waiting on last bit of laundry. It goes like this....wash the clothes, fold them.....leave them on the bed for packing later, come back and find that OSCAR has lain all over everything and got them all white and furry (We are talking Navy Blue and Chocolate Brown pairs of brushed denims...you get the picture!) and it was easier to just re-wash them than to deal with mega-sheets of sticky roller removal tactics! ((You've done this too!! I know you have!!))

I packed up the hand quilting project...and the hexagon project....for my nights at the hotel.

When I travel there are things I bring with me to make my space **MINE**. My own insulated tea mug comes along. My external travel speakers for my ipod so I can have my own music. Good snacks like nuts, fruit, trail mix and granola or protein bars.

Often I will pull one of the quilts out of the trunkshow bags and have that on my bed too.

Because I have my own car this time....I loaded up more books on the mp3 player so I can listen as I drive.

And I also made a plan to stop at my half way point...Richmond, VA! Look what is going on at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts!




If I leave here around 8am like I am planning...I should hit Richmond by 12 or 12:30pm....perfect time for a lunch break, a fuel stop, and a walk-about seeing the quilts, don't you think?!

I worried that they wouldn't be open on Sunday but the info says "Open Daily 10-5" So I am assuming that means Sundays too.

I spent today de-cluttering. I had a stack of sterlite drawers that were stuffed with notions, rulers, pieces, parts, markers, template plastic, just EVERYTHING and they were a mess. I condensed 4 drawers down to 2! YEAH!

Someone tell me why I had 5...count them...5..packages of thread heaven all in different places? Was there a big sale or something that I can't remember?

And take it from me....glue sticks are not a long term storage item. Dried up glue sticks do NO ONE any good, so don't think you can stash them ahead of time. Believe me.

This clear-out spread like wild fire to another area....all the stationary/office supply type stuff that was in a 3 drawer wheelie cart. I cleared that out, threw a bunch of stuff away, and moved on to the two drawer office supply dresser that holds things like extra manila folders, mailing envelopes, tyvek envelopes, printer paper, post it pads, all that kind of thing....condensed everything down into those two drawers and now the 3 drawer wheelie cart is completely empty. Boy! Does that feel good! I have 2 large sterlite drawers and a 3 drawer wheelie cart EMPTY!

I'm thinking I don't even want to fill them back up with anything right now. I think they need to STAY EMPTY. And I need to move on to do the same thing in other areas of my basement studio down here.

I need to stop adopting all the ink pens from all the hotels I stay in. That's going to be a hard habit to break! *LOL*

So I'm ready. Ready for a good night's sleep...and ready to hit the road in the morning.

The Hexagon Quilt That Wasn't --- Quite!

One of the fun things for me in traveling around and visiting other quilters is the show and tell they bring to ME!

Last Saturday ((Yes, could it have been a week ago already?!)) Mary Jo brought a very special quilt top to class with her.

The story goes ((Correct me if I'm wrong or missing anything, Mary Jo!)) that Mary Jo spent days and hours pawing over this quilt top on Ebay. And who wouldn't!? You should see the fabrics in it. From what she told me, it dates from the 1800's, was made in England, and it IS in the English paper piecing method. Her hubby took pity on her and bought it for her as a gift. WHAT A GUY!! :cD I think he would be a keeper, don't you?



The funny thing about it is...it starts with "lozenge" shaped hexies in the center...and moves out to regular sized hexies somewhere towards the ends, but they are all different sizes than each other and believe me....this is one quilt that will NEVER QUILT OUT! :cD

Just for sheer perseverance, the maker of this quilt deserves a round of applause! The pieces are SO small, and you should see the prints in it. Just for that reason alone, it is a vintage fabric lover's dream. A catalogue of thousands of prints.



Can you see the center how baggy/saggy it is? LOVE IT! In fact, if you look closely, it bags in the shape of a heart. :cD ((Or is that my eyes doing tricks on me?!))

The papers used on the back were from old letters and such, you can read some of the hand written words. She said she found a date somewhere in there, but I can't remember what the date is.



Believe me...my 3/4" per side hexies looked ginormously gargantuan compared to the pieces in this quilt.

Until I uploaded these pics, I didn't even notice that it is set in what appear to be alternating rows of dark/light/dark/light! Do you think she had a plan for this pattern?

So this leaves us to ponder. Was there one maker who started it? And someone else who tried to finish it? The edges are not even, it was clearly still a "work in progress" How many pieces? I have no idea! How many YEARS did it take someone to do this? Where did her fabrics come from? Her own scrap bag? Family, friends...other quilters....trading perhaps? We'll never know!

What a wonderful piece of quilt history and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to handle it, to fondle it, to read the words on the backing papers, to question and ponder and smile and wonder about the maker and who she was, what she loved, who she loved, what her dreams were, her fears were. What other quilts did she have dancing in her head while she worked on this one long-term project?

It's not about how LONG it takes, really, is it? Again, it's about the wonder and the pleasure and the joy and the journey. Just piece it. Don't worry about the time frame, just do it. Even one hexagon a day...is progress!

515 COMMENTS!!!!!

I knew I couldn't close the drawing until at least midnight--HAWAII time! SO, instead of waiting up until something like 5am eastern time to do it, I just decided to do it when I woke up! Sounds logical right?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!515 COMMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ((Yes, I'm still in shock!!))

Our first winner....ARLENE in California!



Arlene has won a signed copy of 100 blocks, volume 2, from me!

Congrats Arlene! Please email me at quiltville@gmail.com with your snail mail address so I can get it right out to you!

Our second winner...Linda in Illinois!



Linda, your copy will be coming directly from Quiltmaker Magazine! Please email me at quiltville@gmail.com with your snail mail address so I can pass it on to them.

I am just so thrilled for both of you, and overwhelmed with the response. Shoot. I should give away things more often! *LOL!!!*

Happy Quilting, Y'all! :cD

Mystery Prep!

Welcome to the new-bees, the old-bees, and the excited-bees! I've had emails asking what else there is to do besides gather the fabrics for the Mystery.

Other than gathering your fabrics, there really isn't anything you need to do to prep, without me going into a whole lot of detail and opening up a whole lot of questions that would take much more explanation than if I just do it per clue! So that kind of prep will come with each step of the mystery. It's just easier that way.

It's only a few more days, I know you can wait!

But here are some things you CAN do:

*Be sure you have a new blade in your cutter.

*De-clutter your cutting surfaces and your sewing area.

* Clean and oil your machine, and change the needle.

* Wind a bunch of bobbins.

*Buy yourself your favorite smell-good candle so you can bring MOOD AMBIANCE into your sewing space!

*Make a menu plan and shop ahead so that you can throw things in the crock pot and immerse yourself in sewing and not have to worry about dinner.

((Here is a great recipe for Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore!))

*Get your CD's ready, or download books to your MP3 player so you can enjoy a good "read" while sewing! Those who watch TV while you sew...get those DVDs out and pick the best ones that you can "listen" to and not have to look up so often.

*Plan on washing the sheets and bed linens the day before....so you get a good night's sleep on the 18th in a freshly made bed. Okay, this might sound silly, but that is the best sleep in the world to me, new clean tucked-in-tightly sheets!

Do you have a leader/ender project ready? Even if I am doing one step repetitively while chain piecing, I don't chain lengths of pieces together any longer than my ironing board. When I get that long, I run a leader/ender through.

Otherwise....big long long long chains of pieces get tangled and twisted and it's a mess. Ironing board length means I can lay the whole chain up there, press, cut apart, de-dog-ear if needed and go sew some more. It gets me out of my chair more, which is what we need. It also helps me breeze through those leader/enders more often than once every 500 pairs of triangles O_o !

Are there any other things you like to do? Think of this as our Holiday Stay-cation At Home Retreat! What other ideas give you the best, most relaxing, most fun "at-home" sewing experience?

Bonnie

Quiltmaker Blog Tour!

It's my turn to be on the Quiltmaker Magazine Blog Tour for 100 Blocks, Volume 2!

The 100 Blocks, Volume 2 Blog Tour is running Nov. 8-12, 2010. Get the inside scoop from over 60 designers with lots of exciting prizes all week long! You can check all the fun things going on now at Quiltmaker's Blog: Quilty Pleasures!

But don't click to go there YET! Finish THIS post first, THEN go surfing :cD



The issue should be available near you on or around November 16th...can you feel the excitement building??

My Block is called BIRTHDAY GIRL! Because...I designed it and sewed it up on my last Birthday, January 23rd. I think it was the BEST thing to do on my birthday, don't you? A commemorative block. Spending the day at my machine...perfect!

You will find my block, #174 on page 58 of the issue.

Those of you who know me, know I "LOVE" a challenge, and I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE digging into my scraps to make things happen!

In my patchwork I am always looking for a design that will use up things that I have on hand, left over half square triangles from other projects, bricks, squares, strips of pre-cut this and that and everything to pull it off!

This block was no exception. The only HARD part for me was to design this in a 12" block, because....well.....you know....I like things SMALL! So the only way to combat the GINORMOUS size of the blocks was to fill it up with lots of little pieces so it didn't look clunky. LOL!

I dug into my bin of 2.5" X 4.5" bricks and pulled out the purples. I dug into my 2.5" Precut square box for some random neutrals, yellows and golds! And I dug for extra half square triangles from other projects and pulled some red/yellow-gold ones, and some red/neutral ones too! The fill-in neutral triangles also were cut from scrap strips..the only thing BIG I had to cut was the corner triangles.

Having scraps cut into usable sizes meant that I could assemble this block from a multitude of fabrics on the quick!


I've even played with a sample layout! If you set the quilt with scrappy neutral sashings (I cut these 2" wide so they finish at 1.5") you get an alternate look of shoo-flies that appear where the block corners come together with the red cornerstones. COOL! ((I love secondary designs!))

The Quilt as shown, with 30 blocks, an inner border cut 1.5" and an outer border cut 5" Will give you a quilt that finishes around 80.5" X 94", a good size!

So, now the fun part! Would you like to WIN a copy of 100 Blocks, Vol 2?! All you need to do is leave a blog comment here, and please say something about WHY you like to visit me here at Quiltville! I'll use a number generator to pull not one, but TWO winners! Someone will win a signed copy from me, and I will mail it to you personally! A second someone will win a copy directly from Quiltmaker magazine!

Ready? Set? Comment! ((And please be sure to include your email address if you don't have that visible in your settings so that I can contact you back about your win, and to get your snail-mail address!)) Scroll down to the bottom of the post, below my signature, look for the link that says "SNIPS BY OTHERS" That is where you click to comment if you haven't been here before!

And DON'T worry about how many comments there already are! Everyone gets an equal chance! I want to hear from you :c)

If you haven't clicked to "FOLLOW" ((In the sidebar, down the page)) Please do so, so you can keep up with the doings here...if you didn't know yet, The Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll Mystery is starting on the 19th! You won't want to miss that!

If you are a facebooker, please "LIKE" the Quiltville Friend Page! We are having a lot of fun you won't want to miss!

And if you are NEW here, welcome! Please be sure to check out Quiltville.com and browse through all the free patterns, tips, techniques and other quilty stuff.

I'm also honored and thrilled to have a regular running column in every issue of Quiltmaker Magazine called "Addicted To Scraps!" Each issue gives you a block design to help use those precious scraps in your collection. You won't want to miss a single issue! Keep On Scrapping On!

The Best Things in Life are Quilted!!

Set The Date!!

Tomorrow is MY date for my blog to appear on Quiltmaker Magazine's Blog Tour....for the 100 blocks by 100 designers volume 2!

There will be a giveaway of TWO free issues of the magazine (You don't want to miss this issue!) and more info on my block and how it came to be, along with a sample layout!



All you'll have to do is leave a comment on tomorrow's blog tour post, and I'll use a random generator to pick the winners. Please be sure to include your email address in your post so I can reach you. Not everyone who comments has their addresses visible in their own blogger settings, and I NEED to be able to let you know if you won!

Y'all come back now, y'hear! :cD

Old Timey Day!

Can I begin by saying it has been YEARS AND YEARS since I have had children at a young enough age that I had to be in the car caravan lane for the drop-off zone?! To you moms and dads who do the drop-off/pick-up on a daily basis, my hats off to you! I forgot that it can be bumper to bumper and take 25 minutes just to crawl your car up to where the drop off zone is!

Silly me, I set my Tom Tom ((Actually, it's now called Billy-Billy because I installed the Billy Connolly voice on it!))to the school address so I wouldn't get lost going over to Lewisville. It shouldn't be that hard, but I wanted to be sure I got there. I probably should have driven one more block and bypassed the school drop off line and turned into another parking lot, but what did I know? I trusted Billy-Billy to get me there. S-L-O-W-L-Y for the last 1/2 mile!

I was ever so grateful that I was not the only parent looking like they had just stepped off the set of Little House on the Prairie! Kids had dressed up too, and it was just darling. The 3rd graders had been studying the early days in Colonial America, and on into the 1800s. There were all kinds of demos going on, from washing clothes with a wash board to making butter, weaving, tin punch, candle making, etc...

Martha Claire and Karen and I manned ((or womaned!)) the Quilting area. It was really fun telling the kids how important quilts were in the early Americas and on forward to today. They learned the difference between a quilt and a blanket! They learned to recognize a few basic patchwork patterns, learned about the different tools that were used, watched me doing some hand quilting and then got to try their own hand at hand quilting using the stab stitch on a sample hoop...and then over to the flannel board for some block designing with some pre-cut shapes.



IT WAS LIKE HERDING CATS!! >^,,^<

((Yes, be sure to click the link above...I died laughing at this when I was doing a search for a 'herding cats'image!))



Martha Claire showing a group of boys how to stab-stitch! The boys seemed to like this activity better than the girls did, and it was hard to get them to put the needles DOWN to move to the next station!



Busy Little Hands....trying to make their stitches small and close together. It's not as easy as it looks, as they soon found out!



The girls worked together to design some Ohio Star blocks on the flannel board with pre-cut triangles and squares. They found out it wasn't so easy to turn those triangles right either!



Busy little fingers....it's fun to watch the interaction between the kids. I can easily fast forward these kids a few years and tell you who the bossy ones will be...LOL!!

By the time 12:30 rolled around and the last group had passed our station, we were ready for MARGARITAS!! lunch :cD

I am so happy I went! And I do believe I earned every minute of that 2+ hour nap I took when I got home. I decided there would be no stops on the way home either, cuz I couldn't bear to be seen looking like Carolyn Ingalls out in public, not to mention that I must have been wearing 20lbs more clothing than normal! Good grief! No wonder the ladies got the vapors..I'm just glad we didn't have to deal with corsets :cD

Thanks for the invite Karen! If you do it next year...gimme a call....I'm game to give it another go!

Playing Dress Up!

The crud seems to have passed, and it's a good thing! I got an email from Karen last evening reminding me that I had volunteered to help at Lewisville Elementary's "OLD TIMEY DAY" doing quilting demos, pioneer style!

I've been wanting to be more involved locally. It hit me recently that in February, I will be marking 3 years of living in North Carolina. Where does the time go? (GONE, obviously!) and you know, once you don't have school aged kids anymore, it's just dang hard to meet people and to develop friendships and build roots.

I know a handful of people....each one a gem, and that's really all I need, but I want to do more, to be part of this community. SO. VOLUNTEER!

And what is better to volunteer at than something I love doing so much?

I'll have to get pics when I'm there and post them later, but I'm typing this wearing a prairie dress, apron, petticoat, bloomers and bonnet! And yes, I'm having to drive down the road this way! *LOL* Karen said come already dressed, so I am!

This morning I put my hair up in a bun, though I doubt it will stay that way. But we will see how it goes!

The kids will get demos on how quilts are made, the layers that go into them, how the stitches are done. And there is a flannel board where they can arrange triangles and squares and other pieces and see how blocks are designed. It should be fun!


Yesterday afternoon I ventured out to Target to pick up some Color Catchers.....and found some other goodies!

I did find the Color Catchers, and you know how quilters are....at the meeting the other night I ended up with 20 different combinations of products for getting bleeds out of fabrics. So...let's buy them all! This is what ended up in my cart.....

Oh...and special thanks to Bonnie Minor for turning me on last summer to the Snapware ornament keepers! These will be great for retreats etc...they are 13" square, and snap to each other so you can have several projects and goodies all in one thing...I bought two. They were about $10. I also saw them at Joanns, and they were NOT on sale, and I didn't have a coupon (And the coupon would have put them down to target price) so I just bought them there....be on the look out for these, they look like they have awesome possibilities!



While walking through Target I came across the cosmetics aisle and all the cases/organizers there. I had some emails recently asking where I got my little project bag that I travel with....I've had it more than 10 years and haven't seen one exactly like it since..but there are some good things here!



Though there were many "pretty" ones of various fabrics, etc....THIS one seemed to be the most useable as a project bag to me. Price? About $16.00



Function is more important than beauty, right? This one had the 3 clear zippered pockets, and the bigger pocket at the bottom could hold thread, needles, etc...This is the size of bag that fits nicely in my lap while in an airport, a guild meeting, a plane, a car, without hanging over my legs too far to either side, keeping everything accessible!

And hey, it's pink inside!

I was going to go check the luggage aisle and the men's travel kits too...sometimes there are better things there, even if they aren't as pretty on the outside ((we've all discovered tackle boxes, haven't we?))but I got distracted by the snapware! LOL!

Okay..I'm off...time to run, don't want to be late...pics of Old Timey Day Later!

Tucked in and Laying Low....

I arrived home from Michigan last evening...I tell you what, this whole traveling on a day when time changes, and dealing with setting my watch back once in the hotel, back once again to put me on Chicago time and forward once again (back to Eastern time in NC) has me a bit loopy! It's only an hour! It shouldn't be that bad.

Either that, or I was just completely worn out because I couldn't believe it last night...I was looking at the clock, it said 8pm (Which was really 9pm body clock time) and yet I felt like it was 1am.....and I gave up! I crawled into bed, beneath three quilts, one cat on either side and went comatose until 6am this morning.

Maybe I needed it, maybe I didn't...but I still feel kinda crummy and I'm just taking a mental health jammie day.

Around here even jammie days don't mean "lie around and do nothing"....so a certain amount of puttering and unpacking has been going on. I did some hand quilting while sipping tea, hoping the crummy achy feeling would pass, and found myself watching "Notting Hill" on netflix streaming. ::::SOBBING::::: Why does this movie get to me so much?! I should have watched something funnier! Or something with zero-emotion-triggers like "Sell this house" or "Tabatha's Salon Take Over" :c/ OY! All in all, it's a good ache...and it has a happy ending :c)



The quilters of Oakland County were FABULOUS! (look at them waving their rotary cutters around!! LOL!!) I was a bit frazzled as I missed my connection at Washington/Dulles due to weather. This meant I had 4.5 hours until the next flight to Detroit and I was worried that I would be late for my own lecture Thursday night! But there is a reason I take the absolutely first flight out on my way.....even if it means getting up at 4am to be at the airport by 5:15 am for a 6:20 flight. I was able to get another later flight that got me into Detroit by 2pm!

I was greeted at the airport by Ruth who came with her own luggage cart and we wound our way to the parking garage, two big canvas duffels of quilts, my luggage suitcase, my laptop bag, and both of us steering....trying to remember where Ruth parked her car!

It was raining in Dulles which was the reason for my delay....it also meant that my luggage spent 4.5 hours sitting on a wet cart. When we unpacked the quilts, we found a few of the quilts had bled. SO...we've air dried them, and I'm going today (as soon as I feel less ugh) to get some dye catchers and hopefully get the bleeding out. I don't care how many times you pre-wash something. If something else sits up against it wet....for hours....color can transfer. So I'm asking good wishes in getting these clean!



My classes were held in the same hotel I was staying in which meant there was nearly zero lugging around to be done. This helped so much! Quarters were close...we had two full classes, and only one mishap with overloading the circuits with one-too-many irons which put half the room in darkness for just a bit of time.

After that, we moved the ironing stations outside the room on a different circuit and we were good to go!



Friday's class was Star Struck...of course with the ultimate challenge of using ONLY stash fabrics in your quilt...you should have seen the variety, and some of the fun ones they really dug deep for! My favorite line lately has been: "If there is still MILLENIUM FABRIC in your stash, it's time to get it out of there!" And they really did bring some fungly-uglies to play with. And they are all going to be fabulous quilts!

Here is a cute little SmileBox that Judy sent me! ((Be sure to click PLAY to get it started)) Thanks Judy!

Saturday was the "My Blue Heaven" workshop, and of course we had Black/Orange heavens, and green heavens, and rainbow heavens and red heavens...and a whole lot of fun learning to use the Easy Angle Ruler and the Companion Angle Ruler as well. Great class, all from 2.5" strips.



My special thanks to Ruth for taking me not once, but TWICE....to indulge in my favorite Midwest Obsession: CULVERS! If you have a Culvers and haven't tried their pumpkin/pecan concrete mixer, GO NOW! It's fabulous! (and I'm sure CONCRETE is exactly what going-twice-in one-trip is going to be what my hiney turns into!)

I also had the pleasure of meeting Barb, who belongs to a terrific gym close by, and she offered to take me so I could work OFF the above concrete buns mixer by spending some time on the elliptical trainer, and using the floor area to do some stretching. MUCH NEEDED!! Thanks so much, Barb, for your thoughtfulness and your cheery smile and fun conversation, and for the ride back to the airport yesterday morning!



So...my return trip included MUCH of THIS! I've attached 2 of the smaller border sections to the quilt center already...and I found it easier to use a real section of the border as my MAP for the new section instead of relying on a small drawing on graph paper. I can actually lay my new pieces on there as it grows and see what color I need to add next and where. Three of the smaller sections are done, two are attached, the third done one is my map, I'm piecing on the 4th border section and it's coming along! There are two kinds of border sections, one uphill, one downhill, and I'm doing the downhill ones first so I don't have to constantly switch gears and re-think which one I'm supposed to be working on. Makes sense?

Oh! And this is an exciting week! Be sure to come back by on Thursday...it's my blog hop visit for Quiltmaker Magazine's 100 Blocks magazine! I'll have up close photos for my block in the magazine, and a give away of a copy of the magazine for those who leave a comment on the post! Exciting stuff!

Is it Wednesday already?

I'm tucked up in my basement studio wondering if it is too soon to start a fire in my wood stove! It's definitely chilly, but I know when I fire up the beast, I'll soon open the windows and doors and try not to cook. This is one powerful wood stove....and it HEATS.

I do love the coziness and crackle of a wood fire....and candles burning....and hot tea in a big mug! My favorite things about late fall/winter.

The 3rd quilt is on the bed, adding a delicious weight and keeping all the warmth in. I love sleeping all tucked up, surrounded in my little quilt cocoon, one cat on either side preventing me from rolling in either, or any, directon! I think the best sleep comes with a cold nose, don't you agree?

This morning I was pondering on the feeling of GRATITUDE. Here in the US, our Thanksgiving is approaching. And you know what? This past 10 days off has given me the opportunity to just slow down and be grateful for little things.

The change of season outdoors, the smell of autumn in the air, the beauty of the falling leaves, the adventure of making it from the backdoor to the hottub without being beaned by falling acorns!

Are you too busy, too rushed, too hectic, so much on your plate that you don't even think about the joy of feeling grateful? I know I have been guilty of this. I'm not talking necessarily feeling grateful in any kind if "religious" way. We all have our own convictions, I am just talking about the little ordinary-every-day beauties that we can miss in our rush to get to the next "to-do" on our lists. There is joy in the mundane routine day-in-day-out doings. We just have to see them and acknowledge them with a smile and a nod to life for giving it to us so abundantly.

Okay, so this post isn't even quilt-related. It's just how I'm feeling this morning. But to put a bit of quilt-speak in here, I've been BUSY! The mystery quilt is now quilted, and I'm ready to start binding! HA! ((How's that for rubbing it in?!)) And I am loving the chatter I am reading on the quiltville friends page on facebook, and on the quiltvillechat@yahoogroups.com list about the colors that people are planning on and the excitement is building....and I am so grateful for all of this abundance too!

I'm busy quilting a baby quilt for a friend expecting her first grandchild. I'm sure she is feeling excitement and gratitude.....it's palpable! The expectation.....

Today is also a mundane chore kind of day, but I'm doing it with gratitude. I'm doing laundry! ((But I have a stacked hi-efficiency washer and dryer, I'm not pounding clothing on a rock down by the river!)) I've got book orders to mail out! ((I'm grateful for each and every one of those orders and the people they bring across my path!)) I've got to pack a suitcase, repack the trunk show, get all settled and sorted for a trip to Michigan in the morning. ((I'm grateful to be flying and to be there in a few short hours, vs DRIVING it like I did last October!))

Let's face it! If the worst thing that happens to me today is crawling groggily out of a warm bed and stepping barefootedly into dog puke on the way to the bathroom...I've got it pretty darned great!

I have my eyes to see, my ears to hear, my heart to love, my hands to sew. I have a roof over my head, a beyond-life-expectancy basement full of fabric and miscellaneous quilt-neccessities. I have family, terrific friends, and you.

For it all...I'm grateful!

Any "Virginia Bounders" Out There?

I need some help with some photographs!

If you have made Virginia Bound with fabrics OTHER than recycled plaids, I need you!

I'm looking for quilts in other colorways...batiks maybe? Brights? or a planned color scheme that uses other fabrics making the quilt look a bit different than what is in the book!

I'm teaching in Germany in February....spending time with the Black Forest Quilters in Stuttgart! I'm teaching Virginia Bound, but we wanted to show them what it looks like made from different fabrics, not just plaids. CAN YOU HELP!?

Even if you haven't finished your quilt, can you send pics of your blocks?

Send pics to me at quiltville@gmail.com and include your name and location! We will list you on their info as the maker!

Mail Box Bonus!

My mailbox has been full of goodies the past couple of days!

First off was a little box....and look what was inside! Quiltmaker Magazine's 100 Blocks Vol 2 is being released, and my block is in there! It's #174 on page 58...it's also in mini mini form right on this adorable mug!

I'm considering the HUGE PIN ((Did I say HUGE?!))as a coaster, or a wall ornament, not something I would wear on my person! But it reminds me of when I was in high school, and the popular thing going was to cover your purse with as many buttons ((FLAIR!!)) as possible! The goodies came just in time for Halloween!



The bundle of Magazines showed up on my door step on Saturday as Lisa and I were sewing away on her 13 gift quilts. I had to open the package right away and get my hands on these! There will be more fun with this issue, including a designer's blog tour and giveaway! and I'll tell you more about that as soon as I can verify what day I am supposed to post on it! ((>_< Yeah, I've been pretty pedal to the metal these days! I just need someone to tell me where to be and when, and what to do!))

Lisa and I had a great time power sewing on Friday and Saturday.

Friday night she surprised me with an invite to do a walking ghost tour in Old Salem ((It was a gorgeous night for it.))and have dinner at the Salem Tavern as well. We deserved it! We had worked hard all Friday!

Saturday was more of the same...we finished the 13th quilt, and she got binding machine sewn on all of them, sleeves started, while I manned the quilting machine.

My 10 days off is drawing to a close! I'm off to Rochester, Michigan on THURSDAY! It feels like coming home, it's my 3rd Michigan trip this year. Maybe those Michiganders will just adopt me :cD

Shipshewana Shenanigans!

I know I've taken my time to get to this post...it was such a wonderful trip and SO much went on that it takes a while for me to settle it into categories in my brain!

This is the Farmstead Inn! And it is HUGE! I swear you could walk miles just inside the corridors which go from guest rooms to lounge areas with sofas and comfy chairs ((yes there are quilts on the walls everywhere)) and fireplaces, to another section, and another section, eventually finding your way past the pool and the breakfast area, all the way to the far end where our sewing room was.

I thought to myself it was a GOOD THING that our room was so far from the sewing room....because the treat table was right BEHIND us at the sewing room! LOL Something had to work off all those tempting munchies!



Here is my little baby surrounded by MESS! I know...that's the way I sew. Like a bomb went off! But whatever it takes, I tried to keep it all on MY side of the table! LOL!

And you know what? New machines take some getting used to. Don't put too much faith in any machine foot. Just because it says it is 1/4", don't believe it....do a test. Because I sewed a WHOLE mess of churn dashes only to find out they measured 5.25" instead of 5.5" by the time I was done. >_< I KNOW to do this..to test..I teach all of my classes this way. Run a seam test. But I didn't...and I was SO OFF! And this is after two days in Chicago, a long drive from Chicago to Shipshewana (Okay, and a stop off at Culvers on the way for my frozen custard fix!!)and an afternoon of gathering with friends and everything..I didn't do my seam test. I just sat down with my pieces and wanted to start SEWING. And PFFTT.

SO....never fear...it's not a wasted project. My brother and his wife are expecting their first baby, and they are going to get 4.75" finished churn dashes in their baby quilt! LOL! I'll finish it as soon as I know whether to emphasize the pink....or the blue.. :cD

But let that be a LESSON to everyone. AUUGH. I'm still so mad at myself.



Here's Randy and I working on our blocks! She is making a homespun quilt for her son's apartment....cozy yummy, it's going to be great! she got most of her blocks done, and I'm sure she'll have it completed in no time, right Randy?



Darlynn sat across from me and worked on her amazing quilt top with 2" finished bowties! Oh man....we were ALL drooling over these. This is the perfect quilt for ugly fabric! It's cut REALLY small! Just play with color! Lots of color...it was wonderful to see it come together. She is making it queen sized for her bed. I can't wait to see it finished! It also weighs a ton because of all the seams....a real Wisconsin Winter Quilt!

Hey Darlynn, have you thought of batting that beauty with WOOL!? It would be perfect!



Darlynn and Pat being their fun, goofy selves! I love these ladies! Of course, my natural born Minnesotan accent comes creeping thickly to the surface any time I am around them...it takes me weeks to get over it and get it back to "normal". :cD


Virginia had me sign her book, and we snapped this photo! I'm sure there are more photos floating out there, I only had my phone cam with me, and was telling everyone who took pics to send me some too! So there may be more shenanigans to come in future posts...Virginia, it was great seeing you!

So many of the retreaters seemed to spend more time shopping than they did sewing! But who am I to judge? I did some shopping of my own. Not a lot...but just enough!



This was it...minus one orange FQ That I already chopped up and put in a project! FQs in the boat at Lolly's were $1.75 if you got 12 or more, so we pooled our resources! Yardage was $5.99 in the basement, and I found a couple yards that had to come home with me....background neutrals are always a legal purchase! We need them! So the cream with red circles, and the purple stripe ((purple stripes are also a legal purchase! I Love stripes!)) came from the basement.



The shirting FQ's were a 1/2 yard collection that I split with Randy. I love the red on cream.....and I want to use some of these in my hexagon quilt. But you know what? I'd never use JUST these together. The ground is all the same shade of dirty beige...the red is all the same dye lot. I just need to mix it up a bit, add some brighter, some creamier, a bit of tan...and not make it look like the quilt came from a kit, from one fabric line. I love these shirtings...just not all in ONE project, you know? With antique quilts that I love so much.....fabrics from the scrap bag didn't all age the same, or start out the same. I think if I used "ONLY" these....that it would be a rather boring background.

My favorite "bring home" treat?



This baggie of scraps gifted to me by other quilters, and stuff I salvaged from the cutting trash bin! Look at this variety! All the colors, all the different pieces...THIS is what makes me giddy!

We'd go out for lunch, or to run to the bulk foods store, and come back...and there would be little scrappy piles on my machine bed just waiting for me. FUN! I can't wait to find ways to purpose these little memories of Shipshewana and a great weekend sewing with a room full of 54 fabulous quilters!