Two Crank-y Quilters!

Yesterday started out very windy and rainy, a continuation of the night before……a perfect day to sit in and sew! Wednesday night had some horrendous storms blow through, starting around 1am and continuing through dawn……and on into Thursday morning --- but even if the power were to go out ((which it didn’t!)) It wasn’t about to stop our agenda for the day!

I spent yesterday getting to know my new hand crank machine! I think the thing that freaked me out the most was worrying that I would forget how to wind the little shuttle bobbins, get them in wrong, etc. I wanted to spend enough time at it that I knew what I was doing when I do it at home!

Sewing on a hand crank is really sweet….GREAT for precision work! I started out on some paper pieced blocks…easier to guide while sewing on a line. Sewing with a hand crank is much like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time with opposite hands. But with a bit of practice, you can feed it straight and keep a good seam allowance….having a piece of tape as a guide helps a lot, and if you fork your middle and index finger of your left hand in front of your work so you have two points of pressure on the fabric, it is much like feeding with both hands…it just takes a bit of practice!

Diane was sewing on this lovely serpentine machine circa 1880 or so!

Isn’t she a beauty?? Look at those lovely decals!

We set up at the dining room table and worked much of the day on our pieces!

The one crazy thing on my end? I kept automatically trying to feel for the foot pedal before I could start sewing. And there IS no foot pedal! You just crank! I finally crossed my ankles under my chair to stop the reflex!

Can you see the blur of my hand?!?!? Around and around and around and around……my machine makes a BEAUTIFUL stitch!

Diane has a great collection of treadle machines, hand cranks, and electric vintage machines. They are just wonderful! I’d love to take my hand crank to retreat at some point and just work on her for the weekend.

A funny discussion soon followed…..”My right arm is going to get really strong!” “What can I do for the left to balance it out?” “I suppose you could sit on the other side of the table and crank backward with your left??” “You could do hand weight exercises in between with your left!” “Hey, what if we sat on those balance balls and worked our core muscles at the same time??”

The thought of having a bulging hand crank bicep is just hilarious!

It does take longer to sew a seam with a hand crank than it does an electric machine. I thought of ladies making clothing circa 1910 when this machine was made…you’d have to crank forever just to get to the end of one skirt seam……but for working on miniatures? And paper piecing? This is really REALLY fun!

I haven’t been so excited about anything since my easy bake oven when I was 10!

We did take a little lunch break when the weather cleared and found ourselves out in the country here:

Grannie’s Sweet Tooth has amazing sandwiches on homemade bread, desserts and cookies to die for, and a wonderful atmosphere! Just a little “mom and pop” kind of place in the middle of rural TN……if I lived close, I’d be visiting often for things like “Home made ice cream sandwich” or the “hot fudge brownie sundae”. It’s just a few miles up the road from Diane’s….

After lunch a nap was most needed, and enjoyed! In the evening, DIane’s friend Jonnie joined us….she is here from out of town for my lecture tonight and workshop tomorrow!

Yes, SUNDAY --- I am headed HOME! It’s been a whirlwind trip through TN and AL and I’ve had a ball, but the call of home is strong…..

As I write this, it’s not quite 6:30 am, but I was awakened by the birds chirping ((Which means it must not be raining)) and I think I’ll throw on my running shoes and head out for a walk before everyone else wakes up and gets going….

Today?? I get lessons on sewing on TREADLES!! WHOoooooo!

Bouncing Back to Tennessee!

I think I’ve finally reached the point where I really have to think “What Day Is It?!?” on this trip! As I sit here typing this post, I had to check the calendar in the lower right of my screen to double check. Oh yes! It’s Thursday!

The only thing I had to do yesterday was pack up my room in Florence, Alabama….and make my way to Fayetteville, Tennessee, where I had arranged to meet Diane at “Hooked On Quilting” at 3pm.

Somewhere along the line I was given the wrong information…..and was told that it would take about 4 hours to get there! Well, because checkout was by 11am anyway, and also wasn’t sure WHICH time zone Fayetteville and Winchester were in ((East coast or Central Time??)) I figured if I were a bit early, and it turns out that I did change time zones, I’d be right on time.

I was early. nearly 3 hours early. LOL!!!

So what’s a girl to do? Whip out her phone and search for antiques! Turns out there were some great shops around the courthouse square and I set about a-browsin!

The first quilt sighting I came upon was this lovely string star! LOVE the blue background, and the large red print triangles…which give the string stars a place to float! Isn’t this great? Here is a close up of the fabrics:

I had a great time wandering this shop……even found a super funky churn dash with big blocks!

It was pretty raggy, but look how fun those scrappy sashings are!

LOVE the plaid block in the bottom of the pic….see how those plaids are going every which direction? FUN!!

So I wander, and wander, and look at things, pick them up, turn them over, put them down, just enjoying the day --- I don’t know a SOUL IN Fayetteville, Tennessee…this is a new discovery for me!

And who do I run into? In a town where I know NO ONE? What are the chances that I would run into DIANE herself?!

Did she buy the machine? Nope! But what a small world to run into her a couple of hours before we were supposed to meet up! We enjoyed shopping the store, went out to lunch, and wound our way over to Hooked On Quilting!

The shop is housed in the bottom level of this wonderful old house that dates to 1850’s! Room after room of fabric…I did find some more black on white that I was looking for…..

and some black and whites that I WISH I could have taken home with me!!!

This sweet mama kitty had her hands full, trying to keep track of FOUR adorable tuxedo kittens! Oh baby kitties! You can bet my packages were quickly set aside so I could get myself some kitten love!

LOTS of kitty love!! And as a Quilter, I was really struck by the colors on this old porch. The light green of the floor boards, the vibrant blue of the old rocking chairs, and the contrast of these black and white babies…..aren’t they adorable?

There were 3 black/white ones….and one grey/white one!

Curious little guys….they were tumbling and playing with each other and I just couldn’t let them go!

We also had a special treat while we were making our purchases. The shop owner’s daughter has her harp set up in the same room as the cutting table, and was practicing --- Can you imagine being serenated by harp while you shop?

It was such a treat to spend the day in Fayetteville, to run into Diane in the antique mall…to enjoy lunch, fabric shopping, kitty loving……

Today? We are pulling out my scraps, and I’m going to start string piecing with my hand crank machine! Ooooooooo! Can’t wait!

When Quilters Gather….

There is a dessert table!!!

And not just a dessert table….but a great buffet lunch table too. Let’s just admit it. We love our food as much as we love our fabric….

And it is going to take many more walk/jogs to burn off what I consumed yesterday!

There was NO shortage on CHOCOLATE, that is for sure! There were FOUR different kinds of brownies! And look at the chocolate cake with the white drizzle icing! There was a coconut pound cake that was so moist and delicious, and some other yummies, like peanut butter chocolate rice crispy treat bars....oh my! What is it they say about life being short, and eating dessert first?!

I think the one thing that took the cake CHEESECAKE were these:

DO YOU SEE THESE?!?? Oh My….these are Oreo Cookie Cheesecake Bars! And they were to die for. Seriously.

I posted the picture yesterday on the Quiltville Facebook page, and got many requests for the recipes, so here you go!

Oreo Cheesecake Bars!

What You Need

36 OREO Cookies, divided

1/2 cup butter or margarine, divided

4 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup Sour Cream

1 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

((I am assuming you can use the “light” version of both the cream cheese, and the sour cream…if you REALLY want to!))

Make It

HEAT oven to 325°F.

LINE 13x9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends extending over sides. Finely crush 24 cookies. Melt 1/4 cup butter; mix with crumbs. Press onto bottom of prepared pan.

BEAT cream cheese and sugar with mixer until blended. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until blended. Chop remaining cookies. Gently stir into batter; pour over crust.

BAKE 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Meanwhile, microwave chocolate and remaining butter in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min.; stir until smooth. Cool slightly; spread over top of cheesecake. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve.

Tips:

How to Make Mess-Free Cookie Crumbs

Crushing cookies into crumbs can be a messy task. To keep the mess to a minimum, place the whole cookies in a zip-lock type plastic bag. Flatten bag to remove excess air, then seal bag. Crush the cookies into crumbs by rolling a rolling pin across the bag until the crumbs are as fine as you need.

How to Neatly Cut Dessert Bars

When cutting creamy-textured desserts, such as cheesecake, carefully wipe off the knife blade between cuts with a clean damp towel. This prevents the creamy filling from building up on the blade, ensuring clean cuts that leave the edges intact.

Not only did we eat, but we had a great time with the class! And this student won the prize for SEWING with Millenium Y2k fabric! It’s a classic!

I know, I know, you saw some of these yesterday. This is what happens when I teach the class two days in a row in two separate towns, but it was sure fun…

		Pineapple Blossom Workshop, Florence AL May 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I’m headed off to Winchester TN this morning – but before I do I need to spend some time packing up my room! I’ve been a sewing fool! And I really hit the mother lode on this one. I think THIS room makes up for the tiny-ness of that first room a week ago….just LOOK at this space!!

Wooowhoo!! Plenty of room for setting up my sew ezi table….I’ve tried sewing at these desks before, but the problem is that the desk chair never goes high enough, and I feel like an 8 year old trying to sew up above my shoulders….that’s why I brought the table this time.

Look at that counter!!! CUTTING TABLE HEIGHT! YAY!!!! Funny how little things can make a traveling itinerant quilter GIDDY!

Big TV…lots of NCIS, Law & Order and CSI have been enjoyed during my evenings here!

But the best is yet to come! I’m to be the guest of Miss Diane of Treadle-fame! She’s got my new baby hand crank all ready to roll for me, and we get to play for a couple days before I give a lecture to the Material Girls Guild in Winchester on Friday, and a Virginia Bound Workshop on Saturday! I’ve got some string piecing blocks with me, and I think that will be a perfect thing to learn to control the hand crank with. And she promised me some treadle lessons too! I’ve got a few treadle machines, but honestly? I’ve not sewn on ANY Of them. I wish there was someone in my area who could help me get them up to par, because I’d love to use them.

So….off I go to pack up the bomb that has exploded in my little haven of a room here….and the journey continues!

That Silverlight Plug-In!

I write my posts in Windows Live Writer which allows me to do MORE with my blog than blogspot composer does.

For instance, I love to include slide shows of my workshops!

To view the slideshow--your computer, be it a Windows product or an Apple product ((computers and ipads included)), may ask you to download a plug in called SILVERLIGHT.

This is NOT a virus. In fact, for those with imacs who are reluctant to download anything -- you can find it even referenced on the Apple.com Website: The information below will tell you about the plug in and I hope you will feel safe enough to use it. I have friends and family who are also mac users, and they have NO problem with this plug in at all.

If you want to view the slide shows, it is up to you to decide to install the plug in. I won't be changing my format. It will be you that will find yourself missing out, when the fix is SO SIMPLE!

From Apple:

Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the web.

- Deliver media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIA) for the web that incorporate video, animation, interactivity, and stunning user interfaces.

- Seamless, fast installation for users, thanks to a small, on-demand, easy-to-install plug-in that is less than two megabytes (MB) and works with all leading browsers.

- Consistent experiences between Macintosh computers and Windows-based personal computers without any additional installation requirements.

- Create richer, more compelling web experiences that take greater advantage of the client for increased performance.

- Many more features.

- Support for new application types and business models.

- Dramatic video quality and performance improvements that raise the bar for creating rich Internet experiences.

- New features that dramatically improve developer productivity such as .NET RIA Services.

- Many more enhancements.

System Requirements:

Mac OS X 10.5 or later
Mac OS 10.4.8+ (PowerPC): Silverlight 1.0 only
800MHz PowerPC G4 processor, 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor, or higher
Apple Safari 3 or Firefox 2 or higher
Safari 4 (Intel only)

I hope you will consider adding the silverlight plug in! I know you won't want to miss any of the fun, and I am posting this info here so that I have a place to direct people to when I get emails asking me why they need the plug in, the safety of the plug in, etc.

If you HAVE a mac, and HAVE installed Silverlight, would you please leave a comment here letting people know how it has increased your viewing pleasure of this blog? Thanks so much!

Two Days in Athens ---

Sunday morning I moved from Huntsville up the road to Athens, Alabama. This area was hit in places by the tornados that caused so much destruction just a few weeks ago. I’ve heard stories that made my heart skip a beat…but through it all I’ve heard stories of neighbors helping neighbors, of people pitching in to help each other, of bonding together and reestablishing what community is really about.

I heard stories of quilters who cut and kitted up by window light when they couldn’t sew…of those who did handwork on the front porch while the light was good, of bindings that had been laying around forever finally being finished, of “un-sewing” that had been put off and off and off finally getting done, of fabric petting, of reorganizing, of re-reading of books and magazines to create dream-projects for when the power DID come back on!

I heard stories of people who hope they never have to cook on a gas grill again for a good long time, no MATTER if it IS summer or not! Some places were out of power for more than a week….How would YOU cope if you didn’t have power for that long? Some said the the thing they missed more than the power was running water…I think the two go hand in hand. I don’t know how I could live without either.

One thing is for sure…..I’m glad I have a couple of THESE around:

No, this is not mine..it belonged to another student in my Sunday afternoon 1/2 day Sister’s Choice class!

Crank crank crank---Sew Sew Sew! And you know what? She was the ONLY one sewing at this point because a huge thunderstorm rolled through and just as we were STARTING the class, the power went out……for over an HOUR!!

So what were we supposed to do? We didn’t know if the power would come on or not…it took the whole substation out, and the traffic lights were down as well ---

So we did what quilters do! We improvised!

I went down to my car and grabbed one of the big duffels of quilts..the one that had the quilts from Scraps & Shirttails II in it…and we had a mini trunk show! Some of the ladies had brought show and tell from the last time I taught in this area over a year ago…and that was fun!

And then the power was still not on….

So I gave them an English paper piecing demo after showing them the hexagon medallion and how the border sections are coming….

And then the power came on --- we were in BUSINESS again!

It made the class seem extra short…there was still a lot to get done in the not quite 3 hours that were left, but we pedaled to the metal and had a lot of fun. We also appreciated how much better it felt with the A/C kicked back in!

Sister's Choice, Athens, AL May 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I thought I had more pictures than this, but I guess with all the excitement of the storm, I forgot to keep shooting!

I also had to take pics of Ada’s Hawks Nest blocks! On hers, all the center “nests” are red…and her triangles are scrappy. It’s going to be a wonderful quilt!

I got checked into my hotel in time to put on my running shoes and fit in a 3 mile walk/jog before it got too dark to see well enough…look at this gorgeous sunset! It smelled so good outside after the rain!

I love to see the wildflowers that grow along the side of the road….just LOOK at the size of this Queen Anne’s Lace! It’s bigger than my hand!! It was too lovely not to catch….

Monday? The Athens Adventure continues! We had a full class for Pineapple Blossom! No storms, no power outages, just a lot of fun! Student-Friends came from as faraway as Nashville TN to spend the day, and I’m so happy they did!

Just look at what these women did during class!!

		Pneapple Blossom, Athens AL May 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL