iPhone-o-Gram! Love Shack Ladies!

Hello from the piedmont quilt guild in Greensboro, NC!!

We are working on lots of fun units for our quilts! 4 patches, string blocks, maverick stars, wonky hearts, and an intro to pieced letters ala Tonya---

It's all going in here!!

JBV, Circa 1830

I’m glad I’m doing these New Paltz quilts in short bursts…it gives ME a chance to slow down on the photo editing and revisit each quilt. It also gives you a chance to slow down for the same reason --- and instead of dealing with photo overload as happens with workshop albums, concentrate on ONE THING.

So sometimes, yes --- less is MORE!

When I arrived in the archive room, the girls told me that I could choose ANY quilt I wanted to. ANY QUILT. How do you choose what you want to see?!

The quilts are in archival boxes on shelves in storage rooms--- ((You can see some behind the gals in the photo)) and on the end of each box is a piece of paper with a description and a photo of the quilt. As much as I wanted to see them ALL – I was limited to about 2 hours before I needed to hit the road, and so I was looking for out-of-the-ordinary things that bring the maker’s personality to light.

I am kind of an out-of-the-ordinary girl myself, you know? So when I saw the box for this one, I knew it had to come out!

((And I’m sorry, again I was trying hard to take pics with gloves on, and that just doesn’t work with a touch screen phone!))

Small stars. I love stars! Ohio stars are SO classic, and yet I am always drawn to them. This quilt was made around 1830, and it is not one of the best quilts in the collection. In fact, it is quite wonky in areas…..but….

BIG INITALS IN THE CENTER!

I wasn’t taking notes, so I don’t remember who JBV is ---but it was really neat for me to be able to point out some things to the curators that even they didn’t notice before. For instance:

See that wonky half star after the V? It’s not pieced into the quilt as the others are…..it’s appliqued on. This half star is set “straight” when the others are all on point…even the one on the other side of the J was pieced in, and is a half star on point…don’t you wish you knew WHY!?

Maybe the intials weren't centered "just right" and not having that star there left a big empty space? But why set it straight instead of on point? Oh -- I love a mystery in a quilt! And I love IMPERFECTIONS! Quilts that are "too perfect" are boring to me.

The quilting was nicely done, but the stitches are not miniscule, and a lot of the stars are more wonky ---but to me, this shows character! Could it have been a learning piece by a new quilter? Were the stars made by different people? The stars in the bottom row of the pic you see above are of the same fabric as the JVB initials. There was more of this fabric print in the quilt than any other, but there are others:

Can you see the stitches on this one? Quilted not quite in the ditch, but not 1/4” away either ---love that ombre stripe!

Look at this one! Here you can see that it IS an Ohio star by the outline of the block, not an evening star as it looks in the quilt ---what a great early print!

But THIS ----THIS is the reason I fell in love with it – and I’m sorry for the blur! ORANGE GINGHAM SETTING TRIANGLES! and of course they are cut with the bias to the outside. The edge is bound with fringe ----I just loved this!

Back to yesterday’s Treadle Tower post ---for those who were SAD to see this – think about it. I’d rather see treadles made into art, or used as couch table bases than melted down in the scrap heap, which is what happens to most of them when they are done fulfilling their purpose.

Someone thought they were beautiful enough to make a statue from them. For an avid vintage machine lover such as myself ---I’m TICKLED to see them there. How many people walk by thinking “Hey, my grandmother or great grandmother sewed on a machine with one of those ---“ It’s a GOOD THING.

I’m off to go teach at a local guild in Greensboro today! I hope to make some more local quilty friends! Tonight is my trunk show there, so it’s a very long day. The best part is, I’ll only have 25 miles to drive to get myself back to my own bed tonight.

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

iPhone-o-gram! Treadle Tower!

I love taking back roads!

I wound around roads I hadn't been on before and found myself in South Boston--Virginia.

I walked the sweet old town streets, window shopped, stopped and chatted to shop owners. I love exploring this way!

On my way back to my car there was a little grassy park area with some modern artsy looking sculpture--

Imagine my surprise as I got closer to discover that it was actually completely made from old antique treadle bases!

If I didn't know better I would have sworn they put them there just for me ;-)

And no, this did NOT come home with me! LOL!

iPhone-o-Gram! Antique Sightings!!

Let the fun begin!

I'm taking backroads home, avoiding interstates-

Lookie what I found!

Sarah M LeFever, 1847

Walking into the back archives of any historical building or museum is one of the most “holy” of feelings!

Have you ever wanted to see what really goes on behind the scenes with such precious artifacts?

I had that experience yesterday when I was invited to come see some very special quilts in the collection of historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz, NY.

I held my breath as I donned my white gloves ----The box was presented and we lifted the lid ----my excitement grew as I saw the texture of the quilt back from so many precise stitches.

The first thing I want to confess to is that it is NOT easy to take pictures with a phone camera when wearing white gloves. The touch screen of the phone does NOT react well to fabric covered fingers, so some of the pics may be blurry – but I kept my gloves on!

I was given my pick of which quilts to see – and I chose this one because her name is appliqued in big stylized letters to the front of the quilt! Sarah had a whimsical side, don’t you think? Look at those letters! She made this quilt in her early 20’s before she married.

What a delightful M! Curly bits and all!

Woooooo….love that L!

Okay, we can say the blur on this one is artistic license!? But look at the Q!

1847. No doubt about it!

Her patchwork was as precise as her applique ----and I love the addition of the 6 pointed star-flower in the centers.

The green oak leaves are perfect in the alternate spaces!

Thank you Sarah! And thanks to Sarah’s family who donated the quilt to the Huguenot Street preservation society so that I could see it!

I asked when they display the quilts ---and was told not all year round. There are several houses that the foundation owns that are open for public tours, and certain things are cycled in and out. They also have a wonderful collection of woven coverlets ----I’m in love with those too!

And while I’m ooohing and ahhhing over Sarah’s quilt --- It’s the perfect time for me to send out a bit CONGRATS shout out to my friend Siobhan over at Scraps & Thread Tales for passing her AQS certification as a n official QUILT APPRAISER!! Way to go! I wish I could have had you with me yesterday, you would have loved it, I’m sure!

There are more quilts to be shared----I’m on my way home this morning, and before you think there is rest for the weary upcoming, I’m teaching and lecturing I GREENSBORO tomorrow --- so I’ll be up and out the door at 7:45 am to drive over there ---and I’m excited to be doing some local teaching in my own area – be ready for me girls!

The long and rainy drive, continued!

I went as far as I could go ----by the time I left New Paltz it was 12:30pm ----there was NO WAY to drive all the way home, so here I am, back in Virginia with about 4 hours drive still ahead of me.

The rain slowed everything down. I don’t know about you, but trailing behind a large semi truck going slow because of weather visibility just makes me white-knuckle that steering wheel.

It was not a good day to even feel like finding an antique mall to walk.

It was not a good day to find some interesting place to shop or eat ---getting out of the car would involve the use of an umbrella, and sloshing through puddles in my mesh topped running shoes leaving me with wet socks was NOT an option!

Somewhere in Upstate New York

I didn’t even want to stop and get gas, though eventually I had to ----as I crossed into Maryland the gas tank was floating just above empty, and the little warning thing said it WOULD be empty in about 20 miles ---

A bit farther down the road and the tired, hungry, and need for a restroom feeling said “FAR ENOUGH”. I’m tucked in for the night --- tomorrow I’ll finish the rest of the way ----

Somewhere in Pennsylvania ---

But you know what? That also frees me up to toodle home at a bit more relaxed pace --- and if that sun is shining – those antique malls just may make up for lost time!

Oh – and here’s a crazy thing……those slide shows that were not working on Monday morning for the two Cathedral Stars workshops? ARE WORKING NOW! Click HERE to get to that post. Better late than never. It just proves again, that it is nothing that I did to make it be broken, so there is nothing I can do to fix it either. Just gotta wait it out I guess!

I honestly think the rain cloud was hanging over Shamu the WHOLE WAY!

What I love about the windows live slide shows is the preview page – you get to see the thumbnails….on the webshots you don’t, and you miss half of the picture because of the panning and movement.

Still undecided ----

iPhone-O-Gram! The long rainy drive home!

I stopped in New Paltz this morning and was given a wonderful tour and showing of some of the historic quilts in the archives!

I wish i had more time to spend but I wanted to get as close to being home as I can get tonight.

It's raining like crazy and the going is pretty slow---better safe and slow than sorry!!

Quilts to show later!!

Jared Takes A Wife in NY!

Yes, I know.

I know that the slide shows are back to being stupid again, requiring logins that go nowhere.

It isn’t me. But it is something that hasn’t been resolved with the service I use, and so today’s slide show is an attempt to see if webshots has gotten any better.

The one thing I don’t like about webshots is that the slide show does this “cropping and panning” thing, which means that often only PART of the photo is visible, and it is often not what the main focus of the photo is --and it is MOVING AROUND--the previews for the slide show also don’t show ALL the pictures in the album, so if it is a large album with many photos, you need to click to view the whole album or miss half of the good stuff.

Does anyone out there know of a good FREE site for storing photos with good slideshow capability? It’s a lot of work to edit down, say, 65 photos to get them viewable --- and if there isn’t a slide show viewer that is user friendly, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to give up on presenting these. I don’t want to stop ---but I don’t know what else to do!

We had a great class --- we met in the volunteer ambulance hall in North Salem, NY! The room was large and airy – a second floor room with large windows, lots of light and gorgeous wooded surroundings. We opened up the windows for some fresh air and were gifted by the lovely wonderful spring aroma of a riding lawn mower cutting the grass for what may have been the first time this season ---- BLISS!

I loved all the fabrics that were brought by the students, each quilt so unique in its own way just by the simple changes in the fabric and color schemes.

There are always things that I find FUN or INGENIOUS when teaching for a group…..let’s start with the fun, shall we?

Once upon a time there was a very lovely bottle of champagne that came in a very lovely cheddar box ---

Though the champagne was quickly consumed and a “thing-of-the-past” –the humble cheddar box remained, lonely without its contents, and afraid that it too would be sent off to the “recycle bin” with other unremarkable household trash.

Oh what a sad thought for this poor little champagne box!

Never fear, lovely cheddar orange champagne box --- your life as a quilting container will be much more fulfilling and purpose filled than it EVER was as just a simple champagne bottle box……you will live out your days holding dreams and quilty-possibilities and your lovely cheddar color will bring smiles to all who see you full of quilt pieces, notions and whatever else your future may hold!

((Does the box live happily ever after? I think so! Oh what a happy champagne box! :cD ))

Now the question is….WHERE can *I* find my own cheddar orange champagne bottle box?!

Does your guild have issues with never enough ironing boards or ironing surfaces? Here’s something I thought was INGENIOUS!

For those plastic topped light weight tables…….

SImply put a large baking sheet upside down on top of the plastic table and cover it with a folded towel. The baking sheet will protect the table top from melting from the iron heat --- and it gives a firm enough surface for nice pressing ----without being “too” spongy! We had several ironing stations like this set up along long lengths of table –it worked REALLY WELL!

So on to the slide show….oh I hope this works. Click the link below the slide show to get to the album to see ALL the photos ---in full size, without them being cropped and moving ---unless you want to miss the parts that the slide show has cut off..why do they do that?

Jared Takes A Wife, Somers NY 2012

iPhone-o-Gram! Whooooohoo!

I did it!

All of the blocks, half blocks, and corners for my Nearly Insane Salinda Rupp quilt are done!

And yes, the triangles are turned RIGHT! It's a reproduction of a wonky block made wonky on purpose, though several of you have told me to fix it!

This is how it is staying---wonky on purpose! ((And somehow I get the giggles over how nuts this makes some of you --- let it go, people! You are too uptight! LOL!))

I'll cut sashings when I get home and likely complete the assembly on my own turf.

I've been working on this quilt since about 2003, but have been in love with Salinda's quilt since the late 1980s.

Insane? Yes! Worth it? Oh yes!!

Say hello to the last block--

Focus On The Center ---- THE WINNERS!

After our workshop today, 7 of us took off for the biggest burgers I’ve ever seen at a near by pub ----The Blazer Pub in Purdys, NY.

I’m so full I don’t think I’ll eat for a WEEK at least!

I just love being able to experience local haunts that are such a far throw from the usual “chain franchise” places ----and I can honestly say that this place is UNIQUE! The conversation and company made it so worthwhile….but suffice it to say that we were all moaning and groaning and wishing we had worn our elastic waisted pants as we attempted to roll on out of there!

It’s my LAST evening here on the NY/CT border.

I’m starting to pack my suitcases back up, getting ready to haul it all to the car in the morning. I’ll be off to New Paltz to see the historic Huguenot Street in the morning, and then I’m bee-lining home from there. It’s going to be a long drive, and I hope to go as far as I can tomorrow, if not all the way. We will see how I feel.

SO…I’m drawing WINNERS for Pat Sloan’s book this evening! Are you ready?

I was tickled with the participation, and I know you will like this book --- it has such great possibilities that can be used to enhance ANY quilt --- and those are the kinds of books I like the best – the ones that present “jumping off” kinds of ideas and let your imagination run wild with options!

477 of you left comments. Two of you are lucky winners!

Our first winner is SUE W!

She writes;

Bonnie,

From the quilts you showed from Pat's new book, I'd pick "Lucky Charms" to do. I love medallion type quilts.

I also like the one you picked especially when you said the carpenter star center was done without those pesky "y" seams. This is a book being added to my wish list.

SueW
Upstate NY

Our second winner is Pat T!

She writes:

Hi, Bonnie!

Good morning! Wonderful post!!... Great question, about teen jobs!... (LOL about the motor pool job and phone tactics!!)... I'm going to hurry over to Pat's place, to see what she reveals about you!! :-D

Oh, Bonnie!... Your choice of pattern and fabrics (cheddar and shirtings!!!) are SO EXACTLY what I see you working on!!! That pattern seems to have been designed just for you!!

As for me, I can see four of those patterns in my near future! I think the Antique Mist is first, with some fabrics that have been "ripening" in my stash for just about long enough! (no fabric used before its time???! LOL!)
Thank you, for the opportunity to get this great book, Bonnie!
Have a great trip!

Pat T. in Michigan

Dear Ladies! I am so excited for you! Please send me your snail mail addresses so I can get them on to the publisher so they can get your books out to you.

And thank you everyone for playing along in this great give-away----

And now --- I’m off to sew that VERY LAST NEARLY INSANE block! I’m sure I’ll be doing the iphone-o-gram-of-joy before this evening is over!