iPhone-o-Gram! I'm here!

I've arrived in Bedford, PA---home of the infamous Mary's Quilt Shop, owned by the wonderfully talented fabric designer and antique quilt collector Mary Koval!

I'm taking pics of her shop and her retreat center---last time I was here or was a ramshackle tumble-down building!

It is SO beautiful!!

On the MRI side--I got a call that I do have nerve impingement due to a bulging disk in my lumbar spine. I'll need an epidural injection---hopefully before I leave for Bali.

In the mean time---driving with an ice pack was my best friend today---and when the real gel pack got warm---an emergency stop at Food Lion for a bag of frozen peas saved my bacon and my back!

iPhone-o-Gram! Leg stretching time!!

Hello from Verona, VA!

I've come back to spend more time at that antique mall I rushed through on my way home from Pennsylvania last trip.

This time here at lunch time!

What else will I find??

Bring on the Pink!

Pink is one of those antique colors that call to me too.

Living in a house full of males – I’ve never had a chance at having a pink bedroom or a pink bathroom, but wherever I can, I can be found sneaking in some pink somewhere in a scrap quilt ----there are even some pinky=reds in my Talkin’ Turkey and in Orca Bay! Pink IS pastel red, after all ;c)

I showed you this pink checkerboard the other day. It’s still calling to me!

Simple squares set 7 X 7 --- what great way to show off those yummy reproduction browns and LOADS of double pink!

How about a great old “Jack in the Pulpit” set on point with loads of double pink!

Here’s a close up of that pink with a good look at the browns and blues used. I love how the fabrics change here and there…blue square with brown centers and corners, or all blue, or all brown, or blue corners and blue square and brown center…just use it up in as many different ways to color it as possible! Did you catch that one block on the lower right with the three striped triangles? FUN!

I remember the Quilt Police saying you should never use red and pink together. But look how dramatic the pink is next to the red in this broken star…isn’t it awesome?!

Here’s a close up of that quililtng..1/4” inside each diamond, and look at that gorgeous feathered wreath with the double spine! Swoon!

Bubble gum pink surrounding terrific 1930’s butterflies!

((Yes, my eye is on that yellow strippy jewel box next to it too!))

Rows of pink stars…..this one was interesting because the sashings are different widths. Could this have been for the pillow tuck?

I love the “Baseball” type quilting….just overlapping circles in the sashing….isn’t this a pretty block?

As the sashing got narrower, the baseballs became squashed ovals! :cD

I love what the gentle pink does to this very cozy looking 9 patch 8 snowball!

This has been one of my favorite quilt patterns forever. I love how this one ended at the edge of the quilt with partial blocks.

Such GREAT old scrap bag fabrics! Oh, I definitely see one of these in my future too!

How about this giant graphic flower? It’s a circa 1910-1920 and looks so great on the bed!

It’s the pink centers that call to me…and it’s sent against that great old peach background!

Here’s a close up of one of the blocks…love how those stripes go every which way! Isn’t this sweet?

Loved this fun conversational print background—it’s a young girl rolling a hoop!

Now this is a quilt I’d love to find a pattern for! The petals are NOT gathered as some flower blocks I’ve seen. These are all inset curves---I think I’d have to do this one as a hand work project.

There is just something about the pink in all these quilts that call to me! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I do!

It’s about 7am, and just about time for me to hit the road – I’m headed up to Bedford, Pennsylvania today! It’s about a 6.5 hour drive, but who knows how long it will take me…..Shamu breaks for all antique malls!

Have a great Thursday, everyone!

iPhone-o-Gram! Today's Mail Haul---

Is winging its way to you!!

Shamu and I are on our way to the Post Office---and then on to my MRI--

Want this leg pain diagnosed and gone!!

An Open Letter to United

From:

Bonnie K Hunter

Winston Salem NC 27107

File # (redacted)

Dear United,

It has taken me a few days to arrive home from my trip to Oregon and then to get the documentation needed to send you regarding my damaged luggage.

As there is no room on any digital form to explain what happened, I hope you won't mind me sharing my story here, because there were many things that combined to make this disaster happen, a whole set of circumstances that were beyond my control.

First off, I am a loyal United Airlines customer. I have been flying United or Star Alliance for many years and this is my airline of choice for all my business travel. I don't know if it matters, but I am a Star Gold customer.

I know accidents happen, but I also believe that some things just need to be made right.

On the afternoon of July 9th I was flying on flight 5550 from SFO to RDM.

The flight was already an hour delayed, and they were in a hurry to get us boarded and out of there and on our way.

My seat was 3A --I chose this seat because I need the under-the-seat storage space for my carry-on which contained not only my laptop computer, but my vintage custom painted 1938 singer featherweight sewing machine, both of which I need for my business -- you see I was on my way to Sisters, Oregon for the Sisters Quilt Show. I am a writer for Quiltmaker Magazine, and I publish quilting books with Kansas City Star. These items are very much attached to what I do for a living.

By nature, being a carry-on, these items are not packed with the possibility of becoming checked luggage. This has ALWAYS fit under the seat at my feet.

When I got to my seat, I found that the under the seat storage area was already taken by a HUGE back pack/duffel bag. My roll aboard that fits under the seat would NOT fit in the overhead bin on this smaller regional jet.

As we were haggling what needed to happen here to make room for my bag, as I was in seat 3A ---the flight attendant told me to pass my bag forward, that it would have to be gate checked, that I was holding up passengers from entering the plane and that we needed to get moving for an on time departure.

She asked me to pass my bag forward three times....and having memorized the line that "customers will adhere to all posted signs and plackards and follow all crew member instructions" I let my bag go.

I never should have.

Upon reaching my destination, I discovered that my laptop had been completely demolished, and even worse, my beautiful prize 1938 one of a kind featherweight sewing machine broken beyond repair. Photos are enclosed below.

I took the laptop to Best Buy to see about it --- it's not under warranty anymore, and they want to charge me $89.95 to give me an estimate on whether it is fixable or not. I consider this a bad investment, because I honestly don't see that it is fixable, and it's sad to say, I kind of doubt there will be any compensation on the demolition of my laptop.

But my machine?

I am attaching the receipt, and a letter stating why it is not fixable, and asking for full compensation on the destroyed machine as this is my business, my livelihood.

Never again will I allow a flight attendant to demand that I check my carry on planeside when it should have been the person who's HUGE backpack was taking up the entire under the seat storage space.

Is there anything you can do to help me?

This will not stop me from flying United ---my business must go on, but I would hope that because of my loyalty to United, that United will in turn show some loyalty back to me, a valued customer.

Please contact me if you need more information.

email: Quiltville@gmail.com

Sincerely,

Bonnie K Hunter

Quiltville.com

Machine damage, showing motor broken from the body of the machine -- this is unfixable as it is cast aluminum.

The extension tray is completely broken off and can not be repaired.

The broken screen on my laptop.

For the Love of Yellow!

There is sill more to share – MUCH MORE!

I have to do this in batches ---it’s much too much overload for one post, and I don’t have the time to sit and edit everything at once.

What I’ve found is that with each and every one I see --- I rediscover a NEW favorite! Just when I thought I knew which one I liked best, revisiting the pictures makes me change my mind!

Okay, truth be told, I want to make them all! Or at least HAVE them.

You KNOW that I automatically drawn to anything chrome yellow or cheddar orange! Guess what my heart did when I saw this beauty sitting on top of the pile! Each and every star is colored differently! I love how unpredictable this quilt is!

OOOOOOOO!!!!

Why is it that the simplest of traditional patterns always make my heart sing?

I just love this! Do you see that the 4 corner blocks are all double pink with poison green? That’s the only “rhyme or reason” to this layout…everything else has the stars colored in as many different ways as possible!

LOVE THIS! Maybe there is a yellow star quilt in m future?

blacks and stripes and black on white with RED! Whoopee!

Sweet pink dots and poison green and a diagonal plaid in the corners.

More sweet plaid star points with a fun black/blue and a GREAT polka dot center!

Yellow is such a happy color. And I have to laugh at the “Quilt Police” who caution us about going overboard with “too much yellow” You CAN’T go overboard! Let it play, let it sing….bring that sunshine in!

Here’s a Crazy Anne in Browns and yellows! I love that one block part way up on the right that has the pink wing triangles! Perhaps someone ran out of polka dot! Or maybe she was a free spirit who simply wanted to play a bit differently! Whatever the reason, it is the simple substitution of fabrics that give this quilt life and interest.

Yellow paths on this Grandmother’s flower garden shine in the morning sunlight.

Ooooh! I want them ALL! But today is a busy day and I’ve got to get going. I’m packing the car for leaving for PA tomorrow. I have an MRI this afternoon. More book orders are ready to go ----and so we fill up this beautiful Wednesday as full as we can get it.

Have a great day everyone!

iPhone-o-gram! The good, the bad!

Bad:

Took the laptop to Best Buy to find my warranty had run out.

Bad:

They want to charge me $89.95 to tell me if my computer is fixable or terminal.

Bad:

If it's not under warranty--and the airline won't reimburse, do I want to be out $89.95 MORE on a laptop that isn't worth fixing??

Unlikely the airline will reimburse that fee even if they did replace the lap top.

Good:

After letting it run a long time and hooked to the big monitor---we heard it actually boot up and at least I can get my files off of it.

It's running rough like it isn't happy.

And that's all I know from here for now.

iPhone-o-gram! Off to the PO!

Lots of order filling around here today!

No time to stop and chat either--I'm dropping these off on my way to the chiro, then a run to the bank, followed by a stop at bestbuy to get an official form on the demise of my ruined laptop to submit to the airlines.

Then more book order filling tonight!

Holy Time Zone Change, Batman!

I just slept until 10am.

I know that is only 7am West Coast Time, and that is right on normal for me, but this whole flight home fiasco kicked my butt! I NEVER sleep til 10am! All I can say is I must have needed it.

On my goodness. Time to kick it into gear over here!

I want to share some of the other antique quilts that we saw at sisters.

While each quilt is a work of art in itself, I really love seeing them displayed next to each other in groupings. They have three beds that you can feel free to take a quilt off the rack, and display it on the bed to see the quilt better, so while people are doing that, there is someone always folding and re-hanging and the displays of quilts on the racks are ever-changing – I wish I could have a slide show of just those quilts changing position!

The one above I took of what was BELOW the princess feather in yesterday’s post. I love the simple broken dishes with red and green sashing, and of course the hand quilting on the blazing star quilt was fantabulous.

How about this display!

Ocean Waves, Evening Star, Irish Chain, 9 patch with 9 patch cornerstones, hearts & gizzards and a really cool drunkards path with white alternate blocks…don’t the colors make your eyes dance?

I fell in love with this simple 49-patch block! The alternate block has ONE cornerstone in each corner, so it has more of a snowball appearance than a chain to me. Oceans of double pink! YUMMY! How would THIS quilt work as a leader ender project?

Baskets seemed to catch my eye wherever I sawe them! I love how the scraps play in this one!

The flag quilt was made from cigar silks! And that 9 patch below with more double pink….do you see the rounded corners? This would be another great leader/ender choice.

Which one catches YOUR eye first? The applique? Or the broken star above it?

I had an interesting conversation with a newer quilter who didn’t know that the “tan” leaves on the applique were once really dark green!

The colors in this tulip quilt rocked my socks. And look at that quilting!

Such patience in hand piecing these tiny triangles!

And that’s it for today! This girl has book orders to get OUT!