Quilting Friends, Amish Wash, and Homemade Root Beer!

Things are busy in Roxbury, Pennsylvania!

An evening, a day, another evening, a day, another evening, and a morning – the entirety of our Quilt Odyssey retreat is giving the quilters concentrated time at really getting their Daybreak quilts from my String Frenzy book to come alive, each quilt reflecting its own personality of each maker.

And though it is the sewing that brings us together – being here also brings so much more to the table!

Read More»

String Quilting Primer!

String Quilting Primer!
Different looks, different block sizes and settings!
(Click here for printer-friendly version)


A Special thanks to Marsha R for sharing her pictures of her "Scrap Boxes" quilt!

These are her pictures you see below. We both belong to the Stashbusters email list on yahoogroups.com
and have both made similar quilts in the past couple weeks. Hers is a big one, one of mine is a tiny one! We are collaborating together on these directions for you! (Thanks Marsha!)

Read More»

My Earlier "Small" Quilts!

Before there was a blog, there was a website --- and I tried to document all my small quilts by making a little statement of each, and linking it to a picture. This is a recap of those quilts, in an effort to get everything in one place on this blog for easy access!

Bonnie's Small Quilts!

Small Quilts are a favorite! They cover walls, tables, chairs, couches, you name it!

4 Eagles, 1999

Read More»

An Amish Evening Walk ----

Last evening after dinner Marti and I took off down the country road from her house…..am I the only one that didn’t know that Dover Delaware has it’s own Amish community ? And I didn’t know that I’d be in the thick of it!

The walk was lovely ---there is a school house right up the road. Conversation lead to topics including how you can tell the school year is over when planting gets going in full swing – the kids are needed on the farms.

The boys finished the school year a bit earlier than the girls --- Marti knew this because all of a sudden, it was only girls walking to school, the boys were in the fields with their dads and older brothers.

Kids “graduate” from school after the 8th grade. I thought back, trying to remember what I was doing when I was graduating from 8th grade ---where my maturity level was ((NOT!!)) how sure I was of what I wanted to do or be when I was 14..((NOT!!)) and then my mind traveled to where my boys were when they were 14 --- ((WHERE IS THE PROZAC!?))

It’s just such a different life style.

Oh, how I love to see silos and wide open fields and windmills!

This is how you know that you are on a well traveled buggy road – see the narrow track marks?

Though there are electrical lines along the road --- there are no lines that connect these homes --- this is an Amish farm house. Around back are the buggies and horses….we saw young boys playing on push bikes and scooters, loving a late Saturday evening at home.

Love the farm house and the trees just leafing out! The clouds were gathering, there is rain in our near future!

As we made our way toward the one room school house in the not-so-far-distance, I heard the clip clop of horses hooves coming from behind us…..We moved aside to the shoulder, to see the buggy returning home from town. Is this priceless or what? See the left rear blinker flashing to turn?

Some homes had horse and buggy just pulled up to the barn – someone must have been visiting!

This is Rose Valley School on Rose Valley Rd in Dover, Delaware – is this not cute?!

We continued our walk up the road ----I’m enjoying the last of the spring blossoms here in Delaware, the rains will soon take these petals to the ground.

Irises are blooming tall and regal against the chain link fence ----Purple!

Such a heavy laden wysteria ----just dripping with purple --- it’s getting to it’s tired stage, it’s not going to last much longer!

Can you imagine this heady fragrance?! It was here that we turned and started our walk back…..and all at once the sky opened up to a gentle spring rain ---steady, but not pounding ----we laughed and started our way back to the house.

It wasn’t long before Marti’s friend Deb pulled up in her van, coming to save us from getting drenched……we weren’t the only ones trying to get to home and dry --- we passed this wagon of young Amish guys-- Horse in a hurry to get to where they were going! See the rain on our windshield?

Blurry as we hurried on past ----so much fun to see!

Marty’s house is straight ahead……as we neared the stop sign, another buggy came rolling by. At least this family was under cover inside their buggy!

And just because it’s funny -----I loved this stop sign! :cD

Class went great today. Photos of that are to come --- even with the rain that continues, our spirits are high --- what a better time to stay in and sew than a drizzly rainy day?

Tomorrow – String Spider Web! I’m ready!

Read More»

Building Sandcastles, Strengthening Friendships!

Aren’t these blocks just gorgeous?!

Simple four-patches framed by string block fun – it’s a match made in this scrap quilt lover’s heaven!

Sandcastles from my book String Frenzy was our day 3 workshop at Gay Bomer’s Sentimental Stitches retreat held at the Blue Gate Garden Inn in Shipshewana, Indiana.

A MECCA for all things quilty and quaint, delicious and delightful – we’ve had just an awesome time.

Along with the workshops there are several conference rooms full of quilters “doing their own thing” as well – so around every corner there is something bright and colorful and beautiful to catch your eye, and start a conversation.  We are surrounded by friends with common interests here.  It’s like one big sorority house of fabric fun!

And yes, I’ll be BACK!  Mark your calendars for April of 2021.  It’s in the planning stages.  Even with the opening and running of Quiltville Inn, I have made a commitment to be on the road for one event per month SOMEWHERE.  April 2021 is HERE in Shipshewana Indiana.  I hope you’ll join me.

Read More»

New Servers, and the Wonder of the Internet...

Yesterday was a testimony builder for me on the GOODNESS of quilters. I had moved servers over the weekend...small hiccups here and there, but nothing too bad. Or so I thought!

I had already cancelled my other account after I assumed that EVERYTHING had transferred from one server to the other, only to receive an email from a lady stating that she could get to my Bricks & Stepping Stones page but there were no pictures, only text!

I quickly checked my FTP to see if all the files were there, and that whole folder of pics was MISSING! ACKKK! So, I sent out an email to the world...asking if anyone had saved the whole HTML file so they could access it offline, and could they please help me recover the pics, and the response was OVERWHELMING! I was able to recover ALL the pics and get the page back working. I tell you, after the trouble I have had with the lady stealing the pattern and selling it on her website, and then losing all MY pics for the pattern page..I thought this was a cursed quilt! But all is back again and my faith in the GOODNESS of most quilters is restored.

I am posting some pics too....I finished the binding/hanging sleeve on the crazy amish strippy. I took pics outside so I could get the quilting detail to show on the black sashings, so the colors aren't so true...but here it is.

I love how hand quiting looks on amish solids so much that I have started hand quilting another one...a top I finished a while ago, inspired by Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts. I've started quilting fans in the border....the sashings and inner border will have cables, and I think I'm going to just echo quilt inside the string diamond blocks. It feels good to have a "couch" project in my family room again.

And here is a preview of the next scrappy pattern I've been working on. I tell you, I got this part way and then it stopped FOREVER because I kept thinking I'd have this big amount of time to spend on it. I realized that might never happen, so I've been sewing 4 block quarters in the morning before the rest of my day gets going. I'm hoping to finish the blocks by the end of the week and start putting it together. I've decided to call this one WEED WHACKER! It uses 3.5" light squares and 2"X9.5" scrap strips. I started this one to use up all the shorter lengths of strips that are in my 2" scrap bin. What's fun too, is you can lay the blocks straight, and it makes a strippy zig zag quilt too....put long sashings in between the rows or not. I'll get some pics of different layouts as soon as I have enough blocks done.

And now I have to put the quilting aside and attend to the rest of my regularily scheduled day!

Bonnie

Read More»

Lil' Amish Crumbie :c)

I've been working in the evenings (when there is time) on doing hand quilting on little things. I've got some blank wall spaces that would benefit greatly from a splash of color, and that's my motivation for pushing through these!

This Lil' Amish Crumbie was made from the scraps of the amish string quilt I made a couple years ago. The thing that has slowed me down on it is that (*&@#$(*& feather border. I know feathers look great, but compared to fans, they are a pain to quilt because you can only load a couple stitches on the needle at a time as you turn the tight curves. Lots of futzing around trying to get the needle going in the right direction. Never the less...it's going to be cute when it is done!

Just the two long borders to go and then I can bind it and hang it!

It's VERY small: 20"X24" and each block is only 3". I just love the small pieces. I think that is a sickness too, but I just love every little bitty piece that I can sew into something and give it purpose. Hmmm...maybe there is a life lesson in that too?

I have GOT to clean up the studio this morning. And I need to get motivated on doing some machine quilting. But my stitch regulator is irregular and I'm in a quandry. Even when I put it on manual speed, and turn the knob between min and max, the speed doesn't vary, it just stays at semi slow...not increasing or decreasing. And no, it's not motor brushes, those are still new!

Read More»

Basting Party!

Last night I got out several small wallhanging size stuff that I want to hand quilt. Yes, these are the ones I was thinking of yesterday, wondering if it is okay to hand quilt fans on EVERYTHING! I'm nearly done with quilting on my ohio stars and rails, so I needed to line up the next one so I could just move on to it... I had a basting party all by myself. Loaded those puppies on the machine, found pieces of left over batting to use in them, and did a huge big stitch (toe catcher size!) basting meander all over them....I basted 6 small quilts! Probably more than enough to keep me busy hand quilting in the evenings for the next year, but at least they are off the shelves.

I think I'm going to quilt the "Flies in the Buttermilk" Next..and yes, it will be more fans. I've got to check if I have enough brown quilting thread, or if I need to get more over the next couple days. I used brown to quilt the 6 point string star, and it really had a great primitive look to it.


I found backings out of stash..it's great when you can use yardage without having to piece it because the quilt is small! I used up some funky stuff too.....One of the amish littles has a black with neon turquoise print! And one of the other amish ones has a black with a kind of mod red/grey ropey thing in it. Definately makes these more of a Bon-ish instead of Amish look!


I'm coloring my hair today. It just looked so drab and the highlights I had gotten in October were pretty far grown out. Time for a perk-me-up.

Bonnie

Read More»

Wild Rhodies Blooming!

While the big "domestic" rhododendron in front of the inn blooms around Mother's Day, I'm always asked "But what about the wild ones, the rhododendrons we see in the woods all over the place?"

By 4th of July is the reply.

Only this year they started showing themselves early!  They may be all DONE by the 4th of July.

I took this photo last evening on my after-dinner-drive-way-torture walk.

Yes. I'm still doing it.

Read More»

All the Way to Burke’s Garden -

Did you ever take the long way to somewhere -

Just because you could?

Just to see what you could see?

This was my day yesterday – knowing that rain would happen somewhere later in the day, but wanting to get out and see the beautiful morning while I could.

“Roads Less Traveled” are my favorite thing – and deep into mid August before leaves start turning was a great time to do it.

Coming upon this abandoned house along a quiet country road without another car in sight meant a quick pull over, a get out, and marvel.

As a child, I would have LOVED that hole in that tree.  what a great place to hide, or secure away childhood treasures!

Read More»

In the Binding Zone!

This is large quilt binding job number 3 over the last two cabin visits during April.

I’m about utterly BOUND OUT.

Seriously.

And every time I get this way, with the last finish in sight – I tell myself “The next quilt will be smaller.”

And it never is.

I can turn a lap quilt to 80” X 80” in nothing flat – it’s just me.  The quilt needs THAT MANY block repeats for the pattern to look right, and small quilts and I have never had a long-lasting relationship.

I do have some small wall hangings, and I love looking at small quilts that other people make, and I think….I could get a whole lot more done if things were place mat sized!

As of yet…it hasn’t happened.

Read More»

Friday Night with the Bonniacs!

Nothing beats an evening like this!

It had been 6 years since I had taught for the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show – but I never forgot how special these women made me feel. 

Our time together 6 years ago formed friendships that will continue, no matter who moves where or how life changes happen.  If Quilting is the thread that binds us together, the friendship is the knot that holds the stitches in place!

6 years ago I received a welcome invitation to dinner at Wendy’s beautiful home, meeting several of these wonderful gals.  It was an evening of fun and food and much show & share – a great break away from yet another quick restaurant dinner out, and back to an empty hotel room.

This year we did it again – and I just could not wait for Friday night to roll around.

Read More»

Hello from MICHIGAN!!!

Yes, that's Michigan!!

Thanks to my friend Randy, who wanted to play travel agent and find me a hotel
on hotels.com that was in the Shipshewana,Indiana area but would not
cost me $115 a night...I am 15 miles away in Sturgis,Michigan. What a
riot! After she clicked purchase on the website for me...she said..OMGoodness!...I just put you in Michigan!

Not a biggie...pretty drive here, and nice to be out of the touristy
Amish stuff. I really admire the people as a culture,but the touristy stuff gets a bit overly commercial and a bit much for me.

Surprisingly, though the hotel doesn't look like much on the outside, the
room is spacious and very clean and comfortable with all I need.
SO...I might stay here a couple nights instead of just the one I
planned. I need some time off. I need a retreat from the retreat I just finished!

I arrived in Hicksville Ohio on Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning, I was honored to meet up with Subee of Subee Sews and caravan with her out to Milford, Indiana for our retreat at Camp Mack! What a fabulous location this was. Camp Mack is owned by Church of the Brethren, and it has hotel style lodging, comfy beds, GREAT FOOD (goodness, great food!) and sits on a lake. We had two large rooms all full of quilters sewing pedal to the metal laughing up a storm, taking off to go shopping at near by quilt shops, having a ball.

The weather on Friday got a bit rainy, but that was okay! I have to tell you the most bonding experience was the "opening ceremony" that we did. If you have read Jennifer Chiaverini's (spelling) Elm Creek novels, you will remember that they gather in a circle and pass a lit candle around introducing themselves and stating what they hoped to accomplish by being there. We each held our own tapers, and the first person lit hers....told about herself, and then when she was done, her neighbor lit HER taper off the first one, and the first one went and set her candle in the middle of the center table in a big bowl of sand (we didn't want to burn the place down!) And it was just really a very moving experience! Funny, warm, hilarious...it was really a great way to start this retreat off.

Saturday was my Star Struck workshop..and if you weren't taking the class, you could "free sew" in the other room across the foyer.


In between class and dinner the weather had cleared enough for me to grab a sweater and do some power walking on the trails through the woods. Just beautiful! I took a couple pics of wildflowers I came across. It's starting to feel like fall already up here.

After dinner Friday I was able to do some power sewing myself on some projects I had brought. I have decided to rename my trusty bernina...since she often accompanies me in the front passenger seat, with the seat belt holding her securely in place, I've decided to call her SHOTGUN!! :cD Really, as heavily loaded as my car is, there is no WAY to put her in another rolling type case and make room for it in the back. I have to take her "au naturel" and just buckle her in. Shotgun is a great nickname, don't you think?

Sunday was the Virginia Bound workshop...and the scraps were flying! Some people found out that they like the ease of running pre-cut patches through the machine as in the Star Struck class more than they liked piecing with odd strings onto paper foundations. But SOME people were the opposite...they loved the freedom of just being able to grab this and that and making a mess and digging in and loving the variety you get when string piecing. It was a perfect example on why we should try anything and everything, and even if you learn that you don't LIKE a technique, you've at least learned THAT much! Anything that expands our boundaries gives us a bigger playground to play in, right?

Last evening most of the ladies left..but 5 of us hung around.....3 of us even stayed one more night (It was only $24!! what a bargain!) and so we caravanned out for Chinese Food. 2 of the 5 left to go home....3 of us stayed up and sewed. (This is like 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed....)

In the morning..this morning....2 of us went to Shipshewana! And then one went her own way.....

And now we are down to just me :c) In Michigan!

Shipshewana was wonderful today. Maryann and I first started out by hitting the bulk foods store. Oh the goodies! I bought bulk spices, bulk rolled 7 grain cereal, oh just oodles of stuff I can't get at home. I love stores like this. After that we parked at Yoders....and from there we walked everywhere. We had to hike off all the good food we'd had all weekend. We found Lolly's...and we found Lolly's BASEMENT...where there is this rowboat FULL of FQs!! What a hoot. I felt like a kid in one of those McDonald's Ball Play Grounds! If you buy 12 you get them for $2. So of course I needed to find 12. They are going in a project I have with me, so I'm trying to justify it, right?

More shopping, more browsing, lunch on the patio at a sandwich place...and Maryann took off her way. That left me the afternoon to go tour the Mennohof. Interesting! Was a great place to rest my feet and legs. I learned some things I didn't know.


Of course, if I had to tell you my fave experience of the day, it was long before we reached Shipshewana. As we got closer, I started getting glimpses of Amish Wash on the line...it's Monday, don't you know? And I sent up a prayer of thanks that I didn't have to prove what kind of housekeeper and wife I was by being up the earliest and being the first one to have my laundry hanging in the breeze! I saw one lady hanging hers, and felt bad for her, all of her other neighbors had beat her to it, the slovenly lazy woman!! It was 8am, and she was LATE getting it out! Poor thing...

This post is getting extra long, so I think I'll close here and add some more when I am able later. These pics were taken on my phone, so if anything is out of focus or uncropped...hey, what can I say??

With Love From Michigan,

Read More»

Borders It Is! (And FREE SHIPPING!)

I am the last one to just decide to slap plain borders on a quilt just to make it bigger and call it done.

But that is exactly what I did yesterday!

I have hemmed and hawed (Just what is hawed, anyway?) over the need for borders on this project, and just what I would do since I first started cutting into my solid scraps to make it.

It all came to the happy decision of YES yesterday afternoon.

Read More»