Hot Off The Presses!

I just found this news release! It's about time they realise we aren't going to terrorize anyone with our thread snips or stork scissors! :c)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051130/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/passenger_screening

It says:

WASHINGTON - Airline passengers will be allowed to carry small scissors and tools onto planes, reversing a rule that led to confiscation of many thousands of sharp objects at airports since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, a Homeland Security Department official said Wednesday.

Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley on Friday will announce changes to the list of items prohibited in carry-on luggage and to the airport screening process, according to the official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the plan has yet to be announced.

With federal air marshals on planes, bulletproof cockpit doors, armed pilots and 100 percent screening of checked baggage, the threat of a terrorist taking over an airplane has lessened since the 2001 attacks, the official said. The biggest concern now is explosives.

Though the new list of prohibited items hasn't been finalized, certain sharp objects won't be on it, the official said, including scissors less than 4 inches long and wrenches and screwdrivers less than 7 inches long.

Air Transport Association spokesman David Castelveter said the industry has been briefed on the plan and supports it.

"What we believe, as does the TSA, is that we should be focusing on what poses the greatest risk," Castelveter said.

Bonnie

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Rustic Smokey Mountains Christmas!

Well we found it..Maggie Valley, NC..and when DH said it was "RUSTIC" he wasn't kidding! *LOL* I asked him if there was indoor plumbing and electricity, or if we had to tramp to an outhouse?? Actually, it looks great inside, and I'm excited about a week long retreat here.

The "blurb" about the rental says:
"Alpine Height's log cabin is dedicated to making your getaway better that any other. Large, beautifully decorated, three-bedroom, two-bath cabin has everything the heart desires.This is the place for pure relaxation and/or fun and games if you should choose. The Hall's have gone out of their way to provide you with everything you need right at your fingertips - from a "places to go/things to do" directory to board games and a 100-plus video library. Not to mention miles of hiking right out the front door and only two (2) miles from the ski slopes and horseback riding. All this and more within two miles of downtown Maggie Valley. Come join the fun. "

It's pet-friendly so we are going to bring Buddy, our Golden Retriever with us. This will be better than boarding him somewhere, and then he can keep me company while I quilt....we can go on walks while the guys go do their guy things like snoboarding and skiing.

We found this on http://www.vrbo.com/ (Vacation rentals by owner) and we've had alot of luck with the previous rentals we've found.

This trip will be in lieu of excessive amounts of presents for each other that no one needs or really wants. What would you really want to have? STUFF? Or a week long trip away to a cabin in the mountains? NO CONTEST!! Jeff's presents will be his ski passes and probably some clothing that he needs (15 yrs old and chooses to dress like a homeless bum..like most teenagers!) And the real gift will be time away.

We are going the week BEFORE Christmas, so we will be going on the 17th, and returning on the 24th. We will have Christmas Day at home.

A whole WEEK there! Now the question is.....since we are bringing the dog, will there be room for a sewing machine and some projects, or do I pack just hand work and work my way through those 100+ videos they say they have? :cD

Bonnie

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Monday Monday *singing Mama's & Papa's*

Busy day today! Today I had to go to Aiken to help take down the quilt show at the Aiken Historical Museum. It went really fast because there were so many people helping. Actually it took me longer to drive there than it did to get all the quilts down, and mine back into my car. It was a nice show!

I stopped by the post office on the way home to mail out an order, and ohhhhh boyyy..holiday traffic has invaded the PO already. Yucky. I'll be mailing stuff out from the little po-dunk town in the other direction just because they have less traffic than the big full-service PO...I hate crowds, I hate lines, I hate traffic, I even still hate Christmas music, even though it is past Thanksgiving and I really should just let myself give into it.

I really don't let Christmas take me over until the "Twelve Days of Christmas" Which means I give Christmas season about two weeks to run full course from the 13th to the 25th and then put it all away and be done with it and ready to start the next year.

Does this make me a Bah-Humbug? (if so, please tell me that I'm still a cute one!) I used to love Christmas and followed the tradition of putting up the tree the day after thanksgiving, if not the day of , and loving it for 6 weeks or so, but it just became over-kill and it seems that the years fly by and only build up to two things....Christmas again, or Tax Time again! I like both things to last about as short as possible.

I went this afternoon to the Forest to hike about 5 miles and listen to a book on CD that I have loaded onto the MP3 player I got for graduation. The rain was supposed to have STOPPED.....but I got about 2.5 miles or so out there and the sky opened up and I didn't have an umbrella and there WAS no shelter! Luckily it wasn't that cold, but I was soaked to the bone by the time I got to the car. Do you know how heavy a hooded sweatshirt, and a pair of demin jeans get when fully drenched? Not to mention my running shoes and sopping wet socks....I was a sight I'm sure! I was glad to get home and quickly stripped off everything right there in the laundry room (I was home alone) and dumped everything straight into the washer. I ran upstairs, threw on my swim suit, grabbed my big terry cloth robe and headed to the hottub. I was SO chilled, it felt so good.....

That just zapped me for the whole rest of the day. It's now 7:39pm and I'm too tired to do much of anything. I've been hand quilting in the evenings and that is coming along well. We are hoping to rent a cabin for the week before Christmas like we did last year. It was great. The guys went skiing and snoboarding and I stayed in and watched chick flick movies and quilted. What could be better? So that is what we are looking at for this year. Thinking of a place in Boone, NC.....I love the Blue Ridge Mountains, any time of year, but if there is snow, that would be wonderful!

Bonnie

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Turkey Soup..the day after!

Turkey Soup is a holiday must for me! So this is a posted request from Nines who wanted to know more about how I do it :c)

It's not that big of a deal! I'm a throw in some of this, some of that cook and this is what I did!

Take turkey leftovers...and pull all the meat from the bones. Save what you want for sandwhiches , etc..this soup just uses the little bits that no one will snack on! Crack the remaining carcass in half and put it in the crock pot with water to cover. I also remove any turkey skin, this just adds fat to the broth. You can add any leftover meat that you want, there will be alot more that will continue to cook off the carcass....I don't add anything else to it at this point, just making the soup stock. I let it simmer until the meat falls off the bones. At this point I unplug the crock pot, pour the contents through a collander so the broth goes into a pot, and the meat/bones stays in the collander.

I put the broth in the fridge to cool so the fat raises to the top and I can remove it. After the meat/bones have cooled enough for handling, I pick through it putting the meat bits back into the crock pot, and tossing the bones, cartilage, yucky stuff....

When the broth has cooled and the fat has been skimmed off, back into the crock pot it goes, this time with the meat, and the other things I want in it...a chopped onion, chopped celery, slices of carrot, sometimes diced raw potatoes, along with some poultry seasoning, a couple bay leaves, some minced garlic, pepper, and if it needs more flavor, I add some chicken soup base. The soup base usually has enough salt, so test if it needs more. Season it to your taste.

I let the veggies cook until they are done. Along the way you might want to add rice, or stir in noodles a bit before serving, just long enough to get them done and not mushy. Be aware that rice and pasta are going to soak up ALOT of juice, so you can even cook those on the stove top and add them cooked to the soup just before serving.

I've also added any leftover gravy that I have to the broth depending if I am going to use it with the leftovers or not...it adds good flavor to the broth.

Serve with corn bread, rolls or crusty french bread and any left over salad you have from the day before. And of course, finish it off with any leftover pie, cake, brownies, whatever that you SURELY have at your house Nines, with all that food you baked up, it can't all be gone yet!

Bonnie

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Rethinking again....

Here are a couple more shots auditioning solids. Some quilters don't like to use solids, and sometimes I DO...because it gives a great place to break up the busy-ness of scrap quilts, and when quilted, solids show the texture in wonderful ways that aren't seen when the top isn't quilted. What looks flat unquilted, gives alot of WOW when it is!

So here you have it...crazy puss in the corner blocks on a medium blue, or crazy puss in the corner blocks on a pumpkin rusty orange. Any Takers? Both of these are from the stash and I have enough to do the whole top from either of them.

I also have the same civil war green that I used for my string point star, but then this quilt would match it? :c/ Not sure I want that. But here is a pic of that one... http://quiltville.com/6ptstringstarclose.jpg

So what does the jury say now? And can you see sometimes why a solid is best, even if quilters aren't so excited to work with them?

Bonnie

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Trying to be motivated!

These are the crazy puss in the corner blocks I've had on the back burner for a while.

With encourgement from Finn to play today (who wants to be out and about on black friday anyway?? NOT ME!) I have been playing with layouts for these. I tried straight with sashings. Didn't like it. I tried diagonal with zig-zag setting..didn't like it plus I didn't want to have to make half blocks. So I thought I'd just set them on point so they would 'chain' due to the sashings and corner stones on the blocks. BTW..the 1.5" corner stones are all precut from my 1.5" scrap square bin. 56 blocks X 4 cornerstones each is 224 squares used that I didn't have to stand there and cut, just dug them out of the bin. Weehaa...

Anyway, back to the setting. I thought I could do color rounds...had a gold as the outer edge/setting triangles, a blue the next round in, a red the next in from that, and black in the center 6 blocks. Kind of a trip around the world setting. TOO BUSY. I didn't like it at all and here I am now with all these pieces I cut. I am the kind of quilter who has to lay it out to audition it....

I DID like the black 6 center squares, because they really make the black pattern in the white shirting sashings stand out. So...I thought blacks and greys! I always wanted to do something with all these mourning prints I'd collected. Here is the layout. I still think it's too busy?

HELP! Maybe these little crazy blocks are so busy and so charming on their own that they need ONE solid background color to showcase them? Please let me know what you think and what you would like to see them set with!

Bonnie

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Happy Thanksgivin' Y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Having a wonderful day here in SC. It's just after 3pm and dinner has been done ate! :c)

The turkey carcass is in the crockpot already beginning to simmer for tomorow's soup....it's my favorite part of cooking turkey. Warm homemade soup on cold days. Yummy!

I am working on those maverick crazy puss in the corner blocks that I had to set aside when school got nuts and I needed to hunker down and study and finish. I just counted them...there are 52! I'm trying to work out a layout for them...I'll see if I have a pic of them somewhere that I took before. I know they are WAY back in my archives....

Anyway..I was searching on Ebay just looking at crazy and string quilts, primitive quilts...trying to find something that inspired me and I found this fantastic quilt that just shouted MAVERICK to me, so I wanted to share the pics with you!

Aren't these blocks great? The only way I even KNOW it's an album block is because of the top right block in the first pic. The rest are all scrappy and the block pattern becomes indistinguishable....I LOVE THIS! This is what shouts maverick to me. Definately breaking the tradition of light must go here, dark must go there, and you can't mix this with that. Who says you can't? It's got chopped off points and all....and I love the free spirit of this quilt.

I thought it would be fun as Quilt Mavericks if we could all find a pic somewhere and do a post about "What Maverick Means To Me". I think that Maverick means different things to different people, yet put together we all make a whole. Kind of like the 5 blind men trying to describe the elephant when one had the trunk, one the leg, one the tail, one the ear, one the body....They were all describing different parts of one whole.

I hope you are all having a wonderful time with friends, family, fur-babies and fabric!

In Stitches As Always - - -
Bonnie

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It's Scarf Weather!

I haven't picked up a crochet hook in years and years, but while my Dad and Stepmom were visiting, she wanted to go to the yarn shop so she could get some yarn to knit a scarf. Knit?!? I don't knit at ALL...and really no desire to start, although I do love the knitted stuff that is showing up all over the place. I did find some yummy yummy yarn and the demo scarf hanging there was crocheted, so that is what I did.

It took about 3 days to make......I don't know if I'll do anything more, but I got this done just in time for the weather here to be yucky enough to wear it! *LOL*

Life here in SC is blissfully uneventful right now. We are even having Thanksgiving dinner just the 3 of us. We haven't been invited anywhere, and I am not wanting to invite anyone here for Thanksgiving after just having relatives for a week....I bought a small turkey and will do it with a minimum of fixings, but still enough to have leftovers for a few days afterward. Gotta have that homemade turkey soup made from the carcass..that's what I look forward to most!

No word yet from the Certification Board on when I can take my exam...I know it's been only 10 days since I sent off my applications, but time is turning alot slower now that I'm not in school! :c)

Bonnie

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Pineapple Blossom Directions and Stuff...

Yesterday was the first day of being HOME ALONE!! What a great feeling...I putzed around the house, I cleaned out my email inbox, I watched a movie on TV while eatting lunch, I finished a small customer quilt that was zero effort at all, so much that it didn't feel like work!

I spent most of the evening editing down pics and writing the text for the pineapple blossom quilt! You can find it at http://quiltville.com/pineappleblossom.shtml There still may be typos, but it's there! I wish I had played with more block layouts for this. I think you could do a straight furrows version without sashings..just having all the pineapple corners go the same direction diagonally down the quilt. I think it would be cool, you wouldn't get the blossom look, but it would be so different. These always come to me after the fact....after the blocks are sewn together and the quilt is quilted and bound and off to it's recipient!

I was thinking about something for the Quilt Mavericks ring members as well, something I want to explain. My website is included in the Quilt Mavericks webring so that it brings us a constant flow of ring surfers. When we started out, there were two members. Me and Tonya! We needed traffic, and since there are up to 800 hits a day on my website (sometimes more) it seemed the best way to get people here was to put a link for my blog on my website, or to click into the ring from the panel on my website. I also have a yahoogroups mailing list with now over 650 members. I email these quilters when I have a new pattern up, and they come to the website, many of them clicking into the blog ring from there. I get alot of email from people who have clicked into the blog ring because of the links. Is this okay with you, or do you feel that we can be stand alone now, and not have the ring panel on my website? I'd still have the direct link, just that my web page wouldn't be IN the ring.

Those of you that have other websites....I think it is a great idea to have a LINK to your blog on your website. That will bring people into the ring to surf around too. It also gives them a more personal view of you as a quilter, as a mother, wife, daughter, grandmother... as a person.

I'm off to shower and get this wonderful day going! Day 2 of no extended family here, and home alone! Weeehaa!

Bonnie

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I am getting all the pics ready to write the directions for the pineapple blossom quilt. On the top you see the block, and the pinwheel below is made from the bonus units that are left from sewing the triangle squares onto the main block. Gotta love quilts that give you something extra to play with!

I don't know if I mentioned this thing with my OBGYN wanting me back in 6 weeks for another check up? They found 'atypical' cells for the 2nd year in a row, and want to do a cryo-something where they freeze the cells on my cervix. I just got the call from them today, even though I
knew I was scheduled for Dec 6th...I didn't know this is what they were planning to do.

I guess atypical just means "abnormal" but doesn't neccessarily mean cancerous. I'm trying not to amp out about it, whatever it is we are catching it early enough for intervention, right? It's just this whole middle aged thing that is getting to me I think.

I'm just feeling a bit nervous, but trying not to think too much into it....I wish I had a friend who had gone through this so I would know what to expect, but still....And again....thank goodness for INSURANCE!!!

Folks are still here....couldn't really vent to them about this, so the quickest thing I could do is type it up and get it off my chest.

Bonnie

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IQFOI String Spider Web Class Supply List

String Spider Web Class Supply List!

Lap Size Quilt Approx Size: 55"X55"

Quilt can be made any size you want it, just make more blocks!

The objective in this workshop is for students to learn the basics, and the fun and freedom of string piecing!

Students will bring scraps and strips to share with others in the class so that everyone has a variety of fabrics to play with.

Please come with a basket, a box, a bin, a bag of scraps you've had sitting around! Bring strings (long strips from 3/4" to 2" in width and everywhere in between) squares, bricks, trimmings from joining binding on the bias, odd sized triangles, left over binding pieces....in a wide variety of colors! Lights, darks, mediums, prints, solids, batiks, calicoes, bring enough to keep yourself busy for 3 hours of fun piecing!

Background fabric: This all depends on how big your quilt is going to be. The lapsized quilt can be made with 1 yard of background. (In this case Orange) If you make the quilt bigger, plan accordingly. A twin sized quilt will take you 2 yards, a full to queen 3 to 3 1/2, etc. These yardage requirements are estimates.

Block Size: 10 3/4"

Sewing machines will be provided for this class.

In addition to your fabric please bring:

Print out the pattern here: http://quiltville.com/spiderwebpf.html and bring it with you.

Thread, scissors, seam ripper,pins and any other notions you usually sew with.
Rotary cutter, mat and ruler.
Wooden seam presser, unless individual irons are approved for your venue. Please don't overload the breakers and blow the fuses!

One piece of template plastic and a fine point pigma marker to draw on it with.

1 tablet "newsprint" type drawing paper. This paper tears easily for removal. Avoid velum as it curls when touched with the heat of the iron. Phone book paper is also great! Printer paper is a bit tougher, but can be used in a pinch.

1 fine point pencil

We are going to string up a storm at the International Quilt Festival of Ireland!

Please contact me if you need more info:  Quiltville@gmail.com

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IQFOI Jared Takes A Wife Class Supply List

Jared Takes A Wife!

Class Supply List!

12" block, quilt size approx 82"X95"

Jared Takes A Wife is based on the traditional "Blackford's Beauty" block. It is a great block with no inset Y seams, and can be made completely from 2" strips and squares! Even the sashing and cornerstones are 2".

In class, we will be learning some basic techniques from quick pieced 4-patch units to easy star points. Anyone from a beginner on up is welcome to take this class! This is a "power sewing" class and we hope to get many blocks done in one sitting so you have something to show for your fun day at the machine.

Machines will be provided by the Festival for this class.

You will need:

Pins, thread, needles, scissors, seam ripper, rotary cutter, mat and ruler. My fave size is 6.5" X 12.5" but whatever you usually use will work. Please treat yourself to a NEW BLADE before class-- You deserve it!

Ironing stations will be provided.

Please print out the class instruction sheets at http://quiltville.com/jaredtakesawifepf.html This allows you to print out the pattern in color, look at it before class, and saves on paper expenses.

Fabric Requirements:

The original "Jared Takes A Wife" Quilt was given as a gift to my choir master upon his marriage-- I made a second one to travel with, this time substituting purples for the blacks that you see in the original pattern. I made each star from a different purple, and love the effect!

You need to give a bit of thought as to what goes where, so I want you to study the quilt in the pattern carefully. Know that you can substitute ANY of the colors shown for those you like. *Note* As you choose your fabrics, go for contrast. This is a 3 color quilt PLUS a background.

If you prefer to NOT have a scrappy background, you can choose one fabric for all the cream fabrics shown.

Wherever you see a color (be it gold or green or black in my picture) You can choose any color you like. Because we are not sewing from kits, this is a great way to go through your scraps and make something from them! You can even make EACH BLOCK DIFFERENT if you so desire, let your imagination soar!

The quilt shown in the pattern uses the following:

1.5 yards assorted 2" light strips for 4 patch units
1.5 yards assorted 2" green strips for 4 patch units
2 yards cream polka dot for sashing around 4 patches.
2 yards gold on black music fabric.
1.5 yards green fabric for border
1/2 yard green plaid for block centers
2 yards dark gold for inner star and sashings

Pre-cutting before class:

Because we want to SEW, not watch each other iron and cut, please come with the following: (take into mind the number of blocks you wish to make and multiply that by the pieces given for each block below.)

If you don't have scrap 2" light and 2" dark (in my case green) strips, cut them from your yardage so they are ready for class.

Each block uses 4 4-patches made from these 2" strips. If you don't know how many blocks you want to make, a couple hand-fulls of each should get you started! In this case, bring extra fabric in case you get to a point where you need it. this is FAST sewing! We will be strip piecing 4 patch units from our 2" strips in class.

From another light (Shown as cream polka dot above) cut (8) 2"X 3.5" rectangles for EACH BLOCK you want to make. I find it easiest to cut the yardage at 3.5" intervals FIRST,and then cut 2" rectangles from the 3.5" strip. Plan accordingly to the size of quilt you want to make.

From scrap green strips cut (4) 2" squares for each block you want to make.
(Note, they can be all one fabric if you want them to,or you can scrappy them up as you desire)

Star Points:
From your main star point fabric, cut 240 rectangles 2"X5". There are 8 star point rectangles in every block. Adjust the number of star points to the number of blocks you want to make. I find it easy to cut the yardage at 5" intervals first, and THEN subcut them into 2"X5" rectangles.

Block centers:
Each block has 1 center 3.5" square. These can be scrappy, or they can all match. Cut one for each block you want to make. If you are making the large quilt, cut 30!

Inner star points: If you look closely at the picture above you will see that there is a gold inner star as well as a black outer star! These are simply made with 2" squares. I used gold, but you can use whatever color you wish. You need (8) 2" squares for the inner star in every block. If you are doing the large quilt, you will need 240. Plan accordingly.

Background star points: The upper points of the star show a neutral background. I used many different lights for these 240 2" squares.

Here is an EQ drawing of scrappy plaids, neutrals and reds! Blocks like this will give you a quilt like this:

Have fun with your fabric choices, and LETS MAKE A QUILT!!

If there are any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at Quiltville@gmail.com

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Charleston pics...

Yesterday we took a 2 hour bus tour on the grey line, what a great way to tour when you are travelling with older parents. It was wonderful, the tour guide's stories were entertaining and we ended up down streets that we probably would not have gone down without a guide.

After the tour, we shopped up King street and had ice cream, wandered through church yards inspecting old grave markers. I've always liked to do that. I don't know why. It makes me feel a connection with the past, with people who lived before. I like wondering what their lives were like....where they so different from mine?

At dusk we joined a ghost walk tour, Charleston's great attraction. It was fun, and again, we ended up down back alleys that we would not have discovered had we not gone on this tour.

We had dinner at T-bonz down by the slave market, and as I said previous post, it was midnight when we rolled into home!

Bonnie

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From graduation and beyond!

I'm having a bit of computer time will my dad and step mom NAP! So the house is quiet. Nice. Graduation was....WOW....I am still so blown away! They called me as class valedictorian!! I was just completely amazed beyond words, and it's a good thing I didn't have to give a speech, because I couldn't get anything out of my mouth at that point! It was wonderful having my Dad and step mom here to witness my moment :c)

This pic was taken at my house just before leaving for the graduation ceremony.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went to Charleston and spent the entire day doing touristy things. Charleston is just the most wonderful walkable city! So much to do and see....we got home about midnight.I think the plan for today is lunch at crackerbarrel, a bit of shopping and some more just relaxing and recuperating from yesterday. Fine by me! It's been a whirlwind and this is the first day with nothing planned!I filled out all my paperwork yesterday morning early, and sent it off to the national certification board to apply for my national exam. I hope to hear back in about 3 weeks as to when and where I can take it. Now the waiting begins!

My folks will be here until wednesday. So not much quilting going on until after that, but I do have all the pics taken that I need for writing up the instructions for the pineapple blossom quilt. As soon as I have some 'alone' time I'll be able to tackle that. It feels so weird knowing there is no more school for me. But I also have this wonderful sense of peace and purpose and of goals reached. And maybe I'll take a very well deserved nap too!

Bonnie

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Regrouping a bit...and why....

We need to redefine what Quilt Mavericks is and what it isn't. We are NOT ARTY ARTY quilters. We make quilts. Quilts that look like quilts. Quilts that are used by people, on beds, for children, for pets, for whatever.....and some of us branch out a bit beyond that. But we do not classify ourselves as ART QUILTERS. What we wanted in a ring is a group of quilters that interact with each other closely, encouraging each other in our efforts to quilt. There are some ring members who's blogs don't reflect their quilting, and they belong to so many rings-- all of whom have the same members. Or so MANY members that you can't possibly visit them all and develop a community.... They are all into very arty atcs, still life, whatever, and the other rings they already belong to fit their identity more than "Quilt Mavericks" does.

All we want is for members to re-evaluate why they are in the Quilt Mavericks webring, when the other rings they already belong to fit their style and spectrum much more than Quilt Mavericks does. And what is the point of joining every webring out there in the first place? Which one really defines you as a quilter or artist?

Some people just seem to collect webring panels as if they were badges on a girl scout sash....And mostly, their blogs don't focus on their quilting. It focuses on art from other people...not their own. These people are better served in the other rings that they ALREADY belong to, and as Debra put it, we are a little ring with little members and we will never be what she is looking for in the direction her fiber art is going. I have not talked to Debra myself...I haven't been on the computer until this morning, but I did agree that some needed to evaluate their own blogs and see if WE fit THEM...and if we didn't, that they would be better just belonging to their arty ones, and not to ours. No real hard rejection meant and I'm sorry that Debra took it that way.

The the fact is, Debra's blog...and a couple others...are not quilt related. They are art related. Art is wonderful! Their work is beautiful. They fit their other rings they already belong to. Why do they need to be in Quilt Mavericks? We are not their focus in the first place? We are just another badge in their side bar. I hope this helps everyone understand

We just don't want to be "ANOTHER" art ring. We make quilts....we color outside of the lines a bit...but we still make quilts. Many of us would not or have not been accepted into the art quilt rings because our quilts are too traditional. Yet we are not griping about that rejection on your blogs? All shoes don't fit all people. All rings won't fit all people. There is one out there for you. You can start one of your own and include who you want.

And you can feel free to email me personally if you want to discuss this further, I'd rather not carry it out in the blog comments like airing dirty laundry and fanning the flames as I've seen on other pages.

Back to quilting...
Bonnie

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IQFOI Pineapple Blossom Class Supply List!

International Quilt Festival of Ireland!

Pineapple Blossom Workshop Supply List



Large quilt with 36 blocks

Lap quilt with 20 blocks.

This quilt is related more towards the "geese in the corner" style of log cabin, than it is a true pineapple block, because the triangle corners are only sewn to two opposite diagonal sides. It still has that pineapple punch though, and it works up into a pretty quilt!

The block logs are cut from 2" scrap strips I already had waiting for me in the 2" scrap strip bin, and the pineapple corners are cut from 3.5" light strips.

Please keep in mind that this is a "scrap quilt" workshop and you are meant to use your stash! Since our scraps are all different shapes, lengths and sizes, fabric amounts are guestimates, no exact yardage is given.


Pattern:
Each student must come to class with the Pineapple Blossom pattern printed from the Quiltville.com website. The pattern is found at http://quiltville.com/pineappleblossompf.html
This helps keep workshop prices down. Please be aware of any students who might not have printer access, making sure that everyone in class has a copy.

Machines will be provided for this class.



Please bring the following:

Thread, scissors, seam ripper, pins and any other notions you usually sew with.
Rotary cutter, small mat and ruler. 

Mechanical pencil for marking lines on fabric.

Fabric supplies:
Approximately 3 yards of dark/medium scraps cut into 2" strips.

For this workshop we will start with 20 blocks. You can make the quilt as big as you want, but we will start with 20 blocks!

From your 2" strips please have ready the following:
40 2"X 3.5" rectangles
80 2" X 6.5" rectangles
40 2" X 9.5" rectangles.

From 3.5" light strips cut:

100 3.5" squares light (block center and pineapple corners) These may be the same throughout the whole quilt, scrappy through the whole quilt, or you can match them in each block as I did above. All 5 squares in each block are the same, but differ from block to block.

If you have any questions about the supply list or instructions, please don't hesitate to email me at Quiltville@gmail.com! I really look forward to this workshop with you!

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And the quilts go to........

And the winners are!!

The star quilt went to Marie and the pineapple blossom went to Andre!

This was SO much fun to do. It is just amazing how good it feels when someone's name is called and they are so shocked because they never win anything :c)

Again, I had a couple of people ask me if I would sell the quilts, and I said that although I quilt tops that other people had pieced, and I can charge a fee for that, I don't make quilts to sell from start to finish. They had a hard time understanding why, and I guess because if I do...I lose the joy of giving something like this. It becomes a "JOB"....instead of an expression of myself.

Not to mention that if I were to sell, I'd need to make more than a dollar an hour (I don't think people understand the time and the cost involved in quilting)....and selling for any price seems to devalue the worth of the quilt in the first place.

I'd rather give, because in giving I receive so much more than I ever could in selling.

And the world may never understand, but that's okay with me :c)

Oh, btw....I ACED the exam today with 100%! Only one more to go. That's tomorrows final practical hands on exam in neuromuscular therapy. By this time tomorrow I'll be DONE DONE DONE!!! Waahooooo!

Bonnie

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On the way out the door...

I'm on my way out the door, but I wanted to post the pics I just took before I went...I had to empty the camera anyway so there will be room for more shots later :c)

Shots of the random ohio stars, and pineapple blossom quilts, all bound and ready....and a close up shot of the label on the back. I didn't give myself much margin between them when I printed them out, so it was a close call getting the borders sewn around them before stitching to the back, some of the letters are a bit cropped, but too bad....today is the day!

Bonnie

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Up with the birds....studying...

Finals today and tomorrow. I'm sure you are tired of hearing me count down, but I can't help it!

I've got the 'drawing' quilts all bound and labeled, just need to wrap them. I wanted to get pics of them finished, and it's still dark..so I'm waiting for things to lighten up a bit before I take them this morning. I like taking pics outside, the light is always better. I'm taking my camera so I can get pics of the 'winners' and their new quilts :c)

We bit the bullet and switched from Bellsouth to Vonage and now have the phone running through the cable internet we already had. What a DEAL. $28 bucks a month, tons of extras included, no more getting the bill hiked up with all the federal taxes and fees for this and that....it saves about $25 a month on our phone bill, It was always around $50 and we never even used our phone for long distance, we use our cells!

So now...cha ching...it's $28! Good bye Bellsouth! And it's free long distance calling all the time! I would have given up the land line all together, but I need it for running customer's visa/mc cards....I'm tickled about taking my business away from Bellsouth, or any of the other rip-off phone companies. And there is an incentive.....if I refer someone and they switch to Vonage, I get 2 months free service...so consider this a shameless plug if you have cable inet and hate your phone company for gouging you! (And say you were referred by me!)

Oh, Oscar must have been up on the cupboards again last night...heard a bang in the middle of the night and one of the enamelware pots was on the kitchen floor...fell from the top of the fridge. Naughty cat. I spose I might just have to move stuff out of his way so we aren't woken by things that go BANG in the night with him trying to get up there..... *yawn*

Bonnie

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"Ain't No Mountain High Enough...."

I came into the kitchen while on the phone and found Oscar at the top of the tall kitchen cupboards looking for respite! He'd never been up THERE before, that I know of anyway...the only way he could have gotten up there was to jump to the counter top, up to the top of the fridge, and then to the top of the cupboard. It's quite a way up there, as you can tell from the top of the fridge beneath!

Most people have to worry about the dust bunnies on the tops of their fridges...by the looks of it I'm going to have to worry about hairballs instead! :c)

Bonnie

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Kitty Comforts????

How can this be comfortable?!? I came downstairs to get something to drink, and found Oscar in the desk letter file thingy...WEIRD CAT I tell you! He just looked at me with his shifty eyes as if to say "So? You got a problem with this? Can't you see I'm sleeping?"

It just made me chuckle and I wanted to share it with you :c)

It's another beautiful fall morning in SC. DH and son went deer hunting. No....scratch that...they went deer watching. Maybe they are more like Oscar than I am because they seem to LIKE sitting in trees doing nothing? But I think it's great that they are spending father/son time together.

Down to the nitty gritty here! 2 finals to go. Parents come in on thursday evening. Jeff's got a doc appt thursday afternoon after school to get the pins out of his hand. It's going to be a crazy schedule this week, so any house cleaning to get things ready has to happen between now and wednesday night....Never DID get the carpets clean. I decided I don't care. The walls that definately need painting? I'm not going to care about those either. If they don't like it here they are welcome to go down to the Amerisuites! I'll just do the best I can....however, I opened the fridge this morning, and then quickly moved the 'cleaning out the fridge' project to the top of my cleaning list!

Yesterday a friend and I met for lunch, and then went to the fairgrounds for the annual holiday arts/crafts festival thing. Can you believe that there was NOTHING quilty there? Alot of basket makers...I mean ALOT....every time we turned the corner. I love hand made baskets, and that is something that I want to learn to do.

I however LOVE the booths that have musicians selling their own CD's. There was one guy playing hammered dulcimer....and he had a celtic CD that was awesome, so I bought that...and then around the corner was another gal, a harpist (not a harpy, just a harpist!) and her CD's were wonderful too, so I bought two of those......these are for my massage music collection. I've always loved this kind of music though.....I play it all the time, even before I started school because I love stuff without lyrics...just instrumental. It leaves time for thoughts in my head. I love to sing along to stuff with words, but if I'm singing, I'm not thinking, and that can cause problems! *LOL*

Okay, back to the cleaning and quilting...and hopefully a trek through the woods at Harbison State Forrest again. It's going to warm up today and the colors are just brilliant! That might be my lunch hour treat :c)

Bonnie

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My friend Lucy is nearly onboard!

I am SO SO excited! I have a wonderful quilting friend, Lucy, who lives in Haarlem in The Netherlands. She is an AWESOME quilter, and she works at a quilt shop in Haarlem called Irma's Sampler. Those of you who have been quilting for a long time might be familiar with a book by the same name...a book written by Irma herself! Well Lucy works there and is teaching classes there and does FABULOUS quilts, some in dutch fabrics which I have fallen in love with!

Lucy's blog address is http://lucyquilting.blogspot.com/ and I want you to all go over there and encourage her to post more of her gorgeous work! She has uploaded one pic of the latest quilt...she just finished the top and is starting on the quilting, and will be teaching this class at Irma's hopefully in the near future.

I'm sure I can twist her arm to be part of Quilt Mavericks with your encouragement!

Bonnie

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It's November!

Halloween passed here as mostly uneventful. A few little gremlins walking the streets with their parents, but we don't get alot of trick or treat action in our little corner, kind of a long dark culdesac, and there aren't many 'littles' at this end of the neighborhood.

I spent yesterday piecing the second student quilt for the giveaway next week. I did have 20 of these pineapple blossom blocks done, it wasn't quite enough for a lap quilt, but the thought occured to me if I added sashings, and cornerstones...that it would be big enough for the center. By the time I added borders it was just right! All that is left to do is quilt and bind it.

I've noticed something lately....not that it bothers me, but very seldom do I do fancy pieced borders! Maybe it's because the middles are so busy that I need something just to frame it in and stop the busy-ness..but also I think that by the time I am in a crunch to finish a quilt, I just don't want to put more time into the borders! *LOL* I have done some with braided borders, lots of 1/2 square triangle borders, and dog-tooth borders with equilateral triangles, and I love how they look, but unless it is really a quilt that cries out for more piecing in the border, I'm happy with the formula of either a 1 1/2", 2", or 2.5" cut strip for the inner border and then something 5" to 6" wide for the outer border to frame everything. Some Amish quilts I've done 8" borders on so I can do really fancy quilting in there, but most of the time, it's a 5" cut.

Do you find yourself in a border rut? I'm curious if many find themselves like me.

I also tend to like a contrasting binding when binding a quilt. Even if it's in the same color family as the border, I rarely bind the quilt in the same fabric as the border because it just doesn't show. How bout you guys? Contrasting binding, or binding from the same fabric as the border?

At 11:45 I have a dentist appt to fix a molar that a piece broke off of....it's not bad enough to need a crown, but it has made the space between it and the next molar big enough that food gets in there and I'm forever toothpicking it out, so it will be nice to have that space smaller.

Yesterday the weather was so nice that at about 2:30 I took buddy the golden retriever and we went to Harbison state forest to go hiking the trails. We did between 4 and 5 miles I think..the loop takes about 1 1/2 hours to do and of course it is more uphill than downhill...ask me how this is possible! It was great enjoying the sights and smells of the forest. We even saw a deer bounding through...Buddy wanted to take off after him, but a quick jerk on the leash made him give up that idea quickly.

Bonnie

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