UHOH!!

Alt-webring is having issues! I can't get any of the panel links to work..I get errors. So do other people I hear...so I have emailed them to see what's what.

Anyone on stashquilts having the same issue with their panels?! Let me know please!

Bonnie

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Credit Where Credit is Due!

I just went searching on "quilts complete" for a pattern I need....and I came across this book by Suzanne Early

I just made a BIG MISTAKE...I saw this book, flipped out because it was a pattern off my website, emailed the lady....emailed my email lists! ACCCKK! I was freaking out because I didn't think she credited me or asked permission but....I just got this email back:

Hi, Bonnie,

She does give you credit inside. It says on the inside front cover:

"Detail of "Starstruck for Christmas" - pieced and quilted by Suzanne
Earley. Based on a pattern by Bonnie Hunter at www.quiltville.com."

The book is about machine quilting and has no information on doing
the quilt on the cover.

Susan


WWWWWWWWHHHAA!!! I'm so sorry Suzanne...I'm emailing you back right now too for the crazy email I sent earlier!

I think I'll go hide in my fabric some more....with chocolate! (And yes, I'm excited to be mentioned regarding the cover quilt, thank you very much!!)

Bonnie

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What a Full Week!

I've found ways to use my time at work! YEEHHAWW. I am feeling less overwhelmed, more organized, and more importantly, I have the itch to stitch :c)

I posted earlier that I finished the binding on the charity strippy. I also sewed a label on that quilt at work..and then the leader/ender strippy quilt FINALLY got completely finished as I finally stitched down the hanging sleeve on the black. I think it sat there folded in my family room completely pinned on, just needing one edge stitched for what...4 months or more? Egad.

Since I finished those two quilts...I am back to HAND QUILTING on the crazy amish strippy wall quilt that I posted way back when. Do you know, in just a couple days, finding 1/2 hour here and there, and stitching on my lunch break..that I am down to quilting the outer border with the cable design?! I'm exited to get it done so I can take a pic and show you. Remember earlier in the year I machine basted 4 or 5 little wall quilts so they'd be ready to grab? I'm grabbing them :c) They might not be BIG finishes, but I have something at work to work on. It feels good to have my quilting "underneath" fingers feeling a bit pokey and building up the callouses again.

This week I had my friend Lori from Texas staying with me. She and I went to school together, and she was my roomate at the clinic until she got transferred out. She came back to Columbia to take a CEU class, and stayed with me. So that is what kept me busy this week. We did girl things in the evening! One evening we took the dog to the state forest and hiked about 5 miles, chattering the whole way. Another night we met another classmate for dinner, another night we grabbed a bite ourselves..she came to my work after her class was out, and we went to eat and went to see a chick flick together..Devil Wears Prada..funny funny! And so fun to do it with a girlfriend.

We enjoyed the hottub in the evenings, and last night (after a full day of class for her, and a full massage clinic schedule for me) we watched a DVD "Fun with Dick and Jane" Completely silly, but had some good laughs in it. It was just very enjoyable to spend the time with a friend, but now that she has left, I'm EXHAUSTED! And not a lot of "quilting at home" happened this week because of it.

I leave wednesday the 26th for the family reunion in MN, and I'm getting very excited about it. I'm not thinking about projects to take, not sure if I'll even have time to work on them while I'm there, but we'll see. I'll be back on the 31st, so if you don't hear from me next week, this is why!

Bonnie

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Bound!

I had a VERY slow day at the massage clinic yesterday. I kind of knew it would be, so I packed up the simply strippy charity quilt that I had quilted over the weekend, and finished the hand stitching of the binding while sitting at the clinic answering phones.

I could have machine bound it in way less time, but it was nice to have something to do . I can do an "okay" machine binding, but it just never looks as nicely finished as a good old fashioned hand stitched binding does.

Because it is such a busy quilt, I used a panto pattern called Daisy Swirl by Willowleaf Studios. I like how it turned out. I hope the recipient likes it as well. It is going to go to the breast cancer center along with the other quilts we will be cranking out (hopefully!) at the workshop I am teaching on August 7th.

It is hot hot hot here in SC. HUMID. Drenchingly humid! I've been sticking to my guns on getting to the gym at least 3 times a week. I really like the one I joined that is near my work. I can get there quick, do 1/2 hour on the eliptical trainer (sometimes while watching oprah!) and then go swim some laps, and it is SO refreshing. Last night I did a pilates class and a yoga class.

And then this morning I got on the scale and was UP 2 pounds. :( Oh well...I'm not going to watch that darn scale anyway. Heat, Humidity, Hormones, whatever....I'm just FEELING better even if the scale is going in the wrong direction!

I'm starting a new book on mp3 today. I listen at the gym, while hiking with the dog in the forest, or sometimes while machine quilting. This one I just picked up at the library (it is copying onto my mp3 player as I type this) It's called "Like a Watered Garden" and it is by Patti Hill.

The editorial review states:

From Publishers Weekly
From the opening line ("I received a box of flowers from my dead husband"), debut novelist Hill hooks the reader with this intriguing look at love, faith, grieving and relationships. The unusually named Mibby Garrett is a garden designer who runs Perennially Yours, serving her clients' eclectic landscaping needs from behind the wheel of the Daisy Mobile with her companionable dog, Blink. The redhead's life is turned topsy-turvy when her husband is unexpectedly killed; she can barely cope with her business and with her 13-year-old son, Kyle. Her next-door neighbor, well-heeled 30-something Louise Giovanelli, keeps Mibby sane, supplying her with love, advice and baked goods from the B&B she owns next door. Odd guests at the B&B and Mibby's eccentric garden customers, including a handsome widower, are competently portrayed. When Mibby discovers her husband had a secret past, it threatens to destroy her last shreds of faith. Although some elements of the plot are well-worn chestnuts of Christian fiction (the eligible widower, the quirky neighborhood inn, the deceased character's clandestine past), Hill refreshingly resists the urge to tie up all the loose ends and avoids clichés in portraying the spiritual growth of her characters. Fresh prose, wry humor, an enjoyable protagonist and strong pacing make Hill a welcome addition to the ranks of inspirational novelists.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

It sounds like good listening/reading. I've been into some pretty intriguing mystery/crime stuff lately, and I think I need a switch.

I hope everyone is cool, happy and productive!
Bonnie

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After Shots!

Okay...would you ever guess this is the same quilt with the border bungles?

What I did was pinch the fullness, fold it over, and hand stitch it with a blind applique stitch to take up the pleat..it looks like there is a seam running across the border, as if it was pieced....but it looks so much better than a pucker because it is stitched down. Can you even see the seam on the close up pic? I think you might have to click on it to enlarge it to have it really be visible.

And oh you guys, don't you know me well enough to know that I would be kind and explainatory to my customer? I told her "never fear, I can fix it..here's what we will do..." And then for future reference I sent her to my website to check out my border hints page so that the next one she can measure properly, etc.

I really like how it turned out. Yes, it's the baptist fans again, but it just FITS this wonky 4patch-9patch quilt with it's eclectic fabrics, 1920's (maybe earlier..there is one chrome yellow I'm suspicious about being earlier!) all the way through 1940's.

I'm off to work, I've got a full massage schedule today, booked solid from 11 am until 6pm tonight. Whew! But the good news is...I PIECED more last night! WEeee! I'm going to keep you in the dark about that one for a bit longer. I found an antique top on ebay that I am dying to use 2.5" strips to recreate...in my own scrappy fashion of course :c)

In Stitches - - -
Bonnie

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Border Bungles!

One pic says it all....AUUUUGHHHHH!!!! Can we say "Major Flare-age of Border"??

I'm having to do folded over, hand stitched tucks to ease in the fullness. Whaaaa! This quilt belongs to a customer. They are 1930's and 40's fabrics, including some suit weight knits!

Other things I've learned....baptist fans do not ease in atrocities as much as meandering can. Warm & Natural doesn't have enough loft to suck in fullness either, it is like quilting through cardboard, and unless your quilt is PERFECTLY flat, you can't ease anything in with it either. And what I really hate is trying to find the nicest way to tell the piecer, who is a quilt shop owner (and sweet as can be!) how to avoid these pitfalls.

This is my whine for the day! :c)

Bonnie

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Guild Flea Market Night!

Last night was our guild flea market where you can bring stuff you want to get rid of and sell it to someone else who wants it. There were lots of interesting things, some of the "higher" priced items like sets of antique quilt blocks, or finished tops that needed to find a home were auctioned off..the bidding was fast and furious and quite funny. There were even some NON quilt items up for auction. I came home with a pool cue in a leather carrier for Jeff. He will be tickled I think....but he won't see it til later in the week. He is in Greenville with a friend and his cousin having a blast.

After the auction part was over, the flea market part started! Someone had all these fabric pieces and they were going for 25 cents each piece! One of the pieces had more than a yard in it. I couldn't resist, even though I said I didn't need more fabric, who can pass it up..most of it was 1/2 yard or more...for 25 cents?

The three red pieces are an older (like late 1980s to early 1990s) Jinny Beyer fabrics. No date on the selvege, but no www.rjr.com either, so it was before internet! (Doesn't it feel weird to say that..to remember life before internet?) They remind me of the antique dutch chintzes that I saw in the netherlands, so I snatched them up for a "some day" repro dutch quilt.

The others I snatched because they were different, but went well with the style of things I like. They all smell like they've been stored in moth balls (ackk..phheww!) and so they are now in the washing machine to get the stink out.

My blurb on the workshop for next month went well and a lot of ladies seem interested to want to give the "simply strippy" quilt a try. It's super simple and I know it will be a fun night of sewing and snacking and laughter and fun visiting. I like the workshop nights the best.

Bonnie

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Long Ago, in Oklahoma.....

I received this pic via email by a gentleman trying to find out more information on this quilt. I wish I could see it in color! Isn't it just the greatest pic? It looks like it was taken by a travelling photographer, going farm to farm taking family photos, as was quite popular around 1910.

I love the woman's dress and her 'up-do' hair! But it does look like times were really tough. The quilt to me looks like a lone star variation, but instead of diamonds, the star blocks are pieced with triangles stitched into diamonds, a dark triangle was stitched to a light triangle to make the diamond units. They aren't equilateral triangles...more like the longer skinnier "kaleidoscope" type with the sides being a bit longer than the bottom. It looks like she used everything in this quilt, probably stitching the stars first before scrounging for fabric to use as the block backgrounds and finding sashing fabrics to put them together with.

Some of the blocks have chopped off points...I think I would have liked this quilter! There is no way to know if the woman in the photo was the maker, or if she was given the quilt by someone else..maybe as a wedding present, or as they left for the territories to try their hands at farming in Oklahoma. We can only look at it and study it and imagine what life was like during those hard times for these poor farmers.

If we could see it in color...maybe it wouldn't look so hard. Seen in all sepia tones, it does look like life has lost all it's color and luster for these people, but they were living it in color, so maybe it was a lot brighter and hopeful for them than the picture lets us think :c)

I just thought the pic was interesting, and thought you'd like to see it too! If anyone has seen this pattern anywhere, please let me know. I checked block base, but it isn't listed in the 8 pointed star variations...

Bonnie

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Lo, and Behold! She SEWED!!

I sewed I sewed! Kind of forced to, but hopefully this will open the flood gates! Next month I am giving a charity quilt workshop for my guild, and we will be making "Simply Strippy" Quilts to use up scraps and will be donating the quilts to the local Breast Cancer Center.

I dug in my bin of 3.5" strips and was able to sew this top in one evening! I have to give a little "blurb" about the workshop tonight at guild meeting, so they will know what they are making, along with handing out a list of what they will need so everyone will be ready for the August meeting. I wasn't able to get this quilted (I have someone else's quilt in the machine) but I will have it done for the August meeting. It just felt good to SIT AND SEW!

Before Siobhan left for New England (And from there she moves to England) we met for dinner and had some fun shopping, wandering through the antique mall, and going to Hobby Lobby, etc. I found these wonderful old cotton carding combs! There are still fibers left in the tines...I don't know how old they are, but I love that the label on them is so visible...

Other than that, work is going well, and I joined a gym right down the street from work, so when I have bookend clients, some in the morning, some in the late afternoon, I can take the hours in between and go do the eliptical machine (and watch Oprah!) do some weights, and swim some laps! I think it will work out great to use up the "sitting around and waiting" time. So far I haven't been able to make myself sit at a quilting project in those idle moments at work. They are just not that idle..answering phones, talking to people..and can't really have a sewing mess all over the place.

The family reunion to MN is coming up and I am getting very excited to see my mom and all of her side of the family....

Bonnie

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