Oooh Yummy!

I actually slept in this morning.  The past week plus I’ve been waking up to the alarm that blatantly goes off at 6am ----I’ve been feeling kind of worn out!  But last night, I was asleep by 10pm-something and slept all the way to 7am.  NICE!

I’ve got this morning on my own ((Minus Aunt Elsie the featherweight, but we’ll catch up with her later)) until 11 when I’m being taken to see the Michigan State University Museum/Great Lakes Quilt Center Collections!  Whoowhooo!!  I so can’t wait.  The photo to the left is of the quilt storage cabinets ----bring on the white gloves!

In anticipation of much quiltiness today ---I went back through some other folders on my lap top to see if there was anything I missed posting about.  Oh yes!  Take a look:

If you saw this on a chair, would you pass it by?  I didn’t!

Finding room to lay out a large quilt in small booths of an antique mall is not always easy, but it was worth it!  not only do I love the mourning print used as the wide sashings, I LOVE the colors in the “Princess Crown” blocks!  See how they all play against the dark grey of the mourning print fabric?  It's darker than the grey I chose for Easy Street, but the colors are NOT dulled by the grey.  I love the half blocks all the way around the outside edge!

Bright poison green, double pink and a great blue polka dot!

More of the same blue polka dot with a cranberry and a stripe that goes every-which-direction!

Look how different this block looks just by changing the value placement!

The backing is a very soft blue chambray, and the front was turned to the back as binding, something I don’t see too often, especially turned back THIS narrowly!

This was just a lovely period piece – I’m thinking 1880 or a bit later but not all sure ----

I am not sure if they will allow me to photograph the quilts today at the museum ---I’m hoping I’ll have something to show you from that visit!  In the mean time, are you gearing up for EASY STREET that starts one week from TOMORROW?!

There have been questions on how small the pieces can be.  It’s safe to say that you won’t need any strips smaller than 2”.  But that’s all I can say for now. 

The thing that amazes me the most is people who say “I don’t like purple, so I won’t do this quilt.”  “I don’t want my quilt to look “dated” so I won’t use these colors”.  LADIES!  ((Isn't it amazing what people let their fingers say in the comment section?!))

The first thing I said was YOU could choose ANY FOUR COLORS that YOU like together in ANY FABRIC STYLE plus a background.  If you want to use one background – fine – but I’m using many.  Purple was popular in the 1800s.  You can use civil war fabrics in these colors and have a very 1800s looking quilt.  Purple was popular in the 1930s.  You can use 1930s fabrics in these colors and have a very 1930s quilt.  These colors are not going to date this quilt to 2012---but even if it does, is that a bad thing?

I want my quilts to be representative of every stage of MY life.  Not just imitate a time period in which I never lived.  I quilt for the need to create, even if in 10 years someone says, “oh yes, that was the 2012 era”.  Some day – even those 2012 quilts will be sought after because they were really from the time period in which they were created.

Those who made their quilts in the 1800s were not just reaching into their scrap bag in an effort to just "sew with civil war fabrics" in hopes that it didn't date their quilt!

Quilt to please yourself.  Don’t worry about your quilts not fitting what you like in 20 years ---what kind of way is that to live!?

Case In Point! LOL!

Carry On!