Wonderful Sunday!

I had the MOST wonderful Sunday afternoon today! Being new to Winston Salem (and to NC in general..the only tourist attraction for me as far as NC went was Mary Jos!) means there are lots of things to discover!

Well, I was told last week "Oh, you know Reynolda House is open to the public next Sunday and I think they have quilts there."

Imagine MY surprise when I find out the "quilts" they have there is an exhibit of African American quilts from the SMITHSONIAN!!!! OMGoodness! I couldn't believe my good luck. The exhibit was free today...but the best part...I came ALONE! *LOL* I can just see that my family of men would NOT understand the attraction in Ghees Bend style quilts. So...I got to bask in their glory all myself. And I am not embarassed to say that they moved me to tears. Literally. I had a docent bring me a tissue. Not only that, she said I wasn't the only quilter who had cried when seeing them, that was why she was CARRYING tissues to begin with.

I've seen these quilts for years in books and magazines and tv, and drooled over them. But seeing them up close and personal (as close as they would allow my eyes to get without touching them) was a moving experience. I could see the weave of the double knit polyester they were made from. I could see the stitches. I could see the quilting knots that lay on top of the quilt. I could see where diamonds were pieced because there was not enough fabric to cut the shape from a single piece.

I thought of these marvelous women who had so little to begin with, but created so much. I read the placards of their lives and words that were posted next to each quilt, and I blubbered some more. I feel like these women are MY sisters.

I couldn't photograph, of course..but I did get a couple shots from the up above mezzanine, without flash. Blurry maybe, but you get the idea!

Here is a printable brochure that contains items in this exhibit, so you can see what I saw up close and personal :c)

The rest of Reynolda House and Museum paled in comparison to what I had experienced in the quilt exhibit. But it really has a fabulous story as well....

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Bunny Love...

I bought this bunny pillow on one of my teaching jaunts through Georgia. When I go places, everyone assumes I'd love to hit each and every quilt shop in the area, when what I am really aching to do is hit the thrift shops and antique malls!

This bunny was found in the upstairs part of a very disorganized antique mall in Augusta GA! In it's former life it was an ocean waves quilt. I love that pattern, and having made one myself, and knowing I would never make another (talk about death by triangulation!)I snatched up the bunny and brought her home with me.

I've got a big basket with an assortment of patchwork bears, and even a pig that was bought in Kentucky. His eyes are put on crooked, he looks more like a bear than a pig (like someone used a bear pattern and stuck on a snout to MAKE him a pig) and he was so pitiful I had to bring him home too!*LOL*

This morning I took the bunny pillow and put it on the quilt top that I was thinking I didn't like. It doesn't look half bad. They DO look like they go together. Maybe the album quilt looks murky to me because it doesn't have enough "LIGHT" as far as colors go? But all in all....as they say....sleep on it, it will look better in the morning!

Thanks for all the pats on the back assuring me it wasn't as bad as I was thinking it was!

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Borderline........

I tried and tried and tried to do something cool with these borders,but NOTHING looked good on this quilt.

This is the first time in a LONG time that I've not been satisfied with a project, and I really think what I don't like about it is that it is so much in those old "blue and mauve" colors from the late 80's...Even if a lot of the fabrics are reproductions, it still has that 1980's feel! *LOL*

I tried to salvage it by putting in a brown sashing, and adding that to the border and the center of the border corner stars to tie it all in and tone it down, but it just looks muddy to me. Maybe it will be better once it is quilted and bound, and WASHED to look older? It's just very restful, low contrast and subdued. It lacks the RED punch of the bargain basement quilt. Or it lacks the mustard gold sashings of the original Kentucky Album that inspired it. Maybe I should have used ALL browns instead of blues...but it's too late now!

At any rate, here's a couple shots of the borders and the corner squares I put in. I've pieced a back out of blue yardage I wanted to clear out, and even pieced a batting out of batting remnants that were in a box. It's definately a frugal quilt,so that is something to be happy about too!

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Bargain Basement & Kentucky Album...

I finished the binding and the hanging sleeve on Bargain Basement! I also found a great place to photo the quilts. I used to hang them off my fence in SC, but this place HAS no fence,so I was wondering where I could photo quilts away from the wind and direct sun, etc.





The back of the house has a latice wall! It's the perfect height, and clothes pins work great to hang a quilt out of the wind and sun. So that's my new spot.

The only problem (and it isn't really a problem per se) is that the cross hatching of the latice almost looks like the quilt doesn't stop with the binding in the photos! Oh well...if *I* can get used to it, maybe it won't bug you so much either!

So here are the photos of Bargain Basement!I did tall dogteeth borders, and following the lead of our quilters past, I just let the borders end where the borders end...so all the corners are slightly different. Talk about fun and no stress!

The big red plaid in the border was from a lady's jumper that I took apart. There was a ton of red plaid in that jumper! (It was a 3XXX!) The black homespun plaid binding was actually a bathrobe...yes...made out of homespun, just like we'd buy off the bolt. Lots of yardage in that too.

The back....I used up fabric from a skirt...the blue gingham with the fruit on it, and some other older yardage that had a "plaidy-stripe-y" feel to it. Seems like I've been trying to get rid of that bolt of blue noah's ark fabric for ever. I've still got a lot of that in tan too! I used the left over dog tooth border in the back as well.

My report on the gym front....I've been 4 days in a row! And I'm having fun. The ladies there are really nice, the music isn't so booming loud that we can actually carry on conversations as we move around from station to station. I'm a bit sore,but not too much, so I know I'm not over doing it. The last two days I've walked the mile there (extremely up hill on the way there, but down hill on the way home) and did my work out, and then walked home to cool down. It's perfect!


Last night I worked on those crossed album blocks. I'm calling it "Kentucky Album" Because the quilt Lucy and I fell in love with was found in Kentucky...or on our trip TO Kentucky anyway! I've chosen a brown print with blue and coral in it for the sashings.


I wanted something that didn't make it so "blue and mauve" like the 1990s...even tho some of the fabrics I used up must at least be that old too! *LOL* Some of this stuff....my brain was telling me DON'T USE THAT!! and then that little voice in my ear would say "women with a mere scrap bag to choose from WOULD GLADLY use that and be grateful for it.." (Pffft!) so I used it. I figured, better to be in a quilt, than to still be in that strip bin making me grumble every time I dug past it. So...it's IN THE QUILT. Little heart prints, little calicoes...but it isn't half bad...from FAR away! :cD

It needs borders. I looked through books for border inspirations, and nothing is catching me. Maybe I'll just let it stew a while?

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