Kansas Quilting....

I'm having a wonderful time visiting with QuiltGrannie Sharon on the first leg of my trip to Missouri/Kansas!

Sharon and I have known each other for at least 15 years and have spent time doing quilty things from time to time as our paths cross.

When I travel, it is so wonderful to get to spend time with people in their homes. I love seeing how they display their quilts, what their sewing space is like, and seeing what life is like where they live. Let's face it...the inside of one Days Inn is much like another, and even though it is fun to sit in the center of a hotel bed, eating Chinese food from a box with chopsticks and watching Girly TV to my hearts content, it is really much MORE fun when you hit it off with other quilters and can talk a blue streak, see their quilts, share stories, laugh, and have someone even cook you a home cooked meal!

So this is what has been going on since I arrived yesterday! We even had a lovely dinner, family style, as Sharon's son and his two teen aged daughters, and her daughter's also teenage daughter, and one of their cousins-from-the-other-side-of-the-family joined us. Family dynamics are fun to watch...and I loved the sense of tradition of "Sunday dinner at Oma's house" followed by a wild game of Mexican Train Dominoes on the dining room table after dinner....

I was blissfully relaxing, finishing up the binding on "Love, Thy Name Is Mud" (Do I need to change the name of this quilt? LOL) while Sharon worked on some red work embroidery and Kevin clipped coupons from the Sunday paper.


Here it is, laying out on the kitchen nook floor..the sun was coming in the window just right to show the quilting detail!

You know, even though I love machine quilting...there is just something so satisfying about the texture of hand quilting that even machine quilting can not duplicate. I think this is why I am such a schizophrenic quilter...I want it both ways...Sometimes this way, sometimes that way...love it all, want it all, can't get enough of either! So traveling with something I can hand quilt takes care of one side of my brain, while zooming through something with a big machine at home for something that will fit the bed satisfies the other!
Later in the evening, after everyone left, I celebrated the finishing of the binding by pulling out Creamsicles (The orange quilt from yesterday has a name!) and commencing on the hand quilting on it. This is as far as it went as we watched the finale for Survivor....

I just LOVE quilting with this Hobbs wool. It needles so easily, and I can really tell the difference between the Love quilt and this one, because I was quilting on them both in the same day. I LOVE THIS WOOL! Even though it is more lofty, my stitches are so much smaller and so much more even even with the same needle/thread....I'm a wool batting lover!

What a great day!

Today my chaos starts. I'm meeting with my editor from Kansas City Star for lunch. I have a lecture/trunkshow tonight....so we are going to head to Lawrence early enough that I can set up for that before meeting the other ladies-in-charge for dinner at 5:30.

I'm really excited to be here, to meet people I've been working with for the past 2 years from a distance....putting faces to voices and names and strengthening friendships new and old!

Read More»

It's a Quilt Emergency!

So, if you read my last post, you'll know that I've been scrambling trying to get another hand work project together, because *tada* My flight leaves for Kansas at 6:25am Eastern time...TOMORROW (Sunday) ACCCKK!

AND. I've been having fun since my son and his significant other showed up last night..around 11pm!

I looked through what tops I had....all too big....or boring. :c|

I was going to give it up and just take the hexagon thing, until I woke at precisely 4:15am this morning in a tangle of sweaty sheets and hot flashes...bleehhhh. My tummy was also hungry, I was thirsty, and in the midst of taking care of everything,I found that I was fully awake. So what's a girl to do...but go down to the basement studio!

Remember these blocks? You all sent them to me after we did Orange Crush mystery I think....all these 6" blocks with orange in them, do they ring a bell to you? Look closely! You just might find your block!

I had this all set aside as a PIG. Project In Grocery Sack! I was going to sash them, I was thinking of alternate blocks, put them on point, something..and nothing would jell!

This is an inspiration from sleep deprivation! A little voice told me to stitch them block to block to block as is....and put a border of strings around them from the bin of leftover 3.5" string blocks...because that would help unify the different shades, and pull in REASONING for why some of the blocks had other really-not-orange colors in them!

I had the whole top done by 9am...just in time to join the family for french toast!

It just seemed to come together SO QUICKLY. So this is maybe why some projects need to "percolate" a while before we know what to do with them.

After sewing the center together, I chose a yellow inner border fabric from my stash.

The little string blocks have anything and everything in them, and you know what? I have decided that there is NO COLOR ON EARTH that does NOT go with ORANGE!

I pieced together a backing, loaded it in the machine with a wool batting, and basted it all together, it is ready to travel!

Does anyone recognize the corners of the border as 9 patches from their Carolina Crossroads quilt? They fit perfect there too, and I was happy to have a place to use up goodies you've sent me over the past couple years!

I'm going to quilt it with red thread....it just seems like a good compliment, plus the red thread was already in my travel bag from the crumb sampler that I'm still finishing up....I'll finish that first, 1/2 of the inner border left to quilt...and sew the binding down (which I also put on today)and I'll have plenty of projects to keep my hands busy during the next week.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go *singing John Denver*....The alarm is going to go off stinking early at 4:00am, so I better get to bed.

Kansas, Here I come!

Read More»

KIDS ARE COMING!!!

I'm an excited Mama!

This afternoon about 4:30pm I got a call that my Son and his girlfriend Kim are coming from Columbia, SC to spend the weekend!

Now, Columbia is not all that far, but it's just far enough that it makes it a bit difficult to get down there and back in the same day.

Quite often we will meet them half way and just have dinner somewhere around Rock Hill, SC....that way it's about 1.5 hours drive each way for each of us. Sometimes, if we need them to...this also involves passing off the dogs to them for a week while we go somewhere together.

This time..they are coming ALL THE WAY to spend the weekend and I am just tickled.

Of course, that means putting lots of things on the back burner, like uploading another little Sew and Tell post of quilt pics people have sent in. I wanted to do that before I head out for Kansas on Sunday, but it might not happen.

But even *I* find out time to time that there are instances in life where it is important to put first things first, and the kids are coming for the weekend...that is definitely a FIRST!

Jason and DH have plans to golf. Kim and I have plans for pedicures, maybe shopping, definitely lunch and whatever other girl trouble we can find ourselves in while the guys golf! LOL

At some point..I need to find another project to baste or prep to take with me on the plane to Kansas Sunday. I'm out of small tops waiting to be quilted..can you believe it? I don't think I have time to piece anything...so...I'm thinking..yep..it's time to complete the border applique on a top that has been hanging around for way too many years. and then, I can get THAT top basted for quilting while traveling.

OR....*thinking*....I have that hexagon medallion that I started umpteen years ago that has reached some stage of boredom and unfinished glory. Maybe that one? small hexagons are easy to travel with....

Anyway...that's what's going on here over this weekend! I hope yours is just as splendid!

Read More»

Australian Homespun Shout Out!

When I'm gone on long trips....this is what tends to happen!

I come stumbling in after being picked up at the airport around 11pm and manage to dump my luggage on the floor of the master bedroom, if it makes it beyond the front hall at all. I peel off clothes, crawl into bed and sleep until after 9am the next morning!

It never fails, I feel like I've wasted half the day, if not the morning...until I realize that my body is still on California time and in California it is only 8am so it really isn't all that bad, is it? :cD

I wander into the kitchen, make a cup of tea...and start looking around for changes that might have occurred while I've been gone. Hey! Someone cleaned the kitchen! So far so good!

And then I see it....the PILE....over there on the desk. Yep. That's the mail that has stacked up over the past 12 days, and now it is my turn to go through it! Sort, sort, sort, shuffle....throw away the obvious ads and miscellaneous junk mail spam, sort into piles again (Usually by size of item..can't help it!)and START, putting bills in one stack, book orders in another, and other wise over sized WHAT IS THIS packages in a third pile.

I saw this one big envelope and had to rip into it right away! I wasn't sure when this was coming out, but I am so happy it is here!

Months back, Christine Cohrs had contacted me about submitting her quilt "Majestic Mountains" made from my tutorial "Scrappy Mountain Majesties" to the magazine. I was thrilled! Her quilt turned out beautifully and looks just great in the magazine photos.


I turned the page and found that they had also given me a huge shout out on Adventures With Leaders & Enders! I don't know if you can read the picture here, so this is what it says:

Bonnie Hunter has established a reputation for making wonderful scrap quilts that allow you to use up all the bits and pieces in your stash.

She writes in her latest book: "My favorite scrap recipe is of the 'kitchen sink' variety, which means anything and everything is thrown in!" What is fascinating is that her quilts are gorgeous, making their construction seem quite magical. Bonnie also prefers to make big quilts.

In this book you won't find any wall hangings, table runners, or baby quilts: the smallest project is 70 inches square. Bonnie shares her tips for getting your scrap stash under control and her "leaders and enders" method, which sees you making these quilts while working on other projects. A book that is bound to become a much-used favourite of all those who love scrap quilts.

Thank you AUSTRALIAN HOMESPUN! And thanks Christine, for submitting your gorgeous quilt for publication!

Read More»