String top Tuesday

The kitties and I made our final decision on the layout of the Heartstring blocks. We kept the star in the center and added rows around it. For the outer border, top, bottom and both sides, I cut the blocks in half. I had no plan when I started these blocks except to use up the strips already cut from the aqua and yellow fabrics. Next time, it may be easier to have an idea of what I want to do before I piece the blocks. All in all, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It still needs to be pressed, but I was anxious for a picture. I think I'll bind it in purple.

Now that the weather is nice, Jasper and Annie are always trying to sneak outside when they hear the door open in the kitchen. Jim took Jasper out today while he worked in the yard. Before you could blink, he had parked himself in the cherry tree with his eye on a birdhouse.

Last night JJ walked into the bathroom and saw Jasper sitting in the window. JJ thought maybe he would like some fresh air, so he attempted to slide the storm up so the screen would be there. Somehow they stuck together and both went up leaving a gaping hole for Jasper, who wasted no time jumping to the ground outside.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day. It was a lovely day here shared between a visit to my mom's and being visited at home by Mike, Simone and JJ. Simone cooked a wonderful dinner for us and they all gave me pretty flowers to plant outside around the house . The Wisconsin section of our family, Kari, Craig, Abby & Ian, called to send their wishes and sent lovely flowers from Hallmark. I could get used to the extra attention.

Our quilt show is now history. I haven't heard how well we did in attendance figures, but the next guild meeting is Wednesday. I'm sure the details will be shared with everyone then.

I played with the string blocks I have made so far. Jasper and Annie immediately showed their approval of the star design. I may have to use that as my starting point.

Strippy Friday

Yippee! I finally finished some Heartstrings blocks! The bad news - you can't tell that anything has been used from the bag of strips I started out with this afternoon. Do they multiply while you are sewing or when you are trimmming the blocks? I used mostly strips I had cut for my Mumbo Gumbo challenge with yellows for the other side and purple down the middle. Not sure how I will set the blocks or how many I will make. There's lots of strips still to use.


Yesterday I worked getting our local quilt show ready for the 4:00 opening. If you are near mid Michigan, stop over to Valley Plaza in Midland and check out the quilts. There are about a dozen or so vendors as well as a silent auction, raffle quilt and small quilt auction tomorrow afternoon. The link has all of the information you may need.

Too Many Magazines

I've spent hours and hours in the last couple of days trying to tame my quilting magazines. Tonight I think I have them all found, sorted, labeled and ready to go back upstairs tomorrow. There are many that won't make the return trip, but will go to one of the second hand stores in the area. I love browsing through them when the mood strikes me, so don't want to rid myself of all of them. And I've discovered that sometimes my likes and dislikes of certain color combos or patterns change over time.

My fabric purchases are all washed and folded and ready to find a shelf in my sewing room. (Good luck with that)

The weather has been beautiful here. It's difficult to imagine the horrific destruction from the storms in and around Kansas when the sun is shining through your window. I see the pictures on the news and shudder.

I have strips cut and muslin squares ready hoping to sew some Heartstring blocks this week. I'm using some of the fabrics left from my Mumbo Gumbo challenge quilt plus a group of yellows.

My lilacs outside the kitchen window are opening now, filling the room with their beautiful aroma. They are just in time for Mother's Day this year and are my favorite flower. The tulips and grape hyacinths are still blooming, too. These pictures were taken before the weeding occurred.

Frogs in Paducah & Stash Quilts

My friend, Jane has been making FROGs (Fully Rely On God) for her church members for some time now. There is a map of the world posted in their community area and photos showing where the frogs have traveled. Connie and I took our frogs to Paducah! In addition to the brick photo from my last post, the frogs were checked in the First Aid booth and perched atop the Viewers Choice sign. For the Welcome To Paducah sign, we had to climb over a fence and clear a ditch near our hotel to get that picture.

The AQS Museum had a wonderful display of miniatures this year. The quilts are also in a book which was for sale in the Museum Store. While checking the store, we found these cute little mini chicken pincushions. I sat him on my thread to showcase his tiny stature.


Award winning quilter, John Flynn, from Billings, MT brought his victorian patchwork horse, which was stationed in the lobby outside of the 2nd floor exhibit area of the Convention Center. It's next stop is the exhibit “4 Guys & Their Quilts” which will be at the American Quilter's Society Museum from May 16th until August 12th.

Thank you for accepting my blog into the Stash Quilts ring. I've been reading the blogs here for awhile and counting down the three months until I could apply for membership. Time flies when you're having fun!

Happy birthday to my childhood best pal and lifetime friend, Patsy! I hope your day is as special and wonderful as you are.

More Paducah memories

I just noticed that the May Fabric Diet badge was right across from my Paducah purchases. That's rather embarrassing. This fabric sort of sums it all up.

I didn't take as many photos of the area as other years. I thought maybe I'd share some from previous visits. The dogwoods were bloomed and gone by the time we arrived in town. Someone told us a frost killed most of them just a few days after they had opened. There's a rest area Connie and I stop at during our ride down. Two years ago, this tree was gorgeous when we got there.


One of the treats we enjoy is taking the local trolley to town. Some days your feet just scream - no more walking! The trolley will pick you up and drop you off just about anywhere between downtown and the Convention Center. It gives you a different perspective of the area while your feet get a short break.



One of the first places we usually check in Paducah is the Museum. No, not the quilt exhibits inside, that comes later in the week, but the brick pathway outside of the building. Several years ago, we bought a brick with our names on it. We check on it every year and tend to any weeding that is needed around it. Aren't we silly?



You may be wondering about the frogs sitting on either side of the brick. More about them next time.

Paducah bus tour

Connie and I try to do something new on each trip. This time we decided to take the bus tour of Paducah which included a stop at Whitehaven.

Whitehaven is now a rest area and welcome center off of I-24 in western Kentucky. The original building was built around 1860, with many additions since. The mansion became vacant in the late 1960s and was virtually destroyed by vandals. To view it today, it is difficult to believe that it was ever in such a miserable condition.

Besides serving as a welcome center and rest area, the mansion also houses memorabilia from Vice President Alben Barkley who served under President Truman.

Historic buildings provide lots of inspiration for quilting patterns. The stained glass, stencils and ceilings all provide a starting point for desdign.










Eleanor Burns opened a new storefront downtown and also had a building with tents a short distance from the Rotary Show. Connie and I walked into a tent full of bolts priced at $4.00 a yard. Each day a color was chosen for an additional discount. When we shopped the color was blue. Here is Connie checking out the blue bolts. About half of my yardage came from the tent, so the $ damage to my wallet wasn't as bad as the picture in my last post might appear.

Paducah purchases

I don't need any fabric. Why I came home with some yardage is beyond me, but isn't it gorgeous? I was looking for a few border prints, and in the process found more pieces that wanted to come home with me. This show is only once a year, right? Had to buy the show book, and a few patterns.




The Alzheimer quilts were on display and it was so moving that I bought the cd. It contains all 52 quilts from the exhibit and audio recordings of the artists telling their stories. If you have a chance to see these quilts, don't miss it.

On Monday, Connie and I were browsing through the back room fabrics at Hancock's when who do I think I see? It was Judy LaQuidara! I've been reading her blog for a long time and recently stitched the February 'Quilt for an Hour' quilt she offered on her blog. She was kind enough to pose for a picture. It's not clear whether she bought any of the fabrics she was holding at the time of this photo.



More about our trip tomorrow.

Home again

WOW! What a week! Connie and I arrived home from our spring tour yesterday afternoon. We left last Sunday for Paducah, KY, stopping in Plainfield, IN overnight. I have so much to catch up with today, so will just post a quick picture of Annie. She didn't want this suitcase to leave the house again without her. More later. It's really good to be home.

Happy Birthday, JJ! My youngest son is now 27 years old.

On the road again

Connie and I leave tomorrow on our 16th "Once In A Lifetime" Annual trip to Paducah, Kentucky, better known as Quilt City, USA. I'll be back in a week with more pictures and maybe a few purchases to share. Take care!

Little Women Quilt

Our Little Women quilt is finished and has been turned in at guild. It was difficult to part with this one, but we hope it will bring a good price at the auction. Pictured from left to right are my sewing buddies, Jane, Connie, me, and Mary.

We drew names to see who would stitch each girl and planned the layout as we went along. The girl block was adapted from The Civil War Diary Quilt by Rosemary Youngs. The quilt was hand appliqued, machine embroidered, machine quilted and embellished. Meg is holding her sewing basket and has a dimensional bow on her bodice and beads on her boots. Jo is holding a Little Women book, has a gold, heart necklace around her neck, beads on her boots, embroidery on her sleeves and lace under her skirt. Beth has beads on her shoes, dimensional collar and cuffs, lace pantaloons and is holding a little kitten. Amy has two rows of lace on her skirt, gold knots for buttons on her bodice, beads on her boots, and is holding a black, fringed purse with gold link chain,

The ribbon at the top proved to be the most difficult challenge, but Connie was able, after a few attempts, to successfully embroider Little Women on it.

So now I am free of deadlines for a bit. I can concentrate on what to take to Paducah and straighten this house before I leave.

Tigers Roar

Go get 'em Tigers! They fought and clawed their way back from an early 4-0 deficit this afternoon to put another notch in the win column. In the late innings, the batters are being patient and they don't give up. That can be applied to the quilting and stitching UFOs we have, also. Patience and Perseverance...

Bloom where you are planted

Beating the deadline, Bloom where you are planted is finished in time for the Habitat for Humanity Auction at my friend, Jane's church next week-end. As I said last year, "Next year, I'm not waiting until the last minute." Someone, please remind me of this before next spring.

Tonight I worked on our group quilt titled Little Women destined for the guild auction in May. I hope to have a picture to share next week, which coincidentally, is when that quilt is due for delivery.

Where is spring?

Yet another spring snowstorm yesterday afternoon in Michigan! This is really getting annoying, but what can you do? How about quilt? I have almost finished the 'Bloom Where You Are Planted' wallhanging.

STASHBUSTER QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
How did you come to start quilting? Was it passed down in the family? What was your first project and is it finished? Where does it live now?

I've always done things with my hands, beginning with weaving potholders on a loom that was given to me at age eight as a Christmas gift from my godmother. Some things were more difficult to learn as I am left-handed. In the early 70s, you couldn't find many books or patterns where directions were shown for both hands. I taught myself to crochet and made many afghans, pillows, potholders, and Christmas ornaments over the years. The repetition of crocheting small items took a toll on my hands, though.

My sister, Connie and I attended the Piecemakers Quilt Guild Show and decided to join their guild in 1990. My youngest sister, Judy, joined the following year. Everything seemed to mushroom after that. We were introduced to block swaps, retreats, having a stash, round robins, antique quilts, classes, having a stash, national quilt shows, the state quild, having a stash, etc. In 1992, Connie and I had an opportunity to attend the AQS Show in Paducah. We told our husbands that is was a "once in a lifetime" opportunity. In a couple of weeks, we will leave for our 16th "once in a lifetime" annual trip. We overcame our fear of driving over the 'flying geese' bridge on I-24 in the process.






There wasn't any quilting done by mom or grandmas that we know of except for utility type bed coverings that consisted of stitched squares cut from old suits and pants and tied together. They weren't anything pretty to look at, but they were certainly warm. The present generations of family, however, have many quilters among them. Besides myself and two sisters, my daughter, Kari, and granddaughter, Abigail, sister-in-law, Lori, Aunt Ruth and cousin, Mary are all quilters.

My first project is pictured in my post of March 15th, Oldest UFO. It was to be a baby quilt for my youngest son, JJ. Now it is waiting for him to get married and have a baby. :-) Did I mention that my second quilt is my second oldest UFO?

Grandchildren

Grandchildren are such wonderful blessings! Abigail and Ian are my beautiful granddaughter and handsome grandson. My daughter, Kari and her husband, Craig brought their family from Wisconsin to our house in Michigan for an Easter week-end visit. On their way here, they picked up youngest son, JJ, who lives in Kalamazoo. We all enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner at son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Simone's house. Simone's niece, husband, baby and nephew, all from Germany were able to share dinner with us, also. Temperatures were colder here yesterday than on Christmas Day, but having your family with you warms up everything.

Some eggs were dyed on Saturday, admired on Sunday and eaten on Monday. We played games of Monopoly, Skip-Bo, Chinese Checkers, Balderdash and Apples & Apples, to name a few. Those kids have more energy than Grandpa and I combined on a good day. They are growing up so quickly, too. Abby is almost 12 and Ian is 10 already. It seems like just yesterday that they were babies.

Maundy Thursday

Spring has left the area and been replaced by stiff, blowing winds, cold temperatures and even snow! Enough that the Tigers/Blue Jays game in Detroit was cancelled today. Now that's enough to make a baseball enthusiast sad in April.



I love to applique! My lists of stitching preferences would also include both hand and machine piecing and hand quilting. Hand quilting is a slow process for me, but I'm not really comfortable with machine quilting larger quilts, as yet.

In the early days of my quilting, someone at a retreat demonstrated hand applique. My initial thought was "I'll never be doing that!" And now it is my favorite part of quilting, next to the binding. When you are hand stitching down the binding, you are nearing completion, which is always a good thing. This is the project I need to finish asap. The pattern is from Sentimental Stitches and has always been a favorite of mine. I chose spring colors and am doing needle turn applique. The bottom border will have "Bloom Where You are Planted" stitched on it and then it will be bound with a light, yellow checked fabric. My preferred needle is a Clover Gold Eye sharp - size 12. For hand piecing, I use the same needle and YLI Heirloom thread. When I piece by machine, it's my trusty Featherweight.

Les Miserables

My all-time favorite musical, Les Miserables was chosen by a local high school for their spring production. Approximately 70 students participated in the event which was held over two week-ends. The practices began in January, so a huge committment was required from the students. I think the standing ovation following last night's performance which my sister, Connie and I attended, assured them that their time was well spent.

I have seen robins and have a few flowers adding color to the yard. I love spring!


Quilting Bee buddies, Connie, Jane, Mary and I are nearing completion of the group quilt we will donate for our guild's small quilt auction in May. No progress has been made on any of my other projects this week. Hope springs eternal - there is always April.

Sue Spargo

Sue Spargo was the guest speaker at our quilt guild this past Wednesday evening. Yesterday Sue taught classes for Saffron Hill and Old Crimson Clove, and I was fortunate to take the Saffron Hill class.

Our guild website guru, Judy, took lots of terrific pictures at the class. Imagine a large portion of Sue's website spread out in front of you as she brought along many samples, fabrics, kits, patterns, and embellishments to admire and purchase. It was an inspiring day from a wonderful teacher. Stay tuned as my background "grows" trees, flowers and builds a house.

My pictures show the Thursday class, Sue explaining the different techniques used to embellish and my background piece for Saffron Hill. Sue challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone with these fabrics, and I really like it now.

One more day

One more day until spring is officially here! The last days of winter have been dragging for me. Of course, the head cold Jim shared with me didn't help matters either. I'm still looking for my first robin.

Reading Judy's blog last night, reminded me that the final border for my one hour stars quilt wasn't sewn yet. Now it is and I can add it to the list of tops waiting to be quilted. I didn't have enough fabric for the inner and outer borders to be the same, but they are similar. It doesn't look like too much of a dent was made in my stash, but I know there's some missing. I really enjoy seeing how different everyone's quilt looks with the fabrics that they chose. Thank you, Judy, for another great pattern.

Oldest UFO

How about a baby quilt from 1979? Yes, the little crib quilt for my youngest son, JJ, is still in the UFO category. He's almost 27, therefore, I feel no need to rush to finish. I knew very, very little about quilting back then and it showed. Notice the huge needle to the left of my quilting needle today. That's the one that was used to quilt on JJ's quilt. I can hear the chuckles and downright laughter. I had a cheap, fluffy polyester batting that I would trim as I stitched it to the ruffle, again with that huge needle. It's a wonder I ever stayed with this hobby. My second longest UFO is a log cabin from Eleanor Burns QIAD book, but that's another story.

Quilted & Bound

The quilt I made for the Mumbo Gumbo challenge issued by my sister is now finished! It feels so good to complete a project. I should do it more often. This quilt measures about 45" x 60" and reaffirms the fact that I prefer making miniatures and small wallhangings. My challenge quilt also needs a name. Any ideas?

Tempting Tuesday

Here are some of the little nine patches that I've been stitching during the past year. Nine hundred blocks that finish at 1 1/2" are needed for my layout and I have over 700 stitched, so far. But...I really need to finish the Mumbo Gumbo quilt, frame my x stitch designs and work on other projects that have a deadline looming soon. Why do I always get the urge to work on things other than what I should be working on? The nines will have sashings from the shirting fabric between the five block sections with another little niner serving as a cornerstone.

Yesterday, I took a ride towards the Detroit area with my DDIL to visit her nephew from Germany who is in Michigan visiting his sister's family. There was a lot of German spoken around me! I really need to learn. It was a fun day.

The bracelet in the picture spells "QUILTER" and is the freebie given from the shop hop I did last month. I took several pictures trying to get a better image of the block letters, but it just wasn't to be. I think I may put the blocks onto a necklace and I'll probably wear it more.

TGIF

The weather continues to be frightful here, although nothing compared to the horrors down south. It is March, so the warmer weather must be coming soon, right? The Tigers are 3 and 0 in spring training!!!!

This afternoon I stitched a few hug blocks and tonight the Mumbo Gumbo challenge from my sister, Connie, received its first quilting stitches. This quilt is definitely not in my comfort zone and I toned it down considerably. It will be donated someplace after our local quilt show in April.

The variety of blocks and quilts being made for Heartstrings has caught my attention and I'm eager to do some string blocks. Maybe there will be time after the MG quilting tomorrow.