I love weekends

I can get so much done!

This isn’t the order I did stuff, but I don’t want a garage picture to be what everyone sees first thing this morning.  With the baby quilt finished and not being ready to start the silk quilt, I set my sights on the garage and when I was so tired I couldn’t move, I came in and sewed red/white/blue blocks for the bee.  More about that later. 

Before I was going to use the Hobbs wool batting in my silk quilt, I needed to know how it was going to act, so I planned a small practice piece.  I traced one of my photos onto a piece of red poly that was thin and had the feel of my silk.  And, I sandwiched a piece of batting that I cut off the corner.  And, I gave that batting a workout. 

It worked out so good, I squared the pattern up and I think I’m going to put it in a little frame. 

It’s very hard to photograph.  I really need a camera that will photograph red better. 

Anyway, the batting did wonderfully, so I was ready to move to the next step.  I pin basted the silk.  I guess I just need a new camera because that silk is brown.

But, I still haven’t put a thread into it.  Kinda nervous.  What if it doesn’t turn out like the vision in my head.  The practice piece was close, but not exactly as precise as I had envisioned.  Thread is not as precise as pencil for me.  So, I’m trying to release that vision and let the quilt be what it will be.  But, first, I have to put a stitch into it.  Maybe tomorrow.

Next weekend is the class with Sally Collins.  I couldn’t help pulling another set of fabrics for it.  That makes four.  Yes, I have enough fabric sets pulled to make 4 pincushions.  Hopefully, something she says in the beginning of the class will help me pick.  Here is the latest.  Ohhh, they’re yummy in real life. Even if they don’t turn into a pincushion, they might stay together to be a quilt.

Okay, so back to the garage.  I dis-assembled the furniture pile and put it back in a different order so that I could use some of the furniture that was piled.  And, I threw away several bags of garbage and made a tall pile for goodwill.

Now, I have a work station where I can work on machines or build things for the dollhouse, without taking the sewing room out of commission.  Who knows, maybe one day, Rob and I will both be working together in the garage.  That would be nice. 

I heard a lady at work say that she had weeded for two hours before she got through. 

What I wanna know is how she measures through.  I weed every day and I’m never through.

Lane

A finish!!!

The baby quilt is ready to go into the washer. 

Yes, I know, brown is not a traditional baby quilt color.  But, there ya’ go. 

It is a really pretty quilt and I think the Mom will like it, brown and all.

My bee is making a quilt to donate for sale in the guild boutique at this year’s quilt show.  I need to make two Ohio Star variation blocks and the colors are red, blue, white, and cream.  The center square can be any block I choose. 

Think this one that has an Ohio Star in the center.

Anyway, here is my first red/blue/cream one. 

 

Okay, honestly, was not sure I was going to like this block when I laid the pieces out.  The colors were dull and I started with cream where I ended with light blue.  The light blue gave it a bit of sparkle.  But, it’s still kind of plain, compared to that one I made in Civil War repros.  But, I really do like the way it came out.  I haven’t even finished assembling it.  I figure, I’ll make a couple more, with different centers and fabrics, and pick the best two for the bee.  The other can go on the back of my red/white/blue quilt that I’m piecing. 

And, finally, some tragic news.  A limb was broken off the maple tree in a windstorm the other night.  The plastic greenhouse fell over on top of the tree. 

So, we’re enjoying some Japanese Maple in the house right now.  I’ve been challenged to turn this photo into a quilt.  I probably could. 

Do I want to?

Maybe.

Be well.  Have a great Friday.  I have a weekend free.  No bees or projects or classes.  I hope to clean my part of the garage.  That’s what one does when one can no longer find the things one owns.  One cleans. 

Or at least this one does.  But, I swear, it has to get to the point of losing something real special in “the pile” for me to get out there and do anything about it.  Does that make me a bad person?

I hope so.  Because I can’t stay up late enough to do much more bad than that.

Lane

Really, the last quilts from the show

Okay, I promise, these are the last quilts from the show.  The two categories are machine quilted and special techniques.

This was a lovely combination of applique and piecing.  And, the quilting was phenomenal.

 

I love the combination of red and brown. 

 

This was a fantastic explosion in blue.  Everyone kind of stopped at this one for a longer look.  I didn’t get a very good picture, but look at the paper pieced arcs in the outer border. 

Crazy squares, joined with lattice.  Very nice.  It was an unexpected combination of chaos and order that really attracted me.

 

Pieced dragonflies.  Very cool. 

 

This was my other vote for best.  Embroidered blocks…

joined with a garden path sashing…

 

And, the scallops in the border, followed by more embroidery and ending with all those half triangle squares.  I really, really, really liked this one.  The print in the sashing and scallops and triangles is all the same fabric.  It was a great tie together for the quilt. 

In my own quilting, I have finished the binding on the baby quilt and am now correcting mistakes; a couple of places I got out of the ditch real bad and one straight line veers seriously to the left.  My theory is that some days, I have to correct every mistake I make, I just can’t let them go.  That’s just my nature.  But, most days, I can leave them in, knowing that I can fix all I can find at the end. 

It sure does cut down on the number of errors I have to correct because what looked like a terrible error when I was focused on that three square inches of the quilt barely shows up when I look at the finished whole.

I sure hope parenting works out that way.  I’m kind of counting on it being okay in the end.

Have a great Thursday.  I am assembling and proofreading legal documents at work and trying to keep my eyes open.  There is just so much technical writing that I can read in one sitting.  So, I play a hand of solitaire or walk around the building.  And, then I come back to it.  And, I sigh.  And, start reading again.

Lane

The last quilt show post

The baby quilt is almost finished.  Just a couple more feet of binding to go.  The quilting is lovely.  I don’t regret any of the hard work I put into it…now that it’s over. 

Okay, so here are the last more quilts from the Georgetown Quilt and Stitchery show.  I realized I still had machine quilting left and we can’t leave those out.  So, this is the applique section. 

Beautiful leaves…

This quilt is three dimensional.  I loved it. 

These made my heart melt.

 

The composition and accuracy of this one were phenomenal.  Not that the others weren’t, but this one showed just that something extra.

Loved this one, too.  It was a choice for best of show.  It made me happy.

 

And, look at the quilting detail.  Yummy.

      

Okay, so later is machine quilting and special techniques and my other choice for best.

Good news to share.  I’ve been invited to speak at a local guild meeting.  The topic is my vintage machines, how I collect them, and use them in my quilting.  We have a few details to work out, but it should be a group of about 50.  And, as nervous as I am, I’m equally excited.  I plan to get Syd’s help in photographing my machines, so it will be a family project. 

Work is just busy enough to make the time pass fast and slow enough that I don’t feel hectic.  That’s pretty perfect.  My taxes are filed, the weather is nice and we’re supposed to get some rain.  It’s like all my dreams have come true at once. 

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

Be well and have a great Wednesday. 

Lane

More from the Georgetown Quilt and Stitchery show

First, we did not let being accused of shoplifting dampen our day on Saturday.  We made many jokes about how closely we must resemble an organized shoplifting ring, the four of us, three generations. And, there was lots of speculation about how we might have passed that piece of fabric around so that the vendor might lose sight of it.  Like something in a movie.  Laugh it off. 

Anyway, that wasn’t what we were there for and it wasn’t the most important part of the day. 

These are more quilts from the show. 

I loved the perfect points in this quilt.  Like saw blades.

Yummy, yummy, yummy!  Look at the precision of this one. 

A riot of color.  Look at how the cornerstones were pieced. 

Black and white and red.  Still a favorite.

I love stars 

and circles in quilts.

This small quilt was precious.  A lovely little heart.

And another explosion of color.  Wow! 

So, the next post will be special techniques.  Applique and embroidery.  And, my choice for best of show.  Because I could only choose one.  But, there were two that needed it.

The baby quilt literally asked me to STOP quilting on it Sunday evening. 

It was startling as it shouted, “please, please, please, stop!  No more!”  At least that’s what it seemed like.  I kept trying to put things in the border and I hated each and every one of them.  So, I picked them out and folded over the binding.  The quilt is happy again.  And, I am happy again.  Should be finished by the weekend. 

Everybody have a great Tuesday.  Plan is to get the silk whole cloth pin basted this weekend, even if I don’t have time to sew a single stitch in it.  Me and my Bernina are itching to get started on that. 

Lane

Georgetown Quilt and Stitchery Show

This is always a fun show.  I really enjoy it.  It is the main fundraiser for a group called Handcrafts Unlimited where they teach quilting and other crafts.  No way I can show all the fabulous quilts in one post, so I’ll break it up and give myself something to talk about for a few days. 

This was the first quilt that caught my eye.  This was a large pieced category quilt…yeah, that was correctly categorized. 

But, the show really starts with vintage quilts.  Despite my love of vintage quilts, I seem not to have gotten a picture of one. 

Here are some large hand quilted and large pieced quilts.

This was very fun.

The bottom border is folded under to keep it off the floor. 

It was more crowded this year than it ever has been before and while that was wonderful to see for the organization, not so good for taking pictures. 

I’m going to end up having to do one of these.  I love this pattern. 

Something a bit more modern.

So, we wandered the show and I voted on all my choices.  Each category gets votes and then there is best of show.  We went to the vendors, where i had a couple pair of scissors sharpened and bought a few little things and my group sat down to wait for me.  I joined them and pulled a quilt top out of my bag to take into a booth and see if I could find a backing.  No luck.

I came back out and asked if they were ready to go.  And a lady walked up and asked if I paid for that piece of cinco de mayo fabric I’d just walked out with.

My first assumption was “Oh, CRAP! what I have I accidentally done?”  So, I start digging in my bag and ask what color it was.  I pull out the quilt top, which was the only thing I had in my hands and held it out to her to show her what I had been carrying. 

And, then she accused my friend LD of putting it in her purse.

Mistake! 

LD opened her purse and I dumped my bag out on the table and told her it had been a long time since I’d been accused of stealing, but she was welcome to go through my stuff.  I guess people started watching at that point. 

And, the lady started backing away and apologizing and offered me a free fat quarter. 

No thank you.

It wasn’t until later that I learned that when the woman approached me, a man had come up behind me to keep me from being able to run.  That made me even madder. 

Okay, I get business.  I get that people steal.  And, I get how hard it must be to approach someone.  And, I get how hard it must be to do that without seeming aggressive. 

But, you need to understand that mistakes happen, too.  I could have accidentally walked out with a piece of fabric.  It wasn’t two weeks ago, just before I swiped my card at JoAnn’s, that I realized I had a huge spool of thread in my hand that I hadn’t been charged for.  A spool so big that I could hardly have forgotten it was clenched in my fist, except I needed the hand to pull out my credit card.  But, I did forget.  Accidents happen. 

And a smile would have gone a real long way in that lady’s approach.  An assumption of accident rather than an assumption of guilt. 

Everybody have a great Monday.  Lane

I love spring

This time of year, I get to watch my garden practically leap out of the ground.  Things that were just a speck of green yesterday seem a foot tall today.

Where there was brown, now there is green and in some cases, flower. 

My garden is filled with things old and new.

I looked back at pictures from last year on my phone yesterday.  I can hardly stand the excitement, waiting for it to look like that again.

Things that hold the promise of bloom in the heat of summer

And, orange blossoms, smelling so fragrant and trying to draw bees.  Unfortunately, it has bloomed about two weeks early again.  So, I will be out with a cotton swab trying to pollinate the flowers and get citrus in the winter.

And, right now, I have a geranium, so red that the camera can’t pick up the details.  That’s the benefit of a hot house.  Well, that and tomato plants that are 18 inches tall already.

 

It’s a good day to be a gardener around here.  Hope your good day for gardening comes soon.

This morning, I made 24 more copies of that clamshell shape in tissue paper for the baby quilt.  It’s going to rain this weekend, so I am hoping for a marathon of clamshells, and then I look forward to that quilt being done.  I’m trying to figure out something extremely simple for the border to save time.  There is a such thing as too much quilting for the purpose of the quilt.  And, this baby quilt has gone into overdrive.

Everybody have a great Friday.  We are going to the Georgetown Quilt and Stitchery show tomorrow.  I love that little show and so wish I had gotten my stuff together to enter something into it.  But, I got distracted.  Oh, well.

Lane