Old as Dirt

Happy birthday to me. This is a very low-key day. We're having a good dinner though, and as my gift, I am ordering a new cutting table to replace the ping-pong table that has been the center of my work space for years. The good thing about the ping-pong table is that it's large, and the bad thing about the ping-pong table is that it's large, so that I can't move around it to get to my storage space. I will be away next week at my sister's and while I'm gone, I hope the ping-pong table disappears and maybe, the new table will arrive and be set up.

In fabric news, I've started work on the Hoffman Challenge, buying new fabric for it. Every year I vow I won't do that, and every year I break the vow. I'm sure the Hoffman people count on that!

And then, just for sheer cuteness, here's this picture, taken last week when the twins were here. Too bad about the prominent placement of the condiments, but I don't have a way to crop this photo.




Cropped by way of Candace's suggestion. Thanks, Candace.

Finally Crazy: a Saga

When Debra send me one of her machine embroidery motifs, I tried to use it as the starting point for a crazy block for Alz Quilts. I made it my goal to push on this--going on after I thought it was finished. (My less-is-more attitude is not well suited to crazy quilting.) This was interesting. Ordinarily quilters think in terms of color, value, and shape. Line is less important. I found that I had to think about line in planning this block. It was a new approach for me, and I could almost feel my brain growing!

I drew a block plan, using freezer paper templates. This works for me. When I have just done flip and sew in a truly crazy way, I've found I regret the fabric choices and have to figure out a way to compensate. This way allows me to audition fabrics.


Heres the basic block. I liked this, and would really have loved to stop. But I forced myself to go on.

First some machine decorative stitches. I'm learning the Janome here, killing two birds with one stone, to coin a phrase. Then I couched some fibers, and attached the ribbon flowers (The leaf in the upper left was knit by my mother; she made it for me to use several years ago. It was a natural-colored thread, to go with linen, and I painted it green to use here. The paint had the added virtue of stopping its tendency to curl.)



I intended to stop here, but realized it was still naked. So then came the embroidered vine thing, with French knots. I'm stretching the limit of the embroidery stitches I remember here. Then I painted some lace motifs (not well done--I should have cut them out before painting), and added them, then I did a bit more embroidery, and then finally the yo-yos and little butterfly, something I usually wouldn't do.


Here's the finished version. I'm happy with it, although I didn't originally visualize such a 70's mix of avocado and harvest gold! Maybe those colors are classic.


Thanks to all you crazy quilters out there. Whenever I thought I'd had enough, I looked at some of your pictures, and realized I hadn't even started!

An Award

"This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY -- nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these blogs!”

I received this kind award from Liz. What a pleasant surprise! Thank you, Liz. The rules are to post the award and pass it on to eight people.

So after much thought, here are my eight: Karen, Jen, Debra, Paula, Libby, Candace, Annie, Dee. All nice people, interesting blogs. I could go on and name more, but this is a start. If you don't know them already, get acquainted.

Bleeding Hearts

This is ready to go to Alz Quilts as soon as I finish one more piece to go along with it. My grandmother always had this sweet old-fashioned flower in the bed outside her back door; the kittens hid in the foliage. It's favorite memory of mine. I thought the stylized shape would be easy for me to do, but actually it was hard to avoid a cartoonish, valentine-like look. I tried, but I don't think I succeeded totally. The very candy pink fabric is part of the problem. Also, now that it's finished, I'm bothered by the fact that there is no visible stem on the leaf in lower center. I could add a small appliqued or embroidered stem. What do you think? Are those leaves floating? But I do like the colors and composition, and was very pleased with the way one of the Janome's decorative stitches fit perfectly inside the little "drop".

City and Guilds, Vicariously

I don't know how many people in the US are familiar with the City and Guilds certificate program, operated in the UK. Linda Kemshall, who contributes to Quilting Arts Magazine offers on-line courses connected with City and Guilds. This seems to be a serious, in-depth program of skill building in all areas of needle arts. There's a series of assignments to be completed, each of which is evaluated by instructors; the course culminates in a final project, also evaluated. I have been interested in this program since first reading about it, so it was exciting to discover that Helen Conway is documenting her class work in a blog dedicated to this subject. She also includes links to some other blogs about City and Guilds. Her class is just getting underway but I think it's going to be fascinating to look over her shoulder while she works. Helen's other blogs, From Down the Well, and the humorous Quiltland Chronicle are well worth reading too. Take a look.

I enjoyed the comments on my triangle misadventures. It's heartening to know that other people do this sort of thing too; when I've watched others at guild sewing days, everyone seems to have their pieces perfectly organized. The block is one of Judy Martin's, from an old Quilters' Newsletter. It's called Carolina Basket. I started cutting it last summer, put it aside and came back in November, and then again last week. The big time-lag is part of the problem, although I'm not making excuses.

The Vanishing Triangles, or Why You Shouldn't Shoot Your Mouth Off about Quilters and Math

OK, here's today's word problem, boys and girls. If you are going to make 13 of these blocks in yellow and 12 in pink, how many of the tiny quarter square triangles do you need? Let's just figure out the colored ones first and save the blue ones till later.




I made the pink ones already, so I need the yellow ones. Each block has three flowers and each flower takes two of the itty-bitties, so that's 13(2x3) = 78, right? Hold your applause. If I can figure that out, WHY do I continue to have to cut more? Having to go back to the cutting board repeatedly is making this sloow block even slooower.

I guess I can calculate but not count. Or maybe the whole formula is wrong. If so, someone set me straight, please. There's also the part that trips me up every time, which is: How many squares do you need to cut if you cut each square into four triangles? May that's the problem. There's also the fact that I should write this down when I figure it out, but I didn't. So back to the rotary cutter!

And I have no idea if I have enough blue triangles cut.

Lots of Work?

Does it annoy you when someone looks at something you've made and says, "That's a lot of work!"? Another kind of startling comment is the type of thing a friend said recently: "That's a lot of thread." (She's a woodworker and should know better; I wouldn't look at something she made and say, "That's a lot of varnish.")

Comments like this are intended as praise, at least I think so. I find them hurtful though, because they miss the point so completely. Cleaning the bathroom is hard work. Making a quilt may be time consuming and have tedious stretches, but it satisfies the creative spirit before, during, and after the process. There are constant challenges to overcome, new fabrics and colors and stitches to try. That's not "hard work."

However, quilters can sometimes contribute to the quantitative approach to quilt appreciation. Not too long ago I read the "Artist's Statement" of a big prize winner who proudly reported how many yards of thread she used in her masterpiece. Sometimes too, we value handwork more than machine work, even if the handwork is poor, apparently because handwork is "harder."

It is true that difficulty and quality often go hand in hand. Detail and intricacy add to the enjoyment of viewing a quilt and help make the difference between an ordinary quilt and an outstanding one. I know when I look at the work of Japanese quilters I'm stunned by the beauty and intricacy of the design and the unexpected color harmonies, but part of me is thinking, "How long did that take?"

Still, I don't want "That's a lot of work" to be the reaction to one of my quilts.




I'd really like to hear opinions about this. Have you had this reaction to your work? How do you feel about it?

Kale and Red Stars

Karen posted about her love of kale, and I offered a salad recipe. Since I got another request for this, I'll post it. Spare me the "Yucks". I was told it was rude to discuss your food. :) As I told my kids, "Just say 'No, thank you.'"

Kale Salad 6 servings

2 bunches kale, stems removed
2 T EVO
2 T lemon juice
3/4 t salt
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup raisins
Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Stack kale leaves, fold in half lengthwise, then roll tightly like a cigar. Slice crosswise into thin strips. Chop the kale strips crosswise a few times, so they aren't too long.

Place the kale in a mixing bowl along with the olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Toss well with your hands, massaging the dressing into the greens, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the red bell pepper, pine nuts, and raisins, and toss gently, Season to taste with black pepper. This will keep for three days in a sealed container in the frig. (I didn't try this, so can't vouch for it.) Serve at room temperature.

This is surprisingly good. The very tart dressing and the raisins cut the strong taste of the kale, and pine nuts are always a great addition! The red pepper mostly just adds color, and vitamins of course.



And in quilt news, Deb Geyer is working on the quilting for my red stars quilt. Isn't this exciting! I'm going to be so glad to see it again after she's done her magic.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who wished me well when I was sick. It's amazingly comforting to have so much good will. I am finally feeling better, but still taking it easy.

The one thing I have done is change the header on the blog. The old one was driving me crazy, but I couldn't get rid of it, and then when I finally did, I couldn't replace the picture. Something was wrong with the template HTML that wouldn't allow an image in the header even though it appeared in the pop-ups. Thanks to a blog called The Blog Doctor,I solved the problem. The new picture isn't great, but at least it's a change. Now that I can easily change the header, I hope to improve it. But that's it for the day!

A Little Pity Party

We're having record temperatures, 70 degrees and sunny, the first nice weather of the year. I have a record cold; spent yesterday lying on the sofa under a quilt, and have only a little more energy today. Thank you, bloggers, for something to occupy my dead brain. I know I could find a book, but that takes energy, and the laptop is handy. I hope to be back in gear tomorrow. I know on a global, or even local, scale a cold is trivial. But complaining can be fun, can't it?

A Little Crazy

Debra sent me this beaded sun motif from one of her thrift shop purchases. I've used it as the focus of a little crazy block forthe Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative. I used some scraps of silk and kimono fabric and some of my huge stash of old buttons. That was fun, but otherwise, this was way out of my comfort zone. I made a value plan first because I wanted to get that right, and cut the pieces with freezer templates instead of just doing flip and sew because I was using small scraps. I was going to plan the embellishment stitches too, but that turned out to be unnecessary since my repertoire of embroidery stitches is so small. I kept it simple. I could say this was to keep the emphasis on the sun, which would be true, but mostly it was because I'm so rusty at embroidery that anything more is beyond me. Wouldn't an embroidered motif have been lovely in the orange piece on the right? Maybe next time. Thanks, Debra, and thanks Allie for your tutorials about backing and finishing a crazy piece.

A Lost Day

"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."

Oscar Wilde
Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)

I had that kind of day, not because of neurotic genius, but because of disorganization, indecision, general confusion. I had hoped to make a little quilt for Alzheimer's Quilts using some motifs and fabrics from last year's Hoffman challenge. Should have been easy, but it wasn't. Maybe tomorrow.

What did I do when I wasn't staring at the fabric? Had eyebrows waxed, prepared discussion questions for book group, did laundry, sent some business-type e-mails, mopped the floor, cooked dinner. I don't know what Oscar Wilde's story was, but that's mine.

This weekend is the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in Bloomington. I always enjoy this fairly small, but high quality show, and am taking a class from Wendy Butler Berns called Out of the Blocks Quilt Design. As I understand it, we will design a block and make a model, not by sewing but apparently as a paste-up. I chose the workshop because it was one of the only ones that wasn't project oriented or teaching a technique I don't/can't do. Not having to drag along a sewing machine is a plus too. So another thing to do tomorrow is organize class supplies, if I can remember where I put the list.

OnLine Gallery

For fabric artists who are interested in selling their work, here's an interesting idea. Zibbet.com is an on-line gallery, where you can post works for sale, and apparently there is no charge until the work sells. (My link is to a review of the site, not the site itself. I thought that might be clearer and more objective.) Obviously the site is aimed more at painters, but jewelry and ceramics are mention, so why not textiles?

Not Your Grandmother's Flower Garden

8" x 10"

I added a few beads, but only rearranged beads on one flower. Those things were TIGHT. When I bead, I bead. I also decided it looked better in this orientation than in the landscape one although I'm still not totally sure of that. I think I owe the idea of turning it to Nellie, who turned her "Imagine Monet" with wonderful results. I could critique on and on, but in general I'm pleased. There are a few stray threads in the picture, but I rushed to take the picture while the afternoon sun made the quilting texture show up so well.

Thanks for all the interesting comments on my math rant. I guess we all muddle through, whether we have math problems or not. The important thing, in my view, is to at least try.

Quilters and Math

This is a bit of a rant. I hope I don't step on any toes; I don't intend to be critical, just puzzled and a bit sad.

What is the problem with quilters and math? I've wondered that for a while, but it was brought to my attention again last night at guild when several people became practically hysterical at the thought of averaging three measurements of a quilt center to get a good border length. These are intelligent women; what's the matter?

I'm not a math whiz. I remember my high school math teacher, firmly planted on sturdy legs and arms folded on top of her massive bosom, announcing loudly to the class, "Kathy, they say you're such a good student. Why don't you know what 7 plus 9 is?" Actually, I do know what 7 + 9 is, but I have to think about it. I also can't remember numbers; I have to write down a phone number to dial it, and I have to write down the simplest measurement or I forget it. But there are calculators for people like me, and for everyone else too.

Actually quilters only have to remember a few simple formulas, like the square that is cut in half diagonally for half square triangles should be the size of the finished square plus 7/8 inch. (That sounds much more complicated than it is.) And if you can't remember, the formula, there are all sorts of charts available, and there is always Google. Otherwise, quilting is mostly just addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication, all easy to do on the most basic calculator.

Quilters Newsletter Magazine periodically has articles that try to help. There was one in the last issue about planning any block which was excellent. (I looked for it on the website and couldn't find it, but it's the January 2009 issue, I think.)

I think this problem of quilters is an example of the way many women have been treated by the educational system: girls can't get math, so they don't. "Math Phobia" was the popular phrase a while back. The sad thing about not understanding quilt math is that quilters are so limited in what they can do. They have to use patterns, they have to buy special rulers that put the right measurements in, they have to use pre-cut fabrics, they think they need a special calculator to figure yardage, and on and on. So, the next time you can't figure it out, don't panic stop, think, get the calculator, use Google, look in a quilting book. I bet you can do it. If someone who can't remember her Social Security number or doesn't know that 7 + 9 = 16 can figure it out, anyone can.

Moving Along

The quilting is done, and I thought the beading was, but then I dropped a few red beads in the center to see how they look, because the yellow ones alone aren't enough. Ugh. There will have to be some reworking there. Too bad; I find beading about as interesting as watching paint dry.

I don't do hand quilting because the carpal tunnel in my wrists begins to scream. But just a tiny bit I can handle, and it was fun.

One of my guilds is having a "paint chip challenge." Apparently this has been floating around internet sites for a while. You make a quilt using colors of paint chips whose names match your three initials. I had no intention of doing this, but I found some Grandmother's Flower Garden pieces I made years ago, and thinking about something for the Alzheimers' Quilt Initiative, began playing with them. Then I realized that there were three colors here, and maybe I could find some appropriate paint chips and kill the proverbial two birds. The "K" was a challenge, but I found a deep purplish red called Keepsake, and the rest was easy.

I took the piece along with me on a visit to my son's and did some hand quilting. Beads will be next, and a pattern of diamonds quilted in the background, perhaps with a few of the diamonds embroidered to stand for leaves. I actually like this, and while it won't be a winner, it may serve a good purpose.

A Prize

I was the lucky winner of a giveaway by Candace of Squash House Quilts to celebrate her 100th blog post: beautiful valentine fabric, pattern for a table topper, AND some real chocolate. (Wonder why the chocolate's not shown here...) Thanks so much, Candace.

Thank you everyone for the kind words about my star quilt. It is now totally finished, and I'll send it off to Deb Geyer for quilting soon. She has a beautiful Valentine quilt on her blog today. In the meantime, I have been working on some projects for Debra. I finished a scrap baby quilt, and am going to add borders to a lap size UFO for her Quilts for Women project.

Otherwise, it's uneventful here. My son sent me a video of Conor looking at his valentine and making fire truck noises on cue. His brother then followed up with a truck sound as he looked at his card. Actually both sounded about the same. The video was adorable of course, and it was such a sweet thing of them to do.

Text on Post Card

Since I can't draw, I like to combine fabric motifs and words on fabric postcards, but I've had trouble planning how to place the words so that when I put the fabric through the printer they are in the right location on the card. I figured out a way to do it last week when I made little cards for the grandchildren.

First I made a layout of the fabric motifs, scanned it into Photoshop, and sized it to 4 x 6 inches. ( It has to be reversed on the scanner bed, which was tricky for me at first.)


Then I made a new layer and put in the text I wanted, placing it correctly.


Then I made only the Text layer visible, and fed the pre-treated fabric fused on freezer paper into the printer. This gave me pale blue fabric with red lettering, and no image of course.

Then I fused the fabric motifs into their place on the background, and finished the card as usual. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture before I mailed it, but it was very cute. The outline heart was red, of course, and the edges were finished with red zig zag.

You could also print the entire card from Photoshop, making a colored background layer, but I like the combination of sewing and printing.

This process may be blindingly obvious to many people, but it was a breakthrough for me, and didn't strain my very meager knowledge of Photoshop.

P. S. After finishing this post, I remembered that I CAN treat you to a look at the one where the printing smeared so that I had to do it again. So I guess the final lesson of this tutorial is DON'T FORGET TO HEAT SET THE PRINTING.

"Too Late Smart"

All the time I pieced those Lemoyne Stars, I used my Janome's quarter inch seam foot, but was unhappy with it. The flange makes it difficult to stitch close enough to a marking pin and the foot doesn't ride easily over bulky seam intersections. Finally, as I tried to do the last few stars for the outer border, I decided I'd had it. First I tried the regular foot (moving the needle), but although it went over seams easily, it has an unfortunately placed bar that makes it hard to stitch a Y seam accurately. Then I tried one if the applique feet, moving the needle position to 5.5. Perfect! I can see, I can stitch right to the pin, and I can go over bumps. So much better. If only I'd known that fifty stars ago! I don't know why I didn't. I used the applique foot on the Viking for piecing, but somehow, I thought I should be impressed with the fancy quarter inch foot on this machine. It's good for some things maybe, but not for this kind of block. Live and learn.

Peppermint Stars Done!

Finished! This was the original design, but I am thinking of adding a red band on the outside, perhaps with small stars as cornerstones. But that should be straightforward. There's still pressing and de-linting to do. Deb Geyer has agreed to quilt it for me.

I'm happy with this quilt. I had been thinking about using this block in striped fabrics for several years, and it's satisfying to see it done. Every star is different, although the fabrics repeat. Seeing all the different effects produced by different combinations or arrangement of the fabric was the fun part of the project. The piecing isn't as good as I had hoped to achieve, but it's respectable, and I think the design is a strong one. It was a challenge, for sure.

It's Square, It's Square!

You have to imagine that sung to the tune of "It's May, It's May, la la la la lah." I put the zig zag borders and their framing yellow borders on the red, white, and yellow monster, and IT IS SQUARE, and at least within easing dimensions of the star border. So that is next. No pictures yet; I'm just going to do it. I am very, very tired of this quilt. Never another large one, I say, as my husband says, "Isn't it smaller?" (He's looking at center w/o borders.) "I thought it was going to be queen size." The Robert is all about practicality, in quilts anyway.

To the machine--

More Odds and Ends

I met the goal of finishing the zig zag borders. Now they must be trimmed from the last post to this.

Scary, because it's easy for the ruler to slip, and also the edges are now all bias. Then comes the really tense part of doing the math for the coping strip, sewing the borders on, hoping they fit,

As an exercise in avoidance, I sewed borders on this little block I found in my orphan blocks box, planning to send it to the Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative.



I paper pieced those narrow strip borders so that they'd be perfectly straight, and that worked out beautifully. That's a technique that would work on any small quilt. What a pain paper piecing is though! I don't get the fascination with it.

Also in the orphan box was an oak leaf shape left from another project, so I made this, also for Alz Quilts.



Now to bite the bullet and trim the other three borders!

Odds and Ends

So far, so good.



Goal for the day: finish two more zig-zag border strips, and put together a Valentine postcard. This one is off center. I have no excuse for being unproductive, my husband is out of town, and there are no current crises around here.



The new Issue of Quilter's Newsletter is a good one. I had almost given up reading it, but they keep hanging in there. The cover quilt, by the Japanese quilter, Hideko Kubota, is a beauty. It's a lovely mix of tradition and whimsy, with wonderful unexpected fabrics and color. Irene Berry's scrap quilts are beautiful, and there's a brief tutorial by Pamela Allen about making fabric portraits. I also liked the pictures from the Hands All Around Exhibit. Quilts from other countries are particularly interesting to me; they seem so much fresher and less driven by the market and current trends than American quilts do. Of course that may be just because I don't know what the hot trend is in Europe or Japan.

Last week, I sorted through some bins of non-quilt fabric and found several vintage tablecloths. I used to use these in "wearable art" clothing, but had several untouched ones, so I put them on eBay. Here's the link if anyone is interested in that sort of thing. As you will see, the bidding isn't exactly hot, and you can get a real bargain in 50's pink and grey!

Judges Report

Ghost Orchids just came back from the Road to California show with nice comments about design, execution, and machine stitching details. The comments also said, "Binding should be the same width on both sides." Where is that rule engraved on stone tablets? I made the binding wider in the back to make the quilt hang better. It's twice as wide, so the difference is obviously not a mistake. Argh!

I also received a comment that batting should fill binding. I deserve this one, I think. I know you can avoid this problem by sewing the binding on before trimming the excess binding, but it's hard to square a quilt that way. I haven't found a marking tool that really shows up well enough. Does anyone have experience with either one of these issues?

Maybe I'll Stop Here...

Finally, a layout for the red stars! My design wall is too small to hold the entire thing, so I've folded over part of the center. Just focus on the upper left-hand corner.

That little zig zag border has caused endless trouble. It's described in The Border Workbook, and isn't really difficult, just requires careful stitching and cutting (of course, I've only made this little sample). It also requires lots of math to make the border fit, especially around the corners, and this required an email to That Patchwork Place for an explanation of one section of directions. The number given made no sense to me. I got an answer in less than 12 hours, so they deserve lots of credit for that.

This was last week; in the meantime I've been toying with many other ideas for that section. This has actually been so exhausting that I feel I've finished the project! Time to stop. Seriously, I'm planning a real push to the finish line. First step is to cut lots of red and yellow squares to frame the border stars.

In non-quilting news, we have bought a new car. My husband's "winter" car gave up the ghost on our driveway Monday morning, so we have bought a new Ford Fusion. Since I am partially housebound because of weather and a car shortage, Bob has done the shopping. I took a very brief test drive last night; it was brief because a) roads were slippery, b) it was snowing, and c) it was 10 below zero. The heater, anti-lock brakes, and traction control seem fine. Other things, I don't know. We'll hope for the best. And yes, the Ford salesman seemed glad to see us.

Inspired by Debra's wonderful homeless teen quilt project, I quilted a guild charity quilt that I put together back in November. It's nothing special, but it was a chance to practice free-motion on the Janome using the push button control rather than the foot pedal. The results are very good. It's by far the best free motion quilting I've ever done. It seemed to take much longer though because I set the speed at medium and so had to move the quilt rather slowly. Usually I sew fast and drag the quilt around, trying desperately to keep up so the stitches don't get tiny. Once I got used to the slower and steady pace, I liked it.

I also invested in a bobbin case specially designed for free motion stitching. I don't know what the difference is, but this too seemed to give good results. I used Superior Bottom Line thread in the bobbin, and there are no pops and pulls at all, even though the top thread was a different color and a heavier weight. I don't know if other machines have this option, but I think it was worth the money.

I think I've come to a decision on how to proceed with the red and white stars, but have nothing to show for the mental gear clashing that has been going on. Maybe by spring--

Speaking of spring: we're having the worst winter weather here in years. Day after day of single digit temperatures, wind, and the infamous lake effect snow. A break in the weather would be good!

And finally, if you haven't looked at the Cyber Fyber Exhibition web site, be sure to do that. The postcards and ATC's are worth a bit of time for browsing, and the invited artists' work is eye-opening. I'd love to see it in reality.

Well, Duh!

Yes, you do have to include the width of the sashing strips when you figure the size of the setting triangle. If you don't you will get this weird looking yellow triangle where the block sticks over into the triangles.

If you do, the setting triangle neatly matches the end of the block.

As I was cutting the triangles, the book I was using (which I won't name) didn't mention how sashing would affect triangle size, so although I THOUGHT the triangle should be bigger, I managed to convince myself that I had done this before, kept the size the same, and it worked. It didn't.
Then I looked in Setting Solutions by Sharyn Craig, and there it is: a clear statement that you must include the sashing width, therefore cutting a bigger triangle. She has a neat little chart, telling you what size to cut, so there's no math required.

I was in denial for a while, thinking that the weird look would go when I squared up, trimmed the excess and added a border, but I finally had to face the truth, rip those triangle out, and sew in bigger ones.

Actually, this isn't as bad as it sounds. I have postponed making a decision on the next step. Still, it was pretty much a wasted day. So be warned, everyone.

Thinking

Thank you everyone, for the kind words about my stars quilt. I'm mulling over the next move. I've tentatively decided to put a pieced border in a folded ribbon design in that yellow space. Even using The Border Workbook by Janet Kime, this requires some heavy math, so I'll think about it tomorrow, as Scarlett O'Hara said.

In the meantime as a break, I made a Project Linus top to send to Quiltmaker for assembling. The directions call for paper piecing, and that's the logical way to make something that different quilters work on, but since I made the entire top myself, and I hate paper piecing, I pieced it the traditional way, and that worked fine. The whole project took about 3 hours. I had intended to add a narrow blue inner border, and that would have looked better, but I totally forgot until it was too late, and this is not a project to rip.



And another report on the Janome: for putting the blocks together, I chain pieced them, using the feature that allows you to run the machine with a push-button control instead of the foot pedal. (The speed is adjustable.) I'd been skeptical of this because I thought taking hands off the fabric to push the button would be a problem, but it worked beautifully, much faster and easier than reaching for the pedal all the time. When there are pins to remove, as there were in sewing the rows together, it was a bit trickier, but still worked well. The feature is supposed to be useful for free-motion stitching, and I'm looking forward to trying that.

I'm excited! Here's the center section of the red star quilt. It seems huge to me, but will be bigger, and rather less red, I think. I have to square off, do the math to figure out how wide the narrow framing red piece will be, and then how wide the yellow strip will be, and frame all the little stars, and then plan the applique on the yellow ring.

Out of the Basement to all of You: Happy New Year!

I'm thinking about reorganizing this mess as a New Year's Resolution, but am still at the thinking stage. I actually did do some straightening and sweeping this morning, but still this would qualify as a "before" picture in anyone's book. If there is ever a different "after" look, you'll be the first to know. Actually, although there's lots of stuff, the space is functional, and I do know where everything is.

As for other goals: I don't think I have any clear ones. The ones that do come to mind are rather negative. For example, except for the Hoffman (maybe), I don't intend to enter any challenges unless they let me do something I'd want to do anyway. At my age, time becomes more precious, and I don't want to use it on something that seems pointless to me. I think I challenge myself, and challenges from outside only cause pressure I don't need.

After I finish my current project, I will have satisfied my need to do a complicated traditional pieced project, so maybe I'll go back to something less traditional. Or not. I guess I'm resolving not to resolve, just do what feels right at any given moment. I do think it's necessary to keep working, keep creating, but I just don't want to be too goal oriented.

Of course, like everyone else, I do have a few UFO's, and lots of fabric to use!

I wish everyone reading a happy, healthy, creative new year. Thank you for all the inspiration, support, and enjoyment reading your posts and comments has provided me.

A Fiber Gift

My sister Marjorie sent me these wonderful mittens for Christmas. They're felted from old sweaters with vintage button ornaments on the cuff. What I particularly like about these is they way they go together without matching: a truly patchwork look. They're made by baabaaZuzu of Leland, Michigan.

In other news, I have finally finished the red and white stars and am choosing fabrics for the sashing, setting squares, etc. It's so large that it's overflowing my design wall, which makes for a challenge.

As a change if pace, I'm thinking of taking time out to make the Project Linus quilt from the January Quiltmaker magazine. Their projects are always cute, simple, and a way to help a cause. As a bonus, although I haven't liked this magazine recently, I thought there were several pretty and interesting quilts in this issue.

And finally, I'm glad Christmas is over, and I wish everyone reading a wonderful new year!

New Website

QuiltQua is a new quilting website that plans to include a great variety of quilting information. It will include advertising and paid listings, but also includes a free show-and-tell page and a very extensive list of quilt- or fabric-focused blogs, information on shows, guilds, museums, and more. Let's wish them well.

Uncle Sib

Jen Clair of Bayou Quilts is one of several people posting a challenge: Find your fourth roll of photos, find the fourth photo on the roll, post it and write about it. I was curious to see what my fourth was, and when I found it, I had to post.

This is my Uncle Eusibius, known as Sib; it was taken at my mother's 90th birthday brunch in 2004. Sib was a dear, sweet man, but one of those people who seemed to exist to cause hilarity among people who knew him, mostly for his great quantity of misinformation, delivered in a very loud voice. (He was quite hard of hearing in his last years.) One example: at a family reunion one of Sib's many, many grand-, or great-grand-nephews approached and introduced himself: "I'm Davey, Clarence's son." Sib responded (shouted), "No, you ain't! You're John Duncan's boy!" Quite a surprise to Davey, and a lovingly repeated story for everyone else in the family.

Sib had a truly wonderful collection of arrowheads and other Native American artifacts that he loved to take to local schools to share with the students. The arrowheads were interesting, but there were other lesser-known treasures in the collection. For example, there were the roundish stones, easily fitting in the human hand, that Sib insisted were "throwing rocks". Throwing rocks are quite common. More rare were the infamous "sex rocks." Sib: "They had pornography too, you know!" I was never fortunate enough to be shown a "sex rock", so I can't give any details, but the story lives in family folklore. I don't think the school kids ever saw the "sex rocks", either.

In this picture, Sib is proudly showing a privately printed local history brochure whose author used him as a source. "It's true! It's in this book!" If that doesn't make you question the reliability of history, nothing will.

Dear Sib. I miss you.

Anyone else want to post a picture and reminisce?

It's Actually Very Pretty

In the middle of the night I had an idea for the Hoffman Challenge. Although I had done some thinking about it, this fabric had left me totally empty of ideas. But in the way that these things work, a variation of a previously rejected idea struck unexpectedly. So maybe after Christmas, if I ever finish stitching stars, I will do some preliminary work on a Hoffman entry for 2009.

In the meantime, I decorated my Christmas tree. It's odd, I always complain about how much work the tree is, but when it comes down to it, it's actually the only Christmas decoration I really like. I love to sit in the evening and look at the lights, and the ornaments all have a memory associated with them: gifts from friends, the children's projects, travel souvenirs. That's the way a tree should be, I think. All the other Christmas decoration stuff is just--stuff.

A Sweet Tip

Last week I had to bake lots of brownies for a Christmas cookie sale. I found a large size recipe, baked them in a baker's half sheet pan (double the size of a 9 x 13 pan), and used my rotary ruler and a big pizza cutter to cut them. Perfect, even, bars! I've never been able to do that before, so I'm passing on the idea to anyone else who can use it in the Christmas baking frenzy.

Slowly...

I have decided on a layout for my red and white star piece. I imagine the plain yellow space filled with a red, vine-like applique and circular shapes in red and white prints. At least that's the current plan. The plain area might need to be wider for bigger visual rest, and I'm also not sure about the red area around the center. I might also go for a pieced, ribbon type border instead of the applique. It's been incredibly difficult to come to this decision, considering how simple it really is. The biggest hurdle seemed to be deciding on a size, meaning how many of those stars do I really want to make! This plan is a smallish queen, bigger than originally intended, but potentially more practical. It has also committed me to hiring a long arm quilter too, I guess.

I have three more of the split Lemoyne stars to do, and twenty (yes twenty!) of the smaller plain ones. They are going faster now, and I have improved; in fact I'm proud of these last two. Pretty nice points if I do say so myself.

And while I'm boasting: My quilt, Ghost Orchids was accepted into this year's Road to California! (Detail shot here.) This was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a "thanks-but-no-thanks blah, blah, blah" letter.

Quilting in Tough Times

This comic strip says it well, I think. (Sorry, you have to click to enlarge.) How many of us have bought fabric, tools, etc., we don't need? And how many quilting shops are suffering as we don't buy more? In the short run, there are bargains: E-Quilter had 55 % off sale for over a week on a large selection of fabric, one of my LQS's had an equally unsual sale, but in the long run smaller, struggling shops may close, and will the fabric manufacturers themselves cut back? Will we no longer have the huge selection of fabric we've become accustomed too? And how about shows? Reportedly, Mancuso will not hold the November show in Chicago next year because of low attendance and low vendor sales, especially this year. Will other shows fold too? Sobering thoughts.

A Little Something

Here are two of a dozen kitchen towels I decorated with Christmas fabric. Obviously these aren't a pair, but I did repeat the designs in twos. I prewashed the fabric so it won't bleed, but I didn't prewash the towels. A little distortion from shrinking should not hurt the appearance too much, I hope. I'm intending to use them as hostess gifts or small gifts for friends.

It was fun to use some of the things I learned at my Janome owner's class last week. I love the heavy topstitch on the right-hand towel, and the stitch-in-the-ditch foot made the piped edging on the other one easy. This whole project is so unlike anything I usually do that I enjoyed it.

Now back to pre-Thanksgiving chores. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

The News that Isn't

Snow...


Rotary cutter wound...


Grandchildren...

Sorry I don't have a picture of the kitten swinging from the design wall and sending all my star blocks cascading to the floor. That is probably the most exciting thing that's happened since I came home from my family visits. I'm not complaining, mind you. Peace and quiet is a good thing! Tomorrow I will spend several hours at owners' classes for my new Janome, hoping to learn some tricks I don't know. I'll continue my report on this machine afterwards.

Applique on a Sweater

I haven't dropped off the earth, but am visiting family and haven't been doing any sewing or anything that would interest anyone else. I have been thinking of a future project that has been in the back of my mind for a while. I want to applique bits of kimono silk fabric to a sweater, and I wonder what kind of stabilizer would be good. It should be something that can either be removed or if left in, looks ok, since this is a cardigan and stitching will show if the front should roll back a bit. Anyone out there have a suggestion? I'd appreciate it. The sweater is silk and cotton, but if this works, I have thought of buying others and embellishing them for Christmas gifts.

Nothing much quilty to report. I have made more red and white stars and have a bit of an idea for how I might set this quilt up. It's moving slowly, and I haven't touched it for several days. We went to Chicago for the weekend, and are having old friends stay for a few days starting tomorrow. It will be fun to watch election results with them; fortunately we agree politically, and we're hoping for a reason to drink champagne besides just pure sociability. (Nothing wrong with that, of course.)

Hang It Up!

I love this quilt! I made it several years ago, using an Alex Anderson design. There's not a shred of originality to it, but it was fun to make and put together, and I'm pleased with the blend of colors. The reason for the post however, is to show that I FINALLY was able to hang it where I want to, and to put in a plug for the Hang Ups Company. This is their No See Um hanger; the reason for the name should be clear. I like the way nothing shows but the quilt, but they do make a hanger with a visible wooden hook if that's the look you like. There's a bracket that fastens to the wall by adhesive or screws, and a slotted rod goes into the sleeve of the quilt and hooks onto the bracket through the fabric. The rod telescopes to various lengths. The hanger comes with clear instructions and a little level to make it easier to hang straight, and there's a demo video on the web site. A great product, made in the USA too.

Weekend Retreat

I spent the weekend at a retreat at a lake south of here. There was lots of chatter, food (both nutritious and not-so-nutritious), fabric shopping at all the nearby shops, and sewing. This area of north central Indiana is rich in fabric shops, including some small Amish ones that don't even have electric light. This made seeing fabric tricky on a gloomy fall day. There's beautiful new fabric out there, and even some of the older fabric is new to me, since I've been resisting shopping recently, and am trying to use my stash.

I made some red and white stars, and to continue my traditional phase, worked on a pile of green stem units for this basket block. Talk about Slow Cloth! Still, it was an enjoyable weekend with pleasant companionship, even though not terribly exciting. Now to unpack.