New Project!

Finally a new project is in the works! It's not my project from start to finish, but it's exciting to be pulling out fabric in colors I like, and I'm feeling a big of creative energy. I have these blocks from a block exchange at a guild retreat last fall. They're actually pretty set together like this, but they're a little white for my taste and would only make a lap size quilt.

So I'm using Sharyn Craig's ideas from Setting Solutions, and framing them with fabric strips that I'm coordinating with this multicolored green fabric which will be the border. (At first I hated to use this beautiful fabric on a potluck project like this, but I guess it's better used for something than lying in the stash.)


Here are a couple of blocks framed. By happy coincidence, most of the blocks include at least one color which will coordinate with the framing strips. Where the corners join, I'll put in a piece of the light, bright yellow-green--I think. I have twenty four blocks, so framed this way and with borders, they should make at least a twin size quilt.


In the family news department, my daughter-in-law is still in the hospital on bed rest, but is working by internet. If all goes as it is now, they will test for babies' lung development in about two weeks, and then schedule a c-section. So that situation is under control temporarily at least.

On Hold

I haven't been able to post for quite a while because I've been traveling due to family obligations. I also haven't done any creative work. I did receive the news that my Hoffman Challenge quilt is in the traveling exhibit again, and that is gratifying. However, it's in a group with a very short schedule and isn't going anywhere where I can see it. I'll get to see Debra's at the spring International Quilt Festival in Chicago though, and I am happy about that. In other news, the twin grandsons could arrive at any time although the due date is not till October. So I'm on call, waiting to see if and when I'm needed in Chicago. Life is not dull--just sort of on hold. All you creative people, keep it up. I'm living vicariously!

Marking Quilting Lines

Deb Geyer has posted a video about using Elmer's School Glue as basting glue. This reminded me of another easily available school supply product that I use in quilting: that's Crayola Washable Markers. They make a great mark for quilting designs, easily visible and removable by washing. A warning though: don't use them on something you don't intend to wash, because although the marks come out cleanly, a lot of water is needed and there is a lot of ink. A spritz of water won't do the job. Also, I don't know whether you should use detergent or not, but I would assume so because mothers washing kids clothes do. I usually put my quilts through the rinse and spin cycle after the quilting is done, and the Crayola markers work great for this. Here's the twin quilts, one marked and ready to quilt and the other quilted and rinsed. (It needs fluffing in the dryer to look prettier.) Take my word that the marks that have been washed out were actually much darker than the ones you see in the picture.




Of course you should test the markers on a scrap first, and be sure to get the WASHABLE ones. :)

Some Accomplishment

Although it's been a while since I blogged about quilting, I have been doing some work. I have both quilt tops for the twins finished and am getting ready to quilt the first one. The quilting will be simple and should go fast. I made both tops the same except for slight rearrangement of the fabrics. I must say it was actually fun to do something that took no brain, and I don't think I could have planned anything better, so I'm not sorry I went the kit route. The pattern is called ABC Fun from Country Quilts.

My second accomplishment was to finish the ugly fabric challenge piece. This project was the total opposite of the baby quilts. It took lots of time, lots of drawing, lots of agonizing over fabric choices, etc., and am I satisfied? No. Depressing. However, it is done.


I also met with my partner in the prize ribbon assignment, and we assembled the ribbons. I must say they look very pretty, thanks to Julie's wonderful choice of rich looking tone-on-tone fabrics for the ruffle and tails. So that is also done. Now that I have (almost) finished my "duty" work, I'm thinking about projects that have been simmering in my mind for a while, something that I will do only to please myself.

An Amazing Building

Last weekend my husband and I went to Milwaukee to celebrate our anniversary. When people hear this they always say, "Why?" Simple answer, really. We love Milwaukee; it's a small, friendly sort of city, with a mix of beautiful Victorian buildings and new architecture, attractive development along the river, and enough to do and see for a pleasant weekend. Another benefit is that it's inexpensive compared to Chicago, a real bargain. We stay in a glorious Victorian hotel, the Pfitzer, eat at a restaurant called Sanford's, one of the best I've been to anywhere, enjoy the riverside walk and the microbreweries. And we go to the Milwaukee Art Museum. The most outstanding thing about the museum is the building itself. The building, which stands in a beautiful park overlooking Lake Michigan, features a new pavillion designed by the Spanish architect, Santiago Calitrava. The atrium roof lifts up when the building opens in the morning and lowers at night. It's also raised and lowered at noon so that visitors at that hour can enjoy the experience. The roof controls light into the center of the building, but is actually a giant kinetic sculpture, said to suggestion a bird in flight, a ship under sail, or perhaps the tale of large fish or whale.

Two views of the open position:




Closed:



Here's an inside view of one corridor. If you think of the whole effect as whale-like, then this resembles the animal's ribs, I think. Can't you see it as the location for a futuristic film?



I'm perfectly happy if people laugh when we say we went to Milwaukee; maybe it will stay an undiscovered pleasure.

Men--Again!

I don't usually laugh at my husband publically, but I can't resist this story.

Yesterday morning he was eating breakfast on the deck while I was in the kitchen getting ready to leave for my Monday volunteer job.

Suddenly, "No, cat! Don't eat that cicada! The cat is eating a cicada!"

Clearly, I'm expected to step in here, but I ignored this except to say, "Don't let him in; he'll vomit it back up."

"No, cat! You can't go in! No! I can't stop him from coming in! He's in. I couldn't stop him."

I left at this point. Picture a 250-pound man unable to keep a pathetically scrawny, geriatric cat from coming through the door. Clearly this cat has powers no one suspected. Sort of a metaphor for asymetric warfare, isn't it?

Beware of Men Emptying Trash!

Somewhere I heard the wise advice that you should never empty your sewing room trash until a project is completely finished. Usually I follow this, just because no one empties the trash regularly in this room anyway. But last night, I had two overflowing wastebaskets, and my son took them away after I had gone to bed. (His method of emptying trash is to move as fast as possible.) So today when I looked for my leaves to fasten loose threads and do the finishing, they were gone! They must have fallen in the trash since they're nowhere to be found. Much moaning and fuming, because these took time to make, and even worse, one leaf used the "Ugly" fabric required for the challenge, and I had only a little left. But now two hours later, I have redone the blasted leaf, and am starting on the final assembly. Picture 1: where I am now, and Picture 2: the finished layout.





This was going to be a table runner, but now it seems to be a mat--or something. Anyway, it's small about 20 inches square probably.

Blogger Question Answered

Thanks to Debbi at DubiQuilts I was able to add a list of books I've recently enjoyed to my sidebar. Thanks so much, Debbi.

I used to read constantly, but lately I have a hard time finding something that holds my interest. So these recent titles have been an exciting find. Boomsday is light reading, very funny, and The Yiddish Policeman's Union is basically a police procedural although it's set in a kind of alternate reality. It's an entertainment with literary merit, something hard to find. The two non-fiction books, Team of Rivals and The Omnivore's Dilemma, are fascinating, as engrossing as the best fiction. The Ministry of Special Cases is an amazing book, a combination of comedy and heartbreak, unlike anything else I've read. Approach it with care; it's not light and fun.

Blogger Question

Does anyone know what happened to the button on the Templates/Page Elements part of Blogger that allowed you to add a Page Element? It seems to have disappeared. Am I missing an obscure (or maybe not-so-obscure) button somewhere? Or do I have to go to the HTML? Any help would be appreciated.

And Now for Something Truly Tedious...

For the last three days I've been working on the medallion to go in the center of the prize ribbons at the guild show. (This does not count the hours I spent several weeks ago messing with Adobe Illustrator to get the spacing of the letters and basket correct.) I can't believe I'm doing this; do people really care what their prize ribbon looks like? The ribbon itself is the good thing, right? I could editorialize about guilds again, but I've done that, so here's just a short summary of the process.

Step 1: Glue a cardboard circle to batting. Then cut around the circle and batting.

Step 2. Glue fabric to batting. Clip edges and turn them to the cardboard side and glue in place. That's easy. Now the fun part.

Step 3. Cut out all these little basket pieces. You could use any block pattern, but I'm not dumb. I chose something that could be made in one piece.

Step 4. Glue basket to batting, and then cut around it, AGAIN.


Step 5. Glue fabric to batting/basket, cut around it (keeping track of all the cutting?) and then turn the edges under, gluing them in place. If you think mine look pretty messy, you're right. This project was not assigned to the person with the necessary skills. I think I failed gluing in kindergarten.

Step 6. Glue finished basket to backing.

Done, EXCEPT, that I thought these things looked dumb without words on them, so I now have to print name of show, etc., on a piece of fabric, cut that out, and carefully fuse it on so that the words will show in the space under the basket handle. Then I'll glue the basket on. (I don't THINK that glue spot shows in reality. Must have been the flash. :) )
Someone else will be making a ruffle to go around the medallion and the fabric/ribbon tails to hang down, and then we will meet to assemble them.

This is not really more tedious than making an equal number of quilt blocks; I guess I just don't like the results as well.

Vienna

Like several people around the ring, I haven't posted for a while. I'm back from a rather quick trip to Vienna, Austria, with my husband where he attended a meeting and I did the "accompanying member" thing of sightseeing, smiling at conference affairs, washing out travel clothes, etc. Vienna is an absolutely wonderful city to visit. There's as much art and splendor as Paris, and in some ways it's more pleasant since there's much more English spoken and a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. The fact that I don't know any German was actually a plus, since I felt no pressure that I should know what was going on and just addressed everyone in English. There's an excellent public transportation system and the city is clean and apparently quite safe, although tourists need to be careful anywhere, I think. And mustn't forget the food--delicious although heavy.

The downside for us was that Austria was in the middle of the worst heat wave in its recorded history. It was in the upper 90's for the entire time we were there, and one day it was 102! We had an air-conditioned hotel, but many hotels are not air-conditioned, the meeting venue was not, and neither are restaurants, shops, trolleys, and buses. The heat really hurts the sightseeing, since I didn't have the energy to go many places that I might have otherwise visited, (like some of the famous Vienna art nouveau buildings which are a bit off the beaten track), and the food and famous coffee didn't even appeal (although beer is good in the heat--). I saw air conditioned museums in the afternoon, and did the walking around part before noon.

Most of my pictures are still on my husband's computer, but here are a few.


Part of the Hofburg, the winter palace for the Hapsburg emperors until 1918, and now home of many Austrian government bureaus and the president of Austria.


Part of the imperial china and silver on view. This is the imperial napkin fold, only used at state dinners, originally when the emperor was present and now when there is head of state. Supposedly how to make this fold is a closely held secret, known to only two people even now. Isn't that a stitch? I bet some of you out there could figure it out...


The interior of a famous coffee house/ pastry baker. As I said, not as appealing in the heat as it looks in this picture.


This is the Cafe Central, a perfectly splendid cafe with painted ceilings, gilt, live piano music, delicious schnitzel, and best of all: air-conditioning! (If you see a few brave souls outside, it's because I took this picture early in the morning.)

Believe me, I haven't even scraped the surface of the beautiful things in this city!

Thanks!

I truly appreciate all the kind comments about my Hoffman quilt! I'll keep my fingers crossed. To add to the saga, when I logged on to the Postal Service website today to "track and confirm," I found that the package had been "missent" to the wrong zip code! This was not what anyone wants to hear! Supposedly this will be corrected, and it will be sent to the correct place, Fort Collins.

I'm off traveling again for a week or so; hope to do some reading, sight seeing, maybe a little hand work.

Challenge Met?

I've met the Hoffman challenge of making a quilt with the challenge fabric, but I've once again failed to meet the challenge of making one that I like, that somehow expresses me and my tastes. Why is that? Other people can. I find it difficult to think backwards from the fabric to the design, and although the challenge fabric is intended to be very versatile, to me it usually suggests one avenue only, not necessarily one that I like. This fabric looked rather retro to me, even feed sack-like with its busy floral, so I went with a very traditional design, the kind that my mother would like. Hence the name "If Grandma Made a Hoffman". It was extremely difficult for me, because I don't like balanced, symmetrical designs, and I don't like a limited number of fabrics. The fewer fabrics, the harder the choice, because each one becomes so important. In this case, I changed the light color around the baskets three times, and I made the aqua triangle squares before I decided that they were too bright, and ripped them apart to use the back of the fabric. I'm glad I did. I'd REALLY hate this thing if I'd had to look at that garish color for so long!

The pattern is Grape Basket, and when I was trying to think of a way to set it, I happened to see an article in Quiltmaker about another traditional block called Grand Right and Left, and got the idea of putting the basket block inside the Right and Left Block. The border block is called Scrap Basket, and I liked the way it seemed to add some movement, but the design was still very static until I had the lucky inspiration of the curved edge. I'd never done that before, but it wasn't actually very difficult at all. To break up the flatness of the too-solid fabrics, I used a higher loft batting than I usually do, and quilted heavily. That did help; it has lots of texture, and the close quilting adds to the traditional look.

So I'm sending it on its way this week. Whatever happens I don't think I'll enter this challenge again; too much time making something I don't really like when it's done.

Projects, good and bad

I've got three need-to-do projects; one seems attractive, the other two do not. Here's one: I must make 18 more of these little center-of-the-prize-ribbon medallions for a guild show in September. (I've started early because they're such a pain.)



Then here is one of two kits I bought to make twin baby quilts for the grandchildren. I have always said I'd never buy a kit, but these were simple, the right colors, and something I thought my son and daughter-in-law would like. They're basically just squares with appliqued numbers and letters on top of the patchwork base. I'll make the bodies the same, and vary the appliques and the backing.




And finally the one I find most interesting. It's an Ugly Fabric challenge for the guild. The Ugly fabric is that brown Thimbleberries piece. It's not ugly, just rather basic, so there's not much challenge to using it that I can see. I'm going to make a table-runner size piece with oak leaves, acorns, and I think bittersweet berries on a deep greenish blue background, using Jane Sassaman's applique technique again. Now this I'm interested in!

Seven Facts

Laura at Diva of Quilts tagged me to give seven facts about myself. Prepare to be underwhelmed.

1. Big news! In October I'm going to be a grandmother for the first time--twin boys. This has still not quite sunk in, although I've known for a while, obviously. I'm not sure the true impact on the parents to be and their two-income-no-kids lifestyle has registered for them either.

2. I took piano lessons for SIX YEARS as a child. Can I play now? No. My mother later told me that she gave me the lessons because I was so totally unmusical she thought piano lessons might help. Thanks, Mom. (Many people in my family are musical, so I guess my total lack of talent was painful to her.)

3. I qualify to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, but don't plan to apply, although when I was teaching I used to laugh that after retirement I'd like to be one of the old ladies from the DAR who came around and give citizenship awards. Maybe when my hair is blue...

4. And while we're on childhood experiences, I belonged to 4-H for over ten years. That's how I learned to sew, and believe me, the quilt police have nothing on those 4-H fair judges. I used to hide to avoid having to finish my sewing project. Funny, unlike playing piano, sewing is something I'm glad I learned how to do. Mitred corners, curved seams--piece of cake!

5. Almost twenty years ago, my husband and I built a "green" house. It is a super-insulated house, with very thick walls, and we have no furnace or air conditioning. It is designed to be heated by a Norwegian wood stove which is built in and looks like a fireplace, and some electric baseboard heat as a backup. We have 15 acres of woods so the wood for the stove is no problem, as long as Bob stays able to cut it. So far, he enjoys it, but down the road we will obviously have to make other plans. Unfortunately, 20 years ago, global warming was not on the horizon, and so our house is better suited for the cold northern Indiana winters of the early 80's than the hot summers of the present. The insulation and shading works well as long as nights stay cool, but with increasing nightime temperatures, there are times in the summer when it's uncomfortably warm. But I don't have to come "out of the basement" too much.

6. To borrow one from Laura, I also find TV boring. It seems to move slowly and the quality of the "look" (I guess "production values" is the correct term) doesn't make up for that, so I lose interest very quickly.

7. I used to be a voracious reader. I have two degrees in English and taught for almost thirty years, and I used to read for hours on end. Can't do that anymore. My mind has other agendas. Age? I hope not; maybe a passing phase.

There you are Laura, and anyone else who's interested. I think I'll pass on the tagging though. But please, someone pick it up. These things can be fun to read.

I have this piece I began in Jane Sassaman's class at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in March ready to quilt. I had an incredibly difficult time deciding on a border, considering that this one I settled on is extremely simple, even obvious actually. The creative process is a strange thing. Now I am debating about the little triangles I scattered in the background: whether to leave them, take them out, add more. Other than that, I like this, and definitely want to try something else using the technique. Everything is backed with fusible interfacing, which gives wonderful body to the top, making it easy to work with. Jane's book, The Quilted Garden, gives a good summary of the process. The class was one of the best experiences I've had as a quilter--a delight from start to finish.

I intend to keep the quilting simple, outlining and accenting the shapes (veins on the leaves, for example), probably with diagonal lines in the background.

Family Quilts

Since I don't have anything of my own work to show at this moment, I'm taking the opportunity to do something I've intended to do for quite a while, post some pictures of family quilts. My mother, grandmother, and my husband's mother and stepmother were all quilters, and I've inherited a collection. There are others that my mother still has, many of them in the real made-for-daily-use category, but some are interesting.

The first was made by my mother. It's hand pieced and hand quilted (of course--she still turns up her nose at anything else). The pattern is Dove in the Window, I think. I don't know when it was made, probably the 60's, but Mom always used scraps from clothing or from her stash, so the fabric could be any era. Mom's work isn't as good as the other two ladies here, but it's still nothing to be ashamed of.


The appliqued basket quilt was made by my mother-in-law, sometime in the 40's or 50's, I think. It was apparently from a kit. She did beautiful hand work. It's odd-- I used to think these colors were so weird, but they look fairly stylish now, thanks to some of the retro color schemes you see around.


The last one, and my favorite, was made by my father's mother. She was a real quilting star. My mother says she always bought fabric just for her quilts, very unusual at the time. Another thing about my grandmother's quilts is that she had a rather sophisticated eye for color and fabric and her quilts do not look at all like other quilts of the time. Although I guess red, white, and blue is fairly classic, that yellow separates it from the common herd, IMHO. If you click on the close up you can see the quilting stitches. There's an unfortunate stain in the upper right hand corner, but this quilt is still a treasure.




I still talk quilting with my mother although our tastes are very different, and I often think about my grandmother and mother in laws, wishing they were around to talk to also. Anyone who still has an older-generation quilting friend, appreciate it!

A Paris Morning

Life in Paris is not all croissants and cafes, foie gras and champagne. Sometimes you have to do the laundry. So I thought I'd share my walk through the streets to do this little chore, and show some not-typical shots. They aren't glamorous, but they're different, and so unlike life here that perhaps they'll be interesting.
Here's home: on one side of this church building on a corner of Blvd. St. Germain are flats the University rents to visiting students and faculty:


Here we go down Rue Jacob on a rainy Monday morning.

It's the day after Pentecost, a semi-holiday in France, so there aren't many people around. We're going all the way down the street and around the corner for several blocks. Rue Jacob is a fairly typical street in this part of Paris: a few hotels and cafes, lots of shops selling expensive jewelry and clothes, decorators, and art galleries. The street originally ran along the northern wall of the Abbey of St. Germain de Pres, which took up most of the land in the area until it was shut down during the French Revolution. Except for the church and the Abbot's Palace the remaining abbey buildings were torn down during Napoleon III's major urban renewal project in the 1860's.


This building predates the destruction of the Abbey, because according to the placque on the front, in this building in 1783 John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and representatives of Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution and establishing the United States.

Now we see some glamor shops: sorry, pictures don't show too well.






Off to the right: Rue Echaude--this used to be the eastern wall of the Abbey. Obviously street widening did not happen here. There are more lovely expensive galleries and shops up there.


Here's the destination. See that little maroon sign? It says "Laverie" (laundry), but the windows are almost hidden by posters, and of course the garbage can in front for pick up doesn't help either. Two years ago, I came with precise written instructions from a friend about how to find this place, but I couldn't find it. I looked for a week, and then--there it was! I hope you can see why I had trouble. (No, it wasn't sideways--blame that on Blogger :))



Here's the inside view. This is it, in its entirety except for three chairs at the front. It takes a lot of patience, good manners, and "pardons" to manipulate laundry through this space. One pays at another machine in the front, not at the machine, which means more siddling back and forth.


After I put the laundry in, I usually went and bought a copy of the International Herald Tribune at this shop. Too picturesque, isn't it? Usually there are so many people around that you don't notice.



And then back home dodging some typical urban hazards:



This round-trip is almost a mile, and I carried laundry in my handy-dandy L.L. Bean tote bag. Then I usually went out again to do the grocery shopping, carrying groceries back the same way. Did I mention we lived on the third floor, no elevator? THAT'S why French women don't get fat.

Home

We arrived back in Indiana yesterday morning after a very uneventful flight, the best kind. There is much laundry and cleaning to be done, but I'm patient about that. Here are some pictures of Paris, all taken on my favorite place, the Pont des Beaux Arts. There are beautiful views from all directions: to the south the dome of the Academie de France (behind my husband), to the east Ile de la Cite with the spire of Notre Dame visible in the background and the Pont Neuf to the left and of course me in the foreground, and to the west the next bridge over the Seine (I think it's the Pont Royal) with the Musee D'Orsay on the left bank. To the north is the Louvre; somehow I don't seem to have picture of the outside of the Louvre, so here's the courtyard. From the bridge you would see the other side of the tower facing you.



The Pont des Beaux Arts is a footbridge, and on warm evenings it's full of people picnicing. Most of them are young, but not all. A great people watching spot, and fun to drink a bottle of wine too. As I said, not everyone there is young.

Next time, I'll try to post some "daily life" photos.