Sister's Choice Quilts

Charming Girl's Quilt Club

Kelly over at Charming Chatter is hosting a Quilt Club this summer.  Click on the link on my left side bar and go check out what her proposal is in detail.  To summarize, the Charming Girls' Quilt Club is a group that vows to finish one UFO per month this summer.  If you finish a quilt top, you qualify for a $25 drawing, if you finish your top plus get it quilted, you qualify for two entries for the drawing.

The quilt top I am determined to finish this month is my Prairie Paisley quilt that I began with my friend Lisa (Stashmaster).  I have been working on the little dickens and here is as far as I have gotten.

 

I got the third border on this weekend, and am half finished with border four.  I want the fourth border pattern to be perfectly centered and have been measuring and marking. 

 

Only two more borders to go after this easy one, and I know that this quilt is a done deal.

If you join the Club, you can see links to other people's projects, which is always inspirational.  I heard about this fun activity from Carol at Brown Quilts.  It appears that plenty of folks are interesting in joining in, so it will be fun to see what comes out of it.  Heaven knows I can use a bit of incentive and encouragement!

Sparklers

My favorite memories of celebrating the Fourth of July as a kid certainly involved family reunions, great food, and staying up late to watch fireworks over Belleville Lake.  But the BEST thing about the Fourth was getting to hold a sparkler.  How I loved those silly things.  Way into my teen aged years.  I bet if I had one now I would still feel the same thrill.  What is it about sparklers?

As an adult, one of my favorite Fourth of July memories was fifteen or twenty years ago.  My marriage was experiencing a blip in bliss, and I went on a trip to distract myself.   This California girl went back to Belleville to visit Grandma Agnes.  Grandpa Jerry had died a year or so earlier, and Grandma had moved into a small apartment complex on Liberty Street in Belleville.  Her neighbors were all elderly widows, just like herself, and they had formed a supportive and caring bond with each other.  Their days were spent visiting back and forth, making trips to the local coffee shop for breakfast, and attending each other's Church Suppers during the week.  Grandma would go to the Lutherans on Tuesday with Ida, to the Methodists on Wednesday with Velma, and to the Baptists on Thursday with Edith.  And don't forget Bingo at the Moose Hall on Friday nights, with the Fish Fry.  Her social life was active and full.

As I slept in Grandma's guest room, under one of the first quilts I had ever made (quilted by hand, don't you know? ), I tried not to think about my future, but to concentrate on our immediate plans to celebrate the Fourth Belleville style.  Upon getting up that morning, Grandma and I busied ourselves making potato salad to take to a family party later that day.   Around lunch time we walked a block or two into town to Liberty Park, where a band had set up on the gazebo.  Men in straw hats and red and white striped vests sang barbershop quartet a cappella songs.  The Dapper Dans I think they were called.  A bit later, the town band took the stage and played old fashioned favorite tunes.  People sat on blankets or beach chairs and sipped lemonaide and ate chicken salad sandwiches.  It was hot and everyone wore shorts and tee shirts.

Later, we cooled ourselves off in Grandma's apartment with glasses of cold tea, and then headed just out of town to my Aunt Geraldine's house for supper.  Her kitchen was full of women setting out their pot luck contributions of pulled pork for sandwiches, baked beans, big bowls of coleslaw and potato salad, gorgeous sheet cakes and fruit pies.  The men sat on the porch or in front of the baseball game on TV.  The kids were all running around wishing for darkness so they could see the fireworks.  Pretty soon, one of the uncles started up the barbeque and wonderful smells started to come from the backyard.  We filled our plates, and sat anywhere we could find a spot and enjoyed the fabulous home cooked food.

Once it got good and dark, the families with little kids headed off to the shore of the lake to watch the fireworks show from an island in the middle of the lake.  My Aunt Gerry's house was quiet again, with just the low conversations of the women who were cleaning up the dishes and putting away the leftovers.  Finally, we gals finished up and went out to sit out on the porch and watch the fireflies, in quiet contemplation of how good life is.

Now that I have had a chance to think about it, maybe the sparklers weren't the best part of the Fourth of July holiday.

PS--Here's that quilt I made for Grandma in the mid 1980's.

The Weekend Is In Sight...

Not a heck of a lot of sewing going on this week.  My hour a day plan has been temporarily derailed, but I plan to get back on schedule this weekend.  My two jobs have eaten into my free time this week, as I have been putting in some extra time at one of them. 

I have gone back to the Prairie Paisley challenge, which Lisa and I were working on together.  She finished her quilt top already (check out her post of June 9), and I am only on the third border.  Love this fabric line!  The pattern is from a Quilt Sampler magazine of a year ago.  Check back on Monday--surely I will have more to show.

This is my design dresser in the sewing room.  There is not a bit of wall space to use as a design wall in the room, so I sometimes hang blocks or portions of quilts on the dresser drawers as inspiration.  I have got to figure out a way to hang some sort of flannel or covered wall board on the closet doors.  Every time I tape a big sheet of flannel on those doors, the weight of the blocks causes everything to crumple down into a big heap on the floor when I turn my back.  A project for Some Day.

Hey, I discovered a wonderful blog this week.  I believe I may be the last person on the planet to have heard of The Pioneer Woman .  I can't remember whose blog I was reading, but they mentioned a giveaway the Pioneer Woman was having and how 20,000 people made comments!  I thought, wow, I need to check that one out.  Evidently she was giving away a KitchenAid mixer!  She occasionally holds great giveaways--a pair of expensive cowboy boots, a camera, etc.  I don't even know why she bothers with giveaways, she is so popular.  Her blog is sensational.

The woman who writes the blog, Ree Drummond, is absolutely amazing.  She lives on a cattle ranch out in the middle of the country with her gorgeous cowboy husband (think Paul Newman/Steve McQueen) and her four children, whom she homeschools.  She cooks, she is a cracker jack photographer, and she writes about her life.  I got lost in reading her blog yesterday and before I knew it the day was nearly gone.  You have got to check her out.  Or maybe you already have.  Like I said, I am probably the last person in the world to have discovered her.

Moor Is Moor Finished!

I am just so happy with the way this quilt top turned out!  I used the pattern Summer Wind by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co., and the beautiful fabric collection Wuthering Heights by 3 Sisters for Moda.  I got the idea to use this fabric with that pattern from Camille Roskelley  (Simplify) who made the exact same quilt.  I think the combination is brilliant.  It goes to show you that when you see a pattern made up in all pastels, for example, that it may work extremely well in a darker or brighter palette.  So, be brave, experiment!

The lovely pattern Summer Wind sat for quite a while in my pattern box. For five long years.  I always had it in the back of my mind, but the quilt on the pattern cover was a pretty pastel, and I have to be in a certain mood to do a pastel quilt.  Then, I saw Camille's version of the pattern in these wonderful rich colors and the light bulb went off in my head.  Imagine how fantastic this would look in deep purples, greens, black and tan.  Or how about an autumn color scheme--browns, rusts, dark green, burgundy and cream?  Or a patriotic version in the new Prairie Paisley fabric group?  Navy, medium blue, light blue, red and white?  I may just have to make this quilt again!

I love a medallion style quilt because by the time you add the last border, the quilt is done.  No layout necessary!  This quilt had six borders around the center medallion.  The quilt appears to be more complex than it really is.  If you break a quilt down into individual components- star units, flying geese units, half square triangles and so on, it becomes far less daunting.  Just tackle one element at a time, and before you know it, the quilt top is done.  This one really puts a smile on my face.

This quilt was finished by me working just an hour a day when I got home from work.  I am telling you, that hour a day is very well spent when I look at what I was able to accomplish!  You can do it too.

Our Masterpieces

It is hard to believe we accomplished so much in a one day class.  You are going to be so amazed at what we did.  Not only did Sara and I finish our projects by the end of class, but we also enjoyed lunch out by Felicia's pool and a lovely walk in her vineyard.

We could have lingered out here all day, but we dragged ourselves back to our projects. Actually, we were all so jazzed up about trying to create something as beautiful as those projects that Tammie had shown us, it wasn't that hard to get back to work.

The first step was to organize the 12 fabrics from lightest to darkest.

After that was done, we were invited to take three strips from each fabric and place them in the little divided plastic boxes we had been given.  We labeled the fabrics 1-12 and got to work.  I don't know who that chick is in the background, but it just goes to show you all sorts of gals are interested in this method.

The first step after getting all our fabric strips was to tape together our mosaic patterns.  Once the patterns were taped together, we were good to go.  The pattern was a grid of squares with numbers--yes from 1-12.  Imagine a Paint By Numbers canvas.   We affixed a sheet of Steam A Steam 2 on top of the paper pattern and peeled off the top layer so we had a sticky surface to set our fabric pieces on.  Steam a Seam is transparent, so we could clearly see the numbered grid of the pattern through it.  We snipped away at our fabric, creating bits that we set on top of the corresponding numbers.  It was mind blowing how fast this all went.  We chatted, listened to music, and nibbled on snacks while we worked.

Susan finished first, with this image of a baby.  She was so excited at her results!

Here is our instructor, Tammie Bowser, showing Melody's portrait of her beloved dog Andy.

Sara did a portrait of her grandmother, Nan.  The effect is like an Impressionist painting, isn't it?

I worked on an image of Sara's brother Ahren.  I was so excited at how well it came out, I was literally giggling with joy.  I even forgot to take off my dorky glasses for the photo.  Here is a close up, where you can see that the image is made of tiny squares and strips of fabric.

From a distance, the image takes on a sharper quality.

The final step is to fuse the mosaic to a piece of batting, choose a backing and machine quilt all the little pieces in place.  You use three threads, a light thread on the light areas, a medium thread color on the medium value pieces, and a dark thread over the darker areas. 

Isn't this technique awesome?  Thank you Felicia, for providing this wonderful day, and for introducing us to Tammie and her amazing technique.

Tammie Bowser

Sara and I had the most amazing day on Friday!  Our generous friend Felicia held a quilting class for a few friends at her beautiful new home.  She arranged for a guest teacher, the incomparable Tammie Bowser, to introduce us to a new technique.  Felicia set up a workspace for us in her garage, where we could spread out and have plenty of room to work on our projects.

Here is Sara, waiting for instructions.  She looks pretty excited, doesn't she?

What projects?  Well, Tammie's thing is that she creates quilted mosaic images from photographs.  She has a software program that you can download to create patterns from the photo of your choice.  Once the pattern is created, you use up to 12 fabrics in graded values from light, medium, to dark to re-create your photo in fabric.   Check out Tammie's website and blog at this address  http://www.tammiebowser.com  Tammie has been on Simply Quilts, has written several books, and is going to be on Good Morning America in the near future. 

Tammie began the day by giving us a short lecture on her history and a demonstration of some of her work.  Tammie started sewing at the age of 4, when she made herself a purple mini skirt!  She later graduated from The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and had a nearly 20 year career as a fashion designer.  She told us that she became weary of designing clothing and prayed for a new idea for a career.  She came up with the idea for Quilted Photography, and MosaicQuilts was born.  She has become an international quilt instructor, and just recently returned from a trip to Japan, where she was very enthusiastically received.

Here are some of Tammie's incredible pieces.

This is her grandmother, who was a ballerina as a child.  Can you believe that this is just made from tiny pieces of fabric?

Can you guess why Sara loved this piece?

This one is from a series Tammie did of famous Jazz musicians.

And this one is just for fun-

When this one was unveiled, our hostess quipped "I KNEW he looked familiar".

Come back tomorrow for more photos of our visit to Felicia's beautiful home and for pictures of what we accomplished in our class.  You won't believe your eyes.

Where Am I Going, and Why Am I In This Handbasket?

Where am I going, and why am I in this hand basket?  I tell you, things are falling apart around here.  The beds are unmade, the laundry is piling up, the dishwasher needs unloading, there are crumbs on the floor, and we are not even going to address the dust issue.  So why can't I keep up with my household tasks?  Because I am sewing for an hour every day that is why.  Something had to go, I told you that.  I jokingly suggested sacrificing exercise, but I don't really do that, so I can't give it up.

My schedule is insane.  I am working two part time jobs, around 45 hours a week, not counting commute time.  My family still thinks I should shop and prepare most of the dinners around here, so I have to fit that in.  But, I have stuck to my guns and have scrunched in one hour of sewing every single day.  More if I can.  And I am making slow but sure progress on my Summer Wind/Wuthering Heights quilt!  But, man alive, is the house a disaster!

Here are my star blocks laid out on the floor but not sewn on as the next border.  You get the idea of what it will look like.

So, is the sacrifice worth it?  YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just the best pattern.  If you don't have it, go buy it.  It is Summer Wind by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  It would look fabulous in any fabric group at all.  Anything.

Isn't this corner block fun?  Just a little sumpin' sumpin' different to jazz things up.

Prezzies

As it is my birthday month, the presents are still trickling in.  You just never know what will appear in the mailbox!  The glory you see in the picture above was sent to me by my friend Lisa of Stashmaster.  The very latest Sturbridge Village collection "Greens", 19 gorgeous Civil War prints designed by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Fabrics.  Needless to say I ADORE them!  I even have a plan for how I will use them.  They will be combined with some yummy harvest colors such as rust, gold, brown and green.

Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. has a new pattern coming out called Birdseye, which will be perfect for this fabric.  Lots of nine patches in this pattern, but the setting is easy and the piecing simple.  Look for the pattern, out soon.  This is a picture of the quilt top (from Carrie's blog post of June 6).  This is the perfect example of a quilt that looks far more complicated than it actually is.  You have got to love that!

Oh, the little chickie?  That was just for fun. She sure does go with the name of the proposed project, doesn't she? Lisa said it reminded her of my daughter Sara's chickens, plus it helped pad the fabric bundle in the box so it didn't rattle around.  I have it sitting on my desk and it is driving both Ozzie and Sophie insane.  They are wild to get at her.  Guess I had better tuck her away someplace safe!  Cluck.

PS:  Cheryl just started a quilting blog!  Go on over to Gran's Quilting Place and say "Hi".  She is super nice and has made some really pretty quilts.

Fudging

Ok, man alive, did I get comments from you all yesterday!  Didn't realize I had struck such a nerve. 

So, here is the untrimmed block I made with the wonky, not so perfect flying goose unit.  As you see, the block did come out a bit wonky.  I believe though, with proper trimming, this block could be usable.  I fudged the seam allowances, and I think that my points and intersections came out pretty acceptably.  With additional trimming, I would say that this block is salvageable.  This block was an experiment, an extra block, if you will.  I did not actually plan on using it in the quilt, in case it was impossibly "off" due to the poor flying goose unit.  I made an extra block to use in its stead, so my quilt would be to my usual standards.  You will have to see my finished quilt top to see if I ended up using this block or tossing it out due to shame.

That being said, I think, as the minority of you volunteered, that with a bit of fudging in the seam allowance, that imperfect flying goose unit could still be used without alteration.  If you make allowance in your seam and if you take the time to trim up the finished block.  And the quilt isn't going up for judging!

I am not advocating using poor sewing techniques or sloppy workmanship.  If your block units are sloppy, by all means re-do them.  However, if you are a skilled sewer, and the error is minor, it is absolutely possible to make allowances in the seams and make the block come out more square than not.  And I bet you my next pitiful paycheck that no one would notice.  Those points are all right there.  FYI, the wonky flying goose unit is the one at the top of the block. 

This is just my opinion.  If you are new to quilting, or the imperfection of the unit will haunt you til the end of your days, by all means, take the thing apart and re-sew it.  Toss it out and make a new one.  Don't let this sort of thing ruin your quilt or your attitude towards it.  Do what feels right to you.

There are two kinds of people in the world.  Fudgers and Non-Fudgers.  There is room for us both.

Fess Up.

You all know I was making flying geese units last week.  Most of them turned out fine and dandy like the one pictured at the top of my photo.  A few turned out not so great, like the one below.  See how the fabric doesn't match up at the top?

Obviously, both units need trimming (the little "dog ears" should be snipped off).  But here's the question.

What would you do with the lower unit?  Would you take it apart and re-sew it so everything lined up perfectly?  Or would you take your scissors and just trim that entire left hand top side so the top edge is lined up evenly?   Which of course would make your rectangle not so perfect.   You can always sort of fudge things when you sew the piece together with whatever it is lining up to, so the inner point is not completely cut into.  Can't you?  

What would you do?

 

My Hour A Day Progress This Week

Ok. I got shot down a bit for my choice of Breakfast at Tiffany's as an influential movie in my life, but hey, I was only 12 or 13 when I saw it.  I was a shallow teen.  I did see it again later and "got" the point that Holly was a big hot mess.  I don't fault myself too much for recognizing at my tender age that it is cooler to be a person of some style than a big schlump--even if I did miss the bigger point!  lol.   You should go read Susan's post about what movies have influenced her at different stages of her life.  She is just so thoughtful and smart.

So, here is what I accomplished this week, sewing for an hour a day.  I finished all the flying geese units for my 24 star blocks and completed 15 stars!  Better than nuthin'.

Sewing in small chunks of time totally works if you can organize yourself a bit.  It helps to be in production mode--either completing block units or the blocks themselves.  Have all your pieces cut out, lined up and ready to go.  You sit down, pick up your pieces and go to town.  You do not have time to fumble around finding things and organizing yourself.  You have got to do this in advance. 

Save the larger tasks such as cutting out fabric, setting out blocks, fitting borders for those days when you have larger blocks of time to complete a portion of the project.  With just an hour, it is amazing what you can do.  Even if you only finish six blocks a day, by the end of five days you have 30. 

So don't say "I have no time" or "Summer is just so busy for me".  Everyone can carve out one hour at the beginning or end of their day.  My hour is when I get home from work.  4:30 - 5:30.  By 5:30, my husband is on his way home and I need to scuttle around tidying up the house so he doesn't think I have been eating bon bons all day.  Some of you who are night owls could maybe grab an hour before bed.  Just try.  You will be amazed at how those little hourly increments add up---to a finished quilt!!!!

I am not opposed to sacrificing some other activity in order to make time to sew.  Exercising for instance.  (Just kidding.  Don't email me to tell me I am an idiot and will die before I am 65).

Have a marvelous weekend everyone!  Mwwwwwahhhh.  (That was a big fat kiss, in case you didn't know).  Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Movies That Changed Your Life

Have you ever seen a movie that literally changed your life?  Think about this for a bit.  Really think about it.  Then blog or email me about it!  I would love to know what meant something to you.

I found this such a compelling topic for thought, that I have challenged my husband and son to a dialog discussing the subject at length.  Our responses were so different, and so interesting.  When I was a young girl and saw Breakfast At Tiffany's, I determined that I would from that day on be a person of style and grace and character, just like Audrey Hepburn/Holly Go Lightly.  The fact that she pushed love away was lost on me at the time,  I just loved her look.  Seeing the movie again, I found her sad and lost.  But still damned attractive.  Interesting note--Marilyn Monroe was originally picked to star in this movie.  If that had been the case, I doubt it would have had the same impact on me.

When I was a bit older, and in college, I saw two movies that had even a greater impact on my persona.  One was The Pawnbroker, a movie about loss and the subsequent emotional detachment of an individual  who had suffered in a concentration camp.   Rod Steiger, who played the Holocaust survivor, experienced countless horrors at the hands of the Nazis, losing his family and best friend.  After the war, he emigrated to America where he opened a pawn shop in Harlem.  There, he witnessed many atrocities and much violence, but remained curiously detached from the suffering of others.  You would have thought he would have much empathy and compassion, but it was quite the opposite.  He had steeled himself to the meaninglessness of life.  At the movie's end, the loyalty and sacrifice of his shop assistant provokes him to an act of self mutilation that causes him at last to feel pain and awareness and empathy.  These were topics that had never crossed my mind in my entire life.  The movie was so eye opening and consciousness raising that I have thought of it often over the years.  How cruelty and meaness only perpetuate numbness and detachment and therefore more cruelty.  Wow.  This brings back some painful thoughts.  Self discovery isn't always about fun, fashion, and frivolity.

The other movie that influenced me was one starring Terrence Stamp and Samantha Egger, called The Collector, based on a novel by John Fowles.  This movie was all about different sorts of love, and mainly that you cannot MAKE someone love you.  In this movie, a nerdy butterfly collector kidnaps a beautiful art student and is determined that if he showers her with lovely things, she will come to love him.  He wants to own her, as something in a collection.  This movie is so complicated--it has to do with class differences, differences in attitudes and expectations and the fact that love is often just a huge delusion.  The plot even has parallels to Shakespeare's work The Tempest.  I loved the movie intellectually because it was so challenging , but also because it addressed the topic of loving someone for inauthentic reasons.  It reminded me of being a kid and catching a lightening bug in a jar, planning to make it my pet, only to find when I woke up the next morning, it was dead in the jar.

My son's most influential movie was one called Harold and Maude, a cult classic about a very disturbed, death obsessed young man who ultimately befriends and falls in love with an 80 year old woman.  This movie is all about love and the fact that it transcends what society deems acceptable norms.  Love for the right reasons, see the true essence of those personalities with whom you interact.  Don't be "normal" and love what society tells you to love.  Possessions and life are temporary, is what Maude teaches Harold. It is what you do every day with your life each and every day that matters most.  An intersting side note, Maude too was a Holocaust survivor, but instead of becoming numb and detached like the character in the Pawnbroker, embraced life with a zest that was amazing.  If you have not seen this movie, rent it immediately!



I think I am just going to have to tag a few people, I am so interested to hear what movies they say have influenced them.  So, I tag Susan of Blackberry Creek, Karen Dianne of Lee Haven, and Carol of Brown Quilts.  Also, my sister Mary, if you are reading this, email me what you think--I would love to know.

Flying Geese

 

I know I was just talking about Flying Geese blocks in my post yesterday, but these geese are for a different project.  I had two half days to sew over the weekend, and divided my time between two UFOs that have been calling out to me.  I know, Prairie Paisley was crying out plaintively for attention too, but he has to wait just a bit longer.  I had to use ear plugs, his whimpering was so distracting.

These geese are for a medallion style quilt I am making from another Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. pattern called Summer Winds.  I am using the Wuthering Heights fabric collection that was so popular a year or two ago.  (Not an original idea--I stole it from Camille Roskelly of Simplify).  The geese will form star points that will be made into blocks for the next border.  Twenty four star blocks to be exact!  The stars are good sized too, so this addition is going to make the quilt a lot bigger.

 

My plan is to sew for an hour a day every day this week NO MATTER WHAT.  I got half the geese made Saturday, and will get the rest done, plus some stars made, if I stick to my plan.  I will keep you posted on my progress.  Nothing is going to get done this summer if I don't figure out a way to make regular appointments with my sewing machine.

When I look at the picture above, you know what stands out to my eye?  The second border of square in a square blocks that were all made from light background prints.  I love that shabby chic effect and the way that border stands out from the darker ones on either side.

Goose in the Pond

Months ago (never mind how many...) I started a making a quilt that I had been planning in my mind for a year or more.  I knew the pattern I would use would be Toulouse, a wonderful offering by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  Carrie made her quilt in a Christmas fabric collection that was current when the pattern came out, but for the life of me I can't recall it's name.  Maybe one of you can.  It was Moda, was possibly by 3 Sisters and had green, red, white and aqua colorways.  Maybe from three years ago?

Maison de Noel by 3 Sisters for Moda.  Thank you Lisa!!!!!!

I let that fabric collection pass me by, but wanted my quilt to be red, white and green like Carrie's.  I collected just the right shades of reds and greens along with assorted white tone on tones that I had in my stash.  I don't know why but it took me forever to put these fabrics together.  I would start fiddling about auditioning fabrics in my stash, get tired of messing around, and put everything away.  Believe it or not, I didn't have to buy anything new to make this quilt.  All of it was already at home.  "A Free Quilt" as my sister Kate likes to joke.  Shop at home girls, you never know what you might have.

Months ago I cut out the fabrics and made the strip sets for the Rail Fence and Nine Patch blocks.  More time passed, and I got the half square triangles all done.  More months rolled by and just this weekend I got the first "Goose in the Pond" block together.  How cute is that?  The blocks are going to be separated by a pieced lattice and lots of flying geese around the border.  Lots of piecing for this little fellow.  But I like what I see!

Oh, and here is an anecdote on the name of the pattern:  Carrie found out that Toulouse is the name of a special kind of French duck.  A name that is nearly interchangeable with  "canard",  the real word for duck in French.  Since this pattern involves two blocks that are goose related-Goose in the Pond and Flying Geese, Toulouse sounded like just the perfect name for the pattern.

Linda tells me that the Toulouse goose or duck or whatever it is can't fly!  Too tubby to get off the ground?  Maybe it is the one in the pond?

Another Year

For someone who has decided that less fanfare is better than more when it comes to her birthday, a certain person may have celebrated a bit more than necessary this weekend.  It started out low key at the beginning of the weekend, but the party with the family on Sunday sort of did me in. 

My sisters planned a lovely dinner for me, which included homemade mini quiches, melt off the bone ribs, strawberry romaine salad, and fruit pizza.  I wish I had had my camera with me, but of course I forgot it.  Fruit pizza is a gigantic tart with a sugar cookie dough crust, topped with a layer of sweetened cream cheese, and then gloriously adorned with sliced fruit and glazed with orange marmalade.  It was out of this world. 

Still feeling a bit fuzzy this morning from all the good cheer.  I know I will liven up once those aspirin take effect.

I do want to share a gift I received all the way from Australia, from a dear friend named Mary Wood.  I met Mary through blogging and she has been with me since the beginning.  In the past she has sent me some lovely vintage linens from the shop where she works, but this time Mary out did herself with her generosity.  Just look at the work that went into this table cloth.  Isn't it exquisite?

This is really a masterpiece!  Thank you Mary, you are the best!

William Morris Fabric

On Pay Day, I ordered a bundle of the new William Morris Workshop fabric that Barbara Brackman has come out with for Moda.  I love William Morris reproduction fabrics and have a fair sized collection of them.  William Morris was an Englishman who is known for his skills as an architect, furniture designer, author, poet. and textile designer.  Talk about a Renaissance Man.  I wonder if he hadn't been so varied in his interests, what he might have done if he had focused completely on just one of the areas in which he was so skilled!  Here is a picture of his only surviving easel painting "La Belle Iseult"  (Wikipedia).

He was associated with the English Arts and Crafts Movement, and was a friend of the artist/poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  Morris ressurected the art of wood block printing for use in making wallpaper and textiles.  He also experimented with different sorts of natural vegetable dyes, which is why his textiles have such a soft beautiful quality.  If you love indigo, he had that color down pat.  His designs in fabric have continued to be loved for over 100 years, a great testimony to his skill and mastery of decorative arts.

This latest fabric design by Barbara Brackman-  I don't have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe how gorgeous the design and (especially) the color palette are.  Here is a quote from Barbara's website describing the designs of William Morris   "Inspirations included Celtic manuscript illustration, Arabic architecture, medieval tapestries and at the very heart --- a reverence for nature".

There is a soft sagey green, a warm brown, and my favorite-a soft tangerine color that is to die for.

 And the blues?  They are worthy of a quilt all on their own.  To see these fabrics more authentically, check out this site:  http://www.unitednotions.com/fcc_the_morris_workshop.pdf

I have the Morris Workshop fabrics mixed in with some of the blues from a previous collection called A Morris Garden, also by Barbara Brackman for Moda.  They work so well together. 

My only problem is that I don't know exactly what I will do with these beautiful pieces of fabric!  Two quilts for sure, but what patterns?  On Barbara's website there is a free pattern called Morning Star that would show off these fabrics well.  United Notions/Moda has a free pattern called A Morris Garden on their site as well.

If you want to learn more about William Morris and his life I recommend that you Google his name and start exploring!

These Darn Dogs

During interrogation, Ozzie confessed to the orange shoe incident.  We have decided to put him on probation, and keep our shoes out of his reach.  His episode with the shoe pales in comparison however, to the things his sister Sophie has been up to lately.

Warning:  If you are squeamish, stop reading right now.

I have said many times that Sophie is a girl who needs a job.  She is always vigilantly looking about for some kind of activity with which to occupy herself.  She doesn't destroy property typically, but we often  find that she has moved things about the yard when we come home from work.  The broom dragged out, the leather garden gloves taken down from their shelf, the plastic jug of lawn fertilizer left out on the grass, clothes taken down from the wooden clothes dryer.  Up until a month or so ago, she contented herself with rearranging articles during the day while she was left alone in the yard.  

But now, it seems Sophie has discovered her true calling.  She is a Huntress of Small Animals.  And damn, she is good at it.  My dogs are Welsh Terriers, known for their strong instinct to chase small fleeing creatures and skill at catching "vermin".   Some Welshies are good natured goof balls (Ozzie) and others are extremely serious (Sophie).  The breed originated in the British Isles for the purpose of keeping farms free of rats and other pesky creatures.  When on a hunt, it was these small tough terriers that would go down the fox hole at the end of the chase.

To our dismay, Sophie has shown herself to be quite good at catching birds, lizards and once, a roof rat.  Well, it was good that she caught the rat.  But those poor birds...  Anyway, yesterday when I got home from work I was going around tidying things up a bit in the kitchen and family room before my husband got home.  I noticed Sophie sitting by the open back door with a rather satisfied expression on her face.  Then I saw why.

By my gasp and the horrified expression on my face, she gathered I was not exactly thrilled with her accomplishment.  I don't know exactly what this creature was in life--a gopher?  a prairie dog?  a gigantic ground squirrel?  It is hard to tell from the picture, but this thing was BIG.  It must have weighed two or more pounds.

I felt bad that I may have disappointed my proud little huntress by my dismayed reaction to her kill, but what am I to do?  I don't want dead things on my family room carpet.  My mantra these days is "Thank goodness we didn't replace that carpet".  At some point, we may have to take it up and put in linoleum tile and a drain in the middle of the floor so we can hose things down.

So that is it folks.  The story of how my summer is going.

The Case of the Orange Shoe Murders

It happened again Dear Readers.  I fell asleep in front of the TV, with my husband dozing in his chair across the room from me.  While we were snoozing, some fiend entered the premises and murdered another one of my orange shoes.  Here is one of the crime scene photos.

The Coroner reports that this sandal is quite dead, but hopefully did not suffer too much at the hands of it's murderer.  Sob.  I loved that little sandal.  You may have figured out that I love shoes in general, but even though I have many, the orange ones I tend to gravitate to in summer are my favorites.

Who is this creature who is sneaking about executing poor innocent orange shoes?  It must be the same individual who committed the Double Orange Shoe murder in March of 08.  Why orange?  Tell me, what can we do to protect ourselves?

Ozzie has no idea either, but just to be sure, the Sheriff's Department has him scheduled for a polygraph today.

Backings and Borders and Bindings, Oh My!!!

My intent this weekend was to work on my Prairie Paisley Challenge that Lisa and I have going on.  She probably has her top to the quilters already at the rate I am going. 

I just couldn't buckle down to that project until I got the borders on two quilts that are a-l-m-o-s-t done.  That is Dandelion Girl you see in the picture above.  I attached an additional peach containment border and then the large pale yellow floral.  Now the quilt looks more finished to me, and is also a more usable size.  I have no idea why the border looks so rumply.  I swear I measured it exactly and also did matching pins at the halfway and quarterpoints along the quilt top. My quilter says my quilts lie flat when they are quilted, but that rumpled look really bugs me.  What is the secret?  Do you cut the border fabric a half inch shorter than the side of the top and then "make it work"?

This quilt is one of my all time favorites.  It is a Miss Rosie pattern called Opening Day and I chose Roman Holiday fabric to make it.  I wanted it to be queen sized, so I added the floral border.  It is huge now!  88 inches square I think!  Did I mention that I LOVE it?  This one is next up to go to the quilter.  This pattern would look similar in the new Glace collection by 3 Sisters.

Also on my To Do list are three binding projects and two backings projects.  I have no idea why I procrastinate with bindings the way I do.  I am fast and good at it, but the only time I have to stitch is in the evening and I can't see so well then.

I had a lovely weekend, in spite of having only one day off.  The weather here has been so overcast, foggy and dreary for the past two weeks, and finally it seems that we are going to have some "mostly sunny days".  In fact the weather has been so crummy, a friend invited my husband and I to a Gloom in June party Sunday night.  The idea was to dress up in colorful summery clothes and celebrate as if it were 80 degrees outside.  Well, it sure wasn't anything close to 80 degrees, but I did wear my white jeans and flip flops and a bright green shirt.  Our hostess wore her shorts and to her credit, never once put an afghan or blanket over her knees the entire evening.   We sat inside with the fireplace going, while gazing through the windows at the covered up patio furniture outside.

At the clothing store where I work in Carmel-By-The-Sea, tourists in tank tops keep coming in and asking if we have jackets and turtle necks.  Um, no, this is summer, don't you know?  One girl who at least had her season right came in to see if we carried bathing suits!  Imagine that!  A town located on one of the prettiest beaches in the world, and you can't find a bathing suit within the town limits.  All I could suggest was "Maybe you could go to Santa Cruz or Capitola?"  Pathetic.

How Much Do I Love Books?

I thought I would take you on a little tour around my messy house to see my book collection.  When I have mentioned that I LOVE books, I was not exaggerating.  One of the main reasons that we bought this house was because of all the built in book cases.

Here is the library.  I share this space with my husband.  Most of the books are mine; novels I have read and cannot bear to part with.  He has some law school texts and some travel books and poetry on his share of the shelves.

This is the family room.  These books consist of hard cover novels, cookbooks, gardening books, cookbooks, decorating books and more cookbooks.  I read somewhere that you should not fill every single space on the shelves with books, but should incorporate decorative items as well.  I can see from the photo that I need to re-evaluate this arrangement.  It is way heavier on the right than it is on the left.  Very poor balance.  Also my inclination to place a photo on the right hand side of each shelf is weird.

In my sewing room, I have a shelf devoted to quilting books.  It is totally messy.  I try to put the books in some sort of sensible order so I can find things when I want them, but it gets messed up in no time.  It takes me forever to put my hands on the thing I want.  Not too long ago, these shelves were jammed full, every single shelf, but I gave away a ton of books.

Last but not least, the place where things end up if I run out of space in the house, or are falling out of love with the book in question.  Or books I am embarrassed to have on the shelves where guests can see what I am reading.  All diet and exercise books, plastic surgery books, how to age gracefully books, for instance.  No, no, no.  Those are out in the garage.

Man, what a mess (I think I have used that word six times in this post).  I can see what I ought to be doing this weekend.