Sister's Choice Quilts

Amadeus

Last night after work I drove 20 miles in the pouring rain to an open sewing class at my favorite quiltshop Prairie Queens.   Why on earth would I do that, instead of going home to a nice dinner, a fire in the fireplace, and a lovely glass of chardonnay?  Simply because the shop is welcoming, the staff is friendly, and they always have some new merchandize to drool over...  and my latest quilt was ready for pick up.  This is it, the Miss Rosie Amadeus pattern, made up in Fig Tree Buttercream and Figs fabrics.  Isn't it pretty?  You must see a close up of the beautiful quilting.

I actually did accomplish some  sewing last evening, even though much of my time was spent admiring my newly finished quilt, chatting with friends, and purchasing a thing or two which shall be revealed in a future post.  More on that tomorrow!

Hour A Day Quilt

At my Banish the UFO's sewing group yesterday, a couple of my friends held up the finished Hour a Day quilt so I could take a picture.  Sorry for the tables and machines in the foreground--they couldn't get back any further.  The finished quilt has kind of a Mackenzie-Childs look to it, don't you agree?

Be Afraid

Be afraid.  Be VERY afraid.  I am about to reveal more about myself than you may want to know.  The photo above depicts my "stash closet" in all its untidy disorganization.  When we moved into this house, I had the double closet in my sewing room customized to be mostly shelving for my fabric bundles, fabric lengths, and on-going projects.  You only see half the contents of the closet in this picture, so you must use your imagination.  You can certainly tell I like fabric bundles.

Now, dear reader, I will share with you a sight I only allow my very closest acqaintences in on.  We're friends, right?  Be prepared, it is not for the faint of heart.

This is where I keep my auxillary back up fabric, should the vast quantity in my closet not suffice for any given project.  This fabric is organized in plastic bins according to color or theme.  I seem to have a real prediliction to collecting green fabric in particular, as you can see below.

Recently my husband looked deep into my eyes with an expression of grave concern. "Dear, do you really feel that it is necessary to keep such a large inventory of fabric on hand?"  Umm, yeah, I do. 

Cold Comfort

I've had a bad cold this week.  A really bad cold.  The kind of cold that starts out as a scratchy irritation in the back of your throat, which in no time flat, grabs hold of your total being and reduces you to abject snozzelly misery.  This particular cold has run rampant through every member of my extended family, which is the only down side to our custom of all gathering together each Sunday for dinner.  One person, who shall remain nameless, had said cold two Sundays ago.  One by one, at least a dozen family members have succumbed to its wretched ways.

I comforted myself this morning with a snuggle under my favorite cozy blue quilt, a cup of hot tea using my prettiest tea set, and best of all, a big old piece of hot buttered toast.  It makes an appealing picture, doesn't it?  What you don't see are the aspirin bottle, sticky cough medicine spoon, and the forty wadded up tissues overflowing the wastebasket.  Never mind, the quilt was a comfort, the tea was restorative, and man, that toast was good.  I feel better already.

Trimming

Oh boy.  Trimming.  As mentioned in a previous post, I am participating in Judy Laquidara's Quilt for an Hour a Day project and have completed twelve blocks.  The blocks have come together beautifully, but do require trimming down to size.  The little pile of bits shown in my picture represents a LOT of trimming time.  It's a drag, but has to be done to ensure that all the blocks are uniform in size.

I love these blocks!!  Twelve down, eight to go....Do check out Judy's blog link for a look at the finished layout.  There will be a green latice and checkerboard border that is too cute.

Falling Out

We had house guests last weekend.  My daughter, her husband, and one of their friends were going camping in Big Sur over the long weekend.  Our house is about half way between Big Sur and where they live, so they asked if they could stay with us on Friday night.  One of my favorite things is to have a house full of people, so I was inspired to plan a fun dinner, get some fresh flowers, and dig out some old dishes I haven't used in a while. 

These dishes, "Old Country Roses" by Royal Albert, have become quite commonly seen. So ubiquitous, that I seldom use them, allowing them to sit for years at a time at the bottom of my china cabinet.  Since they worked well with my pink hydrangea table arrangement, I dragged them out for my dinner.

Aside from the pattern being rather widespread, part of  my ambivalence towards these dishes comes from the manner in which I acquired them.  I just can't get past the association I have with them.

Thirty seven years ago, when I was a young bride,  the mother of  one of our friends surprised me by offering to give them to me.  I couldn't believe someone would give me an entire set of dishes for 12, as they were a popular design at the time, and rather expensive.  It turns out, she had been given the set of dishes by a dear friend with whom she had had a major falling out.  The sight of the dishes reminded her of their ruined friendship and whatever offense she had suffered at the hands of this no longer loved individual.  She wanted both the friend and the dishes out of her life.

So, when I see these dishes, I tend to feel a bit sad.  Who hasn't had a friend from whom we have become estranged?  What happens to end a relationship that was once so valued?  Why do we make painful associations with innocent objects that remind us of our losses?  They are only dishes after all.

Be My Baby

I made a baby quilt this weekend.  Want to know why?

When I was a little girl, people would ask me, as adults are apt to do with children, "So, Nicki, what do you want to be when you grow up?"  I always gave the same answer, to everyone's amusement.  Forget about ballerinas, nurses, teachers, and veterinarians.  "I want to be a grandma" is what I always said. 

Since my parents were striving young people in their early twenties when I was born, they couldn't afford the luxury of having my mom stay home with me during the day.  My father was finishing his college degree and Mom worked as a secretary to an airline executive.  It was my very good fortune to have two amazing grandmothers who looked after me during the day while my parents were occupied. 

Grandma Agnes was a large, comfortably built woman, with a large bosom, big plastic earrings, and an astonishing array of aprons that she wore over her house dresses.  Grandma Agnes was a fantastic cook, but her culinary expertise took a back seat to her skill at playing cards with the ladies in the neighborhood.   I was always welcome to stand on a step stool and help her out in her kitchen, or to spend hours rummaging through her impressive collection of costume jewelry. Nonnie, my other grandma, was a more elegant and refined woman, who never refused to drop what she was doing in order to read a story to me.  She taught me to cherish books, to speak French, and to love sewing.  She liked her dresses silky, her coffee with a touch of chicory, and once travelled by herself hundreds of miles to New Orleans to explore the city.  Both grandmothers, although very different in their style and approach to life, were optimistic, affectionate women who loved me unconditionally.  I wanted to be exactly like them when I grew up.

I grew up, as children do, and actually did inherit many of my grandmothers' qualities.  Weight has always been a struggle for me (thanks Grandma Agnes), I definitely got the bosoms, I adore jewelry, cooking, reading, traveling, sewing, and anything French.  About the only trait that didn't get passed on to me was the ability to play cards, but you can't have it all.

So, dear reader, you may ask "Well, did you get your wish?  Are you a grandmother?"  My answer:  "Not yet."

My son is single, and entering graduate school.  Becoming a parent is, to say the least, not on his agenda.  My lovely daughter Sara did get married last August, but it seems that having children immediately is not at the top of her "to do" list either.  Some day I may get my heart's desire and be somebody's loving grandma, but for now, I will have to content myself with making baby quilts, dreaming about that sweet child to be, and getting ready for the big day.

Scrappy Quilts

I adore a scrappy quilt.  No sense in using four or five fabrics when forty or fifty are so much more interesting.  Oh, I have made my share of planned quilts that involve specific amounts of yardage using just a few different fabrics, but those quilts tend to bore me.   In my mind, the main attraction of designing a quilt is to use color as an artist would, incorporating many pleasing patterns, hues, scales, values, and contrasts.  I also love the historical aspect of scrappy quilt.  The pioneer woman of 150 years ago had to use scraps of used clothing, feed sacks, or other materials because those were the only things on hand to make a bed covering.   I have always admired and respected this skill and resourcefulness, even though as a modern day quilter, I have thousands of choices (maybe even from my own stash!) when it comes to making a quilt.

My favorite style of scrappy quilt is one that has some sense of organization in the colors that are used.  In the quilt pictured above, for example, I knew I wanted to use a palette of purples and greens.  (Who doesn't love a purple and green quilt!?!)  As with many of the quilts I make, my inspiration often comes from nature. The myriad shades of greens and lavenders in this arrangement of hydrangeas was what I was going for.

I wanted as many shades of purple, lavender, mauve, sage, celery, lime, and olive as I could get my hands on.  The collecting and assemby of these fabrics was pure joy.  I bought fat quarters and quarter yard or eighth yard cuts of well over sixty fabrics for this quilt.  Combining the color combinations (careful not to repeat any) was a past time that caused me to lose happy hours at a time.

In the end, mainly because I was having so much fun making them, I made over 100 blocks!  I picked my favorite 90 blocks and created a quilt I have never gotten tired of.

 

Quilt For an Hour a Day

I have been having a lot of fun with an on-line project sponsored by Judy Laquidara of Sunshine Quilts.  Judy has created an original quilt design and has broken the construction down into one hour increments.  The idea is, you can create her quilt in approximately sixteen one hour installments.  Best of all, part of the game is to only use fabric in your stash!  Since this thrifty notion fits into my February Fabric Diet (brain child of my friend Lisa), I decided to give it a go.  In January, I had purchased the gorgeous fabric bundle "Folklorique" from The Fatquarter Shop, and it has been calling out to me each time I passed by the closet where it is being stored.  I had ample fabric in my stash for the cream background and chocolate checkerboard border.  Judy's instructions, illustrations and photos are very clear.  By hour 8, I had gotten to the point where I could start putting a block together, which you can see above.  With the yummy spring colors of the Folklorique fabric, and the strong contrast of the chocolate and cream, I think this quilt is going to be a winner.  I may have to push this project to the head of my queue! 

Feeling Like Spring

I spent the day puttering around the house, going to the plant nursery and bringing out my spring quilts.  There is a fresh lovely scent in the air that promises Spring is really on its way.  Every February I am thankful that I live in California, when the plum trees blossom, the daffodils start coming up, we get a few days where the temperatures are in the high 60s, and the rest of the country is still shoveling snow!  Won't be long and I'll be dragging out my sandals and cropped jeans!Sorry all my cold climate friends, I don't mean to rub it in.

This little quilt is a sweet one.  The nine patch and quarter square triangle blocks took no time at all to piece together, but the appliqued border was another story.  Not trusting my machine applique skills, I decided to give needle turn hand applique a try.   Some work on it would be achieved and I would put the project away.  Pretty soon, it was put away more than it was being worked on.  Three years after I began the top I finally finished the hand work.  Don't look too close; my applique skills are a bit primitive.  If you would like to see how a pro does it right, check out Darlene's current project.  She is working on a lovely Bunny Hill Designs applique quilt.