Sister's Choice Quilts

Snap Out of It!

 

Thanks to all of you for your uplifting and encouraging comments to my post yesterday.  I really appreciate everything you all suggested.  I have been kind of bored and at loose ends lately, but am definitely going to "snap out of it", as Mary Englebreit likes to say.  It is amazing how many of you have felt exactly the same way!  What a wonderful community blogging has introduced me to.  I am so grateful to know all of you!  I have gone from having just a couple of good friends to having dozens!!!

Isn't it strange how suddenly having time to do exactly as one wishes is such a difficult thing to adjust to when you have always led a busy life?  How odd that one can't be happy with whatever stage of life one is in at the moment!  If I am really busy, I crave peace and solitude.  Give me solitude, and I crave activity!  I must be patient with myself and learn to love the life I am living.

One thing I have been doing is a lot of reading.  I have always been a good multi-tasker, so I have several books that I am reading right now. (Weird, but I have always been able to read several books at one time).  Eat, Pray, Love is a great book about a woman who decides to take a year off and spend four months each in Italy, India, and Indonesia.  Fascinating.  The other book I am enjoying is The Saffron Kitchen, a gripping story of an Iranian mother and her complicated relationship with her English/Iranian daughter.  I am also zipping through Cesar's Way, a remarkable story of a Mexican immigrant who is a natural wiz at dog training.

My son took the bed that was in my sewing room off to his new apartment in Santa Margarita, so now I have room for a reading nook.  Here is a picture of where I have been spending a lot of time lately.

And here is where I have not been spending a single minute:

 

I have some good plans for the weekend, with my husband, which I am looking forward to.  We will drive up to Granite Bay to visit my sister and her husband, then spend Friday in the Lake Tahoe area.  Saturday is set aside for fun and socializing.  Plus, you just never know what surprises there might be along the way....

   

Jump, and the Parachute Will Open

This is kinda the way I have been feeling lately.  I need to take the plunge, but can't quite seem to do it.  Maybe I need a teensy push?

Things are awfully quiet around my house.  I am not working anymore; my husband just started a new job, our son moved away to grad school; our daughter is recently married and has a very busy life; and my beloved dog Jeeves died.  Oh, I suppose I could sew or read or work in the garden or start an exercise regime.  But I don't.

It is hard to find a new path after years and years of doing the same thing.  I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to do, but don't seem do take much action.  Not that the thing I used to do was all that thrilling, it is just hard to figure out something new and different and rewarding.  I can't be too old to start a new venture.  If only I knew what it was....

I'm working on it though!  I'll let you know when it reveals itself to me.

The Brown Leather Chair

I have a cool Halloween quilt that needs the binding sewn on.  I made the quilt LAST Halloween, but just have not gotten around to this last step in the finishing process.  The quilt was super hard to do, with all those Plan-Ahead-Tessellations.  I don't even want to think about how I held my breath through that entire construction process, for fear I was going to get a color wrong or a piece sewn on kitty-wampus.

But that isn't what I want to talk about.  The subject of this post is the brown leather chair.  My husband and I bought that chair for our son five years ago when we moved into our present home.  Our son was living in college housing at that time, and had no room for the chair in his room at school, so we got to keep it in our living room, where I have gotten quite used to it.  A week ago, our son (who has been home since January when he graduated) moved down to Cal Poly, where he is a graduate student.  He found a fabulous rental unit on a horse ranch in Santa Margarita and now has his very own proper home, with loads of room for all the furniture he wants.  He would like his brown leather chair back now.

I love that chair.  And I don't want to give it up.  It is rich in symbolism to me.  When I sit in the chair I think of my son and how he will spend many hours in it reading, studying, and relaxing.  Just like I spent so many hours in a certain rocking chair with him when I brought him home from the hospital.  Just like I spent so many hours with him on my lap, reading stories to him when he was a little boy.  When I see the chair in my living room, I am pleased with its solidarity and the way it fits so well into our home.  I am reminded of my son, who is now a man furnishing his own home, of which this chair will be a focal point.  The chair is incredibly comfortable, and I will miss sitting in it.  My son, who for years was a bit unsure of himself, is now comfortable in his own skin and confident in his ability to move successfully and independently through the world.  We have spent many an hour sitting in this chair by the fireplace, discussing matters of importance and personal philosophies.   I will miss him being around. 

I do not want to give up this chair.  But I must.

Missing In Action

I know, I know, I have really been missing in action lately.  I'm sorry for the lack of regular posts and am extremely grateful to all of you who check my blog regularly to see what I am up to.  I'll tell you in a minute.

Sunday I attended a Banish the UFOs get-together (that is the name of my sewing group).  We get together three times a month to sew on whatever project we are currently working on.  I love these gals and look forward to seeing them enormously.  The significant thing about our meeting on Sunday was that it was in a brand new location.  We have met for the past 10 years at Eddie's Quilting Bee in Mountain View, California.  Well, Eddie upped and moved on us!  He has a fabulous new location in the next town over, Sunnyvale.  The new store has two floors, two class rooms, an elevator, a kitchen, brand new tables and chairs in our classroom, great lighting---well I could just go on and on. 

I took my Jelly Bellies project with me, hoping I could make sense of the stacks of numbered rows I had placed carefully together.  What I accomplished in the five hours I was there you can see above.  Six rows.  Out of twenty.  I was a bit distracted, as you might imagine.  I had to get up and wander around the new shop several times while I was there, in order to take it all in.  Tomorrow I am going back, and I will take my camera this time, and see if I can get some photos to share with you.  Also, maybe I will get a bit more sewing done!

What have I actually been up to, that is consuming all my time?  Clothes.  Specifically, I have been helping out my cousin Claudia with her fashion business.  She is a consultant for Carol Anderson By Invitation (CAbi).  I have been helping her do trunk shows and get ready for a big fashion show coming up, and she is basically paying me with clothes.  Actually, I have bought more than she has given me, but oh boy, am I having fun.  Look at the detail on this coat---

 

Hidden Meadows

Some of you noticed this quilt in the background of a photo of my Featherweight a week or so ago and asked about it.  This quilt is very subtle--what they call a "blended" quilt.  All the colors are pretty much the same tones so one print or color just blends into the next, making the individual blocks hard to pick out at first glance.  I loved making this quilt.  The blocks were super simple, and the fabrics were old Robyn Pandolph prints from the days when she worked as a designer for Moda.  It was her fabric designs that got me hooked on Moda ages ago.  These are from one of her "Folk Art Wedding" collections.  I think.  Don't hold me to that!   If you recognize the fabric, leave me a comment as to what it really is.

The pattern came from a book called Floral Bouquet Quilts from In The Beginning.  I don't know if it is still in print, but if you can get your hands on a copy, I highly recommend it.  It is absolutely full of one gorgeous quilt pattern after another.  Believe me, you will want to make every single quilt in the book, so it is well worth searching for it.  This pattern is called "Hidden Meadows" and is comprised of four different blocks:  a large floral one patch, nine patch blocks, four patch blocks and five patch blocks.  I made mine larger than the pattern in the book because I wanted to be able to use it on a queen size bed.  The size in the book is 55'"x 67".  The block sizes are 6 inches.  Very shabby chic, yes?  And a great way to use up a fabric bundle.  Imagine how this would look in darker, richer colors.  It was fun to make, and I am sure even a beginning quilter would enjoy this project and be successful.

Happy Birthday Kate!!!

istockphoto

OK, I have to admit I stole the idea from my sister Andrea, but the sentiment is still my own.  My fabulous sister Kate is celebrating a special birthday today and I want to acknowledge what a great sister she is and how much I love her.  Kate and her husband Robert are away in Las Vegas, trying to cheer up on this momentous occasion.  I will never tell how old she is.....

I remember back in the day when I was experiencing a major milestone birthday, Kate stopped by my house and left a vase of sweet peas at my back door so I would see them as soon as I got home.  That was probably one of the most thoughtful things anyone ever did for me, and it meant a lot.  I don't really like my birthday much, and her quiet recognition of the day was exactly right.

Kate is also my quilting buddy.  We go to the same quilting group a couple of times a month and have made some terrific friends, as well as having improved our quilting skills side by side.  I am so grateful to be able to share my passion for quilting with my sister!  She has many admirable traits besides being a marvelous quilter; namely her patience, her even disposition and her expertise as a top notch baker.  I could go on and on, but she is embarrassed enough by now. 

Happy Birthday Kate!  We will celebrate properly on Sunday, complete with black arm bands and a fire extinguisher for all the candles on your cake.  Just kidding....

Here is a photo of Kate peeking around one of her gorgeous quilts:

Like I Said.....

Since my dear son in law needed to use our guest room, the bed in which, I was using as a place to lay out my quilt blocks had to be cleared off.  I took your advice and so you can see my stack of a couple hundred snowball blocks and pieced triangles, all stacked up and labeled by row.  There were 20 rows. 

I got out my lint roller sticky thing and ran it all over the coverlet and picked up all the little threads and strings.  Then I got out a finished quilt and laid it out on the bed so it would be all fresh and nice for him.

The moment I finished, the phone rang and it was said dear son in law.  The winery where he works has postponed his trip down here to pick up a load of grapes until later in the week.

Like I said, a design wall is a really good idea.

P.S.  I was really looking forward to his visit too!

Why a Design Wall is a Really Good Idea

I know many of you must have design walls in your quilting studios.  They are the ideal place to arrange your blocks to achieve perfect placement, leave them up for days on end to consider your layout, and just generally have a place to display your quilt blocks as you complete a quilt top.

I do not have a design wall.  Occasionally, with a smaller project, I have been known to tape a piece of flannel to the closet door and pin up a few blocks.  I love the concept of a design wall, I just don't have a nice clear wall upon which to hang one.  I am really regretting that.

In the photo above, you see the bed in my guest room, covered with hundreds of snowball blocks and pieced triangle setting squares.  I spent hours yesterday laying them all out on the bed, rearranging them until I was completely satisfied with the look.  Today I had planned to sew the 19 diagonal rows together.

Well, I received two phone calls last night that changed my plans completely.  One was an invitation to have lunch with friends at the Hog's Breath in Carmel (who could pass that up?), and the second was from my dear son in law.  He called to ask sweetly if he might stay over at our house tonight and use our guest room.  The winery where he works has asked him to come down to our area and pick up some grapes from some other winery.  Of course we are delighted to have him all to ourselves, and I will plan some kind of fun dinner and we will have a ball this evening.

My immediate problem is now what on earth am I going to do with these gazillion blocks on the bed?  If I had a design wall in my studio, I could just shut the door and sew the rows some other time when my house and calendar were less full.  Should I carefully pick them all up and label them as Row One, Row Two etc?  Can I possibly keep it all straight?  Will my assembly end up with blocks all turned the wrong way or with the same prints right next to each other?  Or should I just pick 'em all up and lay them all out another day?

Sure wish I had a design wall.

OK, This is Funny

istockphoto

Ever imagine yourself as having a completely different persona?  I'm not a housewife, I am a DIVA, and my name is  "Elizabeth Huron" (my middle name and the street I first lived on).  And that's my photo above.   Right.  Pamkittymorning is doing a fun thing on her blog, where you make up various names for yourself based on specific instructions.  She said that Monica (Happy Zombie) started it.  Here's how it works:

I).  YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet and current car)---Frisky Infinity

2).  YOUR GANSTA NAME (favorite ice cream flavor and fave cookie)---       Mocha Sugar

3).  YOUR FLY GUY/GAL NAME (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
       N-Ree

4).  YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)---Red Lion

5).  YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)---Elizabeth Ann Arbor

6).  YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)---Ree-Ni

7).  SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)--- The Blue Chardonnay

8).  NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)---John Gerald

9).  STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)--- Must Skor

10).  WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) ---        Ann Cornelius

11).    TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)---Leonard Larkspur

12).  SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)---                  Spring Begonia

13).  CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
        Raspberry Jeanie

14).  HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)---                Latte Ginkgo

15).  YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
        The Quilting Thunderstorm Tour

OK, now it's your turn!

Snow Ball Block Question

I am making hundreds of Snowball blocks for the Miss Rosie quilt pattern "Jelly Bellies".  As you probably know, a common technique that is used when constructing this block, is to sew a square diagonally across the four corners of a larger block.  The excess fabric then needs to be trimmed away to eliminate bulk.  Tell me friends, how do you trim your block corners?  Are you confident enough in your accurate piecing to trim everything away, or do you trim just the middle layer so you know that your block is perfectly square?