Sister's Choice Quilts

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?

 

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.