Sister's Choice Quilts

Let's Have Some Color

Hey there.  Hope you all had a good weekend.  Mine was pretty good, with great springtime weather, some family time, and some sewing thrown in for good measure.  I got the center section of Victory Stars all sewn together, and am going to set that project aside for a bit.  I will be adding a beautiful border of stars all around the center section, but not for a few months. 

I love this project, I really do, but am craving some brighter colors right now. I've got a couple of projects in mind, and will be sharing my plan as soon as I formulate it a bit better.

Have you heard of Hyacinth Quilt Designs?  Cindy Lammon is the designer and blog writter, and does some truly beautiful work using more modern fabrics and designs.  I am quite smitten with her most recent quilt, Kaleidoscope.  You have to go take a look.  She has used a palette of orchids and greens from a Heather Bailey collection, and the Kaleidoscope quilt block makes the most interesting visual pattern.  This quilt just screams SPRING. 

Have any of you made the Kaleidoscope block?  I have been looking up construction techniques and there are a number of options.  The block can be paper pieced, or you can use templates for cutting, or special rulers.  I am stymied as to how to proceed, but know I must make this quilt!

And It Made All the Difference

A fat eighth bundle of Barbara Brackman's Metropolitan Fair fell into my lap this week.  I was so pleased to receive it and not just a little bit blown away by how gorgeous the colors in that line are.  There are soft reds, mellow pinks, medium tone blues, yellowish greens, cocoa browns, silvery greys...These colors are inspirational, I am telling you.

I have a project that is hanging over my head from a wonderful class I took this summer at Buggy Barn.  The pattern is by Red Crinoline Quilts, and is called Hill Country Baskets.  The block is actually called "Cactus Basket" I think.  Anyway, the class was awesome, the instructor inspirational, the project wonderful, and the kit that was included in the class price...not my cuppa tea.

I tried, people, really.  I tried to embrace those burgundys, navys, forest greens and blackish browns.  I tried.  The fabrics are perfectly fine.  Very fine.  I've used them before, and I will use them again.  But not right now.  Just not what I am in the mood for these days.

Years ago, I had a quilting mentor who commented that I had been using a very dark palette over the past months.  Was everything ok at home? she asked.  What?  Why?   Turns out she had a theory that when a person immerses themselves in very dark  murky colors it is indicative of their internal mood/state of mind. Dark colors = a dark mood.

Don't you just hate that when someone sees right through you?  By golly, she was dead on.  I was in a funk and wallowing in it, and had been for some time.

At this time in my life, I am struggling to make the best of several situations and am finding that I am so drawn to more cheerful, brighter colors in my surroundings, clothing, and quilting projects.  My Hill Country Basket project has been weighing me down, and making me feel dreary, and I think it is because of the somber colors of the fabric.

So, when this bundle of Metropolitan Fair fabric arrived on my doorstep, I was energized.  Super charged.  I could see right away that this was what my Hill Country Basket quilt project needed.   A shot in the arm.  No.  A complete overhaul!

I got up at dawn the next morning and started cutting into that gorgeous fabric bundle.  I eliminated the dark forest greens, navy blues and blackish browns.  I replaced them with the lighter silvery toned colors in the Metropolitan Fair collection and everything has changed.  I can still use my backgrounds, my lattice fabric, and I believe even my setting triangle fabric and border from the original kit.  But that addition of those lighter colors has changed everything.  And for the better.

Hope to show you a couple of Hill Country Basket blocks next week.  I am sweating over my Halloween 1904 project.  Focusing, don't you know.  But I may just have to multi-task and make a couple of basket blocks using my gorgeous new fabric!

Focus

I am in full production mode over here.  Even burning the midnight oil, which I never do.  I am not a night owl by any stretch of the imagination, but if any sewing is going to get done, it is going to happen after dark.

Yesterday I took Grandpa to the doctor, and then out to lunch.  He was so grateful to get out of the house, and have some attention.  We went to Applebee's after his appointment and he was so excited to have a lunch date.  As we were going into the restaurant he said "You take such good care of me".  Aw.  Don't you hope that when you are 91 years old you are still loved and appreciated?  I sure do.   And I am honored to be part of Grandpa's life.

So, while I was waiting in the doctor's office, I was texting my friend back and forth.  She is working on Halloween 1904 and has been sending me some pictures of her progress.  I am so excited about this project and as you know, I began mine last week too.  And I worked on Shiloh.  And I got very jazzed about receiving Metropolitan Fair and completely changed up yet another project to incorporate it.  That is three projects that are vying for my attention.

As we chatted about Halloween 1904 my friend asked, "Can you focus?"

Silence. 

Focus?  On what?  Oh, my Halloween 1904 project?

Um.  Well.  Yeah.  Maybe I should do that.  One thing at a time.  Focus.  Right.  I can do that.

You know how at the begining of the year, a lot of bloggers pick a word and try to set that as their goal for the upcoming year?  Shoot, I never did that.  Why would I want to do that?  But now maybe I have a word for something I should aspire to.

Focus.

Is It Them, Or Is It Us?

Have you all been following the debate on Humble Quilts?  On her blog this week, Lori posted a thoughtful comment on how in her opinion, quilting magazines have not been all that exciting lately.  In fact, she feels the quality is so lacking that she is letting her subscriptions go (even to American Patchwork & Quilting!).

You should go read the comments she got.  Fascinating.  So many people completely agreed with her and said they were going to let their subscriptions lapse, or stop buying the magazines at the store.  I even left a comment saying I got more excited about the patterns in my old issues than I do for the ones in recent issues.  I will still buy, but the thrill is less than it used to be.

One of her readers sent a link to Lori's post to the editor of AP&Q, and Elizabeth Beese, Senior Editor, sent her a personal response.  Elizabeth's reply was so gracious and full of questions on what could be done to make the magazine better.  Her sincerity showed through her words, to me anyhow.  What designers interest us?  What sorts of patterns?  Would we like more primitive designs?  What could they do to improve?

The really interesting part of the whole post was the comments from readers, who were really forthcoming in what they felt.  Last I looked there were over a hundred comments to Lori's two posts on the subject, and most of them were in agreement that the quality of quilting magazines is less than it used to be.  I really recommend that if you haven't been following it, you might want to check it out at Humble Quilts.

The most recent issue of AP&Q that I could lay my hands on quickly was the April issue.  I had breezed through it right when I brought it home from the store, but hadn't looked at it again.  And I am a person who used to sit for hours studying the latest issue and sticking Post-It notes on the projects that interested me.  So,  I picked up the April issue and gave it another look.

I don't know exactly why I wasn't that inspired.  There was a great quilt by Homestead Hearth in Civil War pink fabrics, and a lovely patchwork and applique quilt by Kim Diehl.  Over all a nice mix of advanced patterns and a few that would be ok for a beginner.  There was a balance of projects using modern fabrics and traditional fabrics.  A very good article about Kaari Meng of French General.  There should have been something in that issue for everyone. 

I just do not know why I wasn't bowled over, as I may have been in the past.  Am I getting jaded and it is going to take a real stunner to wow me?  Am I like a teenager who plays too much violent video games and gets immune to violence?  You know, how it takes more and more to thrill them?  God forbid, are we like prescription pain pill addicts who need more and more to get that good feeling?

The whole debate made me wonder if it is the magazines that have changed or if it is we consumers.

 

Improvements Being Made

This isn't actually me, measuring my own waist, but things have definitely improved in that area over the past six months.  Since October, I have lost 22 pounds!  I am just so happy about that! 

My secret?

Yup, that is pretty much it.  Lots of fruit.  Fruit for breakfast, fruit for lunch (along with a half sandwich or small portion of leftovers from the previous night's dinner), and a normal dinner at night (no second helpings!).  And every day I have had my wine.  Cannot give that up.  I may have even had more than one glass a day. 

The weight loss has been slow and gradual, but I am happy as can be.  I wasn't terribly heavy to start with, but now that 20 some pounds are gone, I feel so much better!  All my clothes fit better, and I am definitely down a size (almost two sizes) in pants.  Now that is a good thing!

Have any of you had a weight loss success recently?  What was your secret?  Share!  We all want to know!

Be sure to check out Cupcakes 'n' Daisies today for Thelma's day of the Fat Quarter Winners book tour.

 

 

Let's Talk About "Dumbing Down"

 
There has been much discussion in the past week about the "dumbing down of quilting".  I have been giving the topic a lot of thought and wanted to share my feelings with you.

First of all, what does "dumbing down" mean?  Basically, it is a negative term for things that are overly simplified, specifically to appeal to those of little education or intelligence.  In quilting, I believe it refers to a simplification of technique, a decline in creativity, a degradation of standards, and the overall undermining of the entire craft.

 
Whoa.  Them's fightin' words, Ma.  So, do you think it's true? 

Here's what I think. 

There is absolutely a place for simple patterns and easy, fast projects.  In today's economy, so many of us have very few hours to spend on an interest such as quilting (or scrapbooking, or embroidery, or basket weaving for goodness sake).  A quilt we can make in a weekend is appealing for a lot of reasons.  Some of us will take the Turning Twenty pattern and run with it.  My own daughter, who was working full time, made five Turning Twenty quilts--one for each of her bridesmaids, before her wedding!  She was an inexperienced quilter, but after making five of those babies, she sure had a grasp of a quarter inch seam allowance and the value of accurate cutting.  Were the quilts simple?  Sure, but the fabrics for each were especially chosen for each recipient, and the lessons in color placement, tone, and value were invaluable to a new quilter.  The quilts were quilted beautifully by a paid professional, and without exception, every one was received with joy by the recipient.  Does she have a desire to make another Turning Twenty quilt?  Uh, that would be a no.  But the experience served its purpose, don't you see?  Now she is ready to move on.

Will my daughter make more quilts?  You bet.  And you can count on any future quilts being more complex and involving more advanced techniques.

You see, the thing is, we all have to start somewhere.  Do you remember your first quilting project?  Or second, or third?  Remember the thrill you had going through magazines or books, searching for a project you thought you could tackle?  Back in the 80's, I used to love to browse Quilter's Newsletter.  I would drool over template cut, hand pieced, intricate designs that were way above my skill level.  I wanted to be Jinny Beyer when I grew up.  I had a list of quilts I wanted to make someday.  Rarely, they had a project that had a rating of one or two "scissors" that might be at the level of a beginner.  I even tackled a couple of them.  One, I hand quilted and gave to my beloved grandmother, and is one of my favorite quilts that I ever made.  Yes, that is Sohpie laying on it, chewing my favorite slipper.

 

In the mid 80's, I had the privlege of attending a lecture by the amazing Mary Ellen Hopkins.  Remember her book "It's Ok If You Sit On My Quilt"?  Her designs were ridiculously simple.   Dumbed down even.  But they encouraged creativity and originality in the quilter.  Get some graph paper and some colored pencils and design a quilt!  She really opened some mental doors for me.

Then, I discovered Lynnette Jensen, of Thimbleberries fame,  My friend Carrie reminded me of her the other day.  Lynette is brilliant.  I loved her designs!  Simple?  You betcha.   Gigantic large pieces?  Oh yeah.  Nine hundred thousand other women making the exact same thing?  Why not?  I embraced it.  I remember making one of her sampler quilts.  I made a block that was the cutest little house, another one that was a sunflower, one that was a bird house.  So cute.  I was thrilled at my little blocks, and madly in love with her pretty fabric.  I was EXCITED about the process, the fabric, and the results.  My sister Trish made the exact same quilt and you couldn't tell hers apart from mine if your life depended on it.  So what?  They gave us pleasure and taught us techniques and gave us practice.

Then there was Eleanor Burns.  By the time I became aware of her, I felt I had moved on to more advanced techniques and designs, but the message is the same:  get some fabric you love, invest in a weekend and make a quilt.  Excitement, materials, time= a finished project you can be proud of. 

In my mind, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this.  You have to start somewhere.  If you are excited about the craft, the materials and the process, the results will please you.  And then you have gained the confidence to move on to more complex, more creative and more dynamic projects.

I have plenty more to say about this, but my post is getting l-l-o-o-n-n-g-g.  More later.

XXX-OOO

 

Changing Directions? Eventide Design Crisis.

 
I had to work all weekend, and this is as far as I had gotten with my Eventide quilt as of last Friday.  Thanks to the miracle of my new design wall, I have had three days to walk past it, sit and contemplate it, and generally let it sink in with me.

And I am not sure I like it.  Love my Ohio Star blocks, but the larger star pattern is just so In Your Face Pink and Blue.  It is very 80's looking to me.  Remember that color scheme?  I bet you knew someone who had a blue sofa and pinky mauve carpet.   It was an innovative and fun color combination then, but I am not ready to embrace it again just yet.  Now that I have made that connection in my mind, I am thinking it is a No Go for my quilt.

Not that this color scheme doesn't work.  I am just not sure it is going to work for me, right now.  During the mid 80's I had some things going on in my life that were making me very unhappy.  There were some very serious and sad conversations that took place on my blue, rose, and cream checked sofa.  When I see that particular combination of colors, I have associations, you see. 

So, I switched things up.  Now the quilt seems more about the Ohio Star blocks and not the big secondary pattern.  And of course the Pink and Blue is gone.

 
What do you think?  I am interested in any and all opinions.  Please weigh in and let me know your thoughts.

What Sort of Blog Do You Like?

 
First of all, this is not my Christmas tree, not my mantel, not my house.  Pretty picture though, huh?  Thought I hadn't better reveal too much about my personal situation.  My husband said to me at dinner yesterday,
"Say, you don't get too personal in your blog do you?  I mean, you don't talk about us, do you?"   He would freak out if he knew what I told you guys.

Yesterday I told the world that Sara was getting 10 presents and every one else in the family was getting 2 gifts each and that I needed to go shopping and get some gifts for the other members of the family.   Is that what you mean by too personal?  Lord, I hope I am not embarrassing myself by talking about such things.

Honestly, my blog is my personal life's journal, right?  I have to talk about what I am doing, don't I?  We all know life is about things outside of quilting.  How boring would it be if I had the sort of blog where I just showed "I made this, and I made this, and I made this."  (OK, that could be of interest--annoying though).  "Oh, and I bought this, and I bought that, and I am planning to buy that..."  Seriously.  I cannot abide blogs that are all about what someone bought, in particular.  Hello, are you ever going to actually MAKE something with that $6000 worth of fabric you are always telling us you have purchased?

I don't mean to be controversial, but really, come on now, what are these gals thinking when they just post on what they buy?  How interesting or creative is that?  Show me what you made, show me how you store it (!), show me at least some ideas you have as to what you think COULD be done with it.  Heck, tell me what you do for a living that lets you buy all that stuff.

What do you all think?  What sorts of blogs appeal to you?  Do you get tired of the ultimate bragging consumer type of post, as I do?  Do you like to feel as if you are getting to know the blogger and what her life is about, outside of what she buys?  Or, do you like to know that you have arrived at a quilting blog and that the blogger is going to stay on topic, gol darn it, come hell or high water?

 

The Kindle

Do you have one?  Do you want one?   I am a huge reader, and have an ever growing library of books.  I think I like the idea of not having to store more books on my already groaning bookshelves.  I also like the idea of paying less for a Kindle version of a book than I would pay for a hardback.  Plus, the idea of being able to carry an entire library everywhere with me is appealing.  As is being able to get any book I feel like reading within 60 seconds.

What are some of the advantages of a Kindle over buying real books (besides the storage issue and cost of real books)?  Would you read newspapers and magazines on it? 

Most important, do you use it for anything other than reading a book?  Would you transfer your iTunes to it and use it to listen to music?  Would you frequently use the WiFi feature for anything other than ordering more books?

If you have one, what's on your Kindle right now?   I'd love to know!

Happy Fall!

According to what I read on the Internet, the official Autumnal Equinox is tomorrow, but it feels like fall today.  I got the binding on my little Roundabout Schnibbles, and it adds a rather festive accent to the kitchen table.  See that bowl in the center?  That came all the way from Ireland.  My son's girl friend carried it every step of her journey the first time she came to California to visit us.  This time she came out, she brought me a silver bracelet, which she laughingly said was far easier to manage.

I finished my stunt sewing project and got it into the hands of my amazing quilter, Debbie from Prairiequeens.  Now that I have ticked that off the TO DO list, I have been working on getting my projects ready for the three (yes THREE) classes I am taking with Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company in Illinois this coming weekend.  Tuesday I finished 100 four patch units for one of the projects.  I feel compelled to get as much prep work done in advance to for two reasons---1) it reduces the bulk of what I have to pack into my suitcase, and 2) it makes more efficient use of my class time. 

Have you ever gone to a quilting class or retreat and had some poor slob in the group be completely unprepared?  They spend the first hour picking out fabrics and the next hour cutting, while everyone else is ready to jump in and start sewing.  I don't want to be that woman.

I bet you are wondering what I am going to be sewing on while in Illinois at these three quilting classes.  Well, I am carrying my Singer Featherweight from 1947 with me on the plane!  My sister Kate travels with her Featherweight often and says she never has any issues with airport security.  One TSA agent had to ask her what the heck it was, but other than that, she breezes right though. 

My machine had not been serviced in some time, so I took it in to a Sewing Center in San Jose for a tune up.  Can you imagine schlepping that thing two thousand miles to use in a Miss Rosie class only to have some dumb mechanical issues?  I got my machine back, all clean and shiny, quiet and even stitching.  But, wait.  WTH?  What is that that THING stuck to the front of my antique sewing machine? 

OMG.  Someone slapped a *sticker* on my sewing machine.  Now, I don't mean to be unreasonably cranky, but don't you think they might have asked me first if I wanted that tacky sticker on my vintage equipment?  I absolutely, definitely would have said "NO!"  So, if you ever go to Ray's Sewing Center in San Jose, California, be sure and state your preference in advance regarding the whole sticker thing.  Honestly, what nerve.

Oh, here is a link you all have got to check out, speaking of outrages.  Just read what happened to Tula Pink, one of my favorite fabric designers.  If you design fabric, I doubt it could get much worse than this.