Not yet

Not part of Stash Quilts yet - but I have sent Judy my request. As virtually everything I do comes from my not-insignificant stash, I might as well get on the band wagon.

I know better

Ordinary leather tennis shoe, before.

Ordinary leather tennis shoe, after the rotary cutter fell off the table in the unlocked position and sliced through the tennis shoe.

My right foot with nary a scratch.

The quilting Gods love me today!

Saturday

What interesting origins the word Saturday has. In virtually every language their word starts with the letter "S", in Thailand the color associated with the day is purple, in the old Scandinavian languages it was referred to "bath" day and in modern Maori it means "washing day". Does than mean I must take a shower today?

I have some catching up to show you:
Garden quilt with string-pieced border. Still to be backed but I'm doing alright time-wise on this one.









The new oven works a treat and my crumb-topped apple pie turned out very well:



At the big rummage sale everyone can buy their lunch: a bowl of tomato vegetable soup, 2 slices of bread and a slice of (homemade) pie for $4. What a bargain. Any pie that is still left after lunch is sold by the slice along with coffee or tea - or other goodies if you are so inclined.


This is called "Calories for a Good Cause"! I don't know about the rest of the departments, but the book department made almost $1000 on Thursday night. Great, huh?

At Stone Soup Quilts we are always thinking of new ways to make the quilts we give away to bone marrow transplant patients. So last week I brought home some fabric that was printed with 4" squares. We decided that we could cut out 9 patches and then cut them up to make split 9 patches. This was truly a 'paper bag' effort and I think it is really very cute. Will we use it for Stone Soup? I don't know, but it's a fun, easy way to use that fabric.










I have long wanted to make a quilt in the style of Leanne's House (Leanne Beasley), with applique, embroidery, buttons, words and lots of different fabrics. So last night I got a 'bee in my bonnet' and pulled fabrics from my (not insignificant sized) stash.
This morning I cut them into fat quarters, as appropriate, and love looking at them all lined up. Makes me inspired.








Last night I traced a pattern for a light-weight jacket for me AND I cut up some Home Dec. fabric to make a tablecloth for my brother & wife. They have one of those new style square tables that sit high - is that called a bar table?

The challenge, of course, will be matching the pattern or trying to.

So much for just sitting around!

Life will be easier now

I realize this may not be a big deal to many of you, but yesterday a new range was delivered. When we had the kitchen remodeled about 6+/- years ago, we bought a new gas range. I loved it. But about a year+ ago the oven quit. The burners worked but the oven would shut off. We would hit the reset button and it seemed to recover for a while, but kept returning to the "something is wrong" message. I had a service guy come out (for some very large sum) to be told that it was the equivalent of the "mother board" that needed replacing. That would cost something close to $400. For a stove that was only a few years old, that seemed unbelievable - built in obsolescence. So we have managed without an oven for many months, but it was coming to the end of my tolerance - Easter ham in a crockpot does work, but not my first choice. So, yesterday a new gas range arrived and seems to work just swell!

I have to make a pie for church - so will give it a real-live test. Tonight is the start of our annual (huge) rummage sale - Superfluity Sale. Last year we made over $20,000 - all for mission projects. The 'bakery' sells coffee and pie, during the sale.
Onward!

One major finish

and am I a happy girl. Big happy dancing girl!


It's Miss White Chocolate complete. OOow, I notice, that I will HAVE TO go out and get some lovely new sheets and pillow shams. Oh dear me! Isn't she just georgous? Lovely machine quilting by Alayne Pettyjohn.





And just so you know that I haven't had my head buried in my quilt, here a taste of spring,

Rainy Friday

Such a dreary, rainy Friday morning around here. However, the weather man promises a major improvement by tomorrow. I sure hope he's right. So what's up? We had some friends over for Easter dinner and had a great time. We even managed to fit in a quick game of Carcassonne - the game that Rob and Caro gave us when we were in the Netherlands. [thank heavens Rob translated all the directions from German into English, so we had something to refer to when we had questions.]










On Tuesday, Ronda took the day off work and we had a mini-quilt retreat. Neither of us could go to the retreat that the guild was holding (this week-end) so we decided to simply have our own little event. We had to begin with coffee and pastries:


Ronda was working on a quilt she is finishing up for her daughter's college graduation - all tans and beiges. I was trying out a vision that had been ruminating in my head for a while - using a variety of different African fabrics, as half square triangles with black as the other side.











Isn't Ronda's lovely? I, on the other hand, was not too clever. I tried using one of those iron-on interfacings pre-marked with triangles to sew and then cut. Dummy me - I ironed it onto the sewn strips - instead of onto the FLAT black side. I had no end of troubles with bumps and moving and slipping and sliding. But.....
in the end I did manage to get my triangles together:







It's a pretty cute idea and I think it will work. Another time I will be smarter (hopefully) ;->


And then suddenly it was time to pack up and quit for the day. We surely need more of these little mini events. It's so pleasant to have the whole day to just sew and of course, that most important part - having time to 'catch up'. [Ronda and I used to be co-workers]

I have been playing with these triangles but not yet sewn them together. However, I did have a free hour yesterday, so I got caught up with my April exchange squares. Lisa, Miriam and I (from the RV group) makes squares to swap. This month our colors were brown and tan. So these are all sewn and merely need to be squared to 5 inches. I think May is black and white. This is certainly an easy, easy exchange. We have been doing this since last fall and may not have a full bed's worth, but soon will be able to think about what shall we do. [We exchange 8 per person per month. So 16 plus my own, I already have a respectable collection.]



I certainly hope that you are having a pleasant and productive spring.

Easter Week

How cheesy can one 2 1/2yo get? When Nana pulled out the camera, this is what I got. Funny child. She is wearing one of her baby bibs - she saw that in the drawer and decided she needed to wear it. Oh they are such fun.

I have actually been doing some sewing/quilting type of things, although they are not particularly conducive to photographs. I have sewn the binding onto my large bed quilt, 'White Chocolate' (you've seen it several times before). Now to do the hand sewing part of that project. I know that many folks complain about hating that part, but I find it rather calming to sit in front of the TV and sew binding. I have also been following some hints from Bonnie Hunter for saving scraps (2" strips and 3 1/2" squares). Again, no photos.

I have however, finished the squares to make the Garden Quilt. Caro and I saw this marvelous little wall hanging in a shop window in Doesberg, NL. So on the Sunday morning that I was flying home we designed a quilt for ourselves and cut the background fabrics.







Now to put it all together and figure out a border. Take a look at Caro's . She did a string pieced border which I think looks great and she says was incredibly simple. Perhaps I shall use that idea too. This will be a gift, eventually, for a dear friend retiring this summer. [can I keep it a secret that long?]

My rainbow

I enjoy doing these little "quizzes". I think the colors are quite 'me' so that is interesting.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Your rainbow is intensely shaded brown, violet, and white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a deep thinking person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it. People depend on you to make them feel secure.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Differences and Similarities

I've been thinking a lot about how we "do" quilting in the U.S. and how it happens in the Netherlands (of course!) We have the same machines, many of the same tools - although they pay an exceedingly high mark-up on American and Japanese tools-of-the-trade and they pay $11-12 dollars (and up) for American quilt magazines. The fabrics I could find ran from $9+ per meter (39") up to specialized German (Westfallenstoffe) fabrics that were up to $25 per meter. Yikes! I'm not sure I'd be a quilter at those prices.

These photos were taken at Quilter's Palet in the Hague. Notice that there is a teapot on the table (blue pot) along with the brown tea box.








Each time you arrive at the quilt shop, you are invited to have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea. It just always happens. [I'm told the same thing happens if you go to the bank or to buy a car - have a cup of tea/coffee.] Caroline said that it seemed strange when she was here, at my quilt guild, that we did not have a coffee/tea pot nor did we offer that to our members. We would consider it reasonable for someone to bring their own cup of something, but a group pot is not a matter of course.

Another thing to notice on the table is the silver-colored pot (with the hole in the top). That is for each person to put in their scraps, threads, assorted detritus. Each time we gathered for a quilting/sewing/applique get-together, there would always be some sort of pot/basket/container on the table to collect people's trimmings. Interesting. Again, we are used to each person doing their own thing with their 'stuff', but over there it is assumed that the hostess will provide a central container. It will all get thrown away in the end, but still. . . . . . . there is a different 'group' mentality, I think.

I'm not convinced that one system is better than another, but interesting to notice those little, subtle differences. I am sure that I will recommend that my next Dutch visitors simply plan to bring an empty suitcase so they can load up on things that are more affordable and likewise, I will do as I did this time, and take a suitcase with things for them.

Last week-end was the first RV event for this season. We had gone to a site near Mt. St. Helens. On Saturday I thought we might wash down the hill, it rained so hard, but Sunday morning dawned bright and clear - albeit near freezing. We also noticed quite a bit of new snow on the surrounding hills. Here we are today, April 3 and woke up to snow on the grass this morning. Honest to Pete (or Harry or George or whomever) it's time for this to be over. My daffodils want sunshine, as do the other spring wonders in the garden.

Been working on a 'garden' wall hanging. Will try for photos and post those soon.
Let's hear it for spring! and soon!