FALL QUILTS

I just came from Melanie's blog and was wowed by her beautiful fall quilts. I have two for this time of year that I really like. One is called "Leaves in the Air", combining the scrappy leaves and the Birds in the Air blocks. I love scrappy, and it was great fun to see how many different colors and fabrics found a happy spot in this quilt. In my mind, the little diagonally set triangles feel like leaves fluttering to the ground.
The other is "Plaid Harvest", for "harvesting" fall colored plaids from my stash. I have yet to find a really good way to hang quilts for photos..I gotta find me some trees, like Melanie!

PIN CUSHIONS AND BINDINGS

I have seen some pretty cute pin cushions on blogs this week. It makes me want to make myself some cute ones! The first picture is kind of a joke, but I bet you all do it. That is my shirt stuck with pins! I also use a Gingerbread Man plate. He is kind of a catch all. The wooden chicken is a Cub Scout project that my brother made when he was a kid. He is now 57. My Mom used it for years. She glued a Dr. Scholl’s foot pad on his rump to stick the pins in. I keep it by my TV because it holds the thread and scissors as well. The stuffed apple is from when we lived in Washington, known for their apples! My aunt made the adorable chicken. It is filled with kitty litter. The last one, in the back, was a gift from my in-laws. They picked it up while on vacation. I was always touched that they would bring it back for me. It is hand made by a potter. The bottom is round pottery with a puffy top for the pins. It has a bent reed handle, so I can carry it around. I have had it for almost 30 years. Kind of fun, huh?


I am still working on cleaning my sewing room. As you know, we have a tendency to “discover” things as we clean. This week I happened upon a few 9-patch blocks that a teenage girl made when she stayed here a few years ago. I made a few more, set them with alternating blocks and finished up a baby quilt for donation. I had two other baby tops to donate that needed backs and binding, so I got that done also. Now I have four little tops, with backs and bindings ready to go. I like to prepare my bindings soon after finishing a quilt top, while the fabric is available. In the photo you can see one wall in my sewing room with a quilt rack on the wall. I have padded the rod and pinned a quilt in progress on it. (No dates allowed) On the right side I have bindings strung onto a safety pin and pinned to the rod. This is very helpful to me when the quilt comes back from the quilter. I don’t have to stop and make a binding—it is ready and waiting. I suppose there are those that could have 50-60 or even 94 bindings waiting for quilts to be quilted! I am not that prolific! (See Quilting Daze blog)

SEWING ROOM CABINETS

The unveiling! These are my new cabinets for my sewing room! They are my 60th birthday present from my husband. My birthday was in January, but these things take time. My husband wanted to give me jewelry or and expensive watch. The kind of things so many women enjoy. But I have been wanting shelves for, what seems like, my entire life! You may recall my sewing room clutter from previous pictures. I can’t promise it will never be cluttered again, but at least this gives me a fighting chance! I had it built to accommodate my plastic storage boxes, so I can put one large box, or two medium sized boxes on a shelf. I can pull them out to sort through them. I also am using the lids to stack fabric or projects on. I was explaining to my husband that I can now label my projects, so I know right where they are. (Since I have so many “in progress”). He suggested that I date them as well. Very funny. The center of the unit contains file drawers for my quilting needs. DH has a goal to get all my stuff out of the office and into my own room. My suggestion of knocking down the wall between the two rooms was not even considered. Go figure! For those of you who are sewing on your kitchen table, please know that I did that for many years also. Life has many stages. For a long time I experienced the stage where the kids always came first. As well they should! But now it is my turn, and I think that is OK too. My husband? Well, he is still waiting for his turn, bless him. His dream is of antique cars and big boats. Let’s see if he will settle for a good homemade dinner tonight.

SECOND SHOT OF QUILT

I decided to try and post a second photo of Lincoln's Platform because, for some reason, no close up comes when you click on the previous picture. I hope I didn't change a setting because I will never find it again! Some of you noticed the circles that appear in the design. That is because I added a few lighter squares in key places. It was quite by accident that the circles appeared, but I like them. I used red for all the corner squares and navy for the center posts in the sashing. As you can see, this photo has the quilt mounted on my design wall. Unfortunately, I cannot get a clear shot in that spot. I moved my sewing machine off the table, etc. I really need to find a good spot for photos! Libby's backyard?

STASH PROJECT: LINCOLN'S PLATFORM

Here is the lesson that I learned from the Hour a Day quilt project: I am not an hour-a-day quilter! I really enjoyed making the project; I just can’t work one hour a day. Some days I spend the whole day sewing, some days I am forced to do other things. I spent several hours yesterday and today sewing the borders. I decided I wanted to make it a little longer, so I added a little saw tooth strip on top and bottom. I think it gives it that Patchalot look! The navy border is a Thimbleberries print trimmed off another quilt from a few years ago. I just had to cut the strips to size and sew them together. You don’t see the seams at all in that fabric. It is such a thrill to be able to complete a quilt from what we have on hand. Great project! Thanks Judy! I won’t be able to join in the leaves project, but love the setting. Judy has a gift for adding a touch of elegance to her designs. Did you see the American Quilter magazine this month? Judy mentioned that she had a quilt in it and so I looked for it, and saw her quilt featured. It is beautiful! So fun to see a “friend” featured in a magazine! (OK, so we have never actually met). Very nice, Judy!
Good news, I got my sewing cabinets! I am in the process of organizing fabric and when everything is put away I will take pictures and show off. I am excited!

CHARITY BLOCKS AND STUFF

The local quilt shop here is doing the Quilt Pink thing, so I made a couple blocks to turn in. Then Hedgehog mentioned that she was making red blocks for Clare in France for leukemia, so I thought I would make a couple more to send to her. In an effort to avoid making decisions, I just made them both from the same patterns. They are eight inch blocks. I think the Sister's Choice is my favorite. I saw it in a Terry Atkinson book called 9-Patch Reunion. She likes to make blocks a little large so they float, and the corner's never get sewn off. Nice method, especially for beginners. It worked nicely here because I was able to trim it to 8-1/2". It is nice to be able to make a few little blocks for a good cause. I give a lot of credit to those that are doing all the organizing! What a lot of work. New paragraph. I have been doing some stitching on my Sister to Sister quilt as well. You may recall when I got it back from my quilter recently. I kept looking at the border and wondering if it needed a bit more quilting. I DO NOT machine quilt, so finally decided to do some hand stitched viney things. I couldn't find any blue quilting thread, but saw some topstitching thread that I thought I would try. It actually turned out kinda cute. (Not easy thread to quilt with, by the way). Look closely, it is there!

GOD BLESS AMERICA

COPYRIGHT ISSUES

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at What’s Your Stitch ‘N Stuff, our local quilt shop, where I teach classes. They had an open house to promote fall classes. I always enjoy those because I am able to see what other teachers are doing, meet friends and promote my classes, etc. (Plus, they have refreshments!) One gal, Bobbi Case, brought in a couple quilts she made from my patterns. I will picture one of them here, because I just showed you my version a couple days ago. Scroll back and see Quilt Jam, or click http://patchalotmore.blogspot.com/2006/09/quilt-jam.html You may have missed it because I wrote it, then saved it, then posted the Lily entry, then edited the Quilt Jam entry. So when I posted it, it came up before the Lily entry, and was dated the same day, when, in fact, I posted it on Friday, 9-8. Ah well. So—isn’t Bobbi’s quilt beautiful?! All pinks and browns-it is luscious!
I am writing this in Word and hoping I can copy and paste it into my blog. Behold, I get paragraphs!
All this talk about copyright issues- Finn mentioned it again. I just want to add that I agree with her, in that I think most of us are in it because we love it. And I don’t know about the quiltmakers and designers that are “big time”, but I can tell you, I feel good if I cover my expenses, and I NEVER could get compensated for my time. It is just like making quilts—you know how people always ask how much you charge for a quilt? You couldn’t pay me what it is worth to me, but if I love you, I will give it to you; or donate it to a good cause, as so many do. Even though I design quilts for classes and so forth, I buy plenty of books and patterns by other designers. There is sooo much talent out there! And, like I mentioned about Sally Schneider in my earlier entry, I bet most of them are just like us and happy to share. Has anybody ever heard of a lawsuit regarding quilt designs? Stay tuned for your next episode of LAW AND ORDER!

CAROLINA LILY

Fons and Porters Love of Quilting Magazine has a great column in it called "This Old Quilt", by Gerald E. Roy. Have you seen it?In every issue he shows old quilts and discusses them. The Oct. 2006 issue has a beautiful Carolina Lily quilt that he says is a baby quilt. I really love it. I keep threatening to make a Lily quilt, but have not as yet. A few years ago I saw one that I loved at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. This is an old quilt also. I love the fabrics, the design, everything! There are lots of variations of this block, and some I like more than others. I don't know what this one is called, but thought you might enjoy taking a look at it.

QUILT JAM

Yesterday I actually got the BB geese completely sewn together! I think I will add a small border to frame in all those goofy geese, then I will post a picture. The day before, I actually got all the sashing and rows sewn together in our Stash quilt from JudyL. So I only have borders left on that! Wow, progress! I love it! Plus my mind is always swimming with new ideas! I don't know why starting projects is so easy and finishing them can be so difficult that we have to force ourselves to do it. Would someone please tell me why I can't begin a new paragraph on blogger? So moving to a new topic, Bonnie has had problems with someone using her designs again, and claiming them as their own. Bonnie always comes up with such great ideas. But to claim-jump them as your own copyrighted material --wow, what cave does that person live in? We live in an on-line world and there are no secrets! Having said that, I want to show you a quilt that I "designed" and used for a class. The quilt, pictured here, I call Quilt Jam. (Because you can jam so many fabrics into it! Yes, I love word play.) I printed patterns, etc. The blocks are made using a method created by Sally Schneider. Guess what? She gave me permission to use her method in my pattern! Many of you have probably used this method before and love it as I do. I really appreciate Sally's creative mind AND her willingness to share. I do think that after we spend hours and hours working on a quilt it "feels" like it is our own. In that way it may be difficult to separate ourselves as the quilt creator, from the quilt designer. I have posted several quilts on my blog that are my own design. I would be upset if someone claimed them as their own and published them. But I love sharing them with you! Now here is the funny part. I went to Sally's web site to make sure of the address before I created a link to it and while I looked at her patterns, I saw that she has another design that is very much like one I have printed. Now I am really feeling awkward! I e-mailed her and told her the situation. I told her I would remove mine from my web site if she felt it was a problem. She e-mailed me back and told me it was fine and I can continue selling it. Whew. Really, so many designs are so similar. But I don't want to make waves. I just want to sit like a duck in a puddle and splash a little!

SUNNY SHORES

Well, summer is over! Today is September first. We had quite a storm today. The "not quite a hurricane" called Ernesto swept through with tons of rain and 65 mph winds. Some people lost power. Luckily we did not. We really needed the rain, but not to the point of flooding! Our house is at the end of a street that slopes off the beach road, so all the water runs into our yard. We had several inches of water sitting in our yard for a while. Our yard is primarily sand, so eventually it soaks all the water up without a problem. It is kind of exciting to watch a storm, as long as it is from a dry, safe spot. I am grateful that it wasn't a bad one. As a tribute to the summer that is now gone, I am posting pictures of a quilt I call Sunny Shores. I completed this quilt two years ago. I like to make quilts with fun borders, and as you can see, I had fun with this one! Towards the end I was really digging through my stash for yellow and the right shades of blue to complete the quilt. That made me happy because I really had a lot of yellow and blue. I still have plenty, but the stash took a hit with this quilt. The Delectable Mountains are Delectable Waves, in this case. However, I think I like my little bouncing stars the best!