BOUND AND BEAUTIFUL

Both of my new quilt designs are bound and beautiful, (she humbly admits). The top photo shows the design I am calling Wintergreen. You would not believe how much I tweaked this design, over and over and over, and this is the final result! Thanks EQ6!!! I was going to call it Fiddlesticks, because I spent so much time fiddling with it, but then I saw a new pattern out with that name! The competition is brutal! The main fabrics for both these quilts comes from Judie Rothermel's Spirit of the Season II fabric line, by Marcus Brothers. This fabric is so rich and luscious! I will be teaching this class at What's Your Stitch 'N Stuff in November.

The applique design I named Cotillion. I made this twice. The first one I made by hand applique. I enjoy doing that, and will keep it on display at my house! The second time I used machine blanket stitch. I am teaching this one at A Different Touch, which happens to be the local Bernina dealer, so I figured I would promote machine work. My wonderful friend, Marae, in Arizona, machine quilted both these quilts for me. She did such a nice job. I don't know it you can tell, but she cross-hatched the background and did a nice big cable in the border. I requested an old fashioned look, and that is what she did!

I should have patterns ready for these by the middle of October--as fast as I can get them published! Wish me luck!

Just a note: For those of you who like to visit my Dad's blog, he has a couple of new entries.

WEIGHING IN

So that's my problem! I can't believe I was doing it wrong all these years!

My friend sent me this recently--if only! Yes, I am back from my trip and ate way too much! You didn't hear me saying, "no thanks", though. My son came in one night at 10:00 with an ice cream and brownie concoction from Cold Stone Ice Cream. That had to cost me 5 pounds right there! So now it's time to stop eating and bite the bullet. Hmmm, I wonder if there are flavored bullets? Chocolate, for example.

I had a lovely time visiting family and two weeks went quickly. I did visit The Quilted Apple, a nice shop in Phoenix. The owner of the shop, Judith Vegso, is a real sweetheart. I picked up my two newest quilts from my quilter and took them to show her. She bought a dozen patterns, so I left happy! I will get photos up soon. The Quilted Apple has a wonderful supply of hand dyed wool. Of course I had to purchase some of that. They had several shades of every color, and in plaids and checks! So if you are in the Phoenix area and wonder where to go for wool, check out The Quilted Apple! More on that later. I just wanted to pop in and say hello. Now I really need to get the binding on a quilt I just got back so I can get photos!

SURROUNDED

I left home on September 11 to travel to Mesa, Arizona, where I am visiting family. The first leg of my trip took me to Atlanta, where I arranged to have a long layover so I could have lunch with my daughter who lives there. I have to admit to having a small bit of anxiety about flying on September 11. Of course there was no problem. I met my daughter in the atrium at the airport where they have a food court. We had a nice lunch at Atlanta Bread, lower corner in photo. While there we saw two different groups of servicemen and women paraded through the airport. We all stood and applauded them. They were on their way to Iraq. They looked rather embarrassed to be the center of attention. My heart was in my throat as we cheered them. They are so young. Here I am feeling anxiety about flying on 9-11 and they are on their way to face the enemy! Imagine the anxiety they are feeling! As you can see in the photo, they surrounded the atrium on the balcony. I wanted to blow kisses to them all, but alas, I restrained myself. Why embarrass them further? Instead I whispered prayers of gratitude and asked God's blessing on them all. What a day to be reminded that our freedom, that we take so much for granted, comes at a price.

OFF TO THE DESERT

I borrowed this photo from someone on line. It is in Virginia Beach, where I live. The birds are pelicans, if you didn't know. We see them often around here. One day my husband and I watched as they flew into the water and swooped up fish. So fun to watch nature being natural. Unless, like my friend Pat, you have elk in your garden! She lives in Washington State though, not here. If you want to see a picture of an elk laughing at her, go to her blog. She is doing some wonderful photography now, but she is the one who got me quilting and taught me everything I know. Or tried to! She is an amazing quilter and has been asked to speak and teach at the quilt guild in Bremerton next June. If you live around there you should go! Tell her I sent you.

Tomorrow, Sept. 11, I am going to Arizona for two weeks. I stop in Atlanta and have a three hour layover, so I am hoping to spend a little time with my daughter who lives there. Then on to Mesa, AZ to see my Dad and other family. My son lives there also. I know I will have stories to tell about my grandchildren there. My 11 year old granddaughter called me yesterday to ask a question. She said, "I got out your sewing machine to work on a few things." I can hear the machine going in the background, and asked if she had on headphones. "No, the phone is tucked under my chin" she says! I asked what she was working on and she said she was sewing all her dad's boxer shorts closed in the front. OK.

Aside from visiting my loved ones, I will be feasting on Mexican food every chance I get! Tia Rosa, I am coming!

STRING DOLL QUILTS

I had to jump on the band wagon with these little string doll quilts. Lucy's method is on my sidebar with her tutorial. I didn't realize quite how small hers really is. Mine is probably twice the size of Lucy's and Dawn's. Of course, now I want to make a smaller one! Love that cheddar!

Dawn made the two little quilts pictured below. I swiped her photo. I tried to find it on her blog and link to it, but I couldn't find her blog entry for it. She is off to Quilt Camp, so she will never find out. (Cause blogs are so private-Ha!) Dawn used cheddar in hers, as did Lucy. Suddenly my CW fabrics are starting to look a little blah. I am in trouble if that happens because that is all I ever buy. But just look at how that cheddar color perks up a quilt! When I first started quilting I only bought mauve and blue. I guess we do change, thankfully!

Addendum: Because I never found Dawn's post on this, I forgot that Lucy actually made the little 4-patch quilt and she and Dawn traded! Guess they were the original doll quilt traders!

I added a new tutorial to my sidebar list. Wendy did a really nice one on applique using starch. It is a great method! I have actually used it myself with great results. Check out her blog, Snippets of a Quilter!

If you have read about my family on my blog you remember that I mentioned that we are a nutty group. Not just one of us, but pretty much all of us. I was talking to my Dad the other day and he mentioned going out to eat with my aunt and uncle. He said they were talking about his funeral again. My Dad is never shy about bringing it up. He has made it very clear to all of us that he wants to be cremated and then have his ashes buried with my Mom. My aunt was questioning him about what would become of his ashes. She didn't know the plan. Her husband said that they put the ashes in trays. She was still puzzled by this, and my uncle said, "you've heard of ash trays?"

And with that, I will wrap it up for today!

WINTERGREEN, ETC.

The local quilt shop, What's Your Stitch 'N Stuff , is having their Open House on Saturday to introduce new classes. They do this a couple times a year so people can come in and see what classes are being offered, talk to the teachers and ask questions, etc. I have a new design that I already sent off to the quilters, so I made up a sample version to display until I get the larger one back. Except for the green and white 4-patch blocks, the fabrics are from Judie Rothermel's Christmas line, Spirit of the Season II, by Marcus Brothers. At the suggestion of my good friend I am calling the quilt Wintergreen.
By the way, Tazzie has a photo of her newest class project on her blog. It is really darling. You should go take a look! She also used Judie Rothermel's fabric, but from a different fabric line. She used Charm Squares and gives big hints on how to make it.

I am going to cut this short and get some work done around the house today. I am not happy about it, but my maid hasn't shown up here since, well, ever. So here I am, quilt designer turned house cleaner. I read recently someones opinion that quilt teachers are nothing more than glorified housewives. I think it was supposed to be an insult, but really I wonder if that person thinks that housewives and homemakers should never do anything else? Why do people feel the need to denigrate housewives and mothers? I say YOU TRY AND DO IT! I always loved being a housewife and mother. I like to use the term "homemaker" because it sounds like it describes someone who creates a special place--home! But you can't hurt my feelings calling me a housewife. It's a good working description. Although of late I am more of a retired housewife! But I did my time with the kids and the canning and the cleaning, and the laughing and the loving and the laundry. Not always pleasant, sometimes annoying, but very rewarding, and I wouldn't trade it for the world! And guess what? I can do other stuff too!

TUTORIALS

Recently there have been some very nice tutorials on some of the quilt blogs that I visit. I started to bookmark them, and then it occurred to me that I could add links to some of them on my sidebar, and so, after asking permission from the author/blogger, I did add a few. Each one teaches a method or project that you may find helpful. These ladies have gone to a lot of trouble to photograph and detail each step in their tutorial. If you want to see the rest of their blog simply go to their address at the top of the screen and delete everything after .com, and hit enter. In the case of Tonya's blog, she has so many tutorials that she has a whole list of them on her sidebar, so I just linked her whole blog and you can go look at her sidebar for great stuff to try! I do think that is an excellent idea to put links on your blog to the tutorials that you have written. Sometimes we might miss them or want to find them again and that makes it easy. Just a thought.

I am constantly amazed at all the talent out there in blogland and so grateful that I found you all and can benefit from what you share. Really, there is way too much for any one person to keep up with, but I do what I can.

There are at least three blogs or websites that I still would like to put on my sidebar. Most everyone knows these sites. Be sure to check their sidebars also for other links.

1. Judy Laquidara's blog, with her wonderful creative designs that she offers in the form of free monthly stash busting patterns. Plus, she has a new book out!!!

2. Mary Johnson's blog will direct you to her website with her instructions for Heartstring Quilts for charity, and more!

3. Bonnie Hunter's website which is filled with tons of patterns and instructions for scrap quilts, plus lots of other information and inspiration. Bonnie is actually the original Quilt Goddess and the rest of us are mere mortals. If you haven't been to her site, prepare to be amazed!

I am sure I missed some tutorials, and will continue to add links as I find them. In the meantime, go to my sidebar and look for links to Tonya's blog, Tracey's blog, Judy's blog, Lucy's blog and Patti's blog. Good thing it's a long weekend!

Oh, I also added a link at Patchalot Patterns for two small projects. Enjoy!