Summer Fun

Looking for a cute little project to work on this summer? This little quilt called Tinder Box is fun and easy! You can find the pattern at my website, patchalotpatterns.com.

 Sometimes I come up with names for quilts while reading books. For Tinderbox I was reading a book by Suzanna Kearsley called The Rose Garden. This was an enjoyable story about a woman who visits Ireland and lands back in 1712. She falls in love with a man named Daniel Butler and the rest, as they say, is historical fiction! At some point she needs to start a fire using a tinderbox! I don't believe I have ever seen a tinderbox, let alone know how to start a fire with one. But I did send some sparks flying on this cute little quilt, don't you think?

I am back in Virgina as of a few days ago. The weather started out cool and refreshing, but now it is heating up. I finally broke down and turned on the air conditioner which my husband has been reluctant to do. He goes into competition with himself to see how long he can last. Well, he lasted until I came home!

Friday morning my husband woke me up at 6am and told me there were tall ships in the bay. We live one block from the Chesapeake Bay, close to the mouth of the bay where it opens into the Atlantic Ocean. There are always cargo ships lined up out there waiting for their chance to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and go into Norfolk and northern ports. So we walked down to see the action. It was quite a sight and took us back a couple of centuries (rather like time traveling).

Hard to believe this is right down the road from us! As you can see their sails were lowered as they waited for their opportunity to go up the bay.

 This photo is of the Godspeed, a replica of the vessel that sailed to America in 1607 along with two other ships, the Susan Constant and the Discovery. Currently these ships are located at Jamestown and tourists may board them and get a feel for the travel conditions in 1607. (I borrowed this image from the internet). I am told that the Godspeed was one of the ships in the bay, and one of the smaller ones! You can see the other ships at the OPSAIL 2012 website. The event, I am told, was to commemorate the War of 1812.

I am off to try and get some sewing done at last! Yesterday I managed to pull muscles in my back as I reached back and forth to the floor sewing pieces together then replacing them in order. It was all too big for my design wall so I improvised. What a mistake! But today is already better, so let's try it again!

TOWANDA!

By an overwhelming number of comments on my squirrel adventures, it would seem more of you are interested in that than quilts. Well, too bad, cause this blog is mostly about quilts. Ha! However, it is gratifying to know that someone out there is reading my blog. I plagiarized a quote from Fried Green Tomatoes and was assaulted with cries of Towanda! Of course that was the image I was trying to portray, but I didn't realize it had become a war cry of the abused! How perfect! I haven't seen the movie in a long time and didn't remember that Towanda was the name of Kathy Bates' character. She is great! Now I want to watch that movie again.


Pam from My Creative Mind offered a suggestion of using ammonia in a spray bottle to spray around the deck where the squirrel was likely to go. I took her advice and was spraying along the edge of the deck where I saw chew marks in the wood. The deck is not free standing, but rather it sits on top of the roof of a lower floor. All of a sudden the squirrel shoots out from that area and flies into the trees! I didn't even know he was in there. I guess he didn't like the smell! Hooray!!! I don't know if he has been around since, but I continue to spray out there each day to discourage him. Nice call Pam! I tried to link to you but couldn't find your site. But thanks so much for the great advice!


I have actually been sewing over the past week, between chasing the relentless rodent. I drew up a design on EQ6 and went to work with some beautiful fabrics from the Jamestown fabric line, by Jo Morton. I found I needed to add some lighter colored fabrics to create the look I wanted, so you will recognize some of the fabric from places other than Jamestown. The 9-patch blocks are primarily from scraps. The rows are not all sewn together yet, but at least I am finally to that step. Then I get to play with a border idea. It is always a challenge to come up with a border design that contributes to the overall design in a compatible way.


My e-mail is through Google (g-mail). I really do like their whole e-mail design. Well, Karen from Sew Primitive and I have been chatting via e-mail. We were discussing toile fabric, and somehow Google picks up on bits of conversation and provides links to places that might be of interest. So this link shows up for toile fabric: http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/catalog_items.aspx?TypID=98&Viewby=Types&Page=1&gclid=CLGUp5nU75ECFR0yFQodNW-vwg Here is a great variety of toile! I am sure it is designer weight fabric, but still, they would work for focus areas of a quilt, such as my Williamsburg Medallion, or even the Kaffe Fassett Hat Boxes quilt. Take a look at the yellow and red one with the hen and chicks. I love it! Maybe I should make another medallion quilt. I will probably not get my other quilt back from the shop until they are good and sick of it. I am really tempted.
By the way, take a look at the additional site that Karen has set up to display her new patterns. She is designing some really cute things under the name Folk Art Children! If you like the new Wizard of Oz fabric, you will love what she is doing with it!

NOW I CAN RELAX

Whew, we are feeling the heat here in Virginia! (See my Weather Pixie!) But that is what summer is all about, right? Besides, I am sitting here in my air conditioned home. I only feel the heat when I want to. Yes, I am back from Minnesota. Had a nice trip. Granddaughter #1 graduated from high school--that was the main event. We had a party for her the next day with lots of relatives, friends and neighbors. It was lots of fun to see everyone.

Does the above picture look a little strange? Let me explain. We bought three yards of clear plastic sheeting at Walmart and placed it on the table. Then we took all kinds of snapshots of GD #1 and slid them under the plastic. She was the Belle of the Ball, after all. It was great. People could sit at the table and eat and look at the pictures. If we had scrapbooked all those photos we couldn't have done this! But we were lucky--they were all loose in a box. (OK, I am being facetious.) Everyone loved looking at all the pictures of her growing up. Many pictures also had friends and relatives in them, so that was fun too. (Wow, was I young when she was born!)
I also read a fabulous book that my friend gave me before I left home.
This book, Dark Enough To See The Stars Under a Jamestown Sky, is based on the original Jamestown settlement and was written by a descendant of one of the families. It is written from the woman's perspective, which made it very interesting, since it touched on the concerns and contributions of the women. It was not only illuminating, but touching. I have yet to visit Jamestown, but now when I go I will feel a kinship to the women who actually lived there. We hear so little about them, but their sacrifices serve us all. I was afraid that the story would be too dismal, but the character and goodness of the primary woman in the book was so uplifting. Books like this feed my soul!

ROYALTY IN VIRGINIA

I am a Yankee transplated on southern soil. We have lived here in Virginia for almost seven years. I find the history in this area to be quite facinating. For example, less than a mile down the beach from where we live is the site where the first English ships landed in 1607. This spot is located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. There are two lighthouses that mark the spot now. The old one is brick and visitors can climb up the narrow stairway to the top and look out. The second is the "new" lighthouse. It was built in around 1887, I believe. I don't think it is operational any more. GPS technology has taken over. But to recall this local history:

Four hundred years ago three ships set sail from London. Four months later they landed here on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Captain John Smith, of the Pocahontas story, was on one of them. Bet you thought that was at Plymouth Rock, didn't you? I know I did, until we moved here. In April of 1607 these ships came in and planted a wooden cross and named the spot Cape Henry, in honor of Henry, the Prince of Wales, elder son of King James I.
The expedition moved on up the bay and found what is now the James River, which took them farther inland. They settled at a spot which they named Jamestown, and it became the first permanent English colony in the new world. That is the history in a nutshell.
Lots more information available at http://www.jamestown1607.org/
This is a year of big celebrations in this area. On April 29th there was a reenactment of the cross being erected at Cape Henry. Jamestown has been rebuilt and preparing for lots of visitors also. In fact, yesterday Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip arrived here in Virginia! They have come to visit Jamestown and see what the big fuss is all about. At 81 years of age, the Queen is so gracious and energetic. I wish the weather was a little more pleasant for her visit. It has been cool and overcast the past two days. She probably gets enough of that back home. I wonder if she was hoping to go to the beach?

Also of historical note is this really cool quilt book, Quilts of Virginia 1607-1899. Not only does it contain lots of historical information about the history in this state, but it has lots of pictures of wonderful old quilts. I love traditional old quilts and could happily work on any number of the quilts that this book contains. For me, all roads lead back to quilts!