THIS SISTER'S CHOICE!

This post is totally promotional! But don't let that stop you from reading on...

This darling little quilt with the bird in the center is what Lea, my Japanese blogger buddy, created using my Medallion Doll Quilt pattern! She is so talented! I know lots of you have discovered her blog and her charming personality, but if you haven't been there, please go visit! You will be happy that you did! So many cute things to see!




Are any of you into needle-punch? Karen, from Sew Primitive, has created the cutest little needle-punch patterns! The girl never sleeps! She has them displayed on her new website Folk Art Children. Even if you don't do needle-punch, you should visit her website to see her other patterns and her wonderful Folk Art Children Portraits! Then check back often because she creates like a mad woman! She just can't help herself!

I have been watching for this Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine to come out and I finally got it last night at the quilt shop. I do buy this magazine often, and I love it, and this issue has Tazzie's Sister's Choice quilt in it! (Click that link to see her quilt) Yea TAZZIE! I love Tazzie's designs because she uses lots of scraps in very creative ways. If you read her blog you already know that. OK , here is the thing that drives me nuts about that magazine: It doesn't give us a date or year on the cover, or inside. It says Volume 16 Number 7. There are usually a few different issues in stock and I never can tell which is most current. I never know if I missed an issue. It's just a minor little irk. I think it is a great magazine, and I LOVE knowing that cute little Aussie designer they have!

These links are some of this Sister's Choice!

A DAY WITH KAYE ENGLAND

This is me with my new best friend, Kaye England. Lol! Last week the local Bernina shop, A Different Touch, had Kaye come and speak about tools and cutting techniques. That, and push Bernina just a little, which was like preaching to the choir. Kaye, as you may know, is a very entertaining speaker. It didn't take much to get her off message and talking about her childhood in Tennessee and corn cob fights in the barn. She still lives on a farm, though now in Indiana. She has llamas and goats and at least one chicken that she spoke of that gives her one egg a day.


Of course she stressed the importance of accuracy in cutting and in sewing and in RULERS. She has helped to develop a line of rulers for Nifty Notions that she guarantees are the best and most accurate. You can find them on her website. Kaye touted the importance of a straight-stitch throat plate (single hole rather than slot) for accuracy in quarter inch stitching. Apparantly the slotted throat plate that comes with most all machines can cause the fabric to cave from the pressure of the needle, distorting the seam allowance. Huh! Who knew? Well, as you can imagine, there was a run on straight-stitch throat plates at the cash register! Mine is on order.

Probably the coolest thing that I learned was to use two colors of thread when sewing. If you have a different color in the bobbin then it is easier to take out the seam should you need to. She says you can just pull the bobbin thread, if you know which one it is. Is that cool, or what? Yes, it's good to get sewing tips, but who ever gives great seam ripping techniques?

Finally, here is my favorite piece of advice: "Art is a personal decision! If you put it (fabric pieces) together, it goes together!" I totally agree. Too often we look for everyone else's opionion to validate what we do and what we, personally, like. What a fun day!

And then came the quilts! You are probably familiar with Kaye's Voices of the Past series. The quilt here with the flags is called Betsy Ross-surprise! The next one below, with the very scrappy stars and chain blocks is Amelia Earhart. Oddly enough, one of my designs is the same pattern, which happened to be hanging on the wall, and Kaye pointed it out! How funny is that? Mine is called Tea in the Garden, and has a little bit of applique on it. Obviously a traditional pattern in the public domain. Each beautiful and very different. I have actually been wanting to do a scrappy version, so now I know just about what it would look like.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour of England. I sure did! *VBS*

COUCHING CROW

A couple years ago I remember Melanie, at Covered Porches and Wooden Screen Doors, mentioned that she put out fabric scraps for the birds to build their nests in the spring. Such a cute idea! So I decided to try that. We have a deck on the third floor that is surrounded by trees. (Remember the squirrel probelms?) Anyway, I placed a hand full of fabric strings on top of a table and anchored them a bit with shells. I was hopeful that the birds would recognize the wonderful bounty that lay before them! The pile became smaller, and I wondered if some got carried by the wind, or had the birds found this little stash? One morning last week I was sitting in the livingroom, just off the deck, and saw a bird on the table. In my mind I saw him picking up a strip and flying off with the strip blowing in the wind. I sat quiet and hopeful that the bird would figure it out. Then what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a couching crow! Yes, this dear birdie had a creative bent! He picked at the same strip over and over again until he had ruffled the little strip into a flower, and off he/she flew with it! He is not just building a nest, he is decorating it! Wouldn't it be funny if birds had contests to see who made the most creative nest? Suddenly I am seeing reality TV in birdland: Flip This Nest! Or how about Decorating Cheep! Seriously, I wish I had a picture of that bird. It was so cute!

So how do you like my blog's new look? I asked my talented granddaughter to see what she could do to give me a facelift, and voila! She performed her magic! I always have to depend on the generosity of others when it comes to this techie stuff. She did good! Now she needs to teach me!

For those of you who wondered if I would ever come back with the completed eagle quilt, I am happy to show you the finished quilt. It measures 21" x 21". The corner stars are foundation pieced, which makes them quite easy to construct. I am still working on the pattern, but it will be done soon. I will keep you posted. I am scheduled to teach this as a class in June here in Virginia Beach. Can you tell I took the picture on the deck? I love that deck! Sorry, no squirrels allowed.

We are receiving our daily share of April Showers here, so that can only mean lots of May Flowers, Right? I do look forward to that! Have a happy day!

GLOBAL WARMING THROUGH QUILTS

I want to show this wonderful magazine that my friend Lea sent me from Japan a couple weeks ago. So much was going on around here that I didn't get this posted. But I do want to share it. This is the cover, which is actually on what we would consider the back. This works well for me because I have a habit of thumbing through a magazine from the back, which in this case is the front.


The magazine is loaded with photos of beautifully detailed quilts and also quite a few bags. It is apparent to me that the Japanese women have taken this craft to a whole new level of perfection.
Everything is meticulously crafted and hand quilted. It is a treat just to feast your eyes on this.

I like to tease Lea about doing everything by hand, but I suspect she gets more done than I do with my machine. Isn't it wonderful to see where creativity leads people, and how the same craft develops in different ways in different locations around the world? These are things that make us unique, and also bring us together. This is also one of the joys of blogging: meeting quilters from over the globe. We see talent that we appreciate and enjoy, and before long we have found a friend. I have surely found a friend in Lea. This is my kind of global warming!

Now oddly enough, Lea loves all things primitive! When you visit her at her blog, be sure and check out her photo album of projects she has completed. Cute, cute stuff!
Thanks Lea, for the magazine. I am enjoying it and so are all my friends!

LIBBY ON THE LABEL!

I was very excited yesterday to receive a darling homespun
"Libby Quilt" in the mail! My friends, Joan and Sue, were here and we were going to a birthday lunch for Sue, so they were able to enjoy the opening of the package with me and share my excitement! And look! It says Libby on the Label!!! I laughed out loud when I read what she wrote. "A Lot of Patches 4 Marcie", in case you can't see it. You may know that Libby is cleaning out her scrap bag. These are all little squares of her scraps sewn down raw edged through the top, batting and back. It's Simply Libby! I love it!

I had to laugh because when my friend Joan came over she said she cleaned her sewing room and threw out a whole bag of scraps. She was proud, I was horrified! Then Libby's quilt came and Joan said, "I'm going to haul those scraps out of the trash"! I have to call and see if she did!

My friend Pat, from North Bend, WA sent me a box of scraps that are really wonderful. Pat knows me so well. She actually taught me the mechanics of making quilts when I first started on this grand adventure. When I look at what she sent I realize how well she knows what I love and I will think of her every time I use a piece from that box. It is wonderful how quilting can bring us together in so many ways. Or should I say SEW many ways. Yeah, I know--feel free to whip me with a wet strip of your favorite fabric. (Can I have it when you are done?)

Finn wrote a lovely blog the other day that I recommend you read, if you missed it. She has such a beautiful way with words and I think she often expresses what so many of us feel, and it connects us. I just love my blogging friends. I gotta stop now, I'm gonna cry!

Have a happy day my friends!

IN A NEW YORK M-MINUTE

Why do I wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and toss for an hour, then decide I'm not going back to sleep? Why? Is it my age? This used to happen to my mother and grandmother too. Maybe it is because I really don't tire myself out during the day like I used to. But dang, I sure feel tired. So here I am again, blogging at 4:00am. I will go back to bed later and sleep the morning away. What a life. I am just glad that I can go back to bed! At least I am catching up on reading blogs. Bloglines shows I have under 1000 posts left. Ha! Mary at Mary Quilts has a new system for reading blogs. When she reaches the point where she can't keep up, she purges the system and starts again. Seems to me she runs the risk of becoming a bulimic blogger, but it might be just what I need.

I thought I would post a couple more pics from NYC. This is my grand-daughter hamming it up with her grandpa in front of the Bank of America in Times Square. I had them pose there as a joke. DGD is actually picking grandpa's pocket and he is pretending he doesn't know it.

Next, we have the girls at the theater. They love to take random shots, but I prefer just a little organization. You have no idea how many photos they took of their heads together like this and with an arm outstretched, camera in hand to snap the shot. We went to see Mary Poppins and my husband and I sat directly behind the girls in the theater, so I was able to get this photo with the stage screen behind them and their Showbills in hand. This was a great show! Practically perfect in every way!

Across the street from our hotel is what has to be the worlds largest M & M's outpost. You can buy a bag of your favorite color! Did you know that someone sits up all night and separates the colors into those pretty tubes. What a job! But such pretty results! They kind of look like silos, don't you think? Definitely food for thought.

WINDOWS ON THE WORLD

Here I am in front of my computer this morning, opening my (Microsoft) Windows on the World! I have been catching up on blogs after being incommunicado for the past week. I love that I can look in on you through your window in whatever part of the world you reside! I have favorite blogs in Australia, Europe, Canada, U.K., U.S. and even Japan! Thanks for sharing your talents and your enthusiasm, and for coming to visit me!

I have been doing a little sewing to sooth my soul. It feels good! I finished my "star" top, and will get a photo of it soon. Meanwhile I am back to writing directions for a project I completed last year. Remember my funny little eagle? Well, I have had the pleasure of enjoying him on my own wall for a while, since I never got around to writing up a pattern last year. Usually my quilts go to the shop and stay there. No, I don't own "the shop", but they do promote and sell my patterns and so many of my quilts are on display to help do that. (I can arrange for other shops to borrow them, however!)
I adapted this little eagle from a picture of a vintage quilt that I liked. He has now been dubbed the "Patchalittle Eagle". I also did a wool pillow from the same basic design that you can find on my free patterns page on my Patchalot Patterns website.

At least I got that part of the instructions done last year! Now I have this one scheduled as a class for June. The border for this is adorable, if I do say so myself. I will show that next time. Maybe it will entice you to come back!
Have a happy day!

DO BLONDES STILL HAVE MORE FUN?

I know you are all asking, where have I been all week? Well, my 16 year old granddaughter and her friend came to visit for Spring Break, so we have been busy! They arrived a week ago, Friday night (3-21-08). They had tickets on the only through flight from Minneapolis to Norfolk, and it was late arriving, so it was after midnight before they got in. My husband decided he wanted to take them to New York for the weekend, so Saturday morning we left early and drove up (about 6 hours). We had hopes of going to a show or two, but of course they were mobbed over the weekend. We raced all over, from theater to theater looking for tickets. We ended up going to Legally Blonde on Saturday night. It's a musical! Who knew? It was not our first choice, but we saw the movie and figured it should be OK. Well, it was more than OK, it was great! Talk about the perfect show to take high school girls to see! Be sure to click on the link and play the video clip. That show was so high energy I know I must have lost weight just watching the performers work so hard! We were in the 4th row in the center and I am sure the cast would recognize us on the street. Anyway, it was very cute and funny and had lots of great dancing and music that will be ringing in my ears for a long time. Naturally we got the CD. It is not Rodgers and Hammerstein, but it was lots of fun! (I buried the CD so they couldn't play it all the way home in the car. It didn't matter, they sang it all the way. It is permanently imbedded. "OMG, OMG You guys!" Who can forget lyrics like that?)

We did lots of touristy stuff also. FAO Schwarz, the big toy store, was a bigger hit than we expected. The girls loved it and I enjoyed it too. The soldier was in front of the store and he was adorable. My granddaughter is on the left and her friend on the right. Great weather for running around. We were so lucky!

We drove home Tuesday and the weather in Virginia Beach could not have been any nicer. Yesterday it was 80 degrees (today is 45!) The girls had lots of fun running around on the beach. We live close to the Chesapeake and the beaches are wonderful! The tourists are all down the road on the Atlantic. In the photo behind the girls you can see the huge container ships lined up out on the bay waiting to go through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. This bridge is 20 miles long and parts of it go under water so the ships can pass over.

Early this morning we took them to the airport and when we came home I went back to bed and slept until noon!

If you came by for quilts today, please come back again. I will soon be back to my normal routine, which is much slower paced, by the way. This week was really a fun change and my husband and I had a blast, and the girls did too!

GRANDMA MOUSIE

I am just screaming with joy! You may (or may not) remember that I mentioned a while back that my darling little granddaughter used to call me Grandma Mousie, back when she was much smaller and could not pronouce her R's. I got such a kick out of that! Well look at the drawing my cute and talented friend, Karen Mowery did for me! Take a good look and see if you recognize the quilt on her lap. It is my Williamsburg Medallion!!! Is that not the cutest thing ever?! I LOVE it! Thank you Karen!!! You are amazing!

I have spent some time sewing in the past few days. I am still excited about the pineapple quilt, and so I have been working on that. I haven't sewn the blocks together, as you can probably tell, but I layed them out for a picture. They are so fun to make. They just ease right into my OCD without a problem. I was a bit afraid that there was not enough contrast in the light and darks. What do you think? Should I focus more on adding darker fabrics? Do the blues jump out too much? Should I set it on point? Oh so many decisions. Feel free to express your opinion (as long as you don't expect me to follow it). These are 10 inch blocks. I have a ways to go!

IN THE BEGINNING

Well, I did it. I started another project. I couldn't help it. One of my friends here at the shop was teaching a class on making a pineapple quilt using a paper foundation. So I spent quite a bit of time cutting 1-1/2" strips of darks and lights this week getting ready for the class. I have always wanted to make this quilt, and taking this class was just the excuse I needed. I have no idea how many projects I have that are in various stages of completion (there is an optimistic word!). I would know, if only I had them in nice neat boxes all stacked and labeled so I could count them. (I know some of you out there do just that--and bravo!) Today someone in class commented that this would be a great project for cleaning up the sewing room floor. Now there is someone who I can definitely identify with! This is a great scrappy project and I am digging through my stash finding all kinds of good stuff I can use. This quilt is like a walk down memory lane, using fabric pieces from the beginning of time. "Oh look! I think Eve had this in The Garden". Talk about someone who had to work from scraps!

As I was slicing my 1-1/2" strips I ended up with many pieces that were more narrow than 1-1/2" wide. "Oh goody!" says I, " I can sew them into scrappy strips". So I did. The one pictured is trimmed at 3" wide and looks so pretty to me. I am going to continue to do that just for fun and then decide how to use it. It would make a pretty border. It would make a pretty band around a tote bag. Oh the possibilities.


This week was also spent working on the border pieces for the star quilt I posted previously. I am excited to put this together! I have all the Tri-Recs geese sewn in strips, so maybe tomorrow I will see if they will fit in place. Yes, tomorrow is Monday. Another fresh start. Where will it take us?

Addendum: When I was writing earlier I didn't have this info in front of me, but anyone interested in the foundation papers for the pineapple can find them at www.littlefoot.net. They are by Lynn Graves. Your LQS may have them or could order them. They sure make it easy and precise!

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

These are a few of the happy people in my class last night. We had fun! It was class 2 of the Williamsburg Medallion. Everyone was zipping right along with very nice results. Peggy, in photo one, always keeps us smiling. Can you tell?

Heaven knows I am not the greatest teacher, so I sometimes bring homemade oatmeal-raisin cookies so they will think kindly of me. It seems to work.

I do enjoy classes, whether I am teaching them or taking them. It is fun to pass along tips and techniques. We all do things a little differently, so it is fun to learn how others tackle a project as well. When I teach a class I like to go over my method of construction and then let the class progress on their own and ask questions as needed. I also encourage them to follow their own instincts. New quilters are often hesitant to make their own decisions on fabric choices. As I was helping a new quilter with her fabric decisions last night, I was reminded of when I first began. My friend was a seasoned quilter and I asked for her help with every decision I made. After a while I realized that we had different ideas of what the quilt should look like and I began to make a few decisions on my own. Last night I watched two new quilters do just that. They both started out with kits for the project and as they progressed each made their own changes. For seasoned quilters this is never a problem, but when you are just beginning you don't always have the confidence to know if your choice is acceptable. Maybe we worry too much about how others will view our work. It has taken me a while to reach the place where I can say, "You don't have to like it-I did it the way I like it"! In the end, I think that is where the satisfaction comes from.

Charlotte, on the right in the photo, completed her whole top by the end of class last night! As you can see, she opted for a blue version. The photo doesn't do it justice. It looks great!

Another point of interest is that our LQS, What's Your Stitch N Stuff, kitted up Karen's (Sew Primitive) Tornado pattern! Doesn't it look cute! Check out Karen's blog to see the pattern.

LOOK WHAT I MADE!

Last night was so much fun! I took a class from Connie (of the Civil War Diary Quilt fame). I can't believe all that she does. She is such a sweetheart and I enjoy being around her and am constantly impressed with her talent. The class was for making the Bow Tucks Tote (designed by Penny Sturges). The first bag pictured with the sailboats is one that Connie made. (Whoops, the handles flopped over). Connie also has become very proficient at machine embroidery and is doing wonderful things on the pockets of the bags she makes. Everywhere she goes people admire her bags, so now she makes them and personalizes them for people. The purple one with the big embroidered W on the front is a baby gift that she made that includes a darling baby quilt inside. Connie did a great job teaching this bag. She has made so many of them that she made it very easy for the rest of us!

My bag (hasn't a button yet) turned out great too! We actually finished the bag last night, in our second class. We had some quilting homework, but that was simple, even for me! Notice how the bag has cute little ties on each side. The bag gets "tucked" in on the sides, and then you tie the "bows", hence the name Bow Tucks Tote! Everyone in my family is going to be begging me for one of these!

Also, let me direct you to Dawn's blog, in case you haven't seen it. She is working on her own rendition of Williamsburg Medallion, and you must see it! She also shows Libby's and Karen's quilts with links to their blogs. I love the way they think and then do it! I am so impressed and honored to have them make my pattern. And I love that they each show their own creative talent in the process.

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!

ANIMAL ACTIVIST

I am at war with a squirrel! We have an upper deck on the side of the house that is surrounded by live oak trees. Southerners call them water oaks because the grow near the ocean. They look nothing like the traditional oak trees that grow in the north. The leaf is entirely different, as are the branches, etc. But they do drop a million little acorns in the spring. I had heard of live oaks in books and never really understood what that meant. Strange name. Live oak as opposed to dead oak? That was the question that always entered my mind. But no, it's a different variety. The branches spread way out from the trunk and sway easily in the wind, or perchance, hurricane. And our trees are filled with squirrels!
I used to think squirrels were these cute little guys who pranced merrily around in trees chasing each other. Playful, carefree. Now I see vermin waiting to destroy when they think we are not looking. They chew like new puppies. In the past they have found their way into our attic, in the eaves of the house, and under the floor of our deck. We have trapped and released quite a few. My husband always drives them across the Lesner Bridge and figures they won't cross the bridge and come back. Recently someone told us of a man who lives over there and traps them, then releases them on our side of the bridge. Great! They DO cross the bridge!
Our latest bold little adversary jumps out of the trees onto the deck and looks for trouble. Recently I caught him chewing holes in the nice, expensive cover that I bought for our gas grill. Why would he do that? Is he one of the squirrels that returned with a vengeance? Yesterday I chased him off the deck and then watched as he came back four times to taunt me. He jumped on the deck in the same spot each time, did a little dance, then raced down to the far end and flew into the trees. He is laughing at me. I am beginning to identify with Elmer Fudd and his war with the Waskely Wabbit. I'm not happy about this.

I am now going to stand guard over my premium vinyl grill cover. This must end. He may be younger and quicker, but I am older and I have more insurance! He better hope I don't meet him on the street!