On the road to Paducah

My friend, Patty, and I were invited to join our friend Linda and her mother at a timeshare condo on Lake Barkley for the 2013 Paducah quilt week. Patty and I left on Saturday morning, April 20th. She was as excited as a little kid anticipating his first trip to Disney World.

We took the southern route, I-81 through southwestern Virginia to I-40. The weather was fabulous and the scenery was beautiful with all the redbud and dogwoods in bloom.

I planned a little shop hop for us. Unfortunately, neither of us thought to take any pictures. Our first stop was Rachel’s Quilt Patch in Staunton, VA. It’s a small shop is in a restored 1860 freight station. The first thing I saw when I walked in was a seal-point siamese (not pure-bred) kitty. She was friendly and condescended to allow me to hold her and carry her around the store for a while. I don’t have cats any more so I don’t get many chances to pet them. She had the loudest purr I’ve ever heard. I bought a couple of fabrics.

We had lunch at the Southern Inn restaurant in Lexington, Va. We saw a billboard for it on the interstate and decided to take a chance. We weren’t disappointed.

Our second quilt shop was Old Trinity Schoolhouse Quilt Shop in Troutville, Va. This is the place to go if you like 1800s reproduction fabrics. I got a book, Hex-A-Holic Handbook.

Our third and last shop was Batiks Etcetera & Sew What Fabrics in Wytheville (pronouced withville), VA. Patty and I did some damage here – I got a bunch of pink batiks and a few other fabrics. I also had a small world experience. I heard a woman give her name and thought, I know someone by that name but it isn’t her. Later, the subject of names came up while she was standing next to me and I told her that I knew someone by her name but that she was from California. She said, “Is she the genealogist?” I said she was. She then told me about being at a genealogy conference luncheon a few years ago where someone told her the same thing. At the end of the meal, she discovered she and the other woman by the same name had been sitting back to back at adjoining tables.

We had dinner at the Log House 1776 restaurant which is just down the block from the quilt shop. I had a hard time finding an entree that was gluten-free. Several things sounded ok but when I asked about them, they all had wheat in them. I ended up with grilled salmon.

We spent the night at the La Quinta in Wytheville.

Day 2 was a long slog across Tennessee and up into Kentucky. It was Sunday so there weren’t any shopping opportunities. We arrived at the condo in Cadiz, KY around 6 pm.

Winter storm Saturn snow day!

This is the kind of snow day I can get behind. Work cancelled and very little snow.

Unlike many, I dread big snow storms because I live alone and I have to shovel the snow. I live in a townhouse without a garage so I have to shovel out my car as well as the steps and walkway. The forecast was for a foot or more of snow, depending on how far west you were from I-95. Work was closed for the day. It’s now afternoon and there is very little accumulation, the grass isn’t even all covered in my back yard. It’s warm enough that it’s raining instead of snowing now so nothing to shovel! Yeah!

Even if work hadn’t been closed, I’d have taken the day off because that’s what we do out here when it snows. I grew up in Illinois where you didn’t let snow stop you from doing what needed to be done, unless it was a blizzard but I’ve lived on the east coast since December 1981. While talking to a friend back home in Illinois a while back, I said something about not going to work when it snowed. She looked at me like I had two heads. I told her she just didn’t understand what it was like out here. People out here drive crazy. They follow too closely and drive too fast. It’s safer just to stay off the road in snow. 

I had 3 rows of Easy Street assembled so I sewed them together. Then I did some cutting for the 30s string star. Doesn’t sound like much but I felt like I got a lot accomplished.

Back on Easy Street

It’s dismaying to see so many Easy Street Quilts finished when I’m so far behind. The day after clue 5 was published I went out of town for the holidays so I was only able to do a little cutting for that clue before I left.

Clue 6 was published while I was gone. Clue 7 was published Dec 31, the morning after the night I got back. So, there I was 3 clues behind and clue 8, the finish, was published on Jan 1. Clues 7 and 8 were BIG! Lots of sewing!

New Year’s Day I sewed with my friend Linda at her quilt shop. I got a late start, around 11 am by the time I got there and got the store’s Janome Jem set up for use. My Jem was at a different shop for maintenance. I was supposed to pick it up on the 31st but they didn’t seem to be open. Linda let me use the shop’s machine so I didn’t have to drag my heavy Bernina to the store. I got some work done on the steps 5 – 7 but not as much as I would have liked. I tried not to look at blogs with spoilers until after I got at least some of clue 7 done but it was tough.

Piles of Easy Street parts ready for assembly!

Back when I started quilting in the 1990s, Mary Ellen Hopkins was a well-known quilt teacher and author. I’ve always been under the impression that the connector corner technique was her invention. She always threatened to send her squad of knee-cappers out to get you if you cut off the bottom part of the square you were sewing to. She maintained that only the middle layer – the bottom of the top square being sewn onto the bottom square – should be cut out. That way you always had a square to sew to the adjoining pieces even if your triangle didn’t exactly match the edges. Here’s a picture showing why she was so insistent:

See how the edges of the purple triangle don’t meet the edges of the turquoise square? By not cutting out the turquoise, I still have a correct edge to match to the next piece.

So far I’ve sewed all the triangles and 2.5 of the B blocks. I was anxious to start using the piles of parts so the A blocks will have to wait because they need purple squares cut for the middle piece. It’s going to take a while to get this finished now that I’m back at work – I was on vacation for the holidays. Plus, I have to help my parents who live 700 miles away move to an apartment and empty the house. I was doing so well at keeping up before the holidays.

The 4 corners done.

See other quilters’ strolls down Easy Street here.

Easy Street Detour

I was able to keep up with Easy Street until Clue 5. The day it was published I was getting ready to go away for the holidays. I did get some pieces cut but nothing sewed. While I was away, clue 6 was published. Of course, I’ve done nothing on that because I was away. I got home last night and this morning clue 7 was released. Tomorrow, the last clue will be released – at least, I think she said it’s the last clue. I’ll be sewing tomorrow with my friend Linda and I’m still on vacation the rest of the week so I hope to get caught up soon.

I went to Illinois to spend Christmas with my elderly parents and my brother. I drove Mom and Dad up to Chicago to spend a few days with my brother. Unfortunately, on Christmas day Dad (89 years old) had an altercation with the small, evil one. He lost.

Missy, the small, evil one.

The small, evil one (as my mother and I think of her) or Missy (as my brother prefers) is a 12 year old miniature Schnauzer. She is the smallest of his current pack of 3 minis. I think he said she weighs about 6 pounds. She is an aggressive dog. As my brother described her, she bites first and asks questions later.

Dad was sitting in the small, evil one’s place on the couch so she curled up next to him. I guess he forgot she was there and when he pushed himself up off the couch he must have dug his elbow into her side. She flew into a rage and bit him on the hand. Of course,  it was his dominant hand.

My brother was upstairs in the shower so while I was looking for bandages, Dad went to  rinse off his hand. I told him to wash it with soap. He didn’t because he said he didn’t know where the soap was but he didn’t tell me that until the next day. He’s legally blind so he didn’t realize the soap was right on the sink.

The next day we noticed that his hand was swollen, red and hot. He’s on blood thinner and kept flexing his hand which kept opening the wound and making it bleed. We kept telling him not to do that. So we had a fun-filled afternoon at the walk-in clinic. I learned that they don’t stitch animal bites because of the likelihood of infection. Stitches make the infection worse. His hand looked a lot better after a couple of days on the antibiotic.

Mom called the doctor’s office for an appointment after we got home from Chicago. When the nurse asked where he was bitten, she said “at my son’s house in Chicago”.  Then the nurse rephrased the question. I bet you thought that was just an old joke.

Frozen Fog

Have you ever seen frozen fog? The first time I saw it was years ago when my Dad and I were travelling across Iowa after Christmas. I didn’t know what it was. All the trees and bushes were white but it wasn’t snow and it wasn’t ice. Dad told me it was frozen fog. When the sun came out everything sparkled like diamonds.

This morning was the second time I’ve seen frozen fog. I was driving back home from Illinois. It was very cold – in the single digits in eastern Illinois and western Indiana. Add fog to the frigid temperatures and you get frozen fog. I probably should have taken a picture but I didn’t really want to get out of the car with a temperature of 7 degrees F. And, I didn’t have snow boots and I don’t think I could capture the beauty in a photograph. It wasn’t as sparkly as the first time. I think there was too much cloud cover and the fog hadn’t completely burned off.

See some images of frozen fog here.

60 Degrees of Separation

Linda Schiffer, owner of Seminole Sampler, turned 60 in November 2012. Time for another Sew and Tell production. This time I was the coordinator for the project. I’ve learned from past projects that it doesn’t pay to have too many rules when we’re doing a group project because they aren’t all going to follow them anyway. After much discussion we decided to make hexagonal blocks using a citrus color scheme. Linda and I love our hexagons!

Some of the Sew & Tell group with Linda’s quilt mostly hidden behind us.

I wanted little quilts that Linda could rearrange or group any way she chooses. I considered many different ways to connect the blocks and wandered the aisles of Michaels’, JoAnns and Hobby Lobby looking for inspiration. After binding each block separately, I finally decided to sew split rings on each corner on the back. I was going to use floral wire to connect them but that didn’t work out very well. Plan B went into effect the morning of the presentation so I just used some twine to connect them.

The blocks pinned to the wall for show and tell at Faithful Circle Quilters. Many of the Sew and Tell members belong to this guild. This is the arrangement I used when I connected the blocks before giving them to Linda. Sorry about the dirty wall.

Some of the blocks came from Linda’s designs in 3 books of paper-pieced blocks she co-authored with Jodie Davis. The books are Hearts and Flowers Quilt Block Designs, Victorian Quilt Block Designs, and Garden-inspired Quilt Block Designs. The 3 books were published as one books under the title, Quilting Made Easy.

First up: Amy

Amy’s block – Amy, Linda and I all love cats. Please note that Miss I-only-quilt-by-check HAND QUILTED this block! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it.

Back of Amy’s block

Aurelia crocheted the yarn for this chrysanthemum and made needle lace leaves. Linda loves everything Japanese.

Back of Aurelia’s block.

My block without the beads I added. I forgot to take a picture after I added the beads. 2012 is the year of the dragon. This is fused applique.

Back of my block.

Beth’s block. Each one she does is better than the last.

This one deserves some detail shots and explanation.

The first letters of the flower names spell Linda.

Each letter is made from a fabric whose name begins with that letter and is decorated with things that begin with that letter. The quilting around each letter is words that start with that letter. She also added buttons that say 60 and quilted the word tatsu which is Japanese for dragon.

The F is made from flannel and is decorated with flower beads and French knots.
The A is made from hand-dyed fabric from Art Fabrik.
The B is made of batik and has buttons and bugle beads (in the next picture).

The R is made of rip-stop nylon and is decorated with rickrack and a rose.
The I is iridescent fabric and has a charm that says “I love quilting”.

The C is made from cotton and is decorated with couching and crystals and charms.

Back of Beth’s block.

Deborah’s block. Deborah is one of our members who moved away. Deborah and Linda both like the designer of the fabric in the center.

Back of Deborah’s block.

Genie made a crane with beautiful free-motion embroidery wings.

Back of Genie’s block.

Kathy designed this cat sleeping on a pile of quilts because we all know that’s what cats do. See the smile on the cat’s face?

Back of Kathy’s block.

Peggy made a Texas Star. Linda lived in Texas as a teen. Peggy is a fairly new quilter. The pattern in the book I had was not the right size. Peggy figured out how to make it the correct size. Good job, Peggy!

Back of Peggy’s block.

Sandie made this block from one of Linda’s books. She added corners to make it a hexagon.

Back of Sandie’s block.

Sharon made this block of ice cream cones. I took the design from one of Linda’s books and changed it from a rectangle to a triangle. I made the paper piecing foundations for the block. Don’t they look good enough to eat?

Back of Sharon’s block.

Shelley is a sometimes here, sometimes away member. She made this log cabin, embellished with leaf buttons because they both like leaves.

Back of Shelley’s block.

Tobi is another of our away members. She made this block from another of Linda’s books after modifying the size.

Back of Tobi’s block.

Easy Street Part 4

More flying geese. It seems I have not yet mastered the ability to make flying geese the right size in the required size except with paper piecing.

What happened here?

When I first started quilting I had an early 1970s Kenmore sewing machine. I decided I wanted a new machine and had decided on Bernina but wasn’t ready to spend that much money. While talking to my mother, who is not a needlewoman, said, “Machines are probably pretty expensive now. I bet that’s going to cost $400-500.” I told her it was more like $3000. She said I didn’t need a machine that expensive.

I was complaining at a sew-in for a mystery quilt that had flying geese in it that the Kenmore was pushing the fabric off the feed dogs. Kathy came over and said, “Let me see that”. She sat down and sewed a bit, then said, “I’ve sewn on a lot of machines in my day. This machine is a piece of crap!”

That afternoon she wanted to go to Fabric Chest in Glen Burnie (sadly no longer in business). I don’t remember the motivation for going but Linda and I hadn’t been so we went, too. Fabric Chest was a Bernina dealer. As soon as we set foot in the door, Kathy asked if they had any used machines. They had a 10 year old 1230. Well, Kathy and Linda were so excited to show it to me that the sales clerk couldn’t get a word in edgewise. I think Kathy would have made me walk home if I hadn’t bought the 1230.

I haven’t been sewing Easy Street on my Bernina because it had to go to the hospital. My workhorse Janome Gem Gold has been doing all the work. Using Bonnie’s method of making the geese, some of mine turned out right and some didn’t. What I don’t understand is why the ones with the turquoise wings were a little smaller than the ones with the white wings. I ended up trimming most of my blocks. But, they are done.

Flying Geese squares done!

Next time I have to do flying geese, I’m using Deb Tucker’s Wing Clipper ruler. It uses the make-it-bigger-then-cut-it-to-size technique.

I finally got the white bricks cut. And, I cut some of the green squares. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to work on Easy Street again until New Year’s Day. I thought I might be able to do a little work on it Friday while I’m getting ready to travel but I learned today that a member of my guild died so I’ll probably be going to the funeral home for the visitation.

Tip: Use a nylon scrubby to clean the trimming schmutz off the cutting mat.

See what others are doing on Easy Street.

Mimi’s Grad School December 2012

The first Monday in December is Mimi Dietrich‘s Grad School holiday potluck luncheon. Mimi was afraid we’d have too many desserts and not enough savory food so she encouraged us to bring main and side dishes. It worked better than she expected. Only one person brought dessert!

Getting the food ready.

Our group project for the last 2 years has been the Civil War Bride quilt. Eleanor decided that she would pretend she was making the quilt while her husband was off fighting the war. Much to her surprise, letters from her husband began arriving in the mail. Several of us thought she or her husband were writing them but they weren’t. Eleanor had no idea who was writing them. The last few months she has been asking this or that person if they were the letter writer. She never figured it out. She finally gave up and asked the person to confess.

Eleanor and Penny, her letter writing “husband”.

We don’t normally do show and tell in December but Jeanne Sullivan brought some of the samples from her new book, Simply Successful Applique. Her work is absolutely exquisite. I doubt the pictures will do it justice. Click on the picture to see a larger image.

Album cover. The letters are appliqued and embroidered!

Flower basket.

Framed wallhanging with small blocks. I forgot to measure them. I think they’re 3-4″.

A copy of the book is on its way to me. I can’t wait to read it.

Easy Street Part 3

Wasn’t sure I’d get this step finished on time since I usually don’t get home from work until 6:30 or later on Friday. Saturday was taken up with Saturday Sampler at 9:15 and a haircut at 10:15. From there I headed on down to Virginia for Jinny Beyer club at 1 pm.

On the way home stopped at Ikea and wasted an hour and a half. They’re on my shit list now. Don’t believe Ikea’s website when they say the item you want is available at the store. They did have what I wanted but not on the shelf and not as many as the website said and they had no intention of putting it on the shelf until the next day. This is after I tried to find the light bulb for a lamp I wanted to get in the marketplace area. So, I put the lamp back. Around the next corner I saw an employee and asked for help. She just looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. Finally she said I needed to find someone in the lighting department to help me. I didn’t say what I was thinking which was, “If there had been someone in lighting to ask I wouldn’t be asking you for help”. I just said, “never mind” and kept heading toward the self-service area where I thought I would be getting what I came for. No concept of what customer service means. Didn’t get home till close to 6 pm. Sorry for the whining but I could have been sewing on Easy Street instead.

Almost done. Four units laid out. I like to see progress so I do a few at time instead of sewing all of the right sides, then all of the left sides, then all of the triangles. The finished units are in piles of ten at the top of the picture.

This little guy in the bottom right looks like he might have escaped from the Baxtertoons in Cathi’s blog.

I hope Cathi agrees. Her blog is Quilt Obsession.

I finally finished all 64 blocks Sunday evening. I have lots of purple squares and some turquoise triangles left over. I still need to cut the white bricks Bonnie told us about in step 2.

See what everyone else is doing on Easy Street.

Mimi’s Grad School

Once upon a time a long time ago, Mimi Dietrich began teaching a year long Baltimore Album applique class at her local quilt shop. The participants enjoyed the class so much they didn’t want to stop meeting. So, they continued to meet once a month at Seminole Sampler in Catonsville, MD. This is also my local quilt shop.

In 1998, Genie (co-worker and Sew & Tell member) talked about wanting to take the class. At the time, it was thought that it would be the last time Mimi taught the class. Turns out it wasn’t. Mimi is still teaching the class every year except for time out for cancer treatment.

Genie and I signed up. She only knew that Mimi was a famous quilter who had written some books and taught classes. When she walked into class the first day, Mimi said “Regina!”. Genie said, “You’re not Mimi Dietrich. You’re Mary Ann So-and-so! (or something like that – I don’t remember the actual name)” Turns out they were high school classmates.

When our class ended in 1999, Mimi invited all of us to join her grad school class. There are 2 requirements to get into the group: 1) take Mimi’s year long class or have equivalent applique experience and 2) be invited to join by Mimi. We meet on a Monday so I have to use vacation time to attend but I try never to miss it. We never know exactly what’s going to happen but we  know we’ll have fun.

Have I finished my Baltimore Album? No. But, I’m in good company because several of the people in the very first class haven’t finished theirs, either.

Although we call it a class, it isn’t really. It’s very informal. Mimi calls us to order and talks about whatever business she has on her agenda. We do show and tell. We shop. We eat lunch.

In 2000 we added an hour-long afternoon session Mimi called PHD class for projects piled higher and deeper. The group decides on a project for the next year or so and those who want to participate stay for the afternoon session. We show what we’ve done on the project since the last meeting. One of the group presents a block or some other sort of presentation relevant to the project. I have yet to finish a single one of these projects. I don’t know why I can’t keep up.

I’m in awe of the talent in this group. Some of the women do museum quality work. I’m not one of them. But, man, you should hear the whining if they have to piece anything. It’s hilarious! I’m an equal opportunity quilter, applique or piecing, it’s all the same to me.