Empty Spools 2009

Today the Empty spools 2009 catalog came. Lots of great teachers will be there next year, but I am going to register for the class with Suzanne Marshall. I hope I get in. Won't know for a few weeks. I have admired her work for years, and she has an applique method different from any I have tried. Since she lives in Missouri, I don't get the chance to take classes from her very often (I think this is the first time she has been close), so here's hoping. It won't be until Aug/Sept 2009, so I should have a chance to finish a few things first. I'll be going with two friends, this is something to look forward to.

Meanwhile I have been quilting on my Basic and Beyond quilt. Several more threads in the border. Basic and Beyond was from my second quilting class, we learned to draft more blocks and how to piece them, all by hand. It ranges from basic nine patches to a Mariner's compass in the center (the beyond), with various levels of difficulty in between. We used "Quilts, Quilts,
Quilts" by McClun and Nownes as our textbook, but I threw in a Mathieson Mariner's Compass. I started this when I was in my "dark phase", my quilts were made with dark colors. A friend remarked on this, and I agreed, and started working with some lighter colors, but this quilt didn't get them. But I did learn a lot while piecing this quilt. Then I had my last baby (a week after the classes finished) and other things had a higher priority . I got back to it several years later, and discovered a hole in the sashing when the basting was almost done. I ended up replacing sashing, batting and backing and rebasting. Then I started hand quilting it, off and on over the years. I am down to the border, and hoping I have enough quilting thread to finish it. There is no way I will find the same color after all these years (it is a dusky blue). I have some that is close, so will use that if I have to, so all is not lost.

Still haven't found a good place to sit when doing hand work, which is why so much has been done at the machine lately. Maybe this weekend I can do some shopping...

SBS - F-4 Old Maid's Puzzle

I am still calibrating my placement on the Bernina 630, I thought it was a little different from the 200e, but not so you'd notice. When I thought it was different I adjusted my placement. Bad idea, F-4 ended up way too big. So I did a measuring set of strips (three two inch strips sewn together) and discovered where I ought to sew and redid the block. Now it is 6 1/2" within a thread all the way around. That's the way it ought to be . 14 down of 140, a tenth of the way there.

BTW, a big congratulations to Kristi Yamaguchi, the winner of Dancing with the Stars!

While I was watching DWTS last night I pulled out my oldest UFO to hand quilt (working on the border). I realized as I was stitching why I don't do this as much as I should. It is not comfortable in that chair, and I got rid of the chair I used to hand quilt in. In retrospect, not such a good idea. Now I need to find another chair that works for hand work.

Dancing with the Stars

Yes, I am a DWTS fan, especially this season with my favorite Ice Skater, Kristi Yamaguchi, style, elegance, and who knew she could dance. I don't think she did at the beginning, but she is an extremely hard worker (you don't get Olympic gold without hard work!) and willing to take the advice from those who know. So unlike some other women on this show (not so much this season) who would argue with their dancing pros. Or want to do things their way. Go Kristi! I am voting for you.
Now to go fold my washed backing and batting for High Country Garden, then a little hand quilting.

Back from Gold Country Retreat

My sister and I joined 26 other quilters for a retreat this last weekend. Lots of fun, oohing and aahhing, and progress made on lots of quilts. I managed to get the last nine Patchwork Party blocks done (yeah!) and pulled out an ancient UFO to get the top completed. These were patterns from High Country Quilts in Colorado Springs, I got one pattern each month in 1997 (or thereabouts). I started the BOM blocks in October 1998 and finished the center in January 1999. Not too bad on the center, but then it hung around. I wanted to make it 'bigger', a problem I have. I thought a border of pieced blocks would be nice, and I had lots of leftover fabrics, another issue. I bought fat quarters of fabrics instead of the kits. Would have been a lot cheaper to get the kits, but oh well. Somewhere along the line I did get some border fabric, so finally just added a skinny black border and the floral border. Now to quilt it.

This is most of the Patchwork Party blocks and most of the pieces for the Feathered Star center. Getting there.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler C-4 Sister's Choice BOW

I needed to get this week's BOW done quickly since I am going on retreat later this week. And I am getting better, so should be able to go. Tomorrow back to work, then Thursday to retreat (YEAH!). The BOW (block of the week) this week was Sister's Choice. I made several of these when I made a quilt for my sister with her fabric choices. Sister's Choice seemed like a good pattern for it, and I was thrilled with how it turned out (a few years ago now). Anyway, those were even multiples of 5 so I could easily rotary cut it. These are 6" blocks, not so evenly divisable. So I went back to templates (like Jennifer recommends), and got it pieced last night. As long as I was working on the SBS blocks I decided to make one or two more, so went to the list of old BOWs and picked two from the A row, A-8 and A-09. I paper pieced A-9 Chinese Coins. I discovered a new trick while doing that. With freezer paper piecing you can loosen the seam allowance bit and iron it opposite of normal. I was using plain paper so couldn't, but wanted to so that the center row and column could nest. So I modified a tip from Ricky Tims, put Scotch tape over the seam line, gently tore the stitching from the paper, and then ironed it the way I wanted it to go. Worked like a dream . Ricky uses the tape when he needs to remove stitching, but hey, it works great for this too. Then I went to work on A-8. Another revelation. I have been using Marti Michell's templates for the Patchwork Party blocks. I also have her E set for stars and found that E34 is perfect for the corner squares and E-35 is perfect for all of the triangles, so the only template I needed was the center octagon. With MM's corner snipping, all the pieces aligned perfectly, making this block a breeze to make. Only wish I had picked fabrics a bit better. I ended up making this block a second time, the gold just washes into the background and the two blues were just too close. But it was so easy to do, barely took any time at all to make that second one .

On another note, I have been catching up with watching The Quilt Show.com while stitching. Bonnie McCaffery was on, and mentioned vidcasts on her site. Check them out at http://www.bonniemccaffery.com , great techniques and things that look like a lot of fun to do. Want to try her fantasy fabric pins soon.

Shoo Fly quilt done!

Late last night I finished the Shoo Fly quilt - named Winter Garden Pool by my DD, the recipient of the quilt, since the fabric seems to shimmer. I don't have a great place to take pictures, so here is most of it.

Short history of this quilt - it began with some fat quarters I got at PIQF many years ago from the Cotton in the Cabin booth, designed by Sandy McCay. It took a while to decide on the pattern, but the Shoo Fly quilt in one of the Elm Creek quilt books caught my eye. I decided to make as many Shoo Flys as I could just using the fabric I had. Later, I added the indigo sashing and the green skinny strip (perfect match from an old Diana Leone fabric). I used wool batting, which is very poofy. But it did scrunch up enough in my Bernina, with some work. This is a full size quilt, roughly 88" x 96".

Mother's Day

Been sick for the last few days, but I think I am on the mend. Very little quilt progress is made while lying in bed. However I am now done cutting the Patchwork Party blocks to take with me to the Gold Country Retreat. And the Shoo Fly block quilting is well over half way done. So the end is in sight. And the cutting table has finally been cleared off so I can trim the extra batting from around the quilt. That will help when quilting in the middle. Now to find the binding. I know I cut it when I cut the borders, at least I think I did. I should bind it once I trim the batting, but that means reconfiguring the sewing machine. Not that hard to do, but well, I'd rather finish the quilting.

This morning I woke up to OJ by the bed, and coffee on its way. Then DD made me my breakfast of choice, French Toast, bacon and fresh strawberried. Yum. First food that has tasted good for a few days, hardly ate at all yesterday. And the headache from hell is gone (I hope). And I can sew again. So life is good. Wonder what they are going to fix for dinner?