tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29253199668739183122024-03-05T17:58:48.814-10:00The Patriotic QuilterJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.comBlogger478125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-45661181210774162332016-05-14T02:21:00.000-10:002016-05-14T02:21:11.336-10:00Doll Quilt Swap: Quilt ReceivedHi Everyone,<br />
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Goodness, I'm a day late and a dollar short posting this! Spring is upon us and I've been doing lots of gardening, yardwork, and babysitting recently and that is keeping me from stitching as much as I like! Oh well, soon the heat will keep me inside in my sewing room.<br />
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The <a href="http://thepatrioticquilter.blogspot.com/2016/04/doll-swap-quilt-indiana-crossings.html">last pos</a>t I shared detailed the quilt I made for the Reproduction Doll Quilt Swap hosted by Lori at <a href="http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/">Humble Quilts</a>. Making and sending a quilt off is lots of fun, and next was the true excitement when the mail came each day to see if my quilt was there. Finally, one day, my husband brought in the mail and there was a package for me! I confess, I was so eager to open it and see what it was that I didn't even hear him telling me about his day. I think he was a bit miffed at me about that, but frankly, non-quilters just don't get it...<br />
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Anyway, what came out of the package was simply stunning!<br />
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This totally gorgeous quilt, plus some fabric, a pattern, and some awesome RWB measuring tape ribbon bundling it all together.<br />
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The quilt is so fun. I'd never seen any pattern like it before--it reminds me of houses. Just a few days later, though, I was looking on Amazon and they had "recommended books" for me to look at. One was this:<br />
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<img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61lgM1DwiDL._SX383_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" height="320" width="247" /><br />
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It's the pattern, or at least the inspiration, for my quilt! It was like recognizing an old friend.<br />
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Meanwhile, lets take another look at mine.<br />
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I made the photo as large as possible so you could see the gorgeous backing fabric. I love the label as well.<br />
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I've shared the quilt, but I've not told about the very talented creator. My swap partner was Patricia Riley, owner of Prairie Hill Retreat in Janesville, Wisconsin. She included a brochure for her retreat center and it looks like a wonderful place to go with friends to quilt. If you are interested, it is on Facebook.<br />
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I wanted to write this post yesterday when Lori put up the linky party, but I had plans to be down in Indianapolis to garden with my daughter. We had a lovely day and the weather was perfect, so it was more yardwork last night when I got home. My husband and I are in the process of building a raised-bed 4 feet wide by 20 feet long so I have lots more room for dahlias this year. <br />
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Have a wonderful day!<br />
JoAnne JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-73605452226150614242016-04-13T01:59:00.001-10:002016-04-13T01:59:20.424-10:00Doll Swap Quilt--Indiana CrossingsHi Everyone,<br />
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Last year I participated in the reproduction doll quilt swap hosted by Lori at <a href="http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/">Humble Quilts</a>. So when she announced that she was doing another, I eagerly signed up. The rules are that it cannot be larger than 24" on a side (can be square or rectangle,) and has to be made with reproduction fabrics, prior to the 1920s. <br />
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I decided that I would try to replicate some or part of a real antique quilt and since I needed to start my search for a quilt somewhere, I chose to search for Indiana antique quilts, since Indiana is my new, adopted state. I stumbled across this one, found <a href="http://www.stellarubinantiques.com/items/1220959/Wild-Goose-Chase-Quilt-Ca-1880-Indiana">here</a>.<br />
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It's in my favorite colors! And I love to make flying geese. Lets look a bit closer.<br />
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And even closer.<br />
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That's a bit better--although I should have cropped the pictures maybe--but you get the idea.<br />
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I decided to make a piece of the quilt--pretty much as shown in the photo just above. To make it, I needed a LeMoyne star block for the center and then lots of flying geese.<br />
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I realized that I own a Rapid Fire LeMoyne Star ruler, so I got it out and made the smallest one I could. I then made the smallest flying geese I could with the Bloc Loc rulers that I have. <br />
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I tried to see how they would fit together and I realized I needed a LeMoyne star block that was a half inch larger than the first one. I went back to the ruler and was momentarily stymied by the fact that it increased only in inches. I considered for a short time and then decided to attempt to make it only a half inch larger by imagining a line exactly between the ones on the ruler. It worked great! Next, I started making more geese. <br />
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I laid out the units I would need to make a square. I didn't like it, though, it looked like a block from a larger quilt. I decided to add more geese to stretch it into a rectangle, so I made more geese.<br />
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Yes, I had to use "Y" seams to construct the top, but they really aren't that scary! I find that as long as I mark the quarter inch intersections, they go together easily. The result was as you see above, but I wanted a border.<br />
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I decided to continue with the flying geese and use them as a border, so I made more geese. I laid out several possibilities and decided that I wanted each border to have the geese pointing to the center, so I would need an even amount on both the top/bottom and the sides. Like this:<br />
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Of course, the center wasn't the right measurements for the border, so I had to add some skinny strips all around to "float" the center and bring it to the right measurments. I sewed geese together to form the side borders and discovered I needed more, so I made more geese.<br />
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My next dilema was the corner squares. Should they be navy or cream? I thought they should be navy, since in the antique quilt, there are navy squares that appear where the geese meet, however on my smaller version, they just "boxed" the center too much. I loved the inspiration quilt as it was so "airy" and "unconfined" and it didn't have a heavy border surrounding it. So in the end, I chose cream for the corner squares.<br />
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Last year, I designed a quilt for the swap and ended up not sending it out, (I sent another in its place.) Why? I had machine quilted it by meandering over the top. I personally thought it detracted from the "antique" look that we are striving for. I don't object to machine quilting at all--but to me, the meander didn't look authentic. I considered my options for this top and decided to hand quilt it.<br />
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I haven't hand-quilted in a while, so I had to get back "in the groove." I really enjoyed it, too! I used to do lots of hand-quilting but haven't lately. I wonder why? I suppose because I'm doing lots of other hand work--needle turn applique and wool applique.<br />
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It didn't take too long and it was finished. I bound it in red and washed it to get the lovely "crinkle."<br />
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It's going to be difficult to send this out! I'm proud of the fact that I didn't use a pattern and I had the technical skills to see how it was constructed and then make my own version. I need to do that more often! I named it "Indiana Crossings" not just because the lines of geese criss-cross acosss the quilt, but also because Indiana is know as "the Crossroads of America" as so many freeways travel across our state.<br />
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This is the back--I love the texture of the hand-quilting!</div>
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I'll send this off later this week. The deadline is May 1, but I know this has a long journey. I can't wait to see the one that arrives in my mailbox!</div>
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Have a great day!</div>
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JoAnne</div>
<br />JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-78245790180968437772016-04-11T02:18:00.000-10:002016-04-11T02:18:20.221-10:00The WeddingHi Everyone,<br />
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I know I've been absent again, but in the time I was we had a Big Event! My daughter, our only child, got married. The couple was only engaged about 6 months, but in that time, they planned a really wonderful wedding.<br />
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The big night was Friday, March 11, at the Indiana Children's Museum and what an event it was. So many people said it was the most fun wedding they had ever attended--and I agreed. <br />
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I began the festivities with my daughter in the morning, going to the hair salon with her and the bridesmaids. <br />
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These are pictures of her getting her hair done. Everyone kept remarking on all the hair!</div>
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The final result</div>
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After the hair was done, we went to lunch, where we all had pizza, except the bride, who had salad.</div>
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Then we headed to the museum.</div>
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I may have mentioned that the wedding would have a bit of a dinosaur theme... The reception would be inside the Dinosphere. Anyway, just as I snapped this picture outside, my phone battery went in the red!!! I had no charger along with me. </div>
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The bride and we ladies would be changing in the Manor--a Victorian mansion adjacent to the museum.</div>
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This is the room we were given--the picture is from their website--that isn't my daughter's dress!</div>
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Anyway, once we carried everything in, I sat in my daughter's car so as to charge my phone, until one of the bridemaids told me she had a wall charger along--then we all took turns plugging in to it.</div>
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In the end, it really didn't matter, since I never got a chance to take many pictures. Have you had a daughter get married before? It was all such a whirlwind of emotions, and seemed to flash by in seconds. </div>
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We all were ready by 5 when pictures started. Jessica hired a really wonderful photographer, and she kept them busy taking lots of fun photos all over the museum right until the ceremony began at 7.</div>
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My mom took this picture. It still makes me cry a bit--she is so beautiful!</div>
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Here is my husband walking her down the aisle.</div>
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Cutting the cake in the Dinosphere</div>
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After we had eaten and the cake was cut, we went back to the atrium for dancing.</div>
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Their first dance.</div>
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The Father and Bride dance. More tears!!!</div>
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My husband and I</div>
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The festivities wrapped up by ten, and then we had until 11 to get cleaned up.</div>
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I did get this picture of the bride getting ready to leave. I loved her flowers!</div>
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I loaded up my daughter's car and drove it back to the hotel--she had left with her new husband, of course! </div>
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It seemed like it was over so quickly. Other than the festivities, I loved having so much family come. My older sister and her husband flew in from southern California, and one of their sons and his girlfriend came from Colorado. My mother-in-law flew in from North Dakota. It seemed like I didn't get enough of a chance to visit with all of them, though. </div>
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I think I'll write another blog post later about all of the "crafting" and hard work that my daughter did to make her special day. Here's a hint: not only was she the bride, but she made the wedding cake, too, with the help of some friends! </div>
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Have a great day!</div>
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JoAnne</div>
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JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-47399726102859769262016-02-11T15:29:00.000-10:002016-02-11T15:29:54.693-10:00My Moda Bake Shop ABC Birthday Quilt Along QuiltHi Everyone,<br />
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Boy, that title is sure a mouthful, isn't it? As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, I had heard about this QAL several weeks ago. I toyed with the idea of making a quilt with patriotic words at first, but I just couldn't get excited about it, so I moved the project to the back of my mind. Then about 2 weeks ago, I read a quote on Facebook and got excited. <br />
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Do you ever get so excited about a project that you immediately grab paper and begin sketching out the idea? And as it takes hold, you forget about any other projects, responsibilies, or even other fun events? That was happening with me. As soon as I sketched it out, I got right to cutting and sewing.<br />
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I used a fat quarter bundle of Moda's Red, White, and Free by Sandy Gervais that I had on my shelf. I also had yardage of the background fabric and some of the other pieces. I was two thirds finished when I realized I would need more background. I did a Google search and wasn't having much luck. Finally, after a page or two of results, there was a link to a shop that I've been ordering from for years, <a href="http://www.stitchingpostquilts.com/">The Stitching Post</a>, located in Southern Indiana. They had some! There was 2 1/4 yard left so I ordered it. The next day I was out for a while and when I got home there was a message on my machine. My heart sunk when I saw it was The Stitching Post calling--I figured that they no longer had the fabric. I was wrong, though! They actually had more and were calling to see if I needed more! Talk about fabulous customer service. We chatted for a bit and finally the owner asked if I or my husband had been in the service as she had several addresses from me in the system! I laughed and said, "Yes, but now we are retired here in Indiana, too." I would love to one day visit the actual shop. With every order I have placed, it arrives with a personal note, handwritten on the form. I love that.<br />
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Anyway, once I had more fabric, I was able to resume. Besides all of the words, I needed some filler blocks. I wanted to make them with the neutral fabrics so that they would be less visible and not take away attention from the quote.<br />
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It was fun to play with these fabrics and still get fun blocks, even though the contrast is low among the pieces.<br />
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Once I had all of the words completed, I was looking it over and realized I had made some of the "A's" different. About half were this way:<br />
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(with long legs)</div>
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And half were this way:</div>
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(wish short legs)</div>
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Grr! I decided in the end that it wasn't bothering me enough to change things. Just a note here: the patterns for the letters, Spell it with Moda, call for using 2.5" strips. To get my quote to fit on a smaller size, I had to make them half the size, using 1.5" strips.</div>
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Finally on Monday, I got the entire quilt top finished. I am really happy with it!</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4AJS2QJ_YeI/VrvFSz8a_6I/AAAAAAAAW68/37kIQElQP8A/s1600/IMG_6226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4AJS2QJ_YeI/VrvFSz8a_6I/AAAAAAAAW68/37kIQElQP8A/s320/IMG_6226.JPG" title="Moda Bake Shop ABC Birthday QAL" width="320" /></a></div>
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This quote means so much to me. I'm so glad that I was able to fit it into a quilt. Just a note here: the patterns for the letters, Spell it with Moda, call for using 2.5" strips. To get my quote to fit on the size quilt I wanted, I had to make them half the size, using 1.5" strips. The finsihed quilt size is 63" square. I was surprised about that--I had realized it would be 63" wide early on, but I had no idea how long it would become with all of the spacer strrips included.</div>
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All of the fabric is Moda, aside from the star field in the flag. I have no idea who designed it.</div>
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And all of the Moda was from the Red, White, and Free line except what I used for the word, soldier. I decided that should be different, and camoflage. Luckily Moda had another line, "Because of the Brave" which had the perfect fabric.</div>
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I had one design challenge: As you can see, I used the light blue background to highlight some of the words: Flag, Breath, Soldier, Protecting. I wanted to highlight another word, and Fly, Wind, and Moves were the choices. After thinking about it, I decided on Moves, as it referenced "moving" to me, which describes the quote--I find it moving. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ffz2I7SIs3g/VrvFOL8jTwI/AAAAAAAAW68/befKFBz66s0/s1600/IMG_6227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ffz2I7SIs3g/VrvFOL8jTwI/AAAAAAAAW68/befKFBz66s0/s320/IMG_6227.JPG" title="Sandy Gervais Red White, and Free" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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Now that this project is finished, I will admit that I'm feeling a bit like the day after Christmas--let down and depressed--in other words, the excitement is over. For now. There will be other projects! (I'm just not sure what to focus on next. I expect my husband would appreciate it if I did some grocery shopping!)<br />
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Have a wonderful day!<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-26810108580041303062016-02-10T13:44:00.001-10:002016-02-10T14:44:29.011-10:00Big, Complicated FinishHi Everyone,<br />
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I was trying to wait for a nice day to take some outdoor photos, but after we had thunder, lightning, pouring rain and then snow and wind all in 24 hours, I decided it probably wasn't going to happen, so I will have to settle for showing you the photos I took inside.<br />
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After fixing my problem border sections, it wasn't too difficult to get all the border completed and sewn on the quilt, finishing my part of my big, complicated project that I wanted to make last year.<br />
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I have it hanging on the soffit of my basement. It will be a king-sized quilt and measures 114" square. <br />
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It's from Judy Martin's "Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts."</div>
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I love how you get curves and circles, but all of the pieces are rectangles or squares!<br />
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Now I need to get it to the long-armer.<br />
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After finishing such a major project, I felt compelled to clean up my sewing room. Do you ever do that or do you keep things tidy all the time? I tend to make a mess as I sew and then clean up after. I even vacuumed!<br />
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Have a wonderful day,<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-14882718839878301372016-02-02T03:28:00.001-10:002016-02-02T03:28:14.264-10:00At HomeHi Everyone,<br />
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I'm so glad it is finally February! January never is my favorite month. This year was no different and I spent most of it holed up at home, doing some quilting.<br />
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If you have been following my blog, you may recall that I love listening to audiobooks while I quilt. I recently finished a couple that I enjoyed. The first one was the newest Mitch Rapp book. Vince Flynn started these books and tragically died a couple years ago--before I discovered his books. The newest one was ghost written by Kyle Mills. He did such a good job that I had no idea it wasn't "discovered" in Vince Flynn's computer and published posthumously! (I recently listened to the new Girl With the Dragon Tatoo which was ghost-writed and I really didn't like it--the new author didn't stay true to the originals at all. Characters had the same names, but were totally different people.)<br />
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<img height="320" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Km1%2B%2BlilL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="210" /><br />
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The next book is different and by an author that is new to me. One night a few weeks ago, my husband and I were bored with tv and so watched a movie "on demand." We chose "Into the Woods" with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. It was really good. At the credits, I saw that it was a true story and had been written by the man portrayed by Redford, Bill Bryson. Interested, I checked him out and saw that he has written many books, one of which, "One Summer, America in 1927" I have had on my "too read" list. Intrigued, I went to my Overdrive (libraray audiobook) app to see if any were available. They do have several, and I put "One Summer" on hold. As I was looking, I discovered that one, "At Home, a Short History of Private Life," was free to check out, so I did.<br />
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Bill is known as a bit of a travel writer, but for this book, he was inspired to travel around his house. At the time, his family lived in England in a former Victorian parsonage. As he traveled through the home, he examined the history of nearly everything associated with home. I found it fascinating! History is mixed in with the story of the development of so many things that I had no idea about. Corn: scientists to this day have no idea how ancient MesoAmericans developed corn. Its most closely related plant is a form of grass. In fact, corn is dependant on people--it cannot resow itself and would disappear if it was no longer planted. Concrete: Initially "cement" (a ground up limestone) was mixed with clay and fired in a kiln. One man experiemented with it, mixing it with aggregate and not firing it, and figuring out that it would harden on its own. Cotton: did you know it was once more valuable than silk? <br />
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While listening to these books, I was able to finish a few things.<br />
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I got my free BOM from Stacy West at Buttermilk Basin together. It required nearly 240 one inch finished HSTs for the lattice. I love how it looks, though. I had some trouble with choosing the border fabric. I auditioned many and even asked friends opinions. I decided if I needed help with the decision--it must not be the right fabric, so I continued to audition and finally settled on this one. <br />
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I also finised piecing another of her patterns, <a href="http://www.buttermilkbasin.com/shop/NEW-Misc-Pattern-Releases/p/Vintage-Tree-Farm-Quilt-x7153719.htm">Vintage Tree Farm Quilt</a>. I widened it a bit and shortened it to fit above my mantle for Christmas.<br />
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The "red truck with the tree in the back" has been a Christmas motif for the past couple years. I'm sure it will disappear after a while, but I like it--especially as my husband drives a red truck. (not vintage, though.)<br />
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I've got another big finish to share, but I'm waiting for another post for that. I have some pictures but they aren't the greatest. I'm wishing for good outdoor conditions for better photos, but so far, that's not happening.<br />
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Meanwhile, I started another project. One of the reasons I avoided making a list of quilts to make this year was that sometimes fun projects just pop up out of nowhere, and this new quilt is one of them.<br />
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The Moda Bakeshop is celebrating their 7th anniversary with a <a href="http://www.modabakeshop.com/2016/01/abc-birthday-quilt-along.html">Quilt-Along</a> using the Spell it with Moda patterns. I read about it, briefly considered something--making a quilt with patriotic words, but then dismissed it. Then last week, I read a quote on facebook that I loved and wondered if I could sew it. I got out graph paper and began sketching out designs, wondering if the quote would fit into a lap-sized quilt. It would if I shrank the letter blocks. The pattern calls for using 2.5" jelly roll strips, but I am using 1.5" strips. Here is my first word.<br />
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As you can see, I'm still sticking with my usual theme! I had a fat quarter bundle and some yardage of Sandy Gervais' Red, White, and Free, so I'm using that. It's such an exciting project! I can't wait to see it come together and turn into a great design.<br />
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Have a great day!<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-35782185375301332932016-01-18T04:48:00.002-10:002016-01-18T04:48:45.773-10:00"I Pick You"Hi Everyone,<br />
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So while I was on "hiatus" from blogging this past year, we had a major event. My daughter and her boyfriend went to my parent's house for a weekend in late September. They toured wineries and also went apple picking. A fun time was had. They went home and began unloading the car. My daughter went to carry in a container of apples and found this.<br />
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Her boyfriend said, "I pick you!" (and some other romantic stuff.) Anyway, he is now her fiance and we are in the middle of wedding planning!<br />
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The date is set<br />
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and it is coming up quickly! We had a whirlwind of planning late last year. They looked over options of venues and decided on the Children's Museum in their city.<br />
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They will have the ceremony in the atrium and then have the reception in the Dinosphere--so its going to have an elegant, (wait for it) dinosaur theme! The colors are what I call "kiwi, cocoa, and khaki," acutally a moss green, medium brown, and biege --elegant earth tones. <br />
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We considered making her dress, perhaps including bits of my mother's dress (it was way too tiny for my sister and I or my daughter to wear) but when we went looking at patterns, we just couldn't find one that seemed right. I must confess that I'm more than a little relieved to not have that project and all the stress it would create! We went shopping instead. I think it was amazing! She tried on dress after dress and they were all beautiful; and then she tried on The Dress and that was just IT. There was no question about any others.<br />
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She scoured Pinterest for dinosaur wedding ideas and came across a pair of shoes. They were really expensive, so she made her own.<br />
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The heels are T-Rex dinosaurs! She has been practicing walking around in them. Her dress will cover them during the ceremony, but they will peek out during the reception. She ordered the gold pumps and then purchased two dinosaurs the right size, carefully cut out a hole for the heel, and spray painted and glittered them. They fit on so well, that they don't need to be glued, so they can be removed if desired.<br />
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Her dress is still here at our house for safe-keeping. Today my project will be this:<br />
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Back nearly 30 years ago, when my older sister was getting married, I bought a card of three blue, heart-shaped buttons. I sewed one on her dress. A year or so later, I sewed this one on my dress. I carried the third one around, kept safe in a a box in my cedar chest, for just about 15 years until my younger sister got married, when I sewed it on her dress. Today I'm going to cut mine off my dress and put in on my daughter's.<br />
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Have a great day!<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-72635705466090534062016-01-12T04:48:00.001-10:002016-01-12T04:48:59.420-10:00RevisitingHello,<br />
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This has not been a traditional year for me in that I didn't make up a list of quilts that I wanted to work on this year. I think it's because 1) There doesn't seem to be any "must make" projects for me right now and 2) There doesn't seem to ever be a time when I'm at a loss on what to make next. Of course, as I'm typing this, I do recall that one thing I would love to make this year (finally) is the Amy Butler Weekender Bag. I have the pattern, my plan, the fabric and notions required--all sitting on a shelf where it's been for nearly a year. I have even made the piping! I guess that will be my one goal for this year.</div>
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Last year, I wanted to work on a big, complicated quilt. I was referring to it as my "BC" poject. It is a project from Judy Martin's book, <u>Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts.</u> If you want to refresh yourself, you can read past entries about it <a href="http://thepatrioticquilter.blogspot.com/2015/01/my-new-bc-project.html">here</a>,<a href="http://thepatrioticquilter.blogspot.com/2015/01/progress.html"> here</a>, <a href="http://thepatrioticquilter.blogspot.com/2015/01/beauty-and-bissel.html">here</a>, and<a href="http://thepatrioticquilter.blogspot.com/2015/07/retreat.html"> here</a>. The last link is my post about the retreat I attended last June. During the retreat, I got the center of the quilt finished<br />
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and began working on the border units. There are three types of units that are needed to complete the quilt: a large unit, a smaller unit that is partially made up of a log cabin block, and the 4 corners. I started on the large unit and got them half done. By "half done" I mean that I need 20 total of these and I got all 20 of them half completed.<br />
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This is a picture of half the unit. When I completed them and pressed them, I discovered, unpleasantly, that the tops and bottoms were wavy--that is, not a perfectly straight line. (This isn't shown in the picture--I should have taken a photo of the "before" units. A quick check on strip piecing showed me my issue. When you are sewing strip sets together, you need to always start from the same direction--either top to bottom, or bottom to top. I was at a retreat and chatting and not really focusing on what I was doing. The fix? Ripping and starting again. Or more cutting and starting again. I put them away on the shelf and moved on.<br />
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Recently, though, I decided to get it back out. I had two driving forces: one being that it was a year ago that I said I wanted to do this project and two being that a friend was wondering how it turned out (and I had to say it was unfinished.) Sunday evening I brought them out and began examining them and ripping off the stips that didn't match up. A few needed to be entirely ripped apart--just into the six vertical stips in the photo above--I didn't have to rip the 4 pieces that make up each strip. Some needed to be ripped apart three times, and some even fewer. My husband was watching tv with me and offered to help. (He has ripped things for me before--such a sweetie.) There are 20 sets and I was able to get them all apart (keeping them arranged in the right order) before bed.<br />
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Yesterday I sewed them back together. I was careful to always start at the "top" and before I sewed, I matched the bottoms and pinned it. Yes, I pinned! The time and care paid off, and now the tops and bottoms are nice and even and straight. More important, the project has picked up momentum and now I'm eager to sew on it again. In fact, I began the other half of these units after I finished fixing them. <br />
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I know I broke one of my cardinal rules when working on this. I ALWAYS try to fix a major problem BEFORE I set a project aside. Very often, if the project is fixed, it ends up getting finished and not set aside, which I one reason I think that I have few UFOs. I nearly always realize that the problem is not as bad as I think. This one really didn't take much time to fix at all.<br />
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Another thought that I had about these border units was that I wished I had cut the bottom red and white strips a bit longer, so I could trim them to be exactly the 15.5" I need. But as I was thinking about that I began to wonder if I was relying too much on these sorts of "cheating" methods. These days, I oversize both my half square triangles and my flying geese so that I can trim them to be perfect. In doing so, am I risking my accuracy? That was niggling around in my brain while I worked on these and so I was very happy that I could get them together perfectly. I believe testing my accuracy was one of the reasons I wanted to attempt a Big, Complicated project, so I'm pleased. Furthermore, I'm excited to get back to it, so I will leave off here and go sew!<br />
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Before I go, here is a picture of a quilt that is the same as I am making, only this one is a wall-hanging size, and I am doing a king-sized quilt. This one has 4 white stars in the center, and mine has 25. This was hanging in the Shipshewana Quilt Show last summer.<br />
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Have a great day!<br />
JoAnne<br />
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JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-67051990813787524192016-01-06T05:26:00.002-10:002016-01-06T05:26:32.765-10:00Allietare FinishHappy New Year!<br />
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We babysat my nephew on New Year's Eve. I tucked him into bed and picked up my phone and saw that Bonnie Hunter had posted her finish for the mystery quilt as it was the New Year in Italy. I read through the directions and decided I could tip toe upstairs and do some of the cutting, as Matthew was sleeping in the next room.<br />
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We needed to cut 4.5" squares of "gold" (in my case, med. blue) and red, and also some setting triangles in different sizes from the red. I was able to get quite a bit cut before going back downstairs to ring in the New Year with my husband. We always stay up to watch the ball drop!<br />
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Having my nephew overnight is usually no trouble. He is the only baby/toddler I've known that likes to sleep in! We were up and already eating breakfast when we heard that he was awake. It was 8:25! I went and got him so he could eat, too.<br />
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Happy New Year!</div>
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I can't believe how fast he is growing up! He is a smart little boy, and "all boy," loving to climb and jump and play ball. He is a real pistol and always fun to have over.</div>
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We took him home a bit later in the morning and then my husband wanted to shop at Harbor Freight, so we stopped there. On the way home, I was tapping my foot because I was so anxious to get started sewing!</div>
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There were 30 Allietare Star blocks to make.</div>
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This is how my version looks. I only had an hour to sew as we had tickets to go to Star Wars in IMAX and 3-D. That theater is way on the other side of town, so all-in-all, it took another 3+ hours out of my sewing time. Grrr. (In all fairness, it was my idea to go and I had bought the tickets, but before the final instructions came out--poor planning.) The movie was even better in IMAX and we stopped for supper on the way home so I didn't have to cook and I had a few more hours of sewing that evening.<br />
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Saturday morning we were meeting our daughter, her boyfriend, and his parents for brunch down in Indianapolis. It was the first time we met the parents, and they are great people. Driving to Indy takes two hours each way, so we didn't get home until suppertime. That left me with another small amount of time to sew. Does it ever seem to you all that whenever you are so excited to work on something, it always seems like life interferes? I loved what was going on, but was also frustrated that I couldn't sew more. The only problem was that I couldn't spend this sewing time working on the mystery quilt. I was signed up to do a technique table for guild (coming up on Tuesday) and I hadn't started preparing and making samples. I would be demonstrating the making of flying geese, and I didn't just want to make a bunch of random geese that I may never use, so I found a pattern, chose and cut fabric, and prepared all the steps. I will write a blog post later about it.<br />
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Sunday was church and then errand running. My parents were making a quick trip to town to drop off my niece who had been staying with them for some of the holiday break, so we met them at my sister's house. When we got home, I knew that although I wanted to sew, I needed to take down the Christmas decorations. Luckily my husband was willing to help so we got it all done by evening. No sewing at all! (Can you sense my frustration?)<br />
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Monday morning! For once, my day was free, except for needing to do two loads of laundry. It began with me watching Downton Abbey, as I recorded it the night before. Once it was over, I headed to the sewing room. By now I had just a few of the 30 Allietare Star blocks to finish. I did those and then I contemplated the 20 alternate blocks. They were supposed to have a red center square, which had already been cut, but I had started wondering if there wasn't a fabric somewhere in my stash that I could fussy-cut or something. I came upon a fabric with some large red stars on a cream background. I cut one to try it out.<br />
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This is how the alternate block looks with the instructed center red square.<br />
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This is how it looks with the fussy-cut squares. <br />
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To tell you the truth, I liked both and had a really difficult time making up my mind which I liked best. I didn't want to make all the blocks and then change my mind and have to rip them apart. I decided to make a few with the stars. I put them on the design wall and took a picture.<br />
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Then I covered the star squares with the red squares and took another picture. <br />
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I agonized over the decision but then decided to go with the stars. I really liked the lightness that the extra cream brought to the feel of the quilt, along with the red stars. My example photos are from when I had all the alternate blocks done and on the design wall. I wanted to double-check my decision while the blocks were still not sewn together. <br />
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Do you ever agonize over a decision and second-guess yourself? It doesn't happen often to me, so it really frustrates me when it happens. I found that taking photos really helps. I can look at both options. I really like both in this quilt, but I did stay with the stars, mostly because it would make my version just a little more unique that all the rest.<br />
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I took a break from sewing for lunch and to get dressed! I started a load of laundry and went back to sewing. I stopped to make and eat supper with my husband, but he had a meeting, so I was able to sew some more. By the time the day ended, I had it all together with the inner border on and the outer border cut and waiting.<br />
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Yesterday, (Tuesday) I got up and put the final border on. <br />
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I went to my usual Tuesday bee, then came home and loaded up for my guild meeting, went and demonstrated and enjoyed the program and came home. Finally I have what feels like "free" quilting time. I'm going to start by tidying up my sewing room!<br />
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Have a great day!<br />
JoAnne<br />
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PS. In a fun coincidence, I wrote about my last Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt finish three years ago today! It was Easy Street. I've done three now, with the third being Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll. JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-75196437761750055782015-12-30T04:17:00.001-10:002015-12-30T04:17:23.177-10:00The Time BetweenHi Everyone,<br />
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I hope you all had a great holiday. Our Christmas was really great--we had family with us, and that was all I needed/wanted. Now its time to look ahead to the New Year. I really like this week--once the hectic and large celebrations are over. Quite often, I use the time to purge and get myself ready for the next year with a Clean Slate. This year, however, I don't seem to have the need to purge too much--maybe it will hit at the last minute?<br />
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I finally finished the final of the free Mystery Block of the Month by Stacy at Buttermilk Basin. She was so generous to do this and I've had a great time working with wool this year.<br />
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Around the middle of January, she will provide setting instructions for finishing the project. I'm so excited to see what she has in mind. Here are some of my other blocks. </div>
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A few months ago, the pattern was for a sunflower. Since it was the height of dahlia season, I experimented and made a dahlia, too. I'm not sure which I will put in the finished quilt. </div>
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I'm working on another Buttermilk Basin pattern, too--I think it's called Tree Farm. I started it but didn't finish in time for Christmas, but that's okay, it will be ready for next year. Yesterday, I was stitching on it at bee and one of the ladies said the truck was hauling the tree to the recycling center, ha ha. </div>
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The truck is surrounded by pieced tree blocks. I've got them sewn and all arranged on my design wall. I will share more about this project later, I'm sure.<br />
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The last time I left you, I was preparing for cookie-baking day with my neices. We had a great time, but it was a long day and we made lots of cookies.<br />
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Yesterday was a special day. I'd like to wish my sister a very Happy Birthday a day late--she had a milestone birthday. My husband had the same one back in July and my brother-in-law had his earlier this month. Mine isn't for another year and a half, but it might be time for me to consider making my Jubilee quilt in honor of living a half-century. <br />
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Have a great day,<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-10715627947915885602015-12-21T02:38:00.000-10:002015-12-21T02:38:16.928-10:00Allietare Part 4Hi Everyone,<br />
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How was your weekend? Are you relaxed and enjoying the festive season or going crazy trying to keep up with everything? I had a pretty good weekend, not too busy, but still "Christmas-y."<br />
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This is my first post about Bonnie Hunter's current mystery quilt, Allietare. I'm doing it this year! I have done two others in the past: Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll and Easy Street. I miss it when I'm not doing it, but usually I skip it when I don't have the colors in my stash to play along. Everytime I have done it, I've changed the colors to my favorite color scheme, RWB. This year is the same.<br />
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Bonnie's colors are based on her trip to Italy: Golds, reds, blacks, a constant grey, and neutrals. I thought it over and decided on these changes: Reds--easy! Blacks? Now my navy. Golds? I was planning to include gold, but after some thought (and looking over my stash) I decided to substitue light/medium blue for her gold. Her constant, gray, is now gold for me. And neutrals are still neutral scraps. I have tons of fabrics in all these colors but this year I have been doing many projects with Moda's Minick and Simpson fabrics, so I have lots of scraps of them and the fat quarters are handy, so lots of my quilt will be made with their fabric. I am including other fabrics, too, as "variety is the spice of life!"<br />
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This week's assignment was a bit complex. We were to make 30 sets of 4 "knotless bowtie units."<br />
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One set is arranged from top to bottom on the left of the photo. The column on the right are other sets stacked up. This picture shows 5 complete sets. I have 12 of the sets completed, but all of the cutting is done, so I will continue to sew the others this week. For each set, we use the same red and blue, but use scrappy neutrals. <br />
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I thought that having "matched sets" made for more tedious cutting. If it was all scrappy, I would layer 4-6 strips, cut the triangles or tapezoids, and throw them all in baskets. To get matched sets, either I would stack a few strips, cut, then have to sort them all out into matching piles, or else just work with one fabric at a time. I tried it both ways and neither seemed to save much time. Luckily, I was listening to a good audio book and just enjoyed the process! I'm sewing in batches of 6. I can manage that amount without mixing up anything.<br />
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For the navy (black in Bonnie's quilt) triangles, I ended up doing one fabric at a time, folding the strip so each cut gave me 4 squares. Four cuts and I was finished. (We needed 16 of each of 30 fabrics.)<br />
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Since this is my first post, I thought I would share photos of the other steps.<br />
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The first step was to make HSTs from the contant and neutrals. </div>
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Step two was to make these "Santa Hat" units as well as some other cutting. Remember, my constant gold is grey in Bonnie's quilt.</div>
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And Step Three was to make 4 patches. Bonnie's quilt has golds instead of my lt/med blues. </div>
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We even managed to get to see Star Wars, The Force Awakens on Saturday afternoon! It was so good, I can't wait to see it again!<br />
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Today is a cleaning day for me, Tomorrow is a Bee day, and then Wednesday is cookie baking with my nieces. <br />
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Have a great day!<br />
JoAnne<br />
<br />JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-82135168527170105472015-12-18T01:05:00.000-10:002015-12-18T01:05:23.043-10:00PreparationsHi Everyone,<br />
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I'm writing this on Thursday night so I can post it in the morning. Since it is Friday, that means another Allietare clue from Bonnie Hunter! I know I'll get right to it and as well, I have a hair appointment in the morning. My stylist moved a couple months ago to a different salon. At this location, they do a hand massage while the color processes, and then head massages while washing and rinsing. Last time she asked if it was all good when she was about to lead me back to the chair from the sink, and I said, "No. I think you missed a bunch of chemicals and need to start all over!" At first she thought I was serious, and then she laughed. I think there is nothing so relaxing as a hair appointment. You hear people all the time finished this sentence: "If I were rich, I would..." Have a chef, a live-in nanny, all sorts of answers. I would love to have someone fix my hair. <br />
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I managed to get quite a few presents wrapped yesterday and also bought a few more gifts. One or two more stops should see me finished. I clashed around in the kitchen, too, and "sugared" my yearly batch of fudge. My grandmother made and gave away dozens of batches every year for at least 50 years and I watched her make it and have her recipe, but for the life of me, I flop it every year. I do try though. I think I'm too impatient at the end and start stirring before it cools enough. Grandma would tell me that I could chip it out of the pan, add a tiny bit of half and half, and cook it all over agin to the soft ball stage. This year, though, I somehow scorched it as well, so I threw it away and made the kind with the marshmallow cream. <br />
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I'll be taking my stylist a present that I made. I saw<a href="http://blog.modafabrics.com/2015/06/up-up-and-not-away/"> this tutorial </a>by Carrie Nelson at the Moda blog a while ago. I thought the bags looked like fun to make and so I texted out to my family looking for old jeans since they are made from a jeans leg. My Dad came through for me. First, I made one with fabric I liked to see if they were fun to make.<br />
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Oh yes, they are! I followed the directions just as Carrie wrote them. She's so good, that I don't even have any helpful tips to add. <br />
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My stylist also does a lot of photography, and since I had no hair salon-type fabric, and I did have camera fabric, I made her this one.<br />
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(In case its a bit fuzzy, those are old-timey cameras on the fabric.)<br />
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These bags are fun to make, don't take too long, and are best made in two's since they take a leg each, and jeans come with two legs, (usually.) <br />
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That's it for now. Thank you to all who left such sweet comments. It's great to be back and hearing from you all again!<br />
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Have a great day,<br />
JoAnne<br />
<br />JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-35892114941203774902015-12-17T06:19:00.000-10:002015-12-17T06:19:11.911-10:00Hi Everyone!I'm still here! I decided to take a bit of a break from blogging in the summer. I did this for a couple reasons--the first was that I felt like I was only mostly blogging about quilts I was making and then showing the finished result. I know that that seems like the whole idea of a quilt blog, but I was thinking I wanted to do more, but didn't know what. In other words, I was feeling a bit stagnant. The other reason was that I was wondering if the time I was spending writing and reading blogs, etc. was really distracting me from getting more quilting done. I'm here to say that the jury is still out on that! I did just as much quilting as I always do, so I decided to come back join in again. I've been trying to figure out just when to write again, and the weeks slipped by. Yesterday, though, two things happened: a memory post from Facebook reminded me that it was a year ago yesterday that I resumed after taking a break to move in the house and get settled, and I heard from a follower in an email that she was concerned and missed me. (And I've heard from a few more in the past month or so, so I decided the time was right.)<br />
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I hope you all are doing okay. Are you ready for the holidays? I'm struggling this year. No presents are wrapped, I still have a few to get, I've baked no cookies, and the cards are still sitting here. I still have a few days, though, and have plans to get really organized the next couple days. <br />
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I've been doing quite a bit of quilting and I do have big news to share to catch you up, but I will do it in later posts. One thing I just finished was the Temecula Quilt Co's We Wish You A Mini Christmas quilt along. Each day for 12 days Sheryl provided directions for a cute, tiny block. On the 13th day, she had three finishing directions. The blocks were so fun to make--it took maybe 15 minutes and everyone has 15 minutes each day to quilt, right? Haha, not me. There were a few days when I got the block done, but there were also days when I had to get caught up by doing 3 or so. <br />
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I decided to do mine in Christmas colors, and mostly pulled pieces from my 1.5," 2," and 2.5" scrap squares. <br />
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This is my finished quilt. I ended up sort of combining some of the setting options. Sheryl had diagonally set the blocks into a runner. I loved the look of the diagonal set, but didn't want a runner, so I made more of a "quilt" shape.<br />
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Here are some of the individual quilt blocks. I shared the photos on Instagram. <br />
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I remade this one. After it was done I looked at it and thought it looked like a bandaid. A used, bloody bandaid. Once I thought that, it was doomed! <br />
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I'm also working away on Bonnie Hunter's mystery this year, Allietare. I have the first three clues done and will be back to share more on that.<br />
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I hope you have a wonderful day! I'm off to wrap gifts.<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-4292668937769838372015-07-25T00:40:00.002-10:002015-07-25T00:40:44.657-10:00Austin Bluebird is Finished!Hi Everyone,<br />
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I hope your July has been a good month. Summer has been slow to get underway here in Northern Indiana, but it has finally arrived with a few really hot, muggy days. I've been staying inside and sewing.<br />
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I was really excited to finally finish my Austin Bluebird quilt! I just began it back on National Quilt Day, March 21, so I think I made great progress on it. I was determined not to let it languish and become a UFO that sits around for years (sort of like Sarah's Revival.) I had the kit, but I ended up using lots of my other Minick and Simpson fabrics for a more "scrappy" look.<br />
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This is the quilt top finished as the directions state. I have known for awhile that I wanted to border it. I knew I wanted to "float" the center with more cream strips and then add some sort of sawtooth/dogtooth border around that.<br />
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I turned to one of my most favorite books ever:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yz_9-BUK69U/VbNZBEGAfpI/AAAAAAAAWRs/4V8TOetNfRE/s1600/IMG_4739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yz_9-BUK69U/VbNZBEGAfpI/AAAAAAAAWRs/4V8TOetNfRE/s320/IMG_4739.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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I love this book--it is perfect for designing borders of all types and complexities. It's by Judy Martin and Marsha McCloskey, in case you can't see the small print. <br />
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I decided on an appropriate border and that the units would finish at 4". This means that my center needed to be divisible by 4. I measured the center carefully, decided about how large I wanted it to be (divisible by 4) and then figured how wide to cut my floating cream border. A little math, a little confidence, and it was easy enough.<br />
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I had already precut the units I would need for the border. In fact, I took it with me to retreat in June and had them already made.<br />
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The look would be a shaded saw tooth border. Once I attached the cream strips, I next began to assemble the sawtooth units. Big Problem! (I know--this seems to be the Summer of Mistakes for me, so I shouldn't have been surprised.) I carefully made sure that I sewed the units exactly like the photo, so I wouldn't have any mistakes, but the mistake was that each border strip needs to be made up of half like these, and half a mirror image.<br />
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Luckily, I had plenty of fabric left, so I made a bunch more units in the reverse. The next problem was that I now needed to relook my center with the cream strips. I had made sure that it was divisible by 4, but now it needed to be an even amount--that is the measurement of the center, say 88 inches, divided by 4 would by 22. That is an even number. This is important because the sawtooth border has to be divided in half. I had a 50% chance of it being right, but of course, this being the summer that it is, mine was an odd number. I was in luck, though, that both the side-to-side and the top-to-bottom were "odd." I needed another 4 inches all around the center.<br />
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At that frustrating point, I quit sewing. We needed to go somewhere, I can't remember where right now, but as we were driving in the car, I was telling my husband about the mess I was currently in. He asked if I could't just add more cream to the borders. I had already cut the cream borders and sewn them on. I had purchased 3 yards of extra cream fabric so I could cut the strips with the length of grain and not need to piece them, The leftover fabric, I had cut up to make the sawtooth units. I had some left, but only short pieces. I also didn't want the look of two long, cream strips sewn to each other--looking like a mistake. I thought I may have to get three more yards of cream and start all over, but I didn't want to have to do that.<br />
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In thinking that over, I did realize that I just needed to add 2 inches all the way around the quilt, and that would give me the extra 4 that I needed for the sawtooth borders. I finally got the idea to "frame" out the cream with a 1" finished navy stip, followed by a 1" finished cream strip. Being narrow, I wouldn't mind if the 1" cream strips were pieced together, rather than cut from one, long piece.<br />
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Here is how it came out. You can see the wider cream floater, then the navy 1" strip and the other cream 1" strip and then the sawtooth border. <br />
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When viewed with the entire quilt, I love how it looks. I think the navy "framing" strip really brings a lot to the party and makes more of a statement than if I just had the sawtooth border.<br />
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I really love the space that the wide cream border created, too. I'm so excited to be finished with this quilt! Now I just need to get it quilted.<br />
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If you are interested, the cream fabric from the kit is Moda Bella Snow.<br />
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Have a great weekend!<br />
JoAnne<br />
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<br />JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-39117982040208049132015-07-03T05:01:00.000-10:002015-07-04T00:25:37.106-10:00July Fourth Home TourHi Everyone,<br>
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You may guess that today is one of my favorite holidays! What's not to love on the most Patriotic day of the year? I thought I would celebrate by finally showing you pictures of our new house, since it is always decorated for the Fourth.<br>
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Here is the front. We only have the bunting hanging on Patriotic holidays. This was Memorial day, but we also hung it on Flag day, and now for the Fourth. We are going to take down that tree that blocks the porch. I hate to lose a tree on purpose, but it blocks so much light.<br>
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This is the entryway. I knew the wall would be perfect for a church pew, so we shopped around on Craig's list and antique shops and finally found one the right length and price. On it, are some pillows inside vintage pillowcases that we have collected from every military post that we have lived. (They were popular from WWI through the 60s as gift items)</div>
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Next up is the dining room. When we bought the house, it was painted a wine/maroon color. I have always wanted a red dining room, but it was just too dark (the window is covered by that tree out in front of the house.) I painted it cream, and it is much brighter.</div>
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Here is the living room from upstairs. </div>
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Across from the entertainment center is the fireplace.<br>
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The yellow walls came with the house. I like it so far, but I suspect when it needs to be painted, it will become cream, as well. It is not a "do it yourself" project with the vaulted ceiling!<br>
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There was nowhere to display my Uncle Sam collection, so I made this shelf and my husband helped me put it up. Through the door is the kitchen.<br>
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The fireplace in the living room is a pass-through. Here it is from the kitchen side.<br>
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The kitchen has a desk area, which I love and is where I keep my laptop and the household paperwork. The quilt is one that I didn't make--my good friend Dorothy made it for me and I love it!<br>
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From the desk, you look out the slider across the eating area.</div>
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The kitchen itself.</div>
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The kitchen was two shade of green when we moved in. I don't have anything against green, but it just doesn't go with my decor. I did a lot of considering and decided on a medium blue. I got the idea from Minick and Simpson's fabric lines. They are patriotic--red, white, and blue, but they usually have a pretty, medium blue as well. This color is "Americana" by Pittsburg Paint, which made it perfect, in my opinion.<br>
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Behind my desk area is the sunflower-themed powder room, which I shared<a href="http://thepatrioticquilter.blogspot.com/2015/03/while-paint-dried.html"> here</a>. The laundry room is behind the kitchen. Behind the door in the kitchen is a pantry.<br>
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Off the living room is the master bedroom. I decided that I wanted a main floor master since this house will be our "forever" home and in case there is any issue with either of us in the future and using stairs, I wanted to eliminate the need. I was just looking for pictures of the master, but I can't find any. I'm afraid this post won't be finished if I go take some, so I'll skip that for now. <br>
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Upstairs are three bedrooms--one of which is my quilt room and a bathroom. The other two bedrooms are guest rooms. The "front room" (facing the street) is still green. It also has a vaulted ceiling, so I haven't painted it yet. The green works, though, with some of my quilts.<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjkPWmd_wBKAv44Yiq6Wp4XXvUMzxchkMVuqehjyXhFebkWFvbYZvTtN1cg7Izb-ShjFde9af3788IFor_8OIIqEFWWO6FVmiZjUs6eW7FckEhyphenhyphenFugjxlj459og1AgjrPVIkSfWQLbJ4/s1600/IMG_7653.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjkPWmd_wBKAv44Yiq6Wp4XXvUMzxchkMVuqehjyXhFebkWFvbYZvTtN1cg7Izb-ShjFde9af3788IFor_8OIIqEFWWO6FVmiZjUs6eW7FckEhyphenhyphenFugjxlj459og1AgjrPVIkSfWQLbJ4/s320/IMG_7653.JPG" width="240"></a></div>
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The quilt on the bed is "Eldon" by Laundry Basket Quilts, made from Thimbleberries fabric. There is an old, green ladder in the corner full of quilts, too.</div>
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The front room is bright and is where visiting girls usually stay. </div>
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The other room was that of a teenage girl when we bought the house. All walls were gray except the window wall was teal. This room became our "Presidential Suite." We started the long-standing joke about the name of this room years ago. When you decorate Patriotically, there are sub-themes, such as Uncle Sam, etc. I also collect vintage Presidential memorablia, so we display it in the guest room--hence the "Presidential Suite." When I was looking at paint samples, I found one at Lowe's that was actually called "Presidential Suite!" I took it, but I thought it may be too dark for a room. I decided to try it out, though.</div>
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It is a dark blue, but it has a lot of red in it, making it more "royal," maybe, but not too bright. When I first started painting, I panicked! It looked really purple. Here is is on the teal wall.</div>
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I knew, though, that paint dried darker and needs more than one coat. In the end, I loved it! Here are some pictures from around the room. My nephew's crib is usually in the corner. This is the room that the boys usually sleep in.<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3TnppMtslHc4QuHVdKOXKoShpF3s0CTaay-h84z4yLokBD9v1qUvgnkBXwurffzACl7yczfJdSdTbrIcNacyg80k0SEcaJzmzH1lVubCjs3BbUyXd_x7L4R1EnGi9omwe3UIPpaL5VWU/s1600/IMG_7658.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3TnppMtslHc4QuHVdKOXKoShpF3s0CTaay-h84z4yLokBD9v1qUvgnkBXwurffzACl7yczfJdSdTbrIcNacyg80k0SEcaJzmzH1lVubCjs3BbUyXd_x7L4R1EnGi9omwe3UIPpaL5VWU/s320/IMG_7658.JPG" title="Valspar Presidential Suite" width="240"></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbPRb0u0PvAi0_P8fGTqXK3XY-Rg5063UlHb4D2T18pdubnEApuKo7TPrNZR9AFek230So1nVnsUIs4ZXPBNz_xF43EPWh1ffSLFcSrin_kcEY8Rf778FgeU-rsaQq5TSkddJJTpwcoIo/s1600/IMG_7665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbPRb0u0PvAi0_P8fGTqXK3XY-Rg5063UlHb4D2T18pdubnEApuKo7TPrNZR9AFek230So1nVnsUIs4ZXPBNz_xF43EPWh1ffSLFcSrin_kcEY8Rf778FgeU-rsaQq5TSkddJJTpwcoIo/s320/IMG_7665.JPG" title="Valspar Presidential Suite" width="320"></a></div>
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We also have a finished basement, but I'm not quite done decorating down there yet. I've put all my "leftover" decorations down there and am having trouble pulling them together. So, that's pretty much it for now.<br>
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I hope you have a safe and Happy Independance Day!<br>
JoAnne<br>
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<br>JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-4298446937127815822015-07-02T10:41:00.001-10:002015-07-02T10:41:24.519-10:00RetreatHi Everyone,<br />
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I was gone a couple weeks ago to a quilt retreat. I drove down to Tennessee to go with a group of quilters that my friend, Janice (from Virginia, now living in Tennessee) knows. She; her identical twin sister, Jackie; Jackie's friend Susan (they both live in Florida) and I were going. The plan was to meet up at Janice's cabin on a Sunday and then head to the retreat on Monday. I procrasatinated the week prior to leaving. Have you ever packed for a retreat? It is complicated--you need your normal suitcase, etc. and then all of your sewing stuff, too. <br />
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I got my machine and basic supplies packed up and then decided what else to take. I knew I wanted to take the bits and pieces from my complicated "BC" project that I'm working on this year. You can read more about it <a href="http://thepatrioticquilter.blogspot.com/2015/01/my-new-bc-project.html">here</a>. So, I packed all of that. I also took a quilt that I've yet to start on, except for those 770 half square triangles I made last month when I only needed 600... Because I didn't want to run out of things to do (like that ever happens at retreat) I also packed up what I needed for making the border that I wanted to add to my Austin Bluebird quilt. And for good measure, a few small kits.<br />
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I knew that four of us would be going to the retreat in one vehicle, so I tried to keep it light. This is the sewing stuff. I also had a suitcase and snacks, etc.<br />
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I drove down to Tennessee on Sunday, leaving fairly early. The trip was fine, except for an early detour, numerous road construction areas, and then in Kentucky and Tennessee, it was the campers/RVs on the road to deal with. I arrived around 4 or so. It was fun seeing the changes that Janice and her husband have made to the cabin as well as looking at their garden, flowers, etc. I had met Jackie before, but Susan and I were meeting for the first time and I liked her right away! I knew it was going to be fun.<br />
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Monday morning we got up and ready and began the ordeal of packing everything in the back of Jackie's truck.<br />
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Would it all fit?</div>
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With Jackie's great packing skills, we got it all in. We had to unwrap a case of water and tuck the bottles in where we could, but we did take everything we wanted/planned.</div>
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Check in time at the retreat center wasn't until 3:30, but the plan was to meet up with everyone at a quilt shop and then visit 2-3 more and have lunch along the way. The first shop was Pappy's in Maryville, TN.</div>
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It is inside an old gas station and doesn't look like much from the outside, but it was wonderful inside! After that, we went to Sevierville and shopped at the Cherry Pit quilt shop, had lunch, and then went to the Red Barn and Iva's quilt shops. Finally we headed for the retreat center, Carson Springs Baptist Conference Center. The facility has a hotel, where we stayed. We sewed in one of the meeting rooms near the lobby. It also has a summer camp, and we were there along with 300 teenage campers. They were elsewhere on the grounds in cabins, but we did share the dining hall with them. We were allowed to eat first, though. The food was great. The best part was that we could sew all we wanted, and then go upstairs and eat--drop off the dishes, and go right back down to sew again. <br />
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There were 13 of us attending and it was a great group of diverse quilters. Most of the fun of a retreat is seeing what everyone else is making.<br />
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Susan worked on this fun arrow quilt.</div>
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This is Janice's Kaffe Fasset strip quilt, all laid out. She didn't get it sewn together, though.</div>
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Here she is with her hedgehog block.</div>
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One of the ladie's was making this wonderful giraffe quilt. It is made up of perfectly cut-out flowers from Kaffe Fasset fabric and others. That newsprint fabric behind it is perfect. I guess she got the pattern at Paducah and everyone was in love with all the patterns, so the group put in an online order right there from retreat!</div>
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Here is Janice and one of her Tennessee friend, Donna. </div>
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Donna's roomate and best friend, Delight, made this great curved log cabin quilt.</div>
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Jackie worked on this batik quilt after she finished her bag, below.</div>
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This is Susan working away.</div>
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And me? I worked for two days making these:</div>
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Sashings for my BC quilt. I think I needed 40. They took forever! After I finished them, I began working on border units, but I didn't get them done. When I realized I wouldn't finish the border pieces, I decided to use the sashings to put the blocks together. (I brought the blocks with--I'd finished them already.)</div>
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This is the center of the quilt. It's going to be king-sized when the border is completed. You can see the bits I did get finished up at the top. </div>
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We sewed all week until Friday morning. We had to check out at 10. We went back to the Cherry Pit quilt shop and hit a JoAnn fabrics, had lunch, and went to yet another quilt shop on the way back to Janice's cabin. </div>
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Saturday morning, it was time to leave. Just as we were loading the cars, it began to rain. The rain accompanied me most of the way home. It poured through all of Kentucky, but I made it home safe.</div>
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Have a great day!</div>
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<br />JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-64130103608364718722015-06-09T03:58:00.001-10:002015-06-09T03:58:10.720-10:00Failures--Lessons LearnedHi Everyone,<br />
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I know that we all have times that we screw up a step in a project or cut something the wrong size, etc. I know I spend time with my ripper to correct issues once in a while. It seems, though, that lately I have had my share of issues. <br />
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The first big one of the year happened a few months ago. I was going through some things and found my stashes of exchange blocks from my bee in Virginia. We had done flower blocks and spool blocks. I pulled out the flower blocks and decided to see if I could come up with a great alternate block for them--something that might look like leaves (triangles) and lattice, etc. I leafed through my quilt books and found a likely-looking block. I drew it out, coloring the pieces the way I thought they would look good, and they seemed to look great with the flower blocks. On the graph paper, at least. I was so sure that they would be perfect that I set about doing all of the cutting--for 20+ blocks. Luckily it was all from my stash, and nothing that I bought special. I cut and cut and then I starting sewing and made 4 blocks so that I could lay it out with 5 flower blocks and have a 3 x 3 grid, to get the idea of what a large quilt would look like. It was terrible!!! The pattern didn't work but worse of all, the colors were horrendous. I think the color issue struck the worst blow to me. I get that I can choose a bad design, but to so mess up the color, too! Anyway, it was a day and a half totally wasted. I through the blocks I had made and all the cut bits in the trash and put the flower blocks back in my closet. <br />
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In my last post, I said how I had begun a doll quilt for the exchange. I decided to do small shoo fly blocks and then alternate them with plain squares. <br />
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I chose medium blues and made some of the scrappy. They are fun blocks and are 3" finished.<br />
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The quilt top came out great, too.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RW6jWFrNYaQ/VXbpkMxPi9I/AAAAAAAAVNQ/kehtRpMwlFE/s1600/15%2B-%2B1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RW6jWFrNYaQ/VXbpkMxPi9I/AAAAAAAAVNQ/kehtRpMwlFE/s320/15%2B-%2B1" width="320" /></a></div>
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And then I got the idea that I would all-over stipple it by machine. When it was a quarter done, I was having second thoughts, but I kept at it, hoping it would get better! (Mistake!) Anyway, I was over half done and just wasn't happy. In my opinion, an antique doll quilt would have minimal hand quilting. Even though the all over stipple, when washed, gives the "look" of a crinkled old quilt with lots of quilting; that wasn't the "look" that I wanted. In frustration, I left it under the needle and found the other quilt that I ended up sending to my partner. Is it me? Am I too particular? <br />
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Then yesterday I had another issue. The night before I finished the big, 30" appliqued block for Austin Bluebird. I got up excited to get it pressed and trimmed. I ironed it. Here's a tip: I always iron my appliqued blocks face down on a couple layers of towels. That way the back of the block gets smooth, but the applique shapes "pop" off the backing fabric, since they are padded by the toweling. I had the block looking great and then got my book out to double check the size I needed to trim it to (30.5") As I checked the book, I glimpsed the picture of the block and it didn't look anything like my block! <br />
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Original block</div>
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My block</div>
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I was flumoxed. How had this happened? I realized that because it is so large, the pattern contains a quarter of the block only. Instead of "pinwheeling" the quadrant around my block, I had flipped it. I knew right off that I didn't want to make another block. Would this one look okay? To me, the original has a sort of circular feel, where mine doesn't. It was my emotions that were getting me. I had been so excited about it and then all of a sudden I realized I made a mistake and felt so bad. I shared this picture and Instagram and I'm afraid I whined a bit about it. Then I had a shower and gave myself a real "talking to." So I got all of my pieces of the quilt out and laid them out to see how my block looked. It looked okay!</div>
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Meanwhile, the best people in the world were leaving comments of encouragement on my Instagram picture! I was feeling better. And then Laurie Minick, who is on Instagram, left a comment of encouragement. Better yet, she re-grammed the picture just above, which I'd also shared, and said that she is going to make her large block just like mine in her newest, blue version of the quilt. I was so touched. I have no problem "making patterns my own" and doing something original. I was worried that the design of the block wouldn't look good. I'm so glad it does. Someone left a comment sharing a sentiment that I always have, "Is it a mistake you can live with, or will you always think of it when you look at the finished quilt?" I'm more than aware of that, having made that mistake before! In this case, I'm looking at it as a "lesson learned" block. To remember that I shouldn't get too wrapped up in what I think is a mistake--and enjoy the serendipity!</div>
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It's a good thing I was thinking about all of that in the afternoon when I made up my <a href="http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com/2015/06/summer-sampler-week-one.html">Temecula Quilt Co. Summer Sampler </a>blocks. I just love their free sew-alongs! They are always so much fun!</div>
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Anyway, I made the bottom right block wrong--the center should be dark instead of light. But I'm leaving it that way!<br />
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How about you? Have you had any "major fails?" I think its just as important to share the problems/fails at it is the successes.<br />
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Have a great day!<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-4485847229390366162015-06-08T01:10:00.000-10:002015-06-08T01:10:02.787-10:00Doll Quilt SwapHi Everyone,<br />
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I recently participated in the Doll Quilt Swap that was organized by the lovely Lori at <a href="http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/">Humble Quilts</a>. The rules were that the fabric should be Civil War era, and no side of the quilt should be longer than 24 inches. Once everyone signed up, Lori told us who we were sending a quilt to. It wasn't partners--I didn't send one to the same person that sent me one. <br />
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Once I was all "official," I began looking for inspiration and found quite a bit. I set about beginning my project and was machine quilting it when I realized that I didn't like the look of the machine quilting--it wasn't "antique" looking to me. I will write a post all about that quilt and discuss it. Meanwhile, the deadline for the swap was approaching rapidly! I looked through my stash of completed quilts and came across a great one.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x4N0EIRqV_Q/VXF-jDl0FVI/AAAAAAAAUug/TN2BFrvfEnE/s1600/15%2B-%2B15" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x4N0EIRqV_Q/VXF-jDl0FVI/AAAAAAAAUug/TN2BFrvfEnE/s320/15%2B-%2B15" width="320" /></a></div>
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This was a Monthly Mini Project from the Temecula Quilt Company that I had made and hand quilted. I made up a label and sent it to<a href="http://patchworksanity.blogspot.com/"> Debra</a> in Toronto,</div>
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Because of all the lovely brown fabrics in it, I was inspired to send along some chocolate to match! Fort Wayne has a wonderful chocolate shop, DeBrands, so it was a local product.<br />
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Watching all of the swapped quilts being shared in blogland was so much fun! Lori started a facebook page, Humble Quilts, so we could see even more of them. They are all so fantastic! Needless to say, I was so excited to receive my quilt in the mail. Coincidentally, it came from another <a href="http://mylifeisastitch.blogspot.com/">Debra</a>--Debra in Ohio. I eagerly opened the box and in my excitement, I failed to take pictures of the wrappings. It was all red! Once I opened it, I was thrilled to find this sweet little four-patch quilt. <br />
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It is just what I was hoping for--a quilt that looks like it was made 150 years ago. The fabrics are wonderful and she also hand-quilted it with really teeny, tiny stitches! I really love the navy-blue border. She said that she nearly made a RWB one for me, but then went ahead with this. It is going to go up on my "wall of smalls" as soon as I rearrange things to make room.<br />
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I love the antique-looking backing fabric, too.</div>
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The quilt was not the only item, though. She also sent me a pincushion made with an antique salt-cellar. I adore pincushions made with vintage items, so I was thrilled. She did make this Red, White, and Blue. Her teeny piecing is remarkable! She even glammed it up with a pretty decorative pin. </div>
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Thanks so much Lori for hosting such a fun swap. I can't wait for the next one!<br />
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Have a great day,<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-20664147765728242652015-06-05T01:49:00.001-10:002015-06-05T01:49:25.091-10:00FocusHi Everyone,<br />
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I know that I have not been blogging much lately. This year seems so odd to me--I'm having difficulty sticking with projects. I think I need to assign myself a "Word of the Year" and that word needs to be "Focus." Or, instead, maybe I should give myself permission to be a bit flaky this year, and then start fresh next year. At any rate, I feel like I'm not getting much done, but then this morning I looked through my phone pictures and there is quite a bit there that I could be sharing.<br />
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Despite feeling like I'm jumping into different projects, I have really been steadily working on Austin Bluebird. I'm almost done with the largest applique block. It is 30" finished and has lots of leaves and berries. Once it is finished, I just have one other applique block to do and there is a little bit of the piecing left to do and then I can sew it all together! I think I'm going to add a border to it, so that it is bed-sized versus a coverlet, so I've been considering just what to do there. I know for sure that I'm going to "float" the center and put a wide border of the background fabric on first--I can see this cream border beautifully quilted with feathers! Then I want to add a narrow dog-tooth or saw-tooth border. I have a couple possibilities in mind.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RXwLj2cgjVE/VXF-jB9z8oI/AAAAAAAAUvs/fNBU3y6y1bY/s1600/15%2B-%2B14" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RXwLj2cgjVE/VXF-jB9z8oI/AAAAAAAAUvs/fNBU3y6y1bY/s1600/15%2B-%2B14" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VHDXBc0BkI4/VXF-jBb1UWI/AAAAAAAAUvM/WaUdMHQwlWA/s1600/15%2B-%2B13" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VHDXBc0BkI4/VXF-jBb1UWI/AAAAAAAAUvM/WaUdMHQwlWA/s320/15%2B-%2B13" width="320" /></a></div>
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(Sorry for the sideways picture) This is the completed half, in case you were wondering what Austin Bluebird is. It is a pattern by Minick and Simpson based on an antique coverlet. </div>
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There is a space on the quilt to include the year and the maker's initials. I embroidered those being VERY optimistic and dating it 2015. That means I HAVE to finish the quilt this year, ha ha.</div>
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Something else that I made recently is this:</div>
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It's another Schnibble pattern by Carrie Nelson, Open Season. I love making flying geese with the Fit to Be Geese ruler--they are made oversize and then trimmed to be perfect. It takes a bit more work to do the trimming, but having no "wonky" geese is so worth it. The fabric is the reason I made the quilt. It is Barbara Brackman's latest collection, Union Blues. I love the shades of blues and the browns that accompany them. </div>
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Something else that distracted me was that I made another Kid's Quilt for our guild. Every member is supposed to make one to donate to Camp Whatchawannado--a camp for kids who are cancer-survivors. They want to have about 120-130 to pass out. In our April Guild Newsletter, it sounded like we might not have enough, so I decided to make another. I got on Pinterest to find some inspiration and came across <a href="http://joannajune.typepad.com/work_in_progress/2014/02/ethans-rebel-alliance.html">this link</a>. The author, JJScraps, made a wonderful Star Wars quilt for her son. </div>
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This is my version</div>
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She basically made a Jelly Roll Race quilt. (Also known as 1600 or lasagne, or other fun names.) That is where you take a jelly roll (or 40 2.5" strips) and sew them together end to end so you have one seriously long strip. (40 strips at about 40" long equals 1600 inches, hence the name: 1600.) Then you fold it in half and sew a bottom to a top, then in half again, and again, and again until the piece is 32 strips tall. </div>
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There are several variations you can do to "jazz it up." I added darker gray 2.5" squares between all of my strips. That fabric was from my stash and had stars on it. The other gray fabrics I bought at JoAnn Fabrics. (I didn't use a jelly roll--I cut 2.5" strips from yardage.) I need to add here that I had never made one of these quilts before. They are a bit "too random" for me. I will confess that I manipulated it the first time I folded the really long stip in half. I didn't allow any of the gray squares to touch each other. Once it was folded and sewn again, I couldn't control anything anymore and it was really hard to "let go" of the control, ha ha. I do think the randomness really works in this version, though, </div>
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This project went quick. I shopped on Friday, came home and prewashed, cut the strips, and began "the race." I finished it on Saturday and then layered and began the quilting. I didn't touch it on Sunday, but finished the quilting on Monday morning. Then I added the appliques. It was much, much easier to quilt it all-over before the shapes were added.</div>
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To get the ship shapes, I googled for "Star Wars Silhouettes" and found these. I printed them out as large as possible, but still needed to go to the copy shop to enlarge them further. I used black flannel and fused them on. Once they were fused, I straight-stiched around the applique just inside the edge. I used black flannel because I had some--the back of the quilt, which I forgot to photograph, was made of a black Star Wars flannel. It wasn't wide enough, so I added a strip of plain black flannel. </div>
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Once I had the appliques on, I machine binded it and it was finished. That Monday was "Star Wars Day," May the 4th. "May the fourth be with you--get it?" Anyway, I just hope there is a Star Wars fan attending the camp. I also have enough strips left over to make another one, maybe for next year.</div>
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I believe one of my readers out there had expressed interest in also donating a quilt. I remember emailing her about it but I was just searching for the messages and could not find them. I'm so sorry! At any rate, I do know that someone from the state of Missouri made and donated 2 beautiful quilts to the guild for the camp. The organizers did not show the quilts to us, but did tell the guild about it. If it is one of you, I hope you let me know. How generous!</div>
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I guess that is all for now. I hope to to be back very soon with more!</div>
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Have a great day,</div>
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JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-5233370716872218462015-04-21T00:44:00.001-10:002015-04-21T00:44:27.112-10:00When It Rains, It PoursHi Everyone,<div>
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It has been pretty rich with fun quilting programs around here. First was Lynne Hagmeier and then this past Thursday, Marie Bostwick stopped by my local quilt shop, A Quilt of Many Colors, to do a reading and book signing.</div>
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Are you familiar with her? She is a quilter, but foremost an author. She has penned the Cobble Court Quilts books and is back with a cast of new characters in the setting of Door County, Wisconsin. Yes, there is quilting in the story. The book is called, "The Second Sister" and is about a woman who is a political operative on the national level (she works for a Governor who is running for President). It is the morning of Election Day when she gets a call that there was an accident back in her hometown and she needs to get there. Dealing with family issues and the Past, as well as a bit of mystery, makes up the story and all the characters are wonderfully crafted. Just so you know, I already read the book so I could give you all an honest review. I highly recommend it! Marie's books are beautifully written and have no objectional language, violence, or other bad behavior. </div>
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The even was fun! Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling so great so she remained seated but was very charming and interesting. As people arrived, we all were chatting and her stories of travel, home life, etc. were great. She's such a good story teller even when she isn't working, ha ha. </div>
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She told us that when she has a new book released, she goes on tour for several months. A while back, she got sick of hotels, so she bought a small RV. She named it Glinda the Glamper and she travels around with her.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After most people arrived, the formal portion began. She introduced herself and did a reading from the book. She talked a bit about her writing process, and then took questions. Next there was a pile of quilts next to her to be shown. I didn't get many photos as I helped hold them up. </div>
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This one is her "Broken Hearts" from the Cobbled Court Quilts books. She tries to make a pattern for each book and Deb Tucker, her good friend, helps. She had one Hunter Star quilt made with Deb's ruler--Rapid Fire Hunter's Star. Lately, I'm seeing that quilt pattern everywhere!</div>
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After the quilts were shown, the formal portion was over and we could get our books signed. All of her books that I own are on my Kindle, but it wasn't a problem to get her new one. </div>
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It was a fun event! She will be in Paducah this week, so if you go, you may want to stop by and meet her--she is really a charming, fun personality. If, like me, you are not going, she has a fun facebook page and also a great <a href="http://www.mariebostwick.com/">website</a>. The website has free quilt patterns and recipes if you sign up. She assured us that she does not share any personal information with anyone, including her publisher.</div>
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Have a great day,</div>
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JoAnne</div>
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JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-42810221523484569452015-04-10T04:31:00.001-10:002015-04-10T04:31:22.793-10:00Sweet Husbands and Austin BluebirdHi Everyone,<br />
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So back one day in early February, I was at one of my bees. One of the ladies told me I had missed seeing "the Triplets" the previous week. I asked about such an intriguing statement and got the story. I knew one of the ladies, Alana, had gotten a new Janome sewing machine. One of the other ladies, Lee, liked it and asked a third, Evelyn, to find out the price at our local dealer since she was going there. I forgot the model right now, or I would tell you, Anyway, so off Evelyn went and found out that our shop had a used one that was in great shape. She put it on hold and told Lee about the price for the used and the new. The new was a bit more expensive, of course, but had a warrenty. I think Lee was going to get the used one, but then her husband thought that she should have the warrenty and offered to pay the difference so she could get the new one. Evelyn was talking about how great the machine was and so her husband told her to get one for herself. My memory fails me and so I don't remember if she got the new or the used. Anyway, all three of the machines were at the bee on a Friday--a day I don't go. I thought the husbands were being so sweet, so I told my husband about it. He assumed, incorrectly I might add, that I was angling for a machine, too. I told him that I'm set for machines right now. After thinking about things for a few minutes, though, I added, "well, there is this quilt kit I've been wanting..." Since Valentine's Day was approaching, and he isn't the best shopper for presents--he jumped at the chance and so I got this for Valentine's Day!<br />
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It's the Austin Bluebird sampler kit. Minick and Simpson, flags, bluebirds, cherries, some applique but also lots of piecing, RWB, a completely awesome box, what is not to love?!!! I had been drooling over this for months! I swear, I have the best husband ever. <br />
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Anyway, I promptly felt overwhelmed with other stuff and so I put it on the shelf. However, Laurie is posting a helpful blog post about the different months, and when I read about <a href="http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/2015/03/month-2-of-austin-bluebird-sampler.html">month 2</a>, it really got me excited about working on the project. Not because of anything specific, just seeing it. National Quilting Day was right about then, and to celebrate, I decided to break open the quilt and check out the contents. <br />
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The first thing I decided to do was get a binder and page protectors and put the pattern in it.<br />
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This had been a huge help! All the pages stay secure and in order and if I need to pull out a page to trace patterns, it is easy to do. The pattern is fabulous! There are color charts labeling the different fabrics and cutting diagrams for each fabric. Its great. I began to cut and stack each month's pieces up--eventually stowing each month in a ziplock baggie. But then I started sewing, too. I prepped applique blocks as well. Before I knew it:<br />
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I had Month 1 complete. I guess I forgot to crop out my slippers...</div>
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Month two only had a bit of applique (the stars) so it didn't take long.<br />
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Month three was just piecing, so it went quick. And in case you are wondering, part of the leaf block is seperate for now. This sampler quilt goes together a bit like a puzzle. I'm excited for the challenge!<br />
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Month 4 had another big applique block, but they are so much fun! I love the birds and cherries.<br />
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Month 5 is back to all piecing again, and I havn't done it yet, but I am currently appliqueing the large block for month 6. These blocks so far have finished at 18 inches. There are some even larger applique blocks coming up.<br />
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This is my month 6 block as it looks right now, crumpled up, and half sewn. I use the back-basting needle-turn method. Once this is completed and I piece for month 5 and 6, then half the quilt will be done! I'm not sure if it is because this applique is so much easier than my <a href="http://thepatrioticquilter.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-sarahs-revival-update.html">Sarah's Revival blocks</a> or if it is because I have Spring Fever, but this quilt is really fun to make for me right now. <br />
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Although I bought the kit and it contains enough fabric, I can't help myself and I've been sprinkling in pieces from my Minick and Simpson collection. It's so much fun to choose.<br />
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Have a great day!<br />
JoAnne<br />
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<br />JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-90491130381394271722015-04-08T10:40:00.002-10:002015-04-08T10:40:57.953-10:00TroublesHi Everyone,<br />
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I know that it has been a while since I posted and if you think the title of this post is an explanation--rest assured, it isn't. The only "Troubles" I've seen lately are Kansas Troubles brought to us by Lynne Hagmeier. She was just here in Fort Wayne at our Appleseed Quilters Guild. I'm always thrilled to be able to learn from a national instructor, but to also have one of Moda's long-time fabric designers is a thrill.<br />
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She taught classes on Monday night and Tuesday morning and then presented her trunk show at the guild meeting on Tuesday night. I took the Monday class and saw the trunk show. Let me tell you, if you ever get a chance to see her, jump at it! She is charming, witty, and fun. Not only that, but she is a freaking genious with pre-cuts! I'm always fascinated to hear from successful quilt businesspeople--how did they get started? What is their approach? And so forth. <br />
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During her trunk show, she shares her story and it's really interesting to learn about how she began selling quilts, then patterns, and then getting to design fabric. She shared about how several years ago she was doing a quilt cruise. About a month before leaving, the organizer contacted her and said that there was limited space for 75 people so could she precut everyone's project that she was teaching! In trying to make this task easy, she began utilitizing the precuts in a "layered" technique--where say a charm square is centered on top of a layer cake square and then stitched an 1/8th inch all around the edges. It leave a raw edge, but after washing, as long as the edge was pinked (or is cut on the bias) it leaves a pleasing primitive edge. <br />
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If you want to see for yourself, Lynne filmed a few tutorials over at Missouri Star Quilt Company with Jenny. Here is one. (If for some reason the link doesn't work for you, just go to Youtube and search for Missiouri Star Lynne Hagmeier.<br />
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Anyway, how about some photos?<br />
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This was from my class. Lynne spent the first several minutes talking about her technique and how we should proceed and then we all got to work. She circled the room answering any questions and otherwise chatting with everyone. It was one of the funnest classes I've taken because the project was pretty easy and instead of stressing or stuggling or fussing, we could just chat. I also got to know the lady sitting across from me, another Lynne. I still don't know many members of the guild so it is great to meet more.<br />
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I took the <a href="http://www.ktquilts.com/shop/Charm-Patterns/p/Seedlings-x5472549.htm">Seedlings</a> class. <br />
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No, it isn't curved piecing! It is using Lynne's layered method. I'm not finished with mine yet, but I did get pretty far in the class.<br />
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In case Lynne's palatte isn't colors you like, you can easily use her techniques with any other Moda precuts. She had a modern example, but I didn't get a picture of it, but it was awesome, too.<br />
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These are photos from the trunk show. <br />
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I hope you have a great day!<br />
JoAnne<br />
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<br />JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-1759451121796257272015-03-11T04:19:00.000-10:002015-03-11T04:19:09.810-10:00While the Paint DriedHi Everyone!<br />
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I still haven't downloaded my photos from the MidAtlantic Quilt Fest yet, but never fear, I will share them soon. One of the reasons why it hasn't gotten done was that I have been wanting to paint our powder room since the New Year. I've had paint samples hanging in there and had it narrowed down to 2 and then decided on "the one." <br />
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I've been procrastinating painting the bathrooms because of toilets, tile, vanities, light fixtures, etc. There are so many areas to tape off. Anyway, Sunday became THE DAY. I got the paint and primer and we started emptying the room and I taped. This room is tiny so we removed the toilet completely. There was still a patch of drywall that was unpainted behind it! Here is the big irony: most of this house was green when we bought it, and I repainted it all--mostly to blue. This bathroom was navy blue. You would think that would be perfect for me, but my powder room decor is sunflowers and I remove all the sunflower stuff at the holidays and decorate it all with Christmas stuff (mostly a Santa and cardinals theme,) so the navy wasn't working. It was also pretty dark in a small room with no window and poor lighting. I considered changing it to gold, tan, etc. but ended up painting it green! I find that really funny.<br />
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I needed to prime it because the navy was painted with a stripe technique. They painted the room in either a flat or eggshell finish and then used the same exact shade in a satin finish to give a real subtle stripe. So after tapine everything off and covering up the vanity, I applied one coat of primer Sunday before bed. Monday, I woke up and applied two more coats of primer. The primer dried fairly quickly, but after the third coat, I wanted to give it a bit longer before I began with the paint.<br />
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I checked my blog feed. I've been following <a href="http://buttermilkbasin.blogspot.com/2015/03/spring-thyme-blog-hop-day-9.html">Buttermilk Basin's spring blog hop</a> and Monday was Pam Buda's day. Her project was right up my alley. You can find the directions and free pattern<a href="http://heartspunquilts.blogspot.com/2015/03/spring-thyme-blog-hop.html"> here on her blog</a>. She designed a pinkeep made with red, white, and cream fabrics AND she fussy-cut the small 1 1/4" squares used for the patchwork portion! Before you could ask "What about the bathroom?" I was on my way upstairs and pulling fabric and cutting. I got all the small squares required cut out and arranged and then went back down to deal with the first coat of green paint. While that dried, I was right back upstairs stitching the patchwork together. By the end of the day, the bathroom was completely painted and my pinkeep was completed, stuffed, and embellished.<br />
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I took the first photo of it laying on my sofa, but since Pam had styled hers so nice on her blog, I decided to play around with mine.</div>
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The bathroom completely dried over night and then last night when my husband got home from work, we installed a new light fixture and the toilet and then put the room back together. Here is one picture--since the room is so small, it's difficult to get other angles without the toilet or the mirror involoved. <br />
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I've been doing lots in my sewing room, but this pinkeep is the first thing I've finished in a while. I need to share more of what I'm doing!</div>
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Have a great day!</div>
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JoAnne</div>
JoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-59762901837407420832015-03-05T03:05:00.001-10:002015-03-05T03:05:25.738-10:00The Weather Was Not My FriendHi Everyone,<br />
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My blogging absence has been due to my traveling back to Virginia for the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest. A week ago Tuesday was the day I flew back. I knew I wanted to go to the show, but I was torn about getting there. I could have driven, as we've made that journey many times, but I wasn't sure if the weather would cooperate. I also would be by myself, which wasn't all that appealing, either. In the end, I decided to fly--even though I don't enjoy flying very much at all. <br />
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My connections were great: I flew from here to Detroit (about a 20-30 minute flight) and then from Detroit to Norfolk, VA. That flight was only about 2 hours long. <br />
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Tuesday morning I woke up early and was busy packing and getting ready. I didn't leave until just after noon, so there was no rush. Around 7 or 8 I got a call from my friend Janice, in Tennessee. She was going to Virginia, too, and driving. She called because she woke up to 6 inches of unforcasted snow! (If you follow Bonnie Hunter, that was the same day that she woke up snowed into her cabin.) She wasn't sure if she was going to make it, but she was going to try. She crawled down her mountain at 20mph, passing the snow plow, which had gone into the ditch! She made it to the Interstate, though, and the conditions there were much better. Her late, slow start meant she wouldn't be there to pick me up from the airport, though, so another friend, Lorna, would come. Lorna and her husband had graciously invited both Janice and I to stay with them. <br />
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My weather here in Indiana was fine. Detroit was fine. Norfolk had some snow forcasted, but they backed off the amounts and said that they should just get "a dusting." We set out for the airport and everything went great. I think it was when I landed in Detroit and turned on my phone that I saw a text from Lorna saying that it was snowing a bit and that her husband was going to drive with her to the airport. (The drive from her house in Hampton, to Norfolk is usually about 25 minutes, but does require a trip through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, and there can be snarls from time to time.) I texted back that I could stay in a hotel over there if it seemed bad, but she said they weren't supposed to get much snow and that it wasn't sticking. <br />
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I only had about 25 minutes in Detroit between flights, so I had to hustle. Is it always me who has connections in and out of gates that are the furthest apart possible? Good grief! I made it okay and even had a chance to grab a snack. (I had an early lunch at 10:30 because I was flying out at 12:30.) We boarded and I turned off my phone again. When we landed and I looked out the window of the plane in Norfolk, huge flakes were coming down at a great rate. I turned on my phone and had a text from Lorna that they were stuck in traffic--there may be an accident. I replied and understood. I had lived there and delays in the bridge tunnel were common. I made my way to pick up my bag and settled in to wait. Luckily I found an outlet, because my phone was losing charge--I was in "the red." In the end, it took Lorna and her husband over 2 hours to get to the airport! It wasn't just one accident, there were problems all along the roads, but it was the snow that was the major culprit. It took another 2+ hours to get back to their house. We just crawled along, but at least going slow helped us stay safe. I have never seen roads that awful before and I grew up in South Dakota and lived in Alaska! We finally made it to her house about 9 pm. I felt like a real heel for causing them so much trouble! On our way back from the airport, we heard from Janice. She made it to Richmond (about 1.5 hours away) but decided to stop there. By the time we woke up the next morning, there was over 6 inches of snow on the ground.! Janice made it by 10 that morning.<br />
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This is the picture I took in the morning out the window.</div>
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It wasn't through snowing either. The first full day of the show, Thursday, we crawled slowly through it to the venue. Janice took this picture walking in.</div>
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The weather was keeping many people away, so it was great that first day--no crowds! We heard that a vendor had been involved in a fairly serious car accident due to the weather, resulting in broken bones. I hope she is alright!<br />
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It quit snowing and warmed up that day! And then refroze over night. So on Thursday we had crawled through snow to get to the show, and on Friday we skated there on ice! (Notice the theme: despite the conditions, we made it!) More people made it on Friday, too, as well as buses, so it was much more crowded.<br />
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The weather got better, though. As Sunday approached, and I would fly home, I was checking weather there, Detroit, and home. Home wasn't going to be good. There was a "winter storm warning." It started snowing in the morning, but it was going to taper off through the day. I had a later flight out of Norfolk (6:20 pm or so) and wouldn't land until 10:30pm here at home. I got dropped off at the airport, got through security, and settled in. I wasn't in the gate my flight was leaving from, as another flight was boarding at the time. I read for a while and then decided to wander back to my gate. When I did, I saw that my flight was delayed by 50 minutes! It seemed that the plane we would take to Detroit was currently in NYC at LaGuardia and they were having terrible weather. I checked my itinerary and I had and hour and 20 minutes in Detroit, so I was still okay. And then it was delayed 15 more minutes. And then even more! I was not going to make my flight home from Detroit! I decided at that point to book myself a hotel room near the airport where I could ride a shuttle. The flight from New York was getting de-iced and it took over an hour. It finally took off and when the gate agent told us, we all cheered! By then all of us in the gate were making friends. <br />
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I was really impressed with Delta--they kept us informed! I know that seeems basic, but so many corportations don't do that! They also brought us snacks and drinks. The flight from NYC landed, and it was one really fast turnover! We took off and landed in Detroit. The agent had booked me on a flight the next morning to Indiana, so I scanned my paper to see if I could get my boarding pass, and I got a voucher for a hotel and transportation! Crap! I had booked that other room and it was too late to cancel. Our flight wasn't the only one with problems, though. Thousands of people needed rooms, and the one that Delta had for me was 30 minutes away. I stuck with my room that was just off the airport property! Down in the hotel shuttle area, it was bedlam! A shuttle would pull in and get swarmed by people. I've never seen anything like it! I had trouble figuring out which shuttle to get, but after calling the hotel, I saw the correct one. I made it to my room just before midnight.<br />
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In my carry-on bag was my camera, my coat, my book, and my day's purchases from the quilt show vendors. I had some pieces of wool, patterns, and a frame. No change of clothes. No toothbrush. No hairbrush. I did have my phone charger, though. I slept in my clothes and woke up the next morning. I had gotten a toothbrush and toothpaste from the hotel desk, which was really nice! I was okay otherwise. It turned out I most missed my face cream (my face was so dry) and clean socks. (I detest wearing "used" socks--they are stretched out and just don't feel nice at all.) I made it back to the airport, through the bedlam again (thousands of stranded passengers needing new boarding passes.) Once more I made it through security and found my gate.<br />
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Again I settled in for an hour or so and read and fantasized about face cream and socks. The thing was, the gate wasn't filling with people! So I went to check the boards and saw that the gate wasn't the one on my boarding pass, but a different one. Luckily, it wasn't far away. The flight was uneventful and we landed just before 10 AM. My husband was there to pick me up and he drove me home. I was so relieved! Sometimes there is just nothing better than hot water, a hair brush, and clean clothes! That and moisturizer!<br />
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How about you? Have you been stranded before? What did you miss the most?<br />
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I'll be back again with more about the show.<br />
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Meanwhile, I'm not sure if any of you also follow Rachel at <a href="http://www.stitchedincolor.com/2015/03/elenis-birth.html">Stitched in Color</a>. She is a modern quilter and I enjoy her blog. I've followed as she shared about trying to have another baby, celebrated as she got pregnant, and was anticipating the birth. Well, her little Eleni was born last week, but there were problems and it is sounding fairly grave. I'll be praying for their baby and their family.<br />
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Have a great day!<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925319966873918312.post-86854711462571604492015-02-24T04:02:00.001-10:002015-02-24T04:02:42.307-10:00A First QuiltHi Everyone,<br />
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A week ago on Monday was a non-school day for my neice. It was an actual SCHEDULED day off as opposed to a snow day. Snow days for her are no fun as the school has elearning. If there is a snow day, the students log onto the computer after 9 am and have school work to do--that way it counts as a day of instruction. Therefore, she comes to my house and has to do school work. <br />
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Having a day off was a treat! Finally we could do fun things like go out to lunch and shop, bake cookies, whatever. We had to take my husband to the airport in the late morning since he was gone for a few days last week. That was okay, though, because we wanted to go to a restaurant for lunch which is located down by the airport.<br />
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First, though, she asked if she could finally learn to use the sewing machine. With one thing or another, we haven't had a chance to play too much in my sewing room before now, so we went up there. I decided to have her learn to use the machine and sew a quarter inch seam, so I got out my bin of 1.5" strips, choose two, and had her begin. She was a bit afraid of speed with the machine, even though I had it on half speed, but she found her comfort zone--which was pretty slow, but that is fine. <br />
I thought I would have her sew on another strip so we could examine how accurate her quarter inch seam is (if you sew a strip set of 3 1 1/2" strips, the middle one should measure exactly one inch) but I decided that since she is 9, we could just have fun for now. I subcut her stip set into 1.5" strips, and we flipped half of them to make 4 patch blocks. I showed her how to "nestle" the seams, so that the 4 patches meet perfectly in the center. She wasn't much of a fan--she doesn't realize how valuable the "nestle" is yet! She stiched up her little blocks, but she did have some trouble and so learned how to rip. (I did the rotary cutting, but had her sew, rip, and press.) She actuallly liked ripping, so that was a plus. When she was finished, she had 6 4-patch blocks that measured 2.5 inches. I got out my 2.5" strips and let her choose one. I cut it into 2.5" squares, and we laid out a pattern of alternating 4-patches and squares. I showed her how to sew them together into rows and then sew the rows together into a piece. <br />
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We had to leave then to go to the airport and lunch. After lunch, we shopped at Target for a bit and then we got back to my house. She wanted to continue with her quilt. She was happy with it the way it way, but I suggested a border. She choose another strip from my bin and I cut the sections and she sewed them on. <br />
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Here she is with the finished top.</div>
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Once the borders were on, I showed her how to layer it with batting and backing and pin it. I then did some quick meander quilting. We went to my bin of leftover binding and she choose one. I sewed the binding on, but she helped pin it with Wonder clips. <br />
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I sewed the binding down with the machine and her quilt was finished!</div>
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I knew she was happy with it, but I didn't realize just how much. She took it to school on Tuesday and showed her class. Then she showed the Art teacher, and the Art teacher is going to put it in the display case at school for a while. <br />
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Her are some close-ups. I choose the fabric for the 4-patches just thinking it would be practise. She choose the rest. She loves blue!<br />
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I figure there will be plenty of chances for more detailed lessons later, until then she made a quilt! I think she may be hooked!<br />
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I'm set to leave for the airport myself today I'll be spending the week back in Virginia at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest. I'm excited to see my friends again!<br />
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Have a great day!<br />
JoAnneJoAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725295327088235909noreply@blogger.com14