It's Almost a Quilt

On Memorial Day, we went to my youngest daughter's house for her annual Memorial Day picnic. This one was special as it was the first time that all three of my kids have all been together with me at the same time since July, 2000. Work schedules, other events, and distance have prevented it happening before then. Two live in the greater Atlanta area, the other lives in Phoenix, AZ, and I live in middle Tennessee so it's not easy for us to get together very often. This picture was taken in Angela's front yard and from the left is Howard (my DH), Carolyn -49, Angela-40, David-47, and me. They were in their silly mood and were trying to imitate a dance line without much success. We did all have a really good time. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get all of the grandkids that were there all together in one spot long enough to get a photo.

I did manage to get some quilting related things done that day too. I took the top to Allison's graduation quilt for her to see. Of course, I had to bring it back home to get it quilted. Still haven't decided how I want to quilt it yet. Need to go to the quilt shop and get the fabric for the backing and get it done soon. Allison is Angela's oldest daughter. She has already been taking some junior college courses during her last year of high school and is planning on doing something in the field of horticulture or photography or combining them.

It was a long day but a good one. The drive was 4 hours each way and because we are in a different time zone, we had to leave home at 5:30 am to get there in time to get the grill set up for cooking. Since the weather at home was for thunder storms, we took the two dogs with us instead of leaving them outside in the backyard. They loved all of the attention they got from all of the kids there. They even managed to get a hot dog and burger too. When we got home at 8:00 pm, we were so tired, we were in bed and asleep within about half an hour and slept until late morning. It sure is a good thing we are retired and didn't have to go to work the next day. We would have never made it.

Where did the sun go?

Yesterday was so sunny and bright and warm and today is so gray and gloomy. Even though the thermometer says 64 degrees, it sure feels a lot cooler. If I didn't know better, I'd say the clouds look like snow. No chance of that right now. It would be rain and I'm not complaining as we really need it after the past couple of years of drought.

Since it's so gray, I decided to dig back in the archives and pull out a quilt top that brings the sunshine back into the room. It's one of the UFO's that I really want to get finished this year. In this photo, it's on it's side, but it really doesn't matter as the blocks don't have any real top side.

The blocks are six inches finished. The pattern is called "Confetti" and I can't remember the names of the designers right off the top of my head. I'll find it and post it before I get the quilt finished. It was being taught as a class at a quilt shop in Cocoa, FL several years ago. I was there visiting my DH's brother and his wife. Cindy and I went to the quilt shop one afternoon and I just fell in love with this quilt. I wasn't going to be there for the class so I bought the book and the fabrics and made it after I came home. It's such a fun technique. Another designer has a couple of books out on a similar technique, "Stack the Deck". This is the final size in the book. It was bound with a narrow red binding. But, I keep thinking that it need a border so it would be larger for an older grandchild. Still haven't decided on that. I could match the colors in it pretty well as most of the fabrics are Moda Marble Botanicals. Have to think some more on that.

On a non-quilty note, DH and I went for a short ride today to explore the area around where we now live. We had heard that a winery had opened in our county about the same time we moved here. We found it and it's a beautiful place. Check it out www.delmonacowinery.com Of course we had to visit the tasting room and a few bottles came home with us. I wish that they had a good photo on their web site of their floors inside. They look like some type of inlaid stone that has a giant grapevine winding through the rooms. It's stained and highly polished concrete that has shallow groves in it to create the shapes of the vines and leaves. It is stunning. It's only about 10 minutes from our house so I can see that we will be visiting there again.

Since we've been home, Howard has been cooking dinner. He's made a large pot of chicken and dumplings. Yummmy. They are so good. I didn't realize when I married him almost 8 years ago that I was giving up my kitchen. But, he enjoys it so much that I don't mind at all. After all, I've been cooking since I was about 11 years old and I'm well into my senior years now.

I think it's time to go to my attic and visit with my fabric and sewing machine. Maybe I'll even do a little sewing while I'm there.

Hugs, Barb Mcf

Cars. tires and computers

I've spent most of the day on the computer getting my directions for the Attic Windows project written up and ready for the retreat next week. That's what I made the two attic window wallhangings for. Twice a year I get together with my sister-in-law and a group of her friends. I'm the "designated" teacher. I have to make it interesting for the very beginning quilter and also the advanced quilter. It's a lot of work, but I love it. I've often thought that if I could do it over again, I'd be a Home Economics teacher instead of a R.N. But probably not.

I did get some sewing done last night. This block is called "Next Door Neighbor". I made it for a swap coming up in April on Block Central. The colors are really brighter than they show up here. They are the Aunt Gracie's 30's prints with a white on white background. I like how easy the block was to make. I did modify the construction a little so I was using the connecting corners instead of cutting all of those triangles. The more I look at it, the more I think that I would like to make an entire quilt using that block set without any sashings so the corner triangles would make a secondary pattern. And, what if I used batiks in the many watery blue colors. Hummm, lots to think about.

Back to the title, had to get new tires on my car today. I have a 2008 Toyota Highlander and it has odd size tires, 19 inches and only two companies make that size tire, Toyo and Bridgestone. That means that there aren't any big bargains out there on them. Oh well, I'm just glad that Howard decided to take my car in to have the tires rotated and aligned yesterday. Turns out that the rear alignment was way out. Guess it was one of those potholes on I-40. The rear tires had worn so badly in places that the wire was exposed. And it hasn't been that long since the tires were rotated and checked. Now I have new tires to ride on on my way to Atlanta and then on to Alabama next week. The condition those tires were in, I probably wouldn't have made it.

I think I'm going to go now and make a large cup of hot cocoa. Even though it was a good 20 degrees warmer today than yesterday, now that the sun has gone down, it's chilly and a cup of hot cocoa sounds good.

Quiet Sunday Afternoon

What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, sewing and watching the NASCAR race at the same time.

The first thing I did was to take this block and take most of it apart so I could remake it. If you look closely, in the top center is a Flying Geese unit right above the large pink square. The other three sides are different. The top one is the correct one. I had already had to rip out a couple of the corner HST units as I had them turned backwards. At first I considered leaving it alone but realized that I would never be happy with it that way. So, this is the result.

It looks so much better with all of it's flying geese turned the right direction. The name of the block is "Crystals" and can be found on Quilters Cache. It's one of the blocks I've made for the BPS swap on Block Central. Each month a different person chooses the main and alternate block for that month. You then make the block in whatever colors you want and keep it for yourself. It's an interesting way to make blocks that you might never have done before. I've been doing the blocks in the 30s repro fabrics and have enough now to put together a good size sampler quilt. So, next month I'll start making the blocks in different fabrics.

In other sewing, I did put a narrow black border on my floral attic windows wallhanging. DH is holding it sideways but it still looks good. I still haven't decided if I'm going to put another border on it or not. I'm still thinking about that.

The huge snow storm just barely touched us. We got up on Sunday to about one inch of snow while people to the west and south of us had from 4 to 10 inches. It just curled around us as it made it's turn to stop heading south and turn to the northeast. It did bring in the cold air and wind. Even though it's bright and sunny, it's very deceiving as it's really cold. But, spring isn't far off as the neighbor's daffodills are in full bloom.

A Day Off

I took today off from sewing. Today was grocery shopping and other errands and we managed to use up the entire day.

After breakfast, Howard went through the house and emptied all of the wastebaskets and trash cans. Then he and the two dogs went for a ride to the Convenience Center, aka The Dump. We do live in a subdivision but it is out in the county so we don't have city trash pickup. So, we can either make the five minute drive to The Dump, or contract with a private firm for trash pickup. Most of the people in the neighborhood take their own trash to The Dump. It's a lot less expensive and you aren't limited to one day a week.

After that, we went to visit with my brother and his wife for an hour or so. They live just over an hour away and he is recovering from a total knee replacement five weeks ago today. He's doing great with his therapy and walking really well. We took them a box of sausage patties that we have fallen in love with. It's made here in our town and is the closest I've ever found to the sausage that my grandmother used to make.

Next stop was a quilt shop in Lebanon. I signed up for a class to make a purse that has interchangable covers for it. I think my sister-in-law is going to take the class too. I saw the purse and it's a very clever idea. I've got my supply list and instructions for all of the pre-class cutting that needs to be done.

Finally we got around to the grocery shopping. Our favorite supermarket is Publix, a chain out of Florida that has recently started opening markets in Tennessee. The closest one to us is close to my brother, an hour away. We go there about every 3 weeks. Love their multi-grain bread from their bakery and the Savory Tarragon Chicken Salad from the deli. We always pick those two items up, even if we don't get anything else. Just needed the basics today but did get the bread and chicken salad. As soon as we got home, we both had a chicken salad sandwich. Yummmy. Have enough left for a sandwich tomorrow too.

Tomorrow, I'm going to get back to my sewing. May even unpack another box or two. Since we moved the middle of November, I had hoped to have everything unpacked and sorted out by now. Hasn't happened and I'm getting very frustrated. I know that we were gone more than we were home for the first six weeks because of holidays and an unexpected death in the family and then we were both quite ill with an upper respiratory bug for a couple of weeks. I need to be working on my project for the retreat so I'm going to concentrate on that and not worry about the boxes. They aren't going anywhere. Just going to sit there and wait.

These are the Happy Blocks I made for the March swap on Block Central. I think they came out well. I've been making an extra one to keep for myself each month and I think that I may be getting close to having enough to make a lap quilt for myself to use while watching tv. It will be interesting as each month is a different color and theme. But, these blocks are so addicting. They're just like potato chips, can't make just one.

Attic Window burnout

I have spent most of the past two days in my sewing room working on two Attic Window wallhangings. Neither of them have borders yet.

This one was made using the basic directions from Cheryl Phillips "What's Hiding In the Attic Window?" Instead of using the triangles and fussy cutting the window fabric, I cut large squares and then cut them on the diagonal once. I did this mainly because I was using scraps and if I had fussy cut, I wouldn't have had enough fabric for the windows and I was making a "test" wallhanging to check out the pattern. As a result, many of the aircraft are flying in weird angles. The blocks are a finished 4 inches so it is 16 1/2 inches in the photo. I'm still trying to decide about borders. The windows are 3-D in that they have a pocket on two sides. It certainly is an easy way to make an attic window block but the center seam is pretty bulky and really needs to be pressed open, as directed in the pattern.

This one is made using Mary Ellen Hopkins "connecting corners" on the dark strip so that when the light strip is sewn on, it imitates the look of a set in seam. This method does take a little more work, but uses less fabric and is much easier to get the images in the windows turned the direction you want it to be. This one is 40 inches square, without borders. I did add a black on back sashing between the blocks. I was hoping to get the impression of looking from the inside of the window to the outside in the garden. I'm not an art quilter so this is about as "arty" as I get. The blocks here are a finished 6 inches and the dark green in the blocks is much darker that it photographed. By the time I get the borders on it, it will be large enough to use as a tablecloth on my small breakfast table so it probably won't see a wall except for being displayed at the retreat.

These two may be the last of my adventures with attic window blocks. I can only think of one exception, becoming a great-grandmother, and I hope that's a long way off. In that case, I might do one in the I Spy quilt style with pairs of images scattered over the quilt top. But, like I said, I do hope that is a long way off.

We woke up to snow yesterday morning. Only an inch and it was gone by mid afternoon. It was pretty while it lasted. I know that in some areas, it is being measured in the feet and they are ready for spring. So am I. I don't like temperatures in the teens. Spring isn't too far off. I'm watching for the first daffodill.

Windows in the Attic

I call my sewing/quilting room "The Attic" as it's a fairly large room over the garage. The stairway goes off the hallway right off the kitchen and it's connected to the heat and air system. It has a cable tv connection and a window that looks out over the driveway and the front yard. If it had a small refrigerator and a powder room, it would be perfect. But if it did, I just might stay up there all day. The door is always open at the bottom of the stairs so the dogs come to visit every now and then. They just come in and sniff to make sure that everything is ok and then go back down stairs.

Here's a picture of them outside on the deck in the snow a couple of weeks ago. I know we haven't had snow like most other people have, but it sure was cold that day, about 13 degrees and windy. Jack is a 9 year old Jack Russell Terrier and we've had him for a little over 7 years. He's getting gray on his muzzle and has started slowing down a little. Daphne is a cock-a-poo that we really don't know how old she is. My friend, Virginia, got her when she lived in Savannah, GA about 2 1/2 years ago and the people she got her from thought she was about 5 or 6 years old. So, that would make her about 8 or so. She's getting some gray around her muzzle too so she may be older but she acts younger than Jack. We got her the middle of December when Virginia could no longer take care of her. She is a delight and so cuddly. She and Jack get along well together and that's good.

I went to my attic about noon today and stayed there until about 7:00 pm. I've been working on a project for a quilt retreat in about three weeks using Attic Windows. I think I've got it just about worked out. I made one small wallhanging that has 16 four inch square blocks in it. I used fabrics that were in my "left overs" box. Can't call them scraps if they are large enough to be used for something else. It's just a top at this point but I'll try to get a photo tomorrow in the daylight. I also cut out another set of blocks that will probably be a table topper. It uses floral prints. I hope it turns out like I think it will. I need to get the supply list sent out the first of the week so I'll probably spend tomorrow afternoon in the attic too. Of course, I'll have the NASCAR race on the tv while I sew. Can't miss the race. Go Tony.

I'm going to have to make a racing/NASCAR theme quilt one of these days.