Quilting and Coincidences

People who don't know quilters well might be of the belief that we make our quilts in the quiet of our homes, with little interaction from the outside world - a lonely pastime, perhaps.

No way!

This hobby is the most social and open hobby ever. Having Sharon over once each week is just a beginning. We also have a wide circle of friends who enjoy lugging their machines and projects to someone's house for a day of stitching together. Our Frankfort Girls group meets every-other-Friday morning to do just hand-stitching.

And then there are retreats and quilt shows and classes. And I haven't even touched on the community that can be found in cyberspace.

This lengthy introduction is surely going somewhere, and it describes just one instance of how all these various spheres of quilters eventually are bound to intersect.

A week ago, my neighbor and friend Dorothy shoots me an email saying that she and her daughter are taking a mystery class at Creations, a quilt shop in Chillicothe. Across the table from them are Claudia and Denise, my students off and on for the past couple of years! What a small world.

For some history on all these friends, you can check out some backstories, if you like. I first wrote about Dorothy in 2017 when she wanted help making a picnic quilt for her son and daughter-in-law. Claudia and Denise have been the subject of many posts over the past 3-4 years, and here's just one that represents a bit of the kinds of things we have tackled together.

Now, let's get to the pictures of the work Dorothy, Sarah, Claudia and Denise did in the mystery class.

The bottom photo is from Claudia who has her mystery parts laid out at her home. She is in the process of sewing the top together.

The emails I got from Claudia really speak to the nature of "community" -

Denise and I enjoyed meeting two of your friends from Frankfort yesterday at the Mystery Quilt Sewing Day at the Creations store in Chillicothe. There were seven steps. The photo shows Denise with her quilt at step 4 I believe. There would be five of the strips like she is holding next to each other. Her batik fabrics are beautiful. I left a little early as there were farm chores to do at home before evening, but I think Denise finished hers before she left. Just before I left at 5pm the first quilt was completed. It was fun to arrive to well marked piles of fabric and a little sheet (CLUE) to follow. And fun to meet new people with the same interests.

And Claudia is a true "learner" in every sense of the word; she later sent this with the picture above:

Here is my Mystery Quilt down to ten pieces. I had asked for red, white & blue figuring I would get something patriotic with stars, stripes, etc. but with the green in it too it is far from patriotic looking. I now know that I have to be more specific. At step 3 I had a snafu. I tried very consciously to match the two corners but alas my matching (which was with an angle) made the piece off center and I had to take them all apart and redo matching the sides and not a center seam. I just didn’t understand “quilters” language. Ugh!!

 You can be sure Claudia will know this "quilters language" next time - she learns fast!

I hope this post makes sense; I am a bit under the weather with some crazy congestion - maybe allergies? Maybe upper respiratory again? I think I will have a cup of hot tea, and take a nap.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

What to Celebrate First??

Top o' the mornin' to ye!!

We have a conflict of interests today. Most folks are celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Since I've got a fair amount of Irish in my lineage, I am happy to join the festivities.

However, it's also National Quilting Day, and that has me conflicted. I feel compelled to honor both events equally! Here's an image I found that brings the 2 celebrations into one.

Pretty, wouldn't you agree?

Since the quilters at Terry's retreat are probably all working on the mystery quilt, I figured I'd go ahead and share the picture of my sample. I doubt at this point I'll be ruining the mystery.

This mystery quilt is called Seams Like Yesterday by Debbie Caffrey, from a pattern she issued in 1998. The resulting star is called Bradford Star, and I really like it. My picture doesn't show the  difference (much) between my light and medium fabrics. I will rerun a picture of the fabrics.

All three are from Westminster Fibers, but I can't recall exactly which designer. Martha Negly? Phillip Jacobs? Kaffe Fassett? I looked when I was cutting, but the scraps are gone now, so it's anyone's guess at ths point.

The family is all a-buzz over March Madness. With all 4 of our Ohio teams doing well, we have lots of basketball games to watch! Ohio State, Ohio University, Xavier and Univ. of Cincinnati have all advanced to the top 32 teams. Lots of fun, and easy to quilt by hand when games are on. I am binding a quilt currently, and when I finish that, I have a couple of other hand-work options I can move on to.

The work in cleaning the sewing room has not taken off too well because of all the basketball. I still have hopes of making at least a minor dint in it this weekend.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Happy National Quilting Day!

Super Tuesday!

Yes, I did my civic duty and voted yesterday in the primary election. Here in Ohio we think our votes must be pretty important, if we listen to the talking heads on radio and television. So, now it's all over until November's general election. The frequency and sheer number of political phone calls we had was incredible. I would not be exaggerating to say we averaged 8-10 per day, especially in the final week. Even yesterday, Super Tuesday, we had calls.

Now, for Super Tuesday quilting, let's just see how much progress has been made on the mystery quilt, shall we?

There's been a fair amount of chain piecing. All parts are going together quite well.

The points are perfectly pointy and seams are matching up as they should. I am very pleased with this star. It will make a good mystery quilt at Terry's guild getaway in a few weeks. She will take my quilt top, one of her own, and possibly two made by Sheryll for participants to see after they've sewn most of theirs together. It's always fun to see the variety that fabric choice provides.

I have the rows and the sashing all sewn together, and plan to complete the top today. I will wait to show a picture of the complete top until after the guild's retreat. I wouldn't want to ruin the "mystery" now would I??

Tomorrow, I will post about a sewing field trip Sharon P. and I took on Monday. It was a fun and productive day!

March Already?!?

I'm fairly certain that it was just yesterday that we were all celebrating the new year - how in the world does time fly so fast? Can it possibly be March 1st already!??
Hmmm, I ought to have more to show for 2 months of 2012 than I do, I can say that for sure.

But I can show you a bit of the stitching I've done lately. The work on the mystery quilt sample continues. Terry says she needs this top in 2 weeks, and that was last week, so I've got a week left to get it finished.

I am totally loving this dark blue floral and to have it paired up with that pale polka dot - well, it's suiting me to a T.

See those little triangles? I will have many, many of those when this step of the quilt is finished. I'm going to save them all to use on a bonus project!

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I helped out at Grandma's house yesterday, cleaning a few kitchen cupboards and drawers, and that I brought home a few special treasures. Here, take a peek. I've spread them out on that quilt I brought home from Grandma's the last time I assisted her.

These are old kitchen items that Grandma used for most of her married life, which began in 1934 or 1935. The wire star is to place on a burner under the pan, to keep it off direct heat. Under it is a hot pad that appears to me made of a very solid cork or some sort of particle board, perhaps. Grandma says that one of "the kids" made it for her, and if you look close you can still see some green paint, all that remains of whatever pretty picture was painted on it. Perhaps my mother made this? Or Aunt Nancy or Uncle Bill? They were stair-step children, the 3 oldest of the 6. I will ask Mom when I get a chance to see if she recalls it.

The tin measuring cup holds 2 cups. The handle is gone, but Grandma says she used it often. Apparently, it was her go-to measuring cup. Can't you  just imagine the pancakes, the pies, the noodles and cakes whose ingredients were measured out over the course of 70-some years with this cup? Gracious!

The little biscuit cutter is perhaps the most treasured item in the group. Grandma made biscuits with this cutter, and cut-out cookies, too, I'm sure. It has a small attachment in it for cutting the center out of doughnut dough, or to make a wreath for Christmas cookies. She said she began housekeeping with this biscuit cutter. Wow.

The knife holder and knives are just an assortment that she had in her drawer by the stove. I don't have any special memories of any of them, with the exception of the middle knife on top (there are 2 knives in one slot), which is for spreading butter on bread. It's edge is not at all sharp for cutting; I just recall it always being used to spread butter. Strange the memories a kid has of her grandparents' house.

Last, the crock. It is the newest item in the group and I am fairly certain that I gave it to Grandma as a gift once I was grown and on my own. I have given a lot of these types of gifts over the years. Hillsboro, Ohio, is my hometown; it is located about 25 miles from where I live now. Besides Grandma, most of my family still lives there: 2 sisters, one brother, Mom, an aunt, an uncle, and their respective families.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

It's Rather Ugly

xperimenting with fabrics for a mystery quilt has, for me this time, resulted in a quilt that I consider rather unappealing. It will be another couple of weeks before I can show the quilt here, because of the mystery class which is the 2nd weekend of October. I will just sneak a couple of peeks at it for you.

It finishes at roughly 38" square, and I am glad I made it because it took me out of my comfort zone. And maybe once the borders are attached I will have a change of opinion. We shall see...

Happy quilting, Friends!

Yet Another Project!

rojects just seem to find their way to my door at times. I do welcome them, too. I mean, after all, what was my plan for retirement?? Quilting!

My friend Terry asked me to commit to a project that will help her out. Later this year - maybe late October - she will lead a mystery quilt class for a retreat she will be attending. She wants to have some very different looks made up to show participants. She has someone making the quilt in reproduction fabrics. I believe she has another one promised, too, possibly a floral or a patriotic. My contribution is to make one using my Kaffe Fassett fabrics. One that would be considered "wild."

I've played around with some fabric groupings - it's a 4-fabric quilt - and have come up with 2 possibilities that I like. Tell me what you think.

This option is a pink, purple and blue combination.

This option is an orange/gold, green and purple combination.

Any opinions from the masses??