Book Winner

In the middle of Thanksgiving festivities and such, I received word from the publisher at Split Tree Publishing of our winner in the book giveaway I sponsored in October.

My Frienzie Pam was the winner! How nice! Since most of my readers here are friends and family, there was a really good chance that I'd know the winner. Congratulations, Pam! I hope you like the book! It's a sweet little thing, in my opinion. Pam has a strong sense of family and tradition, so the book is perfect for her. I have seen a couple of quilts that have been handed down in her family displayed around her house. 

I have more to add! And it is so relevant! I can't believe I didn't think of this when I made the original post. (Fortunately, I have friends I can count on to be my brain when my brain needs help!)

Just after Pam retired from CHS where we Frienzies all worked together, she set about to write a book. Her years of teaching and counseling teens gave her much material to use in a YA book about teen pregnancy.  Her book is called Pregnancy is the Common Thread and is available on Amazon.

Each chapter begins with a quote about quilting. The book illustrates the effects of an unplanned teen pregnancy on not just the girl, but on her family and community as well. As the story unfolds, the neighbors get together to make a quilt for the young mom. One reviewer explains that this would be a great book for middle school or youth groups to study and discuss.

I so admire Pam for accomplishing her goal of writing a book.

Don't you think it's fitting that Pam would win the give away? Serendipity at its best!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Holiday Home Tour

One of the biggest fundraisers for the Greenfield Historical Society is the annual Holiday Home Tour. Our neighbors Dorothy and John were on this year's tour, and I was honored to have a few of my quilts and quilt tops displayed in their home. Here, have a look.

Eventide made with Roman Holiday fabric found a cozy spot on a shelf of the family room cabinet.

This quilt top looks perfect draped over a bench in the hallway. It's a Thimbleberries pattern called Hourglass.

The TV cabinet in John's office was a perfect spot to nestle my Stars and Stepping Stones in a basket perched on top. It is hand pieced.

Two quilts adorn the china cupboard in the dining room. Both patterns are by Thimbleberries; the one on top is September Stars made with some French General fabric; the one inside is Confetti Stars.

In a rocker in the master bedroom, my Jacob's Ladder found a place to show off. To this point, all the quilts are technically quilt tops. I didn't realize I had so many that were red and white until I pulled them all out of the closet. The next two are actually finished quilts.

And again, I have a Thimbleberries pattern. This is Carolina Lily; I machine pieced it and my grandmother hand quilted it. We draped it over a door between the family room and hallway.

This Churn Dash quilt was one I hand pieced and Grandma hand quilted. It is draped over the master bedroom door.

I think by now you get a sense of the age of Dorothy's house; it was built in 1853. I just love the woodwork around the doors and windows.

 Even more impressive than the door and window woodwork are the three fantastic fireplaces in the house. The one above is located in John's office.

This is the fireplace in the dining room.

I forgot to take a picture of the family room fireplace on the day of the tour, so I went back over and took this picture after some of the decorations had been moved. It actually shows the fantastic woodwork more clearly.

So now you have toured Dorothy and John's home. It was easily the prettiest home on the tour - but I might be a little bit biased. *wink*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

I'm An Artist (No, I'm Not!)

Remember about six weeks ago when I went to a class to learn calligraphy? Here's a link to it, if you want to be reminded. Well, the organization that sponsored it had another artistic opportunity for artist-wannabes this past Saturday night. I was gifted a ticket by DS Adam. Even though the Buckeyes were on and I really wanted to see that thrashing of Wisconsin, I went to the art class.

This time, the event was called Wine and Canvas. Attendees could BYOB and receive instruction on painting a wintery scene - a red barn with a big wreath and lots of sky and snow.

It's a humble effort, but if I could explain to you how bad of an artist I am, you would be beyond impressed with this. If I had the paint and brushes, there are things I would do to work on it more. We had time constraints, and I was forever catching up to the instruction. Mixing paint in the proper quantity was tough for me, and it slowed me down.

Tomorrow, I will show you pictures from a Holiday Home Tour that included my neighbor Dorothy's house. It was on Sunday, and I helped!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Some Christmas Cheer

With finals week upon me, my class schedule has been freed up a bit. I took time Monday afternoon to do a bit of shopping in Chillicothe. I'd not just drifted aimlessly through stores in a very, very long time.

In addition to Hobby Lobby and WalMart, I took time to stop in at Old Town Fabrics. Yeah, I needed a "fix." *wink*

Their tree was a welcome sight. Beautifully decorated with sewing and quilting-themed ornaments.

I managed some shopping for a few "special someones" on my Christmas list, and, yes, I bought a couple of things for myself, too.

Most significantly, I bought a package of those "Poke-A-Dots" to stick on my fingers when I am hand quilting. I've had the darndest time keeping my fingers from getting sore. These were recommended to me, so I am going to give them a try.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

I Wonder Where She's Been?

I have had several people ask me this since I've not posted in quite awhile. Well, we've had a lot going on. Sewing, quilting and blogging has had to take a back seat, unfortunately.

I will summarize some of our recent goings on. First, Thanksgiving. Like I said, we celebrated on Turkey Day with my in-law side of the family. Good food and lots of love. Then on Sunday of that weekend, we celebrated again - this time with my side of the family.

What do you think of all these rolls? Our family loves them, and we have some big men who are big eaters, so my sister made plenty. Mmmm, good.

Besides eating delicious food, another fun part of getting together is seeing the babies in the family. These three cuties are all grandchildren of my brother Alan. That would make them my grand-nieces and nephew, Aniston, Koen and Lucy Belle.

Then, sadly, we had a death in the family. My husband's sister Ann died last Tuesday at the age of 52. We are so sad, and will miss her so. She leaves a son, Jamie, along with one sister and three brothers. My father-in-law is suffering the loss of a daughter, too. Hug your loved ones a little tighter every now and then; you never know what may come.

In the  midst of these family things, I continue to work with the Greenfield Historical Society on the McClain HS book. The deadline approaches! Yikes!

Plus, we are at the end of the semester at OUC; that brings deadlines, essays, grading, finals and more grading. Whew! It gets chaotic, but I still love it.

In the stitching realm, I have had precious few minutes to pick up a needle and thread, but have managed a little bit. The Long Road Home gets a little closer to finished, as I have been trying to work on it often. The red triangles on the right side of the picture are the borders, so it's close!!

And the edges of that 6-pointed star are going to be finished off one of these days.

My sewing machine is surely dust-covered from neglect. I haven't sewn in the sewing room in a very, very long time. Every time I go in there, it's not for sewing; it's for dropping something off that I will have to deal with later. It's become a storage facility, I guess.

I will try to get back to regular posting. I have a couple of things in mind to share with you.
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Thanksgiving Blessings

We arrived at my father-in-law's just in time to go to dinner at the Elks Lodge this evening. Tomorrow we will drive down the street a bit to brother-in-law Mike's house for Thanksgiving dinner.

I am grateful for so many things. How does one count her blessings? They are infinite!

The last thing I did before loading up the car was to go up to the sewing room and gather the necessary materials for cutting out more stars for the hand-pieced 6-point star I've been working on. I will work on that after I finish this post.

An update on the computer situation: I finally got a laptop I am happy with; I had a test-drive on a Dell that wasn't so fun; but now I'm happy with an HP, the same brand as the one that crashed. Something to be thankful for - a local computer technician who will work so willingly to make a customer happy. 

I spent most of the day Tuesday retyping all that I'd lost a week ago when the crash occurred. Another thing to be thankful for. That was a huge relief. I think that if I can get my photo editing program installed, I will be back to (ahem) normal. Whatever that is!

This Thanksgiving greeting is a bit early, but I will go ahead now and send all my sweet readers very happy Thanksgiving wishes. I am definitely grateful for your loyalty.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

Hand Piecing Progress

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy hand piecing? Yes, I suppose I have. I know that machine piecing is the way to go when I want to finish something fast, but there is a certain calming and relaxing feeling that comes over me when I slow down to sit with a project in my lap, a needle in my hand, and fabric coming together in a slow, methodical and peaceful way.

Here are the blocks I made while riding to and from the OSU game in Minneapolis.

I have quite a stack of these now, and in the new year I suppose I should come up with a use for them. I have a few ideas brewing in the back of my mind, so I doubt it will be too difficult to make a decision.

Another UFO that I have been working on is an ages-old hand-pieced star quilt. Just look at how far I am on this quilt. Why does a person just quit on something when she is so far along to finishing?

I began this quilt in the late 1990s, when our son was in high school and we were attending track and cross country meets all the time. Projects like this were so easy for me to take to meets and work on while waiting for events. I did a lot of them over the years.

I think I remember why I stopped working on this. I was stymied as to how to finish the edges. I couldn't bear the thought of whacking off those beautiful stars that I'd so carefully stitched together. After all this time, I think I can do it now. The picture above is of a long side, and I will just straighten by cutting off the one point on each star.

The trouble comes with the top and bottom edges. They are a good bit more uneven, as you can see above. I am still pondering the issue. In the time I've not worked on this, my templates went missing. I spent a big part of Tuesday digging and rooting through boxes and bins looking for them. I ended up just drafting new ones--I never did find my originals. They will show up sometime.

Here's an update on the computer situation. I  am learning a new laptop; the HP died, and I have a Dell now and all my regular programs are not loaded on yet. It's aggravating, isn't it? We take our computers for granted, and then when they go haywire, we are simply lost without them!  What dependents we are!

Happy Quilting, Friends!