A funny quip

DH is so funny sometimes! When I found the quilts, I only had $10 on me, so I had to walk home, get another $10 and go back to get the quilts. I didn't tell DH I was buying two old quilts, I just asked him if he trusted me and could I have $10 for something at the garage sale. Bless him, he said yes and handed over a ten and off I went.


The lady at the garage sale had folded them and put them into one of those big black Force Flex garbage bags. When I walked back into the house carrying this black lumpy garbage bag, DH looked up at me, lifted one eyebrow and said without missing a beat "So you bought a $10 bag of garbage?" For some reason that just cracked me up! He wasn't exactly wowed by the quilts, but hey, he's not a quilter, so I have to cut him some slack.

Garage sale finds

Last Thursday, my parents did a pop-in visit and told me that there was a garage sale open down the street and that the ladies had a few ceramic roosters out (my kitchen has a TON of rooster/chicken stuff in it for decorations). So, they dropped me off on their way out, and I went looking for the roosters. They were cute but quite pricey, so I continued digging around and came across two antique quilts stuffed in a box under one of the tables!

These are definitely 1930's era quilts--the lilac/lavender color and the "Nile" or mint green color as solids with the white/off-white background are dead giveaways.This one is approximately 84" x 72" and is the "Handy Andy" block set with sashing and cornerstones. I identified the block using my Barbara Brackman Blockbase software--she attributes the ID to Ruth Finley, who wrote Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them published in 1929. Note how the center squares of the Handy Andy blocks and the cornerstones are a different shade of lavender:This one is hand quilted and hand pieced--it's worn, the binding is frayed along the edge, and there are some small tears in some of the purple patches, but hey, you can't really expect an almost 80-year-old quilt to survive this long without a few "wrinkles." Here is a detail of the hand quilting:The "batting" in this quilt actually looks like it is white flannel. I read in the book Dating Fabrics A Color Guide 1800-1960 by Eileen Jahnke Trestain that is was fairly common for Depression Era quilts to have flannel used as batting.

The second quilt is an Irish Chain, approx. 63" x 73". This one is also hand quilted but I believe it to be machine pieced (and there are a couple places where patches were very carefully mended by machine, too).

In the white areas between the chains, the quilter made flower motifs, star motifs, and pinwheel-like motifs. This one seems to have actual batting in it, but it's hard to tell as the batting has migrated all over. This one has a white fabric "flange" around the outside that I don't believe ever had batting in it--it doesn't appear to be a binding that has come undone--it just seems to be a little flange of white fabric. I don't know that much about '30's quilts--maybe this was a style back then.

Finding two antique quilts at a garage sale: $10 each. Having a little bit of quilt history: priceless.

Quickie update

Things are busy here, but I am making progress on "Spring Garden!"

My goal from the weekend was to have all the hexagons done by C.O.B. Sunday night. Well, I made it to 195 out of 224 by Sunday. By Monday night, the last 29 hexagons were sewn but not pressed. By the end of last night, I had the 195 hexagons all pinned together and ready to be put on the design wall--so things are coming along. Hopefully tonight (after Curriculum Night at the kids' school) I will be able to stay awake long enough to press those last hexagons and get them pinned! Then it's off to the design wall! That's when things get fun!

Hex check and a circle story

166.

I'm hoping to have all of them done by the end of today. I need to get this quilt wrapped up for a lot of reasons (mostly because it's for my wonderful Mom!), but among all those reasons is to honor something that happened to me in May:

It was my birthday, and aside from my Mom and Dad and my great aunt, nobody remembered--not my best friend, not my brothers......not even DH! DH announced that he was going to play softball after work. So, since I was not about to sit at home and cook, the kids and I went to a favorite local pizza place and had dinner. The kids were singing "Happy Birthday" to me at the table and we had a really good time together. There was a couple at a table nearby who were smiling at the kids (as they should--those two munchkins are cute--esp. when they sing!).

The couple finished before we did and left. Then, when I asked for the check, our waitress came back with our to-go box and a little card, and she explained to me that the couple had paid our bill and had asked her to give me the card. The card was a "random act of kindness" card in memory of a woman who died of breast cancer at 46--only two years older than I.

It was all I could do to not cry then and there--here I was, admittedly feeling a little sorry for myself, and then I was handed this reminder--from two complete strangers--that there are such bigger things happening all around you and that having your blessedly normal, healthy family and your privileged life with a sturdy home and cars and jobs is SUCH an amazing gift......I have been carrying that card with me ever since.

I had been waiting for an opportunity to do something akin to what those two people did for me and the kids that night--some way to do something nice for someone that is completely unexpected and anonymous. I just haven't found a scenario to act on, and it has been bothering me.

I want to bring my part of their random act of kindness full circle. I've realized that for me, the best way to extend myself and convey a gift of kindness to someone else that will really be from me will be through quilting. So, I think I have figured out what I want to do. But first I am going to finish up my Mom's quilt and then I'll begin my work to complete the circle that was started in May. Funny how a "gift" from two complete strangers left such an impression on me. I hope that my part of it will keep the spirit of what they did moving forward. More to come on this.

Bits and pieces

Things are unusually busy around here. Seems like I'm always running around doing something, but not really having a lot to show for it. It's weird. On a quilty note, the hex check stands at 96--not quite half done but getting closer! It's just been hard to find time to quilt.

Have been catching up with some end-of-summer tasks like cooking down tomatoes to freeze:

and grating and freezing zucchini--look at the size of these suckers! I got three of these monsters from my Mom's garden (made some good chocolate chip/walnut/zucchini muffins that were a hit with the kids):I got a little package in the mail from Moneik and I am just tickled pink (pun intended!). Moneik, Jen, and Jill of the Cre8tive Online Quilters had an "Out Cut, Out Sew, Out Quilt Survivor" contest. I threw my vote behind Moneik to win (she placed second in the contest for most quilting hours in the month of July), and as a thank you, Moneik graciously sent her supporters these great storage pouches with the cool logo on it (thanks again, Moneik!):The timing of the arrival of this little zippered pouch is perfect--I've been slowly pulling together a set of "travel" quilt supplies to take to quilting bees. It's going to be a great way to carry pens, seam ripper, and other small tools. I came across a little travel iron I bought a few years ago at a garage sale (I think I paid 50 cents). It is a "Fostoria" iron and it folds quite flat--it's going in the travel set of quilty items along with a pressing mat by Fons and Porter than I got at JoAnn Fabrics:

The kids are doing great in school--I'm so happy they are enjoying it and that they both like their teachers. One of my current project is to add an indoor clothesline downstairs in the laundry room. I am planning to try and save our gas bill this fall and winter by line drying clothes indoors!! I do it all summer long--can't see a reason to not continue the frugalness (is that a word??) even when the summer sun is long gone!

Doing battle

This is a true story. It happened to me the other night after my quilt guild meeting. I'd stopped to get some gas (it's cheaper out by where my guild meets) and as I stood at an incredibly slow pump waiting to pay my jillion dollars for a tank of fuel, out of the corner of my eye I saw something scoot past my feet. My first thought was "mouse" 'cause it was about that size and it was kinda scuttling.

Now, I'm not a squeamish female when it comes to snakes or toads or mice or spiders or insects (well....maybe spiders.....OK, I'll admit to heebie jeebies over spiders), so since I wasn't doing anything more thrilling than watch my life savings tick away into the gas tank, I turned around figuring I'd go see what it was that just ran past my toes. As I was turning, I saw something run up around over the top of the rear right tire and perch on the tire under the wheel well. You guessed it, a praying mantis. And this was no ordinary praying mantis--this was the former-Soviet-Union-bulked-up-on-performance-enhancing-insect-steroids-and-nearly-6-inches-long mantis variety!

I have always thought these insects were amazing--but I have never in my life thought they could ever get this big!! It was astonishing! So I'm looking at this insect sitting on top of the tire and it is looking back at me doing kind of a feint and jab boxing thing at me with it's large front legs, and I'm thinking to myself "OK, this is a very cool insect and I can't leave it on my tire to get flattened, so I need to help this marvel of nature get over to some grass away from the gas pumps so it can pass on its genes to future generations of praying mantis." (Seriously, I'm a total nerd, this is ACTUALLY what I was thinking!!)

Being the non-squeamish type, I reached in with my bare hand and tried to shoo this bright green beauty off my tire. (Did I mention my hand was bare?) This former Russian-type mantis instantly converted to Spider Mantis and leaped up to the underside of the wheel well and was hanging there upside down growling at me! "Dadgum you stupid bug....come on, off my tire with you!" and I tried to make my hand into kind of a basket and gently grasp the mantis to lift it out of the tire well. BIG mistake! This bleeping insect grabbed on to my hand with all six of its muscular, hairy legs and then bit the living sh*t out of my finger!! Needless to say this caused me to yell quite loudly and leap away from both the van and the gas pump and do kind of a native American style get-the-hell-away-from-the-giant-biting-bug dance.

The guy in the Quickie Mart portion of the gas station must have thought I was having a seizure due to the outrageous charge for gas piling up on the pump. The bug flew out of the tire well, straight at me, and then veered right, flew behind my mini van, and then looped right back around and came at me for a frontal assault! With me hopping around flapping my arms and cursing loudly, the mantis apparently decided it might be best to just land back on the van and head for the tire again.

"Oh no you don't, not on my watch you're not getting back on my van." But having just lost a small but tasty niblet off my finger, I was not about to go at this creature bare handed again! I backed around the van and made a bee line for the blue paper towels the gas station courteously offers to assist drivers in cleaning spattered bugs off of their car windows (he he he, a little poetic justice was in the making!) The plan was to capture the mantis by wrapping it safely but securely in the paper towel and then run like mad to the grassy knoll just behind the pumps and set the little b*st*rd free. I circled back around the van (by now the Quickie Mart guy knows this isn't a seizure) and approached with caution. Every time I tried to get close enough to grab the beastie, it would raise up its front legs and punch at me! "Rotten, ungrateful bug! I am trying to save your ass! Now get off of my van!"

The creature flew up again, over the top of my head, and then decided its best defense was to go in low, so it flew down to the ground and charged me!!!! Seriously, based on the amount of squealing I was doing at this point, I am shocked the Quickie Mart guy wasn't calling in the locals. I dropped the paper towel (I'd like to say it was a calculated move, but it wasn't--it was pure jelly knees, shaking hands bumbling) and the paper towel landed right on top of the mantis! Once the mantis was covered, it did what any mantis would probably do: it levitated off the ground, straight up, with the paper towel on top of it and started flying around like a little blue ghost!

Eventually the paper towel fell off and the mantis flew off into the night. Thank heavens I was paying at the pump and didn't have to explain myself to the Quickie Mart guy! So I climbed into my mantis-free van and drove home, scrubbing my poor bitten finger with a baby wipe lest I contract some dreaded mantis-borne disease. That's my story. Maybe Spielberg could do something with this.

Autumn in the air

The Hex Check right now stands at 55. I wish it was more, but it seems every day is busier and busier as we approach the first official day of school (which is tomorrow!!) I am feeling that maternal disbelief that my first born is going to first grade--real full-day eat-lunch-at-school--and my baby is a kindergartner!!! What kind of tricks is time playing on me?

Just a small handful of autumns ago, my little ones were still riding in a stroller and wanting to be carried and dining on Cheerios in little snack bags and toting around drool-coated stuffed animals:

Now they are both going to be getting on a bus and riding away from me (at least for a few hours) and I am feeling quite caught up in wondering how they got to be so big and so independent.

My son asked me over the weekend if I was going to cry when they get on the bus to go to school. I kept what I hope was a happy/neutral face and said that when they get on the bus to go to school that I was going to be proud of them and that I'd be sending them off to get even smarter than they are now. Between you and me, I'm pretty sure tomorrow after DD gets on her bus, I'm gonna need some Kleenex when I walk into the house and neither one of them are there.

We have a winner! And introducing Hex Check

This morning my sweet daughter pulled Regina's name from over at The Queen Bee's Buzz as the winner of the fat quarters! Congratulations Regina! Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment!

There has been a lot going on at this house of late.......August has turned stressful since the vacation, and as a sanity saver I have begun piecing the hexagon blocks for my Mom's One Block Wonder quilt. In some nutty moment of optimism in an earlier post, I'd said I'd hoped to have it DONE by the start of school. Clearly, I must have been out of my mind or sipping wine or something. But, at least I have begun.

And so, I'm initiating a HEX CHECK. Since you don't actually sew the hexagons together until the entire quilt is arranged to your liking on a design wall, I'm going to count finished hexagons as ones that are pieced in two full halves, fully pressed, ready for the design wall. As of this morning, I have 33 out of 224 done with several more awaiting the final pressing.

100th Post!

This is my 100th post!

I've picked out 5 new fat quarters to give away to celebrate this little milestone. All you have to do is leave a comment some time between now and Friday night--I'll number each comment and have the kids pick a random number on Sat. morning.

For your comment, please answer this question: Is there a color or two that you gravitate toward when fabric shopping?

I know for me, it's greens--pretty much any shade of green, and I'm walking over to massage the bolt! Yet oddly the color I have the *most* of in my stash is blue! (That's why I need to make one of those Storm at Sea quilts--to use up all these blues I have!)

Please make sure I have a way to connect with you via e-mail so that I can contact the winner for their mailing address.

Thrift store find

I had two different doctor appointments yesterday and the day before. I arrived with about 15 extra minutes one day and decided to do a quick cruise around the hospital's thrift shop--it raises money for the children's ward. I was lucky enough in my quick trip through the aisles to find a terrific vintage quilting book:

It is Scrap Quilts: Techniques Plus Patterns Old and New for Making Quilts from Collected Fabrics, by Judy Martin, copyright 1985. Paid $1. Far be it from me to pass up anything on scrap quilts! There are 20 complete quilts in there and patterns for 72 traditional blocks that lend themselves well to scrappy quilts. My personal favorite is a variation on a traditional quilt that I have long had a fascination with--Storm at Sea. Here is the variation in Judy's book: I just love the visual effect of this pattern.

On a personal note, I have come down with a rotten summer cold and can't stop coughing. Ugh. I just hope it passes quickly! I've got too much to do these days to be sick!

Friendship quilt block finally done

The members of Prolific Online Quilters, an online guild whose blogs you can visit via this blog ring, are joining together to make a friendship quilt for one of our group, Heather, who is serving in our country's armed services. ....the Navy to be precise! Go Heather!

Here is my block (which I'll mail to Moneik tomorrow). It is a 9-Patch Star (a free block pattern from an Eleanor Burns catalog I picked up at quilt festival last April). A big thank you to Moneik for organizing this project! Guidelines were red, white, and blue fabric (of course!) and a finished size of 12".

Back!

Back from my first major vacation since September 2001! In '01, I was about 7 1/2 months pregnant and in Rome when 9-11 happened--that was in interesting experience. This trip was MUCH more relaxing! We spent about a week on the Florida Gulf coast and enjoyed the beach. Then we went to Disney for a couple days with the kids--what a perfect age to do the whole Disney thing.......and I'm including myself in that!! I had WAY more fun than I ever expected! It's probably been over 20 years since I've been to Disney and a lot has changed. It is such a fun place.
So now we're back and I spent yesterday unpacking, washing and hanging out 3 big loads of laundry, mowing the whole lawn (and it needed it after 2 weeks of neglect!), trimming the hedges in front, pulling big (no, huge is more like it) weeds, and trimming a tree near our deck that was hanging way over the stairs. Then, just to round out the day, the kids and I all went for a teeth cleaning appointment. Phew! I pretty much collapsed last night.

I hope to make it to a bee tonight to catch up with friends and I still need to grocery shop to restock. My other big task is to go through 11 days worth of mail--ugh.

I had an idea about how to reorganize the basement (my sewing "studio" and the kids play stuff)--need to do some measurements to see if it will work--but if it does, it might keep the basement a bit more picked up looking than it tends to be. If the sewing gods are smiling, I may even get to dig in to piecing my Mom's quilt some today. Hopefully I'll get back to doing some quilting soon!

Taking a break

I had to post this pic of DD from last summer--snoozing away in a drawer from her dresser with her beloved bunny! (I think we were rearranging her room and cleaning out old clothes and such. She was so pooped out!)

Like her, I'm ready to take a little break and do some relaxing. So, I'm giving myself about a week off to enjoy the fruits of the summer! Please come back at some point down the road--I'm getting close to my 100th post, close to my 10,000th visitor, and I'm planning a giveaway or two to celebrate! See y'all in a little while!

A pressing tip

Here's a tip for pressing appliqued blocks: We know that pressing appliqued blocks upside down on a padded/cushioned surface helps prevent the stitching and applique shapes from getting too flattened.

I used to use a bath towel to do this, but a towel is big and bulky and has to be folded to get a good amount of "puff." And let's not forget to mention that the towel has to then go into the laundry (and heaven knows I have enough laundry already!).

I have "re-tasked" an item that makes a great pressing surface: a baby changing table pad (not the kind with elastic on the edges--just a flat tie-on type pad)! It's cotton terry cloth, pre-quilted to have the right amount of puff, and doesn't take up a lot of room in my stash of quilty tools. It rolls up nicely and is stored right along with my paper items, also neatly rolled and stored in mesh veggie bags (see my post here for that tip!).

Finished!

I finished my entry "Sweet Sunshine" for the Robert Kaufman Quilt Quest 2008 "Anything Goes: Handbags and Miniatures" contest. It is a variation on my "November Nova" design except that the finished size is only 16.5 inches square and I did not use the gradation-of-a-single-color theme that I used in "Nova." The contest rules stated that you could only use Robert Kaufman fabrics, so I chose a variety of their 1930's reproductions, incl. ones from Darlene Zimmerman's designs.

I'd planned to scallop the binding around the ice cream cones, but when I tried to sew on the binding and follow the scallops, I discovered that any individual cone curvature was lost when I turned the binding over to the back and the binding simply looked like it was very poorly attached--lumpy, not scalloped. So aside from the corners, which curved nicely, the binding is straight on the sides.

It's heading off in the mail today. I'm happy with it, although I wish my quilting abilities were stronger! I have SUCH admiration for people who can look at a quilt and envision quilting motifs that will enhance the design! I really struggled with that as well as just the actual quilting of it. It was a good learning experience. I think in the future I will try to plan out the quilting designs on a more overall basis (maybe trace them out on a paper copy of the design/block) rather than piecemeal it section by section.

So, we'll see how it goes!

Dog sitting

We're dog sitting this weekend--meet Daisy! She's a bassett that my new SIL got from a local bassett rescue organization a few years ago. Daisy is so sweet and so easy going, it's not a lot of work to take care of her. She's great with the kids. She's a good foot warmer (likes to lay on your feet).

I think she would be a great date for Charlie (Pioneer Woman's dog)--if she ever does a Bassett-elor thing (kinda like a follow up to The Ranchelor), I may have to send in Daisy's picture! I'm just not sure how she'd feel about his turtle breath.......(if you read P-Dub, you know what I mean!)

Got a question......

I did some quilting on my miniature yesterday while the kids played in the backyard (we put their mini pool at the bottom of their play set slide--they were having a blast!). I'm quilting it on my Janome 6600 using the new free motion foot and bobbin case (which is supposed to be set with the proper tension for FMQ). I have to say that this foot/bobbin case combo does indeed seem to make free motion easier for me on this domestic machine! This was the consensus over at the Janome 6500/6600 Yahoo group, too.

So here's my question: You know how when you're done quilting a quilt it has that kind of flat, smooth look to it, and then when you wash it, it puckers up some and gets a "softer" look to it? I love the softer, more rounded look quilting takes on after a washing. BUT......if you are entering a quilt into a contest, is it better (in your opinion or experience) to submit one with the flat look or the softer look? Does it even matter ('cause you never know who will be evaluating your project or what their criteria will be)?

I have to get this quiltlet done and in the mail soon--any advice anyone can offer would be gratefully appreciated.

Grilled Chicken Marinade

I wanted to share this recipe--it is the *best* marinade for grilling chicken I've ever had. It's my brother from NC's recipe. We were at my folk's house last week during his visit and had a wonderful meal--grilled zucchini from my Mom's garden, fresh cucumber salad (also from the garden), red beans and rice, and this awesome chicken.

While it was a great meal (despite the fact that none of our spouses were there that evening--all either off working or at a convention), I think the part that I will remember the most was at the end of the meal, after the kids all ran off to play. There we were, around the kitchen table, my parents, myself, and my two brothers--just like all the evening dinners in my memories of the house that we all lived in together before we went our separate ways in life. You forget how special it can be to all just be together. I was so grateful for this simple reminder.

Grilled Chicken Marinade (this makes a LOT of marinade! put some aside for brushing on the chicken during grilling or maybe freeze it for future use)

2 cups lemon/lime soda (e.g., 7-UP or Sprite)
1 cup soy sauce*
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. horseradish
about 6 chicken breasts

Marinate overnight if possible. (We only marinated for a couple hours and the flavor was awesome!) *If you are sodium conscious like I am, try cutting back the amount of soy sauce. Bon appetit!

A busy busy week

Last week was insanely busy. My brother and his family came in to town for a visit from NC--the cousins are all sooooo close in age that they instantly "click" with each other and play so well together--no matter how long it's been since they've seen each other! Here they are taking a much needed break after a water balloon fight at Grandma and Papa's house.

It was a tiring week, so much to cram into a handful of days. It was wonderful though to spend the time together. I have done virtually nothing quilty, and I doubt that will change today as I try to clean up the aftermath of kids running amok (I think every toy we own is on the floor somewhere) and me ignoring the daily pick up routine I usually follow. Poor DH worked many, many hours last week--the kids didn't even *see* him between Tuesday night and Saturday evening!!! (yikes!) At least he got to join us for a couple dinners and a few good games of Mexican Train (dominoes, the game of choice in our gang). They left yesterday--can only imagine how tired they must be today after the drive home.

Here's a toad that has been hanging around my parent's house. He popped out for a visit one afternoon and I crawled around after him trying for a portrait. I think he finally figured the only way to get me to leave him alone was to smile for the camera.

One bit of "old" news: Nemo the fish is healthy once again! The meds I used worked great and he is apparently out of the woods and once again a bachelor in his tank.

Well, I'm off to clean and try to wrap up some other tasks.

My quilty pipeline

Unlike worldwide oil supplies lately, my quilty pipeline has no supply shortages happening. To balance out this big supply, my only demand is that I need more time! Currently, I'm working on my Mom's quilt and a small quilt for a contest. I thought I'd share a sneak peek of my contest quilt. This is just a peek as I will post full pictures once it is quilted.

Here is the ice cream cone border--I put my thumb in there so you can get a sense of the scale. I have never done this type of border before--my quilting friend Diane loaned me her Darlene Zimmerman (www.feedsacklady.com) book "The Quilter's Edge: Borders, Bindings, and Finishing Touches." It's a great book--a wealth of technique info and a lot of quilts to drool over. I made little templates of the pieces for the border, traced them, and cut them out.

Here is some 30's fabric that *was* going to be a part of my design. I adore this red, but "in real life" it just didn't look the way my brain thought it would look, so I'm just going to have to save it for another day:

And here is just a peek at my as-yet-not-finished small top:
I am going to quilt this on my Janome 6600 using the new free motion quilting foot that I got for Christmas last year from DH. Planning quilting designs is not my forte--I am so in awe of people who do custom quilting professionally. I got a good idea from my quilting buddy Susan last night for some border quilting. I definitely need to mull this over some more!