A new week

We had a beautiful sunny weekend, and today is more of the same. The new motherboard arrives today, so I'm crossing my fingers that it solves the computer problems when my daughter installs it in our tower tonight.

I would have loved to have been outside in the garden this weekend, but instead I was a good girl. I quilted the customer quilt that's been on my machine for quite some time. Took almost a whole day, but it is done! I have one more customer quilt left that will go on the machine tonight. I'm really hoping for a long span of time without any customer quilts so I can get a bunch of my own tops done. By the time I finish all the tops I have ready I should feel much more capable with my machine.

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Gratitudes:

1. A finished customer quilt
2. A good job that pays for my fabric habit
3. A new pedicure
4. A business casual day at work
5. Baked cheetos

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Sunny Saturday

Finished another UFT. I was reading a blog where the author called a finished top a "flimsie". I like that! Abandoned another one from a class I took at least 15 years ago. It was a "Through the Year with Sunbonnet Sue" block that consisted of two fabrics stitched together to make the background and a tree trunk partly stitched on. All three fabrics were fabrics I'd not use today - not the best quality for one thing. So I tossed that block out and recycled the copy paper patterns that have since been published in book format (I have the book). That's two more off my list!

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Gratitudes:

1. Loving spouses for both my children
2. Weekends
3. Starbucks on a Saturday morning with my daughter
4. New spring green leaves against a clear blue sky
5. Blooms on my out-of-sinc Thanksgiving cactus

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Gratitudes

It's lunch time at work, so I'm using some of my break for a short post. I'm a very visual person, so I have a hard time talking about quilts when I can't post pictures to go along with the discussion.

I love reading Jeanne's daily gratitudes, as well as those of others who've started following her example. I've been meaning to do the same, but keep forgetting when I'm in the middle of composing a post. So I'll make that the focus of this post - maybe that'll help me start developing the habit. It makes me think of what my mother would tell me if I had trouble going to sleep - just start counting all the things I am thankful for.

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Gratitudes:

1. Computer savvy children who can rebuild a computer from the "ground up" and solve any problems we have.
2. A loving, undemanding husband.
3. Sun streaming through my window.
4. The profusion of spring flowers everywhere.
5. My God-given talent for working with a needle and thread.

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Still offline

Ah, the joy of computers. Such a love-hate relationship one can have with their computer! Just like with one's car - or so it seems to me. My daughter spent all Tuesday evening trying to get our computer to boot up after installing the new motherboard in our tower. She finally came to the conclusion that either the new motherboard is defective or that something else in the system is frying the motherboard. So she's sending this one back and has ordered a new one. The new one should be here on Monday. In the meantime I think I'll head to her house on Saturday morning so I can catch up with the outside world. I can do only so much here at work during lunch.

Looking on the bright side - which is how I try to live life - this has given me more time to stitch. You might note in my project list on the left that I've finished the Autumn Friendship Blocks top. I love how it turned out. I'll post a picture once I'm back online at home.

I've also taken out several other UFT's to work on. The New Jersey Triangle Mystery will be a set of finished blocks by the end of the evening tonight. This is a four fabric mystery I started at least 15 years ago. I've not worked with only 4 fabrics in a quilt for years and years, so it seems very boring. The blocks are to be sewn together without sashing or setting squares; I don't think I'd like how that would look. So I'm going to get out Sharon Craig's books "Setting Solutions" and "Great Sets" to figure out a more exciting way to set these 20 blocks.

I pulled out two different appliqué projects that were begun in classes I took at a Folk Art Jubilee festival in Clackamas Oregon about four years ago. One is a small wall hanging started in a class with Renée Plains. I finished prepping all the appliqué and have now started the stitching. It should work up very quickly. The second is a small quilt - "Emma's Quilt" - begun in a class with Jo Morton. This was an invisible machine appliqué class in which we learned the starch and heat resistant template method of preparing the pieces. I didn't care for the method at all. I'd done the machine applique on only one small piece. So I took that off, prepped the rest of the pieces, and put it in my handwork basket. It should work up very quickly also. I'll do the hand applique on it as soon as I finish the Renée Plains project. Both of these will eventually be quilted by hand.

I looked at a third project - "Rebecca's Baskets" - also begun in a class with Jo Morton. It consisted of one partially pieced basket block measuring about 4". It was a hand piecing class, so the remaining pieces of the block were cut and marked for hand piecing. Even though it's a wonderful little quilt I decided to abandon this project. I'd rather spend my handwork time either appliquéing or quilting. I know I'll make this quilt some day, but will machine piece it rather than handpiecing it. The fabric I tossed was less than 1/8 yard total, so I didn't feel at all guilty making this decision. It felt so good to cross another UFT off my list!

I'll catch up with everyone's blogs when I'm at my daughter's on Saturday morning. Until then I hope all my cyberfriends are happy, well, and quilting away!

Not soon enough!

Taking a short break at work for a quick post. Not having a computer at home so I can read emails and blogs is driving me nuts! Our new motherboard is due to arrive tomorrow, and our daughter says she should be able to pop it right in and we'll be as good as new. I sure hope she's right. I miss everyone so very much!

Technical Difficulties

Between the time I went to work yesterday morning and the time I got home our motherboard died. I am so thankful for a computer tech in the family! My daughter took the tower home and two hours later called us with the diagnosis. We are visiting at their home tonight, so I'm dropping in long enough to let everyone know. I'll most likely be offline until we are back up and running. I could do a quick post at work, but this is a very busy time for my department so odds are against it. Besides, I can't post pictures that way. So everyone hold down the fort while I'm gone, and I'll have a lot of reading to catch up on when we get back up and running.

More pictures

I tried to be VERY good when I wrote the last posting. I purposely showed quilts that are about as far as one can get from the type of quilts I make and love. In this post I will show pictures of Patti-type quilts.

I love nine patches. I never get tired of making them or seeing them. Every one is different. I thought this was a different way of setting them to make larger four patch blocks. Almost looks like a variation of "Puss in the Corner" or "Burgoyne Surrounded". I really liked the border on this one also - more nine patch blocks set on point in between two rows of sawteeth.


These could be barns or houses. I think the maker called them barns. A flannel quilt in warm brown and gold plaids with red accents - some of my favorite colors!






I think this is a Country Threads pattern. I really love their stuff! I'm pretty sure I have this pattern somewhere in my files.



I love strippy quilts, if for no other reason than the fact that most quilters don't usually set blocks this way. This is a wonderful collection of plaid scraps. I love the appliquéd vines twisting around the stripe used for the alternate strips.

This angel quilt was done by the same person that did the Morning Glory quilt. I didn't think there was anyone else in our guild that did primitive quilts besides my friends Liz and Kathi and me. These are the first primitive quilts that have hung in our show since the last time we entered one or two. I'm almost positive this is a Jan Patek design, but the quilter has made some changes to make it her own.

This tree quilt was done by my good friend Peggy who lives in Black Butte, Oregon. This was a block of the month that she got from a quilt shop in central Oregon. I don't know whether it was from Jean Wells' shop in Sisters - it doesn't really look like something they would do. In case you aren't familiar with that shop - it's the one that's done the Sisters Outdoor Quilt show for 30 years now.


I'll call it quits for today. More quilt show photos coming later this week.

Quilt Show Pics

We have some very talented quilters in our guild. They make many types of quilts - traditional, art quilts, brightly colored quilts, original quilts, and more. We have several men in the guild, and also several young quilters below the age of 20. We have three or four who've had their work accepted into both Paducah and Houston. A few have published patterns. Quite a few teach classes. It is a large guild - 500+ members, so we have a large budget. We are able to bring in several internationally known teachers/quilters each year to present both classes and programs at the meetings. I feel very fortunate to have belonged to the guild for the past 16 years. A lot has changed since I joined, and many faces have come and gone. I recommend guild membership to all quilters. If you don't have a nearby guild, start a group. There is nothing better than sharing your love of quilting with other quilters. Isn't that why we blog?


Here are some of the pictures I took at the show. I'll post more as the days go by.

This quilt is by Barbara Shapel. Barbara's quilts are always two sided quilts. Unfortunately I guess I missed taking a picture of the other side, which is in blues. Barbara does the most remarkable thread painting on her quilts. We always hang them so both sides can be seen. Here is a link to her website where you can see her quilt gallery. Each is an original and each is more wonderful than the one before. Be sure to click on each small picture so you can see what the back of the quilt looks like.

A traditional pattern in non-traditional colors. I've always wanted to make a house quilt. One of these days I will. In the meantime I love to look at the house quilts made by others.



This quilt was made for a second grade teacher. The flowers and leaves are the handprints of her students. I thought this was a wonderfully original way to make a handprint quilt!



This is some of the most marvelous thread painting I've ever seen. Pictures can't begin to do it justice - even the close-up I took.

Just a quick post

We had a wonderful weekend with our kids, even though the baseball left a great deal to be desired. Wouldn't you know it - the team forgot how to hit and score between last week's games and the games of this past weekend. I love spending time with our kids every chance we get.

I took lots of pictures at our quilt show, but haven't gotten them off the camera and sorted and labeled. I hope to be able to do that tonight. In the meantime, here are pictures taken by another of our members. I find it really interesting comparing pictures. She didn't take pictures of some of the quilts I liked the best, and some of the quilts she photographed didn't appeal to me at all. How great it is that we can all share this love for quiltmaking, even when we all make completely different style quilts.

A very nice day!

Today was a lovely day. I took a personal day at work so I could spend a good share of the day at our quilt show. We will be out of town this weekend, so it was the only chance I had. It was a lovely show, even though there were fewer quilts than usual - about 120 I think. I took pictures of some great quilts, which I'll share in the next week or two. I sat next to the ticket table at the entry and sold guild pins. Every year we have a block contest, and the block with the most votes gets made into a pin for the following year. The blocks themselves are then made into our Opportunity Quilt for the following year. This year the money from the ticket sales will be given to support finding a cure for ovarian cancer.

I got home from the show at about 2:30, and spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the Civil War quilt top. I decided simple borders would be best after all, and had no trouble finding two fabrics in my stash. The first picture shows the finished top, and the second shows the border fabrics. I folded the finished top and added it to the stack. The third picture shows my batting storage shelves plus all my finished tops waiting to be quilted. This is where I also keep my small stash of solid colors, as I very rarely use them. Baseball season has begun, and my Mariners are supposed to once again be one of the worst teams in the league. But we may fool everyone. The season is early, but we are sitting at the top of the American League west with a record of three and one. Our kids and their spouses are heading to Seattle with us tomorrow morning - we have tickets for both tomorrow's and Sunday's games. I can hardly wait!

I'm closing with a picture of Cher from Hillsboro, Oregon, and me. She came to the quilt show and we finally got to meet. She's been on online yahoogroups quilting lists with me, and she has her own quilting blog. What fun to finally see each other in person. We're going to meet next Saturday at a quilt shop in Oregon - just for fun.