The Energizer

Just finished the quilt top sample of Ohio Stars for our Retreat. My objective was to show how changing the center or the corners of a simple block can completely change the look. I have a few blocks that I made but didn't use. This will serve it's purpose quite well.

Then I hit my usual slump that always follows completing any project. I always rather stumble around for a period of time trying to decide what I will work on next. I generally, begrudgingly, drag out a UFO, and try to inspire myself to work on it. Usually, something will stimulate my imagination shortly, and I'm off and running again.

Last night, my quilt group got together, and Roseanna brought along a bunch of old quilting magazines she had been given. We were browsing through them, and BINGO!! I found a "buzzer". It's from the J/F 2000 Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting, called, "Kitty Corner". It's just four patches assembled with plain squares in a 9-patch set to create a block. The blocks in the sample are set to create a diagonal reminiscent of an Irish chain. I thought about it the rest of the evening, thinking of my scrap drawers, and what type color theme to use. The quilt pictured in the article made one think of 30's reproductions. I had gone to bed, and was just about to drift off, when a neutral fabric in my stash popped into my mind as the perfect complement to my stash of scraps. I should probably have just gone downstairs and pulled the fabric to start cutting. I didn't sleep very well . . . every time I turned over, I saw that fabric in a finished quilt top. I went to the office, and when I came home for lunch, I made a bee-line for the basement and grabbed the fabric working on my mind so intently. I cut a couple strips, and started pulling scraps to cut into 2" squares. Whittled down a zip-loc of pinks in fairly short order. Then, it was time to return to work. I was about 2 blocks from the parking garage, and I thought about my stash of Benartex squares, including some "quilter's candies" that they gave out in Paducah for several years. Couldn't remember if they were two-inches or less, so my mind was once again obsessed until I could get home and check on those. Lucky me . . . they are precisely two-inches, so I have probably 200 two-inch squares ready to start making blocks. Because it is so simply pieced, it is a wonderful candidate for Bonnie Hunter's leaders and enders technique . . . if I can keep myself from just sewing madly on only it.

I've asked my friends who wanted to make a scrap quilt sample for Camp to make at least nine blocks so one can see the interaction of the blocks together. (So far, none of them have been able to stop at 9 blocks!) I see 9 blocks . . . at least . . . in my immediate future!

Maple Leaf Rag

One of the tops in my "quilt top collection" is a queen-sized Maple Leaf. I plan to dub it "The Charm of Autumn", because no two leaves are the same. I used the EZ Angle to cut each block, including a bias stem. And, don't ask me why, but I hand appliqued each bias stem before assembling the block. I do like how it turned out. It has a tiny yellow piping betwen the blocks and the border, which doesn't show well in the picture. And, it is so large, I can only show a quarter of it here. I have a lovely yellow fabric to back it, and a nice wool batting for it, too. I'm determined to finish a quilt that has been in my frame long enough to have had anniversaries . . . we won't say how many! Perhaps this one will be the next one up for attention. It would be nice to get it into the frame early this fall, and work on it through the winter.

Perhaps I shall inventory my collection here, if you all promise not to count! I used to be able to trim the stash down annually, when I took something to the Quilt America Yes M'am auction. Since the demise of that show, I haven't diminished the stack one bit.

More than meets the eye

Looking over my postings, one would think that I do nothing but work on designs and patterns for my Guild Retreat. Since I have been quilt making since 1977, that's not an accurate viewpoint.

My very first bed-sized quilt was a Sampler, which my DS took to college and on to grad school, and loved it to shreds. The second, made from a Quilters Newsletter pattern in 1981, called, "Buds and Blossoms", resides on my guest room bed. My, what I have learned since those efforts!

I'm definitely addicted to applique, although my favorite pieces are combinations of piecing with applique. Hanging behind my DH's chair in the living room is a quilt I made for him several years ago called, "Calendar for a Hoosier Teacher". It features an Apple a month. One can tell it is a Hoosier calendar because the May apple is made from brick fabric, and the leaf from black and white checks to represent the Indianapolis 500.

Sputter, Gasp, Whizz, Whir . . . Hummmmm!

I don't know if I should love it, or hate it when my mind kicks out an idea. It seems to be rather like the sounds of the machine in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the classic with Gene Wilder) that belches out the Everlasting Gobstopper. There it is on "the plate", and I can't wait to try it.

One of the ideas stewing in the back of my head for Guild Retreat is an Ohio Star block as a base, and to reflect the many ways a simple alteration can change the original block. I wasn't quite looking forward, however, to making multiple quilt tops to illustrate this factor. I was just about to settle for a few plain blocks on a fleece wall, with many alternate loose corner and center pieces. I'm still inclined to do that to encourage "hands-on" play. But my ultimate sample will be "The Star Family Album". Top row will have Mom and Pop Star in each corner, with the title in the center (fun lettering, like the many examples that Laura uses). The next row will represent the "kiddies". One will have a snowball center; the next a four-patch center; the next a half-square triangle center, and so on. Successive rows will have both center and four corners with alternate piecing in those positions. Maybe it should be "multi-generational" to effect these changes!

I have also been playing with a simple piecing method for another fun scrap block. I've seen a couple different patterns for a taffy block. Both had very awkward piecing. So, I just made up my own, using the hour glass block for the twisties on each end. The center of the block can be scaled to fit the scrap available. In honor of our Guild Retreat, it has been dubbed, "Old Tippe Taffy". And, to reinforce the concept of the snowball block, the theme block for our "snowbound" retreat, there is a companion candy, "Hoosier Hard Candy".

To some, it may appear that I have launched more projects, but really, these are just class samples for Retreat. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Quilt Blocks and Quilt Shows

Test "drove" my four-patch grid based Nosegay block. The tulips are real easy to piece, but I haven't come up with an easy way to rotary cut the vase. I thought perhaps the Tri-Recs ruler would work; it's great for the background pieces, but the angle isn't right for the vase. (I tried to upload my drawing from EQ5, but it vanished into cyberspace.) My next approach will be to mark the center of two sides, and angle a ruler from a corner to a point 1/4 inch from the marked center. One advantage would be there is only one vase for each complete block. With an 8-inch block, that wouldn't be too encouraging if a king-sized quilt were the objective. I will include a rotary cutting table for at least three sizes in the hand-outs for Guild Retreat.

Went to Columbus, Ohio, to the NQA show. It has a completely different atmosphere from the AQS show. It is not a juried show, so that is a contributing factor. I'm always amazed at the number of quilts made identical to commercial patterns, or straight out of a book. I might display my effort at the local Guild show, but it would never occur to me to enter a national competition with someone else's design. There was an exact duplicate of one of Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville postings. I think half the hall would have been emptied, if all the duplicates were removed.

There were some great vendors, and I collected a few fabrics for a couple projects. Planning a pineapple star for my granddaughter and a "Surveyor's" Compass for one of the land surveyors that I work with on a regular basis. He's an avid hunter and outdoorsman, and I found a Moda "cheater" panel, Northwoods Crossing, to incorporate, probably as corners in the borders. I picked out earth tones, a rich dark red, deep blue, and dark green for points of the compass. It's hard to refrain from rushing into new projects. I have so many others going that I'm trying to be "good"!

While I was gone, my DH went to an auction. He found a neat maple sugar bucket style sewing box on three legs. I've got a similar one in my studio. Actually, I have wooden sewing boxes all over the house. For a long time, he was convinced that I was acquiring them for refinishing projects for him. It's only recently that I have admitted to collecting them! For several summers, when Quilt America was still being held in Indianapolis each summer, he would refinish one that was in good condition, and donate it to the auction to raise funds for mammograms for low-income women at Indiana University Medical Center. They always brought more than $100 each time. Sure miss that show, and more than that, the class opportunities it brought. I participated in some wonderful classes by some wonderful instructors . . . Elly Sienkiewicz, Nancy Pearson, Pat Campbell, Jeanna Kimball, Philomena Duncan, John Flynn, Doreen Speckman, Marianne Fons, Nancy Johnson Srebro, Anita Shackelford, Susan Cleveland . . . a regular who's who in quiltmaking.

Now I'm inspired to go finish my postage stamp baskets, and cut the neutral I need to finish my perfume bottles. Then on to nosegays! All are projects for Retreat samples.

Brain in Overdrive!

Working away on block choices and themes for Guild Retreat. I always have more material than there is time for . . . unless we can work out a three-week event. Probably cost prohibitive, and would require rental of a trailer to haul supplies.

The title of this year's event is "Snowbound", with a focus on scrap quilts . . . what one might make using only the fabrics on hand. An expanded focus will be making a larger quilt with a minimum number of blocks by the addition of the snowball block, and it's lesser known "cousin", the flowering snowball. Humor always makes a subject more memorable, so the blocks introduced will be separated into "strippers" and "squares", followed by "crumb piecing".

I recruited the gals in my group to make at least nine blocks of a scrap pattern, so we will have more to display. At first, they thought they would be assigned a pattern that I selected. But, there wouldn't be any fun in that. I encouraged them to select something that each found intriquing, and interesting to make by their own choices. I think we will get a better mix that way.

For my own contribution, I've got some variations on variable stars planned. Illustrating the different looks by adding simple piecing in the corner squares or center square is the focus. A four-patch in each corner can create a diagonal interest, emphasized by a square-in-a-square in the center block. Half-squares in the center and two corners can create a very dramatic split color block. Chevron style piecing in gradated colors in each corner make another look entirely. A fleece board with many option squares will give Campers an opportunity to play at arrangements, until a design emerges that will send them running to get started. This approach will be for the "explorers" in the group.

For those who prefer to operate with a complete plan in mind at the outset will have plenty of classic choices. My sister-in-law, Jan, works from this focus, and always requires plenty of "visuals". She's a tough critic, so if a plan is functional for her, it will work for others, too.

EQ5 is a wonderful tool in generating some of the necessary information. A drafted or selected block can be colored, and a snapshot lifted to Word, to create a cutting table in multiple sizes. I've always wanted to make a Nosegay quilt, but dreaded the odd-shaped pieces, and inset seams. So, I drafted a modified version with pieced tulips based in a four-patch grid. The set-up is three tulips, and the last quadrant is the green kite-shaped piece. I think it can be easily rotary cut with the Tri-Recs ruler. I've got to practice cutting the shape before making the final decision to include it in Retreat options.

Every Marguerite should have a Marguerite!

Laura asked me to share this story, and it's a fun one.

Everyone knows that once Elias Howe introduced the sewing machine, and Singer introduced marketing, it quickly became a necessity. There were as many brand names and models of sewing machines as there are cars today. Many left the market place at the time of the Depression . . . except every quilt maker's favorite, the Featherweight, which was actually introduced at the height of the Depression at the Chicago World's Fair . . . but I digress.

Our friend, Marguerite happened upon a table made from a treadle sewing machine base, the brand name of which was Marguerite. She was a student, without any expendable funds, so taking it home wasn't a possibility. Over the years, she always looked for another, but never saw one. Knowing that flea markets, auctions, and antique shops are an irresistable draw to DH and me, she told us about her quest. We made it a habit from that point to look at any vintage sewing machine, just in case.

We saw many old machines, but never a Marguerite, until one Labor Day weekend in Rossville, Illinois. We were in an antique shop that we had visited many times before. I saw a machine cabinet stacked with things on top, and a flower basket on the treadle. I wandered over and bent to read the name on the front of the wooden top. Of course, you know, it was Marguerite, both ironwork and woodwork in beautiful condition. I was speechless, and I grabbed at DH's arm, stabbing the air frantically, pointing in the general direction of the machine. He gave me the usual husband answer . . . a short tempered, "WHAAAT?" We moved the stuff off the machine to look it over more carefully. The iron work had the name Marguerite cast in both the ends, and the foot treadle. DH set off to negotiate, and shortly, returned with two high school boys to cart the treasure. The vehicle we were driving that day was a full-sized conversion van, and the boys heaved the machine in the side doors, and we were off for home.

As we were driving, DH suggested we phone Marguerite's. I said I didn't want to . . . that I would be tempted to blurt out the surprise. We got to our house, and found a message from Marguerite with a quilting question. She closed with the comment that they would be home all evening. I was so excited. I told DH, let's just go out there. So, off we went.

They were a little surprised to see us, without notice, but very cordial, as usual. We chatted briefly, and then said, "Come see what we bought . . . it's in the van". In our own little "Price is Right"-style presentation, I opened one side of the twin doors, and DH opened the other. There sat the machine, with one side of the iron-cast Marguerite in clear view. Our Marguerite had a similar reaction to my initial discovery in the antique shop . . . she couldn't speak, but just started jumping up and down, clapping and laughing. Somehow, we got it out of the van, and into her home, where it has an honored position just to the left inside the front door.

I love it when I find something that another will enjoy (and won't be offended by the fact that it is old or used). Our friend, Marty, is an avid golfer. One summer Saturday several years ago, I found a golf-bag shaped planter (in green, her favorite color) at an auction. I made the opening bid, which went unopposed. Every spring, when her garden begins to bloom, Marty announces what fresh-cut flowers she placed in the planter that day. A few weeks ago, she introduced me to one of her Florida friends, identifying me as the person who gave her the golf bag planter. It's nice to have a silly little friendship gift so well-received and enjoyed.

A few of the gals in our group are auction fans, too. That can be dangerous. Mary J. and I were at a sale and planned to bid on two identical relish plates, so each of us would have one. At some point, I went to the concession stand, and she wasn't in her seat. I started back to sit down and the relish plates came up for bids. I heard the opening bid of $1, and I bid $2 . . . only to discover that Mary had the opener, and I had just doubled our costs!

Last Saturday's treasures? Four boxes of tailor's chalk, with 36 pieces, in each . . . my husband brought that home to me, purchased for a mighty $1. Also, a 1930's era Turkey Tracks quilt with one torn area, but it will be easy to repair, and a vintage book of needles for my collection. (When I have to go to "The Home", my needle books and thimble collections should be small enough to go with me!)

Daylight "Savings" hasn't helped.

After it was voted out more than 30 years, Indiana has once again joined the Daylight Savings movement, kicking and screaming all the way. The promoters made many promises in favor of the change. Two strike me as particularly ridiculous:
1) Adding another hour of daylight. Not really, just pushing it to another place on the clock.
2) Reduces crime: If that is true, let's move the clock back enough hours to eliminate crime all together.

One thing for sure . . . there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish as much on my quilts as I would like. A block of time never stretches quite as far as one would like, and worst of all, I always manage to underestimate the quantity of time required for any effort. Last night, I sat down at my little antique sewing table to listen (with an occasional glance) to television as I cut fabrics for perfume bottle blocks. I cut 25 "bottles, bottle-necks and stoppers" before I was worn out. There must be 40 fabric combinations still waiting for attention. Fortunately, they stitch together rather quickly, and they are so cute! I suppose that is what makes them so addictive. The pattern came from a BOM at www.quiltaholics.com about six years ago. It was designed by Debbie Kauffunger in a larger scale. These blocks finish at 6 inches, which is a nice size for working with scraps.

My sister-in-law, Jan, was looking something to use her Benartex squares from several years accumulation in Mr. B's Fabric club. She used a limited palette of yellows and blues, with a small rescale of the bottle portion of the block to make use of those 4" squares. So, we will both have a Perfume Bottle quilt, but its always amazing to see how differently fabric choices impact a design.

True confessions: I started making more little basket blocks, too, using only Christmas fabrics. And, it even crossed my mind to make some using prints with sewing items . . . you know . . . sewing baskets! I think I'll try to train myself not to worry about UFO's . . . it seems my practice would indicate that one can never have too many!

Going . . . Going . . . Gone!

Thursday morning is a rush for the newspaper to scout the auctions for the weekend. Not many choices this weekend, but one of our favorite auctioneers has a sale at the fairgrounds on Saturday. I always hope for sewing and knitting things.

A couple years ago, DH was driving and I commented that I dreamed I bought knitting needles at the sale we were to attend. He just gave me the customary husband grump. After parking, as we walked into the building, I was rubbing my hands together and I said, "I just can't wait to see my knitting needles". His response was, "Get ready to be disappointed, because there is nothing in the sale bill." We always like to arrive a little early to look things over. I was at one table, and he at another, when he turned to get my attention, giving me a very disgusted look. Sure enough, it was a box with scrap yarns, and lots of knitting needles. When the sale started, I asked one of the ring men to bring the box up for bids when possible. I opened at $2 and was the successful bidder. I found a chair in the back of the room, and started looking through the items in the box. This lady had been a knitter after my own heart. She understood the value of caring for her tools because she restored each pair of needles or circular needle to its original packaging. When I got to the bottom of the box, I told my husband, "There are four circular needles around here somewhere, because I found the packages in the bottom of the box." I went back to the tables, and started rooting around in the boxes on the floor. Bingo! Another box with scrap yarns contained the missing needles. Another $2, and they came home, too. I admit to having an extraordinary collection of knitting needles, but when I teach someone to knit, I always give them as complete a run of needles and notions as I can put together. I think it is an encouragement to keep trying.

Eight weeks ago, my DH and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. We're rather low key people when it comes to celebrations . . . so, we went to an auction. Always scouting the tables, and corners, I found a box with several pairs of good scissors (Wiss, some Fiskar snips, and 8" Gingher shears in a box), knitting needles, a tatting shuttle . . . wonderful stuff. I vowed to take it home, and subsequently did for $25.

Before they started selling on that side of the room, I continued wandering around the tables looking in the boxes. There was a box with some plastic candy molds, and two little wall shelves designed for thimbles. I picked those up and looked at them, and underneath were lots of plastic and aluminum advertising thimbles. I pushed them around in the bottom of the box, and sure enough, one thimble caught my eye. I picked it up and examined it. One of the two auctioneers was nearby and I rushed over to him handing him my find. I told him, "You need to sell this separately. It will bring more money that way." He just took it, and said, "Yeah, we'll sell it." He handed it to his ring man, Jim, who displayed it on his uplifted pinkie, and the auctioneer on duty announced, "We have a thimble, and I'd like to have $5". Needless to say, I threw up my hand . . . I practice throwing up my hand now and then, just to keep my quickness. His efforts at any additional bids were for naught . . . and I brought home a 14-karat gold 1880's Simon Brother's ten-panel thimble. It even fits perfectly! What a cool anniversary gift!

Clearly, we are regular auction attendees, and we have made many friends at auctions. You learn what is the favorite purchase of others who attend regularly, and you might comment, "there's a box over there under that table." My friend, Sandra, loves aprons. If she misses a sale where we find aprons, we try to gather them for her. She gets the cutest little grin when you give them to her. I was chatting with her at a sale, when another auction acquaintance walked up to join us. Sandra told me to show him what I bought. When I started digging in my sewing box, he commented, "I might have known it would be something for sewing." This fellow has a prominent position at Purdue University and is an auction bum infrequently. All I could think was, how strange that he remembers what I buy with all the responsibilities he has in his job! Can't wait to see him again . . . found an old piece of sheet music, the title of which touches a place in his heart . . . "Why, oh, Why, oh, did I leave Wyoming?"

Irv . . . Clean up on Aisle 5!

I looked around my studio last night, and what a mess. There's a stack of gold "frosted" designer fabrics for perfume bottle blocks, a partially assembled a strippy quilt of 12-inch basket blocks with a chintz-type fabric for the alternate stripes, a box of triangles destined to "leader and ender" their way to a scrap quilt, my funny little tea cups (one pattern from Mary Graham's Quilter's On-line Resource: www.qorsite.com; and four patterns from www.sewandsew.com), strips for my Quilted Diamonds draped over an antique spool rack, my Millennium blocks partially sashed for assembly into a top (hopefully before the next Millennium . . . I'm way ahead on that one), two quilt tops waiting for borders, one small quilt sandwiched up ready to baste, and one that is basted and ready to start quilting. I've got to stop and "rake" before I can do anything else.

I want to work on everything at once, and my mind just whirs with new projects in my imagination. That's probably why I'm a good person to come up with and follow through with theme ideas for our Guild Retreat. So, of course, thinking only of getting samples ready for Camp, and testing patterns, etc., I am ready to launch another quilt top. Or, perhaps it has already been launched. Does actual sewing have to commenced or is cutting two or three blocks adequate?

The next question is, when does an idea become a UFO? Is a UFO any project uncompleted, or just one that has been put aside? If one is excited about a project, and works through from start to finish, has that quilt ever actually been a UFO? Maybe I need to review my UFO Journal and sort them into categories by degrees of interest, or probabilities for being finished. Now, this subject could actually make a statistics class interesting!

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome. I hope I can live up to the "media hype" of my friends!

I'm on the committee which plans our Guild Retreat in September each year. This year, our theme will be "Snowbound" . . . with a focus on scrap quilts, the type of quilts which one might make if confined to home during a blizzard, forced to use what is on hand. I have a notebook full of ideas, and some hand-outs already written. One favorite that I have nearly forgotten is the postage stamp basket block, based on the 1978 postage stamp. Yesterday, taking my sewing box, I went to an auction, deciding to stay, as I appliqued the handle of a left-over basket block, and completed a tea cup block . . . another UFO. When both were done, I thought about how "cute" they are, and realized I have an addiction to little blocks.

I recently finished assembling my Dear Jane top, the center portion of which was a collaborative effort with friends several years ago. I have all the fabrics selected to commence on Linda Franz' Quilted Diamonds, dubbed, "Dear Jane with Attitude" by my friend, Marguerite. I've been working on little perfume bottle blocks, made with florals and abstract fabrics with gold on them. I have 4 pieced mitten blocks made, and a stack of fabrics to continue that theme. The tea cup blocks are all cut from small scale florals to resemble china cups.

I completed the choices in my sewing box as I watched and listened at the auction, even tossing out a "sympathy" bid a few times. Anyone interested in a blue carnival glass punchbowl, 12 cups with the "S" hooks to suspend them from the side of the bowl, and a blue ladle?

Jumping in with both feet.

I never really thought I might become a blogger, but I stumbled upon the blog of a dear friend in my quilt group, and so enjoyed reading her comments. Laura is so humble and modest, she never really reveals all the wonderful things she does. I wanted to post a comment about her, so here I am!

Laura has mentioned the fun our quilt Lafayette, Indiana quilt group has. They are a wonderful group of gals. We all work together on the annual Guild retreat. I usually name a theme, and round up patterns, etc. Then, we all brainstorm to flesh the ideas out. Occasionally, I will launch an e-mail with some idea that popped into my head, and at first, the others will say, "You're out of control!" But, Laura is always ready to take the idea and run . . . laughing all the way, while she throws gasoline on the flames. I admit to testing ideas on her first, in case they have gone too far afield.

I mentioned my quiltmaking. Present project is to finish a quilt with alphabet blocks colored by the kindergarten class of my grandson, Drew. I have to finish it by next Wednesday morning.
It's all layered up and I will machine quilt the grid, but hand quilt the alphabet letters. This is a fun thing to do with ones grandchildren. This is my third one . . . just one to go, with Ben, who is now 3. I'm anxious to get this one done, so I can work on the other UFO's in my stash . . . which I was foolish enough to list in a journal recently. I'd rather tell my age than how many quilt tops I have going, trying to get them into my quilt top collection.