Quilts, Turkeys and Tulips

Friday my good friend and I spent the day on our annual trip to the Tulip Fields of Skagit Valley, the La Conner Quilt Museum and ended the day meeting an internet friend at a quilt show.

La Conner Quilt Museum

In 1891 the Gaches family built the mansion as a family residence. Over the years it's been sold several times becoming a hospital and apartments. In 1973 a fire broke out and gutted the mansion. Wanting to preserve the mansion local citizens formed a non-profit org, purchasing the mansion in 1974 restoring it in 1978. In 1997 the La Conner Quilt museum opened in the mansion, has since acquired ownership, is the only quilt museum in the PNW and 1 of 12 in the US. The 1st floor retains it's turn of the century decor. The 2nd floor contains the museum exhibit and sales gallery. The 3rd floor includes additional display space for contemporary art quilts. The current exhibit of Hawaiian Quilts are quite stunning and the folded log Cabins interesting.

For the Cat lovers... while this looks very celtic it's actually reverse applique.

A Fireman by day, a Quilter by night. This gentleman's handquilting is so even with very small stitches. This one grabbed my attention as I love a red and black quilt.

The quilt on the bottom half of the page was inspired by the drawing made by her granddaughter.

We all ought to weigh in like this. LOL

Folded Log Cabin...I'm not much on log cabins. Each blocks center was a garment label and each block had a label as well.

From the quilt show.

I thought these were Maverics.

I laughed when I heard a lady refer to the one on the left as looking like uterus's. The name on the quilt was bikini .... , however to me I thought g-string. Concentric Triangles?????

There were the usual number of traditional, Baltimore album and wedding rings at the show. I used to take mega pictures, now they need to catch my attention.

Tom Turkey, what a handsome fella this was, guarding his band of ladies. As we walked down the street to the Quilt Musuem he favored us with puffing up and spreading his tail feathers. Not wild turkeys, just turkeys roaming free down the streets of town.

And I came home with 27 batik FQ's to go with the 12 in my stash for granddaughters wedding quilt.

Closer Look for Jane

Jane, it's a wall hanging from "Quilted Ledgends of the West" by Judy Zehner & Kim Mosher.

Spring Cleaning

I've been spring cleaning around here. It's amazing my furry friends aren't nekked for all the fur they've left behind, under and around the furniture. They seem to manufacture it, the more I brush, the more they produce. I hate my furniture, it's so stiff , it could catapult you across the room. Lady spends more time on it than I do. We never use this room, it reminds me of Gramma's parlor she only opened for special occassions. I spent yesterday shampooing the carpets, clearing out junk and arranging this clunky furniture into a cozy conversation area. The room looks like it's grown. Wonder what ever possessed me to pick this furniture. It's awful, it's clunky and not me.

The sewing machine moved back to the sewing room. It's on my list for a make over first of next week. Sewing is at a standstill until the make-over, I can hardly move in there for the clutter. I'll be happy when I can sit and stitch again. This spring cleaning has taken up a lot of time but necessary and feels so good to have such neat and tidy rooms again after the long winter.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Is Lady spoiled or what? The quilt in the corner is our wedding quilt. Drab, muted colors but I love it just the same. Mom made it for us, she doesn't do so well anymore. Her stitches aren't as neat and tidy as once they were. Her eyesight is going, her hands are shakey, the fabrics are mismatched, but if she made another one today, I would love it just the same, she's my MOM.



Sharon, the black fabric probably started rotting long before the person who used it purchased it. It came from a close out sale when a "dime store" was getting rid of their fabric and it layed in a sunny window for who knows how long before the sale, a good start at disinegrating.
Tami, happy to give some inspiration to your round robin.

Being thankful....I don't think we express the many things we are thankful for enough or post our gratitudes as Joanne does. When I read her posts with her gratitudes I give pause to all the things I am thankful for. One of the things I am most thankful for is:

My 91 year old Mother's health and ability to enjoy life to the fullest. Her joy at getting up everyday with a smile on her face knowing she has one more day on this earth.

My Goals

To have a super time with John when he comes home this weekend.
To give my sewing room a make-over next week.

A Round Robin

I haven't felt much like sewing lately. I don't know what's the matter with me and grampa's ring is still amongst the missing which is very depressing.

Several years ago when our local quilt group didn't want to do a round robin 5 friends/family and I decided we would. We named ourselves the Supper Six and I never did determine whether it was "supper as in eating" or "super". We met once a month at one home or another for dinner and passed along our creations till the last round was finished. At the end of the six months we had dinner and an unveiling. Each gal went out of the room, the top was hung and we were called in one by one. I couldn't have been more excited if I had won the lottery. I love red and yella and mine certainly fit the bill. From the day I sent off my center square till the evening we had an unveiling we never knew what each of the group was doing. We chatted amongst ourselves, asking questions about how to do this or what do you think of that. The first round was added, it went to my cousin who's husband said it was "ruined". The yellow border with applique just didn't fit. My cousin added her round, another friend added Carolina Lilies and set it on point. My Mom who's favorite block, a log cabin and a finish with borders. It all came together when I added a pillow border across the top. Many hours of handquilting and I entered it the local fair. This quilt was exceptional, it needed to be shared never expecting it to win anything. Imagine my surprize when it won the best of quilt as well as a blue ribbon.

I've never used it on my bed. I have to mend it before I can. The black fabric in the second round is rotting away.

My Friend

I haven't made any new progress on the stars. John came home for the weekend, time flew out the winder and nothing more got accomplished.

I've lived here for nearly 15 years, the longest John and I have lived anywhere. We've been nomads making home where the Navy sent us until he retired. In all the years I've had one other close friend. If I moved away tomorrow, came back ten years later, we'd pick up like it was yesterday. Friends like this don't happen very often. She's an only child; I'm the sister she never had. We live across the road from each other. Over coffee we share the good times and the bad times. Her parents have adopted me.

A couple years ago she expressed a desire to learn to sew. I wasn't very encouraging. I thought she would loose interest, but we made a list, picked simple projects, shopped my stash for fabric and were off and running. It wasn't quilting but it was a start. Simple one piece fabric placemats, lines drawn, placemats were born. She took to the sewing machine like a duck to water. She's patient where I am not. Ripping out her mistakes is part of learning, she picks away with a smile on her face and when I make a mistake she picks mine out too. If a technique is to difficult for her, I help her out and we never tell. It's our secret. Come Christmas time, rag quilts and pillowcases, a step towards quilting. Next was getting over her fear of cutting off her fingers with the serger. Another demon conquered and pillowcases flew left and right. Today a new project for her mom's birthday. She doesn't have and would like some spring placemats....a new lesson, log cabins. A quilter is being born, slowly but surely.

Tomorrow will be a fun day taking my mom to her quilting group, having our hair twigged, lunch out and shopping for fabric. I can't think of a better way to spend the day. Happiness is having a friend like Rexene.

D-Day

Today was departure back to the ship for John. He sure did drag his feet and didn't want to leave which is par for the course as he never does. He would rather be retired instead of working for a living. Life goes on and vacations do come to an end. VBG Gathering up his necessaries always ends up a last minute dash around the house with list in hand. Other than being underfoot and needing a lot of attention the minute I sat down to sew, it was one of the better times together.

It's not been a good week for me. Wednesday morning I woke up and noticed my antique ring had gone missing from my finger. I wouldn't have been half as upset if it had been anyone of the many rings adorning my fingers. I inherited my ring when Mom thought I was old enough. I've only been it's caretaker for the past 6 or 7 years. Guess I wasn't old enough yet. It had been my Grampa's wedding ring, 2 diamonds flanking a ruby and 100 years old. Yesterday was spent, plastic sheet on the floor sifting through the garabage. I don't know how forensics can stand to do this kind of stuff. I know it's in the house somewhere and eventually it will show up, but I'm just sick thinking I might never find it.

Sewing on the blue and green quilt the other day was a downer. No matter what I did, nothing turned out right and much fabric went into the junk bag. It must not have been a good day for stars. Tomorrow I am going to spend some time with them. I've made my goal list of all the things that must be done before the next vacation time. The list is long and getting longer.

My goals for tomorrow
....increase my time on the Treadmill by 5 min
....clean the kitchen....top to bottom including drawers/cupboards
....stitch some more stars
....spend at least 1 hour handquilting

The Lot Next Door

This morning John looked out the patio doors and inquired what "that stake" was for. Curiousity killing this cat, I had to put my jacket on and stroll over to see what was going on. The lot has been sold, the trees are marked for removal and a house is staked out. Soon the early morning quiet will be shattered with the sounds of chain saws, logging trucks, hammers and all the assorted noise of new building going on. I'm happy some of the big fir trees are going to be taken down as they block the sun from the backyard and spend all year long dropping needles on the roof to fill the gutters when it rains. I'm not happy that yet another big, big house is going up and practically in my backyard. I'm thankful we have a screen of trees and berry bushes that leaf out during the summer and screen our backyard. I'm not happy knowing the deer who visit my yard will be loosing some more of their habitat.

Like Joanne loosing her restaurant, we are loosing so much of the forest we love to progress. I have to remember this is a housing development, lots are selling like hot cakes and building is booming.

Being so pretty, warm, and sunny last Saturday, I grabbed the 4 bags of daffodils that were to have been planted last fall and got them in the ground. This years are sprouting up well, yet no buds to be seen. The birds swooped in on the feeders as I took them down, filled and rehung them in the trees that are budding out. Will be nice when I can once again get out there for some winter cleanup for longer periods of time. My small table garden needs a good weeding as I didn't put it to bed last fall before the cold weather came. Soon it will be time to start planting a few vegatables again.




My stars are coming along albeit slowly. Oops!!! there's an odd ball here that will have to be changed.

A trip to the LQS for some background fabric for the lighter part of the Virginia Reel (Snail's Trail) blocks made me rethink using a butter yellow or beige. The light blues even with the greens look good and certainly is different. Next step is to add the second round, making a double star of some of the blocks, set them together with the VR's and see how she looks. I don't like putting the VR blocks together, all those bias edges to fuss with.

Reading Bonnie and Keryn's blogs about their hexagon quilts got me looking for a picture of mine. English paper piecing and hexagon quilts certainly are a exercise of patience. I counted the pieces one time and came up with well over 6,000. My Mom got me started. She always had her basket of paper pieces, with bits of fabric sitting ready to stitch when she had a moment or two. I can't count the many different versions of GFG's she's put together, there have been many. This one is mine, taking over 10 years to complete and then given without a second thought to my oldest son and his wife. After all those years I didn't like it anymore.

John's vacation is nearing it's end. A call from the ship to let him know his papers will be at the Union Hall later this week and his report date, the 16th. While I'm not wishing he hurry back to work my to-do list gets longer each day and the wedding quilt has a deadline to meet.

February ended with a Bang

February came to an end leaving us with a day long power outage on Monday. It was a day spent huddled in my favorite chair, flashlight in hand reading a very good book while I kept the fireplace stoked. "A Conspiracy of Fools" by Kurt Eichenwald. The story behind the Enron scandel. I thought this would be a very long read as there are over 700 pages but to my amazement I couldn't put it down. He writes very well and it read like a good mystery novel. I like Joanne's idea of using our library cards to check out books on CD.

Ebay, lively bidding and this beautiful quilt was mine. Before I read up on care of antique quilts I took it to the cleaners to have it laundered. When I picked it up the counter person told me because it appeared to be "so dirty" she had added bleach to brighten it. It's no longer in the mint condition I received it thanks to the idiot at the cleaners for having added bleach without calling me first for permission.
The only information the seller could provide was, "it's from an estate in AZ". My Mom thinks the fabrics are from the 30's, another person from the 70's when quilting became popular again.

Some closeups of some of the blocks. These are all hand appliqued and it is hand quilted. I love this quilt and can spend time just looking at all the detail. I should have had it appraised first. A lesson learned.


I've had this quilt for several years and I don't know what to do with it. The shape doesn't fit my bed. It keeps seeping and looks in need of a washing again which I don't want to do.






Sewing on the wedding quilt has been haulted for these next two weeks and I'm sure I won't have much time for posting to my blog as we are winding down John's time at home once again.

No Sewing again......

I haven't been doing much sewing lately, too many other things getting in the way.

My GGD is going to be the next generation of quilt makers. She loves my antique Singer I removed the moter and installed a hand crank in it's place. The first time she noticed it she claimed it as hers and declared she wanted to sew. That year we made her first block, a 4 patch.


She proudly took it home to show her other gramma. Last year with my help she made a quilt for Muffin, her kitty. She sewed the blocks together and I added the back and quilting. She's quite pleased with her work. vbg She will be here for a visit mid April, I hope we can do some more 4-patches. I don't get to see her often and I treasure the special time we have together sewing.

Today I trimmed down more of the star parts and have them all prepped and ready to stitch together. Maybe tomorrow will be a sewing day.

A Very Scary Night

Had a very scary night on Tues. Just after DH and I went to bed, he started sweating profusely, got up to go and get a drink, got dizzy and went down on his knees beside the bed. He called to me and said he was having "trouble" so I got up and went around to that side of the bed. About the time I got there, he lost consciousness, fell over backward and appeared to be having a seizure. Thinking he had had a heart attack, I called 911 SCARED TO DEATH IN A STATE OF PANIC. Was talking to them as I'm kneeling beside DH when he started talking to me asking who I was talking to....when I said 911, he said he was fine and didn't need the paramedics. When I got him back in bed he was cold and clammy. Had no chest pain, back pain, numbness in his left arm or shortness of breath. All my nurses training flew out the window, my BP cuff wasn't working, couldn't find his pulse or hear his heart with my stethescope. His temperature had dropped to 96.8. I was shaking and scared to death. Yesterday he had an appt for a required physical for work down in Tacoma and I drove him down, afraid for him to drive. All tests were good and he feels fine. We discussed the late night happening after we got home. He had twisted his back doing warm up exercises before getting on the treadmill so was using Bengay. Come to find out, it was old and had separated into a liquid/cream mixture which he applied heavily. Bengay contains Potassium Hydroxide and Potassium Carbomer which are on the MSDA list with a rating of 3 (severe hazard). Both are very toxic.

The reason I write this....pay attention to what the ingredients are in what you take orally or apply to your skin. If you haven't had a CPR course, contact your Red Cross and take one. If you own a BP cuff/stethescope check them frequently and make sure they are working properly. I never want to go through another episode like that again and frankly I have never been so scared in my life. I no longer will take John for granted, all I could think was when it was all over was "Don't you dare die on me, we aren't finished yet".

I am so thankful God isn't ready for John and gave us another chance to be together for many more years. He very well could have. Go give your kids and hubby a big Hug and Kiss, let them know you love them as we never know from one day to the next if we or they will remain with us.

GO HAWKS!!!

No sewing today as we here in the PNW have waiting years to see the Hawks go to the Super Bowl....

Yesterday was spent braving the rain coming down in torrents for a drive with John to the Union Hall in Tacoma. Had a lovely day, stopped for buffet at the Casino and then off to the Navy exchange to pick up refreshments for today.

Friday I got in another day of sewing and prepping more stars. Another 7 all completed. Won't bore you with the current batch, but wait till I have some green ones for "show n tell". VBG.
I'm having fun putting these stars together without any rhyme or reason, knowing I need many, many stars before I can jump in and start on the Virginia Reel blocks.

One stitch at a time

I got in some sewing time yesterday. This makes 2 days in a row of grabbing a hour here, another one there. The wedding quilt is starting to look promising. 17 of the 6" stars are together with many more pieces and parts to assemble. They don't take very long as I had a bunch of blue pre-cut before John arrived home. I'm beginning to like the looks of the blues and greens. I've been digging around in my stash but see a trip to my LQS for more lights. My vision is to keep from introducing another color and keeping to the blue/green. I've had a reprieve, the wedding date has been changed from first of May to mid June.

Antique quilts are facinating. While cleaning my MIL's attic on a trip to Kentucky, I found this wonderful quilt laying in a corner, slowly rotting away. I had to rescue it along with several others. It's seen a lot of love, the edges are all raggedy and some of the fabric has rotted. I think it belonged to her mother. I have no idea of it's age, what the pattern is called but I love it. The LaConner Quilt Museum is near by, I keep forgetting to take it with me when I go view their changing venue's.

The rain keeps on falling day after day, so depressing with so few reprieves between the storms coming in off the coast. Went out to check the creek the other day. The ground is so saturated from all this rain it is standing in puddles and running down along the side of the neighbors house. You can't see her house, but this is her backyard or what's left of it.


Yesterday I took advantage of a bit of sunshine to get outside and refill all my bird feeders. The poor birds have gone so long without the suet I put out for them during the winter months. My lawn is a sea of moss and sweeping off the winter debris on the deck was a hazard in the making. It's so slippery with mold My daffodils are poking their heads out of the ground so spring is definetely in the air. I can hardly waite to get out, dig in the dirt and plant the bulbs I never got around to last fall.

January brought John and I a treadmill. I'm into my third week of walking for 20 minutes a day. It's not much, but every minute adds up to feeling better, jeans that don't bind and a healthy heart. I've always enjoyed walking, this fits the bill without getting rained on.


My DIL is quite talented. I thought these were the cutest little Valentines day candy jars she's made. She's not a quilter, but very artistic.

Go HAWKS!!!!

Table Topper

Finally finished and ready for the table just in time for February.

I've mentioned our diabetic furball Lady. The other night when time for her evening shot of insulin came around we hunted high and low for her, under the beds, in the closets and all the other places she likes to curl up for a snooze. Just about the time we gave up deciding she would come out eventually, I turned around and there she was sitting as if to say "silly people, here I am". VBG

Darcie...in answer to your question. No, before becoming a merchant mariner, John retired from the Navy, and spent a few years working in a small local shipyard here in town. With the exception of the few years of 9-5's, we've spent a good portion of 27 years with this lifestyle. It works and does give me a lot of time for quilting when he is gone.

This afternoon, I got out the wedding quilt star pieces I had set aside when hubby came home, trimmed them down and they are waiting on the sewing machine to be put together. I hope I can get to them tomorrow. I need a sewing fix.

Busy, Busy, Busy

DH arrived home bag and baggage for his two months off the ship leaving me with lots to do and little time for stitching. Time to get re-acquainted again and catch up on the honey doo's before it's time for him to pack up his bags and be gone for another four months. Phew, this here today, gone tomorrow gets mighty tiresome.

I started a quickie table topper for Valentines day, a project on another list. Nothing spectacular, just quick and fast. I'm almost done with the little bit of handquilting I will do, ready to trim and add the binding. It's nice to have a quick, mindless project to do, one I can drop beside my chair when I hear DH calling me and not worry that I won't remember what I had in mind when I can get back to it.

The rain has finally stopped for us here in our corner of Washington. The sun has come out and it almost feels like spring is trying to sneak in. Down the road in Olympia they have set a record of 34 continous days of falling rain, last set in 1953 or 54. Am happy to see the sun shining here, was beginning to think I needed to check for webs or moss growing between my toes.

Rain

Would Noah please row the Ark around to the front door. Here in Washington we are having a run on rain. It's been steady now for 24 or more days without let up. Roads are washing out, rivers flooding their banks and hillsides sliding away closing roads and disrupting rail service to Seattle and south. My creek out back is trying to flood the neighbor. 15 ft and rising as Johnny Cash would sing....







I started the first of the wedding quilts this past week. One block down and many, many more to go. I'm not sure about these blues and greens way to many darks. I don't want this quilt to look angry. A wedding quilt should be happy.











Pictures, pictures and more pictures. My backyard has always been a sanctuary for all kinds of animals from the birds to the raccoons. Last summer this big boy visited while we were all standing in the yard. One of a group or is that herd that comes by frequently.

WOW !!!!

What a fantastic Welcome you gals have given me. Had it not been for Joanne, I would never have found this wonderful group of "wonky" gals. Thank you Bonnie and the Membership committee for accepting me and Joanne for suggesting I submit my blog. I am thrilled to have moved into the neighborhood.

Mavericks

How does one determine if they are a Maverick quilter, if they color outside the lines? Is it in how we put our quilts together, the blocks we scatter helter skelter, the colors we choose or are we "mavericks" because we don't conform to the standard of what a quilter should be? Is it because we act independently, we do our own thing?

Everyone has a different definition of what makes them a "maverick". Mine is in the colors I choose rather than how the pattern is set. My imagination lays in color rather than pattern. You and I could take the same block and by the very fabrics we choose we imprint our quilts with our own signature and originality. How many times do we take a pattern and choose the color of fabric making it different and not what the pattern called for?

What is a style?? Is it the fact we choose the bright vivid yellows, the turquoise, the oranges or the browns, grays and tans? Is it how we set our chosen blocks to the quilt top? Are we Mavericks only because our imagination allows us to see something different than anybody else, to "color outside the lines"?


Autumn leaves blowing in the wind. Scattered over this quilt with no rhyme or reason, with thoughts of leaves falling and rising in the wind.



My son is a free spirit. I called his quilt "Birds in the Air" I spent days laying these blocks out and shifting them around until I made it his. This was the second quilt I ever stitched all by hand with hand quilting. It's one of my favorites quilts. That's me standing by my handiwork. VBG






My favorite niece was graduating from HS, she wanted a quilt. As a beginning quilter I chose a log cabin block, it was easy. I didn't like the standard log cabins. She wanted black and green, I wanted different, something that would grab your eye. It did and I still like the effect.


This is a closeup of the handquilting.








I remember my grandson when he was a little itty bitty boy. He was a clone of his father. He's now a 6'7" handsome young man. He grew out of his young child's quilt and wanted granny to make him a bigger one. He wanted a blue and white, his favorite color is blue. I had these "drunkards path" blocks. I think they look like flower blossoms, I didn't tell him. He's grown out of it again.




When it all comes together, we are mavericks because we do our own thing, be it a "style" or being able to adapt what your vision is to the fabrics you have at hand or take your vision to a higher level of design.

I want to belong to the "Mavericks" but if I don't qualify, I can live with it, it wasn't meant to be.
I'm not a traditional, art, scrap quilter or designer. I do what peeks my interest changing that to be my own. I don't belong in a catagory, I have my visions. I am a "Maverick" in my own mind.