BAH HUMBUG!
Would some one PLEASE tell me why I thought this would be a good pattern to use for a tree skirt?????????????????? I didn't even post yesterday, as I was the GRUMPIEST OLE BEAR in WI...this tree skirt. I've done more unsewing than sewing. I'm not geared to think BACKWARDS. Such good instuctions for cutting, such AWFUL instructions for piecing.
Anyway..I just "fixed" the boo-boo, put #2 back in the circle..and realize I'm going to have a tree "opening" the size of a PIZZA ! OK..what else can I do to screw this up???? I'm sitting here, wondering...hmmm, suppose I was suppose to put the smallest width of the 9 degree ruler at the top, instead of lining up the bottom of the ruler with the bottom???? Ya think???? This is exactly why I hate making things other people want me to make, and why I hate INSTRUCTIONS!!!

Sections 1 and 3 of the treeskirt I am working on for DD#1. I made a mistake in #2 and must unsew a section of it. The gray cord in the lower right corner is that darn wrist strap on my camera. When complete each color swirl completes itself between top and bottom. Should measure 42" round.

"Spike, where are you ??"..... is heard, as Peaky searches the Land Of Point..trying to find his partner. Machine pieced, hand quilted using perle cotton.

Here is my Yuletide Blossoms top, borders added and all ready to be basted. The borders are 3.5" and the top measures 42" square. Now I'm busy piecing a backing from odds and ends. Was going to use just one fabric, but changed my mind.....as usual...*VBG*

*Post a Note*....almost all the time I've had this blog, I've had fellow Quilt Mavericks as a "link" on my sidebar. And we've grown and grown in numbers. In thinking this over, I realized that we are "linked" by the maverick logo, and I have decided to remove ALL of our individual names. I don't want to offend anyone who's blog has been there..thus this note. I will be putting links for non-mavericks blogs I read daily over there. There are soooo many blogs to "sample", and sometimes a link I find on yours gives me delightful new reading. And of course, there is the possiblity I will screw this up entirely, and everything will diappear..............if that happens, please send help!!

Sunday, Nov. 27th..I had made 20 blocks of the Pineapple Blossom pattern, but in laying them out, I find that I really like this 16 block layout. So this is what mine will be, with the addition of a narrow border and a slightly wider one. It is 36" square at this point. I am going to try and keep it where it fits a single width of fabric. I'll use it on the table, I think.

When Bonnie made her pineapple blossom quilt, from 2" scrap strips, she turned the left over half sq. triangles into small pinwheels. And I may do a few of those , but I have decided most of my 40 trim away bits are going to become this block....and get added to my yuletide orphans quilt. The block is 6.5"For any of you non quilters..this is a "Birds In the Air" block. Nothing done on the tree skirt yet, but I also made what's below this post...*G*

A few more letters...

Saturday, Nov. 26th..cold. In 2002 I sold my house. I was turning 62 and could get into Senior housing...which seemed like a good idea, at the time. My friend, Betsy, was concerned about the amount of space. Obviously she was seeing and thinking more clearly than I was.Any way, the house sold in 2 days, I ended up living in B's guest house for 6 weeks til Oct. and age 62. For my birthday that year, Betsy made me a new "house"..and on the back it says, "Home is where your fabric is". The little house quilt is typical "Betsy"...and very, very maverick...I love it.

Friday, Nov. 25th..stuffed, but happy. Snowing in WI..I'm staying home..*S* Something you probably don't know about me...and to be honest I haven't met anyone else with this particular affliction...is that I love to be tempted, lured..dared....and within reason, challenged..*S*

Now I don't mean "make a New York Beauty" challenged..I'd just laugh all the way to my 9 patches. I think it's just a quirk in my personality...I have a "boxcar children" mentality. Most of you probably aren't old enough to have read the BoxCar Children books. I'm only the "first book". I delight in making something out of nothing or almost nothing. I have oodles of fabric, piles and baskets and bins of fabric..but does it thrill me, challenge me? Nope.

Several years ago, my former guild had their annual "house walk"..3 or 4 homes of quilters in the quild within a given area of our members. At one house, the gal had made each of us fabric lei to wear, and hung them around our necks as we got off the bus. Neat idea...loved it.

But back home again..my odd little mind was wondering...since I had collected about 3 or 4 lei that were discarded on the bus by that time...now what can I do all these narrow strips??? So I sat and untied all of them from the jute, shared the idea of making something(i.e. now it's a challenge) with a friend. Gave her half the strips and went to work. Very, very few were wider than 1.5" and really quite an assortment of fabrics. I finished with just a small handful of odds and ends. The quilt shown above is the quilt that resulted. I added the funky wonky witch fabric for border, and the tom turkey slipped in uninvited from my scraps....LOL. All the rest is from the lei...and I love it !! Not colors or fabrics I would have chosen..but I love it. I did a good job. It's machine pieced and handquilted, crosshatched at 1". Silly ole bear....*G*

Thursday night..Nov.24th...Well, the turkey has been gobbled and last crumbs of the pie scooped up. I'm back from St. Cloud, MN and having turkey day with my wonderful oldest son, his lovely wife and those 3 lively grandsons. Driven there in style by youngest son.

Kids are funny people..always amazes me. With all the possibilites in the world to choose from, what makes this oldest boy of mine happy, in regards to a couch potato quilt..i.e. snuggle quilt, is for it to be ALL flannel. He doesn't care about the colors, the size of the pieces, or mind the fact that I tie them for him. Just make sure it's all flannel, both sides and use a FAT batt. Really, really doesn't warm a quilter's heart..but it does warm a mothers. This is the newest all flannel quilt for him. He received it today..slightly late for his birthday..*G*..but that's me..a day late and a dollar short..*G* His wife approves of the colors. Since he doesn't care, I try to please her in that regard. And they are both thrilled with the really fat batt. All in all, they declared it perfect..*S*. So I'm happy. And just when you thought you had the best of it...he asks in a voice that reminds me of years and years ago...if maybe, please, could I take his "old" quilt (from his 30th birthday in 1999) home with me and "fix" it??? So I said of course, that's no problem.

So the new quilt is inspected and admired, and then he gets out his old one...it began with such a fat batt they called it the "coma quilt"...5 minutes under it and anyone was fast asleep..LOL. But now it is pathetically thin, looking like I had used a sheet blanket inside, faded, but not too badly, and in need of "patches", since it's more than just an opened seam.

So he is showing me, in detail, what he "hopes" I can do...and then with hesitation says, "I hope you can fix it, it's my most favorite of all the quilts". Now how can your heart possibly hold more than that, on this day of thanksgiving??

Another look at the "ho,ho,ho's", 2 trees and some 2.5" 4 patches made from the "bits".

Decided to make some "ho,ho,ho's" but am not happy with the h..probably will amend it to a capital H...2 ho's, 1 extra O

Calico Cat thought these were "backwards P's"...actually they are MUGS..will be a whole row of them..probably..*VBG*



An idea of how this might look...

***STASH FLASH**** Gone..5 yds flannel for backing of all flannel quilt..*G*

Tuesday, Nov. 22nd..sunny and cool here in WI. Two more of the "offerings" that have been hiding in the rubbermaid tote.
I think that years ago, they were the beginning of a Christmas sampler...and that's probably why they are still just blocks. Their new life purpose has been guessed by Tonya...LOL....they will become a yuletide orphans quilt...Little Matchgirl in the Snow...but with a happier ending. Remember the quilt I posted a week ago Sunday??....the Fragments quilt from the early 1900's? Many orphan blocks in that one, plus lots of "crumbs" ala Bonnie and mile a minute ala Finn. That quilt is still on my mind as I decide about these blocks... I think the cut off triangles from the Pineapple Blossom will "bloom" and find a home among these new orphans.

4:30...the binding is FINISHED..now to trim the yarn ties.. there should be a picture by tomorrow or Wed. And altho I wasn't digging any more, these two "popped" out of the scrap tote..just like toast from the toaster..*G* Just 2....no more, 6.5"...hmmmmm...do you suppose???

Almost 1:30 here in WI..and I have been hopelessly lost in Pineapple Blossoms..*S*. Have the base made for all 20, but only 5 are completely finished. AND I'm still cutting up scraps..LOL..I think there may be a second one coming. Digging deeper in the tote has revealed... a 7.5" bear paw..what else do you suppose I'll find in there...*VBG* Now I MUST go and sew down binding!

Monday, Nov. 20th..If you are digging in a rubbermaid tote of Christmas fabric and scraps..you never know what you'll come across..*G* These are 6.5" stars.

I'm not done binding, and I haven't finished the tree skirt..But I did find time to play in my bin of christmas fabric scraps..*VBG*. I can resist anything but temptation when it come to scrap quilts...that's why I have soooo many UFO's.

I tried again, and got a slightly better picture.

Saturday, Nov. 19th..a gray day..will be off shortly for a day of "sip and stitch" with my good friend Betsy. I'm still sewing down binding on the flannel quilt. I have all the strip sections sewn for the tree skirt. I'm using the 9 degree wedge ruler and the directions in Cheryl Phillips book, Quilts without Corners. I've promised her a tree skirt for several years now...this is the year she will get one. Hope you all are having a good day..*S*

Friday, Nov. 18th...greetings from Wi. I'm sending you all some "warm fuzzies" to help ease the day into evening. I've been busy putting binding on the all flannel quilt I tied last week for son#1. Will snap a picture of it when I get it bound. Also have been cutting for a tree skirt for daughter#1. Not the one Joanne is doing, altho that looks tempting...maybe tomorrow..*G*

I've got trouble here in Never-Never Land. And it's leaving me frustrated and discouraged. My old sad song is "my digital camera blues". Sure do wish they came with instructions..yes, yes, I know. That little 4"X 4" booklet...5 languages and I need a magnifying glass to read a single word of it.Yesterday I sat at the table with a mag. glass and tried to figure out why my pictures are blurred or smeary looking. I've been figuring it was my "color card"...that I had used it too much and it needed replacing. But then Susan from Patchwork Reflections mentioned that when she double clicked on the pastel bowties, all she got was a black screen and a tiny upper corner picture..so I tried it..yup....that's what you get.

It happens that the pic of the pastel bowties, is from a snapshot..so it can't be the color card in the digital.

What is a blog without pictures? Especially a quilt related blog. So as I worked with my older(pre digital) pics, I've cropped, enlarged, enhanced, etc. You get the "picture"....LOL. But they are CORRUPTING, right here on my blog...and I'm so depressed about it.

I checked back and many are turning black...it begins in the upper corners and spreads down the picture. It's happening to the digital and to the snapshots..and it breaks my heart. I hate seeing my quilts "that" way.One by one, as they turn black, I'm deleting the old posts....just so you know. I don't know if readers go back and re-check old posts, and I suppose it doesn't matter one way or the other.

I'm determinded to make "this" work...and it hasn't been without battles, struggles, defeats and accomplishments. If I have to, I'll buy a better camera...you gals are important to me, and I don't want to just read your blogs, or post clip art, or snapshots.

I'm going to change the batteries again, and take a few more pictures. I did find out yesterday how to "erase" the color card,totally, maybe that will help. I'm going to try posting a snapshot or two(regular camera) without the help I've been giving them. And maybe that that will stop the creeping corruption. Any advice is appreciated..*S*

Tuesday, Nov. 15th...cold and rainy in WI. This is the first Jewel Box I made. It was for grandson # 2. I kept the background the same, and used all the same blue with bears for the darker triangles. The four patches were as scrappy as I could make them. Machine pieced, hand quilted. First time I used flannel on the back, while hand quilting. 

My daughters friend, Lisa, and the wall hanging I made for her birthday. Again, the Jewel Box block, done in colors Lisa likes. Machine pieced, machine quilted. 

They say three strikes and you're out..so out I go..with the third and final (?) sampler of my life time. This one is called Internet Antics..and I did it with a internet friend from Delaware. We met on the WWQP bulletin board, and became friends. She wanted to do a sampler, and she chose the patterns..I made one to keep her company..it was lots of fun. We didn't see each others til we were finished. They are quite different. The 9 12" bocks are just about right, I think. Machine pieced, hand quilted. 2002

A close up of my favorite block in this small sampler. I took the design liberty of altering the pattern. Normally the center points of the T blocks do not come together that way, in the middle..I liked this way better. 

The first sampler. Back in 1984, in a new community with the DH's new job, I was pretty lost. It was his "hometown", so he had no problem..the kids in school, had no problems..just me. So I signed up for a Sampler Class, taught locally. I met a few people, but what I learned is "I don't like making just one block". Back then it was ALL templates..a real pain to make and use accurately. I understand the tradition base..but I don't love it. There should be many more blocks in this quilt. Back then I didn't have an orphan block collection as yet..LOL. The poor Sunbonnet Sue never got finished at all ! I eventually joined up into this lap quilt. I did hand quilt it..in yet another "new" community, and it lives with me here in my new "solo now" community. Machine pieced, hand quilted. 1984-1987 

Monday, Nov. 14th....brrrrrrr....our 67 degrees of Saturday has turned to the 28 degrees of Monday..with snow flurries. I visited a new-to-me blog yesterday, and her quilts are delightful as are her descriptions..she loves samplers. Me? not so much ! But I was inspired to dig these OLD photos out of the album to share with you...please visit Holly's blog at http://andsewitis.blogspot.com/2005 I think you'll really enjoy it. I made this sampler for my oldest daughter to take to college in 1985. That seems like a lifetime ago. I used the colors she selected and while I didn't like it then, still don't like it now, she loved it..and that's what counts. Machine pieced, hand quilted..every blessed inch of it..*VBS*

Sunday, Nov. 13th...cold, windy and rain in WI today. This sharing is for Tonya...now don't panic Ton, I'm going to give you close ups of this book scan...ok?? The book is one I bought at a library sale...you know, those 25 cents buys? It's quite an old book by todays standards, published in 1986 by AQS. It's called First, Nine and Always by Millie Leathers. Pretty typical 1980's book. BUT...the photographs are of OLD quilts and then she gives the templates to make them. As you can see, this one is called "Fragments" and she only offers her comments, which are interesting and quite nice. The quilt is from the 19th century and is 70" X 78". It belong to a friend of the authors, and was pieced before 1900 by the friends grandmother. It's considered a memory quilt. Now for some close ups..*S* 

Millie says" It is a TRUE scrap bag quilt, the salvage quilt at its best." "It was not a planned quilt, per se, but it is a product of dedication and determination."

Zooming in on the block settings. Millie says " There is no pattern given here for this quilt, it is put here to inspire you."

The blocks of this quilt were pieced before 1900 by Martha Jane Stansifer. Upon her death in 1903, she left the blocks and her scrap bag to Alice Stansifer Brinegar, her daughter. In the next few years, Alice pieced together and quilted this legacy of her mother's life and of her own.
This quilt will present a challenge and be a source of encouragement and inspiration for those of us who save every scrap of old fabric.

If the fragments of our lives were little bits of fabric, sewn together at the edges, the picture might look a lot like this quilt.

Saturday, Nov. 12th...sunny and warm in Wi. I know you've seen bits and pieces of this quilt several times, as I've shown close ups of the utility quilting. So today, I'll give you a pic of the whole little quilt. It's lap size, for my recliner. Again, block design is called "Paths To Piece" and I did this quilt as a result of an ugly fabric nickle square swap. I used the old way...the 5" square with 2 corners lopped off, and smaller squares split to be the triangles. I used what I "lopped off" for the pieced 2nd border. Flannel backed, fat batt, machine pieced, utility quilted with perle cotton of many colors. (And this is the last time I show it, promise!)

A close up of Mr. Rooster Chicken McCluck...for Tonya..and Nines..and especially for Dawn, queen of Chicken quilts....*VBG*

Friday, Nov. 12th...This is for Nines..hope you are still here. I know you are leaving soon for home and your dad's surgery. This is the full length view of the Scrappy Squares quilt. My suggestion if you are going to do this one, is to use a stronger color for the center squares and lattice. I avoided fabrics that blended into the green, but wasn't expecting how weakly the green supports the color of the quilt. Close up, it's a lot of fun, as I used lots of focus fabric 2" scraps. It just fails to make much of a visual impact as a whole. My friend Betsy did the same quilt with a solid red as a center square and I like hers better. This would be a good one if you are doing leaders and enders, as shown by Bonnie, at Quiltville.com. Machine pieced and utility quilted with perle cotton, flannel backing. 2004