One Ebby Quilt, coming soon.....

I received these two darling squares of a funny black cat from Tracy of Oz, *VBS*. She said they made her think of Ebby and she had to sent them to me. I adore them, and have been racking my brain for wht type of quilt or wallhanging to make, featuring them. And then when Betsy and I were shopping I came across a line of fabric featuring black cats..*S*
And of course I had to buy some of it to go with the squares from Tracy. I've folded the yardage over to show what 1 section of it has. It's called The Skillful Cat, and it's very cartoon like. I love the colors, especially the lime green..*VBS* And this last picture is my most favorite little part. Something about that upside down cat, I think....LOL I think the pictures will get bigger with a click or double click.

There was also a couple of co-ordinating fabrics that I didn't get. One was the same red as the pillow and featured black paw prints. I think I need to go back and get some of that one...!

Is it diet busting......

if you use a gift certificate??? I don't think so...and here's my case. I had a gift certificate for a quilt shop about 30 miles from here. I've had it since my birthday in Oct. In January 2007, the shop changed hands, and the new gal was willing to honor the punch cards and gift certificates up to a point. April 1st was that point! So Betsy and I hit the freeway to do some serious plastic damage...LOL, mostly her, since I was going to use my gift. The first pic is sale fabrics where you are obligated to buy a yard. The two with polka dots are FQs to go with a cat panel.
Second picture is all FQs. With these fabrics a FQ is plenty for my kind of piecing. Most of them are from the 'Kool Kats' line.
I'm really excited by all of them, something completely new to sew with!! Gosh! I was on the low fiber diet all of 2006, buying only a few Civil War t ype fabrics to begin that quilt, and a few novelty prints for the graduation quilt.
This is my first fabric of this year..*VBS* And it was on a gift card...yah!!!
Betsy and I began one of our 'swaps' in January. We are making broken dishes this time, in brights and blacks..but not exlcusively. Other odd balls are allowed to wander in, and often do. She cuts 2 5" squares of each fabric she's using and makes 2 broken dishes blocks. One comes to me and one is hers. I'm doing the same. We'll keep going as long as it makes sense to us, the block finishes at 4.5" so it will take quite a few to make a quilt. Our quilts will be the same, but different. I won't know what layout she is using til I see her top, and she won't know about mine...it's alot of fun..*VBS*
I still have more to do on the baby quilt since I missed several days of sewing. It might not get there til after the baby does, at this rate. *VBS* I'm off to cut a few 5" squares from these new fabrics and sew a few broken dishes in bright along with those baby colored ones.

Another very un-March like morning....

our 7 a.m. reading was 52 degrees and it's heading for 75 this afternoon. The ground is still frozen and when the air is warmer than the ground you get fog. The first pic is just before sun up, looking east. The second one is looking off to the south...and a really lovely picture, I think. I'm new to there morning pictures, since I'm not a morning person..LOL The weekend didn't go at all like I thought or planned. I did get busy on Saturday cutting squares (7.25") and turned them into broken dishes for this baby quilt. But lovely weather and a call from Betsy kind of un-did my sewing
plans for Saturday. Well, no problem, I'll finish this up on Sunday...*VBS* Sunday brought an invitation to spend the day with Jean, her 1 yr. old grandson and 5 yr old great niece and have spaghetti...LOL. Guess what I chose?? And today would be just fine for sewing, but Jean has to return her grand niece to the Mom and that's over into MN, so I will be going on the ride along and doing a bit of shopping.
Best laid plans and all that jazz. Ebony is reveling in the wide open windows, watching the robins hop and play and look for food. The air is fairly humid, and I don't breathe well in humidity, but it feels like it's worth it to have the windows open. Maybe our winter will return, I hope not, but it's always possibe in WI. We've had killing frost and snow as late as early June.
I'm liking the look of this new baby quilt. A quick post-a-note: when you are cutting scraps...why not cut some bigger squares with the purpose of making broken dishes? It's a great block, and all you need to remember is to cut a square 1 1/4 inch(1.25) bigger than your desired block size, and split it twice. Swap pieces with another and have the long side of the triangle to the outside. They are quick and easy to make in any size at all...*VBS* See you all later with my new treasures from shopping.

A Duke's Mixature....

of thoughts, words and deeds today. Todays goal is to turn a pile of leftover 9 patches, left over Aunt Gracies triangles and the leftover setting triangles from my RailRoad Crossing quilt, into a baby quilt. When I make 9 patches, I always make lots. I've lost count over the years how many single Irish Chains and other variation of 9 patch I've cranked out for the little
ones. I usually do a 6 X 7 setting, add a border and back with flannel. Today's will be for a new grandson coming April 5th. Best I get busy...*VBS* The second picture(where ever it falls) is of another part of my book order from Hamilton Books. I don't have more than 1 or 2 folk art quilt books. This one looked interesting and when you can get a $28.95 book for $3 or $4, why not??? And I'm glad I did...*VBS*

This last picture is from the book. I like everything in the picture...LOL It's a great quilt..combining several kinds of blocks. And how about that dough tray on the table with fabric balls?? There are patterns and directions for all the quilts and rugs shown in the book as well as some basic 'how to' sections.

We are still enjoying the mild temps...mid 60's again today. Not typical March weather for us...but I love it. And now I'm off to the sewing machine. I already have 21 9 patches but must sew those triangles into broken dishes blocks....keep your fingers crossed that I can get this one and in the mail next week.

Spring is springing....

and the birds are singing.....but we have quite a long ways to go. Here's my Thursday "snow report" picture. Just about ALL GONE! Our blizzard of 2 weeks ago is history. Libby asked where does the snow go as it melts. Well, since our
ground is frozen between 3 to 5 feet deep, most of the snow melt runs off. In the second picture, that dark stain across the intersection is from yesterdays thawing. If the ground is level, the water stands til the ground thaws. And of course, some of it evaporates and adds to the rain clouds.
The melt goes into the drainage systems and makes its way to the rivers. Plus it takes 10" of snow to make 1" of rain...LOL

This next picture isn't what I had in mind, but.....LOL I was watching The Waltons, and so was Ebby, from the comfort of laying on my new rug.. She looked so cute there, I got up to get the camera. She got up and followed me into the sewing room. So what I got to take was this one instead.That's one of her sheepskins

behind her, but anything new on the floor is better..*VBS* And one more doll quilt to share, made from left over 2" sqs. It's about 15" X 17".
I'm happy to say my busy day yesterday resulted in my getting the tax forms to the accountant, and got some needed work done on my car. The day was beautiful, sunny with a light breeze and temps up into the low 60's. Suppose to be like that again today, and I must do a bit in the garage...LOL...seems I've been bitten by the spring fever bug. I have the furnace turned down, and several windows open. The gold finches are fighting and breeding outside in the shrubs. And the sparrows didn't want to be left out, so they add their noisy chatter to the mix. We have a fun new blogger over at http://with-heart-and-hands.blogspot.com/ stop by and say "hi"....she's wild and crazy and pretty much completely liberated...*VBS* Lots of new people in blogland now, and I have had a chance to visit a few of them. It's hard to even remotely keep up with blog reading and commenting as the number grow larger and larger. I hope all of us will keep that in mind and not get our feeling hurt if there aren't as many comments as there use to be. After all, the more...the merrier and the more we can share and learn.

A Few Pieces of the Past.....

This is one of the first ones I pieced after subscribing to Minature Quilts magazine. I had Marcus Brothers prints, a few Springmaid and some actual older fabrics. These are the same fabric scraps that I made my handpieced Bow Tie wall quilt from. Each tumbler finishes at 1.75". I didn't pay much attention to the size, as I working from a template. I just traced, cut and sewed.
When the piecing was finished, I quilted the body of the tumblers with cross hatching at 1". A loop-de-loop for the first border and in the ditch for the second. I made a second quilt in Amish colors, and that one was donated for a radio auction on WPR. I have also worked with this template and made my middle son a bed quilt. I did make the tumber larger...4" finished, I think. No picture of that one, of course, and it bit the dust many years ago. That particular son is very hard on his quilts. But at least they get used!! These days I make quilts for his 3 sons...and son #4 is coming in April *VBS*
Thanks you for your lovely comments regarding my posts on rain and home. I really have pieced my life together from what I was given, and for better or worse, it's the patchwork of my life and my journey..*VBS* How is the journey of your life going???

Slipping into Wednesday.....

the post that should have been born last evening. As usual, what wants to be said is persistant in my being. And what I want to talk about is about 'home'. Like love, I think it means different things to different people. Maybe you and your siblings would write the same 'vision' of home, maybe not. I lean towards the 'not'. But that is for the end of the story.
There are sooooo many definations of home, most are clique-like. "Home is
where your heart is"...a very common one. And I think your heart has alot to do with it, but it's not that simple. In early childhood, I took a road less traveled, a exceptionally stubborn child, I chose my 'own' path, not that of my family. I isolated myself in a world, of my creating, that suited me. A world where I felt safe and that no one come into. I created a 'house' for that inner child, one that would protect her, and one I could always access. As I turned into a teenager and then a young adult, I maintained that 'house' for the wounded child, but I didn't go there anymore. Basically I parented myself, often clashing with the 'powers that be' and are called 'parents'. I think I robbed myself of what a 'home' really is. Not just 4 walls and a floor, windows and a door...that is a house, I lacked a HOME. A place I felt cherished, protected, wanted, loved and safe. Houses have always held a deep fascination for me. I fall in love with houses. Every where I have lived I have picked out the house I REALLY would like to be live in.I love old houses, log cabins, cottages, little snug to the ground havens, tree houses, and even light houses. I see them all as potential places for me.. We bought houses, remodeled houses, changed states, jobs and houses many times. But I came to realize I'd never had a "home". In fact in my mid to late 40's, I realized I didn't know where I lived. Didn't know where home was. It was overwhelming , and not so easy to figure out how to change it. I clung to the semi-stable security of my marriage and children. The answer wasn't there. I came to realize I had to find the answer to the "where do I live....what is home?" within myself. It was a long journey of dead ends, discoveries, learning and losses.
The first picture is the cover jacket from a book called "Pictures of Home" by Colin Thompson, an English artist and author. It was reprinted with permission of the Leeds Permanent Building Society in 1992-93. It's one of my favorites from the book. All of the illustrations are equally elaborate in detail, much thought and imagionation went into each of them. The book added a piece to
puzzle I was assembling. Frequently my middle sister(7 years younger and many different memories) and I talk about the place we called home for 9-10 years of my life. For her it was longer. I graduated and left home when she was 11. This is NOT the house she and I talk about. I don't have a picture of that big brick house on Main St. From there she moved to a smaller house across town. I, of course, was out conquering the world and education, marriage and travels. I know the big brick house on Main St. as home, but only because it housed me for those 9-10 years. The house in the second picture, the one on Cliff St. is what comes to mind when I think about my home. I don't know how old I was when we moved in here. Somewhere between 15 months and 4 years. My memories go back to age 4. This is the house where I lived with my Mom, Dad, Gram Flint, and eventually my middle sister. We moved away in 1948 when she was 1 1/2 yrs old. She has no memory of this house.
In this house, I had a home, safety, warmth, love and protection, family. I was secure my world was complete. In this house, I loved my Grandma Lottie deeply and was always nurtured and protected. Nothing terrible, other than tonsil and appendix removal happend to me. I was a child and this was home. We rented only the upstairs of this big house, but in my head and heart it was the place I knew I could always come and be safe.
Rebellious children drive their parents insane. I know because my first daughter was enough to make you pull your hair out. Not bad, nor naughty....just a flibbety jib, a will-o-the-wisp, a clown. Like trying to keep a wave upon the sand. And I think I was well primed by age 8 to overthrow the parental management and do it myself. And I did, which extreme consequences.
But most of that is behind me now. I know where I lived, altho it's not rooted in any history. I have a sense of "place". I lost my beloved golden after 10 years together, and with him went a large piece of my security. The DH left, the golden arrived and I transfered my need for attachment and love to him. I'm not sure I've ever loved a person as deeply as I came to love that dog. But then, maybe no human has ever accepted me the way he did. It's three years this month that he has been waiting at the rainbow bridge for me. I walked alone most of those 3 years. Last September I relented and asked for a companion and Ebony came into my life. Luckily I adore her, as she's NOT a cat I would have brought home if I had chosen for myself. I'm used to cats that cuddle, and love you, and enjoy being picked up....and she does NONE of that. I wish it would change, and maybe it will. We've been together 6 months now, and there is a small level of trust on her part. She is teaching me about patience, and loving something inspite of the limitations. We have a genuine affection forming day by day. She adds to my sense of place. She greets me when I come home, and cries if I am in a room other than where she is, and she can't find me until I call her name. I think that means I'm becoming her security....*VBS*

In Search of Winn-Dixie......again

I keep this picture from last summer in my picture file. I don't keep most of the daily pictures I show, and almost never scenery. But so many good memories are attached to this particular picture, I needed to have it.
This side window box, which is just outside where I sit at the computer, is the one where my little female hummingbird did her daily grocery shopping.
However, it's not window boxes or hummingbirds that are on my mind tonight,
but rain. And that is because it's raining in my corner of the world. This doesn't happen all that often this time of year, and when it does, it's dicey. If the temp holds above 32 degrees, it stays rain, it it cools even a little, it become freezing rain, and a few degrees more and it's snow...usually ON top of the ice. November through April in WI and rain is NOT a good thing. But I love rain....it's one of my most favorite things...*VBS* I love the smell of rain, and the sound of it. I love the sound tires make on wet pavement, and the streaks of water running down the windows, I don't like being in the rain anymore, unless it's a nice warm misty drizzle, that you can barely feel on your face, but that soaks through your clothes. When I was younger, as in my 20's, I like any form of rain I could find. I had a lovely army style raincoat that was waterproof and a fun pair of boots. My hair was short and being wet wasn't a problem. We lived in Biloxi, MS for a year, and I enjoyed walking through the old Biloxi Cemetary and seeing rain on the lawns and old gravestones. I loved the sway of the Spanish moss hanging from the trees. I walked the beach of the Gulf of Mexico and enjoyed the stormy sea and the breakers crashing on the shore.
The next year we lived in Oregon, on the coast near Tillamook, and I loved the rain that dropped before going over the Cascade Mountain range. In Oregon damp seems to be a permanent state of being most of the year.
Back in WI I've seen every kind of rain that is know to our state...and love most of them. Ah, for a covered or screened in porch, a wide porch swing and an evening rain fall. The very best of times....for me. I love falling asleep to the sound of rain.
But if I wanted that tonight, I'd risk freezing to death. Even my down comforter couldn't keep me warm if I left the window open. There is a sharp breeze from the south east, and altho the rain fall sounds so very lovely as I opened the window by the computer, the cold coming in, is extreme. Not enough to turn the rain to snow, but cold. Ebby is braving the cold and sitting on the window ledge as I write this. She had to run the gauntlet of me picking her up and putting her on the window, but for whiff of the rain fresh air, she risked it. And now she's down again and W.I.L.D...LOL. Apparently rain scented night are intoxicating....*S*

Pieced for pleasure....

and quilted with love. This charming scrap quilt was given to me Christma,1995. My friend based it on something she had seen in a book or magazine. She is a very traditional quilter, reluctant to warm up to the rotary cutter age. Often her scraps(the small ones) are cut with a scissors, after the shape being drawn on with a template and pencil. She does lots of machine applique(satin stitch) but very little machine quilting. This one is hand quilted with Baptist fans...not freeform however..*VBS*
It's not a charm quilt, as some fabrics are used more than once. One of the tricks of this particular pattern was that one or two of the 'stars' be all the same color. I only see two when I look, this reddish one above, is one of the two.
Most of the stars are very scrappy. The finished size of each little section(a sq. in a sq.)measures 2". I don't know if she pieced it as a square in a square or did hour glass set with fabric squares. Either way, it's lots of piecing...*VBS*

You remember that I showed you my front yard last week on Thursday? It looked like this:

What a difference a few days of warmer weather makes. This picture was snapped this morning, same view...much more yard showing. I think I have seen the first robin, and last evening I heard geese going south. Spring must be on it's way.

The day drawing in on itself...

like a slowly moving gray velvet curtain, being drawn across the stage. A one act play, no scenery changes....a gray and gloomy, find-me-some-color kind of day. Not the best of days, but not the worse, either. It was a day with promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Mid afternoon found me driving the river road, south from my little valley to another, to see my M.D. The trees stark and shaded black against what is left of the snowy landscape. No sun to cast long shadows today. The meandering little Eau Galle River, barely 8 feet across ,has become a roaring tyrant, since yesterday. Northern snow melt, of the past few days, has sent huge amounts of water southward in WI and MN. And probably other states near us , like North Dakota. A river that runs through New Ulm, MN rose 10 feet in 2 hours yesterday, putting it above 'flood' stage.
It's par for the course this time of year.
And so today I'll show you a bit of color, not much, but some. Like one lonely daffodil, that spot of yellow....*VBS* It's a little quilt I made a few years back. It's based on one I saw in Little Quilts All Through The House. I hand quilted this one. The second picture is one of my new books from Hamilton Books, and altho there are no quilts in there that I couldn't make without the book, it's fun to see the pictures and how they 'staged' the doll quilts..*VBS* If you haven't check out Hamilton Book at http://hamiltonbook.com/hamiltonbook.storefront
please give it a look-see. This particular book is a $22.95 book, and I bought it,
new, for $6.95. Lots of bargains to be had there, and the shipping is reasonable...very reasonable.
After looking through the book, I think I may make the all triangle pair one that is under the doll in the cradle.
I'm going to do some kind of amending on that outer border of the quilt I asked you about yesterday, and then will baste it for a quick quilt. About the curved piece pattern, I'll look for what information I have about it and email you..*VBS* Hope everyone had some sunshine today, it sure wasn't in my corner of the world.

assorted pieces......

and all they have in common is that they are all from my bag of scraps. Nearly all of what I create is, you know..*VBS* The first little quilt was made about a year ago. It has lain in a pile of UFO...the problem? I think the outer border is too wide. Betsy says it's not. I think it over powers the quilt. Shall I cut it narrower? Probably not a dolly quilt for children..just a little quilt from play time. I used to make a lot of those, but have gotten away from it until lately. I had forgotton how much fun it is to make little quilts..*S*
Second picture is of some piecing. It's an idea I am trying. I think almost every one has seen the directions for that curved piece border that was around 4 or 5
years ago?? Well I took a few of my 1.5" strips, and made a band. Then I cut one of the border curves, fit it the strip and sewed it down. What I'm thinking of doing is entending that curve piece to turn these two combined items into a square block vs. a 3 or 4" border. Or I could cut the string section longer and go square from that side. Time will tell.
It's a lovely 46 degree day already, here in WI...sunshine and lots of melting snow. I've errands to run today, a gift certificate to use by the 15th and of course I'd rather be sewing! Our nice weather is suppose to be gone after tomorrow, so I'd better run today.

Imagining.....

and altho it looks wrong, I think I spelled it right? Should be just like beginning, right? Anyway....LOL...Some of us look at the world, our lives(especially our lives) as being much like a photo album of images. If we are sighted, that is. So many things lend themselves to 'masking' what we show others, what we show the world. Masks are a primative art form, and I love them. But, I am not a
mask maker, at least not of tangible materials. I think about it, but the furthest I get is drawing them.
This wall quilt was given to me by a guild member back in 1994. She and I had worked together with Animal Spirit cards at our November retreat. In December, she gave me this 'mask' she had whipped up for me. It's quite the wild and crazy piece...much more popular now than 10 years ago. In the first pic, I left the color as it photographed. The back ground is actually orange grove orange. Hopefully I did what I should have so you can click and enlarge the pictures. It's doen entirely on the sewing machine, and quite creatively. I love it. It spends most of it's time on my sewing room wall and is in good company with my little quilt from Tonya R. at http://lazygalquilting.blogspot.com/ which features an eye...*VBS*
The party was fun yesterday, but I have to confess that even 4 hours with a 5 yr. old, a 4 yr old, a three yr old and one almost 2 yr old is very exhausting. And I was just on the sidelines!!!!! Home and Ebony looked very, very good by 7:30. I snoozed my way through the clock changing, as usual. I just live with it for a few days, getting up at my usual time and ignoring what the clock says. I have gotten borders on the two doll quilts from yesterday, and will run those up with flannel backings later today. I can give you just a bit more information about the long rug, but I'll leave that for a later post..*S*

New Beginnings.....

which includes the newest rug I am working on in the evening. Jean and I figured out a way to make a rectangle shape using double crochet. Which is nice because you only incread at the corners.
I have been working on a couple more doll quilts for the day care. The one at the left are 3" blocks that I did in a paper piecing class 101...pretty silly things. A couple of borders now and those are outta here! The second one is just left over 4 patches and the beginnings of borders. Having to clean and de-clutter before the inspection kind of ruined my sewing plans this week.
Now that it's over, I can get back to whatever I want to work on. It shouldn't take long to finish up these two and pass them along. The kids are still crazy for more dolly quilts, so what the heck?? I'm having fun! And getting alot of odd and ends of orphan blocks used. I'm off to a birthday party this afternoon, Jean's grandson is turning 4...*VBS* Should be fun!

The camera is found.....

and at last, I have the pictures I was snapping last Thursday! The first 2 are snaps of our blizzard, taken through the window. The orange machine is our villages biggest snow plow. You can see it has the 'tank' style trac wheels instead of tires. Good thing too! We got about 14" of fresh snow that day.
I snapped these from the window by the computer and thought I'd go out to the patio for another one. Somehow I managed to stop off in the sewing room and lay the camera on the ironing board. Competely forgot about going outside and at some point laid fabric on top of the camera....LOL. Found it yesterday when I was cleaning and straightening up for the inspection.
These last 3 pictures I snapped outside today while getting the mail. We are having a spring thaw...*VBS* We have some incredibly large snow banks that need to melt, but with temps in the 40's it won't take too long. The first pic is of the view I usually snap for you..looking south. Second one is my front yard, taken from the street, looking north.

Last one is of my house taken from out by the mail box. Lots of snow! There are blooming apricot trees over at Libby's,
http://simplylibby.blogspot.com/ and daffodils at Linda J's http://catsnqlts2.blogspot.com/ so far that's it for spring blossoms. I'm sure more of you have posted them also if you have them. We are about a month from even the tinest flower I think. Altho tulips may coming up next to south facing wall if sheltered, but will surely die if we have freezing rain.

My drug of choice......

in today's world, that statement has a very negative implication. I am, however, quite happy to tell you about my drug of choice..,,it's color. It has been my drug of choice for a very long time. I don't think I stand alone in my choice. I suspect there are many, many quilters, who, when thinking about it,

would answer the same .

Color is so much more than 'just' color. It has a life, movement, suspense, a pupose for being. I'll explain a little, from where I stand. Color speaks to me, it calls my name and lures me out of my hidden places and into a field of sunlight and breeze, of clouds drifting along and birds singing.

Once I'm there, which is often, I am free to 'see' and use and slurp up as much color as I can hold.

Color has always been a part of my life. But my imagionation was busy with other things, like growing up as wild and free as I could manage. I had burning leaf piles to absorb, and snow flakes on my tongue, shadows that the setting sun makes, so different than the shadows on a snowy day. The song of the birds, and the whistle of the steam engines pulling their load of freight past my house. How I loved those steam engine whistles. And how I missed them after the last steam engine lead the brand new "400" into and through Chippewa Falls, that fateful day in the 1950's. But enough about that....I've got color on my mind today. And what it means to me.

We are in a 'holding' pattern right now...winter is on it's death bed, even with it's snow pile pillows piled high, very soon the sun will have it's way and destroy the snow. It will warm the frozen ground, and grass so green it hurts your eyes, will grow instead. With my memory banks nearly full...color dominates my life.

Color is more than just what your eyes see. But sight is the beginning of measure.

Yellow, brillant and warm as daffodils always makes me happy. Red, pulling you towards it, you feel the heat of it's passion, it's intensity, it's strength and you sense(but don't see) how strong and wild it can be. Blue, a mother's touch, peaceful, like the sky or a field of bluebells, it's dependable. Green, for me it soothes, invites me to lay down and have a think, or maybe dream. Green has strengh, almost as much as red, but it has a nervous energy lying beneath, that gets you up and moving again. Green is like motion. Brown, such a earthy color, dependable, grounded, gentlly treating the colors around it with reverance. Enhancing them, leading them on. Black...well, black is like an adjative to me.

It seems to describe what other colors are. How could the stars sparkle so brightly without the proper shade of black to accent them. Or maybe black is like an exclaimation point in nature, making sure you don't miss seeing something. White undulates like warm, melted marshmellow, sliding across areas, allowing other things to be highlighted and change.

Turquoise, teal and aqua are for swimming in. You can dive into them and float along or madly flail about....a liquid color, always. No stopping teal or turquoise except with purple or orange....*VBS* Purple is yummy, and can be so many things at any given time. It anchors but also assists, you can lean on purple. Now magenta is a whole another story...*S* Magenta flows like a river. It picks things up and carries them along. It can take as many forms as a river, frozen at times, bubbling up and outrageous at others.

Orange is everybodys friend. About the only color it doesn't get along with is pink. But if the pink is wild enough, outrageous enough, well then,they go together just fine! If you think of the other colors for a moment, you realize there isn't really any one of them that you haven't seen orange interacting with.

Peek into your crayon or paint box, your thead drawer or fabric stash, and colored paper works well too. What do you see?????? Are you happily addicted to color???

Meet Miss November....

from my year of quilts..*VBS* It's my DGD by marriage, Alisen. She got a quilt for her birthday. It's one of my Mile A Minute quilts(6.5" blocks), with her name(6.5") added. I had this one longarm quilted for her, with flannel backing, in 2002.. She's 15 now, and in Driver's Ed. She has this quilt on her bed all the time, and her friendship star snuggle quilt near by...*VBS* I've have gotten to sleep under both or them...LOL

Yesterday was a busy day, and I didn't make it to the computer to read or play cards. Today will be almost as busy, as will tomorrow. Hopefully by Friday, my life will be my own... again. AND, hopefully, I WILL have found the camera. The places I could have set it down are narrowing...LOL Keep those home fires burning til I return. Hugs, Finn

Two Color Quilts....

altho traditional, are not that pleasing to me. This is Baby Julia, born fall,1999. She got this two color quilt, made in the robins egg blue and muslin. I was pleased with the quilt, especially liking the double diagonal runs that the 4 patches make. The block is a double 4 patch, but must be set a certain way to obtain the double runs. Usually if I can figure out what is a "block", I can make almost any quilt I've seen. This one kept me on my toes! The camera still has not surfaced, & so a scanned picture again today. (Sorry about that) But I have new motivation in cleaning. Unit inspection comes up again this Friday, happens with the time change. They change the furnace filter and check the smoke alarms....so, best I get myself into a 'cleaning' mode! As always, clutter is the enemy. I just don't have a big enough rug to sweep it under..

The second picture is from my year of quilts, Baby Julia, growing up and looking good at 2 years. Her mom told DD that the quilt goes everywhere that Julia goes..*VBS*

How To Tell if the Baby Quilt was Loved.....

Meet Michon. She is Miss February, on my year of quilts calendar. And yes, that is her baby quilt she is holding. And no, she won't let her mom get rid of it. It lives under or next to her pillow, even tho she was in driver's ed in 2003. About
18 or 19 years ago, she received a Mother Goose baby quilt. It was a print panel
that I hand quilted at that time. Back then I wasn't graced with a picture of the baby and the quilt, that came later. I had no clue, until Christmas of 2002, when I opened my present, what the fate of that baby quilt was.
Appropiately, I got to make a graduation quilt for her, last May. She went off to college at the University of Minnesota, all grown up, and with a new quilt.
All that remains of that old baby quilt is where the quilting held it to the batt and the backing. As you can see the rest is gone, leaving a mesh like foundation of what was the front. I shake my head in amazement....you can see why making all those baby quilts isn't really a burden.
The second picture(where ever blogger puts it) is of the 3 M sisters. All three are holding the baby quilts that I made. Michon and Madelyn are only a couple of years apart in age. Litte Jaclyn came along later.
I'm glad to read you are enjoying the year of quilts calendar. Today I will do a thorough search for the camera, and if that doesn't work??? Well then I'll just have to tear the house apart!!*VBS*

The Midnight Hour....

The road before me stretches out as far as I can see. The evening had been delightful, and I have stayed too long. The world seems very dark as the midnight hour approaches. But home I need, and to it, I must go. A compelling force moves you towards your desire. Above and all around me, the night is bewitching. A full,frigid, silvery moon, stands guard, high in a bluish gray velvet sky...no stars. Tonight, it seemed, this could have been any road, leading anywhere, at any time in history.
The road winds, gently at time, abruptly at others, leading you eventually up and out of the coulee and onto a nice straight state highway. Here and there the reflective signs 'flash' a message at you...curve ahead....deer crossing. The occasional yard light tells you of the century we live in. Most of the river road is just trees, curves, rocks rolling down from hill sides, drop-off road sides that lead down to the meandering river below. It's a small river in this cold season, but it becomes a roaring, snarling monster with the spring rains.
So much of this road is just that....a road through the countryside. Tucked in between the crumbling sandstone ridges of tumbling rocks, and the river, no one lives here. It takes so little imagination to put yourself into a sleigh, behind a dark horse, who is trotting rapidly homeward to a warm barn.
It's the kind of moonlight night you see on christmas cards, and from the back of memory come the words "Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie, beneath thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars, go by".
I drive slowly, aware of the hour, the lack of a cell phone and the extreme aloneness of my journey. The road is snow packed and icy. In 7 miles of river road, only one other car. That is what makes it memorable, and an adventure. Maybe I am young Almonzo Wilder driving my faithful horse to find the homesteader with wheat to sell. Alone on this frostly night, looking for a light, looking for home.

A Year of Quilts......

Christmas 2002 brought me a new calendar from DD#1. She had gone back to some of the children I had made baby quilts for, and taken a picture of them
at their current age...posing with their baby quit. She and I have a deal,I make baby quits for her friends as they have babies, and I get a picture of the baby on or with the quilt. There have been many babies and quilts over the past 20 years. During 2003, I got to enjoy seeing one of my quilts and it's child each month, all year long. The quality of her photographs is so good, I couldn't possibly part with that calendar...*VBS* Today I am camera-less! And not in a good way. It's lost. I think the ice worms and snow snakes snuck in here and took it to photograph their midnight antics. I've looked high and low, but no camera. So a scanned picture it is, for today. The charmer in the picture is Baby D, renamed Nicky by his new adoptive parents. He got this bright and happy toddler size string quilt, complete with frog borders and backing. When you are making string quilts, don't forget about flannel scraps! I don't cut them as narrow, and I don't use foundation. They piece up nicely and trimmed to 6.5" work well in a quilt.
I have new things to show you, but first I gotta find that camera!!

Old Pieces....

quite old, I would say, based on the graphics and colors. This one is a personal favorite among my vintage sewing items. A few needles remain on the inside. No clue, of course, if they are original to the package. This one was given to me by a friend years back and is different than any I have.
Do you collect sewing antiques? I am in love with old graphics. Bias tape packages, old thimbles and wooden spools, needle packages and quaint small scissors. I'm not lucky enough to have vintage measuring tapes, but I keep an eye out for them. Old pincushions are a favorite....especially the homemade ones. Haven't added much to my
collection lately. Seems like I haven't been in an antique store in ages.




Do you have an older sewing item to share with us??