From tall pine country of northern WI.....

I make my quilt from scraps of flannel. To small to be use for anything else, they come to life in a quilt. From the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, I make the quilts that covered the beds of The Waltons. A deepening Depression challenges the nation. Scraps pulled from the bag reveal a families' history. Aprons, nightgowns, dresses and shirts...to be used in patchwork perfection. Simple, plain and the medium in which I choose to work. Crossing the prairies of the heartland.....
..I make the quilts of the westward settlers....advancing across the nation like a slow moving tide. Wagon wheel ruts worn as deep as wrinkles forming in the faces. No yardage to speak of, but bits and pieces and parts. A remembrance from a friend, a sister, another woman......a quilter. Daily life challenges me further... a small quilt becomes a burial shroud. A grave by the wagon trail. The sorrow, longing for home. Accepting the possibility of never seeing beloved family faces again....I finger the scraps in my bag, and plan another quilt in my head. Up and into mountain passes, the endless snow of higher elevations, the river
crossings, I form a new connection to family and the frail nature of life. And I piece on a quilt top...wondering "where will I baste this one?", "will I have time to quilt before winter?".....
The lingering while winter passes, an army fort, hating the life, put 'on hold' til spring, longing for a solid roof over my head, a hearth to call my own...I piece this top. A new baby on the way, again. Will I deliver safely? Will it live, grow up and sleep under this quilt I piece? And then spring, moving onward, heading west....the top almost completed...
In the doorway of a newly built log cabin, I stand and gaze across the grasslands, the rolling hills, towards the mountain off in the distance. Snow covered and so beautiful, a new home. New beds to cover with quilts, if I can. How many pieces still in the scrapbag? Time will tell. Will there be woman neighbor with whom to finger the scraps, I hope so. I have many more quilts to make. And since we can't see the future, thanks to God curving the earth so we can't see too far ahead, I do as I have always done. I do the best I can, where I am, with what I have. And that is what my quilts say about me, altho you may not be able to read that message.
I make the quilts of the log cabins, and the quilts of the farmhouse clotheslines. I make quilts from simple patterns, passed from quilter to quilter. I do not yearn for what I do not have. I have no desire for fame nor fortune nor recognition. That is not who am I. Those are not the quilts I choose to make. That will not change. With or without Robert Frost's 'woods'...."I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." *VBS*
*****read Sweet Pea's blog that inspired me to write this about the quilts I make. What quilts do you choose to make?

The minutes...the hours...the days(warning-soapbox time)

these being one of the ways the human race keeps track of things. It's not a new concept, even animals know the signs of what "is" and what "will be". In thinking about this idea of 'tracking', I realized that quilters do in their own unique way. We 'run the stitches'...or at least we used to. It's a smaller population, these days, than when I started hand quilting in the 1980's.It's hard to explain exactly what I mean by "running the stitches". It relates to the rhythm... Patti knows, and a few others I am aware of. Hand quilting lives on, thank goodness. In the history of quilting, this quilt would not be considered OLD. It's pretty much a "newbie" and would be for many more years. It was quilted in 1986, as part of a class I taught on hand quilting. This closeup is a 2008 picture...thanks to digital!
The quilt in the 1986 picture, definitely FILM. My, oh my, my hair isn't silver in this one...LOL
But then, it was 22 years ago....I suppose that makes a different....for my hair, at least. The quilt hasn't changed much over that 22 years.
This is the quilt this morning, in my little house in the valley, where both the quilt and I live. Has the quilt been used? You bet! Washed in the washing machine with Tide, and dried in the drier? Yup. Certainly not every week, but often enough. Many of the red prints are quite faded with use.
It's a utility quilt. The only beauty you will find in this quilt is the quilting. I zipped up 12" 9 patches, assorted, basted up the top, and began teaching the class. If I had stopped to think I suppose I might have taken time and pieced something worthwhile...but it was a last minute thing for Community Education....and I still had 4 kids in school. Fast was good.
Technically, this top doesn't merit this type of hand quilting. Might as well get your head straight on that one. Some tops merit the time and effort. Some don't. That doesn't stop a person from doing it anyway...just ask me. Over the years, it's NOT a quilt that I have been proud of, nor that I share with others at show and tell. Yes, even the Very Maverick Finn falls prey to the "critics". I'm in tune with knowing what is 'suitable', 'acceptable' and what is just plain embarrassing. But ya know what?(in my best WI accent) I think we ALL need get over that! Everyone has a place where they started. If you don't have humble beginnings,in your quilt making, then you're kidding someone....the critics or just yourself. Very few of us make Baltimore Beauties as an early effort. And lately I've wondered, IF this Almighty Perfection Syndrome is such a big deal, how can those same quilters RAVE about the Gee's Bend quilts? Trust me, the Quilts of Gees Bend were NOT intentionally made as Art Quilts. They were made for USE, WARMTH, and of necessity.
I've been thinking that more of us, with ANY accomplishments in quilting, should be ALOT more tolerant of what new quilters make. We should encourage them, and tell them we all started somewhere, and to be proud of their efforts. Find something to like about the quilt they are showing us. Just plain squares sewn together keep you as warm and dry as a Baltimore Album quilt.
I was blog hopping a day or so ago, and on someone's blog...(please tell me if it was you and I'll put a link)... the blogger asked "what kind of quilts do you like to make???" It got me thinking about what I choose to piece, what I ignore, and WHY....but that's for another post.

Detour.....

The midwest winters REALLY do a 'number' on our highways and byways. It's often said that we have 4 seasons, summer, autumn, winter and POTHOLES! I'm sure you know what I mean...*VBS* My detour isn't because the pavement has collasped or broken away. It's the upcoming birthday of Grandson#8. He'll be turning 5 in early April. And I decided I had JUST enough time to get a top quilted up and bound and in the mail by next week! Ambitious plan for a slow-mover like me *S*. But I got it pinned.And late last evening I started machine quilting it. So far only 2 rows need picking out. So much for 11 p.m. quilting! This is an older project, a larger Quiltville Trip around the World. I divided it into 2 40" X 60" snuggle quilt tops. Went off to Linda J. for WTIL. And when I finish up this top...
..here's what I have ahead of me this year. These tops hang on the sewing room door...there are 7 or 8 on these hangers...some hangers hold 2 or 3 small wall quilts. I seem to be able to ignore them quite nicely.
Then there are these, another 8 bigger tops, hanging in the stash closet. That's as much room as I have for tops on hangers. The rest are folded neatly into the dresser drawers of the units that support my cutting board. I won't BEGIN to talk about what is in the UFO project bags and boxes *VBS*
Friend Jean's car died an untimely death on Sunday, and she won't be able to secure a new car until next Monday. I've been picking her up(10 miles away) and driving her to work here n the valley, and then doing the reverse trip at 8:30 p.m. when she is finished. I don't mind, ss I have a car, she's a good friend, and I DO have the time. What I didn't realize was how much it breaks up your day...but only a couple more days and she'll be all set *VBS*
Youngest son has just been laid off work for the second time since November(*!@$&!) and is coming 'home' today for some TLC(read "food") and a hug! Lucky me *VBG* There goes my day! Oh well....I'll be back tomorrow with something new to talk about, right??? Hugs for all of you...Finn

My W.I.P. Wednesday report...on time for a change!

I've only been a part of the More Quilting for Fun group a few months. I'm not very good at ring hopping, but I do try to meet the WIP Wednesday commitment.I showed you these blocks back a week or so ago when I finally completed all 64 of them...this photo is from the older picture program I had with Dell.Note the color difference in the next picture from the Windows program.And here lie the blocks today *VBS* Spread out all over the sewing room floor, but IN ROWS and getting stitched together. Definitely a work in progress!
I have 8 rows of 8 blocks each and altho I usually do the "webbing" Bonnie describes at Quiltville, this time I decided to just lay them out and sew them 2 X 2. I have 5 rows done, and hope to finish up the last 3 yet this afternoon. Then comes joining the rows to each other...oh joy! And finding border fabrics. If I had more of the Hoffman cream background, I'd probably do a narrow light and then some color, like grape, but I don't have even a smidgen of the cream left, and it's ELDERLY..not much chance of finding any more(story of my life). So I'm thinking of a narrow kind of dull celery green. There used to be a Roberta Horton Plaid in that color, it's in the triangles. And for the outer border, probably a soft frosted type grape-ish purple. What do you think???

Thoughts on being 'stuck'...and other quilty stuff...

I've been STUCK. Isn't that just the oddest word? You say outloud...."I'm stuck", and then wonder, what the heck does that mean, really? I think about the "tenses", learned in years and years of English, at school. "I stick", "I am stuck", "I have been stuck". The dictionary is clinical...I'm not a marshmellow, squewered on a stick. Nor a pig to be butchered, stuck with a knife to bleed out...yuk! I'm the kind of "stuck" you can't see. Even I couldn't see it until recently, but I sure have been feeling the effects of being it. It seems like you wander around the area, and never quite GET to 'the area'. Last evening I did. I sure as heck don't know why, because I spent the entire day wandering around in my nightgown doing almost nothing.
And rhen BOOM! I stepped up and pulled out the "stuck" by doing something that has been left undone since our failed family Christmas gathering on Dec. 23rd. No rhyme or reason to it...and not that big a deal, except to me. Once it was done, I felt wonderful, refreshed, relaxed and re-newed in spirit. I guess that's what success feels like...who knew??? It started me thinking about what "being stuck" means beyond the simple explaination of "unable to go forward". I think maybe we get "stuck" in our opinions, our way of looking at things, all sorts of ways. Some habits are good, some....not so much. And I'm beginning to wonder if we are to go forward as a civilization, maybe we aren't going to have to work on getting "un-stuck" about some things.
And...in the quilty department, my friend Sue over at From the Magpie's Nest showed her cutting area last week(or earlier this week). She thought it was pretty bad. Well, Sue, hope this makes you feel better *VBS*A week ago, the cutting board was EMPTY..cleared off and neat for Jean's sewing day at my house. Then I went back to cutting for my Clare challenge *S*.
And then I brought home Betsy's scraps and started a new project late Monday evening...no sense cleaning up just yet.
Last but not least, part of my stash closet and what is leaking out of there. Doesn't look too bad right now.
The boxes hold fabric that is not in use at this time. It will re-appear as needed *VBS* How does YOUR cutting table look???? Are you stuck?

Five Magic Words....

Betsy and I had lunch today...corn pancakes with fresh maple syrup...yum! We both adore them, but are in the minority. So we eat them together *VBS* It's a special treat! Not fancy, but like friendship, warm, satifying and stays with you.
Betsy and I have been friends for more than 20 years now. What a lucky day when her sister-in-law introduced us over the basting of a navy and pink Ohio Star quilt...one of Betsy's first. My, how times have changed!! I gave her the first orange fabric she ever had to make a quilt for her Dad. And there has been no looking back.
This quilt(close-up only) is several months old, but only recently got hung in the dining room. It's a sunny room, with windows on 3 sides, and we use it to baste quilts. Betsy loves that FISH fabric. She has purchased it in more stores than I can remember,over the years, always buying several yards. I think she's cornered the market on that one! I love it, but only have a small piece, supplied by Betsy...LOL. If you love it, you share it!
Over the past weekend, Betsy managed to create yet another WHOLE quilt top, mostly with 2" strips left from other projects, and a few newly cut ones for good measure. She works with amazing speed!! It's a wonderful top, but I delibertely DIDN'T photograph it today *VBS*(I have my reasons *G*). I was so happy just looking at it, lying there on the mexican tile floor.
And then she said those MAGIC words.......there are exactly 5 of them......."Do you want my scraps?" Well, that puts me OVER the MOON! So, the scraps in the pile are 2" leftover strips...not from the FISH quilt, but from the new one. I'm almost certain what I will make with them. I'll have to cut more to go with them....she's used ALL the orange!
And to help me "Paint My Wagon(as the song says)"(note quotation marks!) she even lent me one of her NEW books *VBS* Am I happy camper or what????? *S*S*S*S*S*

Happy Easter Everyone.....

Picture download~Webshots This is the picture I would create if I had the ability. It makes me want to dance and sing, run barefoot through raindrops, dance in the moon light and coverse with flowers and fairies. I wish there were more things in my life that evoked that much response. I'm not complaining, in fact I'm thinking of declaring this a "no complaints zone". Also "nix" on whining. Excuses are still being allowed.
I watched an interesting piece this morning on CBS's Sunday Morning about a small church on a big mission. To reduce the 'complaining' we all do, all across the world, by 10%. They give out those rubbery looking braclets that are showing up everywhere these days. Theirs are purple and you put it on your wrist. Each time you catch yourself in a complaint about something or some one, you take it off and put it on the other wrist. The act of moving it is a conscious act that helps you to be aware of how often you complain. The goal is to achieve 21(yes....21) days with the braclet still on ONE wrist, unmoved.
It's a church project and volunteers mail out braclets worldwide. If you put No Compliants braclet into a search engine, it'll Google you to a list of articles about the beginnings of this movement. It's quite interesting, and along the line of the "Pay It Forward" compaign. For the record, 10 % of the worlds population would require 60 million people wearing a braclet and trying to be more tolerant of the little things that irritate us *VBS* Has everyone had a Peep today???

Onward....1 - 2 - 3...testing...

Each day is a new adventure with my revised computer. Isn't it odd how we 'settle' into the format we have, learn to work with it and depend on it...just as it IS! And then someone(obviously an outsider)takes charge of our computers system...and nothing is ever the same again. Now, I'm a pretty old dog. And while I feel I was perfectly capable of learning ALL the new tricks...I have to admit it takes some getting used to. This new trick is challenging me each day....LOL. You need to know that I'm an "edit" freak, with my pictures. I've grown used to being able to 'crop', 'quick fix' and flip them around at will. But my Dell Image Expert is missing and I have Windows Pictures in it's place....ug!Here is a Friday morning(last week) picture just as dawn was breaking outside my door. And it's un-edited, un-cropped and un-inhanced! Because the computer isn't offering me those options.
The second picture, a few seconds later. My 1-2-3 testing today is to see what I get when I just publish them right out of the camera and the picture file. Double clicking on them takes me to a Paint Shop program, and that's dangerous....LOL I've never used paintshop in all the years I've had computers!
I will get this figured out...honest I will...at least I've gotten the computer to accept the camera with little to no effort...I know there is hope *VBS*
Last, but not least, the 'pint size pleasure crew'. They were here a couple of weeks ago and got a belated Christmas present from my oldest DS's family. Indoor hockey sticks,floor pucks and balls to bat around. Good for indoors and out...but NOT(inside) Gram's house!! I value the china cabinet glass doors. The 8 year old is a 'wild' one when given a ball. I insisted they use their new 'toys' at HOME! Works for me!

Pieces of Easter...past...

Looking across the years, so many Easter bonnets...back when we wore hats and Easter bonnets to church. So many new dresses and maybe a new spring coat or jacket. New shoes for Easter...maybe even shiny ones, like patten leather. And Easter baskets and Easter bunnies, or coloring books, or new jump ropes. Easter seemed like the perfect time for a little 'pick-me-up' after the long spell since Christmas. And of course, the religious observance and an Easter dinner to celebrate the Risen.Little Sister, probably about 6, which would have made me going on 13. Just a 'little' attitude about picture taking, right ? *VBS* Mom always wanted "one more". I think Little Sister wanted her chocolate bunny and I wanted O.U.T.! But it was a pretty dress, a full whirl skirt and the palest shade of lavender, almost a frosted lilac.
Both little sisters, all dressed up for church and looking pretty for Easter. Even when Mom didn't get anything new( Dad almost never did) we had Easter finery...and treats. Many years and many miles separate us now. I'm miles from the sisters, and an eternity away from parents and grandparents, I have the bits and pieces in my scrapbag. The lingering images of those early years, and the baskets I made, or filled or purchased. Bunnies, chicks, red wagons, jump ropes, coloring and story books. Dying eggs that the kids never ate, and all the candy that they loved to eat. I don't think ,as a child, you see or sense this as the 'time' of earth's renewal. Easter is a calendar holiday, a church holiday, a time for family. Spring is what happens later, while you are swinging or playing baseball or jacks or jumping rope. The trees are bare and the grass brown, and then one day the puddles are gone, the sky is blue and green grass greets you in the morning..,.*VBS*, and it's spring!
A little Cracker(pattern name)doll quilt I made last Easter. I brought it back because the colors are soooo Easter, to me *VBS* How is everyone coming in their preparations for the big day occurring on Sunday???

A wild and wacky Wednesday....

and several other days also *VBS* But, I'm back and happy to be here. Happy that my blog survived the crash, and that the tech was able to restore probably 99% of what I had in the computer. I've only done a little wandering around, but all that seems to be missing is the "junk" and the games I purchased and downloaded from Yahoo. All in all not a huge loss.No new pictures just yet, I still have to re-introduce my camera to the computer and see if they'll play nicely together. And the printer, another whole story!
And so we have 'summertime' pictures, from a post I did last summer about a "place of ones own". The chair in the corner of the little patio is a favorite spot of mine...summer morning or evening, it's a lovely place to sit.
Flowers in bloom, and lots of green grass, Ebony and I can hardly wait for that time to be here again. Her cabin fever moods are getting more frequent, but she finds the air outside the door a bit too chilly for her!
My computer seems to be as good as new, and running in tip top shape. The hard drive has been re-formatted, and a new security system(monitored by the phone company) installed and working. My tech guy has ordered additonal memory for this slightly older gal of mine, and with it added we'll max out what it can hold. I should be good to go for a very long time, since I've been running on 128M and we are adding 2(two) 516M memory units. Now I can have all the pictures I want!!!
The crash I had,on Friday, was related to downloading an updated version of the Norton Security system, and luckily I had backed things up before beginning the process. The computer would NOT let me in beyond the start up page, but it couldn't stop the tech....LOL. Thank goodness for compter geek tech guys!!
I've done some sewing and quite a bit of cleaning and organizing during my computers absence. But I sure was happy to have it come home last evening. All's well that ends well...right?

Newsflash...

Hi everybody, This is DD#1 for Finn... her computer has crashed and will not have tech support until next week. Hopes to be hopping back in before the Easter bunny! Big hugs to everyone! Finn & DD#1

The Hours......

so many in a day. Too many, and yet often, not enough. The Hours was an interesting movie about women, and hours do shape the foundation of each day. I think of that movie often, and what "the hours" hold for me and for each of us. Circumstance of life gave me an unpleasant hour the other evening via the comments section. The hours since then have brought a cup filled to overflowing with reassurance from all of you, my dear friends *VBS*A bright moment in an otherwise gloomy day was in my mailbox a few days ago. The sender even remembered that I don't always walk out to get my mail each day, and prompted me to do so *VBS* A new friend, but a very dear one,lives on the shores of Michigan(so to speak). I had linked over to meet Granny Lyn after she left me such a nice comment. She was offering to trade seeds with other bloggers, and I was thrilled to swap seeds with her. It's not that we can't afford seeds to plant, it that's it fun to have something from a friend, to share the sisterhood. These lovely fabrics were in the package along with the packet of seeds! I was just astonished! Granny Lyn you are a sweetheart, you brighten my day, I love the fabric and can't wait to make a wall or table quilt with them *VBS*And I can't wait to have Granny Lyn's marigolds blooming at my house this summer *VBS*
Even more amazing, I have this bundle of tone on tone colors from that DD#1 who tucked them into the flannel she brought for burp cloths for the new baby *VBS* They seem to work perfectly together...don't you just love the lemonade fabric????
And thanks to Julie Q, who challenged me to show my oldest UFO...LOL. I've decided to sew these Paths to Piece(it has other names)in sets of 2 and add them to the Orphan Train quilt I am piecing right now.
.Clare, who heads up the Quilts 4 Leukaemia, challenged me to use pieces from my scrap cutting and make a 12 blocks red and white quilt to be given to a leukaemia patient...I took the challenge *VBS*...I LOVE CHALLENGES! This is the 8.5" block that I will be making for my challenge. I didn't notice til I uploaded the picture, I've got one of the 4 patches sewn in reversed....gotta fix that!

OK Julie......I'll rise to your bait...*VBS*

My friend Julie Q, over at Julie K Quilts has shown her oldest UFO...and it's a lovely 'beginnings' of a quilt top. I commented I wasn't sure I wanted to show something that's ancient.So she challenged me..so here it is, this UFO is OLD.It's been laying around as a pile of blocks since sometime in the 1980's! Yup, that's right...minimum of 20 years, probably more like 25 or 26. Our outgoing guild president selected this block(and an odd size 4 3/8's" for her President's Block)I made one for her and keep on piecing..but I got tired of it. Believe it or not, the pattern there by the blocks,this is PRE-sew and flip! Now it would be a cinch to finish up by doing the sew and flip method on assorted background squares...maybe that will motivate me...right Julie???
Here's a little top I pieced a week or so ago....playing with my 1.5" and 2.5" squares, setting them with whatever was left of that ancient paperdoll fabric. It's as big as I could make it, no more paperdolls to make it bigger(stashbusting!). I added borders yesterday after seeing how Dawn, of Quilts and Pieces just whips 'em together....she gets soooo much done and works too! What is my excuse??? Excuse me while I think of one.........
I'll be doing some quick(I hope) hand quilting on this little doll quilt and giving it to Jean for her birthday, later this month *VBS*
***And in the un-necessary "DRAMA QUEEN" department, the not-so-very dear version of Anonymous wasn't happy with just kicking puppies, yesterday, she stuck her nose in here. Shall we talk about people throwing the first stone? Or maybe tying kitty tails togethe? Or maybe just trying out for Gloom-peddlar of the day?? I think she'd make it.
I've yet to understand how a select "few" can take things OUT OF CONTEXT, and immediately JUMP to a conclusion, and fire their snide remarks.
Perhaps it was an error on my part to offer any of Mr. Lewis's views of the Appliachia area.With a picture of the book and **excerpt** indicated,how oculd anyone think I was taking credit for the content? I have always stood in admiration of the Hill people, of their ability to survive and even thrive in a difficult setting. I would happily have been one of them, and that idea still appeals to me. I also understand that 'outlanders' or outsiders are not particularily welcome there, and they like things just the way they are. That's fine with me. I also own a copy of "A People and Their Quilts" by John Rice Irwin, which I love reading and looking at the quilts. I am thrilled to having found the Mountain Artisans book at a thrift shop not too long ago.
I'd like to share a few more pages of it with you, as the drawings and ideas for quilts are just AMAZING and it's hard to believe that they were put on paper before 1973. Back then much of the fabric was sporting HUGE white daisy type shapes, and flower power ruled! Give me a day or two to get my tail feathers back in order and then I'll scan a drawing or two.
And my apologies to all the NICE anonymous readers, you no longer have a voice here.

"That quilt's a part of the family...."

"It's come down from eldest daughter to eldest daughter since.....oh, I couldn't rightly say when. Long before the War between the States." **Lewis Co. quilter**

In the hollows of the Appalachian Mountains, the tradition of native crafting has thrived uninterruptedly for over two hundred years. It is part of the lives of the people who make their homes in this impressive mountain range. The mountains sweep from New England to Alabama, forming a natural barrier between the commercial Eastern coast and rich farmlands of the Midwest.
Life in those hills has always been harsh....and eking out a living, difficult.. the average stranger wonders why the early pioneers stopped there instead of going on to sweeter lands.


The people who live there, seem to have been molded by the environment. Even in the difficult circumstance forced upon them, they remain proud and independent. The old ways and beliefs do not die easily. A sense of family runs deep, and collective memory traces its way back to the very beginning. They work, not merely to survive, but because this is what it means to be human. Work gives dignity within family and community. Charity is anathema, except for the help they give each other.
They do for themselves, making with their own hands that which cannot be bought in the store. The secrets of the old crafts have been passed generation to generation, despite the encroaching industrialization of the nation.
And for we, who do not live in the hills, a sense of loss and longing for something that has been torn away from us. And a desire to make a personal statement by means of an old craft.** For me that craft is quilting. It is my connection to what has gone before and what will come after, when I am no longer here.**
The gift of quilting is like the gift of music. You have to love it. You have to want to make something beautiful and lasting. Something that will 'speak' about the 'who' of your being.
Excerpts from "The Mountain Artisans Quilting Book", by Alfred Allan Lewis...published 1973 by McMillian House.

**To whom it may concern** I am not taking credit for writing this, that is why the Lewis Co. Quilter i.d. is by the quote. The remainder of the information is para-phrased, for the most part, as Mr. Lewis uses many additional description words in each sentence. If I were quoting him exactly I would have used QUOTATION marks.
The Mountain Artisans Quilting Book has become difficult to find, and my intention was to share knowledge of its existance with the quilting community.

Ready??? Set....Switch....

'and like a good neighbor, Daylight Saving Time is here! I'm not ready. I'm never ready. I'm from the set that wishes they would make it all ONE way or the other, and stop the flip-flopping. Flip flopping, in my opinion is highly over rated! Fish do it, and what does it get them??As I promised yesterday, and not really a big deal, here is the first of my Mile A Minute(crumb) quilts. It's fairly small, but it's flannel backed and Jean loved it. What I like best is the royal blue and cheddar together *VBS*. It's utility quilted with perle cotton.
This particular 'oldie-but-goodie' is one I WISH I owned. Actually Jean wished she did also. We worked on this one together, taking a very old top from a closet shelf dweller to a useable bed quilt. The gal who owns it wasn't will to pay for quilting, so Jean and I tied it with a string-like cord, making small inconspicious ties. The tone of the picture is correct. Those blocks that appear faintly pink(as if a photo blur) are actually the colors they appear. This was made by someone who knew what she was doing. And I suspect she was a scrap quilter.
Came across this oldie while looking through old pictures. My three oldest, taken back in 1973-74. The littlest girl is the one who now has the new baby. My oldest DD, who turned 40 last year, and my oldest DS, who will be 39 in a few days *VBS* It is very strange to find your children becoming parents, and even stranger as you see them age.
On the home front, I had lunch with Betsy this week. She tells me that her DGD, who is now 3 months old, is up to 12 pounds. Everyone in that little family is doing well, despite Chicago's snowy winter.
Her amarylis is in full bloom and just beautiful in it's ruby glow. She has hung a new quilt in her dining room, and I MUST get a picture for you. It's wonderful!! She has a new project in the works, a Jacob's Ladder variation that we did together about 10 years back. She loves the 4 in 9 patch that I'm inspired by.
Ebby has been a horrible, awful, terrible bad cat the past few days, I think it's time for spring so I can open a window for her. I think she's got cabin fever! What worked best yesterday was pretending I was deaf and didn't know she was here...LOL

Think..."Raindrops Keep falling on my Head"....

now substitue in the word "scraps"...and sing along with me *VBS* What's on my cutting board today???? A new project... mile a minute blocks(crumb) that will become a spring table runner or square. That Aunt Gracies type fabric will be the setting blocks and triangles.
And just to complicate my scrap cutting, a side trip into the tin of mile a minute blocks...lots of new pieces and parts added and that completes many of them to 6.5". It's amazing how fast they pile us as finished blocks!!
You didn't really think I'd cut ALL those scraps into sensible useable shapes and sizes, did you? That would be too predictible and slightly anal. I love the idea of having stacks and stacks of already cut strips and squares and triangles, but I also love the stitching with NO cutting except the squaring up. I came across the picture of my first Mile A Minute quilt, given to friend Jean the Christmas of 1998. I'll post that tomorrow.
Having given my most recently completed MAM quilt to a pint sized grandson in January, I feel the need to have another one made and ready to utility quilt this summer. That one was twin size and made while I was 'between homes' back in 2002. It's a pretty long time not to have made another, so I am going to change that. One nice result from the 'over time' scraps and piecing is that you get lots of variety in the blocks. I favor smaller pieces patched together. Eventually you have to use larger scraps or strips to finish out the size. With the vintage fabric, the blocks are only 3.5" finished, so no bigger pieces are needed.

A child of the forest.......always

and not the prairie. Parts of WI were prairie, at one time. And some of the long grass prairie still exists here, in land preserves.But the long grass prairies of Laura Ingalls Wilders life and stories are foreign to me. I understand the cool, darkened sun-dappled woods of my childhood. The wind blows there, but nothing like prairie wind. For me, the prairie is more of an 'idea' and state of mind, than an actual place. I love the word...prairie. It triggers some long distant memory fragment that I can't quite get hold of. I learned several years back that prairie is a french word, and means meadow...one of those strange bits of information that lingers.
Yesterday was a snowy, gray day...some wind, but more than that, it was a day my furnace decided to 'go stubborn' and resist firing to light the gas. The furnace man was called, and I had a nice long wait for his arrival. I pulled this book from my shelves, and sat down for a closer look *VBS*(*very big smile*)
It's a book of quilts inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder and was written by a New York woman who moved to Walnut Grove, MN. For the most part the quilts are small one. I saw several that might tempt me to cut scraps for. That was until I saw this one. It's hard to explain how one quilt vs. another will reach out and grab you. This one was made by the author of the book and she calls it "Four in a Nine Patch".
This is the original quilt which inspired her. The antique version is fragile, and wouldn't hold up to actual bed use. She's done a great job of reproducing the quilt and I am planning to own one also *VBS*. It has grabbed my heart! Her directions are for 1.5" strips to make the 4 patches. I'm undecided about that. I may use 2" scraps instead.
And I was trying soooo hard NOT to get 'hooked' into a specific project until I had my scraps cut up....oh well!

My Cup Runneth Over....

all over! Figuratively speaking and at times, literally...I'm dangerous when I walk and carry a mug of coffee or tea *VBS* The coming of 2008 seems to have brought a re-newed energy and determination to many of us. Deeper than an urge, almost a burning desire to conquer our overflowing scrapbags,boxes,bags and baskets. I am not immune to this desire. It swept me off my feet and into a resolution to cut for at least 1 hour a day(scrap only) and ultimately not to forsake my love of scraps and scrap quilts, but to have lots of the scraps cut into a "sew now" state of preparedness.Containers of scraps are almost as numberous at my house as my quilts. This particular Rubbermaid tote has served me well for many years. It's the one I've been dipping into, lifting out a pile of scraps and cutting for that hour. It's NOT overflowing anymore!
But emerging from a far corner are these two quilt batt bags, holding lots and lots of more neatly folded bits and pieces. The bigger one is HEAVY! It's an extra loft queen size batt bag.
And then there are the various(and several)blanket bags. They stand so nicely and zip at the top. Keeps things clean, dry and dust free *VBS*
This old laundry soap pail is so handy for emptying the ice cream pail of scraps as it fills to overflowing on my cutting board. You can pack 'em down and really get a lot of scrap in there...right?? There are also several popcorn tins that house scrap as well as 3 of the rolling carts with drawers that now house the cut strips, accornding to size. I haven't decided as yet the best way to store the cut squares and triangles...probably will be the Rubbermaid shoe boxes, I think...for now they are in the flat cardboard boxes I showed you....stacked neatly by size.
I've been powerfully tempted to try Bonnie's new Maverick Star, but have decided I MUST wait until I have gotten more done on my cutting of scraps and work on the UFO's I'm determined to finish up this year. I've also been tempted to dive into the Civil War Block part that Kathie is hosting. Mine have been sitting neglected for about a year now....but I'm resisting that also. I've decided it's fine for me to have 'play days' with my Prairie Children book and some of those little quilts. They are do-able in such a short amount of time, hopefully they won't become another UFO.