The Constant Quilter

Barbara (Quilts, Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors)

Tazzie (Tazzie Quilts)

Cynthia (Wabi-Sabi Quilts)

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

August Monthly Mini

My plasma infusion sessions (4 hours a day for 4 straight days) started the Monday after our state show. It worked well enough for me to muster enough energy to put this little guy together. I just took what I made in Barb's (Fun with Barb) class and made a few lollipop flowers and voila! I was going to call it “Pineapples in the Sky”, but then thought of a much better name: “Vedder Home and Garden”!

I used this fun toile with grapes and wine bottles and quilted in diagonal organic lines in honor of Barb!

Thanks Barb, for such fun classes! I highly recommend her classes. She is a fantastic teacher!

Once again, I have set this to automatically post on August 31. Screen time bothers my eyes right now, so I apologize in advance for not commenting again this month. I will have a lot of catching up to do after surgery!! Thanks for hanging in there.

Let’s see what summer has brought to our fellow minimakers.

Quilting Babcia (Amity Quilter)

Barbara (Quilts, Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors)

Tazzie (Tazzie Quilts)

Cynthia (Wabi-Sabi Quilts)

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

What I did on my summer vacation.

My summer has been like a 1950’s sci-fi movie – “The Energizer Bunny Meets Slothra”.

So much has happened while I have been moving at a snail’s pace. My eyes (and energy level) won’t allow me to go into detail now, but exciting news from Dawn Cook-Ronningen (Collector with a Needle). She is having a special exhibition of quilts made from her patterns at Houston.

The amazing news is that her quilt, “Catherine’s Garden” is the featured quilt for the entire show.

It is on the cover of all the show material. Congratulations Dawn!! I'm honored that my Petaluma quilt, made with Dawn’s Fig Leaf and Flowers pattern will be there.

I’ve been featured in a few magazine articles (I will have to post more on that later) and am included in Pamela Week’s fabulous book on potholder quilting, “Portable Patchwork” (more on that later as well).

I was so looking forward to our state show this year. I had 2 years of catching up to do. And, my friend Randy (Barrister’s Block) was coming to visit. I had signed up for all 3 of my friend Barb’s (Fun with Barb) classes (before my diagnosis) and there was no way I was going to cancel!

So… Randy arrived and off we went! It was great to see friends I hadn’t seen since our last in person show in 2019! Barb’s first class was “Pretty Pineapples”. I made a feeble attempt to concentrate and only made it through lunch before spending the rest of the day in bed. The next day’s class was “Liberated Houses”. What fun!! I really wanted to last all day, but alas, Randy whisked me back to the hotel for a long nap to rest up for dinner. The last class was the “Lollipop Garden” quilt. Oh, how I love Barb’s Lollipop Flowers!! I had unfortunately reached my limit so Randy graciously took the class instead. I didn't accomplish a lot, but I think I have a good start on a future monthly mini!

We had a fun weekend and I was overwhelmed when they presented me with this fabulous quilt to keep me warm and comforted after surgery next month.

They pooled their orphan blocks and Randy assembled it and had it quilted. I adore it and it really helped last week during my plasma infusion sessions (4 hours a day, 4 days in a row). Friends are the best!!

Have a wonderful winding down of summer!!

Sunday, July 31, 2022

July Monthly Mini

This was the last of the 3 monthly minis I made back in early June to get me through my challenging summer. I had minimal energy at this point and had to scramble to get something made in time. Once again, the “orphan block” box came to the rescue.

I literally grabbed a little block and started adding others willy nilly. It was very freeing and lifted my spirits as I chugged along. I used one of my favorite Betsy Chutchian yellows on the back.

There are so many great names for pot luck quilts of this type, but I settled on “Scramble” as it seemed the most fitting!

Let’s see what our fellow makers have mixed together this month.

Quilting Babcia (Amity Quilter)

Barbara (Quilts, Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors)

Tazzie (Tazzie Quilts)

Cynthia (Wabi-Sabi Quilts)

Sunday, July 24, 2022

Community Supper is on display again!

I wanted to let you all know that our “Community Supper” quilt will be on display at “Maine Quilts 2022” in Augusta, Maine from July 27^th through the 30^th.

My friend Meliss told me that they made sure to display it so that both the front and back show, which means that they will see your block on the front and the “sentiment” that you wrote above our beloved pandemic on the back.

It is a wonderful show and Maine is a great place to visit at any time of the year so I hope some of you will be able to get to see it.

Back

Label with all 80 names

Since so many of you have asked… I am on my sixth dosage change for my current medication, and if I can’t function better than I have for the past few months, the next step will be steroids (bla!!). So, fingers crossed, this will start working and get me through until I have the surgery to remove my thymus (along with the pesky tumor). I love the surgeon already. He is very approachable and explained everything in plain understandable terms. The good news is that there is only a slight chance that the tumor is cancerous, so I move to the back of the line and can’t get in until mid September. I am thankful and pray for those who do have so much more to worry about than me.

As for the monthly minis – July and August are set on automatic post mode, and when this current regime starts working, I should be able to get September’s out too.

Thanks for sticking with me. I wish you all the joys of summer!

Thursday, June 30, 2022

June Monthly Mini

This month’s mini is thanks to Pam Buda (Homespun Quilts). I used her easy to follow pattern called “Garden Basket”.

I started this in May so I wanted the “garden squares” to have some Spring colors. I used Pam’s delicious browns (each triangle is a different fabric) for the basket and her lovely soft pinks as a background.

You can find the pattern and her fabulous fabrics on her website (here).

I'm calling this one "Chin Up"! As much as I loathe talking about medical issues (especially mine!), I feel I must tell all of you why I have not been present in blogland for a while. I have been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. Basically, it is a chronic condition that affects how the nerves tell your muscles what to do. Needless to say, it has been a challenge to keep up with daily duties and thus my blog reading and commenting have suffered. I have great hopes that my upcoming surgery will bring me back to my crazy self by the end of the summer.

It progressed quite quickly and when I realized I would not be able to quilt for quite a while (I can hear your gasps and I truly appreciate your kind thoughts!), I made 3 monthly minis. They are all on automatic posts at the end of each month so you won’t have to miss seeing all the delightful minimaker’s creations.

Don’t worry about me, I am like a boomerang that always comes back! I know I will be in the pink (and yellow and cheddar and madder and …) again soon.

A special thank you to all you crazy mini quilters! If you are new and want to jump in, please e-mail me and I will make every effort to get you up on the list.

Quilting Babcia (Amity Quilter)

Barbara (Quilts, Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors)

Tazzie (Tazzie Quilts)