Busy????

I find myself frequently blurting out, “I’d love to but, I’m so busy!”. The first 3 blogs I read this morning started with the same feeling, “why is time flying by so fast?”.

Since I have nothing new to show today, I will share the center of one of my favorite quilts (made in 2000). I hope you get the chance to dip your toes in the water and drink in the summer sunshine until we meet again. I think we could all benefit from a little “slow” time!

Liebster Award

Katy of Katy’s Quilts nominated me for the 2017 Liebster Award. As a relatively new Blogger, I am honored by the nomination. Please visit the Global Aussie website (here) for more details. But in short;

The Liebster Award 2017 is an award that exists only on the internet, and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. The earliest case of the award goes as far back as 2011. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

So here are the 10 questions Katy asked of me:

1)Who inspired you to quilt?

This one was easy as I learned to make and more importantly to appreciate quilts from my very dear neighbor, Arzetta Poole when I was 9 years old. I made my first quilt in 1965. Here is a picture of her, she is the last one on the right.

This was taken at our neighbor's house. It belonged to the Dodge sisters (seated next to her). They ran the post office of East Edgecomb, ME in their former chicken coop. Their claim to fame was that it was the smallest Post Office in the U.S.

2)  If you could meet on person you have never met, who would it be?

It goes without saying that there are a number of wonderful Bloggers I would like to meet in person! But one person that I would love to have met would be my husband’s maternal grandfather. My husband has such fond memories and wonderful stories about him, I have always felt sad that I never got to meet him. He was born in 1890 in the house our family still owns in Georgetown, Maine. So luckily, we do still feel the presence of “Ganga”.

3) What was the last movie you saw in a theater?

The last one I remember was “Winged Migration” in 2001. Like Katy, I prefer to watch old movies at home while sewing.

4)What kind of music do you like?

My favorites are classical (particularly Baroque), folk, bluegrass, rock, rockabilly, jazz, o.k., anything but elevator music!

5)What is your favorite quilt?

This changes every day. Right now, it is this one (Pot Luck) that I finished in February.

It is made up of orphan blocks and scraps leftover from other quilts I have made. And, it is made in the potholder method whereby each block is quilted and bound and then stitched together. It was fun from start to finish! The great thing about potholder quilts is the the back can be as fun and interesting as the front.

I want to make another one with some of my orphan antique blocks.

6)What is your favorite candy bar?

This too changes every day (wink) but I guess I would have to say Mounds.

7)Do you hand quilt or machine?

If you read my Blog regularly you know I am a hand quilter. I dabble in machine quilting but nothing larger than 24” or it becomes a train wreck. I LOVE to hand quilt.

8)What is your favorite color?

Yellow.

9)What is your favorite quilting tool?

Tulip #10 applique needles. After 50 plus years of applique work I have found that these are the best (for me).

 10) Do you work on one project at a time or many?

I think this is a trick question. Do you honestly know anyone who works on one quilt at a time? I don’t think I do. I have at least 10 actively in the works and probably a dozen more in the “started” stage with 100 or more on the brain.

My next duty as a nominee is to nominate 3 other bloggers. I would like to nominate every Blog I read regularly, but since summer is such a busy time of year, I don't want to burden you by giving you "one more thing to do"! 

So, I will simply ask these same questions to anyone who wants to participate, with the exception of #6. I'd like to change that one to "What was your first quilt and do you still have it?" (I don't have mine, but I do have the 6th quilt I made in 1978).

Thanks Katy for thinking of me and I do hope you will have take a trip around Blogland to visit all the nominees. Have a quilty day!

Blockheads #15 & #16

We spent most of the weekend on the water, but I did manage to get caught up on my Blockheads. #15 is designed by Jo Morton and I used one of my favorite fabrics from Betsy  Chutchian’s Bramblewood line.

I love block #16 designed by Jan Patek. 

Just in time for the 4^th!

Another Sweet Retreat!

What a weekend! I woke up Monday morning with a muscle ache from laughing so hard! If I had one wish for all my readers (and for all quilters everywhere), it would be to have a group of women who “click” as well as the seven of us.

On Thursday afternoon, I dropped my mountainous pile of “projects” at the retreat house and headed to Cyndi’s (Busy Thimble) to meet up with Sue Watters and her friend on their visit from England. I met Sue at Cyndi’s a little over a year ago and it was great to see her again. Cyndi and I followed her blog (I Sew Quilts) for many years. We had such a wonderful visit, we all forgot to take photos!

Fortunately, Busy Thimble is only 5 minutes from the retreat house. I came back to find everyone ready for a swim. Although it did cut into our quilting time, it was very refreshing! For the good of all viewers, no photos are available of this event – wink!

Needless to say, we all brought enough to keep us busy for a month, but I will show you a bit of our actual progress. Fotini was only able to stay on Thursday night as she had to fly out to Colorado for Yia Yia (Greek for grandmother) duties. But, she was able to finish the binding on this adorable baby quilt.

Karen M. quilted this adorable little quilt for our annual auction. This year’s recipient will be Maine Cancer Foundation.

She also finished piecing this gem. Doesn’t this block showcase those fabulous fabrics beautifully?

Karen B. was working on these beauties for her grandson. There are some wonderful sea creatures on some of these blue fabrics. I love how these seemingly simple blocks make such an interesting overall pattern.

Kathy was whipping up a number of different blocks. I love these!!

And for some reason she ended up with a Y-seam error. Seems to me that happened in a past retreat. It couldn’t have been the wine, it must have been the stimulating conversation!

And stay tuned for the quilt she puts together with these wild fabrics - wow!

Charlotte is usually the speed demon and she did not disappoint this year. She made 3 tops and a skirt (we allow clothing manufacturing for those who are obvious overachievers). Somehow I missed one of the tops and the skirt but here are the other two.

And, I think she had some of the same wine that Kathy was drinking as she sewed this one into a tube!

Christina was diligently working on a quilt for her bed, but I cannot show you here as she does not have permission from the designer of the blocks. I can show you just one of the special things she made for all of us. My lovely placemat that I will be using in my sewing room!

And she took time to put out this spread for breakfast one morning. Traditional German fare of bread, cheese, lingonberry jam and delicious homemade muesli. YUM!

I worked on bindings with these little 1 ½” squares from Cyndi as my feeder project.

I finished bindings on 110 of these 3 ½” potholder 9-patch blocks. Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

So as not to be outdone by Charlotte, I finished two quilt tops as well. Of course, mine are only 7” x 9”, but who’s counting?

There was lots of interest in my leftover strips of binding fabric. Take them away!

We all took turns with meals so that even for those of us who hate to cook, it seemed effortless, not to mention delicious!!! Here's Kathy summoning us to breakfast one morning.

 And we all brought fuel for the afternoon slump! 

A great time was had by all!

SVBAQ - Red Touch Me Not

Esther made this quilt c1858. I am guessing that the Touch Me Not might have been her favorite flower. Why else would she make this bugger of a block twice?? This one had fewer flowers than the pink one so it wasn’t really as bad.

I used to love these when I was a kid (o.k., I still do). They get their name from their seed pods which when mature, “pop” when you touch them and their seeds fly out. That nature thing is so clever. What a fun way to germinate!

I have only seen them (at least here in Maine) in yellow with orange spots. I have never seen pink or red. In any case, I made both pink and red because I felt I owed it to Esther!

My blocks are piling up! I can't believe next month will be the final post. Time flies when you are having a big, big blast!

Visit the Shenandoah ValleyBotanical Album blog to see all the wonderful renditions.

I am posting the mid-month Shenandoah Valley Botanical Album Quilt a few days early as I am off for our annual “Seven Sistah’s” retreat on Thursday and I will be “unplugged” (except for sewing machine and iron!) until Sunday afternoon. Stand by for some awe inspiring images of “work uninterrupted”!!!

When Jupiter Aligns with Mars...

After I posted the winner (Rachaeldaiseyof Blue Mountain Daisy) of my little quilt last week, I received an e-mail from Rachaeldaisy, telling me that I had won her give-away. How funny kismet is that?! It’s funny to think that our packages may even have crossed paths over the big and wonderful ocean! 

Look at all my booty! I had planned to order this issue of Quilter’s Companion after I learned that Rachael was featured in it. Her quilts are sensationally fresh and ever so cheerful. I highly recommend getting a copy of this wonderful Australian publication. 

Isn't she adorable?

And, as if the magazine wasn’t enough, she was able to actually find 3 fabrics that I do NOT have in my stash. Yum!

I follow so many wonderful Blogs and I have been fortunate enough to have met a few of you in person. Rachael is one I would like to meet someday. Anyone want to take a ride to Australia with me?

And, an exciting announcement. I mentioned Pam Buda’s fabulous inspiring blog in my last post. Now there is an added incentive to visit her site. Pam will be making regular posts on quilting tips she is calling “Connecting Threads”. Check out her Blog (here). You can also follow along on Facebook or Instagram.

Special Visit and Blockheads Update

While visiting Cyndi at the Busy Thimble (aka Paradise) over the weekend, she snapped this picture of me with my first two rows of Blockhead blocks. I am doing it in the potholder method (naturally!) and finally decided to just stitch them together in the order of publication. 

I bought half yard cuts of the entire line of Betsy Chutchian’s “Rachel Remembered”. I love every single one of the 40 fabrics in this line. I think it is my favorite Betsy Chutchian so far. I nabbed this image from Cyndi’s Blog, but do check out this post (here) to see the close ups. This line is delicious! 

And then, Cyndi handed me a beautiful package, cleverly wrapped in a tissue dress pattern.  Imagine my delight when I found this beautiful pin cushion inside. Pam Buda had graciously sent one to Cyndi and one to me. 

How lucky are we?! Pam is another one of my favorite designers. We met at our state show in Augusta last year and she is just as sweet as her quilts and her fabrics. Check out Pam’s blog, Heartspun Quilts (here) for some luscious eye candy.

Have a great day!

AS I was saying...

I mentioned before how I really enjoyed reading all your comments about how you use the Internet. Many of you remarked that you find Facebook as confusing as I do.

Case in point… I belong to some wonderful groups on Facebook one of which is a group called Celebrate Hand Applique hosted by Caron Mosey. On April 1^st she introduced a challenge to design and create a little quilt of our own design and post it on June 1st. I didn’t see the post until May 1^st so I decided to make mine simple.

It is made from vintage feed and flour sacks so I am calling it "Flour to Flower". 

Of course now I can’t find the original post so I think I might have dreamed it up. But I needed a few quilts to donate to our mini quilt auction at the show this summer, so I can check one off my list!

And, I would like to share an organization tip from my very dear (and oh so clever) friend, Karen Mitman. She went to the dollar store and bought several colorful gift bags and organized each of her projects with a photo of the quilt on each bag. Now she is ready for our upcoming “Seven Sistahs” (Spelled thus as we are in Maine!) retreat in mid June.

 I’m going to go pack!