binding

I really enjoy making bias binding. I think of all of the parts of the processes in quilting this one is my absolute favorite. I've found that each part of the process is essential. Ironing and pressing well is so vital to making good bias binding. I use the linen (highest heat setting) on my iron and I use steam. "Why," you might ask yourself, "would she risk burning her fingers for bias binding?"

First, I like the facial aspect. What woman doesn't want a good steam facial? And it's free to boot! If there is any room for shrinkage, the fabric shrinks here and now. Not later when it's on the quilt.
Rulers, mats and a newish rotary blade are essential for getting those great cuts on the fabric. I start with anywhere from an 18" square to a 40" square. There are times when an 18" square will yield all the binding I need. Some times I need two 40" squares. Just depends on the size of the project.

And I'm of the mind that you can never have too much bias binding. Here I'm "squaring up" to make sure the square is just the right size.


Getting the 45 degree angle just right is so important. So is taking really good pictures. I'm seeing I need to do this on a day where the light is great and I don't need my flash. I fiddle, fiddle until I get this angle just right. Cutting accurately is essential for the next several steps (not showing photo's here today.)







Oh that quarter inch is so so necessary and I need to be so accurate with it while I'm stitching.








lining up the fabric to cut the strips or mark the back of the fabric with lines (if I need continuous binding) takes a few extra minutes, however in the end it's all worth it. I can get miles of binding in just a few minutes. This batch will be used for a couple of tote bags!

Happy almost new year!

My friend Fr. Bob is stationed at Our Lady of the Angels on Chicago's West side where on December 1, 1958 a horrific fire ripped through a full school building killing three sisters and 50+ children. On December 8th was the blessing and dedication of a memorial that Fr. Bob was able to have installed. Cardinal George attended and from Fr. Bob's description it was an incredible day. I'm linking to photos of the day here.

Going through the photo's and having visited the neighborhood, it's a beautiful thing. With the aid of so many generous people Fr. Bob is now able to reach out to so many people.


Not much in the area of sewing in the last few days. Oh, I've thought about sewing and quilting but the room is, well, the room needs help. That will be my focus right after the new year and the mattresses and bed frames are out of there and I can move the sewing space to the other wall with a dedicated outlet for the machine and a light.

I also have a second old singer I'm moving in there (from the hallway) and putting it in as well, hopefully to serve as a desk type of space.

Have a great quilting day!

Teri

In memory of dad

My dad was known in certain circles as "The Rotten Poet", though it was a name he gave to himself, it kind of fit. Christmas, April Fools Day and birthdays were guaranteed days to have "rotten poetry" in our email boxes.

So, in memory of dad, in Celebration of Christmas here's my "rotten poem":

It's well past dawn on Christmas day
Coffee's made and sipped
The cinnamon rolls are a'rising
The gifts still need to be wrapped
One is still on the way!

I got up early from my slumber
kneaded dough
and cleansed the dishes
Gotta get out the tree
Oh won't that be a number

That is if I can get to it...
The ironing board is in the way
not to mention the this and that
And off I go
Thinkin' the cinnamon rolls will be a Christmas morning hit

Ham and Pineapple dressing
veggies, roasted mashed sweet potatoes
will be on our Christmas table!
Candles and a table cloth too
And I'm bringing out the good dishes

I just wanted to wish each and every one
Merry Christmas
And a peaceful New Year
(In memory of the Rotten Poet!)

Teri
The Rotten Poet's
Eldlest daughter




I did find the pin cushion about 2 minutes after I finished posting on the blog. Way at the back of my 26" deep table. Go figure! It was right there in plain sight!!

I didn't think we'd get caught

So here I am in the sewing room getting ready to finish my dmil's purse. I'm pinning and pinning and I'm hearing plink, clunk. Now I know it's not me and it's not my sewing machine. Pinning doesn't make that much noise. Apart from the occasional, oh bugger of sticking myself with the, pin.

So I leave my little hobbit hole of a sewing room, head into the office (Ok, so it's only 8 feet, however when you're working. . .) and look outside. I see the neighbors boy and his friends throwing snow & rocks onto the metal garages and over neighbors fences. There are all kinds of Christmas decorations, cars, windows and the like between where the boys are and what they're aiming for.

I thought at first I'd yell outside. Then I'm thinking I'll go outside. I know the neighbor well enough to know that her kid throwing stuff is not "how she raised him". So I call over to the house. Dad answers the phone, I mention to dad what's going on, dad goes outside, calls boys over, has a chat with them, they stop throwing rocks (they really don't want to go home after all they're having fun!).

Dad goes in. I'm back in the sewing room by now, continuing pinning. Did I mention that I can't find my pin cushion? Thats a story for another time.
Anyway, I'm at the sewing machine and I hear one of the boys say, "I didn't think we'd get caught!" I started laughing! That just tickled me to no end!

Happy Quilting!

Teri


On the pin cushion front, this thing is about 6 inches around (3 1/2 across) 3 or 4 inches high and I lose it, pins and all, quite frequently. Oh dear. I'll go in to the hobbit hole in a few minutes and find the thing!

A Quilty Birthday Card

My friend Major's birthday is coming up on December 24th. We've been friends for nearly 20 years which is nearly half my life and a bit more than half of hers. This year I'm doing something a little different for her birthday this year - a quilted and embellished birthday card. Thank you Ricky Tims for demonstrating this on The Quilt Show This is the first quilted birthday card I've made and I enjoyed the process - a little quilting, a little clipping a little sewing and a little embellishing and voila a card! and I will do this again.

Now off to the sewing room to finish my dmils Christmas gift and a few other things.

Happy Quilting!
Teri

Quilts and more quilts

Baby Crackers

Here's a photo of Baby Crackers being quilted. While I was in Lancaster last year I learned how to use typing or freezer paper to draw out the design I want on the paper, pin it to the quilt and then like paper piecing tear the paper away. It's a bit more work, but the design then is a lot more consistent. Tearing the paper away can be a pain you know where.


Veterans Quilts


These are some of quilts from the Veterans Quilt Project. As a guild we donated 62 quilts. I quilted four of them. In the photo on the left I quilted the quilt on the left. Thankfully someone else took it home to bind it.


The room was just full of quilts everywhere. I have a ton more photos I'll share more another day.

This is one of the quilts I quilted. My co-chair and I decided to make one together. She pieced the top and I quilted it. Four of the purple blocks have writing on it, thanking the vets for their service to our country. I have a feeling from conversations with the two ladies who came to receive the quilts that this will end up on the wall. That's fine with me.

would ya believe what's in my garden

The little bunny belongs to dmil. Our neighbor who lives just to the right duded him out for Christmas. Isn't he sweet? For Easter he'll get a new bow and through the year there are costume changes. The only time of year he spends indoors is halloween.

Sitting in front of the bunny is the gazinnia flowers. My husband gets these for me every year. They are almost as cool as pansies. Gazinnias are like sunflowers in that they are heliotropes, they follow the sun through out the day. Bright and fun too.
Then my pansies are still blooming even though we've had a couple of good freezes in the last few weeks. Can you imagine my surprise when I went out side and saw this little guy peeking out? I had to get the camera out!!!



We've had rain on & off today and I like how the rain plays on the rose bush and the dogwood. It's not quite as clear as I would like, however I think you can see the drips on the stems.

You might be able to tell I'm enjoying my new camera. Learning how to use it is half the fun. I do have some pictures of basting the "Baby Crackers" Quilt. I'll post those tomorrow.

Happy Quilting!
Teri



Whoops! I forgot that the begonia is here as well. My dh has taken care of this begonia for over 15 years. There are cuttings all over the place. The plant has to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 years old, maybe more, we're not quite sure. The original stem was woody when we inherited it. Dh put something around the spot near where it starts curving to try and prevent it from snapping. We actually thought it did until dh looked at it closely and realized the plant started growing this way, adapting to the changes! It loves this window and the light it gets.

fabric contest

Pat Sloan is having a contest. When there are 1000 comments on her blog post today :http://patsloan.typepad.com/
she will draw a name and someone will win (me!me!) fat quarters from her new Nicki line (yet to be released!)


Happy quilting!
Teri

Ps I used to live just to the left of the towers below. This is Elizabethport where many of our Singer Sewing Machines were made..


coming soon - a photo of the singer factory - when I am able to get back to E-port and take it!

Whimsical Baby Crackers

Done, four borders on. Now for the quilting. Keep it simple and enjoy the process.
Happy quilting!
Teri

One more border to go

Whew! The top is actually done. I finished it after downloading the images from the camera. I'm going to call my friend & show co-chair to get the quilt basted, later this week (bonus is we can have a quilty meeting after or before basting the quilt).




I never knew that having a digital camera could be so much fun. Snap this, snap that. No more wasted film. If I don't like the image I can delete it (or better yet save it to play with on the soft ware.) Oh what fun we can have!

Happy Quilting!
Teri

On the Design Wall

Here's a photo of Baby Crackers on the design wall.
Happy Quilting!
Teri

Baby Crackers

Here are a couple of pictures of the Baby Crackers as it's in progress.

I'm really enjoying the pattern and the colors chosen for the blocks.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

And a sunset out my window

Baby Crackers!

I'm going to make "Baby Crackers" from Alex Andersons Baby Quilts with Love book. I'm really excited about. Here are the fabrics that were chosen by the woman (grand mother) I'm making the quilt for.

The fabric in the upper right hand corner will be the backing and the fabric in the upper left will be the binding. White on white will be used as the back ground fabric.

Happy Quilting!
Teri

Bonus photo of a quilt I'm working on for next Monday. This is a guild challenge quilt. One of the members gave us the purple fabric and we came up with the various blocks.

Yellow Lint

Laundry for me is one of my least favorite chores. Laundry always take two days no matter how hard I try to get finished in one day. The washer & dryer is in the basement where my dmil lives and when I head back upstairs I get busy sewing, cleaning, preparing dinner or whatever and the thought of laundry just goes right out of my head. Whoops? This usually increases the amount of ironing that must be done, however I like ironing clothes so it's not a big deal.

So yesterday early afternoon I unfolded the bolt of Essence daffodil into the washer. Proceeded to get busy with all the workings of the day, including a nap because I'd stayed up waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy too late the night before and it was after 7:30 before I actually put said bolt of fabric into the dryer. My intention was to get it out before I went to bed, however I spent my evening in front of the computer preparing a mailing for a friend of mine. We do his mailings twice a year and this is one of those times. Envelope after envelope went into the printer and only one at a time can be done or else it just doesn't print. So I was at the computer until almost 1 this morning. Point being I didn't get to go take the fabric out of the dryer until about an hour ago.

When I opened the dryer door to get the fabric I immediately pulled out the lint screen. The entire thing was daffodil yellow. Usually I get a gray color lint or if I'm doing a lot of my husbands t-shirts I'll get a red or dark pinkish color lint. This lint was just yellow, a pretty yellow. Now it's in the little trash can that sits beside the soap and bleach and softener bottles, brightening that spot until there's enough lint in the bag to toss it out.

So now the rest of the day will be focused on things other than sewing or quilting. There's a bit of tidying up to do, thank you notes to prepare and lunch to make. Whew!

As I'm working in the office yesterday I saw this outside my window.

Yesterday, as well as today was a hugely gray, rainy day. The sky opened up for about 10 seconds and I had the presence of mind to capture this image.

Happy Quilting!
Teri

oh and here is some foliage I'm just loving the colors this year!!

sneak preview of my New York Beauty

This digital camera is so much fun. I'm giving a sneak preview of my New York Beauty Quilt. Once I finish tidying up the sewing room I'll get a straight on pic.
Happy Quilting!

Teri
who turns 39 today!! whoop whoop

What's on my bed?

I know, I know - camera happy right. I'm hoping that this will last a long time. The photo thing that is. So I'm posting what's on my bed. It's my favorite quilt. Enjoy!





This morning when I went for coffee I asked my dmil if she wanted a cup. She said yes so I brought the pot down to her. As I headed up the stairs, after pouring the cup, I made a few giggly jokes about coffee. Can I remember them now? No! However, I did say to dmil "I'm like this all the time, aren't I?" Making goofy jokes and kinda happy, even after getting out of bed about 5 minutes earlier. I'm probably one of those folks that we'd all like to just smack in the morning. Oh well. Here I am world what's on the menu for today?

Happy Quilting!
Teri

Mums in my favorite colors

I like bright bold color and here's one of my mums!

oh it worked!

This photo is from my front yard. The autumn leaf just intrigued me!!
Happy Quilting!
Teri

Picky, Picky, Picky

My seam ripper and I have once again become rather closely acquainted. We go through spurts where she seams to be an extension of my right hand and other times I have no idea where she (Picky) is. Then when I need Picky I'm turning the sewing room upside down looking for her so that she can become an extension to my right hand again.

The jobs this time: picking out stitches on two long standing projects has been the goal. Picky and I finished one project yesterday, taking out the appliqué stitches on Emmie's quilt. I started Emmie's quilt about 2 months after she arrived home from the hospital. Her mom, my sister, chose the pattern from an American Patchwork & Quilting magazine that I had with me. The pattern uses the "Whig Rose" and is a lot of appliqué. I got started and set it aside because something just wasn't right. You know that feeling, finishing a quilt becomes a chore even though you really, really want to get this done! On one of my trips to Maine this summer I fell in love with the Essence fabric line from Blank Quilting. Oh, this is luscious to say the least. I sent my sister a link to the fabric, daffodil, and she loves it too. I'm so happy. This color just screams out "Emmie". Bright, vibrant and complex. I pick up a bolt of fabric on the 19th and will get started with this just after. I realized yesterday that there is a lot I can do in the mean time to make my life easier.

The second job that Picky and I have been working on is picking out the quilting on a piece inspired by Jinny Beyer. At the time I really didn't have the skills to finish it well. In a sense it was a learning piece and still is. I'm learning that it's okay to either not finish a piece and just be done with it or to pick out what I don't like and re do the whole thing. I'm picking out the quilting. I looked at it one day last week and realized I really like this quilt and I want to be able to use it. So I decided to pick out all of the quilting, use a different batt and different color of thread and have at the quilting once again, so that I'm happy with the quilt. It's taking longer to pick out all of the stitches than I anticipated, however I think that the end result, a finished quilt, will be worth the effort, at least to me.


Veterans Quilts!

One of my guilds is making quilts for a local home for veterans that is either just opened or opening soon. I wasn't at the meeting where they discussed this so I don't quite know all of the details. I have a lot going on right now so while the project really speaks to me (my dad was a veteran, his sister is a veteran and I have cousins and a sister in the military now) I hesitated to get involved. When my quilt show co-chair and I were at a quilt show scouting out and learning details for our own quilt show we decided to make a quilt together. She would make the quilt top and I would quilt it. She stayed up 'til 2 AM one morning finishing this and we made plans for me to pick it up this past Friday. I did and took another one home as we're on a time line and thought, I could just do this.

So Friday afternoon I get home and I don't have to make dinner so I can work straight through until dh gets home. I started working on the quilt. Called a friend and kept working on the quilt. Ordered pizza, ate pizza with family and then went back to working on the quilt. I set it aside when the bobbin thread ran out around 9 PM. By noon on Saturday the quilt was finished. Not just quilted but bound. Funny thing is I talked with my co-chair, she asked if I finished the quilt. I just giggled. I want to surprise her on Tuesday. Yippee! I'm going to see if I can get the other one done this afternoon. The quilting will be a lot less complicated so I think it's possible.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Gray Hair

It happens to all of us. Hair changes. For some unknown reason the follicle stops producing color and the hair changes from whatever color to white, silver, or gray. For most folks this happens in our 30's & 40's and later. For a few the hair changes as early as their late teens early 20's. I can't even begin to imagine! I must add here that I love Heloise's hair. She went gray very early in life and decided not to color hers!

I started noticing changes about 7 years ago on a trip to Los Angeles. One white hair sticking out amongst the brown hair. For some odd reason I was excited. "This is way too cool!", I thought. My hair isn't going gray in the gray color scale it's going white. A family trait - my dad's hair went white and my 92 year old gramma's hair is white, it's so beautiful.

When I was in my early 20's I tried messing with my hair color, I would add a bit of peroxide to my shampoo or put "Sun In" while I was outside. I was blond for a while but it looked weird against the brown hair. Going blond was fine, but it just wasn't me. I decided at some point that coloring my hair just wasn't for me.

Another thing that is happening is that for some reason, known only to the Creator of the Universe, my hair is also getting wavier. This I like. It means that once I wash my hair in the morning & brush it, I'm pretty well set for the day. Well, I might put in the pony tail, or barrette or a combination of the two once my hair is dry. I've found that if I add these particular features before my hair is dry my hair goes all weird, straight to my shoulders and then the rest is wavy.

So when I started writing this, there was a point, something I wanted to share, an experience that set me to thinking about my graying hair. Last week dh and I went with Br. Max and Lisa to a Brew Pub in Norwalk. Since Lisa knew where we were going I had her sit with dh in the front and I sat with Br. Max in the back. As we drove Br. Max pointed out that one of my gray hair was sticking out at some odd angle (as only an errant gray hair can do) and he wanted to pull it out. Pull it out? Not! I like my gray hair. My reply to Br. Max went something like this, "You can pull it out as long as you plan to keep it. If you aren't going to keep the gray hair then there's no point in pulling it out." He was this much | | surprised and asked me why. Silly guy. I proceeded to explain to him that I'm not in the least bothered by my gray hair. If it doesn't bother me then it shouldn't bother him. It's on my head, not his. Brother dropped the subject, realizing that he couldn't win.

Oh by the way this brew pub has the best mimosa's I've had anywhere. And I learned that by using cranberry juice instead of orange juice you get a pointsettia. That I will try the next time I have brunch there! Sounded kind of intriguing and I like cranberry juice.

Dh has a lock of my hair somewhere in or on his dresser. I find it every once in a while. When he clipped that lock my hair, I must have been about 20, it was well past my waist in length. Someday it will be that long again. Though I can't imagine having the patience to grow it out that long again. We'll see.

Happy Quilting!
Teri

Quilt Bonus!!

The other night at Quilt Guild we were kinda feisty. It was fun and everyone had a great time. This is a "sewing bee" type guild. We have a mini meeting if anything special is going on. We sent the sign up sheet around for the December dinner. We meet a bit earlier, have some hors dhoueurves, dinner, a grab bag type of thing and show & tell of course. It's fun. I have to figure out what to do for this. Maybe I'll make one of my smaller totes. Or head to the quilt shop. I don't know yet, there's a bit of time.

I brought two quilts to baste, one is the guild quilt which I'm going to quilt over the next couple of weeks. A couple of ladies were seeing the quilt for the first time. A few were picking out their blocks. It's funny, sometimes you can't remember just which one you did. Neat thing though, even though we had the same "challenge" fabric each block is completely different! I'll start quilting that later today or tomorrow, depending on scheduling.

The second quilt is "49 Pieces of Chocolat". I started quilting that yesterday. I'm using a wool batting and enjoying the quilting! There is significantly less drag than with cotton. Wow! I'm impressed already. Because it's wool there can only be about 4" between lines of quilting stitches so I'm getting to do a lot of quilting. I started doing some large stippling yesterday then was ripping it out as I chatted with Neen on the phone. The thread is beautiful but it just wasn't working for the quilt so out it came!

Oh, the bonus for me the other night is that one of the quilters brought basting spray and basted both of my quilts! How cool is that. She did this as a demo. What an incredible gift! A couple of other ladies helped me spread the quilt parts out on the floor and one even took home some excess fabric from one of the backings. She liked it so I gave it to her. I like sharing fabric with friends!

"49 Pieces of Chocolat" isn't the first quilt that I've ripped quilting out on. I'm in the process of ripping out quilting from a quilt I did a few years ago. This has been sitting unfinished for about 2 years! Can you imagine? Being quilters I'm sure you can. I think I quilted this around the time I started machine quilting so I didn't quite know what I was doing. It's a learning quilt but I really like the top so I'm ripping stitches out, I'll probably be doing that for days. I'll put in new batting a new back and a new binding. Yes, you read that right, I'd already stitched on the binding and was working on hand stitching the binding down when I just stopped. I wasn't happy so I just never went back to it.

I watched most of episode 112 of the Quilt Show yesterday. The featured guest is Libby Lehman. WOW is all I can say. I really appreciated a couple of things she said and mention one here. Libby said that it's okay if we don't finish a quilt. Perhaps when we get to the end of piecing the top we've learned all we can from that particular quilt and it's time to move on. I agree with her, sometimes it is just time to move on. One good way to handle these projects might be to have a swap or challenge at your quilt guild or with an on-line group if you don't have a guild. Bring in all of the quilt tops or parts of quilt tops, have a swap and let someone else finish the top. You can either give them back to the original owner or keep them yourself, decide this before hand so everyone knows what you're doing. Have a time limit and then show & tell so each quilter gets the opportunity to see how their work was finished. The program chair for one of my guilds did this and apparently it's working well. I think we're having the big reveal at our meeting next week. I'll be exciting to see what everyone brings in.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Movie Review - Bella

It is a rare movie that really speaks so beautifully to truth and beauty. Bella is one of those movies. As the movie goes from scene to scene the viewer is left wondering what happened and it's not until the last few moments of the movie does the whole thing come to light.

Not being a cry-er by nature there were several moments in this movie where I cried. Even now upon reflection this is one movie that gets the viewer thinking about so much and how events can unfold in our lives in such a way that sometimes we're in the right place, in the right time for the right purpose. When the movie ended we sat through the entire credits, a rare thing. And I said to dh that when this comes out on dvd we will purchase this movie. It is one that spending money on will be well worth it and hopefully encourage more producers to make more movies like this that are just well. . . more.

Dh and I went with one of the CFR Friars. The crew and actors who filmed this movie stayed in one of the Friaries and two of them appear for about 3 seconds in the movie. The Friar we went with last night shared some beautiful experiences that the crew had while staying with the friars and filming in NY.

A rare thing this movie only cost 3 million to make, took 24 days to film and they had good weather throughout the entire filming.

If Bella is anywhere near you I would encourage anyone to go see it. And you might even be able to see it and not spend money. There are a few groups purchasing tickets and allowing people to see it without paying! Free is always a good thing. I would pay to see this movie again.

Happy Monday!

Teri

PS there is more I want to share about the weekend but that will wait for later. =-)

Four - some (2nd tag)

4 Jobs: Event Coordinator, Nurses Aide, Volunteer & Quilter

4 Films I could watch over and over: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy & The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe

4 TV Shows I watch: Anything with Gordon Ramsay (Kitchen Nightmares or Hell's Kitchen), Holmes on Homes, Trading Spaces, Clean House

4 Places I've Lived: Las Vegas, NV; Americus, GA; Lewiston, ME; Bronx, NY

4 Favorite Foods: Chocolate, Mashed Potatoes, Garden fresh tomatoes, Vidalia Onions

4 Favorite Colors: Purple, orange, lime green & yellow

4 Places I would like to be right now: at a quilt show, in my sewing room, Martha's Vineyard & home (I like being home)

4 Names I love, but could not use on my children: Sophia, William, George, April

4 People I would love to tag: Marion, Annie, Alex, Neen (time to get a blog friend!)

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Giz Tagged me twice in one post

How much fun is that! So I'll do the 10/20/30 first

Ten Years Ago

Celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. That was so much fun. DH and I went camping on the Outer Banks of NC. We enjoy camping and enjoy the beach so it was perfect - the best of both worlds. For our special dinner we went to "The Back Porch" and had such an amazing dinner we bought their cook book.

Twenty Years Ago

I graduated from High School. I could hardly wait to move on to the next part of life. I was planning to go to college and become a teacher. About a year later I entered my first year of volunteer service and met the guy who would eventually become my husband.

Thirty Years Ago

The most thrilling thing about being 8 (going on 9) would have been summer vacation. Sleeping late, going to the park, swinging and spending time with friends. I loved summer vacation including the excitement of shopping for school clothes and supplies.

Now I need to think of a few people to tag and and to remember to post here.

And I have a quilt show meeting this morning too. Woohoo!!!
Teri

I enjoy card shops almost as much as I enjoy fabric shops. There is a level of creativity that is incredibly inspiring. I'm always amazed that such beauty can come from paper that has been printed on and folded. Simply amazed. Cards & paper can evoke in me a lot of the same memories and feelings I experience with fabric & quilts. Maybe I'm more sentimental than I realize. Oh, well, maybe that's a great thing.

Just as I have a favorite local quilt shop I have a few favorite card shops. Papyrus, The Blue Tulip and Kensington Paper top my list. Great cards and stationary can be found at Barnes & Noble, CVS and Staples. One of the neat things I'm seeing at several shops is cards with little bits and bobs and things. It seems as though many of these cards are hand crafted. I'm sincerely hoping so with the prices they're charging. There seems to be a level of pride and care taken that is just really inspiring. And the photography is incredible.

So yesterday, I'm in one of the card shops wasting time until going to pick up dmil. I looked at the tissue paper, it even has glitter these days. I looked at the journals, leather, moleskin and everything else. I looked at the stationary, a lot of it reminds me of the fabrics currently on the market. I started looking at cards. And the first word I came to was "dad". I wasn't quite ready for the feelings evoked here. I was sad for a moment realizing that last year was the last time I bought a card for dad's birthday. I didn't know it would be the last, most of us have no clue when the last this or that will happen. It's just the last. I miss dad. I miss the opportunities to call him and just chat. I miss the letter writing and the well thought out, slightly odd ball poetry. My dad loved April Fools Day probably more than any day of the year and took great delight in fooling anyone around. Dad passed away on April Fools Day this year. Yesterday morning was my moment to miss my dad.

As much as I like email I still like the feel of pen or pencil in hand to do the actual writing. Having beautiful paper is part of the process. I one had a catalog coming to the house that I would purchase paper & cards from on a regular basis. Just like fabric though, I like the tactile sensations of actually going into the shop. I like to pick up the cards & stationary just like I enjoy touching the fabric and notions.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog I enjoy pens. All kinds of pens. Pens & paper just go together in the same way that fabric & quilts go together. It's just a natural match. I've searched for years looking for good pens and I must say that fountain pens are just the best. They can be a bit messy at times but the writing experience is beautiful. I have one currently however I need to replace the ink cartridge and that might mean a trip to Staples.

Happy Quilting!
Teri

I'm in the sewing room yesterday trying to finish 2 tote bags and start on 3 others. I realized that while I was cutting for the two smaller totes I failed to cut handles for either one of them. Yikes, I must have used the wrong shampoo that morning. Hmmn, that begs the question did I even take a shower. Ok you're right, let's not go there! I know for one of the pieces I have enough fabric for the handles but what about the other one, nope, gotta think that one through. (Now that I'm sitting here writing, I figured it out. Cool!) So I decide to move onto the other totes and realized that for two of them I need zippers. Bugger. Now I need to make another trip to the fabric shop. (maybe that's not such a bad thing after all!)

Now what do I do, the sewing I'd planned (I'm seeing a life theme developing here) gets set aside and I'm looking around the space thinking, thinking. The room is getting full with the billowing smoke pouring out from my ears. Thinking. I could make pattern pieces for the futon covers and finally do them. Uh, no, not today, too much work. This would mean dragging the vacuum cleaner down stairs, chasing the cats and clearing off the living room floor. No, not today, tomorrow maybe, but not today.

So now what?! More billowy smoke pouring out from the ears and then AHA! yes that's it. I located the fabric for dmil's purse, ironed pinned and quilted that. I enjoyed that and played with the quilting. The fabric is a cream/tan micro check and I used King Tut cream colored thread to quilt it. There's a lot of quilting however, it blends in nicely with the colors of the fabric. More time on my hands, the smoke is starting to build up again.

Hmmn, I need backings for two quilts. I spend time looking at the fabric stash. I pull one piece that I really wanted to use for one of the quilts. Way too small, way too much work piecing it to make it the size I need. Toss it back onto the stash. Then I'm looking at two other pieces. I take one, measure it quickly, yep that will do, now how do I add to the sides. (Room starts filling with the billowy smoke again, I have to be careful here I need a few brain cells left for a meeting I'm having on Friday with my co-chair.) So as I'm thinking I think wow, that will work. Spend time ironing the fabric, grateful for my Rowenta Advancer that gets really really hot. Then I place the two pieces together, having left the selvage edges on, go over to the machine, stitch at 3/4" down each. I know you're thinking hey silly you're making a tube not a quilt back. I then trim the seams to 1/4 inch, decide which piece will be left in tact, cut the other one down the middle (using that middle line that never quite irons out) and press. Shazam we have backing! First one done. Whew.

That sends me back to the fabric stash looking and thinking some more. (You can fill in the billowy smoke/thinking details in here). Choose two more fabrics and proceed the same way. This is one happy quilter here. Backings for two quilts and in less than 20 minutes they're stitched and cut and I didn't have to do too much work to achieve the size I needed.

I do like a variety of quilt backings. There are tons of options out there including the really wide fabrics. I like those but sometimes they are just a bit, well, plain. I don't mean in the sense that they're not beautiful, oh, they're amazing! And I like the fact that I don't have a seam anywhere that I need to be mindful it's there. But sometimes it's just not right.

A while back my friend MaryAnne showed us what she likes to call "fun backings" at guild. She takes all the left over bits from the quilt she's working on, stitches them all together until she gets the size she needs. These backings are a lot of fun, take work, relate well to the front and add so much to the overall look of the quilt.

So, yesterday was a productive day after all. I'm going to wait until Monday night to baste the quilts at guild. We have a huge floor space to do this so it will be a great time. Then I can quilt them both and tick them off my never ending list of things to quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Rant

I want to daily choose to look at life as a series of challenges that help me grow and become a better person and quilter. I enjoy opportunities to learn and share my love of all things quilty. So, what's the rant? It's not so easy to share as I don't want to cause scandal and yet something needs to be said.

About 2 1/2 years ago our quilting world was rocked with the end of Simply Quilts. We wrote letters, made phone calls and still no new SQ episodes. We watched episodes carefully writing the names of the sponsors, called & wrote them to save our SQ. Did it work? No. The sad reality is that the show came to an end. Simply faded away.

What's my rant? Rumors that Alex was the one who ended things with the network. Rumors abound that's the nature of rumors. The grow like pernicious weeds and can cause lots of damage. Another rumor I've heard is that Alex left SQ to begin The Quilt Show. Both of these rumors are not true. The network ended Alex's contract and Simply Quilts. (They are just now beginning to realize the error of their ways and the impact and are showing the shows again.) It was the networks decision, not Alex's! Alex did not leave to begin The Quilt Show, the opportunity for The Quilt Show came about after Simply Quilts ended. In fact Alex was prohibited from doing anything for a period of one year after the network ended the show! I can not begin to imagine being contractually bound to not do anything on tv or the internet in a field I love for any period of time. It's the truth, the network did this. Not Alex.

And even still another rumor is that Alex is getting residuals from the rebroadcast of the SQ episodes. Nope, not a cent here either. Any revenue that is coming in from the rebroadcast goes directly to the network.

And, at this point neither she nor Ricky are making money off this new venture. Just thinking about this that even with under 23, 500 registered members they have a bare bones budget. Okay, there are sponsors and they're kicking in funding, however equipment needs to be purchased, the website needs to be maintained, there are traveling expenses, food expenses, sundry expenses (things like toilet paper, scissors, fabric), video equipment and the list goes on. From an extremely reliable source, it is my understanding that for the web services they’re offering (blogs, messaging forums, chat room, & storage area for our photos, etc) costs way over $10,000 per month!! That number does NOT include the cost (production) of each show. Whew! We’re getting a lot for our $25/year membership!!!

I don't know about you but our household expenses have risen to the point where I'm not sure that I can continue in my own business adventures (used adventure on purpose). I'm thinking I might have to find a part-time job that will allow me to continue begin at home with my mom-in-law and run the guild quilt show. Yikes

Okay! Done. Stepping off the soap box now, back to reality. Soon to return "How to Run a Successful Quilt Show" Part 3. (thanks DM for the reminder! =-)

Today is a perfect day for quilting

It's raining. It's chilly. It's gray outside. The light is perfect for sitting in the sewing room and quilting. Because we're expected to have rainy weather through Saturday I'd hoped to get some quilt related work done.

Hoped.

What's preventing me you might ask? Well, cleaning. I need to clean the house. My family needs a tidy house. Ok its me really, me who needs the house clean. Not anything pristine mind you. Just tidy works for me. In my life Thursday is cleaning day, unless of course I'm going away for the weekend then it's packing and finishing everything in a hurry 'cause I'm on a deadline day. After dinner the dishes get done, that's it! I decided a long time ago that either I can quilt or spend time with my husband in the evenings. He works hard all day so it was an easy choice to make. He doesn't mind if I quilt in the evening, he'll usually fiddle around on the internet and we'll have some delightful conversations. These conversations are incredibly well timed, just as I'm ready to get up and stretch anyway.

What else? Well, there are things that need to be done for the quilt show. I need to meet with my co-chair, work on an article or two with her, send an email or three out to committee members for various things, find sources for some extra funding for things we need, make quilts to enter into the show and well, the list goes on and on and on. This doesn't even include the challenge with my friend in Maine.

Then there's errands to run today. Yep. After I'm done tidying up, I actually have to get dressed to leave. Yikes, that puts a damper on the whole quilting experience doesn't it.

Hmmn, then there's dinner to think about. That really puts a damper on quilting for me. First of all cooking is not my thing. Baking let me have at it. Putting dinner together is a CHORE. Yuck, I'd sooner clean the . . .well, I'd rather not go there! Anyway as we speak I have bread drying out in the oven to make bread crumbs later today for meat loaf. Since it's such a gray day meatloaf seems like a great choice. I have sweet potatoes already mashed and I can pick up veggies while I'm out. Dinner, done!

I will work some quilting in today, despite the fact that there's other things going on today. Quilting is a passion, work and hobby all rolled into one. How much better does it get than that?

Happy quilting!

Teri

How to Run a Successful Quilt Show part 2

Part 2

The raffle quilt took weeks to piece. A few members had to redo their blocks several times before I reluctantly let them in. This slowed our progress considerably; however the end result was well worth it. And the bonus is that these quilters are now much better at paper piecing, needle turn appliqué, & reverse appliqué.

I must add here that the raffle quit chair, Emiliana (Emi) actually surprised me with incredible designs and patterns for the quilt top. Emi chose only the best organic cotton batting and somehow found organic cotton thread to compliment the colors of the quilt. She had the quilt quilted in record time. Amazing, simply amazing. I don’t quite understand why Emi refused membership I the Quilt Police. She would have made a most excellent addition to their highly skilled ranks.

Next I searched high and low for raffle prizes, the likes of which have never been seen. For the sewing machine it came down to two shops. Ooooh, it was so hard to choose. Do I go with the shop offering 10 free classes or 100 yards of free fabric with the machine? Choices, choices! I finally settled on the free fabric, after all good teachers need to be paid and paid well. (As an aside one of the free classes was my highly publicized binding technique that took the quilting world by storm! I just couldn’t have that.)

For the second prize one quilt shop owner out did herself by adding 4 hours of long arm quilting to her basket of notions. She did amazing work putting the basket together including several books, only the best cotton (Egyptian long staple of course!!) and all of those items we quilters just adore. Did I mention she included her own signed copy of my book “Great Binding Techniques”? (When I sent the book for publication the original title was “Simply Stunning Bindings”, however the publisher thought that “Great Binding Techniques” offered the quilting community a better idea of the book. After this flurry of activity, book signings, lectures & lessons I must agree with her assessment.)

The Boutique at any Quilt Show is a challenge. I thought that Josephina was going to pass out when I handed her the latest market research paper entitled “What’s in at Quilt Shows – How to make the most of the Quilt Show Boutique” and links to 6 websites. Good grief, the report was only 100 pages and I did give Josie 4 days to go through it, highlight what she thought might work and give a power point presentation to the guild at our next meeting on the items necessary for having our boutique be successful. I wasn’t asking her to make and bring samples. Josie actually managed to get this done and went so far as to include a great sound tract with the presentation. Maybe she’s after the chair position; I think I’ll keep my eye on her for the time being.

Solomina’s application said she wanted to chair the Raffle Quilt Committee. I seriously considered this until she gave her presentation. I won’t describe her quit here (mere words would not do it justice!) let’s just say the Quilt Police and I were not amused. How I managed to conceal my disappointment should win me one of those fancy dancy awards for acting. I used the old actor’s trick of using the mentholated rub used to relieve congestion and “cried” I was so moved. Then as a bonus she made triple chocolate fudge brownies for us. I knew immediately . . . FOOD . . . she needs to chair the Food Committee. It was after all a highlight of many great shows these days. And what a coup, she knows two trained chefs who are willing to donate their time. How much better than that does it get? The chef’s will prepare the pre-show buffet, the food for the show and the post-show wine & cheese for the ribbon winners. The pre-show buffet will include Solomina’s brownies.

A quilt show is only as good as its advertising and vendor committee chairs. They must, must, must have a great rapport with people, work at a local quilt shop (teaching of course), be internet savvy and know a few key people. Well it didn’t take a long time to find Marguerite Barber Thompson (MB) for nothing. MB works full-time in the advertising department for a major and I do mean major sewing and notions corporation & she’s very well connected. I’m hoping to groom MB for the Chair position so that when this show is over she’ll step right in. MB’s first job included wriggling out of 4 vendor contracts. She did such an excellent job they weren’t angry at all. (I think the Champaign and caviar and 2 pages of ad space helped.) With the space for new vendors new available MB contacted several of her friends. Not only would they vend, they offered to give demos. How cool is that!

The ad campaign began with a tv blitz detailing our charity campaign and goals. She followed this up with a 2 page, 4 color ad in three national magazines. Wow, I’m impressed, very impressed. I can hardly wait to see what comes next.

Confessions of a Pin Thief

I'm a pin thief. In order to understand how I became a pin thief I share the following:

A few years ago when I worked in an office I was a pen thief. Oh, it happened innocently enough. I'd use the pen, stick it in my pocket (thank goodness for hair spray is all I can say!) to use later on in the day and come home. Put the pen on my dresser, dining room table or in my purse with the intention of bringing it back to work the next day. That sometimes happened, not so often as I would like to think.

Part of my job at the office was ordering office supplies, so over the years I've ordered lots of pens. Ball point pens blue, black & red. Felt tip pens, permanent markers. Retractable pens, highlighters, pens that are meant to be stationary (they usually weren't for too long, we tried though, we really tried). Correction pens (these are great! no more messy goop all over my fingers) and then there were the really good pens. Fountain pens and gel ink pens are by far my favorite styles of pens. The fountain pens are best for journaling and writing letters. A bit messy (okay, I'm the messy one with my writing hand somehow ending up on the ink and blotting it everywhere else great for ink blot tests, not so good for reading later on) but great an amazing writing experience. The gel pens with the really fine points are great for a lot of things including accounting work. With their really fine point I could write the numbers in those little tiny spaces in the column pads.

So back to the whole pin thief story. Back in August (I remember it oh so well) I went to my 20th HS Reunion. Had a great time. Met up with my classmates and enjoyed the evening. The DJ was too loud (of course) but hey, that's what he's there for. But I digress, part of the weekend was spent at a friends house quilting. As we prepared for the weekend my friend said that I just needed to bring my projects, I didn't need to bring pins, needles, sewing machine, scissors etc. She had it all there and I'm welcome to use what I needed. Thanks, it made packing a whole lot easier.

So Sunday morning I get there. I have projects to finish and deliver to my sister the next day so I really want to get some sewing done! I take them out of the box and begin pinning. I have the three "cutie purses" as I call them ready to go. And on one actually got most of the binding done, however, I was having problems with the thread breaking (I returned it) and with the needle slipping out because of the bulk, I'm sewing two quilts together with binding, so it makes sense. I get frustrated and put everything away, pins and all. I figure I'll send them to my sister in a couple of weeks. No problem.

Fast forward to yesterday, I finally get these purses out of the bag they were in and there they are, my friends pins! Oh-my-goodness, I can hardly believe my eyes. I realize I've made the move from pen thief to pin thief. What's next pun thief? Good grief. They're the good pins too, glass head, long, sharp, strong and fine.

As much as I had a thing for pens, I have a thing for pins too. As a quilter the search for good pins is on-going until just the right one comes along and you know, just know that this will be the pin for me. Over the years I bought long and short pins with little plastic balls on the end (if you have them a word of advice, keep them away from the iron!), I've purchased steel ball point pins that are really sharp, they work really well for pinning binding down. Then there are the two variations on the flower head pins. I really like the flower head pins and will always have some on hand. The are great for a variety of projects. Again there are the really good ones and the not so great ones. The really good ones can be ironed over, even on high heat and I've even stitched right through them. The challenge comes in when I have to break the flower head part, it's doable however it can be rather painful and they don't quite look so pretty any more. The not so great ones can't be ironed over and what a mess when I do. Thank goodness for iron cleaner is all I can say.

I did talk to my friend yesterday and told her what happened. She just laughed as she has lots of pins and it quite happy to share. It's good having a friend like that, one you can laugh with and just enjoy quilting. It makes being a pin thief a bit of a gift really.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Oh and in a few weeks I'll be ordering some of these glass head pins!

Morning Coffee

I really enjoy coffee. It's an important part of my daily routine. I begin and end my day with coffee. I drink coffee in the mid-morning, early afternoon, and occasionally in the evening. Dark roast, French roast. Iced or hot. Yum! I'm often inspired by Jearlyn Steele's Black Coffee Song from Prairie Home Companion. Makes me giggle every time I hear it!

I've enjoyed coffee with and without sugar, usually without 'cause I'm sweet enough. I've had lattes (had a great pumpkin pie spiced latte yesterday, a seasonal favorite) and cappuccinos and espressos. Not so fond of the espresso. I like coffee on it's own and with a little something. Once, a long time ago, when the situation arose and there was no milk or half & half around I even had black coffee and enjoyed it. Really.

Coffee is the one non-water beverage that I actually bring with me in the sewing room. On a day like today, it's chilly here, coffee is essential. I'm very careful when I have coffee in the sewing room. I can be a bit of a klutz in there, well anywhere really and I spill stuff. I can't tell you how many shirts I own that have coffee stains. It's sad really, wasting coffee by spilling it on my shirt.

Every once in a while we have a coffee mishap in the morning. It starts the night before really, but we don't know it until the morning. For years my sweet husband and I had a our coffee pots on timers so it's ready when we go downstairs in the morning for coffee. Last year we finally purchased a coffee pot that has a built in timer. It's a treat really, however it takes a bit of work. We don't mind the extra work that it takes - making sure it's set for the correct time. Sure it only takes 12 minutes to brew a pot of coffee but good grief, with the timer you'd think it'd be ready on time. I guess this would be considered "user error" when it's not. Oh well.

Back to the coffee mishap. As we're grinding the coffee beans and filling the reservoir with water and setting the timer we occasionally forget to make sure that the pot is on the warmer correctly. So when we come down in the morning, the timer has done it's thing and started the coffee brewing. Instead of this wonderful, warm liquid streaming gracefully into the pot what happens is that we get this muddy brown, semi warm liquid and coffee grounds all over the counter. What a great way to greet the day.

The counter has to be cleaned, the pot rinsed out (more than once to get all of the grounds out, because no one likes crunchy coffee), the basket has to be cleaned, the place where the basket goes has to be cleaned. And sometimes we even have to figure out a way to rinse out the reservoir. Who knew that coffee could back up that far?!

Then we get to make a fresh pot of coffee, and wait the entire 12 minutes until it's done brewing. Now, if this happened to me this morning, I would have cleaned up the mess, brewed the pot and waited 8 minutes for my first cup. Pause & serve is a great feature on a coffee pot. Did I mention this before? The pause & serve feature is what helps us get into this mess, the thingy is open just enough by the slightly askew coffee pot to let some of the liquid through and closed enough to keep most of the brewing coffee in the basket to back it up and create this mess.

Now, here's why I only wait 8 minutes. I'm impatient in the morning for my first cup. If I wait 6 minutes the coffee won't be as flavorful later for my sweet dh (who cleaned up this mornings mess, thank you sweetie) and he likes coffee too you see. Between the two of us we drink between 10 & 12 cups of coffee in the morning. See for us it's only 1 to 1 1/2 mugs, our coffee mugs hold about 16 ounces of this amazing liquid. Sigh.

So, I just brewed another pot of coffee. I'm going to head into the sewing room with my energy renewed and Prairie Home Companion playing in the back ground.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Tips for Having a Productive Quilting Day

Make a plan for the day. As I sipped coffee and read the news and the visited various sites I visit in the morning I made a plan for the day. Breakfast, tidy up my mother in laws apartment, start the laundry, tidy up the house, quilt for hours, make dinner. That's a good plan for the day. It's a plan I like and I'm sticking to it. (well I think so anyway)

Be flexible things will change. I know in my life from very practical experience that things will change, I will need to make some kind of change in my planning that will effect the rest of the day. Today is no different. Read on, you'll see.

Get a good nights sleep - this is essential. Waking up frequently during the night does not help. This makes for a tired, unmotivated and foggy minded quilter in the morning. A good nights rest gets the creative juices flowing, keeping the energy level up. So what happens to me last night, I'm waking up on and off all night long. (There is a reason I'm sharing this, all will be made clear in just a few paragraphs). This morning as he's getting out of bed, my dh turns off the alarm, I was actually grateful for that, however I'd wanted to get an earlier start on my day. I can't be annoyed with him though, I'm a big girl and could have gotten out of bed at 6 when I woke up the first time. Well, not the first time, but you know what I mean.

Have a good breakfast. As the old saying goes, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" or "a good breakfast is a good breakfast". Okay so, I just made that up. I'm trying to get my creative juices flowing here. And with the lack of sleep and the big change in plans I need something special to get them flowing freely. After the coffee I actually had a good breakfast. Two egg omlette with Canadian bacon and goat cheese. Yum. Good grief, I still have to do the dishes! Yikes.

Get the basic chores done. Did that. Sorted and started the laundry. Tidied up my dmil's apartment. Good start. Decided to wait until tomorrow to vacuum our place since I really, really want to get into the sewing room. So, shower time, see I'm flexible when I need to be. (All right, you caught me, I just really didn't want to clean, I really want to pet fabric. I do have my priorities.) This was practical too as I decide to clean our potty. So I open the cupboard to get the bleach (cleans and sanitizes all in one shot, how much better does it get?). I see blue goop all over the bottom of the cupboard. What is it I ask? Did I mention I've got bleach in the potty and now I need to pee? Great planning on my part. Why can't I coordinate myself this morning?

I'm thinking the toilet bowl cleaner leaked, this will take just one minute to clean up. No big deal right. I start pulling bits and pieces out of the cupboard. More blue goop. I know I used the toilet bowl cleaner, how much could there possibly be? Then I look a little deeper. Oh no. It can't be. Yep, it sure is. Blue Shampoo that we keep on hand in gallon size for the cats. It's been leaking for a while there's maybe a pint left in the bottle. I start pulling things out to see where it seeped. I have to pull out the drawers now as it's flooded all over the bottom shelf. I pull out all of the cleaning stuff, start rinsing that off in warm water. Did I mention I really, really need to go to the potty and I've got bleach in there?

I'm rinsing stuff off and start using a sponge to clean up the goop. Effective, but not particularly efficient with nearly 3 quarts of blue goop all over the bottom of the cupboard. I then grab my t-shirt and start using that, it's a lot bigger than my sponge. Then I'm realizing that I'm going to need to toss a few things so I get the trash bag then start scraping some of the blue shampoo into the trash bag. That helped a lot. I got most of it up. I hit my head on the cabinet because I wasn't paying attention to where my head was in relation to where I was reaching in to wipe up more blue goop.

I need to rinse out the t-shirt. It can only hold so much blue goop. So I reach into the tub to turn on the water and as I'm backing out I scrape my shoulder on the corner sink (there is less than a 6" gap between the tub and the sink/cabinet). Rinse. Wipe up more blue goop. Repeat.

See. I'm flexible. I shifted gears to clean blue goop out of a cabinet. I'm clean now. My finger and toe nails have never been whiter. I'm hoping that my t-shirt will return to that sparkling white it was when my husband bought it for me years ago. After all it is a whitening shampoo so there's a good possibility.

So now I get to go change over the laundry, finish the dishes and go clean my sewing room. Then maybe tomorrow I can have a good quilting day.

Happy quilting!

Teri

How to Run a Quilt Show part 1

I take the opportunity to mention this is a work of fiction rather than an actual situation. While I am co-chairing the quilt show for one of my guilds and I am a bit of a nut, as verified by the following story I may or may not be a complete control freak. We haven't actually implemented any of the ideas listed below. I don't quite think I'd have the stamina to write a 20 page application let alone read however many were submitted.

First thing I decided was which guild in my area could benefit from my vast experience and expertise in running such grand events. After attending each of the local quilt shows making careful notes and taking lots of photos this feat was rather easily accomplished. I set about getting to know all of the key people in the guild. You know the "power brokers", not the board mind you but the ones who are really in control of things. The important people. I endeared myself to them through complimenting their color and fabric choices, lavishly praising their piecing and quilting skills, after all these are two entirely different things! (I must say that some of their choices were quite ghastly but one knows where her quilts are stitched!) As each guild meeting passed I spent time with each of the quilters in charge, giving each one attention in such as way that the others weren't quite aware that I was spending so much time with the others. You well know that the power brokers in a guild are an unusual "bee" each a queen in her own hive.

Each candidate for the position of "Show Chair" was asked to make a 10 minute presentation detailing how and why she would make the best chair. By the time we arrived at the voting day only 2 candidates were left and after some careful consideration I was "elected" by a landslide. I can still hear the ovation (standing of course) ringing in my ears. Such a sweet sound. My well practiced "oh, who me? oh thank you so much, I can't believe you would ask me" face on only helped in all the important ways. There were a few members who made it well known that they weren't too happy with my election. Oh well, such is life, and I'm in charge now anyway.

Next, assembling the committee

I asked each potential committee member to fill out a 20 page application and write a two-page single space typed essay on why they should be chosen to fill the position for which they were applying. A few candidates eliminated themselves right away beginning their essays with “I can’t believe I’m actually sitting at the computer typing this essay to apply for a position on an all volunteer committee!” Can you imagine the nerve of these candidates?

The next step was to bring in the Quilt Police. Oh, I know they’re supposed to be a top-secret organization and all, but do you know how many people try to touch quilts at shows – and usually they sneeze first (yuck!). The Quilt Police are an amazing elite group of quilters who try to disguise their identities by regularly entering contests such as “The Ugliest Quilt Ever”. Their skills and talents run deep. When I emailed them asking for their assistance they eagerly accepted as they’d wanted to infiltrate the show for years! ( I cannot imagine for the life of me why no one asked for their help before.)

After the interviews were complete and the Quilt Police were on board we began the meetings. These were to last a minimum of 3 hours with the first hour being a presentation given by me on some (supposedly) random quilt show related topic that needed my care and attention. These committee members asked my guidance and direction for the most simple of tasks, good thing too, can you imagine how this show would turn out otherwise?

Just after all of the committee members were selected the chair of the Raffle Committee brought to my attention that we needed a raffle quilt and charities needed to be chosen. She explained that this process was quite daunting and she needed help. Would I be willing to design the raffle quilt for her? This would go such a long way in making the raffle quilt a great success! Of course I would be honored to design the quilt. (I can’t quite believe it!)

The weeks and months leading up to the quilt show passed quickly. Charities were chosen: The Sisters of Brotherly Love who work with young men teaching them math skills through quilting; The Brothers of Sisterly Love who work with young women teaching them math skills through quilting and The Fanciest Feast Ever Soup Kitchen who provide decent soups for the most elegant of dinner parties where it has been determined that the hostess simply cannot make a decent pot of soup to serve to her guests!

Ideas presented were discussed, decisions made, quilts pieced and quilted. Problems solved quickly and to my great satisfaction. Over the course of time I only had to fire one committee member. It boggles my mind to this day why she began each conversation with “Well, in my never to be considered opinion . . .” like I’m a control freak or something. She simply had to go. Replacing her was an eager young quilter ready to take on the task and to be molded into a great committee member and quilter.

In between the bi-weekly meetings quilt tops were stitched and reviewed. Some were accepted, most rejected. I can’t believe what some quilters can do with fabric jut to make it look awful! It scares me, simply scares me. The tops won’t go to waste though each of the charities will receive 15 quilts (the 45 that have been rejected for the show already) and a most generous 2% of the proceeds from the raffle quilt!

To be continued

The Quilt Show

The drive to the quilt show was absolutely fantastic. The autumn colors bursting forth are incredible. I'm partial to orange so I'm really enjoying the leaves this year so far. I really enjoy how nature puts colors together, she has her own unique style that is quite freeing when it comes to putting a quilt together.

We arrived at the quilt show just as it opened. How much fun is that! Having decided that we were on a scouting mission the quilt show takes on a whole new twist. Sarah (my co-chair) & I talked with various vendors, gathered business cards and made a couple of pages of notes for things we'd like to do at the show. Now, what we want and what will happen will probably be two different things. Be that as it may the over all quilt show was amazing. In several locations around the room they provided seating for viewers to take a rest.

The quilts were wonderful. I'm always amazed with what quilters can do with fabric and where their quilts come from. Each quilter brings her (or his) own unique perspective to quilting. We each see something different in the quilt. One thing that I realize anew with each show I attend is that what I see and how I see it is not what another quilter will see. For me I like brights, batiks and unusual fabrics and there are quilters who prefer and are amazing at bringing out the best in the 30's prints or small floral calicoes. That in and of itself is the beauty in our art - we share so publicly who we are and that our uniqueness can bring such amazing beauty.

At one of the vendors Sarah fell in love with a quilt top. They didn't have the fabric there and the shop was close enough that we decided to stop by on our way home. The lady giving directions mentioned a couple of land marks that I new of so the shop was easy enough to find. (Sew & Vac in Poughkeepsie if you're ever in that area). Sarah wanted to purchase the fabric to make a quilt for the Veterans project that were involved in. Our local VA is in the process of building an interim home for some of the vets coming through. They asked our guild to make quilts for the vets. So this will be one of them. After Sarah chatted with the owner of the shop she gave us not only the coupon off from the show but 20% off of the whole purchase for the quilt. That was incredibly sweet of her!

Before we left the show we talked with one of the show organizers who I meet here and there in between shows and were invited to stay for take-down. As the show ended at 4 we decided to head for home instead. I'm going to have our committee person contact her instead because she said they have the quilts down in about 30 minutes. That would be cool for our show as take down and return is a bit of a challenge.

So much to do!

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Writing and looking forward to a Quilt Show

Writing patterns isn't the easiest thing ever. I'm working on writing patterns for the tote bags. I know what I do and in what order. Writing it down and having it make sense and figuring out where I need photo's and illustrations are something else. I like making the totes and I like writing so I'm hoping that the processes will come together in a way that makes sense. I have a few people in mind to read them for me once I get to a point where I'm closer to submitting them for publication. One of my friends who has kindly consented to read for me doesn't do any sewing at all so if she understands what I'm saying then I know I will have achieved the goal.

I've given serious thought to the possibility of self-publishing. The biggest benefit to this would be that the profits would be mine. As I've gone through the process of writing though I've discovered that the directions are long and involved enough that they need illustrations and photos that would make self-publishing a bit daunting.

My husband has kindly done a lot of research to find a good digital camera that will grow with me or that I can grow into. Either way you go. I'll have it by Christmas time and I'm sure by then I'll have the pattern written and know what photo's I need. He's pretty much settled on the Canon PowerShot A650 IS. Check it out. Before it comes I will read the manual so that I have a good idea of how it works and some idea of what I can do with it. I'm really excited about the whole prospect. This way too I can take photos' at quilt shows and not have to worry about carrying a boatload of extra film around.

And tomorrow I go to a local quilt show. I'm excited because like the show I'm co-chairing it's run every two years, they have good vendors and loads of quilts. The traveling should be excellent tomorrow and the autumn leaves should be just amazing!

Happy quilting!

Teri