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