Quilt Think III - Making Winter Warmer

I bought these Frost by Benartex Fabrics months ago in a charm pack.



They are adorned with silver metallic.  And because they've been sitting here since last winter, they took a bit of tugging to get apart.  There are two charms of most prints.



In fact, I vaguely remember that I may have purchased two charm packs.  I hope I'm right.



I also have Kona Snow charms.

Interior decorators usually caution not to put blue and white in a north facing room because they will make January feel awfully cold.  My experience is that I love blue and white after Christmas--and I'll take every glimpse I can get of blue skies--probably since I've spent all but the last 25 years or so living where gray skies are more common than blue ones in winter.

I purchased these because I just like the prints.  They could become another prayer quilt, but they are just as likely to become a keeper quilt.  It will depend on whether I can get organized enough to remember if I really did buy two Frost charm packs.

I'm slowly moving some of my sewing things into our tiniest bedroom--so we'll feel less squished in our living room now that I've added a television.  But the stuff is heavy.  And my house has quite a few things in common with a Rubik's cube when I try to rearrange.

I'm very, very, busy with rehearsals for Christmas music right now.  I play piano for our church's Jubilee ensemble (flute, trumpets, clarinets, etc.), am part of the Jugband (as in J.U.G.--Joy Under God), sing in our main choir, and a quartet/quintet.  All the church music groups will be part part of a combined mostly-music service this Sunday.  The Jugband will also be doing music programs for a couple of assisted living/rehab centers and the Breakfast with Santa.  I do have a few more things going on--and a couple weeks until first semester ends.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow evening since my college girl should return home.  She's so incredibly busy that I hear from her if something is wrong (like a repair-engine light coming on in her car--a filter needed to be cleaned), but it seems she's barely getting a chance to rest--I'm hoping she's eating well and did an outstanding job on her finals!

Happy quiltmaking,

Quilt Think II--Inspired by the Ladies of My Childhood

While I love color, there are certain colors that appeal to me more than others.  For over two decades my favorite colors have been violet and teal.  I've made a lot of quilts in other colors, but when I come home, it's to the heavenly shades of violets and teals that comfort my soul--with some blue/yellow in the kitchen because I love those colors, and they're great for a kitchen.

A short while ago, Missouri Star Quilt Company featured Robyn Pandolph 10" inch squares that were so reminiscent of the homes of elderly ladies I admired when I was a child, that I knew I needed to design and make another quilt that honored those lovely women and brought some of those colors into my home--even if they don't blend all that well with the rest of my decorating.


Here's a glimpse of the fabrics in the set of ten inch precuts. I figured the colors were probably not true on my computer screen and guessed they would be a bit dustier in tone, which they are.  I also thought I wanted the plum or rose large florals for borders.  The only large floral in stock was the gold, so I settled for that one, but put the other two on my wishlist at Missouri Star.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail notice that those fabrics were now in stock.



So what I did was order a couple of yards of each.
No, I haven't had a chance to design or piece anything with them--but I'm fondling them.


Yes, they are delightful; however, one of my Georgia friends ordered the same pre-cut and was disappointed.  I think it's the inspiration of all those lovely ladies that makes these fabrics speak to me.

Happy quiltmaking,

Quilt Think I--A Quilt Inspired by Dr. Chroma

Yes, I've been missing from the blog for a long time, but life has rushed on.
Most days I've come home from work too fatigued to do much of anything; although since I convinced the doctor I was on waaaay too much blood pressure medicine, I'm doing better.
So, I've been imagining and dreaming lots of quilts that haven't gotten made.
However, I imagine most people would say it's getting the inspiration that's essential,
So, here is inspiration number one.

A year or so ago I purchased these musical fabrics, planning to make a quilt for my dear friend Gwen Carlton.

Gwen spent her long career playing double reed instruments and teaching band to young people in Illinois in Peoria Public Schools.  Well, there were those years in the 1970's when the district decided to seriously curtail art and music classes except for minimal band and forced all those teachers into general education classrooms.  Because her mother had been teaching kindergarten, the powers that were decided Gwen should teach kindergarten too.  Although she has always been enchanting to young children, it was not a good fit; she did her best, continued playing in community orchestras and ensembles, and after several years was reassigned to be a band teacher--although she had to cover five or more schools.  Last winter Gwen suffered a stroke, went into surgery that was declared a success, suffered another far more devastating stroke in the hours after surgery, and passed away a few weeks later never having regained consciousness.

Therefore, this fabric has been lingering for even more months.

In October, Busy Bee, the shop a couple of miles north of I-40 in Edgewood, held some special days for quilters.  I carried the musical fabrics to the store, and came away with some new companions for them.


These are Michael Miller Fairy Frost fabrics in not quite pure colors.  They spoke to me because our sixth graders were reading The Phantom Tollbooth, and one of my favorite parts is the chapter about Dr. Chroma--probably because my brain just can't separate music and color.


So I came home with these, thinking the yardage would be perfect for the background/skies.
(Yes, that's the presser foot of my vintage Necchi BU on the right.  It's one of my favorite sewing machines; I removed the motor and treadle it--feels much healthier than sitting with my foot on an electric control.)

However, they sat in the bag for weeks because I didn't have time to even consider using them; furthermore, although I'd thought I had quite a few leftovers of Fairy Frost from other quilts,  it turned out I had much, much less than I remembered.

Recently, I found a lovely sale on Michael Miller 10" squares at Over the Rainbow, one of my favorite on-line shops.

These were in the Crayon Box collection--just what Dr. Chroma needs.

Of course, I'm not sure when I'll get these to the designing/piecing stage.

I've spent the last several months trying to find moments when I've had enough energy to add quilting to a quilt for a friend's daughter--and at this point, I'm hoping she can have it by Christmas--but I'm not sure that will be possible either.--Her mom pieced it (we designed it together), but it will be up to me to put on the binding, etc.

In the meantime, my brain is working on possibilities for Dr. Chroma's world of color and symphony.

Happy quiltmaking,

ABQ Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival

As I mentioned in a previous post, from May 22-24, Albuquerque was blessed by a Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival. Even the  times I've gone to really big, national shows, I've come away with negligible purchases, so I'd like to encourage people to attend this show if it's within driving difference.  Their next show will be in Castle Rock, CO July 10-11, 2014, and the vendors do vary with the event. (One of my friends lives near their Puyallup show, and I've wanted to attend for a long time.)

Here are some photos of what followed me home:

Sweet Teen was shocked because she knows I love choosing fabrics for quilts, but I loved these and thought they would make a very cheery prayer quilt without my having to dig around in my stash.  (Karen does not have an online store; she just enjoys gathering fabrics and marketing at shows--and getting to travel to them.)

These batiks are from Rabbit Hole Quilt Shop from Chico, CA.  I dyed one almost like the pink a few years ago when I was still dyeing fabrics every few months.  I do not know if I'll manage to find any time to dye this summer.

These are from Desert Stitchin; Chris and John are from Goodyear, AZ and vend at shows in the Southwest. I purchased these for a "watery" baby quilt for one of my colleagues. The Bali charm pack at the bottom is the door prize I won from their shop at the show.  That has never happened to me before!  Well, at least not since I won my Charlotte doll at Mrs. Beatty's gift shop on December 18--somewhere around 60 years ago.  I guess this could mean that if I live another 60 years, I might win again? I was pretty amazed when my name was called.

I was near the Busy Bee booth when my name was called.  One of the owners exclaimed, "Dora Scheer?  And I don't hear any clapping or cheering?  We'll cheer for you!"

These are for a three year old girl who loves pink and purple and needs a quilt because she's soon going to be a big sister, so I've been pulling pink and purple batiks from my stash. Actually, I picked these up at the shop, not at the show.  The show gave the owners a chance to discover that a lot of people in our area didn't yet realize their shop was nearby.  It's a great little shop with the best service I've experienced in my 40+ years of quilt shops.  They have many ongoing block of the month quilts from some of the best designers.  I most often pop into their shop for a few fat quarters or for yardage to make a special prayer quilt.  The owners and their employees are unfailingly helpful and friendly.

As much as I love the fabrics, these are my favorite purchases from the show.  The stylus is also a set of screw drivers perfect for my sewing machines, and the other is a seam ripper (a belated Mother's Day gift from Sweet Teen).  Sweet Teen had a lovely conversation about engineering with the engineer who was acting as cashier.  Lumenaris also sells 100% wool felt.

Hopefully, this show will return to Albuquerque next year.  It would be lovely if they could piggyback onto the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta.

Happy quiltmaking...and knitting....

Blessings, Busy Bee, I-40

We have had no rain for weeks--unless you want to count the few mud drops that fall from the sky as clouds pass over. For the last few days, while showers were falling over other areas, I've been able to count the raindrops that visited us.

 Today we had real rain.  The storm lasted for over an hour--I'm guessing we may have gotten an inch, or two, at the most. (Our little airport is reporting 0" thus far.) And, yes, I remember that about this time last year we were in East Tennessee and experienced 10-15 inches in about an hour and half.

We still have flash flood warnings out across the state and are concerned for erosion of the scars from forest fires.
For a while today it came down so hard that the buildings across the field weren't visible.
I occupied myself quilting on the treadle near my north window--reminding myself that if I owned one of those expensive computerized machines and/or a long arm, I would have had to unplug them and would have been just spinning my wheels.

 After the rain:  puddles!

 And more puddles! Glad the rain happened today instead of last night during our town's one-hour-plus fireworks display (that was close enough that I watched it from my driveway).

On the way home from therapy, I stopped in Edgewood to help Busy Bee Quilt Shop celebrate their fourth birthday.  For those traveling I-40 through New Mexico, Edgewood is slightly less than thirty miles east of Albuquerque.  There is only one Edgewood exit, and those who drive between two and three miles north will find the little strip center with Busy Bee Quilts.

Busy Bee is owned by a very nice couple who truly understand the  meaning of hospitality and dish it out liberally.  (I did turn down the offer of cake today.) I really don't have a solid plan for these fabrics yet, since a lot of ideas have been floating around in my head for weeks. While I love the idea of charm packs, layer cakes, stacks of fat quarters, jelly rolls, etc., I do love choosing fabrics from across several lines from several manufacturers.

I came home with this quilt inspiration, including the pale teal in the background. I also won a free fat quarter (I was one of three customers in the shop at 2:00; others, kept away by the thunderstorm, I'm sure.)  I think the last time I won something in a store was when I was seven and won my Charlotte doll a week before Christmas in Mrs. Beatty's Gift Shop in El Paso, Illinois!

I also picked up these interesting dots to add to the collection for Sweet Teen's polka dots and stripes quilt.  I really need to work on that design instead of buying more dots!

I was grateful to have only one therapy today, although it was vestibular therapy and was pretty tough to get through (as are the home exercises, for that matter).  Tomorrow includes two appointments and Sweet Teen's return from her mission trip--so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to fit in some visits at thrift stores because I'd like to find a couple more white 100% cotton sheets for a window project.

I did manage to quilt two colliding feathers onto Brent's quilt--so I'm really just at the beginning of that project still!  I'll console myself with the fact that during some of my waiting time I was able to work on tatted lace.

Happy quiltmaking.....

Eye Candy - POV

These are my idea of eye-candy.  Sweet Teen informed me yesterday that her idea of eye candy is the high school cross country team!
Ohhhhhhkay!  Definitely different points of view!
See that crib and railway crossing in the first photo?  That picture could have been a portrait of  Enright Elevator between Gridley and El Paso in Illinois---or any of hundreds of rural elevators at other sites that dotted the Midwest 50 to 75 years ago--or more. In autumn I really miss such sights (although I readily admit I'm not missing all the dust from harvesting corn--since corn is one of my big allergies).
Since I won't be getting back to the Midwest this fall, I was so pleased to learn of Wilmington Prints Autumn In the Air fabric--it brings back soooooo many memories from past decades of activities and happy events that are probably a lot more treasured because of their distance. (The fabric became available months ago, although at the time I was busy with other things and didn't even notice it had been released; that turns out to be a good thing, since I got it on sale.)
The fabrics are not in my usual colors--and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a hard time finding the violet and red-violet fabrics I want to put with these.  However, I just couldn't resist.
As for the yarn, it's time to add a few more pairs of socks to my cool weather wardrobe.  Sweet Teen really dislikes socks and wool too--another difference in point of view.
Hmmmm....I'm thinking I'll stick with my preferences although her preferences do make me wonder what Maxine, of cartoon fame, would think of as eye-candy!