Yummy Goodness

 ....Not of the eating variety, however.

Oops, that's the back.  Here's the front.

 Basted.  Ready to quilt.  Well, first I have to quilt the stabilizing stitches--not nearly as much fun as the real stuff!
Just look at all those lovely white areas begging so nicely for feathers!  Time for Prairie Home Companion, the lovely 1936 Singer treadle,  and quilting!

I did get the baby quilt in the mail this morning.  Hope it arrives at her grandpa's house before she does!  Post office said it should be there in two or three days.....

Lila Tueller give-away

New, springy, soft colors, perfect for a prayer quilt as well as a lot of other lovely creations.
Check out Lila Tueller's post  on her blog.  Her new fabric is Isabella.

Baby Quilt Finished!

I am so happy that I've finished the baby quilt before the arrival of the baby!

 I did have to go back and hand sew places I missed on the back of the binding.....oh, well......
I decided to name it Orleans Baroque.  The print is a Hoffman fabric named Windsor--I'm pretty sure I purchased it in 2000.  I think it looks a lot more French than English.

 The rest of the photos are of the back--because the quilting doesn't show up very well on the photos of the front.

It's been laundered in baby soap and will be ready to send off as soon as I find my Pigma pen, sign it, heat set the ink, and get it put into the envelope for mailing.  I'm thinking I'll send it to the baby's grandpa since I have his address, and the mommy-to-be just moved, and I don't have her address.

You can click on any photo to open a larger version of the photo (or right-click and open a photo in a new tab or window).

I'm not sure if the next quilt will be the Blossoms in the Snow or, preferably if I can get un-stuck, the purple feathered stars, etc.

In any case, Orleans Baroque is my first finish of the New Year.

Doilies & Hankies....

 Of course I love textiles...of almost any kind....but especially pretty ones. This crocheted doily was probably made sometime between 1930 and the mid 1950's.  It was stuffed into a bag with a few other lacy things at a thrift store several years ago.  I have no idea if it was made for Kate R. or for a family named Kater.  If any of my readers know a crafty, textile-loving lady named Kate R or a family named Kater, I'd love to pass it on.  My mother never liked to do fillet crochet, but for years she made doilies and beautiful lace edgings.  I made a few but changed to tatting because every time our family got together one little kid or another would rip out my knitting or crocheting.  Tatting doesn't rip out without a lot of intentional untying of knots.

Besides, I was inspired by this.....

...That's a lovely linen handkerchief with an edging that must have been tatted in size 100 or 150 thread.  It's so delicate, I'm not sure you can even see much of it if you right click and open the picture in a new window or tab.  It's wrinkly; it's been in a drawer that had some other stuff tossed in too--including a picture of the Central Illinois farm where I grew up.  I've never known who made that lace-edged doily.  It arrived inside a congratulatory card mailed to me, addressed in beautiful handwriting but unsigned and with no return address way back when I graduated from eighth grade.  I've always treasured it.

Are you old enough to remember your mama tying a quarter or a nickle in the corner of a pretty hankie so you could place the money in the offering plate at church--or maybe tying money in a hankie so you could buy an ice cream cone when you went to town with your daddy or grandpa?

I've lost so many of those hankies over the last several decades--mostly because they've been stored in boxes and I've moved too many times and had too many distractions in my life to care for them properly.  I'd love ideas of things to do with them that would protect their fragile beauty.  I've seen them made into quilts and even a window valence, but I don't want them to wear out so I need a much more gentle use that would let them be displayed with minimal damage.  My dear friend Harriet made some into a bouquet in a lovely vase, but it's much too dusty in my part of the country for me to do that. I could just fold them up and stack them and take them out and look at them once or twice a year, but they are so beautiful, so delicate, and bring so much pleasure that I'd really like to find a workable way to display them.

If you love hankies and you're a quiltmaker, you might want to check out Denise Russart's "Granny's Hankie" BOM over at her blog: http://justquiltin.wordpress.com/ 
You'll find it over in the right hand column of her blog in the Block of the Month Projects.

Let me know if you have display idea...or if you know Kate R. or the Kater family....

Basted...Quilting

This is a very rare pajama quilting day for me.  Doesn't happen very often, and I must do other things too, but I'm pretty sure I won't have to venture away from home before Sunday morning.

Baby quilt is basted.  I used Sharon Schamber's method of hand basting. She has posted an instuctional video about it on youtube. I do it just a little differently, but with the same results.
Finally got the stabilizing quilting done this afternoon. 

So far I've quilted the four green multi-triangle areas along the body of the quilt.  I'm using Fil-Tec Glide thread in green, gold, and violet and my lovely 1935 Singer 15-88 treadle.  Those treadle irons operate so easily (it's a straight leg).  Over spring break or sometime this summer I need to make time to work on the irons of the 1919 Singer 66.  It has issues with thread tension and with treadle irons that just don't operate as easily and smoothly as they should.  On the newer machine, most of the time I don't even need to use my hand to make sure the wheel turns the correct direction, but on the 66 I have to use my hand almost every time to make sure it goes in the right direction.  Since it was much dirtier, I'm hoping the problem is no more serious than some dust or dirt that I haven't managed to clean up.

Four hard days of work this week.  On Tuesday it was 53 degrees F. when I left to come home.  About 20 miles later I hit a snowstorm for which the NM Highway Dept. had been unprepared.  I couldn't tell that snowplows had even been out, so the trip was an extra 40 or 45 minutes long.

I have a good friend who is spending the month in Hawaii--although she had a delay of several days getting her flight due to last week's snowstorms affecting air traffic in the East.  But now she's there, having fun, and staying warm.  How nice is that?  Now that winter is here, I'm grateful for every hot flash/power surge! I'm also hoping that the snow predicted for Sunday night is not enough to affect the Monday commute.

Oh,...the quilt top in the background in the first picture is a counting quilt inspired by my niece Karen, who celebrated her 31st birthday last week.  I started it when she was probably 3 years old.  One of the first nursery rhymes I learned was "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater."  Even at the age of two I was fascinated by the idea that any husband would want to keep his wife locked up--and then I was privileged to live through the years of great advances in rights for women.  I put the center section on the wall hoping I'd get motivated to finish it, but I'm not sure I ever will, given the quality of those early 1980's fabrics.  I'm thinking I may re-do it in batiks.  We'll see......

Stay warm, dry, and safe.....

Resting...resting....

No resting for me....it's the batting for the baby quilt that is resting.  I've been all too aware that today is my last day before returning to the three hour commutes.  The commutes would be exhausting by themselves--but I also have to work, hard.  So, instead of dwelling on thoughts of tomorrow, I worked on the quilt.

 

Pieced the extra blocks, border pieces, and left over fabric into the backing so it would be wide enough.  That's almost always more fun after it's done than while I'm doing it. Aside from how much time it takes, it's really not a big deal, so I don't know why I don't find it more pleasurable. The backing is pressed and resting. 

 The borders are on, the top is pressed, and it's resting.

I'm hoping that by the time I get home each evening this week, I'll have a little leftover energy so I can get it layered, basted, and ready for quilting.  Quilting is always the fun part--as is choosing which threads to use.

We've reached the time of year when I'm grateful for each little hot flash/power surge.  We're having "Midwest Weather" for the rest of this week--that is, it will drop into the teens (or lower) each night, and we'll be happy if the temperature rises 20 degrees during the day.  Often, predicted lows in the teens turn out to be lows in the single digits, so I'm hoping the current predictions are accurate. 

We did go out for Sweet Teen's flute lesson and to fill the gas tank this afternoon.  Our last fill-up was December 21.  We'd driven only 319 miles since then, a lot less than I'll have to drive this week.

Oh, Sweet Teen did ask me why I call her that.  I didn't really explain, but I did say that as long as she acts sweet, I can call her that, but if she acts ugly, I'll have to figure out another name.  I really wouldn't like to be forced to do that.

Stay warm, busy, and happy, dear friends.....

Finished...unfinished

 

One finish for New Years' Eve...I started these years and years ago (a legwarmer pattern from knitty.com). After making a trip to the grocery store in cold, blowing snow yesterday, I came home, holed up with a couple of movies and finished off the foot of the second one.  We are so lucky to have a warm, cozy house, but when it gets this cold (still near zero when I got up this a.m.) they are a welcome addition to the day's wardrobe--even if they are knit from acrylic (because at the time I hadn't begun knitting socks).  Actually, I was making them for "Crazy Sock Day", part of a Read Across America celebration week in our school district. They're not as warm as if they had been made from wool, but I can wear a pair of wool socks beneath them, and they were knit from worsted weight, so they went pretty fast.

 I kind of stalled on this quilt, but hope to get in some sewing time and add borders today.  Every one of these kaleidoscope quilts I've done has received a different kind of setting. I can hardly wait to put feathers in those large sort of triangular areas along the edges.
Years ago I recognized that there were so many patchwork patterns I wanted to try, I'd probably never make the same pattern twice, but these kaleidoscopes became kind of addictive--or therapeutic. Up until the time I figured out how to do these, about the only pattern I'd repeated was a nine-patch.
At the same time I was figuring out how to do kaleidoscopes with repeating sections of fabric, Bethany Reynolds figured it out. She's made a career out of them.  I'm thinking this will probably be my last one unless I decide to make one from Noah's Ark fabric that's been sitting on the shelf for years awaiting my next kaleidoscope.  We'll see....

 I thought I'd attach the binding for this little quilt yesterday, but got sidetracked from that too.  These fabrics are my hand-dyes and were supposed to help me get out of my traditional little box--about ten years ago.  You'll notice that the squares still look like boxes, so what was I thinking!?  It's quilted with lovely feathers in metallic/holographic sliver thread--but I don't think it opened the lid on the box! It's taken a lot of years, a lot of life changes, and a lot of prayer to even open the lid on the box!  Actually, boxes are some of my favorite things! I kind of like opening the lid just a bit and peeking out. (It would be an entirely different matter if I were locked in a box and had no way to get out!) And I do enjoy the very real little boxes I've collected over the years!

My other New Years Eve Day project was washing a bunch of lace and linens--who knows when they'll get turned into some other projects--but at least they're clean!

Wishing all my family, friends, and blog readers a

Happy, Healthy, Prosperous 2011!

Thou Shalt Not....., Etc.

New commandment at our house--enforced by the manufacturer's design:  Thou shalt not put anything on top of the washer or dryer--'cuz if you do, it will slide right off!  Reminds me of those German toilet paper roll hangers--where there's a metal plate enforcing the rule that the toilet paper must unroll from the top toward the front!

 Amidst warnings of approaching snow storms, we made a grocery run yesterday.  By the time we left the store seven miles away it was snowing, so we thought it would hit our community within 30-60 minutes.  Didn't happen.  This morning we awoke to less than an inch of snow.  We're told more is on it's way. We'll see.  The high winds arrived last night and are supposed to be worse today.  It remains to be seen if they'll be accompanied by snow.  In any case, it is icy out there, so I'm glad to stay home and work on this:

 This project has been years in the making.  When my niece Barbara announced that she was expecting a baby at the end of January and Nola's room is being decorated in Mardi Gras colors (yes, she's being named for New Orleans, LA), I knew it was high time to get these blocks into quilt form.  The almost baroque design of the printed fabric does remind me of the French Quarter with all those ironwork balconies and French history. Problem was, I hadn't worked on it since November and couldn't find it.  My sewing room has had a partial reorganization--not that there's any visual evidence of such!--but I couldn't find the quilt pieces.  Fortunately, they turned up under the cabinet under the extension of the Singer 66 treadle in the living room.  They're put together and pressed.  The red plexiglas triangle is to make the triangles and half triangles that square up two edges.  Just need to go get some yellow green fabrics from my hand-dyes.  (I hope to get back to hand dyeing fabrics after school gets out at the end of May.)
Obviously too cold and windy for breakfast outside this morning--so I improvised and had coffee and the last of Sweet Teen's scones at my 66--same view, but a lot warmer!

More Pretties...

 

When we pulled out these so we could take turns reading aloud Christmas Eve...

 I found these.  The Country Living is the January 2005 issue--I'm pretty sure I had never read it.  The Victoria magazines are May and June of 1995.  I've had so much fun reading them.  I loved escaping into Victoria and was shocked when Hearst abruptly stopped its publication.  Phyllis Hoffman DePiano is now publishing it as Bliss Victoria.  They've recaptured a lot of the essence of the original, but I do love the originals!

Several years ago I picked up a size 6 100% linen dress at a thrift shop for $1.00.  Yesterday I finally got around to converting the bodice into a pillow.  Love those delicate mother of pearl buttons and the pin tucks!  And now that my daughter is a Sweet Teen, I'm hopeful it will survive in good shape for a few years (unless her klutzy mom spills something on it).

I also appliqued a rescued doily onto a rescued yellow linen napkin and turned that into a pillow.
The sweet kitty in the center belonged to my father as a baby or toddler.  I'm guessing his mother embroidered it because the stitches look like hers.  About 30 years ago I pulled out the kapok stuffing, gently hand-washed the kitten, and re-stuffed it with polyester.
They all look so happy on the love seat.

My mother had probably a dozen of these elves back in the 70's.  I ran across this one in a magazine--no source listed.  My mom's were all red.  Matthew, who lived next door in Hudson, IL,  loved to visit; at two-and-a-half he made up wonderful stories about the "elfess".  Great memories sparked by a photo in Christmas Cottage, another of Hoffman Media's publications.

Peasoup Outside; Pretties Inside

 Because we are a bit beyond a 2,000 foot drop from the Sandia Mtns (and, undoubtedly, as well, for other reasons I can't explain), our area is prone to fog.  This morning it's quite thick, and has been accompanied by frozen snow--teeny tiny seeds of snow.  (This is where I could use some of those dozens of nouns the Tlinget have for accurate descriptions of snow.)

Inside, our little tree is decorated with ornaments that haven't been out of storage in the last several years (attributable to the fact that we traveled for a couple of years and Sweet Teen dislikes Christmas).

I love, love taking out ornaments I've collected over the years and revisiting the memories of the people who made or gave them or where I collected them.  The two hats (one is the circular ornament to the left of the little hat) were crocheted by my mother about 20 years ago.  I made the macrame ornament when I was teaching in Peoria, IL in the late 70's. (I made six, so I'm thinking the others are in other ornament boxes.--I used to put up three to five trees--one for almost every room when I lived in AZ.)

I have three violet and teal cloisonne ornaments that were a gift from my sister around 1980.

I purchased several of these cloisonne fish on my first trip to China.

I love pretty wired ribbon bows on ornaments; love the extra shots of color and "fluff" they add to a tree.

One year I saved a lot of the short ends and leftover plies of embroidery thread from cross stitch and stuffed them into glass balls as memories of that years' cross-stitch projects.  Since I started quilting with Fil-Tec Glide thread, I've been saving short pieces from the starts and stops in quilting to stuff into balls--thinking I'll use them to decorate a wreath in the sewing room--but haven't done so yet.

Every tree, and every heart, needs a singing bird.  This one sings only in imagination, but it's there in the branches anyway.

Crocheted angels were things my mom loved to crochet.  Unfortunately, she starched hers with a commercial product that when washed turned the angels (and anything else) gray (and can't be removed).  I still prefer homemade starch since it can be washed out when the years add layers of dust to the pretties.

I do hope Sweet Teen gets over her dislike of Christmas.  A lifetime is a long time to dislike what for most of us is a highlight of the year.  My favorite celebration is Easter, but Thanksgiving and Christmas are tied for second place.  Sweet Teen is willing to take part in social outings that have to do with Christmas, but that's because she has relatively high social needs. However, I had to give firm instructions that she will sit with family at church services--her friends are welcome to sit with us too--some attend without family.  I'm glad that at least she appreciates the important part of Christmas, the gift of Jesus, but even the peaceful, traditional, orchestral, piano, and jazz Christmas CD's in which I find great comfort and peace just make her feel "sad." However, she did just say that she might put the "peppy" tracks from Amy Grant Christmas CD's on her i pod.

Christmas cookies, some sewing projects, and, hopefully, some quilty stuff on the agenda for me today...and a trip to the grocery store for the eggs I forgot to buy yesterday.....

Christmas Is A'Comin.....

 For the first time in decades, I purchased a real Christmas tree--to the benefit of an out-of work roofer who moved here from SC.  I always have a problem deciding what to put on the front door since the space between door and screen door is so narrow.  Here's a branch and a couple of twigs I removed from our little tree (it's just over 3 feet tall)--Looks like it's working better than anything else I've tried in the last few years.

 A kind of Christmas present to myself.  This sweet little lamp was a thrift shop find several years ago.  I'm sure it originally had a similar chimney, but when I picked it up, it had only the original socket inside.  Yesterday a friend helped me pick out a new socket and I picked up the white chimney so I could use a compact fluorescent.  The extension cord I purchased to rewire it was too thick to go up through the bottom.  Fortunately, today I found some wiring left from an old science kit--not as nice as the white, but at least it went up through the bottom.  So I lit it so I can see if I need to be concerned about heat from the bulb. So far it's staying cool.  I loved the little curved edge base because I thought it would make a perfect place to drop rings or earrings before dropping off to sleep at night.

Thirdly, here's sweet teen the night of her Christmas Concert.  (It was for school, so I'm sure they called it something else.)  Out here the bands have not only marching uniforms but also concert attire.  Black satin.  It was about an inch short.  I was told to lengthen it.  Having spent about seven hours hemming it by hand last year (no machine stitching allowed),  I said no thanks. This was taken a couple of days after her latest haircut--and doesn't represent what her hair usually looks like--I'm gently reminding her that she needs to learn how to style it with her flat iron. She's had a little more practice so her hair usually looks a bit different now--but I don't have a more recent photo.

Two more days of school and those looooonnnnnnggg commutes for me, and then I'll have a few days off.  I'm dreaming quilting--although I really need to finish decorating the tree--something Sweet Teen won't do since she doesn't like Christmas.  And I haven't quite decided how I'll finish it.

Winter Wonderland???

 Beautiful--despite the fact that a few seconds later as I looked toward the highway, I inadvertently touched a branch and it jumped snow down my neck!

Over twelve inches here--still coming down.  Therefore, unplanned personal day from school--we have two more days next week before "Winter Break" begins--it's still Christmas Break in my heart and mind.

Hard to believe that it was 65 degrees Wednesday afternoon!

It took me a loooooonnnnnnng time to make the commute last night--and despite the five inches of snow we had at home, I really thought the worst that would happen is that I'd get to work a couple of hours late.  That's not in the cards for today.  The snow shovel was still in the shed out back.  Alex plunged into it--sweet teen that she is--and shoveled a path to the house and a path down the drive so we could get the garbage can to the street, in case the garbage truck makes it.

It's pretty---but cold!

EQ Christmas Freebie

Since I'm not accomplishing much in dora's quiltland, I'm passing this link on to you: a table runner or wallhanging that's free to EQ7 users at this link: http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/blogs/apqstaff/2010/10/08/electric-quilt-7-freebie/

If you're not an EQ7 user, I hope you still enjoy just looking at this pretty creation.  (It's been available for a couple of months, but since I'm not keeping up with much except miles and miles of driving, I thought you might enjoy this.--Earlier this week there was a fatal accident that kept I-40 closed for hours; yes, that included my morning commute.  Traffic was redirected to old Route 66, where it clipped along at 5 mph then 2 mph and then stood still.  Since the roads were dry, I was able to turn around and take a substantial detour over a winding mountain road--so I'm guessing my 70 mile a.m. commute became 100 miles, but at least I got there.  Some co-workers said they'd have turned around and gone home.  Since my work ethic wouldn't allow me to do that, I just found a way to get there anyway.)

Stay warm and dry, friends.  And may you have time for some fun holiday creativity of some sort--as long as it's pretty and fun!

Sock Advice?

I'm hoping a blog reader has experience with socks made from a yarn like this one.

http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Gloss_Fingering_Yarn__D5420151.html

This is Knitpicks Gloss Fingering yarn.  It's 70% merino wool and 30% silk.  It comes in absolutely beautiful colors.  No nylon; I usually look for yarn that has a bit of nylon so it will maintain its shape. So, I'm hoping someone has experience using a combination of fibers like this and can let me know how well it works for socks. Does it hold its shape through a day of wear?  Are they still comfortable at the end of a day?  Do they wear well or wear out quickly?

Yes, winter is on its way--we may have snow over the weekend or by the beginning of the week.  I'm not much of a winter person.  I love looking at snowy landscapes, but I hate driving on snowy or icy roads--kind of a big deal with a 135+ mile commute.  (Of course, if I worked really close to home and/or could just stay home and bake cookies, make quilts, and knit, I'd probably like winter a lot better!)