Sunday Afternoon Stitching...

Gotta love those Sundays! I'm voting for at least two a week. The Grandgirls and I sewed and sewed and ironed yesterday afternoon. The seven year old assured me she was big enough to sew without me, so she did! Even figured out how to up the speed. They sew bits of fabric together and make long strips, which I straighten with the rotary cutter, then they sew them into rows. The bits of fabric are often swatches from distributors (why would anyone waste a two or three inch square of fabric). The girls love them and sort them by type: flowers, kids prints, outdoors, etc. But often by the time they get to the girl's drawer, they are wrinkly and need to be pressed. It has been my job, until yesterday. We had the safety speech and they took over my job. The 6 year old suffered (far more than she needed to) a burn on her hand. But Papa came to the rescue with a cold wash cloth and antibacterial creme. She's our accident prone drama queen!!

I got several new projects started! Wouldn't be Sunday without a new one or two or three. I put the binding on a large needle-punched art piece that needed bias binding. I sacrificed a great piece of fabric by cutting two bias strips right out of the middle. One of those pieces, we'll never see again and now it is two triangles. Guess I'll have to go shopping for one to replace it! I started a Halloween piece with the new "Scribble Monsters" from Clothworks. I'm adding border upon border to a really cute panel. A sample for my borders and bindings class at the Clarinda Guild next week. The other piece I finished the top of a great new pattern (yes, I know, a real pattern) called Trophy Case. Oriental fabrics with a free-form curved back made from the scraps.

County Fair

Brings back memories of last minute stitches and creative write ups, the smell of wet sheep and manure. Not so much different than today!! Last night we had our 6th or 7th annual Quilt Show and Tell: People bringing and sharing their old family quilts, their newly finished projects, and some in progress. It is always a joy to see what's happening out in the County. And the sharing is my favorite part...probably never got over kindergarten!
The 4-H projects are still near and dear to my heart, I know the work that goes into them, the un-sewing and re-sewing. It makes no difference what ribbon is received, the learning experience is just about the same. For me, it began a life-long love of sewing. Not cooking. The bench in my living room was my County and State Fair project in 1965 or 1966, probably my last venture into refinishing. I still love it, though it is far from perfect! I was always more comfortable with my sewing machine.
Tonight, we're trekking to Bloomfield to speak to the Quilt Guild. My chauffeur will drive me and my quilts in the big black pickup. It is always a pleasure to talk about quilts, almost as much fun as making them!! Tonight's topic is creativity. Quilting outside our boxes, stretching our skills...the only exercise quilters need!!

My Top 5 List

Actually this is a mere glimpse into my Top 40! I'm only willing to share 5 projects at a time. I figure if I put them out here for all the world to see, I'll feel compelled to actually finish some of them.

1. Mom and Dad's 60th Anniversary Quilt. It's a photo quilt with we 7 kids and our families.
2. Niece's T-shirt quilt with her gymnastics and track shirts
3. Binding on my "Bamboo" art quilt
4. Binding on a silk and wool needlepunch art piece
5. The baby quilt we started yesterday.

Today is the first day of the rest of our Blog!

What AM I thinking? Can I add this to my yellow tablet "To Do" list? Can an old quilter really learn to Blog? Do you even care what I'm thinking or doing?

"We" are designing a quilt as I'm writing this. By now you know that "we" means someone else is actually sewing! Barb H. and I had a brain storm, drew out a quilt and started cutting and sewing with abandon. We pulled Cindy C. into our madness and now they're doing the work and I'm typing with my best two fingers. This will be a quicky strippy quilt pattern to be given away when our September Bus Tour comes through town. Give us a few more days and I'll post a picture of the quilt, we think it's realy cute (of course) and it will make a great baby quilt. And everyone can use a fast baby quilt that can be made out of a jelly roll...in an afternoon...between customers. 9 months for a baby, 2 hours for a baby quilt!