Cotton Quilters Guild April Meeting

On Monday, the Cotton Quilters Guild held it's April meeting, with little ole me at the helm. It's Friday so it's been four days, which I tell you so that you'd understand how long I've been a-bed. (I'm reading Henry James' Turn of the Screw, so expect more of that old-fashioned, British nonsense.)

I'll say I have a stomach bug, but it's possible someone in my life is poisoning me by putting something in my Gatorade. It would be believable if I weren't so darned fab. Anyway, I'm only drinking Gatorade because I'm losing fluids much too quickly. Regardless, if necessary, the computer will come with me into the camper bathroom. I am getting this post out. And that's all I'm going to say about that. 

So the meeting--we took care of guild business, then Mrs. Marilyn and Mrs. Priscilla had a hand at presenting how they created these beautiful works. Mrs. Priscilla made the wall-hanging above several years ago, based on a pattern she purchased. The pattern contained the girl, and Mrs. Priscilla added all the extras that are attached to the outer edge. She mentioned that she was going for a 1920s look. I think she nailed it! This piece was made to hang over a guest bed in her home. 

Mrs. Marilyn's rooster is also from a pattern she purchased but is a more recent piece. She used Steam-a-Seam II to make the rooster and attach it to the background. She also used only Kaffe Fassett fabrics and fussy cut them to get the look she wanted. She's a great Kaffe fan. 

I discovered that there are now tools available that I wish I'd had back in my days of applique. "Daddy's Barn" (of five years ago) would have benefited from that Steam-a-Seam, certainly. Let's not forget the Mayeaux Barn. I suppose I'll have to find a bit of that product and play. 

We also shared our first BOM--that I'm hosting. What a great laugh everyone had at my math inability. We were supposed to make 12" log cabin blocks. How hard can that be? Well, much more difficult when the pattern writer says 15" instead of 12. Plus, the pattern writer writes 2½ instead of 2. Oh, it was a mess! Someone found an error and I shot out an email to make the correction. Then someone else found a different error, and I shot out another correction. 

Somehow only two people came to the meeting with 15" blocks! I offered to rip the seams out. It was my mistake after all. Sweet sisters they declined. They said they'll just start over and make the correct size blocks.

Despite the commotion and craziness of the mix-up, I loved seeing what everyone had as a beginning to our row quilt. A simple log cabin block is a chameleon with just a few changes in color. 

We have about eight members who are going to try to figure out what a la Mary means. That's the term they say when they talk about some wild, crazy, modern quilt idea. It's French for like Mary or Mary's way. They mean it as a compliment sometimes and as a kooky, who-knows kind of way at other times. I take it as a compliment regardless of the real context. I'm cool like that. 

And we ended with a couple of show and shares, but I got so involved with something else, that I took only one picture of Mrs. Mary C. who made lots of table toppers for her daughters. She said it's a fast, easy project that uses up some of her favorite fabrics and she gets to share them with the people she loves. How wonderful is that?

Pin It Weekly #171

Jacqueline Freeman is a Pinterest follower who has 20 boards with a great variety of pins. Here are a few of my favorites.

Like barn quilts? Check out this one on a mailbox post!

One of her boards is strictly about Underground Railroad quilts.

Jeanette Shouse, another follower, has only 12 boards but almost 2,000 pins--mostly all of them are quilting related. How adorable is this first one on her applique/embroidery board?

And what have I been pinning? Well, "Milk, glass" for one. In fact, I started a new board and already have over 100 pins already.

I've also been pinning to another board, "book, shelves" which has about 150 pins of very odd and unusual bookshelves. Enjoy these three or four.

Thanks for visiting! We haven't had a linky party in some time, so let the rest of us know what you've been pinning by adding the address of one of your boards or your Pinterest site. It just takes a moment. 

A Bit of Nagging Pays Off With a Finish!

I do not like being a nag. For the most part I prefer whining. But sometimes whining just doesn't work. Nagging is my second form of torture. When all else fails, I generally throw a fit. It takes lots of effort, but it's effective. 

Here's how it went down: we went on vacation and saw barn quilts. I fell in love, love, love with the idea of painting a barn quilt for our shed. I talked about it and Richard said he did not want a barn quilt on his shed. But I was pretty persistent.

Nothing happened. Really, you'd think the man would get it by now. You'd figure that after 38 years of marriage, he'd know I'm not going to stop.  But nope, he just starts with no. And he hangs on to it for a while.

But the thing is, he can't hang on long enough. He has one strategy: say no. That's it. I, on the other hand, have three uhm, four, several, depending on whether you count the subtle attempts. Hint around. Hint around a little more directly.  Directly say what I want. Ask again and again. Whine. Whine like a kid. Fuss. Fuss like an old woman. Nag. Have a fit. Have a big fit. Torture. Back to nagging.

All that in my back pocket and the man has no. Sure he says it a lot many, too many times. But who's going to win? Me. Every. Single. Time. 

My sisters say I'm spoiled and they are half right. I am spoiled. Because I know how to wear the man down. And that's what I did: I wore him down to two barn quilts on his shed. Now ask me who was the creative genius and who did the work. 

Linking up with 

Sew Fresh Quilts

Confessions of a Fabric Addict  

Oops on the reporting

Happy Independence Day

When I posted my stash report for June, I realized that I never wrote about my one vacation shopping foray. What? You're kidding, right? No way! So this is my somewhat belated testament to Pins and Needles Quilt Shop in St. Croix Falls, Ohio. 

St. Croix Falls is a quaint little town with lots of history, including a beautiful dam that closed up the falls part of the river. It's a great place for antiquing and has several restaurant/bars where the food sounded delicious. Richard and I walked several blocks along main street, dropping in a couple of shops. When we arrived at Pins and Needles, he was ripe for the picking, as the saying goes. I really wanted him to come in, but someone had to stay outside with Cotton. 

It didn't take long to spend the $20 that I brought in, the problem was staying within my budget. But on vacation, an impromptu shopping spree means making choices. Pins and Needles has over 4000 bolts of fabric--wool, reproduction, solids, prints, and novelty fabrics. I spent several minutes just getting my bearings. Then I needed some time to look at their assortment of tools, rulers, and must-haves. Oh, but I wanted to stay, maybe play overnight. You know how it is! 


I finally settled on a couple of fat quarters, two of which will be added to the Quilty 365 circles, and this bicycle print that I just wanted. I had a small piece three years ago from Carla at Quilting by the River. I used it to make a small bag for one of the granddaughters (posted here) and have kept an eye out since. It's not exactly the same, but it's close enough to be happy. 

Also in this small haul I picked up an interesting pattern. It reminds me so much of Richard's grandmother. She never went without an apron very much like this one. I also like the child version, though I doubt that any of the wild-child grands will use one. 

I'll leave you with a close up of the barn quilt on the front of the store. Isn't it an interesting star? 

Pin It Weekly #155

What have you been pinning? That's getting to be a regular question from me. I guess that would be because it relevant and I don't have any other questions for these posts.

Other than the rainbows from Sunday's inspiration post, I've been posting a crazy mix of things...with no rhyme or reason.  A couple of baby quilts because they are cute quilts, so I really like having them on my baby, quilts board. 

And some "barn, quilts" to that board because, you know, 480 pins could not be enough. Plus, I just love old barns!

And then there were all those baskets from last week's Pin It post, but I couldn't seem to stop after the post was finished. 

And then there's this pin about batting, which I found really interesting and want to be able to review again, so I dropped it into the "quilt, tools" board. That board needs some attention--I have fewer than 50 pins in it, but for some reason I just haven't seen many sewing tools. Maybe I need to try looking again.  

Pin It Weekly #148

The beautiful weather we're having is perfect for a drive in the country to look at barn quilts. Since I live in the country and there are no barn quilts nearby, I'm having to be satisfied with the photo versions on Pinterest. It will do in a pinch.  

Pinning these brought me to this board, "Barns - Old Buildings" by Brianna L.  

You can also find these and other old barns on my "barn, yard" board.