Weekend Reading

I love reading about quilters.... what they think about....what makes them 'tick'.  Maybe it's about the hobby.  Maybe it's to check my own sense of normalcy.  Or maybe it because it's this thing that runs through and through me and I just want to find souls out there just like me.

When I say just like me--- I'm not talking about just the common interest of applique versus patchwork, or even primary colors versus pastel.  It's about learning about someone that has a 'connection' with fabric. It doesn't mean they have do have a solomn oath to Jo Morton  or Creme fabric  has to be the main color of the project.

It does mean they appreciate that art of sewing fabric pieces together with needle and thread.  And whether the pieces are on beds, tables, or walls... they create a warmth of heart...at least for me.

That's why the two above books are on my nightstand right now. More than pattern books - they've taught me about tints and tones.  They've taught me about color combinations and why some colors work together and some don't.

But the parts of the books that I love and truthfully have read several times are how quilting enters all avenues if of their lives. It's almost like they were quilters before they ever quilted.

Proving once again that being a quilter and quilting is more than just doing something with cloth -- it's something inside you -- like being left-handed or right-handed... It's something you just are....

Read the books -- there's even a recipe or two in them. Whether you love Modern quilts or gravitate to the traditional ones...I think you'd love these books.

Favorites...

Boots that would not be left in the Appleton Store... and scarf from Chelsey....there's something about the lace on both....

Saturday...

Well, the weatherman got it right this morning.... Raining and cold... well 52 degrees.... Just kind of makes you hug your coffee mug closer. Here's my mantle this season...

That's a real pumpkin. I found it along a road side stand.... My pumpkins didn't make this year.

It looked painted.

And the other side is a bouquet-- compliments of Mother Nature.

Plans for the weekend---knock out the chores-- quilt, a baby shower, football, get ready for Eric.

Mended Heart ---

It may look like strips of red fabric....but it's going to be an appliqued heart for Chelsey's quilt.

I kind of like the idea of the red pieces being sewn back together to make one block.

Don has always taught me that even with a wooden board that breaks, with the right glue and pressure -- can be put back together and made stronger than before.

So it is with quilting fabric and Chelsey's heart... Both are being put back together to be stronger than before.

She's a tough girl, with the brightest of futures... and a Mom that loves her....

Sunshine and Blue...

Don't you love it when the weatherman is wrong?!?!?!?!

At least for today -- we were supposed to have a rainy day and other than a 5 a.m. shower, we've had a partly cloudy 62 degree day.

My hand sewing project I'm working on right now is Sunshine and Blue by Kathy Cardiff. I started it last year and got the winter blues and decided it made me wish for weather I couldn't have....  I needed the wool piece for the water pitcher and emailed a picture to Cathi at Shakerwood Woolens and she sent me the perfect piece.  I completely trust her judgement.

I have worked on it in sections so I didn't lose the small pieces. The hand-dyed pieces made great leaves and blue berries.  There's another border I haven't added yet until I complete the handwork.

More snapshots to come....

On the Sewing Front.....

I spent the Summer on several projects-- not necessarily quilting.  My kids have this knack of bring stuff home they don't want, but aren't ready to part with.... I'm not complaining... simply stating a fact... and they get it honestly...they're just like me.

Eric basically hasn't lived at home for about 5 years.  Our home as just kind of been a pit-stop. I started cleaning out a set of drawers and a closet along with a couple of boxes of things that I decided he truly didn't want.  I started seeing a pattern of old tee shirts in every spot.  There were tees dating back to 2003.  It was a pretty safe bet that he had no intention of ever wearing them again,but I just couldn't see myself  throwing them out.

I gathered them together. Wash them.  Dried them.  Pressed them.  And started cutting them up.

I was going to make a Tee-Shirt quilt for Eric.  That way, he'd have the shirts forever.  Then I started researching all the tips I could find on making the quilt.  I read about several 'horror' stories and thought I may be in over my head.  I folded everything neatly and laid them on my sewing counter in my sewing room.

A while back I told Eric my plan-- He thought it was a great idea.  When I saw him over Labor Day, he even brought a box of tees to me and said - "  These are really sacred -- I want them in the quilt.  But be careful with them and if you don't use them -- I want them back..."

Great - I'm going to cut these babies up and be the story of scarring the kid's childhood memories....
I emailed a friend.  They said, Use light fusible interfacing-- that's the trick.  My Mom even said -- 'You can do it.'

So I tackled my first tee-shirt quilt:

 Chelsey told me she had always thought they were ugly, but the  black sashing strips set it off.

And while it may not be the most beautiful quilt in the world--- it IS full of memories... that High School Job, 

a Varsity Wrestling Team, The College Fraternity, the first 5K run, a Rock Concert.....Close to ten years worth of memories for Eric...

I have to get backing material and get it quilted for Christmas.....

Summer's End....

A Pinterest project from this summer -- And my Apple Harvest.

Not just a sample of the harvest-- the entire harvest. We had tons of blossoms on our apple trees but a Spring freeze  killed the chances of fruit -- Except of the two above in the picture.  Somehow they managed to stay tucked away and protected from the ice by other leaves and branches.  I don't mind .  there's enough fresh apples growing everywhere else in the U.P. and Wisconsin that we'll get some.  

I picked these two -- and told Don,

" Enough-- one for each of us...."

Summer walks, Garden weeding, and flower picking are all over and the season now changes to Fall.

Though the seasons change the players in our house are still the same...

There's Bruno

and Ripley