Ring A Ding Ding! And Some Baby Things!

How many times have you gone to the store, you get to the check out and they ask for that store loyalty card and you spend time digging in your purse while those behind you fume.  I decided that I don't need that kind of energy being tossed my way any longer. Today I dug a little key ring out of my craft drawer and punched holes in the corners of all my cards, slid them all on the key ring and I am good to go.  No more fishing through my purse in line.

I am working on a secret swap quilt right now, so I cannot share it online until the swap has taken place next month.  It has turned out really cute and I'm half tempted to make another one for myself!

My friend Brenda's daughter just had a sweet little boy.  He is very tiny and came early, mom has had some health challenges but they are both home and doing well now she reports.  I don't see her much these days because she has an acute case of baby love, understandable.

Yesterday I stitched up this little bib for him.  I am sure it is too big for him right now, but he will grow into it.  Michelle at work has been making a gazillion of these for her granddaughter and was kind enough to give me the pattern. 

Tons of fabric left over from this project, so this morning while I was surfing, I came across a cute pattern at Missouri Star Quilts and decided that was the perfect thing to make.  I will need to shop for a little border fabric and some flannel backing.  I'm not going to put batting inside, it's summer in Sacramento and this is a receiving size, the flannel will be plenty warm.

If you would like to make a quilt using this pattern, here are the directions in video for you from the Missouri Star Quilt Company:

I think this would be a fun quilt to make if you have some fabric that you really want to feature, or to make it in solids and show case your quilting.  Lots of possibilities.  

Too hot to go outside today, so I will be at my sewing table!  More to come...

All finished, a little bib, a burp cloth and a little quilted receiving blanket lined with flannel.  Sweet!

Come Celebrate Pioneer Day in Nevada City!

This weekend members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints will enjoy festivities on Saturday July 20th, 2013 that commemorate the trek west from Nauvoo, Illinois to The Great Salt Lake Basin, which started in 1845.

                                                    

President Gordon B. Hinckley taught: “It is good to look to the past to gain appreciation for the present and perspective for the future. It is good to look upon the virtues of those who have gone before, to gain strength for whatever lies ahead. It is good to reflect upon the work of those who labored so hard and gained so little in this world, but out of whose dreams and early plans, so well nurtured, has come a great harvest of which we are the beneficiaries” (“The Faith of the Pioneers,”Ensign,July 1984, 3).

I have been asked to put together a display table on Pioneer Women and Quilting for the festivities that our Stake is hosting which will be held at the LDS Church located at 612 Hollow Way, Nevada City, CA , this Saturday, July 20th starting at 3pm. 

Open to the public, there will be delicious bar-b-que, activities for adults and children alike and we will welcome in those that have participated in the hand cart trek this past week.  

From 1856 to 1860, handcarts were a means of helping Latter-day Saints gather in the West.  These handcart pioneers faced many trials and hardships which required a great amount of faith, obedience, and sacrifice. By participating in handcart treks, today’s youth may begin to grasp the spirit of faith, obedience, and sacrifice these saints demonstrated. Some youth pull handcarts over the original trail; others reenact treks on land in their areas. 

Pioneer families that were making the journey westward endured untold hardships.  Each handcart had limited space for personal items.  A person assigned to a handcart had only 17 lbs allotted to them for personal items, bedding, clothing, etc.  Space was at a premium. Luxurious linens and ornate quilts would not have been taken along on this journey.  Quilts would have served a utilitarian purpose, warmth, bedding.  Fabric would have been difficult to come by on the frontier.  There would have been no way to really launder a quilt as you are trying to move along on a journey such as this. I don't imagine that there was much quilting going on during the actual trek.  Quilts would have been utilized to bury the dead along the way.  The Martin handcart company actually burned their quilts and blankets trying to lighten their load to enable them to move forward toward what they thought was certain rescue, only to have many in their company freeze to death.

Deuel Pioneer Log Home, one of the first homes built in the Salt Lake Valley circa 1847

                                                                                           

Once the women arrived at their journey's end and they finally got about the business of setting up some type of home, they would utilize what they had to comfort their family and beautify their humble abode as they were able.  Small scraps of colored cloth would have been highly prized.  You can see an example of this in the quilt below, with small bits of colored fabric sewn in the Irish Chain pattern.  Each square but a 1/2 inch in diameter. 

Another favorite pattern would have been the Log Cabin pattern, with the typical red center of each block, signifying the hearth or heart of the home and the logs in both light and dark fabrics which would signify that there are always light and dark times.

Log Cabin Quilt made by Ellen Dougherty in 1870 in Illinois.

Again, the early quilts would have been utilitarian, to serve a purpose, they were not looked at as art forms until life became a little easier for the women pioneers.  Time was spent alongside your husband in the field planting and tending crops so that you could ensure your survival through the difficult winters.  They would have been preoccupied with building shelter and preparing for their own survival and that of those that would come after them.  People would be pouring into Salt Lake and would need food and shelter, there was much work to do and not much time for trivial pursuits.

I hope you will come out and join us in the fun this Saturday!  We will have some examples of older quilts, not from the 1800's but quilts from the turn of the last century and from the 1930's and 40's. There will be some fabric squares and you can try your hand at putting together an old fashioned 9 patch block with a needle and thread, just as your ancestors might have.  There will be some English paper piecing for those that would like to try that as well.  

See you out there!

Sewin The Blues For Andrew

My son Andrew was down to visit us a week ago, he has done so many wonderful things for us, I want to give back to him.  He is kind, thoughtful, generous and I have said this before, but it bears repeating, I am grateful to be his mother. 

I was looking through the Spring 2013 issue of Modern Patchwork and I asked him if he liked any of the quilts in the issue.  Andrew has a very modern estethic.  It was fun to see what he picked out! He loved this quilt by Alyssa Lichner called Retro Rubies. I loved the pebble quilting!

Are you surprised?  I wasn't.  He loves the 70's vibe and this reminds him of that era, the Nut Tree and Coffee Tree in Vacaville, a favorite stop along Highway 80 and their graphic designs, now no longer in existence.

Modern Patchwork magazine, I think it's one of my new favorites! You really get the bang for your buck, packed full of great ideas, not just quilts but other items as well.  Great instructions, pattens and lots and lots of full color pictures!

Now the discussion of fabric and colors.  I broke out my Kona Cotton Color Sampler and asked him to pick out the colors he wanted.  I don't want to guess.  And he quickly pointed to the range of blues that he wanted!  Yea!  

So Andrew, your fabric has arrived, here are your selections. Time to make any last minute changes before I get to cutting.

Andrew's blues on the Ash Grey.

More to be revealed!

My Husband Is Blind and I'm Moving The Furniture!

My Husband John

Monday, July 1st my husband went to see his doctor for a post op visit having just had a retinal detachment in his one remaining eye repaired last month.  He lost the site in his left eye 2 years ago, when a doctor failed to diagnose a retinal detachment.   Well, he get's down to UC Davis Hospital and they tell him it's torn again and he has to have emergency surgery at 11:30 that night. I won't go into all the gory details, it's a gnarley proceedure to say the least. I got him home Wednesday last week, without site in his eyes. We live at 2700 ft elevation so we have to stop every 500 ft of incline and wait for the gas bubble that they insert into the eyeball, to adjust to the altitude or it could permanently blind him. So it takes several hours to get home. Then he must lay on his right side to keep the bubble positioned where they need it to be for this particular tear to heal properly. This Thursday he went for his post op check up and the doctor is cautiously optomistic. 

John in the Grand Canyon

It has been a challenging couple of months for both of us. I feel like I'm over the edge, repeating: " lay on your right side, keep your head down, don't pick that up, don't bend over, keep your dark glasses on". All I do is nag, nag, nag...with the best of intentions. I want a good outcome. This and the normal day to day chores that he does to help around the house, that are now under my perview as well. Hauling the garbage can down the long steep driveway on Sunday night so the garbage man can get it on Monday morning. Taking care of our Insurance clientele, which means meeting with them on Fridays (my only weekday off) and taking care of the attending paperwork that is required in running our business. Instead of wisking out the door to work in the morning, now I must fix him a breakfast and lunch and some snacks before I go. I don't mind, I love my husband and I know he would do the same for me...but it's a work out.

Grandpa and Isaiah at the Foresthill House.

Our standing joke now is...don't piss me off...or I'm moving the furniture! He is navigating around the house well and tonight we even went for a walk down the street to the corner and back. He is in good spirits except for feeling house bound and like a little kid, looking for trouble to get into. Today was our grandson's 5th birthday and we called him and sang the Happy Birthday song for him, he loved it. And just before we hung up the phone our little 2 year old granddaughter said, "Hi Pa!" SOOOOO cute! Melted her grandpa. Life is good, we are blessed and I know that John will heal. We will know in a month if he will have his site back.  Prayers will be answered!  

Grandpa with baby Maliyah and 3 year old Isaiah

Maliya 2 and Isaiah 5

New Paper Piecing Pattern - Hexi Lotus

Here is a brand new pattern for you to enjoy.  I drafted this up last month and have made it in three colorways for current BOM's that I am working on.  I hope you enjoy it and please post your photos to our group in either Ipernity or Flickr.  I will put links to both below.

The pattern can be found by clicking on the button at the side of the blog titled Perfect Paper Piecing Patterns.  Please excuse the rough draft of this pattern.  There are three templates.  A-B-C  Make 2 copies of each template.  Yes I just reversed the one template and the numbers are difficult to read as they are backwards.  Just take a pencil and mark your numbers.  

Some notes about putting this block together. 

1.   Basic instructions for paper piecing can be found on the page where the links for the patterns are listed.  Just click on the button to the right of this blog.

2.  This block looks complicated but it's not.  You will be surprised.  Make all your pieces at the same time.  Cut all your #1's and glue them down, cut all your #2's and piece all of them at the same time and so forth. You will find that if you get in the habit of doing your paper piecing this way, you will quickly have a block.  Repetition helps move things along.  Making the same fold, cutting the same seam, stitching the same piece, rather than going one segment at a time.

3.  BEFORE YOU STITCH YOUR SEGMENTS TOGETHER: 

Lay your segments out on the table and make sure they are in the proper places.  You will sew an A, B and C segment together, pressing the seams OPEN as you sew each one.  We you have two segments together, carefully tear out ONLY the seam allowance portion of the paper at the very center of the block.  This will help you avoid buckling, bunching and distortion as you sew the next pieces together.

4.   Each segment of this block contains a flying geese.  The corners of these geese are where you want to match up your blocks before stitching.  Put a pin through the corner where the seams meet and match it up to the same part on the next segment.  Keep your pin perpendicular and carefully place a pin elsewhere in the block to secure or scotch tape the edge.  We will go over this in class, but for those that are joining us online, I will try to work up a little video this weekend to demonstrate. 

5.  When you have completed two halves of your block, you will line them up with a pin in the center and a pin at each tip of the flying geese just as described above.  Secure with pins or tape and sew.  Press the seam open.

For those of you who want to do fussy cuts:

Make a template of that portion of the pattern that you want to focus on.  I use Vellum, or template plastic or what every I have that will work to that end.  It should be something that will hold it's shape and be translucent enough for you to see your quilt pattern.  Make sure you add a generous 1/2 inch around your template.  Yes the seams are only 1/4 inch but you will want to have some wiggle room to adjust your fussy cut.  

Find your design that you want to replicate and then place your template over that.  Draw on the template with a pencil some of the features of the design, this will let you match it up perfectly as you move the template around the fabric to cut additional pieces.  You can see this illustrated in the block above, all the flying geese were fussy cuts to create a "scalloped" effect.  And you can see it in the center star of the block below, using a zebra print and lining up the design so that the lines would meet in the middle.

I hope you will enjoy this pattern.  Be sure when you print it out to make sure that you set your printer to print exact size.  Do not print fit to page.  The block should finish out at 12.5 inches which will finish at 12 inches in a quilt.  

Share photos of what you have created!  You can share them at http://www.flickr.com/groups/paperpiecingperfection/

or at http://www.ipernity.com/group/ppp

And as always, if you have questions or need help, drop me a line I am happy to assist.

I haven't gotten much accomplished since our last class.  John had to go back into the hospital for emergency surgery on his eye again last Monday night at 11:30.  I got him back home Wednesday and he is resting comfortably.  It's been a challenging week, but we are never given a challenge that we are not capable of meeting with the help of the Lord.  I am grateful to all of my friends and family, here in Foresthill, around the state and those of you that are my online friends and family.  Grateful to my boss and my co-workers that covered for me on Tuesday.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers and your kindness.  

We were greeted by my son Andrew, who came down from Squaw Valley, when we arrive home and he fixed us an amazing BBQ with ribs, corn on the cob, cold slaw, macaroni salad, it was lovely!  While the BBQ was going, we made some homemade vanilla ice cream for desert.  Next morning he fixed us buttermilk waffles, bacon and orange juice before he left.  I feel amazingly blessed to have him as my son.  He is always thoughtful and kind.

I am working on the next PPP installment.  I think you will enjoy it!

Hey, I just saw this tonight and want to share it with you.  If you like prairie points on your quilt, this is quick and easy!  I think you will enjoy this little video tutorial.

   

Fabric Freaks Friday Fun with the PPP Group!

Circling Geese Block

Our little Paper Piecing Perfection group had such fun this morning!  This time I brought two blocks from Amy Gibson, at Stitchery Dickory Dock.com for the gals to piece.  They are the Circling Geese Block from her Craftsy Class and the Sunny Days Block from her Sugar Block Club.  I will not be posting these patterns online, but will offer you the links below to get them. 

My friend Dianna Atherton joined us for the day all the way from Nevada City and she brought along a most delightful lunch for me!  Thank you Dianna, it was great fun to have you with us today!

Sunny Days

Both of these blocks offer so many design options.  I am working on two quilts concurrently in this group.  One is a "Champagne and Caviar" colorway and the other is a "Fall" colorway.  Both have a completely different feel about them.  I made the block above, Sunny Days, as part of Amy's Sugar Block Club.  You can see how different it looks below.

Last year I took Amy's Craftsy course "Craftsy Block of The Month, 2012" and made the Circling Geese Block.  You can see how different that one looks in Kaffe Fassett fabrics below.

If you like these blocks and want to make some yourself, you can find the patterns at the following links:

For the Circling Geese Block:  www.Craftsy.com

Look for the 2012 Crafts Block of The Month Class.  It is the October Block.

For the Sunny Days Block:  www.stitcherydickorydock.com

You will need to sign up for Amy's Sugar Block Club.  Worth the nominal sign up fee.  She has a great group of gals quilting along with her and it's fun to see all their blocks each month.

I did not have my camera with me at class today and Brenda Allen was kind enough to snap some photos with her phone to send to me...here they are!  Great blocks, successfully executed!

Brenda's Block

Mavis' Block

Sandy's Block

Teri's Block

Dianna's Block

Valerie's Blocks

As I promised my gals, here is the link for Leah Day's 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting!  Please stop by and see her blog, great videos of all kinds of free motion quilting, wonderful instructions.  HINT:  start  on the right side of her blog, scroll down to the Blog Archive and select September 2009, just work your way through from day one!

LINK:  http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com

More to come this weekend, so check back!  I will be uploading some more fun paper piecing patterns for PPP, should be up by Sunday at the latest! 

Reflections In The Canning Kettle

Reflections in the canning kettle

I learned to can as a little girl in my grandmother's kitchen.  We shared pleasant conversations about all the goings on in the world at the time and she would patiently and methodically work through what ever fruit she was canning.  There was always something that I could help with and she would tie one of her aprons around my waist as we would get underway.  She never whipped out a recipe book, she just knew how to do it.  So calm in her process, laughing, assigning me little duties...it was all great fun.  Showing me how she sieved the apples to make applesauce, how she measured the sugar carefully, how she worked the fruit over to make sure that only the very best was going into the recipe.  I watched as she carefully wiped the rims of the jars before she screwed on the lids, so many little things that you just absorb over time, watching year in, year out.  My mother, for me, had a frenetic energy and since I was a kid with my own frenetic energy...we kind of clashed, but with Gram, I always felt calm and wanted to learn everything she knew.  I wanted to hear all of her stories, even if I had heard them hundreds of times before.  She was an amazing story teller.  Every time I can, to this day, I am reminded of those sweet times we shared together, of how much she taught me, not just about canning but about life in general.

Gram, as we called her, was born in Sheffield, England.  She told a story about a sign her dad saw shortly after the 1906 earth quake in San Francisco.  They desperately needed plumbers and skilled labor to rebuild the city.  And so Great Grandpa Desmond came to America and shortly sent for his family.  They lived in Oakland for a bit and one day took a buggy ride to the Merced area, fell in love with it and moved there.  Gram was an only child, her father leased out irrigation equipment to folks in the valley, he would come with his pipes and set up to irrigate their fields.  Later he went to work for Standard Oil.  

Gram married a man much older than she, they moved away to Paso Robles and she had two daughters during the Great Depression Era.  The marriage did not work out and she found herself divorced with two young girls.  She, along with many women during that time, learned to be very frugal.  Those things that we take for granted...a jar of jelly, were a luxury.  Sugar was hard to come by.  Gram did what she needed to in order to get by, she took in boarders, she mended and ironed clothes and worked in a dress shop.  She eventually remarried and moved to Sonoma.  Our Pop was the only grandfather that I ever knew.  He adored her and they were a beautiful example to me.  Married over 50 years!  And both lived well into their 90's.

Back to the lessons of canning.  I was taught not to waste.  If you had an abundance of fruit, you would put some by for winter time.  Jellies, Jams, Canned Fruit, Sauces, Pie Fillings...they would all serve as a source of security if times got hard.  Along with your beans and rice, you would always have a little fruit put up.   The jars once emptied, were carefully saved for the next seasons harvest.  

Fresh Ripe Bing Cherries

So this week I was given a large box of beautiful, perfectly ripe sweet Bing cherries!  My weekend was laid out for me.  Now, where did I put that cherry stoner???  I know I have one!  Frantic rummaging through cupboards, finally...Success!  I mean, you could remove the stones without a cherry stoner, but you might be there a month of Sundays and have your fingers cut and black from the process...LOL.  John was fascinated by the cherry stoner and so I put him to work, pitting the cherries.  I need 2 quarts pitted for this recipe honey!

Some people like their jam smooth, or even prefer jelly.  I am not one of those, I like to see the fruit in the jam.  Some of the cherries were left whole and most were cut in half.  It's a simple recipe really.

2 quarts pitted cherries (cut in half)

1 pkg MCP pectin or Sure Jell

juice of one lemon

1/4 tsp butter

7 cups of sugar.

Mix the fruit, pectin, lemon juice and butter in a large non reactive pan.  Bring to a full rolling boil ( a boil that cannot be stirred down) Add your sugar and bring to a full rolling boil again, boiling it for 1 minute at sea level, 2 minutes at 1000-3000 ft, and 5 minutes over that.  Ladle into clean jars and seal.  

What you get is a jeweled jar bounty!  Waiting quietly in your cupboard for that cold rainy winter day.  Waiting to be spread on a piece of hot homemade bread, freshly toasted.  Mmmmm.  Yes, it's worth the effort!  So tie on your apron, organize your canning supplies, calmly and methodically put up your abundance.  You are creating space for summer in the dead of winter and you, my friend, will be well rewarded for your efforts.

Be sure to write what you canned on the lid with a permanent marker, along with the month and year...this way, you can rotate your canned goods and you will know at a glance, is that Boysenberry or Cherry Jam?

Well, of course, I had to make a fresh cherry pie tonight, so I am off now to have a piece with my husband and watch a little TV together.  Tomorrow I might have to make some french vanilla ice cream to go with this!

Weekend Whimseys

Ruched Happy Bag

Been staying close to home, caring for my husband.  We will be heading down the hill to see the doctor tomorrow for the second post op visit after his emergency eye surgery last weekend.  So, keeping myself busy with some fun projects.  First, this little Ruched Happy Bag.  I have made lots of these.  The pattern is by Amy Friend, you can visit her website at www.AmysCreativeSide.com

Then it was on to some BOM's that I am a little behind on.  First one is a block for the Vintage Block Quilt Along hosted by Charise at http://charisecreates.blogspot.com/p/vintage-block-quilt-along.html  The patterns are free and although they make look easy, I guarantee you they are a bit challenging.

Daisy Block #7

Crazy Anne Block #6

I finished the quilt top for my Saturdays Charms Quilt...which is a pattern that is from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  If you look back in my blog a couple entries, you will see the video that demonstrates this fun and easy quilt top.  Next, shop for border fabric, backing and binding.

My husband has called dibs on this one, he loves it...go figure.  

Then another block for the Perfect Paper Piecing group...this will be our June Block.  I am not crazy about how this photos, not enough contrast, but it looks rich in the quilt.  I will make another in the other colorway I am working, which I think will more effectively show off this block.   But I think it's important to show you what is working and not working so that you can make choices for your block that will work for you!

Circling Geese

This is the current block for the Sugar Block Club 2013 which is called Home Sweet Home.  This BOM is being hosted by Amy Gibson at www.stitcherydickorydock.com  There is a nominal fee, under $10. for the year and you have access to all of her blocks for this year.  All of my blocks will have the same white background, then they will vary in shades of turquoise and gray.    Each block has a bit of a story or theme for me.  This one...which came first the bird or the egg?  

Home Sweet Home

And this little scrappy potholder, which will be for work.  We have an old beat up one that we use with the sterilizer when it's too hot, this will work just fine with insulated heat resistant batting, and it will gussy up the place.

I got the idea for this potholder from a new book I just downloaded from Kindle.  Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.  

If you have wanted to make a quilt, or a potholder, or a table runner...and you don't know how to quilt and you need to start with something easy.  If you don't want to make your grandmother's sampler quilt.   If you like the modern aesthetic, this is a book you should get.  So very easy, and such pretty results.  She gives you the nudge and let's you explore your own creativity.  Well Done!   

Well, you can see that I have a rather eclectic bunch of projects going...LOL.  Ah, isn't that the way of a quilter?  One day you feel traditional, another modern, who says you can't have it all?!