Iowa Star Designs

Two Patterns!

2011-10-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

My publisher, QuiltWoman.com released two more of my patterns a few days ago. One of the patterns is an older quilt that I'd designed a number of years ago called, "Queen's Court." I added yardages and instructions for a lap-size quilt along with the larger quilt and I updated all the instructions and graphics. I've loved this particular quilt for years simply because it's an easy quilt to make (even though it appears a little complicated) and it looks really nice when it's quilted. Here's a link to see Queenie: http://quiltwoman.com/Queens-Court-Quilt-Pattern.aspx

The second pattern is newer and is called Fractured Star. This is a pattern that I did as a mystery on my website a while back. There are just two blocks to the quilt and they're both easy. I came up with a different method of piecing some triangles that makes them so much easier! I like this little quilt a lot simply because it looks so much more complicated than it is! (Besides -- I like all the pretty colors!) Here's where you can find it: http://quiltwoman.com/Fractured-Star-Quilt-Pattern.aspx

A Little Bit of Vacation

2011-10-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Greg and I were lucky enough to spend a few days at our friends' trailer on a lake. It's not a large trailer and I was a little concerned because I can get a little claustraphobic at times -- but it was wonderful! The weather cooperated with the temps mostly in the 80's. We did have a couple of cold nights but we were toasty warm with the furnace taking the chill off. The leaves were turning, the lake was beautiful and there were all kinds of critters and birds to keep things interesting! Greg spent a lot of time fishing and I spent time at a table outside cutting out fabric for a quilt I'm working on. I actually got most of the cutting done and ended up sitting outside with my featherweight sewing away.......It was wonderful! (You'll see this latest project when I've actually got a block or two to show you!) I also went on a trail ride with some friends. (As far as I'm concerned any time spent on horseback is time well spent!) Greg and I both had an absolutely wonderful time and we're already planning our next trip to the lake!

Isn't this a cute trailer! We were really VERY comfortable living here for a few days! Besides -- the view of the lake is incredible!

Greg caught a fish! He's pretty put out at me because the only "fish" photo I took was with this tiny little sunfish. He actually did catch some larger fish but I didn't have the camera when he did.

I love this photo of Greg and Jack (The Wonder Dog) on the deck. It just looks so peaceful to me.

Let me introduce you to Peaches (aka King Copper Wood). (Peaches is the one on the left. That's Deb, my best friend on the right) I rode her on the trail ride and she's a wonderful quarterhorse with exceptional manners. Peaches now resides close to our home so we're going to get really well acquainted!

At some point, hopefully soon, I'll have some piecing and/or quilting to show you. Now that the garden is finished and summer chores are winding down I'm heading to my sewing room whenever I get the chance.

Great Results!

2011-09-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging because I've been so busy doing Trunk Shows and teaching classes! I lectured and taught for two different guilds and had a wonderful time at both.

I was having so much fun teaching that I forgot to take any photos but luckily Judy, from the Jewel Box Quilt Guild in Grinnell, thought to send me a photo of her finished project. (Thank you SO MUCH!)

Everyone in class had great fabrics and I'm mad at myself because I forgot to take photos!

I really do love teaching this Mariner's Compass class because so many people are afraid to tackle this block. They've heard horror stories about piecing it and are afraid to even attempt it. I'm always tickled when we get toward the end of class and everyone is putting their pieces together to make the compass -- and it works for them! They think it's "Quilting Magic!"

Parades & Quilts

2011-08-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

We had another busy weekend! Saturday we did house chores and then I finished machine quilting a quilt top that I'd forgotten about until I dug it out of a pile a couple of weeks ago. I'll take a photo when it's bound.

We had our local summer celebration in town and Greg marched in the Honor Guard carrying the POW/MIA flag. It means a lot to him to carry that particular flag. He carries it to honor his friends and fellow servicemen and women who didn't return. It always makes me proud -- and it makes me cry a little bit too.

On Sunday I finished the binding on another quilt. (Have I said it before? I LOVE doing binding!!) This isi another top that I found buried in The Huge Pile O' Tops. (After owning a shop for 20 years -- believe me -- I've literally got a huge pile of quilt tops!) I can't even tell you who's pattern it is -- maybe an Atkinson Designs? -- but I like it! All I did was meandering but I think it looks okay. It's kind of fun to finish up some of these long time UFO's!

Dinah & Queenie

2011-08-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

I finally remembered to get photos of my two newest quilts. These are the ones that Joyce (in SC) quilted for me. Both of these are lap-size quilts and Joyce did a wonderful job quilting both of them!

This first quilt is Dinah's Delight. This was a mystery quilt on my website a while back. I'll be sending this pattern off to my publisher in a few days. I just need to re-check piece cutting numbers and yardages and it takes a while because I've got three sizes of the quilt in the pattern. (Gotta tell ya -- numbers are the WORST part of designing -- at least for me!) I got interrupted before I got a close-up photo of the quilting on Dinah but it's just really nice. Joyce did a kind of leafy/viney design in the blocks and they're just really pretty!

Then there's Queenie. I think Joyce really outdid herself on this piece! This is the lap version of my Queen's Court quilt which has been around for a while. I was never happy with the pattern because I didn't have a program that worked very well to do the graphics so I kind of buried the pattern and waited. Now both my computer graphics program and my level of expertise are better so I've redone the pattern and sent it off to my publisher. Finally!

Can you see the quilting? Here are a couple of close-ups.

Here's another one.

I've loved this pattern and the original quilt for a very long time -- but I think I just might have a new favorite! If you've got a minute, please check out Joyce's blog at:

http://www.oneloosethread.blogspot.com/

Also, if you've got time, check out Joyce's buddy Roada F. Tripp's blog. It's a hoot!

Judging Day!

2011-08-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

I was one of three quilt judges at the Iowa State Fair on Monday. What a day! I've been lucky enough to have been asked to do this for several years now and I really look forward to it. It's a privilege to be allowed to judge these works of love and art. I don't know how many pieces we judged this year but I do know that my poor brain had turned to mush by the end of the day. We started at 8 a.m. and I staggered out the door to head home at 8:30 p.m. It was a very long day but there were lots of rewards that made it worthwhile. The quilts were beautiful, interesting, unique, astonishing and there were even a couple of surprises during the day. An added bonus was getting to spend time with some wonderful and dedicated women (and a few men too!) who make everything happen once the quilt(s) are entered in the State Fair. On top of all that -- the salad lunch was WONDERFUL -- but then, it always is!

We took a few photos at the beginning of the day as things were getting started. Quite frankly, by the end of the day I never even thought about taking more photos because I was just too darned tired! Here's what I have:

I know this all looks pretty chaotic -- but it's actually very well organized. All of the items have been sorted into their individual categories and put in numerical order according to their category and division.

All of the pieces are handled carefully and respectfully as they're transferred from their category "pile" and laid out on the table to be judged. Once judged, they're immediately folded, hangers are clipped on them and they're ready to be hung.

Almost ready to to go!

Off we go!

I love this job!

Sunday Sojourn

2011-08-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

Reiman Gardens in Ames is wonderful! I'd never been there before so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I found were some really nice people, lots of educational info and some beautiful gardens. I have to admit that I was disappointed to see that the roses were pretty much past their prime -- but that wasn't the fault of the gardeners! With the horrible heat we've been having for the past few weeks my roses look pretty stressed too! The rest of the gardens were lovely and they had a bed of moss roses that looked like a Fairy Carpet! It was gorgeous and the photo doesn't do it justice!

They also had some bugs in the garden -- big bugs. I mean REALLY BIG BUGS!

They had a number of these huge bugs scattered around the grounds. They were wonderful -- even the spider!

Although it was horribly hot and humid on Satuday we really enjoyed the gardens and have already talked about another visit after the weather cools off. We spent quite a long time in the butterfly enclosure and loved it! For me, watching beautiful butterflies fluttering around has the same affect as watching tropical fish swim around in an aquarium......... Kind of peaceful and soothing.

By the way -- they also have the biggest Garden Gnome I've ever seen! Wow! (The gnome is the one with the big red hat!)

South Carolina Galaxy & State Fair Judging!

2011-07-31T05:58:00.000-07:00

Through a mutual friend I made a new friend who lives in South Carolina -- Joyce G! Joyce does absolutely stunning machine quilting and just quilted two lap quilts for me -- which I'll show you when I get the binding finished. Anyway -- Joyce made my Galaxy quilt and quilted it and it's wonderful! She was kind enough to send me a photo.

I think it looks great! BTW: The black image at the bottom is Joyce's dog Rocky. I hope he likes the quilt as much as I do!

Greg and I are heading to Ames today to visit Reiman Gardens. I really want to see their rose gardens and the butterfly house. Unfortunately, we're under another "heat advisory" until Wednesday night so it's going to be beastly hot. Thankfully, they've got several buildings that have A/C so we'll have places to get cooled off. I know conditions won't be ideal but this is the opportunity I have so I'm going to grab it!

Actually, we're visiting The Gardens on our way to Des Moines for the night. I'm judging at the Iowa State Fair tomorrow -- which is my very favorite quilting gig! I'm a little nervous simply because I've been told that they've received a record number of entries this year. That's wonderful! Last year there were 860+ entries in the quilting categories -- everything from centerpieces, table runners and miniatures to king size quilts! .....this year there are even more??!!! Holy Buckets!! This is gonna be FUN!!! I'll keep you posted!

Derecho

2011-07-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

About 10 days ago we awoke to a siren sounding at about 4 a.m. Pretty frightening to wake up to that! Our area got blasted with very powerful straight line winds which I've since learned is called a "derecho." I've been told that in our area the winds reached 139 mph! We were very lucky. We lost some very large tree limbs, our patio table was smashed and we had a couple days of clean-up work but really -- considering the damage in the surrounding area -- we're just fine. One of my cousins lost the roof on her home, a family from our church lost their entire home (which was only 8 years old), and several farmsteads lost every building on the farm. They're not even able to estimate the livestock or crop damage yet.

I honestly didn't get too shook up until we took an early morning drive to check on an elderly relative. There were power line poles broken off and scattered across the country road like twigs -- one after the other after the other.......... Power lines laying all over the roads and in the fields, trees broken off (not uprooted, mind you -- BROKEN OFF!) and pieces and parts of building and farm equipment scattered all over the place.

It was a number of days before the folks out in the country got their power back and of course, this time of year the heat and humidity were terrible.

I'll say it again. We were VERY LUCKY. We had some huge branches on our roof but they didn't do any damage and our patio table was smashed. Big deal. No one lost their life that we've heard of and that's a true blessing.

Here's our poor patio table. I have no idea where the milk jugs came from but they ended up on our deck.

Overdue Update

2011-07-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I'm a terrible blogger. I get so busy "doing" that I don't even think about "posting" until long after the fact and I never seem to have a camera with me when I need it. I'm sorry. I'll try to do better! Okay. 'Nuff said about that.

Looking back......... we were getting ready to vend in Paducah when I posted the last time. We had a wonderful time -- as usual. I've said it often -- Paducah is my absolute favorite show! I LOVE doing that show. This year the show turned out to have some real challenges associated with it. The whole town was getting prepared to be FLOODED! We arrived in town with a little trepidation because we knew the situation was getting very serious and we weren't sure, at that point, whether the AQS would even be able to hold the show. Silly us! In a matter of 36 hours Bonnie Browning and her astonishing corps of people managed to relocate several HUNDRED quilt entries, several HUNDRED vendors and I-don't-know-how-many classes. Add to that getting new maps printed AFTER re-routing all the various free bus routes that transported people to all the new venues. It was a Herculean Feat and I don't know how they managed it.

I know there were a handful of disgruntled vendors and I imagine there were a few attendees who decided to stay home but overall -- it was a really outstanding show! The attitude seemed to be that "we're all in this together so we might as well have a good time!" It was absolutely great! We didn't even have any bitchers or complainers show up in our booth -- which is REALLY unusual! (It seems like there are always a couple of those no matter where you go.)

All in all -- the show was good (albeit a lot more exciting than we anticipated!), people were wonderful, sales were just fine, the food was great and once again we had a wonderful time in Paducah!

Here are a couple of photos of our booth in Paducah. I should have gotten our sign in the photo! Never thought about that!

2011-04-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

I've really enjoyed the last couple of weeks because I was finally able to spend some quality time in my sewing room. ('Bout time too!) I got another row of blocks made for my scrappy pineapple. I think this quilt is going to grow from a lap quilt into a larger one. I really like these pineapple blocks and they're actually fun to make. I've been working out of my tub of 1 1/2" strips -- so that REALLY makes it easy! Yup, this one is definitely going to grow.

Spring Has Arrived!

2011-04-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

I planted some bulbs last fall and I've been waiting (not so) patiently for them to come up. They not only came up -- they're blooming! What a treat to look outside and see these sunny little flowers from my kitchen window! Now I'm waiting for my crocuses.........

When Greg and I decided to get married we received this guy as an engagement gift. (Can't explain it -- sometimes you've just gotta go with it.........!) We love him and he comes out every year and sits on our front stoop waiting for Easter. By the way -- he lights up!

I've actually been doing some sewing in an attempt to get ready to vend in Paducah. I'll be selling my own patterns but I also demo and sell patterns from Little Foot. They're top-method foundation pieced and once you realize how easy they are it's pretty mindless -- which is why I can demo them (and talk to people while I'm doing it!) I finished 12 blocks of Hunter's Star. I like it! Now I just need to get the other 12 blocks finished.

Getting Back To It

2011-04-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

I actually wrote this post a couple of weeks ago and never got it posted because I was interupted. Anyway-- I actually DID get this little bit of sewing accomplished while my hand was healing. My handis almost (but not quite!) back to normal. I still have a little pain when I try to do or lift too (which I'm sure will go away eventually) but overall it feel SO MUCH BETTER than prior to the surgery. I'm glad I had it done.

I couldn't stand not having my hands on fabric for any longer! I had this runner that I'd machine quilted quite a while ago but had never bound. I managed to get the binding sewn on before I had my surgery in hopes that I'd at least be able to do some binding. It wasn't working for quite a while. I'd try a couple of stitches each night...... and each night I'd be able to do a few more than the day before so I just kept at it. A couple of days ago I was finally able to do the last 18" of binding. HURRAY!!!!! I now consider myself ALMOST back to normal! It's nice to get something finished!

Recovery!

2011-03-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

Okay. I'm still dealing with the carpal tunnel surgery. It's really surprising how many things take BOTH hands to accomplish -- or at least make easier. I've been doing fairly well but it's been frustrating to me to actually have time to work on designing or sewing -- and I can't do either one! I've been using my left hand to run the mouse (and I'm getting better at it!) but everything takes SOOOOO much longer and I don't have the patience for that. When I'm designing I need to get my ideas down in a hurry -- before I foget!! Left-handed "mousing" just doesn't cut it! Sewing blocks would work just fine but I don't have anything for my new design cut out and I can't use a rotary cutter or scissors yet. Once again -- frustrating! I"VE GOT STUFF TO DO AND I WANT TO DO IT! Okay. I'm better now -- maybe.......!

For any of you contemplating CT surgery -- got for it! I had very little pain after the surgery; far less than I expected and certainly less than I've been putting up with for the past few months! My hand and wrist already feel better even though I'm still restricted to no lifting with my hand and they haven't removed the stitches yet. So -- I'm hoping that in a couple more weeks I'll be back to normal again.

For those of you who want to see the icky stuff I've included a couple of photos. One with the cast they put on after surgery (which came off a few days ago) and another of the stitches (which come out tomorrow). BYW: The purple stuff you see around the wound is the marker that the surgeon used. I think I'm going to have to use Goo-Gone to get it off!

I didn't much care for his stitching............. Honestly! But I guess that's not the point!

Beware! A New Scam!

2011-02-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

I was checking my e-mail before I went to bed last night and received an e-mail from a friend that I usually only hear from a couple of times a year because that's about how often our paths cross. My thoughts were that it was good to hear from her but kind of a strange time for it. Okay. So, I read the message and...........it was a message of distress! She was (supposedly!) in the U.K., had been robbed at knife-point, had all her ID, credit cards and cell phone stolen and was in dire need of help. She had (supposedly, again!) reported everything to the local police. She wanted badly to come home but the hotel wouldn't let her leave until she'd paid her bill so could I please loan her $2500 so she could catch a flight home within the next 12 hours? It had me going for a couple of minutes because I really like this woman and would help her if I could! Then........ I started to realize that there were a whole lot of other people in her life that she'd be contacting for help before my name came up on the list. Besides, she's a smart woman and would have immediately contacted the American Embassy for help. Okay. Got that figured out. Still.............. So, early this morning I got on the phone and called her if, for no other reason than to let her know that her computer had been hacked. Apparently, I was the umpteenth person to call because she immediately told me that no, she wasn't in the UK and no, she hadn't sent the e-mail. (I knew it but it's always nice to get confirmation!) She did, however, mention that it was nice and kind of surprising to hear from so many people! So.............

THE MORAL OF THE STORY............

Be Careful! This looked like a legitimate e-mail from a friend, it got past all my computer security stuff and my spam stuff because it was "from" someone I'd approved and the e-mail itself sounded almost (but not quite!) like an upset, desperate friend who needed help. If you get ANYTHING like this please check it out before you act! I'm very suspicious about these kind of things and it had me going for a couple of minutes!

On another note,,,,,,,,, I'm now typing with two hands -- sort of! I can now use the middle finger of my right hand so typing is going MUCH faster! Huh. I've got another three days before the big bandage and brace come off. So far so good -- but that's MY opinion........... Greg may see it differently! (BTW: He made a GREAT homemade pizza last night!)

Successful Surgery!

2011-02-19T06:58:00.000-08:00

Well my carpal tunnel surgery went just fine and now I'm in the recovery stage. I'm still at the point where I need to keep my arm up to avoid swelling but that should end tonight. Actually, there's been very little pain -- more along the lines of discomfort rather than pain and that makes it a whole lot easier. I'm a little bit ambidexterous and that helps however, typing one-handed is a pain!

I'd intended to post these photos before my surgery but that didn't happen. Guess it's a case of better late than never! This pineapple is one I've been working off and on for a while. It started out as a demo block at my booth at shows and I liked it so much and it was fun (and somewhat mindless!) to work on when I didn't want to have to think too hard. (All I had to think about was light and dark.) Now I've got 12 blocks finished and I think I'll keep going. I'm using the top method of paper piecing so the blocks all come out to be the same size. Boy! Does that make a difference! A number of years ago I made a bunch of pineapple blocks using a pineapple ruler..............Not good. The blocks were all different sizes and there was no way they were going to go together so they ended up wadded up somewhere in the depths of my sewing room..

This wreath is (was!) a Christmas present for a friend that didn't get finished in time. (Sound familiar?) I finally got the binding sewn down just a couple of weeks ago. (You know I've got to be hurting when I don't do my binding because I LOVE doing binding.) This is made from four more pineapple blocks. The only thing that's changed is the color placement. Kinda fun! I think I'll wrap it up and send it as a Christmas in July gift!

Off The Grid

2011-02-14T14:24:00.000-08:00

Once again I fell off the grid with my blogging. I didn't intend to -- but, as the saying goes, life happens! I thought I was doing pretty well until I realized that I needed to get patterns to my publisher and they all needed to be re-checked and re-vamped so that they'd be compatible with the publishing software. I didn't think that would be much of a problem. HOWEVER......... almost over night the carpal tunnel that had been bothering me "just a little" decided to become REALLY painful and that curtailed any extracurricular computer time! I knew I couldn't have the surgery right away so I've been trying to "save" my hand/wrist/arm as much as possible. However, since I'm scheduled for surgery on Thursday I really don't care any more! Now I've got some catching up to do!

My friend Rosanne and her husband are now living in Italy - which in itself is pretty neat. Not long ago I received an e-mail from her with this photo attached. Here's the story. Quite a while ago Rosanne purchased a pattern and kit to make my Red Hot Leftovers quilt. Honestly, it was so long ago that I'd forgotten she'd done that! She took the kit with her to Italy, pieced it there, brought it back to Iowa at Christmas time to have it machine quilted and it's now hanging in their apartment in Italy. Wow! Not only does it look nice but it's well-traveled! (It's really "odd" to me that something of "mine" is in Italy! The quilting world is getting smaller all the time!) Pretty neat!

Then, about 10 days ago I received an e-mail from Sharon in IL asking me about a quilt pattern that I'd had on my website a while back. Turns out it was Fractured Stars, which I had on the website as a mystery quilt. In the course of e-mailing back & forth, Sharon sent me a photo of her quilt, which she made using her scraps. I really like it!

Sharon also sent me a photo of her friend Tina's quilt -- which is also done with scraps but Tina used muslin for her background. Looks good to me! What I think is pretty neat is that Tina reversed one little piece in the pattern and ended up with a pinwheel in the center of her stars. Who knew? I think it looks good and I really like it a lot!

Thank you to Rosanne, Sharon and Tina!

Photo Transfer Stuff

2010-10-20T08:46:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy working, getting produce out of the garden and just trying to keep my head above water that I haven't allowed myself time to sit down and write anything lately. This time of year just gets crazy! Last weekend it was canning apple pie filling -- so that's done. I've still got hot peppers and the last of the tomatoes waiting for me. The pepper jelly will be wonderful this winter and I think I'm just going to toss the tomatoes into jars and can them rather than doing more salsa or pizza sauce. They'll taste good in chili, soup or over roasts this winter. At this point -- simple is good!

I did manage to sit down at the computer to transfer a series of photos to fabric for a client. She's making a graduation quilt for her grandaughter. I had the best time with this project! We ended up with 15 sheets of photos. It was fun for me to see the progression from baby to beautiful young woman. Besides that -- I love doing the photo transfer onto fabric. It's magic!

Another Good Weekend!

2010-09-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

We woke up on Saturday to miserable weather -- rainy, gray, misty, damp, dreary -- the kind of day that most people hate. I, on the other hand, really love them because they make me feel like staying home and being domestic! After a couple of cups of tea I mixed up some pork stew and threw it in the crockpot and then decided I needed homemade bread to go with the stew so I made a big loaf of New York Rye. The recipe is from my friend, Mary LeClerc, and it's SUCH good bread! So -- with the stew cooking and the bread raising I headed off to my sewing room. (Yippee!!) I'd started working on the pieced border for Queenie and I really wanted to get that done. What a pleasant way to spend a rainy day! I got the border pieced and added to the quilt, the stew was great and the bread was even better! All in all -- a very successful rainy day! (BTW: The big blob on the quilt is a shadow. I didn't have the patience to wait!)

We bought a new cardboard scratching pad for the cats. It comes with a packet of catnip to pour into the little holes in the cardboard -- which we did. Now we have an addicted cat. Missy has decided that catnip is the next best thing to tuna! In fact, she may think it's even BETTER than tuna!

Greg picked some tomatoes for me on Sunday afternoon so I got busy and made up a big batch of salsa. It's going to taste good this winter!

All in all -- a very successful weekend!

Editing, Canning & Queenie

2010-09-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend mostly tied to my computer editing my table runner book for the publisher. NOT what I really wanted to be doing! After all -- I wrote the damned thing couldn't somebody ELSE be responsible for correcting the things I screwed up? (I know I'm being unreasonable but HEY! I'm an ARTISTE!) Actually, it didn't go that badly -- I simply didn't want to do it but I promised I'd have it back by Monday sooooooo.......... Got it done and sent back on Sunday afternoon. I still need to write a couple of paragraphs to be added in -- but that shouldn't take too long. (Famous last words!)

I did manage to take a couple of breaks and do some fun things -- or at least things that I actually WANTED to do! Once of them was to make some Dilled Green Beans. Since we've got a healthy crop of green beans in our garden I thought it would be fun to try them. I made four pints and then cold-packed them. The recipe says to let them sit for at least two weeks before you taste. Sure hope they're as good as people say!

Earlier in the week I made four pints of pickled green grape tomatoes. I'm REALLY anxious to give them a try! The recipe said they'd keep in the fridge if I didn't want to cold pack them so -- in the fridge they went. These guys only have to sit for a week -- so next weekend I'm going to give them a try and I'll let you know. I've got HUNDREDS of little green tomatoes and if these are good they may all get pickled and canned! I'm thinking they might make nice Christmas gifts for those daring enough to give them a try!

After I ceremoniously sent off the corrected edits I celebrated by heading to my sewing room. I had all the pieces and parts ready to sew together for my Queen's Court (Queenie) quilt so I at least got that done. I even managed to get parts of the pieced bordered sewn so maybe I can get that added next weekend. I'd love to sneak some time in my room before the weekend but I've got something every night this week and I know it's not likely to happen. Anyway -- here's where I am on Queenie. It looks okay now -- but wait until you see it with the border!

Queenie

2010-09-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

I made a promise to myself several weeks ago that I wasn't going to spend the entire three-day Labor Day weekend working and doing chores. There needed to be some fun involved! I managed to accomplish that! On Saturday evening Greg and I attended a Farm Party at our friends' home out in the country. We had SUCH a good time! If you've never been to a Farm Party -- then you've really missed out. This one was in honor of our wonderful friend Gladys Nekola and it was an absolute blast! The party was held in their large machine shed (Rex had to move all his equipment and tools!), there were tables set up for eating, a dance floor because there was a karaoke DJ, and so much food it was absolutely impossible to "try a little of everything!" The family provided pulled pork, potato salad and pasta salad. Gladys made her famous kolaches and with two pastry chefs in the family you can about imagine the desserts! Everyone else brought food to share and they actually had to set up more tables to hold it all. People ate, sang, danced, laughed and then ate some more! Greg and I had a wonderful time and it was a wonderful way to spend Saturday night. THANK YOU!

Sunday we attended church, did chores and some gardening and then I snuck into my sewing room. I'd picked out some fabrics a couple of weeks ago and I'd been cutting away on them whenever I got a few minutes. Actually, I'd started updating one of my first published patterns (Queen's Court) and it's been so long since I've made the quilt that I got myself thoroughly confused when I was figuring yardage so I decided to make the lap size version to reacquaint myself with how everything went together. I'd forgotten how much I actually enjoyed making this pattern because the blocks go together so quickly! I declared Labor Day to be a Sewing Day and got all the blocks finished up. Now I need to piece the setting triangles and the border and put it all together. Maybe this weekend? Here's a photo of some of the blocks. I think it's going to look just fine. Now I can't wait to get the rest of it done!

Sarah's Quilt

2010-08-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

I got something finished again last night! It's not really a big deal -- but it still feels good to be able to say that something is actually DONE! My friend, Sarah, has had carpal tunnel surgery and it's hard for her to do binding. Since I LOVE doing binding I try to grab her quilts when they're ready to be bound. That's what I did with this one. I just didn't think it would take me so darned long to get it finished! This quilt has been hanging around my living room so long that I was actually starting to think it belonged there!

I think Sarah told me this was a Buggy Barn pattern for a crazy quilt. I like it and once I finally got going the binding didn't really take very long!

Dinah

2010-08-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I was hoping to have something to show for my weekend -- but it just didn't happen. We spent all day Friday at the State Fair and had a wonderful time. Saturday was spent doing chores and revising a pattern that I want to send to my publisher and Sunday was mostly spent with Greg's family. It was a very nice weekend but I always end up feeling frustrated because there aren't enough hours to get everything done that I've got planned. (I know -- we all have that same problem!)

My friend, Mary, on the other hand, seems to get things done! I don't know how she manages to cram 48 hours into 24 -- but she does! She just sent me a photo of Dinah's Delight and it's all quilted and bound! She does the quilting herself on her Juki and she does an amazing job! This is a quilt I designed a while back and since Mary's my Pattern Tester Extraordinaire she actually got hers pieced before I did. (I just finished my top a couple of weeks ago and it sure isn't quilted yet!) I know I'm prejudiced -- but I really think this is a good looking quilt!

THANK YOU MARY!!

Blue Ribbon Winners

2010-08-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

Several of you have asked me about the Blue Ribbon Winners and Best of Show quilts at the Iowa State Fair. I wasn't able to photograph any of them when we were judging because they're the very last quilts to get hung. Well, now you can see them! They're in this You-Tube video. Iowa Public Television showed up late in the day to interview us and to photograph some of the quilts so you'll see me in the video. Please remember, when you view the video, that it was the end of a VERY LONG day and, quite frankly I'm surprised I'm not drooling because by the time they talked to me I was barely conscious! Also remember -- the camera adds weight. In my case it added about 80 pounds!!!

Here's the You-Tube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeRABzM_w5s&feature=player_embedded

If that doesn't work then please go to the IPT page below and find the Blue Ribbon Winners 2010 video.

http://www.iptv.org/fair/story.cfm/story/sf10_20100818_3_11/video

O'Dark Thirty

2010-08-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

I got up at O'Dark Thirty this morning to make a pie. We're attending a potluck dinner tonight with friends and since I bought a lug of fresh peaches a few days ago I thought a peach pie would taste good. (Plus, if I make one for just the two of us, Greg will eat one piece and I'll eat the rest!) So, I got up very early in order to get the pie made and baked before I left for work. Quite frankly, I'm very proud of myself! (Not about making the pie -- I make great pies!) I'm proud that I managed to do it so early in the morning! If you know me at all -- then you understand what an accomplishment this is. I'm not a "morning person" -- never have been and, at this point in my life, don't expect that I ever will be. So, the fact that I'm even verticle at 5 a.m. is something of a miracle. My husband, Greg, who naturally wakes up at 4:30 or 5 a.m. is Mr. Happy Pants in the morning (which I think is just WRONG!). He at least had the sense to sit down with his coffee and stay out of my way as I stumbled around the kitchen. I'm sure, however, that he'll have plenty to say tonight at dinner about my early morning baking adventure. (Know that he WILL pay dearly for that at a later time!) The good part is that my pie is beautiful and I'm sure we'll all enjoy it tonight with a some ice cream. (Hope I can stay AWAKE that long!)

We've been having miserable weather here for the past week or so. It's been raining nearly every day and the temps have been in the 90's with 90+% humidity. As my mom used to say, "Not fit weather for man nor beast." I just had to laugh when I saw where Milo had found himself a cool place to sleep. He's on a pile of quilt tops and quilts which I'd thrown over the back of a chair. He's also in the direct line of a fan and apparently only semi-conscious. Leave it to him to find the coolest spot in the house!

HOT & HUMID!

2010-08-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a very quiet weekend at our house. On Friday evening we headed over to Clutier (a small, neighboring town) to their Veteran's Appreciation Event which they held in conjunction with their Annual Fun Days. They put on a very nice program and followed it up with a polka band street dance. (It IS a Czech community!) Unfortunately, it was so miserably hot and humid that not many folks wanted to dance but there were a number of people sitting in the shade listening to the music. They also had food for sale -- which included kolaches, of course! For those who don't know -- kolaches are kind of the Czech equivalent of a Danish -- only much better when that's what you grew up eating!

It was still miserable outside on Saturday so I opted to stay indoors and work on unfinished projects. One of those projects is a quilt that started out as a block demo project for the top method of paper piecing. I did a couple of blocks and fell in love with sthe pattern so I just kept going. The name of the block is Dusty Miller. So far I've got 30 blocks but I think I've decided to make it queen size -- so I'll be making more blocks and adding them in.

If this miserable weather continues I just might get a few projects finished!

State Fair Again

2010-08-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

I've got one last post about my trip to the State Fairgrounds and this particular one makes me happy for several reasons.

Several years ago they decided to build a new arena at the Fairgrounds. The old one was small, outdated and has seen better days. They started construction on the new arena last year and it's going to be ready to host it's first events this year for State Fair. That's really nice for me (and a lot of others too!) because I'll get to see the equestrian events in the new venue. YEAH!! Plus, the arena is directly attached to the stables so it will be a whole lot easier to move the horses from the stables to the arena. In the past the horses had to be led through the crowds to get to the arena for their events. Really not the best idea for horses OR humans! Okay. So that's all really nice BUT................... For whatever reason (and I haven't a clue!) they've chosen to decorate the outside of the new arera with QUILT BLOCKS! 415 of them to be precise! I LOVE IT! Greg was told by the guy putting up the blocks that the colors were chosen by children. I think that's pretty neat too! I not only think the blocks look wonderful -- but I've been having fantasies of all 800 of those quilts we judged hung up in the arena for all the world to see! Now THAT would be a QUILT SHOW!!!

Doesn't the arena look great too? It's the big glassed in area behind the brick facade.

The quilt blocks don't look too big here but I'd guess they're about 18"-24".

You can just barely see the guy on the scaffold who's putting them up. He was having a wonderful time deciding what designs should go next to each other!

2010-08-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

One of the chores that I had on my list for last Saturday was to finish the scrap version of Spinout! (one of my patterns). I started this lap quilt a very long time ago, got the blocks all pieced and then got sidetracked onto something else. After quite a long time I got the blocks out and put them together. For some reason there was one side border block that simply wouldn't line up. I ripped and sewed, ripped and sewed. Then I ripped, MEASURED and sewed several more times. I simply COULD NOT get the edge triangle in that one block to line up with the corresponding triangle in the next block sooooo......... I got fed up, wadded it up (as punishment!) and buried it in my sewing room. Well, after re-doing the pattern for my publisher I decided that I probably needed to have a scrap version to show -- so on Saturday I reluctantly unearthed the top and tried again. I finally got the triangles lined up -- but that's only because I'm bigger and more determined than that darned block! I probably should have re-cut the pieces and made a different block but I got stubborn and......... I still have no idea why that block didn't want to work. Everything else fit just fine and when I measured the block it was the right size. I've decided that I'm not going to make myself crazy trying to figure it out so I've opted to blame it on the Quilting Pixies (pixies are notorious pransters) and just let it go.

This is the quilt top and only I know which block it is and I'm not telling!

Judging At State Fair

2010-08-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! We spent Saturday working around the house doing all our weekend chores so that we'd have Sunday free to play. Sunday was my family reunion here in Traer. It was nice to see all the folks and get a chance to visit. We always have a potluck dinner and the food is simply incredible! I know there are people out there who poke fun at potluck or covered dish dinners. I guarantee they've never been to one in Iowa! Holy Cow!

After the reunion we threw our overnight bag into the car and headed to Des Moines to spend the night. I was scheduled to judge quilts for the Iowa State Fair on Monday and it's a whole lot easier to spend the night in a motel near the fairgrounds than it is to get up at 3:30 in the morning and drive to Des Moines -- so that's what we did. The categories are divided up and we start judging at 8 a.m.. We take short morning and afternoon breaks plus a very brief lunch and then we just keep judging until we're done. This year we finished up at around 8:30 p.m.! I believe we had a total of just under 800 pieces! There were three of us judging and even though we move right along it still takes time to look over every piece and make comments. We finally finished up around 8:30 p.m. Even though I was absolutely exhausted it was, as usual, a wonderful day filled with beautiful quilts.

We took a few photos of the quilts as they were being hung. Unfortunately, due to space limitations they can only show about 18" of each quilt. The Blue Ribbon winners are exhibited separately and displayed fully in a separate area. Please bear in mind that they still had a lot of quilts to hang when the photos were being taken.

These photos may give you an idea of the talent and diversity within the quilting community here in Iowa. There are so many talented quilters here -- both men and women -- and it never ceases to amaze me. I'm truly blessed to be allowed to judge these entries and I truly thank every quilter who entered a quilt in the Fair.

Productive Weekend!

2010-07-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

What a productive weekend -- finally! I spent most of Saturday working on the computer getting two more patterns ready for my publisher. I've got to make a couple more changes and then they're ready to be sent off. I'm trying to get ahead of things a little bit because I know the edits on my table runner book are coming back to me shortly and I'd like to have some of these other things done before I have to dive into that. Spending most of Saturday on the computer is not the way I'd LIKE to spend my time -- but it sure feels good to be able to check two more patterns off my list. Besides -- it was beastly hot and humid so I told myself that I wouldn't enjoy being out in the garden anyway.

A friend gave us some sweet corn so after church on Sunday I spent some time getting it ready for the freezer. I always think it's so pretty when it's cut off the ears! It wasn't much -- only about 3 dozen ears but it'll taste good this winter.

When I finished up in the kitchen I headed for my sewing room. I've been working on my Dinah's Delight for way too long and I just haven't been able to sit down at the sewing machine long enough to get it finished. There's certainly nothing hard about the quilt -- I just haven't been able to get to it. I made up my mind on Friday that I was going to finish it over the weekend or else! I put the corners on at about 9 p.m.. last night. It still needs to have the corners trimmed and squared and it needs a good pressing -- but it's finished!

It feels good to actually get something done! I've got about a dozen other projects that I need to get moving on but I wanted to get this one done first so that I could put all those fabrics away. Maybe it's time to clean my sewing room!............ or maybe not. (Just the THOUGHT of it scares me but I KNOW I'm going to have to tackle that job some day!)

2010-07-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago I helped my friend Linda with her booth at Sturgis Days, which is a yearly music festival in Cedar Falls. Linda makes and sells purses. She's designed them all herself and I can attest to the fact that they're wonderfully constructed, wear like iron (because mine sure need to!), they're washable and they're just plain pretty! Linda's done a couple of things that I really like..... the first is that she doesn't use dark fabrics for the purse linings. When I look inside -- I can actually see what's there! I can find my phone! Another nice feature is that she's incorporated lots of pockets inside. There are places to put things and they'll stay there! The fact that they're all washable is really nice too!

I took a couple of photos of her booth and thought you all might like to see.

Here's a photo of part of the booth. The day was hot and humid -- but I sure enjoyed myself. It's always fun to meet new people and get reacquainted with old friends at shows like this.

That's Linda above on the left. See what I mean about pretty purses? The quilts aren't bad either! Linda's website is here.

2010-07-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

Well, so far things are working well. Keep your fingers crossed!

When I was in Paducah I met a wonderful group of ladies from Louisiana who were all members of the North Louisiana Quilter's Guild. They stopped by my booth to visit and it was truly a treat! They wanted to tell me that they'd used one of my quilt designs as a mystery quilt for their guild. Ginger promised that when she got home she'd send me photos -- and she did! So here are four versions of my Farm Scraps quilt.

These photos were taken at their quilt show.

Aren't these wonderful quilts??!! Unfortunately, Ginger didn't send me the names of the people who made these quilts -- but THANK YOU to all of them! I truly appreciate them sharing their quilts!

I've been quilting and designing for years and I can never get over how two (or four!) quilts made from the same pattern can become such different quilts and take on such different personalities (and yes! quilts have personalities!!) For me that's one of the most intriquing things about quilting. It always surprises and pleases me when I see my quilts through other people's eyes. It also helps to broaden my perspective and make me think outside the box (or quilt!) because they come up with ideas that I never dreamed of!

Thank you so much to Ginger and her friends from the NLQG for sharing these photos!

2010-07-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

Okay. The last couple of times that I tried to update and add photos to this blog I got so frustrated that I threw up my hands and walked away. I suspect my frustration stemmed from using a very old computer, having a lousy internet connection and my own minimally functioning brain cells. (Some days my brains works better than others............!) Anyway -- I'm ready to try again because people have sent me some wonderful photos of their quilts and I think they deserve to be shared!

Sunna, who lives in Iceland, has made several different quilts from the patterns that I've provided on my website. She sent me photos of her version of Fractured Star and before I could do anything with them they were lost in one of my computer crashes. When I contacted her she was gracious enough to send the photos again. It's long past time for me to get those photos posted so people can see them.

At left is Sunna's Fractured Star quit top. She added a border to make it larger and I think it looks great.

Here's a second photo of the quilt after it's been quilted. That's Sunna's husband and her oldest daughter holding the quilt. It was given as a wedding gift shortly after this photo was taken. Sunna, thank you so much! I love to see how my designs "grow up" after they leave home!

2010-03-14T07:54:00.002-07:00

For whatever reason (probably my own ignorance!) I'm having trouble loading the other photos. It just drives me crazy! Why do some work and others not when they're all the same? I don't like to think of myself as technologically challenged -- but I guess I am (damn it!) I'll work on it some more. I had the same problem with the photos from the Mariner's Compass class I taught. Hmmm.

2010-03-14T07:54:00.001-07:00

We had a sewing weekend last weekend and had a great time. We held it in the basement of our church which has lots of tables and a wonderful kitchen -- so we had all the comforts of home. I didn't actually take a count (because I was having too much fun!) but I think we had about 8 or 9 people on Friday and another 8 or 9 on Saturday.

I have to laugh because I think our sewing weekend pretty much baffled Pastor Rick. I don't think he quite understood why we would pack up so much stuff, haul it somewhere else, set it all up again and then sit and sew! As he passed through our area every now and again he seemed to smile and just shake his head.

There were all sorts of projects being worked on........ Sarah was sewing on flannel, Terry was working on (what's going to be) a 60" Mariner's compass medallion, Linda worked on several new handbags and then spent some time practicing her machine quilting, Denise worked on a block-of-the-month project, Elaine was working on a black/green/white quilt that's going to be a knockout, Lucille and Marian did hand work, Paula was working on her rag quilt and Darlene worked on a double wedding ring. We sue had enough variety! I was supposed to be finishing up my latest mystery quilt but you can about guess how much I got done!

I did take a few photos but I was having so much fun that I forgot about the camera until almost too late!

2010-03-10T04:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm finally starting to feel better and I once again have a computer that can actually "compute" so it's time I got back in the swing of things and started catching up with everyone.
Pat (from SC) wrote to me today and included a photo of the Fractured Star quilt that she made from the Mystery Quilt pattern on my website. BRAVO!! .......and look! It's actually quilted an bound! Good job! Pat, I think the quilt looks wonderful and I'm anxious to see your BOM when it's completed.

Happy Birthday Greg!

2009-11-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

Today is Greg's birthday. We're having a quiet celebration at home tonight and we'll celebrate again later this week when we get together with his family for Thanksgiving. I'm a VERY lucky woman to be married to my best friend, biggest cheerleader, most tolerant critic and the biggest goofball I know. He's my hero. Not only for his outstanding military service and his never-ending support and work for veteran's and POW/MIA issues but also for how he leads his life. He's one of the good guys and I love him for it! (Of course, it doesn't hurt that he makes tea for me every morning either!)

Happy Birthday Lumberjack Man!!!

Timber Time!

2009-11-24T09:53:00.001-08:00

We were out in the timber cutting firewood this past weekend. Even though it's a lot of work I still love doing it. We do this several times a year and we usually take either a lunch or snacks and spend a good portion of the day. The dogs, of course, go with us too. I honestly can't tell you which I enjoy more -- being out in the timber getting the wood and watching the dogs play or having nice warm floors all winter long!

I remembered (finally!) to take the camera with me so I've got several photos to share.

Fanny was taking a break and resting up in this big pile of leaves.

Jack (The Wonder Dog!) was on the alert for any dangerous critters that might be in the area.

Myah was taking a break from tracking all the deer that live in the timber. She hasn't caught one yet but she hasn't given up hope!

New Mystery Quilt

2009-11-24T09:48:00.000-08:00

I just posted the first segment of the new mystery quilt that I've designed on my website (www.iowastarquilts.com). If you like doing mystery quilts then you might want to check it out. It's going to be a three-parter that ends up being lap size. I really like this one and I'm anxious to get started on it myself!

2009-11-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

I knew this blog was going to end up making me feel guilty! I've been so busy that I haven't allowed myself time to sit down and do some fun things on the computer -- including blogging! Now that things are settling down once again I'm going to try and do a better job of communicating!

I managed to get my two new patterns published in time for the AQS show in Des Moines at the end of October. THANK YOU to my friend Jean for quilting both of the lap quilts. She did a wonderful job and the quilts looked great hanging in the booth! (Jean does machine quilting for people so if you're interested please contact me and I'll gladly pass on her info.)

You've seen these quilts before as top before they were quilted. The top one is Road To Heaven and the bottom one is Fractured Star.

I'm pleased with both of these patterns and they were both fun to piece together. I enjoy the process of designing quilts and sometimes I get so caught up in designing that I forget about how rewarding it is to actually sit down and piece. It makes me feel really good to see the pile of blocks get bigger and bigger until I have enough to do the quilt.

The AQS Show in Des Moines was loads of fun! (My husband claims that I develop amnesia about the setting up and tearing down parts of vending!) We got a chance to hang out with a bunch of our vendor friends from across the country and it's always a joy to catch up with them. We also got a chance to chat with lots of folks who were attending the show and that's always a treat.

I spoke with several people who'd flown in and rented cars so they could get out of Des Moines and see some of the surrounding countryside and they were really surprised at how pretty Iowa is! (We knew that all along!)

I did remember to take a photo of my booth at the show. (Think I can cram anything else into it??)

2009-10-05T12:51:00.001-07:00

Okay. So once I started sewing I couldn't stop and I've been trying to finish up projects that I'd started earlier. (Sound familiar?) This is one of those projects. It's called Road to Heaven and I designed it a while back and had it on my website as a mystery quilt. I'm getting the pattern ready for publication and decided that maybe I should actually do the quilt! (Ya THINK?) I love this particular kind of block because there are a kazillion different settings you can make using just the one block. It's not a fancy block and it's easy to piece -- but once you get a bunch of them made the possibilities are endless and that's what makes it so much fun (at least for me!)

I've been making lap-sized quilts lately and that's what this is. I'm anxious to see what it looks like after it's quilted!

2009-10-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

Okay. So I don't post anything for a month and now I'm going to inundate you with stuff. Not fair, I know but right now I've got a little time to get caught up so I'm going to try and make the most of it.

A couple of weeks ago we had a rainy weekend which finally gave me a chance to get into my sewing room and get something done. I needed a baby gift and didn't feel like shopping so I used some of the baby flannels that I carry on my website and did a shaggy baby blanket. I had SUCH a good time! I got everything cut and was able to sit down in front of the TV and just sew. (Usually I'm working on a new design and have to make notations or corrections while I'm sewing. Kinda takes the fun out of it!) Here's a photo of the result. It's nothing extraordinary or fancy -- just a useable, washable baby quilt. What's nice about it is that it's DONE and I don't have to send it off to get it quilted and I don't have to bind it either.

I don't know if you can see -- but the flannel has little baby handprints and footprints. I've loved this particular fabric line for years and was tickled when they finally printed it in flannel. I just think it's sweet.

2009-10-05T07:17:00.001-07:00

It's been waaayyyy too long since I've posted anything and I apologize! A combination of a sick computer (requiring a trip to the "computer wellness center") plus my own bout with the current Whatever's-Going-Around really put a stop to just about everything for a while. Again -- my apologies! Allow me to get things updated and we'll go from there.

Over Labor Day Weekend Greg and I travelled to Pittsburg, KS so that I could judge their annual quilt show. WOW! I was truly impressed with the quality of work that was displayed. Overall the workmanship was very good and the creativity was wonderful! I judged 177 quilts and felt privileged to be able to do so. They had well over 200 quilts in the show including quilts done by kids (which were great by the way). I honestly don't know how they manage to put a show like that together every year.

Susan Stewart was awarded the Best of Show ribbon for an absolutely stunning quilt. Susan started life doing heirloom sewing and has moved on to quilting. She does everything by machine and she's got a relationship with her sewing machine that's unbelievable! Here are a couple of photos of her quilt.

I don't know how well you can see this -- but here are a couple of close-ups of her work. Amazing.
Simply amazing.

I had a wonderful time judging the Little Balkans Quilt Show. The quilts were wonderful and the people were so very welcoming and friendly. Plus -- they're darned good cooks, too! Thank you all for your hospitality!

2009-08-31T09:47:00.001-07:00

I put out a newsletter from my website this morning and in it I said that I'd found a really good recipe for pizza sauce. As result I've had a number of people ask me for the recipe -- so here it is.

New York Style Pizza Sauce

7 T. water
2 T. chopped fresh basil (dried basil will work too but you might have to adjust the amount)
1 1/2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 (14.5 oz) can petite-cut diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste.

Combine all ingredients and mix. Yield is about 3 cups.

Notes:
I've been using about 2 cups of peeled, seeded diced tomatoes from my garden rather than the canned petite-cut and it's even better than the original recipe. You might want to add just a pinch of salt but I've discovered that if I use pepperoni on the pizza it really doesn't need the salt. I use about 1 cup of sauce for a pizza.

Enjoy!

2009-08-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

I'm a member of our counties' Barn Quilts group and we had a meeting last Wednesday night. We're getting ready to produce 0ur first Tama County Barn Quilts Calendar for 2010 and it's starting to get exciting! For those of you unfamiliar with how this all works.............. Our organization works with farmers/landowners who have neat old farm buildings and we supply them with 8' x 8' quilt blocks that are mounted on their buildings. The idea being to help preserve some interesting rural architecture, promote quilting and increase tourism. Not a bad combination! Anyway -- I borrowed a couple of photos to show you what I'm talking about because I thought some of you might find it interesting.

There are several counties in Iowa (and a few other states too) involved in this project and it's fun to be driving down the road and spot a quilt block hanging from an old building.

We've got about 14 quilt blocks hung in our county, several more in-process and a few more that we need to put together and paint. We're planning on having another 12 finished by next spring so we'll be ready for our 2nd calendar!

2009-08-20T04:54:00.000-07:00

I know that Mary L. is getting ready for her guild's quilt show in a couple of weeks so I'm tickled that she took the time to send me some photos. (I also apologizie that it's taken me so darned long to get them posted!!)

Mary is my Pattern Tester Extraordinaire and I'd be lost without her! Since I showed a photo of my Fractured Star top Mary sent me a photo of her FINISHED quilt and I thought you'd like to see it. Mary added a tiny little red flange and then an outer border because she wanted her quilt to be larger. Looks great don't you think?

Mary also sent photos of the quilt that I designed as a BOM. She did hers using her own fabrics because I didn't have the fabric kits ready yet. The photo below on the right is her quilt on her bed. (Imagine! It actually made it onto a bed!) The quilt has eleven different blocks and each month people received instructions and the fabric to do four blocks and the built-in sashing. The photo on the left is the back of Mary's quilt. (See? You actually can use up those big pieces!)

Here are both of our quilts. (I FINALLY got mine finished!) Mary's is on the left, mine on the right. I think I need to take a new photo without the shadows (and without the SNOW!)

2009-08-19T05:06:00.000-07:00

More news from South Carolina! Marj took Anita Bowen's Galaxy class in South Carolina a few weeks ago and sent me photos this morning so that I could put them here for people to see. The first photo, of course, is of one of the blocks. What rich colors!

The second photo is of the finished top. Marj, you work fast!! You put the pieced border around it too! WOW! I'll be anxious to see photos after it's quilted. I hope you had a good time putting it all together because it sure looks great!

Thanks you so much for sending photos. This is exactly how I hoped this blog would work. I have such a good time designing patterns and I really do enjoy seeing how other people interpret my designs. I just think it's COOL! Also, I appreciate the extra effort it takes to send me photos! Thank you!

2009-08-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

I FINALLY got to stay home this weekend and do some things around the house that I've been wanting to do. I spent Saturday cooking: Mary's recipe for New York rye bread, some fajita mix that turned out to be really and a new recipe for homemade pizza sauce that was REALLY good. It always makes me feel good when I can cook and have the time to enjoy the process. Too often I'm just trying to get something on the table and that's not nearly as much fun. One of our friends also showed up with two big bags of sweetcorn -- about 8 dozen ears -- so that needed to be cut off the cob and put in the freezer. I actually got a lot done!

Truthfully, I had a plan for the weekend -- work on Sat. and then SEW on Sunday!!! It worked! (I can hardly believe it!) I made it into my sewing room and got the last pieces of my Fractured Star lap quilt put together (had the corner blocks yet to sew) and then put the whole top together. It feels good to finally get something DONE! Now I need to decide on a backing fabric and get it to someone to quilt.

I've got another lap quilt cut out and I want to get busy on it but who knows when that will happen. I also started sewing on a raggy flannel baby quilt. I decided that I could do that at night since it doesn't take much brain power to sew X's on layered squares! If I persevere I may actually get some projects done.

2009-08-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Once again I judged quilts at the Iowa State Fair and let me tell you -- it was a heckuva day! I was so tired by the time we'd finished that I could barely get out to the car and my poor brain was absolutely fried.

Let me back up a little bit. I've judged for the Iowa State Fair for a number of years and I feel very honored that they ask me back. It's a job that I truly look forward to each year because, in spite of the fact that it's a lot of work, it's also a whole lot of fun! The Superintendent of Fabric & Threads, Dorothy Faidley, does an absolutely unbelievable job of keeping everything organized and on track and the volunteers are incredibly hardworking and dedicated, many of them returning year after year. You've got to see it to truly understand how hard these people work and how organized they are.

Here's how it works. There were two of us judging this year and we judge independent of each other meaning that I judge my categories and the other person judges hers. The categories are arbitrarily divided up -- for example I'd judge all the even numbered categories. Towards the end of the day if one of us finishes our designated categories we start judging some of the other judge's remaining categories. After all the categories are judged we work together to determine the final awards, for example Best of Show, Best Hand Quilting, Best Machine quilting, etc. We never know what categories we're going to be judging and we don't look at any names or labels that might be on the quilts. We start judging at 8 a.m., take about a 10-15 minute break mid-morning, have a quick potluck salad lunch (which is always WONDERFUL!), take another brief break in the afternoon and keep judging until we're done. This year we finished at 9:30 p.m.!

When we arrive the volunteers already have the categories sorted and divided between the two judges. Here's what I saw when I walked in the door. Silly me! I assumed that they hadn't gotten the categories divided yet -- but boy, was I wrong! There were near-record numbers of entries ........

.....800+ quilts or quilted items!!!

Holy Buckets!!

I was absolutely flabbergasted! After a quick briefing for announcements and to clarify any questions we got started. This photo shows a number of the volunteers as we all got together for our briefing. They are a WONDERFUL bunch of women -- and men too!

I had every intention of taking lots of photos during the day but we were so darned busy that I only managed to take a couple. The photo at left shows my "judging area." You see all those quilts? I judged them all plus more! Just when I thought we'd gotten to the end -- they showed up with CARTS holding MORE quilts! It was a whole lot to judge and I was absolutely worn out -- but it was worth it because there were some wonderful quilts!

After judging the quilts are folded to a 24" width and hung immediately. It would be wonderful if they could hang every quilt full out but there simply isn't room to do that. The Blue Ribbon winners from each category are displayed in a separate room downstairs from the main exhibit. Having them in a separate place makes things a little awkward but it's the only way that the winners can be displayed without folding them too. (Sometimes it's hard to remember that the quilts at State Fair are only a small portion of the actual Fair and we need to share the space with lots of other beautiful hand-crafted items!)

All in all it was a good day. Veerrrryyyyyyy looooonnnnngggggg -- but also very good.

News From South Carolina!

2009-08-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

I just received an e-mail from Pat W. who lives in South Carolina. Pat has ordered a number of things from my website so we were kind of acquainted because of that. Then, this spring when I was vending at the AQS Paducah show Pat found my booth and we got a chance to visit for a few minutes. I love that! It's so nice to have a face to put with a name. When we were visiting Pat said that she'd send me photos of two of my patterns that she'd completed and I just received them. WOW!! I love to see how my patterns "grow up" when they leave home so it's a real treat for me to receive these photos. THANK YOU PAT!! (FYI: Mike & Maia have to approve all of my quilts too!)

Here's what Pat had to say today.

"Hey, Cynthie! Kudos on your new blog. I finally found the pics I wanted to send you. The Galaxy Star I made for a grand-daughter's wedding gift last year and the Red Hot Leftovers I made for myself. As you can see, it received the Daisy (my Yorkie) seal of approval - but don't look too closely - you might find my humility block! I'm looking forward to those new designs you're working on. Keep up the good work!

Pat, SC

Here's Pat's Galaxy. I did this pattern several years ago and it's been really popular. I think this looks spectacular and it's a great color combo!

Daisy's a sweetheart and I'm glad Red Hot meets with her approval! Good job Pat! I really like the mix of reds and backgrounds! Red Hot Leftovers is my current favorite quilt -- probably because I did mine in reds too and that's my favorite color. I really want to do one in scraps because I think it'd be great but I just haven't had time.

Once again -- thank you so much Pat! I really do appreciate the photos and also the kind words.

Change of Subject: Tomorrow I head to Des Moines to judge quilts at the Iowa State Fair. It's a wonderful job and I look forward to it all year but it's a really long day. Last year there were somewhere around 675 entries to be judged. There are two of us judging but that's STILL a lot to do in one day. The bad part is that my brain just get TIRED. The good part is that I get to see so many wonderful quilts! I'll report back and have photos later this week.

2009-07-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

I need to piece quilt blocks. I need it for what little remains of my mental health. What's really wonderful is that I'm lucky enough to have a husband who understands that and friends who share the piecing/sewing addiction with me. So, I decided to have a sewing day at my little shop last Saturday. A couple of people got a lot done, a couple of us -- not so much -- but ALL of us enjoyed ourselves, talked, laughed and discussed the world's (at least OUR world's) problems! Of course people brought Show & Tell. (What would a Sewing Day be without S&T??)

(Okay. Now I"m going to try and upload some photos. Wish me luck!)

(Hey! Success! Whaddayaknow!!!)

Here's Sheila with her latest quilt. Sheila does hand quilting for people because that's the part of quilting that she loves. The quilt that she's showing off here is a Double Wedding Ring that was pieced by her soon-to-be-daughter-in-law and Sheila hand quilted it for them. It's gorgeous and I wish I'd thought to take some close-ups of the quilting. Sheila designed some of the quilting patterns herself and they're really nice. The back of the quilt is almost as pretty as the front (because you can see the quilting better there)! Sheila's still got to do the binding and then it will be ready for the wedding. (Can you believe it? A quilt DONE before the wedding?)

Here's a quilt that Sheila pieced from one of my patterns (Potluck Pinwheels). Isn't it fun? She used all 30's reproduction fabrics and then, of course, hand quilted it in the ditch.

This is an antique quilt that Sheila found in a shop for a bargain price. (That sure never happens to me!) It's a simple little quilt with gorgeous hand quilting. The flowers are blanket-stitched to the blocks and it's got a little sun fading on one border -- but it's still a wonderful quilt. We're assuming, because of the fabrics, that it was made in the 30's some time.

Maud brought this piece that she's working on for a challenge. If I understand it correctly, all the participants were given a photo of a garden and were supposed to interpret it in fabric. This is Maud's take on the photo. She designed the block herself and it's really got some interesting piecing. Maud's still working on the machine quilting.

You might get the idea here that Maud likes color! The fabrics are all stripes and the blocks are all curved piecing. (I apologize for the shadow in the photo!) I love this piece -- it's striking!

Maud decided she wanted to use up the last of her oriental cotton fabrics so she pieced and quilted this quilt. Talk about a change in style! I love that vine wending it's way up the panel. All the leaves are hand appliqued and made from dupioni silk. (If you've never worked with dupioni silk -- it's wonderful!)

Linda just finished this wall quilt a couple of weeks ago. She's been working on it for a while between making her purses (you'll see those in the next photo.) She pieced the blocks, appliqued the hearts and then machine quilted it on her sewing machine. It's beautifully done and lays so nice and flat! (I REALLY need to spend more time practicing my machine quilting!) It looks great hanging on her living room wall!

Here's our little working (?) group looking over the handbags Linda brought. (Her company is Linda O Designs.) She makes these bags and they're WONDERFUL! You simply can't find anything like this in the stores. They're beautiful, extremely well made, Scotchguarded and machine washable.

Just so you know -- gathered around the table from left to right are Maud, Cindy, Linda and Sheila.

So -- that's the story of our Sewing Day.

Ya Gotta Start Somewhere!

2009-07-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've had people crabbing at me for a long time about getting a blog going. I've been really hesitant about doing so because I honestly don't believe that I've got too much to say that's noteworthy! However, I've become frustrated because people are kind enough to send me wonderful photos of projects that I've designed and they've completed and I need a way to share those photos with others so................ A blog seems to be the best alternative for doing that. Please be patient with me while I'm learning!

Feel free to jump in with questions or comments any time you feel the need.