I Quilted Today!

And yesterday, and the day before! And the day before that. It started with a red, white and blue top. I had a partial spool of a cotton YLI variegated thread - wasn't sure how much had been used, but decided to take a chance. You know it! I ran out of thread about 3/4 of the way through the quilting. A nearby quilt shop had some Valdani thread, cotton, same weight. Expensive - $12 for a small cone. I bought it and have been sorry ever since! This supposedly long-staple, high quality thread was fuzzy and had slubs. It shredded and broke in my HQ16, even after I changed needles, re-threaded, adjusted tension, changed needles, re-threaded, adjusted tension, changed needles.......

It isn't often I say NEVER, but I will NEVER spend another penny on Valdani thread!

I eventually solved the problem by going to a different quilt shop and buying a spool of Sulky thread (cotton, red/white/blue). It worked wonderfully & I finished the quilting without any more problems.

Moved on to quilt the sweet lavender and green quilt in the photo below. The photo looks way too blue - I can add "learn photo-editing" to my To Do List. This is Diane's first big quilt, made for a granddaughter. I finished it today. I LOVE quilting!

Early Morning Along the Olentangy River

I'm in Columbus, Ohio for the Quilt Surface Design Symposium. One of the best things about the hotel is its' location beside the Olentangy River. I love to get out in the early morning to walk. When I take my camera, the wildlife is elusive! I see a great white egret and a blue heron almost every day. Is there only one of each along this stretch of the river? Who knows? I've never seen two!

Country Road, Take Me Home

I spent a couple days with my Mom & took this picture on one of my walks along the back country road I lived on as a child. No lane line - the road is about 1.5 lanes wide. If two big vehicles meet, both have to get one tire off onto the shoulder. Most of the trees are shagbark hickory - beautiful, tall trees with large leaves. Notice all the mailboxes? When I lived there, there were three houses. The Wilcoxes, us, and Gontermann's. Now, there are a dozen houses!

It's still quite rural. On my walk, I saw a red-headed woodpecker and several blue jays, many squirrels. I avoided the ever-present poison ivy - something you learn very early on in rural Ohio!

Student Quilts

It's always fun to see quilters use fabric they have dyed in one of my workshops. These two quilts were in the Omaha Quilters Guild Show last week.

Illuminated Inspirations (22" x 36"), was made by Joan Duggan. It was made from 1.5 yards of hand dyed fabric. The sections are joined with knitted strips and embellished with beads.











Primary Colors (33" x 40"), was made by Joyce Swift. She got the idea for this quilt from 2nd graders at Ackerman Elementary who were learning about warm and cool colors.

The Auction Bag

I was asked to be part of a Celebrity Fundraising Auction to be held during Quilt Nebraska 2009. Following my mother's advice (don't talk so much!) I didn't tell Katy that I wasn't a celebrity! I just agreed to make an item for the auction.

Taa Daa! This is a version of my 1-Hour Shopping Tote, made using a technique I call Too Small To Keep, Too Big To Throw Away. The outside of the bag is made using a 12-step colorwheel of fabrics. It is lined with rusted fabric. It took me a little bit more than an hour, but the result is worth the time spent!

Jim Jaworski, an artist from Las Cruces, New Mexico, gave me a walnut needle case to go along with the bag. Jim makes beautiful needle cases using a variety of woods. No picture - I sent it off for the auction without thinking about a photo. If you are interested in buying one, Email Jim. They would be a great gift for a quilting friend!

Give Me A Child......

After the laissez-faire attitude of my younger days produced two non-Reds fans, I took a different approach with my younger children. I truly believed that strict adherence to the Jesuit motto "give me a child until she is seven and I will give you a Reds fan" would work! Note the mismatched, yet stylish outfit - a sunflower print skirt with Reds shirt and hat in this picture of Alyssa & Caitlin taken at Riverfront Stadium in 1997. Years later, my faith is shaken.


Caitlin competed in the National Catholic Forensic League Tournament in Albany, NY this past weekend. She had a great time, made some new friends, but didn't break (meaning she didn't advance to the next round). She was polite to others, chewed with her mouth closed, took a shower every day and was generally kind to babies and small animals for the entire trip. All this Good Behavior took its' toll. Before she got on her plane at the Albany airport, she bought a NY Yankees t-shirt!

O M G !!!!!!

Even worse, she has not shown ANY remorse! And she plans to WEAR the shirt to school tomorrow. Top layer of clothing, right side out. The logo of The Team We Love To Hate right out there for God & everyone to see. I may not be able to show my face at the grocery store for a month or more. And I can just imagine what my "friends" will be saying behind my back. Woe is me. The only bright spot in this otherwise horrific evening is that she had the good sense to pass on the Cubs t-shirt when they changed planes in Chicago. Thank God for small favors :)

In the spirit of locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen, I sent a strongly worded email to her Forensics coach, suggesting (nicely of course - Caitlin gets those manners from me :) that perhaps her chaperoning skills need some updating to prevent a similar ugly incident with an Atlanta Braves shirt later this summer at the NFL National Tournament. I remain a baseball fan by birth, Reds fan by the grace of God.

Quilted to Death!

Whenever possible, I have volunteered to help on Judging Day for my local quilt guilds. One often-heard comment, usually made when borders are quilted significantly less than the interior of the quilt, is "needs more quilting". I just returned from the Machine Quilters Showcase in Overland Park, Kansas. Few of the quilts in this show will elicit this comment.

The quilts are quilted. And quilted. And quilted some more. As the popular phrase says - "quilted to death". And while looking at the quilts in this show, it seems that, to some extent, this amount of quilting is excessive. Don't misunderstand me - the quilting is wonderfully executed, technically fabulous, incredibly beautiful.

But excessive because it causes the viewer (me) to think "Forget ever entering this show - I don't do this amount of quilting". And if I'm thinking it, so are many other quilters. Many of the attendees at MQS are professional machine quilters, running successful long-arm businesses. But they aren't entering a show created specifically for them.

It seemed to me that the exhibit area was heavy on Special Exhibits and light on actual entries. There was a lot of empty space - black-curtained bays without any quilts, extra-wide spaces between quilts in the Special Exhibits. Maybe some of that empty space might be filled if the standard for quilting wasn't "quilt it to death".