Juneau Quilt Show

I've been in the Juneau-Douglas area for 4 days and I've already managed to find and attend a quilt show. It was such a nice break from the constancy of cooking, cleaning and care taking in my parents' Douglas Island home. And how nice to find out that the 'Capitol City Quilters' were holding their annual quilt show in the Juneau Arts and Culture Hall.

I had an opportunity for a quick getaway and what fun! When breaks are fewer and farther apart, you truly learn to appreciate and enjoy them to the fullest...and I did!

The quilt show was so different from what I know in the Salem, Oregon area. It was 1)free 2)not juried 3) photographs completely welcomed 4)had free refresments and 5) I was even given a free ticket for their door prize raffle!

The quilts were well done and quite charming. I fully appreciated the more 'Alaskan' appearing ones, but all were lovely and a real delight to visit and to remember.

As a non-profit organization of more than 100 members, the Capitol City Quilters draw the quilt show earnings from a silent auction of 20 small wall sized quilts, I was curious how prices might range here, and noticed that while the wall quilts were quite small...the bids were already up into the $50 range.

It seemed that their value was being appreciated and that bids were fairly frequent. The larger quilts ranged from twin to king to a beautiful mural sized one, some of which are pictured above. Others can be viewed at my Picasa site for those photos.

All in all, a much needed and welcomed break and to be able to drive through my beautiful Alaskan scenery in freshly fallen snow...alone, with music playing......that was my breath of oxygen that I needed, and so enjoyed!

All My Bags are Packed...I'm Ready to Go!

No matter how busy I am, I know there is a part of me that needs to be (as they say) the recipient of the first oxygen mask. I've learned the importance of being able to breathe.... so that I can still help others. I've learned to take time to change priorities and do things for myself..... just because I really, really need to.

I decided while previously in Alaska, that I really NEEDED an ID wallet. I sat waiting to take off from the Juneau, Alaska airport last year...sitting next to my legally blind mother, who also has moderately advanced Alzheimer's....and waiting for the rest of my family to return from their 'frantically trying to fit a lot in' trip to a store while I sat out my 2 hr security wait. They left my mother with me at the airport...so I could spend every last minute with her and because shopping is just too hard on her, anymore. I was happy to be with her and happy to be able to just sit!

Even though Juneau is the capital city of Alaska, our airport is quite small, the waiting area is even smaller yet. But now the Juneau Municipal Airport has been upgraded.... to having two floors and an escalator. My mother and I were lucky to even find two seats.... but those two seats were right by the top of that escalator.

As I watched people going up and down, down and up, running up against the flow, running down, even faster than the flow, and then of course, some of them...even trying to beat the flow by going against it. And I thought about all of the challenges and dangers a simple escalator poses...and how it's almost a metaphor for the hectic pace of our own lives.

Little did I know, that 1 1/2 hrs. later, I would be in that frantic flow....at the top of the escalator, frantically praying that someone...anyone I knew.... would come sit with my mom. I was about to miss my flight. And there are only two flights out to Seattle a day. And this was the second one.

I heard the first call for passengers to board. Not go through security...board. I heard the final call for passengers to board...not go through security which I hadn't done yet...board.

And then, my prayers were answered...here comes my desperately, frantic brother...running as fast as he could up the escalator to meet us. I barely had time for explanations or time to hug my mom and tell her that I loved her... before I had to run...as fast as I could... another 20' to security. When I got there...well, have you guessed it yet?

No I.D.

A ticket, a purse, two carry-ons, a bag of 2 oz or less liquids all ready to set out.... and no driver's license. They were holding the plane for a babbling woman with no photo ID.

I babbled about having had it at ticketing...just 2 hours before.... that the agent could identify me... that I had all kinds of credit cards to prove who I was....but nope, no driver's license photo ID. And they HAD to have it. And I couldn't find it!

By that time, I'd babbled, dumped, searched, babbled some more...the tears were starting to back up and flow over... but no photo I.D. And they did not have happy faces. And someone pushed the secret button on me, too! You know, the one that says...'we've got a problem' and 'passenger going berserk' and 'no photo Id.'

I knew then, that I needed an ID wallet and I'd wear it around my neck...just like a Quilt Guild badge ID and then maybe, next time...I wouldn't be surrounded by 4 TSA agents...all with 'very serious we mean business' faces.

And yes, I made myself breathe, and yes, I finally found my driver's license...sandwiched between some credit cards in the wrong place in space and time. Just exactly like I often am.

I learned from that lesson at least...my oxygen mask is firmly in place. Ta da...my newly created ID wallet.

I may have been too tired to think, or follow any directions on any pattern...but I still managed to make one! And somehow, best of all, I managed to find the time...just for me, for something I wanted and needed to have and to do.

North to Alaska...early tomorrow morning, with my photo ID AND my ticket, both together and ready... in the right place...for all of the right times!



(And I can also use it at Quilt Guild...with my membership card, some cards to share and a pen and a tiny tablet in that outside pocket on the back!)

Journeys: E=Mc2

I am in denial. Major denial. I have been stargazing when I should have been grounded on earth!

For several weeks now, I knew that I needed to head north to Alaska again to help out my parents and be present for their 60th Wedding Anniversary in April. I ordered tickets online several weeks ago and then...time flew by. Now, it's time for me to fly, as well!

When Einstein postulated that mass–energy equivalence was the concept that any mass (me) having an associated energy and that any energy (mine) has an associated type of mass..... E=MC2.....means that total energy should be the sum of kinetic energy and rest energy combined.

I haven't been resting, I don't even sleep, and I definitely kinetic as all get out, but when my energy equals mass is multiplied by the speed of light squared.....I'm all energy and time in space, holographically displaced and dislocated and yet totally....stuck in time! I may have been moving at the speed of light, but I'm farther behind that when I started!

I have been frantically making projects to donate, reading blogs, writing comments, having such a good time visiting all of you, and working on SO MANY projects...so that I'd have something to blog about when I am really out of space and out of time and in Alaska! My light years are moving way too fast!

I got out my suitcases and I made some lists. And then....one day, my journal said..."I leave in just 2 weeks!" and the next entry I was writing was..."Need to get all this done in the next 4 days!"

You could have knocked me over with a feather! That might have some correlation to Newton dropping an apple and a feather out of his tree and both of them hitting the ground at once. That's something I'm still staring up into space about. I mean...if that's true...and it is, then anything is possible!

So much, for looking at stars...the apple hit me on the head and I was knocked over by the feather. It's all Isaac's and Albert's faults' that my head has been in outer space!!! That and Mc2...my own Jan Mac...and her endless energy squared and then some...a wonderful blogger from Oz...and these emerald city blocks are heading straight to her.

shown above:
my frantically collected appliqued star blocks ....I thank my lucky stars and the heavens above that while I didn't get my pile of QAYG strings done into a top for her..... at least, I had these in my stash and now they are ready to mail. Dorothy, click those heels please....tada... to Jan Mac..in Australia for Bush Fire Families.

Please run, don't walk, as fast as your fingers can take you to her blogs:

Sew Many Quilts - Too Little Time
and its Australian Bushfire Quilts' companion:

Oz Comfort Quilts - Victorian Bushfire Quilts

After you read how much this amazing woman gives to others,and not just to disaster relief but to the impoverished areas of East Timor..... and how she is dedicated..heart and soul to give to the less fortunate, you will scour your stash...just as I did...to find something, anything you can send her. No matter how little time you think you have...it's really just relative anyway!

postnote:
and if you're wondering about postage. These 20 fairly heavy blocks cost me just over $10 to mail and will get there in 7-10 days. A US Priority Mailer would have been $12...same amount of time. But if you less weight/fewer blocks...get a free " mailer from the P.O. and use it as a flat rate parcel. Around $5 for anything you can fit inside it to the U.S. and about $10 for International mail. For only one block...use regular manilla envelope, reg. postage to Australia is about $2.50...same amount of time. Now, a big heavy, full size quilt...you're talking serious money...like getting it quilted

Make a Scrappy Potholder!

After all of the Frugal Friday Fun yesterday, I made sure to take and save photos to create a quick 'Scrappy Potholder Tutorial' for today. I've learned that while many quilters sew as well as quilt, many sewers and craftsters don't bother to make their own potholders...something that is so easy and so much fun...and saves so much money when just made out of leftover scraps!

To begin my potholder, I grabbed my first scrap bag of leftover potholder scraps. I keep one of small odds and ends of fabric just for potholders and such...and one of small pieces of leftover batting...just for this purpose. I grabbed the gold bag...because it was the smallest and even scrappy, it still co-ordinated with last years potholder runway collection ;)

To sit down and make a scrappy potholder might take 20 minutes...tops...and is so fun and so liberating...you just wing it and you're done that when I feel sad or stressed...it's one of the projects that always lifts my spirits immediately.


1. Collect the orphan blocks, strips or strings, you wish to use. These are mine, leftover from last year's table mat and hot pads... and no matter what, I knew I was going to make them...and only them...work.

 2. Begin the process of laying down pieces and strips, beginning from the center (I used that one big chunk from photo above, with the stripe in the middle) and adding strips...as if making a crazy quilt.


3. Each piece by piece, is simply sewn down on one side to the batting, flipped to right side and ironed flat. Then the next piece and so on.

4. Because I wanted to be free and easy about this, I made a point of not being particular, only random. I never double checked except with an initial glance. I knew it truly didn't matter. They are meant to be utilitarian, scrappy and will be either dirty or burned anyway;)

Vary sides in a rotating fashion, like a log cabin, only crazy patching as you go around the center section. Stop when you can no longer see the batting piece...then you know it's big enough ;)

5. Because I had cut off the selvages and nothing goes to waste...and selvage use is 'hot' right now...I added the orphan selvage edges to the piece...just using what I had and nothing more.


6. Baste/sew around outside edges and then trim off the extra fabric and batt to size.

7. Add fabric that will act as binding strips around the potholder.The solid scrap of fabric has been placed on the back of the strippy scraps...as seen below...on the other side of the batting to be the back of the potholder.


7. Pin binding strips for sewing down.

8. As you can see from the back, the sewing down of all of the strips becomes the 'quilt as you go' for the potholder. That's more than good enough for me :) And I added a scraggly little cut-out heart from the scraps...because I could.... and because I try to add a little heart to all of my work ;)

10.Voila! A finished potholder, no cost, almost no effort, made entirely of small scraps and leftover's. And...yes, I even chose to not remove any visible basting stitches because being picky is neither liberated, random or free. And what's the point of being scrappy and picky at the same time?

And now, I can add it to all the scrappy odds and ends potholders that turned into frugal finishes last year...just about this time, too! Project Quilting Runway...take this easy finish! And I can make more...and more...and more potholder fun!!!!

And it was so much fun, I kept making more and more!!!

Ta Da and Happy National Quilting Day!

Frugal Friday Fun: And You're ALL Invited!

So, the Frugal Friday Fun begins again! Paula, the quilter has already joined Finn and I in our fun. Last Friday, Paula dug out some fleece and after making two fleece vests she still had enough scraps to make dog beds for the local animal shelter. And the tiny scraps...she uses them for dust rags saying they actually work better than those expensive Swifter dusters! Way to go, Paula!!

And I think Finn really is seriously playing along now! She came up with the wording and concept and yet, I've been the one doing all of the work ;) I've been giving her a hard time about creating that title and then going out and being such A tease..... by doing some serious stash enhancement instead. Now, she's promising the big reveal today...so stayed tuned!

I was complimenting Shasta on her Moondancing and caught a furtive glimpse of fabric that has such possibilities for use and re-use. That I just had to invite her into the fold of fellow frugal fabric funsters. Now, Shasta says she'll join in the fun ....but that she has no idea of what one wears to a Frugal Friday Fun party...especially a virtual one. Well, of course, virtually anything goes...but I told her that I'm wearing PJ's ;)

It's just so much more fun to be funky and frugal at the same time. And if the mailman shows up...well, he'll have one more fun story to tell and much better than me sitting on the roof meditating in my nightgown like last time someone caught me having too much fun! Feeling liberated and a bit reckless is part of the charm of quilting without obligation.

Now, Frugal Finny is promising us that's she's really excited about her new stash enhancement and that "reckless abandonment" was truly happening at her house. She actually threatening others...as is threatening to 'cut' and to 'pink slip' and to' LET GO' and without compensation! It's getting brutal out there. Economic Wake Up Calls Are Everywhere!!

I've been a "Furtive Frugal Friday Fiend" and been secretly visiting tons and tons and tons of your blogs. I've dropped a few crumbs here and there of my visits (forgetting my vow of secrecy) and been unable to resist leaving a comment or two.

I've literally visited all of my followers blog's and have also checked out a lot of my google reader ones. I'm about done in but I am SO well informed. I've watched you from behind my shades and yours...and some of you are throwing scraps away, some of you are starting new projects before you finish old ones and some one of you...oh my goodness...have been shopping!

I Know Who You Are and I Know What You've Been Doing!

This is going to be a wild and wonky, frugal friday fun for sure. What can that Finny woman be up too??? How can she be so nice and so ruthless at the same time? And Paula...she said she was joining in, but will she do it again to day? Or was one wild and wonky party with us more than she could handle? What is Paula REALLY doing today???? And Shasta! Did she or didn't she wear PJ's to work today? Did she ever truly look twice at that beloved reuseable piece of fabric ever again? Or did she betray her love for it and move on to something else?!!

I'm playing in my scrap bags today and making a potholder to begin with....and I'm not thinking twice ...I'm going to dump the scraps, pick one piece after another without thinking and settle for what I get done. I'm a child at play and I like to play in my scraps and I use making potholders as my therapy of choice! Then, if there's time I'll move on to some mending......using what I have instead of buying what I want. And finally, one more small project to begin today, and finish this weekend.

Part of frugality is saving time, part is saving money...but a huge part is saving energy...mine.

My Previous Frugal Friday Posts:
Frugal Friday
Finn-ally, Four Frugal Friday Finishes

And don't forget to check out
My links to over 2,500 Free Quilt Patterns + How to Add a Widget to them on your own blog
My goodness gracious me frugal women!
Why pay for patterns when you can have so many for free?
And the same wonderful, creative, designing women (and a few good men) are many of the same ones that created the expensive ones on the store shelves!!

St.Patrick's Day Quilt Patterns

According to Barbara Brackman's Encyclopeida of Pieced Quilt Patterns, Yellow Clover was a block design first published by Nancy Cabot for the Chicago Tribune. It is one of the hundreds of Cabot patterns sold by mail order during the 1930's. And I not only found a free pattern for making it, but I've also collected a list of additional free St. Patrick's Day or Irish themed quilt block and quilt patterns. I've added so many new ones that I thought I'd share...Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Aunt Mary's Double Irish Chain Quilt Block Make an eight inch paper pieced block.
Broken Irish Chain a 10" pieced quilt block pattern from Quilter's Cache.
Celtic Sunrise - a 12" paper pieced quilt block pattern from Quilter's Cache
Double Irish Chain - a 12" pieced quilt block pattern from SewQuilty.
Double Irish Chain Quilt classic block for a pillow, or lots for a quilt.
Four Leaf Clover - 10" applique quilt block pattern from CompuQuilt.
Happy St. Patrick’s Surprise » the free quilt pattern's pdf file
Irish Chain - an 18" pieced quilt block pattern from Quilter's Cache.
Irish Chain - from Sharon Hultgren of EZ Quilt
Irish Chain Quilt - a 54" x 66" pieced quilt pattern from EZQuilting
Irish Eyes - a 12" pieced quilt block pattern from AZPatch.
Irish Shamrock - a 12" applique quilt block pattern from Quilting Passion
Irish Grandma Sue Boy Block from Quiltmaker.com
Latticed Irish Chain Block a 28" block from Quilter's Cache
Scrappy Pieced Shamrock Block...turn several shamrocks into a darling quilt!
Scrappy Irish Chain Quilt - a 68-3/4" x 84-1/2" pieced quilt pattern from McCall's Quilting.
Shamrock - a 3" paper pieced quilt block pattern from Quiltmaker Magazine.
Single Irish Chain Quilt for Baby - alt/ 4 1/2" fussy cut w. Irish Chain from About.com
St. Patrick's Day Quilt
St.Patrick's Mystery Quilt 7 -24" x 24"wall hanging from the Quilting Passion website.
Traditional Irish Chain Quilt lovely traditional Irish chain Quilt pattern.
Trip To Ireland Quilt - a pieced quilt pattern from Simply Quilts.
Triple Irish Chain - a 22" pieced quilt block pattern from McCall's
sign in for free to search, view and dowload free pattern
Triple Irish (chain) Flower quilt pattern from Moda
Words to applique:" Kiss Me I'm Irish
Yellow Clover a block design first published by Nancy Cabot for the Chicago Tribune. According to Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, Yellow Clover is one of hundreds of Cabot patterns sold by mail order during the 1930s.(removed from Internet, but I have a simple copy I am willing to share)

shown at top:
Kermit (Keira's litter sister) on a String Quilt done in St. Patrick's fabrics and claiming it as her own. I'm pretty sure she was meowing to 'When Irish Eyes are Smiling' at the same time...

Quick St. Paddy's gift: Use shamrock fabric and Make a Travel Mug Wrap!
My Links to over 2,500 Free Quilt Patterns + How to Add a Widget

Finn-ally, Four Frugal Friday Finishes

There's nothing more frugal for a Friday finish, than using what you already have....and finishing that which you already started. Feeling frugal in both attitude and practice is always a call to action. And of course, it's a lot more fun, maybe even easier, to want to feel creative and to begin new projects at the simplest spark of a thought.

But it's crunch time, and we're not only crunching financial numbers, but budgets and self-control. So, with that in mind...four finishes from Finn's New Year's Eve Challenge. And yes, the challenge was for last year, but I ended up on Alaskan island for those last 4 months....and priorities changed to helping very ill parents, instead.

But now, 'finn-ally', I have all four projects finished. 1) final quilting and binding re-do on a collaborative album quilt started eons ago 2) final quilting, binding and labeling on my uncle's Patriotic Heartstrings project 3) that pink ruffled baby quilt for someone in need using a quick finish quilt panel and 4) finally, my frugal Friday "Service Day" quilt made of small left-over scraps for a community donation quilt.

Sometimes, the easiest of things to finish become the longest to actually take care of and be finally done with! Oh, I don't even want you to notice that one of these started out with hand-quilting the blocks and ended up with some machine quilting...but I didn't have another eon to finish it! And sometimes feeling frugal involves time, space, and energy.... as well as materials and purpose.

What a wonderful feeling to be done with all of them and know they will all go to good homes!

Patriotic Quilting: Remembrance, Healing, and Comfort

Patriotic  Quilts carry such meaning, a form of innate healing through caring, and a special comfort all of their own. And as such, they never fail to provide me with memories that I carry with me... and cherish in the giving...forever.

I started my last patriotic quilt last summer... expecting to finish it and have it sent off by Christmas. When my care taking visit to my parents' home on Douglas Island, Alaska grew from one month to four...all expectations and priorities changed, as well.

So, I am delighted to finally have it finished, mailed and received. When I finally returned to Oregon, I only had to finish up the final binding, make my own label and create the added gift of the home printed photo album shown here.

The quilt headed south to Central Point, Oregon and an assisted living center where my last surviving uncle is now living. In just 3 years, this dear man has lost his home, almost all of his possessions and faced the death of his wife. In 2007, he was diagnosed with a form of dementia...the umbrella terminology for the memory loss and behavioral changes disorder that also encompasses Alzheimer's.

Somehow, I have managed to maintain contact with him, once a very dear and even brilliant man.....by phone and by mail..whether in Oregon or in Alaska...and gone past and through the memory loss challenges. His nursing homes have all been involved in the tremendous upheaval of lost mortgages and closures here in Oregon...so in three years, he has already move to his third nursing home.

In less than 2 years, all of his life savings were gone, including monies from the sale of his home and he was faced with surviving on the basics of Medicare/Medicaid. With skyrocketing costs for nursing home care (his previous one cost almost $4,000/month) our senior loved ones end up being forced into 'Medicaid' approved (meaning low cost of $2,500/month) and finding good homes in this range is a challenge. They say if we live long enough, most of us will face memory loss, 50% of us Alzheimer's or related dementia's and usually by the age of 85...something is apparent to others and we need assistance of one kind or another. So, it is a cause that strikes close to my own heart. (AAQI: From the Heart of a Quilter)

My dear uncle not only received my quilt...which I have called a' healing quilt' as my uncle is a strong man of Christian faith who nevertheless needs spirited filled encouraging for not only his emotional wounds from this lifetime...but from the tragedies of WWII.

Having the highest IQ ever tested in the Army at that time, he also had perfect memory recall...or what we call a 'photographic' memory. So, the pains and losses were never forgotten and developed into a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that I'm sure preceded the dementia he suffers from now.

So, I made him a Patriotic comfort quilt filled with my love and my prayers. As seen here, I also made one of my photo albums that I send down to him at least once a year. This one included photos of me and the quilt...to help him remember who it was from, and another dozen pages of my family, my extended family...my mother, father, brothers, and all my nieces and nephews....photos of all of us together during the Christmas holidays.

I know from past gifts how much he treasures these books I make and send, and to know that now he is thankfully and gratefully wrapped in 'his bed cover' makes me even happier....

Melissa and Holly Join Dancing With the Stars Tonight

When they talk about the stars being in or out of alignment, I don't think they mean The Bachelor's jilted Melissa or Hugh Hefner's/Criss Angel's ex-girlfriend, Holly. But these two women just jumped onto the DWTS stage as the newest contestants and last minute replacements for Jewel and Nancy O'Dell.

Oh my goodness. Soap operas and 'reality' TV doesn't get any odder than this! Even if you spend your free time on American Idol instead, you've got to admit they get us all hooked or at least interested in the flak with TV shenanigans. It is after all, March Madness Sweeps Month...where every TV show tries to out-do every other one!

So, Nancy O'Dell, as of March 5, is out. She was diagnosed with a torn meniscus while training and will have to withdraw from the competition. The co-Anchor of Access Hollywood, O'Dell has contributed reports to NBC's Today Show and Dateline NBC. And of course, Jewel...was diagnosed with a fractured tibia in both legs while training and also had to withdraw from the competition. As a three-time Grammy nominee, she has triumphed over poverty and teen homelessness to a musical career rare among her generation of artists and has sold twenty-seven million albums worldwide.

So, just who are Melissa Rycroft and Holly Madison, you ask? Melissa was just seen as the chosen then jilted 'fiance' of The Bachelor's Jason Meznick. After being chosen, then forsaken by her would-be fiance, the 25 year-old Dallas native had been asked to be that ABC show's next 'Bachelorette' and turned that offer down...saying she was 'done' and just wanted to well...recover from her wounds.

So, that apparently includes a lot of dancing as she now replaces Nancy O'Dell in tonight's show. Nancy O'Dell, who has been on crutches since March 6, just gave up her slot on show, after suffering from knee injuries she sustained during rehearsals. The entertainment reporter was scheduled to be paired with Tony Dovolani, who will presumably now partner with Rycroft.(That would leave Dmitry Chaplin, one of the newest DWTS professionals to dance with Holly.)

Although Melissa Rycroft has reportedly only had a few days to practice her moves, she is set to perform live on the show on Monday, March 8, (tonight!) a source tells People. After all, a few days, in Reality Tv can often truly be 6 weeks and in 'reality', Melissa is a trained athlete or close to it. As a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader for three years, and having had dancing lessons since she was a small child...I think she can probably fling a shoe with the best of them. And yes, Jason Meznick does know that Melissa is on 'Dancing' and has not only formally apologized for his part in everything but wished her the very best of luck and says she has been dancing all her life and might even 'win the whole thing.'

Now, Holly Madison, I'd never heard of. I don't read Playboy...don't get me started on that...and apparently, Holly Madison is one of Hugh Hefner's 'ex-girl friends' and a 'Reality' TV star of some kind....as one of the 'girls next door'.

I mean, really? Aren't we all?????

shown above:
Photo of Melissa with Jason from 'The Bachelor'

Frugal Friday

In honor of Finn's Frugal Fridays (and with deepest respect for the state of the economy) I am only sewing from scraps and stash. Not just talking about it...doing it. And we're looking for YOU to join us!

Now, I'm always been thrifty....even been on the front page of the news for it...and I've always sewn from donated fabric...... but this is the time to really buckle up, huddle down, and step up to the plate...is that enough colloquialisms for a recession era economy?

Here in Oregon, unemployment is at 10% and many of our businesses are closing, downsizing and small businesses like ours are without work. On top of that many are without jobs and without any money coming in. So, when I say recession, I'm not making jokes about stash reduction and trying not to shop...times are serious, there's no joke about it...but, we can still be optimistic and have lots of frugal fun!!!!

So, with that in mind, I threw caution to the winds, scraps to the floor, and put metal to the pedal for fast and furious sewing fun. Now, keep in mind, I don't sleep so I have LOTS more sewing time than you do ;) but still...I whipped these puppies up in no time!


For one wonderful thing, I found all of these little orphan starter blocks in my scrap bag. Little bits and pieces of leftovers...desperate for a new home and a little loving. That's a wonderful way to get going in a hurry! When you're down and out....and so sad you feel like you're turning blue....there's nothing like scrappy sewing to bring you back up again. Play that music loud, girls and get those motors humming!

It's "Frugal Friday"...time for some sewing fun!!! In no time, I had these happy, scrappy little blocks all lined up. No thinking, no planning, no resizing, no un-quilting allowed. Just sew something and make it fun!!! And if you don't like it when it's finished...I can guarantee that someone else will!

And if you want to work on something else in between...lay your blocks out as if for an audition.... and roll them up and put them away for the next free and liberating happy-scrappy Frugal Friday Fun!

So join me, add this link to a post when you join in today or any day:
With Heart and Hands.....: Frugal Friday

Check out :
Depression era quilting at Woman Folk.com's Frugal Quilting Fun
My inspiration: Finn's Frugal Fridays

Printable 40% off coupon for Joann Fabrics courtesy of the coupon show on Rachel Ray good through Oct. 24, 2009

When You Need a Little Babying....

I believe that there is nothing more uplifting than doing for another...and as I like to say...with the hands and from the heart. I'd heard about a young couple expecting their first child....and in financial crisis at the same time. I'd already started my 'Be of Service Day' baby quilt, but this couple are expecting a baby girl....and those browns were wonderfully scrappy....but not very feminine!

Luckily, my' hand-me-down stash' from a friend included a sweet fabric panel of abc's and little baby animals and that with its inclusion of lots of pink...plus finding some additional pink fabric and creating ruffles.....made a great baby girl quilt in a hurry.

Well, almost in a hurry...if you've ever done ruffles and ruffling, you know the simplest thing can turn into gathering trouble....especially if your math skills are ...ahem....deficient

I remembered to use crochet thread (with an overlapping zigzag stitch) as my gathering thread and that was beyond phenomenal, especially when compared to my old days of ruffled baby comforters.... or my clothing construction days of gathered skirts and velvet Shakespeare costuming!

So, if you need to make a gathering thread...use crochet cotton as if you were adding trim and zigzag a little 'casing' over it and it pulls to gather like a dream!

I added a little matching pillowcase...for mama, and I was happy with the comfy, cozy, and relatively quick and easy gift. And best of all, I don't even need wrapping paper for the gift. Fold up the baby comforter, place it inside the co-ordinating pillowcase and it's a great gift all ready to go to a new home!

The Quilting Bee

The Quilting Bee

In fellowship sweet, the quilters meet,
Their long winter days to invest
Snipping and sewing, only slowing
To visit, to eat, or to rest.

Calico scraps are heaped on their laps,
Each one an exact size and hue;
Fingers nimble with thread and thimble
Create pretty patterns anew.

Heads bent to the task, you need to ask
If these seamstresses love to quilt
Their talented touch expresses so much
As piece unto piece is built.

Friends try to perceive who will receive
Each quilt that is stitched from the heart;
With needlework fine, the patterns entwine
A treasure, a true work of art!

(author unknown)

note:
The month of March is " Women's History Month"

In honor of the rich quilting history we share, let us never forget all those women who went before us....the women who raised families, toiled in the fields, baked bread, pulled water up from the well, made important scientific discoveries and inventions, are the head of companies both large and small, marched for our rights, and did so many other things at the same time. One of these was and is, sewing, crafting and quilting.

There were women who crafted with needle and thread for the warmth, the comfort and the beauty of their homes. In their giving and our receiving, their lies a rich legacy of both creativity and history shared.

women's quilting links from:
Wikipedia: History of Quilting

America's Quilting History: quilting history, styles & myths

Patterns Through Time: pattern history & free patterns

• Traditional Bible Block History and Patterns
• Quilt Block Patterns of America's Pioneers
• Quilt Block Patterns from the Colonial Revival
• Civil War Quilting Patterns
• History of Quilt Patterns both Vintage and Antique
• Stitching Your Way Into the Past

In honor of Finn's Frugal Fridays:
check out Frugal Quilting Fun

and because almost all of us do believe that most pioneer women sat around a quilting bee, we should all at least read: dispelling the myths surrounding "Quilting Bee's" ;)

For additional wonderful links, check out:
Stitching Your Way Into the Past (articles on making a reproduction quilt)
Early Quilting and Textiles (articles from ancient Egypt to early America)
Needlework Around the World (from Dutch patchwork feestrok to French boutis)
Stars and Stripes Forever (articles on quilting for country and community)
The African American Presence (articles on Black American quilting)
From Family Ties to Grand Events (articles on heritage quilts)