I've Been Neglectful

I haven't made a DJ block in almost a month...too busy making pillowcases and Christmas quilts that need to be finished by the time we leave on Nov 21st for our Thanksgiving trip to see family.

This is "I-10, Iris' Medallion", an advanced-level block that I chose to rotary cut and then used the raw-edge machine-buttonhole stitch to attach the triangles. Not perfect, but it will do. The photo makes the block look a bit wonky on the outer sides, but it's square in person.

On the Subject of Pillowcases...

I've been asked to add the following to this post -- grab a box of tissues before you watch the video...

For more info, visit conkerrcancer.org.

Help Needed

Back in December of last year, I posted a Pay It Forward post and had a fellow blogger from Pennsylvania sign up. I am now ready to send the gift to her, but my attempts to contact her have failed. I'm hoping someone who reads my blog may know how to reach her, so here goes...

Her name is Sara and her first blog was Mommyto2boys. In March, she moved her blog to Life at the Covered Bridge. The last post that I can find by her is dated Aug 21st where she says that her computer had died, but had come back to life. The email address that she used when we first corresponded after the PIF signup no longer works. I'm worried that her computer died again.

Sara, are you reading this? If so, please contact me and I'll have your PIF gift on its way to you ASAP.

Does anyone out there in blogland know who Sara is? Do you know how I can contact her? Thanks for any info you may have...

Two Months and Counting

I just finished up the pillowcases that will be used to wrap up the four quilts that I'm making for my step-grandchildren this year. Two of the quilts are finished and the other two just need to have the binding done.

Promised Closeup

As promised in the previous post, here is a closeup of the meandering figure-8 loopy thingy design...You should be able to see a bigger version if you click on the photo...

Third Time's a Charm

This was the third paper-pieced BOM I made from Our Gathering Place in Montoursville, PA, finished in the summer of 2006. You can see the other two in the blog posts here and here. The instructions for all three BOM's were wonderful, so I had very little frustration to deal with when learning to paper piece. I loved the batik fabrics used in all three quilts and I was pleased with the final results. I quilted this one on my HQ16 using a variegated Rainbows thread by Superior Threads with a meandering figure-8 loopy thingy. If I think of it, I'll take a closeup shot of the quilting and post the photo soon.

You've Got Mail!

It's been a lucky month for me with giveaways... first, I won this wonderful group of 13 fat quarters from the husband and wife blogging team of Brooke (Disconnected Stitches) and Greg (Flat Out Quilting). They celebrated their 13th anniversary with a giveaway just 4 days after my husband and I celebrated our 20th. If you want a good chuckle, check out the WTF Mary? series on the right sidebar of Flat Out Quilting.

My second winning was a giveaway of 10 lovely fat quarters and a book from Janice of Crafts and Genealogy. She had a giveaway in honor of her mum, and I was the lucky recipient.

Thank you to Brooke and Greg and Janice!

Is This the North Pole?

This is what we woke up to this morning here in north-central Pennsylvania. I suspect you'll be seeing a lot of photos like this on PA blogs today.

We have about 4 inches so far -- the latest forecast I saw is for 5-7 inches by Saturday morning. The pine trees are used to this, but many of the deciduous trees still have their leaves, so the weight is a bit much for them. Thankfully the roads are just fine so far.

And to think...this is what the lake near our house looked like just 10 days ago!

Even though our sheltie thinks this weather is just fine, I certainly hope the weather people are correct about their forecast for 65 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday...

Did Someone Change the Calendar On Me?

I usually like snow, but I really prefer to see it in December and January, not mid-October!

It's been snowing at my house since about 9:00 this morning and by dinnertime we had some white stuff on the pine trees and a bit on the grass. The roads are just wet, but the forecast calls for a possible 5-10 inches by Saturday morning! This can't happen! I have a quilt show to go to and my son is helping out with his school honor society's chicken barbeque on Saturday. And we still have a good number of leaves on the trees around here.

In honor of this white stuff, I've posted a photo of a small wallhanging that I made at Quilt Camp in August 2007. If you'd like to see more versions of this pattern, click this link which will take you to the Gallery page of the Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild (my guild). Scroll about two-thirds of the way down the page to see the photo. Then just click on it to see a larger version. And while you're there, check out all the other great photos on our site. We have an awesome guild!

I'd Rather Be Quilting

Not much quilting/sewing going on in my house this week -- we're up to our eyeballs in college financial aid forms!!! Ugh.

So I'm posting a photo of the top made of heart blocks that I blogged about here. A few guild members got together a couple of weeks ago and quickly put this together. It's much prettier in person, and will be even better once it's quilted and bound.

Come For a Walk With Me

Here's a slideshow from my trip last Saturday to the Airing of the Quilts in Tunkhannock, PA.

Tunkhannock Airing of the Quilts 2009

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

Today, Amy of Park City Girl is hosting a virtual Bloggers' Quilt Festival in which she has asked participants to post about their favorite quilt. I don't know about you, but it's tough for me to pick a favorite -- I suppose it's like having to pick a favorite child -- each one is so special and meaningful in different ways, but they're all loved very much.

I decided to pick this quilt, "Window to My Garden" mainly because I was fortunate enough to have it displayed at the 2007 Sisters, Oregon Outdooor Quilt Show AND I was able to see it hanging there in person! It was also one of my first attempts at "fancy" quilting.

So go to Amy's blog and be sure to check out all the other participants. There are lots of lovely quilts to see!

Who Are These People?

This is what my hubby and I were doing 20 years ago today at the Barns of Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA. What a ride it's been! Here's hoping for at least 20 more!

Postcard Tutorial Now in PDF Format

Today is my friend Susan's birthday (go to her blog and wish her well), so I couldn't let the day go by without making a selvage postcard for my blogging partner-in-crime. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN!

And I recently found out that another quilting friend had a birthday a couple of weeks ago (she's very good at keeping secrets) , so she got a card as well (even though it was a tad late).

The tutorial that I posted in a blog post here, is now available in PDF format here.

Nesting?

Remember the folding technique I blogged about in this post?

Well, I liked it so much that I decided to fold all of my fat quarters and half-yards that way. Then I decided to organize the rest of my stash (it had gotten way too messy and out of control). Now it's much easier to find what I need. One bin contains all fat quarters, another one has decent-sized pieces that are 1/2-yard or smaller, another has yardage (folded using a 6 x 24 inch ruler), and the last bin has all my flannel fabrics. Now when I search for fabric for projects, it's much easier to find and stays much neater when I put it back. My batiks are not organized in this manner because I'm using them for my DJ WIP (Dear Jane Work in Progress). They're scattered in a few piles near my cutting mat and sewing machine.

After I finished with the folding, I decided to do something with the scraps that were getting out of hand. I have these bins under my HQ16 -- the one on the left contains strips of various lengths and widths and the one on the right contains small scraps of various shapes and sizes. I even have them organized into solid-looking strips/scraps, fun strips/scraps, and boring strips/scraps.

I thought nesting was a sign of pregnancy, not the early stages of menopause...empty nest syndrome is what I should be preparing for instead...

Great Day

These are just a couple of scenes from my trip today to Tunkhannock, PA's Airing of the Quilts.

Lots more are still in the camera, but I'm too pooped to do anything with them. Especially since I need my beauty sleep for tomorrow's trip to a quilt show in Ithaca, NY! Hopefully, more photos will find their way onto my blog later in the week...

Another One

One more quilt made by my friend. It's for one of her daughters-in-law who recently moved to Montana....I think she said something about having snow this week, so

it better get in the mail quickly!

I just meandered in a pointy-swirly design using my HQ16.

If you want to see more of my friend's quilts, scroll down and click on the "Moddy's quilts" label on my blog's right sidebar.

Why Do I Do This?

It took me just as long to sew this...













...as it did to sew this...

The first one is 5 inches square, the second is about 45 inches x 60 inches.



Today's block is "E-13, Moth in a Web", an intermediate-level block that I chose to paper piece. I figured out how to do adapt the pattern to make the outer triangles easier after seeing Tropical Screamer's block.