Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig!

A very big sigh of relief to be home and still DRY!  I didn't have time to post before, but we were evacuated due the lovely Souris River flooding.  Evidently we're just within the 100 year flood zone--go figure.  We had record snowfall this year and then rain, rain, rain.  The river finally crested--don't ask me what day, my head is still muggy.  But we've been home and have gas, electric, and water back on.  Now to get the boys to put the downstairs toilet back on--it's in front of the dryer and shower! 

I am sending a few dozen prayers of thankfulness skyward for the cease in rain, for all the local volunteers who sandbagged, for those who opened their homes to "refugees" or who ran the shelters, and for the National Guard. Those saints came in like gangbusters to strengthen the dikes and put up secondary dikes very, very quickly.  Pics follow:





Yes, the river is touching the bottom of the bridge!




Kate's school




One of the old bridges that was converted to a foot bridge/park.



The Luxury of Being Creative

Let me say first of all that I really like my job.  The work itself is challenging enough that I don't get bored and the pay is decent if not extravagant.  I enjoy the company of my residents--their stories of when they were younger and their views of the world now.  I really like most of my co-workers and a few have even become friends.  Sure, there's always one that just sets your teeth on edge, but we learn to cope, right?  Avoidance works well....  Occasionally being deaf, dumb, and blind (or catatonic) would be a gift--not going on that rant today.

But I really LOVE to create--whether it's quilting or embroidery or sewing or beading or whatever.  I love using color and pattern and shape to make something new and different or to recreate something vintage.  I love handwork!  It is just so relaxing and seeing a nicely stitched finished piece is very rewarding.  And I enjoy filling my home with one of a kind "artwork".

I love gardening, even the weeding.  There's something very satisfying about looking at a clean row of vegetables or flower bed and tossing the weeds in the dumpster.  I love watching plants grow.  You go home and wham, the next day things have popped up six inches or blossomed!  Amazing....  Best of all, we love eating vegetables that are truly fresh.

I like solving puzzles--logic puzzles, crosswords, the ones that make you think!  I love geocaching--it's just one huge series of puzzles waiting to be solved.  You have to think outside the box to meet challenges set by other geocachers, the highway system, and Mother Nature.  I'm directionally challenged (drive around the block in a figure eight and I can't tell you which way is north anymore...) and learning to use a compass has been "interesting".  Picture me holding a compass, turning around in a circle to find north, and then pointing in another direction before heading off that way.

SO WHY DO I SPEND SO LITTLE TIME DOING CREATIVE THINGS???  Lately, it seems that anything creative or thought provoking is a LUXURY.  Even reading the blogs that I like to follow!  I come home and once again, the house has exploded and spewed out dirty dishes and dirty clothes and who-knows-what on the floor.  If I want a day off to stitch or garden or geocache or read blogs, it has to be time stolen from all those other chores that should be getting done--and aren't. 

The girls and I played hooky after I got off work yesterday.  We found one cache, played in the park, ate at MickeyDoo's, and crashed when we got home.   Today I'm paying for it--poor me--enough of the rant--off to the salt mines again....

What's on the "Design Wall"?

close up of prairies points and the blocks

Well, I don't really have a design wall right now.  I've been pinning blocks and such to my living room drapes, which works for stitching and viewing, but taking a picture there is chancy since the light shines through in funky ways, depending on the time of day, etc.  So my latest "sleepless night design" that I'm actually stitching together is taped on the wall of the girls' room.  (Yes, that's a smokey lavender paint.  Sometimes.  On a sunny day it's almost pink!)  The BIG picture is clear at the bottom....

I found the most luscious FQ's at our Quilt Festival last month--creams, honeys, and sagey greens, and a brown with a red brick tinge to it, all from the same collection (I think), except for the couple of batiks that I just liked.  And I've been wanting to do some kind of Log Cabin, so they just seemed to jump out at me.  Only five lights, five darks, the "red" center, a celery green, and a similar batik FQ with leaf graphics that wouldn't have any punch if cut up in the logs.  And then I started playing! 

The Log Cabins are scrappy because I was concerned about running out of the darkest logs--they're bigger. Yes, I know, the darkest light and the lightest dark are really mediums.... I knew that, just didn't think of it when buying the FQ. I put them together last week, smaller than originally planned, and then pondered. I had a bunch of the "red" left and decided that prairie points would look neat along the bottom edge. And I had a bunch of strips cut for the logs so I made the little prairie points from those. Note to self: You don't need to cut the whole FQ into strips. Sigh.... Then that leaf FQ for the bottom and left borders and a scrap of chocolate and honey brown batik for the top and right borders. That wide border? The celery green FQ just pops against the brown, so I plan on some applique for the right border. Haven't decided what yet, but something viney and leafy seems likely. Pondering, pondering....

What Would You Do?

So I freely admit to being an eBay junkie and my b-day giftie this year (selfishly hoarded and thus self-funded) was a lovely spending spree.  I decided to go for a vintage quilt, that quickly became some antique or vintage quilts, tops, or blocks; the 30's Double Wedding Ring quilt and Apple Core top in the previous post being two of them.  (Hey, they were very inexpensive compared to what I had intended to spend on just one!)  I also found two lovely indigo blue and shirting tops, one a Single Irish Chain and the other a star (who can name that pattern?).  And then there were several odd lots of interesting blocks that were very interesting....  Great-Grandma, her mama, and all those assorted aunties and friends were just as good as us at making a trial block or just a couple of blocks extra!




Indigo blue and shirtings tops



It's easy to decide how to finish the indigo tops:  the star just needs to be pressed and then on to quilting.  But on the Irish Chain I need to check all the seams and deepen a few since I noticed that some (many) are rather narrow, and then quilt it.  Either that or leave the seams alone and quilt them down for strength?  I know it's stained from storage, but it feels like the original sizing is still in there and since it doesn't stink I plan to quilt it before washing.  If the storage stains don't wash out we'll just call it "character".   I'm still pondering the quilting pattern, type of batting, etc. but those decisions are simply a matter of waiting for inspiration to strike.  Usually in the middle of the night while surfing the net--hopefully not the night before I have to go to work!


I especially like the bumble bee shirting!


Anyhow, the odd blocks in question?  Would you group them by type and make small wall hangings, table runners or toppers, etc?  Maybe frame a couple?  Or would you put them all into one throw, wallhanging, or bed size quilt, in some kind of sampler arrangement?  They aren't even close to being the same size, and a non-symmetrical layout just somehow feels too modern.  And what fabric to add to fill in the spaces between?  Especially for those four-pointed stars that have shirting at the points?  I don't want those getting lost!  The points would blend into muslin, ticking, or another shirting.  Many of the modern repro prints of that era are brighter.  Gorgeous, but brighter, deeper, and as a whole, more intense.  Muslin?  Lurk on eBay for more goodies?  Ah, decisions, decisions!

Oh, anytime you want to donate to my PayPal account, feel free.  eBay calls my name all kinds of hours, you know....  I promise to scout out a few more vintage bargains!

That 30's Obsession....

My local quilt guild, website http://www.minotquilters.com/, started a 30's study group a few months ago....  Uh oh, some of you already know what comes next!  I'm obsessed AGAIN.  Possessed even at times.  There is something about handling fabrics that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers sewed that just draws me in.  I get teary even. 

Years and years ago when we were still living in Ohio and going to auctions for fun and necessity I found boxes of old fabric.  And in one box there were some beautiful Sunbonnet Sue blocks that I wanted with a passion!  Well, as auctioneers do, he threw all four boxes into the same lot.  Whew!  People were positively gasping at the bidding war of "those crazy women".  I paid all of $7.00 for them (back when a dollar was worth much more) -- and found 54 yards of fabric when I got home!  I also found a little brown bag with someone's unfinished LeMoyne Stars, the blades made with feedsack fabric and 30's solids.  And there was her threaded needle, left in the seam of a half finished block.  I wept my heart out imagining the abruptness of her life.  Her work was absolutely beautiful--surely she wasn't so careless with that needle. 

(sorry for the lighting--taken against a window)

I didn't rush out to finish that quilt though.  I packed it away (without the needle in the seam).  I was busy with the rug rats and life.  I did use some of that fabric to make maternity tops, curtains, etc.  Shocking!  considering what real feedsacks sell for now....  And then we moved to North Dakota and dropped my sewing machine in the move.  I was devastated!  Monstrously lonely, and positively ITCHING to sew.  So I dug out that little brown bag and finished piecing the stars by hand.  I even used "her" fabric to add blue sashings and yellow cornerstones.  And about that time I found a new quilt guild and made friends and got my machine fixed.  You know, built a new life.  So that top isn't quilted yet.  Picture right there.  I've always thought that there was something missing from the outside border and finally decided to add a small scalloped border, white muslin, and then to bind it with scraps of feedsack.  Hope I have enough buried in my stash.  (insert loud laugh and snort here)

(only the top half)

So this winter, looking at eveyone's vintage 30's quilts and their current projects using the fantastic variety of reproduction fabrics, the 30's bug hit again.  First picture is of a quilt that I found at an auction here a few years ago.  It's in really bad shape, seams popping, shredding fabric, and a blanket used for batting.  But I really like the setting!  Making a copy is on my ever-growing Do List.

And thanks to eBay, I can shop in my jammies and buy quilts, blocks, and tops from all over.  Uh oh!  Won't show pics all of them today, just a couple....  I treated myself this winter to a Double Wedding Ring throw.  It was tied beautifully, every two inches, with two inch long pink tails that just over-powered the wonderful array of feedsack fabrics.  My favorite is a circus print on blue that you can see at the bottom of the second picture of this pretty quilt.  It's a lady riding a horse, but elsewhere on the quilt there's a dog climbing a ladder and an elephant pulling a rope.  Wish I had a nice big chunk of that novelty feedsack!  Anyhow, I've finished quilting around the rings and am ready to start the design in the centers--that's the pattern there in the pictures.  Before you say anything--I know, some of those fabrics aren't feedsack.  I think she must have pieced this much later.  There's a suspiciously bright yellow calico that looks an awfully lot like one of the fabrics I learned to sew on, in the 60's.  I love it anyhow!

And the final pictures?  A small Apple Core top I bought on eBay.  It's slated for a makeover to replace a couple of shredded fabrics and to fix the popped or tucked seams.  I'm pondering making a template slightly smaller than what is "there" and re-piecing it by hand.  And possibly adding some alternating plain blocks?  It does have feedsack pieces big enough to really look at--aren't those explorers and Indians neat? 

Oh, yes, the Sunbonnet Sue blocks?  Well, I have to admit to getting really, really distracted.  It's "there" in one of my many project boxes.  Somewhere....

10-10-10 or Using Billion Dollar Technology to Find Tupperware in the Woods

What?  ....the 10th day of the 10th month of the 10th year of the century AND the 10th anniversary of the sport of geocaching and its website Groundspeak.  What?  Well, it's basically using a handheld GPS to track down containers of all sizes that other geocachers have hidden and listed the coordinates of online.  In plain sight, more or less--and more than 1,200,000 worldwide.  That's the short version, of course, but if you'd like to learn more just check out http://www.geocaching.com/.  There are a couple of neat videos and for gabbing there are forums and a blog, and of course, links to YouTube. 

So we definitely had to help break the old record (56,654) on 10-10-10 when more than 75,000 geocachers (so far) logged at least one find on the same day.  What a lot of cachers running around, "bushwhacking"!  That's just simple geocaching, but....  a Virginia couple planned their wedding for...  10:10:10 am, 10-10-10.  And there was a 10 minute, 10 second flashmob in Tianjin, China, and a hundred or so other scheduled events.  Here in Minot I noticed that half of all the geocaches listed within 25 miles of my home were logged as found on that day by at least one person.  Didn't check to see how many had multiple people visiting them.  Whoa.... we haven't even found all of those or even that many yet!

Took Kate and Mikayla and really must do some work on ETIQUETTE.  As in, not yelling "I found it!" or jumping up and down or squabbling to see who gets to open the cache first.  Arghhh...  shades of Charlie Brown's good grief.  It's fun though when you find a tricky cache.  Some of the containers are way wicked in their construction!  For some neat examples check out http://www.cachingcontainers.com/  (I like that fake thermometer!)  We have a couple planned that will puzzle the dickens out of everyone, or give them a good laugh.  Anyhow, here's a few pics from caches that we've found (not necessarily lately), and then off to bed I'll go.

Later,

Nancy

Been Busy....

....who hasn't? Summers in North Dakota are simply filled with run, run, run, get the sun, sun, sun! At least while it lasts. We've had a horribly rainy year: nice for the water table, but since getting COLD this week it feels like summer just barely showed up, laughed at us, and went south. Sheesh.

Anyhow, my bod must be getting ready for DST to end because I've been waking up at 4:15 am every morning. Is there a train whistling or something? Sigh... Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to be QUIET to avoid waking the 3yo tornado. Do NOT get that one started that early!

Did get to go to a wonderful, and I mean WONDERFUL! quilt retreat in late August, sponsored by my local guild. It's up at Lake Metigoshe and is very peaceful. Great food, beautiful accommodations, quality sewing time, and best of all, good company. You get to stitch in your pajamas, see what everyone is working on, compare notes, find out who is willing to short-sheet the beds.... You know, a RETREAT! No classes, just stitchin' time. It's slated to be my mini-vacation spot every year.



So what did I accomplish this year? Well, I put the final borders on a child's quilt that I've puzzled over for too long. I kept trying to make that quilt into a twin size bed quilt, and sometimes you just have to sit back and listen to what your quilt is saying. It didn't want to be a honking big bed quilt. I absolutely love how it has turned out. Will attach a pic as soon as I find where I stashed my camera.



Then I had a set of Delft blocks from this last winter's swap. Lovely, lovely blocks, but really a LOT of blue. So I set them on point with pale buttery yellow sashing (scrappy) and a fantastic dark blue batik with a watery look to it that I found at JoAnn's last winter for the side and corner setting triangles. It's not quite wide enough so I'm working on adding rows of Flying Geese and another batik border to the sides. Don't suppose anyone has that blue batik and would be willing to part with some? No, I didn't buy enough. It was pricey and I thought three yards would do it. Foolish me. Lesson to be learned: if you LOVE a fabric and think you might use it for the background, BUY FIVE YARDS!!!  

 Then I worked on setting some Amish blocks from an old, old swap. I made one and need to finish one more to make 25. They are close in size, but I'm still setting them with that modern floaty look with a light print that reads as very light gray for the block's shadows (on two sides only, with little corners of the background yet to be chosen). I was going to use a black backgound, but when I've thought about it, the blocks are jewel tones with black backgrounds and they might disappear into a black background. Maybe a very dark gray? ....or a black TOT with a definite design to it? Thoughts anyone?

ROAD TRIP!!! to set these blocks against some fabric at the store.



AND then I cave-manned the sky and grass to make a tree quilt. I free cut the trunk, branches, etc. and have started to applique it all down. I'm thinking about trapunto-ing the trunk and large branches. I have hundreds of little three inch Nine Patches, all different, from two other swaps, that are going to be the leaves on the tree. ....with a bright Cheshire cat sitting on one of the branches. I'm not 100% thrilled with the way the frame of the tree looks--it's so

sparse! But once the leaves are on.... 



We're cleaning house this weekend. No option. I can't find Things! (like cameras) So it's Reorganize and Update Time. ....and maybe paint Kate's room next week. We finally compromised on a color. She wanted Frosted Cupcake Pink (think PeptoPink) and I wanted just-barely-off-of-white pink. We settled on Sanctuary Rose. If it's still too bright I'm throwing on a layer of pearlized glaze to make it look like the inside of an shell. Her accent pieces are soft lime green, aqua, and touches of bright pink, with white furniture.



I need more energy for all this. Lots more.... Off to the dungeon to sort and purge.



Nancy