The perfect fabric (posted by Lorri) December 26, 2012

The good part about hanging out with other quilters is that you learn new things from them.  Several years ago, several of us were working on a quilt for a friend's daughter's upcoming wedding.  It was a quilt pattern with fairly large blocks that featured a big center star.  The perfect kind of pattern for a group quilt project.
We were all at the quilt store together, choosing fabric for this quilt.  While we didn't have any problem choosing different color fabrics for the main part of the quilt, we were rather puzzled about what fabric we should pick for the center star.   Kate showed us the fabric below, and told us it was the perfect fabric for the center star.  I recall looking at it thinking, really?

So, we went back to Debby's house and started working on the quilt.  We got to the part where we added the star, and sure enough, the gold fabric above was EXACTLY what we needed.  It looked perfect!  Hence, the perfect fabric was born.  It pops up now and then in other projects.

Notice the center star?

After a number of years of quilting with Kate, I have decided she has a true gift for choosing fabric. 
And, on to other fabric, my sister Kay and my mom brought me back some different fabrics from the Houston quilt road trip.
Check this out:

Isn't this fabric great?  This is my inspiration fabric for the quilt I am making to go with our new living room furniture.  I love the colors in this fabric.  There is just something about touching fabric that makes a true quilter smile.  You know who you are out there. 

Merry Christmas from Captain Vomitar! (posted by Lorri)

I added a new word to my vocabulary at work last week.  The word is "vomitar", which means "to vomit" in Spanish.  Thank you Google translator.
I learned this new word in preparation for a home visit. You can just fill in the rest of the details on your own.

Anyway, back to the new addition to my vocabulary.  Did you ever hear a new word, and for some unknown reason, it strikes you as funny?

Well, apparently the word "vomitar"was one of those words for me.  I thought it sounded like a super hero.  Consequently, Captain Vomitar was created.

Of course, things deteriorated from there.  It's been a bad year for the stomach flu.  Kids throw up; sometimes they don't make to the desired destination.  It's okay - no one WANTS to have the stomach flu.  Fortunately, I can handle vomit. 

I've noticed over the years of being a nurse, that people seem to have some type of body fluid "line in sand", so to speak.  Some people are squeamish about the sight of blood or needles.  Doesn't faze me, although I'll admit I prefer that the blood or needles don't involve me as a participant.  I prefer the old adage, It's better to give than receive - especially when it comes to needles. I have found one common body fluid that most nurses (including myself) prefer to leave to other professionals. 

Any guesses?  Find a nurse and ask.  It's loogies.  Or hawkers.  But, I digress.

I was explaining to my husband about the new word I learned.  He knew I'd been seeing lots of vomit at work for awhile.  He actually though the Vominator might be a better term.  Perhaps. 
Then, we stopped at a local convenience store in our small town one evening.  As he got ready to get out of his side of the car, guess what was on the pavement right outside his car door?    At this point, I think he started to think IT was following me around.

Oh, if he only knew. 

A few days later, I actually became Captain Vomitar.  At home.  I don't know why I get surprised when I get sick - I see so much of it at times.  The big surprise is that we (school nurses) don't get sick more often.   I'm feeling much better now.

My Christmas wish is for someone to develop a vaccine for the stomach flu.  I'll be first in line.

I had really been planning on this blog entry being about fabric, but I'll save it for next week. 

So, I wish you all a vomit-free Christmas!

Kay's Prairie Pinwheels

These quilts remind me of the old fashioned fabrics from the pioneer days.  The small quilt was made recently and is made with fabrics I purchased recently.  The larger quilt is made from fabrics that I probably bought in the 80's .  Back then all you could find in cottons was old fashioned calicos.  I used tea dyed muslin and these calicos.  I made it several years ago and gave it to my sister to machine quilt for me.  After several years of it sitting at her house she gave it back to me.  She just didn't have time to quilt it.  After it sat around my house for a while, I finally decided to go ahead and try to quilt myself.  I quilted it on my sewing machine using a walking foot and I quilted it diagonally through the corners.  It isn't perfect,  some of my stitching isn't that straight.  I reminds of the prairie every time I look at it.  I love everything about the prairie especially the  wildflowers that bloom there in the spring and summer.  I think everything about the prairie is fascinating and enjoy reading books about the prairie that are set in pioneer times.   I think I will be making more quilts in this prairie style because as usual I cut out way too many pieces for these blocks.  At work I usually work on my sewing on my lunch hour and my co-workers usually make remarks about what I'm working on.  When I was working on some redwork one co-worker told me that was not  right, I should use several colors instead of just one.  Another co-worker told me that one of my doll quilt was ugly.  This quilt everyone stopped and remarked that they really liked it.  They liked the colors especially.  I was surprised, I thought that I was the only one who would like this old fashioned quilt especially since I used those different colored blocks in the outside blocks.  I think I will keep this one for myself!

This week I will show you some Christmas decorations that family members have made for me over the years.  This first picture shows a counted cross stitch stocking that Sherry made for me.  The other one was made be my Mother when I was a child.  I don't know how old it is,  maybe 50 years old? 

Here is a closer picture of the counted cross picture.  The first Christmas that I celebrated with Heather she wanted to know why I had 4 stockings and she only had one.   I had these two plus one they gave me from work and then I bought stockings for all of us.  I didn't know I had so many until she pointed it out.  I now have 5 stockings because Jeff bought me a Snoopy stocking to go with the rest. 

This one I think Jessica made for me. 

Lorri made this for me this year.  Isn't it cool?

Lorri also made this for me.  I have it out all year around.  I made the Christmas doily many years ago.

Lorri made this snowman wall hanging for me. 

Here is  something  I made.  Pumpkin Bread!  I can do a little cooking or baking!  This is about the only thing I can make that isn't from a box.!   Merry Christmas!

Kay's Doll Quilts

I have been having fun making doll quilts for the Little Balkans Quilt Guild's project to make doll quilts for the Salvation Army .  The doll quilts we  be given to a child along with a doll for Christmas.  I managed to get a dozen quilts done.  I made two of the blue and pink ones at the last minute because I was determined to get all 12 quilts done.  I started on the last two the day before we were to turn them in.   I was sewing the binding on my lunch hour and then I worked on them after work so I could finish them.  I stayed up late to finish them getting hardly any sleep that day ( who needs sleep when there is quilting to be done!).  I got to the meting at 7:00 just in time as they were giving them away when I got there. 

The Love block for the love quilt was by Tonya Rucci and was found in an issue of The Quilt Life magazine.  The rest of the quilt I made up as I went along from scraps I had lying around.  Sometimes I really love the Love quilt and sometimes I don't.  Next time I might try the love block in a different setting.  The star quilt was made with left over blocks from another quilt project.  The pinwheel quilt  is made out of the triangle leftovers from some farmer's daughter blocks I was making.  It has a mistake in it.  Can you see it?  I was going to rip it out and fix it but decided I was too lazy. 

I call that my Prairie Pinwheels quilt because it reminds me the old fashioned quilts that they made back in the late 1800's.  Now I am working on some more dolls quilts to give for Christmas gifts.  I already made another Prairie Pinwheels quilt for a friend that quilts.  I  am also trying to made doll quilts for my nieces.  So far everything I have tried to make I have not been happy with.  So back to the drawing board to try to think of some other patterns to try!   Next week maybe some more doll quilts, maybe not.  We'll see. 

Kay's Quilt Adventure - Part Four

Saturday we went back to the Quilt Show.  Above is some of the things we bought while we were there.  We also bought some quilt mysteries and other books with quilt related themes.  Sandra Dallas was signing copies of her books and we got a few of her books. I also got some beautiful solid fabrics from Cherrywood fabrics and some pearl cotton thread that I would like to try quilting with.  There was everything you could imagine that was quilt related.  We also got some free bags from different vendors and some free samples at the Moda Bake Shop Booth.  We visited the Rocking Chair Quilt Booth and then headed back to the quilt show. 

There was so much to see that I didn't get to see everything.  We did get to visit the AAQI booth.  They were selling small quilts ( 12" by 9" or smaller ) to raise money for Alzheimer's research and awareness.  AAQI stands for Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.  Mom bought a quilt.  When someone buys a quilt they yell and make a lot of noise so you can hear them every time they sell a quilt.  Project Linus, Quilts of Valor, and some other non-profit groups also had booths. 

During the quilt show they make all kinds of anouncements that they will not page people for you.  Apparently if   my mother is jumping up and down in front of you and will not go away until they page someone , they will.  So they paged me.  Here is really stupid thing #3.  I was so absorbed at looking at the quilts that I didn't realize what time it was.  I was all the way on the other side of the quilt show looking at the Modern Quilt Exhibit.  So I made my way as fast as I could to meet the quilt bus.  There was Mom jumping up and down because I made everybody late.  The quilt police did not come and get me and I did not go to quilt jail but I did get some dirty looks from some of the people on the bus,  which I deserved.  The lady that overslept that morning said she was glad that someone else had made us late and now she didn't feel so bad.  I was glad that I could do that for her.  


We made our way home with a stop in Mckinney, Texas for the night.  Mom went  to the quilt shop, Quilt Asylm, for a class and more shopping.  Dad and I stayed at the motel and watched K-State win their football game.  Go K-State!   We finally made it home the next day.  It was a great trip but it was good to be home.  Next week I will try to post some more doll quilts pictures .

Kay's Quilt Adventure - Part Three

On Friday we skipped the Quilt Show to spend the day with Uncle Wayne and Aunt Kay.  They took us to Galveston to see the sights.  We took the ferry to Bolivar Island.  I'm 54 and this was my first time to ride a on ferry.  Isn't that something?  The ride was awesome.  We got to  see some dolphins (if aunt Kay hadn't of pointed them out I would never would  have seen them), seagulls, and lots of big boats.  On Bolivar Island they took us the a very good seafood restaurant.  Usually Uncle Wayne and Mom fight over who gets to pay the bill.  Uncle Wayne won.  I thought Mom gave up too easily.  I wanted to see them arm wrestle for it.   After the ferry ride back to Galveston, we rode around Galveston checking out the beautiful old homes and the wood art that people had in the yards.  After the hurricane many old trees were destroyed so they made wood sculptures out what was left of the trees.  They had some beautiful sculptures.  We saw some pelicans, The Tin Man and Toto, seagulls and some other wonderful sculptures.  If I had one I would like a totem pole with all my favorites thing included on it, quilts, cats, books, flowers, baskets, and Snoppy and Woodstock or a carved basket with all these things in it.  They took us back to our hotel and so now comes really stupid thing #2.  I left my cell phone it Uncle Wayne's truck ( which contributes to really stupid  thing #3 later.)

Later we decided to go eat at The Cheesecake Factory at the Galleria mall next door to our hotel.  This was a really huge mall and we had to do a quite a bit of walking to get there.  When we got there I tell Dad "You know Dad that after we eat we have to walk all the way back."  He says " I'm not doing it."  So after we eat a delicious meal at The Cheesecake Factory we took a taxi cab back to our hotel.    I'm 54 and this was my first time in a taxi cab.  Isn't that something?  Well after that we were worn out and we had to rest up for our last day at the quilt show.  Stay tuned next week for more of the quilt show and really stupid thing #3.  

Here are some random pictures from our trip.

Kay's Quilt Adventure - Part Two

Here are some quilts from The International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas.  This first one reminded me of my Grandpa because he had a red 1955 red farm pickup that looked a lot like this one.  I used to drive it when I helped my Dad on the farm.  It is still in the family. 

This one reminded on my niece, Kristy, who as a kid loved Penguins.

This one reminded me of my sister,Sherry, because she likes the 30's fabrics and the feed sack prints.

This one reminded of my Mom and Dad's cat, Fluffy.  This looks just like her.

This one is Rose #4 by Susan Stewart of Pittsburg, Kansas.  Here are some more random pictures.

Kay's Quilt Adventure-Part One.

This year I finally made it to the Internationl Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas.  I've been wanting to for several years now, so when Rockin' Chair Quilts of Bulter, MO announced that they were sponoring a bus trip to the festival I was ready to go.  Fun Way Trips set up the trip with  Gail and Ken as our hosts.  since my sisters could not go, Mom and Dad decided to go with me.  We got on the bus at Bitterweet Quilts south of Joplin, Mo.  I have been there several times and I still go us lost on the way there.  This is my really stupid thing #1.  ( Stay tuned for really stupid # and #3).

We stopped at Log Cabin quilt shop in Bixby , Ok and Needles and threads in Henryetta, Ok.  We picked people up as went, stopping at McKinney, Texas for the night. 

On the bus on the way there we played several games and won several prizes.  One game was fat quarter bingo.  My Dad thought we were playing for real quarters so when he won they gave him real quarters instead of fat quarters.  Gail had  great fun picking on Dad.  When he won a thimble she told him he had to be romantic when he gave it to his wife.  He looked at me and said "Geez".  I think he liked all the attention he was getting.  Here is a picture of some of the prizes we won, this isn't all of it, Mom has more.

We finally got to Houston about 1:00 the next day ( Nov. 1).  They talked about going to Wal-Mart to get snacks but everybody just wanted to get to the quilt show.  Finally we arrived at the quilt show.  ( I thought we would never get there.)  Here is a picture of us at the quilt show.

This was my favorite quilt. It was HUGE!  It was as big as my house!  Not really but I think it was as tall as my house.  It was made by the Bernese Quilters of Berne, Switzerland.  It had the whole town in it.  Churches, houses, Schools.  I was really cool.  My pictures do not do it justice.

I have a lot more pictures to show you, but I'm saving them for part two.  I will try to post on Tuesday.  Thanks to the Pittsburg Public Library computer lab for helping me with post.   

Basket weaving class - October 20, 2012 posted by Lorri

It's always fun to learn a new skill.  My friend Kate discovered a woman who teaches the art of making baskets.  Schedules were checked, and a date was finally agreed upon.  Six of us jumped in the truck, and headed off to Greenwood County for our class.  Since this was a new thing for us to learn, I took some photos to share.

The U shaped piece is the handle. The guitar shaped cutting board is being used as a weight.  This was the first step.  The instructor had all the pieces pre-cut. More or less.

 

Sara, Kate, Rochelle and Anna

Making the base of the basket.

The base of the basket is done.  I don't remember the name of this piece, but we weaved it around the base where the sides folded up.

I thought this was the hardest step.  Weaving the bottom row on the side. If you don't get it woven correctly, you have to do it over.  Ask me how I know this.

I liked this part.  It's actually starting to take shape and you can add different colors.  You have to keep wetting the slats (I can't remember the correct basket term for these) so you can work with them. 

Adding the colors. 

Folding down the pieces.

Anna was kind enough to let us have the basket class in her barn.  This worked out well, as this is kind of a messy project.  You can see the clothes pins that we used to hold things in place.

This was the final step in the assembly process. It reminded me of sewing.  I like the seagrass detail that we added.  The seagrass is the braided rope looking part.

Our finished baskets!  Even though we all used the same pattern, they all are shaped a little different.  The teacher sprayed each basket with a special kind of stain that included tung oil.  I liked how it looked after she sprayed it.  Kind of reminds me of tea dyed muslin.  Fortunately Kate had the foresight to have a toolbox on the back of the truck to store our baskets, or we might have gotten quite the varnish-buzz with six of the baskets in the cab for the two hour trip home.

My basket at home.  We were all really pleased with how our baskets turned out.  I believe that Kate is looking at the possibility of seeing if a basket making class could be scheduled here in Cowley County.  

 

 

Kay's doll quilts October 16, 2012

Kay's doll quilts

The  Little Balkans quilt guild is making doll quilts to be given to the Salvation Army.  They will be giving them away at Christmas with a doll to local children.  The quilts size can vary because there are many different size dolls.  I made mine from 18" square to 24" square.  I also made a rectangular one.  I tried to make them in girlie colors, though a few red, white, and blue ones got made too.  They were all made from leftover blocks from other projects.  I used leftover blocks from Kendall's, Vada's and Charlotte's baby quilts.  I machine quilted them with simple straight line quilting.   They were fun to make  and so far I have made 8 doll quilts.  They are quick to make and a lot of fun too.  I am working on the ninth one now.  I have LOTS more spare blocks so I will probably be making more!     

Sherry's pinterest trials

Since Lorri posted her pinterest projects, I thought I'd post a couple of mine.  I have pinned LOTS, but only got a couple actually done.  I have every intention of trying most of them someday, some I posted as inspiration or just because I really like them.  There are such talented, inspired and a few crazy people out there. 

This is one of my first projects from pinterest, didn't have a pattern with it, just some vague instructions.  So I drafted my own pattern, used some recycled wool fabric from wool suit coats from the thrift store and "Viola!"  I have made 5 of them so far, one out of a heavy dotted canvas cloth.  I've sold 4 of them so far.  And won Grand Champion in the Recyling division at two county fairs. 

Pinterest Favorites and Foibles (Posted by Lorri)

Like many people (mainly women kind of people), I do like to cruise around on Pinterest.  My daughter Kristy posted her favorites and duds on her blog, and challenged others to do the same.
So, here goes.

This is one of my favorites.  I bought the extra long golf tees, to keep my spools of thread and bobbins together.

This one is handy also.  It is a dish drainer from the dollar store, with all my tupperware lids organized together.

This is "Boatmeal".  Baked oatmeal.  This has pumpkin in it, and I like pumpkin so I thought I'd try it.  It was okay.  Just okay.  And boring.  I added walnuts and a bunch of generic splenda.  It smelled really good, but not worth the effort.

 

 Made this baby quilt after seeing a photo on Pinterest.  I thought this turned out pretty cute.  Pretty simple to make.  I'd do this one again.

I made this to hang in my laundry closet.  I like sunflowers, so I used sunflower scrapbook paper and mod podge.  The clothes pins have brown polka dotted scrapbook paper on them.

I hang my microfiber cleaning cloths on them to dry.  Since you are not supposed to dry them with fabric softener, I air dry them on the rack.

This is just the side view.

This is the same scrapbook paper I used on the above laundry rack.  This is an outlet cover in my laundry closet.  I was experimenting on this after seeing it on pinterest.  This was easy.  One lesson I learned - cut the X  for the switch with your exacto knife before you apply the mod podge.  I didn't and the paper tore.  Yep, I'll do this one again.

There are some nice tutorials on Pinterest about using mod podge.  I couldn't find what I wanted for my fall fireplace decorations, so I made the give thanks plaque.  The wood plaque came from the hobby store, scrapbook paper for the background and letters (I already owned the letter stencils), and, of course, mod podge.

A closer look.  Easy and fun. And cheaper than buying it ready made.  Also satisfied my inner 4-Her.

I read on one post that you should spray your scrapbook paper with sealer before your use the mod podge.  Well, I couldn't find my sealer so I forged ahead.  If you look closely, you can see a wrinkle in the middle of the paper.  Lesson learned.  I still like how it turned out.

This is GENIUS!  I wish I had known this years ago; sure would have save me some grief. 

 This is Fruit Salad with honey lime dressing.  We eat a lot of fruit at our house.  I recently tried this when  I was taking this to crap night at a friends house.  It was pretty subtle flavoring - I'd add more lime juice next time.  It kept the apples from turning brown.   I may try this again.

Zucchini boats.  Yummy!  I'd do this one again.

I thought this one was interesting.  I couldn't gauge how much dressing to put in the bottom of the jar, so I put it in a separate container.  I plan on doing this one again.  I think this would be good for me when I have some leftover salad ingredients, to go ahead and put it in the jar to be ready to take to work.  Then maybe I wouldn't be throwing out slimy leftover lettuce.

I made this baby quilt for Charlotte after Kelli found the photo on a blog. I enjoyed doing the machine applique and machine quilting.

I have a few more to post, but need to take pictures of them.  If you need more details, you'll have to go to my boards on Pinterest.

Happy pinning!