Mystery Women....

Did you ever notice how an ordinary day can become the extraordinary simply because someone unexpected has walked through?

I've had a couple of these days, just since being home!

Imagine if you will, my returning from weeks on the road to a HUGE pile of mail, including some boxes.....I could tell ONE of the boxes contained the long awaited book I'd been patiently anticipating. "An Echo in the Bone" By Diana Gabaldon was in the first box.


In the second box? It was LARGE, and I couldn't for the life of me imagine what it was. I opened it up, and INSTANTLY was thrown back to the early 1990s as I unwrapped some shop samples for some stuffed dolls that I had designed close to 17 years ago. These were some designs that were picked up by the Butterick Pattern Co back then, and I had specially made the samples for a shop owner in my town. We moved away and I forgot about them. She closed her shop, they went into storage....and evidently from the letter she sent, they had unearthed themselves as she cleared out storage, and she decided to send them back to me! I look at these very dated 1990s VIP prints and remember them fondly. Those were fun days, two small children under foot, designing my heart out, playing with fabric then, as I am now.

Instead of turning my nose up at these old cutesy fabrics, I am thinking back to where I was in my life then, awed at the memories these dolls hold, going back and forth in my memory to the ages of my sons at the time, the places we lived, what we looked like, and the young men they have become since. It can't possibly be that these dolls are THAT old, can it? But they are. And here I am...many years older, and not so wiser. :c)

I even know for a fact, that if I were to dig in my boxes of leader/ender squares...I might just find some of these scraps still remaining, bringing memories with them every time I sew them into something.

Carleen, in Idaho, thanks for sending the memories back to me...you are Mystery Woman #1 in this story!

Mystery Woman #2: Susan Davidson!!

The third box I opened yesterday contained this lovely old cutter quilt! It's a periwinkle star pattern, made probably in the 1930's-1940's era. You can tell by the prints in the stars themselves, and the orange fabric is that lovely melon color, not a cheddar of 19th century quilts. It is all hand pieced and hand quilted, and has been loved to shreds. I love utility quilts. I think I've written about that many times. I'd much rather adopt a well loved falling apart quilt that has had a life, and therefore a multitude of memories lived with it, than any pristine thing that has been put away and never used or washed. Susan sent this one to me completely out of the blue! I am gobsmacked, to say the least...She said it's just been living in a closet at her house, not getting the attention or appreciation it deserves. She also knows I love orange. Susan, thank you so MUCH for this little lovely! I'm going to display it as is, in all its orange glory!

Mystery Woman #3?

Dear Martina, I don't even know your last name! I was coming out of the post office at Hane's Mall running to my car in the rain, and there you were...in your dress slacks and high heeled shoes, looking frustrated! You couldn't find your car...you were lost and at your wit's end!

I beckoned you into my car, and told you that I would help drive you around to find your car. (I told you I was NOT an Axe Murderer!) I know the mall entrances all look the same, and we drove around and laughed and laughed, even as strangers, about how our memories go south with gravity the same way our body parts do into our late 40s!

It took a bit of talking and figuring, but we finally decided to go to the road and drive back IN to the mall area so you could remember which entrance you parked at. That did the trick and in a few minutes you were back at your car with a smile on your face, and on your way back to your office. I never got your last name.

You wanted to thank me, but I need to thank YOU for getting me out of my blue funk today. Some people pass through our lives quickly, forever leaving their footprints on our hearts. I'll never forget your smile of relief when we found your car, still laughing. I'm sure you will have fun repeating this story to others too.

Mystery Woman #4:
You would be the woman who pieced this lovely top with fabrics going from 1910 all the way through the 1930s. I found this top in a lovely little mall off the beaten path in West Virginia on my way back home from Michigan. I wonder about who you were and what your life was like. I wonder who's clothes these scraps came from, because there are many different ones, both masculine and feminine in this quilt. You'd been sewing for decades, and as I think about your variety, I think of the variety that I have in my scraps too, some dating back into the 1970s and 1980s.....my life in fabric.


I wonder why this quilt never got to the quilting or tying stage. It is machine pieced, and I love the contradiction between the black mourning prints, and the bright splashy polka-dots. Were these representative of different times in your own life? I love log cabin quilts, and this Straight Furrows setting is a favorite of mine. I wonder if you made and played with other log cabin layouts too. You probably never gave a second thought to where this top might end up while you were making it, and it makes me wonder about MY OWN UFOs. Geeesh, I hope they don't end up in an antique mall somewhere! But if they do...maybe I will become someone else's Mystery Woman....

As you can SEE....Oscar was quite perturbed that I was disturbing his nap to take pictures!

Triangles on Parade...

Good morning from Parkersburg, WV!! I drove 10 hours yesterday and this is as far as I could go, no farther. I'm still about 6+ hours from home yet. Would you believe that it was SNOWING when I left Michigan at 8am yesterday morning?!? Oh, get me SOUTH..and FAST!!

I got the triangles around all my blocks! It's fun to have new excitement for such an old UFO. I'm glad I listened to my own heart about taking the quilt apart and doing something better with it. Really I am. It didn't take too long to disasseble, new seam ripper, foot up on ice...I was a captive audience anyway, so they came apart before I hit the road, and the first thing I did when I got to the retreat was to square them all up again. Amazing how after 10 years some techniques are "refined" for lack of a better word too!

Hopefully you can see that I alternated red/double pink with green in the sashings, and then for spark threw in a few extra cheddar triangles here and there, just scattered with no rhyme or reason for where they landed, other than the pinwheels in the cornerstones. There are also red/green recycled fabrics in here! I need to thank Kathie for sending me a pic of an inspiration quilt for this idea.....it was just when I needed when I saw it! The pinwheel cornerstones are my own addition to bring the cheddar into the sashings as well.

The consensus of everyone was to add 4 big red berries to every block...it just adds so much, so in some of these pics you will see 4 circles placed where they are going to be. Nothing is sewn down yet, as I have fabric I want to use at home, and I was happy just plugging away on my triangles.

I KNOW I never would have tackled this at home..that's why it stayed a UFO for so long.

We brainstormed on borders, and yes, I could do more, but Gwen said that she thought it didn't NEED a border..just a binding. And maybe a muslin one at that, so the triangles just float to the end of the quilt without a dark binding to stop them. Okay. Works for me! I don't think I've ever done a muslin binding, because I was always worried about it getting dirty first (ever the mom, right?!) But yes, I think it will be a good antique finish for this quilt. Whenever it is I get to the binding. It might take me another 10 years to actually get that far!

My crazy brain is also considering doing some reverse applique on the leaves, inserting that detail "slit" for lack of a better term but again...do I want to add more?? I can? But? Will decide as I go. I just really love that detail on quilts I see where they have inset that long oval, or curved 'S' leaf detail. And since these leaves already have the background trimmed away underneath, it would be easy to do. Insane. I know.


As to the quilting? So far the plan is to quilt it in all over hanging diamonds across everything, even the applique. The reason? I followed someone ELSE's applique method and trimmed the extra layers out from behind the applique pieces. This will make for a quilt that is not going to hold up to a lot of stress unless the quilting crosses the seam lines. I probably won't applique this way again, but heck, what did I know at the time? As I look forward 100 years or more, and back at the antiques that have come through my hands, the backing and extra layers were NOT trimmed away, and only those that were quilted over the seam lines and quilted very close together, are the ones where the applique is still remaining.

Here is our star photographer! It was fun traveling around with Lucy and watching her work her big camera! I've got some other pics from the reteat, but Lucy took the best ones. Of course I didn't get any of MYSELF!! I was too busy shooting other people's projects, etc...I'll upload more over the next few days. I'll be home until I leave for Paris on the 22nd!

Mess & Madness (of the best kind!)

Hi all!

I am here at Beaver Island Retreat with Isabeau, Joes and Lucy...and just a few minutes to post some glimpses of what is going on here!

I feel like I haven't gotten that far, but it is worth it..because without being here I never would have considered piecing 1400 1/2 square triangle units that finish at 1"!!! I am to the point of starting to sew sashings and cornerstones using the red,double pink, green, and cheddar 1/2 square triangle squares. I'm finally EXCITED
about a UFO that has hung on untouched for 10 years (or maybe a bit more? This was from my Idaho days.)


There will be more applique added to my blocks to bring some more character to them. Red berries are a must...but I am going to piece these insane sashings and then attach them to 2 sides of each block with a cornerstone unit, still leaving them portable so I can do the berries on the go over the next little while. It will be a worthwhile project, and it is great to be motivated on it again.

I have had so much fun meeting the ladies here, from all over...and there are wonderful connections with some people who I've only met through email or through blogland, and here we are in person. If you ever have a chance to take a Gwen Marston retreat, you really need to put it on your bucket list. But put it at the TOP of your bucket list, not at the end..life goes to quickly!

The weather has been rainy and cold and windy the past few days, but even that has made it a wonderful atmosphere for staying in and quilting with friends. The leaves are turning...SO beautiful. Lucy and I drove around the other day hitting a few quilt shops, and taking pictures of the scenery. It is so fun to see America through her eyes. We found THREE one room school houses, scattered all over the county, just while out on our jaunt. We weren't looking for them, but what a great photo opportunity! I hope she will post pictures soon.


The sun is shining today, I can feel it warm on my back through the beautiful windows that look out to the lake....still windy, still cold, but I'm happy has a cat sitting here, getting ready to sew those 1400 triangles into something fabulous :c)

Stay tuned...I'll send more when I can!

Just A Quicky!

Oh it's raining again!! But I'm trying to be positive here...it's perfect weathr for staying in and quilting the day away, right?

Yesterday we had a wonderful time learning to use the EZ Angle Rulers and the Tri Recs Rulers during a Cathedral Stars Workshop. It's so fun for me to hear ladies say that they would NEVER have been able to do those long skinny triangle star points without these rulers, they'd always been afraid to try before. Me too. Before these rulers came around I was daunted by the simple fact that the seam allowance would make that long skinny triangle SO long that it was hard to tell where to place your pieces so they turned out right. What a fun day!

I was done by 4 so I had a fun evening with Janice, her sister, her husband, and a couple other guild friends from my last trip up here..we all met at "On Tap" for some yummy dinner. Living in the South there are some delicacies that we just don't come across. Have you ever had Sauerkraut Balls? Seriously...very tasty!

This morning I was able to sew..as well as last night. And now I'm off to a quilt show before heading to Warren for tonight's guild meeting!

This pic is of Janice's cat Ryan. Isn't he a sweetie? He has a motor to match....

Tomorrow is a Scrappy Mountain Majesties workshop....and then I'm headed North to Michigan..counting down the days to play time with Lucy!!

Autumn Means Apples!

Here are a couple pics I took at Brandt's Apple Orchard outside of Ashtabula OH on Sunday!

It was a beautiful day, typical of fall....and since we left there it has gotten colder and colder and rained and rained! I'm glad I packed some warm clothes, but if I run out, I might need to go....SHOPPING! OH NO!!

The atmosphere here was just wonderful. There was a group of blue grass players, apple cider being pressed, the smell of goodies cooking in the bakery....we HAD to try the apple donuts! People came out in droves to enjoy the weather, the music, the food and the fun...

Actually I'm hoping that once Joes, Isabeau and Lucy get here, we'll ALL do some shopping. It's fun to watch foreigners shop through what we take for granted :c)

Yesterday was a FULL day! I met with the Canton Ohio Quilt Guild for a Boxy Stars Workshop, and had a trunkshow and lecture for the guild following that at 7pm.

I'm off again this morning to teach Cathedral Stars to the KISS guild in Copley!

Tomorrow? I heard rumor of a quilt show not too far away, and since I don't have another guild meeting until tomorrow night, I think that might be on the menu!

Hello, Gracie :c)

I think my internet connection is a bit faster here, so I'm going to upload some photos!

This is Gracie! She is 12 weeks old and already a Quilt Terrorist! She is enamored with cone thread coming off the spool and through the holder....she loves to nestle herself into any project that lays on the machine table!

Anything that moves, she will attack it full force. I'm sorry to say we had to take cute little Gracie and put her in "TIME OUT" outside the sewing room! Poor thing. She really acted pitiful when we'd let her in again, and she'd be good for about 5 minutes until all mayhem let loose all over again. I forgot how fun it is to have baby kittens around!

After my lecture last night, I drove a bit over an hour west toward Akron where I will be for the next few days. This morning I've got a lecture/trunkshow followed by a half day Boxy Stars workshop which is always fun. It's such a great pattern for using up 2.5" strips, and the fun for me is seeing what fabrics the ladies decide to pull together. Always always I am encouraged by quilters who pulled everything they need from their stashes without having to buy a single thing to make this quilt.

After cleaning out a closet last week, I've recommitted myself to NO BUY if at all possible. That goes for the recycled shirt department too!

I better run and go get ready, I have to head out in about 20 minutes.

Have a super day!

Oh! Hi! OH!!!!

Well here I am in Ohio, with a very slow connection on my wireless card, so I hope that I have enough juice to upload a couple pics!

I'm happy to say that I am now "weight bearing" on my gimpy leg, and you wouldn't believe the colors my foot and ankle have turned! The whole episode of the fall was so stupid, but it has taught me to really appreciate being active. And also to appreciate (not fight) the time to slow down when you have to.

I was met in Hermitage, PA by a group of ladies who took charge at unloading my car, and helping me set up and tear down for my lecture and trunkshow on Thursday night. We had a great time!

Friday, we had a Star Struck workshop, and there were ladies in charge of making sure I iced my foot/ankle down and kept it elevated as much as possible..of course, I still did what I could to disobey them. What a fun time we had!

Saturday morning I drove to Ashtabula, OH where I was met by a long time email friend, Holly, whom I had never met in person before. Boy is that fun. I try to think of what my life was like before internet, and I really LOVE how connections have blossomed thanks to this medium, enriching all of our lives so abundantly. I don't think I could ever go back to being "unconnected". Could you?

Holly lead the way to where the Boxy Stars workshop was being held for the Ashtabula guild, and we had a great time....Kat brought me lunch, and set me down with an ice pack too! I've been staying with Kat since. Yesterday (Sunday) Was a day off, and we spent that sewing....same with today. There is a lecture/trunkshow tonight, but we can sew all day long up until that point. Weeeee!

I am finally able to get a shoe on my foot, and that has helped with some stability (and arch support) as well.

Kathy has a new member of her family...a 12 week old kitten named Gracie. She is quite the spitfire!! In fact as I type this I am sitting on the couch, and Gracie is up behind me playing with my hair...anything not nailed down is a cat toy, and I think they should rename her KILLER!

We even had to ban her from the sewing room because she kept attacking my thread as it came off the cone and up the thread holder...*LOL* She is just too cute to want to put in time out, but we did!

I took some really cute pics, but blogger is not cooperating with my connection to upload them, so I'll have to do that at another time. Right now....I'm off to go sew!!

Ouch!!

I had an accident this morning.

Or more like...I was extremely ungraceful and uncoordinated this morning, and turned my ankle while doing boot-camp type drills over a row of bosu balls during my training session at the gym. I rolled that right ankle, and went down to the floor.

The first thought to my mind was.....How am I going to drive to PA tomorrow with an un-useable right foot??

I sat at the minor emergency place for quite a while...foot elevated, ice pack on...x rays taken, doctor consult. Diagonsis? Not broke, but severely sprained and I am to be non-weight bearing on it for 4 days. I've got a lace up ankle support brace and crutches!

I'm still headed to PA in the morning. I emailed ahead and let everyone on this 5 guild route know that I'm still coming, the show will go on, I'm just going to need extra help bringing everything in and packing it back into my car when I'm done.

And I have to laugh...I was emailing Lucy from my phone, and just like a QUILTER she said "Oh NO, Bonnie!" That's your SEWING foot!" *LOL* And here I was worried about it being my DRIVING foot! :cD

I think the sewing foot will be okay...and I've got hand work to do if it gets sore driving the machine. :c) And thank heavens for cars with cruise control!!

My car is packed thanks to the help of DS Jeff. All that's left is my suitcase, and I'll be ready to head out in the morning. I might be walking slow, but they can't stop me!

Heading Out....

Hello Quilters!

I haven't posted anything for a few days, been crazy crazy over here. I'm heading out again on Thursday, hitting Clark, PA for a couple days, and moving back into Ohio where I'll be visiting Ashtabula, Copley, Canton, and Warren!

I've got good friends in Ashtabula, and in the Akron Area, so it's going to be a reunion of sorts! FUN!

I've spent the last few days kitting up quilts from recycled fabrics for the next Scraps & Shirttails book...and I swear. I have GOT to be done buying clothing for quilts! Even after kitting these up, I feel like I haven't made a dent. It's a good thing I'm mad for plaid and the feel of utility scrap quilts. I'm going to be making them for a long long time!

Projects coming with me: In this bag...20 blocks inspired by the fun ironing board cover I picked up earlier this summer at the antique mall between Indiana and Ohio! I've even pieced the sashings and the pinwheel cornerstones. This just needs to be set together. I'll deal with borders once I get the top done. I'm thinking a sawtooth border thing to take the triangles to the outside edge of the quilt. I can never tell ahead of time what I want to do. And I'll probably deal with the borders when I get back home.

In this bag: Would you believe it is 156 blocks in shades of green/red/raspberry?! I spent many hours kitting this, but that's what Lifetime Movie Network is good for! Now I can just sit and sew these...it's going to be great.

In this bag: 252 2.5" X 19" strips for another quilt...all colors and values. I really DO like the "kitchen sink" variety of scrap quilt the best...it gives me so much to look at when putting colors together!

My ever bursting bag of recycled fabric strings! I'm working on some string blocks to go with some other blocks that I'm doing with 1.5" leader/ender squares also out of recycled fabrics and muslin. Of course, kitting up the other two quilts gave me even MORE strings to shove into this bag. A project for every bit of every fabric!

I really have learned that when sewing on the road....I get MORE sewing time in if I can kit up my projects ahead of time. With all the hours it took to cut these up, I have given myself that many more hours of real sewing time while on the road! It's like doubling the retreat time if you can do all the cutting ahead.

When I leave Ohio, I'll be heading up to Michigan to meet up with Lucy, Isabeau and Joes who are coming over from The Netherlands for Gwen Marston's retreat with me!! WHoowohoooo! We've had this planned for about a year, and I can't believe it is finally here. My car will be packed with not only my trunkshow stuff, but FOUR sewing machines so they each have something to sew with while at the retreat! My car has 3 feather weights, and I'm not sure if I am bringing Shotgun the Bernina or the Singer 301 I bought in June as my own machine. I'm thinking about it! What's a girl to do with too many machines? :cD


The theme for the retreat this year is applique combined with piecing. Not wanting to start a new UFO, I think it's time I do something with an old one. This is an Oak Leaf and Reel I started when I lived in IDAHO believe it or not...so that is what...10 years ago? Too much muslin, too many of the same fabrics. All the blocks are THE SAME. Yes, this is NOT a scrap quilt. I think I wanted muslin because I wanted the hand quilting to show...and it will when I get to it, but right now...BORING SNORING is more how I feel about it. So here is my applique part.

The question is....do I want to do some really amazing pieced border on it?(I've got my pieced borders book with me for design inspiration) or do I want to take the blocks apart, insert a really cool pieced sashing, put it back together and THEN border it? I need some life added to this thing. Feel free to send me suggestions! I've even got 3 extra blocks that didn't make it into this on-point layout. I think I was originally going to set them straight. So...I could add pieced sashing and reset them straight again! PS. The blocks finish at 16". I've got plenty of the red/chedder/muslin fabrics. I don't have any more of that same green, but I've pulled lots similar to it. We'll see what I come home with, aye?

Machines...IN THE MAIL!!!

It's one thing when boxes of fabric show up on my doorstep and I do the happy dance of joy either finding ways to use it in charity quilts, or donate it to organizations in need!

But today....a box with fabric, cotton shirts, thread....and a VINTAGE SINGER arrived on my doorstep!!

Thank you so much Ila! You didn't include your email address, so I'm hoping you see my post here.

This machine is amazing. It looks like it was either a treadle that was motorized, or a very early motorized machine...it still has the shuttle bobbin! The shuttle is still there!

I did some research on the singer website. Her serial number is G8916262. This makes her a model #128 Singer, born on Aug 1, 1921. She was manufactured at the Elizabethport factory, in Elizabeth, NJ.

I can tell her decal work was gorgeous at one time! The fact that most of it is worn off is a sign of a good long life of hard use to me, and I love this about old machines. I would rather see a machine with pin scratches and scraped off decals, than one in mint condition any day because they have had a LIFE! They meant something to someone, just as my machines mean something to me. The more we use them, the more they have a place in our lives. Some machine that sat in a closet un-used just does not have a story, does it?

Thank you so much for trusting me with her, Ila! I am naming her after you :cD