Playing in Poughkeepsie!

I arrived in Poughkeepsie, NY Wednesday afternoon! It wasn’t that far of a drive from Trumbull, CT—and I enjoyed the scenery immensely! I did arrive to my hotel a bit too early for housekeeping to have my room ready, so a quick check on TomTom directed me to the nearest shopping mall. I figured I could get some lunch and walk the mall to stretch my legs.

In other words ----WELCOME to AMERICA---Where all malls are the same, with the same stores in nearly the same layout! However, since it was raining, it was the perfect place to be, and I walked for a bit over an hour…window shopping and listening to my ipod as I went!

At one end of the mall were these lovely kiddie carts:

It’s been a long time since my children were small enough to ride in such strollers----I don’t think I EVER paid money to rent a stroller, it was bring your own, or don’t go! As I walked past though, something caught my eye as funny:

Can you see what this says? “DO NOT PUT CHILD IN BAG?!?” Things that make you go HUH!!!!!!?????? First off….before there even WAS this warning on the stroller, there had to be some crazy mother somewhere who DID put her child in that bag, to even warrant such a warning! What kind of mothers ARE these!? I hope I never find out…but then on second thought, I can imagine a mother with a crying child who is throwing a baby breakdown from WANTING to ride in the bag! Isn’t that the way it goes? They always want what they can’t have.

Also through the mall hung signs that the strollers were not allowed on the escalators. I don’t even want to think of the incidents that made THOSE signs a necessity!

Today’s Nine Patch Split/Bricks in the Barnyard workshop went well! What a great group of ladies….they sewed and sewed and sewed some more. One of the students even went to WORK at 5am, so she could leave at 9am…and only have to consider it a “half-day” away from her job. We Quilters are a tough bunch, and we will do what we have to to make the best use of our “Mental Health” Days!

This class has two parts ---the blocks, which focus on the use of bricks, squares, and half square triangles using the easy angle ruler---and the braid border! The border can be built as leaders & enders while the blocks are in progress and it’s a double win!

These photos show a lot of progress in both areas!

		Nine Patch Split-- Poughkeepsie, NY 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The rain did decide to clear up, and the day dawned bright with sunshine—which left us a couple of hours between the workshop and dinner to go do some exploring!

Donna was my tour guide, and she drove me to the Walkway bridge that spans the Hudson river!

I love this description written by Ian Frazier:

February 28, 2011

Go to Poughkeepsie. By train is probably best. Get off at the station, look up. In one direction is the Mid-Hudson Bridge, a suspension bridge with cars and trucks on it. Not that bridge, the other bridge - look in the opposite direction, north, two hundred and twelve feet in the air. The other bridge is the former Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge, which was the longest cantilevered and truss-span bridge in the world when it was completed, in 1888. In its life, this bridge has been "the only" or "the most" in several categories. Right now, according to Walkway Over the Hudson, the nonprofit organization that recently restored it, it is the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world.

This was my first view of the bridge…..it pretty much looks like a sidewalk….with tall railings. Not scary to walk at all!

But the views are spectacular!

This is the view toward the south, the mid Hudson bridge….it was such a lovely afternoon!

My view of Poughkeepsie from the bridge, around the 1/2 way mark. You can’t see it in this picture, but we watched some sculling boats down below…..there were some on either side of the bridge in the water!

Our dinner also gave us a view of the mid Hudson bridge from the patio area—I really enjoyed the views!

This is the view southward from the restaurant patio……I can see why the mighty Hudson has played such an important part in history here!

I’m off to Kingston NY this morning. My time in NY is winding down, and I’ve really had a great time spending the days and evenings well in the care of friendly quilters!

It’s Arriving!

At my Wallingford CT Workshop a few days ago, Tracey brought in her “Hot out of the mail box” issue of Quiltmaker Magazine!

It’s as surprising to me as it is to you which block turns out in which issue of Quiltmaker…I sew enough blocks for a full year at one time, and send in the batch, and it is up to the design girls there to decide which block goes in which issue! When I saw this one in the May/June issue, it was like revisiting a fun friend---I remembered instantly how much I want to make this into a full sized quilt!

Turns out that the Addicted to Scraps block this month is PERFECT for using a lot of odds and ends, and the scraps are flying! Doesn’t this block just SHOUT spring to you? I know it does to me.

What I love about this block is how graphic it is – SEW SIMPLE—But it really packs a lot of motion! It’s a two bell block for me because it used strips in 2 different sizes, both stuff from the 1.5” bin, and the 2” bin as well.

I used the companion angle ruler to cut my quarter square triangles for the hour glass blocks from 2” strips…I didn’t have to cut into yardage or FQ’s at all for this block! Just pull strips and go!

This graphic is small, but it shows you what happens when you put the blocks side by side….I was thinking you could even add another sashing (1.5” cut would be great) and some cornerstones for punch, and there would be ZERO matching of seams other than those sashings to cornerstones as you put the rows together.

The whole May/June issue is great, and you won’t want to miss out on it….I posted earlier about the king sized Blue/White quilt I have in there…..of course now I’m thinking how pretty it would be in Red/White since I’ve been drooling over all the Red/White quilts from the show in NYC a couple weeks ago.

Soon, Very soon --- We’ll have the 100 Blocks by 100 designers, Vol 3 being released! You’ll want to stay tuned for that too, because I’ll be participating in the blog hop, and hosting a give away of that delicious issue, soon to hit the news stands!

Scrappy Mountains in Trumbull!

Yesterday was the Scrappy Mountain Majesties workshop in Trumbull! I was really glad they chose this for a workshop---When trying to get stash and scraps under control, it is sometimes daunting to a new scrapper to tell them to bring a large variety of fabrics cut into 2” strips, or 2.5” squares and 2.5” X 4.5” bricks…if you haven’t already started your own Scrap User’s System….it can be a HUGE undertaking to start cutting for a class that uses smaller pre-cut measurements and feel like you have the variety that an interesting scrap quilt requires. I understand this…so where is a good place to start?

With BIGGER pieces! Scrappy Mountain Majesties uses 8.5” squares that can be easily cut down from a collection of Fat Quarter cuts you have always wanted to use in “Something”---and after cutting some squares from the Fat Quarter, it is then easy to take the left-overs and start slicing them into the strip sizes that you want to use in your own Scrap User’s System. You can cut for a project for the workshop --- be ready fairly quickly---and have the beginnings of a good variety of strips and units in usable sizes as you continue to cut down the left-overs as you make them.

This is a question I get asked again and again and again….”Where do you suggest I start?! There is so much! There are boxes, and bins and it is too much to deal with---“

Start with a project you have always wanted to make….cut for it from your scraps…and as you clean up the left overs from that project…slice the remaining fabrics down. Make sure that NOTHING you take OUT of the “scrap box” gets puts back IN that “scrap box” again. We are going FORWARD, not BACKWARD! With the leftovers from this project being purposed into good sizes, they will be ready accessible for future quilts.

From then on, get into the habit of taking care of your leftovers just as you would take care of cleaning up dishes after a meal.

You can make your own rules as you go along….for instance, you might decide that anything bigger than 6.5”, or half the size of a Fat Quarter may remain whole, and be folded in and stored with the Fat Quarters by color, or style or what-have-you. But if that left over piece is smaller than that 6.5”…it gets sliced into sizes and filed away into the strip bins. Do what works for you! Once you have various sizes of strips, and a good variety of them, you will want to always be on the lookout for quilt designs that use the sizes of strips you have ready at hand.

It was a happy moment yesterday morning when I asked the group for a show of hands—who here this morning is sewing from at least 75% stash fabric?!? Lots of hands went up, and many also yelled that they were 100% stash users for this class. This makes me feel so happy!

		Scrappy Mountain Majesties, Trumbull CT 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

And of course, I had to pose with the Millenium Fabric that found it’s way home with me after the scrap feeding frenzy the other day!

Somehow I never ended up with THIS one in my stash….let’s just say….that I’m going to have to cut this one REALLY SMALL if it is going to work in any future quilts! LOL!!!!! At this point, 3/4” strings are looking REALLY GOOD!

There has been binding activity happening in the evenings. Last night I finished binding the sampler quilt that has the Japanese fabrics on the back. I've got one side bound on the Scrappy Bargello that is also going to Japan. We keep plugging away! And they should be ready to mail off when I head back home.

I’m on my way to Poughkeepsie, NY! I’m visiting with the First Dutchess Quilters for a guild meeting on Wednesday night, and a Nine Patch Split workshop on Thursday! Come on Spring, send some warmer temps our way!