Frankenstorm and Me

Well, after several days of preparing for the worst, thankfully my neck o' the woods did not receive terrible weather like those on the East coast. Yes, we had wind and quite a bit of rain, but no serious problems. Last night I worked on hand-sewing bindings and hanging sleeves while watching some reruns on Dish, just waiting for the electricity to go out. It didn't though, thank goodness. I really feel for those who were hit hard. We had some small branches down and this morning we had a disoriented ring necked pheasant hanging out in the yard, but beyond that we weathered the storm remarkably well. I didn't make it to Quilt Market in Houston this year, but my freidn Cathey did with her boss at the quilt shop where she works. They attempted to fly home yesterday from Houston, but were rerouted to Dallas. Hopefully, they'll be home tomorrow. Can't wait for her to get home so I can find out all about the "new" stuff she saw at Market. If all goes well, I'll be in Houston next year (with Leslie, my travel buddy and budding designer) to debut my new quilt book.

NEWEST ORPHAN ADDED TO MY COLLECTION

I had a lovely surprise when I went to work at the library on Saturday. There was a plastic bag on my desk with a completed grandmother's flower garden quilt top folded up inside. The notes said that it was from a member of the Women's CLub that meets at the library and that it had belonged to her mother, and, no she didn't want it back. So, another orphan is added to my orphanage.

Today I decided to give the top a preliminary wash so that I could see what I was dsealing with. Besides it was a nice day to hang it outside to dry, breezy and overcast. I washed it in the washer on the gentle cycle, allowing it to soak for a couple hours, using Quiltwash with some vintagev soak thrown in for good measure. It came out much much cleaner, but now I could see the remaining brown age stains as well as the frayed seams and separated seams. Well, so the work begins. I will need to let it soak in either Restoration or Vintage Soak for a while to see if I can rid the top of the brown stains. Then of course I will need to repair the split seams. Luckily the fabrics all seam to be in good condition, no holes or tears. Stay tuned to find out how this top turns out.

The Newest Addition to My Quilt Dungeon (err, Studio)

After two years of begging, my Dad has finally made me one of those big ironing board tops that fit over your existing ironing board. Of course, he designed his own version and calles it "The Big Topper." It is big, too -- a whopping 24" x 60", several inches bigger than the ones available commercially. I even put it on a different ironing board -- a charming vintage wooden one from perhaps the 1920's with great orangey-red original paint. I love it and it's so sturdy I think I could tap dance on it! Of course, my Dad added a few special safety features (he knows me too well, I guess).

He liked making "the Big Topper" so much that he's now designing a "Lil Topper" as a portable board for me to take to class or wherever. He's very excited and has decided that he wants to make more boards and offer them for sale (locally right now, because the shipping would be insane). Already, my "Big Topper" board has really been a life saver! I am currently working on the HUGE bed-sized sampler quilt for my upcoming book. Thank goodness there's only one giant quilt in the book. I've been working on it for about three weeks. Yesterday, I actually assembled the center of the quilt, but it seems like I will never get it done. I need to get it done, of course, so that it can go to my friend and long arm quilter extraordinaire, Gaynel, so that she can work her magic on my humble quilt. Sadly, I probably won't get back to it until next week. Sigh..... Anyway, the book is coming along. I have nine quilts completed (mostly, anyway) and I'm working on the giant quilt right now. Then five to go. Hopefully this week end I will be able to get two more tops done and the final three quilts are being put together by my dear friends Cathey, Leslie, and Mary Lee, who also pieced quilts for my first book, Orphan Block Quilts. I've also begun writing instructions too. Let me tell you that writing instructions isn't easy. I've been used to doing them in a certain way for the magazine pieces that I design, which are mostly geared towards the beginner, and now I'm trying to write instructions for the intermediate quilter. Ugh. How much is too much ..... or not enough? Right now, I don't have answers for this so I'm mostly experimenting right now. But, things will all be fine. (So I keep telling myself, anyway.) Recently, my three friends Cathey, Leslie, and Mary Lee, and I went on our annual quilt pilgrimage to Chautauqua Institute in New York for the Quilting Around Chautauqua Weekend. The event begins on Friday, but we start our pilgrimage on Wednesday........ It was a great five days, although it is always way too short. I had the privilege of meeting Mary Fons (who was one of the speakers along with her mother). I really enjoyed her lecture. She was articulate, fun, and energetic. Have you checked out her new magazine called Quilty yet? Next year it will be going to 6 issues. I'm personally looking forward to that because I'd like to submit some of my work for consideration........ We'll see. This coming week end (as in two days from now) I am going to Quilt Camp for the first time in three years. It should be fun. Both Cathey and Leslie will be there too. It starts at 2 PM Friday and goes to 2 PM Sunday. As I think of what to pack, clothes are the easiest -- I only need three pairs of jammies! Just think -- sewing, eating, laughing, perhaps a little sleeping -- AND THEN REPEAT! What am I waiting for -- Quilt Camp here I come!

What a Relief!

Whew! The other night I finally had the opportunity to talk to my editor for quite a while. It's amazing how much better I felt after our discussion. I realized that I am actually doing okay with my progress and that everything is going to be just fine. We even changed several of the projects into smaller pieces which of course makes my job a little bit easier. It's amazing how not knowing things has a tendency to make me freak out and expect worst-case scenarios. Perhaps this is just human nature, who knows? I am glad to say that at least now I know what I have to do and how long I have to do it in. On a different note, I am so proud to say that my niece, Meghan, is officially a freshman at Allegheny College (my alma mater!) Here she is with her completed quilt! I actually had it done before she moved into the dorm so she could take it with her.

Meg is planning to double major in English and history with the future goal of becoming a college professor! I'm pretty pleased that one of her very first classes in her first semester is with my college mentor. How perfect is that? And, of course, Meg just adores her.....I hope she still feels that way when she gets her final exam.

Returning From Nowhere

Well, it seems I've taken a very long vacation from blogging. Strangely enough, I don't feel any more rested than I did before. OH! That's right, I've spent the last six weeks attempting to keep my head above water while I tried to balance work, work, and work. Oh, yeah -- the Olympics was in there too. AND quilting (that's work too, but fun most of the time). Anyway, I've been trying to get as much done as I possibly can on my quilting projects for my book, magazine pieces, and the monthly class that I co-teach. The strange thing is that the harder I try, the more obstacles that jump into my path. One of my biggest obstacles right now is trying to find a place to work where people will leave me alone. For example, right now I was sitting at the dining room table, writing this blog (after completing my latest magazine submission) and two members of my family came out from where they were working on their own projects and begin talking to me. The one family member is complaining about sopmething or another so I have to stop writing and take care of it immediately or else I won't hear the end of it. Then the other family member turns on the TV and proceeds to find something to watch while the volume is quite loud, all the while having a conversation with the other person. So now I have grabbed my laptop, mouse, etc. and I have relocated to my bed. Thank goodness for wi-fi! Oh, of course, my dog follows me and I have to put him up on the bed too (he's cursed with very short legs and is a terrible jumper...). Looking back on the past six weeks, this scenario has repeated itself over and over and over with slight variations of course. When I'm in my studio working on a quilt project, someone needs something somewhere or the dog has to go out....or whatever. I know, I know......welcome to reality. The only problem is that it's only really gotten this annoying in the last couple months, or has it? I love to be needed, but not that much. The really ironic thing is that I'm no one's mother nor am I someone's spouse. The only children I can claim are the furry ones on four feet. Please forgive my frustration and my complaints, but I can't seem to get enough accomplished.....or maybe I'm asking too much of myself. I'm not really sure. If I had a little help and cooperation, things would go more smoothly, I think. Thanks for listening.

95 and Still Picking.....

Today my family and I went to visit a dear friend who lives at a personal care home. Oakey, who I christened "Dingaling" when I was a small child (we believe it came from the DIngaling" song from the 1970's -- he calls me Dingaling too) has always been like an adopted grandfather to me. I can remember Dingaling, my dad, and John (Dingaling's son in law and my dad's friend) taking myself, my sister, and John's daughter to the circus. It makes me smile to picture three men taking three little girls to the circus. I think my sister had to visit every bathroom on the way and I really don't remember much about the circus itself. Dingaling is 95 years old, er.... I mean young. Although he's suffered from several different cancers lost his wife last year and his daughter some years before that, he's still picking out sings on his two guitars. Today he serenaded us with an impromtu concert. He also likes to play his guitar for the lady residents at the home.....especially the new residents. What a playboy! My friend, Cheryl's mom, also in her nineties, goes to quilt guild meetings and still makes quilt tops. I can only hope that I have that much energy when I get older. I hope that I'm still able to quilt in some capacity.

Getting in the Groove

I know a lot of quilters slow down in the summer due to the heat, but I don't. I even manage to sew on binding on big heavy quilts. My secret -- shhh! -- is propping the quilt on a TV table instead of on me as I hand sew the binding down. I also have a fan blowing directly at my legs which helps keep me cool. Add a cool beverege and a favorite DVD and I'm good for a couple hours of binding as long as the air conditioning is working hard, of course. Right now, I'm getting two quilts ready to go to Quilter's World for another upcoming book on precuts which will be out sometime next year. Instructions are written and the quilts are finished, I just need to get everything packages, printed, and mailed. I'm also wrapping up a quilt for FOns and Porter Easy Quilts magazine for Spring 2013. I just have to test the instructions to make sure they are accurate and then it too will get packaged, printed, and shipped. I'm also trying to complete the binding for my niece, Meghan's graduation quilt before her party on July 28th. I plan to make a matching pillow case as the gift bag too. I'm pleased that the quilt won't be travelling too far....she is attending my alma mater, Allegheny College, in the fall. In fact she will be living in the same hall I did when I was both a freshman and a junior, only just down the hall. I am incredibly proud of this young lady. Stay tuned for pics of her quilt and pillowcase in an upcoming blog. In the meantime I'm trying to get down and dirty with my new book project. I've contacted the publisher but do not have an assigned editor yet so right now I'm on my own. There are about 15 quilt projects in the book. I have two quilts quilted and in the binding phase, two tops ready for quilting, and I'm starting the fifth top. The majority of the story part is done. Photos are being translated as we speak. And I'm working on the book layout, or flat plan, too. I do need to start writing the instructions for the projects I've been working on, although I do jot down notes as I make the quilts. But I do need an editor ASAP and a deadline, of course!