Brady Lady's Quilting Blog

Winter Brings Knitting Fever

2012-02-02T07:22:00.000-08:00

For some reason, when the weather gets cold, I get inspired to knit. These are two projects I made as Christmas presents this year. Above is a pair of shark mittens that I also made last year for one of my tutoring students. Below are a hat and mittens I made for my niece who is a college freshman and needed something to keep her warm walking around campus on cold winter days. I made another pair of mittens and a pretty drop stitch scarf with glittery yarn. Stay tuned for pictures of those projects.

Kelly and Braun's Christmas family picture

2011-12-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

Kelly and Braun got married a year and a half ago and people are always asking me if any grandchildren are on the horizon. Who would have time for babies with all of these creatures in their life? Next on my daughters' agenda is a Christmas picture with all four dogs including Frank and Sammy the dachshunds that live with me.

Baby Quilt #2

2011-12-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

This is the center portion of the second baby quilt of the year. It's hard to see in the picture, but the focus fabric on the snowball blocks has little pink sheep on it. There will be a pink border around the outside before it is quilted. I am also making a matching pillowcase for her big sister who is ten and is so excited. She had resigned herself to being an only child and now she is going to be a big sister! The video of her being told about the baby was so precious, it had me crying and laughing at the same time. I don't know whether baby #3 in the Special Ed Dept. will be a boy or a girl yet. I think he/she is due in March or April.

Kaleidoscope top completed

2011-12-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

Here is the completed top of the hot color paisley kaleidoscopes. This is the first time I set blocks on point. Even though it doesn't appear that they are on point, it was the only setting that would get the smaller octagons in between the larger ones. I have some variegated thread with bright green, yellow and pink that I plan to stipple in all the negative black spaces when it gets quilted.

Another MHS baby boom

2011-11-15T11:36:00.000-08:00

This is the first of three baby quilts I will be making this year. Between the Special Ed Department and the Child Study Team, there are 4 pregnant teachers. I had to limit making quilts to just first babies, otherwise I'd never make anything else! This is Allison the Social Worker on the Child Study Team.

The next one is for Bella's girl due in January and then Emily in the Spring. There are also a couple of other young teachers in other departments. Everywhere you look at my school there's a baby on the way! This happened about 4 years ago and I can't believe it's happening again. I guess I'll miss the next population explosion. I should be retired by then!

Kaleidoscoping Again

2011-11-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

Two years ago, I saw these quilts on Fons and Porter and made a brown one on a blue one. I purchased this hot color paisley fabric on a black background because I thought it would make interesting kaleidoscopes. The other night, I couldn't stop thinking about the fabric and I was at it again. I made all the blocks within a 48 hour period. The one below had the most visual impact of the bunch so it has been designated as the center square. The black corner squares are going on and the colors are really starting to pop. They will be floating on point with stipple quilting in variegated hot color thread in the black negative spaces.

Inspiration App

2011-10-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I took this picture on the bulletin board of my school's career resource center. Apparently it is a scannable code that gets a student info from a college on their i-phone. My first thought when I saw it was, "I can make a quilt out of that!" Mine will be a little more simple with lots of hot colors in the background. I think I'll search for more on Google images to find one that is more meaningful to me than some college I never heard of.

Another Amazing Quilt Airing

2011-10-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Wow! I've never gone this long without posting. I have so much to catch up with. Lots of projects completed. But first, this past Saturday was my guild's quilt show in Long Valley, N.J. and as in the past I was blown away by the talent and diversity of the quilts. It could not have been a more beautiful Fall day either. Here are just a few of the amazing quilts on display.

I loved the gradation effect going diagonally across this quilt.

This is a hawaiian quilt done by Gloria Dighton. It made me wish I was in Kauai or Maui.

Naturally I loved this one with the dachshund in the window!

These were the result of a mystery block. I couldn't believe how different everyone's table runner looked even though it was the same pattern.

Click on the link to the right for Common Threads Quilters to see more of these ladies' phenomenal work!

Flower inspiration

2011-07-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

I absolutely hate to garden but I love flowers. I think it's because it takes huge amounts of time and most of the flowers only bloom for a couple of weeks and they're gone. In contrast, when I spend a lot of time making a quilt, I have it to look at and enjoy for a significant period of time. Thankfully, my husband gets a rush out of growing things as well as training horses. This is the flower garden he planted outside my kitchen window. It is especially amazing to me this year. There are birds that come and perch on the echinacea and the other evening, I observed a half dozen butterflies of three different species in the garden at one time. This morning when I looked outside, there was even a hummingbird hovering over the flowers. Here are some pictures I hope to use as inspiration for an art quilt in the future.

Chuppah at the Wedding

2011-07-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

These are some of the pictures the bride's aunt gave me of the wedding. I'm not sure why the chuppah is a little droopy. It may have been because of the weight of it or that is the traditional way to have a flat chuppah presented. They were lucky to have beautiful weather that day, it rained most of the day here in New Jersey. I also loved how they combined the cutltural traditions of the Jewish bride and the African groom.

It's a done deal!

2011-06-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

The chuppah is finally finished and I'm so proud of it I can hardly believe it. I've never done a project this large and elaborate and now I feel like I can sew almost anything. The picture is kind of fuzzy since I took it just as the sun was coming up at 6:00 this morning. The pieces with the grapevines will be hanging down at the corners and the flaps are folded in onto the underside of the top. It is laying on my daughter's bed until it gets packed up for delivery to the bride's aunt tomorrow. I wish they were getting married closer to my home so I could see the wedding but I'd probably get too emotional. I hope they love it as much as I am proud of it!

Chuppah almost there

2011-06-13T05:42:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I made great progress toward finally finishing the chuppah and I can feel the rush of completing a project starting to set in! The top looked amazing when I finished the stippling with the blue varigated thread, but when I started to put the gold braid frame around the star, it really hit me how beautiful this thing is going to be when it's done. All that is left to do is assemble the components which is nothing compared to what has been accomplished already. I'm hoping to use my new embroidery machine to make a label. I was never big on documenting, but if this survives a couple of generations, this piece definitely deserves to have that info known. The pictures really don't do it justice, but I'm posting them anyway. I'm starting to get emotional envisioning the bride and groom standing under it.

Chuppah update

2011-06-06T05:34:00.000-07:00

I got my new digital camera so here are the pictures from last week and the updates for this week. The first is the back panel with gold stippling and pomegranates and the ties that will secure the chuppah to the poles. There are 4 altogether, one for each corner. The quilting is difficult to see because it is in gold thread but it looks good in person. This panel will be on the back of the chuppah so no one will see it anyway. Next is the closeup quilting of the pomegranate leaves and flowers. I was really pleased with how these came out. All that is left to be done is putting the blue cord around the top edge and sewing it all together. The best thing about a big project like this is the big rush I know I'm going to get when it's done and the even bigger rush when I see the picture of the bride and groom getting married under it!

Chuppah Nearing Completion

2011-05-31T05:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Joan urged me to update my blog because her sister who is the Mother of the Bride that the chuppah is being made for is getting nervous. Having been in her shoes at this time last year myself, I can certainly sympathize with her. I haven't posted anything new, not because I haven't sewn anything, quite the opposite. I have been so busy sewing, I haven't had the time to post. This past weekend was very productive with the extra day off. This coming week will be finishing up all the separate pieces. The time consuming applique work is done. The following week will be assembling all the elements which won't take alot of time but will be somewhat cumbersome due to the sheer size of the chuppah. So final completion target date is June 15th and I am right on track for that.

This is the end of the front panel with the Hebrew letters that say "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." The side panels are all bound in the gold satin that was used for the letters. Unfortuneately my digital camera died as I was transferring this image so I can't post the 4 completed hanging pieces with the grape vines or the closeup of the quilting on the pomegranate side panels. I'll get a new camera today and post more later this week. Don't worry Mom, it's going to be awesome. I hope you get as amazing a day as I had for my daughter Kelly's wedding last August and I can't wait to see the pictures!

Pomegranates for the Chuppah

2011-05-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

I spent most of Mother's Day doing one of my favorite things, sewing. It was also a way to connect with my Mom's spirit since she is the one who taught me to sew almost 50 years ago. I was able to complete most of the pomegranates that will be on the side flaps of the chuppah. There will be three total along each side and I have beads to embellish them with after the panels are quilted. I may also add some embroidery to them with the new machine that should be coming today or tomorrow. I decided to do these in sections which made it much more manageable to applique than the grapevines. Now it's time to put it all together and quilt!

Kentucky Derby Update - Rosie only finished 9th but she gave the horse a great ride. The news says the horse bled which is when race horses rupture tiny blood vessels in their lungs when they race. He's headed for the Haskell at Monmouth Park right here in New Jersey in July. I hate Haskell Day because it's such a zoo but for Rosie I would brave the crowds.

Rosie Runs for the Roses

2011-05-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Ever since my husband became a thoroughbred trainer in 1976, Derby Day has been an exciting day for me. This year will be particularly exciting though because Rosie Napravnik will be riding a horse named Pants on Fire. I have known Rosie's family for many years, her Mom Cindy is a friend of mine and her Dad Charles shoed my husband's race horses and my daughter's show ponies. I even made a set of silks for her older sister Jasmine when she ran in her first pony race at the Far Hills races. I remember a day years ago when Rosie began riding ponies in the Far Hills races. Cindy brought the pony club kids to our farm to let them practice riding around our training track. Rosie had her stirrups jacked up high and was crouching down like a professional jockey even then. I remember thinking she's going to be like Julie Krone someday and now that someday is almost here. I'll be rooting for her to make history on Saturday. No female jockey has ever finished in the money in a Derby, so even a 2nd or 3rd place finish will be exciting. I'll be able to say I knew her when! Have a safe trip Rosie, hope to see you in the Winner's Circle!

Rosie winning the $1,000,000 Louisiana Derby a few weeks ago.

New Embroidery/Serger machine on the way!

2011-05-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

On Saturday while I was working at the sewing machine, Home Shopping Network just happened to be on the TV. Normally I don't watch and buy from this, but they had a segment on Singer machines. The combined serger and embroidery machine got my attention since I love anything with embroidery on it. I have looked at these machines with longing in the past but could never justify the $2000 price tag. When my daughter saw the beautiful monograms the machine was capable of doing, she started watching too. Since my birthday was last week and Mother's Day is next week, I told her if she makes the first payment for me I'll get it. I was sort of kidding but she got her cell phone and ordered it for me. It will be arriving on or about May 10th. I can't wait! My first project will be to embroider a gold Jewish star on the goblet and then attach one to each end of the chuppah flap with the Song of Solomon verse. The next applique for the chuppah is pomegranate vines, fruit and flowers. The embroidery will definitely add to these elements too. I grew up sewing on Singer machines. I hope they are still as good even though they're not made in the US anymore.

Clip Tip

2011-04-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

I should send this in to Fons and Porter. A few weeks ago, I bought a big bag of clips in the hardware dept. to use for clamping down my quilts on a table top for pinning. In the past I have done this crawling around on the floor and it is the only part of the quilting process that I absolutely hated! Anyway, I got the idea to use two of the small clips to make my grapevine applique on the long hanging pieces easier to manage. When I looked in the bag, I discovered these tiny clips at the bottom and they are great. Now turning the piece is much easier and the edges are not fraying by the time I finish the applique stitching. This weekend I hope to start on the side pieces with the pomegranate appliques. Stay tuned!

Hebrew letters appliqued

2011-04-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

These are the letters for the line from Song of Solomon, "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." They will go across the front flap of the chuppah with wine glasses and grapes on either side. I couldn't fit them all in one picture from side to side. I keep thinking and placing them from left to right like English but they are actually written and read from right to left. The alef (the one that looks like an X) is the first letter in the sentence.

Chuppah coming together

2011-04-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to make good progress on the chuppah. The star for the canopy is done and yesterday I got an afternoon off from tutoring so I took advantage of the time to sew. I laid out and started sewing one of the side hanging panels with the grapevines. I'm really pleased with how it looks and it has me psyched to do the Hebrew letters that say, "I am my beloved and my beloved is mine." The only other part is the pomegranate appliques and then assembling the whole thing. More pictures to come!

Kindergarten Quilt IV

2011-03-31T07:28:00.000-07:00

This past Monday, I took advantage of one of my Spring Break days to spend it quilting with my daughter Kelly's kindergarten class. In the past, I have only spent a half day with them, but this year we were able to even start sewing the quilt top together. In the morning the kids colored their blocks, I read "The Quilt Maker's Gift" to them and in the afternoon, they designed the layout and helped me start piecing. This year, I left the muslin squares on the freezer paper while sewing, as in paper piecing. The assembly was much easier and much more accurate. Here is a picture of the completed quilt top and some of the classroom shots. As much as I love going back to the little kids, (I did it for the first 8 years of my teaching career) I couldn't do it in my 50's. Getting up off the floor after sitting for 30 minutes wasn't easy. It sucks to get old!

National Day of Quilting

2011-03-22T06:39:00.001-07:00

I spent the National Day of Quilting again this year making charity quilts with my guild, The Common Threads Quilters of Long Valley. This is the top I completed in one day. As I began sewing for the day, my machine sounded absolutely horrible. I thought it was damged beyond repair, it sounded so bad. Luckily, master quilters Lynn and Leanna advised me and it was purring in no time. All it needed was a little oil. Leanna showed me how to take the bobbin case apart in a way that I didn't even know was possible. That's one thing I love about being in a guild, I always learn new things from the amazing members of the group. I'm ashamed to admit I still haven't quilted the top I made last year on this day. I'm committing now to quilt both as soon as I finish the chuppah.

Horse Showing under the Palm Trees

2011-03-15T05:55:00.000-07:00

Here are the pics of Kelly showing in Wellington. She was really pleased with how she and the horse did. I have lots of pictures of her jumping but these are the first with palm trees in the background!

Are these guys cute or what?

2011-03-08T05:17:00.000-08:00

Every week when I go to one of my tutoring clients, I pass these two ponies out in their pasture at Walnut Hill Farm in Mendham. I can't get over how adorable they are. I keep wishing I owned them and I knew how to do driving horses so I could hook them up to a cart and go! This picture is also a lead in to two exciting horse things happening lately. The riding lessons that Kelly gave me for Christmas are really paying off. I jumped a course of 7 fences in a row on Sunday. They were only two feet but I haven't done that in fifteen years and it felt great! The other exciting thing is Kelly is going to Wellington, Florida this weekend to show with her new trainer. A big step up from local shows in New Jersey. Next year I'll have to save up my personal days so I can go and watch her. Hopefully, I'll have amazing pictures next week.

Chuppah Commission

2011-03-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited about my next sewing project. A colleague of mine at school has comissioned me to make a chuppah for her niece's upcoming wedding next summer. For those of you who don't know what a chuppah is, it's a canopy held over the bride and groom at a Jewish wedding. It symbolizes the new home that the couple will build together. Chuppahs can range from a simple piece of fabric to a very elaborate, decorative canopy. The picture above is what we are using for our inspiration. Ours will not be quite this elaborate but we are using elements from it. We had a fun day in the garment district in New York City shopping for the materials and embellishments. Maybe I can turn this into a business for after I retire from teaching.

Pillows for Colleen's Ski Lodge Room

2011-02-28T07:32:00.001-08:00

I can't believe the whole month of February has gone by and I haven't had time to post. I guess there are two main reasons for this, it's IEP season which means rewriting documents for all my special ed students and my husband badly burned his foot and was out of work for a month. He dumped a huge pot of hot fat on his foot and had to go to the emergency room at 2AM. My knitting obsession seems to have abated for the time being but I'm sure it will resurface soon. In the meantime I made some pillows for my daughter Colleen's recent redecorating project in her house. She made the room on the back of the house that is all windows a "lodge room" with forest and ski themed decorations. The pillows match the new valances on the windows. Here are a pictures of the pillows and the wall with my husband's deer he shot when he was a teenager, a 10 pointer. Not bad for a first try.

Shark Mittens

2011-01-14T07:35:00.000-08:00

These are the shark mittens I made for one of my tutoring students for Christmas. He was really excited to receive them and I was really excited that I was able to make them without a pattern and just from looking at a picture on the internet. The grin on his face from ear to ear when he put them on was one of the best thank yous I have ever received for giving something I had made.

More New Knitting Skills

2011-01-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

After making several pairs of mittens for Christmas gifts I decided it was time to tackle socks. The biggest challenge is the so called "turning the heel." The only book I could find that made sense to me was by Ann Budd. Being stuck in the house for the New Jersey after Christmas blizzard seemed like a great time to start. Here is the finished product. The only problem is, I thought I could get a pair out of 1 skein of yarn. How much could a pair of socks use anyway? I used up the whole skein for the first sock and I have no idea where I bought the yarn originally. Anyway, I'm pretty proud of myself for not giving up. The pictures in the book are extremely helpful, I guess I'm more of a visual learner. After finishing the heel gussets and toe decreases, the construction method makes perfect sense to me. My next challenge is to try to make a pair of ladies socks with a lacy pattern on the leg and instep.

Addicted to knitting mittens

2010-12-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

I used to think of myself as a quilter who does other crafts once in a while to re-energize and combat boredom. However, lately I think I'm becoming a knitter who also quilts. After making these mittens for Colleen to go with her tennis racket hat, I am obsessed with mittens and knitting in general. These were so fun and quick to make. They started out having yellow stripes on just the cuffs, but then I got the idea to make the hand part of the mitten look like a bee's body since the mascot for her school is a hornet. I'm really proud of how they turned out especially the evenness of the stiches. I have four or five other ideas to make for other people in different designs. I started making a pair of shark mittens, without a pattern I might add, just from seeing a picture on the internet. They are a Christmas gift for one of the boys I tutor in reading. What 10 year old boy wouldn't love a pair of shark mittens?

2010-11-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of the long weekend to finish these pillows a colleague of mine asked me to make for her Mother and Daughter-in-law. The tops are appliqued with collectible handkerchiefs that belonged to her Mother.

When I first started quilting, I made a quilt out of other handkerchiefs for her. A picture of the original hanky quilt is shown below.

Now that the pillows are done for her, I can back to my own projects. I've got so many currently cooking, I can't decide which to work on. I guess Cecille's shawl and Colleen's mittens which I hope will be a Christmas present should have top priority.

More knitting projects

2010-11-18T06:26:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I've gone 6 weeks without posting. I've been so overwhelmed with planning at school and my tutoring schedule. I now remember why I tried to limit my tutoring a few years ago so I could quilt. I haven't been near my machine in weeks! These are the knitting projects I have been working on. I started the fair isle scarf after teaching myself to do color work in August. Unfortuneately, I got a call from my brother in California that his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Feeling very unable to help from so far away, I immediately started working on this prayer shawl for her. The yarn is a beautiful shade and the yarn is a very soft Alpaca blend. I hope she can wear it for comfort in the hospital while she gets her chemo treatments.

Next weekend is Thanksgiving break from school and I plan to sew all weekend. Projects on tap: my green and blue patchwork shirt, Kelly and Braun's wedding quilt and a hankie pillow a colleague of mine asked me to make for her. If the weather's good I hope to get in some extra running and riding too.

Acquiring new knitting skills

2010-10-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

I have been in another knitting frenzy lately and I now know how to do both two color knitting and knit on double pointed needles. I always thought this was so difficult but it really isn't so bad and it enables you to make really interesting things. I tried some easy fair isle patterns and thought why couldn't I use the same technique to put graphics on a hat for my daughter who is a tennis coach. I started the hat on circular needles and switched to double pointed when the decreases made it too small for the circular. Since it wasn't as difficult as I thought, I got brave and started to make the matching mittens which are entirely done on double pointed needles. I really love the fair isle color patterns because they remind me of quilt block designs. It is also much less boring to make things with color changes. I keep going to see what it will look like. I wonder how long this knitting phase will keep me away from the sewing machine.

2010-09-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe September has flown by so fast! Getting back in the groove of school has been extra hectic this year. I found this magazine in the Chester library while I was waiting for one of my tutoring students. I loved the idea of the shirt on the front cover using different stripes and prints for the various pieces that make up the shirt. I have a collection of blue/green and white stripe, paisley and small prints ready and waiting to try this. It has also inspired me to try sewing garments again. I haven't done this in so long. I had to get out my serger machine, dust it off and make sure it still worked. I have also been knitting again lately and I've learned to do color work with intarsia and fair isle. It's so much fun. Much less boring than regular solid color work. Stay tuned for pictures!

A SPECTACULAR DAY!

2010-08-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

The wedding exceeded my wildest dreams! The weather could not have been more beautiful, Kelly looked absolutely stunning and the Donald was there! There were three particularly memorable moments. The first was when Kelly and my husband drove up in the horse and carriage with the sun starting to set behind them, it literally took my breath away.

Number 2 was when she whipped out the champion ribbon she won at the horse show that morning from under her skirt and gave it to Braun during their vows.

And last but not least was talking to Donald Trump as we were waiting to go into the ballroom. I thought I missed him earlier on, but he kept coming back. He actually stood on the hill at the back and watched the whole ceremony. I was really touched and honored by that. These are not so great pictures that a guest took but they're all I have at the moment. More to come!

Final Visit to Kleinfeld's

2010-08-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Kelly and I went into the city for our last visit to Kleinfeld's to bring home her wedding gown. This time we not only saw Randy, we got to take a picture with him. We were also there with Paul Jr.'s fiance of American Chopper. She was having her final fitting for her wedding the week after Kelly's. I recognized her Mom from the episode of Say Yes to the Dress that was on a couple of weeks ago. Ironically, when I finally got home after a long, exhausting day, Say Yes to The Dress was recording on my TV. I felt like I had been in an episode myself for most of the day. We got there at noon and didn't leave with the dress until 5:30. Only 4 days to go, I can't believe it will be here and gone before I know it and then I don't have anymore daughters to go to Kleinfeld's with!

It's almost here!

2010-08-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

Less than two weeks to the wedding! I'm getting really excited but I'm remembering the letdown I felt after Colleen's wedding was all over and there was nothing to look forward to. It's like the way you feel on Christmas night times ten! I'm hoping it won't be as bad this time since I know it will be coming. I'm also hoping having back to school and our snorkel trip to the Keys in November will offset the withdrawal. These are the favors on which I have to tie 120 bows on the boxes this week.

Tuesday is the florist, Thursday is the caterer and Friday is my last visit to Kleinfeld's in New York to pick up her gown. I tried to take a picture of the embellishment on the skirt and train of her dress. I hope it shows up. Only 12 days to go!

Sea Girt 5K

2010-08-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday,I ran in the Sea Girt 5k for the 4th time. This is an annual event with my husband's family and the Brady family entries from 3 generations grow each year. This year, 6 year old Tyler ran with the big guys and my nephew Jesse joined the team. I was really pleased with my time of 38 minutes which sounds terrible but it was 4 minutes faster than last year. Next year's goal is to be under 35. Next race is on Labor Day at the Somerset Patriots Ballpark in Bridgewater with a free baseball game and fireworks that night!

Boomer Joins the Family

2010-07-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, my daughter got her second puppy. This one is a Great Dane named Boomer and he is joining his brother Wolfie the Borzoi. Boomer is a very gentle, mellow dog who sleeps more than anything else. I am still in awe of his size at only 10 weeks old, hence the photo of his leg with my hand as a size reference. I think he's going to be the size of a small pony when he's done growing! We had a lovely 4th of July picnic on the farm with the dogs playing together on the lawn. Thank goodness everyone gets along. Too bad they can't all be guests at the wedding.

Wedding Prep into High Gear!

2010-07-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

This is the ring bearer pillow I made yesterday. Everyday now, there is something to do for the shower or the wedding. Last Tuesday, we went into the city to Kleinfeld's for Kelly's first fitting. Luckily, the dress was exactly what we remembered. It has been just about a year since she ordered it. She was really happy and said she likes it even more now than last June. On this trip to Kleinfeld's, we actually got to see some of the people we watch on Say Yes to the Dress every week. Randy, our favorite, actually walked by and said Hello while we were watching Kelly get her fitting. Vera, the head of fitting came in and consulted with our fitter Eleanor about how to adjust the placement of the decoration on the skirt. As we were coming upstairs to leave, we ran into Keisha and then we saw Joan the manager as we were leaving. All in all a very exciting day. Countdown to the Big Day - 6 weeks from tomorrow!

Summer Evening Sunset

2010-06-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

Many times when I look out my kitchen window, I think how blessed I have been to live in such a beautiful place. Last night was one of those times. After dinner was finished, I looked up to see one of the most gorgeous sunsets I have seen in the 30 years that I have been living on the farm. I grabbed my digital camera and ran outside fearing it would be gone before I could capture it. While I was taking the pictures, it kept getting more and more beautiful. I took 5 or 6 pictures but when I looked again 15 minutes later, it was totally gone. I think I'll try to capture a summer sunrise next week when I don't have to rush off to school at 6:30 AM!

Quilting Bloggers Weekly Themed Quilt Contest

2010-06-17T10:53:00.001-07:00

I just entered this quilt in the Story Quilt weekly contest on the Quilting Bloggers site. I got an e-mail about it and did it just in time. This quilt was one of the first that I posted on my blog last year. It was inspired by the book "The Quiltmaker's Gift." Click on the icon link to the right to see the other quilts for this week and hopefully you'll vote for mine or enter one of your own for an upcoming theme. Check out last week's theme which was Sunsets. They're amazing!

Wedding quilt signature blocks

2010-06-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

These are the strip sets for the back of Kelly and Braun's wedding quilt. They will be put out at the wedding for the guests to sign in the light colored strips and then will be encorporated into the back of the quilt in a coin type layout. I posted the top back in February when I finished it but here it is again. Two months from today! I's getting really close now!

Introducing my new Granddogs

2010-06-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

With everything my daughter has to deal with with planning her wedding, she is also getting two new puppies as soon as school is over. I am already a Grandma to her dachshund Sammy who lives at our house with his cousin Frank. She wants a Borzoi who is going to be named Wolfschmidt and her fiance Braun wanted a Great Dane because that is what he grew up with. The Great Dane puppy is going to be Merliquin after the name of his coat pattern. I said he should be just Merlin like the wizard, but who ever listens to their Mother! Part of me thinks she's nuts and the other part of me is looking forward to playing with these cute, new doggies! These two will definitely only be visiting my house!

Table Runner

2010-06-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

This is the table runner I made for Kelly's new dining room table. I'm getting a lot of vicarious satisfaction out of this since I've never had a formal dining room like this! I'm really looking forward to having the shower at her house, it's such a great layout for entertaining.

I almost missed Amy's Quilt Festival!

2010-05-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

I just found out this is the week Amy is having another Blogger's Quilt Festival. I would have been sick if I didn't get to post since I have participated in all the others. I decided to use a quilt I finished yesterday and am giving as a gift today. A colleague of mine is having a baby and I always make quilts for new babies of teachers in the Special Ed Department. The picture is Marge, the expectant Mom at the shower we gave her at lunchtime today. I wish I could make them for all the new Moms at school but Special Ed keeps me busy enough. Just this year we had 2 first babies and 1 second. This isn't the best quilt technically that I've made but I love the pink zoo fabric, I designed it myself and I made the top totally from my stash. If you haven't seen Amy's festival before, check it out by clicking on the icon link to the right. But be warned, there are over 600 entries. You will be amazed, inspired and moved.

I was part of History

2010-05-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I took part in the biggest demonstration in the history of the State of New Jersey. I marched with several other union workers against the draconian cuts that have been made by Govenor Christie. This week, they will begin taking 1.5% of my salary. On the surface, this sounds like a very small amount but why should I have to pay more than some other of my colleagues for the exact same thing? He also wants us to agree to a pay freeze. I just got the letter reinstating my contract for next year and since the school board has offered basically nothing in negotiations, we will be starting next year again without a contract. This means I have already had a pay freeze for 2 years. I understand that many people in the private sector have lost jobs and had to take pay cuts because of the recent economic debacle. But their jobs and salaries and bonuses will eventually come back. If teachers agree to these cuts, they will most likely be in place for years to come! It's very disheartening to be treated as a scapegoat like the Jews of Nazi Germany when I spend my days at work teaching high school kids to read who have been failed by our system so far. I had to vent just this once. I promise no more political stuff on my quilt blog!

Marge's baby quilt

2010-05-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

This is the top of Marge's baby quilt. I was going to put a border on it but it's big enough and it has to be finished by next Wednesday for her shower at school. I'm sort of disappointed about the focus fabric. I loved it when I bought it but I don't think it is effective in the quilt itself. I guess the pattern is so busy that it obscures the lighter animals like the snake and the peacock. The vertically oriented tigers and elephants also bother me in the quilt because it looks like I used the fabric in the wrong direction. I guess I shouldn't be so critical, the baby certainly won't notice these things!

Ashley's Beach Wedding

2010-05-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

This past Friday, my niece Ashley was married on the beach in Long Branch, N.J. and contrary to what I expected for the middle of May, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. I didn't even have to wear the extra sweater and coat I brought along thinking it would be freezing at the Jersey Shore this time of year. They're a really special couple and I'm so happy for them to have had such awesome weather for their dream wedding on the beach.

Last week I worked on doing the calligraphy on Kelly's invitations. I originally taught myself to do this when I got married in 1980 (in the Dark Ages) and I did it for Colleen two years ago. Here's a sample and one of the invitations. I guess my other daughter Colleen was ahead of her time. Her color scheme was black and cream and all we could find then were black and white invitations. Now Kelly needed black and white damask and all they had was black and cream! I think they're beautiful anyway and I don't think anyone will notice that the difference by the time of the wedding. Fourteen weeks to go, fitting at Kleinfeld's on June 29th and planning the shower is next on the agenda.

Reworking Corn Yarn

2010-05-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

Last Spring I bought some really pretty yarn that was made from corn fiber. I planned to knit a sweater to be able to wear when we went to Hawaii but Frank the dacshund got a hold of it and shredded what I did get accomplished. This week I decided to try and find another pattern that would use up the balance of the yarn that I had. Here is the beginning of the old project and the beginning of the new one. It is crocheted and has these little fleur de lis motifs that I really like. Crocheting goes alot faster for me and its easier to fix than knitting so hopefully this one will make it to a wearable garment.

Kelly's Window Treatments

2010-05-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

This is why I haven't been doing much quilting the last couple of weeks. My daughter Kelly moved into a new house with her fiance at the end of February and there are lots of windows that need covering. Since they are saving all their money for the wedding, I offered to make curtains for them. It secretly fulfills my interior decorator self which was what I originally wanted to be before I became a teacher. I think it will look really nice when the new dining room furniture arrives in a couple of weeks. Next on the wedding project agenda are the invitations. I've been practicing my calligraphy and I'm ready to start on the actual envelopes. Only three months to go!

Morris Museum Art Quilt Exhibit

2010-04-27T06:06:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday, I went to The Morris Museum to see an exhibit of Art Quilts from the collection of John M. Walsh III. Even though I didn't find all of the quilts visually appealing, I was fascinated to read each of the artist's statements about where they get their inspiration and how they manifest it in working with their materials.

The signature quilt of the show was "Geranium" by Veldo Newman. The two quilts that really spoke to me were "When the Bees Stings" by Joan Lintault and a quilt by Anna Kingsbury depicting a three ring circus.

The bee quilt shown above intrigued me because it was done with embroidery and the negative spaces were cut out. The elements were all created separately and then attached to a base so that the edge of the quilt was not straight. The thing that really blew me away was this quote from the artist's personal statement:
"I do not choose to reject a technique simply because it is laborious. I base my work on geological rather than TV time."

Anna Kingsbury's quilt was fascinating because of the three dimensional embellishments she encorporated into her design. She used to be into ceramics and created these little pieces of fired clay that represented the people in the audience. The other element that interested me was her use of crocheted elements appliqued onto the quilt. Crocheting was my first craft addiction, so maybe I'll have to try encorporating it into my quilts somehow. The thing that she said that really resonated with me was that when she works with her hands, she views it as a form of worshiping God.

2010-03-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm posting more about the wedding preparations than my quilting but this one combines wedding and sewing. This is the mockup of the centerpieces for Kelly's wedding. I made the table runner, there are six more to go. It's hard to see what these are made of but I thought they were a really unique idea that the florist came up with to modify our suggestion. Kelly and I both agree that they're awesome. The vases have black river rocks in the bottom and there are small calla lillies wrapped around the inside of the vase. The next exciting planning event is the tasting at Trump National on the 31st.

National Day of Quilting

2010-03-22T05:02:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my guild The Common Threads Quilters of Long Valley NJ celebrated by gathering at the Fairmount Presbyterian Church and sewing charity quilts all day. There were about a dozen of us and it was fun to sew, chat, laugh and make something for deserving needy kids. Here's my quilt top that I completed in about 6 hours. The points don't match as well as I'd like but the kit was not as accurately cut as I would have done. Everyone kept reminding me that the kids don't care if the points match!

The other nice thing that happened later that day was my daughter was champion at a horse show at Palermo Stables in Bedminster. She showed one of their lesson horses named Dreamer who a few months ago nobody wanted wanted to ride because he was so difficult. The owner of the farm paid her a nice compliment. He said, "You really understand how to ride this horse." Here they are in action over one of the jumps. Thank goodness for her sister's camera with the telephoto lens. I was at least 100 feet away from this fence at the far end of the ring!

Kindergarten Quilt 2010 Finished

2010-03-08T11:25:00.001-08:00

Mancuso Quilt fest of NJ VI

2010-03-08T06:10:00.000-08:00

I have been to this show a number of times before but this was the first time on a Saturday. The difference in attendance was really noticeable. The booths were so crowded I could barely move in some of them. It was also very difficult to photograph the quilts I wanted to because there were multiple people in each little stall looking and scrutinizing the workmanship. Here's what I managed to photograph. I apologize to the quilt artists because I didn't have a pen with me to record their names or the titles of the quilts.

This was one of the best in show quilts. I couldn't even get near the other to take a picture.

Naturally I liked this one with the horses and this swirly one still has me wondering how did they do that?

I'm having trouble with formatting. The text will not go where I want it to. The quilt above on the left was like an illuminated manuscript. What an unusual idea! The one on the right was a kaleidoscope quilt similar to the ones I have been obsessed with lately. This one was all 6" blocks where mine have been 10" blocks. Lastly, I was amazed by this forest of trees quilt. The point of view was so innovative, not just looking out at a landscape scene. There were many other quilts that the workmanship would absolutely knock your socks off. Very inspiring! Next one to look forward to is the state show in June.

My Dress for Kelly's Wedding

2010-03-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

Here it is, my dress for the wedding. I like the canary yellow but mine is ordered in a pale shade of lilac. I've always been a purple fanatic. I ended up ordering a bridesmaid dress instead of a MOB gown for two reasons. The MOB dresses seemed much too matronly. I'm 55 but I don't want to look like the grandmother of the bride! Also, the bridesmaid dresses are 1/2 to 1/3 of the price of the MOB gowns. I plan to spend the money I saved on the dress on some serious jewelry to glam it up. I recommend this shopping strategy to any other Mom with a daughter or son getting married that wants to look fashionable and somewhat trendy instead of dumpy and frumpy!

Countdown to the wedding - 23 weeks

Blue Kaleidoscopes Top Complete

2010-03-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

Thanks to 2 back to back snow days which made a 4 day weekend, I was able to finish the top of the blue kaleidoscope pattern. I'm really proud of this quilt because of the construction accuracy I was able to achieve. There is only 1 point that got a little cut off. I am going to wait a little on quilting it because I want to shop for a machine that has a bigger arm to make larger quilts more manageable. I'm going to the Mancuso Quiltfest of New Jersey this weekend to scope out these machines. I just hope I can fit it in between wedding budget items. If anybody has any recommendations for me I'd love your input. Stay tuned for my faves from the show.

These lovely young ladies are Kayla and Alex who were kind enough to hold up the quilt so I could take a picture. Watch for Alex in the future. She has American Idol aspirations. I hope she makes it so I can say I knew her when!

Alternate Blocks for Blue Kaleidoscopes

2010-02-09T05:16:00.000-08:00

These are the alternating blocks I have been making to go with the blue kaleidescopes. I'm debating whether to make some of them from a purple fabric that coordinates with the blue print or I can make the corner triangles in the purple and leave off the sashing that is shown on the pattern. Tomorrow is looking like a definite snow day so I'll get to experiment and sew most of the day. I really have to get started on the black and white damask table runners for the wedding too. I found some possible candidates for my dress last night. Ironically I had more luck with the higher end bridesmaids dresses than the matronly MOB nightmares and they are 200 to 300 dollars cheaper. More money to spend on fabric!

Kindergarten Quilting 2010

2010-02-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I made my annual trip to my daughter Kelly's kindergarten class to make a quilt with them. They had already colored in blocks with their names on them on a previous day. During center time, I worked with small groups of kids measuring their own blocks and cutting printed fabric blocks of their choice to put in the quilt.

After centers, I read the book The Quiltmaker's Gift to them. This was my favorite thing to do when I taught preschool and I really enjoyed having the chance to do this again. The culmination of the project was to let the class design the layout of the quilt. Each child got a turn to place their blocks in the layout which is shown below. I'll bring the quilt back when it's finished and they will take turns resting on it throughout the year. Kelly has a drawing in June to see which student will get to take the quilt home and keep it. My high school students are great but this was such a fun break from the seriousness of high school and jaded teenage attitudes!

More Blue Kaleidoscopes

2010-02-03T07:02:00.000-08:00

I can't stop making these! Each one is more fascinating to me than the last. I decided to put them in a quilt like the one on the upper left of the page of Marti Michell's book. It was designed by Barbara MacCollough with fabrics by Paula Nadelstern, the Queen of kaleidoscope quilting. I found a great batik fabric with all the colors of the dragonfly fabric to use for the light background pieces. If I get snowed in this weekend, I can start on them.

Kaleidoscopes Continue

2010-02-01T07:34:00.000-08:00

Here is the completed top of Kelly and Braun's wedding quilt. It won't be completed until after the wedding when the back has the signature blocks signed by the guests encorporated into it. Next on the wedding sewing agenda are the damask table runners.

I have become so obsessed with these kaleidoscopes that I started making another one that I really shouldn't be working on now. This was a fabric that I purchased to make another One Block Wonder with, but yesterday I decided it would make awesome kaleidoscopes. I made 10 of these Saturday night and Sunday morning. I keep saying to myself, "Just one more, just one more. I want to see what this wedge will look like." I'm embracing this creative energy as an excuse not to do other chores!

I Love These Turtles!

2010-01-20T09:29:00.000-08:00

A colleague of mine at Mendham High named Barbara Pagnotta made this beautiful quilt. She has a beach house in Kiowa, South Carolina and she is going to hang it in the house. It was paper pieced and hand quilted. I love so many things about it -- the orange accents that really pop, the variety of blue and green beachy fabrics that she chose, the one turtle that overlaps the border and the fact that sea turtles are one of my favorite creatures. Barbara made it to commemorate participating in some kind of turtle related event in Kiowa. I also thought the turtle shaped label shown below that she made for the back was a fabulous idea! Kudos to Barbara and her awesome turtles!

Kaleidoscopes Coming Together

2010-01-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

These are the kaleidoscope blocks laid out on the pool table which I use for a cutting table. I'm hoping that the optical illusion of the gold circles becomes more visible when the blocks are actually joined. Three of the border blocks are shown at the right. I really like the chocolate fabric that will look like an outside border and the light blue triangles come together to make diamonds. One of the things I love about this quilt is how the placement of the pieces creates the pattern without the need for difficult sewing like y-seams.

Wedding Quilt Kaleidoscopes

2010-01-11T05:14:00.001-08:00

Here are four of the kaleidoscope blocks I made this weekend. They are so much fun to make because even if you audition the location on the fabric and choose the motifs, you never know exactly what the block will look like until it is sewn together. The other amazing thing is that the blocks can look like they come from totally different fabrics like the one on the upper right and lower left. On the Fons and Porter show where I first saw this quilt, there was another tip that I tried this weekend. I started sewing on and off a small strip of fabric like the picture on the left. I no longer have a pile of threads next to my machine and I know I'm saving a huge amount of thread and not running out of bobbin thread as quickly. A double bonus!

Countdown to the Wedding!

2010-01-04T09:13:00.000-08:00

Now that Christmas is over, wedding prep will really kick into high gear. I was thinking of all the sewing I need to do outside of school and then I realized it's annual review time in school which means rewriting all my student's IEPs. What fun! Not!

I am eagerly awaiting the delivery of Kaleidoscope ABCs by Marti Michell and the rulers that go with it. I saw the cover quilt on Fons and Porter last week and I'm psyched to make this quilt for Kelly and Braun's wedding quilt. I bought fabrics in brown/gold and brown/blue paisleys for the kaleidoscaopes and other brown, beige, gold and light blue solid reading fabrics. They are all washed and pressed waiting for the delivery. I'm hoping it's there when I get home from school today.

In addition to the quilt, I am making 12 to 14 black and white damask table runners. I tried to sew black satin binding on one yesterday and that won't work! It was full of static in this cold, dry weather, it kept shriveling up under the iron when I tried to press it and was raveling like crazy. Back to the store for some manageable quilting cotton! Add a baby quilt and Kelly's annual class quilt to the list and I'll be very busy sewing for the next few months.

The big day is August 14, 2010....... seven months, 10 days and counting.

Wiener Christmas Greetings!

2009-12-26T14:59:00.000-08:00

This has become a traditional event at my house over the past 5 years. My daughters do a Christmas themed photo session with their dogs and make a card out of it. This is the '09 picture of Frank and Sammy. It was a little late but definitely worth waiting for.

I thought I was having a stroke!

2009-12-10T12:00:00.001-08:00

Yesterday after school I started seeing this strange visual anomoly in the lower left of my visual field. It was similar to the after image you see when you look at a bright light only it was a curved line with zig zags and it didn't go away for about 20 minutes. I had a splitting headache afterwards so I took Advil and went to bed. I thought it was just a freak, but I started seeing it again as I was driving to school this morning. Now I'm getting really freaked out. How can I be healthier and fitter than I've been in a long time and now I'm getting a stroke??!! It turned out to be an aura from a migraine. I've had migraines in the past but never had an aura or even heard of them. Mine was quite tame compared to some of the pictures I discovered on the net as I was researching migraines. This one is a full oval, mine was only one quarter of this but still pretty scary. I hope I don't get too many more, but at least next time I won't think I'm about to die!

Crocheting Supercedes Knitting Again!

2009-12-03T06:23:00.000-08:00

While I was in Michaels's last week scoping out candles and mirrors for wedding centerpieces, I saw this beautiful yarn. It is Red Heart Super Soft and it feels like silk! I bought 4 skeins without knowing what I was going to make. I just knew I had to have it.

When I got home, I found this pattern in a Crochet magazine I bought last Summer. It is going much faster than the knitting did so I have decided that crocheting is not inferior to knitting and I will crochet more and stop trying to knit all the time. This is also an interesting stitch that doesn't look like all single crochet. You single crochet in ch 1 spaces between each sc.

I also got this free pattern for an afghan. I have no clue when I will ever get to it but I liked it because it looks like a quilt block pattern instead of all those granny afghans we used to make in the 70's.

Kelly's Save the Date photo shoot

2009-12-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, my daughter Kelly and her fiance Braun tried to get a picture to use for their Save the Date card for their wedding next August. My other daughter Colleen played photographer and they took about 75 shots all around the barn with and without Colleen's quarter horse Clue in the pictures. Their goal was to have the picture look like a Ralph Lauren Polo advertisement. The photo above was my favorite but they opted for the picture below.

40th anniversay of becoming a craftoholic

2009-11-30T08:17:00.000-08:00

Last year at this time I was obsessed with knitting. I completed a few projects but kept thinking crocheting was easier and faster for me. A few months ago, I spent a good chunk of money on some gorgeous yarn to knit a vest for myself. The yarn was royal purple Zara and a blue and purple multi color Mistero shown above. When I tried to knit with it, I became so frustrated I wanted to cry. The yarn goes from a single thread to fatter and fuzzier than worsted yarn and the slubs make it very difficult to pull loops through loops. I came across this interesting crocheted scarf pattern by Bernat and decided to use it instead of knitting the vest. I finished it over Thankisgiving break and I'm really pleased with how it came out. I also found a sweater on sale in the perfect color to wear under it. Here's the scarf on the sweater as I wore it the first day back to school after vacation. As I was finishing, I realized it had been 40 whole years since my Mom gave me a kit for Christmas to crochet a vest which was very trendy in those hippie years.

I was bitten by the craft bug and have been obsessed with projects ever since. Thanks Mom, I think! My daughters seem to have inherited the teacher gene but they definitely did not get the crafting gene.

I actually won something!

2009-11-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

Last month I posted my Very Hungry Caterpillar Quilt on Amy's Park City Girl Blogger's Quilt Festival. (See the link on the right. If you haven't checked it out already, the quilts are still there. But be warned, there are 600+ quilts to look at and drool over) Amy had some prizes for just posting and I won one of them! It was a pack of Paula Pratt Summer Soiree fat quarters from Jona Giamalva's Fabritopia. I probably would never pick some of these fabrics on my own but I love the combo of all of them together. I'm so glad it will make me step out of my matchy matchy box. Here they are:

I'm thinking of a coin quilt surrounded by crisp white for a bedroom at the beach house. Check out www.fabritopia.com The fabrics are to die for. Lots of bright, fresh colors like these. You can also sign up for e-mails of new products. I love her signature saying: "Stop staring and start sewing!"

Licorice and Bubblegum Surface Embellishment

2009-11-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while because I couldn't find my digital camera. Last night while I was packing up for the next day, I went in a rarely used tote bag and there was the digital camera I thought was lost or stolen before I bought the one I currently can't find. I guess I will find the new one the same way when I give up looking for it. Anyway, I have been wanting to take a picture of the whole top of the pink and black quilt to post it. Here it is.

After it is quilted, the black ruffles will be sewn onto each seam line between the pink and white bands as shown below. I got an inspiration for quilting it from Leah Day's blog 365 Days of Free Motion Quilt Designs. Scroll down to my reading list on the right hand side for a link to her blog and be inspired!

New Color Scheme for Kelly's Wedding

2009-11-10T05:11:00.000-08:00

Back in August, we went shopping for bridesmaid dresses and the girls picked out a tiffany blue Melissa Sweet dress. The other day Kelly showed me this dress and said she wanted to change to a pallette of black and white with accents of spring green. Normally I wouldn't like these colors, but I love it for a late summer wedding. I wasn't that excited about getting ready for the tiffany blue because I didn't have a vision for the decor. Now I do and I'm really psyched! Even though the dresses are a floral print, everything else black and white will be damask. Here's a picture of the gown the bridesmaids will now be wearing. It is from the Dessy Collection by Vivian Diamond.

The dress below is the one I'm currently thinking about for me. I hope the colors aren't too different when I see it in person and that it looks halfway decent on me. I've lost some weight since I've been running so I've got my fingers crossed. The countdown to August 14th has begun!

Horse Show Ribbons Quilt

2009-10-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was nosing around the internet and came across a woman's site who is a clutter organizer. This was one of her suggestions for eliminating the piles and boxes of horse show ribbons you might have laying around if you or your children show horses. I definitely suffer from this clutter syndrome as a result of 2 daughters spending 24 years of showing from lead line at 4 years old to Preliminary Adult and Schooling Hunters at 27. We have about 10 strings of ribbons in 4 different rooms and 4 valance rods lined with ribbons which are only reds, blues, reserve champion, champion and year end awards. The yellow white pink and green ones have long since disappeared. As of August, both my daughters will have their own houses so I think I'll try to make one of these quilts for each of them and they can display their awards in their own houses and stop collecting dust in mine!

Bubble Gum and Licorice takes shape

2009-10-26T05:46:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite color combos lately is hot pink and black so I decided to make a quilt using these colors. I have been collecting fat quarters in bright pink, white on black and black on white for a while. I played with various geometric designs with my EQ5 program but couldn't get excited about any of the designs. When my guild had its show a few weeks ago, I liked the idea of a quilt made by Sherry Cowley. She pieced various widths of horizontal strips and put a narrow ruffle on top of the seams across the quilt. Hers was done in very muted colors but I thought the design would be good for the high contrast of pink, black and white. Here are some of the strips I pieced this past week.

The ruffles between the strips will be white on black fabrics and I'm thinking of trying to couch hot pink cording along the stiching lines in the center of the ruffles.

Kindergarten Pumpkin Picking Trip

2009-10-26T05:19:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday, 4 kindergarten classes from Seth Boyden Elementary in Maplewood came to our farm for their annual pumpking picking field trip. This is the second year we have done this for the kids and it is more fun every year. Here I am waving hi to the kids as the buses arrive. I tried not give it away but the kids kept asking if I was Miss Brady's Mother.

Farmer Brady helps the kids onto the hay wagon before they depart on the haunted hayride around our training track for the horses.

A zombie on the haunted hayride played by Kelly's fiance Braun. His mask flipped up to expose his brain, a real crowd pleaser!

My two daughters who definitely got my teaching gene. Colleen on the left teaches English and coaches tennis at Hanover Park High School and Kelly is the kindergarten teacher.

Here the kids are waiting to go from picking pumpkins in our faux pumpkin patch to the next activity station.

Jack-o-lantern sack races. Sorry, I couldn't make the picture any bigger.

Carrying their pumpkins to class as they arrived back at school. We are already planning for next year's trip. My nephew Tommy who dresses like a werewolf is planning on constructing a hut to "live in" on the haunted hayride. The only sad thing is that we probably will never get another day as nice as this one was - 70 degrees, bright sunshine and no wind late in October.

Common Thread's Quilter's Fall Quilt Airing

2009-10-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

On Saturday October 10th, my quilt guild had a show in the outdoor pavillion at the Long Valley Presbyterian Church. Even though I see many of these quilts at our meetings during Show and Tell, I am always blown away by the volume and quality of the quilts we produce. Here are just some of the amazing quilts that were hanging. If I left someone's out, I'm sorry. There were just so many amazing quilts.

This masterpiece below is a Baltimore Album quilt made by Gloria Dighton. It won 1st place in the Viewer's Choice voting. Scroll down to see more of her amazing work.

This quilt is called "Summer Dreams." It was made by our current President Theresa Caldwell

This was made as a wedding gift by Linda Appell.

These were two of the One Block Wonder quilts that were made from a workshop our guild did in March of '08. The pastel one is by Maryann Carberry and the black one below was done by Sandy Wachta. Ididn't get a picture of mine at the show but it's on my blog in the entry from July 31st.

These are two more examples of Gloria Dighton's awesome work. The picture doesn't do justice to the beautiful colors of this Storm at Sea quilt. The one below is called "Go Navy, Beat Army."

This is Kathleen Mitchell's design using Eric Carle's Brown Bear fabric. She also made this for a kindergarten class except her son is a student where mine was made for my daughter who is the teacher! Mine is on my blog enty for Oct. 13.

This was a section of small quilts that mostly had a Halloween theme.

This stained glass quilt of dragon flies was done by Maryanne Carberry.

This is Leana's quilt titled "Gaia's Serentity." It tied for 2nd place in the Viewer's Choice. We all admired her use of colors and fabric selection. It inspired me to break out of my tendancy to pick matchy matchy fabrics and have everything symmetrical and balanced.

These purple cathedral windows were done by Loretta Tapp. Cathedral windows have always intimidated me!

This black and white panel titled "lytham Windmill" was done in a round robin by Pat Smith, Sandy Wachta, Kathleen Mitchell and Lynn Kanen. It also tied for 2nd place in Viewer's Choice.

This quilt is called "4H Farm Life 1956." It was made by Ellen Pankuch for her sister while she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Happily, she is now cancer free!

Naturally I loved this horse themed quilt by Sandy Wachta.

These are the challenge quilts for this year. The theme was "A Season for Change." Each quilt encorporated one color from Mark Lipinski's Elements line of blender fabrics. Mark is a member of our guild but he was unable to be at the show this year because he was in Houston at Quilt Market with his new exciting product ventures. The challenge was won by Amy Buehler for her quilted leaves, the last quilt on the right.

These were the quilts that various members made for charity.

Here we all are at the end of a windy but wonderful day!

Brown Bear almost there!

2009-10-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here is the completed top Of the Brown Bear quilt for Kelly's kindergarten class. She is holding it up but refused to be photographed. I also made her a flannel board story set from the fabric that had large pictures of all the animals all over it. I hope the kids can see that the corner blocks are supposed to be bear's paws. I'm not sure a six year old would make that connection but I think they're an important design element. I'm not going to go crazy with the quilting at this point. Maybe I'll embellish it a little more after she is done using it. It will be making its debut on Thursday for the culmination of her bear themed week.

On-Line Quilt Festival II

2009-10-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

Amy aka Park City Girl had a wonderful idea last Spring for an on-line quilt festival. I posted my Quilt Maker's Gift quilt for that one and I'm excited to participate and view everyone's quilts once again.

This is a quilt I made last Spring for my daughter's kindergarten class. I loved Eric Carle's books when I taught preschool years ago and I was excited to use his gorgeous fabrics for a quilt. My daughter Kelly gives each child a turn to lay on the quilt at rest time as long as they take their shoes off. It was a very coveted honor in last year's class. This Fall I'm in the process of making another quilt with Eric Carle fabric based on his book Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Hopefully it will be ready for her class Teddy Bear picnic on October 16th.

Return from Fantasy Island

2009-08-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

I just returned from our third family vacation to Hawaii. This trip we stayed at Poipu on the southeast shore of Kauai. A number of movies were filmed on Kauai as well as the 70s TV show Fantasy Island. This is the view of Shipwreck Beach from our hotel.

On our first night we did the traditional luau at Smith's Tropical Paradise on the Wailua River. Colleen and her husband Dennis are on the left, Kelly and her fiance Braun are center and Red and I are on the right.

This is the 100 foot high waterfall that we had to kayak 4 miles up the Wailua River to and then hike another 3 miles to reach it. We were a little skeptical at first but it was definitely worth it!

Dennis, Colleen, Kelly and Braun taking a surfing lesson on Hanalei Bay on the North Shore.

This was on our trail ride at Silver Falls Ranch. We rode in the shadow of the mountain that is the rainiest place on the planet.

I want to keep the image below burned into my mind to sustain me through the cold New Jersey winter. We hope to return to Kauai in Summer 2011 to do all the cool things we didn't have time to do. Aloha and mahalo Kauai!

Sea Girt 5K

2009-08-04T06:37:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday I ran in a 5K race in Sea Girt, N.J. This is the 3rd year I participated in the race with my husband , my daughters and other members of his extended family. This year there were 13 competitors from the Brady Bunch, including 7 year old Tyler who ran with the big boys for the first time. My time was just over 42 minutes which sounds terrible, but I was pretty pleased since it was 7 minutes faster than last year. I really want to keep training throughout this year and shoot for between 35 and 40 minutes next year. Here's a picture of most of the Brady Bunch that participated.

In addition to training for the race, I have been riding Clue 3 or 4 times a week and I can now canter over cross rails. I'm going to attempt to post a short video since I got a new Nikon Coolpix digital camera that takes short video clips.

It's Melissa Sweet for the bridesmaids

2009-07-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we went to the Priscilla of Boston bridal salon in Short Hills to shop for the bridesmaid dresses. The girls decided on this one shoulder style (minus the feathered headpiece). It doesn't look like much in black because the detail on the bodice isn't that noticeable. There are tucks in the silk charmeuse fabric going vertically on one side and horizontally on the other. I'm not usually a fan of asymmetrical things but the design is really different and interesting. Kelly's bridesmaids will be wearing the dress in Tiffany blue, a much different look. Next on the agenda will be my dress. Since the girls will be in blue, I'm thinking maybe a pale iris color. I've always been a big fan of purple.

Another Eric Carle quilt for Kindergarten

2009-07-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is my next project. I got this material at a a quilt show last Spring when I was working on the Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt. This one goes with the Brown Bear, Brown Bear book by Eric Carle. I hope to have it finished by late fall when Kelly will be talking with her class about animals getting ready for the winter. I wasn't sure what to do with the fabric on the bottom. I was trying to decide how to encorporate it into the backing and Kelly suggested making flannel board pieces out of the big animals. What a fabulous idea. I've been teaching high school for too long, 20 years ago when I taught preschool, I would have thought of that myself!

One Block Wonder finally finished!

2009-07-31T07:48:00.000-07:00

I started this quilt in March of '09 so I am really glad to have it a done deal. I didn't want to do the same old stippling on the border that I usually do so I tried a different free motion pattern which is in the picture on the left. It's sort of a zig zag in a 9 patch configuration. The other picture on the right is a closeup of one of the hexagonal blocks. The flowers made me think of the '70s flower power symbol so I tried to use that motif only I doubled it.

Here's a picture of the quilt on the bed in the small bedroom at the shore house. I didn't have anywhere to put it at home and I didn't want to just fold it up and put it in a box. My husband likes the quilt but hates the pillow. He says its "old lady flowers."

The picture below is of some applique pillows that I made last year for another bedroom at the beach. I really love sand dollars as a motif and I drew the seahorse myself which was pretty amazing for me!

Kelly says Yes to the Dress!

2009-06-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday my daughters and I went to Kleinfeld's Bridal Salon in the city to shop for Kelly's wedding dress. We bought Colleen's dress there in February of '07 and we were really excited to go back for Kelly. We have also become addicts of the reality show Say Yes to the Dress. (I currently have 11 episodes on my TIVO which we watch ad nauseum.) They were having a trunk show of Jane Wang's designs that day and she did buy one of her gowns. It was so cool to actually meet the designer. We got to do this with Colleen's gown too.

We met Anne Barge and Colleen purchased one of her dresses for her wedding. We saw Ronnie and Mara, the owners and a few of the consultants that were on the show. Sadly, we did not see Randy (our favorite) or Keasha, who we hoped would be our consultant. Ironically we got Judith, a very sweet, helpful lady who also was our consultant with Colleen's gown. Here's a picture of "the one." Next on the agenda will be bridesmaid dresses. I'll post when we decide on that next.

Photo is from Brides.com

Ruth McDowell Iris blocks rediscovered

2009-06-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

As I was searching for something else in one of my plastic bins, I came across these iris blocks that I made a few years ago. I couldn't decide what to do with them at the time so I forgot about them as other projects crowded them out. They were my first attempt at paper piecing from a workshop I took at Budding Star Quilts in Lebanon on Ruth McDowell's pieced flowers. I think now I might make them into a long rectangular wall hanging to hang on a narrow wall in the shore house. I also thought of putting them in an irregular setting in a square quilt. I would love suggestions or other ideas from anyone that has one.

Here's the One Block Wonder with the borders. I was going to applique the flowers from the fabric but I decided the center of the quilt was busy enough and I liked the idea of fussy cutting the purple flowers for the corner blocks. I think it ties in the purple color with the border even though there isn't purple all over the center of the quilt. I really like this quilt now with the border on it. Before I put it on, I thought it was just OK and I liked many other One Block Wonders better. I have a new free motion pattern I'm practicing for the border. I really like stippling but I'm getting tired of putting it on almost every quilt. The new pattern is a perpendicular zig zag in a nine patch layout. I like the way it looks on my sample scrap. Now I just have to practice so I can do it evenly.

New Jersey State Guild Quilt Expo

2009-06-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

Here are the pics I took on Saturday. I got there a little late but I still saw all the quilts and spent more money than I should have. However, I'm well stocked for the summer when I can sew everday if I want to!

This quilt was done by Lacey Hill . I loved the cityscape fabric and the interesting use of black, white and yellow. I'd like to make a quilt with these colors for my daughter sometime. She coaches tennis at Hanover Park High School and their colors are black and yellow.

I really like the 3-D edges of these Dresden Plate motifs. It was an interesting spin on a very traditional pattern. It was done by Dawn Hayes.

Adeline Hart made this one. I was intrigued by the concept of the quilt more than the actual quilt itself. I would put pictures of people or places you went on a trip and make the angles of the olded cards a little smaller to get more depth.

This was an amazing landscape quilt by Linda Vizi. Another maybe someday idea to make for the shore house. Landscape quilts are really appealing to me. I even have a collection of fabrics to make one but like I said, it's still on the someday list.

I loved the abstract quality and uneven edges of this quilt which was done by Jane Lange . It makes me want to break out of traditional pieced blocks and rectangular borders and bindings. I have to work on this!

This quilt inspired me to try to start using fabrics that I wouldn't normally choose to go together. In addition to wanting things symmetrical, I also tend to want my fabrics to be matchy matchy. I'm learning that the really interesting designs don't do this and taking risks with colors and patterns really gives you something spectacular with the end result. This was done by Carol Benner. She had a comment from the workshop she took with Kaffe Fasset. She said his words of wisdom were, "Keep it simple, keep it calm."

I saw the technique used on this piece on an episode of Fons & Porter. However, I liked the effect she added of the foreground/background of looking through the garden fence. This one was also done by Lacey Hill. I guess I'm a fan of her work. I'll have to keep an eye out for her stuff in the future.

When I first looked at this quilt, I was kind of puzzled as to how it won a ribbon. Then I read the paper posted next to it and it was made by Caitlyn Campbell who is only 10 years old! Way to go Caitlyn. Can you imagine the work she'll be doing by the time she's 50?!!!

And last but certainly not least, the quilt that won Best in Show by Anna Faustino. I hope you liked my view of the show. I really love to see photos on other blogs of shows I couldn't possibly attend. It's another great thing about blogging.

Cool Down Close Encounter

2009-06-13T06:07:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was finishing up another great ride with Clue, I decided to take a nice slow, relaxing walk the long way down the driveway to the barn. About halfway down I saw a white bird with a long neck. I thought it was an egret at first, but then I saw its black and orange beak and realized it was a swan. I wasn't too crazy about the idea of walking past this thing because swans can be pretty nasty and I was worried that it may decide to attack us rather than run away as we got closer. Thank God Clue is such a good horse. I was scared but he didn't even bat an eyelash. My theory is that this swan flew the coop over at Peapack Park a few miles away. He probably got sick of his boring mate and their new brood and went looking for some excitement. I think he was having some species confusion though, because when I got my camera to take his picture he was flirting with a Canadian goose who was hanging out on the other side of the paddock fence!

I went to the New Jersey State Quilt Show yesterday and took lots of pics. As always, there was lots of inspiration, amazing work and shopping! I'll post the pics on Monday since its much easier to upload them at school.

A fun horse for me, finally!

2009-06-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

I feel like I should have been sewing this weekend but the weather was so beautiful, I couldn't pass up a chance to ride. This is my daughter's roan quarter horse Jump to Conclusions aka Clue. She bought him a few years ago and showed him in Beginner Hunter and Pre-Adult Hunter classes. She hasn't been riding or showing much this Spring so I've been trying to get on him whenever I can. After 30 years of having horses with my husband, I am so happy to have a horse that is fun and easy to ride for me. I have always been stuck with his crazy racetrack rejects or riding my kids show ponies for them. Clue is quiet and sweet even if you haven't been on his back for months. He can jump 2'6" and does automatic flying lead changes. My plan is to finally ride consistently this year and get so that I can trail ride him and even have lessons with my daughter's trainer jumping a small course of fences. I haven't done this since I was in my 30's! I'm even going to start giving her money in installments so he is either partially or all mine so that when she doesn't want him anymore, I can keep him for myself! Stay tuned for pictures over fences. I estimate a week or two!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Update

2009-05-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

Last month I put up a post about a quilt I made for my daughter's Kindergarten class that she teaches. She told me something about the quilt yesterday that almost made me cry. I asked her if the kids enjoyed the card game and pop up book that I gave her to use with the quilt. She told me they were a big hit and that each day she picks one child who is allowed to lay on the caterpillar quilt for rest time with the condition that he or she removes their shoes. She said this has become a very coveted priviledge in the class! I hope the Brown Bear Quilt will be a just as loved next Fall!

Halls of Inspiration

2009-05-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

One of my sources of inspiration for quilt designs and motifs is the fabulous student artwork in the hallways of the high school where I teach. I am continually amazed at the quality and diversity of the work the kids produce. We are also lucky enough to have an absolutely outstanding group of teachers in the Art Department to be mentors to these talented students. Here is a sample of just some of their work that visually appeals to me. Enjoy! I will post more at another time. The bulletin boards change every week or so.

Derby Day Doings

2009-05-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon as I was cutting the borders for One block Wonder, The Derby pre-show was playing on the TV. Every year when I watch the Derby, I look forward to the day when my husband won't have to work on Saturday at his family's restaurant and we can have a Derby Day party. When we finally get to have that party, I have a collection of Kentucky Derby mint julep glasses that I have been acquiring for about 10 years. I always enjoy Mark's features on his various collections in Quilter's Home Magazine so I thought I'd share mine.

I currently have a total of 35 glasses. They take up two full shelves crammed together in the curio cabinet. The one on the left was my first acquisition. My husband brought it home when he went to the Derby with his Dad in 1991. The second is the oldest one from 1964. The next is the newest one purchased at Delaware Park last summer when our mare Tayazi raced. The last two are my favorites, the "Rose Glass" from 1986 and the one from 1973 when Secretariat won. This was soon after I met my husband and I started learning about Thoroughbred racing. He got his trainer's liscense in 1976 and won with the first horse he saddled, a mare named Culinary Art. A very ironic name considering she was purchased with money made from a restaurant! We have bred and raised about 15 foals over the years and claimed a number of other horses. There is nothing more exiting and nerve wracking than waiting for a mare to give birth except maybe watching the baby you raised cross the finish line first.

This year's Derby was the ultimate illustration of why people get into Thoroughbred racing. A horse purchased for less than $10,000 left the multimillion dollar babies in the dust! It's not very likely, but dreaming and hoping it can happen to you is a lot of fun.

My other Derby Day activity was starting my collection of selvages to use when I make projects from Karen Griska's book Quilts from the Selvage Edge. Check out her blog at www.selvageblog.blogspot.com. You will be amazed at the things people do with stuff that you usually just toss in the garbage. Before you cut another piece of fabric, cut a 1 1/2" strip off the selvage edge and start saving them!

One Block Wonder evolves

2009-04-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

Here is my One Block Wonder top with all the kaleidoscope blocks assembled. I purchased a pale green fabric to make an inner border and a purple one to make an outer border. While looking at pictures of other people's One Block Wonders on Google Images, I got the idea to broderie perse applique some of the flower motifs from the original fabric onto the border. Maybe I'll try leaves and stems too. Stay tuned.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

2009-04-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

I published a post about this quilt last month but I am making another post to participate in the Blogger Quilt Festival I discovered today on Amy's aka Park City Gal's blog. I designed this quilt based on the children's book The Quilt Maker's Gift.

My daughter Kelly teaches kindergarten at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, N.J. Last year, I went to her class to do a project with them on quilting and I brought the book to read to them. I was so inspired by the story and the illustrations, that I went home and designed and made the quilt. This year, when I returned to do the same project with her new class, I brought the quilt and they found the blocks on the quilt after reading the story. Some of the blocks were much more challenging than anything I had pieced in the past, so I really learned alot from making it. The block in the center has the title embroidered on it and the bird, butterflies and blue waltzing Siamese cats are done in raw edge applique. To learn more about the festival, click on the icon at the top of the right column. I can't wait to go and look at all the other quilts!

Getting Back to One Block Wonder

2009-04-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Last April, my guild Common Threads Quilters had a Saturday workshop. One of the members, Sherry Cowley taught us how to do One Block Wonder from Maxine Rosenthal's book. The thing that amazed me the most about this technique was that you could use a really hideous fabric and it could turn into something quite interesting and visually appealing. You need to use a fabric that has a large, graphic print and you need to buy enough yardage for 6 repeats of the pattern. You cut the fabric into repeats and pile them up one on top of the other with the patterns exactly lined up. Then those pieces are cut into strips across the width of the fabric. Those strips are cut into equilateral triangles so you have six triangles that are cut from the exact same place on the printed pattern of the fabric. These triangles are sewn into half hexagons, three triangles per half.

The design on the fabric comes together in the center of the hexagons to form a kaleidoscope effect. You design the layout of the quilt with these half hexagons pinned together. When you have your layout, you unpin the halves and sew them together in vertical strips. When the strips are sewn together the hexagons with the kaleidoscope centers come together and the wonder happens.

This is the fabric I chose for mine. I thought the blues and greens would look nice in one of the bedrooms at the shore house. Some people used Asian fabrics that came out very interesting. If I did this again, I think I would choose a fabric with a bit more contrast for greater visual impact in the kaleidoscopes.

These are the pinned half triangles laid out on a table ready to be sewn into strips. I often feel guilty about leaving a project sit for so long as I did with this one. The pieces have been sitting in a plastic bag since last August. However, I have decided this can be a good thing. By leaving it alone for a while, I'm coming to it with a renewed sense of motivation rather than responsibility. Also, I picked this fabric out in the Spring and chose it for a summertime environment. Now that Spring is in the air again, I have much more motivation to work with it.

Very Hungry Caterpillar

2009-04-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

Whenever I have a vacation from school, I try to sew as much as possible to see if I have what it takes to be a professional quilter when I retire from education. This past week saw alot of hours at the machine. So much so that my husband told me he couldn't take listening to it anymore! I was able to finish my Very Hungry Caterpillar Quilt for my daughter to hang in her Kindergarten class. I got the pattern/kit from My Hands to Thee at a quilt show in N.J. last Spring. Her website is http://www.myhandstothee.com/ The fabric is also available from the Eric Carle Museum website. www.carlemuseum.org/Shop Click on the link on the left hand side for fabric. The museum shop carries the entire line of fabric which isn't always available at shows and shops.

Since this was "cheater" material, I decided to try to quilt it with some more detail than just outline and stitch in the ditch. I got brave and stippled the center panel with a variegated thread. This was the first time I did this where the quilting showed up against a contrasting color. I also tried angled rather than curved free motion in the orange outer border. I left off the last border that came with the pattern because Kelly was concerned that it would be too big too display in the classroom. I love the "jelly bean" fabric and the bright colors of the fabrics were very cheerful to work with.

I also bought fabric that was just released to go with Eric Carle's Brown Bear book. I hope to have this one done for her so she can read the book with the kids at hibernation time next year.

Ravelry On-line Knitting Community

2009-04-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

I have just spent almost an entire day exploring this awesome site. My fellow teacher Dave Foster (the Chem guy) told me about it. His friends created it. They have groups to join for every imaginable purpose. I joined one for quilters who also knit. Check it out if you knit at all, you will be amazed ( and possibly addicted too!)

The web address is http://www.ravelry.com/.

Knitting with Corn

2009-04-01T05:05:00.001-07:00

I went to Why Knot Knit in Chester yesterday after school to get a button for my pink and purple alpaca sweater. I was seduced by all the beautiful yarn, it's almost as bad as fabric. I bought yarn called Amaizing and it's made from corn fiber. It reminds me of this stuff called Fentex that I made a bathing suit out of in the late '70s. It's very soft and the colors are bright and pretty but it's a little slippery to deal with even on wooden needles. As with my last project, I probably spent a little too much on the yarn but I think making the investment is a source of motivation for me to finish the garment. My other source of motivation is my target date of wearing it on our vacation this summer to Poipu on Kauai. I'll be thinking of luaus, snorkeling and horsebackriding on the beach with every stitch.

Knitting competes with quilting and horses

2009-03-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

Last summer I picked up a book called The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. In addition to it being an engaging story, it also inspiried me to try to knit again. I have always been pretty good at crocheting since my Mom bought me a kit for Christmas to make a window pane vest when I was about 12. Remember those? I could never knit anything I liked because I hated purling. Also, on my last attmept to knit a few years ago, my granddog dachshund Frank kept running away with my needles and yarn. Crocheting can be rescued and repaired from the jaws of a mischievous wiener pet but knitting is a lost cause. This time around I first attempted a scarf and then got really brave and bought $75.00 of yarn at an amazing yarn shop in Basking Ridge, N.J. called Down Cellar.

This is the leftover yarn. It is hand-dyed wool, alpaca and silk and feels amazing. I used two strands at a time with size 11 needles and it took me about two weeks to make.

And here is the almost finished sweater. I just need to find a really cool button to put at the neck and a shirt to layer under it and I can wear it. I acquired two new skills while making it, using circular needles and double pointed needles.

Even though my husband is probably right and I'm nuts, I would love to see at least one of our pastures change from horses to alpacas. He's had horses and I've helped him and the kids with theirs for the last 30 years. I think I'm entitled to an alpaca if I want! Now I just have figure out how to come up with the cash. These babies don't come cheap and they have to be kept in pairs or they get neurotic or something. The only good news is I like the less expensive breed, the Huacaya which is shown in the picture below. They are supposed to be very friendly and gentle and they don't spit like llamas. Yet another maybe someday.

Paula Nadelstern on National Quilting Day

2009-03-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Through searching blogs on Quilting Bloggers (see link on right border), I discovered the Empire State Quilt Guild Show at FIT which was held this past Saturday and Sunday. When I saw that Paula Nadelstern was the speaker on Saturday, I said I don't care if my husband hates it when I go into the city, I'm there! Her talk was very interesting, informative and amusing. I was surprised to hear her say that she didn't consider herself a great artist, she can't draw that well. She was not a great technical seamstress, her points don't always match and she isn't very neat. I was so happy to hear all these things because I have all these traits too! The other great assertion that she made was that in her book she did not consider any method whatsoever of constructing or quilting cheating.

She showed this picture of a rug in a very upscale hotel in Houston. Many people at Quilt Market noticed it and told Paula how much it reminded them of her kaleidescope quilt designs. When Paula checked it out she knew they had stolen her design. It turned out that a decorator had photocopied a picture from her book, taken it to the rug company and asked them to make a rug out of it. At first, lawyers told her she didn't have a prayer against suing a big company, but Paula persisted and she won! The lesson that she wanted to share with us is that it is well worth the $45.00 to register your original designs if they are not published in a book. She won her case only because she had published them and that was her copyright.

This was a quilt Paula had on display from her Puzzle Quilts book. There are pairs of blocks that are constructed exactly the same but I can't tell even after she revealed which ones they were.

Here are pictures of the other quilts on display at the show that really caught my eye for one reason or another.

I always love the horse themed quilts. This was done by Diana Berthold for the Hampton Classic. I must have a hundred pictures of my daughters jumping fences like this at local shows that I'll have to turn into quilts. The paint horse below is called No Hour Lost by JoAnne Powell. It reminded of a horse named Kaleidescope that we used to see showing on the New Jersey circuit.

This is called Undulating Swirl. The metallic thread quilting on this piece was amazing! I also loved the movement the placement of the black half circles created.

This is a blooming 9 patch done with Kaffe Fasset Fabrics by Jody Beitzel. I am always on the lookout for quilt designs that are relatively easy construction wise but have alot of visual impact.

This is Marty's Ties by Renee Kane Fields. It was made for a colleague of hers on his retirement out of all his ties since he wouldn't be wearing them that often after he retired. It reminded me of those skirts we wore in the seventies and one of the first quilts I made. My niece lost her fiancee in a tragic accident a few months before they were supposed to be married. She brought me his boxer shorts and wanted me to make them into a quilt. I thought she was nuts at first but in the end I was glad that I was able to make something that brought her comfort.

This New York Beauty titled Fortune Wheels by Anna Sinitsyna was awesome. These blocks seem so difficult to me, I'll have to try it to challenge myself someday. There's that someday again.

This is Monster Mash by Lauren Dietrich. I love the bight colors and whimswical monstoers. It reminded me of the two Eric Carle quilts I'm making for my daughter's kindergarten class.

Purple Jane by Debra Bevin

Blue Sky and Sunshine by Anna Krassy

While waiting for Paula to start her lecture, there was a slide show of a number of quilts inspired by Brenda Papadakis' book about Jane Stickley's Dear Jane quilts. The two quilts above were in the slide show and also on display at the FIT show. Another was done in all blue and white so I bought a pack of fat quarters to make my own once again to save for someday. I think I love just about anything that is blue, it is definitely the predominant color in my stash.

This was a wonderful day, well worth the admission fee. The icing on the cake came at about 3:30 that afternoon as I was buying my late lunch in a deli on 7th avenue. My daughter Kelly called to tell me that her boyfriend had proposed to her! Now I get to make that other wedding quilt (see Wedding Bell Blues from 3/12) and I get to plan another wedding! The only thing more fun for me than shopping for fabric is shopping, planning and making stuff for a wedding. I better enjoy this one while it lasts 'cause I won't have it again until granddaughters!