Happy 2020! Let's Get Quilting!

Have you made a "One Block Wonder"? Believe it or not, this table runner is made with the same block only in the form of a square instead of a hexagon! The "What's In The Box?" table runner is only 5 blocks but finishes at about 50"long. It can be lengthened or shortened by changing the number of blocks you make. Most who take the class can finish 5 blocks in class and only have to add borders to finish the table-runner when they get home.

Choose a food-themed or holiday runner like the Halloween one pictured at the top or the
'Floating Boxes" optical-illusion quilt using novelty fabrics shown below. And, it's a great stash-buster! All you need is 1 1/2" strips in light, medium and dark of one color to create the sides of the 'box' and a small amount of fabric for the inside. These are show-stoppers!

Contact me if you'd like to have me at your guild or with a group of friends at your home.

A (somewhat) Modern Take on a Block Exchange

 I belong to a wonderful group of 15 quilters who exchange blocks in June of each year then 'reveal' the quilt they've made at a fun, all-day party in December. We are called the Calendar Girls and we've been together for 15 years. 

For our block this year, we were supposed to make 10" blocks using a white background color with batik prints in "tropical fruit" colors. I've had this quilt finished for a couple of months but couldn't reveal it before our party which was last week. I wanted to try something modern and this is what I came up with. 

Look closely and you can see that I cut up several of the blocks which I hoped my quilting buddies' wouldn't mind! I incorporated the leftovers into the backing fabric and everyone was OK with that--LOL!

Here are a couple of the other quilts that were made with the same blocks. Kim and Diana's quilts are BEAUTIFUL and so very different from mine. Don't you all want to try a block exchange now? 

Two Finishes!!

 It isn't often I finish something. I START new projects all the time but finish? --Quilted, bound and with a label? Oh boy--that doesn't happen often. I blame my penchant for  going to quilt shows and subscribing to a myriad of quilting magazines. They inspire me and make me go "SQUIRREL" all the time! So, I decided I needed to finish these 2 small projects which will be a new class for me to teach.
On the right is, "I'm Your Kitty" and on the left, "Who's Your Honey". The title of the class will be "Charming Silhouette" because they use one Charm Pack, less than a yard of border fabric plus a silhouette I provide. These wall-hangings measure about 35" x 40", a nice size to finish and hang for all to enjoy!

The Yolo County Fair

It's county fair time where I live and I entered two quilts to be exhibited. It seemed to be a 'blackbird' year for me for some reason and I really love both of these quilts although they're quite different. I earned a 1st in my division with my "Birds on a Wire" quilt,  but was very pleased that it also got a "2nd Best Over All" ribbon the best ribbon I've ever gotten!


My other quilt got a 4th place but the placement of the quilt within the show made up for it. Here's a view of it as I walked up to the entrance of the hall--the 1st quilt you see when you walk in! I adore this Lorna McMahon pattern of Sew Fresh Quilts!

I'm quite happy! 

RETREAT!!

I hope you have experienced a quilting retreat. Two, three or more days of concentrating on nothing but your favorite pastime--quilting!! For 15 years now, about 10 of my quilting buddies and I have been traveling about 4 hours north to attend a "Linda Ballard Mystery". You bring the amount of fabric she suggests not knowing what you'll be making and take one step at a time until the quilt is revealed!

I've done over 30 of these mysteries so I don't always participate and this was one of those times when I did my own thing. I brought 5 projects that were at various points of completion from not started to ready to quilt. . .  and wouldn't you know it. . .  I bought a kit from the vendor present (Morning Star Quilts from Chico CA) and made that too!








Aren't these cute Halloween placemats? There's a hexagon table-topper too! Took me less than 2 hours to make the tops and backs before quilting!

I watched a tutorial on Missouri Star recently on how to cut striped fabrics to make "T" and "O" blocks. I tried it at the retreat and it worked so well I shared it with the rest of the retreat participants. You can see it on the "Quartered Stripes" tutorial here.

Every one of us put deposits down on next year's retreat starting 360 days from now!

Now go check out what everyone else has to show on Judy's blog.

Bird Seed

I follow a few quilt blogs and one I really love is at SewFreshQuilts. "Let's Bee Social" is written by Lorna McMahon who has a wonderful spirit and wit and obviously loves animals, as I do. Her patterns are well-written and, best of all, they can be (very reasonably) purchased and immediately printed on your home printer--instant gratification!


Her Blackbird pattern really caught my eye and I just had to make one. Here's my pre-quilted rendition. Isn't it cute?


There are a LOT of tiny pieces in her pattern, the blocks of which measure 6" square !! I have to admit that I drafted a larger version so mine are 9" square. I call the quilt "Bird Seed" because the background fabric is 'newsprint' advertising seeds and flowers--something I didn't realize until I was cutting it up.

Seriously, check out Lorna's blog!

An Obsession

ob·ses·sion

 [uhb-sesh-uhn] noun the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

I think most people have obsessions, at least in the minimal sense. You might be obsessed with a delicious food you believe you can't do without (although, I'll bet you could), or a sports team, (Go GIANTS!!) or a physical pastime (I know some really "dedicated" cyclists).

Personally, I've always been ga-ga for alphabets and numbers. Anything with a digit, word, name, especially if it's a fun or unusual font. Last year I happened upon a Moda blog hop. Three blogs a day for a couple of weeks and a pattern for a letter of the alphabet at every site--Yippee!! I rose early every morning to download the patterns, kept them in a pretty pink folder, collected striped and polka-dotted fabric from my stash waiting for them all to be revealed before I began.

As an added bonus, they included patterns for not only numbers from 0-9 but several punctuation marks too! I had to make the quilt even though I had no earthly need for an alphabet quilt. I know no one having a baby, don't even have a sister OR a SIL to anticipate a niece or nephew. Yes, I have grown children of childbearing age and they even have spouses (7 years each) but, nahh, that's too much to hope for.

Still, I made this adorable quilt anyway and I enjoyed the process SO much! Those blocks are 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" and were pretty darned tedious to make--but I loved every 1"x 5" border strip on every block and every 1"corner square to round out some of the letters. Those 4 non-letter blocks are tiny hand appliqued critters designed by me (I didn't like the pieced block in the pattern).

It's now pinned and ready to quilt (with, what else? a 'cheater' alphabet fabric on the back!) Who will be the lucky recipient? One can only hope.

UPDATE:

This is my finished alphabet quilt, only 40" x 40", winning a blue ribbon at my own Valley Quilt Guild's quilt show in March. The title of the quilt is, "For When A Grandbaby Comes Along". When our daughter saw this quilt, she fell in love with it. I raised an eyebrow and told her it could be hers one day. Her reply was, "I think we're going to have to seriously discuss having a baby!"

A Splash of Color

There’s something just a little off in my house like a piece of a puzzle gone missing. It’s not quite in my line of vision but just over my shoulder and it’s bugging me.

Over the 12 years I’ve lived in this wonderful house, we’ve done our share of remodeling; redesigning the kitchen, enlarging the closets in the master bedroom, putting in a more efficient fireplace, and, most recently, remodeling two bathrooms. We have one right off the kitchen attached to a guest room by an L-shaped hallway. This whole area was nicely wallpapered and cheerful so we didn’t see a reason to change it--until now.

One wall of the hallway is just visible to the kitchen and living area and I have a quilt hanger there where I’m able to hang a large quilt appropriate for the season. Guests wouldn’t notice it right away as it’s sort of tucked back from an open doorway but usually, sometime in their visit, they realize there’s a wall of scrappy color there and is see them smile.

Last week, our contractor was here demolishing the bathroom and stripping the wallpaper from all surfaces of the bathroom and hallway. Of course, all hardware, light switches and my quilt and rack had to come down. We are left with a talc-colored wall where color should be. I find myself doing a double-take every time my eye wanders in the direction of that cubby-hole. Naked. Bland. Sad.

I never realized how the addition of a colorful quilt in just the right spot could make for a happy and comforting impression on my psyche. Mine was like a cushion for my kitchen’s granite tile and a reward for a nicely cooked meal.

The wallpaper I chose is coming next week as is the paper-hanger. I’ll be sure she puts my quilt rack back up before when she's done!

Learn Something New--Take A Class!!

We all love to create beautiful quilts! Whether drafting a new design on paper or in EQ7 or sewing in our sewing rooms, creating something new and beautiful is a wonderful feeling. Personally though, MY favorite way to sew is to do it with friends. Devoting a whole day or two, or on an extended weekend retreat, there's always something new to learn or to discover no matter how many years you've been quilting.

Why not sign up for a class?! Imagine spending time with no phones to answer, no household cares to divert your attention, just a pleasant day to learn, to chat, to create.

I offer five classes in diverse designs (see the left sidebar of this blog) but my newest classes are "CHARMING DRESDEN." and "SALVAGE YOUR SELVAGES".

 The Dresden Plate block has been around for decades but with Darlene Zimmerman's new ruler, you'll be chain-piecing your way to a delightful table-runner or lovely wall-hanging in a few hours. And the "charming" part derives from the fact that you only need one Charm Pack (or 40, 5" squares from your stash) and a yard of background fabric to make these delightful projects. After the 'blades' of the plate are made, you'll learn a slick way to fashion that circle that makes up the center of the plate and I'll then teach you how to hand-stitch the blades into place on the background. No, it's not exactly applique as there'll be no edges to turn under!

What do you do with the printed selvages of all the fabric you use? Why not use them to make something colorful, fun and useful? I offer an organizer for keeping track of all the charger cords we need when we travel or a protective case for your e-Reader, i-Pad or laptop.

I would love to come teach at your guild or in your home with a group of friends. Please
contact me for more information by emailing steeledome@gmail.com or by calling 530-757-1685.

Time for a Change!

It has been ages since I posted to this blog--shame on me! I have been concentrating on my other blog RabidQuilter3.blogspot.com which I use to post my quilting progress each and every Monday. Why? Because of the entertaining blog www.patchworktimes.com by Judy Laquidara, a wonderful quilter from Missouri (who's moving to Texas as I write). She posts to her blog 2-4 times a day (!) but her Monday blog encourages quilters to post what's on their design walls and boy, do they! At least 65 quilters from around the world post photos and comments about what they're currently working on. It's like going to a quilt show each Monday and is very inspiring. I encourage you to take a look at it.

This brings me to my topic for today: Change. I found a quote last weekend by Martha Stewart on the occasion of her 70th birthday (!) which was August 3rd. 

"When you're through changing, you're through"  

In this world of rapid technological advances, I see the older friends I have being left behind because they won't take the time to learn to use a cell phone, to text, or learn basic computer skills, even email! How will they keep in touch with their friends and family--their grandkids!--who have learned them, and how will they live without the information available from the vast and wondrous gift that is the internet? Oh, sure, there are problems associated with the World Wide Web but the benefits are spectacular! You virtually have libraries, atlases, museums and universities right in your lap! Every question answered in a few minutes, photos and scenes from every inch of this world. 

One of my favorite things to do is scour quilters' blogs. There are so many creative people out there it boggles my mind! And U-Tube videos? You can find a tutorial for every quilt technique you can imagine. 

How would I ever have gotten the inspiration for this challenge quilt I made without the internet? My quilting group played "Three Little Words" and mine turned out to be aqua, the queen of hearts and fireworks. Cruising through Google images helped me come up with my queen and a mention of Swarovski crystals sealed the fireworks plan (though you can't see them very well in the photo. . . ). I plan on trying new things and challenging myself for a long, long time before I'm through!

Classes For You!

After quilting for about 18 years and working in a quilt shop for 5 years, the next obvious step was teaching quilting classes. And you know what? It's my favorite part of quilting! Getting to know other quilters and sharing tricks, tips and, most of all short-cuts with them, is a pure joy.

A great stash-buster class is "What's in the Box?" This is a fun way to use up the novelty fabric in your stash to make a popular "eye-spy" quilt or a theme quilt. You can choose to make it as small or as large as you want too.

"Woven Silhouettes" is a technique class that's mostly 'no sew'. Using Anna Faustino's beautiful book "Simply Stunning Woven Quilts" you'll learn how to weave and fuse a smashing background for any image you'd like to feature. Apply one of the silhouette patterns I'll bring or use one of your own then add borders and you'll have a lovely wall-hanging.

 
Turn the selvages you might ordinarily throw away into a useful charge-cord travel carrier or iPad or e-Reader case with my newest class, "Salvage Your Selvages"



"One-Fabric Kaleidoscope" from Maxine Rosenthal's inspiring book "One Block Wonders" is a class I've taught over 30 times. I've made 6 "Wonders" personally and have a lot of tricks for cutting, chaining the pieces, making them lie flat and designing with those amazing "blossoms" you end up with.

Contact me through this post or by email, steeledome@gmail.com, to arrange a class for your guild or a private class with your quilting buddies!

Missing Lee

I’ve been a very sad quilter for the last week because a dear friend of mine passed away after an 18-year long battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I’ve just returned from her “Celebration of Life” and feel revived with the spirit of love and friendship but still ache for what she went through especially the past 2 years after enduring an experimental treatment at Stanford which, sadly, destroyed her lungs. When her lungs collapsed 2 weeks ago, she refused further treatment, called everyone to say good-bye and left this earth.

Her call to me was to ask “an enormous favor”. Oh, anything Lee, ANYthing at all. Her request was for me to finish 2 quilts she’d started for her daughter and her niece. Lee had only made a few quilts and she was very precise and thoughtful in her process so I hope I can complete them as she would have wanted. These black, white and red heart blocks meant for her niece Caitlin are a quilt-as-you-go method and I’m honored to finish them for her.

Lee lived to see her daughter from college traveling to Oregon only last month to attend the ceremony. She met the boyfriend and his parents and was very happy with her daughter’s choice. I know this meant the world to her. Lee was always cheerful, having that sort of smile that made her eyes squint and twinkle. She was so intelligent and well-read and she was a wonderful cook inviting friends to her immaculate home often. Lee was 61.

I’m so lucky to have had Lee call me ‘friend’ for the past 8 years. Our circle of friends is a tight one and although our light will burn a little less brightly, we will continue to watch and discuss movies together and don our purple dresses and red hats while keeping Lee in our hearts forever.

Calendar Girls!

The first thing I did when I decided I wanted to start quilting was join a quilt guild. I chose the one closest to where I live, of course, the Valley Quilt Guild in Yuba City which, in 1994, had been a thriving guild for 6 years. Within a few months, I’d made friends, joined a weekly group, Thursday Stitchers, who made quilts exclusively for community service, and learned a lot from speakers and classes afforded to members. Within a few years, I’d become the Rabid Quilter I am today and wanted even more!

I’d heard about ‘Round Robins’ and thought it’d be fun to get a few people together and try one. I was allowed to make such a plea on stage at one of our guild meeting and asked people who wanted to form such a group to meet me at the break. I chose a nice large area as I envisioned being inundated by interested quilters. No one, not a single person, showed up! Huh. Not to be deterred, I tried again at the next guild meeting a month later this time with a little more enthusiasm and again, nothing. Was I speaking a foreign language? Did I smell?

The following month was our “Make a Difference Day” sew-in where the majority of our guild got together at the local shopping mall to sew quilts for community service. I hadn’t given up my idea but this time had formulated a better plan: I wrote the names of each month on 12 slips of paper and put them in a bag. I’d carefully chosen 11 other guild members who followed a criteria I thought necessary to have a successful group: 1) they were are women I wanted to spend time with 2) they were decent quilters (at least not TOO much more ‘decent’ than I) 3) they were productive, showing completed quilts on a regular basis so I knew they had time to quilt.

I walked up to each one in turn and asked them simply to pick a slip of paper out of my bag and meet me at a certain table at lunchtime. To my delight, ALL of them showed up, intrigued certainly by the paper with ‘January’ or ‘August’ written on it. I announced that we were now The Calendar Girls! Each was to make 12 blocks that depicted their month in any way they chose. They could make all 12 exactly the same, all different or somewhere in between and we’d exchange blocks at a future date. Only one person declined having just taken a new job but we’d made enough of a stir in the room that others had eavesdropped and one of them stepped right up and volunteered to take her place.

We got out our calendars and decided on a date 6 months hence to meet with our completed blocks. Our first block exchange led to 12 finished quilts six months later and we’ve been meeting twice a year ever since. Next year will be our 10th year together and while a few Calendar Girls have moved away or passed on, we thrive, changing the theme, size and color of the blocks we make each year. We are now 16 quilters and I can honestly say, these are my best friends, more like a family than anything this ‘only-child’ has ever known.

And we’ve made some pretty spectacular quilts too!

A new class!

After many fits and starts, I finally come up with a quilt I love that makes for a fun new class! Creating a new class is time-consuming: you get an idea, labor over the quilt, sometimes make it again ('cuz it didn't turn out exactly the way you envisioned it), then create precise directions and get the word out!

Seems like I got it right because when I taught it for the Amador Valley Quilters, they had great success!

"What's in the Box?" is a quilt I've been toying with for years! It's construction is very similar to the One Fabric Kaleidoscope believe it or not, but the 3-D effect makes it so fun! This is perfect for an "Eye Spy" quilt for a little person in your life, filling the boxes with bugs, food, and/or other fun things, or put any type of fabric in the boxes just for that eye-bending coolness that gets great comments.

I've been collecting "food" fabric for years and this quilt is full of edibles--some good for you, the rest, treats! Ask your grandchild to "find the potato chips" (or cookies, lollypops or jellybeans) then challenge him or her to "find something good for you to eat" (like artichokes, apricots or grapes).

What's best is, this is a real 'stash-buster' quilt. Using a light, medium and dark strip from one color family, you can turn triangles into 3-D boxes of fun.

I'm available to teach at your guild or local quilt shop and I even do private classes in your home for you and your favorite quilting buddies. Contact me at steeledome@gmail.com

I learned something today: I have a LOT to learn

Ask any kid in school if they like history and I’ll bet the vast majority will say ‘no’. All those dates to memorize, presidents to learn, battles to read about, facts to dissect-- personally, as a kid, I never really understood why we needed to know all that stuff. I guess I’d never had a teacher who impressed upon me that knowing what came before us directly and completely makes us who we turn out to be.

My husband somehow understood this from a young age and his enthusiasm for history has played a large part in my desire to devour every bit I can find on certain subjects, one of which is quilting.

I have a small collection of antique quilts and have a lecture on the subject in which I talk about my experience finding quilts at small-town auctions, tag sales, thrift, antique and junk shops, along with some anecdotes on the history of quilting and fabric in America. It’s a rather entertaining lecture if I’m to believe attendees and I’m always trying to increase my knowledge of these treasures by reading, taking classes and attending seminars on the subject, when available, to keep my lecture fresh and up-to-date.

Every time I do, I realize what a vast amount of information there is out there about how our forebears fostered our passion for quilt-making.

A couple of Sundays ago, I spent several hours with some fascinating historians. Most of us would think of these particular individuals as quilters but because of their desire to know about old quilts and their search into the making of quilts that came before us, they become something more.

Julie Silber and Joe Cunningham (of The Quilt Complex http://www.thequiltcomplex .com) and Barbara Brackman held the seminar, “Julie and Joe’s Quilt Adventure,” entralling a lucky roomfull of quilt buffs with their knowledge of why people made the quilts they made and when and where they made them. This particular day was spent at the San Jose Quilt Museum where the exhibit “Still Crazy”--as in crazy quilts--was on display. Learning that the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia was the empetus for the inspiration that became a crazy quilt frenzy from roughly 1883-1893, threw me not into the art of putting pieces of cloth and fancy embriodery stitches together, but the churning, changing, complex mix of people, world trade and world events that is this fascinating subject, history.

Crazy quilts have never really appealed to me. It might be because they tend to be dark and heavy, or that most of the ones I’ve seen are in bad condition or unfinished. But when surrounded by crazy quilts that are highly embellished works of art, truly the best of the best, the quilter in me develops an instant bond with these treasures and I suddenly have no trouble understanding why quilters’ needles were taken up to produce what became epic stories and some, masterpieces.

I’ll bet most quilters don’t give a thought to how this art, this pastime, this passion of ours got started; where did all these patterns come from? who, what and where was their inspiration? why has there been the ebb, flow, fad and craze of certain patterns in certain decades? I encourage all quilters to pursue these questions at every opportunity and I can think of no better teachers than you’ll find at The Quilt Complex.

New Year's Resolution 2010

I’ve decided on a New Year’s resolution for 2010: I’m going to start quilting. Those who know me and have just read this are laughing. According to them, they see me as such a prolific quilt maker, I’m accused of having found a way to cram an additional hour or two into each day. Oh if they only knew.

Allow me to explain:

Do you subscribe to quilting magazines? I do, and I love them! Finding one in my mail never fails to put a smile on my face. I’m inspired by the patterns offered, the historical stories, new gadgets, even the ads for new fabric lines and stores half-way across the country. I can’t remember the last time I read through a quilt magazine without dog-earing at least a page or two, certain that I’d find time to make the quilt, look up a particular website or draft a block from something that inspired my creativity. I have stacks and stacks of magazines waiting for me to rediscover these projects. Oh sure, I also have countless quilting books and patterns purchased from the quilt shops I frequent, and photos I’ve taken at quilt shows and at the monthly show-and-tell sessions at my quilt guild. I have a couple of binders full of gridded paper where I’ve drafted ideas for blocks, setting diagrams, borders and such that will certainly come in handy one day when I need a project.

Then there’s the 2 quilt books I received for Christmas: The book that’s sure to become the essential Coffee Table Book for every quilter, “The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns” by Jinny Beyer (with over 4000 pieced block patterns in it!) and “The Amish Quilt” by Eve Granick which I’ve wanted for years. It will take me weeks to read and pour over every inch of these inspiring books.

And what about the internet! For example, type “dog and cat quilt blocks” in Google and see how many websites offer public domain patterns, pieced, appliqued, foundation pieced, you name it, in every shape and size. I often spend an hour or two each night just ohh and ahh-ing over website after website.

Here’s the thing: all the time I’m spending every day with all these sources in front of me are keeping me for the actual act of quilting! I have so many ideas I don’t know where to start! And don’t forget all the UFOs sitting on my shelves. E-gads, I don’t know when I’ll find time to do all this quilting if I don’t stop reading and collecting and being inspired by all this media. Instead of heading for my chair in the living room after dinner every night and picking up a magazine, book or laptop, I need to start heading for my sewing room to SEW!

OK, resolved, that’s what I’m going to do beginning January 1, 2010. . . now, which project should I start on first?

A Wonderful, Fun, Delicious Class!

I took a quilt class yesterday! I can't remember the last time I took a class without my quilting buddies! Months ago, I found myself in Thimble Creek, a wonderful quilt shop in Concord, CA, and saw that a talented quilt designer I'd long admired was giving a class and I signed up for it on a whim. Never mind that it took place on December 11th, a date that I had no business booking, knowing how hectic that time of year can be. I found, as the date approached, it was going to have to be sandwiched between and Odd Fellows/Chamber mixer, an overdue oil change and two promised batches of cookies. But fabulous multi-tasker that I am, I made it.

Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs treated us to an entertaining and informative day in "YoYoville" one of her spectacularly fun patterns. Everyone brought a 'goodie' but Anne and staff had delicious quiche and a towering bread pudding (arguably the highlight of the day) and we laughed and sewed our hearts out with nary a machine in sight! Yes, Anne is an applique artist and taught us how to make yo-yos and little houses and trees that will adorn our merry quilt when done all with needle and thread from our own little paws.

The pattern calls for a twin- or double bed-sized quilt but I'm choosing to make a wall hanging so I have some sort of assurance that it will indeed be finished one day. I have a LOT of hand sewing to do and I look forward to recalling my fun day every stitch of the way!

Biography of a Quilter

I enjoy lecturing to guilds, mostly because I love to meet quilters. When I receive a request to lecture, I, of course, must sign a contract. Recently I was asked to also provide a biography by answering questions from a questionnaire so the guild could know a little about me before they heard me speak. Oh, a biography. . . what do I say? Will I be able to sound interesting without risking egotism? Should I start at the very beginning, embellish the facts, leave out the failures? It was a challenge, but this is what I came up with.

QUILT BIOGRAPHY

My interest in quilting started at the age of 6 when my mother taught me to embroider. As an only child, solitary interests were most natural to me and sewing fit right in. I next learned to sew on the sewing machine starting with the aprons my mother wore then graduated to clothing in 4-H and Home Ec at school. I’ve always enjoyed mixing and playing with color and patterns so quilting was an obvious progression. Also, the fact that I could feed my tactile passions without actually having to make anything FIT, as in clothing, made quilting an obvious choice.

I’ve been quilting for 15 years and have begun to dabble in art quilts but always come back to traditional quilting. I think of modern quilts as variations on a traditional theme. I’m particularly fond of green and have no use for drab quilts so anything bright and colorful is that I enjoy working with.

As far as techniques, I love hand work but not necessarily when working on quilts. I see sitting at a sewing machine, jumping up to press, moving to the cutting table to square up my prices then attaching them to my design wall as active, calorie-burning fun! Applique or embroidery is saved for the waiting room of my car repair shop and plane trips.

Original designs? I rarely take a published pattern and make it 100% as designed usually changing the configuration of the blocks, maybe setting them on point, or adding components, but I buy lots of patterns and books for inspiration.

I didn’t grow up with quilts. Every memory of my maternal Grandmother includes her sitting in her rocker by the window crocheting. I never saw her cooking or sleeping, just crocheting and I have a bureau full of bedspreads, tablecloths, doilies and dresser scarves to prove it! Although my mother taught me the basics at the sewing machine, she had little patience for reading patterns or following directions, always thinking she had a better, faster way. No one ever taught her how to avoid “bird nests” of thread at the beginning of a seam and I remember her throwing the sewing machine out of frustration on more than one occasion!! Actually I credit my father with teaching me a lot about sewing. He was a shoemaker by trade so knew how to sew things together and match patterns expertly. He even helped me to make my prom dress--a difficult Vogue pattern I constructed out of lavender satin!

I am most inspired to make quilts when I go to quilt shows or by looking through quilt books, old and new but I often think of a song title, movie title or phrase and dream up something to make that way. I find when I’m working on a quilt for someone else (a gift or a group project) I’m inspired by that person. But the most fun is going into a quilt shop and being stopped dead by some amazing fabric or fabric line and just HAVING to make something out of it!

I’m a born shopper so, when you get right down to it, my favorite aspect of quilting, is visiting every quilt shop on every trip I take and selecting fabric, patterns and books to buy! Putting the top of a quilt together is the fun part and pinning the quilt is the chore I dislike most. Getting down on the ground to pin the quilt is one thing--getting back up, quite another! When fusible batting came out, I thought I’d died and went to heaven but I find regular batting, with its softer drape, more to my liking.

Has quilting changed my life? Completely! In 15 years, I’ve gone from a consummate Soccer Mom to my dream of teaching, lecturing and, when asked what I do for a living, being able to say, “I’m a quilter!”. My home is filled with quilts I’ve made and antique quilts I’ve collected (90 at last count). I’ve endeavored to become proficient enough at this craft so I can teach quilting--then I can live vicariously through my students and thus, don’t have to personally make every quilt I find beaautiful! It’s such a pleasure to watch someone who really didn’t think they could do it, assemble their small scraps of fabric into beautiful works of art. And when I see my fellow quilters’ smiling faces in the audiences when I lecture, I know I’ve truly reached my dream of filling my life with quilts and quilting!

The Pace of Life

Is there ever a time when we're not in a hurry? It seems I'm always rushing; to finish a quilting project, to get to the bank, to get all the groceries on my list--so I can get home and hurry to make dinner. Sometimes I think I've been rushing for so long, it's impossible to slow down! Maybe this need to get things done quickly is programmed into me. Memories of my childhood always include my mother encouraging me to "hurry up"! Reading a book, watching TV, taking a nap, these were wastes of time in her eyes. You needed to be productive at all times--wash the car, water the plants, bake some cookies. She used to honk her horn at cars in front of her not moving fast enough and there were times when she would leave her cart of purchases in line and leave the store because the check-out clerk was taking too long! I soon learned that if I was going to get my mother's approval, I was going to have to be productive and do things FAST--and I've been rushing ever since.

Many years ago, for one of my New Year's resolutions, I sincerely wished that I could learn to 'slow down'. A short time after that, I severely hurt my back which put me totally out of commission and forced me to think before every move for years. Be careful what you wish for!!

Now, with my husband close to retirement, I'm practicing the art of slowing down. I'll be spending a LOT more time with my husband --which I'm greatly looking forward to--but he wasn't born with the 'hurry-up' gene and has that ability to relax, meander, stroll and just sit and think which I envy. I've started allowing myself time to sit in my backyard to read a book (something my kitties love)  instead of only listening to audio books when I'm driving my car. I also find an afternoon nap once in a while to be a delightful treat!

One thing that will always drive me crazy is a slow internet connection! I live where high-speed internet is not available and waiting for websites to load and photos to send is quite aggravating. I'm happy to say that just today, WiFi came to our neighborhood and I 'hurried' to get hooked up! I can now enjoy watching the YouTube videos that are sometimes included in an email, I can up- and download friends' photos and I can upgrade my iPhone and computer without having to go down to the local coffee shop and plug in there!

The only downside to this new WiFi is that, when I canceled my account with my former provider, I lost my email address and the ability to access any mail I get there. This is the address that my business cards show!! ARRGHHHH!

So, hereafter, you can reach me at:   STEELEDOME@GMAIL.COM. 

I promise if you write me, you'll get a reply but you might have to wait just a while. . . I might be taking a nap.

Very Special People

There are many stereotypes associated with quilters: they tend to share better than most people, they think of others before themselves, they're honest, they like to wear denim, they make great potluck dishes and they're generally very fun!

Quilters come in all shapes, sizes and ages and I find that the people I call 'friends' who are quilters span a far greater age range than people I know in other parts of my life. I keep in touch with a handful of people from high school who are exactly my age, I belong to a couple of organizations where there are mostly just-ready-to-retire to fairly-newly-retired in age, like me. But since I teach quilting, I'm around people in their 30s to people in their 80s.

I learned many years ago that if you expand your circle of friends to include people 20 years younger as well as 20 (or 30!) years older than yourself, your life will be much more interesting and educational. I teach a Block of the Month class at Beehive Quilts in Woodland and have become good friends with a woman who's 30-something and one woman pushing 70. They are both delightful, creative, smart and fun to be around. I find they think about things just a little differently than I do and are attracted to colors and patterns I've not noticed and it often opens my eyes.

The younger one talks about the crafts fairs where she vends her handmade bags and purses, fairly brimming with enthusiasm and energy. She's into these new retro fabrics that really didn't do anything for me until I saw some of her wonderful projects. The older woman's calmer pace and careful thought process suggest she has experienced a lot of this before and wants to be sure each project is exactly right and not slap-dashed just to say it's finished. When she lingers over her choices for a particular project, I want to say, "just pick a fabric!" Yet, after careful scrutiny (and maybe a stop at one or two other quilt shops) she finds exactly what she's looking for and executes such a work of art, I have to agree that slowing down and being patient IS the way to complete fulfillment.

I may teach quilting but I will always be a student of the craft. Quite often, I'm absolutely certain, I learn more from the people IN my class than they learn from me.