What is blooming here

  Everything has been blooming very fast. The tulips blew by in a couple of days due to a heat wave. I have not planted much in the ground because it is so hard and would have to be soaked a great deal. The colors have been outstanding and a joy to look at.
   I wish I could figure out how to make quilts with these photos. I do not like how fusible flattens out fabric. I just hate the thought of all that glue in the sandwich. Quilts that are at least 36 x 42. Not digital prints on fabric.

Pink Tree Peony

Magenta Tree Peony

Shrub Peony

Red Poppies!

Stello d'oro lilies

    And lastly, the fish are back outside in their pond instead of in the basement in a big pot.

Red chairs and red table on deck

    I just love flowers. I have a small yard, which is ok. I have a small deck. Recently we spray painted some old chairs red, hunted for a small table (Ikea), sprayed that red and the deck looks great. I just planted my boxes, some pots yet to do. This explains why there is less quilting going on. Still some, but less.

Mystery Quilt on the wall

     My guild started a mystery quilt from a well known quilter. We received clues every month. Last June we got a list of what fabric to buy which was hard not knowing what the quilt was going to look like. I picked bright and contrasting batiks and a Stonehenge with hints of lots of colors in it. The last clue was way too long as it finally showed the quilt but had so much assembly to do. I don't know if I can post its name. It was intermediate level. I did not want to do it, but they needed one more person in order to get the clues. I do love the colors, but I would not have chosen to make it because of all the repeating blocks and all those triangles. It did all fit together.

      I changed the sashing between the blocks to a dark blue with orange cornerstones. It was supposed to be the same plain Stonehenge. I thought the blocks looked too isolated that way. The last border was supposed to be the dark color that is the outer triangle of the next to last border. I thought it really put a dark frame on the quilt and did not let the blocks shine. Because I changed up, I had only a smidge of Stonehenge left for the outer border. If I had more of that Stonehenge, I would sew a thin dark border and then another Stonehenge to make it fit a double bed. I think the odds of finding that Stonehenge is pretty slim. I think I will bind it with that dark batik.
   It really is much brighter and lively than the photo.

A bunch of cards

     It is easier to make multiple cards even if I only need a couple of them. To pull out scraps and make the kind of mess I do and sew all those tiny pieces is better served when I make a batch. They seem to get used up pretty fast.
    I should probably make a dozen at a time. These cards were made with batik scraps on heavy weight interfacing with nylon netting over it and free motioned on a Singer 30.

Very special spool doilies

     When I was in Paducah, at one of the scrumptious church luncheons, was a lacemaking guild demonstration. I cannot imagine how people make the lace with all those bobbins hanging all over with such thin threads. The lace is really beautiful. One woman was giving away tatted bookmarks that she had made. I saw it and said I would love tatted spool doilies the same weight and look. A while ago, I was given one that I love and tried buying some on Etsy, but they were too thin and curled up. The crochet ones don't have the same elegance. I am not a fussy decor person. I love simple blinds and my walls are white. I don't like curtains. But doilies for the spool pins on my vintage machines, ahh, so nice.
     I talked to the woman, Tammy, and she asked for my email and said she would look up some patterns and when she had some time, she would try and make one. Shortly after arriving home, she emailed me photos and color choices. I ordered five and they are just perfect in size, weight, and color. I just love them on my machines. These machines are the ones that are always out. Each serves a different function. Thank you, Tammy, you're the best!!

The treadled 237 for zig zags

The 401 for zig zags, satin stitch, blind stitch

The 301 for most piecing

The 15 treadle for scrap piecing

Closeup on 15

15-91 for purses, heavier sewing

The siren call of lavender

    Last week,  I went to New Haven, CT to help my sister in law pack up and get ready to move to Rochester, NY as she has retired from Yale. Part of the deal was taking a lot of stuff to Goodwill from her basement and closets. Upon entering the store, perched on outdated electronics rather precariously and unceremoniously was some lavender metal. I was drawn to it and saw it was a Kenmore machine. Only the foot controller was with it, missing the bobbin case. However, it just looked like it had been a beloved machine. It was so attractive among the old VCR, lamp and other electronic detritus. It seemed foolish to even think about it. I found the model number, 158.504, and turned the data on my phone and looked to ebay to see if a bobbin case was available. There was.
      I walked all over the store, but the machine was begging to be rescued. I forced myself to leave with my husband and sister in law and bemoaned the lavender machine all the way back to her house. Since I had a headache, I took a nap and while I was sleeping, my husband went back and got it for $20.00. It was there when I woke up. I was afraid to plug it in in case something nasty transpired. I did not think burning down my sister in law's condo a week before it closed was a good idea. I found the manual online and downloaded it. 
     When we returned to Buffalo, I oiled it all and then started it up. Perfect running. Now I am just waiting for the bobbin case to see how it stitches. I polished it a bit, waiting for the case. The lavender is just so lovely, so real retro. I could not resist the siren song of the lavender Kenmore.

Just the condition I found it

Back

I'm Sarah's guest today!

 

Double tulip from my garden

     Sarah asked for guest bloggers for her Hands2Help challenge this year and I volunteered again. Writing directions is not one of my strong points, so I needed help and editing. I think that the Disappearing 9 Patch that self sashes is a quick and beautiful quilt to make. I am honored to be a guest blogger and pray someone will benefit and make some gorgeous quilts!
http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2015/05/hands2help-introducing-our-next-guest.html

My garden for a few short days before the heat

The Fading Charms still growing

    Using leader and enders from my other quilt sewing, the borders are getting bigger. I have to add white all around again, a row of single squares, another white, white and color squares at least.

Ah-mazing workshop

      When reading Sujata Shah's blog, I noticed she was going to be teaching in Ithaca, NY. My sister in law lives in Ithaca. She quilts. She has a guest room. So I went. Sujata's book is Cultural Fusion Quilts, which is a great book to use. You cannot find a nicer woman, so willing to give personal attention and design help. She explains things very well. It was such a joy to take a class with her. I can't wait to dive into making quilts this way. It seems to resonate with how I like to work. It is not improvisation- it is using a block structure and bending it. Color is very important. Her Indian background provides a lot of her inspiration. Think Indian colors, Gee's Bend ideas, and tradtional blocks playing along with each other.  Here are my blocks of learning techniques from the weekend:

Lattice top, Windmill bottom

Peppermint Pinwheel plus wonky flying geese plus endless mountains border plus wonky quarter square triangles

Rail Fence

Zig Zag and Crazy Quilt blocks

Crossroads block

Couple of finishes

     Among all the other things I am trying to move ahead on, finished the binding and everything on a Laurel Burch jungle panel and another exploding squares comfort quilt. Both long armed by me (not great).

Back

Front

Just needs sleeve to go to grandkids

Quilt Story from Paducah

     Quiltweek Thurday night in Paducah, the Broadway Methodist Church had a dinner they called fine dining. Was it ever. Cloth tablecloths and napkins, beautiful china, flowers, and such awesome food. They use this as a fundraiser. The whole hall was draped with antique quilts. We had a chicken breast stuffed with cranberries and a chardonnay sauce, green beans wrapped in bundles with bacon and baked, roasted different colored potatoes, homemade rolls, and the most exquisite chocolate pie I ever had. We had to try hard to mind our manners as we wanted to pick up the plates and lick them. Unbelievable. 

Quilts made for the church

    After the dinner, they held a story time about quilts hung in their sanctuary that evening. One man told most of the stories, except for this quilt below- a narrow quilt made for a Graham double bed. One very frail elderly lady came to the microphone. She said her kids would kill her if they knew she was out. She said she was compelled to tell its story. She was not a quilter. 
    She first told how her husband and her had attended the church for many years- from the destructive flood in 1937 to the opening of a plant in town in 1951 that brought in such an influx of people that the infrastructure couldn't handle it. (I looked it up later, it was a uranium enrichment plant- Yikes!). After attending services Sunday morning, her husband would travel to country churches Sunday evenings where they held big suppers and sold quilts to raise money. Her husband loved quilts and bought them. They had chests of quilts. She mentioned a Graham bed they had which was narrower than most. (I have not been able to find any info on them or a photo).
    When he became very ill, he asked his wife to get this quilt out of the chests and put it on their bed. It is not a masterpiece quilt or anything the Quilt Museum would keep. It is a humble fabric quilt made lovingly by someone to fit a particular bed. He slept clutching it tightly. When he became so ill that Hospice was called in and had a Hospice bed in the living room, he insisted that quilt be with him all the time. One night, the nurse woke the woman and she went to see her husband, who had just passed away, comfortably tucked in this quilt. Kleenex time. She was so determined to tell us all this story and I saw the relief on her face when she was done.
    Really, this to me is what quilts are about, what inspires me. They are a personal hug. I will never make it in a big quilt show, but I am privileged beyond measure to have had cancer patients find comfort in the bits of cloth I put together for them.  I made quilts for all my family. As much as I love art quilts and such, this story is my homebase for quilting.
    I have a couple of story quilts of my own made by my mother in law. Sometime, I will share their stories.

The quilt for a Graham narrow double bed