Some Birthday Fabric

My DD Chelsea who is in Albuquerque, New Mexico working on her masters degree for geology from the University of New Mexico, gave me some fabric for my birthday.

We have been on the same wavelength because lately I've had a hankering for this more modern fabric. I'll always like the warmth of the more traditional fabrics for quilting, but this is something light and fresh, just what I need right now.

Here's what my DD #2 Chelsea has been up to...smile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRneUe7td9c

She and a group of grad school students at the University of New Mexico went on a snow shoe hike to Jemez Springs and hilarity ensues.

EVERYONE'S A LOBO...WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

smile.

The sun, the sun the beautiful sun

I had to cancel our Northeast Quilting Friends meeting today because the roads are so slippery. They usually get the roads prepared, but, somehow they underestimated the slickness and wrecks were everywhere.

But, the sun began to shine. Here is the sun in the foyer.

Sun in the backyard.

The sun in the front yard.

Happy Quilting!

I finished my Dad's quilt

Retreats are great for finishing things. My dad's mother died when he was 12 years old. His step mother gave this grandmother's fan quilt top to my mother. A few years ago my mom gave it to me. I was able to finish it at this retreat.

I had already done the quilting and all it needed was the binding. I was able to piece the binding out of reproduction fabrics. The rest of the quilt top was in pretty good shape except for a few stains I could not get out.

My favorite batting comes from Quilt King Products in Liberty, Kentucky. If you go there you can take a tour of the manufacturing business. They tell me it's their own mix of polyester batting. My machine loves it and it has a very nice relief around the thread ditch. It's also light weight yet warm.

Go on a Quilt Retreat...it's lots of fun

The best solution for the grey Kentucky days, besides a Caribbean cruise, is taking a quilt retreat. I did that the last couple of days. Inside is bright and shiny while outside was a typical winter day soupy grey.

Pieceful Haven has lots of elevated tables for cutting-no breaking your back bending over. There is enough room to baste quilts and spread all our quilter stuff out. Cause you know we quilters like our stuff. It's probably a rare quilter that operates it a minimalist house.

Taking my trusty Pfaff 1475 I spend the day with like minded quilters that can appreciate the sound of a smoothly operating machine and the laughter and dancing-yes dancing, we had some good music in the background.

I'm working on something a little different

A long time ago quilters used fabric from worn clothing to make quilts. They could be beautiful but more often than not they were made for practical reasons. Then there were the calicos in feed sacks and of course the Victorian era rolled around and we were give the joy of luxurious fabrics and embellishments but we were still limited.

It wasn't until the boom of quilting began I think around the 1976 bicentennial celebrations that brought us the fabrics we enjoy today. This article at Womenfolk.com explains this very well.

Today we have the nicest variety of material to create our artwork. I was at a retreat this weekend and here are just of few of the beautiful types being made.

Family Ancestry, Snow and Quilting

The generations are important, I suppose, if for nothing else they give us a glance of what our future might be like and then again, maybe not.

Here is my 4 generation family. This is my Grandmother Margarete Julia Ann; Mom Marlene, named after marlene Dietrich; my daughter Chelsea Elizabeth; and me Elizabeth Julia Ann named after my dad's mom and mom's mom.

We've been in the deep freeze of winter and I've managed to clean my dining room/quilting room. I really like this room for quilting the windows bring in the right amount of natural light. The wooden floor is great for scooting my chair as I quilt.

Even though we are getting ready for Quilters' Day Out and I've been pretty busy helping with the committee for the event, I have managed to finish this quilt top. It was a 3 part series of patterns in Mccall's Quilting Magazine. I also subscribe to Quiltmania magazine. It's got really different projects and sometimes the English to French conversion isn't all that smooth, it's still my favorite magazine.