Madam Quilter

Pillow Talk

2012-01-28T14:50:00.001-05:00

In my basket of quilt binding left-over’s, I found thisbright yellow fabric, added cording and made my own piping.

Below is the Birth Sampler I made after Ben was born. I trimmed it to fit a 12 x 16 pillow.

Using 2 strips from a jelly roll, cut to 1 1/8 incehs wide, I added cording to make the piping. Both pillows have the same blue fabric on the back.

Happy Birthday Ben, on Sunday, Happy Birthday Luke, on Tuesday.

Happy Birthday Dan on Wednesday!

Making Old New Again

2012-01-24T17:55:00.002-05:00

Below is a birth sampler I made almost 31 years ago afterLuke was born. It was in a frame stashed away in a closet. I removed it from itsframe, trimmed it down, and added a border, as it will now become a pillow.

Free Motion Challenge

2012-01-22T23:14:00.000-05:00

I think I have pretty good tension, and semi-smooth stitching here. Then it came to me, I realized I know why I have such a problem with free motion quilting. You see I have a terrible sense of direction. It really baffles me, I just don't understand why I have this problem. Even shopping in a mall, I tend to exit a store in the direction I entered it thinking I'm going the other way, and the list goes on. So relating to free motion quilting, I have a hard time deciding which direction to go, where to stitch next. I've been practicing on my iPad, just finger drawing the design, maybe I just need to practice more, and more, and more.

You can find out more about this challenge here.

Laundry Room, Shoes, Daisy, Giraffes, Corona!

2011-11-22T17:50:00.001-05:00

LAUNDRY ROOM...
Last month we discovered a pipe leak in the laundry room. This required the drywall to be removed in a few sections, the wallpaper taken down, the floor ripped up, then a new wall, paint & floor. I don't have any before photos, but this is during and after.

Cutting mats and rotary rulers are great for cutting vinyl, who knew?

New floor half done.

Appliances back in place, we built new shelves for over the washer and dryer.

More new shelves, the furnace is behind the door.

Even more shelves, these are ClosetMaid wire racks, the baskets are from Home Goods, we use them for shoes.

SHOES...

Beth moved out of our house and in with a friend, these are just some of her shoes she packed in her car!

DAISY...

When Danielle graduated from college, she brought home this little Pug, Daisy. I can't believe I'm actually posting dog photos, I'm not much of dog fan, but she has an awesome personality.

GIRAFFES...

These are Danielle's Giraffes. She has been working on the project for well over a year and it's been on my design wall.

Her project on my table...

It was time to take back my wall and sewing table, so we made her a design wall! We covered it with 2 layers of batting because the board was pink and showed through.

Yeah!

CORONA...

A member of our sail club organized a purchase of used billboard canvases from Billboard Tarps. We choose if we wanted the back white or black. Most are using this to cover their boats for the winter, we are covering the top of our wood pile. When we unfolded it, it was a Corona ad, how fun is that!

The tarp is 11ft x 40 ft.

10 Foot Corona's

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Quilting Bloggers Fall Splendour

2011-10-08T12:48:00.000-04:00

Hi All,

I just entered my "Falling Leaves" quilt in the Quilting Gallery's Weekly Themed Contest. By popular vote the top 2 winners receive free fabric. If you get a chance please vote for me..."Falling Leaves" - Marlene Reasoner. Voting ends this Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 11:59pm.

Vote here:
http://quiltinggallery.com/blog-posts/

Thanks
Marlene

Project Sunkissed

2011-08-08T22:28:00.001-04:00

Project Sunkissed is now under construction, just a few more cuts to make and the sewing begins...
I added a few "blues" to spice it up a bit.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

2011-07-22T23:14:00.001-04:00

Back in early May, my Dad had a stroke thankfully not a severe one but bad enough. He sat in "his chair" for over 12 hours before he could call 911 for help, needless to say, too much time had past for him to be given TPA. He then spent 6 weeks in a wonderful rehab facility in Mesquite, TX, and is now home. He is walking now without the use of a walker and his right arm/hand are getting stronger everyday. He still has a long way to go, and the doctors are still recommending he not live alone. (Mom passed away in 2008) My sister Karen has been living with him this summer, but will be retuning to work once school begins in late August. (Did I mention he lives in Dallas, TX) More decisions to make...

Now comes July...This is the house my husband grew up in, it's in northern New York State. His Mom is in her mid 80's and also cannot live alone. She is going to be living with her youngest daughter Sue, in Ohio. The past two weekends were spent cleaning out her house of 57 years, and getting it ready to sell.

My husband Dan is one of six, all his siblings were all there to help along with four of us "outlaws". We had a huge 4 day moving/garage sale, then last Sunday closed the front door for the last time.

Kona Charm Challenge

2011-05-25T23:46:00.000-04:00

The Philly Modern Quilt Guild had a challenge using a charm pack of Kona Solids, adding as much print fabric we wanted to, but no additional solids were to be used. I missed the meeting, so here's my project. I found the outer border fabric on my recent trip to Charleston, using it as my inspiration in the overall design of my quilt.

The Fabric is from Blank Quilting, #4225 Brite Candy Corner.

The center was designed using EQ, and the rest on paper. My solids are appliqued circles that "float" around the compass rose.

The Graduate!

2011-05-09T13:21:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, Danielle graduated from Shippensburg University with a BSBA in Accounting. Here she is being held up by her siblings, Luke, Ben and Beth, all college grads too!

"Forever Stamps"

2011-03-14T19:09:00.000-04:00

My Postage Stamp project is quilted, bound and labeled, it now resides in Charleston, SC.

ROCK ON

2011-03-01T18:54:00.000-05:00

I won this! A Fender Sunburst Guitar Hand Signed (with certificate) by Aerosmith: STEVEN TYLER, BRAD WHITFORD, TOM HAMILTON, JOE PERRY, AND JOEY KRAMER. I was randomly selected as the Sweepstakes Winner for the “Dodge Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon Sweepstakes” sponsored by the Chrysler Group, LLC.

Mug Rug Swap

2011-02-14T20:14:00.006-05:00

The PMQG is having a members Mug Rug Swap. It is basically a mini quilt for your cuppa. Part of this challenge, was to try something new. So here's here's my new... I have been wanting to try Lesley Riley's TAP for some time now, so I purchased a package of it, and I must say this product is awesome!

In Photoshop, I started with the photo above, I removed the phrase and the yellow background.

Then I found the chemical structure of Caffeine.

Married the two photos together and added the text...printed my new image on TAP, then applied to fabric. I used Insul-Bright batting, then quilted it.

Here's the product, a 4" x 6" quilted rug for my mug!

Postage Stamp Quilt Along

2011-02-02T00:53:00.002-05:00

My completed top for the Postage Stamp Quilt Along. The fabric I used was
"Collection for a Cause, Hope" and "Oatmeal Bella Solids"

Close up.

Marathon Dan Runs Again - Phoenix, AZ

2011-01-22T12:58:00.039-05:00

On the 16th, Dan along with his cousin Bill, ran the PF Changs Rock n Roll Marathon in Phoenix, AZ

Here's Dan at mile 5, OH NO Where's Mr. Bill? At this point, he's 20 minutes behind. He finished 1 1/2 hours behind Dan. See Bill run again in Cleveland, and Dan in Atlanta!

While we were in Arizona, we visited the Desert Botanical Garden.

Then Sedonda to see the red rocks!

And the Grand Canyon!!

Sunset at the Eastern lookout in the park.

Ready Sort Sew

2011-01-12T14:19:00.000-05:00

Have you heard, Rachel over at p.s i quilt is hosting a postage stamp quilt along. I'm using Hope Collection for a Cause by Howard Marcus Dunn for Moda Fabrics for my color as I wanted a more masculine look for my quilt.

2010-12-24T13:56:00.002-05:00

Happy Holidays from my Family to Yours!

Solid Cooperation

2010-12-14T23:26:00.002-05:00

Solid Cooperation, when the solids complement the prints. This table runner really is square, bad photograph(er). Overall size is 16 x 72.

Solids Challenge

2010-12-09T16:18:00.004-05:00

PMQG members were given 4 fat quarters of Kona Solids in the colors, Snow, Ruby,Chocolate and Holly. We can add up to 1 yard total of additional fabric, and the project is due at our December meeting. I decided I was going to add 1/8 of yard of 8 different fabric, these solids need a little help.

New Stash Storage

2010-11-18T18:14:00.000-05:00

I have had this storage unit for several years. It had a broken shelf on the left from the beginning, but adding the wire rack units made up for it. I kept my library of quilting books on the top, then the shelf at the top right broke off.

I found this storage unit at Ikea. After Dan and I assembled it, he took the parts that weren’t broken and created the section that sits upon the top.

Project Pure

2010-09-22T08:40:00.000-04:00

The Philly Modern Quilt Guild held a challenge. We started with a charm pack of Pure by Sweetwater for Moda, and we could add 1/2 yard of another fabric. This is my quilt, I named this "Spike Dance", it was drafted using EQ7, and measures 17" x 30"

Ready, Set, Sew...add a Twist of Lime

2010-09-09T17:42:00.001-04:00

We laid all the blocks on the floor to rearrange the colors, using the wall would have been more tedious because it would require going up and down the step ladder too many times.

Here's the challenge, for each X shown below, all 8 fabrics have to be different.

In addition to that, for every set of "spokes", there must also be 8 different fabrics. Mission accomplished!

The blocks were sewed together in rows.

A twist of lime was added for the inner border.

100 Pigs in Love

2010-09-05T11:41:00.000-04:00

100 squares are sewn, now the task is to rearrange the squares to mix up the prints. I sewed them in groups of ten, and placed them on the wall that way. The goal is to not have the same fabrics next to each other.

In Love...

2010-08-29T15:46:00.000-04:00

30 more square to sew...

Go Cutter Giveaway

2010-08-22T15:44:00.001-04:00

Jackie is giving away, yes giving away a GO Cutter! This giveaway is open till midnight EST on Aug 26.

Oz Bound

2010-07-22T18:50:00.003-04:00

"Where Blue Birds Fly"
81" x 81"
2010 Machine Pieced and Quilted

30 Love

2010-07-22T18:26:00.002-04:00

Sew Organized

2010-07-22T18:25:00.000-04:00

I've been sewing the blocks in groups of 10. Using the fabric for the #2 position, and completing each block until all 10 are done. Here I've stacked them together so they are all ready to go. Each pile has the 10 fabrics in the #2 position, one of each fabric for the #3 position, and all the white on whites need to complete each set of blocks.

Love Sewing

2010-07-11T22:04:00.000-04:00

The pieces are all cut, now lets begin. There will be 10 squares with the same color in the #2 position. So I chain sewed them in groups of 10.

I like using the clear foot, mine is a Bernina # 34, it makes seeing the lines easier.

Here's a preview of 8 blocks.

I changed my mind

2010-07-06T18:20:00.001-04:00

It's ok, I looked over my stash and I think I will use 11 white on whites, one for every print.

Sewing Pigs with Love

2010-07-05T17:10:00.009-04:00

Danielle asked, "where did you get that pig fabric"...it is an original design by pygletwhispers on her Etsy shop. However pyglet whispers is currently closed as she is having soon or had a baby.

Sew what am I doing with all these strips? Well, from Quilt Magazine, online, under "Sewing Projects" here you will find QUILT # 108 - Kaleidoscope Pillow, Select the orange button to Download the PDF, it is complete with the pattern, cutting and sewing directions with pictures. Did I mention it is a free pattern? I am going to make this into a quilt. Here is my EQ drawing of the finished project, it will not be in these colors.

Sew how big will the quilt be? Really it can be what ever size you want it to be, but this is what I will do. Knowing that each square is going to be a 7 1/2" unfinished block, sewing 4 together, will give me a 14" finished square block. If I make 25 of these 14 inch units, the size is now 70 inches square. Then I will add a 1 inch inner border, now we're up to 72 inches, then an outer border maybe 5 or 6 inches, not sure yet, bringing the grand total to an 82 or 84 inch square quilt. Making 25 units mean sewing 100 of the 7 1/2 in blocks.
I am going to use 11 different print fabrics, 10 are from the Amy Butler Love line, 1 is the pigs. I have 11 because I didn't want to have exact repeats of the 7 inch block. There are 2 colors in each block, reading the graph across each row AB, AC, AD, ect and will be no AA, BB, CC ect. where the blue color is. The prints are in the #2 and #3 position on the pattern, so while I will have an AB and a BA they will reside in a different location. If I use 10 fabrics, I would only have 90 blocks, now I have 110, which will give me 10 extra to make pillows. Any questions?
Keeping with the scrappy-ness of this I am also going to use 7 different white on whites, 6 for the inside and a different one for the outer border.
Let the sewing begin!

Love Pigs

2010-07-01T22:48:00.001-04:00

220 -3 1/2 strips... Don't you just Love those pigs!

Even More OZ

2010-06-12T21:24:00.003-04:00

My wall is just a bit too narrow for this top, it is 82 in. square. The corners have 2 inch squares like the in the center, I just LOVE how the borders turned out. The back will be pieced with left over fabric from the top, hopefully there will be enough.

Garage Sale Find

2010-05-31T17:33:00.002-04:00

I purchased this lovely Singer model 66 Red Eye made in 1911, at a garage sale. The asking price was $50, I gave the man 2 twenty's and we had a deal. I should mention it was one of those small town front porch "perpetual garage sales."

Giveaways are Sew Much Fun

2010-05-11T16:41:00.002-04:00

Julie does weekly giveaway updates on her blog, that's where I found this one. Thursday at 10am MST is the deadline!

Center OZ

2010-04-27T18:03:00.004-04:00

This is the center for my OZ quilt, measuring 60 inches square. I forgot to mention when completed, this will contain 712 - 2 1/2 inch squares all sewed together individually (not sewn in strips, then cut up) I wanted the square placement to be sort of random.

AQS Blog of the Week

2010-04-26T17:51:00.002-04:00

The American Quilter's Society on Facebook awarded this Blog the Distinction of being "Blog of the Week" Thanks AQS! Woot-Woo

More OZ

2010-04-21T23:56:00.002-04:00

Scarecrow: "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side." I bet he was a quilter! 12 of 25 blocks for the center.

Sewing Oz

2010-04-19T17:36:00.003-04:00

I cut most of the strips from the Oz jelly rolls into 2 1/2 inch squares. I sewed them together randomly, as well as alternating blocks of squares and triangles.

I saw this quilt by Sarah Fielke in the book Material Obsession Two, it's a wonderful scrappy quilt, mine will be from one fabric line.

Kaffe Fassett Book Signing

2010-04-18T20:42:00.004-04:00

Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, at their book "Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts" signing event on April 11th, at Pennington Quilt Works in NJ.

"There's No Place Like Home"

2010-03-31T16:37:00.003-04:00

Moda Sanae OZ, the sewing begins....

Garden Fairy Sees her Shadow

2010-02-20T16:28:00.001-05:00

The melting snow has uncovered my garden fairy, and her shadow. Do you think there will be more or less winter now?

Americas Cup Comes Home Finally

2010-02-14T12:33:00.005-05:00

Americas Cup Comes Home Finally. BMW Oracle Racing team defeats Alinghi 2-0 today in the 33rd America's Cup Match, sailed off the coast of Valencia, Spain.

QAWM Week 2

2010-02-11T21:21:00.002-05:00

51 x 47 Cotton, Machine Pieced unquilted

Week 1 QAWM Sewn Together

2010-02-06T23:29:00.002-05:00

Sewn together, ready to quilt, finished size is 28 x 41 inches....I must say this has been a great sew day!

QAWM Week 1

2010-02-06T15:22:00.006-05:00

One Block, Un-Cut

Nine Blocks, However I actually Made 10.

Cut-UP, Un-sewn....I love what everyone else has done, making it sort of scrappy. This Jane Sassaman, from Jane's Hothouse Garden, is a recent addition to my stash, I think I am more fond of the older ones, they've been around longer, but I do LOVE this fabric, besides I wanted to see the effect of using the same fabric in each block.

Quilt Along with Melody...or QAWM*

2010-01-31T09:49:00.004-05:00

Here's a great stash buster fellow quilters. Melody Johnson is hosting a Use-It-All-Up-Quilt-Project. "I am going to make a very simple quilt block that has lots of possibilities." Email her if you are interested.

Katie & Bens T-Shirt Quilt Completed

2010-01-07T08:23:00.000-05:00

2009-12-16T17:13:00.002-05:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Katie & Ben's T-Shirt Quilt

2009-12-14T17:43:00.002-05:00

Here's a preview of Katie & Ben's T-Shirt quilt. The first photo is the quilt top together, the shirts are mainly of their Sorority and Fraternity days at Virginia Tech. The bottom photo is the backing fabric.

Mainely Quilts of Love

2009-11-14T13:22:00.003-05:00

My blogger friend Margaret, aka supermom, Quick Queen of Quincy Quilting, has recently purchased a Longarm machine and has started up a quilting business. Her work is wonderful. She posted the quilt she did for me on her blog, the falling leaves. The photos do not do it justice, the variegated thread looks just fabulous on this quilt. Thank You sew much Margaret!

Luke and Page

2009-10-30T18:00:00.002-04:00

My oldest son Luke was married over the weekend to a wonderful woman! Welcome to the family Page!! It was an awesome wedding, a great time was had by all!

The Bridal Party: Danielle, Beth, Brice, Page, Luke, Ben, Seth & George.

Beth, Brice, Page & Danielle.

Our Family...Danielle, Beth, Page, Luke, Me, Dan & Ben

Luke & Page on the beach, at Murrells Inlet, SC.

Phantastic Start

2009-10-07T20:46:00.004-04:00

Ryan Howard

Shane Victorino

Jayson Werth

The Phanatic...these are photos I took pregame July 5th this summer.

Game one is history. The Phillies defeated the Colorado Rockies 5-1 in the NLDS. Next game tomorrow again at 2:37 pm. Isn't that an odd time for a baseball game...rumor has it it's because those damn Yankees and or TBS want their game played in prime time. I guess they don't remember the PHILLIES won the World Series last year, you'd think that count for some prime time early postseason coverage.

Come Sail Away...

2009-09-07T12:06:00.015-04:00

In celebration of our Thirtieth Anniversary, this weekend Dan and I rented a Pearson 35 and spent 2 days and 1 night on the waters of Barnegat Bay in New Jersey. The bay is bit shallow, but this just added to the challenge of sailing a larger boat there. Saturday was sunny with winds 7-10mph and lots of boat traffic. Sunday was cloudy and overcast with winds 15-20mph and gusts I'm sure were much higher. There were also 2-3 foot waves. It was a very fun weekend sailing.

Gifts

2009-08-28T18:18:00.004-04:00

These are 12 inch square pillows I machine embroidered to give to sailing friends as a gift of their hospitality. They are made on off white denim and I quilted the background. I think I may make a pair for myself!

2009-07-15T21:12:00.003-04:00

Muriel at Hopaldera was having a giveaway on her blog last week, and I won this beautiful bag, Thanks Muriel!!

Quilters Dream

2009-06-30T19:44:00.003-04:00

I captured this photo from the Horn of America website, this is my new Quilters Dream 3180 sewing cabinet!!! Complete with the storage chest, thread tray and insert to fit my Bernina.

Now I need to clean out what is there to make room. My previous table, that Dan created out of an old kitchen table, cracked on the seams of the wood that were heavily supported, we don't know why this happened, maybe it was just the vibration as opposed to the weight of the machine, anyway the Sew Steady Table would no longer fit in the opening.

Sewing Machine Meme

2009-06-10T21:01:00.005-04:00

The Ladies at Sew Mama Sew are taking a poll on what sewing machine you own and will publish the results at the end of the Sewing Machine Month...

Here are my answers:
What brand and model do you have? Bernina Artista 170
How long have you had it? 10 years
How much does that machine cost (approximately)? $1500USD
What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?
Quilting, home dec, handbags, clothing/costumes
How much do you sew? A fair amount, wish I had time to sew more
How much wear and tear does the machine get? She had a one surgery
Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name? LOVE IT...I never thought about giving her a name
What features does your machine have that work well for you? Dropping the dogs
Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine? No
Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it! In the past year, I've sewed my left index finger 3 times, the needle in and out, why did I do this?
Would you recommend the machine to others? Why? Seriously? Nothing sews like a Bernina
What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine? Cost,
Easy to change stitches or flip through screens, must take it for a test drive to see how it feels
Do you have a dream machine? Yes, my dream machine

Spring Fling Round Robin 3 Sneek Peeks

2009-06-05T21:06:00.004-04:00

Sneak Peek, the first border, in black and white to disguise the true colors...

Here's the second border, for the Spring Fling Round Robin. I'd love to show you the rest of it, after the swap is over I'll post all the steps I did. Round 1 was the center each participant created.

Graduation

2009-05-13T19:39:00.003-04:00

My Niece graduated from St. John Fisher College in Rochester NY, on Saturday, May 9. Beth and I drove up to share this event with them. My sister in law Sherry, nieces Carly and Chelsea, my brother Earl.

Sherry, Chelsea and Earl

Chelsea with her Aunt Dot and Uncle Paul
Chelsea and her boyfriend Corey.

Kitchen Booty Swap

2009-05-13T19:02:00.003-04:00

This is the wonderful little quilt (it is 11 x16 inches) and dish towel I received from Serena who lives in Melbourne, Australia. The swap was also to include a recipe. She sent one for Thai Chicken Sausage Rolls which sound delicious.

She also sent me this cookbook, how thoughtful!

This the little Booty Swap quilt "Make Lemonade" I mailed off, hope she likes it.

Marathon Dan Runs Again

2009-05-13T18:38:00.002-04:00

Dan ran the New Jersey Marathon in Long Branch and Monmouth Beach area, on Sunday May 2, 2009. His time was 3:58.31 which is a 9:05.8 pace. It was a very chilly and rainy day.

Giveaway

2009-04-28T18:26:00.002-04:00

Nadine is hosting a wonderful giveaway, stop by her blog Dream Weavers Quilts and check it out.

Booty Kitchen Swap - unquilted

2009-04-22T18:53:00.002-04:00

The stitching here is from the BOM Kitchen Kapers, I puchased this pattern from Treasured Threads, and the fabric is mostly Tula Pink (Moda) from jelly rolls of Nest and Flutterby.

Peace Train an iMovie by Danielle

2009-04-14T15:57:00.001-04:00

4SQS5

2009-04-08T17:11:00.004-04:00

This is the quilt I made for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. My partner chose pink as one of their colors, and the season is Spring. The second photo should rotate 90 degrees to the right, but for some unknown reason, whenever I adjust photos in Paint Shop Pro, they become pixeled or compressed somehow. I have restored all the default setting in the program, and that did not help, I'm so confused.

Another view of DC

2009-03-22T14:26:00.004-04:00

During our weekend visit to DC, we wanted to see something new to us, so we visited The United States National Arboretum. There we toured the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. Below are a few photos I took.

Dan and Jim run DC

2009-03-22T13:54:00.006-04:00

The Sun Trust National Marathon was held yesterday in Washington DC, there were almost 8000 participants.

Jim and Dan, before the race...
Here's Jim (yellow shirt)at the 5 mile mark...below is Dan (Forrest) at the same mile.

Dan (white shirt) at the finish, with a time of 4 hours, Jim dropped out of the race at mile 7, due to problems with his I T band.

Four Seasons Quilt Swap

2009-03-22T12:46:00.002-04:00

I received my Four Seasons Quilt Swap the other day, it is from Carol in Vermont. I chose the color red, my favorite, with no preference to the season. This is "Summer Sun", an original design by Carol, isn't it just fabulous!

In the Pink

2009-02-19T16:47:00.003-05:00

I started with this photograph, printed it 3 times on EQ fabric sheets, then sewed them together.

I set in some strips of pink...

Then I added a checker border. This is a swap project, but I can't tell you which one till after I mail it...

2009-02-05T17:42:00.003-05:00

In the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living, there is this wonderful project called "Conversation Hearts for the Tech-Savvy" where using a rubber stamp and food coloring for ink, you can decorate iced cookies.

Here are mine...using a rubber stamp that says "all you need is love". I made these for Luke and Pages engagement party, they would also be great for Valentines Day!

A New Year, A New Outlook, Yes We Can

2009-01-22T20:58:00.003-05:00

The phrase Yes We Can, relates to many things. Beth and I are going to embark on new fitness goals, starting with the P90X set of exercise DVDs. I'm sure we will have to modify a few moves. She has been on crutches now for 2 weeks, suffering from her second hip stress fracture from running. Last year she had a stress fracture in her right hip and required 3 screws to stabilize the bone, this new fracture is in the left hip, and is trying to avoid the surgery route again. She had been afraid of gaining weight from not being active, so in an attempt to help, we are going to do this together, so yes we can get fit,tone and slimmer. Today we did body measurements, and weight. No, I'm telling any numbers, but I will report on the losses.

Holiday Booty Swap arrives in Australia

2008-12-24T12:34:00.003-05:00

Kate posted a message on the previous entry below, that she has indeed received the quilt. Yeah!!!

Holiday Booty Swap

2008-12-05T17:13:00.003-05:00

"A Mid-Winters Night Dream" this is the swap I made that is off to Australia. Measuring about 25 by 18 inches, it is machine appliqued and quilted and the reindeer are thread painted.

The beautiful quilt I recieved from Anjea in Texas, can be viewed here on her blog. Quilted Epee: Qults, Fencing and...Flamingos?

So What's On Your Camera?

2008-11-13T19:25:00.005-05:00

So what's on your camera? Here's what I found on mine...4 weeks ago we visited the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Below are bronze statues of the "Pennsylvania Delegation" to the signing of the Constitution. This room has life size bronze statues of all the signers.

Independence Hall

The Independence Visitors Center, behind that is where the Liberty Bell is.

State Flags.

The delicious cake I baked for Danielle's birthday, we like to recycle candles...

And now to why I really uploaded my photos. I am participating in a holiday quilt swap, and wanted to share the progress. I am going to thread paint the reindeer, and applique the other sections. This is one of the reindeer, just the under sewing. It is a sandwich of 2 pieces of water soluble stabilizer, with a piece of small weave tulle in the middle.

I am auditioning fabric for the background. I really love the snowflakes and wind as well as the stars with the swirls and in the corner is a black background batik with splashes of color. I like the cloud fabric better, so I think the gray fabric is winning, it produces a better contrast. Anyway isn't the winter sky gray most of the time?

2008-11-02T16:25:00.002-05:00

Simple Needs is having a give-away. The deaadline is November 7, stop by and leave a comment on the October 27th, post. Also visit Calamity Jane's Cottage and choose your package for her giveaway. (All winners are chosen at random.)

5 Friends...VOTE

2008-10-05T12:37:00.001-04:00

Wake Me Up...

2008-09-21T14:05:00.005-04:00

lyrics by Green Day

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Like my mother's come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when Septmber ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when Septmber ends

Ring out the bells again
Like we did when spring began
Wake me up when septmber ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again

Becoming who we are
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when septmber ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when Septmber ends

Like my mother's come to pass
Twenty years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends

Wake me up when September ends
Wake me up when September ends

In loving Memory of my mom,

Joan Adam
October 11, 1931-September 12, 2008

Give Away

2008-09-01T15:39:00.002-04:00

Another blog give away. This is another great one!! Dena at the Sugar Shop is giving away a gift certificate to Over the Rainbow fabric shop. Stop by and leave a message.

Stop and Smell the Flowers

2008-08-28T12:08:00.002-04:00

This absolutely stunning , beautiful quilt arrived in my mailbox today from Margaret Gunn in Maine from the Miniature Booty Swap. Thanks A million!!!!
This is the little treasure I made and it is going in the mail today. The stars are all 3-inch pieced blocks.
I embroidered the label, incorporating it as the quilt back. Hope she likes it.

Another Blog Give Away

2008-08-20T12:15:00.002-04:00

Quilting with Debi is celebrating her 200th post with a giveaway, just post a message and your in the contest, advertise it on your blog and get and extra 5 chances.

Blog Give Away

2008-08-20T12:03:00.002-04:00

Calamity Jane's Cottage is giving away an adorable Halloween purse, just leave a comment, get your name in twice by posting it your blog.

Under Construction

2008-08-17T12:50:00.002-04:00

Mini Booty Swap under construction...The star blocks are 3 inch squares.

Come Sail Away...

2008-08-15T10:07:00.008-04:00

Last week, the whole family was in Pensacola, Florida for a week long sailing regatta. The format of the racing is the fleet is divided into 4 groups, A B C D. A round robin is sailed for the first 3 races, with each group sailing each other once (ex. A vs. B, C vs. D). Each group races twice on Mon, once on Tue., and then the cut is made, just less than half the numbers of entrants. In this regatta, the top 29 sail in the Championship Division, and 30 were in the Presidents division. 4 more races are sailed after the cut. Dan sailed with Ben and Danielle. Luke sailed on boat # 1, Beth and I were on a spectator boat everyday. The spectator boat was a J30 named HOOT. Team Red... Luke is the person in the middle. Below is HOOT. I am standing by the mast, Beth is on the bow.
Dan won race 2, division 2. This was the first time he won a race before the “cut” at a Nationals, and they had 3 top 10 finishes.
Finishing first!!! Team Red also won the Dave Valla Memorial trophy awarded to highest finishing boat with all family members. They finished the regatta in 15th place.

The Quilt Show - Mary Manahan

2008-07-31T13:07:00.006-04:00

My friend Mary Manahan will be exhibiting a retrospective of her work at the Queenstowns Art Gallery in Hopewell, NJ. Be sure to stop by and visit if you are in the area, it will be fabulous!

September 13, 2008 - November 1, 2008

The Queenstown Gallery
24 West Broad Street
Hopewell, NJ 08525

Opening Reception Saturday September 13th 5:30 - 8:00
Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday 9:30 - 5:30
Saturday 10:00 - 4:00

For More Information: 609.466.0817

The Quilt Show - These quilts done by Mary Manahan are not your grandmothers patchwork quilts of yesteryear, instead they are all very vibrant in color, texture and design. The artist makes use of many different kinds of fabrics from standard cotton to silks. She dies and paints some of the fabrics in order to get the colors and styles that she wants for the images that she is designing and each one is done with both sewing by had as well as some machine work. From a distance you might think that you are looking at a paining while viewing Mary’s quilts.

Etiquette

2008-07-29T11:51:00.002-04:00

Please leave a comment, even if you are anonymous.

So here’s the background:

We belong to an informal sailing club with interests in promoting both racing and cruising. The club is based at a state park, there is no club house or building to gather its members, and “pop-up” tents are often used at specific events. It is an all volunteer organization, with elected officers, each with his/hers own responsibilities.

At a recent club event, which as it turned out, was the biggest in club history, we could tell by the number of members who signed up. It was decided to contact to the local newspapers to let them know. They came with a reported and photographer. This was great promotion for the club.

As with many events involving food, a deadline was set for people to sign up by to insure the appropriate amount of food to order from the caterer. As usual, there were many who sign up after the deadline, resulting in having to change the food order a few times.

There were also 2 big party tents that had to be washed and set up ahead of time for the event dinner to be held under. There was a race committee and awards were purchased for the event.

The situation:

After dinner, now this is a very informal picnic, the club Commodore stood on a picnic table to hail the crowds attention: he 1) introduced himself, 2) mentioned it was the biggest event in club history, that the newspaper was there with a photographer, 3) thanked the officer responsible for arranging the event dinner and a round of applause was given, (no one else was thanked) 4) passed the “floor” over to the officer presenting the awards.

What is wrong with this picture???

Later that evening, the officer in charge of the dinner resigned their position, stating it was improper of the Commodore to introduce himself before thanking them for the job they did, stating it was not proper etiquette, they felt his thank you was “an after-thought” and felt that their efforts are not appreciated enough.

Now granted, this is an all volunteer club, but how high on a pedestal should ones efforts be place?

My "New" Sewing Table

2008-07-24T17:33:00.007-04:00

In my attempt to improve my free motion skills, I realized my sewing table needed to either be changed, as buy a new one, or adjust an existing one. So here's the project... below is an old photo of the wood top table my embroidery machine sat on. My Bernina is on a folding office table. I swapped the items on the wood table to that of the folding table, with the folding table now in the space the wood table was. Using my Sew Steady Table as template, we measured the area to cut.
With a jigsaw, Dan cut the table, following the curved corners of the from the template.
The photo below is what the underside of the table looks like. Using 3-inch L brackets, the cut out section was lowered to the height of the sewing surface on the machine. A perfect fit!

On the Marty watch...

2008-07-17T15:19:00.002-04:00

Marty Reasoner is now an Atlanta Thrasher. Marty has been in the NHL over 9 years and has played for St. Louis, Edmonton , and Boston.

(Photo captured from the Thrashers web site and is here without permission from it's owner. If the owner would like it removed I will gladly do so.)

Tri-ing Day

2008-07-14T09:28:00.003-04:00

Sunday, July 13...here we are showing our body marks. They wrote our number on both arms, both hands and our ages on our right calf with an R on the left , for Relay, with a permanent black marker.Here we are before the race start. Each wearing our "own hat", Danielle was doing the bike leg, Beth the swim, and I am running.
After the race, all finishers receive medals. I ran my fastest 5k so far, 37:56, Danielle's bike time for 17 miles was 1:00.27, and Beth's swim time for 700 yards was 10:25. We would have finished 8th of the 14 relays.

Fire

2008-07-04T09:37:00.004-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, we heard an explosion and saw plumes of black smoke at our house which turned out to be an exploding propane tank that heated the adult pool of the swim club we used to belong to, the previous 18 years. Danielle is a lifeguard there, thankfully she had the day off. No was injured in the 2 alarm fire.

The building on the right, behind the 4 lane adult pool, is the one that burned.

Sail Sisters

2008-07-01T10:48:00.005-04:00

This past weekend was the Thistle Great Lakes Championship held at the Seneca Yacht Club in Geneva, NY. Dan sailed with Ben and Beth in this regatta. This is not our boat, just a random photo I took of the boats sailing downwind.
The photo below is a mark rounding, there were 63 boats at this regatta.
There has been longstanding shenanigans at regattas between Dan and his friend Bill that has been going on for well over 25 years. With stunts such as putting a boat in the swimming pool overnight, tossing a few spare items of hardware in the bottom of the boat to make you worry if something broke, moving port-a-johns, plastic wrapping a boat, the list goes on and it is truly just for fun. Well we did not camp at the regatta, so to protect the boat, Dan pad locked the cover to the boat trailer as well as strung a bike lock through the wheels so the boat trailer could not be moved. As the news spread of what he did, one thing we did not count on, was Bill put a lock on top of our locks. It was truly very funny.
Guilty....
On Sunday Carol Soderlund invited me and my friend Delia to her house and we had a personal quilt show of her many masterpieces as well as a house and studio tour. Carol's husband sails Thistles too. Carol does not race, but told us the boat is really hers because it was picked it up on a Mothers Day. After the racing was over my brother and his wife who live in Rochester, drove to Geneva to have lunch and visit with us at the club.

Two Men and a Tent

2008-06-24T09:50:00.003-04:00

Two men, Dan & Jim, were on mission to repair the center hole at the top of a party tent where one of the main support poles is placed. Here's their dilemma. How do they sew it with that volume of canvas? (Not on my machine!)First they placed it over the gurney, but couldn't figure out how that would work...then they placed it over the trash cans, thinking one of them would get inside the can and the other outside so they could pass the needle back and forth. Neither wanted to get in the can...They thought about draping it over the boats, where one of them would be under the the canvas...again, neither wanted to be in that position either. Then came the car idea, drive it to the back yard, open the windows, drape tent over car with sewing area positioned over the open window, one sits in the drivers seat, the other stands outside, passing the needle back and forth to sew the tent. Hmmm............

New Blogger Page Element

2008-06-11T18:43:00.002-04:00

Blogger has a new page element under layout. Its a blogroll of your favorite blogs. I copied, pasted the URLs of Blogs I read to see how this works. You can see on the side bar it tells you the last update. I didn't delete the original list, I want to check it out for awhile. It is set to make the most recently updated blog top on the list., the other option is alphabetical.

The Rose

2008-06-06T21:26:00.006-04:00

Sun painting project Two. I free motioned the outlines and veins of the leaves as well as the shape of the rose, added diagonal background lines then framed it a few strips from a recently purchased jelly roll. It's clickable fo a detailed view.

I like this so much I added it to my Blog Header!

Sun Painting part Two

2008-06-04T15:03:00.004-04:00

I want to improve on my free motion quilting skills, so I've been using these little sun images to play around with. I saw on Sue Reno's blog she used a plate of glass over the object. Granted she is using cyanotypes and heliographic prints where mine is Setacolor paint. I used coins to hold down the leaves, bad idea, after the fabric was dry, you can see all the round coin shapes on the leaf images.

PS...I forgot to mention Grandma is back home now. Dan and I went to visit her a few weekends ago, she has a dog, (it was Marty's) J.J. to keep her company. They are so cute together, J.J is very attached to her.

My First 5k

2008-05-31T14:20:00.009-04:00

Well I did it, and I wasn't last to finish! My time was 39:43, (real time was 39:28, it took us 15 seconds to cross the start line) which was great for me. My goal was to run it under 40 minutes. I have run the same course before always around 43-45 minutes. So this was awesome.This is the dam...the race started at Sailors Point, crossed the dam to Galena Village, then back. This link is a pdf map of the lake.

At the lake...Just before the start...Crossing the dam the first time...Sprinting to the finish...like the cute running skirt?At the finish line.

In Training

2008-05-28T12:56:00.002-04:00

This Saturday the 31st, I'll be running in my first 5K. Beth and I just finished a 12 week learn to run class last night. We are competing in the "The Best "Dam" Run For Autism". It will be held at Peace Valley Park. I'm not sure of the course, but I am assuming we will run from Sailors Point to the boat rental and back, crossing the dam twice. There is also a 1 mile walk and a 10k at the same time, the 10k will run around the lake. The logistics should be interesting. I'll let you know how we did. I hope I'm not the last to finish!

Second Race

2008-05-05T18:17:00.005-04:00

Inside The Philadelphia Naval Yard was the finish of the Broad Street Run. This is the entrance.This photo is approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes after the start. Notice the crowd of runners coming under the crane. There were 19112 finishers in the race.

Here are Beth and Jessie after the they finished. Looks like they could run another 10 miles. Their finish chip time was 1:37.48, which is a pace of 10:04 minutes per mile.

Beth's 5K Run

2008-05-03T13:39:00.007-04:00

Today is the 1 year anniversary, 1st LT Colby James Umbrell's life was cut short while serving in Iraq. This race is to benefit a scholarship in his name. Beth was a high school friend and classmate of his sister Casey.

Pre-race...
At the start...
Sprint to the finish...

Here is Beth's unofficial time 27:07, that's an 8:44 minute mile. She said she was going to take it easy today because she is running the Broad Street Run tomorrow. We'll have to see if her strategy worked, and how well she does running two races back to back.

Who I Am Makes A Difference

2008-04-30T09:05:00.000-04:00

One

2008-04-29T17:40:00.000-04:00