Show and tell…

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I have received photos of 3 very different quilts made from Piece O’ Cake patterns recently. I think you all will enjoy seeing them!

The first quilt is Magen’s Flower Garden made by Nadia M., in her own colors. It’s so pretty and I love the way she coordinated the colors between her hex-flowers and the central fabric.

NadiaMassoni-quilt

Linda S. wrote to say that she just finished making Welcome To The North Pole for a friend. She says that this quilt was so much fun and she knows the recipient and her friend will enjoy it for years to come. I would add that everyone who sees it will enjoy it!

LindaSouza-quilt

 

Mannette A. made the next quilt. It’s not from a Piece O’ Cake pattern but she said:

I’m including a pic of my finished quilt that is my first appliqué project. This quilt is hand pieced, appliquéd, and quilted. I would NEVER have attempted the appliqué if it weren’t for your tutorials and advice (not to mention supplies)
Thank you so very much!

ManetteAnderson-quilt

Didn’t she do a great job! And, even though I don’t make them often, I’ve gotta say that I do love to see a quilt made solely from neutrals.

Thank you each for sharing your quilts with us!

Let it go…

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If reading ‘let it go’ makes you think of the song from frozen… scroll to the bottom of this post :-).

I made this spoon rest when I was in my high school art class. We did many of different kinds of ceramics and this was one of my first objects made from a mold.

CornSpoonRest-2

I graduated from high school in 1974. My mom used this for a while and at some point she gave it back to me. This spoon rest has lived on our kitchen counter for so many years that I it is hard to imagine the stove top without it nearby.

Imagine my consternation when I realized that this prized possession has developed a major crack. What to do? I could try to fix it, but I know that it just wouldn’t be the same. Steve suggested that I put it up in the cupboard but that makes no sense. I can imagine one of the boys or my DIL reaching into the cabinet some day and wondering why on earth I thought that this cracked ceramic corn was worthy of saving.

It’s time to let it go, and it’s only fair that I be the one to do just that. You know what, it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be!

CornSpoonRest-InTrash

I hummed the song on the way to the outside trash bin…

Simply Delicious…

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Lynette C. from New Zealand 2007 emailed to say that she has just completed her 9 block version of “Simply Delicious” and she graciously said that I could share it with you! Thank you to Lynette! It is a lovely quilt and you will enjoy seeing the close-ups that she posted on her blog. Click here to this and several more photos on Lynette’s blog.

SDbyLynetteCollis

In other news, I sewed most of last week on a sampler quilt for the Piecing book that just did not turn out well. I chose some colors unwisely and let the prints take over. Really, it ought to look good, but it doesn’t. Linda’s comment was that it looked like a birthday party (possibly with clowns).

I wish I could show it to you but I can’t since I’m still going to use the pattern in the book, but in a different colorway. If there’s room in the book, it will make a lovely example of what not to do.

I don’t mind sharing the fact that I occasionally make a lemon. Even when you know what you’re doing, it is possible to put together a quilt that is just wrong. Rather than losing heart, take a deep breath and move on. Save your lemons and find a way to turn them into lemonade! They can make great charity quilts, or baby quilts—they also make nice quilt backs!

I’m going to miss football…

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I grew up in Oklahoma. I loved going to football games in high school! Cool, crisp night and everyone was there. Boys, girls… lots of romance in the air. Seriously, how could a person not love that!

My first date with my husband, Steve, was at the 2nd OU game of our sophomore years. I don’t remember who OU played, but I’m sure we won. That was a championship year! Steve and I went to every home game as undergrads and many when he worked on his Masters degree.

I’ve watched and enjoyed NFL games for nearly 30 years. I have been Cowboys fan and that has not been easy for the last 17 years.

But now I’m done. I can’t watch football any more. It’s not actually because of the domestic abuse cases that have been in the news. Bad as that is, be honest, there is a lot of domestic abuse out there and it’s not all football-related.

No, I can’t watch football anymore because of the recently released data that shows that 1/3 of all of the players are going to suffer brain damage. And worse, there are more and more kids dying from hits taken on the field… 3 more last week. Honestly, how could I have been surprised. The physical abuse suffered by players has been right there in front of me for years… but now there is hard data to back up what we all should have known.

diet-you-can-take-a-look-back-in-time-to-the-roman-gladiators-20140718084517-53c87c2d499c5I am reminded of Rome, back in the day. With gladiators fighting and dying to provide a show. It was a spectacle, and you know that the watchers enjoyed it. Football feels like that to me now.

There’s more that’s wrong with football, lots more, but this is what has tipped the scales for me, and for Steve.  By watching the game, and enjoying it, we have both begun to feel like we are condoning the injuries to the players. Neither of us can do it any more.

Until the game changes, until players at all ages are more protected, we are waving goodbye to football.

 

Yet another iron bites the dust…

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I’m done with my Rowenta Pro Iron Steam Station (see this post). It works, but the reservoir has an unpredictable leak. When it leaks, it’s more like a flood and that does not mix well with the wood floor below.

Additionally, the Steam Station is slow to heat up (a minor annoyance). Once it is hot, it really puts out the heat. That’s good, except when it’s hot outside which is half the year where I live. When the iron is on, the studio gets uncomfortably warm. And did I mention that this this is big and awkward to store?

I went shopping for a smaller, cheap, reliable iron and got a Black and Decker, model ICR05X. At least it was cheap because it started spitting and leaking water out of the steam holes almost immediately. I am just about disgusted with irons and, if I didn’t have to have one, I would give up.

Luckily, in my last Consumer Reports magazine, there was a short review of irons. Some of the higher-rated irons were light, which they must have considered a plus.

Iron-3

After careful consideration, I bought a Panasonic NI-W950A.

Iron-1

 

The sole plate is pointed in front and back, which I somehow missed when I was shopping. How I missed that I do not know because the photo is huge on the box.

Iron-2

I’ve been using it for about a week and so far, so good. The pointy back is fine—I neither hate it nor love it. The iron gets hot fast, it steams pretty well. It’s heavy, which I view as a plus. I like the way the base of the cord swivels out of the way. It is stable when ‘standing’—more so than most irons.

It has an auto shut off, which I like, and it heats up quickly when moved. Honestly, if there is a year of good ironing from this iron I will be happy. If it doesn’t last, I’m going to consider a classic iron from the Vermont Country Store.

I still wish I had the space (and was willing to spend what it costs) for a Laura Star ironing system. Sigh.

King size is BIG!

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I believe I mentioned that I had made a quilt for the new Piecing book that measures 118″ x 118″. Technically that is king size, but mattresses are tall these days, and I’ve added foam toppers to them. It takes a BIG quilt to cover the edges of the mattress (and the edges of the blanket beneath it).

WowieBack

This is the quilt back. I made it bigger, of course—too big. The quilt will not hit the floor.I used 2 Kaffe Fassett fabrics that look nice in the room and with the periwinkle headboard. I think much of the time, the quilt back will be showing. That way I won’t have to worry about the grandkids and cats when they are on the bed. (The quilt top has lots of white in it.)

I thought about quilting this monster myself (for about 1 minute) and then I contacted Angela Walters who has thankfully agreed to quilt it. Yay, Angela!