Quilting Update

Hello again quilting friends!!

So my blog posts have been come few and far between.  Well I guess I never anticipated what adding a little one to our family would really mean.  You see these movies of parents doing it all, work, kids, hanging out with their friends in the evenings.  Well that is all fiction, perhaps it works for some people, but in my little family, there is not TONS of time; after school, getting dinner ready, playing, bath time, stories, bedtime…then after all that I am exhausted and in bed by 9pm.  The glamorous life I lead…don’t be jealous!

 

This has led to diminished quilting time.  I’m still doing quilting things, buying fabric, kits, etc.  But I just don’t have as much to show for it as I normally would.  I am currently working on a Craftsy kit called “The Family Album Quilt Kit”.  I have everything cut out and all everything pieced.  Now I am working on getting the rows put together.  I seem to have become slightly obsessed with star quits, and I love how this one is one great big star.

 

I should mention that while I’m not cranking out a quilt every month or so, I’m still getting several done a year, so even though I have cut back on what’s getting accomplished, I’m still quilting and enjoying the process.

 

I bid farewell to my very first Bernina machine Bernice.  She went to live with my neighbor.  I had to sell her and her cabinet to make room for a new addition.  My friend Cindi called me with a wonderful deal on an Innova Longarm, and I could not turn it down.  So, I went ahead and took it.  I won’t have it for several months but I think sometime in September she should be comfy and cozy in my quilting room.  Which will bring on an entirely NEW set of fun and challenges.

Vacation – I’m Back!

30sI’m back from vacation and ready to get going on some projects!

We had a wonderful time at Disney World, so much to see and do, and a few quilts ideas while I was there.

But for now it’s time to focus on my Lone Star quilt.  I decided to take a practice run at it.  So I am making a 30’s Lone Star (something that won’t shock any of my quilt friends, I have a fondness for 30’s fabric, so I’m breaking into my stash to create this one.)

Tonight I plan on to finish pulling fabric from my stash, and then getting some strips cut.  I also plan on making it scrappy, so even though the blues will be similar, the patterns will be different.  That way I can use more smaller pieces of fabric in my project.

Hopefully by the end of the week I will have a panel to show you all!  😀

Kathleen Ware, Quiltmaker

In my research for making a Lone Star quilt I found this video again.  It’s a short film (33 minutes) about a quilter named Kathleen Ware (1920–2001).  The film was released in 1979, and follows Ware through making a Lone Star quilt.

The thing I find fascinating about this short film is that it’s before rotary cutting, before fancy plexiglass templates or rulers.  She makes a quilt armed with her sewing machine, a pattern book, and a template made from a heavy paper.  She also is seen doing the “snip and rip” on her fabric.  Once the top is done, she loads it in her frame and hand quilts it.  The price for a Queen size quilt that was machine pieced and hand quilted in 1979….$150.00.

It makes me wonder if I would have the same passion for quilting as Kathleen did, only being able to use the tools that were available to her.  I believe Kathleen was a wonderful artist, who happened to work with fabric.  She was always creating, and from all of the quilts around in the bins at her house, she had a wonderful body of work.

So if you have 30 minutes to spare, take a peek!