Tina Craig Visits the Crosstown Quilters Guild

The speaker at today's Crosstown Quilters Guild meeting was delightful Tina Craig from Rhode Island who presented a twenty-five year retrospective of her varied work. She shared many types of quilts, some large, some small; here were a few of my favorites.

Just look at these teeny, tiny pieces! Wow!!!

She does her own spectacular quilting on her Bernina.

Here is her Polaroid quilt . . . what fun!

This quilt commemorates a family trip to Alaska. She purchased the laser cut center and the batik fabric there. She noted that there was a quilt shop in every port . . . another reason to put an Alaskan cruise on your bucket list.

These were only a small fraction of the quilts that Tina brought with her. If your guild is looking for a fun speaker,  contact Tina. We loved her!

Sunday Smorgasbord

Friday was a glorious weather day, so it meant one last lobster roll of the season at Tony's Clam Shack on Wollaston Beach. It was a busy week with breakfast with friends on Monday and lunch with another group of friends on Thursday. (Retirement is so much fun!!!)

I wanted to share a tip with the quilters who are reading this post. You are probably well acquainted with all the wonderful Missouri Star tutorials on Youtube, but have you seen the ones from Jordan Fabrics? They, too, have a great selection of quilt tutorials. Be sure to check them out.

I came across an interview that fans of Jenny Doan will find interesting: "Missouri Star: Meet the Family That Built a Quilting Empire by Accident/ Forbes".  This Youtube video is about five minutes long, but you'll enjoy it!

Thursday evening brought the first meeting of the season for the Quilters Connection Guild in Watertown. The speaker was Texas art quilter, Andrea Brokenshire, who delighted us with her stunning flower quilts. I don't know why I didn't take a photo of this whole quilt below, but each of the blocks had fussy cut pieces in the star points. This was one of her earlier quilts. The majority of the many quilts shown were her flower quilts. She does not have a website, but if you google her name, you will see galleries of her amazing quilts.

I was one of the volunteers holding up the quilts which proved to be both good and bad. I had an up close view of each piece, but was not able to take photos until the very end.

 

One aspect of her quilts which I loved was her confetti backgrounds which provided both color and texture for her flowers. Andrea appeared on episode #1706 of The Quilt Show, and on that program she demonstrated how she creates her backgrounds. These two close ups are of two of them.

 

The first flowers quilts shown were made with pieced fabric; the later ones were painted then stitched. Her quilting and color sense are truly masterful!

Now, speaking of amazing quilts, (how do you like that segue?), be sure to come see the Herring Run Quilters' Guild show Saturday and Sunday, September 29-30 at the Norwell Middle School, Rt. 123, Norwell, MA, 10:00 to 4:00.

I'm watching Tiger Woods as I write this post hoping that today will be his day. He had a very public fall from grace and a long time struggle with back issues, but he is nothing if not determined and right now is doing extremely well.  I'm also looking forward to watching Sunday Night Football with the Patriots. If I plant myself in a comfy chair for a few hours, perhaps I'll finally get all my labels and one more sleeve sewn on quilts which will be in next week's show.

And finally, always be "grateful' for

smiles wherever you find them. :-)

Wishing you a week of smiles and laughter . . .

A Tomato for Lunch

Yesterday was the first meeting of the season of the Crosstown Quilters Guild in Weymouth, and my first as its president. I am happy to report that all went well at this agenda packed meeting. Seventy ladies were in attendance, and all were delighted to see these teddy bears which were made by Clare on the left and Nancy on the right. They had taken a class on making these patchwork bears at Dragonfly's Quilts Shop in Bellingham, MA. The pattern for these bears is Kwii Sew K 3246.
Notice how Clare and Nancy color-coordinated their outfits with the bears . . . not a requirement for "Show and Tell" but always a lovely fashion statement. ;-)

Clare also showed this adorable cat quilt which she is donating to a cat-themed raffle basket for our upcoming Crosstown Quilters Quilt Show in October. The quilt is even cuter in person. The pattern is "Jazz Cats" by Janet Kime from a book called The Cat's Meow, The Patchwork Place, 1994. It was machine quilted by Maureen Anderson of Foxboro, MA.

I wish I had taken more photos as there were many wonderful quilts shown.

Now, as for the title of this post . . . Meet Cordelia, an eleven year old Cocker Spaniel owned by Joyce, a Crosstown Quilter member. I haven't stopped laughing since she showed me these photos yesterday.

Here's Cordelia approaching the tomato patch.

Joyce said that each day Cordelia goes into the garden and helps herself to a tomato for lunch.

It doesn't matter if the tomatoes is red or green she seems to enjoy them all.

Now, if only they could teach Cordelia to weed. . .   :-)

A Change in the Weather

Yes, it was another very hot, very humid week until today. (Thanks, Susan, for this great photo :-).
This morning it was in the 60s, a welcome relief from the sweltering weather that we have been experiencing.

It has been a busy week. My cousin Kristin and her girls came for Ladies Lunch on Wednesday as the girls had a half day first day of school. We headed to Tony's Clam Shack at Wollaston Beach and later made a stop at Hornstra Farm in Norwell for ice cream. It was a perfect outing for a very warm, sticky day.

I'm happy to report that I am at the binding stage of the Lori Holt - Let's Bake quilt. I finished quilting it on Tuesday and added the wide, red rickrack to the edge.

Here it is with the binding. (I still have three side to go :-).

I love, love, love the rickrack!!! Wouldn't it be adorable on a baby quilt or a quilt for a child? You sew the rickrack at 1/8" and the binding at 1/4."

This morning was the first meeting of the season at the Herring Run Guild. The show and tell segment, as usual, was amazing. My friend Maribeth wowed everyone with her 365 Day Quilt. (She said it only took her three years to complete.  :-) My friend Edith also made this incredible quilt. I'll be sure to post photos of both quilts when they are hanging at our upcoming quilt guild show. Better yet, make plans to come see for yourself  all 199 + quilts which will be on display Saturday and Sunday, September 29 - 30 at the Norwell Middle School, Rt. 123. Hours  . . . 10am to 4pm. Guild member, Mary Ann Karpinski, will be our featured quilter, and there will be a silent auction, raffle baskets, and vendors.

My garden is winding down after the weather that we have been having, but there are still a few spots of color.

Speaking of color, as I was driving home after this morning's guild meeting, this lone tree caught my eye.

I love all the seasons, and autumn is truly a wonderful time of year but this color is way too early!!! This tree for some reason must have wanted to get a jump start on the season.

Have a colorful, happy week.

Hot, Hot, Really, Really Hot!!!

Well, we broke another record today with the temperature near 100 with a heat index of 105. Yikes!!! Records like this we don't want to break. This is the hottest August in recorded history in Massachusetts, and so far, the third hottest summer. Tomorrow it may be a few degrees cooler . . . only about 93! Some students and teachers have already returned to their non- air conditioned classrooms. God bless them all!

I spent yesterday at the District Courthouse . . . jury duty. It was a long day, but at times interesting. It was the closest I have ever come to being actually put on a panel. In fact, I was seating in the jury box when another woman and I were excused. You do have to fill out a juror questionnaire. The case involved an alleged negligent school bus driver. My feeling is that the defense probably didn't want a former teacher sitting on the panel, but who knows. A few of the folks in the jury waiting room were grousing about being there and the long wait, but not me. I feel fortunate to live in a country where citizens are an integral part of the justice system. Having to serve, at most, only once every three years doesn't seem like too much to ask of any citizen.

Today I stayed inside and accomplished quite a bit. The top of the Lori Holt - Let's Bake quilt is done!!! I'll layer it and begin quilting it this weekend. I also added inner and outer borders to another quilt top which hopefully will also get layered this weekend. Let's hope this burst of quilting energy continues tomorrow.

A Hodge Podge Post

 

How much rain, humidity, and general moisture have we been having? Well, enough to grow a mushroom on my deck!!! I didn't add the leaves on the right or change the composition in any way; this is the artistic scene I spotted under a small table on my deck. 

So, you might be wondering why I haven't posted recently. I have had major computer issues. My laptop would turn on, but not completely boot. The good folks at Apple Support had me try a couple of things which were unsuccessful, and then I was told that my eight year old laptop was considered almost "vintage" and I should either try an authorized repair shop or buy a new one. Well, I wasn't ready to give up on it quite yet and tried everything that I found online in hopes of reviving my expensive doorstop. There are many, many articles which offered step by step procedures.  I've been fooling with it for three or four days, but tonight for some reason I was able to get to the recovery stage [Command + R] . For the first time, I was able to get to the point that I could replace the operating system. Up to tonight, it would stop loading half way through and freeze. Right now it appears to be running fine and back to normal. Will it last? Who knows but I will keep my fingers crossed. 

When I haven't been trying to fix my laptop, I have done some quilting. Here are a coffee themed apron and place mats for a raffle basket for an upcoming quilt show.

I have nearly finished putting together the top of the Lori Holt - Let's Bake quilt. There's no rush. It only has to be done for a show next month!!! 

I love the quilt, but I didn't like one large section which featured a cross stitched cake recipe. Instead I used the templates to make a flower block which looks quite natural along with all the other blocks. I filled the rest of that large space with some smaller repeat blocks.

The top should be done tomorrow and then I only need to layer it, quilt it, add a binding, hanging sleeve, and label. No sweat . . . plenty of time. By the way, the Herring Run 2018 Quilt Guild Show is Sept. 29 - 30, and the Crosstown Quilters Guild Show is Oct. 20 - 21. Click on either show for more details.

One last thing . . . have you read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barnes? It came out about ten years ago and was rightfully a very popular read. It deals with a literary group trying to survive the German occupation off the island of Guernsey. Guernsey is in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.  Netflix has made a wonderful adaptation of this novel. I watched it last night and I highly, highly recommend it. I would suggest that it might be best to read the book first to follow the film better. You will recognize some familiar faces from Downton Abbey: Lily James (Lady Rose) and Penelope Wilton (Isobel Crawley).  If you have Netflix, by all means view The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. It is so well done.

This and That

It was pointed out to me the other day that I haven't featured Miss Emma in a while, so I'm making up for it in this post.  :-)  Here she is looking cute as a button after a trip to the groomer this morning.

Before . . .

After . . .  no jeweled ear tips this time . . . just a pretty little bow.

It's been a busy, hot, hot week. On Monday, my cousin Linda came for a visit with her boys, and let's just say Emma was smothered in love by F. age nine and D. age 6. It was a sizzling, humid day so a trip to Hornstra Farm for ice creams was definitely in order.

 Don't you just love these hibiscus blossoms. . . Do you think this is the same little green bug that photo bombed a flower shot in a recent post???

I've been doing quite a bit of reading lately, and I have a few books to recommend.

A few months back, I recommended The Red Coat - A Novel of Boston by Dolley Carlson which told the story of an Irish Catholic family at the turn of the last century. The Boston Girl tells the story of a young Jewish girl growing up during this same period, and it was a very good read.

The next two novels were each written by first time authors. The Bookshop of Yesterdays tells the story of a young woman who inherits a bookshop from her estranged uncle who had left baffling literary clues in a number of books. As she follows these clues, troubling family secrets are revealed. I have to admit that I figured out what had happened fairly quickly, but that did not take away from enjoying the heroine's pursuit of the truth. I think I must have a soft spot for novels set in bookshops as I seem to have read a number of them in the last few years.

I was drawn to The Hope of Azure Springs by Rachael Fordham by its lovely cover. At the age of eleven, the protagonist along with her little sister traveled west on an orphan train.  Some children found loving homes; this was not the case for Em who was separated from her sister. I don't want to give anything away, so I will just say it was a light but interesting read. As I read it, I kept thinking that this story would make a good movie for the Hallmark channel.

I'm also reading In Other Words by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri. How would  I describe this work? It is an exploration of how one learns a foreign language, the falling in love with a different culture and the difficulties in attempting to assimilate, and a writer's struggle to successfully express herself in a new language. The language she has fallen in love with is Italian. 

If you follow my blog, you may be wondering if I ever finished Ron Cheron's Grant. Well, no, I haven't. I'm on page 464 with a mere 495 pages to go!!!  It's in timeout until the cooler weather when I will pick it up again.

So what have you been reading and recommending to your friends?