Lily Lake Walk

Wayne and I took a walk around Lily Lake this beautiful morning.

Montana Trip

Mom and I have returned from a lovely few days in Montana visiting Carol and Lillian. We visited the Farmers' Market in Kalispell, toured the Conrad Mansion, and drove into Glacier Park where we took a boat ride on Lake McDonald. We had lots of time for conversation and I got to meet and fall in love with Nellie, Carol's Cairn Terrier.

Fabric Care and Keeping (Harriet Hargrave lecture)

Harriet Hargrave spoke on "Fabric Care and Keeping" at our monthly Estes Valley Quilt Guild meeting last night. She focused on the qualities of fabric used in quilting including: thread count, grain of fabric, fabric finishing, light fastness, wash fastness, crocking, and other aspects of fabric dyes. She showed the results of using various detergents/soaps, water temperatures, and chlorinated water on fabrics. She has done extensive research on these topics and has studies to back up her conclusions. She kept us riveted during her hour and forty-five minute talk. There was so much new information for me to absorb that I could hardly turn off my brain to go to sleep last night. She and her daughter, Carrie Hargrave (also a textile expert) are writing a six-volume course on quilt making and care and have almost completed the first volume.

New Quilting Projects

We drove home yesterday and it's good to be back in the mountains. We stopped in Grand Island, Nebraska so I could take a quick walk through Material Girl Fabrics. It's one of my favorite quilt shops and, fortunately, there's a bagel shop close by for my husband.

I'm eager to start on a couple of new projects: personalized Christmas stockings for Trail Ridge Quilters and a table quilt with fabric I purchased at Prairie Star Quilts in Elk Horn, Iowa. I love the excitement of beginning a new project. This is the fabric for the table quilt - isn't it gorgeous! The colors are perfect for our house. I will use the floral for the center and make wide borders with the stripes. I plan to hand quilt around the motifs in the floral fabric. I haven't yet decided how I'll quilt the borders.

Elk Horn, Iowa

We are in the little town of Elk Horn, Iowa for my husband's 50th high school class reunion. Most of the people that live here are of Danish heritage. Elk Horn has an authentic Danish windmill, built in Norre Snede, Denmark in 1848. In 1975 it was purchased, disassembled, and shipped to Elk Horn where it was reassembled and restored to working condition. It is a tourist attraction where visitors can take guided tours, watch wheat and rye being ground by wind power and purchase Danish gifts from the adjacent shop. We're in the midst of Elk Horn's annual Tivoli Fest. In addition to a parade and delicious Danish food, there are lots of fun things to see and do. I always visit Prairie Star Quilts when I'm in town. I think I'll head over there right now and see what's new.

Stitching on the road

My husband and I are leaving on a road trip tomorrow so I'm busy doing laundry, packing and getting my stitching supplies organized. When I travel I always take a portable project and frequently it's an English paper piecing project. My favorite way to transport all my supplies involves zip lock plastic bags in various sizes.

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Bag #1 holds several bobbins wound with the threads I'll use to baste and whip stitch. I thread a needle, poke a hole through the bag (from the inside) and pull the thread through to the outside. When I cut off a length of thread I leave a tail of several inches on the outside of the bag which stays zipped closed. This bag also holds a few extra needles on a small card (sharps for basting and betweens for whip stitching the pieces together.)

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I like using freezer paper templates (in this case, hexagons) which I print using a template from http://www.incompetech.com/. These shapes can be sized for a specific project. I print on regular printer paper then staple this sheet to four - six sheets of 8.5 X 11.5 inch freezer paper. I put one staple in each hexagon to hold the sheets together and cut each hexagon carefully through all layers. When I'm ready to iron them onto my fabric, I remove the staples and press the freezer paper hexagons (shiny side toward fabric) onto the fabric strips and discard the printer paper hexagons. I leave about a half inch between hexagons.

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If you look closely you can see the hexagons ironed onto the fabric. I loosely fold these strips and put them into Bag #2.

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Bag #3 holds small scissors and beeswax for coating the thread.

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I use additional bags to hold completed units.

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Diagram printed from above website

All these smaller bags go into a large zip lock bag which also holds my diagram, which I've colored in with colored pencils, and a small paper bag for scraps. I use masking tape to secure the scrap bag to the inside of the car door.

I'm ready to travel!

You can find lots of good tutorials for more detailed instructions on English paper piecing in quilt shops and on the web.

Feel the Love

Most of the quilts I make become gifts for family members. I've designed, pieced, and hand quilted a quilt for each of my grandchildren, except the youngest, when she or he graduated from a crib to a big bed. When I gave my first grandchild his quilt, I didn't know how much he loved it until I was babysitting for him one night when he was about four years old. I sat on his bed with him reading bedtime stories and when I tucked him in he said, "You made this quilt just for me didn't you Grandma." I told him I had. He then said, "When I snuggle under it at night it feels like you're hugging me. I tell myself, 'My grandma loves me.' " What a sweet and lovely thing that was to hear. Tears come to my eyes just thinking about it. I'll keep on making quilts for them and my reward is knowing they feel my love when they snuggle down under those quilts. I'll be starting a quilt for my youngest grandchild soon. She's two, adorable, loving and spunky. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

What I Need is a Nickle Nackle Tree

The bluebirds have been in town for several weeks and a pair is nesting in our bird house. The broad-tailed hummingbirds have recently started returning and my feeders are out, attracting a few every day. By mid-summer they will be swarming the feeders and I'll have to refill them with sugar water once a day or more. The "regulars" have been here all winter (pygmy nuthatches, finches, woodpeckers, magpies and chickadees.)

I love our regular birds but wouldn't it be wonderful to see a new bird like this! I guess I'll have to plant a Nickle Nackle Tree. It's hard for me to resist buying children's books so I don't even try. This is one I bought in New Zealand last winter to add to my collection. The illustrations and text are quirky and silly, just the thing to capture the interest of toddlers and their grandmas.

Quilting: My Passion!

About fifteen years ago I discovered that I love to make quilts and I haven't looked back. My dearest friend guided me through the planning and creating of my first quilt, "A Forest of Pines." It was a big challenge for me but I finished it and it now hangs in our home. It's far from perfect. I guess that's why I placed it high on a wall where you can't see that the points don't match and the hand quilted stitches are big and irregular. But, from a distance, it looks pretty darn good for a first attempt. I belong to several quilt groups; I've taken classes, read dozens of quilting books and made many more quilts since the first one. But, "A Forest of Pines" holds a special place in my heart. I have a perfect view of it from my loft (Aspen Loft Studio) where I'm inspired to keep making quilts.

Mother's Day Blessings

I've just returned from staying with three of my darling grandchildren for a week while my daughter and her husband took a trip together. What a joy it was being part of their everyday lives. They are 12, 10 and 7 ... busy with school, friends, sports, music lessons, and more. My son and his wife have three children too (7, 5 and 2) and, joy of joys, these two families live only ten minutes apart. My husband and I live 500 miles from them and when I haven't seen them for awhile, I'm crazy with longing for all of them. That's why I drive or fly to see them as often as I can. I love my life here in the mountains but I'm too far away from my children and grandchildren. What a dilemma! However, I'm grateful for good highways, a reliable car, and direct flights. Most of all, on this Mother's Day, I feel blessed with a wonderful family.

Quilting for Mother's Day

I'm working on a small wall quilt (pot of geraniums) to give my sweet mom for Mother's Day. Although machine quilting is not my best skill, I'm pleased with the results so far. I just have to add the binding and I'm done. We're taking her out for brunch tomorrow when I'll give it to her. In the meantime, I'll brew up some of my new green tea and visit my good friend who recently had shoulder surgery.