Pinwheels, Ships & Wind

I'm hummed the song Brandy (you're a fine girl) while making this block. Come on sing a few verses with me:

He came on a summer's day

Bringin' gifts from far away

But he made it clear he couldn't stay

No harbor was his home

Chorus... .... my life, my love, and my lady....is the sea....

Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes

as he told his sailor stories

She could feel the ocean foam rise

She saw its ragin' glory

But he always told the truth, Lord he was an honest man

Last month I picked up a big baggie of sewn half square triangles that a guild member graciously gifted the free table. I was fortunate enough to be standing there as she unloaded her haul. There were many more great baggies full of other treasures, but I didn't want to appear hoggish so I happily went away with my half square triangles.

I've been feverishly working on joining the rows for my block of the month class so I can share the nearly finished top with my students during this Saturday's class. I've also been writing assembly instructions to give them, and my brain is fried so today I allowed myself a little free play and what better to get some creativeness going than by grabbing those hsts. 

Brainless sewing is very therapeutic and I've been happily making pinwheels until I needed a bit of a break. I love Bonnie Hunter and her morning post today stopped me dead in my tracks when I read about the vintage signature quilt top she saw during her teaching trip in Washington. It was signed and dated from the 30s. The ship was made with hsts and from what I could tell rectangles so of course, I had to make me one too to go with my pinwheels. My poor ship looks lonely so I will have to fix that! I have no idea how all these will get put together but that's okay. For now it's just playtime.

I don't think we would appreciate ships and pinwheels nearly as much if not for the wind that seems to effortlessly move them about. We enjoy the wind in the summertime. We seem to always have a light breeze even when other areas of town are still. It's refreshing and helps clear out the winter stagnant air from inside our house. That wonderful breeze that we enjoy all summer can and does unexpectedly and violently turn mean. We live in a city that is known for having strong winds, and even though we have lived here over 22 years, when the turn happens, it always takes me by surprise. We have already completed our mid-October routine of removing anything from the outside that could get damaged or blown away so we're ready but not ready if that makes sense.  

While thinking of the wind during my playtime, I started thinking about wind and how it was described in the Bible. I love doing mini Bible studies. After a quick search, I quickly located over 50 mentions of the wind, and I'm sure there are more verses that mention the wind. Many of the verses I read describe wind as rough or strong as in Acts 27:13-15 ...but before long there rushed down from the land a violent wind; Job 1:18-19 ...a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house; John 6:16-18 ... Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

I also noticed that the Holy Spirit is symbolized as wind as in John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

I always ask for discernment and understanding when reading the Bible. I believe the Holy Spirit delights in giving us just that when we diligently ask. The more I do it, the more I get out of it. It's not something I get to do once and then I'm done. It's a daily meeting when God and I spend quiet time together. I like the following except from Richard T. Ritenbaugh's sermon.

   "Like the wind, spirit is invisible. A person cannot see it move or work. However, one can see the effect of what the Spirit does. One can see how it acts on things—just as the wind going through a tree full of leaves. One cannot see the wind, but everyone has seen how it makes the tree's leaves and the branches sway. Some have perhaps witnessed a strong wind knock a nest out of a tree or rip leaves or branches off a tree, but not the wind itself. It is the same with the Spirit. The Spirit moves, and we then can see people react. The people do things. A work gets done. What we see is not the Spirit itself, but the Spirit's fruit."

Is it just me or isn't the study of wind simply awesome. Now which hsts will I use for the next ship block....

Sharing your quilts -- do you? And why you should!

Today, tomorrow, and Saturday is my local guild's quilt show -- Clark County Quilters. I have been a member for a number of years, and I must admit that it has been a wonderful experience. Although I would have never gone and ultimately joined if not for my friend, Terry Knott. She encouraged, persuaded, and helped me step into an unknown and mostly uncomfortable zone. I tend to be on the shy side unless I know someone and then you can't shut me up even if you want to!  LOL Anyway being thrust into a big guild like CCQ can be intimidating unless you have a person in your life like I do named Terry. She walked me around and showed me the ropes...sometimes showing me the ropes multiple times before I remembered everything.

Guilds are wonderful resources, and I highly encourage you to look for your local guild. Not only can you meet wonderful men and women that share the love of quilting and art as much as you, but you will be inspired and encouraged and wowed by all of the wonderful things that members are doing and making.

Running a guild is a tremendous job and I have watched first-hand how much hard work current and past presidents put in to making a guild a success. It really does take an army of volunteers to make a guild successful, and we just happen to have pretty awesome members that volunteer umpteen hours of their time to run it. Each year the guild goes to an incredible amount of work to put on a show that really rivals some of the big shows. Again, all this work is done by volunteers.

I am so proud to see the number of quilts displayed at our show. We really have quite a selection from the youth section, to first time entries, vintage quilts, all the way through exquisite applique, pieced, art and modern. I know of no where else where you can get exposed to so many variations of quiltmaking than at a show, which brings me to the title of this post....sharing your quilts.

If you make quilts, please share them. I am my own biggest critic and can point out every area in every one of my quilts that are less than perfect. All of these things in my mind make my quilts non-show worthy. However, if none of us ever allows our quilts to be seen and viewed, shows will cease to exist and that would be a terrible thing. I view quilts as art and love that each and every one is made by human hands.

I took lots of pictures but don't want to post them until after the show so that I don't spoil someone from seeing a ribbon on their quilt.

The quilt above is my quilt I entered. I was tickled that my Piecing through the Decades received a Best Hand Quilting ribbon and an Honorable Mention ribbon. This quilt is what I call my life quilt. I started it back when templates were made with cardboard and drawn onto the fabric, cut with scissors, and hand pieced. I entered a class but was only able to take three classes before we moved out of state. I have no idea of who the pattern designer was for the blocks because we made our templates during the first class and cut up the paper to glue it onto the cardboard. The next 25 years was spent finishing the center blocks and growing and learning what to do with them. It shows exactly where I was in my growth and as I learned new skills, this quilt grew. I learned to be free and do borders so I designed the borders. I learned precision paper piecing and made the stars, I watched and learned techniques from teachers at The Quilt Show, and the quilt top was finished.

Next I pondered. Do I machine quilt or hand quilt. Because all of the center blocks were done by hand and I love the look of hand quilting, I decided to start a new journey and started hand quilting. I learned that I was not able to hand quilt in a hoop. I located a frame and started again. I learned you cannot move a quilt frame around like a hoop, so I learned to quilt with my thumb and finger so I could quilt in any direction. I found hand quilting therapeutic and relaxing. I finished the quilting and bound the quilt. I love it and see myself in many different ages through it. The quilt belongs to my husband who has given me the most fulfilling life I could have ever imagined.

Entering a quilt into a show takes courage. Courage to allow others to see it, judge it, feel the emotion  you've put into it, and gives you a great push to start the journey again.

Showing your quilts is giving back to all of the quilters who came before us and helping grow the next generation of quilters.

For the Love of the Piecers

We all know one or have seen one or you actually may be one of them. You know if you are one of those Piecer People! I am always on the lookout for remnants of them and sometimes, I have the pleasure of being given one to look at and figure out what to do in order to finish it in a manner that the Piecer would have been pleased to see.

Orphaned quilt blocks are found nearly everywhere and when I find them I like to ponder what the Piecer's vision was for the blocks. Did she or he use scraps of fabric that had a special meaning, or were the fabrics chosen based on a planned color theme? Were the moments spent in stitching thinking of how beautiful the finish would be, did the piecing help him or her get through some difficult times, or was she or he thinking of the smiles on the face of a person who would be receiving the finished quilt? Did the years pass as quickly by for them as they do for me? And before you know it, decades have passed but the blocks ever so patiently wait for you.

The above quilt was worked on for decades by the same person. Her name was Ann and she, as all us Piecers do, worked on and finished many quilts during that same time. This one however was never quiet ready for the finish line. She had just enough done that I could envision where she was planning on going, and with a tender heart, I laid out the blocks and strips on the floor...arranging and rearranging until nearly all of the blocks were used. I thought she was so creative by adding in the purple diamonds among the flowers. And just like we all have done, she had at one point ran out of the purple fabric and when she went to buy more, the exact same purple was not available so she did as we all do --- picked another purple and kept on going, and you know what? It worked just fine.

Here's a picture after I had joined all of the blocks together into the final top. The symmetrical side of me so wanted the left and right sides to match but there wasn't enough blocks. I contemplated leaving off the left diamond side but then it just didn't feel right and I think I actually felt Ann's whisper of it's okay that it doesn't match. I also could not make myself cut off one piece of the top as you see it so I floated the top onto a background fabric that closely matched the cream fabric and appliqued the whole top to it. LOL. Let me tell you, I love a good challenge, but I paced the floor trying to decide how I was going to accomplish what I had just decided to do. It was a little overwhelming, but I took my time and sewed inch by inch until I made it all the way around.

This is the first top that I've done where I was able to know about the person. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could figure out a way to preserve information about ourselves into our own blocks for the next Piercer. Although, I must say that with Ann's quilt even if I had not had knowledge about her, I completely felt her throughout the whole process and like to think that she guided my hands to the finish line so I was just the instrument that was used.

I have a very emotional connection to all of my quilts and that may be why I wonder about the things I mentioned. I tend to leave a piece of myself in each and every project. I would love to say I will finish all of the projects that are in my head and heart, but I know I will not. I do hope that a person just like myself will eventually find my treasured blocks and do as I have done and finish them. And I pray that the love that we both put in them will shine and give joy to those who wrap themselves up in it.

Craftsmanship through the Decades & Challenge!

Now that's WEARING happy colors!

It's wet, chilly, and dreary this week where I live in Oregon, but life is great. I have all the conveniences and benefits of living in the 21st century. Today, I pulled out a small booklet that my mother-in-law found and gave to me called Grandma Dexter, Applique and Patchwork Designs. The cost on the worn little booklet was only 10 cents. As I gently leafed through the pages, I felt a connection to all the women (and men) who came before me in working with fibers. 

After doing some research, I learned that the booklet was most-likely published in the early 1930s. I cannot imagine how difficult it was to live during the depression. I like to think that receiving this booklet brought a little joy to someone if even for a little while. The designs and ideas in the book are happy looking. The first page has six different Sunbonnet Sue's doing different things. Yo Yo pillows were popular as well as pot holders. I was surprised to also see rug hooking kits for sale (everything incl.) 89 cents!

The next several pages were full of color pictures of blocks such as the Eccentric Star, Sunflower, Modern Tulip, Flower Basket, Sweet Pea Wreath, Oriental Star, Dublin Steps, Triangle Puzzle, Colonial Bow Tie, Jacobs Ladder, Building Blocks, and Flower Pot. Templates follow the designs so that you can trace them out and start making them right away. This particular booklet still has the envelope and order form inside it should the person receiving it wanted to order supplies. Times sure have changed because at the bottom of the form it says "If cash is sent in payment be sure to register your letter). Wow.

There are also several projects done in crochet such as lace collars and cuffs. Hey, the cuffs are pretty darn cute and might make a comeback if enough of us started making them. My favorite though was the Nosegay Bouquets because anyone can benefit from wearing a bouquet that has been scented with your 'own cologne.'

They even listed a recipe to stiffen it:

• Dissolve 2 teaspoons of sugar in one-third cup of water, dip bouquet and leaves in this solution and press out liquid. Straighten flowers and leaves carefully and let dry.

I smiled when I read at the bottom of the page that the booklet was Printed in U.S.A. As a nation, we have lost a lot of things that were made in America and while there is a push to bring back some, we will never be strong in manufacturing as we once were. Here's a picture of the letter Virginia posted in the booklet. Click on the picture to enlarge.

So what do you do with your hands that makes your heart sing? Now let's continue to do it, but don't forget to also teach someone what you do so that each new generation will know the joy of creating, and you never know...that passing on of knowledge/skill might just give another person the ability to make a living income. 

If you've read back on my posts, you know how I feel about the connection of hands. Many hands working together can do anything. Now that we can touch anyone, anywhere via the internet there is nothing that cannot be accomplished if only we reach out to another.

Which brings me to "THE CHALLENGE" and the REWARD for accepting the challenge. 

Leave me a comment on this post letting me know that you are willing to teach another person(s). Please post what you will be teaching. It can be whatever you like to do and have a passion for doing. Saying it out loud or in this case writing it, will make it more real for you and me. 

Now ask a person if they would like to learn what you have to teach. Ideally, teaching would be wonderful if we could always meet face to face, but teaching something new on your blog will work as well as long as you call the title of you blog -- Passing it On and link back to this post on my blog. 

Are you willing? Can I hear an Oh YEAH out there. Doesn't it sound like fun and it will bring you and others joy I promise. You might just find out that you teaching as much as doing.  

The Challenge is open until Friday, February 27, so you have plenty of time to complete it and be eligible for the gift. Please come back to my blog on the 27th. I will have a new post just for the Challenge. If you taught your skill person to person, awesome! Just let me know that in the comment section. If you taught your skill via your blog, please post the page on your blog so I learn from you too! I'll draw the winning name on Saturday, February 28 and post the winner. Please make sure I have a way of contacting you. If your email is hidden and you win, I cannot tell you or mail you your prize!  

Oh yeah -- that brings me to my gift to one of you willing to take on the challenge. It is a brand new book by Edyta Sitar called Friendship Strips & Scraps. It was published in 2010 but the book itself is brand new and has that new book smell....yummy! Edyta is a fabulous teacher/person and what better way of saying thank you for teaching, then rewarding someone with this book.

This Challenge is open Worldwide. I will ship anywhere.

Inspired Inspiration

Merry Christmas to All

in·spired  inˈspī(ə)rd/

adjective

1. 1.

   of extraordinary quality, as if arising from some external creative impulse.
2. 2.  (of air or another substance) that is breathed in.

in·spi·ra·tion  inspəˈrāSH(ə)n/

noun

1. 1.

   the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

I spent some time working on a welcome gift for our new neighbors this weekend. It's a happy/sad moment for me. I will really miss our former neighbors. They loved their home and their yard. I will miss our yearly tomato contest which Tom always won! This past summer I finally gave in and forfeited. I think he felt pity on me and gifted me with several wonderful tomatoes from his garden...one of which weighed nearly 2 pounds. 

We are excited for our new neighbors and still remember how excited we were when we moved into our home 20 years ago last month.  Wow...how does the time fly by so quickly. I wish them many happy moments and lasting memories and thought it particularly good luck that the year they moved in and their house number are the same.  

My favorite week of the year is coming up. It is a tradition for my husband and I to take time off of work. It allows us to relax and rejuvenate. It also is nice to have some quiet time to slow down from the day-to-day happenings that life throws our way and savor the blessings received throughout the year. It is also a time to let go of anything that pulls me down emotionally or spiritually. I never grow tired of reading about Christ's birth and listening to Christ words while he was on earth. Some of my most amazing designs have come during this time of rest and revival, which brings me to the title of this post "Inspired Inspiration." 

Have you ever been in a creativity rut? This happens to me sometimes when I'm in the midst of creating a digitized file for a customer. Digitizing an actual file uses a lot of both sides of the brain. Left side for process and right side for creativity and how best to uses stitches. The artwork might have some challenging areas that do not translate well into thread or it may be a study on how best to walk through the logo in the most efficient and production friendly way for the fabric it will go on. Both of the preceding processes use the left side of the brain. During these times, it is easy to get caught up in it and sit and spin in circles with no clear answer in sight. When this happens, I stop working and go do something that uses the right side of my brain (time to draw, play with new Spirograph or even mundane things like vacuuming or folding clothes!). 

While I'm doing something different, my brain is still calculating and working on a solution or workaround...just in the background of my mind. I've never been stumped for long as long as I allow myself to get away from the issue at hand.

2015 is only 10 days away and I am inspired to follow Eleanor Roosevelt by "Do(ing) one thing every day that scares you(me)."  That should be inspiration enough to keep 2015 one of the most exciting year's yet!

I already have a list started for a few of those scary things that include:  

• Designing an English paper piecing mystery block of the month for Pioneer Quilts
• Submitting an original quilt to a national show
• Submitting a book idea to a publisher
• Submitting an original digitized file for judging

Whew...I'd better stop now or I will never enjoy my vacation week.