by Karen on January 31, 2008
in family
We had a massive cold front come through on the 29th of this month, it had been unseasonally warm the day before and that morning getting up to 72 degrees by noon, well by 2 PM the wind really picked up strong! the temperatures dropped to 42 within 2 hours. Wind gusts were reported high, trees started falling over, roofs damaged, ect. and of course the power went out as there were power lines snapping all over the place. At our house the power went out at 2 PM on Tuesday and came back on 32 hours later last night at 10PM. Some people in the local area are still without power and have no idea how long until it is restored. In our back yard on the edge of the woods we had 5 pine trees uprooted and they took out 2 smaller hardwoods in the process of falling so we lost 7 good size trees and numerous smaller trees. Luckily the trees fell the right direction and instead of falling into the back yard and might have come fairly close to the house, they fell the opposite direction into the woods. here are several pictures of the fallen trees.
My quilt top called Insanity otherwise known as Dear Jane is coming along nicely. Two borders finished, two more to go. So far including all of the sashing and plain triangles there are 4,253 pieces in this quilt top — I think it will be over 5,000 pieces in it when I get done with it — which is looking more and more like the top will be finished sometime this year. I started it 3 years ago on February 23, 2005 wonder how close to being done I will be on that date this year?
by Karen on January 21, 2008
in quilts
New pictures of the room that I spend a bit of my time in, it is a long narrow room that used to be shared by our two daughters — looking at it now it is amazing that they got along most of the time 
the other half of the room, I just got the new quilt on the quilting frame this morning so there is not quilting on it as of yet.
by Karen on January 18, 2008
in quilts
The Mariners compass quilt is almost ready to be put on the quilting frame. Here is a photo of it – in this photo 2 of the compasses in the corners still need to be appliqued down but as I had an opportunity to get a photo of it I went ahead and took one — well actually this photo was taken by a friend –thank you Natalie and thank you Lori for helping me hold it up over the balcony. I used black Kona cotton for the background and the print fabric is from the Felix line of fabric designed by Barbara Campbell and Yolanda Fundora for Hancock Fabric Stores. This quilt was designed by yours truly! I did use bits and pieces of patterns that I have seen but the overall design is mine.
Some people have antique quilts and have no idea how to take care of them. I came across this site with some helpful information. It is from the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln Nebraska. http://www.quiltstudy.org/about_us/questions_answers/care.html I have never been to their museum of quilts although I have heard about it. Sounds like a really nice place.
by Karen on January 10, 2008
in quilts
Finally finished this quilt today. It had been on my quilting frame since late March I believe. It took awhile in part because we had traveled the month of June, August & September, and then gone for half of December. Traveling plays havoc with trying to get projects finished. This link takes you to the book that I got the pattern blocks from. http://www.quiltinaday.com/shoponline/books_display.asp?i=1497
The book suggested using the 15 block patterns for the quilt but I decided to use only 12 of them. I also arranged them differently from the book setting the blocks on point and using a lot of white in the quilt, I think that gives it a much more dramatic look in my opinion — the quilts shown in the book were very dark and dreary I thought (just my opinion just not my look). This book is by Eleanor Burns and Sue Bouchard
My quilt:
Close up of the white quilt blocks:
