I am planning on changing the look of my blog, over the next week or so if you check in with me you will see different looks possibly until I decide what I want. I’ll decide soon I’m sure – Happy New Year!
Yesterday’s question was: What form of quilting originates in Laos? Here is the answer.
B – Pan Dau, here is an example of Pan Dau work. If you click the thumbnail photo it will bring you to flickr where you can see it in a larger size.
I had to look for the answer to this question. I did not know it right off the bat. Laos has a population of people called the Hmong. A lot of the Hmong immigrated to the US after the Vietnam War, especially to Minnesota , Wisconsin and California; some of you that are in those areas that read my blog probably knew the answer right away. The art of Pan Dau is from the Hmong. Here are several links to the Hmong if you are interested in reading some about them. http://www.hmong-handwork.org/hmong.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hmong_people
These were some very interesting articles I thought. Maybe you will enjoy reading the articles as well.
The other multiply choice answers were Molos of which I could find very little information – it is Greek, and a municipality in Phthiotis, Greece goes by that name. I do not know if it has anything to do with quilting or if that was just pulled out of a hat for the answers. One of the other answers was Palampores which I researched also out of curiosity and it is a type of hand-painted and mordant-dyed bed cover made in India in the 18th century and only the wealthy class could afford it! Would be interesting to see a photo but couldn’t find one.
I think the other two answers we are all familiar with Trapunto – this is Italian for “to embroider” here is a link that describes it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapunto I think most of us quilters are at least somewhat aware of the art, although a lot of us have never done it – myself included.
The other answer was Sashiko, Japanese art form for quilting, http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Sashiko I have tried this and it was interesting.
My oldest daughter is interested in it and made me a small wall hanging for mother’s day one year using this form of quilting. She is not a quilter and I was amazed at the work she did — a really good job. She made this wall hanging by hand by reading a book on sashiko and from watching me work through the years.
Today’s question is:
#4 Who is the inventor of the sewing machine?
A – Elias Howe
B – Isaac Singer
C – Richard Sears
The answer will be given tomorrow. I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Years Eve. If you are going out please have a designated driver and be safe.
I got all the Xmas decorations taken down, packed away and the house is in order! Glad to have that job finished. Now maybe that the holiday is over I can get back to some progress on my quilting.
Here is a picture of another of my quilts. I made this one back in 1997. It is amazing how far I have come with my quilting since then. We had taken a trip out to the Oregon coast(1995) and I loved all of the lighthouses we had seen. When we got home I found a pattern for a lighthouse wall hanging that I loved. I wanted more than a wallhanging so I did row of flying geese around it and then pineapple blocks around that. It is amazing when I look at the quilting now to see how much I have improved in the past 12 years with my quilting. This is the first quilt that I made on my 3 roller quilting frame. My applique skills were not perfected (I’m not saying they are now either). I wasn’t going to tackle the tiny seagulls so I painted them instead with fabric paint. The top railing around the top of the lighthouse is drawn on with a fabric pen.
Another question:
question #3: What form of quilting originates in Laos? (maybe this one will be harder for some of you, I know these have been easy)
A – Molos
B – Pan Dau
C- Trapunto
D – Sashiko
E – Palampores
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Answer to yesterdays question is A - Log Cabin, Pineapple, Press Piecing
This a photo of one of the first Christmas quilts I made. I don’t have a place for it right now so it has been put away. Maybe one day I will have a free space large enough on one of the walls to put it.
Oh don’t you just hate having to put the Xmas decorations away when the season is about over! I have been at it for awhile now. Mike is busy with other stuff . I can reach the outside lights just fine so I am handling it. I took them down and just got them all put back into their boxes. The wreaths are put away. The little trees by the front door and the swags are all put away. Now to start with all the other stuff and remember what boxes hold what and make it all fit once again! Today is sunny and in the mid-50’s — seemed like the perfect day to get busy and get the outside lights taken care of.
Sometimes I start to feel kind of “bah humbug” and feel like a scrooge. I wonder why do I put all this stuff out every year. There are no small children around to appreciate it, the grandkids live miles away. I guess we keep doing it to recapture the feeling we had at the holidays when our children were small. Each year I tend to put less decorations out and toss some of the really old junk and I do mean junk not antique 
I am going to leave the Xmas tree skirt out and use it for a pattern for a new one. I am thinking of making a crazy quilt skirt to use next year for under the tree. I will use the few fancy stitches on my sewing machine for it – not something I normally do. This will give me some practice I guess. The fabric will be in velvets. I will have to search on line for some I guess as I have none. I am thinking of rich greens and burgundy type of colors . I will most likely have to shop on line. Maybe toss in some dark purples and deep, deep pink. We will see. Anybody have any of these colors on hand? Maybe we can do a swap of some sort. Let me know.
Question #2 Foundation blocks are found in which group of patterns?
A – Log Cabin, Pineapple, Press Piecing
B – Dresden Plate, Sun Bonnet Sue, Rose of Sharon
C – School House, Star of Bethlehem, Ocean Waves
the answer to yesterdays question was: C -Stitches Found on Crazy Quilts
Follow this link to a page on Crazy quilts and how to do the decorative stitches.
I have not accomplished much today in the line of quilting. I have been a little lazy in between reading and working outside with my husband on our land. We have trees that need to be cleared out that fell in our woods from last year’s bad windstorm. They are not in the way and aren’t near the house so we can take our time clearing them out. The trees fell in the woods. We will cut some for firewood and clear out the rest.
I made the quilt pictured here for my grandson 8 1/2 years ago – wow time sure flies Since this baby quilt he has received 3 other quilts from me and he is always pleased to get another. This quilt is still in considerably good shape although faded a little from repeated washings.
When writing a blog I have found that you have to constantly try to think of something to write. I know other people check in with me so this blog is not a personal diary/journal blog of things I do not want to share. What to keep people’s interest? I found some questions about quilting – with answers. I will be posting a question each day for awhile. The answer will appear the next day if you want to know if you are right check back with me I have about 25 or so of these questions.
Question #1:
What do the following words refer to: Chain, Feather, Herringbone, Outline
A – Quilt making patterns
B – Applique patterns in popular use from the 1840’s – 1860’s
C- Stitches found on Crazy Quilts
The answer will appear tomorrow with another question. You can either leave your answer here in comments or keep track of it on you own.
Are you interested in quilt history of America? I just found a site that I added to my blogroll on just that - Among the Usual Days. I haven’t explored the whole blog site as of yet having just found it or the web site but I’m sure I will be exploring it in days to come! But it looks really interesting. There is a newsletter that you can sign up for — it comes out about once a month. I ran across this site a long time ago but you know how it is you get busy and do not get back to something and forget to mark it and you forget where it is. From this blog by Judy Ann you can get to her other blogs and web sites that feature free patterns and the history of those patterns.
This quilt on the side is a quilt that I did several years ago. It is my own design of a Postage Stamp quilt. You can click on this link or the photo to see it close. I’m not exactly sure how old the postage stamp pattern is in history – when did quilters first start to make them? If someone has the answer let me know.
Well here it is Christmas night – Christmas day always seems to go so quickly – and now I start to think about when to take the tree down, and all the trouble of getting the boxes out and re-packed, outside lights to come down ect. We will wait until closer to New Years Day to do all that and enjoy it for awhile longer.
We had a quiet Christmas day with one of our daughters and son-in-law and their dog Patty. It was a relaxing day and we really didn’t over stuff on the food too much for a change. Our weather was perfect, got up to 50 degrees and my husband and I took a walk in the afternoon while the “kids” went to see our son-in-laws family. Luckily for us we live only 2 1/2 miles from his family so very easy to “share” the holidays without too much running around for them.
We decided this year not to do a lot of spending, we normally buy most everything we want as we need it and really didn’t need more. Mike did get me a gift card though from Hobby Lobby – we have no local quilting shop or I’m sure it would have been from there instead. I’m sure I will be finding things to buy. After all every other week I can print out a discount coupon and the gift card will last even longer! He fooled me a bit with it though. He had gotten a fairly flat wooden box and filled it with green pebbles and wrapped it up. I opened it having guessed right on that and kind of turned it this way and that to see if anything was with it and found the card The box will hold some small items and the pebbles can hold up a flower in a vase.
Here are some photos’ from our afternoon walk at the Bona Dea Trails near our home, it would have looked prettier with snow – but this is Arkansas after all and we don’t expect snow on the ground for Christmas but are delighted when it does happen:
I hope everyone will have a very Merry Christmas. May you all get whatever you asked for and all your quilting dreams come true
I hope everyone traveling managed to make it home for Christmas and that the traveling nightmares were not bad for you. Everyone will be so busy opening up gifts, putting together toys, eating more food than you really need and more cookies and candy than you can handle.
I am already working on resolutions for the upcoming year on the quilting front – use up the stash, do not buy more fabric unless it is for backing/backgrounds/borders and batting!! Do not buy more patterns -I do not need anymore – really! Finish projects already started. The list could go on and on.
Merry Christmas everyone
Well here it is Christmas Eve, this is the day that I make my Christmas coffee cake. This year I decided to make two different kinds, the one we always have and a new one – a never tried before recipe — maybe it will become a favorite who knows. I decided to forgo the cookies this year as it is just the two of us and one of our daughters and son in law will be here for a short time tomorrow. No little kids who would want cookies — just big ones who do not really need them
Our icy weather is a thing of the past and today it is 50 degrees! Not very Christmasy weather but it feels nice after 5 days or so of bone chilling weather. The weekend will be even better, in the 60’s
The coffee cake recipe I am trying is called Vanocka and here is the recipe with pictures.
Vanocka (Czechoslovakian Christmas Bread)
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon lemon peel
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoon candied orange peel (recipe to follow)
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon of water
If you do not have candied orange peel, here is a recipe to do it yourself:
1 large navel orange
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Take the peeling off of the orange and cut it into small pieces (I did not have a large orange handy but small ones, I only used one small orange and cut the recipe in half). Put a small amount of water in a pan and put the peel in it, boil it for 1 minutes, drain, and do it again and again. You repeat the boiling in water part a total of 3 times, this is to take the bitterness out of the orange peel.
Bring the water and sugar to a boil, stir until sugar dissolves. Put the peel in the sugar water and boil it on a low setting for 15 minutes, stir now and then.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick foil and with tongs or a fork lift the peel out of the syrup and place on the foil to dry and cool off. If you are making this, make it at least several hours before you start your recipe.
The coffee cake:
I use a bread machine for the first part of the recipe and following the manufacture directions for placing in order in the machine. Place the milk, egg, butter, sugar, salt, spices, lemon peel, flour, and yeast in the bread pan. Put the pan in the machine and select sweet setting. When the machine signals it is time to add the fruit – do not add the fruit but do add the chopped nuts. After the bread rises the second time in your machine take it out and put on a floured surface and knead in the fruit by hand.
Get it smooth and elastic and place in a bowl to rise one more time.
When it is doubled in bulk place on a slightly floured surface again and knead it two or three times. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces and make three “ropes” equal in size — about 12 to 18 inches in length – braid them just as you would do hair.
Place on a greased baking sheet and let it rise again, about 20 to 30 minutes. Take the beaten egg yolk with the water and brush over the surface of the dough lightly.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until browned and skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Dust with powdered sugar or drizzle a vanilla frosting over it while it is warm.
There are other variations of this bread, one is cutting the dough first into 4 pieces, use 3 for the large braid, the remaining one you cut in four pieces, use 3 for a smaller braid which you place on top of the first larger braid. The final piece is cut in two and you twist those together and place this on top of the second smaller braid. I choose this variation as it was the easiest! If you choose to make this bread without a bread machine and if you know how to make bread I would just make it the way you would normally make your bread – dissolve your yeast in water and go from there.
I actually whipped up a baby quilt top this past week. It was too cold to go outside much so I thought what the heck and got busy. I had bought fabric at Millhouse Quilts when I was in Wisconsin visiting my daughter and family in September and it was just decorating the shelf while I was looking at it wondering what to make with it. I decided to design it myself with nothing in particular in mind. I cut out rectangle shapes and squares and combined them into this bright, bright, quilt top – not my usual colors at all! The fabric is from a line called Pigtails and Pixie Dust. The fabric line can be seen at this link. I’m sure there are other links as well. I have not shopped at this on line store at the link, it was one of the sites that came up when I did a search.
Here is the photo of this bright, bright child size quilt at about 45″ x 56″ I liked the name of the fabric line and so that is what I am calling this quilt top
“Pigtails and Pixie Dust”
