One of the local quilt shops (I say this tongue in cheek – local means it is 80 miles away, by highway more than one and half hours) was having a huge sale this weekend. One of my friends and I got up early- I met at her house at 8:30 and we started the drive to the sale with high hopes of finding good deals. Actually though we were both disappointed when we got there. In the sale barn there was lots of fabric but nothing that jumped out at us!! So disappointed, I got a couple fat quarter bundles for gifts to secret pal from Dear Jane list and girlfriend doing the driving 
surprise for her, and then we walked over the actual store to look at all the goodies that were not on sale. I did find some fabric there, this pretty gold and pretty red will be the back drop for a Christmas Baltimore Album (this quilt pattern is designed by Connie Sue Haidle from Apple Blossom Quilts) large wall-hanging – maybe couch size quilt if I find no place to hang it when I get done — it finishes at 75 x 75 inches. Even though it was not on sale I did my part to help right the economy and forced myself to buy it
Seeing as I was out most of the day I have not been able to sit down and work on Insanity Revisited or any other quilt. Last night I did work on the Scrappy Irish chain on the large quilting frame and I will do that again tonight when I get off of the computer. So seeing as I have not quilt worked today I will share another of my mugs.
I have a love of Russian history and Russian art. It is just something I have always been interested in even though I have no ethnic background to Russia. My husband and I took a cruise up the inner channel of Alaska about 5 years or so ago and though some of you might not know -I’m sure a lot of you do – that Alaska has a strong Russian history. You can find a lot of art with Russian roots in Alaska and they normally sell some on the cruise ship as well. I found this lovely mug and ladle while on that cruise. This art form is Russian Khokhloma. Here is an article about it. This art form dates back to the 17th century. This is a Russian folk art, the pieces are meant to be decorative only. At this site you can see other items that are available for purchase. (I do not have any connection to this site, I just found it on a search to share with you).
Yesterday’s question was: When it’s time to assemble a rag quilt, its patches are positioned wrong sides together to sew seams. I have never done this quilt and I guessed wrong! The answer is True – we want the seam allowances to be visible on the front of a rag quilt. That is indeed accomplished by placing wrong sides together to sew a seam. Learn something new every day don’t we in the world of quilting.
Next question: To add fabric cornerstones (corner squares) to straight set borders, cut squares with sides that match the unfinished width of the border. TRUE or FALSE
I got another of the little blocks done today – this had to have been one of the easiest of all – only 30 minutes it took. This second Dear Jane quilt is coming together very well. The first was difficult at times trying to figure out how to construct the blocks – you buy the patterns but no directions come in the book although there are a lot of helpful sites available. Now that I have one Dear Jane under the belt so to speak this second one is easier because of it. I am still several weeks away from quilting the first one, but soon I hope.
This little block is F-4 Old Windmill.
Our ice is a thing of the past, the temperatures today got above the freezing the mark and the ice was falling off of the trees in record speed today. I went out to collect the mail and felt I should have had an umbrella with me!
Very little to write today so I will move right on the questions.
Yesterday’s question was What name is used to describe a patchwork piece with straight sides, 90 degree angles at its four corners and a finished size of 2×6? The answer was a bar or rectangle. Someone posted the correct answer and I had several e mail the answers also – however you want to do it is fine with me, or just keep track yourself.
Question: When it’s time to assemble a rag quilt, its patches are postitioned wrong sides together to sew seams? True or False
Judi over at the Green Fairy Quilts is having a give away – go to her site and see the bag she is giving away and some pretty fabric too.
My first attempt at an art quilt was done about 6 years ago. It measures 30 x 30 and I made it for my daughters birthday. This quilt was designed from a photo by Robert Mapplethorpe. If you scroll down through that link you will find rows of flower photos that he did – this one was a copy that I made from the last one in the second row of photos. Not exactly of course – this is my interpretation I hand quilted it with gold metallic thread – never again – have you worked with metallic thread? It constantly shreds. I made the blossoms 3 dimensional and strung tiny beads on heavy thread for the centers of the flowers.
We had been gone almost all day today. We went into Little Rock for a doctor appointment for me – and then met our daughter and son in law for lunch and a little shopping. Then we saw the movie “Defiance” with Daniel Craig. We liked the movie although I don’t think it is getting really good reviews from what I heard. Maybe you have to be into history to enjoy the movie and be moved by the plight of the Jewish race in the WWII era. I put a link to the trailer of the movie here for you to see. It is based on a true story.
More coffee mugs – I told you I had two more cat mugs. The same person made both of these
I really like them, they are just so playful. I bought the blue one first at a craft show ages ago and then a year or two later we happened to travel to Tulsa OK I believe it was – I might be mistaken on that and saw the white one being sold in a pottery shop and so I picked that one up too. I use both of them off and on. A couple years later I found another of this artists mugs I’ll show that one later – it is not a cat mug, just a big mug with good color.
Yesterdays question was: When you applique, concave curves, (click on those words and it will lead you to a concave curve) lines that curve inwards, are easier to turn under when you make perpendicular clips along the curved seam allowance - true or false
the answer is True
Next question: What name is used to describe a patchwork piece with straight sides, 90 degree angles at its four corners and a finished size of 2″ x 6″?
A- diamond
B- bar or rectangle
C- hexagon
I got another of my Dear Jane – “Insanity Revisited” blocks done today – a very easy one it took under an hour to hand piece it. It is called Snowball. I tell you as others will agree I’m sure – some of these little blocks are so easy! and then you get a tough one that takes almost 4 hours to make. I could have made another block today but I spent some time quilting at the big frame today, the quilt is coming along slowly but I will still be able to finish it by my February 22nd deadline.
On the subject of cats. I have 3 cat coffee mugs. They are a little unusual. I will start with the oldest first – this was one of the first two of the mugs that started my collection. This one was picked out by my oldest daughter at a craft fair god knows how long ago – I’m guessing – 20 years? 25? It is a one of a kind – I have never seen 
anything like it again. Looks like that cat is getting ready to drink whatever gets in this mug. I have actually never used it for a
nything – the cat very much gets in my way! but it has always been sitting out where I can see it. I will show the other 2 cat mugs tomorrow.
I have been told that some like all of my quilt questions no matter if they know the answers or not so I will continue to post them for awhile. This last test that I found has really tested me!
Yesterday’s question was: The 1000 Pyramids quilt is assembled with equilateral triangles – true or false? The answer is True click on the link and it will lead you to instructions on how to make it and you can print out a template.
(I guess I should point out that I have no connection to the links I provide. They are just found from searches on the net – I do not mean to advertise one page over another – I just pick one that picks my fancy.)
A new question – I don’t have these numbered – I’m taking them out of order:
When you applique, concave curves, lines that curve inwards, are easier to turn under when you make perpendicular clips along the curved seam allowance – TRUE or FALSE
As you will see on these photo’s that our ice storm wasn’t nearly as bad as north of us — just 50 miles up the road people are without power all over the place. Two of my nieces posted photo’s to me that showed all the ice in the northern part of the state and in southern Missouri and we were lucky – it is very thick ice up there.
I’ll post another entry in the blog later today with the quilting question of the day and answer to yesterdays question. Today we are getting out of this house and will be getting in a work out at the fitness center and see how it is around us for ice.
Sorry I didn’t think to get any photo’s today of all the ice we are getting today. Luckily we did not loose our power! At least not yet that is. Actually we have been lucky in that our temperatures have stayed at 32 all day over here and although we did wake up to ice all over the place it isn’t as thick as it could be. A lot of our area does have power outages though and North Arkansas has a lot of outages. We are to get cold tonight and a little snow. I sure hope we do not loose our power tonight. I will try to post some photo’s tomorrow of our ice and maybe snow.
If you want to get in on another free give away go to Fabric, Family, Fun and get a chance to win some fabric from her on line shop. I had not come across this site before so I need t
o go back and look and see what all she has in her shop.
I have been quilting on the quilt with the minature double wedding ring in the center. Seeing as I have no other photo’s today I will post another photo of one of my mugs from the collection. This tiny mug is 3 1/2 inches tall. I got it at a museum gift shop in Little Rock called the Historic Arkansas Museum. This museum gift shop is where I sell a quilt now and then. It was totally unique that I had to have it. I have it on a shelf with a little man made out of wood that my youngest daughter picked up for us when she was in the Middle East about 15 years ago. I believe it was in Oman that she got it and the worry beads that are wrapped around the base of the cup came from the same area.
Yesterdays question was Why is quilting thread often pulled through a block of wax before it is sewn into the top of the quilt?
Answer is The wax makes the thread stronger
That was the last question in this series of question which stated it was for beginners! I know I had some of them wrong and I have been in this business of quilting for well over 20 years.
I searched around for a new series of questions and found a mixed batch of really hard to fairly easy. I am going to mix them up a bit to give a variety.
Question: The 1000 pyramids quilt is assembled with equilateral triangles. True or False
A free book arrived in my mail today along with my new membership card to the American Quilters Society. I didn’t know I was getting a free book so that made it extra cool. When I renewed my membership on line I didn’t look closely and didn’t see that it says right there that you get a free book. My free book is “Mosaic Applique” by Lorraine Carthew. At the link if you go to the Gallery and then the Mosaic – both needle turn and raw edge you will see some of the patterns that came with the book. I believe there are 10 patterns in the book. This is a book I will use for sure as I have been looking at some of Lorraine’s patterns for some time now and just never got around to getting any of them. If you go to Lorraine’s site the mosaic patterns are listed under the kits & patterns section you can see the patterns in the book from there. What a wonderful book to use batiks and hand dyed fabric with.
I ordered 3 books last week from the AQS that were on sale, so I am waiting with anticipation for the arrival. I love pouring over new quilting books. I make plans for making quilts and then never get around to making them of course. Too many lovely patterns and not enough time to make them!! Along with the membership fee for the AQS you get a year subscription of their magazine’s published every other month, discount on the entrance fee to the yearly show and discounts on books from the catalogs they send out now and then throughout the year.
If you look at the above picture you will see a photo of another coffee mug – enlarged photo here. This mug was given to me by my oldest daughter early last summer. She and her husband had went to a Greek Festival in Little Rock and found it. Even though she knew I was trying to control myself in adding more to my collection she knew I wouldn’t want to pass this one up. Right now it sits on my sewing table full of dark chocolate with a chapstick on the saucer. The mug and saucer are made out of wood and the saucer is painted in a very pretty design. I do believe she talked us into going to the festival in May with them this year. It is a yearly event. Speaking of my daughter she has just started her first blog which you can see here: From Scratch she loves cooking and this site I believe will be all about cooking and maybe she will post some of her photo’s also – she is a good photographer.
Yesterday question: was Quilting as a sewing technique was first used in which era?
Answer is in Ancient Egypt. Quilted garments still exist from the Ancient Egyptian tombs today.
The last question of this series is Why is quilting thread often pulled through a block of wax before it is sewn into the top of the quilt?
A- The wax makes the thread stronger.
B- The wax keeps the thread clean.
C- The wax makes the thread softer and easier to sew.
D- The wax makes the thread shinier and prettier.
Today was a chilly cold cloudy day and I really didn’t do much of anything and certainly didn’t feel like going outside. What I did do was bake bread and make some soup. I just didn’t feel like sewing or quilting today.
Oatmeal Walnut Bread
3/4 cup milk
6 Tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/3 cup white flour
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons ground flax seed (optional)
3/4 cup old fashion rolled oats
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 package yeast
Now at this point I will tell you this is a bread machine recipe but as I stated another time I do not like bread machines. If you want to you place all this in the order given and place in your bread machine and go with your normal bread making instructions.
What I do is just put it all (except half of the flour) in my kitchen aide mixer (or whatever kind of strong mixer you have) and give it a really good mixing, add the rest of the flour a little at a time until it is looking like it might be too stiff to mix and then dump it out onto a floured surface and begin kneading the rest of the flour in. Bread dough should be kneaded for at least 10 minutes. Put the dough into a greased bowl and a warm space and let it rise until double. Punch the dough down and let it rise again. After it has risen the second time form it into a loaf. Let it rise again and bake at 350 for about 45 to 50 minutes.
I like this loaf really well and I doubled the recipe and made 8 bread rolls out of half of the dough, I like to slice these open, warm them in the microwave and have a turkey sandwich with it. This recipe was adapted from one in a cookbook that only calls for white flour plus the oats – I like mine healthier and I always end up changing a recipe and then call it mine I normally use a lot of wheat flour and generally add ground flax seed to almost all baking it is healthy in the Omega-3 oils.
Vegetable Beef Soup
2 cups of Beef cut in cubes ( I use leftover roast for this)
3 medium potatoes cut in cubes
2 carrots – thickly sliced
2 cups of chopped celery
1 cup of frozen green beans (sliced)
1 cup of frozen corn
1 cup mushroom
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (I use the minced garlic out of a jar)
1 large onion chopped
1 large can of tomato soup
1 large carton of beef broth (or two cans)
salt and pepper to taste
Bring to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables are cooked. This is my own recipe substitute whatever veggies your family likes. I double this recipe and have enough for lunch for several days.
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Yesterdays question was The value of a quilt is increased if the quilting stitches are sewn in which specific way?
The answer is using very small, and uniformly even quilt stitches.
Question #8 Quilting as a sewing technique was first used in which era?
A- In Renaissance Italy
B- In Pre-Revolutionary America
C- In Ancient Egypt
D- In Medieval Europe
Continue reading about Oatmeal Walnut Bread and Vegetable Beef Soup
Kim at Bitty Bits & Pieces is giving a neat giveway, just leave her a comment on her blog and she will put your name in on the drawing. Tell I sent you over and I get more chances also as well as you will if any friends tell her you sent them over. You do not need a blog to enter in the giveaway.
