Tomorrow I will start wandering through the quilt show – I look forward to seeing all the quilts and all the goodies from the vendors . We arrived in the area late afternoon so we are saving it for tomorrow. Tuesday and Wednesday we toured though some areas that were within 50 miles of the campsite at Village Creek State Park in Arkansas. Most of the time when we go to a park to camp it is with the intention of walking some trails and seeing things at the park. Well – it didn’t work out at this park. The bugs were everywhere! Little flying type of gnats that we were told were in the process of hatching!! When outside they would swarm around you – up your nose, in the mouth and ears!! Well maybe not swarm – that might be an exaggeration – but enough so that it was not comfortable to be out much. So instead of walking in the woods being bothered by the bugs one day we drove over to Parkin State Park which is an archeological park. The visitor center was really nice and had such a fine sampling of pottery that had been found at the site in the mounds that are in the park. Here are photos from the park.
The sign at the entrance to the park
One of the old mounds at the park. There is a 3/4 mile trail around the park showing some of the historical sites - well it was a fast walk - the bugs were at this park too!!
Some of the pottery that was dug up at the park under the mounds.
More pots!! love these old things, they are so neat looking. At least inside there were no bugs!
Next will be photos from Jacksonport State Park that I took Tuesday afternoon – an enjoyable day and we saw so much (and no bugs!!).
I will be taking a break from blogging this week while I take the week to go enjoy the beauty of all the wonderful quilts in Paducah. I have read in so many places that taking photos of the quilts and posted them on line is a big no no this year. Could this be something new - I know in past years I have seen blogs with photos of quilts from the shows on them. I have read that there will be signs up here and there at the show saying no posting photos on line – copy right issues? I can see that as I know a lot of the quilts were designed by the maker of the quilt and they might not want people copying their quilt.
I will take other photos instead. I bet blogger’s can take photos of “distance” shots and post those instead just not zeroed in on any one quilt in particular.
When I get back I need to go through my give away basket and organize another give away. The basket is too full and I want to share with some of you who want the items. So tune back in next week!!
When I am in Paducah I will have internet at the campground we are staying at and if the connection is good I will post on Thursday or Friday. The temptation of spending will be very hard to control 
I am sure there will be oodles of items I want from the vendors and I will have to keep reminding myself that I am on a budget!! I have my list ready of things to look for – of course it is a little long and I won’t be able to get everything – but that won’t stop me from looking!!
I don’t have anything new to show in quilting. I am getting another Dear Jane block prepped to sew on sometime today (maybe) and I actually have my “Little Brown Bird” book back out and I am looking through the blocks picking out the next one to prep and maybe take along on our camping trip this week to work on. But maybe I shouldn’t and just bring the baby quilt to work on! Maybe I could actually get done with it if it is the only thing I bring along besides a book or two to read? I really do not need to take much along we will only be gone for a week and we will be busy in the daytime and the sewing will be for in the evening if the bugs drive us inside at night.
I walked around outside for just a little bit this morning and it was the first morning this spring that I was bothered by insects – darn I knew that would happen sooner or later. But I managed to get some photos. My first rose is in full bloom.
I do not know the name of this rose. One time years ago we had some friends of ours that did odd jobs to supplement their income and a job they had was clearing out all plants by someones house. The people decided to open a daycare center and wanted no plants in the play yard area as children put things in their mouths and might get sick. They asked us to come along as they had permission to keep whatever plants they wanted while they cleaned them all out!!! Couldn't believe our good luck. We dug up this rose bush - who knows how old it was. We got so many good plants for free that day and still have a lot of them blooming to this day.
When Mike decided to build a new workshop about 4 years ago the rose bush among other plants were in the way. We decided to dig as many up that we could and replant in other areas. I put the rose bush in another area - or so I thought - we didn't get all of the root system. Mike had rented a backhoe(?) and moved a lot of dirt to an area a distance from the house and it was a bit - a big mound. Didn't think anything about it as it is away from the house and we moved the plants! LOL well there was a lot that we missed. The next spring low and behold we had a new garden on that mound of dirt. A rose bush grew, lilies, daffodils, yucca plants, Queen Ann's Lace, and of course since then trees have taken hold and many weeds. I need to decide what to do with it but each time I finally think about it I know the weather will get too hot to deal with it. This fall (I hope) I want to mark the plants to keep and start getting rid of the weeds and try to clean it up somewhat.
another section of the "wild area". I do not want to loose the wild look to the mound but I want to get the weeds under control so that I can possible plant some more actual plants. The weeds get quite high in the summer and block out the flowers.
the first of my clematis flowers
Now I need to get off of the computer and get busy with something – at least I have the laundry already started and vacuumed already!
I haven’t touched my Dear Jane blocks for the “Insanity Revisited” quilt in a month! Time flies doesn’t it. I thought I would try to get back into it today and did one block. Now when will I pick it up again – I don’t know. I will try to continue as I do want to get this quilt top finished but there is a lot left to do.
Row 11 (K) block #5
I sewed this one outside on the porch. That is the problem right now – I want to be outside but it is breezy enough that I won’t try another one today on the porch – not with these little pieces I had to chase one piece down!
I am still quilting on the baby quilt “Sugar and Spice” and I’m about half way done with it. I will bring it with us in the motor home when we go camping next week and work on it in the evenings. We decided on three nights at Village Creek State Park in the eastern part of the state and then on to Paducah for the quilt show. The weather is just right for camping and we are looking forward to time at the park and then the show. It is nice that it is not a super long distance from us.
Some of you might be familiar with the Apple Blossom Quilts web site that belongs to Connie Sue Haidle of Iowa. Connie contacted me last month after wandering around blog land and saw that I had made the Christmas Baltimore Album quilt that she had designed. She asked if she could mention it and link it in her newsletter. I told her yes she could. It is always such a compliment when designer contacts you isn’t it! The newsletter came out today and there I am mentioned with a link to my quilt. Thank you Connie -
I am still in the process of hand quilting this quilt but I do intend for it to be finished in plenty of time for Christmas this year. I know I pointed several people to the pattern last year but if you are looking for a Christmas project there are plenty of patterns to choose from here. I refer to the quilt as “Christmas Baltimore Album” but it is actually called “Christmas Memories” . There are so many patterns available on Connie’s site take a moment to wander on through and look at all of the pretties on this site. If you like floral blocks there are a lot of those available too besides all of the Christmas patterns.
If you subscribe to her newsletter you also have access to some free patterns blocks. You can sign up for her newsletter at the link on her page.
I have had so many people stopping by to check out the quilt that my feedjit reader on my side bar has been blipping all day! What a nice sound
Thanks Connie for the mention of me in your newsletter.
Yesterday for something different to do we decided to take the day off of yard work and workshop cleaning up and drove to Hot Springs. Hot Springs is about 80 or so miles southwest from us just as everything else tends to be. We had heard of the Garvan Woodland Gardens for a long time now but have never gone to see them. We missed the peak of the tulip season but there were still plenty to see. The azaleas are beautiful and so many! So here are some photo’s of what we saw yesterday – and due to allergies and the hotter than normal weather we really didn’t see everything but will go back another time I am sure. I have many more photos than these posted and will post a few more over the next couple days.
this azalea bud is almost double in size of the varieties that I have here at home. I could not believe how large it was.
pretty walk ways throughout the 210 acre park. I thought this bridge was so pretty, when you first come to the bridge and take a side path you don't realize what the structure of the bridge is until you go around the corner and see the tunnel through it. A pleasant surprise.
The Koi pond - they were very large and plentiful
a pretty waterfall in the pond area
a snowball tree! such a healthy plant the trunk was so big
a pretty trickling stream with a large fern at the top
I did get in one hour of quilting last night but didn’t really accomplish much with having been gone all day. Today I am now off to the eye doctor and my eyes will be dilated – I most likely won’t get to any quilting this evening and will have my sunglasses on all afternoon!!
The bag I sent for to store my featherweight in when I am not using it is larger than I thought it was! I checked the measurements – but oh well – extra room in the bag for supplies but that will make it too heavy for my weak elbows to carry. But not a problem, quite a few years back I had gotten a collapsible wheel carrier for a different sewing bag set up that I had. It had been put away in the closet but I found it, dusted it off and it is back in use! Good thing I tend to hold onto things for awhile.
the bag on it's little wheel cart. The little stand goes up when not in use. The black straps are elastic and pull over the bag to hold onto the cart.
The bag has three outside pockets – plenty of room for cords and extension cord too. Inside the top of the bag are two zipper pockets. I have left the machine threaded right now to remind myself how to thread properly until I know for sure I won’t forget!! That happens when you do not use a machine everyday.
If it looks like it will be too loose (no strap to hold in place) I will get a couple pieces of foam and cut to fit along the sides to hold it tight in the bag. Mainly though this is a place to store it and for taking to a sewing night now and then. The insert and the stack of books for the table level are stored in the bag for now too so I won't loose track of them.
Sugar and Spice in progress. This one won't take real long to quilt it is about 43" x 49" I think. I am doing a simple cross hatch and outline around the flowers.
a close up
And what have I been doing today? Me and my John Deere have been busy cutting and mulching! I do not mind cutting grass and over the years I have been the one to do it most of the time because of the long hours Mike always worked. I get some good thinking done on my John Deere Now of course if I had a push mower I sure as heck wouldn't be doing it!!
I have the cushions out for the warm weather and have already made use out of the this area and the porch - what a nice relaxing area (until the loud traffic goes by - at least that is not continuous out here)
I don’t have anything to really blog about today so I thought I would share some pretty blossoms:
The dogwood with the fully mature blossoms much whiter flowers now than they were in the last photo taken
wild violets that grow all over the place here. I did not have any violets here when we first moved here almost 30 years ago now. About 10 years or so ago they washed in I guess and now they grow all over the place. Some people do not like them over taking their yards but I do not mind - our soil is not good and anything that grows = except actually weeds - is usually welcome.
this azalea had been given to me 22 years ago - it was a miniature but I had no place to really keep it in the house. I did not know if it would stay a miniature or not, but after after 6 years outside it took off and now is almost the same size as the other azalea plants that we have. This one has a salmon pink blossom that will be fully open next week I bet.
I mentioned awhile back that I love tulips but here in Arkansas if we do not get a cold enough winter they do not always come back in blossoms in the spring. This winter was colder and longer than normal and I have 5 tulip buds this year - one more red one is a way off to the side and not in this photo. 5 is better than none but I think I originally planted about 20 of them several years ago.
I have the flowers on the baby quilt all appliqued in place. I marked a grid on it off and on today and it is now ready for quilting. I had a wonderful pink and white plaid fabric that was so soft that I thought it would be perfect for the backing. I bought it last year on sale someplace in the world of quilting fabric on line and knew I would eventually use it for something. I will be using pink thread to quilt it.
When I got my singer featherweight back in working order (or should I say got myself in working order ) I faced the problem of where would I sew with it. As you all know I have a small sewing room and I do not want to have to put a new table out. My SewEzi table has an acrylic piece that fits around the Janome just right. That is how you order them. With each sewing machine you need an acrylic piece that fits around it. The height on the table also has height adjusters. The Janome and the Featherweight are not the same height which meant in order to use the table for both machines I would also have to adjust the height each time I would switch machines. After a couple hours of thinking it over I decided to go ahead and order the acrylic piece to match up with the featherweight and find something that can be tucked under the machine to adjust the height.
I can’t believe how fast the SewEzi people are – I ordered the piece on Tuesday evening and it arrived today!! How is that for fast service. Right now I have two books that happened to be handy and 2 Connecting Threads catalogs that were handy and stacked them under the machine and it was exactly right. I measured the stack and it is exactly 5/8″ so that means next time we pick up some plywood or something of that sort I will get a piece and have Mike cut it to fit the base of the featherweight. Then whenever I switch out machines I do not have to do any adjusting of the height on the table- which really, really would be a pain to do.
This is how the Janome sits in the SewEzi table and what the acrylic plate looks like - each is fashioned for the base of each machine.
you see these white cylinder pieces - there are four of them. These are what need to be adjusted for the height of each machine - now you can see why I say I don't want to do that and that it would be a pain to do.
these are the new height adjusters that arrived with the plate - they really and truly are a pain to use. Here is the new acrylic plate for the featherweight.
The temporary height adjuster to test the theory out
this is how the featherweight sits in the SewEzi table with the temporary height under it. When I have a piece of wood or whatever I find that is the right height that piece will always be put with the acrylic plate so they are always together handy to use. This will be so much easier and quicker to do than adjust the height with the pieces you are supposed to use with it.
I’m glad I went ahead and measured and decided to order the plate. It will be so nice to just switch out the machines and not to have to find another space to set up in. I have ordered a bag to keep the featherweight in and I already have a travel case for the Janome so whenever I switch out machines I will just place it in it’s bag and it will be out of the way (which means under the quilting frame) and yet close by to switch back out again when I want it.
by Karen on April 8, 2010
in quilts
I started this cute little quilt last year. It did not really take a lot of time to make it in actually hours. I hand pieced this quilt last September while we were traveling in the motor home over a span of 4 weeks with about a week of time when I didn’t work on it. I put it aside while I was working on other projects and took it out in the middle of March to hand quilt it. Again that was 4 weeks of time but there were days here and there when I didn’t work on it. I think all totaled this quilt most likely took 6 weeks to make from start of piecing to quilting the last stitch. The quilt pattern name is “So Charming” and it is from Anina at Twiddletails. I made my border smaller than the pattern called for and also used 100% cotton batting. I wash and dry the quilt after I make it to give it that crinkly look. Due to those reasons my quilt is a little smaller than hers. I also cut my last border in a wavy edge which contributed to it being a little smaller also.
The finished quilt - 43 inches by 59 inches
wavy edge cut before binding
the backing - I used the same fabric for the binding.
the binding
Now that this little quilt is finished I will get back to appliqueing the flowers on the baby quilt that I started last month. I have not touched it in over a week while I was finishing up So Charming. There are six flowers left to applique and then it will be quilted on the hoop frame. I was going to quilt Baltimore Bliss next but after I added a border around the edges I noticed one side was wavy and I want to fix that before quilting. My stack of quilt tops is getting smaller!! Hurray – I do not like to have so many waiting in line.
