It Must Be Spring

I've been sitting a my machine trying to sew. But spring has finally arrived here at the lake. The door is open, has been all day. Smells like spring, looks like spring, and I'm really ready!

Quilted Straight

I spent the day at the Quilted Straight in Port Gamble WA. Great day! Wonderful students! We finished quilt fast!

Busy quilters.

Equals happy quilters.

Quilted Straight, Port Gamble WA

I'll be at Quilted Straight in Port Gamble on Sunday April 13 teaching my Fast Finished workshops. There might even be an opening. Call the store to check. 1-855-GOQUILT

Joining the Blocks: Quilt-As-You-Go Style
Learn to join pre-quilted blocks using several innovative techniques. Go home ready to make larger machine quilted quilts without all the work of trying to get it into your machine. The Quilt-As-You-Go method allows for more detailed quilting using a standard sewing machine since you're only quilting a small section at a time.

Super Fast Binding and Piping! 
Is binding the quilt your least favorite part?  Bindings and piping are a snap with this no-fail completely machine-stitched method.  In this class you will be making a sample to take home to keep as a ‘how to’ example for your own quilts. Binding will never be the same again!

Quilting Design Ideas

Seems like I'm always working on a new project. Probably because I am. I take lots of pictures all the time. The sanding joke in my family is "film is cheap". (Yes I take digital pics).  Any way I love this idea. I just need to figure out a way to make it work for me.

I must figure out a was to quit these spines with this wonderful back light.

I'd like to add the lines too.

Cafe Turko, Seattle

Went here for lunch. Great food, nice people. I had lamb meatballs (the Turkish name escapes me). Be sure to have some humus! They provide a unique environment to dine and enjoy the legendary Turkish tastes and hospitality while smelling the tantalizing aromas coming from the open kitchen.

Café Turko
754 N. 34th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 284 9954

Humus - from the top; Beet, spinach, yam (the best), garbanzo bean

More Pictures From Arizona

I was reviewing my pictures of Arizona, found some I really think you would you would like. I can't remember for sure but I think these were taken in the botanical garden in Phoenix.

These were the coolest chandeliers ever!

Too Much Tme!

The other night I found myself surfing the net. Something I rarely do. But TV was worse than usual so there I was, sitting on the couch with my trusty tablet. You just got to love some of the stuff you find there. My favorite?
 
And pink too. I love to paint stuff, but this was the best! I'm thinking about it....

What's New (or new to me) Feet

My stash of miscellaneous presser feet are some of my best friends. So finding a new one is special.  My favorite foot ever is the #20 open toe embroidery foot. This particular sewing machine model has an even feed feature. My NEW #20 foot does too! It's great!

I love BERNINA features. My sewing machine, the BERNINA 830 offers significantly more working area! The free arm leaves a 12 in. space to the right of the needle, letting me spread out my projects comfortably. This generous design provides enough room for large quilts, and allows perfect vision and control. Besides the extra space I like the even feed system and all the other helpful features of my BERNINA.

Is Nature playing an April Fools On Us? Or is Springtime Almost Here?

Every year at this time, as winter grudgingly gives way to a blustery, wet Northwest spring, attention turns to the 31 Yoshino cherry trees lining the Quad at Seattle's University of Washington. These trees are a natural hybrid in Japan and are the most popular and widely planted cultivated flowering cherries in temperate climates. When they bloom they create a canopy of soft pink that attracts tourists, picnickers, loyal alumni, swoony sweethearts and just about every wedding photographer in the state.

Cherry blossom enthusiasts plan vacations to Seattle from across the country and abroad to be here when the blooms are at their fullest. But when exactly that takes place is, of course, subject to the whims of ever-changeable Northwest weather.

The Quad’s Yoshino Cherry trees were purchased and planted at Washington Park Arboretum in or around 1939.They were brought to the UW campus proper in the early 1960s when State Route 520 was built.

Are they OK? Do they need replacing?
They’re healthy and growing, they still look fantastic and are blooming fantastically. Still, nothing lasts forever, and replacements will ultimately be needed. They’re healthy, but their life expectancy is 60 to 100 years and they’re getting to a very mature phase of their life. Based on the trunk sizes — documentation here is incomplete —  that only two trees have been replaced, and neither of those in the last 10 years.

When is was determined the trees were in danger of decline and had them grafted for future replacement. Those replacement trees growing at a nursery in Mount Vernon, about an hour to the north. The UW Class of 1959 raised money and created an endowment to pay for tree replacements, and members of that class remain interested and involved in the process.

When their two- to three-week run has ended, the Yoshino cherry tree blossoms will drop in flurries and decorate the Quad grounds for days afterward — a gentle and fitting end to the annual display.
And then? Springtime — we hope.

A back for the quilt with borders

I should give this quilt a name or forever I will think of it as 'The quilt with borders'. But no name comes to mind.

About the back. I generally by half yards pieces of fabric. Hardly ever a piece big enough for a back. I'd rather have fun six times buying smaller pieces than only once getting that one fabric for the back.

I like the look and because  I press all seams open to reduce any possible bulk, my backs lay nice and flat. Now on to the quilting.

I find that it works best to build a back on the wall. I hang the quilt up, and proceed to pin the largest pieces up.

Filling in as necessary from my scrap boxes (note the 6" squares and 2 1/2" strip).

The finished border for the quilt with borders

Sorry that I can't take a fast picture of the whole quilt, but here it is with the border. I think it looks great. I met my goal, finish the top and cut no yardage. Did you notice in order to not cut the yardage, I drifted from brown to purple and even some red? I think this adds to the richness of the quilt.

Now on to the back.

About Borders

This top just cries for a border.

I am trying to catch up and finish all older projects. I set myself some parameters. I want to use only scrap fabrics, not cutting yardage. The blocks are composed of 4" and 2 1/2" squares.

One row of 4" squares doesn't seem to be enough of a frame.

Two rows of 4" squares is too much.

One row of each 4" and 2 1/2" squares is just right.

Generally these are the guidelines I follow.

·        Keep in mind: Measure the bed or wall, if possible, to be sure that the quilt will fit. The quilt will probably finish smaller than the planned size because of the quilting.

·        Make the corners pretty

·        Total width of border usually looks in proportion to blocks if borders and blocks are the same size

·        Block borders

            Change colors in every other block

            Use separator strips

            Border block different value than center blocks

·        Look at the blocks for border shapes

·        All borders do not need to be the same size

·        Consider making every corner different or make opposite corners that match

·        If you want to use pieces of a different size than those in the quilt, make them smaller

·        Borders are constructed of 'units.'  To make borders that fit, each unit size must be compatible with the block size (or previous border) in the quilt.

The Historic El Tovar

We were fortunate to get reservations for this historic lodge at the last minute. The El Tovar, is a former Harvey House hotel situated directly on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The hotel was designed by Charles Whittlesey, Chief Architect for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway and was opened in 1905 as one of a chain of hotels and restaurants owned and operated by the Fred Harvey Company in conjunction with the Santa Fe railway. The hotel is one of only a handful of Harvey House facilities that are still in operation, and is an early example of the style that would evolve into National Park Service Rustic architecture.

The El Tovar sits right on the South Rim.

The Grand Canyon

To finish out two week tour of Arizona we visited my favorite place in the whole world, the Grand Canyon! 

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery.

The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and attains a depth of over a mile. Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history has been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.                                       There are no words to describe it's stunning beauty!

Quilter's Store Sedona

Please don't think that there was a chance I missed any opportunity to visit a quilt shop or two. The Quilter's Store Sedona was a lovely respite from all the unfamiliar blue sky!

The Quilter's Store Sedona is a quilter's dream located across from Thunder Mountain in Sedona, Arizona.  The store is stocked with over 2,000 bolts of 100% cotton fabrics that include a sweeping colorwall, batiks, the latest collections and southwest designs.

The Quilter's Store Sedona
3075 W. State Route 89A
Sedona, AZ 86336
928-282-2057 

Pat Rosenthal Shares Her Label Ideas

A MONTH FOR HEARTS  (#2004-5-128) commemorated  a momentous month that year
1) my 33rd wedding anniversary –we just celebrated our 43rd.
2) my brother’s 2nd heart surgery – he’s still going strong
3) our daughter’s 22nd birthday
4) Valentine’s day
5) I drew the 8 of hearts in a challenge at the quilt guild

Hello Melody,

I always enjoy your newsletter and then remember to check on your blog.   I live ½ time on Oahu now and love to be tied back to Puget Sound when I am away through your blog and other’s on the internet. I wanted to comment on your “Labeling Your Quilt” information.  I have always labeled my work because my grandmother who made many, many quilts in her lifetime NEVER did put her name on any of them.  My cousins and I all have one or more but when some have been passed on to children or grandchildren by my non-sewing or non- quilting cousins, the maker (Gramma Katie),  has been lost.

Most of the younger kids have no idea anymore who made the quilts that are passing on because they have no idea the time and love that Gramma put into her beautiful creations.  About 10 years ago I decided to make a quilt for every child under 12 at the family reunion at Lake Chelan.  Every one of the over 50 quilts I have given away to relatives there has my label on the back  -AND-  every child has received a simple print out to indicate their place, my place and Gramma Katie’s place in our large family tree.

I mostly wanted to tell you about a woman I met in Bath, England  in August 1999, at the quilt shop there.  She suggested I begin to label and keep a log of my work.  I told her I already did attach a label.  Then she suggested (rather forcefully) that I start to add a log number to each completed piece of work, from small wall art to king-sized bed quilts.

January 2000 I put my first log number ( 2000-1) on the first piece I completed in 2000.  In January of 2001 I decided to add a running count number so I would know the number of quilts for that year and the total number since I started counting. My last completed quilt (which was donated to Oahu foster children’s care) was numbered 2013-14-332.  That’s 14 completed quilts in 2013 and the 332nd since I started counting.

I make a lot of quilts for charities and family.    I don’t have a long-arm machine so I quilt by the ‘divide and conquer’ method. Since January 2000 only 3 very, very large pieces have been sent out to someone else to quilt.   The circle, oval, square, and spiral templates some long-armers  use are wonderful to sew  around and then fill in with whatever design I like.  

Your books are wonderful.  Keep writing and I’ll keep buying.
~Yours -- Always quilting or thinking about quilts,
                                                                                                                                                                    Pat Rosenthal

ANTARCTICA NIGHT   (#209-2-248) made to remember a MOST fantastic vacation to Antarctica

Back of ANTARCTICA NIGHT -label-photos of me on a black sand beach-and Mom and Les and me at the U.S. Antarctica Station

Celebrate International Quilting Day

Celebrate International Quilting Day with me and TheQuiltShow.com beginning Friday, March 14 through Sunday, March 16. Everyone who signs on to TheQuiltShow.com will have FREE access to over 160 WebTV shows featuring some of the top quilting instructors in the world. You can also enter the TQS prize drawing with a grand prize of a BERNINA 550QE and wonderful fabric prizes. So check in at www.thequiltshow.com on Friday, March 14, and enjoy the shows and exploring The Quilt Show website. You can start with my show, Episode #312.

Mission San Xavier del Bac

Mission San Xavier del Bac is a historic Spanish Catholic mission located on the Tohono O’odham San Xavier Indian Reservation. The mission was named in 1692 by Padre Eusebio Kino for a pioneering Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order), Francis Xavier. The mission is also known as the “place where the water appears”, as there were once natural springs in the area.
Outside, San Xavier has a white, Moorish-inspired design, elegant and simple, with an ornately decorated entrance. No records of the architect, builders, craftsmen or artisans responsible for creating and decorating it are known. Most of the labor was provided by the local Indians, and many believe they provided most or all of the artisans as well. Visitors entering the massive, carved mesquite-wood doors of San Xavier are often struck by the coolness of the interior, and the dazzling colors of the paintings, carvings, frescoes and statues. The interior is richly decorated with ornaments showing a mixture of New Spain and Native American artistic motifs.

Tombstone

After all that educational, arty stuff Tombstone was a campy bit of fresh air!

Allen Street today. One of the most notorious streets in the old west is alive and well in Tombstone. Throughout the past 140 years it has survived two major fires, the loss of the mining industry, and countless violent  encounters. Each year many thousands of visitors walk where old west heros and villains lived, worked and fought.
From boomtown to bust this little city earned its nickname, "The Town Too Tough To Die".


Take time to see a re-enactment of the The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The real a fight that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, and is generally regarded as the most famous gunfight in the history of the American Old West. The gunfight, believed to have lasted only about thirty seconds, was fought between the outlaw Cowboys Billy Claiborne, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury, and the opposing town Marshal Virgil Earp and his brothers Assistant Town Marshal Morgan and temporary lawman Wyatt, aided by Doc Holliday designated as a temporary marshal by Virgil. Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne ran from the fight unharmed, but Ike's brother Billy Clanton was killed, along with both McLaurys. Lawmen Virgil and Morgan Earp were wounded. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday came through the fight unharmed. The fight has come to represent a time in American history when the frontier was open range for outlaws opposed by law enforcement that was spread thin over vast territories, leaving some areas unprotected.

The bonus was the small quilt show at the art gallery!

Tucson Botanical Garden

A  5 1/2 acre urban garden, Tucson Botanical Gardens is a lush and tranquil oasis in the heart of the city. Built from the historic nursery and home of the Porter Family, the shaded Historic Gardens and the Porter House Gallery offer visitors the opportunity to enjoy eleven rotating exhibits annually; these focus on emerging and established local and regional artists whose themes interpret the flora, fauna, and landscape of desert regions.

Paths lead through a diverse selection of residentially scaled specialty gardens, including a Zen Garden, Prehistoric Garden, Barrio Garden, Butterfly Garden, and Children’s Garden. The Stonewall Foundation Tropical Exhibit is home to orchids, bromeliads, and jungle vegetation. During the months of October to April, the Exhibit hosts Butterfly Magic, a display of live tropical butterflies with species representation from five continents.

Quilt Shopping

The owner of Seams Sew Right, Maylee Collins says "To describe my love for quilting is simple: I have a love for color, the feel of great fabric and the excitement of the next new project and or projects. I always have more than one quilt going on, much like the rest of you out there. I learned early on that shopping for fabric is not about need. It’s about want. I wanted it all in my stash. So over the past 20 years (where does the time go?) there have not been too many Houston International Quilt Festivals I have missed."

Seams Sew Right
220 West Goodwin St.

Prescott, Arizona 86303

928-771-1200

 
Across the mall from the back door of the quilt shop is Love It Again! Fabrics ’N Fun Stuff . This is resale store at the Old Firehouse Plaza in Prescott, Arizona.  The store has fabrics, notions, trims, books, machines and Fun Stuff at a discount price. The inventory comes primarily from personal stashes. They sell unused fabrics, notions and trims as well old machines at Love It Again! The store is a great shopping experience for all quilters, sewist, crafters and beginners.



Love it Again, Fabrics 'n Fun Stuff Quilt Shop
218 W. Goodwin Street #102
Prescott, Arizona 86303

928-778-7080