Dear Jane--One down, 224 to go

Last year I vowed that THIS year I would begin working on a Dear Jane quilt. I know I don't have time to work on this quilt right now, but--here's my first block. I couldn't wait. I'll bet some of you are surprised I actually even got  THIS far, LOL . . . .

                         

I bought the Dear Jane EQ software on sale with a gift card from my sister and just had to take a look at it to see if it worked, you know.

I had a lot of fun poking through my scraps, and then printed out the block pattern on freezer paper and hand pieced it all early one morning. It's not perfect, but pretty darn near, for me. The hand piecing went very well (I love hand piecing and hand pieced a small quilt to go in my next book). Of course, the block I chose was pretty simple--I'm going to ease myself into them and not do all of the easy ones first so I don't get burned out too fast. I've already picked out some scraps for the two blocks I'm planning to do next. I'm excited to make more after February, when I'll be finished working on the book and will have more time.

Here's the good part. My daughter will be a high school senior next year and has recently expressed interest in visiting colleges out east this year so--yay!--I may be able to stop in and see the real Dear Jane quilt at the Bennington Museum in Vermont.

Can you believe it? What timing. When she asked if we would take her to just look at a couple of eastern schools I could tell my husband was almost ready to say "No," because we both doubt she'll actually go that far away for college (and think she'll end up going somewhere in the Midwest to be closer to home) but I am a quick thinker and put my hand up and said "Wait, let her talk . . ." secretly thinking that this was my chance  to sneak in a trip to see the "mother quilt" just when I am about to begin working on one like it. Probably couldn't justify the trip any other way. Thanks, Caitlin!

Stay tuned. One block down, only 224 to go . . . Oh my.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

This week it's supposed to warm up a bit, but boy it's been cold here in northern Illinois!  I am in nesting mode inside, working on finishing up the book--making little projects that aren't quilts, quilting some of the small quilts and getting those patterns written. Four of the 5 large quilts are all back from the machine quilter and just need bindings put on. They look fantastic and I'm really proud of the colors and patterns I chose. Think you loved the quilts in Remembering Adelia? I think some of these are even better, just my humble opinion.

Speaking of nesting--we have a pair of cardinals visiting our feeder regularly. I love seeing the male's brightness against the snow. The females are a more subdued brown color. Cardinals are “mate feeders.” Sometimes I spot the female waiting in a tree--then the male cardinal will pick up a seed at the feeder, fly over to the female bird, and feed her.

Puppy Ophelia (Princess Lia for short) would like nothing better than to cavort with the birds in the back yard. We have a large dog run on the side of the house that's closed off to the back yard--mostly to keep muddy paws at bay, if necessary, when the snow melts, and also because she's so small I'm afraid she could slip through an opening in the fence somewhere when no one's watching. A dog on my block got out of its yard recently and was hit by a car, so I take no chances--my dogs are pretty much supervised when they're out in the back.

If Lia had her way, she'd go out every 5 minutes or more most days, especially if it's cold and/or snowing, and so I pretty much let her wear her sweater all day because I'm tired of taking it on and off. But for some silly reason (??) I don't WANT to go out in the back yard every 5 minutes with the dogs, can you imagine? So I let her out on the side in the run often enough and she watches the birds and squirrels through the fence, and then when I eventually do let her out in the back to play, she's not sure why they all scatter. Why don't they want to play? Better yet, why won't MOMMY play all day??

                               

Back to birds--don't forget to feed them. They need some fat in their food more than ever now to help keep them warm in the cold weather. A little bit of sugar is good for energy also and won't hurt them.

Sweet Suet Recipe for Wild Birds

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 cup Crisco

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

1/2 cup honey
A handful of bird seed or oiled sunflower seeds

1 cup chopped dried berries or raisins

Heat the Crisco in a saucepan on low heat. Mix all ingredients into the pan. Remove from heat and spoon the mixture into a muffin tin, pan or Jello mold and cool. If using a pan, cut into squares and freeze until needed.

Make a hole for hanging--insert a piece of a drinking straw into the warm mixture. Remove the straw once the mix is solid and cooled, thread with wire or thick yarn and hang.

Life After Deadline

I've got a pile of books on the table next to my bed, waiting patiently for me. Every now and then I pick one up and glance at the cover and then the back, then put it down. I know I'll never get my work done if I open it. Have to make my book deadline first. Ah, deadlines.

Working at home isn't all it's cracked up to be. I must constantly strive to be organized, focused and self-disciplined in order to get things done. Not that everybody else with a job doesn't have to be organized too, I guess. But I can't leave my work at the office--it's always there, night and day, a constant reminder of everything I still need to do. And very often distractions rule the day some days so then I'm up late. I DO get to work in my jammies if I choose, so that's a perk.

Setting goals for myself is something I need to do on a very regular basis. Then I break them down and set goals within THOSE goals to be able to really accomplish things. And the goals need to be constantly reevaluated. Even the little ones.

But first thing, when I'm finished with the book in February, I resolve to read more. I used to be a great reader but now I find that I get so busy with quilts that I don't make the time for reading the way I used to. And I miss it. I know that if I get involved in a book I won't want to put it down though so I guess I'm just preserving my attention for the quilt work that requires all of my attention right now. Then I'll be able to spend time at one of my favorite places:

When I was a child, sometimes all I wanted to do was read--especially during the summers off. My mom would point to the sunny sky and say--"Go play outside, it's too nice to be sitting inside." But it was nice to get inside a book too and so I ignored her for as long as I could, then compromised by sitting out on the back porch with my book. Reading was like a vacation. I remember being about 10 and begging my mom for the independence to take my first outing all alone with a friend and her little sister--we walked 6 blocks to the library all by ourselves, no grownups.

Going to the library was a weekly treat back in the day when my kids were young. Sometimes more than weekly if one of them had a question I couldn't answer or explain--Are birds really dinosaurs? Where does the sun go at night? Do dogs dream? Let's go to the library and find some books about it. Now we just look it up on the internet--not as much fun, but quicker. (Do I sound old or what??)

So here are a few of the books on my reading list for this year:

I've been waiting a while for this one--just released so I couldn't put it on my Christmas list. I'll probably spend my Christmas Barnes & Noble gift card on it tomorrow even though I won't read it for another month:

Gail Godwin is one of my favorite authors and one of her books is high on a list of my top 5 favorite books of all time. According to Publishers Weekly, in Unfinished Desires, "Bestselling author Godwin brings readers back in time to the early 1950s in this endearing story of Catholic school girls and the nuns who oversee them. Godwin captures brilliantly the subtleties of friendships between teenage girls, their ambivalence toward religion and their momentous struggle to define people—especially themselves. Poignant and transporting . . ." As a true sentimentalist (yes! It's a real word!), you can see why this is right up my alley.

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg

Not a quilting fiction book, but a contemporary novel where the main character happens to be a professional quilter. Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors and I thought I had read all of her books except for the latest one, Home Safe, but I somehow missed this one from 2006, so it will be a nice treat to read it. "Bestselling novelist Berg explores memory, love and forgiveness in her flawed but moving 12th novel. At her annual family reunion, Laura Bartone, a 50-something 'quilt artist,' is forced to confront the secrets that have long haunted her family. Her emotionally unstable sister . . ."

I've never read How to Make An American Quilt and have not seen the movie. Time to catch up.

Other books on the list for my soon-to-come reading reverie:

Inside of a Dog offers "a thoughtful take on the interior life of the dog, a topic often left to poets and philosophers." The author "ponders more basic questions about the pet dogs of the American living room: What's with the sniffing? Why do they bark? Oh, and do they actually like us?" This was a great Christmas gift from someone who oviously knows me well . . .

A Three Dog Life-- Booklist:  "In these exquisitely written essays Thomas reflects on how her marriage had to be reinvented after the night her husband, Richard, took their dog, Harry, out for a walk, and Harry came home alone. Richard had been hit by a car and was lying bleeding in the street. The traumatic head injury he suffered didn't kill him, as attending police had predicted it would, but it rendered him susceptible to large-scale memory loss, hallucinations, and such wild rages that Thomas was forced to commit him to an institution. Lesser events have destroyed relationships, so it would not be surprising to learn that Thomas abandoned Richard. She didn't. Instead, she sold their New York apartment, moved upstate to be near him, and acquired two more dogs to keep her company. What's more, she can't imagine life without her husband."
I'll probably cry when I read it. (Maybe I shouldn't say this . . . but my husband sometimes forgets things at the grocery store . . . )

Not to worry, puppy . . .

I usually read anything by Anita Shreve or Alice Hoffman. I picked these up at the library's used book sale for fifty cents last summer and put them on the pile. The title Blue Diary intrigued me. Nice cover, although you really shouldn't judge the book by it I'm told. But for fifty cents . . .

Oprah LOVED The Pillars of the Earth and so did my sister-in-law, so I asked for it for Christmas LAST year but haven't read it yet. This is going to be the year. Some have called it a medieval Gone With The Wind (Wait, it's about monks?)

I got The Devil in the White City for my birthday last September. It's about the incredible, actual events (murders) surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, not long after Jack the Ripper haunted the ill-lit streets of London in 1888. "The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing." I saw a PBS special not long ago on the Chicago World's Fair and it sparked my interest. Non-fiction, who knew.

My husband said perhaps I'd get more reading done  if I didn't spend so much time on this blog thing . . .

Happy New Year

From our snowy back yard to yours . . .

May the new year refresh your spirit and bring you tons of inspiration and happiness.

                            

I was about to walk out my front door a few days ago when I saw these kids on the block having a great time playing in the snow. I was impressed with how hard they were working at moving a giant snowball to a different location (for a snowman?) and so I made them stop to have their picture taken. So cute. I was really inspired by how much fun they put into their hard work. That snowball must have weighed a ton!

I wish you all a wonderful new year filled with abundance, joy, and treasured moments, and time to sew and play, of course!

Quilt Shop Tours

Well, the frenzy of the holidays is almost over and it's back to the relaxation of quilting for many of us. The gifts are made and the holiday projects finished, right? It's almost a new year and a great time to be inspired. I can't exactly take a breath until my next book is finished--I'll be ready to send it to the publisher next month--but I'm looking forward to getting a start on my Dear Jane quilt and numerous other projects once the book is done.

What's a better way to be inspired than to take a tour of some of my favorite quilt shops? I'm so lucky I live in an area where there are a couple of great shops within a 40-minute drive. Wish they were a just a little closer but many quilters have to drive even farther than that.  So sit back and have some fun--take a little tour and peek inside some of the shops. If you're ever in northern Illinois and need a fabric fix, take some time to stop by some of these great quilt shops. And, just so you know, they all carry my books in case you or a friend need to stock up, LOL.

Quilt Play, located at 62 Center Street  in Grayslake, IL

Quilt Play is in northern Illinois, just south of the Wisconsin border.

Shelley has a great variety of fabrics and is always friendly and eager to help.

Lots of Moda fabric, thirties prints and Civil War repro fabric. Lots of great samples too!

Nice and bright--plenty of pastels for Spring already.

NEXT STOP

A Touch of Amish--located at 130 Applebee Street in Barrington, Illinois.

Lovely shop in an old house with lots of different rooms.

Yep, that's an Orange Peel sample from Remembering Adelia.

Lots of antique quilts and reproduction samples

A huge Civil War repro section

The shop carries so many shirtings prints! This is one of my favorite quilts made with a number of different shirtings. Isn't it fantastic? I want to use up my scraps and make this one as soon as I'm finished with my next book.

And don't forget Thimbleberries prints as well as a Thimbleberries club

There's even a Remembering Adelia Club--I stopped by a few weeks ago and had a great time visiting with everyone.

Kitty was teaching them how to make the little Prairie Points quilt from Remembering Adelia. She's a great teacher and I always learn a thing or two!

Here are her Scrappy Star blocks from the book in 4 different sizes.

Love the Peony Stars sample, too.

NEXT STOP

Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop--located at 106 Northwest Highway (Rt. 14) in Fox River Grove, Illinois

Carrie and Katie are always more than happy to help you find something or introduce you to what's new in the quilting world. They always have a wonderful variety of 19th century prints and great samples made from them.

But watch out! You may get hooked into making little quilts because they have so many cute samples and kits available. Lots of kits for BIG quilts too, don't worry.

And always lots of kits for quilts from my books.

I stopped by a couple of weeks ago and while my friend Julia was hiding out in another room, I sneaked away and bought her Christmas present--a kit for that little blue and red Sawtooth Star quilt you see below, hanging on the wall.

 Oops, here she comes, hide it!

Whew, I'm exhausted, what about you? Nothing like shopping till you drop . . . Hope you had a great time. I think I'm going to make this a regular feature. I visit a lot of shops as I travel throughout the year, so I'll try to remember to bring my camera and post more photos from now on.

                        

I hear complaints from quilters all the time about the great shops that were once near them but are now closed. They need our help more than ever these days, you know. Have you heard about this great plan for helping your local small retail businesses STAY in business? It's called The 3/50 Project. Take a look.

So, if you're able, try to support your local quilt shops this year--buy some fabric, pick up a book or some fat quarters or maybe take a class. What a great New Year's resolution, don't you think? I couldn't do what I do without them, and I'll bet you couldn't either.

Merry Christmas!

Love came down at Christmas;

Love all lovely, love divine;

Love was born at Christmas,

Stars and angels gave the sign.

-Christina Rossetti

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus."

Merry Christmas and may hope and peace be with you all for the New Year