Eat, Pray . . . Quilt

I haven't read the book, nor seen the movie, although I probably will - who doesn't love Julia Roberts? Everyone seems to have an opinion, though. I've been a little busy lately so I'm still on the fence about whether I should take the time to read it. I know people who absolutely LOVED this book and others who claim it's self-indulgent drivel. By a rich lady no less. I have a blog so I know all about self-indulgent drivel, LOL. Chances are good I'd love it.

If you haven't heard, the bestselling book, Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, is about a woman who is desperately unhappy with her life and decides to take a yearlong journey around the world to find personal and spiritual fulfillment. It's been touted as great for it's honesty and enlightenment. Oprah endorsed it. It's also been slammed for the author's self-absorption and superficiality.

I haven't been in the author's shoes. Or even close. I've had my own struggles over time, however, and most of you have had them too, I'll bet. Having kids just doesn't allow you to become too self-absorbed, LOL. And what I know is this - that when things get tough, quilters know that they don't have to travel the world to escape - quilting takes them on a journey right where they are.

In addition to tough, our lives get so busy at times - we become slaves to the calendar, e-mail, errands, traffic, the TV, our kids. Most of us share this though - quilting is the thing we've found that brings us back. Sometimes we need to be reminded of that. Take a breath, steal a few minutes, make a small project.

And, like the author says - eat some good food, too. No need to travel far and wide for excellent food, though. Proof: I made a mean Beef Stroganoff in my very own kitchen last night! Indulge in some chocolate. Take a walk in nature.

There's a Botanic Garden with waterfalls and a Japanese garden a few minutes from where I live. I walk there sometimes if it's not too hot outside. I'm thinking I should bring some quilting the next time I go and just stop and relax after the walk.

No time for a quilt? Here's a pincushion that will take you all of a 1/2 hour to make: Cut 1-inch scrap strips and sew together. Trim to a 3 1/2"  x 4 1/2 " rectangle. Sew some decorative stitches along the seams with colorful thread. Cut a piece of fabric the same size for the back. Right sides together, stitch 1/4 inch all around, leaving an opening. Turn right side out, stuff, and sew the opening shut. So cute. Therapy, I call it.

Right now I'm in the process of hand quilting the next quilt for the American Schoolgirl Club - "Clarissa's Garden." Oh my, you're going to love it. (Yes, I know, I'm behind, please forgive me. You WILL get your patterns later this month, I promise.) When I quilt without watching TV, I'm oblivious to time or space - my mind quiets and my focus turns inward. If I have a question, sometimes it gets answered while I'm quilting. If I'm upset, calmness returns after a bit.

Do we need to go to a mountain in Tibet to find peace? Maybe not. Confucius said: "No matter where you go, there you are." The spiritual journey is usually a journey within ourselves, no escaping that. I don't feel like I need to go anywhere to find a balance - I just quilt.

It's Almost a Book!

I like to compare writing a book to giving birth - with a much longer gestation period than I'm used to. Also, not quite as painful but a lot of hard work for sure and the same kind of exhilaration is there when it's finished. There's nothing like seeing your words in print and your quilts in photos. My new book will come out in January and while it seems a bit early to start promoting it, guess what? I was browsing  Amazon.com yesterday and discovered that you can see a preview there. If they're publicizing it, I guess I can finally talk about it myself. I thought, wouldn't it be terrible if someone else stumbled upon it and beat me to the punch and announced the title for me? So here you go, check it out:

The Civil War Sewing Circle

                                                  
Woohoo! This is very exciting! If you've been following my blog from the beginning, you may remember that shortly after I started blogging I announced that I had another book in the works. Seems like years, doesn't it?? Actually, that was over a year ago and it will be another long 4-5 months until we have it in our hands. About 18 months from conception to publication. Whew! Same as for a baby elephant and a little more than for a killer whale.

Those of you in my Yahoo group will be happy to see that the group Friendship Album quilt made it to the cover! If you use a magnifying glass you may be able to see the signatures of those who participated and made blocks, which I then put together into a quilt. Very cool. It was fun researching and writing about women's sewing experiences during the Civil War and this quilt project fit right in.

The book is not even printed up yet so don't e-mail me for a copy. And, just so you know, I'll be taking pre-orders for signed books on my website in a bit, same as I did for Remembering Adelia. If, when I buy my books, they arrive a little early, then yours may too.  If you're NOT interested in a signed book (and the shipping cost), ask your local quilt shop about it in November or December - it's still a little early now but some of them will be taking pre-orders as we get closer to January. They appreciate knowing how many to order ahead of time.

Yes, it's almost a book - finally!

New Quilts from Old

I told my husband it seemed like I had no fun at all this summer, being sick, as well as being stressed out by my daughter and her health issues, trying to catch up with work, i.e., the final revision on my next book, and designing, writing patterns and finishing the quilts for my American Schoolgirl Club after missing quite a few weeks.

Some of it was fun stuff, but work nonetheless, and I do stress out if I miss deadlines, something my Dr told me to try to avoid (stress, not deadlines). So going to one of my favorite quilt shows this past weekend, run by a local quilt shop, was just what I needed. Carrie and Katie at Pieceful Gathering in Fox River Grove, Illinois, use antique quilts for their inspiration in designing new patterns and fabric. Their quilt show (showcasing quilts made in their classes) is just lovely and full of inspiration, and so is the shop.

Many of the quilts displayed were very antique-looking and used reproduction fabrics, my favorite, so you can see why I was excited to see all of the quilts made by so many talented Illinois quilters. I would have liked to post photos of so many more, but there were almost 100 quilts and I only have room for a few here, so my apologies to those I left out.

On special exhibit was this late 19th century quilt from the collection of Sandy Schweitzer, which is the quilt that inspired Carrie Quinn's new fabric line, Rebecca's Madders, coming out in December. Can't wait to see it! The back of the quilt is pieced too, isn't that so cool?

Mary Z was there, an old friend I met in Jo Club in 2003 . . . Still happy to see me, or was it being surrounded by all the quilts and fabric?? Hmmm . . . .

(Here's a teaser for you - I'm wearing a small pin that has a picture of the cover of my next book on it!)

Here's one of Mary's little quilts - Sarah's Doll Quilt - that she hand pieced.

And here's one of her big ones - Blue Plate Special.

Here's a doll quilt made by Karen Schultz of Illinois. Simple and scrappy. Hey, Karen, sorry I missed you!

Here's one of Karen's bed-size quilts - Give and Take - which won 3rd place! Sorry if I cut it off a little. I almost fell over backing up trying to get it all in.

Love this Pineapple Table Topper made by Jan Griffith.

Who  can resist 30's Pinwheels?  Made by Vonnie Johnson.

Not all of the photos I took came out very well but here are some other quilts I loved.

     Not Everyone Likes Sunflowers made by Lorraine Tritthardt.

Mary's Stars made by Mary Landis.

                                            

Moda Club BOM made by Tricia Baldwin

Jo Morton's Baskets made by Lynn Ray.
                                                 

Christmas Carol made by Ann Fouse.

                                                    

Blueberries and Brown Sugar made by Julia Ann Thomson.

Now, don't tell me you don't have any good ideas for future quilts. I want to make all of them, sigh. Wish I had more time.

Make It Your Way

When I start out to design a quilt for a book I usually have an idea in my head but it often changes and evolves as I make the quilt. Nope, not those fabrics, try these, add more blocks -- or how about this instead of this for a border? Don't know exactly where it's going until I finish. I love to see other quilters' interpretations of my quilts and wonder if they work from my designs the same way--nope, too much blue, let's use red and brown instead.

Quite often I get e-mails from fans who want to know the name of the EXACT fabric I used in a particular quilt. They want to copy it to a T and I usually have to disappoint them by telling them that by the time a quilt appears in a book, the fabric is sometimes 2 or more years old and difficult to find. Lines change often and a fabric that's in a shop one day is usually gone the next time you blink.

The most requested fabric?

No contest, that wavy blue stripe designed by Judie Rothermel for her Regency collection that appears in the Orange Peel quilt on the cover of Remembering Adelia. Hundreds, no thousands, of e-mails asking about that fabric. Ok, just kidding, I'm exaggerating - not quite that many. But after the book came out last year, e-mails almost every day for sure. This fabric is not available anywhere now because I made the quilt in 2008. Trust me, I've looked. (Hoarder that I am, I still have a little bit left over to use in a small version I will make someday. If I'd known it would be this popular, I would have bought several bolts just for all of you.) That blue and black leaf print (also by Judie) is popular too. I have even less of that one and I still love to use it here and there in small quilts.

The good news is that the Orange Peel quilt looks great made with other fabrics too! I really love to see what other quilters come up with and always encourage them to e-mail me with their own versions of my simple designs. Apparently not everyone loves blue, I'm discovering. Nice that I can still make my quilts with blue and you can make yours any way you want.

Here are some photos Mary took of her group's projects  at  JoJo's Quilt Shop in Chesterfield, Virginia recently. They made a whole series of quilts from Remembering Adelia. Same as mine, but definitely different.

Some like warmer colors, some prefer pastels. Gotta love those pinks and browns! All very different, but all so lovely! Great job, ladies. Thanks, Mary!

Celebrate Romance

Some of these lovely fabrics will be used in a quilt I am going to make for the next challenge for my Yahoo Small Quilt  group.

I will call it "Romance Stars."

If you're not a member, join us in the fun and make a small star quilt using some of your own "romantic" floral fabrics.  If you don't have any, why I think it's a perfect excuse to go out and buy some new fabric. You have my permission, LOL.

I've been collecting some of these prints over the past year or two ( in a romantic floral box, of course) and wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them.  While I was in the hospital, I was hooked up to an IV drip and couldn't go very far without unplugging and dragging the whole d*** machine with me so, while I rested, the only thing I looked at to relax (when the TV wasn't on) were the pretty floral drapes at the window. A very romantic pattern that made me feel like quilting when I got better.

The challenge deadline is October 4 so I think I'll have plenty of time, barring any health relapses, LOL.

Create your own little quilt design from the block directions.

I've always been drawn to the sentimental and the romantic and some of my undergraduate study centered around the British Romantic poets of the late 18th to early 19th centuries - William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats and Lord Byron. As part of an independent study through the English and Art departments, I visited the Lake District in England to see what all the excitement was about.  

"I wandered lonely as a

Cloud

That floats on high o'er

Vales and Hills,

When at once I saw a

crowd

A host of dancing

Daffodils;

Along the Lake, beneath

the trees,

Ten thousand dancing in

the breeze." 

-William Wordsworth, 1807

The British Romantic poets believed that nature and emotion were the places in which one found spiritual truth. Most of the poets attributed to children special innate gifts. According to  Wordsworth - they come from heaven “trailing clouds of glory.” Poetry to them was a “spontaneous overflow of feelings,” often inspired by nature.

"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

        -John Keats

After seeing Wordsworth's cottage garden at Dove Cottage, I knew I wanted to plant my own someday. Took me quite a few years but I'm sort of on my way!

So yes, in addition to being a true sentimentalist, I am also a true romantic too. Make a "Romance Star" quilt to celebrate romance . . .

Time for another romantic garden party dinner?