Halloween? I think not!

I live in an area where Halloween is king, queen and perhaps princess. I do love seeing the children in costume. They are so excited and are at the door for candy.  I always have more than enough.

However, I think that the wreath I made for my front door is perhaps not a Halloween wreath but  lends itself more to a more literary time. I made three of these,one for my sister and one for my daughter. My daughter, the English teacher has suggested that I look at this from that literary standpoint. Now I read a great deal of those novels a long time ago, William Faulkner, Edger Allan Poe, Nelson Algren, Asimov, Bradberry, Pearl S Buck, Stephan Crane, Emily Dickenson, Scott Fitzgerald, Nathanial Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, John Irving, Barbara Kingsolver, Sinclair Lewis, Herman Melville, Toni Morrison, Eugene O' Neill, John Steinbeck, Harriet Beecher Stowe Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, Jane Austin, Harper Lee, and so many more.

Two standouts for me are Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner. These are scary guys. As a young reader I was attracted to that kind of writing as well as science fiction.  I remember reading "Pit and Pendulum" around fourteen. Poe wrote," Arousing from the most profound of slumbers,we break the gossamer web of some dream. yet in a second after wards, ( so frail may have that web have been) we remember not that we have dreamed." I was fascinated with that phrase most of my life. Of course the truth is the biggest impact of that story was always the beating heart!!!

As to William Faulkner my favorite of his, is "A Rose For Emily"  I still remember " Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition and a duty,  a care; a sort of a heredity and obligation upon the town"

As I look at what I have written I realize it is a kind of ramble but sometimes that is all I have to offer. I started to read when I was almost four, so technically when I was three. bet you are impressed. I continued reading almost everyday of my life. Sometimes it helps me survive the day, always it is a comfort and joy.

Be sure to read the green box. I have seen it happen. Good reading to you. I hope you you come by and tell me about your own journey.

Baltimore on the Prarie 2013

Having returned from Baltimore on the Prairie in Omaha Nebraska a few weeks ago I am still thinking and remembering my wonderful experience there. As an instructor I have the pleasure of sharing my joy in making quilts. Over the last few years I have concentrated mostly on Baltimore applique and and frankly any kind of applique. At BOTP, students can indulge themselves in lovely choices with something for everyone. I am pretty traditional with a world of wonderful quilts made in the past for inspiration.   My classes next year include the Bird in the Bush block nestled in the lower left corner above and is my main conference class. The one day offering is second in the top row. It is called "The Way We Were". A catchy title if I do say so myself, but the name serves a purpose. I grew up the oldest of ten children and at my mother's side. We washed on Monday, ironed on Tuesday and well you get the idea. That is the way we were. Today's reality is clearly different, but you can still re-create that time in this project. A little embroidery, a little applique. It gets no better.

Now I cannot speak for the other great instructors except to say they are all first rate. It keeps getting better and better. Nancy Kerns brings lovely applique to the table with her beautiful vase of flowers in the bottom row second block. Beautiful! In the top row third square is a gorgeous slightly contemporary spray of flowers. You need to see this one close up, it is breath taking.

Jeanne Sullivan is very popular at BOTP and with good reason. Her work is lovely and absolutely meticulous. She will take you through a variety of special techniques. her blocks appear on the top row, left and the bottom row right. Look closely at both. It will take your breath away.

Don't forget Rita Verroca.  Next year she will be offering two special classes using the Broiderie perse techniques as well as regular applique. Her classes are very popular and well received. her color sense is right on and her skills are wonderful. Her samples are shown in top row fourth block and bottom row third block.

Okay, now you know a little about next year and I really hope to see you there. Truth is the instructors often have more fun than the students and that is saying a lot. Come, spend a few days and i bet you will come back again and again!   Let me know what you think, what you would do and what you would like to see. Happy, happy stitching, Nadine





 

I have really talented friends

 

I am so lucky to have so many talented friends in my life. One of these is Jeanne Sullivan. She is an amazing quilt artist and has won the Northcott fabric challenge for a number of years. She has been working on her book for the last couple of years and it will soon be on the market for all to share. I am personally looking forward to working my way through the entire book and perhaps improving my own skills. Jeanne has an incredible and very tiny berry I am hoping to see in the book just to find out if I can recreate it. Okay I am also hoping to add to my own work with the skill sets I know are in this book. Now, at three o'clock this afternoon I waltzed over to   jeannesullivandesign.com and signed up for my own copy. Jeanne has wonderful sewing items for sale as well as applique items and more. I know this seems like a commercial but sometimes you just have to celebrate for a friend.  See you there

Just sharing

A Bird in the Hand

This was fun!

Freddy Lake

LibbyLu, Fast Forward 2012

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 LibbyLu graduated from middle school a few weeks ago. There was a lot of talk among the girls about graduation dresses, dresses for graduation dance, and well you get the idea. She asked me if I would help her make her own dress for graduation. You can imagine how happy that made me. The last two years have made these kinds of activities difficult to pull off but here we were with a window. So, to pull it off we had to find a pattern, so a trip to JoAnns. I was pretty impressed with her choice of a classic dress. Now I didn't say we wouldn't shorten the skirt. I know the rules. Above she is holding the back of the dress together to humor me when I wanted to take a photo. Nice smile though.

The dress is finished but not the story so bare with me a little longer. LibbyLu has had a mind of her own for a very long time now so i made up my mind to be patient this time so we could both enjoy our project. However, I needn't have worried. She was willing to listen  to everything. So, my first suggestion was that she trace all the pattern parts she needed for her dress on vellum. You know how it is these days, a pattern is in multiple sizes and if you cut out your size it becomes somewhat impossible to easily cut out a different size. So she traced and cut out her size, As we went through the process, she stitched every seam except the one for the arm facing and she cut it perfectly so it fit without a single  problem. Towards the end I realized that I have not sewn for myself for years. So I turned to my daughter Kelly. She did the zipper. yay!  We are three generations on this project. It makes my heart sing. With all that said she looks proud and to her Mimi, adorable.  Another reminder, take time to sew with your children. You will not be sorry and they will take away memories to share with their own children. Thank you for coming by. I know I do not post often enough to hold your interest. Life gets in the way but believe me I miss you.

LibbyLu

 I have been wanting to talk about my granddaughter's first efforts at sewing. A little older than two years old and loving to go to the fabric stores as well as quilt shops made for an interesting and fun time with her. Above  you can see that she was already interested and willing to listen to Mimi, so she did not get hurt.

But let's get back to the quilt shop. I wanted to make a quilt with LibbyLu and she wanted to choose the fabric herself, arrange and rearrange the three inch squares every evening, test out the response of her dolls by placing the squares on the carpet and laying her dolls on top, only to get up the next morning and do it all again. 

Finally, it was decided and I put it together on the machine. About this time her mother weighed in with concern that there were six red squares touching each other and perhaps it would be nicer if the red could be scattered over the whole quilt. LibbyLu and I reminded her that this was her quilt and she had spent a long time coming to a final decision.  I stitched it together with her on my lap making sure I did everything right. Then as you can see in the above photos we tied the quilt together. It was a time I will always cherish. She is fourteen now and not interested in quilting but I think that will change. Perhaps she will make a quilt for her first child, or maybe she will quilt for the reason I do. Maybe she will do it for the shear joy of producing something beautiful. You know it doesn't matter what she does for her heart as long as she does something. Have you made a quilt with a child? No? Oh you have to. Don't forget your boys. Many of them like this experience.