Sneak Peak

Finished quilt top

               

Finished quilt top 

Is it possible that the colors in a quilt keep you up at night?  The energy in this particular piece keeps me buzzing along with my sweet Bernina till the wee hours of the night.  And since my husband is such great quilting company (we chat about the day while he plays Underworld Empire and I quilt), a Saturday night spent quilting is guiltless!

This is a modified jelly roll race using 3 inch strips (instead of the traditional 2 inch strips).  Plus its double the number of strips (60 vs 30). I made the regular jelly roll race size last year with 2 inch strips and it just wasn't big enough.  So I doubled up and alas improvisation has served me well.  It measures 83"x 80".  Fabric is from Jay McCarroll's Habitat mixed with a few other good finds that warmed up the fabric line.

I basted the quilt with 505 spray (my staple), and gave it some extra pin basting about every 10 inches for good measure.  One last press, and I started the quilting tonight using straight lines about 1/2 inch from the seams.  

Stay tuned!

Oh and please excuse the poor quality iphotos. 

Let them be eaten by bears

Peter Brown Hoffmeister was a troubled teen who carried guns to high school in the 1990's.  His mother forbid video games, saying they would "dumb him down".  These were the days before Call of Duty and Halo and the like.  And although he got into many fights and was expelled from school, he never shot or wounded anyone with a weapon, even though he admittedly thought about it many times.  In fact he turned his life around, became a high school teacher and wrote a book titled Let Them Be Eaten By Bears, A Fearless Guide to Taking Our Kids Into The Great Outdoors.  He goes back to my favorite remedy for bringing young boys back from the brink in today's tough world of violence.  He is also the author of End of Boys, writes a sharp blog about related issues and for the Huffington Post.  Check him out.  

Huntington Lodge

Snuggle up in front of this fireplace on the Craftsman couch with a quilt and a glass of vino.

My father-in-law spent the 2008-2009 season restoring this Adirondack gem, the Huntington Lodge in Newcomb, NY.  The SUNY-ESF Adirondack Ecological Center commissioned a renovation of the Huntington Wildlife Forest historic camp lodge, the result of which is an astounding renaissance of the Great Camp era structure. Read more history about the restoration and Huntington Wildlife Forest here.

  

The Trophy Room

Patience is a Virtue

 

Anyone who knows me knows I am as impatient as they come.  Really can't stand lines, people who talk too much or situations that take more than the "appropriate" amount of my time.  This is how efficiency has become such a cornerstone of daily living for my family.  From meals to housekeeping, staying on a budget and spending quality family time, efficiency cannot be underestimated

  But patience truly is a virtue, especially for those eager to see projects I have on the horizon.  I couldn't help posting just a few more fabric finds for yet another work-in-progress.  

This assortment of rich monochromes is for some special someones.  I was getting fussy about the colors and shapes in precuts I had planned for this project.  What do you know but my local quilt shop had these beauties in the half-price fabrics!  Rich and modern... what more could I ask for?  I'll happily exchange some time cutting for precuts that just weren't hacking it.

And this special stack was complied from the same shop, a beautiful tower of fat eighths, also half-price!

Stay tuned for what good things these will be...

Happy Worldwide Quilting Day!

Happy Worldwide Quilting Day!  Support our lovely craft and stop by your local quilt shop.  I know where I'd rather be...

Quilt-O-Rama

Indie Vibrations.  Quilt made by Amy Friend of Seacoast MQG

In another life I will make it to Quiltcon, the annual quilt convention hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild going on now though Feb 24.  This year it is in Austin, TX, a place I rekon to be quite charming, with a thriving music and film culture, as well as a robust real estate market (think of that!). 
Simultaneously the Moda Friendship Quilt Along is underway from Feb 18 - Mar 1.  Every day follow three Moda designer's blogs as they design a 9" friendship quilt block.

 

Impracticality.  Quilt made by Angela Walters of Kansas City MQG

As a new quilter I am pleasantly surprised at the wealth of creative resources and communities centered around the art of cutting up fantastic fabrics and piecing them back together.  Who would have thought?   


Art of Solitude

Why do we need solitude (and silence, which often accompanies it)?  We need it because solitude makes us more sensitive mothers.  Removing ourselves from constant stimulation and noise actually sharpens our sensitivity.  Also, solitude forces us to face ourselves.  In solitude we learn to like ourselves better because we are faced with our own company.  It helps us heal from old hurts so that we can be free to enjoy the present and it refreshes us in ways that the company of others can't.  Finally, solitude centers us and brings about a deep peace that cannot be achieved while staying immersed in either the good noise of friends and family or the awful noise of raucous media.  We must retreat into quiet aloneness so that we learn to be the women we were meant to be.  

-Meg Meeker, MD