Pay It Forward

I have joined my first PIF from Khris’ blog Sew Prim Khris.

The concept of a PIF occurs when acts of kindness are performed without expecting anything in return and are passed on, trusting that the recipients will do the same and Pay It Forward, resulting in a never ending chain of kindness.

By signing on, my commitment is to make and send a gift to the first 3 friends who post a comment to this post requesting to join this exchange and who promise to Pay It Forward to 3 other persons, and so on.

 

At this time, I don't know what my 3 gifts will be, but I can promise you a gift made by me and from my heart that I will send to you within the next 365 days.  By signing on, what YOU then have to do in return is to Pay It Forward by making the same announcement and commitment on YOUR blog.

Isn’t this concept sooooo cool?   Won’t you come and play?

Happy stitching!

 

Kaaren

Guild Meeting

Yesterday I attended our monthly guild meeting and as usual, it was uplifting and inspiring. It never ceases to amaze me how many talented people there are in this world.

Our guild is unlike other clubs or organizations that I have belonged to in that there are no elected officers or rules, regulations or by-laws. Everything is done on a volunteer basis, including those who wish to head up activities, donations, our bi-annual quilt show and sale and even the gal who chairs the meetings. We try to rotate our ‘leader’ on a yearly basis but if no one volunteers, then the current gal just continues until she decides that her turn is up and it’s time for someone else to take over.

The most popular part of the meeting for everyone…aside from the tea, coffee and goodies…is Show and Tell. Today is the first time I brought my camera to a meeting to try to capture some of the awesome work that these gals do. Our meetings are held in the basement of a church and the lighting isn’t that great, so I apologize for the quality of my photos.

This is a photo of our charity quilt in progress. As you can see it is still a work in progress. Volunteers take turns working on it throughout the year.

This quilt was made by one of the members as a wedding gift for her nephew. It took her a year to complete it. The appliqué and piecing is awesome and the photo unfortunately does not do it justice.

Look at this gorgeous winter-themed wool table runner. The detail on it is stunning.

One of the gals donated this appliquéd quilt to a hospital for a fund raiser but it remained folded up in the administrator’s closet for 4 years. Can you believe it? Rosemary is going to re-donate it to an as yet undetermined charity.

This next quilt top was found wrapped up in an elderly relative’s attic. If you click on the image to enlarge it, you can see the date in the center when the top was pieced…1904! One of the gals in our guild is a master at crazy quilts and I believe she volunteered to complete it.

I feel very fortunate to belong to a group with so many talented women. It is indeed a pleasure to attend our meetings every month. The fellowship, sharing and camaraderie are simply amazing…with enough inspiration thrown in to last a lifetime.

Happy stitching!

Kaaren

A Work In Progress

About five years ago on one of my travel teaching trips to Ohio, I stumbled upon a shop in Hudson, Ohio where the owner happened to be an antique quilt collector.  She had about a dozen of her quilts on display in the shop and we struck up a conversation centered mainly on quilts and antiques in general and I soon found out that we had a lot in common.  As it turns out, she was downsizing her quilt collection and the ones that were in the store were for sale.  The end result…two came home with me!

One is a wonderful red and white quilt and the other is my favorite…a dated 1923 Grandmother’s Flower Garden.

This past summer, I decided that I’d like to try to replicate this quilt. 

 

I decided to try to follow the pattern as closely as possible and to use 1930’s reproduction fabrics to mimic the theme of the 1923 original. 

Over 1200, 1 1/2” hexagons later, the 63 flowers were complete. 

 

My progress lately has slowed up considerably, but I knew that it would be a labor-intensive project when I started.  In order not to lose interest, I work on other projects in the interim and because of it’s portability, find it easy to pick up, sew a few together and put it down at will.  I don’t know how many more ‘hexies’ I’ll need to complete the connecting pathways, so I prepare 50 at a time just to keep me going. 

My goal is to complete the piecing, quilting and binding entirely by hand, just like in the original. 

Initially, I didn’t set a time frame for completing this quilt but if I can get it done by the summer of 2010, two years from when I started down the garden path, I’ll be happy.

This exercise has certainly made me understand and appreciate the labor that the generations before us put into the making of their Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilts.  Hopefully someone in the distant future will feel the same about mine.

Happy stitching!

 

Kaaren

T-A-T Block 4 – Appliquéd Version

Although we had no rain over the weekend and the sun played peek-a-boo with the clouds, it was still a little too cool to work outdoors in the garden so I stayed indoors and did a little Spring cleaning, read and stitched.

Have you seen the June 2009 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting?  It’s my most favorite quilting magazine and I look forward to each new issue because there’s always something in it that I tag and add to my ‘to do’ list.  This month there are two projects that I’d love to make, the first being a scrappy quilt called Pick & Choose and the second one called Mix It Up using 1930’s prints using the classic Jacob’s Ladder and 16 patch blocks. 

 

The featured designer in this issue is Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs.  The article has some tantalizing photos of Anne’s ‘to die for’ studio and sheds some insight into her daily life as a designer.

Coincidently, one of the projects that I completed this weekend was the appliquéd version of the 4th block in Anne’s Tisket-A-Tasket BOM series.

 

 

Also included in the magazine is one of Anne’s designs called Sweet Tweet.  It would make a perfect baby quilt, done in pastel Pinwheel blocks and embellished with rickrack, buttons and two sweet appliquéd birds.  Edit: That makes three tagged projects in this issue alone.

I hope that you all had a safe and Happy Easter.

Happy Stitching!

 

Kaaren

Gifts From Down Under!!!

You know that you live in a VERY small town when...

a. there is only one traffic light.

b. you can shoot a cannon off at 7:00 p.m. on the main street and not hit anyone.

c. you and the mayor are on a first name basis.

d. you walk into the post office and the clerk announces for all to hear, "You have a package from Australia!"

Answer...ALL of the above!

It just had to be from my Secret Easter Swap partner! Who else?

I'm not going to fib to you all...I'm going to admit it straight out...I sped home! I just couldn't wait to see what was inside...from OZ! Yikes! This is as good as it gets!

I opened the package and look what was inside!

An incredibly beautiful tote in the most delicate Spring colors. There are three appliqued hearts on the front as well as some butter yellow rick rack trim just above it. And...

there's a matching appliqued heart on the reverse as well. And have a look at what I found hiding inside the tote...

chocolates and Easter eggs which I'm NOT sharing with Sam. And...

a magnet...

which already has a new home and has settled in quite comfortably on our refrigerator. And...

a fabric coaster which I will keep right next to me at the computer to set my tea on. And...

some incredibly lovely, bright and cheerful charm squares. And...

some John James embroidery needles...my favorites! And...

a lovely card wishing me and my family a happy Easter.

Thank you from the very, very bottom of my heart Leanne. You have touched me more than I can say and I'll treasure your gifts for always...except for the chocolates which will never make it past tomorrow. And to Julie, a BIG hug for organizing The Secret Easter Swap. What great fun it's been!