the journey of an idea

This little quilt 24" by 39" is one of my favorites. It was made in about 1990 and has some of my early use of shirt parts in the plaids of the trees. There was a photograph on the cover of Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilts with plaid trees that started my idea--this quilt looks nothing like the magazine cover. I love how we quilters can be triggered by something and when we go back to the original, you wonder what the journey was that brought you there.


This second quilt I rescued from the Salvation Army thrift many years ago. The wonderful eggplant bodies of the Sunbonnet Sue are different from any others I've ever seen. My friend Kevin thinks the maker saw a Sunbonnet Sue quilt and didn't have a chance to draw it out until she got home, and her imagination filled in all the forgotten details. I used this as a block of the month pattern for my guild and now there are many quilts out there with this one woman's warped idea!

turning 50

So I am turning 50 in a couple of weeks and yesterday TWO AARP cards arrived in the mail--one in my maiden name and one in my married name. They really want to make sure I know I am retired.
Uh, folks, retirement age for my cohort is 67, so you are 17 years early with these cards. I don't mind turning 50. I do mind you rubbing my nose in the fact we aren't retiring for nearly 2 more decades.
They are headed to the shredder.

an alligator???

An American alligator measuring approximately 4 1/2 feet long and weighing 45 pounds was trapped in the Chicago River. (Tribune photo by Alex Garcia / June 21, 2008)

the corsage saga continues...

(See my May 7th post)
From my sister Janna:
Okay....

So I'm cleaning out Mom and Dad's refrigerator and find Mom's Mother's Day
corsage. It was horrible...bright pink ribbon, a purple mum, two chartreuse
mums (who would ever pick chartreuse for a color), two pink carnations, and two
tiny rosebuds. plus a lot of filler (teeny white and pink flowers). I ordered a
ROSE corsage. I did so last year as well but those roses were huge so this year
I asked that the corsage be made out of small roses. They used two small rose
buds.
I called to complain...she wasn't much help. She said no one else had complained. She could help us out next
year but she never spelled out what she would do for us. Last year she
delivered to the wrong Henrietta Dykstra AFTER even though I told them of the
problem beforehand. They say the problem is that Mom is never home when they
call.
SO...NEXT YEAR, you are in charge, Lynn....since both Beth and I have burned our
bridges in Hull, Sheldon, and Sioux Center. Mom did say that there is a florist
in Rock Valley and it is owned by our cousin
Jason's sister-in-law.

Later,
Janna

Bonnie's crossroads

Here is my red and green and neutral version of Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Crossroads. It was all-but-borders for quite a while. (I was all-but-thesis for quite a while in grad school too.)
Thanks, Bonnie, for this pattern. Her second mystery is on her site now. I hope to make that later this summer.
I used all scraps in the body of the quilt and used yardage from my shelves for the border. The scraps are from a lifetime of quilting and it is a delight to see them all together. Lots of shirt parts too. I even have a back already made for some unknown project that is the right size, so it is ready to go to the quilter.

home from university

I don't think I've ever shown these quilts, the first made in 1996--pattern is from an old book on stars, this one was set into Burgoyne Surrounded blocks. I've made Christmas quilts for the family, choosing fabrics that don't scream "Christmas". My sister was selling her house several years ago during the season and used a bunch of my quilts on the beds for the open house. It took her a while to give them back to me.
The second quilt was a shop hop mystery I made in 2002.
Both quilts are just back from university--Paul is finished being a first year and the contents of his dorm room fill our living room. And the car is gone.

and, johnny depp!

So, along with the coyotes and cougars and deer, the kids are outside right now watching Johnny Depp film a movie!

coyotes and cougars and deer, oh my!

Judy Laquidara has been showing deer in her back yard in the wilds of Missouri.
Last week, here in the middle of Chicago, Seth was playing along the street in front of our house when a deer walked right by him.
Paul had a coyote at school, and there was a cougar a few blocks away.
It was humorous for this farm girl to see two guys on rollerblades using hockey sticks trying to herd the deer until animal control came by and darted it.