our wonderful block party

Block Party time again. It was a glorious day, perfect weather, and a cast of thousands. We took a block party portrait I will post when I get it.
We decorate our houses for the day. I, as usual, pulled out quilts that seem to fit the theme--this year Fiesta LeClaire.

My neighbor, also a quilter, put hers out this year too!

There was face painting and balloon hats
A puppet show and a talent show with joke telling. The jumping jack and fire truck came to visit.



A scavenger hunt, corn hole, obstacle course, Mexican Hat Dance, the Limbo, musical chairs, the wonderful pick-up band of talented block and neighbor musicians.
And dancing in the streets until the police shut us down.
Summer in the City.
Life is good.

more plaids

The complex beauty of plaids makes them ideal for simple patterns. I adapted a Moda pattern I saw on the net to make this top. The large blocks are cut 6 1/2 by 4 1/2, the red plaids are cut 2 1/2 inch square, the little neutrals 1 1/2" by 2 1/2".

When shopping the thrifts, I get most of my shirts in the men's aisles because of the large amount of usable fabric. But, I do a quick trip down the women's and children's areas to get the most unusual plaids that are well worth the small yield of fabric.

I photographed it in front of the only place in my garden without weeds. Ok, I had to pull about 6 before taking the picture.

plaid scraps

I've been playing with leftover trimmings of the Bordello/Bargello quilt of a few months ago. I had 1/3 yard of a great red Kona Cotton that worked well for internal frames. Bonnie's recent quilting into the night was an influence, as were my friend Mary's wonderful improvisational quilts.
It is sitting at this stage for a while until I decide if it needs to be bigger.

road to oklahoma

After the Oklahoma City City bombing in 1995 a group of us on QuiltNet held a fundraising raffle. Participants sent in a fat quarter of fabric plus a $5.00 check made out to the American Red Cross. The fabric was split into 75 piece, 50 piece, and 25 piece parcels and $750.00 was raised. This was a great way to handle a fund raiser.
I received the 75 piece bundle. It was not a happy packet to get, and I decided to make a sober Road to Oklahoma quilt from the fabrics. I selected the browns and tans, added more of my own. I really love this quilt. One of the kids hauled it out for use this week and I was flooded with memories of that time.

An aside on underlying structure in scrap quilts--note the rust diagonals one way and dark tan the other, the rust narrow border on two sides. tan on the other two.

documentation problems

My neighbor Margaret died this winter at the age of nearly 90. She moved into the house in 1953, and was instrumental in making the block a neighborhood, helping start the Women's Club and the block party.
Her children have been taking apart the house and gave this quilt to me. There is a yellowed card with it:
"Quilt made by Mary Shogrin as a young girl. Circa 1905"
This was Margaret's grandmother's name and she was from Kansas.
I think the quilt is actually earlier than that, as the fabrics look 1890s and it is hand carded cotton batting. But mostly, I think it is wrong because the date and the age of her grandmother don't sync.
Margaret's grandmother would have been a young girl in the 1800s. Her mother may have been young right at the turn of the century. The card is the only thing that links it to 1905--the hand made batt, fabrics, and name associated with it indicate it be earlier.
Even with documentation, dates may be off.
I have totally lost when I made some of my quilts. They don't all get labels!

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.

fishing

Andy and Seth went fishing this morning, giving me time to finish this crumb pieced top. The blocks are shirt parts and the sashings and borders are from stash. The blocks are four 6 1/2 inch squares put together into 12 inch finished blocks.
I anticipated their catch and bought some ringer rainbow trout.


They did catch and release two 4-inch bluegills.

reunion

A wonderful side benefit of visiting my sisters is I get to reunite with quilts I have given them over the years. My sisters are repositories for quilts I can't quite let go.
This one has family signatures from a reunion in 1996. I was happy to see fabrics I loved again. I remember them well, and it is good to see that some fabric does get used up.
The pattern is a Judy Martin design.

mother's day

My dear mother's annual corsage has been the bane of my sisters' and my lives. We get into trouble with delivery every year. We have guarded optimism for this year.
What doesn't help is our mother's name; Henrietta Dykstra. Why is this a problem? Because in our small home town of 1800 people, there are three Henrietta Dykstras. Yes, three women named Henrietta found three Dykstra men to marry.

This is also the town where if you show up to church on Mother's Day without a corsage, it mean not only your children do not love you, but you were a failure in motherhood in not making them know that showing up sans corsage means this.

Delivery is also a problem in that the town has street names and house numbers, but people don't use them. After several years of dealing with the local florist who the last time brought it to ALL THREE Henriettas, finally getting to our mother the day after Mother's Day, (yes, she was shown to be an unloved mother and a failure) and when we refused to pay, accused us of being very ungrateful in language we were not allowed to use when growing up (although we did hear it from Dad in the barnyard), we started using an out of town florist last year.

Again it made it to the three Henriettas. We even had it listed as Mrs. Leroy Dykstra, and it still made it to the three Henriettas.
Janna is in charge this year. Beth got the abusive phone call two years ago and is still traumatized. (She did end up paying for the too late corsage, only so that Mom wouldn't get a phone call herself.)

old brides

Eve and I were up to Wisconsin this weekend to help my sister Janna who organized a bridal dress review for her church’s 150th anniversary. There were 56 dresses. Should any of you have the hubris to attempt this, make sure you have the women prepare their dresses themselves—we were up way too late steaming and pressing and fretting about mislaying veils and gloves and the occasional loose button. They were from the 1880s to one worn for a wedding last weekend.
The dresses took on an eerie look after a while. My brother-in-law said the deteriorating dresses had “that old bride smell—kind of sour.”
Some of the dresses were worn by their original brides, giving a Miss Havisham effect. Some dresses were so small 12 year olds had to wear them. And they were little 12 year olds!
It was fun to see Janna’s dress again, and our bridesmaids gowns after almost 30 years. My mother made them and they are beautiful.

summer day string quilt

This quilt top was made last year in a very cold unheated attic. It is finally quilted and bound and will be auctioned at our church for Appalachian Service Project funds.
I love this quilt; it has had several intended recipients, I kept changing my mind.
That morning glory print in the border of the detail is one of my all time favorite fabrics--I believe it was an early Hoffman.
And, shadows! We had sun when I photographed it!

streak of lightning

Judy is discussing log cabin sets on Sunshine quilts.
This is my favorite set, Streak of Lightning, made in 1997, I think from a Fons and Porter or American Patchwork magazine.
I've made this set several times.
I have good memories of one made for a colleague of my husband--he came home from work one day to find a gas explosion on his block and his house and several others burned to the ground. The only thing salvaged from his house was a fishing rod. The office had a house shower for him, and he told Andy he really missed a quilt his grandmother had made. I made a log cabin for him, but instead of the red center symbolizing fire in the hearth, I made yellow centers, showing a light in the window. I figured there had been enough fire in this man's life.
Judy talks of making two log cabin blocks a day. I found it very efficient to cut all the pieces, and make all 48 blocks at once, adding a round or two at a sewing session. This spread out the scraps among all the blocks. 48 blocks can be made in just a couple of days.

fairy quilt

This little fairy quilt is for an auction at my church. I love making these, have made many over the years. This fairy fabric was from Michael Miller I believe--it was one of the best fairy fabrics every.