Phyllis, how is the rabies quilt coming?

The Office this week combined two favorite topics--crazy cat people, and a quilt, devoted to rabies.

chiclets

This doll quilt is for my guild's silent auction at the Fine Art of Fiber show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.
http://faof.home.comcast.net/
Since going to a heavier work schedule, I have not had as much time to sew, and am grateful for those UFOs in my stacks that I can pull out and finish. They are like money in the bank!
This one was a small class sample. I didn't have enough of the yellow binding so I added a piece of blue. Finn has her orphan blocks, I have my orphan bindings!
The blocks were left from a larger quilt I called 'Chiclets" because the pieces looked like the shape and colors of the gum.

loaves and fishes

And all ate and were filled. Matthew 14:20

This quilt is for the Good News Community Kitchen benefit. I hope they make a lot with it. The Kitchen serves meals every day of the year.
http://www.gnck.org/

I showed the top several months ago. It is made of shirt parts--from the collars and cuffs and pockets. The logs are spliced to use up every bit of fabric.
I like to have a few tops ready for donation to a good cause that comes up. My quilter, Suzette Fisher, turned this around to me in just a week. She is wonderful.

Scholten Sisters

My Grandfather's sisters, Hendrieka, Johanna, and Elisabeth (Hattie, Jo, and Beth) were fashionable and talented. I knew two of them in their old age. An elderly neighbor of ours said everyone would take note when the Scholten Sisters walked into church on Sunday morning.
I grew up seeing the hats photograph, but the winter one is new to me. I love it capturing the every day winter weather wardrobe, so seldom seen in photographs. Even the gloves and mittens are included!

Oma Scholten and Tante Roelfe, quilter and knitter

This is my mother's grandmother and her sister, Jenneken Scholten and Tante (Aunt) Roelfe. Jenneken was a quilter; most of her quilts were lost in a house fire when my mother was in high school. The one quilt we know survived belongs to my cousin Helen.
My mother's cousins had a reunion last week--two cousins aged 83 and 86 took the bus from Michigan to Iowa. One cousin reported that Tante Roelfe was an excellent knitter.
CORRECTION:
Mom informs me that this Grandma did not make the quilts lost in the house fire--they were by her other grandmother, Grada "Carrie" Diekevers nee Rabbers. Mom does have a rug that Oma Scholten made.

mulberry quilt

Bonnie's music quilt reminds me of this Blackford Beauty quilt I made in 1997. I had this beautiful Hoffman mulberry (blackberry?) fabric that I used as a feature fabric.
I'll try to talk someone into holding it tomorrow to get a full view.

an extravagant welcome

Here is the wonderful raffle quilt of Illinois Quilters, Inc for the Fine Art of Fiber exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Costs are $1.00 a ticket or 6 for $5.00. Melissa Kane organized the making of this quilt and quilting was by Sue DiVarco.
I love this quilt and want to win it and hang it in our church Sunday School room.

first day of school

Seth's first day of 4th grade. I cropped out a pile of bags for the donation truck--I've been cleaning house and told the kids all clothes had to be culled of extraneous stuff I've been rewashing for no reason. Made for a junkie looking porch this week. Not that it doesn't look junkie the rest of the time. The phlox and black eyed susans are from the garden for the teacher.



Here is a cat quilt I don't think I've ever shown. It was used by one a Paul's friends who slept on our floor for the block party.

And, speaking of block parties, here is the finished (well, almost, the binding needs handwork yet) raffle quilt of purple strings. It raised $544.00 for the local food pantry. A guest at the party won it and gave it to her hostess, so it stays on the block! We sold tickets for $5.00, so either someone shorted us a dollar, or someone slipped in a few extra.



a fun back.

fueling enthusiasm

or, at least, the strength to finish a project.
Last year when I got bogged down with our raffle quilt,

my friend Donna said to bring in over. She looked at it with me, offered to help make the needed blocks for completion, and gave me the strength to finish it.

I had the chance to pass this help on with this year's raffle quilt, as the coordinator, in the two years since she took this project on, fell in love, got married, bought a house, got pregnant, and 4 weeks ago, gave birth! She had it all put together except for the borders, so there was not a lot for me to take on, but I was glad to take it and get it done. I am showing just a tiny piece, waiting to show the whole quilt until the guild unveiling. (She now knows why I tried to discourage using this pattern for a group quilt--the "I don't think so" pile of blocks out of size was bigger than mine with a simple framed nine patch!)
The quilt is fabulous, and I hope to win it! I look forward to what it looks like after quilting.

little quilt

This little quilt (20 1/2" by 25 1/2") was made for a friend's fundraiser--She is the director of a museum. I asked for museum passes to use as prizes for our block party and offered to make a doll quilt for her museum fundraiser.
It is a sweet quilt, and was fun to make.
I have found doll quilts a fairly easy donation to come up with. The size is manageable in a time crunch, and they bring in money.

steppenwolf

Andy and I saw the new production of August: Osage County by Tracy Letts at the Steppenwolf Theater today. If you have a chance to get tickets, this is a first look at a play that will likely become a classic of American work.
Speaking as a woman in my 40s, Mr. Letts got the angst of the three sisters in their 40s right. And, Deanna Dunagan's dialogue done in a barbiturate and opioid state was very realistic to this hospice nurse!
As far as realistically portraying crazy families, I could tell you stories...

lemon bars

Eve and I made lemon bars this morning for some new neighbors.
She was at Starbucks yesterday with a friend and they got a bad lemon bar. They came home and asked me to show how I make them. I adapted the recipe from a Crystal Sugar bag years ago.
It is difficult to bake in such warm weather; butter does not cooperate. But, they turned out pretty well.
I use my KitchenAid Mixer for both steps.

Lemon Bars

Crust:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
Mix to make crumbly. Press into ungreased 9 x 13 glass pan. Bake 350 degrees until light brown, about 10-12 minutes.

Filling:
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
the zest of one or two lemons (I use a microplane grater)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Pour over hot crust. Bake 20-30 minutes until filling is set.
Cool completely, dust with powdered sugar, cut into squares.

I love this recipe, and like to decorate them with some of our multitude of violets when I make them in the spring.

purple string quilt, large

Here is my second string quilt made with the purple constant. I used a great Jane Sassaman print for the border.
This one will be donated to our block party fundraiser. Block Parties are a wonderful Chicago institution, where the street is free of cars and neighbors and friends spend the day together. Our block has one of the longest running in the city's history, since 1955. This year has a circus theme, so this purple quilt seemed appropriate. We have the local food pantry as our service project.
Eve and her friend Rachel agreed to hold the quilt on their way to the Wicker Park Art Fair. Eve has been helping me clean my sewing space--it is at the point where I can see what needs to be done, rather that where it was, in a state where I just closed the door in despair.

bernina 830

While hitting the thrifts yesterday, I came upon this Bernina 830 from the mid 1970s for $25.00. It is missing the cord (about $30.00 to replace) , but does have a pedal (which retails for $179.00; I was glad that was there!) I tested it with the wheel, sewing my own shirt hem with two of the bobbins with thread and the stitch was perfect, so I figured I would gamble on the motor and buy it for Eve.
It cleaned up beautifully. The paint is chipped in a few places, but my 1530 is too after 15 years of use. There are 11 feet, which also fit my 1530; all in all a very good deal. And Eve likes it because it is retro looking!

strings, purple constant

The Heartstring project asks for blocks made with a purple constant for children's quilts. I made up these blocks, then decided to use them for a quilt for a friend going through a difficult pregnancy. I love how it turned out, and will make more for the Heartstring project.

aqua

I love this shade of aqua, and it works well with the thirties repros. The pattern is a scaled down version of one in McCalls from several years ago. The small squares were cut 2", finish 1 1/2".

tile maker

This quilt may qualify as a variation of Finn's orphan block project.
Twelve years ago I hosted an exchange on Quiltnet called the Double Dutch. People exchanged either delft blue colored blocks or tulip blocks. My sister Janna has been patiently inquiring about these blocks and hoping for the resultant quilt ever since.
One member of the exchange put hers together and had it published in one of the last issues of Patchwork Quilting magazine. I miss that excellent publication.
Anyway, the blocks have aged a dozen years, and I decided they really did not belong in the same quilt. So, I pulled out the blue blocks, setting aside those just too far outside the size I wanted. There was still a bit of variation. I put them together, not worrying about cutting off points or matching things. I considered sashings, but Finn's orphan train quilts got me to realize Dutch tiles are set together without visible grout lines. Here is a photograph of my precious Makkum tiles set into a step in our house.
Janna will have her quilt at last!

raffle quandry

Bonnie's beautiful raffle quilt has me thinking again about my problems with raffles. When I joined my guild in about 1986, we sold our tickets 1 for $1.00, 6 for $5.00. Here, over 20 years later, that is still the price and people still buy just one or 6. Costs of making the quilts have gone up, so our take is yielding less and less of a proportion to the effort and financial commitment.
These photos are of a quilt I made for a raffle at my church, and the raffle was handled by someone who was savy in the way of fundraising, and not from the quilting community. When I told her the traditional quilt raffle prices, she said, no way. This was to raise money for a good cause and the quilt was the bait. She set prices at $25.00 each and, and encouraged most buyers to buy in $100.00 lots. The take on this quilt, tickets sold only within the congregation, came to over $6000.00!
The beautiful quilt I assembled for my guild raffle in 2006 brought in less than $3000.00. Part of the problem is it is not for "a good cause" to non quilters (for the guild) but it also has a lot has to do with our pricing. People continue to buy just one ticket.
Any ideas on how we as quilters can structure it differently? Will people pay more for a ticket from a guild?

This quilt was commemorating the Rouse Simmons, one of the legendary Great Lakes Christmas tree ships, which went down on Lake Michigan in 1912.
Its title, Morgenrot, is German for red sky at morning, as in the phrase "Sailors take warning".

mom

I have added my sister Janna's Veterans History Project link to my blog. I am so proud of her work.
It is a wonderful place to spend a few hours reading about some ordinary people who have extraordinary stories. The veterans stories are very moving, and I am glad she is gathering these life defining stories. She also includes civilian memories. Look to the Dutch girl who was in a concentration camp in Sumatra and the Japanese American man who was in an internment camp.
Within my father's history (Leroy Dykstra), she includes my mother's (Henrietta Scholten Dykstra).
Growing up, I remember being secretly pleased that we had very modern parents compared to our relatives and friends. My mother wore blue jeans, even in the 1950s, we had pizza in the early 60s (albeit with hot dogs on top!).
Mom was a telephone operator until my older sister was born, and I remember being pleased she had at one time held a "real job". I love this picture.
She continues to be a wonderful role model to her daughters in her creativity, faith, and compassion.

more plaids

I just got these back from my quilter, Suzette. The County Lines pattern is a wonderful way to use a theme of fabrics. I have previous posts with using the pattern with turquoise and red, and batiks with black. This one with brown and plaids I really like. Very Japanese looking. http://www.mountainpeekcreations.com/patterns.html
The squares were made as a class sample for my Flower Garden class, to show you could use the idea with something other than large florals. I love the border fabric.
Both of these quilts use very humble fabrics for the interior, then fabulously rich fabric for the borders.

vestments

I was asked to make the ordination stole for a former intern at our church. She asked for periwinkle to be included. I had a hard time finding that shade, but settled for this. It is, along with the white, from Michael Miller's Fairy Frost line. It has a plasticized type finish to the printing that is a bit irritating to work with, but works good on garments as it resists oils and stains from the skin.
The design is very abstract. I put a lot of thought into these, as the white stoles are used at weddings and funerals, and at Easter and Christmas and other special times in the liturgical year.
My mother was here this weekend and was invaluable in helping with the handwork of the binding.

antique log cabin

This antique top is from my mother's friend, Mina, who is deaquisitioning her house to move to a retirement home. It is lovely. It is my turn to take care of it.

Grandma Scholten and her chickens

My neighbor, Steve Johnson gave me this wonderful painting of my grandmother. I knew he had been painting industrial type things, and gave him some photographs of farm scenes with machinery to look at. I was so happy to see this little (5 by 7) painting--it is framed and by my front door, so I see it as I leave and enter the house.
Grandma Hillegen "Ella" Scholten is known to us only in stories. She died in 1948 on the same day her second grandchild was born. There came to be 26 grandchildren. From all accounts, she was a gentle, unassuming woman with a subtle sense of humor.
Read Steve's take on this painting at
http://slimjohnsonpaints.blogspot.com

spliced log cabin

Mary and Eleonore, in my small group, have been making spliced log cabins--where you splice together the fabrics, pay no attention to keeping one side light and one side dark, and just keep sewing.
I like the subtle internal diagonals the splices give the quilt.
I used a basket full of plaid (of course) scraps and really like the results. My logs are cut 1 1/2 inches, finished blocks are 8 inches.

mom

Judy encourages us to use stash this month in a quilt for/inspired by our mothers.
My mom, (who reads my blog, so I must be careful here) is a wonderful seamstress. She made most of our clothes when we were growing up, including our wedding dresses. She saves her scraps, and kept very special ones in one box.
For her 70th birthday, I asked for access to these sacred scraps. She was reluctant to let me near them, but I took just 2" by 12" of each. I used a Fons and Porter floral pattern, and I think it turned out beautifully.
My sister took the tiny waste triangles and made a legend to tell where each fabric was from.
Mom loves the quilt, but is still not very happy that I cut into these scraps.
Mom, note almost 8 years have passed and you haven't made anything else from this box yet.
You know you can find several sacred stashes of mine that I haven't touched and cut into them!

Donna's pattern

My friend Donna has been playing with optical illusions in her quilts and has developed a pattern. I am honored she asked me to test the pattern, and am thrilled with my results. The tiniest square in these quilts is 1/4 inch finished. I love how they turned out, and the whole family has claimed the pillow. I made a mistake in the red quilt, that is why it is off centered. I like it that way. And I like how the paisley cut apart.
Contact Donna at donnainchicago@netscape.net for information on purchasing a copy of her pattern.

more crumbs

Another crumb quilt--someone asked why I call my plaid quilts cowboy quilts--I like cowboy fabric and find they work well with plaids. I love the little boy quality of these quilts, very playful. I may be projecting my life with this playful 9 year old boy!

insomnia

I have periods of insomnia, nothing terrible, but when I find myself tossing and turning too much, I head downstairs to the davenport. I awoke to a flash, to find Andy taking my picture--quilt included.
Eve and Paul have caught me downstairs, and I thought I had better explain my move was not due to a fight, but that I was trying to protect Andy's sleep. Eve said, "I thought you might be doing this because you were irritated with him." I explained that if I was irritated with him, I would have stayed in bed and made his sleep miserable!
Note the cat--This is the Creature Who Has No Purpose. He escapes the house and terrorises raccoons. He stands in the middle of the road and stares down cars. I really dislike this cat (most cats, actually) but he lives here so I feed him. Andy and the kids adore him.