2 little packages

from janet are some purples just perfect for bonnie's mystery quilt coming up soooon!  then, my swap gift from the jo morton online stitchers' group.  even without these two little gifts, it's a glorious day here in coastal maine...temps over 60, sunny, light breeze...perfect!  **** been doing a little of this'n'that sewing, nothing to show yet.  gotta get back into regular sewing; first, the autumn change flimsy needs finishing.  i'm also hand quilting on the center diamond.  always something to do, just a question of motivation.

another nashua beauty

this was a group project by Coastal Quilters in Massachusetts....it's Arena Farm in Concord and it really does look like this.  very often in the autumn i would be in concord and drive right past this farm and there would be piles of pumpkins...the beautiful oranges against red barn, blue sky and all those changing leaves.  this is considered 'country' but not far from the city.  i would occasionally stop and pick up some apples or fall veggies.  unfortunately, i read they recently closed.  so glad it has been preserved in cloth. 

thank you, catherine!

last summer i received an e-mail from catherine sanchez of 'australian homespun' magazine asking if i would mention their new digital service on my blog.  i was happy to do so; it makes for easier and quicker accessibility by non-aussies.  today in the mail i received a personal thank you and 3 issues....how sweet!   i was truly delighted!  it was a  bit of a down day after a brief respite from maine/no-job misery and these cheered me up a bit.  i'll stop here because i'm in a serious griping mood.....

nashua shopping

yep, this was it.  some quilting thread for UFOs, purple/green FQ for bonnie's mystery, the kaffe fassett FQs and the pink pencil leads.  the stashbuster UFO coordinator tells me with my finishes this year, i've busted over 50 yards of fabric.  that's pretty good, i think.  that means i've probably got 150 yards left, or thereabouts.  because most of my fabric pieces are half yard or less, and lots of it are cut up into strips or squares, it's difficult to actually calculate.  that 50+ yards was in 11 finishes; so 33 more finishes and it'll be gone.  and that isn't all bed-size quilts either.  this info is very encouraging indeed.  **** our temps this week are hovering around 58-60, so should be a quite nice...except for the afternoon dark, that is.  will take a day or two to adjust circadian rhythms. 

back from nashua

best of show went to this astoundingly beautiful quilt by LINDA ROY called "Irish Cream."  Plenty of action here....stippling, trapunto, cathedral window sashings and hand quilted too!  i just love it when shows acknowledge hand quilters along with machine quilters...makes my fingers tingle!  **** kudos to the team for organizing this year's gathering, especially difficult given the fact that the venue abruptly closed on them earlier in the year AND just days before the freak early winter storm knocked out power.  many not far west are still without electricity, but was restored in time for the show to go on.  i sat at admissions for a couple of hours and more than one quilter arrived still without electricity but who cares when there's a quilt show on?  **** seriously, i can't extol the virtues of this show enough.  it's all juried and it's always stellar.  my admissions cohort, terry burris, had 2 quilts in the show...i was impressed!  **** my one class was sue nickels and drawing feathers.  since i make a lot of amish quilts, i'm always looking for over-the-top designs to quilt (it's the part i love most, remember?) and despite being totally exhausted for this evening class, i was giddy with design fever.  it'll take practice of course, especially since rulers and i are uneasy partners, but since my focus is not perfection, i believe i can be successful.  i imagine the person who drew the first circle or invented the wheel was equally excited.   designing in my head for the 2+ hour trip home last night helped keep me awake and alert.  thank you time change...i got an extra hour that i so badly needed!  the vendors?  watch tomorrow....

the quilting so far

if you look closely, i hope you are able to see the extensive quilting i've done on this center square.  i decided to use matching thread to see the result and i am pretty happy with how it looks.  i've read the amish use matching thread for humility, but my reasons are purely experimental.  believe me when i say i'm not trying to hide perfect 13/inch stitches here.  did i mention i absolutely LOVE amish quilts?  i think i did once or twice.  **** up again in the night.  sometimes when i have only a light supper, i wake up hungry in the night.  a container of yogurt fixes that.  

bonnie's mystery post script

kept wondering where i'd seen this color combo before; it's not my usual at all.  then tonight it finally came to me....mardi gras colors!  green, purple, yellow (sort of)...here's hoping it's DONE by mardi gras....LOL.  poor bonnie, off on another cruise.  i'll keep her in my daily prayers hoping she can tolerate such despair!  no, not jealous at all.  it looks like terrific fun and i'd love to go on a cruise, but the ship would have to stay on terra firma or chained at the dock, hardly likely.

clarification

a comment to an earlier post questioned my mention of "nationality."  Our complex is close to employers who specifically hire immigrants and so the majority of tenants is predominantly non-WASP, no slur intended and no big deal.  i've lived in a lot of situations while homeless and trying to get re-settled since 1993 and experienced good and bad in ALL people, including (sadly) people i've known at churches i've attended for many years.  we try to be respectful, considerate tenants, even to the point of not flushing our toilet in the night because of the noise.  often i rise early but don't watch TV or use the sewing machine because of possible noise.  if there is pot smoke or burning incense smoke coming in my window, it's because it's too strong, in too close proximity or it's directly outside my window in the parking lot.  ordinary household smells cannot be avoided when living in close apartments.  paying one's rent is NOT carte blanche to do whatever whenever without any regard to others in a complex such as this.  i have never believed that immigrant equals ignorant but neither did i just arrive here from sleepy hollow.  even when i owned my own stand-alone house, there was a suspicious skunk in my driveway for 2 weeks straight, even on rainy nights.  i'm pretty sure it was a 2-legged one.  real skunks know enough to stay in out of the rain.   

quiltville mystery

yesterday bonnie posted some color ideas for her upcoming mystery but i was way ahead of her...for once!  i had already pulled mine and here they are.  why these, you ask?  simply according to how much i have in my stash.  she's using red/blue/black; i don't have any black stash at all, only some solid.  i have been collecting cheddar pieces recently and i knew it would WOW.  what else then?  not blue for a change, but purple and then green.  i do have to pick up a few greens and purples, though, as i simply don't have the quantity of stash in any color that many others do...except for blue.  i vetoed red simply because i just finished a predominantly red quilt.  of course i do have enough lights for background.  after christmas it's time to reorg the stash again by color to see exactly how much i have of each.  next to the strip stash to see what's there i can use.  ******   not much to show quilt-wise as i've been quilting on the center diamond.  i've just about finished the center square and have designs planned for the rest of the quilt now.  been making a few stencils to use from my oldie but goodie books by shirley thompson, the first titled "the finishing touch" and her second one as well...title escapes me at the moment.  i bought these books back in the early 1980s and have used them frequently for design ideas ever since....a worthwhile investment i'd say.    

november 1st finish!

so happy to start november off with the finish of the northwind!  i think it's a beauty and sort of hate to part with it, but it is spoken for.  i'll just have to make another just as beautiful.  next up is the amish center diamond to quilt.  i wanted to do the pinwheel first, but it isn't basted and i don't have the backing either.  for machine work, i'll finish the autumn change flimsy and then start on the carolina christmas.  inbetween i'll work on miscellaneous small things and whatever gets finished, stays OFF the 2012 list.  this year i'm not really doing any christmas gift sewing, well none planned as of right now anyway.  off to start the day!