New Moon, New Stuff

I truly thought that it was me. My old computer mouse kept skipping, or worse, doubling my clicks!

And my mouse-pad was for shame it was so worn and dirty. Felix got online and did way too much research to solve the problem, LOL! But this new one works wonderfully!

Is it good luck to buy and install a new mouse on the new moon? Must be!

Additionally, Felix and Matthew went down to a private seller from Craig's List yesterday and bought a used 1500 Sierra GMC 1999 (I think) to replace Matthew's dying pick up truck.

As for me, there was no Sunshine Club on Friday due to some freezing rain. I worked some more on those new blocks, the pretty red and cream disappearing pinwheels.

Step 1. Sew all the way around two right-sides-together 10" squares with your 1/4" seam.

Step 2. Cut the two diagonals with your rotary cutter.

Step 3. Iron them open to the dark side.

Step 4. Arrange the four pieces into a large pinwheel.

Step 5. Sew the pinwheel, press, and, when done, measure it carefully to find the division of thirds of the width. Mine was 2 and an eighth inches from the center seam. (The pinwheel block now measured 13", so 4 1/4" was pretty close to one third)

Step 6. Cut the two verticals of the thirds.

Step 7. Carefully turn the pieces on the mat and cut the horizontal one-third marks. (Actually, you are cutting them vertically for safety).

Step 8. Now rearrange the units around the center's smaller pinwheel and sew the block as if it were a nine patch.

I'm loving the way these look! But you can also do churn dashes and reversals of the darks and lights.

Here are some alternatives that I tried out.

If some of these blocks were put together they would start creating some secondary patterns, too. This is still my personal favorite!

As it continues to rain, we begin the fifth season; "mud season."

Too dreary to be outdoors, must stay in and quilt.

"Please don't throw me in that briar patch, Bre'r Fox!", said Bre'r Rabbit.

Happy quilting!

Davy Crockett Log Cabin Finds A Home

Sunday we were horrified to learn that a village neighbor had suffered a barn fire that took the lives of several goats and then destroyed the people's home, too. This is were the barn once stood.

Thank God that the people were alright and none of the many firefighters from the many towns that responded were hurt either. The almost sub zero temperatures didn't help!

Although I do not know the family, this morning I drove over to our Police Department with a queen sized quilt for them to distribute to the family that lost everything but the shirts on their backs.

You may recall having seen this large scale log cabin in creams and browns from when I pictured it here back in early October.

I am so terrified of being burned out! I made this quilt to sell at the boutique last year but no one wanted to buy it.

It isn't fancy piecing, but I'm proud of the workmanship and wish the very best of vibes on it as it goes to the family. I named it Davy Crockett Log Cabin and it is 84" X 84".

Later in the day, I enjoyed a cranberry muffin over at The Evergreen Country Primitives Quilt Shop with The Farmer's Wife quilt group.

My basket block is upside down, but it only needs one more seam before I do the dreaded applique for the handle. There! So I said the "A"-word right out loud, LOL!

Camille was working on a much more complicated block and I admired her fabrics.

Click on any picture for a zoomed view.

Miss Emma Lynn is losing her terror of being caught on a bed, as it must've been forbidden in her previous home.

Here she lounges a bit nervously on my "Cotton Candy", which is from "String Fling" by Bonnie K. Hunter (Roll Roll Cotton Boll). Bonnie's newest book, can be pre-ordered here. It's worth every penny!

Stay calm and quilt on!

Still Snowing!

The Sunshine Club had a happy meeting in spite of the snow showers on Friday (and, yes, we are having them again today!). Sue was having some problems re-threading her machine when the thread kept breaking.

She wasn't a very good sport about it, now was she? Never mind! Pauline, our in-house designated sewing machine repair mechanic, gave it a quick look. Soon Sue was attaching her 27th row of her purple tumblers quilt. You go, Sue!

Pauline had found a thread-guide had gotten skipped and that solved the problem. Thanks, Pauline!

Here Pauline is modeling the new scarf that she pieced. We all agreed that she should make more of them for the church bazaar in the fall. What would you price them at? I said $15, but Sue said $10. Please leave a comment of what it would be in your neck of the woods, thanks!

Pauline also had finished her snowflake applique block, so pretty!

She is gathering blocks from all the church ladies for their opportunity quilt (raffle).

As for me, I had worked at home to get all the pieces cut out for a second basket block for The Farmer's Wife quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird. It really is a change of pace to do a hand-sewing project!

And I'm still loving that scrap square of batting to roll up all the pieces when I'm ready to put it away. It sure does keep everything in place. An empty paper towel tube rolls it neatly.

I had brunch with the gang but I did not stay for Bingo.

If you are reading this from the southlands, you may not understand this sign that appears every few miles on our New England secondary roads. "Frost Heave"

Our roads are being broken apart by the very volatile temperature ranges of the weather. The expansion and contraction of the asphalt creates 4 to 6 inch dips in the road or equal bumps upwards. If you go too fast with your car, you can break a shock absorber or even an axle. Travel is slow and tiring to the body. It feels like you are riding in a buckboard wagon, LOL!



When I got home at last, I tried to take a picture of the UFO that I want to work on for my challenge to Felix for the end of March. I said that I'd try to finish a quilt by then if he'd try to finish repairing and getting a firearm ready for sale. But for my picture, the wind kept blowing and blowing!!! This was the best photo I could get of my Fons & Porter's Milky Way.

Most of the time it was tangled around my feet, LOL!



Stay calm and quilt on!

Mission Of Mercy

My 81 year old girlfriend and neighbor, Ilse, was fighting the panic in her voice when she called me today at dusk. She had gone out after getting plowed out from last night's 7" of heavy wet snow and was intending to pick up her 87 year old husband's medication from the local drugstore.

But alas, her car broke down on the way home. She had stopped at the Barnstead Country Store. It is a good thing that she did! When we got there, Felix was able to identify the floppy broken belt that had left her stranded. We drove her home after leaving word inside that a tow truck would come out either tonight or tomorrow. I have no pictures, and supper will be late, but I was very glad to do a good deed for the lady who always brings me her homemade stollens.

The shoveling was very hard this morning! Heavy wet slush, Ugh! I much prefer the colder temperatures that make for a very light fluffy snow. But the first Day Of Spring was Mother Nature's cruel joke.

Last night, when the snow began at dusk, it was falling in silver dollar sized flakes that were all clumped together. It was wild! Look at the polka dot effect upon the driveway. I had never seen this quite like this before.

This morning the snow was thick and so heavy that it was hard to clear it off the vehicles. Too boot, the earth underneath was soft and muddy. It was hard to stand up straight, LOL!

What a slippery mess! But Raven loved fresh snow to roll in for her snow bath.

My mailbox was too small to hold the two packages of fabrics, so I needed to run down to the local Post Office to fetch the precious cargo. These are the Fat Quarters from the Thousands Of Bolts sale.

Aren't they pretty? Tomorrow I'll show you all the pretties from the Sew Far Sew Good Quilt Shop, too! Here is her link, if you just can't wait, LOL!

Happy quilting!

Celebrating National Quilt Day!

Yesterday was National Quilt Day and I enjoyed every minute of it! I grabbed Pauline from the Sunshine Club and the two of us made a day of shopping the quilt shop sales. We wound our way up through Alton Bay where the frozen lower tip of Lake Winniepesaukee was decorated with "bob" houses for ice fishing and small airplanes. Snow mobiles raced us along the icy surface.

We drove for an hour or so to The Mothership, a.k.a. Keepsake Quilting's retail store.

Their 20 % off everything, even sale fabrics, had attracted a fair sized group of dedicated quilters and we were glad to find a parking space in the closer parking lot.

Here's Pauline finding some good deals in the Keepsake Outlet Store just beyond the archway from the main store. I found two bolts there that I had two yards cut off each one. Justin did a great job waiting on me!

I found 8 Fat Quarters in the Civil War section, which has been moved to an area with much better lighting. I just hope that their selection of Civil War stuff is not shrinking!

Pauline chose some marvelously coordinated Bella solids in turquoise and robin's egg blue. Lauren did a great job of waiting on her promptly.

Even with three cutters, we needed to wait our turns, but not long! Then Terry cashed us out and we were on our way!

We stopped at The Quilted Frog and said "Hello" to Anne and Jody there.

I forgot to bring in my camera, but this picture is from back in January when we last visited them. I was thrilled that they still had some of the Nancy Gere's Women of Courage Windham line available.

Here is the loot that I got for the day, yippee! This is from The Mothership:

And here is the booty from The Quilted Frog:

I love florals; I love reds. So what's not to love here? LOL!

I hope that you enjoyed your quilt day as much as I did!

If you are reading this on Sunday, up until midnight tonight, there are a few episodes of The Quilt Show for free over at TQS. You can check it out here.
I thoroughly enjoyed the interviews with Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts and the one with The First Lady Of Quilting, Eleanor Burns.

Happy quilting, everybody!