8/29/2012

Hair

Oh, drat.  I think my hair is falling out.   

8/26/2012

Sunday Evening

I never saw a day go by so fast in my entire life.  Oh well, I had fun putting together this quilt top, starting with a set of old star blocks from....the 40s or thereabouts.  They were hand-stitched and carefree in their dimensions and wavy in their flying geesies, so it was quite the project forcing them into the prescribed 7-3/4" finished block size :-).  I decided to ignore their time period and set them with a Carrie's Madders from Blue Hill (c.1870), then added a border from Steamer Trunk Treasures (c.1840), added a narrow border from Paula Barnes' French Quarter (I guess also c.1840?) and finally a wide border from Windham's Hearthstone (Winterthur pattern).  I only had a bit of the French Quarter, so was piecing it every 15 inches.  The light-colored blocks are seersucker and the orange ones have bright thread detail woven in.  
Quilt Top:
I made the brownish one at lower left from a Lecien fabric to round out the group.  I'd like to get this quilted right away, so it is a Real Live Quilt, not just a top.  Close-up:

Now isn't this the dearest little box?  It was made by a lady in Ohio and I got it at an excellent shop of all-American-made crafts in Old Norcross called Abbygayle's.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the shop owner; she was great and has a great look.  So does her shop: it is in a tiny cottage with a few tiny rooms minimally furnished with good stuff like the pincushion with the standing mouse on it, homey linens, folk dolls, etc.
I won Maggie Bonanomi's Settler's Pride pattern from susi ; thank you, Susi!  I've wanted this pattern ever since it came out; the really strange thing is that I knew as I left my comment that I was going to win.  As Daphne used to say coyly, "I'm a little psychic" lol: 

8/19/2012

Sunday Evening

I got a tied quilt on eBay that first was in USPS la la land for so long that I reported it as lost (that's all you have to do to have a package arrive the next day, so that's what I did).  The seller sent it parcel post to go from Oregon to Georgia.  I think I would have sent it a different, shall we say, swifter, way.  I was hoping to take it apart and a) use the fabrics for small quilts and b) have more antique fabric reference, because there are plenty of old fabrics in the quilt.  Sadly, the seller did not report that the quilt was a) filthy and had a stench such that it could not be brought inside a house and b) that the fabrics are rotten.  So, using it for small quilts is probably not a possibility but I still have a nice library of reference fabrics.

I took the quilt apart outside on the picnic table, shuddering at the stench the whole way.  Here is the backing, which I love, and some of it might be usable, after its second soaking.  No, that is not dye.  It is filth.
Here is the original quilt:
And here are the Puss in the Corner patches and setting fabric:
Haven't soaked these guys yet.  So many wonderful prints in the nine patches and I love the setting fabric.

Just waiting on the last Temecula block here!

Timothy Update:  He has joyously (Mom: "Timothy, won't you miss me?" Timmy: "No, Mom.") moved into a rental house with two old friends.  They are so excited about this house and the fact that they're all rooming together.  He has done every medical exam necessary for his discharge from the Marines and is just waiting for it to be finalized in early September.  He got a wonderful, glorious German Shepherd a few days ago named Ace.  Here they are moving a queen size bed just purchased on craigslist; there was a tiny slot for Ace to sit in and Timothy has one of the bed legs squishing his thigh:

Oh, Ace!  He looked a little sad the first time Timothy brought him over, which was after their six-hour drive home from south Georgia.  He was back with his breeder after the original buyer returned him.  I'm sure he wondered what was happening and why he wasn't with his dad dog any more.  But the second time, wow, he was one Happy Dog.  Timothy had brushed him till he shone, he had his toys with him, and he had spent the morning at the dog park in Piedmont Park, the Atlanta equivalent of Central Park.

Me Update: The doctor is trying a different drug.  The first one stopped working and the numbers started going back up.  Too soon to know if the second drug is doing anything but I'm telling the c cells every day that they are dead, dead, dead.

8/06/2012

Generous & Content

This pattern is Generous & Content, by Cheri Payne, made today in autumnal Jo fabrics, although we won't be seeing cooler weather here in Atlanta for 2 1/2 months.  The big heart still needs the feather stitch added. I love it!

8/01/2012

Chairs and Pears

I was so delighted to find this very early Country Windsor chair last week at the antique mall:

Looks like it has been tossed into a stripping tank, but you see the traces of black paint and the remains of stenciling.  Looks like it is ca. 1830:
(from How to Restore and Decorate Chairs, by Roberta Ray Blanchard)

Here is the top-slat:
 and what I think I see on it, the typical striping at the sides, grapes and a pear on either side of a cornucopia (not so sure about the cornucopia; it certainly doesn't look like a vase...or is it?):
So far I haven't seen anything resembling this pattern in my reference books.

More pears, this time from sketching on the plane:

More chairs; these are the classroom chairs at Ye Olde Schoolhouse inWisconsin, with a quilt block on the seat of each, so cute and beautifully done!