Soliciting advice part 2

blue & yellow stars
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

Yes, I made this quilt. Yes, this is still once of my favorite quilts. Yes, it has some serious construction issues - but it is still in one piece. No, You can't see a better photo - I have it folded just so... As the Dorky Homemade Quilter (Lisa Boyer) would call a "quilt preserve." Although, in my heart of hearts - I want to make a "You could enter that into a National show & win quilt preserve." - That is who I want to be, not who I am!

Back to why I chose this photo - (Am I starting Flash back Friday - doubt it.)

How would this look in Taupes? Big stars being dark, small stars being medium & the backgrounds being light?

Soliciting Advice

NY Jets quilt
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

(Yes, I made this quilt several years ago. Yes, I am too lazy to link back to teh blog post where I talked about it.)

If you (I) were to make this with an assortment of taupes - light to dark - all colors, whast would you use for sashing? Or, Should I do light bricks with dark sashing or vice versa?

While on the subject of taupes, I am also soliciting ideas on how to use them? I am wanting to do a single block repeatedly - instead of something akin to Dear Jane/sampler/nearly insane/quilted diamonds. I want to use lights, mediums, & darks. I want to use a variety of colors - pinks, blues, browns, greens, etc. I am not interested in doing a "hard" block - i.e. curved piecing, sharp points, feathered stars... But then again, I want something more that turning twenty/yellow brick road. Something charming would be nice - but I've got the charm quilt ideas in spades - or I don't care to do a fiddley apple core, thankyouverymuch.

So go ahead, hit me with you best block!

Can you believe this?

This is 1 block...
This is one unit with a penny for scale...
Here is one part of the border with his Best Machine Workmanship ribbon - again for scale...
Here is the whole quilt "Log Cabin Stars" by: Scott Murkin.

While we are at the mind bending peicing take a look at this one too.
Sunset in the Matapedia Valley, by: Heather Kimpel Costen - I can't even imagine how she did this... BTW It won a ribbon for best Use of Color.

quote & effect

I just saw this quote on Be*Mused...

'This is not who you are but who you want to be.'

Makes me ponder - all of my stuff... I have a ton of Scrapbook stuff... I fear that the quote above completely fits with that stuff... I really want to be a SBer, but I am like NEVER satisfied with my results... I always say, "If I were playing with fabric, this would work." But the thought of putting photos to fabric never really gets past the think about it stage either...

I have a good amount of Civil War Repros - including a UFO or 3... You see I live in Maryland & on more than one occasion have ventured out to CW battlefields - Nature girl marries history buff... & I always think, "A picnic on a CW Repro quilt would be so much fun out here."

I am not a 30s, TB, or country plaids girl & I know it thankfully... But I am working through the dichotomy of brights & black & whites, Taupes, Kaffes, mod, Judaica, & cats.

I recently similarly worked my self through batiks & hand-dyeds... I am not longer drawn to buy them & hoard them... I am even considering using them for a scrappy back on a current batik/hand-dyed UFO... (& the other kits that I still want to make....)

Embroidery - by hand not machine... Is this me? I truely want it to be me... I have a book or two & a pattern that I want to do... I am enamoured with way more that one quilt that I have seen that has used embroidery...

Anyone else have any thoughts on that quote? I think it is a great blog prompt - like an essay prompt from back when I was in school - do they still do that? If you take is, let me know - I'd love to read about your thoughts on it as well.

More quite show photos in a bit.

Cat fabrics

At the quilt show...
Cat Scraps by: Barbara Barber. I love that block. Here are two close-ups:


Why did I share those two blocks? I don't have those two cat prints in my collection... Yes, it is an illness. I am working hard on recovery...
&
Traveling Tumbling Block by: Karin McElvin (I am so impressed with the value control.)
a couple close ups...
,
, &
.
There was a blue cat on hot pink, too - so no, I did not take a picture of every cat!

purchases

Since Ruth asked so nicely... (I have a compulsive desire to plan for the future when I can not afford to buy... That is my excuse & I am sticking to it.)

These Kaffe Fassett prints will be Floral Parade a pattern in Quilts in the Sun. There is a kit on this web page in a different color way.

I go the kit to make this double 9-patch quilt.

I love the way there is a rainbow of shot cottons & one solidy print. (I am not sure if I will keep my 9-patches with 1 shot cotton or mix them up - more like a confetti effect. It is not like I am using 1 shot cotton to emphasize the double 9-patch...)

I got this taupe kit ot make a flying geese doll quilt:
This kit even has batting!
& the kit to make Akatombo. A quilt that was in Quilters Newsletter Magazine.
& these taupes - I only wanted the blues, but...
(about 50 fat quarters... Yes, it is an illness, Yes, I do have enough, I am not sure if I am done buying them or not... I'd like to get some yardage for borders & GASP backing...)

Is anyone suprised not to see a hoard of cat fabrics?

A few things - including another quilt or two from the show

I saw this on another blog & found it to be quite riotous!

How Many of Me - is a website... There are 303,507,815 people in the US. Of them, there are 684,410 named Amy. Amy is the 68th most popular first name. There are 0 peopel with my last name - NOT EVEN MY HUSBAND - so use this link with a dash of salt & a bit of scepticism. (No one has my Maiden name either - NOT EVEN MY FATHER!)

I've been awarded a bloggy award - thanks Ruth.

Aren't those kitties cute? Rhapsody will hold down RB like that when she is giving him a good cleaning!

There were a lot of cat quilts at Mid-Atlantic (or they used cat fabric or they had a cat in the quilt) & you know how much I like cats - especially in quilts.

So here is one that you would expect:

Kabuki x9 (loves?) by: Sandy Curran - who actually had SEVERAL - I think 4 - quilts hanging in Hampton. (Her local guild had a section - where this was hanging & there was a retrospective area as well.)

& one for the dog lovers who read The Calico Cat (Thank you very much!): Forever Home by: Jolene Stratton (I like the execution as well as the subject matter, especially the sentiment behind it...)

Sunday Stash Report (on Monday...)

I'll return to the quilt show photos shortly... (I know some people don't like sharing quilt show photos, but I give credit & this is my blog & it is a quilt blog, so if I am not quilting - I feel that I need to share what other people are quilting... & The entered into a "national" show, they should expect to see their quilts photographed & shared fo rthe world to see - especially since web shots has been around since I was knee-high to a grasshopper - or something like that!)

So I have been less than productive for weeks - months - who as I trying to kid? I did get my obligations out the door! I also am making progress on my Isotaupe quilt. So I don't feel a bit bad that I bought more taupes at Mid-Atlantic. :o) But when the vedor knows you, you might have a problem... She even asked about my husband - who was doing his own retail therapy in 2 big box stores... The cat's won't be running out of kitty litter any time soon.

So I just admitted that I bought some taupes - a few pieces - who am I trying to kid - I bought a lot of pieces... & 2 kits - one is doll sized & one is baby sized.

I also bought 2 Kaffe kits... I am a sucker for "it is all right here" packageing... I contend that I could have done a lot worse, but... I also could have been far more austere.

No idea the actual yardage - but then again, I don't care about those numbers...

Simply Crossed & Gilded by: Renae Haddadin & Jan Clark 1st traditional

Simply Crossed & Gilded by: Renae Haddadin & Jan Clark 1st traditional
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

Well in the end, you have to choose some place to start... I am starting here, because on flickr, I found a close-up that I failed to capture. :o)

Story....
Mid-Atlantic Quilt show - the show that almost wasn't for me...

On Thursday night in my area we had a winter event - snow north of us & freezing rain/ice in my area. So I called out of work on Friday - along with a lot of other people in this region.

Once it warmed up a bit & the sun was shining, i called to see if I could get my rental car a wee bit early - I could & yes, they could pick me up! YIPPEE! So after getting the car & running some errands, I returned home to wait for my husband to get off work.

As I was driving to the highway - past the car rental office, I noticed that a warning light was not going out. So I stopped at the car rental office to let them know. They had 2 excuses that sounded plausible & reassured me that the tire warning light would go out after driving for about 40 miles... It didn't (Hampton, Virginia is about 200 mile away). So we are almost at our hotel - actually taking the exit off of the highway , we we get a flat tire... GRUMBLE.

Let me tell you that after driving for 4 hours after working for 8 hours, the last thing my husband wanted to do was wait for AAA to fix the flat.

We only had a "donut" (Tire that has limited distance speed restrictions) so we had to go to the local car rental office - where they arranged for us to go to a tire place to get a new tire. We did & luckily it did not take too long. By the time we got to the Coliseum, the warning light extinguished...

We got to the show as they were opening. :o)

Pea Soup

I never had it as a kid, did you? Do you like it?

Well, my grandmother made pea soup & I was a convert!

So I will share our method.

(Nothing scientific or measured here...)

Ingredients:
1 bag of split peas
diced carrots (probably a cup - but more is more!)
diced onion (1 large onion as a minimum)
diced celery (probably a cup)
salt & pepper to taste
smoked turkey legs (most people use ham here, but I don't eat ham.) I use about 3... I have been told that you can mke this without meat...

Boil the smoked turkey legs in water until the meat is falling off the bone. Fish out the meat and bones & set them aside. Once they are cool enough to handle, remove the bits that you don't want to eat and chop up the meat into bite sized pieces.

Add the peas & veggies to the cooking water and retun to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer till soft, stirring often. (About 30 minutes.)

Once the peas have broken down & your veggies are soft, add the meat to the pot, serve once the meat is warmed back up.

I have another recipe for cookies - maybe my favorite cookie of all times - that says to add flour till stiff... Fun to make these "just do" recipes.

FYI The Spider Quilt that I shared the other day...

I think it was Nicole (have you been to her blog? Very cool black, white & green quilt in the works... She is an Aussie living in Berlin) who told me to ask the person who uploaded the photo onto flickr, for the source - well I did & here is the response.

It's in 2 books from Oxmoor House

"Scrap Quilts- fast and fun" published in1997

and

"Big Book of Scrap Quilts" published in 2005

So if you liked the quilt - & it sounded like quite a few of you did - there ya go!

5 favorites

I saw this while blog hopping & decided to give it a go.

Link to your five favourite posts from your blog.
Link 1 must be about family.
Link 2 must be about friends.
Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are... what you're all about.
Link 4 must be about something you love
Link 5 can be about anything you choose.

Link 1: A photo of my husband & my father at our wedding, and one of my mother-in-law and brother-in-law.
Link 2: Quilt made by friends on a yahoo group that I used to be very active on before blogger. I still love everything about this quilt! And this quilt was made my my mini-group friends - who are also pictured. I love everything about that quilt too!
Link 3: This post really hits my quilting style... I often have 3 or 4 plans for one group of fabric - or 1 piece of fabric!
Link 4: My cats!
Link 5: While it was kind of fun to go back trough my posts & I had a gradiose plan for link 5 - I'll use this one, because I still wonder about that fruit cocktail cake.

Once again you might have noticed that I can not follow directions. I was supposed to do 1 link - I did 2 on a few of those... :o)

Even if you are not a meme blogger, give this one a try - it is fun to go back & look at the old stuff... (& embarassing to see all of the planned quilts that are still just that - planned.)

As always, let me know if you play along so that I can go back in history with you!

Are you ready to swap?

If you are interested in doing a doll quilt swap, the Spring sign-ups for the 4 Seasons Doll Quilt Swap have begun.

Spider web

zWIPSpiderWeb100_0260.JPG
Originally uploaded by JAmund

This one is for all of you scrap quilters out there! (Any idea where this pattern was published? Most of it is flying geese...) I am seeing it even more scrappy - using a variety of lights in the backgrounds....

book review of sorts...

For my birthday, I was given a new book.
(Caveat - I do not care for paper piecing & the gifter knows that.)

Paper-Pieced Mini Quilts by: Wendy Vosters

While I would "never" consider doing a 9-patch quilt with this method, I do like the inspiration. - even though I was disappointed to see it done in 30's. (I can easily envision any pattern in 30's prints, so I don't find them particulalry inspiring in books/magazines - sorry if that style is your style, but then again if it is, you are probably like me seeing any pattern done in 30's!)

BUT - I am seriously considering doing one of the quilts that has seriously sharp points - ala New York Beauty without the curves. Kind of like Kathie's border - only skinnier! Some of the blocks/quilts shown, are clever in their construction - like the school houses - Imagine a traditional school house block - or row of them construced row by row instead of block by block...

Would I buy the book? Not sure, but I was happy to have it gifted to me. It was a thoughtful gift, especially considering my like of doll quilts...

corner in my home

corner in my home
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

A friend of mine gave me the cat quilt as a birthday present. (I showed this wall before, a couple of these quilts are covering the electrical boxes.) Should I make a small square quilt for next to the cat quilt?

How about a meme?

One Word...
You
Can
Olny
Type
One
Word

(It is not as easy as it looks)

1. Where is your cell phone? bag
2. Your significant other? Michael
3. Your hair? red
4. Your mother? estranged
5. Your father? odd
6. Your favorite thing? cats
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? soda
9. Your dream/goal? SAHM
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your ex? Jerk
12. Your fear? failure
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home
14. Where were you last night? home
15. What you’re not? neat
16. Muffins? no
17. One of your wish list items? travel
18. Where you grew up? army
19. The last thing you did? fax
20. What are you wearing? argyle
21. Your TV? used
22. Your pet? loved
23. Your computer? hated
24. Your life? boring
25. Your mood? excited
26. Missing someone? no
27 Your car? old
28. Something you’re not wearing? watch
29. Favorite Store? fabric
30. Your summer? working
31. Like someone? sure
32. Your favorite color? blue
33. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
34. Last time you cried? Tuesday
35. Who will/would re-post this? Deb

If you want to join in, feel free. (Let me know so I can go check out your answers.)

Happy Valentines Day

O.K. So I was going to try to do something clever - like what happened on this day in history - besides the death of St. Valentine (I can not give any history on that subject, nor do I know why it is celebrated with cards, candy, & flowers.) on this day in either 269, 270, or 273. (I get my info. from Wikipedia.)

but aside from the Admission of both Oregon & Arizona into the United States, my history knowledge of things that happened on this date is sparse - even after reading the list on Wikipedia...

I came to the conclusion that all I can say with authority is that a lot of people (famous & infamous) were born or died on this day in history & a lot of things happened on this day. Check them out on Wikipedia.

Quilty content... I have made a red & white quilt, but I gave it to my friend as payment for her doing my taxes. That was pre-blogging, so no photos...

On Quilting

Since I actually do that on occasion...

I actually made a gift block last night from start to finish (including quilting as this will the a quilt as you go present) all of the fabrics were from my stash! (I ran to the store to get some fusible web...)

I also finished a doll quilt that should have been done in November - I think, but it was one on one & we both stalled out... (It will be mailed today!)

I am also mailing my Round Robin quilt - I am the happiest with this one so far... I had a piece of fabric that I think is perfect for the quilt & that fabric is "not me" so that was a nice suprise. (I think the fabric had a cat that is now in my cat charm quilt... I kept it for "I Spy" stuff.)

no photos...

Another corner rounded for me... I want City Girl by Benartex, I know where I can get a fq pack... but I am going to Mid-Atlantic in a couple weeks, so I will wait. If it is no longer available at my source & I don't find it at Mid-Atlantic, then it wasn't meant to be. My corner is so rounded, that when I did not find it at my LQS yesterday, I did not find something else to fill the void. :o)

The end of a vacation

Well, it had to come to an end eventually...The photos today come to you from the El Yunque Rain Forest in Puerto Rico.
Our first offial stop was at the Yokahu Tower. (we had a 3 hour tour, so we did not get to stop at the visitors center)

In the distance, you can see the Atlantic Ocean.
We got too see a lot of plant life including this lovely hibiscus (we were there at a less than optimal time - too early.)
And yet, she sure is lovely.
As are these
impatiens.
We were able to take a short hike:

Our last stop was La Coca Falls


This is the other side of the road as the waters continue on their way...
A close up of the flower in the previous photo:
(different bush - same type of plant)
One last lovely plant ("Bridal Bouquet")

And a close up:

misc.

Awesome post on fabric by a "boy quilter."

My cat is a genious... My husband makes my lunch for me (Thanks). He often makes tuna - that he detests. The cats love the tuna juice. So last night, my husband was making - chopping the onion, pickle, etc, had not opened the can of tuna yet, but Miss smarty-pants knew what was next & let him know it - out loud & often!

Another thing that is quite random:
They almost never cuddle like that at home...

This photo is an example of how my girl will take pets from where ever they are offered:
(The vet's husband came to visit while we were in the Caribbean.)

If you could....

If you could go back to High School & do 1 thing over, what would that be?

I would have taken typing & shorthand. (Yes, that is officially 2 things, but i am nothing if not a rule breaker... Even when I make up the rules.)

Please answer in comments or on your blog leaving me a comment to come & read your response.

Sunset

DSC04215.JPG
Originally uploaded by aviva_hadas

A fairly random photo. I guess everyone tries to catch the sunset while on a cruise. So here we are. I believe that this was in Aruba just prior to us setting sail.

St. Thomas

To begin with St. Thomas is part of the U.S. Virgin Islands - so why do they drive on the other side of the road. Someone said that it harkens back to when they were a Danish colony - in Denmark they don't drive on that side of the road either...

O.K. So this day we decided to take the skyrail & walk around - or vice versa.

We actually walked first, but flickr is showing my skyrail photos first so....
Do you see the orange roofs near the harbor - that is a fancy schmancy shopping area - the other side of the street? Low income housing & K-mart. :o)
At the top where these maps

so you could tell what you were looking at. I took a photo so I could see later - I can't see much...
So all I can say with any authority is that the boat in this photo is our ship.
There was a nice little nature walk (I am still convinced that we made a wrong turn, but...) so i took several floral photos, but I really like this one:
Who am I kidding, I took floral flowers everywhere, but I am not blogging the heck out of them.

The sign was cute enough to photograph. At the top were similar signs where you could pose with the lizards. (& a groups of teen/twenty-somethings taking full advantage - use your imagination - I got to watch while I sent my husband off for a cocktail - Bailey's Bushwhacker - can't go wrong if you add Bailey's in my book.)
There was a small baseball/baton twirler parade while we were shopping:

But this guy I am not sure what his story was, but he was harassing/had just harassed/was about to harass the guy (or the previous one) for taking his photograph - without paying - so I took one on the sly - I'm sneaky like that.
St. Thomas is supposedly known for "streets" made of stairs... This was the only set that we found, not that we were looking... The best part of those stairs - the kitties:

Form the sign, I though that this was going to be "something" - it wasn't.
This was our last "stop" on the cruise. I plan to post "general" aka I don't remember where we were photos next & the finish up with the Rainforest on San Juan.

St. Maarten/St. Martin

We took a tour on St. Maarten (the Dutch Spelling) to the French side.

I climbed up to Ft. Louis (my exercize for the day!) in Marigot.


There were some great views to be had from up there:

That boat ran aground during a hurricane & they never removed it.
That is another Caribbean Island in the distance - but I don't remember which one - I think it is/was British...
A bench on the French side - I like it when ordinary objects have details like this.

Next up - St. Thomas.