Quilts and Classics: Under the Big Top/1950 Studebaker

Today while Mark and I were cleaning the house, I had an idea. 

But before I go into that, here is a little backstory. When Mark retired a little over four years ago, we decided that between the two of us, we could clean the house every other week rather than paying someone else. We had been having someone do it for us every other week while both of us worked. No problem. We would divide the duties and do it ourselves. Also...we would actually pay ourselves to clean the house. Although we didn't "charge" quite as much as our previous house cleaner, we figured we would save the money and when we had enough, it would be our hotel fund for a trip to the coast every once in awhile. 

Seemed like a great plan. However...

As housecleaners, although thorough when we show up, we are completely unreliable. Oh, the house gets spot cleaned on a regular basis. But an every-other-week deep clean? Rarely happens every other week. But do we still get paid? You bet! I would not recommend us to anyone.  As I said, we are completely unreliable. I'm surprised that the "homeowners" haven't let us go yet...or at least stopped paying us. Ha!

So back to my idea (and maybe I should clean more often--who knows what kind of ideas I would come up with??)

When I first began this blog, and for many years, it was primarily a blog about quilting. I followed a lot of other blogs and participated in block exchanges, bee groups, quilt-alongs, and works-in-progress updates. Somehow along the way, I wrote less about quilting and more about what was happening in my life on a weekly basis. You may have noticed that if you have been around for any length of time. 

In 2020, I feel like I hardly sewed anything. Truth be told, I did complete at least five quilts. I'll have to double check but I don't think I've done an in-depth blog post about any of them. 

If for no other reason than to document it for myself, I will be posting pictures and information about those quilts in the near future. I'd also like to post weekly or so about the projects I'm working on. I used to love showing WIPs and it motivated me to keep working on them. So maybe that can happen again.

And also (and this was the idea I had while cleaning), I'm going begin each month with the background story on each of the vehicles and quilts that have been highlighted in my calendar, Quilts and Classics. Quilts and Classics was a dream come true, and thank you to those who have purchased one of the calendars or note card sets. I actually had to do a small second printing. There are a few left and here is the link if you are interested.

When I laid out the calendar, I had to choose one, just one, picture for each month. Wow, was that ever hard. For the front cover, I added a little detail shot. At first, I had considered using more than one shot for each month, but I ended up really liking the clean look of one photo with a lot of white space around it.  I learned a lot, things I wish I had done differently, mostly when it was too late to do anything about it. The biggest thing I would have changed was to try to get the best shot of each vehicle in landscape mode, without cutting off any part of it.  But I did not consistently get the best shots in landscape mode, mostly because I just was not thinking about it at the time. Lesson learned. Just in case there is another time...

The first time I took photos of a quilt with a classic vehicle was over five years ago, and the thought of making a calendar was not even a dream.

So let's begin with the 1950 lemon yellow Studebaker pickup, the one that started it all, owned by Mike Simpson.

I used to do medical transcription for a local neurologist. Every morning I would drive to her office, pick up the tape (yes, microcassette, because she never even upgraded to a handheld digital recorder), chat a little bit with my friends who worked in the office, and head home to do the transcription, five days a week. 

One morning, I noticed this absolutely pristine yellow pickup in the parking lot. I had just finished a sampler quilt using a Sew Kind of Wonderful pattern, and the yellow fabric in it matched this pickup perfectly. That's when the lightbulb went on and I knew I had to wait for the owner to show up and ask if I could photograph my quilt with his truck.  I went to the office and grabbed my work; at the same time, a man was at the front desk checking out, and I just had the feeling he was the owner.  He didn't seem to notice me, and because of HIPAA laws I didn't want to talk to him in the office. So I went back to the parking lot and waited. It took him awhile, and I was just in the midst of writing a note and sticking it in the door when he walked up. I'm pretty sure I startled him, but I handed him my Live a Colorful Life business card and told him about my idea. It turns out he was a retired baker in town, well known. We agreed to set up a time so I could take some pictures. 

When that happened, he told me had found the perfect spot in a local park. Now ordinarily I would have said, "You want to meet me in the park? I don't know you!"  But given that he was fairly well known, and by then he knew I worked for his doctor, and given the fact that he was in his 70s, I felt pretty safe. 

Sadly, he was the only owner I was unable to get in contact with after the calendar was completed.

I think Mike enjoyed the photo shoot, and even helped with the staging.

Here is the complete quilt, Under the Big Top. That lower left block is the one that is the perfect match. 

So this is where my journey began. I've attended car shows, talking to classic car owners about this project, jotting down car information and phone numbers, and each time the owners have been willing and eager to participate in my project. I've gotten recommendations from friends who knew of my project and also knew someone with a great vehicle, and did a little match making. My biggest roadblock has always been making that phone call to set up a time to meet. For one thing, most of them were strangers. Second, I was always afraid of taking up their time, and that delayed this project more than anything else. But each and every time, they seemed happy to give up a little bit of time and were even curious about quilting. 

I'll be back in a couple of days with February's photos, a serendipitous encounter that happened right across the street!

The Case of the Quilt Quandary

Have you been watching a lot of TV since the shelter in place began in mid March? Mark and I no longer have to get up early, and we often watch old episodes of Perry Mason while we eat breakfast.

After watching several episodes, I noticed something interesting. Probably at least 75 percent of the episode titles uesd alliteration: The Case of the Final Fade-Out,  The Case of the Avenging Angel, The Case of the Scarlet Scandal, The Case of the Twice-Told Twist. Being a bit of a word nerd, that always makes me happy.

What does that have to do with this post? For awhile, we had a bit of a mystery on our hands.

This is my quilt, Spool Play.

Back in late 2018 or early 2019, I was approached by a quilt guild in southern California to present a trunk show and also teach a class in sewing with selvages, scheduled on April 27-28, 2020. I signed the contract and then there was really nothing to do until the beginning of this year. I was supposed to mail Spool Play, the quilt I was using for the class, to the program chairman three months prior to the class date. So toward the end of January, I was ready to mail it out. I could not find it anywhere. Mark and I searched high and low, in every cabinet, closet, and drawer. We pulled out every quilt in the house. We counted (which is how we found out we had 99 quilts made by me, and about 7 others made by friends or family). We refolded and neatly stacked every quilt. Spool Play was nowhere to be found.

I kind of freaked out. Mark asked me if maybe I had already mailed it to the program chair? Hmmm.  Wouldn't I remember if I had mailed a quilt?? He reminded me that we both have CRS--can't remember "stuff" (haha--his politically correct version).

I didn't want to actually contact the program chair and said, "Hey, I can't find my quilt. You don't by any chance have it, do you?" I mean, how ditsy would I sound??

Finally, I decided I had no choice but to call and ask. Why, yes, indeed, she had had it since December!!

Mark and I finally decided that in the midst of the holidays we had packed it up and he had taken it to the post office, which is why I didn't remember mailing it. That is the only thing that makes sense.

And then the pandemic hit. My trunk show and class were canceled. The program chair said she would return the quilt as soon as she could make it to the post office, but it might be a couple of weeks. Totally understandable.

Last week, I remembered that I still didn't have my quilt back, and I needed it because I'm possibly developing an online presentation for sewing with selvages. So I really needed that quilt!

I hesitated to contact her but I really wanted it back. So I emailed her. She called me soon after reading the email and was SO apologetic. She thought she had mailed the quilt back to me weeks ago! She put it in the mail that morning, and it showed up on my doorstep three days later.

It's kind of funny (now that it's safely back home) that I forgot mailing it in the first place, and she forgot that she had not mailed it back.

I'm just happy it's home. Mystery solved. Perry would be proud.

Night Blossoms

I've been fortunate to be friends with Amy Friend since the early days of blogging, so when she asked if I would be interested in participating in the sew-along for her new book, Petal + Stem, I said yes right away.

The quilt she chose for the sew-along is Whimsy Garden, a row quilt.  The thing I enjoy most about the book is that it can be a "choose your own adventure," because the blocks are easy to mix and match.

I have long been intrigued by "night gardens," gardens planted with flowers that bloom at night. A lot of the flowers chosen for night gardens are white, but not all. These were some of my inspiration photos.

For the background, I chose Blossom by Christopher Thompson (the tattooed quilter), navy with white, as it mimics the look of a star-filled night.

While I am using solid fabric for nearly all of the flowers and foliage, I decided to go with a little "glitz" for the white flowers, as if the moonlight was particularly shining on them. "Fairy Frost" in white by Michael Miller and another soft very subtle white pearly metallic-on-white fabric make the flowers look moon-struck.

While I only "signed up" to do Row 2, I'm having so much fun that I intend on completing the whole quilt. There will be some more white flowers, and the rest will be very pale solids in yellow, peach and lavendar.

Here is my one hint for foundation paper piecing: I always make an extra copy of each block, and I cut apart all the sections of the block (right on the line--no need to add seam allowance). If I encounter an odd shape--you know the ones: usually involving an odd angle or weird triangle--I place the section in question right side up (i.e., the side you would be sewing on) on the WRONG side of the fabric, and cut a generous 1/2" around it. That way, when I sew, I end up with the fabric going in the proper direction. There is a more detailed explanation here, with photos. It not only conserves fabric--I wasted SO much fabric before I started doing this--it will save a lot of frustration.

Here is Row 2 (individual rows tend to be tricky to photograph...)

Then, since we needed to buy some tomato plants, I took it to the local nursery for some beauty shots.

Amy designs very beautiful quilts and this is no exception. I'll be deviating somewhat from the pattern for the remaining three rows--exactly as the book is designed.

If you are sewing along, I'm sure you are enjoying this quilt. If not, you should definitely join. Did I mention that there are prizes?!

Happy gardening. :)

Live a Colorful Life Quilt Diary

Today I began something I have wanted to do for several years--documenting the quilts I have made since I began quilting in 1994. If you have quilted for awhile, do you ever wonder how many quilts you have actually made? Me too. Sometimes it's hard to believe I've been at it for 25 years! Some years have been more prolific than others.  I know there have been some that I never mentioned here. And while many of them live somewhere else, there are piles here at home.

Photos of early quilts will be pictures of pictures, in other words, poor quality and awkward styling--taken long before I discovered another passion--quilt photography.

Since I want all the information to be chronological, cohesive and easy to access, I started another blog: Live a Colorful Life Quilt Diary: laclquiltdiary.blogspot.com.

And so it begins...

Project Bag

Aaron is enjoying his new skill with knitting.

From experience, I know that you need a project bag, for many reasons--to keep it safe from children and pets, and also to make it more portable in case you want to knit in a different location (hopefully there are some Starbucks knitting sessions in our future).

I have made many lined drawstring bags, designed by Jeni Baker. She just came out with an expansion pack, full of variations.

I chose to make the "project" size (from the basic pattern), which is a really versatile size, and then chose the "bottom accent" instructions from the expansion set.  When going through some of my stash the other day, I came across a linen panel with four patterns, including an eye chart.  Since Aaron is an optometrist, it was the perfect choice

 The ampersand fabric was a good choice for the other side of the bag.

 For the bottom, I used black cork fabric. If you haven't sewn with cork fabric yet, don't be frightened away from it--I used my regular needle and polyester thread. Easy-peasy.

I also had just the right amount of this fabric with glasses to use for the lining, and it was the perfect color too!

I had already purchased several of these cute labels from Kylie and the Machine (she has so many cute labels to choose from). This is one of my favorites.

Leather cord for the drawstring and some wooden beads for the ends.

This pattern comes highly recommended. I hope you'll give it a try.

Pattern: Lined Drawstring Bag and Lined Drawsing Bag Expansion Pattrern by Jeni Baker (jenibakerpatterns.com)
Finished Size: 13" x 8" x 4"
Labels: Kylie and the Machine (kylieandthemachine.shop)
Cork Fabric: sewsweetness.com

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Christmas Season Celebration, Part 3

Day 4
After breakfast, we walked through Colonial Cemetery on the way to the Isaiah Davenport House.

The house was beautifully preserved--the first preservation effort of the Historic Savannah Foundation. I was particularly intrigued by the wallpaper.

After the tour of this home, we were free for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We passed these on the way back to the hotel for a light lunch before heading off to a tour of the Bonaventure Cemetery.

Our Bonaventure tour guide packed so much information into our two-hour tour. He spoke quickly and hardly seemed to stop for a breath. This is probably a good time to mention a bit about the title of the book that captivated me. One of the characters in the book, Minerva, practices voodoo. The title alludes to the time for "good magic," 11 p.m. to midnight, and "bad magic, midnight to 1 a.m.

John Walz was a German-born sculptor who is responsible for a lot of the statues at Bonaventure. He died in 1922 and interestingly did not have a gravestone until about five years ago when the historical society commissioned one for him.

One of the well-known statues he sculpted is Gracie Watson. She died at a Savannah hotel run by her father at about age 7, from pneumonia. Her father took a picture and commissioned John Walz to carve her likeness.

Eventually a gate was constructed to keep visitors from touching the statue and wearing it down.

Hugh Weedon Mercer, great grandfather to music legend Johnny Mercer.

Conrad Aiken was an American writer and poet who had a tragic life after witnessing the murder-suicide of his parents. He eventually moved next door to his childhood home. Apparently a lot of people like to have cocktails on the bench at his grave site.

Johnny Mercer's plot has several family members, each with lyrics from his songs engraved on the markers. In case you are not familiar with Johnny Mercer, he was a prolific song writer in the 1930s to mid 1960s, including such famous songs as Moon River. He earned four academy awards for Best Original Song.

The cemetery is very large, and we only saw a small portion of it, but were able to see some of the most well-known statues.

In the evening, we went to a nearby restaurant and had southern fried chicken.

Day 5
After breakfast we walked to St. John's Cathedral. While the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, will probably always be my favorite, this was a beautiful cathedral.

We also visited Congregation Mickve Israel, the third oldest Jewish Congregation in America.

After lunch, I opted to spend some more time walking around some of the squares. I first headed to Telfair Square to the Telfair Museum to finally get a glimpse of the Bird Girl, who achieved fame after being on the cover of the book, a statue I had waited so long to see in person. (My special souvenir was a 15" replica purchased from the Telfair Museum.)

Then I headed to the Mercer-Williams home. I wish I had had a chance to see it a couple of days earlier, because on this day, Monday, they had decided to start with some exterior work. So there was a ladder, and a worker, by the front door, as well as scaffolding on one side. Sigh...

I ended up not taking a tour. Apparently, only the main floor is open and no mention is made about the book or the murder. And while it is called the Mercer-Williams home, Johnny Mercer never lived there.

I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the squares and soaking up all the beautiful architecture.

Here is an interesting quirk. All the squares have a fountain or a statue. However, the statues are not in the square named after them. For example, Casimir Pulaski is in Monterey Square, although there is a Pulaski Square. General Oglethorpe, who founded the city of Savannah, is in Chippewa Square, although there is an Oglethorpe Square. And President Andrew Jackson's statue is in Lafayette Square.

I asked my good friend, Mary, who lives on Lake Pulaski in Minnesota, if this was the same Pulaski her lake is named for, and indeed it is.

We have a magnolia tree in front of our house and we pretty much despise it--it sheds something all.year.long. But then I saw the garland and wreath on this house and maybe I just need to get creative.

Just a few more...with all the blow-up Santas and reindeer that decorate the lawns in Fresno, I loved that the decorations here were so understated and elegant.

And before I knew it, it was time to head home.

The tree in the Savannah airport.

This was in the Dallas airport, where I spent a long 7 1/2 hour layover on my way home, so I wasn't feeling very joyful about that.

However, this was a dream trip. Trudy and I shared a most amazing adventure together that I will remember forever. Thanks, friend. Where shall we go next?