Monday, January 28, 2008
BargelloBowl '08
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Copyright Issues and Jumping to Conclusions
One of the Yahoo Groups that I belonged to until just recently was Quilters Corner Club. It is now defunct, mostly because the person who started it has apparently disappeared, and the other two women who were in it with her started, and recently expanded, a new group called One Stitch at a Time Saturday night I read on the OST group that the founder of QCC, the nowhere-to-be-found young woman, was selling as her own designs a group of New York Beauty patterns that look to be identical to those designed by someone else. On the QCC site they are called the International New York Beauty BOM. Beginning this past June she posted for our free use two patterns per month. If we did not get them from the site during that month then we had to buy them from her. A few months ago she started selling all the rest of the 25 if we wanted to move more quickly than two a month. In early January we expected the next two to be posted but they never appeared. We then began hearing the the other two women could not contact her, and soon they pulled out completely from QCC. I have already made 4 of these blocks and had planned to make a pillow using some of them, as well as finishing the BOM as they appeared. The OST woman said she was going to throw all of her patterns from the BOM away and I gathered thought we should all do the same thing. After reading this, and seeing the photo evidence they presented, I found some patterns and books by the designer who they told us was the actual designer and purchased them online. Later that night, or the next morning, I read a follow-up posting from someone else who was trying to set the record straight. This person, who as far as I know has no contact with any of the other women, told us that she emailed the "actual designer" who told her that indeed the patterns were designed by the first person. Seems that a fabric shop where the "actual designer" recently held a class was looking online for a picture of a New York Beauty quilt to advertise her class. Rather than get a photo from her, they just went online and found this one and put it on their website as hers, when in fact it was from the first young woman. Apparently they are taking that picture off their website, although it is still there as I write this. I did think it was odd that as I looked at designer #2's patterns and books I did not see any that looked exactly like the International NYB from QCC, but it never occurred to me what the real reason for that was. I did however like her patterns, and will be happy to have them in my collection. When this mix-up was pointed out to the OST women, including a quote from designer #2 the response was that there was to be no more discussion of this topic on OST. Clearly there is more going on there than has been said, and the fact remains that the first young woman is the only organizer of a retreat scheduled to be held in WV in April that now no one can find out anything about. I have not signed up for that but apparently several people have, and have paid for it. Messy, messy, messy!
I plan to continue at some point to complete the NYB blocks that I have already, and if we never get any more of them I'll just do something with the ones I have. And the pillow is still on my list of projects. One of the OST women is now designing some other NYB blocks that I may also use for something, but they are a different size from the others. Here is a photo of the 4 blocks I've made so far -
If you have followed this saga and are not confused to this point - then good for you!!
I plan to continue at some point to complete the NYB blocks that I have already, and if we never get any more of them I'll just do something with the ones I have. And the pillow is still on my list of projects. One of the OST women is now designing some other NYB blocks that I may also use for something, but they are a different size from the others. Here is a photo of the 4 blocks I've made so far -
If you have followed this saga and are not confused to this point - then good for you!!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Hydrangeas and Butterflies pillow finished!
Tonight I finished the paper-pieced pillow-top that goes with the Hydrangeas and Butterflies quilt. 
I did the piecing on it months ago. It was the first Carol Doak design I did before I started on last year's Fat Eighth Swap in her Yahoo Group, which took place from April - June I think. I used some of the same fabrics that I used in the quilt, and made a cording edge using the same stripe that I used for the binding of the quilt. It is probably hard to see the back of the pillow, maybe some of it in the second picture, but it is the fabric from the border of the quilt. I hand pieced it, and just finished assemblying it tonight. The cording gave me a few problems, but I really wanted to use it so I kept working with it. This completes the Hydrangeas and Butterflies "set." Now on to other projects! 
I did the piecing on it months ago. It was the first Carol Doak design I did before I started on last year's Fat Eighth Swap in her Yahoo Group, which took place from April - June I think. I used some of the same fabrics that I used in the quilt, and made a cording edge using the same stripe that I used for the binding of the quilt. It is probably hard to see the back of the pillow, maybe some of it in the second picture, but it is the fabric from the border of the quilt. I hand pieced it, and just finished assemblying it tonight. The cording gave me a few problems, but I really wanted to use it so I kept working with it. This completes the Hydrangeas and Butterflies "set." Now on to other projects!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Allie's Green Batik Quilt
Our youngest daughter, Allie, has been visiting us since mid-November. She had been working as an intern on an organic farm in the Hudson Valley of NY, and after a visit with us left this past Friday to go back to work on that farm for a few weeks before moving to a nearby farm where she plans to work this coming season. During the last couple of weeks that she was with us she decided she wanted to make herself a quilt using some of my batiks. She was living in my sewing room, surrounded by my stash and I think it must have been calling her name! She likes to make up her own designs in her quilts, and her knitting. She has two quilts in progress that I have pictures of on my Quilting Links webpage - http://mamanance.info/quilting/index.htm#family She hand-pieced and is hand quilting them, but this time she wanted to try out my Brother. 
She started on it Jan 7, and finished all but sewing down some of the binding by the time she left here Friday. She had never machine quilted but practiced a bit with the walking foot and with free motion, and, as I guessed she would chose, she liked the free motion better, so did a meandering stitch all over it -- and seemed very happy with the results!
She started on it Jan 7, and finished all but sewing down some of the binding by the time she left here Friday. She had never machine quilted but practiced a bit with the walking foot and with free motion, and, as I guessed she would chose, she liked the free motion better, so did a meandering stitch all over it -- and seemed very happy with the results!
Van Gogh's View is officially finished
Just a few minutes ago I finished sewing the label into Van Gogh's View so I can now say it is officially finished. 
Usually the labels come later, sometimes much later, but this time I thought I would do it while I still had the quilt. I made the label using 18-count cross-stitch fabric, and did the lettering in backstitch, then put a border around the label. I'd hoped to have it finished by Christmas, but that didn't happen. I'll be shipping it to our daughter and her family in GA.Tuesday since tomorrow is a holiday. 
Usually the labels come later, sometimes much later, but this time I thought I would do it while I still had the quilt. I made the label using 18-count cross-stitch fabric, and did the lettering in backstitch, then put a border around the label. I'd hoped to have it finished by Christmas, but that didn't happen. I'll be shipping it to our daughter and her family in GA.Tuesday since tomorrow is a holiday. Sunday, January 13, 2008
Hydrangeas and Butterflies wallhanging is finished!
This afternoon we hung the completed Hydrangeas and Butterflies wallhanging in our room. I have documented some of the progress in making it on my Quilting Links webpage I began this project in September 2006, a few months after we painted our bedroom and got a new comforter, etc. The room is blue, and not a pale blue, and the comforter has a large block of lime green, one of blue and one white, so I knew from the beginning that it needed to have blue and lime green in it, and I knew where in the room I wanted to hang it, so that limited the size. 
After looking and many fabrics on quiltshops.com I saw the large hydrangeas fabric and knew right away that I had to use that fabric. I looked at the collection it was in - Lakehouse's Hydrangeas and Raspberries - and bought some of those fabrics, along with the butterflies fabric that was in a companion collection by Lakehouse. I found a pattern using big blossoms, that actually used the hydrangeas fabric, but the pattern had some aspects that I didn't like, so I designed my own. I used other fabrics besides just what was in the Lakehouse collection to make the borders around each block. It is hand quilted using the Baptist Fan pattern in the 4 big blocks, a cable around each of the big blocks, and a diagonal grid on the border. For the binding I used a striped fabric from Lakehouse and cut it on the bias so that the stripes would go at an angle. I am so happy with the way it turned out - I have been making extra trips upstairs just to look at it today! I have a paper-pieced pillow using several of the same fabrics that is almost finished that will go on the bed. Can you tell that blue, yellow and green is my favorite color combination!
After looking and many fabrics on quiltshops.com I saw the large hydrangeas fabric and knew right away that I had to use that fabric. I looked at the collection it was in - Lakehouse's Hydrangeas and Raspberries - and bought some of those fabrics, along with the butterflies fabric that was in a companion collection by Lakehouse. I found a pattern using big blossoms, that actually used the hydrangeas fabric, but the pattern had some aspects that I didn't like, so I designed my own. I used other fabrics besides just what was in the Lakehouse collection to make the borders around each block. It is hand quilted using the Baptist Fan pattern in the 4 big blocks, a cable around each of the big blocks, and a diagonal grid on the border. For the binding I used a striped fabric from Lakehouse and cut it on the bias so that the stripes would go at an angle. I am so happy with the way it turned out - I have been making extra trips upstairs just to look at it today! I have a paper-pieced pillow using several of the same fabrics that is almost finished that will go on the bed. Can you tell that blue, yellow and green is my favorite color combination!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Daughter is home; 1 treetop done
The traveling daughter is home, all safe and sound with no apparent problems. When she called this morning from DC to say she was that far it was a like a big weight off my shoulders. Kristie and Cindy, thanks for your comments.
I appliqued the smaller treetop on Van Gogh tonight, and 1/2 of the larger one, but it is time to put it up for the night. I work at the hospital tomorrow, but will try to finish it tomorrow night and get started on the label.
I appliqued the smaller treetop on Van Gogh tonight, and 1/2 of the larger one, but it is time to put it up for the night. I work at the hospital tomorrow, but will try to finish it tomorrow night and get started on the label.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Progress on Van Gogh Quilt
Here is a picture of one of the trees on the Van Gogh quilt. I have machine quilted the two trunks and treetops. The trunks are appliqued on and I will be working on getting the treetops on today.
Bloglines, LibraryThing and Motherhood
No, there is no real connection between these three topics, just things I want/need to comment on!
First, Bloglines - is a great way to see which blogs have new postings. You just enter the list of blogs you want to keep up with, then go to the Bloglines site to see a list of all your favorite blogs, with the number of new postings indicated beside each. Thanks to Jen for mentioning this site. Unfortunately, it doesn't help you find the time to read them all!
Second, LibraryThing - Thanks to Debbie I have found this great site that lets you catalog your library collection rather painlessly. As a retired librarian who has done a fair amount of cataloging, I am thrilled to find an easy way to catalog my own books. You can see to the right of this posting a widget from them that shows a random group of book covers from the ones I added earlier tonight. It even shows you how many other people on LibraryThing have the same book in their collections. At the moment I only have 19 of my books in, with lots more to go, but I think 2 of them are only in my library.
Thirdly, Motherhood. My 4 kids are 28-38 years old and all on their own, but we still worry about them don't we? Our youngest has been an intern on 2 different organic farms for the past two growing seasons. In 2006 she was on a small family farm in south central KY; this past season she was at Hawthorne Valley Farm near Ghent, NY. We picked her up from there the weekend before Thanksgiving and she has been here since then. She started working full-time at the library where my husband works the week after she got here. She has already made one driving trip back to NY to visit friends there, and on Christmas Eve she flew from Atlanta, where we had gone for Christmas with our kids, grands and hubby's family, to NY to spend a week or so at the farm. This past Friday night she was to have taken a bus from NYC to Bangor, ME to visit a farm about an hour from there where she would like to work this year. I last talked to her that night before she left - she was trying to stay awake so she could sleep on the overnight bus. Today she was to take a bus back to NYC, then, after a few hours wait, take a bus from there to Charlottesville, VA where I am to pick her up tomorrow afternoon - that's about an hour from here. The more I think about it the more worried I get! These are not her first bus trips - last year she took one from Atlanta to KY to revisit that farm, then from KY to NY to get to the new farm, but overnight bus trips, and being in bus stations during the transfers, etc really worry me. She said she would call me in the morning when she is waiting for the transfer in DC. I'm sure she gets aggravated with my worrying, but I still worry.
OK, back to a bit more quilting before I try to get some sleep. I am finishing up the quilting on the treetops for the Van Gogh quilt. I'll try to post a photo in the morning.
First, Bloglines - is a great way to see which blogs have new postings. You just enter the list of blogs you want to keep up with, then go to the Bloglines site to see a list of all your favorite blogs, with the number of new postings indicated beside each. Thanks to Jen for mentioning this site. Unfortunately, it doesn't help you find the time to read them all!
Second, LibraryThing - Thanks to Debbie I have found this great site that lets you catalog your library collection rather painlessly. As a retired librarian who has done a fair amount of cataloging, I am thrilled to find an easy way to catalog my own books. You can see to the right of this posting a widget from them that shows a random group of book covers from the ones I added earlier tonight. It even shows you how many other people on LibraryThing have the same book in their collections. At the moment I only have 19 of my books in, with lots more to go, but I think 2 of them are only in my library.
Thirdly, Motherhood. My 4 kids are 28-38 years old and all on their own, but we still worry about them don't we? Our youngest has been an intern on 2 different organic farms for the past two growing seasons. In 2006 she was on a small family farm in south central KY; this past season she was at Hawthorne Valley Farm near Ghent, NY. We picked her up from there the weekend before Thanksgiving and she has been here since then. She started working full-time at the library where my husband works the week after she got here. She has already made one driving trip back to NY to visit friends there, and on Christmas Eve she flew from Atlanta, where we had gone for Christmas with our kids, grands and hubby's family, to NY to spend a week or so at the farm. This past Friday night she was to have taken a bus from NYC to Bangor, ME to visit a farm about an hour from there where she would like to work this year. I last talked to her that night before she left - she was trying to stay awake so she could sleep on the overnight bus. Today she was to take a bus back to NYC, then, after a few hours wait, take a bus from there to Charlottesville, VA where I am to pick her up tomorrow afternoon - that's about an hour from here. The more I think about it the more worried I get! These are not her first bus trips - last year she took one from Atlanta to KY to revisit that farm, then from KY to NY to get to the new farm, but overnight bus trips, and being in bus stations during the transfers, etc really worry me. She said she would call me in the morning when she is waiting for the transfer in DC. I'm sure she gets aggravated with my worrying, but I still worry.
OK, back to a bit more quilting before I try to get some sleep. I am finishing up the quilting on the treetops for the Van Gogh quilt. I'll try to post a photo in the morning.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Quilting plans for the year
This is NOT a list of New Year's Resolutions - I know I won't keep those! But I do want to make a list of projects that I want to finish or continue on during the year. Will "publishing" it make me more likely to actually stick to it - not sure about that, but here goes:
1. Finish the applique and label on Van Gogh's View - DONE AND MAILED
2. Make the labels for Surrounded and the two Cars quillows - attaching will have to wait until I am in GA again - ONE QUILLOW LABELED
3. Make secret 6 blocks - DONE
4. Make secret signature wall hanging
5. Make a secret flannel rag quilt - DONE - JAN '09
6. Bind Hydrangeas and Butterflies - DONE
7. Assemble pillow that goes with Hydrangeas and Butterflies - DONE
8. Assemble the calico lap-quilting blocks into a lap quilt
9. Continue on the Spectacular Scraps quilt- MORE FABRICS CUT
10. Continue on Grandmother's Flower Garden - WORKED ON BUT NOT DONE
11. Continue on Dresden Plate Stack 'n Whack
12. Catch up with QCC's NYB blocks
13. Catch up with Carol Doak's BOM
14. Make a quilt out of the blocks I got in the Carol Doak Fat Eighth Swap
15. Make the Dahlia Sweatshirt
16. Do something with my guild's challenge fabric - DECIDED NOT TO DO
17. Continue on the Christmas wreath wall hanging
18. Continue on the Pantry quilt that the Senior Center group is doing - center is done
19. Finish quilting the blocks for the Senior Center sampler- DONE AND IS HANGING
20. Assemble the Senior Center sampler quilt - SEE ABOVE
21. Make some toe-warmers for the guild retreat- DONE
22. Make some of the participants' gifts for the guild retreat - DONE
23. Finish quilting Allie's apple quilt
24. Finish quilting on Fallen Leaves wallhanging - DONE
25. Finish quilting on guild's comfort quilt
26. Make Peter Rabbit quilt - ON HOLD
27. Make a quilt for grandchild due in August - PIECING DONE; HAND QUILTING IN PROGRESS
28. Make one of Quiltville's scrap quilts - see #33
29. Make the batik Hawaiian wedding quilt
30. Make a quilt with the blue Tonga batiks
31. Make the Celestial Migraine quilt
32. Make a quilt for niece/nephew due in June - DONE
33. Make a bargello quilt - Center is pieced
34. Continue on the Tumbling Blocks quilt
35. Make some placemats for us
36. Make some placemats and/or table-runners for our kids - ONE TABLE RUNNER DONE
37. Make a 2nd pillow to go with the Surrounded quilt - probably NYB design
38. Make a rag quilt from my collection of homespun fabrics - new addition to the list
39. Make a beach/water themed quilt - new addition to the list
40. Make 4 blocks for the ALA BiblioQuilters - new addition to the list - DONE
41. Bind the purple Senior Center quilt - new addition to list (2/20/08) - DONE
42. 1 secret block - new addition to list (2/20/08) - DONE
43. make 5 blocks for the Carol Doak Spring Batik Swap - new additon to list (3/19/08) - DONE
OK, that's that enough to list for today. Amazingly, I don't think I would have to have any more material to do all of these projects! Maybe some for backings, but not even sure about that. Can you tell that I must have a pretty big stash right now? If I am counting right, about 20 of these are finishing or continuing on projects already started. I would be astonished if I got all of those finished this year, but it is a goal I could strive for. I will be starting with #'s 1, 3, 6, 7, 15, 24 and 37 though not necessarily in that order. #18 is an on-going project that I work on mostly on Wednesday mornings before I meet with the ladies at the Senior Center on Wednesday afternoons. I am hoping to have #1 and #15 done in time for our next guild meeting - Jan 12. So I'd better stop working on my list and start working on Van Gogh! I am hoping that putting this list out for all to see will be some encouragement for me to try to be a "completer" this year.
1. Finish the applique and label on Van Gogh's View - DONE AND MAILED
2. Make the labels for Surrounded and the two Cars quillows - attaching will have to wait until I am in GA again - ONE QUILLOW LABELED
3. Make secret 6 blocks - DONE
4. Make secret signature wall hanging
5. Make a secret flannel rag quilt - DONE - JAN '09
6. Bind Hydrangeas and Butterflies - DONE
7. Assemble pillow that goes with Hydrangeas and Butterflies - DONE
8. Assemble the calico lap-quilting blocks into a lap quilt
9. Continue on the Spectacular Scraps quilt- MORE FABRICS CUT
10. Continue on Grandmother's Flower Garden - WORKED ON BUT NOT DONE
11. Continue on Dresden Plate Stack 'n Whack
12. Catch up with QCC's NYB blocks
13. Catch up with Carol Doak's BOM
14. Make a quilt out of the blocks I got in the Carol Doak Fat Eighth Swap
15. Make the Dahlia Sweatshirt
16. Do something with my guild's challenge fabric - DECIDED NOT TO DO
17. Continue on the Christmas wreath wall hanging
18. Continue on the Pantry quilt that the Senior Center group is doing - center is done
19. Finish quilting the blocks for the Senior Center sampler- DONE AND IS HANGING
20. Assemble the Senior Center sampler quilt - SEE ABOVE
21. Make some toe-warmers for the guild retreat- DONE
22. Make some of the participants' gifts for the guild retreat - DONE
23. Finish quilting Allie's apple quilt
24. Finish quilting on Fallen Leaves wallhanging - DONE
25. Finish quilting on guild's comfort quilt
26. Make Peter Rabbit quilt - ON HOLD
27. Make a quilt for grandchild due in August - PIECING DONE; HAND QUILTING IN PROGRESS
28. Make one of Quiltville's scrap quilts - see #33
29. Make the batik Hawaiian wedding quilt
30. Make a quilt with the blue Tonga batiks
31. Make the Celestial Migraine quilt
32. Make a quilt for niece/nephew due in June - DONE
33. Make a bargello quilt - Center is pieced
34. Continue on the Tumbling Blocks quilt
35. Make some placemats for us
36. Make some placemats and/or table-runners for our kids - ONE TABLE RUNNER DONE
37. Make a 2nd pillow to go with the Surrounded quilt - probably NYB design
38. Make a rag quilt from my collection of homespun fabrics - new addition to the list
39. Make a beach/water themed quilt - new addition to the list
40. Make 4 blocks for the ALA BiblioQuilters - new addition to the list - DONE
41. Bind the purple Senior Center quilt - new addition to list (2/20/08) - DONE
42. 1 secret block - new addition to list (2/20/08) - DONE
43. make 5 blocks for the Carol Doak Spring Batik Swap - new additon to list (3/19/08) - DONE
OK, that's that enough to list for today. Amazingly, I don't think I would have to have any more material to do all of these projects! Maybe some for backings, but not even sure about that. Can you tell that I must have a pretty big stash right now? If I am counting right, about 20 of these are finishing or continuing on projects already started. I would be astonished if I got all of those finished this year, but it is a goal I could strive for. I will be starting with #'s 1, 3, 6, 7, 15, 24 and 37 though not necessarily in that order. #18 is an on-going project that I work on mostly on Wednesday mornings before I meet with the ladies at the Senior Center on Wednesday afternoons. I am hoping to have #1 and #15 done in time for our next guild meeting - Jan 12. So I'd better stop working on my list and start working on Van Gogh! I am hoping that putting this list out for all to see will be some encouragement for me to try to be a "completer" this year.
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