Locked stove epidemic

On occasion, you know, I have to report about life here in Lawrence. What follows comes right from one of my favorite Dave Barry lines: "I am not making this up......."

For some reason, we have had an epidemic of stoves locking and refusing to open among our stitch group buddies. Thankfully, I am so instruction-challenged that I gave up trying to self-clean mine (which leads to the locking) and sprayed it with chemicals (yum). But my friends are smarter and braver. They read the instructions, set the self-clean options, threw the lever and locked theirs. And then the ovens would not UN-lock! This has happened to 2 stitchers so far.

Stitcher A gave up trying to solve the dilemma herself quickly and called the appliance guy, who came by the day before Thanksgiving and fixed it "in about 5 seconds," she reported. "We felt like idiots."

Stitcher B was breaking in a new stove for the holidays. Here is her report:
     "Turkey day went pretty well, over all. I/we had used the new stove's oven 3 or 4 times, and each time it STANK!!!!  So, I read the manual, and it said that "the smell will resolve with the first cleaning, if not before," so I decided to use the oven cleaning feature.  So, the night before Turkey Day, I throw the latch to lock the oven, and hit the button for cleaning.  I then realized I hadn't removed everything from the oven, so I hit the off button, released the latch, opened the oven, took stuff out, threw the latch to lock it and hit the "clean" button again.  And I went to bed.

    The next morning, I released the latch, and the oven wouldn't open.  It was still locked closed.  Hard to cook a turkey if you can't get it in the oven. So I read the instructions, which were not helpful.  Then got on line, and found a few more things to try.  Tried those things, it was still locked.  Tried them again, same result.  Called some appliance repair places, no one was answering.
    So, after jumping through several more hoops, we (by this time more of my family was here) decided to order turkey at Dillons.  We wandered over to do that while my brother-in-laws were serially contemplating the locked oven door. 

    We successfully ordered a turkey breast to be cooked for us at Dillons, and wandered back home to find that my more mechanically minded brother-in-law had managed to unlatch the latch.  So we could have Pumpkin Pie and Turkey!!  As well as Ham, Grouse, and now the Turkey from Dillons.  So, after that, all went well, everyone got along well.  We wound up eating at 3:30 instead of 2:00, but had lots of snacky stuff, and the day was fine...How was yours? 

    By the way, one of my daughter's friends was here just now, and she was telling him the story, so he had to try the latch. It locked the door AGAIN, but this time I was able to get it unlocked after about 5 minutes of trying.  I bet I'll be faster next time.  Or maybe I'll just get it fixed."

Thanks to ace stringer Roseanne Smith (aka StitcherB) for sharing her story..........

A best day of the year

One of my favorite days of the year is today, the day of our Bizarre Bazaar. It started years ago and I've been in attendance for years too. My kids too. They remember the old days when it was truly a bunch of alternative artists (also called hippies). Today there are many many more artists, in a much larger venue. It retains it's very creative ambiance and I do think this year was the best ever.

This year my daughter Betsy went with me. We show each other things we like. Then we buy them for each other. We buy gifts. We occasionally buy something for ourselves. And we are so inspired by all the creative ideas. Here are a few I liked that I think you might too.

I looked at these aprons for a while, wondering how they came to be. Marilyn Pilkey of Ottawa told me she works with the local theatre company and that the painted backgrounds came from the backdrops of earlier shows. They are sturdy canvas, just perfect for aprons. She also used quilt blocks for apron tops.

 

I bought a present for my husband (the surprise in the sack) from Boho Girl Creations. They also had piles of crocheted rugs, all made from recycled t-shirts. Aren't they cool?

Our quilt guild buddy Sammie Messick got creative with recycled t-shirts too. She stitched the bottom hems together, cut the tops of the shirts into straps and sold them to use as shopping bags. She recommends putting meat you buy into them, as they are so easy to wash. She used child size shirts to make smaller bags that could support what you put inside. Betsy picked some out.

I was happy to see Sandra Fos there. I've admired her quilts so much - today she offered punked out pillows, hand sewn scarves and enlightened recycled lampshades. Her daughter Laura came along to help. When I asked if I could take a picture, she said no but relented if she was in the background (you will note I complied.....)


Best of all, I came home inspired to get to work on a few holiday presents. Ho ho ho!

(Note: you can click on the Bizarre Bazaar link in the first paragraph to contact these artists.)

Things People Say

My weekend project

Many of you can probably identify with this. People say doubting things to me all the time about how I work.

I am not making this up, I have heard:

"Don't encourage her."

A shrieked, "Oh no, you're not going there (while I was checking the fabric store trashcan for scraps after a class)." (I calmly told ShriekerA that a number of somewhat famous authors I've worked with confess to doing that...)

"What are you going to make with THAT?"

And perhaps my favorite, shrieked while I showed an old quilt with knots tied on top: "Didn't they know the RULES?"

I am thankful for all of you, for being there and understanding and supporting my unconventional ways of working.........Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Hail the wale

Plan now to celebrate National Corduroy Day next Nov. 11, 2011.
That date - 11/11/11 - is especially chosen as those numbers are most like the wales (the raised ribs) of corduroy.
I learned all this thanks to a piece on the Corduroy Appreciation Club by Bill Geist on CBS Sunday Morning. You can see more about his report here.
To celebrate: I propose that we incorporate SOME corduroy into our scrappy work. Adding different texture makes a textile project more exciting.
A total corduroy piece is probably NOT ideal. I do have one, this improvised quilt I featured back in January. It's fascinating to behold but HEAVY!

Doesn't this bring back memories of all the corduroy clothing you've had over the years? I've always loved corduroy. In the story, they showed bolts of it that brought back sewing project memories. Paisley corduroy! Striped corduroy. I remember having to buy extra fabric to make sure all your wales ran in the same direction. My sewing teachers usually banned it (to my dismay). They were timid (and probably rightfully so, wanting to avoid advising us on the intricacies of working with fabrics with nap). I had many corduroy jumpers - I found a picture of one from the 1960s.

Anyway, start collecting your corduroy scraps now. Be ready for 11/11/11.

My new Trip Around the World quilt

You know I'm a sucker for a bargain. So when I found this quilt on my recent trip to the Wichita antique mall and price tag said $35, I sighed and knew it was going home with me.

I have no regrets! I love it. It's condition is good and the fabrics are 1930s lively. It's a fun one to look at on the dining room wall. The light sections especially are quite scrappy, with many fabrics of the same value worked into the rows. The maker used her scrap bag well and didn't shy away from using plaids and stripes going every which way.

It's hand pieced and hand quilted, bound with red bias. It was assembled in blocks - slightly different reds in the corners of the middle block helped me see that. And I do note a few machine stitched seams where the blocks came together. It measures 70" x 70", the blocks are 23-24" square. Individual pieces are 1 1/4" square.

There are a lot of names for this classic pattern in the Encyclopedia and I like them all: Mosaic Block, Squares Around the World, Postage Stamp, A Trip Around the World, Sunshine and Shadow, Grandma's Dream and Sun and Shadow.

My favorite market product: new needles for big stitch

I've tried the big stitch, quick quilting with perle cotton. I wrestled with my needle and wondered what would be good to use. So when I noticed a schoolhouse presentation by Pepper Cory on that topic, I joined a line of quilters to file inside and learn more. I was hooked when Pepper started her pitch by saying one of the roots of the big stitch was poverty. 1930s scrap quilts that were needed for bedding were purposely quilted with a big quilting stitch to get the quilt onto the bed quickly. Other roots were 1920s sashiko quilts, and 1930s mail order quilts that used larger stitches in contrasting thread so hand quilting would show. She also said today's modern quilt guilds (boasting 10,000 members in just one year) have been known to favor the big stitch on solids.

Here's the product, slated for an early 2011 release. There are 6 needles in 3 sizes - good for using both #8 and #5 perle cotton.

Pepper has a blog too, check it out.

By popular demand

Keiko quilt detail.

I've been helping Barbara teach a class on improvised quilts this year. We met last night and I showed the group a slide show of improvised quilts on display at market in Houston. A class member asked me to post a picture of Keiko Goke's spectacular My Double Wedding Ring quilt so she could look at it again and again. On the quilt label, Keiko explained that she began quilting using traditional patterns. She turned to contemporary quiltmaking and then found herself recreating traditional patterns, but without patterns and on this grand scale.

Kathe goes for it with one of grandma's blocks.

 We've all been a little surprised, I think at the fun we've had in this class, challenging each other to try new ways of thinking about quilting. We've tried several sewing projects. Last night we took quilt blocks and cut them apart then put them back together in an improvised fashion. Here are some of our starts.

It was fascinating to see castoff blocks now making new shapes. I have blocks we found in my grandmother's estate. We'd never seen her sewing them but I recognize some of the '70s fabrics. I'm going to start slashing!

I met Gee's Bend descendants

A little more from market - we stayed for the very last schoolhouse presentation of the day to hear two Gee's Bend descendants talk about their lives and their new project.

Loretta Bennett (left) and Louisiana Bendolph were both born in 1960 in Gee's Bend. Louisiana recalled watching school busses go by as she stayed behind to pick cotton as a child. Today they both still live in Alabama, but away from Gee's Bend. They've created Gee's Bend inspired quilts that will be kitted by Windham Fabrics. A portion of the profits will be shared with the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective.

I liked this bright design by Louisiana.

Fall improv

 

It's finished! I set out with a bag of scraps a few weeks ago and now I have a small  (27" square) improvisational quilt in fall colors. That is a pocket near the top - from the best boy's shirt ever.

The quilt goes along with the swiss chard we still enjoy from the garden and the celosia still blooming on the front porch.


Happy fall!

VOTE

Today's election day. Be sure to vote. Do it for the suffragettes who worked so hard for us.

These great patriotic quilts on display at market in Houston will get you in the proper mood.

This flag quilt top was made by Ralph Syverson of Cordell, Oklahoma in the 1940s - 48 stars are embroidered on the flag.

And this detail is from a crib quilt made only of these stars, quiltmaker unknown, circa 1930s, also acquired in Oklahoma......

I'm off to cancel out this NO vote for our library expansion! See you at the polls!
(Thanks to ace stringer Roseann for spotting this memorable sign.)

At Market 2 - Fun Stuff

Here are a few things I liked so much I got a picture:

A fabric covered bike frame, courtesy of Wild World by Jenean Morrison (her husband Joel bikes in Memphis when he's not at quilt market).

Here's a closer look at the bike, I loved it.

The over-the-top display at Michael Miller fabrics. Look where the shop owners got to sit down and make their orders.

In a booth with a Marilyn Monroe lookalike!

Here's Annie Smith signing copies of her new book, The Ultimate Applique Guidebook, at the C&T booth. Note the line of people in the background - they are waiting for free books... And note Annie's coat, it's featured in the book (that I enjoyed editing).

My shop owner friends from Quilting Bits & Pieces in Eudora, Kansas can stitch anywhere! Here they are demonstrating twilling at the Pattern Peddler booth.

And - big surprise - I bumped into my sewing retreat buddy Sharona Fischrup from New Pieces quilt store in  Berkeley, California.  Market is so much fun!