Tweeting From a Time Capsule

Last week I went on an overnight retreat with a group of four other friends. First we met up for some shopping at a great antique store - I was strong and resisted buying anything, but there WAS a piece of yellowware I saw that I've been thinking about ever since. Then we visited a new quilt shop and ate lunch at Olive Garden before heading up the canyon seven miles to Janet's cabin. Most of the time was spent just sitting and talking (solving the world's problems - you know how it goes, right?) and we watched a movie in the evening. But we were able to do a little craft project the next morning and made some cute little birds with their nests full of treasures and trinkets. This is my little bird sporting a crown.

Janet nicely provided all the supplies needed for these and it was so much fun to sit out on the deck to do our stitching. It was hard to choose which fabrics and embellishments to use because she brought so much stuff, but I think every single one turned out darling. Here are a couple of group shots.

 And I have to tell you about the cabin we stayed in. It was built over 50 years ago and when Janet's parent bought it about 20 years ago, all the furnishing were included. They haven't done ANY updating except to add carpet in the living room area so it was like visiting a museum set from a different era. I loved it! 

Things to notice include the barkcloth curtains and light fixtures - - -

- - - - the green brick fireplace - - -

- - - the wood paneling - - - 

- - - the chrome kitchen table - - - 

- - - the retro stove and vintage linoleum and counter top - - -

and the kitchy furniture - -

It was so fun to imagine the family gatherings that have taken place here through the years. I'm pretty sure that some of this stuff would be quite valuable to collectors.

Great getaway and it was so wonderful to catch up on what has been happening to my friends. I highly recommend outings like this and I feel fortunate to have been invited!

A Couple Small Finishes

I made this little hooked piece from a kit I bought from Ali Strebel when she taught a workshop for our guild a month or two ago. After thinking about how to finish it, I decided to make it a pillow with proddy fringe and I like the way it turned out.

Usually when I make a pillow, I sew all around the outside edge leaving an opening so it can be stuffed. Then I sew the opening closed by hand. However, I've learned that the seam allowance I  take when hand sewing isn't always accurate, and then the piece gets skewed a bit.  Now I usually piece the back of the pillow and leave an opening in that. Then I sew completely around the outside edge - in this case it was 1/2" from the last row of hooking. I turn the pillow inside out - then stuff it and sew the opening on the backing fabric closed. 

I added two rows of proddy fringe in the 1/2" seam allowance - for the back row I used all brown fabric, and on the front row I alternated between brown, blue and red.

I do like the way it turned out, but it sure did use a LOT of my wool fabric! I think I used more fabric for the fringe than I did to do the actual hooking! Can't imagine how much would be used if an entire rug was prodded! I don't think I'll do this finish very often just because of that reason. Oh, and one more piece of information - I tried to use my rug hook to bring the fringe through the linen backing, but it kept pulling the white polyfil out - so I ended up using a hemostat instead and it worked wonderfully!

Another project I recently finished was turning all my little hooked pieces into tiny pillows. 

Here they are displayed on my coffee table in an old sifter. 

The Utah Hook-In was held over the weekend. I write the blog for the Guild, so if you would like to see some of the rugs that were on display there, you can check it out here.

Airing The Quilts

A few weeks ago when I stopped in at my local quilt store, I picked up a flyer with information about an upcoming neighborhood quilt show. When I went to check it out over the weekend it turned out to be such a fun event! A quilt group who calls themselves the Vineyard Quilters share their quilts with the public just for fun each summer - there are about 15 of them and most of them are neighbors. The were probably 200 quilts displayed in the yards of three adjacent homes - hung on fences and ropes using clothes pins. The group meets once a month in each other's homes and often work on the same project using their own choice of fabrics. Looks like most of them prefer a cottage style colorway, but there were a couple primitive quilts included.  I was pretty surprised to find that NONE of them were bloggers, so I can't give you any contact information, but I hope you enjoy all the pictures I took - here there are in no particular order. Do you have a favorite? I think mine might be the mini quilt that is framed behind glass - I'm pretty sure it'a a Lori Smith design.

ABCs and Hexagons

I have finished piecing all the alphabet blocks that I'm doing with Cheri's sew along, and I know how I'm going to sash them. Now I just need to make some blocks for the corners, and decide on what kind border to add.

As I was cutting fabric for some of the blocks, I glanced off to the side of my cutting mat and was astonished to see a small note pad that I've had for ages sitting there - printed with an alphabet quilt! Too funny!

Some of the blocks have been pieced the same way I did mine, and some are different. 

And then, I grabbed my tyvek bag recently and realized that it is covered with the alphabet too! I bought this bag years ago on a trip to Little Rock, Arkansas and use it to tote books to and from the library where I hang out at least once a week.

I just thought it was funny how I started seeing alphabets all over the place when I started working on this quilt! 

And I've got all my tiny hexagon diamonds sewn together. Instead of joining them with another row of hexagons - which is the traditional way - I just appliqued them to a background fabric and spaced them so it looked like there was another row in there.

Here's the stitching from the back - - - -

And after the back is removed from behind the hexagons and the foundation paper gone - - - 

Still trying to decide on borders for this one too. A couple of the diamonds are slightly askew, but it's good enough for me. Unfortunately, I haven't been doing any rug hooking - just not enough time to do everything I want to!

Not Too Much to Share

I don't have too much exciting to share today, but I finally got all the hooking done on my small rugs. I need to press them and cut them apart, then I'll stitch each one with a backing and stuff them little little pillows to be displayed in a bowl or basket.

I recently made a trip to California and back - about a twelve hour drive each way. I thought I'd get a lot of handwork done, but the truck was too rough so I didn't do as much as I'd hoped. Got some work done on some small hexagon projects that I've started. The small diamonds are about the size of a dime, and the ones in long rows are the size of quarters. I'm not exactly sure of how these will be sewn together yet, but it's coming together in my mind a bit.

My camera is having some issues - I went to a quilt show last week and snapped a whole bunch of pictures, but none of them turned out. Looks like I'll have to send the camera in for repair - luckily there are still two weeks left on the one year warranty - yay!

Rug Group

On Tuesday I went to hook with the Salt Lake rug group. There were only four of us this month, but we still enjoyed visiting and seeing each other's projects. Myra told us about her recent trip to Ireland & Finland.

Nancy has finished her patriotic rug - I like the way she brought in some more colors in the border treatment instead of making it exclusively red, white & blue.

Arline usually hooks with #3s and #4s, but last month she attended a rug camp in California and started work on these portraits of her grandparents using a #8 cut of wool strips. It's amazing to me to see this kind of work - not something I'll ever attempt, but I sure can appreciate the talent in making it!

She told us about a dyeing technique she learned about and walked us though a dry demonstration. I guess it was originated by Wanda Kerr and it's called Hot Rock Dyeing - uses small pebbles in the dye pot between layers of wool - - -

- - - and this is the end result - nice mottled wool - more than one color can be used. I hope to give this a try someday myself - it's been ages and ages since I've done any dyeing!

Nancy lives right in the middle of Salt Lake City. Her living room has an entire wall of glass windows and doors and I was shocked when I noticed some movement out in the back yard and saw this deer nibbling on her trees! We've been meeting at her house for several years now and I've never seen one before, although she said they're regular visitors. She lives near a cemetery and he makes himself at home in all the surrounding neighborhoods. He was probably 10 feet away from me through the glass. Fun to see him up close and personal!