I'm late, I'm late!

Of course, on today of all days, I'm running late.  I'm supposed to be at the guild meeting in 10 minutes, and I'm supposed to bring this quilt that I've quilted for one of our members, but I haven't photographed it yet.  I try to keep an accurate record of the quilts I have quilted, and eventualy I will be organized enough to have thumbnails of the patterns as well as the name and number of the thread and batting -- all stored on paper right now.  But, as I said, I was supposed to hand this over today, and I still needed to photograph it.

The trouble is, DH is still sleeping.  That's pretty remarkable, given that he is usually up at 5:30 getting ready for work.  BUT!  Ever since he was laid off, we have been sleeping until whatever time we feel like it -- heady freedom! -- and he's exercising that privilege this morning.

I tiptoe into the bedroom with my camera and the quilt.  He's sawing the logs.  I lay the quilt down on the floor -- my neutral background -- and take pictures, complete with flash -- and still he slumbers.  I try to tell him I'm leaving now.  Nothing.  I tiptoe back out of the room, the sound of a buzz saw following me.

The good news is that I made it to the guild meeting in time.  It was only about 4 miles away, and I tend to have a lead foot down these country roads anyway.

Here's a little closeup of the quilting.  The fabrics were donated by Wish Upon A Quilt for our guild to make for Madeline's House.  This Disappearing Nine Patch will have its binding put on by its maker and then handed back to me to deliver to MH in the future.  Since the fabrics had Halloween motifs on them, I used a cute Halloween pantograph with witches hats, bats and pumpkins. 

Today I delivered another 16 quilts to Madeline's House.  That makes 46 so far.  In the next few weeks, various guild members will deliver several quilts to the Veterans' Hospital in Durham, NC and several more to the outpatient chemo unit at our local hospital.  We have been a BUSY guild this year!!!

I'm having a ball...or two, three, four...

At some point in the cuttings and sewings and designings during the Melrose Inn retreat, I had some scraps to deal with.  So I made little balls, about an inch across.  It turned out that later on I had other scraps, so I sewed those together to create little three dimensional flowers and gave one to each class participant.  I still had some scraps left over, so I made some for myself as well.

The pattern is from the split fingers design.  They are so cute!  I might find a place to put one or two of them in my quilt.

I guess it's time to give you a little peek at what I'm doing with my quilt.  This is the right lower corner, where I have made leaves and grasses.  These leaves will eventually be part of a stem system that goes to some interesting drooping flowers in the right upper corner.  But that's all the peek you get this time around.

These wonderful hot air balloons were created by Phyllis.  She used the spiral, the split fingers, the blaze, the chevron and the flip flop patterns to create these colorful floaters above a background that included the NYC skyline, prior to 9-11-01, and graduated shadings of skies, mimicking a sunrise coming over the city.

Lest you think that all I do is play all day, I did finally finish doing the quilting for the second QOV quilt that showed up on my doorstep some weeks ago, and I even mailed them off to their patiently waiting owner, Karen.  Sometimes these quilts are done with simple pantographs, as this one was.  Others are quite complex and take alot of custom quilting to do them justice.  But each one is made with a spirit of gratitude for our armed forces personnel. 

Take a moment to remember that freedom isn't free, and thank the men and women who have heeded the call and sometimes paid the ultimate price for our country. 

And while I'm at it, remember not to take things for granted.  Our country won't go on being the land of the free and the home of the brave unless we start boning up on what's going on in Washington.  Start paying attention now so you can vote wisely in November -- this year, next year, and especially in 2012.

Melrose Inn and Artist Retreat Center

 Last Saturday my quilting buddy, Mary, and I embarked on an adventure.  We traveled to the quaint little town of Tryon, NC in order to take a week long course in design using the 9 degree ruler developed by Marilyn Doheny.  The trip was going to take us several hours, some of which were planned to be spent shopping at quilt shops along the way.  But first, in Greensboro, NC, we came upon the Gingher factory sale!  Mats, rulers and scissors for $1 or so.  We loaded up, and so did many other individuals as well as shop owners.

It was like Christmas!  We also took in Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC, which, if you have never been there, is worth a day trip at some point in your life.  After these two shopping sprees, I was feeling overwhelmed.  Eventually we found a darling little tea shop in Gastonia and had  a delicious lunch at Chantilly's Tea Room and Restaurant. 

Finally, we arrived in Tryon, NC and cautiously drove up the hilly and winding streets until we came upon the lovely old Melrose Inn.  Presently, Marilyn Doheny is refurbishing it, but in the midst of decorating the rooms, the plumbing failed, and she had to attend to more basic needs before she could continue.  However, eight of the nineteen guest rooms are prepared for guests, each with a unique theme.  My room was call Floral Abundance.  Mary's was the Egyptian Room.  There are other motifs in play, such as the Equestrian Room and the Angel Room, but you really have to see it for yourself.

The Inn presents as a bed and breakfast, complete with downhome welcome and resplendent with European old world charm.  Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Marilyn is developing it as an artist retreat and offers week long classes in her signature style of art quilting as well as acting as its gourmet chef.  No French fries and hotdogs here -- you will dine on intriguing dishes like braised chicken with blueberry chipotle sauce and butternut squash sprinkled with olive oil and baked until meltingly smooth on the palate. 

As finances and planning permit, the 112 year old Inn will be brought back to its original glory, but this will be many years in the doing since Marilyn is also a well known quilting teacher and author, traveling to Europe and Australia as well as across the United States in order to educate those who wish to challenge themselves with quilts that are truly unusual.

You will see some of those quilts as I show you my progress in my own development along these lines, but for now, here is my background quilt, on which each lesson was auditioned, pinned and will be appliqued at some point.