Getting Creative

I've always liked playing with patterns and I'm showng the results of one of my play sessions.  The pattern is Beautiful Star.

This shows the effect of just changing the colors within the design.

In the following designs I added a frame around the star:

In the next examples I added different elements to the basic design

In the final example I laid the star over another design

 See how easy it is to create your own designs?

I wanted to mention two blogs that I thouroughly enjoyed,

quiltsetcetera and whiteomorncottage.  They are both entertaining and informative although since whiteomorn is from Ireland it doesn't deal as much with quilts, but the history given is outstanding.

Herbs and Spices

     Last weekend I attended a bridal shower for my granddaughter Beth ann.  The theme was stocking the kitchen to cut down on sticker shock for the newlyweds.  I thought this was a fantastic idea. I elected to stock her up on herbs and spices.  You know how expensive they are.   I bought 12 spices and since they had already purchased a home, I added 3 live herb plants, chives, thyme and rosemary.  In no time at all she will have ample amounts of these herbs to use.

     I did luck out on buy the herbs.  I was in search of a sage plant, which after visiting four different stores I never did find, but my last stop was at a local Marc's store.  I found a huge assortment of dried herbs and spices at the unbelievable pice of $1 to $1.50 for a 4 oz. bottle.  Sure beats the usual price of $3.50 to $7 for a 2 oz. bottle of name brand spices.

     I live in an apartment, but have a 3' wide space along the building in which I plant various things.  Three years ago I  planted a single thyme plant and it now covers a 2'x3' space.  I've been giving away parts of the plant to neighbors.  But in late summer I cut the stems, bunch them up and dry them for winter use. I've also planted sage and marjoram as well as copious amounts of  basil.  I love pesto and this is the most economical way to get a good supply.  My daughter in California has a lovely balcony and we were discussing how she could plant various herbs on her balcony.   It takes only a small amount of space to keep yourself supplied with fresh herbs all year long.

     I've finally finished my first self-published book, "Kansas City
Revisited".  I consider this an homage to the many quilters who kept the art alive throughout what I consider the "Dark Age" of quilting after World War II.  That's when store bought became better than handmade.  I've compiled all the patterns that were published between 1928 and 1960 (not including series patterns) into one volume.  It includes the date or dates published as well as the woman contributing the pattern.  Where possible I've given the size recommended as well as suggested colors.  I'll let you know when it is available.

Scrap Quilts

     When I first started quilting, I thought scrap quilts were the ugliest things around.  They were just a hodgepodge of fabrics with no discernable design.  As my stash of scraps grew, I explored the possibilities of scrap quilts and found that if I used a single, unifying color throughout, they looked pretty good.  My first attempt was a Sawtooth, which I thought looked pretty good. 

This quilt has long since disintegrated and I am now completng a new one.  My second one was Double Pyramid.  Hey, there were only 9 blocks to be pieced and lots of white space.  This is the quilt where I learned the meaning of the phrase "it's not a quilt until it's quilted.  Once I set the blocks together, it was a really blah quilt.  Then I quilted it with feather wreaths and it was gorgeous.  This was my all time favorite quilts, but sadly, it too disintegrated. 

     As I examined my quilts, I found that the all cotton fabrics didn't hold up too well.  I had some quilts with poly-cotton patches that were just as bright as the day I put them in, but the cotton just shredded and disappeared.  All of my quilts show this deterioration and I really wish I could find poly-cotton prints again. 

     By this time I have become addicted to scrap quilts.  As I got into them, I realized that you need a of scraps to work from so I began cutting a 3" or 4" strip off any new fabric I bought and adding it to my scrap stash.  This size allows me to cut squares, strips and half-square triangles to fit my most used size block.  I also cut up any scraps from a planned quilt to go into my scrap boxes.  And I kept finding uses for smaller and smaller pieces.  The pieces for this block are 1" by 1-3/4" finished.  I can't remember the name of this pattern, but the hexgon shaped one is Jack's Chain, and it uses strips 1" x 2".