March Monthly Mini - Goodbye Mud Season

"Goodbye Mud Season" 

I have to post my monthly mini a little early this month as I will be off line until April 2. I apologize to anyone who hasn't posted yet. I will link yours up next week.

I love living in Maine. Nature is all around us. We have vast forests, glorious mountains, abundant farmland, beautiful rivers and the spectacular ocean. Mother Nature has also graced us with an extra season. In between the wonders of Winter and the promise of Spring, we have “Mud Season”!

What could be more welcoming during mud season than to have some beautiful bright feedsacks up on the wall? I’ve admired Racheldaisy’s (Blue Mountain Daisy) fabulous colorful quilts forever, so when she came out with patterns, I snatched them up. I just love the name of this one “Charming Smiles”.  You can find her patterns on her Etsy site (here).

I reduced the size from the pattern to accommodate the mini theme. I thought that curve might be a challenge in such a small size but it went pretty smoothly. I think if I were to make it with feedsack fabric again, I would starch the fabric first. It's not perfect, but certainly what I call "close enough". 

I wanted to use a turquoise rickrack, but I didn't have enough so I went with the yellow. I'm thinking I bought this package in high school. Seventeen cents?!!! 

I used a vintage floral for the back. 

Here are links to all the fabulous monthly minis. As always, feel free to jump in any time. I try to post them in the last few days of the month.

Randy (Barrister'sBlock)

Barbara (Quilts,Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors)

Barb (Fun WithBarb)

Janet (RogueQuilter) 

Quilting Babcia (AmityQuilter)

And Karen (Log Cabin Quilter) has made a little bunny quilt this month that you will want to see!

Happy Mud Season!

New England Quilt Museum visit

On Saturday I went on a most fabulous adventure to the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. I have been to the museum numerous times and each new visit is better than the last! This time I went on via a bus trip organized by Meliss (no blog, but her FB page is here) for our local Kaleidoscope Quilters group.

 
Laura, Barb and me having fun!

And, the best part of this visit was meeting up with friends, Pam Weeks and Laura Lane from the museum and our own Barb (Fun with Barb). I forgot my iPad and I am horrible at getting good photos with my phone, but if you want to see some fantastic pictures visit Barb’s post (here). We had a ball!

There were 4 exhibits, each with its own appeal. The main gallery featured, "Guns: Loaded Conversations" by the Studio Art Quilt Associates. Pam made it quite clear that this was an exhibition of quilts protesting “gun violence”, not guns in general. I must admit they were disturbing and it was difficult to look at them as quilts and not simply what they represent.

There were two rooms filled with the little quilts of Nancy Messier. What a remarkable artist. Her quilts are absolutely amazing! This one was one of my favorites. 

The “Just for the Fun of It” exhibition of quilts from the Pilgrim/Roy collection was sensational. None of my photos came out so to see some great photos check out Barb's post (here).

My quilt pick of the day was this little gem in the permanent collection of the museum. I love the fact that it not only has the 4 poster cutouts, but it has little buttons which at one time were used to fasten the loop around the tiny bed post. Sweet as can be! 

After lunch we got back on the road and headed to the Quilted Crow in Bolton, for a little retail therapy. A fun day was had by ALL. Thanks Meliss for organizing such a great trip.

Oh, the wonders of the internet.

As I was searching for something totally unrelated, I came across a quilt I had made in 1991 titled, “Hoffman Garden”. It was part of the Great American Quilt Festival II. I think the theme may have been something to do with flowers. Contests were pretty sparse back then. I had entered the first festival in 1986 and had my name published in the book, "All Flags Flying" as being runner up from Maine. 

I decided to try again in 1991 and won. It was a purchase award by the American Folk Art Museum (Then known as the Museum of American Folk Art). I traveled with my friend to New York City to attend the ceremony and met my idol, Jean Ray Laury. She could see I was nervous and was ever so sweet to me. There was no publication for the second contest, so I had lost track of this all together. 

 As far as the quilt is concerned, I hope "I've come a long way baby"!

More Noah and Matilda #2

Here are a few more blocks in my second version of Noah and Matilda. I absolutely love this color palette. 

I think I was secretly born in Lancaster! 

Noah and Matilda Go To Lancaster

I had so much fun on the journey with my first Noah and Matilda quilt (here) that I decided to make another! My color palette was an easy choice. I love these bright Lancaster colors and have been collecting them for a while for another project that is still in the design stage.

Here are the first few blocks:

 

This one will be much smaller – only 9 blocks plus border. I chose 9 of the symmetrical blocks which I will set on point. I think I have decided on the border fabric and I will most likely make applied corner blocks. Stay tuned!

You can get your own Noah and Matilda patterns at Collector With a Needle (here). And you can follow along on Dawn's Facebook Page (here) to watch more Noah and Matilda's emerge! 

I'm linking up with Em's Scrapback this morning (here). Do hop over and take a look at what's going on. 

Hospital Sketches - Virginia Coxcomb

Here is block #2 in Barbara Brackman’s “Hospital Sketches” sew-a-long. Once again, I am having difficulty capturing that wonderful yellow/green background fabric. I love this block! To keep the “scrappy” theme, I made a few minor changes. I split the leaf into 2 greens and added a tiny touch to the motif with the heart in it as I needed a bit more purple in the block. 

 this is a bit better color representation - still not perfect!

And to answer Barb’s (FunWith Barb) question, here is the back of my Bea and Cecile sew-a-ling quilt. It is a wonderful Di Ford fabric. I seem to be on a bird kick! Don't worry Kyle, I have the label made and will put it on this week! 

Have you had enough of winter? I will leave you with a true story (in her own words) that happened to my friend Karen M. just last week - enjoy!

Yesterday, I had to drive (Google said one hour) to the Subaru dealer in Auburn. Because there are no roads East to West in New England, just highways North to South, I took back roads because that was the most direct. Not a good idea this time of year with pot holes and bumps. 

So, I was picking my way, avoiding the holes and bumps which meant no straight line driving. After about half an hour, I noticed a police car behind me, so I pulled over so he could pass.  I was sure he was busier than I was and needed to get there faster.  He didn't pass me, so I continued picking my way.  Then I decided to pull over where there was a longer view of the road and place to pass me.....and he didn't.  Now there is a line of cars (three, which is a line here) behind me.

A little while later I noticed his flashers were on (no siren) so I pulled over for him to pass me figuring he now had some place to go in a hurry. Well, as you more savvy people know, he pulled over and got out of his car. I grabbed my license as he was approaching the car.

Rolling down my window and there he was: Maine State trooper, all decked out, hat too big, assessing me with his piercing eyes. No doubt in my mind that he was ten years old.

"License and registration."  Now, sleuth that I am, I'm thinking maybe I have a tail light out and he's going to let me know. Then he told me that my license was enough and he went back to his cruiser to check it out. Returning, he said he was concerned with my erratic driving, crossing the center line sometimes and then holding the right curb at others. When I explained I was just avoiding the potholes and bumps, I know he wanted to just shake his head....but he didn't. 

Very politely he returned my license and advised me to have a nice day.  He can't be from these parts, or he would have known what I was doing! 

The 70,273 Project

Help is still needed - see below.

Three years ago, Jeanne Hewell Chambers took on a monumental project.

Here is her brief overview:

Between January 1940 and August 1941, Nazis murdered 70,273 physically and mentally disabled people – men, women, teens, boys, and girls. Though they never even laid eyes on the disabled person they were evaluating, the Nazi doctors read the medical files and, if from the words on the page, the person was deemed “unfit” or an “economic burden on society”, the doctor placed a red X at the bottom of the form. Three doctors were to read each medical file, and when two of them made a red X on the page, the disabled person’s fate was sealed.

I will commemorate these 70,273 voiceless, powerless people who were so callously and casually murdered by gathering 70,273 blocks of white fabric (representing the paper the doctors read), each bearing two red X’s (representing one person), and I will stitch them together into quilts. 

Am I crazy? Maybe. But Bones say I can’t not do this. I can’t change history – can’t un-ring that bell – but I can commemorate the lives of these 70,273 disabled people in this small way . . . if you’ll help. (I’ve done the math, and I just can’t do it alone.) See where it says “70273” at the top of the page? If you’ll click on that, you’ll find all sorts of information about how and why to become involved. Take some time poking around the pages, and when you’re ready, join us.

When I first heard about the project, I thought she was (as she says) crazy. I couldn’t imagine that she could ever reach this goal. But, for obvious reasons, I couldn’t let this rest so I started making and sending blocks. Miraculously, blocks and quilts started piling up. She changed rules to include smaller (more doable for me) “middling” quilts which made these double x’s grow even more. Imagine my surprise to find this photo of Jeanne at the Houston Quilt Festival standing by one of my little quilts (the one on the top). 

So here we are 3 years and 70,273 people honored and remembered later! The goal was reached in February, but she still needs out help. There is still piecing and quilting needed for all the collected blocks. If you can help in any way please visit her blog (here) and let Jeanne know how you can help. 

Congratulations and thanks a million Jeanne!

Bea and Cecile - flower sew-a-long

I scrapped the first two border choices in favor of the red pheasants. This is always a fun sew-a-long. There is so much variety. Do take a look at the Facebook group (here) and see all the wonderful quilts. I finished mine a bit early as I needed the therapy of hand quilting this week.

I would like to thank all of you for your kind comments on my last post. It meant a lot to me. It's been a tough week. Life is so short. Make sure to take a little extra time for yourself today. You deserve it!

Hole in my Heart

There’s a hole in my heart.

It happened today

As my very best friend

simply faded away.

There’s a hole in my heart

That I’ll fill up and seal

With all of the memories

And love that I feel.

  

Rest in Peace my special friend

Francie Jean Philbrook

August 3, 1957 – March 1, 2019

Vintage Patchwork - Emma

Wow, it is March already! You may remember that Pam named each of her 12 little projects in the book after books that were popular in the Victorian era. This month’s sweet little quilt is called “Emma”. I used the triangle corner method that I learned from Cyndi (Busy Thimble) many years ago so I did not have to add a hanging sleeve. 

You can get a copy of Pam's book (here).

It is no wonder Randy (Barrister’s Block) hopped in to finish this one early as she has an adorable granddaughter with the same name.

Cathy (Big Lake Quilter) joined in this month too with a monthly mini and her version of little “Emma”. So sweet!

You can join in any time. Make one or all of Pam’s sweet little projects. The next two months are pin keeps so it will be pretty easy to keep up.

I’ll leave you with a few images of the snow we have had in northern Maine this past week. The 50 mile an hour winds buried dozens of vehicles. The Border Patrol helped to dig people out. We had the winds here on the coast, but thankfully not the snow!

Have a great day.