August | 2007 | Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts

Archive for August, 2007

I don’t think this counts

August 31, 2007 at 3:53 pm · Filed under Everyday Things

The lovely Camille tagged me with a middle name facts meme. I can only half commit because I honestly don’t know (know enough to tag…) others to tag. But, because I have a JOyfully short middle name, I can do the facts part.

J–Um, jocular. If there’s a way to make a joke about anything, I will try to do it. Example: while the giraffes were getting crackers yesterday, the ostrich in the same exhibit just stood in one place looking forlorn and annoyed. I thought he needed a shirt that said, “The giraffes got crackers and all I got was this dumb t-shirt.” There always needs to be something about which to laugh.

O–Ornery, obstinate, and often overzealous (but in a committed kind of way, you know, with follow-through).

It’s too bad my middle name isn’t longer. I could actually tell you about some of my many good qualities.

You put those two letters together and you get one of the most teased-about middle names in town. Schoolmates were relentless.

So, Camille, I’m sorry to be a party pooper. I hope this is a little OK.

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Some of our favorite peeps

August 30, 2007 at 8:22 pm · Filed under Everyday Things

No stitching today. It was a gorgeous day, so we made an end-of-summer trip to see some of our favorite animal friends. This is terrible. We live a mile and a half from a wonderful zoo and we probably haven’t been there in a year. We’ll have to remedy that and get a new membership.

Just look at those stripes!

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You crack me up

August 29, 2007 at 7:11 pm · Filed under Everyday Things

It is a hot afternoon. Having gotten plenty of fresh hand blisters at the park, we are staying inside (enjoying expensive meals at the Playmobil cafeteria). We are also listening to a Nancy Drew mystery–The Hidden Staircase. I have been in the sewing room (trimming…and listening). When Nancy gets into some peril, I hear a gasp and bare feet come running down the hall: “Did you hear that?!”

Cracks me up every time.

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Indian trail block

August 29, 2007 at 2:15 pm · Filed under Quilts

Well, here it is. Thanks to Camille, Candy and Anastasia for input. One of the required fabrics is a deep wine color (shown in some of the points). I think the scrappiness softens that color given the softer combination of the focus fabric and the background. I now agree that totally scrappy would have been a mess. Onward and upward.

Oh, and I do my half-square triangles the old-fashioned way but I way overcut them so I can have the immense pleasure of trimming them all down. Call me crazy, you won’t be the first!

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New Kaffe book quilts preview

August 28, 2007 at 1:44 am · Filed under Books, Quilts

Members of the Kaffe Adoration Society might want to wander over to Glorious Patchwork and take a look at the fabric packs section which contains a preview of the quilts in Kaffe’s upcoming book, Quilts in the Sun. Can’t get the book yet, can get the fabric packs and a gander at the quilts. Ooooh, pretty. Hey, don’t buy them ALL!

I thought Kaffe Adoration Society sounded better than Kaffe Stalkers Society. Don’t you?

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Indian trail quilt block input

August 27, 2007 at 10:10 pm · Filed under Quilts

Today, we are conducting a small survey. Remember, I am a free-thinking quilter who just might easily get bored with too much repetition…not that I am trying to sway your thinking.

I find myself in the position of having volunteered to make a quilt using the Indian trail quilt block. (I need to have someone standing by with a thermometer to check my temperature and see if I am officially cRaZy when I do these things sometimes.) An example can be seen here at McCall’s Quilting.

So, my question to anyone out there (hello? Hellooo?) is could you see the “points” (the red part in the small half-square triangles) being scrappy rather than all one color? If not, could you see these points as the same color but scrappy, i.e., green but different greens? And, would that apply to an entire block or just 1/4 of each block?

I will draw two lucky responders to receive a small fabric prize for helping me out.

KThxBye

EDITED TO ADD SOME ADDITIONAL INFO: The fabric for the background and 1/2 of the larger half square triangle are specific fabrics that can’t be changed. The only fun I can have is in the non-background parts of the “points.” Thanks for input so far!

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Giving myself the finger

August 25, 2007 at 11:20 pm · Filed under Quilts, Whining

Can someone please explain to me why it took three bobbins’ worth of Bottom Line thread before I remembered to put the bobbin thread through the little “finger” on the side of the bobbin case? Anyone? Grouse, grouse, grouse about stitch quality all afternoon. It’s just not right. So, we changed from the recommended topstitch needle back to a good old-fashioned sharp needle. Eh, slightly better. Still not happy. A little later, we installed the straight stitch plate (the peril of this is not remembering to put the zig-zag plate BACK on before zig-zagging, breaking a needle and throwing the timing out of whack). And later still, when putting in the fourth bobbin, it hit me. OH YEAH.

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That’s a lot of French knots

August 24, 2007 at 9:50 pm · Filed under Books, Everyday Things

Among other treasures, this lovely vintage pillowcase arrived today amid packing peanuts in the shape of grommets. Let’s just say that the effervescent Mrs. S. (not me, the OTHER Mrs. S.) found an estate sale filled with grommets and other treasures. She is so generous! I now have grommets in all sizes and some pretty “new” vintage textiles!

In any event, I looked at this pillowcase and thought, “oh, nice needle punch.” KNOT! Literally. I’m having a hard time finding the patience to do a tidy back stitch on some ravelly flower petals. So the thousands of upstanding French knots are shaming me mightily.

Keeping with the theme of surface design, I found this book today:

I was not familiar with Lucille Toumi, but what a wonderful book! It does not contain patterns, but discusses her surface design techniques and materials and walks the reader through the methods of one project. AND THEN she discusses a slew of her works and the variety of techniques used in each work. The photography is fantastic with plenty of detail shots and further discussion of the DETAIL of the work. Many of the pieces discussed in the book can be seen at her web site. What inspiration!

I recently took an online class at Joggles taught by Susan Sorrell that would be a great starting point for anyone wanting some hands-on guidance in this kind of work. This fall Susan Sorrell will be teaching Creative Embroidery Organic Designs and Doodling Designs. I may have to sign up for the doodling one. I admit that I’ve not done this kind of work before because I was never sure where to start. The class was superb, especially in that regard.

I’ll crawl back to my hot pink perle cotton now. I’m working on a back to school outfit (who doesn’t need a new twirly skirt??). However, today someone requested to wear a store-bought dress on the first day of school. Well, I guess the dress needs to be worn before it’s outgrown. Oh well.

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Now, that’s better

August 22, 2007 at 5:39 pm · Filed under Fabric, Great Quilt Patterns, Quilts

It only takes a couple of days of rain and some peace and quiet to get some visible quilt progress around here. The quilting on the “quickie” blue and green quilt was finally finished. I do think that gnomes came over in the night and removed quilting and/or made the quilt bigger. Thoughts of cutting off unquilted portions crossed my mind. Oh, the heresy that happens around here! I believe I can be trusted to get the binding stitched down before summer is over. Sheesh.

Then the other day I saw a quilt in the Sept./Oct. Fons and Porter quilting mag. This happened while ogling and then borrowing someone else’s copy. What can I say, my subscription ran out. I hang out with very understanding quilt people. This is Anna’s Album. The border and some coordinates are from Anna Griffin’s Evelyn collection for Windham. I’ve been itching to do something with these. Design is by Jean Ann Wright.

Hopefully quilting won’t take forever…

Also got some block of the month work done.

Some happiness also arrived in the mail.

Aren’t these refreshing?

And, because we can’t leave out the snacks. Some additional exotic flavors of chips from across the border.

Why do these amuse me so? Oops, I think the cheddar lime bag is now empty. How did that happen?

All righty. Off to the next fun task. Cheers!

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Laying low

August 17, 2007 at 9:42 pm · Filed under Everyday Things, Whining

Nada lot to report this week. Loooowwww productivity. August has been a challenge for some reason. I blame this week’s particular malaise on overzealous tree pruning on Monday. Someone should keep me away from the loppers. I can hurt myself. Funny thing, the tree lost everything but its leaves on top. I came away from the Hair Whisperer looking much the same. We really need to stop talking so much while he’s cutting. I can’t take any of the blame, however, because when I don’t have my glasses on, I can’t see a thing that’s happening.

I’m sure things would brighten if I could Netflix instantly. Or if I could listen to my library’s ebooks. Unfortunately, the 21st century snuck up on these technologies. Oh, but we do have the Disney Channel for the social event of the season. WAIT, don’t click that without getting your headache medicine of choice first. I’ll tell ya what time it is.

We are making a wacky cake. It’s not very photogenic. I hope its taste makes up for it. Nothing a little buttercream can’t fix, I’m sure.

Hang on! Two fun things did happen this week. I got to meet Candy! What a nice person! And, via Jolly Jabber, I ordered some fantastic new patterns from Camille.

I leave you with a small gardening success (which is major around here). I just know next week will be more productive!