October | 2010 | Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts

Archive for October, 2010

Packing it in

October 28, 2010 at 3:03 pm · Filed under Field Trips, Quilts

I hate packing. Do you hate packing? I hate packing. I don’t even have that much to pack. And keeping it to the essentials is essential because a quilter never knows when she might need extra room in her suitcase for, I don’t know, let’s just say FABRIC on the trip home. So I’m trying to be judicious in my packing. And I’m only taking along ONE handwork item. ONE, do you hear me? Not seven that are never touched.

I am packing a little something to be delivered to one Miss Sarah:

Oh, I was worried about this little quilt. Worried I’d botched it. Anxiety dreams and all. Then I settled down, did the black hand stitching and now I have a little crush on this little quilt. I’ll show you the full pic when I get back. Very excited to see its From Little Things fabric friends in the Lecien booth.

Hoping to run into some friendly quilty people and tell you all about quilt market when I get back!

Anyhoo, I’d better get off the phone, do some more packing and — wait for it — I still have to gut the Halloween pumpkin before I fly out of here on my broom.

I’ll miss most weekend appearances of Alice in Wonderland though:

Have a fun Halloween!

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Day trippin’

October 22, 2010 at 1:19 pm · Filed under Everyday Things, Fabric, Field Trips, Great Quilt Patterns, Quilts

I am not currently drunk. If I happened to run into you at the church quilt show this morning, I apologize for perhaps actually running into you. Ah, vertigo. It arrived this morning while I sat sewing around circles at the sewing machine. I really wasn’t sewing fast enough, I thought, to make myself dizzy. The last time I had vertigo, it lasted about six weeks. Maybe I need to go find one of those doctors to do the thing with the head to get the rocks back into place. Preferably before I get on a plane next week. Or I’ll be running into people at Houston. I apologize in advance.

Often propped by a pew, I focused on the antique/vintage quilts. Here are some faves. The fabrics in this one were fabulous:

And oldie but a goody!

Running theme with the double wedding rings. Some day, I tell ya, some day!

Loved the poof of these fans. I can almost feel the cozy!

The mailbox (being manned — dogged? — by only one dog today, such a lot of work to do all the required barking on one’s own) then purveyed some loveliness that must soon be investigated….Now we can have Kim McLean’s Stars & Sprigs fun like Janet has been having!

I have no comment about this:

Must have been delivered to the wrong address, ahem.

OK, back to the sewing machine I go!

So, for now, if you need someone to lean on, you’ll have to look elsewhere or we’ll both fall down.

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Stop messing around!

October 19, 2010 at 4:41 pm · Filed under Dogs!, Everyday Things, Fabric

I have things to do.

This doesn’t stop me from goofing off.

I think it actually encourages goofing off.

SO… After seeing the results on Jane Brocket’s page, I ran off and downloaded the Hipstamatic app for my phone. I can’t even stand it.

It makes my wood floors presentable.

And my dog more intelligent…

It makes my neighborhood interesting.

Too bad it doesn’t make some of the neighbors more intelligent…

I don’t think it helps Sarah’s fabric look better.

But it’s already as cute as can be. So I think adding the “camera” is something like a double negative.

It does make the sewing machine look more quaint.

I don’t know how I feel about what it does to the Alice in Wonderland Halloween treat bag I made.

It is REALLY hard to get a decent pic of a tote bag anyway. Oh, and you’re missing the cute handles. Oh well. Maybe I’ll get the be-costumed one to model it in costume in the next little while. The tote bag was really fun to make — raw edge ruffle! There’s a whole coordinated Halloween thing going on over at Sew4Home. Most recently a bat mobile. Crack me up!

Does the camera enhance the Joel Dewberry blocks for Liz?

Are these pics making your eyes water a little bit? I don’t know. It’s a fun thing for a little while. The pics remind me of the ’70s. Yes, I was there. When Cindy Brady was just a twinkle in her mother’s eye. Gosh, it would be fun to see GOOD PHOTOS taken with the Hipstamatic. I’m making it work awfully hard to cover for my photography skillz.

All right, rub that out of your eyes and wander over to Glorious Color so you can see a beautiful pic of Kim McLean’s Stars & Sprigs quilt. Go on, it will take you right back to the pretty present.

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Dollies, dollies, dollies

October 15, 2010 at 8:09 am · Filed under Dollies Online, Fabric, Quilts

Er, quilts, that is.

I wanted to show you the fence and the apples. This is the latest Dollies Online quilt called Apple Orchard:

For some reason, this one makes me squeal especially loudly. The center is based on an antique quilt block — the quilt was made up of lots of these blocks set side by side and was all folk art-y and wonderful. If I make a larger version, I can’t decide if I would sash with fence or without and have the apples all bumping up against each other. To be pondered… I have another one of these to go with some very special fabric for a very special occasion…to be continued… Dollies Online subscribers have first dibs at the pattern but it will be available individually in a couple of weeks.

Last month’s quilt, Tumblers was also based on an antique quilt. Don’t the old quilts just make your mind race sometimes?! Is there such a thing as too much inspiration? Tumblers will be available shortly as an individual pattern.

Like the apple trees quilt, I’d like to make a whole quilt of tumblers too. Quilters have all the fun, don’t we?

Hope your week contains lots of fun and inspiration!

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Butterflies and batwings

October 11, 2010 at 4:32 pm · Filed under Fabric, Quilts

I’ve been meaning to mention the quilt on the cover of the latest issue of Quiltmania magazine (no. 79). Have you seen it?

Here’s a slightly better look at it:

This beautiful quilt reminds me of the wonky butterflies. It was made by Michéle Mahaud and features Yoko Saito’s “bat wings” block from one of her patchwork lesson books. I really like this variation too. So many fun things to do with that little block!

Oooh, a modicum more of child free time today. It’s a gorgeous fall day and Herself has just been dispatched to the park with a friend. I’d better get a little more work done. Trying to contain an apple orchard today, so I’m building some fencing.

The apples are ready for picking so I’d better get this fence up in a hurry to protect them from apple thievery.

I hope it’s been a pleasant start to the week for you!

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Abandoned

October 8, 2010 at 3:17 pm · Filed under Fabric, Quilts

Now what was I doing before the mail carrier brought this just now?

{Innocent Crush — one colorway at a time there, pardner — by Anna Maria Horner}

Swoon.

Oh yes.

Drat. Not nearly as much fun as petting new fabric. But it must be done.

I’m not even going out there right now to see what everyone is doing with their Innocent Crush.

I need to stay in my current relationship…

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Far and away

October 7, 2010 at 3:20 pm · Filed under Field Trips

Transport provided.

When a new-to-you blog takes you away to an enchanted place.

This week, I traveled to visit a Faerie Finder at Owl in the Dark.

And along to the antique markets with Ticking Stripes.

And then to visit Cecile’s beautiful world. Facile, indeed!

Sometimes it makes me want to change my way of life all together and look at everything more creatively.

Where have you been lately?

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My favorite word in the English language

October 6, 2010 at 2:09 pm · Filed under Fabric

Yours too?

It gets better:

Oh, yes, I am a lucky girl. Miss Sarah’s FABRIC line, From Little Things from Lecien.

But, dude, I so have to hurry up and loose these beauties from their tidy stacks. Time’s a’wastin’! A THOUSAND times THANK YOU, Sarah! Did I mention how nice the fabric feels? Yummy!

In the better late than never department, I was doing a little giveaway to go along with Pat Sloan’s The Edge blog hop. Yep, I did the drawing in better late than never record time.

The winner?

Poor Donna, she didn’t even know she needed to be patient! By all means, give yourself a treat and wander over to Donna’s blog and see her Roseville Album stitching. Don’t forget your drool bib.

Finally for today, things have been a little akimbo around here lately with a routine in slight disarray. I have decided that I am more like this dog than I care to admit.