Orange is for Halloween

The pieced border for Mother Earth (see previous post) is done. It's not yet added to the too-short backing, but that will be easy to do tomorrow. To celebrate, I ....um....started another quilt. Yes, another quilt for my UFO list. I know, I know.

See if you can guess which pattern this is:

Remember all those 2" dark green squares I ripped apart from the too-dark sashing of Grand Illusion?  I finally found a use for them!  Furthermore, I am able to make this entire quilt from my stash!  This new quilt is a Sandy-altered version of Orange Crush, a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt from 2005. I found an example on the web (and now cannot find it again to give proper credit) where the crafter substituted light blue / dark blue for Bonnie's black/red squares and used one print for all the Friendship Star centers. It's a bright, cheery quilt that gets me all excited!

My family knows I am not crazy about the color orange. So why have I made so many quilts with orange?  Maybe because orange complements the greens and blues I do like.  Below are just a few I have made. The first one was a gift to my brother who does like orange.

Orange quilt #1 - Modern Chevron

Orange quilt #2 - Halloweenie

Orange quilt #3 - Broncos Crossroad

Orange quilt #4 - Celtic Solstice

It's amazing how many different orange, peach, gold, and dark rust prints I had in my stash. This is going to be fun!

Mother Earth News

This one has been a long time coming.  (drum roll please) I finally finished the flimsy of the quilt "Mother Earth"!!!!  The earthy greens, tans and brown inspired the name. Pattern is by Mary Robertson. Bonnie Hunter could claim it, too, but I followed the directions (mostly) published by Mary.  Backing will be a brown flannel from Connecting Threads. It is an alphabet print with green tones. My longarmer is busy through Christmas so it will be completely finished early 2016. One more UFO completed!

UPDATE:  Okay, so it's not really completed. I needed one moment to feel relief that this simple quilt which has so long languished in my pile is now ready to be longarmed.  However, it's not exactly ready. There isn't quite enough backing material, so I am planning to channel Elizabeth Hartman and piece an insert to extend the backing and make it "pretty".  I should be able to do it this week.

Strawberry Fields Quilt

Last night I finally finished the quilt borders of my newly named "Strawberry Fields" quilt. This was a super easy pattern by Kathy Flowers, published in McCall's Quilting magazine issue Sept/Oct 2015. The fabric and cutting directions were so generous that I used the extra fabric to make the quilt larger. I also altered the border slightly to make it more symmetrical and highlight the cute little corner 9-patches.

This is a pretty pattern for a red and white quilt. Because I like to be a little bit different to make each quilt "mine", I selected a teal floral print for the background that reminds me of my maternal grandmother. I am dedicating this quilt to her memory. Both fabrics were ordered from Connecting Threads, as will be the backing fabric I ordered today.

On a higher note, my airplane is in the shop for annual maintenance. My hubby says the bill will be somewhat higher this year, due to replacing two cylinders, one with a push-rod tube issue, sending out one of the magnetos for rebuild and replacing our ELT (emergency locator transmitter). Between the two of us, we flew over 75 hours this year! Soon 90B will be back in the air and my mood will soar along with her.

The Importance of Being 50

Okay, the world didn't end when I turned 50. I noticed a new wrinkle, that's all. And as a gift to myself, I am having all the recommended medical screenings - cholesterol, TSH, PAP, mammogram, and (ugh) colonoscopy. The first four tests are okay. I saved the "best" for last. Today is my all-liquids day. Fun.

Anyway, I wanted to show progress on my version of Strawberries & Cream. Just need to sew on the thin inner border, attach the pieced section and add the outer border.

On a higher note, last weekend the hubby and I flew our airplane two hours north to Corning, NY. On the way there, we actually had to fly past Corning and land at Penn-Yan Airport to wait for the low clouds to dissipate from the Corning-Elmira valley first. It wasn't a long wait, just enough to look around and visit the facilities. Then we popped down to Corning and parked at the local general aviation fixed-base operator (called an FBO) - Atlantic Aviation. We picked up our rental car and started on our to-do list.

First stop was lunch in the Gaffer District of Corning, then a drive to Watkins Glen State Park, voted #3 most popular state park in a 2015 USA Today poll. Seems like everyone else in the area had the same idea; it was crowded!  We hiked about a million stairs across 2 miles of the Gorge Trail. At least the sights were quite pretty. If you visit this park, I recommend hiking up the main Gorge Trail and taking the Indian Trail back down to the south parking lot. You avoid the crowds and steps for a more gentle trip back.

That evening we saw "The Intern" at the movie theaters of Arnot Mall. The movie was funny and touching. I think it might even encourage companies to hire retirees back for at least part-time work.

The next day we drove to Hammondsport, the cradle of modern aviation, to visit the Glenn Curtiss Museum. And surprise - they had a small quilt exhibit by local quilters!  For those who fly, Glenn Curtiss ranks even higher than the Wright brothers. He was an amazing man who died way too young at 52.  He invented the motorcycle, too. The museum had airplanes, motorcycles, cars, quilts, dollhouses, toys, engines, and loads of memorabilia. Something for everyone! We spent 3 hours there and could have spent even more time. Hammondsport was a delightful little town with a great view of Keuka Lake, where Curtiss tested so many of his designs.

Here are some equipment Curtiss designed:

And here are few pictures of some of the quilts:

On the way back to Corning, we drove along the Seneca Lake Wine Trail, visiting several wineries and buying some of their vintages.

The next day we visited Corning Museum of Glass. There was so much more to the museum than I ever imagined!  Of course we watched glass blowing and glass art demonstrations. The science section was very well done, with very interesting explanations about the history of glass manufacturing to hands-on activities. The modern art section was fun to walk through, to scoff at some of the more pretentious designs and to nod appreciatively over the beauty or uniqueness of other designs. We had to rush through the fascinating history section, so that's on my to-do list if we ever get back to Corning.

Our flight back home went well, in spite of a line of rainstorms threatening to divert our path. Originally we had planned to fly over Wellsboro, the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, but a cold front parked over its hills convinced us to just fly directly home.

I am so thankful we own an airplane which allows us to take trips like this weekend.  It was fun to explore a new area and have the flexibility to go almost anywhere and whenever we wanted.

Happy Jubilee Birthday

The passage of time is inevitable. I will be celebrating the 21st anniversary of my 29th birthday. Yes, I admit I will be turning 50.  Kicking and screaming inside. It's just another day, says a friend of mine. Hopefully I don't look [or act] my age.

I like to mark my milestone birthdays with friends, so I decided to have a party on Saturday. I decided to cater the food myself, except for the cake, Friday night I was a busy beaver. Both ovens were in use. Got it all cooked and made the salad the next morning. Ready to go.

And it was a FUN party and a good turnout. There were a several friends who were unable to come for one reason or another. There were a few who came that I had forgotten to invite. LOL  I even gave a speech. Here is what I said, more or less.

"  Thank you all for coming here to help me celebrate my fifth decade on this planet. Thank you to the EAA board for allowing me to use this facility. And thank you to my husband for making my dreams come true.

    As my birthday approached I realized it would come whether I wanted it to or not, I decided what I wanted most was to celebrate it with all of my friends. Funny, when I made of list of friends to invite, nearly all of these were "airport people". Six years ago when I went to my first EAA chapter meeting, I came home with a big grin, saying "these are my people".  Now, six years later, I can claim "these are my Friends".

   Jean-Paul Sarte wrote a play "No Exit" in which a character famously exclaims "Hell is Other People". Let me explain why. The play is a metaphor for a mirror. You can see your character, your essence, reflected by the people who surround you.  The character in this play is a mean, egotistical jerk so he didn't like what he saw. As I look around me, I see people who are interesting, intelligent, a little quirky, and fun-loving. That makes me feel good about myself. I like who I am. So I say "Other People are Heaven, not Hell".

    Inside the kitchen area is a table with a list of what I have accomplished in my First 50 years. There is also a page for you to write suggestions for my Next 50 years. Help me figure out what to do next!

    Before we eat, let's take a moment to thank our Creator.  Dear God, thank you for bringing us together to celebrate my birthday. Thank you for the beautiful weather. Thank you for the food that we are about to eat. Please keep us safe and bring us fair skies and tailwinds. In Jesus' name, Amen. "

For my quilting friends:  I decided my jubilee quilt was the "Broncos Crossroads" quilt I finished last December (see post here). It has 50 blocks so it seemed appropriate. I love how it turned out. The quilt is based on the "Carolina Crossroads" design by Bonnie Hunter. I made it a bit bigger, changed the border, and used one fabric for the background and one orange for the accents. 

Strawberry Fields Forever

After making all those potholders mentioned in my last post, I ran out of Insul-bright.  My go-to place to buy quilting supplies online is Connecting Threads.  To take advantage of the free shipping, I had to buy more fabric. <big fake sigh>  I bought yardage for finishing up a couple quilts ….and yardage for a new quilt.  I just HAD to--the fabric wasn’t whispering, it was yelling at me!  Which means I have fallen off the bandwagon again. But hopefully I will finish this one quickly and return with perseverance in finishing up more UFOs. See how I worked in my theme word for this year?

Check out the Sep/Oct 2015 issue of McCalls Quilting magazine for the quilt “Strawberries & Cream” designed by Kathy Flowers. I collect strawberries. Even though there is not a strawberry shape anywhere on this quilt, the title and strawberry red color caught my eye.

But I don’t want a white background. I am drawn to the teal/red combo, so that’s what I intend to use for this quilt.  I am also planning to alter the border slightly to give a bit more separation and attention to the little bitty nine-patch corners. This quilt has three sizes of nine-patches so it will serve as my participation in the nine-patch theme of 2015. And I will add strawberries to the back to make the name a reality.  I have some strawberry print yardage I have been saving for a special project such as this.  Kathy, the designer, sent a nice note to me when I told her that I was inspired by her quilt. Here is a quick view of Step 1 and a preview of the color combo I chose.

On a higher note, September is a lovely month for flying. During the Labor Day weekend while my daughter was visiting, we flew to a nearby airport for lunch. That's a favorite activity of pilots, flying out for that $100 hamburger.

Later that day, my husband took her up again as his first passenger now that he is a full-fledged private pilot. It was a gorgeous evening as you can see.

Piece and Plenty

After finishing a project, sometimes  you feel the urge to begin a new project even though you have thousands hundreds several unfinished projects waiting. So what's a quilter to do?  Make a few potholders!

I came across an adorable potholder set on Craftsy. Check this out:
 
My version:

This was SO much fun to make!  I had a package of InsulBright just waiting for the right use. Leftover batting scraps from previous quilts were recycled.  My stash was perfect for this and I only had to add a bit of terry cloth for the buns.

Speaking of terry cloth, my fabric store only had bright white terry cloth, so I bought it anyway and used a tea bag to stain a portion for the insides of the hamburger buns.

I found the instructions to be decent, but no help AT ALL on how to deal with the binding ends. I finally figured out the best way after finishing the last one.

The most fun item was the tomato. You'll see.

The most difficult was that #$%@# lettuce. Those ruffles were so frustrating! What worked for me was using my serger on the cut edge of the ruffle to keep the fabric from raveling. I marked the ruffle at each quarter point to ensure the gathers were evenly distributed. Next I basted around the edge with a doubled thread (single threads snap too easily). Then I pinned to the green circle at each quarter point and began pulling in the gathers. A few more pins and some careful sewing and it was ready to stuff and complete.

These potholders were so much fun, I couldn't stop. Next I made this one based on a free pattern from Jacquelyn Stevens (it's free on Craftsy).

Then I made another one.

And then there were three:

Here is a view of the back side:

All of the fabrics are from Connecting Threads from previous projects. This combo was so cheery! And it was a great way to use up part of my stash of scraps. I hand stitched the binding down because my skills at machine stitching binding are still under developed.

On a higher note.... a milestone birthday is approaching so my daughter painted this as a gift and gave it to me early. She did this freehand from a photo of my beloved "Bravo" Cessna 170B. Great job on this, sweetie!