A peaceful passing...

Steve's mom, Anne Matthews Rawson (August 23, 1928), passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon.  As today is the anniversary of my parents' fatal accident, I am posting a few pictures where our blended families were together enjoying each other's company and the great outdoors.

At Easter, 2008, Steve's parents visited my parents at Yeldell in Alabama.  Here we are in front of the barn.

Tuscumbia, AL is the home of Helen Keller, and here we are on her front porch.

Lunch on the porch...

Checking out the view of the valley from the point...

Then in the summer of the same year, Dad and Lee came to Grass Creek near Kingston, Ontario, Canada to experience the joy of our yearly vacation there on the Rawson 11-acre peninsula on the noble St. Lawrence River.

We shared meals on the Main House porch and sunsets down by the river on the point.

We enjoyed hiking around the "island," here we are in front of the Robin's Egg...

Some beckoning chairs down by the river near the boathouse...

We cherish the memories and miss them so much.  We are blessed that Steve's Dad, Ken, is still with us.  I guess our generation are the "adults" now...

Have a beautiful Sunday!  I have so many quilt show pictures to share this week!

A sneaky-peeky at this weeks 39th Annual Quilt Show at Sauder Village...

Trees are budding and daffodils blooming...must be time for the Sauder Village Quilt Show!  Every year this fabulous regional show heralds in spring and an end to a long, bitter winter in the Ohio Valley.

I dropped off my quilt yesterday afternoon and asked if I could take some pre-show pictures of Founders Hall.  The magical quilt team was scurrying around, accepting the checked-in quilts and sorting them by size and category.

As soon as the over 400 quilts are checked in, they will close the doors, don their pointy "good witch" hats and quilted cloaks, and magically hang the quilts (instead of magic wands, I think they use magical rotary strip rulers to direct the process).  That center huge light fixture will be lit to add more light on the days of the show.

They have a permanent, ingenious magical web of thin cables spun across this generous venue, just waiting for the largest quilts (you can see the grid if you look closely). Smaller quilts are pinned around the periphery...all the walls are essentially fiber-covered tack board...I wish my house was like that!

A few pictures from previous years...you can see how they hang the smaller quilts and there are tables set up with people displaying demos on new techniques and tools (there is a nice quilt shop IN THE VILLAGE (Threads of Tradition) , and this year will be the first time they will offer an additional vendor booth at Founders Hall).

 

This is a blast from the past!  Me and some quilting friends in front of my "Home Sweet Home" quilt...I think the year was 2008!

(Margit, me, Jo, Judy, Barb, Cheryl, and Kathy)

The larger quilts just seem to float in the middle of the hall (see, it IS done by magic - I always think I may bump into Albus Dumbledore as I wander around, in a happy daze...).

Sauder Village is a living museum.  There is a group associated with the shop and village that always has a quilt frame up, hand quilting a beautiful quilt.

There is a challenge there every year resulting in lots of small wall hanging entries.  It was displayed in the lobby last year...so much creativity!

They have Nationally known quilt teachers every year who teach classes all week...this year it will be Mary Clark and Bill Kerr. (Karen Key Buckley and Kim, Diehl were there recently.)  There is a nice Inn on site and "The Barn" Restaurant (easy to make reservations for groups) in the parking lot.

Me, Ola, Mary and Judy awaiting our table...maybe 2011

So let's see...quilt show, quilt shop, Inn and Restaurant...yep, it is a great destination in NW Ohio. 

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

P.S.  If you want to see pictures from previous years, just check out my topic cloud on my sideboard and look for "Sauder Village."

Starting to suffer from "Repro Madness"...

I am doing a 6-inch block swap with a couple of friends.  Most of mine will be hand applique and most of theirs will be pieced.  Their piecing is so perfect and mine is less than that by far, so I feel I am getting the best deal!

The only rules are that the blocks must finish 6-inches square and must be made from Reproduction fabrics and scraps.

Neither of us know what we are doing with them yet...not the ultimate size of the project, the number of blocks needed, the setting, NOTHING!  We are flying by the seat of our pants!  I am going to call it "Repro Madness" as a working title.  We will each make three of every block we come up with, then share.

These are my first five offerings.  Some I am designing, some I am borrowing.  I drew the cherries.  

Here I am, using my long beading tweezers, to place my freezer paper patterns on scraps of fabric...the tweezers really make all this tiny, fuddly stuff easier and faster for my clumsy fingers!

This block is from Lori Smith's "Miss Emilie's Garden."

I drew this friendship block...I like messing around with hearts...

Here's another one from Lori Smith...

And also this one...these little applique blocks are a great way to use up all the tiny scraps that I can't seem to throw away.  It doesn't take much fabric to make a little berry!

Here I am working on another set of three blocks over my light box...I am trying to prep as many of these 6-inch blocks as I can in my spare time so that I will have things to stitch on while my quilt cave is disrupted and being moved to Alabama.

It is hard to tell much about this one until I peel off all the freezer paper pattern...

I find the pattern weights essential in doing this method of glue basting/hand applique (and they hide things pretty well to tease you along...).

I have always wanted to make a quilt like "Nearly Insane" or "Dear Jane" with lots of variety in the blocks.  I have several more applique blocks "in the works."  I am hoping to make 25-36 applique blocks (multiplied by three, of course, so we each get one).  

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

"Miss Emilie" is quilted and the binding is done...

There's nothing like a show deadline to kick you in the butt!  The Sauder Village Quilt Show opens next week and I have to take the quilt to Ohio on Sunday afternoon for the event.  ("Miss Emilie's Garden," pattern by Lori Smith).

This border was really challenging for me...the fuddly piecing on the mitered corner...zeesh!  The corners are not perfect, but I am glad I pushed forward with them.  I'm not sure more seam ripping would have helped...lining up the appliqued sawtooth edges was very difficult.

The hand quilting was so soothing at a particularly stressful time...I am so ready for things to get less stressful in our family!

I tried to sneak in hand quilting my initials in the bird block, but I think the tiny block made it too crowded.  It just looks like a glob of quilting stitches.  Those applique blocks measure less than 6 inches square.

I was slightly more successful adding the date I finished it...

The whole quilt measures 42 x 42 inches.

Last night was the first "pay-off" event for a graduating high school senior at Washtenaw International High School...Honors Convocation.

Riley won the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program Departmental Award for Literature and will graduate Summa Cum Laude at the end of May.  This is her Lit teacher making the presentation.

We are very proud of the way she has handled the family stress of the last year (better than her parents...).  She has made her college decision and will accept the Presidential Scholarship and attend the University of Alabama in the fall.  Roll Tide, Roll!  

(That is a little hard for me to say, as I graduated across the state from Auburn University...War Eagle!)

Now, on to the prom this weekend...

Anyone going to the 39th Annual Sauder Village Quilt Show in NE Ohio next week? Maybe I will see you there!

In stitches,

Teresa   :o)

Hand Quilting on "Miss Emilie..."

 

I am still here!  I am hand quilting away, among other things, which really doesn't lead to very exciting pictures to put on the ol' blog.  I mean, there is very little change to the overall look of the pictures.  

These first two shots show "Miss Emilie's Garden" (pattern by Lori Smith) after I basted it in preparation for the hand quilting..,.pretty boring.

The next shots show the quilt after hours of work getting the center twenty-five blocks quilted.  See?  You can't really tell that much has changed!  For you readers, it must be worse than watching paint dry on the house-flipping TV channels!

I leave the basting thread in until all the hand quilting is finished. Removal of all that distracting lavender thread is my delayed gratification reward following the patience and perseverance...and therapy...of each stitch.  I am now working on hand quilting the borders.  I know, zzzzz...

Actually, with all the current life craziness, it is good to have hand quilting to do!  While stitching away, I have earlier seasons of "The Big Bang Theory" in the DVD player.  No matter how many times I've heard the episodes, they still make me laugh!

I will go back an put a little more filler quilting in the blocks...I want to "quilt" my initials and the year in one of the blocks.  I love seeing antique quilts where the maker has added these details, whether with applique, embroidery, or quilting.  

The quilt only measures 42" x 42".

I am also working on the border pattern for the "Baltimore Rhapsody - Symphony" - almost done!  That quilt was just in the AQS Lancaster Quilt Show, and is now on it's way to the AQS Paducah Quilt Show.

My little handmade thread catcher has worked out great for collecting the thread tails as I hand quilt away...

It has been another harsh, snowy, cold winter.  As the weather started to warm up and melt the accumulated snow, we had a couple of days that looked like everything was covered in a white, shiny, candy coating.  It was weird!

The sifting, packing and planning is underway in preparation of the summer move to NW Alabama.  Riley's senior year is filled with events and college decisions, and we continue to be involved in my in-laws' rehab and hospice.  It is a busy time!  My dad's birthday has come and gone and I am still standing...I still miss them terribly, but the debilitating sadness and anger following the accident is subsiding.  Life is going on...

Thank you for your thoughts, notes and emails,,,they have been greatly appreciated!

Has anyone ever used PODS for moving?  I would love to hear about your experiences.

I have been hand appliqueing on some delightful little 6" blocks using up some reproduction fabrics. They are my "to go" baggie project right now.  I will share all that soon!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)