Those addictive little blocks!

Instead of binding off the red and white quilt, I've spent quite a bit of time making Dear Jane blocks in '30s fabrics lately. I marvel at how inventive Jane Stickel was. Instead of making a quilt with conventionally largish (9-12") blocks, she chose to make them all 4.5", not a standard size. Instead of using easy, repetitive blocks such as the nine patch or log cabin, she chose to make a sampler. And what a sampler! Most of the blocks were original, and some of them take quite a bit of time to make. Of the 169 blocks, I have made some more than once. I have a list of blocks I have not yet made which I am slowly working my way through. There are probably 30-40 left to tackle (I was going to say "conquer," but in some cases that would be impossible).

Over the weekend I made "Rick's Volleyball Net" and "Battlefield." I had some cute red floral fabric that looked great as "Picture Perfect," a block I have made before in Christmas and Asian fabrics. Now I'm working on "Snow Crystal" which involves both piecing and applique. The author of Dear Jane, Brenda Papadakis, named all of the blocks with help from some quilting friends. I sometimes wish she had chosen Vermont-based names since Jane lived in Shaftsbury near Bennington in the Civil War era. But I am awfully grateful to Brenda for bringing this amazing quilt to life for thousands of quilters around the world. It sure keeps me busy - and learning with each block!

Where does time go?

Everyone I know who is retired agrees that times seems to fly during retirement. There just never seems to be enough time to do everything we want. This week I felt I did very little, but the week was gone in no time at all. It was a nice week - book group, oil change, quick trip with Paul to NH, cookout with Chris.

Tuesday, after walking in the mall with Cindy, I shopped for a quilt class next week. That afternoon and evening, I cut all the pieces I'd need for the class, and Wed. and Thurs. I sewed them. There were 43 tubes of varying lengths to sew, turn right side out, and iron. I used the bodkin I'd had for years in a box marked "miscellaneous supplies," stuff I'd decided I might need someday. I had thought about just tossing it when I moved, but now I'm glad I didn't.

After I finished that project, I decided to finish my Dear Jane Spring Fling blocks. I appliqued several "Buffalo Treehopper" blocks while waiting for my oil change Thurs. and then started work on "Molly's Muffins." These are in mint fabric - very sweet. I'm hoping to make a few more blocks in '30's fabrics soon.

My next project will be to bind a red and off-white quilt that Mary just finished quilting for me. It looks beautiful.

Face Book, Spring Fling, etc.

Last week was another busy one, but fun. An old friend from public library statistics days, Keith, was in Burlington speaking at the VLA conference, so we met several times for rambles and meals. Tuesday, we went to the Skinny Pancake for breakfast and a walk along the lake and Church St. He helped our local economy greatly at Danforth Pewter, and I even bought some summer birthday gifts. Wednesday afternoon, we explored Stowe, stopping for goodies in the Trapp Family Lodge's Austrian Tea Room. Thursday, we roamed around Woodstock but were disappointed to find the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller estate closed until Saturday.

Keith introduced me to Face Book, where he posted photos of his trip to Vermont. I started my own page and put up photos of the Central Vermont Quilt Show as well. It's fun surfing around, discovering friends from high school, college, and work. As Susie says, "it's silly but nice to visit virtually."

After dropping Keith off at the airport Friday, I went to Home Depot and bought some blueberry bushes to plant along the east side of the house. We hope they do OK in that sheltered spot. I also got some tomato plants for hanging upside down in two planters Chris got ("as seen on TV"). They aren't in their planters yet as we've still been having frost at night.

Saturday, I attended the semi-annual Green Mountain Quilters Guild meeting. We heard a delightful talk about one woman's life as a block swapper and UFO creator, and I was elected recording secretary. I felt renewed, so tackled a few more "Buffalo Treehopper" Dear Jane blocks for the Spring Fling swap Sunday. I have one more set of DJ swap blocks to work on after I finish these tedious blocks. I'm making seven of each set so that I can send one to the swap hostess and keep one for myself. I like the way the '30's fabric looks with muslin, though I'm not sure how big my resulting quilt will be. As a diversion, yesterday I started and almost finished on a string quilted baby quilt - not pretty but a good piece to practice free motion quilting on.

Central Vermont Quilt Show success!

308 visitors + 9 vendors + 38 lovely quilts by area quilters = lots of energy! I guess the cliche "if you build it, they will come" really applied, and that's exactly what Paul and I set out to prove. There were some bumps along the way and we were exhausted at the end, but it was all worth it. People had a good time, and quilters realized that not every show is full of art quilts by professionals. I think they may feel less threatened to enter a show another year.

My good friend Samantha took a lot of photos which are available here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=irishlazz&target=ALBUM&id=5333963081041097121&authkey=Gv1sRgCMvAmqHhlpKllwE&feat=email
The variety of style and skill is evident, and so is the accessibility of the show. The Old Labor Hall is a perfect venue for such an event - funky, not too big, comfortable. I'm glad we did and glad it's over. Time to do a little quilting for myself!

Finally back in touch

It has been a long time since I've posted! We moved to Wildersburg on March 20 and spent quite a bit of time back at Maplecroft cleaning. The wonderful ReStore came and got our big dining room table, an old coffee table, and - best of all - my old piano. I had advertised the piano on Freecycle.com but that fell through when the folks who were going to move it got a case of - reality, jitters, fear... I was so relieved to see the old piano at the ReStore a week or so ago, and they have $100 price tag.

We are settling in nicely to having more free time even though the basement still needs a little work. There are boxes that need emptying down there, but they will wait until Matt Moody comes mid-summer to build us some more shelves for the living room. We still needed to do some downsizing once we got here, and I have another bag ready for the Salvation Army. Chris' friend said he wants the couch, so I hope they take that soon, too. Amazing what one can accumulate.

I have been working on "Incense and Peppermints," a wild polka dotted appliqued piece and also making some little Dear Jane blocks in 1930's fabrics for a swap on the DJ Alternate list. I'm also participating in the Heart of Vermont Quilters round robin which we started in February. Each monthly round takes just a little longer to do. The grand unveiling is scheduled for June.

I've read quite a few mysteries in the past month, too, mainly because our book group book (The Warrior and the Priest) was deadly dull. I'm hoping this month's Among Schoolchildren will be a little more lively, but I've gotten hooked on a series by Joanne Fluke that features all sorts of yummy recipes. Not good since the doctor advises losing at least 10 lbs. in the next 3 months. This new neighborhood is conducive to walking and biking which should help, although the Trow Hill Grocery does have a creamee stand (already tried!).

We had trouble getting our phone and internet access installed, but now finally have both. It is nice to be in touch with the world again although we did enjoy visiting MRL and Aldrich library frequently to check email and catch up with the staff.

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes

We've been moving a carload or two of boxes every day from Maplecroft to our new house which has been great. We can unload what we brought, put things away... sort of!... and go back and refill the boxes. We've had to postpone carpet cleaning twice, though, due to the weather. Winter just won't quit.

Last night and this morning I made some curtains for the new upstairs bathroom. I'd been saving my Dear Jane "convenience cloth" panel for a special purpose, and this was it. Will post a photo after I get them hung. We have a lot of windows and all the walls are white, so the place is very light throughout. Somehow, there is a peacefulness, too. We can't wait to get everything moved and in place so we can turn our attention to... life!

Closing set for Thursday!

I just changed my photo because we just purchased a home a mile up the hill from Maplecroft. The new photo is a mini I did a few years ago with my old online group. Each person did a round, so it ended up slightly larger than the originally intended mini.

We'll start moving on Thursday and do a serious move with movers later in the month. We hope by then the big piles of snow will be nearly gone. If not, we'll have to hire a backhoe to remove it from our path at Maplecroft. At the new place, we can just go right through the garage into the house. Can't wait!

There are still some items to find homes for, notably the big dining room table. We hope to put the rug that it sits on in our living room, so it would be easier if it were gone. However, it is a handy place to do our taxes and pile our stuff to go to the Salvation Army in the meantime. The basement and garage are our next areas of concentration. Stuff just fills the space available!