The Genealogy Fair

Our local genealogy group (it's a club, but it sounds more serious to use "group") held a fair yesterday.  As coordinator of the group, I coordinated the event as well, and our local historical society co-sponsored.  They upgraded their WiFi and let us use the historic building for free, both very important elements.  We had tables set up by country of origin (German, English, Irish, French/French-Canadian) and special interest (Jewish, Enslaved/slave holding, Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org).   

I filled in for a man who had a death in the family at the Family Search table where I was kept quite busy.  I helped a young woman find her grandmother's maiden name so that she could go further with her research.  I had a long chat with a lady who had been adopted and hoped to find relatives via DNA.  And an older lady who had some detailed questions about her Italian ancestors turned out to be the sister of our neighbor, four doors down.  It's always a good feeling to help people, even just a little bit.

Some statewide organizations had literature tables with representatives, there were some displays from members, and we had a kids' table.  I would say 15 of our members helped out and 35 people attended, which is five more than the 30 I said would make it a success.   During clean up, people were saying they'd like to do it again, but, for me, every few years would be just fine.  I will need to delegate more of the prep work next time!  I was tired but happy when I got home, so we had chicken pot pies and applesauce for dinner, my go-to comfort food after a long day. 

A fall sunset

As we were leaving for a library program last night, I happened to notice the setting sun and the oak tree across the street.  I wish I could have caught the whole panorama with a view of the mountains, but this tree deserved to be the focal point.   Most of our leaves have fallen due to rain and wind last week, but there are still occasional pretty leaves to be seen.  We plan to take Paul's brother Jim up the Grand Lookout trail on Sunday and hope there'll still be some visible there.

My Small World

I showed My Small World at both the state and Heart of Vermont guild meetings this past week.  It won first place at the state guild meeting, although it wasn't competing with too many there.  I am still happy with the way it turned out and, if the sun ever comes out, will take a few better photos.

One friend, who spent a lot of time making Gypsy Wife recognized it as a Jen Kingwell pattern.  I love her patterns but they are complex and my Long Time Gone quilt making has come to a temporary halt.  The next block is a 12" "Trip Around the World" with lots of 1" squares.  I need to be in the proper mood for that!  Maybe this weekend when the sun returns.  Yesterday's rain and wind blew down most of the leaves which were looking very pretty.  "Stick season" begins!

Happy blocks

I've been working on a block of the week sponsored by the National Quilting Circle, and this is the fourth week.  This coming Friday we'll get the last set of instructions for the "bonus" block.  Each Friday, there are two blocks' instructions given, and we make two of one and send the second block to a partner who is making slightly different blocks.  Linda chose a pink, green, and white colorway, while I chose a red, black and white one.  Here are my blocks so far.

It's going to be a nice quilt!  I hope to get Linda's block done today so I can mail it tomorrow along with her blocks from another swap.  I paired up with Linda in Florida because I know she is always on time and does great work.  Meeting deadlines is probably left over from work for me, as I seemed always to be meeting one.  You wouldn't think a librarian would have so many, but I was a state bureaucrat, too.

My wall hanging My Small World (need to take a photo of the finished quilt) won first place in Show and Tell at Saturday's state quilt guild meeting.  One of our speakers was 88 years old and showed two beautifully hand quilted traditional quilts.  The other was a young woman who belongs to the Modern Quilt Guild.  Her quilts were great, too, and I loved this one.

Sorry about the light - it was right in front of a window and there was a crowd in the way.  It's a bit like a stack n whack, but, as she called it, with an alternate setting.  Lovely colors.

A rainy day

It was a very gloomy, rainy day yesterday.  So gloomy that we had to turn on lights whenever we moved into another room.  I sewed another Long Time Gone quilt block in the morning while also making some bread.  I used leftover mashed potatoes and the usual white bread ingredients in my bread machine to mix and knead and for the first rise.  Then I removed it from the machine, shaped, rose, and baked it in the oven.  I find I can control the rise better so that the bread doesn't  collapse during baking in the machine.

I've also found I can bake two smaller loaves by using the large loaf cycle.   If I were to try to bake this size in the machine, it most likely would touch the "roof" of the machine.   One of the loaves has gone into the freezer but probably will come out in a few days.  I do like making bread although I notice that our consumption of butter rises proportionately!  It made a great turkey sandwich and should toast up well.

Long Time Gone

I started working on my blocks for the "Long Time Gone" quilt, designed by Jen Kingwell.  She's the Australian who designed "My Small World" which I finished binding last week and "Gypsy Wife" which a few friends have made.

So far, the blocks are not that hard to do, and all of them are machine pieced.  I am using darker blues and beiges, some of which I received in a birthday fat quarter swap.  I'm mixing Civil War reproductions with various other pieces in my stash.  I like the way they look so far, but I have a long way to go.

There is a specific layout for the blocks even though it is a sampler.   I'll see if I like it when I get to that point.  As usual, Kingwell's pattern is a booklet, not a couple of sheets of paper.  :-)

Happy blocks

I joined a short one-on-one swap a couple of weeks ago, and its block-of-the-week pace is just right.  I make one block in my colorway (red, white, black) and the other in Linda's colorway (pink, green, white).  I mail Linda's block to her.  Meanwhile, Linda is making slightly different blocks for herself and me in our colorways and mailing my blocks to me.  Here are my first two weeks' blocks (Linda's have gone in the mail already).

They finish at 15" so are fairly easy to make, and this swap, free and sponsored by the National Quilting Council (?), only goes on for five weeks.  We have blocks of the week to make for ourselves and our partners for four weeks, and the last week we receive a pattern for a fifth block.    We end up with 9 blocks for a finished center that measures 45" x 45".  Of course, it can be enlarged with sashing and borders, which I will probably add to get it up to a lap size.