Misfortune - CWD Block

I pieced this block with the brown sugar and cinnamon medley from Keepsake Quilting. Cora Owens Hume's April 15, 1863 diary entry mentions that a beautiful KY home burned to the ground due to arson from either a Negro or a Yankee. Cora however believed that the owner's misfortune was due to his slave trade business. The owner died shortly thereafter in the Battle of Murphysboro. Bad karma.

Catherine Island - CWD Block

Susie King Taylor's April, 1862 diary entry discusses her family's escape to Catherine Island while Fort Pulaski was being fired on by Union soldiers. Her family stayed under Union protection for 2 weeks. She said that the guns jarred the earth for miles. Susie was a slave who knew how to read and write. The Union soldiers had never met a slave who was literate and made her prove her skills, including her sewing skills. 30 of her family were then put in an unnamed gunboat and transferred back to St. Simon's Island, GA for the return trip to Savannah. I wonder why they went? I presume that life was no better with the Yankees.

I changed this block slightly so that there were just long strips of fabric. Tiny triangles were eliminated because I just wasn't in the mood for them.

Greenfield and Stockton - CWD Block

Rachel Young King Anderson's 10/7/1863 diary entry was the inspiration for this block's title. She writes from Missouri that here had been a report that 5,000 rebels took Greenfield and Stockton and "stormy excitement" is up. The militia and citizens were flying to Springfield for protection and she is distressed because her husband is at a government sale in Springfield. When he returned home, he said the 5,000 was down to 1,000 but that they burned down the courthouses in both the Greenfield and Stockton communities. Hubby managed to come home with 3 horses despite the panic.

Selling the Horse - Civil War Diary Quilt Block

Andrew Gatewood's April 29, 1864 letter to his mother is the inspiration for the title of this block. Gatewood tells his mother that he sold a young bay colt for $800 to a member of his company. He further asks her to give it to the buyer when he comes for the horse. Gayewood explains that he undersold the horse because of the poverty of the buyer.

Celebrating Independence Day - 233 Years of Freedom

Chicago's fireworks display was held last night on the lakefront. I had a great spot to watch from, right on the edge of Lake Michigan at Monroe Harbor. Many people were upset that it was a short program but it can't always be as spectacular as previous years. Every town and city is hurting financially so fireworks programs will be downsized tonight. Some towns in the area are eliminating the programs entirely and some are joining with neighboring communities to present a combined program.
I didn't have a good camera with me so the pics aren't the best that they could be but you get the picture (pun intended). I don't know why Chicago does its fireworks on the day before the Fourth. It has been on the 3rd of July ever since I can remember. The Taste of Chicago Festival has been held for about 20-25 years and it usually ends on the Fourth. I went yesterday afternoon and had key lime pie, beignets, a red velvet cupcake and a chocolate covered frozen banana. I skipped the entrees because of food poisoning that I got last year.I have a few more food tickets left over so I may go back on Sunday for more beignets. They were good but mine are better.

Bitter Enemy - Civil War Diary Block

The block title Bitter Enemy was inspired by a November 7, 1863 diary entry written by Eldress Nancy Elly Moore. Eldress Moore lived in a Shaker community in South Union, KY. In this entry she talks about a member of the community seeing the dead body of one of their neighbors whom they considered an enemy of the church. The neighbor had made several threats agains the Shaker community and succeeded in burning down their depot. "But now we say Amen so let it be." Such lovely people, huh?

Hand and Machine Applique - DVD Review

Hand and Machine Applique by Karen Kay Buckley was produced by Dream Mountain Studios in 2008. It is 2 hours long. I watched it for the 3rd time yesterday morning and came away with a better apreciation for Ms. Buckley's techniques. I have been thinking for some time that I would like to make an appliqued quilt but haven't selected any patterns or colors yet.

The first half hour is devoted to tools. Karen discusses a few tools that I have never heard of. She solely uses serated edge scissors because they grab the fabric easier, cut more accurately and prevent fraying. She also uses the Clover Bias Maker. I have seen this before but couldn't figure out how to use it. Now that I have seen it demonstrated, I gotta have all 3 of them. Karen uses tear headed pins because the threads do not get caught and tangled on the pins. She is particular about using John James Golden Glides in size 10 for hand applique and size 60 Schmetz for machine applique. Thread Heaven is the modern version of beeswax which you can run your thread through to prevent tangling and knotting. Karen also uses Perfect Circles, a product that she created. Normally I hate having a particular product pushed at me but having seen how they ensure perfection, I feel inclined to buy them.

Karen also demonstrates how to use a lightbox to trace a pattern and how to create templates with mylar plastic material. She then does a 10 minute hand applique demonstration and follows that with a 10 minute machine applique demonstration. The next step shown is turning the edge. Both needle turn and templar/magic sizing methods are shown. The use of the Magic Sizing blew my mind. She paints the edge of the pattern piece with Magic Sizing and irons the edge over the perfect circle piece to get a perfect piece to applique. I am going to have to use this system. It's unbelievable how perfectly shaped the piece is. An iron with a sharp point is essential for this process. Next time I need an iron, I will look for the sharpest point I can find. In addition, working with different shapes is demonstrated as well as troubleshooting common problems.
I learned a lot from this DVD. Ms. Buckley's methods will benefit both beginning and advanced appliquers. Check it out.

More Crocheting

I have laid out my scarf along the top of my couch so that you can see the pattern. It's hard to shoot a long scarf and make it look like a great photo.

Civil War Medley of the Month - June

These reproduction fabrics are from the Colonies Reserve fabric line from Windham Fabrics.

Cuttin' Up Kaffe

I cut out about 200 more 2 inch squares of Kaffe Fassett fabric. One of my UFOs is a 2 inch block Kaffe quilt. 4 rows are already pieced together.>

Josie Update #2

Josie is slowly getting comfortable enough with human society staff that she lets everyone touch her. She has been living in a cage now for 6 months; 5 in the clinic. She is still too afraid to leave the cage. She can't be adopted until she feels comfortable leaving the cage so I have more work to do with her. I am going to make a color print of her photo and hang it in the common areas of my condo. It won't be too traumatic for me when she gets adopted if she is living in my building. Yes, I made the bed she is lying on.

I pieced another CWD block this past week but I don't like it so I am throwing it out. I must have made mistakes in the cutting process because the rows are not the same size. I don't feel motivated to sew so I will probably do some crocheting this week.

What's Up with Blogger Hyperlinks?

Does anyone know what is wrong with the hyperlink feature of Blogger? I am inputting the links correctly so I don't know why they don't work when I click on them.

Wells Street Art Fair

I went to the Wells Street Art Fair this afternoon and bought a print of a pastel painting by Niki Gulley. It measures 20 x 28 and will hang over my bed as soon as I get it framed. The plastic wrapping is still on it so the pic looks a little shiny. Niki is one of my favorite artists. After graduating from art school she focused on pastels but is now also doing oil paintings. I have 4 smaller prints of pastel paintings of hers that are autumn scenes. I asked her why there was greenery in the painting. She said that she was visiting France in the spring when she painted the scene and that in summer time all you will see is the lavender itself. She painted the scene as she saw it.

I found some new (to me) artists whose work I adore. John Devlin makes pottery using actual leaves, grasses and flowers. Each piece is individually designed and artist signed and dated. Father and son team Tom and Shawn Thomas are leather artisans. They had small purses with long handles which is the only kind of purse I carry. There is room for your keys, wallet and lipstick and that's about it. Artist Amy Gillespie had some gorgeous felted fibers artisticaly arranged on wood backgrounds. Smadar Livne is a colorist and she let me take these pics of her work. I just love all of the bright colors. Dick Close had some prints of his culinary watercolors. I will have to keep his card in my file for when I renovate my kitchen. My all time favorite artist, Michael Leu was there but I ran out of money so I will have to wait for him to return to the area in late August.

I am now brewing a cup of tea and am going to vegetate on the couch for the rest of the evening. The art fair was packed and folks were moving slow (and drunk) and I am exhausted from the effort of being there. Dinner is mac and cheese coz it was $1.00. I now have a quarter to my name until tomorrow when I get paid.

Hiring Help with Some Bartering - Civil War Diary Block

Hiring Help with Some Bartering was made from Keepsake Quilting's Perky Pinks medley. The block title was inspired by a diary entry written by Mary Austin Adelia Wallace in early October, 1862 wherein she said that she paid for work done at her home with cayenne pepper. Would you accept that?

Civil War Medley of the Month - May

Last month's medley from Keepsake Quilting was designed by Nancy Gere for Windam Fabrics and is from a fabric line called Valley Forge. The inspiration for the line was several mid to late 19th century quilts that were discovered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Last night I began to feel creative again after looking at all of the blocks that I have cut out and ready to sew for my Civil War Diary Quilt. Maybe my sewing slump is finally over.