Food For Thought

Of course I read a number of blogs and thought I’d pass on links to a couple I enjoyed.

The first post  is by a blogging friend,

Photo courtesy of Andrea herself!

Andrea Huelsenbeck.

She recently wrote a blog entitled “What Happens to Your Blog After You Die or Lose Interest in It?”

Click this link to read her post.

Because of this post, I am leaving specific instructions for a family member to delete my blog when I die.

I wrote a few years ago about making arrangements for a friend to dispose of the contents of my quilt studio after my death. That’s an important thing to consider, too, since often a quilter’s heirs don’t know what half “that stuff” is or what to do with it.

 

Then there’s is Leo Babauta’s post on intellectual property and why he doesn’t copyright his blog.

zenhabits.net/uncopyright/

I’ve followed Leo’s blog off and on for years because we share some of the same values and I like his perspective. It is because of his example that I have very little in the margins of my blog, while many of my colleagues have numerous icons, lists, etc. His example also helped me to decide against affiliate links in my blog.

A blog needs pictures, so here’s one of Leo. I just lifted it from his blog without worrying about it 😀

author2

Photo courtesy of Zen Habits

Of course this is really a quilting blog, so here are pictures of a couple of quilts one of my groups recently made for Flying Horse Farms, a camp in Ohio that serves children with serious illness. The fabric draped in the upper corner is a pillowcase to go with the quilt.

Let me know what you think of the blog posts referenced above.

Quilty Road Trip!

I recently joined some friends for a visit to Ohio Amish Country. It was great being together, and we ate at some yummy restaurants. Of course we also visited a number of quilt shops! Here are a few of the highlights in case you’re over that way.

We stayed at a nice Air BnB in Berlin, within walking distance of downtown with good restaurants and shopping. We soon learned that the name of the town is pronounced BUR-lin, not like the Berlin in Germany.

Our best food probably was at Rebecca’s Bistro in Walnut Creek. They serve only breakfast and lunch, but it was delicious. Most of the rest of our meals were in restaurants with traditional Amish fare. One of our party had a plate of mashed potatoes with noodles, chicken, and gravy. A couple of us had a delicious salad with chicken and strawberries. Various roast meats with mashed potatoes and gravy looked good, too.

There were many nice quilts to view in the shops. Here’s one of my favorite panel quilts, but I don’t recall which shop it was in!

And look at this beautiful hand quilting done by some local Amish ladies!

We saw a group of these ladies working at a big quilt frame in one of the shops, but of course did not take a picture of them. One of our group who had been struggling with hand quilting sat with them for a while and they were generous about giving her some pointers!

There was some shopping for “antiques” as well, though I don’t think anyone bought anything. There were too many other ways to spend money!

Finally, there were wonderful bakeries everywhere, so we were “forced” to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

I would go back just for the cinnamon rolls.

 

Daisy Aschehoug Workshop

A friend and I were lucky enough to attend a “giant circles” workshop with Daisy Aschehoug when she was in the U.S. recently. Daisy is from the U.S. but married a man from Norway, and they eventually decided to move their family back to Norway. She is taking full advantage of living in Europe, teaching in various countries and having exhibitions all over the place. What an adventurous lady!

Anyway, after teaching at QuiltCon, Daisy agreed to come to North Carolina to teach a workshop and give a lecture, and I attended both. I showed a couple of her samples previously, but here are some more.

These circles finish 24″ in diameter–she isn’t kidding when she says giant circles!

Finally, here is my finished quilt:

 

Quilt stats:

Name: Giant Circles

Finished size: 68″ x 56″

Designed and made by: me, using templates designed and made by Daisy Aschehoug

Quilted by: Linda Nichols

This is one of my faves so far this year! And I recommend Daisy’s workshop if you have a chance to take it.

Off to Ronald McDonald House

If you’ve been wondering what I DO with all the quilts I make, you’re not alone!

Made from the “Tilted Tiles” pattern by Charles Cameron for the MQG

I’ve been holding a number of quilts for some programs I did on scrap quilting, but those are finished now so these quilts are off to Ronald McDonald House. The larger ones are for patients and families at the house; the smaller ones are sent to the NICU to put over incubators.

Made from Tula scraps because I always wanted to make a quilt that looked like the squares overlapped

Modification of the “Turning Twenty Again” pattern made crib size

Modification of a pattern by Sherry Shish

My arrangement of the “disappearing 9 patch” blocks

From a pattern by Sherry Shish

Quilt I designed to use a layer cake. No pattern available.

My arrangement of scrappy HSTs

scrap quilt

Scrap quilt made with strips that finish 1″ wide; no pattern available

Modification of something I saw online; no pattern available

My original design for a crib-size quilt; no pattern available

Modification of a design in “Jump Into Patchwork and Quilting” by Sarah Ashford

My husband said, “Those are some really nice quilts you’re giving away”. Yes, they are; I do not make quick versions of quilts for donation, nor do any of the people with whom I work on donation quilts.

Consider the quilts that have come to light recently after having been sent to the UK during World War II. I think they were valued for their usefulness, but also for their beauty in a difficult time.

Will our donation quilt be worth saving that long? I do want them to be used, but I hope they are beautiful enough to be cared for as well.