I PLANTED SOMETHING!!!

Oh, it was wonderful to spend the whole morning outside, getting terribly dirty and digging new garden beds!! I have been waiting ALL winter for today!


And here's what I planted- it's the blueberries!! They don't look that great at the moment because they were shipped to me. But they will come back! They are in pots so I can amend the soil easily... Illinois soil is very "sweet", and blueberries need acidic soil. So I found organic blueberry food, and will need to add it periodically!


Here is the back garden! The beds in the foreground are brand new as of this morning. It was really easy to dig the sod out with the ground being wet from the last couple days of rain. Now I just need some composted manure and I can plant! Once the planting is done I'll work on the walkways... they look terrible right now!


And then I had some fun with my camera and one of my daffodils! I love this picture!

I am SO tired now, and a bit sore, but I cannot even say how happy I am! I feel like I am alive again after such a long and cold winter! Now I'm going to pay a visit to the nursery- and stimulate my local economy a bit :)

Favorites from the International Quilt Festival

Here are my favorites from the quilt show here in Chicago this past weekend... sorry it took so long to post them! I was so inspired by the show (and some of the fabric I found there) that I spent the whole past weekend sewing!


"Flowers In The Night" by Linda Dyken, Mobile, AL- I LOVE all the english paper piecing on this one, and the fact that the setting is so unique- not flowers, like 99% of hexagon quilts seem to be!


"The Beauty Of Pensacola" by Pensacola Quilter's Guild, quilted by Judy Holley, Pensacola, FL- I just love the brightness of it!!


"The Breath Of Life" by Harumi Asada, Chitagun Aichi, Japan- I spent more time looking at this quilt than any other- the amount of detail is breathtaking!


"Chicadee Spring" by Cynthia St. Charles, Billings, MT- this was my personal favorite from the whole show! It's just so whimsical!


"Splendor In The Grass" by Melinda Bula, El Dorado Hills, CA- this is the "Best In Show" winner. I totally agree!!


And last but not least- I went SHOPPING!!! I mostly bought fabric, as you can see pictured above!

5 Signs You May Be A Craftaholic...

1. Your family is not surprised when they are fed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner because you don't want to stop what you are doing...

2. Your family is used to the response "wait till I'm done with this row/round/seam" when they ask you to do something...

3. The news that "we are eating dinner in the living room tonight because my cardmaking stuff is all over the dining room table" doesn't faze family members in the least...

4. The other members of your household know that if they touch your good Gingher sheers for any other reason than to hand them to you, they will die a painful death...

5. You knit in the car- even when it's only a 5 mile trip to where you are going!


All the above are true stories in my household... I have such a wonderful and understanding Hubby!

Ummmm....WOW!

So I've been browsing the quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival... there are SO many amazing quilts out there! So much talent and color expertise, and creativity... I hardly feel worthy to even be in the same group as some of these people!!

There is no judging in this show, which is super cool. Because it means that I am completely free to tell you all that you need to check this one out, because it's... there are no words for how awesome this quilt is!

ONE Inch Short!

This is what happens when you are literally ONE inch short of a fabric... that you have no more of anywhere in the house, and it's not locally available at all (none of my local shops carry cool fabrics like Sandi Henderson!).

So, my quilt will have a pieced... piece! How's that for thrifty? :)

Blogger's Quilt Festival

And, even cooler than the International Quilt Festival, is the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Here is my "entry"...

"The Be Attitudes", pattern and fabric by Nancy Halvorsen. Hours and hours and hours of tracing, cutting, fusing, hand embroidery, blanket stitching and quilting by me!

I first saw this quilt on a postcard that came to the quilt shop I worked at at that time. I fell in love instantly!! I HAD to make it.

I worked... and worked and worked and worked at this!! I thought I'd never get it done... but I focused on the "Be Patient" block and kept at it. I cut out, pieced, fused and appliqued one block at a time, usually one a week until they were all done. Then- I had to quilt it.

Quilting quilts is NOT my forte. If I can't do it with straight lines on my little machine or a pantograph on my GrandQuilter, I ain't doing it! That's what people like Paige are for :) But this quilt didn't lend itself to either option... and I really wanted to be able to say I made the whole thing myself.

So, I hauled my little machine to the dining room table, where I'd have more room. I quilted this little guy first:


I wanted to free-motion around each applique piece, and I had never done anything like that before, so I practiced on something small first.

And that's how it's quilted! I stitched in the ditch for all of the background, and then each and every applique piece, no matter how small, is stitched around, to help make it stand out.

It hangs in my entryway to remind Hubby, me, and everyone who comes to our house about the attitudes necessary for happiness!

Please head over to Park City Girl's blog and look at the ever growing list of people participating! There are links to almost 100 blogs already... and it's the first day of the festival!!

International Quilt Festival

WOW!! It was really good this year! The quilts were amazing... a total switch from last year, when I personally thought the quilts were nothing to get excited about!!

I also picked up a ton (well, it felt like a ton as I carried it around all evening, anyway...) of loot!

I have put all the pictures up on my Flickr site- both of the quilts that caught my eye, and my purchases. Please go take a look!

Time Passes So Slowly...

When you can't WAIT to go somewhere!! I want the quilt festival to start NOW!!! I am so excited... I have my camera ready and my money burning holes in my pockets!

I did while away most of the morning finishing my quilt for Doll Quilt Swap 6. I really hope my partner likes it! It is going to be posted this afternoon. It shouldn't take long to get to my partner- she (or he?!) is in the US.

Here it is!

Just need to wrap it up pretty and get the other things I have ready to send to him (her?!)!!

What Kind Of Freak Am I?

So tomorrow evening I am going to International Quilt Festival in Rosemont, IL, which is arguably one of the biggest quilt shows in the world!! And what did I do tonight? That's right folks, I just ordered fabric online!!

I couldn't help it! Have you SEEN this collection? It's called Arcadia, and it's by Sanae for Moda. I am in love! And it was free shipping... and tax at Rosemont is like 10% or something obscene like that... oh, I can justify this all night if you make me!!

Here's the swatch sheet from Moda. Make sure to shield your keyboard from the drool!
http://www.unitednotions.com/fcc_arcadia.pdf

Blogland Is So Cool!!

Check out a couple of new things I came across today!!

The first one is a virtual quilt festival!! How cool is that? Between April 17 and April 24 you post a picture of your favorite quilt and tell the story of the quilt... and let Amy over at Park City Girl know about it! It's going to be so much fun to look at everyone's stuff and read the story behind it. She has prizes too, to be given to random winners. She even has sponsors! FatQuarterShop.com and Fabricworm are a couple of them... I frequent these places and am happy to see the support!

The second things is the F-R-I-E-N-D-S swap!! You swap one item that begins with each letter of the word "friends", so a total of 7 items are sent to your swap partner! That will be so much fun- I can't wait to get my partner so I can start "stalking" them to learn about their hobbies, likes and dislikes... that's one of the best parts of swapping!

There are buttons on my sidebar for both of these. Go check them out! They are sure to be tons of fun!

Not much going on today... I plan to finish my "Oh, Fransson" blocks today, and also finish my DQS6 quilt.

And then tomorrow evening... I am going to the International Quilt Festival in Rosemont with Vicki (and possibly Paige)!! SO much fun!! It's the only time I can go the whole weekend, so I'll have to pack shopping and looking at the quilts into 4 hours. But there is not much I need as far as the vendors go. I mainly want to look for batiks, and I would like to find some "Wonderland" fabric... it's the coolest fabric ever, and no quilt shops around me are carrying it! I am looking forward to seeing the quilts. They are always fantastic! I better make sure to bring extra batteries for my camera... :)

Fun With Quilt Blocks!

Wow- it's been 4 days since I last posted... I think that's the longest I've ever gone =)

I've been getting lots and lots of quilt blocks and swappy stuff done! Here are some of the things I've finished and sent out in the last couple of days...

These are blocks for Kimmie in the "Buzz Cuts" online quilting bee!


And these are blocks for Kathy in the "Buzz Cuts" bee...

I also worked on my blocks for the "Oh, Fransson" Mod Sampler Quilt Along...

Clockwise- Blocks A, B, C and D. I need to make the rest of block C, and all of E and F. Then I can put the top together! The fabrics are Daisy Chain and a solid (Mist), both by Amy Butler.

This will be my first quilt that has all the seams pressed open! After reading Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr's argument for open seams in their book "The Modern Quilt Workshop" I decided to give it a try. So far I like how much easier it is to match the seams. Downside- I have never pinned block seams in all my years of quilting, and it's taking some getting used to!

Vicki and Cathy, you can stop laughing at me now... :)

I put together my A Little Fabric, A Little Chocolate swap package for Kathy and mailed it yesterday. She mailed hers to me yesterday, too, so I have that to look forward to in the mail soon!

I also made a mini quilt for Cary in NC for the STUD swap. I'll post a pic of that once I know she's recieved it, since I think she might visit this blog.

I'm nearly finished with my DQS6 top. I need to run out to Tammy Tadd's this afternoon to get some thread... I just don't have the right color pink to finish the applique on a couple of the circles. Then I can sandwich it and quilt it and send it off to... well, that's a secret, isn't it!!

But right now I need to make bread and clean out the fridge. Gosh, I have an exciting life :)

Sometimes You Just Gotta Let It Go!

Wow, have I learned that lesson in the past couple weeks!

For the Doll Quilt Swap I am in, I had this FABULOUS idea for my partner! I have this really cute owl fabric, and I was going to make a mosaic owl out of hexagons. Well, this idea just was not working. At all. No matter how hard I tried, it would NOT work. I got so frustrated with it! I actually stopped sewing because of this.

Then a couple days ago I made a decision: this idea was not going to work, and I was going to just let it go.

This was one of the best decisions I have ever made! It was so freeing, to just let it go and move on... and I have made two mini tops in the last 2 days- one for my DQS6 partner...

And one that was inspired by the Starbucks travel mug I drink my tea out of every day!

I'm almost done with the spring cleaning for this year. Hubby helped me re-arrange the living room this morning, and I'm working on dusting and polishing and sweping and re-shelving all the books now! Next week is supposed to be nice and in the mid-50's, and I think that's just about perfect for getting the garden ready to plant!

The Story Of Joe The Turtle

This is Joe the Turtle! He sits on a shelf at the entry to my sewing room and keeps an eye on things. He is also near the phone, and gets petted whenever Hubby or I are talking to someone!

I am going to tell you the story of Joe. It is in a timeline format.

October 2006: spot ceramic quilted turtle in a gift shop, think it is cutest thing ever seen! But never-before-heard-from "practical" side asks "why do I need a ceramic quilted turtle?" and turtle stays at gift shop.

That night: lay awake, wondering why I did not buy ceramic quilted turtle, since it really was the cutest thing I had ever seen! Resolve to return to gift shop in the morning to purchase turtle.

Next morning: arrive at gift shop to discover that ceramic quilted turtle was bought by someone who's practical side kept quiet. Also learn that turtle is discontinued, and gift shop cannot get any more! Drive home. Begin exhaustive Internet search for turtle. None found. Begin living regret filled life with no turtle.

January 2007: briefly consider learning how to make own quilted ceramic turtle. Idea abandoned.

January 2007-September 2008: think about turtle often, and hope it's owner treats it well. Resolve to silence practical side in the future.

September 2008: At the last booth Vicki and I visit at the Madison Quilt Expo, I FIND THE TURTLE!!! Immediately purchase turtle. And everyone lived happily ever after.

The End

Jennie vs. The Closets

I WON!!! After 7 straight years of being defeated just by looking at the closets, I WON!!!

I have 3 huge (lawn and leaf size) bags full of my old clothes to give away. I am going to see if the domestic violence shelter will take them. I also have a big box of shoes to give to the shelter if they want them. They say they have a need for dress clothes and dress shoes, for women to wear while interviewing for jobs and such. If not, I'll take everything to Goodwill. Hubby wears his clothes out faster than children do- there was nothing of his I could give away!

All the other clothes are in the basement, sorted, and in the process of being washed. The next two days are supposed to be really nice, so I can wash all the sheets and towels are dry them on the clothesline!

That was the biggest thing on my Spring Cleaning list. I did it first, in the hopes that it would make everything else seem easier :)

Up next: The Kitchen. I have had both wins and losses against this opponent. I plan to win this year!

NCAA Madness

Apparently there is some sort of basketball tournament happening right now... :) And some of my quilty friends are "betting" on the results of tonight's game!

Kate over at KateKwiltz (backing Michigan State) and John over at QuiltDad (backing UNC) have 4 fat quarters riding on tonight's game!

This is too funny! Now I'll actually care about who wins tonight... will it be KateKwiltz or QuiltDad? Oh, yeah... I think there's a basketball game too... :)

4/7/09- Congrats to QuiltDad!! And condolences to KateKwiltz... better luck next time!

Crock Pot Recipe Monday!

I frequently use my Crock Pot to make Monday just that little bit easier! I thought Mondays would not be hard, once I was not working outside the home anymore... but for some reason they are no different!

I am going to start sharing my favorite recipes with you on Mondays- once you Crock Pot, you'll never go back!

Crock Pot Lasagna

1 pound ground sausage (spicy is really good, if you like it!)
1 onion, chopped
3-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 jar spaghetti sauce, you'll need at least 26 oz
1 16 oz container ricotta cheese
1 16 oz container cottage cheese
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
Parsley
1 package no-cook lasagna noodles (I use a 9 oz package of Barilla noodles)
16 oz mozzarella cheese

Brown the sausage with the onion and garlic. Drain. Add the spaghetti sauce and 1/2- 1 cup of water (it depends on how thick the sauce is to begin with, you want it to be kinda thin to start) and simmer for 10 minutes. In a bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley to taste and most of the mozzarella (save some to put on top!)

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray. Cover the bottom with about 1 cup of the sauce/meat mix. Break the lasagna noodles into pieces and put two "layers" on top of the sauce. Cover with cheese mixture. Repeat the sauce/noodles/cheese mixture until ingredients are used. Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours!

At dinnertime, take the crockpot out and let the lasagna sit for about 15 minutes. This is enough time to make green beans and a salad... :) Serve; enjoy!

Notes: This is just the "basics". I frequently add veggies like cucumbers, zucchini, shredded carrots, green peppers, mushrooms and spinach to the sauce (sometimes all at once- it makes a VERY hearty lasagna!). Try substituting herbes de provence for the parsley if you have them. I usually prepare the ingredients and assemble on Sunday night and put it in the fridge till Monday. That is SO nice- just pop it in the cooker and let it go on Monday!

PS- My friend Rachel is doing a Crock Pot Wednesday on her blog!

Stash Stuff

So- I've been going through the bins and boxes and drawers (and closets, and cabinets!) and hauling out all my old fabric! I have a date with the Accuquilt on Thursday, and I think it may turn into an all-day outing...

This has been really fun! A lot of it has been "oh, cool! I forgot I had that!"... and some of it has been "Um, WHO put THAT in my stash?!?!". Seriously, this fabric is so ugly- I truly don't remember buying it, and I cannot think that I would have! But I must have...

I'm sure someone out there thinks this is gorgeous... it's about 2 1/2 yards, so apparently I bought a LOT of the super-ugly fabric!

I am planning to use a lot of the fabric that I cut to make quilts for the domestic violence shelter here in McHenry County. The baby and child quilts are covered by other sources, so I'm going to concentrate on making some quilts to comfort the women and men (7% of their clients are men, according to the person I spoke to) who go to the shelter for help.

Lastly, just to make all you people in warm places jealous, 'cause you KNOW you wish it was snowing where you are, I leave you with a picture {and lots of sarcasm!} :)

Outside my house, about 10 minutes ago!

Snow

Yep- that is rapidly becoming a curse word in my book... 4 letters, starts with "s"....

We are supposed to get "significant accumulations" of snow starting this afternoon... HELLO!! It's APRIL!!!

I guess I, and my seeds and my strawberry plants and my blueberry plants and my bags of compost and my bales of straw are just going to have to remain patient for a little longer... :(

' "Snow in April is abominable," said Anne. "Like a slap in the face when you expected a kiss." '- Anne of Ingleside

I completely agree!

Facebook Quizzes

Over the years I've taken more than a few quizzes on Facebook- just because they are fun, or because a friend invites me to... some of them are scarily accurate, too!

Here are some answers I've had over the years!

Which Historical Female are you?----- Queen Elizabeth I

How Logical Are You?----- Mr. Spock- I aced the logic test!

What kind of wife are you?----- Perfect, warm and loving(well, duh!)

How do you express your love for others?----- acts of service (totally true!)

How old are you on the inside?----- 18 (EEK! Do NOT want to be 18 again!)

What element are you?----- Earth (It's true. I'm very grounded)

Which Harry Potter character are you?---- Hermione Granger (I'm also a know-it-all!)

Which Jane Austen heroine are you?----- Elizabeth Bennet

Which Lord Of The Rings heroine are you?----- Eowyn

I was so glad that it wasn't Arwen. I mean, really. She didn't do anything (in the books, anyway. The movies were highly revisionist!) Eowyn could ride a horse, handle a sword, and she kicked the Witch King into the Beyond... I think it's way cooler to be her!

Check This Out!!

http://quiltinglibrary.blogspot.com/

All sorts of links to fabulous quilting info!

Chicago Landmarks

To answer the questions from the comments of one of my recent posts...

In the 8 years I have lived in the Chicago area:

Comiskey Park (home of the White Sox) has become U.S. Cellular Field

Marshall Field's department store was changed to Macy's. I know that I, and many other people I know, will not shop there anymore, in protest of them taking away the Marshall Field's name.

And now the Sears Tower will become Willis Tower, named after a British company that has leased 3 floors of office space in it. This company is a global insurance broker.

But King, erm, Mayor Daley is OK with all this, so I guess that makes it all good. (MAJOR sarcasm alert here...!)

Sweet!!

One of the things I've been wanting to do with my stash is cut it up! Cutting is the #1 thing I dislike about quilting- I want to be able to just grab a pile of squares or strips and go. But cutting all my stash up would take so much time... and that's the one thing I don't have enough of.

But then!!! Quilt In Joy, one of my local shops, announced their AccuQuilt Club- for $50 per year you get unlimited use of their AccuQuilt die cutting system!

They have lots of dies, too... the ones I am most excited about are the one that will cut 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangles and the ones that will cut 6 1/2" squares and 3 1/2" squares- those 3 in combination can make thousands of different quilt patterns!

Plus they have stip cutting dies in 1 1/2", 2" and 2 1/2". And 5" squares, and parallelograms, and triangles... :-)

Isn't that awesome? I am planning an Amy Butler coins quilt for our bed, and I'm thinking the 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangle die (they'll finish at 3" x 6"), with the 2" strip die (to finish at 1 1/2"), will give me all the pieces I'll need!!

So now I am going to get all my scraps and other fabrics that I want to cut organized, because I have an appointment with the AccuQuilt next Thursday!

Quilter's Home Magazine

So Vicki lent me some of these so I could decide if I liked it enough to subscribe. I've gotten pretty wary of quilting magazines lately, since they have all gone way downhill just in the time since I started quilting.

Well, my little sunflowers, I LOVE this magazine!! And I did subscribe. I can't wait to get my first issue!

It has good articles about books and tools. There are other kinds of articles, too! For example: "The 7 Deadly Sins: Quilter's Style" and "10 Ways To Keep It Hot Under Your Quilts" (yes, that means what you think it means)!! It also has recipes! There are 2-3 patterns in each edition, but unlike most magazines that publish patterns of quilts that are 10" squares slapped together and call them "new" and "fresh", the patterns in this one are pretty cool!

This magazine is very sarcastic! If that's not your thing, then don't subscribe. I was raised by the King and Queen of Sarcasm (does that make me the Princess?) so this doesn't bother me- it makes it even more appealing to me!

So run, don't walk, to the Quilter's Home website and sign up!

Noonish Update- Mark Lipinski is coming to one of my LQS in July, and Vicki got us signed up for an all day mystery quilt workshop with him! I am SO excited!