Granada, Spain

DH has received the most prestigious honorary degree from the University of Granada. We had the most fun with friends and stayed on this fantastic Carmen de la Vitoria. Which is a house that the University has for guests. Our room had a view of the Al Ahambra; thought I had died and gone to haven. Never closed the window to the patio, so  I would wake up and see it there. I bought a great magazine called Labores del Hogar. It has all kind of crafts: cross stitch, quilting, knitting, crochet, and so on. I tried to buy a quilting magazine I bought last year in Granada; but could not find it any where. In addition, 2 of the fabric stores I used to shop are now closed and the third one has very little fabric left :-(
I know that quilt is alive and well in Barcelona. That is a good thing.
Check out this great link from Granada.

http://youtu.be/9daETKLuh8U

Quilt for Japan 2

The post office notified me that this quilt was delivered to the Quilt Newsletter office in Golden Colorado on April 25. Here it is still a work in progress; but I did finish it before I mailed it. A friend and I are working on another quilt for Japan. If you are making one. Don't give up now. Keep going. April is the starting of the school year there and the children are still wearing masks to school. The radiation levels still fluctuate with the direction of the wind. They do need our love!

Work in some progress

We have been busy here these days. But still found some time to work on quilts. The pink quilt with birds with big eyes is a donation. I am working on binding. It is a simple Fibonacci square blocks and the squares are 2, 3, 5, 8 inches. The quilt is about 45 inches. The borders about 5 inches. Fast, fun and almost done.

 Picture 2, is a quilt from the book Birds of a Feather by Barb Adams and Alma Allen from Blackbird Designs. The final quilt will be 73" by 81" and there are pieced blocks among the appliqué. I am preparing several appliqué blocks ahead of time because DH will be receiving a most prestigious award at the land of Cervantes and I will have some airport time to put to a good use. What you see is some rough cut and glued/pinned pieces. The pieced blocks will be done later. Some of the blocks will have circles for "berries" and they are not here either.

Finally, DOQ, my local guild, has a block of the month. I love to participate on those. I forgot to take a picture of the ones from last month. These are the ones due now in May. Easy and fun. We make the blocks and someone will win them at the meeting. I do have many other "work in progress"; but that is a subject for another time. ;-)

Uncle Eli, North Carolina

Uncle Eli is a quilt event held on the first Thursday in April in Eli Whitney, North Carolina. This year it celebrated 80 years of the "bee/show" in the same area. But I was told that this tradition can be traced back to the Civil War Era. It is my third year attending. 

The event is very informal. It starts at 9:00 am with people setting up tables, quilt frames, etc. There are volunteers hanging quilts to be displayed, registering the participants, and collecting all the food. The pot luck lunch starts around 1:00 pm; and by 2:00 pm all comes down until next year. In the photo above you see some of the DOQ (Durham Orange Quilt Guild) ladies busy at work. My quilt is the one on the upper left corner of the picture. The one you can hardly see.

This photo is the other side of the room/gym as they are hanging the quilts for display. Hope the tradition continues for many more 80 years to come.

Star and Sprigs border 1

So, I have finished border 1 of 4 of my Star and Sprigs quilt. As usual, bad pictures. It is about 80 inches long and very hard to photograph. This is my story and I am sticking to it.
I did not trim and will not do it until all is done. I am happy with the result.
Just this week I got some new fabrics courtesy of nice friends. I have already done about a quarter of the second border. A few minutes here and there adds to the end result. Plus the new fabrics got me all excited.
I worked on this border in the USA (various airports :-)), Romania, Netherlands, Spain, and Australia. I wanted to finish it in Melbourne; but the very last stitch was done in the airport in Atlanta.
Now back to border 2.

machine quilting practice

I have been reading a lot lately about machine quilting. I have a Pfaff 7570 that is 11 years old. I love this machine. It doesn't have a stitch regulator; but I have decided that I will learn this skill. I had some prepared muslin (calico in Australian) quilt sandwich to practice. Boring! Instead I am now making little quilts for my studio. This is the first one.
I took a green fat quarter, sliced 3 times. Took the red striped fabric and cut  1- 1 inch piece and 1- 3/4 inch piece and did sew them to the background to make the trunk and branches. Added 2 little birds, 3 leaves; and a yo-yo. The yo-yo was cut from a circle using a US quarter (1 inch diameter, or 2.5 cm). I did the turn under applique method. Time to quilt. I prepared the machine by putting a  piece of "supreme slider" on the surface. This is a teflon sheet that helps the quilt to move smoothly. It makes a big difference when quilting circles. I quilted some "trees and grass, the leaves, and birds" It was fast and fun. Just had to trim the piece to 9.5 inches by 14 inches and voila! One little quilt for the wall.
I have read that it takes about 50 hours to get the hang of free motion machine quilting. Just about 49 more hours to go.
"I think I can. I think I can..."

Quilts for Japan

****Updated information:
If you are in the USA and want to send your quilts to Japan; Quilters Newsletter Magazine is accepting them at their office until April 30, 2011.
You may mail it to:
Dana Jones
Quilters Newsletter
741 Corporate Circle, Suite A
Golden, CO 80401

They ask that you mark the box as "quilts for Japan"; but if you don't want mark on the outside of the box/envelope, you still need to let them know inside the package that this is a quilt for Japan. You must also add with the quilt: your name, address, phone #, and e-mail address. Thanks for caring.


I know we are all watching the news and crying with the Japanese these days. When I see all that snow and the shelters full, I keep thinking of all the quilts folded in my closets and can't help but want to send some to someone in need of all kinds of warmth; not just physical. So I am glad that I found a source. Janet from "quiltsalot" blog has a post today with the address for such a place. You can click on the link below to read her post. Bring your tissue box with you before you go there. But do go.
quiltsalott.blogspot.com. 
You may also want to check onceuponaquilt.blogspot.com, Christine has left a comment; and she is having some serious sewing time in Queensland, AU.

Maybe later on when their basic needs are met we can find the quilt groups around Sendai and send them supplies for them to re-start their quilts and express themselves like we continue to do from our safe homes. Thank you.
This was pasted from Janet's blog.

"This is a copy of an email from the editor of Quilt Tsushin Magazine, Naomi Ichikawa, Naomi lives in Tokyo and her mother and brother survived the tsunami in Sendai.
Here is Naomi’s request translated into english.


It is still bad situation now in Japan. We are still nervous about shaking and radiation,but no way to escape. I start to announce to the quilters to send us comfort quilts for the people who are suffered.I would like to do it to the world quilters. We will deliver the comfort quilts to the people who are very difficult situation. Could you please help to announce it to the quilters? We accept any size of quilts(baby to adult).new or unused.

The deadline would be the end of May or later.

Send the quilts to: until the middle of April;

Naomi Ichikawa
Editor of Patchwork Quilt tsushin Patchwork Tsushin Co.,Ltd
5-28-3,Hongo,Bunkyo-ku,Tokyo,Japan zip:113-0033


after the middle of April

Naomi Ichikawa
Patchwork Tsushin Co.,Ltd
2-21-2,Yushima,Bunkyo-ku,Tokyo,Japan zip:113-0034

I will appreciate if you help me.
Naomi"