Black Friday

Well, here it is Black Friday. My family and I spent a nice Thanksgiving at my sister's house and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. We listened to Beatles music most of the day and talked about their influence on us as kids growing up. It was very satisfying to give into the tryptophan urge when I got home and go promptly to sleep (a wonderful restful sleep). This morning it I am so happy I'm snuggled in my house, and not out there shopping with the crowds. I watched the Paul McCartney concert that I taped last night and as much as I love him, I discovered something last night I never knew before. He's a Detroit Red Wings fan!! When he was singing "Yesterday," I noticed a Red Wings sticker on his guitar. Oh, Paul, how could you? Don't you know the Pittsburgh Penguins are the best - the Stanley Cup Champs?

I finished quilting one friend's on my Hinterberg and am getting ready to quilt another friend's quilt. My cousin has asked me to teach her how to make a quilt - she wants to make a memorial quilt for her daughter, who lost her father this year. We're going to start on that next week. I'm actually making some slow progress on my oldest son's graduation quilt (from high school-1999). I think I'll be finished quilting it soon, and may be able to give it to him this year. I'm still hand quilting that one and have let it go much too long. I've decided that I'm going to be all about finishing things right now. I'm going to try not to buy any new fabric for at least 6 months, so I can use some of the fabric I currently own.

The holidays always make me happy and sad at the same time. I cry for the people I miss - my mother and my grandmother, cousins and friends I have lost. Even though Christmas is the happiest time, I still miss them so much. When my grandma died, it was the first time I realized what "heart ache" means. And even through the happiness, I cry, because it's there, the missing, the aching, the what ifs.

Take a moment today and appreciate the joy in your life. The family, the friends, the sunset, the snow. Look around and say, I'm glad it's Friday, because I'm here to enjoy it.

Stanley Cup Champions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, what an incredible game the Pittsburgh Penguins played on Friday night! It was a nail-biter until the very last second, but it was soooo worth it! Watching Sidney Crosby hoist the Stanley Cup was so exciting and exhilarating. He works so hard and is such a mature, responsible young kid. I'm so happy for him and the whole team. I enjoyed seeing Mario Lemieux getting a third chance to hoist the cup and then hand it over to Sid. The entire team took the cup to the Pirates game yesterday so they could "share" the excitement. Today, there is a parade downtown at noon. I hope the turnout is huge.My sisters and I went on a Rivers of Steel tour Saturday called "Babushkas and Hard Hats." It was fun. We checked out the Clinton Furnace at Station Square, drove to Sweetwater Cooking School and mixed up some poppyseed bread, talked about the Pittsburgh Cookie Table, visited the Bost Building that holds the Rivers of Steel Heritage Center and went to a Pump House where they obtained water for the mills. I did learn something interesting. The Hot Metal Bridges (of which Pittsburgh had three) actually carried molten iron to the mill (get it - hot metal...). Then we picked up our cooked poppyseed bread and headed back to Station Square for lunch. After that we stopped to buy some Penguins gear at Hometowne Sports. We also drove to the Strip District to compare prices, and check out what shirts they had there. These photos are from Station Square.

Three Rivers Arts Festival - Quilts

For those of you who live in Pittsburgh, you might be interested to know that there is an event going on this weekend at the Three Rivers Arts Festival about Quilts. They are showcasing examples of quilts and demonstrating quilting techniques. I wish there were more details about who the actual quilters are, but this is all the info there is. Click the Arts Festival link for a beautiful photo of a quilt and for more info about the events happening this week.

Artists in Action: Quilting

Friday, June 12, 2009 | 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Saturday, June 13, 2009 | 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Sunday, June 14, 2009 | 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Point State Park

What a fantastic win for the Pens last night! We still need to win in Detroit on Friday to win the Cup, but I believe in this team wholeheartedly. Plus I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

An Ant Solution, at last

We had our dishwasher replaced this week, and as usual, nothing ever goes smoothly. When the installer looked underneath, the entire floor was moist and rotted, and had to be replaced. We realized that the dishwasher pump was leaking all this time. Guess where all those tiny ants were coming from that I wrote about last September? I had managed to limit them to the dishwasher itself, but couldn't figure out how to get rid of them. Knowing they are attracted to moisture, I would leave the door open and that made them temporarily disappear. Note to self, if you see ants in the dishwasher, check for a leak.

I planted a garden this year in raised beds (a first for me). I have two 4 x 4 boxes, one with tomatoes, the other with assorted veggies. I'm so excited because my tomatoes are growing like crazy and already have some flowers. The funniest part is that the bunnies walk right past the boxes as though they're invisible. It's so cool. My poor husband hates tomatoes and helps me with this garden every year, knowing there's nothing in it he'll enjoy. That's why I opted for the second box with lettuce and zucchini and beans and snap peas so he can enjoy it too. I had one great season of tomatoes about 14 years ago, and have been trying to replicate it ever since. Maybe this is my year. My little sign says "Welcome to My Garden."


LET'S GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quilting Pantographs

I own a Hinterberg quilting machine and I mentioned before that I am a master at the loop de loop and the curly-q designs on quilts. I decided recently that I might be ready to move on to the next level and try a pantograph on my machine. For those of you who don't know, a pantograph is a line drawing (either on paper or on a board ) of a quilting design that you can follow with a laser pointer or stylus to make the same design on your quilt.

Once in awhile, I get a lead on a cool website with a new product I'm interested in trying. In this case, I am paid for my time and my professional opinion. That's how I found the Urban Elementz website. There are over 100 pantographs designed for long arm and mid arm machines. They are based on elements of nature and and include several leaf and vine designs as well as flowers and ferns and feathers. I really like the layout and design of the site. It's easy to navigate and you can rollover the designs to see them enlarged. There are downloads of the panto brochure and a sample of a starburst pantograph. The pantos are sold on a design board or on paper.

Patricia Ritter of Urban Elementz also offers quilting services, t shirt quilts, and custom quilts. There are instructions on lining up a panto and on making a quilt sandwich. The gallery includes photos of the pantograph designs on real quilts. I find that extremely helpful in choosing a design. Urban Elementz offers a subscription service called Essential Elementz where you can enjoy discounts on pantographs and regularly receive new pantographs in the mail. Designs are available as digital downloads also. I'd like to see photos in their Helpful Hints section showing how a pantograph or design board is lined up on a machine.

My life is kind of consumed at the moment with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tonight is Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals and I'm confident we'll win, but I'm still nervous. I don't have any poignant observations about life today - I can only concentrate on cheering on the Pens!!

LET'S GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're going to dance with Lord Stanley!!

I just love Mike Lange, the announcer for the Pittsburgh Penguins. At the end of the Pens Hockey game he said something like "Put a spit shine on those shoes Mabel, we're going to dance with Lord Stanley." In his wonderful, distinctive voice, he manages to come up with a catch phrase that makes you anticipate all the great hockey yet to come. I'm not a big sports nut. Most often when guys talk sports my ears (yes ears) glaze over and I don't hear a word they say. I never thought I'd enjoy a sport as much as I enjoy hockey. It all started because I have 3 boys. When the Pens won the cup in 1991, my kids were 3, 7, and 10 years old. I would read them articles from the paper about the players and discovered that it gave us some commonality to talk about. I'd tell them the trades that were happening and read them articles about what the players did at practice. I'd watch things like the skills competition with them and then realized that those hockey players are cute!! I really became a fan then. Now, I read the paper and we compete (unofficially) to see who has the latest news first to share about the team. Since they read the Internet at work, they usually know all the gossip first, but that's OK. We've found that one thread of sports that links us.

I worked on the cathedral window over the weekend and I was right about the way Quiltmaker made that multi-colored block in their Spring 08 issue. I emailed and asked them how they did it and never received an answer. (Original post Aug 08, and update on April 10, 09) Over the weekend I cut two 9-7/8" block of two different fabrics. Then I cut them in half on the diagonal. I sewed them together and trimmed them to a 9" finished block. Then I folded the cathedral window square and it folded rather nicely. I ironed as I went, and that made the blocks easier to fold. Here are some pics of a traditional CW and the multicolor one.

Traditional solid Cathedral Window squares on right, with a small project completed and sewn on left.
Below is a photo showing the back and front of the CW squares.

Two lines are pinned where you would sew on this multicolor CW. Let me know if you'd like me to post instructions to fold a Cathedral Window. This is entirely a hand sewing project.







Have a Great Day!