ThreadBear

Probably the worst thing about having a blog is the preponderance of spam.  Sad to say of course that I delete way more comments than I ever get to keep because they are a) rude, b) computer generated, or c) just stupid.  But thank goodness I have a delete option and they get to be relegated to that waste bin in cyberspace. I picture a scene from Star Wars or Trek or one of those Star movies where they jump into hyperspace and the stars go flying by.  Yep, that’s how I picture my spammers … just zooming on by as I head off in the other direction … quickly.

I’m extremely happy that my Thistle Garden quilt is not only completely done but is hanging on my dining room wall.  Its amazing how much pleasure one can get from just looking at the colors.  No its not perfect but I don’t have to worry about getting stung by bees or dealing with poison ivy.  This quilt and my “Oh Hummingbird” quilt (pics below) will be in the Ann Arbor Quilt Guild’s show this summer.  Hope you get a chance to stop by and see them as well as all the other fantastic quilts that will be on display.  The show will be held at Washtenaw Community College on July 31-August 1.

Oh Hummingbird is my tribute to the Baha’i Faith (of which I’ve been a part of since I was 21).  The quilt itself is a log cabin star from Quiltmaker Magazine. The center is an embroidered symbol from the Faith which I digitized.  I also digitized all the longarm quilting which were modified from a computer graphic I purchased on the internet.  The quilt label is a quote from the song “Oh Hummingbird” by Seals and Crofts which is one of their tributes to the Faith as well. Do you sense a theme?

More about labels… I am of two minds about labels.  One side of me absolutely loves them. I enjoy creating them and I offer this as a service to my customers (and many of them take me up on it).  I do think it valuable when giving away a quilt to show who created it and when.  On the other hand, if it is going to hang on my wall, I’m not quite sure I care if it has a label or not.  I know… archaeologists unearthing this treasure eons from now… oh, wait. That’s not going to happen. Okay, when my great great great grandchildren come across it… Hmmm. Not sure I will care at that point as I will not be on this plane.  Like I said, mixed feelings.  So now for the most part, my quilts have labels.  At the very least, since all my quilts end up with a “name”, it allows me to put that on it. That might be useful when I’m senile and forget.

Happy quilting all!  May the spammers leave you alone, may you never be senile and may you enjoy what’s left of spring.

~ Kathy

The weather is on my mind today. It could be because we are having our first real snow event of the season and my youngest has a snow day tomorrow from school. One wouldn’t think, being an “indoor sport” and all, that quilting would be affected by the weather, but for me it is.

WINTER: First of all, I’m lucky that my sewing room is actually one of the warmest in the house, but I have friends who are relegated to the basement and so have heard quite a few tales lately of misery while quilting. If I were cold, I wouldn’t be able to do it.  I do however hate the fact that it gets dark so early. I really love to quilt when my upstairs room is filled with sunlight (and yes, warmth).  We’ve been very lucky the last few years that the snow and ice storms might knock our internet out, but not the power, so quilting can happen even if I can’t surf the net or read my email. Part of the problem is that I don’t seem to be able to stay up as late, but on the bright side, I’m not going to spend much time out on the snow-covered roads, so great time to be quilting!

SPRING: Not much bad I can say about spring. The days are longer and warmer. I guess the only problem is I have added guilt feelings because I know I should be out weeding, trimming trees, and all that. Heaven forbid if I actually decided to do another garden. Nope, I think I’ll keep my gardening to my quilts.

SUMMER: Having been raised on the west coast where summer meant days of sunshine, no rain, and warmth (not humid either), it seems like this season is an even tougher transition for me than winter and snow. First of all, I hate to be sticky and so its very hard for me to deal with objects designed to keep one warm. Secondly, there’s lightning. I’ve always had quite a decent respect for lightning, but after our house was hit a few years ago and subsequently having lost quite a few of our electronics (phones, computers, garage door opener, etc.), I’m quite fanatical about getting things turned off and unplugged. I also have become a weather aficionado and spend quite a bit of time tracking the weather, listening to weather reports, and even measuring things like rainfall*.  This of course means, that I will not have the longarm or my sewing machine plugged in if there’s even a threat of significant weather.  Therefore, if there are thunderstorms, I can’t quilt.  I guess I could take up hand quilting, but I figured out a long time ago that’s not for me.

FALL: Like spring, not too much other than the occassional thunderstorm to circumvent my sewing, except it seems like all the school activities are crammed into this one season. Not to mention just getting my daughter off to a good start with the new school year. And then there’s the reverse-spring activities such as putting the rose bushes to bed for the winter.

So, yes, the weather does seem to affect my quilting. It certainly affects my mood and there are times when the quilting uplifts me beyond whatever the weather seems to be doing. I guess the worst part is that it always seems like I want to quilt when I can’t (like during those thunderstorm times). Ah well, guess that’s when we can pull out a puzzle or family game, or even (gasp!) watch some television.

Happy Quilting (and weather watching!)

~Kathy

P.S. My friend Kathy’s book has been published. See the AQS blogspot for their review. Doesn’t this make you want to rush out an buy it? (No, I don’t get a commission if you decide to purchase it yourself, but I do want to give her a plug – I’m so thrilled that I actually know someone who’s such an accomplished quilter and author.)  I can’t wait until I get mine!

Rule Breaking Quilts by Kathryn Schmidt

* If you ever want to get involved with weather, there is a great national organization called CoCoRaHs. This group has folks in every state to submit precipitation data, snowfall amounts, etc. on a daily basis. I’ve been doing this for a few years and it is so fun and easy. If you look at the state map, one of the blue Michigan dots is me!